42 C42 Training Followers & Electives

*2 chapters again today!*

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Christmas break came quickly as always, and Tom has been busy in the months since Hogwarts began again. It only took Mimsy and the other elves two days to disassemble, package, and store away the Basilisk Tom defeated. Everything was moved to one of Tom's many manors. This particular manor has a special room that is used to store ingredients over long periods of time. The elves pretty much packed that room to the brim with snake parts and liquids. Everything was saved down to the bones, blood, and spit.

Tom searched the whole chamber of secrets and didn't find anything of importance. A few books on parcelmagic were stashed away, but he has already seen them in the ROR. Though the books were taken and stored away in Toms trunk for safe keeping anyway. There was also some potion supplies, but everything was already rotted into nothing.

Tom was hoping to find some eggs from the Basilisk, but none were found in the chamber.

'If I want a Basilisk, then I'll have to make one myself.' Tom thought as he finished searching the chamber.

After taking control of Slytherin house, Tom's been training his new followers every day. Many of them were annoyed at waking up so early, not to mention the laborious physical training, but none would speak up against it. Especially since their new Lord was doing it alongside them, and performing the exercises without much effort.

After the physical training came the Occlumency lesson that happened every single day. Tom needed these Slytherins minds protected as swiftly as possible. He doesn't know if anyone has already peeked into their minds or not. If they have then Tom is sure that whoever they are will reveal themselves sooner or later. If no one has read their minds, then Tom's luck must be pretty good.

Other than training in the mornings, Tom also ordered them to expend all of their magic every night before bed. They were skeptical at first, but after the first month, they started to see the benefits.

Druella has been the greatest help in these past months. When Tom was busy or needed counsel on anything, she would be there to help out. She was truly excited about the new developments in Slytherin house. In a single day she went from the friend of the mudblood to the second in command of the whole of Slytherin, and boy does she love being in charge.

She doesn't misuse her power, as that would be detrimental to her friend and Lord, but she definitely gets a kick out of ordering everyone around. These people used to talk sh*t behind her back and some even straight to her face. The feeling of putting all of them in their place was truly euphoric for her.

As this is the third year, Tom was able to pick his electives. He and Druella picked the same electives as to stick together. It helped that they both were interested in the same courses. Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. At first, Tom wanted to see if he could take all of the courses and get a time turner out of it, but it seems that Headmaster Dippet isn't as giving as old Dumbledore was. Either that or canon Dumbles had some sort of alternate motive for giving Hermione the time turner.

Seeing as he couldn't get a time turner, Tom and Druella only picked the two electives as nothing else stood out as overly interesting.

Arithmancy is a magical discipline that studies the magical properties of numbers, including predicting the future with numbers and numerology. Wizards and witches who study and practice Arithmancy are called Arithmancers. The teacher at Hogwarts is said to be one of the best Arithmancers in a very long time. The only problem is the class is all about numbers and gets tiring after a while. Not to mention the homework assignments of which include writing essays that require the consultation and/or composition of complex numerical charts.

Ancient runes are a form of writing which witches and wizards used thousands of years ago. These runes can be used the same way as normal runes, but usually hold more power than modern-day runes. If Tom were to fully learn ancient runes, he could enhance his future ritual by a good amount. He simply would have to replace some of the more modern runes with an ancient counterpart. The teacher of this class is alright, but Tom has to fight back the urge to fall asleep. The teacher knows what he's talking about, but the delivery is very monotone. Homework for this class is fairly high which is annoying as well.

Other classes were continuing as usual. Nothing of note was happening in any of Toms normal classes.

During Toms alone time in the ROR, he's been looking into the Patronus charm and becoming an Animagus. The Patronus Charm, 'Expecto Patronum' is the most famous and one of the most powerful defensive charms known to wizardkind. It's an immensely complicated and extremely difficult spell, that evokes a partially-tangible positive energy force known as a Patronus or spirit guardian. It's the primary protection against Dementors and Lethifolds, against which there is no other defense.

There are two types of Patronuses. First, corporeal which means a Patronus with a particular shape and form, and incorporeal Patronus. Incorporeal Patronuses have no particular shape and do not protect against dementors the way corporeal Patronuses do. Tom was extremely excited to see his spirit guardian and practiced the spell-like crazy.

The problem was that Tom needed a truly happy memory in order to cast the charm. Old Toms memories were anything but happy, so Tom fell back on the memories of the light soul, Gregory. One memory ended up doing the trick. It was a memory of a very early birthday party, which his mother put a lot of effort in to throw for him. His family wasn't anywhere near wealthy, but his mother saved money throughout the year for him. The day was perfect, and to a child, the perfect birthday party is a truly joyous occasion.

It didn't take Tom more than a few weeks of practice to find his birthday memory. When Tom thought of this happy moment, he called out the spell 'Expecto Patronum' and a light shone from his wand and an ethereal creature appeared before him. A corporeal thestral the same as the ones that pull the carriages to Hogwarts stood in front of Tom. It looked at him curiously for a moment, nodded its head at Tom as if to say hello, and disappeared back to wherever it came from.

Tom was happy with his guardian spirit and tested the spell out many times just to see it again. He also tested out the corporeal and incorporeal versions of the spell. Other than that Tom has read every book available about the animagus change. He wanted to know the best way to become an animagus and hoped he was a cool animal. He may commit suicide if he's a rat like Pettigrew or a bug like Skeeter. Tom was hoping for something like a magical creature but knew that was highly unlikely. He would gladly take some sort of big cat or wolf though.

The best way to fully connect with your inner animal, as said in the books in the ROR, is to meditate and find the animal in your inner world. The book said to practice Occlumency until he has access to his inner world, which Tom already does. Then once in that inner world, Tom must find a secluded spot and meditate in the inner world itself. Doing so is supposed to attract your inner animal and whatever it is will bond with you. Once the bonding is done to a certain extent, Tom will be able to perform his first shift into his spirit animal.

Some books explained a potion that could speed things along by forcing the shift, but Almost all of the meditation style books warned against this. They stated that the bond will be stronger if the connection is earned and not forced. Since starting his inner world meditation, Tom still hasn't seen his spirit animal. He does feel like he's being watched by something, but that something hasn't shown itself just yet.