Inspiration, what a slippery existence it is. Even more when you can’t concentrate, when everything you hear are bad news after bad news. When you see no hope in the future, when everything seems lost.

  Where do you get that second breath to continue going forward. When everything and everyone just tells you stop. Your mind filled with the anxiety that the world around you continues to feed you. Theres no energy, there is no hope, no inspiration whatsoever.

  Maybe there isn’t an answer or a solution, but we just got to keep on going. There will always be a light at the end of the tunnel. Even if we are too blinded by the darkness, you just need to open your heart and give some warmth to those around you. Closing yourself won’t solve anything, it will only let you hurt, sad and alone.

  Tonight’s sky was shrouded in darkness, standing atop the astronomy tower, my heart was filled with a slight sense of foreboding, the waning moon gave just enough light to keep the night at bay, but her dimness augured the darkness that was yet to come.

  When the astronomy class ended we all walked directly to our dormitories, I just could be grateful to Prof. Sinistra, she never left us any homework, or did she? I don’t know, we were too knackered to pay attention, some of my classmates were dozing off before she announced the end of class.

  I slipped from the group when Prof. Sinistra was waking up Crabbe, the boy had fallen asleep and poor Prof. Sinistra couldn’t wake him up, the blondie and his ‘twin’ were fidgeting around, clearly ashamed by his behaviour. I didn’t really care, he just gave a perfect opportunity to jump from the Grand Staircase, who wants to walk.

  Once on the ground floor I briskly strolled to the Hufflepuff’s Basement. I don’t know if someone forgot to replenish the oil from the lamps or what but tonight was specially dark.

  I had this creepy feeling that someone was observing me. I started power walking, trying to shake that feeling up. Whatever or whoever was watching me, didn’t really want to be found out. So, after I turned the corner to the Hufflepuff common room that feeling disappeared.

  ‘Miau’

  I felt my heart jump out of my chest, it was Mrs. Norris, I quickly climbed into the barrel that served as entrance to the common room and went directly to my bed. Note to myself, don’t wander around at night.

  Once in the soft embrace of my bed, I said goodbye to this scary world and fell asleep.

  Wednesday was a little boring, I had my usual scrummy and hearty breakfast.

  Attended transfiguration class, the usual business with Prof. McGonagall. If I learned something in my short stay at Hogwarts, it is that you can expect the unexpected from almost any professor, except Prof. McGonagall.

  The old lady worked like a clock, perfectly calibrated to deliver on time. Her lessons always flew by, never a minute late or early.

  Sadly, I couldn’t say the same about poor Prof. Quirrell, the poor man had it rough, each time we attended his class the amount of garlic increased. Maybe now there isn’t a particular smell, but at this pace the room will be filled with the astringent smell of garlic.

  His lessons were short pure theory, I wish he could still go back to that praised teacher of muggle studies that the other students talk about. It is incredibly what a summer vacation can do to a man.

  After lunch I had a free period, so me and my pals went directly to the common room, to finish with today’s assignments. Just when we were getting near the Basement, a red lighting passed me by. Biggie was having a blast. Who would have thought, giving an enchanted bike to a Niffler could do that.

  Just this morning he almost turned into a bandit; he was ready to turn Baby Driver on me. Camille as a bell and he rings it every time he passes by. So, this morning I sat for a minute or two with him, and laid down some rules, he could ride around, if he didn’t cause any accidents, and if he promised to keep his paws to himself.

  I don’t really know if he understood what I said to him, but he kept nodding,

  And that brings us back to the present, he rode around like a madman.

  “Guys, give me a hand. I need to catch Biggie; I’ve got a feeling that he already forgot the rules.”

  Ernie, Justin, and Wayne helped me ambushing Biggie, once in my hands he kept struggling, trying to run to Camille. I couldn’t let him get away, and I needed to make sure that he hadn’t ‘borrowed’ anything from other students.

  So, I took him to a corner, my mates helped me with Camille, and I started interrogating this highway outlaw.

  “Tell me son, what did you do?”

  He looked at me with his innocent eyes, as if saying to me that he hadn’t done anything.

  “We can do this the good way or the bad way, tell me how do you think shall we continue with this? Nod if you want to proceed the good way or shake your head if it is going to be the bad way, tell me son.”

  I brought out my inner sheriff, trying to scare him into confessing, but he resisted, our eyes locked, his gaze conveying and unyielding will.

  “The bad way it is. Boys, lets show this bloke what we do to the liars in this town…”

  “Cut it Solé, just shake him up.”

  “What a buzz kill, you take joy out of life Ernie.”

  “We should get going James, we have to finish our homework.”

  After being abandoned by my supposed comrades in arms, I couldn’t continue with my western rendition. So, I just started shaking Biggie bye his feet till he spilled everything that he had ‘borrowed.’

  Some Knick knacks here and there, nothing truly valuable, but even if it wasn’t valuable he had broken his promise.

  “We talked biggie, you can’t go around taking these things, they have owners, if you want anything, I can give it to you.”

  Biggie was almost crying, head down. Maybe I shouldn’t be this harsh on him, it is my fault that he hasn’t been properly trained, if a pet does something generally it isn’t his fault, is the owners, in this case my fault.

  “Common, we need to return everything.”

  I put everything that he had ‘borrowed’ in a little box and took biggie to return everything, it was surprisingly easy, at least he hadn’t gone too far.

  The last victim of Biggie’s shopping spree was a female prefect from Ravenclaw, he had taken a red hair pin from her. He has a thing for red things apparently, seven out of ten things that he had stolen were red.

  “Excuse, miss prefect, my pet took something from you, I wanted to return it back to you, and apologize, I didn’t pay enough attention to him.”

  “Oh, thank you, I thought I had lost it.”

  “Well, like I said, I’m sorry. I should’ve paid more attention.”

  “Don’t worry, it isn’t that valuable, it was just the gift from a friend, I didn’t even notice when I lost it.”

  “Thank you miss…?”

  “Penelope, Penelope Clearwater, don’t call me miss, I’m not that older than you.”

  “Alright Penelope, maybe I should get going, I have to find a way to train my Niffler.”

  Biggie was clearly upset that I had taken all his spoils.

  “Don’t take it on the poor guy.” Penelope picked Biggie up and started tickling him.

  “How did this cute little bugger take my things; I didn’t even notice it.”

  “Well, yesterday I asked Prof. Flitwick to help me enchanting this bicycle, Biggie loves Camille and seeing that I can’t spend that much time with him, I thought that if he could ride around all by himself, he won’t feel that lonely.”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “So, this little fluff ball can ride around?”

  “Umm… yeah, once I let him go, he went bonkers and started his ‘shopping’ spree”.

  “So why don’t you let him work for those things, I wouldn’t mind paying a hair pin for a ride.”

  “Umm I hadn’t really thought about it.”

  “Nifflers are very intelligent creatures, just let him do that instead of taking things. That way he can continue riding around.”

  “Thanks’ Penelope”

  “Don’t mind umm…?”

  “James, James Acrux Solé Black, you can call me…”

  “Okay James, see you later.”

  It seems not all prefects are that bad, of the three prefects I’ve met, only pin head was bad.

  “Well, Biggie. What do you think? you can give rides and accept payment for them.”

  Biggie beamed with joy.

  “But that will need to wait until tomorrow, today you’re grounded.”

  The little chubby Niffler just gave up, he laid limp in my hand.

  ...

  After my pet owner fiasco, I locked Camille, and quickly finished my homework, at least my roommates did let me reference what they had wrote, so I didn’t have to start from scratch.

  After that I had other jolly class with Prof. Flitwick, everything business as usual.

  After a busy day, there’s nothing like a good meal. Everything would be perfect if I could hit the sack, but I still have an appointment with Prof. Sprout. So, after parting ways with my mates, I went directly to her office, luckily for me, her office was neat the greenhouses, so at least I didn’t have to confront my old rival.

  ‘knock’ ‘knock’

  “Good night Prof. Sprout, it is me, James. May I enter?”

  “Good night James, please enter James. I was waiting for you.”

  …

  Professor Sprout’s lesson was clearly very different from the other professors, we mostly talked about my life at Hogwarts. The Herbology side of things was very minimal. The whole conversation I couldn’t truly concentrate, because this doubt was killing me.

  “Excuse me ma’am”

  “Yes dear?”

  “Why is it that our Herbology lessons are like this. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy your classes, but in my last school, they taught us about the basic biology of plants, the photosynthesis, and things like that. But here we just learn how to identify them, or their uses. Even our care of them is minimal, we just fertilize and water them, nothing else. Will it always be like this, or we will learn other things in superior grades.”

  “Good question James, but you have to understand somethings. Yes, we have a different approach to muggles in your education, but that’s because for us wizards talent is more important than knowledge.”

  “Like that wizard from Castelobruxo that Prof. Flitwick mentioned.”

  “Exactly child, I’m not saying that you should forget about Herbology, because even without talent, if you put enough effort you can also excel in any camp that you desire. But talent plays a crucial role in this. So, at the start we just need you all to familiarize yourselves with the plants that you can see or use in your daily lives. We don’t go into the details, we also have books like those of muggles, but I wouldn’t recommend you approach them this early in your life.”

  “Thank you ma’am.”

  “It’s nothing James, just remember everything that involves magic can’t be taken at face value, rationalizing things only clouds your vision. Relax and let yourself communicate with the magic around you. James when you can truly connect with magic, you will have access to answers to all the questions in your little noggin.”

  She proceeded to explain me how talent and intuition played crucial roles in the development of the magic world, like how potion master’s don’t really need formulas. They use their magic to communicate with their ingredients, their tools, letting them get whatever effect they desire from their potions. Standardizing those desires is what they do when they experiment, just like magic can do almost anything, but at the end of the day, we still need incantations and wand gestures.

  The next morning, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and I was ready for another wonderful day. Or that would be the case if my first class today wasn’t a potions lesson with Prof. Snape.

  I can swear that tomorrow’s tutoring with him will be tortuous. The man clearly detest my guts with all his being. If I didn’t know better I would say that everything was because that speech, but he clearly had something against me even before that.

  Anyway, I survived yet another one of his classes, and had almost the entire day to do nothing, next period was free, after that I had lunch, then another free period. But I still had a flying lesson this afternoon, so I couldn’t totally let go. At night I had an appointment with Prof. Quirrell and after that I had another Astronomy class, so after lunch I should take a nap, that way I won’t be that knackered.

  I cant put all my hopes in the Slytherin’s to distract Prof. Sinistra.

  Today’s lunch was the same, maybe the only thing that I could point out is that every little wizard in the first year was super, duper excited. The first flying lessons are scheduled for this afternoon. Everyone is talking about their feats, something about chasing fighter jets, dodging helicopters, and taking down planes.

  That’s some wild imagination. The worst thing is that some truly believed, just like Justin.

  “I can’t believe it J, today we will learn to fly. Someday I will also chase around fighter jet.”

  “Justin, they are clearly bragging. It is most likely that they don’t even know how a Jet looks like.”

  “It is truly unsightly from them; I can’t tolerate their braggart ways.”

  Ernie said this but this morning he was talking with Wayne about his adventures in the Catalonian dragon farm that his relative manages.

  The time flew by and before I knew it, I was being dragged to flying class. I truly didn’t want to fly, I’m happy being grounded.

  I heard that Neville had an accident, at least it wasn’t that serious and only got some scratches. Neville may be a little clumsy, but his defences are truly something.

  If I had to classify us into RPG classes, then I would be a red mage, Neville some kind of heavy armoured knight, Justin a hyperactive thief, Wayne a berserk, Ernie a dark mage, Susan a lancer, Hannah a healer and Hermione a scholar or something like that. Well, let’s not forget Seamus, a demolition expert, at this point everyone in the castle knows about his explosion propensity, and Dean, I don’t know maybe a warrior, I don’t know him that much.

  Anyway, this was one of the few classes that I really didn’t want to attend to. But I had to, I suppose this is like taking driving lessons in the muggle world. Even if you don’t want to drive, you should know the basics.

  Madam Hooch was our instructor, she looked like an eagle ready to take flight, her yellow hawkish eyes were striking. She should know her stuff, every professor in Hogwarts is a master of his field, so she shouldn’t be the exception.

  “Welcome kids, I am Madam Rolanda Hooch, you can call me Madam Hooch, and I will be your flying instructor. Before we start flying around I would like to point some things to take in consideration, first of all I will need your total attention, I don’t want to carry anyone of you to the infirmary, so you will do only what I ask you all to do, did you hear me?”

  “Yes Madam”

  “Alright, I need you to form two lines and stand besides a broom, there are enough for everyone, so common the faster you do this, the more time in the air you will have."

  Everyone scrambled to select the better-looking brooms, these brooms were relics, I saw a broom or two in Diagon Alley and the looked nothing like these antiques.

  I didn’t really care so I selected one of the undesirable brooms and waited for Mm. Hooch, I don’t really want to fly.

  “Okay, now I need you all to extend your dominant arm and command your brooms with an ‘UP,’ remember being firm, the brooms won’t respond to a shy call. Are you ready?”

  “Yeas Madam”

  “UP”

  I called my broom, and it flew directly into my hand, I don’t really know if this is a good sign or what but at least my broom isn’t just rolling around in the ground.

  “Very good, now I need you all to follow my lead and take a standard mounting position, remember to grip firmly your broom…”

  The class went on, and there weren’t any accidents, what problems could a group of young badgers and eagles cause. What are we, Gryffindors?

  The flying lessons ended in a cheerful mood; everyone was happy. At least today’s lesson changed my views of flying. With the appropriate instructor it isn’t that dangerous. Will I buy a broom next year, probably not.

  I like it, but most brooms are super expensive, and if I wanted a broom, I should wait until they release a new model, from what Ernie told me after the flying lessons, the company that’s currently producing the best brooms out there has some shady practices, releasing practically new models each year, I wouldn’t want to buy a Nimbus 2001 just to hear that a month after I bought my broom they released the model 2002, or something like that.

  So, I will refrain from buying a broom for the moment, and if push comes to shove, I’ll find a way to make Camille capable of flight just like in E.T.

  At night I went to Prof. Quirrell’s office, and he received me very patiently. After some greeting and pleasantries, we started our lessons.

  “Acrux, I see much potential in you. Believe me kid, if you truly desire, you can become one of the greatest wizards of this age.”

  “Thank you Prof. Quirrell, but I don’t really desire to become that. I will be satisfied as long as I can have a free and unrestrained life.”

  “But that’s the problem Acrux, if you aren’t the most powerful wizard, you won’t be truly free. Do you know, today’s magic world has been rotten long ago, you need useless permits for everything, the ministry of magic treats us like muggles.”

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “Of course you wont know about those things, Hogwarts will cloud your vision of the world, here you will be protected, but out there, you can only rely in your own strength. Do you have any goals for your future Acrux.”

  “Well, nothing really concrete professor, but I would like to travel around and see the outside world.”

  “Oh Acrux, but you wont be able to do that.”

  “Why?”

  “Because travel is strictly controlled by the ministry of magic, you need special permits to go anywhere, not to mention if you ever want to take a souvenir back home. They will trap you Acrux, let me give you an example. Do you know Newt Scamander?”

  “Yes, the author of ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’”.

  “Yes, did you know that multiple ministries have banned his entry into their countries.”

  “I didn’t know that professor, why?”

  “Because they don’t like his work, they don’t like to be confronted by true wizards.”

  “What does he do professor, Is he a dark wizard?”

  “Acrux, forget that thing about Dark Wizards, that is just a label that those cowards put on us that practice true magic. But no, he isn’t a ‘dark’ wizard, he is a Magizoologist. He is a talented man that works with the most rare and dangerous magical creatures in the world.”

  “And why would they dislike that.”

  “Because they envy those with talent, they resent our strength, our blood Acrux.”

  …

  “But you are right Acrux, you still have time, so let me help you in your journey, let me show you true magic.”

  Professor Quirrell’s lesson left me shocked; I didn’t know that the magic world worked like that.

  Putting that aside, he taught me a little bit of the Dark Arts, nothing really substantial, after all we had just an hour. But at least he explained me the classification of the dark charms, those being Jinxes, Hexes and Curses. He also told me that I shouldn’t be afraid to practice the dark arts, and only those weak of mind were afraid to delve into the dark arts. That you needed talent and a firm will, to control them. I was really flattered when he said that he saw those in me.

  But I don’t know what to think, this Professor Quirrell was completely different from his usual self. I don’t think anyone would make fun of him if all his classes were like this one.