บท 95: Curse
Back in the Slytherin common room, Alex ignored the glares from some pure-blood students and headed straight to his dorm. Over the next few days, he fell into a routine: attending classes, practicing charms, studying runes with Professor Bones, helping Charles train, crafting alchemy tools, and diving into the memory magic book.
Meanwhile, Travers and Wilkes assigned students to spy on Alex, tracking his every move. But each attempt ended in humiliation—some spies were left hanging by their robes in the halls, others found themselves dumped into the girls' bathroom. Strangely, none of them could recall what had happened. After a few weeks, no one dared to follow him anymore, though Travers and Wilkes were furious.
Unbothered, Alex carried on with his life. Hogwarts had grown livelier since the Dark Lord's disappearance. Pranks were more frequent, and Peeves, the mischievous ghost, was busier than ever, causing chaos wherever he went.
Noticing Peeves acting strangely, Alex decided to ask Professor Flitwick for some insight. The professor explained that Peeves wasn't an ordinary ghost; he was born with the very stones of Hogwarts and shared a deep connection with the school. Peeves' energy and mood reflected the atmosphere of Hogwarts itself. During dark times, like the recent wave of fear and sadness in the wizarding world, the lack of laughter and mischief had drained Peeves. He had grown quiet, even disappearing for days at a time. But now, with pranks and laughter filling the school again, Peeves was more active than ever—much to the frustration of the caretaker, Filch.
Filch took the surge in pranks personally. He spent day and night patrolling the halls, determined to catch the troublemakers. He was so preoccupied with his patrols that he barely had time for his regular duties, like cleaning the bathrooms.
One evening, as Filch made his rounds in the library, he heard a faint noise coming from the Restricted Section. Gripping his kerosene lamp tightly, he hurried toward the sound, its light throwing long, flickering shadows across the walls. But when he arrived, there was nothing—no students, no movement, not even a mouse. Muttering curses under his breath, Filch gave the area one last suspicious glance before stomping away.
In a dark corner where Filch had just looked, a figure shimmered into view. It was Alex, exhaling a quiet sigh of relief. "That was too close," he thought, his heart still racing. He hadn't expected some of the restricted books to be warded with alarm spells, and he had almost triggered one by accident.
This semester, Alex had finally mastered the Disillusionment Charm after countless hours of practice. His magical and physical abilities had reached a point where he could handle advanced spells, so he had focused on mastering both the Disillusionment and Shield Charms. With these spells, he could now move around the castle undetected, even sneaking into places like the Restricted Section at night.
But the Restricted Section was no ordinary part of the library. Many of its books were cursed or heavily enchanted. A single careless touch could set off an alarm, alerting nearby professors—or worse, Filch. Alex reminded himself to be extra cautious, using detection spells on each book before daring to open it.
After nearly two hours of meticulous searching, Alex finally found the book he had been looking for. It contained valuable information about magical runes—specifically those used to control and store magical energy. However, the runes in the book were shown as flat, two-dimensional shapes, while Alex needed to understand them in three dimensions to use them effectively.
At the Charm Club, Alex had started experimenting with temperature control spells, which required precise management of magical energy. The runes he was studying could potentially help him refine this process. He envisioned a rune capable of absorbing magic from its surroundings—something that could revolutionize the wizarding world.
Most magical items, like his enchanted monocle and phase shoes, relied on their users' magic to function. Alex wanted to create items that could store magic independently, essentially becoming self-sustaining. By combining magic-absorbing runes with storage runes, he imagined creating something akin to a magical solar panel—a device that could recharge itself over time.
The challenge, as Professor Bones had once explained, was that existing magic storage runes were basic and depended heavily on the materials they were made from. Few truly innovative designs had been developed. That was why Alex had ventured into the Restricted Section—to see if he could find something new.
Carefully packing away his notes, Alex made a mental plan. "I'll start with the magic flow runes first. If I can collect enough data on magic absorption, it might even help with the temperature control spells," he thought as he slipped back into the shadows.
Throughout the semester, Alex kept a strict schedule, focusing intensely on his studies and avoiding unnecessary distractions. Meanwhile, outside Hogwarts, the wizarding world was in turmoil as the Ministry, led by Minister Millicent Bagnold, ramped up its hunt for Death Eaters. Many pure-blood families loyal to Voldemort were under investigation, but they often escaped justice by claiming they had been under the Imperius Curse or using Polyjuice Potion to create false alibis.
One evening, Alex shared his frustrations with Professor Bones. "Can't they just use Veritaserum or check memories to get the truth?" he asked.
Professor Bones sighed. "It's not that simple. Magic, as powerful as it is, can be manipulated. Memories can be tampered with, Veritaserum can be resisted, and some families have perfected the art of deception."
Alex wasn't surprised by the response; he had already come up with a few ideas to irritate those families in return. Although the investigations hadn't significantly affected the pure-bloods, they had managed to tone down their arrogance a bit—even among some of the Slytherin students.
Unfortunately, this also meant Alex had lost some convenient practice targets for his Legilimency and Memory Charm skills. He had improved quickly when he could practice on real people, but now, with Professor Bones keeping a closer watch on him, Alex couldn't risk targeting anyone at school. Besides, he sometimes felt faint traces of magical energy around him, as if the professor had placed a monitoring spell nearby. Alex figured he might be on some sort of watch list.
"Well, I'll deal with it all next semester," he thought. The students were small potatoes anyway—his real targets were the Death Eaters outside Hogwarts.
By the time the semester ended, Professor Bones had resigned. He cited the infamous curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts position as his reason for leaving. Despite Voldemort's apparent defeat, he didn't want to take any chances. Meanwhile, Alex aced all his exams, earning straight A's. Vivian, however, barely scraped by in most of her classes, with History of Magic being her worst subject.
At the end-of-term feast, Headmaster Dumbledore announced Hufflepuff as the winner of the House Cup. Their hard work had paid off. Ravenclaw had struggled in Quidditch this year, costing them valuable points, while Gryffindor and Slytherin had deducted more points than they earned due to constant fights.
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