After Hermione had left, I had barely a brief moment of peace. The whole Slytherin team dropped by to check on me and celebrate the victory. of course, I knew it wasn't a popular idea, but since Aster had been instrumental in getting the victory, she had managed to pull a favor from the team captain Marcus Flint

Thankfully, though, the visit did not last for long, as Madam Pomfrey soon got fed up with pansies' hazardous trumpets and threw the whole group out of the room.

the night was falling and I had time to check the book that Hermione had left, the title was captivating at first glance

POTENT SPELLS by one Bathilda Bagshot. I was about to open the first page when a cracking resounded through the room. A house elf appeared with a sweet-smelling meal in a tray. the little creature curtsied clumsily before presenting me with the tray, "your meal sir Malfoy" he said weirdly as I took the proffered contents. the elf immediately turned to go.

from behind the elf looked exactly like Dobby. sad memories of the friendly elf who had perished at my hands dulled my spirit for a while.

"Hey," I called after the elf, and he was surprised at being suddenly called. He certainly was not used to being engaged by anyone. His round, bulging eyes grew even larger. "What, sir, does the food not please Mr. Malfoy?" I knew from experience that elves were sensitive to compliments. Dobby had certainly enjoyed being praised for his work, I looked at the meal that I had not yet eaten and said, "no, the meal smells delicious, it's just that I wanted to know what your name is, seeing that you know mine." The elf choked for a while, seemingly not understanding my question, and then he began to jump in jubilation.

Now that got me surprised, Dobby hadn't behaved this weirdly. I couldn't see what the big deal was. I had just asked the elf his name and here he was jumping like he had been gifted something. perhaps even elves had their weirdos, I thought to myself.

"Hey, stop, that or you will get me into trouble with madam Pomfrey," I warned the elf as dull footsteps came from the nurse's office.

I had barely time to ask the elf to hide when the door opened and pomfreys' head popped in "what the hell are you yelling for Mr. Malfoy?"

the nurse yelled with that venom she spared for the unlucky student, especially Slytherins who ended up getting into her nerve.

"I was just reading out loud madam, "I said while scanning the room for the elf. he was nowhere to be seen but a very huge shadow of an elf was cast on the floor of the ward.no. no! god dan it, it couldn't be, the elf was now dangling from the iron chandelier, and the light was throwing his magnified shadow on the floor... I suddenly realized that I had a choice to make. One would certainly cost Slytherin some points but it would probably make me a friend. Madam Pomfrey was starting to frown due to the darkness in the room and I knew what was coming. I immediately made up my mind, it was the least I could do after what Dobby had done for me.

by now, I had assimilated dobbies magic and I could cast spells without the help of the wand,

I focused my thoughts and mentally said 'colloportus'.suddenly, the massive doors of the ward swung with great speed and the nurse had time to pull herself out of the way before it swung shut with a bang in her face. I heard her scream and shout in pure range, and I knew that I had nicked more than just a few points for my house. I was officially a d*ck head.

"go, go before she opens the door," I said to the elf who had descended from the chandelier with a thud, a gleeful smug on his face."

the elf rubbed his crooked nose and said

"Sir Malfoy has saved Rompuy, and Rompuy will not forget." the smoggy grin was widening. I could sense that the elf was a lover of mischief, and I was certainly down with that. I smiled at the elf's words. It was certainly a fair trade, point for a friend. Hogwarts could get lonely after all. We didn't share many interests with people here, and I needed such friends." go now Rompuy, when she opens that door and finds you here, you will certainly be in trouble with Dumbledore" the elf saw the sense and fear won over his desire for mischief. Hogwarts was his home after all. He scampered to go before he turned and curtsied clumsily again and said "sir Malfoy knows fun" this time his grin showed the hunger in his eyes, a hunger that even time had failed to suppress.

He disappeared just as madam Pomfrey shouted "olomohora" and the door swung open to usher the puffed-up nurse.

"Mr. Malfoy, you certainly are lacking in manners, that shall cost you a week in detention after you are out of here, but for now, how about 20 points from Slytherin, see how your friends love the service you have done for them after their hard-fought victory." And with that, the nurse stormed out of the ward banging the door just as I had done in her face.

She had a point though, I was in trouble once the other Slytherins found out how I was spending the points they were earning while I slept here. However, I could care less about any of that now. I truly cherished my newfound relationship with my sister but I had a different goal here.

All of them got more powerful by learning and practicing spells, I on the other hand could not learn the spell since I was not a natural-born wizard. I had to either slay a magical creature and assimilate its power or, carry out system quests to get rewarded with perks and abilities to perform a range of spells. The last option was the hardest of them and currently the most inconsistent as well. I had to rely on the power of the Gawain wand, which only seemed to respond to my despair during life-and-death situations or so to say, like when it hide the marauders inside my robes when the twins had overpowered me, so until I got to level seven and unlocked the full functionality of the Gawain wand, my hope only lay on the system quest. and if I had to carry out mischief to do it, the better.

Speaking of the system, I recalled I had succeeded in the level two quest which meant I had to have gotten some reward and received the level three quest.

seeing that I was alone in the ward, I focused my thoughts and summoned the system screen, not that it would have mattered, as it was invisible to anyone else. this time it did not flicker as it used to do before materializing. Its display was also clear and the interface certainly looked lusher and more organized. This could only mean that I had grown somehow more powerful than before.

from the display, I realized that some menu had been added. I was certain that the perk gallery had not been there before .maybe because initially, I had no active perk to store in the gallery since dobbies magic was not rewarded as a quest perk but for slaying a magical creature, the gnome had little magic but they too could not be added since it was the test for unlocking quest functionality. I realized that the Hogwarts quests were the only ones eligible for perk rewards. this meant that my chances to get powerful as far as the system quests were concerned, would only come during the school term...I mentally clicked on it and the display transitioned immediately to show the only perk I had attained. my heart danced with joy at the site of it, written in golden curved fonts were the word

[congratulation user Draco Malfoy for completing the level two quest]

You have been rewarded with an Invisibility Perk:

Perk description: by activating this perk, you will appear invisible and unplottable even on the marauder's map. however, this ability won't protect you from spells or unoptical sights such as magic eyes

This information was certainly overwhelming. I couldn't help wondering if the fat lady in Gryffindor used magical sight or not. I already had a few thoughts on how I could use this newfound ability to gather information and even have more fun.

I was still going through the menu when I noticed red dots on two different tabs, the assimilated power tab, and the ancestral power tab, the assimilated power tab so far had elf power only. but on opening it, I was shocked to see the extent of elf magic. I had certainly not expected the creatures to be this powerful,

the tab read; assimilated powers

[Telekinesis: use a blast of energy to throw anything]. this power grows with growth in your magic reserve or perks

Wandless magic; cast spells without the help of a wand[i found this unhelpful since I could do that already since I was not a natural-born wizard]

An apparition; apparate to places even witches and wizards are not allowed.

This last power intrigued me a lot, it was certainly as helpful as my new invisibility perk.

Having been satisfied with the assimilated magic, I checked the ancestral magic tab. There was nothing much here, only the Dragon Lord title was available. However, that was also restricted until level seven. Seeing the Dragonlord title made me recall how our last meeting had ended in the dragon cave. But I promised myself not to worry about it and to concentrate on what was important at the time; the dragon world was in another era, and I needed the present.

As it was, I was already more powerful than any first-year and even most second-years. If I kept following this trend, I was certainly on the path to rivaling even Dumbledore.

Finally, I opened the quest tab, and my, oh my! All my joy came crashing down like an avalanche.

Level three quest had only two words, [befriend peeves]

Time limit: 7 days