Chapter 8: The Door Without End
The next morning, Harry and McGonagall had settled as short practice session for the Quidditch players that had remained in the Castle, under the surveillance of Madame Hooch. The Quidditch pitch was entirely covered in snow, but it wasn't enough to stop al the eager young players.
Fortunately, most of the Gryffindor Players were staying for the holidays. So Harry could see the whole group in action, which was important, to judge the ability of a Seeker to play in a team. The Ravenclaw team had accepted, after Flitwick's chat with McGonagall and Harry, to play a little training match so Harry would check on the player's skill. There were two Hufflepuff players, filling in for the missing players, which meant one player in each team.
A little nervous at the idea of flying alone in front of Harry Potter, Caroline Swanheart lost all of her anxiety when she had found out about this match. When it began, she took off lightly and began to circle around the pitch. Harry noticed the grace she was showing in her way of flying.
The few students left in Hogwarts Castle had been drawn out by the action on the Quidditch pitch. And soon, they were all around the field, cheering at the moves of the players. Harry noticed distractedly that there were only one or two Slytherins in the small crowd. But they seemed pretty young and comfortable with the others students.
Harry had to admit that the two teams were very good. The Ravenclaw Seeker was really skilled with the broom. And at some point, he spotted on of the Gryffindor Chaser.
"Professor? Who's this Chaser?" he asked McGonagall.
"Gilliam Gibbons," said McGonagall. "He's the oldest player of the team."
"Gibbons?" repeated Harry, who remembered having seen a young first year of that name sorted at the beginning of his sixth year. "Well, he's become very good."
But he couldn't add anything on Gibbons, because he saw a golden flash of light at some corner of the pitch. And only a second later, he saw Caroline speeding up her way after the snitch. She was performing amazing figures to stick to its course. Harry was following her closely with omnioculars. She seemed to save any moves in order to fly faster. The Ravenclaw Seeker was trying to catch up with her, but it was useless. Beside Harry, Ron let out an appreciative whistle.
"You're right, Professor," he told McGonagall. "She's flying exactly like Harry."
"You've got to be kidding!" protested Harry. "I don't fly that good!"
"That's because you only see it from your broom, mate," said Ron with a grin. "From the stands it looks exactly like that."
Harry was amazed by the performance of Caroline. Of course, she wasn't on a Firebolt, but at the second she caught the snitch, Harry, who was zooming on her, noticed something. As the players were all getting down, he saw what broom she mounted. He walked right at her.
"You're doing all this on an old Silver Arrow?" he asked her, impressed.
She blushed slightly, unsure of what it meant. Harry turned to the other players.
"Would you mind to have another go?" he asked them.
They were all too pleased to get back in the air. But before Caroline and the other players took off, Harry held out his Firebolt to her.
"I think you should try on this one," he said.
Her eyes popped out of her head, and she took the broom with something close to reverence. The other players looked at her with envy, but they took off, without a word. Swanheart mounted the Firebolt cautiously and took off, with a childish joyful look on her face.
As Harry had expected it, this match was even shorter. Less than two minutes after the snitch had been released, Caroline was shooting through the pitch, and caught it as easily as if it had been a sleeping snail. All the Gryffindor players cheered and the others applauded respectfully at her performance.
"I knew it," said Harry under his breath.
When Caroline landed before him, he smiled at her. She was beaming.
"Don't get too excited about it, but it's likely you'll get a job, once you get out of school," he said.
"You're serious?" she asked.
"Absolutely," said Harry.
Caroline made a squeaking sound in delight and jumped at his neck to give him a hug. Then she realized what she was doing and pushed away quickly, apologizing.
"No problem," said Harry, who was feeling more and more like Father Christmas.
The session didn't end at once, after the balls were back in their trunk. There were so many side-looks to Harry's broom that he finally decided to let all the players here have a go on it.
Once this was done, Harry was surely the most popular man ever in the Castle.
The following day, as the Christmas Feast was being prepared by the Staff, Harry and his friends had gone for a trip in Hogsmeade, to buy some presents. Alexander, on his part, had taken advantage of the fact that Ian was gone on vacation to spend more time with Phyllis.
He was just back from a little wandering in the grounds, whistling happily as he walked by the great corridors, unusually deserted. It was an odd feeling to stride along the Halls without hearing any sound of young voices and the noise that was usually filling the room.
The silence was only broken by Alexander's whistling. But he suddenly crossed path with an ugly floating man. When he saw Alexander, Peeves began to swear and to try and scare Alexander. Apparently, he was willing to try and impress the "new teacher," so he could do whatever he wanted with him afterward.
"Get out of my way, Peeves," said Alexander, on a very patient tone.
The Poltergeist only responded by making a rude sound. Alexander raised his hand, snapped his fingers, and a shock hit Peeves in the face, throwing him in the air, floating upside down, and cursing madly.
Alexander heard a slight chuckle behind him. He turned to see a young boy, dressed in Gryffindor robes. He seemed to be in first year, but Alexander didn't know him. There was something odd about this boy, although Alexander couldn't tell what. The boy was only chuckling.
"Did you like that?" asked Alexander.
The first year only chuckled and turned on his heels to run down the stairs. He disappeared from view. Alexander, bemused, followed him half convincingly. But he only found an empty corridor. How could have he gone? Alexander extended his senses around him, but found no trace of anybody. What was all this about?
Maybe it was a ghost that Alexander didn't know of? After all it was usual stuff here.
He would have to ask Nearly Headless Nick about this boy.
"You see," said Harry. "The wrist must be a little higher. And the whipping flick of the wrist should happen at the moment you pronounce the 'fy'."
He was back in the courtyard, surrounded by a group of students who had stayed behind for the vacation. They were the ones who had been practicing on the shield spell, the day before. Young Corey Wintrick Was still tutored by his friends and when Harry had walked by them in the afternoon, he had resumed the impromptu training session that he had begun with them earlier.
They were working on the stunning spell, a defence move that Harry had found very effective and safe to use, no matter the age of the fighters. So he was showing them ho to perform it. Corey was making steady progress, and his chest was puffing up in pride each time Harry was making a compliment on his achievements. Harry felt a curious, warm feeling at the idea that he was helping the kid. He was getting back those excellent sensations he had felt back in the days of the DA. And the idea was slowly creeping into his mind. Yes, that would be fine to do this on a daily basis. Harry was slowly admitting that he liked to teach. And like the last time, he caught a glimpse of Dumbledore, looking at him from above. He had a smile. When Hermione joined the little group, he asked her to take over with the counter spell, to end the stunning. Hermione winked at him. Harry had the sneaky feeling that she was making fun of him somehow, because she had that looked that said 'I told you so", a look that she had mastered over the years, so that only Harry would get it. He rolled his eyes, while he was entering the Castle and climbing the stairs to the clock tower, in order to join Dumbledore at the balcony he had been looking on from.
When he reached the elder wizard, Fawkes came to land on the stone railing, with a singing note of greeting to Dumbledore. The Headmaster was distractedly stroking the head of the bird, as Harry joined him.
"Something on your mind, Harry?" he asked.
"Well, since you've been watching me each time I was out with these kids, you must very well know that there is something, Sir," said Harry with a twisted smile. "Did you put these kids up to it, just to prove a point?"
"That would have been so clever of me, Harry," said Dumbledore with a twinkling of his eyes. "I have no false modesty regarding my wits, but I'm afraid that was not my doing. Although I must admit it serves my purpose far better than your chats with Aldwyn. I asked him to convince you to the best of his considerable abilities that you are a good fit for this job, but I think that Mr Wintrick's difficulty with the shielding charm did more to convince you that teaching is something you would like, didn't it?"
"It did," said Harry. "I can't say that I'm completely certain I will accept," said Harry. "I have still some obligations to some people, my club being the most obvious. I must sort out a few things before to give you a definite answer, but I must admit, I'm seeing the appeal clearly, now."
"Good," said Dumbledore. "I wouldn't want you to desert your obligations, Harry. But I'm glad this has at least shown you that you have options regarding the future of your career."
"That's always good to know," said Harry.
"I think Mrs Granger-Weasley is doing a good job at un-stunning the mind of these students," said Dumbledore with a nod to the courtyard, below. "Although, I'm afraid that, on some of the students, her looks may have a far greater impact than her teaching skills."
Harry chuckled at that.
"I think you should go down there, and remind them that if they are caught in the hall, stunning any of their schoolmates, the penalty will be very serious. That's another part of teaching," said Dumbledore. "I will see you at dinner, tonight, Harry."
"Good afternoon, Sir," said Harry, as the old wizard was retreating inside.
Harry's breath formed a white cloud as he stood there, looking over the Hogwarts grounds, thinking that living here would certainly be another appeal, but that he would have to make sure to have warm clothes for the Christmas break.
As he walked down the stairs to join Hermione, he walked into Alexander, who greeted him with a nod.
"So," said Alexander. "Starting to consider a new career, aren't you?"
"It's always possible," said Harry.
"Forget it, Potter, you stand no chance if you even consider turning that offer down," said Alexander with a smile.
"Why would you say that?" asked Harry.
"I have complete faith that Dumbledore can get just anyone to accept to work in Hogwarts," said Alexander. "Without the lure of the castle itself, he has always been very good to use the perfect arguments for each of us. It can be as simple as sending Minerva to convince me or Hermione to join up, or it can be much more intricate, but he'll convince you."
Harry chuckled.
"I guess it's hopeless to try and outwit the man," he admitted. "Not that you would complain about your job, right?"
"Oh, no," said Alexander. "I've been at it for only a few months, but I'm very glad I accepted, by now."
"And Dumbledore didn't put you up to this, of course," said Harry, with a smile.
Alexander seemed to give it a thought.
"Now that you mention it, he could very well have played me to advertise the school to you," he said, his smile turning cunning. "Darn, I played in his hand again!"
"Don't overdo it," said Harry.
"Not my style," said Alexander. "See you tonight, Harry."
"Sure," said Harry, as the Entropist was walking away.
He headed back to the courtyard, to join Hermione and the students.
"So, you think you can convince Harry to settle down here?" asked Alexander to Minerva.
They were walking down the hall leading to her office, as the evening was drawing near. Alexander's mentor looked at him, curiously.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Oh, I'm well aware that the whole invitation of the Weasley family is an excuse to prepare Hermione for the life in the Castle and convince Harry to accept Dumbledore's offer," said Alexander.
"Are we so obvious?" said Minerva, with a chuckle.
"Obvious? Certainly to me because I've known you a long time," said Alexander. "But at worst, Harry should be flattered."
"Well, Albus truly believes that he would be a right pick to teach Defence," said Minerva.
"No arguments from me," said Alexander. "I guess we'll hear the arguments from Snape, though."
"I was mentioning the subject with Hermione, the other day," admitted Minerva. "He's not very pleased with Dumbledore's idea, indeed."
"No surprise, there, and he certainly wasn't pleased about my appointment as teacher, I assume," said Alexander.
"He was reluctant to accept it, though I do not understand why, given your history…" said Minerva.
"Snape has established as personal ethics to dislike anything stepping out of his conception of what a proper wizard should be," said Alexander. "He just loathes the way I'm not fitting any of his criteria."
"Possible," said Minerva.
Alexander stopped suddenly. The child from earlier that day was again standing at the end of the corridor. He locked eyes with him and the kid smiled.
"Alexander?" asked Minerva.
"Who's that kid?" he asked, immediately.
Minerva looked where he pointed, to see the young boy run away, laughing. She frowned.
"He doesn't look familiar," she said.
They both walked to follow him and turned the corner he had disappeared around. The kid was gone. Minerva was as surprised as Alexander.
"I meant to ask Sir Nicholas," said Alexander. "Is there any ghost in here that would be a child? Or a new poltergeist?"
"Not to my knowledge," said Minerva. "Not that it would be impossible, but I would have found out by now."
They searched the corridor and were interrupted not by Nearly-Headless Nick, but by the Fat Friar, Hufflepuff's ghost. He greeted them friendly.
"Is something troubling you, Professors?" he asked.
"Have you seen a young boy running in the corridors nearby?" asked Alexander. "He looks like a first year, but it seems he's not all that he can seem."
"Oh, that one!" said the Friar. "I'm still puzzled of what he can be."
"What do you mean?" asked Minerva.
"Well, it looks like a ghost, but it's more solid," said the Friar. "He doesn't do anything except wandering the corridors, since Halloween."
"Halloween?" said Minerva.
"Yes," said the ghost. "I think I saw him wave at Professor Dumbledore, once, but I don't think the Headmaster saw him."
Alexander was puzzled.
"So it's not a student, and it's not a ghost," he muttered. "What the hell is he?"
"You think this could be a problem?" asked Minerva.
"I have no idea," said Alexander, puzzled.
"So, Harry," said Mr. Weasley with a mischievous smile. "We are going to meet that secret girlfriend of yours, aren't we?"
It was half past seven and the people had started to gather for the Christmas Feast. Everybody in the Weasley clan had made an effort of dressing and even Harry was wearing his green dressed robes. They were settled near the teacher's table, and Harry saw that Mrs. Weasley was looking eagerly at the Door, as if to make sure she would be the very first to see "the girl". He smiled. Mr. Weasley looked at his wife and winked to Harry.
"She should be here any minute now," he said to Mr. Weasley, but loud enough for his wife to give a start and turn her look away from the door, blushing slightly. She couldn't resist very long, though.
And as if to confirm Harry's words, the Great Door opened to let Parvati enter the Hall. Harry stood up immediately to greet her and he joined her before she could even get close enough to Mrs. Weasley to recognise her. Molly's sight was growing weaker with age. Parvati kissed him.
"Happy Christmas, Harry," she said.
"With you here, it should be," said Harry with a grin that made Parvati Chuckle. "Happy Christmas, too. There's someone who wants to meet the mysterious girl described in Witch Weekly as a "very beautiful young lady'."
"Oh, is that so?" said Parvati.
"Yep," said Harry. "Your boss and his wife..."
"Oh, that's it, Harry," said Parvati, feigning annoyance. "Not only do you drag me into battles on our dates, but you want to get me in trouble at work, too?" she chuckled.
"Nah", said Harry. "Molly has just been worried about the rumours that dunghead editor of witch weekly is running about me in his magazine."
"I see. Isn't it a little early for me to meet your family, though?" asked Parvati.
She laughed at the surprised look Harry sent her.
"Oh, come on, Potter," she said. "Everyone knows that the Weasleys have taken you in! I talked to Ginny, the other day. She said that Molly sees you as a son."
"Well, it's kinda true," said Harry, a little troubled. "But I hadn't seen that as an 'introduction to my parents'."
"Neither did I, Harry," she reassured him with an open smile. "I'm just messing with you. It's not like I have never met the Weasleys. I work for Arthur, remember?"
"Right," said Harry.
He had been caught off-guard by this. He had to admit he hadn't considered Parvati meeting the Weasleys having a deeper meaning than that. But he hoped the Weasleys wouldn't draw too hasty conclusions about this. He and Parvati were just at the start. It was certainly too early for Molly to begin make plans. Harry was suddenly worried about that. Wouldn't it mean a pressure on Parvati?
Nonetheless, he took her hand and walked her to the Weasleys. He was aware of all the sights of the students, who were whispering wildly. But he didn't care. The closer they got to Mrs. Weasley's table, the more astonished Molly seemed. She was looking at Parvati as if it was the first time she was seeing her. She knew her, of course, but to see her with Harry was a complete different business.
"Molly," said Harry with a smile. "I'm sure you remember Parvati Patil. She's the mysterious woman in the articles you saw."
Mrs Weasley seemed to be under some kind of shock. But she still smiled warmly at Parvati.
"How are you, Mrs. Weasley?" asked Parvati politely.
That seemed to put Mrs. Weasley's ideas straight. She gave a little start and stood up to kiss the girl's cheek.
"Good, my dear," she said. "It's been too long, actually. I think last time was for the birth of Nymphea."
"That's right," said Parvati, smiling. "How have you been since then?"
"Good," said Mrs. Weasley, sitting back and inviting her to seat in front of her. "So you and Harry… are…"
"Yes," said Parvati with a soft squeeze to Harry's hand and a warm smile. "It's quite recent, though. We're still seeing where it's going. How are you, Sir?" she asked Mr. Weasley, while sitting.
"Very good, Miss Patil, very good," said Mr. Weasley on a very bossy tone and with a wink.
"Oh, by the way, Parvati. I've read your report on the Intrusion in Hogwarts. Excellent work!"
"Thank you, Sir," said Parvati, delighted.
"So Harry," said Mr. Weasley, with a feint reproachful voice. "Are you planning on dating all my best employees or just that one?"
Parvati chuckled lightly, blushing a little at the implied compliment.
"Well, I'll focus on that one, for the moment, Arthur," said Harry, grinning.
"Don't you go checking my London colleagues out," said Parvati, on a feigned severe tone.
"Not to worry, Parvati," said Ron. "I've visited Dad's office. I think you're safe from the competition."
"Meaning?" asked Hermione, suspiciously.
"Meaning that most of Dad's employees up in London are either greying wizards or reconverted Aurors," said Ron, with a grin. "Neither are really Harry's type."
There was a good laugh at that and the mood relaxed. Molly stopped acting like she was under shell shock and resumed an easy going manner with Parvati. She was casual about it, which Harry appreciated, because he didn't want to put any pressure on Parvati.
The feast began in a very enjoyable mood. They were all laughing at the twins' pranks. Harry had a very fascinating conversation with Alexander and Phyllis. The Irish girlfriend of Alexander was a very beautiful lady, with a very good sense of Humour and a rather large knowledge of history of all kind. They discussed a long time on Quidditch events that had been recorded in History.
Later, as he was sitting only with Hermione and Ron, Harry caught sight of a young first year at the Door. He seemed to be very cheerful and he was waving at them joyfully. Harry waved back discreetly and the first year gestured to him to follow. Harry and his friends looked around. No one was paying any attention to them. Parvati was speaking with Corina and Fleur. So they decided to see what this kid wanted. They stood up and left discreetly the Great Hall.
As soon as they were out the dinning room, they looked around them again, but they found no trace of the kid.
"Careful for the jokes, mate," said Ron. "It would be a great way to score in Hogwarts to play a joke on the famous Harry Potter."
"Don't' be so paranoid, Ron," said Hermione.
"Shut up, you two!" said suddenly Harry.
He had caught sight of a very familiar figure on the top of the stairs. The kid had morphed into a hooded figure. A figure wearing a long black cloak, sewed in red and silver. And which was wearing a strange silvery mask. He was walking out of sight. Harry started to run after him.
"Go to Alexander and tell him that the Mask is back!" he shouted over his shoulder.
"Harry, wait!" he heard Hermione call after him, but he didn't stop.
He couldn't lose him. Not again! How could this guy be back in Hogwarts? All the gates were watched and Dumbledore had cast a new spell, which covered all of the grounds, and would signal any strange spell. This time, he mustn't escape, thought Harry, reaching the top of the stairs. He caught a glimpse of the cloak, taking a right turn at the end of the corridor facing him. He went after it, searching his robes for his wand.
He finally pulled it out, as he followed the silhouette for the fifth turn it had taken. It was strange. The cloaked man didn't even seem to run. They were entering a part of the Castle that Harry didn't know. The masked man made another turn. Harry followed closely.
He stopped dead. It was a dead end, except for a door. No trace of the Mask.
The wide Corridor was dark, except for the few torches lighting a path toward the door. Harry felt an odd feeling. He raised his wand and walked to the door. I seemed made of Dark cold steel.
"He went after him?" said Alexander, rising urgently at Hermione's words.
The Vision, he thought.
"Yes, we were following a kid, when…" began Ron.
"Alright," interrupted Alexander. "You go warn Professor Armstrong and then come after me. I'm going to check on Harry."
He ran out of the Great Hall, followed by the eyes of Phyllis, and of the young woman who seemed to be the girlfriend of Harry.
Of course! It all made sense. The first year was no ghost. It was an illusion, created to lure him into a trap. And Harry was walking straight into it. Alexander remembered his vision, back in Russia. He pulled out his wand and gathered his will. That won't happen, he told himself. Not if I can help it.
"Locatio Harry Potter," he enounced.
And a small point of light appeared at the tip of his wand. It pointed to the closest stairs. Alexander flew over them and hurried himself on Harry's trail. His wand was getting brighter and brighter, leading through many right and left turns.
He finally emerged in the wide corridor he had seen in his dream. And Harry was there!
He was standing in front of a door. A dark door made of cold steel. Alexander shivered.
The door cracked and opened slowly, with a loud, sinister creaking.
"Harry!" he shouted.
Beyond the door, Harry only saw darkness and a strange whirl of light, spinning endlessly in what seemed to be a great void. Harry was about to make one step toward the door, fascinated, when he heard Alexander.
"Harry! Get away from that thing!"
As he turned to do so, Harry suddenly felt a force surrounding him. Something he never experienced before. The force was pulling him to the room. He suddenly felt the urge to fight this pull. But the more he resisted, the stronger it grew. A wave of panic swept over him.
Harry tried to stretch out his arm for Alexander to grip it, but in response, something hit him on the back of his head, knocking away his glasses. He couldn't move anymore.
But suddenly, he heard Alexander shout something.
"Accio Harry Potter!"
Another force came to grip him and pull him out of the doorway. A strong, unbelievable force. He saw the vague silhouette of Alexander, his hand pointing at him. And suddenly, Harry felt that Alexander's spell was neutralizing the force from the door. He could not pull back, but he could move. He raised his wand and pointed it to the door.
"Finite Incantatem!" he shouted desperately.
The spinning light seemed to explode and Harry was thrown right at Alexander. The two of them collided and fell to the floor. Harry was the first to get to his feet. He summoned his glasses and put them back to check on Alexander.
He seemed okay, but he was still wincing painfully from the shock.
"Nice one," he said however.
"Accio Harry Potter?" said Harry, eyebrows raised.
"Well, that was worth the try," said Alexander with a smile.
"What was that thing?" asked Harry, still breathing heavily.
Alexander got on his feet and turned to the door. He let out a cry of surprise. Harry turned to see what was happening, and his jaw dropped.
The door was gone, only replaced by a clear wall. Alexander made two elaborate waves of his wand.
"Revelae!" he said.
He scanned the whole wall with the light that went out of his wand.
"It's a pure Chaotic spell. A trap... Very powerful, but once it's disarmed, the energy dissipates," he finally said. "Weird… the energy used seems disproportionate for its purpose."
"Well, from where I stood, it didn't feel disproportionate," said Harry, darkly. "How could it have been set up here? Without anyone noticing?" he asked.
"It's really troubling," said Alexander. "But I have no proof that it is recent, though. Quite honestly, Chaotic Magic is hard to spot in a place like this. Hogwarts is full of permanent spells. The essence of this one is so close to primal power that it can be mistaken as simple energy. The main problem remains that this Mask has somehow entered Hogwarts again."
"When?" said Harry.
"Hold on," said Alexander. "You've been lured him by that young boy I've seen the other day. The Fat Friar said that the boy has been around since Halloween, at least…"
"So that trap could have been laid out during the Reunion," finished Harry. "With many people wandering in the school's corridors, even the most remote ones. All of them without any mask on their faces, but lost in the crowd."
"Right," said Alexander. "But if that's the case, who was it for?"
"What do you mean?" asked Harry.
"I've learned that I would return to teach at Hogwarts only during the Reunion," said Alexander. "Nobody knew it until a few days later. So that trap couldn't have been for me."
"For who, then? The boy morphed into Mask," said Harry. "I know that it's linked to the issue."
Alexander nodded. That was very disturbing, in fact.
"Harry!" suddenly shouted Hermione's voice behind them. "What happened?"
She was running to him with Ron and Professor Armstrong, who seemed puzzled.
"What's going on, Alexander? How could an intruder get in here? Mrs. Weasley says that Harry spotted one."
"He did, sort of," said Alexander. "Somebody had set up an illusive trap and we disarmed it."
"A trap? For who?"
Harry noted that he was going straight to the important point.
"That's something we need to figure out," said Alexander. "But the most important thing is to warn the Headmaster that someone did break into the school. We have to refer to him right now."
He led the way out of the corridor, and Armstrong followed. Harry, Ron and Hermione did too, and Harry explained all about the door and the illusion. Alexander said he had already seen this illusion before but he had thought this was a ghost that he had even chased with McGonagall.
"How do you reckon he could have entered the grounds?" asked Ron at some point.
"I guess that given the elements we have, we can assume the trap was set during the Reunion of former students," said Alexander.
"So that could have been aimed at one of the students, or one of the staff," said Armstrong.
"It's an idea," said Harry. "Maybe Mask wanted to try and get Dumbledore out of his business."
"That's a possibility," admitted Alexander. "Mask must have showed during the Reunion, without his fancy costume and laid out his trap."
"Or hers," said Hermione. "How can we be sure he's a man?" asked Hermione. "Behind that Mask, it could be anyone."
Alexander turned to her.
"An excellent remark, Hermione," he said. "The very nature of Entropy makes it very difficult to find out who is using it. When Aurors use Identity spells to determine who cast a spell, it must be on a spell that takes a lot of someone's personality. Chaotic Spells aren't affected by it."
"I see," said Ron, impressed. "So this Mask could be more than one?"
"Absolutely," said Alexander. "And that makes it even worse. One Chaotician with hostile intentions is worrying enough. More than one and you get a recipe for disaster."
When they reached the Great Hall, they caused quite a commotion. Harry had to look a little pale still, because he got some worried looks.
Hermione looked at him and winced and pointed to his eyebrow. Harry then realised that he had a cut above his arcade, which bled a little. Molly gasped at his arrival, drawing the attention of the Staff and very worried looks from Parvati and Ginny. Parvati got up and swooped on him.
"What the hell happened?" she said, deadly pale.
She looked at the bleeding cut on his forehead.
"Trying to get a matching set, are you?" she said, poking at his lightning scar. "What happened?"
"Easy, Parvati," said Alexander, very seriously. "Give him time to explain."
He turned to Dumbledore.
"Something very serious has come up," he said.
Dumbledore nodded and preceded everyone in the room at the right of the teacher's table. Harry knew this room very well. This was the room where the Champions of the Triwizard Tournament had gathered after the judgment of the Goblet of Fire.
Harry had no time to dwell on memories, because Parvati was fussing over his injury.
"You show an impressive lack of common sense," she said, on a low tone, as she pushed him around to dab at the wound with a clean cloth.
Harry was forced into a seat, and Parvati and Molly were working on him, while Alexander recounted the events for Dumbledore and the others. When she heard that Harry had gone after the illusion on his own, Parvati's next dab at his wound was a little painful.
"Ouch," he said.
"Serves you well," she said. "You can't keep doing this!"
"Doing what?" he asked.
"Putting your life at risk," said Parvati.
"All I did was to follow a kid," said Harry, patiently.
"Yeah, right, even when he turned into a masked wizard who likes to send killing curses at people," said Parvati. "Seriously, Harry…"
"What do you want me to say?" asked Harry.
Parvati had a sigh.
"Nothing, I suppose," she said. "I can't even really blame you for this, which pisses me off even more."
Harry winced at her next dab at his cut.
Meanwhile, Alexander had finished telling Dumbledore of the event and the Headmaster was now staring into the fire, looking thoughtful.
"It's very possible that Mask also saw you as a threat, Headmaster," said Alexander. "He may have set up that trap for you."
"That would suppose a very carefully laid plan," said Dumbledore. "But for what?"
"That's what is puzzling me," said Alexander. "He acted twice near Hogwarts, each time with a completely disproportionate amount of magic. He used a lot to create this trap. And then he created that ludicrously powerful light column just to lure me out. At least we know that he was after me, back then. But why?"
Professor McGonagall, who had been absent when they had returned to the Hall, entered suddenly, looking in a hurry.
"Albus! Tallmount has sent an owl to me. London is in turmoil. They encountered trouble in the Ministry. In the department of Mysteries. They wish the presence of Alexander as soon as possible."
It was so unusual that everyone in the room exchanged surprised looks.
"I'm sorry, Minerva, but something happened here that requires Alexander's presence here, right now," said Dumbledore.
"They seem to be aware of that, Professor," said McGonagall. "Tallmount says that his problem is linked to ours. He also said something I do not understand."
"What?" Alexander stood up.
"Something which he destined to you. He says you should understand. He says that the Seal is showing some agitation. And that the last surge had its origin in Hogwarts."
Dumbledore's eyes suddenly narrowed. Harry was a little puzzled, but what shocked him was the reaction of Alexander.
The Entropist had suddenly gone pale, and then his eyes seemed to flash in anger. He clenched both fists and teeth. He began to pace the room, his hands starting to glow in a threatening light. At some point, while everyone was looking at him in worry, he caught a grip on his breath and his hands, which ceased to glow. But he turned his eyes to a chair nearby and suddenly it flew into one of the trophy displays, shattering the glass. Alexander had sudden scream of rage.
Harry, Ron, Hermione and the others, were completely aghast. This was like a completely different man standing before them.
"They have it! The irresponsible, lying, unconscious idiots! They have it. Damn them to Hades!" he was roaring.
"They have what?" asked Harry cautiously.
It was Dumbledore who answered.
"The Seal of Chaos," he said.
Harry could tell by the sound of his voice that he was pretty upset himself. Professor McGonagall put her hand on her mouth, stupefied. Armstrong was looking thunderstruck. Even Hermione seemed to know what it was about. Harry looked at Ron, who shrugged.
"What's the Seal of Chaos?" he asked.
Dun, dun, dun! Well, here we go. From this point forward, things get serious...
Hope you liked that one.