The Magical Diary

"How could you think that? I'm a magnificent lamp, the future King of Lamps. I'm not going to waste my time on some lady lamp!"

Faner seemed deeply insulted. He stared indignantly, then slowly opened the desk drawer and pushed all the money inside.

"Hmph, don't even think you're getting a single Knut from me!"

Breeze ignored Faner. He wasn't some burglar; knowledge was what mattered most to him here. Little by little, Breeze immersed himself in the notebook again.

As he leafed through it, Breeze found it increasingly strange. Most of the entries were offensive, instantaneous spells. It seemed the notebook's owner had faced danger even while studying, and had been forced to learn how to protect himself and stand ready to face powerful enemies at any moment.

"Shattering Curse?" The spell was in Breeze's Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook too, but the description there wasn't nearly as detailed.

Breeze had tried the spell before, but had never quite got the hang of it. Casting it had felt awkward, and if he hadn't been cautious and used only a little magic, he might have hurt himself. So he hadn't studied these offensive spells in much depth, planning to wait for a Hogwarts professor to teach him.

That was a professor's job, after all. Breeze hoped Monday morning's Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson would help him. But now he had another tutor for his extracurricular studies.

"Maybe I can give it a try. As long as I use less magic, this notebook's version of the Shattering Curse seems more comprehensive, and some of the techniques make it even more powerful."

But not here. There were so many books around, and Breeze wasn't stupid. These books were all his!

"Hmm, what's this?" Breeze turned another page. There was a gap on it. With his keen senses, he could detect the flow of magic there. The odd feeling he'd noticed earlier had come from this spot too.

"Could this book be an Alchemy creation?"

Breeze could make out a simple magical pattern, the mark of an alchemical object. But what did this book do?

Curious, Breeze gripped the book by its spine and gave it a shake, then quickly flipped through it...

"So many?" Breeze had assumed the slim notebook didn't have many pages, but it turned out he'd been too narrow-minded.

"So it has a little mechanism built into it. It's a bit like casting the Undetectable Extension Charm on a small space, except here it affects the written pages. What a neat little thing. Maybe I should make one too. It shouldn't be difficult. I'd just need to... Well, first I'd need to learn the Undetectable Extension Charm, and I'd have to master it properly."

He flipped through the book haphazardly again, but this time he couldn't start by reading the headings. Before long, he found the source of the book: the Undetectable Extension Charm.

That made things much easier.

"Are you thinking of making an alchemical notebook? Maybe you should also look at the thick book to your right. It's that fellow's first alchemy journal. I think he wrote down the detailed instructions for making one."

While Breeze was still studying, Faner had climbed down. He raised his head and haughtily gestured toward a thick book beside Breeze. There was no sign of magic flowing through it, and from its thickness, it looked like an ordinary book.

"That fellow's notes are peculiar. In fact, this is the only notebook here that uses this kind of magic, because only writing infused with the owner's magic can be added to it. The alchemy books he collected are all ordinary. Making one of these notebooks costs a lot. Back then, it took him dozens of Galleons just to gather the materials, and the time powder was especially precious. Of course, I don't know what it's like now."

"Hmph, don't come crying poor and asking me for money..." Faner said, puffing himself up as he climbed back onto the bronze lamp on the desk.

"It does look expensive..." Following Faner's directions, Breeze picked up the book and soon found the instructions for making an alchemical notebook. Among the materials he recognized, Magical Creatures' hide and time powder were both very costly. The Mithril required for alchemy also gave him a headache.

The most important thing, of course, was the key material he didn't know: Trance Grass. Maybe he'd have to ask Professor Sprout about it.

Aside from the notebook, the enchanted quill needed to write in it also required some rather expensive materials. Breeze estimated that making an alchemical notebook would cost him around a hundred Galleons if he had to buy everything.

"Time powder isn't especially scarce at the moment, and I can still afford the other materials together. But I should first see how many materials I can gather for free. There's no need to rush."

Breeze wanted to make such an impractical, flashy notebook because that person's alchemy journal described its advantages, and what it could offer in the future—

Only after the owner died or gave permission could anyone see the magical writing inside. The owner could also find the notebook wherever it was at any time. And, with some more complex alchemy, it could even be made into a space Portkey, using a spell as its focal point to transport the owner.

Of course, adding complex alchemy was only that person's idea. He still hadn't gathered one important material, so he couldn't make it: the hide of a Magical Creature capable of supporting multiple complex spells and spatial-temporal magic. Still, it was something to aspire to, wasn't it?

"Money isn't money until you spend it."

Closing the alchemy journal, Breeze picked up the other notebook again. Its owner was dead, so it could no longer be written in. Breeze immersed himself in studying it once more. He only cared about things he could accomplish. Anything beyond his reach was just wishful thinking and a waste of time.

While Breeze was studying intently, some people in the Slytherin Common Room were in a bad mood.

"That kid's quite something." A senior student lounged on a sofa, twirling a wineglass between his long fingers as he drawled, "You can't drink yet, little one. You're underage."

The male Prefect had said it casually, then turned to keep order, stopping a Little Snake who'd tried to sneak a drink. Even if the Slytherins were being lenient at this little party, they couldn't let a twelve-year-old second-year student drink.

"Breeze Order. I remember him. Such a cute boy." A fifteen-year-old girl, dressed elegantly, raised her brows with a slightly flirtatious smile. She wasn't planning to let Breeze off the hook, though she had something else in mind.

"Focus on your upcoming Ordinary Wizarding Levels, Miss Enid. He might not be able to withstand your teasing."

"Mm-hmm, all right, all right, my jealous sixth-year Prefect. Maybe I should find some time to comfort you. Have you missed me?"

"Cough, cough." The sixth-year male Prefect fell silent, his eyes wandering as he took a sip of wine.

"Heh heh heh..."

The older students were still chatting casually about Breeze and other amusing things, while the younger ones had already started making snide remarks.

"I hear there's an arrogant brat in first year." The second-year Prefect was displeased, even a little furious. After all, the younger students had organized this little party, while the older ones had only deigned to attend. Breeze's absence had been a slap in their faces. So when the organizers from first through fourth year heard the older students talking, they felt as if they'd swallowed a fly, and could only keep up a show of politeness.

"He's been praised in a few classes and now he doesn't care about Slytherin's rules. Fine. When he gets back, we should teach him a lesson."

"Wouldn't that be taking things too far?"

"Shut up. What are you worried about? He's just a Muggle-born!"

While they were discussing it heatedly, Malfoy quietly sipped green apple juice, making the occasional remark to Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass.

"Malfoy, you're the first-year leader. Don't you have anything to say?" The second-year Prefect walked over and addressed Malfoy. "I imagine Mr. Malfoy wouldn't want someone so foolish to get away with this either."

Malfoy looked up and smiled faintly. "Oh, who is it? Why, it's the second-year Prefect, Arnold Flint. Perhaps you've forgotten that first years don't have a house champion." Malfoy wasn't foolish enough to take the bait. Besides, Arnold Flint was merely a branch of the Flint family. Even the main Flint family carried little weight with the Malfoy family, let alone Arnold.

Malfoy had never been sure what to make of Breeze, especially those eyes of his that turned red. They made Malfoy deeply uneasy. He couldn't forget what had happened in Diagon Alley. Maybe Breeze had only been teasing him back then, but what would happen if Breeze really lost his temper?

The Malfoy family had never been loyal to any one side. They always found a path that served their interests, even when they were mired in trouble.

"But you're a Malfoy, the first-year—"

"Shut up, Flint!" Before Malfoy could speak, Pansy Parkinson noticed his disdain and refusal to engage, so she cut off Flint's pressing questions.

"Who do you think you are? Remember, this is Slytherin. Status and ability go hand in hand. You don't get to boss our Draco around just because you started school a year earlier, you idiot."

Parkinson was as sharp-tongued and arrogant as ever, seemingly toward everyone except Malfoy. At her words, Flint's face turned dark red, but he couldn't argue. He couldn't afford to offend the Malfoy family, let alone the Parkinson family. He could only retreat unwillingly, his anger burning even hotter.

"Damn that kid. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have fallen out with Malfoy!"

All right, the idiot had already turned his anger toward Breeze Order.

Just then, Breeze's roommate, Blaise Zabini, said coldly, "Breeze Order was sick. He left the dormitory early..."

"Don't make excuses for him. Slytherin wants answers, nothing else. Even if he's on his deathbed, he still has to show Slytherin respect!"

Heh, Malfoy laughed from the side. Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass chuckled too.