Chapter 71: He Gets It Now

Percy hadn't experienced the Obscurus' swimming in Credence's mind for nearly a month. He could guess what it had been like though. As a being – an animal, a vacuum, a shadow – he remembered devouring any shred of provocation that was thrown his way. Oh, the Christmas break hadn't been easy for him either; lying in bed, unable to forget, but unable to vent on anyone either. Why bother? No one would understand. He remembered a loneliness so consuming, it was deeper than anything he could have felt on his own, even from the time after his father had died. What had he done to deserve this? That would be about when his thoughts would turn back to Credence. He hadn't done anything to deserve this either. It was time to make someone pay.

They had chosen the room next to History of Magic because it was empty. Finn had gotten locked in there one night for two hours near the beginning of the prank war. That phase seemed so long ago, but it had only been a couple of months. The room had been unoccupied for so long that even the desks and chairs had been removed, leaving wide open space. Just the thing; no evidence to throw around.

Credence had worried after reading Percy's letter that his friend would go back to being scared of him, now that he knew what the Obscurus was really like. But once Percy understood what needed to be done, he didn't speak up against it.

"'Course I'm gonna help yous," he responded. "Finn did stuff to both of us. I was just sayin' that… you sure you can keep everything from goin' kerblewy?"

"I think so," Credence said after a long pause. His thoughts weren't usually focused on the 'control' part of the plan. Just give in to the Obscurus. Wasn't that the sort of thing the Hodges always warned against? But they hadn't experienced what he had – or what Percy had for that matter. The stage was already set. It was too late to back out now even if he wanted to. And he didn't want to.

The monster beat and pulsed against its bars. He just had to wait a little while longer. Ten minutes. Five minutes. The two boys looked around to make sure nobody was watching – like anyone ever watched them anyways – and scurried out of the dining hall to the room where they would meet up.

Finn was right on schedule. He came alone, as promised, bringing only the same cocky expression that he always wore around them. "So what's the plan? Are you going to give me a scar too?" He looked at Percy: "Watch out, Boyd, or Credence might go all Obscurial on us."

"I wouldn't joke about that if I was you," Percy answered. "Callopentus." The door shuddered a little, but didn't lock.

"Colloportus," Credence cast correctly. A metallic slab thumped into place inside the wooden doorframe. Percy went to the window to make sure no one was watching from the outside.

Finn expression had turned a little uneasy, but he quickly masked it, "You know Alohomora exists, right? And I'm serious, if you did anything really to me, you'd be expelled to Antarctica."

Percy stood in front of the door. His arms were braced at his sides, wand in hand, "You weren't."

Finn's eyes swiveled around as the stones beneath their feet began to tremble. He looked up to see the boy in front of him shaking like the rocks, an intense and bone-chilling expression on his face. The candles attached to sconces on the walls went out; one, two, three, four. Finn stepped back from the smoking outline of Credence Barebone. The Obscurial held his arms out as they evaporated into black matter.

Finn drew his wand, pushing boldness into his face and grip, "I'm not afraid of you."

Credence's eyes had gone white. The transformation was creeping in on his body. "You should be."

Bones crumbled. All of a sudden, there was nothing but a giant-sized mass with red glowing from its core. "Woah!" Percy and Finn both cried, then Finn was forced to dive out of the way as the Obscurus flew at him.

"Flipendo!" the boy shouted, but he might as well have tossed a penny at an angry bulldog. The Obscurus didn't even flinch. It made another pass at him, a roar coming from deep within it. Percy almost supposed he could hear Credence's voice screaming along with it. He shuddered. A piece of wall crumbled as Finn dodged just in time. "I think I get it!" he called to the beast, then ducked as it careened above his head. "You're dangerous. I understand!"

But Finn might as well have been talking to an animal, something that acted on instinct and emotion. This thing might be smarter and stronger, but for all the notice it took of Finn's words it could have been just a howling wind; the perfect destructive force. Finn's face was red with exertion and his brown hair was stuck to his head with sweat. Even Percy was panting with a wild look in his eye from the couple of times he'd had to dodge the oncoming cyclone, "Credence, I think he gets it now! Watch out or the whole castle will come down on us!"

"Ok, I admit it!" the tiny-looking opponent stared out at the Obscurus, which was revving up once again. "You are a great warrior. I take back what I said!"

The Obscurus charged, straight as an arrow, from the opposite side of the room. It spun forward, larger and larger.

"I didn't cast the Revelio Charm on you!" Finn shouted.

The breaks squealed. Anticipation tumbled into sudden silence.

Finn opened his eyes to see blackness receding not a foot from his forehead. Percy stood stalk still. For once, he was speechless. The fabric folded into its original shape of a human boy. Credence was staring, thunderstruck, at the glistening, panting, terrified form of Finnley Finnington. "You didn't?"

"No," the Wampus tried to regain some control of himself. "It was Kir Karab."

A/N: It's the Obscurus battle we've all been waiting for! I want to talk for a minute about this plot twist at the end here because there's kind of a cool story behind it. In my outlining and in my drafting of this book, I always planned on it being Finn who cast the Revelio Charm. It was that way right up to the sentences before the Obscurus exploded out at the party. In fact, in the original draft, there was foreshadowing to it as I had Credence notice Finn standing separated from everyone else and holding his wand. Some of those elements even made it into this version. Then, right there at the last second, I thought, what if it wasn't Finn? And things just fell into place from there. The argument with Dibon and Kir, the meeting scene (chapter titled 'This is War'), it all just worked out so perfectly for it to have been Kir and I wasn't even aware of it! Let's just say it was one of those magical writer moments. What do you think? Please review!