44: Christmas
[3rd Pov]
The double attack on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick turned what had been nervousness into an absolute panic.
The day the Hogwarts Express left for London, some students had tried to wake up early than most, only to find out they weren't the only ones in a hurry to embark on the train.
Curiously, Nearly Headless Nick's fate seemed to worry people the most.
'What could possibly do that to a ghost?' people asked each other; what terrible power could harm someone who was already dead?
"A Basilisk, perhaps?" commented the black cat perched on Alaric's head.
The boy in question was pacing around the school's library, specifically the restricted section. He had an old tome in his hands, one of the many he had read this past week.
"At this point, it's the only plausible answer," Alaric said with a sigh, placing the book where he had picked it up from.
"Should we tell Albus?" the cat asked, nestling further on her silver-blonde throne.
"Not yet," Alaric said with a frown. "We need more evidence. I doubt I'm the only one who finds the idea of a Basilisk on Hogwarts grounds quite ludicrous. And its gaze is supposed to kill, not petrify, so we should look a bit more into that,"
"Back to the books then,"
With a jump, the cat left Alaric's head and looked around. When she confirmed no one was watching them, she transformed into the figure of a soon-to-be thirteen-year-old girl.
"Actually, I got something for you to do,"
Lysandra looked back at her brother with a confused expression, before spotting the parchment he took out of his pocket. Alaric's free hand shone with an ink-like glow, and at the same time, a list of sorts appeared on the piece.
"Take this to Professor Flitwick, please," he said.
"Didn't realize I was an owl," Lysandra grumbled but took the piece of parchment nonetheless. She looked at it, and seeing what was written, her eyes widened. "This..."
The list had everything from enchanted glasses and protective neckpieces, emergency spell scrolls and magical clothes, to enchanted powder and healing potions.
She took her time to read every item specified by Alaric, her mind lacking understanding of most of the artefacts her brother had magically written on the paper.
"I'd feel bad if I didn't offer some help knowing what's probably out there," he chuckled, amused by the girl's expression.
"So... you're giving all of these designs away... for free?"
"As if," Alaric scoffed. "They'll pay me a pretty penny when all is done,"
Chuckling with similarity, Lysandra nodded with a smile and bid goodbye to him before walking out of the library under the judging gaze of Madame Pince.
As soon as she left, Alaric turned around and swiftly walked over to an old and decrepit bookshelf. Its books and tomes were almost falling apart, and most of the scrolls were illegible.
The boy grasped the silver pendant that hung around his neck, before sitting down and starting to rearrange the books in different patterns, seemingly trying to solve a puzzle.
__________
"I can't believe they made us stay for Christmas,"
"And I had all of my stuff packed already..."
As silence deep as the snow on the grounds enveloped the castle, even if the Potter twins had to only share the tower with the Weasleys and Hermione, they found it annoying rather than exciting.
Not because of the company, but mostly because their parents decided to join Mr and Mrs Weasley on an impromptu visit to Bill Weasley in Egypt.
Clothed in heavy robes, scarves, and gloves, Harry and Hope, along with the bickering Ron and Ginny, were sitting on one of the many benches of the castle, admiring the beautiful but grim view of the Black Lake in the winter.
Some students who had also stayed behind would walk by them in groups, most of them whispering to each other, recoiling back in fear every time either Harry or Hope would look at them.
While Hope couldn't be bothered by the rumours, mostly because of the identity crisis she was having, Harry was annoyed. Extremely so.
At least, Fred and George found all of it funny. They would go out of their way to scare every gullible person in the castle, saying that they were the Heir's next target, or that the newly uprising Dark Lord found them unpleasing to the eyes.
"Make way! Seriously evil wizard coming through!"
"Yeah, exactly like that..." muttered Harry with a less annoyed face. "Wait, what?"
Looking away from the lake, Harry spotted the Weasley twins marching ahead of a silver-blonde boy through the corridor, silly grins plastered on their faces whilst they scared the wits out of some passerby.
A red-faced Percy was walking behind them trying to tell them off, his voice cracking from the fatigue accumulated.
"It's not a joking matter!" he wailed.
However, Harry soon realized that the reason for Percy's anger was not what the twins and Alaric were doing, but the purple antlers he had on his head.
"Remove it this instant!" he cried in embarrassment as soon as he noticed Harry and his group.
"But you look so good with that, Percy-boy!"
"Yeah Percy-boy, why don't you go to the Forbidden Forest and try to find a mate? Those antlers are the new trend!"
Fred and George made sure to speak louder than normal so the students nearby could hear, which in turn only made Percy's face redder.
"They're at it again..." Ginny sighed and got up, not forgetting to throw a last insult at Ron.
She walked closer to the commotion and tried to stop Fred and George from further bullying Percy, only to get caught up in it.
Between the shouts and insults, Hope's gaze was glued on Alaric, who was slowly moving away from the siblings' fight.
As soon as he was at a good distance, he turned around and quickly walked away to the dungeons.
Hope was so engrossed in watching Alaric walk away that she failed to notice someone sneaking up on her.
"What're you looking at?"
"Eeek!"
Hearing a voice close to her ear out of nowhere, Hope jumped, not because of fear, but because she was caught staring.
"N-Nothing..." she stuttered, avoiding Hermione's eyes, which were looking at her with a knowing gaze.
"Suuure..." Hermione rolled her eyes.
__________
On Christmas morning, the world outside was cold and covered in a blanket of white. The sun's rays filtered through the grey sky, and Slytherin's dormitory windows welcomed the light, waking up the few who were still in the castle.
Alaric, with a tired yawn, lifted himself up and stretched his arms, rubbing his eyes. His hair was messy, and his sleepwear tangled from his restless movements in bed.
Feeling the chill of the stone floor on his feet, he ran to the bathroom for a refreshing bath and to prepare for his daily exercise routine.
A few others who had awakened, eagerly anticipating their Christmas gifts, were puzzled when they saw Alaric pass by the tree in his exercise robes.
The empty corridors offered a sense of peace for the boy, one that he could only cherish by rising early each day.
If the castle corridors lay deserted, the shores of the Black Lake appeared abandoned while Alaric ran in them.
After some time, Alaric returned to the common room and retreated to his room for another bath. When he came back, he sat near the crackling fireplace and made a subtle gesture with his hand.
One by one, his presents floated toward him, and with a flick of his hand, they opened of their own accord.
"Today, I'm doing absolutely nothing," he declared, snuggling into the plush armchair he occupied.
Between looking for clues about Salazar's Slytherin pet and understanding the ancient magic that riddled his pendant, when was the last time he rested like this?
He had immersed himself so much in his search that he barely played any pranks with Fred and George the last few weeks.
Heck, even Lockhart was able to go about his day without slipping once.
With a contented sigh, Alaric eagerly began exploring his Christmas gifts.
Blaise had thoughtfully sent him a generous supply of Almafi lemons. Alaric couldn't forget his dark-skinned friend's constant babbling about the lemons cultivated by Italian muggles near his grandmother's home.
Theodore's present was an acromantula silk scarf, magically infused with warming charms. Alaric pondered, "I could make something better," but he couldn't help wearing a grateful smile.
His gaze then shifted to the remaining gifts.
Tracey had surprised him with a fancy self-writing quill, which caused Alaric to chuckle as he recognized it as an item from the Emporium.
Daphne had sent him an exquisite silver and green robe, complete with self-growing and auto-cleaning enchantments. He stopped himself from thinking about the price.
Reaching for his mother's gift, Alaric uncovered a box of exceptionally luxurious magical Swiss chocolates. Isadora knew her son's weakness, and Alaric couldn't resist indulging in one as he admired the Quidditch gloves Lysandra had chosen for him.
He thought he had opened up everything but he noticed, from the corner of his eyes, a medium wooden box that was attached to Isadora's gift.
"What's this?" he muttered, picking the box up.
It had no note or letter, neither did it say where it came from or who had gifted it. All it had was a small silver handle to open the lid.
Carefully opening the box, Alaric's eyes widened in surprise when he saw the peculiar and visually striking object before him.
It was a skull hookah. It had runes carved into the bone, and the phrase "Für das Größere Wohl 1898" displayed on it.
The skull had a weathered and aged appearance, suggesting a history of use, and the eye sockets were hollowed out, giving the impression of deep, dark cavities. The jaw of the skull was slightly ajar, revealing an opening where the smoke would be drawn in.
But what caught Alaric's attention wasn't the commonly used phrase by his Grandfather and Uncle, nor the appearance of the skull. No, it was the magical whispers it was exuding.
Alaric had never seen them. Such depth, such detail, such magical power. His eyes lingered on the phrase on the skull and an excited smile appeared on his face.
Meanwhile...
"Did you get them?" asked a breathless Hermione. In front of her was a bubbling cauldron that Hope, who was sitting at her side, was constantly mixing together.
Harry and Ron nodded and showed her Goyle's and Crabbe's hair.
"Good. And I sneaked these spare robes out of the laundry," Hermione said, holding up a small sack. "You'll need bigger sizes once you're Crabbe and Goyle,"
The three of them stared at Hope who was diligently taking care of the cauldron. Close up, the potion looked like thick, dark mud, bubbling sluggishly.
"Now what?" Ron whispered.
"We separate it into four glasses and add the hairs,"
"What about Lysandra?" Harry asked.
There was a momentary silence, and Harry felt a chill down his spine when his sister stared at him with narrowed eyes.
Hermione took large spoons of the potion into each of the glasses. Then, her hand trembling, she shook Millicent Bulstrode's hair out of its bottle into the first glass.
The potion hissed loudly like a boiling kettle and frothed madly. A second later, it had turned a sick sort of yellow.
"Come on, add yours," she urged the other three, giving them each a bottle.
"Hang on," said Hope as the rest reached for their glasses. "We'd better not all drink them in here…"
"Good thinking," said Ron, unlocking the door. "We'll take separate stalls,"
After a while, clad in Slytherin robes, a Crabbe and a Goyle emerged from the left stalls, while a pug-looking Pansy Parkinson came out of the left.
"You okay, Hermione?"
Knocking on the girl's stall, a poly-juiced Hope worriedly called for her friend.
"Y-Yes, don't worry," she said from inside the stall. "Go without me,"
"We'd better get going," said Harry in a hurry, loosening the watch that was cutting into Goyle's thick wrist. "We've still got to find out where the Slytherin common room is. I only hope we can find someone to follow…"
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A/N: Sorry I didn't post sooner. I had some personal things to take care of.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!