Richard Croft and The Staff of Merlin

Chapter One: The Perfect Day

Memory recall# 21                                                                                                                                                                   12 Aug 2003

'Cassiopeia' The shout came from a room adjacent to my own. A woman with raven black hair, grey eyes and tan skin went rushing into the room.

'Did you call me Daniel'?

'Yeah'

'Emerald is loitering in the garden again.' 'Can you please get him back'?

'Sure'

/End of memory recall/

Memory recall# 81                                                                                                                                                                   15 Oct 2003

It was snowing that night. There was a knock on the door. Cassiopeia whom I called mum rushed to open the door. It was Uncle Neville ,one of my father's colleagues.

'Is Dan home'?

'No, not yet'

'But he is not in the Ministry.'

Have you tried to speak to him.

'Yes. I have tried Floo ,Patronus ,letters and memos. He did not answer either of them.'

'Maybe he is at Hogwarts'

Saying this Uncle Neville disapparated to Hogsmeade. Ten minutes later, he came back with my father.

'What were you doing in Hogwarts dear'? 

'Dumbledore called for me. Wanted a look into one of my files. He had a doubt.'

'Okay.'

'Why don't you have a bite before you go Neville?'

'I would have Dan, but I have to report to Mafalda.' 

'Alright then , Bye'

/End of memory recall/

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Even with his eyes closed, Richard could tell that the sun has risen. Then he heard a knock on the door 

'Wake up Master Richie, it is time for breakfast'.

The voice was squeaky and high pitched.

Groaning, Richard opened the door and went to his bathroom to comb his hair and brush his teeth. A minute later, he was gobbling down his favourite blueberry pie.

Richard dear I am is going to aunty Molly's house for a while so you might have to wait till lunch for chess, okay?

In his haste to answer Richard swallowed a bit of pie to hard and started to choke on it.

His mother however pulled out her wand and said clearly - 'anapeneo' 

Richard's airway seemed to clear at once.

'Okay alright then'

After his breakfast Richard quickly sent off a letter to his uncle Neville. After finishing the letter he went downstairs to find his mother in her travelling cloak standing near the Floo network.

Bye mum 

Bye dear

"THE BURROW " she shouted while sprinkling some powder into the emerald green fire. The fire roared and engulfed her. A second later she disappeared.

Sighing to himself, Richard went to the bathroom where Drabble, his House-Elf  had drawn a hot scented bath for him. He spent a couple of hours bathing and got dressed.

He was trotting to the 3rd library in the manor, yes manor.

His full name was Richard Arthur Croft. The youngest member and heir apparent to the Noble and Most Ancient house of Croft. His family was the ninth oldest family in the entire wizarding world. He was a perfect pureblood albeit without the aristocratic judgement of muggles and muggleborns which is commonly found in such families.

His mother and father were in Ravenclaw. He was yet to go to Hogwarts so he did not know his own house. He would be leaving this September. He was planning to go to Diagon Alley this evening with Drabble, he had been there before but he still did not buy anything for his first year. His parents had created a trust fund and an account for him last month, with the fund being backed up by the family vault. His appearance was quite good he had  raven black hair, which he had inherited from his mother and blue eyes, which his father told him that he might have got it from his grandfather. He was quite tall at 4, 3/4 feet. However the two most things that he prided himself was not included in his looks. One of them was his intelligence. He was really brilliant in absorbing and implementing whatever he had learned, he was always curious and had a tendency to dig and delve into books if his parents refused to tell him about a topic. The next was one of his most unique abilities, his memory. He had what was called an eidetic or photographic memory. It means that he can remember every moment of his life to the teensiest of detail. He would never forget the names of people. He could easily remember every answer to a question. This ability had helped him on countless occasions. Richard was quite fond of his family. His mother was kind and loving but was firm and strict when the time comes. His father was easy going and protective but then again he too was firm when it was too much.

He lives in the Croft manor which is a huge property, it has 150 rooms and 25 bathrooms ,5 game rooms ,a bar which was out of bounds for him and had an age line, which was a kind of magical barrier which prevents underage humans from crossing it, an astronomy tower, 7 libraries, one of which was Richard's personal library, 2 kitchens, a private theatre, a swimming pool, a gymnasium, a big dining hall and an extremely large living room. It has over 75 staircases and 10 House-Elves. The manor is surrounded by lush greenery and a huge garden, the Crofts also had their own quidditch pitch and broomshed. Richard's room was actually a big suite. It had a living room,  a bathroom and a bedroom. His bedroom had a queen size four poster bed made out of  teak and rosewood it had floral and intricate carving on the posters, the headboard had beautiful Greek carvings and jewels set in it. The bed was raised on a platform two feet high and had a space with a beautifully carved railing on its edge. The wallpaper was a combination of Royal Violet , Royal Dark Blue and Emerald Green colours in intricate floral and beautiful patterns with a silver lining. The living room of his suite was spectacular, it has a large couch with glossy black upholstery, a mantelpiece and a fire place which had emerald green flames in it. He has a desk with a chair and a lot of book shelves. His bathroom was made of white and black marble with Greek columns. It is equipped with a jacuzzi that could be filled with ten different types of bubble bath and a shower area. Richard was really happy with his room and house, however he did not have a snobby attitude. He was always careful not to splurge his money on anything but books. He had a huge book collection which would be filled up in the libraries.

'Would Master Richie like a cup of tea'

'No drabble'

'Okay'

Heading to the library he pulled down a couple of book which he read till his mother came home. He had a light dinner and soon dozed off to sleep with dreams of him going to Hogwarts.

Little did any one know that a dark figure was watching the boy from the bushes and smiling evilly to itself as it watched him go to sleep.

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