45 Start Over

"Proulx... I suppose there is a valid explanation for this incident?" Snape asked, giving a pointed look to Casimir.

"Professor Snape, he-" Hermione was about to explain but, Snape cut her off. "I didn't ask for your opinions, Miss Granger."

"Proulx?" Snape turned back to Casimir.

"Then I'll start at the beginning, professor." Casimir said seriously. "Draco and I were on our way to the great hall when we heard suspicious sounds coming from the washroom. We were about to leave but, we heard a scream come from inside. So, we came up with the plan that one if us would call for you, professors, for assistance, while the other one would stay to keep watch on things."

"A smart plan, I suppose." Professor McGonagall commented thoughtfully.

Casimir smiled wryly and glanced at the troll's decapitated body. "Unfortunately, things didn't seem to be looking good since the troll found miss Granger in one of the stalls. I had to stop it somehow. Hence, this result."

"I see." Snape muttered. "Then, for Malfoy's deed of informing us in time, Slytherin is awarded ten points and, for Proulx's deed of saving a schoolmate and slaying a troll singlehandedly, another twenty points will be awarded to Slytherin."

"There are no problems with that, is there, Professor McGonagall?" Snape turned towards McGonagall who shook her head. "That is perfectly justifiable. However!"

"Miss Granger, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Weasely... What is your excuse for this incident?"

Having no interest in sticking around to watch the three being scolded, Casimir and Draco promptly excused themselves, not wanting to miss out on the feast any longer than they already had.

...

The next days passed weirdly for Casimir. People had begun to stare at him openly, pointing at him and whispering to each other. Some had looks of awe but most, had looks of fear.

One in particular, a Ravenclaw's student who wore extremely thick glasses and dark hair nearly covering his entire face, bumped into him accidentally and, when he looked at his face, the boy turned incredibly pale and ran away as if a monster was chasing after him.

This then led to Casimir feeling confused and left out. Afterwards, he tried to search for that certain Ravenclaw student to speak to him. Somehow, something about that boy seemed very familiar to him. He just had to look at his face...

"Just why do you want to know that nerd from Ravenclaw so much anyways?" Draco asked with a scowl.

"I just think that there's something very familiar about that boy, Draco." Casimir answered seriously. "You won't understand."

Finally, after asking around for a few days, he received news about the boy.

Louis Dupont. It was his name. Originally, the boy was from France but, something happened around a year ago that forced him to live with his uncle in London. The thing was, he was a muggle-born.

After receiving the information, Casimir began to have a faint clue about the boy's identity.

All that's left was to confirm it.

And that's exactly what he was doing at this moment.

At around this time, the first year Ravenclaw students would be finishing their lessons in Charms and, with that in mind, Casimir hid on a corner where the students would most likely pass by on their way to the great hall, ready to ambush the boy.

"12:03." Casimir checked his watch and right on cue, a set of footsteps began to approach his hiding place. "Right on time..."

Right when the footsteps sounded like it was right beside him, Casimir stretched out his hand and grabbed, pulling his victim deep into the shadows of the corridor, away from prying eyes, clamping a hand around the boy's mouth in case he decided to scream for help.

"Mmf! Mmh!!!" Louis struggled in confusion, trying to get away from whoever captured him but, when he saw those pair of greyish-green eyes that constantly haunted his dreams, he turned unbelievably timid, like all of his energy had been sucked out if his body, leaving only a limp, whimpering mess.

"Let's see here... Louis Dupont..." Casimir grinned and peered through the thick, curly locks of black hair to stare into a pair of familiar blue eyes. "Or do you prefer me calling you... wizard boy?"

Casimir teasingly brushed the boy's hair away from his face, revealing his reddish, misty eyes that looked to be about to shed tears of fear any moment now. Unable to resist, Casimir leaned close to the boy and whispered. "You know... I'm still waiting for your reply..."

"I.. I..! Please, don't..." Louis stuttered, unable to form a single coherent sentence from fear.

"I think we started on the wrong foot." Casimir grinned at Louis. "For starters... My name is Casimir Proulx."

"Not that you're gonna remember it anyways." Casimir snickered to himself.

"W-what..?" Louis was confused.

"Louis, you know too much that you shouldn't... So, I think it's best that you forget." Casimir smirked evilly. "And we'll start over... From the very beginning. Don't you think so?"

While Louis was still processing what Casimir was saying, Casimir already had his wand out. "Sectorium Memoria."

Louis suddenly felt his mind go blank as Casimir began to view his memories like watching a movie. When he got to a certain memory from around a year ago, he immediately chose to delete that memory and implanted a fake one. One in which Louis never saw the murder on that alley but instead, met Casimir in a candy stall. In that way, the boy would never have a chance to reveal Casimir's secrets.

"Let's start over, Louis." Casimir whispered, taking his wand back.

It seems that Alexander's gift for his son had proved to be useful.

Right at that moment, Draco just happened to pass by that hallway, searching for Casimir and saw them. Fortunately, Casimir was already done with replacing Louis' memories but, he was still standing very close to the boy and was pinning him to the wall.

When viewed from Draco's angle, they just looked like two boys doing something... unspeakable.