Chapter 81: "Evil Stephen?"
"Evil Stephen?"
Today, the twins felt like they could go to bed early, so they headed straight to their shared room with Lee Jordan.
"Is the boss coming after all?" Jordan asked as he walked alongside the twins.
"He should've been here a while ago," Fred replied, walking with boredom.
"Maybe he's already in the room," George said, making the others pick up the pace.
"Maybe we can play something before bed," Jordan said happily, intrigued by the twins' previous gaming adventure, which he had overheard.
This time, he wanted to be part of it and not regret missing out, especially after hearing about the epic battles they had.
When they entered the room, they saw Stephen busy drawing a circle with intricate patterns and runes on the floor. For some reason, he had a serious expression and a manic grin, making the three of them stop in surprise.
"B-boss, you're back. What are you doing?" Jordan asked, feeling a bit intimidated by Stephen's manic appearance.
"Oh, guys, you're here. I'm engraving a magic circle," Stephen replied with a smile that only reached his lips but not his eyes.
"I-I see. What's the circle for?" Fred asked, feeling uneasy about Stephen's demeanor.
"This? To destroy the world," Stephen said nonchalantly, then ignored them and continued drawing the circle.
"WHAT?!" the three of them exclaimed, thinking they had misheard.
"To destroy the world," Stephen repeated as he finished tracing the circle. "Done. Hand me the vial by your feet," he said, standing up.
Hearing that, the three trembled slightly until Jordan grabbed the vial containing a bright white liquid and clutched it tightly.
"No, boss. Can we talk about this?" Jordan asked, beginning to tremble under Stephen's gaze.
"Of course, just give me the vial," Stephen said with a friendly smile that sent shivers down their spines.
"Crap, he's lost it. Fred, grab him!" George shouted as he lunged at Stephen.
Stephen dodged by stepping aside.
Fred, seeing this, also lunged at Stephen but was stopped by a blow to the chest that nearly knocked the soul out of his body.
"Stop joking around, guys. I just need to destroy the world and start over," Stephen said.
"Do you realize how insane that sounds, boss?" Jordan said while running to a corner of the room.
"No, no. It makes perfect sense. To create, you must first destroy, so it works in reverse," Stephen said, dodging George's attack as he spoke.
"It still sounds crazy," Fred said, getting back up and forming a united front with his brother against Stephen.
Meanwhile, Jordan started screaming for help.
"HELP! THE BOSS HAS GONE EVIL!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, attracting all the Gryffindors in the common room.
At that moment, Harry had just arrived, feeling somewhat down, when he heard the commotion and quickly rushed upstairs, accompanied by Ron and Hermione.
"What happened?" Harry asked as he entered and saw the mess in the room, only to be greeted by a flying vial.
"Harry, protect the vial! The boss wants to destroy the world!" Jordan yelled, tossing the vial to Harry before Stephen could grab it.
"WHAT?!" the Golden Trio and several students who had entered after hearing the noise shouted.
Several female students rushed to help restrain Stephen, only to be effortlessly knocked down.
Fortunately, Stephen was only using his fists; otherwise, they would have been more seriously injured.
"HAHAHA! You're a thousand years too early to defeat me!" Stephen shouted like a final boss, reaching Harry, who, acting on instinct, tossed the vial to Ron.
Feeling Stephen's predatory gaze, Ron began to panic and threw the vial randomly while everyone screamed, "Someone, catch it!"
Meanwhile, the others got back up to fight Stephen and stop his plan, only to be defeated once again.
Suddenly, a female voice spoke, stopping everyone for a moment.
"What are you all doing?" Wanda asked, having arrived at some point, drawn by the noise. In her hands, she held the glowing vial.
"Wanda, you have to stop Stephen! He's lost it and wants to destroy the world!" Harry shouted from where he lay on the floor.
Hearing this, Wanda surveyed the entire room, analyzing the magic circle and the vial in her hands.
"Hmm?" she muttered, quickly processing the situation, and then a smile appeared on her face.
Seeing that smile—eerily similar to the one of the person who had just defeated them—everyone had a bad feeling.
"I see what's going on," Wanda said, as everyone's expressions turned to shock, realizing what she was about to do.
Wanda raised the vial above her head, aiming at the floor.
"Wait—!" Harry tried to shout, but it was too late. Wanda smashed the vial right at the center of the magic circle, leaving everyone stunned.
That was all they could do before a brilliant light emerged from the center of the now-activated circle, engulfing everyone present and then expanding throughout Hogwarts.
For a few seconds, they were all blinded by a white light, forcing them to cover their eyes for protection.
A few moments later, all those caught in the magic circle's activation realized they didn't feel anything unusual, so they opened their eyes to find that everything remained the same.
"What happened?" Jordan asked, looking at his hands and realizing he was still alive.
"Did it fail?" Ron asked Harry, who had no idea how to respond.
Meanwhile, Wanda interrupted them with her laughter.
"HAHAHAHA!" Wanda laughed hysterically, clutching her stomach from laughing so hard.
"Tsk. You figured it out too fast," Stephen said, also chuckling and grumbling at Wanda.
"What was that?" Hermione asked, recovering before the others, as everything had seemed strange to her from the moment she arrived.
After all, Stephen, even though he had beaten everyone up, had obviously not put in any effort.
"Hahaha! Wait... hahaha! Wait, my stomach hurts! Hahaha!" Wanda said as she tried to explain but couldn't stop laughing.
Stephen rolled his eyes at his overly dramatic sister and explained:
"It's a purification glyph. It's meant to remove Hogwarts' curses," Stephen explained as he cleaned himself up and fixed his clothes after the big fight… or rather, the beating he had delivered.
Everyone quickly understood as they sat on the floor, muttering mild insults at Stephen since they were exhausted and sore.
"Idiot boss."
"Damn it, again."
"Baldy."
"No wonder he's called the Dark Prince."
"Even the twins can't compete with his pranks."
"Wanda too."
"Maybe they should hand their throne over to the troublemaker twins."
"As I said, you all need more training. It's time to level up for the next stages," Stephen said with a fierce grin.
Hearing that, everyone suddenly regained their energy, stood up quickly, and ran away.
"Well, boss, since everything's fine, we're leaving."
"Bye, boss. Nice prank."
"I need to call my grandma every night at 9."
"It's 7."
They all said before running off without looking back.
"You really fooled us, boss. We thought you had gone crazy," the twins said, laughing at the well-executed prank.
"That was too much for a joke!" Jordan said angrily.
"Haha, sorry. I saw an opportunity and took it," Stephen said apologetically. He had seen how excited they were and just couldn't resist.
Meanwhile, Wanda, who had been lying on the floor and had finally caught her breath, sat up.
"Too bad it was a little late," Wanda said as she sat down.
Hearing that, Harry, Ron, and Hermione nodded, looking somewhat sad.
"Lupin got fired?" Stephen asked, knowing what they were talking about.
"Yeah. They found out he was a werewolf," Ron said, who didn't think it was that bad to fire someone who could accidentally infect them.
"It was Snape's doing," Harry said, a bit angry. "Can we help him?" he asked Stephen again.
"I don't think it's necessary," Stephen replied calmly as he cleaned up the mess with a spell.
"Remember that your godfather is his best friend and now a free man. Not to mention, he's part of an old and wealthy wizarding family," Wanda added, finishing Stephen's thought.
"I see," Harry said, thinking about it, his sadness fading.
"Even so, he was the best Defense professor we've had so far," Hermione said, feeling conflicted.
"Don't worry. Now that the curse is gone, we'll finally have a proper permanent teacher," Stephen said with a smile.
After that conversation, everyone returned to their rooms. Before his siblings left, Stephen told them:
"Natasha told me she found our siblings," Stephen said, surprising Wanda and Harry, as well as the twins, who were turning on the console to play.
"Our siblings? There's more than one?" Wanda asked excitedly.
"You have more siblings, boss?" Fred asked, curious.
"Yeah, let's just say three more," Stephen replied, sounding tired.
"Wow. How come we never knew about that?" George asked while counting the Flamel siblings on his fingers.
"Let's just say we were separated at birth," Stephen answered without going into details.
"So that makes five… No, six, counting Harry," George said.
"They're almost catching up to us," Fred added with a grin.
"Sigh Yeah," Stephen said wearily, gesturing for them to continue with their night. Then, he turned around and lay down.
Though, of course, he wouldn't get much rest, as McGonagall quickly arrived to ask about the light that had illuminated the entire school, forcing Stephen to explain everything. Then, he had to explain it again to the headmaster, who sincerely thanked him and let him return to bed.
The days went by as classes continued.
Stephen and Wanda once again tied for first place in grades, while Harry had a great year in Quidditch, winning the cup.
Gryffindor also won the House Cup again, thanks to capturing an internationally wanted criminal and clearing an innocent person's name.
Additionally, by cleansing the school of dark magic, several hallways became usable again.
Stephen was even offered his prefect badge back, but he declined, saying he wouldn't be able to have fun with so many responsibilities. McGonagall briefly considered forcing it on him, but knowing it would backfire, she let it go.
With the end of the school year approaching, Stephen, Wanda, and Harry were excited to meet their new siblings, who had already moved into the Flamel house with Natasha.
For some reason, Natasha still hadn't told them who they were.
By the way, Grandma Perenelle was absolutely overjoyed to have so many grandchildren and couldn't be happier about their expanding family.
So, as soon as classes ended, Wanda, Stephen, and Harry were eager to return home and meet their new siblings.
The only thing Natasha told them was the surname these two had taken from their adoptive father—none other than Grindelwald—something that greatly surprised Stephen.
Meanwhile, Wanda had no idea who Grindelwald was, and Harry felt like he had heard the name before but couldn't remember where.
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