Hogwarts: Don't Starve in the Forbidden Forest Chapter 10 10: A Bedroom with a Roof? Fantastic!

"If I had possessed a world-changing power beyond my years at your age, even if no one knew, I likely would have tried my best to share it, to broadcast it, without a single thought as to whether it was appropriate or what negative impact it might have on the world."

Dumbledore's voice carried a hint of wistful lancholy. "All I would have sought was a bit of empty praise. Yet you, at your age, already realize that power wielded recklessly can be a detrint to this world."

Kane watched as Dumbledore drifted into his philosophical musings. He looked at Hagrid with a confused expression and whispered, "Does he do this often?"

"Er, well, it might just be the way Professor Dumbledore thinks things through," Hagrid said, choosing his words carefully.

"Fair enough." Kane knew better than to expect a straight answer to that one.

By evening, Kane had finished his al early. He sat on a small rock by the shore of the Black Lake, staring silently at the water.

His shadow, stretched long by the setting sun, writhed and coiled across the ground, its dark tendrils reaching out to snag small insects and dragging them into the abyss.

"What do you make of the boy?" In the Headmaster's office, Dumbledore spoke to Snape, who was watching Kane's shadow through a crystal ball.

"The Dark Arts have soaked so deeply into his soul that it's manifesting in his shadow?" Snape offered a cold critique before glancing sideways at Dumbledore.

"You still insist on collecting dangerous individuals. I won't be surprised if a few students turn up dead this year."

"You really only know how to bully a slow old man like , don't you? Well, I suppose you bully the young ones just as much," Dumbledore said softly. "But I want to know if you understand why he's sitting there, doing nothing."

"Isn't that a good thing? I expect the mont he gets a wand tomorrow, he'll open a Chamber of Secrets of his own and start brewing catastrophes. We should be... grateful he's being quiet."

"My point is," Dumbledore said, cutting through the sarcasm, "look at how he's sitting. Doesn't it look like he's fishing? And he is the bait."

Snape frowned. Before he could respond, the shadow of a withered tree near Kane suddenly ca alive.

The shadow warped into a distorted, jagged monster—looking like a child's scribbled nightmare—and lunged at Kane with clawed hands.

In that split second, Kane's own elongated shadow twisted into a thick, serpentine coil. It lashed out like a python, constricting the shadow monster until it shattered into a spray of black smoke and dissipating sparks.

Kane reached down, picked sothing up from the ground, and shoved it into his pocket.

"What was that?" Snape narrowed his eyes. "The thing he put in his pocket?"

"Now, Severus, don't be so curious about a boy's privacy."

Snape instinctively wanted to snap back, but he settled for a sneer. "Spoken with the confidence of a man currently spying through a crystal ball."

"I'll take that as a complint."

Snape left the office soon after. On his way back to the castle from the lake, Kane "harvested" a few more Shadow Creatures, collecting several pieces of Nightmare Fuel. Before heading inside, he made a quick detour to Hagrid's yard, where he literally pried up the entire campfire—turf and all—and carried it back.

"What on earth..." Dumbledore considered himself a man of great fortitude, but Kane's antics were testing his limits.

"I'm afraid of the dark," Kane said simply. He began scouting the Headmaster's bedroom for the perfect spot, trying to ensure the campfire's glow would reach the top bunk.

Suddenly, Dumbledore's "old bones" seed perfectly fine. He scrambled up to the top bunk with a speed that left Kane blinking.

"I hope we don't succumb to smoke inhalation. Let's leave the window open," Dumbledore said with a flick of his wand, causing the window to swing open gently.

Below him, Kane was already stoking the fire. As the wood began to crackle and pop, Kane felt a wave of relief. He could finally get so real sleep.

Early to bed, early to rise. A good little wizard doesn't et Sister Charlie.

"Kane," Dumbledore said from above. He felt the ti was right for that classic roommate bonding chat. "Kane?"

But there was no response. Perhaps today had been too exhausting; Kane had fallen asleep almost instantly. Dumbledore, with a head full of questions about shadow monsters, nocturnal Dark Magic spikes, Treeguards, and sentient logs, found himself forced to swallow his curiosity and go to sleep.

The next morning, Dumbledore woke early. The sky was just beginning to pale. Thank rlin the window was open, he thought; they hadn't been carried off by carbon monoxide.

He climbed down quietly. The campfire by the bed was still flickering with a low fla. Kane's shadow on the wall was still restless, but it looked far more stable than it had by the lake.

A comfortable, soft bed in a room with a roof—it does wonders for a young wizard's Sanity. It wasn't a full recovery, but it was a start.

Maybe I'll pick so flowers later and make a garland, Kane thought groggily as he woke up. As long as the shadows don't turn them into Evil Petals... shadows are shadows, ghosts are ghosts. Best not to mix them up.

"Ti for breakfast, Kane. Wash up and co out," Dumbledore's voice called from the other room.

"Coming."

Breakfast in the Great Hall was a busier affair this morning—a grand total of six people. Kane ate heartily while listening to Hagrid's "Diagon Alley Preview." Hagrid talked about magical ice cream, goblin-run banks, the brick wall, and the transition into Knockturn Alley.

In Kane's eyes, however, none of it was as interesting as the honey-slathered toast in front of him.

On the other side of the table, Professor McGonagall sipped her porridge in silence. She thought of Harry—who had sworn to knock Kane's teeth out—and wondered if those teeth would still be in Kane's mouth by the end of the day.

Should she give him a warning? Certainly not. Let it be a surprise.

Breakfast ended, and Kane waited by a tree stump outside Hagrid's hut while the giant got ready.

"Professor McGonagall told the Weasleys will be at Diagon Alley today," Hagrid said as he erged. "You'll like them. Good people, the lot of 'em. And there's a boy your age starting this year too. You'll get along great."

"Hope so," Kane nodded. He reached out and touched the Portkey with Hagrid, and with a familiar tug behind the navel, they vanished from Hogwarts.