The Forest Guardians

29. HP Chapter 1

Note: Please read Chapter da Firenze because it is a continuation to HP Chapter 1.

Mike's POV

"Glad to have you here again, Professor Evans."

Professor Dumbledore warmly welcomed me when I stepped into the grounds of Hogwarts.

The wizened Professor, unfortunately, could not withstand harsh passage of time from the appearance of railroad tracks on his forehead, the crow's feet at the sides of his eyes, the evident laughter lines across his face and the long silvery beard. The last time that I saw him, he wasn't sporting such an intense collection.

"Please, it's been a pleasure working in Hogwarts the last time I was here, Professor." I humbly replied while shaking his hands with both of my hands. "Although... I'm not here for a teaching post, I'm more for the matter that I have written in the letter."

"Ahh..." His eyes twinkled. "But I think it's better if we talk after we fill our stomachs."

I glanced at the students brushing past me and entering the castle before feeling the faint rumble of my stomach. I nodded my head in agreement while feeling a slight heat in my cheeks. He chuckled before showing me into the castle.

~~~~~

"I see your office haven't changed much, Professor Dumbledore."

I eyed the intricate instruments on his table with thinly veiled interest. Being a fellow inventor myself, those instruments would have been great reference materials.

"Yes. Have a seat, Micheal."

He gestured towards the chairs in front of his office desk. Once I was seated, he pulled out my letter, along with the small vial of silvery substance that moved around.

I looked at him expectantly.

"This is a curious thing." He concluded.

I fought my urge to not scowl at him. That was definitely very helpful.

"And?"

My smile almost broke out into a sneer. I quickly schooled it.

As though sensing it, he merely gave a benign smile before pulling out another vial that contained a similar silvery substance. Except this substance did not moved like the one that Undertaker created.

"This vial that you have is a portion of a memory of your friend, I believe." He explained.

"This did come from my acquaintance."

I affirmed his statement. A wisp of memory? How is that possible?

"But, why is this moving while yours didn't?"

"I am not very sure, Micheal. As you can see, memories extracted from our minds should stay like this." He gestured at his bottle which the substance sat there quietly.

"Yet, your acquaintance has his memory moving around like it has a mind of its own."

He turned his hand to the bottle with the lively memory. He then folded his arms and sat back in his chair.

"Curious, very curious indeed."

"I presumed that you have no answer to why it can move around."

"Yes, but I think I'm getting close." He smiled kindly. "In the meantime, why don't you stay at Hogwarts and assist my teachers? While there is no available teaching post, I'm sure some teachers are willing to work with you."

I sighed in resignation.

"I'm guessing that there's no escape from you, am I right?"

He winked at me. "Who wouldn't want to stay a very good professor even if it's for a few weeks or months?"

I thought for a moment while gazing at the two vials of memories. Then my thoughts went to Omen who was stuck in the Young Sherlock Holmes World for probably more than a week. The thought of her safety when confronting a fearsome enemy. Then my thoughts shifted to the Library, where my comrades lay comatose in the makeshift sickbay.

Finally, they settled on my previous partner, Kagura Lee.

Her smiles.

Her laughter.

Her presence.

Even her death.

Although I didn't harbour a romantic love for her, she was a woman who gave an impactful impression to those around her. Despite my coldness towards her, both of us understood each other and worked well with one another that we were given dangerous reconnaissance missions because of our excellent teamwork.

If it hadn't been for that mission, she would have been...

I squeezed my eyes shut as a barrage of emotions like regret and anger came in.

Regret for my coldness. Regret that I had not truly treasure the time with her. Regret that I had not properly conveyed my heartfelt gratitude for her partnership.

And anger.

Anger for myself for not saving her. Anger at the Elders for sending us to such a Mission.

I took a deep breath to calm the raging storm within me and opened my eyes. I had to get stronger. I needed to awaken the ability to manipulate time with the help of Ravenna's pocket watch. For that to happen, I had to stay in this World.

"Alright, I will take up a teaching post while waiting for the results." 

~~~~~Author's Words~~~~~ 27 Dec 2020

*grabs a dustpan and a brush* 

Brush. Brush. Brush.

Looks a bit cleaner now. (^-^)

~~~~~Author's Words~~~~~ 3 April 2019

Okay... this is actually short. This is actually less than 800 words. I'm surprised!

Anyway, if you haven't noticed, you guys already met Kagura Lee before. :) Let's hope that the mention of her name in here didn't confuse you. There's not much development here but it would be nice to see what theories you guys formulated about the live memory and dumbledore's 'still' memory. Maybe, if there's an idea or theory that I like a lot, I may adopt it. Who knows?

The upcoming chapter may be slightly tricky cause my mid-years are coming up and the date is kinda close so... we will see but I'll just put the dates of update just in case: 28 April 2018

Until next time! (^o^)