Quest of the Seekers: Animals Within
Year Two at Hogwarts
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Chapter 18: Arnold vs. The Seekers
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Jacke, Reggie and Brad ran over to the rock valley and they came up to the entrance to the cave. The entrance wasn't plugged so they were able to hear shouts coming from it and they quickly recognized one of them as Tyler's voice. They started to run into the cave with their wands out and they started shouting.
"Tyler!"
"No!"
"Stop!"
Tyler face looked at them in both shock and joy at seeing his friends. Arnold was just plain shocked. Jacke, Reggie and Brad then raised their wands as one and as one they cast the same spell like they were sharing one mind.
"Averte Stature!"
Arnold was thrown completely off his feet and got thrown all the way into the pond, which was quite a distance away. Normally, a Force Hex would've just thrown him a good five feet but the power of three combined sent him flying into the pond with a big splash.
The spell was lifted and Tyler fell back to the ground free from Arnold's spell. He picked himself up and ran to his friends huffing.
"Jacke...Reggie...Brad...What...what are you guys doing here?"
"What does it look like?" Brad said sounding like a grouch.
"It doesn't take a genius to figure this out Tyler!" yelled Reggie in a way that he was scolding Tyler for doing something.
They heard a groan and then there was blue light that suddenly came from the water and hit Tyler square in the chest. He was forced off his feet and made back contact with the wall. Tyler vision blurred and then everything went black.
"Tyler!" yelled Jacke.
The three remaining seekers ran to him to see if he was okay. Brad took his wrist.
"He's alive, he's just been knocked out for a bit."
"You little brats!"
The three of them turned to find a drenched Professor Arnold with a wand in his hand as he was breathing hard from both anger and shock.
"Professor Arnold," Jacke said with gritting teeth. "You'll pay for what you've put Tyler through this year."
"You can count us in on that statement too Professor!" shouted Reggie as he and Brad brandished their wands and stood side by side with Jacke.
"Well then, I guess that I'll have to teach you what happens when you mess with League business today...Stupefy!"
The red beam went at them but they broke away from each other and easily dodged it. They pointed their wands at Arnold and kept themselves on alert for anything suspicious that he might do.
"Why are you doing this Professor?" asked Reggie.
"I have an even better question for the three of you. Why are you protecting Solemn? He's a parselmouth and you're protecting him?! What's going on in those heads?"
"We could ask you the same question," Brad said bitterly.
"We don't care about him being a parselmouth," said Reggie.
"He's still our best friend even if he could talk to snakes, so what?" finished Brad.
Arnold shook his head in irritation with a look of annoyance on his face. He whirled his wand and said
"Fumes Screen!"
A deep black smoke enveloped Arnold and headed toward the three of them. They started to cough but they tried to keep an eye out for their defense teacher. Then on Brad's right came Arnold's voice.
"Expelliarmus!" Brad's wand flew smack out of his hand landing two feet from his side.
"Argh, my wand!"
"Accio Wand!"
The wand vanished from Brad's sight and Jacke and Reggie were beginning to turn their heads trying to look for Arnold in the smoke.
"Where is he? Reggie do you see him?"
"No, no where."
They then heard laughing but couldn't tell where since the cave seemed to be echoing it.
"You two couldn't possibly be able to overpower me. Solemn didn't do too good of a job and I doubt that two of you will be any better."
Reggie knew there was big truth in those words. As much as they wanted to stop Arnold he knew that they were going to be no match for him. As long as this smoke was still clouding their vision anyway.
'Argh,' Jacke inwardly screamed. 'Can't this smoke get pushed away already. Wait, that's it.'
"Reggie, use you wind powers and blow the smoke away."
Reggie could've slapped himself for not thinking of that solution faster but quickly put it aside so he could manipulate the wind to blow in one direction taking the smoke with it. The smoke receded but they were still squinting to find Arnold's outline but they couldn't see it. The smoke finally moved away but Professor Arnold was nowhere in site.
"Where are you hiding?!" yelled Jacke.
"Come out!" yelled Brad.
"I don't see him anywhere!" Reggie yelled to his two friends.
The moved their heads around but still couldn't find him. Then all of a sudden a shout was heard.
"Expelliarmus!"
Reggie was hit on his wand arm and he spun like a top and lost his wand. Brad ran to get it but Arnold's voice sounded again.
"Accio Wand!"
Brad jumped for Reggie's fallen wand but it was too late. The wand got pulled away and disappeared from sight.
"How is he doing this?" Reggie asked.
"Oh please," said Arnold's voice. "This is just a regular old Disillusionment charm so my body blends in with the cave. You can't find me that easily though. Oh, and it's useless to try and find me Carter" Brad was starting to look around hard for a sign for an outline, "I'm too nicely blended to for you to make out where I am."
"You mean...like a chameleon?"
"Bravo Carter. I would award you points but we're not in that kind of situation are we?"
"Bloody hell, now what are we going to do?"
"Calm down Jacke," said Reggie in a low voice so Arnold couldn't hear. "I think I have an idea. Ready your power, you too Brad. Jacke, give me your wand."
"Okay but what good will it do if we can't find him?"
"You'll see, just get your powers ready."
Jacke handed Reggie his wand and started to concentrate. Jacke and Brad still didn't know what Reggie was planning but if Reggie was sure it was going to work then they would have faith in what he told them to do. Reggie went into his regular dueling stance and then raised his wand.
"Lumos!"
'Lumos?' thought Brad. 'What good is lighting up a wand going to do for us?'
Reggie moved the lit up wand in a complete circle until it seemed to be reflecting off the air. It looked like someone put an invisible mirror to their right and Reggie pointed in that direction.
"He's there guys!"
Jacke and Brad released their powers at Arnold's revealed location. Jacke had his fire set up like a red energy ball and Brad let out his conjured element as a blue beam of hard gushed water. They made contact and the glowing spot in the room made impact with the wall and they started to hear groaning. Then out of nowhere Arnold's body seemed to have melted out of the wall and was on a sitting heap on the floor.
Reggie then handed Jacke's wand back to him. "Thanks for the loan Jacke mate."
"Sure, no problem, by the way, what happened out there anyway?"
"Arnold said that his Disillusionment Charm made him blend in with his surroundings like a chameleon so I changed the area a bit by lighting it up. His body reflected the light so it could blend in with the light I was shining into the cave."
"Reggie," said Brad slowly. "Sometimes, you scare me of how smart you are."
"Well, I am the seeker from Ravenclaw after all."
"And that we won't forget," finished Jacke.
They turned around to go pick up Tyler from the ground where he still lay knocked out. Then Jacke heard a rock being kicked from behind them and immediately ducked.
"Mantculias!"
Manacles were launched at Reggie and Brad and they became pinned to the wall close to the exit. Luckily the manacles that Arnold fired at Jacke flew overhead and missed him since he dropped on instinct.
"Why don't you just hang out right there boys?" Professor Arnold asked in a very obvious joking manner that made them burn with anger and Jacke grit his teeth. "Really, I'm surprised at you three. Solemn being an elemental was one thing but you three as well. I guess you reaped the benefits as having such a dark creature for an ally."
"Arnold, this has to stop!" Jacke yelled.
"Stop? Why in the world are you defending that piece of trash Walker?"
"Tyler isn't a piece of trash. He's my best friend!!"
"Your best friend? Funny how he would accuse his best friend of betraying him huh?"
"What?...How do you know about that?"
"You should've heard him before you guys barged your ways in here. When I revealed myself to being the one who plagued his secret, he immediately accused you of going to me and informing me. In fact, when he listed the three of you as the ones who might've told me your secret the first name he said out of the three of you was yours."
"What?"
"Yes, some best friend huh? Accusing his best friend of deliberately hurting him like that."
Jacke looked at Tyler's helpless form on the ground. He felt anger and sadness welling up inside of him. Part of him was angry that Tyler would dare accuse him of all people to go and publicly endanger him while the sad part understood him pain and mixed in with guilt.
"Really," continued Arnold. "How could you stay friends with him? I know well enough that great Gryffindors such as yourself would never socialize let alone befriend a Slytherin like him. A parselmouth at that, what were you thinking. I guess you thought that it might be exciting to be friends with your house's enemy so you could stand out. You really need to shake off the daze your brain must be in."
Jacke dropped his wand arm to his side and started to actually consider Arnold's words and his question.
"Feeling guilty are we? Well, if you help me bring him in then you're conscious will be clear."
"NO! JACKE DON'T YOU DARE EVEN CONSIDER TO LISTEN TO HIM!"
It was Brad who was shouting.
"YOU CAN'T LET ARNOLD PLAY WITH YOUR MIND. YOU DIDN'T BEFRIEND TYLER FOR WHAT HE IS. REMEMBER? YOU BEFRIENDED HIM FOR WHO HE WAS! THINK BACK JACKE, THINK BACK TO WHEN YOU FIRST MET! YOU TWO DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THE HOUSES YOU WOULD BE IN...OKAY MAYBE TYLER DID...AND MAYBE YOU DID TOO, I ADMIT. BUT YOU TWO BECAME FRIENDS AND DIDN'T EVEN CONSIDER THE POSSIBILITY OF BEING IN ENEMY HOUSES WHEN YOU MET, YOU TWO IMMEDIATELY HIT IT OFF AND BECAME EACH OTHER'S BEST FRIEND."
Jacke mind went into great flashbacks of September 1 1984 when Tyler first walked into his compartment and into his life. How they talked to each other in complete friendship and understanding. Jacke remembered how Tyler, on that day, became his very first friend. Sure, he had had neighbors but it was only friendly interactions when it came to them. Tyler was different. They both just understood each other and that was why they hit it off so well.
Reggie took a turn in screaming to Jacke from his spot on the wall. "THAT'S RIGHT JACKE. ALSO, REMEMBER HOW YOU TWO DIDN'T STOP BEING FRIENDS AFTER OUR SORTING? HOW ALL OF US MADE OUR PACT? TO ALWAYS BE FRIENDS AND TO NOT LET THE DIFFERENCE OF OUR HOUSES INTERFERE WITH US? THE TWO OF YOU HUNG OUT AND PLAYED GAMES TOGETHER LIKE YOU HAD BEEN TOGETHER FOR YEARS! YOU STAYED TRUE TO THE PACT AND BECAME SO CLOSE. TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT. IF YOU SAW IT FROM OUR POINT OF VIEW THEN YOU WOULD'VE BET THAT YOU AND TYLER WERE ACTUALLY BROTHERS!"
Arnold apparently had had enough of their talking. "Oh will the two of you be quiet? Can't you see that I'm trying to get a lesson across here?! Silencio!"
His spell hit Reggie and Brad in their faces and they immediately became mute.
Jacke was starting to fight back tears. How could he have even been considering what Arnold said. Reggie and Brad were right. He and Tyler were like brothers and Jacke had no doubts about that. Sure they had had their arguments but then so did every other pair of siblings. His previous guilt still hurt him but now he had a handle on it and he was going to throw it right back at Arnold's dirty, bloody face!
"You know Professor, you're right about one thing. I am and feeling guilty."
Brad and Reggie's eyes opened in horror. Had they failed to get Jacke to not buy into Arnold's nonsense? Unknown to them, Tyler was starting to stir and was able to hear everything with a little ringing added. But he was still finding it hard to move right now.
"You are huh? Good to see that you were listening." Professor Arnold seemed very pleased.
"I'm not finished Professor. The reason I feel guilty is for the way I treated Tyler!"
"What?!" Arnold said clearly surprised.
"When I discovered Tyler was a parselmouth I felt betrayed. I actually felt betrayed and I was feeling it because my best friend had sacrificed his own secret to save me. I also feel guilty because I tried to shove what he was out of my mind because of everything I have heard when he turned out to be one of the greatest friends anyone could ask for."
Jacke was starting to come to tears but he still had nobility in his voice and continued on.
"Guilty for having hesitation on his family when they turned out to be a nice and caring one...Guilty for doubting him not being evil just because of a stupid stunner surprise in a friendly duel against him."
Jacke stopped to let himself let the tears run their course. Reggie looked at Jacke with a very exhausted expression. His heart beating sadly for his friends. Brad was also in tears as well. His chest hurt from the pain in his heart as well. Jacke's words were really a pang to be held in their hearts and it took a lot for both of them to not shout out in agony of how sad it made them feel.
Tyler was still on the ground and was almost in head condition to get up. But he was still lying in the same position on the ground listening to his friend's confession on his guilty feelings toward him. Tyler also let down tears from his eyes. Not from being angry about him feeling that way but because now he felt guilty for making him feel that way. He released with a heavy heart how wrong he was to accuse his best friend Jacke Walker of ever toying with his life when he is admitting how it's been affecting him.
"I've been killing myself to...understand. Meeting Tyler has changed everything that I have ever thought. I used to think that all Slytherins were power hungry evil gits and Death Eaters in Training...that parselmouths were dark, power addictive, evil people whose sole desire was to destroy and cause sorrow. And...now...meeting someone like Tyler has turned it all upside down. To see not only a Slytherin...but also a parselmouth...to be the greatest friend I could've asked for and one of the greatest people I know...is just too much for me to take in the way that a friend would. He has shown me that there are exceptions to everything especially on this. And now...to see him being hunted down like a snitch at a seeker's reunion for absolutely no reason by you is something that I won't stand around and let happen!! Tyler...A parselmouth...I don't bloody care!!!!"
The hand that didn't have his wand in it was starting to glow red. A fire was surrounding it, which astounded Arnold and the other seekers. Jacke's sadness and anger were making him unconsciously use his powers like when Jacke and Tyler had had that row last year in the empty corridor.
Tyler was the only one not looking at this because he had his face still to the ground but was crying completely out of control. Jacke's finishing words were too much to contain. He didn't yelp or let out crying moans to let them know that he was conscious. He just let the tears roll of his face but was having a hard time breathing quietly.
"I must thank you for one thing Professor Arnold," restarted Jacke. "Thank you for helping me to let out all those feelings that I've been keeping inside. They were killing me and I must show my gratitude."
He immediately let out the fire that was gathering on his hand right at Arnold. He ducked out of the way but the fire turned completely around and headed for Arnold again. Jacke was manipulating the fire even after he had let it go! Arnold got to his feet and started to run away from the flame. He went up against a wall while the flame picked up speed and launched itself for Arnold. Arnold just stayed there frozen at the site of the fire power and then jumped away at the last minute letting the fire disappear when it hit the wall but the damage was done. The wall made a deep impact mark in it.
Professor Arnold immediately raised his wand before Jacke could get a chance.
"MANTICULIAS!!"
The manticules impacted with Jacke and made their ways to his arms where he got pinned right to the right of the exit, next to Reggie and Brad.
"Accio Wand!" said Arnold pointing at Jacke's fallen wand, which flew to his other hand. He then put it in his belt with the other two wands he confiscated from them and pointed his wand at the three chained up wizards.
Tyler had to do something. 'What can I do? If I only had my wand...wait...where is my wand. I remember that I had it until Arnold levitated me and...' Then he suddenly remembered. 'I dropped it right around here.'
He started to move his limbs to find some sign of it when his right arm touched a wooden stick – his wand.
"Now," said Professor Arnold. "I think that you two may have been a little bit dosed with a potion to believe these false feelings of friendship for this scum here," pointing to Tyler's seemingly limp body. "But don't worry, not something that Healers at St. Mungo's can't fix. I'm just going to have to stun you three so you can't hurt yourselves."
Just as Arnold started to raise his wand a voice sounded in Tyler's head. 'Now!'
He immediately got up picking his wand from the floor and shouted with all his might, "REDUCTO!"
The top of Arnold's wand disintegrated right there in an instant while the rest of his spell hit the wall over Arnold's head.
"Sorry boy but that didn't help you out in the slightest."
Arnold then went for one of the wands that he confiscated from his friends when they heard a rumbling sound. It seemed to be coming from above. Arnold moved his head to the ceiling when all of a sudden it crumpled right on top of him and killed him.
The whole cave's ceiling started to shake now and the cave seemed to be crumbling.
"Hold on guys," Tyler said moving over to them where they were still shacked to the wall. "I'll get you guys out. Snipiero!"
An orange streak was made and it cut the manacles right off of Jacke who landed feet on the ground level. Tyler repeated this spell twice more and then Brad and Reggie were free.
They didn't have time to rejoice because pieces of the roof were coming down and parts of the cave started collapsing.
"Let's move!" yelled Tyler.
They hurried and crawled out of the cave just in time to see a trail of rocks bulldoze their way and plug the entrance. Then they saw that parts of the field sink a little making little holes in the earth like a giant had stepped there.
"Our...our cave...it's gone," said Brad in a low voice.
"Not only that...but our wands...they're gone too."
"Well...if they're gone then I guess they're gone," said Jacke. "The important thing is that you're safe Tyler."
"No," he said making them look at him. "...We're all safe. That's what's important."
They all went into a group hug at the prospect of being reunited after all this trouble was over.
'Dad, Grandpa, the one who is responsible for destroying one of us has paid. He may have paid thanks to Mother Nature but he paid in one of our sights.'
"Guys...let's go to our little spot on the grounds by our favorite tree. I think we have a lot to talk about."
After Tyler said this, they all started to walk over towards the castle but not before one last look at the ruin of their secret place and the burial site of their latest adversary and defense teacher.
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End of Chapter 18
Tigercub15: I should be saying You're welcome.
Nightlit: You really put clues together well and you write them well too. I think you may have a career on your hands. Also, on the subject of your opinion of Arnold. He may not have been necessarily evil but if this didn't turn out the way it did then Arnold would've done a very evil thing by bringing about the prosecution of an innocent boy and his family and endangering his friends.
Author Notes:
There is the demise of Professor Arnold. I hope you liked the way he went. I didn't think that him getting murdered by any of them would've played good for the characters. They still have the hearts of children and could you imagine a group of good twelve year olds killing their teacher even if he was a jerk. The next chapter will be up soon with the end of the year drawing up. It might be in that chapter or in the next. Regardless, it looks like the next chapter MAY be the last for this story but don't worry because the adventure has just begun for the seekers. Chapter 19: School Year Dying, Friendship Living.
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