Chapter Twenty-four
In which Remus has a meaningful conversation with evil
Remus felt his mouth go dry as he counted them, keeping his wand raised defensively. He knew that if they attacked, he would be dead in mere moments. The numbers were phenomenally against him. But they weren't moving. The demons weren't making a sound either. They were simply watching him. And he could not begin to fathom why. It was in the nature of these creatures to attack, to kill, and to devour.
He stepped forward and waited for them to react. They remained still. Remus shivered slightly as he continued to walk forward. He wasn't sure how many he could take out before they began attacking, even if he had the first shot. Not enough, he felt. They could move very swiftly. The monsters had proved that more than once, thinking of Ginny and feeling a sudden flash of anger.
Remus wanted to pit himself against them for a moment, but remembering Ginny, he knew that he had to make it past them no matter what it took. He couldn't let his anger overwhelm the more important things, like his feelings for her. And she was depending on him. She was waiting for him.
At the end of the corridor a larger demon, more impressive than those who lined the corridor, appeared, blocking the route to the prefects' bath. Remus froze in his tracks. The demon spread its black, leathery wings and eyed him with a cool, but unnerving gaze, snarling rather menacingly.
"You are a Dark Creature. You are the werewolf." it stated in a guttural voice that made Remus's knees weaken at the very sound.
For a moment he wondered where it had learned English. Then he remembered Grindelwald, who probably spoke that language and many others. Perhaps he had conversed with the hoard. Remus almost shuddered at the thought.
"I am." answered Remus, holding his wand before him.
"They have imprisoned you with us?"
Remus realized his danger. This was obviously a more powerful demon. The others would probably heed his commands. And attack if he instructed them to do so.
"In a manner of speaking." he replied.
The demon bared its teeth as it said, "But you are human too. You have a way out of this place."
"Perhaps."
"We are trapped here forever and can wreak no more havoc in the world of men, but your hands are not so tied. You will go for us."
"Go for you?"
"You are a werewolf, and you have the ability to return and kill and destroy where we have been denied."
Remus knew what the demon was saying. They were not attacking him because they saw him as a kindred being, another creature of darkness. To them he was just another capable killer, evil, dangerous, and no different from them. The thought made him incredibly sad, for when he was younger, he had wondered if such things were true, if a person who was a werewolf was not really a human being, but a Dark Creature who took human form twenty-five days a month, showing its true nature only when the moon was full. Often he had been filled with shame at the thought.
But as he stood there in the demon filled corridor, he remembered Ginny's eyes and her fearlessness.
"Then may I pass? The moon wanes again after this next night. I have not long to spare." Remus told the demon who barred his path.
"Yes! You may go, werewolf, and when you kill and devour tonight, do so and remember us, your kindred in chains."
"I will remember you." said Remus as the demon stepped aside for him.
He struggled to keep his steps even and unhurried as he walked past the monster. As he left the corridor, Remus glanced over his shoulder to see that the demons had gone, vanished down one of the side corridors, he presumed. Remus quickened his paces up the stairs leading to the prefects' bath. It would be many years before he forgot what had transpired in the hallway at the bottom of the North Tower. And it would trouble him.
Several floors below the corridor where Remus had conversed with a captain of demons, Hermione Granger peered out of the trophy room fireplace and listened. It was quiet that she could hear her own heart beating. Stepping from the hearth, she drew her wand and made her way from the room and into the corridor. It was lined with suits of armor and torches flicker upon the wall. Perhaps it was darker that the hall in the world she knew, but it was familiar enough. The location of the secret passageway had been described for her, and, of course, she had noticed it before on Harry's Marauder's Map.
She stole through the hall carefully, counting her way to the appropriate location before slipping between the proper displays of armor.
"Lumos!" she whispered, risking a light to see by.
No one had mentioned how to open the entrance to the hidden passage. She ran one hand over the wall. There was nothing strange nor out of the ordinary about it. It was a wall like so many others in Hogwarts. But she knew that it held a secret. Again she ran her hand along the stones, wondering how she should go about opening it. If Mister Filch used it, she reasoned, then it could be opened without magic or a wand.
Above the sound of her heart drumming loudly in her ears, Hermione heard another sound, the sinister resonance of many flapping wings coming from the stairs at the end of the corridor.
"Nox!" she whispered, dousing the light.
Hermione held her breath as she began lightly tapping the stones, hoping that she could trigger the door before the monsters reached her. She was certain that they were aware of her presence and were coming for her. The sound grew closer and closer. There were so many of them. Hermione could practically feel their heavy feet as they tramped upon the stone. Any moment and they would be upon her. They would find her between the suits of armor and ...
Then the wall opened soundlessly before her and she slipped inside, closing the aperture behind her. She gasped for breath, not realizing that she had been holding her breath in her panic. The sound of wings and feet and hissing breath slowly grew quiet. They had passed. And she remained unnoticed.
Hermione lit her wand again and started down the tunnel. It was cold enough inside that she thought she could see her breath. The passage had been sealed for some time. She waved her wand slowly to the left and right, looking for the room where the mirror was hanging. She almost stepped past it in the near darkness.
She held up her light and braced for possibly attack, but none came as she stepped cautiously into the room. Something white upon the floor of the secluded reading room caught her eye. Her stomach tightened, and she gasped a loud. Bones. A human skeleton lay upon the floor near the table and benches. She stepped around it.
"Grindelwald?" she wondered silently.
Upon the table there were dusty books, a piece of faded parchment, and a quill. Curiosity got the better of her, and Hermione bent over it to examine it. The words scrawled upon the parchment were difficult to make out, written in a large, indelicate hand.
"Another will finish what I have started. There will always be another! Always! Evil does not die! It wanes only to wax stronger. Evil was not imprisoned here. Merely monsters. Merely a man. Always stronger. Until the end of time."
The last words penned by the Dark Wizard Grindelwald before he starved and died in that little room, unable to leave it because of the demons outside and unable to use the mirror without his wand.
Hermione shivered and approached the mirror on the far wall. She took a deep breath and spoke the incantation. Then she was drawn home through its silvery surface.
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A/N: Sometimes I can't access all of the reviews before I post, so if I haven't responded in some way to a review. It is because it won't appear on the review menu screen thingy. I try not to ignore anyone.
Lexia: I think this chapter answered your questions. I wanted to torture Grindelwald (because I imagine him as just scary, scary evil and I'm sadistic) and this was the best I could do. Maybe something about him will be in one of the other books. It would be kind of interesting. Thanks for reviewing!
plastic: *blinks* Okay then. Interesting. Thank you for the review!
vicsend: I'm glad that you didn't mind the cliffhanger too much. I only do that when there is a really good place to do it. Thanks for the review!
yawn: I will try to update earlier in the future, but my schedule is a little weird. Thank you for reviewing!
hermia: Thank you very much for reviewing!
Janet: As far as I can tell most of your questions were answered within chapter. Thank you for reviewing!
Witchy-grrl: You and I must be on the same wavelength or something. Weird. Your review was very insighful. Thanks!
BLV: Sorry it took so long for me to reply to your email. Thank you very much for the review!
janmmci: Here you go. More. Thanks for reviewing!
Lily of the Shadow: Will Albus and Minerva ever get together? I don't know ... Thank you for reviewing!
Whitney: I am pleased that you enjoyed the end of the chapter. Thanks for the review!
In which Remus has a meaningful conversation with evil
Remus felt his mouth go dry as he counted them, keeping his wand raised defensively. He knew that if they attacked, he would be dead in mere moments. The numbers were phenomenally against him. But they weren't moving. The demons weren't making a sound either. They were simply watching him. And he could not begin to fathom why. It was in the nature of these creatures to attack, to kill, and to devour.
He stepped forward and waited for them to react. They remained still. Remus shivered slightly as he continued to walk forward. He wasn't sure how many he could take out before they began attacking, even if he had the first shot. Not enough, he felt. They could move very swiftly. The monsters had proved that more than once, thinking of Ginny and feeling a sudden flash of anger.
Remus wanted to pit himself against them for a moment, but remembering Ginny, he knew that he had to make it past them no matter what it took. He couldn't let his anger overwhelm the more important things, like his feelings for her. And she was depending on him. She was waiting for him.
At the end of the corridor a larger demon, more impressive than those who lined the corridor, appeared, blocking the route to the prefects' bath. Remus froze in his tracks. The demon spread its black, leathery wings and eyed him with a cool, but unnerving gaze, snarling rather menacingly.
"You are a Dark Creature. You are the werewolf." it stated in a guttural voice that made Remus's knees weaken at the very sound.
For a moment he wondered where it had learned English. Then he remembered Grindelwald, who probably spoke that language and many others. Perhaps he had conversed with the hoard. Remus almost shuddered at the thought.
"I am." answered Remus, holding his wand before him.
"They have imprisoned you with us?"
Remus realized his danger. This was obviously a more powerful demon. The others would probably heed his commands. And attack if he instructed them to do so.
"In a manner of speaking." he replied.
The demon bared its teeth as it said, "But you are human too. You have a way out of this place."
"Perhaps."
"We are trapped here forever and can wreak no more havoc in the world of men, but your hands are not so tied. You will go for us."
"Go for you?"
"You are a werewolf, and you have the ability to return and kill and destroy where we have been denied."
Remus knew what the demon was saying. They were not attacking him because they saw him as a kindred being, another creature of darkness. To them he was just another capable killer, evil, dangerous, and no different from them. The thought made him incredibly sad, for when he was younger, he had wondered if such things were true, if a person who was a werewolf was not really a human being, but a Dark Creature who took human form twenty-five days a month, showing its true nature only when the moon was full. Often he had been filled with shame at the thought.
But as he stood there in the demon filled corridor, he remembered Ginny's eyes and her fearlessness.
"Then may I pass? The moon wanes again after this next night. I have not long to spare." Remus told the demon who barred his path.
"Yes! You may go, werewolf, and when you kill and devour tonight, do so and remember us, your kindred in chains."
"I will remember you." said Remus as the demon stepped aside for him.
He struggled to keep his steps even and unhurried as he walked past the monster. As he left the corridor, Remus glanced over his shoulder to see that the demons had gone, vanished down one of the side corridors, he presumed. Remus quickened his paces up the stairs leading to the prefects' bath. It would be many years before he forgot what had transpired in the hallway at the bottom of the North Tower. And it would trouble him.
Several floors below the corridor where Remus had conversed with a captain of demons, Hermione Granger peered out of the trophy room fireplace and listened. It was quiet that she could hear her own heart beating. Stepping from the hearth, she drew her wand and made her way from the room and into the corridor. It was lined with suits of armor and torches flicker upon the wall. Perhaps it was darker that the hall in the world she knew, but it was familiar enough. The location of the secret passageway had been described for her, and, of course, she had noticed it before on Harry's Marauder's Map.
She stole through the hall carefully, counting her way to the appropriate location before slipping between the proper displays of armor.
"Lumos!" she whispered, risking a light to see by.
No one had mentioned how to open the entrance to the hidden passage. She ran one hand over the wall. There was nothing strange nor out of the ordinary about it. It was a wall like so many others in Hogwarts. But she knew that it held a secret. Again she ran her hand along the stones, wondering how she should go about opening it. If Mister Filch used it, she reasoned, then it could be opened without magic or a wand.
Above the sound of her heart drumming loudly in her ears, Hermione heard another sound, the sinister resonance of many flapping wings coming from the stairs at the end of the corridor.
"Nox!" she whispered, dousing the light.
Hermione held her breath as she began lightly tapping the stones, hoping that she could trigger the door before the monsters reached her. She was certain that they were aware of her presence and were coming for her. The sound grew closer and closer. There were so many of them. Hermione could practically feel their heavy feet as they tramped upon the stone. Any moment and they would be upon her. They would find her between the suits of armor and ...
Then the wall opened soundlessly before her and she slipped inside, closing the aperture behind her. She gasped for breath, not realizing that she had been holding her breath in her panic. The sound of wings and feet and hissing breath slowly grew quiet. They had passed. And she remained unnoticed.
Hermione lit her wand again and started down the tunnel. It was cold enough inside that she thought she could see her breath. The passage had been sealed for some time. She waved her wand slowly to the left and right, looking for the room where the mirror was hanging. She almost stepped past it in the near darkness.
She held up her light and braced for possibly attack, but none came as she stepped cautiously into the room. Something white upon the floor of the secluded reading room caught her eye. Her stomach tightened, and she gasped a loud. Bones. A human skeleton lay upon the floor near the table and benches. She stepped around it.
"Grindelwald?" she wondered silently.
Upon the table there were dusty books, a piece of faded parchment, and a quill. Curiosity got the better of her, and Hermione bent over it to examine it. The words scrawled upon the parchment were difficult to make out, written in a large, indelicate hand.
"Another will finish what I have started. There will always be another! Always! Evil does not die! It wanes only to wax stronger. Evil was not imprisoned here. Merely monsters. Merely a man. Always stronger. Until the end of time."
The last words penned by the Dark Wizard Grindelwald before he starved and died in that little room, unable to leave it because of the demons outside and unable to use the mirror without his wand.
Hermione shivered and approached the mirror on the far wall. She took a deep breath and spoke the incantation. Then she was drawn home through its silvery surface.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: Sometimes I can't access all of the reviews before I post, so if I haven't responded in some way to a review. It is because it won't appear on the review menu screen thingy. I try not to ignore anyone.
Lexia: I think this chapter answered your questions. I wanted to torture Grindelwald (because I imagine him as just scary, scary evil and I'm sadistic) and this was the best I could do. Maybe something about him will be in one of the other books. It would be kind of interesting. Thanks for reviewing!
plastic: *blinks* Okay then. Interesting. Thank you for the review!
vicsend: I'm glad that you didn't mind the cliffhanger too much. I only do that when there is a really good place to do it. Thanks for the review!
yawn: I will try to update earlier in the future, but my schedule is a little weird. Thank you for reviewing!
hermia: Thank you very much for reviewing!
Janet: As far as I can tell most of your questions were answered within chapter. Thank you for reviewing!
Witchy-grrl: You and I must be on the same wavelength or something. Weird. Your review was very insighful. Thanks!
BLV: Sorry it took so long for me to reply to your email. Thank you very much for the review!
janmmci: Here you go. More. Thanks for reviewing!
Lily of the Shadow: Will Albus and Minerva ever get together? I don't know ... Thank you for reviewing!
Whitney: I am pleased that you enjoyed the end of the chapter. Thanks for the review!