New chapter is live.
Settle in, take your time, and let’s see what waits in the dark 🖤
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Lily and Snape chased after Callan with their trunks.
Only once they were in the corridor did he seem to remember that luggage was heavy.
He turned back, cast Levitation Charms on both trunks, and led them toward the rear of the train until they found an empty compartment.
The moment the door closed, Snape asked, “What just happened?”
Lily frowned as well.
“She seemed a little strange, but not awful.”
“She is not a student,” Callan said.
Snape froze.
Lily’s eyes widened.
“Then what is she?”
“A professor,” Callan said.
“Most likely Defence Against the Dark Arts.”
“A professor?” Lily exclaimed.
“But she looked so young. I thought she was an older student.”
“That is exactly the problem,” Callan said, sitting down.
“She is young, she came straight to our compartment, and she did it as if she already knew who she was looking for. I have probably been marked.”
Snape’s expression sharpened.
“Why would a professor target you?”
“Because I am an orphan,” Callan said calmly.
“Wizards raised in orphanages are rare. Rare enough to make some people careful.”
Lily’s face darkened at once.
“That is a horrible reason.”
“It is also a very practical one.”
Callan leaned back and thought of the Defence Against the Dark Arts post.
Years ago, after Dumbledore refused Tom Riddle a teaching position, the job had become cursed.
No professor kept it for more than one year.
It was not the sort of thing that could be avoided by simply renaming the class or shifting the timetable.
The magic behind it was ugly, deep, and far beyond an ordinary jinx.
Dumbledore was powerful, perhaps the greatest wizard alive, but that did not mean he could unravel every piece of Dark magic Voldemort had ever touched.
And Dorcas Meadows had just walked onto the train.
The compartment door opened again before Lily could answer.
Steve came in carrying far too many sweets.
“I thought you might be glad to see me.”
Lily was still angry, but not at him.
“Do you know that woman?”
Steve’s face stiffened.
“Yes. She is probably the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.”
“We already guessed that,” Snape said impatiently.
“Who is she?”
“Dorcas Meadows,” Steve replied.
“She used to be at Hogwarts. She has visited my home a few times, but mostly to talk with my parents.”
He lowered his voice.
“She is frightening.”
Callan knew the name.
Dorcas Meadows.
A member of the Order of the Phoenix, killed personally by Voldemort in 1981.
That alone proved she was no ordinary witch.
Still, Callan did not think Dumbledore had sent her to test him directly.
The method was too rough.
Dumbledore preferred choices, warmth, and gentle pressure.
Dorcas’s approach had felt more like her own decision, perhaps because an orphanage-raised boy had reminded her of young Tom Riddle.
‘Even Dumbledore cannot see what is wrong with me.
What exactly do you think you can see?’
With that thought, Callan relaxed.
Snape noticed the change.
“What else do you know about her?”
Steve hesitated.
“This part is more secret.”
Callan looked at him.
Steve surrendered immediately.
“Fine. My family keeps many magical creatures. But none of this can reach the Ministry.”
All three of them promised to keep it quiet.
“Not just creatures rated XXX,” Steve went on.
“We also have quite a few rated XXXX and… a handful rated XXXXX.”
“XXXXX?” Lily repeated faintly.
“Such as?” Callan asked.
“A Nundu,” Steve said in a whisper.
“A Chimaera. And a young Ukrainian Ironbelly.”
Callan’s gaze sharpened.
Newt Scamander secretly keeping three kinds of XXXXX-rated magical creatures was already shocking enough.
The Chimaera was one thing.
But an Ironbelly, the largest breed of dragon, was not something Callan had expected to hear about in Steve’s house.
“There are more XXXX creatures,” Steve added.
“Occamies, Runespoors, Kelpies, Griffins, Graphorns, Erumpents, Demiguises…”
Lily looked stunned.
“Is your house enormous?”
“Undetectable Extension Charms,” Steve said.
“My father is very good at them. The neighbors never know where the roaring comes from.”
Snape looked as if he had briefly forgotten how to be contemptuous.
Then he recovered.
“You were talking about Meadows.”
“Right.” Steve leaned closer.
“When I was younger, I once sneaked over to the Chimaera. My father normally forbids it.”
“Reasonably,” Lily said.
“The Chimaera told me something.” Steve’s expression grew serious.
“Every XXXXX-rated creature at our house, including it, had once been defeated head-on by the same woman who visited us from time to time.”
Lily swallowed.
“Meadows?”
Steve nodded.
Snape frowned.
“With tricks? Like the Conjunctivitis Curse against dragons?”
“No,” Steve said.
“That was the point. Head-on. Completely defeated.”
The compartment fell quiet.
Callan, however, slowly smiled.
If Dorcas Meadows had really chosen to keep an eye on him on her own initiative, that was not entirely bad.
Dorcas Meadows might be the key to dealing with the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets.
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Want to keep going?
I hope this chapter gave you another reason to stay with the story.
There’s still plenty ahead, and things are only starting to unfold.