William Revenous

William Revenous Chapter Eight - A Meeting with Dumbledore (1)

The air was warm. That was the first thought that came to William's mind when he regained consciousness. He remembered a lot happened all at once. His dream from last night came awfully close to reality, though metaphorically. I almost killed Cedric with my spell. And Dumbledore managed to counter it. Or did he? What happened in the last few seconds? It all went so fast. 

He tried moving his body, unsuccessfully. Next up he attempted to open his eyes. It was difficult, but slowly he managed it. But all he could see was one big bright blur. So it didn't help much.

He spotted some movement to the left of him. And as his vision slowly came back, his hearing did as well. 
"Good morning Will. Did you sleep well?", Cedric asked. 
"How.. Long.. Was..", William tried to speak. But he couldn't manage a full sentence even. 

"You have been in a coma for two weeks", Cedric said after a brief pause. 

"Two... Weeks?", William's eye widened. His breathing became irregular, "Just kidding. Don't forget to breathe!", Cedric added quickly. "We have been here for five hours or so. We just missed dinner. But the elves were nice enough to give us a menu to use. Courtesy of Dumbledore of course. We can just name what we want and it will appear on a plate for us to eat. He mentioned that the second you order something, he will know that you're awake. Apparently he wants to talk to us." 

"I see", William responded dimly. He felt he could move his fingers again.
"I am fine by the way, thanks for asking", Cedric said with a sneaky grin on his face, "Maybe you will get punished for almost killing your best friend."

"Would he?", William asked worriedly. 

"Nah", Cedric said reassuringly. "I think he would commend rather than punish."

After a few minutes of silence William tried to grab the menu and five minutes later succeeded. "Salmon. Lots of Salmon", he muttered after studying the menu. A big plate of shrimp appeared out of thin air on a big metal plate, hovering over the hospital bed. There was a card attached with an apology from the Elves that it took so long. One minute, William thought. Knowing the elves. That was a smudge on their perfect record. Something must have gone terribly wrong. He imagined an house elf teleport with their unique kind of magic to.. Norway or something and dive into the sea from a Fjord, grabbing a Salmon and then teleport it right into the kitchen, before preparing it for William and teleport it.  He slowly started  to eat his dish. Cedric in the meantime was ordering a second helping of chocolate frog ice cream. They jumped a lot slower, and had a little bit more bite than the regular chocolate frogs they ate in the train to Hogwards. 

"Good evening", A voice out of the blue made Cedric and William jump up. "Ah your reaction skills are back. That is good to hear. You both used an excessive amount of Magic. It's a miracle things turned out this well, If I am perfectly honest", Dumbledore said while he appeared out of the blue. 

"No invisibility cloak. Impressive", Cedric said. 

"But it wasn't camouflage either", William said. "That would take up a lot more magical energy though. How did you do that professor Dumbledore?"

"Never mind that", Dumbledore said with a gesture that it wasn't a big deal at all. "Let us talk about what has happened five hours ago. And let me be clear. Everything we talk about right now will stay between us, alright?"
"Alright", Cedric and William said as one. 

"As far as I am aware. You two performed the fire and shield spell in professor Flittwick's class. As William might remember before he fainted, I erased the memory of all that occurred from everyone in the classroom. Even the professor himself", Dumbledore said. 

"Does that really work? I always thought, like the Imperius curse, that there must be some kind of awareness that your memory is modified", Cedric said. 

"Well. Let me just put it this way. You two did not remember the last few times it happened, did you?"

"Ah..", Cedric said. 

"Always the same story with you Hufflepuffs. You accidentally discover some kind of hidden power, cause a huge scene, and then prefer it to be stowed away completely. If it wasn't for the Sorting Hat's unexpected story this year, I would just be grasping at straws still", Dumbledore said. 

"Thank you. We really appreciate it", William said. 

"Don't mention it", Dumbledore muttered. "I mean.. really don't. With your skill you could easily be viewed as a threat to the Ministry of Magic. Just to get rid of you, all they really have to do is burn a house down. Claim that you're one of Voldemort's lackeys and send you to Azkaban before you can say 'False Flag'. 

William swallowed. That was the last thing he wanted. 

"Cedric.. you have something else to consider", Dumbledore Continued. "With the shield spell affinity that you have, and trust me that It will become even more powerful over time, you will just as easily become the ministry's prey, have your memory modified, and will be used as a shield for the Minister of Magic himself!"

After a brief silence Dumbledore continued. 

"I take it both of you do not want that to happen?"

Both Cedric and William shook their heads. 

"But is my shield spell really that unique? I imagine hundreds of people being able to cast a shield spell. It is one of the most basic spells you can learn when it comes to defending yourself. Heck, I imagine it would even be possible to cast such a spell on a piece of clothing, if you really wanted to", Cedric said. 

"Ah. But not every shield spell is as dense as yours, especially at your age. If I were to put up a shield, I would be able to cast a shield three times as strong as yours. But in a few decades, you might even be able to block the Avada Kadavra curse non verbally", Dumbledore said with a dramatic tone in his voice. William felt a tremble of excitement in Dumbledore's voice. 

"Wow", William said astounded. By comparison his fire was completely useless.

"Alright. Then it's settled. You both know the consequences when this comes to light. Now on to more practical matters. Your wands."

"Yes, I was about to ask that. What happened to ours?", Cedric asked. 

"They both exploded", Dumbledore said simply. "Your wands couldn't handle the amount of magic power you both release when you conduct your... Let's call them your'signature spells'. 

"Do you have a signature spell?", William asked. 

"Perhaps, but if you don't mind I keep it to myself", Dumbledore grinned mysteriously. "Let's just say that I found myself the wand that could contain my Signature Spells. And so should you. I have sent an Owl to Ollivander to inform him that you two will need some custom made wands. You two will be leaving in the morning, as you cannot attend most classes without a wand. 

"Thank you so much Dumbledore", William said. "How can we ever thank you?"

"Well", Dumbledore said. "I think it's time for you two to tell me what happened last year. Does that sound fair?"

Cedric and William looked puzzled at each other. He wouldn't mean..

"Someone", Dumbledore said playfully, "in my absence, sent my phoenix in aid of Harry Potter."

He patiently awaited Cedric and William's reactions. They had trouble hiding their surprise. How did he know? And did that mean he also knows about-, but his line of thought was interrupted.

"Also", Dumbledore continued, as the twinkle in his eyes became even clearer. "After the teachers left the Secret room of Slytherin, I climbed up the huge status and found a few remarkable dead bodies. So as a way to thank me.. Will you two tell me what happened?"