Chapter 10
Magic was singing through his veins, he felt like he was drowning in it. Rahkesh let himself drown, the pain from the knife was gone, the magic carrying him away from everything else. He felt himself changing, the magic altering him as the runes directed it. Examining the process taking place with his mind and magic Rahkesh could feel the changes occurring as the bloodmagic set in.
Rahkesh opened his eyes. He could feel the blood drying on his body; he was covered head to toe in it. Pain from the cuts set in, followed by the ache that came from kneeling on a hard stone floor for hours. The bright glow faded, leaving dimly glowing gold runes running across his skin. A moment later they faded and vanished. Blood seeped out from the cuts, they were healed a second later by a rush of magic that left Rahkesh feeling drained and exhausted. The runes drawn in blood across the floor stopped glowing, and finally started to dry.
Slowly, careful not to pass the inner circle of runes, Rahkesh unfolded his legs and stretched. Feeling blood start to flow to his feet again. Both his legs were asleep. He began to go through simple stretches designed to relax stiffened muscles and identify any injuries. The Bloodmagic should not have left any injuries, but if it had it was a sign that something had gone wrong. He searched for the sharp pain that would come from stretching an unhealed cut, but there was none.
Finally Rahkesh stood shakily and began to undo the runes on the floor. This had to be done with wandless magic. The runes engraved into the skin of his palms the first time he'd tried bloodmagic glowed and began to bleed. Rahkesh swept his palms over the half-dry blood runes on the floor, blurring them. Concentrating on removing their magics as he did. When the inner circle of runes was gone he stood and walked out, careful to not step directly on the other diagrams drawn in blood. The stone chamber was lit by a stained glass window in the ceiling and there was only one door. Rahkesh opened it and stepped out into the small chamber beyond. Closing the door he pressed his still bleeding hand to a handprint drawn on the wall. Water rushed into the room and dissolved away the blood.
The small chamber was maybe four meters long and two meters across. Along both walls were plain granite benches, the floor and ceiling solid stone. There were shelves down the wall beside the doors at the opposite end and next to one of these was a tall coat rack with elk antlers across the top. Rahkesh picked up the heavy fleece bathrobe he'd left on the elk antler rack before entering the chamber and put it on. He'd have to clean the blood off it later.
When doing bloodmagic most students left their clothes in the much nicer and more comfortable locker rooms just down the hall. There they could be kept in warded security; the bloodmagic professors had a very strict policy against harming a student in the locker rooms or on the short walk from the locker rooms to the bloodmagic chambers. The reason for this was that a person who had just finished a ritual might not be magically stable and could possible create some extremely powerful and probably lethal accidental magic when attacked. It just wasn't worth the risk to the entire school. The small chamber next to the bloodmagic chamber contained devices inside the walls to capture and store stray magic from a ritual gone wrong, therefore it was a bad place to keep anything. Most students just kept one robe handy for use moving between the locker rooms and the bloodmagic chambers.
Rahkesh wrapped his robe around himself and found the sandals he kept for after rituals, when his feet were often still a little achy, covered in dried blood, and he didn't want to wear shoes. Tristan Namach was waiting outside the door when Rahkesh left.
"That went well." The ancient vampire said, appearing quite pleased with his student's work.
"Well enough. You were watching?" One of the walls of the blood magic chamber was actually a one-way window.
"For a bit. It's six o'clock." The vampire told him. Rahkesh was surprised; he'd been in there for seven hours. "That went faster than I'd expected. Nicely done."
"Thanks. I don't think I've ever felt this exhausted." Rahkesh said, feeling a vague dizziness.
"I think you can complete the stamina runes in one more ritual. But I'd give it a few weeks before you start designing the next one. If you start designing it too soon the bloodmagic might not have finished setting in and you'll have to redesign it." Namach said, grabbing Rahkesh's elbow and steering him away from a torch bracket Rahkesh was about to walk into.
"Thanks." Rahkesh said, trying to clear the blood out of his eyes. Blood dripped onto the floor but he ignored it. The floor of the hallway they were walking on had apparently never been cleaned; bloody feet over the centuries had left it with a layer of dried blood. The whole wing devoted to bloodmagic stank of blood. "I left my clothes in the locker room."
"I had one of the others move them to the showers. You leave here smelling like that and there's a good chance one of the young vampires might attack you." Namach said, "the young ones these days…" he shook his head. Rahkesh tried not to laugh. Namach probably couldn't remember being that young.
There was a set of showers near the blood magic chambers and Rahkesh headed for those. Dried blood itched and he wanted to get clean. When he left he showers he found that Namach had left him a goblet full of a minor revival potion. Rahkesh drank it, making a mental note to thank the ancient, and went straight to bed, skipping the evening meal entirely. He was far to tired to spend any time in the dining hall, and falling asleep in the middle of dinner was not very dignified.
The next morning he called up his latest set of bloodmagic runes and felt a light tingle in his skin as the magic began to work. The runes glowed briefly and a wave of magic washed over him. When it had passed the runes faded and Rahkesh could feel a strange sort of endless energy. That too would fade a bit over the next few days but it was a sure sign that his second stage of stamina runes had set into his magic correctly.
In addition to the second stage stamina piece he'd also finished two parts of a set that would give him extraordinary night vision, when he turned those runes on. The great thing about blood magic was that it could be turned off and on, and that if in the middle of a fight he felt himself tiring he could call upon the stamina and strength runes, even if they were already working, to increase is energy even further. Though he'd pay for doing that afterward with extreme exhaustion. The night vision was a fairly simple bit of blood magic, three parts in total. Because the runes were mostly around the eyes and even on the eyelids, the inside and outside of them, it had to be done with such exacting care that it took six hours, despite being a fairly small piece of bloodmagic. Rahkesh had practiced drawing for weeks, hoping to force himself to develop an attention to detail good enough to handle the runes for night vision. With effort he'd managed to develop the exacting precision necessary and had completed two of the three stages of the night vision runes.
Namach had been absolutely delighted with Rahkesh's speedy progress. Rahkesh was very good and figuring out where to place runes and unlike most beginners he needed no instruction about what angle each cut should be made at. That came naturally enough that Rahkesh had thought that was completely obvious until Namach announced that the class would spend over a month learning how to tell how each cut should be made. He'd also thought if obvious that the knife couldn't leave the skin between carving certain sets of runes, but this too was something they would be studying. The problem was that the runes that had to be cut together without taking the knife out of the flesh weren't always in the same spot, in which case there had to be other runes connecting them. Some of those runes wouldn't even be part of the final piece, just extra material. They had to be carved in such a way that they didn't conflict with the bloodmagic being attempted, something else that Rahkesh found fairly easy to figure out. Namach said he'd rarely seen such a promising student of bloodmagic, he'd spent the last month testing Rahkesh's ability to design bloodmagic ritual and runes, with ever increasing delight as Rahkesh always picked out the smallest problems and corrected them. He'd decided to move Rahkesh ahead next year to a more advanced class, since Rahkesh was really only wasting time in the group he was currently with. If he continued at this rate Namach thought he might manage to get a mastery in bloodmagic by the age of twenty-two. Which would make him the fifth youngest master ever.
His vampire friends Silas and Daray had both finished their first pieces of bloodmagic. They each working on an eight stage set designed to allow them to spend more time in the sun without the horrible weakness that overcame most vampires after more that two or three days of direct sunlight. None of the vampires had told him at the time, but by the time they'd arrived at Akren Mountain School all of the vampire students had been starting to feel sick with an overdose of sunlight. The bloodmagic they were working on would get rid of the weakness, it would take another four piece set get rid of the sickness and a third four piece set to stop their skin from becoming badly burned. Sun block didn't work well on vampires. So far they had each done the first stage of each piece. Namach estimated that if Daray and Silas kept working at the runes like they were they might manage to complete all three sets with one year.
XXXXX
"Stupefy!" Erik the half-veela collapsed. Rahkesh ducked a second stunner and rolled behind the fallen bodies of his teammates. Leaping upright he thrust one hand forward, sending Rianae flying backwards. He'd lost his wand a few minutes earlier and had been fighting wandless ever since.
Ally, his only remaining teammate, was in the middle of a rough fistfight with a werewolf student. She didn't have her wand anymore either and her only chance to beat him was to prevent him from casting spells. He attacked, kicking and then punching when she dodged. Ally blocked and attacked back, smacking his wand away when he tried a stunning spell. He attacked again. Ally moved away from every attack, never quite where he expected her to be. Ally was very tall, very strong, and very aggressive. Liam was clearly having trouble keeping up with the force she put into her attack each time she saw the chance to get him. Finally she saw an opening and took it. Rahkesh saw her fist connect with Liam's face, then her elbow rammed into his solar plexus. The werewolf doubled over, tripped over his own foot and crashed into her as he collapsed, sending them both to the ground. As she fell Ally rotated with all the agility of a cat so that when Liam fell over her she rammed her knee into his groin. The werewolf toppled over her and rolled, snapping his wand about to point at her. Ally cast a wandless stunning spell at the same moment he cast a silent stunner. Both of them collapsed simultaneously.
Rahkesh ducked a close-range hex and leaped, his foot smashed into Daray's gut causing the vampire to stagger and nearly fall. Being a vampire he shook it off easily enough and then he and Rianae attacked together. Rahkesh was the last one left of his team of eight, Rianae and Daray were the last ones left of their team of fourteen.
They had begun the fight all with wands, and two very uneven teams, in a giant maze/obstacle course made of boulders and hills of sand ideal for slipping on. Plenty of cover to hide behind and dodge around. Now with the three students still standing all in the middle of the open area it would come down it stamina and skill. Rahkesh cast a wandless choking charm, and then remembered that vampires didn't have to breathe when Rianae just ignored it. His next attempt, as he dodged away from a kick that might have broken his neck, was successful and threw her wand away over one of the walls. Daray had already lost his wand and now Rahkesh faced the two in a slightly fairer fight.
The two vampires closed in, knowing that if they could just tackle him their superior strength would end the fight. Rahkesh dodged their attacks and fought back. He rammed the fingertips of one hand into Rianae's solar plexus, drawing a gasp of pain. His next attack was to smash the side of his hand up under Daray's nose. Bone broke and blood began to flow down the vampire's face. His vision momentarily blurred by tears Daray didn't see the next move. Rahkesh seized his shoulder, elbowed him hard in the stomach, stuck one leg between the vampires and pushed. Daray fell across his leg just in time to receive a vicious round-kick punch combination from his own teammate. Rahkesh leaped as far as possible, landed on his shoulder and rolled away. The two vampires straightened themselves out; Daray's nose healing completely in the two minutes it took them to come after Rahkesh again.
This time Rahkesh could not avoid both of them, they attacked simultaneously. Daray kicked the back of one of his knees, Rahkesh turned his fall into a roll, spinning around in a move Fred and George had taught him (actually they'd been teaching him to break dance) and spun, lashing out upwards with one foot and catching Daray, who'd rushed in to tackle him, hard enough in the groin that the vampire slammed back into Rianae. Rianae leaped around him and fell, driving her shoulder into Rahkesh's gut. Rahkesh felt something break, a rib he thought as pain rushed through him. He moved to hit her across the face only to find his hand pinned, fingers digging painfully into the tendons of his wrist, a second later he felt fangs against his throat and froze.
A whistle sounded. Rahkesh waited, not breathing, until the fangs moved away and the two vampires let him up. Searing pain washed over him as he tried to stand and he almost fell over again. The two vampires caught him as he staggered.
"What?" Daray asked as they helped him stay upright.
"Broken rib. You two do that every time we fight. I'm starting to think it's planned." Rahkesh gasped out, thinking that this time the injury was a lot more severe. Usually it was just a cracked rib, this was definitely worse. The two vampires, both already healed, seemed to realize that as well because they got him over to one of the benches quickly. Daray found their wands and Rianae cast a charm that allowed caused the injured area, his right floating rib, to glow and showed the damaged parts in bright red.
"Damn, sorry about that. Compound fracture. And you're bleeding internally." Rianae said. Rahkesh was starting to feel really dizzy. And the adrenaline was wearing off and horrible pain was setting in. The teachers had revived their classmates and soon the others joined them. There were a few minor injuries which were healed quickly. Then Professor Marluck came over to see what was keeping Rahkesh. He took one look at what the charm was showing and grimaced.
"That's bad. You know how to heal it?" he asked. Rahkesh nodded and took his wand from Daray. The two vampires placed a hand on each shoulder to hold him still in anticipation of a rather painful healing.
"Rememdium rib." He then promptly had to fight the urge to double over in agony as he felt pieces of bone sliding back into their proper places and mending. The two vampires force his shoulders back against the wall, keeping him upright. When Rahkesh finally remembered to breathe again he raised the wand again.
"Rememdi corpus. Fendio!" Rianae's charm showed whatever damages the pieces of broken bone had caused slowly healing. While not the best healing spells out there they were the ones he knew best and he wasn't about to try some of the others he knew of if he wasn't sure they would work. Now was not the time to experiment.
A few minutes later he was feeling much better and left with his friends for the underground pool. The teacher always insisted on a good non-stressful workout after a fight to calm down and keep muscles from stiffening as they had a tendency to do when going from very active to not active at all. Rahkesh and his four friends preferred swimming for this purpose.
"Thank you for not biting me." Rahkesh said to Rianae, guessing that it had been her fangs.
"It's a good way to end a fight." She said with a wolfish grin. Rahkesh just shook his head. It had been a little strange to realize that those sharp little fangs could slit his throat, were designed to in fact. Most mortals, when the felt vampire fangs near their throats, would completely "freak" (Ally's term for it), Rahkesh was very pleased to discover that he didn't suffer from that and kept his mind.
"Perhaps." Rahkesh agreed.
"It was tempting mind you. As powerful as you are your blood is undoubtedly delicious." Rianae continued, Daray nodded in agreement.
"Gee thanks." Rahkesh drawled. The three vampires smiled happily, apparently not getting his sarcasm.
"You're welcome. Any chance you would let us?" Silas asked.
"Absolutely not. I think I'll be selfish and keep my blood to myself." Rahkesh said, he and Ally both rolled their eyes at each other over the vampire's disappointed looks. Rahkesh rubbed sweat off his forehead and felt the fake skin was starting to curl at the edges, a sign it needed to be removed.
"I think I'll skip the swim tonight guys. I'd rather just shower. See you later?"
"Sure." Ally said, Rahkesh split from them and headed back to his rooms. Having to always be aware of when that fake skin needed to be changed was a nuisance.
Standing before the mirror in his bathroom Rahkesh pressed the fake skin onto his forehead over the lightning bolt scar. He had brewed a new batch of the potion and his latest version stayed on longer. He was so used to looking in the mirror and not seeing a scar that to see it now was surprising. He heard voices coming from the office area of his rooms checked the fake skin again.
"Rahkesh?" Rahkesh quickly hid all of his disguise things and checked the potion sitting in a caldron in the bathtub. It was done; he used a soup ladle to remove a half-gallon and dumped the rest. Only the potion that rose to the top of the caldron was useful. It was another eye changing solution to change his eye color. This time it was designed to make his eyes gold, as different as possible from his normal killing-curse green. The aqua color he'd had since leaving the Room of Requirement wouldn't be good enough among those who might know him. Finished he hid the bottle of potion in his robe pocket and went out to see who was there.
Ally, Silas, and Daray were waiting for him out in the study. It was only a week until winter break and all of Rahkesh's friends probably had plans. He hoped they did, that way he wouldn't have to worry about anyone trying to contact him while he was at home.
"What are you up to over break?" Rahkesh asked, sitting down cross-legged on his bed.
"My parents invited both of you to stay with us at the family castle for a week." Daray offered.
Ally shook her head regretfully. "I can't. I have to visit relatives, they've come all the way from India. And then I have to visit other relatives closer to home. I wish I could come though, my political views clash with those of my relatives like oil and water."
"What about you?" Silas asked Rahkesh. Rahkesh quickly thought over his plans, he certainly didn't intend on going home for three weeks.
"Sure. How about the last week of winter break?" He said. "Where is your family castle anyway?"
"Currently? It's still in Brazil. Grandma Cyala moved it out into the middle of the jungle, right along a tributary of the Amazon. Most of the family will be there, they're all vampires." Silas warned him.
"So long as no one tries to eat me." Rahkesh said.
"No. But you might hear a few stupid mortal jokes."
"If they're actually amusing I'd love to hear them." Rahkesh said with a grin, the two vampires relaxed a little.
"We'll send you a portkey by owl post. Password will be Ocelot." Daray told him.
Later after they had left Rahkesh made his way to one of Akren's three libraries. In this library was a listing of Akren Mountain School of Magic alumni. He had a hunch that some of the Order of the Phoenix, and possibly Dumbledore himself, had gone to Akren Mountain.
The Book of Graduates was an immense book. Black leather with gold bloodmagic wards scrawled across it. A piece of enchanted parchment, a quill, and an inkwell sat beside it. A small sign indicated that to find a person he should write their name on the parchment and the book would flip to the correct page, showing when, what subjects, and what masteries the person had.
Alastor Moody Rahkesh wrote. The book opened and the pages began to fly, eventually it stopped.
Alastor Moody
Mastery in Dueling, Master of Disguise.
Classes: Dueling, Potions, Transfiguration, Bloodmagic, Martial Arts, Muggle Weapons, Battle Tactics, Wandless Magic, Disguise, Interrogation Tactics, Warding, Magical Law, History (European), Charms, Debating: Methods and Practices.
Moody had been very serious about his education. Rahkesh decided, taking that many classes. Rahkesh had started out fairly easy but after winter break he was starting a half-year course in Herbology in addition to his other classes. Though there were no dates for when Moody had attended. And according to another book he'd read there hadn't been any students from Hogwarts attending Akren in centuries. Which made him wonder exactly how this had happened. Unless Moody wasn't originally from Europe at all. Or time travel, or whoever was in charge of this books magic had changed it for some reason. Looking for other names he might know Rahkesh didn't find any. But what he had seen told him that his trust in Alastor Moody was well placed. He closed the book and left before anyone came along and saw him.
Rahkesh rode out of the valley on a Fire Horse, the same one he'd ridden to the hot springs, the animal appeared to have taken a liking to him. His friends and a large number of other students were with him. Nearly a hundred of them racing along the trail to the trailhead where the portkeys were.
Rahkesh separated from the group where they had seen the Yecks. He waited until all the others were out of sight and then set off into the short trees. Using the invisibility he'd been given from the Yeck cap. Hoping that its magic would conceal him, make the Yecks sense him as one of their own and not be alarmed. After an hour-long search he found tracks of what he assumed had to be a Yeck. He had studied gorilla tracks and these looked like the feet of miniature gorillas. He followed the tracks for over and hour through the snow-glazed landscape.
Finally he began seeing other Yeck tracks about besides the trail he was following and assumed that he must be getting close to their dens. Pulling out a set of Ominoculars Rahkesh scanned the surrounding slopes. In a small clearing he noticed piles of dirt and small holes in the ground. They looked like rabbit holes only a bit larger. Tracks about in front of the holes looked like what he'd been following. As he watched a small white shape with a white cap emerged from one and sat down, grooming its fur, out in the open.
Rahkesh noticed that nearby a path had been worn between two large boulders. Pulling out his wand Rahkesh transfigured the boulders so that the walls in between were rough and prickly, a bit comb like, perfect for catching fur on. He then cast a silent summoning spell at the loose Yeck fur stuck on the twigs of the trees around him. Minutes later he had enough to stuff a body pillow. Pulling out a bag that was charmed to be larger inside than out he stuffed all the loose fur in, he didn't know the value but he was sure he'd find something to use it for some day.
Rahkesh had not been wasting his time in Akren Mountain. The valley and mountains were home to many unusual creatures and Rahkesh had a knack for searching them out. He managed to get close enough to the nests of white eagles to gather their eggshells without being attacked. He had had to sit where the birds could see him every day for two months, moving a bit closer each day. Eventually they had ignored him and while they were training the chicks to fly he had summoned the eggshells to him without their noticing.
He had also found some of the plants that had hurt Tanya and managed to capture, without getting bitten, three of them. A Herbology book finally yielded their name they were called Kanakachat. The only egg-laying plant. They had a tendency to kill people and lay their eggs and sink their roots into the bodies and so very few people wanted to own them much less try to get potions ingredients from them. The plants had a stunning agent for most of the year, and a murderous venom during the breeding season. He had harvested this, it had to be taken without killing the plant, and had then fought the plants for their eggs.
Having been left behind by the others Rahkesh made his own way to the trailhead. Ut was cleared of all the obstacle and traps that had been hidden everywhere on his journey to the school and the ride went smoothly. He left the horses at the trailhead; the Fire Horses knew the way back and could open the entrance to the school. The portkeys left at the trailed head took the students to the magical sector of Regina.
Not wanting to take a carpet (partly because Sygra would never forgive him) Rahkesh headed to one of the more interesting businesses in town; the portkey center. Ally had told him about these and sure enough a large sign over the door advertised the portkeys available. Portkey centers were simply businesses, often dozens around the world owned by one company, that provided transportation via portkey to various destinations. It was a more expensive way to travel than using a flying carpet, but Rahkesh could afford it.
Scanning the list of destinations Rahkesh selected Ottawa. It had a large magical population and he would be able to find another portkey center. Probably one with more destination options than this one.
Half an hour later Rahkesh was in the front lobby of the hotel in Ottawa that he had previously stayed in. From the receptionist Rahkesh got directions to the local branch of Gringotts and three different potions supply shops. He headed to the bank first. An imperious marble building that looked a lot like its counterpart in Diagon Alley. Inside Rahkesh went up to one of the Goblins.
"I'd like to open an account." He said.
"Name?" The goblin asked Rahkesh gave his name and then deposited some of the money he'd taken from his other accounts under the name of Harry Potter before leaving home. It was good to have money stored away under different identities.
Wandering out onto the street Rahkesh set out to find all three potions shops. The first two he wandered into and dismissed. They sold only the usually things. The stuff used in making the easiest of everyday potions. The third however specialized in the unusual.
Everything You Need for the Creation of Unusual Potions – a gold sign read. Below it was a smaller sign. Working on a Potion with Tricky Ingredients? We've got what you need! This place sounded much more promising.
Inside the shop was cluttered with shelves sagging under the weight of some of the oddest potions ingredients Rahkesh had ever seen. Optic nerves of a Minke whale's eye, Platypus snot, Siren bone marrow, and other oddities that couldn't be used in more than one or two potions. Eyeing a container that said it was full of powdered ostrich beak Rahkesh saw the owner approaching in the reflected glass. He was a short wrinkled elderly wizard with bright searching eyes.
"Can I help you?" he asked in a soft whispery voice. Rahkesh turned away from the shelf and smiled politely.
"Yes. I have some unusual potions ingredients and I was wondering if you would be interested in them." Rahkesh said.
"Such as?" The old man asked with the curiosity of a true potions fanatic.
"Yeck fur. Fire Horse tail hairs. Kanakachat eggs and venom." Rahkesh replied. Watching as the old mans eyes got brighter and brighter with each ingredient he listed.
"Oh certainly! Its been years since I found someone who had those! Do you have any samples?" He asked breathlessly. As Rahkesh nodded he abruptly turned away. "Not, here, not here, come into my office. I'm Mr. Matthew Fleming." Rahkesh followed the excited old man to the office, a cluttered room with a desk and two chairs. Potions books and instructions for harvesting various odd ingredients were piled neck-high all around the room.
Rahkesh removed a silver platter from a hidden pocket and magically enlarged it. Fire horsehair had to be placed on pure silver until it was ready to be used. He then removed a box, which he also enlarged. It was another of the mutli-compartment boxes, with ten keyholes, his latest attempt at creating the things. He put the key into the first keyhole and opened the box. The glow from the hairs brightened the room considerably. They were glowing, but not flaming. He put on some plastic gloves and removed a few wispy hairs from the box and placed them on the platter. Mr. Fleming had put on his own gloves and now picked up one hair to examine it.
"Oooh. Very high quality. The beast gave you these willingly, amazing. They almost never do that. Gender?"
"A three year old male." Rahkesh replied. The box was divided down the middle and he had been careful to store the hairs he had taken from the Fire Horse he usually rode and the female he'd also gotten hairs from on different sides. "I have female as well. None from foals yet but I'm hoping to get some."
Mr. Fleming hummed and tapped the hair to see if any ashes fell off. The red glow remained constant and when he blew on it it didn't flare or turn black. He checked to make sure it hadn't been taken out by the root and that there was no skin attached.
"Very nice, very nice. And female too you said?" Mr. Fleming put the hair back in the box and pulled out a few from the other half to examine them too. "Last chap who tried to sell me these, they were fake." He commented, Rahkesh raised a politely incredulous eyebrow. "Oh yes, nothing real in them, common mundane horse hair." Mr. Fleming said, inviting Rahkesh to share in his shock that anyone would try something so stupid. Rahkesh shook his head in disbelief.
"Some people just don't know a thing about potions." He said sadly. Mr. Fleming nodded sagely. And placed the female Fire Horse hairs back.
"You said you had Yeck fur?"
When Rahkesh left the shop two hours later he'd decided upon an agreement with Mr. Fleming. The old dealer had bought a fairly substantial amount of each ingredient Rahkesh had and he had agreed to send Rahkesh a letter as soon as he started running out of any. Rahkesh had plenty of each so that no matter how fast Mr. Fleming managed to sell the stuff he wasn't going to run out. The payments were being transferred to his new Gringotts account. Rahkesh located the Ottawa portkey center and reserved a portkey to London the next day before going back to his hotel.
Things might get a little dangerous soon Sygra Rahkesh warned the serpent back in his room.
Dangerous is those damned carpets. Dangerous is people who are immune to my venom. Dangerous is larger snakes. Humans are not dangerous. Sygra replied. Just tell me who to bite. Rahkesh stroked her back amused at his friend's eagerness for a fight.
Anyone who threatens you or me. He said.
You've been thinking very hard about something. Tell me. Rahkesh eyed the snake, wondering if she'd understand. She probably would, she was amazingly intelligent. He had already told her about most of his life, and Albus's death not long ago.
That night Albus died. I've been wondering. He always trusted Snape so much. Was Snape supposed to kill him? They're both experts at Legilimency and occlumency. It would be so easy to pass a mind message that night on the rooftop. Did he tell Snape to kill him? I can't imagine Albus pleading, I think he would have just died. Was it all an act? Is Snape on our side? Hell…is he on anyone's side. I'm confused Sygra. Albus trusted Snape so much, there's a good chance he told Snape to kill him. I don't know what to think.
Once you start Necromancy you can ask him yourself. The snake pointed out. Rahkesh stopped suddenly. He hadn't thought of that.
You're a genius Sygra!
Of course I am. Now go eat, I can hear your stomach rumbling form here. It's annoying. Rahkesh laughed and left, feeling better than he had in a long time. If Namach really did move him up to a higher bloodmagic class he could start Necromancy much sooner.
XXXX
In another horrible attack the Dark Lord has declared war on the world of muggles. A muggle school has been attacked and the children kidnapped. All of the teachers are dead. No one knows the whereabouts of the missing children, nor what the Dark Lord intends to do with them. Obliviators and aurors are hard at work trying to find all muggles who witnessed the dark mark above the school but they may be too late. A muggle reporter was on the scene when they arrived taking pictures and it is unknown if they managed to get all of them.
Rahkesh paid for the paper and tucked it into the massive hidden pockets in the sleeves of his robes. Diagon Alley had lost its bustling amusing air. Now it was quiet and grim looking witches and wizards went about their business in silence. Everywhere around him people were dodging in and out of stores as if afraid to be on the street. The benches, formerly filled with people eating candy or selling flowers, were empty. Rahkesh picked out one that offered an uninterrupted view of the whole of Diagon Alley and sat down to read the rest of the paper. A few people cast curious looks at the relaxed stranger who didn't appear at all concerned that he was alone, and then hurried past trying to pretend they hadn't noticed him.
His second day home Rahkesh left the inn he was staying at and began a search for potions supply shops in Diagon and Knockturn Alleys. He had just finished negotiations with a rare potions ingredients shop in Knockturn Alley and was returning to the inn for lunch when he heard a piercing scream. Rahkesh, and everyone shopping around him, whirled to look in time to see dark robed figures levitate a little girl off the ground and hurl her magically through a shop window.
Death Eaters poured into the Alley from the spaces between buildings, dark hexes and curses went flying around. Rahkesh ducked behind the corner of one shop, the witch standing behind him was hit with a cruciatus curse.
"Finite Incantatem!" Rahkesh snapped, ripping the curse off her. The death eater casting it turned to him.
"Crucio!" Rahkesh dodged. And hurled a fireball at him. The death eater fell to the ground as his robes were charred and his eyebrows signed off by the flames.
"Diffindo." The ripping charm was aimed right at the recovering death eater's neck. Rahkesh watched as his throat opened up like a second mouth and blood drenched the ground.
There were children in the Alley with their parents. The Death Eaters were going after them.
"Protego!" Rahkesh's shield deflected an imperius curse aimed at a little girl who was shopping with her father.
"Thanks."
"They're after the children, get your daughter out of here." Rahkesh snapped meeting a disarming spell with a bone-breaking spell that overpowered the disarmer and shattered the caster's wrist. The father had picked up his daughter and was running. Rahkesh threw a shield around them to deflect anything thrown at them. Someone was screaming, a lot of people were screaming. A woman was lying on the ground, her body ripped apart and bleeding horribly, screaming as her son was grabbed by a death eater.
"Incendio!" The spell hit the death eater right in the face and his face burst into flames. "Accio!" The little boy came flying towards him. "Tribuo valetudo!" The woman began to heal; Rahkesh poured his strength into the spell until he knew she would live. The he pushed the boy to her and threw a shield over them both.
"Run!" The woman just looked at him. "Now, hurry." She blinked, and then leaped to her feet, picked up the little boy, and dashed off towards the Leaky Cauldron.
Picking out a group of death eaters Rahkesh took a deep breath and put his back against a wall between two stores where he would be less vulnerable.
"Fulguris!" He roared, putting everything he had into it. A year ago he would have just expected the magic to come. Now Rahkesh had learned to control the spell and directed the massive bolts of lighting into the group of death eaters. Keeping complete control of the magic after it had left the wand and all the way until it hit.
The wave of light from the lightning momentarily blinded everyone. When it had cleared the clap and boom of thunder roared through the Alley so hard the buildings shook. The death eaters were not only dead from the power of the electricity ripping their hearts apart - strength of the lightning had also lifted them off their feet and thrown them through a brick wall.
Now aurors were appeared everywhere, fighting in teams. Rahkesh noticed a group that was trying to get some injured people to safety while being overwhelmed by the death eaters. He stepped into the group and hurled a vomiting spell followed by three bone breaking spells. The auror beside him created a shield and held off the counter attack while Rahkesh put everything he had into a silent Ustulare spell. Three death eaters went up in flames with hideous screams of agony. The complete combustion spell was borderline illegal.
"Fractum. Diffindo." The bone breaker cracked someone's skull and the ripped spell slit another throat. Realizing that someone was really putting up a fight the death eaters regrouped, facing off against the aurors and a few civilians who'd stayed to help.
"Accio!" The group of death eaters he was facing lost their wands. Only two of them managed to force the spell away and keep their wands. Rahkesh tucked the captured wands into a pocket. Conjuring spiked whips to lash out magically he proceeded to rip into the unarmed death eaters.
Seeing that he was holding off a large group a few aurors began running his way. From somewhere Kingsley appeared nearby, followed by Tonks and Alastor Moody. A little girl collapsed under a stunning spell. Her mother was already dead. Rahkesh raised a hand and, channeling his anger into the effort, attempted to set the death eaters of fire. It worked. Four death eaters spontaneously combusted with a roar of flames.
Stopping the whips he began sending off silent spells to snap tendons, screams of pain issued from the black robed masked people.
"Accio!" The girl was at their feet in an instant, Rahkesh revived her and shoved her over to Moody. Who cast a shield and hurried her out of the Alley.
"FULGURIS!" With deafening thunder bolt after bolt of lightning flew out of the air around Rahkesh, the size and strength slowly increasing, along with the frequency, until the air was humming and the roar and boom of the thunder constant. There was no way to tell where one lightning bolt ended and another began, the ground began to shake.
Finally getting his magic back under control, and realizing that he'd already made a bit of a scene. Rahkesh stopped the spell and went invisible.
No one moved, there was absolute silence. The attacking force of death eaters was almost entirely dead. No one could hear a thing, temporarily deaf. The air smelled of burnt ozone.
Finally the aurors began to move, taking wands and binding the few death eaters who had miraculously survived being struck by such massive bolts of lightning. A few went to help the injured. Rahkesh changed the color of his robes and slipped into a crowd and become visible again.
"Wonderful afternoon ain't it?" Rahkesh asked Kingsley as he knelt beside an injured child and removed the stunning spell. Kingsley just stared at him incredulously. The girls mother came running over and took her away.
Reporters arrived; the aurors were going about asking everyone how the attack had started.
"They were already here, hiding anywhere they could. Waiting until the maximum number of people were in the Alley." Rahkesh told Kingsley and another auror he didn't know.
"They must have snuck in over the last few days. Or from Knockturn Alley. Are you injured?" the unfamiliar auror asked.
"No. I'm fine. It looked like they were after the children."
"Perhaps." Kingsley said evasively. "What were you doing here today?"
"I was on my way to one of the potions shops. I'm a supplier of rare potions ingredients." Rahkesh said. That got curious looks.
"Oh? Where?"
"There's a shop over there." Rahkesh said, waving a hand to the entrance to Knockturn Alley.
"Do you know what that is?" Kingsley asked now looking at Rahkesh as if he were a possible threat.
"It says Knockturn Alley." He replied, looking a bit confused The two aurors exchanged glances and apparently decided that he wasn't from around London and didn't know about the Alley's reputation.
"Most of the shops in Knockturn specialize in things that are not entirely legal." Kingsley's companion finally said. Rahkesh let himself look surprised
"Oh." He paused, "Yeck fur is not illegal." He finished giving the aurors an annoyed look.
"We weren't suggesting you were trafficking in illegal objects sir. Just that it isn't the place for people doing an honest business." The auror hurried to make sure he hadn't taken what he'd said as in insult.
"Ah. I'll take your word for it. I've never been to London before. Fine way to spend my first visit." He said, looking around at the smoldering remains of the Alley. "I say, that security device of yours that created the lightning was something. What is it?"
"It wasn't-" Kingsley nudged his companion when the man went to say that it hadn't been anything to do with the aurors.
"I'm sorry sir, need to know only." Kingsley said quickly. Rahkesh nodded. "Now sir I think you killed several of them."
"Yes." Rahkesh admitted. "You always fight fire with fire. If they're trying to kill you and kidnap a bunch of children you'd better fight back just as violently. Else they'll always be ahead of you."
"In the future we would appreciate it if you did not." Kingsley told him sternly. Rahkesh gave him a look that said quite clearly what he thought of Kingsley's intelligence.
"I seem to remember several of your people doing the same."
"Yes well. It's our job. We're not really supposed too." Kingsley plainly disagreed with that policy, "and everyone who did will of course be reprimanded." Rahkesh sincerely doubted that.
"Well if you'll excuse me, I'll be off." He said, looking around at the Alley for a moment. The two aurors seemed to think he had no more to tell them anyway because they started looking around for someone else to question.
"It's really very nice usually." The younger one told him.
"I'm sure it is." Rahkesh agreed. Giving the impression that he very much doubted that.
Leaving aurors Rahkesh walked towards Gringotts, wondering if they would come after him. They didn't. Glancing into a shattered window he saw in the reflection a familiar face. Alastor Moody detached himself from the shadows near the aurors and began moving in a slowly aimless manner…following Rahkesh. Damn, he'd probably been caught; the canny old auror was on to him.
Passing the last of the aurors Moody moved away in the direction Rahkesh had taken. As he past the smoldering blasted corner of a shattered building Rahkesh stepped out and stopped beside him. His invisibility, given by taking the cap of a Yeck, had outdone even Moody's eye. The auror might be able to see through the broken side of the building, but he couldn't see past whatever magics Rahkesh had gotten when he'd taken the cap. Moody whirled with astounding speed, given his age and disabilities. Only to find his wand was already out of his hand and hovering inches away from Rahkesh.
"Alastor really." He said, concentrating on the magical potion he was wearing in his eyes, its effects faded briefly and Alastor Moody found himself staring into killing curse green eyes. He said nothing and gave Rahkesh an angry glare. "I'm going to give you your wand back, then you'll follow me." Rahkesh told him sternly and handed the wand back. Without waiting to see what Moody did he walked into the Leaky Cauldron.
In the pub Rahkesh pointed out an empty booth to Moody. The old auror crossed the room slowly, the seat was located so that they could see both doors and the staircase, no one would surprise them. Rahkesh got a butterbeer and slid into the seat across from Moody. He said nothing; just drank and mended the scorched sleeves of his robes.
Rahkesh took out a lump of what look like silver and placed it on the table. Moody reached out and cut his finger a bit on the sharp pin sticking out of the lump and pressed the blood into an indentation in the mass.
"Alastor Moody." The lump glowed white briefly. It was a high quality device that checked if someone was who they said they were by reading the magical signature while they spoke, checking for honesty. They had made the things in potions class the second month of school. Rahkesh put it away and they sat in silence again.
"You were following me." Rahkesh stated, finally getting tired of the auror's staring.
"You've been missing for nearly six months." The old auror growled. Rahkesh flicked his hand, and the wand hidden in his sleeve, sending up silencing spells, notice-me-not wards, and anti-eavesdropping charms.
"Yes. I assume you can see through the fake skin?" He asked curiously.
"Yeah. Nice disguise job."
"Thank you. But I was rather hoping you wouldn't be able to see past that stuff." Rahkesh said with a disappointed sigh. They sat in silence for a moment.
"You have a lot of answering to do." Moody finally said.
"You might have a lot of questions to ask. But I don't intend to answer all of them if I don't like them." Rahkesh replied softly.
"Do you have any idea how worried we were?" Now he was starting to sound a bit irritated.
"Probably." Rahkesh replied honestly.
"Nothing to say for yourself?"
"I needed training that Hogwarts couldn't give me, so I went elsewhere."
"Where?"
Rahkesh studied the ancient auror for a few moments. Remembering that Moody's name was in the list of Akren alumni.
"Canada." He stated finally. Moody's eyes went wide, and then he threw back his head and laughed.
"Clever boy, very clever." The auror laughed happily, apparently quite delighted with the knowledge that Rahkesh was studying at his old school. "I always told Albus you ought to go there. He wouldn't hear of you leaving Hogwarts. How did you find it?"
"The Room of Requirement." Rahkesh replied. Wondering if Moody knew of it. Moody nodded his head.
"Enjoying yourself?"
"Immensely." Rahkesh said with a smile. Moody nodded.
"The Order looked for you for a bit. But we gave up. Your friends are still looking." Moody told him. Rahkesh felt a brief flash of guilt for his friend's anxiety over his current location. And then pushed it away. He had told them the reason why they couldn't know where he was.
"You read the letter?" He asked.
"Yeah. Having any problems with the assassins?"
"I only got back yesterday. And the disguise is pretty good." Rahkesh responded.
"Well yer fighting has certainly improved." Moody growled approvingly. "And don't mind Kingsley, they're not supposed to kill but everyone knows they do. Since he's still on the payroll he has to spout off that nonsense about not killing. Me, I'm retired and nobody's gonna come and tell me I can't mess up the death eaters. Mind you I usually try not to." No, Rahkesh thought, no one was going to try to tell Alastor Moody how to handle death eaters.
"I came back to see how everyone was holding up."
"A lot of folks have left. I've been telling the Weasley's they ought to send the children elsewhere to finish their schooling but they won't hear of it. Your friend Hermione won't either. Maybe you can talk some sense into them."
"Maybe. I don't think they'd be able to get into Akren much less handle it." Rahkesh said, Moody thought about that and then nodded in agreement.
"Well I can't say I know them very well but I agree. Miss Ginerva Weasley might manage it okay." Moody said. Rahkesh thought about that. More he thought about it the better that idea sounded.
"Maybe." He said finally.
"Everyone thinks you left to finish training somewhere safer, at a place Albus recommended." Moody said with a twisted grin. "I don't think he'd ever recommend Akren. But we're not about to correct them. Let people think what they will." Rahkesh nodded in agreement. "Suicide rate's gone up some, folks aren't giving up but Albus's death was a nasty shock to everyone. You going to tell me what you and he were doing leaving the castle that night?"
Rahkesh sighed and nodded. Then he began to explain.