18 A Fleeting Theory

At the moment, Oz was walking out to the Owlery to see his pet Kuro. He would do this every week or so when he got the chance and now lessons with Salazar had eased he was able to fit in another spot to go see the little stygian owl. In all honesty, Oz's only friend at the school right now was his Owl so he would confide in Kuro talking about all kinds of things.

'Am I going crazy? surely not... Kuro's a good friend there's nothing weird about talking to a friend'.

It would seem after the many months of being alone this was Oz's only way of being able to talk to something in kind, a very pitiful scenario indeed.

As Oz was walking up to the Owlery however, he spotted a girl coming out of it. She looked about his age, of Asian descent and her face gave Oz a hint of nostalgia.

'Thats… Cho Chang isn't it? She looks so young that I almost didn't recognise her'.

As Oz walked up closer to the Owlery, Cho finally spotted him. She wore an expression of surprise and wariness making Oz realise she probably had heard some rumours about him. Oz ignored her obvious caution giving her a smile.

Cho backed out of the way of Oz at this point and was startled at the smile Oz gave, it was warm and comfy to her, nothing like the rumours pointed him out to be. In her stupor however, she backed up too much and lost footing on the cliff.

"Ahh!"

Oz immediately burst into action, bringing his walnut wand out of his wand holster on his sleeve.

"Arresto Momentum!"

Oz's spell slowed Cho's fall down enough so he could grab her and pull her back onto stable footing.

"Christ girl am I that ugly that you felt the need to kill yourself over seeing me?"

Cho was in shock at what had happened. Not only had she survived a near death fall but Oz, a Slytherin, had actually saved her.

"T-t-thank you so much uhhh... Oz. I-I thought all Slytherins were supposed to be terrible people".

Oz chuckled at her naivety.

"Listen here girl, there are many Slytherins that have left Hogwarts to become good witches and wizards! You should never sell anyone short just from where they are placed, whether it be in Hogwarts or in life as a whole. Even the most nasty witch or wizard could have a good side to them. Life is full of twists and turns we can't always expect, our job as witches and wizards is to expect the unexpected and prepare for it".

A lot of what Oz had said was coming straight from the heart, it was his own teachings to himself over the past year. He had come to this school with a fire in his heart expecting it all to go a certain way but it didn't. Being in Slytherin and training under Salazar taught him to expect the unexpected from now on and to roll with the punches. Even though he's older than all the students at Hogwarts if you mesh together both his lives, he still had much to learn about life in general and he knows that now.

Cho looked enlightened by Oz's speech, her view of Oz changing from wariness to awe. He was only a wizard her age yet he seemed to be so smart and understanding, such a wizard was definitely someone to look up to. Cho then bit her lip and presented Oz a question.

"C-could you help me with my homework from now on?".

Oz's eyes widened at this, feeling a sudden shock at Cho's query.

'Who would have thought I'd finally be able to make a connection at this school, and with a girl I recognise and know nonetheless...'

Oz then gave a comforting smile staring at Cho softly.

"Of course, come to me whenever you feel there's something your stuck on. You should know I've got the top grades in our year so im sure I can help you with anything".

Cho Chang wore a smile of expectation with Oz's answer, thanking him and skipping off back to the castle with her letters she came to receive.

Oz watched her skipping away. He didn't feel any romantic interest at all, understandable since Oz's actual age was a decade above her age but he did feel like he had finally gained something in this world.

After grinning to himself for a while, Oz walked up into the Owlery to talk to his other friend Kuro.

.

Oz was now in front of the RoR again, coming here after talking with Kuro and waiting for all the students to fall asleep. This time however he didn't want a training room, he wanted books and knowledge. Specifically he wanted knowledge from the restricted section.

'Please let me read the restricted, Please let me read the restricted'

Oz chanted this phrase in front of the wall opposite the tapestry like a mantra, and eventually as expected the room responds.

Oz opens the door and walks in, his view completely blocked out by the sheer amount of books that all seemed to belong to the restricted section.

'There's so many! I thought the restricted section would only have a few hundred not thousands! I wont be able to finish this in one sitting thats for sure...'

Oz found a nice area in the middle of all the books where he could read. He grabbed a few books here and there and started his journey for knowledge.

'Some of this stuff I recognise already from the lectures the old snake gave me, but there's some other details I should take into account aswell. There's a chance that snake was hiding information as well so its best to be thorough'.

Oz was extremely wary of Salazar, not just because he was the founder of Slytherin and a known muggle hater but the energy he gave off and the feeling he emitted told all of Oz's senses that this man wasn't a good person.

'The Salazar ive heard of wasn't as bad as the one in the portrait... is there some reason for that? I wonder...'

Oz's thoughts again trailed off as he continued reading more books, eventually after going through a stack of books he laid back in his chair again remarking at the sheer amount of books the restricted section had to offer.

As he looked around however, a dangerous yet fleeting thought entered his mind.

'Such a large variety of books... it'd take me more than a year to get through them all even with my perfect memory remembering where I am and what I've read... How did that Voldemort even find the book on horcruxes amongst this mess?'.

Oz shook his head at the ideas falling into place. Could it truly be as simple as Voldemort finding the book about horcruxes out of sheer luck? or was there something more here to unravel...