33 Chapter 15 - Blacky, the Sirius looking dog (1/2)
”No, that's not right,” Vincent stopped punching and kicking. ”Roden in his werewolf form could have grabbed me there and broke my leg.”
Those actions were repeated time and time again, with Vincent redoing the same strike at some imaginary opponent. Arnya kept writing on a parchment while looking up every so often nearby under a tree.
It's been a little over a month or so, and the ice pillar still stood tall. The teachers did everything they could, but it was extremely hard for them to completely move something that big, not to mention the terrifying cold it emitted, making it hard for anyone to get close without freezing. A poor student that got curious nearly had his arm fall off due to frostbite. It had gotten smaller, it looked it'll take another month or two before it disappears completely.
Bait that wasn't the worse of it for Vincent, during the months potions lessons, Vincent was literally sitting in the corner twiddling his thumbs as he stared longingly at the cauldron. Snape did not allow him to as so much touch one and gave him the evil eye every so often.
During his strikes, Vincent recalled a similar scene in his youth, one of him and a blond haired teen instructing him.
...
”Again.”
....
Vincent punched forward while blocking an imaginary attack.
...
”Know the motions, learn to do every move at will, as easily as you walk.”
...
He then brought his elbow to where the attacker's stomach was in his mind.
...
”Learn to instantly recognise what the best solution is, whether it's best to kick the opponent, or straight up punch them. Should you block the attack, or dodge it. But to do that, you must have the capacity to utilise those moves.”
...
Vincent practiced kicking for a bit, trying to get his form right, before stopping. He let out a long breath and looked towards the ice pillar.
”Soon, I can start making potions again, yay!” he sighed while Arnya gave him a raised eyebrow. ”What? All these ideas keep coming to me, I want to try them all out.”
”And that,” Hermione walked up to them with Neville following, ”is the problem.”
Vincent groaned while Arnya waved. He turned around and went back to practicing as Hermione took a seat next to Arnya, pulling out her textbooks.
”So is that a martial art or something?” Hermione asked looking at Vincent.
”It's just a whole bunch of basic moves,” Vincent replied stopping to wipe his sweat. ”A proper punch, a proper kick, palm strike, elbow strike, all of what I'm doing is to just get familiar with the motions. Something I practiced a lot when I was little, but as I was too small, it it wasn't effective against big people. So I resorted to sneak attacks and such to take down the bigger guys.”
”And now that you're bigger...”
Vincent nodded. ”I can actually start using those moves properly. Still not as good as him.” He said that last part to himself.
”?” Hermione gave him a questioning look.
”Forget it,” said Vincent as he moved to sit down. He too a drink before pulling out his homework. ”So Neville, what do you need help on?”
”Well, it about the shrinking potion that was mentioned...”
As Vincent helped Neville with his homework, Arnya and Hermione were also doing theirs.
”You sleeping well?” Arnya asked Hermione who nodded, the bags under her eyes gone.
”The potions really doing it's work,” Hermione said as she jotted down some notes on her parchment before switching to another.
”But your still, using it right?” Hermione paused, knowing Arnya was referring to the time-turner before nodding. ”It's bad for your health.”
”I have to use it to make it to attend all my classes,” Hermione argued.
”Drop a few of them,” Arnya suggested while Hermione shook her head.
”I've already come so far, I don't want to give up now. Well, except for that divination class,” Hermione muttered. ”I'm really thinking about quitting it.”
”If you say so,” Arnya said.
”Is Divination really that bad a class?” Vincent asked Nevelle, overhearing a bit of the conversation.
Neville shrugged. ”To be completely honest, it makes no sense for me. I keep seeing frogs in my teacup.”
”Probably talking about Trevor then.”
Harry and Ron walked by. Ron and her locked eyes before turning away from each other, refusing to acknowledge either of their existences.
”You guys really need to reconcile,” Vincent muttered. ”It's a bit ridiculous.”
Hermione ignored him.
Vincent didn't press on, taking a glance at the green band around her wrist. ”How's it feel?”
”It's amazing how it can heal any physical injury,” Hermione answered. ”But it seems to use the person's own or surrounding energy to recharge itself.”
”That's what I noticed too,” Vincent pulled out a red gem. With just a thought and intent, a small flame danced manifested itself with a brilliant red colour. ”That's why that ice pillar went so high, the gem absorbed the energy of the ingredients to the point where it just blew up.”
”With enough energy, these things can be dangerous,” Hermione commented, taking the red gem from Vincent. She played with the flame, making it grow and shrink before placing it back. ”You haven't been practicing in the mornings lately, why's that?”
”I can't see Dementors, but I can feel them,” Vincent responded looking outside. ”The cold feeling whenever one gets close is annoying and I'd have to rely on Arnya to tell me when one was coming at me.”
”Just annoying?” Hermione asked with some surprise. ”Isn't it scary?”
”Of course it is,” Vincent said. ”Dealing with some invisible demons trying to suck my soul out isn't really pleasant. Neville, at this part you have to stir counter-clockwise.”
”Oh, thanks,” Neville had an enlightened look as he jotted down some notes.
”Harry's started on manifesting his patronus last I heard,” Vincent mentioned. ”It'd be nice to be able to do it too. Haaaa, maybe if I'm lucky, I can create some potion to ward them off.”
Everyone exchanged glances at each other with the same thought in mind.
”Or you might create something worse.”
...
”Can you see him?” Vincent asked Arnya who shook her head. ”That's annoying, he couldn't have left Hogwarts can he?”
The two of them were over looking the Hogwarts grounds, using Arnya's vision to spot any sign of Scabbers.
”Where the heck is he?” Vincent thought. He then noticed a large black dog prowling among the trees. It looked at him and made a nodding sort of motion before disappearing back into the bushes.
”Glad Sirius decides to work with us,” Vincent muttered under his breath.
It was about a month ago, a week after he had just returned to Hogwarts when Vincent and Sirius met. During a Hogsmeade visit, Vincent wandered around the small village alone.
Hermione didn't feel like going out due to her mood and Arnya decided to stay with her, leaving Vincent alone.
”Arnya not being with me feels weird,” he thought. ”It seems that I've gotten used to her being there.”
Vincent then spotted a dog prowling around Honeydukes and grinned. ”Found you.”
The dog felt an unsettling presence. Before it could react, it felt the scruff of its neck being grabbed by something and its body being lifted up.
It turned to face Vincent who waved. ”Sup.”
Recognising the boy holding it, it started struggling and whimpering.
”Why the Sirius look Blacky?” Vincent grinned widely seeing the dog stop struggling and glared at him intently. ”Couldn't resist. Anywhere we can talk in private?”
The dog looked at him with what looked like an annoyed face as Vincent set it down. It padded off to a distance and looked back, seemingly wanting Vincent to follow.
After walking out of the village to a remote cave, Vincent had to say something. ”Think this is far enough.”
Suddenly a man rushed out at Vincent with what seemed like a knife. Vincent didn't even seem fazed and simply caught the man's wrist and disarmed the knife in one swift movement before pushing him back.
”That's one way to greet someone,” Vincent responded throwing the knife to the ground.
”How the hell did you know it was me?” Sirius asked, eyes darting about.
”I thought, if Peter could be an animagus, then the chances of you being able to do the same are pretty high,” Vincent found a rock to sit on. ”Since you got those dungbombs, screw you by the way, you must have a small camp set up around Hogsmeade.”
”Wait, you said Peter?” Sirius lost all the composure he had and started shaking. He walked up and grabbed onto Vincent's cuffs. ”Wh-where is he? Tell me, tell me, TELL ME!”
Sirius stopped shaking as Vincent calmly took out a delicious smelling box. ”Your agitated, and you probably haven't had a good meal in ages. Eat, then we'll talk.”
Sirius, with trembling hands, opened it to see it stuffed with chicken, vegetables and other delicacies that blinded him. He gave it a sniff before taking a bite of the chicken. His eyes widened as how crispy it was and the flavour that filled him mouth. Without any manners or any care as to whether it was poise be or not, he started scarfing it down like his life depended on it.
Vincent just sat there watching how messy Sirius was and felt pity for the man. He probably hadn't even gotten a decent meal in the past decade.
”If we catch Peter, then we can clear his name,” Vincent thought, clenching his fists. ”And Sister An...”
After a long while, Sirius sat back, patting his stomach. ”Haha, you know kid, I'll forgive you for that lemon prank you pulled.”
”Haah? You threw flipping dungbombs at me, that took like a week before the smell washed off,” Vincent felt his brow twitch.
”Oh don't be like that,” Sirius waved his arm in dismisal. ”If you just let me get away, everything would be fine no?”
All pity was lost for the man as Vincent kept his forced smile. ”Seeya, I'm leaving.”
”Wait, wait, wait!” Sirius grabbed Vincent's leg. ”I'm sorry!”
Vincent gave a sigh and sat back down. He looked dead in Sirius' eye. ”Now, let's talk.”
They talked for a long while, with Vincent explaining what he found out and his relation to Sister An which made Vincent more trustworthy in Sirius's eyes. Sirius also explained his escape from Azkaban and how he managed to find out about Peter in Hogwarts. He had gotten a newspaper regarding the Weasley's trip to Egypt had a picture of Scabbers in it. Recognising Peter from the missing finger, he decided to escape. It turns out, that Dementors don't seem to care about the souls that seen non-human, hence allowing Sirius to slip away as a dog and swim back to mainland. After meeting Sister An and getting a glance at Harry's situation, he made a trek all the way to Hogwarts.
”PETTIGREW HAS ESCAPED?!” Sirius bellowed as he stood up in rage before being shushed by Vincent.