A Different Kind of Magic

Here at Hogwarts we got lots of Pretty Witches

It's almost one in the morning. I can do whatever title I want.

Matt's pov

I sat hunched behind the small weathered brick wall that had probably once been a structure. Couldn't let them see me. Not today. This was not how I was going down.

The sun was beginning to set and I knew that if it got too dark the very thing I had been avoiding would find me before I could get back to Hogwarts.

"L-Ludiker, I'm scared," Jason Hall, a first year Gryffindor, whispered to me.

I put my hand over his mouth and listened. Had I heard snow crackle under a foot?

"Listen, buddy," I whispered to Jason. "I'll get you out of this. Even if it's the last thing I do."

He sniffled and nodded.

Then I saw the cloaked figures army crawling towards us through the forest.

"Run!" I yelled.

We took off sprinting through the trees while the figures threw handfuls of death at us. Jason tripped and I picked him up and swung him fireman style over my back. The snow was cold and the laughs that echoed behind me colder, but my determination fueled me.

Suddenly he stepped into my path. My ex-friend, my betrayer.

"Zander," I said, my voice low.

He twirled his wand in his fingers.

"Hello, Mathew. This seems to be the end of the line for you and your little friend."

I put Jason down. "Run," I whispered. "Your life depends on it."

Jason took off running through the deep snow. To my surprise, Zander let him go.

"We don't need him," Zander smiled in his insane way. "We need you to do something for us."

"You were supposed to be my friend," I said bravely.

Zander laughed a bone chilling laugh. "Oh, Matt, those days are long over."

I let out a breath that I could see in the cold air. "Just let the others go free and I'll do whatever you want."

His smile dropped. "You know exactly what we want."

I clenched my fists. "Never! I'll die first!"

Zander's face showed that he liked the idea.

"So be it." He raised his hand as a signal and everyone ran from the trees and pelted me with snow balls.

"Gosh," Kat Gilbert said as I collapsed into the snow, defeated. "You guys take snow ball fights so seriously!"

"You should see when we play uno," Millie said as she signaled for the prisoners to be brought to them.

"Wait, we haven't finished the game," Ariel Bane pointed out.

"What do you mean?" Quinn asked.

"Zander was on the other team and we're playing last man standing."

"But I helped you guys," Zander said.

"Traitor," I muttered, feeling the cold of the snow seep through my robes.

"Last man standing," Ariel said, flicking her wand so that a few snow balls would float up, poised for attack.

Suddenly, little Jason popped from behind some trees and stuffed snow down Zander's robes. Zander gasped and fell on his side, his eyes rolled into his head.

"S-so, this is how it goes for traitors," he whispered before giving a few death throws and then going still.

Jason looked worried. "Did I kill you, Whitehurst?"

"Yes, I'm quite dead," Zander said, his face contorted in "agony".

Jason smiled proudly.

"Have you been caught?" Millie asked.

Ben Wallace from Hufflepuff came up behind Jason. "Yeah, but he wanted to avenge Matt."

I held out my hand for a high five. Jason looked delighted as he high fived me back.

Zander still played dead as we gathered everyone together and started to walk back to the castle.

"Drama queen," I laughed and helped him up. He then promptly shoved snow down my robes and booked it towards the castle with me hot on his heels.

***

Because of the well known fact Zander went to Azkaban no one trusted him. Most people did what they could to avoid him. Millie and I weren't spared. We had to remake friends and get used to all our other friends beings in the older grade. We were known as the "kids that died but came back".

I hated it and wish I hadn't come back. If Quinn wasn't hard to approach before she was now a year older than me. Sure, it had been a year since we got back but it was still pretty miserable.

Millie could fit in anywhere, she was lovable, so it wasn't as hard for her. But lately she had seemed confused and hurt about Zander. Zander was acting funny. Sure, he was a little off his rocker since Azkaban, but it was something else. He seemed... oh, I don't know. Guilty. When we casually mentioned the accident and he would get jumpy and avoid eye contact. It was hard just to keep him in a conversation. I had even heard and seen him doing weird things. For example, in February, a few days before Zander's birthday and a few days after the snowball fight.

I had heard someone talking in a classroom and the voice sounded familiar. I was alone so I poked my head in to see who it was.

Zander sat alone at a desk, talking to himself. The classroom was empty.

"Yeah, I don't know." He paused. "I'm still young, would that be safe?" He paused again. "Seems sketchy but I am good at potions." He paused yet again. "Yeah, I guess might as well get used to the idea I'm going to be living a life of crime." He paused and chuckled.

"Zander?" I asked, concerned.

He lept out of his seat, wand aimed at me.

"Uh! Oh, Matt!" He slid his wand into his sleeve. "H-hi!"

"Who were you talking to?" I inquired.

"N-no one?"

"Are you asking me?"

He blinked and tilted his head. "Sorry, what were we talking about?"

I sighed and shook my head. "Nothing."

I walked out and he grabbed his book and caught up to me. We walked to my next class and then he went to his.

This wasn't the first time he had been caught talking to himself. Apparently, one time during class he seemed to be getting agitated and threw an ink bottle at the wall. Another time in the middle of a quiet test he had started laughing really hard and had to be excused.

It didn't make sense.

A/n: Sorry, this one was kind of short but what I have going on next I feel kind of deserves it's own chapter.

Did you like the snow ball fight scene? Everything has been so serious I wanted to add a little bit of humor.