Ch. 21 A year came and went

As summer break ended it was time to return to Hogwarts for my second year. And so like last year Aunt Amelia got us a ministry car to get there in style and comfort while Susan was getting in all the hugs she could. I really love my cute little sister.

We got to to platform 9 3/4 with plenty of time to spare. I gave everyone great big hugs as I said my goodbyes and headed to find myself a compartment and wait for my friends.

"Hey man, how was your summer?" I heard the laid back voice of Christian ask.

"Pretty good. I had lots of time to create a few interesting little potions and play around with some spells." I answered my wild friend.

"Haha, sounds like a summer for our Silver Star alright." He said teasing me.

"Haha! And what about our famous baby Hagrid?" I answered back with his own title in response. And yes he's been compared to Hagrid because of his love for creatures and the fact that he doesn't seem to be very claw-like.

"I've been great! The family went to visit a Welsh Green sanctuary, it was wicked." Said the black-haired boy with a broad smile on his face.

"Must've been cool, I've always wanted to see some dragons in the wild." I said feeling a bit jealous.

"I've finally found you two." We then heard from the compartment door.

""Wonder Boy!!"" We exclaimed in unison.

"Oh, when are you two gonna drop that nickname?" Said the newly arrived James.

"When we both lose ours." Answered Christian with confidence.

"Hahaha! You know we care, so how was your summer?" I asked after laughing a bit.

"Sigh, it was good. Since I don't see my parents much they decided to take a family trip, so we went over to Paris to see the sights. They also got curious about the magic side there, but we couldn't find it. Still an interesting city to visit, magic or no magic. Also you have to thank your aunt for me since she let me stay for a week." Said James.

"Oh come on I told you it's fine. Aunty loves having you over and you also helped me take care of Susan." I said waving my hand and shaking my head.

"Alright I get it." He answered.

Then James looked like he thought of something and rummaged through his bag for a few seconds and took out a book.

"Have you guys heard about this book being given out at Gringotts?" Asked James holding out the very book I wrote.

"Yeah, supposed to be some sort of guide for muggle-Borns no?" I answered after giving it a quick look and then passing it to Christian.

"Heard the info in this thing is pretty accurate and up to date too." Added Christian handing it back to James. "I was actually more interested in the fact that the author wrote another book and published it at the same time about werewolves."

"Yeah, heard that one is causing an outcry from a lot of people, but it's also been heavily supported by people affected or related to those affected by lycanthropy." I responded.

"Really?" Said a surprised James.

"Well it's no surprise you didn't hear of it since you'd be out of the loop during summer, but there's basically a hidden man-hunt by some families who aren't too happy with being called out and that the ministry wasn't pleased as well for being criticized. But the man made valid, fact based points, with historical documents and events to back it up so they can't do much." Explained Christian before looking over to me.

"Yeah, my aunt even said that some rich families tried to force these books onto the forbidden list as they were 'disrupting law and order'." I added with a chuckle.

"Yeah. It may not seem like a lot to publish two books, but they pointed out a lot of issues with how things are currently going in a subtle manner. There's no outright criticism or blaming, just highlighting of issues." Continued Christian.

"Wow and that one guy started all that, pretty impressive." Sighed James in admiration.

"That it is." I said with a knowing smile.

We chatted until we got to Hogsmeade and it was time to get changed. Since we were now second years we headed towards the carriages and yes I could see the Thestrals clear as day. And I get why people don't like these guys, but they still look pretty cool. I mean they look like the horses of the grim reaper.

My favorite senior also joined us for the carriage ride and we all got to chatting. She even put her pride down and asked for help this year since she's going to go through her O.W.L's and hopes to become an Auror, which I fully support her being badass, and needs good grades for it. I never say no to helping my friends so it was pretty easy for her, but I still teased her by calling her Pinky Puff.

So with laughter and good cheer we arrived at the Great Hall to wait for the first years to show up and be sorted. The hat sang a different version of his song, which he does have plenty of time to come up with, and began sorting. Everything ended up being like the books: twins in Gryffindor, Edward Cullen in Hufflepuff where he can shine all he likes, Angelina Johnson (future Weasley) was a lion and Roger Davies joined our house, but all I could remember of the guy was that he was Quidditch captain and acted like an idiot as Fleur Delacour's date during the Yule ball.

With the end of the feast that horrible song was sung and the weasley twins got a bit too into it. Then it was time to retire. But do you remember when we were introduced to Ravenclaw tower that the better your results, the better the treatment? Well remember who was the absolute best last year? All I'm saying is that I just got a bit more motivated to stay at the top and Christian got real jealous when I showed him room I got.

This year I had a few different goals. My plan is to focus on the electives offered at Hogwarts: CoMC, divination, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. Fuck muggle studies, I know more than the damn teacher and the textbook is missing the biggest technological boom in history saying the last big invention was the god damn horseless carriage. Makes me want to introduce wizards to nuclear bombs. So instead I focused on healing since my charms, Herbology, potions and Transfigurations are all beyond NEWT level and I have the memories of the matron from St. Mungo's stored away in my mind. I've also added Wards since my future plans require it and the sooner I learn them properly the better.

And so my routine began once again, but with different subjects. I wanted to be well versed in all subjects, both theoretically and practically, and this is why it takes time for me to learn so much.

A lot of time is saved by the fact that my Arithmancy was already kinda monstrous, why else do you think I can modify and play with spells like I do, because I can transform them into equations and change certain parts to gain different effects. My Runes studies were equally monstrous, you're looking at the guy who recreated bottomless pouches using only runes before he ever got close to a wand. My CoMC and Divination studies were almost purely theoretical at this point, but since I do not possess any seers bloodline I am planning to keep it that way for Divination and just not taking the class.

To learn more about magical creatures on the other hand one just needs to look for Hagrid and he'll be real happy to share whatever he knows on the subject. The man dreams about teaching the subject after all and is genuinely interested in creatures, albeit only the dangerous kinds but still. Although he loves Dumbledore too much for my taste, which is understandable since the man was able to get him a job and a place to live when he was left without any parents and kicked out of school as a half-giant. We still found a common passion for the subject. Christian was very happy to join the two of us in our talks, James felt a bit odd being there since he was more scared of magical creatures than curious about them. And so I became a friend of Hagrid's during this year.

For my healer studies I decided to approach madame Pomfrey about my interest in the field and if it would be at all possible to help in the infirmary to get hands on experience. It was quite difficult to convince her. It took a letter from Flitwick who was happy to see me use my talents to learn the noble art, a test to prove I had the knowledge necessary to help, and even Dumbledore stepped up to let me do so. I think he believes that by me learning healing it will be less likely for me to turn since it requires one to have the correct mindset to heal others through magic. So conflicted feelings on that last one, but I'll take advantage of everything I can get. And so my time during the weekend was divided for me to volunteer and Quidditch games were all hands on deck due to there almost always being injuries.

Outside of my studies I made friends with the Weasley twins when me and Tonks were going to prank some gits from my house who were bullying some Hufflepuff kids, and by coincidence Fred and George had the same idea, resulting in a very bad day for that prat and shivers running down the spine of the professors as an unholy team-up began. Taught them quite a few spells and potion recipes to help in there endeavors and they loved me for it.

On a weird note though, Victoria seemed different this year. She wasn't competing against me like she did last year and her performance seemed to have dropped. She's also stopped hanging out with her usual crew. It was very odd to me, but without seeing an outright problem I didn't feel right to just interfere.

And so came and went my second year at Hogwarts. With the elective subjects as well as healing progressing superbly. Everything should be at NEWT level with my healing and wards not too far from it. My grades were just unfair on everybody else again.

And so summer came to us once again, making me start the next stage of my preparations for the war that is to come. Five years till he returns, let's see how much I can get done.