Chapter 8: Truths Told, Secrets Found
Back at the Room of Requirement, the group was chatting away about how classes might work, what they'll learn, and Amanda was talking to Ross about when the first Quidditch match will be.
"The first game should be in the first or second weekend of November, it'll be against long-time rivals, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Ravenclaw won't be playing until the third or fourth weekend, against Hufflepuff."
Amanda was understandably unhappy that she would have to wait so long, "Well, I guess I'll have to wait a while, but till then, I guess I'll have to just fantasize...I mean Imagine, what a full Quidditch match would look like."
Everyone caught her slip-up, but they blew it off as her just trying to use a better word that doesn't sound weird.
"So, Ross, what can you tell us about how classes are structured, maybe warn us of anything a certain professor is known for?" Akko asked.
Ross took a minute to think before answering, "Charms, Flitwick can be a bit...hard on students who are late, but he's actually a really nice guy. Potions, Slughorn is a very humble man, very kind, but he will try to be funny at times, it's best to just smile, even if it's not funny. Transfiguration, I...actually don't know who's the professor in that class. History of Magic, Binns will be a bit oblivious to what happens around him due to him being...well...old. Astronomy, Sinistra is mostly average, though she takes any inaccuracies in assignments very seriously. Herbology, Sprout is actually pretty loose, though sometimes a little too loose, so try not to get hurt. And Defence Against the Dark Arts...well you already know who Phoenix is."
"Right, yeah, we'll take note of that." Akko responded.
"As for how they're structured, it's basically, Lesson, class assignment and then possibly homework or free time. Sometimes one of those will be longer or removed that day."
"Seems simple enough, but I'm sure the lectures will still be boring." Akko said giving a look of boredom.
"Actually, the only professor that I've ever had that gave lectures was Snape, but...he no longer teaches." Ross said with a bit of sadness in his voice.
Amanda caught this, seeing how she had a knack for predicting how people feel through the sounds of their voices and the look on their face.
"Why's that, did he retire?"
"No...he was killed during that battle for Hogwarts, he was a double agent for the previous Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore."
This surprised the others tremendously, they had no idea there was a war at Hogwarts. They even started to wonder what else Phoenix hadn't told them and if he was planning to hide it from them.
But Chariot broke the long silence, "How many?"
Ross turned his attention to her, "What?"
"How many people died during that war?"
Ross looked down, looking very down and hesitant to answer.
"Countless, I almost died but was saved by one of the professors. The castle was practically destroyed by the end of it."
By the end of Ross' explanation, Chariot was thinking about what Phoenix was going to explain earlier.
"What does he know about this war? Was he a part of it? Most importantly...why didn't he mention this before?"
*Meanwhile in the Head's Office*
"So, let me see if I understand what you're planning, you want us to leave the doors open, let classes go as normal and hope this Voldemort Avenger just reveals themselves?"
"Pretty much, yeah. I know it sounds crazy, but keep this in mind. If we were to lock down the school, it would take longer for everyone to evacuate should there be any 'life-threatening' problems."
McGonagall had no choice but to agree, he had a point. She knew the year would still have its usual dark events like it always does, but this time, it was much more dire.
"But enough about that, I have an important question. Who's the Transfiguration Professor suppose to be? You used to have that job, but after you became Headmistress, the job was left empty."
"That would be a man who goes by the name, Charles Rusticitas. In fact, he was in my office not long ago, right before the Dementors appeared."
Phoenix then remembered the man that was chasing his dove or lizard.
"I think I ran into him when I caught that follower. He was about 40, had some scruff on his face and had a bit of a shaky voice."
"That would be him, I assure you he is very experienced in Transfiguration magic, he can just be a bit clumsy at times."
Phoenix just nodded, thinking that was a bit of an understatement.
"Well, thank you for the update, I should head to the Gryffindor common room to check on the students and make sure MY students are alright."
And with that, Phoenix made his way up to the RoR to see if the girls were still there.
"Girls, I'm back from my talk with McGona…"
Phoenix's greeting was cut off when he saw Ross, and everyone giving him a look of, almost disappointment.
"Why is Ross here and what did he tell you that would make you so pissed?"
Chariot got up and looked at him straight in the eye, "You owe us an explanation. Who is this Dark Lord? Why is he so dangerous? And why didn't you tell us there was a war here?"
That last one shocked Phoenix at first until he realized that Ross had probably told them. He had no choice, he had to explain the whole truth, they deserved it.
"Alright, I'll explain. Let's start with who the Dark Lord, or as he is more commonly known today as Voldemort, is and why he's so dangerous."
The girls prepared themselves for the long story, knowing that Phoenix wouldn't leave out any major details. "Before he was Voldemort, the most powerful dark sorcerer, he was a mere boy, named Tom Marvolo Riddle. He was an orphan, picked on by the other kids, and he felt different. The reason? He had dark magic within him, created from rage and abuse from others. It wasn't until Albus Dumbledore travelled to the orphanage where Tom was, in an attempt to bring him to Hogwarts to control his magic. He was successful, but not without having some second thoughts about his choice. For you see, Tom could move objects without touching them, commend animals without training them, make bad things happen to people, make them hurt, and speak to snakes, they whispered things to him, dark things. All of this without a wand or training on how to control it. Later in his youth, he had discovered something that kickstarted his plan, a piece of dark and horrible magic."
Phoenix shuddered at the thought of it,
"What was it?" Lotte asked, looking very concerned,
"A Horcrux. An item in which you can hide a piece of your soul, so you can't die unless it's destroyed. It's created when the act of murder is committed, half of your soul is ripped from the body and put into the object of the wizard's choice. While a normal person would make one, he made seven."
Everyone was awestruck,
"SEVEN? That's...that's horrible, he murdered seven people just to get immortality?" Diana said, or rather screamed.
"Not just anyone, his own father, many innocent people, and even himself. You see there was one of the seven he never meant to make, that being, Harry Potter, who was given the title, The Boy Who Lived, thanks to him surviving the Killing Curse, twice."
"Killing...Curse?" Sucy asked slightly fearful. "There's just a curse that can kill you?"
"Yes, one of the Unforgivable Curses. They can't be blocked, they can't be resisted, and they will give you a one-way ticket to the wizard prison, Azkaban if used. Not many wizards have escaped without help, only one has escaped on their own."
"What are the other curses? Are they worse?" Jasminka asked shaking.
"The Imperious Curse, or the full control curse, places the victim under the caster's control, and the Cruciatus Curse, or the torture curse, it's fairly self-explanatory. People have actually gone completely insane because of the torture curse, with no hope of recovering."
This reminded Sucy of how Marcus and Summer's parents were tortured into insanity, making her that much more afraid.
"But what about the war, what happened during the War for Hogwarts?" Chariot asked impatiently.
"Well, Voldemort and his many followers took over Hogwarts, hoping that Harry would eventually fall into their trap looking for one of the Horcruxes, which he and his friends were searching and destroying. But Harry managed to sneak in and convince everyone to fight, if not for him, but for themselves and Hogwarts. But during the battle, as you know, many people were killed, and in the process, Harry found out that he was a Horcrux, and in order for Voldemort to die, he must die by his hands. But he wasn't dead forever, as they managed to destroy the last Horcrux and kill Voldemort, saving the wizarding world. And if you're wondering, how they managed to find the Horcruxes, it's because when Harry became one, he gained the ability to speak to snakes and look into Voldemort's mind. He could see his memories, see where he is and hear what he's thinking. However, at first, he had a hard time keeping Voldemort out of his mind, he could see into his memories looking for a weakness. But after some mind training, he managed to reverse the effect, allowing Harry to see into Voldemort's mind."
Everyone was both intrigued and oddly scared at the same time.
"So, is that enough of an explanation for you?" Phoenix said looking at Chariot,
"Yeah, but I still have one question, how did Harry survive the killing curse? You said it was unblockable."
Phoenix thought for a second, trying to remember what had happened,
"Well, some say it's because he had absorbed some of the Resurrection Stone's power when he went to face Voldemort and destroy the part of Voldemort's soul within him. As for the first time, well...it was thanks to his mother's sacrifice. I'm not going to go into details, for the sake of Potter's privacy."
"Wait, Resurrection Stone? What's that?" Diana asked.
"That, I can't say. That is as far as I'll go when it comes to talking about dark magic. I don't want you chasing after something that could put you in serious danger. Especially, the Deathly Hallows."
Phoenix went wide-eyed when he realized what he said.
"Deathly...what?" Akko said confused.
"Sorry, but this is something I need to keep to myself. You...should head to your houses, I'll let you know when it's ok to move around the castle."
Phoenix made his way out of the RoR and to his office, leaving everyone confused.
"Deathly Hallows...what are the Deathly Hallows?" Akko asked to herself,
"Honestly, I don't want to know, Phoenix has already told us about Voldemort and the war, I think he's told us enough. I don't want to force him to tell us something he isn't comfortable telling us. He's looking out for us to make sure we at least have a safe time here, that's all I can ask."
Everyone had to agree, Phoenix answered their questions, but stopped at something that he knew would make them curious if he explained.
"Yeah, you're right. On top of that, he has to worry about that, Voldemort follower and from what we've seen, they mean business." Akko said getting back on her feet,
"We'd better get going to our common rooms, the other professors are probably looking for us."
As the group went their separate ways, they thought to themselves, who is the one who wants to continue such dark acts? They knew now, they would have to train hard in order to defend themselves, and Phoenix would be there to be sure their prepared.
*Phoenix's View*
As I stepped into my classroom, I started to feel a hint of guilt, I wanted to tell them the truth, but at the same time, I wanted, no, NEEDED to protect them, I wasn't going to let history repeat itself.
"(sigh) I need to get my mind off of this somehow, maybe there's some mail on my desk, I was expecting something."
But when I reached my office there was only a letter, with a strange seal. It was a dark red liquid, and when I went to touch it, it was still wet, almost like it was sealed recently.
"Hmm, wine perhaps...no, it doesn't smell like it. Wait...how did this get in here if it was sealed recently...I would have noticed someone."
When I opened it, I was met with a letter written in very messy handwriting, almost as if they had written it while in a rush.
Half-blood,
I hope you know that catching one of my followers won't stop me from continuing my mission, even if you try to search every student, you won't find me. Don't even bother with connecting the blood seal to me, it's not mine. But I do enjoy giving a good challenge, especially riddles.
Znuamn zosk oy bgraghrk, znuyk cnu ngbk oz zgqkt corr yallkx. Haz znuyk cnu coyn zu ktj oz corr lotj znk vokik znke tkkj.
Good Luck, you're going to need it.
hturT uoy wohs elddiR eht yaM
With Hate,
L.R.
"L.R.? Who is that, and what kind of riddle is this, it's just a bunch of random letters...unless, the riddle...needs to be revealed. But what's that last sentence?"
I proceeded to write what's in the letter, only going in a different direction. That only gave me more questions to answer, on top of the few questions I already have. Like, whose blood is on the seal? Why did this L.R. address me as 'Half-blood'? And more importantly...how did they know I caught one of their followers, it's only been about an hour?
Then out of nowhere, I hear the door to my classroom open, I got up from my chair to investigate, wand at the ready.
As Phoenix opened the door, he saw that it was a Slytherin girl, sort of limping through the doorway, clenching her arm and her hood up. He approached with caution before saying,
"Can I help you?"
But before he could get an answer, the girl collapsed, causing her hood to slip off, revealing her face.
"Summer? Oh my god."
Phoenix ran to her and saw that she had a large stab wound in her arm, and it was still bleeding. Summer was out cold, she looked almost lifeless. But with quick thinking, Phoenix brought her up to his office and placed her on his desk. He then searched frantically through his wares to find a Wiggenweld Potion. He thankfully found one and administered it to Summer's wounds and gently poured down her throat.
After a couple of minutes, her wound was healed to an acceptable state that he could bandage it up. A bit later, she had begun to come round.
"Summer, thank god you're alive. What happened to you?"
Summer took a second to take in her surroundings,
"You...wouldn't believe me." Summer weakly said.
"Try me, I'll believe anything at this point."
Summer was surprised by that response and tried to remember.
"I was in the hospital wing; my brother had gone to check on the other students. But after he left someone, apparated in. Which, from what Marcus had told me, is Impossible to everyone except the Headmaster."
"What did they look like?" Phoenix asked,
"It was...blurry, but I noticed she had kinda gray wavy hair, I think she had cyan eyes...but that's all I can remember."
Phoenix took note of that, "Gray wavy hair and cyan eyes...are sure that's all you remember? Did she say anything to you?"
Summer thought as hard as she could until she remembered one detail,
"She said 'I will end your suffering, you don't have to feel so empty, but you will also help me' then she stabbed me with her wand."
That last detail left Phoenix confused,
"Wait, her wand? Your wound looks like a knife wound, not a...wand...wound."
"That's what I found odd too, her wand was disguised as a knife, I saw her pull out her wand from the knife when she used some sort of curse on me, I sort of blacked out after that."
"Hmm...that must mean she used the Imperius Curse on you, to send you here. But she didn't expect I'd be here, she was planning on you dying from blood loss on the floor of my class. But her saying she would 'end your suffering', seems kinda strange she would end it, by essentially, having you die a slow painful death."
Summer stood up in pain, and gave a concerned look,
"I really don't want to think about that right now. I just need rest and I know Marcus will be looking for me."
"Right, I'll bring you down to the Slytherin Common Room, need help walking?"
"No, I...should be fine."
Summer slowly made her way to the door with Phoenix right behind her, and they managed to get to the portrait to the common room after a good 10 minutes of Phoenix carrying her.
"You know I think I realized something, you seem to have cheered up."
Summer was a bit offended but knew what he meant.
"Well, that's mainly because Marcus and I got the OK to visit our parents."
Phoenix was glad to hear that news,
"Oh, well that's good to hear, but you can't visit your parents with you being some pale and scratched up. You best get some rest."
"Right, thanks, Prof. Kingston."
*Meanwhile, at an unknown location*
"So, they're not putting the castle on lockdown...smart, but that will make my plan that much more difficult. But at least they know that we're a threat, and one that will stop at nothing to continue our Lord's work. Even if some must die, even if some must suffer, sacrifices will have to be made...not that I care. Most people in this world are worthless, only the ones who fight for power will survive in this world. But one thing is clear to me…"
"I MUST HAVE THAT POWER!"
END OF CHAPTER