19 Surprise Letter (1/2)
Arth woke up in a familiar room. It was the hospital wing.
He groaned as he sat up, still feeling the pain from being possessed by a Dark Lord.
”Damn, It seems as though getting possessed by a dark lord is something I can't really defend against, at least not yet.”
Professor Quirrell was in a bed next to him, still in a coma. However, it seemed as though he was in peace, his face no longer seemed to be haunted. Perhaps getting the ugly bruise off from the back of the head really did help in curing PTSD.
The door suddenly opened as a silver haired old man walked in. It was Dumbledore. Dumbledore smiles at watched Arth with a twinkle in his eyes.
”It seems you have woken up, Mr. Kingscrown. How was your little expedition to the chambers three days ago?”
”It was a little too exciting for my taste. So it's been three days already?”
”Yes, in fact, your friends have visited you many times.”
”...I don't have any friends,” said Arth his eyes narrowing.
”My child, I do not wish to barge into your business, however, isn't the definition of a friend someone who cares for you? Of course friends can be a little stone headed but it does not mean they are bad.”
”... there are many definitions to friends.”
”But most of them mean a companion doesn't it?”
”...”
Dumbledore walked towards the bed and sat down on a small chair next to Arth. He fixed his gold rimmed glasses before continuing.
”Well enough of the personal talk, what I'm here for is this.”
Dumbledore took out a scroll from the air and opened it with a smile.
”I do say Mr. Kingscrown, I was quite surprised when a slightly oversized raven interrupted my flight back to the school. No sooner had I reached London than it became clear to me that the place I should be was the one I had just left.”
”Hmmm, so how is Harry? He isn't hurt is he?”
”It seems that you still do consider them your friends.”
”... it was just a moment of impulsiveness.”
”I heard from Professor McGonagall that it was around the time Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger got detention, I reckon you were there with them on that night? Just to make things less complicated, I already knew that Hagrid raised a dragon in his hut if his.”
”...I might have been out for a walk. Is the stone safe?”
”The stone is indeed safe, of course, it is still inside the mirror. My colleague wishes to meet you, in curiosity and as in thanks.”
”I see, how about Quirrell? Is he ok?”
”He is alright. Although, he might want to go St. Mungo's to recover, having a dark lord in your head for an extended amount of time is probably not good for one's mental health.”
Arth glanced at the floor before frowning at Dumbledore.
”The Dark lord is going to try other ways of coming back, isn't he? There are many other ways to recover a physical body other than the elixir of life.”
”Yes, he has not. He is still out there somewhere, perhaps looking for another body to share... not being truly alive, he cannot be killed. Nevertheless, while you may only have delayed his return to power, it will merely take someone else who is prepared to
fight what seems a losing battle next time and if he is delayed again, and again, why, he may never return to power.”
”It is better to prepare for the worst than tell sweet lies to provide baseless comfort.”
”... now let's return to the main topic, I am interested in how you know so much about Quirrell and how exactly you had obtained it. This isn't exactly something from a textbook.”
Arth glanced at the scroll In Dumbledore's hand.
”It was simple really, after Harry's accident at his first quidditch game, I started to suspect Professor Quirrell. So I asked the teachers about any information they had on Quirrell. What were his favorite hobbies, did he have any family left members, any close friends. If I found anyone who knew Quirrell on a personal level, I would send messages and ask them questions about his personality, mindset, dreams and aspirations. I would collect all of it and compile it together to create an understanding of the character that people call ”Quirrell”, or at least, the one before he got possessed. I spent many days in the library reading books about magical creatures and fantastic beasts, I spent some time on vampires too. However, none of those beasts showed the same symptoms as Quirrell, so I turned towards dark magic and curses.”
”We're those books not in the restricted area?”
”Some rules can be broken.”
Arth let out a sigh.
”It was very terrifying, descriptions of torture, best way to summon a devil, how to create an existence that lives yet nothing but alive. However, it paid off. In one of the books there was a spell, a mind possession spell that described similar symptoms. Change in personality, mind impairment, overall decrease in ability.”
Arth started to smile with an expression that was dark and grim.
”However, this meant that something had possessed the mind of Quirrell, someone who had dabbled in the dark arts and had sufficient power in dealing with a, although timid, brilliant defense against the dark arts teacher. Someone like the Dark Lord.”
Arth took out his wand and startled to swirl it.
”It all started to make sense from then on, the last place where Voldemort was sighted was in Albania, Quirrell had gotten traumatized in Abkhazia, Quirrell who never wore a turban started to wear one after his trip, his side effects, his different personality, his tendency to speak to himself. All of this confirmed my speculations.”
”... why did you not tell any teacher?”
”Would they believe in a child? Would they believe me when I said the Dark lord was possessing one of the teachers? Even if they did, what would they do? Kill him? Arrest him? Make it so that Voldemort escapes and comes back with another person to carry out his duties? Plus, I didn't want to attract attention to myself.”
”You do seem to escape attention very easily, maybe an inborn talent?”
”Probably, who knows? Magic is mysterious.”
”My last question, how did you get past all the enchantments placed to guard the stone. I can't understand how you managed to get past all of them.”
”I whistled my way past fluffy, quite a charming dog, I can see why Hagrid adores him. I burned the devils snare, grabbed the key using the broom. The chess board had missing pieces so I had to win using the pieces I had, I met Ron and Hermione along the way and told them to get out. I killed the troll which had woken up, and solved the riddle but the potion was already empty.”
”So How did you get past it?”
”I casted a full body shield spell to somewhat protect me from the flames and endured my way through.”
Silence ensued the hospital wing as Arth and Dumbledore stared at each other.
”Well, Mr. Kingscrown.” Dumbledore got up from his seat. ”I did enjoy the talk we had today, it was quite interesting, however, I must be off.”
”Goodbye Mr. Kingscrown, and I do hope you get back together with Mr. Potter and his friends.”
Arth watched Dumbledore leave with an emotionless face. When the door closed, Arth closed his eyes and went to sleep, he was tired and wanted to rest as much as he could before he couldn't.
He embraced the darkness.