A/N: Hey folks, here is the next chapter of Symbol.
Oddity Update : Next chapter is in works and will be updated before April 10.
Last Doomtreader Update : Done with Harry's trial. Chapter 9 is in works.
Chapter 3
Adam Conrad was confused.
It wasn't everyday that an average Slytherin student approached a muggleborn student like him. Scratch that – Slytherins never approached muggleborns period. Provided that the student in question was a half blood, instead of a pureblood, it still beggared belief.
Still, he didn't outright refuse.
That would be rude. And considering the Slytherin in question was infamous for being a friend of muggleborn in Gryffindor, he was feeling ambivalent instead of showing outright hostility. Adam looked at Severus Snape, a fifth year Slytherin, as he processed the question he was asked.
If he was anyone else, he might have not noticed the subtle tension in the shift of the boy's shoulders. He also noticed the small defensive posture the boy unconsciously adopted which reminded Adam of himself from his younger days.
"That small inward tilt of your shoulders and slight hunch you have, need to go," Adam said softly looking at him.
He watched the boys eyes widen.
"No one told you, huh. Figures. You pick up certain body postures after years of abuse," Adam chuckled. "Trust me, I know all about it. I had to try hard for months to get rid of it."
The boy's shoulder relaxed a bit.
"Let me guess, you don't have much trust in adults, do you?" Adam sighed. "I get you. Its kind of hard when they keep dropping the ball every other day. After some time, the mere concept of asking help would becomes unnerving, isn't it?"
The boy's shoulders slumped entirely.
"I guess, being in Slytherin didn't help you out much either in that regards, huh?" Adam let out a huff causing the boy to bristle.
"Oh, shut it Snape, we both know they all are right bastards. No use in pretending about it. Now, how can I help you? I know you are walking on thin ice here. So, let's skip the posturing and get to the real matter."
The boy remained silent for a few moments before nodding in acceptance. Adam gave a small smile and motioned him to speak.
"I need your help in spell creation. I have some doubts on how to go about it," Snape spoke softly.
"Vector wasn't much of a help, huh. Figures. That man is so steeped up in the formal way that he forgets that we can accomplish stuff in more than one way."
"He was rather… rigid," Snape admitted.
"Not just him, most of the wizards are. They learn about a few rules and procedures and end up think that it is the only way to do things," Adam smirked. "First, you need to stop thinking like a traditional wizard. Don't look at me like that, Snape. It's true. You need to get out of the box the wizards have forced themselves into. Stop taking the procedure as a blue print. Just think of it as a guideline. You know what blue print is right?"
Snape nodded.
"Good, if you know muggle terms then this will make things easy to explain. While Spell Creation is NEWT stuff, I was able to create my own spells after my third year. It is not because I am genius or anything. It is because I didn't limit my imagination."
"Take a normal wizard for example, they have become too standardized. They are so caught up in the proper form they forget the most important thing. Magic is based on intent. I could quote you a list of Magical Theory books that stresses that particular point, but that would be waste of time. If you need more information, check them out."
"Now, I will tell you what my experience is. In my opinion, Magic is based on intent. True, it does require some form of sacrifice either in form of magical power or emotions or any other stuff. But, a typical spell is basically an intent given form by the caster. Once you have decided on what your spell needs to do, then delve into Arithmancy calculations, wand movement that suit it, and proper words."
"All other stuff are only there for support, intent is the base. Hell, you can ignore things like wand movements and words if you want. But, it will make things difficult. "
From there Adam launched into an hour long lecture about the varying methods and nuances that one needed to know when creating new spells. He also told young boy a few of his mishaps and warned him not to repeat the same mistakes he did. In the end, he ended the lecture with an important note.
"Now, I am sure you have enough knowledge to try your hand at spell creation. If you have doubts, you can refer to any of the books I have mentioned earlier. One last thing though," Adam said looking at Snape. "I know you are a Slytherin. That means whatever spell you are trying to create wouldn't be some light spell. While I have no qualms about delving into dark arts, I advise you to not get lost in the dark arts. The dark arts are called dark for a reason. It takes a toll on user's mental and emotional health. Indulge too much into it, you would lose sight of who you are. Be careful Snape or else you might do something that you will regret for the rest of your life."
Snape's face slowly masked into an emotionless mask. If not for the stubborn set of Snape's jaw, Adam wouldn't have noticed how determined the young man was. Knowing full well that the young man wouldn't heed his warnings, Adam let go any more thoughts on warning the Slytherin away. When Snape gave him a cursory nod and prepared to leave, Adam said the only thing that came to his mind.
"Snape, I hope whatever you are doing this for is worth the price," Adam said somberly causing the young man to pause in his steps.
However, the Slytherin didn't turn around or utter any reply to that statement. He merely resumed his walk. Adam let out a huge sigh and went back to his reading on wards.
(*)
Adam sat humming to himself in library as he devoured an interesting account on Advanced Wards and its uniqueness. Sadly, warding was an underappreciated subject in Hogwarts. Not many had interest in them. Adam had found this book in a dusty corner in the restricted section. Some of the wards detailed in the book were pretty nasty and required a steep price to be paid during setup. However, in return, they provided top-tier security.
Ever since he had come back to his seventh year, Adam had been reading up on non-linear subjects that weren't taught in Hogwarts. He knew that such knowledge would be hard to get his hands on after he left the castle. This was his last year, hence he was obtaining as much knowledge as he could before stepping out of Hogwarts.
Adam's peaceful reading time was interrupted as a mane of red hair hastily approached him. Seeing the movement from the corner of his eyes, he looked up to find Lily Evans trying to make his way towards him as inconspicuous as possible. He watched her shoddy attempt to approach him discreetly with a amused smile.
"How can I help you?" Adam chuckled as she neared him.
The twitching of her lips and irritated expression let him know that she wasn't amused by him figuring out her destination.
"Here, Sev passed this to me in Potions and told me to give it to you without anyone knowing. I need to leave for Transfiguration," she tossed a small parchment at him and turned around to leave.
"When you are trying to be discrete next time, act normally. The more you try to hide, the more you reveal yourself," Adam commented at her, "thanks for your trouble."
Her lips twitched once more before she turned around with a huff to leave. Shaking his head at the fifth year's antics, Adam directed his attention to the parchment. He didn't know what Severus Snape wanted to tell to him, but at least the boy had the sense to deliver it discretely.
However, as he read the parchment, all his amusement faded.
7th years planning to corner your friend and his girlfriend in the third floor corridor during 3rd period. We are even with this.
S.S
There were mere minutes before the third period started. It would take him a few minutes to reach the destination. He hoped that Roger could handle himself until then. The news about Roger's girlfriend was new to Adam though. He had been so immersed in obtaining as much knowledge as possible since the term started that he had missed such a significant detail in his friend's life.
With a flick of his wand, the parchment was set aflame. Adam dropped book he was reading on the table and set off without even retrieving his things from there. He knew that every second counted. If Snape thought that this mere information was enough to offset his lecture on Spell Creation for an hour, then this must me something huge. Otherwise, the boy wouldn't act so cautious.
Heedless of Madam Pince's shouts about not running in the library, Adam dashed out of the library and sprinted towards the third floor corridor with wand in hand. He bypassed a flabbergasted Lily Evans who had turned to look at him after hearing his hurried footsteps around the corner and ran with all haste. He garnered several looks from passersby as he ran towards his destination.
Adam knew that Roger had the third period as free period. While he had spent most of time in library, Roger usually escaped back to dormitories. Now though, all his excuses to stay alone made more sense. But, it didn't alleviate the panic that was beginning to engulf him.
He rounded the third floor corridor and looked around in the hopes of finding the perpetrators. No such luck shined on him. He slowly began to search the corridor inch by inch hoping that the delay wouldn't put his friend in more danger. At last, he tried the door of an abandoned classroom to find it locked inside.
Not thinking about anything else, he blasted of the lock and barged inside in haste. The scene he found inside the classroom made him sick. Sally was in the corner with four Slytherins crowding around her. She was cowering away from them. But, what made his blood boil over was the fact was that Roger was in a full body-bind and was made to watch what was happening to his girlfriend.
The sound of his entrance alerted the perpetrators to his presence. All four of them turned around in panic, wands already out, ready to cast spells. Adam didn't give them much time. He hit one of them with his own specially created spell. He fell down with his mouth frothing over.
"Shit," the other three cursed and shot some pretty dark curses at him.
Adam created a shield to reflect the first two curses. The third one punched through the shield, but he ducked quickly and came up with his own counter. The spell punched through the flimsy shield one of the perpetrators had erected in haste and hit him square in the chest. He went down with a horrific shriek.
"Filthy mudblood, how dare you?" one of them shouted at him while the duo sent curse after curse at him.
They were all pretty dark and damage inducing. Adam wasn't pulling his punches either. Within a minute, the third one fell when one of Adam's curse caught him in the gut. Blood spilled across the floor as he fell down from internal damage.
Fear engulfed the last one seeing his partners fall one after the other in a gruesome fashion. He tried to make a break for it, but Adam wasn't having none of that. His last curse caught him in the back and launched him across the room. His scream of pain was loud. He fell down with blood drenching his entire back, just as several students barged into the room.
Adam didn't notice any of them. His ears were ringing loudly. He was in a haze as he moved across the room to undo the body-bind on Roger. Roger looked at Adam in shock and fear, but Adam didn't notice it. He was already moving towards Sally who was righting herself from the corner. He reached her and tried to comfort her, only for her to move away in fear.
Adam stood there in shock for a moment before shaking himself out of the haze he was in. He looked around to see the entire ground drenched in blood and other students looking at him in fear from the entrance. Roger staggered to Sally's side and comforted her. Adam looked around and grimaced at what he had done. He knew this would cause him some trouble, but he wasn't bothered by it much.
Feet shuffled as Professor McGonagal barged into the room with a grim look. She took in the scene for a moment before shooting Adam a glare. Adam replied the sentiment evenly causing her lips to thin. McGonagal motioned for a few students to take the injured students to the hospital wing, before rounding on him.
"You better have a proper explanation for this, Mr. Conrad," she said in a thin voice.
Adam didn't reply. He held McGonagal's eyes for a few moments. As the tense silence filled the air, no one moved. All of the bystanders were waiting for it to end one way or the other.
"Professor…" Roger was the one who broke the silence.
"Be quiet, Mr. Waynland. I asked Mr. Conrad for an explanation. Not you," Prof. McGonagal snapped causing him to shut up.
Adam narrowed his eyes at that. It looked to him as if Prof. McGonagal wasn't in a mood to hear any explanations. To him, it looked as if she was waiting for an excuse to punish him.
"In that case, Professor," Adam sneered. "Here's your explanation. We dueled and they lost."
Adam saw Prof. McGonagal's eyebrows raise and lips thin into a narrow line.
"Professor, it wasn't his fault," Roger still tried to talk but McGonagal shot him a withering glare causing him to shut up.
"I don't care what Mr. Conrad's reasons are Mr. Waynland. All I know is that Mr. Conrad is responsible for sending four students to the Hospital Wing with grievous injuries. No matter what, usage of such dark curses aren't allowed inside this castle."
Adam snorted.
"Then what do you expect me to do, Professor? Lay down and let them hit me with hexes?" Adam asked sarcastically.
Prof. McGonagal shot him a withering glare in return.
"I expect you to not use such dark curses, Mr. Conrad. Surely with your skill you could have subdued them easily?" Prof. McGonagal said sharply. "I have warned you about using such curses already Mr. Conrad. Especially considering how long Miss. Black needed to recover from being on the end of one of your self- invented curses. "
"Yeah right, let me reply with disarming charm and knockback jinxes when they are shooting at me with bone breakers and entrails expelling curses," Adam scoffed despite Roger trying to shush him.
Prof. McGonagal's glare intensified. If Adam was in a normal state he would have backed down the moment he received the first glare. However, Adam was tired of all this shit. The scene he had walked in replayed again and again in his mind. And Prof. McGonagal treating him like a convicted criminal before even asking why he did it made him even more angrier.
"100 points from Hupplepuff. You will be serving detention on weekends for the rest of the year Mr. Conrad," Prof. McGonagal said sharply.
"Fine, in that case, how many are you taking from Slytherin?" Adam retorted hotly.
Silence engulfed the room.
"In case you have gone old and lost your hearing professor, I will repeat it again. We dueled and they lost. You punished me for that. Now, I expect you to punish them too. After all, that is only fair," Adam spoke scathingly.
"20 points from Hupplepuff for disrespecting your teacher Mr. Conrad," Prof. McGonagal replied angrily causing the surrounding students to gasp in shock.
None of them had seen Prof. McGonagal so angry. The unfair treatment rankled Adam a lot. Just when he was about to retort, Roger gripped his arm tightly and pulled him away. Adam walked out of the room with Roger and Sally following him, all the while shooting a dark glare towards Prof. McGonagal.
A/N: I understand that some might think that McGonagall may have come of a bit OOC here. But, when I wrote I took into account the political tensions and exact scenario she walked into.
1) Tensions were pretty high at this point in time outside of Hogwarts.
2) Adam has a past record of being unnecessarily brutal with how he had dealt with Narcissca Black prior to this.
3) McGonagall walked into the room with four grieviously injured students with Adam standing tall.
4) McGonagall in this fic is staunch in her support of Dumbledore and his biases towards light and dark.
5) Adam doesn't trust any adults and is fed up with the situation. He is pretty antagonistic towards McGonagall from the get go.
Considering all this, I felt McGonagall will be pretty harsh towards Adam. And this is just the incident, the fallout will be dealt in the next few chapters. And this incident will be a big impact on Adam's future direction.
Let me know your thoughts...
