Chapter Ten: The Duplicate

Once classes started up again, it got more difficult for Spencer and Cristo to sneak to the caves to take care of Silver. Luckily the bird has been improving, one of it's injured wings has completely healed while the other is in the right direction to get to that point. The only wound that didn't seem to be healing in the slightest was the burn across it's chest. They tried a lot of remedies they learned from the books Cristo got at the library but nothing seemed to work. It made Spencer want to get an adult to help but Cristo was stubborn. He would just shove the book on thunderbirds in Spencer's face and have him read aloud the section that highly emphasized how paranoid wild thunderbirds were towards humans.

"Maybe this one's different," He would argue. "He acts fine around us."

"I have my theories," Cristo would say.

"Are you going to share these theories?"

"Nope. We can take care of Silver ourselves, stop worrying so much."

So when school started, Spencer and Cristo would start sneaking to the caves by themselves. Cristo get up early to would check on Silver before breakfast and Spencer would check on him before dinner. Of course his disappearance didn't go unnoticed by his friends. Andrew in particularly seemed the most suspicious as to why he seemed to always be disappearing after classes were let out. He never told him why, but when he started not talking to him, Spencer asked Tiarah what was wrong.

"It's really dumb," she tells him. "But he thinks you're secretly meeting with the Tsoshie clan to get better at quidditch."

"I'm not though," He defends. He hadn't really talked to any of them since the dinner during break, except for Ahiga and Mara. Ahiga had come up to him the next day and mumbled an apology while Mara would talk to him all the time during meals at the hall. He was glad Cristo ate at another table, because he's sure he would get made fun of for the way he blushed every time Mara smiled at something he said.

"Well that's what he thinks," Tiarah tells him. "He really wants to join the team next year and since there isn't that many spots open he's starting to freak out."

"That's so dumb." Even if he was training with Mara and her siblings, why would that be wrong? If anything he should be jealous of Andrew, who at least got to practice on his skills over break. Spencer hasn't been able to do anything like that since taking care of Silver. The pair headed into Defense Against the Dark Arts, where Andrew continued to ignore him. It was really starting to bother him and it showed in his work. They were supposed to be perfecting their Shield Spells, but Spencer couldn't even focus enough to answer Professor Murphy's question, which he usually always got wrong.

When class ended, he tried to hurry up and leave with Nate when Professor Murphy called him. "I'd like to have a minute Mr. Greylock." Spencer's shoulders slumped as left his friends and followed his teacher to her office. Professor Murphy's office was very much like her, everything was in order and neat. She had a bookcase next to a wall of moving pictures and a small desk which he took a seat in front of. The moving pictures seemed to be from her time as an Auror, as she appeared younger. There was one picture where she was saluting next to an older man with as equally bright red hair as hers, and had the same frown. He couldn't help but notice how familiar the older man looked.

"Is this your father, professor?" he asks.

Professor Murphy glances at the photo and frowns. "It is. He was Head Auror until a few years ago when he retired." She didn't look too happy to be talking about him, so Spencer didn't press the conversation forward. "I think it's time we talk about your performance in my class."

Spencer lets out a sigh. "Ok."

"Besides your poor responses today, you and Tiarah are top of your class when it comes to written assignments," Professor tells him, arms crossed as she stares directly at him. "Unlike Miss Piquery, however, you are among the few doing poorly when it comes to actually performing these spells-"

"I'm sorry," He says. "I promise I'll practice harder."

"Don't interrupt me, Mr. Greylock." Her voice doesn't raise but Spencer shuts his lips tight as if she were yelling. She stares at him for awhile and Spencer wants to sink into his chair. If he doesn't get out soon, he'll be late for Flying lessons and he really needs to practice.

Professor Murphy extends her hand. "May I examine your wand?" she asks. Spencer nods and gives her his wand. She's barely gripped it for a moment when she starts shaking her head. "Did you choose this wand? Or is it borrowed?"

"Yes," he replies. "I mean, no! Er, it belonged to my mother and I decided to keep it instead of getting a new one."

"I knew of your mother. I was a sixth year when she first started Ilvermorny." She continues to examine the wand. "As I was saying earlier, in my days of teaching I'd say the chances of a student knowing how to do a spell perfectly yet executing so lamely is a very rare occurrence."

"It wouldn't be the first rare thing to happen to me," He says, referring to the fact that he was the only wizard in almost a hundred year that was selected by all of the houses of the school.

She looks at him again. Spencer feels like she's able to hear all his thoughts in just one look. "I don't want you to be upset when I explain this but the statues aren't usually wrong. You're a good student, Spencer, and you're destined to do great things...but your mother's wand is holding you back."

Spencer stared back at her disbelief. "What?"

"Her wand didn't choose you so it's having trouble keeping up with how fast your advancing in my class. The fact that it must've been inactive after your mother's death doesn't help either."

"So what are you saying? I need to get a new wand?"

"If you want to grow as a wizard during your time here? Yes." She stands up and Spencer thinks that their meeting is probably over now. Good. He wasn't liking where this conversation was going. He should've just asked her about her father. He takes his wand back and starts heading for the door without saying goodbye. The whole time he took to walk to the quidditch pitch he was staring down at the wand in his hands. Like always, he felt as relaxed as he did when he was younger and his mom would rock him back to sleep. He absolutely loved the idea of having something of his mother's with him as he attended Ilvermorny. He was so young when his parents died so he didn't have nearly as many memories as Lulu and grandpa had. He couldn't get rid of it. And as he finally reached the pitch he made a silent deal with the wand that he wasn't going to give up, they were going to make it work one way or another.

"You're late, Mr. Greylock," Madam Kwon announces. All the other first years from Thunderbird and Horned Serpent were already doing laps around the field. He noticed Cristo was leading the pack as always, but this time Andrew was right on his tail. "I'm benching you today."

"Seriously?" He whined. "But Professor Murphy had me wait after lessons!"

Madam Kwon gave him a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry, Spencer. I won't deduct any points but by the time you stretch and do all your necessary workouts we'll be well into the lesson. Just take notes for today."

He couldn't believe this was happening to him. Feeling his eyes beginning to sting, Spencer quickly turned away and sat down in the stadium. He wasn't about to let the others see him cry. He noticed Andrew watching him and when they made eye contact the other smirked and flew off to continue Madam Kwon's lessons. Now he wanted to punch someone. And he'd very much like that someone to be Andrew for being a moron. A frown remained on his face the entire lesson. When it ended, Madam Kwon asked him to join her in his office. That made him want to scream but instead he followed her into the tiny room. It was a little messier than Professor Murphy's and it was decorated with all kinds of quidditch posters.

"You seemed upset, Spencer. Everything ok?" Madam Kwon asks. Spencer wanted to tell her 'no, everything's not ok because I wanna get better at quidditch but you benched me!' Instead, Spencer actually took a deep breath and explained his meeting with Professor Murphy. Madam Kwon said she was good friends with his mother, maybe she would understand where he was coming from. When he finished telling her everything she walked over to one of her drawers. Before he could ask what she was doing, she pulled up a chair and sat next to him, handing him a picture.

The picture was clearly of her and his mom when they were younger. Madam Kwon was wearing Wampus's scarlet red colors while his mom was wearing dark orange. "My mom was sorted into Pukwudgie?" He asks. Madam Kwon nods and he looks back at the photo. His mom's team was celebrating winning the house cup, it looked like. She was holding the cup in the air and seemed to force Madam Kwon into the picture, who had her arms crossed but smiled anyway.

"I remember that day like it was yesterday," Madam Kwon says. "My team was winning 230 to 70 but your mom pulled a fast one on me and scored twice just before her team's Seeker caught the snitch." Spencer looked away from the photo and saw that Madam Kwon was smiling. "I was so heartbroken but your mom wouldn't let me stay upset. She said 'you taught me everything I know, a win for me is a win for you!'"

"She sounds like an amazing person."

"The absolute best," Madam Kwon agrees. "There have been students here who had to borrow old wands because they couldn't afford their own. But the school's funds help them get their own wands eventually. I've never heard of a student having a borrowed wand for more than a couple of years."

Spencer glanced at his mother's wand in his lap. "So do you think I won't be able to grow as a wizard if I keep using her wand?"

"I think," she says making sure Spencer looks her in the eye. "That as long as you have the determination your mother did, you'll do more than fine."

That made Spencer smile. It was nice hearing about his mother, knowing that there were people who adored her when she was alive. "How come Lulu and I never saw you around? When she was alive, I mean?"

Madam Kwon lost her smile, taking back the photograph and walking behind her desk to put the photo back where it belonged. "Adults can be silly sometimes."

Spencer left Madam Kwon's office even more confused, but at least now it wasn't about what he was going to do with his mother's wand. Did his mom and Madam Kwon get into an argument and stopped talking to each other? These thoughts flooded his mind as he went to check on Silver. The bird had moved on from the glowing insects to small rodents that were unfortunate enough to wonder into it's secluded part of the cave so all Spencer would do is check it's wounds and then give it a melonberry, trying not to lose his lunch at the sight of Silver tearing into it's prey.

As he made his way to the main hall for dinner, he expected to be questioned by Tiarah and Nate again. They would probably wonder what's he been up to and he'd have to lie again. He almost wanted to say Mara was helping him with Quidditch loud enough so Andrew can hear, but the fourth year was eating with her friends so it wouldn't be a lie that anyone would believe.

Instead almost everyone had their Owl's globes out and those who didn't have their own were huddled next to someone who did. It wasn't just his table either, every single house table had students of all ages staring at their globes. Instead of taking out his own, Spencer walked over to Tiarah who was sharing hers with Nate, Gabby, and Braden. "What's happening?" he asked.

"The Masked Shadow was spotted again in North Carolina," Nate informs him. "Says he murdered a government official. President's making a speech now."

Spencer watched Tiarah's globe as a black man in his sixties appeared on the globe's projected screen. "The MACUSA would like to send out it's sincerest regrets to the family of Henry Buckner, who was tragically murdered by the wanted wizard known as the Masked Shadow. I can assure you that a team of Aurors lead by Rurik Hajek, Head Auror, have been formed to hunt down this wizard and bring him to justice."

"Hajek?" Spencer repeats. "Isn't that-"

"Yes," Tiarah interrupts. "He's Dario's dad." Spencer steals a glance at the Wampus table, where Dario is watching his own globe smugly. Shortly after, the Heads of the houses arrived and urged all the students to put their globe's away. After dinner, Spencer quickly went back to his dorm and took out his globe for more researching.

Ever since he found out Mara's mother had been murdered by the Masked Shadow, Spencer had been looking any kind of article of news blog he could find on the globe's internet. The last article had a photo of Mara and her family at her mom's funeral. Spencer had probably looked at the photo the most. It was the only time he had ever seen Mara so sad and Ahiga's face was so red and swollen from crying. Yuma's arm was in a cast and Aha looked older than his fraternal siblings as he somberly held onto Halona as she rested on his shoulder. Mr. Tsoshie was holding onto his youngest son, Mukki, and next to him was an older man with bright red hair and a frown that matched only one other person he knew. Even though he's much older in this photograph, this man was clearly Professor Murphy's father.

It didn't take long for Spencer to look him up. His full name was Arthgallo Murphy and he had been Head Auror for thirty years before he retired. The reasoning behind his retirement caused a lot of speculation, according to all the articles coming up. Almost a year before he retired, Arthgallo had announced he would be creating a team to go after the Masked Shadow, who had just committed their first kill earlier that year.

"My strategy with these criminals has always been a simple one," He said in a clip of his public address. "Take them out before they can pick up any speed. There will be no new Dark Lords rising on my watch."

The clip had a list of related articles next to it, one of Arthgallo Murphy announcing his retirement ten months after his announcement to find the Masked Shadow. During this address a witch stood next to him, one he recognized very well in his web searches. She was Mara's mom, Nina. Spencer glanced at the date of the video, it was made days before Nina would go up against the Masked Shadow. Days before she was murdered in front of Yuma. He couldn't help but wonder that the whole thing was too much of a coincidence. He realized how late it was and decided to put his globe away, before Andrew used his lack of sleep as another reason to hate him.

Friday's classes were dismissed for the winter holidays so the quidditch game between Wampus and Horned Serpent was being held after breakfast. With everything packed for the train later tonight, Spencer decided to take Monsoon with him instead of just keeping her in her cage with nothing to do. Once in the Hall he noticed Cristo wasn't at his table so he finished his plate in a hurry to slipped away to the Black Forest. He kept Monsoon in his arms, not sure how well she'd get along with Silver. When he's outside the first thing he does is glance up at the cloudy, winter sky. It looks like it'll snow, probably already is back at home.

"Spencer!" a familiar voice called out. Spencer turned around and saw Cristo running towards him.

"Oh hey, I was just about to head into the forest," Spencer told him. He takes a mental pause and scrunches up his face. "What's wrong with your voice? Sounds a little deeper."

"I think I'm coming down with something," He explains, clearing his throat. It doesn't help. "Why were you heading into the forest?"

"To find you. Have you fed Silver yet?"

The confusion on Cristo's face made Spencer think the other boy had no idea what he was talking about. "Uh, no?"

Spencer arched his brow. The other boy is usually very responsible when it comes to taking care of Silver, but he figures Cristo has been thinking about the holiday break and let it slip his mind. "Well come one, we gotta stock the cave with enough melonberries for Silver to last at least a few days," He explains, already making his way through the trees. "Who knows how he'll get by afterwards though."

"Right," Cristo mumbles, twitching at almost every sound that was made in the forest. Spencer had grown used to them, he thought Cristo would've too. They get closer to the caves and Spencer can hear a laughter that he shouldn't be hearing. He glances at Cristo, who goes wide eyed as they make it to the clearing.

In front of them is Silver, hovering just slightly in the air to catch a melonberry thrown by a Cristo that is not the one beside him. The Cristo that threw the fruit glances at Spencer and the Cristo next to him and also went wide eyed. Spencer himself starts getting real suspicious and takes a step away from the Cristo beside him. It's obvious that the Cristo playing with Silver is the real Cristo. For one, Silver is already making threatening noises to the impostor Cristo, who didn't seem to know who Silver was earlier. Two, Monsoon really liked Cristo and is currently curling up to the real one. Finally, the impostor is already changing their appearance and within moments, Cristo and Spencer are staring at an embarrassed looking Nate.

"I, uh, can explain?" He says sheepishly, running a hand through his natural brown hair.

"I didn't know you can change your whole appearance, Nate!" Cristo yelled. He didn't seem upset, no, quite the opposite. He was smiling so hard it seemed to make Silver finally calm down.

"Neither did I," Nate confesses. "I'm exhausted, honestly."

"Why did you follow me?" Spencer asked.

Nate hung his head low. "Andrew asked me too. If I didn't do it he would've just gone to Gabby and I kinda wanted to prove I could do it," He explained. "Sorry."

"How'd you get my clothes?" Cristo asked. Nate was talled than Cristo so now his ankles and wrists were clearly visible.

"He payed Melvin Day to go through your laundry."

As Cristo commented on how strange that must've been, Spencer couldn't help but feel incredibly annoyed. "Is he really that paranoid that I'm getting quidditch lessons?!"

"Yeah," Nate answered, craning his head to look at Silver. "But at least I can tell him he has nothing to worry about." Spencer and Cristo exchanged a look as Nate admired the bird, which was making no advancements towards him. Guess this proved that the bird did only trust Spencer and Cristo.

"Nate, you can't tell anyone about this," Spencer tells him. "The bird gets nervous around people so we're taking care of it."

"That mark looks pretty bad though," Nate observes, referring to the burn that didn't seem to heal no matter what medicine Spencer and Cristo tried. "What are you going to do when you're on break?" Spencer had been asking himself the same question as the days to holiday break got fewer and fewer.

"Oh, that's why I've been letting him out of the caves," Cristo answered, scooping Monsoon up into his arms. "It can hunt on it's own now. Although it still can't get very far because it's wing is still wrapped. Silver knows how to return to the cave and everything."

Nate stared in amazement. "I can't believe this is what you guys have been doing. Can I help?" Again, Cristo and Spencer shared a look. It was already risky with just the two of them sneaking off, adding another person would just make what they're doing much more complicated. Then again, Nate being a Metamorphagus did give them the element of stealth. Plus, he was incredible at Charms, Spencer was sure that he could help figure out how to heal Silver's wounds better.

"Sure, but only once we're back from break," Spencer finally says. "Let's talk about it on the way back. The match is about to start and people will start talking if we're not there."

"Plus," Cristo added, petting Silver goodbye with one hand while holding Monsoon with the other. "We should probably get you into your own clothes, Nate."

Nate laughed as he squirmed in the too tight sweatshirt. "You've never been so right." The three boys shared a laugh as they made their way back to the castle, looking back once to see Silver heading back to it's cave with a rodent in it's mouth. As they neared the castle, they could hear footsteps crushing the frozen leaves that had fallen on the ground. Spencer glanced at his friends, if Andrew was the one who put Nate up to spying on them, it could be him coming to check for himself. Spencer didn't mind that, actually. It would give him the chance to give the other boy how annoying he's been acting.

It wasn't Andrew though. Professor Hazazi turned around upon their arrival and smiled. "Good morning, young ones."

The boys stood frozen, not knowing what to do. Spencer had to remind himself that they technically hadn't done anything wrong. They were allowed in the forest during daylight hours and today, particularly, they didn't enter the caves. If Professor Hazazi was suspicious by their silence, she didn't show it as she glanced down at Cristo's bag. "Oh, melonberries! They're quite the snack to have during a game of quidditch. I might help myself to one now." She turns around and starts walking away. "Have a nice holiday, boys."

Spencer doesn't realize he's holding his breath until he lets it out in a big exhale of relief. Nate's hair was now a light shade of gray. "Good thinking on the melonberries, Cristo," Spencer mumbles.

"Well I did bring extra for the match," Cristo admits. "Do you think she thinks we're up to something?"

"Don't know," Spencer tells him. The three of them head out of the forest and towards the quidditch pitch, where the cheers from the students have already started.