Lapis pushed his way through the small crowd of students, breaking free of them and heading toward the staircase. He could hear his friends calling out his name, but he didn't stop to let them catch up. He needed to get outside. The air inside the castle felt stuffy, and he could still smell the stench that the boggart had left behind. Tugging at the collar of his shirt, Lapis reached the stairs and began descending as fast as he could. The sound of his friends' voices faded as he went, either because he had gotten away from them or because they had decided to give him his space.
A quick glance upward told him nothing, though he did see the Malfoy twins rushing past an upstairs railing, no doubt on a beeline for the hospital. Lapis' stomach gave a sharp lurch, and he brought his head back down, focusing on getting out of the school. Shoving the large double doors in the Entrance Hall open, he stepped out and into the freezing cold air that had enveloped the grounds. As he walked out onto the bridge, he drew in a slow breath through his mouth.
What in the hell had that been? What had Potter been playing at with that kind of spell? Was he that willing to hide his deepest fear so badly that he would risk killing himself so nobody would find out? Shaking hands found cold stone, and Lapis leaned against the structure for support. Even he hadn't gone that far, and he had more than a few things occupying his mind that he wouldn't want others to find out about! But for Potter to have gone beyond that, beyond merely striking before the boggart had formed at all...
Closing his eyes, Lapis hung his head and shuddered. Something had happened in there, and he wasn't positive if he had been the only one to notice or not. Potter's eyes had gone azure and then back again. No one else had said anything during the time Tadygbbo had been gone, taking him to Madam Pomfrey and her assistant, so he wasn't sure anyone else had caught it. Tadygbbo probably had, being directly in front of him and all. But the shock of what he had done might have been enough to distract them.
It hadn't been the first time he had noticed such a thing, either. And there had been rumors now and again, about Potter being a little 'off' somehow. After all, how could the son of the famous Harry Potter be so rubbish at magic? Was he just hiding his true potential so he wouldn't seem like he was showing off? No, Lapis thought, that couldn't be it. He liked to think he knew Potter more than most of the student body, given he had been the one up in the air with him multiple times that year. The way Potter talked had convinced him long ago. He wasn't putting on an act for anyone. So where the devil were these supposed power surges coming from? He clearly couldn't control whatever he had used on the boggart, else he wouldn't have put himself in the hospital again.
Lapis tried moving forward, wanting to go and sit down by the lake, despite how cold it was, but his feet wouldn't carry him. With a quiet sigh, he turned and slumped to the ground where he was, leaning back against the side of the bridge and staring blankly at the other side. St. Mungo's healers had been called in. That alone told Lapis all he needed to know of the power that had backfired on Potter's body. Madam Pomfrey could fix just about anything seven years of still-learning students could do to themselves, and she and her assistant still needed outside help to keep Potter afloat? Lapis' chest tightened at the thought. He only had one decent Seeker to fly against. It HAD to be Potter. No one else would suffice. No one else could give him what he needed in the air. Potter wouldn't leave him be, and as annoying as it was at times, he needed the distraction. Especially since his parents had vanished.
Swallowing hard, Lapis fought with himself over a decision for what felt like hours. Finally, he got up to his feet again and headed back into the castle. Classes were out properly now, and the school was noisy with people moving and talking. Already, rumors of what Potter had done were circulating wildly. Hands clenching into fists as he walked, Lapis tried to ignore the idiots around him as he started climbing back up the staircase. He needed to get to the Hospital Wing and he needed to get there now. He didn't care if Potter would 'be fine' eventually. He also didn't care whether the Malfoy twins wanted him there or not. Potter would keep an eye on him - it was simply how he behaved. Therefore, he was going to keep an eye on Potter.
The fire that had been lit in him flickered as he approached the doors into the Hospital Wing itself, however. He faltered as he reached for them, wondering if this was such a good idea after all. With a scowl, he decided he was being stupid and pushed one of the doors open slowly, peeking into the room. There was only one bed with the curtains drawn around it, and quiet conversation was taking place behind them.
Silently stepping in and shutting the door behind him, Lapis slid his hands into his pockets as he walked over.
"...fine, right? I mean, St. Mungo's and all, yeah? I just..." Said the Malfoy girl, sounding scared, still.
"Viola, breathe. He'll be fine. Whatever he ends up doing, he always seems to be fine. I don't know if he's just got some kind of insane luck on his side or what." Came her brother's voice, sounding a fair bit less confident than was normal for the boy.
"You call Vega nearly killing himself 'lucky'?"
"I didn't say that."
"Well what did you say?"
A sigh. "Viola, I know you're upset, but..."
"Both of you, calm down. Arguing isn't going to help anyone right now." Said Gabrielle Delacour. "I know you're both frightened still, and rightly so, but going off at one another won't get you anywhere. Alright?"
Lapis stepped around to where he could see the bed that Vega was laying in. From his position, nothing seemed wrong at all. It merely looked like the Slytherin boy was sleeping peacefully. The Malfoy twins were on one side of the bed, their backs to where Lapis was standing. The assistant mediwitch was on the other, and she glanced up at him when she noticed he was standing there, though she didn't say anything.
"Sorry..." Viola said, squirming in her seat. "I'm just... he keeps getting hurt and it's really hard to watch and..."
"And you don't like seeing him here so often. You don't like seeing someone you care about getting hurt. I understand that, Miss Malfoy, believe me. Take some deep breaths, alright? They'll help. You wouldn't want him to see you in such a state if he were to wake up right now, would you?"
"Wouldn't care how he saw me so long as he woke up..." Viola said.
Hydrus reached out and started rubbing at his sister's back as she leaned over forward, wiping at her eyes. Looking up, he asked, "How bad was it? Professor Tadygbbo said a bit, but he seemed really tired."
"And he wasn't even the one who was doing anything. Thankfully, Gareth knew what Mr. Potter had done to himself, so we were able to get to work on him immediately. Poppy's laying down at the moment, though. I've never seen her move so fast in all the time I've been here! She sent me to call St. Mungo's, and when I returned with the healers they sent, she had a small laundry list of details for them. The woman's absolutely amazing, but she isn't all-powerful. With the four of us working on him, it still took ten minutes of really fast moving to stabilize him. He isn't going to be exercising for awhile. I dare say he won't be playing Quidditch for the rest of the year, and he'll probably hurt when he laughs or stretches for a few months..." Gabrielle explained, sighing as she looked at Vega. "Your brother was right - he may wind up here a lot, but the fact that he keeps recovering is incredible, considering."
Lapis glanced off for a moment, licking his lips and hesitating before asking, "No more flying, huh? That answers one of my questions, then. Won't be any fun without him up there..."
The twins jumped, turning and staring at Lapis, who shrugged weakly at them.
"What? I was worried too, you know..." He said, shifting from one foot to the other.
"How long have you been there?" Asked Hydrus.
"Long enough." Lapis said, looking at Vega and sighing. "He really was the only other Seeker who could put up a good fight. I'm going to just assume he was stubborn and refused to tell either of you what he was going to do?"
"Of course he didn't!" Viola cried, getting to her feet and storming over. "Do you think we would've let him do something so... so stupid if we had known? He almost killed himself! Why would we ever let him do something like that?"
Lapis blinked, bringing his hands up defensively. "I-it was just a question, you don't have to-"
Viola reached out and grabbed at the front of Lapis' robes. She stepped forward and was about to hiss that if Lapis didn't want to make her angry, he shouldn't ask questions that would obviously do just that, but something stopped her. Locking eyes with the Ravenclaw Seeker for a moment, she sighed and pushed him away weakly, turning and heading back for her seat.
"Sorry." Hydrus said, rubbing at Viola's back again. "She's a bit on edge at the moment."
Straightening his robes out and clearing his throat, Lapis shook his head. "No, I understand fully. I apologize for the question. I didn't mean anything by it." He then looked at Gabrielle and asked, "How long is it going to take for him to heal?"
"Dunno. Could be a week, could be a month. We're going to be watching him around the clock. If anything changes, we'll send word to you lot, though. I know it'll be hard, but you three need to try and go about your daily routines as you normally would. You can come up and visit between classes, alright?" Gabrielle said.
Lapis nodded. "Well, I'll be on my way, then. I just wanted to see what shape he had put himself in. The rest of the team will be happy, I suppose..."
With that, he turned and headed back for the doors. As he walked, he fiddled with the front of his robes some more, getting them back in order. He had never seen the Malfoy girl act like that, and though he wasn't sure what stopped her from decking him, he had an idea. And he didn't much like what that meant. He would have to pull the girl aside some time and have a little talk with her. When he reached the doors, he cast one final look over his shoulder before stepping through them again. The rest of the team would indeed be happy that Potter had all but ensured that he would be unable to play for the remainder of the year.
But to Lapis, all that meant was that the matches Ravenclaw had left would be absolutely no fun at all.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
"This is all your fault, you know." Vega said, floating upside-down and glaring at the only other person around him.
"If you hadn't been trying to regain control, we would've been fine. But no, you just had to try and do it yourself, didn't you? Big, bad Potter has to prove himself to the idiots of the school, doesn't he? You make me sick sometimes." Said a near-exact duplicate of Vega, who was floating right-side up a few feet away.
The two were moving around an inky-black space devoid of any kind of light, though each knew where the other was at any given time. It had felt like an eternity had passed since Vega had entered this place, and arguing constantly with his doppelganger wasn't helping. The entirety of their fight had been about the double wresting control at the last moment to perform the Exsilium. Vega had been confident, albeit nervous, that he would have been able to pull the spell off. His mirror image had been quite adamantly shooting Vega's confidence down any time he tried bringing it back into play.
"I'm not trying to prove myself! I'm trying to keep the entire school from finding out that-"
"That you think you're gay? What, do you think the only one at Hogwarts with that particular worry, you idiot?"
"'Think'? I'd say daydreaming about hugging Hyde is grounds for my problem being a little more than that!"
"Oh no, you want to hug him. Someone stop the presses. Alert the Daily Prophet! The Boy Who Lived's son wants to hug another guy."
"I hate you."
"You are me."
"No. I am definitely not you."
"Oh yeah? And why would you say that?"
Green eyes narrowed as they stared into the blue eyes opposite. "Because you... like fighting, that's why! You're rude, and you're dangerous and..."
"And I'm everything you wish you could be." Said Vega's clone. "You wish you had more power. You wish you could be strong enough to not have to worry if someone found out that you like boys. You want to be able to keep your friends safe and you want to stop the monster that's plaguing the school! You want to be able to stand up to anyone who gets between you and your goals! Do you wanna argue any of these points, because you're gonna be stuck here a fair bit longer thanks to your stubbornness almost getting us killed!"
Vega scoffed, spinning himself so he wasn't facing his twin anymore. "Just leave me alone."
"Oh, did I finally strike a nerve? I'm terribly sorry. Should I sugar-coat it for you like everyone else would? Sorry, can't do that. The fact that you refuse to accept that part of yourself is why I exist in the first place! You're rejecting me. And because of that, you're rejecting your own power."
"Shut up! Why should I believe anything you say, anyway? You keep taking control of my body!" Cried Vega, glaring over his shoulder as he tried to flip himself upright.
"Because you can't do anything with your bloody inferiority complex!" Shouted his double, glaring back at him. "You wanted to fly well? I helped you fly well. You wanted to keep Vivi and Hyde safe? Yeah, guess who did that. You wanted to keep the school from finding out about your fear, and here we are! Though that last one would've been decidedly more successful, again, if you hadn't botched the whole thing!"
"I didn't 'botch' anything! I kept you from killing us both by ending the Exsilium early!" Vega yelled, floating his way over to his duplicate and grabbing him by the front of his robes. "I had it! It was being pulled in! I-"
"You were scared out of your mind! What do you mean you had it? You froze, and my intervention was the only thing keeping that boggart from turning into Hyde! I didn't think you'd be able to fight me over control like that! I didn't think you were stupid enough to try that mid-spell!"
"Oh, pardon me for not wanting some strange, evil force from taking control of my body any time it wants! I guess I'm the bad guy here!" Vega snarled. "Who do you think you are?"
"That's a good question. A better one is - who do you think I am?"
"What?"
The blue-eyed version of Vega snorted at this response, rolling his eyes as he replied, "If you don't believe my explanation for what I am, then what's yours? Maybe you're just insane. If you hear and speak with voices in your head, that makes you insane, doesn't it? Or maybe you're just holding your own power back voluntarily, oh wait, that isn't it at all. So who am I? What am I?"
"...I don't know." Vega said, sighing as he weakly shoved his twin away. "I don't even know what to call you."
"And now you want to name the voice in your head. Maybe you are insane!" Exclaimed the double, clapping his hands. After receiving a withering look from Vega, he shrugged. "I dunno. Call me whatever you want. Hell, it'll make things easier for all involved, won't it? Aside from our eye colors and personalities switching, people still need something to refer to me by, right? For those times when I 'take control' of your body."
"Yeah, you keep saying that like it's going to be a regular thing. Not while I have anything to say about it." Vega muttered.
"But that's just it - you don't. What are you gonna do to the boggarts without me, huh? What if there's more than one? Did you ever think about that? What if you hunt these things down somehow and end up finding a nest of the things? Then what? Hyde and Vivi won't let you go it alone. So he'd be there to see them change. If you wouldn't let me forward to use the Exsilium against one, what's gonna happen when there's six? Or a dozen? Or more than that? You trying to stop me made me lose focus and now here we are, trying to regrow our disintegrated ribs!"
"I'll deal with that when I come to it." Vega said.
"And therein lies the problem of it all. You never want to deal with anything. I'm here because you didn't want to deal with the fact that you might not be the perfect child your parents and the world want you to be. Your refusal to just tell Hyde how you feel is what ended up making you research and use the Exsilium."
"You used it, not me!"
"What else was I going to do? I had to stop it from shapeshifting, didn't I?"
"And while I'm yelling, why the hell did you want me to watch Eskander, anyway?"
"Aside from the fact that you fancy someone other than Hyde?"
Vega sputtered. "I do not fancy Lapis Eskander!"
"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that."
"I hate you."
"You're doing that whole 'being dishonest with yourself' thing again. Just so you're aware of what I'm doing here."
"...I really, really hate you."
"Well aware of that. Hey listen, how about I just steal your middle name for the time being? You don't like it much, I think it's rather nice. So it would fit how you view me and everything. When you're in control, it's Vega. When I'm in control, it's Cygnus."
"I suppose." Vega said. "If it'll shut you up. Can we just float here in silence if I agree to this? Because I've got a headache."
The newly-named Cygnus smirked at Vega. "Would you prefer to sit?"
"I don't like floating in an empty void, if that's what you're asking."
Cygnus floated down about a foot or so, then snapped his fingers. Instantly, the blackness was replaced by a green field and blue sky. Vega only had a moment to take this in before he dropped from the air like a rock, landing hard on his backside and almost immediately flipping over to his stomach. He bit back a rather fierce string of swears as Cygnus casually strolled over to him. Squatting down next to Vega, Cygnus murmured, "Now that I've got a proper name and we aren't floating in nothing anymore, we need to have a good, long, proper talk about a few more things. You won't be waking up for at least a few more days. This is my space, so you play by my rules when you're here. We're gonna set some ground rules. No more accidents, understand? No more fighting for control. If you refuse to accept me, then you're bloody well going to at least tolerate me. Now get up. Let's walk. The sun doesn't go down until I want it to. We're going to finish our talk before night falls."
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
When his eyes opened, the first thing he noticed was how dry his throat felt. If someone had come along and scrubbed it with sandpaper, it wouldn't feel as rough and scratchy as it currently did. The second thing he noticed was how hungry he was. He was quite certain that he could devour a small army's worth of food on his own. The third, and final, thing that Vega noted was that he was being watched. Shifting his head to the right, he found himself staring into the eyes of the one person he didn't want to see after knocking himself into a short coma.
"'Lo, Hyde." He said, coughing a little and wincing.
"Potter." Acknowledged Hydrus, nodding his head slightly. "Don't try to move."
"Don't plan on it." Vega said, swallowing hard and blowing a sigh out through his nose. "Wh'time izzit?"
"Almost midnight. It's been about a week, before you ask. You've... missed a lot." Hydrus said, looking somewhat frustrated.
"Missed a lot?" Vega echoed, brow creasing. Whatever potions were circling through him were making him awfully groggy, though he was trying to fight that. He had slept long enough, after all. As he waited for Hydrus to answer, he brought a hand up to his chest, giving it a tentative poke.
"Your ribs should be back to normal. The rest of you that was destroyed in that stupid little stunt should be, as well. And yes, you've missed a lot. Tadygbbo is dead." Hydrus stated.
Vega froze, his gaze moving from his chest back to Hydrus. "What."
"The same day you used that spell in class, Tadygbbo was found dead in his quarters. No one but the staff knows exactly what happened, but the rumors going around claim his throat had been clawed out."
"Was it the boggart?" Vega asked. "How the hell does a Defense professor get killed by a boggart?"
"He took that secret to his grave." Hydrus said, letting out a sigh of his own.
"Great... now it's killed someone, all bets are off." Vega said, forcing himself to sit up, sucking in a sharp breath as he moved. Panting slightly, he continued, "What happened after they found him?"
"Well... about as much as you'd think. Aurors were called in to make another extensive sweep of the castle and the surrounding areas, but no one found anything, same as last time. McGonagall looks like she hasn't slept well, and she isn't alone. This has everyone terrified that they'll be next. Someone asked McGonagall if the school would be closed, and she said that she was genuinely considering it. The only reason she hasn't done it yet is because of the replacement Defense professor she got ahold of asking her to wait a while longer..." Hydrus explained, crossing his arms and staring across the room as he spoke.
"Replacement? Who is it?"
"Albus Dumbledore." Hydrus said. "Once he arrived, the atmosphere just seemed to change. Somehow, he's been able to help lift everyone's spirits, as though the boggart won't strike again as long as he's around. Load of rubbish, that. We've been sleeping down in the Pit, since it's felt more secure than the dungeons. Since we're lowest in the castle, everyone's been on-edge since Tadygbbo was killed. I don't know what's going to happen, but I pray it happens soon..."
"Dumbledore..." Repeated Vega, frowning for a moment before rubbing at his chest. Licking his lips, he started talking slowly, knowing how insane what he was about to suggest would sound. "We need to stop it before it attacks anyone else, Hyde."
This time, it was Hydrus' turn to let out a flat 'what.' Looking at Vega as though he had grown a second head, he asked, "Are you feeling alright, Potter? That thing was strong enough to kill a full grown wizard!"
"If our chest wasn't hurting so much, I'd probably go hunting it tonight." Vega muttered, scowling as he shifted around. His new ribs still felt weird to him.
Hydrus narrowed his eyes slightly. "'Our'?"
"Hm? Oh, right. The other me." Vega said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You know what I mean. Blue eyes, you know?"
Hydrus cocked his head to the side, looking slightly confused. "Potter, do you want me to go get Madam Pomfrey?"
"I'm fine, Hyde!" Vega exclaimed, rolling his eyes. "Point is, I want to go hunt the boggart down, I've got an idea, and the only thing missing is where the bloody thing's located. I've got this."
"Just like you had the one in class?" Hydrus asked. "I daresay you haven't 'got' anything, Potter. What are you planning to do, use that spell and nearly kill yourself again?"
"That was a fluke and I know how it happened, even if I don't like admitting it." Vega said, staring down at his blanket with a mildly annoyed look on his face. "I'll do things right next time. We can't let it go on, Hyde. It's going to keep attacking. What if it gets someone we know next? It came after me already, and I was lucky to escape relatively unharmed. What if it came for Vivi?"
Hydrus started to speak, but stopped, looking away. Vega followed his gaze, and noticed for the first time that Viola was asleep in the next bed over. Her head was just visible around the edge of the curtain. He looked back to Hydrus, who looked like he was trying to weigh the options in his head. Vega knew it was a cheap shot, but he needed backup. Cygnus or no, he wanted someone to watch his back. He and Cygnus had reached something of agreement on how they were going to coexist, and while Vega wasn't exactly thrilled with it, it was better than the randomness that had come prior.
"...We'll talk about it later." Hydrus finally said, shaking his head. "In the morning, after everyone has some food in them. I'm not going to agree with your plan yet, Potter, but I do agree that something needs to be done. Our parents had to do everything around here when they were our age. Unfortunately, it's looking more and more like we're going to have to follow in their footsteps."
"Maybe that's what Dumbledore's been playing at." Vega suggested, smirking a little. "He's waiting for us."
"Don't be stupid, of course he isn't." Hydrus said, waving a dismissive hand.
"Nn... Hydrus, what're you doing, talking to yourself again?" Came Viola's groggy voice from the next bed.
"'Again'? I don't recall ever talking to myself a first time." Said Hydrus, pulling the curtain back now that Viola was up. "And don't throw yourself at him, he's still recovering."
Rubbing at her eyes, Viola asked, "Throw myself at who?" When she looked up and saw Vega sitting there with a silly grin on his face, she practically leapt out of bed. "Vega!" She rushed over, but stopped just short, composing herself enough to sit on the edge of Vega's bed, leaning over and giving him a gingerly hug. "Are you okay? How long have you been up? What were you two talking about?"
Vega gave Viola a quick recap of his conversation with Hydrus. She was biting at her lower lip by the time he had finished, staring down at the ground and looking conflicted.
"What do you think?" Asked Vega.
"I think you're right that something needs to be done... but I also think Hydrus is right in that you don't need to go doing anything stupid again. Idiot... you scared us all half to death!" Viola cried, glaring at Vega.
Vega glanced off, sighing quietly. "Sorry. It won't happen again. I had a long talk with myself while I was out."
Viola shot her brother a confused look, which he replied to by shrugging. Looking back to Vega, she asked, "So what now?"
"Well, first we wait until I get released. Then I devour everything the house elves can throw at me. Then we go hunting the boggart." Vega said.
"You forgot something." Viola said.
"What?"
"You need to go see Lapis." Viola said. "He's... he's looked really messed up since the accident, Vega. He's come by a few times this week to check on you. I'm sure he'll be glad to know you're alright."
"Really?" Vega frowned at this. "Alright, I'll pull him aside and talk with him first chance I get. If I can talk Madam Pomfrey into letting me go once morning rolls around, I'll try and get down to the Great Hall before breakfast is over with."
"That isn't all. He must've gotten into a fight with the girls, because they're not sitting near each other right now." Viola said. "Dunno what that's been about. Hydrus has kept me from finding anything out."
"I've kept you from sticking your nose where it doesn't belong." Corrected Hydrus.
"A lot has happened, hasn't it?" Vega said, sighing. Shaking his head, he slowly let himself slide back down, wincing again as his torso protested the movement. "Think I'm gonna try getting a bit more sleep. Even though I've been out a week, I feel like I've been arguing with someone the entire time. Can't imagine why..."
Hydrus stood up, prompting Viola to do so as well. Before she did, she leaned over and kissed Vega's forehead, causing him to let out an embarrassed whine. "We'll stop in once morning comes, then."
"You two gonna be alright?" Asked Vega.
"Gabrielle's still awake." Viola said, motioning towards the office, where a faint light could be made out. "We'll be fine."
"Alright..." Nodded Vega, letting his eyes slip shut. "Have a feeling it's gonna be a long day. Good night, guys..."
"Sweet dreams, Vega." Viola said.
Vega slowed his breathing down, but had no plans to actually get any more sleep that night. He listened as the twins got escorted out by Gabrielle Delacour, then immediately asked, 'So back to what we were talking about...'
Inside his head, Cygnus replied, 'Yeah, the possibility of there being more than one boggart. I'm hoping I'm wrong, but it's entirely possible that there's a nest of the things. After what Hyde said, now I'm really worried about being right. Tadygbbo wasn't an idiot. He could've held his own. What if he got overwhelmed?'
'I really don't want to think about a nest of boggarts. Do boggarts make nests? Is that how they work?'
'Focus. Point I'm trying to make is, I'm not entirely sure we could stop a whole swarm of the damned things. At least...'
'At least not without a few turning into Hyde first...' Finished Vega. 'Great...'
'We'll stop them. But we need to go over the worse case scenarios first. If it really is only one, great! Easier job for us. And if that's the case, maybe Tadygbbo just got caught off guard.'
'Like if one of his students did something stupid and left him in a nervous state?'
Cygnus made a noise akin to a scowl. 'Don't go blaming us for that!'
'Well why not? It could be true!'
'Could!' Cygnus said. 'And even if it is, the best thing we can do is to take out what killed him, right?'
'...Yeah, I guess.' Vega said. 'Alright. So let's talk. What do you want to do?'
'We'll run down every scenario we can think of and hopefully one will actually happen.'
'Leaving a lot to chance, huh?'
'Nothing we can do about that, I'm afraid.'
'It's going to be a long night, isn't it?'
'Yup.'
'Dammit.'
oOoOoOoOoOo
Author's Notes: Tadygbbo's name is spelled right here again. I'll try and go back through and fix it. I'm not sure where the hell I started using Tadyggbo, but it's very annoying. Gareth Tadygbbo is an anagram for 'Death by Boggart.' Losing that second B kinda throws the cheap gag off, doesn't it? So now you know THAT dorky-ass name. I thought of the anagram and the name Gareth and a friend suggested Tadygbbo. I said it was too many consonants, and he told me to make him Welsh due to Welsh names apparently having too many consonants. He's English, so I went ahead with it. Besides, it was fun to say. Alas, Tadygbbo or Tadyggbo or whatever the hell spelling I used more often has perished. He is an ex-professor.
That was a lot of build-up to a really stupid thing. So! Now things are finally in the end game. Vega's inner voice has a name (his middle) and is working together with him. And they immediately want to go after the boggart. Dumbledore's around and seems to be thinking along the same lines. All the years in retirement haven't dulled his senses too much. But! He will not hang around past the end of the school year! There will be two more Defense professors over the course of the R-2 Series here. All I'll say about that is that one is an old friend of sorts, and the other might be an old enemy, depending on how you look at it!
Happy New Year, incidentally! My new year's resolution is to finish Fear Within AND book 2, Poison From the Stars, by year's end. AND do so without neglecting my other projects! ...Except Legend Reborn, because R-2 needs to keep ahead of that by a bit, or else the order of the reveals gets completely botched.
I hate time travel.
Anyway, that's where things are, and that's what I'm gonna be shooting for. I'm gonna try getting back on the two chapters a month minimum I was on for awhile during R-1. We'll see how it plays out. Until next time, kids!