Electives

The next day, I was attacked not by angry Slytherins or the Basilisk. But a bunch of pissed-off girls.

While I found it hilarious to insinuate that my friends had requested love songs for the girls.

They were generally upset that the gestures were fake. They felt I pranked and embarrassed them and not the boys.

This may have been true if not for the hazing the four boys got over the songs. I got some hazing for serenading the girls, but I laughed it off and showed the dozen Valentine's cards I had received.

Another unexpected consequence was that now the band had to learn the three songs because Tina was hunted down and forced by the other girls, who admitted that we would play those songs at our next gig. Tina was upset about my stunt and now having to play those love songs, so she forced us to learn them. 

And we couldn't do it in private either because those said girls started showing up at band practices.

"Eddie, we should use the room on the seventh floor", Grant said after one bad session where we played •What Makes You Beautiful• three times because of the demands. 

"yeah, we can't learn any new songs with them here", grumbled Tim.

"room on the seventh floor?" Tina asked, looking at us.

I rubbed my face in frustration. "We never used to practice in here", I started to explain. "Back when we just started, I couldn't control my magic when I played music, so we had to use a special room." 

"Why would using that room now get rid of the girls?" Tina asked.

"because it's a secret room, tomorrow before the study group will move the instruments", I sighed.

"easter holiday is coming up", Tim smiled. "Well, have time to practice some new songs." 

"Oh right, you guys have to pick your electives soon then." Tina smiled.

"Which ones do you do?" I asked her.

"Divination and muggle studies", she answered with a broad smile. "Divination is fun." 

I rolled my eyes; most girls took divination for some reason. "you guys had any thoughts about what to pick?" I asked as I wrapped up my leads.

"Care for magical creatures for sure," Tim said, "After reading Fantastic Beast, I really want to see some of these creatures in the flesh."

"I'm thinking Arithmancy", Grant said. "I've always been good at numbers." I nodded, and that made sense.

"what about you?" Tina asked.

"Ancient runes and Care for magical creatures" I said I had already thought a lot about it.

"ancient runes, really?" Tina said.

"Yup, it's the stepping stone towards alchemy. Hell, if I could get a lot of people interested, Dumbledore might start an alchemy class for Newt Level." I took out my walkman decorated with ancient runes. I hadn't studied most of the runes after figuring out how to set the dimensions. But it was still fascinating to me.

"I doubt you'll get people interested in ancient runes, as I heard it is a boring subject with no practicals", Tina said. "Hard to get people interested in learning a lot of theory." she had packed up and was heading to the door.

"Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow", I said to Tina as she walked out.

"so you know what I don't understand," Tim said after a moment of silence.

"I'm sure there are lots you don't understand," I said to Tim.

"true, but I don't understand why you didn't give a love song to Luna", he said, the last part sickly sweet. Grant snorted in laughter.

"Because, as I stated before, Luna is just a friend," I said, "And before you start, you should know that Hanah asked if you were one of the cool cats, Tim," I said with a grin.

"you didn't!" yelled Tim. I just smirked and walked off "Eddie, Please say you didn't!" Tim begged as he chased after me. 

The next day, I was wandering the halls between classes when I overheard a conversation.

"Riddle might have gotten the wrong person", Hermione whispered to Harry and Ron.

"how many monsters do you think this place can hold?" said Ron. They were talking in hushed whispers, but I heard them as they passed me.

"a lot" i said aloud to answer ron question. The group stopped and stared at me.

"what do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Well, let's see. If we were talking about just the castle, there are places where you can store a plethora of the creatures. But if you add in the grounds, you get the forbidden forest and the black lake as well; Hogwarts is home to a large number of magical creatures. Hell, Hogwarts is named after a flying boar that led the founders to the area," I stated. "but if you're talking about the monster in the chamber. Anything that lived for a thousand years must be big. Take a look at the giant squid, tho I suspect it isn't a giant squid." 

"What do you mean the giant squid isn't a giant squid?" Ron looked confused.

"the black lake is fresh water, and the giant squid comes to the surface a lot." I said, "It's definitely either magically enhanced or a Kraken," I said.

"Kraken!" yelled Hermione. 

"Well, yeah, it's not like giant squids live in Scottish lakes; they live in the deep ocean and can't even stand sunlight or the air pressure of the surface." I said again, "But don't worry, she is harmless." 

"she," Ron said. "the giant squids a girl."

"just another theory," I said.

"Okay, thanks, Eddie. We better get to class, Harry said" as he dragged the trio away.

I shrugged. 'It shows the incompetence of the wizards back then to believe that the chamber of secrets was opened by the half-giant Hagrid.' I thought, 'Maybe they didn't believe that chamber was open and just was a cover, but Aragog was an acromantula; how the hell does an acromantual petrify people?'