CHAPTER SEVEN

THE MULUNCTAPOLI

O

"That's really weird," said Alec, thinking about the story Albus had just told them.

Albus flipped through the books in front of him—one was Hogwarts, A History, one was Spirits and Deities. Neither book had anything about "Dismiusa" in their appendices. They'd come to the library to research Dismiusa and the mulunctapoli, but Dismiusa was nowhere to be seen, and the books on mulunctapoli were few and far between. Albus had written to his father explaining the situation and wondering if he knew anything about mulunctapoli, but until that time, he wanted to find out more.

Aidan was reading the parchment that Exo had given to Albus, and Eftan was sitting in silent thought. Alec was distracted by funny titles of books. Albus was flipping through Hogwarts, A History, looking for a significant chapter title that might suggest that Dismiusa was mentioned, when Aidan cleared his throat.

Albus looked up; Aidan was wearing a curious expression. "I think," he said, "that there's a person we could try asking, instead of reading books."

"I don't want Professor Wilcox to know that I'm snooping," mumbled Albus.

"No, we could ask someone else," said Aidan. "Isn't your family good friends with Neville Longbottom? My dad knows him."

Albus tilted his head.

"Why do you think he'd know?"

"Well, Dismiusa is a forest deity," said Aidan, "and Professor Longbottom is the Herbology teacher. And you said Wilcox asked him to analyze the plants that the mulunctapol was summoning."

"Why didn't I think of that?" Albus wondered aloud. He nodded. "I'll ask Tuesday. We have a break after Herbology."

"You mind if I stay and listen?"

"Not at all."

"Hey guys," said Alec, laughing, "that book was written by 'Ernest Pupin.'"

"This is all so interesting," said Aidan. "I can't wait until Tuesday."

"I could do with an Earnest Poopin'," said Alec.

O

"Mandrakes, of course, you won't be working with until your second year," said Professor Longbottom. "But knowing what they do will be a part of your midyear exam. Questions?"

There were no questions; today was a boring classroom day.

"All right, then you may start packing your things," said Professor Longbottom. "Remember! Mandrakes: restoratives."

Albus and Aidan packed slowly; Rose stayed behind, curious why her cousin was waiting. When the bell rang, the class filed out except for the three of them.

"Ah, Albus!" said Professor Longbottom happily. "I was wondering when you'd stay and have a chat with me. Follow me to my office, then. Rose, how are you? Aidan?"

Rose and Aidan said that they were fine, and Professor Longbottom turned to Albus with a grin as they walked out of the classroom. "So, how are things at home?"

"Dad's working a lot at the Ministry, apparently," said Albus. "I guess there's a lot going on."

"Oh, I expect so. Have you been reading the Daily Prophet?"

Albus shook his head.

"There's a ton going on right now. Lots of extremist groups out there, trying to force the Ministry into revealing themselves to Muggles by destroying Muggle buildings and architecture, setting dragons loose in Muggle airspace, things like that."

Albus was shocked. "Why?"

"Because some people think that what they believe is correct and what everybody else believes is wrong, and that they must use any means to direct the world on what they believe is the right path," said Professor Longbottom. "And some people just like to flex their muscles and leave people in awe. In short, the same reasons as usual for this kind of thing. But enough ranting from me. How have you been, how's your first year been?"

"Fine," said Albus, wondering how he would bring in the subject he wanted to discuss. "Yeah… fine. Really good, I'm…" He paused as they entered Professor Longbottom's office.

"You seem distracted," said Professor Longbottom. "You want to ask me something, you three?" Aidan nodded; Rose shrugged.

"Well, yeah, actually," said Albus. "I was wondering… what you knew about… Dismiusa?"

Professor Longbottom started.

"Well…" He scratched his neck and turned slightly red. "Er. Where did you hear that name?"

"A library book," said Albus, truthfully. "I was wondering what Dismiusa was, so I was looking in a lot of other books, but I couldn't find the name anywhere else… It was just mentioned in passing in one of them, it said Dismiusa was a forest spirit that lived in the Forbidden Forest."

"Now, this book you're talking about," said Professor Longbottom. "It wouldn't happen to be the same one that Professor Wilcox took out a little while ago?"

It was Albus's turn to redden.

"Hah, no worries," said Professor Longbottom. "You do the thing properly, just like your dad. Yes, Dismiusa is a forest spirit; no, you won't hear her talked about much in the school library. It's half fairy tale, half horror story, and wholly fictional."

"Fictional?"

"I hope so," replied Professor Longbottom.

He sighed when they didn't leave.

"All right," he said. "I'll tell you a little bit about Dismiusa… even though this sort of stuff really isn't for kids…

"Dismiusa is an old legend. She was a forest spirit who could control nature. The mulunctapoli were said to be her servants. They would steal magic from people and bring their magic back to Dismiusa, making her more and more solid until she could finally awaken from a slumber and go on a rampage. If she awakened, her power was said to be unmatchable by any witch or wizard. She would destroy all forms of life that threatened nature and its glorious realms—that is, Muggles, with their deforestation and carbon pollution and all that—you should take Muggle Studies.

"Dismiusa has never been 'awakened,' despite the immense numbers of witches and wizards who were attacked by mulunctapoli in the fourteenth century. This makes us doubt her existence. There were actually several suppositions that she was mobile in the forests in the thirteenth century, due to disappearances around that time period; curiously, these reports stopped when the mulunctapoli were exterminated, which makes some people, like the author of that book you read, believe that she is real, and the disappearances were really caused by her. We'll never know if they were, there's no one alive today who was alive back then, obviously." Then Professor Longbottom stopped and went into deep thought for a moment. "Hm… Actually, Dumbledore was friends with Nicolas Flamel… I believe Flamel's grandfather was involved in government at that time, which means he would have been privy to the decisions which caused the extermination of the mulunctapoli. Dumbledore might've known."

Albus glanced over at Aidan; Aidan was looking back at him. Rose just looked confused.

"Anyway, Dismiusa was said to be extremely violent if woken by her servants," said Professor Longbottom. "But it's also said that if someone wakes her, by channeling enough of their magic into her body, then they will receive her spirit into their body. Your soul would become combined with hers, and you would receive immense power until such time as you were killed, and then Dismiusa would fall back into slumber. And that's where Gallen Ingot comes into the revamped version of the myth."

"Gallen Ingot?" asked Albus.

"Yes, you know who he is, right?" said Professor Longbottom. "He was killed on the very day you were born. Gallen Ingot was the wizard who started the Dark Revival eight years after Voldemort fell. He might have been more powerful than Voldemort. He simply waltzed into towns and summoned boiling lava from under the ground, obliterating entire villages in a minute flat. And this made a few people suspect…" Professor Longbottom held out his hand, gesturing that they finish the thought.

"That Gallen Ingot combined his soul with Dismiusa's?" guessed Aidan.

"Bingo. Some assert that this is why he disintegrated instead of dying. Let me tell you, though… This stuff is all extremely far-fetched. Even before Gallen Ingot, people were considered crazy for believing in Dismiusa. Dismiusa's story just got a little more popular when people were trying to find explanations for Ingot's unbelievable power. I do confess that Ingot's power was a little unnatural. People just dug around for explanations, and when they found old myths about Dismiusa, it seemed to fit: All of Gallen Ingot's supernatural abilities were connected with nature. Lightning, lava, earthquakes, tornadoes… So they decided that this was what happened, that Gallen Ingot spent the eight years after Voldemort's death wandering around a forest looking for a spirit. Very few people believe this; I don't know why I'm even telling you."

"But there are a lot of things considered to be stories and myths that were actually true," interjected Rose. "The Chamber of Secrets. The Deathly Hallows."

"That's true," admitted Professor Longbottom. "But there's absolutely no evidence for this one. This was a rumor that sprang up out of absolutely nowhere, with no background, no historical events that might have corresponded to its origin. Rather than begin with someone trying to find an explanation, these myths sprung up to explain things that had already happened, centuries ago, and the facts were created out of nowhere, bending the laws of nature to fit the evidence."

"But what about this mulunctapol we found, then?" asked Albus. "Have you figured anything out about it?"

"I once studied the walking tree army that Gallen Ingot commanded," said Professor Longbottom, "and there's absolutely no common ground between those trees and the trees that this mulunctapol of ours was commanding at the edge of the forest. I should think that if there were a connection, that if Dismiusa's power was lent to both Ingot and her 'servants,' that I would have been able to pinpoint it. I was not. Also, Professor Wilcox and Professor Valon have been mapping the Forbidden Forest, and I'm pretty sure they've gotten most of it done already. If Dismiusa or a colony of mulunctapoli were in there, I'm sure we'd find them. This was a rogue. All it means is that we have to do another search, make sure there aren't any more around. The last thing the Ministry needs to deal with is the return of this little creature. But then again, we don't even know if it has the same abilities as the original mulunctapoli. We've seen it command nature, and shape-shift, but we haven't seen it attack anyone yet, so we can't know for sure." He picked up a glass of water and started to drain it.

There were more questions that Albus wanted to ask.

"What's MM?"

Professor Longbottom nearly choked.

"Where—are you hearing these things? We need to run another check on the library books—"

"It was the same book," said Albus.

Professor Longbottom sighed. "MM stands for the Marionette's Medicine. It was a highly dangerous substance; very few people knew how to make it. It was a mind-control potion. It—oh, please don't make me explain this to you, you're what, eleven?"

"Please?" said Albus.

"Fine. Fine, but don't blame me when this puts you off your lunch. The first person to drink it is the person who wants to control others' minds. First, he extracts some of his cerebrospinal fluid from his brain area—not much is needed, but not much can be extracted at a time—and he deposits it into a large batch of the potion. Then he drinks about a serving, which is equal to about a gallon. Then he induces vomiting in himself, and vomits the potion into the mouth of the victim, who is forced to swallow. The potion takes action and his brain shuts down and becomes connected like the Imperius Curse to the person who intends to control the victim. But in this case, there is absolutely no way to fight it. You're a puppet under the control of the 'Mastermind,' which is the name they give to the one who donates his cerebrospinal fluid and drinks the potion first, for about two months until the potion wears off—but he can make you take more. Depending on how many people to whom the Mastermind intends to administer the potion, he repeats the vomiting and swallowing process… ad nauseum."

Rose looked ready to start a vomiting process of her own, and Aidan looked pale. Albus decided to slightly change the direction of the discussion.

"I heard that the blood of a mulunctapol was one of the key ingredients of the potion, and that it couldn't be made anymore because the mulunctapoli are extinct," he said. "Do you think someone's breeding them so that they can make the potion again?"

It was just meant to direct the conversation away from vomit, but the speculation made Professor Longbottom freeze and his eyes widened. He stared down at Albus and slowly nodded. "You know… there might be something in that. It would be a serious, serious problem if you were right, but… we have to prepare for that possibility."

His eyes drifted over to the Sword of Gryffindor; its case rested in his office.

"Breeding mulunctapoli even just to have the creature itself is a problem, too," said Professor Longbottom. "But how on earth were they kept secret for over seven hundred years? And why bide your time until now?"

There was an ominous pause.

"Well, I need to grade my fifth years' papers," said Professor Longbottom. "Nice chatting with you, Albus, Rose, Aidan. Stop in again sometime. I'll keep the conversation away from vomit."

Laughing nervously, they left the room.

"What was that all about?" asked Rose as they walked towards the Charms classroom to practice before class started. "Why did you want to ask Professor Longbottom about all that?"

"It's a long story," said Albus. "I'll tell you later."

"Is it about that dog thing you were talking about?"

"Yeah."

Aidan was keeping an eye on her, as if making sure she wasn't going to run off to study and get a head start on him. Their competition grew fiercer by the day.

There was a sudden loud noise in the corridor below them, followed by shouts and jeers. Albus, Rose, and Aidan paused and stared at each other, then leaned over the railing of the staircase to see what was going on.

There were several Gryffindor and Slytherin fifth years locked in a shouting match. They seemed to be yelling about Quidditch. One by one, the students pulled out their wands, and suddenly jinxes were flying around the hall; Albus pulled his head back to avoid getting hit, and Rose and Aidan did the same beside him.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"

No teacher would have yelled like that. Who was this? Albus chanced another lean over the railing to see who had yelled; it was an unfamiliar, tall Slytherin girl with a frighteningly muscular build.

"What is going on here?" she snarled. "Are you seriously fighting about Quidditch? Seriously? What do you expect to gain from cursing each other, besides detentions? If I see that again, you're off the reserve squad, Lacralose, I'm serious. The rest of you, get lost, too. Hexing the other team's players and fans is not how we gain respect. If we win, we get the right to be winners, but not braggers. If we lose, we lose. Either way, poor sportsmanship shows that you're not mature enough to play. That's how the game works, and if you can't appreciate that, you won't play. Got it?"

This was the Slytherin Quidditch Captain. Albus remembered her name from some of Eftan's boasts: Nella Chelic. Apparently she was one of the most respected students in her House by the rest of the school, and Albus could already see why: She didn't put up with these sorts of idiots who were giving her House a bad name (or, rather, reinforcing its bad name).

They continued their walk to Charms, getting ready to duck if another scuffle broke out: The tension before this week's Quidditch match was all around them, no matter where they went.

O

"How's your first year going now? Still on top of everything?"

"Yeah, definitely," said Albus confidently.

Gillian Gartrive seemed to be a little disappointed every time they had their mentor/mentee meetings, because Albus never needed any help.

Albus thought for a moment. "I'm still a little worried about the midyear exams, though, since I haven't taken any yet. Could you tell me what they're like, and what sort of things you think the teachers would put on them?"

This seemed to brighten Gil's mood—he could finally be useful. He sat down and started explaining the sorts of things from the first half of the year that were on his final test when he was a first year.

Albus wasn't too worried about exams, but he did listen closely to Gil's test-taking advice, as it couldn't hurt.

"And if you can't remember the incantation exactly, you're better off saving the question for the end," he was saying. "If you're doing a practical exam, and you don't have access to the right incantation, you're better off skipping it, actually, they take off less points for a missed question than for a botched incantation, and then you avoid injuring yourself and being unable to finish the test. Of course, you should ask your teacher about the point system before you go into your tests, and this stuff won't matter if you take the precaution of knowing all the incantations…"

Gil took out his wand; Freddie Weasley, who was sitting at a table opposite from them at the library, had removed the chair from under Parker when Parker stood up. With a wave of his wand, Gil slid the chair back under Parker as the blind boy sat back down; Freddie glared at him.

"You know what teachers love to see more than anything else is kindness to classmates," said Gil, loudly enough for Fred to hear. Then the two fourth years both grinned at each other and turned back to their mentees.

"What do you do in Acclimatization?" asked Gil, flicking back his violently red hair, making his phoenix feather earring sway. Several girls at a table near theirs sighed. "I'm curious. We didn't have that class when I was a first year."

"We've just been learning about things like the best pathways to get around Hogwarts, and how to navigate the library, and some Hogwarts history," explained Albus.

"Interesting," said Gil. "Well… is there anything else you need?"

Albus shrugged. "Not right now… I don't think."

"Just tell me if there is," said Gil. He shook Albus's hand and then walked out, kicking Freddie in the behind as the prankster posted a "HEX ME" sign on the back of a random passing second year. Freddie laughed and slapped the back of Gil's head, and they punched and shoved each other as they left.

"Hey, Albus," said Parker, still in the library. "You mind reading me the chapter we were supposed to finish before Transfiguration tomorrow?"

"Of course not," said Albus, sitting down beside his friend. He smiled as he remembered the words Gil had just said.

You know what teachers love to see more than anything else is kindness to classmates.

He was setting himself up for a very enjoyable and successful first year. For a while, with his studies and the Quidditch fever that was raging through the halls, heating up the cold descent into winter, he began to forget all about Dizzy and Dismiusa.

His focus now lay on living up to the expectations set for him by his surname.