Chapter 185: A Gritting William
With the arrival of winter came the end of the term—of course, only the end of the first term.
The Hogwarts academic year has three terms, separated by three long holidays: Christmas, Easter, and summer. This allows the busy students and professors to rest from their hectic work—at least, that was the official explanation.
"So, William, planning to stay at school for Christmas during your first year?" Adams asked at the dinner table on the last night of the term.
"I suppose so," William said, prodding a lamb chop with his fork. "I still have some things I haven't quite figured out."
To be precise, it wasn't just that William hadn't figured some things out; he also had some ideas he wanted to put into practice, away from prying eyes.
Amidst the mountain of information Filch had provided, he had finally found something interesting—in a certain year, Professor Slughorn had suddenly reduced the number of applications he submitted to hold feasts. According to the bills from that same year, the professor's consumption of alcohol had also significantly decreased.
When professors held feasts, the school provided a certain subsidy. Therefore, it was almost certain that something must have happened that year to force a reduction in the number of feasts.
What was even more interesting was that when William focused his search on the records from those years, he discovered a rather intriguing name in the related documents—Tom Riddle.
Although the name Tom was very common in the Wizarding World, after William checked the exam records from that year, he discovered that this fellow named Tom Riddle had passed his Ordinary Wizarding Levels with all 'Outstandings'.
Yes, all 'Outstandings'—considering the difficulty of this feat and the scattered bits of information Dumbledore had revealed, William was almost certain who this name belonged to.
The Dark Lord, the one worshipped by the madmen in the deepest parts of Azkaban, the being the Wizarding World has always called the Mysterious Person—his hidden real name was just that ordinary.
"William?"
Before William could sort out the twists and turns in his mind, Adams, sitting opposite him, spoke up again.
"It's nothing. I was just thinking about what happened to Filch. Whoever did it is incredibly well-hidden—"
William casually changed the subject. He had no choice; he really didn't dare let anyone else get involved in this matter. It was still unknown how many curses Tom, stripped of his many identities, had laid. With Adams's pitiful combat power, to try was to die.
"Yeah, they're hidden really well," Adams agreed with a nod. "Professor McGonagall hasn't been in a good mood these past few days because the culprit hasn't been caught, to say nothing of Filch himself."
"Hopefully, he'll feel better over the holiday. A lot of people aren't staying for Christmas, so he won't have to be so vigilant."
"Let's hope so."
***
Their well-wishes didn't work. Not long after the Hogwarts Express carried the students away from the school, the caretaker had fallen ill.
When William went to look for more information, he found Filch lying in his hammock with a low fever. His cat, Mrs. Norris, was lying obediently on a cushion beside him, watching over him. She only let out a piercing shriek when William knocked on the door.
For a cat, she had done a great job. If not for her cry, William would have assumed Filch was out and left. The caretaker's collapse wouldn't have been discovered until dinner, or even later, when someone finally noticed he was missing.
"Madam Pomfrey, what is his illness?"
William hadn't studied the treatment of illnesses in depth. Due to time constraints, his research had focused on first aid for magically inflicted injuries, as well as cures for some common poisons. He would have to slowly fill in the more comprehensive knowledge later.
"A cold, combined with overwork," Madam Pomfrey said, shaking her head helplessly. "Potions can cure it, but he must get proper rest. I'd dare say he hasn't been getting even three hours of sleep a night recently."
Three hours? Not a chance. From what the students had reported recently, Filch had been patrolling almost nonstop, day and night, trying to find the perpetrator. He would only lie down in his office for a bit when he was utterly exhausted.
"Then let him get some proper rest. There aren't many students here during the holiday anyway."
William glanced at the caretaker in the hospital bed and shook his head—the number of students staying behind was pitifully small, most likely to avoid the caretaker, whose temper had grown increasingly foul.
After thanking Madam Pomfrey, William left the Hospital Wing with a sigh.
He felt a pang of sympathy for a fellow sufferer. Watching Filch lie in his hospital bed, William was not in a good mood.
Because Filch wasn't strong enough, he'd been caught in a student's trap and hung from the castle's outer wall. This had led him to frantically search for the perpetrator, ultimately running himself into the ground. And what about himself?
Wasn't he also forced to sift through mountains of information for anything useful, all because he wasn't strong enough to deal with the Dark Lord's curse that plagued him?
'Why be so pessimistic?' William thought, popping a piece of chocolate into his mouth. 'His most basic identity has been uncovered. The next step is to deduce Tom Riddle's social circle based on Professor Slughorn's records from those years.'
That retired professor was the Head of Slytherin back in the day, and he was fond of collecting geniuses. Geniuses aren't exactly a common commodity. William refused to believe that the Dark Lord would fail to take an interest in those Slughorn had his eye on.
The list of Death Eaters was hard to come by, but Hogwarts had very complete records of the feasts. William would bet that the overlap would be at least eighty percent.
'However, what I have to do next isn't very professor-like.'
William sighed and continued to scheme—he would most likely have to attempt to break into the Slytherin Common Room during this holiday. If he didn't succeed during this period, the next good opportunity wouldn't be until the Easter holidays, and that was too far away.
'My investigation hasn't reached that point yet, but based on the current evidence, I have to understand the basic layout of the Slytherin Common Room so I'm not just guessing blindly when I'm trying to piece things together.'
William was conflicted.
As a professor, invading a student common room wasn't exactly a classy move, not to mention another place he would likely have to visit.
"Professor Snape's office."
He couldn't help but cover his face.
They were all tough nuts to crack, but he had to try. If he didn't seize this opportunity to break in during the holiday, and the investigative trail went cold, he'd have to wait until Easter to pick it up again!
'I'm afraid I'll have to use a card. The common room is one thing, but Professor Snape's office... with my power alone, leaving no trace is nearly impossible...'
He calculated the trump cards in his hand, starting to factor in those one-time-use cards.
'If I still can't find anything this time, I'll help Professor Binns create a few sets of exam papers! The kind that covers the whole school!'
William gritted his teeth. "I don't believe it! No one bats an eye when the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor makes his own exam papers, but what if the whole school has an exam right at the start of the term? There's no way that won't get me a negative-feedback box!"
PS: The second chapter will be posted tomorrow during the day. I went to bed too late yesterday and am exhausted.
(end of chapter)