Chapter 31 - Lure of the Stone
Barney was still in shock at what had just happened. It was Tabitha who snapped him out of it as she shook him by the shoulders.
"Come on we need to go before Dufour catches up with us!" she yelled.
Barney looked her in the eye and could see how scared she looked. He then turned to the others who were equally as frightened. "OK he wants the stone. I let him find me and lead him away from you guys. Then you get to McGonagall's office and get help."
"Barney I'm not letting you go on your own. It's too dangerous," Tabitha said forcefully.
"He's going to kill us all if we don't stop him."
"Then I'm coming with you."
"Tabs I can't let you..."
"Now is not the time to argue. I'm going with you and that's the end of it."
As much as Barney wanted her by his side he knew it was too dangerous. He didn't want anything to happen to her. All he wanted to do was keep her safe but he didn't have time to stop her. The numbing jinx would have worn off Dufour by now and he'd catch up with them soon.
"OK you three wait in here. We'll lead Dufour further down the corridor. When the coast is clear make a run for it."
Thomas, Ottomaya and Viola nodded in unison even though none of them liked the plan very much. Barney stored Grim's leather bag in a nearby cupboard for safe keeping before peering into the corridor. There was no sign of Dufour yet. Barney felt something grab his hand and he turned to see Tabitha behind him.
"Lets do this," she said with a reassuring smile, even though inside she was just as scared as he was.
They both stepped inside the hall and moved to the next classroom. Barney grabbed the handle and opened the door before immediately shutting it again with a loud bang. They both listened intently and could hear footsteps slowly coming along the corridor and as soon as they did they began to run, making sure their own footsteps sounded loud on the stone floor and would be easy to follow.
There was a bright flash behind them and Barney turned in time to see a large chunk of masonry fall from the wall only feet away from them. Soon another flash followed. Dufour was aiming curses at them.
They rounded a corner grateful that it would offer them temporary protection till Dufour caught up with them but soon another flash of light went off behind them. But this time it caught Barney in the back and he fell forward to the floor.
"Barney!" Tabitha screamed as she stopped running and crouched to help him up.
"Leave me. Just take the stone and run," he said, thrusting his bag into her hands. "Just go!"
Tabitha wasn't about to leave him but she saw Dufour closing in. He was about to fire off another curse but Tabitha got in first.
"Stupefy!"
Dufour expertly repelled the spell and Tabitha knew she was no match for her experienced teacher.
"Run!" Barney shouted again as he rolled over onto his back and started firing off a string of spells in Dufour's direction.
Tabitha didn't want to leave him but she knew she had to get the stone away from him so she ran.
Dufour easily dodged Barney's spells as if he was swatting away flies and he was now standing over the fallen student. With a sneer he looked down at Barney, who still had his wand pointed at his teacher. "You fought bravely," Dufour said in a condescending manner.
Barney wasn't about to give up yet. "Expelliarmus!"
As Barney cast the spell, Dufour cast the same spell as the exact same time. The red lights from both their wands collided and created a powerful force which knocked both their wands out of their hands and sent them flying away into the distance.
With Dufour momentarily off guard, Barney turned around to see where his wand had landed. He was about to get to his feet and run for it when Dufour stepped to the side of the corridor. Barney looked to see his teacher standing beside a suit of armour that held a big steel sword. Dufour grabbed the sword and pulled it free.
Barney scrambled to get onto his feet but his left foot slipped on the stone floor and he fell back down and Dufour was immediately back over him. Barney turned back on to his back just in time to see Dufour lunge the sword towards his chest. He closed his eyes in fear and waited to feel the sword strike but it never came. He opened his eyes again to see Dufour standing over him with the sword. He could see Dufour trying with all his might to force the sword into him but it seemed to have hit some invisible barrier. It was then that Barney noticed drops of red liquid halfway down the blade of the sword that started to trickling down.
"Run Barney!" a voice shouted, seemingly from nowhere.
Barney recognised the voice. It wasn't an invisible barrier protecting him but an invisible teacher. Professor Winters had grabbed hold of the sword and was stopping Dufour from plunging it into him.
It took Dufour a moment to realise what was going on before he raised the sword again. Winters let go of it as Dufour began to swing it around, trying to hit his invisible assailant.
Barney took his chance and jumped up onto his feet and raced down the corridor. He didn't know if Dufour was following him but he kept on running. As he ran he saw his wand on the stone floor and quickly picked it up as he went.
"Barney!"
Barney stopped to see Tabitha peering out of the Dark Arts classroom.
"Thank Merlin you're OK," she said as she raced out and gave him a massive hug.
"It's not over yet," he replied and dragged her back to the classroom.
Barney closed the door behind them and began to look around. He debated barricading the door but knew Dufour would easily break it down. He then raced to the cupboards at the front of the classroom, desperately looking for something to use against him.
"What are you looking for?" Tabitha asked but before Barney could answer, Dufour had come crashing through the door, seething with fury.
"No more games Barney. Hand it over now!" he demanded, his voice full of anger.
Barney reached into the cupboard and grabbed a jar, heaved it into the air and launched it at Dufour's feet. The jar smashed on the ground.
"You want it that badly, you have it."
At first Dufour was confused but as it looked at the broken glass in front of him he suddenly saw the Endeavour Stone, the thing he wanted most in the world, laying on the ground sparkling up at him. Without a second thought he bent down and grasped it in his hands. As he looked into the stone he felt a strange sensation. He felt overwhelmed and as if something was sweeping over his body. His legs started to feel weak and the energy from him seemed to be draining away.
Barney and Tabitha looked on in horror as the saw the effects of the Wunsch, that had been in the jar, taking it's toll on Dufour. Enticed by the vision of what he most desired, the Wunsch slowly took hold of Dufour and literally sucked the life out of him. His skin began to fade and his body started to wither as the Wunsch consumed him. Dufour had no idea what was happening to him, he was still mesmerized by what he thought was the Endeavour Stone in his hands as his life slowly ebbed away until he had no energy left and he fell into a heap on the floor. The Wunsch continued to devour him until all that was left of the former Ancient Runes teacher was his skeletal remains, as if he had been dead for hundreds of years.
Barney and Tabitha watched as the grey smoke hovered over Dufour's body before it slowly began to rise. It took Barney a split second to realise what it was doing. It was deciding which occupant of the room to attack next.
"Oh my," Tabitha said with a smile on her face and took a step towards the Wunsch.
"Tabs no!" Barney shouted, realising it had chosen her and was now showing her what she wanted the most.
Barney knew there was only one way to stop a Wunsch. He tried to clear his mind, which was near impossible as he knew Tabitha wanted nothing more right now that to touch the Wunsch, which now appeared to her as what she desired, and it would ultimately kill her. How could he think of a happy memory right now?
With one hand he grabbed Tabitha and tried to hold her back and with the other he raised his wand and pointed it at the grey smoke which was inching towards them.
"Expecto Patronum!" Barney yelled at the top of his lungs.
A dazzling light burst out of Barney's wand, which seemed to grow and grow. The light spread out and formed two distinctive wings and in the centre was the body of a huge dragon. The silvery form glided towards the Wunsch and swooped on it, encompassing the smoke disapparating it to nothing and slowly the dragon itself faded into the air.
"What just happened?" Tabitha asked confused, with her arms still stretched out, trying to reach something that was no longer there.
Barney took a second to take a deep breath and compose himself, having faced so many terrors in such a short space of time. He wanted nothing more than to collapse on his bed and sleep till the next morning. Today had taken it out of him. But he knew there was no time, he had to make sure the others had reached McGonagall's office and got word out that they needed help. There was a whole hall of people downstairs who needed saving.
Barney and Tabitha raced to the corridor where the entrance to the headmaster's office was located. Everything was quiet which they hoped could only be a good sign and that Thomas and the others were already in there and help was on it's way.
As they walked along the corridor towards the gargoyle that protected the entrance to the office Barney froze, which didn't go unnoticed by Tabitha.
"What's wrong?"
"Did you hear that?" Barney asked, straining with all his might to listen intently.
"Hear what?" I don't..." before Tabitha could finish she heard it too. It was heavy breathing and it was getting louder.
Now they could hear distinct thuds as something walked along the stone floor. Barney didn't dare turn round. He knew what it was anyway. He and Tabitha both stood in silence, frozen in fear.
"On the count of three run," Barney whispered as he looked dead ahead. "One... two..."
The beast roared a deafening roar and began charging at them and Barney and Tabitha immediately ran towards the stone gargoyle. Behind them they could hear the beast's pounding steps and they knew it was gaining on them. They were both near the gargoyle when suddenly Barney's foot hit an even stone slab beneath him and he lost his balance and tumbled to the ground.
"Barney!" Tabitha shouted as she turned around to see him lying on the floor and the beast closing in on him.
Barney moved his head to look at her and saw the stone gargoyle behind her and had a strange feeling of deja vu as he remembered his vision from potions class. Instantly he grabbed his wand but didn't point it at the beast, instead he reached out his hand and wand towards the gargoyle
"Saltare!" Barney shouted at the top of his voice.
The stone bird started to vibrate and small bits of masonry started to fall down around it. Barney could feel the ground shaking beneath him and even the beast became unsettled and stopped in its tracks and roared mightily in their direction.
The gargoyle continued the shake as it slowly started to move out of it's alcove and headed into the corridor. With more space it now out stretched it's stone wings and began to move in an erratic manner around the corridor. It was dancing.
Barney quickly got to his feet and rushed to Tabitha who was looking on in astonishment as the beast's eyes were now fixed on the gargoyle, not sure how much of a threat it was as it jigged around.
Barney pulled Tabitha into the alcove and was about to say a password when he remembered that last time he had been to McGonagall's office he hadn't known the correct password, McGonagall herself had opened it from the inside for him. Barney knew he could be there for hours trying to guess the right password and he wondered if Thomas and the others had managed to get in to call for help. Barney looked at Tabitha helplessly.
"Come on before that thing comes for us again," Tabitha said as she led Barney in a sprint down the corridor and away from the beast.
They kept running, not looking where they were going. Their only concern was to put as much space between themselves and the beast. But they found themselves at a dead end in a corridor they didn't recognise. There was one door off of it and it was locked and a quick casting of Alohomora had no effect.
"Come on lets go back," Tabitha said but as they both turned they could hear the giant footsteps pounding towards them.
Up ahead where the corridor turned off and they could see the torchlight from beyond casting light on the far wall. Suddenly a dark shadow formed on the wall which got bigger and bigger as the beast moved in.
Barney tightened his grip on his wand and Tabitha did the same as they prepared to defend themselves.
Instinctively Tabitha reached out with her free hand and grabbed Barney's. Despite the impending danger, Barney felt comforted by the simple gesture and he thought about telling her how he felt, a sense of doom having a strange effect on him. But before he could give it any more thought the beasts emerged around the corner, it's eyes raging with fury and it's teeth bared.
"Stupefy!" Barney shouted and a red flash shot from his wand and caught the beast in the shoulder.
The beast jumped back from the force of the hit but then it just seemed to shake it off and continued on forward. Barney and Tabitha looked at each other in worry, their spells seemed to have little effect against it.
"Stupefy!" Tabitha yelled and again the beast was struck but it kept on coming.
"Immobulus!" Barney commanded and this time a blue light lit up the corridor and struck the beast but it acted like it had been hit with nothing more than a static shock.
Barney and Tabitha backed along the corridor until they hit the stone wall and had nowhere else to go. The beast keep slowly pacing forward like it was taunting it's prey. Barney and Tabitha had no more ideas of spells to use, even if they did they doubted they would have much effect against the beast. The pair still held hands as they moved closer together and watched in fear as the beast neared and they both closed their eyes.
"Expelliarmus!" a voice shouted and Barney felt his wand go flying out of his hands.
He opened his eyes to see the beast wasn't there any more. Instead Ottomaya stood there, at least her doppelgänger did having transformed back into her human form.
Ottomaya stood there with her wand pointing at the now unarmed pair with a look of pleasure in her eye.
"Why are you doing this?" Barney said, his voice sounding desperate.
"I need the other Ottomaya to live so I need to be able to control her. Having stupid little friends like you whispering in her ear and giving her ideas isn't helping. She needs to learn she can't have friends. So hopefully by killing you she'll know that in future anyone she gets close to will inevitably die."
Barney felt Tabitha's hand tighten around his as Ottomaya seemed to take pleasure in their fear. Barney didn't know what to do. Without his wand he was powerless. Ottomaya raised her wand as Barney closed his eyes again.
"Avada Kedavra!" Ottomaya's voice shouted out and even with his eyes closed, Barney could sense a flash of green lighting up the corridor.
Barney felt an intense heat but immediately it dyed away and then there was silence as he and Tabitha opened their eyes. There lying on the ground was the body of Ottomaya and standing behind it was the other Ottomaya with her wand in her hand. She looked unsteady on her feet and briefly leant against the wall to steady herself before falling to the ground.