"OK, this guy is totally obsessed with you," Cameron said after being called up by Carly to see the new letter.
"That's because he is this….this….this "guiltless" person!" Jade said, "It is totally like him, acting like he is obsessed with you so you'll meet him. Carly, you're falling into his deathtrap"
"Oh, please, Jade!" said Laura, "If he was determined to kill Carly, he would of done so by now"
"No, he can't," said Jade, "Nobody comes onto the school grounds undetected. They can't apparate onto campus either! A very powerful charm is blocking any person who tries. The charm sends the person a hundred miles away from here in the middle of nowhere"
"See, it couldn't have been him. Beningo said that he won't stop obsessing about killing Carly until it is done. I'm sure the longer he waits, the more anxious he'll get. He probably drives himself mad!"
"Part of being a great sorcerer is having patience. He waited fifteen years, didn't he? And now, with You-Know-Who and those bloody death eaters returning, I'm sure he's finding a way to lure Carly into a trap. He can't just run out of his hiding place and kill! He has to be sneaky or people will know he has returned"
"He's just a rumor"
"HE IS NOT A RUMOR!" Carly screamed at Laura, a single tear streaking down her face, "HE KILLED THEM! HE MURDERED MY PARENTS AND NOW HE WILL ERADICATE ME AS WELL! You have no idea of what I am going through right now!"
Carly stormed off, letter in hand. She went out the dormitory, down the stairs, out the common room, and into the vacant classroom across the hall. She sat in her dark corner, where she always came when she was sad, and buried her hands in her face, and wept. She wept in anger towards Laura, lament for her parents, and revenge to whoever "The Guiltless" may be. She wanted to kill him herself; her own wand. She didn't care if the curse was unforgivable or if she would end up in Azkaban for it, as long as it was her who got revenge.
She curiously opened the envelope, wishing this was not from The Guiltless. She unfolded the new letter; it was a bit shorter than the letter before.
"Dear Carly,
I sense uncertainty between us. I guess it is only fair to you to know who I am, except my name because it is too dangerous. I reassure you; I am not evil nor am I associated with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. I can understand any uncertainties you may have had or still have because of his rise. I am about your age and I live on the school grounds with my sister, as well, but I do not attend Majorika. I learn privately from my father, though I do not live with him because of You-Know-Who. I can't explain this exactly, but there are no connections with the Death Eaters. Dearest princess of my heart, I await you reply. Please hurry, patience is a virtue, but love makes it extremely difficult. Love, Yours Truly."
Carly couldn't comprehend it. "How did he know my uncertainties? Why did he really live on campus if he doesn't attend Majorika?" Most of all, the question that she kept repeating, "Why can't I know his name?" It was too much. She returned to crying over her many pains. Carly sat there alone for three hours before returning to her dormitory. She said nothing to Jade, Shayla, Cameron, or Laura as she passed them in the common room on the way upstairs. All she wanted was to know the truth. She grabbed a quill and a piece of parchment. Still crying, she began to write.
"Dear Sir,
I want to know the truth. Who are you? I must know this to continue our discussions of this matter. I won't tell you everything, but I am in danger. I am being hunted by the same person responsible for my parents' death and I can't just go up to a complete stranger and expect them to be good or evil. I will not respond until I at least know your last name so I can make sure you are not lying. Please, no more secrets like this.
Yours Truly, Carly"
Carly folded the letter and stuffed it into an envelope. Payawk had not yet returned from her last journey, so without asking, Carly strapped the letter to Jade's owl, Franco, and watched him fly out the window and into the darkness.
Carly laid on her bed, thinking about them. She could clearly picture her parents in her mind, at least from pictures, smiling and waving. She could picture how happy they were of Carly's birth, and the horrors of being slaughtered the next week. And she pictured him. How could he look? Was he hideous like his soul, or handsome and cruel at the same time? Thinking about this tired Carly, and she fell asleep.
Carly was awoken the next morning by Laura, Jade, Cameron, and Shayla talking loudly. They were already dressed and ready for class.
"Oh, look who's up! Good morning, Carly. How are you?" Jade asked. Everybody's head turned towards Carly, except for Laura, who had been very quiet since Carly had stormed out of the room the night before.
"Fine," Carly said, shortly, as she pulled off her pajamas and dressed herself in her school robes. Carly was still upset with them, mainly Laura.
"Carly, we need to talk." Cameron said.
"Then talk," Carly snapped again, "what's there to talk about? We talked last night, now this morning; can't we just take a break from talking?" Carly was trying to avoid the discussion of last night, but her against four friends was a bit of competition.
"This is important, Carly." Said Jade, "We need talk"
"Okay, talk then!" Carly became more annoyed as the discussion furthered.
"Okay, it's like this," said Cameron, "We are forgiving you for what happened last night"
"You forgiving me, shouldn't it be the other way around?
"We are getting there!" Cameron snapped, "Anyways, we understand that you were mad because of what Laura said. You need to understand, Laura was brought up thinking that "The Guiltless" was a rumor! It is how her parents soothed her fear was by telling her that he was like the stories of the monsters that lived under the bed! You can't blame her! The entire wizarding world was brought up by thinking he was just a rumor! Carly, we know now that he is as real as we are! You have to forgive Laura!" Carly stopped to look down at the floor. What should she do? She knew it was kind of childish to keep this going for a long time, but Laura still said he was fake. It was like she calling Carly delusional or a big liar. What to do……..what to do…….Carly pondered and pondered. It seemed like forever before she came to a conclusion.
Carly decided that the fight wasn't worth any pain and anguish. In a way, she felt she did overreact, but deep down she still had a burning sensation to hate Laura for it.
News of Sierra spread quickly. Many first years were afraid of Carly and they winced when they passed by Carly thinking she'd start dueling them. Sierra would be in the hospital for another day and it would be the start of all the awful rumors she will start.
But Sierra was at the back of Carly's mind. The only things that bothered her was the mysterious letter and the detention she had tonight with Professor Beningo. Seven o'clock seemed to creep forward slowly. At 6:45, she began her journey across the school to the headmaster's office. Every step asked the same question: what was going to happen? Nerves rattled vigorously. The statue of the goblin was in view. It looked as stern as it did when she visited it with Professor Thorn.
Carly approached it "Birchwood!" The goblin split open as it did yesterday. Carly entered the small, windowless room "Wolfsbang!" The floor immediately began to rise quickly and it stopped at the double glass doors that shielded entrance to Professor Beningo's office. She entered the large room once the doors slid open.
There was the old headmaster, standing in the middle of the room. The desks, chairs, and other assortments of gadgets had been slid around to create space.
"Ah! Good evening, Carly!" said Beningo excitedly.
"Good evening, sir." Carly was unbelievably nervous.
"Are you ready to begin our sort of, oh how should I put this, our lesson detention"
"Yes, sir"
"Good, I trust you brought your wand"
"Yes sir." Carly reached into her robes and pulled out her old Ollivander wand.
"Good," Beningo pulled out his wand, "Now, Carly, what I am about to teach you is strictly forbidden to wizards and witches your age. Even witches and wizards of age to use this still falter and prefer not to mess with such an advanced and dangerous spell. Before we begin, I must ask you to sign this." He flicked his wand and a crumpled sheet of parchment appeared in his hand. "This states that 'no part of this lesson should ever be revealed to the world outside this room. Failure to do so will result in disciplinary actions.' Do you wish to sign this Carly?"
"Yes, sir, umm, do you have a pen?"
"Oh, there is no need for those! All you have to do is say 'sigtorus loopriconus' and your signature will appear just as you like it." Carly pointed her wand at the line at the bottom of the contract.
"SIGTORUS LOOPRICONUS!" An orangish light shot out of the wand and an invisible pen scribbled "Carly Cecilia Terella" in curly, loopy letters.
"Very good, beautiful signature! Right, the spell I am going to teach you is 'Peculus Remadonus.' This is, as I said, a very dangerous spell, though it might seem harmless. Let me show you, stand back, Carly." Carly moved backwards, nervously, "PECULUS REMADONUS!" A azure light rained out of the tip of Beningo's wand, and he was gone. Carly panicked.
"Professor? Professor, where are you!" There was no sign of anyone in the room at all. Carly was worried the charm backfired and totally messed everything up.
"SUNODAMER SULUCEP!" Beningo reappeared, sitting his desk, which was scooted against the wall, laughing.
"What happened? Did it work? Hey, it's not funny"
"It is the Invisibility Charm! Very useful, extremely difficult. Now, shall we begin? Right, the Invisibility Charm uses three components to a successful disappearance; confidence, patience, and illusion. Are you with me so far?" Carly nodded. "Right, to gain confidence, you must block out all internal noise, like discrepancies with friends, mysterious and unusual things, as this school has plenty of, upcoming tests, Sierra." Carly laughed at his joke, but did he know about the letter, or the fight she had with Laura over it? "Those things diminish confidence, and this charm takes a lot, if not full, confidence. You must have patience, as well, if you rush this spell, it can be permanent. By rushing, I mean you expect dramatic results. Besides, lack of patience can cause a lack of confidence. Last, you must imagine yourself invisible imagine the people around you not knowing you are there, or being stunned when you do vanish. It is more of a helper than a necessity, but it definitely helps me disappear. Now, I want you to try, but first, let's say it without wands, just to make sure you pronunciation is antiquate. Repeat after me 'Peculus Remadonus"
"Pecoolus Remodanus" Carly stuttered.
"No no, Peculus Remadonus"
"Peculus Remadonus"
"Very good! Splendid, now, to practice clearing our minds. Soon, you will be able to do this instantly as confidence builds. Clear you mind of noise, Carly. Think deeply, you can do this; you have much confidence in yourself. Is your mind clear of distractions, Carly"
"Yes, I think so, sir"
"That's not good enough, you must know and have confidence that your mind is clear, is it clear, Carly"
"Yes, sir"
"Good, now, take a deep breath, imagine yourself invisible. Now, when you are ready, and only if you are ready, do it."
Carly thought for a while, invisible, she could see the surprised look on Beningo's face, and then, another letter, no, focus. Invisibility, Beningo is the only one in the room if someone walks in, maybe it'll be the boy who walks by the pond-no, focus. Carly raised her wand "PECULUS REMADONUS!" The same sapphire light that made Beningo disappear shot out of Carly's wand. A tickling sensation overpowered her body. She felt weightless. Then.
"It didn't work. You look like a ghost"
"What? I'm a ghost"
"Just say Sunodamer Sulucep"
Carly was disappointed and felt that Beningo was ashamed. "SUNODAMER SULUCEP!" Another tickling feeling came upon her. She felt dizzy and soon, her face met the cold, hard floor and everything went black. It seemed like only a few minutes of black, mixed with random dreams. One was of the sender of the mysterious letters, another of what Sierra was going to do tomorrow.
Carly awoke to Professor Beningo by her side.
"Oh, good, you're awake, I was worried you were worse"
"What happened?" said Carly groggily.
"Oh, you just passed out, quite normal for first timers. I was worried because there are people who are so weak; they die when they do this. You did pretty good, usually it's going invisible that gets first timers, but you are strong, Carly"
"So, can I try again"
"Oh, no, not tonight, we mustn't upset Nurse Canden. She's already in a fix with Miss Pomatress. No, no, we must say goodnight, Carly. Shall we meet again for another lesson, say next week, same day, place, and time?
"Yes sir"
"Very good, now, please be on your way back to your dormitory, and remember our agreement not to let anything out about this"
"Yes sir." Carly left, woozy, but excited about her next lesson.