Chapter 5: Counterstrike
An instant later he felt his whole being stretched and skewed as if being made to pass through a tiny keyhole and before he had enough time to contemplate it further a hard surface hit the sole of his feet. He felt his legs give way under his way and his knees touch the floor as he used his hands to steady himself. "W-where are we? What just happened?" He heard Claudia stutter.
"Professor Horsewood taught me apparition during the summer before our fifth year, is everyone okay? I've never done multi-person apparition before", Felix looked around at each of them. "We are at my Manor where I grew up, I couldn't apparate us in Hogwarts. Portkeys should work here though." House-Elves stood there unsure of what to do and taken aback by the surprise visit of their Master when they expected him to be at school.
"Okay here, Professor Cooper…he's dead…Sandra…" Claudia replied on the verge of tears. "She meant to kill me and he….he stepped willingly on the way…he….I…"
"I'm fine but your rescued Professor does not look so good", Socrates told Felix motioning at Professor Jordan.
"Just missing a femur and a broken clavicle, it could have been much worse", Professor Jordan replied kneeling over his colleague and friend closing his eyes. "Goodbye, my friend…"
"Right, let's get out of here, where's Professor Willows?!" Claudia searched for her portkey pouch with trembling hands.
"Sorry for the bones, sir", Felix found his portkey pouch retrieving it from his robes' pocket and before Professor Jordan could say another word Felix grabbed hold of the Professor's robes and touched the portkey.
Socrates grabbed hold of his portkey and a blink of an eye later he stood in the center of the elongated, rectangular room of Hogwarts' Hospital Wing.
Nurse Filterwolf was mending Professor Willow's arm when they portkeyed in. "Azrail severed some arteries in my left arm, I'll live. I stayed behind until Felix apparated them out and then I left. Ives made that pyro cloud spell a twitch way too strong. Sandra dissaparated as well, Azrail seemed uncaring, but he is wearing that thing…", he told a very angry-looking Headmistress.
"I told you not to…" Professor Horsewood started tearing at Felix with a voice that made the pyroclastic flow charm earlier seem like a toddler's sneeze.
"Mr. Burton did not engage Azrail, we fell into an ambush. Azrail was waiting for us. Felix is the sole reason we're not all dead, dissaparating everyone out, distracted Azrail enough for me to disaparate out as well", Professor Willows interrupted her fast.
"Me being able to use apparition is no longer a surprise, ma'am", Felix noted.
"Professor Cooper? Oh, Liam…" Professor Horsewood stood over his body lying on a bed, a hand caressing his face. "First Fredericka, now…Azrail has taken too much from us…" She covered him with a white linen sheet. "I'll notify his next of kin…what a sad day today has become…", she muttered to no one and turned to face Felix, giving him back the Shadeglass.
"Wait, you mean it wasn't a lie?" Claudia exclaimed shocked.
"The Shadeglass never left Hogwarts, I asked Mr. Burton to let me keep it safe until he was back, that way if something went horribly awry Azrail wouldn't get his hands on it, and I'd make sure he would never find it, ever"
"So, my suspicions were correct?" Professor Jordan sat on a bed's edge as the Nurse mended his arm and poured Skele-Gro on a glass for him to drink.
"Were your suspicions that I had the Shadeglass all along and that at some point my father had had me drink a page from the Book of Leaves?" Felix asked, shivering as the adrenaline still pumped through his veins.
"Indeed", Professor Jordan swallowed the foul-tasting liquid coughing as it went down, lying back on the bed.
"Then yes, you were correct, sir", Felix nodded, his voice was deceptively cheerful, he wasn't.
Nurse Filterwolf checked each of them carefully with Professor Cooper last. "Goodbye my friend", she told the deceased Professor, crying in Professor Willow's healthy shoulder.
"We'll be going, I'm glad you're back safe, sir", Claudia told Professor Jordan and giving Socrates a nod they left with Emerick.
"Lethargos?" The Headmistress asked.
"Dead as per his wish", Professor Jordan replied. "I used a Vulcan charm and multithreaded it with the pyro cloud spell and fiendfyre on a breadcrumb…Azrail may not be able to die by it but unless he dissaperated he will have had a very dreadful moment there."
"Anything left standing?" Professor Horsewood was almost amused, almost.
"Not for a few kilometers…the village was at a safe distance, but they'll have witnessed quite the spectacle", Professor Jordan's face sported a rather grim smile.
"I see, I'll tell the Ministry to send its obliviators. I'll be in my office", Professor Horsewood left the Hospital Wing.
"Felix, a moment before you leave, please", Professor Jordan told him giving the Nurse a look. She gave them some privacy going to make arrangements for Professor Cooper's body.
"Sir?" Felix asked after the Nurse had left them alone.
"A couple of questions. Back there, you had an opportunity to enact your desire, the reason we started our tutoring. Azrail was preoccupied with Professors Cooper and Willows, you know the Protection's weak point on him, why did you not?"
"As you said, sir, he had two Professors on him, Sandra was unchecked and attacking my best friends and Claudia. Also…let's just say there's a rather intense internal debate going on, on whether I should sacrifice a part of my soul to defeat Azrail, or not."
Professor Jordan did not bother to hide his pleasure at the answer, "Coming to rescue me was a bold if not stupid move. Were you okay with the possibility of being the one to die?"
Felix made eye contact, sad and yet at peace. "Had I accepted death? I'm beginning to understand I came to accept death a long time ago and I am now realising it, sir."
"You are ready. I'll need a few days but when we resume our tutoring I am going to teach you every spell, curse, jinx and hex I know", Professor Jordan gave a satisfied nod.
"I'm sorry for Professor Cooper, he'll be missed", Felix tried very hard to restrain his excitement as he felt it wasn't the time for it now.
"I wonder if your Boggart-shapeshift will be different now after your…trip in the Crossroads a few days."
"How…? I've not told anyone of what I experienced in Limbo", asked a very surprised Felix.
"During my life so far I have had the need to legilimens quite a few people, young, old, powerful, dark, proficient in occlumency…I have never before experienced what I did when I entered Lethargos' mind…all twenty thousand years of his life, I have never felt more lost, uncomfortable, terrified, elated and downright enraged in my life. He showed me much, too much…more than I can ever make coherent understanding of in this lifetime, and he has…had a connection with Limbo that I will not pretend to understand."
"Two of the Old Gods are dead…Azrail's going to be very angry. Oh, and that was three questions, not two, sir.", Felix played his hand in cheek, just to lighten the mood.
"Cheeky, much was lost today, some was won. And we live to fight another day. Your brother is not going to be very angry; he's going to be absolutely livid beyond all sane measure."
Felix left the Hospital Wing wanting to crash into a bed and sleep for days, but Claudia waited for him outside, alone.
"Hey", Felix tried to smile at her, he felt exhausted, both physically and mentally.
"Why'd you request I go with Professor Cooper?" She asked him visibly enraged.
"I can't think of anyone I trust more to have my back more than you", Felix shrugged as if the truth was, or should be, self-evident.
"The Headmistress deciding this for me is one thing, you deciding it is another!"
"Uhh, I didn't decide, I made a request and the Headmistress decided. Why does this make you angry?" Felix softened his voice, heeding the alarm bells ringing in his mind.
"Nevermind, I'll see you later", Claudia stormed off.
"What in the…" unable to concentrate Felix headed for the Hufflepuff dorms, for an early afternoon nap.
A few hours down the road during dinner rumours were already spreading about Professor Cooper's untimely demise, each more elaborate and farfetched than the previous one. The tables were full, yet the Professors' table sported two vacant chairs. Professor Jordan's healing in the Hospital Wing and Professor Cooper. The Headmistress rose from her chair in the middle of the table and walked to the front of it by the owl lecturn.
The Great Hall fell silent as everyone looked up at her. "Earlier today and with the Ministry's help we rescued our Professor Jordan from Azrail and his gang. While we were successful at it, it did not come without loss and sacrifice. So, before we start our dinner tonight I would besiege you we take a minute of silence for our fallen Colleague and Professor, Liam Cooper", hushed gasps followed her statement, and a minute of silence followed a light cough from her.
"If anyone wishes to write and offer condolences to his family I will collect them tomorrow before dinner", Professor Horsewood took her seat. Felix kept glancing over at the Gryffindor table hoping to meet Claudia's eye but to no avail. She ate very little, spoke to no one and left early.
Two days later, Felix was heading over to his next class with his thoughts fixed on what homework he had and when would Professor Jordan resume their tutoring when someone moving his way caught the corner of his eye giving him pause.
"Mrs. Jockovich?" Felix had this sudden feeling he should be on his guard, that something was afoot he knew not about.
"Ah, Mr. Burton, just the sixth year I was looking for", she told him with a predator's smile.
"Me?"
"Indeed, I will be giving biweekly seminars on note keeping for NEWTs. I do hope you will attend", she told him and somehow he had that inkling it wasn't so much a request as a subtle demand.
"Uhhm…I have a class to get to", he tried to avoid answering her. He tried to get past her, but she started walking next to him. "Ancient studies? I'll join you", she told him making him sigh.
Professor Umbra did not object to her being there, even if she made it obvious through scoffs, glares and acting as if Irina was not even there, that she did not want her in her class but had been told otherwise.
"So, why are you taking this class, Mr. Burton?" Irina asked him after class had ended. "Planning on becoming a curse-breaker for Gringotts after school?"
"Sure", Felix left in speed. The truth was he had taken up this subject in hopes of finding out even the smallest clue on each individual Old Gods item and maybe what linked them. So far he had learned a lot about the history of each spell and how many spells had ancient counterparts, evolving as did humanity, but little next to nothing on the Shadeglass and the rest.
She seemed unphased about his evasiveness, with a certainty in her look that sooner or later she'd have what she wanted from him.
"That woman has been asking some very peculiar questions from students", Socrates and Uriel were exiting the Arithmancy classroom when they saw him trying to get away from her.
Felix glanced behind his shoulder for a moment before replying. "She says she's here to conduct seminars on note-keeping for NEWTs, and I don't believe her for a moment."
Uriel stepped closer to them, lowering his voice. "My father has told me some very colourful things about her. She's very ambitious, even for a Slytherin, but one…good trait of hers is that she doesn't fabricate stuff for her stories. You may like or dislike what she writes but it'll be the truth."
"I have this nagging feeling this is going to be firmly in the dislike category", Felix sighed.
They continued to chat, finding Emerick on the way, until they took their seats in the Potions classroom. Felix noted how Anneke's lips seemed to curve more intensely than her usual venomous self.
Professor Marvey entered the classroom from her office, and immediately Anneke's sudden increase in gleeful venomosity was plainly understood to all present.
"Mr. Aetomaxos, your Mentor has complained to me that you shun her effort to help you in Hogwarts. She is your aid in this school, I would ask you, you behave better to her."
"You are most misinformed, ma'am. She has provided me with little to no aid or will to aid. The topics I enjoy she finds intimidating and the topics she enjoys I find infantile and boring, at best", Socrates replied to Professor Marvey in a very concentrated and calm manner.
"And you think you must not compromise in a friendship?" She went on, trying to get him to submit.
"I am not her friend, nor do I have any desire to be, therefore I possess no obligatory sentiment or predisposition to compromise", Felix knew his friend and knew him well. When not in the course of a philosophical debate the larger and more complicated the words became the angrier Socrates was becoming. "I do also think that it is a two-way street in any friendship or relationship, compromise. The only thing my "Mentor" makes me want to compromise is my will to exist upon this world of the living."
"You spend way too much time with Mr. Burton, Mr. Aetomaxos", Professor Marvey was not getting her way but was as of yet maintaining her demeanor. Anneke on the other hand had lost her gleeful look.
"An astute observation, ma'am. He is a brother-in-arms, a best of friends, a comrade in harsh times."
"It is unwise to spend time with him."
"That is my problem, ma'am. Atalians are known for two traits above all other. Stubbornness and loyalty to friends and family. No good ever came from testing an Atalian's stubbornness and much ill on requesting they abandon their friends. I do, though, possess a question of my own, ma'am, if I may. Should you not as a Professor be impartial or at least appear to be?" One had to be blind not to register Socrates' rage in the way he eyed Professor Marvey. A look most students agreed they did not want to be the receivers of.
"Twenty points from Ravenclaw and two weeks detention. Turn to page thirty and the wound cleansing draught", she told the class, clearly and unmistakably irritated.
Felix started taking notes, being familiar with the potion already. "What, no witty remarks, Mr. Burton?" Uriel was certain, she wanted to taunt him to doing something punishable.
"No, ma'am. I've been in enough battles, I've lost enough blood, with the scars to prove it, to understand the value of cleaning a wound as effectively and as soon as possible", Felix replied without even looking at her, his eyes leaned over his writing.
The taunting not going her way with a second student in one day, Professor Marvey looked less than pleased, the shimmering anger bubbling above her usually clam surface. "And these scars of yours? Are they physical or mental ones, Mr. Burton?" Emerick had this sudden and immense desire to punch her, a desire he did not act on.
Felix took the implied dig with a stride, placing his quill down and looking up at her as if she had told him the funniest, most pleasant joke. "Well ma'am, ask anyone who has actually been in a war and fought in a battle and I am sure they will tell you that psychological trauma and impact is unavoidable if one isn't a psychopath, sociopath or anything with a -path for a suffix. My trauma doesn't make me crazy or damaged. It makes me stronger."
Professor Marvey continued her lecture on the wound cleaning draught, electing not to reply further.
Felix's lips curved in a very faint, very slick smirk as he went back to his notes.
Forty-five minutes later they stood on the base of the stairs, backpacks on their shoulders watching the students leave the classroom, the class finished. "So, basically Felix two Professor Marvey zero. And you not only established yourself as a war veteran with scars who also has no problem admitting his vulnerable side, but you also won a contest of wit against a savvy Professor….and I am the Ravenclaw!" Felix chuckled at Emerick's summary of his skirmish with Professor Morgana.
"Well, you see the Sorting Hat really did not know where to place me…twice. But yeah I did, and your point is?" Felix tried to reply in a serious tone and not laugh.
"Teach me, grandmaster!" Emerick cried, Felix, Socrates and Uriel joining him in laughing. Their mirth was quick to vanish when they saw Irina enter the Potions classroom and the most dashing yet vile smile adorning Professor Marvey's face.
"There is no way she's here for "seminars"", Uriel said looking at the classroom entrance.
"This cannot be random. She comes only days after our rescue of Professor Jordan?" Felix wondered aloud with a sigh.
"Your brother?"
"Not directly, no. Socrates, but someone's feeding her information. Tell me, Uriel, if she believes she has a good scoop, will she question her anonymous benefactor behind the information?"
Uriel "Not a chance, she'll follow the scoop like a bloodhound on the hunt, and you have better not get in her way."
"Yeah, thought so. Looks like Professor Hudson is no longer our main concern in-Hogwarts."
"An interesting development, but I am not sure your brother is behind this directly or otherwise", Socrates proclaimed as he liked doing.
Felix tore his eyes from the Potions Classroom doorway. "Who then? The Governors on their initiative?" He responded in doubt.
Uriel nodded pointing at Socrates with his left index finger. "They are predators and they can smell blood in the water, now"
"Ours or Azrail's?" Felix sniggered grimly.
"Both, either. Nott and Joymother are fanatical about pure-blood entitlement rule on Wizarding and Muggle worlds but they are also opportunists, cunning and very able businessmen with a heightened sense of self-preservation"
"If they are working different angles behind my brother's back, they have better pray he doesn't find out" Felix replied starting to ascend the stairs to their next class. "Where is Ethel? Not like her to bolt so fast after a class."
"Oh, eh, she had something to attend to", Emerick shrugged it off.
Next class for the day was care of magical creatures where they learned about Yetis, and since that consisted only of a narration from the schoolbook, they had some hands-on experience chimera newborn cubs. Even as youngling a Chimera was a dangerous beast and what it lacked in brute strength it made up for with keen intelligence, surprising sting accuracy and a potent venom from her scorpion's tail which if left untreated could be deadly.
The cubs in Professor Nightingale's protection had been removed of their venom, their immature lion and goat heads whining hungrily as they sought nourishment. Each student was given a cub and under the direct and constant attention of Professor Nightingale they fed and cared for them.
Felix helped clean up the class-enclosure before making his way back to the castle. Chimera cubs sure made a mess of themselves. Felix was thinking near the main entrance when Alfred saw him pass by the Great Hall's doorway, stood up from the Gryffindor table where he was studying and walked fast at him.
"Hey cuz, you know that reporter woman? She was asking me questions earlier about you, Charlie and how he died. I told her nothing, of course", Alfred told Felix catching up to him.
"That…bad person…no, if you can talk about it, tell her the truth", Felix shook his head pausing his stride.
"Will showed us that sphere you had Professor Horsewood make for us during the summer…thank you. What if she asks to talk to mum and dad? I don't want them going through it again", Alfred had grown the past few years, both in body development and in spirit. A spitting image of Charles, his black hair cut short unlike William who still wore it long and wavy and blue, resolute eyes.
Felix hugged him if for no other reason than he loved the heck out of his younger, and sole, cousins. "A true Gryffindor, bravery and courage above all else…don't worry about your mum and dad, yeah? You don't know where they are at, do you?" Alfred felt himself blush at Felix's compliment as he straightened his back out of House pride, wanting to look taller than he was.
"Only the Headmistress knows", neither Alfred nor William knew where they would go each summer and Christmas vacations, the Headmistress would apparate them in and out from and to her office.
"Exactly, and do you think Professor Horsewood, one of her generation's brightest and most powerful witches ever allow your parents, or anyone else for that matter, to be endangered for a reporter's sake? Tell Irina, if she asks, that she should speak to Professor Horsewood about it. Just be near William if she interrogates him…if I happen to not be" Alfred nodded.
"Okay I'll do that, cuz."
"Do you have some place to be?" Felix asked him, resuming his stride.
"Was just finishing up dinner and would go study in the library, you can come with me if you want."
"How gracious of you to invite me to the library, cheeky bugger", Felix chuckled and passing a hand over Alfred's shoulder they headed to the Library.
Two days later, Friday morning Felix and the others took their seats in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
Cheers broke out when Professor Jordan entered the classroom. "Settle down, settle down. Thank you all, but let us get to it, I am eager to put the last few months behind me and start teaching you all how to defend against the dark arts, again", Professor Jordan, followed by Irina, motioned them to sit back down.
"It is good to be back…" Professor Jordan took a breath before continuing, his complexion still lacked colour and vigour and his eyes betrayed only too well the strife and suffering he had gone through during his months of captivity by Azrail. "It was scheduled to happen at the end of this year, but after Professor Cooper's untimely passing I will be taking over all years' Defense Against the Dark Arts again forthwith. Now, who can tell me which are the three unforgivable curses?"
Several hands shot up in the air, shinning bright as the autumn sun's rays hit them through the classroom windows.
"Yes, Mr. Rockewell?" Professor Jordan indicated a Gryffindor black-skinned boy with short shaven hair and blue eyes.
"Crucio sir, the Cruciatus Curse which delivers excruciating pain to the victim."
"Indeed, five points to Gryffindor. Anyone else? Two more there are", Professor Jordan asked looking around the classroom, having taken his seat behind his desk. Irina leaned up against a wall near the spiral stairs to his office, writing down stuff in her research notepad and observing each and every one of them.
"The Imperius curse, mind control curse…sir", Anneke interjected without waiting for Professor Jordan to select her.
"Yeah, she'd know that one! Only way she can get a date I bet", Ethel whispered to Felix who suppressed a snorting snicker.
"And the last one?" Professor Jordan asked them, trying to pretend as if Anneke was not even in the room.
"Psychopath's all-time favourite, Avada Kedavra, the killing curse. Certain, inescapable, unavoidable, instantaneous death", Claudia said grimly.
"Correct. Now, use of any of these three will give you a one-way ticket to a life-long Azkaban sentence. For all the obvious reasons we won't be displaying or practicing crucio or Avada, but I do have a special permit from the Ministry to try and raise your defenses against Imperius. I will be the only one performing the curse, so make a line and let's get started", people started forming a single file line at the center of the room, albeit apprehensively and with great reluctance.
"What is the point of this?" Anneke inquired, clearly not in favour of what Professor Jordan wanted to do.
"The point is that while it is very difficult to resist Imperio, it is not impossible if you know how and are vigilant and prepared mentally. These lessons will provide you with a framework you can expand on after if you wish to", Professor Jordan replied calmly yet irritated by the girl.
"You just want to ridicule me just like everyone else", Anneke pouted pretentiously sad.
"Oh, sweetie pie you don't need anyone for that, you manage it just fine on your own", Claudia and Felix voiced in unison. People laughed while Professor Jordan restrained himself.
"Five points from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff…shall we?" He eyed them as the class fell silent.
Professor Jordan aimed his wand at the first student in the line, "Imperio."
In an instant the Hufflepuff girl stiffened. "Raise your wand and walk across the room", he ordered her, and she did as commanded, walking slowly yet deliberately, each step labaroued. "You see that goblet there, smash it with bombarda."
"Bombarda!" She cried and the glass goblet on one of the benches on the wall erupted in tiny shards.
"Finite", Professor Jordan ended the spell. The Hufflepuff girl shook her head as if waking up from a bad nightmare. "Wh-what happened? Why am I out of the line?"
"I Imperioed you, Mrs. Gladwell. Now, we'll try this again, only you must concentrate your emotions and self and try to resist the euphoria you just felt. It is very hard, but with lots of practice, doable", Penny Gladwell gave a nod and a hard swallow as Professor Jordan aimed his wand at her again.
As much as Penny tried, and she did, she could not resist the curse. The second time Professor Jordan had her repair the glass goblet she had shattered just before and the third he had her jump up and down a few times.
Each student was given three times to try and resist, most failed while some did manage some measure of success.
Ariana was one of those students in the classroom who did manage to resist the curse at first. Professor Jordan ordered her to lie on the floor and she kept whispering a nursery rhyme, while clenching her fists, her eyes closed and her eyelids fluttering with intense eye movement as she kept making the move to kneel and then standing up again.
"Lie down on the floor", Professor Jordan ordered again, this time his voice becoming deeper as if he channeled will force through it. Ariana whimpered and tried but in the end succumbed and lied down, face up.
"Very well, Mrs…..Ariana. Very well indeed", Professor Jordan congratulated her while eyeing Felix.
The second, Ariana managed the same results but by the third time she felt mentally exhausted, her mental guards failing her as she jumped around as ordered.
Claudia, Emerick, Uriel and a few others, all members of the Students of Hogwarts, had similar results, while Lisa and Anneke failed to resist.
After everyone had gone through the gauntlet, everyone but Felix, Professor Jordan gave them homework and revision for next class, ending the lesson five minutes early.
"Class dismissed", while the other students stuffed their things in their backpacks and left the classroom, wanting to take advantage of the rare extra five minutes between classes, Felix remained behind.
Student and Professor remained silent until Irina left the room with a smug smirk.
"Sir…", Felix started saying unaggressively, but was cut off by his Professor who looked tired.
"I did not want Irina or anyone else learning just how proficient you've become at being able to control your emotions and thoughts. Our tutoring recommencement will have to be postponed for now, but when we do start again this will be included, worry not", Professor Jordan's reply visibly surprised Felix who did not attempt to hide it.
"Not the answer I was expecting, sir. Okay", Felix shouldered his backpack, readying to leave.
"I saw enough from Lethargos to not fear you losing "it" like that anymore. Oh, and Felix, you should attend her seminars, and tell her the truth whatever she may ask of you. She's relentless and can detect someone lying from a mile and a half away", Professor Jordan leaned back against his chair, rubbing his eyes.
"I don't think there's anything I can learn from her on keeping notes, sir. I mean I did make Outstanding on every subject in OWLs, but yeah telling her the truth in her questions was my intention, sir. Is this Azrail's come back for us rescuing you?"
Ives took a moment to reply, as if formulating his thoughts into a sentence. Then he leaned forward again, interlocking his fingers, in front of his face. "Keep your friends close, your enemies closer and her the closest. If you are not present you won't know what's going on. It is someone's' attempt on something which I am quite certain none of us will enjoy."
"Can't the Headmistress do something? Anything?"
"The interesting thing about storms, Felix, is that they are always fiercer the higher you rise", Professor Jordan replied making eye contact.
"I see, thank you sir."