Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Chapter 522: Open and Honest

After class, Evan and Colin went to the Great Hall for lunch.

Evan had made up his mind to talk to Caresius who was disguising as Moody. After what happened this morning, he could no longer pretend in front of Evan.

By the second day of his arrival, he had already made so much noise. As powerful as he was, Caresius wasn’t that much of a good actor, to say the least.

They just came to the second floor when they saw Moody limping out of the classroom.

Evan asked Colin to go first, and then he turned around and greeted Moody.

“Hello, Professor, do you have some time?” Evan said with a smile. “I would like to talk to you about what had happened earlier.”

Moody turned around, his long, gray hair hanging down along the twisted, scarred face. His normal eye stared coldly at Evan, while his magical eye turned the other way around, closely watching the young wizards walking down the stairs.

Everyone looked at them curiously, wondering what Evan was saying to Moody.

“Of course, if you don’t have time, I can ask Professor Dumbledore about it.” Evan continued. “A wizard as powerful as him must be experienced in dealing with vampires…”

“Come in!” said Moody in a hoarse voice, with a gloomy expression on his face.

Evan followed Moody into his office. When they both entered, Moody closed the door.

He turned around to look at Evan, both his magical eye and normal eye fixated on him.

“What do you have to say?” he asked softly.

“I’m here just to chat about stuff, such as the horrible monster I saw in your memory, or the purpose behind your arrival here; whatever you want to talk about.” Evan put his hand behind his back, “but before that, Professor, I think it would be better if you got your hand away from your wand first. You know it won’t work. You have just tested it. The Imperius Curse has no effect on me.”

“That’s hard to say!” Moody  stared at Evan carefully. “It’s not the only curse in the world…”

“Of course, vampires have a lot of special and very effective magic, but it would be so obvious that Dumbledore would easily perceive your magical fluctuations.” Evan looked at him with interest, “You don’t want to be discovered by the Headmaster, do you?”

Moody did not answer, but his right hand did not move from the wand at his waist.

“I think I have shown my sincerity by coming to you instead of going directly to the Headmaster’s office,” said Evan, “I am very grateful for your help back in the ruins of the fallen Centaurs in Albania a few months ago, and I have a very good relationship with Elaine. In fact, considering that, you should be my elder. You have said the same thing before, unless you just want to follow Voldemort wholeheartedly, cooperation would be the wisest choice for both of us.”

“I don’t understand what you are talking about.” said Moody, but his right hand let go of his wand.

“Come on, going on like this is too boring! I recognize your magic, Caresius!” said Evan bluntly, turning and looking around. “You are using the Polyjuice Potion to become Mad-Eye Moody. It’s really a very practical potion that works even under the protection of the castle’s many ancient protective spells. The only inconvenience is probably that you need to have Moody by your side to get ‘source material’ from him for transformation. Let me see… Where are you hiding him?”

Evan had been in this office many times before under the watch of three of its previous occupants.

Back in the days of Professor Lockhart, the walls used to be plastered with beaming, winking pictures of the Professor himself.

When Lupin moved here, one was more likely to come across a specimen of some fascinating new Dark creature that he had procured for his students to study in class.

As for Sirius, he kept Lupin’s style, but it was a lot messier; with interesting gadgets at every corner.

Now, however, the office was full of a number of exceptionally odd objects that Evan supposed Moody had used back in the day when he used to be an Auror. Caresius must have moved them over unscrupulously.

On his desk stood what looked like a large, cracked, glass spinning top; it was a Sneakoscope. 

In the corner on a small table stood an object that looked something like an extra-squiggly, golden television aerial. It was humming slightly.

What appeared to be a mirror hung opposite Evan on the wall, but it was not reflecting the room. Shadowy figures were moving around inside it, none of them clearly in focus.

“Looks like you broke all this stuff!” said Evan softly. “Whether it’s this Sneakoscope, the Secrecy Sensor, or the Foe-Glass on the wall, they are all very useful magical objects that can clearly detect the dangers around them. Not surprisingly, they should always react to you if you keep their owner, Moody, inside this trunk.”

Below the window was a large trunk with seven keyholes in a row.

“I hated these things, they are too sensitive!” Moody, or more precisely, Caresius, replied softly.

While he kept the looks, he left Moody’s tone and manner of speaking behind, and dripped his act.

“Evan, you really surprised me. At the last World Cup, I thought you and that girl were dead. I didn’t think you would use the power of the Philosopher’s Stone.” He took out his flask and poured two hot teas. “This time it was the same; you found out my identity so quickly! Well, I was too careless; I should have guessed that you would not be so easily controlled by the Imperius Curse. I thought I was well disguised, and even Dumbledore didn’t notice.”

“It’s hard to say. The Headmaster may have noticed it, and just did not say a thing.” Evan got down from the chair across the table and said slowly, “There is nothing in Hogwarts that could remain hidden from him!”

“Cunning human wizards,” muttered Caresius in a low voice and looked at Evan with great interest. “What are you going to do now that you found out who I am?”

“As I said, I hope to cooperate with you. In a sense, our goals are the same.”

“Our goals are the same?!” Caresius repeated with a smile on his face. “Well, my people and I have no reason to refuse goodwill!”

“Before cooperating, I have several questions that I hope you could answer first. First of all, what was the monster I just saw in your memory? Is it the ‘dilemma’ that you need to face?” said Evan, “I have said before that I might be able to help you. You know, I meet the conditions stated in that prophecy!”