The New Age Of Magic {Book 1 in the Rise Of Slytherin series}

07

Forever seemed to go by before any news of Ellis' ghost came along, aside from what Louise and Rhiannon had heard outside of their common room. Presumably, the teachers were debating about what they should do with it-- but was 'it' really undeserving of the title of 'him'? After all, Alex thought, he was Ellis, really; he had Ellis' memories and personality, even looked identical. But it just didn't feel right... After all, no-one had seen what had happened, how Ellis had died... Even the ghost didn't remember... Was it all a lie? Was he really the Ellis that they knew? It could just as easily have been some kind of illusion, mixed in with a whirlwind of lies...

Alex voiced this concern to Louis a fortnight after Ellis' death. They were sitting next to each other at the Hufflepuff table, which was littered with food and mingling students.

"... So how can we be sure? Not that I don't trust Ellis himself, but is it really unbelievable that he's not... well, not Ellis?" Alex had his voice lowered to a mere whisper.

Louis seemed to consider Alex's thoughts for a moment, then hesitated before saying "I don't see why not. I mean, you're right: we didn't see what happened. We only saw the ghost and Ellis' body. But it's better to believe that it is him, isn't it?" There was something in his voice close to plea. Alex knew that despite the fact that none of the group had known each other for even a full day before Ellis' death, Louis had been the closest to Ellis; he had gone through a lot of emotion in the past week. Even more than the others had.

"Yeah, I suppose. Let's just hope he can be... well, revived." The boys looked solemnly at each other for a second, then Louis turned his head to face the Ravenclaw table.

"I spoke to a Ravenclaw who seemed to know Ellis in Potions yesterday. Someone called Harry. Apparently, he was just talking to Ellis before that prefect your friend Toby mentioned to me took him away. He told me that Ellis had been interested in what that Lee kid had been up to."

Alex remembered their encounter with Lee. He had to admit, there was certainly something off. And if Ellis had wanted to find out more, Alex had a burning obligation to do so for him; something had awoken in Alex since Ellis' death-- it was like some sort of painful courage mingled in with the grief. A furious desire to return Ellis to the living world had taken him over. It was the only positive thing he had felt for the whole fortnight; he hadn't smiled, laughed or even attempted to cover any of his ice-cold depression.

"And what about the tail we saw on the first day with..." he muttered the name 'Ellis' "... and Louise? And what about the prefect? Do you think..."- a kind of horror illuminated his face- "... Do you think Lee, the tail and the two prefects are connected in some way?"

Alex hadn't had a second's worth of thought about the tail, or female prefect, since the event. It did occur to him that it would have been an extreme coincidence that they were acting oddly if both Slytherin prefects and Lee weren't in on something. And as for the tail...

Alex took a deep breath. "It's definitely worth considering looking into it all."

"What if we... What if we spied on them? I mean, it's the only way to tell what's going on, right?"

Alex hesitated for a moment. Then the courage he'd been feeling began searing his thoughts again.

"Yeah. I suppose it is."

Louis smiled for the first time in a fortnight.

***

"You? Really? You want to break the school rules and spy on the Slytherins?" Louise had gained a sudden burst of energy from what she was hearing. They were in Transfiguration, and Alex and Louis were explaining what they had been talking about that morning.

Rhiannon, who had moved onto the same table as the others, said "Keep your voice down! Anyway, whoever mentioned that we aren't allowed? There's no school rule saying that we're not allowed to spy, is there?" There was a mischievous glint in her eye that Alex had never seen before. She had taken Ellis' passing the most lightly out of the group, likely because she had only ever met his ghost and his corpse. But even she had been distraught.

"Well, it probably goes without saying, really, doesn't it? There's no rule about not blowing up the school, but it's not like the teachers'd just turn around and say 'oh, that's fine; it's not in the school rules.'", Alex countered.

"Actually," Louis muttered, "I think there is actually a school rule saying that we're not allowed to blow up the school."

"Hang on;", Louise said, blinking frantically. "You want to spy on the Slytherins, and you're saying that it goes without saying that it's something we shouldn't do?" She raised her almost wild eyebrows.

"That is exactly what I'm--" Alex was interrupted by Professor Yana, who had abruptly glided down upon the students. He smiled knowingly.

"And how are you doing, Mister Mitchell? Are you having trouble with your beetle?"

Alex quickly picked up his beetle, letting it scuttle around on his hand. He didn't like it much, but had reacted too speedily to Professor Yana's question to change course.

"Um, no, Profess-- um, Dean..."

Professor Yana nodded at Alex. "Show us, then. I would be delighted to see how well you've got on."

Yana beamed. Alex couldn't completely remember what he was supposed to be doing. In a brief moment of panic, his eyes flew around the room, catching a girl in the front row holding a hairbrush. He supposed that was what he was meant to Transfigure his beetle into.

Waving his wand, he willed the beetle to transform; there was a puff of smoke (which he was sure wasn't supposed to be there, but he just hoped it would be okay) and suddenly, a purple hairbrush dropped from his hand onto the table with a small 'clack'.

Professor Yana nodded appreciatively.

"A very swift Transfiguration. But not what I wanted, Alex." 'Whoops...', Alex thought. "I in fact asked you to Transfigure it into a spoon. And I know for a fact that that Amelia up there"- he gestured to the girl who's hairbrush Alex had seen- "has the same hairbrush. And she is allowed to use it because she has completed all the tasks in the lesson. One detention for you this Friday. In here by seven P.M, please." And with that, he whisked himself away.

Alex's heart sank just a little bit. Looking around, he saw that the others had their beetles Transfigured into small metal spoons. He knew for a fact that they hadn't been working that much before Yana had came along, but he knew that it was fair enough; he hadn't even touched his wand for the whole lesson until Yana had spoken to him. Louise nudged him.

"Ah, well. You ready to go? The bell just rang."

*

Deep down in the dungeons, Lee took a breath just as deep. There was a huge task ahead of him, and he wasn't too sure about it; he had never seen a ghost before, much less kidnapped one.