Chapter Nineteen:
Blood
"That filthy gargoyle!" Astrid nearly screamed. Jack and Aster were stump on the red couches in front of the fireplace. "She's barely allowing us to use magic anymore, you've seen what happened to Azel Helen the other day when she tried to restore the duel club… she's taking over the entire school!"
"….About the disappearances, the Minister for Magic has declared that disappearances concerning wizards are nothing more than just schemes from opposition to disvalue the power of the Ministry, and to refuse work is a sham to the wizard's good honour and should lead to immediate expulsion from our Wizarding Community…"
"They're trying to purge society, all over again." Jack said, staring at the radio. He looked back at Aster. "How long until White starts picking on you?"
"Not long." Aster said, resting his forearm over his eyes. "It won' take long until all the mudbloods have to submit themselves…"
"Don't talk like that!" Astrid said, horrified of the slur the boy used against himself. "It's not going to happen-"
"Of course it will, Astrid!" Aster's voice raised, and the girl went shut. "I mean, not even Hiccup who is pure-blood is gettin' an easy time, how lon' do you think it'll take until she's after people like me?"
The boy stared at his two friends with a deadly expression before excusing himself to his bedroom.
"Just give him some time, Astrid, he'll come around." Jack said, but he wasn't so sure himself.
"Where were you and Hiccup today?" Astrid asked, still standing up near the window.
"Just hanging out."
"Oh, bollocks, we all saw your face when you guys came back." Astrid waved her hand in an annoyed gesture, and Jack took a deep breath. "What was that all about?"
"Could we please not talk about it?"
"Was it something he did?" She ignored it. "Because if he did…"
"For Merlin's beard, Astrid, no!" Jack nearly yelled. "It has nothin' to do with him. You," And he looked at the girl's blue eyes, and he felt the urge to scream at her face. So he clenched his fists again. "Look, whatever, I'm just going to bed…" He stood up, shaking his head sideways as if dispersing smoke from inside his skull. "Night, Astrid," He dismissed, retreating himself after Aster. The girl looked down, defeated.
#
The wizards gathered at night. Dressed from toes to shoulders in black capes, standing in a circle in the open field. Around them, nothing but mountains, the dark sky above them, the angry clouds covering the stars, and snow poured over their heads. A seventh wizard appeared, covered to his head with a black hood, behind him a trail of black and red smoke that seemed to erupt from his very skin.
He wielded his wand, and waved it to the very centre of their circle, where a fire started, perhaps only two foot tall, but that enlightened most of their faces with a creepy distortion. His face was nearly grey, as if life had been extracted from it.
"Good evening, brothers." He had this aura around him, this strange energy that made all the other wizards bow to him. "I'm skipping the formalities of letting us know of the good news, for I brought none. First, I need to know our advances." The greyish looking wizard pointed to the man in front of him. "Gerbier, if you may start…."
"Yes, sir." Gerbier said, and as his name suggested, he had a heavy French accent. "I have been informed that the Department of Wizarding Security are tracking the Obscurus in the south of the country. They think you are running to Europe this very evening."
"That's not enough." The Obscurus said. "They could still be roaming around the country after us. Gentlemen, I hope you understand the luck we have. Most of the Wizarding Community believed Obscurials to be extinct, and so far, I am the only one who has been seen, and by my own will, I may add." There was a collective grim forming through the Seven. "However, our time of hiding is coming to an end. Soon enough, we will have to make a stand."
There were actual cheers now, and the fire seemed to rise, and burn brighter.
"I have the Death Eater's loyalty." The Obscurus spoke, but there was no affection regarding the group. "They believe I'm aiming for their goal, to… purge the bloodlines," The six other Obscurials laughed as he said. "What a waste of magic… That's not what fate asks from us, now." He took a step forward, nearing the fire. "Out ancestors have made the way for us generation years ago. They've had their dawn as the world had its twilight. And now it's our time."
"None of us asked for this life. None of us asked to be curse. But all of us have accepted our fate. We have all embraced the task that only we can achieve. I have also realised the sudden act of the former Order of the Phoenix. They're on the move, which means someone is being… careless."
His piercing blue eyes wandered around the field, staring at every wizard that surrounded him. "Gothel," The witch with long black hair stepped backwards. But the dark wizard did not walk up to her. "Mor'du, my fiercest one." The big wizard with black vests stared by the corner of his eyes. "Gerbier… MacNair… Bloodvist…" And then he stopped, right before standing in front of the sixth wizard. "All of you have been loyal and useful to this assembly. All… but you, Richard."
The tall wizard with deep brown hair gulped. He had a thin beard around his jaw and piercing blue eyes, but the bags around it announced how tired, if not exhausted he was. "Sir?" He spoke with a thin frail voice.
"Every attempt to reach for the last Obscurial has been foiled, and I suspect we both know very well why."
The wizard gulped. "Bu-but sir?" He was shaking. "I thought we could no longer look for new Obscurials, we have already have formed the Order of the Seven…"
"And indeed we have." The Obscurus said, his eyes starting to glow. "But as it may seem… One of us has decided to diverge from fate..."
"Sir-?" The wizard named Richard tried, but the leader's eyes kept glowing, increasingly brighter.
"And your betrayal has cost the lost of the Ministry's support. Tell me, Richard… How is your son?"
There was a moment of silence when you could hear a snowflake falling on the ground. "You're not having him." He said. "You're not doing a thing to him, heave him alone!"
"I don't have to do anything; in fact, I do not need to move a single muscle. The boy is coming to us when the time comes." The Obscurus replied, drily. "He'll replace you, destiny will take its course and we'll continue from where you ended."
It was when it happened. A scream, a sharp eruption of red and black flames that came out from the Obscurus chest. The energy that exploded from the two wizards was brutal, and even though the very darkness within Richard fought back, it was weak compared to the one that burst from the leader.
The smaller Obscurial screamed in pain, his eyes now glowing as he exploded, particles of his being floating around the field, lost in between fire and snow.
