Lately, Dylan had noticed that with the Basilisk holding off on any new attacks, the students at Hogwarts weren't as terrified of the so-called Chamber of Secrets anymore. This meant the Weasley twins' protective charms weren't exactly flying off the shelves either.
At least they hadn't come to him recently asking for a fresh batch.
A while back, though, the twins had managed to sell a decent amount, splitting half the Galleons with Dylan. Honestly, it wasn't much money to him anymore—he almost didn't want it. But the twins insisted he take his share, saying he'd earned it fair and square.
With no way to refuse, he pocketed a few thousand Galleons.
*Seriously, how did so many people buy these things?*
Dylan could only chalk it up to the Weasley brothers' knack for smooth-talking. Even Seamus and Neville, who'd seen him enchant the charms a couple of times, seemed totally sold on the idea. Brainwashed, almost.
Scary stuff!
Just then, Professor McGonagall hurried over, Harry and Ron trailing behind her.
"Children, there's been another attack. It's not one of ours this time—it's Penelope Clearwater from Ravenclaw."
The mood in the Gryffindor common room turned heavy.
McGonagall stood surrounded by students, her face grim. When she announced the latest attack, gasps rippled through the crowd, followed by a wave of uneasy whispers.
Clearly, their earlier guesses were spot on—the monster from the Chamber was back in action!
McGonagall paused, her earnest gaze sweeping over each young face.
"I don't know if any of you have information, but I'm begging you—if you know anything about who's behind these attacks, speak up!"
"Sure, the Mandrake potion can heal the victims' bodies, but if we don't catch whoever's behind this, anyone in the school could be next!"
Her voice faltered, her expression growing even more pained.
"Worse yet, if these attacks don't stop, Hogwarts might have to close—permanently—until this is resolved!"
The Gryffindors froze, then erupted into chaos.
"Close the school? No way, that can't happen!" someone protested, disbelief written all over their face.
"Can't they just use the Mandrakes to save everyone? Why shut down the whole school over some attacks?" another asked, confused.
"Even if they can be saved, who's to say the monster won't start eating people next? After so many attacks, how can we be sure the next victim will survive long enough for the Mandrakes to work?" That comment hit hard, sinking the already tense atmosphere even lower.
McGonagall scanned the room, but no one stepped forward with answers.
Her eyes lingered on Dylan for a moment, but he stayed silent. She shook her head. "I urge every one of you—if you know anything, come to me immediately!"
With that, she turned and left.
"These recent attacks—Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, even Nearly Headless Nick got hit. But not a single Slytherin," Lee Jordan said, frowning as he stood beside the Weasley twins.
"The Chamber of Secrets *has* to be opened by a Slytherin! They're targeting the rest of us! Why are the professors asking us for clues? They should just kick all the Slytherins out of Hogwarts!"
"Exactly!" the twins chimed in, nodding furiously. The Gryffindors around them quickly shifted the conversation to bashing those "Slytherin creeps."
Harry and Ron joined in, fishing for more details.
Seeing McGonagall leave, Dylan had no interest in sticking around for a kiddie uprising. He turned and headed back to the dorm.
Neville and Seamus exchanged a glance. Noticing Harry and Ron weren't budging, they hurried after Dylan instead.
The Chosen One didn't seem up to saving them right now—better stick with Dylan.
Both agreed: being near Dylan felt *safe*.
Back in the dorm, Neville and Seamus rummaged through their stuff, digging out every protective charm they owned and draping them over their hands and necks like holiday decorations.
Dylan watched their frantic scrambling, his lip twitching. "No need to freak out. The monster only strikes when no one's around—doesn't that tell you something?"
"Tell us what?" Neville and Seamus blinked at him.
"…It's obvious. The monster's scared of the professors! It doesn't want to show its face!"
Dylan explained casually, plopping down at the desk and flipping open a book to read.
"If that thing dared show up in front of a professor, it'd get smashed so hard it wouldn't know which way was up!"
Neville paused, then asked, "What about you, Dylan?"
"Huh? Me what?" Dylan turned his head.
"If the monster ran into *you*?" Neville looked at him expectantly.
Seamus perked up too.
Dylan chuckled. "I'd make it regret being born—and wish it could spend its whole life fixing that mistake."
"(.)…"
Hearing Dylan brush off the Heir and the Chamber monster like it was nothing, the two of them inexplicably felt calmer.
Was this what security felt like?
By bedtime, Harry and Ron were back.
Neville, though, was practically clinging to Dylan.
"I'm so worried I'll get attacked in my sleep. Dylan, can't you put some protective spells on our dorm? Make it like an unbreakable fortress so the monster can't get in!"
Dylan glanced at Neville, perched beside him in pajamas, and his mouth twitched again.
"That's a bit much. To get into Gryffindor dorms, you need the Fat Lady's password. No Heir or monster's getting through without it."
But Neville shrank back, still nervous. "The Heir's bold enough to attack Hogwarts students over and over. What if they grab a Gryffindor and force them to spill the password? Then they could get in!"
…He had a point.
Dylan rubbed his temple, exasperated.
"Fine, fine. I'll cast some spells to beef up the door and walls."
With Dylan's firm promise, Neville finally relaxed a bit, shuffling back to his bed. Dylan watched as he tucked the blanket edges tight, cocooning himself like a caterpillar, and shook his head.
Thought this guy had gotten braver. Guess not.
But it made sense—a kid facing danger, feeling scared and anxious, wasn't a big deal.
Waving his wand, Dylan mused, "Should I just slap a sealing charm on the dorm and lock it down completely? No one'd get in."
"Of course, until the spell wears off or I undo it, we couldn't get out either."
Neville nodded eagerly. "That sounds perfect! Do it—"
"No way!"
Before Neville could finish, Harry bolted upright from his bed.
Neville stared, puzzled.
Harry stumbled over his words. "I mean, if we need to step out later… like, to the bathroom! Yeah, what if we need the bathroom in the middle of the night and we're stuck?"
Ron nodded like a bobblehead, jumping in. "Yeah! And who's gonna wake Dylan up if we need to pee? If we bug him at night, he might turn us all into toilets so we can sort it out ourselves!"
Dylan: *…*
Catching Dylan's death glare, Ron yelped, "See? See?! Just talking about it, and he's already giving us *that* look! Wake him up for real, and he'll never let it slide!"
Dylan rolled his eyes. "You're being dramatic. I'd only turn you into a urinal, not a full toilet."
Ron wailed, "Isn't that the same thing?!"
Neville blinked, glancing between Ron and Dylan, then nodded thoughtfully. "Ron's got a point… maybe skip the sealing charm, Dylan. I trust you can block that monster with something else!"
Dylan took a deep breath, resisting the urge to turn these kids into plumbing fixtures.
He flicked his wand, tossing out a few defensive spells, then flopped onto his bed, pulled up the covers, and rolled over to sleep.
Next morning, nothing had happened. No attacks across the school.
Neville, though, was convinced it was Dylan's spells keeping the Heir and monster at bay.
Dylan tried explaining it off, but when that didn't work, he let Neville ramble.
What he didn't expect was the rumor spreading like wildfire. Soon, half of Gryffindor was begging him every night to enchant *their* dorms too.
The Weasley twins smelled profit.
Knowing Dylan wouldn't waste time on that, they pitched making a big batch of protective charms for them to sell—offering him an extra ten percent this time. He'd get sixty percent of the profits, no costs deducted, whatever the selling price. They'd handle production and sales; Dylan just had to sit back and collect Galleons.
Plus, they'd shoo away the nightly mob pleading for dorm spells.
After some thought, Dylan agreed.
Truth be told, he didn't mind boosting the Weasleys' income. They'd hosted him for half the summer on their tight budget. But he'd never just hand them cash—that'd feel like pity, not payback.
This way, they earned it, and he helped without much effort. Win-win.
Also, those begging crowds? They'd been driving him up the wall.
After whipping up another batch for the twins, the dorm-door swarm vanished. The twins either chased them off or lured them away with charms.
Dylan breathed a sigh of relief.
Finally, he could step outside without being mobbed.
April rolled by.
Dylan had gotten the hang of turning into a Norwegian Ridgeback—flying steady now, too. His spell research was coming along, even the Obsidian Restorative Potion, thanks to the Forbidden Forest's Acromantulas. Hunting them with Norbert for their corpses boosted the potion's quality with Obsidian Flowers.
His suitcase space had grown a ton, too. Most of his Galleons, aside from basics, went into expanding it.
Everything was on track.
Except his Patronus Charm. Still no progress.
It baffled him. He'd mastered the spell—how could he not pull it off?
Unacceptable.
Lately, he'd shifted his focus to cracking the Patronus.
But as he dug into it, summer brought a string of bad news.
First, the Chamber monster struck again. Maybe because earlier victims—Mrs. Norris, Colin—had been saved, it upped the pace. Colin got hit a second time recently.
The second blow bugged Harry and Ron—and even Dylan: Hagrid was taken away!
The Ministry suspected Hagrid was tied to the petrifications, dragging up stuff from fifty years ago.
Dylan didn't care about that. With Hagrid gone, he'd have to handle Norbert's meals himself. But he wasn't worried about the Ministry sniffing out Norbert through Hagrid's memories.
A max-level Imperius wizard, Dylan had recently maxed out Legilimency and Occlumency too, plus gotten darn good at the Fidelius Charm. Using them, he'd crafted a new spell:
*Mnemosyneveil (The Veil of Mnemosyne)!*
It built an invisible mental shield in Hagrid's mind, locking away memories tied to Dylan. The veil hid them behind a magical barrier. Dylan tested it—Veritaserum, Legilimency, threats, bribes—nothing could crack it or let Hagrid spill. Only Dylan could lift the spell to unlock those memories.
He'd drawn inspiration from the magical contract he'd signed with the goblins. That binding force intrigued him.
The house wasn't a bad buy after all—free real estate *and* a spark for spell creation.
Third bit of bad news: Lucius Malfoy, using his sway on the Hogwarts Board of Governors, slapped a temporary suspension on Dumbledore, meddling in school affairs and forcing him out.
With Dumbledore gone, fear among the students hit a peak.
Even as the weather warmed into summer, the sun couldn't pierce Hogwarts' cold stone walls. Shadows stretched through the corridors, chilling the air.
Without Dumbledore holding the fort, students huddled in tight =groups, rushing through the halls, eyes darting nervously, half-expecting a monster to leap from the dark.
(End of Chapter)