*Anos's POV*

 

"Oh get on with it, damn you," I said, shoving Simon forward.

 

"I was going to dammit." He bit back, irritated.

 

"Like the last three hundred times, you were going to, by walking up to the door and sitting back on your bed. Merlin's mighty forehead why the hell am I locked in here." I said jumping on the bed, self cleaning spells were god's work truly.

 

"You're here to help me do this," Simon said sitting down next to me.

 

"Well if I tried this much in Transfiguration then I would have scored more than Hermione. Also, why is your room so barren, it's like a nuclear winter shelter." I said looking around.

 

The only thing in the room was a bed, a chair, and a photo upon a drawer of two people which I assume were Simon's parents as the man in the photo was drinking a Dwarvish Mug of beer with one hand and hugging a woman with bright red hair with the other. The women wore the same expression Simon did whenever he didn't get enough sleep.

 

The colors in the photo could definitely use some work and so could the rest of the room.

 

I had noticed it being not particularly designed before but I had hoped that would've changed in the past months or weeks. I could see his Christmas gifts sitting on a pile next to the bed, with enough care put into them as trash. Well except for some letters, those were inside a black box.

 

"Well it's easier to have the room empty, makes more space to exercise," Simon replied, shrugging.

 

"Well, last I checked there were still rooms that no one was living in. Not to mention what kind of exercise do you do that you need your room to be a barren wasteland?" I asked and Simon smirked as he got up and shuffled down his robes.

 

"Uh, I don't think that's called an exercise," I said, chuckling nervously as Simon continued to look through his robes before pulling his Whip out.

 

"Huh?" He looked confused at me as he unfurled the whip and threw something at me. 

 

"Nevermind," I said catching the object before it was my turn to look at him with confusion, I was holding a half-eaten apple core in my hand.

 

"I keep those, it's good bait for animals. My dad taught me some of this stuff." Simon said, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

 

"Wow, didn't know we had Hunting classes too, I must've missed all of them. Hogwarts is known to make young capable wizards who can quickly adapt to a Nomadic lifestyle." I said, chuckling though even I was a bit distressed at some of Simon's habits.

 

"Just go to a corner of the room and throw the damn apple will ya," Simon said and I got as far away as I could into the edge of the room before preparing to throw the apple.

 

Well, I didn't exactly throw the apple. 

 

'Let's have a bit of fun with this, shall we? Reversal Red.' I conjured a minute amount of Cursed energy into my palm before shooting the apple opposite to me.

 

Simon was startled by the throwing method but recovered quick enough and in a flash snapped his Whip at the apple.

 

*Truk*

 

The apple was cut into two pieces vertically and splashed on the wall before pathetically sliding down onto the floor. 

 

"Wow, that was impressive." I complimented Simon who laughed.

 

"Impressive indeed." Came another voice, from up above.

 

"Ahhhh!" Simon jumped into the air with a shriek before falling down.

 

"Goddamit Lan what're you doing floating above there," Simon said standing up and trying to act as if he didn't just scream like a little girl.

 

"Meditating," Lan replied soothingly.

 

"..... Why're you meditating in my room," Simon said exasperated.

 

"Must men always find a reason for his actions, is the wish to do a task not reason enough?" Lan said inquisitively and I held back a sigh.

 

"I'll just ignore that. So yeah Anos, that's why my room is so barren. I tried to train in my childhood room once but accidentally picked up a burning candle and threw it on my face, that's also the reason for this scar." Simon explained and I nodded.

 

'Yup he's a Belmont alright.'

 

"Well nice demonstration. Now go and meet them damn you." I said, shoving Simon out.

 

"Wait! Lan help me." Simon shouted at him as he just looked at the whole ordeal from up above, amused.

 

"I like my meditation room to be quiet," Lan replied and adjusted his blindfold.

 

"Damn you it's My Ro-" Simon didn't get to finish his sentence before the gate shut in his face.

 

"Come on. Just give it to them both. You gave it to all of us, why are you afraid now?" I asked as Simon started to walk towards the common room.

 

"Well, I was caught up in the moment when I gave the rings to all of you. Now I'm actually thinking about it." Simon replied.

 

"Come on. I'm sure Draco and Hermione will like them. Draco especially, he can act like his dad more with that ring." I said and Simon sighed as we entered the common room.

 

"Wow Draco, you return from the holidays and you've already forgotten about me? Where's my morning hug?" I said catching the positively dying Draco off guard as he looked at me.

 

"Can't you ever do this normally?" He asked exasperated and I shook my head.

 

" Where's the fun in that? Oh, Simon has something to give to you, and Hermione you're included too." I said and slapped Simon across the back.

 

" Uh well uh. Here, I made them myself. I hope you both like it. I couldn't finish them before you left. " He said, handing them the rings.

 

" Well.... It doesn't fit." Draco said.

 

*Slam*

 

Simon slapped his forehead and looked about ready to continue with something more forceful before I laughed and put my hand on his shoulder.

 

"Well we just happen to have capable magicians here, aren't we lucky?" I said and turned to look at Alucard who was shaking his head and muttering something about 'Belmonts and their dammed idiocy'

 

He stepped forward ready to perform the spell before Hermione took out her wand and unceremoniously tapped both the rings.

 

They got too big. With another try, they got too small but after some more tries, the rings now fit perfectly on both of them.

 

"Thanks, Simon." Hermione said sweetly.

 

I elbowed Draco to stop him from continuing to stretch his hand and staring at the ring.

 

"Oof. Oh yeah, thanks, Simon. I don't know if mother and father will allow me to continue wearing it but I'll wear it as long as we're in Hogwarts." Draco said smiling and Simon visibly relaxed.

 

I patted him on the shoulder and then all of us took seats, so much to talk about and much more to discuss.

 

'Guess we gotta bring Hermione and Draco up to speed about the Vault business that we know of or at least Zephyr.' I winced internally at the last part.

 

The adventure to the library was only known to me and Harriet and Alucard might have a guess at best. 

 

'Well let's get started.' I thought, collecting my words and stopping the frankly weird conversation regarding the prices of Wizard and Muggle chocolate. 

---

 

A/N:  Soooooooo My grandpa almost died, my dad is sick and feeling every year of his age, I got mentally blasted with illnesses and then some other stuff happened that I can't get into.

But, there are 4 new chapters of Infinity and Magic for all of you to enjoy, and though I planned on spending my birthday writing and making drafts and outlines I got derailed and well couldn't do it. I'll keep up the work and do better in the future.

Join me at my Patreon to read ahead, if you wish to [And to fuel my insatiable hunger for college, yes, I save every penny for college  if I don't use it explicitly for something that'll help me write better, because gods those prices make me wanna weep.].

Being poor sucks but I have Game of Thrones to keep me occupied when I get free time to write and make outlines for chapters, so chapters will continue as always.

Again, thanks for reading the chapters, I'll get back to work. Hope everyone has a Nice Day/Night, and feel free to ask any questions regarding the chapters or excerpts.