Hogwarts: Era of Darkness

“How are you feeling?” Quincy asked, visiting me that same night.

“Still a bit weak. But… getting better.” I answered, sitting on my bed, munching on some snacks she brought to the hospital wing. “It is because of the blood loss.”

“Yeah… I bet!” She shivered but then chuckled a little.

“What?”

“You should have heard it… Draco screamed so shrilly we thought it came from our side of the dormitory!” She told me, whispering, afraid someone else was listening in. “If he is pale as default, then he was ghostly white when he found you like that!”

“Now I wish I was awake to see it!” I chuckled and watched Quincy shiver once again.

“It was scary. I thought you were murdered! Tortured and then killed, like how the muggles do it! You know, like savages!”

“Well… I guess it was gruesome.” I mused, imagining it.

“Yeah! Your spell is sinister! Casting and then, later on, bang! Your blood bursts forth from your body?! You created something extremely horrible, you know!” She said scoldingly, looking at me with worried eyes.

“Did you tell it to anyone?” Now it was my turn to lower my voice to that of a whisper.

“Of course not! I am not stupid! But I bet the Headmaster knows about it… he is just playing it down! Plus, now many think it was Draco’s work!”

“Really? Why?”

“Because you are friendly with me.” She added with a barely audible murmur, looking guilty. “And he is not refuting it, so now he is getting a kind of weird recognition of being a brutal and cunning wizard…. Getting away with murder. Well, almost murder.”

“Huh? How did that happen?” I mumbled, my mouth full of cookie crumbs, munching on one happily. It was weird news, sure, but not something that worried me, as both of us knew that was not the case.

“As he was the one finding you, he was examined by the Professors. Even his wand was checked, but its last spells corresponded with those we used in our last charms class! He was cleared soon enough, and it was ruled as an… accident. But the others still say he did it.”

“Huh… well, I won’t refute it either!” I chuckled, gulping down the last bites, “It is the perfect cover, and if he is deep into the lie already, he wouldn’t want to back out of it!”

“Mh… I guess… but, honestly, what really happened?”

“Well… I don’t know if you will believe it or not…”

It took me half an hour to explain everything. My weird dream, my supposed talk with the ancient wizard of yore, and the supposed blood inheritance he left me with as a reward. I should not be surprised that a prize from someone with the moniker ‘The Foul’ was a nasty experience. I was expecting Quincy to doubt me, but she just fell silent, crossing her arms and thinking with closed eyes. I was patient, and while she was going through it in her head, I started my second big velvet cookie.

“That makes sense.” She concluded in the end, shaking her head, rejoining reality.

“It does?” I had to ask because it was making only half-sense for me.

“If everything clicks, then your blood truly had a curse put onto it. Something that prevents it from awakening! To purge it fully, you had to expel it from your body and be refreshed with one that is free of it!”

“I also had a guess like that… but that does not explain why did he ‘bite’ me!”

“Probably to transfer your wish! Didn’t you try to see if there is some new knowledge in your head?”

“...” I tried to think about curses, rituals, whatever came to mind while lying here since awakening, but nothing really happened. I was doing it again, but no… nothing happened. Nothing really popped into my mind, so I shook my head in answer.

“I see… Maybe it needs time? Or a trigger! Something that makes you remember it!”

“Maybe. But it also could be that my spell simply turned out to be a deadly curse, and I had a close-to-death dream while suffering from heavy blood loss.”

“Ugh… well… yes… that is true.” She added, getting a little bit unsure of her theory now.

“I’ll try reading more after I am let back. We can test if something does pop into my head!”

“When will you be out?” She asked, watching me.

“Tomorrow. Then I need to catch up with homework… Professor Umbridge doesn’t really care why I did not finish them… does she?” I smiled warily.

“Yeah… she truly does not…” She grimaced, showing her hand that had the ‘I must pay attention’ carved into it. “She is an old hag, ought to be burnt on a stake.

“Ouch… yeah, I agree… What about the others?”

“I wouldn’t worry about it.” She smiled a little, “The Rat-Man is a creep; he only pays attention to those who flatter him. The rest is invisible as far as he is concerned. Professor Lockhart is acting jovial almost all the time, which makes my stomach turn! He already gave us homework to write an essay about your incident and what caused it… saying he already knows, and those who come close to the truth get rewarded or something! So, I was thinking of turning in one with the idea of Snorcluxes, eating your dreams and thoughts that made you throw up blood.”

“Snor-what?” I laughed, finding her idea hilarious, which made her proud in turn, seeing my reaction.

“Same with the rest of the classes, it is not that bad… Professor Slughorn only asked about you once, and that was it.” She let out a very long and depressed sigh.

“What?”

“Nothing… I just don’t like him.”

“Why? He looks fair and doesn’t bother us, unlike the others! He is not cruel! Just vain.”

“I know; it is just he barely pays attention to any of the others and deliberately only points at me when wanting an answer! As if I was the only student in class! Only my potions get verbal comments about them when they are finished! I am clearly being favorited here!”

“And? Isn’t that good?” I asked, offering a cookie for her, which she took, munching on it with a sulky look. I had the sudden urge to chuckle as she now looked like a chipmunk with puffed-up cheeks.

“No, it is not!” She groaned heavily, “It makes me into a target! The girls already disliked me, and now it gets worse and worse every day! Now even some of the boys joined in because their parents scolded them for not getting into his favors in time!”

“Are you being bullied?” I asked seriously, watching her eyes which made her flinch.

“No… not… really…”

“You are.” I snorted. Damn… she is hiding it well; I never noticed… although… I spent all my time in the library in the past months, so I had no chance of noticing it. Okay, now that is going to change! Quincy is my friend; I won’t let some idiots bully her just like that!

“I can deal with it. I prepared myself when coming to school! So relax, it is nothing bad! They are just… annoying. That is all!” She said hurriedly, watching my angry expression.

“Hmph… We will see about that.”

…
….
……

When I returned to the common room, I was still feeling a bit lightheaded. My steps were floaty, and I felt myself getting exhausted quicker than usual. I was ignoring the gazes aimed at me, acting as if everything was normal and nothing had happened at all. Or at least, that was my plan, but Professor Slughorn called for me right as I was about to sit down.

“Yes, Professor?” I asked, walking back to the entrance where he popped out from nowhere. I was surprised at how nimble he was with that giant belly he carried around all day.

“The Headmaster is calling for you.”

“For me?” The surprise in my voice was genuine. He never showed any interest in me or in what happened to me. I thought he was dealing with it as my spell going badly, and now I was reaping the consequences of my own hubris.

“Yes.” He repeated, and before I could look back to see if Quincy had any clue about this, I was led out.

I was still hearing in my head the hubbub that broke out in the common room when I arrived at the top of the spiral staircase, looking at the greasy-haired Headmaster sitting behind his giant desk. I alone entered, Professor Slughorn only accompanying me to the entrance before leaving with a cautious look.

“Headmaster,” I said respectfully, looking at him warily as he watched me arrive. His eyes remained fixed on me, unblinking, and I could read nothing from his expression. It was like looking into the stare of a Dementor, if I want to be honest… It was most unpleasant.

“Tell me all about the spell you made. Don’t leave out anything.”

He was not asking… he was ordering me. Well… somehow, I don’t know if I want to share everything with him… but I also had a feeling I could not lie to him. Would he even believe me? Probably… not… This is not good.

“My patience is running out, Mr. Anguine.” He warned me, taking my silence as some kind of defiance. Well… here goes nothing!

I told him everything… and lied. I described my spell, modified some things on the fly, and told him what Quincy theorized at first… that it backfired and blew out my blood while I went to sleep. When finished, I waited, trying to look calm, but I was fidgeting and feeling extremely nervous under my robe. I was lying to the Headmaster, a fully-fledged Death Eater and someone who, if he kills me, my Father could do nothing but accept the fact and do nothing.

“I see…” He said, leaning back in his chair, slowly blinking his black eyes before waving a hand. “You can leave.”

“...” I opened my mouth to say something but, in the end, only nodded and left as fast as I could.

Glancing back before the door closed, I saw him writing something… a letter, maybe? Did he know I was lying? The probability is extremely high. I am not a fool; he is the Headmaster, after all! If anyone could detect a lie, it was him, and I was fully prepared to receive some kind of punishment before being forced to tell the truth… yet that did not happen. I was let go… Honestly… I was feeling much more nervous now than before. What did this mean? What was going on…?