บท 26: Trick 25: Making Gilderoy- Fly!
Ace was sitting at the Teacher's table in the dining hall at Hogwarts, writing down in his new notebook. He had been conversing with Hagrid just before and was writing down his notes.
Just as he was finishing up, McGonagall walked over saying "Ace, follow me." Ace looked up at her and said "Huh?" She rolled her eyes and said "No time for questions." Ace sighed and closed his book, following her out of the Dining Hall into a room.
Dumbledore was waiting with Harry, Ron, Snape, and Filch. He smiled at Ace and nodded before saying "That being said, Severus. Professor McGonagall shall decide what the fate of these two shall be."
Ace was standing there like a mannequin, unsure of why he was here… Then McGonagall made it clear…
She looked at Harry and Ron, saying "Your actions are truly serious. I will be writing to your families tonight and you will both receive detention, as well as help Mr. Brand clean up the library every night." The boys groaned and Ace was surprised, asking "I have to clean the library?"
McGonagall looked at him and he coughed, saying "I mean, of course it's a terrible punishment, the library is massive!" Harry and Ron chuckled as McGonagall glared at the trio before leaving, adding "You shall see me bright and early tomorrow morning, Ace." Ace nodded and waved as she left.
He turned to Snape and nodded, "Severus, Filch. Nice to see you." The duo nodded and Ace left the room again.
That night, Ace returned to his desk in the library as Ron and Harry sat next to him, bored out of their skulls.
Ace looked at them and winked, "You can actually go, I won't say anything." Ron and Harry's faces lit up and they ran off shouting "Thanks, Ace!" before disappearing. Ace chuckled and returned to his studies, humming to himself "Time to go for the intermediate books!"
A week or so passed by just like that
Ace experimented with McGonagall, studied in the library, and used the Time Turner as he normally would. Everything was returning to a normal routine again!
Even Bruce was back, laying on the table in the library. Ace had left him with McGonagall for the summer just before he left and now Bruce wouldn't leave his side, purring that he never wanted to stay here again as he was so bored.
Ace had no choice but to keep him with him, letting him rest on his shoulder.
He passed by the courtyard to see the Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch teams arguing but shook his head and smiled, continuing to walk to McGonagall's office humming to himself.
Just a few days later
Ace was sitting in the library when he heard a commotion along with an abrupt hiss that was cut off even more abruptly! He frowned and turned his head to the hallway before morphing into a cat and scurrying out.
He ran along the hallway and noticed that the floors were wet. He lept onto a stone pillar and looked down at the wet ground before noticing letters written in blood on the wall along with Ms Norris hanging upside down on a torch holder.
Ace was startled and read the writing on the walls as Harry, Ron, and Hermione ran over. He turned his head to them and stayed perched on the pillar, looking down from above.
Almost the entire school flooded into the halls along with Filch, who saw Ms Norris and shouted "You killed Ms Norris! I'll kill you!" while grabbing Harry.
Before he could do anything, Dumbledore walked over with a few teachers and said "Argus, I- Oh my…" he paused and read the writing before saying "All students shall return to their dormitories. Immediately… Except, you three." as he pointed at Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
The students flooded out as Dumbledore added "Not to worry, Argus. Ms. Norris isn't dead. She's petrified."
Gilderoy was standing near Ms. Norris with his hands on his hips and said "Ah yes! Petrified! So unlucky I wasn't there." Ace leapt from the pillar and landed on Gilderoy's head, staring at the writing and Ms Norris as Gilderoy shrieked like a woman.
Dumbledore ignored him and asked "Ace, did you see anything?" Ron looked around in confusion, muttering "Ace?" Hermione elbowed him and pointed at the cat.
Ace jumped off of Gilderoy's head and morphed back into a human, rubbing his chin as he replied "Nope! I got here too late as well… I heard a hiss from Ms. Norris before she was petrified."
He squeezed a paw on Ms. Norris and frowned, muttering "Shouldn't be…" Filch shouted "My Cat has been petrified! I want punishment!" as he pointed at Harry's trio. Snape suddenly stepped in, saying "I do believe they were at the wrong place at the wrong time…"
The trio were confused as to why Snape was vouching for them, but Snape continued "However… The Coincidence is that Mr. Potter was missing at Dinner…" Gilderoy returned to his cool and said "Yes, well I'm afraid that was my doing, Severus! You see, Harry was with me, answering my fan mail for 4 hours. Hehe~"
Snape looked at him with twitching eyes as Ace muttered "Could it be?" with glowing eyes. Dumbledore calmed Filch down, saying "Madam Sprout has a group of Mandrakes about to mature, when the time comes a batch of cures shall be made for Ms. Norris."
Ace tapped his chin and swallowed excitedly, "Oh boy! How exciting!" McGonagall looked at him and asked "What are you on about, Ace?" Ace pointed at Ms. Norris, saying "I can be sure that it was not a wizard who petrified Ms. Norris as I would've heard a voice cast the spell. Since it wasn't a teacher there's no chance that it was a wordless spell, therefore we can assume that it was a magical creature!"
He paused for a moment before saying excitedly "Of which there are only a handful that could petrify in an instant! A Basilisk, a Lamia, a Naga, or a Medusa! All of which are extremely unique and rare creatures that have the most little information on them! This is a great opportunity to study such a rare creature, isn't it exciting?!"
Everyone fell silent, until Dumbledore cleared his throat and nodded "Yes, quite. Although, I think I speak for everyone when I say, it would be better for it to not be at Hogwarts." he gave Ace a look before adding "In the meantime, I strongly recommend caution to all."
He looked at everyone before leaving.
Ace rubbed his chin and returned to the library quickly to brush up on his knowledge of magical beasts.
A few weeks passed by in a flash
Ace walked into the infirmary after hearing that Harry lost his bones because of Gilderoy, only to accidentally see a House Elf!
The house elf froze and Ace walked over quickly, forgetting why he came as he asked "No way! A House Elf! Hello!" he grabbed the Elf's hand and shook it forcefully, adding "Do you mind if I ask a few questions!" while taking out a book.
The House Elf was stunned and Harry was speechless.
Ace started asking loads of questions about House Elf magic and writing things down as Dobby answered in a bout of confusion.
A little bit later
Ace was writing as Dobby disappeared and a group of teachers walked in. They brought in a petrified boy and McGonagall looked over asking "Ace? What are you doing here?" Ace didn't even look up as he sat next to Harry's bed, replying "Came to see Harry, I heard he was almost Bludgeoned by a Bludger! Unfortunately, he's asleep." as he glanced at Harry, pretending to sleep with his eyes open away from the rest.
McGonagall became serious as she said "We have a big problem, please come here."
Ace looked up in confusion before walking over and noticing the boy. He gasped and touched the boy's arms, saying "Another victim? Terrible news…" before turning to McGonagall and adding "What are you going to do now?"
McGonagall looked pretty worried as she replied "I don't know… this may be the end of Hogwarts!" Ace turned to the boy and hummed "That's a bit dramatic. Whether it's a Lamia, Naga, or whatever, they all have weaknesses. It's not like we're dealing with a Jormungandr here…"
McGonagall rolled her eyes and retorted, "Please! This isn't a fantasy world!" Ace smiled happily and replied "Maybe he's real! You never know! Magic is endless after all!" he stopped looking at the boy and turned around to leave, adding "At any rate, until we find the Chamber of Secrets, we won't be able to tell what the creature is."
He stopped at the door and a glint shone in his eyes as he turned his head, grinning "Tell me if you find it! I want to see what kind of magical monster it is!" before leaving the infirmary while humming to himself happily.
McGonagall looked at the Nurse and sighed, "Truly a handful!" The Nurse snorted in amusement and shook her head, tending to the boy.
A few months passed along
Studying was as usual and nothing noteworthy happened…
Other than Bruce somehow finding a female rabbit!
What a bastard!
Anyway!
Today, Ace was standing in a crowd watching Gilderoy brag about his dueling experiences.
Severus was helping Gilderoy with his mock duel as a part of the dueling club. Ace was a bit confused, he heard from the other teachers that Professor Flitwick was a world dueling champion or something.
He figured if anyone was going to run the Dueling club, it would have to be him, right?
Fortunately, or unfortunately, Gilderoy was in charge now!
Ace watched as Severus walked up, Gilderoy said "Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape!" as he waved his hand in Snape's direction.
Severus looked as gloomy as usual, nothing of change here.
Ace was probably the most energetic and bubbly 'teacher', although he was more of a librarian and most teachers would call him annoying instead of bubbly, but Ace wasn't really worried about them.
If anything he felt that it weeded out the 'fake friends' which was why he didn't have many 'real friends' in the first place!
But he had some fans! Ace wasn't too bad looking, he looked very foreign and everyone heard of his bravery in saving Harry Potter somehow, so the students took a liking to him.
At any rate, Gilderoy kept talking, unfortunately, "He has sportingly agreed to help with a short demonstration. I don't want any of you youngsters to worry." as he pointed to the crowd and smirked, "You'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him. Never fear." before walking towards Snape and starting the Duel Etiquette.
Ace could only connect it to a cowboy duel, the duo raised their wands and put them at their sides before taking 10 paces back and counting to three.
At the count of three, Snape flicked his wand and said "Expelliarmus!" shooting a beam of light that blasted Gilderoy flying across the room, landing at the end of the dueling arena.
Ace was stunned and said aloud, "That's it?" Snape glared at him and Ace coughed, saying seriously "I mean, well done. Excellent, reminds me of the time I had too many peppers and had to use the lavatory. Quick and simple."
Harry looked back in confusion as did many other students but Ace cleared his throat in embarrassment, walking to the dueling arena, asking "Can I have a try?" Gilderoy groaned from the ground and asked "You're the fellow who just became a Wizard last year, right?"
Ace was startled and nodded subconsciously. Gilderoy's eyes shone and he got up quickly, playing it off like he wasn't injured at all, "Yes, quite impressive! Although if I might say, it was pretty obvious what you were going to do. Professor Brand would like a go, so let's give it up for Professor Snape everyone!" as he started clapping.
The students started clapping and Ace excitedly got on the arena, checking for his wand. Severus glanced at him before stepping down as Gilderoy said "Next I'll demonstrate blocking."
Ace and Gilderoy did the etiquette before taking 10 paces back and turning around. Ace's hand was hovering over a holster on his hip as he squinted at Gilderoy, seemingly wide open on defense.
Gilderoy chuckled and said "One, two… Three!" Before he could even think, Ace grabbed his wand, flicked it forward as he brought it out and shouted "Stupefy!" blasting Gilderoy into the air, flying off the arena and landing on the ground unconscious.
The students were dead silent and Ace laughed, waving his wand as he said "Cool! I won! Hahaha!" Severus was speechless and walked over to Gilderoy before saying "Call the Nurse please. Professor Gilderoy will be taking a nap for this class…"
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