Chapter Eighteen
"and I cannot escape to the mountain lest some evil take me and I die"
Genesis 19:19
During the times when Luna was staying with Draco at Malfoy Manor and he would be tied up with estate business for a few hours, Luna would go for long walks in the Malfoy woodlands. It was no longer any more dangerous than the Dark Forest (which it actually formed a part of) since the Aurors had gone thoroughly over the estate. The Dark Forest was not exactly safe even in broad daylight but you would have to be unlucky to stumble across trouble there during daylight hours.
Luna was not a nervous person and had a lot of faith in her ability to defend herself although Draco was not entirely sure why this would be the case. As she usually set off without telling him where she was going, he didn't really have much opportunity to express his reservations about this potentially dangerous pastime however.
Luna simply loved the stillness and quiet of the woods. She didn't have much opportunity to enjoy them living at the Embassy which was close to the Muggle city of London and right in the heart of the business centre of the wizarding world. She always knew where she was when in the woods because she used location spells and compass charms to locate herself against the Malfoy Manor.
One morning she decided to be more adventurous than usual and explore a new part of the forest. The Southern regions were denser and less sunlight got through the canopy but the green shadows, ancient trees and mossy streams leant energy to the girl fatigued from studying for her end of semester exams. She could feel the primal energy from the dawn of creation coming up through the earth and entering her bloodstream. In virgin woodlands, this ancient creative magic was undisturbed and hung heavily in the air. Luna could feel in enter her body with her breath and absorb into her skin. She knew the place was full of spirits that she couldn't see but they didn't bother her. They kept out of sight but she could feel them observing her.
After heading along new unexplored tracks for a couple of hours, Luna found herself approaching a place that made the fine hair on her arms stand on end. The light was very, very dim in the glade. At one end a sheer rocky cliff rose into the sky and a small waterfall descended into a shallow stream. The stream was bordered by massive up-rooted trees and boulders as big as she was tall covered in moss.
Luna frowned. She wanted to go forward and cross the stream to continue her walk but she couldn't make herself. It wasn't like her to freak out over mysterious places and this spot had all the appearances of a charming, magical, sylvan, mysterious glade. But there was something wrong - something desperately wrong. Suddenly Luna was dreadfully anxious to get away. She could almost smell the evil there. Whatever evil was there hated her and would hurt her if it could, she knew that as clearly as she knew her own name. Her heart pounding in her ears she back tracked the way she had come, almost stumbling in her urgency to get away. The feeling did not leave her for another 100m back along the track. When she could force herself to stop, she took careful note of her location using a tracking charm and headed back to the Manor.
That afternoon she took Draco back to the spot where she had placed the tracking charm. They flew in on their broomsticks to save time although it was difficult to land in such thick forest. "Why do you want to walk out here for?" Draco grumbled. "I bet there are leeches."
"Yes, there are. We can burn them off if we get bitten, don't be so squeamish," Luna said, her fine dark eyebrows drawn together in a frown.
"I think leeches are excellent cause for squeamishness," Draco muttered but underneath his whining, he was concerned about Luna. She hadn't said much when she came back from her walk but the look on her face worried him. He had never seen her look like that before. She looked as though she'd had a bad fright and Luna didn't scare easily. She had insisted on his coming out to that spot and had been so firm that he hadn't argued with her.
Carrying their brooms, she led him back to the glade with the waterfall and stream. She paused a few meters away and would not go any further. He frowned at her in concern and went a few steps on himself. He looked keenly at the place, his pale eyes narrowed. There was no sign of any disturbance. When he returned to Luna's side, he could see she had goose- bumps and was frozen immobile and her large, dark eyes were wide their vision turned inward.
"What do you think it is?" Draco asked her quietly.
"I don't know. It's almost like. like something really horrible happened here, something violent and malicious or maybe. I don't know - like this is an ancient place of worship for a very unpleasant deity now probably long forgotten. There is a feeling of. hatred and malice and violence and watchfulness. There is something of vengenence about it too," she said shaking her head, her face crumpled in distress. "I've got to go," she said suddenly and turned and left abruptly to head back down the track. Draco followed her thoughtfully. It would be easy enough just to get Aurors to check the place for Dark Magic but it sounded like Luna might be picking up on something more ancient.
Draco didn't much like the look of the glade either but he figured it could just be because it was very dark there and the stream could be dangerous to cross although it was really very shallow. Perhaps Luna was just being unusually hysterical although it definitely was not like her. Perhaps exam stress was getting to her, he thought with a mental shrug. He knew there were rare witches and wizards who were very sensitive to impressions left in certain places but if Luna had those particular gifts, this was the first sign he'd seen of them and it was yet to be confirmed that her impressions were right.
"I'm bringing Dumbledore back here," Luna said to him as they mounted their brooms to fly back to the Manor.
Draco nodded. "I'm sure he knows more than anybody else about the history of the Dark Forest," Draco agreed thoughtfully.
* * *
Luna owled Dumbledore when she got back to the Manor and he replied that evening saying he would come by the next morning. Fortunately, Luna did not have an exam that day so she would be able to take him back to the exact spot herself.
They apparated to the spot that Luna had tracked the previous day. Nervously she led the old wizard down the track to the glade, once again hanging back meters before actually reaching it. Dumbledore took a few steps on and his usually merry blue eyes were serious as he looked around. "I think, young Luna that it may be possible to learn about this glade by closing ones eyes," he suggested surprisingly.
Luna had no intention of closing her eyes. It was bad enough for her with her eyes open. She watched Dumbledore as he stood for a long time with his eyes closed, his face peaceful and calm but his posture held upright as though alert for something. Luna admitted to herself that she felt far, far safer with Dumbledore there.
"I have a suspicion that your theory may be correct," Dumbledore said finally, opening his eyes to look at the frightened looking girl. "I think this place is most likely haunted by something rather nasty. I have an old friend who is an expert in this area. If you can be brave again Luna, I'd like you to bring us both back here very soon."
Luna nodded. She hated this place but it worried at her like an aching tooth. She had to get it fixed.
* * *
Luna had exams over the next two days so it was arranged that Dumbledore and his friend would go back to the 'black spot' (as Luna called it) the day after her last exam.
Dumbledore's friend turned out to be the Senior Auror Archimedes who had been one of those interviewing Draco repeatedly for information on the Death Eaters over the past few months. Draco trusted the man implicitly but found him rather stern. Luna frankly thought he was handsome but so focused on the task at hand and so severe that it was hard to remember his good looks when working with him.
"He probably does it on purpose," Hermione commented when Luna mentioned Archimedes to her much later. "Imagine being that good looking but also brainy enough to be a Senior Auror that young. If he played on his good looks, no-one would take him seriously. He's probably so austere in order to force people to pay attention to what he's saying or doing rather than what he looks like. Otherwise he'd never accomplish anything. All the women around would be making goo-goo eyes at him," she added.
"Not to mention the gay men," Luna added with a wink. Hermione laughed out loud.
Archimedes had reacted to the glade in the exact manner Luna had. The fair hair on his forearms stood on end and his expression grew very, very grim. His mouth thinned into a stern line and his bright blue eyes narrowed. Dumbledore was very interested to see the similarity in his reaction to that of Luna's a few days earlier.
"This will take some serious planning and preparation and research," Archimedes finally said to Dumbledore as he turned on his heel to leave the eerie place.
"It's that bad?" Dumbledore asked with mild surprise.
"It's worse than bad. It's the worst I've ever seen in my life," Archimedes replied forbiddingly, his fair brows furrowed.
Dumbledore nodded slowly. "So young Luna was right," he said thoughtfully, looking kindly at her.
Archimedes' bright penetrating blue eyes were suddenly examining Luna with laser-like intensity, searching her face as though looking for something. "You need to be trained," he said finally.
"She is like you Archimedes? That's rather rare isn't it, two strong sensitives in one generation?" Dumbledore mused.
"I think this generation may need them," Archimedes said dryly.
Luna was dying to ask what a 'sensitive' was but wisely kept quiet. She had a feeling she was going to know more than she ever wanted to soon enough.
* * *
Two weeks later Dumbledore invited Luna to a meeting at his office. He also asked Draco along because he knew it was likely that Luna would need his support at some stage and Dumbledore wanted the boy to understand everything that was happening so he could do so.
Archimedes was already present in his usual dark purple robes. He was sipping a cup of tea but had a thick pile of paper in front of him. When Luna and Draco arrived, Dumbledore poured tea for them but then turned to Archimedes and said, "please share what you have learned in the past weeks Archimedes."
Archimedes put down his cup and pulled his papers towards him but rather than read from them, he looked Luna in the eye and calmly pronounced, "we are dealing with the grounding place of a major demon. It is likely that this glade has been used for thousands of years as a focus of ritual for appeasement of this particular demon which makes it a very powerful place for him to rest and manifest."
Draco's face went even paler than usual. "It's on my family grounds," he murmured.
"Yes, it's very likely it was members of your family that continued the rituals for generations to maintain the demon's powers," Archimedes said matter-of-factly.
Draco put down his tea cup with slightly shaking hands. "What rituals?" he said faintly.
"Ritual human sacrifice on a fairly regular basis," Archimedes said, his face tensing with distaste and displeasure. "Probably other set rituals too but mostly blood rites."
Luna shook her head. "I knew there was murder with malicious intent. I knew it," she said softly, tears coming to her eyes. "And I could feel that thing's hatred like something physical," she added, her vision turned inward once again.
"Yes, you were right on every count in fact," Archimedes said with detatched approval. "The only thing that isn't explained is the strong sense of vengeance there but I felt that too so it must be relevant. We may need to do further research."
Draco looked at Luna consideringly. If Luna had received such accurate impressions merely from stumbling across the place by accident, he could barely begin to imagine what a gift like that harnessed and trained could do.
"It is possible to diminish that demon and clear the glade of its evil but I will need the presence of the strongest wizards in Britain to lend magical energy to the task. I can do the spells but my strength will not be enough alone to defeat it for good," Archimedes said finally. "Even then, all participants will need to do a great deal of strict preparation beforehand."
Dumbledore nodded. "I understand. If you give me instructions I will pass these on to those we will need to recruit," he said calmly.
During the times when Luna was staying with Draco at Malfoy Manor and he would be tied up with estate business for a few hours, Luna would go for long walks in the Malfoy woodlands. It was no longer any more dangerous than the Dark Forest (which it actually formed a part of) since the Aurors had gone thoroughly over the estate. The Dark Forest was not exactly safe even in broad daylight but you would have to be unlucky to stumble across trouble there during daylight hours.
Luna was not a nervous person and had a lot of faith in her ability to defend herself although Draco was not entirely sure why this would be the case. As she usually set off without telling him where she was going, he didn't really have much opportunity to express his reservations about this potentially dangerous pastime however.
Luna simply loved the stillness and quiet of the woods. She didn't have much opportunity to enjoy them living at the Embassy which was close to the Muggle city of London and right in the heart of the business centre of the wizarding world. She always knew where she was when in the woods because she used location spells and compass charms to locate herself against the Malfoy Manor.
One morning she decided to be more adventurous than usual and explore a new part of the forest. The Southern regions were denser and less sunlight got through the canopy but the green shadows, ancient trees and mossy streams leant energy to the girl fatigued from studying for her end of semester exams. She could feel the primal energy from the dawn of creation coming up through the earth and entering her bloodstream. In virgin woodlands, this ancient creative magic was undisturbed and hung heavily in the air. Luna could feel in enter her body with her breath and absorb into her skin. She knew the place was full of spirits that she couldn't see but they didn't bother her. They kept out of sight but she could feel them observing her.
After heading along new unexplored tracks for a couple of hours, Luna found herself approaching a place that made the fine hair on her arms stand on end. The light was very, very dim in the glade. At one end a sheer rocky cliff rose into the sky and a small waterfall descended into a shallow stream. The stream was bordered by massive up-rooted trees and boulders as big as she was tall covered in moss.
Luna frowned. She wanted to go forward and cross the stream to continue her walk but she couldn't make herself. It wasn't like her to freak out over mysterious places and this spot had all the appearances of a charming, magical, sylvan, mysterious glade. But there was something wrong - something desperately wrong. Suddenly Luna was dreadfully anxious to get away. She could almost smell the evil there. Whatever evil was there hated her and would hurt her if it could, she knew that as clearly as she knew her own name. Her heart pounding in her ears she back tracked the way she had come, almost stumbling in her urgency to get away. The feeling did not leave her for another 100m back along the track. When she could force herself to stop, she took careful note of her location using a tracking charm and headed back to the Manor.
That afternoon she took Draco back to the spot where she had placed the tracking charm. They flew in on their broomsticks to save time although it was difficult to land in such thick forest. "Why do you want to walk out here for?" Draco grumbled. "I bet there are leeches."
"Yes, there are. We can burn them off if we get bitten, don't be so squeamish," Luna said, her fine dark eyebrows drawn together in a frown.
"I think leeches are excellent cause for squeamishness," Draco muttered but underneath his whining, he was concerned about Luna. She hadn't said much when she came back from her walk but the look on her face worried him. He had never seen her look like that before. She looked as though she'd had a bad fright and Luna didn't scare easily. She had insisted on his coming out to that spot and had been so firm that he hadn't argued with her.
Carrying their brooms, she led him back to the glade with the waterfall and stream. She paused a few meters away and would not go any further. He frowned at her in concern and went a few steps on himself. He looked keenly at the place, his pale eyes narrowed. There was no sign of any disturbance. When he returned to Luna's side, he could see she had goose- bumps and was frozen immobile and her large, dark eyes were wide their vision turned inward.
"What do you think it is?" Draco asked her quietly.
"I don't know. It's almost like. like something really horrible happened here, something violent and malicious or maybe. I don't know - like this is an ancient place of worship for a very unpleasant deity now probably long forgotten. There is a feeling of. hatred and malice and violence and watchfulness. There is something of vengenence about it too," she said shaking her head, her face crumpled in distress. "I've got to go," she said suddenly and turned and left abruptly to head back down the track. Draco followed her thoughtfully. It would be easy enough just to get Aurors to check the place for Dark Magic but it sounded like Luna might be picking up on something more ancient.
Draco didn't much like the look of the glade either but he figured it could just be because it was very dark there and the stream could be dangerous to cross although it was really very shallow. Perhaps Luna was just being unusually hysterical although it definitely was not like her. Perhaps exam stress was getting to her, he thought with a mental shrug. He knew there were rare witches and wizards who were very sensitive to impressions left in certain places but if Luna had those particular gifts, this was the first sign he'd seen of them and it was yet to be confirmed that her impressions were right.
"I'm bringing Dumbledore back here," Luna said to him as they mounted their brooms to fly back to the Manor.
Draco nodded. "I'm sure he knows more than anybody else about the history of the Dark Forest," Draco agreed thoughtfully.
* * *
Luna owled Dumbledore when she got back to the Manor and he replied that evening saying he would come by the next morning. Fortunately, Luna did not have an exam that day so she would be able to take him back to the exact spot herself.
They apparated to the spot that Luna had tracked the previous day. Nervously she led the old wizard down the track to the glade, once again hanging back meters before actually reaching it. Dumbledore took a few steps on and his usually merry blue eyes were serious as he looked around. "I think, young Luna that it may be possible to learn about this glade by closing ones eyes," he suggested surprisingly.
Luna had no intention of closing her eyes. It was bad enough for her with her eyes open. She watched Dumbledore as he stood for a long time with his eyes closed, his face peaceful and calm but his posture held upright as though alert for something. Luna admitted to herself that she felt far, far safer with Dumbledore there.
"I have a suspicion that your theory may be correct," Dumbledore said finally, opening his eyes to look at the frightened looking girl. "I think this place is most likely haunted by something rather nasty. I have an old friend who is an expert in this area. If you can be brave again Luna, I'd like you to bring us both back here very soon."
Luna nodded. She hated this place but it worried at her like an aching tooth. She had to get it fixed.
* * *
Luna had exams over the next two days so it was arranged that Dumbledore and his friend would go back to the 'black spot' (as Luna called it) the day after her last exam.
Dumbledore's friend turned out to be the Senior Auror Archimedes who had been one of those interviewing Draco repeatedly for information on the Death Eaters over the past few months. Draco trusted the man implicitly but found him rather stern. Luna frankly thought he was handsome but so focused on the task at hand and so severe that it was hard to remember his good looks when working with him.
"He probably does it on purpose," Hermione commented when Luna mentioned Archimedes to her much later. "Imagine being that good looking but also brainy enough to be a Senior Auror that young. If he played on his good looks, no-one would take him seriously. He's probably so austere in order to force people to pay attention to what he's saying or doing rather than what he looks like. Otherwise he'd never accomplish anything. All the women around would be making goo-goo eyes at him," she added.
"Not to mention the gay men," Luna added with a wink. Hermione laughed out loud.
Archimedes had reacted to the glade in the exact manner Luna had. The fair hair on his forearms stood on end and his expression grew very, very grim. His mouth thinned into a stern line and his bright blue eyes narrowed. Dumbledore was very interested to see the similarity in his reaction to that of Luna's a few days earlier.
"This will take some serious planning and preparation and research," Archimedes finally said to Dumbledore as he turned on his heel to leave the eerie place.
"It's that bad?" Dumbledore asked with mild surprise.
"It's worse than bad. It's the worst I've ever seen in my life," Archimedes replied forbiddingly, his fair brows furrowed.
Dumbledore nodded slowly. "So young Luna was right," he said thoughtfully, looking kindly at her.
Archimedes' bright penetrating blue eyes were suddenly examining Luna with laser-like intensity, searching her face as though looking for something. "You need to be trained," he said finally.
"She is like you Archimedes? That's rather rare isn't it, two strong sensitives in one generation?" Dumbledore mused.
"I think this generation may need them," Archimedes said dryly.
Luna was dying to ask what a 'sensitive' was but wisely kept quiet. She had a feeling she was going to know more than she ever wanted to soon enough.
* * *
Two weeks later Dumbledore invited Luna to a meeting at his office. He also asked Draco along because he knew it was likely that Luna would need his support at some stage and Dumbledore wanted the boy to understand everything that was happening so he could do so.
Archimedes was already present in his usual dark purple robes. He was sipping a cup of tea but had a thick pile of paper in front of him. When Luna and Draco arrived, Dumbledore poured tea for them but then turned to Archimedes and said, "please share what you have learned in the past weeks Archimedes."
Archimedes put down his cup and pulled his papers towards him but rather than read from them, he looked Luna in the eye and calmly pronounced, "we are dealing with the grounding place of a major demon. It is likely that this glade has been used for thousands of years as a focus of ritual for appeasement of this particular demon which makes it a very powerful place for him to rest and manifest."
Draco's face went even paler than usual. "It's on my family grounds," he murmured.
"Yes, it's very likely it was members of your family that continued the rituals for generations to maintain the demon's powers," Archimedes said matter-of-factly.
Draco put down his tea cup with slightly shaking hands. "What rituals?" he said faintly.
"Ritual human sacrifice on a fairly regular basis," Archimedes said, his face tensing with distaste and displeasure. "Probably other set rituals too but mostly blood rites."
Luna shook her head. "I knew there was murder with malicious intent. I knew it," she said softly, tears coming to her eyes. "And I could feel that thing's hatred like something physical," she added, her vision turned inward once again.
"Yes, you were right on every count in fact," Archimedes said with detatched approval. "The only thing that isn't explained is the strong sense of vengeance there but I felt that too so it must be relevant. We may need to do further research."
Draco looked at Luna consideringly. If Luna had received such accurate impressions merely from stumbling across the place by accident, he could barely begin to imagine what a gift like that harnessed and trained could do.
"It is possible to diminish that demon and clear the glade of its evil but I will need the presence of the strongest wizards in Britain to lend magical energy to the task. I can do the spells but my strength will not be enough alone to defeat it for good," Archimedes said finally. "Even then, all participants will need to do a great deal of strict preparation beforehand."
Dumbledore nodded. "I understand. If you give me instructions I will pass these on to those we will need to recruit," he said calmly.
