Harry Potter And The Lord Of Darkness - Chapter 21

Arth was surprised. He was confused as well but his surprise was stronger. He had reckoned that the spell would do something to conceal his being yet he never expected it to be this strong.

Arth walked around the dark hallways that were lit by the moonlight coming from an occasional window. He placed his hand in front of his eyes. He could still see it.

He was invisible yet visible. He could see himself yet others could not. It was as if he existed yet did not exist.

It was a strange concept.

The spell did not make him invisible in a way that an invisibility cloak or the Disillusionment Charm would. He was still perfectly visible. The only difference was that he was hard to notice.

It was to the point where Filch was unable to notice him even when Arth was waving his hand directly in front of his eyes.

Even Corvus, who appeared with a cute little pop, hesitated before settling on his head. Arth stopped as his lips curled into a grin.

“This is so much fun.”

The only incapability of the spell was that his voice could still be heard. The heat and wind coming off from his movements could be felt, and footsteps that he left behind were visible.

However, even that would eventually cease to worry him.

Arth opened the book as magical silvery words slowly appeared on the third page.

-Congratulations on succeeding! You have passed only the first test of many. However, the upcoming tests are only stepping stones to your progress. You have obtained the key to inherit my knowledge

-the spell you have just learned is one of my favorites. You can call it whatever you want but I call it the aura concealment spell. All things project an aura. Through this, you become unnoticeable to the mind and with enough mastery and practice, one can virtually nonexistent. Of course, this needs a lot of physical practice that is both mentally and physically challenging.

-Go back to the second page when the moon hides to see the secret to virtual invisibility. Until you master this spell, you shall pay the price.

Arth could help but smirk at these lines. Soon enough, he would be able to become invisible at will. The only thing that he didn’t understand was the ‘price’ the book talked about? What was it?

Arth shrugged as he looked out the window towards the moon. He reckoned that the book would reveal a new set of text during the period of night where no moon would be in the sky. Maybe then he would have more answers. Until then, he would have to wait.

Arth snapped the book shut and placed it into his bag. He made his way back to the Ravenclaw common room while holding his book gently but firmly.

He noticed that a few students were still out of bed, sitting at the tables with the lamps on working on their homework. Unsurprisingly, no one bothered to give him a second glance.

He never really talked to any of his fellow Ravenclaws you see. The girls were awkward to talk to while the first year boys refused to talk to him. He could always talk to either Robert or Penelope however both of them were most likely sleeping in their rooms.

Arth hesitated, wondering if he wanted to spend the night reading a good book when he decided against it. He made his way up to his dormitory and entered his room.

Arth turned off the lights and settled into a set of more comfortable clothes before getting into his bedsheets. Corvus hopped off his head, walked around the bed in a confused manner before finding Arth and snuggling up against him.

Arth laughed at the comical sight, wondering what might be the reason for his little bird’s odd behavior. He ruffled Corvus’s feathers before closing his eyes going to sleep.

The next morning, Arth realized what the ‘price’ meant.

Arth was walking down the hallway when a couple of sixth years slammed into him knocking him to the floor. Arth growled as the contents inside his bag spilled into the hallway, causing a mess. “Oi, watch it.”

The sixth year who had crashed into him had a blank look on his as he stared at the mess on the floor. “Sorry, I-I didn’t see you?”

Arth frowned as he collected his tuff back into his bag when he heard the sixth year say to his friend, “was he in front of us? I swear that there was no one in front of me.”

The friend shook his head. “Nope, one moment no one was there, and then you crash into someone. It was like he was invisible until we crashed into him.”

Arth froze at those words as his mind inadvertently flickered towards the book. Did he ever deactivate the spell? Was this the reason why the sixth year could not perceive his existence?

Arth reprimanded himself on his careless mistake and took out his wand to deactivate the spell when he came to a startling conclusion.

How did one deactivate this spell?

Most spells would either wear off or would require a counter spell to cancel its effects. It was obvious from the current situation that either the duration of the spell was abnormally long or that it required a counter curse.

But what would the counter curse be? How long would the spell last.

Arth figured out the reason why Corvus was acting very oddly yesterday night on the bed.

Arth was still invisible.