Guilt
Wilbur winced as Schlatt’s hands beat together. He couldn’t stand the president’s smile. His sarcastic applause. Wilbur couldn’t stand the fact that he’d let Schlatt use him. That it seemed Schlatt intended to keep using him.
“I gotta admit kid, the look on your face was priceless.” Schlatt laughed. Wilbur just stared at the floor. His stomach turned. It wasn’t even about Schlatt at this point. Not all the way. It was about how he’d allowed himself to be used by him. “Anyways good luck, can’t have you dyin’ on me early.” Schlatt said with a laugh, leaving Wilbur alone with his thoughts.
“Why me?” He asked. Wilbur pondered the question as he made his way up to his room. He sat in the middle of his room, flicking his wand to lock the door. It was already late at night at this point, so everything was silent as his mind began to wander throughout the castle. It first coasted over Tommy’s mind. It was still buzzing with confusion earlier that evening and Wilbur put it to rest. Next it delved into Philza’s mind carefully. Wilbur didn’t want to be caught peering in on his father’s secrets.
Philza was beginning to put the pieces together already. He’d already figured out Schlatt had puppeteered either Wilbur, Fundy, Jack, or Eret to do it. Stress krept into Wilbur’s mind, and he carefully placed a block into his Father’s brain. He couldn’t let Phil figure out the truth. What would his father think of him?
His attention was caught by a memory at the forefront of Phil’s mind. Two kids sitting in a train. The images were blurry to Wilbur. As soon as the memory appeared it was gone. It wasn’t something Phil liked to remember. But, Wilbur could’ve sworn he saw ram horns on one of the boys in the car. Was Schlatt really telling the truth about knowing Phil?
“Someone snooping?” Wilbur flinched at Ari’s voice. He knew it was only a matter of time before she’d felt him searching around, but it was still an overbearing presence.
“What are you doing in his head?” Wilbur replied defensively, pivoting the conversation out of the outskirts of Phil’s mind before the man figured out what was going on.
“Oh don’t think it’s anything special. Just a security check. It was on the shit you signed.” Ari replied nonchalantly. “But I think you have other questions to ask me.”
“Why me?”
“Cause you’d do it.”
“Why Tommy?”
“Not your concern.” Wilbur remained silent, but didn’t back out. Ari began to push further, both materializing in WIlbur’s mind. “Stop trying to be like Philza.”
“What?”
“You keep trying to do what he'd do. Don’t.”
“Why? He’s one of the most accomplished and loved wizards in the world.”
“And is what the world sees always the truth?”
“Well no, but it means he makes decisions considered moral.”
“I wouldn’t count on that.” Ari replied, her face darkening. “You don’t know him like I do.”
“What? Why- what would you know about Phil?”
“Oh kid.” Ari said, a hint of true sympathy in her eyes. “There is so much you don’t know.”
“Did you do it?”
“What?”
“Did you really kill all those people?”
“No.” She wasn’t lying.
“Look me in the eyes and tell me this wasn’t you.” Shadows danced around the room as winged silhouettes flickered with the fires. White wings were blood stained. They’d been there for an hour now. “Ari look at me.”
“Where am I? How did I get here?” Hands shaking. Feathers trembling slowly. “Phil what happened?”
“You tell me. I just walked down a hallway filled with death and found you at the end of it. What did you do now Ari?” Phil asked sharply, wand drawn and poised for attack at the back of an old friend.
“I didn’t do this.”
“Why should I believe you? This doesn’t look good Ari.” Phil replied. Despite the fires, the room began to grow cold as Phil’s magic drew his disciples closer.
“Philza I didn’t do this.”
“Then who else did! I- Ari I thought you were better than this.” Philza replied. Ice krept up the walls.
“You don’t believe me.”
“No.”
“Phil can we talk?” Wilbur said anxiously. Looking up at his father. It’s been two days since he’d spoken to Ari, and he’d finally decided to ask Phil about it. He didn’t notice a small siamese cat slip into the room with him.
“Sure Will, what’s up.” Phil replied, leaning back in his chair to look up at his son.
“What happened between you and Ari?” Wilbur asked. Phil’s eye flashed with the slightest bit of apprehension, but the man remained calm.
“I arrested her for what happened in Gringotts. That’s all.” Phil replied.
“You’re lying.”
“Excuse me?”
“You are lying.”
“I’ve told you not to go snooping around in my head Will.” Phil replied, Wilbur easily able to pick up on the anger boiling inside his father.
“Then tell me the truth.”
“How about you tell me the truth, Wilbur, about Tommy.”
“D- don’t ignore my question Phil.”
“So you did have something to do with it.”
“That’s not what this is about.”
“You put Tommy’s name in the goblet Wilbur.” Phil stood up from his desk. Even though he was shorter than Wilbur, with his wings spread and stone cold glare Wilbur felt small. “Tell me why. Now.”
“Then tell me the truth! You can’t expect me to be honest with you if you won’t be honest with me!” Wilbur yelled.
“Stop poking around in places you don’t belong and you won’t have this problem!” Philza yelled back.
“I wouldn’t have to if you just stopped lying!” Wilbur yelled, hot tears making his vision blurry. “And I didn’t even mess around in your head to know anyway, Ari told me everything.”
“Will.” Philza’s face shifted into one Wilbur hadn’t seen from his father before. It was soft, but not in a truthful sort of way. “You can’t possibly believe what she’s telling you.”
“She wasn’t lying.” Wilbur shot back. “She didn’t lie to me about anything like you’ve been.”
“They’re just trying to use you Wilbur!” Phil yelled. That’s when it hit the younger.
“Get out of my head Phil.” He said with a deadly calm, Phil’s hand held his head as Wilbur pushed him out of his own mind.
“They’re trying to use you Will. It’s what people like Schlatt do. He used you to put Tommy’s name in and now he’s trying to get you to tear us apart.” Phil said, his anger beginning to rise, but not at Wilbur anymore.
“Yeah, you guys have a lot in common don’t you. It’s like you used to be best friends or something.” Wilbur said angrily, storming out of the room before Phil could get another word in. The older man slammed his fist into the table before morphing into a raven. There was someone he needed to talk to.
“Fine.” A wand slipped from the woman’s hand. It made something in Philza hesitate. Schlatt’s wand. Schlatt’s wand that he gave to Ari. The one Ari used to defend him. The wand Ari has used to end lives.
“I’m sorry.” Phil said, before the Dementors poured into the room, eating away at Ari’s soul.
“No you’re not.”
The student’s jumped as the door to Ari’s classroom was slammed open.
“Get your kids out of here. We need to talk. Now.” Philza looked Ari dead in the eyes, wings stretched throughout the room.
“Jesus, and here I thought I didn’t care about education.” Ari replied. “If you want to talk you have to make an appointment just like everyone else.” Just then a small siamese cat slipped into the classroom behind Phil and trotted over to Ari. It let out a loud purr as she scratched its ear. Phil rolled his eyes before leaving.
“Heard something interesting Ant?” she asked the feline which promptly transformed into a human.
“Should talk about it in private though. You won’t believe what Schlatt said.” Ant said. It was code, the whole room knew it. It meant the information wasn’t something to be shared with the rest of the class, like some idle gossip of basic information.
“Class dismissed.” Ari said promptly, and the kids began to clean up the potions they’d been brewing and filed out.
“Alright Ant, what’d you hear?”
Phil tapped his foot impatiently as a hushed voice conversed inside the classroom. Finally the cat animagus left and Phil entered. Ari was putting away the cauldrons and tidying up as he entered.
“What do you want.” Ari said, not really acknowledging the man’s impatience and anger. Phil was next to her in a flash, grabbing Ari and slamming her into the wall.
“Stay the fuck away from my kids Ari. That goes for Schlatt too.” Phil growled. Ari just laughed.
“You don’t scare me Philza.”
“Then your stupid.”
“Am I? We’ve both seen things Phil. We didn’t get these wings from god.”
“Ari there is nothing I care more about in this world than those kids. Keep your hands off them.”
“I guess it fits that you’d hurt the people you care about.”
“This isn’t about what happened.”
“Why not? All I see is history repeating.”