Chapter 1
Warning Signs
Ashe woke up unusually early. The day was still young and the sun had yet fully risen. She looked around her and found that some of her fellow Gryffindors were sleeping soundly in their own beds. She speculated that some may be already be awake as some of them unusually shifted in their positions often. She usually woke up late among the girls and was the one who got to their classes late. But now she felt different; something was troubling her deeply. She stood up and began to pace around the room.
She was feeling weird and needed to tell someone. It was an unexplainable feeling that made her uncomfortable and in some ways, troubled. The one she wanted to talk to was not even quite awake yet.
The sky was light blue of color; it was now halfway between night and morning. It was also cold and the mist around the grounds showed Hogwarts its chilly effects. Looking through the windows, one can see that the thick forbidden forest is also covered with a hazy mist and made it look scary. Ashe, however, felt at ease as she looked around the school through the windows in silence.
Something... feels so different...
She looked behind her, towards the direction of her close friend, the one she wanted to talk to. Then, she slowly crept to her bed and observed the sleeping girl’s figure. She was sleeping soundly, except her faint snoring a minute or two. She was very good-looking, had long blond hair and her most noticeable feature, her very pink lips. Gale was her name.
Gale has always wanted to become the chief editor of the Daily Prophet. So, with her best efforts, she tried her best in obtaining information. Yes, Gale was a machine of information. From simple who-kissed-who to who-killed-who, she knew it all. Ashe always wondered where she gets this information. She had one theory though; Gale always went every morning in the Owlery to obtain a daily parchment from God knows who. Ashe thought that maybe the letters was from her secret source.
After continuously shaking her friend for a very brief moment and failing badly to wake her up, Ashe climbed into the bed. With all her strength, she embraced her friend’s slender body and tightened her grasp at her waists. Gale immediately woke up and started gasping for air. Ashe giggled and released her mighty embrace.
“Goodness, Ashe! It’s so early!” Gale said in a whispery tone, realizing that it was so early in the morning. She turned her body and faced Ashe’s wriggling body.
“Hey, I have some weird feeling...” She said.
Ashe’s best friend was Gale. They had been friends since she started her schooling at Hogwarts. Not only does Gale help her in her homework but also in her pranks around the school. Together, they are known to be playful little devils, as stated by majority of the students. But there are some moments when Gale would stop her for playing too much; that makes Gale both her conspirator in her evil misdeed and also her guardian to stop her when she’s being too much. But one thing was for sure, they were best of friends.
Gale sighed and gave her a bored look. “That? For waking me this early? Come on! Gimme a break...”
Ashe shook her head and gave her a serious look. The moment her friend saw her reaction, she frowned and started to look serious as well. “Okay, what kind of feelings? Is it about love or love?”
The dark-haired girl shot her knuckles up high then dropped it in Gale’s head. She grunted and rubbed her head.
“I feel something bad... Something very bad... You know... Something!”
Then Gale stood up and began combing her hair. “Come on; let's talk on the way to the Owlery...” She finally said, then fixed her uniform. Ashe immediately followed her.
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The headmaster slowly shifted into his chair as he looked at the window of his office. He shifted his focus from the early morning view and looked on the magnificent phoenix, Fawkes, as it slowly flapped its wings. It was behaving very unusual these past few days, as the headmaster noticed. Unlike other days, Fawkes seemed troubled and nervous than before.
There was a soft knock on the door. The headmaster waved his hand and the door opened. The deputy headmistress was the only one who visited him this early. Then, a woman came in a slow pace towards the headmaster with a serious face. She had long, auburn hair and a low eyeglass that seemed to make her look meaner. In some ways, she bore a short resemblance of Minerva McGonagall. Fitting, since she replaced her after McGonagall’s retirement years before.
“Professor Dana, what kind of issue brought you here in my office so early in the morning” He paused. “I do hope it's not about the remaining forces of the past Dark Lord, or is it?”
The professor stood in front of him and slowly put a piece of newspaper at the top of his desk. “No, professor Deep, but something more dreadful...” She said in a straight but concerned tone.
Deep’s focus shifted from the woman in front of him and to the newspaper. It was an issue of the Daily Prophet. Then he thought that he forgot to pick up his own issue; he refused owls many years before to deliver his messages thinking that some dark wizard might send him some trouble. Shaking the thoughts off, he picked up the paper and began to read.
He stopped as he saw the headline. It was something he did not want to read. He dropped the paper and looked at Dana with great bewilderment. Something...
Alvis Aoi, a High-Security prisoner of Azkaban, escapes and magically hides!
Who is he and why has he been anonymous all this time?
Deep stood from his chair and went by the window, looking out at the Hogwarts grounds. He closed his eyes and focused all the ideas that came through his mind. Actually, he paid little attention to the Death Eaters, which, in his opinion, began to crumble and deteriorate. The Ministry of Magic did fine work regarding this issue. But the name Alvis was something else.
He did know where to start or he didn’t want to start. But nonetheless, the memories began to surge all over his mind regarding the man said at the Daily Prophet. Alvis was a former student of Hogwarts. Deep heard his name every now and then. But in the middle of his school year, he was found guilty of murders around the school. Yes, the boy whom nobody paid little attention to was the one who actually killed students. Much worse, he killed students older than him. Deep could not remember nor recall the students’ names but they all died by means of the Killing Curse. It is then known that he was a child prodigy and despite the young age of sixteen, he was able to conjure majestic spells that even Albus Dumbledore would be challenged to do so.
After being found guilty of his crimes, he was sent to Azkaban for life imprisonment in one of its deathly cold chambers. After his imprisonment the secret laboratory was found at Hogwarts that served as his ‘hide-out’ all his years in school. Deep was there as one of the investigators and he found the place to be gruesome and twisted. That very day, he promised that he will never step into that place again.
Alvis was a person who exploited the magic of the human mind. His true purpose was unknown even to this day. But his journals and notes were all blabbering nonsense to know his true motives; subjects he tackled were of time manipulation and reality rejection which obviously nonexistent even to magic. Deep tried to forget what was inside the laboratory. The Ministry of Magic immediately erased all records of him due to his crimes and he became a ‘rumor’. The madman of the past became a ghost Deep did not want to remember. But this paper proved that he was not a ghost, but something real.
Alvis is like a nightmare to him. He was Deep’s nightmare since that day. In his personal opinion, Alvis was something worse than the Dark Lord. Yes, Deep was scared of him. He was so scared inside that it felt as if his spine might break.
But he must be strong.
“Professor?” Dana called to him in an anxious tone. “What’s wrong?”
“Do you even know who this person is, Professor Dana?” He asked, turning to face the woman.
Dana shook her head. “I do not know him professor, but he was in Azkaban and was in a high security prison. I think that it’s enough to show him how dangerous he is.”
Deep nodded. “Yes, yes indeed, Dana... I assure you, he is someone who anyone can be afraid of... I assure you.” He said, looking at her with concern.
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Ashe and Gale walked slowly towards the Owlery. It was cold, considering the time. They both clasped their own hands together and breathed deeply. The coldness of the grounds felt like sharp knives slicing their skins.
“Damn, it's cold!” Gale exclaimed.
Ashe only nodded in agreement to her friend. Suddenly, she felt the ground's air become denser. Both of them stopped in their tracks. Moments passed and they found it very complicated to move. Ashe looked at her friend, struggling to move. Ashe was starting to panic.
“What’s happening?!” Gale yelled.
“I don’t know!” Ashe cried. She tried to raise her hand but it felt like there was some kind of force that prevented her from moving every limb in her body. When she struggled, it began to hurt her.
Far off, she heard voices. And with all her strength, Ashe turned to look behind her. She saw two students dressed in their uniforms and both of them have Hufflepuff scarves. They seemed not to notice the two girls and continued to walk towards them whilst laughing.
Ashe began crying. “Somebody! Please help!” She yelled at the top of her lungs, hoping that she might get their attention.
