On the second day of living in the Grimmauld Place, Ronan had a jump scare. That fine morning when he woke up, Kreacher brought pancakes to his bed, which he appreciated a lot. He even let Kreacher know his thoughts, which resulted in Kreacher bawling his eyes out. But it was a fine breakfast. As Kreacher took the empty plates away, he pushed himself up and grabbed his wand from his night lamp.

His slippers were on the other end of the room, with a flick of his wand he made them come to his bed. As he got into them, he stretched his body to untangle the stiffness in his shoulders, when he abruptly stopped. Cold sweat started flowing down his neck, he had just made a very big mistake. He performed magic outside of the school. This was against the wizarding law.

Ronan put his wand aside and sat down on his bed while clutching his head. He just performed the magic out of habit, he didnt remember at the time that he was not supposed to use magic outside the school.

“Youngsters… Dont even have a sense of self-control,” came a voice from behind, he glanced back to find the portrait talking to him. It was a portrait of a middle-aged man with a rather large goatee.

“I forgot about the rule. Man… I am fucked.” He mumbled, paying no attention to the portrait.

“Language young man!” Ronan then turned around and faced the portrait, “Do you wanna burn in an incinerator old man? Because I will throw you in, mark my words.”

“Is that a threat boy?” the old man didnt like his tone. “Do you know who are you speaking to? I am Phineas Nigellius Black, your great great great grandfather.”

“So?” Ronan said with contempt, “You are just a portrait of man. Not the man himself.”

“How rude!” Phineas exclaimed. Ronan was about to throw the portrait on fire when he stopped his actions. He sighed, he let anger get the better of him. With a few big breaths, he calmed himself. “I am sorry. I got very stressed because of the accident.. I sincerely apologize, I should not have used that tone.”

He thought that it would be best to keep a good relationship with the portraits of the house until he had incinerated all of them. The old man looked pleased with the sincere-sounding apology, “Well, you should be. Juniors should always respect seniors.”

“I am sorry sir..” He said with an apologetic face, “It is just that… I am worried. I dont want to be expelled from the school.”

“Oh dont worry about it.” Phineas said, “You just used a minor locomotor spell. Ministry would think that your house elf would have performed the magic. In no way you will held responsible.”

‘Phew.. It is good to hear.. Wait. Did that old man just say that ministry would think that Kreacher performed the spell?’

He glanced at the old man, he looked a little bit guilty for some reason, as if he said something that he was not supposed to say. Ronan acted as if he didnt notice anything peculiar about the old man’s words and made his way downstairs. But his mind was occupied by the words of the old man.

Ronan knew that a charm called the Trace is casted on every student that attends Hogwarts. With this charm, the ministry keeps an eye on the students, if a student performs any magic then the ministry is informed immediately through this charm. He had read this information in Hogwarts: A History, so he knew that this was true. So why the hell did Trace didnt work on him?

He thought about the magic all afternoon that day, he then theorized that maybe the ministry could tell when a spell was being performed around underaged wizards and witches. But they had no way to tell whether it was the underaged student who performed the magic or someone else.

Kreacher uses magic constantly to do chores around the house, and from his accountant, he had received ministry-issued papers of Kreacher’s ownership. Which meant that the ministry was aware that there was an elf in this house.

‘Does this mean that ministry got fooled into believing that it was Kreacher that performed the magic…’

If his theory was indeed true, then Ronan realized that he could exploit this in the future. Naturally, he needed to study more and learn more about the trace. Maybe he might be able to fool the Trace or get rid of it permanently in the future…

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

That day Ronan went around the house to see what things were useful to him, and what things were not. He found a hornet-like nest on the upper floor of the house. It was a Doxy’s next, they are these fairy-like creatures who had shiny bettle-like skin and black hair. They are known for their venomous bites. As he didnt have the necessary supplies to deal with them, more specifically Doxycide, he left the room alone for now.

He also had something lurking in the wardrobe of the upper floors. Whatever it was, it was shaking the wardrobe from time to time, he didnt know what kind of creature was locked in there, but he was not very keen on finding out. He speculated that it might be a Boggart, but as he there was no way of telling what it was. Ronan then ultimately decided to open the wardrobe when he would have enough information.

Looking at the condition of the house, Ronan was tempted to call some renovation people and have them look into the state of the house. With some renovation, he could really change this dilapidated place into a decent house, granted if he poured in enough money. In the end, he decided not to make any rash decisions, he didnt have an endless supply of gold. He could need gold for his experiments or some other things in the future. And it is not very wise to spend a lot of gold in one go, when the amount of gold that is bringing in is zero to none.

After locking the doors with Doxy, and the noise-making wardrobe, Ronan moved on to the rest of the house and started sorting out the other things around the house. He found some books while cleaning. Some of the books were Sirius’s and Regina’s school year books. He realized that with those around, he wouldn't have to buy a ton of new stuff that he was planning to buy.

Some of the books that he found were normal wizarding household magic. These books contained information about home remedies, like how to make Doxycide in house, how to get rid of Genomes in the gardens etc. While his grandfather’s study room was where the real stuff of kept, books there contained knowledge of dark arts. He found a book of hexes and charms that either blew up a body part or dismembered a body part. There were some books about household normal potions as well, but nothing advance.

After sorting books, and thoroughly cleaning the bookshelves in the Library, Ronan was finally able to sit down and relax. But it was then, Kreacher came to him, carrying a letter from Daphne…

_______________

Hey Ronan,

How is your new house coming along? I hope that you are not having a lot of problems cleaning it up and making it your home.

I am going to France this summer, my father is taking us to see Bastille Day which is celebrated on 14th July. From what I have heard, on this day Grindlewald forces were defeated and captured by the United Federation of Wizards. And two weeks later, Dumbledore defeated Grindlewald once and for all.

Every year wizarding community in France celebrates this day with a very big fireworks festival. My father also told me that this day also coincides with some Muggle festival as well, which creates a lot of problems for the French Ministry. Apparently, every wizard wants to show off their better magical fireworks. And France's ministry spends a lot of time to repel any muggle from the vicinity.

It is a very stupid thing, to be honest, but my little sister is very excited about the festival. Anyway, I hope that your new house coming along well. I will meet you at Malfoy’s birthday dinner.

Daphne Greengrass,

PS- When is your birthday?

_______________________

Ronan wanted to reply to Daphne’s letter, only to realize that he didnt have an owl. He thought about it and realized that having an owl made sense. The other day he went to Diagon Alley to get himself some supplies. First, he went to Gringotts, took some money, and officially sent a letter to his accountant, ordering him to send every accounting file of the Black family to him. He figured after he had his hands on the files, he would then fire the guy.

Then he went to the Owl and Pet Emporium. From there he brought a barn owl, it was a small whitish-brown thing that had too much energy for his taste. But it would get the job done for him now. While in the shop, he also spotted a rather small tortoise newly hatched tortoise. That little thing had a pitch-black shell and could fit in his palm. Ronan didnt know what was it about that little thing, he just wanted to do it. So he bought it as well…

For most of the holidays, Ronan kept himself locked in his house. He spent his days studying, practicing his Occlumency, and practicing his telekinesis, which had leaps and bounds since the first year. The only day he decided to step out of his humble aboard was on 20th August, when an American Bald Eagle came to his house with an invitation letter for Malfoy’s birthday dinner.

That day he went to Madame Malkin’s shop to get himself a pair of formal party robes and buy some floo powder. When he asked Kreacher previously about the way to get to Malfoy Manor, the elf suggested that he could use the floo network, which was still active in Grimmauld Place. But to access the floo network, he would need floo powder, which they didnt have. So after buying clothes, floo powder, and his supplies for the year, he went to shop to shop trying to find something that he could give Draco as a gift.

In the end, he decided to get that man a wizard chess board and be done with it. Ronan then returned home, and soon the night of Malfoy’s dinner party came.