Later in the day, after classes had concluded and after everyone finished eating dinner in the great hall—Alice, Zander, and their friends strolled down the corridors in a large group together, heading off to find the Slytherpuff room for an evening of fun.
James carried his box of alcoholic chocolates around, repeatedly flipping it open and resisting the urge to start the party early, assisted by Lorcan, who kept slamming the box back shut. Rose had a neatly-packed set of wizard's chess in a side satchel, Lorcan carried a pack of tarot cards in his pocket, and Alice was glad to be holding her father's special poker cards—bewitched poker cards that always had a mind of their own.
"Dad calls it Roulette Poker," Alice proclaimed, smiling and holding up the decorative container of cards.
"Why?" James asked, eyeballing the shiny black-and-green box in her hands.
"Because. The whole game kinda just depends on whether or not the cards like you," Alice shrugged. "You might have a good hand, but it might change into something else when you lay it down. It's a lot more of a gamble than regular poker."
"We spent half the night playing it on my birthday," Zander recalled, pondering on his holiday at the O'Heiden Carnival. "Can't believe how many times I had three of a kind, and it changed into none of a kind."
"Aye," Alice giggled and nodded. "The cards make faces and gestures at you sometimes, too. You kinda have to form some kind of bond with them if you want them to play along."
"Which is something I'm not good at," Zander grumped. "So they just kept screwing me."
"Maaan… I loved that carnival," James said. "Wish my dad could've stayed there with us… but he had way too much work to do."
"Yeah… and my dad goes where his dad goes," Rose agreed, waving a finger at James. "Auror stuff. They don't take time off during the holidays if there's something important going on. Dad and Uncle Potter are always running around with Ross now, chasing loose leads on Xyler and the Shadow Hand."
There was a brief silence following her words, everyone suddenly thinking of the news article they'd read about the alarming number of followers that Xyler had. They hadn't given it a thought in weeks, and they didn't have much reason to—but now, as the end of the year drew near, and as their trip to America was creeping ever closer, they all began to feel a little uneasy at the idea of spending an entire school year across the pond, where the world's largest group of vigilante wizards was apparently hunkering down.
And, more than anyone else—Zander and Alice were most concerned, trading a subtle glimpse with one another and thinking along the same lines.
After all that had happened since their encounter in the forbidden forest, they'd nearly forgotten about the most worrisome fact of all—that Zander and Alice were apparently 'marked' by the Seal of Shadows, and Xyler and his followers had evidently taken a special interest in the two of them. God only knew who else had been marked, or what being marked even meant—but it was rightfully concerning regardless.
"Oy. I have a question," James said, breaking everyone out of their intense thoughts, leaning forward and eyeballing Alice questioningly. "Mine and Rose's parents are gonna be coming with us to America for the tournament next year, since a lot of their investigations are taking them there anyway. But how's your dad supposed to go? He's got a whole carnival to run. He can't just pop off to America for a year, can he?"
"He's got a solution for that," Alice replied with a shrug. "I dunno what it is… but he says he and Arius are both working on something to solve that problem. Says it's a surprise."
"Speak of the devil," Zander murmured, staring straight ahead.
Everyone slowed to the stop in the hallway—and the group all gazed forward, seeing that they were no longer alone in the expansive castle corridor.
Arius had just emerged from around the corner, standing opposite them and inhaling deeply, his decorative hat slightly crooked, cloak still shifting at his heels from where he'd been speed-walking seconds ago. He spotted the students standing adjacent to him, adjusting his grip on his cane before briskly striding toward them.
"Well… aren't you the popular ones now," Arius remarked, his eyes moving from Alice and Zander to the other four accompanying them. "Where are you off to this late?"
Zander, standing at the front of the group, opened his mouth and hesitated, clearing his throat and wondering how to answer.
It wasn't against the rules for all of them to come together and play games outside of class times—but they'd left the great hall rather late in the evening, and he knew that all of them loitering outside of their dorms after curfew would be against the rules, even if they were all safe and sound in the Slytherpuff room.
"Ah… w… well," Zander mumbled slowly. "We were just… taking Rose back to her prefect area… before we all go to bed for the night."
There was a pause, the headmaster's eyes narrowing and darting from student to student.
"If you're going to lie to me—put effort into it," Arius stated, jabbing a finger at them. "Now I want all of you to go—"
"Professor," someone called out from down the hall.
Arius wheeled around, seeing that Professor Longbottom had just emerged from around the same corner he had moments ago.
"I checked my office and everything in or around Herbology," Professor Longbottom stated. "Nothing there."
"All right," Arius nodded. "Go and wake Trocar. We need him right now."
Professor Longbottom returned the nod and marched away at once.
Arius sighed and faced the students again.
"I know where you're going," he said in a soft, serious tone, one that hardly suited him. "And I want you to go there, and stay there. Do not leave that room for the rest of the night. Do all of you understand me?"
Alice and Zander stared at him in bewilderment, James' mouth drifting agape, Tobias and Lorcan both squinting strangely at the headmaster.
"Yes," Zander uttered. "We will. But…"
"But what's going on?" Alice asked. "What's—?"
"You don't need to concern yourself," Arius cut her off, swatting the air. "Just go there, and stay there. The Room of Requirement will adjust to fit your overnight needs. Now just go."
At once, the headmaster marched briskly past them without waiting for a reply.
Zander and Alice spun on their heels, watching him go. James traded baffled looks with Lorcan, and Lorcan did the same with Tobias, all of them left standing in the middle of the hallway and feeling totally dumbfounded.
"He… he seemed a bit rushed, didn't he?" Rose mumbled.
"Like him and the other teachers are scrambling to find something," James added.
"Like someone who's gotten into the castle," Zander said darkly, his eyes locked onto the area where the headmaster vanished moments ago.
Suddenly, Zander tried to follow after Arius—but Alice quickly yanked him back.
"No no no—Zander!" Alice panted, whirling him around and shaking her head. "Don't run off right now. You got on my case for doing that—remember? Don't go and do the same thing."
Zander hesitated, meeting her eyes and sighing deeply, then giving a few mild nods.
"Ve are safer in a group," Tobias said, giving Zander a firm look. "And ve really do need to get to the room now."
"Right… yeah… okay," Zander sighed again, waving his finger and gesturing for them to follow. "C'mon."
He broke into a stride, and everyone followed Zander and Alice down the hall and around the corner, finding the isolated corridor wall where they often waited for the Slytherpuff room to appear.
Zander approached the wall and extended his hand—but then, he heasitated, catching a glint of movement in the corner of his eye.
Far down this hall were two prefects whom he didn't recognize, though both of them were the correct age, and they had prefect badges fixed perfectly onto the front of their robes. It was a boy and a girl around fifteen or sixteen, and they were lost to a deep and hushed conversation with one another, speaking to each other in the same rushed way that Arius had been a short while ago.
Zander's head was turned, eyes narrowing, fixating on the prefects in the distance.
His friends all stared at him, following his trail of vision and spotting the prefects as well.
"What?" Alice asked, reading the look on his face and knowing that his mind was working up a storm. "What're you thinking?"
Zander paused, sparing the prefects another stare before turning to his friends.
"They know," he told them. "Whatever's going on—those two know."
"Oooh—we could ask them," James understood.
"No—she could ask them," Zander corrected, pointing at Rose. "They know her better than they know us. They'd tell her before they'd ever tell us anything. It has to be her."
All of them turned to Rose and stared at her expectantly.
Rose returned all of their gazes, sighing and looking conflicted.
"But he jus…" she stammered. "Arius just told us not to get involved…"
"Well… if we didn't get involved last time, then Crowley would've died," Zander reminded her. "And I'd feel a lot safer if I knew what was going on, even if we don't actually end up doing anything about it."
"Those are two very fair points, Rose," Lorcan chimed in, giving her a look. "And I'd feel safer if I knew, too."
"Same," Tobias agreed, fixing his glasses. "I do not vant to spend all night vondering what might be prowling right outside of the room. I vould rather just know."
Rose glanced between them, sighing and strolling onward.
The others watched as she approached the prefects in the distance—and Zander gently pressed his hand to the wall, the magical doorway slowly appearing beneath his palm.
While Rose wandered off to speak to the prefects—the others quietly slipped into the Slytherpuff room, disappearing from sight and waiting for her to rejoin them.
While they did, James and Lorcan slowed to a stop inside, marveling at all the green and gold décor as their mouths hung slightly agape.
"Whoa," Lorcan breathed.
"Dude," James smirked. "It's like…"
"Like ze Slytherin dungeon and ze Hufflepuff common room both combined into one," Tobias concluded for them, folding his arms with a nod. "Yes."
"Well… I've never seen the Slytherin room… but I'll take your word for it," James uttered.
"It's quite a bit bleaker than this," Zander remarked, his eyes coasting around the room. "But… it does have the same ominous green glow along the walls. This room did a good job of capturing that without making it look so…"
"Depressing?" James cackled.
Zander sighed and made a sideways nod.
"It is ze Hufflepuff decorations that make the Slytherin ones look happier," Tobias figured. "Bright happy gold is good vith all the deep emeralds and greens."
"Oh yeah," Alice murmured, gazing up at everything. "Huh… I never pieced that together. I always just thought it looked happier in here because I was happier being in here."
Then, Rose entered the room behind them, moving through the magic double-doors and pausing to ogle the beauty of the room around her.
Zander leaned past her and pulled the doors shut, and then, everyone's eyes landed on Rose.
"What did they say?" Zander inquired.
Rose continued eyeing the whole room, then looked to her friends, who were all staring back at her expectantly now.
"Um… they said… all the teachers and prefects are on high alert now," Rose informed. "Because they're all looking for… the sorting hat."
Zander and Alice traded odd looks, as did James and Lorcan, Tobias making a face.
"The sorting hat's gone missing," Rose said. "And now everyone's scrambling to find it."
"What… is that it?" James grumped, sounding disappointed. "Well that's thrilling. Blimey, I thought we had some real emergency on our hands…"
"We do," Zander said gravely.
Everyone turned to him.
"The sorting hat is how the founders' fortunes are called… and the dark wizard who was trying to break into Hogwarts was trying to get in for that very reason," Zander explained. "Which means… in all likelihood…"
"Valefor's inside the castle," Alice exhaled.
There was a pause, all of them staring at each other as a tense of tension began to overtake the room. Alice and Zander shared a serious stare with one another, then with Tobias, the trio briefly reliving their previous encounter with Valefor and wearing deep grimaces.
"Well… you… you guys fought him off before, right?" James said with a laugh. "No worries. If we run into him, then the six of us should be able to take him, no problem."
"Not exactly," Zander sighed, pondering on that night and shaking his head. "Valefor hardly fought back last time… and we only got away because of…"
He trailed off, sharing intense stares with Alice and Tobias again.
In reality—they escaped Valefor because of Crowley's intervention, but they'd never told anyone this part of the story before. Crowley had flashed his vampire fangs that night, preparing to attack Valefor in full rage mode, and for the rest of the school year to follow, the trio did well to keep that event a secret, just as Arius had asked of them.
"It was a… a hat trick," Zander mumbled. "Crowley pulled a surprise stunt at the last second… and that's the only reason we got away."
James, Lorcan, and Rose all eyed him curiously.
Then, Rose released a deep sigh, hanging her head and nodding at the ground.
"He's a vampire," she said.
Everyone turned to her—Alice, Zander, and Tobias all looking surprised, while James and Lorcan merely ogled her in bewilderment.
"What?" James scoffed. "You're barking. He's not a…"
"Oh… think about it, James," Rose replied, combing her bangs aside. "When have we ever gotten a clear story about what happened that night? Besides, I seem to remember the three of them trying to hunt down Professor Crowley that night so they could give him something from Arius… some kind of medicine, wasn't it? Not to mention, his patronus is a bat, he's paler than death itself, and he wears mismatched contact lenses from the muggle world, so God only knows what his real eye colors are. Vampires have black eyes. But nobody knows what Professor Crowley's eyes really look like. Plus, he hardly ever leaves the castle during the day, he hardly ever seems to eat in the great hall, and he was removed from the aurors rather suddenly before he ended up at Hogwarts… which means he probably had some kind of serious accident on the job. It all fits together."
Everyone stared at her in stunned silence.
Zander, Alice, and Tobias then exchanged a few subtle glimpses with each other.
Rose noticed, eyeing the three of them and swatting loosely toward them. "And see? Look at them. They've probably known it all along, and they're not allowed to talk about it. Professor Arius probably swore them to secrecy… didn't he?"
She aimed her question at the trio, James and Lorcan staring at the three of them in befuddlement as they awaited an answer.
Once more, the misfit three traded eyes with one another.
"We're not…" Alice murmured, sighing in frustration. "We can't…"
"You can't confirm or deny," Rose understood. "I get it. That's a really big secret… something he could be sacked for. It won't leave this room. I promise. We all do. Don't we?"
She rolled her neck and shot James and Lorcan a serious look.
"Oh—yeah, yeah, we won't tell anybody," James affirmed wholeheartedly, Lorcan nodding along in agreement.
"Well, there you go." Rose crossed her arms and nodded. "So, Professor Crowley pulled some kind of vampire hat trick in order to get all of you away from Valefor—and, according to you, Valefor hardly put up a fight that night. Right?"
"Right," Zander, Alice, and Tobias said in unison.
"Hm." Rose's expression grew thoughtful. "That means we have no idea…"
"We can't ascertain what we're really up against," Lorcan determined. "Because we have no way of knowing how well Valefor can really fight."
"Well… he did kinda put the whole school on high alert," James reminded them. "It wouldn't just be us. It would be all the teachers in the school, if they actually manage to find him. He'd definitely be outmatched then."
"But they haven't found him," Alice stated. "He's sulking around in hiding somehow."
"Yeah—how did he get into the school?" Rose wondered. "I can't figure that part out at all."
"He probably recruited someone," Zander pondered aloud. "Just like he tried to do with me."
"Or… maybe someone here was already recruited," Tobias figured. "Before the school year even started."
Zander turned, stroking his chin and narrowing his eyes thoughtfully at Tobias. "That could be. That might be why he was so confident in the first place. He waltzed up to the school thinking that he was just gonna get what he came for and be on his way."
"And the Shadow Hand are recruiting everyone all over the world," Alice muttered. "Maybe someone here already has been turned over to their side…"
"So someone helped him get in," Rose surmised. "But how? And who?"
"Oh," Zander breathed, slowly lowering his hand from his face as a long series of connections suddenly snapped together in his mind. "Oh… my God…"
Everyone else stared at him.
Zander returned their stares, openmouthed and feeling overwhelmed, as it was far too much to explain all at once—and time was something he couldn't waste now.
"I… have to…" He glanced around, facing the doors and preparing to leave. "I have to go down to Slytherin house. You all need to find Arius and Crowley—"
"Whoa whoa whoa," James cut him off, stepping forward and shooting him a look. "What're you going to Slytherin for?"
"I'm the only one among us who's allowed in there—and it's important," Zander explained quickly, one hand on the doors. "I'll come back. Find Arius and Crowley and bring them back here—I'll tell them everything when I get back—but I have to go."
"Just tell us, and we'll tell them!"
"I don't have time, James!"
"Zander!" Alice hollered.
Zander had just swung the doors open—but he froze for a second, turning and meeting Alice's burning blue glare.
The two shared a deep stare—and for a brief moment, Zander considered simply staying, not running off and leaving her behind.
Then, he found his resolve again and made a gentle shake of the head. "I have to…"
At that—he vanished out the doors without another second to spare.