By the time Autumn is midway through, Dan is growing more accustomed to his whole 'magic in his mind' thing. 

It's not unheard of for magic without wands, however it is only powerful and well trained wizards who are able to, and it is never as strong - both factors not the case for Dan, who is only twelve and can perform very strong magic. He's beginning to have to think less about the spell, and more about just what he wants to happen.

"Lumos," Dan whispers, and a small ball of light appears above his palm, lighting the dark hallway around him.

Dan has been sneaking out at night, walking across the school grounds and into the forbidden forest. He enjoys wandering around in the trees, and usually goes to visit the herd of unicorns that reside in there. They seem to be fond of the boy too. In fact, all the creatures within the forest seem to be varying levels of curious and content around him. Some gravitate towards him, as if his magic almost encapsulates them.

Soon, Dan is stumbling into the clearing where the herd is and sits on the ground cross legged, his back resting against the rough bark on one of the abnormally large trees. He smiles to himself as he watches the creatures roam around the clearing happily, undisturbed by his presence. One younger male approaches him, pushing his nose into Dan's hair and snorting loudly, causing his fringe to fall into his face.

"Hey," Dan grumbles, pushing the delighted unicorn's head out of his hair, however he does not take the hint and decides to lie down directly beside Dan, body wedged against Dan's leg and pure white fur gleaming under the silver moonlight.

Dan smiles softly, running his fingers along the unicorn's body as he observes the rest of the herd. They're beautiful creatures, and Dan seems to have a knack for handling beasts - he possesses the gentle, soft voice, careful and patient nature and warm heart that beasts are usually drawn to. Unicorns are usually more inclined to be friendly to girls, however love whenever Dan visits them.

Above him, the stars are shining brightly, contrasting against the impossible darkness consuming the sky. The centaurs would no doubt be deciphering the stars and their patterns tonight. Having encountered them a couple of times, the centaurs weren't overly friendly but soon realised Dan is not much of a threat to them. Sometimes, if Dan finds himself lost or in danger, one will even help him out which is comforting.

At around one a.m., Dan decides he should probably head back to bed or else he'll be way too tired the next day. He says goodbye to the unicorns and murmurs lumos again, summoning a ball of light, which he manages to get to float ahead of him, guiding him through the trees on his now familiar walk back.

Dan manages to sneak soundlessly into the castle thanks to muffliato, which prevents people from hearing him. He finally reaches the Slytherin common room again, whispering the password and is eventually back in his dorm.

He actually kind of loves the slytherin dorm room, how the windows show the water of the black lake and the place is always full of the lulling sound of water, the grand leather couches and large fireplace. It's beautiful and comforting. 

Dan slips back under his covers, wrapping them around him and Max the cat climbs in next to him, nuzzling his head before falling asleep on Dan's pillow, his soft, black fur brushing against the side of Dan's face.

Dan closes his eyes and sighs deeply, the sound of the lake eventually lulling him to sleep, as it always does.

***

"Today we will be practicing the engorgio charm!" Professor Flitwick says loudly in order to be heard over the racket, "please be careful when using this, and remember the theory we've been learning! And the counter charm is reducio, which we covered last week!"

Dan sighs in annoyance. Since he discovered his natural ability at magic, he's been studying and reading books a lot more - not just second year magic but beyond that too. Every spell only takes under an hour for Dan to master - he's at the academic and practical level of a sixth year at least, probably even beyond that. His slight absence of friends has allowed for his advancement on magic, and he loves the library. He perfected engorgio months ago.

He looks beside him and sighs deeply, resting his head on the desk. He was late and got stuck next to his best friend Hermione Granger, the bushy haired know-it-all. He's beginning to think this is punishment for showing up late to class. Hermione is sitting up with her immaculate posture and has her wand out, holding it delicately yet precisely in her hand.

An idea pops into Dan's mind, making him smirk slightly.

Just as Hermione is pointing her wand at her own apple in front of her, Dan waits until just after the word 'engorgio' has left her mouth, then he counters it with his own magic, staring at the apple and making it shrink back again.

Hermione looks at the apple, confused that it begun to grow but has now ended up smaller than it was originally. She huffs and flicks some of her hair over her shoulder, rolling her sleeves up to try again but of course, Dan doesn't let that happen.

"I'm certain I'm doing this right," she mumbles to herself as her apple remains small for the second time.

Dan snickers to himself before turning to his own apple. He pulls out his wand, however he finds that he hardly ever uses it now - he doesn't have a particular need for it - his magic is just as strong and accurate without it. It's a silver lime one with a unicorn hair core and twelve inches long. It's supposed to be a wand for seers and those skilled with legilimency - something Dan has read of however has never attempted, invading the mind is something which slightly terrified him. He's about to use the charm on his own apple when he feels a harsh tap on his shoulder, almost as if someone has prodded him with a stick.

"Are you doing that to my apple?" Hermione asks with an annoyed edge in her voice, again exaggerating every few words, "because I can't think of any other area of fault."

Dan shrugs, "did you factor in a degree of your own incompetence?"

"I don't have any incompetence, you haven't even done anything," Hermione says with a roll of her eyes, "so if anyone is incompetent it's in fact you."

Engorgio, Dan conjures in his head and his apple swells to triple its previous size without him even glancing at it.

"What incompetence?" Dan asks with a smug grin on his face.

"You and your mind magic, it's unfair," Hermione says, "I'm going to speak to a professor about it."

"Have fun doing that, but it's not my fault you're salty because you aren't top of the class," Dan retorts, leaning back in his chair and watching his class make dismal and pathetic attempts at the charm.

"You are such a slytherin," she spits at him.

Dan half laughs, because it's becoming to be true. He can see how the hat chose him for Slytherin now, although he isn't evil and pureblood obsessed, half the Slytherins aren't. They're mainly just introverted and defensive. And sometimes sassy. It's people like Draco a few desks back that give Slytherin a bad name, yelling nasty names to some and sniggering every time someone makes a mistake, despite his own apple staying the same size despite his attempts.

"Thanks for the observation, and I'd rather be a Slytherin than a condescending, egocentric Gryffindor," Dan says, "and an annoying, snobby know-it-all."

Hermione simply huffs and grumbles under her breath, turning and facing her apple again as she practices the charm several times. Dan notes how her posture and wand movements are all wrong - they're too stiff and tense. You need to let the magic flow through you, not force it out. Half of spell work is theory, but half is how you handle the magic - something he continuously attempts to teach Phil.

Later, when night is falling around Hogwarts, Dan emerges from the library with a large spell book clutched in his arms. It had been checked out previously, but found it today luckily.

He wants to try and learn the patronus charm, which is apparently a difficult and advanced spell to perform, and Phil would love to see a corporeal patronus. As Dan walks along the corridors, he can't help but notice that the ground is slightly wet - resembling what would remain if it were to rain inside the halls. Someone probably did cast rainclouds inside, knowing this school. He clears a dry path through the water for him to walk through - wet socks are a vivid nightmare.

Dan continues on his path when something ahead catches his eye. Mrs Norris, the caretaker's, Filch's, cat is wide eyed, stiff and suspended from a hook on the wall. Dan breaks into a run, halting in front of the scene. He feels something brush against his own legs and jumps in fright, but finds it's only Max - who looks petrified and on edge, meowing loudly at Dan. He picks him up and Max sits around his shoulders, trembling slightly.

Then, Dan looks at the wall and notices the large, shaky letters painted on the brick wall in front of him, and he's so focused on the letters, he doesn't notice the trail of small spiders, scurrying away down the dry path he'd carved through the water. 

Dan steps back to read it and feels his heart thud madly in his chest and pump fear through his veins. He's not quite sure what this means, but he knows it can't be good. The flickering light adding an ominous presence to the words.

The Chamber of Secrets has been opened enemies of the heir... beware.

That's not the worst part though; the letters, they're written in blood.

***

hello! thought I'd try putting an image in there, do you guys like that? Phil wasn't in the chapter much, but the story will probably be more from dan's pov :)

hope you're enjoying it so farrr!!! I'm loving writing it haha