Soon the holiday was over and students started coming back to the school around the beginning of the term. As students came in from the carriages many of them were surprised to see a lake of lava flowing out in streams from the forest. And seeing this caused many to wonder just what happened while they were away. Now of course no one really knew what had caused the lava to form though some people knew but decided to not say anything for their best interest. At least for now.The day before the term began Hermione had arrived and besides greeting Harry and Ron, she immediately went to find Nova.
"What did you do?" Hermione asked him.
Startled by what she was say, Nova just turned to look at her with a confused look, "What are you talking about?"
"Why is there a lake of lava now sitting in the Forbidden Forest? And don"t tell me it wasn"t you. Your the only one able to do such a thing." Hermione said as she crossed her arms and tapped her foot waiting for a response.
"Well if you must know, I found another fragment."
"You did? Who is it?"
"Yes, I did, but it is not that simple. This fragment was in the Diadem of Ravenclaw, but it had been corrupted and seeing it in such a state made me angry. Hence a new lake in the forest."
"Oh Nova, I am so sorry. Is there no way you can fix it?" Hermione"s face changed to one of sympathy.
"Unfortunately I can"t. The soul is one of the most fragile things in existence. But the good new is that the soul can still be used, it just needs to find a host compatible with it?"
"Oh ok" Hermione said. "Now that the holiday is over, can you teach me how to strengthen my fragment?"
Nova could tell that Hermione didn"t really understand what he meant, but he chose to ignore it for the time being.
"As for that matter, follow me." Nova then proceeded to lead Hermione up to his forge. When they had arrived, Hermione was shocked. Such a large place in the school and still n.o.body was able to find out why the school was shaking when Nova forged.
"It is a hidden room that the school has, the Grey Lady told me about it." Nova explained to her. Though he did wonder if it was alright for a mortal"s jaw to open the widely. He then brought out a chair and gestured for Hermione to sit. As she did he pulled out another chair from his ring as well, and when Hermione looked at it she couldn"t help but compare it to a throne.
"Are you sure you wish to do this?" Nova asked.
"Yes I do." Hermione said with determination in her voice. Hearing her speak, Nova brought out a crystal sphere and handed it to her.
"Here hold onto this and focus your mind to it. You will feel it pull you into its s.p.a.ce and your goal is to collect all the lights inside. Once you do we can move onto the next part." Nova told her.
"What are you going to be doing?" Hermione asked as Nova stood up and restored the chair.
"I am going to get the Grey Lady it is time for me to forge her a body."
"What if I finish this thing before you get back." Hermione asked.
"Don"t worry you won"t." Nova then walked out of the Room of Requirement. As Nova walked out of the room he went towards the headmasters office. When he arrived, the statue got up out of the way instead of having him say a pa.s.sword. Which was quite convenient, as it allowed Nova to walk just straight up the stairs.
When he had arrived, Nova heard arguing inside the office, and a couple of the voices sounded familiar, but since he couldn"t remember where he had the people from he just a.s.sumed they were nameless n.o.bodies.
"Albus why didn"t you inform the Ministry that there was a dragon loose in the forest." A man was saying. "Don"t you know that things like this need to be handled properly?"
"Cornelius, I do believe that had I known such a creature was sitting in the forest then I would have contacted the proper authorities." Dumbledore said softly. "But that is besides the point, I don"t believe that you are here over such small matters is that correct?"
"Indeed. Because the eyewitness was not able to identify the dragon"s breed. Scrimgeour and I believe that it should be monitored and studied in its natural habitat and since this is such a rare find we have called people in to monitor and observe the creature." Cornelius said.
"That is a good idea, Cornelius. But if I may, how do you intend to study the beast. It hasn"t been seen in days." Dumbledore said.
"If I may Albus, the dragon caretakers from Romania believe it is within the Lake of Lava and should come out soon and do dragon like things. Or so they tell me. And they will be bringing in other dragons to see how it responds." Scrimgeour added in.
"As long as it doesn"t affect the school, then I will allow it. But do know when to back out, I would hate to see any accidents." Dumbledore calmly said.
"Thank you Albus." Cornelius said. Nova sensed the two men walking towards the door and moved out of the way so that they wouldn"t notice him.
"It seems that our plan is going well." Cornelius said. "Soon the creature"s artifacts will be ours."
"Yes the value that they will have in defending the Aurors will be impactful." Scrimgeour agreed.
"Before we give them out we must find ways to duplicate them and ma.s.s produce. Just think of the Galleons we will earn." Cornilius said.
Hearing this talk, Nova couldn"t tell whether to feel pity for the mortals or wonder if this corrupt government was worth his time in burning it down. But these two men did seem familiar but Nova couldn"t remember meeting morons. To even think of stealing from him, stupid mortals. But still dragon caretakers. Maybe he should have some fun with them, it would be fun to pa.s.s the time.
Nova then walked into Dumbledore"s office, only to see the old man had been sitting down waiting for him.
"Your not buying anything they are saying are you?" Nova inquired.
"I believe that they want to do the right thing but sadly our expectations are sometimes wildly disappointed." Dumbledore said calmly.
"So what are you going to do. You know that they won"t find any dragon in that lake or that forest." Nova stated as he sat down in one of the chairs.
"Yes that is true. Though I wonder how they would react if they knew the dragon in question was a student in the school." Dumbledore let out a soft chuckle.
He then leaned back in the chair, and looked at Nova, "But I take it that you have something you would like to discuss with me?"
"Yes I was wonder if you could have one of the paintings find Helena and inform her that I am ready to make her body." Nova said.
"YOU ARE!!?" The painting of Helga Hufflepuff suddenly said.
"Yes I am. I found the last item that I need as a catalyst here in the school the other night and was going to start on the project. But it seems that we must play a small game of Tom and Jerry to remove a few fools."
"You found a catalyst in the school? What is it?" Dumbledore asked.
"The other night I had found a Philosopher"s Stone buried in the depths of the mirror. Really is strange that someone would hide something so valuable in such a place." Nova said.
"Albus isn"t that. . ." One of the paintings said.
"Oh yes that is quite strange." Dumbledore interrupted.
Helga came panting back into her painting, "Helena"s on her way."
Moments later, the Gray Lady cam floating up and looked at Nova. "Is it true." Nova just nodded his head.
"Yes but it seems that there is a bit of a set back. I need to deal with the Ministry people and dragon researchers." Nova explained to her.
"Will that put you back any?" Helena asked.
"No it won"t you will be on your feet by the start of fall." Nova a.s.sured her.
"Good it seems things are going to be just fine. Now I have already cleared things with the staff. You don"t have to worry about cla.s.ses for now but are still expected to take the finals." Dumbledore explained.
Nova looked at Dumbledore and nodded his head and then left out of the office.
"It seems like I need to visit Nicholas in the next few days."