tay awake, James reached to get his parchment and quill from his backpack.

His hand bumped the book Zane had given him. He pulled it out, along with his parchments, and cradled it in his lap. When he was sure Neville had descended deep enough into talking about his favorite subject not to notice, James opened the book to where Zane had marked it. His interest was immediately piqued by the heading at the top of the page: Feodre Austramaddux. He leaned over the book and read quickly. Proponent of Reverse Precognition, or the art of recording history through counter-chronological divination, the Seer and historian Austramaddux remains known to modern wizardry mainly for his fantastic accounts of the last days of Merlinus Ambrosius, legendary sorcerer and founder of the Order of Merlin. Austramadduxs account, which is recorded in its entirety in his famous Inverse Historie of the Magickal Worlde (see chapter twelve) deals with his acquaintance with Merlinus at the end of the latters career as special magical regent to the kings of Europe. Having grown disenchanted with the co