Chapter 77: Life at Hogwarts

Hogwarts Castle, Somewhere in the Scottish Highlands

October 31st, 995, 10:18 PM

–

Erik was happy. Hogwarts had been an amazing experience for him. His first two years had been very nice. He learned about a lot of different magics and got to use most of them on his first try with his wand. By the way, it was a twenty-five centimeters long piece of applewood with a core made of the purple hair of an unidentified magical creature. The teachers said that his ease with wand magic was because of his ability to do magic without a wand, which when asked how he could do it so easily, he just replied that it was a family secret and was left alone by the adults. Apparently, family secrets were something that was very much respected in the magical world, and it was considered something very rude to ask about someone's family magic.

Erik's good results had generated a healthy rivalry with some students. Between them were the Ravenclaw twins, Helena and Selena, and Robert Black. The four students were commonly seen together studying in the library and practicing their magic in the designated grounds.

Robert Black, who didn't like being called Bob by Erik, was a very chill guy who was not at all a bigot. One day, when they were talking about their families, Robert Black had revealed that the Black family's motto, 'Tojous Pur', meant that one should always keep themselves true to their beliefs, free of any impurity in their minds and souls, keeping them always pure.

The Ravenclaw twins, even being almost physically identical, couldn't have more different personalities. Selena was a very curious girl and was eager to discover how things worked. Erik had once, during an astronomy class, said that one day people would be able to step on the moon. Most of his classmates called him crazy, but Selena Ravenclaw had come to him the next day and both started to discuss what should be done to achieve that feat. It was the beginning of their strong friendship. Helena Ravenclaw was a more quiet girl. She liked magic but was not as curious about things as her elder sister. She was very content to just sit in a comfortable armchair and read a good book.

Today, October thirty-one was Erik's birthday. His mother had reunited his friends and Professor to a small celebration. Robert Black, Selena, and Helena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff had come to it and they had gotten him some small gifts. But for Erik that didn't matter. Their presence there was the truly important thing. After the celebration, Erik had managed to escape from Hufflepuff's dormitory room and was now at the Astronomy tower. He was sitting still on the ground while in deep concentration. All his exercises to better his control over his magic were stagnated and he was sure that he was at a bottleneck. Erik had sent a letter to grandpa Jeo using one of the school's trained post Owls, but the letter had come back unopened. Without being able to reach the old hermit, his only option was to keep up with his training. And because of that, he was now meditating, trying to find his internal source of power.

But today, while doing it, Erik found something different from the usual while diving in. Checking it out with his senses, he decided that it was not something that would be bad for him and tried to control this source of power. And when he did it, he found his mind being slammed with a book's worth of information. Erik suddenly opened his eyes and started to breathe hard, but strangely enough, he had a maniacal smile on his face. The book's worth of information had explained to him what exactly that source of power was and how he could access it. Erik had just found his sacred gear inside of him. And, boy, he was eager to give it a try. But he ended up managing to hold himself back. He knew that it would be dangerous to summon a monster inside the school, even more, because of its wards. Erik would have to wait for an opportune moment.

–

Hogwarts Castle, Somewhere in the Scottish Highlands

November 5th, 995, 09:32 AM

–

The opportune moment came to him on the next weekend. Erik had found a window of opportunity and decided to take a walk around the Black Lake alone. When he was at the most distant shore of it, Erik deviated from the pathway and entered the Black Forest, which will be in the future known as Forbidden Forest.

Erik walked for a good ten minutes until he found himself inside a small clearing. He looked around it and decided that it would be a good place for his first activation of his Annihilation Maker. Erik had thought a lot about what he would create first and he had the picture of it formed inside his head. The book's worth of information that got 'downloaded' in his brain was very specific about the instructions: Erik needed to concentrate on the form and purpose of the monster while channeling the power from the Annihilation Maker.

Erik then closed his eyes and started to work. Five minutes later of pure concentration and channeling the power inside him, Erik let out a sigh and opened his eyes.

*sigh*

'It seems that this will be a lot more difficult.'

Erik thought. He then slapped both his cheeks and his face changed to one of determination.

Three hours later, Erik was smiling like a loon while looking at the small bird in front of him. This was his first monster made using his sacred gear. It was not anything that would inspire fear in people, that's for sure, but the little bird was dead useful. Because of the high prices of the 'new' post Owls, they were not a common commodity yet and the ones owned by the school were always full of work to do. The little bird monster created by Erik had two main objectives: seek and deliver. He could too obey simple commands, but his specialty was in seeking people. Erik called for the little bird and it took flight and landed on Erik's shoulder. He then looked up in the sky and saw the position of the sun on it, making him frown. Quickly, he cast a spell to check the time and saw that he should have been back to the castle some time ago. Erik then quickly started to walk back. On the way, he kept talking with the little bird, who he decided to call Pisto.

Arriving back in the castle, Erik found his friends and was immediately bombarded with questions from Selena about the cute little bird on his shoulder. And Erik had to admit, he had made Pisto a very cute bird. Having answered the girl's question at the best that he could, telling some white lies here and there, Erik managed to start his studies.

–

Hogwarts Castle, Somewhere in the Scottish Highlands

Year 996-997

–

Tragedy had struck the castle. Esmeralda Slytherin, Salazar's wife, was dead. She was ambushed by witch hunters after following a tip about a young witch being hunted and was killed. Salazar was devastated. It took the combined efforts of Selena, Helga Hufflepuff, and Godric Gryffindor to stop the old wizard from doing something which he would regret later. The man then turned to investigate where his wife and mother of his two kids had heard this 'tip'. After a lot of time investigating, Salazar Slytherin discovered who the source was. It was an old enemy of his. The man had created a plan to seek revenge against Salazar Slytherin and since he couldn't beat the man, he decided to target his family. He paid someone to 'plant' a tip about a young witch being hunted down and at the same time tipped the witch hunters about where a witch would appear.

When Salazar Slytherin discovered this, he was furious and immediately disappeared from the castle. Two weeks later, the man came back. He was not smiling or anything and went directly to his chambers. Three days later, news arrived at the castle that the mangled body of a man was found in his home, and they could identify the reason for the death, just that he had suffered immensely before finally dying. Erik thought that the right wording of the end of that sentence should be 'before he was allowed to die', but decided to keep his mouth shut about the subject. After that, Salazar became very protective of his family and students.

Later that year, Erik and Selena had their first real date. They had gone on various outings together before, but they had gone as friends and not with any romantic intentions behind it. But now it was different. Erik had noticed his feelings towards Selena and had confessed to her that he liked her. Selena said that she had felt something different lately when she was in Erik's company but didn't know what it was, but wanted to explore this different feeling.

After their date, Selena talked with Helga Hufflepuff, who gave the girl some advice. After the talk, Helga Hufflepuff went to talk with Rowena Ravenclaw, who then talked with Erik's mother, Aria. The trio of women would keep their eyes open to see if the feeling of the teens would develop more.

–

Hogwarts Castle, Somewhere in the Scottish Highlands

Year 997-998

–

Erik and Selena were engaged. The marriage would occur after they had finished their magical education and Erik would take the Ravenclaw name to be the new Lord besides Selena, who was the heiress and Lady to be. The teens were... okay with the arrangement done by their parents. Of course, they were consulted before by their mothers, so that was why they were so chill with the early engagement.

The advancement of their relationship seemed to embolden Robert Black, who a week later confessed that he liked Helena to the girl. Helena, different from her twin, didn't have any different feelings for Robert Black but decided to give the boy a chance to court her.

At the same time, Erik's training began. Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff had started to train Erik for what was to come after he married Selena. Salazar Slytherin, who was Selena's godfather, joined the trainers' team too after he discovered what the women were doing. Godric Gryffindor, not wanting to be left out, joined them too a week later.

It was then that Erik's nightmarish years of training truly began. Erik barely had any time free and was put under a strict study program.

"You will thank us in the future for this, Erik."

His future mother-in-law, Rowena, said to him one day that he decided to complain loudly. But how would Erik know that what she was telling him was true? For him, those classes were just torture. And he had been a polymath in his past life!

–

Hogwarts Castle, Somewhere in the Scottish Highlands

Year 998-999

–

Salazar Slytherin disowned his son. The young man had gone to seek revenge by his own hands even after his father had already done that. His revenge was against a family that had nothing to do with his mother's death. They were only guilty of finding a sack containing Esmeralda's necklace while hunting in the forest. And for that, the young man had killed the entire family. Salazar Slytherin had been shocked by the happenings and after his own investigation about what his son was doing after he completed his education ended disowning his son magically from the family. The only comment about it that he had given to the other founder was that 'the boy had turned himself into a power-hungry bigot and that his mother would be disappointed in him'.

That year was the year that Helena Ravenclaw finally accepted Robert Black's courtship and their parents got them engaged, but their marriage would only occur after Helena Ravenclaw had gotten her mastery.

-------------