[The Man With Two Faces, Chapter Twelve reference pg. 288-309]
It was Mor'du.
"YE!" gasped Merida.
Mor'du smiled. "Ah was wonderin' if anyain wood come tae try an' gonnae-no me,"
"But Ah thooght - Bunny-"
"Aster?" Mor'du laughed, cold and sharp. "He diz seem loch th' type, doesn't he? sae useful tae hae heem hoppin' aroond loch an overgroon rodent."
"But Bunny tried tae kill Jack!"
"Nae, nae, nae. Ah tried tae kill Jack. Yer mukker Miss. Conera accidentally bumped intae me as she rushed tae sit fire tae Aster at 'at Guidditch match. She broke mah yak contact. Anither few seconds an' I'd hae got heem aff 'at broom. I'd hae dain it afair if Aster hadn't bin mutterin' a coontercurse, tryin' tae sae heem."
"Bunny was trying to save Jack?"
"Wa dae ye hink he wanted tae referee yer next match? He was tryin' tae make sure Ah didn't os it again. Funay really….he needn't hae bothered. Ah cooldn't dae a hin' wi' Lunar watchin'. Aw th' other teachers ben Aster was tryin' tae keep Gryffindur frae winning….what a waste ay time."
He paused.
"Yoo and yer friends ur tay noisy tae live. Scurryin' aroond th' skale oan halloween loch 'at, fur aw Ah kent yoo'd seen me comin' tae see whit was guardin' th' Stone."
"Yoo let 'he troll in?"
"I hae a special gift wi' trolls-yoo main hae seen whit Ah did tae th' a body in th' chamber back thaur? Unfortunately, while a' fowk else was runnin' aroond lookin' fur it, Aster went straecht tae th' third fluir tae heed me aff - an' nae only did mah troll fail tae beat ye tae death, 'at dragon didn't e'en managed tae bit his leg aff properly!"
"Noo, bide quietly. Ah need tae examine thes interestin' mirrur."
That was when Merida realized what was standing behind Mor'du. It was the mirror Jack and Hiccup had found during winter break.
"Th' mirrur is th' key tae findin' th' Stone," Mor'du muttered, tapping his way around the frame. "Trust Lunar an' Toothiana tae come up wi' somethin' loch this…"
All Merida could think of doing was to keep Mor'du talking and stop him from concentrating on the mirror.
"Jack saw ye an' Bunny in th' forest - " she blurted out.
"Yes," said Mor'du idly, walking around the mirror to look at the back. "He was oan tae me by 'at time, tryin' tae fin' it hoo far I'd gotten. Tried tae frighten me - as thocht he cood, when Ah hae th' Fearlings oan mah side,"
He paused again.
"Ah see th' staine, I'm presentin' it tae mah masters, but whaur is it?"
Merida didn't know what a 'Fearling' was, and dhe didn't particularly care at that moment. She had to keep Mor'du form giving his full attention to the mirror.
"But Hiccup heard ye a few days ago, sobbin' - we thooght Bunny was threatenin' yoo…."
For the first time, a spasm of fear flitted across Mor'du's face. "Sometimes Ah fin' it hard tae follaw mah masters' instructions - they ur great an' Ah am nae."
"Ye mean they waur in th' classroom wi' ye?" Merida gasped.
"They ur wi' me wherever Ah go," said Mor'du quietly, "I mit them when Ah traveled aroond th' warld. A foolish cheil Ah was 'en, foo ay ridiculous ideas of good and evil. They showed me hoo wrang Ah was. Thaur is nae guid an' evil, thaur is only power, asn those fa ur tay weak tae seek it…Since 'en, Ah hae served them, althoogh Ah hae lit them doon mony times. They hae tae be hard oan me."
Mor'du cursed.
"Ah don't understand…is th' Stone inside th' mirrur? Shood Ah break it?"
Merida's mind was racing.
What I want more than anything else in the world is to find the Stone before Mor'du. So if I look into the mirror, according to Jack, I should see myself finding it - which means I'll see where it's hidden! But how can I look without Mor'du realizing what I'm up to?
She tried to edge to the left, to get in front of the glass without Mor'du noticing, but he was too big and blocked the whole thing from Merida's view.
"Whit diz thes mirrur dae? Hoo diz it wark? Help me, Masters!"
And to Merida's horror, a swirl of voices answered, coming from the shadows all around them.
"Use the girl….Use the girl…."
Mor'du turned round.
"Yes - come haur lass."
Merida backed up.
"Come haur," Mor'du repeated, "Look intae th' mirrur an' teel me whit ye see."
Merida walked toward him in fear.
I must lie, she thought desperately, I must look and like about what I see, that's all.
Mor'du moved close behind her. Merida breathed in, closed her eyes, and stepped in front of the mirror, and opened them again. She saw herself smiling. She put her hand into the pocket in her skirt and pulled out a stone as red as her hair. She winked and put the stone back into her pocket - and as it did so, Merida felt something heavy drop into her real pocket. Somehow - she'd gotten the stone.
"Weel?" Mor'du said impatiently, "Whit dae ye see?"
Merida paused.
"Ah see myself shakin' hans wi' Lunar," she said, "Ah - I've won th' hoose cup fur Gryffindur."
Mor'du cursed again.
"Gie it ay th' way!" he said, pushing Merida out of the mirror's view.
"She lies….She lies…." the eerie voices whispered again.
Mor'du turned.
"Come back haur! teel th' truth! whit did ye see?"
Merida ran.
"Come back haur!" Mor'du shouts turned into roar. It was as though Devil's snare had rooted her to the spot. Merida couldn't move a muscle. Petrified she watched as he turned into a bear, and muttered to herself, "Strength of ten men, fate be changed,", recalling the story her father told her of the animagus who once lived in the forest surrounding her home.
The one who stole his leg.
Merida reached behind her and grabbed and arrow in a desperate attempt to defend herself. Bunny might not have been a match for her arrows, but a full grown bear was another story.
Mor'du didn't even flinch when it hit him. By now Merida had stumbled backwards halfway to the door; she shot another arrow. Once again, the effect was that of a fly trying to hit a lion. As Merida ran Mor'du knocked over one of the ceiling high towers scattered around the room while the terrible voices rang out, "SEIZE HER! SEIZE HER! SEIZE HER!" over and over again. She had barely made it out of the way when it fell, and then used the rubble to climb nearer toward the door.
The flames were long gone by now, giving Merida a clear path to the other side. She had just made it out when Mor'du came crashing through the wall. She managed to shoot two more arrows at the bear, now with shards of stone and wood sticking out of his back, before stumbling over the still unconscious troll, bow falling out of her arms. It was as though he could feel no pain.
With Merida now on her back defenseless the voices changed their chanting, "KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER!"
With a paw on either side of her head Mor'du opened his gigantic mouth, to roar or bite her head off Merida did not know, because that's when the door to the chess room opened.
Something gold was glinting above her.
Merida blinked, it was a pair of glasses.
She blinked again, the face of Professor Lunar came into view.
"Good afternoon, Merida," he said.
Merida stared at him, then she remembered, "Sir! Th' Stone! It was Mor'du! He's got th' Stone!"
"Calm yourself dear, you are a little behind it seems." Lunar said, "Mor'du does not have the Stone,"
"'En who diz?"
"Please relax, or Maudie will have me thrown out."
Merida swallowed and looked around her. She was in a bed with white linen sheets, and next to her was a table piled high with what looked like half the candy shop.
"Tokens from your friends and admirers," explain Lunar, "What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Mor'du is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows."
"Hoo lang hae Ah bin haur?"
"Three days. Mr. Haddock, Miss. Conera, and Mr. Pyry will be most relieved you have come around, they have been extremely worried."
"Bu' sir, th' Stone-"
"I see you are not to be distracted. Very well, the Stone. Professor Mor'du did not manage to take it from you. Professor North and I arrived in time to prevent that, although you were doing very well on your own, I must say. As for the Stone, it has been destroyed."
"Destroyed? But-"
"You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all - the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them."
Merida lay there, lost for words.
"Sir?" said Meida, "Whit waur those things 'at helped Mor'du?"
"Fearlings," responded Lunar, "But those shadowy beings are not for you to worry about."
"But wa did they want th' Stone? Wa did they want me an' my friends deid? Ur they still out thaur?"
"Yes, I presume they are. They left Mor'du to die; they do not have mercy for their followers as they do enemies. As to why they wanted the Stone, I do not know. But they thrive off fear, that must be the reason they wanted you and your friends dead."
Lunar now became very interested in a bird outside on the windowsill, which gave Merida time to process all the information just given to her.
"Sir? Thaur's one more thing…."
"Just one?"
"Hoo did Ah gie th' staine it ay th' mirrur?"
"Ah, now, I'm glad you asked me that. It was one of Toothiana's more brilliant ideas, and between you and me, that's saying something. You see, only one who wanted to find the Stone - find it, but not use it - would be able to get it, otherwise they'd just see themselves making gold or drinking the Elixir of Life. She surprises me sometimes for one so young…."
"Jist fife minutes!"
"Absolutey nae!"
"Yoo lit Professur Luanr in..."
"Quite different. Ye need rest."
"I am restin', swatch, lyin' doon an' everythin'."
"Oh huir alright, but fife minutes only!"
And she let Jack, Rapunzel, and Hiccup in.
"Merida!"
Rapunzel looked ready to fling her arms around her, but Merida was glad she restrained herself as her head was still very sore.
"Oh, Merida, we were so worried - "
"The whole school's been talking about it!" said Jack, "What really happened?"
It was one of those rare occasions when the true story is even more strange than the wild rumors. Merida told them everything: Mor'du, the mirror, the Stone, and the Fearlings.
"So, the Stone's gone?" Hiccup said flatly, "Flamel's just going to die?"
"Ah guess," said Merida, "Sae whit happened tae ye thee?"
"Well I managed to catch up with Jack and get Rapunzel out alight," said Hiccup, "It was a lot harder to get past the dragon without Rapunzel's singing the second time - that took a while - when we got out we ran into North and Lunar - " Jack cut him off.
"They just said 'You went after him, didn't you?' and ran down to get you.'"
"Oh and you won't believe what happened during the end of year feast last night-"
At that moment, Maudie bustled over.
"Yoo've hud nearly fiftenn minutes, noe OUT!"
Merida had almost forgotten that the exams results were still to come with all the excitement generated by the stone. Both Jack and herself had passed with good marks; Rapunzel, of course had the best grades in the class, with Fishlegs, Hiccup and Astrid not far behind. Even Wee scraped through. They had hoped that Tuffnut, who was almost as stupid as he was mean, might be thrown out, but he somehow managed to pass.
And suddenly, their wardrobes were empty, their trunks were packed, Pascal was found lurking in a windowsill; notes were handed out to all students, warning them not to use magic over the holidays; Gobber was there to take them down to the fleet of boats that sailed across the lake; they were boarding the Hogwarts Express; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; pulling off their wizard robes and putting on jackets and coats; pulling onto platform ine and three-quarters at Kings' Cross Station.
It took quite a while for all of them to get off the platform. A wizened old guard was up by the ticket barrier, letting them go through the gate in twos and threes as not to attract attention by bursting of of a solid wall at once and alarming the Muggles.
"You guys need to come and stay this summer," said Hiccup, "All of you - I'll send an owl."
"Thanks," said Jack, "I'll need something to look forward to,"
I've also finished the first chapter of Rapunzel's spin off. Look for it on my page, or search for it. It's called, "To Diagon Ally!"
