[Ariana—]
After a moment's hesitation, Tom stepped out from behind the tree, waking the unconscious Ariana on the ground as he went.
Under normal circumstances, a Stunning Spell would have zero effect on a ghost. To be precise, aside from a few specially cursed spells, most magic didn't work on ghosts at all. Ariana was the exception.
She wasn't some witch's lingering imprint who refused to leave the mortal world after death. She had willingly headed into the afterlife, only for Tom to yank her back halfway. That was why certain special spells could still affect her—just like how she could actively learn new magic.
Of course, no matter how she'd been knocked out, waking her up was easy for Tom.
He pulled out a funnel, shoved it into Ariana's mouth, then grabbed a jar of dark-green potion that bubbled nonstop and poured the whole thing straight down the funnel.
This was the same trick Jerry had once used to wake him. Tom thought it worked great, so he'd kept a supply handy.
As the liquid flowed in, Ariana's eyes slowly opened. Seeing Tom right in front of her, she blinked in confusion, then threw her arms around his head in pure relief. "Tom! Thank goodness! I knew you'd be okay!"
[You knew I'd be fine, yet you still reacted like that?]
Tom rolled his eyes in mild annoyance, but he still reached up and patted her head. After all, she really had been terrified for him—scared enough that she'd nearly woken her Obscurus again.
[Relax. I'm not going to die. Even if you kicked the bucket, I still wouldn't.]
Looking at the equally worried and relieved faces of Harry and the others, Tom waved a paw.
[I'm fine, everyone.]
"Pfft. Who was worried about you? I was just worried that if you died, no one would do my homework anymore!"
Ron turned his head away stubbornly, refusing to let Tom see his red-rimmed eyes.
Harry did the same, looking embarrassed as he glanced aside. Like Ron, the proud young boy didn't want Tom seeing this vulnerable side of him.
Hannah, though, wasn't the tsundere type. She was genuinely worried about her friend. The second she saw Tom was okay, she rushed forward and pulled him into a tight hug. "Tom… oh my God, I'm so glad you're all right! You really scared me to death back there."
The baby fire-dragon Norberta flew straight to the top of Tom's head and squeaked worriedly:
(Mama! I'm so glad you're okay! I almost thought I was going to lose my mama!)
[Dammit, how many times do I have to say it? I'm not your mama! I'm a dude!]
(Then… can I call you Papa?)
[…Fine. Whatever you want.]
Even though he still hadn't corrected his status in Norberta's mind, at least he'd fixed the gender issue. Tom was satisfied enough with that.
Besides, having a fire-dragon daughter didn't sound half bad?
He could always have her blast Jerry one day~
Thinking that, Tom shook his head at the four worried faces.
[Do you guys really have that little faith in me? I've been burned to ashes by a dragon before and came back just fine. You think some random curse is going to do me in?]
Recalling all of Tom's previous ridiculous stunts, Harry and the others exchanged glances. Suddenly his words didn't seem so unreasonable.
But still—that had been the Killing Curse. To these young wizards there was a big difference between regular fire and that green bolt of death. The main reason they'd panicked was—
"Who told you to go that overboard earlier! You even dug your own grave! Of course we were worried sick!"
"And I promised Luna I'd take good care of you!"
Seeing Hannah's hands absentmindedly stroking his fur, Tom shot her an exasperated glare.
[Is "taking good care of me" supposed to mean feeding me chocolate?]
"How are you still not over that?!"
[Why would I be? I'm gonna hold this over you for the rest of your life~]
"Urgh!"
Seeing Tom completely unharmed and happily bickering with them again, Harry felt a wave of relief wash over him. Thank God Tom was okay. Thank God his friend was still alive.
At the same time, having just gone through this brush with death, Harry made a silent vow in his heart: No matter what happened in the future, he would protect his friends. He would never let real loss and separation actually happen.
Of course, Tom had no idea what Harry was thinking. If he did, he probably would've rolled his eyes and said Harry was still too soft-hearted. If Tom knew someone close to him literally couldn't die, the moment danger appeared he'd use that person as a human shield instead of trying to get stronger to protect them.
Now that everyone was finally calmed down, Tom turned to Ariana.
[By the way, Ariana, are you okay? That thing earlier—]
He didn't finish the sentence, but Ariana understood perfectly. "You mean the Obscurus, right? It almost woke up again, but that mysterious person's curse interrupted it.
Now… I can still feel it inside me, but it feels different from before?"
"What's an Obscurus?"
Harry was the only one present without a proper wizarding education. He looked confused as Ron and Hannah's faces filled with alarm at the word.
"It's a really dangerous and extremely unstable dark force," Ron said, trying to recall what his parents had told him about Obscuri. He gave up pretty quickly. "Basically, it's something super dangerous that can kill everyone around it and cause massive destruction."
"So it's basically another Killing Curse?"
"No, it's different from the Killing Curse. It—"
Ron kept gesturing, but after a while he still couldn't explain the difference clearly.
"It's an uncontrollable power," Hannah jumped in. "Any young witch or wizard who's had a really tragic past and suppressed their magic because of it can become an Obscurial. When their emotions spike too high, it erupts and destroys everything around them indiscriminately."
She looked at Ariana with a mix of excitement and curiosity. "You're actually an Obscurial? That's so cool! How come I never noticed? Spill it—what other secrets are you hiding from me?"
While she was a little worried about Ariana being an Obscurial, Hannah hadn't personally witnessed how terrifying they could be. Plus, Ariana was her friend, and they were at Hogwarts—the safest wizarding school in the world. So she wasn't afraid Ariana would hurt her.
"Um… well… I don't think so? Probably?"
Ariana sounded a bit awkward. Did being Dumbledore's sister count as a secret? She also hadn't expected Hannah to be completely unafraid after learning she was an Obscurial.
"What do you mean 'probably'?!"
Hannah pouted, clearly wanting to keep pressing, but Tom cut her off.
[You girls can talk about your private stuff later. Ariana, what do you mean it feels different now?]
"I… I'll just show you."
Ariana sounded unsure. Then, under everyone's watchful eyes, she closed hers. Her entire body suddenly turned into a cloud of black mist, floating quietly in front of them.
"Like this. I think… I can control it now?"
The next moment, Ariana changed back to her human form, looking uncertain.