"Alexa. Alexa, come on. Wake up."
Groggily, I pried my eyes open at the sound of my name. I blinked a few times, trying to wake up enough to register my surroundings.
"Ugh, I guess I was more tired than I thought," I groaned, sitting up and stretching. "Thanks for letting me use you as a pillow Ced."
"Sure thing Alexa." He smiled, and I felt a blossom of warmth in my chest.
"Is class over?" I asked, turning to look at my Gryffindor friends.
"Yes, and now you have to head to Arithmancy," said Angelina.
"Come on." Fred held out a hand to help me up, dragging me to my feet. "You can take another nap at lunch."
"Nah, that hour in Charms was all I needed. I'm good for the rest of the day. Did Professor Flitwick notice anything?" I asked as we headed into the hallway.
"He came over, but he thought the same thing we did. You clearly needed the sleep. He told us to let you rest," answered George.
"Okay, he's officially one of the coolest teachers I've ever had," I decided. My friends just smiled as we got to the place in the hallway where it was time for us to part ways. None of them were interested in the magic contained in numbers, and as a result none of them were in my Arithmancy class. "I'll see you guys at lunch, yeah?"
"We'll see you then Alexa!" agreed Alicia, smiling and giving me a short wave.
"Try not to pass out in this class too!" Lee teased, shooting me a wicked grin before heading off to his next class. I just rolled my eyes and headed down the corridor. I had no intention of falling asleep in one of my most interesting classes. Besides, there was a chance we were doing a review day just like in Charms. If that were the case, I was not missing out on an entire period opportunity to keep searching all the Hogwarts records for another lead.
***************
Unfortunately for me, Professor Vector didn't give us the review period I was hoping for. We kept going through new material at a whirlwind pace; apparently we had a lot left to finish before the rapidly-approaching O.W.L.S.
I managed to keep up, but I had to focus on Arithmancy the entire time. I didn't get a single free second to dig into Hogwarts leads.
I decided that needed to change when I got to lunch.
I made it to the Great Hall before my friends, threw together a sandwich, then started heading back out. I ran into Fred and George quite literally as I tried to exit the main doors.
"Whoa! Alexa, where are you going?" asked Fred. Thankfully, I hadn't dropped my sandwich when I ran into him, so I could stay on my original path.
"I'm going to go search through more of the files on my computer," I answered, not even trying to hide what I was doing.
"Didn't we just have a conversation about how important it is for you to take a break?" sighed George. He sounded like a truly exhausted parent, and the realization hit me like a punch. I made George Weasley sound like an exhausted parent. Something clearly needed to change.
After I solved my mystery.
"Guys, I'm fine. You were absolutely right, I needed a break. But now that I've had that break, I can get back to work. I'm used to this, it's not that unusual for me and my family to just work on something nonstop until it's done. I think it might be genetic..." I trailed off, but I turned my attention back to the twins when I saw how unconvinced they were. "Besides, here's the thing: I'm not gonna be able to fully rest or relax until I get some answers. And nothing is going to feel better than the moment all the pieces finally come together and I get the answers I've been chasing since Christmas. That's the best feeling in the world."
The twins just rolled their eyes and stepped aside.
"Thanks guys! I'll see you in Herbology!"
I didn't glance back as I dashed past the twins and up to the Astronomy Tower. Logically it wasn't the best place to go, since it was pretty far from the Great Hall and even farther from my next class in the Greenhouses. I didn't care though. In the first month it became my favorite spot to go when I needed to focus or just breathe, and a little extra cardio couldn't hurt me anyway.
I set up shop as soon as I got to the Tower. I only had about a half an hour to work before I had to leave again, but who knew? Maybe that half an hour would be just the time I needed to stumble across one clue that made everything fall into place.
Unfortunately, I didn't get that lucky. Honestly, based on past experiences, I'd be willing to believe that kind of luck just didn't exist in my family. I didn't let that slow me down though. I let my subconscious work the problem as I hurried across the Hogwarts grounds to class. All I had to do was make it through one Hebology period and I could spend the entire double History of Magic class doing whatever the hell I wanted.
That O.W.L. was going to be a bitch to study for.
I decided quickly, however, that the History of Magic O.W.L. was a problem for future me, and present me needed to focus on one problem at a time. I, of course, chose the mystery storm problem to continue working on in the present.
I got to History of Magic and quickly pulled up all the scanned documents to start going through again. My eyes were as glazed over as Binns' to anyone watching me. I stayed laser-focused on the documents in front of me for the whole period. I think I really freaked out all my Gryffindor classmates who didn't know what I was doing.
"Any luck?" asked Lee at the end of the period as we all packed up.
"No," I sighed. "I'll keep looking though. I feel like there must be something that I'm just missing somehow."
"Well, good luck. And let us know if there's anything we can do to help."
"I will. Thanks Lee."
"No problem Lex."
****************
I knew there was something to find right in front of my face. I knew there was some simple solution that I just wasn't seeing. I could feel it, and even though I was only sixteen I had enough experience to know when my instincts were right. Even so, it took me until Friday to actually figure out what that thing was.
I was alone in my room, kicked back on the bed and scrolling through yet another book full of magical terms that had no meaning to me in the context of the storm or the implant.
"Norwegian Ridgeback... nope. Nox... nope. Obliviate... nope. Ugh." I closed my eyes and leaned back against the headboard. Fred and George were right, I needed a break.
Unfortunately for me, I really couldn't take one. O.W.L.s were literally just a few weeks away, and although the panic of important tests coming up hadn't set in yet I could feel it coming. If I didn't get answers by the end of the weekend (or honestly, by the end of today), I'd have to put everything on hold again while school got crazy.
I would not end this week without some answers.
I took a deep breath, gave myself a little pep talk, and pulled my screens back up.
"Alright, let's do this... Obliviator, no. Obscurus, no. Occlumuncy, no. Ollivander's..." I trailed off mid-sentence. An idea was starting to take shape in my head.
"Ana, go back. Okay, go back another... stop!" I stared at the page up before me, titled 'Obscurus'. Shit, I might actually be onto something here.
I stood up and started pacing the room, trying to think my idea through all the way. I didn't want to rush this or lose the train of thought, so I told Ana to record my brainstorm session. If things didn't make sense or I got distracted, I could go back later and see exactly what I said.
"Okay, the working definition of an obscurus is a magical parasite that forms when a witch or wizard suppresses their magical ability, right? Or if they're forced to suppress it through abuse," I started, trying to think things through as I spoke. "They're pretty rare, partly because they usually kill their host at a young age. But when they show up they leave massive destruction in their wake, like nothing you'd see anywhere else.
"Our mystery man is definitely older than a young child, and the storms we've been seeing don't look the same as the explosion of crazy from an obscurial, so clearly they're not quite the same thing..."
I was getting excited now. The pieces were finally coming together, and I sped up my pacing as the final pieces of my theory clicked together in my head.
"But what if this were a different kind of Obscurial? What if the biological implant we found is somehow suppressing our person's magic without them knowing about it?"
I stopped dead in the middle of the room as I was hit with another realization.
"We couldn't find any records anywhere of anything like this storm before... maybe the reason is that this is relatively new. Maybe... maybe this person didn't even know about their magic until recently, and they didn't experience any negative effects from the suppression until they became aware of it. That's why they weren't creating uncontrollable storms across the country until January. And that would also explain why they aren't dead yet!"
I jumped up and punched the air before running around and jumping on my bed.
"Yes! I did it! It fits! Finally, a working theory! Took way too damn long." I flopped down on my bed, practically beside myself I was so happy. As with any theory, there was a possibility that I was completely and totally wrong, but for the first time I had an explanation that at least made sense.
"Alexa! What's going on, we heard you yelling from the Common Room!" I sat up to see Angelina and Alicia standing in the doorway, looking concerned and ready to fight whatever was making me scream.
"Hey! Sorry guys, I'm okay. I just had a breakthrough." I grinned, and I'm sure I looked a little crazed, but I didn't care. Nothing could bring me down from the high I was feeling right now.
"Okay..." said Angelina, lowering her fists and approaching me with caution. "Please tell me you mean a breakthrough on your mystery and not a breakthrough like a hole in your sanity..."
"Nah, I feel the most sane I have in weeks." I doubted they believed me since I still had that manic look on my face, but it was true. I'd been working on this problem for almost five months, and the relief washing over me at having a plausible answer was the best feeling imaginable.
"So what's the answer then? Who's the mystery man in the storm?" asked Alicia.
I furrowed my eyebrows as her question sunk in.
"You know, I don't know yet. Ana, do whatever you can to get that DNA sample processed. It's time for us to unmask our mystery man."