Catalyst

Chapter 35: Return

One of the first things they taught Curse Breakers was that hesitation often meant death. In a dangerous situation, you either acted or you died. Simple as that. If you made a mistake and your arm got chopped off...well, arms are easier to replace than the people attached to them. As a curse breaker you either worked quickly or died slowly, and that was all there was to it.

Despite all of this, Adeviar still couldn't bring himself to open Hogwarts' imposing double doors. Logically, of course, there was no reason to wait. The monster hidden inside wasn't going anywhere, and the years of his life that it had stolen weren't going to return because of his hesitation. But to finally be able to put a face on the monster, on Abathur, only for that face to be Vivira and Faris's son...it was be the final punch line in his joke of a life. Minutes passed as Adeviar agonized over the front doors, until he finally mustered the willpower to push them inwards.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts, Mr. Byhumorn," Dumbledore said. He had been standing directly behind the doors. Of course he had. The old man had probably been waiting the entire time, too.

"Let's just get this over with," Adeviar responded. Even from behind his bandages, he could see the aged professor wincing at his voice. "I better things to do with my time than inspecting corpses."

"Thenabar is not a corpse, Adeviar. He lives and breaths as much as you and I," Dumbledore said. Adeviar ignored him, and began walking towards the monster. Even if he hadn't been familiar with the school, it would still have been impossible to go the wrong direction. The whispers behind his occlumency shields grew louder with every step he took towards it.

"A corpse, a vegetable, it makes little difference. Nothing survive possession for nearly 15 years," Adeviar said as he walked up a flight of stairs. "If there's anything left, I guarantee it will collapse under its own freedom in a matter of weeks."

"Have more faith in Thenabar. He has been freed from Abathur's influence for quite some time, and remains just as eloquent now as he was on day one."

Adeviar rolled his eyes. He could try to explain the effects of possession, how it warped and twisted the mind until there was nothing left but a crumbling wreck. But why bother? The headmaster was stupid enough to let Vivira and Faris's kid to get this far into this mess. He wasn't going to understand that he couldn't get him out of it.

Soon enough, Adeviar found the source of the whispers, hidden behind an unassuming door. He casually waved his wand, checking for traps. He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the extent of the monitoring wards and reinforcements he found. Even Azkaban didn't need this much security, because they relied on dementors. Still, there was nothing to specifically prevent him from entering. Without any further ceremony, he pushed the door open. Inside, he found a room, empty but for the bare necessities of living. A bed, a desk, a chair, and a stack of Runes textbooks were the only things in the room. Well, aside from the child who was reading one of the textbooks with an intent expression.

"Dumbledore? Who's this?" the child asked.

Dumbledore entered just behind Adeviar, composed as ever, despite what he had in here. "This is Adeviar, Thenabar. He is..."

"Oh, right, the summoner!. You found him?" the boy interrupted Dumbledore mid sentence, looking up from the book and revealing vibrant yellow eyes that were filled with a cold curiosity. Adeviar reflexively put up his occlumency shields. There was a probe coming from the boy, almost undetectable, and almost certainly inhuman.

"Headmaster, step outside for a minute," Adeviar said. Dumbledore looked at Adeviar with clear surprise on his face. Adeviar looked back, determination reinforcing his gaze. Eventually, the elder wizard relented, and Adeviar turned back to what appeared to be a young boy. "How long until you decide to stop hiding behind that face?