The following day Allen felt a weight lift off his shoulders. On one hand, he didn't really want to overshare his past, but on another hand, humans are social beings. Allen wanted someone to know, and who better than his newly found ghost friend.
After spending some time together he thought it would be okay to reveal her some tidbits of his past, now, only the passage of time would tell if he did the right thing by trusting her or not.
Thinking back on what one of the ghost said yesterday, he spent the majority of the day looking himself in the mirror, trying to catch his 'other' self, or more accurately, his self from before he reincarnated.
Yet, he couldn't see anything or anyone other than himself.
His friends thought it weird for him to look at himself in the mirror for so long but didn't pay much attention to it. It was when he used his eyes that they felt worried.
"Hey mate, what are you trying to do?" Asked William.
Allen thought it over before answering. "Hmm, I guess I'm trying to catch a ghost or something like that."
William looked at him strangely and Armand looked around the Great Hall, finding out that no ghosts were floating around.
"Uh, that's weird. There are no ghosts in here." Said Armand.
"Hmm." Allen closed his pocket mirror before answering. "They are probably drunk from yesterday's party."
"William raised an eyebrow after hearing that. "Can ghosts get drunk?"
Allen shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Maybe from the mood? It happens to some people."
After that they went back to eat their breakfast but Allen kept an eye around the Great Hall, looking for any sign of ghosts, but Armand was right, there were none around here. 'Uh, that's weird.'
Whenever they wen to class, or walked in the halls, there were no signs of any ghosts. It didn't really bother his friends, but since Allen attended yesterday's party, he thought that maybe, it had something to do with him.
He shook his head in negation, probably Sir Nicholas wouldn't show his face the next day, but all of the ghosts in the castle, just because of him? That was too much.
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When he reached the Room of Requirements, Helena wasn't there, waiting for him, he found it weird, since he thought about asking her about the sudden disappearance of the rest of the ghosts.
He shrugged to himself and let his things on the floor, proceeding with his usual training of Occlumency and transfiguration.
Allen build back up his second mind shield on his mind and destroyed it right afterwards, looking for weak points in it, starting from there he build it again, stronger, making sure to not let any weaknesses left, but of course there would be, that's why he kept on building it again and again, that and because the book said that it was necessary to spent a couple of months on it. He still thought that he was doing something wrong since it didn't take him a lot of time to build his shield but since no one could teach him, he would have to resort to himself only, even if its wrong.
After getting tired of building his shield, he took out a transfiguration book from his backpack, it explained a little bit of the process for an animagus transfiguration.
'I kinda remember something about a leaf, but the rest of it its very unclear.' He passed pages until reaching the chapter about animagus. There, it explained how the witch or wizard had to keep a mandrake leaf in their mouth for an entire month, or more exactly, from full moon to full moon.
The following steps in the transfiguration required more 'luck' than skill as he continued to read, he found out why most British wizards don't go through the procedure.
He closed the book and let out a long breath, letting himself drop on the floor where he placed some cushions.
Allen circulated his magic around his three dantians, even if the pose was wrong, it made him calm down pairing it with his breathing.
He continued to do it until the Room of Requirements sent him a small tinge of magic. He was half-asleep when he felt it. "Uh? Wha- What? What happened?" He yawned.
After looking around the room he found Helena staring at him while simulating sitting down.
"Ah! Helena, its good to see you. Did something happen? I haven't seen any ghost all day."
"Hmm, yes and no." She answered. "Nothing serious happened, but also, something serious happened yesterday." Helena looked at him with an accusatory glance.
"Me? Do you mean about what I did to Sir Nicholas?" Allen wondered.
"Yes, that's correct. After the party was over he has been… Well… Showing off to all of the other ghosts, which in turn makes them go ask questions about how it happened, who did it. Even ghosts from outside of Hogwarts have come here to ask about it." She gave him a knowing look.
"They have also come looking for the 'half-dead' who can touch ghosts."
"Ha- Half-dead?" Allen repeated the words as if he heard them wrong.
Helena nodded her head in confirmation, leaving Allen speechless for a couple of minutes.
"Do they not have any respect for someone who has gone through something traumatic?"
She shook her head. "No, they don't, since it's been a while since they experienced their death, they have forgotten their own feelings regarding it.
In any case, that's not the reason why I came here." Helena stood up and asked Allen to do the same.
"I've come here to tell you to evade all of the ghosts you may encounter, or use your eyes. You don't have to hold back, They've been pestering me as well since they saw me holding your arm yesterday." An annoyed tone could be heard from her voice. She was fed up with all of the ghosts asking her about her companion.
"But, I haven't seen any ghosts." Allen turned his head to the side, wondering what she meant.
Helena shook her head again. "They have been after you, but I made Sir Nicholas come to his senses and hunt them down with his little clique. Since he is the one who promised you to keep everything that happened yesterday a secret, but the first one to break it.
Allen felt a dangerous cold emitting from Helena's body. She was so enraged on his behalf that it made him glad to have met her.
He touched her hands without much though, the spell activated almost automatically, letting him come in contact with her hands. "Thank you Helena, for worrying about me, but it's okay, I actually have been thinking about testing some stuff, so if a ghost comes at me, I can just use it as a test subject."
Allen smiled at her, half jokingly and half serious. She chuckled after that and squeezed his hands. "Thank you Allen, but make sure to no exorcise any of them, even if they are annoying." She showed him a pitiful smile, directed not at him, but at the ghosts.
The two of them laughed away in the Room of Requirements until Allen realized that curfew was already over and he had to sneak around to come back to his dorm.
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The following days some ghosts did try to speak with him, but if it wasn't Sir Nicholas, Helena, the Bloody Baron of the Fat Friar, he would've 'killed' them with his gaze as if he were a basilisk.
'Basilisk? Wait… Fuck, FUCK. A FUCKING BASILISK IS DOWN IN THE CASTLE.' Allen quickly looked at the ground, shocking his friends with the sudden movement.
He examined what was after the ground, but he couldn't see anything, as if it was protected by a ward, not letting anyone see past the normal wards protecting the castle.
'Is it gonna happen in my… fourth year? Third year? I don't remember when does Harry Potter enter Hogwarts, but in any case, I need to prepare for that, more than the third floor corridor on his first year.'
"Did something happen mate?" William asked him.
"Ah, no, not really, I was just... wondering something." He looked back at his friends.
"Oh okay.
By the way, do you know why so many ghosts have been following us?"
"Ah, no, not really." Allen lied naturally as he breathed. He didn't want his friends to know that the reason for that was his fault.
After that they continued their day, Allen kept on staring at the ghosts that tried to get close to him, some had the willpower to get closer more than the others, but in the end, they all ran away with their tails between their legs.
It was interesting for Allen to see the ghosts, now that he knows about the dantians and how it works in the human body, he wondered what exactly happened at the moment of a wizard's death for their body to be completely composed of their magic.
'Souls exists, that's a fact in this world, since Horcrux are a thing, but then, how does it works? If their magic is whats keeping them here.'
One time he saw a ghost with a particular strong willpower, he approached Allen and a sudden thought came to his head after looking at the ghosts' magic swirling around their whole body. 'What if… When their soul leaves their body… they carry their magic out of their dantians, giving form to their ghostly appearance, and the soul is the container while the magic keeps their memories and form, pairing it up with the soul.'
Allen pondered such things in History Class and wrote them down in a piece of parchment, he wouldn't really share it with anyone, well, probably only one who came to his mind, but besides her, he didn't want to share his findings, mostly because it relied on his gaze, something he still couldn't understand completely.
He yawned after writing everything down, he took out his homework from another class, even if History of Magic bored him to death, he could at least use it to finish stuff from other classes.
He yawned again after taking out his transfiguration book before falling asleep.
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"-ake up."
"-onna be late."
Suddenly, Allen stood straight up, looking around, there, he saw Armand and William, they were trying to wake him up.
"You fell asleep too, uh?" Armand asked him.
"Yeah, damn, I wasn't even paying attention to him, how did it happen."
Both of his friends shrugged his shoulders after looking at each other.
"Come on, we need to go to our next class." William said.
"R- Right." Allen yawned again as he picked up all of his stuff, then walked towards their next class, hopefully the walk there would wake him up.
"So, have you read anything about animagus?" William asked his friends.
"Yeah."
"Yes."
"Both of them answered, then proceeded to explain the process to William. The more they talked about it, the more of a chore seemed to him, and just as they reached their next class, he spoke up. "Mate, I understand now why no one wants to do it, it sounds like a load of work that needs to be based on chance." He frowned. "How did they even find out about the transfiguration in the first place?"
"That… is a good question." Armand said, putting a hand on his chin, thinking about the question.
"Uh… you are right, how did the first person to discover about it came up with it." Allen chimed in too.
"Ah! Could it have been the same way the first person to find out about what mushroom is poisonous and which one isn't?" William suddenly came up with an idea, making the two boys laugh.
"Probably, in any case, it takes too long and the ingredients are difficult to get, so maybe we can try it later, just like how Professor McGonagall said." Armand finished after entering the classroom.