The Conflict Begins

After scavenging Potions textbooks for all seven years, Anduin headed back in high spirits. He estimated that it would take about another week to master all the basic spells and defensive spells for Defense Against the Dark Arts from Years One through Seven. Once he had, he could start studying Potions while continuing to choose and practise Self-Defense Spells. That would let him get his Potions business underway sooner.

As Anduin made his way back to the Great Hall, he passed a classroom on the third floor and suddenly heard a rustling sound. His sharp senses told him someone was in one of the nearby classrooms.

Could someone else be scavenging classrooms like me? No, this is the first-year Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

Unable to resist his curiosity, Anduin cast the Whispering Spell on himself and slowly walked toward the classroom door. It was locked tight. Opening it would surely alert whoever was inside. He only wanted to find out who they were; he had no desire to cause trouble.

But that was no problem for Anduin. He raised his wand to his ear and cast the Amplifying Hearing Spell. He had learned it at the last Spell Club gathering. It incorporated some counter-charm casting techniques for the Muffling Spell and could multiply a person's hearing several times over. It had been developed by Quirrell, a Ravenclaw senior whose research topic was related to Sonic Spells.

After casting it, Anduin suddenly felt that everything around him had grown noisy. That was one of the technique's side effects. If someone happened to shout right beside you after you cast it, you could probably faint on the spot. Anduin took a few seconds to adjust, then pressed his ear against the classroom door. Disjointed voices drifted out from within.

"Tomorrow night... Charles... you lot... hahaha... fool... teach him a lesson..." The people in the classroom weren't speaking very loudly, and other ambient sounds got in the way, so Anduin could only hear snatches of their conversation.

After listening for a little while, Anduin immediately dispelled the spell. The technique was still very crude, and after using it for two minutes, he felt dizzy.

Even so, Anduin could piece together what was going on inside. There were roughly five or six people in the room. One voice sounded familiar: it belonged to Travers. The others were unfamiliar and didn't seem to be students in the same year. They seemed to be discussing something and planning to do something to Charles or Gryffindor the following night.

A mixed group of students from different years wouldn't get together to plot against a younger student for no reason.

Is a little war about to break out within Hogwarts? Is Slytherin planning to make the first move? The Headmaster's barely been at school lately. Looks like they're planning to take advantage of that and cause a stir.

But this had nothing to do with him. He didn't have the ability to interfere in the conflict between the houses. Still, they had mentioned Charles, and as his friend, Anduin decided he should warn him if he got the chance.

With that, Anduin didn't linger and hurried to the Great Hall.

Dinner was already underway when he arrived. Anduin took a seat at the Slytherin table and glanced around. Several outspoken supporters of the Pure-blood families were absent. He could guess what was going on. He looked over at the Gryffindor table, where Charles was cheerfully fooling around with his classmates.

Anduin nodded to himself, having made up his mind. Then he quickly bent over his meal and ate. The food was greasy and tasted mediocre, but he still wolfed down enough to fill himself up.

After a while, Anduin saw the Slytherins return to the Great Hall and sit down to eat, acting as if nothing had happened.

Before long, Charles and several classmates seemed to have finished their meal. They began gathering their things and preparing to leave.

Anduin got up before them, gathered his things, and left the Great Hall. He waited around the corner by the entrance.

Sure enough, only a few moments later, Charles and the others came out.

"Charles!" Anduin called softly. When Charles turned to look at him, Anduin beckoned him over.

Charles didn't know what was going on, but when he saw it was Anduin, he told his companions to go on ahead and walked over.

When Charles came close, Anduin grabbed his arm and pulled him into a corner nearby.

"What's wrong, Anduin? Why are you being so mysterious?" Charles asked, baffled as Anduin led him into a secluded corner.

"I need to ask you something. Do you have plans for tomorrow night?" Anduin glanced at Charles and asked in a low voice.

Charles's heart skipped a beat. Something felt off. He did have plans for tomorrow night, but how could Anduin know? Although they had barely spoken since Anduin joined Slytherin, Charles still instinctively felt he could trust him.

After thinking it over, Charles replied, "That's right. It's one of our Prefects' birthdays tomorrow night. We're going to sneak out and explore the Astronomy Tower, and celebrate his birthday while we're at it."

As soon as Anduin heard that, he thought, Just as I suspected. They're planning to target Gryffindor.

"Listen, you might be in danger tomorrow night. If you can, I suggest you stay out of it, or warn the people in your house and get them to call it off." Anduin didn't beat around the bush. He quickly told Charles what he thought.

"You mean...?" Charles's eyes widened as he looked at Anduin. Anduin nodded in response.

"Don't tell anyone you heard it from me. Be careful." Anduin finished speaking and walked away without waiting to see whether Charles believed him.

Charles was an acquaintance Anduin had a good impression of, so warning him once was the most he could do. If Charles didn't believe him, that was his problem. Besides, this was Hogwarts. Anduin didn't believe anyone would actually die. If the Gryffindors were planning to charge in recklessly, then getting hurt would be their own fault.

Left behind, Charles stood there thinking for a moment. He decided Anduin probably wouldn't lie to him, then walked off, deep in thought.

Meanwhile, Anduin didn't dwell on the petty affairs between the houses. After History of Magic ended that afternoon, he went straight back to his room.

He looked through today's Daily Prophet to get a sense of the current situation in the Magical World.

"It seems the newly appointed Minister, Millicent Bagnold, is very determined." In today's paper, Anduin saw that Bagnold had delivered a public speech, declaring that he would resolutely fight the Dark Lord and the Death Eater organization. He had also authorized Aurors to use Unforgivable Curses against Death Eaters.