28 Dark Lord in Training
[Hogwarts, Gryffindor Common Room, February 22nd, 1992]
It's been a month since Moses spent his Christmas holiday with his loved ones. Moses, after spending his Christmas in Poland, came home three days later. His remaining days were spent in the orphanage playing, telling stories, and taking care of his orphaned siblings. He also had a picnic with Sister Lily by the lake one morning. And as usual, Sister Lily bought all of Moses's favorites — potato dishes.
After spending his holidays with people that he loves and cherishes, he decided that it was about time for him to return to Hogwarts. This leads us to this situation.
"Don't play," said Hermione at once.
"Say you're ill," said Ron.
"Pretend to break your leg," Hermione suggested.
"Really break your leg," said Ron.
"Or maybe, how about you just do your best, Harry? You're the best at flying, don't let your fear fail you, mate. Better to try and fail, than having the regret of not trying. I mean, what could go wrong, right? And besides, if Snape did something, we will watch out for you, mate." Moses said, trying to comfort Harry. With his words, Ron and Harry looked at each other with defeated smiles, while Harry looked at Moses appreciatively.
"Thanks, mate," said Harry with a smile, to which Moses just replied with a nod as he once again dove deep into the book that he was holding.
At that moment, Neville came in with a Leg-Locker curse. Everyone laughed at his trouble except Ron, Harry, and Moses, who could care less considering the leniency of the situation, while Hermione stood up and immediately canceled Neville's curse with a counterspell. Neville's legs sprang apart, and he got to his feet, trembling.
"What happened?" Hermione asked him, leading him over to sit with Harry and Ron.
"What could it be other than Malfoy and his gangs of misfits," Moses commented with a hint of rare seriousness in his voice.
Moses, for the most part, had been a carefree boy, as most have seen him. But there are times when he can be a stern, unforgiving, and manipulative person, even though he is completely unaware of this. He's the kind of guy that doesn't care about the means to put an end to, if there is a fast solution, then it will be his solution, and being efficient is always his preferred moment, especially when he knows that his choices and solutions are right and justified.
Moses stood up and took a step towards Neville. He looked Neville dead in the eyes, causing the chubby boy to shiver and feel uncomfortable.
"Look, Neville, I'm going to go blank in front of you. No one can get to decide who you are, not even the talking hat." Moses said solemnly while holding both of Neville's shoulders as he continued,
"If you wanna be brave, then you can be brave, if you want to be smart, then you can be smart. We can be everything, and we can do anything that we want, Neville. We are wizards and witches for Merlin's sake! The moment that we came out of our mother's womb is also the moment that we rise and shall conquer our fears! We are wizards! We are witches! We are built different!" Moses said with angst, and Neville, who was shivering before, gained a little bit of bravery and stood up straight.
The entire group of Gryfinddor students who heard Moses' speech stood like statues by the side. They watched Moses with a different, absorbing glint in their eyes.
"Remember this, everyone: in every story, there is a hero and a villain, and right now, Malfoy, who's bullying Neville, is a villain. Now tell me — who is the hero." Moses declared while gazing at the other students with ferocity in his eyes.
"WE ARE!" Seamus shouted like a warrior.
"YEAH!" The other Gryffindors shouted with ferocity, like warriors. Moses stopped their shouts with a raised hand as he continued,
"And what do we do with the villains?" He uttered making the other's eyes go wide in glee, each of them adorned with a mad smile.
"We defeat them!", "We bury them under the ground!",. We kil—"
The Gryffindor fell along the pandemonium while shouting amongst themselves while Moses sneakily dragged Neville, Ron, Hermione, and Harry out of everyone's view leaving the crazed Gryffindor, shouting berserk.
"Moses! Why in Merlin's beard do you need to do that?" Ron inquired, his tone becoming irritated.
"Well...— I just tried something I read in a book, I was testing it on Harry a while ago when I comforted him, I didn't know it could go so well," Moses replied while rubbing the back of his head while smiling apologetically.
"What book was it?" Hermione asked in haste.
"Well it is entitled, — [Controlling the Minds as a Leader—G.G.]" Moses replied as he read the title of the book. He raised its cover for the four to see.
"Controlling the minds? Isn't that dark magic?" Ron squints his eyes at Moses.
"Well, it's not a book about spells, it's a book about politics!" Moses retorted while rolling his eyes at Ron.
"Let me read that after you finish," Hermione added with an interesting glint in her eyes.
"Sure" replied Moses with an innocent smile, while the other two boys just shook their heads in acceptance.
"—Vive la résistance!"
"..."
"Btw, Harry. D'you want the card, you collect them, don't you?" Neville interjected as he gave Harry his Chocolate Frog Card. Harry opened it and was annoyed to see Dumbledore again, but when he looked at the back of the card, he widened his eyes.
"I've found him!" he whispered.
"I've found Flamel! I told you I'd read the name somewhere before, I read it on the train coming here — listen to this: 'Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel'!" Harry exclaimed in excitement while looking at Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Moses with wide eyes.
"So?" Moses asked in confusion as he continued,
"I've already told the three of you about him, righ — not right..." Moses muttered in a daze as he realized something.
"What do you mean you already told us abo — Don't tell me! You already knew about it!" Hermione exclaimed in a wrongful tone while pointing her finger at Moses.
"Well...it's not that I deliberately didn't tell you, it's that I forgot to tell you; there's a difference, you see?"
"Don't make excuses, Moses!" Hermione exclaimed with a blaming look, seemingly scolding Moses.
After Hermione's long berating and reprimanding, the five of them went to the library, where the four Gryffindors found out about Nicholas Flamel and everything that his Philosopher's Stone can do.
--------------------------------------------
It's been a day since Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Neville found out about the Philosopher's Stone and its creator in the library. Harry, even though he's still afraid of anything that Snape might do to him during the play, in the end, he still decided to play as a seeker in his match against the Hufflepuffs. As he started the play nervously, he suddenly remembered what Moses told him before, causing him to look at Hermione, Ron, and Moses, who's currently yawning in the stands.
He looked at them and smiled confidently, and with that confidence and a little bit of fear from Snape, he managed to catch the snitch as fast as he could, causing the stands to erupt in cheers; it had to be a record, after all, no one could ever remember the snitch being caught so quickly.
Harry, while holding his Nimbus, smiled in contentment. He'd really done something to be proud of now — no one could say he was just a famous name any more. He was in the middle of the broomshed, trying to store his broom in it, when suddenly a hooded figure came swiftly down the front steps of the castle. Clearly not wanting to be seen, it walked as fast as possible toward the forbidden forest. Harry saw it and thought,
'Snape, sneaking into the forest while everyone else was at dinner—what was going on?' He thought to himself as he jumped back on his Nimbus Two Thousand and took off towards the dark forest.
----------------------
"How dark the midnight sky is, the howling wolves, the flapping bat, it sounds so perfect in my ears. It would have been more perfect if the school were right beside a graveyard, isn't that right, Whompy?" An impassive tone of voice said unemotionally. Wednesday, being an avid loner, she decided she needed some alone time during the feasts, which is why she's currently atop the branches of the Whomping Willow Tree, gazing at the pitch-black abyss that surrounded the full moon's brightness.
The ever-moving tree responded to her question by gently caressing Wednesday's cheek with one of its small branches.
"Ichabold would miserably love to meet you, Whompy." Wednesday commented with her deadpan voice, when she suddenly noticed a shadowy figure appear in her view. It was being followed by someone she knew who was flying a broomstick, She looked at it and thought,
'Interesting...' As she followed the gliding boy in the dark forest.
'Occultare...'
