Sorcerers Templar #1

Kolby walked through the dungeons, trying to locate this new club he heard about. He thought he should check it out. He stopped at one of the cells to see Jacob hanging dummies up. Symon and Finnius were in there too.

"Hey Kolby."Jacob greeted, getting off his ladder and grabbing another dummy.

"Hey. What spell are we learning today?"Kolby asked.

"You'll find out when everyone gets here."Finnius said, setting out benches for people to sit on. Each boy seemed to working on something else to get the club ready.

"So, you won't even tell me?"Kolby asked again, helping Jacob with the dummy. He hated to wait. Jacob chuckled and rubbed Kolby's head. They were somewhat friends, as long as Kolby wasn't acting stupid.

"Just have a seat and be patient."Jacob said. Kolby sighed and sat on a bench, pouting. He didn't like to wait. Where are those stupid girls?he thought. Then, Kolby noticed that Symon was examining a list Jacob had made. There were two list, one for the first years and one for everyone else.

"What's that?"he asked Jacob.

"A ranking system. It's to give people a purpose to be here, so they can go through the ranks and grow in their magical ability. I do the same thing with the Dueling Club."Jacob explained.

"Jacob, Marigold is awfully low on this list."Finnius commented. Kolby look. She was fourth to last! Kolby looked for his name. He was second, with Adele beating him. He furrowed his brow. I know I can beat her.he thought with determination.

"Well, she's about average so if the bottom of the first year class is average, then we're in good shape. Besides, she's been concentrating more on Healing magic. If I took that into account, she would be much higher. But, since not everyone is taking that class and it's a specialty, I can't take it into account to be fair to everyone."Jacob explained to Finnius. Marigold and healing magic? How have I not heard of this?he thought.

"Wow. You take this seriously. Impressive. I though you would have let your emotions take control."Finnius said. Jacob blushed and went back to hanging up dummies. Kolby chuckled. So, he has a soft spot for Marigold. Nice to know.he thought, his little devil horns coming out.

"And, look. Adele's at the top."Finnius said, nudging Symon.

"I know."Symon said, nudging Finnius back and blushing a little bit. What's up with Slytherin boys liking Ravenclaw girls? Well, I guess I can't say anything. My dad's a Slytherin and my mom's a Ravenclaw.Kolby thought.

"If I remember correctly, a little birdie told me that you and Adele have been betrothed."Finnius said jokingly.

"Shut up Finn."Symon hissed between his teeth. Kolby could tell that they were kidding. At least, he thought they were kidding. Symon looked like he could strangle Finnius.

"Wasn't this Marigold's and Adele's idea? Awww. Is that why Symon is helping? To make future wifey happy?"Finnius said kiddingly.

"Shut up Finn!"Symon hissed a bit louder.

"Cut it out you two. The others will be here soon."Jacob said with a laugh.

He looked at the second list. It was mostly their group of friends with random classmates thrown in. Jacob and Finnius was tied for second and Symon was first. Then, it was Peyton, Gavin, Asher and Seamus, with Victoria at the bottom and more random classmates.

"Come on in ladies."Finnius greeted.

Adelaine rushed down the last few steps to their “secret” cellar. She was so excited about this, she couldn’t stand it. At first, Symon and Jacob thought the idea was crazy, but after a bit of persuasion, Symon got Finn on board and set up the club. Then they all (plus Marigold) decided on the perfect name: The Sorcerer’s Templar.

“Afternoon, Adele,” Finn greeted her cheerfully.

“Hello, there,” she smiled.

Symon heard her voice and glanced up, cheeks on fire. They had finally spoken after the Quidditch game the other day, and he confirmed her guess - they were betrothed. Why hadn’t her parents bothered to tell her? Perhaps they meant to surprise me when I got home for the summer, she thought grimly. They probably hadn’t thought of the possibility that she and Symon, being a third year Slytherin, were actually friends.

“Ahem,” she cleared her throat awkwardly. “Hello..”

“You look nice today,” he said seriously, blushing and turning back to his board.

“Ranks?” Adele was immediately interested.

Symon and Jacob were still working on it, but the list read as follows:

Mira and Elsa giggled and talked the whole way down to the dungeons. They’d almost missed the sign-up for the club; they hadn’t noticed the announcement on the board in the Hufflepuff common room. No surprise there - it was purposely unnoticeable. The Sorcerer’s Templar had to be a secret, so the parchment was plain and the lettering was small. It wasn’t even labeled Sorcerer’s Templar, it was labeled Chorus Club. The whole thing was spread by word of mouth; Mira liked the feeling of being part of a big secret group.

“Hello, you two,” Finn greeted them kindly. “Welcome to the Chorus Club!”

They laughed, but Mira fell silent when she noticed the Rank List. She didn’t have high expectations, but she was hesitant to look nonetheless. Eighth place. Not surprising, she thought. Halfway from the top, but also halfway from the bottom. It could be worse. She and Elsa took a seat on a bench toward the back.

“Nearly everyone’s here now,” she heard Jacob say.

“Aye, we’ll start soon,” Finn replied.

Peyton and Gavin were arguing about their ranks, and Seamus was glaring at Symon. Mira wondered what that was about. Probably the same old jealousy as always, she figured.

Arya had finally successfully convinced Asher to come to the club, though she had to practically drag him. It seemed everyone in the group was okay again, but Asher had yet to make up with Gavin or Adele. The only reason Arry even knew what happened was because Peyton had relayed the whole fight to her at lunch the other day.

“Just try not to get on anyone else’s bad side,” she said as they neared the doorway.

“God knows that’ll be difficult,” he griped.

At least he can admit it, she thought. They entered the crowded cellar and Seamus immediately came over to warn them.

“Gavin’s already in a mood cause of ranks,” he muttered. “Jus’ steer clear of ‘im, alrigh’?”

Asher nodded reluctantly and went to take a seat by Marigold and Peyton. Seamus and Arya sat on the other side of the bench, with Gavin at the end. The benches were against the walls, leaving the rest of the room cleared. Once everyone was seated and ready, the three leaders stood and walked to the front of the room.

“Welcome to the first meeting of the Sorcerer’s Templar,” Finnius began cheerfully. “You all know why we’re here: spells are only allowed to be practiced during class.”

“But that’s not enough,” Symon picked up. “We need to be able to defend ourselves, and that can’t happen unless we practice. ”

“So that’s what we’re going to do,” Jacob concluded. “Each meeting we’ll practice a different spell. Today will be the Knockback Jinx. The three of us will be walking around to help when necessary. Let’s begin!”

As soon as Jacob ended the trio's speech, other first years rushed to the dummies, hoping to be the get one. Kolby got one in the corner. The third years seemed to get in a corner, practicing on their own dummies. Kolby was so caught up in the excitement that he drew a blank.

"Forgotten?"Finnius asked with a smile. Kolby nodded. It seemed like he wasn't the only one though. Jacob was helping Elsa and Symon was helping Alec. At least I'm not the only one.he thought.

"Well, remember the incantation is Flipendo and you flick your wand into a check mark with a tail."Finnius said, showing him to help him remember. Finns dummy flew off the chain and into the wall, hitting the ground with a thud. He hung it back up for Kolby and left him to it.

"Flipendo."Kolby said. His dummy moved a little, like it was being caught in a light breeze.

"Flipendo."he said a bit more forcefully. The dummy knocked back and hit the ceiling, then came off the hook and fell to the ground, face to the ground. He hung it back up and kept going, although he noticed that Jacob was taking notes.

While some people chose to practice on dummies, other were practicing on each other. In an empty corner of the cellar, Arya and Asher were doing just that. The walls were padded, just like they had been in Renoir's class the day of the lesson.

"Right." Asher said determinedly. "Ready?....Flipendo!"

Clearly Asher wasn't the greatest at defense magic - for some reason, Arry had assumed her would be. The spell was performed correctly, but it was weak; all that Arya felt was a strong gust of wind that pushed her back into the wall, but didn't lift her.

"Bloody hell." he cursed, his face red. "That's the third time!"

"Don't worry, don't worry." she reassured him, pulling out her wand. "I'll go this time. Flipendo!"

The spell worked as well as it did the first time she ever performed it, and Asher flew back into the cushions. Unfortunately, his fall forward was not so graceful - he smacked the right side of his face onto the stone floor and was left with a nasty scrape. Arry rushed over and helped him up.

"Come on, let's find Marigold." she decided, pulling her along.

They found the Ravenclaw healing in the hallway. Victoria passed and said something nasty, which made Arya rage inside. "Colovaria." she whispered, pointing her wand at her housemate's head. It turned a disgusting shade of green, and Arry grinned.

"I'm going to practice on a dummy." she said to Asher. "Can I leave you here?"

"Aye, I can stand in a line just fine." he replied, but there was no malice in his tone.

Arya walked away to find an unused dummy.

Adelaine practiced on a dummy in the back corner of the room, focusing hard. The first few tries were like a warm up, and she was now getting it perfectly every time. The beat up dummy would fly backwards and crash hard into the wall - or at least, it would if the wall wasn't padded.

"Flipendo!"she incanted.

Again, the dummy did just what she wanted it to. Adele was feeling especially determined today, and she figured it was probably stemmed from the anger she felt towards her parents. How could they not tell her? How could they leave her to find out for herself? They wrote when her grandmother died and her cousin moved to England, but not whom she got betrothed?

"Excellent." a familiar voice piped up behind her.

She turned to see Symon watching intently. How long had he been standing there?

"Thanks."she muttered, turning back to her burlap victim.

"Look, I'm sorry you had to find out that way."Symon said quietly, coming close. ".......If it makes you feel better, my parents wrote to tell me a few weeks back. You know what the letter said?"

"What?" she questioned, not able to contain her curiosity.

"It said 'Adelaine Beaumont'. That's it. Just your name. No greeting, no signature, just a name."

Wow, she thought, furrowing a brow. His parents were nearly as cold and distant as hers, it seemed. There was so much she didn't know about her betrothed, maybe they had even more in common than she thought.

Finnius had been helping Mira perfect her techniques on one of the dummies in the center of the room. It had taken forever, but she was finally making progress. Defense magic really wasn't her strong suit, charms were.

"Flipendo!"

A blue light emitted from her wand and hit the dummy, blowing it backwards towards the wall. It hit the cushion lightly and Finn ran over to roll it back to her. She met him halfway, and they carried it back to her spot. On the way, however, they overheard Victoria.

"Excuse me." Mira piped up, tapping the Gryffindor on the shoulder. "What was that about Marigold?"

"Ugh" Victoria rolled her eyes, as if Mira was not worthy of her attention. "She's been studying black magic, that's why she's so good at healing, she's a heretic witch! Just wait until the headmistress hears."

She cackled and walked away to find someone else to lie to. Mira turned to Finn, panic - stricken.

"She'll be burned alive!"

"But why Ellington believe Victoria?" Finn questioned, worried.

"It doesn't matter if Ellington believes her! She could easily write to some muggles in Norwich about it." she explained in a rush. "Marigold has to do something!"

Finnius nodded and went to find Marigold, who it seemed already knew.

Kolby was hanging up a dummy when Edwin came up to him.

"Did you hear? Marigold's a heretic."he told Kolby. Kolby furrowed his brow.

"A heretic? Marigold?"he asked.

"Duh. That's why she's so good at healing magic."Edwin explained. Kolby scratched his head. It did make sense.

"Who told you?"Kolby asked.

"Victoria."Edwin said. Kolby laughed and rolled his eyes.

"Are you really going to believe Victoria though? She's worst than me, which is saying something."he said. Edwin and Kolby laughed at his joke. But, everyone else seemed to eyeing Marigold suspiciously, as she helped Elsa, who had somehow hit the ceiling, which wasn't padded, and hurt her head. Symon and Finnius were now putting pads on the ceiling.

"How many people has she told?"Kolby asked.

"Everyone."Edwin said. That can't be good.Kolby thought, looking at Victoria, who had a victorious grin on her face.

“I’m sure I’ll be visiting York over the summer,” Adelaine said, planning. “Flipendo!”

“We’re having a tourney in July,” Symon told her, watching the dummy fling back into the wall. “The royal family will be there and all.”

The newly betrothed couple had been chatting and practicing the jinx for about ten minutes, and the thought of their engagement had finally started to settle with Adele. At least she might be happy with Symon. It could be much worse. I could still be betrothed to Tristayn, she thought, relieved that the brief engagement with the nasty little lordling was over.

“Enough chatter,” Victoria shouted, shoving between them and turning to Symon. “I’m dueling, clear a space.”

“Erm, Victoria,” Adele muttered, tapping her shoulder. “Do you know that your hair is green?”

The Gryffindor looked at her snidely, not believing her. Symon shook his head and went with Jacob to make a spot for the duel. It wasn’t until she heard talk of Marigold that Adelaine realized who Victoria was dueling.

“Oh, no…” she mumbled, filling with dread.

Arya and Gavin were practicing the knockback jinx on each other in a corner of the cellar when they heard the rumor. Edwin and a couple Hufflepuffs were talking loudly next to them, saying something about Marigold and blood magic.

“Shut it!” Arry shouted at them with a glare. “You know that’s not true, you dunce!”

“Well it’s what Victoria says,” the Hufflepuff boy responded dreamily.

“Oh, gross,” she hissed, ready to do the jinx on him.

Gavin snatched her wand and gave her the “calm down” look. She rolled her eyes and he gave it back. Just as she was going to cast the spell again, another group of kids walked past chattering. A duel?!

“Oh bloody hell,” Gavin cursed.

Arya couldn’t help but laugh; the young lord never let such language slip. She chuckled and then sobered up again.

“Marigold is going to die,” she said solemnly. “Let’s be on the sidelines in case we need to jump in.”

"Aye, let's go," he nodded.

The duel was over almost as fast as it had begun. Adelaine wondered if either of the opponents knew the Shield Charm. Clearly not; if they had, Victoria wouldn't have nearly lost her arm. Luckily, Marigold was doing increasingly well in her healing studies and seemed to easily summon up that golden magic.

"Symon, help me with her!"she shouted when her friend passed out.

They ran over to her housemate's side. Adele pulled out a small mirror and held it up to Marigold's mouth; she sighed in relief when the breath fogged up the mirror.

"Mobilicorpus," Symon chanted, Marigold's body lifting into the air lengthwise.

The Slytherin walked out of the cellar, the body floating lightly in front of him and took her to the spare room they'd turned into a smaller version of the Hospital Wing. Next to Adelaine, Victoria started to stir.

"Ugh, that heretic," she said groggily, sitting up. "Just wait till....till Ellington."

"You won't be telling Ellington about this, Victoria," Adele said firmly. "You won't be telling anyone."

"Why, you little -"

"Aye. you won't be telling," Asher chimed in, arms folded. "Because if you do, we've got plenty of witnesses to tell her you challenged Marigold."

Kolby watched the duel and smiled when Marigold won. Then, he watched as the girl successfully healed Victoria. He was impressed on how far Marigold has come as a student. He really unestimated the girl.

"I guess this meeting is over."Jacob concluded. Finnius nodded in agreement. The first years started leaving. Kolby looked at Victoria. She was babbling like a baby but she was covered in blood. Finnius pointed his wand at Victoria and used the Scouring Charm. The blood faded from Victoria's dress and clothes and she was back to normal. Jacob was doing the same to the floor while Symon was monitoring a passed out Marigold. But, Marigold's group was staying behind, helping clean up, probably waiting for her to wake up.

"Good bye Kolby."Jacob said. Kolby said good bye and went to the Slytherin common room.  He waved a good bye to Symon on his way out. But, he was happy. That was fun.he thought.

The cellar started to empty, with students muttering and chattering about what had just happened. Seriously, couldn't they ever have a class (or a secret club meeting) without something going horribly wrong? She watched as Elizabeth helped Victoria up and half-dragged her out of the room.

"Do you think she'll come back next mouth?"Arry asked, watching her housemate leave.

"Hope not."Gavin said, appearing beside her.

As dangerous as it proved to her, Arya couldn't wait to duel. Who would she want to duel with, though? She glanced around the room, looking for a victim. She didn't want to go up against an enemy, Marigold and Victoria were evidence enough that it would end badly.

"Gavin, do you want to duel?"she asked, grinning.

"What, right now?"

"No, dunce."she rolled her eyes. "At the next meeting."

"Ye sure 'bout tat, Arry?"Semaus chimed in, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "Gavin's far more experienced, an' two years older 'n you."

He knew he well enough to know that to tell her she couldn't do something was as good as telling her she had to.

"We'll just see about that" she sheered, nudging Gavin. "Won't we, m'lord?"

Mira flinched at every spell cast, and nearly fainted when Victoria was cut. Peyton laid a hand on her shoulder and smiled; it was clear that she wasn't going to have a career in Defensive and Offensive magic. Fine by me, she thought. She'd much rather live a normal life in a town somewhere like her father and Toren.

"I'm gonna go check on her," she muttered, following the crowd out.

She sauntered into the cellar across the hall. It looked like a miniature hospital, with little vials and bandages scattered around, and a few benches. Symon was bent over one in the corner, and Mira noticed Marigold. She was spread out on the bench, and the 3rd year was trying to magic her back to consciousness.

"What're you doing?" Mira asked, stepping forward hesitantly. Symon seriously intimidated her.

"Trying to awaken her." the Slytherin muttered. "I've tried twice now, I think it'll work this time."

Mira moved closer and stood at Marigold's feet. She would need to use the scouring charm on her clothes, as dirty as they were.

"Rennervate." Symon incanted, pointing his wand at her chest.

Gavin had finally agreed to duel with Arya at the next morning; which made her day a bit brighter. She helped the lads clean up the cellar, pushing benches back against the walls. Asher and Seamus were chatting while they picked up crumbled bits of parchment, and Gavin was gathering left behind cloaks.

"How's she doing?" Arya asked when Finn walked back in.

"She'll be fine," he said pleasantly, as always. "Symon finally got her to wake up, and Jacob's talking to her to make sure she's alright in the head."

Seamus and Asher both looked sourly at Finnius for mentioning their enemies. Arry rolled her eyes and thought about this for a moment. Their "enemies" probably had no earthly idea that they were enemies! It was all just some stupid compettion they'd invited in their heads. If Seamus hadn't been so focused on hating Symon the past couple months, Adele might still like him. If Asher would stop letting his jealously take over his temper, Marigold might not keep slipping away from him.

"Idiots." she muttered, and the two boys looked over at her. "Erm, I was talking about...uh...I gotta go, see ya!"

She waved at Marigold as she walked through the hallway, and headed back to the Gryffindor Tower.

Adele had been standing in the doorway watching Symon try tot bring her friends life. It was no wonder he was at the top of the list; he was obviously brilliant. She wondered what quality had sent him to Slytherin; so far, he seemed more befitted in Ravenclaw. Finally, Marigold awoke and Mira, Jacob, and Finn joined them.

"Follow my finger, alright?" Jacob was saying.

He moved his finger around, zig-zagging and circling and squiggling. Adelaine assumed that was meant to test Marigold's senses. Of course, he could just be doing it to have fun as well, thought Jacob didn't strike her as a jokester.

"I'm heading out, unless you need me." Adele said.

Symon walked over to her and pulled her into the hallway. Before she'd gotten to know him, she would have wondered if he was planning on killing her. Maybe that was what had gotten him sorted with the snakes - his ridiculously serious demeanor.

"Victoria's gone, right?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, she left several minutes ago." she replied, confused. "Why?"

"Talk to your friend Arya and make sure Victoria doesn't come back," he stated. "This group is meant to work together, we can't have someone like that, she'll just destroy it."

"I'll talk to Arya," she agreed, then smiled and hurried off to catch up with the Gryffindor.

As soon as everyone had determined that Marigold was fine, Mira and Finn said their goodbyes and left. Finn had promised to walk with her, since they were both going to the same place anyways.

"Well, that was a hoot," he said sarcastically.

"Wasn't it?" she laughed.

Since the day Mira arrived at Hogwarts, Finnius Ruddock had taken her under his wing. He was like the older brother she'd never had. But, no matter how close they were, there still seemed to be so much about him that she didn't know. She knew he was an orphan and a stable boy, but that was it. Finn seemed like an open book, but he never delved into his past.

"So, if I promise to practice, will you be my Quidditch mentor next year?" she wondered, only half-serious.

"Uh, well...."he got quiet for a minute. "I don't know if I'll be coming back next year, Mira..."

"Pardon me?" she asked, stopping and pulling him into a corner. "What does that mean?"

"Well, Mira, I'm 16 now." he said seriously. "I'm well past the age of marrying. And if the wars keep up, I'll certainly have to go. I might be good at the whole wizard thing, but horses are all I know. That's my future, not this. I have to be realistic."

Mira tried to process this, but she found it impossible. He was leaving her?

"Look, nothing's final yet," he smiled sadly, hugging her. "I promise you'll be the first to know, okay?"