The last weeks of this year's school term at Hogwarts had been very different for Gabriel than the previous one.
For starters, before Hermione could even start panicking about exams, he made her promise that he'd be allowed to stop her from studying if she exceeded a certain number of hours per day or week—and that she wouldn't hold him accountable for it, even if she protested. He had her sign the agreement as a proper document and everything.
And, surprisingly, it even worked!
More or less...
Sure, he had to cast Petrificus Totalus on her eight different times to drag her out of the library or stop her from sneaking back in, but eventually, she caught on: she'd study better if she didn't risk being frozen mid-paragraph.
Of course, that realization only came after she discovered that he wouldn't stop doing it no matter how much she pouted or glared at him - or even when she threatened to stop talking to him altogether. It took her about three weeks to understand that he actually enjoyed the free pass to annoy her, and that her angry faces were, to him, more "adorable" than "intimidating."
There were no dragons to rescue this time, thankfully. Though, the knowledge that a Basilisk was sleeping somewhere beneath the school kept pressing into his mind. He knew how absurd it was, but ever since giving Dumbledore the Diary, he'd started… regretting it. A tiny, irrational part of him wished he'd let Ginny keep it a bit longer, that he followed her when she was possessed, and killed the creature himself. Which, of course, would've been a horrible, stupid, and incredibly cruel thing to do to a friend. He'd never actually act on it. But still - he couldn't help but wish he could have seen it up close.
Without dying or turning to stone, obviously.
When exam time eventually arrived, he felt as confident as he had the previous year - perhaps even more so.
Professor Flitwick once again asked each student to perform all the charms they'd learned that year: from the Sound-Amplification and Quieting Charms at the start of term, to the Engorgement and Shrinking Charms mid-year, and finally the rather ominous-sounding Obliteration Charm and the deceptively simple - but dangerously useful - Orbis Charm at the end.
Once his exam was over, Gabriel called Professor Flitwick aside before the next group entered. He demonstrated his self-created "North-Wind Flame Charm," earning an excited squeak from the diminutive professor, who immediately awarded Ravenclaw fifty points. Even better, Flitwick promised to help him progress faster by giving him access to advanced coursework beyond his year.
Gabriel had felt a pang of guilt then - remembering Hermione - and asked if she could receive a similar opportunity.
Flitwick laughed. "Oh, Mr. Moretti, I've been doing that since last year - after she wrote an entire roll of parchment for a question that required at most three paragraphs."
He chuckled and gestured to a side of his desk piled high with parchment scrolls. Gabriel realized, with dawning horror, that all of those belonged to Hermione. Suddenly, he felt a deep, almost spiritual empathy for Hogwarts professors - well, except Lockhart.
"My condolences," Gabriel said with a solemn nod.
He could've sworn he saw a tear glint in Flitwick's eye.
On the Transfiguration front, Professor McGonagall had, ironically enough, given them almost the same exam as last year - except this time, instead of featureless stone blocks, they were given five cockroaches. Gabriel hated the crawling little bastards with every single cell in his body and had nearly refused to participate on principle.
Still, he grudgingly did the work, transforming each into something different: a soccer ball, a book with pink pages, a helmet, a flask of perfume, and a deck of cards. Afterwards, McGonagall once again presented them with a rat to turn into a snuffbox - except this time, the rat was an actual rat, not a transfigured fake, which made the task infinitely more difficult.
Supposedly.
Gabriel hadn't noticed any difference, to be honest.
In Potions, Professor Snape had them brew a Fire Protection Potion under rather creative conditions: the room they were in grew hotter by the minute. The heat made it nearly impossible to focus, and soon the entire class was drenched in sweat - which, naturally, risked contaminating ingredients and making the grip on the tools slip, and Merlin forbid a drop of sweat fell into the cauldron, or the whole thing would be ruined.
To make matters worse, they had to constantly adjust the flame under the cauldron to compensate for the rising room temperature. No parchment or quills were allowed, so every adjustment had to be calculated mentally, on the spot.
At the end of it all, Snape ordered them to test their potions on themselves. Fortunately, it wasn't the kind of brew that exploded or poisoned you when done wrong - otherwise, there'd be a lot less students for the third year, given the disappointment he saw on many faces there. Gabriel's potion worked perfectly, though, wrapping him in a perpetual sensation of standing in a cool, gentle breeze. He rather liked it.
Herbology had gone smoothly too. The Mandrakes had finally matured, allowing the professors to brew the restorative potion that cured everyone petrified by the Basilisk's gaze - the students, the ghost, and poor Mrs. Norris. The main concern now was that the actually human and living victims had missed most of the school year, and would need remedial lessons through the summer to catch up.
Even his Astronomy grade had improved - though, if he was being honest, that was mostly because he'd grown used enough to Professor Sinestra's beauty that he moved from drooling to wanting to impress her. Sadly, that goal was hindered by the subject itself being a dry collection of star names, numbers, and dates that refused to stick in his brain without more effort than he cared to give - and by the fact that both Padma and Hermione were fiercely dueling for the top spot in the class.
History of Magic was, once again, completely ignored. Defense Against the Dark Arts, under Lockhart, somehow merited even less attention than it had under the tutelage of a man literally possessed by a Dark Lord.
It really was a blessing that Hogwarts allowed students to advance to the next year as long as they scored enough cumulative points across their subjects. Otherwise, Gabriel would have been in some trouble.
Hermione, of course, nagged him about it endlessly.
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Gabriel found himself once again inside the Room of Requirement with Professor Dumbledore. But instead of standing around casting spells and testing his new charm as they had been doing the past weeks, he was seated at a table across from the older man, a cup of coffee in his hands while Dumbledore sipped tea. Between them lay a collection of drawings depicting magical sigils and mythological symbols, scribbled notes on torn parchment, and a few rough illustrations.
"So, to recapitulate - this is the plan," Gabriel began, leaning forward eagerly. "A series of four charms, each linked to one of the Greek Anemoi. I already made the first one, Flamma Borealis, for Boreas, the North Winter Wind. That leaves Zephyrus, Notus, and Eurus."
He gestured animatedly toward his notes.
"Zephyrus is the West Wind, associated with spring. He's considered the gentlest of the four, the bringer of fruits and the growth of flowers - so I'm planning to mix the Bluebell Flames with a healing spell for this one. Notus is the South Wind, tied to summer, and since his opposite was done with an ice charm, I thought of combining this one with Incendio so it can actually burn - though that feels a bit boring. As for Eurus…" Gabriel grimaced slightly. "He's not all that prominent in mythology, honestly. But he's said to bring storms and turbulent winds. Mixing Bluebell Flames with a lightning charm sounds incredibly useless, so instead I'll focus on the 'turbulent winds' part - maybe mix in something to make the spell more solid, so it can move things by itself, like a whirlwind or a hurricane."
He looked up expectantly. "What do you think?"
Dumbledore took a slow sip of tea, amusement glinting in his eyes as he shuffled through the papers. After a moment, he set them down and regarded Gabriel over his half-moon spectacles.
"First of all, allow me to once again congratulate you on the creation of your first original spell," he said warmly. "That alone is an extraordinary achievement for any accomplished wizard - and you, my boy, have done it at twelve years old. I daresay even I could not have managed such a feat at your age."
"What about Tom Riddle?" Gabriel asked suddenly, curiosity piqued.
Dumbledore tilted his head thoughtfully. "Hmm. In truth, I'm not certain. Don't misunderstand me - Riddle was one of the most gifted minds I have ever encountered… you and he share that in common. But his brilliance lay in mastering existing spells with alarming ease, and in rediscovering fragments of lost magical knowledge. I cannot recall a single instance during his time at Hogwarts when Tom created something truly new - a spell, a potion, or otherwise."
He paused, eyes narrowing faintly before dismissing the thought with a shake of his head.
"But that is beside the point. We are here to speak of you. And now that I've sufficiently inflated your ego, allow me to reduce it to a more manageable size."
Gabriel grinned sheepishly as Dumbledore continued.
"Your idea for the Zephyrus Charm - a healing flame - is noble and deeply inspiring. Unfortunately, as someone who once attempted the same, I must warn you: it is far more complicated than it seems. Even starting from a modest base like Episkey - which can only heal minor cuts, cartilage injuries, and the like - the investment of time and effort is rarely worth it, since the base spell already performs its limited function perfectly well."
He raised a brow. "Of course, with your speed and aptitude, you might still manage it… if you truly wish to. But for more serious ailments - lacerations, broken bones, internal damage, hemorrhages, poisoning - there is no single spell that can treat all of these safely. Attempting to merge multiple healing charms into one will most likely result in, well…" Dumbledore's tone softened, "…a most painful and torturous death, rather than a magical panacea."
Gabriel groaned. "That's… actually what I was planning to do."
Dumbledore chuckled. "Don't feel too bad. I did the same - thinking that those before me simply lacked either the motivation or the talent, I spent over a decade fruitlessly trying to recreate the effect of phoenix tears through spellwork alone."
The admission made Gabriel's eyes widen. Dumbledore immediately noticed his reaction.
"Oh? Did that spark an idea?" he asked lightly, amused by the boy's expression.
"Yeah…" Gabriel said slowly, mulling over the thought before shaking his head. "I'll have to confirm it with my mum first, though."
"Ah," Dumbledore smiled knowingly. "One of Saint Germain's experiments, then?"
"Pretty much."
"I won't ask any more, then," Dumbledore said with a faint smile and a fake shiver. "Moving on - your idea for the Notus charm is certainly sound. You could, without a doubt, mix the Bluebell Flames with any ordinary fire spell - even Incendio - and achieve the result you described. But it is, as you said, rather 'boring.' More importantly, it has no real use. You would simply be making a fire spell that doesn't burn, now burn, through greater effort than if you had just used the normal fire spell."
He steepled his fingers. "Besides, from what you've told me, you plan to modify most of the fire spells I created, transforming them into the blue flames of the Blauflammer anyway - which will, for the most part, be cosmetic changes unless you add a third charm to them or retain their burning properties. In which case," he added, amused, "you would have only changed the spell's color."
Gabriel let his forehead fall onto the table with a dull thud and a groan.
"I know, I know. But I really wanted to keep the theme of the Four Winds - and I'd really rather not make the Bluebell Flames actually burn, to be honest. I like a good barbecue as much as the next bloke, but the idea of burning someone alive… it just makes me want to puke."
"Why not focus on another of Notus's attributes, then?" Dumbledore suggested.
Gabriel frowned thoughtfully. "I mean, he doesn't have much of a role in mythology either. He either represents the dryness and drought of high summer, or the heavy rains that come at the end of it. And I can't exactly make fire turn into water, can I?"
"You could certainly make it rain fire," Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling.
"That would actually work?" Gabriel asked, surprised.
"I'm quite sure it would. I created a charm for it myself, in fact," Dumbledore replied, his tone light. "Check page one hundred and twenty-two of the book I gave you - it should be there. The spell conjures a cloud that rains fire over a wide area, with the flames designed to spread quickly to their surroundings. Of course, your version would suffer the same limitations I mentioned before - it would either have little practical effect or be mostly a cosmetic change."
"Unless I used it as a base for one of the other charms," Gabriel countered quickly. "It'd actually be useful to have an autonomous spell spreading one of the fire effects, so I could control them later while focusing on something else."
"As you say," Dumbledore conceded with a small smile. "But that adds another layer of difficulty beyond merely creating a new charm by combining two. What you're describing would require modifying the charm on the fly - deciding what kind of fire the cloud produces as you cast it. That sort of mastery should be your end goal, not part of your training."
"I still want to do it like this," Gabriel said firmly.
Dumbledore's smile deepened. "That, of course, is your choice to make. But don't feel chained to this notion of yours - a 'set' of charms. You can always change course and work on something entirely different. It's not as though Flamma Borealis would suffer for it."
"Got it," Gabriel said, giving him a thumbs-up before grimacing with mock dread. "Now, what's the damage with the last one?"
Dumbledore merely looked at Gabriel with a knowing smile. The silence stretched just long enough for Gabriel to grow uneasy - until the Professor suddenly laughed, the sound echoing softly through the Room.
"Nothing at all," Dumbledore said warmly. "In fact, this is precisely what I had in mind for your next step - a direct improvement upon your base charm to make it more useful in situations that demand power. Coincidentally, it would also serve as an excellent foundation for adapting the Fire Rain Charm, or any of my other works, thus solving the problem we discussed earlier."
Gabriel let out a relieved sigh, nodded with a grin, and began gathering the notes he'd made on that very idea - before pausing as a thought struck him.
"I forgot to ask, Headmaster - can I tell my friends about this place? I was under the impression it was supposed to be a secret. But if we're going to keep having lessons here next year, people will eventually find out, right?"
"It isn't exactly a secret," Dumbledore replied. "It's simply… not spoken of openly. I'm certain more people know about it than you might imagine. And yes, we will continue our lessons here next year. However, the Room is quite accommodating - it can open entrances to nearly any point in the castle, so that is not as troublesome as you might think."
He set down his teacup and met Gabriel's gaze. "That said, you may, of course, tell your friends about it. I would only ask that you refrain from spreading knowledge of it throughout the entire school. I was recently informed that a very dark artifact had been hidden here, and given how many centuries of lost things lie within these walls, I fear there may be others I have yet to uncover."
"Was it a Horcrux?" Gabriel asked bluntly.
Dumbledore hesitated, then nodded. "Indeed. But I would advise you not to speak that name outside this room."
Gabriel gave a casual thumbs-up. "Got it. You'd think such a cursed thing would've had some effect on the school after being here so long."
"Oh, it certainly has," Dumbledore corrected gently. "It was the cause of the curse on the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Now that it has been removed, the curse itself has finally broken."
Gabriel's face brightened. "So that means we'll actually keep a professor this year? Nic- wait." He froze mid-word, his expression turning to horror. "Wait, wait, wait. Does that mean we're keeping Gilderoy?"
Dumbledore burst out laughing - rich, genuine laughter that did little to reassure him.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that," he said, eyes twinkling.
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As Gabriel watched Gilderoy Lockhart - unconscious and being dragged in chains out of the Great Hall in the middle of the End-of-Year Feast - he couldn't help but remember Dumbledore's words
He looked to his side, where Luna was eyeing the departing Aurors with quiet suspicion. All around him came the soft sniffles and subdued sobs of Lockhart's more devoted admirers. Across the tables, Neville sat frozen in shock; Harry and Ron were grinning like lunatics; Fred and George were singing a triumphant parody of one of Lockhart's book titles; and Hermione-
Hermione was staring at the fallen celebrity with the look of a woman who had just discovered her husband's secret second family.
Her expression, caught somewhere between heartbreak and murderous intent, made Gabriel stifle a snort.
He felt like he could still listen to the Auror's voice echoing across the hall, listing the charges in crisp, official tones:
"For multiple counts of identity fraud, theft of credit for heroic acts, unlawful use of the Obliviate Charm, falsification of documents to cross international borders under false pretenses, and tax evasion - Gilderoy Lockhart is hereby placed under arrest."
Gabriel couldn't hold it anymore.
A roar of laughter escaped him, loud enough to turn heads at nearby tables.
Hermione turned on him immediately - her face reddening by the second, a glare sharp enough to cut glass.
The laughter only grew louder.