Meanwhile, Matthew, Ron, and Hermione at Hogsmeade, show a different town that is not far from Hogwarts.

Matthew: This place is not bad.

Ron: You would love it and wish it was in New York as it snows here, it has all the great things here.

Matthew: Like what?

Hermione: As you noticed how it's always snowing here. Contains the infamous shops and pubs, including the Shrieking Shack.

The trio went to the Shrieking Shack.

Matthew: So, why is it called the "Shrieking Shack" exactly?

Hermione: The Shrieking Shack's supposed to be the most severely haunted building in Britain.

Matthew: [nervous] Did say h- haunted? As in ghosts living in there?

Matthew: [relief] Right. So, check something else.

They nod as they leave, right before Matthew hears a faint scream.

Matthew: Ok... that's scary.

Hermione: Matthew, come on.

Matthew: Right! [He quickly runs to the others]

The trio went to many places and they reached the Three Broomsticks.

Matthew: Well, I'm parched from walking.

Ron: Well, you're in luck. We're at the Three Broomsticks.

They enter the building as they approach the pub area.

Matthew: Sweet.

Three cups were served as the trio grabbed them.

Matthew looks closely as he sniffs it.

Matthew: These aren't alcoholic, right?

Hermione: No.

Matthew: Oh that's good, because we would be in trouble for having alcohol in us, and my parents will get pretty mad about that.

Ron: Relax.

Then, the Morganian apprentice ominously enters.

Drake leans against the wall cooly before addressing Matthew.

Drake: So, you're the one.

Matthew: Excuse me?

Drake: (walks towards Matthew and his friends) Prime Merlinean, eh? You don't look like much.

Matthew: (confused) Uh, I don't actually know what you're talking about.

Hermione: Can we help you, sir?

Ron: And why are you eyeing us?

Drake: (smirks) Cool. Makes this easy.

He simply taps his stylized booted foot to the ground as it causes the door to open with the cold coming before closing on itself. The trio were surprised.

Drake: Can't have anyone hearing your girly cries, right?

Matthew: I... I don't even know who you are.

Drake: (stunned) Really, you don't recognize me, mate?

Hermione: We honestly never heard of you.

Matthew: Are you in Depeche Mode?

Drake: [sighs]

Drake suddenly grabs Matthew.

Matthew: What... What...?!

Then, he shoves him against and up the wall before magically hanging him there.

Ron: Hey, put him down!

Ron and Hermione aimed their wands at Drake.

Drake: [snaps his fingers]

The chairs suddenly go to the two, and the armrests grab them and sit them down as they restrain them.

Drake: [to Matthew] What do you weigh, like a buck 20? (turns away in frustration)

Matthew: Whoa! What the... (raises his hand with a frustrated sigh) This is middle school all over again.

Drake snaps his finger to release the telekinetic binding, causing Matthew to fall.

Drake: All right, I tell you what. Hit me with your best shot, your most powerful spell.

Drake spreads his arm to make himself an easy target to hit.

Drake: Get the ring out. Put it on. Good boy.

Matthew fumbles for the Dragon Ring in his pocket and quickly equips it.

Matthew: Okay.

Matthew tries to hurl a spell against Drake only for nothing happens.

Drake: Ow! (fakes being blasted before shrugs) No, I'm joking.

Matthew: Nothing is happening.

Drake: Have you cleared your mind?

Matthew: Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I got nothing happening. I'm still new at this. The ring's on.

Ron: [struggles to be free from the chair] What do you want with him?!

Hermione: Who are you?!

Drake: [to Hermione] Drake Stone. Famous Morganian. [to Matthew] And you. That's nerves and it's the pressure. Take the ring off.

Matthew: Take off the ring?

Drake: Take it off.

Matthew: Yeah, it doesn't help me -

Horvath: (enters the restaurant in annoyance) Enough, you idiot. Watch the door.

Drake leaves to guard the door.

Matthew: (looks at Horvath in fear) You.

Ron: You know him, Matt?

Hermione: [fear] You're... You're him. The most powerful Morganian. Maxim Horvath.

Horvath: [smiles wickedly] I see someone know their history.

Matthew bolts to his friends to free them from the hexed chairs. But, only to be pulled by Horvath's telekinesis.

Matthew: No!

Horvath: Hello, Matthew.

Matthew: (nervously) Hi.

Horvath: You have grown since we last met. How old are you now, twelve?

Matthew: [nervously] Thirteen.

Horvath: That's a good age. So, Matthew.

Horvath corners the young sorcerer against the wall.

Matthew: [gulps]

Horvath: (whispers deeply) I'm going to kill you. Oh, yes, right here in front of your friends. In this pub and important town for Hogwarts. It's not very much, but there you go. But before we get to that unpleasantness, you're going to tell me where the Grimhold is. (changes his tone to a calmer one) Where is she?

Matthew: (confused) She?

Horvath: He hasn't told you, has he? The truth about who's inside the doll? (refers to someone else while looking away) Sweetheart, you've put your faith in the wrong man. (glances back at Matthew) Tell me, have you ever been in love?

Matthew: I...

Horvath: (smiles wickedly) Yeah. You're in love right now. I can see it in your eyes.

Matthew tried to protest.

Horvath: No, no, no, no. Don't deny it. I wonder what would happen if you lost her. Shut up.

Horvath silences Matthew with his cane's diamond on the latter's mouth with a glare.

Horvath: You'd be no better than the rest of us. (returns to the business) Where is the Grimhold?

Matthew: (hesitates for a moment before blurts out) I don't know.

Horvath: (smiles sarcastically) Oh, Matthew, you really are the most dreadful liar.

Ron and Hermione quickly pull out their wands and aim at him, before two familiar-looking hands touch their shoulders.

Balthazar: That's what I keep telling him.

Horvath turns and sees the veteran Merlinean with Drake suspended by his telekinesis.

Hermione: Professor Blake!

Balthazar: Want your guy back?

He hurls Drake against Horvath, prompting the former Merlinean to evade with little time to hold Matthew hostage or something, leaving the Morganian celebrity crashed inside of the pub, damaging the interior.

Matthew, Ron, and Hermione grimaced at the sight of K.O.-ed Drake.

Matthew: Oh!

Hermione: [gasps]

Ron: Bloody hell!

A fight ensues as Balthazar places his ringed hand against a nearby mirror to booby-trap it with a spell before engaging his nemesis in a brief physical brawl. Grabbing Horvath by his coat, Balthazar attempts to wrestle him against the bewitched mirror.

Horvath was in a mix of contempt and shock upon recognizing the mirror's enchantment.

Horvath: It's been a while since I've seen the Hungarian Mirror Trap.

He slams the back of his head against Balthazar and hits him with his cane before trying to push the Merlinean against his own spell.

Balthazar: I guess I'm just old-fashioned.

Balthazar threw another physical brawl before he and Horvath attempted to push either of them into the mirror.

Matthew, Ron, and Hermione see Drake already returned to his feet and about to hurl an air blast.

Matthew: Balthazar, look out!

Balthazar moves out of the way, leaving Horvath to get blasted into the mirror and disappear. He then flicked his fingers to send Drake into an opened barrel that was partially filled with butterbeer with a loud crash, again startling the trio. After making sure Matthew, Ron, and Hermione are unharmed, he addresses the kids and his apprentice.

Balthazar: What are you and your friends doing here, Matt?

Back at Hogwarts, The students are heading up the Grand Staircase. Matthew, Ron, and Hermione look at each other after that unexpected event. Telling Harry about what happened.

Harry: You were enjoying the fun until you were attacked by Morganians?

Hermione: One of them was going to kill Matthew.

Matthew: Mostly because of my ring, and thankfully Balthazar managed to get to the scene.

As Harry, Matthew, Ron, and Hermione climb the stairs, they find a crowd gathering on the Seventh Floor landing.

Matthew: Wonder what's going on here?

Percy: (pushing past) Let me through, please. Excuse me, thank you, I'm Head Boy...
(stopping dead) Back! All of you! No one is to enter this dormitory until it has
been fully searched!

The four exchange dark glances, when... Ginny emerges from the crowd, her face ashen.

Ginny: The Fat Lady... she's gone.

Ron: Probably stuffing her face with the apples in that still life on the second floor again.

Ginny: No. You don't understand --

Hermione GASPS. GRABS Harry's arm. He looks. SEES: The Fat Lady's portrait has been SLASHED VICIOUSLY, with great strips of canvas hanging from the frame. Just then, Balthazar and Dumbledore appear.

Dumbledore: Mr. Filch. Round up the ghosts. Tell them to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady.

Just then, there is a SCREAM. The students dash to the landing, where all THE PAINTINGS WHISPER FEARFULLY. Filch's rheumy eyes peer up, searching the upper shadows, then... narrow.

Filch: There'll be no need for ghosts...

Filch extends a crooked finger high up, near the ceiling, the Fat Lady cowers in a portrait not her own, trembling.

Dumbledore: Dear lady. Who did this to you?

Fat Lady: Eyes like the devil he's got. And a soul as dark as his name. It was him, Headmaster. The one they talk about. He's here. Somewhere in the castle. Sirius Black.

As the students REACT, Dumbledore's VOICE cuts through.

Dumbledore: Secure the castle, Mr. Filch. The rest of you... to the Great Hall.

Matthew: This is insane. First: Horvath was trying to kill me. And now, we have a criminal in Hogwarts.

Harry: Looks like we're both already on the hit list.

Balthazar: His moral compass doesn't exactly point north.

Matthew: Yeah, well, what about yours? Huh?

Balthazar stops.

Matthew: You haven't been completely truthful with me. That guy called me the Prime Merlinean. Balthazar, what is that? Now, I'm not doing anything else until you start being truthful with me about what's going on. Who is in that Grimhold?

Balthazar: (after a silent consideration) Morgana.

Matthew: [stunned in silence]

Balthazar: Come on. Time for you to know.

Harry: Wait. Professor. We want to know as well.

Balthazar: [he looks at the kids with concern, before sighing] Okay, come with me.

Back at the Three Broomsticks, People were enjoying it there as one person was about to walk by the mirror. Horvath, who is trapped in the mirror, knocks to gain the attention of the dark-skinned person who just enters.

Horvath: Wake up that moron in that barrel for me, would you? (the person faints) Oh, for heaven's sake.

At Balthazar's classroom, he presents the four Encantus' medieval rendition of Morgana who prepares for The Rising.

Balthazar: Morgana.

Balthazar flips to a page referring illustration of The Rising conducted by an unnamed Merlinean in the past with the aid of a wand-like stave and a conjured Merlin Circle in the air.

Balthazar: She was making preparations for The Rising, something that would enable her to enslave mankind by resurrecting dead Morganian sorcerers.

Matthew: So, after the witch girl (referring to the witch in the yellow layer), there's another doll that contains the greatest evil the world has ever known?

Balthazar: She's in the last doll.

Matthew: And what does it have to do with this uh... Prime Merlinean?

Balthazar: Merlin had three apprentices. I was one of them.

The four are in disbelief.

Ron: You were Merlin's apprentice?

Balthazar: He cast a spell to keep us from aging until we found the sorcerer who would inherit his power. And his dragon ring.

Matthew glances at his equipped Dragon Ring, then at Balthazar.

Balthazar: Some part of you, no matter how small, must share the same blood.

Matthew: As Merlin?

Dumbledore: He's right, Matthew.

Everyone sees Dumbledore come in.

Dumbledore: Great men have always been called. This is your calling. Do you remember the tale that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin?

They nod as they remember the history of last year.

Matthew: Salazar Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. In other words, pure-bloods.

Dumbledore: Well, Salazar Slytherin is not the first pure-blood in Hogwarts.

Hermione: What? Then, who?

Balthazar: Merlin, during his crusade, stumbles upon Hogwarts as he grows intrigued by the usage of magic being taught to young generations of witches and wizards. And with his involvement, he made Hogwarts to where it is now.

Matthew: [chuckling] So, what, you're saying that I'm a pure-blood?

Balthazar: Since you were born from a skipped generation, yes.

Harry: He is?

Ron: A skipped generation?

Dumbledore: The prophecy says."The only one who will ever be able to destroy Morgana once and for all "is the Prime Merlinean."

Harry: So, what's your saying is-

Matthew: I'm supposed to save the world? I... I just don't think I'm up for that.

Balthazar: Do you think I've been teaching you magic tricks for some little girl's tea party? (as he steps into Merlin Circle, activating it in a burst of fiery Mana) When you stepped inside this circle, I told you there was no going back. (points at Matthew) You took an oath! (approaches Matthew) I have been searching for 1,000 years for you. Fighting Morganians, protecting the Grimhold. You're going to set me free. You have to become the Prime Merlinean. And I'm not asking.

Matthew looks back at his Dragon Ring, with the realization of his destiny etched on his face.

Matthew: [to Harry, Ron, and Hermione] What do you guys think? Ron?

Ron: This is a big thing happening to you, Matt, you can finally be looked up instead of down.

Matthew: Hermione?

Hermione: You are destined for the greater good, Matthew.

Matthew: Harry?

Harry: If what Balthazar and Dumbledore say is true, then who are you to deny your destiny? [Placed his hand on Matthew's shoulder] We'll be here for you.

Matthew sighed as he looked at his Dragon Ring. Great GROANING TUMBLERS fall. SPINDLES rotate. CYLINDERS -- one after another -- fire into place. Iron SPIKES, sharp as razors, rise instantly.

One by one, deep in the distance, the LIGHTS of the Great Hall go out. Dementors appear, COVERING FRAME, then separate like a curtain...

Once in the Great Hall, some of the students are half asleep while others have it already in their thoughts, they're standing with sleeping bags in their hands.

The students grumble as they take their spots beside their friends, as Matthew is about to take a spot beside Harry, Ron, Neville, Hermione, and others, but he ends back to back with Pansy.

Matthew and Pansy: This is just great. (pointing at each other) Move. (pointing at each other again) No, you move!

Dumbledore: Now students I don't want any fighting, or else everyone has to sit separately.

Matthew and Pansy: Yes sir.

They grumble at each other before looking at each other's groups.

Pansy: Freak.

Matthew: Diva.

Cho: Hey, Matt.

Matthew: [turns to Cho] Oh hey Cho.

Matthew feels his heart beating faster, knowing that he is close to one of the prettiest girls in Hogwarts.

Cho: Couldn't help but notice that you were having trouble there.

Matthew: Me? No. I'm cool.

Cho: Are you sure?

Matthew: Positive.

Pansy turns over and sees Matthew talking to Cho. She couldn't help but feel different as she saw him talking to her but shakes her head to shrug it off.

Matthew: Cho, how are feeling?

Cho: I'm feeling alright, and you seemed uncomfortable with Parkinson, how about you be with me?

Matthew: Uh... I feel happy and warm when I'm around you.

Cho blushes at his comment and smiles. Pansy on the other hand... Pansy's left eye twitches in expected jealousy.

Pansy: He's just fine being with me, Cho, so how about you go back to your spot?

Cho: Right.

Matthew: Actually, I don't mind if you're right next to me.

Cho smiles as she gets next to Matthew.

Cho: Thanks.

Matthew: N- No problem.

Matthew nervously rubs the back of his back, causing Pansy's eye to twitch again in jealousy.

Matthew: Good night. [Went to sleep]

Cho: Good night. [Went to sleep]

Pansy: [mumbles] Night. [Lies down]

Harry lying awake, staring at the net of stars glimmering beyond the highest window.

A gentle CREAK is heard and Harry's eyes shift, sees Snape and Balthazar pass through the great doors, and converge with Dumbledore.

Snape: I've done the dungeons, headmaster. No sign of Black. Nor anywhere else in the castle.

Balthazar: Everything's good.

Dumbledore: [nodding] I didn't expect him to linger.

Balthazar: Remarkable feat, don't you think? To enter Hogwarts castle on one's own, completely undetected...

Snape: Very undetected, indeed.

Dumbledore: Quite remarkable, yes.

Snape: Any theories on how he might have managed it?

Dumbledore: Many. Each is as unlikely as the next.

Snape: You may recall, before the start of term, I did express concerns about your appointment of Professor Lup-

Dumbledore: Not a single professor inside this castle would help Sirius Black to enter it. No, I'm quite convinced the castle is safe. And I'm more than willing to send the students back to their houses.

Snape: What about Potter? Should he be warned?

Dumbledore: Perhaps. But for now, let him sleep. For in dreams, we enter a world that's entirely our own. Let him swim in the deepest ocean. Or glide over the highest cloud.

Balthazar, Snape, and Dumbledore look at Matthew who's asleep.

Balthazar: Horvath came to Hogsmeade, along with the other Morganian, nearly harming the three.

Snape: Does the boy know about the prophecy?

Dumbledore: He does now.

Snape: And you believe he'll be ready... to face Morgana?

Balthazar: He still needs... More time to face her sooner. The Prime Merlinean... will rise.

End of Chapter 24