Chapter 23: CHAPTER 21 – A decision is made

“Is there a problem, Albus?”-Snape voice suddenly woke me up.

{Huh?}-Turning to look at the professors, Dumbledore was indeed looking at me, or well, around me to be more specific, as if trying to find someone.

“No, there’s no problem, Severus. I just thought I heard something, but it must be the wind.”-He answered.

[Congratulations! You’ve completed the quest ‘Look for your friend Jake!’, and you’ve done it magnificently with a perfect combination of spells and intelligence, that quickly led you to your friend. It seems you’re slowly leaving the idiot tag behind!]

[60pts have been earned.]

The confirmation of the completion of the quest appeared right in front of me, making me gasp in surprise.

{I’m… *sigh…* Points are always welcome… But not this time…}-I thought while looking at the message in front of me.

“What are we going to do now!? Albus? This is already the second student! The curses are starting again!”-An alarmed Flitwick said, taking my attention out of the system message.

“Don’t worry Filius, we’re going to find and stop these curses for sure. And, I’m sure that with the help of Pomona, we may be able to help these students. We just need to wait until a batch of potions for petrification are ready.”

“Hoh! I hope it is soon! This kid here was just a first-year! And a muggle-born! Imagine how his parents would react to this news.”

“I would advise not to tell his parents for the moment, as it could become quite the news for them.”-Snape said with his monotonous voice.

“This time, I must agree with you, Severus. For tonight, we won’t be able to do anything, so, I would like that both of you go back to your patrolling duties, we don’t want any student out of their houses with such a curse around, do we?”-Albus said.

“You’re right! I’ll be leaving then!”-Professor Flitwick said while going out of the infirmary.

“Are you staying?”-Snape asked Dumbledore.

“Yes, I’ll try to see if there’s a way to know how the students get petrified.”-Professor Dumbledore said.

“Very well, I’ll be leaving then.”-Snape then went out of the room.

I tried to slowly move out of the room, I already fucked when I let that whisper out.

“I would love to know who would visit the infirmary so late at night, and just when such a tragic incident occurred. If you may.”-Dumbledore suddenly spoke to empty air.

{He discovered me.}-I thought.

I tried to ignore the man and started walking backward ever so slightly, containing my breathing as much as possible.

“Oh, I wouldn’t try to leave the place if I were you. You see, I’m quite perceptive.”-He said while closing the doors to the infirmary with a move of his hands.

{I’m fucked.}-I thought. {What do I do now?}

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you didn’t have bad intentions while coming here. You did seem to be in a hurry, though.”-Albus tried to convince me.

And that he did.

{Fuck it all. The worst thing that could happen would be me being expelled from Hogwarts while being deemed as some kind of Dark Lord, and that’s precisely an ultimatum for me.}-I thought before canceling my invisibility.

“Hi… Professor…”-I shyly raised my hand to say hi to Dumbledore.

He was a livid copy of his version of the movie, the one after the second book, if anything, with a whiter hair. But with the same glasses and all.

“Well, this sure is a surprise. I wasn’t exactly expecting such a young student.”-Albus spoke. “I’m obliged to ask, Mr. Taylor, what are you doing here, and more importantly, how did you come here without anyone noticing.”

{The old man knows my surname? Oh well, it shouldn’t be that weird considering that we are all called by our names and surnames during the sorting ceremony.}

“You noticed me, professor.”-I said with an awkward smile.

“I just noticed someone entering the room with hurried steps, and a little, what was it? ‘Fuck’? Being said in a truly low, but dumbfounded voice.”-He smiled.

“I’m sorry about the word, professor.”-I scratched the back of my head. “As to why I was here… Well, I was actually looking for my friend. We were waiting for him in the common room, but he didn’t make it, and it was almost ten, we also have classes at midnight, so it was weird.”-I said while looking towards Jake.

“Oh, I then must say sorry to you, as you have found your friend in such a bad situation.”-Dumbledore said. “But I also must say, that it was quite a feat, to turn invisible, Mr. Taylor. And without any help at that. That’s not something a first-year could make, so, I’m intrigued, how did you do it?”

“Sir… In the muggle world, we have a saying… A magician never reveals his tricks.”-I said with a suddenly serious face.

“Oh, really? That’s a really good saying.”-Dumbledore said with a chuckle. “And something most wizards should have in mind. Still, I must insist.”

{Should I really lie? This guy may be paranoic, but he’s quite smart and powerful…}-I thought to myself.

“Well, Mr. Taylor? I’m sure there should be a good explanation if it’s taking so long for you to answer.”

{Let’s just hope for the better.}-I said while finally deciding how I would answer. {At least this way I’ll be able to be safe.}

“I…”-I started to scratch the back of my head. “I found a book, professor, or must I say, it one day found me?”-I tilted my head.

“What do you mean?”

“It appeared in my room one day, once I returned from having dinner, the book was over my bed. I never knew where it came from, or who gave it to me. Miss Isabella told me she didn’t buy me any book at that time, and she’s the only one to actually gift me books.”

“That’s mysterious indeed…”-Dumbledore rubbed his chin. “And, what did this book have inside?”

“Magic, sir. It had magic. A lot of weird symbols, words, and pictures describing magic charms and curses.”

“And you tried to test them?”-Dumbledore asked.

“Some of them, yes sir, others, I didn’t, they could damage the orphanage, so I never tried them.”

“And any of them worked?”-He lifted his eyebrows.

“Yes, sir, almost every one I tried worked well… One of them was the invisibility spell I just used to come here undetected… Though, that one didn’t work until a few days ago.”

“Interesting… Tell me, Mr. Taylor, may I have a look at this book you speak of?”-He asked.

“It’s in my room, sir. I didn’t bring it with me.”-I said.

“Oh, that’s bad indeed. Well, for today, you should go back to your common room. Another day we’ll talk about this book of yours in my office, so it can be as private as possible.”-Dumbledore said.

“Thanks, professor.”-I nodded at him, before turning towards Jake. “About my friend, about Jake… Will he really be okay? I heard you saying that it was a curse…”

“Oh, yes, he’ll be okay, you don’t have to worry about him. We’ll make a potion to cure him, and try to stop the curse from spreading to other students.”

“Should you really be telling me that the curse can possibly spread to other students?”

“*chuckle* I’m pretty sure Mr. Taylor, that at this point, there’s no student who doesn’t know about the curse that’s afflicting our school.”

“That’s true…”-I nod. “Is there a way I could help? I’m sure Jake won’t like to be in that state for too long…”

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“No, you shouldn’t try to meddle with this, Mr. Taylor, though, I do value your courage and loyalty towards your friend, I’m afraid there’s nothing you could do to stop this curse. You should focus on your classes.”

“…”-I just nodded.

“Now, I would really love to see you turning invisible, and someday, maybe you can show me those other charms and curses you spoke about.”-Dumbledore said.

“Yes, professor.”-I nodded. “Utana Vid.”-I turned invisible the next moment.

“Wonderful! I haven’t known about such a charm before, but I must say, it does have such a particular name.”

“It is indeed a weird language, one I never heard about before, Professor.”

“That, it is. Well, you should probably go to your common room. Have a good night, Mr. Taylor.”-He said before waving his hand to open the door of the infirmary.

“Thanks, professor.”-I nod while walking out of the infirmary, before quickly using the great haste spell to get the hell out of there.

{That was close! I hope he doesn’t think I’m insane or something!}-I thought while running towards the common room.

***

Inside the empty infirmary, Dumbledore looked at the open door with a deep-thinking look on his eyes.

“A surprise indeed… Not just able to turn invisible as he please, but great with occlumency too. I’m sure, that should I try to pry harder, he would have noticed.”-The old man murmured to himself before turning to look at the petrified student.

“For the moments… I won’t make any conclusions… I do hope that his personality isn’t just a fake. At least, if what I could gather from Minerva’s visit to his orphanage, he won’t be that much of a trouble-maker…”-Dumbledore said before walking out of the infirmary, towards his office.

***

Once I got back to the common room, I spoke with both William and Roger about what happened with Jake, they were both really sad and terrified, but I tried to calm them down saying that the professors would help Jake go back to normal. After that, we waited for our Astronomy class, which was a real pain… And went back to sleep.

During the rest of the week, I either trained, talked to my friends, including Lisandra, and went to the infirmary to visit Jake along with William and Roger.

I advanced in my project of making runes levitate around me, and now I could actually have one rune constantly levitate around me with little effort, but I still had to focus on the spell and could do little more than walk, so it wasn’t as practical as I wanted it to be for the moments.

During the next week, I kept practicing, and while Roger and William were down for what happened with Jake, and were actually worried that the curse could happen to them too, I was pondering on a decision.

To fight Tulip.

At this point, I’ve already saved the Expelliarmus charm in my spellbook, and a lot of the most basic spells can be used without sound, so it wouldn’t be impossible for me to beat her, she may be an upperclassman, but it’s not like Hogwarts teaches its students how to actually duel, so her experience shouldn’t be that high with fighting.

{Well. I guess I’ll have to do this if I want to know more about these freaking curses.}-I thought to myself while walking towards Tulip Karasu who was currently in the backyard, sitting with a friend and chatting.

“Um… Hello.”-I said to her.

“Uh? If it isn’t the little and adventurous freshman, what are you doing here?”-She answered.

“May we talk? It’s about what you told me last time…”-I ask her.

“Huh? Oh! About that? Sorry… But I wasn’t really serious about it… I was just messing with you a little.”-She gave an awkward smile. “I didn’t think you would actually try to do it.”

“…”-I looked at her.

{Fuck.}

“Then, could you tell me whatever you know?”

“Hey, Tulip, I’ll go talk to Ben for a bit…”-Her friend suddenly stood up and went away.

“Right, I’ll be there in a moment.”-Tulip answered.

“So… Can you tell me?”-I ask her again.

“Um… Listen… The thing is, I think you should better focus on your studies… The thing about the curses is quite dangerous… It’s not something some first-year should meddle into… Let the teachers take care of it…”

“Didn’t you tell me that it was you and your friends who stopped the past curses?”-I lifted my eyebrow, unconsciously getting slightly angry at not getting an answer.

“I know that I said that, but if I’m being honest, we all just helped a little bit during the investigation and solving… I wasn’t one directly involved in the solving of the curses, okay?”-She said with an apologetic smile.

“Then? Who was it?”

“Look…”-She stood up. “I think we better stop here. I’m not going to say anything more, you should just go back to your friends and keep focusing on your studies.”-She said, trying to turn away.

“Then. Duel me.”-I said. “If you win, I’ll stop trying to solve this problem. If I win, you tell me who I should look for.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not going to duel against a first-year.”-She frowned at me. “You better go play with your friends.”

“Sadly, one-”

“Mr. Taylor?”-McGonagall came to us, interrupting me. “I need you to come with me, Professor Dumbledore is waiting for you at his office.”-She said before looking at Tulip. “Your chat with Miss Karasu can wait.”

“*sigh…* Okay, Professor…”-I nod at McGonagall.

“Well, follow me then, please.”-She said while walking inside the castle.

I stopped for a moment to look at Tulip but quickly left behind Professor McGonagall.

{There must be a way for me to actually destroy the curse…}-I thought, getting more worried about my petrified friend.

“Mr. Taylor?”-McGonagall’s call suddenly woke me up.

“Huh? Yes?”

“I was informed by Professor Dumbledore, that you should bring your book too, though, I don’t know what he was referring to. So, it’s there a need for you to look for something?”

“Ah… Yes, I’ll have to go quickly to my room and get it…”-I said

“It’s okay, I’ll wait for you here. But please be quick, I have some things to do.”

“Okay, Professor.”-I said while running towards my common room’s direction.

Of course, I didn’t have to go all the way, as I just could summon the book out of my inventory. So, I went to the nearest restroom to take the book out, waited for like fifteen minutes, and then went back to Professor McGonagall.

After that, she led me to Professor Dumbledore’s office, letting me into the office using the weird entrance that needed a password to open.

I was standing right in front of the door to Dumbledore’s office.

{I guess everything’s decided right now. Oh well, what’s the worst that could happen?}-I shrugged before knocking on the door.

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