Chapter 22 - 21. He is back...

Another week paased by very quickly. Everyone was busy with their assignments and practise. Their days were far more busier than previous year first-years as professors were teaching new spells and theories about magic at the same time. History of magic and astrology were not as important but they still had assignments so first-years were mostly stuck doing their assignments, while trying to practise magical spells that they were learning in the classes.

Adam kept helping Neville with his magic practise. And after looking at Neville's progress, Dean and Seamus also decided to join in for a day. They wanted to see how Neville was progressing so quickly but after noticing that there was nothing special in their practise, they immediately stopped coming from the very next day. Neville appeared angry by their behaviour but Adam was unaffected by this. He didn't usually care about other people's opinions as long as they were not close to him. Harry also came to Adam once in a while for some advice. Adam was also more than welcome to help this future saviour and appear like a good boy in from of the professors and Dumbledore.
Adam also kept practising with Hermione in the morning, and alone in the evening. He already started visiting room of requirement for magic and flying practise but he did not stay there for that long. Adam was more focused on increasing his knowledge as he already had assistance of his system to help with the spell learning so he spent most of his time in the library trying to increase his knowledge.

Adam wanted to find a way to make some quick money so his goal was also to find rare potions recipes and also learn some techniques to enchant objects in the library. And alchemy was the best way for him to reach this goal so he tried reading some alchemy books but most of the content of those books were currently out of his reach with his current limited achievements in the magic. He could not understand many things noted in these books, which was a big problem for him but it did not take long for him to find out a solution for this problem- Weasely twins. In fact it was not him who looked for them but rather they were the ones who came forward to help him.

Adam had been struggling with basic Alchemy books in the common room when Weasely twins approached him. Their eyes lit up when they saw Adam reading books about basic alchemy.
"Master Adam reading books about alchemy instead of planning to kill someone." Fred jokingly said as he sat on Adam's right side while George sat on the left and picked up the book before saying, "We can help you with this. It will take you months to learn this by yourself. How will you keep up with your plans if you are stuck in this pile of books?"

Adam smiled bitterly as what Fred and George said was the new theory that Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley spread in the First-years. Adam was once checking out his system window in the courtyard when they passed by the courtyard. Adam was looking at the appearance of new secret space in the forbidden forest. It was a low level secret space that Adam could enter without having any danger but he was not able to go there because of the timing of his classes so his face had a bit of anger and disappointment on it which were used by those two Hufflepuffs to create a new theory about Adam planning to kill someone while sitting in the courtyard. It was silly for them to say these things about Adam just by looking at his facial expressions but most of the 11 year olds were still afraid of Adam because of this theory, while some other students just laughed it off as a joke. Many more first-years were now avoiding Adam in fear of offending him.

George-Fred happily taught Adam about basic things of alchemy which helped Adam to understand these things really quickly. Adam finally felt like everything that he had read now started to make sense. Adam thanked them for their help and also offered them to ask him for his help if they ever needed anything that he can help with, which was immediately accepted by the twins. They didn't wait for another time as they already had something in their mind that they needed help with.

"If you want to help us then help us think of a way to create something fun for Halloween." Fred whispered in Adam's ears, followed by George who whispered to Adam from other side, "We want to make this Halloween, the best Halloween of Hogwarts. But we don't have any plans for it, so help us if you can think of any idea."

Adam was not surprised by this kind of request. With their personality, it was even in Adam's estimation and that was also the reason why Adam let them ask for his help. They would never ask anything except this from what Adam had known about them in these two weeks.

Adam thought just for a few seconds before he recalled a spell that he read not long ago in a book about Transfiguration spells. He immediately conveyed his idea about this spell, while also adding few other things in this plan.

Instead of making Halloween scary, Adam just proposed to make it more interesting and fun which was also accepted by Weasely twins without any resistance. They only wanted create new prank props. They didn't care if it was scary or annoying or harmless as long as they could have fun while doing this. They happily left after listening to Adam's plan but they didn't forget to leave a word behind ,
"That's a great plan but we'll need some changes for Slytherins. Look forward to it."
Adam laughed when he heard their words. He was also looking forward to see what they would be planning to get back at Slytherins for all those things they do everyday to mock Gryffindor house.


During this period when Adam was quickly making progress in his knowledge and ability to use magical spells, Hermione enjoyed her most of the days with Parvati and Lavender which also contributed in creating a big gap between her and Adam's skills with use of different types of magic. Adam had already learned most of the spells that they planned to learn so Hermione had already fallen behind him in this single week.

Hermione met with Adam only for morning exercise and assignment completion in the library. She didn't enjoy as much with Parvati and Lavender in their gossip as she did with Adam but she still felt happy to have these new friends. Everyday she made them practise with her which was beneficial for them but apparently their 11 year old minds didn't enjoy Hermione's technique to teach them. Hermione had bossy attitude when it came to these kinds of things, which was why both Parvati and Lavender were losing their patience with her.

"Your hand movement is wrong. Your pronunciation is also not clear. I taught you so many times, what are you doing?" Hermione sighed when she saw Lavender failing to perform easy-to-use Levitation Charm. It had been three days since Hermione started teaching them about the levitation charm as both Parvati and Lavender were impressed by Neville's progress under Adam's practise so they wanted to progress with the same speed as well. They decide to learn this from Hermione who was really good at casting the levitation charm.

Hermione was also happy to help them as it was just an easy spell for her. She thought they would learn it very quickly but reality was really disappointing. Hermione could learn this spell in just half an hour when professor Flitwik taught her and Parvati also managed to perform this spell in just one day but Lavender was not that talented, or rather her focus was not on wasting her time in learning these things from a bossy teacher.

"You can do it , Lavender. Just try to relax." Parvati encouraged Lavender from the side but Lavender just shrugged her shoulders showing her 'I don't care' attitude which further infuriated Hermione.

"I am going to sleep. Let's practise tomorrow." Hermione said quickly before leaving the common room. Levitation Charm was not that dangerous spell so they were practising in the common room.

Hermione walked upstairs, trying to hide her anger but then suddenyly she recalled something and turned back towards the common room. She just walked to the bottom of stairs when she heard Parvati and Lavender's voice.

"Why does she have to be so bossy all the time? She acts like she knows everything." It was Lavender's voice that she just heard. Hermione stopped in her tracks and tried to listen to their conversation.
"She just wants to help us." Parvati replied.

"Oh? Then she can help us by telling their trick to practise Levitation Charm. Do you really think they can use so many spells without knowing any tricks?"

Parvati wanted to say something but she was also skeptical about Hermione's teaching method. Lavender continued, "I know she must have received some useful method to practise these spells from that Adam. Everyone knows, he is from one of THOSE families. Neville could learn Levitation charm in just couple of hours from what everyone saw so I am sure Adam taught him the same method."

Parvati paused for a while before uttering a word, "Maybe."

"She must have never had any friends with that kind of attitude. I even wonder what that Adam saw in her that he became her friend. She only knows how to complain about every single thing happening around her. I really don't want to learn anything from her if she's going to continue to hide these things from us." Lavender and Parvati continued their conversation for a while, not knowing that the main character of their conversation was also hearing their rather rude remarks from the corner.

Hermione wanted to confront them but she already had tears in her eyes. She thought she had gained two new friends but now she knew that it was all just a lie.
Hermione felt heartbroken as she walked into her room. She just wanted to be alone for now. At first she wanted to go and find Adam but then she recalled Lavender's words so she just walked into her room and sat alone while thinking about all those things that Parvati and Lavender said about her.


Next few days went on without any big events except for the notice of flying class being posted in their common room. First flying class was set to be held on Thursday, 19th September.
"I think I should apply for seeker's role. I am sure I can be better seeker than Harry. Sorry Harry but I also want to build up my reputation in the Hogwarts." Adam thought to himself when he saw this notice. Adam was already capable of flying very smoothly. He could also make sharp turns as he had practised to do it in the room of requirement.

It was a great surprise for Adam when he found out that he had a talent for flying on a broomstick. Adam was not that talented when it came to magic. And if not for his system and this strange wand, Adam was sure he wouldn't be able to make such quick progress. So it felt really good when he saw that he could fly very well without any problems.

Adam had also decided to enter the secret space that appeared in the forbidden forest. It was surprising to see so many secret spaces appear in the forbidden forest, one after another.
Since the time of the duel against Draco, Adam didn't really have any other adventures, except for meeting three-headed dog. He now wished to start with secret space to find more adventures and also to practise his fighting skills before finally facing a troll on the day of Halloween banquet next month. Facing troll was a great adventure for him and it was also a great way to earn some more house points for his task so he really looked forward to it.

In fact Adam wanted to visit secret space earlier but the day of flying class was also Hermione's birthday so he decided to stay and celebrate it before visiting the secret space. Even though Adam didn't get as excited over Hermione as he did when he met her for the first time, he was still not that indifferent towards her to forget or ignore her birthday.



In the room of requirement,
Adam kept flying on his Nimbus 2000 while making quick turns in the room when he was about to crash into the wall. This room was quite big but with Nimbus 2000's speed, it still fell quite short. But it was not all that bad as it helped Adam to practise making quick turns.

"This should be enough for now. Tomorrow, I can definitely beat Harry for the seeker's position. I just have to wait for Draco to start making trouble in the flying class but is it okay to let Neville suffer? He thinks me as his friend but I am still waiting for him to suffer for my own benefit. I guess I am really not that good of a person." Adam thought to himself as he gently landed on the floor. He thought for a while about Neville's situation but finally decided to wait till those events actually happen. He didn't know if these events were actually going to happen or not in this world as it was quite different compared to the original story. So it was quite stupid of him to wait for those events to help him gain seeker's position in Gryffindor house quidditch team.

"I think I should start with the preparations for Hermione's birthday." Adam thought to himself as he got out of the room of requirement. This room was too big for him to decorate so he thought of another small room suitable for celebration and got back inside it. Non magical stuff from his system shop was not that expensive so he was not worried about the cost. He chose some stuff for decorations from his system and bought it.

Adam's control over magic had already reached to the point where he could easily control the intensity of magic spells that he could cast.
He held a balloon in his hand and inserted the tip of his wand through the opening of the balloon.
"Ventus!" Adam said lightly and just in a moment, balloon was filled with the air produced by his wand. Adam was planning to use inflating charm but with all his flying practise, he didn't manage to sort out enough time to learn that charm.

Adam continued using various spells like windy spell, levitation charm; he also used newly learned sticking charm to decorate walls with the balloons.

During decoration of this room, Adam also noticed that he could not cast two spells at the same time with just his system. He could easily cast perfect levitation charm because he had bought it from his system but when he tried to cast sticking charm when he was also using levitation charm to keep balloons floating in their positions, levitation charm was immediately canceled out. He tried many times but then he noticed that he had to concentrate even more than usual when he wanted to keep levitation charm working while casting another spell.
It was quite difficult to manage but Adam somehow managed to complete it. His second spell was not that good with levitation charm being used but it was still enough for the decorations which made him breathe a sigh of relief. He didn't really want to do this kind of physical work by himself. He also tried some other spells but not all spells could be cast together like this. This also gave Adam another idea to try to explore different combinations of spells that he could cast together without them getting canceled out

"Finally, done with this thing. Now next thing is to get help from house elves. I can see them in the kitchen." Adam thought as he looked around in the room. Decoration was really simple but it looked beautiful which left Adam with the feeling of satisfaction. Adam finally left the room of requirement and walked towards the kitchen to meet house elves.



In the Headmaster's office,
Snape sat in front of the headmaster's table, waiting with impatient look on his gloomy face. He would get up from his seat, walk back and forth, then sit down once again. After waiting and repeating this for an hour, he finally saw a sudden flash of bright red light in the room. It was like something had just burst into golden red fire; but looking at this scene, Snape was not that surprised. It was Dumbledore who just appeared in front of Snape with a fiery red bird with golden red fathers sitting on his shoulder.

"Were you waiting for too long, Severus?" Dumbledore asked as he walked to his seat behind the table and sat down. Dumbledore glanced at sleeping portraits of the past headmaster's before looking at Snape.

"No." Snape just uttered a single word. He paused for a few moments before continuing with this conversation as he saw Dumbledore was not intending to speak, "He is back."

Dumbledore looked at Snape in surprise but it just lasted for a few seconds before his face returned to calm expression as he picked a Licorice Snap (biting candy) and put one in his mouth, "Severus, is there anything else you want to say?"

Snape heared Dumbledore's bored voice which was really infuriating for him but he still kept his cool and answered, "He is back...In Hogwarts. Someone from our school asked death eaters to collect potion ingredients for him in the name of the dark lord. From the list I obtained, I tried to think of all the different spells that can be brewed from the list I obtained."

Dumbledore kept indulging in Licorice Snap as he asked in tired tone, "What's the result?"

"Many poisons that can easily kill half the school with a single vial. No one except the potion master can brew such poisons. It can also be there for hiding the true purpose."

Dumbledore finally raised his eyes and looked deep into Snape's eyes and spoke in serious tone, "And you think it's Tom? If so, then you don't have to worry. He could never harm any students of the Hogwarts as long as I am here. You can just go and get a goodnight sleep."

Snape was already angry with Dumbledore but hearing this careless reply, he couldn't control himself anymore, "Then do you mean we do nothing about this?! You know how accomplished he was in the potions. He might've ignored it after becoming the dark lord but I know his knowledge about potions might not even fall behind me. We all know why he wants to enter Hogwarts, you still wish to ignore this? He is the biggest danger to entire Wizarding world."

Dumbledore didn't feel anything when he heard these words, he just smiled at Snape "Severus, when did you start to care about these things? You don't have to worry about that thing. He'll never get it. You just have to protect that one person for whom she sacrificed herself. That was our deal back then."

Snape was furious by Dumbledore's remarks. He got up from his seat and darted towards the door. Just when he was about to leave the office he heard another question from Dumbledore, "Severus, what do you think about that little boy, Adam Taylor?"

Snape stooped in his tracks. He turned around and replied in monotonous tone, "I don't get the reason why you are asking me about that boy. You should ask his house's head."

"I just noticed you treating that boy with completely different attitude. Is it because of those rumors?"

Snape was not in a good mood so he replied impatiently, "We both know that boy is not from those families. I don't care about that boy; he's just not a stupid troll like everyone else in this school. I only advised him in potions... as a compensation."

Dumbledore knew he couldn't look into Snape's mind so he just stared at Snape with complex look on his face, "Compensation?? Because your friend hurt him in that duel?"

Snape just stared at Dumbledore before quickly walking out of the Headmaster's office without giving any reply but this was also an answer to Dumbledore's questions. It was really because of this that Snape had initially given advise to Adam. Later he just really liked the enthusiasm of that boy towards the potions which was why he was quite calm when facing Adam.

"If you don't want to do anything, then I'll have to do it."Snape thought to himself as he walked towards his office. There was still a voice that sounded in his ears when he had already left the Headmaster's office , "Severus, do not lose your way in the fit of anger. You'll achieve your goal and Harry will be the one to help you achieve it but you must not forget what I previously told you, Tom is not the only danger to our world."

Dumbledore sat in his seat looking at the door from where Snape had just left. He waited like this for a while before waving his hand towards the door. Window was immediately closed while door to the office was also locked. It was the locking charm that Dumbledore had just cast with a wave of his hand. With Dumbledore's strength, it was safe to assume that not even the strongest unlocking charms could solve this locking charm.

Dumbledore got up from his seat and slowly walked into his bedroom which was also located in one side of the office. He kept walking till he finally arrived in front of a palm sized mirror that was floating in his bedroom. He looked into it for a while till a few words appeared in it,
"What will you do about this, Albus?"

Dumbledore took small mirror in his hand and sat down on his bed before answering,
"He won't get what he wants even if he enters the castle. But I am worried about the safety of the students."

After a minute, more words appeared in the mirror, "You can't do everything by yourself. You can't protect them forever. They must know that there is always a hidden danger to their lives, even when they are living in a peaceful and rather safe environment."

Dumbledore wanted to ask somthing but even before he could ask about it, he already received the answer in the mirror.

"Everything is going to change. World is changing at the speed we cannot fathom. It can benefit us but can also harm us. Futute of Hogwarts is already out of my vision so what you do about it is your own choice from now on. Since the start of this year in Hogwarts, I could no longer interfere in all those possibilities of the future of the Hogwarts. Something or someone has appeared in the Hogwarts who already changed the fate of this school. If not for you, I would never spend my time nor energy just for a school that teaches little kids."

Dumbledore stayed silent for a while as he could no longer feel as calm and collected as before knowing these things. His plan that started 10 years ago was somehow getting out of his hands. And with all other dangers appearing in the Wizarding world, he already had too many things to take care of which made it impossible for him to always stay in the Hogwarts. He looked at the mirror for a while but then finally put it down on the bed without saying anything in it before closing his eyes in silence as he thought in his head, "You'll never understand it. Hogwarts is not just a school to everyone attending it. The secrets that Hogwarts hold may not even fall behind compared to the secrets of our entire wizarding world. This is the most mysterious place that I ever seen in my life. I can never leave it to its fate."

"Hogwarts...."
Dumbledore whispered before letting out a long sigh and calling his Phoenix to leave,"Fawkes, It's time."