Capítulo 4: Year 4 Chapter 3
I reckoned it was an all new experience. Watching the Headmaster walk back and forth, his arms behind his back, trying to decide whether he had the right to be cross at me or not. "Mister Umbrus," he settled for, "what were you thinking, precisely?"
I grimaced and rubbed the back of my head. "Everyone was running around like headless chickens, so I decided to do something? I decided to fight evil, eradicate it, even?"
The Headmaster sighed. "You deboned evil," he said, trying to keep the twitch of a smile from forming on his lips. "Alas, no Death Eater was caught, but I suppose you have made an enemy, somewhere out there."
I helplessly shrugged. "Are you even fighting for what you believe in, if you aren't making enemies?"
The Headmaster didn't sigh, perhaps because if he had, he'd be calling himself a hypocrite in turn. "Mister Umbrus, you worry and scare me in equal parts," he took a sip of the hot tea that Megan's mother had, in the meantime, made. "I have also taken the liberty of speaking with Hestia Jones, something concerning a well-placed bet, I am led to believe?"
I tried to keep an amiable smile on my face. It unfortunately didn't work all that well with the Headmaster.
We were sitting in a living room of sorts in Megan's house, where the Headmaster had showed up the day after the troubles at the cup, and had asked for permission to speak with me in a very private setting. Thus, there we were, sipping tea and speaking. Well, the Headmaster was mostly doing the scolding, and I was mostly doing the answering.
"I might have made a tiny suggestion to Madam Jones," I said kindly. "I did not expect her to believe me, nor uphold her word on it."
"Your lack of trust in Miss Jones is unfounded, Mister Umbrus," the Headmaster said. "She contacted me about the best way to hand over such a lump sum of money, and I have taken the liberty of setting up a fund for you at Gringotts." His eyes seemed to twinkle. "I suspect that once more, by forbidding you to find a part-time job, I forced you into doing something in equal parts grandiose and terrifying." He sighed, loudly. "I fear that it is best to allow you such an opportunity come this year, since you will be of proper age for the wizard laws. I'll need to give you proper permission to use the secret passages from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade, though finding a job will be up to you."
I smiled ever so hesitantly. "Thank you, professor."
"You know, Mister Umbrus," the headmaster said. "There are all kinds of courage, and it takes a great deal of it to stand up to your enemies. I was told you were in a position to stay safe, and yet went back for your friends?"
I grimaced. "I ran like a coward, professor. I was thinking only about my hide. There was no courage back there, none at all."
"But you came back, Mister Umbrus," the Headmaster said. "You did not what was easy, but what was right."
I tried to smile. "Wouldn't you have done the same? I mean, not the running away part, of course, but-"
The Headmaster shook his head. "Each of us, Mister Umbrus, is unique. There are great and varied ways of showing courage, and so too there are different types of friendship, and of righteousness. If it were easy, being right and just, then I would have committed far less mistakes than I have." He took a sip of his tea, and then politely extended a key from one of his robes' sleeves. "Do not lose the key, for getting another will require quite a tedious process. You will receive an Owl shortly with the number of your vault. It will be essential in order to receive payment for your work."
I took the key, and religiously placed it within the ribbon of the Order of Merlin. It dangled right next to it, and as I smiled at it, the Headmaster's brows furrowed. "You should know, Mister Umbrus..." he took a small breath, and then quietly looked out of the window. "Mister Umbrus," he said in the end. "Were I to forbid you from doing something extremely foolish, would you still do it?"
I looked up at the Headmaster, and then looked at the window myself, where a few faces were seemingly stuck trying to peep on the conversation. They were probably flying on a broom, the trio of dunderheads that were my friends. Wayne and Amanda had come to visit, I suspected.
"That entirely depends on whether I find it foolish or not, Headmaster," I answered in turn. "But you can rest assured I value my life a lot," I chuckled, "Just...not as much as I value that of children needing protection, of course."
"You are a child yourself, Mister Umbrus, perhaps it is time you recalled that," the Headmaster whispered, only for me to shake my head.
"Children are the innocents one," I said with a smile. "Once innocence dies, only adulthood remains."
The headmaster finished his tea, and I finished mine. He bid me a good reminder of the summer holiday, and also ominously added, as if making a dark, evil prophecy. "Remember the formal robes, Mister Umbrus," he whispered, a hand on my shoulder, which he squeezed ever so gently. "Swift feet, deep breaths and a good sense of direction will be a must."
"Mine are the swiftest feet of them all, Headmaster," I answered. "Though I do have problems holding my breath, and I get lost easily in forests," I acquiesced. "Still, I'll try my best."
The headmaster laughed, and left me at that, disapparating after bidding his goodbyes.
The rest of the trio came swooping down on their brooms, old models, but there was one more which had, sadly, my name on it from the looks of it.
"Are you in trouble, Shade?" Amanda asked from her broom, but I merely shook my head as I climbed on the free broomstick.
"Not really, but yes really," I said with a smile. "Something about dancing, I guess. How far can we go without breaking the statute of secrecy anyway?"
"We need to stick low and to the house," Megan said in turn, "whoever makes five turns around the house wins," she continued, floating slightly up so that all four of us could be at equal distance from the house while doing the rounds.
I arrived, as was proper, last.
Driving safely was my motto, going at the speed limit my blood.
For I was the safe driver, the Forty KM/H in city center.
I was the old man, in his old car, going slowly and steady.
Slow and steady may not always win the race...
...but at least it doesn't end up splattered on the walls.
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder