CHAPTER 42 - Bill Weasley and the Forbidden Forest, again

AUTHOR NOTE:

I know I have this one abandoned, but starting this week, I'll start uploading weekly chapters on Sunday, I still haven't picked an hour, but let's say that they would be up before 12:00 PM UTC -4:00. I already have a couple of them prepared so I don't stay without chapters to publish.

On another note, I'm growing bored of the game's plot, honestly. And since this already turned into an AU, I'm planning to rush things. Finally, I apologize for future chapters, in case they have any inconsistency with the original HP canon (more than it does now xD), so yeah, sorry haha. With that said, enjoy the chapter! Thanks for reading, and as usual, any feedback is well-received!

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A couple of days passed by, I went and did my things normally, which included either training, studying and having fun with my friends, helping in the Hospital Wing, or just helping the guys from Protectors of Hogwarts.

It was precisely during my time helping the guys from the not-so-secret organization that I was introduced to someone I know, but at the same time, I don't really know.

"So you're the rumored Logan, huh." Bill Weasley said with a smile while reaching out with his hand. "A pleasure to meet you, I'm Bill Weasley, you probably know my brothers, Charlie, Percy, and the twins."

"Hi, Bill, nice to meet you." I quickly answered, shaking his hand. "Yeah… I know the twins and Charlie, they're actually here..."

"I noticed that." Bill said with an awkward smile while looking at the training organization.

"Sorry for that Bill..." Andrew, who was the one responsible to introduce us, intervened. "I know I should have consulted with you when it came to letting them in."

"Don't worry, it's not like I can control them or anything, even less the twins." Bill said with an awkward smile. "Either way, I'm glad that there's someone helping them, though, I must say, it's quite a surprise that someone so young is so well-versed in dueling."

"Well… Let's say that I have some talent for it, haha..." I smiled awkwardly, not knowing what to answer.

Bill Weasly was a character I knew from the movies, though he only appeared after the seventh movie and knew barely anything about him, apart from him being the oldest son from the Weasley family.

Still, I can't say it's not weird at all to be talking to him.

"So, now that we're here, I should probably ask you guys something." Bill suddenly said. "I've heard that Rackepick is dead, right?"

"Yes." Andrew answered with a serious face. "She died to a mysterious wizard that happened to be in the Forbidden Forest."

"A mysterious wizard?" Bill frowned and pondered for a moment. "Do you know why that wizard killed her?"

"Uhm… Well, not exactly..." He answered back with an awkward smile. "But from what I saw, it may be because they had a pending dispute."

"Well, with someone like Rakepick, I wouldn't discard the chances of her having a lot of enemies out there." Bill nodded with a sigh. "Either way, I wanted to know if you could take me to where everything happened, Andrew. Is that okay?"

"Huh? Why?" Andrew tilted his head.

"Well, we may find some clues in that place. Who knows, maybe after she died some of her partners went there and left some clues as to where to find 'R' or what they're up to right now. After all, you guys went there because of a letter from them, right?"

"Well, yes..." Andrew nodded with a frown, before sighing. "Ok, let's do that. But, when? Are you even available right now? I know that you sometimes get busy with work."

"Don't worry, I'll stay for a couple of days, we could go tomorrow at night, what do you say?"

"Sounds like a plan to me." Andrew nodded.

"Great." Billy nodded. "Well, Logan, what about you? Wanna come and check it out? You may be able to learn a couple of things. And you're also a great duelist, it would be good to have someone like you around in case something happens."

"Ahm..."

{It's not like something could go wrong, right...?}

"Well, sure. Why not?" I said after considering it for a second. "Maybe I can find something more useful to train these guys if I go with you."

"Excellent!" Bill said with a nod and a smile. "We should meet close to Hagrid's place tomorrow at this hour. For now, let's just see what you're all up to"

***

The next day, at the Forbidden Forest.

"So..." I asked as I looked around the place. "What are we looking for, exactly?"

"Clues." Billy asked as he used lumus to illuminate the place. "We need to see if there's something that could tell us more about 'R'."

"Sure." I shrugged as I walked, my Arcane Eyes always activated to search for clues.

"By the way, what's that crow!? It has been following us for a while now!" Merula, who was also with us, asked with an angry face.

"CROW!" As if he heard her, Muninn crowed at her.

"Mm? That's Muninn, my raven." I answered Merula. "He's usually out, and from time to time he follows me around."

"Why didn't you tell us before!? He has been freaking me out since a while ago with his cawing!"

"Sorry..." I smiled awkwardly while scratching the back of my head. "I just forgot, I'm already accustomed to him being around."

"Yes! You should have done that!" Merula growled.

"Now, now. Calm down Merula..." Andrew intervened with an awkward smile. "It's not like we've suffered anything from it, right? It's all okay."

"Talk for yourself..." Merula said, averting her eyes. "My heart's rate is crazy right now..."

After that, we all went towards the place where they fought against Rakepick.

"Was it here?" Bill asked as he looked around the grove.

"Yes." Andrew nodded, before pointing somewhere. "Rakepick apparated around there and used her Patronus to drive away the dementors."

"Mm..." Bill nodded before going to the place that Andrew pointed at.

Looking around, he couldn't find anything exceptional.

"Did you find anything?" Merula asked.

"No." Bill shook his head. "And she died here too?"

Merula nodded at him.

"It's hard to tell. I can't see anything around here, someone just took her corpse." Bill said before sighing. "We should try looking around. Maybe the ones that took her corpse looked for clues around the place before leaving."

"Okay." Merula nodded and started to walk around the grove.

The rest of the group did the same, and that included me.

I used my Arcane eyes to look around the place, but I couldn't find traces of magic or anything.

After 30 minutes of us looking around the place, we finally decided to call it quit.

"There's nothing here." Bill sighed. "Well, guess it's time for us to go back..."

"Damn… I thought we could find something leading us to 'R' here..."

"Well… It's not a secret organization for nothing, right?" I said with an awkward smile. "Contrary to what Andrew did, these guys do know how to keep a secret."

"Pfft..." Merula and Ben almost laughed.

"Hey! I didn't have a choice! Dumbledore told me to lead her around."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say." Merula said with a smirk.

"*Sigh...* Forget it, let's go back." Andrew, seeing this, only sighed and shook his head.

"Yes, let's go back." Bill said with a smile. "It's no good to stay here for a long time."

We all started to turn in the direction back to the castle, but as if destiny laughed at our faces, Muninn cawed at us, followed by a low growling sound.

"Oh no..." Bill said with a frown, taking out his wand, while we all did the same.

In front of us, stopping our way, was a big wolf-like creature. It stood on its four legs, it had a shorter snout and a shorter tail than most wolves, it wasn't that hairy either.

"Everyone! Come here!" Bill shouted as he pointed his wand at the werewolf.

As Bill shouted, the group suddenly started to run towards him. I did the same, but without taking my eyes out of the werewolf for even a second.

"What's a werewolf doing here!" Merula shouted.

"It's a full moon." Andrew answered here.

"Yeah! I know that! But since when have there been werewolves in this forest!?" She said with a growl.

It was then that the monster in front of us started to rush forwards.

"Stupefy!" Bill shouted as he attacked the werewolf with the stunning charm that barely stopped it for a second.

"Stop whining and use your wands!" I, on the other hand, reprimanded Merula as I swung my wand towards the werewolf. {Exori!}

With a thought, a magic impact shot towards the werewolf, stopping him and making him retreat a step.

"Damn, this thing is too resistant..." I muttered. While Exori wasn't precisely a high potency spell, it could push back a grown adult.

"That's a werewolf for you." Bill said with an awkward smile. "We need to stun him!"

At his words, Andrew, Merula, Ben, and Bill started using the stunning charm to keep it occupied.

"Keep him there!" I said as I moved my wand back and pointed to the floor. "Exevo Tera Hur."

With a mutter, I quickly swept my wand up and aimed it towards the werewolf.

From the ground, vines and roots rushed out in a cone towards the defending werewolf.

As it saw the vines and roots coming for him in a destructive fashion, it tried to jump away but was stopped thanks to the other guys constantly using Stupefy on it.

"AWOOOO!" The werewolf let out a pained howl when the roots and vines entangled him, pulling it hard to the ground and constricting its body with force.

"Amazing. I see why these guys would like to be taught by you." Bill muttered at the image of the restricted werewolf trying to break free from its restriction.

But every time it tried to move or bite the roots and vines, the latter constricted it more.

"We should move." I told them. "That spell won't last long."

"Right." Everyone started to run back towards Hogwarts.

{Sadly, I'm not able to kill it for its points. I would feel really bad… After all, it's not like a werewolf is self-conscious when transformed.} I thought as I ran at the front of the group just in case anything else appeared.

While I'm the youngest in the group, my constant physical training and the help from my Arcanist vocation put me at the top when it comes to physical prowess.

After running for a while, we finally made it out of the forest, and carefully made it back to the Castle.

Luckily enough, as Dumbledore allowed Bill to teach us Defense Against the Dark Arts, it was the perfect excuse for us to go out to the forest under the pretense of a 'special class'. Even if we returned quite late, it was still passable thanks to that agreement.

"Ha..." Billy let out a deep sigh. "That was surprisingly scary. Who would say that we would find a werewolf..."

"Yeah..." Merula said. "We couldn't even find anything..."

"That's the worst part." Andrew nodded. "Well… I guess we should just focus on finding the last vault."

"Right." Billy nodded. "If 'R' is going to appear, they will surely do so while you're trying to break the last curse."

"Yeah." Merula nodded. "And we'll be prepared."

"By the way, man. You have to teach me that charm!" Ben, who was catching his breath, suddenly asked me.

"Sorry, I can't teach you that one..." I scratched the back of my head.

"Huh? Why!? It's a really amazing charm... " Frustrated, Ben, let out a deep sigh.

"I still understand why you can't teach us those weird charms you sometimes use." Merula said with a frown.

"Let's say they're trade secret." I quickly retorted to her. "Either way, I'm going back."

"Wait." Billy stopped me just as I turned around. "I better take you back to your house. I don't want another teacher to think that you were out unsupervised."

"Oh, okay." I nodded.

After that, we all went to our houses. On our way back we found Professor Flitwick, who, after we explained to him why we were out, guided me back to Ravenclaw's common room.

Andrew and Ben went back with Billy to Gryffindor's common room after leaving Merula close to her house's common room.

The rest of the week was kind of chill for me. After our little trip to the Forbidden Forest, I focused on training, helping the guys from the supposedly secret organization, and spending time with my friends.

Andrew and the others have been trying to unravel some stuff that I didn't want to be part of, including going to meet with the centaurs to ask for some kind of prophecy.

If I'm being honest, I think that they're getting off-track from trying to find the last vault. Not that I'm any better. Even if I wanted to help Jake, I don't have any spell that may help him, and finding the last vault isn't something I'm confident about.

{Unless I try to cut corners...} I thought as I rested inside the Room of Requirements.

I've been training recently on subaquatic fighting, for just one reason.

"CAW!" Muninn, who was standing right beside me cawed, trying to get my attention I suppose.

"Sorry, Muninn." I said as I turned to look at him. "I know I'm kind of lost in thought, it's just that I want to find a way to help Jake."

"CAW!"

"I guess the only way is to find that damn cursed vault. And from what I heard… It may as well be inside the black lake."

Recently, I've overheard Andrew, Ben, and Merula talking about how some clues point towards the black lake.

In their own words, it's not as if it's a sure thing, but for me, it's better than nothing.

"I think there's no harm in going in, right?" I rubbed my chin as I muttered. "And I've learned the bubble-head charm, so there won't be a problem breathing underwater."

The bubble-head charm was quite interesting, though it looked uglier than it looked like in the movie.

"Wait… There are merpeople in there, right? Oh well, I don't think they will bring too much trouble. If anything, they may help me look for the vault." I shrugged.

Standing up, I prepared to go out of the RoR and make my way back to the dorm. Being the end of the week, I had tomorrow to go towards the black lake and try to find the last vault.

"If I find it, I'll let the guys know where it is. That way they can take care of it." I muttered as I walked back to my room.