A World Unknown
Chapter Fourteen
The Detinkeller's Egg

As Peter led me towards the hospital wing, I couldn't help but get the feeling that his eyes kept making quick glances back at me to make sure I was still there.

Thinking the entire way would remain in silence, I began to zone out as I began to pay attention to the way, getting a feel for what the school looked like just in case I ever needed to go anywhere again. I was so distracted that I didn't even notice Peter was calling out to me until he tugged on my sleeve, "HEY! Can you nogifted people not hear or something?!" He exclaimed loudly with an offended tone.
I zoned back in on him and looked a bit surprised, our expressions changed as his eyes widened suddenly, "Wait – I meant to call you nongifted, sorry! I get them confused."

"Er – it's fine. Are we nearly there?" I asked, changing the topic, but he persisted, "I don't want you to think I'm a bad apple, because I'm not! Now, I know the two words sound similar, but they have two different meanings, and what someone calls you can tell you a whole lot about a person. I don't care whether anyone is gifted or not, so long as you can keep your nose clean!"

I gave up hope that he'd answer any of my questions, so I remained silent. We didn't walk but five feet before he continued again, "My brother Allistor says that nongifted people can't see Illendotters, so are you by any chance actually a witch? Because Dylan says it's possible."

"I don't know," I replied lamely, "look, are we almost there, Peter?"

"Oh, not yet." His high-pitched voice answered, "Are you dating that Vladimir?"

Immediately, my face went hot as I shot a glare down at him, "Of course not! What on earth gave you that assumption?!"

"I dunno, you two hang out a lot, don't you?" He answered, not noting my embarrassment.
I sighed, letting go of my feelings as he was just a tiny child and didn't seem all too aware with what he was saying.

"Well, here we are, the finest hospital wing in the school!" Peter grinned as he led me into the room.

"The finest? Do you mean there's more than one?" I asked with wonder as I looked up at the large ceiling that seemed to go on forever. Many coloured candles were floating high above, all lit, but none seemed to be dripping wax below.
"Course not," Peter replied bluntly, "this is a school, ma'am, not a hospital."

He skipped on his toes towards the middle of the room where a bed seemed to be missing.
"Um – Alfred?" Peter called out to the empty void.

We waited a few seconds and I began to feel foolish just standing around and looking at the wall, but then suddenly, with a weird swooshing sound, Alfred appeared, laying down on a bed with his torso and legs in bandages. He had his wand in hand, but upon revealing himself, he set it down by his side, "If it isn't my biggest fans." Alfred spoke lamely.

"Come to bow to me? Come to alas pay your respects to me, the knight who saved you all?" He joked, dramatically looking at the ceiling above.

"Just came to make sure you're alright. It's been two days since you got hit, hasn't it?" I asked.
"Almost exactly thirty-five hours since my tragic accident." He said, glancing at us both to make sure we felt sorry for him.

"You've been counting?" Peter chirped up.
"Only counting the hours I've been alone, why hasn't my dear Vladimir come to visit me?" He cried out, pretending to be hurt. The tone of sarcasm he held was so astounding that I began to wonder if he was ever in any real pain or if he was coping with his pain by making light of it all and laughing.

"I'm sorry." I replied, unsure of what else to say.
"Nah, don't worry about it, I'm only joking." He said, as if I didn't notice, "But in all seriousness, that Gage sure hasn't left me alone. Keeps bugging me with questions about my explosion jinx, but I pretend to sleep whenever he does."
"He's still bothering you with that?" I asked.
"Well, not since yesterday afternoon. I think Elizabeta might've told him off for bothering the most talented wizards here while he was on his deathbed." Peter began to crack up as he heard him speak.

"Really? Who would that be? I don't see any other missing beds here." I said, glancing around the room while concealing a smile.
Alfred rolled his eyes as he sat up, "So, why are you here? You aren't falling in love with me, are you?" He grinned.

Peter shifted uncomfortably and under his breath, I could hear him murmur, "Vlad isn't gonna like that..."

"For the final time, I'm not dating anyone!" I exclaimed in Peter's direction, he and Alfred both jumped, and I huffed out my frustrations as I looked around, "Gage interrogated us last night," I began. Immediately, Alfred's expression changed, and he reached for his wand, making a stabbing motion in the air as he pointed it at Peter, "Silencio," then setting his wand down, he glanced back up at me. "So, what happened?"

I ignored Peter who was frantically trying to clean out his ears and answered that Lovino ended up telling Gage about his, Alfred's exploding jinx. Alfred's blue eyes widened as he sat up straight, straining his chest, "Has he said anything else? I'm not getting expelled, am I? Does Allistor know he knows?"

I felt ashamed that I didn't have all the answers to his questions, but, "Gage didn't press on any further after that. In fact, he even sent Lovino out of the room after he told him."

"I'll deal with Lovino later... What a friend, huh? There I was, saving his life and he gave me away! Psh..." Alfred muttered, "Here, help me up, will you?"

"Is that a good idea?" I asked, glancing down at his leg.

"Totally. I'm just a little sore and tingly from where the bloodlaver's tongue hit me, but I'm a lot better from what I was like that night... Just get me to the supply closet, if we can get a broom, I can just ride that around." He leaned up and pushed his good leg off the bed before grabbing onto me around my shoulders so that he had someone to lean on. Once he was standing upright, he cast a look of concern over onto Peter who was weeping slightly.

"Ugh... Right, I should fix that." With the arm that wasn't around my shoulders, he grabbed his wand and cast a motion with his wand that was opposite of the stabbing motion and said, "Escucho." A black puff flew out of Alfred's wand and into Peter's ears, causing the small boy to gasp.

"You..." He glared at Alfred, "First you steal Vladimir's girlfriend and then you make me deaf?! Don't think I won't be telling Allistor on you!"

"W-Wait!" Alfred exclaimed, pretending to sound panicked, "Don't tell Allistor! Take pity on me, Peter, the bloodlaver must have impacted my judgement!"

Peter still looked cross at Alfred, so he continued, "What if I let you fly on a broom with me, around the school?"

Immediately, Peter's eyes lit up and he quickly forgot why he was upset in the first place, "Oh goodie, really?" He asked with wonder in his eyes.

"So long as you can bring a broom from the supply closet downstairs, sure!" Alfred said, but before he was able to finish his sentence, Peter was already half way towards the doors. Once they shut, I turned back towards Alfred, "Why did you care if Allistor knows?"

"Hasn't Vlad told you?" He asked, seeing my reaction, he answered himself, "See, I want to become the Ailat prefect, because then my chances to become the head boy or Ailat Freeler team captain will grow higher... And look, between you, me, and everyone else in their third, fourth, and fifth years now – there are a LOT of people running to become prefect once Allistor graduates."

"I know in the Ians house, Bliss is training Lukas because Vlad upset her or something. Isn't Allistor training any of you now?"

"Why should he?" Alfred huffed as he sat back down on the bed, relieving me of the extra pressure to stand still. "Ludwig is a protector now, he's really talented, Seamus and Alroy are in their fourth year, but they're Allistor's full-blooded brothers, and nepotism is a thing anywhere you go... Then there's Dylan, another one of his full-blooded brothers, but he's in his third year, like me.

I'm sure there are others who would be more than happy to earn those prefect robes and badge and scarf because they really stand out in a crowd, but I dunno."

"I've got two questions." I replied lamely, "You're related to Allistor too, aren't you? And even so, what's all this got to do with Allistor knowing about the explosion jinx?"

"To answer your first question," he began, staring at the ceiling, "I'm his half-brother, different mom, but... Never mind, let's not get into that now." He let out an uncomfortable laugh.

"To answer your second question, Allistor will teach anyone anything so long as he's on good terms with them. Me being me, I snuck around the library after hours and went to where the more advanced magic is, and I saw a huge book of spells and jinxes I've never seen before in any of my classes.

Anyways, I couldn't remember everything I saw in there, but I did remember the name of the explosion jinx and the spell to cast it, so I went to find Allistor the next day to see if he knew anything about it. He's the one who told me it's illegal for someone in my rank and age to be using that type of magic, but he taught me anyways because he's cool."

"So, you think Gage might tell a professor or the headmaster and they'll figure out it's Allistor who taught you?"

"I know he'll tell them, and when he does, Allistor could lose everything. The headmaster could expel him from the school or take his wand permit, or even take his prefect badge and I know he's definitely worked hard for it. Competition for those roles are always difficult." Alfred replied.

I went to open my mouth to speak, but the sound of the door opening caused me to turn. There, with a large broom held high over his head, Peter ran towards us with a grin spread wide across his face.

Since Alfred was still hurting, he got on first by leaning the broom close to the bed, once he was balanced on it with one leg on each side of the broom, Peter hopped on behind him.

"Hold on, okay?" Alfred spoke back to Peter who wrapped his arms tightly around him. If that had caused Alfred any pain, he didn't show it. He kept the broom at a slow pace, so he could remain beside my walking pace and just a few feet off the ground so that his toes were barley touching the floor beneath them. Since Peter had shorter legs, his were dangling as he looked around the hall with awe as if he had never been there before.

"If I remember right, they're in the... Hets garden." I said, a bit unsure.

"Hets garden? What are they doing there?" Alfred asked, glancing sideways at me.
"I think there's a detinkeller there, the sound woke me up." I said.

Alfred's face hardened, "Oh great, another creature."

He zoomed a little faster which wasn't too hard to keep up with, and before I knew it, we were standing in the hall that went around in a circle to all the other houses. We took an immediate left and passed a staircase that went down to the Etals house and walked straight towards a large doorway made of a red wood. I walked foreword and pushed the doors open, allowing the two to zoom passed me.

Although this field looked to be a lot larger than the Ians garden I was in last night, my eyes were immediately drawn towards a large and silver creature with a long neck. Most of the prefects and a few students were standing in front of its face, watching it. Vlad was in the very front, sitting on the ground beside the creature's neck and he was gently combing his fingers through what looked to be feathers on its neck.

It gave a large yarn, revealing two sets of flat teeth and three protruding tongues within its mouth before it closed again and blinked its tiny black eyes a few times before shutting them again. As we made our way closer, Allistor turned and quickly walked his way over towards us.

I thought he was going to say hello, but as he got closer, I saw he looked pale. "Peter, what are you doing on that thing?" He hissed as he grabbed Peter with his hands and placed him on the grass below.

"I was getting a lift." Peter said, his face red all over.

Allistor scolded him again in a whisper so as to not awake the detinkeller behind him, "I told you that first years are NOT allowed to ride or own a broom. Seeing as you're not even technically a first year until this fall, I am VERY disappointed in you, Peter."

"But I—" He tried to defend himself, but Allistor's mind looked to have been made up already, "Go. To. The. Dorm. Now."

Peter didn't protest, instead, his big eyes began to drip with tears as he sniffled and ran off, dramatically wiping his eyes so he could see where he was going.

I was taken aback by Allistor's reaction but decided not to question his methods towards his own brother at least for now. Instead, I turned back towards the creature. "What's Vlad doing to it?" I asked.

Allistor took a second to take in my question as he seemed distracted by something. "Oh, he's just calming her down. Took a while and I doubted whether he'd be able to calm it or not, but there he is. Guess he's not as stupid as he shows to be." He laughed lightly before realizing that Alfred was there too, and he was good friends with Vlad.

"Anyways, Gage found her first, apparently someone took her egg." Allistor said, his tone now serious.

"Her egg?" Alfred asked, eyebrows raised, "She just had that thing three weeks ago, didn't she?"
Allistor nodded, "We're spread so thin right now. Bliss, as helpful as she can be, isn't much help when she's not in the mood to help or when she's got one of her headaches. Gage keeps leaving to try to contact anyone, but I'm shocked there's still no response from any of the professors. Now with all the students staying on campus this summer, Ludwig and Elizabeta are running around all the time, trying to keep order and peace amongst all the students. Hayden's going around trying to help everyone, but he doesn't realize how thin he's spreading himself! And I'm having to not only keep all my brothers in line, but I'm also having to take on some new healing spells to help Bliss get through her headaches because Elizabeta and Hayden are scrambled around!"

He let out a long and frustrated sigh as he ran his fingers through his orange hair, "Not to mention this Noir guy who's really toying with us. I've about lost my patience with him."
Alfred and I exchanged glances before turning back towards Allistor who glanced back at Vlad and the detinkeller, "I suppose," he said solemnly, "Vlad can stay out here and try to keep her calm, then I'll see if Lukas can try to find that egg. I'm really hoping she just misplaced it, but I don't want to jinx myself by believing that."

Alfred's eyes suddenly lit up, "Speaking... of jinxing."

"What about?" Allistor asked, his face growing grimmer.

"Lovino told Gage the truth." Alfred said, shooting me a glance, "Last night apparently."
"L-Last night?" She swallowed, "Y-You... He hasn't asked you anything about it yet, right? He doesn't know I'm... involved?" Allistor asked.
I shrugged, and Alfred answered, "I haven't seen him yet, but I won't be admitting to it and I won't be selling you out. And besides, it was a life-threatening situation, so I'd like to see him try to take this to the counsel. There's no way either one of us would even be found guilty since it did save all our lives."

Allistor didn't say anything, instead, he nodded, avoiding eye-contact. Alfred furrowed his brows, "He's not got anything on you. If it comes down to it, I've already got a lie planned, so don't worry or you'll look suspicious."

There was a pause between us all where no one spoke. After catching his breath, Allistor shook his head again, "Let's get back to it then, ay?"
His eyes met Alfred's then mine and he forced a smile, "They look like they're handling themselves rather well over there... I'm heading back towards the library to keep searching for whatever potion it is that Noir is searching to make with those ingredients." He looked over at the large red doors and with his head down, he began to make his way out of the garden and back into the building.

Alfred flew foreword, motioning me to follow. He didn't stop until he was standing by Bliss who was glaring at the scene before her.
"Horrendous." She said with her grim expression.

"The creature or Vlad?" Alfred asked with a small smile.

"All of it." She said bluntly.

She turned, her hair flying behind her as she marched back behind a few students, Alfred and I followed. As she turned to look back at us, I saw her face clearly, she looked exhausted, the bags under her eyes were dark and her eyes slightly red, "I haven't slept in two days, Alfred. Wakening potion can only keep you awake for so many days."

"Well, normal people typically go to sleep when the sun goes down." Alfred spoke in a sarcastic manner.

Bliss shot him a glare, "SO typical of you to not even care. Not even a little!" Her voice was getting louder and higher-pitched the more she shouted. A few students turned to watch, "But that's perfectly FINE, Alfred, because MAYBE I don't care about YOU either!" With her pointer finger, she jabbed at Alfred's chest roughly, causing him to gasp and grit his teeth to hold in any sign that it hurt.

Bliss wasn't deterred by his pain, she squinted slightly then her eyes found me, "And you – Oh, you...

"Tell me then, nongifted," she began coldly as if it were supposed to insult me. "Tell me then, why is it, that every time I look at you? I feel like I'm remembering something that isn't real?" She hissed, "What are you, really? A spy? An Iver? An Elier? An Iver SPY??" She was now inches from my face and breathing heavily. I didn't know how to respond, but Alfred, during this time, had flown away to find Lukas, and upon returning, Lukas quietly apologized to me on behalf of Bliss and he dragged her away and out of the gardens.

As she was taken away, everyone turned their heads back to look at detinkeller whose head was now lying sideways on the grass as Vlad continued to comfort her.

"He's probably gonna be there a while. We can get breakfast in the meantime, _______." Alfred spoke after about ten minutes of quiet peacefulness. I blinked and looked around, noticing that many of people that had made up the crowd were now gone. "Alright, let's go then." I said lamely, walking beside Alfred as he led the way to the dining hall.

"Over here," Alfred said, motioning towards the table at the farthest end of the room. He flew a little faster and slid off the broom and onto the bench below, as smooth as it was however, he bumped his bad leg on the bottom of the table, causing him to wince.

I took a seat beside him, noting the faces at the table.

Peter was sitting alone on one side, but there were three other boys there too. I noted that besides Peter, they all had bright red hair, and two of the three new faces looked identical to each other.

"You must be the nogift," one of the twins quickly said as his blue eyes found mine. "Been wondering when we'd get to meet you."
"Her name is _________!" Peter exclaimed, "Allistor told me that, yesterday!"

"So I've heard," replied the other twin, "word travels quickly around school. I'm Seamus."
"Alroy O'Conner," smiled the first twin.

"And this happy chap's Dylan." Said Seamus as he punched the third boy's shoulder. Dylan frowned as he rubbed his shoulder, "Have you met Arthur Kirkland, ________?"

I nodded to which he looked even more annoyed, "Then I am the last one to know. Shame, shame, shame..."

Alfred, who had waved his wand over his and my plate while the twins were introducing themselves, now leaned in at the table, "We just got back from the Hets garden, Vlad's calming the thing down, but who stole the egg?"
Seamus and Alroy jolted up, "Wait, someone stole its egg?" Dylan asked with concern in his voice.

"Yeah, Allistor ranted to us. I'm guessing it was taken while she was asleep. When she woke up and found it lost she must've started crying." Alfred said, taking a bite out of some bacon.
"He told you?" Alroy asked, raising his eyebrows, "The git didn't even bat his eyes in our direction when we asked him what all the ruckus was about?"

"You reckon it's that Noir guy again?" Dylan asked, leaning into the table as well.

"Noir?" Seamus scoffed, "Ya see something bad happen and suddenly speculation that Noir had any involvement circles the school. Everyone's blaming Noir, honestly!"

"So you think its someone else, then?" I asked.
"Course, I think it was that Ivan kid in the Etals house. He's always rubbed me the wrong way." Seamus said, shooting a quick glance over my head.

"Or his sister, Natalia. She's in the same house." Alroy added.

Peter, who was trying to listen in to the conversation, decided it best that he try walking behind Alfred and me, but as Alfred met his gaze, he waved his wand like he had in the hospital wing and muttered, "Silencio."

Peter was once again, deaf to our conversation. Dylan leaned back slightly from the twins, "Why them? On what means are you going about accusing people of stealing an egg of all things?"
"Yeah, what would they gain from that?" Alfred joined in.

"It could serve as an ingredient for some old and ancient, illegal poison they're trying to brew." Seamus said, raising a brow as a grin spread across his face.

"Reckon if we ever bothered to read our potions book, we might know what poison they might be trying to make, but since it's illegal, bet it's not even in there, so I won't bother!" Smiled Alroy.

"Wow," Alfred said feigning interest, "you both just might be onto something!"

The two rolled their eyes at his comment then, uninterested in their previous discussion, turned towards each other and entered a conversation together, leaving Dylan, Alfred, and I sitting idly as Peter waved his arms in Alfred's direction.

"I'm thinking it's that Noir," said Dylan honestly, now that neither of the twins were listening to him.

"Me too." I added under my breath, "I mean, what if he stole the egg for a spell or potion or something?"

"I don't know if there are actually any spells or potions that require an ingredient as rare as that." Alfred said, considering it.

"Unless it really is some sort of dark, advanced magic." Dylan argued as he took a bite of a bagel on his plate.

"I still highly doubt it," replied Alfred, "anyway, _______, after we're done eating, do you wanna go visit the Ailat commons room? I don't think you've seen it yet, have you?"

"Not yet." I answered, to which he gave a small smile, "I've heard it's the best of all the houses. Maybe if someday you find out you're a witch and you can attend this school, you can join my house."

Dylan had no objections to anything Alfred had said.

However, it then struck me, "W-Wait, what IS this school called?"

"Oh, it's Primtalia, School of Sorcery," Alfred replied lamely, "I'm kinda shocked you're just now asking about it, yanno with us being so far into the story and all."

Dylan shrugged but didn't seem to be disturbed, "The author's must be running out of ideas, it sounds like something pulled from a magical school generator."

I was about to speak, when suddenly Alfred gave a loud wail as he was pushed into me. I turned quickly to see that Peter had smacked the back of Alfred's head as hard as he could with his own broomstick. He looked like he was screaming but there was no noise coming out.

"You forgot to unmute him." Dylan said, concealing his laughter as he pulled out his wand and said, Escucho.

-

After breakfast, Alfred, while rubbing his bruised head, lead the way on his broom as he flew a few feet in front of us.

In this time, Dylan was talking to me about his goals to join the freeler team and to one day become the captain of it. An ambition which Alfred also shared. "Each member has a different goal and since there are eight members on each team with five immediate understudies, everyone's learning something different, yanno?"

I nodded along as he carried on, talking about his goals once appointed captain rather than explaining the sport itself. "Once school starts on the twenty-third, you bet your bundles I'M gonna try out for goalkeeper. I know the twins are trying out too, but they're going for tossi corredors. They chase after the tossi, the main ball."

"So, you, the twins, and Alfred are all pretty into this sport," I began as I looked forward, but Alfred was bobbing his head to a song he was humming and was ignorant to the conversation just feet from him. "Is it a family thing?"

"Er – well, yes and no." Dylan replied sheepishly, "Our dad used to play for his team back in school, he was even captain for his last two years, so he got us really into it. Well, except Allistor, he's a bit of an exaggerated baby, honestly."

Seeing my confused expression, he explained further, "He overestimated his skill I guess and in his second year, in a game against the Etals, he flew up pretty high to hit the tossi but he must've not seen the Etals player after it too cos they rammed into each other. Dunno if it was on purpose or not, but Allistor was lucky to get off on a broken arm, legs, and a concussion. Bloke hasn't flown since."

"He hasn't flown since his second year? But... he's in his sixth year now, isn't he?" I asked.

"Yep, since flying isn't a mandatory class you've gotta take when going to work in banks, or most office jobs in the ministry, he's not taking it anymore, but before that, he'd just skip the class entirely." Dylan said, shaking his head.

"That's horrible." I commented, suddenly feeling upset for the eldest brother.

"Well he's better now, even laughs about it time ta time." Dylan added as we all came to a stop in front of a large and empty wall.

"You waiting for me to open it?" Dylan asked.

"No, I'll do it... Just making sure I had an audience paying attention." Alfred said. We all looked straight ahead, but I couldn't understand what Alfred was talking about. He rose his wand and did a shape in the air in front of him then stabbed at the air. Where the bricks on the wall all touched each other, a bright light began to shine through, but it came as quickly as it left, leaving the wall looking as plain as before. However, Alfred's spell must've worked as the wall, seemingly split in two, began to pull apart, revealing the entrance of the Ailat house.

Bright reds and whites seemed to show everywhere within, and unlike the other houses I had been in, there was a ceiling, but it was so high, revealing a space where there were two small wizard boys flying in circles chasing each other.

"Watch your head." Alfred said, glancing back at me, he lead the way towards one of the seats closest to a window and propped himself down on the middle and softest looking seat.

"Wonder when they'll find that egg, I bet Vlad's working hard on keeping the area quiet for her to keep sleeping." Alfred spoke before giving a long yawn.

"Isn't there any way we can help find that egg?" I asked, feeling guilty about just being able to sit around.

"We are helping! We're steering clear of the crime scene and letting the prefects work!" Alfred answered, "We can nap, or relax now. Or well, at least until Allistor gets back, I should really tell him about the Gage problem."

"You're awfully calm about the Gage problem." I said spitefully.

"The headmaster is probably understanding... Course, I've never talked to him one on one, but he likes flying gumdrops, so he can't be all that bad." Alfred smiled.

I opened my mouth to argue again when there was a loud explosion at the door. We all jerked our heads and the kids on their brooms even came to a stop to see what had happened.

Dylan and I stood up at the same time while Alfred struggled with his broomstick, "I think someone's trying to get in." Dylan said, walking passed me and towards the shut door. He rose his wand in front of him and stood his ground firmly as he stared ahead, "Go ahead, I'll back you up!" Alfred exclaimed, still struggling.
Dylan flicked his wand as if opening the door with a handle and it slowly opened, revealing the outer hallway. Then, after a second of high tensions, a dusty looking Amber, wobbled in. Her hair, clothes, and face were covered in at least an inch of grey dust.

She pulled her glasses off, revealing her eyes and the area around them were the only things dust-free. She gave a cough and glared ahead at Dylan who was struggling to conceal a laugh.

"I'm going to kill them." Amber said, teeth gritted, "I'm going to kill Alroy and Seamus and you're laughing?"

"I-I'm not. Laughing." Dylan said, cracking up in between words, "I just... I see, that they gave you the wrong password, huh?"

Amber's head twitched, but she clearly nodded, eyes still squinting at the red-haired boy before her.

"Limpess!" Alfred shouted as he waved his wand at her, causing all the dust to fly off her and float gracefully into the air above her, only to disappear into thin air.

She muttered a thanks in Alfred's direction as she walked over to Dylan's seat and stole it, leaving him the wooden floor below as his new seat.

"I've been reading since the meeting last night, reading every book I could get my hands on in the library, every potions book available. I've made lists. Lists involving every potion that involves one or more snakehead, and every potion that involves one or more dragon scale." She said, pulling scrolls of paper out of her bag and passing them around to Alfred, Dylan, and I.

I got a sheet of paper with about thirty-three different potions, some not even in English, but all including some number of snakeheads.

"Did you find out what potion Noir is trying to make?" I asked.

"That's the thing, see?" She pulled her wand out from her bag as well and waved it in a circle in the air and suddenly, inked red circles began to appear on all the scrolls.

"THESE in red are the potions that involved EXACTLY three snakeheads or EXACTLY one dragon scale," she waved her wand again and suddenly, blue dots appeared besides other potions, many of which were in the unknown languages. "I found out that these mainly included ingredients that no longer exist or ingredients which are so rare that even our headmaster wouldn't be able to talk his way into supplying for this school."

She waved her wand one last time and, on our paper, there were now potions that were underlined in black, "Finally, these are the only ones I could find that I felt Noir could possibly profit from."

"So what?" Alfred wondered aloud as I leaned over to glance at his paper then Dylan's paper, "So, none of these potions list both a dragon scale and three snakeheads in them!" I answered for her.

"Exactly!" Amber grinned.

"But what if he's actually going to use like one snakehead and a dragon scale or something?" Dylan asked, now leaning over to look at my potions list.

"A brilliant question!" Replied Amber, happy to have been asked that, "See, I wondered that as well, hence all the potions that list one snakehead are included, but only two of all the potions I could find were eligible. One is a foreign potion that came from India and it makes a heck of a spice. The other, well, it was illegible in the book but I think it might be a hair dye?" She sounded a bit uncertain though.

"A spice or a hair dye... interesting duo." Dylan said, reaching for Alfred's paper. "A spice, huh? What if Noir's actually planning on eating that egg?" I asked, cringing at the thought, but then wondering what a detinkeller would even taste like.

"Egg? What egg?" Amber asked lamely.

"The detinkeller's egg, someone stole it. We reckon it's prolly Noir since he's having a blast being undetectable by everyone thus far." Dylan answered.

"Just to get the idea out of the way, Amber, there isn't a potion that includes a detinkeller egg, is there?" Alfred asked, sitting up to face her.

"I..." she paused slightly as if in defeat, "unless there's something about that in the more advanced potion-making books, I don't know? We're not allowed to look at those kinds of books since they're in the headmaster's private library. I didn't look."

"Oh well, it's fine, I'm sure the prefects will find the egg before Noir gets the chance to make an omelette, I was just curious is all." Alfred said.

"I think you should show this stuff to the prefects, it should be of some help." Dylan said, handing his paper back over to me.

"Don't worry, I will! I just wanted to show you all first just to make sure I wasn't the only one who saw how weird this all is." Amber beamed as I handed her back her papers. "I'll see you all at lunchtime then, right?"

"Totally, but you have to sit at our table." Alfred replied.

"No way, we ALWAYS sit there!" Amber said, furrowing her brows, "Let's sit at my table for once!"

"No."

"Alfred."

"No~!"

"Don't make me hex you, Jones." Amber cooed threateningly.

There must have been something unspoken in the atmosphere as Alfred's expression towards her completely changed, "The Talian table... Right, well, it IS my favourite, so we'll be seeing you then, Amber!" Alfred grinned.

Amber didn't need to reply, instead she gave a proud smile as she turned and walked out, her curly hair bobbing up and down on her head, adding to the fact that she knew that in this argument, she had won.

-------------

i love james potters courage n sirius blacks coolness n remus lupins modesty n wormtail cn fck off ffs im still upset about the whole thing

also, sorry for slow update too, ive been doing a lotta stufff, but the whole story is already planned out, so the hard part is finding time to type , anyways, i love u all smsmsmsm <3