Chapter 1 – Into the dark
"Oh my goodness!" exclaimed Hermione, breathless as she stared at the humongous castle of Merlin.
"It's amazing, isn't it" said the boy next to her. "Oh, by the way, my name is Ryan. I think I've seen you around Hogwarts before."
"Oh. Oh yes, you're in Ravenclaw aren't you. We've had Herbology together. I didn't think anyone else from Hogwarts would be taking this trip. Especially a boy" laughed Hermione meekly. The thing is, she secretly liked him, had for a while too. When she learned that he would be going on the trip, she was ecstatic. Harry and Ron thought she had gone completely mental.
And here he was, starting a conversation with her! Ooooh Hermione giggled to herself. This was going to be a fun trip!
"Well, not every guy doesn't appreciate the finer things in life. I've been thinking about becoming a historian once I grow up. I find this kind of thing very fascinating, don't you?" smiled Ryan.
"Of course. I've been looking forward to this trip for quite a while" said Hermione breathlessly. His smile was so nice, she thought to herself. She caught herself staring at him and quickly looked away, hoping furiously that he didn't notice. She silently cursed at herself for being so careless and tried her best to act as if nothing had happened.
"Now boys and girls, we're going to go inside the castle. It's a special privilege granted to us by Merlin's oldest ancestors, the Draconian family. I need everyone to pick a partner, and follow me. There is much to see, so I suggest you don't waste any more time out here."
'Partners!' thought Hermione to herself. Oh no, she didn't know anyone. The only one she knew was Ryan, but he would never think about pairing up with her, would he?
As Hermione was frantically looking around trying to look for someone to pair up with, Ryan came up behind her and said "Hermione, would you like to be partners? Since we're the only ones from Hogwarts and all…"
"Oh" Hermione breathed. She didn't know what to say. She just stared for a second but she finally caught herself and blurted "Yes, of course"
Ryan just smiled to himself and motioned for her to follow him.
Hermione felt like she was about to explode from delight and started humming to herself as she followed Ryan into the castle.
As the group walked into the main room of the gigantic castle, Hermione was praying to whatever God there was that she wouldn't seem like a complete bloody moron to Ryan throughout the tour. She barely paid any attention to the castle, when in any other situation she would have been taking as many pictures as possible and writing furiously. But right now, all she could do was play the scene over and over in her mind. Ryan asking her to be partners. Maybe it was because he didn't know anyone else, or whatever else reasons, but Hermione didn't care right now.
The tour guide stopped and everyone else followed suit. She announced "this is where we will split up into our pairs and go off on our own. Rest assured this castle is 100 safe. However, we will require each of you to come and take a map and a locater badge. The map will show all of the castle and everyone inside it at all times. The badge will act as an emergency signal. If you ever find yourself in trouble, or you just want to get out, push the badge and someone will come to find you as soon as possible. Now, the castle is enormous, if you haven't noticed already. We will be staying here for three days, so you'll have enough time to explore the whole castle. I recommend that you pick one part of the castle for today to explore, and do the other two tomorrow. Now, go off and have fun, and remember, stay safe!"
"Oooh" said Hermione, obviously full of excitement. "Where should we go first? There's so many fascinating things inside this castle."
"Hmmm" mumbled Ryan. "This part of the castle looks interesting" he said, pointing at the top left part of the map. "I heard there's many mysterious and spooky things there. Unless, of course, you're…scared to go?" smirked Ryan.
"Of course not" laughed Hermione. Truth was, she was a little scared. Most of the other groups had gone towards the main rooms and the lookouts. Only a few brave groups of boys were heading toward that direction. She sensed an eerie aura coming from that direction, but there was no bloody way she would ever tell Ryan that. No way was she going to have him think she was scared. "Let's go!" said Hermione with a little too much enthusiasm.
Ryan only laughed and followed her. Behind her back, Hermione didn't catch the little glint in Ryan's eye.
As they walked together down the dark corridor, Hermione was growing more and more apprehensive by the moment. By now, even the most "macho" guys had decided to turn back and explore another part of the castle, but Ryan seemed intent on this party, and Hermione wasn't going to oblige.
"Wow" said Ryan. "This is really something, isn't it. You don't see something like this every day. Actually, most people never get to see it in their lives."
"Yea" whimpered Hermione, busying herself with the map so she didn't have to look at the arcane scribbling on the wall or the creepy artifacts that seemed to emanate evil.
"Wait a minute, said Hermione, studying the map closely. "This isn't even supposed to be part of the tour! Ryan, I think we should go back. Ryan?" Hermione trailed off as Ryan turned to face her.
"What's the matter Hermione, scared?" sneered Ryan.
"N…n…no, it's j…j…just that we're not supposed to be here" stammered Hermione. "Wait a minute, how did we get in here? It's supposed to be blocked off by barriers!" cried Hermione, not able to hide the fear in her voice any longer.
"You're a clever witch Hermione, you should be able to figure this out. Now think, what is my last name?" laughed Ryan.
"Rodcaian" whimpered Hermione. "What about it?"
"You know very well about Lord Voldemort do you not? Of course you do. You know everything. You're the top of your class, the best witch in Hogwarts. Lord Voldemort, as you know, is an anagram of his muggle name, Tom Marvolo Riddle."
"What are you trying to say" breathed Hermione, tears coming to her eyes. What was going on here? Was Ryan some kind of weirdo? Some kind of psychopath?
As realization started to dawn on Hermione, she whimpered.
"So you finally figured it out. My real last name is Draconian. I'm one of the last surviving ancestors of Merlin. Actually, I'm not really related to Merlin. My family and Merlin were mortal enemies, but no one has ever told you that have they?"
"No, Merlin and the Draconian clan were friends! They were allies…weren't they?" said Hermione, all absolution gone from her usually firm voice.
"Oh no. Oh no no no" laughed Ryan. "The Draconians were an evil clan. Before Lord Voldemort, the Draconians were feared above all. They were masters of the Dark Arts and deception. If Voldemort lived in that time, he would have been a simple pawn to the powers of the Draconian. Merlin, however, was a powerful, powerful wizard. He mingled with Muggles though, a foolish mistake on his part. He could have been great, could have ruled the world. But no, he chose to fight for the weak. Stupid fool. He was the only one who stood in the way of the Draconians' domination. There started a terrible war known simply as the Great War. Merlin gathered many supporters and attempted to put down the evil Draconians once and for all. The war went on for quite a while. Both sides won and lost many important battles."
"In the final battle of the Great War, Merlin and his allies managed to annihilate all but one of the Draconian clan. The one who survived was the most powerful, and he was the one who invented the Imperius curse. He managed to escape from the battlefield and hid himself. He used the Imperius Curse on Merlin's most faithful supporter, Aldaran. At first, Merlin had no idea what was going on when his supporters were being murdered. He thought he killed every Draconian. As he finally figured it out, he and Aldaran came to blows on top of this castle. When Malastar, the last surviving Draconian, joined the battle, it became fierce. Merlin held his own for quite a while, but in the end, he wore out. Malastar killed Aldaran in front of Merlin's eyes, and cast the Imperius Curse on Merlin."
While Merlin was a powerful wizard, he had never faced the Imperius Curse before and he succumbed to it. Malastar used Merlin to cast a widespread Obliviate charm. He changed history, so to speak. He made the Draconians seem a noble and honorable clan who fought besides Merlin against the evil Aldaran clan. He knew he was much to weak to attempt to take over so he did the second best thing. He created a room in this castle to resurrect himself. He knew how to stay immortal."
"Malastar was forced to inter-breed with those he would have preferred not to, and as a result, the Draconian clan grew weak. However, he knew he must do it in order to resurrect the clan someday. He knew that if he ever succeeded in his plan, he would resume the clan's once great legacy. So he did what was necessary, and he waited."
"Now, today, it is finally ready for the charm to be performed. For the past ten years, we have gathered the brightest and most powerful witches and wizards to take this tour, and we have captured them to use in the Great Revival. Guess what Hermione, you're lucky number 10, the final one we need to start the Great Revival."
Before Hermione could take in all of what was said, he heard Ryan scream "Crucio" and the next thing she knew, she fell towards the floor, and darkness.