Chapter 19— Prank War and Boils

~Fun Fact: Despite Garrick Ollivander's claims that the original Ollivander arrived to Great Britain with the Romans, this individual started his wand-making business in 382 B.C. but the Roman conquest of Britain (Britannia) only began effectively in A.D. 43, under Emperor Claudius.

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I stepped through the door, and closed it behind me.

"Hey room!" I said. "If you can hear me, make it so that nobody can get in for now"

The magic in the room pulsed in what I think was assent as the door disappeared behind me. Turning back, I looked at the heaps of money in front of me.

There were so many Galleons in front of me I couldn't even begin to count them all.

"Hey room, out of curiosity, how many Galleons are here?"

In response to my question, a black board and a stick of chalk popped up out of nowhere. The chalk began to float and write something on the black board.

"Excuse my language but what the fuck?!" I exclaimed, my eyes goggling at the figure in front of me.

In this room right now, there were 20,000 Galleons.

"Err, room, do you have any pouches charmed to contain large amounts of things?" I asked hopefully.

The roomed pulse in assent once more as a worn black and grey pouch appeared before me. I approached it warily and opened it, emptying out its contents on the floor. A single tattered black book fell out of it. I picked it up and opened it, the title reading:

'Of Magic'

'This seems, interesting.' I thought.

I flicked through the book and found that there was nothing mentioned of the author's name. Sitting down, I began reading the book, curious as to what I would find.

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To the one reading this book, congratulations you have been found worthy. You, upon reading this introductory book on magic, may learn some of the most guarded secrets the wizards of this world have ever had. Things that if you talk about, may result in your soul being scattered out of the fear that you may spread this knowledge. You may be wondering who 'they' are; you may be thinking of some kind of omnipotent gods or eldritch horrors and if you thought that then you are wrong. Beings such as those wouldn't interfere only because of this, no, who I am referring to are the beings in positions of power. The governments, the rulers of your society; for they are people who fear those with power greater than theirs.

At the end of this book you will find a message. Some may call it a riddle, some a poem, I call it a test of wisdom that will allow you, if solved, access to the second book, which in retrospect is the first book as this one is an introduction for what is to come and the basics of magic so that one may use the knowledge and ideas in this book as basis upon which the reader is expected to build themselves. These books will not contain amazing rituals that will grant you immortality or omnipotence. It is merely here for the purpose of giving the reader the tools to achieve their goals if the reader has the needed drive of course.

If you find yourself to disagree with the content in this book you are able to use the empty pages that exist at the end of every book to add these thoughts, they will then be reviewed by myself and changes will be made to the book. Take note though, should it be found that this function is exploited or used to waste our time, your access to all the books may be revoked, therefore take care of what you write. This is not meant to discourage the reader from adding their thoughts though as any useful ideas not to mention criticisms, as long as constructive, are appreciated and should you find something downright false and bring it to our attention, you may even be rewarded. Any reward will only be paid in knowledge— something that you will come to appreciate as you make your way in the world.

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'Paid in knowledge, huh.'

After reading through the introduction, I turned my attention back to the task at hand, the Room of Requirement and my money.

"Alright then" I said putting the book down. "How much space is inside the pouch?"

The chalk started floating once again as it began to write down another figure.

"125 cubic metres?!" I exclaimed happily. "This pouch will probably be something I'll be using for a good while!"

Luckily, I could fit all 20,000 Galleons into the bag. I tried to pick it up expecting it to be impossible, however it weighed almost nothing.

"Wait you gave me a pouch with an Undetectable Extension Charm?!" I said, laughing. "This room is so damn awesome!"

After I was finished collecting the money, I imagined the room changing to an obstacle course with crash mats in place of the floor.

*****

For the next hour, I trained my flexibility, speed, and Parkour skills. To say the least, I was exhausted. I left them room, feeling weightless after a shower courtesy of the lovely Room of Requirement and while walking down the seventh floor corridor, I stopped a 6th year Gryffindor girl.

"Um, excuse me." I said, smiling cutely at her. "Can you tell me where to find the Greenhouses?"

She looked at me, visibly melting at my cuteness. "You can find the Greenhouses behind the castle." She said, patting my head.

'Mhm, nobody can resist my cuteness!' I thought narcissistically while recieving her head pats. 'I'm going to take full advantage of my child-like face for as long as possible.'

She smiled at me, completely oblivious to my thoughts.

"Alright, I'm going to go before I'm late." I said, running down the corridor in search of the Greenhouses.

*****

'I made it on time!' I thought as I ran to catch up to the rest of the class in the greenhouse.

Before me stood Professor Sprout and we were in the Greenhouses for our first ever Herbology lesson. We being the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins.

"Hello children!" Said the cheerful and motherly looking Professor Sprout. "I'll be your Herbology teacher during your time here at Hogwarts."

Since there were no tables in the Greenhouse, we were all kind of standing around and listening to Professor Sprout talk.

"There are a few rules that I will have you abide by while you are here:

1) You will not touch any plant without explicit permission.

2) You will wear the correct protective equipment when handling plants.

3) You will observe the rules above or you will be barred from my lessons due to not being able to follow simple instructions.

Do I make myself clear?"

There was a general "Yes, Professor Sprout" around the class.

"Good! Welcome to your first Herbology lesson."

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Professor Sprout spent the next hour or so introducing us to the course for the year, the plants we would be expected to handle, and the content that we would be tested on during the end of year exams. Although Harry, Neville, Tracey, Daphne and I were standing together; we couldn't speak much since the majority of the lesson was Professor Sprout talking to us.

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After the lesson had finished, I was faced with another free period before lunch. Luckily, the Slytherins were also free. I was currently sitting in the library with Neville, Tracey, Daphne and Harry when a thought occured to me.

'We can spend an hour exploring school before coming back for lunch.' I thought.

"Hey guys, how would you feel about a little exploration before lunch?" I asked, grinning mischieviously.

"I am so down for that!" Said Harry, giving me an equally mysterious grin.

We started giggling maniacally but we were interrupted by Madam Pince.

"Shush!" She whisper-shouted, walking up to us with a stern expression on her face. "If you are going to have conversations in the library, I would rather that you not be here at all!"

And with that, much to Tracey's amusement and Daphne's apathy, Harry and I were kicked out carrying our bags dejectedly as we walked out of the library.

The minute we walked through the library door, Harry looked at me grinning madly.

"Pick a direction and start running. I'll follow you and we'll see what we find. First person to get us lost wins." He said with excitement.

I looked at him before dashing madly towards the right side of the door.

"Oh, you're on!" He said as he ran to catch up to me, our hysterical laughter travelling down the empty corridor.

*****

Long story short, we were lost. As in genuinely lost. I had no idea at all where we were and even worse, It was already lunchtime.

Turning the corner of yet another corridor, Harry and I almost collided into two tall, and identical ginger Gryffindors.

'Fred and George Weasley eh, time to confuse the hell out of them!' I thought, my face completely neutral.

"Why look here less handsome brother of mine." Said one of the twins.

"Indeed my less attractive counterpart, we have an ickle snake and badger on the loose."

"Who are you guys?" Asked Harry, curious as to what the identities of our two ginger Gryffindors were.

"Us? We're the greatest pranksters to grace these grounds—"

"—roguishly handsome and intelligent too!"

"We are Fred and George Weasley!" They said dramatically. "Now, who are you two?"

"We're just the most talented—"

"—and amazing first years you'll ever see."

Harry and I said, mimicking their synchrony.

"Lookie here Gred..." Said who I could only assume to be George. "They've stolen our thunder!"

"Indeed less handsome brother of mine..." Said Fred, giving his brother a grin. "Now, what can we do for you?"

It was then that an amazing thought occured to me.

'Considering the next two years aren't going to be as important as those afterwards, this will be a good way to increase the overall creativity and skill of nearly everyone at Hogwarts.' I though as I evaluated my idea.

"Gentlemen." I said articulately, standing straighter and gaining their attention. "I have a proposal for you..."

*****

It was lunchtime in the Great Hall, students were sitting at their tables as a general hubbub of laughter and conversation spread across the hall.

Completely out of the blue, a red spark flew through the air and towards the ceiling. This caused complete silence as the spark began to turn into words.

'Oculos, Fulgur, Humpty, and Dumpty present....

The Hogwarts House Pranking War!'

As the writing finished, numerous fireworks exploded around the room as everyone reacted to the news. The Gryffindor table cheered whereas the other tables looked confused, Dumbledore smiled as Professor Flitwick excitedly spoke to him. The writing continued again as another spark flew into the room. From where, no-one could tell.

'There will be a point system and a leaderboard in place. The House with the most points by the end of the year wins bragging rights and the title of best house. Now, the rules are as follows:

- Pranks cannot be malicious in nature.

- 5 Points for making the recipient of the prank blush, 10 if they laugh.

- You cannot prank fellow house members nor can you collude with other houses that aren't your own.

And with that ladies and gentlemen, we bid you farewell!'

The message exploded in a final grand firework as there was a moment of silence before the Gryffindor table exploded into more cheering.

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(Aayan's POV)

Looking up from my food, I suppressed a grin. Everything went according to plan. The pranks would increase the creativity of everyone as well as their awareness as they stood on the lookout for pranks around the school. I glanced around the room to see people's reactions.

'The puffs seem nervous but that's fine, I'm bringing us on top anyways so their confidence will rise with time. Slytherin is as aloof as always and Ravenclaw don't seem too bothered though I can see a few excited faces.'

I then looked towards the teachers' table. Well specifically at Dumbledore, whose eyes seemed to be twinkling in full blast.

'He seems happy...' I thought apprehensively as I looked away from his eyes.

Professor McGonagall was fuming as she tried appealing to Dumbledore's sense of reason, which seemed to be failing while Professor Snape just didn't care. Professor Flitwick was clapping happily while talking with Professor Sprout who caught my eye and smiled genially at me. I, of course, smiled back. I'm not an emo-boy who rejects goodwill like a certain duck-butt, you know.

*****

Soon enough, lunch was over and I nervously walked towards the dungeons with the rest of the 'puffs.

'Ah lord, it's time for the Lord of Emos, Severus 'The Bat' Snape himself.' I thought nervously as we trudged onwards.

Eventually, we ended up inside his classroom, if it could even be called that. There was an assortment of pickled magical creatures floating in jars along the walls and coupled with green tinge the room had, it felt quite creepy indeed. Snape began, like a normal teacher, by taking attendance and once he was done, he leapt into his whispering melodramatic speech.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking," he began. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even stopper death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

More silence followed his little speech.

'I swear to you, how more emo could this man be?! I understand he's a spy and he doesn't really like teaching but fucking hell!' I thought.

Since there was no Harry here, the famous questioning never happened, at least not in our class.

Snape put us all into pairs and told us to brew a simple potion to cure boils. He swept around in his long black cloak almost like batman, watching us weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing literally everybody. I was paired with Hermione and our cure for boils was smooth-sailing but the same couldn't be said about Neville, who was unfortunately paired with Zacharias Smith.

Neville had somehow managed to melt Zacharias's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in everyone's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.

"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"

Neville whimpered, unable to say a word as boils started to pop up all over his nose.

"Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Zacharias. Then he turned to me and Hermione who were next to him.

"You — Barak — why didn't you tell him not to add the quills?" He said berating me.

Hermione, still stuck up in her teacher worship, was too afraid to speak as she blinked back tears.

'Why the fucking animosity?!' I thought, surprised. 'I'm not Harry!'

However as unpleasant as he was, the man was still a teacher so I would show respect at least.

"Sorry sir, but I was focused on brewing my own potion to see what was happening on Neville's table. I'd rather the same thing not happen again, wouldn't you?" I said, failing to keep the snark out of my voice as Hermione looked at me, alarmed.

Snape stared at me with those pitch black tunnels of his before turning around, his cloak swooshing around him.

'I really need to find out what spells he uses for his cloak to move like that. It's so damn cool!' I thought.

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