Arc Two: Delusional Reverie
Chapter Three: Resurgence

Do you like it? Isn't it so beautiful?

I thought I heard a strange voice but I couldn't be sure from the cacophony of voices all speaking, gasping and crying out from fear and shock. The Grand Staircase was flooded on all floors with students and professors watching helplessly at the sights before them. The portrait inhabitants were hiding amongst themselves in fear that they could be next.

The student Snape and I were following led us directly to a flock of people crowding around one of the walls on the first floor. I could see McGonagall's tall hat peeking up above them all and we pushed forward towards her.

It wasn't pretty. As the sea parted, it became clear what all the fuss was about. The portrait had a large tear through its base and the strands of paint were falling apart. It was practically end-to-end in size and direction. This can't have been an accident... it was too vile.

"Who would do such an awful thing?" McGonagall asked herself as she inspected the mess. She was in clear disbelief that someone would do this. Then, she noticed our presence and turned to speak to us.
"Good, you finally came." she huffed in relief. "There are many more on the higher floors. We are trying to locate those in the portraits but some of them have travelled quite far. I may only hope that they are alright..."

I had never seen McGonagall so distressed. Snape looked like he didn't quite know what to do either.

"Prefects, lead everyone back to their common rooms." she ordered and the crowd dispersed shortly after.

"What's the situation?" I asked in mild intimidation of the answer. This sundress suddenly did not feel as appropriate to wear as it had earlier.

"Three portraits have been destroyed. Filius and Pomona are enquiring their neighbours as to what might have gone down. Though, the only information we have..." She swallowed hard. "is that students did this. That was the one thing they were certain of."

Snape cautiously approached and glided his hand across the fraying of the canvas. "It seems difficult to believe that they could create a damage of this magnitude," he remarked as he gritted the fragments that came off between his fingers. "It would have to be incredibly sharp. No spell could have done this."

My mind travelled back to the stories of two months ago: the fainting girl and the boy who flooded Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. It was true that there were also several more incidents, such as damaging school property and misfiring spells, but that seemed like typical school life. It would be impossible for students to destroy the portraits on purpose. They knew the consequences were severe. No, it was simply too out there.

I gazed towards one of the portraits next to the victim. It contained a dinner party but the inhabitants were cowering behind the long table. Carefully, I approached as McGonagall and Snape continued to discuss their theories.

"Excuse me..." I said and the people in the painting hid lower and their whimpering was very audible. "I don't mean any harm. Can you tell me anything about what happened?"

One face peered up and was visibly shaken. "I-It was a student, I tell ya! Had that uniform on and everything!" it yelled.

Another person poked their head out from the side. "Too right! And they were holding some large stick or something! Not a wand though, I know what a wand looks like! Tell 'em, Barbara!"

"Certainly!" a scared but determined voice spoke out. "We tried to scream at them to stop hurting poor Greta but they wouldn't listen! Like they were sleepwalking, they were!"

My whole body went stiff. "Sleepwalking? You're sure?" I tried to ask calmly but nerves were seeping out of my voice.

"Absolutely positive. I never lie, do I?" she proclaimed and the first voice smacked her on the head. "Okay, maybe I do from time to time but not on this one!"

I took her at her word. Could it truly be...? I went and presented my findings to McGonagall and Snape who became more concerned.

"We need to see Dumbledore." McGonagall spoke with watery eyes. "He needs to be informed immediately."

With that, we made our way to the third-floor gargoyle... but not before Severus carefully grabbed my arm.

"What happened?" He inspected and I realised there was a gash on my arm. How hadn't I noticed that before? I hadn't felt any pain whatsoever from it.

"I don't know. Maybe I caught it on a twig or someone on the way past. I hadn't even noticed I had it!"

"This looks at least a few hours old. You need to be careful." he spoke as his eyes drifted to the scars that bore on my shoulder from the Hound.

The ones on my hands were fading slightly over time but my shoulder never healed. To this day, the claw marks were as prominent as they had been on impact. Some scars simply cannot heal. That was life.

"I will, thank you." I laughed. "You are overbearing sometimes but... I appreciate that." I pulled his hand down on my arm and took it in my own. Everyone was in their common rooms; they weren't going to see.

"Hurry along, you two! This is important!" McGonagall called from in front of us. We dashed to catch up.

This office was starting to become my second room at the castle with how often I had to come here. Am I purely unfortunate or do all the professors come here this frequently?

Dumbledore rose from his seat to speak to us the moment we opened the door. It seems he was already well aware of the situation. There were several books of different sizes and usage open on his desk.

"Tell me, what have you found out, Minerva?"

McGonagall summarised her discoveries to him. Dumbledore sat back in his leather chair. His glasses looked as if they were about to fall off his face. He knew something that we didn't and that fact made me incredibly wary.

"They mentioned the students seemed like they were sleepwalking..." I added in.

His face went deathly pale.

"Sir?" Even Snape was beginning to feel the suffocation in the air.

There was a deafening silence. One could almost hear our synchronised heartbeats that agonised in suspense. After what felt like forever, Dumbledore pushed his glasses back up his nose and began to speak:

"We have another matter that requires your attention, Miss Juniper." Dumbledore stared me down with an urgent tone to his voice. "I am certain by now you have become aware of the strange occurrences happening at Hogwarts. We believed these events to be caused by the ghosts but they confirmed they had not played a part in it. It is worse than even I anticipated."

"I don't see how the ghosts could be making people blackout or destroy the portraits either..."

"How familiar are you with the tale of Ruberion Hollander?" he asked, clearly shaken at having to speak this person's name.

"Nothing, the name doesn't ring any bells." I admitted. McGonagall stepped timidly back.

"Ruberion was a student at Hogwarts an odd fifty years ago. He was a remarkable boy. I don't think any professor doubted that. Always top of his class and extremely talented. Yes... he would have gone far." Dumbledore paused briefly in contemplation.
"Unfortunately for him, his mind got the better of him. He delved into things he should not have knowledge of; that being the Dark Arts. Ruberion became a master of manipulation. Anyone he spoke to fell to his whims and would do as he commanded without question. Someone like that could not be allowed to continue to study at Hogwarts for long. There was one incident that forced my hand."

He gave off a heavy sigh and locked eyes with McGonagall.

"Ruberion wished to see just how far his authority extended. In that degree, to the point of controlling life and death. There was a young girl in his year and house, a Gryffindor may I add, that was quite fond of him."

Snape placed a hand on the small of my back. This wasn't going to be good.

"Using his wills and charms, he made her completely subservient to him. It was as if she had lost all autonomy of her body. Her soul simply did not have life to it any longer. Then, he commanded her to commit the ultimate sin."

Dumbledore's eyes went watery with grief.

"She killed herself. But not before inscribing his initials onto her palms."

"Despite that, how were you able to confirm it was him?" I asked.

"There was an inquiry in this very room. He denied not a single fact. It was enough to put him to trial and sentence him to Azkaban. However, approximately fifteen years after he was imprisoned, he escaped somehow. He was never heard of again and there are no clues to how he escaped or his whereabouts."

I'm surprised Fudge never told me of such a dangerous individual. Being such a seemingly high profile case, it surely had to create some sort of precedent but none came to my mind.

"How this is relevant, I relay to you that I fear that... Hogwarts is inhabited with his company once more. I know not if this is true, nor how he is functioning here, but multiple indications show such facts."

I had no rebuttal. Everything Dumbledore was saying made sense to me... It explains how the students were able to destroy the paintings and why the amount of disruptive behaviour has been skyrocketing. Still... how was he doing any of this?

"I understand you must be feeling confused, Miss Juniper. We are at a loss too. I regret having to ask you, but considering your amicable service to Hogwarts the previous term, I believe you are the best person to investigate how and why Ruberion has returned. Please understand that I would not request of you were it not necessary."

So much for getting to relax and enjoy my new life.

"I... I understand. If there's truly no other option then I'll do what I can." I said defeated. It was my duty as a professor of Hogwarts to do what I can to protect it.

"You have my utmost thanks. The regular activities of the school will resume as per usual. This includes the Quidditch tournament tomorrow. Be cautious of Ruberion. If there is anything that appears strange to you, do not hesitate to seek me." he advised just as he had done the very first time I came to this office. There was a nostalgic feel to it.

"There is one thing, sir." My mind came back to my restlessness. "Ever since the start of term... I haven't slept well. I feel as if I'm dreaming and yet... there's nothing there. It's like my dreams are simply... missing."

Dumbledore placed his hands together in thought. "It may be an aftereffect from the Hound of Dreams. I do not think that it is something to worry about just yet. However, if it will ease you, I will take consideration to look into it for you."

I thanked him, though it did not feel like he was doing me a favour with his dismissiveness. I suppose there were more worrying things at hand... There was no establishable link between the Hound and Ruberion, after all.

With nothing left to be said, Snape and I turned to leave but not before Dumbledore decided to announce one more thing:

"It is good to see you two getting along so well. I am happy for you both." he smiled genuinely.

"You knew, sir?" Snape queried a tad surprised.

"It was quite obvious, was it not, Minerva?"

McGonagall gave an awkward gesture at the sudden focus on her to this subject.

"Well, Albus is correct. You might have said something earlier, however."

"We kind of forgot... Sorry about that." I sweatdropped.

"No matter. It is good to see plenty of affection to go around. Treat each other well. You both need to learn what it is to cherish someone." Dumbledore waved his hand as he spoke. It was good to have his blessing.

Severus and I promptly left and returned to my room. Almost immediately, I collapsed into the chair at my desk and rested my head in my arms atop the wooden surface. How did such an amazing day manage to go sour so quickly? I just wanted one day to relax after all these spoiled dreams. Ugh... I wanted to cry. It was pathetic.

I felt Severus place his hands on my bare shoulders as if to say "I'm here" without uttering a word.

"I'm tired, Severus." I spoke but it was muffled by my arms. "I don't want to do this."

I stood up frustratedly and began to pace around the room, my footsteps being concealed by the carpet below. Severus watched on hopelessly.

"First the Hound of Dreams... Now Ruberion... What's coming next? Some sort of ancient artefact that's going to somehow magically change my life forever with a curse!?" I wanted to scream and throw something but such childish behaviours were too extreme for me. Damaging my possessions would lead me to only feel worse.

"I get it... I get that I solved the issue with the Hound but that was more simple... There was a path... I don't know the very first thing about this Ruberion. He just sounds like some out of control twat to me."

"Lay down, Cassandra." Severus demanded out of nowhere and broke me from my rambling. He had wandered over to my bed and taken his cloak off, leaving him in just his regular exterior.

"What? Why?" I walked over and sat down on the edge, watching him for what move he chooses to make.

Carefully, he sat down and pulled me to press against his chest. Such an action felt unprofound and alien for him. He had never had to comfort a lover before. It was an opportunity to try something new he had not done before.

He felt so warm. My erratic heart began to slow as I closed my eyes and felt absorbed into his stature. I had Severus with me. Life may be unfair but it brought us together. That much I have to be thankful for. In these moments, nothing else mattered.

"How do you feel?" His voice felt softer like if he spoke too harshly, it would shatter me to pieces.

"Better. Thank you." I mumbled and pressed a hand against his form to bring us closer. "You feel like two different people sometimes."

"Hm?"

"You have such a cold and harsh demeanour to everyone else. If anyone saw us like this, they'd think I'd bewitched you! But... with me... there's a part of you I think people would be surprised to see existed. You're kind, caring, warm. I feel safe with you. They should give you a chance."

"Few are as understanding as you wish them to be."

"Yeah... I know. But you gave me a chance too. Thank you for that."

"You should relax now." He gently removed me and gazed into my eyes. "We can begin working tomorrow."

"'We'?"

"Did you think I would let you do it alone?"

"I certainly hoped not."

Ruberion... Whoever you are, whatever you are... If you dare hurt our home, there will be Hell to pay. We won't allow you to continue this game you want to play.

Is that what you think?