Piccolo wandered around the castle's boundary, hiding with the help of the forest's enclave. He knew something was wrong with his apprentice and he needed to know what it was. The way Gohan had acted a few days ago was something unacceptable from a boy like him. While he knew Gohan still had problems gaining mental control over his ascended form, he knew the boy was a professional in controlling his base form. And then he had felt bit darkness inside him, a kind which he had never felt before. It was in very small traces but it was there and Piccolo knew he needed to save Gohan from it but first he needed to know what it actually was.
The night's darkness helped Piccolo to stay almost invisible. He also had to lower his ki so that Gohan would not be able to pick him up and so he was not flying but was on foot, his senses on high alert. As he walked out of the jungle and stepped a foot on the school grounds he materialised himself to be invisible, a Namekian ability of which he was thankful for. He never knew he could do it until after he had merged with Nail. Tracing the ki of Gohan led him towards the outside of Gryffindor tower. He knew it was where Gohan lived in the castle.
As Kami was a part of him now it wasn't difficult at all for Piccolo to get inside the castle. The hallways and corridors were lit with torches but it was all vacant. Since winter was approaching fast the students found it better to comfort themselves into the warmth of their respective common rooms or dorms. That made things easier for Piccolo.
Reaching up to the portrait he wondered how to get in. He could always blast the entrance but that would draw attention, something which he desperately wanted to be spared from at the moment. That left him with no choice but to wait for someone to open the entrance from the inside. It was twenty minutes later that he felt someone coming out and stepped aside from the path. Though he was still invisible, he was also not tangible and people could feel him if he came in contact with them.
"...I didn't join him tonight," Harry said as he and Neville walked out of the common room and into the empty corridor. Piccolo recognised Harry and also Neville. The later used to train with the two boys a few times at night. If these two were here then that meant that Gohan was training alone tonight. But that was weird as Piccolo hadn't seen Gohan in the forest. The forest was all quiet with any signs of any recent training.
"You know, I've got a bad feeling towards this," Neville said, a bit nervous on his own.
"I have the same feeling, too, Neville," Harry said. "He is behaving rather oddly and from what I can feel, Gohan is not himself at the moment. I am worried whether he'd do anything bad."
As Piccolo watched the two boys vanish into the darkness of the corridor he pondered over the words Harry had said right now. Even the boys were suspicious of Gohan's behaviour and that could only confirm Piccolo's worry for his student. Not wasting any more time he walked inside the common room with the portrait now being open and straightaway climbed the stairs leading him to the boys' dormitories. Finding Gohan's dorm wasn't hard as he was tracing the dark ki he had felt since long before inside his student. The source led him to Gohan's trunk. His own self told Piccolo to just open the trunk and take out whatever it is that was giving off the ki but the more experienced and patient form of Kami within him told Piccolo to just pick up the entire trunk, take it away from the castle and then scan it in some safe place so that no others would be in danger. Piccolo liked that idea and so he picked up the trunk and came right out into the school grounds and headed for the forest when he felt Gohan's ki. The boy was inside the forest.
00000
Harry heartily wanted to thank Susan Bones who had told Neville to tell Harry that he would get the clue for the next task when the dragon egg would be submerged in water and a little investigation later the two boys realised that the prefects' bathroom would be a lot safer and comfortable place to perform the job rather than in the Black lake and so the night had these two boys heading for the prefects' bathroom when Harry's voice told Neville to stop. 'They weren't near the bathroom so why would Harry tell them to stop?' thought Neville.
"What is it?" Neville asked.
"The map is showing Cormack in this corridor," Harry said, pointing to the corridor which turned right a couple footsteps away from them.
"What is he doing out this time?" Neville asked.
"I don't know," Harry said when he looked a bit closer on the map. "And he isn't moving. Looks like he's standing there, probably waiting for someone?"
"Got lots of hormone filled teenagers snogging around in these corridors in late hours," Neville mumbled.
"I don't think that's the case here, Neville," Harry said. "You have my cloak, right?"
As the two turned towards the corridor hiding under Harry's cloak the scene in front of them was bone chilling. On the floor lay Cormack, all bloodied and unconscious. Throwing away the cloak the two boys ran towards their senior.
"What happened to him?" Neville asked, a bit panicked by the scene.
"I have no idea," Harry said. "Maybe he was ambushed? Cormack?" he shook him but the boy gave no response. "We need to take him to Pomfrey."
"You know, given the time and circumstances, she'll think we were the ones to attack him," Neville said as he helped Harry pick up their senior.
"We will say the truth," Harry said. "I will tell her how I overheard someone from Durmstrang speaking that one could reveal the clue from the egg by dipping it in water and so I was going to the prefect's bathroom when I found Cormack and called you for help."
"Would that suffice it?" Neville asked. "And who did this to him?"
"Only he can tell us but that's only possible when he is awake," Harry said. "Come on, let's take him to Madame Pomfrey."
00000
Piccolo lay unconscious on the forest floor, the black stone in his hand and Gohan's trunk left open a few feet away from him. He could not stand before whatever it was that had attacked him. it only felt wrong, this ki. Its darkness had made Piccolo run away but as brave as the Namek was, he had decided to stay and fight. From what this hooded figure had told him about, whatever it was that Gohan was feeling right now was due to this dark stone which Piccolo had found in the trunk. And now he lay unconscious from the attack he had received from this hooded creature.
"I can sense you have a fascinating ability from the race you belong," the figure said to the unconscious Namekian. "And this ability will be very useful for me in the upcoming war so I thank you for sharing this gift with me, Piccolo."
The figure bent down to pick up the stone. It also scraped a tiny amount of the green flesh from Piccolo's arm before standing up. It then picked up a random wine piece from the forest floor before turning it in a portkey and then throwing it on Piccolo who vanished as soon as the wine piece landed on him.
The hooded figure remained standing there for a moment before apparating away without a noise.
00000
The fact that Cormack didn't remember who had attacked him worried the staff members. He didn't even know that he was assaulted and beaten almost to his death. All he remembered was that he was in his common room just before the curfew hours were about to begin and then he found himself in the hospital wing with his body aching wherever possible.
Dumbledore now had another problem on his head. An attack like this, especially when Hogwarts was hosting the tournament, it only brought bad name to the school and his governance over it. He knew the Prophet would somehow know of it and with things already slipping off of his hands he never even attempted to tell his staff to not discuss this with anyone.
As per Dumbledore's fear the news was published in the next day's Prophet with Skeeter questioning over Hogwarts' security and how something like this might happen again. The more worrying situation was for the students of Beauxbatons and especially for Fleur and Gabrielle who were the daughters of their country's Minister. And it was not even possible for their father to not know of it. Someone informed him about the situation and the next day Minister Delacour was in Hogwarts with a team of his most trusted aurors. Dumbledore tried to talk him out of it but he never listened to him. All of this was just too much for the old man and like most of the times he let McGonagall handle the situations, much to the deputy headmistress' displeasure.
Harry and Neville were worried as well. Gohan was acting even weirder after Cormack was attacked. They were sure Gohan knew something about the attack as whenever they talked to him about it he would try to divert the subject, making the two boys suspicious.
As the days passed the Ball night finally came with everyone preparing for the dance they'd all been waiting for.
Hermione found it a bit hard when Harry and Neville told her to be a bit careful around Gohan. When she asked them why they told her about their suspicions. Hermione could only agree with them as she, too, had seen a change in Gohan's behaviour in the last couple of weeks. The three agreed to stay in sight of each other. When Harry would initiate the dance with the other three champions, Neville would keep an eye on Hermione and Gohan.
Piccolo never told anyone what he had discovered in Gohan's school. He knew there won't be any outcome of it as only he could enter this magically hidden world and that too, because of Kami's form inside him. Other Z warriors weren't magical in any way and so they could not even see what they would be dealing with. So if they were helpless in the matter, it would only be wise to not tell them about the situation. He knew them all and they were irritating most of the time. Especially Chi Chi, who would go hyper once she comes to know about her son's condition. Though he had Told Dende about it along with Popo and they could be called for help but neither of the two had any fighting experience and so in the end it was all up to him.
Piccolo knew Gohan's two friends were suspicious of his behavioural change and seeing how this Harry Potter was almost at par with Gohan's Super Saiyan form, the boy could prove to be very helpful in case Piccolo was injured as he knew Gohan still struggled in his ascended form and once it comes to that, there won't be any stopping to it. Vegeta might be their last resort but currently that hot head was travelling space, training to surpass Goku and Gohan so there wasn't much choice left to him.
00000
Barty grumpily sat on the head table, alone as he had no interest in this sort of things. He was thankful the real Moody wasn't that social or else people would have asked him to have some fun tonight. What his master had told him, all this effort meant no meaning anymore. If the dark lord was to be resurrected without the help of the boy then he was merely wasting his time inside the castle. Feeling the tinge of the potion wearing off he simply took out a small flask of the polyjuice and took a sip from it.
Harry joined Fleur, Krum and Cedric in the queue waiting for the doors to open. They had to initiate the dance as it was tradition. Standing at the very last in line he felt his grip tighten around Luna's arm.
"Sorry," he said slowly when he realised he was holding Luna's arm a bit too tightly.
"It's alright, Harry," she said, unfazed. "I know you are troubled about the dance and about Gohan."
This took him by surprise. "What do you mean Gohan?" he asked.
"That he is acting a bit weird? Hogwarts informed me about it the same time you and Neville realised it as well," she said. "And yes, he was the one to attack Cormack and Krum."
"Krum? He also attacked Krum? But when?" Harry asked, too baffled and shocked to know this all.
"That day when you and Neville dared him to ask Hermione to the dance," she said. "He came inside the castle, tracking her and found her in the great hall, Krum talking to her. He was trying to ask her for the dance to which she denied. Krum got angry and secretly followed her out of the castle and was about to attack her when Gohan intervened, taking him to the forest and fatally harming him before restoring his health back as a last warning to stay away from Hermione."
"But why would he do that?" Harry asked.
"The castle said that Gohan is not actually in his own. It's like someone is possessing him," Luna said.
"If that was it then I could've felt it a little," Harry said. "Gohan's taught me how to sense ki and though I know it very less I can sense Gohan and his ki very well whenever he is near me."
"Whatever it is that's messing with Gohan, it is very strong," Luna said. "She is worried about it as she alone can't help him."
"So what do we do?" he asked.
"The founders have told me that on the night when the castle's magic was almost ripped off, fake Moody came under someone's control, went into your dorm and placed something in Gohan's trunk."
"The founders can see everything?" he asked.
"They are the Founders, Harry," she said. "They know and see everything inside the castle."
"Then they'd surely know who it was that almost absorbed Hogwarts' magic?"
"With everything they have, it is not possible to keep record of things when you face something with such darkness and power of whatever it was that came inside the castle that night," she said.
"Alright, then," Harry said. "So there's something in Gohan's trunk and that is what is controlling him."
Luna nodded when they were informed that it was time for them to enter the hall. The two readied themselves.
"Please keep an eye on Gohan when I can't," he pleaded.
"Don't worry," she said with a smile as the doors leading to the great hall opened and the two walked in.
00000
Thanks for reading...
