1977
Portrait Vault

"Could this be it?" The boy wondered out loud as he looked at the portrait, the light shining from his wand, illuminating the room.

"It has to be, Jacob." The girl said, a determined expression on her face. "You feel anything different?"

"Not-whoa!" Jacob gasped as he suddenly toppled over. "Forget what I said, Rakepick. I think it's - the door - it's in my head." He said cautiously as he got back up. "Think I could open it."

"Then we're on the right track!" A third, squeaky voice spoke up. "One more step to the final vault! And imagine the power and treasure behind!"

"Yeah, yeah, Pettigrew. Now come on, let's get this vault out."

As they approached the portrait, a low growl echoed through the room.

"Is that..." The boy widened as the image of a Hungarian Horntail prowled into place.

"Dr-dragon!" Pettigrew yelped, the blood nearly gone from his face. Hearing the scream, the dragon turned to look at them. With a roar, it crawled out of the portrait as if it were a window and blasted a inferno towards the trio. Rakepick and Jacob took cover behind debris while Pettigrew narrowly avoided by quickly transforming, the pathetic rat scampering towards a portrait on the floor, and by the time Jacob realised what he was going to do, it was too late.

"NO!" He shouted as the rat vanished alongside the portrait, leaving them trapped.

"Okay, so it's not confined to it. Should not have jinxed my luck!" The girl shouted before she hurled a curse at the Horntail. "Stupefy!" The girl screamed, the spell hitting the dragon's hide, but it didn't help much.

"A single stunner won't work! We need at least half a dozen more!" Jacob shouted. "Depluso!" With a flick of his wand, he sent a large chunk of debris directly into the dragon's face.

"Well good job! You just pissed it off!" Rakepick shouted as the dragon recovered, before hurled several more with a flick of its tail. "Arresto Momentum!" She shouted, as the debris slowed down.

"Guess we have no choice, Jacob." Rakepick gritted through her teeth, struggling to keep the debris upfloat. "Do your little trick and get that door open, or we're dragon food!"

"Alright!" The boy said as he closed his eyes and concentrated before lifting his wand. "Legilimens!"

The door in the portrait burst open almost instantly, and the duo made a break for it, with Rakepick slamming the door shut as the dragon unleashed another stream of fire.

"Thank...Merlin..." Jacob gasped for air as he looked around the vault, where portraits of all sorts were hung, and in the middle was a large column. "We're safe, and we got the vault treasure!"

"No...I did." A wicked smile crept on Rakepick's face before she hurled another spell that sent Jacob flying through a large portrait.

"Rakepick!" He shouted angrily as he tried to run out, only to slam into a barrier that sent him to the ground.

"Ha! You think you can finally be free No, it makes R so disappointed."

"Don't you dare patronize me, Rakepick." Jacob seethed, his attention suddenly no longer on his trapped state. "You were the one who had conned me into joining."

"Oh, but does it matter? Cause I'll be taking-" Rakepick smirked as she touched the column in the center, only to get evaporated as she warped away.

"No!" He yelled in agony as he fell to his knees, tears falling off his face. "Mom, dad, pip, I'm sorry..."

Death Chamber, Department of Mysteries, Ministry of Magic

The Veil was fluttering so slightly, as it did any other day. The muffled whispers could still be heard, and occasionally, an actual voice could be filtered out from the rest.

Though this day, something unusual happened, for the Veil suddenly began fluttering dangerously fast, as though a hurricane was brewing in the room. Had it been a simple piece of cloth, it surely would have been ripped off from the archway.

As the Veil rippled, the imprint of a hand suddenly was pressed upon the curtain, as though something just landed from the other side. As the Veil filled back, another imprint appeared, this time a whole arm.

Slowly, but surely, whatever was trying to break free from the land of the dead was certainly breaking a boundary never done before in Wizarding History. And without warning, a black fluid-like cloud burst out from the Veil, swirling around the room like a violent torrent of darkness with a red blood like core, before crashing in front of the Veil and materialised into a humanoid figure.