NOVEL NEXT Chapter 127: Chapter 127
When he entered the hut, the first thing that Thomas saw was a letter from his roommates. Long story short, McGonagall and Flitwick checked each and every room and unfortunately for Thomas, both professors found out that he was missing.
Chances are that he was going to punished, but there was nothing he could do to fix it so instead of going back inside the castle, Thomas decided to spend the night in Hagrid's hut and rest. After all, knowing the two professors … he will probably spend a few good hours being lectured about the dangers he put himself in and how some of the student might start to think that he was the one who was attacking the students, even if that will sound stupid.
With nothing better to do, Thomas rummaged through Hagrid's cupboards, looking for something edible. Luckly for him, he found a few cans of beans, some potatoes, carrots, and onions. While he was by far a chef, his mother did have him learn how to cook some relatively simple dishes like stews, soups, etc. Just in case he would ever need to cook for himself, something that he was grateful for. By the time he finished preparing the stew and eating it, the moon was up in the sky.
And so, after washing the dishes and giving Fang something to eat too, Thomas walked over to the bed and lay down before pulling a blanket over himself and stared at the ceiling.
'Michael and Adam should be safe from whatever will happen to me tomorrow, or at least I hope so.' Thomas thought fearing for his friends, then again neither them nor Ron or Harry were outside of the castle, so maybe they will not be dragged down with him.
As he laid there thinking about his petrified friends, Thomas remembered a tiny detail he overlooked the night when he went back in time through the diary. Riddle mentioned a girl dying in the bathroom and coincidently enough there was a young ghost at Hogwarts that love to stay inside of a bathroom. For a second Thomas stood there dumbfound before he realized what he just thought.
'Of course… Crying Myrtle should be the girl that died the day the chamber of secrets had been opened which means that she might know where the bloody chamber was or at least she might know who opened it.'
[Are you sure about this, boy?]
Thomas was taken aback by Bahamut's sudden voice. The old dragon rarely intervened with his ideas and unless it was a battle to the death or if Thomas asked him for help, he would rather sleep than talk.
'I'm not sure of a lot of things, master, but none of my professor will believe me if I tell them there's a Basilisk inside the castle.'
[That might be true, but are you sure you want to become a hero or worse a martyr? I remember hearing whispers from a somewhat old acquaintance of mine about how the red dragon emperor died like an idiot fighting the white one just because the white one married a girl red loved.]
'What does that have to do with…'
[Emotions Thomas. I know better than any being alive, what one could do when they are emotional. If you will fight the Basilisk, you will have to fight it to death and right now, you are just touching the barrier between middle-class and high-class. When you managed to kill that youkai, that was pure luck. You are a smart boy and above all, I dare to say that you are chivalrous or at least you are walking down that path.]
'Thank you for reminding me that I'm still a mortal.'
[Don't be too hard on you, Thomas. I'm teaching you how to fight, but even my knowledge and power has a limit. Besides, training will only take you so far. You need to be bloodied more often if you are to grow stronger. Take for example what Rerek told me about the current Satans. Sirzechs Lucifer, the older brother of your red-haired friend, become a monster in their civil war, and now he's one of the strongest devils alive.]
'One of the strongest? Not the strongest?'
[No, Thomas, Sirzechs might be strong, but there's another devil or at least half devil stronger than him and you met him before, but you don't have to worry about him. Rumors say that he has no desire for power. But enough about devils and overgrown snakes. Rest boy, you will need to be in your best state tomorrow.]
The next day, early in the morning and after feeding Fang, Thomas steeled himself and made his way towards the castle, knowing very well that a certain brooding professor has already saw him from one of the windows and had most likely called McGonagall and Flitwick with him.
As soon as he walked into the school grounds, Thomas found himself surrounded by almost all of the professors and the prefects. Some of them even had their wands at the ready, almost as if he was going to attack them.
Seeing that, Thomas realized that something must have happened last night otherwise there was no way the professor would have gathered together to surround him.
"Professors," he said in a small voice. "What's going on? Why are you all here?"
When he said that, Professor Flitwick and McGonagall looked at him with a look that screamed anger and pity. Before Thomas say anything else, Flitwick cleared his throat and spoke in his high-pitched.
"Mr. Grayson, do you have any idea what happened last night?"
Thomas shook his head, feeling even more confused than before, but if he had to guess…
"Last night," Flitwick continued, "there was another attack."
"Unfortunately, Mr. Grayson, it was not a single attack, no… it was a quadruple attack. Four students had been found petrified and all four of them are your friends." McGonagall said while slowly approaching the now wide-eyed boy.
Thomas couldn't believe his ears. His friends… all of them were now petrified… He looked at Flitwick and McGonagall, hoping to see some sign of doubt or sympathy in their eyes. But all he saw was anger and pity. All of them thought he was guilty. That he was the one controlling the basilisk to attack the students. Without them he was alone… but that's how heroes are no? Fighting the monster alone and dying fighting it. He almost laughs at his fate, but nothing came out of his mouth. No voice and no expression on his face.
Just as McGonagall was just a meter away from him, Thomas fell on his knees with a lifeless expression on his face almost as if his world had been shattered. He did not resist as she grabbed his arm and pulled him up. He did not protest as she dragged him towards the castle. He did not speak as she led him to headmaster office. All that while the students were watching as he was being taken away by the professors like a prisoner ready to be sent to Azkaban.
As soon as they reached the headmaster's office, Snape helped him on a chair while McGonagall and Flitwick took their seats watching the now corpse like boy just sitting there.
"Thomas, can you hear me?" McGonagall called out softly and to their surprised, Thomas responded by slowly tuning his head and looking at her with his lifeless eyes staring into her soul, giving the old witch the scare of her life.
The moment that happened, Snape and Flitwick noticed McGonagall's reaction and before things could become awkward, Snape decided to try his luck with his pupil. After all, amongst the three of them he was probably the one that had a closer relation with the boy, and while there was no chance for him to admit it loudly, he had a soft spot for the boy.
"Grayson," he said in a low voice. "Look at me."
Thomas slowly turned his head and looked at Snape with the same lifeless eyes, making the potion master to rethink his strategy.
"Thomas," he continued. "I know this is hard to believe, but we are not here to accuse you or punish you. We are here to help you. We want to know what happened last night. We want to know why you left the castle and where you went. The students are talking and amongst all of them you were the only student missing."
While neither he nor his colleagues mention it, it was pretty clear that Adam, Michael, Ron and Harry left their rooms to search for him and because of that the four of the got attacked by the basilisk.
When he heard Snape's words, a tiny bit of light relit in the boy's eyes before he took a deep breath. "Hagrid had been taken by the ministry as the principal suspect for these petrifactions…" Thomas paused looking at the three professors for any reaction from them. Among the three of them, only Flitwick and McGonagall looked surprised to hear him mentioning that, while Snape only smirked, knowing very well just how smart his pupil was. "The reason for that is that he was also the very same or better said only suspect fifty years ago when Myrtle died, am I right professors?"
This time thought, even Snape was shocked to hear that despite being a fifty years age difference between the two incident and that Myrtle death was covered up by the ministry, someone as young as Thomas managed to figure out who the victim was.
"Judging by your reactions, it seems I guessed right. Anyways, as I was saying, Hagrid was the only suspect because of his pet Aragog, an acromantula big enough to eat a man whole. The only problem was that there are no known species of spider that can petrify a person, yet the ministry of magic was more than happy to throw Hagrid under the bus."
"Very well, Mr. Grayson. You have shown some remarkable deductive skills. But you have not answered our question. Where were you last night? Why did you leave the castle?"
For a second all three professors thought that Thomas will not answer, but to their surprised gave them a pained smile before explaining himself. "I left the castle hoping to find Hagrid's old friend deep in the Forbidden Forest. And after a good while I did find him or better said his children led me to him. Aragog and I talked and he did help me shed some light on this, mostly with information about his race and how while he does eat human meat, he will never go out of the forest to hunt for students, nor will his children. But what made me realize that Hagrid was innocent was the fact that he told me that the day Hagrid had been taken away from Hogwarts and him banished to the forest, another boy was there with them and apparently, they fought because that boy accused Hagrid, a gentle and somewhat scared boy. That's all professors."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Grayson. We were wrong to accuse you of such a crime. You are free to leave the office and once again I apologize for what we have done earlier."
Thomas didn't said anything to them other than bidding them a good day before leaving the office and heading straight for the infirmary.
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