A month later and William found himself marching through the thick snow and underbrush out in the woods, trudging along next to him was his roommate. The land was lit up by the full moon high above them, and they didn't even bother to light their wands as they marched through the forest around the campus of Salem.
"Are you sure she said it was out here?" Chris asked as he let out another few puffs of steamy breath.
"Yes," William replied, "She said this is the entrance that they use the least, so it'll probably be the best place to start."
"Why?" Chris asked as they stepped over another fallen log.
"Because, the school knows people go down there, so they're going to put him in an area that people don't usually go," William explained, he then frowned as they continued walking, "At least I hope so."
After another ten or fifteen minutes of walking they came upon the large rock next to the school wall that Alexandria had mentioned. William walked up to it while Chris murmured, "Lumos," and his wand light carefully shone onto the smooth stone.
William carefully probed the rock under the light of Chris' wand, before smiling finding the etching into the side of the rock. As William carefully moved his wand around it like Alexandria had instructed him, William asked, "What do you think these tunnels were used for?"
The rock moved aside with a smooth fluidity that only magic could provide revealing a smooth down slope leading only into darkness. William now lit his wand as he and Chris journeyed into the school tunnels. As they walked Chris said, "I always figured they were used by the native wizards or something."
"Maybe," William answered as they began to move through the tunnels, he then asked, "What about goblins?"
Chris shrugged in the dim light, "I guess it could've been goblins, isn't there something about Wizards using tunnels in the Great Goblin Contract?"
William shook his head, "I don't really remember, but I know the school predates the revolution."
"Right," Chris said as they began to prowl the corridors of the tunnels.
As they moved William dropped a bit of a specially prepared potion onto the ground, it left a bit of fluorescent liquid on the ground that would take several hours to dissolve plenty of time to follow it back with. William could hear a faint noise that might be howling as they moved about the cavern but those first few nights they found nothing, and by the second night they were out of the potion and so they called off their search for another twenty eight days.
William was quickly finding that twenty eight days was a long time to wait as he was sitting high up in the stadium next to Sarah. William was wrapped up in the old black cloak, he had tried hemming it with an enchantment but found that he either wasn't very good with the spell or that the cloak wasn't going to be hemmed. Sarah was standing up shouting as Franklin Perry flew into a dive, the opposing seeker came in after him.
For a brief moment the stadium was on its feet as Franklin pulled up and so did the other seeker. William squinted trying to see if the pair of seekers were actually close to catching the snitch. William couldn't spot anything however, and then gasped as a bludger came crashing down into the opposing seeker's shoulder. Franklin flew into a steep ascent as the opposing seeker quickly dove downward, the referee threw out a cushioning spell and the opposing seeker hit the ground comfortably. William watched as Franklin and one of Salem's Beaters high fived above the stands.
Sarah sat down and cheered, "That was amazing!"
"Is the other seeker going to be ok?" William asked.
"Of course, it's probably just dislocated," Sarah explained, "Any competent healer can probably have him back in before the game is even over."
"Wow," William answered as he continued to watch the game.
After another few minutes, Alexandria's voice broke his concentration, "Have I missed anything?" She then sat down on William's other side.
Sarah called over William's head, "Only a really cool play where the other seeker got a bludger to the shoulder."
Alexandria frowned, "What a shame." Sarah ignored the comment as she got to her feet watching the chasers close in on the hoops. The crowd quickly broke in to song as the chasers approached the goal posts. Alexandria tapped William on the shoulder, and he turned to her, "William, where did you get this cloak?"
William frowned, no one had actually ever questioned how he had obtained the piece of clothing as it did not look that out of the ordinary. "Uh, it's a little complicated," William answered, the crowd burst into applause and cheering as the opposing keeper dove toward the wrong goal post and Salem scored.
"It's just not what I would...expect you to wear that's all," Alexandria explained.
"Why?" William responded in a confused voice.
As the crowd cheered around them, William caught a blue and black blur that was without a doubt Franklin Perry after the snitch, and Alexandria leaned in and half-shouted into his ear, "I'll explain later." William nodded in confirmation, watching as Franklin Perry reached out his arm and by squinting William could just make out the snitch ahead of the older boy.
The game drew to a close as Franklin's hand crashed down around the snitch. The crowd was cheering and singing, while William motioned to Sarah that he was leaving. Sarah nodded in assent, though she frowned as Alexandria quietly followed William out of the stadium.
Once they were walking out of the large stadium, where people high above them were still singing, Alexandria spoke, "So where did you get the cloak?"
William frowned, still unsure of what the deal with the cloak was, "Do you know that old outbuilding on the far side of campus?"
Alexandria shook her head, "There are a few out there, but I've never been to any of them."
"It's like a small cottage," William explained as they walked across the still snow covered fields of Salem. Alexandria shrugged, and William continued, "That's where I found it, I was out there walking around late one night and it started to snow so..." He shrugged and Alexandria only nodded. "What's wrong with it?" William asked, his voice slowly filling with frustration.
Alexandria giggled, "There's nothing wrong with it, it's just that you never struck me as a military man."
"Huh?" William responded and stopped walking.
Alexandria stopped and reached across to his cloak, her fingers running over the symbols on his chest, "My father has a few of these cloaks, a couple are even hanging around the house." She ran her finger around the top most symbol, "They're from the Revolution and the symbols indicate state, group, and rank. New Hampshire," her fingers glided over the second symbol, "Scouts," and finally she rested over the last symbol, "Lieutenant."
"Really?" William asked.
Alexandria took a step back and nodded, as she began to walk again she spoke, "Yes, really. Most people won't recognize them if you're worried about it. I just found it interesting that you would be wearing it."
William nodded as he fell into step with her, "It's not that weird, is it?"
Alexandria shrugged, "I've seen people wear them before, normally they're old family heirlooms or something." William sighed and Alexandria turned her head to look at him.
Looking back at her he suddenly found himself having to explain, "It just seems like every day I'm learning hundreds of new things about the magical world, and I've already been a wizard for nearly two years."
Alexandria laughed, "Don't worry, it's not like anyone holds it against you. Plenty of people are born into muggle families and go on to be major parts of the magical world. At least half of congress is muggle-born."
"Really?" William asked, trying to hide the astonishment in his voice.
Alexandria smiled, "I thought if you knew anything it'd be that most of the country's citizens live mixed lives between our world and the muggle world."
William sighed and said, "It never seems that way."
Alexandria shrugged, "I'm sure you'll get the hang of it. Anyway I have to get going, have to start working on a paper. I'll talk to you later, William."
William nodded and watched as Alexandria stalked across the snow-covered campus.
A week or two later, William was clambering down into the dark tunnels with Chris jumping down after him. "Lumos," Chris muttered as he landed with a small stumble, William followed suit as the pair began to walk through the old caverns underneath the school.
"So I was starting to think," Chris said as they walked quietly through the dark tunnel.
"About what?" William responded, whispering a spell under his breath to dismiss a bundle of cobwebs in the hall ahead of them.
"Well, what if they're not hiding him down here?" Chris asked as they passed through a small room-sized cavern. Their wand light revealed a number of empty fire whiskey bottles, as well as a few crushed cans that they recognized as Muggle beer as they passed.
"I don't know where else they could hold him on campus," William said, pausing to stare down at the empty beer cans. "Where do you think they get the beer?" William asked.
Chris shrugged, "I don't know, I don't think we're near any muggle towns. Maybe they get it by owl somehow?"
William shrugged as they continued their way through the cavern, turning down one of the tunnels leading out of the cavern. "Anyway," William said picking up where they had left off, "We checked the outbuildings last night, they're not keeping him in any of those."
"Yeah," Chris responded with a shudder, remembering the couple they had come across in a small building last night. "Why do you think the school has so many outbuildings?" Chris found himself asking as they walked through another room like cavern also littered with various alcoholic bottles, as well as an old musty couch.
"I don't know," William responded, looking at the couch and wondering how it got down here in the first place, "I think some of them used to be old dormitories, and maybe houses for teachers?"
"That makes sense," Chris said as they walked down another dark tunnel. But then he paused, "Do you hear that?"
William stopped and cocked his head trying to hear what Chris might be possibly listening to. Hoping to hear a distinct howl, William was confused as he thought he heard music. William carefully began to tread forward as he listened carefully, Chris followed behind him.
As they traversed down the tunnel, the pair of boys turned out their wand light as they could see a faint glowing up around the corner. They rounded the corner carefully and quietly only to be surprised to find a larger cavern ahead of them, though this one was filled with several warm fires, and a few dozen upperclassmen.
Most of the older students were dancing to music being pumped out of a radio on one side of the large cavern turned dance hall. Chris and William stood there a little shocked, and it was only then that William remembered that it was Saturday night. An older student stopped and stared at them, "Uh, what are you doing here?"
William was unsure what to say, werewolf hunting definitely wouldn't have provoked the right reaction. Luckily however Chris said, "Just passing through, man."
The older student laughed and said, "You should probably just go back the way you came, only way out of this place is back into the school."
"Oh," Chris answered as he began to back away, "Guess we'll be going then."
William followed Chris' lead as they backed away, the older student just stared at them, then muttered to himself, "Underclassmen just keep getting weirder," as he returned to the party.
As William and Chris marched around the tunnels all they found were more caves with empty liquor bottles and a few older students seeking privacy. The night came to a close as they clambered back out of the caverns, and quietly marched through the snow back to Corey Hall.
"Maybe next month," William said as they entered back through the door they had propped open, cautiously creeping through the dormitory halls.
"Hopefully," Chris said as they arrived at their dorm room and carefully unlocked it. Chris then got ready for bed, falling into a swift and fitful sleep.
William on the other hand sat up for a while wondering if there would ever be a better way to find Nick, or just a special way to show him that they still cared about him.
The snow was still clinging to the ground a few weeks later as March was quickly becoming April. On the first cold day of April rain, William was rushing across campus after waking up late for class. With the next full moon not too far away, William was once more back into the flurry of preparing for his continued search for Nick's monthly hide-a-way. As he ran through the rain and watched it slowly melt and mingle with the snow, William realized he had never been so happy to see it rain. Of course, the rain also made the old campus brick walkways slick as he nearly slammed face first into the brick steps into the school.
William was able to plant out his foot quickly and catch himself before bounding into the doors. William rushed through the halls, long cloak billowing behind him as he rounded the corners and rushed up the steps before bursting into McAllister's charms class right as the bell began to sound. McAllister glared at William as he came in barely before the bell, William only nodded at his professor before quietly walking up to his usual spot. William could feel McAllister's glare on his back the entire way to his seat. As William began to shrug off his cloak and realized how wet it was he realized why. Before sitting down or even removing his cloak, William took at his wand and tried his hand at a drying spell they had been taught several classes ago. After a moment steam rose up from Williams cloak and he sat down, staring back at McAllister trying to not let it show how surprised he was it had worked. The old man only grimaced and began his lesson with his usual lack of enthusiasm.
The day continued in that fashion and William was happy as the school day ended though he frowned as he stepped out into cold beating rain of April and began his sullen march to the library. William paused as he made his way down a path and spotted Theodore and Henry walking away from the library. Their bullying over the past few months had been intermittent, some days William didn't see them, others they were throwing spells at his back several times a day. But whenever he met them with a direct confrontation the chances of a fight starting were a given.
Both boys stopped several yards from William. The rain came down and the wind howled as William felt his wand hand twitch ready to grip his wand and throw back his cloak at a moment's notice. Theodore and Henry were also standing tense, waiting for the right moment to begin their assault. Theodore sneered at William and as always he whipped out his long thin wand first, and let out a cackling noise.
William grimaced as he pulled his wand and cast a shield charm in one fluid motion, there was always something that bothered him about the way Theodore cast any spell. No matter what, Theodore always sounded like he was doing something dark. William was ready for the purple nurple that came spiraling from Henry's stubby wand and blocked it once again. However, Theodore's spell was already coming at him and William quickly found himself on the defensive. On either side of the walkway were muddy patches of grass and slush, which would only slow him down, William realized. As William found himself backing up slightly with each blast, he found himself frowning all he had wanted to do was finishing writing a paper, he didn't have time for this.
William bit his lip as he dropped his shield after Theodore's next attack, letting Henry's random jinx hit him square on. William then let loose one of the spells Clark had given him that he had been practicing for several weeks. "Tagann!" William shouted with his wand firmly pointed at Theodore, a bright bolt of green energy hit the boy and William yanked his wand hard to his right where Henry stood. Theodore went slamming into the larger boy and they fell straight over into the mud. William not caring about their reaction ran past them on his way to the library. He heard Henry get up and yell something at his retreating back, but William didn't care.
As he entered the library and took several deep breaths, William carefully made his way back toward the peaceful quiet of the stacks. In the days leading up to the full moon, William always made sure to get as much work done as possible. As he settled down into the stacks, William sighed, he was so tired of the bullying, and the fighting it caused. He began to wonder if other students in the wizarding world had as many problem as he did; bullies, friends that were werewolves, memories of fighting a dark wizard. William shook his head as he wondered if life was any easier in muggle school.
As he stared at his books and began to mentally prepare for writing this History paper, he then shook his head, and pulled out a clean sheet of parchment. Slowly he began to write to Megan O'Rourke. Despite the necessity to keep vague William needed to vent to someone about the constant bullying and she was as good as anyone. Besides, William thought, at least she would be able to confirm if life in a muggle school would be any better. After he finished the letter, William began writing the History essay, and while the letter forced him to stay later in the library William couldn't help but say he felt better as he walked out into the perpetual rain of April. Even with the cool rain pelting down on him, William was ready to once more face the world that he found himself constantly learning about whether he wanted to or not.