A Leap in the Dark
The sun burnt unrelentingly to the already dried out soil, land and slip road were deserted. Wind raised trails of dust and sent twiggy plants across the deserted farmyard. The trees in the olive grove were much taller than Leonor remembered them. They provided now a wispy shade, protecting the undergrowth beneath. The vineyard on the other side of the rolling hills was overgrown with shrubbery. Neglect dominated the area as far as the eye could see. Only the lordly manor underlined the once moneyed character of Leonor's birthplace. The roof, windows and doors were still intact and the feudal stone carvings frowned across to the large gate to muster the unwelcome visitors.
"I'm not going further," said Martina's father. "There have been too many incidents in the past years. I told you already, yobs and decent people tried to get in, but they have never been the same afterwards. The municipality owns everything after the legal expropriation of your family, but they have never been able to use one square meter of that land. Do you really want to go into that house again?"
"I must go."
"There is always a choice," grumbled the wizard.
"Yes, but I need to go. I want to return where everything started, to bury the evil inside myself, once and for all time. Please go back. I will be alright." Leonor embraced Martina's father and gave him an encouraging nod.
"God bless you, girl!" The old man turned and walked briskly along the remote street into the direction of the village. They had discussed the visit of García's estate since Leonor arrived with Martina and Luiz in Argentina; they tried to persuade Leonor to not interfere with whatever affected the place. Now, Leonor watched him leaving until he disappeared in a curve. He and Luiz would return to this place at nightfall to pick her up, hopefully she was ready by then.
Leonor monitored the property for a while. Nothing moved anymore. The olive trees stood idle and the arid grass stopped its dance in the warm wind. Even the dust stopped to pollute the air. Red earth, blue sky and the early morning sun framed the lost place like a picture postcard; the view was much too innocent.
"Wand at the ready!" whispered Leonor to herself. "I know you watch me!"
She was not alone. The witch thought hard about the jinxes on that property. José was killed and father arrested. They had no time to secure the ground and building when the police came to capture them. Juan must have been the last to fence off everything in a nightly action. Of course, he didn't capitulate easily.
"Come out!" called Leonor and pointed her wand at the handles. Nothing happened and she called again forcefully.
"Alohomora!" The gate creaked and eventually opened wide with too much delay.
"Caipora, I command you to obey!" The silence became more oppressive.
"I am Ana García Hernández. I am the rightful heir and the only living member of the García family. The master who bound you to haunt that property is dead. I am here to set you free."
Leonor stepped purposefully behind the gateposts and towards the entrance of the manor. A rustling made her turn, and she saw a group of seven grim-looking Caipora. Their clothing wasn't better than rags. Iron chains mangled their backward-facing feet for years. The usually boyish and mischievous spirits looked miserable and old. Leonor had never seen such gaunt Caipora. She didn't like the spirit-beings, but that view created a heart-rending sadness in her chest. The creatures could not speak. They growled and it sounded already like a dying fit of resistance for the simple hope of help.
"You will assist me as long as I search the grounds and the buildings. Do you understand?" hissed Leonor and received another growl. She couldn't release them yet.
"You will be free to return to the Amazon rainforest, when I return unharmed to the village. Do I make myself clear?" She waited a moment after the display of power.
"Close the gate!" The Caipora bowed to necessity. Leonor's bloodline stopped them from biting and scratching the intruder; they did not paralyse her with terror like the muggles who came for twilight burglary. They were bound to support the García family and Leonor was one of them after all.
"Lead me to all the traps created by Juan García!" said Leonor.
When the Caipora didn't move she repaired the clothes of the most miserable looking creature, and then they obeyed. It was not difficult to win the trust of the otherwise so creepy creatures, and so they walked around the ground, finding several hexed pitfalls. The related curses were neither witty nor strong. 'Finite Incantatem' made the pitfalls visible or destroyed the charms to trap the victims in the holes. Leonor was relieved when only some skeletons of coyotes lay on the bottom of the pits. Juan had not put much effort into it. The traps were highly effective for muggles, but even an average wizard was able to break those spells. That couldn't be every security measure her brother had applied.
"What about the well?" asked Leonor the Caipora, and she walked forward in a devil-may-care manner. They followed, all with repaired clothes and gathered around the half-high wall of the deep well as if the truth was inside. The Caipora pointed into the shaft. The old well had run dry and showed no obvious sign of magic. Farming was impossible without water. Little rills existed around the vineyard from autumn to spring, but that wasn't enough to live here.
"What did you drink?" asked Leonor the Caipora, and they pointed to those hills, obviously that water was alright.
"Did Juan dry the well out?" she asked and investigated the pointed faces of the spirits. The well shaft was evenly grey, not even damp, all the weeds were missing. None of the former red bricks were visible.
"There's a wall inside that well and the water is beneath, isn't it? I have to break that wall," said Leonor and the Caipora nodded eagerly.
Leonor concentrated before saying 'Bombarda!'
The wall crumbled and she continued. The old brick appeared and with it the moist surface of the well. It was a strenuous affair of blasting metre by metre of cement from the well shaft without too much power that the system beneath remained intact. Grey dust settled on Leonor's dark clothes and a heap of debris grew outside.
"I'm already done for today," uttered Leonor when a silver lake of water appeared in the depth. "Let's take a drink!" She conjured a bucket and a rope and let it down. The Caipora pulled it upwards and craved for the first swallow of water, but Leonor took the Swiss Army Knife out of the pocket.
"Wait! It might be poisoned." The words carried a note of melancholy. "I would need Severus' skills here. He'd smell the dark magic," she whispered to herself. Luckily, neither knife nor several spells returned a warning. The haggard spirits finished the bucket in a blink. Leonor felt saver with casting 'Aguamenti' to refill the bucket instead of using the water from the depth until they all had enough.
"Show me the next trap!" commanded Leonor. The sun was now already at the zenith. The first iron chain burst open and the Caipora strolled amenably towards the stables. All wood was rotten and spongy; the walls weathered and loose. A low ceiling showed the sky through large holes and fallen timber blocked the entrance.
Leonor climbed carefully above the bars into the former aisle between the boxes. She remembered the place where they cared for the fox. A wild cat fled from the barns. A hawk circled above in the sky. The daunting silence clutched Leonor's nerves. She watched the Caipora a moment, and they looked frightened at her. There was something seriously wrong inside the stables. Leonor walked slowly backwards, the wand pointing at the invisible dark force. And then she saw it!
"Run!" called Leonor before turning and running herself. Everywhere blazed black flames. More of them inflamed every second, and they enclosed the intruder quickly. She was a foe! Leonor finally turned on the spot, closed the eyes and the apparition carried her outside. The Caipora just watched her in awe.
"Black Fiendfyre! Protego Diabolica!" called Leonor and a second ring of black flames encircled the Caipora and her.
"My black fire will save us for a while. Wish me luck that I can stop the blazing inferno of my brother or it will burn us soon."
The circle of the black flames enlarged quickly. It moved already menacingly close to Leonor's circle. It licked the borderline. The Caipora crouched in the middle, the eyes wide with fear.
Leonor yelled, "Finite Incantatem!"
Juan's black fire stopped for a moment before it roared strengthened with the sound of irony. Leonor dropped into the red dust to collect her magic. The second try wasn't much better.
"One person is not enough to stop the spell. Hold my wand or we will all die! Hurry!"
Sweat and ash bathed the group. There was not more time. Leonor stood again, waiting that the larger fire broke her own defences. The Caipora touched her wand, growling in the heat with agony. She had no clue if the added magic energy helped at all, there was just an idea and hope. She waited until her own fire ring was swallowed by the hostile flames of her brother. She wanted to send the final try directly to the centre.
When the black flames touched the tip of her wand, she screamed the general counter spell. A blowout of hot air sent them all backwards into the dry hot farmland. Leonor woke only after a shower of cold water and stared into blackened faces of seven Caipora. The repaired clothing shone with sooth and burn marks.
"Is the fire extinguished?" asked Leonor defencelessly and the Caipora pulled her up to see it for herself. The stables were burned down. Thick black smoke rose from the dying embers. It was over.
"What curse needs to be destroyed next?" sighed Leonor with very little energy while cleaning their strange group of partners. The Caipora pointed to the manor.
"Anything else?" The Caipora negated.
Leonor was close to the target now. They walked to the entrance and rested in the shadow. Leonor swished her wand and the iron chains burst to dust.
"I know that you have no sovereignty to walk inside the house. Wait here for my return. I command you to allow the villagers to enter the grounds! You are free when the villagers find me." The Caipora nodded now thrilled; they were close to deliverance from being bound to a deserted manor far away from their natural home.
Leonor faced the large entrance. She needed a few documents. One that confirmed her ancestry and another from her grandmother. The latter document was a bitter pill; it was likely that it didn't even exist. She was almost sure that Juan concentrated on items of value when searching the house. Luckily both didn't fall into that category.
Leonor yelled, "Alohomora!" The spell rebound on the door and she tripped backwards. A magical seal secured the house. She whispered several incantations but neither door nor windows opened. Leonor told herself that there was still time before nightfall, but good ideas thinned out. The Caipora looked fierce; obviously they saw their hopes of freedom being swept away.
"What did my brother do to create such a rock-solid barrier?" asked Leonor mainly to herself. And then one Caipora stepped forward. He pointed at the windows and always made the same movement with his crooked index finger, and he moved his lips with it so that the sharp little teeth became visible.
"He locked the house with a password, same as the teachers in Hogwarts!" called Leonor. She broke once into Severus office when she guessed the password of his true love correctly. Unfortunately, she never asked Severus how to go around the passphrase. He surely knew, but that was no possibility. Leonor had to be Juan's master with finding that one important word.
Leonor spoke to herself, "I can try to unlock that house for the rest of my life. There is no limit of attempts. Caipora wish me luck!"
Leonor raised her wand and fired the spell again and again at the once grand entrance portal with all possible words that might have inspired her brother. The hinges groaned under the fire of the continuous incantations, but nothing opened.
The sun disappeared already behind the rolling hills, and Leonor sat exhausted at the steps, her back against one of the stone sculptures. The Caipora looked grim; they were eager to go.
"Thank you. You are free, the villagers are coming," said Leonor when Luiz appeared with Martina's father in a safe distance on the slip street. "I trust the property is cleansed from any hidden curse." The Caipora confirmed with a much friendlier growl. They stepped back and forth with their awkward feet. "Go!" she said sadly, and they disappeared in the air.
Leonor waved, encouraging the waiting men to come inside.
"Are you alright!" called Luiz looking suspiciously towards the witch.
"It is safe to enter!" she called back and made circles in the red sand with the wand.
"You look bad, girl. Are you hurt?" replied Martina's father with a shake of his head.
"Like a warrior; she is alive, Martin!" Luiz smiled broadly.
"It is only sweat, and dirt, ashes. The grounds are accessible again." Leonor rubbed her eyes.
"Have you found what you were looking for?"
"The house is sealed. I couldn't force it open. Caipora secured the property. They chased the intruders to insanity as ordered. The creatures have been imprisoned by Juan. At least my father treated and paid them for sending cold chills to uninvited guest. Today the Caipora told me about the traps on the property; I've disarmed all curses. But the key to the house is a phrase, a word, nothing they knew. I've tried to break the lock — unsuccessful. Let us go! It is too late today. Obviously, my brother won!"
A tear run down Leonor's cheek, unsure if tomorrow brought a sudden inspiration to unlock the manor. Now, she liked to give it up. The last light of the day faded when the three returned to the village.
XXX
A bland light illuminated the side street of Hogsmeade; sparse yellow light came from the Hog's Head Inn. The apothecary lay mostly in the dark. About a year of vacancy had not been able to harm the building, just the reflections in the windows were less. Dirt tarnished the glass. Greyish weeds grew next to the entrance and along the garden fence.
A hag and a boozer exited the tavern. The small gate of the apothecary creaked. The two listened into the darkness to make out the origin of the noise, but the empty street revealed no signs of life. They wrapped themselves tighter into their cloaks, gripped the magic wands alarmed and hurried down the street. A harsh wind raised more specks of dust; it was the welcome of the autumn. The village seemed depressed and darker; times had changed.
Leonor remained under the disillusionment charm until she was safely inside her house. The precautions against intruders were mostly intact; obviously nobody trespassed on the property. Overgrown shrubs concealed the garden even better from nosy eyes. The integrity improved the good feeling of return, and Leonor exhaled relieved. She successfully came back home — things had to be done!
Merely an hour later, Leonor stared at the ceiling. She couldn't sleep despite being tired from the journey with a muggle aeroplane. Her mind wandered to the dark clad potions master, the man with the fathomless depth of dark eyes. The white rose stood on the windowsill at the headboard of the bed, a fine bud in the time of the waxing moon. Occlumency masked thoughts and emotions but created no affection towards something or somebody. Had Leonor been deluded to see the passion? Did the mask pull her leg? Had there been no fondness at all? All those lessons in the dungeons ended with cautious kisses, sweat touches and caress. They explored slowly as if time would never run out; the pace was slow enough for the witch to heal from the traumatic past and Severus never demanded more — and suddenly it was over.
All the possible next steps swirled through Leonor's thoughts. Would Albus Dumbledore still listen to her? Leonor had not much to say! She had to see so many people to apologize, to explain herself! That would not be easy and least of all the visit to Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape. She did not want to run off again, no matter what the two men had to tell. Leonor needed proof of Severus' real intentions. The belief, that he was a faithful Death Eater, crumbled with the memories of the Yule Ball, or New Year, or the passion in the classroom when Hermione almost caught them kissing. Nothing of it fitted to a devout member of a racist gang. The white golden necklace with the diamond pendant sparkled again around her neck.
Leonor got up early after a night full of turning and tossing in an anxious slumber. A note with the request to talk to the headmaster of Hogwarts left immediately when the sun brightened the hazy countryside. Leonor was sure that only Dumbledore had all information she needed. The missive would be delivered before anybody knew that she was back.