"You sent for me, Mr. Baron."
Sean spoke politely.
"I did. Mr. Green..."
Baron's voice was hoarse. According to the other ghosts, it had never recovered.
"You brought her release. Because of you, one fragment of my sin has been lifted."
Baron's low voice was soft, blending with the wind at the top of the highest tower.
"And... what about you?"
Sean asked.
His voice was quiet too. If the wind had been any stronger, it might not have been heard at all.
"My affairs are not yours to concern yourself with, sir. I asked you here to confirm one thing—can you truly grant a ghost release?"
Baron walked toward him step by step.
Now that he was closer, Sean could feel the piercing cold coming off him.
"To those with faith, death is the gate to eternal life."
Sean softly recited a line. It was something the old headmaster of Ilvermorny had once written in a book.
The words seemed to hold a unique kind of power, like part of a long incantation, able to stir some strange magical force into motion.
"Ravenclaw deserved a better ending. Her crime was not unforgivable."
Baron seemed to let out a long breath.
"When she asked me to find her, I already knew that much. Ravenclaw never hated Ravenclaw..."
"And what about you, sir?"
Sean repeated the question.
"Ravenclaw hated Baron—this blood is proof enough—"
Baron gave a bleak smile, then began chuckling in a thin, unsteady way.
Sean watched him. Then Baron abruptly sank through the floor. Just before he vanished completely, Sean heard his blurred, fading voice:
"A sinner as grave as I am doesn't deserve release..."
Baron's words made Sean frown slightly.
But he had no right to forgive Baron in Helena's place.
Then again... just as he couldn't forgive Baron for Helena, he also had no way of knowing whether Helena still hated him.
The fog tonight was thick. Sean might get a chance to find out.
...
From that afternoon onward, Defense Against the Dark Arts seemed to become a favorite class for most students. Only Draco Malfoy and his Slytherin cronies were still badmouthing Professor Lupin.
"Just look at the state of his trunk,"
Malfoy said loudly enough for others to hear as Professor Lupin passed by.
But aside from them, no one cared that Lupin's trunk was battered and badly worn.
Before long, though, the subject of conversation changed. The students started debating whether Care of Magical Creatures or Defense Against the Dark Arts was more interesting.
"I think it's Defense Against the Dark Arts. I heard next lesson we're doing Red Caps and Kappas—"
Sean heard Michael repeating some rumor from who knew where.
"We'll get to see them up close..."
Red Caps were ugly little goblin-like creatures.
They lurked in places where blood had once been spilled—castle dungeons, abandoned battlefield trenches—waiting to ambush lost travelers with clubs.
Kappas, meanwhile, were water-dwelling creatures.
They looked like scaly monkeys with webbed hands, always ready to strangle anyone foolish enough to wade through their ponds.
"But first we've got to survive Potions."
Michael said it with dread.
After that afternoon's lesson, Professor Snape's mood had become especially foul, and everyone knew why.
The news that the Boggart had turned into Snape—and that Neville had dressed it in his grandmother's clothes—had spread through the school like wildfire.
Professor Snape did not find it funny in the slightest.
Especially not when a certain black-haired young wizard had nearly witnessed the whole thing.
So now, any time he heard Lupin's name, his eyes would shoot over with murderous force—and he seemed fully prepared to pick a fight with Lupin after that afternoon's Potions class.
On the way to the dungeon classroom, the atmosphere was just as heavy as it had been during their very first Potions lesson.
Professor Snape began class wearing the worst expression any of them had ever seen on him.
So when the students saw the assistant beside the front desk, they looked at him like he was a lifeline.
And, as it turned out, they were right.
With the black-haired assistant helping them, they made it through Potions with only minor casualties.
Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff lost only twenty-five points total.
"Mr. Green, it's so good that you're here..."
one Hufflepuff said gratefully to Sean as they left the classroom.
"I don't even know how to thank you. Otherwise I think I would've been expelled for stirring my cauldron with my right hand instead of my left..."
His Hufflepuff friend shyly echoed the thanks.
Truthfully, Sean didn't think Professor Snape was nearly as terrifying as they imagined.
At the same time, though, he could understand that the professor's mood really was awful today.
He thought any wizard would be in a bad mood after seeing himself in his grandmother's dress.
"Professor Snape actually..."
Sean tried to say something, but the Hufflepuffs immediately shuddered and ran off.
He saw Professor Snape shoot him a cold look, then head for Lupin's office.
Sean watched for a few seconds, then turned toward the Great Hall.
There was still one important thing waiting for him tonight.
After dinner, he would welcome his second master-level magical discipline.
That evening's feast featured bacon, beef stew, chicken, ham, king prawns, and salmon, served with sponge cake and fresh mushrooms.
As Sean watched the panel—his progress now only three hundred points away—he noticed Crookshanks lightly jump onto Hermione's lap with a large dead spider in his mouth.
"Does it have to eat that thing right in front of us?"
Ron asked with a grimace.
"Smart Crookshanks. Did you catch that all by yourself?"
Hermione ignored Ron, lifting Crookshanks and asking warmly.
Crookshanks slowly chewed up the spider, his yellow eyes fixed arrogantly on Ron.
"Just keep that thing right there and don't let it move."
Ron said irritably, stabbing his knife hard into a mushroom while glaring at Crookshanks.
"Scabbers is asleep in my bag."
Crookshanks kept staring at Ron without blinking, the tip of his fluffy tail twitching lightly.
Then he jumped, startling Ron.
But in fact, he had only leapt after Sean, who was getting up from the table.
"Hm?"
The moment Sean realized Crookshanks was following him, he seemed to understand something.
"You want my help?"
Sean watched Crookshanks jump onto his shoulder.
"To help a particular person... someone who'll drive away one dangerous person among us?"
Sean smiled.
Crookshanks was a clever cat.