Spells and Nargles

As I near the book the letters begin to rearrange again.

'Know Thy Enemy'

My eyes narrow 'How does this book decide what spells to give out?' I wonder to myself before reaching out to touch the book.

As my fingers brush against the book it springs open quickly flipping through the pages. I can feel words filling my head as they slowly begin to piece themselves together into a story that makes sense.

The story is a long-drawn-out story of a fearful wizard who believed every man an enemy. He was a man talented in the dark arts but weak of heart, the only thing he trusted was his fiendfyre. He taught his fiendfyre to be able to see into the hearts of his friends singling out those who harbored ill will against him.

To both, his pleasure and dismay none wished him harm but with a single spell, he had last the trust of all those who loved him. He, a man who seemingly had all one could want, lost it instantly.

Over the next few months, he worked hard creating a new spell in hopes that he could regain their trust. He succeeded in creating the spell he yearned for but he was not able to regain their trust. Instead many were disgusted by his display of dark magic. The spell had been created by merging the protection charm and fiendfyre. It was called protection of fires grace, a dark charm.

Rather than working hard to regain their trust through normal means he became dejected and reclused himself for years. It was during this time that he created a second dark charm with the same goal in mind, finding the true allegiance of his friends.

He once again called his old friends who were willing to give him one last chance. With a wave of his wand, he created a wall of black flames and told them to step through. When they refused he forced them, one by one his old friends along with his once fiance were turned to ash.

This man's name was Arcturus Black, he met his end at the hand of Cygnus Black as the disgrace of the family.

The spell he created was called Protego Diabolica, a spell that has been hosted in Hogwarts restricted section for nearly a hundred and fifty years.

I step back as I try to process the information quickly. Along with the story comes a short lesson on how to cast the spell. It is quite simple as you just have to draw the line or circle and cast with a clear heart set on your goal.

It does work just like his first spell to determine those who wish you harm but it is very strict with who it accepts. Even if they love you, as long as they wish to hurt you at that moment, they will be killed.

Digesting that information I look back at the other, "So what spells did you guys get?"

Seeing the other two aren't going to answer yet Hermione answers first, "A complex way to manipulate memories using obliviate."

"Like legilimens?"

She shakes her head with narrow eyes, "No, more… evil? It's not just memories, it's feelings, love… What kind of book is that?"

I shrug, "No clue, that spell sounds kinda evil, you probably shouldn't use it."

Hearing my words she shoots me a glare, "As if I would ever."

"Mine was a protection spell…"

"Oh, mine was too."

She smiles as I turn to Theo, "I think I can guess yours by the cover."

"A lightning spell... Astrapi." I hear him barely mutter the last word.

I nod, "Then we should get going. I'm sure the boys will be excited to hear they lost the first one so brutally."

They nod as we walk out, "What about the open vault?" Hermione asks curiously.

"It will close again when we exit the path and the knight will be remade. Just make sure not to steal the clue as it will place a curse upon the school."

I hear Theo grunt as the girls both look concerned, I don't know why unless they plan to steal stuff.

Wanting to tease them a bit I continue, "If you do end up putting a curse on the school you will get expelled; I heard that happened to the last person who stole the clue from the vaults."

"Took Dumbledore the whole summer to break the curse. He was lucky that it was a simple hexing curse. "

Turning to my right I see both Hermione and Daphne are quiet.

"The others are probably in the Gryffindor commons and there is still an hour before dinner. Do you guys want to go do our homework first?"

Theo nods as the other two don't seem to be paying attention to my words. I shrug as I begin to lead the way towards the first-floor study rooms.

"So did you prepare your surprise for this weekend?" I ask Theo as we get to the annoying ever-changing stairs.

He grins, "No but we are meeting up to finish it tomorrow."

"I'm a bit surprised that you aren't doing this challenge with the twins."

"They insisted they do it themselves, and I wouldn't feel right leaving the girls in their own group."

I pat his back with a sly grin, "Goodman."

He rolls his eyes as we make our way down the stairs.

"Oh yeah, is Aria here this year?" Hermione asks.

"Yeah, she is in her room next to Dumbledores office. I heard Hagrid and Charlie will be watching her most of the time. You know, since Dumbledore is often busy, though I don't know what he is busy with, to be honest."

Hermione and Daphne nod at my words, they both seem happy that Aria is here. Thinking of it we should visit her sometime this weekend.

As we get to the first floor we head towards the study hall in the west corridor. We pause in the middle of the hall as we see something odd. On one of the crossbeams is a pair of pink and blue shoes with their laces tied together as if they were tossed up there.

"Shoes?" I hear Daphne say questioningly behind me.

Pulling out my wand I cast Decendo on them, they shake a few times before slowly lowering themselves down to me. As I take them I turn back to the group.

"They look familiar to anyone?"

Hermione and Daphne shake their heads while Theo shrugs.

I sigh "I suppose we should take them to lost and found."

As we are about to head back up the stairs I hear the muffled sound of someone jogging down the Ravenclaw tower stairs. From the stairs we see Luna Lovegood hop off the bottom step in an exaggerated fashion. I quickly notice she is wearing baby blue socks with imprints of little green creatures I've never seen before.

Remembering what she told me last year I quickly piece together what happened in my head.

I step forward and gesture the shoes at her.

"You found my shoes," she says happily.

I can see both Daphne and Hermione's faces sour, "Nargles again?" I ask

She nods, "I tried to appease them this year by wearing socks with Nargles on them. I don't think they like them though." She pulls up her robes a bit revealing her baby blue socks to everyone, I notice the bottoms are dirty, she must have been looking for a while.

"Nargles?" Hermione asks looking at me and not Luna.

"They are mischievous little things," Luna says with a smile taking her shoes back.

Hermione gives me a knowing gaze, "And you knew about these, Nargles?" She asks me with a seemingly threatening tone.

I hold up my hands defensively, "I have heard of them…" my voice tapers off at the end.

"We are about to go do homework, would you like to join us?" Daphne asks stepping forward.

Luna tilts her head thinking, "Sure," she turns to Theo, "I will go grab my repair kit for your robes."

We all turn to Theo confused only then do we realize that the back elbow portion of his robe is torn.

"Thank you," he says inspecting the torn portion of his robes.

She nods with a smile, "Nargles often put small cuts in my robes so I'm quite proficient. I will be back with my things."

With that, she turns around and runs up the stairs without putting her shoes on. As I turn around I see that Hermione is glaring at me.

"In my defense, I didn't know it was so bad."

"You knowingly let that poor innocent girl get bullied?" Hermione says angrily, I turn to Daphne for aid but she is also glaring at me.

I turn to Theo this time but he holds up his hands, "I'm not a part of this."