Chapter 238

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-Tuesday-

I had just left the classroom, where we had a DADA class with Professor Lupin, who had finally recovered from the negative effects of transforming into a werewolf.

He, as expected, canceled our homework given by Professor Snape which was an essay where we had to research about werewolves and the ways to recognize one.

Professor Lupin obviously realized that this was a ploy by Professor Snape to reveal to us that he was a werewolf, which would consequently let everyone in the school know, as well as the students' parents, forcing Lupin to be withdrawn from the school.

A move worthy of a Slytherin, if we forget the fact that Professor Snape is only doing this out of an almost one-sided childish feud.

But that matter aside, my friends and I would find ourselves in the Great Hall having lunch.

I was eating a steak with caramelized onions and hot sauce while listening to my friends talk about the Gryffindor vs Slytherin match that was rescheduled for another day, when Penelope came up to me.

"Hi Ethan" she greeted me.

"Hi Penny" I said smiling at her, "What brings the most beautiful prefect in school to my presence?" I asked charmingly.

"Prat" she rolled her eyes but had a small smile on her face.

'"And he asks why Percy doesn't like him" Terry whispered to Anthony, who nodded.

"I'm here because Headmaster Dumbledore asked me to let you know that he would like to speak with you in his office after lunch," Penelope replied.

'It took longer than I was expecting' I thought, looking slightly at the staff table and seeing that the Headmaster was looking at me.

Catching my gaze the Headmaster nodded with a small smile, and I nodded back.

"Okay, I'll go see him" I said turning to Penelope.

"Fine, the password is Blackberry Lollipop, don't be late," she told me, and I nodded.

After that Penelope left to join her friends, and my friends turned to me.

"What did you do?" Terry immediately asked me.

"What do you mean?" I asked confused.

"Don't pretend you don't know. You must have done something for the Headmaster himself needs to call you into his office" Terry replied, and I just looked at him dryly.

"You make it sound like I only cause trouble," I said, frowning.

"And that's true," he said, and Anthony and Stephen nodded in confirmation.

"Fuck you," I said, my right eye twitching.

'I don't cause any trouble' I thought sullenly.

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-After lunch-

Arriving in front of the gargoyle that guarded the passage to the Headmaster's office, I gave the password and it opened for me, showing a spiral staircase.

I went downstairs and arrived in front of his office door, and I waited for the Headmaster to say something, but after a few seconds of silence I turned on my Magic Vision and noticed that there was no one in the office.

Shrugging I turned the knob, realizing the door was open.

'Well, he invited me and the door was open... I'm not breaking into his office, right?' I questioned myself, opening the door and stepping into the office.

"Headmaster?" I called looking around.

With no answer and alone inside the office, I used my senses to try to feel the Headmaster's magic.

Using my senses, I felt powerful, dense magic coming from behind a door at the back of the office, and I realized that this was probably the room that the Headmaster's dorm was in.

Deciding not to interfere with his privacy, I continued to look around curiously.

"Every time I come here I surprise myself with these knickknacks," I muttered.

"Hah, I feel the same way, and I've been working with Albus for almost 50 years!" I heard a familiar voice speak, and I turned around with a smile.

"It's been a long time Mr. Hat," I said, looking at the Sorting Hat who was also looking at me.

"Exactly 2 years and 69 days" Sorting Hat said to my surprise, "I am a magical object created by four powerful wizards. Memory problems are not something I have to worry about" he commented after noticing my surprise.

"This is amazing, and I should have expected this," I said.

"Awesome you say? I want to see how you would feel having to remember the personalities, thoughts, and complaints of every kid who's ever dressed you" Sorting Hat grumbled angrily, "Many of them weren't polite when talking to me, and some kids stank!"

Listening to him I huffed in amusement, finding the scene of a sentient hat complaining about his job amusing.

"I really can't imagine your suffering," I said amusedly, but Sorting Hat didn't notice.

"Yeah, it's a really hard life... And I have to do this every damn year," he said, and I looked at him in a mixture of sympathy and amusement.

Seeing the hat's depressed state, I started to think of a way to cheer him up, and immediately something came to mind.

"Oh wait, I have something you'll probably like a lot" I said, causing Sorting Hat to look at me curiously, or at least something I think is curiosity... it's hard to know because he has no face.

Questions about expression in animated objects aside, I reached into my bag and pulled out a magazine.

The magazine was a women's fashion magazine for witches that Sue had left with me a few weeks ago, but she forgot to ask for it back so I still had it with me.

'Hmm, she won't be upset that I'm giving this away, will she?' I wondered, but then I shrugged, 'Meh, later I'll give her a year's free subscription to this magazine' I thought.

Holding the magazine in my hand, I offered it to the Sorting Hat, who was looking at it curiously and confusedly.

"Well, this is for you Mr. Hat, a women's fashion magazine with lots of cute and charming witch hats" I said handing the magazine to Sorting Hat, "Now you can relieve your stress of having to sort lots of brats all the years" I said with a sly smile on my face.

"Huh?! What do you think I am?! A bloody pervert!?" the Sorting Hat exclaimed indignantly, but this was spoiled by the fact that he was hiding the magazine inside him.

"Nooo, I never thought that! I just thought you were a culture hat who likes to appreciate the beauties the world brings us, especially the female beauties" I told him with a deadly serious and dignified face, as if I was talking about something honorable.

'Urgh... Now I sound exactly like Terry and Anthony' I thought with disgust.

"Hmm, yes. I'm a culture hat" the Sorting Hat replied looking at me with its slits that were its eyes, and in that moment I felt that the respect he had for me since sorting had increased

And while my conversation with the Sorting Hat was going on, Headmaster Dumbledore, who had arrived at the office some time ago, was looking at our interaction with a dumbfounded but very amused look.

"Ahem. Glad to see you two are getting along well" he said, catching our attention, with the Sorting Hat quickly hiding the magazine.

"Oh! Albus! How long have you been there?" the Sorting Hat asked.

"Long enough" the Headmaster said with a slight amused smile.

"Uhm...err... Well, I know you two have something to talk about, so I'll leave you to your business... And I have something to do, hehehe" the Sorting Hat laughed pervertedly.

He then turned around, acting as if nothing had happened, leaving the Headmaster and me staring at his back in amazement at his utter lack of shame.

Turning to the Headmaster I noticed that he was now looking at me with an accusatory gaze, and I raised my hands innocently.

"Blame this sinful society," I said, and the Headmaster snorted in amusement.

"Well, sinful societies aside, I guess we have to talk," he said, and I nodded. He then went to his seat behind his desk and pointed to the seat in front of him, "Come, have a seat"

And wasting no time I went and sat down, looking at the Headmaster curiously, but inside I was wary.

I didn't know why the Headmaster would want to talk to me, but whatever the reason, it's probably something important, and if it's important to the Headmaster then it's also important and even worrying to me.

As I reflected on this the Headmaster looked at me, and I could see an internal battle going on inside him.

His emotions showed fear, worry, sadness and disappointment, and this left me very confused, as none of these emotions were something I expected to come from him in this conversation of ours.

"Sigh..." the Headmaster then sighed, and I noticed how tired he looked, "I know this may seem sudden, but I called you here because I have a request for you" he said.

"Huh?" and I replied unintelligently.

'Okay, now I'm really confused' I thought.

"You have every right to refuse my request Ethan, but I wouldn't make this request to you if it wasn't important," he said, and I looked at him for a moment.

"Sigh, I'm not saying I accept your request, but it would be wrong of me not to listen to what you have to say" I said, and even though I knew I hadn't accepted his request I could see the Headmaster's shoulders relax as he heard my answer.

"Thanks Ethan, that's enough, and I couldn't ask for more from you" he said.

The Headmaster then started looking at his hands, rearranging his thoughts, before he looked at me again.

"I'm worried a lot about a classmate of yours. He's been through a lot, and I was hoping his years at Hogwarts would make up for his bad childhood, but things didn't go as planned," he said regretfully.

Listening to the beginning of his explanation I started to realize that from the beginning this conversation wasn't about me, that it was what I expected and what worried me.

But that's not all I noticed, I also noticed the slight changes in the Headmaster's emotions when he talked about this classmate of mine, and I've only seen him show this kind of emotion when talking or thinking about a single person, at least until this moment.

And with the beginning of his explanation talking about this student's life, I immediately discovered who he was.

'So it's about Harry' I realized, somewhat relieved to know the topic wasn't about me, but now worried to know it was about a friend of mine.

I had already noticed that there was something wrong with Harry, but if even the Headmaster noticed and called me to his office to talk about it, then that means things are really bad.

'Now my question is: Why did the Headmaster want to talk about Harry with me and what is his request?' I asked myself, and no matter how much I thought, no answer came to my mind.

'Sigh… I think if the subject of the conversation were me things would be simpler…' I thought wearily.

End.

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(End AN: In my country, it's almost summer, but it's already very hot. These last few days the temperature reached 30°C (86°F), and for someone who hates the heat, I felt like I was about to die.)