Next to you

Chapter 12

Oscar was frantically running through the hallways of the castle. When they came back from Hogsmeade, he went to search for Hu Yetao to give him the candies he had bought as a souvenir for him, but he couldn't find him anywhere. Meanwhile he had noticed a bit of commotion on the first floor. Professors were clearly agitated and some students were whispering to each other. Something was wrong. Oscar was having a bad feeling about this.

Caelan and Keyu who were with him were trying to stop some students to ask them what was going on, but none of them knew the answer since most of them had just come back from Hogsmeade like him and his friends. They only said that Professors were nervous because something had happened to a couple of students. The urge to find Yetao grew bigger and bigger in Oscar's mind.

When they arrived near the Hospital Wing, they saw a crowd of people standing in front of the door and Professor Zhennan trying to disperse it. "Please, students, go back to your dorm. Don't stand here. We need to clear the path." As soon as they got close, Oscar saw how Zhennan's face was as pale as a corpse and how his usual young and fresh look was replaced by a mature and tired one.

Finally the students went away, leaving just Oscar, his friends and the Professor in the hallway. "Oscar." Zhennan said his name with a broken voice.

Oscar was about to go crazy. "What happened, Professor?"

Zhennan took a deep breath. "Promise me you'll keep calm, okay?" Oscar was sure his heart had stopped beating. He couldn't talk. He felt Caelan and Keyu's hands on his shoulders. Since no answer came from Oscar's mouth, Zhennan continued. "The Caretaker found Yetao unconscious in the Forbidden Forest. There are a few burns on his body ... and traces of the Cruciatus Curse. Thankfully his life is not in danger."

Oscar's world collapsed, just like his legs. His friends sustained him. Yetao was fine and safe that morning. How was it possible?

"What happened?" Keyu asked.

"Apparently he was in the forest with AK to find some plant for the Herbology greenhouses. Some dark wizards were there to kidnap students for who knows what reason and caught AK. Yetao freed him and to let him escape he stayed behind. We don't know the rest since Yetao is still unconscious." Zhennan answered.

"What? AK was with Yetao? And he left him behind to save himself? And why would they search for a plant in the Forbidden Forest in the first place?" Caelan said, astonished.

Zhennan sighed. "AK said that Yetao tried to protect him because his wand was taken by the wizards. As for the second question, according to AK, Professor Zhou Shen instructed him to plant a Bubotuber, but the Professor said that he had never written this order on the list he gave him. However we have analyzed the list and found out that it was actually written with the Professor's special pen that he always carries with him wherever he goes. The probability we are taking into consideration is that someone had used some kind of spell to alter the list."

"You mean that they were sent to the forest on purpose? To fall into the trap of those dark wizards?" Keyu asked, shocked. Zhennan nodded. "But who were those wizards?"

"No clue. AK said they were covering their faces with a hood. We only know that there were five of them. There was no way Yetao could defeat them by himself. Professors who went to the forest to investigate saw traces of burned clothes and blood in the area in which Yetao was found, a sign that they ran away."

For Oscar it was like he was underwater. The conversation was so muffled to his ears. He couldn't think, he couldn't stand, he couldn't talk. Since the moment he heard the name of the Unforgivable Curse, his mind had stopped working and his heart was throbbing painfully in his chest. "Can I see him?" He managed to say, but his voice was almost a whisper.