Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Harry Potter.
Chapter 12
Darkness is an odd thing. This mystical material is able to pass through solid material with ease, coat entire surfaces, and eat away thought like acid. It can quickly infect, harshly penetrate, and voraciously suffocate.
Ariana could have sworn she was experiencing all of it at once.
With her right hand clasping tightly onto her wand, she fidgeted in unease, biting her lip in nervousness as the cool darkness clung to her pale skin like wet paper.
"Albus, why is the Chamber so dark… is this your doing?" she whispered into the blackness, her voice so quiet that if it were a mere decibel lower, it would of been rendered inaudible to human ears.
Albus, thankfully, was something more than a human with his decades of exposure to magic and perked up in response to her voice in the engulfing void.
With a flick of his wrist, four glass orbs flew out of his robes and levitated in the air, each one pulsating with white glowing light as they reached their zenith, each one magical in nature as they started circling around in a perfect orbit above them that even the celestial bodies would surely envy.
"It is safe to communicate now," Albus cheerfully informed as his face came into view, his demeanour a jarring juxtaposition against the frightening sight the light sources were illuminating. The image of large grey statues of snakes and corridors indicating that they were in the dead centre of the Chamber of Secrets.
"To your initial question, the answer is yes. It is because I have made sure every exit of every kind has been sealed," he continued as he held his wand up in a battle stance and tensed his muscles, the shadows dancing and flickering around him.
Ariana's palms clenched tighter as blood roared in her ears, the adrenaline coursing through her system shutting down her ability to think logically.
"Professor… w-why are we just standing in the open like this?" she faintly stuttered, her heart pounding as she begun to imagine shapes of all sorts appearing on the cracked and greying bricks in the creeping shadows.
Albus did not take his electrifying blue eyes off the impenetrable darkness for one second as they roved the cavern in search for their deadly opponent.
"Reach out with your hand," he laconically answered, too busy focusing intensely on something unknown to Ariana.
She tentatively stretched her left hand out to the air in front of her, only to stop short as her clammy hand brushed something invisible and extremely solid.
Her old self would have been shocked and confused by such bizarre magic, but in this form and in this world, she only felt a gnawing spark of curiously as she felt this new magic guide her finger, tracing the outline of the invisible runes that hung in the air like wisps of the past.
"As long as I am infusing my magic into the walls that surrounds us, the basilisk cannot break through," Albus informed as he glanced at Ariana briefly, noticing proudly that the young girl had fully traced out the complex rune in the air with her finger.
Ariana's eyes suddenly widened as turned her face back towards Albus, remembering crucial information that he just told her a while back.
"T-The basilisk still has one functioning eye, it can easily see us," she spluttered as she jerked her wand up into a fighting position, her heart rate accelerating at a tremendous speed as the silver band around her left wrist begun burning her skin for the first time since she was down here.
"Ariana, keep your focus," Albus barked, small beads of sweat forming on his brow as he channelled more magic into strengthening the transparent walls.
"This unique fusion of spell and ritual only allows the people inside to see out of the wall, whereas anyone outside of it will only see an opaque silver wall," he continued in a milder voice, noting with slight relief that the panicked girl had somewhat calming down after his explanation.
Albus immediately felt a small tugging on his magic to his left and he knew that this was the only opportunity to give Ariana the key information she needed before the creature arrived.
"Listen closely; since I have no time to undo the anti-apparition wards, we only have one shot at this," he hurriedly spoke, "We will need to take our opponent out at the exact same time when I drop the walls."
"The basilisk's eyesight is highly sensitive, so I need you to temporarily blind it when I give the order... is that clear?" he commanded, more sweat appearing on his forehead as he faced towards the direction of the magical strain on his invisible barrier from the approaching basilisk.
Before Ariana could respond, a belligerent hiss filled the air from a darkened corner of the cave, cutting off her train of thought and sending shivers up her spine from the unnaturalness.
"I can smell you, abomination."
The cogs and wheels in Ariana's mind started whirring as she knew it was her unspoken job to lure the beast to their position. She steadied her breath and sibilantly replied in the same tongue.
"You would call the most powerful wizard in the world an abomination? Even for a basilisk you-…"
"I was talking about you, most unclean one," the basilisk interrupted in a hiss of anger, the faint outline its body thrashing and writhing in rage and pain in the darkness, causing small amounts of debris to rain from ceiling around them from the action.
Ariana wearily pressed her left hand against her forehead and rubbed her eyes, thinking back to the many times when beasts and objects of substantial power had been so infuriatingly cryptic about her.
Bloody fate. I bet this has something to do with that.
Her eyes hardened as she knew time was of the essence in this precarious position they were in. She raised her wand at the ready for the inevitable as anticipation tingled through her body like electrical sparks.
"Deformed worm, how is your sight with only one eye?" she goaded as her mocking laughter filled the foul air, "After we leave here, we will destroy your master befo-,"
She never got to finish her sentence as a blood-curdling mix between a scream and hiss resonated throughout the cave. The basilisk lunged toward the barrier out from the darkness, launching itself forward in a crazed frenzy, causing her to jump in shock as its open mouth smashed against the invisible walls with a sickening crunch.
Albus let out a grunt as he poured as much magic as he could into the only thing separating them from the creature, the unseen walls withholding both the physical aspect of the attack as well as the magical aspect from the continuous gaze the basilisk held.
The unhinged basilisk reeled back in absolute agony as several chipped fangs scattered to the floor from its bloody mouth, causing small puddles of viscid venom to pool on the ground. As it reared up and was prepared to madly charge at them again, Albus knew it was the perfect moment.
"Ariana, NOW!" Dumbledore roared as he felt strength returning his body, the Elder Wand energizing him and flooding him with an overabundance of magic.
Closing her eyes and remembering the lessons that Albus had once taught her, she waited until she could no longer feel the presence of the magically conjured walls and then thrust her arm upwards in the direction of the basilisk, with her eyes still fastened shut.
"LUMOS MAXIMA!" She fiercely cried, pouring as much power as she could into the spell.
A pained hiss filled the air as the giant serpent jerked its hideous head back from the sudden burst of light that lit up the entire chamber up in a brilliant flare of magic.
Albus was already chanting in Latin as this event was happening, his murmured breath growing increasingly laboured as the tip of his wand glowed brighter with each subsequent word.
When the last word was finally uttered in the evocation, the entire chamber instantly vibrated with so much power that it caused Ariana to drop to her knees and gasp in pleasure as she was overwhelmed with wave after wave of intoxicating magic.
A ghostly golden phoenix that closely resembled a Patronus burst out from the Elder Wand and flew high into the air and begun circling around the cavern, giving out mournful trills that made Ariana tremble in fear and wonder at the same time.
As it passed over the basilisk, it glanced at Albus for a brief second before it angled downwards and dive-bombed straight into the monstrous face of the massive snake. With a high pitched hiss, the basilisk fell to the floor in agony as the wraithlike phoenix rammed itself through its eyes and begun destroying it from the inside.
After what seemed like a lifetime to Ariana, the sound of claws scraping, monsters baying, sinew tearing, and gurgling whimpers gradually diminished and came to an end, the only thing left to be heard in the chamber was laboured breathing. She was still kneeling down on the floor with her eyes closed on the same spot, completely trusting Albus with her life.
"It… is… safe to open your eyes," a winded voice behind her panted.
Slowly peering out from under her eyelids, she was instantly greeted with the full sight of the beast's face, with its forked tongue hanging out and its vacant eyes still smouldering.
Yelping in surprise, she scrambled up and backpedaled as fast as she could, tripping over her feet only to land into the steady and prepared arms of Albus.
"Steady now, steady now my dear… it is over," he soothed, as he supported her back.
As Ariana slowly turned around and looked back up at him with wide green eyes, he smiled proudly and put a warm hand on top of her head.
"I knew you wouldn't fail."
Ariana slowly blinked, her brain still not fully registering was what happening at the moment as she continued to stare blankly at Albus.
Then, like the golden rays of the sun finally peeking out from behind a grey cloud, she broke into the most radiant smile. The deep curve on her lips making the world stop around Albus for brief moment as a million memories thundered past his eyes in a split second.
Without warning or any kind of indication, he suddenly picked her up by the waist and spun her around in the air in joy. Surprised at the unexpected action, Ariana couldn't help but laugh in happiness at this action, emotions soaring as she was flew through the air.
To an observer, the twirling duo alongside the slain beast would have beheld a most curious sight.
A long-forgotten feeling that she had experienced only once before grew and blossomed in her chest like a blazing wildfire. Her chest tightened as she realized it was similar to when she had first met her parents after she died.
This precious feeling… this feeling of being wanted…
…she didn't want it to stop.
Ariana's heart was still light as a feather long after they had cleared up the mess and had healed up their minor scrapes and burns. Noticing that Albus was on the verge of finishing the extraction of the fangs from dead serpent, she skipped over to him, her feet unconsciously creating little hops that caused strands of jet black hair to frame her face with each bounce.
She pushed stray hair out of her face when she drew closer, grinning with amusement as she watched her dear companion whistle a carelessly happy tune as he was prying off the dangerous venom-filled fangs, stuffing them into a magically expanded leather bag with an almost carefree attitude.
Oh Albus, you really are something else.
She waited patiently with her hands clasped her back for him to finish, and as soon as the last fang was safely procured and stowed away, she fired off a bottled question with haste.
"Albus, what spell did you use to defeat the basilisk?" she breathlessly asked.
Albus tucked the small brown bag securely in his robes before getting up to address her, casually brushing off loose soil and dirt from his majestic purple robes with the back of his hands as he stood up.
"It is… a variant of the Patronus spell, which I am sure you are familiar with," he evasively replied, his eyes shifting to the side as he stowed his Elder Wand away in his robes and begun walking back to the entrance of the chamber in an attempt to end the conversation.
Ariana immediately ran in front of him, blocking his way as her outstretched arms, "Albus, please… I need to know what spell was that," she begged, her beseeching eyes causing him to falter for a second.
Albus raised an eyebrow in curiously at the intensity of the plea.
"My dear, why do you need to know that badly?"
Ariana's eyes immediately looked at everywhere but Albus as her cheeks reddened slightly, her feet shuffling together as she hesitated before replying.
"The spell just now it… i-it made me feel… good," she finally stammered out, her face flushing crimson with embarrassment.
Albus' eyes widened for a fraction before giving an equally embarrassed cough. He adjusted his glasses with his right hand before lecturing the red-faced girl, shrugging off the awkwardness with a straight face.
"You've heard of magic users being seduced by dark spells, have you not?" Albus began as he shifted back into his pedagogic roots, "Those which are completely attuned to the dark can feel physical… effects when powerful dark spells are cast by them or others in their vicinity."
"Although it is significantly harder for people to be attuned to the light, when it happens, it has the same effect as being on the other extreme end of the spectrum," he elucidated.
"In your case, it is most decidedly obvious that you are strongly attuned to the light... quite a rare feat to achieve by someone so young," Albus concluded as he peered at her from the top of his glasses in approval.
"Though not at all surprising, since Fawkes is quite smitten with you," he also pointed out, gently patting a spot on his robe near his hip where the said phoenix chick lay safe within.
Ariana bit her lip in thought as her embarrassment and awkwardness disappeared, giving way to growing curiosity as the flow of questions only increased and never ended in her newfound pursuit of knowledge.
"I wonder then… how common is it for a wizard or witch to be attuned strongly to both light and dark?" she pondered out loud, speaking to both herself and Albus.
Albus gave a start and looked at her, "Good heavens, a most interesting question indeed," he replied with a small amount surprise. He then shook his head in a negative.
"Is it only possible to be attuned to one side or the other… I have never come across a case otherwise."
Ariana's brow furrowed as she recalled the times where she trained in secret with dark spells in the Room of Requirements. If her memories served right, she could have sworn something felt funny tingling when she was experimenting with more powerful and darker spells.
Was I imagining it? I wonder if…
Albus waited patiently as the precocious young girl in front of him hummed and hawed with eyes glazed over as she ignored everything around her, blissfully lost in her own world.
Albus' soft voice broke her out of her churning whirlpool of thoughts.
"Ariana, ready to go?"
Ariana gave a gigantic yawn and nodded sleepily in return as her eyes began to drift shut, every muscle in her body aching from magical stresses. Albus put a gentle hand on her teetering shoulder and began steering her out from the now uninhabited chamber as he too felt the fatigues of battle set in.
So glad was he that he managed to divert Ariana's attention away from her initial question that he had failed to look upwards, his eyes blind towards events that will undoubtedly shape the coming future.
A dark and gaping hole laid silently scarred into the ceiling, created by the magic used during the battle with the basilisk. Its genesis was not from Albus' vast wells of magic however, but from an innocuous spell that by all definitions should not have created that hole... a spell that had the ability to produce a short burst of light.
The next day progressed slowly as Ariana partook in her elementary-level classes, her countenance constantly in a complete façade as she strained to behave like a normal student… like a normal young girl – everything that she was not.
Her stress promptly lessened as she peeked into the hospital wing late into the evening after all classes had ended, desperate to catch up with Madam Pomfrey and unwind. Glancing about, she tip-toed in as quiet as a Kneazle as she soundlessly entered through the wooden doors into the dark room that was filled with empty beds.
Ariana spied the back of her favourite mediwitch at the far end of the room, hunched over and scribbling noisily with a quill on a piece of parchment as numerous other medical reports lay ready and next to a single candle that gave her light.
She stifled a giggle and crept closer, inching her way closer she prepared to pounce onto the busily working woman. Just as she was closing in for the attack, a motherly voice suddenly filled the air.
"Hello my dear, not injured this time I hope?"
Reminded about the fact that the entrance of the hospital wing was charmed to detect who entered or exited, Ariana laughed gaily and ran into the arms of Poppy when she turned around in her chair, both of them feeling a sense of connection they couldn't shake off.
Poppy's look then sobered slightly after she detached from the hug to study the beaming young girl in front of her.
"Is it almost that time of the month already?"
Don't get embarrassed. Don't get embarrassed. Don't get-…
Too late as Ariana's pretty face flushed red as she nodded in response. Even after spending a few weeks as a girl, it was still difficult to mentally and physically transition after being a boy for the past seventeen years.
This is my body now; don't be uncomfortable with it you idiot. Ariana internally thought to herself as she closed her eyes and forcefully pressed both her palms against the sides of her head in exasperation, as if to force the thoughts out of the flesh and into the soul.
Poppy waited patiently for the expressive young girl to calm down and lower her hands, thoroughly used to her mercurial, albeit adorable, idiosyncrasies.
"Professor Slughorn has just invented new way to combat your monthly… aliment," she quietly disclosed, getting straight to the point as she waved her wand in the air, causing a wall of white charmed curtains to close in around them to ensure patient confidentiality stayed intact.
Ariana sucked in her sharp breath as her eyes lit up from the new information.
"That's fantastic," she murmured to herself delight.
"I already owe him so much from his help from before," she continued in an undertone, subconsciously tracing the scars on her body with her finger on the outside of her robe.
Poppy's face grew icy and her eyes blazed for a split second before she managed to quash her emotions.
She put a warm and sympathetic hand on Ariana's shoulder and squeezed.
"Don't worry child, they are still trying their hardest to find out who was behind this," she reassured gently.
Every muscle in Ariana's body froze instantly as her eyes immediately locked onto Poppy's in an undecipherable stare.
"Who is… they?" Ariana asked in a calculating voice, her outward demeanour completely shifting into a relaxed stance while her brain was realizing something was amiss and was churning out theories and hypotheses at a frightening speed.
Surely Albus would have told me something about this.
Poppy frowned for a brief second at the weird change in behaviour her young charge exhibited before answering.
"I guess I should of you told earlier, but there was no need to bring the topic up again so soon," she began as stood up and began to fluff the soft pillows of the empty bed beside them, the opaque curtains still standing guard around them.
"Most of these spells found on you were entirely new to our existing spellbase. Naturally, this information did not remain hidden for long as certain… members in the Ministry took notice of this," Poppy divulged, shaking her head in disgust at the lack of medical ethics in the Wizarding world.
She did not notice the look of growing horror on Ariana's face as she continued, "I don't know specifics but I've heard rumours that the Department of Mysteries is particularly interested in some of the spells."
Ariana looked down to the floor numbly as she forgot that the mediwitch had help from St. Mungo's while she was convalescing on the first week she was here.
"Why… why will they be interested in just one or two new spells?" she weakly asked in desperation as she looked up at Poppy, "Isn't spell creation popular nowadays?"
Poppy looked away and stared out the window as her mind raced through her memories of the sleepless nights she had trying to remove the countless curses and jinxes that the world had not seen the like of before.
"Ariana," she quietly replied, her voice resembling the sound of a muted bell that was chiming far away into the distance.
"It was not just one or two spells."
The air hung silent and thick between them, with each witch trying to rein in their emotions. Through the stillness, a small whimper and the soft sound of burning skin made Poppy realize all she was doing at the moment was terrifying the poor girl.
She immediately knelt down in front of trembling adolescent and enveloped her in a warm hug, rubbing small circles on her back as she whispered apologies for bringing back up the topic of her recent past, mistakenly thinking that was the cause of her distress.
In truth, Ariana was utterly terrified of Ministry intervention, knowing the extensive political and fiscal influence it possessed, and the cruel willingness it wielded. The nepotic and mutualistic nature of the internal hierarchy in the Ministry meant only that connectedness and favours were of any power there.
I have been a plaything of the Ministry ever since I stepped into the Wizarding world.
Spell and words alone can't help me with this fight… this I have learned.
The mist on Ariana's eyes lessened as she remembered that she not alone in the fight, this battle… this war.
Albus… Albus can fix this.
Her body eventually stopped quivering and her breath grew steady as she calmed down, banishing all gloomy thoughts from her mind. Cursing her lack of control over her unstable emotions, she drifted off into a reverie as she readily leaned into Poppy's shoulder, relishing in the warmness of the hug.
Realizing after a moment that Ariana had finally calmed down, Poppy pried herself off the clinging girl, and intent on completing Professor Slughorn's new ritual before the night grew too late.
Poppy blew out a breath of mock-exasperation, as the face that greeted her was one bearing a glowing and tender smile. The volatility of the budding witch was truly giving her a hard time to keep up with.
After performing a wandless healing spell on the growing first-year, she gently tucked her into the bed and took out her wand from her holster near her thigh in preparation for the ritual Horace had recently invented.
After making sure Ariana was comfortably snug under the white sheets against the soft pillows, she raised her wand and began to draw the first beginnings of intricate runes in the air, the first outlines in the shape of in a golden droplet.
Realizing what Poppy was doing, Ariana's eyes widened in surprise and she frantically waved her arms in the air to stop her.
"Madam Pomfrey," she spluttered in confusion as her arms still flailed about, "What are you doing?"
Poppy raised an eyebrow in curiousness at the sudden outburst and lowered her wand, deciding to humour her patient as the magical threads that were being drawn in the air vanished from the interruption.
"This is the new ritual that Professor Slughorn has recently invented," she answered, fondness creeping into her voice.
"He stumbled across a magical journal written around 30 years ago, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure, and derived a low-powered stunning spell that can slip past magical barriers in a confined space," she continued in impressed voice, clearly in full respect of the man.
"B-But isn't he the Potion Master?" Ariana stammered, still very confused about the matter.
"My dear," Poppy replied after giving a small chuckle, "Did you really that brainbox was only a Potions Master?"
"That man could easily run for Minister of Magic for all his knowledge and influence if he wanted to," she continued wistfully as she looked out the window at the moonlit sky, the glimmering stars shimmering and arranging themselves as if foretelling a prophecy.
"Alas, he has not a single ounce of ambition in him," Poppy sighed in resignation as she looked back down.
"Imagine the things he could do… if he were actually interested in saving this damn Wizarding World," she grumbled under her breath in annoyance, thinking she was out of hearing range of Ariana.
Ariana's eyes widened as she a faint memory in her previous life swam to the surface of her mind.
Albus looked tired, and his attire showed it too. The blackened bandage on his hand pulsated under the soft candlelight as his once majestic robes now looked lifeless and worn. He beckoned Harry to his side as he stood by his Pensieve.
"Harry, listen closely," Albus began solemnly, his sky blue eyes strained and sallow skin taut.
"Professor Slughorn is a man with knowledge that can even rival mine. He knows everything from making Felix Felicis, liquid luck, with his eyes closed – to the darkest magic ever known, like the creation of Horcruxes," he quietly informed.
He let out a weary sigh, giving Harry the impression of a tired old man in desperate need of one final rest.
Albus' eyes shone brightly through the dimness of his office as he looked down into the ever changing shapes in the Pensive, murmuring to himself.
"It's a pity Horace… you would have made a most formidable ally."
A cleared throat broke Ariana out of her mind with a start as she realized she had been staring into space while perusing her memories, completely ignoring the patiently waiting mediwitch in the process.
Giving a sheepish smile in an apology, she lay back down onto the soft white pillows as cool crisp air stroked her face, curious to see the process and outcome of this avant-garde magic.
I definitely need to try to get Slughorn on my side. She thought to herself as she let out a small yawn, the bed cradling her and giving her comfort she didn't know she needed. One by one, her worries slipped out of her mind as confident wand-waving drew complex shapes that breathed life to fire and rain in the air.
Her eyelids grew heavier as melodic chanting echoed around the Hospital Wing, the full moon that illuminated and bathed the chanting mediwitch almost made her take on an ethereal image.
The last thing she heard before she drifted into the distant land of dreams was a faint sound drifting through the open window that would almost certainly terrify most wizards and witches. This particular sound, somehow, brought her a sense of comfort, safety and warmness.
It was the gut-wrenching sound that resembled a pained wolf, howling forlornly into the starlit night.
A/N: Lots of new developments, stay tuned!
P.S. Thanks for the constructive reviews!
