Chapter 17
Breakfast the next morning was a slow affair for Gohan and his friends. Having promised to resume their breakfast routine, the boys had found a spot on the end of the Ravenclaw table that morning. Gohan was bright eyed and bushy tailed to get back to learning magic, Scorpius was just as excited about classes but seemed a little sad to be away from home again. And then there was Albus who Scorpius was trying to coax some tea into so their friend didn't sleep through breakfast as well as all their morning classes.
"C'mon Al, aren't you excited to get back our end of term papers today!" Scorpius prodded the black haired boy who currently had his arms folded across the table head cradled between them.
"You're such a nerd Scorp." A muffled mutter squeezed itself out between Albus' arms..
"I'm not too excited to get my paper back from Mutatío." Gohan said absentmindedly before suddenly being reminded of what he learned from the two exchange student siblings. "Hey did I tell you guys Mutatío hosted students over break. Is it just me or is that weird?" Gohan asked, curious to get his friends' opinions on the matter. This woke Albus up.
"What!? Mutatío volunteering to spend extra time with children?" He said wide eyed in a way the tea couldn't accomplish.
"Yeah these two foreign exchange students Ava and Evan stayed with him and they actually seemed to have a good time." Gohan said.
"Wait Evan Gerat? He's in the year above me in Ravenclaw." Scorpius butted in obviously knowing who Gohan was talking about.
"Um sure, must be, didn't ever learn their family name." Gohan said, rubbing the back of his head with nervous energy. "I think his sister is in Slytherin but she's older." He added before both he and Scorpius shifted their gazes to look towards Albus.
"Hey, don't look at me, everyone especially the older kids try to avoid me down there." Albus sighed. The trio was suddenly interrupted by the slamming of books on their breakfast table. The boys all looked up to see Rose staring down at Gohan holding out a slim book towards the boy.
"Gohan I appreciate you sending me a Christmas gift, but to be honest I don't get it." Rose pushed the book closer to Gohan, the boy recognizing it as the gift he sent along to her accompanying the completed checklist.
"What do you mean?" Gohan asked confused, the book Bulma helped him pick out may not have been to her taste, but it was pretty straight forward.
"Was it because I sent a box of joke stuff, and a blank book is your sense of humor?" Rose looked back mystified, clearly waiting for the punchline.
"What are you talking about? It's a book about the greatest inventions from the last hundred years. I just thought it might interest you..." Gohan trailed off embarrassed that his gift had been so poorly received.
"No. It's. Not." Rose enunciated while she flipped the book from cover to cover in front of the other boys as if to prove a point.
"I mean I always thought you were a bit weird, but this takes the cake mate," Albus had poked his head over his cousin's shoulder to watch the scene unfold with a laugh.
"Hold up," Gohan took the book from Rose's hands and flipped to the table of contents page.
"Chapter 1: Hover Cars: The Beginning of a New Age," Gohan read out loud underlining the words with his finger before skipping down a few more lines "Chapter 7: Capsule Mania!"
"Woah Gohan, you really are going all in on this joke." Albus praised his strange friend. A pause remained between the quartet as the kids stared at one another, suddenly Rose spoke in realization.
"Bloody brilliant!" The girl exclaimed in excitement to all of the boys' surprise. Looking around the table at the still confused expressions. "Don't you see, this is a book from East District!" Confusion still reigned on Gohan's face.
"C'mon Son, did that new haircut lob off all your brains or something?" Rose teased and Gohan habitually threw his hand up to scratch his neck in embarrassment. His mom had cut his hair over break, it was the shortest he had ever worn it, but according to his mom 'It suited the handsome young scholar he was growing up to be'. Gohan was thankfully thrown out of his embarrassing reminiscence back to the topic at hand.
"Knowledge from East District can't pass the border!" Scorpius exclaimed flipping through the book. "What amazing magic, unbelievable." He said in wonder.
"What, that doesn't make sense, why can I read it here then?" Gohan said, skeptical of his friends' conclusion.
"It's such ancient magic, it must be because you are from there that the spell doesn't affect you." Rose continued off Scorpius' train of thought before looking towards Gohan again.
Gohan pondered the thought. It all aligned with what he had learned over break at the Lookout from Dende and Mr. Popo, but to see the actual physical evidence of the ancient tale was amazing.
"Wait, Scorp, do the capsules I sent you actually work or were you just being nice and telling me they did?" Gohan pondered thinking about the gifts he sent out. If Rose couldn't read the book then there was no way that the Hoi Poi capsules could work for anyone but him, right?
"My gift worked perfectly Gohan, I ate it in one go and didn't share with anybody!" Albus butted in, Rose rolled her eyes at her cousin while Scorpius tapped his chin in thought, both ignoring Al's interruption.
"No, they worked fine for me... honest." Scorpius said, trying to alleviate his friend's worries.
"Huh, that really doesn't make any sense if those ancient spells are as powerful as they seem to be." Gohan muttered to himself.
"Maybe it just has to do with written down knowledge." Rose spoke up and Gohan tilted his head towards the girl in thought. "Oh, I can't wait to ask my Mum about this! I'll send a letter out after classes today!" Rose squealed with delight getting up from the spot she had claimed between the boys. They all gazed up at the impassioned girl silently while she gathered her books to leave the Great Hall.
"Oi Rose, take some toast." Albus flipped a piece of bread at his cousin who narrowed her eyes at him but easily caught it. "Hey, Uncle Ron made me promise I made sure you eat when you go on one of 'your mother's crazy research benders', so don't blame me." Albus smiled back earnestly while Rose shoved the toast in her mouth with a small grunt before leaving the Great Hall in a flourish of robes.
Gohan and Scorpius focused both of their gazes on their dark haired friend who quickly crumbled under their glares.
"What something on my face?" Albus innocently asked while Scorpius made a grab for his friend's book bag which was sitting open on the vacant bench. Scorpius held up the now empty vial to show the table.
"Al, isn't that from the joke box?" Gohan said, recognizing the look of the vial which held a powdered solution of Hippogriff Hiccups. Gohan hadn't gotten a chance to test out the vial because a mid tantrum Trunks had hit the vial out of his hand which shattered all over the ground while he was plotting during the party.
"Hey, I got my fair share of pranks pulled on me during the Weasley Christmas Party, I owed her one!" Albus smirked to himself. "And it wasn't a lie, her dad does worry about her, he told me...whilealsogivingmemorejokestotryout." Scoripus and Gohan looked at Albus before turning their gaze to one another.
"Sometimes I forget that our friend really is a Slytherin." Scorpius said matter of factly to Gohan, before the whole trio shared a laugh.
The day of classes was rather uneventful, they received back their essays and exams which they were now supposed to revise before the end of the week but besides that it was business as usual. During dinner Scorpius informed his friends that they had a substitute teacher for Herbology class that day which meant that Professor Longbottom was still absent from school.
Albus and Scorpius explained that it wasn't uncommon for Professor's to take an extended break during holidays after noticing the worried look on Gohan's face. Albus had also let slip gossip from the Potter rumor mill that Professor Longbottom's wife was pregnant, which probably meant the couple must have taken that vacation to NorthWest District as a last holiday before the baby came. Gohan nodded along to that, having first hand experience of the chaos that was a newborn baby, he couldn't blame his Professor for wanting some quiet time with his wife before then.
However lingering doubt clouded his thoughts, because however logical his friend's explanations were, neither knew about the letter he had read on the Lookout. Gohan didn't want to betray Dende's trust so he kept the information about the correspondence between each world's resident genocidal maniac to himself and hoped that he was just overthinking everything.
The next day Professor Longbottom wasn't in Herbology class. The substitute teacher was a woman who seemed to be older than the castle itself which made the quiet lesson time they were supposed to be using to read the chapter and answer the discussion questions moot. Nearing the end of the lesson, all the kids had either haphazardly finished the assignment or decided they would work on it later for homework. Needless to say, the substitute had fully lost control of the classroom and had decided to allow the kids to 'chat about Herbology' for the last fifteen minutes of class which the kids took advantage of to gossip with their friends. Rose had made her way to the table Gohan and Albus shared near the end of class glaring daggers at the green-eyed boy.
"I sent my letter to my mum this morning. I would have finished it yesterday, but someone thought it would be hilarious to have my writing look like a polygraph all day!" Albus burst out in laughter at Rose's admission earning him interested looks from the tables around them.
It had been a long day for the red head after Albus had slipped her the Hippogriff Hiccup powder. Since the product was a prototype, Albus hadn't known that his cousin would have to suffer through a day of lessons not only with endless hiccups but the squawk that went along with them. Albus admitted to his friends at dinner that he hadn't known the side effects of the powder, but had reassured them that it was more than fair for what she had pranked him with over the holiday. Details of said prank, Albus still remained mysteriously close lipped about despite his friends' prodding.
"I also told my father that if he sells that atrocious powder in the shop I'm never speaking to him again." Rose huffed at the still smiling Albus who turned to stage whisper into Gohan's ear.
"She's lying, she loves her dad's joke shop more than he does." Gohan smiled at his friend gazing at the disgruntled girl who rolled her eyes in return.
"Anyway, that's besides the point. I was thinking about the capsules you sent Scorpius and how they work here and I was wondering if there was anything else from your home that you can think of which we can experiment with?" Rose had turned to speak to Gohan exclusively, not sparing Albus a second look. Gohan gazed down at the wooden table in thought, thinking about all the things that were different from this world to his.
"I dunno. I'm still not sure what things from home are just not in the magic world because they rely on electricity and won't work here."Gohan admitted and Rose's expression fell. Clearly the girl was hoping to occupy her time with some research while she waited for her mother's response.
"Ok, well, if you think of anything…" Rose said turning to leave the two boys, Gohan felt bad not being able to immediately help her out.
"Right, it's just hard, everything here is still pretty new to me, I'm going to have to think about it a little." Gohan said, trying to lift the inquisitive girls spirits who in turn gave an understanding nod back in his direction.
A few minutes later, to the old substitute's enormous relief, the group of rambunctious kids were finally released to go to lunch. Gohan was taking his time to pack up much to Albus' surprise considering he was usually the first to get out the door to lunch. Gohan was still thinking about what kind of thing from home he could experiment with Rose on, but also an uneasy feeling had settled in his mind that he couldn't shake.
Making his way out of the greenhouse classroom door just behind Albus, Gohan's senses jumped when a sudden spark of magic and energy entered his periphery. He stopped walking, habitually dropping into a defensive stance while his eyes and senses searched for the source of the offending power.
Gohan spotted the lump of black on the lawn halfway to the forest and immediately started towards the figure. He had already taken a few steps before he was brought back to the reality of school life by Albus calling his name. Having been preoccupied, Gohan hadn't noticed that his friend had continued up towards the castle without him until the other boy realized he was talking to thin air.
"Gohan, what're you doing?" Al called out but only received a shake of the head in the lumps direction from Gohan. Whatever it was made the half-saiyan feel uneasy. The magic and energy radiating from it wasn't like anything he had sensed around Hogwarts. Continuing closer, Gohan finally recognized the lump as the shape of a person covered with their robes. Realizing the person must be in some sort of distress to be laying on the ground in such a way, Gohan moved faster while also gently raising his energy and gripping onto his wand in his pocket. Gohan knew there was no one on the planet who could physically overpower him, but he also knew he couldn't risk lowering his defenses due to the odd sickly feel of the magic around the figure.
"Who the heck is that?" Albus wheezed, out of breath from his sprint across the lawn to catch up. Gohan was unsurprised by his friend's arrival as he had sensed his approach.
"Stay back here Al." Gohan said looking his friend in the eye with a serious expression not usually seen on the normally easygoing boy. Gohan turned back to the figure resuming his approach, a gentle breeze kicked up as he raised his energy in a shield around him. Albus didn't seem to notice the new energy as he tried to follow his friend closer to the dark figure. Gohan threw his arm back and released a small wave of power which hit the other young wizard and threw him off balance. Albus regained his stance looking back up at Gohan with a wary and confused expression.
"Please stay there, something feels off about all this." Gohan said, hoping his friend would listen. Albus stayed rooted in place, watching with concern as his friend reached down to turn the lump over.
"Professor Longbottom?" Gohan asked, confused by the odd static energy and magic still emanating from the figure who looked to be his professor. Not once during his whole term at Hogwarts had Gohan felt this type of energy from his Head of House, let alone anyone in the castle. Gohan turned his head to look back at Albus who could now see as well.
"Uncle Nev? Gohan, we need to get someone down here now, something's wrong with him!" Albus worriedly exclaimed and rushed towards Gohan to kneel next to the professor. Suddenly, as if jolted awake, the man shifted and his eyes popped open wide. Neville's normally clear blue eyes were clouded and his pupils were dilated unnaturally large in the bright January afternoon sun.
"Orders…" Neville slowly rasped out chest heaving in pain. Gohan didn't know what to do feeling the sickly magic still flowing all around the man.
"Son…" Neville muttered, easing back down to the ground. Albus creeped slightly closer when the man seemed to be calming however his mouth was still in motion mumbling silently. Gohan turned to look at Albus questioningly, his senses were still warning him of the static energy emanating from their professor, but he wanted to see if the other boy was as affected by it. As soon as his gaze left the Professor, both boys were startled by a pained gasp from the man and Gohan was briefly thrown back from a whiplash of the sickly magic which he blocked from hitting his friend.
"Destroy...Goku…orbs...orders...orbs..." The professor's scratchy voice seemed to chant. Gohan's ears prickled from the surprise of hearing that name. Neville kept mumbling at a low octave before suddenly the man's eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he collapsed back down onto the ground. At that same moment, Gohan felt the foreign energy and magic surrounding his professor quickly extinguish. Despite the ominous words that had left his Professor's mouth, what frightened Gohan the most in that moment was the tiny speck of lifeforce that was left now that the sickly magic had dispersed.
Gohan frantically looked over the Professor's slumped body and noticed a steadily growing damp spot oozing near his midsection. Cursing to himself for not noticing the injury at first glance, Gohan knew from experience his Professor didn't have long before he would succumb to such a lethal looking injury. Looking around for something to help staunch the wound, realizing his own belt would be too small to wrap around the grown man's midsection, Gohan's eyes fell onto Albus who was still beside him on his knees in shock.
"Al, I need your scarf." Albus tilted his head in a daze having just laid eyes on the pooling blood himself. Gohan impatiently reached for his friend's neck realizing Albus was too in shock to be of help. "Sorry, we need to hurry to get him help, he doesn't have much time." Gohan gently lifted Neville into a sitting position and wrapped the green scarf tightly around the wound hoping to cut off the blood loss some. Gohan knew his temporary solution wouldn't help for long and they had to get moving. Rising to his feet, Gohan bent over and lifted Neville onto his back, careful to avoid putting excess pressure on his injury, and started towards the castle.
Still in his stupor Albus watched in confused amazement as his friend who was barely taller than him lifted their significantly taller and heavier adult professor up and onto his back like he was shrugging on an empty backpack and began moving, fast.
Albus coming back to his senses and realizing the seriousness of the situation sprinted to catch and keep up with Gohan who didn't seem to be struggling with carrying their professor in the least. When they reached the castle, he quickly opened the door for Gohan to carry their professor through. The entry hall was empty but the clatter of voices and dishes from lunch could be heard from the Great Hall.
"I'll get him to the Hospital Wing, can you find the Headmistress and bring her there?" Gohan said, an air of confidence and authority surrounding the boy.
"Yeah, of course." Albus stuttered out unused to his usually somewhat timid friend relegating orders but quickly obeyed, just glad that Gohan had a level head in this situation when he was freaking out.
The boys' set off in opposite directions, Gohan heading towards the side of the castle he knew housed the Hospital despite not having been there himself. He didn't know how fast he was actually moving through the halls but he didn't care and soon he was depositing his unresponsive professor onto a bed the Matron had indicated. The witch immediately began performing spells over the prone professor once she ushered Gohan back out the door towards the waiting room.
Gohan had just settled into a chair opposite the ward's entrance when the door to the Hospital Wing was flung open and Professor McGonagall rushed past in a flurry of robes before entering the ward. Gohan peaked a glimpse of the matron still hovering over the bed before the door swung back on its hinges obscuring his view. A few moments later Albus slowly entered the waiting room as well, his anxious and worried expression not changing a bit when he locked eyes with Gohan before taking a seat next to the other boy. Neither boy said a word, but both glanced at one another when they realized they could hear a low din of voices through the door that hadn't quite closed after the Headmistress had bustled through. Quickly shifting to the seats nearer the door, the worried boys' listened closely to what was being said inside the ward.
"Poppy, what happened to him?" McGonagall's concerned voice easily carried to the door.
"At first guess I would say he was splinched. He has some internal bleeding but the majority of the injury was external. Nothing I can't fix with a few potions of course." Madame Pomfrey muttered more quietly, Gohan could still easily hear the matron's voice but Albus had moved even closer to the door, ear leading the way.
"When do you think he'll wake up?" McGonagall asked.
"That's the concerning part. I have already performed a Renervate because I prefer to have my patients conscious to consume their blood replenishing potions as it is most effective. However Mr. Longbottom has yet to respond to my spell. I have performed other diagnostic spells but none have come back with any signs of other spell damage."
There was a pause in the conversation and Gohan glanced over at Albus to see if the other boy had heard what he did and from the frown on the other boys' face it seemed that he had. Gohan admittedly knew he didn't quite understand everything the adults inside were talking about, but it hadn't sounded good.
The boys were startled from their positions when the sudden swing of the ward's door caught them off guard. Gohan looked up into the serious face of the Headmistress and immediately straightened up in his chair a blush forming on his cheeks from being caught eavesdropping. Instead of reprimanding the boys, McGonagall's stern face broke a little at the sight of the worried first years, a flash of concern dipping her thin lips when her gaze found Gohan's.
"Mr. Potter explained you found Professor Longbottom alone on the field. Did you see anyone or anything else Mr. Son?" McGonagall enquired, the calm tone had an edge of worry that Gohan hadn't ever heard from the normally stoic Headmistress.
"No nothing, I just felt something weird leaving Herbology and I saw him lying there." Gohan tried to explain, he still hadn't made sense of the odd magical energy he had felt. McGonagall nodded and turned back to look at the prone figure on the bed through the still ajar doors.
"He did mumble some weird stuff before passing out, right Gohan?" Albus nervously added seeming unsure whether what had happened was real or not. Gohan nodded in affirmation.
"It didn't make any sense really, but his eyes were cloudy, it was like he wasn't really there. Then I noticed all the blood and knew he was hurt bad and knew we had to get him here fast." Gohan explained, he wasn't sure what to think of his professor's stilted and mumbled speech, he thought he heard his dad's name mixed with the jumbled words, but that made no sense and he hadn't had much time to think about it yet in his mad dash to get to the Hospital Wing.
"That was fine decision making young man, I'm quite impressed with your quick thinking to make a tourniquet. You probably saved Mr. Longbottom's life." Madame Pomfrey cut in, having walked towards the ward door where the rest of the group was. The older woman offered a warm smile to Gohan before settling her gaze back on McGonagall indicating she wished to speak to the Headmistress. The women disappeared back inside the ward, this time McGonagall making sure the door clicked shut.
Albus slid back into his seat but Gohan concentrated his hearing inside of the ward hoping he could catch the conversation. He might not have as sensitive of ears as Piccolo but his half-saiyan hearing was still better than average and sure enough he could catch the slightly muffled voices through the thin wall separating the waiting room.
"I'm going to put him into a magically induced stasis so I can perform more tests without his condition further deteriorating. I need to perform more observations on his mental state before coming to a conclusion. If I go down the wrong road with mental healing I can worsen his condition, so I don't want to rush things."
"Poppy, could perhaps an improperly cast Imperius cause this?"
"Perhaps, but I still see no sign of spell damage on him besides a botched Apparition. I'm going to contact some colleagues at St. Mungo's for a second opinion."
"Very well, keep me informed."
"Of course Minerva."
Gohan sat back when he realized that neither woman was continuing to speak, but from the sound of it no one knew what was really wrong with his professor. With a sigh, Gohan turned to look at Albus who was staring down into his hands with a frown. Both boys glanced up when they heard the door to the ward open again to see the Headmistress.
"Thank you for your help today boys, Professor Longbottom is resting and it would be best if you both returned to classes now." Professor McGonagall ordered, but not unkindly while looking the boys up and down before muttering Scourgify while pointing her wand towards Gohan. Gohan felt a warm prickle travel up his back and down his arms and looked down to see that all the blood which he hadn't really even realized was covering him a moment ago was wiped clean. Gohan muttered a thanks which didn't quite permeate his downturned expression.
"Will he be okay?" Albus asked in a small voice, Gohan nodded along, having overheard the conversation in the ward, the dread about the situation was hanging over his head.
"Madame Pomfrey is the most qualified Healer I know. She will get Professor Longbottom back to normal as soon as she possibly can." McGonagall gave a small smile aimed at Albus.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Gohan asked, getting frustrated knowing she was withholding information about the uncertainty of Professor Longbottom's condition.
"You've both done an excellent job and will be rewarded twenty points each to your houses. Please hurry along to class, I will inform your professors to excuse your tardiness." McGonagall reached for the handle of the door to the corridor. "And I will be sure to let you know when Professor Longbottom is ready for visitors." Albus smiled at the Headmistress' who nodded towards them before she swiftly made her way down the quiet corridor back towards the entrance hall.
Gohan sighed again picking up his book bag and followed Albus out into the hallway. His friend looked back at Gohan who was moving very slowly lost in thought about the situation.
"Hey Gohan," Albus began and the other boy lifted his head up to face his friend, "Er, I'm sorry I froze up back there. There was just so much blood...I...I got scared." Gohan was surprised by his friend's statement.
"It's okay Al, it was scary, I'm just more used to it I guess." Gohan honestly admitted thinking about all the times he saw his friends and family on the brink of death, thankful that they were able to be healed almost every time. Al's eyes grew wide at that statement but Gohan was brought into a seperate trail of thought entirely. That's it!
"Al, I know how to help Professor Longbottom!" Gohan almost jumped in excitement. I can't believe I forgot about the Senzu Beans! Thinking back, the beans had brought everybody including himself back from almost certain death more times than he could count. He also knew that Korin had a fresh batch of beans from his last visit to the Lookout. There was no guarantee that the beans would work on Magical injuries but Gohan knew that he would never be able to forgive himself if his professor didn't recover because he didn't try everything to set on heading to the Lookout, Gohan turned directly into Albus who had inadvertently positioned himself in the other boy's way.
"Where are you going Gohan?" Albus set his hand on Gohan's shoulder before the other boy knocked him over.
"I know of some medicine that will help heal him, I'll be back really soon, just don't tell anyone I left okay?" Gohan replied, hoping Albus would be satisfied with his short explanation.
"But Gohan, McGonagall told us Madame Pomfrey has everything under control and she's pretty famous at my house. He's gonna be fine, my parents were in Hospital all the time when they were here and they always got better." Albus reasoned to his friend but Gohan shook his head knowing that his friend hadn't heard the whole conversation between the adults earlier.
"I have to go Al. I could hear them talking, they don't know what's wrong with him. But I have medicine at home that might help...and I can't just not help!" Gohan explained knowing his friend deserved an honest explanation. There would probably be a lot more that Gohan would have to explain to Albus at the end of all this, but he hoped that would suffice for now.
"But you can't just leave Hogwarts without permission…" Albus was cut off when Gohan gently moved his friend's hand off his shoulder with a sad smile before taking off quickly down the hallway.
"Gohan wait!" Albus called, but the stubborn half-saiyan was already halfway down the opposite hallway with only one destination in mind.
Thanks so much for reading! Sorry this chapter took forever, I'm going to be honest, I just wasn't in the mood to write or edit for awhile, so apologies. Also if anyone is confused about the chapter numbering, I went back and turned chapters 1&2 into a Prologue cause it's just bugged me for awhile now. Didn't make any edits to the chapters themselves besides the numbering.
Okay anyways, so things are starting to happen, let me know what you think about! :)