humiliation

*Narrator pov*

Lucius awoke with a start he instinctively reached for his wand but couldn't find it, looking around he realized he was lying in the infirmary.

"Ah your up, well lad you got lucky just a light concussion from the fall. Drink this and you will be good to resume attending classes," Madam Pomfrey said stuffing a potion down Lucius's throat

Lucius coughed once the potion was gone his face contorting in disgust at the taste, his mind wandering elsewhere. He kept seeing Frank Longbottom's eyes boring into his own as he lost the duel.

It was humiliating to lose to a younger year, he dreaded receiving the impending letter from his father.

Groaning he rolled off of the bed and took his wand from the desk beside it, swiftly Lucius left the infirmary.

As he made his way to the Slytherin dungeons he passed many students in the hall. Where in the past they would look at him with a mix of fear and respect now they looked at him like he was mundane.

Just another student who was too confident for his own good.

It made Lucius furious.

When he entered the Slytherin dungeons Lucius didn't receive the usual greetings, he frowned while looking at the students who would usually come up to greet him, they were instead looking at him oddly.

Slytherin's respect the strong and the cunning, Lucius using curses and still losing the duel was a shame to their whole house.

He walked up to his room, opening the door he didn't find his 'friends' inside. Frowning Lucius went to the room where they usually held meetings and found it locked with wards around the door.

Dispelling the wards Lucius opened the door and saw them having a meeting without him.

"Ah, Lucius your back," Bellatrix said with a 'kind' smile

"Having a meeting without me?" Lucius asked coldly

"We didn't know when you would be out of the infirmary we would have waited," Rabastan Lestrange said with a calm smile

That sentence told Lucius a lot, they didn't check on him in the infirmary as Madam Pomfrey would have told them he was barely injured and they are edging him out of the leader position.

They would have never held a meeting like this without him before the duel.

Lucius gritted his teeth in anger.

It was safe to say Lucius will not be thinking of recruiting in the near future instead, he needs to gain his authority back.

Which was easier said than done.

*Morpheus pov*

"If you saw Frank Longbottom's duel with Lucius Malfoy you should have seen his excellent magic control, the way he underpowered a overpowered certain spells is just the tip of the iceberg on what magical control really means. I hope you all will continue to strive to learn this skill," I said to my class while watching them practice with the training wands

After twenty minutes I told them to stop as I was now going to transition into a highly awaited project.

"For the next section of the class, I will introduce your end-of-the-year project. Which is a group project, I will allow you to pick your own groups, and I will be grading on all factors not just the overall success of the group so you don't have to worry about failing because your group doesn't do too well," as I said that some students groaned while some seemed excited

I laughed, "Don't worry the project isn't difficult if you practice, you will be forming a group of three, and using group casting you will use a crystal ball to scry the location of an object. With the added power of group casting, you should be able to at least see a blurry vision not symbols,"

"Before you break into groups I will perform a demonstration, Matthew, Amelia, please come up to the front," I picked two students at random while taking out a crystal ball

The two students came up with unconfident expressions, I laughed, "Don't worry,"

Placing the crystal ball on the floor I asked, "Who wants to view?" Matthew quickly raised his hand, "m-me" he stuttered

I nodded, "sit down with both hands on the crystal ball, Amelia you sit across from him doing the same"

They both did as I instructed. I then sat down beside them both on the side facing the rest of the class.

"This crystal ball is specifically made in mind for group casting, each group will be provided with one," I told them, "Matthew hold the sides of the crystal ball with both hands, then on my signal pour your magic into the runes etched into the crystal, the runes will also prevent any backlash from a failed attempt. Amelia place your hands on the base, channel your magic through the runes there. Both of you must be searching for the same answer, so before you attempt anything remember as a group to agree on one specific question," I explained

"For the purpose of this demonstration, the question you will be asking is 'Where did Professor Morpheus hide the silver locket?'. Once you have that memorized first Matthew will channel his magic followed by Amelia. My job is the hardest so the student in your group with the best magical control should be in my place. I need to channel magic into both Amelia and Matthew simultaneously, this is to give the vision more power," I then took out two ropes

"Each group will get two bond ropes, these are primarily used by healers to supply their patients with enough magic for medical procedures," I said while wrapping one rope end around Matthews's right arm and then the other end around my left arm.

I repeated the process with Amelia.

"Are you two ready?" I asked

Both nodded, I smiled and said, "Begin,"

Matthew instantly poured magic into the runes and Amelia right after him. I began to slowly give both of them more power, I could see the sweat forming on Matthews's brow.

Suddenly his eyes snapped open with a gasp, he stood up quickly, "Bloody hell," he muttered while walking over to the bookcase

Pulling out a book he opened it to the middle and a locket slid out. Catching it mid air Matthew smiled.

The class clapped at the display.

"How did it feel to finally see?" I asked with a knowing smirk

"Brilliant!" Matthew replied with a wide smile

Amelia just looked exhausted.

Looking at the clock I said, "I can demonstrate a couple more times who wants to go next?"

A couple more groups went, and I picked the students that I thought specifically needed the extra boost.

When class was over and the students fought to form groups I sat at my desk and began to mark down the groups as they were made.

Before the students left I handed out the materials and warned, "If you lose any of the items your group has I will fail you,"

The students nodded and carefully carried them out of class.

This project is the perfect blend of learning how to work magic in teams and divination.

Little to no ritual symbolism is used.

Albus won't be mad about it.

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A/N:Patre on : patreon.com/Boogie324