Chapter 2
Albus Dumbledore had seen a great many things in his life, some odder than others. And when your life was as his, you tended to grow fond of their oddity, for it piqued your interest amid the repetition of everyday life. You tend to notice patterns, you tend to take some leaps.
And if you were Albus Dumbledore, the wizard who added extra sound effects just for the fun of it to his everyday charms without a thought, a lot of things didn't seem impossible.
Still, Albus thought with incredulity that didn't show on his face, there had to be a limit.
But there wasn't, by Morgana, there wasn't.
The child in front of him was swathed in dark magic, and yet his magic seemed to radiate a curious sort of power that didn’t seem remotely malicious, only protective.
The child was a wizard obviously old enough to be several years into Hogwarts, and yet unheard of.
The child had refused treatment before succumbing to… whatever had overtaken him.
And while all of that should have been enough to pose a puzzle, there was more.
The thing that had Albus staring in amazement was this— if he or Poppy tried to land a single spell on him, his magic flared up into a cocoon-like shield around the boy.
That shouldn't have been possible.
The boy was unconscious, that much was for sure, so this shouldn't have been possible no matter how fickle the word 'impossible' was for Albus.
He stared for a minute, before deciding it best to return to his office and read a selection of his more… exotic books and try to figure out what may be happening.
Thankfully, he didn’t have to, because just as he opened the infirmary door to leave, he heard Poppy calling his name urgently again, saying the child had woken up and needed help.
Albus turned about and made his way back to one of the more well-concealed beds, where the child lay.
Writhing.
He took a sharp intake of breath.
The boy’s eyes kept shooting open and then close as he convulsed on the bed, screams turning into groans before morphing into screeches again.
The Dark Magic that was released by whatever the boy came in contact with, Albus realised with horror, it was reacting with his magic!
Albus pulled out his elder wand and traced the Laguz and Sowolo rune on the boy’s forehead, incanting eldritch words with smatterings of Latin and Sanskrit.
There was a brief red glow, before the boy stilled.
Albus exhaled with some relief. He had put off the worst for now, and he would find a solution for the remainder later.
Keeping in mind that the boy had explicitly said no was difficult, but Albus managed to not automatically cast diagnostic spells.
The boy couldn’t have foreseen the magical reaction, however— most never knew enough to — so Albus had no qualms in having helped out with that.
He gazed at the boy, wondering just who he was and how he came to be in such a state.
Poppy looked away, clearly distressed. Albus knew it was her first year of work here at Hogwarts, and how troubling it must feel to be unable to do something for her patient— a child — because they had forbidden her to.
He clasped her hands reassuringly, eyes twinkling with understanding, before departing.
It seemed he’d need those books after all.