53 CHAPTER 53
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CHAPTER 53
Elmi stirred in the sterile surroundings of the Hogwarts infirmary, and the scent of medicinal potions started hitting his nose. As his eyes flickered open, the stern countenance of Madam Pomfrey came into focus. Madam Pomfrey moved briskly from one injured student to another, her sharp eyes narrowing in disapproval.
"Honestly, young man, do you think you're invincible? Six broken ribs! You could have done serious damage to yourself. And you all are getting into things beyond your capabilities. What were you thinking?"
Elmi winced as the bitter potion passed his lips, but he managed a weak smile.
"Sorry, Madam Pomfrey. It was a shock for us, too. We were just trying to have a conversation with Professor Quirrell. How couldn't we know he was a dark wizard?"
After Madam Pomfrey left the room, Daphne said while wincing,
"Well, that didn't exactly go as planned, did it?"
Zabini, while trying to be positive, said, "Merlin's beard, that was a close one. But hey, at least we made an impression, right?"
Ron, nursing a few minor injuries, screamed,
"What the hell are you saying? We are all alive, thanks to professors."
He turned to Elmi and said, "We shouldn't have followed you into this reckless plan!"
Elmi snapped back at him and angrily said, "My plan was perfect. None of this would have happened if someone had touched Quirrell's face like I told him to." Harry couldn't say anything since he was right. Elmi had specifically told him to touch Quirrell's face, but he didn't want to do something so awkward.
Harry might be good friends with Elmi, and he might have said he believed him, but now that he has thought about it, Harry didn't believe him entirely, which is why he didn't want to do something that awkward.
Hermione interjected to calm the situation. She had crushed onto the wall and had broken ribs, too, and was having a hard time talking,
"But what if Dumbledore and McGonagall find out we planned this? We could be in serious trouble."
Elimi shook his head and said, "Snape cannot talk about this without exposing my talent; the unbreakable oath would prevent it. We will get a tongue-lashing from him, but the real problem is Dumbledore; he can read our minds. Ron's face lost its color, and he said, "What do you mean he can read our minds? I don't want to get expelled. My mother will kill me!"
Elmi explained, "Some wizards and witches mastered a magical art called Legilimency, a form of magical art that allows the caster to navigate through the target's thoughts and memories. Dumbledore could use it to delve into our minds, to access our thoughts and intentions."
"It's a dangerous ability and might hurt your target's mind; if we don't give him a reason to, he will not use it in full power against us. He will only look into our surface thoughts, so all of you need to think about the traumatic experience we lived through, and he most likely won't dive deeper, thinking we are traumatized."
...
The door creaked open, and in walked Professor Dumbledore, his long silver beard flowing, and Professor McGonagall, her stern expression softened with concern. They approached them, who were still recovering from their ordeal. While looking at Harry, Dumbledore said,
"Ah, my dear students. It seems you've been through quite an adventure. Care to enlighten us on what transpired?"
The room fell silent, and Dumbledore could sense their nervousness,
Harry recounted the events leading up to their confrontation with Quirrell.
"Well, we were just trying to ask Quirrell about a spell against the curse of bogies since Peeves continuously casts it on us. Elmi suggested we ask him after the Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. While we were talking with him, I touched his hand; it just turned to dust, and then all chaos broke loose."
McGonagall raised an eyebrow, skeptical but intrigued. "His hand turned to dust? Are you sure about what you saw, Mr. Potter?"
"Yes, professor, his hand just crumbled down." Dumbledore could sense something was amiss, but he wasn't sure. The Children were hiding something. Elmi saw Dumbledore's eyes start to fill with a silvery aura, and it reached toward Harry.
Elmi wanted to pull the attention to himself and said, "Professor, it was him, right? That was Voldemort. He was possessing Quirrell." When Elmi uttered that name, the atmosphere in the room changed. Dumbledore's attention was pulled from others, and he was looking at him. At that moment, McGonagall said, "Mr. Fawley! Do not utter that name outside this room."
McGonagall looked at everyone one by one and, with great seriousness, said, "All of you need to be really careful of what you say outside of this room. We don't have any proof of what happened. Those words could cause great chaos in our society."
Dumbledore's deep eyes were fully focused on Elmi. he sighed and said,
"You are right, Elminster. That was Voldemort. We do not know how, but he managed to pass Hogwarts' defenses by latching onto Quirinus."
McGonagall called out to him in panic, "Albus!" But Dumbledore raised his hand as if telling her it was alright. Elmi acted like a frightened student and said, "Are we safe?"
Dumbledore nodded and said, "We added his name to the list of forbiddens. Names have power, Elminster. From now on, even if he does something different, he won't be able to enter without us knowing it. So yes, you are perfectly safe. "
While talking, Dumbledore started releasing that silvery aura from his eyes. Elmi knew he was trying to read his mind, so he fully focused on what they had lived through yesterday.
Dumbledore looked through Elmi's surface thoughts and was shocked by the spells Elmi was casting. He felt the desperation and fear Elmi felt while facing Voldemort. Even though he was afraid, he still didn't abandon the others; Elmi was trying to keep others safe while waiting for a professor to come because of the commotion.
Dumbledore couldn't find anything other than curious students asking their teacher some questions, but something didn't feel right; why would someone like Elminster ask Quirinus such basic knowledge? According to Severus' reports, Elminster had magical theory knowledge equal to 3rd year.
He looked into Elmi's surface thoughts more thoroughly, and he couldn't find anything other than desperation to stay alive and will to protect the others. Those children were up to something, but Dumbledore decided to trust the children and Severus's judgment. If there was something he needed to know, Severus would have told him.
...
After Dumbledore and McGonagall left the infirmary, Snape came in. He found a reason to send Madam Pomfrey away and turned towards Elmi. He cast a silence bubble around them, "Are you out of your mind?" he roared. How could you be this reckless? I told you to stay put, and I was investigating him."
Elmi lets Snape get everything out of his system. He berated them for at least 10 minutes. After he started to calm down, he cast a sleeping charm on others because he had to talk about Elmi's abilities, "I know you think yourself invincible because of your abilities, but you are not; you are weak and feeble. Yes, you have the potential to be the next Dumbledore, but you are not him, not yet."
Elmi raised his hand and asked for a chance to speak, "What?"
"Professor, you didn't have to put them to sleep. They know my abilities."
Snape was surprised, "You told them." Elmi nodded and said, "They are my friends, and they are going to be the base of my influence over this school. As you told me many times, I need to change Slytherin, but I am going to change other houses too."
Snape thought for a bit and said, "If you endanger other's lives one more time, it will prove to me you are going in the wrong direction, and it will cancel our oath, and I will tell everything to Dumbledore."
"Fair enough, but I want you to know I might be arrogant, but I didn't endanger their lives. I thought this would be a piece of cake. I knew Quirrell would turn into dust upon Harry's touch, but I didn't think Harry would be that much of an idiot who couldn't follow the most basic instructions. If Harry touched his face, none of this would have happened."
Snape shook his head with a disappointed look, "At that moment, he was following you, and this was your plan. You should be the one who ensures he follows what you say; it is not Harry's failure, but it is yours as the leader. If you are acting as the head, you need to be responsible for your plan."
He pointed at him angrily and continued, "You should have considered the possibility that someone might not follow you to the letter." Snape sighed, put his hands to his waist, stayed silent for a second, and then rubbed his temples with his right hand. "If you continue to act this arrogantly, you are going to kill someone. You are not all-powerful and all-knowing, so don't act like you are."
