Disclaimer: Certain elements from the Prince of Slytherin had been rightfully stolen and will be used in this FANFIC. POS is a GREAT fanfic written by T.S Mann, who REFUSES to finish it after nearly half a THOUSAND chapters... Anyways, here is the second chapter, and if you have a fear of ghosts, just remember, they might be there to protect you... Oh and if you know TS Mann personally, kindly punch him in the face for me, thank you.
Also, A Galleon is equal to 100 knuts. Which is 5 sickles.
The train ride to Hogwarts was anything but uninteresting.
The cabin Jack was in was magically expanded to fit 12 students. Of course, every bit of the train's structure was immune to wand-magic for reasons being that it transported a bunch of immature students, half of which would be dense enough to commit murder through a simple prank.
But Jack and Phoebe Butters, a girl who used to be a good friend of Jack's, was reading a book on Hogwarts and came across a section stating that the train could be magically influenced through the works of Runes. Ever since then, the train ride was much more bearable to Jack and those in good spirits with him.
"So there I was," Jack continued. "... starving, deprived of hydration, studying my next victim... I shoved the rude, old man to the ground and took off with his trolley of beverages and snacks! And I would have made off with it too, if it weren't for meddling scum the muggles liked to call... 'cops'."
"What are 'cops'?" asked Meredith Munroe, a sixth-year Gryffindor.
"Law enforcement, Mary!" Penny answered in a shout. "Keep up, won't you!"
"Oh yeah..."
All eyes were on Jack for the last couple of hours as he walked them through his adventures in the muggle world. In the cabin were, Penny and Charles along with their two twin brothers who only just started schooling. Aaron and Maya Wilkins, two of four kids from House Wilkins that are in Hogwarts right now, all of them in Gryffindor. Thomas Shacklebolt, Cooper Rowling and Harold Greengrass, all three being the only representatives of their respective houses in the cabin.
"I told the filthbags wearing blue, 'Unhand me or you'll be having a word with the queen'..." Which is not what he said, but no one could tell him otherwise. "... And after half an hour of arguing, the men decided it wasn't worth the trouble to further prosecute me. As for I, going home was the only reasonable thing I could do next after half a week of nothing to eat. And also after being kicked out of five different homeless shelters in the span of three months... And then Mum locked me in the dungeon and now I'm here!"
"Grounded!" It was almost as if Aaron waited two hours to yell out that line. Nonetheless, it was met with laughter throughout the whole cabin.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, you cold-hearted buffoons!" Jack replied with a smile. "If that dungeon taught me anything, it was to-..."
The door to the cabin was unlocked and opened by Thomas after a certain knock was given by Dewey Dabuy, who gave his housemate down the corridor, Tempest Lagoon, a nod of confirmation after seeing that Jack was indeed back after being gone last term.
"Mr. Dabuy!" Jack stood up to formally hug his younger friend from the Ravenclaw house. "Why it's good to see you again, my friend."
"You too, Jack. I thought I seen you on the platform. It's good to see you're back, but anyways..." Dewey gave a quick glance towards Penny, who was undoubtedly giving him the death stare. "Ahem, I was hoping we could talk about... things... whenever you have the time."
"Hmm... " Jack replied. "Does 'things' have any correlation to the business we shared two terms ago around the month of February?"
"Yes," Dewey replied sharply. "Very much..."
Jack sighed, partly in relief as Dewey hadn't seemed to remember the debt Jack still owed him. "Well then, 'things' will have to wait, I guess..."
Dewey nodded and quickly left, avoiding further eye contact with Penny, who had developed a malicious smile on her face over the time he was in there.
"What was that about," Meredith asked.
Meridith wasn't included in the 5 people other than Jack that knew anything of the failed "Love Potion" Jack had Dewey make for a Valentines Day prank on another student.
The potion caused an innocent brute of a girl to be overly obsessed with one of Jack's housemates. Except instead of 'love', the word that should be tied to this artificial relationship was 'admiration'.
"Jack still hasn't paid Dewey," Tommy said to avoid further prying into the subject.
"Ohh..."
"Well, don't!" Penny replied. "What would he do? Go to Dumbledore and complain about you not paying him for one of his potions he's been illegally selling?"
It was common knowledge that Penny had a rather large dislike for Dewey, but Jack couldn't help but feel that it had gotten a lot deeper over the time he was gone.
Jack had one of his best Welcoming Feasts so far. He had shaken the hands of many students welcoming him back, including the warm hug of one of his favorite teachers, Professor Quinata.
Students of any significance to Jack that greeted him were, Tempest Lagoon, a Ravenclaw prefect of the same age as Jack, a scholar student who he was very fond of. She asked for a detailed story on paper about his three-month adventure, something Jack would probably never get around to.
Marcus Flint, a fourth-year Slytherin who Jack had given helpful quidditch advice to in the past. Ever since then, the boy almost looked up to Jack, despite the fact that Jack himself was not much of a quidditch player.
Ishalla Hyde, a third-year Hufflepuff who lived in Hogwarts as a daughter of a late staff member. Dumbledore took her in as her own. Ishalla knew almost every secret pathway and room there was in Hogwarts. Her friendship with Jack started in her first-year, when Jack traded information on the unruly habits of other students in exchange for his immunity of being ratted out to Filch.
He couldn't help but notice that he was being aggressively ignored by two other students. One being Lilah Winter, a fourth-year Ravenclaw who isolates herself from everyone else. Only reason why Jack and her are somewhat associated with each other is due to the common trait the two share. A secret Jack promised he would never tell to anyone.
He couldn't even if he tried. The girl tricked him into making an Unbreakable Vow, which magically restricts him from even thinking about sharing the secret with others.
And the other was Phoebe Butters, an old friend and now Hufflepuff prefect since last term. Their friendship started in the Hogwarts Express as their first year started and fell out after the two started hanging with two entirely different crowds. The only mutual friend they had was Tempest. And after their third year, the two shared only three conversations Jack can remember.
Jack didn't find Lilah ignoring him as anything but normal. The same goes for Phoebe, but that one sat differently with him. He often felt the urge to rekindle their friendship but never made any steps toward doing that.
It's his first day back. So Jack decided to not ponder on it any longer for the rest of the night and just enjoy the ambience Hogwarts provides that he had missed dearly for many months.
After catching up with the rest of Hogwarts, Jack, Aaron and Charles went to their house commons room to hang out before going to bed.
"I cannot believe they made you a prefect." Jack said in regards to Charles.
Charles pulled out the prefect badge he solemnly wore. "Oh, but they did," he said with a smile.
"That is amazing, aha! That's one less twit to worry about then, innit," Jack replied.
"Oh, don't get ahead of yourself, Jack," Aaron said. "Charles here takes his job oh-so serious!"
Further laughter resonated through the Gryffindor house when Charles was forced to recount his story of him being pressured by Professor McGonagall the previous term into scolding his little sister, Penny, after she hexed a bunch of Slytherin students for calling their family poor.
That, of course, only led to the sell-out, Charles Weasley, being rudely awakened as he was soaked in his bed by a bucket of ice-cold water, courtesy of his sister and her best friend, Maya.
Both of whom were regarded by Jack as little sisters, but are now in the same year as him, something he realized while on the train he had to get used to sooner or later.
The fun ended when Jack checked his muggle wristwatch for the time. He was thirty minutes late for a meeting he set with Dewey on Balcony #5.
"Oh, I have to go see Dewey," Jack announced as he stood up. "What was the password again?"
"Lentils and Limedrops," Charles replied.
"Right, that reminds me." Jack pulled two of five wristwatches from his bookbag, giving one each to Charles and Aaron. "A little souvenir I got from the muggle world."
The two put them on with a smile.
"Well, I'll be back. And don't wait up. I doubt this would be a quick conversation."
Jack put on his new-and-improved Invisibility Cloak as he exited the Gryffindor house. He was tired of going through so many galleons buying replacements. So during his fourth-year, he decided to learn to make his own.
Although his self-designed cloaks lasted a much shorter time than ones professionally made, they allowed him to add certain modifications, like soundproofing and wind-resistant elements. The wind-resistant element was actually just loops on the inside of the cloak which he would run a belt through so the cloak would hug his frame.
Jack had to go up two flights of stairs to get to where Dewey would be waiting for him. The Silencing Rune on the cloak came in much conveniently when he forgot about the trick step on one of the flights and essentially tripped. After making sure no one was around to hear any sound that escaped the cloak, he continued running up.
Dewey was just about to leave when Jack nearly gave him a heart attack.
"I'm here!" Jack announced as he revealed himself.
"Oh Merlin!" Dewey shouts as he was given a fright. "Phew... I thought you were Penny... Well, you're late..."
"As per usual," Jack replied.
"Yes, well, I'm still hoping that you'll grow out of that habit."
"But then, how would you know it was really me?"
"Touche... Anyways, Estrella Grenhart's case has grown a bit worse while you were gone..."
"Muffliato," Jack chants as he casted a Muffling Spell around their immediate surroundings. "How so..."
"Well, she hasn't been following Lenny around the school like she had before, but she has been following in his footsteps..."
Jack was a bit confused by that statement. "..."
"..."
"Well, were you planning to elaborate or are we going to skip ahead to the five I owe you?"
"So, she's been- wait. The five you owe me?"
Jack waved him off. "C'mon, Dewey we don't have much time!"
"Alright, alright. So, her phase of spying on him is over now. She actually made an effort to befriend him. Of course, Lenny thought it to be a miracle as opposed to her continuing to bully him. So he welcomed her with open arms. It turns out she was doing research."
"Research?"
"Yes. She was studying the bloke... To make things shorter, Estrella is indeed idolizing Lenny, which is what we concluded two terms ago. She spent all of last year changing up her personality, and Merlin... You wouldn't even recognize her today..."
"Make things shorter, Dewey!"
"I basically just told you the whole of it!"
"Yes, you have. But some fun facts would have complimented your otherwise tedious storytelling!"
"Estrella is currently in a relationship with Sailor de Guzman, how's that!"
Jack was dumbfounded. Sailor was Lenny Seawall's ex-girlfriend. If he didn't know any better, he would have laughed it all off. But since he did, a pang of guilt struck him. He didn't think a simple prank on one of his housemates would eventually change a girl's whole sexuality.
Jack inhaled deeply before replying. "Okay, so how do we fix this..."
"Well, the temporary "Infatuation Potion" is still showing no signs of wearing out. I've been working on a potion to reverse its effects, but without a lab rat to try both that and the former on, I have no idea what it'll do."
"Hmm...," Jack replied as he stood there contemplating. "... I like how you used my muggle term," he says with a smile.
"Tch... This is a serious matter, Jack!"
"I know it is. Don't worry..." After a bit of brainstorming that certainly could have used more time, Jack made a decision. "I'll be your lab rat..."
Dewey blinked twice, waiting for Jack to burst out laughing, but it didn't happen.
"Are you serious?"
"I'm afraid so. This was my fault, and yes, it's good Lenny isn't being bothered much by Grenhart, but still. I have to fix what I've broken, don't I?"
"Well, if you insist," Dewey replied, scratching the back of his head. "I'll look over the potion theory I had again and I'll give you an update before we do anything."
Jack nodded. "Well, you can go on first..."
Dewey nodded back and threw on his own Invisibility Cloak before leaving. While he was walking through the halls, he was wondering if Jack was actually serious about it all. It wasn't unlike him to put himself on the frontline in situations where he was at fault, but Dewey thought it was dangerously idiotic to volunteer to test out potions in this field of magic, even for a Gryffindor.
Jack waited a few minutes under his cloak before starting to make his way to return to Gryffindor house. Other possible solutions came to his mind as he actively looked for another way that didn't involve him being a test subject.
He ruled out putting the innocent Slytherin girl under a Sleeping Draught. Mainly because she would miss at least half the term according to Jack's theory, and he couldn't think of a convenient place to hide her body. And also because a long sleep might not even change a thing.
There was also exposing Lenny for being a rude, cold-hearted, filth of a person, which he isn't. But that might do just as much bad as the "love potion" did. It may be even worse if Grenhart looked past all of it and actually decided to adopt those aspects of him.
Decisions, decisions...
Jack's thought train crashed when he heard his name being called.
"Alcor..."
He turned around, almost freezing in place. The voice wasn't at all familiar to him. It was a feminine voice, colder than ice.
He stood there under his cloak for half a minute before deciding to book it.
When he turns back around, he sees a white, ethereal figure directly in front of him. He staggers back as his mouth opens into a silent scream. Even in situations like this, Jack was conditioned to keep his cover.
As for the ghost of Helena Ravenclaw, she's been waiting for this day.
A prophecy was made centuries ago, which indirectly led to her being killed. But that's another story. After being brutally murdered by the living human form of the Bloody Baron, Helena Ravenclaw rose again. As a ghost, which is just what she needed.
Since then, she would serve as a ward. The prophecy mentions an unavoidable event that can potentially lead to Hogwarts in ruins, and much possibly, even worse. If her deciphering of the prophecy was any little bit of accurate, the whole of Wizarding Britain would be at risk. Her spirit lived on to make sure that she can help prevent doom and destruction. And here she was, finally meeting "fate's trigger".
"Alcor... Worry not, as no one is around to hear or see us," the lady ghost said.
Jack regained his composure as he looked at the Grey Lady, the matron ghost of Ravenclaw. "What do you want..."
"The book you possess holds the answer... Imago Dei... Take the utmost care of the Codex, Alcor Black...", the ghost says before disappearing right in front of him.
Needless to say, Jack was speechless. To his knowledge, ghosts aren't all-knowing and are also restricted to their territories, Hogwarts being the territory of many ghosts.
If that was so, how in the world could she have known about the book mother had given me?
The mere thought of it had pushed back the excitement he would have otherwise had in reaction to finding out his mother trusted him with the Anathema Codex, an ancient grimoire of which all copies were distributed and given to Ancient and Noble Houses of Wizarding Britain. For the sole purpose of keeping it out of the wrong hands.
He was able to run back to the Gryffindor house without any other issues except, of course, the Fat Lady portrait's over-enthusiasm of her job.
"Lemons and Limedrops..."
"WRONG," the painting shouted. "WRONG PASSWORD!"
"What... oh shut it, you miserable piece of paint! C'mon, c'mon, what was it..."
"JACK BLACK! I am NOT miserable !WRONG PASSWORD! WRONG..."
"Lentils and Limedrops!"
"PASS-... you may proceed," she says as the portrait swung open and revealed a hole which is the entrance.
"Lentils and Limedrops!? Who comes up with these!?" Jack muttered to himself as he crawled through.
The commons was almost empty aside from the little Weasley twins playing wizard chess, or some variation of it at least.
"Hmm, where'd you go, Jack," asked George.
"Just went to see a friend, don't mind me," Jack said evasively as he quickly climbed up to the fifth-year boys' dorm.
As he expected, all of them were still awake. Not much talk occurred before the last lamp went dark and everyone decided to go to bed. Everyone but Jack that is. He drank his last reserve of Dewey's Nightvision Potion and cracked the Anathema Codex open. The term 'Imago Dei' fell under the section of Wild Magic, something Jack knew enough about to know that it isn't a field of magic someone should be mucking around in.
Imago Dei - the spell to summon and wield Wild Magic. Imago Dei has no specific use as it can be wielded to achieve anything the caster desires. While its potential is limitless, Imago Dei can be regarded as Wild Magic itself, which is known to be very difficult to harness and control, hence its naming.
Wild Magic has been banned of its use. This is knowledge Jack had prior to this moment. His mother would teach him a lot about ancient ways of magic as she believed the wizarding past will help Jack understand how the present came to be.
What he didn't know was the fact that Unbreakable Vows fall under Wild Magic. This was a shocker, knowing that Lilah Winter, a first-year at the time, had persuaded him into playing with Wild Magic. It gave him the chills.
So many instances went horribly wrong when Wild Magic had gotten involved. There were countless stories of it and he doubted his mother had made it all up.
Jack had gotten to the section about the Elder Futhark rune that was erased from all books that contained it. It was called "Uruz" which meant "wild".
It was at that moment when one of his roommates heard a sharp breath from Jack and asked why he was still awake.
Jack didn't reply. He had no intention of sharing anything with anyone in his dorm. He wasn't close enough with any of them to fully trust them. Another addition to the list of negatives that came with being held back a year was that he didn't share a dorm with his friends anymore.