The Last Maruaders: Year One

Chapter Ten: Nosey Business (Elijah's POV)

Elijah, like most first years, started spending more time in the library to study and prepare for their end of year exams, as the days were quickly passing. He had a table in the back with Oscar and Ryan. Surprisingly, she was a good study partner. During the times he couldn't remember something, she had it in her notes.

Near the Easter holidays, the threesome was sitting at their table, quietly working on different essays: Elijah's was for History of Magic over the effects of the self-stirring cauldron, which, as far as he was concerned, was a complete waste of time, and his mind kept drifting as he'd watch Oscar scribble furiously on his essay. As he was attempting and failing to finish the homework, he overheard an outburst from a couple tables ahead of him. "Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"

Neither one of his companions looked up; Elijah got to his feet, peeking around the shelf to see the giant gamekeeper hiding something from the Gryffindor trio of Potter, Granger, and Weasley. "Jus' lookin'." Hagrid said lightly. "An' what're you lot up ter?" His voice shifted, sounding suspicious. "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"

Elijah cocked his head. Why would they be trying to find out who the ancient alchemist was? "Oh, we found out who he is ages ago." Weasley was almost bragging. "And we know what the dog's guarding. It's a Philosopher's Stone-"

"Shush shush." Hagrid glanced around shiftily and Elijah moved out of sight. "Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?"

"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," Potter chimed in, "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy --"

Hagrid shushed them again and Elijah pressed himself closer, still being careful to stay hidden. "SHHHH!" said Hagrid again. "Listen - come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh

--"

"See you later, then," Potter waved as Hagrid shuffled off.

Elijah sat back down, his mind reeling. "What's a Philosopher's Stone?"

"Hmm?" Ryan asked, looking up from her Charms essay.

"Something to turn anything to gold, and keep you alive forever. It's a legend." Oscar answered, signing his name at the bottom of the parchment. "There. Hopefully Professor Sinistra will be happy with that."

"Wonder why Potter and his friends are quizzing the gamekeeper about that?"

"Who knows?" Oscar carefully rolled up the essay. "Eli, mate, your essay."

"Right." He sighed, going back to the parchment and trying to push the overheard conversation out of his mind.

He'd almost forgotten about the odd encounter in the library until he was heading down to Herbology one morning and heard Potter and Weasley arguing with Granger about something. "Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?" Weasley whined.

"We've got lessons, we'll get into trouble, and that's nothing to what Hagrid's going to be in when someone finds out what he's doing --"

"Shut up!" Potter whispered, making eye contact with Elijah.

Elijah half-smiled, noticing that Malfoy had also been listening to their conversation. He thought for a minute before quickly caught up with the Gryffindors. "Hey, Malfoy overheard."

"So did you." Potter pointed out.

"Yeah, but Malfoy hates you. He'll figure out a way to get you in trouble." Elijah reasoned. "I don't care. I just thought I'd give you a heads up." He said, walking away.

He reached the greenhouse and sat beside Justin, waiting for their Head of House to start the lesson. "Good morning, class!" She smiled, walking in behind Potter and his friends. As she got to the front, she raised her wand and the windows were instantly covered, making it very dark. "Any guesses to what we're going to study today?"

"Devil's Snare." Granger's voice sounded and Elijah sighed.

"Five points to Gryffindor, Ms. Granger, very good. Now, the first thing to remember is it hates sunlight. Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare, deadly fun but will sulk in the sun. Now, I'm not going to let you practice on actual plants, but there's a simple spell you can use to counter it. First, without your wands, repeat after me: Lumos Solem."

"Lumos Solem!" The students chanted after her.

"Very well. Now, pair off and practice."

Justin turned to Elijah and they took their wands out. Justin managed a weak light with his wand before Granger got hers to light, and to Elijah's surprise- "Lumos Solem!" He flicked his wand sharply and a bright light lit up the greenhouse.

"Well done, Mr. Holmes! Ten points to Hufflepuff!"

Right after, another bright light lit up the greenhouse, and Granger also had figured the spell out.

When Professor Sprout dismissed class, the three Gryffindors took off toward the hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. All the first years had a free period since they no longer had flying lessons, and Elijah paused, but decided to ignore them.

Malfoy rushed past him as he climbed the stairs back to the castle, also heading to the edge of the forest. Elijah paused, almost following him, but he shook his head and continued back to the castle to work on more homework.

A little over a week passed and Elijah made his way to breakfast, chatting with Justin. "-believe that exams are almost here."

"I know!" Elijah groaned. "I'm worried about remembering everything for the exams, especially History of Magic."

"Hey." Justin pointed at the hourglasses that held each House's gem, counting points. "Gryffindor's down a hundred and fifty points."

"Weird. Wonder what happened?"

Justin shrugged as they sat down, each grabbing eggs and toast. "Guys, you're never going to believe this." Zacharias Smith joined them, a gleeful smile on his face. "Potter and his stupid friends were out of bad after hours last night and got caught."

Elijah glanced over at the Gryffindor table. Potter and his two friends were sitting alone at the end of the table, looking absolutely miserable. The Slytherin table, however, kept slapping Potter on the back, thanking him. Slytherin was back in the lead for the house cup.

In Charms that afternoon, Professor Flitwick was teaching the softening charm. "Remember that nice 'S' movement we practiced on Monday. Use your textbooks as your targets."

Elijah sat back in his chair, attempting the charm. "Spongify."

Nothing happened. As he watched his classmates, he noticed Granger's book become soft, but she kept her head down, attempting to avoid detection. Flitwick either didn't notice or was also ignoring the trio. Elijah refocused and tried the spell again. "Spongify."

His book became squishy and soft. "Well done, Mr. Holmes! Ten points to Hufflepuff!" Professor Flitwick beamed at him before reversing the spell.