Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. JK Rowling does. I'm just an avid fan.
Word Count: 2248 (A short one today, sorry folks) Don't forget to vote for your favorite chapter! The link to the poll is in my profile.
Chapter 31: The Nighttime Stroll
Cadmus couldn't get his mind off the egg that Thursday night. He tossed and turned every time one of his year mates snored loudly. A silencing charm didn't help because the moon outside shined brighter than ever before. As Cadmus lay on his back, he stared at the top of his four-poster bed and contemplated how he was going to do during the second task. The thought of diving into an unfamiliar lake with merpeople and other water creatures seemed daunting. Being underwater was a disadvantage, which meant he needed to use a lot more effort, and he wouldn't be as powerful in water than on land. What if he got attacked by grindylow and couldn't retrieve the thing he was after? What if he wasn't able to remain underwater for too long and therefore went past the time limit?
Cadmus wanted to take his mind off some of his gut-wrenching thoughts, so he decided to take a little night stroll past curfew. It was late, but there weren't many people patrolling the castle tonight, so Cadmus grabbed his wand, the map, and as an added precaution before he left, he cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself plus a silencing charm on his shoes. Before he stepped out of Harvard Tower, he checked the map. No one was guarding the fifth and seventh floor.
Cadmus slipped past the portrait door and breathed in the fresh air. The January weather outside was bitter cold, but the castle had warming spells placed inside so the students wouldn't freeze to death. Cadmus strolled through the seventh-floor corridors and slowly made his way down the moving staircases to the fifth floor. The portraits along the castle walls were snoozing, so Cadmus was extra careful not to wake them up.
He was perched near a window on the fifth floor, watching the night sky and the outline of owls flying in the distance when he picked out a strange distant noise. It was coming from the door a couple of feet away from a statue of Boris the Bewildered. Cadmus saw the door creak open slowly and close, but there was no one coming out of the room. It must have been a trick of the eye. But there was no wind outside to push the door open, nor did anyone emerge from the inside. Unless...someone was invisible.
Suspicious, Cadmus quickly pulled out the map from inside his pocket and opened it. His eyes scanned before it settled on the fifth floor. Just five feet away from him was the footprint of Jamie Potter.
A deluge of thoughts swam in his mind. What was Jamie Potter doing out past curfew? Cadmus' eyes trained on the empty air, hoping to see any sign of Potter's location in real-time. Jamie Potter was out past curfew, up to who knows what. But Cadmus hadn't expected anything to happen until he saw the footprints of Jamie Potter on the map stop and then followed by the words, "Who's there?" Cadmus' blood ran cold, a shiver coursing through his body, did Jamie Potter sense his presence? Cadmus inched towards the staircase and tried to tiptoe down.
There was a moment of tense silence. "I know you're here, Flamel. I have a map." Cadmus heard Jamie Potter hissed quietly. Cadmus froze in the middle of the staircase but did not move. He wondered what he should do. Cadmus hadn't counted on being caught sneaking out past curfew, so there were no backup plans. He didn't know what to do the next second because he heard and saw a golden egg appear suddenly in thin air and fell down the staircase, banging into every step with a loud thud until it rolled to a stop at the fourth-floor platform. Luckily the egg didn't crack open and wail. Cadmus heard Potter curse and then a cloak slip off, exposing a rather nervous-looking Jamie Potter. Cadmus didn't know what he was doing or why he had the sudden urge to do it, but he quickly walked over to Jamie Potter, invisible, and grabbed the cloak.
"What are you doing!?" Jamie Potter hissed as he tried to wrench his leg from the trick step. Cadmus didn't respond at that moment because he threw the cloak over Potter, causing a small gust of air to make Potter's map fly up a couple of stairs.
"Whatever you do, keep silent," Cadmus said, barely above a whisper. Then he quickly dashed to hide in a safe corner on the platform, squeezed between two stone columns. If Jamie Potter got caught out of bed past curfew, Potter would surely snitch on him and drag him along to punishment. He only hoped that Jamie Potter was smart enough not to make a scene out of this. Not long after, they heard the unmistakable sound of someone approaching.
"PEEVES!"
Cadmus saw a middle-aged man with grey hair quickly arrive at the scene. "What's this racket? Wake up the whole castle, will you? I'll have you punished, Peeves, I'll…what's this?" The man which Cadmus identified as Argus Filch, the Hogwarts caretaker, apparently spotted Jamie Potter's golden egg at the bottom of the staircase, which rested just a couple of feet away from Cadmus.
"Egg?" Filch said quietly, as he turned towards his cat, "This is a Triwizard clue! This egg belongs to a school champion! Oh, you pilfering poltergeist, you've stolen a Triwizard clue! Dumbledore will have you out of here for this..." He picked up the egg and headed towards what Cadmus assumed to be Dumbledore's office. Cadmus held his breath in as Filch stealthed past him and up the staircase. As much as Cadmus thought it was over, a silky flat voice came from the fourth floor.
"Filch? What's going on?" Severus Snape appeared, dressed in a long grey nightshirt, looking livid.
"It's Peeves, professor. He threw this egg down the stairs," Filch replied malevolently. Cadmus felt his heartbeat thump faster as Snape climbed up the stairs past him and stopped beside Filch.
"Peeves? But Peeves couldn't get into my office…" Snape said softly, staring at the egg in Filch's hand like it was some kind of threat to him. Cadmus listened as Snape ambiguously explained the intruder that had raided his cupboard door. Cadmus looked at his map, the faint outline of Barty Crouch departing from the dungeons only confirmed Snape's suspicions. As Snape and Filch argued over whether Dumbledore should know or search for the intruder, Mad-Eye Moody appeared at the scene, wearing his traveling cloak over his nightshirt.
"Pajama party, is it?" he growled up the stairs, his left eye rolled around madly.
"Professor Snape and I heard noises, Professor," said Filch instantly. "Peeves, throwing things around as usual and then Professor Snape discovered that someone had broken into his off-" But Filch was sharply cut off by Snape, who snapped at him to shut up. Cadmus noticed that as Moody walked closer, his magical eye swept over Snape and landed briefly on Jamie Potter's location. Moody could see past invisibility cloaks. That was when Cadmus remembered that Moody had seen his invisible wand holster on the evening of the Yule Ball. It was a creepy yet mysterious experience. Cadmus could see the wheels turning in Moody's brain as he connected all the pieces.
Then Moody's lopsided gash of a mouth opened in surprise. "Did I hear that correctly, Snape? Someone broke into your office?"
"Yes, that is unimportant, we have an intruder running loose in this castle, who could be the very same idiot who entered Harry Potter's name into the goblet!" Snape said impatiently. Moody's smile seemed to falter as though he knew something about it before he growled.
"Get back to bed, Snape. The search for the intruder can wait until tomorrow. You dropped something by the way.." Moody said, pointing to Jamie Potter's map. In a stab of horror, Camus realized that one wrong move and they would discover him. Snape reached for it, a horrible expression of dawning comprehension on his face. Cadmus's heart hammered in his chest; it seemed as though Snape had recognized Jamie Potter's map before. To Cadmus' relief and possibly Jamie Potter's, Moody had summoned the parchment to himself, "My mistake. It's mine - must have dropped it earlier today."
Snape was silent, but Cadmus could see that he was putting the map and the egg together before he suddenly said, "Potter." "Potter! That egg is Potter's egg. That piece of parchment belongs to Potter, I've seen it with him before! Potter's here, in his Invisibility Cloak!" Then Snape stretched out his arms as though he was trying to feel for something and walked around. He was approaching the spot where Jamie Potter was trapped in, so close. It was Moody to the rescue again because he accused Snape of jumping to conclusions and having an unhealthy obsession with trying to punish Jamie Potter.
Finally, Snape swept downstairs to his office without another word, and Moody managed to take the egg from Filch. When Filch and Snape were beyond earshot, Moody climbed laboriously towards Jamie Potter and muttered, "Close shave, Potter."
"Er, thanks," Jamie Potter responded. Moody seemed very interested in Potter's map and Crouch, so when he asked to borrow it, Cadmus narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Jamie Potter let Moody borrow the map without hesitation. Gosh, you don't just go around handing your possessions to adults. Jamie Potter seemed to not have any qualm with trusting adults.
"No problem, laddie. What's your reason for being out past curfew? I'm guessing you weren't just taking the egg for a walk tonight," Moody said to Jamie Potter thoughtfully.
"No," said Jamie Potter. "I've been working out the clue." Cadmus was now listening with rapt attention. Jamie Potter worked out the clue too? And here he thought he was ahead of all the other champions.
Moody winked, "Nothing like a nighttime stroll to give you some ideas. See you in the morning, Potter." Before Moody walked away, however, his left eye roamed the area and caught sight of Cadmus hidden between the two stone columns. Moody's eye flashed angrily for a split second as though he was angry that Cadmus was present before Moody softened his features and descended the stairs. With Moody out of sight, Cadmus let out a sigh of relief before he slipped out of his hiding spot.
Cadmus tiptoed towards Jamie Potter and pulled off the cloak. "Hey, Flamel. Would you mind-" Jamie Potter said, pointing to his trapped leg. Without a word, Cadmus took hold of Potter's arms and pulled, freeing him from the trick step. Jamie Potter situated himself and said, "Thanks for getting me out of trouble."
"No problem," Cadmus responded, shocked that he was having a civil conversation with the boy he disliked for some time.
"Snape has it in for you, eh?" Cadmus remarked after an uncomfortable silence.
"Yeah, Snape hates my guts. Would do anything to get me in trouble," Jamie Potter said wistfully before he turned to Cadmus. "Can you show yourself? It's kind of awkward talking to air." Cadmus laughed and canceled the Disillusionment Charm on himself. Jamie Potter stared at him, and Cadmus stared back during a moment of mutual silence.
"You look like my brother," Jamie Potter blurted out. Cadmus stared weirdly at Potter. What on earth was he going on about? Cadmus decided to keep silent to know more about what Jamie Potter thought about him. "He would be your age, you know. I never got to know him well enough because he disappeared when he was 9. I don't blame him either, mum and dad treated me better than him, so it probably caused some hard feelings." Cadmus thought it was strange that Jamie Potter was revealing private information to a student he just got to know. Not wanting Jamie Potter to hate him for not speaking, Cadmus tried to provide some comforting words, something that he found hard to do when it was his 'brother.'
"I'm sure he will understand. Time can help those who heal," Cadmus wisely said. It was only partially true because when he became a part of the Flamel family, he had learned to forget his past life. But it never meant that he would forgive what Lily and James did to him.
"Yes, I guess that's true," Jamie Potter responded, nodding his head. Cadmus nodded his head too. Cadmus decided that it would be best that he returned to the dorms for some sleep.
"Well- I must be off to bed now. You might want to cast an Anti-Slip charm on your egg next time you go for a stroll." Cadmus laughed at his joke before he turned around and headed for his dorms. When he was about halfway up the stairs, Jamie Potter called out for him. Cadmus spun around.
"Hey, does this mean we're friends?" Jamie Potter questioned with a small smile on his face.
"Maybe, depends on whether or not I beat you in the tournament" Cadmus shot back jokingly with a grin, "You better watch out Potter, I am going to win no matter how much you try to hinder that."
Jamie Potter watched with a faint smile on his face as Cadmus Flamel climbed up the staircase. He shook his head in disbelief, he expected Flamel to be snobby and self-centered, but Flamel was the complete opposite. Flamel had gotten him out of trouble when Flamel could have just left the cloak and ran off. The last fleeting thought Jamie had before he too made his way to his dorms was the fact that Cadmus Flamel's name on the map had a little asterisk at the end.
A/N: Nice ending to the chapter, don't you think? I just love the character of Alastor Moody and his sarcasm. So a coincidental nighttime stroll causes a little encounter between Cadmus and Jamie. Cadmus now knows what his 'brother' thinks of him and maybe that would change his perception of Jamie Potter. The ending serves as a little foreshadowing, will Jamie use the information and dig deeper to find out that Cadmus is his brother or will he ignore it and miss out on a chance to fix their sibling relationship? The next chapter will be about the Hogsmeade visit (Cadmus and Daphne's first date). I'm not sure how it will turn out but I'm excited. You know what to do. Spam that review section, please!
Stay safe and happy,
mintloveme523