Merry Christmas! and happy... whatever those other holidays are that are around the same time... it's late and my brain is ready for sleep... Anyway! Christmas day is still a Thursday, and that means NEW CHAPTER! (Yay!) I hope you readers have as much fun reading as I did while writing this Chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter Twenty Seven
Time Tampering
Anguis sat down to breakfast the next morning, rather uncertain why his master seemed so elated. It had been one evening back at Hogwarts, but the black haired Sith was releasing menacing glee into the Force around him, somewhat like a young boy on Christmas morning. It would have made sense had anything occurred the previous night, but Anguis had seen when he, Veneficus and the others had retired to bed, and he had always been a light sleeper, waking up at the faintest noise, yet he had slept soundly through the night.
Why his master was so gleeful, Anguis didn't get to find out, as Severus Snape arrived, passing out the term schedules to each of them. Casually glancing at his own, Anguis registered that he had Arithmancy first at nine o'clock before returning to his meal. Veneficus had set his aside as well to focus on the food before them, and Anguis looked at it while he ate. What he saw almost made him choke. Forcing himself to swallow and not sputter like a fool, he leaned over and read the first few lines again.
'Nine o'clock, Divination
Nine o'clock, Muggle Studies
Nine o'clock, Arithmancy'
Widening his eyes at the clear and indeed only answer to the mystery in front of him, Anguis looked at Veneficus imploringly. The Sith Lord was looking back with narrowed eyes, daring his apprentice to draw unnecessary attention to his time-defying schedule. Returning to his meal again, Anguis pieced together how Lord Veneficus could have been pleased that morning. He had already used his time turner the previous night, meaning he had been asleep in their dorm and out doing some unknown activity at the same instant.
As possibilities flashed before Anguis' mind, he felt a scrap of parchment passed into his free hand, and shortly afterward Veneficus rose to return to the dormitory and prepare for his classes. Anguis waited until his master was gone, and quickly read the note.
'2nd floor 'room' after lunch'
Eyes sparkling with excitement, Anguis incinerated the note with his wand, rose and departed to get his things for Arithmancy. 'Today,' Anguis thought with a small taste of the glee his master had earlier, 'is going to be the beginning of a most exhilarating year.'
Dashing up to the Arithmancy classroom on the fourth floor, Anguis was one of the first students in the door. Smiling at the complicated equations that Professor Vector was writing on the board, he took his seat next to the already present Veneficus.
Stretching out his awareness in the Force, Anguis smirked as he sensed two more Force signatures that were identical to the boy sitting next to him. Briefly he wondered in what order his master had attended his classes, and the knowing glance from Veneficus revealed that at least one of the others had been before Arithmancy.
Content for the moment that his assumption had proven correct, Anguis set out his things and prepared to take notes on the supposedly most complicated aspect of magic.
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"I'm sorry Master," said Sorin Kress weakly.
Fae Coven stared at the young man in her arms for several long seconds. In the back of her mind she knew it couldn't be real, but her heart panged for the young Jedi that had died so far away from the temple. She had been Kress' Jedi teacher, offering her guidance and wisdom through his years as a Padawan, and she had developed a close bond with the young, partially headstrong Jedi. She had felt a sickening dread the moment he had died, like a blade ripping out a part of her own body.
Cradling her Padawan as best as her small frame allowed, Master Coven shushed him gently, "save your strength…"
Looking up at her with unfocused eyes, Sorin smiled weakly, "I tired… I couldn't stop him, no one can…"
Suddenly more aware of what her old Padawan was saying, Fae leaned closer, "Stop who?" she asked, hoping.
"The Darkness…" Sorin said, grimacing as blood started to leak from the corner of his mouth. Fae could feel his aura weakening. "Master…"
"Yes Sorin," Fae said, her heart breaking as she watched the boy die.
"There is no stopping… what is… to come…" Sorin closed his eyes, too weak to do more than breathe his last few breaths.
"No my young Padawan," Fae chided, "there is always something that we can do."
Sorin's mouth pulled into a small smile, and slowly his chest stopped rising, and his life force departed. Master Coven stayed where she was, holding the lifeless body for a short time, knowing that the power of the Dark Side was trying to work on her emotions so it could destroy her, but inwardly thanking it for the small illusion of closure it gave her in regards to her dear Padawan.
Focusing herself inward, Master Coven drew together the emotions that swirled around the memories of her Padawan's death, understanding and accepting the sadness and grief that was present. "There is no Death, there is the Force," she chanted taking solace in knowing that Sorin was with her always, so long as she was connected to the Living Force that his spirit had joined. Slowly, the raw hurt of the sadness faded somewhat, and she was able to lay the illusionary body aside and rise to her feet, the Light Side supporting her to lay aside the attachment and press on in her mission.
The darkness around Fae recoiled at the exercise of the Light Side of the Force, and then seemed to surge in retaliation. Dark shapes materialized into blackened wolf-like creatures, jaws snapping and eyes burning with the fire of the Dark Side.
Violet blade springing to life, Master Coven resigned herself to combat, and leapt high into the air as the first dark manifestation lunged at her, jaw clamping onto the empty space she had once occupied. Quickly inverting her hold on the short saber, Fae landed hard on the creature, the violet blade carving into its back. Howling with agony, the first of many collapsed to the ground.
The others, over a dozen in number, paused as their comrade fell, then bayed an angry note and charged en mass. Quickly, Fae transformed into the eye of a storm, dodging, twisting and flipping around the animal's attacks; maneuvering around the leaping beasts with ease and grace. Her blade becoming a violet blur as he carved the shadow creatures into pieces, severing limbs and skewering the mad faces.
Soon enough her foes were defeated, and the shadowy illusions around her dimmed back into the normal stone walls of the tomb of Korriban. Fae relaxed ever so slightly. The immediate danger had passed, but the tomb was just as dangerous as ever, if not more so as it now knew that Master Coven was not a mere apprentice easily taken in by old wounds.
Increasingly cautious, she ventured further into the gloom of the ancient tunnels. Eventually she found, of all things, a galactic standard durasteel door. Puzzled at the random door blocking her path, Fae hesitated before pushing the control to slide the metal plate upward into the ceiling.
The arched architecture and columns of the Jedi Temple appeared on the other side of the door. Confused, and on edge, Fae walked into the familiar setting of her home for so many years. She found herself in the wide entry vestibule just inside the main doors.
Other Jedi, some familiar to Fae, but most just passing acquaintances milled about their business, passing across the wide marbled floor and conversing in reverent quite. Fae felt a measure of the peace the Light Side Nexus embodied, but it was short lived as the image shuddered with explosions from the main doors of the Temple.
The great doors were thrown back across the floor, and the Jedi all around activated a rainbow of sabers, just as dozens of black robed figures stormed into the sanctuary. The crimson blades only spoke of one thing… the Sith had returned.
Master Coven found herself frozen in place, unable to act to help defend her home, but trapped watching in horror as the Jedi she had grown to care for as family were brutally cut down before her.
The image flashed again, and the Sith were gone, but the destruction and gore remained. Suddenly in possession of herself again, Fae staggered towards the nearest fallen Jedi, knowing there was nothing she could do. The stone pillars were shattered and rubble distributed all over the ground. Turning away from the young woman cut down too young, Master Coven's brow furrowed as she noticed a pattern in the rubble, forming words.
'…Some futures are unavoidable…'
Turning slowly on the spot, Fae saw message after message around the room.
'…You cannot stop the end…'
'…The Darkness is coming…'
'…You are all going to die…'
"No!" Fae said deservedly as she saw the last message. "I refuse to accept that the future is lost. So long as one Jedi lives and breathes we will fight the Dark Side in all its forms to the end!"
Laughter answered, ringing from every corner of the temple, as the black cloaks of the Sith reappeared from all sides. Crimson blades leapt into life as they charged, and Fae was forced onto the defensive, backing from the nearest foe and blocking attack after attack.
There were too many for her to fight successfully, and each was too skilled to separate from the others like she had with the beasts previously. So Master Coven did the only thing she could, she withdrew. Backing swiftly to a door in the far side of the room, she blocked and parried what blows she could, dodging the others that tried to overwhelm her.
Reaching the door, she slammed the attacking mob back with the force, hit the button to open the door, and reached out with the Force, wrenching the nearest pillars and rubble toward her. Moving swiftly, she slipped through the door and had it slam shut just as the stone columns smashed into it, bending the metal and sealing the door quite effectively.
She was back in the stone chambers of the Sith tomb. The moment the door closed, the illusion dispelled, and the darkness behind her dissipated. Sighing, Coven hung her head for a moment of rest, knowing that with two trying attempts defeated, the next would be much more forceful and challenging for her to conquer.
Faint crackling energy could be heard in the chamber ahead, and Fae found herself slowly drawn to it. One long corridor, a smooth curve led to a final chamber, high ceiling disappearing into a bluish blackness. Two large pillars surged with blue energy, looping chain-like around a small figure suspended between them. Fae's eyes widened as she recognized Septin Aranis. The boy was in bad shape, seeming to have been beaten extensively, which blood matting his skin and clothing.
Looking up as the Jenet approached, Septin's eyes filled with fear, then weary excitement, "Help me… please…" he said weakly, coughing slightly and voice raspy.
"Septin," Fae replied, looking quickly around to see if any others were present, "who did this to you?"
"Can't you guess Master Coven?" said Zhar Quelmok as he stepped out of the shadows behind Septin.
"Zhar, you're behind this?" Fae said suspiciously, raiding her weapon in case she needed to defend herself.
"Am I, Master? You tell me…" Zhar said mockingly, as he circled the trapped boy to stand between him and Fae, "…or, could there be something more sinister than even you imagined at work here?"
"Master! Help me!" Septin cried, struggling at his bonds, "Free me, and I can tell you who the Sith Lord is!"
Master Coven paused at the boy's words, realization of her predicament dawning upon her at last. There was nothing for her to learn here, no secret that the Dark Side was willing to divulge to one of the Light, at least not without a price of loyalty. She understood now that to free this illusion of Septin, who even now was showing signs of corruption, would be to give in to the urgings of the aura of Korriban.
Backing away slightly, Fae shook her head, "There's nothing the Dark Side has to offer me."
Septin frowned, his face suddenly becoming shadowed. In an instant his form completely changed, replaced with another figure, hooded and wearing a large, concealing black robe. "Really?" the figured said, the male voice distorted between sounding like a young boy's and an old man's.
Glancing back, Fae saw that the door to her escape was gone, and resigned to the fact that this was where she had to make her stand against the dark power of the tomb. Facing the shadowy Sith Lord, Master Coven brandished her weapon and answered with conviction, "The shadows of the past offer little in the knowledge of the future, merely seeking those among the living to dwell forever in ancient times."
"Foolish Jedi," the disguised figured said snidely, "your lack of vision shall be your end. You will learn before the end that the Sith will never die…"
Laughing coldly, the figure vanished into darkness, and the illusion of Zhar advanced, orange saber aloft, while Septin appeared behind him, the blue glow reflecting the red in his eyes. Settling into a ready stance, Fae mentally prepared herself to fight for her life against the two people in the galaxy that she would have done anything to avoid fighting.
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Veneficus climbed the stairs of North Tower alone. It was roughly a quarter to nine in the morning, and he knew that at this very moment, another version of himself was seated in his Muggle Studies class on the second floor, and a third copy was arriving in Arithmancy with Anguis on the third.
The sensation of feeling a separate Force aura that was his own was somewhat disturbing, but the Sith Lord grew accustomed to the feeling quickly. The previous night had been far more strenuous, taking the full five hours allotted to his device at one time so that he could sneak to the Chamber of Secrets and unload his secret trunk full of off-world equipment and droids without detection from even his acolyte.
Muggle studies had been somewhat of a disappointment for a class that these primitive Force users had come up with. Not only did Veneficus know more about the Muggles than their Professor, despite being one who had not spent much time learning of the world outside the small wizarding community, but what they did study was so tedious and trivial that it served only as a testament of their short sightedness and ignorance of the world around them, let alone anything extraterrestrial.
Arithmancy on the other hand, while being equally basic in concept thanks to the private lessons Veneficus had taken with both Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick the previous year, was still very promising. The rather simple equations gave an almost eerie resemblance to many of the notes about ancient Sith Alchemy that Veneficus had perused before selecting the most basic ones to permit Anguis to see.
Miss Granger had naturally been present in both classes as well, but the girl was, for once, more focused on her class work than anything that Veneficus was up to. He knew that wouldn't last long, especially with the half truths he had revealed on the train. Personally, he gave the bushy haired genius by the end of the week before she accosted him to know more.
Arriving at the top of the tower, Veneficus glanced upward to where a small nameplate had been attached for one Sybill Trelawney, Divination Professor. Next to it was a closed trapdoor, but after several moments of waiting, it swung open and a rope ladder was casually tossed down to permit entry into the classroom.
Twenty circular tables were squashed into the room, some flush against the walls of the tower to accommodate the several armchairs and pouffes, all shrouded somewhat in the dim lighting that was heavy with incense. A plethora of assorted objects, from dusty feathers to packs of tattered playing cards lined the walls, each giving off the sense of the heavy motif of fortune telling.
Veneficus took a seat in a chintz armchair toward the back of the room, far away from the fireplace and the warmth that was causing the air in the room to feel incredibly stuffy. Moments later the rest of the class arrived, looking around unaware of either the Sith's presence nor the Professor standing in the shadows.
Veneficus rolled his eyes as the glittering insect of a Professor strode out of the shadows and greeted the class, spooking those that had remained hovering near the trapdoor. "Welcome," she said, forcing her voice to sound airy and mystical, clearly for dramatic effect, "how nice to see you in the physical world at last."
Veneficus saw as the children seated themselves that he was the lone representative of his house in the class. Miss Granger was the only student to sit at Veneficus' table. She offered a small smile at him before turning her full and undivided attention to Trelawney, which continued to suit the Sith fine. Glancing over the Ravenclaw's head, Veneficus saw Ronald Weasley glaring at him, completely ignoring the Professor's introduction of her subject.
Half listening himself, Veneficus was quickly growing disappointed with the contents of the class. Trelawney herself seemed a sham of a 'Seer' as the wizards call those among them who saw into the mysteries of the future. More depressing still, was the very faint spark of the Cosmic Force that the Sith Lord sensed in the older woman. A small potential, not nearly enough to be of use to him, but just enough that from time to time her sight into the beyond may have been true.
The thought directed Veneficus' mind to wander down to the hidden Chamber of Secrets, and the blood red stone hidden there. He had yet to actually fully use the Oracle Stone, but he wondered if it would alone serve as a better teacher in foresight than the fraud in front of him.
Currently the woman was instructing them to collect a tea cup from one of the shelves and interpret the dregs after the tea was completely drunken by a partner. Rolling his eyes subtly, Veneficus complied, draining the rather bland tea from the cup and upturning it into the saucer to drain the last drops away.
Hermione looked at him expectantly, offering her inverted cup and saucer to exchange. Scooting his across the table, Veneficus took hers, and referenced the eighth chapter of the textbook. Lazily flicking the book to the correct page, Veneficus glanced into the girl's cup, rotating it slowly to distinguish shapes in the brown paste of the leaf remains.
"Well?" Hermione said eagerly, leaning forward in her seat.
Sighing, Veneficus began, "A cross, trials and suffering, it is closest to the handle, which indicates that the trial or suffering will begin soon," Hermione looked puzzled, but Veneficus simply turned the cup ninety degrees and pressed onward, "A candle, the pursuit of knowledge." The girl's eyes glittered in understand.
Turning the cup a final time, Veneficus eyed the snakelike mass. The book referred to it as a reptile, generically stating that it symbolized a treacherous friend. Choosing discretion, Veneficus altered the angle of the cup, and read the entries for one that would serve his purpose better. "Finally, I see a rainbow," he chose, "indicating happiness and prosperity."
Hermione congratulated him, but Veneficus was preoccupied watching silently as Professor Trelawney had walked up behind her and was looking into the cup he had drunk from. Her intention was clear as crystal; she wanted to be the one to tell the future of the famed 'Boy-who-lived.'
Hermione went to pick his cup from the saucer, when she was startled by Trelawney leaning over her and taking the cup. "Let me see that, my dear," she added as an afterthought as she turned the cup around in her hands.
"The falcon… my dear you have a deadly enemy." She said, looking up at Veneficus and speaking for the entire class to hear.
"But everyone knows that," said Hermione in a loud whisper causing Professor Trelawney to stare at her. "Well, they do," Hermione added awkwardly. "Everybody knows about Harry and You-Know-Who."
Inwardly, the young Sith Lord was pleased with Miss Granger's newfound backbone for those in authority. It showed strongly that she was starting to trust herself and her thoughts over those whom she normally would have blindly followed.
Professor Trelawney chose not to reply, but lowered her huge eyes to Veneficus' cup again and continued to turn it. "The club... an attack. Dear, dear, this is not a happy cup... The skull... danger in your path, my dear..."
The entire class was staring, with the exception of Hermione and Veneficus, hanging on every word from Professor Trelawney, who gave the cup a final turn, gasped, and then screamed. There was a tinkle of breaking china; the Gryffindor Longbottom had smashed his cup as he flinched in shock. Trelawney sank into a vacant armchair, her glittering hand at her heart and her eyes closed.
Inwardly, Veneficus cringed at the blatant and poor display. The charlatan was enjoying every second that she had making the students wait with baited breathe for her to 'recover' enough to speak again.
"My dear boy… my poor, dear boy… no… it is kinder not to say… no… don't ask me…"
Another Gryffindor, Thomas by name if Veneficus recalled correctly, instantly fell for the ruse and requested the information. Veneficus saw the flash of a small smile on Trelawney's face before she opened her eyes dramatically.
"My dear," she said slowly, drawing out the tension as long as she could, "you have the Grim…"
Veneficus said nothing, trying to decide if the woman was touching the Force as she spoke or not. It was difficult to tell with one who had such a weak connection. Inevitably, he chose to ignore her and the death omen. The ambiguous nature of the symbols was very open to interpretation, in most cases. A Grim for example could mean Veneficus' own death, or the death of people around him. Being a Sith, the latter was far more likely.
All of the children clearly believed the former however, and were staring at Veneficus as if expecting him to drop dead any second, except for Miss Granger, who had taken the tea cup back from Trelawney and was examining it herself. "I don't think it looks like a Grim," she said flatly.
Trelawney surveyed Hermione, struggling to repress irritation that Veneficus could sense mounting. The woman clearly hated when someone tried to ruin her fun at others expense.
"You'll forgive for saying so, my dear, but I perceive very little aura around you; very little receptivity to the resonances of the future." The woman said. Veneficus frown at the scathingly childishness, which only further encouraged the other children to try and interpret the cup themselves.
"If you're all satisfied with deciding upon the contents of my future," Veneficus said coldly with a slight edge of the Force, making the entire group of students gathered around the cup freeze, "it's time for us to leave for our next class, and I don't wish to be held up…"
Slowly the children made their way back to their bags and started departing. Trelawney was staring at Veneficus, a confused look in her eyes, magnified by her thick spectacles. The Sith knew it was because of his usage of the Force. Despite the weak connection she possessed, the proximity had triggered her senses to recognize another Force user, not that the woman herself would understand, and Veneficus hoped to keep it that way.
"Until we meet again," the Professor said faintly to the departing class, still distracted as Veneficus passed her on his way to the trapdoor, "fair fortune be yours…"
The other students all separated at the base of North Tower for their different classes, and Veneficus was left alone to rush down to the second floor and meet up with his previous selves and the rest of the Slytherins so they could head to Defense against the Dark Arts together. He turned the corner behind their group just as his previous self vanished back an hour. Catching up to Anguis with swift silent steps, the boy turned and smiled knowingly at him before they proceeded in silence up to the third floor.
Professor Lupin was there waiting for them. They all took their seats, the two Darksiders choosing to sit toward the rear of the room. A small frown flashed around the man's worn features, before quickly being replaced with a smile at the rest of the class. "Good morning," he said. Lupin held up a hand as the students started pulling out books and parchment, "Don't bother taking out your books, today's lesson is going to be practical. You will only need your wands."
As the class obeyed, Lupin ducked behind his desk and brought a worn and battered trunk around to the front. Several students eyed the trunk warily as it shook and rattled on its own. Gesturing for the class to stand, the man banished the desks, bags and chairs to the sides of the room. "Nothing to worry about," Lupin said as he stood next to the trunk, "There's a Boggart in there."
Veneficus stood toward the back of the mass of students, watching each of them as the majority seemed to shy further away from the trunk once they knew what was inside. Lupin went through a cursory overview of where Boggarts could be found, any how he had found the particular one hidden away in the castle during a visit over the summer, although he expected to have to go hunting for another for the rest of his classes.
"So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a Boggart?" Lupin posed to the class, before gesturing at Anguis, "Mr. Malfoy."
"It's a shape-shifter," Anguis stated blandly. "It'll change into whatever we fear the most."
"Correct," Lupin replied, before shifting his attention back to the rest of the class. "This means," he continued, "that we have a huge advantage over the Boggart even before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"
Veneficus did not appreciate being called out by the man so informally, but the strange recognition about the man was rather off putting. Even as he answered, he sent a light wave of the Force over the man, trying to understand what was so unusual about him. "There's so many of us that it won't know what is best to change into…"
"Precisely," Lupin said, smiling. As he turned to continue his short lecture, Veneficus returned to inspecting the man's Force aura. It was so different from the ones he encountered before that he wasn't sure what to make of it. The aura, already altered by the same mutation that allowed all wizards and witches access to the Wild Force, was even more radically changed with its own internal power that the Sith Lord had no experience with, and could not place.
He concluded that he might have to research several different possibilities to start riddling out this new mystery. Lupin had in the mean time started teaching the class the charm to repel the Boggart, and was organizing them into a line of what order they would face it to practice the spell. Veneficus purposefully pulled Anguis and Nott toward the back of the line, and intentionally placed both behind him. The last he wanted was for either of their greatest fears, which could easily be himself, to be found out and undesired questions to be asked. Veneficus had a feeling that Lupin was not going to want the Sith Lord to face the creature anyway, and so thought he could shield the pair of them from participating if he was ahead of them in line.
In case that he did have to contend with the boggart, Veneficus took a moment and tried to rationalize what the creature may try to use to frighten him. Naturally, with his Sith training, fear had no power over him, but with the creature being made of the Wild Force Veneficus chose not to trust that the creature wasn't going to try regardless. Voldemort was out of the question already, as Veneficus did not have any fear toward the fallen dark wizard.
"Everyone ready?" Lupin finally said, breaking the Sith's train of thought. He had everyone back away from the trunk, mentioning that he would call each of them in turn to face the Boggart. Signaling for the first in line, Zabini, to step forward, Lupin lifted the lid of the trunk and stepped away quickly.
The tan skinned boy stepped back as a copy of himself emerged from the trunk. From his vantage point near the rear of the room, Veneficus could clearly sense the boy's fear spike. The Boggart wore Zabini's skin, but the false image was some sort of wretched and emaciated incarnation of the boy before it. Pathetically, the Boggart-Zabini begged for mercy, food, or simply help as the young before stepped back in revulsion.
Veneficus was suddenly struck with the thought of how useful such creatures could be to him, discovering the secret fears of those around him and using it to his advantage. In the case of Zabini, he clearly was terrified by losing his privileged station.
Eventually the boy overcame his initial horror and defeated the creature with a comical change from the charm, but Veneficus lost interest in the Boggart at that point. Zabini looked pointedly at him as he moved to the end of the line, but Veneficus paid him only a passing glance, choosing to focus on the next in line, Miss Bulstrode.
The larger girl had strode forward with a bit of confidence, but as the creature shifted into the great black dog that Veneficus recognized as a true Grim, symbolizing death. Veneficus vaguely recalled that the girl had lost one of her parents early in life, but otherwise she was mostly a strong, silent presence in the common room, sometimes with the other girls of their year but mostly off on her own. Bulstrode dealt with her fear as quickly as Zabini had, followed quickly by Daphne Greengrass.
Veneficus smirked as the Boggart changed into a bad representation of the Basilisk he had persuaded to his service the previous year. The girl had clearly never seen one before, even in picture, as the massive snake was missing several key features, aside from its deathly stare. Greengrass was the house resident gossip, and had followed the story of the heir mercilessly through the previous term, though not to the point of Hermione Granger Veneficus noted with approval.
The snake was dispatched, and Crabbe and Goyle followed, each in turn envisioning similar monsters that held no deep meaning, just as the boys themselves were nothing more than two dimensional grunts. Veneficus dismissed them in his mind immediately. The pair of boys were simply too far beneath his notice to be of use.
As Tracy Davis battled her fear of the living dead, Veneficus' eyes wandered to where Lupin was standing. The man was watching Veneficus as well, instead of paying any attention to his other students, wearing an expression of concern and… worry… the puzzle in Veneficus' mind grew somewhat. Who was this man to be so concerned over him specifically? A possible solution sprang to his mind, but Miss Parkinson in front of Veneficus had just stepped forward to take on her own fear, and the Sith returned his attention to the Boggart.
The shape shifter transformed into a large old woman in a rocking chair. Thin graying hair was tied in an elaborate bun, but the worn features were far past any semblance of beauty. Veneficus recognized the connection at once, as did most of the others in the room.
Pansy Parkinson was concerned with one thing: her image. Best clothing, best hairstyle, best everything. Her greatest fear was to grow old alone and lose everything; to become an old wizened maid with nothing to live for. The Sith rolled his eyes, unable to handle the amount of shallow selfishness among his classmates. These children had no sense of purpose or drive outside their immediate wants. They were ruled by the moment instead of, as their house should have signified, been holding constantly to a focus on the future, planning and preparing for their ultimate goals.
But such was the fate of those who set themselves for less than their potential. Veneficus took a small amount of pride in knowing that at least Anguis would come closer by far to that end than any of the others present.
Parkinson finished, turning away shakily to depart, and Veneficus saw Lupin start to move between him and the Boggart, when a sudden brashness mixed with curiosity swelled in him. Darting forward quickly, Veneficus planted himself in front of the Boggart and stared, wondering what it would become.
The creature, still dressed as the haggard and ancient Pansy, stared back, uncertain, before changing with a loud cracking sound. A large black robe figure materialized for an instant before Lupin leapt in the way, crying "Here," to attract the creature's attention.
With another splitting crack, the figure was gone, replaced with a silvery-white orb, hanging in their air in front of Lupin. Lazily, he flicked his hand, and the orb exploded, raining ash all over the floor before them.
"Excellent," Lupin said as he turned to the class, wiping a small trace of sweat from his brow. "Excellent, well done everyone… let me see… five points to Slytherin for every person who tackled the Boggart, and five for Harry and Mr. Malfoy for the correct answers to my questions."
The man's eyes flickered to Veneficus a few times as he spoke, dismissing the class with a basic assignment due the following week. Departing the room, Veneficus locked eyes with Anguis, and purposefully lagged behind the rest of the Slytherins, before snatching the blond boy by the arm as the group turned toward the Great Hall. Dragging Anguis into an empty room, Veneficus revealed his time turner. Throwing the long chain over both their necks, he flicked the hourglass two revolutions.
Time warped around them, and soon the sounds of chattering voices vanished from outside the room. Anguis was smirking, but Veneficus crossed to check if the coast was clear outside of the room. Seeing no one, and sensing nothing for a good distance away from them, he beckoned his acolyte and together they made their way across the second floor to the unused girl's bathroom.
The last sink on the left was just as tattered and unused as the previous year. The ghost, Myrtle, roused as they entered, rising above the stalls. Upon seeing them she took a deep breath, which was ironic to Veneficus as her need to breathe had long since departed, and prepared to scream at them.
Brandishing his Blackthorn wand, Veneficus flatly said, "corrumpo" and pointed it directly at the ghost. With a swift, loud bang, the ghost seemed to implode upon itself, vanishing into nothingness. Moving on without a second glance, Veneficus reached the specific tap, hissed the command for it to open, and gestured for Anguis to precede him into the gloom. Stairs appeared at his request and the pair of Sith Lord and his servant climbed down, lighting their wands as the sink replaced itself behind them.
Passing through the outer chambers quickly, Veneficus commanded the inner door to open as well, not giving Anguis time to gaze about completely until they arrived at the massive statue of the Slytherin patriarch.
The look on Anguis' face was amusing, more so for all the changes that Veneficus had made to the Chamber with his first nights worth of time granted from his newest tool. "Welcome to the Chamber of Secrets, acolyte," Veneficus said, smirking, "and the new center for our operations here in Hogwarts.
The boy had little response to give, choosing to stand and stare at the Chamber around him in awe. Veneficus wasted no time leaving the boy to his own devices, as he had an artifact to consult about a certain familiar stranger.