I rushed to the next class, embarrassed at being caught snogging a teacher, but also excited because, you know, sex! Sex with a teacher!
Unless she was telling me to be alone tonight so she could murder me. Because, well, Tom Riddle.
Fuck that guy. Now I can't even trust that I'm sexy enough to get bitches.
"Right on time Mister Gaunt, please take your seat," Professor Black said.
I sat between Daphne and Tracey, each of them giving me questioning looks.
"So, do we have another witch?" Tracey teased me when I didn't say anything.
"Um, no. But she does want to come to my room tonight."
I heard a spluttering noise from behind and saw Calypso look at me in shock.
I shrugged.
"Guess she fell for the charm."
"I are interested in having her join the Coven?" Daphne asked, her notebook in hand, ready to be used.
"Uhm. I don't know. Pretty sure its just sex right now. If we all end up liking her maybe."
Daphne nodded.
"I will do research onto if she is desperate to join a Coven and is just hopping on board the first one possible or if she is known to casually have sex with students. Make sure to tell her that if she is only looking for something casual that she will work around our schedule not hers."
"Thanks Daph."
The rest of the class was just Professor Black teaching us technical definitions of Dark Arts. The technical term was anything that caused harm to others, but as that could also include a literal rock in a sock smacking someone in the head, she gave us the more understood term. Any magic, magical creature, or magical item that's purpose was to cause harm. Like a dragon wasn't a dark creature because it didn't have the sole purpose of hurting others. But a Lethifold's only function was to eat people in their sleep.
Once class let out I stayed behind, this time Tracey and Daph staying with me. I didn't have any plans to snog/shag Bellatrix, at least today. But I did have some questions that only she may be able to answer, being both the DADA teacher and a Black.
"Yes Gaunt? Want to snog another teacher already?" Professor Black asked.
My mouth, which was open to speak, froze.
"How did you-"
"Well you weren't being quiet when you entered," Bellatrix said, cocking a womanly hip and giving him a smirk.
"Fair enough. But that's not what I'm here about. Remember the evil spirit?"
"Yes… I remember you refusing to tell us the whole story. Did that change?"
"Uh, no."
Professor Black raised an eyebrow, a flash of anger going through her eyes.
"Then what do you want?"
"Well. I just have a bad feeling about it, and I wanted to know what methods the spirit may have used to become a spirit in the first place."
"That's Black Magic, at least most forms of longevity and immortality are. It's illegal to teach about."
"Good, but that didn't stop the spirit from doing it."
She nodded.
"True enough, but we're putting some things in place to try and deal with it."
"Yeah Professor Yazzie told me. I just don't trust that the spirit won't come after me in the meantime. I don't want any of my girlfriends or other acquaintances to get hurt."
"Aww, what a cwutie…" she said mockingly, then her demeanor changed to serious in only a blink. "What do you know about different forms of Immortality?"
"Well. I know that there is of course the Philosopher's Stone. There is also Liches, and then I also read about Horcruxes."
Read it in Harry Potter that is.
Bellatrix looked impressed at the mention of Horcruxes.
"That last one is pretty rare, but yes those are all methods. The Philosopher's Stone only increases ones lifespan, and no one knows exactly how it was made. Only that it was a marvel of Alchemy that has never been recreated. Liches are very similar to Horcruxes, or at least their Phylacteries are. Instead of holding a piece of their soul it holds the entire soul. However thanks to this it is obvious when one becomes a Lich. They become pale, gaunt, and their flesh is constantly falling off, not to mention they lose most of their senses. But at the same time their bodies are also self-repairing. So its like watching someone get skinned and then put back together. Horcruxes only hold a piece of the soul, the divide between the soul breaks down their emotions, usually resulting in madness, suspicion, and bloodthirst. Based on what you've said, this doesn't seem to be any of those. Instead it seems more like a ghost that possessed a cursed object. Ghosts are echos of past souls, when the soul has such a large regret that it leaves an imprint on the world. But ghosts cannot possess people, they can barely interact with physical objects. So I would say this is an unknown form of Immortality similar to a Horcrux and Lich, only the soul can be unbound from an object and possess a person."
I nodded along, Daphne and Tracey looked uncomfortable mentioning the different Black Magics. Nobody except Necromancers liked Necromancers, because no one liked seeing their friends and family walking around as corpses.
"But if that's the case. How do we kill it? And what happens to the bodies it possesses?"
"If what we believe about the spirit to be true, then killing it would prove difficult. Because if we kill the host the spirit would just fly away to take over someone else. Dumbledore did offer an idea that we could trap the spirit in a runic circle, but depending on the details of the method then it might not work. As for the person who is being-"
She cut off as all the window's shuttered slammed shut. The ringing of a bell sounded out, as if it was both far away and right next to us.
Bellatrix's face hardened.
"Come with me to the Great Hall."
"What's happening?" I asked, looking around.
"Those are the emergency protocols… Follow me."
—
The Great Hall was bustling with students.
Harsh whispers echoed out, the students scared at the extremely serious professors.
"We'll speak more later," Professor Black said before moving off to where Professor McGonagall stood.
We found Fleur and Penelope first. The Prefect walking around to students and trying to keep them calm.
"Hey guys, what's happened?" I asked.
Penelope shook her head.
"No idea, but the Prefects know the signs of an emergency so I came here."
I scanned the rest of the hall, looking for anyone missing, but I'd only gotten to know a handful of people in the past week. And for the most part they were all there, the only one I could tell that was missing was-
"Heir Gaunt, the Headmaster is requesting your presence," Professor McGonagall said, walking up to me and the girls.
I raised my eyebrows, and quiet fell upon the Great Hall as everyone tried to listen in.
"Heir Gaunt?"
Teachers didn't refer to titles in school, because how could you expect to show equality when you constantly showed that someone was above others in station?
"Yes… this is now a lawful matter. Come with me," she said, turning and moving toward the door.
"Can Daphne and Professor Black come with me?"
Daphne knew more about customs and law than I did and Professor Black was both my Head of House and had been with me when the emergency procedures went into place.
"Yes they can."
I left the Great Hall with Daphne and the two professors, whispers ringing out behind me.
That probably wasn't going to end up well. Hogwarts Rumor Mill and all that.
I followed the professor, still not entirely sure where we were, until we came upon the Hospital Wing.
"There he is! He- he's the one who did it!" Ronald Weasley yelled.
I blinked in confusion. In the room were a dozen people, most being Aurors. Headmaster Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey were the other ones.
I opened my mouth to respond but was interrupted by the door bursting open again and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley running in.
The first thing I noticed was that they both wore much much nicer clothing than I remembered from the books and movies. The second thing was that Mrs. Weasley was a grade A Milf. By far the thickest woman I've seen since coming to the world, and it looked like she was meant to be bred. How she didn't scream in pain as her massive breasts slammed up and down as she ran was beyond me.
"Ronald!" she screamed, and would have tackled him if not for Madam Pomfrey and an Auror stopping her.
"What happened?" she said quickly. "We only heard that you were hurt, did some-"
"He did it! He cast the Torture Curse one me!" Ron said to his mother, pointing a finger at me.
Now I could see that Ron was rather pale faced, finger trembling and eyes puffy and red. The wrath that was the Weasly Matriarch turned on me.
"Huh?!"
"HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO MY-"
"MADAM WEASLEY!" Headmaster Dumbledore boomed. "Heir Gaunt has not fled the castle, nor has he shown any sign of guilt as of this moment."
"Are you saying my son is a liar?!" Mrs. Weasley said, turning on the older man.
"No, I am saying we should look at everything that has happened before someone does or says something they regret."
"I want his wand checked," Mrs. Weasley said instantly. "Now before he has a chance to muddy anything up."
I rolled my eyes, getting ahold of myself.
"Here-" I began, taking out my wand.
"No, a Heir to a House has to be given a warrant, and their guardian in the room for that to be allowed," Daphne said.
"Daphne… I didn't do anything though," I said, speaking more quietly to her.
"I know, but having one's wand inspected is written in all reports, having it written in a report allows those of any opposing party to have a leg to stand on in regard to probable cause."
"Headmaster when did the attack take place?" Professor Black interrupted before Mrs. Weasley could begin speaking.
"Around twenty minutes ago," Professor Dumbledore said.
"I was with Heir Gaunt then, as were Miss Davis and Miss Greengrass."
Dumbledore nodded gravely.
"I see, well the emergency protocols were activated when an Unforgivable was cast. One of our House-elves found Mister Weasley convulsing in the hall. It seems it was only cast on him once, and based on Mister Weasley's testimony it was Reigis Gaunt. Though I agree that such a possibility seems not to be the case, I do not believe Mister Weasley has motive to lie in this particular circumstance."
"True," I said. "There are not enough men in the school for it to be easy to mix us up, and the idea that he would purposefully get hit by a Cucio just to frame me is equally unlikely. Ron what did the imposter me say?"
"Are we sure this is the case of an imposter?" one of the Aurors said. I didn't know who she was, just a pretty witch with blonde hair.
"We can call every Slytherin as well as every male with black hair and see if Ron recognizes them."
"No, it was you Gaunt," Ron spat.
"I assume you mean that it was someone who looked like me Weasley," I said with a raised eyebrow.
Ron grimaced, but didn't disagree. Thankfully he wasn't that stupid.
"Well then who cursed my Ron?! And why did they impersonate this boy?" Mrs. Weasley asked, face still red with anger.
I looked at Headmaster Dumbledore and we had the same thought. The Evil Spirit of Tom Riddle.