Chapter 27

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Dumbledore nodded at Ethan's words, and said, "Ethan, thank you for coming here. Please, have a sit."

Ethan showed a good-natured smile and sat in front of the headmaster.

After a moment of silence, Dumbledore suddenly chuckled and said, "You don't seem very nervous, for someone who almost put their room on fire."

Ethan smiled helplessly and replied, "I had things under control, I simply made a small mistake in my experiment."

"Experiment you say?"

Ethan nodded, and revealed without any fear, "Runes, Sir."

He saw Dumbledore's smile widen as he said, "Ah yes, of course. Your mother is a very talented rune master, it makes sense for you to follow in her footsteps."

Ethan titled his head and asked, "You know her personally?"

Dumbledore sighed softly, and instead of answering, asked, "How do you feel about your grandfather, Ethan? How do you see him?"

Ethan paused for a second, searching for the right words, before saying, "He was a largely misunderstood man, both by his own doing and the ignorance of others."

Dumbledore looked interested, and Ethan looked into his eyes this time as he continued, "I partly admire him for his magical accomplishments. I also know more about him than what the books wrote. He wasn't simply a maniac, he actually acted for the good of magical kind, in his own twisted way."

Dumbledore's smile receded a little, but Ethan still continued, "I think Gellert was initially a good person, who only wished for the good of his kind. But he must have gone through traumatizing experiences, which wrapped his vision of mankind as a whole, resulting in his… disputable ways."

Dumbledore slightly pushed up his glasses, also looking into Ethan's own eyes, but the later did not feel any sign of intrusion in his mind. But with Dumbledore's level, Ethan may not even feel it if Dumbledore tried to read his mind.

"Disputable indeed… To answer your question, I did meet your mother a few times in my life. Your father as well. Good people they are, and I see they did not fail their duties as parents."

Ethan smiled at the praise, but Dumbledore added in a teasing tone, "Although you do seem quick to attack."

Ethan raised his hands and replied, "I'm afraid this is my only flaw. No one is perfect, right?"

Dumbledore smiled, and said, "They would be awfully boring if there were."

He then got up from his seat, and said, "Well, this has been an interesting meeting. I hope you will not be endangering yourself anymore, or you might get a punishment."

Ethan got up too, walking toward the door as he replied, "I won't. Thank you for your leniency, headmaster. Happy Halloween."

"Happy Halloween."

Dumbledore nodded, and watched him walk out of the office.

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"You got called by the headmaster because you set your carpet on fire?"

Ethan, who was having trouble deciding which dish to eat, nodded at Tracey's question and said, "I was trying out something. Didn't work as intended."

As he said that, he finally decided on turkey. However, before he could dig in, the great doors were suddenly slammed open.

Everyone's gaze turned in that direction, curious about who was barging in on Halloween's night, and were shocked to see a five meters tall creature standing there. It's face looked a little stupid, although fierce, and it held a giant wooden club. The more experienced students who paid attention in Defence Against the Dark Arts immediately recognized this as a Mountain Troll.

The troll, upon seeing the large room, released a loud roar, which seemed to shake the tables the students sat on.

Ethan, who sat relatively close to the door, couldn't help but be astonished by this development. No matter how fuzzy his memories of the movies and books were, he did remember that while a mountain troll attacked, it didn't barge into the Great Hall like that, and for a good reason.

The Troll barely took a step when a thick red beam of energy slammed into its chest. All the heads in the hall turned to the other end of it, where Dumbledore had stood up, his wand out.

The students, who had started screaming in fear, all stood quiet as they looked at their headmaster in awe.

Ethan himself couldn't believe the power of the old man. There was at least several dozen meters between the Troll and the teachers' table, yet it barely took Dumbledore a second to launch a terrifying spell at the monster.

The little amount of smoke created by the spell quickly disappeared, revealing that the troll had been sent flying several meters back, its entire chest charred black. Considering the natural resistance to spells Trolls had that was only outclassed by terrifying beasts like Dragons and other XXXXX Rank monsters, for Dumbledore to deal so much damage from so far away was a good reminder of Dumbledore's reputation, or rather that it wasn't simply that, a reputation.

"Children, please approach the teachers' table."

Dumbledore's voice echoed through the Great Hall, prompting all the students to retreat. At the same time, Dumbledore was moving toward the doors with great haste.

Ethan, who was among those who were the closest to the doors, barely heard a grunt from the doors. The next moment, Ethan saw Dumbledore flick his wand, sending yet another beam of red light past the doors.

As they passed by each other, Ethan couldn't distinguish any kind of emotion on Dumbledore's face.

Quickly, Ethan arrived next to the teacher's table, or as close as he could since all the students were gathered there, and heard McGonagall say, "Students, follow your prefects to your common rooms. Stay in groups, and do not try anything foolish!"

The prefects from all houses quickly called for their fellow students, while almost all the teachers followed in Dumbledore's steps, to search the castle for any intruder.

While the prefects took the time to gather everyone, Ethan looked around the room for certain people, with Miyuki's help, who had a much better vision.

The Potter Twins, Neville, Hermione and Ron were all there. However, Sophia was nowhere to be seen. Ethan wasn't too worried about her though as she had missed dinner more than once, holed up in her room.

However, there was one missing person Ethan was interested in, and it was the exchange student, Diego Ruiz Basco.

Ethan had been growing suspicious of him as although he did not have any turban, Ethan did not remember ever hearing about exchange students. This could simply come from his lack of knowledge of the Harry Potter World, or simply this world being different once again, but Ethan hadn't come very far in his investigations of who was trying to steal the stone, if there was anyone, so Diego was among his prime suspects.

Although, the appearance of the troll greatly strengthened Ethan's conviction that there was someone trying to steal the stone, probably for Voldemort.

Anyway, once every Slytherin gathered together, they headed out, and this time Ethan and his friends were in the front, since they couldn't get deep into the crowd.

As they passed by the doors, they could see the limp body of the mountain troll, but it was getting covered by a large cloth, conjured by Flitwick.

However, Ethan still managed to see some blood before it could be covered, and guessed that Dumbledore's last attack hadn't been as lenient.

"Hurry up everyone! You don't want a troll to catch you!"

One of the prefects in the front hollered, making the students amp up their speed as they quickly moved toward the dungeons.

However, as they approached their destination, Ethan saw the prefects in front suddenly freeze at a turn.

The first students following behind, which included Ethan and his friends, ran after them, and saw exactly what had made them stop. And it was much worse than a Troll.

"Hiss, I haven't feasted on children for a long time. I wonder how the little snakes will taste."