CHAPTER THREE: The Secret Portkey
"Are we there yet?" the tiny person wheezed; his face in what seems to be a permanently nervous expression as he gazed at the dark figure in front of him. The large shape in the shadows simply nodded his head before continuing down the passageway. The cobwebs clung to the walls and ceiling as it hung before their faces like curtains that the two men had to push away.
"All of them thought me mad, Hugo! Me? Mad? Ha!" Stefan laughed and Hugo nodded eagerly as if to say 'they're the ones who're crazy'. "Well, we'll see whose going to be the last one laughing, we'll see! And when we do, the Dark Lord will be oh so pleased with me. He is pleased with you, though, since you've been recruited."
"Me?" Hugo was surprised. No one liked to have him on their team. He lacked a talent for everything, it seems and would have been a true outcast in Hogwarts if it weren't for ––.
"Yes, Hugo, you." Stefan interrupted, "You're a Hogwarts student and the last person anyone would think of if they find out a student has become a Death Eater." Stefan laughed cruelly and Hugo shuddered.
He never wanted to become a Death Eater but he didn't know what else to do. This was his last year in Hogwarts yet he knew once he graduated, he wasn't going to be leading a very exciting life. He'd be as poor as the infamous Weasley family but it'd be worse because he'll be alone.
"If Halo is real, why would the entrance to the kingdom be in Hogwarts?" Hugo asked curiously. Stefan stopped short in his long stride before continuing walking and threw a look of contempt over his broad shoulder.
"It goes way back, Hugo, just after the great flood swallowed the kingdom. My ancestor, Yurek Grendollo, found an unconscious woman on the coast of Sicily and, according to his diaries; the island of Halo wasn't too far from there. She had bronzed skin, like those savages in Africa, and a mane of white hair despite the fact that she couldn't have been for than fifteen." Stefan stopped abruptly which made Hugo walk into his brick-like back and fall hard on his bottom, letting out a yelp of pain. Craning his head, he saw what made Stefan stop.
"It's a dead end." Hugo said, stating the obvious. Stefan looked down on Hugo again with disdain.
"It looks like a dead end to a worthless wizard, Hugo," Stefan reached inside his robes and pulled out a small, glowing crystal. "This is what Yurek Grendollo found in that woman's hand." Stefan noticed the puzzled look on Hugo's face and sighed out of exasperation. "Don't you get it? She was a Haloian princess and this, obviously, was what made Halo so powerful and advanced! This little object contains so much ancient magic that even the Dark Lord was impressed when I presented to him," Hugo stared in awe as he digested the import of what this could mean.
"So pretty," He whispered and like a fly attracted to the light, his hand was reaching out to touch it but Stefan swatted it away, angrily.
"Yes, it is." Stefan agreed. "But its powers are not enough for the Dark Lord to fight against those good-doers like Dumbledore." He squatted down on his haunches, low enough so that he was eye-leveled to Hugo. "Do you see the jagged edges?" Hugo nodded but all he really noticed was the beautiful glow that radiated from the crystal. It was bright enough to light up a huge portion of the corridor, covering everything he could see in a soft, glow that soothed him. It'd be a good night light, Hugo realized.
"The condition of those edges could only mean that this crystal was apart of a much larger, more powerful, crystal. A crystal, that is still very much in Halo. It'll be enough to squash Dumbledore like the ant he is and our Dark Lord will be able to rid the world of all muggles and muggleborns!" He was laughing hysterically now and Hugo took a step back as he stared at what he had first thought to be an impassive man, be consumed and overwhelmed with passion.
"So why are we in Hogwarts?" Hugo asked hesitantly once Stefan's laughter died away.
"Because," Stefan stared with frustration coloring his tone, "the princess told Grendollo the portkey will be in a school. Don't you see? Her father, the King of Halo, had plans to build a gateway using the Portus spell, in the off-island home of his Vizier, the Royal Advisor to the Haloian Throne."
"Who was this Vizier?" Hugo asked excitedly. He had a feeling it might be Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Merlin knows he looks old enough.
"Who do you think?" Stefan asked mockingly, "It was one of Hogwart's four founders. Personally, I think it might have been Rowena Ravenclaw. She was the cleverest of the four. Anyway," he said, waving away his opinion and returning his attention to answering Hugo's earlier question, "It's why the gateway is in Hogwarts." Incredulous, Hugo walked towards the dead end and gestured at it.
"So this is it?"
"Of course this is it," Stefan placed a hand against the wall and stood that way for almost ten minutes. If it was a portkey, as Stefan claimed it was, it should have transported Stefan long ago to its preprogrammed location.
"I think the portkey is broken or this is actually not the 'gateway' to Halo," Hugo's disbelief must have colored his tone and pushed Stefan over the edge because he lunged for Hugo's robes and lifted him off his feet.
"What? You don't belief me?" He shrieked in a high pitch voice, "Do you think I'm mad, eh! Do you? DO YOU!" Stefan was now shaking Hugo violently, his head lolling around his shoulders, in danger of snapping off.
"NO! You're not mad!" Hugo choked out, terrified. "If anything, I think you're the sanest person I know," Slowly, Stefan stopped and replaced a trembling Hugo back on his feet.
"Ahem," Stefan cleared his throat and proceeded to smooth down his blonde hair and the lapels of his black robes before returning to wall. "I must be doing something wrong," he muttered.
I know what else you're doing wrong and that's having your head on backwards, Hugo thought but wisely did not say. He kept a safe distance from Stefan in case he went fanatical again. Hugo doesn't want to be within Stefan's reach for another throttling.
"There are markings all over this wall but, damn it! I can't read the markings. It must be Haloglyphics. Can you read Haloglyphics?" Stefan asked Hugo hopefully. Hugo only shook his head no.
How, for Merlin's sake, would I know how to read an ancient language that has been long dead since Hogwarts was founded? Hugo thought sneeringly.
"Wait, I think I found something!" Stefan breathed elatedly. Hugo stood on the tips of his toes to look over Stefan's shoulder. All he saw was a wall. A wall of stone.
"What is it?" Hugo asked, curiously.
"There's a hole of some kind. Like a keyhole. Wait!" He exclaimed again. Where am I going to go? Hugo thought sarcastically. Stefan pulled out the small glowing crystal and stuck it in the hole.
"It fits!" He almost screamed eagerly. He started turning as he would a key but nothing happened. Hugo was about to asked 'that's it?' but wisely stayed quiet.
Sighing, Stefan reached into his robes and pulled out a golden pocket watch with twelve hands and little planets moving around the edges.
"We must leave; the Hogwarts Express should be arriving any second and I wouldn't want to be caught by some student," He said as he hid his watch and crystal in his robes.
Hugo simply nodded in agreement.
The soft glow that had lit the corridor faded away into darkness. Hugo glanced back at Stefan who was nothing more than a large silhouette. It frightened Hugo to think that Stefan could be reaching for him right that second and he wouldn't even know.
"Let us go," Stefan stated and walked past Hugo, leading him to where they came from. Silence was all that was shared between the two men and after being uncomfortable with it for five minutes, Stefan spoke.
"By the way," he started, "what is your real name?" Stefan asked when the door that led to this corridor was in sight. When they finally reached the door, Hugo answered hesitantly.
"Unless you tell me your real name, I doubt I'll be divulging that information with you,"
Stefan only laughed as he turned the cold, metal doorknob and swung the door open. They stepped through the threshold and entered the small chamber of the castle. Hugo remembered this room as the room he waited in with his fellow first years right before he was sorted. It was located off the Entrance Hall, opposite the Great Hall. This had made it easier for Hugo to lead Stefan here since it was on the ground floor of the castle.
The door behind them slammed shut then vanished totally. Nothing there would indicate that there is, in actuality, a door that might lead to the entrance of Halo.
"Well, I guess I'll be seeing you," Hugo said but he highly doubt that he'd know if he saw Stefan again or not. He himself had downed a Polyjuice Potion before he met Stefan in the Forbidden Forest. If he had thought to protect his identity by doing so, Stefan has most definitely done the same. They both don't want to be named to the Ministry of Magic as a Death Eater and end up in Azkaban.
"Who are you?" Someone croaked. Stefan and Hugo swiveled around to see the caretaker take off at a dead run into the Great Hall, his cat right at his heels.
"It's Mr. Filch and Mrs. Norris," Hugo informed Stefan. Stefan cursed softly.
"No doubt he's getting that Dumbledore," Hugo nodded, his apprehension increasing tenfold since it was likely that they'll be arrested and imprisoned. An odd tingle started at the pit of his stomach and Hugo watched as his aristocratic hands were changing into the grubby, chunky hands that were his own.
"I've got to go," Hugo stammered. He ran through the oak front doors and towards the Forbidden Forest as fast as his changing legs could go and continued deeper into the dark until finally he collapsed, too tired to go on.