The Arcane Club

5th Sept 1992

Hogwarts castle

"Well, this is a surprise," I said to the person sitting in front of me. "What brings you over to my side of the fence? I thought you were busy playing strangers?"

"Oh please, there's no need to be so melodramatic," said Daphne, rolling her eyes.

I was having lunch with the rest of my posse when surprisingly, Daphne came over and asked if we could talk privately. So here we were, sitting on the far side of the Ravenclaw table.

"What else would you call it?" I asked with a smirk. "We haven't really talked since you got sorted into the posh House."

"Yes, well you aren't exactly easy to talk to, nowadays," said she, her eyes roving over my friends, "not when you hang around with the Boy-who-lived and a muggleborn."

"That's interesting," I said, crossing my arms and leaning back, "I never took you for a bigot."

"You know I'm not," she said, looking at me severely.

"Then why should me keeping Hermione company be a problem?" I asked pointedly.

"It's not. Not to me," she conceded. "But there are some in my House who find the idea... distasteful. Not to mention you being friends with Potter."

"Hmm...let me guess, ferret-face keeps braying about his jealousies and insecurities to anyone who would listen to him?" I said.

"Constantly. Did you really turn him into a ferret?" she asked curiously.

"I see the Hogwarts rumour mill is hard at work, as always," I said, looking at the Slytherin table where Malfoy was giving me the stink eye, which I returned with an innocent smile. "And yes, Draco made a wonderful albino."

"I'm sorry to have missed that," she said with genuine regret.

"Don't be. Colin happened to be on the scene with his lovely little camera and he managed to take a plethora of images detailing Malfoy's furry little predicament," I said with a huge smile. "I'd be happy to provide you with some, free of charge."

"Thank you," she smiled but adopting a serious expression. "Anyway, as I was saying, because of some peer pressure I was hesitant to approach you before, but I can't afford to let that stop me anymore."

"Why? What happened?" I asked, curious.

"Lockhart happened. Last year, there was Quirrel who couldn't speak one line without stuttering, and now this charlatan, who clearly doesn't know anything about the subject he's supposed to teach!" She waved her arms in frustration. "At this rate, I'd be lucky to get an A in my DADA OWL, never mind an O."

"Probably," I nodded at her honest assessment. "What does that have to do with me, though?"

"Oh, don't play coy with me. Do you think the Professors are the only ones who noticed how you get every spell right on the very first try? How you do your homework assignments in the class itself?" she said.

"Daphne," I said, starting to get a little irritated. "Get to the point, please."

She held my gaze for a moment longer before lowering her head. "I need your help," she said at last.

"Help with what?" I asked.

"Practicing spells. I remember how abysmal Longbottom was at the beginning last year, and yet in the finals, he managed to score EEs in charms, DADA and even Transfiguration. All thanks to you," she said.

"You give me too much credit," I said, shaking my head. "I just showed him a few tricks. It was Neville who put in the hard work."

"And that's all I'm asking for, just a few tips here and there," she said. "I can take care of the rest."

I considered what she said. "I suppose Ms Davis would be joining you?" I asked.

"If it's not a problem, yes," she said.

I regarded her for a moment more, then extended my hand for a shake. "No problem. Welcome to the gang."

"Just like that?" she took my hand, surprised.

"Just like that," I smiled. "Now....why are you really here?"

"I beg your pardon?" she said with a frown.

"Daphne, I know you. If you really needed my help with spellwork, you would've asked me last year, not now," I explained. "So...what brings you here now?"

She looked at me closely for a moment, before giving a sigh. "Astoria," she said finally.

"What about her?" I asked.

"She's miserable....she misses her friends. But if she starts hanging out with two gryffindors, Malfoy and his lackeys will rally the whole House against her," she emphasized. "However, if they see me with you and your friends first, they will focus their ire on me and leave my sister alone. Atleast, I hope they will."

I looked at her with new eyes. "That's very noble of you, Daphne," I conceded. "Astoria is lucky to have you as her sister."

"You'd do the same for Rachel." She waved me away.

"No." I shook my head.

"No?" she asked, surprised.

"No," I replied firmly. "I wouldn't take the heat for my sister. Instead, I would teach those who would dare to bother her, why bullying someone is a spectacularly bad idea."

She considered my words. "And that's why I came to you," she said. "So, what are we doing today?"

"We were just about to go and visit our new clubhouse. So, why don't you call Tracey and Astoria over and we can all go together?" I said.

"I didn't know you were part of a club," Daphne remarked, waving her best friend and sister over to our table.

"I'm not," I answered succinctly. Standing up, I moved towards my friends who had been watching our conversation curiously from afar.

"Good news, everyone! Daphne and Tracey will be joining us in our study sessions from now on," I informed them. "Is everyone okay with that?"

Harry and Neville exchanged glances.

"Okay," said Harry with a shrug.

"Sure," answered Neville.

"I don't have any problem with it," said Hermione.

"Great!" I smiled. Tracey and Astoria joined us presently. There was a short reunion amongst the 4 first-year girls. For the last few days Astoria had only been interacting with the others for a few minutes that she could find during classes. After a few "Hi"s and "Hello"s, we finally set off for our new HQ.

"Where's the lock?" said Rachel, looking at the burnished oak door in front, which was conspicuously missing a lock and a keyhole.

"I'm a wizard, Rachel. I'm not going to lock my workshop with a simple key that anyone can steal or copy or even simply bypass with magic or a lockpick. Right now, this door can only be opened with my biomagical signature (aura), which means even someone pretending to be me with Polyjuice will not be able to open it," I explained. "I will be adding your biomagical signatures before we leave, so you can access the room. And don't be fooled by the simple door as well, it's been heavily reinforced."

I grabbed the brass door handle and a second later, with a little "click" the door opened. "If anyone unauthorised tried to open the door, they'd get a nasty shock." I informed them. "Now, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Arcane Club." I ushered them in.

"Dear Merlin! How did you come by this place?" said Rachel in amazement, looking around the huge room that was nearly half as big as the Great Hall.

The room was completely unrecognisable from its previous iteration. The ground now sported polished marble, transmuted from the stone that formed the floors of the castle. Gone was the drab stony visage, and in its place, shades of royal blue adorned the walls. Instead of the single window that graced the room before, the outer wall was now dotted with a line of apertures draped in luxurious curtains of velvet, letting in an abundance of natural light.

Here and there, small waist high coffee tables held up bonsai varieties of Bougainville, Cherry, Oak, Bamboo and Redwoods. But the most eye-catching detail about the room was that different sections of it were separated by floor to ceiling transparent glass walls which gave the place a uniquely modern look.

"Dumbledore gave me this room to work on my projects. And don't get the wrong idea. When I first came here, it was no bigger than the DADA classroom," I said, leading them in. "What you are seeing is a result of generous use of the Space Expansion Charm...and quite a good bit of interior decoration over the course of a week."

"Now, here we have the reading space," I brought them to a section filled with plush armchairs and sofas. Expensive rugs with intricate patterns decorated the floor and seating areas. In the centre of the space, there was a huge round table along with high backed chairs.

"This feels nice," said Luna, jumping up and down on one of the velvet accented couches. Rachel and Astoria quickly joined her in testing out the furniture, while Ginny took a quick peek at Harry and refrained from joining in the fun.

But Hermione was instantly attracted towards the tall wooden bookshelves that housed a variety of leather-bound tomes. "Look at all these books!" she said excitedly, running a finger along the spines of the volumes. "A compendium of common curses and their counter actions.... The Dark Arts Outsmarted.... Self-defensive spellwork...wow...." She cast her eyes towards the other bookcases similarly filled with books on magical arts, before turning to me with a glowing face. "Ben, this is amazing! Where did you get all these books?" she said.

"Let's just say I had some help from Hogwarts itself," I said, once again thanking the Room of Requirement. "The partitions render the different sections soundproof. So no matter what's happening outside, here you can study in peace. Next comes the training area." I lead them to a rectangular space, at the far end of which stood three training dummies coated in gleaming chrome armour.

"These training dummies are custom made. Not only can they withstand most spells, even if damaged or destroyed, they can repair themselves in seconds," I said, showing them the glowing runes running along the spines of the golems. "But the best thing about them is that these are not your run-of-the-mill training dummies that will stand still and wait for you to chuck spells at them. Oh no," I gave a wicked smile and snapped my fingers.

Instantly, the dummies started moving horizontally across the floor and raining spells on us. Everyone shrieked and ducked for cover, before realising none of them were struck down. Turning around, they saw me with my wand out and a large glowing shield in front. My chortling at their expense was not well received.

"That was not funny!" said Daphne, fuming.

"It was a little funny," I countered, snapping my fingers again and causing the golems to stand down.

"Where did you even get these? I thought only professional duelists had access to equipment like that." Daphne said, casting an appraising look at the dummies.

"I made them," I answered simply. "As you just witnessed, they can move around and fire Disarming and Stunning spells, making them very effective duelling aids.... perfect for spell practice. Plus their speed of movement and casting can be adjusted, so if you feel like taking things up a notch, you certainly can. The entire enclosure is heavily reinforced, so feel free to go wild."

Everyone went ahead and examined the golems. After their curiosity was satiated, I said, "I saved the best for last. Come on." I led them to the final attraction of the club - the entertainment lounge.

What awaited them inside seemed to temporarily rob them of their power of speech as even after several long moments, all they could do was gawk at the things within. Even Harry and Hermione, who I was sure had seen these things before, kept staring with bewildered expressions.

At the far end of the room, a small bowling alley featured two polished lanes with colourful LED lighting along the gutters, lending a vibrant modern touch. Above the lanes, there were two monitors to display scores, while bowling balls of various weights sat neatly on the rack nearby.

On one side of the room, a row of arcade game machines hummed with life. Classic games like Pac-Man, Street Fighter, Donkey Kong as well as racing simulators were housed in cabinets with colourful designs. A Star Wars pinball machine alongwith a claw machine filled with plush toys completed the ensemble.

Near the centre, a sleek ping pong table with a black surface and white boundary lines sat, surrounded by cushioned couches and chairs for spectators or for relaxing between games.

"What?...How?..." Hermione finally found her voice. "Wh-Where did you get all this?" she asked, confused.

"I went shopping," I shrugged.

"Really? You just walked into an Arcade and said, "Gee, I like your stuff. I'll take it all."?" she said sarcastically.

"That sounds ridiculous," I replied with a straight face. "No, I just visited a few shops in London after hours and got what we needed."

"And you paid for all this, right?" she asked lightly.

"Obviously," I said with a 'duh' expression. "I left some gold and a note apologizing for the unconventional nature of the transaction."

"Excuse me," Daphne interrupted. "Some of us have no idea what these things are. Would you mind explaining?" she said sarcastically.

"Of course not," I replied smoothly. "Ever been to an Arcade, Hermione?" I asked.

"Loads of times," Hermione said with a smile. "We have one near our street. I used to go there a lot."

"Well, in that case, why don't you educate the girls regarding the finer experience of muggle gaming while I show the guys what is what," I said.

"No problem." Hermione smiled and turned to the girls. No words were exchanged but they all marched determinedly towards the claw machine. Figures. What is it with girls and plushies?

"Have you played one of these before, Harry?" I said, leading the boys to the row of game machines.

"Nope. We didn't have an arcade in Little Whinging," Harry shook his head. "There was one near our school, but the Dursleys never gave me any money, so... nothing I could do about it." He shrugged.

"Well look on the bright side, now you get to play as much as you want without spending a single coin," I pointed out.

I showed them how to operate the machines. Needless to say, within five minutes they were hooked. Even Neville, who had never been near one of these things in his entire life, was furiously smashing buttons on the 'Contra' machine while Harry took up the 'Pacman' slot. Wrapped up in the gaming fervour, I too joined them and started playing 'Robotron 2084'.

After what felt like hours (and looking at my watch, it really had been hours) we finally decided to call it quits, but not before every one of us had tried every single game at least once, including ten pin bowling.

"Today was amazing!" Neville said with a huge grin as we took respite on the nearby couches after standing around for so long.

"Tell me about it," Daphne said with a exuberant smile on her face that I had never seen before. For once, she looked just like any other 12 year old girl, holding a plush white penguin close to her chest. "I had no idea that muggles had advanced so much. How come we still only have gobstones and exploding snap, when they have these?" She said, pointing at the game machines.

"Supply and demand," I answered. Walking over to the nearby fridge, I took out cans of cola and passed them around.

"I beg your pardon?" she said, taking one.

"Invention is based on necessity. No one spends the time and effort to create something new unless there is a great demand for it, and therefore profit to be made," I explained, taking a sip. "The simple fact is that there are just not enough children in Wizarding Britain to prompt research and development of machines that are too costly to be owned individually."

"Still, I think it would be great if we had things like that," said Tracey, holding her plush elephant toy.

"I'm glad you think so. I was actually thinking about opening an Arcade in Hogsmeade," I said.

"That's a great idea!" Harry said at once. "We are allowed to visit Hogsmeade from 3rd year onwards. I'm sure it'll be stuffed with students on the weekends."

"That's what I thought as well," I said with a smile. "It'll take a few months to set everything up...not to mention I'll have to find someone reliable to run the store...but I'm confident it'll be up and running before our 3rd year begins. Of course, all of you are welcome to come here and play anytime you want...as long as you don't let it affect your grades."

"Thanks Ben!" Rachel rushed over carrying her stuffed turtle and enveloped me in a hug. "You are the best!" I chuckled and shook my head at her antics.

"I have to say, I wasn't expecting these perks when I approached you this morning," Daphne said, taking a small sip from her coke. "Now, I'm glad I did."

"Well, you know what they say about fortune favouring the brave and all that, my dear," I said nonchalantly. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you came over to say hi. I missed your dry humour."

She replied with a smile before turning her gaze towards the windows. "Is it just me or is it getting dark out there?" She took a look at her watch and let out a gasp. "Merlin! It's almost 7. We've been here for five hours?!"

Everyone reflexively checked their watches, shocked that they didn't notice how long they had been in here. I smiled remembering how I too used to forget the time when playing Halo with my friends.

"It is getting a bit dark in here, isn't it?" I said, looking around the room.

Standing up, I went to a nearby glass wall and put my palm on it. In response, a touchpad appeared on the glass with several options. I pressed the one shaped like a 💡. Everyone looked up as several panels on the ceiling opened up all over the room and numerous crystal spheres came out of them. The clear hollow orbs descended a few feet and stopped, hovering in mid-air. All at once, they lit up, turning the darkening room full of gentle white light.

The scene was mesmerizing...like a thousand tiny stars suddenly coming into existence. Everyone stopped talking and for a moment, just quietly drank in the sight.

"It's beautiful," Luna finally said, tearing her eyes away from the view. "Thank you for today," she said to me, holding her stuffed bunny.

"You're welcome," I returned her smile.

"What are those?" said Ginny, gesturing above.

"Magic lightbulbs," I answered.

"Did you make them?" Astoria asked, excitedly.

"I did. I thought about getting some of those candles they use in the Great Hall...then I thought of something better," I said with a shrug. "A few hours of messing around with some runes and a little bit of enchantment later, I had these."

"You're already proficient in runes?!" Daphne said in disbelief. "And enchantment?! They only teach the beginner level stuff in 6th year! Which is nowhere near this! Just how far ahead did you study?"

"Finally!" Hermione threw up her hands in relief. "Someone who gets it! Do you have any idea what it's like...being compared to him all the time, when I know of all the insane stuff he does? It drives me crazy when he pretends to be on our level, only just a little better." Hermione took this rare opportunity to dump her frustrations in front of the other girls, before turning to me.

"By the way, how are you powering all of this?" she asked, waving her stuffed panda towards the game machines. "They run on electricity, don't they?"

"They do. I bought a bunch of solar panels and installed them on the castle rooftops," I explained. "Of course, I had to draw Isolation Runes on everything so that the ambient magical energy doesn't fry all the electronics."

"Alright, that's enough for today," I stood up, leading them all outside. "We should get going."

"What's over there?" Neville asked, pointing to the final section of the room covered with conspicuously translucent glass walls.

"Oh, that's just my lab," I said nonchalantly.

"Well, aren't you going to show us?" Hermione asked with raised eyebrows.

"If you insist," I shrugged. "Mind you, there's not much to see in there."

I pressed my palm on the glass. It took a full 5 seconds while my aura was scanned in detail, before a door materialised in the previously intact glass wall.

"Some of my experiments can be rather... delicate. For everyone's safety, I have restricted access to this lab only to myself," I said.

"No offense, but these walls are made of glass," said Daphne sarcastically. "What's to stop someone from taking a sledgehammer to them or throwing a blasting curse and simply walking in?"

In response, I took a hammer out of my storage ring and threw it forcefully on the 'simple' glass wall. A ringing sound echoed through the room, as if the hammer had hit a metal wall, instead of a glass one. Then I took out my wand and pointed to another wall -

"BOMBARDA!"

A dense beam of orange light left my wand and impacted the wall. But instead of exploding with the force of a dynamite stick, the wall lit up with numerous interconnected rune clusters, that absorbed most of the energy of the spell, letting it explode harmlessly with the intensity of a small firecracker.

"Appearances can be deceiving," I said to my stunned audience. "What you've been perceiving as simple glass walls are actually cleverly disguised 3 inch thick magic-absorbing barriers made of one of the strongest alloys in this world." I explained, leading them in.

Unlike the rest of the club, this section was completely bare. The floor was simple polished stone, the only furniture being a couple of stools and several large tables. Most of them were empty, save for three. On one table, there was a full potion making kit. On the other were several blocks of different metals. And the last one was clearly related to enchantments, given the books on Runes on top.

"Wow... it's a bit underwhelming, to be honest," said Daphne, taking a look around. "With all the things we saw outside, I was expecting a lot more in here."

"I make a habit of cleaning up after myself," I said. "Leaving volatile materials out in the open is just begging for an accident."

"Hey Ben," Harry called out from behind.

"Hm," I turned towards him.

"What's that?" Harry asked, pointing towards a tall object covered under a tarp.

"That...is something I've been working on ever since I came here," I said, walking ahead and taking down the tarp.

It was a door. A simple oak door with an ornate gold handle and the Hogwarts crest displayed proudly on top.

"What does it do?" Rachel asked curiously.

"Right now, nothing," I said serenely. "As for what it's supposed to do... well, that's a story for another day. Come on, we're about to miss dinner. Chop-chop."

As I hurried them out of my lab, I took one last look at the wooden door sitting innocently in the middle of the room...the object which was the key to my heart's desire.