Chapter 240

Chapter 240

Dumbledore allowed Suer to take the Marauder’s Map, but kept the recording orb.

The two of them talked in the Headmaster’s office and settled upon a plan — or perhaps it would be better described as a performance.

Suer named it Tom and Jerry. The mouse was a mouse, and the cat was a cat.

Every performance needed actors and an audience.

The principal actors would be Suer, Black and Peter Pettigrew.

The audience would be rather larger: a certain Minister from the Ministry of Magic, the Hogwarts professors, Harry and many others.

The stage would be Hogwarts itself, and the performance would take place the following weekend. Dumbledore, its chief director, would arrange everything.

Before then, however, the director needed to assign parts to his actors. Suer had accepted his role, though not before asking Dumbledore a question.

“Why not make Harry the performer?”

Dumbledore explained that Harry had not yet grown powerful enough to confront an adult wizard alone.

And I have?

Suer considered that answer.

Oh. Perhaps he actually had.

The plan was set. Peter Pettigrew was now a rat in a trap. If he managed to escape Professor Dumbledore’s calculations, even Suer would have to admire him.

After reading for a while longer, Suer closed his eyes and flung himself heavily onto his bed.

…

“Haven’t I been here before?”

Soon after closing his eyes, Suer opened them again and looked around.

“This place… I remember now…”

Pure white surrounded him in every direction. Was this not the place he had entered at the beginning of term?

Suer blinked in confusion. He had almost forgotten it.

Having experienced the Misty Dreamscape several times, he knew this was something different. Here, his own body possessed colour.

That was the most obvious distinction. He could also feel magic surging within him, though he could not release it.

Suer sat cross-legged on the ground. Judging by his previous visit, nothing here would harm him. It was probably some place resembling a dream.

Why, then, had he entered it again?

What did this visit have in common with the first?

The answer was not difficult. Dementors had attacked on the first day of term. By coincidence, Dementors had invaded the Quidditch pitch today as well.

What else had happened on both days?

In the magical world, extraordinary events were usually triggered by some spell.

The Patronus Charm?

Suer’s eyes brightened. Before his first visit, he had cast the Patronus Charm on the train. This time, besides meeting Dementors again, he had once more used the same spell.

Why had his earlier practice sessions never brought him here?

There was no point thinking endlessly. He could simply test it.

Suer rose and extended one hand. His wand had not accompanied him, so he would try using his finger.

“Expecto Patronum!”

Fine silver threads drifted from his fingertip and revolved around him, but the Patronus that should have emerged with the spell was nowhere to be seen.

Suer could clearly feel that the magic had succeeded.

Before he could wonder what had gone wrong, something remarkable happened.

The silver threads unique to the Patronus Charm circled several times, then began gathering towards their centre.

Fear crossed Suer’s face. He could distinctly feel the magic inside him falling at a terrifying speed.
It felt as though someone had bored a hole through his body and his magic was pouring out like sand.

At this rate, he would soon collapse from the loss.

Exhausting one’s magic was dangerous for any wizard, particularly while still growing. Drawing too deeply upon it could produce unpredictable consequences.

That was especially true of young witches and wizards. Their magical growth began with their first accidental outburst and continued until adulthood, shaped by the magical blood within them.

The subject touched upon the evolution of wizardkind. In brief, their ancient forebears had introduced the blood of magical creatures into themselves by various means and thereby acquired the power to cast spells.

That blood needed time to mature. During the years between a child’s first awakening and adulthood, completely exhausting their magic could restrict its ultimate development.

Put simply, magical blood held a limited reserve. It could replenish itself, but only to a point.

If a growing witch or wizard emptied that reserve, their blood would draw upon future magic to prevent its host from collapsing and dying.

The danger disappeared in adulthood, once their development was complete.

In a sense, reckless magic borrowed from one’s own future. That was why Professor Flitwick warned young pupils during their very first lesson never to attempt advanced magic far beyond their year.

What did excessive magical expenditure look like?

Exactly like Suer now.

He could no longer control his body. As his magic was extracted, weakness seeped from the depths of his soul.

In practical terms, he was about to faint.

Stop!

Suer screamed inwardly in desperation, but each wave of exhaustion dragged his eyelids lower.

His face turned pale, and his body sagged like overcooked noodles.

I’m finished.

That was his final thought.

Suer fainted magnificently, collapsing onto the ground and twitching from time to time. The Patronus Charm continued to operate.

Silver threads flowed endlessly from his fingertip and joined the whirl. Their radiance grew ever brighter.

Silver light covered Suer’s body within the white space — and manifested in reality as well.

In his sleep, Morn sensed a bright glow through his eyelids.

“Is it morning?” He opened his eyes blearily and looked instinctively towards the window.

Outside remained a dull grey.

“Then where is that light coming from?”

He searched for the source and finally found it.

Suer, on the bed opposite.

His entire body was floating above the mattress and glowing.

Morn had never imagined such a sight. He had never seen a wizard shine in the middle of the night. It was absurd.

“Justin!” Morn tumbled out of bed, ran to the other side and shook the sleeping Justin awake. “Wake up! Something’s happened to Suer!”

The entire Hufflepuff common room soon awoke. Even the prefect had never seen anything like it. His face grave, he ran out to find help.

Only one professor had quarters near Hufflepuff: the Potions master, Severus Snape.

Every pupil feared Snape, including those in Slytherin.

But this was an emergency. The prefect steeled himself, hurried to the staff quarters near Slytherin and woke the sleeping professor.