Chapter 55: Into the Woods

They woke up early, before anyone else stirred in the village and walked across the valley to the edge of the woods.

"You can feel it," Dumbledore asked.
Calamity nodded. Calamity didn't need to feel her wand to know it was warming in her pocket. She could feel the air almost vibrating with dark magic. She began reaching for her wand, but Dumbledore held up his hand. She looked at him questioningly.
"He was young but brilliant man," Dumbledore said, staring into the woods. "But youth can make us sloppy, especially when we are feeling most accomplished."
They fell into silence, Calamity with her hand still part way into her pocket & Dumbledore still watching the same place, the air vibrating. Finally he spoke.

"You have read many books, have you not?"
"I've read a good number," Calamity replied. She touched her wand, turning it in her fingers. It's hot handle almost a comfort that she wasn't crazy for being on alert, even if Dumbledore felt it was time for a chat.
"What would you say is your favorite book?"
"I'm not sure."
"The Tales of Beedle the Bard is my favorite. My mother use to read it to my siblings & I before bed & later I read it to my sister. Sometimes the books we read in our youth are most influential."
"Perhaps it helped lead you to becoming a teacher," Calamity suggested.
Dumbledore smiled, "Yes, it certainly fueled my curiosity at a young age. What fueled yours?"
"It's a difficult question, I like a lot of books."
"As all should," Dumbledore agreed. "Have you read Secrets of the Darkest Art?"
Calamity glanced at Dumbledore quickly, who was now leaning forward ever so slightly on his toes, peering into the woods as if he could see something beyond the trees.
"No, I can't say I have. Is it of relevance now?"
"Terrible book," Dumbledore replied nonchalantly. "Your father mentioned he sent it to you after he was imprisoned."

Calamity looked away, pretending to watch a nearby squirrel run across the forest. She expected it to reach the magical boundary before pausing & turning around, fleeing back to safer trees. To her surprise, it didn't. Instead it sniffed around on the ground, paused, then ran straight forward.

It disappeared in an instant.

"The squirrel," Calamity gasped.

They moved towards the spot the animal had disappeared. Here the magic felt somehow different.

"A crack," Dumbledore agreed. He motioned for Calamity to step back. Once she obliged he began to walk quickly back and forth muttering. Every so often he'd flick his wand, look at the spot the squirrel had vanished, then continue in his ritual. The sun was well into the sky now, but still he paced without nay further instruction for Calamity.

Calamity was just wondering if she ought to have brought snacks when a crack was heard in the silent woods, like an iceberg losing a large piece of itself to the ocean below. Dumbledore stopped his pacing and waved her closer. There in the middle of the very realistic forest scene was a large crack, slowly growing larger and larger by the second. It began to branch off like a lightning bolt, jutting up and out across the scene until, with a slight prod from Dumbledore, the scene shattered entirely to the ground.

It was a few seconds before Calamity's eyes discerned the building half-hidden among the tangle of trunks, some much more misshapen than the cracked scene before. The trees growing nearby were so tall that they blocked all light and the view of the valley below. The walls of the shack were mossy and so many tiles had fallen off the roof that the rafters were visible in places. Nettles grew all around it, their tips reaching the windows, which were tiny and thick with grime. As they approached the shack looked more and more dilapidated and Calamity found that in some places it was so covered with weeds & bushes that it was more forest than house.

"We're on the right track. Tom hid something here," Dumbledore said. With a sweep of his arm he cleared away the bush blocking the door. "Your wand was able to open the door in the Albanian cottage, was it not?" Dumbledore said thoughtfully.

"It was."
"With a simple Alohomora?"
"Yes," Calamity pulled out her wand and stepped forward, but Dumbledore held up his hand to stop her.
"We'll need something stronger than a simple unlocking charm here," Dumbledore said, giving her a significant look.

Calamity narrowed her eyes in focus, doing her best to access any anger she might have: Dumbledore banishing Sirius to Azkaban, Remus thinking his friend was guilty, the death of Lily & James, nearly anything to do with her father. She imagined herself taking that anger and rolling it together in her stomach until it was a tight ball, a rage that might consume you if you weren't carefully. Her wand cooled in her hand as she raise it, drawing one foot back behind her to widen her stance. She took the ball of anger and rolled it so small that it might explode.

"Aperi Hanc!"

A maroon light shot out of her wand with such speed that it blew the door off its hinge, smashing it against the back wall where it wobbled before falling to the floor, a cloud of dust erupting from the floor.

"A bit enthusiastic," Dumbledore observed. "But neatly done. Your father would be pleased that you at least skimmed his gift, even if it wasn't age appropriate at the time."

From his pocket he pulled out two shrunk objects which he placed on the dusty table before tapping them to expand. One was a probity probe which looked like a golden car antenna & the other was a silver sword with ruby jewels. He moved through the door, wand in one hand, probe in the other, and head tilted slightly as if listening for something in the silent hut.

Calamity followed, wand raised and ready.

Dumbledore moved across the shack, moving the probe over doors & windows, an old fireplace, and along the floorboards. Finally he stopped, put the probe back in his pocket. He dropped to his knees and ran his hand along the floor, pushing dust away. Then, with surprising strength Calamity had not anticipated, he pulled the boards away to reveal a golden box.

Calamity watched in silence as Dumbledore pulled the box from the floor.

"Whatever is going to happen when we open this box it is essential that we destroy this trophy," Dumbledore said. "Is that clear?"
"It's clear," Calamity agreed. Her wand was getting warmer in her hand and the air was starting to vibrate again, a movement that only helped to increase Calamity's anxiety.
"What we are about to see is likely one of the darkest of artifacts. It will do everything it can to save itself. We must not be swayed. Do you have your wand?"
"Yes."
Dumbledore pocketed his own wand. "Hand me the sword," he said.

She obliged, watching as he positioned himself holding the sword with both hands, ready to strike the box in the middle.

"Open the box," Dumbledore said.

Calamity obliged, "Aperi Hanc!"

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