Chapter four- The Hogwarts Express

I sat cross-legged on the newly laid carpet of the Lord's office in complete darkness thanks to the drawn curtains that kept light out much better than the old ones. The reason for my current position was simple, it was part of the new morning routine that I had fallen into in the past month here at Black manor.

I had finished my morning exercises half an hour ago and now I was just completing my latest occlumency session. Clearing my mind was difficult at first but over the month with daily practice, it was something that I was able to do at a moment's notice, and in the very next moment I was able to raise up my defences. Which if I was to say so were very extensive.

Occlumency at its base was the concept of creating a space to store your thoughts in an organized way and then erecting strong stable barriers in order to keep people out of them. The better someone is at occlumency the stronger the barriers will be and the greater the number of them. The thing was once you had learned to erect a single barrier learning to put up more was easy, it just took time to practice doing so in order to make them stronger and more numerous. So far I was up to a cool two hundred and thirty-five barriers in under a second, and they were pretty strong.

The rest of my time I had put into actually organizing my thoughts and memories, and let me tell you there are a lot of them. There was also the emotions that I had involved in it all, as with occlumency your emotions can be better controlled, I had reached that stage by the end of the first week, which was interesting. You accomplished this by creating an image of an object inside your head which is the embodiment of the emotion you are trying to control and then you are able to close it away, it was more like emotion suppressing than controlling but it worked.

As for my actual mindscape, that was the place where all my memories were stored so I could view them when I wished simply by closing my eyes to review my thoughts, I chose to make my own little library with books filling the shelves with the various memories within their pages. I had spent a full three days organizing things to just how I like them a shelf for my early years and all the unimportant things and then shelves with things that were relevant to my life now. Mainly all things relevant to the world I was now living in, and it was with this that I had come to the conclusion on how things were going to go along with all the ways I could make them happen, though currently, I was in no position to see any of them done as of yet anyway.

So until I was I just had to sit back and wait and build on what I have and know to prepare myself for what was to come, which I had been doing for the past month.

In the month that had passed things had only gone from good to great, with the surveyor coming from Gringotts the day after my meeting with the Tonks. I had been given a quote and a timescale on how long it would take to fix all that was wrong with the house, which wasn't all that much, aside from a complete re-carpeting and re-flooring of most of the rooms, with new wallpaper or paint put on and updating the furniture and some décor it didn't take that long at all. Well, it would have had I went about organising it all myself, but through Gringotts, Ironclaw had everything managed for me with each group that came to the manor sworn to secrecy as to who they were doing work for. As soon as one group was done with one task the next group came in to do the next with no downtime. It took a grand total of five days but after those five days, the manor was looking by far more like the manor that it was when I first moved in and with the two new elves I had purchased the manor was kept spotless. During the renovation, I even discovered there was a back garden that Aunt Andy had shown me. I had taken to calling her that give that it didn't really seem right calling an older woman my cousin when I was in the body of an eleven-year-old.

Aunt Andy had taken to renovating the garden when she was here with the aid of one of the elves, and it now had various fruits and vegetables growing in one area and magical herbs and other plants growing in the other.

She has even offered to give me potion lessons during the summer using the ingredients grown in the garden, saying that she understands from having to give Tonks potion lessons in the summer during her time at Hogwarts. That apparently the current potions professor at Hogwarts was sub-par than expected, something that I didn't doubt as I knew it was Snape and while I respected the man for his achievement of becoming a recognised potions master at such a young age, even if that was because of Dumbledore's manipulations, I don't like the man on a whole for his character.

But I hadn't been ideal the past month and just studied occlumency, not when I had the whole Black library at my disposal and both my grandparents to give me advice on what to learn. I had spent my days in three parts. The first was on my Hogwarts books, going over everything in them, and practising the spells, with Aunty Andy or Tonks here to give me some pointers on things I didn't understand, which wasn't much given that the books were written for eleven-year-olds to understand.

When Tonks was here we went over various lessons on how to develop my skills as a Metamorphmagus, things were going… well in a word, great, surprisingly. Tonks turned out to be a reasonable teacher on the subject and was able to break everything down for me on how it all worked, and in the end, it came down to practising, which I had been getting plenty of during my other lessons

The second third of my day was spent on my heir lessons, spend going over everything an heir or a lord would have to know, and that was a lot. Those lessons were split in half as well, half with Walburga on manners, etiquette and the more delicate matters, while the second half would be with Orion going over the laws and matters of importance involving politics, in the second week of it all I had a joint lesson with them both on the importance on controlling my emotions, this had led to the progression of emotional control in occlumency and the development of what I termed my ice mask where I clamp down my occlumency barriers and lock away my emotions. I truthfully didn't like the feeling of it, it left me feeling cold and hard to the world hence why the term for the mask, but I had no doubt it would be necessary at times in the future.

And the final third of my day, well that was when I had the most fun. I spend the first half of it learning about spells that most would consider dark magic, curses and hexes of the most brutal kind, and questionable forms of other magics and the more combat orientated versions of some magics, like battle transfiguration or conjuration, now those two were some of my favourites after looking over several spells, but some of the curses were more particularly brutal, and after spending the first half of that time learning about them, I started to practice them using the training room in my trunk, which I had added a lot to. Given the amount of space I had available in it, I had made a lot of improvements.

On the non-magical side, I had gotten a number of exercise and weightlifting equipment set up so I had basically the equivalent of a fully working gym in my trunk, and while I know that It will be a year or so before I was able to start using them, it made me feel good to know I had them ready in advance.

On the magical side of things though I was set up as well, on the recommendations of my grandparents I had went to Gringotts at the end of the first week and gotten a hold of a number of enchanted training dummies, but these weren't for punching oh no, these things were magical and mechanical, made from goblin steel and enchanted near indestructible with a magic core of their own, that were enchanted to respond to different phrases used for target dummies as well as duelling opponents, I had seven of them ordered and I spent at least three hours a day flinging spell and dodging the returns from one of them as I grew accustomed to my smaller body in the midst of combat.

It seemed the more I trained myself on my Metamorphmagus skills the less of a pain my clumsiness became and I was moving more naturally though I had researched ways in which I might rid myself of the clumsiness by other means, and I had found an option, a ritual of sorts that I meant to attempt, though it was somewhat dark, I didn't intend to use if for a while yet at least, as after thinking through the things I would need I determined my second year was my best bet to get them all.

But right now that was all neither here nor there, as I opened my eyes and with a flick of my wand the curtains opened flooding the room with light. It was September first, and the day I was go to get the Hogwarts express.

I rotated my neck and stood to my feet as I stretched my limbs out as I looked around the new décor of the lords office, the deep green carpet of the office that had been worn by time was replaced with a warmer wine red that was so dark it was almost brown, but gave the room a warmer atmosphere, the mothballed, dark green curtains had been replaced by thick black ones with silver lining, and the walls that has been painted a pale egg shell colour with paint that was starting to peel had been repainted with a darker shade of red than the carpet, which pulled the room together.

"How are you progressing?" my grandfather's portrait asked me as I stretched my legs after sitting like that for half an hour.

"Same number of barriers," I replied, "but they're certainly a lot stronger than they were when I started, should be enough to keep anyone foolish enough to try a passive probe out of my thoughts"

Orion nodded his head to me, "Good, you've come a long way in just a month, do you think you're ready?" he asked me.

I sighed as I slipped my wand back into my wrist holster, "As ready as I will ever be at this early stage of my training, I wouldn't mind another month to be sure but whether I'm ready or not doesn't matter I have to go ready or not."

Shaking my head I ran my hands through my now shoulder length hair, courtesy of my Metamorphmagus abilities, which was only one of the tricks I had picked up in my training with Tonks. While my abilities were subtle, that was all I needed for them to be useful in the right situations.

With my hair back out of my face I looked to the clock on the wall to see the time before I called out, "Zeff!" and with a pop, one of the two elves I had purchased at the beginning of the month appeared before me.

"Yes master Black?" the young elf said as I glanced down to hi, he was shorter than Kreacher and looked at me with his large almost tennis ball size eyes that were bright green, while dressed in the black cloth clothing I had given both he and his brother after I purchased them, it had taken some explaining that I wasn't given them clothes but a uniform to wear that they were expected to keep clean to represent house Black as its elves, they had seemed very happy and pronounced it their honour to do so. Kreacher also seemed happy with the uniform, given that it was softer and warmer than the rags that they were used to.

"Is my trunk packed and ready, as per my instructions yesterday?" I asked looking down at him.

Zeff nodded his head rapidly, "Oh yes Master Black, everything is as you commanded, Zeff and Zeby made sure everything was done," he said with a proud smile, "your books are all in the library, your robes are all pressed and put away in the master bedroom, your pantry is stocked, the firewood is cut and by the fireplace, your potion store is stocked, and beautiful birdies food is all done, your bed is made, all items you requested are in your office from the Black vault at Gringotts and Mistress Andromeda has been given the item as per your orders."

I smiled at that, Erebus and these two had been getting along splendidly the past day, both the two elves had seen him in his phoenix form and immediately dubbed him the beautiful birdie, much to Erebus's amusement.

"Excellent work Zeff, that will make things run much more smoothly with everything set up" I said as Zeff seemed to glow at my praise, "now I still have an hour before I have to go for the train, can you have your brother make me up a filling breakfast, while you prepare me something to eat on the train, I don't wish to get hungry on the long journey" I asked

"Oh, right away Master Black," Zeff said before he disappeared with a pop.

Orion chuckled slightly, "those two elves you purchases are quite the pair, I've never seen two elves more pleased to work, and they do look well in those robes you gave them"

I nodded, "I have to maintain an image after all, as I see it they represent house Black as much as any of its members, and having them run around in filthy rags sets a bad precedent" I said before walking over to the large mirror I had installed on the wall to the left of the desk as I checked over my appearance something I had been doing quite a bit recently with all my Metamorphmagus lessons and my lessons from Walburga about how an heir is expected to act and appear.

My steel grey dress shirt was well kept along with my black trousers and shoes, when combined with my grey eyes and shoulder-length black hair I looked quite good for my age, or as Walburga would say I looked like a proper heir.

While I could turn my hair or eyes any colour I wanted and even add several inches to my height at a moment's notice. I was comfortable with my current height and appearance my only modification being my hair, given that I was so used to is being this length when I was older it helped somewhat. My grey eyes also played well to my appearance, as while most tend to overlook them when I am talking to them, working well with my ice mask but should I desire I've learned that with a slight colour change to my eyes and increasing my height when I am up close to someone can prove to be rather intimidating, and I'm looking forward to when I can put it you use.

Satisfied with my appearance I nodded as I lifted my black over-robe from the desk and turned to head for the door out to the hall when my grandfather's portrait spoke, "good luck Magnus, and be safe"

I smiled and nodded, "thank you, grandfather, I'll try to be," I said before I left the room.

Scene break

An hour later I was stepping out of the public floo and onto platform nine and three quarters pulling my trunk out after me, thankful for the weightless charm that was on it making it as light as a feather. While I could have just shrunk it and kept it in my pocket I didn't want people to know my trunk could do that yet, nor did I want anyone knowing all the enchantments on my trunk, it was my ace in the whole.

I started to brush the soot off my shoulders from the floo as I walked down the platform, it wasn't overly crowded yet given that I had arrived well ahead of the departure time, given that I wanted to make sure I was able to get a compartment to myself so that I could have time to myself to go over my plans for my first year of Hogwarts.

Aunty Andy and Tonks had offered to see me off from the platform my I had kindly denied them both as it would draw some speculation for them to be here given that Andy didn't have any more children so people would be wondering who I was I didn't need that attention… yet anyway. I had no doubt that things would get interesting at the sorting feast, given that now that I had found my house the attendance book filled with names of Hogwarts students would reflect that and so would all Hogwarts documents including the list that would be called off at the sorting, meaning that my identity as a Black would be made public knowledge tonight. Though I already had steps in motion with Ted in order to counteract what I predict would obviously happen after tonight, I was confident I had all my bases covered.

Stepping into the train I went down the compartments until I stopped at the first empty one I found, before stepping in and shutting the door behind me before taking my wand out and with a wish and a flick I levitated my trunk up and into the above storage space with a smirk at my on silent casting, even if it was a simple charm, it had taken me ages to get that and a couple of others learned in the month to that extent, casting verbally was easy it's the silent casting that's a pain, I had only started getting the spells working silently in the last week of the month I knew that I was going to be training just as much to learn the others to the same extent.

With the compartment door closed and my trunk stored I returned my wand to my sleeve and moved to sit on the left-hand window seat of the compartment as I started to filter through my memories about what would be happening in the next hour, on the muggle side of the platform Harry Potter would have his first run in with the Weasley brood, which was only a result of Molly Weasley blatantly tossing the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy aside as she openly talks about Platform nine and three quarters and muggles aloud for all to hear, in order to draw Harry's attention to them in an obvious set up so that him and Ronald would become friends later.

It wasn't obvious to me at first when I reviewed the first movie but when I watched the second I realised that something was off, the Weasleys were a pureblood family weren't they, they had no reason to take the muggle-born passage into platform nine and three quarters, not when their parents could just apparate them all here in a couple of jumps, or even do as I did and take the floo here, it was all that plus Molly's actions that had me convinced that it was all a set up on Dumbledore's orders in order to get Harry in with a family that was loyal to Dumbledore, given that Harry had been staying with his abusive muggle relatives he would cling to any and all love and affection gave to him no matter how small because of his upbringing all because of Dumbledore's manipulations.

And all that was just the start of Dumbledore's manipulations this year. When looking at things through realistic eyes its plain to see how the first year of Hogwarts was all just one big test for Harry. First the announcement during the welcoming feast announcing the third floor on the right-hand side out of bounds to draw Harry's and everyone's attention to it to start the Hogwarts rumour mill running, and then the year spent gathering clues which a certain loose-lipped half giant just keeps dropping. All so the three of them could get past the traps if you can even call them that. That's meant to keep the dark lord from getting his hands on the philosopher stone, what an absolute joke.

I had spent a day doing research in the black library on their so-called traps as I knew what they were before hand and I was not impressed with Dumbledore's actions, and the number of safety violations he's committing in this year alone.

The first trap, Fluffy, the Cerberus, is a class five dangerous beast, and he puts it behind a door that can be open by a simple first-year charm in a school full of children? And his only preventative measure is him at the beginning of the year saying for them not to go near the corridor?

Then the second trap, Devil snare, no strike that, a Giant Devil snare, a plant that strangled people to death, dangerous for people like Ron Weasley who don't pay attention in class and know how to get out of it, which it just so happens is a topic taught to first years, one hell of a coincidence that don't you think.

Then the next two traps the keys and the chest set are both blatantly obvious about who they are targeted too, Harry being the youngest seeker in a century and then Ron and his passion for chest about the only bloody thing the idiot is good for.

Then if you follow the books over the movies there's the troll which Quirrell dispatches and the potions riddle to get through the enchanted fire to the final test and this is what really gets me, the mirror of Erised, how the hell did Dumbledore think that taking that mirror into a school of children and leaving it in an unguarded classroom was a good idea. Everything I've read about the mirror screams dangerous, the thing is enchanted to compel people to look into it and when you do you don't ever want to look away. I suspect that the only reason Harry was able to was because of Dumbledore messing with it in order to change the enchantment such as to protect the philosopher stone. The mirror would have trapped him otherwise, and like Dumbledore even said, people have wasted away in front of it, yet he puts it in a castle full of children.

Taking all that into mind I'm of a firm believe that the title Harry Potter and the philosopher stone should be changed to Harry Potter and the school full of death traps that don't work. Because while all those things are dangerous, there is no way in hell that they would stop someone of significant power like Voldemort, I mean come on, Quirrell made it right to the very end, Dumbledore was out of the castle and if Harry hadn't turned up given enough time Voldemort would have figured out how to get the stone and then he would have returned four years earlier and Harry would have been as good as dead.

My own plans for the year were somewhat, proactive, given that my goal was to pilfer the stone myself. I had already devised a number of ways that Quirrell or any death eater could have gotten through those traps with the smallest of efforts, I figured I'd give it until I knew that the stone was in the mirror and then make my move to get it myself.

I have my own reasons for wanting the stone. If the stone turned out to be the real deal that is. I figured that the odds were about fifty-fifty in my favour that the stone was the real thing. It could have been a fake for a number of reasons. Flamel tricking Dumbledore and gave him a fake stone is the first reason that comes to mind. Mainly because I don't think the man would be dumb enough to just hand over his key to immortality to anyone just like that.

Another could be that Dumbledore made a fake copy of the stone himself to use as bate while he keeps the real one safe in his office, where he could try to find out its secrets and make his own, or just so that the real stone was never in danger and thus Voldemort never had a chance that way of actually coming back.

I just wanted to see for myself if the stone was the real thing, and see if my plans on how to get it worked, and if along the way the stone did turn out to be the real thing and not a fake… well, that was just the icing on the cake knowing that when I had it and Dumbledore tried to retrieve it he would be unable to do so. He'd likely be pulling his hair out trying to figure out why he couldn't retrieve the stone, and then he would have to tell his friend that he had lost the stone that he had so graciously leant him for his plans. Oh, what I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall for that conversation.

Some might call it underhanded that I would steal the stone but the way I look at it, it's Flamel's own fault if the stone turns out to be the real deal, he shouldn't have so foolishly leant it to the old manipulator in the first place. He created it anyway, if he wants another he can just make it himself and hopefully be a little more careful with the second one.

I sat back in my seat putting my feet up on the other side and leaning back to get comfortable as I waited for the train to leave as the time approached. Originally I had pondered the idea about going in search for Harry on the train, but I decided against that after a few minutes of thought, given my name things would only turn out poorly the second Weasley turned up, and to be honest I don't want anything to do with that jealous git.

Plus my interference at such an early stage could mess things up in the time line, not that it already hasn't I know for a fact in four or five years' time I'm going to have a headache on my hands when the order of the phoenix is brought back when Black manor was meant to be the meeting place for the order after Sirius offered it as such, now I have no idea where they will try and base the order so things will be thrown for a loop when we reach that point.

Not that it matters much, really what did the order of the fried chicken, really do when Voldemort came back the second time other than play bodyguards for Harry when he was out of Hogwarts, that was it. They were, on a whole, useless.

But if I had to place a bet where they would set up their new base, if it wasn't at Grimmauld place it would be at Hogwarts. Mainly to do with what I had previously read in Hogwarts a history, seeing as I read the thing twice over in the month beforehand, I knew everything that it had about the ancient castle.

The first thing being was that Hogwarts was a sovereign land to itself, the ground on which the castle stood as well as the town of Hogsmeade rested on was all separate from the ministries control. It has been that way since the founders founded Hogwarts over a thousand years ago so that no ministry or government body could interfere or influence what was being taught there.

And in order to protect the castle and its occupant's powerful wards were erected over the castle to defend against attacks and monitor the inner workings of the castle, which the founders used to watch over the castle while they ruled it and the surrounding land as its lords and ladies.

But as time passed so did the control, the board of governors was created to take over from the founders to manage the welfare of the school, and the appointed headmaster was given control of the wards which were extensive. The first one the book mentioned was the unforgivable detection ward, that notified the headmaster whenever an unforgivable curse was used in the school, next was the dark magic and dark objects detection wards that scanned everything that was brought into the school, if any such items were brought in through the wards the headmaster was notified and it was up to him on how to deal with such items.

It wasn't hard for me to figure out that Dumbledore was seriously abusing the wards in order to allow all the things that were going on this year to happen, the wards would go nuts when the Cerberus and the Mirror was brought into the school, on top of that there was no way the wards didn't warn him about Quirrell being possessed the old man knows and does nothing about it.

He is allowing it all to happen because he wanted it to happen for his "greater good", and I now know to be wary if I hear him say that because I figure it means one of three things. That someone is about to get shafted, someone has been shafted or someone is in the process of being shafted.

I rubbed my brow as I felt the train pull off from the station and sighed. I was about to be put into the school run by this manipulative bastard with a beacon on my head that was my heirship of the House of Black because to his knowledge I had no guardians of any kind, I was just another pawn for him to use. I grinned, we would see about that that old fart is about to find out that not all his students are pawns for his amusements.

Scene break

The train ride was underway for about five minutes when there was a knock at my door, I turned my head to see the door being opened and two girls standing outside it, both in witches robes with trunks at their sides.

I blinked at them and I found it very odd that I didn't immediately recognise them, I realised that they must have been lesser known characters in the books. Not everyone made an appearance in the movies.

"Sorry but do you mind if we sit here?" the first girl asked, she was a blond with long silky smooth hair that ran down past her shoulders for a couple of inches, she had a near perfect complexion, a round face and blue eyes.

I shook my head, "Not at all, please take a seat," I said as I gestured to the empty seats in the compartment.

Both girls nodded and as the first girl came in I got a better look at the second, unlike her blond friend the second girl was a brunet with hair the same length as the first but only with some curves near its ends, and she had small freckles on her slightly rounded cheeks and brown eyes.

Both came in pulling their trunks behind them, and I noticed the initials on both of them, the blonds had a DG on its side and the brunets had a TD. I thought it over in my head and I couldn't place the initials with any girls off the top of my head but quickly came back to the present when I saw them both start to help each other to lift their trunks up to the above head storage, struggling slightly.

I smiled, "Here, let me help" I offered as both girls looked to me as I pulled my wand from my sleeve and with another swish and flick both trunks lifted up off the ground and slotted into place above them.

Both girls turned from watching their trunks float into place to me both with looks of shock and wonder.

"How did you do that?" the blond asked her eyes wide, "I didn't even hear you speak?"

I smiled, "Practice," I responded, "My grandparents, they have me practising each spell on the curriculum weeks in advance and them take it to the next level with is silent casting, takes ages to get it right, but it's worth it to see the looks I get." I grinned.

Both girls were still looking at me in awe for a couple of seconds before the brunet was the first to snap out of it apparently and speak.

"Well that's pretty cool," she said as she smiled at me, "I'm Tracey Davis, pleased to meet you."

Tracey's apparent introduction managed to shake the blond from her shock as well and I saw her cheeks pinked in embarrassment before she spoke, "Oh, of course, I've completely forgotten myself," she said before curtsying to me slightly, "Daphne Greengrass, my apologies for not introducing myself sooner, but I was a little… side-tracked" she said as her cheeks pinked again.

Hearing their names my mind went into overdrive to pull together all I knew about both these two girls, both were sorted into Slytherin house at Hogwarts, Daphne was a pureblood heiress to the house of Greengrass, and had a younger sister who was a year or so younger, while Tracey was a half-blood born to a noble family, if I remember correctly Daphne's younger sister is to marry Draco Malfoy, hmm neither play much part in the actual movies, the largest thing about them is Daphne being a part of Pansy Parkinson's little cliché.

I broke out of my thoughts a moment after seeing both looking at me… oh, right I was meant to introduce myself… eh, what the heck it will be out in a couple hours anyway might as well have a little fun.

I smiled and nodded my head to them, "A pleasure to meet such fine ladies, Magnus Black, Heir Apparent to the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, at your service," I said giving them both a smile.

Both girls looked like they were trying to catch flies with their open mouths as they dropped to their seats at my introduction, I smirked and waited for them to snap out of it again, it was a little amusing seeing their shock.

This time Daphne was the first to come around first, "Are you really from the House of Black? I thought there was none left" she said sounding shocked.

I gave an amused chuckle, "Well I had better be, I've been living in Black manor for a month non-sense I was told by the goblins about my heritage and they gave me this fancy ring." I said as I held up my hand as my heir ring appeared, "From what they told me I have to be heir Black to wear it."

I got another set of gasps from both of them when they saw my heir ring and I smirked, this was too much fun. After a couple of seconds, I watched as Daphne tried to school her features but my statements had clearly shocked her, Tracey, on the other hand, was just shocked.

"But how, everyone thought that the next heir to house Black was going to be a child born from one of the houses with Black blood in it, like the Malfoys?" Tracey stated.

I shrugged, "it likely would have been until I was found. I was born out of wedlock and left at an orphanage when both my parents died, I only just got tested a month back and here I am, my father was the last heir before he died, that means I'm next in line for succession." I explained

Daphne nodded her head to my words, "Well I'd watch my back if I were you, you're appearance is definitely going to rub a number of people the wrong way, because they thought they were in line for the Black lordship. With you coming out of nowhere, you're going to have people out for your blood, or trying to discredit you in the least." She said seriously.

I shrugged, "I guessed as much. My grandparents told me that I might piss some people off, but I think I'm ready should they try anything." I explained.

Tracey blinked, "hey wait a minute, what do you mean by grandparents, all the other blacks are either cast out of the family or dead, the last lord Black died twelve years ago and Lady Black died six years ago" she stated.

I chuckled, "I mean their portraits in Black manor, I've had them giving me lessons the past month while I also crammed my Hogwarts books, I've been learning as much as I can about the wizarding world while taking lessons from them on how to be a proper heir, the lessons are never-ending" I said with shrug.

That got a giggle from Tracey and a smirk from Daphne at my final comment.

"Welcome to the life of being a pureblood heir" Daphne commented with her smirk.

"Yeah we've been having those lessons since we were six, about how to act and show ourselves in public, and be the perfect little daughters and heiress to our houses" Tracey added with a little pose before giggling which got Daphne going as well.

"Yeah, I don't even want to think what it would be like trying to cram all that into a month, right before starting Hogwarts too" Daphne stated giving me a pitiful look.

I shrugged, "well grandmother says I'm coming along well in most of my practical's, but that I still have a long way to go yet, while I've barely scratched the surface with grandfather, he says I have a lot more to learn about the laws and politics" I explained, "but I've covered the basics so far at least."

I watched as both girls exchanged glances before nodding, "well we could probably help you out with it," Tracey offered.

"That's if we end up in the same house that is." Daphne added, "Otherwise our efforts could be strained."

I nodded and decided to bite the bullet, "So what house do you think you two will be sorted into?" I asked with a knowing smirk.

Both girls smirked at my statement, Daphne crossed her arms with a smile, "well my father was a Slytherin, and my mother was a Ravenclaw, so either is an option for me. But I suspect I'll be in Slytherin, it's the house of the cunning, sly and ambitious after all."

Tracey nodded smiling, "My mother was a Hufflepuff and my father a Slytherin so either house is an option for me. But both my parents want me to be in Slytherin, though I suspect they wouldn't mind if I was in Ravenclaw, anything as long as I'm not in Gryffindor." she said with a shudder mentioning the house of the brave. Or the foolish in my opinion.

Daphne gave me a look, "what about you Black? What house do you think you'll be in?" She asked as both girls looked at me anxiously.

I chuckled, "Well my grandparent's portraits both tell me I should be in Slytherin. As that has been where members of the House of Black have been predominantly over the years, aside from a couple in other houses, such as my uncle Sirius who was in Gryffindor. Though he was disowned before he left Hogwarts so I don't think he counts." I mused, "But I'm not sure that I can fall under that banner, after all, I wasn't born and raised a Black. I wasn't raised in the wizarding world with its traditions and beliefs. I've only been learning about most of them over the past month, so ladling me as a traditional Black is a little early."

Both girls were looking at me with curious looks as I continued talking, Daphne raised her eyebrow, "So if you're not a "traditional Black" then what are you?"

I shrugged, "I'm me. If I'm being honest I think I have traits from all the houses, but I don't think either Hufflepuff or Gryffindor is for me. I'm not blindly loyal like the puffs or thick headed like the house of the lions are. I follow my head and I have my own goals. I think before I charge ahead wand drawn and I use the information I have to my advantage."

Daphne smirked, "Oh you're a Slytherin no doubt." She said confidently, "Just listen to you, "using information to your advantage", and "having your own goals"." She added, "If you're not a Slytherin then you've got to be a Ravenclaw then, with all the thinking you've put into this."

I chuckled, "Maybe, I think you're right about me being a Slytherin, I'm a bit too ambitious for my own good, but while I am I don't think I'll be placed there, it just doesn't seem right."

Tracey raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean doesn't feel right?" she asked as both she and Daphne looked at me like I had grown a second head.

I smirked, "think about it, Slytherin favours the Cunning and the Sly as well as those who have ambition." I said simply, "while it may seem obvious that's why people who value those traits would be placed there, it puts them at a disadvantage. Why would someone who is cunning and sly want to be placed in a house that labels them so?"

Both girls looked at me wide-eyed at my statement and I grinned. I had actually been thinking about this fact for the past two weeks. I had been trying to think about just where I should be placed, I had come to this conclusion after the first five days of thinking things through. I knew just where I wanted to end up that would prove to give me the best advantages, and that was just where I was heading.

Daphne seemed to be in thought for a minute or so and nodded, "It's a strange way of looking at it I suppose. It would put people at a disadvantage if they wanted to do anything that required them to be cunning or sly about it. Because people would already expect them to do just that." She said and sneered slightly, "But looking at it that way. Every past generation Slytherin would have made the same mistake by being put into the house of the snakes."

Tracey snorted a giggle, "My dad would hex you into the middle of the next week if you said that to him. He's very pro-Slytherin. I'd love to see his face if someone pointed out that it wasn't very Slytherin of him to be placed in Slytherin."

I chuckled and looked out the window watching the countryside move by. "I'd imagine so." I said with a smirk, "Hey, how long is the journey to Hogwarts meant to take?" I asked. Not really remembering to check the times.

Daphne smirked, "it's a seven-hour trip. We'll arrive at Hogsmeade station just after six in the evening. From there it's on to Hogwarts."

I nod, "that's a long trip. Here's hoping it's a peaceful one" I mused.

Tracey looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "Why wouldn't it be? Are you expecting trouble?"

I smirked, "No but you never know what's going to happen." I said as I continued to look out the window.

Scene break- third person POV

The next six hours of the trip on the train proved to be quiet, the three remained in the compartment chatting ideally between each other and discussing things they'd learned from their Hogwarts books ahead of time. The lights in the compartment had just come on when the door opened from the outside.

Magnus looked from the window to the door to see who it was and internally groaned before turning his attention back outside after seeing who it was.

Draco Malfoy along with his two shadows, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, stood at the door as Draco arrogantly walked in glancing around and completely ignoring Magnus as his eyes went to the two girls and he smiled cockily.

"Ah, so this is where you've been. I was hoping I'd find you, Greengrass," Draco stated as he gave her a smirk.

Daphne rolled her eyes and Tracey gave a snort, "That's odd because we were hoping to avoid you, Malfoy." She stated with annoyance.

But before Draco could utter his response that Magnus could see he was about to Daphne spoke, "What do you want Malfoy?" she asked with no small amount of venom in her tone, something that Malfoy clearly missed or didn't care about.

"I wanted to discuss house business with you. A matter that my father has been trying to breach with yours for some time but he has been rebuffed on every advance on the matter." Draco responded with his best humble tone, which only came off as arrogant. "I was hoping we could discuss it and you could raise it with your father the next time you see him."

Daphne narrowed her eyes, and from what Magnus could see she wanted to give a rather crude retort, one that didn't need any words and only a single finger as a gesture to give it, but she took a breath and rolled her eyes, "Matters of the Lord of the houses do not concern the heirs and heiresses Malfoy. If this was a matter for us to discuss or become involved in then my father would have told me about it and that I was free to discuss it with you, as I have not been told as such I will not breach the matter with you."

But her brush off didn't seem to deter Malfoy, "But if the matter is concerning our future and the futures of our houses. Surely we should discuss possible outcomes and make plans, we both have our father's ears after all."

Daphne's eyes hardened at that statement as did her tone as she spoke, "I already know the matter of which you speak Malfoy. My father has already informed me of your fathers advanced on the subject, but my father has closed the matter entirely each time he was pushed on this topic. With that in mind, it is clear that the matter you wish to discuss the future off has no future and never will as far as my father and I am concerned." She stated with a glare, "Now if that is all I will ask that you leave me in peace to enjoy the remainder of my trip without your presence ruining it."

When the obvious rejection finally registered with Malfoy he scowled and looked as though he was about to press the matter, when Magnus finally spoke.

"I do believe the lady asked you to leave," Magnus spoke causing Malfoy to finally look at him. While he continued to look out the window at the passing scenery, "No one in this compartment wishes for your presence. You entered uninvited and without introducing yourself, and then you proceeded to harass these two lovely ladies here, both of whom clearly want nothing to do with you, if you do not wish to listen to them perhaps you will to me." Magnus said as he turned from the window and looked right at Malfoy, "Get out."

Malfoy clenched his fists at Magnus's statement and he steps forward, "How dare you talk to me like that, know who you're talking to before you speak, I am Draco Lucius Malfoy, heir to the magical house of Malfoy, but then I wouldn't expect some filthy Mud blood to know anything about addressing your betters." He stated in clear disgust as he looked at Magnus, not taking in the fact that he wore fine robes nor the fact that how whole little speech had affected him in the slightest.

Both Tracey and Daphne just scowled at Draco, while Magnus just smirked.

"Oh goodie," Magnus stated as he started to stand, "I was hoping that someone would try to pick a fight" he stated plainly. While inside he was jumping for joy, he was going to enjoy this.

The others watched as Magnus stood, but their eyes slowly widened as he suddenly stood much taller than they thought he would be, as he stood up to his full height he practically towered over Draco by five inches as he looked down at the blond with an unimpressed look.

Malfoy for his part did his best not to let the fact that Magnus was much taller than him bother him, given that he had both Crabbe and Goyle behind him that was easy to do, but what little was left of his bravado quickly faded as he and the taller Magnus met eyes and Malfoy stared into a pair of red eyes that were practically glowing. Malfoy almost pissed himself when Magnus spoke.

"It is you who should know who you're talking to before you run your mouth," Magnus stated as his eyes pulsed, "For I can assure you that I am no mundane born wizard," he said as he held up his hand with his heir ring visible.

Malfoy's eyes went to his hand and his eyes widened in shock as he saw the House of Black heir ring and he felt his throat run dry as Magnus continued to speak.

"I am Magnus Roark Black, Son of Regulus Arcturus Black, Heir Apparent to the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Black and the next Lord Black," Magnus stated as his look turned to a glare as he looked down on Malfoy as he watched the smaller boy look on him with some fear while both Crabbe and Goyle gulped slightly at his words, "It is you who should know how to address your betters. As my passion as heir of an ancient and most noble house outranks an heir to a house that is simply magical."

Malfoy finally seethed as he spoke, "You're lying! You can't be the heir to the House of Black, my father told me I'm the next to inherit the Black lordship through my mother's side of the family, I am the next Lord Black!"

Magnus scoffed at that statement, "Oh yes, I'm well aware of your mother. Narcissa Malfoy Nee Black is my cousin once removed after all. My grandparent's portraits told me all about her. As well as your claim to the Black lordship." He said with an amused undertone, "But I'm afraid your claim falls moot with me in the picture cousin. I am a son of a son of the House of Black, and a direct descendant of the last Lord Black. That makes me the heir, and not you."

Malfoy started to shake his head, "No that can't be true." He said in denial about what he was hearing.

Daphne snorted, "It obviously is," she stated getting Draco's attention again, "he couldn't wear the ring otherwise, I'm sure the House of Black's heir ring has defensive measures just like any other heir or lord ring that prevent any but the true heirs or lords from putting them on, the ring is proof of his claim being true regardless what you say." She said finding the whole scene of Magnus shoving Malfoys own words down his throat to be very entertaining.

Malfoy looked ready to lose it at Daphne as he glared at her and was about to start yelling when Magnus stepped in front of him again, his eyes still pulsing red.

"Now I am not going to tell you again, get out now, or I will make you." Magnus stated as he channelled his magic into his next words like he had a couple of weeks ago making them boom making Malfoy practically jump backwards with fright right out of the apartment.

Now outside Malfoy gulped but pointed at Magnus before snarling, "You are going to regret this, that ring is mine and I will have it when my father hears about this."

Magnus smirked as his eyes pulsed again not even needing to say anything before both Malfoy and his two goons legged it as Magnus grinned and shut the door with a push.

No sooner had the door closed Magnus sighed, "Finally, I thought that idiot would never leave" he said as he turned back to his seat as he visible started to get smaller dropping five inches from his height and his eyes returned to his normal grey colour.

Both girls watched on in shock seeing him shrink like he did, but Daphne was the first to speak, "You're a Metamorphmagus, that's how you did all that, with your height and eyes" she said as she put it together.

Magnus nodded, "Yeah, but I'm only a partial one. I can only do small changes. Nothing major, hair, height, eyes, weight, and some minor appearance modifications are about the height of what I can do. But when used at the right time even subtle things like that can make an impression."

Tracey scoffed, "You can say that again, I thought you were about to tear Malfoys head off him there at the end when your voice boomed like that, Malfoy wasn't the only one who jumped a little."

Magnus smirked, "Na I wouldn't do that, the blond ponce isn't worth the trouble of a fight. He's just an annoying prat who needs to learn his place. Though I doubt he will judging by what he said about going to his father. I bet that will be a constant thing with him. Idiot doesn't have enough courage or wit about him to sort his only problems so he goes running to his old man. What a joke."

Both girls giggled at that. "Yeah I wouldn't be surprised if that turns into a regular thing," Tracey smirked

"I just pity you for being related to him," Daphne said as she tried to stop her own giggling.

Magnus groaned as he sat back and put his feet up, "Ugh. Don't remind me. If it wasn't for the fact that the blond idiot would get the heirship I'd give it up and deny all relations to him." He said in an over the top fashion.

Tracy giggled but Daphne gave a glare at him, "hey lay off the blond comments, I am one in case you haven't noticed." She said with a small amount of irritation in her voice.

Magnus held up his hands chuckling, "okay, okay, sorry." He said half-heartedly, "How about we call him the platinum idiot instead?" he suggested with a grin.

Daphne blinked, "platinum idiot?" she asked not getting the reference but looked at Tracey when she started giggling even more, "What's so funny?" she asked.

Tracey finally started to calm down enough to explain after a minute or two, "it's a muggle thing, to say something is platinum, is another way of saying something is first class. It's to do with platinum music records, when a song gets really popular they say it's platinum. It's also funny because Malfoy's hair is practically the same colour as platinum." She giggled.

Magnus grinned, "Yep so it's even more true, that Malfoy is a platinum idiot"

Daphne finally got it and giggled, "Yep that could work." She said with a smile, "Though aren't you worried about what Malfoy's father will do when he finds out about you."

Tracey nodded, "Yeah with you taking the heirship to house Black, out of his son's hands, you've just set house Malfoy back about four generations and ruined all of his father's plans"

Magnus looked at Tracey with a raised eyebrow, "what are you talking about?"

Daphne shook her head, "She's likely referring to the status of house Malfoy as just a magical house, and that Lord Malfoy was more than likely planning to use house Blacks influence once Draco became its lords to see house Malfoy rise from being just a magical house to being a most ancient and magical house. Thereby drastically increasing the houses political power within the Wizengamot. And with both house Malfoy and house Black voting on the same bills it would be like house Malfoy having twice the voting power of any other singular house. Which would make Lord Malfoy a large voting power in sessions and allow him to carry more sway on what laws get passed." She explained slowly but then smirked, "But now with the Black lordship now blocked, house Malfoy will have to wait for another four generations before they can even try to increase their houses voting power on their own. Especially considering Lord Malfoy's imperious defence for his actions in the war. That was the only reason he had been able to retain his houses voting rights. But since then he's been blocked from taking the proxy seat for the House of Black early when it became vacant five years ago. My father told me that Malfoy has been waiting patiently for that seat to see his house rise up. He's going to be all kinds of angry when he hears about you."

Magnus smirked, "Well this is news to me as I've been lying low somewhat, and I didn't hear about the House of Blacks seat on the Wizengamot being used as a power play, I don't even know who's meant to be holding its proxy. But I'm glad that house Malfoy doesn't have it because that would be a pain trying to get him out of it."

Tracey nods, "Yeah I doubt that Lord Malfoy would have given it up easily, and I doubt that he's going to give up on the seat even with your claim to the position as solid as it is. He'll likely try to have you stripped of your position in favour of his son."

Magnus shook his head, "He can try but he has no legs to stand on to do so. Firstly I'm a son of a son of the House of black, which trumps Draco being the son of a daughter of the House of black. Second I'm directly descended from the last lord, while Draco is once removed. And thirdly I'm two months older than Draco, I will come into my majority and subsequent emancipation before him."

Tracey looks at him puzzled, "If your claim is that solid then why does Malfoy think that his father can do anything to get him the Black heirship?"

Magnus smirked, "I think we've already established the reason why that is." He said sounding rather sagely as both girls looked at him waiting for the answer, Magnus grinned, "he's a platinum idiot."

Both girls burst out into another fit of giggles at the statement that couldn't be truer.