The exams were just a couple of months away and people were already starting to get back into the study mode, particularly the OWLs and NEWTs students. The novels didn’t do any justice to the OWLs preparation at all. Students were literally putting their lives on the line in the months preceding the exam. After a grueling day of classes, where each teacher would try to push them to do their very best, they would have to return to their common rooms to further study on their own. Darius saw students study till late at night and then get up early in the morning to continue. It was crazy!

He was a bit tempted to just let them know about Fortis Memoriae but finally decided against it. The spell was too useful to just be given out freely. There were applications beyond academics as well. Plus, he didn’t want to reveal the cards in his hand so early. Too many people would find a teenager self-creating a spell to be worth looking into and he didn’t need that kind of attention right now.

He himself utilized all the time to do his research and practice his dueling. His research was coming along just fine and the RoR was an absolute goldmine in that regard. The dueling was coming along fine as well, though it would be much better if he had an actual opponent to practice with. There was only so far you could go with dummies. Though the Soul Grimoire was proving to be extremely helpful in that regard. Turns out, the book didn’t only have magical knowledge but also a lot else. For instance, dueling skills as well as spell creation. In fact, several of Voldemort’s dark spells were self-created. He had travelled after he finished schooling and learnt a lot from it. Building on knowledge from old Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Greek curses, he created and altered new spells. That was one of the reasons it was so dangerous to fight him head on. Several of his spell were far beyond conventional dueling spells.

Darius himself learnt a lot from the books and began to extrapolate it into his own work. Dark spell truly were just more powerful spells, it was only the intent behind them that made them seem evil. The blood boiling curse, sanguis inflammare could keep someone dying of the cold and hypothermis long enough to get help but in the wrong hands, cause a most painful and prolonged death. He also found most of them to be vastly ineffective. Voldemort may be one crazy lunatic, but he had the right idea about the Avada Kedavra, that spell would put an immediate end to the enemy rather than giving them time to get back at you.

Darius didn’t bother too much with the negative side of the dark arts. Not only did they have a corrosive effect on your psyche, they also unnecessarily attracted the wrong kind of attention to oneself. If he really did have to kill someone, a severing charm to the arteries, or a bludgeoning hex to the head would work just as well. He was hoping he wouldn’t have to do that but this world might not prove to be that accommodating. That was one of the reasons he was so focused on his occlumency over Legilimency. The occlumency shields could help him filter the emotions and shock if he had to kill someone and not cause him to freeze up in the moment. Though he was getting a lot better with Legilimency after his Animagus form changed.

Darius had tested his new Wampus cat form and found it to be exceptionally powerful. Most spells would not ne able to even get past his hide, let alone affect him. His Legilimency powers in that form were very powerful as well. He hadn’t had anyone to test out the hypnosis as of yet, but he was sure that they would prove to be just as formidable. He could also run faster than almost every known creature. According to Sirius, he was a nearly invisible blur when he was going at top speed. The only thing he had to work on now was the speed of his transformations. If he could do it fast enough, he would be able to incorporate it into his battle tactics. For instance, he could fire off a spell as a feint, transform and race towards the enemy’s blind spot, transform back and then let off another spell at the unaware opponent. Unless the opponent had unnaturally fast reflexes, there was no way of countering this combo. But the problem lay in the fact that he would be partially vulnerable when he was transforming. Sirius had got it down to mastery, he was able to transform on the fly at a moment’s notice. Darius had to reach a similar level before he could safely use it in actual combat.

Darius was sure he was already at the apprentice levels for most of his subjects. In fact, his potions level was approaching Mastery. As a subject which required a great deal of theoretical knowledge, the Fortis Memoriae was particularly helpful. Though it was very doubtful whether he would ever go beyond that level, that required an almost instinctual understanding of the subject that was possessed by the rare few like Severus Snape and Lily Evans.

Charms, Transfiguration, DADA and CoMC had a much more hands-on approach and he could do much better there. Transfiguration particularly was proving to be his strongest suit. By now he was effortlessly able to transfigure large objects with exquisite detail. His conjuration was also up to par. The battle applications of it may not be readily apparent but it was far more versatile than any other field. While charms may have a much larger variety of spells, they were all geared towards a single task whereas a single transfiguration spell could be used for a great variety of tasks.

Hagrid’s Ministry hearing had gone much the same way as in canon. The decision was already made even before he had gone into the courtroom. Hagrid had presented his case well though and not stumbled at all. But it was all for naught, Buckbeak was sentenced to execution. The sentence would be carried out in a few days and Hagrid was down in the dumps all the time. Darius had already written to Sirius but hadn’t received a reply yet. Their monthly run had not come by yet or they could have met in person. Darius was sure he would agree though. He didn’t explain the plan to Hagrid though. The half-giant may be a gentle soul and the kindest man around, but he was absolutely lousy at keeping a secret. Darius just told him that he would take care of it.

Just the day before the Ministry executioner was due to arrive, the letter from Sirius arrived. He said he would be glad to take care of a Hippogriff. CoMC had always been one of his favorites and he was very good with Hippogriffs. Darius had to plan this out carefully, the timing had to be just right if they were to ensure that Hagrid was not made into a scapegoat.

The next morning, Darius went down to Hagrid’s hut bright and early. He had his plans ready but he wasn’t a hundred percent sure whether it would work. First thing, he looked around and saw that there was no one around and quickly transformed into his Wampus cat form. Padding up to the Hippogriff, he stared at the beautiful creature. Buckbeak seemed to sense his gaze and turned to look at Darius. He tried hi first plan and opened a tentative connection using Legilimency. The Hippogriff resisted for a couple of seconds before finally allowing him in.

It could not exactly use words to communicate. So, what it dd was to communicate using mental images and sounds. It was not an exact art but with the skills of a Wampus cat, he was able to manage. It was simple enough, Buckbeak was to go to a certain house in London and stay there when he was told to do so. Darius sent the location of 12, Grimmauld place via mental images and pictures till he was sure that the Hippogriff understood his plan. Buckbeak was inordinately smart for a beast and got it in just a few tries. The knowledge that Darius was more than powerful enough to eviscerate it must have helped the speed along.

After that, it was time to play the waiting game. Darius had no clue when exactly the executioner would arrive but he knew it would be some time in the morning. He had already pilfered food from the kitchens that morning and he proceeded to lay down and rest after casting a disillusionment charm on himself. He had gotten quite good at the spell after frequent usage. Darius drew inspiration from the words that Dumbledore had once spoken to Harry, “I do not need an invisibility cloak to make myself invisible.” The words may be simple but served to illustrate the heights a single spell could reach once you had high proficiency in it. The entire area looked absolutely serene with no disturbance and Darius simply slept off. It was late in the morning, close to noon in fact, when Darius woke up because of some loud voices.

Professor Dumbledore was leading the group that was walking down the lawns. Behind him was the tall form of Macnair and an elderly man holding a sheaf of parchments. The elderly man must be a ministry worker or an official from the Committee for Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. Darius had also made it a point to learn as much as possible about every Death Eater, pardoned or not. Things like their workplace, residences, magical skill, fighting abilities and more. Macnair was one of them and it was easy enough to recognize his face. But the worrying bit was the absence of the Minister of Magic. According to canon, Cornelius Fudge should have been here as well, but he was not. So clearly, there had been a change in the events.

They were let into the hut by Hagrid after they had seen Buckbeak chained up in the paddock to finalize the details. Darius wasted no time and rushed towards Buckbeak after casting a wandless muffliato at his feet to prevent any accidental noise. Buckbeak already knew the plan ad was waiting for him. He quickly disillusioned the Hippogriff and then sent him flying after a hard pat on its hindquarters. Darius didn’t know what Macnair was playing at here, even the Malfoys weren’t so vested in it, but he intended to get Buckbeak out of the way before it escalated further.

“Good luck, Buckbeak! Fly high, fly fast and may you have a safe journey!”

With one last affectionate nudge, Buckbeak took off into the skies at a blistering pace and was soon out of sight. Good deed for the day done, Darius started to trudge back to the castle when he felt it. The slight vibration in his pocket that told him he had an emergency on his hands.

When Darius had first started the DA, he considered using the Protean charm and mimicking Mione’s work with the DA galleons. But the DA being a legitimate club, there was no reason to sneak about surreptitiously and hand out secret messages. But he found a new use for it. They were designed to work as a sort of SOS signal when someone was in danger. Darius had handed it to his closest friends and told them about its usage. The coin he held now showed Neville’s name along with the words DA Hall.

Darius threw caution to the winds and moved to the DA Hall as fast as he could. He used one of his newest spell creations, ventus. Ventus gave him an amazing wind-assisted speed that was nearly twice of his normal one along with minimal exhaustion. It was designed to be a combat speed to help him even out the odds against duelists with far better reflexes or more experience than him. But it could be used to cover ground faster as well. He skidded in front of the enchanted doors less than 10 minutes later. The doors were only able to be opened by a password that the DA members knew, when it was not in use.

“Strength in numbers!” He shouted and immediately the portrait swung open. He headed in with his wand drawn, on the lookout for any enemies. He saw Neville, Hannah, Harry and Daphne standing around a single person, all of them with wands drawn. The four of them were some of the most dedicated members and often spent their weekends together in the hall while training. Mione and him used the RoR, of course.

The person bound and gagged in the center had a familiar look. It was the traitorous rat, Peter Pettigrew. He looked to be in a terrible condition. The arm that had been severed by Madam Bones was still not healed and he had a small stump remaining. He was dressed in beggar like garbs and looked to not have had any rest forever. He was knocked out for the moment, so Darius turned to the others. Neville had a small slash on his arm and Harry was looking a bit tired but that was all.

“Alright, seeing as you have this piece of shit bound up here, I know why you called for an emergency. Now, someone explain to me what the hell happened here?”

Neville began first, “Well, Harry and Daphne were already inside by the time we came. Hannah and I were going to enter after we spoke the password but a sudden force flung us forward and we lay sprawled on the floor. The door closed behind us with a bang and we turned to see Pettigrew standing there. He must have been under an invisibility cloak or a disillusionment charm and stepped in the moment someone used the password to open the door.”

Harry took over after that. “Daphne and I were dueling when this happened. By the time we turned around, Neville and Hannah were on the ground and the rat bastard had a wand on them. I remembered the incident with Oliver and saw red, sending off half a dozen spells at him in quick succession. That was enough to distract him and for them to get their wands back into their hands. Then all four of us dueled him. He may be a traitor and a coward, but he knew his way around dark spells. Too many of the spells he used were unknown to us and could prove to be potentially lethal, so we played defensive. Daphne then tripped him up with a quick bit of transfiguration and Neville knocked him out with a stunner.”

“Well done, all of you. You kept you heads in the fight and didn’t take any unnecessary risks. And bringing down a veteran Death eater is no joke, even if it is the weakest of them, so congratulations on that. I hope this illustrated my point that we have to be prepared all the time. But now, it’s time to interrogate this traitor and find out what exactly are his goals.