MORALITY ⟶ Angelina Johnson [1]

Chapter Forty-Two

[Chapter Forty-Two]

If Saros was being completely honest with himself, working with Circe proved to be even more difficult than what he anticipated the Second Task to be. Circe was a no-nonsense type of instructor, which Saros could appreciate when it came to getting straight into the work he needed. However, whenever he made a mistake, she was less than forgiving about it, leaving him entirely intimidated in her presence. It reminded him of Professor McGonagall, however, the professor's stern nature was warranted where it was needed and she wasn't exactly harsh, but more or less firm in her teaching. Circe didn't hesitate to call Saros an idiot as soon as he was doing something wrong, leaving him beyond frustrated.

"You stand a better chance at becoming an animagus within the next few days than you do learning human transfiguration," Circe told him one early morning as Saros sat before her after another lesson seemingly went wrong. With his back pressed against the stone wall and his hands resting in his lap along with his wand, Saros gave her a weary look. He was tired, he had been practising day and night, hoping to transform his body into something that he could manage underwater. But so far, it seemed he was probably going to be better off just using the Bubble-Head Charm.

Then his mind wandered back to Angelina and how she had been so encouraging the last few days with him finding a flashier way to compete. He knew that she was only trying to help and above everyone else she wanted him to win. She had always had that competitive streak, something Saros had witnessed for himself whenever he had seen her take to the Quidditch pitch. And with the Quidditch season cancelled for the year, she needed something to put her drive towards. Every day she dedicated her own free time to trying to help him come up with something and that left Saros feeling guilty about wanting to just give in with going with the simplest solution.

She had trusted him to come through in the First Task and he had asked her to continue trusting him in the Second Task because he believed that he could manage it.

"It takes years to become an animagus and I would have gladly chosen that option if I knew I would be competing in this tournament years ago. But I don't have that time right now. This is the option I chose and the one I need. I need to do this in order to win. I need to give myself the advantage because no one else is going to give it to me. Without my prosthetic, I've already shot myself in the foot-"

"Why give up your prosthetic in the first place?" Circe questioned him. "It makes no sense."

"They accused me of cheating by having it during the last task, so I made the promise that I wouldn't have it on me, " he explained, " I guess I'm just a man of my word."

"You're a foolish man is what you are. You allowed them to intimidate you, of course, they would want you to fall into such a trap. They would have probably accused someone else of cheating in some other form even if you did not have your prosthetic. They go for the weakest and you proved yourself to be it."