The Last Riddle

"I still can't believe that Sirius didn't say anything," said Harry aghast.

"What did you expect?" said Ron before stuffing his mouth with toast. "Th'ss srus veave aking 'bout."

Harry blinked. "What?"

Ron swallowed. "I said: this is Sirius we're talking about."

"Oh," said Harry. "Yeah, Sirius..." his voice trailed away as he thought what would become of Hogwarts with Sirius Black teaching the post that Snivellus Snape had been after for so many years. "You'd think that at least Kristy would have told us something. Apparently not."

"Aw, c'mon, Harry," said Ron having swallowed his food. "It's been a week already."

Harry and Ron were both sitting at the Gryffindor table eating their breakfast. The night of the welcoming feast, Professor Dumbledore had stood up and introduced the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher: Professor Sirius Black. Harry almost collapsed.

The green eyed boy looked around him. Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger had both been sorted into Gryffindor, much to Ron's displeasure. They were sitting together a few seats down. In front of them were Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, whom they shared a dorm with. Very few students had been sorted that year, Harry noticed. Eight for Gryffindor, seven for Ravenclaw, six for Hufflepuff and nine for Slytherin. Only thirty.

Ron started making choking sounds, pulling Harry out of his reverie. The redhead had been staring at his timetable and drinking pumpkin juice at the same time. Harry hit his back and then looked down, where his own timetable lay.

"We have double Potions with Snape and the Slytherins first thing in the morning!" yelped Ron. "Great way to start the day!" he added sarcastically.

"Why do they keep doing this to us?" moaned Harry. "Who did we piss off to deserve this!?"

Ron nodded vigorously. "The man favours his House no matter what."

"I wish McGonagall would favour us," muttered Harry. "Anyway, at least we have our first Defence Against the Dark Arts class after lunch to make up for it. And it's double."

"Now, that's a class I want to take," said Ron scrutinizing his timetable again. "We have Charms after Potions."

"And we should get going," said Harry checking his wristwatch. "Just in case we get lost. Again." Ron nodded and they stood up.

Harry sighed as he remembered his first Potions class. By some kind of miracle, he had managed to arrive early, though that didn't save him from Snape's wrath. The Potions Master was determined to hate him no matter how well he did in his class. He had ridiculed him in front of his classmates already, though only the Slytherins found it funny. Especially Draco Malfoy. Harry shook his head and quickened his steps when he saw the entrance to the dungeons. Snape would probably ask him hard questions again and the green eyed boy wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of not knowing the answers. This time he had read his Potions book. He would show the greasy bat that Harry Potter could rise to any challenge the Potions Master posed.

---

At lunch, Harry couldn't stop smirking.

Just as he had predicted, Snape fired question after question at him, and though it had taken him a lot of concentration, Harry had managed to answer all of them. Every. Single. One. Snape, nevertheless, being Snape, found a way to ridicule him again, and expressed how the great Harry Potter needed to become a bookworm to be able to survive the class. Harry had wanted to tell him that he liked being a bookworm thank you very much, but thought better about it and stayed silent. Apparently Snape had been expecting a comeback to dock points but when the comeback didn't come, he just snarled and tapped the blackboard rather viciously so it would display the instructions for the day.

By now, the whole school knew of Harry's triumph over the Potions Master and, much to Harry's dislike, the stares and whispers had started again. He just ignored them. Ron kept on repeating the story though.

"You should have seen Snape's face," he told Lee Jordan between chuckles. "He looked like he had swallowed a whole lemon. And then he still tried to take points from Harry by tainting him but Harry just ignored him. I swear if he could spit fire, Hogwarts wouldn't be standing anymore!"

Harry shook his head. "Stop it, Ron. It wasn't such a big deal."

Lee Jordan looked at Harry as if he had sprouted wings. "Not such a big deal?" he said incredulously. "Are you joking? You're going down in Hogwarts, a History for this, mate. I salute you." Lee Jordan saluted and marched out of the Great Hall.

Harry sighed and turned back to his food, trying to avoid the intensified stares. "If I had known this was going to happen, then I wouldn't have studied so much."

"Oh, cheer up, Harry," nudged Ron. "Any Hogwarts' student that isn't a Slytherin would give anything to be in your place right now."

"Perhaps," said the emerald-eyed boy. "The only problem with all this is that Snape took out all his anger on Neville."

Ron grimaced. "I hate that greasy git," he said. "Dumbledore should fire him."

Harry found he couldn't agree more. They finished their meals in silence and started the trip to the fourth floor where the DADA classroom was as soon as they were finished. When they arrived at the door they saw that there was already a queue to enter the classroom. They waited for five minutes while the rest of Gryffindor and Slytherin arrived and the bell rang. The door swung open on its own accord.

"Creepy," murmured Harry as the students filed in.

He stared around him curiously. It was only the first week of classes and Sirius had already personalized the DADA classroom. Every window was open so the sunlight flooded the room. All the desks were cast to the side and a red and gold mat covered the floor. Sirius, however, was nowhere in sight.

The class stood awkwardly in the middle of the classroom clutching their backpacks and satchels and looking around nervously. A low growl drew their attentions to the only dark corner of the room. Harry could only make out a pair of bloodshot eyes glinting dangerously. The class huddled together, even the Slytherins who they shared the class with, and some of them pulled out their wands. Harry was among them.

The growling grew louder and the creature bared its long yellow fangs, making a few girls shriek. Harry turned to look at Neville who had gone deadly pale and was trembling. Ron's eyes were almost popping out of his skull in fear and Hermione was mumbling every defence spell she had ever memorized.

Without warning, a black blur flew out of the corner, snarling and snapping its fangs, its bloodshot eyes staring. The class screamed and ran for the door as one. "It's the Grim!" cried a boy in panic. His statement was met with screams and a few sobs. However, before they could reach the door, the bear-like dog came to a halt and its growling subsided.

"That's not the Grim," said Harry with a frown.

The dog looked at him and then turned into a handsome man with a soft pop. "Indeed, Mr. Potter, I'm not the Grim."

The class exchanged confused glances and relaxed when their DADA teacher grinned at them. "Sorry for that little scare," he apologized. "As you already know, I'm Professor Black and I will be your Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. If you please get away from the door I will explain what is expected from you in this class." He waved his wand and the desks returned to their places. Harry and Ron rushed to the front, fear forgotten. Sirius was sitting on the teacher's desk. Once the whole class was seated and the Gyffindors were staring at their teacher with awe, Sirius cleared his throat.

"You won't need your books for today, so you can put them away," he told them. There was a soft shuffling as books returned to their bags. "Now, can anybody tell me why I started the class the way I did?" Harry was impressed that not even Hermione knew the answer to Sirius' question. But then again, why would anyone start a class in the shape of a snarling dog? Sirius regarded the class with a thoughtful expression. "No one, I see... Then, can anybody tell me what you did wrong when you saw me in dog form?"

This time Hermione raised her hand. Sirius nodded at her. "We got scared," she said simply. "When animals feel fear they feel threatened and they attack."

Sirius nodded. "Yes, exactly. Five points to Gryffindor. However, and unfortunately for that matter, while that is true for animals, it does not apply to the smartest magical creatures. Especially Dark creatures. Some of those creatures will attack because they are thirsty for blood. In this class I will teach you to control your fear in the face of danger and when controlling your fear is not enough, I will teach you how to defend yourselves. Miss Patil," he called suddenly.

Parvati jumped in her seat and mumbled, "Yes, Professor?"

"Do you know what a Red Cap is?"

Hermione's hand shot into the air.

"Some kind of dwarf?" tried Parvati.

"They resemble dwarfs, yes. Point for Gryffindor," conceded Sirius. "What else, Miss... Parkinson?"

A pug faced girl from Slytherin looked at her friends in alarm. "They... they like... b-blood?" she stammered uncertainly.

Sirius gave a nod. "Point to Slytherin. Miss Granger, right? I suppose you know what a Red Cap is?"

Hermione flushed. "They are small, dwarf like creatures that love bloodshed, and will attempt to beat to death Muggles lost in dungeons or on battlefields on dark nights. As red caps can be repelled easily by charms and hexes, Muggles rather than Wizarding folk face the most danger from them."

Sirius smiled. "A very complete answer. Well done. Take another five points for Gryffindor, Miss Granger."

"Know-all," muttered Ron darkly. Harry shook his head in exasperation.

"As Miss Granger said," continued Sirius. "Muggles face the most danger because they can't do magic. You are Wizarding folk, so... what would you do if you found yourselves in front of a Red Cap?"

The class exchanged glances. All of them had always relied on their parents where magic was involved. None of them had had a wand before getting their Hogwarts letters. Harry fidgeted nervously when he realized he didn't know how to defend himself from a creature like that. What would he do? Shoot sparks at it?

"No one?" asked Sirius with raised eyebrows. "Oh well, not to worry. That's what this class is for, after all." He smiled. "The perfect spell for a situation like this would be Stupefy, a spell that will leave your enemy unconscious. Now, repeat after me: Stupefy."

For the rest of the class, Sirius taught them the correct intonation and the wand movements. Then, he conjured a bunch of cushions and paired them up so they could practice the spell. The most he got out of them were a few stumbles. Crabbe lost Slytherin five points when he pushed Goyle to the floor and pretended that it had been the spell. When the bell rang, Sirius told them to practice the spell for homework and advised them to always use a cushion. Then he told Harry to stay behind.

"Go on, Ron," said Harry to his redheaded friend. "I'll catch up."

Ron shrugged and ran to catch up with Dean and Seamus, who were talking excitedly about the class. Harry approached his godfather, who was perched on the teacher's desk again.

"So," he said. "How did I do?"

Harry smiled. "It was a great class, Professor Black," he said. "Especially the beginning."

Sirius gave his famous bark like laugh. "You should have seen your faces! For a moment I thought I was seeing a bunch of ghosts! I'm surprised you didn't recognize me, Harry."

Harry snorted lightly. "Yes well, when I see you in dog form you're usually wagging your tail and trying to lick people's faces, not attacking defenceless children."

Sirius grinned. "Hopefully you won't be as defenceless by the end of this year. I plan on giving you guys a few more scares... maybe I'll get you to control your fear so you can think clearly during fights. What class have you got next?"

"None," replied Harry. "This is the last for today... though I got homework to do."

Sirius grimaced. "I hated doing homework, though it's mighty fun to hand it out," he added with a grin. "By the way, before you leave, I liked how your Stupefy spell was going. If you practice every afternoon you should have it down by the end of the week. Well done, Harry. And something else... I heard what happened this morning in Potions class. Way to go, kiddo! I'm proud of you! I doubt Snivellus will ever bother you with questions again."

The boy managed a small smile. "Yeah... hopefully that'll teach him not to mess with me."

Sirius beamed. "That's the spirit! Spoken like a true Marauder, as well. Ha-ha! I'll see you at dinner."

Harry nodded and waved good-bye to his godfather and rushed to meet his friends in the Gryffindor common room.

---

Jack sighed and blinked at the ceiling. The first week of classes had been the best week he'd had in years. Except for Maths, of course. What Shancus had said about Obex had been completely true. As soon as she had laid her beady brown eyes on Ralph Bloor, Jack knew that she had chosen her favourite. She proceeded to quiz them on Maths. Ralph had been the only one able to answer all her questions correctly, followed by Amy and Otieno and in third place: Jack. The rest had failed miserably and Obex had expressed her condolences most graciously:

"Do not worry my dear proletarians," she had said. "Mathematics is an exact science that possesses a beauty that most people might never grasp, for a logical and mathematical intelligence is only found in the most recondite of intellectual localities. But do not fear my amateurs, I will do anything within my seize to ensure your unfeasible understanding of this impeccable science."

Jack had to stop breathing so he wouldn't burst out laughing at the ridiculous language, Kenichi had frowned and Tancred had looked completely lost. Ralph had merely scratched his nose. Obex expected them to know every single formula related to areas and perimeters and to be able to solve algebraic equations. The only way Jack managed to pull through the infernal quiz was with raw logic and most of the time he hadn't even known what he was doing. By the end of the class, Jack thought he had found Snape's soul-mate.

Potions with Professor Amundsen had gone smoothly. She had been impressed by his knowledge of Potions, something he owed to his mother, since she had taught him almost everything she knew about them. In Charms, Professor Fletcher made them cast every charm they knew. Jack's knowledge of charms and spells had been rivalled only by Ralph's. Transfiguration, however, he only knew in theory, while Ralph could already change a needle into a button.

Actually, Jack and Ralph seemed to always be the best of the class, no matter what the subject was. This had started a friendly rivalry between the only Riddle child and the younger Bloor child. On the other hand, the older Bloor child, Manfred, who was a second year, looked at Jack as if he were a leech. Manfred would sneer at him and then he and his redheaded friend, Asa Pike, would laugh as if Jack were a private joke.

"Don't mind him," Ralph had told him. "He's only following my dad's example."

"Your dad's example?" Jack had asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah," replied Ralph. "Remember the robe shop? I told you my father holds a grudge against Tom Riddle."

"But why?"

"He wouldn't say," answered Ralph before turning back to his food.

Jack sighed and sat up in bed. He knew he should have gone into his father's study again. Perhaps, if he had had the courage to enter, he would know what on Earth had happened between Reuben Bloor and Tom Riddle to make Manfred hate him so. Unfortunately, that wasn't the only thought that was plaguing his mind. More than once he had wondered what had become of Gauri, the white werecat that had helped him escape the fire. Had she made it out alright? Would he ever see her again? He sighed again. With everything that had happened in the last few days he hadn't been able to look for her, and he didn't own an owl so he could send a message to Andor and ask him to help out with the search. He got out of bed and went to have an early shower. As he neared the door, Kenichi steered. Unlike Hogwarts, Ingoldstadt provided rooms for two people only, which meant that each common room, except for the main one, had six rooms.

The first years' common room was three storeys high, which meant that the rooms were built on top of each other. To the left were the girls' rooms and to the right the boys'. On the first floor slept Ralph, Otieno, Amy and Zoé. On the second floor Isabel, Neema, Kenichi and Jack himself. And on the third floor Aura, Lidiya, Aaron and Tancred. Their common room was decorated according to their cultures: Ralph was from Marmor, a country in Lemuria that was characterized by marble. Otieno was from Algeria, Amy from New Zealand, Zoé from France, Isabel from Spain, Neema from Egypt, Aura from Mexico, Lidiya from Russia, and Aaron from Australia. And of course, Jack from Ebur, Kenichi from Japan and Tancred from Canada.

Jack poked Kenichi's shoulder to wake him up but the orange haired boy waved him away as if he were a fly and slept on, then Jack shook the boy's shoulder but he got the same result. The Heir shook his head at his friend and stepped into their bathroom. He stepped out with his hair dripping wet and wearing his midnight blue robes on top of his everyday clothes. Kenichi was still in bed. Jack smirked mischievously and pulled out his wand.

"Levicorpus," he whispered.

"Aaargh!" yelled Kenichi as he was lifted into the air by his ankle. "Let go!"

"As you wish," said Jack with a singsong voice. "Liberacorpus!"

Kenichi fell on his bed like a pile of clothes and managed to sit up while shaking his head.

"About time you woke up," Jack said with a smirk. "We have classes today, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember," grumbled Kenichi. "What was that spell you used on me, anyway?"

Jack shrugged. "Just a spell I heard the Half-Blood Prince cast once."

"Can you teach me?"

"Sure. After classes though, 'cause we're running out of time."

Kenichi looked incredulously at Jack and then snatched his wristwatch from the bedside table. Jack sat on his unmade bed while Kenichi read the time.

"Why didn't you wake me sooner?" shrieked Kenichi jumping from his bed and diving into his wardrobe. Jack shook his head and looked at the ceiling.

"I did try," he told the frantic boy. "It's not my fault you sleep like a rock."

Kenichi grimaced and went into the bathroom. Jack sighed when he heard the water start to run and stood up. He stretched his back and then waved his hand to set the bed covers straight. He went to his satchel and pulled out his time table. He started with Transfiguration, then Maths (Jack groaned at this), then Potions, then a short free period, and then double Dark Arts. Jack shook his head disbelievingly. What would Britain's board of governors say about Ingoldstadt teaching the Dark Arts? He started looking for the books he would need that day just as Kenichi stepped out of the bathroom attempting to dry his fiery hair with a towel.

They exchanged some words on that day's classes and once Kenichi piled his books into his own satchel they were off. They climbed down the wooden stairs into the empty common room, through its front door and ended up in a curved corridor. They jogged through it until they found the stairs that would take them to the lower levels of the castle. On their way down they almost crashed into Aaron and Tancred, who were talking about soap.

"Soap?" panted Kenichi once they had caught up. "You guys are talking about soap?"

As Tancred explained the seemingly magical aspects of soap to Kenichi and Aaron shook his white head in exasperation, Jack noticed with a pang that he wasn't tired, while Kenichi looked ready to collapse. He frowned in confusion. He knew he was in good shape but he also knew that the same journey would have tired him out a few days ago. They reached the ground floor in a few minutes and started looking around for anything that could point them in the direction of the Dinning Hall.

"I can smell food to the right," said Tancred.

"You can?" asked Aaron incredulously.

Tancred tapped his nose and said, "Werewolf." to which the other had no comments.

They followed Tancred's nose and came to stand in front of a pair of huge crystal doors. Once again Jack marvelled at not being able to see through them even though they were transparent. Tancred pushed the doors open and they found themselves in a room as big as Hogwarts' Great Hall. There were several circular small tables today and, because Aaron had been whisked away by Lidiya, Jack, Kenichi and Tancred found an empty table for themselves and it filled up with food the moment they sat down.

While Tancred filled up his plate with everything he found, including a candle, and Kenichi looked on apprehensively, Jack mused on the similarities between Ingoldstadt and Hogwarts. The ceiling of Ingoldstadt's Dinning Hall didn't show the sky but flashes of colour would suddenly dart through it and at night, they would form the Aurora Borealis. Probably because they were practically in Antarctica.

In the welcoming feast, there had been eight tables instead of Hogwarts' four. There had been no sorting but Headmaster Taue, a dark skinned man from Lemuria, had reminded them that the entrance to the seven towers was forbidden, as well as the entrance to the east side of the island unless they were seventh years or eight years... or had a dieing wish.

"Hullo," said a voice. "Can I sit with you?"

The three boys turned their heads in the direction of the sound and saw a small boy they hadn't seen before.

"Sure," said Kenichi. The boy grinned and sat across from Jack.

"I'm Billy Raven."

"I'm Jack Riddle," said Jack.

"Kenichi Oosaki."

"Fmmre Ofrson," said Tancred with his mouth full.

Jack and Kenichi exchanged glances and then said in unison, "He's Tancred Torrson."

The small boy smiled. He had white hair and red eyes. He also wore glasses. "I'm an albino," he explained. "I don't see too well, but I do have a great sense of hearing, because I'm a half-vampire."

"Interesting," said Jack almost to himself. "Hang on, aren't you a bit young for Ingoldstadt?"

"I'm seven," replied Billy. "And I was chosen from birth, but I'm an orphan so they keep me here."

"I'm an orphan too," said Jack softly.

Billy's face glowed. "Great!"

Jack frowned.

"Oh... no!" said Billy realizing his mistake. "I didn't mean 'Great!' as in 'It's great you're an orphan', I meant 'Great!' as in 'I'm not going to be alone during the summer anymore'."

Jack's expression softened. "Oh... sure, I'd like to stay here for the summer with you," he said awkwardly.

Billy smiled thankfully.

"So where are you from?" asked Kenichi.

"Lemuria," said Billy.

"I'm from Lemuria, too," replied Jack. "Where in Lemuria do you come from?"

"Fulgur. You?"

"Ebur."

"The Ivory City," said Billy with wonder. "I've always wanted to go there. Is it true it's made out of ivory?"

Jack laughed. "No, only the Emperor's palace."

"Still," pressed Billy. "It must be awesome. I mean... it's a whole palace!"

"Well, yeah..." said Jack. "I admit it's quite something."

They kept chatting about nothing in particular and Tancred kept throwing in comments that were muffled by the food in his mouth so no one could understand what he was saying. It would have been funny if it wasn't so disgusting to look at. A few minutes later, Jack found another similarity with Hogwarts: the post. Although there weren't nearly as many birds as in Hogwarts, there were more kinds of them: crows, hawks, falcons, even an eagle, and the customary owls. He blinked when he saw a silver dot dash across the ceiling. Where had he seen that flying style before? He gasped slightly when the silver dot dived through the air and almost crashed into him.

"Horus!" he gasped. "Is that you?"

The bird, which happened to be a silver Gyr falcon, chirped excitedly and rubbed its head into Jack's neck from its perch on the boy's shoulder.

"He says he's happy to see you again," said Billy.

Kenichi stared at the tiny Albino. "How do you know?"

Billy shrugged. "I'm not really sure... I just know. How did you come across a Gyr falcon, Jack?" he asked curiously.

"I stole the egg from the Black Market," replied Jack stroking the silver feathers. "I had no idea it was the egg of a Gyr falcon. I was just lucky."

Kenichi now stared at Jack. "You stole him from the Black Market!? How did you get to the market in the first place?"

Now it was Jack's turn to shrug. "Long story."

Kenichi frowned. Why was his new friend so evasive when it came down to his past?

After breakfast, the five boys stood up and walked out of the Dinning Hall. Billy said he had to go to the paddock and that he would meet them later that same afternoon in the library. They waved good-bye to him and started walking towards the shiny black marble staircase that led to the upper levels.

"What class have we got next?" asked Ralph as they started climbing the stairs.

"Transfiguration with Edere," replied Kenichi.

"Do you think we'll continue with the needle?" frowned Ralph as they reached the top of the stairs.

"Nah," said Jack stroking Horus, who was perched on his shoulder. "Edere seems like the kind of teacher that doesn't give you the time to breathe." He spotted a window and coaxed Horus into moving on to his forearm so he could fly to the owlery and have a rest. Merlin knows for how long the falcon had flown. He went to the window while his friends waited for him and stuck out his arm so Horus could jump into flight; once Horus was gone he turned back to his friends but still gazing at the sky through the window. "We'll probably get started on something new like turning a peb-umph!"

Manfred, who was walking in the opposite direction had bumped into Jack's shoulder on purpose and kept walking beside Asa and a girl they didn't know, as if nothing had happened.

"Oi! Watch it, will you!?" Jack called, annoyed, but Manfred just ignored him. Jack scowled and started walking down the corridor again, hands stuck in his pockets. Ralph, Kenichi and Tancred hurried to catch up with him.

"What's up with your brother, Ralph?" asked Tancred with a frown.

"Don't know," he answered. "He's never behaved like this before."

"Really?" said Jack sarcastically without looking at Ralph, lemon-green eyes flashing.

"Yeah," said Ralph a little defensibly. "It's not like he keeps his temper in check all the time, but he doesn't like getting into physical fights... he prefers insults. It's not like it's easy living with him, you know?"

Jack took a deep breath and his eyes went back to sapphire blue. "Right. Sorry, Ralph... just annoyed..."

Tancred cocked his head. "I don't know why I get the feeling that you're one of those people I defenitely don't want as an enemy," he told Jack. "Like... you're capable of anything..."

Kenichi snorted softly. "Then Manny better leave you alone... or, on second thought..."

"What?" said Ralph with a slight smirk. "Would you like seeing Jack kick Manny's furry arse?"

The four boys laughed at the mental image and continued walking towards their Transfiguaration classroom thinking up ways in which Jack could beat Manfred in a fight and laughing at them.

Had they known what Manfred Bloor was capable of doing they wouldn't have even considered them.

---

As the days passed, the four boys became better friends. Billy ate meals with them and made them company while they struggled with their homework. He told them that he loved to spend time in the Library and so that was where they did the most horrible invention of all times: homework. Jack was amazed by the sheer size of the room. It was twice the size of Hogwarts' Library and there was no restricted section to be seen. It was three storeys high and it was located over the Main common room. Its ceiling was a huge dome made out of, what else, crystal that changed colour according to the hour of the day so the students always had the perfect reading light.

The Gyr falcon that had almost crashed into Jack was, in fact, his one year old friend, Horus. He had really stolen the egg from the Black Market, where it had almost been sold to a Muggle falconer from the Middle East. Jack didn't know why he had stolen it but from the moment the falcon hatched they had been inseparable. That is, of course, until Jack had been taken to Hogwarts. It had taken Jack months to convince Horus that he had to learn how to fly and hunt his own food because Jack barely had food for himself. He guessed that their separation had already turned Horus into a proficient hunter. It was a wonder he hadn't been caught again since Gyr falcons were very expensive and rare. The Middle East falconer must have been really pissed...

Life at Ingoldstadt was as harsh as Andor had told him it would be. Most lessons were practical and all the teachers expected the best results. He had lost count of how many times he had lost his wand at Defence Against the Dark Arts, or how many times he had walked out of Maths with a headache, or how many times Ayax had thrown him off his back...

Ayax was the newest addition to Jack's familiars. He was a pure black Oris with a diamond shaped white spot on his forehead. An Oris was a winged horse that acted as an Ingoldstadt student's bonded. Every student had one and they were used not only for transportation but for battle as well. Jack and his classmates, however, were not going to learn any battle moves until they were older. Heck, they could barely remain on the Oris' backs while on the ground. They were as young and inexperienced as their riders and not used to humans, so each time someone climbed onto their backs they would start jumping and trying to shake them off. They were lucky the Oris were too young to fly yet; if they could, Jack was sure he wouldn't be alive. Ayax happened to be especially vicious.

All of them were a bit pissed at Kenichi, who had somehow managed to convince his deep red Oris, Áed that he meant no harm and was now able to ride without trouble. Áed's forelegs, flanks, snout and ears were black and so were his mane, tail and the tips of his wings. So each time they saw the bicolour Oris they groaned miserably and rubbed their backs and legs, as if Kenichi's Oris were a reminder of what they were yet to achieve.

Tancred wasn't having any luck either. Axel, his palomino Oris, refused to stand up when Tancred was near him, and Líadan, Ralph's grey female Oris, would try to bite the Marmorian boy if he got near. Ayax would play tricks on Jack. Sometimes he would play docile and let Jack mount him and then he would jump high in the air and Jack would be thrown off his back, whether there was a saddle or not. Other times, Ayax wouldn't be so docile and challenge Jack by letting him mount and then gallop as fast as his legs would allow which, Jack soon found out, was faster than any of the other Oris could gallop and the speed would throw him off balance and he would fall yet again. It was a wonder he hadn't broken any bones yet.

That was something else that was troubling Jack. Ever since he had arrived to Ingoldstadt his body seemed to be able to take any form of harassment with very little after effects. He had asked his friends if they felt the same but they had only glared at him as if he were taunting them for feeling more of the pain than Jack. Jack couldn't blame them; pain always put people into a bad mood. Yet, it didn't stop there. Just the day they had met the Oris for the first time a very strange thing happened at lunch. He hadn't been concentrating on his food because he was too lost in his thoughts. After a while, he noticed that the food was tougher than it should be so he glanced down and saw that he'd bitten the head of the fork and was chewing it to pieces! Very strange thing indeed. He just spat the head back out when no one was looking and fixed up the fork with a 'Reparo'.

Jack was starting to panic. Why was he suddenly stronger? Or faster? Or fitter? These things shouldn't be happening! Maybe the time had come for sending a letter to Andor and ask about the bizarre changes he was experiencing.

---

Harry and Ron went to visit Hagrid after the first week of classes. Harry didn't know Hagrid that well but James was always speaking wonders of him, so Harry decided he would very much like to meet him. Harry and Ron told Hagrid all about their lessons and how they hated Snape and how Snape loathed Harry. Hagrid just waved off the accusations and told them that if Professor Dumbledore trusted him, then he would trust Snape as well. While at Hagrid's cabin, Harry found a newspaper clipping claiming that the investigations continued in Gringotts after the break-in. The goblins insisted that nothing had been taken, because the vault had been emptied the day before.

The days that followed were filled with excitement. They had their first flying lessons with the Slytherins (neither house was happy with the arrangements) and Harry managed to get the Seeker spot in the Gryffindor team. James and Sirius had been ecstatic at the news and Sirius, who saw Harry everyday, couldn't stop ruffling his godson's hair and congratulating him each time they met. So much, that Harry had even started to avoid him. Later that night, Harry's life took an unexpected turn, when Draco Malfoy challenged him to a nonexistent duel in the trophy room. Harry, followed by Ron, Hermione and Neville had found the trophy room deserted and instead had to run from Filch, ending up in the forbidden corridor. Harry had idly wondered why everything at Hogwarts seemed to be forbidden.

Such was their luck that they stumbled upon a three headed dog and had to run again. Harry had no idea why there would be a three headed dog at Hogwarts but then the strange events that had been taking place clicked in Harry's mind. A vault in Gringotts had been emptied a day before someone tried to steal whatever was in it. Harry remembered seeing Hagrid at the Leaky Cauldron saying he was doing Dumbledore a favour the day the vault had been emptied the first time. And there was no place safer than Hogwarts, so... could Hagrid have emptied the vault that was almost robbed and given to Dumbledore whatever had been in it so it could be hidden at the school? Nothing but one thing was certain; he would get to the bottom of the mystery.