The morning rush was in full swing, with all the students migrating toward the Great Hall for breakfast.
This left the corridors leading to the upper levels of the castle entirely empty.
The silence of the grand staircase was suddenly broken by the sharp, echoing strides of Alister's step who has rushed out of Great Hall.
Alister let out a long, heavy breath as soon as he hit the third-floor landing, loosening his green and silver tie.
"Much better," he muttered to the empty corridor. "I should have left much sooner."
"I didn't think of leaving because I did anything wrong."
"I left because that was the best option as staying there would've made things worse."
Alister turned the corner of the hallway and walked straight up to the Gryffindor common room.
Bypassing the Fat Lady was a simple matter with the password that Astra told him yesterday.
Stepping into the empty, crimson-draped lion's dorm, he didn't waste time to look around and straight up called loudly.
"Asher."
~Meow?
The response echoed in the room as a split second later, a dense wisp of swirling black smoke materialized directly on his right shoulder.
The smoke rapidly coalesced, solidifying into the sleek and dark form of Astra's pet, Asher, who's a half-shadow grimalkin capable of short distance teleportation.
"Come on, girl," Alister said, reaching up to scratch exactly in the spot behind her ears. "We have a long trip to make."
Asher stopped purring and pulled her head back to narrow her eyes at him.
Meow! Meow!
Alister paused as his hand froze in mid-air and he gave her a look of disbelief.
"Damn it."
"You are under a seriously wrong influence. You've even learned how to extort people for benefits."
Alister shook his head, tapping Asher lightly on the nose.
"Fine. As long as you are with me on this trip, you will get whatever premium meat you want to eat, every single day. Deal?"
Asher let out a satisfied trill, her shadowy tail wrapped securely around the back of his neck as if sealing the contract.
Although Alister felt a fleeting moment of disbelief at her surprisingly rich range of expressions, he simply shook his head and left the common room with the feline perched comfortably on his shoulder.
This time his destination was Dumbledore's office.
A few minutes later, he arrived in front of the towering stone gargoyle.
Without missing a beat, Alister began rattling off a rapid-fire list of strange names, some of them were clearly names for sweets.
When he finally paused for breath, the statue just stared blankly back at him, completely unmoving.
"What are you still staring at?"
"There is absolutely no way I'm wrong. At least one of those words has to be the correct password."
The gargoyle blinked slowly, entirely unimpressed.
"Hurry up and open this damn door," Alister ordered, his mood clearly unstable even now.
After a tense, ten-second staring contest between the Alister and a piece of ancient stone, the gargoyle finally groaned, the stone grinding as it stepped aside to reveal the hidden spiral staircase.
Alister immediately started climbing, but not before pausing to flash a middle finger at the statue.
"Ha! Take that. I was damn right."
As Alister stepped off the staircase and into the circular office, several heavy tomes were still fluttering through the air like oversized, leather-bound birds.
Clearly, Dumbledore hadn't expected someone in his office at this hour, and he certainly had no idea how Alister had managed to find the password.
Dumbledore, seated peacefully behind his grand desk, peered over his half-moon spectacles.
"So, what brings you here, Alister?" Dumbledore asked pleasantly. "Surely, you didn't storm out of the Great Hall after causing a scene just to visit an old man."
Alister who was about to pull the chair stopped dead in his tracks. "Headmaster, that literally happened fifteen minutes ago."
"Alister, my boy, you surely know that news spreads like wildfire," Dumbledore smiled softly. "Even more so in our wizarding world."
Looking at the old man who's over 100 and was clearly interested in gossiping even Alister's mouth couldn't stop twitching.
"Headmaster," Alister sighed, his voice dripping with dry exasperation, "with your age, you must have a fair share of experience in almost everything. Why on earth would you be interested in a trivial children's quarrel?"
"Don't get me wrong, Alister," Dumbledore replied, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "I was simply asking for your perspective on what happened."
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that, Headmaster." Alister replied, his casual tone turned somewhat cold.
He reached up, casually stroking Asher's shadowy fur while sitting down on the chair he just pulled out.
"That little scene isn't something that can make huge waves in my life," he continued smoothly, settling into the seat. "Being famous or being surrounded by people means absolutely nothing to me... especially when I am the only one trying to keep things from completely falling apart."
He plucked Asher from his shoulder and pointed a finger toward the golden perch where Fawkes was peacefully dozing. "Go on, Asher. Play with him for now."
Leaning in close, Alister whispered directly into her tufted ear. "Here is a standing offer, for every golden feather you manage to pluck from him, I will give you an entire premium tuna."
Asher's shadowy tail immediately snapped straight up like a lightning rod. Her glowing eyes suddenly shone with undisguised greed, and she darted across the office toward the unsuspecting phoenix.
Ignoring the impending chaos, Alister turned his attention back to the desk. "Now, Headmaster. You must have something that old man Nicolas sent for me."
Dumbledore, whose piercing blue eyes had momentarily lost their twinkle, blinked slowly.
The phrase 'the only one trying to keep things from completely falling apart' had echoed painfully in his mind.
It caried the exact kind of brilliant, isolating arrogance that had forged both him, Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald.
Brought back to the present by Alister's voice and the squawks of Fawkes. Dumbledore sighed, folding his hands atop his desk.
"You are here right on time, the package has indeed just arrived. But before we discuss Nicolas... I confess my curiosity has gotten the better of me. How exactly did you know every single password I have used for the last four decades?"
Alister's lips curled into a highly self-satisfied smirk.
"About that..."
END OF CHAPTER
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