Disclaimer: Writing this for fun, not profit. I'm just borrowing Harry, his friends, and the name Penny Blood.
Chapter One
Edward Peterson was leaning on the bar counter, wiping a beer mug with a ratty, old rag when the tiny bell above the peeling door gave a short, sharp ring indicating a customer had entered the tiny pub. Startled by the unexpected sound, Edward dropped the glass mug. It hit the dull wooden floor and shattered into many jagged pieces. He let out a curse. This was the ninth glass he had broken in the past two weeks. Mr. Shupp, the owner of the pub, wouldn't be too pleased when he counted the cups resting on the long shelf above the taps and discovered another glass missing. Muttering rude remarks under his breath, the young bartender pushed the glass shards into a pile with his foot to be cleaned up later before Mr. Shupp took over as bartender for the evening.
Nobody went to the Lost Crown for a drink before supper expected two old, wrinkling men who had arrived an hour ago. They would show up around ten everyday with one of them carrying a checker board tucked under one arm. Both men would be smoking a pipe filling the air with foul, hazy smoke. The men would sit near the fire place playing checkers for exactly two hours and then leave the bar. It annoyed Edward that they never bought anything, but he wouldn't dare tell them to play somewhere else. The two pesky men were friends of Mr. Shupp and chasing them off would most likely result in him losing his job.
Edward concluded the neighborhood kids were messing around with the door again. Expecting to see a small child smiling mischievously at him, Edward was surprised to find a man.
Standing in front of the doorway, blinking his eyes to adjust to the dim room was a grim-looking man Edward had never seen before. The man was tall and thin and was wearing a black jacket, black pants, and a white shirt that made his face appear very pale. He removed his black wide-rimmed hat from his head and used it to wipe his forehead. Shaggy, graying black hair was plastered to his gaunt face. Bright gray eyes peered through strands of sweat-soaked hair studying the room. When the stranger's eyes landed on Edward, his tight, glum frown morphed into a grin. The kind of grin that madmen would have on their faces when they were hacking you up. The man put his hat back on his head and walked over to the counter, his big, chunky motorcycle boots thudding all the way.
Edward gulped in fear. He wasn't used to serving strangers especially creepy guys like this man. The clientele of the Lost Crown were all friends of Mr. Shupp. They would bring their family and friends to the pub with them which brought new customers to the Lost Crown. It seemed liked that if you didn't know Mr. Shupp, you didn't know the pub existed. Even Edward who had traveled the street that the Lost Crown was located on numerous times didn't know about the pub until he was interviewed by Mr. Shupp for the bartending job.
The man sat down on the metal stool right in front of Edward. Sliding off his coat and hat, the man laid them on the counter. Edward went to work scrubbing the grimy counter, not daring to make eye contact with the man. "What can I do for you, sir?" Edward said, voice cracking slightly.
"Give me the strongest liquid you have in this dump," the man said as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a cheap plastic blue lighter. Carefully selecting a cigarette from the flimsy wrapper, he lit it and took a long drag from the cigarette. Trying not to wrinkle his nose in disgust, Edward grabbed a green long-necked bottle and a shot glass from the shelf.
"Not that, boy," the customer said, winking. His eyes flickered down to the counter and back up at Edward.
Edward could feel a drop of sweat run down his face. He kneeled down and took a old, dusty black bottle off the shelf. Wiping the bottle off with his rag, Edward unscrewed the lid and poured the dark honey-colored alcohol into the glass. The man picked it up, inspected the liquid , and downed it in one sallow.
"Another shot?" Edward asked.
The man shook his head. While the black haired stranger polluted the air with his cigarette, Edward put the two bottles in their respected places and put the used glass in a tub under the counter. Edward hoped that the man would hurry up and finished his cigarette so he could pay his tab and leave. The man made him nervous.
"Anything else I can do for you, sir," Edward said, going back to cleaning the counter and not looking at the man.
"In fact, there is something else you could do for me," the man said. The man rubbed out his cigarette on the heel of his boot and threw the butt into an ash tray. Edward wanted to groaned. What could his creepy guy want?
"I'm looking for a boy named Caleb Peterson," the man informed Edward.
Edward froze in midwipe. Glaring suspiously at his customer, Edward asked," What do you want with my brother?"
"Brothers, eh? I should had known. You both have matching wild blonde hair and freckled faces," the man replied. " I paid your brother to take me down into Penny Blood's Tunnel. He told me to come here and ask for him."
Edward should have felt relieved when the man told him this, but the worry only got worst. His kid brother was always showing his friends and tourists the cramp, dark passage that ran under the building for a small fee. Edward didn't mind his brother doing it; Mr. Shupp didn't care and Caleb made good money from the tours. However, the haggard man sitting in front of him was making Edward rethink about allowing Caleb to take strangers into the tunnel.
Watching the two old men exit the pub, Edward yelled," Caleb!"
The back door screeched opened. Poking his dirt-streaked face into the pub, the boy yelled back," What do ya want?"
"Someone looking for you," Edward said, pointing at the man.
Caleb's brown eyes widen in delight. "Orion! Oh, bloody hell, I forgot you were coming today," the boy grinned, gesturing for the man called Orion to follow him.
"How much did he pay you?" Edward asked, leaning against the counter. Edward knew it was a rude question to ask, but the bartender didn't trust this Orion. He seemed like the type to swilled people out of their money.
"That reminds me," the boy gasped. He stuck his hand in the pocket of his muddy jeans and rummaged around for a few minutes with his tongue sticking out at the corner of his mouth in concentration. Caleb removed a gleaming gold-colored coin. "I can't take this."
Getting off the stool, Orion walked over to Caleb and crouched down to the boy's height. "Why can't you take it?" Orion said, giving Caleb a warm smile.
"Well, I went down the street to see Mr. Westley, he's a jeweler, and I asked him to look at the coin you gave me. He told me that the coin was made out of pure gold."
"Did you say gold?" Edward asked, looking at his customer in disbelief.
"Yup. And that's not all. The coin is worth at least one hundred pounds," Caleb reported.
"One hundred pounds? Holy Shit!" Edward said.
"Is it not enough?" Orion asked worriedly, reaching into his pocket.
"Are you kidding? It's too much!" Caleb exclaimed.
The man laughed. If by magic his face appeared younger. Taking a smaller, silver coin out of his pocket, Orion took a hold of Caleb's tiny hand, pressed the coin into his palm, and closed it. "I have so much money that I could never spend it in ten life times," Orion confessed, standing up. "Keep them."
Staring at the two shiny coins in his hand, Caleb stuttered, "Th- th- thank you!" Caleb quickly pocketed his payment and with a "Follow me, sir!", the boy disappeared behind the door. Orion put on his coat and his hat and with a tip of his hat at Edward, he followed the boy outside. Edward was left standing behind the counter dumbstruck.
Stepping outside, Orion found himself in a tiny unkempt backyard. Surrounded on three sides by a pasty-color stone wall, the yard was over grown with weeds and tall grass. Orion spotted the boy standing near a small tree that was being strangled by ivy. Caleb grinned and pointed at the ground. Joining Caleb, Orion saw a small wooden door was built into the ground. Caleb grabbed the rusty iron ring on the door and pulled the door open.
"Welcome to Penny Blood's Tunnel," Caleb said. He carefully lowered himself onto a wooden ladder and was swallowed up by bleak darkness. Getting to his knees, Orion crawled to the hole and stepped down. Groaning, the ladder bended dangerously under his weight. Orion quickly descended.
Caleb was waiting for him holding a plastic battery-operated lantern. The weak light revealed a narrow, low ceiling dirt passage way that disappeared into darkness on Orion's left.
"How far does this tunnel go?" Orion asked his small companion.
"About thirty meters or so," Caleb said. "Are you ready?"
"Lead the way," Orion grinned.
"There is no recorded information about Penny Blood's Tunnel," Caleb said as they traveled through the tunnel. "Only tales passed down from owner to owner of property can give us a glimpsed into the tunnel's dreadful history. It is believed the tunnel was built during the Black Plague epidemic. Victims of the plague were rounded up and imprisoned in the tunnel to die. Watch your head."
"Wha-" The ceiling dropped sharply and Orion's head hit it, knocking off his hat. Orion let out a hiss of pain.
"Are you alright?" Caleb said.
Orion scooped up his hat and sat it on the boy's blonde head. "Just a bump," he reassured Caleb, rubbing his sore head.
A now hunched over Orion and Caleb continued their journey through the tunnel. They walked two meters in silence before Orion interrupted the morgue-like atmosphere with a question. "Why is it called Penny Blood's Tunnel?"
"The Tunnel doesn't official have a name. The local teenagers made up this crazy story about this girl named Penny Blood and her misadventure in the tunnel for a good scare during Halloween," Caleb said, rolling his eyes at the stupidity of teenagers. "On the other hand, their stupid story does bring in the money. Tourist love this kind of stuff."
"What's the story?" Orion said.
"Penny Blood was a girl who lived above the pub a long time age," Caleb began. "One night, she was awaken by a horrible scream. Turn here." The tunnel made a ninety degree turn leading the man and boy to the left.
"Curious about who was screaming," Caleb continued. "She got out of bed and followed the shriek down into the tunnel. They say that the screaming guided Penny Blood straight to the Gate of Hell. Like all good urban myth, it ends with she was never seen again. One more turn to the right."
Rounding the corner, the ceil rose sharply upward. The lantern's light felled upon the thing that Orion had been searching for over an year. A black gate loomed over Orion and Caleb. The gate was made out of a unidentifiable metal that glittered brightly in the weak light. Weaved between the thin bars and held together by an old fashion lock, a thick chain guarded the gate from being opened. Orion slowly reached out and touched the gate. The metals felt slick and cold like ice. Fingers burning, Orion dropped his hand to his side.
"This is the so-called "Gate of Hell," Caleb informed Orion.
"Has anyone that you know of ever been through the gate?"
"Nope. It's impossible. Nothing can cut through the metal of the chain, the lock, and the gate. Also the lock has no key hole."
" Leave me," Orion said.
"What?"
"Go back without me."
"That's not a good idea," Caleb said.
"I'll be alright. I just want to check out the gate and see if I can open it," Orion said.
Caleb crossed his arms against his chest, looking at Orion with a serious expression on his face. "Okay, but you're wasting your time. If you don't come out of the tunnel in ten minutes, I get to keep the hat."
"Deal," Orion laughed.
Taking the lantern with him, Caleb left Orion in complete darkness. When the boy's soft footsteps faded away, Orion pulled out his wand. He groped for the lock, missing it countless of times and getting burned by the freezing gate. Finally locating the lock, Orion tapped his wand on it and said, "Alohomora."
He heard the lock pop open and the chain slither down the bars dragging the lock with it. Orion used his foot to push the gate open. The gate opened without protest, releasing a chilly air from the room beyond it.
"Lumos," Orion said. A light appeared on the tip of his wand, but it did little good; the darkness devoured the light. Orion passed through the black gate and walked down the remaining tunnel.
Suddenly, the world brightened around Orion, blinding him momentarily. When he regained his eye sight, Orion found himself in a circular stone room a lit by torches. Orion put out the light on his wand, but didn't return the wand to his pocket. He held it in a tight grip ready to defend himself against any unknown threats. Glancing around, the man discovered the very object that had lead him to the four corners of the earth searching for it.
In the center of the cold and eerily quiet room was a ring of huge, smooth white marble columns about one meter apart from each other. Behind these marble guardians, a white marble archway stood on a black marble dais. A beautiful black silk curtain rippled slightly by an otherworldly wind. Compared to the other Veils he had seen, Orion believed this one was the finest of them all.
Orion knew he should have left the chamber after he confirmed the location of the Veil, but he was memorized by the loveliness of it. Even knowing the horrors that laid behind it's curtains didn't stop Orion from walking a couple of steps towards it. Standing among the pillars, Orion stood with his head tilted to the side, eyes closed, listening. He could hear the faint voices of those not of this realm. They called to him, promising fame, riches, and adventure, but he resisted their invitation. He would never use the Veils ever again.
The voices abruptly vanished leaving only two voices, a man's and a woman's, to be heard. Orion couldn't figure out what they were saying. Then the two voices disappeared, leaving Orion in deafening silence.
Orion sensed something wasn't right. He backed way from the marble arch, eyes never leaving the curtain. Orion almost made it out of the room when the black curtains were blown into the air, violently struggling in the wind. Orion gave a dog-like growl. He knew what was happening; someone or something was coming through the Veil. Shooting out of the Veil, a fluttering mass of black cloth smashed into the floor and slid right at Orion. Orion scrambled out of the way just in time. Whatever came out of the Veil zoomed past him and into the dirt tunnel. With elegant blue robes whipping in the murderous wind, a tan man with brown hair and a goatee exited the archway, ending the fierce wind storm. Surveying the room with cold, calculating blue eyes, the man smirked when he found Orion glaring at him, wand pointed at him.
"I wanted to kill her, but it will have to wait. I can't have any witnesses even if they're from an alternate universe," the browned hair man said, raising his wand.
Orion was displeased when he heard the man say that. It was his job to keep people from using the Veils. People using the Veil to travel to different worlds could result in dangerous repercussions. Orion was going to have to send the man and the thing in the tunnel quickly back where they came from and destroy the Veil without the help of the Order.
A dark red hex shot out of the tunnel and headed for the man. He dodged it, disappearing behind one of the columns. A skeletal woman stepped into the chamber with her wand drawn. Her torn and filthy dress hung loosely on her ashy, thin body. Black eyes peered out of her sunken eye sockets, searching for her companion. "I'm your opponent, Cassius," she croaked.
Cassius emerged from behind a pillar and cast the Cruciatus Curse. Orion leaped out of the way. The woman ducked under the curse and charged at Cassius. The woman and the man began to duel, ignoring Orion.
Orion watched them. He needed one or two prefect shots to knock both duelists into the Veil, but they were moving so quickly that Orion couldn't predict when they would be in front of the arch. Noticing Orion trailing their movements with his wand, Cassius sent a Blasting Curse at Orion.
"Protegerus," Orion bellowed extending his wand out in front of him. A thin purple barrier appeared covering him. The curse hit the magical wall and exploded.
The finely dressed man cast a stunner and the angry red spell hit the woman knocking her into a marble column. She slid down it and crumpled to the ground head first. The woman didn't get up.
"I win, my dear," Cassius smiled, twirling his wand with his fingers. The gloating man didn't realize he was in danger of being sent flying into the Veil.
"I got you now, bastard," Orion muttered. His curse struck Cassius, sending him tumbling backward into the archway. He disappeared behind the black curtains.
"That was easy," Orion said, putting his wand in his jacket pocket. "Now to get rid of the woman."
Passing the white pillars, Orion observed something that filled him with unease. The curtains were no longer fluttering, but were now hanging limply in the air. Orion removed his lighter from his pocket and hurled it into the Veil. The lighter passed through the curtains, causing them to ripple a little. Orion heard it hit the ground on the other side of the archway.
"You got to be shitting me," Orion groaned in frustration. "Did the portal expire?"
Going over to the Veil, Orion stuck his hand through the curtains. Not getting pulled into the archway, Orion enter it. Nothing happen; he was still in the chamber. Orion picked up his lighter and put it back into his pocket.
"Well, I guess the Order doesn't have to worry about this Veil," Orion said to himself, scratching his head. "But what are we going to do about the wo-Where the hell did she go?!"
The woman had vanished. Orion glanced around the chamber. He didn't see her anywhere. "This ain't go-"
The dark curse flew over his shoulder, scorching his jacket. Orion spun around and was almost hit by another curse. Watching each other intensely, the ghastly woman and Orion stood as still as statue waiting for the other to make the first move.
"How about you put down the wand and-" Orion began when the woman keeled over. Orion looked at the woman sprawled on the floor for a few minutes, not sure what to do. Orion pulled out his wand and slowly walked over to the woman. Kneeling down, he rolled the woman over. Orion found the woman was indeed unconscious. He gingerly gathered the woman in his arms and apparated to Hogsmeade.
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