Chapter 101 - A Stray Dog?

***** Regular Chapter ***** A/N: Bit late today as Ive Been pretty burnt out all day yesterday after being taken out all week..... especially after that rave. Dont get me wrong, it was fun af, but like I slept 12 hours, then took a 4 hour nap LOL. Got done absolutely nothing sat ahaha *****

"Her bouts of pain are beginning to become more frequent?" Khan questioned Daphne. 

It had been over a month since their last Hogsmeade weekend, the last one falling on Easter, and strangely enough, not much had happened, other than Prof Snape strangely leaving for a period of time.

Going missing some time after the Easter Holidays, he was replaced by the old Potions Professor, somebody named Horace Slughorn.

Not that Khan would normally notice things like these.... He did not after all, have a close relationship with Prof. Snape, nor did he attend potions class with the man. 

It was just that his replacement, Prof. Slughorn, had been harassing Khan recently, bothering him to join something called his 'Slug Club'. 

Prof. Slughorn had of course been ecstatic to be offered to teach again at Hogwarts, even temporarily, especially after learning about Khan and his past from Dumbledore.

Not only could he recruit Viktor Krum, Quidditch Prodigy, as well as the 'Boy who Lived', but also the 'Hero of Hogwarts', a legendary figure during his time at Hogwarts, having attended in the early 1900s, when the battle was still relatively recent. 

Jordan of course, did not bother joining, having no time to spare with his various classes to teach, not to mention his increased N.E.W.Ts studies. He did learn however, that Fleur, Viktor, Harry, Hermione and Ginny had all been recruited to the club.... It seemed to be quite exclusive however, with numerous other students being left out. 

School otherwise progressed as usual, with nothing else of note. 

Thankfully soon enough, it was time for the next Hogsmeade long weekend.

Although Khan knew the holiday as 'Whit Monday', which typically falls 50 days after Easter, and was known as the 'Monday of the Holy Spirit', apparently the holiday had been changed a few decades ago, and was renamed as 'Spring Bank Holiday'. 

Regardless, Khan had returned to Hogsmeade like he usually did any Hogsmeade weekend, to conduct business with Lenny in his Shop. 

And this time, it was good that he did!

His shop had gotten more popular over the past month, having sold out of the many books, tomes, spellcrafts, and treasures that were made available by Khan from his many previous adventures. 

And whether the shop's newfound popularity were due to the unique artifacts that were sold, or due to the fact that somehow it had gotten out that Prof Khan owned that shop, either way Jordan was quite pleased. 

Not only was he collecting a tidy profit charging higher margins for rare items, but he was also fulfilling his other goal of improving the knowledge and capabilities of all the students in this era. 

This however, made him a little busier than usual this Hogsmeade visit, Khan having to make multiple trips with his Portkey, to and from his shop, in order to grab more items for Lenny to later sell.

It was during this latest visit to his shop in the afternoon, Jordan having spent most of the morning travelling back and forth ferrying items, that he ran into Daphne, who was once again visiting his shop to look up curses, in hopes of helping her sister Astoria. 

This time, Khan had caught her with a look of worry on her typically emotionless face... evidently her sister's curse was getting worse.

"Yes Professor. That's correct." Daphne replied, her forehead wrinkled with worry. "She has been in the Medical Wing the past few days actually, being treated by Madam Pomfrey. And although Madam Pomfrey has been able to help her symptoms, I am truly worried that her curse is actually accelerating, with her bouts of pain becoming a lot more frequent recently, and occurring less rarely."

"Has she been doing anything out of the ordinary, or perhaps strenuous?" Khan continued his inquiry. "Can you think of any reason that her curse might be accelerating?"

"Other than participating The Summoner's Cup Tournament, no I cannot." Daphne frowned, clearly not convinced that simply using the summoning charm would cause Astoria's curse to worsen. 

"Has she gotten any frailer?" Khan inquired, remembering her other symptom, and wondering if it too got worse.

"No, thankfully Prof. Snape was able to make a breakthrough by making a few adjustments to the strengthening potion, allowing it to become a little bit more effective, in terms of empowering Astoria's constitution." Daphne responded. "Truthfully I thought she was on the mend. At least, until her bouts of pain started up again that is."

"Hmmmm. Perhaps it is the curse developing further, and not as a result of anything she has done recently." Khan said aloud thoughtfully. "Well regardless, treating symptoms will only get us so far.... our real goal, of course, is to break the curse over your family."

As mentioned previously, Jordan was reminded of Anne Sallow when thinking of Astoria. 

Quite similar to Anne and Sebastian's Uncle Solomon, who also appeared to have given up on ever finding a cure for her, and just focused on treating her symptoms, it seemed a lot of the Greengrass's family research into the curse, focused around the curse's symptoms and treating them.

From their similar bouts of pain caused by a curse, to the fact that their families seemed more intent on treating the symptoms of the curse, rather than trying to discover the source of the curse to break it, and fully cure it, needless to say Jordan was getting more personally invested in the treatment of Astoria. 

After all, he knew something that he wasn't able to tell anyone else about previously...

Khan had actually found out that Anne's curse wasn't caused and casted by Goblins! It was caused by Victor Rookwood!

You see, when Jordan had visited Ollivander's shop for assistance in creating the special wand needed to access the final repository under Hogwarts, he was ambushed by Rookwood, who was strangely enough offering an alliance against Ranrok and the Goblins. 

Khan of course refused, resulting in a duel to the death against Rookwood and all his Ashwinders, resulting in Jordan's victory. 

It was during this confrontation however, that Khan heard Rookwood say something that he recognized!

"Children should be seen and not heard."

Thats right! It was the same phrase that Sebastian had told him he had overheard, right before the 'goblins' had cursed Anne!

That meant, it was not the goblins that had cursed Anne, but Viktor Rookwood himself! 

Unfortunately for Khan, immediately after his confrontation with Rookwood, he left to fight in the battle Ranrok and his Goblin Horde under Hogwarts, leaving him without any time to inform Sebastian of his discovery. 

Thus, he could only assume, especially after viewing Sebastian's Egyptian themed lab, that they had probably not figured out the source of Anne's curse, resulting in her probably passing away some time ago. 

This of course, was eating away at him.... Was he the reason that Sebastian had possibly gone dark?

If he had not slipped into that coma, or managed to at least tell Sebastian about Rookwood, perhaps Sebastian might not have pursued the Dark Arts looking for a cure, after all. 

As a result, Jordan had become much more personally invested in helping cure Astoria. 

He had not managed to help Anne. And it probably led to his friend's downfall.

But perhaps this time at least, he could help Astoria. 

*****

"Finally done!"

It was quite late when Jordan was finally finished moving all his new inventory to his shop, Khan having to make a few more trips, after chatting briefly with Daphne.

Saying farewell to Lenny, Khan departed into Hogsmeade, heading to the central square, intending on grabbing a few items for his friends. 

He had not spent much time with them all recently, being increasingly busier with his N.E.W.Ts studies, and thought that this would be a nice way to make it up to all of them. 

Heading into Gladrags, Khan picked out an overcoat in exquisite azure, adorned with intricate gold trim (Noble Azure Overcoat) that matched one he had himself, for Fleur, knowing how much she liked to match in terms of 'dressing' like a couple. It was of course enchanted, with various offensive measures aimed at boosting magical endurance and enhancing magical output.

For Hermione, he picked out a rather nice looking Light Blue colored cloak (A/N: Sunrise Robe - Female) that reminded him of her stunning Yule Ball Dress, that was nicely enchanted with Defensive traits, aimed at resisting various Dark Cruses and spells.

For Luna, he actually managed to find a lovely looking cape (Starry-Eyed Seer's Cape) that was Ravenclaw blue, with Golden stars and decorative patterns covering its length. Khan thought it was strangely appropriate for the unique girl, especially considering her nighttime wanderings, it of course, enchanted with various Utility measures, these ones aimed at boosting recovery capabilities.

He also made sure to grab a few wand dueling holsters, both for Harry, and his new friend Neville, who Jordan had seen in line multiple times now, to take their turns dueling in Cross Wands. 

Exiting, he moved across the square, heading to Honeydukes for his next stop, intending to buy various chocolates, both for Fleur's sister, and her mother, when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

A large black dog! 

Walking around the square, it strangely had a newspaper in its mouth, wandering around not bothering anybody.

However, Khan still eyed it suspiciously, following its every move, eventually even covertly following it, as it left the square, heading outside of Hogsmeade.

You see, although Khan was familiar with dogs, having grown up in London they were a fairly popular pet amongst muggles, he still found this dog suspicious. 

And this was mainly due to the fact that Hogwarts, and its surrounding lands, were Wizard exclusive territory, meaning that in addition to there being no muggles present, there were also numerous Magical creatures and beasts, many of which were too dangerous for the average witch or wizard, let alone, muggle or dog. 

In fact, in all his adventuring and exploring during his previous year at Hogwarts (and he explored a lot, traversing most places in the surrounding area), Khan didn't recall seeing a single wild dog, or even wolf, present in any area. 

In fact, other than the animagus poachers that he often battled, who transformed into dogs, Khan had not seen or encountered any other regular canine, the mongrels themselves of course being magical.

Thus, seeing a random dog, that not only seemed to be a stray, but also appeared to be leaving the safety of Hogsmeade, needless to say, set off more than a few alarm bells in Khan's head, causing him to follow the odd-acting dog in sneaky suspicion.

The dog moved away, trotting at a leisurely pace, away from Hogsmeade and towards the path that led up towards to mountains, Khan following disillusioned.

Heading to the foot of the mountain, where the ground was covered with boulders and rocks, the dog then began climbing the stony path up the mountain itself, Jordan following the dog, as it moved up the winding narrow path.

Khan of course, had explored this area before, and having previously cleared out numerous poacher camps located around Hogsmeade and the surrounding areas, he was getting a strange sense of deja vu. 

Admittedly, he had not been adventuring as much this year, kept much busier with both Tournaments, his various teaching responsibilities, not to mention studying for the N.E.W.Ts, thus Khan had no idea if poachers had managed to return over the past one hundred years, and re-setup their camps.

Could it be possible that this stray dog was actually an animagus poacher? Was he about to discover another hidden poacher camp?

Well it was time to do something about it once again!

Pulling out his wand, he continued following the stray dog stealthily, until it finally stopped, ducking out of sight behind a narrow fissure in the rock.

And heading inside after it, had Khan once more seeing red. 

You see, inside the fissure, was a cool dimly lit cave.

And tethered inside, seemingly trapped was a hippogriff!

It seemed the poachers had returned!

Turning to the 'stray dog' he now assumed to be a poacher animagus, Khan leapt into action!

And thanks to his ample experience, he knew exactly how to counter type of enemy!

You see, on his previous adventures, he had developed his genius combat capabilities, utilizing the various school spells he had learned, to eventually beat and dismantle the entire poacher group alongside his friends.

And one of his favorite spells to use against groups of enemies, was the transform spell! Transfiguring an enemy into an explosive barrel, Khan often times utilized this spell to deal massive damage to a large group of enemies. 

However, he had realized, when fighting against animagus poachers specifically, that this spell had another utility!

Discarding his disillusionment charm, he cast a quick transform spell on the dog, hitting it in surprise, and instantly forcing the poacher to change back into his human form.

However, unlike the previous poachers he had battled before, this one looked..... disheveled, to say the least.

Wearing ragged gray robes, he had long, matted, uncombed black hair, and appeared quite thin, almost looking like skin and bones.

Slightly stunned, just at the the appearance of the poor man, Khan instantly forgot his anger, instead replacing it with confusion.... 

'This 'poacher' looks like he's barely able to take care of himself, let alone capture and control such a strong looking Hippogriff...' Khan thought confusedly to himself. 

"Who the bloody hell are you?"