章 26: Double Element

Cross sat down in his room and blew out all the candles, closed the curtains and sat in the darkness. He let out a breath and felt the darkness around him, trying to turn it into his own as time flowed by.

Cross' hair changed with the season and turned pure white. Surprisingly, Darkness was easy to understand. Cross was confused though, every other Elements were much harder to control and understand.

He shot out a string and it was dark grey, not completely grey but not black either, just cool dark grey almost illusionary. Cross was silent as he looked at the dark grey string, he twitched his finger and the string wrapped around his body.

He disappeared, blended into the darkness becoming invisible. Cross was stunned, he looked into the mirror and saw nothing, he waved his hand and turned on the candles. His figure wrapped in grey strings appeared, he nodded to himself, seems like he could only blend into the dark.

He took off the strings and wrapped himself in light strings but nothing happened. This gave Cross a good idea on what the light and dark strings did. With a success in his palm, he teleported to the Room of Requirement, merging with his clones.

Cross processed the information before sending his clones out again and giving them both tasks to practice advanced magic. Cross watched over them for a moment before teleporting back to his room and dressing in a hoodie, t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers.

He nodded at his reflection and grabbed his backpack before leaving the castle, going to Hogsmeade.

A while later

Cross was sitting on a rock near a cliff, cross-legged, feeling the cold wind brushing against his face as he meditated on the wind element.

While he was meditating, a voice interrupted him "Cross! What are you doing over there?" Cross' ear twitched and he turned his head to see Hermione and Ron, he replied "What are you doing here?" Hermione was stumped, was she supposed to say she was here with Ron just because?

Cross shook his head and turned back to the front, focusing on meditating.

Ron looked at Cross' back and said "A mad man that lad. Sitting on a rock like that, what if he falls off?" Hermione rolled her eyes and said "How is he going to fall off? He's not moving at all." Ron shrugged and said "I don't know, the wind?" Hermione was speechless, looking at Ron, who scratched his cheek.

Hermione finally replied after a few seconds "Might strong winds, eh Ron?" Ron blushed in embarrassment and didn't reply.

Suddenly they heard a voice "Well, Well, Well, look who's here. You two shopping for your new dream home? Quite a grab for you isn't it, Weaselby? Doesn't your family sleep in uhh... One room?"

Ron said "Shut up, Malfoy." Draco clicked his tongue and said "I think you should respect your superiors." Hermione said "I hope you don't mean yourself!" Draco said "I hope you're not talking to me. You filthy-"

Cross sighed and said "Draco." Draco looked over and said "Oh Cross, you're here too." Cross waved and said "Come here." Draco walked over and Cross touched his forehead before saying "So that's why."

Draco frowned and said "What happened?" Cross said simply "Your mind has been infiltrated. Have you been feeling angry and more aggressive lately?" as he cleansed Draco's mind. Draco's eyes widened and he said "Yeah!"

Cross frowned and looked behind him before whispering "Just leave those three alone..." he pulled Draco close to him and whispered in his ear "Something extremely fishy is going on here. They are at the center of the storm at Hogwarts. If you don't want to get involved, stay away." before placing a new condensed Barrier in Draco's mind, along with a counter attack.

Draco got serious and nodded, Cross asked "Who do you think took down you barrier?" Draco's face turned ugly as he said "The only person I've been alone with is my godfather." Cross raised a brow and said "Snape?"

Draco nodded and Cross frowned as he said "Just act normally." Draco nodded and left without a word. Hermione and Ron were stunned and Harry appeared out of thing air as he said "Hey guys." Hermione and Run jumped in shock and Harry chuckled as they started talking.

Cross ignored them and continued to meditate while thinking about what Draco told him. Snape? Was he the mastermind behind everything? Cross frowned in thought, it wasn't impossible but Cross still had his doubts.

Dumbledore's physical change was just too suspicious. Why did he get younger? How did he get the resources necessary to advance ranks? Plus why would Snape care about Ravenclaw kids? All houses seemed to be specifically placed, not only based on their personalities but also background.

For example, the hat didn't even touch Draco before placing him in Slytherin. Based on Cross' deductions Snape should be proficient in potions, not Ligilimency. Then again, Cross was slowly becoming proficient in everything so he couldn't rule out Snape being a Ligilimens Wizard.

Cross sighed to himself, things just kept getting more and more difficult. Snape went up by 30% while Dumbledore stayed at 80% with Snape being a close second at 70%, McGonagall was last with a 30%.

After speaking with Sirius, the rat was completely out of the running. There was no way he had enough time to plan something like this while working for Voldemort, there was just not enough time.

Cross looked up at the sky and let out a breath, mumbling "Why can't they all just die. Then I can sleep peacefully at night..." he was about to go back to meditating when Hermione shouted "Cross, were going into town, do you want to come?"

Cross waved his hand, making a gesture of 'no' before continuing to meditate peacefully as the trio left. He sat on the spot and didn't leave until it was dark outside.

Cross continued to meditate everyday and it seemed like the commotion was dying down but it was only the calm before the storm.

A while later

Cross' hair was golden yellow as he sat on the fountain, with his legs crossed. Luna was sitting next to him, reading a strange book tilted 'Nargles, could you be next?!'

Students passed by and laughed at them, behind their backs but obviously neither Cross nor Luna cared at all. Continuing their acts without even a frown.

Luna suddenly said "Oh? Congratulations." Cross ignored her and the wind picked up near him, wrapping around his body, blowing through his hair, making him seem majestic. Cross opened his eyes and they flashed as the phenomena stopped, returning him to normal.

Cross smiled at Luna, who smiled back. He let out a breath as he said "The last two will be much harder..." he hooked his finger and all the students who made fun of Luna and him, were blown to the ground with a gust of wind.

Luna smiled and said "Petty~" Cross smiled and said "They get what they deserve." Harry, Ron , and Hermione walked past and Ron said "I haven't lost anything! Your cat killed him!" Hermione retorted "Maybe you should take better care of your pets!"

Cross watched them pass by and said "We can only hope the cat killed him eh?" Luna tilted her head and said "Don't you find it odd, they didn't even look in our direction?" Cross looked at the trio and said "Maybe they are too busy with something else?"

Luna just hummed, staying silent. They looked at each other and followed the trio.

Luna and Cross came to the edge of a lake and saw Hagrid skipping rocks as he said "Lucuis Malfoy got up, well you can imagine. He said 'Buckbeak was a dangerous creature, that'll kill ya as son as he looked at ya'."

Hermione said "And then?" Hagrid replied "Then he asked for the worst.." Ron said "They're not sacking you!" Hagrid sniffed and said "No I'm not sacked... Buckbeak's been sentenced to death!" as he threw a rock in the lake instead of skipping it.

Cross was shocked and Luna whispered "Who's Buckbeak?" Cross replied "A Hippogryph, very gentle creature. Just a little scared of the world that's all." Luna asked "Why are they killing it?" Cross replied "Because Draco startled it and it scratched him. His father didn't like that I guess."

Luna shook her head and her eyes turned before she smiled at Cross without words. Cross guessed what she did and didn't ask, instead he said "Let's go." Luna nodded and they left.

Cross and Luna were walking back to the castle and Luna asked "What do you think?" Cross looked at her and said "What do you mean?" Luna smiled and said "About the school. What did you think? I was asking you what you thought about me?"

Cross twitched his ears, he was indeed thinking that, but he answered "School's fine. I wish there wasn't so many things happening though. People getting obliviated left and right, mind barriers being broken.." he sighed and added "I just want to be left alone."

Luna smiled and said softly "You're not alone." as she grabbed his hand, her face heating up for a brief moment. Cross was startled at her small hand in his palm and looked at Luna, only catch a smile.

He sighed and a small smile escaped his lips as he said "I guess not.." Luna smiled gently and they continued in silence as they walked into the castle. Cross took his hand back awkwardly and said "I'll see you later, I guess." Luna hummed and nodded a red hue covering her ears.

Cross chuckled nervously before directly teleporting away, Luna giggled and walked back to Ravenclaw common room.

Cross sat on his bed and took a deep breath, stabilizing his emotions. It was the first time he has had such intimate contact. He didn't count Daphne, Astoria, or even Hermione at all, first of all Astoria and Daphne were his sisters and Hermione was like a sister as well.

He didn't think of any of them as anything more than that.

Obviously, he could tell that they didn't feel the same. He might act dumb and cold but he wasn't actually dumb, maybe a little cold but not dumb at all. How could he not see that Hermione looked at him differently, or that Daphne looked at him the same way?

He just wasn't interested, they were like sisters, so he played dumb. Eventually they will forget about it and move on, if they didn't then too bad, he couldn't care less. He wasn't going to return their affection anytime soon, so they're only hurting themselves.

However, Luna was different. He only thought of her as interesting at the beginning, as time went by she slowly got closer to him. Even now, they weren't that close, but something more than friends, even if just by a sliver.

She knew his real self and he knew hers, there was an unspeakable trust that had developed between them. Honestly, Cross could safely say that out of everyone at the school, including his actual family, Luna was the only one who made him not feel alone.

He let out a breath and rid his head of anymore thoughts as he meditated on the Death element.

A few days later

Cross was walking towards Hagrid's shack. Today Buckbeak was supposed to be executed. He wanted to see if he could get some insights into Death by watching it happen as a bystander. He walked out of a stone exit to see Hermione and Harry sneaking down the hill, he looked further down and saw Ron, Hermione, and Harry walked towards Hagrid's shack leisurely.

Cross' mouth curved upwards and he mumbled "Interesting.."