At dinner during the Saturday evening with the bird mishap, I told my friends how I was attacked and how I saw the silver jackalope, and how it healed me.

"Whoa," Bran uttered.

"Ever hear of it, Daphne?" Edna asked.

Daphne shook her head and stared at me. "It makes me want to read about it more. We really need to get to the library. We should go do that this week, along with looking at the book on Azkaban."

"Sounds good to me," I said.

"And Rollie!" Bran shouted. "For Pete's sake, stay away from the Forbidden Forest as best you can."

"I'll try," I smiled, and I meant it too. As much as I wanted to go out for a late-night walk, I convinced myself not to go.

On Monday, Daphne and I went to the Hogwarts Library together. It was my first time seeing the towering bookcases all lined up against the dark wooden walls. The chandeliers up above had such a soft glow I felt I could nap at one of the tables, especially since the room was so quiet for how large it was.

Daphne warned me to let her do all the talking before we walked ahead since she knew how to chat with the librarian.

"Hello, Madam Pince," Daphne said to the older looking woman sitting at the front desk.

She was in the middle of reading another book, finishing a passage before looking up at Daphne. "What do you need?" she said firmly.

"We would like to check out 'A History of Azkaban,' please."

"You are aware only fifth-years may check out that book."

"Yes, of course."

Madame Pince eyed Daphne and me like a hawk. "What do you want it for?"

"Research. Maybe we can find out if anything is happening in the Forbidden Forest. Just want to offer some help," Daphne bowed her head.

"Hmph. Stay here, I'll fetch it for you," Madam Pince stood up and stared up at the shelf behind her. She uttered some spell, and the book floated down from the top shelf. After giving the text a couple of stamps, she handed it over to Daphne. "Due in a week. Make sure no other young student gets their hands on it."

"We actually might return it right away. We're going to look at it here in the library for a bit."

"Just don't be too loud."

"Sure, and while I'm here, could I check out 'Even Rarer Fantastic Beasts,' please?"

"You can grab it on your way out."

"Thanks, Madam Pince."

Daphne carried the worn out, black tome to a table. The front had golden letters that read "History of Azkaban." Opening up the yellowed pages, she pulled out her wand and said, "Invenire Zane Thumblebatch!"

Her wand's tip glowed as the pages flipped to the back of the book, on a lengthy page of sentences titled, 'PROCESSING.' The wand pointed itself over the name Zane Thumblebatch in the text.

"Whoa," I leaned my head closer, and so did Daphne, she quietly read the text.

"Zane Thumblebatch was a noted processor for Azkaban, working with the Ministry of Magic and the prisoners in handling their paperwork for sentencing, communication, and information retrieval. A department head that was well-liked by all members of the Ministry and even the prisoners who had brief interactions with him."

Daphne's wand stopped glowing. "Sorry, Rollie, looks like that's all there is."

"No worries," I said. "Thank you for looking and using that spell. It still doesn't quite rule him out yet, though. What if, during those conversations with the other prisoners, he schemed the current land curse?"

"Definitely possible," Daphne shrugged.

"I wonder if I should look into this more."

"How so?"

"I don't know... I'll have to think about it."

As the next week started up, Professor Shacklebolt asked me to meet with him at the end of classes on Tuesday. I was worried it was about my grades or how I could improve my study habits being a new student in Hogwarts.

"Hi Professor Shacklebolt," I said, shuffling back in his class at the end of the day. He was sitting at his desk, and I approached him, just a couple yards away. "I think I know what this is about. I know I need to improve my marks, but it's been a little bit of a tough adjustment period."

"I'm aware that you could be doing better in class, but that's not actually why I wanted to see you. I had a conversation with our friendly groundskeeper, and he told me everything that happened on Saturday morning with that bird incident. Not to worry, you're not in trouble, but I wanted to let you know that you should tell me about these things when they happen. In fact, as the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, I should be aware of any instances of dark magic. I was hoping you would tell me on Monday, but you didn't."

"Well, Hagrid told you, so I guess I don't see the big deal," I shrugged.

"Yes, but you weren't aware that Hagrid had that conversation with me. Anyways, I don't mean to parent you, but if anything like that happens again, please notify me."

I nodded. "Sorry about that, I guess I had some issues back at Huntshrow with trusting professors."

Professor Shacklebolt paused. "If there's ever anything you need to talk to me about, dark arts or otherwise, I'm here."

"Understand. Can I go now or--"

"I think it might be wise to start working on Patronuses. It's challenging magic, but I believe it will be in your best interest in particular. And please, don't worry about marks. Effort is what's most important. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses."

"Thank you, Professor."

Classes continued through the weeks, and I was still not showing any improvement with my marks. In Defence Against the Dark Arts, we began to take a deep dive into how to summon a Patronus, and Professor Shacklebolt worked with each of us solo as the rest of the class put together a list of our happiest moments we could think of.

My list had nothing, but I didn't feel so bad, because when I glanced over at Leon's paper, he had nothing. Professor Shacklebolt started at the front of the room, showing proper form and what to say, and tried coaching them to focus on the happiest moment, almost like a meditation.

He barely got to the back of the room when class finished up. Maybe I would have better luck next week.

***

I had been going to Quidditch practice every other day and usually heard the following at the end:

"I can't believe it, we might actually win!"

"We've been winless for years now, Rollie, do you believe that? Not anymore!"

"Gosh, seeing you weave through the sky! We might even beat Oliver and Gryffindor!"

To which I would reply, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We still have to play our first game against Ravenclaw.

Daphne and Edna were great about not drawing extra attention to my abilities, they practiced as if I wasn't on the team, and that victory was never guaranteed. Daphne took charge and coached everyone on what they needed to work on, but she didn't say a word to me, other than after one practice, she pulled me aside away from everyone and said, "I'm really glad you tried out for the team."

The weekend of the first quidditch match with Gryffindor vs. Slytherin had arrived. On Friday, a big Hogsmeade outing was planned after classes, nearly all the students who were allowed to go, went. I received a signed permission slip from my grandfather to go via Benson's trusty delivery.

When I walked with my friends towards Hogsmeade. I put on my denim jacket with the patches since we'd be outside of the castle grounds. Part of me worried that Bran, Edna, or Daphne would tell me to take it off, but they didn't. Instead, they were beaming with excitement just to be going.

"I can't wait for tomorrow! Gosh, this weekend is so great! Quidditch starts up, and I don't have to worry about us losing, and then we get to show Rollie Hogsmeade today!" Bran was smiling so hard I thought he was about to combust.

"Easy there," Daphne chuckled. "Always expect a winless Quidditch year."

"Hey, thanks for the confidence, captain," Edna rolled her eyes.

"No no no! That's not what I meant. As a fan, he should expect us to be terrible, you know, so he's not disappointed. It's just a lot of pressure to ask us to win after three years of losing," Daphne rose her voice in a panic. "Don't worry, I always expect my teammates to play to win!"

"I'm looking forward to it," I smirked, trying to ease the conversation's tension, and Daphne nodded.

Strolling into Hogsmeade, my face hurt from smiling.

"They don't have anything like this at Huntshrow?" Bran asked.

I shook my head. "We have a little getaway village, but it's only four buildings, and it's just for the school. This looks like it exists on its own. I'd love to spend more time here."

"We have to go to The Three Broomsticks and grab some butterbeer, you'll absolutely love it!" Bran beamed.

Other students dispersed all through Hogsmeade, but a decent portion of them headed straight towards The Three Broomsticks, just like us. The inn was filled to the brim with students and professors.

"I see a table!" Edna broke away from us and seized a small spot for four in the corner, tucked away from everyone else.

We cozied up next to each other, and the server came jogging around.

"Round of butterbeers!" Bran said before she was able to ask anything.

She smiled and strode back into the fray of patrons.

"So, what did all of you put as your happiest moment for Professor Shacklebolt's class?" Bran asked.

Edna elbowed him. "That's a pretty personal question!"

"Fine, we don't have to talk about it if nobody wants to. But I'll start first if anyone wants to chime in. My happiest moment so far in life was Hufflepuff winning the Quidditch Cup for the year!" Bran grinned.

"What are you talking about?" Edna said with a tone only an annoyed sibling could have. "That's never even happened."

"I know, but I just think to myself how happy I'll be once we finally win all of the glory!" Bran said.

"You really need to pick something else, like something that's actually happened," Edna said. "Something like the day you got sorted into Hufflepuff, like Mom and Dad. That's what I put for mine."

"Oh! That's a good one, I might steal that from you if that's okay?"

"Find your own!" Edna eye-rolled. "Unless that really is your happiest moment?"

"Hm. I'll put it on my list of things to consider."

"My happiest moment for sure was when I won that potions competition last summer, but I wasn't having any luck with summoning the Patronus," Daphne said.

"I think we'll get there, takes a lot of time and practice from what I've heard. I couldn't even think of anything to put down," I shrugged.

"Wait, really?" Daphne asked.

"Yeah, I don't know. The only thing I could really think of was when I got my first dog as a little kid, a German Shepherd named Lucky. But I was so young, that now, the thought of Lucky is immediately followed by his passing, which doesn't help with a Patronus, I'm sure you can imagine," I sighed.

Daphne put her and on my shoulder and rubbed it for a moment. "Sorry to hear about that, Rollie. I get what you mean. Even though I put down winning that potion competition as my happiest memory, I immediately think about if that really made me happy, or is it because it made my parents happy? It's tough."

The server swung by and dropped off the four butterbeers. They were frigid to the touch, and my friends raised their glasses.

"Cheers," they said.

I raised my glass and clinked it with theirs. We proceeded to take a drink.

"Now that I've known you guys for some time, I'd like to tell you a little more about my life back at Huntshrow and the U.S."

All of them set down their drinks, leaned closer, and stared at me wide-eyed.

"It's tough to find any joyful moments that really stand out. As you know, Huntshrow was difficult for me. Didn't have much in the way of friends, I felt like I was more of a callous person, and because of that, I probably had more enemies than anyone in the whole school.

"Even though I didn't have much to look forward to at school, it was better than being at home. Both of my parents are Squibs, and they moved to the U.S.- away from their English families- because they had no interest in wizarding life. They wanted to be ordinary people, and having a kid wasn't something they planned... and it really showed growing up.

"They were almost always arguing, and I felt like I was the source of it all because I constantly got in trouble in the muggle schools for fighting and picking on others. When they saw that I had some wizarding ability, they couldn't send me away fast enough.

"I remember when I came back home from my first year, I wasn't really looking forward to it, but I had missed Lucky. As soon as I got back, my parents told me they were getting a divorce, and they didn't say this to me, but I overheard one of their conversations about who would have custody, and they each argued why the other one should take care of me. My dad said something like, 'What's the big deal anyway? You only have to see him for three-three..." My voice fell apart and I trembled.

Daphne put her hand on my shoulder while I chugged the rest of my butterbeer and stormed away from the table. I could feel the tears surging forward from the back of my eyes.

"Rollie, wait up!" I heard Daphne behind me, but I was already out the door, striding to any area I could be alone.

I was heading away from Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, towards a path with rolling hills on the horizon, but Professor Hawthorne strolled out of one of the pubs and made eye contact with me.

"Rollie," he said, scrunching his brow and tilting his head. "I don't think you're supposed to be wearing a denim jacket. It's a Hogwarts dress code violation."

"Cool," I blurted, anchoring my head to the ground, keeping my pace away from Hogsmeade.