Kapitel 48: Year Two - Chapter Twenty-Three

It came as a surprise. Honestly, it seriously came as a surprise. The exams were done, the end of the year feast happened, and on that day, as I sat together with the others ready to eat my final meal at Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore stood up and asked for the whole room to be silent.

"This year," he said. "Hogwarts was spared a terrifying fate. Early in the year the Chamber of Secrets was opened, and the monster of Salazar Slytherin broke free," he looked at the students, who murmured amidst themselves. "It was luck that the first victim turned out to be petrified, and not killed. However it was not luck that ensured no further victims happened. Someone dealt with the Chamber of Secrets and its monster. Someone faced off against the monster's master, and because of that someone, no other student was endangered. Putting great risk on his shoulders, this silent hero saved the school once more."

There was disbelief rushing along the crowd. With a tap of the wand, Dumbledore pointed at Hogwarts' ceiling, and it shifted and morphed to reveal the form of the Basilisk, in all of its glorious length, laying dead on the Chamber of Secrets' floor. Some students screamed, others widened their eyes in disbelief.

"A basilisk, a monstrous creature designed to kill with its sight, capable of terrifying, horrendous acts, was let loose in the school," Dumbledore continued, "And yet it was stopped. It was stopped not by a member of the staff, but by a courageous student. A brave person, with wits beyond measure and sly above all snakes, whose only features were his hard work, and his unquestionable desire to protect you, the students, from harm."

The image of the Basilisk disappeared, giving back the night sky of Hogwarts.

"This man saved the school, the students, and asked for naught in return but one simple thing. Some of you may feel it is unfortunate, others may be happy about it, but in the end, I have felt the need to oblige this young, courageous student once more, just like last year," he smiled, and swished his wand. "For his desire was for all to be treated as winners of the House Cup, regardless of points."

A ruckus rose from the Slytherin table, since they had been solidly in the lead until then, with Ravenclaw a close second.

"For it is when all of the school's traits are combined, when all of the best characteristics of the houses come together, that the greatest wonders, the greatest achievements, can be obtained," Dumbledore continued. "It is not merely hard work that warrants success. It is not just wits, or bravery that works. It is not cunning by itself that grants you success. When all are combined, when someone stands above the Houses, then that is when they truly show what greatness there is in a Wizard, or a Witch. United, the Houses of Hogwarts bring forth the best the school has to offer, and there can be no greater thing."

He widened his arms, "Thus enjoy your end of the year feast, students. Enjoy it knowing that for as long as there will be students who look beyond the Houses, then no place will be safer than Hogwarts."

I clapped as the Headmaster sat back down, and in turn that got a few other students to clap. A few minutes later and the whole hall was clapping, though the Slytherin were mostly sour about having lost once more their title as 'first'.

"Whoever this Philosopher's Thief is, he's gotta stop doing this," a Ravenclaw sourly grumbled. "All of my hard work gone to waste! What if we had been the ones winning? I wouldn't stand that-"

"But as long as it gets the Slytherin off their high and mighty perch, it's fine," another said.

I quietly ate my lamb chops while sighing at the unfortunate Jelly-Beans dessert. My eyes went to Dumbledore, who stared at his own with a look of chagrin. Our eyes met briefly, and I gave him a sympathetic stare. He returned it, and then as one we both dug in our own puddings.

Then, I smiled as I watched Dumbledore's eyes shine. If his bad luck about eating wrong taste Jelly beans was bad, then the solution was for someone to pick the beans, cut them in half, and taste-test one half before deciding whether to throw it in the pudding or not. I had used Wayne for the testing, since the dessert had been his idea. The house elves had been all but ecstatic at the thought of giving Dumbledore a good pudding dessert.

Sure, Wayne had been less than happy at realizing I'd taken the magic out of the randomness factor in the Hellish-Beans-All-Tastes, but that was on him.

I would eat my nice Jelly-Bean flavored pudding and enjoy the taste of toffee, cake, apple pie and everything nice.

Yet my happiness was short-lived.

"We know what you're doing," a voice caught my attention, and I turned towards the source. The golden trio was there, looking at me as I was heading upstairs for my last night in the comfortable beds of Ravenclaw's dormitories.

"Beg your pardon?" I said, puzzled. Amanda and Luna both stopped in turn, one puzzled and the other trying to keep her smile on her face.

"You're the one who's been fixing the House Points," Hermione said. "You stole the Philosopher's Stone first, and this year you unleashed the Basilisk only to defeat it and gain favor with the professors."

I blinked. "What."

"You put Dumbledore and the other professors under a Forbidden Spell, but that ends here and now," Ron added, holding his half-broken wand up.

I stared. Dumbfound, I stared.

"Are...are you for real?" I managed to wheeze out. "Is this a prank?" I asked next. "Is this because I delivered you to Professor Snape for stealing his supplies?"

"Don't play us for fools!" Harry Potter exclaimed, "We know you've studied Dark books, and Dumbledore would never be friends with a Dark wizard!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. I chuckled. I shook my head and raised both of my hands up in the air. "Fine," I said. "I am such a great dark wizard that I managed all of that in my second year at Hogwarts," I glanced at Amanda, and then at Luna. "Guess we're all evil wizards then."

Amanda chuckled at that, "Aw, I wanted to be an Auror."

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to become a journalist when I grow up, just like my father," Luna said instead, smiling. "I can't be a journalist if I'm an evil wizard, can I?"

"T-Take this seriously!" Ron snapped. "We know you're bad."

"Why?" I asked.

"Uh?" Ron blinked.

"Why am I bad?" I pointed out. "Just, you know, explain it."

Hermione took a deep breath. She actually wanted to explain it. It was like watching the Scooby-Gang explain the reasoning behind the capture of the masked villain of the day. "The Professors like you in an unnatural way," she said. "You've used Lockhart to get Dark books, I checked the list of books you got out of the library, and then you're the one behind his discovery as a fraud. It's got to be that way. He didn't want to follow you, so you destroyed his career. Then you used those books to summon forth the Basilisk and then defeat it. Meanwhile, you learned how to control the minds of the professors and turned the school faculty over to yourself."

I furrowed my brows. "No, actually, Lockhart's a real bonafide fraudster, and I had nothing to do with that."

Hermione spluttered. "We followed you. You've gone in the forbidden forest, and stepped out with her petrified! You were clearly practicing to get more students in that mess, before changing your mind," she exclaimed, pointing at Amanda.

"Oh, that was Megan, Hufflepuff," Amanda said, shrugging in turn. "I hexed her back for it," she shrugged. "She could have used a stinging hex. Those are funnier to dodge."

"That's what anyone would say under the effect of Dark magic!" Ron exclaimed.

I sighed. "So, just so we're clear on this, how do you plan on defeating me if that were the case?" I looked at the three of them. "Like, I'm not evil, but it seems I can't convince you otherwise without proof so...how do we go about that?"

"Professor Lupin," Harry said. "He's new, and arrived only this last term. He'll be someone who can check on the situation."

I rolled my eyes. "By that logic, the Headmaster summoned him to teach at Hogwarts. If your logic holds weight, who's to say I didn't already do 'dark magic'," I made air quotes, "On him?"

My infallible logic struck a chord in them. It was clear by the way they looked at one another, suddenly unsure of the greatness of their plans. They were making even me feel sad about them. "Listen," I said with a sigh. "I did fool Lockhart to get some Dark books out of the library, but because I was curious about them in the first place. When Mrs Norris was petrified I thought it was a Dark Curse, like anyone else, and not a magical beast as it turned out," I tried to make a tiny smile. "I'm a good second year student, but that's it. I know some tricks, some spells, and I practice a lot, but there's nothing I can do that is either Dark or evil. It's just knowledge anyone with the will to seek it can find."

I rubbed the back of my head, "And as for the professors liking me...I'm an orphan, and I live in a muggle orphanage and my only Christmas gifts come from my friends and them. So I guess they kind-of pity me? I'm really just a Ravenclaw trying to become a really good wizard, because magic's so great and cool," I smiled. "So please, could you not say these kind of things? It hurts to have others think I'd be such a terrible person as to willfully try to endanger the school just for the sake of silly points." I shrugged. "Who cares who wins at the House Cup game, when there are lives at stake?"

There was silence. It was the silence of shame. It was the silence that marked my victory over the trio, and firmly settled the issue once and for all.

Thus I walked away, quietly humming in the back of my head at having schooled the trio, and all the evil characters in the world, on the ancient art of denying everything and being as kind, gentle and sorrowful as possible.

For I was Shade Umbrus...

...the Incredibly Poker-Faced Ravenclaw.