(I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good. –doesn't update for weeks-
MISCHIEF MANAGED!)
"Merlin's crocheted pants! That quill is lovely!" Lily said giddily like a girl in love as she peered into the window shop, the bright coloured quills dancing lightly in their displays as if they were alive.
"Yeah, righ'…" Merida mumbled, shoving her hands into her pockets with a huff as Lily dragged her along by the arm.
Jack glanced to Hiccup as they followed behind the girls almost drowsily.
"…how long is this going to take?" he mumbled, twirling his staff by his side as he looked about to the other students frolicking about in Hogsmeade, enjoying the weekend as much as they can.
"…I've been friends with Rapunzel and Merida since first year, believe me, it'll take a while,"
"Girls take a long while when there are shops, don't they?"
"No exceptions." Hiccup nodded, "You should've been there when Merida was looking for trekking shoes…"
The sky loomed bright blue overhead, mottled with silvery wisps of clouds as the sung hung somewhere unseen, the shadows in the village softened and blurred as they do on overcast days.
"…puffskeins! Please, I want one, please!"
"…what the bloody hell is a puffskein?"
A book rattled in a cage in of the shop windows, snapping its teeth at the passing students.
"Oh, look a Monster Book of Monsters," Jack smirked, "You like to meddle with stuff that can eat your face, Hic, is that your favourite read?"
"I'd take that as a friendly banter," Hiccup punched him lightly on the shoulder as Merida let out a groan of dismay as Lily tugged her into a robes shop.
"Come on, the green one absolutely looks gorgeous on you, believe me!"
"Help me!" Merida mouthed towards the boys as her trail of red hair disappeared behind the door.
Jack chuckled and followed behind, Hiccup tugging at his cap as they entered, a bell jingling overhead. The store was similar to Madame Malkin's Dress Shop in Diagon Alley where most students get their robes tailored. Rolls of fabric lined on of the walls whilst shelves upon shelves of folded ones covered the rest.
"This is quite a sight…" Jack chuckled as he looked about, blue eyes full of wonder at the many flying cut-outs of bright coloured cloth in the air. The place was a busy workshop dancing with activity.
Bright swaths of color flew about, textiles folding and unfolding themselves to the whim of the shopkeepers catering to the customers. Robes of all, shapes, sizes and hues hung on racks, being perused by chattering schoolgirls and a few bunches of boys here and there who didn't exactly know what to do to get new undershirts.
"There they are," Hiccup tapped Jack's shoulder, snapping him back into focus.
Lily and Merida were somewhere in the middle of the store beside a table laden with assorted clothing.
"See? Aren't these lovely?" Lily giggled as she pulled a pair of elegant black gloves from the pile.
"I dunno. Ah a'ready 'ave too many clothes as it is…" Merida said, shaking her head a bit as Lily continued to go through the pile, "Lil, I'd love to help yeh find a new pair o' gloves but we ra'elly need ter—"
"Look!"
Before she knew it, Lily had pulled out a length of flowing dark green fabric and wrapped it around Merida's neck.
Dumbfounded, she raised a brow and glanced down on it, "It's a…"
"A magnificent scarf!" a shopkeeper praised from behind clothes rack, clapping her hands together, "And it truly suits your hair, my dear!"
"But—"
"You need to get it, it's wonderful!" Lily beamed brightly. Merida was about to yank the thing off of her when Lily grabbed hold of her shoulders and spun her around to make her face a mirror. Merida's eyes widened.
The scarf was her favorite shade of green…like moss in the forest or the moors after rain. Like the ancient woodlands where she often found her freedom.
"It's…" she stammered, blinking in disbelief as a smiled crossed her lips.
"Wow," Hiccup's voice crossed the air as he traced his way around the many racks of robes, "That looks amazing, Merida…"
"Ah know," she breathed in delight, "Yeh think ah should—?"
"…nice choice of colors for the Championship, DunBroch."
None other than Scorpius Malfoy appeared beside the mirror, an amused smirk on his lips.
"Oh stop it," Lily snapped, crossing her arms, "We're going to win against Hufflepuff and we'll see you at the pitch."
Malfoy kept to his smile, casting a glance at the scarf with a smirk, "Looks good."
Hiccup rolled his eyes, "So non-Slytherins aren't allowed to wear green now?"
"Not particularly," he shrugged and moved away, brushing past Merida.
"…but it would be sight to see you wearing the color near the Championship."
Merida gritted her teeth, yanking the fabric off of her and tossing it back to the pile.
"I'm really sorry, Lily, but we jus' 'ave to get sum'where, arigh'?" she said in a blur, grabbing Hiccup's arm and stomped off towards the door irritatedly.
"Um…bye…" Lily said cautiously as Hiccup managed a feeble wave farewell as he was nearly dragged out.
"…hey, wait for me…" Jack said, stumbling out the maze of racks with a struggle, keeping his staff up, "Malfoy's laying it thick to make them lose their focus."
"Yeah, it's obvious. Well…I suppose you need to go, too?" Lily sighed.
"Er, yeah, there's just one thing…"
"I saw it! I saw it fly across the roofs!" Rapunzel explained agitatedly.
"Now, are you sure it wasn't just a bird or something?" Al tried to calm her down as he and a couple of seventh years listened to her in the common room, the sunlight raying through the windows, setting the red tapestries aglow.
"I know what a shadow looks like!"
"Alright, alright, just catch your breath, alright?" he said, patting her on the shoulder, "We'll get down on what really happened."
"Um, I…" she began in a stammer, "I was in the upstairs corridors when it jumped out of nowhere."
"Now, you're not hurt are you?"
"No! No—not at all." she shook her head, "I sent a Patronus out and it jumped out of the window…"
She took care to leave out certain details. Like her being in the boys' dormitory for one.
Or the duplicate Jack Frost running about the castle.
No, those secrets were just between the four of them.
"Is it the same one that attacked Hugo…?" the seventh year girl at Al's side clapped a hand over her mouth, "This is dangerous, we need to tell the Headmaster."
"Yes," Al nodded thoughtfully, "There could be more lurking about…"
"Right," Rapunzel agreed quickly. Those things lurked about in packs. No doubt where one lurked, others would follow behind.
"…go find the headmaster or any of the professors and report this," Al told his batch-mates. They quickly nodded and moved out of the common room, "…and stay alert!" he added.
"…I reckon there'll be attacks again…" one of them muttered worriedly as the portrait of the Fat Lady closed behind them.
Rapunzel's heart nearly skipped a beat.
"…y-you don't think…" she mumbled, "…that what happened to Lorcan and Hugo…?"
"No, no, we'll be alright," Al reassured her, patting her one the shoulder, "We know, this time. We'll be careful. For now, just keep your wand at the ready, hm?"
Rapunzel nodded at the prefect's instructions.
"…a Patronus can chase it off, even kill it," she mumbled under her breath, raising her green gaze to him, "Like a dementor."
"Oh, yes," Al nodded, seating himself on a sofa arm, arms crossed, "You found that out, too, didn't you? During that time in the Quidditch pitch?"
She nodded quietly.
"Smart call."
"It was a wild guess…" she said in a hush, mulling her thoughts over, "But why? It's not a dementor, is it?"
"No, obviously not…" Potter replied, "And even if it were a derivative of a dementor, it would be highly unlikely. Their numbers dwindled significantly after the Second Wizarding War. It'd be one in a thousand chance to see a dementor these days…"
"What are those shadows, Albus?" Rapunzel asked curiously.
Al's brows furrowed in thought, "I dunno…" he breathed, "…they move like spirits but being able to hurt people physically?"
A cold chill ran down Al's spine in memory of Hugo and Lorcan's injuries. Cuts and stabs riddled their bodies. If it weren't for magic healing, they'd have been dead by now.
"…are there any other creatures that can be hurt by a Patronus?" Rapunzel asked, fumbling with her fingers absentmindedly as Pascal skittered over her shoulder.
Potter didn't reply for a moment, digging deep into memory.
"It can't be a beast if it can be hurt by a spell of glad thoughts, can it?" she wondered, "There are no creatures normal or magical that can be affected by a Patronus…is there?"
It was then that Albus Severus Potter lifted his gaze from the floor and turned to her in silent realization.
"…there is one."
"Where is tha' lad?" Merida huffed, leaning back against the bench, looking up to Jack with a raised brow, "How are yeh even doin' tha?"
With a grin, he glanced down at Merida.
"Magic." He shrugged.
Jack had perched himself on top of his staff like a sparrow in winter, watching the goings on in Hogsmeade. Students kept to their businesses, most laden with bags of sweets from Honeyduke's or trying out new prank boxes from the Wizard Wheezes shop down the road.
They waited for Hiccup at the end of High Street, past Dervish and Banges, and out toward the edge of the village.
"Hey, can I ask yeh sumthin', Jackie?" Merida said as she shifted in her seat, bushy red hair falling about her face.
"Yeah?" he raised a brow, jumping down to the ground and sat down beside her, letting his staff drop across his lap.
"Remember tha' time when yeh told us how yeh got yer powers?"
"After you sneaked into my stuff? Of course."
Merida let out an uncomfortable chuckle, scrunching her niose, "Did yeh have to bring tha' up? Anyways…I just want ter ask yeh about how…"
Her voice trailed off hesitantly, not entirely sure if she should continue. She gave a sheepish smile and shrugged. Jack's curiosity was piqued, however, and he looked to her eagerly.
"Yeah?"
"…did yeh really die?"
Jack wasn't as surprised or taken aback as Merida supposed he would be. He lowered his azure gaze, a shadow of a smile on the corners of his lips.
"I don't really think of it that way." he said quietly, "I'm still Jack, no matter what happens."
Merida hunched over, resting her elbows on her knees, her mop of red hair tumbling forward, "You said the Man in the Moon brought yeh back."
"He did," Jack affirmed, smirking, "Why, you don't think he exists?"
"He's as real to me as Merlin an' Flamel," she snickered.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means I believe he's real," she said, scratching her cheek in thought, "…but only in the back o' mah head."
"That actually," Jack chuckled, "Scares me a bit."
"Hey guys!"
Merida bolted to her feet at the sight of Hiccup running towards them breathlessly.
"An' where have yeh been, Haddock?" she huffed.
Jack got to his feet as lightly as a cat would, letting his staff rest on his shoulders as he strode towards the fork in the road, "Come on, isn't your bud waiting?"
"I was just…" Hiccup began, catching his breath as he shifted his mail bag, "…I justg got something real quick."
"Well, let's move on, then, laddies!" Merida beamed.
"Alright, alright…" Hiccup waved them off and walked up to Jack, "You know the way, right?"
"Nah, you lead, Mr. Dragon Trainer," Jack said with a laugh, glancing up at the evergreen trees bordering the edge of Hogsmeade, "…you sure like the woods, don't you?"
"Trees provide cover," Hiccup mumbled, going down one path in the road, "They provide ready shelter not to mention the essentials…" he continued as they trudged along.
Merida had never been in this direction before. The winding lane was leading them out inot the wild countryside around Hogsmeade. The cottages were fewer here, and their gardens larger; they were walking toward the foot of the mountain in whose shadow Hogsmeade lay.
"I know all abou' the forests, thank you," Merida laughed as they trudged along the overgrown dirt-path paved with moss and a carpet of fallen leaves. The lichen covered boulders lining the path made an eerie presence against the labyrinthine trees, shadows lurking in the branches of trees even in broad daylight, dimming the whole place.
Almost as if a permanent cloak of dark cast itself against the woods.
"…is it just me or is this place a bit creepy?" Jack taunted, leaping up on a boulder and making his way along the top of the stones.
"It's a branch o' the Forbidden Forest, after all," Merida sniffed, glancing over her shoulder to see the pavement of the village disappear behind a clump of firs.
Hiccup led them farther up the path, the ground sloping upwards as they did. None of them spoke as if there was something in the air that needn't be shattered by needless talk. A silent whisper in the air that steadily grew chill. They pulled their hoods over their heads as the shattered sunlight in the foliage of trees overhead got blocked out.
Then they turned a corner and saw a stile at the end of that.
Hiccup suddenly halted and turned to them, "Follow me…"
Jack followed behind him, jumping off the boulders easily as Merida pulled out her wand and cast an illuminating charm. They walked across the scrubby patch of ground that rose to meet the rocky foot of the mountain. They all climbed over the stile and continued on.
Hiccup led them to the very base of the mountain, where the ground was covered with boulders and rocks. It was easier for him, giving his many trips there and for Jack who seemed to skip off the ground light as a feather (which baffled them both given his barefoot situation and the jagged rocks). However, for Merida, used as she was to climbing sheer rock faces, often found herself almost slipping on loose clumps of rocks underfoot.
They followed higher, up onto the mountain itself. For nearly half an hour (and many a merry talk now that the grim trees have cleared away) they climbed a steep, winding and stony path, following Hiccup's flapping brown cloak, sweating in the sudden sun, the shoulder straps of Hiccup's bag cutting into his shoulders.
Then, at last, Hiccup stopped and beckoned them to a narrow fissure in the rock. They squeezed themselves into it and found themselves in a cool, dimly-lit cave.
There lay sleeping in the corner, lay the Toothless. At the mere sound of their arrival, he lifted his head, green eyes wide and let out one of his glad whistly grumbles, frills perking up in excitement as she bolted to his feet, wings unfolding about him.
"TOOTHLESS!" Merida shrieked and rushed to him.
The Night Fury cooed, lifting a leg to balance himself as Merida tossed herself on him, hugging him by the neck, talking breathlessly.
"Looka'ye!Ye'vegro'ownbiggerthanwhenahlas'sawyeh!"
Hiccup smiled at the sight and set his bag down on the cold stone floor, rummaging through it.
"You hungry, bud?" he asked as he rummaged through it.
Toothless barely heard him, enjoying the attention Merida was paying him.
Jack cast a glance outside the cave before following them in, turning to Hiccup, "He's a pretty big dragon, you sure you got enough fish in your bag?" he said.
Hiccup didn't even glance up and kept a smirk to himself, "…you have no idea."
"Got any scratches, Toothy? Ah heard yeh got hurt in yer wings pretty bad…" Merida continued, checking Toothless. She took hold of the edge of one of his great wings and unfolded it lightly, seeing the healed over scars along the leathery surface, barely visible anymore.
"Yeh heal great," she grinned, impressed.
Toothless nudged at her fondly, purring in his manner.
"Though I sort'o' like mine fer keeps," she beamed, holding up her hands for him to see; nearly invisible white scratches on her hands, especially at her fingertips. She pulled down her left sleeve to reveal more clearer lines that once were deep gashes, pale pink against her pale freckled skin.
The Night Fury tilted his head inquiringly, green eyes curious.
"A bo'owstring can snap pretty nastily," she grinned gingerly, "Learned to wrap mah arm with leather after tha'-not dragon hide, don't worry," she added with a laugh, "An' ah keep mah arro'owheads real sharp…"
"That's unbelievable!"
Merida pulled her sleeve back up and turned to the boys, eyes widening when she saw what Hiccup was lugging along.
"Where in Merlin's pants did yeh get tha'!?" she gasped, rushing up to them with toothless just as excited behind her as he bolted forth.
"Oh, fish?" Hiccup raised a brow, grinning rather smugly as he tugged the huge basket of raw fish towards Toothless.
Jack blinked, looking to Merida with a shrug, "He pulled it out of nowhere."
Toothless quickly dug into the basket, the container falling to its side, spewing fish out on to the cave floor much to the dragon's delight, his frilled head gone inside the basket as he wolfed down his lunch.
"Where'd yeh get tha?" Merida repeated.
"My bag," Hiccup said, picking the ragged old mailbag off the floor.
"Yer jokin'," Merida crossed her arms skeptically.
"Hey, I saw it crystal clear," Jack said, twirling his staff along his fingers, "…he pulled it out like some sort of cartoon."
"I used a charm," Hiccup shrugged it off, "Forgot what it's called—Mrs. Weasley taught me how last summer. She had an old purse, got to stuffing things as big as paintings in there."
"Which Mrs. Weasley?" Jack said with a small smile as he strode to Toothless' other side, watching him eat with a fascination.
"Rose's mum," Hiccup mumbled as he looked for something in the depths of the bag.
Merida peered in to see blackness in, as if it were like a trapdoor stretching down, down a hundred feet below. She could see the edges of things, books and what looked like the corner of a whole trunk.
"…it's bigger on the inside," Merida said under her breath.
"It's very convenient, yes," Hiccup replied.
"That's brilliant." she smiled, "Got a Time-Turner, as well?"
"No, why?"
"Nothin'…just been spendin' too much time in Muggle Studies…" she beamed sheepishly, turning back to Toothless who had tossed up a large bass into the air and gulped it down, much to Jack's amusement.
"He seems happy," she sighed, running her hand through her ruby tresses.
"Here he can fly at night, hunt when chance allows," Hiccup shrugged, "Not completely free, but as happy as an owl in a cage."
"So, what's the plan now?" Jack said, standing by the cave entrance, leaning back against the wall, looking to them with all the seriousness in his bright blue eyes, "He's safe for now, but like before, something has to happen or you'll have to run off again—or get caught."
Hiccup tossed up a hand, "Well, as long as no one comes up with another clever idea to get us killed—or worse expelled."
"I thought you've tossed the thought of school out the window ages ago," Jack chuckled, the mirth back on his visage.
"It's one thing to drop out," Hiccup pointed out, "It's another to get booted out."
He got down on the floor and continued his rummaging through his enchanted bag as Toothless gobbled up the last bits of fish before plopping to the floor, folding his legs under him comfortably.
Merida sat down beside the dragon, patting him on the head as she leaned back on him.
"Stuffed yer gob good, didn' yeh?" she chuckled, "Finally got yer gut full?"
Toothless gave an affirmative rumble, pillowing his head with his front paws.
"Don' worry, laddie, we'll have yeh flyin' ter yer heart's content soon enough—righ' Hic?"
Merida looked up to him with that twinkle of optimism in her eyes.
"I…" Hiccup began, his resolve wavering inside him a bit. Toothless purred quietly, eyes widening.
"Of course we will!" Jack cut in, jabbing him on the shoulder.
"Righ'!" Merida smiled brightly, turning back to Toothless, "What'd you say I fly next ter yeh on mah broom when we get yeh free, eh?"
Toothless perked up excitedly, his tail swiping across the floor at the glad prospect. Jack smiled, tapping the crook of his staff against the cave wall, casting flowery frost on the dark surface, brightening the place a tad bit.
"Just keep up yer noble dragon spirit high and ye'll be outta 'ere in—ouch!"
Hiccup snapped up from his business at Merida's sudden yelp.
"What happened?" he asked.
"I felt a sting or sumthin'…" Merida mumbled, pulling something out of her pocket.
A galleon.
"What…?" Hiccup wondered, getting to his feet.
Merida turned the golden coin in her hand, "It's the fake one from the DA," she mumbled, turning to him, "But I don't understand, if Al wants ter call a meeting, he sets it on the coins days early. This one is—"
"Today." Jack finished as he looked down at his own coin, "…half an hour from now."
"…I've called them in," said Potter as Rapunzel set down a red textbook on the stand.
"Thank you again, Madame Goose," Al smiled to the librarian as she moved away from their table with a stack of books floating in the air after her.
"You're welcome dear—just make sure you hand it over in fifteen minutes." she smiled and disappeared down the lines of shelves of the library.
"The reservation list must be long," Rapunzel mumbled and sat down, opening the leather-bound volume in front of her, "All the fuss over a few books…"
She glanced over her shoulder to see two bedraggled third years chasing eachother about the reading tables, trying not to make a sound as they mouthed soundless screams at eachother, fighting over a copy of Hogwarts, A History.
"With exams coming up? No wonder," Al shrugged, "I'd have us use my copy but I lost it."
"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them…" she said, running her fingertips over the inked letters, marking the names of various magical creatures in alphabetical order, "It's a standard textbook, how'd you lose it?"
"…set on fire by a Blast-Ended Skrewt."
"A what?"
"A family friend meddles with dangerous beasts. Used to be the school game-keeper. Long story, really," he shrugged and sat down beside her, "Find L."
"Here," Rapunzel turned the L list on the table of contents.
"…Lethi…Lethi…" Al mumbled, scanning the list, "…Lethifold, there it is. Turn to page 394."
"Lethifold?" Rapunzel wondered as she flipped through the marbled pages, across texts portraying black-fairy like creatures and details pertaining to dragon scales and Ministry of Magic Classifications.
"What's this got to do with the shadows?" she asked.
"Well, I've been looking into what we know about them," the prefect explained, pocketing his DA galleon, "…it's the closest I found. I supposed it could help somehow."
"I think I've read this before…" Rapunzel said as she reached the page.
The Lethifold entry in the famed beast book (by the Scamander twins' great-grandfather, the famous magizoologist Newt Scamander) was more detailed than most, a whole essay put into it about a personal encounter of the creature.
"Well? Read it, go on, go on," Al said, "Remember reading through it for the first time. Couldn't sleep fitfully ages after that…"
"Alright," Rapunzel huffed, clearing her throat lightly as she began to read, "Lethifold. Ministry of Magic classification: five X's. Wow, that's remarkable…sounds like one of those things lurking at night Mother used to tell me about."
She scanned the rest of the entry before continuing.
"It's appearance resembles that of a black cloak roughly half an inch thick, although it gets thicker if the Lethifold has recently digested a victim—garish, huh? It glides along the ground and other surfaces in an unknown form of locomotion—well, the shadows dart about as if they can fly, that could be added in here somewhere—in search of its prey: humans."
Rapunzel glanced up from the book, green eyes wide as saucers and turned to Al stiffly. He held a knowing expression and nodded, dismissing the written fact as something he'd grown to accept though never really got to sweep under the rug (especially on dark stormy nights).
Gulping, Rapunzel continued, shaking off the quivering of her voice, "…it attacks its prey at night, when the target is asleep and suffocates and digests it in its bed."
Once more she stopped, rereading the line as if she had missed or misunderstood something, "But Albus—I don't understand. It attacks people asleep. Lorcan and Hugo were as awake as anyone could be. It can't be a Lethifold—can it?"
"Well, I said they were similar, not the same," Al shrugged, running his hand through his uncombed head of hair, "It could lead us to something, at least."
"Good point," Rapunzel said under her breath and read the rest of the paragraphs, her quick eyes perusing the words with the efficiency of someone cramming for an exam.
'It is impossible to determine the number of Lethifold victims, as they leave no clues to their presence,' the text read.
"…the only form of protection against a Lethifold is a Patronus, similarly to a Dementor. Other spells such as the Stunning Spell will not work. The Lethifold is a very rare species and can only be found in the tropics." Rapunzel finished with a disappointed sigh, "This is not our shadow, at all." She turned to Potter dejectedly, "I can't see this leading us to anything, sir."
She could see many complications despite the similarities. First, the obvious fact that they were absolutely not in the tropics. And second, the Lethifold more or less swallowed people whole…the shadows more than anything stabbed and simply wanted to get blood splashing, given the consistent attacks. But it seemed, as looks go, the castle was sprawling with 'Lethifolds'. Ghoulish cloaks made of darkness, shrieking like banshees announcing death.
Al let the tip of his wand drop to the bottom of the page, after the long-winded (and only recorded) personal encounter with a Lethifold by Flavius Belby, highlighting to her a small footnote.
'It is possible that the Lethifold could be a hybrid or a relative of the Dementor, for their similar descriptions, inhumane behaviors and vulnerability to the Patronus Charm. If that is true, then a Lethifold is a 'Non-being', an 'amortal' creature that has never been alive to begin with to die and cannot truly be killed.'
"I'm saying, it could be a variant of the Dementors and the Lethifold," Al said in a solemn hush, the library almost suddenly falling silent as he did. An ominous hollowness hung in the air, "…dark creatures that want nothing more or less than to feed off people's sanity—their joys and purpose. Until they break them, and finally consume whatever's left."
He looked to her in all seriousness and Rapunzel listened, still as stone, feeling the blood drain from her flesh as a shiver ran down her spine. Al seemed like one of those people to look up to—people who would eventually tell you a frightening tale to warn you of something—and though for the good would leave your mind unnerved.
"…for the Dementor, it's your soul. The Lethifold? Your very body." he said, "Alas, whatever these things are, they fall in the same ranks as the other two. Only these shadows, whatever they are, simply wants your agony."
"D-Do you know anything else about it?" Rapunzel stammered, rubbing the back of her neck uneasily.
Al turned back to the pages, brows furrowing, "Well, if my assumptions are right…the shadows are amoral, like the book says. They're not alive, they're not dead. They just exist for existence's sake."
"But how would they come to be?" she asked in her innate curiosity, "I mean, Dementors are real enough…"
"It means they were created," the prefect explained, slowly closing the heave volume, "There are only two kinds of beings in this world, Rapunzel. Ones that are meant to be there and one that are sort of made up by the latter."
Albus got up, lifting the book and beckoned her to follow him down the library as he continued his explanation, "…there are creatures in the world that are simply made but not natural. By wizard magic or muggle science—remnants of curses, spells or experiments. No one knows where dementors came from but we do know they are not supposed to be."
They walked down the aisles of towering bookshelves, Al tried to simplify his theories further, seeing the puzzled look on Rapunzel's face.
"My father said that dementors were once used as wardens in Azkaban, to keep the prisoners from escaping—sapping the very source of sanities. But they were unleashed, and no one can really keep them in line to begin with. So they became added threats to people during the Second Wizarding War," he said and slipped the book on the librarian's counter, "Happiness wasn't very abundant when people were dropping dead in the streets so Patronuses became weaker and weaker—and the dementors flourished in number."
Madame Goose nodded to them with a smile as she came up to the counter and retrieved the book, handing them over to the waiting group of second years. Rapunzel didn't say anything and simply followed the prefect as they headed out of the library and towards the Room of Requirement where everyone was called to meet.
"…they don't breed, they just multiply given all the desperation in the air back then." he said, looking to her with a small grimace, "Bad times, Rapunzel, bad times…but when the war ended, they sort of just declined. You could barely see one these days in the worst of times."
She nodded quickly, pocketing her hands and keeping her eyes to her bare feet, wishing she'd put on a pair of socks in the least. Her limbs felt cold with all of Al's tales.
"When we were terrified of the shadows, they popped out everywhere, wanting to nab every student in the corner," he said, voice becoming firm like he'd latched on to something, "When you found out about their weakness, they dropped out of sight."
"And now they're back," Rapunzel breathed, her thoughts flying back to Hiccup's return.
From their side of the coin, the shadows are after Toothless. If they are what al thinks they are…why go after someone specifically?
"They're amortal, goodness knows where they're from or how long they've been around." Al shuddered, "For all I know they could be the new dementors..."
Rapunzel suddenly halted, lost in realization. Al turned to her, "You okay?"
"Wait—amortal creatures are made, right?" she said, ignoring his inquiry, "Remnants of magic and the like?"
"Yeah?"
"…can they be an effect of a curse?"
Al took this into consideration before looking to her.
"For all we know."
Yes, for all they knew…
And for what Rapunzel believed, the shadows were like the lethifold and the dementor. They were the remainders of something—perhaps a curse long lost in memory and record that managed to flourish or remain given their basic necessities which were often dark.
For all they knew, some such curse could have been spun in the midst of the not-so distant past during Second Wizarding War. A curse that may have remained, seeped into the very air and materialized these beings. Reminders of something that may well be never remembered.
Jack came to Hogwarts looking for someone that was cursed—but who said that they were cursed in the basic sense of one wizard cursing another? It was more likely than anything that the old curse just latched on to Toothless!
That's why the shadows seemed to linger around Toothless, Hiccup, Jack, Merida and herself.
That's why they began to attack others completely ignorant about the dragon the four was hiding.
The shadows were beyond just the scenario of them hiding a Night Fury under everyone's noses.
The curse has spread over people in the school, the shadows attacking anyone at whim or when the wave of paranoia and fear provided strength.
"That's it!" Rapunzel gasped and grabbed Al's wrist, nearly dragging him towards the Room of Requirement, "Let's go, Potter!"
