CHAPTER 25 – The weigh of the first time

Inside the Forbidden Forest outside of the Castle Grounds, where the corpse of a forest troll rested, the sound of horses running appeared.

"Over here!" The sounds of the horses came closer, and from between the trees, a creature came running. Saying it was a man wasn't correct, the same if we thought of it as a horse.

"What's that?" One of the creatures, a centaur, asked while getting closer to the corpse. "A troll of the forest? What happened to it…"

"I don't know…" Another centaur answered him. "Huh? Look there! There's a fire over there!" He pointed towards another part of the forest, close to the corpse, where a field of fire was raging.

"Use the earth to put it off! We can't let it spread any further." The first centaur to get closer to the corpse ordered and the other ten centaurs moved to kill the fire that's been raging and slowly spreading.

"What do you think happened here, Mortax?" One of the centaurs, one with dark brown skin and long curly hair with a slightly pale mane asked came to ask.

"I'm not sure Orion, I'm not sure…" Mortax, a centaur with pale human skin and blond hair, with clear blue eyes looked up at the sky. "There's nothing in the sky that warns us of another change to the future…"

"But… This isn't the first troll we found dead while coming here. Someone has been killing them, they all have the same injury." Orion tells Mortax while looking at the dead troll.

"That, I know, my friend." Mortax also answered while looking down at the troll's corpse.

"Mortax, Orion! We found more clues!" Another centaur came towards them. "That way! They seem like steps, they have quite a distance between each other."

"The culprit must have run towards that direction then…" Orion said with a frown.

"But that's not all. Over there." The same centaur also pointed towards another place, and all the centaurs went towards that place.

"Have you ever seen such a monstrous creature? Orion?" Mortax asked.

"They're a bear and a wolf. But not with sizes I've seen before…" Orion's frown deepened.

"There are more footprints here…"

"Are they the same footprints, Lanus?" Mortax asked.

"…" After thinking for a little bit, Lanus, a brown-skinned centaur with black hair and a brown mane shook his head. "No, these are different. Biggers." He then pointed a little further away. "Those footprints are the ones that ran away."

"Maybe…" Orion said while rubbing his chin. "Two people fought?"

"No. There were three people here."

"Mm… *sigh…* Let's go back. I don't think we'll have any luck today." Mortax said after shaking his head.

"But!"

"Morax! We still can catch the culprit!"

"Stop, Orion… We've been running nonstop since the moment we heard the fights. And look." Morax pointed towards the corpses of the animals. "If I'm not mistaken, those are the footprints we've been following since the start. And now they're dead. We don't know if the culprit is even alive, he could be dead, just like these creatures, that I assume were with him."

"But…" Orion tried to protest.

"It's okay, my friend. If the culprit is alive, he may come back. Let's go back."

Morax then led the ten centaurs back to their camp, taking a glance to the sky every now and then, to see if the stars have changed, but with no luck.

***

Back at Hogwarts, an hour later, Logan finally made it back to his room. Levitating towards his room's windows, and getting inside along with Muninn.

Completely exhausted. He didn't even try to take off his clothes. He merely took off his shoes and dropped himself on the bed. His mind weighing more than his body. Hoping to finally get some rest.

Meanwhile, Muninn stood on the bird's stall, looking at Logan with a curious glance for a few minutes, as if thinking, reviewing what just happened back in the forest. Moments later, the raven also decided to rest. Not before giving one more quick-glance towards the resting boy.

***

The next day, Logan woke up late, it was well past lunch-time, he didn't leave the room, and barely eat a few things he had in his inventory from Friday's lunch. Muninn wasn't anywhere else to be seen.

Instead of going out of his room, he took a few books out and started reading, barely able to understand whatever he read, skipping through the words with an absent mind.

He expended all his afternoon trying to read the same book until dinner time came. Not having food in his inventory, he decided to go to the Great Hall to eat, or at least try to.

***

Inside the Great Hall, on Ravenclaw's table, both William and Roger were talking among themselves with a worried face.

"What if…-" Roger tried to speak but was quickly interrupted by William.

"No, no more petrified students have appeared for the moment, Logan is surely fine. He must be around the castle, in the library, or his room as usual." William said, his worriedness still betrayed by his face.

"But we haven't seen him since yesterday…" Roger continued. "You know that's not normal… He may skip free-times, but it's quite hard for him to miss breakfast or lunch, the SAME day!"

"He might just be kind of focused on whatever he's doing, okay? We have to hope nothing wrong happened to him." William tried to comfort his friend.

"*sigh…* I don't know, man…" While Roger just shook his head.

"Look! There he is!" After a few moments, William spoke, pointing towards the entrance of the Great Hall. "I told you he was fine!"

"*sigh…* I'm glad that's true…" Roger nodded while looking at the incoming Logan, who despite his friends' cheerfulness, was still walking while looking down, slowly moving through the seats of Ravenclaw's table towards his friends.

"What happened to you, dude!? You've been missing all day!" Roger asked him after Logan took a seat beside him.

"Huh…?" Logan, who tried to start eating as soon as he sat down, looked towards Roger. "Oh, sorry, I've been studying and stuff… I'm fine."

"Really? You don't look fine, man…" William answered from the other side of the table.

"Trust me, I'm fine." Logan forced himself to smile. "Maybe is just all this about the curse that got me kind of low." He shrugged.

"Are you sure?" Roger tried to pry further.

"Yeah, I'm fine, really."

"Okay, man… If you say so." Finally, they both stop asking, and instead started talking about the few things that happened around the castle during the week and how the upperclassmen were quite scared that the curse would impact them like the past years.

All the while, Logan just quietly ate, absent-minded. As if thinking hard about something, which both friends noticed, but didn't say anything about. They just kept talking, trying to bring their friend into the conversation, but Logan at most answered with a few words, or barely nodded or shook his head, giving a few forced smiles now and then.

After dinner, he excused himself, stood up, and went back towards his room. Leaving his friends looking at him still worried.

"He's… not okay, right?" Roger asked.

"No…" William shook his head. "Maybe all this about the curse is really weighing down on his mind?"

"*sigh…* I don't know man… I, too, am sad about Jake, but I try to at least keep myself focused, you know?" Roger said with an awkward face.

"I know what you mean…" William nodded. "It may sound kind of bad… But it's not like he's been with us all the time, right? He almost always disappears to who knows where."

"Precisely… *sigh…*"

"Hey, freshmen!" A sudden energetic voice surprised them both. "How have you been doing?" It was Tulip Karasu.

"Oh... Um, fine." William answered.

"Yes, we've been good." Roger followed with a nod.

"I'm glad. Say…" She started to speak once again. "What happens to your friend?"

"Um? Oh, nothing, he's just been worried, that's all." Roger said.

"Really? He looked quite down…" Tulip said as she glanced at the entrance of the hall as if remembering the sight of the kid.

"Oh, it's nothing… He'll be fine in a day or two." William shrugged.

"Yeah, it's just that he's been quite worried about our friend, Jake."

"Oh, right…" Tulip said, suddenly remembering the news she heard about a Ravenclaw freshman being petrified by the cures. "So… Has he been trying to find something about the curse lately?" She asked.

"I think he isn't..." Roger shrugged.

"Yeah, Dumbledore even called for him yesterday, and for what he told us, he dissuaded him from even trying." William added.

"Dumbledore did? Mm…" Tulip suddenly pondered for a little bit. "Oh well, it's okay. I was just curious. Tell him, whenever you see him, that if anything happens, he can just come and talk to me, okay?" She smiled, before going back towards her friends.

"Wow…" Roger unconsciously awed.

"Mm? What's wrong?" William asked his friend with a confused face.

"He made an upperclassman worry about him!"

"…" William opened his mouth. "Now I'm lost. What are you talking about?"

"Logan! He's acting like this to make Tulip Karasu worry about him!"

"Ok… Now you've lost it." William turned his eyes.

"Why!? It could be, right? I would do it." He shrugged.

"…" William looked at him, and at that moment a girl that was sitting close to them looked at Roger.

"You know, that's gross, weird, and creepy. Don't ever try it on a girl."

"W-what? Who's asking you. Lyra?"

"Just to let you know. You seem like the kind of guy that would try to do it." Lyra, another freshman in Ravenclaw, shrugged, before standing up. "Bye." She left towards the common room.

***

Moments later, back at the entrance of the common room of Ravenclaw, two upperclassmen, a boy and a girl from the fifth year were standing there, while a group of three Ravenclaw girls from the first year stood slightly away from them, with Julie at the front.

"Why can we just enter together?" Julie asked the upperclassmen.

"Because you all have to answer the riddle to prove you're worthy of being in Ravenclaw." The fifth-year girl answered with a smug face.

"She's right, this is like a tradition, of sorts." The guy nodded.

"Huh?" Julie furrowed her brows. "This isn't in the rules!"

"Well, I'm sorry to inform you, that you still have to do it." The girl, once again, said.

"Come on, Julie, calm down… We, we can try to answer the riddle… How hard can it be? Right?" Another girl that was behind Julie, tried to calm her down.

"Yes… Julie, Johanne is right, we can answer the riddle…" The other girl also said.

"You should listen to your two friends." The smug girl said to Julie.

At that moment, another girl with a weirded-out face came to the entrance.

"Mm? What's happening, Julie?" It was actually Lyra, who just came back from the Great Hall.

"Oh, Lyra, hi…" Julie turned to look at her friend. "Nothing… It's just that these two here won't let us all go in at the same time…"

"What? But why?" Lyra tilted her head.

"Listen here, girl. You prove yourself worthy of being in Ravenclaw. So, it won't do if you let your friends answer the riddle for you." The fifth-year girl said while grinning. "You have to do it by yourself, or stay out of the common room."

"There're no rules that say that!" Lyra answered angrily.

"Sorry, but that's a tradition." The guy also grinned, as if enjoying the girl's outburst.

"Argh! Are there only idiots here? First that Roger, and now you too…" Lyra said.

"Who are you calling an idiot!?" The guy said, before stopping and looking ahead. Another first year was coming. "Well, it seems like you'll all stay here for quite the time if you don't start going in." He grinned deeper.

***

Close to Ravenclaw's common room's entrance, Logan's been slowly walking, looking down as if thinking about something. Furrowing his brown from time to time.

{Shit… Maybe I shouldn't do it after all?} I thought to myself while walking towards my common room. I've been walking so distractedly that I got lost a few times while coming here.

Since yesterday's night accident, I've been thinking constantly about one thing. And that is, I've become a murderer.

{But… He did try to kill me. He even used a killing curse against me, and before that, he tried to use the Imperius curse. If it wasn't by my Occlumency or my magic shield, I might be fucked up right now.}

The moment I chose to kill him, I wasn't thinking rationally, it was mostly fear that led me to kill him.

{The thing is… The more I think about it. The more I think I did the right thing. But…}

In all honesty, I never think I would kill someone. Not this early in my life, or well, in this life…

Back in my old world, the only thing I killed were monsters in games or other players, but nothing real…

{I didn't go out of my house that much either.}

A big sigh escaped my mouth.

{No. I have to stop this. This is consuming me more than it should.} I furrowed my brows. {I did what I had to do. If I escaped, those lunatics would have run behind me. And for how long would I be able to run before my magic gets low enough for my invisibility or my levitation spell to stop working? And he was a Dark Wizard! It was a kill or be killed situation.}

All the while, I just kept walking towards the common room entrance, not noticing the eyes a few girls and one guy were giving me. Until someone woke me up.

"Stop." The guy said to me with a stern voice, making me look back at him.

"What?" I asked shortly, not in the mood to talk too much.

"You'll have to wait for them to enter first." The guy said.

I turned to look at the girls he was pointing at, noticing Julie and three other girls, one of which I think her name was Carla Moncada or something like that.

I furrowed my brows.

"Why just don't we all go in together?" I ask.

"Oh, don't even try it. These idiots here are talking nonsense about having to test if we are worthy of being in Ravenclaw." One of the girls, with brown hair and dark, almost black, eyes answered.

"*snort* It's easy. Any TRUE Ravenclaw can do it." Another girl, which I just noticed was an upperclassman, spoke. "You just have to answer the riddle by yourself. So, just go one by one." She smirked at the girl that just answered.

"Argh! Just let us all go in quickly! I have things to do!" The same brown-haired girl answered while moving towards the door, but the upperclassman girl put herself in front with a wand and a frown.

"Stop." She pointed her wand at the girl. "You should listen to your upperclassmen, little girl. So, you better wait your turn, and let your friends try first.".

"L-Lyra! Come back! Let's just do as they said…" Carla asked her friend while putting her back.

"*SIGH…*" I let out a deep sigh. "Stop doing this. Don't point your wand at another student." I frowned at the girl.

"Mm? Or what? What would you do?" The guy smirked at me as if amused.

"…" I furrowed my brows deeper. "I'll tell you once again, drop that wand, and let us all in, at once." I said with anger in my voice.

I knew that it wasn't right to threaten upperclassmen. Not any other student at that. But I was already angry about last night's happenings, and right now, their attitude is rising my anger even more. I wasn't thinking straight, and to be honest, I don't think that I've been thinking straight since getting out of the Hogwarts Express…

"*snort* Or what? What can a small little first-year do to us?" The girl snorted.

"Hahahaha yeah, look at him." The other guy also laughed and took out his wand, trying to frighten me. "You want to impress them or what? Kid? You better learn to respect your superiors."

"I warned you…" I whispered to myself, not even sure if they listened or not. Before quickly flicking my hand towards the girl's wand that was smirking at me. "Expelliarmus." Her want went out flying.

"*gasp*" I could hear someone holding a breath behind me. But not even waiting for a second, I flicked my hand towards the surprised guy, who after a few seconds of looking at the also surprised girl who lost her wand, turned to me.

But before he could do anything. "Expelliarmus." I disarmed him.

[You've disarmed a wizard/witch. 5pts have been earned!]

[You've disarmed a wizard/witch. 5pts have been earned!]

[You've disarmed a wizard/witch for the first time. 50pts have been earned!]

{Didn't know this also gave points… But why so many points?} I thought while laughing sarcastically.

"You!" The guy got red from embarrassment, and as if losing his temper, he came towards me trying to strike at me.

I was focused on the system's message, so without thinking much I just flicked my hand towards him. Sending a quick buzz spell towards him.

And just before I thought of what I did, a small bolt of lightning impacted the guy, shocking him and electrifying him, making his hair get all spiky, while his body stiffened.

"Urgh." He could barely mutter something before falling on his but, still electrified, and trembling every now and then.

While before this spell barely did any damage at all, being an even lower version of the energy strike, right now with my current power, it is still enough for him to get a strong electric shock.

"*sigh…* Why did you have to do that? And I thought you would be better than Gryffindor and Slytherin in this aspect…" I muttered while looking at the guy that tried to hit me. "But… Thanks, I guess…"

Not like I said it aloud, but this little skirmish let me take my thoughts out of yesterday's night happenings.

"Now, let's just end this little joke." I was the one to smirk this time, while the upperclassman girl was slightly trembling while looking at her friend, not even trying to look for her wand.

As I didn't want to take out my wand from the inventory in front of people, I sent a magic rope spell towards the guy with a flick of my hand. Thankfully, with practice, I've been able to broaden my view on how my spells actually worked. And I've been inventing a few new tricks.

Like this one.

Appearing from the air, two ropes made of magic shot themselves towards the shocked guy and quickly bond him, one bonded his upper body, and the other his legs. Leaving him like some kind of worm.

"IIIIHHH" A weird scream came from the girl, who tried to run away, but I just did the same and she fell on the floor, squirming like a worm.

"*sigh…* Who would think that you Ravenclaw had this kind of people…" I made my way towards the entrance to the common room, kicking the girl's wand out of the way while passing by it.

Knocking on the door, a riddle appeared.

[What is always in front of you but can't be seen?]

"The future." With that answer, the door opened. I was going in when I stopped. "Are you not going in?" I asked the girls that were out looking flabbergasted.

"Y-yes…" One of them, who I didn't know, answered while looking at her friends, urging them to walk. I just shrugged and went in, letting the door open.