IWSC Year 4

Round 2

Durmstrang Year 3

Theme: While attempting to destroy the ring, Albus Dumbledore forfeited his life, dooming himself to a slow death. Write about the price of achieving a goal.

Buzzwords: Time and effort.

Becoming a different person.

Losing something.

Forfeiting your life.

AN: Inserting an author's note, from a traumatised student point of view to point out that this theme and prompts fit well with university life…. Studying to achieve something, you give your time, money, and effort to the university of choice, lectures, books…

Uni life changes you, and you lose parts of yourself as time goes on. You basically forfeit your life to be able to live later….

Main prompt:12. [Quote] "I miss you more than I remember you." - Ocean Vuong

Additional prompt: 6.[Genre] Drama

Words: 3000 in GD.

Thank you to my wonderful betas: Corrie, Mia Rose, Sophie, and Georgie! Without you… I don't know where my sleepy self would be.

Second AN: AU. This takes place in an Alternate Universe, although... It could also be an unseen part of canon if you squint.

Prologue

Fate is fickle. Who would have ever thought that someone magical would ever give up their power? Who would have thought that such a sweet and selfless man could grow to be so bitter and angry at the world? However, the die of fate has been cast, and they have fallen sideways.

What is life, but the sum of our memories? What is a man without all the knowledge that made him who he was? Who are we all without our brains and experiences? Children? Newborns? Like them, we have to learn again. We miss who we used to be, but we barely remember that person, for it isn't us… it was in another life. After all, that is where memories that we have forgotten, or are out of reach, lie. Memories that sit in the corner of our minds, and we miss the feeling they gave us, but we barely remember them.

That's how I felt. Forty years is a lifetime. Forty years, I have been stuck in this life, and forty years since my friend has been gone, replaced by a bitter person. I can only watch and be at his side as I decided, oh, so many moons ago. And yet, of my own free will, I cannot help but think, I lost myself too.

The Accident

The Foyer family had always been one of magical power and harmony. They laid low in the Wizarding World, only offering help when there was no hope left. They were special in the sense of what they could do with their magic. Since ancient times, they were the "Protectors" of the realm: Protectors against the forces of the Darkness, the all-consuming evil force of the Universe. Few knew it existed, but you could see it in the shadows all around, waiting to corrupt souls and make them commit the most evil of crimes. One could argue Voldemort or Grindelwald were such people, but they had barely been touched. Protectors dealt with all the other people, people the Wizarding World couldn't possibly fight on its own.

Arnold had always known about the duty his family had to the world, and he was honoured to be part of it. They were in touch with the strings of fate and were connected to their Inner Eye in what was to come and what had to pass.

He was finally seventeen and was excited to join his family in the fight against the Darkness. He'd grown up pretty normally beforehand. His best friends were Argus Filch, a Squib, and Nora, a young shape-shifter witch. They were the best friends in the world to him, even if Argus could be quite grumpy. He appreciated them a lot, since his younger siblings were so much younger, the eldest of them only five.

"You cheated!" Arnold heard, and turning around, he saw Argus shout at Nora who was up in a tree, eating an apple.

"I told you not to use magic! It's not fair! You turned into a cat!"

Arnold sighed and moved to intervene. Nora had quite the temper when angered.

"Argus, I have magic, and I cannot turn myself into a cat like her! I am not even an Animagus. She was born with that ability, the same way Maledictuses are. Only, you know, she's not going to be stuck in that form forever."

The other boy glared at them both. "Well, maybe she should! I thought we agreed that you wouldn't use magic when we hang out together."

Nora transformed back into a cat and jumped out of the tree. Changing back into a human, she glared back at Argus. "You'd like that, wouldn't you? Sometimes I wonder why you stick around us so much if you don't like that we're magical? Is it because you hope one day you will be?"

"Nora—" Arnold started, but she waved him off.

"No, Arnold. You're too kind, but look at him. He's always so grumpy! I know he wishes he was a wizard! So do I! Do you think it was fun that one of my best friends was not at Hogwarts with me? Or that I have to control my natural magic all the time when we hang out because I know you'd be upset with it? But my shape-shifting ability? I was born with it the same way you were born a Squib! I think you should take a step back, Argus, and think beyond how sorry you are for yourself."

Arnold gulped. In truth, Nora was right. They had met Argus when they were all seven at a candy shop, and they had stuck together ever since. However, with each year they went to Hogwarts, their friend grew more and more distant, jealous, and grumpy. Of course, both of them understood Argus. The boy came from a magical family, and the fact that he had no powers had hit him hard once he'd fully understood how different he was.

Arnold and Nora had reduced their talk of Hogwarts around him over the years, and ever since they'd turned seventeen, there was little to no magic done around Argus, as per agreed.

Argus turned red and looked down. "I'm sorry, folks. I… I just… You know, there's an opening to be Hogwarts' caretaker?"

Arnold and Nora shook their heads. "Pringle is retiring? We thought that guy would simply turn into a ghost like Binns and continue to live there!"

"No, he's retiring," Argus said. "And I have been thinking about taking it, you know? My one chance to see the castle. But then, I'd be the one non-magical being in a school full of magical students, a school of magic. I'm due to tell Dumbledore my answer tonight."

"Oh, Argus." All the anger was lost from Nora. She went and reached for him, draping an arm around his shoulder. "You could visit Hogwarts without becoming a caretaker. I am sure that if we ask Dumbledore, he'd say yes."

"No," the boy said.

Arnold could feel that there was something more, so he asked, "Why not?"

"Because then, I won't belong there. If I become a caretaker, I would belong. Hogwarts would become my home. Neither of you talked about it much, and I am grateful for it. However, when you did, you always made it sound like your second home. This is my one chance to… to see how it is."

Arnold could see in his friend's eyes that he was determined, and after a quick glance, saw that Nora had realised so as well.

"Then do it. You can always quit," Nora said. The three of them hugged, fight forgotten. Yet, Arnold was mindful of something else. A slight chill was in the air, a chill he'd always associated with… Darkness.

"How touching, the Squib has friends," a sudden voice said behind them, and all his fears came true. An agent of Darkness stood in front of them. Arnold tried to get in front of his friends but found he couldn't move.

"A minor inconvenience, but I can take care of it. It will be all too easy," the man said, coming closer to them. "Way too easy to destroy the strings of Fate."

"What do you want?" Nora shouted, but she too couldn't move. Arnold closed his eyes. What kind of Protector was he, if he couldn't do anything to help his friends? If he was stuck just like them? Was he already failing in his goal in life? Was it worth it anyway, if he couldn't help his friends?

"From you? Nothing. No, no, you're not important, girl." The man pointed at Argus. "He, however, is." Pointing a dark, wooden wand, he murmured something that Arnold recognised too late as an organ failure curse.

"No!" he shouted, but it was too late. The agent of Darkness disappeared, but not before he murmured a forgetting spell at him and Nora. This time, however, Arnold was ready. And with his barely-there Protector powers, he shielded himself and his friends from the memory spell. Finally, he could move, and so could Nora. They turned to see Argus laying on the ground, turning blue.

"Argus!" Nora moved next to him. "He's barely breathing! What can we do? I can't Apparate!"

"I'm dying, friends," Argus said, barely whispering the words out. "Whatever he did, I can feel it."

"Your organs are failing," Arnold said, surprising his friends. "Currently, there's nothing wizards or witches can do against this spell."

Argus nodded, and to Arnold, he looked oddly resigned.

"However," Arnold continued to speak, "there's one thing we can do. I got my licence. Nora, grab onto me. Argus, please hold onto me as tight as you can."

Arnold went down and hugged his friend while Nora grabbed his right arm. He Apparated straight onto the bridge at Hogwarts.

"What?" Nora asked, looking around. "How did you Apparate here?"

"Protector trick," he said, giving her a look of, 'I'll explain later.' "Argus! Argus, can you hear me?"

"Yes," his friend murmured, barely opening his eyes. "Where did you take us?"

"Hogwarts," Arnold said. "Look around. You're at Hogwarts."

Hearing the name, Argus struggled and opened his eyes wide, taking in the school in front of him.

"Hogwarts. Thank you, friend," he murmured before he closed them again, and Arnold knew he wouldn't open them again.

The Choice

Behind him, Nora was crying. "What was that? What in the name of Merlin happened, Arnold?"

"I don't know. I… I need to find my parents."

"Your parents? Your parents? Why did we come here instead of St Mungos? Maybe they could have saved him!" She started hitting him.

"Hitting my son will do you no good," a voice said, and both of them turned, wands ready this time. Arnold was relieved to see his parents instead of another Darkness agent.

"Mr and Mrs Foyer? How did you know to come here?"

"We felt a shift in reality at Hogwarts. When your friend died, he took the reality that was meant to be for this universe with him. We were meant to guard it; we're Protectors in this universe against Agents of Darkness, like the man who killed him. However, we could have never dreamed that they would do something like this."

"What do you mean, Mum? Why did they target Argus?"

His mother looked at him with tearful eyes. "Argus Filch was going to be a part of a story that would shape the Wizarding World for decades to come. The reality we know is breaking apart, for Argus was meant to be the Hogwarts caretaker. You two were meant to have him go to Dumbledore tonight and convince him to accept the post. Now, there's nothing. No one. There was a distraction. We were fighting the corruption of Darkness in South America when this happened. We felt it the moment your friend stopped breathing, and we Apparated right away… but it's too late."

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Arnold asked.

"There is," his father said. "I am going to become Argus Filch."

"What?" both he and Nora shouted.

"Reality needs one, so we'll make one. You can finish your training and help your mother. If I don't do this, there won't be one. The ritual is daunting and takes a while. And we only have a couple of hours before the meeting with Dumbledore."

"Dad," Arnold said, "would they try again if they see Argus is alive? And how are you going to become him?"

It was his mother who responded. "They may, yes, but they lost their element of surprise. I will guard your father with your help. They cannot get away with killing other people without it being a suicide mission. Darkness is evil but also selfish; they'd rather not bring out injury to themselves when there's a way not to. Taking out a secondary character of reality is not the same as taking out a main character. All universes that exist are connected, and some people have a stronger connection with Death, Fate, and Time than your friend Argus."

"You mean they're more important?" Nora snarled at them.

"No, but they do have more people watching them. Much harder to sneak. You see, Arnold probably protected the three of you from a memory spell. It's effective in that you forget their presence, but it doesn't work on a large scale."

"Dad, you can't be the one to do it."

His parents began to protest, but he cut them off. "No, listen to me. I barely have my training. You have five other kids to worry about. I am Argus' age. I should be the one to do it, and you could watch over me."

"Son, that is very noble of you, but you don't understand. We have never used the ritual before, we don't know the side effects…"

Who am I?

But Arnold couldn't be deterred. He'd always been that kind of person. However, I wasn't going to lose both of my best friends on the same day. The way they explained the ritual, they'd erase Arnold's presence from existence. No one would ever know he'd ever lived, except the people who did the ritual.

"Mrs Foyer," I asked, "is there any way I could accompany Arnold? Watch over him? I don't want to forget."

She shook her head. "Unless you were a part of the ritual somehow… Not possible."

I thought about it long and hard, and it took me five seconds to come to a conclusion.

"How about a pet? Argus was planning to buy a cat before I annoyed him one too many times with my transformations. I could go and watch over him as a cat."

"Nora," Mrs Foyer said, "if you decide to do that, there will be little to no opportunities for you to transform back into a human. No one can do this. No one's meant to know about us. It's why Arnold never told you."

I closed my eyes. I loved being a cat, but could I be a cat forever? To be honest, I didn't know, but I knew I couldn't lose Arnold too. I had no family left, my foster parents having kicked me out as soon as I turned seventeen. Argus and Arnold had been my family ever since that candy shop meeting.

"Could you put a spell on me? One that stops me from being able to change back into a human? Could I become part of the ritual?"

"Nora, I can't ask this of you!" Arnold exclaimed.

Between tears, I smiled. "You're not asking. Besides, remember what Argus said earlier. Maybe I should be stuck in a cat form. I guess he's getting his wish."

Arnold chuckled. They both knew their friend hadn't meant it. After a tearful goodbye with Arnold's parents, the ritual began. Soon Arnold Foyer was no more... and Argus Filch was born again, with a trusty Mrs Nora at his side.

Years pass

However, no one could have predicted how much or how fast Arnold would lose himself. I saw him change, day by day. They said that the spell would take his magic and make Arnold look like Argus, but it was so much more than that.

I watched as he grew more and more frustrated at the fact that he couldn't do magic within a week of the spell taking hold, and he'd not done magic for the whole summer because we'd spent it with Argus. Soon, his frustration turned bitter. I could only watch and try and comfort him.

After a few years, he forgot my name. He started calling me Mrs Norris, a name I still go by today. I wonder if his parents knew how the ritual had turned out, but I suppose in their goal to save the fabric of time, they didn't care. After all, they knew they couldn't have changed Arnold's mind. But the conclusion was simple: you forget who you are over time. The ritual was devised to slowly turn him into Argus. An Argus who didn't have any friends, for Arnold was gone, and so was I. In fact, no one but his parents could ever remember we existed.

Forty years? Or perhaps even more… At some point, I stopped counting. His brothers and sisters had come and gone to Hogwarts, none ever the wiser of who he truly was. I'm sure they were told after their seventeenth birthdays, for I saw them sometimes appear, courtesy of their Protector status, to see him. Funny, they never really told me what a Protector was.

Watching Arnold over time, I understood what his parents had meant in Argus' importance. The little things. He'd given detention to four boys for various reasons, and that had been the bonding factor of the Marauders. James Potter, the Head Boy, had offered to help him after a prank they'd made had gone wrong, and thus, Lily Evans had realised he'd changed. Fred and George Weasley had acquired the Marauders Map from his office. The map would have been lost otherwise, and Harry Potter would have never gotten it.

But the cost of all those little things was so high. My best friend, the most loving brother, grew to hate all the children that came to Hogwarts. In turn, they all hated him, too. I was reminded every passing moment of the price he'd paid, and the price I'd paid as well. Every time I passed a mirror or a block of water, I'd look down and try and see if I could picture myself; long auburn hair, blue eyes… I couldn't. Not anymore.

Epilogue

In all the time that had passed, I struggled more and more to recall the little details that made Arnold, Arnold. Our lives before… were just memories in the air.

Oh, Arnold, Argus, Nora! I miss you more than I remember you. I only have what's left of us now: Mrs Norris and a grumpy old man.

Fin