Arcane Academy

Chapter 7

Harry walked into his Magi Arts class and saw Grey sitting with a pretty brunette sitting beside him. The were-tiger was talking animatedly, gesturing wildly with his hands. Harry just shook his head and found a seat toward the back. Since he didn’t know anyone but Grey so far, he pulled out his text book and started to read.

A shadow suddenly fell across his desk, and Harry looked up curiously. A girl with pure white hair and mismatched eyes, one silver and the other bronze, stood before him. She smiled nervously and asked if she could sit in the seat next to him. Harry quickly agreed and moved his books over to give her room.

The girl sat down with a sigh and flashed Harry a cheerful smile. “I’m Vera Whitaker, a Winter Elf. Well, technically I’m only half Winter Elf. My mother was actually a Flora Fae, but I only inherited my dad’s elven abilities. In fact, the only thing I inherited from my mother is my facial features and this eye colour,” she said, pointing to her bronze coloured eye.

Harry stared at her curiously. “A Winter Elf? How many types of elves are there?”

“Well, there’s only two main types: Light and Dark Elves. But each of those types have numerous subtypes. Winter Elves are grouped in with Dark Elves,” Vera explained.

“Oh, I see,” said Harry thoughtfully. He then remembered that he hadn’t introduced himself. “I’m Harry Potter, a Kitiara. It’s very nice to meet you.”

“Same here,” said Vera. “I’ve seen you in a couple of my classes, but... well, Tristan’s a little scary these days, and Apollo... I don’t like him at all. Tristan’s sister, Callandra, was my best friend, and what Apollo did to her was terrible.”

“Yeah, Tristan told me about that,” said Harry softly.

Vera looked at Harry in surprise. “Really? I’m surprised. Tristan’s never really been the talkative type, and he completely shut down when Callandra died.”

“It’s not like that,” said Harry quickly. Before he could add anything to that, though, an arm draped around his shoulder, and long red hair brushed across his cheek.

“You didn’t wait for me, vixen,” Tristan practically purred in his ear.

Harry’s face heated up, and he turned to glare at the faerie. “What are you doing, Tristan?” However, he didn’t need the faerie to answer when he saw the murderous look on Grey’s face. “Never mind. You just have to rile Grey up as much as possible, don’t you?” He tilted his head and gazed at the redhead speculatively. “Do you like Grey, Tristan?”

Tristan stared at Harry blankly for a moment before a look of horror and disgust crossed his face. “How could you even think that? Gross! There is no way in hell I would ever like that mangy cur!”

Harry gave him a wide-eyed look and shrugged his shoulders. “Well, sorry. What else was I supposed to think? Every time you see him, you do something to make him jealous. I just figured you were trying to get him to make the first move or something.”

Tristan sighed in exasperation. He couldn’t believe his roommate was so damn oblivious. Of course, it figured that the first time he actually showed interest in someone, that someone wouldn’t notice or return his interest. With an irritable scowl, Tristan sat down in the desk behind Harry without another word.

Vera giggled softly. At Harry’s questioning look, she just grinned and shook her head. It was nice to see the normally cold faerie so worked up over someone else like this. And Harry was perfect for Tristan. The little kit had no problems with standing up to the faerie when he became too overbearing.

Harry was completely confused. Tristan seemed disappointed with him for some reason, and Vera was giggling quietly to herself about something. Unfortunately, he had a feeling the two were connected, and that didn’t bode well for him. However, he didn’t have time to ponder it further because the professor swept into the room.

“Good morning, class. Welcome to your first year of Magi Arts,” said Professor Halloway cheerfully. “This class is basically a combined and advanced version of your Transfiguration, Charms, and The Dark Arts and their Defence classes. As wands are not allowed at Arcane Academy, the first class will be spent on finding a proper focus for those who need it.”

Professor Halloway opened his desk drawer and pulled out a large box, setting it on his desk. “Alright, who already has a focus?” A quarter of the class raised their hands. “You’re dismissed for this class. I’ll see you again next week.” He turned back to the rest of the class. “Are there any here who do not need a focus of any kind?”

Tristan raised his hand, scowling when Harry didn’t. “Raise your hand, dummy. You don’t need a focus. If you did, you wouldn’t be able to control your healing and elemental magic as well as you do.”

“Is there a problem, Mr. Hayward?” asked Professor Halloway.

“Harry doesn’t need a focus,” said Tristan bluntly. “He can use his elemental magic and healing magic with great precision already.”

Professor Halloway raised his eyebrows in surprise. Although he’d never personally taught Tristan Hayward, he’d heard a lot about the boy. The faerie was very intelligent and powerful, but he was also cold and distant with all of his peers. For him to single out Harry Potter this way was surprising in more ways than one.

Professor Halloway made a shallow cut on his arm. “Heal this, Mr. Potter.”

Harry slowly placed his hand on the professor’s arm and focussed his magic on healing the cut on the other man’s arm. The separated skin quickly fused back together, leaving no sign of the injury. The professor looked at his unblemished arm for a moment before turning on his heel and walking to his desk. He rummaged through the box for a moment and finally pulled out a small, tear-shaped amethyst on a delicate silver chain.

Professor Halloway walked back to Harry and held the necklace out to the Kitiara. “Wear this. It’s main purpose is to calm and focus the mind rather than your magic itself. I think that will help you more than anything.”

Harry took the necklace and carefully put it on. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome,” said Professor Halloway. “You and the other three who raised their hands are dismissed. I’ll see you all next week.”

Harry nodded and grabbed his bag. “I’ll see you later, Vera.” He didn’t hear what she had to say in return, though, because Tristan grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the classroom. “Hey! Let go, Tristan. I can walk on my own.”

Tristan completely ignored the brunet and dragged Harry back up to their dormitory room. Slamming and locking the door behind them, the faerie finally released the Kitiara. Harry pouted slightly and rubbed his arm where Tristan had grabbed him.

“What was that for?” asked Harry petulantly.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed... or worse?” asked Tristan harshly. “You are already at a disadvantage because you are a magical creature through inheritance. Your powers are still new, and you don’t have the experience a born magical creature has.”

“What is your point, Tristan?” asked Harry impatiently. The faerie wasn’t telling him anything he didn’t know already.

“Needing a focus makes you appear weak, and stronger magical creatures will inevitably prey on that weakness,” said Tristan bluntly. “You’ve been lucky so far because you haven’t encountered any of the truly dark creatures that are here, but that won’t last forever, Harry.”

Harry shivered slightly at that last statement. Tristan was right. The only demon he’d met so far was Zenith, and he knew Zenith was an exception of that race.

“Fortunately, that necklace Professor Halloway gave you won’t be considered a magical focus,” said Tristan.

“Why would needing a focus make me weak?” asked Harry. “Only four people in the entire class didn’t need one. Are you saying that everyone else in the class will eventually fall prey to someone else here?”

“The elves and veela, yes,” said Tristan bluntly. “Elves rely more on stealth, speed, and long range fighting while the veela rely more on veela magic and their allure. However, there are numerous demons and vampires who are immune to veela magic and fast enough to beat an elf’s speed.”

“What about the fae and shifters?” asked Harry curiously.

“Shifters can generally take care of themselves because they can be just as vicious as the vampires and demons,” said Tristan wryly. “The fae, however, have the elements on their side`, so vampires and demons are a little more wary about attacking us.”

“That still doesn’t explain why needing a focus makes you weak,” said Harry in exasperation.

“Because it means you have less control of your abilities,” snapped Tristan. “If you were faced with a wizard with a wand and a wizard without a wand, which would you go after first?”

“The one with a wand, but that’s because most wizards aren’t capable of wandless magic,” said Harry reasonably.

“Okay, bad example. Imagine you were faced with an elf with a staff or an elf with a sword. Which would you attack first?” asked Tristan.

“The elf with a sword. I can defend against magic a lot better than I can a sword,” said Harry.

“You’re hopeless. You’re missing the point entirely,” sighed Tristan. “Come on. We’ll go to the library and work on our elemental magic homework until lunch.”

***

Harry practically collapsed into his seat at supper, ignoring Zenith’s questioning gaze for a long moment. He finally sighed and sat up straight, rubbing his throbbing temples wearily. “Hi, Zenith. How was your day?”

“Better than yours apparently. What happened?” asked Zenith curiously.

Harry groaned softly at the question. “Well, I had my first Magi Arts class today. That in itself wasn’t so bad, but Tristan and Grey were both in the class, and you know Tristan just loves to rile Grey up as much as possible. Fortunately, though, Tistan and I got to leave class early because we didn’t need a focus of any kind, and we spent the rest of the morning in the library catching up on homework.”

Zenith raised his eyebrows at that. “You and Tristan certainly seem to be getting along rather well.”

Harry smiled slightly. “He’s still an arse, but he’s nowhere near as bad as I thought he would be. He can actually be quite nice when he wants to be.”

“So what else happened today?” asked Zenith. “So far, it doesn’t seem so bad.”

“No, it didn’t get bad until after lunch,” said Harry wearily. “Zane, Grey, and Tristan all had Ancient Runes with me. Unfortunately, Apollo and Silas Hargrove were also in the class. And to make matters worse, the professor decided to assign permanent partners for the class. Can you guess what happened then?”

“You got stuck with Silas?” guessed Zenith.

“That may have actually been preferable,” said Harry ruefully. “No, I was partnered with his much nicer cousin, Gillian Hargrove. That, however, only lasted the first ten minutes of class because Tristan and Grey were partnered together, as well, and they acted like gits the whole time they were together.”

Zenith snickered. “Oh, that’s too funny. What was your professor thinking?”

“He wasn’t,” said Harry. “Anyway, the professor finally got tired of their constant bickering and decided to reassign their partners, and that’s how I got dragged into the mix.”

“So who’d you all get stuck with then?” asked Zenith with an amused smile.

“Grey got partnered with Gillian, and I ended up with Tristan,” sighed Harry.

Zenith burst into laughter. “It just gets better and better. I bet Grey sulked during the rest of class, didn’t he?”

“He glared at Tristan the whole time, and Tristan just smirked at him,” said Harry, rolling his eyes at the memory. “It was absolutely ridiculous.”

“I think it’s hilarious,” said Zenith with another snicker. “So who was Zane’s partner?”

“Zane got lucky. He was paired with a girl named Amanda Claybourne,” said Harry. “They actually seemed to get along quite well.”

“It’s not that surprising. Zane gets along with almost everybody,” said Zenith wryly.

Harry smiled at that. “You have a point there. He was my first friend at this school.” He looked up at Zenith and stared at the Dracken thoughtfully. “Can you tell me a little about demons, Zenith?”

“Why do you want to know?” asked Zenith curiously.

“Well, you’re the only demon I’ve ever met, and I think you’re a really great guy. But Tristan told me that most demon’s were extremely vicious and that they prey on the weak. That’s why he was so adamant about me not needing a focus. He said that those who needed a focus were considered weak,” said Harry hesitantly.

Zenith sighed softly. “Tristan’s right. Most demons are like that. There’s only a few races of demons that are actually peaceful, and Drackens are one of them. Well, most of the animal based demons are relatively peaceful, but those are few in number these days.” He tapped his fingers against the table as he thought of what he should say. “There are only six demons at Arcane Academy this year that you really need to watch out for. Octavius is a Shadow Demon. He mostly keeps to himself, but he can go anywhere there are shadows, and he can manipulate them into doing whatever he wants, including killing someone.”

“How is that possible? Shadows are like wind. They don’t have a physical body,” asked Harry.

“With his magic, he can make them anything, even turn solid,” said Zenith seriously. “Sheila is a fire demon, and she’s a vicious little bitch. She’s more likely to set you on fire than actually talk to you. Of course, you don’t have to worry about that since you can control the elements, too. Then there’s Tia and Tora, they’re twin ice demons.” He shivered as he said it. He couldn’t stand those two demons. They were even bigger bitches than Sheila was.

Harry smirked slightly. “So stay away from the hormonal female demons? I take it they’re enough to make the entire demon population swear off women entirely?”

Zenith snickered. “You got that right.”

“So who are the last two demons to steer clear of?” asked Harry curiously.

Zenith sobered slightly. “Seth is probably the worst. He’s a mist demon. He has the ability to turn his body into a mist-like substance. He killed someone last year when he turned his body into mist and completely surrounded the other person. That guy suffocated to death as a result.”

“And the last demon?” asked Harry, silently promising himself to avoid Seth by any means possible.

“Claudius is an Illusion Demon. He can trick you into seeing anything he wants you to see,” said Zenith grimly.

“What do they look like?” asked Harry warily.

“Sheila’s a bloody Amazon. She’s at least six feet tall with flaming red hair and bright red eyes. She also has a flame tattoo on her left cheek. The ice twins have ice blue hair and colourless eyes, and Seth has white hair, black eyes, and very pale skin. Octavius and Claudius are half brothers, but they look like identical twins. They both have pitch black hair, solid black eyes, and tanned skin. However, Claudius has a tattoo of crossed swords on the side of his neck,” said Zenith. “Of course, it’s the vampires you really have to worry about. Vampires are blood thirsty little leeches, and they don’t care where they get their next meal or how unwilling said meal is.” He grinned and ruffled Harry’s hair. “So I guess it’s a good thing I warded your room to keep the nasty little buggers out, right?”

Harry’s ears perked up. “When did you do that?”

“When I helped you move into your room,” said Zenith. “I wasn’t sure if you knew to do so or not, so I did them for you.”

Harry smiled warmly. “Thank you, Zenith.”

Zenith flushed lightly at the Kitiara’s warm smile. The kit’s innocence brought out his protective instincts, but that smile made his far less innocent instincts take notice. He forcibly pushed those thoughts out of his mind. He’d rip out his heart before he did anything to drive Harry away. The little brunet’s friendship was far too important to him.

“Hey, what are you two talking about?” asked Grey cheerfully as he flopped gracelessly into his chair.

Zenith suppressed a sigh and turned to smile at Grey. “We were talking about you and Tristan, of course.”

Grey’s smile immediately turned into a scowl. “That damn faerie was all over Harry. Who the hell does he think he is?”

Zenith looked at Harry with raised eyebrows. “All over you?”

Harry scowled irritably and crossed his arms stubbornly. “Tristan was not all over me. Grey’s just being melodramatic.”

“I am not. I saw him with his arm wrapped around you, whispering in your ear,” said Grey hotly. “And you just let him do it. What’s wrong with you?”

Harry glared at Grey. “There’s nothing wrong with me, Dougrey,” he hissed angrily, baring his little fangs at the shifter. “I don’t care if you like Tristan or not, but you don’t have any right to dictate who I choose as friends, so back off now.”

Grey froze at the snarled command. It was times like this that reminded him that Harry could be deadly if he so chose. The little Kitiara looked ready to kill right now, and that look was aimed squarely at him. It was very clear that if he wanted to keep Harry’s friendship, he would have to learn to tolerate that faerie bastard.

“You’re right, Harry. I apologise,” said Grey softly. As much as he hated Tristan, even he had noticed that the redhead didn’t treat Harry like he treated everyone else. That didn’t mean he had to like it, though. He just had to show his dislike a little more discreetly.

Harry sighed and stood from the table. “I’m going to bed. I’ll talk to you two tomorrow, okay?”

“How about we meet in the library after breakfast to work on Arithmancy and Blood Rites?” Zenith suggested.

“Sure, Zenith. I need all the help I can get with those two classes,” said Harry gratefully. Hopefully, once he caught up a little bit, it wouldn’t be such a struggle to learn the material, which meant less headaches for him.

Grey looked a little downtrodden from being ignored. Harry stopped by his side and placed his hand on the were-tiger’s blond hair, running his fingers through the golden strands. “Would you like to join us tomorrow, Grey?”

Grey looked up quickly with a bright smile. “Yes!”

Harry smiled slightly and nodded. “I’ll warn you now, though. Zenith is a total slave driver when it comes to his tutoring, so you better be prepared to work and learn.”

“I wasn’t that bad, Harry,” Zenith protested with a light laugh. “We just had a lot of material to cover at once.”

“If you say so,” said Harry doubtfully. He looked at the time and groaned. “I need to go stir our potion, and then I’m going to bed.”

“Goodnight, Harry,” said Zenith.

“Dream of me,” said Grey cheerfully.

Harry just rolled his eyes and walked out of the dining hall.

***

The two months passed much the same way. With Zenith’s help, he was finally caught up in all his classes. After his conversation with Zenith about demons, he also noticed that he had elemental magic with the three females and Ancient Runes with the brothers. Fortunately, though, they all ignored his existence entirely.

Now it was the day before Halloween, and Arcane Academy was having a festival. Food booths were erected in the dining hall, haunted houses were created in several classrooms, and several different museums were set up along the way. Harry was actually looking forward to the holiday for once. They never did anything like this at Hogwarts.

The sixth year students were responsible for the food booths. Harry, Tristan, Zane, and Grey were responsible for the English booth. Unfortunately, Harry was the only one who could actually cook, so he got stuck with all of the cooking while the other three served the food. Gillian, Silas, and Apollo were responsible for the American booth, and poor Gillian looked miserable. There was also a Japanese booth, a Chinese booth, an Indian booth, a French booth, a Spanish booth, a German booth, and a Russian booth. And as soon as he got a little free time, Harry was going to visit every single one of them. He’d never gotten to try any foreign foods like that.

What was even better, though, was that parents and guardians were invited to the festival, so he would get to see Remus again. He couldn’t wait.

“What are you smiling about?” asked Tristan irritably. He hated these stupid festivals.

“My godfather is coming to the festival tomorrow,” said Harry happily. “Are your parents coming, too?”

“No. My parents are too busy to waste time at a silly little festival,” said Tristan bitterly. “They’ve never bothered to come to one.”

“Oh,” said Harry guiltily. “W-Would you like to meet my godfather? His name is Remus Lupin, and he’s a werewolf. He’s pretty much the only family I have.”

Tristan looked surprised at the offer. “You really want to introduce me to your godfather?”

“Of course,” said Harry.

“Okay,” said Tristan. Maybe the festival wouldn’t be so bad this year.

“Great! Now help me get these ingredients stored properly. I can’t actually start cooking until in the morning, but we can at least set everything up beforehand,” said Harry.

***

Harry grinned and pounced on Remus as soon as the werewolf stopped in front of their booth. “Moony, you’re here. I missed you so much.”

Remus smiled and hugged Harry tightly. “I missed you, too, kit. Letters just aren’t enough.”

Harry laughed and grabbed his hand, dragging Remus along with him. “Come on. I want you to meet my friends.” He saw Tristan first and dragged Remus toward the redhead. “This is my roommate, Tristan. Tristan, this is my godfather, Remus Lupin.”

Remus smiled and held out his hand. “It’s good to finally meet you, Tristan. Harry’s told me so much about you in his letters.”

Tristan slowly shook his hand. “He’s talked about me in his letters?”

“Oh, there’s Zane. You have to meet him, too,” said Harry quickly, dragging Remus away from Tristan. As soon as they were out of earshot, Harry scowled at Remus. “You have a big mouth, Moony.”

Remus just smiled unrepentantly. “What kind of godfather would I be if I didn’t embarrass you in front of your friends.”

“The good kind,” said Harry pointedly.

“Hey, Harry. Who’s this?” asked Zane as they drew near.

“Zane, this is my godfather, Remus Lupin,” said Harry.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Lupin. Harry’s told us a lot about you,” said Zane politely.

“Same here,” said Remus.

Before they could say anything, they heard a loud crash. Harry hurried in the back and found Grey standing in the centre of a pile of shattered glass. “Grey, what the hell did you do?”

Grey flushed guiltily and bent down to clean up the glass. “I’m sorry, Harry. I accidentally knocked the plates off the counter. I’ll clean it up, though.”

Harry sighed irritably. “Stop, Grey. You’ll cut yourself like that. I’ll fix it.” He waved his hand over the mess. “Reparo.” The shards of glass flew off the ground and reformed into perfectly formed plates. Harry then levitated them back onto the counter. “Please be more careful, Grey. And wash those plates again.”

“Ah, so you’re the Grey from Harry’s letter,” said Remus, watching the scene with an amused gaze. Harry sounded just like his mother just then, reprimanding the other boy in exasperation.

“He talks about me?” asked Grey eagerly.

“He’s told me about all of his friends,” said Remus diplomatically. “I’m glad he has so many new friends. I haven’t seen him this happy in a while.”

“Harry’s a great person,” said Grey softly. “I’m really glad he decided to attend this school. I don’t like to think of a life where we’d never met.”

Harry blushed at the confession. That was the first time anyone had ever said something like that to him.

Remus just smiled fondly and ruffled Harry’s hair. “He does have that effect on people, doesn’t he?”

Harry turned to glare at his godfather when he caught sight of Zenith making his way toward them. “There’s Zenith. You have to meet him, too. Without him, I would be completely lost.” He dragged Remus out of the booth and headed toward Zenith. “Zenith, I want you to meet my godfather. This is Remus Lupin.”

Remus blinked up at the huge demon. “Uh, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Harry had mentioned how Zenith was, but that didn’t prepare him for the reality of it. He only reached the demon’s shoulder, and Harry was even smaller, only reaching Zenith’s breastbone.

Zenith grinned at his reaction. “It’s nice to meet you, as well.” He looked at Harry. “Well, are you going to impress me with your cooking, or are you going to make find somewhere else to eat?”

“Oh, right,” said Harry sheepishly. “Come on then. I made Yorkshire pudding, Bangers and Mash, Roast and Gravy, Treacle Tart, Mince Meat Pies, and Spotted Dick.”

Remus’s stomach growled loudly at the list of food. “Great! I’m starving.”

Harry smiled happily as they walked back to the booth to eat. Although he sorely missed Ron and Hermione, he still had to admit that this was the happiest Halloween he’d ever had.