9. Exploring the castle

I woke early Saturday morning. Felix was asleep beside me, he was very cute and soft, since he was on his back with all limbs spread out like a star. I gently cuddled his stomach, to gently wake him. He groggily lifted his head, looked at me trying to focus, and dropped his head. I could almost feel what he was thinking, "are you kidding me! It's way too early!". Grinning, I scooped him up, and took him with me to get ready for the day. He did grumble slightly but I knew he wouldn't miss exploring with me.

I put on my clothes, with a robe on top, and went over to Eddie's bed, "Hey, Eddie, WAKE UP! wanna come explore the castle with me?". Only answer I got was a grumble and him turning away from me in his bed, I guess that's a no. I looked at Felix, "I guess it's just you and me" He seemed to like that, and gripped my shoulder, ready to go out and explore.

Going out of our room, and into the common area, I was the only one up so far, so it was empty, I ran to the opening and walked out.

I thought about visiting the kitchen, grabbing a sandwich to go, so I wouldn't have to stop exploring right away, or simply biting the bullet, and eating in the Great Hall.

Thinking of it, I thought it might be better to socialize a bit, since in my previous life I was quite the loner, so I made my way down the stairs from the tower to the Great Hall.

Walking in, I saw a couple of students that were sitting at their tables, mainly a couple at Hufflepuff and a couple at Gryffendors. I also saw a couple of the older kids at Ravenclaw, but none at Slytherin.

At the teachers table only two sat, I think the lady was Professor Charity Burbage, the muggle studies professor, but the older man I didn't know who was, he had some graying hair, a full beard, but not like Dumbledore, his was cut down to shape his face.

I walked over to some of the older students at Ravenclaw, and asked them "Hi, I'm Thomas, sorry to bother you, but do you know who that man is? I think the lady is Professor Burbage, but I haven't seen or really heard of him? He hasn't been here most of the week?"

They both looked gobsmacked at me, "You don't know who Professor Knotts is? Wait, you're a muggleborn right?" I just nodded, "Professor Knotts is the Defender of Britain! He helped Dumbledore beat Grindelwald, and defeated Voldemort! He is the greatest and most powerful wizard in Britain, and some say even the world! He teaches Alchemy and Defense against the dark arts!"They both looked almost in awe when talking about him, but to me, it was really a shock! He wasn't in the books or the movies! Does that mean Voldemort is never going to return? That would actually be nice, since I don't really feel like I would stand a chance in that fight! I mean, I know I reincarnated, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be all powerful or anything like that.

The boy to my left looked at me and looked slightly embarrassed "Right, ehm. My name is Michael Cole" he looked to the boy opposite him, "and this here is Noah Hall, we're both 7th. Years" he looked back at me with a grin, "You are lucky you get to have Professor Knotts for your entire stay here, he first came here in my fourth year, and he completely changed the way Defense against the Dark arts is teached, he even removed a powerful curse that had been placed on the position".

Felix bumped against my head drawing me out of my stupor, "Thanks Michael, I am happy to be properly taught, I can't wait for my first lesson, I have had all the other classes besides Defense so far", Micahel nodded and smiled "Look forward to it, it's really cool!"

I ate my breakfast, and fed Felix, while reading the book "Care for your Amembi, a familiar guide", trying to get a better grasp at what to feed him, and train him. It seemed he ate about the same as any normal house cat, but with a slightly more focus on meat.

In regards to training, he did not need much in the beginning, attention, experiences and the bond was all he would need in the first two years of his life. Later on, he would need to be challenged physically and intellectually.

But for now, we were off exploring.

We walked out the great hall, and out the large doors leading to the outside. I wanted to head down to Hagrid, he was an awesome character in the books and movies, and I hoped to strike a friendship with him.

The grounds down the small hill Hogwarts were on was amazing to behold, Felix was almost buzzing with excitement, he kept purring and nuzzling his head against me.

There was a small spark between us, where I could almost feel his emotions, the bond was slowly forming.

Hagrid was already outside with Fang laying about, he was chopping up wood with a giant axe with a single hand. He was seriously strong!

He stopped chopping when he saw me coming down, and as I got closer, his eyes got wide, I guess he saw Felix.

"Hello Professor Hagrid, my name is Thomas Lamorak, I just wanted to say hi, and show my Amembi, I heard if I ever wanted to speak to an expert on magical creatures that I should talk to you.", I waved at him, Felix seemed curious and waved his paw as well.

Hagrid seemed slightly flustered, "Ehh I'm not a Professor, Thomas. But that is quite the Amembi, what's his name?".

"He is called Felix"

"Is he now", said Hagrid smiling from ear to ear, he bent down and looked closely at Felix, Felix didn't seem to mind, he didn't sense any maliciousness from Hagrid.

I took Felix from my shoulder, and held him in my hands, "Hagrid, do you know how I can deepen my bond with Felix?". Hagrid looked thoughtful for a minute, "Hmmm. Amembi bonds with the first person they see, but for building an actual bond, experiencing things together, talking to him, and engaging him will deepen your bond, he will become a very good friend if you treat him right. I once talked to Newt Scamander and he mentioned that if you allow him to draw a small amount of magic from you as you both grow up, the bond will grow and his abilities should as well. But much more than that I don't know, but listening to him and caring for him will always be the right way to go".

Hagrid slowly scratched Felix, he really did have the magic touch when it came to animals, because Felix was really enjoying the attention.

We talked some more about what other animals he kept, he talked about the unicorns, the Thestrals and his herd of Hippogriffs. He had an amazing amount of knowledge about them. He showed me the herds and we spent the rest of the day talking about hippogriffs and the unicorns. We didn't get to see the Thestrals since he didn't think I could see them anyway. At the end of the day Hagrid told me to come back the next day and he could show me an exercise for bonding with Felix.

The next day I returned, Hagrid was tending to his garden, and as I walked up to him again, a loud BANG sounded.

The door to Hagrid's hut burst open, and out walked Professor Knott, he looked disheveled and like he had a rough night. He stumbled down the steps and with a slightly slurred speech he exclaimed "Hagrid, that's the last time I'm going out drinking with you, your floor is WAY too hard to sleep on!".

He stopped abruptly midway through taking on his cloak " Hello Thomas, nice morning", he continued putting on the cloak, and gave a slight nod to Felix, "see you later Hagrid!".

Professor Knott walked on slightly swaying side to side, using the whole width of the path up to the castle.

All I could think of was how weird that professor was!

Hagrid just chuckled at the Professor and winked at me, "Well Thomas, let me show the exercise quickly to you" He took Felix from my shoulder and started explaining. "Amembi are highly magical in nature, so to deepen the bond, you place your forehead against his, and focus on the feeling of sharing your magic with him, when you start to feel like heat is passing between you, then you know it is working, but remember when Felix stops you must stop feeding him as well, he can only take so much at a time".

I nodded and Hagrid handed Felix back to me, Felix quickly nuzzled into my neck and sat on my shoulder.

"Well I guess I will see you later Hagrid, thanks for the advice about Felix, I hope you will show me the Thestrals one day".

As we walked along the rim of the forest, Felix jumped off my shoulder and glided to the ground, he ran ahead of me, into the forest. Intrigued, I followed after him, he seemed to have found something.

At a clearing not far from the edge of the forest, the Thestral herd appeared, large winged creatures. I was only slightly surprised since you had to have seen death to see them, but I guess being reincarnated fits the bill.

Felix went up to one of the Thestrals, he seemed to start buzzing, his fur rising on his back, and the blue lines started to slightly glow. A slight haze appeared around the Thestral, It looked like the magic that protected it. I focused on my tattoo for my wand, and it appeared in my hand. I tried to focus on the magic around the animal. Felix seemed to help with my ability to feel the magic, it felt familiar, like the small flame I felt inside of me when I used my phoenix travel. The book dad got me about the theories of the ability of the Thestrals, said that the Thestrals' abilities to hide from people who had not perceived death might be directly related to the aspect of death.

The Thestral seemed relaxed, it was focused on Felix for the most part, I don't know how long we studied the magic surrounding it, but something seemed to click. I got the feeling and intent of the aura around it.

The haze around the Thestral suddenly disappeared and Felix looked at me, he seemed tired, and stumbled over to me, I picked him up, and placed him on my shoulder where he laid and rested.

I felt like I had the magic, so using my wand I focused on the intent, hide from all, protect me from harm, and a tiny bit of aspect of death, I can't explain how I knew, but I swung my wand around me, and a blue haze appeared from it, It wrapped around both me and Felix.

The magic almost felt primal, luckily it didn't take a lot out of me, I felt like testing it immediately, in my head I named it the Thestral ward, hopefully it would work just as well.

Walking up to the castle I passed students going out and about, but none seemed to notice me. I walked in through the gate and into the great hall, as I walked in I could see Professor Knotts sitting at the table nursing what I'm sure was an impressive hangover.

Dumbledore slightly frowned when he looked at me, but suddenly he smiled and he had a slight twinkle in his eyes as he seemed to realize I had used some sort of ward.

He bumped Professor Knotts in the side, and he seemed to wake up. Dumbledore pointed at me, and Professor Knotts looked up at me, his face split into a wide grin, "100 points to Ravenclaw for a perfect Thestral ward!" he yelled, and winced slightly.

Dumbledore chuckled at him, and returned to his food.

I was shocked at the byplay, this was so different! They acted like they were best friends, but I guess they might actually be? I could only shake my head and laugh.

Now since it was almost noon, I think I should go and get something to eat, but since I was still exploring the castle, going down to the kitchen seemed like the thing to do.

The Hufflepuff common room entrance was also in the basement, next to the kitchen, the entrance was accessible by going through a door in the entrance hall and taking the stairs downwards. Downstairs, in a broad stone basement corridor, brightly lit and decorated with food-themed paintings. I found the painting of a bowl of fruit, and tickled the pear, it giggled and turned into a handle which I opened.

Inside it was buzzing with house elves, they were preparing food and setting it on the four large tables representing the different houses. Felix seemed to wake up a bit as well and looked with fascination on all the elves buzzing around.

One of the elves stopped up when she saw me, "Anything I's can do for youse? Want something to eat? We hav ham, sausages, cake, or wes can make some?".

I smiled at the house elf, "Could you make me a sandwich and get something tasty for Felix here" I indicated to Felix on my shoulder.

"Ofcourse!" She ran off quickly and got me a sandwich, a small jug of juice and some snacks for Felix.

We snacked on the food, it was insanely good! The bread was crispy, the bacon was tasty and the chicken was amazing!

Felix and I happily ate, we saw the tables empty as the elves sent the food up, as for a day of exploring this had been quite a good day so far. For the rest of the day, I spent it with Felix and Eddie playing games and talking.