17 Back Again

Another few days passed and it was time to go back to Hogwarts again. My body and mind were already relaxed from the stress I accumulated because of tiring myself. This time, I plan on going easy. My telekinesis is going quite well, and my other projects are still okay, although halted a bit during the Christmas break.

I arrived alone in King's Cross. Gorbey wanted to come, but I said that there will be no one to guard the house, so he relented. I passed through the familiar pillar again, and I am now in Platform 9 3/4. I immediately stepped inside the train as I pulled my trunk with me. It was hard to find an empty cabin when I found Hermione and Neville together inside one of the cabins. I took out my gifts as I went inside the compartment.

"It seems fate brought us together again, my friends." I greeted them dramatically.

"What now, Fred?" Hermione said, annoyed.

"Happy New Year to you too, Hermione. And you too Neville. Although we met back in the Malfoy Manor." I said as I tossed them their gifts.

"Happy New Year to you too, Fred," Neville said. Wow, he's not stuttering too much unlike before. Well done, Neville.

"What's this Grindelwald?" Hermione said. Although her hands quickly caught the parcel.

"Well obviously, it's a late Christmas gift. I bought it recently, and I don't know where your houses are, so I just thought of giving them to you today.

" Thank you, Fred. But you didn't have to." Neville said.

"Well, I consider you all friends, even if Hermione here is quite... temperamental," I said trying to find the right word. No need to anger the witch.

Hermione rolled her eyes but thanked me.

"You're both welcome," I said as I made myself comfortable on my seat. They opened both of their gifts and were both surprised. It seems it didn't occur to them that they'll need something to hold their wands if they are not using it.

I took out my wand, and boy I missed him so much. I didn't get to use too much magic even though I'm inside the manor. I had businesses to attend to, and I decided to relax. But now, it's time to work. I thought of creating new spells, but I realized that I had too much in mind that I can't focus on one thing. So, I decided to master each spell that I already created before moving on to something else.

We had a small chat for a while before getting bored, so the three of us went to do our own thing. Hermione reading her books, Neville playing with Trevor, and me taking a nap.

Eventually, we reached the station. Neville woke me up to change into our robes. Though we have to get out of the cabin since Hermione was apparently a girl.

I separated from them on the way since I'm the only Ravenclaw there. I went straight to bed and slept for the day. I'll just give Cho her gift during breakfast. I have a plan to visit the forest soon. I don't know what or how, but something tells me that I should go there. I trust my hunch since it never failed me.

The next day, I went down the great hall with my gift inside my robes. I saw Cho sitting at the table, so I sat beside her.

" G' morning, Cho," I greeted her. She was a bit startled though. I just laughed at that.

"Oh, it's just you, Fred. Good morning. Seriously, you should stop startling me. Anyway, how was your break?" Cho greeted back and asked.

"Well, something happened." Then I told her the story of how I was invited to Malfoy's party. But I left out the fact that I now live inside a mansion owned by my family.

"It's not just something Fred. It means a lot." Chi pointed out. She's actually right. I already made my debut in the wizarding world. So by attending the party, I unknowingly entered the political side of society. Not that I regret though, I made a lot of connections there.

"Yeah, it meant a lot. Although it was a bit fun there too. I watched Neville danced at the ball with a girl." I chuckled at the thought of how Neville asked Luna to dance with him.

"Who did you dance with?" She asked, curious.

"Daphne Greengrass. She was quite pretty you know. She really deserved her title." I shook my head. I never knew the Ice Queen could be like the girl I talked with under the full moon. Maybe the pressure of being a noble and the heir made her like that. I probably won't know.

"You think she's pretty?"

"A little. I was quite hurt when she ran away after we danced." I answered her. I actually thought we're friends. What kind of friend runs away after a dance?

"Sounds like a girl with an attitude." She smirked.

"Never mind her. Here, belated Merry Christmas." I said as I gave her the books I bought. She looked shocked.

"But...how?" She asked, still trying to recover from her shock.

"I know you love Quidditch. So I bought these for you. The things are written there are actually useful, so take care of it."

"Thank you, Fred. I really mean it." She said as she carried the book in her arms, almost looked like she was hugging it.

"I know Cho. You're welcome." I replied as I stood up and went to class.

Transfiguration is the first class of the day, so we'll have lessons with Slytherin. As an early bird I always am, I was the first student present in the classroom. Sure enough, Professor McGonagall was already inside. The teachers already know me since I always arrive at the earliest, so McGonagall is not surprised.

"Had a good break, Mr. Grindelwald?" She asked.

"Yes, Professor. I hope you enjoyed the holidays too." I said.

The Professor just smiled and waited for the others to arrive. Since I am always the earliest, I get to pick the seat I want to sit on. Naturally, I went to the middle of the room and sat there. I always go to this seat since not a lot of people will notice me.

Soon enough, the students arrived and walked to their seats. I saw Daphne in her usually stoic face. I just smiled at her when she noticed I was looking at her. She didn't do anything, but I saw a slight twitch in her lip.

The class started with the usual lessons, except that it was harder for them. I already have the whole Hogwarts Curriculum up to 6th year in my mind. The only things I've been trying to achieve are Apparition and Animagus. I've even studied a lot of knowledge from subjects that are not included in the Hogwarts Curriculum.

The class ended with me giving additional points to the house. And my other housemates were quite annoyed. Of course, they would want to show off as well. The only thing that is stopping them is that they're scared to piss me off. It's not like I've been angry, but there was a rumor that spread around the school that I can cast curses and wield dark arts just like my grandfather. People won't obviously believe the rumors, but they won't try and test me anyway.

I tried to lag behind until all of the students were gone. Luckily, Daphne was the last student to leave the classroom. Unfortunately, she's still with her group so she separated herself from them. Saying that she has something to do. Her group was suspicious, but they still obeyed. Daphne has a certain power within the house after all.

"A good day to you, Ice Queen." I greeted her.

"What now, Fred?." She asked. Why does no one want me? The first thing they ask whenever I approach them is 'what now'?

It looks like I already have an ulterior motive when I go near them.

"You wound me, Daphne. is it bad that I just want to talk with my friend? Or are you breaking your promises now? What about the night we shared? What-" I was cut off when Daphne covered my mouth with her hand.

"W-what are you saying?! We didn't do anything like that!" She glared at me while blushing.

"What are you talking about? I'm talking about the dance at the party. What have you been reading Daph?" I teased her as her blush deepened. Seeing her like that, I laughed a little, and I got a pinch in the waist for that.

"Ow! Bloody hell, Daph. I just want to know why you ran away from me that night." I said as I rubbed my waist.

"Oh, it's... it's nothing. I just forgot something and my family decided to leave early." Daph explained.

"Well, you could've at least told me that. Anyways, I forgive you. We're still friends, right?" I asked her.

"Of course. The matter was just urgent, so I had to leave early."

"Okay Daph. I believe you. Now, you wouldn't want to be late for class, right?" I said.

"Who's the one who called me here anyway?" Daphne said with a huff, too inappropriate for her image. Oh well, she can do whatever with me. I don't care about titles and images anyway. I myself have a lot, so it doesn't affect me at all.

We chatted while walking down the hallway. Until I saw a bunch of Ravenclaw that is. Second Years, since I saw Cho with her friends.

"Hello, Cho."

"Hi, Fred. Is that Daphne Greengrass?" She said. Daphne excused herself and continued walking down the hallway. I guess she doesn't want to be late.

"Yeah. We talked a bit after class, nothing more." I shrugged. Cho stared at me for a while, observing me. Eventually, she just sighed and went to class.

"Okay. I'll see you later, Fred."

"Yeah let's," I said as I ran quickly to charms. This is my first time not being early, but it's not that bad. Fortunately, I met with Professor Flitwick in the hallway so I just walked with him towards the class.

After school ended, I immediately went to the troll portrait and entered the Room. I requested the same room that I use for testing spells. After I got inside, I immediately went back to work and study my spells.

'I'm not doing the same as what I did last year. I noticed that I get exhausted pretty quickly when I stress myself. And it won't be good if my body suddenly shut down because of fatigue.'

So what I did is work only on my telekinesis for now. I pretty much completed my new spells. Just a bit power adjustment and I'm ready to go.

My current progress is 20 kilograms. So I sat there and concentrated. I put on the necklace and feel the magic around me. I practice the three charms that focused on the object displacement while I figure out what went wrong. I was in a bottleneck before the break, and I just realized that I'm too tired at that time, so my magic refused to work with me. The will I have with my magic weakened because of my accumulating stress, and it affected my mind negatively.

'Thank goodness for the break. I didn't know I actually needed that.'

Back to concentration, I manipulated the magic movement that I used in charming the 15-kilogram iron ball. Once I was done, I tried removing the necklace and recreated the feeling, and boy I was successful. I managed to move the iron ball however I can. Regardless, I'll need to have a stable hold with the heavy object before I make it move at a rapid pace. But I was still satisfied with my work.

I repeated the same routine for a few more days until I had a strange dream.

There were trees around me, and the whole forest was covered with fog. The only light that I can see is from the stars and one full moon. I heard a very loud howl that made the hair on my skin stand. A chilling feeling crawled across my body. I tried to cast magic since I can't find my wand, but I was unable to. Hell, I was not able to move at all. But I'm not afraid of it. Even death can scare me no more. I've already had my first death, and one more wouldn't change anything. The only thing I can see are two red orbs that are both staring directly at me. The being with those eyes suddenly moved, and I was engulfed in darkness. The last thing I saw was a pair of yellow orbs.

I woke up sweating and breathing heavily. What in bloody hell was that? Was that a premonition? Did I just see my death?

Sighing, I just stood up and groomed myself. I walked down the hall still distracted by the nightmare. I sat at the Ravenclaw table with my mind still thinking about last night. Will I die in that way. What was that creature anyway? I didn't see anything except that it's a huge shadow with two yellow eyes.

I tried to sweep it away from my mind, but it kept me distracted for almost the whole day. My sudden change didn't go unnoticed though. The teachers asked me after class if there's something wrong, but I only said that I might have been distracted with something. Which was true in some way.

After a few more weeks, I recovered somewhat by trying to ignore that feeling and forget the nightmare. But the foreboding feeling only worsened the more I tried to ignore it. There have been nights that I can never sleep at all. The teachers were getting more worried and tried to refer me to Madam Pomfrey. She gave me a Dreamless Sleep Potion before letting me sleep, but it just healed my fatigue. The feeling didn't change at all.

Then one day in Madam Hooch's class, she allowed the class a little bit higher. When I was in the air, the Forbidden Forest caught my attention. Something inside me felt attracted to the forest. I don't know why or how. But after the nightmare, I have a feeling that something that was inside my dream was inside the Forbidden Forest, waiting for me. I finally decided to confront that creature.