Chapter 61
That night—unexpected yet strangely ordinary—passed, and only a handful of people in the entire school knew what had happened in the Forbidden Forest. Among them, perhaps only one or two had grasped even a fragment of the true thread of events.
Even so, what they believed to be the truth was partial at best, leaving them trapped within the deeper fog of reality.
Harry woke the next morning in a state of high excitement. His Invisibility Cloak—the one he had lost on the Astronomy Tower—had mysteriously reappeared beside his bed during the night, folded just as neatly as when it had first arrived, like a Christmas present.
Pinned to it was a small note that read simply:
Just in case.
Harry couldn't work out who had returned it, or what "just in case" was supposed to mean, but he was delighted all the same.
When he had lost the cloak on the Astronomy Tower, he had been heartbroken for days. It was the last thing his father had left him, and he had managed to lose it.
"If you ask me, it was Professor Dumbledore," Hermione said at breakfast, offering her theory.
"Only Professor Dumbledore could have done it. He's been Headmaster for decades. Perhaps your father was one of his students back then, and Dumbledore kept the cloak safe before passing it on to you."
"Then what does 'just in case' mean?" Harry asked.
Hermione frowned in thought, ignoring the toast in front of her.
"I know!" Ron burst out suddenly. When Harry and Hermione turned to look at him, his voice grew even more excited. "It's definitely telling us to protect the Philosopher's Stone on the fourth floor. Professor Dumbledore must be worried that if he's ever away from the school, Snape will try to steal it—so he wants us to stop him."
"Yes! That has to be it," Harry agreed, his face flushing with enthusiasm. "Professor Dumbledore is counting on us to guard the Stone whenever he's not here."
Hermione felt something didn't quite fit, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She turned to Gray, who had been lost in thought all morning.
"Gray, what do you think?"
Gray had spent the entire breakfast replaying the previous night—especially Dumbledore's comment about his Flame Charm—so he hadn't paid much attention to the trio's speculation until now.
At Hermione's question, he pulled his thoughts back, considered for a moment, and let three points of light appear in front of them.
"That makes sense."
Seeing that Gray agreed, Harry and Ron became even more animated, their eyes practically shining.
Gray gave a small smile and said nothing more.
Dumbledore and Snape's appearance the night before made it clear they were far from ignorant about what was happening at Hogwarts. They likely even knew Quirrell had thrown in his lot with Voldemort.
The return of Harry's Invisibility Cloak—and the cryptic note—were obviously part of another of Dumbledore's carefully laid plans.
Whether the Headmaster intended to use Harry to test Voldemort's current state or had some other purpose in mind, it was none of Gray's concern. As always, he preferred to let Harry's story unfold on its own—unless it directly involved him.
One question did occur to him, though.
Did Dumbledore know that Voldemort was currently possessing Quirrell?
Gray had no answer to that.
Another important reason he wanted to stay out of Harry and Voldemort's story was the difficulty of explaining how he had come by certain pieces of information. If he couldn't explain clearly, and Dumbledore decided to use Legilimency to probe his memories… that would be problematic.
Under normal circumstances, Dumbledore held himself to the highest moral standards and would never casually invade someone's mind. But when it came to Voldemort, he might make an exception and bend his own rules.
Gray's little tricks might be enough to overpower a weakened Voldemort, but they would have no effect whatsoever against Dumbledore. He was under no illusions about that.
"So what actually happened last night?" Ron asked curiously, breaking into the silence. "Harry, Hermione—what did you run into?"
He had only found out that morning that their detention had taken them into the Forbidden Forest. The news had given him a shock, but at least Harry and Hermione had come back unharmed.
As for Gray… well, though Ron hated to admit it, Gray went into the Forest practically every week. To him, it was probably safer than Flying lessons.
Oh—and Malfoy. How on earth had he managed not to get himself killed in there?
Ron felt genuinely disappointed about that.
"Nothing much," Harry said. "We were with Hagrid the whole time. It was safe—just cold."
"Then we saw the red sparks in the sky," Hermione continued. "We were about to go and help when Professor Dumbledore appeared and told us to follow him back to the castle. He said other professors were already on their way."
She turned to Gray. The real events had happened on his side, and he hadn't yet had a chance to tell them the details.
"At first it was just me and Malfoy…" Gray began. He summoned points of light that hovered before them, illustrating the story like scenes from a book unfolding in real time.
They had all been too exhausted when they returned the previous night to talk properly. Only now, at breakfast, had they finally gathered to compare notes.
"…and in the end, the cloaked figure escaped, leaving only this behind." Gray set the small bottle of allicin extract on the table.
"Then the centaurs and Professor Snape arrived—drawn by the Flame Charm I'd cast."
"That's the whole story."
Hermione picked up the bottle, unscrewed the cap, and a powerful, pungent smell immediately rolled out, killing everyone's appetite at the table.
She quickly resealed it.
"It's allicin," she said. "The same smell that always clings to Professor Quirrell."
"Snape could carry it too," Harry said quickly. "He's the Potions master."
"So you're saying the person Gray met last night—the one in the cloak—was Snape?" Ron asked. "He's the one hurting the magical creatures in the Forest? But why?"
"Unicorn blood can prolong life," Hermione explained. "It can keep someone who is dying clinging to existence—but only barely. And it carries the unicorn's curse. That's all written in books."
"Only one person would do that," Harry said, catching on fast. "And he wouldn't care about the curse, would he?"
Ron's eyes widened as he realized who Harry meant. Fear crept across his face.
"No, Harry—don't say the name."
"Ron, you've got to get over your fear," Harry said encouragingly. "Voldemort's name isn't anything special. Anyone can say it."
Hearing the name only made Ron more terrified.
Hermione felt nothing in particular. She had grown up in the Muggle world for her first twelve years; she hadn't been raised on stories of Voldemort the way the others had. If anything, she found tales of hags and ghosts far more frightening.
"So that's it," Hermione concluded. "Gray's Flame Charm was so powerful we could see the firelight from the other side of the Forest. Snape must have been startled and fled in a hurry, dropping this bottle in the process."
"No," Harry said slowly. "There might be another possibility."
[Thank you Josh Kindred for pledge]
***
Tl/N : Want to read more of this [+40 Chapter ] and support me, join me on patreon.com/WeirdSensei