Chapter 75: Second Magical Riot
Peeves suddenly appeared in front of Draco. "Little brat! Out of bed and wandering the halls at night!"
"Go away, Peeves! Or I'll call the Bloody Baron!" Draco shouted, sprinting away.
"Filch! Filch! There's a first-year brat breaking curfew! Come quick!"
Peeves bellowed at the top of his lungs, constantly blocking Draco's path, yanking at his sleeves, and slowing him down.
"Get lost!" Draco shouted, struggling to break free of Peeves' grip.
Footsteps thundered on the stairs.
Mrs. Norris meowed, leading Filch toward them. Draco hadn't even noticed the cat.
"I'm looking for Professor Snape!" Draco shouted, hoping Snape would hear and come and save him.
"Looking for Professor Snape? Good. I'll take you to him." Filch, thrilled to have caught a student roaming the halls after hours, was practically preening.
He seized Draco's arm and dragged him to Snape's office door.
Filch pounded on the door, glaring at Draco, hoping to see fear.
"Who is it?" Snape's irritated voice called from inside.
"Professor, it's Filch," he called through the door. "I caught a first-year wandering after curfew. He says he's looking for you."
"Professor, it's me. Something's happened to Ethan!" Draco shouted.
The door flew open with a bang. Snape stood in his usual black robes, disheveled from being roused in haste.
"Draco, what is it?" Snape asked, clearly irritated. He gestured for Filch to wait before the caretaker spoke.
He described what he had witnessed: "Professor, Ethan suddenly floated up into the air. Some invisible force swirled around him. The bed was crushed, and the curtains were torn to pieces."
"Filch, leave him to me. Go back to your patrol." Snape pulled Draco away from the caretaker and hurried toward the Slytherin dormitory.
"This... all right." Filch opened his mouth, but that was all he could say.
Watching them leave, Filch spat on the ground in anger. "Pah!" He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his mouth with a scowl.
"Glory!" Snape said the password and followed Draco to the dormitory door.
"Professor Snape," Goyle and Crabbe greeted him.
Draco turned to the two guards. "How is Ethan? Has anything else happened?"
"The air currents are getting stronger, and a red light keeps flashing on and off. That's all," Goyle said, recounting what he'd seen since Draco left.
"What about you, Crabbe?"
"Same, but I thought I saw a small flame for a moment. It disappeared quickly," Crabbe added.
"Professor, look!" Draco shouted, turning to Snape.
"Step back. I'll move your things out first." Snape's eyes narrowed.
Then he cast the Levitation Charm to lift everything out of the dormitory, including Little Black, who was huddled in the corner, dwindling because it had no flame to sustain it.
Seeing the salamander, Snape first lit Ethan's portable fire bottle to keep it alive, then continued examining the anomaly in the dormitory.
The sound of Snape moving things woke students in the other dormitories who weren't sleeping soundly.
They stuck their heads out. The first thing they saw was beds, tables, and chairs piled up in the corridor, followed by Snape standing at the dormitory door.
Their reactions were remarkably consistent.
The moment they saw Snape, they pulled their heads back, and the dormitory doors closed.
Snape stopped once he'd moved most of the items out.
He tried to move the collapsed bed out to see if Ethan would wake up, but the air currents were too strong, and his Levitation Charm failed.
By now he had a theory, but it still needed confirmation.
He waited at the door for a moment, and then something happened that confirmed his suspicions.
Black flames erupted around Ethan. They enveloped his body and instantly set his bed ablaze.
Draco exclaimed, "What is that? Ethan's bloodline talent?"
He turned to Snape. "Professor, could this be a magic surge?"
Snape nodded wordlessly, his eyes fixed on Ethan in the dormitory.
Since Snape had already cleared away most of the furniture, the flames died out after consuming the bed and the leather trunk beneath it, exhausting the available fuel.
But the fire surrounding Ethan didn't die down; instead, it grew stronger. Yet, somehow, his clothes remained unburned.
The black flames on his body had begun to scorch the magically reinforced bricks of the ceiling.
Snape quickly cast a reinforcing charm to prevent the roof from burning through.
But the flames' power exceeded Snape's expectations. The charm held for less than half a minute before the fire destroyed it.
He could only keep casting, finally resorting to Protego Totalum to protect the castle.
The air around Ethan grew still as the flames intensified, but they continued to spread until they filled the entire dormitory.
Snape struggled to maintain the spell. Just as he was considering whether to send Draco to get another professor, Ethan woke up.
The flames that filled the room instantly drew back into his body. He floated down slowly and settled onto the ashes of his bed.
Ethan opened his eyes slowly. Instead of familiar silver-green curtains, he saw a stone ceiling.
He sat up, the fog of sleep still clinging to him, and looked around the room.
"Where's my bed?! My big bed, where did it go?! Why is the room empty?! Where is everyone? Where are my things? Where did they all go?!"
Ethan finally noticed his roommates and Snape standing in the doorway. "Professor?! Why are you here?!"
"Stand up, brush the ashes off, and then follow me to my office." Snape moved the furniture in the corridor back to its original positions one by one and restored the torn curtains.
Snape sent the wand flying with a Levitation Charm.
He cast Tergeo to clean the ashes from his body and Scourgify to clean the floor, then followed Snape barefoot into his office.
The few remaining people in the dormitory couldn't sleep either. They discussed the anomaly that struck Ethan, wondering whether it was a magical surge. If so, why would a second one occur?
Sleepless tonight.