Chapter Sixteen

The sun was beginning to set by the time Anton saw the turrets of Hogwarts and he internally breathed a sigh of relief, he was shattered and had nearly fallen asleep mid-flight on a few occasions. The relief gave him an extra spurt of energy and he zoomed towards the courtyard as fast as he could, he was going so fast he almost didn't pull up in time.

Next to falling off his broom, Anton couldn't even be bothered to lift it back off the ground so he simply dragged it up to the main door and waving his wand they opened. He walked through them slowly, loud voices and laughter sounded from the hall which meant the whole school was occupied with dinner so Anton stumbled up the stairs to his room.

When he eventually yawned the password out Pyra was waiting expectantly in front of his bedroom door. Anton didn't even have the energy to greet her properly he simply patted her head slightly and mumbled hello ignoring her glare. Staggering into his bedroom he collapsed onto his bed face first and not bothering to get undressed he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

When Anton's alarm went off the next morning at seven am (the first time he'd ever slept up to it) he still felt wiped-out, instead off standing he simply rolled off the bed and landed with a painful thump on the floor. Groaning Anton unwillingly forced his aching eyes open and pushing himself up he walked unsteadily into his bathroom and blasted himself with the shower before staggering back out and grabbing plain black robes and his boots with the pendant resting on the top.

He also didn't fail to notice that the fire-stone was no longer a deep vibrant red but a dull murky colour. His eyes were not just flecked with red in the iris but the white of the eye was shot through with red he also looked extremely pale and drawn with bags under his bloodshot eyes.

He pulled the dirty bandage off of his wrist and looked at the wound beneath, bending his wrist he reopened the slash and caused it to start bleeding again, sighing in frustration Anton got a fresh bandage and wound it tightly around the lesion keeping his wrist and palm stiff and straight.

-=-=-=-=

A lot of students were already sitting at their house tables and Anton could feel their gazes on him as he walked tiredly to the teachers table he also saw Dumbledore watching him closely as he slumped in the chair next to Snape's.

'I trust my time was not wasted when I prepared those potions for you,' Snape said silkily 'am I to believe you actually drank them?'

'Of course I drank them,' Anton said irritably adding mentally 'well most of them.'

'Because I would hate to think that I was dragged awake in the early hours of the morning to supply you with potions you didn't use,' Snape continued.

'I drank them,' Anton snapped.

Snape raised one eyebrow in obvious disbelief and pointed to a fresh goblet of the potion before turning to his breakfast.

Even though Anton had not eaten since he had left for his search hunger eluded him so he concentrated more on attempting to down the foul concoction.

'Anton could I have a word with you in my office before your first lesson,' Dumbledore asked in a way that Anton knew it wasn't really a question.

'Of course Headmaster,' Anton replied swilling the potion 'I have a first year class but I don't think they'd mind if I was late.'

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Anton was standing in the Headmasters office while Dumbledore sat behind his desk studying him carefully.

'Was your journey successful?' Dumbledore asked curiously.

'It definitely worked out well,' Anton admitted.

'I see you've gained a ring.' Dumbledore said suddenly making Anton lurch in surprise at his perceptiveness.

'You recognise it?' Anton said taking it off of his finger and handing it to the older man, he blamed his exhaustion on the reason he'd been foolish enough to leave it on.

'Of course,' Dumbledore nodded taking the ring 'this is Voldemort's, he wore it when he was a student here, but the damage to it is new.'

Anton made a snap decision and sat down in a chair opposite Dumbledore.

'Have you heard of Horcuxes?'

'Yes,' Dumbledore said his whole demeanour changing at the mention of them.

'You probably suspect that this is how Voldemort managed to survive,' Anton prompted.

'I started to suspect it months ago,' Dumbledore admitted his eyes cold as he thought of it 'I've been working on clues as to where Tom might have stored them.'

'I'm a little ahead of you,' Anton said softly 'we found out what they were and where they were, but the drawback is that Ofelia knows as well, and it won't be long until she tells Voldemort what's happening and then we're in serious trouble.'

'Do you know how many there are?' Dumbledore asked seriously.

'Seven,' Anton answered 'one was the diary Harry destroyed, another was this ring, Voldemort also put them in Helga Hufflepuff's cup, Slytherin's locket, Ravenclaw's Diadem and in Nagini his snake.'

'That's only six,' Dumbledore said taking in what Anton was saying.

'I'm not sure where the other one is,' Anton lied he also didn't mention that technically there were eight because he had the identical section of soul in him that Harry had- even though his scar was gone the power of it still remained.

Anton yawned as Dumbledore processed the information.

'You know where they are?' Dumbledore smiled slightly.

Anton smirked 'we put a lot of year's worth of effort into finding them, the next step is destroying them.'

'You destroyed this one,' Dumbledore paused fingering the ring 'is that the reason your magical reserves are dangerously low?'

'How did you…?' Anton started before he looked down at his locket 'oh.'

'Maybe you should take the day off or at least let Madam Pomfrey check you over.'

'I'm fine,' Anton insisted 'I'm also not going to let my fight with the Voldemort affect my teaching.'

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Anton made it to his classroom with only fifteen minutes left, as well talking in depth to Dumbledore he'd also had to take some energy potions to keep him awake through the day.

The class was in uproar with screams and giggling echoing into the corridor through the open door, Anton fingered the pendant around his neck before deciding to scare his third years with a small trick.

Anton walked invisibly through the classroom avoiding getting hit by flailing arms of random people and the kicking legs of a Gryffindor boy jumping on a desk. He went up to his own desk which had the chair pulled out and a Ravenclaw perched on the table facing the class shouting loudly.

Anton sat down softly in the chair and quietly put his feet up on the desk, folding his arms he removed the invisibility and waited for the class to notice him. It took a few moments but eventually someone yelled in surprise, what followed was a domino effect.

One by one the first years began noticing him, they scrabbled towards their desks dropping bits of parchment on the floor in their rush, the boy messing on the table jumping up and down was so surprised he fell off with a huge crash and a lot of thrashing. The Ravenclaw spun around and when he saw Anton a look of utter horror filled his face that made Anton want to laugh, but instead he just looked questioningly at the child who scrambled off the desk and rushed to his seat.

When silence and stillness finally fell Anton waited a few extra minutes before pulling his legs off the table and standing up.

'I expected you to show some maturity,' he said quietly but every student heard 'yes I am late and I apologize for that, but I expected that while I was talking to the Headmaster I could trust eleven and twelve year olds not to wreak havoc.'

He paused for effect and all the students stared back terrified 'obviously I was wrong in my assumptions.'

The class quaked as Anton stared at them coldly.

'Can anyone tell me why?'

No one moved and one small first year let out a slight whimper.

'What to do,' Anton mused 'what to do…'

Everyone sat up a little straighter in their seats as they waited terrified of what Anton would do, the bell rang out loudly but nobody moved and their eyes stayed riveted on their teacher.

'You all have two options,' Anton continued 'you can either do a two foot long essay on proper behaviour in a classroom or…you can serve detention with me, the choice is yours.'

They all stared terrified, none of them wanted to serve detention with Anton. Malfoy hadn't said anything about the detention he had done but people had seen him scramble out of the forest followed by Anton and people had seen his nervous form being escorted to the Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers office, however no one had he courage to actually mention it to him.

'Well?' Anton prompted.

'Essay,' a Gryffindor girl stammered out into the silence.

'Wise decision,' Anton inclined his head and the girl went white 'Now who here would like to make the same choice?'

Twenty hands shot into the air.

'Class dismissed,' Anton snapped 'I want all the essays in by next lesson and if they are so much as an inch short you will all be serving detention.'

They grabbed their bags and ran from the room all looking scared stiff, the seventh years coming into the classroom raised eyebrows at the tearful faces. When they saw Anton's frosty expression they all entered quietly.

Anton rubbed his sore eyes and tapping the board he started the lesson.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=

That night his dreams were vivid and real, flashbacks of true events.

They had fought strongly from the beginning, with every single person dedicated to the destruction of Voldemort.

Flashback

The Great Hall was bursting with people, all of the Light wizards in Britain were standing shoulder to shoulder in complete silence.

They were nervous, anyone with even slight empathy could see it but there was also a feeling of great hope within the ranks the people reverberated with an anxious energy as they waited expectantly.

Harry (Anton), Ron (Rhoan), Ginny (Gia) and Hermione (Ofelia) were standing near the front, they were only just seventeen with Ginny still sixteen and they were still using their real names.

Dumbledore stood on a small platform his aura radiating out with power

'Friends' he spoke into the silence his voice resonating and filling each witch and wizard with courage.

'We are gathered because we are the ones who will defeat Voldemort, without us the Light will fall. But as we are united within, we will not crumble in the face of this evil!'

The hall exploded with cheers and clapping hands and the four fiends looked at each other their faces shining with expectancy all of them in the utter belief that they would defeat Voldemort, they joined in with the applause and young Hermione turned to young Harry.

'We can do this' she breath 'we will be great, we will be powerful.'

'Yeh but it isn't all about the power' Ron cut in giving Hermione funny look 'we're doing this because it's the right thing to do.'

'Well obviously Ron' Hermione said derisively 'we all want to do the right thing…'

Anton jerked awake suddenly the memories still fresh in his mind. He should have suspected something then, Ofelia had been voicing opinions and comments that had sounded familiar in many respects to the Dark Side's ethos's. They had all dismissed it though, none of them had wanted to even dwell on the possibility their closest friend might be corrupt. Even when she had obliviated her parents and sent them to another continent they had continued like normal and carried on pretending everything was okay, maybe in some respects the betrayal had been inevitable.

It had still hurt though.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The next evening Neville stared glumly at the back of the Fat Lady's portrait trying to decide whether to go through it or not.

'What's the matter Nev?' Ron asked curiously.

'I've got a private lesson with Professor Lukyen,' Neville replied miserably 'he's going to help me catch up.'

'Really!' Harry said impressed 'how did you get him to do that?'

'I didn't,' Neville muttered 'he's making me, he said that he's interested in helping people who will become amazing wizards, so think he's got the wrong person.'

'Don't put yourself down,' Hermione said supportively 'if Lukyen said it then he must see something in you.'

'Maybe he's blind,' he sighed 'well he'll realise soon enough when he tries to teach me.'

Neville sighed again and pushed the portrait open, when the portrait swung shut the three friends started talking.

'What do you think of Anton's teaching?' Hermione asked curiously.

'He's miles better than anyone else we've had,' Ron said slouching in a chair 'I couldn't see him releasing Cornish Pixies into a class full of second years.'

'Have you heard the rumours about Malfoy's detention?' Harry said grinning 'supposedly he was close to tears when he stumbled out of the Forest.'

'Well he nearly cried when we went in our first year,' Hermione said putting her homework down 'but I'm more interested in what that potion is that he keeps drinking.'

'Must be important if Snape left his classroom to give it to him,' Ron answered 'or maybe he's poisoning Anton.'

'Professor Snape would not poison another teacher,' Hermione said cynically 'and I don't think Professor Lukyen would be as foolish as to drink poison freely.'

'Why do you think his salamander doesn't burn him?' Harry said thoughtfully 'Hagrid always wears thick gloves when he touches them.'

'I wish he was here and then we could ask him,' Ron growled 'I wonder when he'll be back.'

'He's obviously doing something for the Order,' Harry said quietly 'and I bet that's what Anton was doing last weekend.'

'What do you mean?' Ron asked confused.

'Honestly Ron do use your head,' Hermione said 'he wasn't around all weekend and when he got back he was exhausted and drained, he had a bandage around his wrist and he talked to Dumbledore for most of first period yesterday.'

'How do you know that?' Harry said surprised.

'Jenny Brickly is a first year Gryffindor who was doing an essay last night,' Hermione replied 'I asked her what it was for and she told me that Professor Lukyen had set them all a two foot long essay because they caused a mini riot when he turned up to the lesson with only ten minutes left and he told them that he had been talking to Dumbledore.'

'He was in a really funny mood yesterday when we had him,' Ron said suddenly 'and he seemed really distracted.'

'I wonder what he was doing,' Harry mused.

-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Anton marked homework papers while he waited for Neville to arrive he was half expecting the teenager not to come but he knew it was not in Neville's nature at this time to refuse a teachers direct orders.

Sure enough there came a knock on Anton's study door.

'Come in!' he called putting his quill down on the table.

Neville hesitantly pushed the door open and stuck his head in before tentatively sliding his whole body in as well, Anton saw his mouth open slightly as he took in the deep red walls, the contained hurricane and the picture of Anton, Rhoan and Gia.

'Neville,' Anton smiled 'ready to learn?'

'Yes…' Neville trailed off as the silver contraption on Anton's desk whirred and glowed with a deep red colour- Neville had just lied.

'Don't worry Neville,' Anton said standing up 'this can only help you.'

'Sir!' Neville burst out 'I think you're making a mistake choosing me.'

Anton raised an eyebrow 'Neville, you will one day be a great wizard, trust me when I say that. Every single witch and wizard has the potential to be brilliant, but it is up to us whether we choose to take that capability or to ignore it.'

He paused watching Neville's face before he continued 'you are destined for great things Mr Longbottom. You are destined to make your parents proud.'

As soon as Anton said this Neville's eyes lit up slightly and a look of hopefulness filled his face.

'Do you really think so?' he asked uncertainly.

'I wouldn't have said it if I wasn't serious,' Anton replied 'now are you ready to learn?'

'Yes,' Neville said hastily and this time the silver device didn't so much as tremble.

'Excellent,' Anton grinned pulling his wand out of its holster 'now where should we start?'

'Like I said Professor I'm rubbish at most things,' Neville said miserably

'The start then,' Anton nodded 'that's always the best place to get going. Can you do Expelliarmus?'

'Does it have to work?' Neville said quietly.

'That would be an upside,' Anton said before saying soothingly 'don't worry Neville, by the time you leave tonight you will be able to cast the spell.'

Neville pulled his own wand out of his robes and brandished it nervously. Anton raised his own wand and nodded his head at Neville.

'Cast the spell.'

'Expelliarmus!' Neville shouted.

The red beam burst from the wand tip (a first) but instead of disarming Anton it wacked into the black desk, bounced back off and hit Pyra who hissed angrily jumping up from the floor and blowing a stream off fire into the air before fixing Neville with a glare.

Neville promptly dropped his wand on the floor and took a step backwards.

'Pyra!' Anton said sternly 'stop it.'

The salamander glared at Anton this time before turning her back and slinking from the room- obviously deciding it was safer that remaining in the office.

'Never mind Neville,' Anton said readily 'I'm sure you will do much better on your next go.'

'You want me to do it again?' Neville squeaked.

'Of course,' Anton said picking up the fallen wand and handing it to its owner 'we can't improve if we don't practise. What you've got to remember is to emphasise certain letters in the spell, you don't just say Expelliarmus you say ExPelliaarrMus! Give it a go.'

'Expelliarmus,' Neville said quietly giving his wand a slight flick, as if accepting he wouldn't be able to cast the spell adequately.

This time it hit Anton's wand but didn't knock it from his hand, which made Neville look more downcast,

Anton realised he would have to goad the teenager into the spell and make him passionate about casting spells- one way to get passion was through anger an Anton thought resignedly of what he would have to say.

'Neville,' he said his voice slightly harder 'if I want you to whisper the spell I will tell you to, now do it again or I will be forced to revaluate what I said earlier.'

Neville's face took on a look of anger and frustration when Anton suggested he wouldn't actually be able to make his parents proud.

'EXPELLIARMUS!' he yelled incensed thinking of his parents in St Mungo's and his Grandmothers constant dissatisfaction with him.

The red spell smashed into Anton's wand and smashed it from his hand in a shower of sparks, Anton's wrist snapped backwards and he let out a slight curse that Neville didn't hear as he was staring stunned at what he had just done.

'Excellent Neville,' Anton said placing his other hand on the boys shoulder 'that was a truly excellent spell, if you can remember the emotions you felt when you discharged it and you incorporate that into other spells that you do. In time I think you could be one of the best wizards this world has ever seen.'

Neville looked at Anton completely overwhelmed and what he had done and what Anton had said about him.

'Sir…' he gasped out 'I didn't…I.'

'Never be afraid of your talents,' Anton said cheerfully 'I think that is enough for tonight and I will see you next week at the same time.'

Neville stammered a thank you and stumbled from the room still with the glazed look on his face.

'Damn I'm good,' Anton muttered flexing his wrist tenderly. Neville had managed to sprain it quite effectively, Anton was just thankful that the spell did not mean that Neville's successful Expelliarmus would not mean he was the rightful owner of Anton's wand.