Chapter 71 - Denial

***** Bonus Chapter ***** A/N: So first real baddie turns out to be Sebastian. Not gonna lie, I'm having fun reading the comments, and trying really hard not to spoil anything ahahaha. Not to worry though. Got some big plans for my boy Sebastian. He won't be just some random old wizard corrupted by dark magic. That's too plain 😅 *****

"FUCK!"

* BOOM *

A giant bolt of lightning stuck the training dummy, as Khan took out his frustrations in his Vivarium, Lord and Prince watching worriedly from a distance.

It was the weekend now and Jordan finally had some time to himself to mull over all the heavy information he was just given.

And given the state of the recently destroyed training dummy, needless to say, he was not handling everything well.

Khan's talk with Natty had lasted late into the night on Friday, especially after her surprising bit of information regarding Sebastian.

'I know he was slowly getting more and more obsessed, but could he really have done all that?' Khan thought to himself, as he took out a piece of parchment, and thought back to the rest of his discussion with Natty.

***** Right after last chapter *****

"You can't be serious!" Khan protested Natty's claim. "I know he was deep into his dark arts studies, but that was all for his sister Anne! There's no way he is an actual dark lord! There must be some mistake!"

"Jordan… I know he is one of your best friends, but you have to trust me. There is a reason that I suspect Sebastian to be a dark lord." Natsai patiently explained.

She watched as Jordan crossed his arms, clearly waiting impatiently for an explanation, and appearing just as stubborn as she remembered.

"Look… when you passed away, it affected all of us; Imelda was so upset that she was even more confrontational than usual, and Samantha was rarely seen outside the greenhouses."

"The rest of our fellow 5th years were of course, very saddened by your sudden passing, especially with you being so helpful and friendly, going out of your way to help them with all their various chores and tasks."

"And when it came to us…. " Natty took a brief pause to take a few deep breaths in composure before continuing.

She had only just found out her best friend was still alive after 103 years that morning, after all. The grief, unfortunately, had still not completely passed, even with Khan staring her right in the face.

"Well Poor Poppy drew back in on herself. While previously, with your friendship, she was coming out of her social shell, and starting to make friends, she stopped when we were informed of your death, retreating towards the comfort of her beast friends. Other than the occasional conversation with myself, Poppy would not socialize with anyone, often times disappearing for weeks, spending time in your Vivariums with your beasts."

"For myself, well I sank myself into my studies. Similar to Poppy, I too stopped socializing, as I was plagued by feelings of guilt, and kept thinking 'if only I were stronger.. then I wouldn't have been injured by Harlow, and would have been by your side, facing the Goblin invasion. And thus, I focused on getting more powerful, spending all my spare time practising and studying."

"As for Sebastian…. Well the way he reacted was a strange combination of Poppy's reaction and mine. He was already fairly antisocial to begin with, especially with his sister falling Ill, but it got even worse when when you died shortly after his uncle. He was rarely seen anymore and poor Ominis was left a nervous wreck, even more so than usual."

"Even in 7th year, when I was Headgirl, and he was headboy, he barely made public appearances, choosing to spend most of his time in either the Scriptorium, or the Undercroft. Even worse, he increased his studies into the dark arts, reacting similar to myself, as he strove for greater power, so as to not lose anyone important to himself again."

"This kept up, well past our 7th years, and well into our adult lives. We of course, all kept in touch after graduating, but it grew increasingly hard for the 3 of us to meet, as we each grew busier in our respective lives."

"Poppy as expected, became a Magi-zoologist, and grew even closer with all her beasts, eventually taming and becoming a Dragon Rider. She is quite famous in fact, for being the first dragon rider since the 1600s, and has earned quite the reputation for being an antisocial and fearsome witch."

"Do you know if Poppy is still alive?" Khan asked, a little anxious to hear news about his other best friend, especially when the only thing had he had heard about her was that she had met with Voldemort the last time she was seen.

"I…. Am not sure." Natty replied with a slight frown on her face. "I have tried scrying to find more information on her disappearance, but unfortunately, there is something blocking me. Come to think of it…. It's quite similar to how I am blocked when trying anything involving you in Divination."

"The last I had heard, she was attacked by Voldemort and his goons, as I am sure you know by now."

Khan was already feeling quite emotional, from his recent news about Sebastian. To hear about Poppy again, and how she was attacked by Voldemort, needless to say, had him feeling pretty murderous.

Natty, who could not only feel the tension, but also feel Jordan's magic rising, hurriedly followed up. "But not to worry! Although I have not heard from her since, my assumption is that she escaped and went underground. Voldemort is much too weak, to be capable of killing off Poppy and her beasts. Especially with a dragon on her side."

She paused to stare worriedly at her friend, as he took a few deep breaths to compose himself. She may be getting old, but she definitely did not remember Jordan being this emotional or reactive in the past.

"I know this is a lot Jordan… perhaps we ought to take a small break?"

"No! It's fine!" He immediately protested. "I don't want to wait anymore."

She watched him worriedly, Fleur rubbing his arm by his side, with Sol perched on his shoulders, trilling softly and comforting him, before deciding to continue.

While normally She might be an ex-headmistress, and would typically insist on taking any actions to ensure a student is not distressed, this was not any old student. This was her best friend Jordan, and Natty could not help but treat him as if he were still her peer, and not just another 16 year old student.

"Very well. As you probably already know, Sebastian joined the Unspeakables group, under the British ministry, primarily to further his studies into the dark arts. While joining the unspeakables was in and of itself, quite the accomplishment to be proud of, truthfully I suspect that he only joined to further legitimize and legalize his studies into the dark arts."

"His power grew exponentially under the Unspeakables, however it appeared to be at the cost of his sanity, which only got worse with Anne's death."

"When the three of us met up, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of your death, a few years after Anne had passed away, he was quite manic, speaking of how he had finally found it, constantly repeating the words 'Egypt', going on about how 'they're responsible', and mumbling at length about the time."

"As I was worried, I tried my best to keep an eye over him, reaching out the years following. We kept in touch professionally throughout the years, with him slowly pulling away and growing more secretive as time passed on. The last time we spoke was over 20 years ago now…."

"I can see why you'd be worried about Seb Natty, but you still haven't conclusively stated WHY you think he's a dark lord. Yes, dark magic can corrupt, but that's no reason to automatically assume someone has become a dark lord." Khan logically rebutted Natsai.

He did not want to believe that Sebastian would ever get to the point of just being a dark lord. The entire reason he got into dark magic in the first place, was to try to save his sister. Maybe he found a way to resist the corruption?

"Yes I agree with you." Natsai nodded her agreement. "And similar to how you're feeling now, I refused to think that Sebastian could be capable of becoming a dark lord. I already lost you as a friend; To lose Sebastian too, would be too much."

"Then wh-"

"So I kept an eye on him. I drew on all my connections, to ensure he was monitored. And according to my sources in the Unspeakables, he had been increasingly getting more radical with his dark magic experimentation and research, in the years leading up to his disappearance. His increased focus and subsequent obsession with the cycle of death and rebirth in particular, worried his colleagues, who are typically known for their own extreme thinking, enough that nobody took on his research afterwards."

"He disappeared?"

"Yes, approximately 15 years ago he departed from the Unspeakables, leaving to conduct his own research in secret. I of course, was still able to keep a watch over him until about 10 years ago when he went underground and I lost track of him. It wasn't until recently when I retired from my headmistress position, that I was able truly able to dedicate some time to finding him."

"And needless to say, what I found, is why I suspect him to be a dark lord, and was truly horrifying."

She took another deep breath before continuing.

"Using an old African Ritual, I was able Devine the location to his secret Laboratory, where I late found out he conducted his dark magic experimentations. Dumbledore coincidentally enough, arrived just a few weeks ago, right after I conducted the ritual, so naturally I brought him along for back up, not knowing what I would find."

"Rushing there, we discovered that it had been recently abandoned, with signs of ritual research having taken place. Hundreds of inferi protected the underground lab, and even more horrifying, we found hundreds of young female human corpses, showing signs of clear ritual experimentation on their corpses."

"Yes…. It was truly the eye opening experience." Dumbledore added from the side. While he dealt with both Grindelwald and Voldemort, they both appeared quite tame in comparison to the sights and evils he witnessed in the aftermath of that lab.

"It appeared that he was in a hurry, as he left many of his papers and research behind. And while many are incomprehensible ramblings of a clearly deteriorating mad man, there was one in particular, which stood out to me."

Natsai took out a piece of folded up parchment, handing it over to Khan.

*****

He may be in denial, but something about the entire situation just didn't sit right with Khan.

He was sure there was something he was missing!

Thinking about the conversation from the previous night, he looked down at the piece of parchment Natty had given him, which he had just taken out to look it over again. Unfolding the piece of parchment, Jordan opened it up, to reread it again, just to make sure he didn't miss anything.

~

"I've finally done it! After so many years of research and sacrifice, It's finally completed! They all doubted me, but with this, I'll finally show the 3 of them!

The Eye will save them All!

S.S

~