"Alright, I give up." Allen said defeatedly.
Helena turned her head to the side. "What do you give up on?"
"I can't come up with any names for… this" He pointed his finger at his green eyes.
"For your ability." She added.
He nodded back and forth. He had spent a couple of days thinking about it but the more he thought it over, the less he could come up with something. 'Basilisk's Glare' wouldn't leave his mind, it didn't matter how hard he tried to think of something else.
In the end, whenever something popped up in his mind, it would be a variation of Helena's name she thought of the other day, so he decided to ask her again, hoping to get a different option.
"Then, you want me to come up with something different?"
"That's right! I decided I'll go with whatever you think of to name my ability. Because otherwise I'll just stay indecisive about it." He spat out with a small hint of frustration.
Her lips curved upwards, forming an endearing smile. "Let's go with 'Mystic Gaze' then. It conveys its natural power and gives room for more development, instead of staying true to one purpose only, like 'Basilisk's Glare' What do you think?"
Through Helena's explanation Allen couldn't help but cringe at the names, alas, he had already decided that he would follow through with whatever she chose.
'No, you know what, you only live once, in my case twice. Fuck the shame.' He cursed in his mind, casting aside his shame, after all, it would only be a hindrance down the line. And if her mother could do it without batting an eye, why can't he?
"I like it now, but let's do it this way! Let's have a sub-name for each of everything that I can do, something like 'Mystic Gaze: Basilisk's Glare' whenever I use it, and think of new names for each of them.
For example, whenever I look at people normally, they usually get scared, ghosts as well, right?" Helena nodded, wondering where this was going.
"Let's go with 'Mystic Gaze: Dementor's Stare!' Since they do cause fear in people, let's name all of the abilities my eyes can do under a different magical creature.
You said names are important, right? Then I'll have one name that encompasses them all, the 'Mystic Gaze' and whenever I try to think of the specifics of what I want it to do, I'll of the sub-name, almost like a spell, I'll create an association of the name-ability, so it will be easier for me to change between them.
Pavlov would be so proud of me. Maybe." He finished his rant with both hands on his waist, and even if he wanted to hide it, there was a tint of pink on his cheeks, something Helena noticed.
She let out a small laugh covering her mouth, but it turned into an uncharacteristic laugh.
After a minute or two she turned his way. "Are you serious?"
Allen shrugged. "A bit. Half-serious, half-joking."
An endearing smile appeared on her face as she patted him on the shoulder, he instinctively activated his magic so she could touch him. "I feel like that would be a mouthful and hard to remember. Let's go with just one name, how's that?"
He cleared his throat, turning his head a bit to the side. "Ye- Yeah, then Mystic Gaze it is."
"Thank you for trusting me on this."
A smile formed on his face. "Don't worry, but now that we are on the topic, if names are so important, then, how about naming my wand?" He pulled his wand out of his sleeve.
The findings he had recently come across by using the Wand-Raising Charm were a first for him. Since more time passed, the more it looked like it had a mind of its own. Of course it wasn't a bad thing whenever he wanted to convey what he wanted to do. It became increasingly tiring when she showed signs of what he assumed to be jealousy.
To calm her down he would use the Wand-Raising Charm and it would calm down but only to come back worse since apparently the more he used the charm, the more she became sentient, even though there was nothing like that in the book that Mr Ollivander wrote. It did say that the relationship between the wizard and the wand would become closer, it didn't specify how.
'I'll really need to ask Mr Ollivander if he knows something. I couldn't do it during the winter holidays, but since summer holidays will be longer I'll have more time to check with him my findings.'
"For your wand?" Helena turned her head to the side, a bit confused by the question.
The minutes passed, and the shadows in the walls were coming down slower but surely. Only his voice reverberated in the room they were staying in. The explanation lasted for a bit, but Helena understood it in the end.
"What a peculiar wand." She inspected it from the sides. "Of course, I can't really check it but from the outside it looks like any wand to me. I can't even feel anything different emanating from it."
The wand sent a strong impulse letting Allen know that she didn't like how Helena was looking at her. "Ugh, I get it, I get it! Geez. You don't have to be so violent."
"Oh?" A surprised tone escaped her mouth. "I sensed that, you didn't really do that, your wand did it on its own. Interesting."
Another shock passed through him. "Ngh, It would prefer to be referred as 'she.'" Allen told her, his face turned from the ashamed pink to a furious red in a matter of seconds.
"Then, we are looking for a name for your wand now?"
Allen nodded furiously, which made her chuckle again. "I can point you in the direction of books who have named phoenixes, but in this particular instance, I think it would be better for you to name her yourself, otherwise you might never hear the end of it if you don't choose by yourself."
A sigh escaped his mouth, knowing full well that what she was saying is true.
He spent a couple of days reading through all the books that Helena pointed him to, some were children's stories where phoenixes make an appearance, others were records of people who managed to establish a friendly relationship with the immortal birds. One of them, he realized, was Fawkes. Dumbledore's phoenix, and a few other names belonging to the Dumbledore family tree.
In the end, even after looking through multiple resources, most of the names didn't have what he was looking for.
"How about Ash?" He spoke hurriedly while holding his wand, to which he received a shockwave in response.
"Ngh. Noted, don't like it."
"Anka? Blaze? Feng? Aurora? Enya? Flare? Helia? Hestia? Solaris? Crimson?"
Name after name he got shocked in small doses, letting him know that such a way to choose something as important as a name was not something she wanted.
"I'm putting a lot of thought into it, alright? I like their meanings, for example, Aurora means 'dawn' in Latin, Helia is originally from Greek, which means sun, Hestia on the other hand is the goddess of the hearth and home, but it also means fireside."
A warm feeling was transmitted across instead of the previous shocks he experienced, a welcome change for once. "You like that name?" His wand spread a different sentiment which he managed to understand as an affirmative answer to his question.
Almost as if something connected the dots in his mind, he went through the books and found one about Greek Mythology. The more he read the more he liked the name as well, but a puzzling look appeared on his face. "But is that alright? I mean, choosing the name because you liked it." Another wave of magic coursed through him but no real answer could be discerned from it.
"I guess I'll ask Helena about it." He spoke aloud to himself, but also to his wand.
In protest, his wand sent shockwaves again. Complaining to him. "Alright! You gotta find another way to tell me you don't like something, otherwise I'll just stop using you…
Hestia."
'Damn, that's gonna be confusing if I ever meet Hestia Jones' He facepalmed internally.
—----------------------------------
They were on their second to last week before they left for good the castle and were freed to the outside world. For most children, this was a sweet release from a prison called school, but in Allen's case, it was far from it.
In one of his walks around the castle, his thoughts kept spiraling towards the curse on the position of professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, contrary to his belief, the purple-like tentacle wrapped completely around professor Baker, thought she did said her goodbyes a week before the last two they were currently in, she would stay in the castle in case any of the students had any question.
His question of course, why was the curse still there if the position was empty again, rage build up inside of him whenever he looked at it.
'Maybe… it's because she's still 'here' teaching the students, even if she's not the professor anymore, the curse still recognizes her until she leaves the castle? Or could it be the contract she signed with the headmaster?' These thoughts wouldn't leave his mind, not until something changed in the ambiance around the curse. If before it had a gelatinous look, now it resembled a thorn, ready to strike at whoever and whatever tried to interfere with what it was made for.
Through the week, the professor experienced a series of accidents, mostly innocent in retrospect, but too coincidental to cross it as simply an 'accident'.
She choked while drinking pumpkin juice one morning. In the evening an armor fell down on her, thank merlin the armor didn't have any weapon since the house elves were oiling them and getting rid of all the dust and dirt it accumulated.
One night in particular is when things got out of hand. Allen was observing professor Baker using the Marauder's Map as usual, when he caught a glimpse of something weird, the moving stairs began to move in erratic ways, with the professor in the middle of going down to another floor in the castle.
His flight or fight instinct activated and without even thinking what to do, he ran towards her, when he finally reached the stairs, they calmed down, as if nothing had happened.
Allen clicked his tongue in frustration as he looked at professor Baker, no, at the tentacle, who, for some reason, seemed to know it was being observed.
But frustration brings forth innovation and creativity. He spent the last two days coming up with ideas at how to deal with the curse and not only that, but his Mystic Gaze as well, he kept on using in on small animals around the forbidden forest and even on some ghosts whom he found annoying, in the end, he managed to make them flinch for two seconds before they ran away with their tail between their legs.
'That's good enough, for now.' He thought as he dropped his body on the grass, feeling his eyes hurt as if it were a muscle.
He used the same eye drops that the personal healer from Sophia's family got him, lessening the pain a little.
His eyes turned from the violent green to the calm brown, he needed to see where the professor was to make sure she was safe.
The days passed and while the ghosts didn't appreciate the manhandling to which they were subjected, they still didn't dare to say anything, after all, they experienced human touch for the first time in hundred of years, so even if Allen was rough with them, they couldn't really complain too much, after all, if they did, he would simply not do it anymore, and there were other subjects, I mean, volunteers who appreciated the training.
The next morning would be the time for the plan to start, so rest was paramount for the success of the plan, after all, it wouldn't do if he failed at the most crucial moment, just because he was tired.
—----------------------------
When he woke up, Allen began his search for professor Baker in the Marauder's Map, after a few minutes of looking for her ink splotch.
She appeared in the corner of his eyes, walking towards the library, without missing a beat, he stood up from his place and ran towards her.
Portraits, statues, ghosts, everything seemed to blur at the speed he was going. After using his magic fully to increase his physical prowess, as well as silencing his steps, everything turned into mush, the only saving grace for him was the map, which indicated if there was someone in front of him who would become a victim if he crashed into them.
He ran, and ran, paying more attention to the map than in front of him. Allen didn't know how much time passed, but it could only have been minutes before he fully stopped a few meters before reaching the library.
*Pant* *Pant*
There were still a few steps before the professor reached the library, in the meantime, he tried to catch up his breath as droplets of sweat dripped down his forehead.
A quick glance at the map showed him that she was around the corner, so he entered the library in a heartbeat, sitting down on the closest table to the door, grabbing a random book in a rush, making it easier for him to look at the map without attracting a lot of attention.
Professor Baker entered a minute later, her face looked a bit haggard and there were visible bags under her eyes.
But his target wasn't the professor, no, it was the tentacle attached to her, which now looked like an impenetrable iron thorn, holding her dantian in a few knots. "Mischief Managed." He muttered under his breath while pointing his wand at the map, afterwards he pocketed it in one of the robes' pockets.
She rested her tired head on the table before standing back up again and taking out a small bottle out of her pockets, by the colour of it, Allen realized it was a sleeping potion, he wondered why she would specifically come by to the library to sleep, but thanked her mentally anyway, since it worked in his favour. He waited for a few minutes until the potion took effect and she rested her head on the table, hoping to feel better when she woke up.
Allen took a big breath of air at the same time he closed his eyes, then, the next moment, he let go of the air and he opened his eyes, a violent green shone in them. While he didn't manage to reach the same level as her mother's 'Basilisk's Glare' he managed to get close enough to make whoever he looked at flinched for a few seconds, unable to respond to the stimuli.
The moment he posed his eyes on the curse, it tried to run away, letting go of professor Baker.
'Oh no, you won't!' He exclaimed mentally and pushed to the limits his Mystic Gaze, making the curse flinch. It almost looked to him like the curse wanted to ask him how he managed to do that, but he knew that was too insane.
Shaking his head he got rid of such thoughts and quickly went for his wand casting the spell he developed in the last few days.
A variety of spectral hands appeared behind him, then he put his wand between his teeth, grabbing tightly, but making sure that no damage came to her. Allen raised his hands in the form of a claw and a few strands of magic dispersed through them, reaching the spectral hands; after feeling all of them being connected to him, he pushed them through towards the curse.
He made a variety of motions with his hands, commanding the spectral hands almost in unison.
When the hands reached the curse, Allen casted the charm that lets him touch ghosts, betting everything on it that ghosts and curses were somehow similar. His prayers were answered as he felt the hands touch the thorn-like tentacle. He quickly unwrapped it from professor's Baker dantian.
After he grabbed it, it freed itself from his version of the Basilisk's Glare, the curse began to squirm in Allen's spectral hands, trying to break free from him but he tightened his grip around them.
He stood up and began to walk away from the library, still holding the curse in his spectral hands.
As he walked away from professor Baker, he let down his actual hands, grabbing his wand from his mouth first in case he ran into another student. The whole time there was only one thing running through his mind.
'Now what?!' He had managed to come this far, but didn't plan how to get rid of the curse in case he actually managed to grab a hold of it, so his mind raced at one hundred percent, trying to come up with something. For the moment, he would go where the curse was coming from, and if he managed to find a different anchor which powered the curse inside of Hogwarts, instead of walking all the way to Albania, it would be even better.
Alas, it wasn't as easy as he wanted. Since the castle gates were before him, he had walked all the way here, only to find that the curse went beyond the castle, of course, he suspected it but wanted to be wrong.
On the way to the castle gates, the curse attacked his spectral hands with the spikes, they suddenly grew, piercing them, and poisoning them in the process. Whenever a spike pierced one of his hands, a sickening purple colour would begin to spread inside the hand, making Allen cut connection from it as fast as possible so he didn't get hit by it. Of course, he didn't know what it would do to him, but he didn't care to find out either.
There were only four hands left after the curse attacked one after another with its spikes.
'Since I don't know what to do, let's do whatever comes to mind first!' He screamed internally, then began to twist and pull the curse, casting more spectral hands each time one of them got pierced, his body began to hurt and he felt a straining weight on him.
The more he moved and twisted the tentacle, the more his magic muscles hurt.
*Pant* *Pant*
Sweat dripped from his forehead to the ground, there were only two hands left holding the curse in a tight-lock, or what remained of it, since he twisted it enough times to turn it into a mass of knots, looking almost like an odd-ball, a ball he needed to throw away.
With the last of his strength he fortified his spell, making the spectral hands bigger in size, big enough so that the ball fitted more or less in them, then, in a swift motion, he backed up a bit before throwing the curse away in the direction it came from with all his might. Disconnecting both of the hands from him in the process since they were punctured in the middle of his throw.
His knees touched the ground and before he realized it, he was looking at the blue sky. All of his body ached, even his eyes, he couldn't muster the strength to pull his hand-mirror, but he could feel his Mystic Gaze turning off, leaving behind his brown eyes.
'Im… kinda tired…' Was his last thought before he lost consciousness.
—---------------------
Contrary to expectations, he didn't woke up in the infirmary, while the headmaster waited for him to explain what transpired to leave him in such a state, no, when he woke up was already nighttime, in the same place, no one moved him, or searched for him, most likely since he was still inside the Hogwarts' wards, the professors didn't feel the need to look for him.
"Ugh." He groaned as he stood up, his whole body still ached from the whole ordeal.
When he pulled out his pocket-watch, he saw that it was already past curfew, 2:36 A. M., and while in his previous life staying up so late wasn't something that bothered him, being so young and staying up so late had disastrous consequences, more specifically in his mood and sleeping pattern.
Being past curfew didn't matter too much, since they were in the last week of school, classes were already over so the prefects were patrolling more because they wanted a breather from all the exams, instead of trying to catch a rule breaker.
Allen took out the Marauder's Map and walked back to his dormitory, wondering if what he did made any difference, and if he would see the curse back again on professor's Baker dantian.
Of course, he knew that he didn't break the curse, but rather prolonged the inevitable, but if he managed to prolong it long enough so that professor Baker stopped being the professor Against the Dark Arts, then it would be worth it.
As he dragged himself along the dungeons, he activated his magic to silence his steps, he passed through the common room to his dormitory, William and Armand were already sleeping so he dropped himself down on his bed, falling asleep again.
"...te."
"...ate."
"...llen."
Two voices were calling to him, he could tell, but he was too tired and wanted to rest more so he blatantly decided to ignore them and cover his head with the covers.
"MATE! WAKE UP!"
"!!!"
The sudden scream managed to wake him up, more out of fear than anything else.
"Wha- What? What happened?!" He stood up in a rush, activating his Mystic Gaze the moment he opened his eyes.
Both of his friends looked at him quizzically before one of them spoke up. "The whole day is over, and you still haven't woken up, so we thought something happened to you."
His eyes remained unfocused after waking up in a rush. "No, no, I'm just tired. That's all."
"But it's already 7 P. M., mate, that's more than 'just tired'." William exclaimed.
When he heard what time it was, Allen snapped his neck towards his friends, fully awake by now. "Wha- What do you mean it's 7 P. M.?!" He asked frantically, then his mind came back to yesterday's events.
'Shit, maybe I exhausted my magic too much. Wait, what about Professor Baker?'
"Um… Did… did something happen while I was asleep? Like… someone getting into an accident or something…?" His question came as a half-joke half-serious, not wanting to alarm them.
William and Armand looked at each other before shaking their heads left and right. "No, not really, did you do something for someone to get hurt?" Armand asked, raising his eyebrow.
"No, not really, just wondering. That's all." He avoided the question just like how he avoided his friend's eyes looking doubtfully at him. "Do you guys think I can still catch dinner? I'm a bit hungry after sleeping so much."
They raised their eyebrows looking at each other then shrugged their shoulders.
"Sure, come on, we are on time." Expressed Armand as he passed him clean robes.
After filling himself with food, Allen came back to his dormitory, took a shower and quickly went back to sleep, barely managing to drag himself to bed, his eye-lids were giving up to the tiredness he still felt from the previous day, but before falling asleep, a sudden thought interrupted his sleep, making his eyes wide-open.
'I didn't take a look at Professor Baker…! I was so busy filling my mouth with food that I didn't look at the professor's table! Fuck!' He stood up in a rush, looking for the Marauder's Map before a voice interrupted him.
"Professor Baker is alright, if you were wondering. Apparently she was feeling under the weather these last couple of days, but a good rest in the library took it all away. Or so she told William." Armand said, standing up from his bed, rubbing his eyes, trying to shake off the sleepiness off of him.
He flinched for a moment before putting his things back again in the trunk. "Is- Is that so? That's good, that's good, there were a few things happening to her the last couple of days, so I did worry about her."
"So whatever you did worked, I'm sure William appreciates it, though I haven't told him." Armand's sleepy voice put him on alert, he wondered how much he knew.
"I- I don't know what you are talking about man." Cold sweat dripped down his back.
Armand raised an eyebrow, questioning what he said. "Look, Allen, I know you still don't trust us that much, but we are not stupid, William could tell something was going on.
In these last couple of weeks you kept on looking at Professor Baker, so either you had a crush on her or something different was going on, and believe me, the looks you were giving her weren't of a guy in love. You always had this frustrated look in your eyes whenever you looked at the professor, and then you disappeared for a whole day, only to be sleeping the next day all day."
"It… It looked that way to you guys? Sorry, I just wanted to spend the day alone hahaha." He scratched his head, trying to look casual about the situation.
"Look, I'm not asking you to tell us what happened, but we are your friends, right? You trust us, right?"
Allen nodded his head, agreeing with Armand. "I do, it's just… I don't wanna talk about it, hope you understand."
Armand let out a sigh. "Alright, that's fine, thank you for trusting us, and for helping William's cousin, I'm sure he appreciates it, isn't that right?"
In the corner of his eyes, he saw William nodding his head while in bed.
"Go to sleep mate, we have a long day tomorrow, after all, we are leaving Hogwarts." William muttered half-sleepy.
"Yeah, I'm sure you need the rest more than us." Armand said as he covered himself with the sheets.
"Right. Good night guys." Allen laid down on his bed, letting the sleepiness take a hold of him until he fell asleep.
—--------
A yawn escaped Allen's mouth as the train began to move. He had managed to look at Professor Baker before leaving, and no signs of the curse were holding her back.
"What are you thinking about?" Sophia asked him from the side.
"About… Professor Baker, I guess, and how nothing happened to her, even though she spent the whole year as professor Against the Dark Arts."
Both Armand and William chuckled as he said that.
"Uh? Wha- What's so funny?" A nervous tone left his mouth while both Sophia and Elsie asked the same thing as well.
"Well… I guess this confirms my suspicions. You do have a crush on my cousin!" William exclaimed jovially.
Armand chuckled, leaving the other three stunned by William's declaration.
"Wha- WHAT?! O- Of course not! What the hell William?!"
"Then how do you explain the way you looked at her the last couple of weeks? Of course, she asked me to turn you down as delicately as possible for her. In her words 'He is a really good student, but I can't see him as anything more than that. William, can you help me out? I know he is your friend and you would be more tactful with him.'"
Allen's face turned to a bright shade of red. "That's not… I… You know what, yeah, thanks for telling me her message, William."
"So that's how you felt, Allen, uh."
"So that's how it is, uh."
"Wha- What do you mean, Sophia? Elsie?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing at all."
They turned away from him, letting out a *hmph*.
'No, don't tell me… nah, that doesn't make sense.'
"So, any plans for the summer?" Armand asked.
"No, not really, just spend the rest of the days in the orphanage, and if William's parents let me, I'll go to his house before the next term begins."
Sophia's and Elsie's ears perked up when he said that.
"Then how about you come to my house?"
"What about coming to Bailey state in the summer?"
"Uh, would you, would your parents approve of that? They didn't seem too keen to have us there, well, your dad." Allen scratched the back of his head, trying to find the words for it.
"Don't worry, I can convince him, and we can even practice! I'm sure my dad would like that, it would mean to get my grades up."
"Well… In that case, yeah, I'd like that." He smiled warmly at the girls.
"In the meantime, do you guys want to play something?"