Stella walked for what seemed like hours. Taking random turns and going up, down, and around through ever-lasting tunnels of damp slimy granite with only the light of her wand to keep her company. Every once in a while, she would hear a distant hiss or the sound of fast footsteps that would make her put out her wand and wait tensely in the darkness.
Eventually, as she started noticing an upward trend in the paths she'd been taking, Stella took a left turn into a familiar corridor. A greenish hue – reflected from the light of her wand – told her she was on the far end of the tunnel which led into the cavern with the narrow stone bridges. The same room in which the ravine ended. The same ravine that could lead them outside.
Heart racing, Stella quickly sped in the direction of the watery hall. If she could just get help in time…
She nearly got there before stopping abruptly in her tracks. There was something else she'd remembered about this ravine now. It was the same ravine she'd nearly been drowned in by that awful pair of inferi. Stella tightened her grip on her wand and proceeded carefully. Walking slowly, she kept her ears open for any and all sounds nearby.
As if on cue, something made a splashing sound in the water ahead. Stella heard rapid footsteps and a high-pitched voice going "Hee Hee Hee!"
Her stomach turned. She knew exactly who the voice belonged to.
*THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP*
Was the inferius boy hunting for her again?
"Hee Hee Hee!"
Slowly beginning to panic, Stella shot nervous looks over her shoulder. She couldn't quite spot the source of the sounds, though she did think they came exclusively from the watery chamber.
"No! Get away!" Called a young man's voice from the same direction. "Ex - Expecto Patronum!"
A short, pathetic flash of light lit the chamber just enough for Stella to see the shadowy figures of a man, a scrawny child, and about a dozen other skinny pale figures emerging from the deep, putrid waters below.
The young man – whose voice told Stella was Alex – seemed to have realized his precarious situation at that same moment, letting out a bone-chilling scream which was muffled by the sounds of splashing waters and thuds.
Stella froze in fear, knees shaking, her hand barely holding onto her wand. She couldn't move. Couldn't uproot herself from where she was standing for fleeing nor for fighting.
"HELP! PLEASE!" Screamed Alex as the rotten mass of pale bodies dragged him under water. "I don't wanna – "
She had to help. Stella couldn't just stand there and watch as one of her saviors would succumb to the same fate as she would have just earlier that day.
Stella took a deep breath, bracing herself for what was to come.
"Heat and light…" she whispered to herself before breaking into a run.
Alex's screams had turned into blood-curdling gargles by the time Stella's reached the stony chamber. She heard rapid splashing in the water below and another high-pitched giggle before pointing her wand in the general direction of the sounds and yelling "Incendio!"
A thick jet of flames shot out of Stella's wand – lighting the entire chamber in a yellowish blaze. Stella saw the wretched child dive deep into the water along with all the rest of the inferi. "Incendio! Incendio! Incendio!" She kept a steady stream of hot flames pouring out of her wand as she threw herself on a narrow bridge and extended her hand into the water.
Alex caught on quick and grabbed Stella's hand firmly as she fought to bring him out of the depths. He barely managed to cough and splatter a "thank you," before getting back up and aiming his trembling wand hand at the murky deeps below.
"Incendio!" called Alex, as another one of the inferi leaped out of the water. The pallid corpse yelped in pain as it dove back into the filthy waters.
"I – I – I tried using a P – Patronus Charm on them, but it didn't work," he told Stella, still gasping for air.
"It doesn't seem to work in here," she replied wisely, "something in the air of this cave blocks all happy thoughts – Incendio!"
Another inferius screeched in pain, returning to the depths.
"There's no way we can fight them all off like that!" Called Alex as he sent another stream of flames in the direction of a leaping inferius.
"We have to try," she called back at him, "Incendio! Incendio! Incendio!"
Like a nauseating game of fiery Whac-A-Mole, Stella and Alex fought off dozens of rotting inferi that lunged at them from the sea waters underneath. There must be a way to efficiently get rid of them, thought Stella as putrid water splashed her face and hair. Water… Boiling water…
Stella remembered the spell Omer had used to make his famous chai. She grabbed Alex by the arm, "I'm gonna make them all leave the water at the same time. I need you to – Incendio! – I need you to set them all on fire as soon as I do that, okay? – Incendio! – OKAY?!"
"Y – yeah I can do that – Incendio!"
Stella pointed her wand at the water once more. Summoning one last drop of courage she called "Ferventious Maxima!" And the liquid below began to boil uncontrollably.
Almost immediately hundreds of sickening screeches sounded from all direction below. As the surface of the water bubbled with intense heat, dozens of inferi in varying degrees of burns and molten flesh sprang out of the water in search of safety.
"Incendio! Incendio! Incendio! Incendio! Incendio! Incendio!" Alex screamed at the top of his lunges; his face contorted in a half-concentrating half-vengeful manner. Stella, joining his efforts, lit a few dozen inferi on her own.
One by one, the vile bodies of long-dead wizards, witches, and No-Majes dropped to the floor in piles and piles of burning mass.
It was getting unbearably hot. Her face dripping with sweat, the hair on her arms singed by the flames, Stella looked back at Alex.
"We have to get out of here," she said.
He nodded his head in agreement.
After setting a few more inferi aflame, both Stella and Alex took off in the direction of the exit, barely breathing through the smoke and fumes that filled the chamber.
They ran as fast as their tired legs would carry them, only stopping when the screeches of the inferi and the sounds and smells of burning flesh were far behind.
"That," began Alex through heaving breaths, "was the worst thing I have ever had to go through. This includes that one time Rasmi made me go collect Acromantula venom with him."
Stella chuckled nervously at that. She couldn't believe they'd actually managed to survive that ordeal. Couldn't believe that –
*THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP*
"Oh no, Alex watch out!"
"Tous skótoses ólous!"
"AAAAAAARGH!"
Something tackled Alex to the floor.
Stella quickly lit her wand and pointed it in his direction.
The scene that greeted her wasn't a pleasant one. The inferius child had wrapped its arms around Alex's legs, sinking sharp teeth into his flesh.
Without thinking, without even realizing it, Stella pointed her wand at the inferius.
"Fuck you, you slimy little shit! Incendio!"
With a final ear-piercing screech, the monster that had been tormenting Stella for so long was gone in a ball of flames.
Stella took a moment to breathe in and bask in her victory. The true fight was far from over, but – for the very first time in this cave – she could see some hope.
A soft whimper shook her out of her thoughts. Stella quickly approached Alex, examining his wound. It was bad. Chunks of flesh hung from the bone of his right calf, bleeding rivers of sticky red fluid. A foul smell emanated from it – the inferius bite must have been septic. Stella pulled out her wand, her mind racing for the high-grade healing charm she'd learned in Defense Against the Dark Arts in her seventh year at Ilvermorny.
"Vulnera Sanentur, Vulnera Sanentur," she muttered, and light blue hue lit up the hall. Alex's wound stopped bleeding at once, and a thin layer of skin covered up the wound precariously.
"Thank you… again…" He mumbled back weakly.
"You're really supposed to perform this spell three times to fully seal the wound," explained Stella. "But I'd rather not risk it, what with it potentially being infected…"
Alex groaned in pain as he tried balancing himself against the damp wall to their right, grasping his half-eaten leg.
"Here, I can do this, too," she raised her wand again, "Ferula," and out of it came a few bandages that wrapped themselves around Alex's calf neatly.
"There you are!" Came the voice of Nina from behind Stella.
She turned around to see her and Rasmi running in their direction. Though disheveled and covered in dirt, their clothes torn in a few places, both looked pretty much unharmed.
"What happened to you, Al?" Rasmi asked immediately as he spotted his childhood friend on the floor clutching his bloody leg.
Alex groaned in pain again before replying. "I ran into a big group of inferi. Stella here saved me – more than once!" He chuckled a little.
"Really? How so?" Rasmi looked at Stella, clearly surprised by this bit of information. Stella couldn't help but take a little offence to this.
"Well, I… I mean…"
"She boiled the water they kept diving into to hide from us," explained Alex. "Then we burned the bastards and ran. One of them got me pretty bad though, she managed to heal it pretty well too."
"Impressive…" said Rasmi, looking at Stella with smile.
"Bloody brilliant if you ask me!" Alex corrected him.
"Welp," muttered Rasmi, clearly done with the matter of praising Stella, "we've got to get you out of here – Nina could you kindly make him hover? I'm done with this place. We've seen all we need to see, and we won't be able to find Herpo's Horcrux in here easily – especially with these Basilisks all around. Reckon I'll light this place up with Fiendfyre and seal it back up – "
"NO!" Yelled Stella.
The trio all looked at her startled.
"You can't just leave Omer here to die!"
Rasmi's eyes softened for a moment. "Look Stella, I'm not sure if you had time to get a good look at him in there, but Omer is most likely gone… His body is decomposing. Herpo's soul is eating away at it. Even if we did manage to somehow separate them, he'll probably try and jump onto another host and – "
"I'll do it," Stella replied concisely. "I'll let Herpo take over me. You just get Omer out of here safely and – "
"Don't be an idiot," Rasmi cut her off. "Don't sacrifice yourself for the smallest chance of saving your husband."
Stella's eyes began to tear up. She was going to save Omer. This teenager wasn't going to be the thing that stopped her from –
"If I could chime in," muttered Nina, looking at Stella with sympathetic eyes. "Ve could, potentially, grab him, no? If ve grabbed him while he is inside Omer and you took him outside of here while you burned it down, the bit of soul inside him would die and Omer vould be left alone, no?"
Rasmi looked at her with narrowing eyes. He was clearly thinking now. "It's more complicated than that," he mumbled. "I'm not sure how this would work and whether it would just die or escape and possess someone else. I – "
"But it could die right?" Queried Stella hopefully.
"Well yes but – "
"Then we have to at least try!"
"And what about the dozen or so Basilisks in our way?"
"Well," muttered Stella, "I actually have an idea for that…"
After a short pause Nina spoke again, this time in a softer tone. "You vould do it for me vouldn't you Ras?"
Rasmi sighed in frustration. "Fine," he stated finally, addressing Nina. "Fine, but I want you to take Al with you out of here. I'll go with miss 'Odo the Hero' here and – "
"I wanna help!" Called Alex from the floor.
"No, you don't, look at your leg," Rasmi shot him down. "Like I said, Stella and I will take the path that splits from this one and goes down – same one we took when we got here. I'm fairly certain I can navigate us back to Herpo through there. Nina, you'll wait out with Alex and try to call for help. Send us brooms if you can summon some, we might need to leave fast. If you see anyone, that isn't me or Stella, come out of here – or if one of us comes out alone looking… different… you flee. Understood?"
Nina evidently knew better than to argue. She flicked her wand with a quick single motion which lifted Alex into the air and, without giving the both of them more than a nervous nod and a "Good luck," walked away with Alex's lanky figure floating awkwardly.
"Now," said Rasmi turning to Stella once Nina and Alex were fully gone, "you said you had an idea for getting rid of the Basilisks, right?"
"Yes," she replied, "but I need you to not resist me at all. In fact, give me your wand."
"My wand?"
"Yes, give it here," she said, extending her left hand.
Rasmi handed her his wand with a perplexed look in his eyes.
"Good," stated Stella with a brief smile. "Brace yourself now."
"Brace for wha – "
"Pullus!"
Navigating the immense network of caves back down into the sacrificial chamber was not an easy task – especially with Rasmi's limited steering abilities.
Every time Stella had heard a distant hiss or shifting rocks in the distance, she would cover her eyes and let Rasmi take the lead. The first Basilisk they'd encountered was slain with relative ease. Herpo obviously wasn't expecting any of this when he set his beasts after them. After that, the second and third Basilisks were practically routine. Slowly but surely, Stella and Rasmi went deeper and deeper into the belly of the beast, leaving a trail of massive serpentine corpses in their wake.
Stella wasn't afraid anymore. She was determined. Determined to save the love of her life from a terrible fate. Determined to wreak revenge on the vile man who had tried taking everything she had away from her. It was time for Herpo to pay.
A bleak yellow light at the end of a long tunnel was the first indication that the hall in which she had woken up earlier was nearby. Slowly, with an ever-increasing heart rate, Stella approached the entrance to the sacrificial chamber, holding her hands behind her back. As she got closer to the entrance, Stella could hear Omer's voice giggling menacingly.
"So, you came back…" He said softly, sounding much more snake-like than before. He was standing with his back turned to her in front of the massive pit Rasmi had created a couple of hours prior.
Stella stepped into the light, keeping her arms squarely behind her back. She needed the element of surprise on her side if this was going to work.
"I did," she replied, surprised to hear the courage in her voice.
"Alone? How foolish…" Said Herpo teasingly as he turned around to face her. His face – Omer's face – looked so sickly it almost solid grey, his eyes were bloodshot with a yellowish tint, and cold sweat covered every inch of his body.
"Maybe," she agreed. "I was the only one that seemed to think I could still save Omer."
Herpo laughed coldly at that. "And how do you intend on doing that?"
"Well, I'm going to kill you first. Then I'll figure out what to do next."
Herpo laughed again. "I'll cut you a deal. You bring Erasmus to me, and I will let your pathetic little husband go. Though I cannot make promises for the state he'll be in."
"I don't think I'll take that deal on these terms. Thanks though."
He chuckled. "You amuse me, woman. No matter, I'll call my snakes here for a quick meal before I go after the boy."
"I wouldn't do that."
"Why not?" For the first time, Herpo seemed somewhat curious.
"Because I will kill your precious pets along with you. I already killed three of them."
Herpo laughed harder than ever before making that throaty inhuman hissing sound again. "You managed to avoid them on your way back here, I will give you that," he said as the ground began to tremble beneath their feet. "But in no way will I believe that you have slayed three of my serpents just by yourself."
"Oh, I never said I was by myself," retorted Stella as gigantic shapes appeared out of every entrance. "I had help."
The hall was filled with ear-piercingly loud hisses and shifting rocks. Stella closed her eyes shut.
"What do you mean?" Asked Herpo.
"You said you wanted me to bring Rasmi to you, right? Well, here you go!" Stella pulled what she'd been hiding behind her back for the past minute: a live rooster. A large, red feathered, bird whose call was known to be fatal for one specific magical creature…
"What in the name of Hades is this?!" Called Herpo.
"Rasmi…" Muttered Stella before throwing the cock-a-fied Rasmi hard into the middle of the chamber.
She managed to hear Herpo give out one more panicked command in Parseltongue before the loud call of a rooster filled the room, followed by the agonized hisses and squeals of the seven massive serpents trying to flee the hall. Stella opened her eyes again to see rivers of blood gushing out of every orifice of each snake. Rasmi's crowing intensified as the Basilisks dropped to the ground, one after another, in lifeless, deafening thuds.
"NOOOOOO!" Screamed Herpo, aiming Omer's wand at Stella with unbridled fury.
Stella dodged the curse aimed at her by diving onto her side. Pulling out her wand, she aimed at Rasmi yelling "Reparifarge!"
With a gentle *pop* Rasmi emerged out of a flurry of red feathers. Stella got up quickly and threw Rasmi's wand back to him.
Herpo used that brief moment to shoot another curse at Stella – which was blocked by a spell sent by Rasmi.
Herpo then began shooting green curses in every direction. Stella and Rasmi both ducked behind the bodies of the Basilisks they'd killed to shield themselves from Herpo's torrent of killing curses.
Stella tried to emerge and shoot back at the ancient wizard, but another stream of curses made her take cover again almost immediately.
"YOU WILL DIE TONIGHT, FLIFTHY SCUM! VÁRVAROI SKÝLOI!"
She had to distract him just a little longer…
Stella, mentally kicking herself for the stupidity of what she was about to do, took a deep breath and, before she had the chance to regret it, got up fast and began to run in the direction opposite to Rasmi. Herpo, taking the bait, shot one more flurry of curses her way, turning away from Rasmi in the process.
Just as she dove behind another massive serpentine corpse, Stella heard Rasmi call "Hey Herpo!"
She peeked over the body of the dead snake to see Herpo turning around to face Rasmi now. Her teenage comrade was standing tall and smiling mischievously in front of a massive fire that engulfed the nearest Basilisk cadaver. It emanated out of his wand on to the floor below with a roaring, billowing noise.
Herpo's terrified face gave it away. Fiendfyre was one of the few substances known to be able to destroy a Horcrux.
Using Herpo's short moment of horrified paralysis, Stella raised her wand and shot a single Stunning Spell at him. It hit her target square in the back.
Stella leaped over her cover just as Herpo hit the ground, defeated at last. Rasmi, who managed to sever the connection between the flames and his wand with surprising ease, ran toward Omer's stupefied body as well. They met just as Stella grabbed Omer around the waist.
The fire was quickly consuming everything in its path and forming the shapes of snakes, dragons, eagles, and chimaeras. Rasmi was looking around frantically now. Just as he looked as if he was about to say something, a thin wooden object shot out of one of the exists and through the thickening smoke.
"Oh, thank Merlin!" Called Rasmi as he grabbed the broomstick with one hand while extending the other for Stella to grab onto. He pulled Stella on to the broom behind him. She managed to summon ropes that wrapped around Omer and tied him to their broom just as Rasmi took off.
And off they flew. Rasmi blasting their way out of the rocky tunnels ahead, Stella holding onto both Rasmi and the ropes that tied Omer for dear life. Fiendfyre was all around them, following their lead in massive forms of various monsters almost as if it were sentient. As they escaped, Stella could swear she heard a distant scream that permeated through the granite around them. The fire must have reached Herpo's Horcrux, wherever it was.
Finally, with another explosive blast at the rocks ahead, Stella and Rasmi sped outside and into the cold Mediterranean winter air. The chilly breeze that greeted her lungs seared through them with an almost minty feel to it. It has been a while since she breathed in fresh air. A while since she felt the spray of cool, refreshing waters.
Rasmi quickly turned their broom right around to face the fire behind. It took the shape of a massive hissing snake that lunged at them just as Rasmi brought down the cliff on it with one final blast, sealing it in the vile cave forever.