Chapter 347: Possession
Hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor.
"What has happened, Professor Luke?"
Deputy Headmaster Edward arrived first, followed closely by the other professors, all drawn by the commotion.
They found Professor Luke standing there, with two students lying unconscious at his feet. The portrait in the nearby frame hung limp inside its canvas, just as senseless.
Seeing the others arrive, Luke's expression was grim. "I had just come along this way when I found these two students on the floor," he said. "Even the portrait was attacked."
"What?" Several professors paled, their eyes going at once to the children on the flagstones.
Noting their alarm, Luke raised a hand. "Do not worry. I have already checked them. They were only struck by Stunning Spells, no other injuries. I have cast Rennervate on them; they should wake at any moment."
Even as he spoke, the two boys stirred and opened their eyes, sitting up in a daze.
"Mr Damon, Mr Eric," Edward said at once, "do you remember who attacked you?"
Both boys shook their heads, looking blank.
"Professor, we do not," one of them answered. "We only remember leaving the library and heading back to the dormitory. Then… we were here."
With nothing to be gained there, Edward turned to the portrait on the wall.
He flicked his wand and removed the spell holding it.
The painted knight blinked awake and glanced around in confusion. "Professors? What brings you all here?"
"Sir Knight," Edward said quickly, "tell me—do you remember who attacked you, and Mr Damon and Mr Eric?"
The knight frowned and thought hard for a long moment, then shook his head. "I did not see clearly. I only recall that whoever it was was not very tall. Likely a student."
Another trail gone cold. Professor Edward could not help his flicker of disappointment.
At that moment, Gandalf and Lady Galadriel arrived.
Edward's eyes lit up at once, as though rescue had come. He hurried over. "Professor Gandalf, Lady Galadriel, you are just in time…"
At his words, both Gandalf and Lady Galadriel frowned.
They had not expected Saruman to act again so quickly, and to target students once more.
They walked over to Damon and Eric and studied them closely.
In the next instant, they both drew in a breath and fixed their gaze on Damon.
Their eyes met; what they saw there was the same grave understanding.
"This child carries the residue of a dark power," Galadriel said, her thoughts touching Gandalf's mind. "He has not only handled a Ring of Power, he shows clear signs of having been possessed."
Gandalf's answer in the silent space between them was a firm nod.
"Saruman has changed hosts," he replied. "We simply do not yet know whose body he wears now."
As a Maia now reduced to a disembodied spirit, Saruman could vanish inside a mortal frame with ease. Even they could not tell at a glance when he was buried deep in someone's flesh.
That was what made him so difficult to corner.
"Let us hope Kael and Lord Elrond finish the Marauder's Map soon," Gandalf thought, weary but resolute. "It is the surest way to drag Saruman into the light."
Aloud, he instructed that the two boys be taken to the hospital wing, Damon especially.
With two souls crammed into one body, and one of them Saruman's powerful spirit, Damon's own soul had been strained. The lingering darkness would have to be purged, and he would need draughts to steady and strengthen his spirit.
"They are both from my house," Professor Luke said. "I will take them to the hospital wing myself."
No one objected. Luke left with the two boys, and the remaining professors fanned out again, launching another sweep for any students who might be alone or show the slightest hint of suspicion.
Gandalf turned back to the nearby portrait. "Sir Knight, who passed through here just now?"
"There were not many," the knight replied. "First, two students from Thunderbird House. Then Professor Luke came by on his patrol. After that, it was only the other professors and you all hurrying up.
"Oh, and someone cast a spell in the corridor a little while ago. The red flash nearly blinded me, and it almost hit my frame besides," he added indignantly.
A spell. Red light.
Gandalf's eyes narrowed around the detail.
Both students had been felled by Stupefy. Stunning Spells did not cast red light of that sort.
From what he knew, that bright red glare usually meant Expelliarmus, the Disarming Charm.
And neither boy's wand had been blasted from his hand.
Sensing something badly wrong, Gandalf pressed, "That spell—did it come before or after Professor Luke arrived?"
"After, I believe," the knight said. "I am sure it was after he came."
Gandalf's face changed at once.
He had felt an itch of unease earlier, but his attention had been fixed on the children, and he had let Luke, the first on the scene, slip to the back of his mind.
Or rather, "Professor Luke" had worn his skin too well. Neither he nor Galadriel had sensed anything amiss at first glance. And then "Luke" had offered to escort the boys to the hospital wing, neatly removing himself from their presence.
Galadriel had been listening in and came to the same conclusion in a heartbeat.
Without another word, the two of them set off at speed towards the hospital wing.
The other professors, seeing their faces, followed with heavy foreboding.
When they reached the infirmary, they found the place full of unconscious bodies—students lay out on beds, and Professor Luke among them.
Madam Amanda was nowhere to be seen.
Gandalf's heart sank. "We are too late."
He turned sharply to Edward. "Go. Get every student back to their dormitories at once. And start searching for Madam Amanda. I believe she has been possessed.
"When you look for her, be extremely careful. Whoever wears her may not hesitate to use lethal spells."
Edward and the others went white. A glance at the beds full of senseless patients told them all they needed to know about the gravity of the situation. They nodded quickly and hurried off, splitting up to carry out his orders.
"If Saruman is riding Amanda now, none of the other professors can match him," Galadriel said. "I will help."
Gandalf's expression eased a fraction. "Then I leave that to you, my lady. Kael and Lord Elrond are at a critical point. We must not disturb them. The sooner the Marauder's Map is finished, the sooner we can find Saruman and end this.
"He must have felt danger closing in. That is why he is moving now. We cannot let him succeed."
Galadriel nodded and left the hospital wing. Her mind spread outward like a net of light, questing through the castle in search of Amanda and the dark spirit that rode her.
Gandalf stayed.
Raising his staff, he summoned a wave of white radiance that washed over the infirmary like dawn.
As the light faded, the unconscious patients began to stir awake.
Gandalf stepped to Luke's bedside, his face grave. "Luke," he said, "do you remember what just happened?"