Chapter Eleven
Through the Rabbit Hole
He knew for sure he would be sick now. Looking at the sweet and innocent face of his friend now in a position that was far too incriminating to ignore, Remus couldn't help himself from asking her why aloud. When she didn't answer right away, he felt that instead of hurt and disappointment, there was something more akin to anger stirring his insides.
"Don't worry," She started, still staying in the same spot and maintaining her dreamlike tone. "It will be over soon."
"Over?" He asked incredulously. "What will be over?"
He watched her as her gaze drew from him to the Hollow. He turned his head to follow and could see it from a better angle from where the professor dragged him. It didn't seem like much. It reminded him of a small pool that he might have played in when he was smaller since it didn't seem to be much bigger than to be able to hold maybe a person or two at a time without overflowing. The glowing water reflected into the clearing, giving everything its light touched a strange and sickly hue of green and blue. When he turned his head back towards Thalia, she'd been looking at him in the eyes, and Remus could now clearly see they'd lost their forget-me-not hue and instead bore something more icy and sinister. He felt a chill that had little to do with the cool spring air as he could sense something not right about her… something broken.
Professor Folly gave Remus a jerk and let him go, leaving him stood next to Thalia as she walked towards the center. The closer she stepped, the water seemed to recede away similar to the way waves would on a shore. She let out a frustrated sigh and began waving her wand, casting more enchantments. Remus looked back over to Thalia, whose eyes remained transfixed as if she were in a daydream. He waved his hand in front of her face and her gaze remained unmoved. Was this what someone looked like when they were bewitched?
"Is this what you've been up to in those private tutoring sessions together?" He called out to the professor, who was still pacing and casting enchantments across the way. "Sneaking off here, chasing fairy tales—"
"In case you haven't noticed, what you're looking at is completely real." She answered back curtly. There were small disturbances in the air whenever she waved her wand, and Remus could almost feel the magic radiating on his skin. Whatever spells she was casting were definitely working on something. "To be honest, those 'tutoring sessions' turned out to be very convenient for the end result. Silly little girl… so foolish."
Remus felt the hairs stand on the back of his neck until he realised he was only getting upset with himself. Even though her comment was directed at Thalia, who for the most part was still unresponsive aside from watching the enchantments breach whatever protective field was covering the Hollow, Remus still couldn't help feeling that he was the foolish one. At least the two of them came into the forest prepared… and with a plan.
"Is that why you've come all this way then?" He asked, now beginning to raise his voice as the sting of betrayal was still fresh. "To find a well of dark magic and keep it all for yourself?" Professor Folly turned to look at him now. The shards of whatever barrier was protecting the Hollow began to fall around it from thing air, as if there were a thin glass veil shattering piece by piece.
"No. As I've said on the first day of classes, I originally came to mold the minds of young witches and wizards." She began walking towards him, and he noticed the water would not recede now as she neared it.
"I didn't think you meant literally…" He replied bitterly.
"I suppose you've learned the most important lesson I can teach you then in assuming the worst of people."
"Why involve her, then? What will all of this achieve?"
"It wouldn't be wise to reveal all of the tricks. Like I said, you'll have a front row seat. You'll find out soon enough."
Remus could feel the fear bubbling inside of him, as he was quite certain that finding out was last on the list of things he wanted at the present moment. He looked back to Thalia, whose eyes were now fixed on the Hollow. Any hope he had of having her help for stalling whatever was to come was whittled away with her blank yet focused expression.
"Nothing's wrong with her." Said Folly as she tucked her own wand away. "She's probably just deep in thought. She has quite the task ahead of her."
She turned on her heel towards the pool of glowing liquid and crouched down so that Remus and Thalia would be able to see what she was doing. Remus swallowed hard as he waited for what seemed like a lifetime, when she finally made a motion with her hands to scoop the liquid into her mouth. Remus could tell he was gripping his wand so tightly that he practically couldn't feel his fingers anymore. He was watching a dark witch at work and he was powerless to do anything about it. He looked over to Thalia who was still watching, but was now muttering incomprehensibly under her own breath. He'd been so distracted by her doing something other than staring vacantly that the blood-curdling scream that came from the professor caught him completely off-guard.
.
When he looked back forward, professor Folly was clutching the sides of her head and now on her back, writhing on the ground from what he could tell was terrible agony. Without thinking, he dropped his wand and sprinted over to her. When he got within several feet, he rebounded back as if there were an invisible rubber shield around her and was completely winded from landed on his own back. When he was finally able to catch his breath, Remus propped himself up on his elbows to watch on helplessly as the terror unfolded.
Her screams and cries of pain continued and echoed, making the forest beyond the clearing stir. She dragged her nails down her face leaving welts in their wake, and from her mouth came a glowing light matching in colour what was emanating from the pool. The light seemed to muffle her screams and it poured out of her like smoke, and the same thing began happening to her eyes. It was almost too much to bear witnessing, but Remus couldn't keep himself from looking away until he assumed her lungs gave out and she laid motionless on the ground.
"P-professor?" He said, fearing the worst. He stood up to walk towards her again warily, until he realised that whatever was keeping him from approaching her had since dissipated. Her eyes were closed, and her mouth slightly agape, still leaking tuft of smoky light when he crouched down beside her to get a better look. "Professor?" He repeated again, reaching out a timid hand to touch her when she sat up quickly and grabbed him by the wrist and gasping loudly for air. He'd been so startled and scared that Remus swore his heart missed a beat.
"Where?!"" She cried, her eyes till closed. When she opened them slowly, she looked directly at Remus, and he witnessed the horrible sight of the complete clouding over of her irises. There was no trace of the warm brown left, but only a complete milky white hinted with the same glow of the pool beside them. It took a few moments of watching her search his eyes and drift over and around the clearing for him to realise that she could not see. Her sobs were dry from the strain she'd made on her voice. She felt his face and he knew he'd been right. "Who? Who?!"
"R-Remus!" He stuttered, confused. He thought it have been obvious, but perhaps the trauma of what's just happened… Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that there wasn't something right. "It's Remus Lupin—" Her eyes searched the sky now, and she still felt around with one hand clutching Remus and the other clutching the ground.
"Is he here? Is he with us?" Tears began welling in her eyes.
"Is who with us professor? It's only the three of us, you, me, and Thal—" Before he could finish she jerked his face towards hers so that their noses were only inches apart. Considering how shallow his breathing had been for the passed couple of minutes, he wouldn't have been surprised if he passed out from lack of oxygen if she continued to breathe his air for much longer. She opened her mouth to answer his question when she jumped, being startled by something unseen to him.
"The Hollow mustn't be disturbed. Protect the Hollow or the Moon and the Stars will tear. The Grimoire pages will blank and the universe as it is written will cease to exist." She took a few shallow breaths before letting him go, allowing him the freedom to give himself space from her. "I've seen it…" She whispered.
"The Grimoire? What about it? What will happen if the pages blank?" Remus asked, as he now felt an odd mixture mix of excitement and anxiety.
"Time. Beasts. Blood. Time. Beasts. Blood…" She began mumbling to herself, pushing away from Remus to settle facing herself away from him and the Hollow and rocking herself back and forth as she cradled her head. She repeated this a few times before Remus was finally able to get her attention. "How can I stop it?" She stopped rocking and looping her words and turned her head slightly over her shoulder to address him.
"You can't." She said somberly with a harsh finality to her voice before going back to looping the same words, clinging to her chanting desperately. Time. Beasts. Blood. He looked behind him to the still glowing pool, barely moving and looking completely auspicious as if it didn't just cause one of the most horrifying things he'd ever witnessed.
Remus stood to his feet again, unsure of what to do next. With a blinded and slowly unwinding Professor along with a catatonic classmate, he didn't know how he was going to be able to get himself back to the castle, let alone bring them with him. He reached down to where he originally dropped his wand and picked it up. He'd have to figure out a way to signal his position, and hope that someone had been looking towards the forest. All that was left after that was explaining how he ended up in a place explicitly forbidden for anyone to enter, especially him. The punishments he devised in his mind made detention seem like a cakewalk, especially when expulsion from school was a very harsh and foreboding reality.
He knew the spell of course, to send the sparks into the sky. The woman now crouched on the ground had told them to use it if they ever found themselves lost, like a beacon. He began to say it, but hesitated. He didn't want what would come next, the disappointment from his friends that he'd be kicked out of school, the headmaster who worked so hard to conceal his secret and give him the opportunity, and his parents, who only ever wanted the best for him. He felt the tickle of a tear fall down his cheek, and then he took a deep breath with his wand pointed at the sky.
"Peric—" The sound of leaves rustling in rhythm behind him interrupted him. When he turned his head, he saw Thalia taking strides to the pool. "No!" He shouted, turning around too quickly and tripping over himself. Remus tried recovering quickly to catch up to her before she suffered the same fate as Folly. He caught up to her at the edge of the pool and grabbed her arms. Thalia lifted her hand to his chest to push him back, and Remus could feel his grip slacken. Her hands were like ice, and even against the fabric of his sweater he could feel their chill. When she looked at him, he felt a sense of hopelessness in stopping her from whatever she was about to do. She gazed into his eyes again, and what happened next came so fast, Remus didn't have time to react properly until her heard the splash of her body hitting the water.
No. He thought, scrambling when he came to enough to try and figure out how to get her out. The water was clear, but he couldn't see her. He tried reaching into the water to feel around for her, but it was no use. But the water was warm… inviting even. He thought of Peter in that moment. How he told him that it was the point of dark magic to lure him in. To make him think that it was something good when it was something awful.
But this wasn't for him; it was for Thalia. He didn't want what the Hollow had to offer, only what it took away. In a moment of wild thinking, he dove into the warm liquid, seeking only to find his friend and bring her to the surface with him. If he could bring her back untouched, he would send a thousand sparks in the sky and risk the expulsion a hundred times over. No one else was going to die because of him.
x-x-x
There was warmth, there was light, and then it was dark and cool again. He wasn't swimming, but falling. Falling so fast and far, that he dared not open his eyes. When he landed, it wasn't painful, or crushing, or anything that made sense with his descent. It was as if right before he reached the ground, he became feather light and glided until his feet made contact with what he realised was more foliage. Had he been back in the forest? He dared not open his eyes straight away. Was he dead? Did death feel like more cool spring air? He took a deep breath and winked one eye open first to see the blurry outline of Thalia unconscious on the ground. He rushed over to her and turned her facing up? Please don't be dead. He thought, feeling her face and checking her pulse in places Madam Pomfrey would do for him to make sure he was okay. There was movement. Yes.
"Thalia?" He said softly, moving her shoulder to jostle her awake. "Thalia, wake up. It's me, Remus." She moaned a bit and moved at being stirred.
"R-Remus?" She repeated, her voice being one of the most reassuring things to happen to him that entire day, and it'd been a long day indeed. Her eyes fluttered open, and the familiar blue hue that they'd been before he met her in the forest seemed to have returned, along with the colour slowly coming back into her face. She smiled at first, but it seemed that once she had a moment to truly come to, she sat up straight so fast that she almost head-butted Remus in the process.
"Where are we?" She asked him, sounding more worried than he'd ever heard her before. The complete contrast of her dreamy tone he heard from what now seemed like a lifetime ago. She looked around frantically, turning her head at every little sound of leaves crunching, most of which was caused by both of them. He put a hand on her shoulder to help calm her, doing his best not to match her worried tone.
"You should take it easy for a sec. We just fell—"
"Where are we, Remus?" She interrupted, her voice cracking. She searched his eyes and he knew he wouldn't have any hope of trying to reassure her with a lie. Before he thought about his answer, Remus looked around him at the dark and dense forest surrounding them. It looked the same as the dark forest they just left, only they didn't seem to be in the clearing anymore, and professor Folly was gone.
"I... I don't know. The forest? I think?" He replied honestly. It was as confident as he could be. He did after all recognise the bizarre shape of the trees and sounds emanating from the wood. But still, as he predicted, this didn't reassure her as she began to stand shakily to her feet. Rightfully so, it seemed to be a case of moving from the frying pan and into the fire. She didn't seem to be aware of what happened at all. Would she have mentioned it at all? Should he have? "Listen, Thalia..." He started, getting to his own feet as well. "I don't know exactly what's happened, but we need to find our way back."
"Right... Okay." She nodded, and he was grateful for the first shred of cooperation. "Where is the way back then?" And like a bubble, his optimism popped from existence. He had no idea except that he'd been heading east from the castle to get to the clearing. He pulled out his wand and muttered the spell to make it spin on his hand like the needle of a compass.
.
"We need to head this way." He pointed behind him. "If we are in the dark forest, we have to head back to the castle where it's safe."
"Lead the way." She nodded in reply.
The silence between them as they walked through the forest was uncomfortable to say the least. He almost wished the sadistic birds would come back to attack him if it meant something other than baring through it and leaving him to his own thoughts along the way. The forest however, seemed uncharacteristically stagnant. The only hint of any kind of movement was the docile swaying of the living wood, and the only sound was the wind whispering through their leaves.
He half-expected Yuna's pack, the group of werewolves native to the forest, to make themselves present at that point. Perhaps they were protecting them from the dangers of the forest. He would have like to have thought so since they seemed to be the only benign werewolf he'd come to contact with especially since she helped him. He wondered if she knew the Hollow was in the woods, and if the true purpose of her pack was to protect it. The only hole in his theory was that if that were the case, surely they would have stopped professor Folly from finding it in the first place.
"Remus?" Thalia piped up in a small voice. Thankful for the distraction of his own thoughts, he turned his head slightly to let her know he'd been listening. "Something's been bothering me."
"Mhm?" He responded.
"How did I get into the forest?" He stopped dead in his tracks, making her bump into him. "Oh, sorry—"
"Do you not remember anything?" He asked, cutting off her apology. She shook her head sheepishly, almost like she didn't want to answer him honestly, but the burn of not knowing proving to be more painful. He began recounting for her, starting from when he saw the hooded figure at the castle entrance to up until the point of finding the two of them in the forest. What happened passed that he hesitated to say aloud as it would force him to see the images of professor Folly screaming and clawing at her eyes. For her sake, he continued, not tentatively gauging her reaction as they walked along.
"All of that sounds... Awful." She said finally. It was clear to him that Thalia really had no recollection at all... It was worrying to say the least.
"And you're sure you don't remember any of it."
"I would hope I could remember at least that. I don't think I've had enough time to block it out since it happened and for however long we've been walking." He gave a dry laugh. "So it really does exist then... The Hollow."
"Yeah. I wouldn't have believed it myself if I didn't see it with my own eyes. And you know, dive into it with my own... Body."
"This isn't anything like I would have expected it to be though. I've just… you know, heard stories. Are we still in the pool?"
"No idea. I don't feel wet, and I can breathe."
"Do you think it just transported us then?"
"That's what seems the most likely. What else could it mean?" He asked, mainly rhetorically but also to himself. The truth was he'd been trying to rationalize why he'd landed in the forest again as well, but there was only room for one major mystery to solve in his mind at a time.
"I'm sorry you got dragged into all this."
"It's okay. Not your fault." He shrugged, and she gave him a weak smile. "I'm sure if things were reversed you'd have done the same for... Me…" There was a bright flash of white coming from above the canopy of trees in the direction they were walking that mesmerized him. She'd seen it too, as both of them now we're standing to watch as the light dissipated into the night air. From what he saw, it had to have come from something massive. "Come on, we've got to be close now." Remus would have been more concerned that they'd gone through a good-sized portion of the forest without any problems, but he wasn't complaining.
Nothing could have prepared them for the sight when they finally reached the break in the trees. His assumption in assuming they were heading towards Hogwarts was correct since the castle was stood in the night in all of its majesty, but there was something else happening. There was a shell around the castle that was slowly cracking; similar to the way professor Folly's enchantments broke through an invisible shield to access the Hollow. It was as if there were a protective eggshell that was slowly cracking and falling apart. It had a beautiful sort of discord to it, but the unsettling feeling of watching it made him wary.
"What's wrong with the castle?" asked Remus. He didn't think they'd have been gone so long that there was enough time for anything too dramatic to happen.
"Look. There's something in front." Said Thalia, pointing at the bridge leading into the courtyard of the grounds. It seemed there were lines and lines of from where they were standing looked like organized rows of large men.
"They kind of look like soldiers." He responded, before she shook her head and pointed not to the bridge, but rather the large mass that was approaching it. They were people but they most certainly were not soldiers. Spells began flying from the mass and hitting the figures on the bridge, which Remus could tell by the rate that they were crumbling, were made of stone. They were being attacked… the school was being attacked. When he looked passed the large group of people heading into the forest, he could see that beyond them to the other break in the trees of the forest, that other things were emerging. Large bloated people came out first, which he only ever knew from his textbooks were trolls and giants, followed by spiders the size of large dogs.
He felt a lump in his throat as he thought about his friends. James, Sirius, and Peter were all probably in the Gryffindor common room scared out of their wits, or worse. The loud whooshing noise of people flying on broomsticks prompted him to look up. The sky mingled with more people flying in formation on brooms as well as dark and ghostly specters flying towards the castle now that the eggshell shield had broken. The likelihood that his friends were safe in the halls now was growing slim.
"We should go." She said. He shot her a surprised look that was hoping she's been making a sick joke. "We can sneak through. We've gone through the forest unscathed and just look at what was hiding in there. We can make it."
"You can't be serious." Remus scoffed. The idea of the two of them waltzing through the front door was suicidal at best. "That's the thick of it in there, and who knows what's passed the walls. We're better off out here."
"Oh you're right, two practically defenseless students standing out in the open sounds safer." She said nonchalantly. Though her sarcasm made him prickle, she was right. "There is something down there… I think it's the way back." When he looked back at the castle, he could tell she was right. There was something he could feel drawing him to it, like a gentle tug of an invisible string beckoning him into the danger. It reminded him of the hum of the Book of Beasts the way it allured him. "There are other ways in, aren't there?" Remus nodded. Even if he only knew of one extra way in that would be safe for them, it'd have been worth it. The only tricky part was making sure they were avoiding all of the chaos, which from where they were standing, did not look to be a promisingly easy task.
.
No longer hand in hand, the pair of them traversed the grounds along the border of the forest with their wands drawn. The sounds of crumbling and bombardment coming from the castle were inescapable, as they could hear, see, and feel the castle tearing apart from whatever battle was waging within its walls. The more intense the blow, the more anxious Remus became, as he started leaving Thalia to catch up with his quickened pace more and more often.
They reached the edge of the forest looking towards the Whomping Willow, and Remus knew they were getting closer. He'd walked the path back to the castle so many times with Madam Pomfrey, so leading the two of them with a marker now made him more eager. Only, there was something different with the tree. It was still moving with it's animalistic swaying, but it seemed different somehow. It was larger and had much more girth than he remembered. Even the sounds it made had a deeper sort of cracking to it. Not wanting to tempt fate, the two kept their distance, making sure they were well out of the swinging branches' range before continuing on a slightly beaten path leading from it towards the castle, which now that he was paying attention, he'd also never noticed before.
Whatever was happening was affecting the Willow too, and he couldn't help but let his mind wander to the shack. He was sure with the protective enchantments; it would have been the safest place to go after he got his friends. They could all hide there and wait it all out. That what the Shack was built for anyway, waiting out the danger until someone came to get him and tell him everything was fine.
.
Thankfully, the portion of the castle leading to the Hospital Wing that they were walking towards remained relatively untouched. There were still loud noises that he could hear coming from inside, but they seemed more muffled. Maybe no one had discovered it yet. He immediately thought of Madam Pomfrey again, only now he could only picture her trying to barricade whatever onslaught was coming towards her next. Good strategy would have been to go for the Healer first, but Remus just hoped the attackers didn't have that in their plans. He shook his head to push the thought away. What was important was that the familiar wooden door looked as inviting as ever even though it was shut.
Just as he was about to walk forwards and reach for the handle of the door, there was a loud bang and a bright flash and he could hear Thalia scream as a large man he'd never seen before dressed in dark clothing stood at the doorway, pointing his wand directly into Remus' face. With his heart pounding and hearing for the worst, Remus shut his eyes so tight that he could see spots… but nothing happened, at least not right away. He expected a spell to be cast to hurt him, incapacitate him, even kill him, but there was nothing. His presence wasn't even addressed. When Remus finally opened his eyes, he could see the man's wand remained pointed directly at his face, but his gaze wasn't fixed on Remus, or even on Thalia who he would have had to notice from her screaming. But instead he stared beyond them, making a disappointed gruffing noise as a shrill-voiced woman beckoned him to follow her.
"It's just another dead end. Come, the corridor keeps going this way." Remus could hear her say. Still frozen in place, he watched as the man finally lowered his wand and turned on his heel, rushing after her as if he didn't even noticed Remus at all. Originally the first question that came to him was who these people were and why were they here, but it was quickly replaced in realising that for some reason Remus and Thalia were rendered completely undetectable.
Remus felt faint and realised that he'd been holding his breath. His brain was whirring frantically to try and process and explain what'd just happened, and he turned his head over his shoulder to look at Thalia, who he could see was standing with her hands over her mouth and wide-eyes clearly in shock as they both realised at the same time why they'd made it so far without being attacked.
Perhaps the Hollow granted them power after all.
