Fire And Ice - Yin and Yang (Harry Potter fanfiction)

Malfoy's nose

"So, just so I understand this," said Sir Nicholas slowly, "You want us to spy on a professor?"

Periwinkle nodded firmly.

"And report to you what he is doing."

Another nod.

"Without telling anyone else."

Yessir, Periwinkle thought and nodded again.

"...Why?"

"Because something is off about him," Periwinkle explained. "I need to find that monster and I have to start somewhere. Maybe Lockhart and the monster are connected."

"Do you remember how I told you last year, that the auras of you and your sister are exceptionally strong?" asked Sir Nicholas.

Periwinkle nodded.

"It could be that you two are developing this mind connection due to that. Maybe Lockhart has nothing to do with it."

"Maybe. Maybe not."

A loud bang went through the old classroom. Periwinkle looked aside, finding Peeves floating upside down, holding a pile of books, which he was dropping one by one.

"Remind me again, why I should join you in this little mission, Half-Potter?" said Peeves and dropped another book.

"Because you love pranking people," said Periwinkle dryly. "And if you happen to accidentally drop a water bomb or two over Lockhart, I wouldn't say no to that."

Peeves straightened up instantly. "Now that is an excellent point, Half-Potter."

"My name isn't Half-Potter," said Periwinkle annoyed.

"As long as you don't have your twin around, it is," cackled Peeves. "Maybe I'll call you HP for short."

"Ghosts are not allowed to spy on anyone," sniffed the Fat Friar.

"But maybe you could just- keep an eye out for anything odd?" Periwinkle tried again. "Please?"

Sir Nicholas looked at her and sighed. "Fine," he relented, "I shall see what I can do."

"PEEVES IS OFF TO PREPARE SOME WATER BOMBS!" Peeves yodeled, did a tap dance through the air and shot through the ceiling.

The Fat Friar shot Periwinkle a look. "I will do as much as the rules allow me too," he said firmly, "Even the ghosts are growing wary of this mysterious illness."

"Thank you, sir," said Periwinkle relieved.

****

Hermione and Ron agreed to help Periwinkle keep an eye on Lockhart, although Hermione was positively sure that the wizard was innocent of all crime.

The weeks passed and nothing happened. Except that Peeves stayed true to his word and dropped a ballon filled with water on the wizard whenever he went to the restroom. Aside from that, Lockhart kept prancing around in his classroom, now refraining from releasing any more pixies, and no more students fell ill. But the sick ones never woke up.

Periwinkle spent hours every day in the hospital wing to watch her sister through the cloth, which Madam Pomfrey turned transparent for her. She felt miserable, not knowing what she could do to get her sister to wake up.

And she thought it was stupid that the cloth had to remain in place. She was convinced this 'sickness' was due to the monster feeding on the victims' souls, and that it was not contagious.

But with every passing day, the possibility that neither Azalea, nor the other students, would ever get better, became more and more real. Periwinkle had begun to realize that at some point, the monster would have sucked out everything out of the sick patients and left nothing behind except a dead corpse. Just like it had done to the four children.