Alchemy

Making plans

Dan quickly settled in to the Hufflepuff dorms and his lessons, sticking close to Charlie so he wouldn't get lost.

Dan also learnt quite quickly that Kyle was rather the trouble-maker. In their shared Potions class, the teacher asked them to pair up with someone from the other house. Kyle paired with Dan.

'Wanna spice things up a bit?' Kyle whispered to Dan.

'What do you mean?' Dan whispered back.

'Watch.'

Kyle wandered around the room and snuck something into another pair's potion. The cauldron let out a low pitched yelling noise. Kyle got sent to the head's office.

Dan and Charlie met with Kyle again at the end of their lesson.

'Jeez, Kyle, you need to stop with this stuff!' Charlie sighed. 'You're gonna get kicked out.'

'But everything is so boring, Charlie!' Kyle moaned as the trio made their way to the library. 'I don't care about this academic stuff, man. I'll just become a world-class Quidditch player.'

As they sat down at a table in the library, a voice unfamiliar to Dan spoke to them.

'Did Kyle get in trouble with Dick Head again?'

'Totally,' Kyle sighed and rolled his eyes. 'Dan, this is Will.'

'Hi,' waved Dan. 'Who's Dick Head?'

'Meredith. It's our nickname for him,' replied Will.

Charlie snorted. 'Sorry. It makes me laugh every time.'

Kyle playfully pulled Will into the seat besides him. 'Anyway, Dan. Will's my best mate. He's a Ravenclaw, aka a nerd.'

'Oi!' Will retorted, then turned to Dan. 'The sorting hat couldn't decide between Slytherin or Ravenclaw, so I said I'd rather be Ravenclaw so the blue uniform matches my eyes...'

'... your eyes are green...' Charlie mumbled.

'Shut up, Charlie.' Charlie stuck his tongue out at Will.

'Yo, where's Woods?' Kyle asked Will. 'You had the same class.'

'He stayed behind to clear stuff up. And by that I mean take one of the kids to the nurse.'

'Jesus. What happened this time?'

'Someone cast Accio to shield himself, but it went wrong and the item he summoned knocked him out.'

'Duuude...'

Dan, Charlie and Kyle's next lesson was Quidditch and Kyle spent the whole time walking there talking to Dan about the pitch that Hogwarts had, and the equipment that he owned. Dan didn't have much interest in the sport, but seeing Kyle's excitement over it made him feel happy and warm inside.

A couple of warm up flights around the pitch and a Quidditch match began. Dan hung back a lot of the time, not particularly wanting to be there.

Dan watched Kyle for most of the match, enamoured by his skill on the broom, enthused by his joy.

Charlie yelled at Dan to get in there. Dan sighed and did so... only to collide with Kyle. The pair tumbled to the ground, luckily from a fairly low height.

After a moment of Kyle on top of Dan, the pair began to laugh. 'Dude! You need to be more careful!' Kyle laughed as he rolled off of Dan's stomach.

Dan sat up. 'No tackles in Quidditch?' he said in jest and winked at Kyle. The teacher came over to the pair and checked on them, and they laughed again. Kyle got back into the air but Dan stayed grounded, not particularly wanting to fall again.

The Hufflepuff pair had a Care of Magical Creatures lesson to go to, Kyle had a Muggle Studies lesson.

'Dude, aren't those lessons just you lot being surprised by pens?' Dan raised an eyebrow at Kyle when he mentioned it.

Kyle shrugged. 'I'm an isolated Pureblood, I guess.'

'I'll show you some stuff tonight if you come to Charlie and I's dorm room.'

'Charlie always offers me the private muggle classes,' Kyle jested. 'Alright, I'll come along. Maybe you're more exciting than half-blood Charlo.'

'Oi!' Charlie retorted. 'You love me really.'

Charlie and Dan spent their lesson learning to care for hippogriffs. Dan revelled in this; he loved magical creatures. On the way back to their dorm, Charlie explained to Dan that he had a goal to be the first person to fully domesticate a dragon. 

'Kyle makes fun of that a lot,' Charlie mumbled to Dan. I've been learning with the model dragons though, the mini ones? You know those, right?'

The pair entered their dorm and Charlie uncovered a mid-sized cage. It was segmented and each had what appeared to be a micro-sized dragon in them.

'Never saw them around where I used to live,' Dan scratched the back of his neck. 'They're pretty cute...'

Dan leant in to peer closer when a knocking came from their door.

'HEEEYY!!! CHARLO!!! DANNY!!! LEMME IN!!!!' came Kyle's voice as he pounded on the door. Charlie rolled his eyes and opened the door to a beaming Kyle. 

Kyle spun around Charlie and flopped onto Dan's bed, rubbing his hands together, grinning madly.

'What have you done now...?' Charlie said as he shut the door.

Kyle stuck his tongue out at Charlie and pulled something out of his trouser pocket. 'Heard you were missing one...'

A small, pearly dragon was curled in Kyle's hand. Charlie's eyes widened and he took the dragon carefully from Kyle.

'Where on Earth...' Charlie whispered, running his finger down the neck and back of the small dragon.

'I have... connections,' winked Kyle. Charlie made to speak and Kyle placed his finger over his mouth, hushing him. 'Don't ask what you need to do in return. Just help me with my Muggle studies...'

The small dragon stirred and Charlie allowed it to sit on his shoulder. Dan flopped onto his bed besides Kyle. 'Where'd you wanna start?' Dan asked, cracking his knuckles (making Kyle cringe in the process).

Kyle bit his lip. 'Electronics? I don't really know what they are. I know Dick Head said they work here now, though.' Dan reached over to his backpack and tipped it up. Out fell his phone, earphones tangled around it, a laser pointer, a Rubix cube, and several pens. 

Dan spent around an hour explaining his phone to Kyle. Charlie spent the whole time playing with his new mini dragon friend. 

'So you can just... instantly receive messages from people...?' Kyle was deep in thought. 

'Yeah dude,' Dan laid down on his bed as Kyle flicked through the photos on Dan's phone. 

'... So like. We could talk in class, even when we're not next to each other?'

'... Yeah... why?'

Kyle smiled at Dan. 'I think I want one. So I can talk to you.'

Dan sat up. 'What'd'ya mean?'

Kyle smirked, a glint in his eye. He leant in to Dan's ear and whispered, 'Meet me at the back of the library after classes tomorrow.'

He pulled back, winked, then got up.

'I... what?' Dan said in a hushed voice.

'See ya, tech boy,' grinned Kyle. He ruffled Charlie's hair and Charlie lifted a hand as if to wave, not making eye contact with Kyle. Kyle strode out the door, gave a quick 'see you in class tomorrow, you two!' then shut the door behind him.

Dan thought for the rest of the night about what Kyle said to him, and what he had planned.