The Black Manor.

As Loki stepped on the dark, old, and springy wooden stairs he watched with fascination the various animated portraits on the walls.

The people in the portraits were drinking tea or some other beverage to ward off the cold, some were playing while others were just gossiping.

Most did not even look at Loki and Elane as they crossed them on the stairs, but some did and they nodded, giving out scant greetings or welcomes, surprising Loki a little and making him think that the people in the paintings were alive.

'Did she trap all these people in paintings?'

'Is she a witch that belongs to the dark side?'

'What happened to the body of that man anyway? Was he also thrown into the paintings?'

'Why did the black market give him this house to steal from anyway?'

'There clearly was someone else in the house and I doubt the older thieves who were previously sent here went back alive.'

'I'll ask them the next time I go around there, maybe.'

'Maybe I should just ask lady Black?'

With that final thought, Loki pushed the matter to the back of his mind and continued watching the portraits as he walked up the stairs.

Stopping in front of a door on the first floor Kreacher spoke up, "This be Sir's and Madam's rooms. The washroom is down the hallway towards the right. There are also fresh clothes that you might want to change into in the cupboards."

Kreacher spoke with a slight bow that only accentuated his curved back further and walked back down the stairs to finish his other duties.

Loki looked at the closed door and then turned the handle to push himself into the room.

The door was heavy and smelled like the pages of an old library book but once inside the room, Loki froze in surprise, his mouth hung loose and his eyes grew wide. Elane wasn't any different as an excited glimmer sparkled in her eyes.

The bed was grand and had velvety covers printed with the design of various butterflies on its side. The pillow covers were a matching deep blue and the bed itself was framed by golden borders carved like the lushes of a fine backyard.

What surprised Loki the most though was the glass windows that allowed sunlight into the house.

'There shouldn't be any windows here, don't the sides have other houses conjoined?' Loki thought as he peered outside the windows and looked at the cloudy blue sky.

The windows themselves were framed by golden carvings which were animated. Loki could see people and animals rushing around, playing with each other in harmony.

"Big Bwother! Look! There's a puppy in here!" Elane shouted as she noticed a dog on the window border.

"Haha, yes, there is."

Seeing Elane lean on the table in front of the window and watch the animals playing around, Loki sprouted a soft smile on his face and his evaluation of Walburga increased to a new high in his mind.

'What a powerful witch she must be.'

"Little sis, let's go and get ready. Then you can play. Okay?"

"Ok, big bwother."

Elane and Loki took a shower and changed their clothes to ones that fit both of them well, but Elane caught Loki's attention by raising a question while squinting her large eyes, as if trying to avoid looking at something that disgusted her.

"Big bwother are you sure that is alright?"

"Huh? Do I not look good? I think it suits me fine." Loki said staring at himself in the mirror.

He was wearing a bright pink beanie, an orange jacket, underneath which was a green shirt and top it all off was a grey pant.

Elane scrunched up her face but didn't say anything otherwise, which Loki took as a confirmation of his style.

'Ha! I'm sure Walburga will be floored when she sees me in this.' Loki thought with a proud smile on his face.

And floored she was.

"What in Morgana's milk sacks are you wearing!?" Walburga complained as soon as she spotted Loki when he returned to the hall.

"Why? Can't handle how good I look?" Loki asked striking a pose, causing Walburga to cover her face and control the bile that was rising up in her throat.

"I confiscate your right to touch the wardrobe from today.", Walburga stated in a plain voice after recovering her composure.

"Wha-" Loki began to argue, but Walburga instantly shut him up with a stern glare.

"Now. Let us move to the study room." Walburga said and began to walk through the large hallway moving past doors on either side and towards the door at the end of the hall.

Loki watched Walburga move past doors but he also saw her linger in front of a particular door for a little longer with some longing in her eyes but before Loki could question her she was already moving again.

Pushing open the door at the end of the hallway, Walburga entered the room and Loki followed.

As soon as Loki entered the room, a *gasp* escaped his lips as he watched all the things in the room.

An endless row of shelves filled with books stood in one corner, a court with various dummies stood in another, a calm reading chair stood in the middle of the two with a tall lamp to light up the area for reading beside it.

A table stood in front of the chair with a pile of books open and collapsed on top of it like someone had just been reading something.

"I've been meaning to ask, can magic extend space like this!?" Loki asked with anticipation clear in his voice.

"Yes. They fall under the category of space extension charms." Walburga responded and moved to the table in the centre of the room.

With the wave of her wand, Walburga sent all but one of the books on the table back to their place in the library seamlessly under Loki's fascinated gaze.

"What's this book?" Loki asked as he peaked over at the book that was lying on the table.

"An introduction to magic. A theory book."

"What!?? We won't be doing any practical magic!?"

"Let me remind you, you don't have a wand boy. And you're malnourished. It probably won't even take a strong breeze to blow you away." Walburga retorted as Loki flinched at each of his deficiencies.

"Can't I like do magic wandlessly? Like I already do?"

"I bet you don't even know how you do magic. Don't you just push out as much of your spirituality and hope that an effect comes true?"

"Well, yes. But don't you do magic like that?" Loki asked a little surprised at having his method dissected.

"What's the point of a wand if everyone did magic that way?" Walburga responded with a question.

"I don't know? Maybe it helps increase the speed of mana leaving your body or something?" Loki said thinking a little.

"Not the right answer but not wrong either."

"What do you mean?"

"A wand is something like an automatic regulator. It helps regulate the amount of magic you expel from your body."

"Why would you need to do that?" Loki asked with confusion etched onto his face.

"Which is why you're going to read this book." Walburga said, tossing the book onto Loki's face with great speed that he had to react immediately to catch and save his nose.

"Find the answer to your question and tell me the answer in two hours. If you don't, I won't teach you anymore."

"What!? Why!?"

"Because if you're not talented, it doesn't make sense to teach you all this when you will learn it at Hogwarts anyway."

Loki wanted to argue but he couldn't find a way to counter what Walburga said so he kept silent.

"Your time's ticking.", Walburga said pointing at the grandfather clock in the room.

"Damn it! Just you wait!"