Allen opened his eyes, a spectral figure waited in front of him, unblinking, staring straight at him.
He wondered for how long she stayed like that.
It's been a few weeks since they came back to Hogwarts and Allen had resumed his occlumency training in the Room of Requirements. That of course, meant that his other friend would want to hear how it went for him in his holidays.
Everytime she tried to pry something from him, he would clamp up, telling her that it was good, but could've had more days to rest. He didn't want to tell her about what his parents found, and why they were keeping it in the first place.
She hated people looking for her mother's diadem, he remembered that much at the very least from the films. But… were the films and books one hundred percent trustworthy?
His thoughts wandered as he closed his eyes again and tightened his grip a bit on his left hand, where he was holding his wand. He sent a wave of the Wand Raising Charm only using the left side, while holding Helena's hand with the other, keeping the spell to touch her going.
What he was doing right now was continuous practice of two different magics being used at the same time. Just like how you can pat your head and rub your belly if you focus enough, he was trying that at the moment. Of course, he had already managed to cast the four elements, two different at a time, way before professor McGonagall shattered his reality and showed him that he was in a book, or a universe which followed the books and movies he remembers.
In any case, he was trying to multitask two different spells from what he was used to doing, not only that, but also two different ways of casting as well. He was going for wandless magic, the one he was more comfortable with to touch Helena's hand, and he was using his wand for the Wand Raising Charm. At the same time, he tried to concentrate on his occlumency, but felt like taking too much at once was counterproductive, so he only ran his magic through his dantians the same way as before, through his Energy, Body and Mind.
After what seemed like forever, his body started to hurt in more ways than one and in unimaginable ways he didn't thought possible, so he considered practice done for the day, his wand, on the other hand, sent him a wave of complains in the form of magic, apparently she had enjoyed the training a bit too much.
When Allen opened his eyes, Helena looked a bit frustrated. "Err, Everything alright?"
Her silence passed for a couple of minutes, she looked at her hands for a while before turning her gaze towards him.
"Did I… Do something wrong?" He asked unsure.
"No." Helena shook her head. "I just didn't expect it so it surprised me."
"Ah! Sorry about that. I'll try to warn you next time." Allen apologized, not only to Helena, but to her wand as well, which responded to him in kind.
After pocketing his wand in one of his robes' pockets, he took out a piece of parchment where he wrote down the findings about his wand and her reaction. It was definitely getting more sentient if it could even send magical signals back to him to let him know her feelings.
He'd have to look up anything regarding wands, besides Ollivander's book, which he already read multiple times by now, in hope of finding anything that would explain this behavior. Sadly, the book didn't really go into detail about it, only for a bit in terms of what the charm does and the expected reaction, completely different from the one he got.
Even his friends got the expected reaction when using the charm for a while.
The more he thought about it, the weirder it got.
I should've asked Mr Ollivander when I went to Diagon Alley. He lamented as he finished writing the last of his discoveries, then proceeded to stick the parchment together by the left side of it with a few other pieces of parchment that were already stuck together.
He passed his index finger and thumb, grabbing the made up notebook and as he did so, the magic in his fingers stuck the parchment together. Afterwards he put the makeshift notebook inside a box that protected it.
After a few more months of research he might feel secure enough to make a copy of it and send it to Mr Ollivander to see what he has to say.
Allen nodded to himself in satisfaction and as he stood up, he extended his hand towards Helena, activating his magic once more.
"Should we go around somewhere?" He asked, but all he got was a nod from her as she grabbed his hand.
Before they left the room, Allen gave the Room of Requirements its share of the Wand Raising Charm. The room vibrated happily after the left it.
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"You are not going to tell me, are you?" Helena asked casually, but a hint of sadness could be heard.
"I… feel like you would get mad if I told you what I found. So I'd rather not, for now."
Allen told her about what happened after he got off from the train. She got mad on his behalf but he told her that it was okay. The problem got fixed… somehow. He'd still need to answer his cousin when she sends a letter, if she ever does.
When he told her about how Sophia and Elsie were guiding him through Sophia's house for the next few days after that. It made her chuckle, and she even let a small laugh leave her mouth, something incredibly rare for her.
Yet when it came down to what he found in the vaults, he couldn't really say it. He knew she wanted her mother's diadem to be destroyed, maybe even more now that a maniac obsessed with immortality defiled it, but he wanted to find a way to preserve it. It was such a historical piece, the same could be said by the cup hidden in the other vault. He also wanted to try it, check if it actually could produce food out of nowhere.
"I understand. But one day, when you feel like you can tell me, please do. After all, I'd like to know what they left behind."
After a moment of silence, he agreed. Sometimes he forgot that his parents also hanged around with Helena.
'Wait! Is that why they were able to get the diadem? They asked for her help in getting it back? No, they must've seen the movies or read the books. But then why befriend her in the first place? Just because they could? Just like I did? I don't understand…'
His mind wandered just like they did around the castle.
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"Are you guys ready?" William asked at his friends after they left their common room.
"Ready for… what, exactly?" Armand raised an eyebrow as he turned around, wondering what he was talking about.
"Ah! Come on, please don't tell me you forgot." He pleaded looking at the both of them.
"Wait… What date is it?" Allen asked a bit worried.
"25 January."
"Ah, damn! It's Elsie's birthday! Or well, it's gonna be!" His mind raced, trying to remember if he had already bought a gift for her or not. Until he remembered the assortment of candy he ordered to arrive on 31 January for Elsie, letting out a sigh of relief.
On the contrary, his two friends looked a bit worried. They most likely haven't bought anything yet. "Well, at least we have a few days before the actual day, so you can start looking now?" He tried to console them.
"Nuh-uh! I already bought her something. I found a really cool toy broom, palm sized, you can put anything on top of it as long as it doesn't weight too much and you can throw it. If you think about giving the thing you put on top of it to someone, it will fly all the way to them! Of course, it only works for short distances, but it's still pretty cool!" William's eyes shone with excitement as he talked about the toy, wondering if he bought it for him instead, seeing how passionate he was talking about it.
"Armand?" Allen turned his head towards his other friend.
"I… I was too focused reading the book that professor Malik gave us that I forgot about her birthday."
Allen scratched his head, turning towards William how shrugged his shoulders. "Wanna look for something together?"
"Yes please." He answered as they walked towards the Great Hall, discussing what would be good as a gift.
He told them about the candy he bought, but apparently it wasn't good enough and he would also need to buy something else. He didn't want to waste them so he was still going to give them to her, he just had to find something else.
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The small birthday party managed to be a success. In the end, Armand got her a remembrall while Allen got her some quicknote quills, in case she's ever in trouble of not writing fast enough.
Sophia on the other hand, got her brand new dragon hide gloves, earmuffs and a herbology robe which is impervious to dirt, water and other fluids that plants can produce.
She knew how much she was enjoying the herbology lessons, so she decided to gift her something she would use most of the time. Paired up with the boys' gifts, it made a nice combo for herbology.
The remembrall in case she forgot something, the quicknote quills so when she remembers, she can write it as fast as possible, and the set of clothes.
She thanked every one of them, and after that they ate the cake Elsie's parents send them, which had a refill of about five times, just like Sophia's cake. They enjoyed it to their hearts content until they were full.
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The next few weeks passed by in a flash, and weeks turned into months until May came around, and it was time for William's birthday, suffice to say that Allen was getting a bit overwhelmed by their birthdays, he didn't mind them, but for some reason, it felt like they were one after another, non-stop.
It felt almost as if it was just yesterday when it was Elsie's birthday, and the day before that it was Sophia's birthday.
'Maybe tomorrow it'll be Armand's birthday! I'm tired of birthdays! '
He complained, yet still bought him his favorite merchandise of his quidditch team, as well as five boxes of Bertie's Botts Every Flavor Beans, but took out all the bad tasting beans from each box levitating them all with one hand, then using the other to put them in a different box. In the end, he managed to fill up almost two of the five boxes full of bad tasting beans, while the rest of them were the good ones.
Allen chuckled to himself as he sealed the boxes, marking them each with a small dot, either red or green. So they know which ones are the good ones.
Armand on the other hand, got him a book about quidditch, more specifically, the teams that have participated in the world cup and how the sport changed through the years thanks to coming in contact with different cultures.
All in all, the party was enjoyable, albeit he still wanted no more birthdays for the time being.
Of course, William didn't believe him when he told him about the Bertie's Botts Beans so he ended up eating at least half a box of the one he marked red before giving up.
"How did you even do it?" William asked shocked.
Allen, on the other hand, shrugged, ignoring the question. "Just got lucky, I guess. Five times in a row.
William eyed him with suspicion before laughing.
A sudden know interrupted their conversation. Then it opened the door. "Will! I brought your gift! And I hope you saved me some cake that aunt and uncle sent you."
"Leah!" William shouted as he stood up and ran towards the door. "Of course I saved you some. Come!"
William guided professor Baker inside of the empty classroom but the only thing on Allen's mind was the fluctuation of the professor's magic.
An external source was attacking her Energy dantian, messing with her flow of magic. He tried to follow where it was coming from but the more he looked the less he could see.
It wasn't until a small thread of purple light attached itself to professor Leah's dantian that he remembered.
'The curse! How could I forget? Dammit!'