Settled

I slid back from the force of the punch, blood coating my lips from a hit that felt more like a battering ram than a fist. The supernatural strength and speed of my opponent were well above my own, with skill to match. I was given no time to think as my opponent came at me again. Punches of such strength the air vibrated, kicks screamed through the turbulent wind we created from our fight and elbow and knee strikes of deadly precision mixed throughout.

All of that, I got used to quickly. It was the sheer skill my opponent fought with that kept me on the back foot. I was getting better exponentially fast under the 'tutelage', but it didn't make it bruise my ego any less. The pain barely even registered. It turns out that being pressured by opponents that outclass you in every way results in rapid improvement, who knew? 

I ducked and weaved through lightning-fast limbs, staying in close. Redirecting a punch past my head with my right hand, I leaned forward for a jab to the liver with my left. My opponent's knee came up impossibly fast to block it, but I wasn't one to back off from a single failed attack.

Blood rushed in my ears, adrenalin making my heart race as I aborted the punch mid-way. I ducked in low to the right, forcing my opponent to lower his leg and stabilise his stance as he turned to face me. At that moment, I took the opportunity to shoot an elbow under his armpit as I circled around his back, knee strikes and lightning-fast punches of my own directed at his spine.

My knuckles were bruised and bloody but I paid them no mind. My opponent took advantage of my hits to surge forward, creating distance between us. When facing an opponent that outclasses you, you need to create your own opportunities. I did well just now but the new distance brought us back to square one. There was no stare-down, my opponent acted as a professional and closed the distance once more, not breaking the rhythm.

Half an hour later, I lay bruised and bloody on the floor of the Room Of Requirement with my opponent seemingly no worse for wear. Said opponent shimmered and vanished into nothingness at my mental prompting. As he did, my injuries vanished as if they were never there, only lingering phantom sensations proved the experience real.

I lay there, recovering from the heavy exertion and replaying the fight in my mind. I noted all the things I did wrong and learned all I could from my opponent in this bout, adapting them for my use. Before long, it was time to continue. With a mental command, a new opponent was brought forth. This time a short, unassuming woman wielding daggers in both hands appeared. Daggers appeared in my own and the next fight commenced. 

It has been a month since Hogwarts started and I had created a new routine for myself since then. I would do my active magic circulation training twice a day as usual, but now my training with the dummies in grandfather's mansion has been replaced with training in the ROR.

The Room Of Requirement is incredible. I'm still researching the inner workings, but I know how it does what it does in the general sense. According to the information booklet that appeared when I asked, the ROR was originally created by Rowena Ravenclaw for two purposes.

The first is for research. The ROR is connected to Hogwarts and can replicate anything within its grounds. Anything that enters the ward's boundaries is available for replication. Plants, artifacts, bits of magic, creatures both magical and not, and even people can be replicated and studied. It makes the ROR an invaluable resource. You can practise any magical discipline you like, even healing, without worrying about ethics, wasted materials, lack of resources, travel time etc.

The second reason it was built was Rowena Ravenclaw's obsession with magic. Her obsession is legendary even today. It was to the point of neglecting her daughter in pursuit of the higher mysteries. So, taking advantage of the properties of her creation, she could steal knowledge from anyone entering the castle. Any book or scroll entering the castle was replicated for her perusal.

It's a shame this feature is in a school instead of somewhere like the Department Of Mysteries. The only high level knowledge collected is from teachers, headmasters and visitors who had precious knowledge on their person for whatever reason. Sure, a lot of teachers and headmasters collaborated with researchers and the like, but that was mostly done outside of school. I've read many letters with tidbits of magical knowledge, but more often than not they're incomplete.

Still, it's been a thousand years since the castle was built, so the amassed knowledge is now one of the largest collections in the world simply due to the passage of time. Rowena didn't care for silly things like privacy or legal restrictions after all, so literally every piece of magical knowledge that's entered the castle in the last thousand years has been gathered here for anyone to peruse.

I wasted no time in scanning everything and adding it to my collection, increasing my mental library by a nice chunk. It wasn't as large as Grindelwald's collection, but that's to be expected considering how he gathered it. I wasn't going to turn up new knowledge though, no matter how large my collection got.

Since its creation, the ROR has been integrated into Hogwarts and is under the control of its colossal consciousness, evolving into what it is today. Its functions have changed with time, now accommodating all the needs of anyone who enters instead of just its original purpose, with some limitations of course.

See, the way it works is very simple, but impossibly complex. The ROR uses conjuration and illusion to fulfil the desires of those who enter. It can't conjure food, that knowledge isn't known to Hogwarts. I wouldn't trust that the know muggles know everything either. Maybe an alien civilisation with replication technology would be better. But no, no food. Other conjured items like books or furniture can't be taken out either.

But the room's conjurations are the boring parts, even if some of the stuff it can do is beyond any single wizard... yet. No, it's the illusions that are completely revolutionary. The ROR is Hogwats' domain. In here, reality and illusion can be switched around freely as it please. That's what happened with my opponent and my injuries earlier, reality and illusion interchanged.

It's a scary prospect when you think about all the things that are possible. The ROR's illusions are how it can replicate anything more than solid matter. The ROR can't cast magic. It can't replicate highly magical artifacts, it can't replicate magical creatures or magical plants. Not with conjuration alone at any rate.

But what it can do is create these things in all their glory as an illusion and bring them into reality, allowing someone to study or experiment with anything to their heart's content. The only limitation I've found so far is that it can't replicate souls. I tried replicating the Diadem in the Room Of Lost Things, but the soul piece wasn't replicated. Shame that. The things I could learn...

Of course, none of it is real, but it's still incredibly useful. Just thinking about it boggles the mind. Let's say you get bit by the basilisk under the school but don't have access to phoenix tears. You can come here and use phoenix tears produced by the ROR. They may not be real, but as long as you stay inside the room until you're cured, you can leave with no issue. That is, if the venom is properly expunged from your body at any rate... better not test that one.

I've been abusing the ROR to my heart's content since my second day in the castle. The first week was annoying having to stick with my year group to be led to and from the common room by Penelope every day. But after that, I just needed to be in the common room at curfew. Plenty of time to take advantage.

I dodged the daggers of my opponent, my form bloody from numerous shallow cuts and stepped into her guard, retaliating with a flurry of blows of my own. She dodged nimbly, twirling around me with insane reflexes. These are the kind of opponents you need to back into a corner however you can, their mobility being their greatest asset. It's hard to do in an open area, so you need to keep them on the back foot.

I failed every attempt, my opponent parrying and keeping me constantly on the defensive, accruing shallow cuts all over my body. Eventually, I decided to call it quits for the day and gave a mental command to the room. My opponent disappeared in a shimmer as did the cuts all over my body. It still scares me how the room can affect me like that, even having experienced it many times now.

Many, many people have visited Hogwarts since its creation. Magicals have never had trouble travelling around the world. Even before portkeys and apparition were invented, brooms and flying carpets still existed. The world used to be a much more dangerous place. Most magicals knew how to use a weapon to a passable level of skill in the past, even if they mainly used magic still. It's only recently that magicals have become so soft as the most dangerous species were corralled into farms or wiped out completely.

What this means for me is that I have a massive pool of past people with incredible skill in physical combat to call upon. Wandering magical monks from the 11th century, sword fighters from the 16th century, and even assassins that wandered too close to Hogwarts. I can call upon them all to fight against and learn from. Not to mention dangerous creatures extinct in this day and age are available to me in here. Well, replications of them at least.

I've been growing in skill and picking up new things from all these bouts. Physical fighting has become my new hobby other than researching and practising magic. I've been focusing on unarmed fighting, dagger wielding, the sword, the sabre and staff arts. It's a lot, but all these disciplines have commonalities as well as differences.

I ignore weapons like maces, clubs, great weapons and the more unique ones like scythes. I wouldn't want to be spread too thin. I'm pushing it as is, but I'm learning to fight against all different kinds of weapons in these bouts so I know the basic movements of all of them if I ever need to use one for some reason, even if I've never used them before.

I love the feel of adrenaline rushing through my body, blood pumping through my veins, the satisfaction of a well timed blow. Glorious! The ROR only has to adjust their speed and strength to be higher than my own. It can't increase their skill beyond what they had when alive, but that's not an issue. All my opponents are the best of the best that visited Hogwarts in the last thousand years, whether for friendly reasons or otherwise.

Whenever I'm not indulging myself in my hobby or magical fighting training, I'm fuelling my obsession with magic. Many artifacts have come and gone through Hogwarts' walls in the last thousand years and the room can replicate them all. Studying them is fascinating and gives me many new ideas. I can practise potions without annoying wait times or wasting ingredients, the same goes for alchemy. I can practise rune schemes without worrying about blowing myself up or blowing stuff up if I'm in the mood.

All in all, the Room Of Requirement is the most incredible resource in the school. It's one of the main draws of Hogwarts and it didn't disappoint. In fact, the only disappointing thing about Hogwarts is the teaching. It's not the teacher's fault, but it doesn't make it any better. Every day, I find new and fascinating things in and around the castle. 

I left the ROR with plenty of time to spare before curfew, finished for the day, humming a happy tune to myself as I walked through the halls. Nobody would be able to tell I was fighting for my life only minutes prior, a few charms taking care of my appearance.

And I do mean fighting for my life. I've 'died' to superior opponents multiple times since beginning this training and it's never a fun experience. Having your throat slashed, heart pierced, ribcage caved in, spine severed. Having experienced death once before doesn't take away the existential dread. Thankfully, I would wake up a few seconds after, completely fine. Still scary, but I deal.

I answered the tower entrance's riddle and entered the common room. Daphne was already there talking to her friends in the corner, so I waved at her and left her be, heading to my room. The few simple wards I erected recognised me and let me pass. I quickly realised that having a massively complex ward scheme would give too much away. No shit.

The room has changed a lot since I've been given it. It's a lot bigger now, with more bookshelves packed full along the walls and some paintings of natural sceneries I enjoy. I'm still working on replicating the Great Hall's ceiling enchantment but when I do it will be added as well. It's more complicated than you would think.

If anyone asks, I can just say that my father taught me a few simple wards and that my elf expanded my room. Students aren't supposed to have elves, but many still do. It's one of those 'out of sight, out of mind' rules. As long as you're not blatant about it, no one cares.

The real beauty of my setup here is my trunk. I said I'd enchant it myself and I did. The trunk itself is made from good quality, expensive materials, perfect for enchanting. The previous enchantments were a waste. It was decent work, but you could do the same with regular wood, no need for all the expensive materials mine was made of.

It sat at the foot of my bed, dragon leather tinted dark blue with silver corners and clasps wrapped around high-quality mahogany. It was coloured green initially, but a few strong potions fixed that. They were a bitch to make since dragon leather is so resistant to magic, but worth it.

When I redid the enchantments, I dismantled them all to start from scratch. The clasp of the trunk rotated to show seven different numbers since this was a seven-compartment trunk to begin with. I didn't change that, it was beautiful craftsmanship and seven compartments were enough. 

I started by opening seven large artificial dimensions and linked each to one of the clasps for entry. This is already better than previously where the maker just expanded the initial space and divided it. The first compartment was my library. I custom-enchanted a filing, recall and retrieval system into it along with protection and preservation for the writings stored within.

My real library is in my mind, but as a mage, I can't help but make a proper library for myself. It just had to be done. Besides, I can fit millions of books inside the artificial dimension. I don't know if I'll ever need it, but I like having it.

The second and third compartments are an ingredient storage and potions laboratory respectively. They're covered with charms for preservation, containment, ventilation and more. Preservation spells don't work particularly well on potions or ingredients, so I will need to create spells to mess with time in order to upgrade them. This is the best I can do for now.

The fourth compartment is a large workshop. It's mostly empty for the moment, but I'll use it for different projects in the future. It also doubles as storage for magical items, with tonnes of different enchantments and spells for containing dangerous artifacts for later study.

The fifth compartment is a large open area in which I can experiment with dangerous magic. It's heavily, heavily reinforced to take punishment. All different kinds of enchantments were used to fortify it. It doubles as a training area too. I've moved all the dummies from grandfather's mansion here. I don't use them now that I have the ROR, but I imagine it will be helpful to anyone else I invite.

The sixth compartment is an area to put greenhouses and magical creatures if/when I need to. It's not set up yet, but it has greenery already. I need to figure out things like climate control and I'm still creating the artificial lighting inside. I'll finish that once I crack the Great Hall's enchantments.

The seventh compartment I have set up to house a mansion inside. I haven't built it yet, but I have set up dirt and grass for flower gardens in the future around a large, empty area for building. The lighting has the same problem as the sixth compartment. It's a work in progress. For now, I use it to store my remaining wardrobe that isn't in my dorm room.

The trunk itself is warded to hell and back. Anything I could think of, I implemented, and then I linked it to my blood and magical signature with a password for security. I will need to upgrade the security if/when I can figure out how to link it to my soul's signature and will likely keep updating the wards on it as I progress. It's already damn near indestructible and I'm not stopping anytime soon.

The great part about it is that I can shrink it. See, you can't shrink something with an expanded space like regular trunks or space-expanded bags if you don't want an explosion or implosion. This trunk, however, doesn't have expanded spaces. It's basically just an entrance to the artificial dimensions. A portal. They're not inside the trunk but tethered to the trunk's space tangentially. So the entrance can be as large or small as I want it without damaging anything.

I'm proud of the work I've done on it. It's something I can use well into the future and even if/when I replace it, I will have something to draw inspiration from. It's an ongoing project that I'll continue to fiddle and tinker with when for fun and relaxation.

Then I sighed, remembering the bane of students. Homework. I do all my homework the moment I get it, but it still chafes. I walked over to my desk and connected my mind to a special quill I made before coming to Hogwarts, laying a few empty rolls of parchment flat on the desk.

I didn't want to spend time doing homework manually when I went to school. That would take up too much time and be a major annoyance, so I prepared accordingly. The quill is enchanted with minor legilimentic abilities. I can tell it what I want written and let the quill do it for me. Of course, I still have to actually do the homework in my mind first, but it doesn't take more than a few seconds of real time with how fast my mind works.

Ignoring it now that it's working on its own, I picked up a regular quill and began to write a letter to Mother. I write to her and Lucius regularly, Mother more than Lucius. I always enjoy reading whatever she has to say and she often sends pastries to me every few days as a form of long distance affection.

She doesn't particularly care that I didn't go to Slytherin, I think she knew beforehand what might happen. Lucius on the other hand was not happy about it. At all. He almost stormed Hogwarts to demand a re-sorting. Mother somehow convinced him otherwise, but it was a near thing.

His letters have become noticeably colder in tone since then. I can't imagine what he would do if I was sorted into Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. I knew he wanted me to go to Slytherin and knew he wouldn't like it if I went elsewhere. I didn't care. Still don't. But I didn't expect the near visceral reaction it caused. It's just a school house.

Whatever. I finished up my letter to mother and set off to the owlery. I was stopped in the common room, however.

"Hey, Draco!" Called Michael. "Come play gobstones with us." He said. Anthony, Terry, Michael and John were all sitting together in a circle with stone balls on the floor between them, John having joined them today.

"I'll join you in a bit when I get back." I called back.

"Where are you going at this time?" Anthony asked, confused.

I held up the letter I wrote to Mother. "Owlery." I clarified.

They nodded in understanding. "Well don't be long, it's almost curfew." Advised Terry.

"Yeah, yeah! Come back quickly!" John added, overexcited as usual.

I nodded. "I'll be quick." I said.

My tolerance to immaturity built up quickly since the term started. Honestly, I think I was just in a weird headspace the first few days. The boys in my year were nice and weren't even that immature. Sure, they were young and had many lessons to learn, but they weren't five. I was just being weird, keeping myself separate. I rectified that quickly and now, while they weren't my closest people, we were friends.

I left the common room and headed to the owlery. I said I would be quick and I was. I knew many, many secret passages and shortcuts through the castle. A staircase behind a painting on the 6th floor took me straight to ground level, space twisting and stretching around the short staircase to cover more distance than it should.

A few shortcuts through different secret passages and I was in the owlery only a few minutes after leaving instead of the long walk it would normally take. The moment I got there, one of the Malfoy eagle owls I recognised swooped down to my arm and I tied the letter to its leg, sending it off. There's usually a Malfoy owl here most of the time. If not, the school owls are just fine.

I went back to Ravenclaw Tower through yet more secret passages. I couldn't use the one I used to get down to go back up again as it only allowed one-way travel, but two passages brought me from the first to the 4th floor and then 5th to the seventh floor in quick succession. I entered the common room not 15 minutes after I left.

Sitting down with the boys, Terry jumped. "Merlin! You scared me there." He said, startled. "I still don't understand how you can move through the castle like you do." He grumbled.

"Yeah! You're always so fast! You have to tell us how you do it!" Said John with his usual hyper attitude.

The boys zeroed in on me. Soon after school started, it became obvious to the people who interacted with me more often that I could get around the castle faster than everyone else. Hogwarts even helped me sometimes. I think it likes me.

I shrugged. "Just use the secret passageways." I said, saying my method and also not saying much at the same time.

Anthony looked at me. "Secret passageways? That's it?" He asked sceptically.

"Yep." I nodded. "Surely you've found some of them by now or bribed a senior to tell you about them." I said critically.

He shook his head. "Of course we have." He said.

"Right! Everyone uses the one next to the great hall to get to the stairs on the second floor." Terry piped in, agreeing.

The others nodded with him. "Right, everyone uses that one, it's practically a main hallway. It still doesn't explain how you get around so fast." Said Michael.

I sighed, exasperated. "I've said it before and I'll say it again. I just use the secret passageways around the castle. Go and find them if you don't believe me." I said, exhausted by this conversation already. We've had it multiple times already and it's gotten annoying at this point.

I know so many more secrets of this castle than anyone else given that I can feel them. There are many things to discover and tonnes of secret passages throughout the castle. Some were built by people in later years, some were there since the beginning, and some were made by the castle itself.

With the way the castle is, it's not surprising that very few of them are known. Most hidden places have strange ways to enter. Passwords long forgotten, funny actions like rubbing or pressing the stone in a specific way, and some need specific spells cast on them. They're usually very obscure and almost impossible to figure out. Only soul-sense allows me to figure them out, it's such a cheat and I love it.

"We've tried." Said Terry, whining and hanging his head low. He perked up a moment later with a glint in his eyes "Show us." He demanded.

I raised an eyebrow. "Show you?" I repeated.

He nodded emphatically. "Yes, show us! We'll believe you then." He said, the others nodding with him.

My lips curled into a mocking smile. "How about no?" I said.

Michael acted like he was physically struck, recoiling dramatically, though it was all for show. "So heartless!" He cried.

I sneered playfully at him. "Of course. Go and explore the castle yourself and find its secrets. That's what I did." I said. The other's sighed, resigned to stay in the dark.

"Besides, what good would it do you?" I asked rhetorically. "I know for a fact that you lot still get lost even after a month here. Just the other day I found Michael on the 3rd floor walking in circles, trying to find the stairs." I mocked.

Anthony snickered. "Hehehe. Really? Is that why you were late for dinner? I wonder why you never said anything?" He teased.

Michael looked embarrassed but still retorted. "It's not like you're any better!" He shot back. "We were half an hour late to herbology last week because you insisted we try another route." He retorted.

It was Anthony's turn to look embarrassed. Terry snorted. "So that's what happened." He said. "You told me it was Michael's fault." He said to Anthony, joining in on the teasing.

"He said what?!" Michael crowed. "Traitor!" He sniped at Anthony.

"What? It was your fault! If you didn't forget your gloves we wouldn't have been late to begin with!" Anthony clarified although it didn't help his case as we were all fairly sure that was just an excuse.

Michael glared and let out a *humph* whilst Anthony got progressively more red-faced in embarrassment. Before Anthony could burst his top, the argument was ended by a surprising party.

John chose this moment to butt in. "If you keep getting lost, just follow me next time! I never get lost!" He said, cutting the argument short.

Anthony deflated like a popped balloon whilst Michael and Terry looked contrite but said nothing, conceding John's point. It was true that despite his neuroticism, or perhaps because of it, John has a very good sense of direction and almost never gets lost, even in the castle.

I clapped my hands. "Enough about all that. You were playing gobstones right?" I asked, turning the conversation away from the previous topic, for their benefit and for mine.

I wasn't about to tell them my methods. Not because I particularly cared to keep them a secret or anything, but just for the amusement it gave me to wind them up with knowing smirks when I leave after them and arrive before them anywhere in the castle. It's hilarious and I won't stop anytime soon.

"Right, gobstones. Do you have a set Draco?" Asked Anthony.

I shook my head. "No. I've only played it a couple of times before, I prefer exploding snap." I said. Exploding snap is fun, and you don't have smelly liquids squirted at you when you play.

"I have a spare set in my room you can borrow. Wait here a minute." Michael chimed in before heading upstairs.

"Anything new with you Draco?" Terry asked.

"Not really. Why do you ask?" I replied.

"Well, everyone knows that you, Padma, Daphne and Su Li are the magic freaks in our year, and Granger and Potter from Gryffindor of course." He replied. "Plus, you're always later than us getting back. What are you doing during those times?" He asked.

I shrugged. "Practising magic and exploring the castle mostly." I said.

"Really?" Asked Anthony sceptically.

I nodded. "Of course. The castle is fascinating and I love exploring it. And there are so many empty rooms that I can just take the nearest one and use it for practice or homework." I said, not technically lying but definitely stretching the truth quite a lot.

John nodded rapidly in agreement. "I know right?! It's amazing! And the rooms all move around like a maze, it's awesome!" He gushed and I smiled, nodding.

"See? John gets it." I said smugly.

Anthony and Terry shook their heads, baffled at the both of us. I couldn't blame them. They grew up in the magical world and just don't see what's so fascinating about Hogwarts or magic in general. I kind of pity them for that. John is a muggleborn so he gets it.

Michael came back down at that point and handed me a bag of stone spheres, enchanted to squirt a foul smelling liquid when a player lost a point. Gobstones might be one of the oldest wizard games around, simply because of how simple the enchantments were and that no one has a patent on the manufacturing of them. Patents don't tend to expire in the magical world. It keeps a family monopoly alive so I doubt that will change anytime soon.

I thanked him and as we played, I allowed myself to relax after a hard day, letting the good-natured bickering pull me in and forgetting everything else for the evening.

(A/N: This chapter and the last are a little slower. Story will pick up again with the next one.)