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Chapter Seven
House Undol's Secret
A week later at breakfast, Harry and Ron were still discussing not only the recent adventure of the three headed dog, but how they were going to rub Nott's face in the fact that Harry got put on the Quidditch team for Gryffindor instead of expelled during the flying lesson. Faykan continued to be very quiet, and Harry noticed that he was looking rather tired lately, as if he wasn't sleeping well.
"It's either really valuable or really dangerous," Ron was saying, in relation to the mystery on the third floor, while Harry was studying Faykan, wondering what could be keeping him up at night. "Or both," Harry replied absently.
Hermione however, showed absolutely no interest in what lay underneath the dog or the trapdoor. In fact, she was refusing to speak to any of the three boys, which suited them just fine.
Harry was about to ask Faykan why he looked so tired when the mail arrived, and amidst the torrent of owls Harry quite forgot about Faykan and his troubles. His attention, like so many others, was drawn to a long thin package that was being carried by no less than six large screech owls. Harry was then further caught off guard when they dropped the package right in front of him, splashing milk from a toppled pitcher. The six owls had barely whirled away when Hedwig soared down to land next to Harry's arm, a letter in her beak. While Ron and several others continued to gawk at the package, Harry took the letter first, and opening it read:
'DO NOT OPEN THIS PARCEL AT THE TABLE!
It contains your new Nimbus Two Thousand, but I don't want everybody knowing you've got a broomstick or they'll all want one. Oliver Wood will meet you tonight on the Quidditch field at seven o'clock for your first training session.
Professor McGonagall'
Harry handed the note to Ron and Faykan, unable to now take his eyes off the package. "Wow," Ron moaned, "A Nimbus Two Thousand! It's the fastest model yet."
Quickly standing and grabbing Faykan by the arm, who really did look like he was going to fall asleep right into his plate of bacon, the three Gryffindors left the hall. Harry wanted very badly to open the box containing his new broomstick before their first class, but halfway across the Entrance Hall they found themselves halted by the massive forms of Crabbe and Goyle. Nott, smirking, seized the package from Harry and rolled it over in his hands.
"That's a broomstick, Potter," he said, throwing it back jealously at Harry, envy evident on his face and spite dripping from his word. "You'll be in for it this time, first years aren't allowed to have them."
Ron was about to retort angrily, but at that moment, Professor Flitwick appeared beside Nott.
"Not arguing I hope, boys?" he squeaked.
"Potter's been sent a broomstick, Professor," Nott said quickly, triumph on his pale face at the hope of getting them into trouble.
"Yes, yes that's right," Flitwick said, beaming at Harry, much to the shock of Nott. "Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances, Potter. And what model is it?"
"A Nimbus Two Thousand, sir," said Harry, fighting not to laugh at the look of horror on Nott's face. "And it's really thanks to Theodore here that I've got it," he added snidely.
As the three Gryffindors headed upstairs after being dismissed by the tiny Charm's master, Ron and Harry smothering their laughter at Nott's look of rage and confusion, they noticed Faykan lagging behind them, clearly winded. "Hey, what's up with you today?" Ron said concernedly as they jogged back down to help their friend.
"Nothing… just tired…" Faykan panted.
"C'mon Fay, you can tell us what's going on." Harry persisted, suddenly remembering that he wanted to ask about this himself.
"It's because he's been sneaking out of the castle every night for the last week." An angry voice said from just behind them. Hermione was stomping up the stairs after them, looking disapprovingly at Faykan's state of exhaustion. "Honestly the way you boys behave you'd think you were immune to punishments." She continued, starting to rant.
"I thought you weren't speaking to us?" said Harry quickly.
"Yes, don't stop now;" said Ron, "it's doing us so much good."
Hermione just ignored him and stomped away, her nose in the air.
Turning back to Faykan, who was looking paler than usual, Harry heaved the smaller boy onto his arm for support, and with Ron taking his other side, they continued up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower. "You know, mate," Ron said later to Fay, grinning slightly as they bypassed the Fat Lady, "you really shouldn't push yourself like this, you're already way too small as is and we can't take care of you like this forever." Faykan managed a weak half-chuckle, and when they arrived in their dormitory, Harry and Ron sat him on his bed and let him sleep for a few minutes while they opened and admired the broomstick.
It truly was a remarkable broom, but sadly there was only a short amount of time that they had before needing to leave once more for their morning classes. Both Ron and Harry continued to watch Faykan rather worriedly over the course of that day, but the short nap they had forced him to take seemed to tide him over till dinner at least, as he didn't slump over in any of their classes, even if he didn't seem to pay any attention. Thankfully the professors didn't take notice, as Faykan rarely paid much mind to their lectures, but was so talented that he was able to easily do the class work without instruction anyway.
Harry was concerned that they might have to keep this level of monitoring up on Fay for quite a while until he recovered from being constantly tired, as even at the end of the day he went straight up to bed, unlike the rest of their other dorm mates, but thankfully by Halloween, Harry and Ron both noticed that Faykan was looking much better. It seemed that he took their advice to heart and ceased, or at least heavily cut back, his nighttime adventures.
Whatever he had been up to however, Harry never found out, regardless of the number of times he had casually asked about them. Fay was very good as shifting around the questions or distracting them with other events going on around them, and Harry eventually gave up as yet another thing that was determined to remain a mystery about his closest friend.
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Hermione Granger knew she was a clever enough Muggleborn witch, her teachers had attested to that fact often enough, and she knew spells that her classmates probably had never even heard of, outside of a few.
While very few things stumped her, the one mystery that currently was setting her on continual edge these days was known as the black haired boy named Faykan Undol, who was currently sitting next to Harry, two chairs away, leaning back in his seat and not even trying to levitate the feather that Professor Flitwick had given to them both to practice for their first practical charm lesson on Halloween.
Hermione had no idea what to make of this boy… he was extremely intelligent, probably a match for Hermione's own mind, if not even out of her league, which was saying something. He certainly was able to carry out anything the professors asked of him flawlessly, and then some at times, but yet still seemed rather reluctant to perform any of his abilities unless asked directly to do so.
And then, there was the events during the horrible encounter with the three headed dog. Hermione distinctly remembered the boy crying out something that sounded very much like a spell right before the dog had fallen asleep with a crash before them. Hermione couldn't confirm exactly what had happened, as she was not going back to that corridor for any reason ever, but she had gone to the library and sought out any idea where such a spell was. She had gone over every book she could get her hands on baring the Restricted Section, but couldn't find a single thing that seemed remotely similar to whatever it was that he had said. it didn't even seem like a Latin based spell at all, but something more ancient in origin and far more elegant, if such a word was able to express what it had sounded like.
And then, after that, there was over a solid week that she had spied from her dorm's window as the boy sneaked right out of the castle night after night, disappearing into the forest until she presumed the early hours of the day. Whatever he was up to seemed to be draining on him as well, as the boy looked terrible every morning and the lack of motivation extended well into the afternoon before his energy returned, only for him to go out and repeat the madness all over again.
If Hermione only had an idea what the boy was up to, maybe she could help him cease such detrimental and prohibited activities, and just maybe, things might hopefully return to a sense of magical normalcy, with boy Fay and Hermione struggling over top grades in all their classes once more, aside from History of Magic naturally, as the boy was terrible at the class.
Turning partially in her seat to watch the pair again, Hermione saw Faykan take Harry's arm and correct his wand movement ever so slightly, but Harry seemed to be making little progress with the assignment regardless. Between them and Hermione, Ronald Weasley was having even less success at the spell than Harry.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" he finally shouted angrily, waving his arms like a windmill in hopes that something would happen.
Hermione finally snapped only when Ron's wand came close to hitting her in the face due to that bout of temper. "Stop, stop," she said hastily, grabbing Ron's arm to prevent herself from being actually hit. "You're going to put someone's eye out; besides, you're saying it wrong. It's Levi-o-sa not Levi-o-sa!" She said irritably. Honestly, it wasn't that hard to repeat a simple pronunciation.
"You do it then, if you're so clever!" Ron snarled back, still extremely frustrated.
Hermione sighed as she rolled up the sleeves of her robes, flicked her wand, and intoned clearly and correctly the incantation, saying it slow enough for the boy to hear her inflections on the syllables, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The feather she was practicing with rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads perfectly, just as it was supposed to.
"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping as he approached from the other side of the room, where he had been inspecting everyone's progress. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!" he praised, but Ron leaned over and set his head on his books, clearly put out and upset at her showing him how the spell was to be done, but she ignored this in favor of the opportunity that the movement presented, allowing Hermione to watch as the diminutive Professor moved on down the line to Faykan and Harry, and gently asked if Faykan was even going to try and levitate their feather.
Faykan just shrugged uncaringly, lifted his wand and simply pointed it at the feather, which immediately shot up into the air and hovered there like a kite on a string. While Flitwick showered him with praise for his spell work, Hermione looked on in shock.
Not only had the boy not performed the wand movement for the spell that they had spent almost a week practicing, but he hadn't even said the incantation, which was something that Hermione was sure that they were almost entirely expected to do for many years while at Hogwarts, and well into their adult lives as well.
It was simply well and beyond their level of possible instruction; even of the boy was as advanced as he had said back on the train. Something was definitely off with this boy's level of magical control, and Hermione was going to find out what it was.
After class ended, Hermione followed the three boys down to the Great Hall for the Halloween Feast. Ron was complaining loudly about her and how 'bossy' she was, but she was staring too intently at Faykan as he walked on the other side of Harry from Ron to notice or care what the immature red haired boy was saying.
She observed something odd on the back of the boy's neck as he shifted to let another student pass between him and Harry, and speeding up to overtake them, she hurried past the three boys very closely in the wake that the other student had provided, purposely knocking into Faykan's side as she passed. She got a much better view of what was there beneath his collar as the fabric moved aside from the impact: grey marks were purposefully drawn onto either side of the back of the boy's neck, disappearing down into his robes, winding around each other like snakes with very peculiar-looking writing along the length of each.
That was all she was able to get a glimpse of however, as to linger would have brought on the wrath of hot-headed Ronald, who already was heavily displeased, so Hermione made a small show of wiping at her eyes as she hurried on, turning a corner and dodging out of sight of whatever they had to say regarding her temporary rudeness. She would ask for forgiveness for it at a later time, when she had already worked out all that this strange mystery posed, and help the status quo of Hogwarts return to its equilibrium.
Hermione rushed off, not wanting to be around other students right now when she had such a puzzle before her, and so she dismissed the thought of the feast and went out, seeking a secluded place to strain her mind and think if there was somewhere she'd seen those kinds of letters before; she felt like she had briefly read something about ritualistic tattoos in ancient languages before. Arriving at a girls toilet, she pushed past Parvarti Patil as she went inside, uncaring what the loud mouthed girl thought. likely she would gossip immediate as she arrived at the Great Hall about how Hermione was in the bathroom crying or something, but that worked out to her advantage all the same. However, it seemed that the other girl took little notice of her, as usual, but Hermione knew better. The girl couldn't keep her mouth shut regarding anything but her assignments, which were not terribly great to say the least.
Once fully inside the toilet, Hermione locked herself in a stall to have several minutes of privacy to think where she had seen markings like Faykan's described before. It wasn't something she had been looking for particularly, so she had to really think of what she had been researching at the time, and then mentally go back through all the books she had read regarding that topic to find where she had come across the information, random as it had been at the time.
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Harry thought that the Halloween Feast was absolutely glorious. Live bats were fluttering around the student's heads like great dark clouds of wings, while massive pumpkins floated over the house tables, each filled with lit candles, which cast eerie shadows over the entire Great Hall in the absence of any lit torches along the walls. Even the knowledge that Hermione was currently crying in a girl's bathroom, supplied by Parvati Patil, and quite likely because of Ron's verbal assault about her immediately after Charms class, couldn't quite dampen his spirits from enjoying the first Halloween that he was able to celebrate like anyone else.
Harry was just taking a twice-baked potato, passed to him by an equally energetic Faykan, when Professor Quirrell appeared from the Entrance Hall, sprinting inside with his turban askew and terror evident on his face. Apparently fear could overcome his constant stuttering, because he cried in a very clear, high pitched tone. "Troll! In the dungeons! Troll in the dungeons!" he made it half way up the house tables and stopped, panting. "Thought you ought to know." he added to the Head Table in general before fainting to the floor, from either fear or hyperventilation Harry didn't know.
There was a moment or two of dead silence, and then the Hall exploded, people scrambling to escape as fast as possible and seek refuge elsewhere in the castle. Faykan grabbed both Ron and Harry, forcing them roughly to remain seated just as Dumbledore bellowed for silence, causing the room to nearly shake from the magically amplified voice. A few people skidded to a stop, or veered sharply into walls or the massive doors of the hall in shock, but all eyes were upon the Headmaster in wake of his command. Harry wasn't sure what was more frightening, the troll or Dumbledore when he was passionately concerned, as the Headmaster had never raised his voice before in front of the students.
"Prefects," he said, much more calmly once silence had settled for a few solid seconds, "lead your houses back to the dormitories immediately. Slytherin House will remain here in the Great Hall for their own protection. Teachers, you will follow me to the dungeons immediately."
Dumbledore turned to glance at someone, and turning to look at the swift eye motion, Harry spied Professor Snape silently leaving out a side door while the rest of the teachers, following in the massive wake made by Dumbledore through the sea of standing students, quickly moved through the Hall and out towards the staircase leading down into the dungeons. As Percy, Ron's older brother who was himself a Prefect, barked for all the Gryffindors to follow him immediately, Harry moved to obey, but found Faykan's hand still on his and Ron's robe sleeves, "Hermione," he whispered urgently, "she doesn't know about the troll."
Ron paled with guilt, and Harry grew very serious at his best friend's words and silent command. Taking a quick look back where Snape had disappeared, Faykan stood, motioning for Harry and Ron to follow Percy out of the hall.
"I'm going to follow Snape, figure out a few things really quick. You two get Hermione to the common room. Be safe, nothing too reckless, please. I'll be back before you know it." He said, before stealthily making his way to the same door that Snape had taken. Harry and Ron shot each other a look of confusion regarding the importance of what Snape was doing, but then Percy barked out his commands once again, and the pair hurried to follow the group of Gryffindors led out of the Great Hall, making their attempt to separate from them at their first opportunity to go and search for Hermione.
The school was in so much chaos that no one even noticed them slip away by dodging into a line of Ravenclaws going a different direction, before doubling back to the lower floor that they had learned from Parvati that Hermione had last been seen on. Harry knew that technically they ought to be safe, but that didn't stop the strange sensation that something about to go very wrong from building up in his gut.
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Severus Snape was following a hunch, encouraged by Albus, and was heading for the third floor. It had seemed far too convenient for Quirrell to have not only missed the beginning of the Halloween Feast, but also to just happen to discover and escape from a random troll wandering in the dungeons of all locations. Not likely, or else Severus was a Hufflepuff with a massive urge to care for Potter's spawn.
Speeding off upward to the third floor, Severus merely hoped he was still ahead of the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor to catch him if he made a move for the Stone hidden within the gauntlet of obstacles hidden there, but, as he entered the corridor that led to the forbidden area, he stopped in confusion.
There was a strange black fox just sitting there in the forbidden corridor, appearing to be waiting patiently in the middle of the stone floor for anyone to approach, watching Severus with its small, strikingly crystal-blue eyes. Severus only had time to register that the creature was there and barely begin to ponder what the small animal could possibly be doing here of all places, when Quirrell came bounding in behind him, almost knocking him flat in his haste to reach the corridor.
"Oh, S-S-Severus, I… um," the man began, trying to catch his breath and appear innocent at the same time, but Severus cut him off, seeing through the façade.
"Ah, Quirrell, I had a thought I might meet you here of all places, when the troll is supposed to be rampaging in the dungeons." The Potions Master breathed icily, snatching a hold of the other professor, and holding him still.
The stuttering Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor teacher just gaped at Severus before glancing down the corridor at the far door then back at the Potions Master. "W-well I-I, j-just thought that it was r-rather strange that a t-troll could have entered the ca-castle so easily and…" he stammered rather sheepishly.
Severus was about to retort and call him out over the quite obvious lie, when they both looked down and noticed the fox had moved like lightning, and was currently at their feet. Both Professors stared at the small creature, utterly confused by its behavior. It was cautiously circling both men's legs, sniffing here and there as if it was seeking for a particular scent. First it would smell Severus, then Quirrell, and then move to a new position. Finally, after smelling a section of Quirrell's robes, it stopped and growled, backing away toward Severus and baring its teeth at the now cowering man.
"I believe we had better go join the Headmaster in the dungeon and look for that troll of yours," Severus began, taking Quirrell by the arm, but stopped abruptly as a scream echoed throughout the upper floors of the castle. The fox bolted immediately, heading of all placed toward the sound, rather than away from it, and Severus wasted no time dragging Quirrell along as he followed hot on the animal's heels.
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Harry and Ron had found Hermione, but unfortunately she was not alone. Towering over her was a twelve foot tall, granite grey mountain troll, dragging a giant wooden club across the stone floor, cracks and fractures marring its surface with the club's weight and sending tiny shards flying in all directions. Hermione was pressed against the far wall with fright as the troll advanced on her, smashing sinks with every stride.
"Confuse it!" Harry yelled, immediately seizing a broken tap and throwing it with all his might at the troll's head. Unfortunately, the troll didn't even notice the metal striking him, but rather did turn to see what had made the noise when Harry had yelled. Once it spotted Harry, the troll turned and advanced angrily, raising its club high over its head with a roar of anger, preparing to smash Harry into a stain on the floor.
"Oy! Pea brain!" Ron yelled at it from another side of the destroyed bathroom, throwing chunks of broken porcelain at the walls, trying to make as much noise as possible. The troll spun around bewilderedly, giving Harry enough time to run around it and towards Hermione. She was far too terrified to even move on her own, let alone help, and Ron was running out of room to maneuver around the troll as it started toward him.
"Harry, do something!" he cried desperately, dodging as the club swung at him and getting wedged into the far corner, trapped against the troll's next attack.
Harry whipped out his wand and yelled the first spell that came to mind, "Wingardium Leviosa!"
The troll's club slid out of its hand as it was brought it crashing down towards Ron. The troll stopped, looked stupidly at its empty hand, and then raised its small head to look at its floating weapon, which promptly fell onto its face with a tremendous crack as Harry lost control of the spell.
It struck the troll hard in the face, but sadly this only succeeded at making the troll very angry, and possibly blinding it in one eye from the immediate swelling and blood flowing freely from torn chunks of its face. Roaring in pain and anger, it started to smash and throw things around the room at random, not really hitting anything except the walls and damaged stalls.
Harry tried to drag Hermione toward the door, but a massive portion of the stalls was thrown in that direction, smashing at it struck the doors and creating a perfect barricade, trapping them inside with the troll. He turned back to face the creature, even as it rubbed vigorously at its eyes, trying to clear the blood, and grasped his wand until his hand turned white. It looked as though it would be the end for them, not even a month into his wonderful life.
Just as the troll turned and started to charge at him, the doors burst open with a deafening blast, sending the rubble piled against it flying across the bathroom and slamming into the walls above Harry and Hermione with an almighty crash, and a black blur dove into the room and suddenly changed. The thing, some sort of animal, elongated and stood onto its hind legs, which changed into a human's. Moments later, Faykan stood in the unknown creature's place, brandishing his wand like a sword.
Slashing the wand through the air at the troll, he bellowed out a spell, his voice sounding harsh and strong, despite the almost melodic nature of the words, "'Ksh uuvanimo lanta ed' rutha en' i' giliath, Valar Kalina!"
Pure white light burst out of the wand's end, highlighting the troll like it was under a spotlight. Shielding its eyes and roaring in renewed agony, the troll stood rooted to the spot as it started to stiffen. Before anyone could as much as blink, the troll had turned completely to solid stone.
Ron, Harry, and Hermione stood gaping at Faykan and the now stone statue of a troll, completely dumbfounded at what their friend just did, and the dumbfounding questions of how that roared through their minds. Seconds later, Professor McGonagall came bursting into the room, closely followed by Snape, with Professor Quirrell bringing up the rear. Quirrell took one look at the troll statue, let out a faint whimper, and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart and with his eyes wide with frightened shock.
Snape moved toward the statue immediately, inspecting what remained of the troll in utter silence, while Professor McGonagall looked between the four Gryffindors. If she didn't look so shocked at what they'd found, Harry could of have sworn she would have been exceptionally furious.
"Who did this?" she finally asked shakily, pointing at the statue hesitantly, as though partially not wanting to know the answer. Harry and Ron both shot Faykan an unconsciously long look, while Hermione said nothing, her eyes downcast. Professor McGonagall however was extremely sharp and observant, and easily followed Harry and Ron's eyes, finally focusing on Faykan, who still held his wand tightly in one hand, standing with his back straight and proper.
"Please explain just how this came to be, Mr. Undol." She said, forcing herself to sound calmer.
But Faykan just stood there silently, and the rest of the room stared at him completely lost for words. Even Snape was eyeing the other boy suspiciously. Then a small voice came from behind Harry, "Please, Professor, they were looking for me."
"Miss Granger?" she asked, turning back to look past Harry at the girl behind her.
Hermione had found her voice at last.
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Severus watched in silence as Miss Granger told her story of how she had gone looking for the troll herself, only to be found and rescued by the three boys when she had metaphorically bitten off far more than she could handle.
However, personally, he didn't believe a word of it. Granger was far too intelligent to break rules so blatantly and follow after a dangerous mountain troll out of the blue, add to that that she had not been at the feast in the first place to learn of the loose creature, and the troll was stated to be in the dungeons rather than an upper floor. It just didn't add up anyway you looked at it. And then there was the way that Potter and Weasley were looking at her in utter surprise which proved its falsehood to him.
Minerva seemed to not be entirely convinced either, but merely deducted five points from Miss Granger, and sent her to her common room. The Head of Gryffindor seemed to understand the same thing that Severus did. The girl wouldn't lie like that without a very good reason, and there was no need to push her for information that she clearly wouldn't yield willingly.
"Well, I still say you three were extremely lucky." Minerva continued, turning to face the Gryffindor boys, who had grouped together nearer to the door. "Not many first years could have taken on a fully grown mountain troll and lived, let alone defeat it. You each will therefore, receive five points for Gryffindor, and Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You two," she indicated Potter and Weasley, "may go join you housemates in the common room, while you," indicating Undol, "must wait here, as we wish to discuss how you managed to do… this… to the troll in greater detail."
After a few uncomfortable minutes of the boy waiting on the toilet that Quirrell had vacated, the turbaned professor having been sent to fetch the Headmaster, Severus' mind was still reeling at what his eyes and wand were telling him. Somehow this boy had, firstly: known of mountain trolls' weaknesses to great sunlight, and secondly; had both known a spell that would summon light and had the power to cast such a strong spell to conjure the amount required to cause the troll to be forever transformed into stone.
How could someone that young have done this? Not even a seventh year graduate could have performed that powerful of a spell, let alone a first year. Severus knew that the boy's father would have been more than capable of such a feat, and it was a slim possibility that this young scion of the house of Undol could have been taught many advance and downright frightening magic, magic that Albus would have been more than desirous to lean if there was any chance of it aiding their fight against the Dark Lord and his servants. But, naturally the boy seemed none too willing to spill anything about how he had managed the feat, again, just as Severus expected his father would have been.
Severus itched to be allowed to speak with the boy himself, in a setting where he didn't have to portray the shallow selfish Slytherin that he was modeled to display for the children of the Death Eaters, as that might alone make it so that the boy would talk about his parents, but he conceded to wait for the Headmaster to arrive and speak with the boy personally. At least Severus now had rights to tell the old man 'I told you so,' regarding the whole affair with Faykan Undol, either generation.
They didn't have to wait too long, fortunately. Albus entered the bathroom swiftly, followed closely by Quirrell and Poppy Pomfrey, the school matron for the Hospital wing. As she looked the boy over for injuries, Albus came to speak directly with Severus. Running a hand over the stone statue that was once a living breathing troll, the Headmaster turned to Snape, eyes twinkling madly, "How has this happened, Severus?" he calmly inquired.
"Only the purest of light spell, at a high concentration well beyond most wizards' ability would have accomplished this, Headmaster." Severus replied, eyeing Undol over Albus' shoulder. "You will probably have to ask him for the details about how an eleven-year-old accomplished such a thing, however." the Potions Master added, nodding in the boy's direction, who was now struggling against Madam Pomfrey, who was trying to get the boy to remove his robes so she could inspect him closer for bruising or lacerations of any sort. Giving up at the fight he was giving her, she finally just waved her wand over the boy, taking quick magical scans of him, and confirmed that he was perfectly unharmed.
Finally turning to regard the boy before him with a calculating glance, Albus approached and kneeled down to be on eye level with the still seated Undol, who was refusing to meet the Headmaster's gaze, but rather watching his own hands as they rested in his lap.
"Mr. Undol, please tell us how you managed to cast such a powerful and indeed complex conjuration spell." Dumbledore asked in his calmest voice.
Still not looking up at him, Undol mumbled something in an undertone that Severus couldn't hear.
"What was that dear boy, I couldn't make that out." Albus stated, putting a hand comfortingly on the boy's shoulder, silently encouraging him to look up.
Undol spoke again, but still refused to look at the Headmaster's face, "I don't know, sir, I panicked and it just happened."
Severus snorted loudly, detecting the lie from a mile away, but Albus simply nodded absently.
"Well, if that's the case, and you don't have anything you wish to tell us…" he tipped Undol's chin upward, forcing the boy to look at him. The young Gryffindor shifted his eyes to look away from Professor Dumbledore, staring at the giant troll sculpture he had managed to create. "…then I don't see why you cannot return to your common room for the rest of the feast." Albus continued, smiling merrily before standing and leading the boy out of the bathroom, his arm casually guiding the boy by the shoulder.
As the boy quite literally dashed away, Dumbledore turned back to Severus, and the rest of the Professors departed to their respective offices to enjoy the remainder of the feast in private.
"Severus," he began, "I can sense something about that boy that he's trying with all his might to conceal from everyone, far beyond what happened in this bathroom."
"Headmaster, in all honesty I've noticed something to that effect since my first class with Mr. Undol." Severus replied, slightly sarcastic. Sometimes Albus could be painfully absentminded about these sorts of things.
"No, I mean he is deliberately concealing a fact about himself, some excruciatingly deep secret about himself." the older wizard continued. "Whatever it may be, he is definitely not an ordinary eleven year old boy, Severus. He knew that I was trying to enter his mind with legilimency to find the truth and not only did he refuse to grant me access, but his mind rejected every push that I attempted even without eye contact."
Severus paled; Dumbledore was one of the world's most powerful legilimens, and if this boy had power enough to resist Albus, what other secret abilities could he be hiding.
"We need to watch him carefully, Severus." Albus said flatly. "We need to find out his intentions, whether they are for good or ill…"
"I agree, Albus, although I must question why you think it's his intentions that are suspect, rather than what we could learn from him." Snape replied.
"Perhaps it is a bit of both," Albus countered, humming to himself as he departed from the bathroom, "have the elves repair the bathroom and remove this statue… I'm sure they'll find a place for it that is tasteful."
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Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting mutely in one of the darker corners of the common room, trying to discuss among themselves in soft voices regarding what had occurred in the bathroom, while the Halloween Feast continued around them, the noise drowning out all ability for others to overhear them, when the portrait hole opened and Faykan came walking in.
"Hey, Undol, where've you been?" Fred or George called jovially over the crowd as Faykan ducked and weaved through the mass of students towards the stairs that led up to the boy's dormitories.
"Oh, nowhere important, you know," he replied dismissively as he ran up the stairs and out of sight, ignoring several attempts to call him back to join the party.
"Follow him," Harry said determinedly, and the three first years weaved through the partying Gryffindors and up the stairs to the first year boy's dormitory. Closing the door behind them after ensuring their privacy, Harry turned to see Ron and Hermione standing next to Faykan's bed, looking at the boy who was seated on the end facing the central heating system for the room, staring into the flames that crackled merrily.
The boy was actually mumbling to himself, something that sounded like a poem, "I sit beside the fire and think, of all that I have seen. Of meadow-flowers and butterflies, in summers that have been…"
"Fay," Ron said softly, but the boy all but ignored him, eyes only twitching slightly as he registered the noise and continued the poem.
"…Of yellow leaves and gossamer, in autumns that there were, with morning mist and silver sun, and wind upon my hair," he partially chanted, partially sang.
"We want to talk to you." Hermione added, placing a hand on his shoulder, which was jerked out of her grasp as the boy snapped back to the present, looking up at the three of them wildly, mistrust and a shadow of fear evident in his eyes.
"What do you want?" Faykan said stiffly.
"We just want to know what happened…" Hermione began, but Harry finished for her with "…after we left." He wanted to start with the information that the Professors had received first, before asking the 'whys'.
Faykan grunted, turning back to face his pillow "Nothing. Snape sent for Dumbledore and they tried to get me to talk about what happened with the troll."
"And, what did you tell him?" Hermione pressed, leaning back against the bedposts, getting comfortable as it appeared that getting information from Fay would prove difficult.
"Nothing," he replied, "and thankfully he didn't try harder to press me into talking." the boy added with a not very subtle hint.
"So, can we ask you some things about it then?" Hermione asked in a soft voice, seeking permission.
Another grunt, "Only if I can refuse to answer." he retorted flatly.
"Of course, Fay, we'd never force you to talk about things you didn't want to." Harry assured him.
"But," Hermione added, "we do have a right to know…"
Faykan grunted again, brow furrowed in displeasure, "fine," was all he said in affirmation.
Ron went to watch the door and make sure no one burst in unexpectedly, while Harry went to join Hermione next to Faykan, who sighed deeply and laid back onto his own bed. Harry winced when he saw his friend's shirt ride up slightly, revealing a large white scar on Faykan's ribcage that Harry was sure he'd never noticed before. He realized then that for the three years that he'd known the boy, he truly didn't know a lot about him. It was past time for that to change.
"So, where do you want to start?" Faykan said in a dull tone.
Looking at Harry momentarily, Hermione cleared her throat, "How did you change from a fox when you entered the bathroom?" Harry widened his eyes at that. He hadn't noticed that happening; he was too busy protecting Hermione from the troll at the time.
"I'm an animagus; I can turn into a fox at will. That's how I've been getting around the school after hours without being caught." Faykan explained, resigned to the interrogation.
Ron raised his eyebrows. "Wow, that's really cool." Faykan smiled at his praise, but turned back as Hermione pressed on with her questioning.
"And, these marks on your back, they're ritual tattoos aren't they?" she asked, which Harry was even more surprised by. Very few actually had noticed the marks aside from when he had his shirt off, and even then that was limited to the boys in their year, who knew better than to ask questions, as much as they clearly wanted to.
"I figured you out of all the other students would notice," Faykan said, flashing a brief half smile before sitting up, unbuttoning his shirt and sliding out of his robe. Hermione gasped softly as he slid the shirt up and she got to look at Faykan's markings and near runic-like script fully displayed across his bare back for the first time.
"Yes," he admitted, "they are the markings of an ancient magic enhancing ritual my family participated in. They are called the Veneficium, or Marks of Sorcery. They have been passed down from the earliest generation of my family, who were close to the mighty Istari, or the first wizards in ancient eras." Hermione made a soft 'Oh…' and didn't ask anything more.
"What was that you blasted the troll with that made it turn to stone?" Ron asked from across the room.
"Pure sunlight," Faykan replied without looking up. "Trolls are naturally adverse to it, and if they are surrounded with enough they will turn to stone."
"How do you know all this advanced magic?" Harry finally asked.
"That, my dear friends, is one of the questions I cannot completely answer just yet. I will tell you all in due time, I promise, but just not now, it's not safe to reveal too must just yet." Faykan replied with a heavy sigh. "What I can tell you is that I have many enemies, who would kill me to learn even a fraction of my family's secrets. The Veneficium are but one of these. They contribute to my magical strength. I try very hard to not show off as much as I can to not draw attention to them, not that I can manage that too easily," he added with a wry smile.
"These enemies," Harry asked, wanting to know more of his best friend's background, "are they why you moved in with Mrs. Figg so long ago?"
"That and several other reasons," Faykan replied, but he held up his hand as Harry started to ask another question, "I've already said a great deal more than I wished to, as there are techniques that other wizards know that will take the information from your minds, but I cannot properly help you protect them with how young we all are, so I have to refrain from saying anything else until then…"
Harry knew that they had gotten as much out of him as they were going to, so he didn't press it any further. He patted Faykan on the shoulder as the boy sat down again. "Thank you for trusting us with that much. I know it must be a big risk for you to let us know these things, but we appreciate it."
"We promise," Hermione added, looking at Harry and Ron, "your secrets will be safe with us, and we won't even discuss them unless you say we may."
Faykan smiled at her, sighed again slightly and turned back to return his gaze to the fire in the central heater. Harry got up, as well as Ron, escorting Hermione to the door so she could leave for the girl's dormitory, and that they could return to the party downstairs, they hadn't got much food back in the Great Hall anyway.
"Thank you." Faykan said as they pulled the door open. Harry turned back as he pulled the door closed and overheard Faykan continuing more of the poem he had been reciting earlier, "I sit beside the fire and think, of how the world will be, when winter comes without a spring, that I shall ever see…"
Harry could tell that Hermione was really happy that they were all her friends now, as she happily bid them goodnight and went up to the girl's dormitory minutes later. He could also tell that she was going to be a true friend in return to the three Gryffindor boys from here on. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and defeating a twelve foot mountain troll is one of them.
ksh uuvanimo lanta ed' rutha en' i' giliath, Valar Kalina! : evil monster fall by anger of the stars, light of the Valar!
Potential Spoilers Ahead, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
So, once again I changed the title of the chapter, as I greatly felt that this out of all the previous chapters required it. again there was some content shuffle, as the chapter had grown extremely long, so I had things moved to the previous chapter to help cut down size, as I noted in the previous chapter.
continually working to increase what harry notices regarding faykan to a more realistic level, as it was quite apparent that he was missing some of the more obvious signs early on that things weren't as they had appeared.
there was a small increase to the first Hermione section, that added a bit to not make it seem that he was out to get faykan as much, but simply idly curious and concerned, which matched her character better this early on.
added features to the encounters before and during the troll scene, for a bit of flavor. and the meat of the changes were during the final scene, as I had always found that original section somewhat flatter than what I had intended, even though nothing of substance was revealed, as of yet... too early for any of that fun stuff...
Not much of me trying to be entertaining with this post, as I'm rather miserably sick and not much in the mood for levity based writing...
~F