Chapter 88: Chapter-88: Aftermath
When Ronan saw Dumbledore sitting on the adjacent bed, he lost his composure for a second. His mind short-circuited for a bit, not knowing what he was supposed to do. He was sure that the old man had been sitting there for some time, so he knew he used the Time Turner, which meant he was in a lot of trouble.
Wait… Dont panic Ronan. He knows that you used the Time Turner. He doesn't know why, you could just say that you used it to release Sirius. That is all. There is nothing wrong with that, after all, you have proved that the man was innocent.
"How are you feeling Mr. Johanson?" Dumbledore asked with a familiar cozy smile.
"I am feeling fine sir," he said. "When did you come here? I didnt…"
"See me here?" Dumbledore completed his sentence, "I am not the kind of wizard that needs an invisibility cloak to hide my presence, my dear boy,"
He gulped some saliva, he should have checked who was in the infirmary on the map before coming in. "So…" he said with uncertainty, "What can I do for you?"
"It is very strange…" Dumbledore said while leaning a little back, "The security spells that you have put up in your club on Sirius cage were so iron-clad, that Rufus Scrimgeour himself was impressed by what he saw... I am sure you heard that,"
Ronan smiled, but inwardly he was panicking. This fucker knew that I was standing outside the club. This fucker knew!
Then the old man added, "Yet somehow Sirius…" Ronan held his breath, "An innocent man was able to get out of there, without a wand."
Wait… I just released the man. How does he know.. Maybe he assumed I would have let the Sirius go, considering I am a good man. And that man was innocent.
"That is indeed strange," Ronan quickly added, "But you know how it is, professor… Dark wizards tend to have mysterious ways to bypass any security measures that you throw at them,"
"That is true," Dumbledore said. Then the old man took out two burned cylinders from his pocket and showed it to him, "Remember them?"
Ronan recognized them, "Yes… These are the grenades that Tonks threw at us, last night,"
"Grenades? What are those?"
"Oh," Ronan realized that the grenade was supposed to be a muggle item, so not everyone would be able to recognize what it was, "Professor this is a muggle weapon. More specifically it is a flash-bang grenade, when burst, it creates such a loud noise and light that it temporarily blinds and deafens its victim,"
"Interesting," the old man mumbled, "And how do you know what this grenade does?"
"Well video games," he said simply, "You can ask any muggle student who had played a video game or two, and they would recognize this thing for you."
"Do you think that this was made by a muggle or a wizard?"
He took over the cylinder. He looked tossed it in his hands, and said, "I can smell Hupic Powder on its remains. It is a magical ingredient used for Magic Fireworks," he tossed the cylinder around some more and then asked, "Was this it? Did you by chance find anything else? Like a pin and a stopper?"
Dumbledore shook his head, "Why do you ask?"
"Well…" Ronan came out clean, "The grenades that I have seen so far in my life are on television or in video games. And in those… Before a grenade would only explode when would have pulled its pin out. Which in turn loosens up the cap. And then one throws the grenade. But I dont remember Tonks pulling any pins out." To further confuse the old man, he further added, "Also.. There might be a chance that this might be a muggle creation. I mean.. For a full-pledged wizard, it would be a cakewalk to get into any muggle facility and steal these things,"
"That is true," Dumbledore said, "But not many wizards know about these things of muggle things."
"True," Ronan said, "Most of the wizards have the attitude which compels them to completely ignore the muggle things as useless,"
"What about you? What do you think about muggle artifacts?"
"Some are plainly useless for wizards like us," he said, "But there are some, that could be useless for our society,"
Dumbledore nodded, "I am glad to hear that," he then added, "I am happy to see that your ideals have not changed," with that the old man stood up and left the infirmary…
***
The whole school was in uproar the next day. The places where the fake duel between future and past Ronan had taken place, left many burns and holes in the castle. And students realized it soon, something must have happened.
Students assumed that this was related to Sirius Black. But none of them had any information about what transpired that day. Teachers were not helpful either, they didnt give any information out, but someone blurbed out Ronan's name and how he was in the hospital. And it was then, that the hell broke loose. Any person who he had talked to known for the past 3 years came to visit him. Every single one of his visitors had one purpose, and that was to know what happened that night.
The worst part was that he was not allowed to go from the infirmary, because Madame Promfrey wanted to make sure that he was not under Imperius Curse. As far as Longbottom and his group were concerned, he told everything the day he got released. He sent them a message, in which he wanted to meet all of them in the Library. And there he told them everything while showing them the Marauder's Map.
"I dont know why George and Fred never showed me the map," Ron complained, "I am their brother aren't I?"
"I dont know what to say," Ronan said.
Harry then butted in, out of nowhere"You lied to me," he said. "Why?" he asked in emotionless voice.
Instead of making up a lie, he just told the truth, "Because you are weak, Potter." Harry looked up, staring straight into his eyes, "Yes. You all are. Dont take it the wrong way, but I was dealing with criminals that could are still dangerous even when they didnt have a wand. And I was…" before he could complete his sentence, Harry walked away.
"Harry!" Longbottom ran after him, while Ron and Hermione stayed behind.
Looking at them, he simply sighed and said, "Go after him." And they both ran after them.
Ronan believed that it was dealing with Longbottom and his gang, which was difficult. But he was corrected when his friends started bothering him, because of which he told them everything that had transpired while keeping some things for himself.
With the courtesy of Pancy, soon every student in the school came to know that he kept Sirius Black locked in his club room before the man finally fled. And with this rumor, his reputation reached such a level, that everyone started fearing him. He could sense fear in them with his Legilimency. Which worked in his favor, as he didnt have to deal with a pompous brat like Malfoy anymore. And he could focus on things that, really mattered to him. Like his French lesson.
He started showing real command over the language as the days passed by. And from what it seems, he would be able to read French before this term is over…
It was not a normal cold afternoon in the common room of Slytherin common room. Ronan along with his friends was sitting beside the fireplace, while they were busy preparing for their exams, he was not at all worried about OWLs. He was sitting and reading about Apparation. He had specifically asked Juliana to teach him Apparation this holiday and is interested in reading everything that he could find about Apparation.
According to Apparation for Dummies, the art of Apparation is strongly dependent on the user's mind. If the user would have a clear image of where they want to go, and they dont have any fear in them, Apparating becomes easier. It is the doubt or fear, that creates disturbance and causes Splinching, which is the separation of random body parts while Apparating.
"This is stupid," he mumbled. Daphne who was sitting beside him, looked up from his book. "What happened?"
"This book is just useless," he said.
"Why?"
"Well.." He turned towards her, "According to the book.. A wizard only needs to think about the place where they wants to get. Nothing else."
"How is that bad?" she asked.
"Well… I dont think is sufficient for students to apparate. There must be a catch. Because believe me, I have dreamed of visiting a lot of places in the past… And I have never apparated."
"No.." She said, "But you can apparate to only places that you have been to."
"That is nonsense…" he said.
Daphne then put her hand on his shoulder, "Ronan… Dont think much about it. We will learn Apparation….." She was telling him something, but he was not listening. He didnt care. All he could think about at that moment in time was that the book was wrong.
He started thinking about the night when he let Sirius go. He remembered the cold breeze that he felt while flying over the Lake, and how the cold breeze was touching his face that night. Although it was a very cold night, he loved the weather of that night.
It was then he started thinking about what he had read Zowu, those beasts have the powerful ability to apparate, bypassing any DisApparation methods. He still remembers what he had read about wizards with special cores in their wands, in rare cases they inherit the ability of a beast whose core is in their wands.
I wonder whether I have the ability like Zowu.
For fun's sake, he started concentrating on the particular part of the journey of that night, when he was just above the lake. He concentrated hard, trying to remember the feeling.
It was then he felt that something had grabbed him by his belly button and started dragging him through a very narrow pipe. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in the air, below him was the great Lake.
"AH!" he yelled, trying to figure out what was happening. It was another yell that caught his attention, he looked to his right, and there was Daphne screaming as they were plunging towards the Lake…
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