"We are lucky that HE doesn't know about it, huh?" I murmured, sitting on my broom as we headed towards the school the next day.
"I think Dumbledore thinks the same thing." Quincy agreed, thinking out loudly, "But it is also a good thing. Dumbledore clearly wants it; to get it, he needs to deal with HIM first. Which also means there will be a showdown between them, for sure."
"That will be the best moment for us to strike. But for that, we need to get stronger. The problem is that he has decades of experience ahead of us."
"We just need to work together—not like the pair that Grindelwald mentioned, but as a team. The meaning was simple: working together is better than working alone."
She was right, and... we were not really alone. Not after we had written into the notebook and our old schoolmates had replied to us. Of course, we couldn't tell without a shadow of a doubt whether it was legit. Who knows if one of theirs ended up with the Order or with a Death Eater... But I had hope. Maybe they weren't lying. They may have been there, still on our side, or even more so after what happened.
"Will you look for Dimitris?" She asked as we touched down because tonight, we would try to go back and visit the shadow of Grindelwald. We didn't plan to take the cask away yet, but we wanted to investigate the cellar more and look for possible clues that would help us solve the riddle.
"Well, it was he who discovered it... And he is being bullied, so I don't think he would rat us out to anyone."
"..." I knew that look she gave, as she was also picked on in our first year, but she never let it bother her. Luckily, we stemmed it out quickly, and by the end of our third year, we turned it around completely. Dimitiris... I wasn't so sure he had such luck, so helping him wouldn't be too bad of a choice. Just as we said, making friends is always beneficial. "Um, let's go and look for him before class; we still have time!"
"Sure!"
First, we asked around which class he was in, and after we entered and asked for him, we only got the response that nobody had seen him yet. Huh... Weird. When I asked with a bit more force, holding my wand and playing around with it, they still swore that nobody had seen the 'dork' since yesterday. While we left without any success, I was quickly reminded of how the others looked at him from our class. Going to ask them if they did anything to him would be worse for Dimitris because it could quickly ramp up the bullying he was receiving... But, if we can't find him, I see no other options.
"Let's go." I nudged Quincy, and by now, we were sure we would miss the class, but none of us cared about it anymore.
First, I led her down to the same place where the entrance to the hidden cellar was, but he was not there. I double-checked the giant cauldron to be sure, and it was empty. We even used some dispelling spells to make sure what we were seeing was not an illusion.
"Who would have used it?" Quincy asked, knocking at the sides of the giant pot, "This thing is horrible! It's quality... Bah, this is an insult to potion makers!"
"Maybe it was a giant's?"
"Hm... Perhaps... But I don't know if they know how to cook a meal, not to mention making potions. Brr, seeing this is making me icky! Let's go!"
"You are becoming a true master, hm?" I asked while smiling, hugging her waist, and making her blush. It was good. I was not interested in making potions, yet they were essential for any mage. I would trust anything Quincy makes and drink it, no matter if she presented me with the nastiest-smelling, foul swamp water or with something that tasted like liquid death.
"That is my goal!" She replied with a proud grin while we walked up from the cellar.
Now, I was a bit stumped. Dimitris, for sure, was bullied once again. The question was, how hard it happened this time? Or where? After a bit of thinking, I decided to go and look for Grindelwald. As a teacher, he ought to know more. When we caught him, he was about to hold his next lesson, and after hearing who we were looking for, he was ready to say something, but I interrupted him.
"I don't need that kind of help. I just want to know where he lives. We will check and find him ourselves." I still remember what he said to us back in Nurmengard. That he would help us but won't solve our problems.
"I was going to say that I will look into it, but... I am glad you are confident." He added with a faint smile, using his wand to summon the students' logbook, telling us that Dimitris was one of the students with the rare privilege of living in the school's dorms. Huh. I did not expect that. "Fourth floor, B-Wing, Room 101. Here, you will need this to access it because it's magically warded against normal students." He added, tapping the top of our heads with his wand, and I felt a strange energy enveloping my body. "You have an hour before it dissipates. Don't linger afterward, or the protective spells will begin punishing you with Crucio."
"Thanks!" we said simultaneously before rushing off, heading straight to the top. We were only stopped by an older student, close to being 17 or 18, right at the entrance to the B-Wing.
"What are you doing here? This place is off-limits to regular students!"
"Maybe, but we have permission to come." Quincy answered before I could, raising her hand, showing the slight glow around it, clearly indicating Grindelwald's magic.
"No, you don't; your faces are new. Every time, some idiots come here, thinking they can sneak in. Get lost!"
"We are not here to argue." I joined, trying to look calm, "If we can't go in, so be it, but at least you could help us out then to go and call Dimitris over."
"I've never heard of him. Now get lost!" He repeated, unimpressed, wanting to wave us away.
"You are lying." We said in sync, surprising him and narrowing his eyes to the size of a pinhead.
"You have the gall to accuse me, newcomers? Maybe I should teach you a lesson... what, inbreeding made you all stupid?"
"Not really, but you were definitely dropped on your head." Quincy added with a loud scoff, crossing her arms, not even going for her wand, "If you won't call him out and won't let us in, then we will WALK in. Through YOU. Choose."
"Hah! As if you could!"
The way he laughed, I could feel that he was angry—oh, so furious—I could feel it. But he made a fatal mistake: He raised his wand towards Quincy. By the time his hand was halfway up, I had already cast my own spell, knocking his wand out from between his fingers and pressing the tip of mine against his neck.
"Don't you ever think about using magic against her... My next spell will kill you, and not in a kind way. I will set your body on fire and see you melt into the ground. Understood?"
"You... don't... have-" He wanted to argue something, but then the cruciatus curse made him shut up as he fell to the ground, writhing in agony.
"Now..." I continued, stopping the spell and looking down at him. Are you going to let us in?"
"...Y... Ye... Yes..." He said, finding it hard to open his mouth with his muscles still spasming uncontrollably, afraid that I would do it once again.
"Good. Now, wriggle aside and let us through. You can go and summon those who made you stand guard here; we don't care. You know what? Gather your feeble strength and do it! It would be even better. Now shoo, go, call your masters!"
With that, we both walked past him while Quincy made sure to step on his wand, breaking it into two. We were no longer bothering with the man and searched for Dimitris's room, finding it after a minute or so. Knocking on it had no result, and we had to use the unlocking spell in multiple succession to finally open his door.
"Geez... they got you good, huh?" I exclaimed with a sigh, seeing Dimitris sitting on his bed, awoken by our noise. His face looked as if a complete beehive had gotten to him. It had to be some kind of curse because I couldn't see his eyes, thanks to how bloated and lumpy his head had become. He wanted to answer with something, but he could barely make a word, and breathing was already a difficulty in itself.
"Conrad?" Quincy whispered, and I heard how angry she was. "I will whip up something for it. Can you stand guard at the door so nobody comes in and troubles me why I brew an antidote?"
"Sure thing." I nodded, kissing her cheeks, not bothering to ask why she didn't use my alias this time. "Stay put, Dimitris, okay? She will turn you back to normal in a jiffy!"
With that, I walked back out, closing the door behind me, wand in hand, smiling. The hour was ticking; I just hoped the guys coming for me would entertain me long enough.
Corty No more chapters this week; sorry about it, but I have fallen sick. This was written ahead and so I just needed to edit, but I had no energy to write anything. Sorry...
"We are lucky that HE doesn't know about it, huh?" I murmured, sitting on my broom as we headed towards the school the next day.
"I think Dumbledore thinks the same thing." Quincy agreed, thinking out loudly, "But it is also a good thing. Dumbledore clearly wants it; to get it, he needs to deal with HIM first. Which also means there will be a showdown between them, for sure."
"That will be the best moment for us to strike. But for that, we need to get stronger. The problem is that he has decades of experience ahead of us."
"We just need to work together—not like the pair that Grindelwald mentioned, but as a team. The meaning was simple: working together is better than working alone."
She was right, and... we were not really alone. Not after we had written into the notebook and our old schoolmates had replied to us. Of course, we couldn't tell without a shadow of a doubt whether it was legit. Who knows if one of theirs ended up with the Order or with a Death Eater... But I had hope. Maybe they weren't lying. They may have been there, still on our side, or even more so after what happened.
"Will you look for Dimitris?" She asked as we touched down because tonight, we would try to go back and visit the shadow of Grindelwald. We didn't plan to take the cask away yet, but we wanted to investigate the cellar more and look for possible clues that would help us solve the riddle.
"Well, it was he who discovered it... And he is being bullied, so I don't think he would rat us out to anyone."
"..." I knew that look she gave, as she was also picked on in our first year, but she never let it bother her. Luckily, we stemmed it out quickly, and by the end of our third year, we turned it around completely. Dimitiris... I wasn't so sure he had such luck, so helping him wouldn't be too bad of a choice. Just as we said, making friends is always beneficial. "Um, let's go and look for him before class; we still have time!"
"Sure!"
First, we asked around which class he was in, and after we entered and asked for him, we only got the response that nobody had seen him yet. Huh... Weird. When I asked with a bit more force, holding my wand and playing around with it, they still swore that nobody had seen the 'dork' since yesterday. While we left without any success, I was quickly reminded of how the others looked at him from our class. Going to ask them if they did anything to him would be worse for Dimitris because it could quickly ramp up the bullying he was receiving... But, if we can't find him, I see no other options.
"Let's go." I nudged Quincy, and by now, we were sure we would miss the class, but none of us cared about it anymore.
First, I led her down to the same place where the entrance to the hidden cellar was, but he was not there. I double-checked the giant cauldron to be sure, and it was empty. We even used some dispelling spells to make sure what we were seeing was not an illusion.
"Who would have used it?" Quincy asked, knocking at the sides of the giant pot, "This thing is horrible! It's quality... Bah, this is an insult to potion makers!"
"Maybe it was a giant's?"
"Hm... Perhaps... But I don't know if they know how to cook a meal, not to mention making potions. Brr, seeing this is making me icky! Let's go!"
"You are becoming a true master, hm?" I asked while smiling, hugging her waist, and making her blush. It was good. I was not interested in making potions, yet they were essential for any mage. I would trust anything Quincy makes and drink it, no matter if she presented me with the nastiest-smelling, foul swamp water or with something that tasted like liquid death.
"That is my goal!" She replied with a proud grin while we walked up from the cellar.
Now, I was a bit stumped. Dimitris, for sure, was bullied once again. The question was, how hard it happened this time? Or where? After a bit of thinking, I decided to go and look for Grindelwald. As a teacher, he ought to know more. When we caught him, he was about to hold his next lesson, and after hearing who we were looking for, he was ready to say something, but I interrupted him.
"I don't need that kind of help. I just want to know where he lives. We will check and find him ourselves." I still remember what he said to us back in Nurmengard. That he would help us but won't solve our problems.
"I was going to say that I will look into it, but... I am glad you are confident." He added with a faint smile, using his wand to summon the students' logbook, telling us that Dimitris was one of the students with the rare privilege of living in the school's dorms. Huh. I did not expect that. "Fourth floor, B-Wing, Room 101. Here, you will need this to access it because it's magically warded against normal students." He added, tapping the top of our heads with his wand, and I felt a strange energy enveloping my body. "You have an hour before it dissipates. Don't linger afterward, or the protective spells will begin punishing you with Crucio."
"Thanks!" we said simultaneously before rushing off, heading straight to the top. We were only stopped by an older student, close to being 17 or 18, right at the entrance to the B-Wing.
"What are you doing here? This place is off-limits to regular students!"
"Maybe, but we have permission to come." Quincy answered before I could, raising her hand, showing the slight glow around it, clearly indicating Grindelwald's magic.
"No, you don't; your faces are new. Every time, some idiots come here, thinking they can sneak in. Get lost!"
"We are not here to argue." I joined, trying to look calm, "If we can't go in, so be it, but at least you could help us out then to go and call Dimitris over."
"I've never heard of him. Now get lost!" He repeated, unimpressed, wanting to wave us away.
"You are lying." We said in sync, surprising him and narrowing his eyes to the size of a pinhead.
"You have the gall to accuse me, newcomers? Maybe I should teach you a lesson... what, inbreeding made you all stupid?"
"Not really, but you were definitely dropped on your head." Quincy added with a loud scoff, crossing her arms, not even going for her wand, "If you won't call him out and won't let us in, then we will WALK in. Through YOU. Choose."
"Hah! As if you could!"
The way he laughed, I could feel that he was angry—oh, so furious—I could feel it. But he made a fatal mistake: He raised his wand towards Quincy. By the time his hand was halfway up, I had already cast my own spell, knocking his wand out from between his fingers and pressing the tip of mine against his neck.
"Don't you ever think about using magic against her... My next spell will kill you, and not in a kind way. I will set your body on fire and see you melt into the ground. Understood?"
"You... don't... have-" He wanted to argue something, but then the cruciatus curse made him shut up as he fell to the ground, writhing in agony.
"Now..." I continued, stopping the spell and looking down at him. Are you going to let us in?"
"...Y... Ye... Yes..." He said, finding it hard to open his mouth with his muscles still spasming uncontrollably, afraid that I would do it once again.
"Good. Now, wriggle aside and let us through. You can go and summon those who made you stand guard here; we don't care. You know what? Gather your feeble strength and do it! It would be even better. Now shoo, go, call your masters!"
With that, we both walked past him while Quincy made sure to step on his wand, breaking it into two. We were no longer bothering with the man and searched for Dimitris's room, finding it after a minute or so. Knocking on it had no result, and we had to use the unlocking spell in multiple succession to finally open his door.
"Geez... they got you good, huh?" I exclaimed with a sigh, seeing Dimitris sitting on his bed, awoken by our noise. His face looked as if a complete beehive had gotten to him. It had to be some kind of curse because I couldn't see his eyes, thanks to how bloated and lumpy his head had become. He wanted to answer with something, but he could barely make a word, and breathing was already a difficulty in itself.
"Conrad?" Quincy whispered, and I heard how angry she was. "I will whip up something for it. Can you stand guard at the door so nobody comes in and troubles me why I brew an antidote?"
"Sure thing." I nodded, kissing her cheeks, not bothering to ask why she didn't use my alias this time. "Stay put, Dimitris, okay? She will turn you back to normal in a jiffy!"
With that, I walked back out, closing the door behind me, wand in hand, smiling. The hour was ticking; I just hoped the guys coming for me would entertain me long enough.
Corty No more chapters this week; sorry about it, but I have fallen sick. This was written ahead and so I just needed to edit, but I had no energy to write anything. Sorry...
