Till Death do us Part

New Learning

Leaving potions, I followed the rest to the courtyard. Break was over too soon for most of the student's liking but I didn't mind. We have a new subject to learn about; Defence Against the Dark Arts. I'm sure it will be interesting!

I was wrong. The entire lesson was a boring lecture on the dangers of the dark arts, the professor teaching us struggled speaking in a slightly strange stutter. He took forever to tell us anything and I couldn't even focus on that as my head started spinning the second I got in. My forehead felt like it was splitting in two. I have no idea why though, Ama said it was probably just the heavy incense drifting around the room.

By the time it was over, I was clutching my head and unable to focus. My friends looked worried but since I couldn't write like this, they just tried to get me to Poppy. About half way there, the pain cleared up and I felt a million times better.

It took some convincing, but my friends eventually agreed to not dragging me to Poppy. I had History of Magic afterwards but I liked that... or at least the textbook for that.

I was copying out the textbook, translating it into snake tongue when Wayne passed me a piece of paper. 'Do you still want to learn Greek?'

Nodding excitedly, we started our silent lesson in how to write Greek. I found the language quite easy, I learnt some of the simple sentences and a few common ones for every day speaking. By the time the lesson was over we had made a silent agreement to do this every history of magic lessons. It was better than listening to the teacher drone on.

Lastly, we had Astronomy. It was a lesson about the stars. I like the stars, Ama used to tell me stories about the gods and goddesses that the stars represented. The teacher leading the class, Professor Sinistra was a strict teacher who told us the names of the stars.

It was a tedious lesson but one that was important, for the others that was. And... I guess for me as I had to work out which star was which. It was annoying but not hard to work out.

Once we got back to the dorms, I copied out a few of my notes before searching for my book of definitions. I slowly worked through my potions textbook, finding the words I didn't know and replacing them with their translation. The others watched me for a while but soon found other things to do as it was going to take me awhile.

Roger and Justin started to play a strange game. It was in two colours with weird pieces that moved on their own. Mostly I ignored the game, Ama scolding me every time my attention drifted from the book.

Eventually, Ama let me put down the book and I crawled over to the game. Roger moved one of his pieces that stopped next to one of Justin's pieces. I watched in curiosity as the piece pulled out two swords and stabbed the other.

Letting out a shocked yelp, I attacked the piece, startling both Justin and Roger. I growled at the bad piece that hurt the other before freezing.

Roger was laughing while Justin stared at me, not sure what to do. Wayne and Kevin looked over, confusion on their own faces.

"Why did you do that?" Kevin came up to me, taking the piece from under my hands and putting it back on the board.

Tilting my head in confusion, I took out a piece of paper. 'The piece was attacking the other. It was being bad,' I explained as if it was the simplest concept in the world- which it was.

Roger's laughing became loud as he gripped his stomach and doubled over. He took in deep breaths to calm down his fits before looking me in my eyes. "You've never played wizard's chess before, have you, Sly?"

Shaking my head, I looked at him in confusion. 'No. What is that?'

"It is a game. You try to capture the king before the other player takes yours. You tell your pieces what to do like a commander. Part of the game is defeating other pieces to make your way through. The piece wasn't doing anything wrong." Roger smiled at me as I bit my lip, unsure whether to ask the questions burning in my mind.

"It's a magic game of chess. You have played, or at least heard, of chess before, haven't you?" Kevin sat next to me as I shook my head. "Do you have any questions then?"

Hesitating a little, I wrote out the most prominent question in my head. 'What is a commander?'

All four looked at me as if I was crazy. "You don't know what that is," Roger asked, sitting down next to me.

Blushing slightly, I shook my head.

"A commander leads people in times of war," Justin explained before noticing my brows furrowing more in confusion. "Do you know what a war is?"

Once again, I shook my head pulling out a piece of paper. 'They were mentioned in the history textbook but I couldn't find the word in the glossary.'

"A war is when two armies... two groups of well trained fighters engage in a large battle," Kevin tried to explain.

I nodded in understanding before turning back to the board. 'So you too oversee a small pretend war? That is the game?'

"Basically. But each piece can only move in a certain way so it is more about strategy," Roger said, putting some of the knocked over pieces back in place. "Would you like to learn how to play?"

Nodding, I sat in front of the board, watching it intently. Roger and Justin went back to their places, playing through the rest of the game. The rules of each piece seemed easy but the complexity of the game was where the interesting part came in.

Justin eventually gave up trying to beat Roger and let me take over. Correcting me when I made a wrong move.

It was really fun to play- even if I didn't win.

Tomorrow, I get to go flying but for tonight, I was happy playing with my friends.