"You look grim, more than usual", Charles noted.
"We need to study", Dreogan feigned ignorance.
"On a Saturday morning? I mean summer's here and all but since when do you want to study on Saturdays? And morning! Instead of playing exploding snap?" Emerick questioned.
"Claudia's right, exams are close", Dreogan replied.
Claudia and Charles chocked on their own saliva. "Are you feeling okay?" she asked him.
"Yeah, sure why not?"
"Well since we're here…" Claudia got her defense against the dark arts books and notes out. Emerick did the same with Charles trying to study potions.
"Hey, can I borrow your notes on Revelio? Mine are uh…incomplete", Charles asked Dreogan.
Dreogan snorted, opening the book. "We did this at the start of the ye…"
"Well yeah, and it was a Quidditch day!" Charles said, not noticing Dreogan's eyes locked at the pages of the notebook. "Now, lemme see…" He started to copy the notes.
"Is used to reveal…yeah have that bit…hidden ink…yeah have that bit too…some transfigurations even if hidden can obstruct light…" He continued to mumble to himself as he wrote.
"Exploding snap anyone?" Dreogan asked, having finished his homework.
Just then, a loud bang coming from behind them shook the desks and shelves in the library, making them jump up.
"PEEVES! GET OUT! NOW!" The librarian bellowed at the top of his lungs.
"They said exploding snap! So, SNAP!" A second loud explosion rocked the library.
"I'll tell the Bloody Baron! OUT!"
"Your nephew was much more fun! SPOILSPORT!" Peeves blew raspberries at the Librarian and with a third loud explosion he vanished with a pop.
"Where have the ghosts been for two years now?" Claudia wondered. The ghosts did seem to have mostly vanished the previous two years.
"We see them around from time to time", Emerick shrugged.
"Yeah, but still from what I hear they used to be far more involved than the last two years", Claudia shrugged back, unlike her.
"They are ghosts, who knows? So, shall we go…?" Dreogan begun to say.
"Stop bullshitting us. It's been two weeks now that you have been searching for the book of leaves and you've been looking more and more grim the longer you aren't finding it", Claudia confronted him.
"Ha! I knew you didn't really care for the exams!" Charles tried to say without speaking too loudly.
"I thought I'd water the pot along with the basil", Dreogan replied. "Yes, I have been searching for the damn book. Unlike my brother and sister, I inherited Salazar Slytherin's key trait. So, I'll hide it where he can't get it and If he ever dares come within twenty kilometers of Hogwarts, I'll destroy it", Dreogan told them in a hushed whisper.
"You did this! Why! We stashed her in Bwana farm for a reason!" The others avoided going into the 'throne room', while the twins fought, even if their fights did not last long, sometimes they turned violent and always unpredictable.
"I tortured her for twelve years! And I…we will use Charles and Hope to destroy him! Besides you used my illusion spell on Sandra's father, you destroyed her for your gain! Don't you dare lecture me!" Ernaline screamed back at him, wand drawn.
"I have no interest in women or men, it was father who did that on her, just as he did it to you. He destroyed people with more than magic", Azrail circled her like a hyena. "We killed her real anger-focus, and her father was my first contract. The wheel turns!" He laughed. "With Dreogan I embraced my darker side, torturing him helped me discover me. With Sandra's parents I became the Angel of Death!" He bared his teeth, saliva spilling out.
"I'm using your spell to manipulate my friend in Hogwarts by pretending to be their father. Like father like son", Azrail cackled.
"It did feel good getting rid of him," she said, lowering her wand, yet kept constant eye contact.
"Yes, it did! Didn't it, sister! We no longer need his shadow for we create our own. It is time to plunge the wizarding world into chaos…as soon as my brother enables his fear to cause the bitch to panic", Ernaline howled into the night, like a she-wolf.
"You know…you could ask for help", Claudia told Dreogan, resigned.
"I know, I would as soon as I had located it, and I did", he told her.
"Where is it, then?" Emerick asked.
"Hidden in plain sight, where everyone can see it, yet no one realizes it. Here in the library."
"That can't be, we'd see the enflamed wings, and it", Claudia said.
"Charles, having me open my Revelio notes reminded me of Emerick complaining a few days past. "Some transfigurations obstruct light."" Their irises dilated in recognition and surprise.
"Let us cast…" Dreogan cut Charles off.
"No, not yet. We'll come after the library closes for the night", Dreogan told him, and so they did, with Lumos in order to be able to see; Claudia opened the library doors for them.
"Revelio!" Dreogan pointed his wand at the ceiling.
A shade flickered but nothing more happened.
"Guys help me out here. All together now!" They extended their wands and cast it at the same time.
The shade vanished revealing the bright flames in the shape of two wings covering the theta and the book between them.
"Now, hopefully I don't blow up the library…" He walked up to it, touching the symbol.
With a vortex pop it vanished, leaving the book behind.
"That's a good sign, I guess", Claudia let out a breath.
"Where do you intent to hide it?" Charles asked him.
"I would also very much like to know that, Mr.-Burton-to-be", A female voice came from behind them.
"Headmistress Adams!" All four of them yelled simultaneously.
"Indeed", She looked less than pleased.
"I am going to place it in the chamber of secrets, the one place in Hogwarts no one else other than me can enter", Dreogan told her.
"A clever plan, if it wasn't for the fact your brother used it for his experiments, after the room of requirement became unavailable to him. He learned how to access it from your father who taught him how to say "open" in parcel tongue", she told them, walking up to the book. "The book's no longer safe in Hogwarts, and your brother knows it's here, so tomorrow it'll be sent to a more secure location. Go to your beds before I decide to punish you all with more than fifty house points, each."
"No, professor! That is exactly what Azrail wants! Please, keep it in your office, or wherever in here."
"It is not under negotiation, Mr. Gaunt," she replied angry.
"He will steal it."
"I've made arrangements already, no less than twenty of the Ministry's best Aurors will accompany it to its next location and will change it locations every day after. He will never find it."
"He will…"
"Not. Another. Word", She turned and left.
No one uttered another word, even Dreogan felt crushed his plan wasn't as good as he had thought.
Next morning, a package arrived for him.
"Who is it from?" Charles asked him, not recognizing the owl bearing it.
Dreogan shrugged, opening the black wrapping paper. He then opened the carton box. Inside it wrapped in leather was a broken wand in three pieces and a book.
"My father's wand and…the book of leaves? The fake!" He yelled. "Oh my god! I know how he is going to do it! I know how he is going to blow up the Ministry!" He yelled, everyone in the Great Hall turning their heads to him.
Horsewood stood up from her chair, in the Professors' table and walked to him, fast. "Mr. Gaunt, please explain yourself."
"My brother gave that reporter the information on how father…made me, he used father's attack on the Daily prophet not only to heist the ministry but prepare his attack on it. I'm guessing he has planned something which will enable him to destroy it. That's Azrail! Never does anything without a reason, usually more than one. He is letting me…us he's won. Father's broken wand, and the fake book of leaves, he is going to attack the Ministry today, and he's letting us know he has the real book," Dreogan said in almost one breath.
"I hope you're wrong…but in case you're not…" She nodded and left the Great Hall, walking as fast as she could without running.
Twenty minutes later, the Great Hall still buzzing, the broken wand dissolved into ash which created a large moving image midair where all could see.
The image cleared until the Daily Seer could be seen inside it. It was the Ministry's main Entrance, underground with its statues in gold, the large glass windows and arched bridges.
"Shit", Claudia took out her wand pointing it at the air. "VIGILARE PAPA!" she yelled and with a booming sound, that made glasses near her shake, a jet of red light erupted from her wand for a blink of an eye, then vanished.
Before anyone could ask what she had done, or she could attempt to explain, Azrail, Ernaline, Bloodfang, Sandra and Marigold apparated in the middle of it, between the statues.
Instantly the wizards and witches around them, either screamed and run for cover or got their wands out.
"He is attempting a full-frontal attack?" Charles asked, in awe.
"No…" Dreogan had gone pale.
"Ministry of Magic, surrender to us unconditionally, for I am the Archangel of Death, messenger of the ferryman incarnate", Azrail said in his Dementor's cloak.
Students gasped and cried. "He's wearing a Dementor's cloak!" "How! They are undying!" Some of them whispered.
"He really is what he claims!", someone else vocalized.
Aurors surrounded Azrail and his group, yet they seemed completely relaxed.
"Surrender now and we won't kill you all", Azrail laughed. "But what would be the point of that!" He extended his hand out, empty and open. With his palm looking up.
The two wings around the theta flared up in his hand. "You should never assume I thought I had the real book of leaves, when I knew I had the fake one and I let you morons believe otherwise, heisted the fake one and used the opportunity to place a device in the Minister's office!" Just then he burst into laughter, closing his fist.
The Minister's office blew up into bright red flames, which cascaded down and up engulfing the whole building.
When the flames died down some, they saw a large blue, watery shield around Azrail and the others dissipate and vanish.
"Fan out, kill all who are not yet dead", he said before dissapparating.
The ash-mirror above their heads destabilized, raining down like ash from a volcano.
People were crying, others were wailing, knowing their father, mother or parents had just died. Some screamed and panicked.
"Remain calm!" The Headmistress' thunderous voice, no doubt enhanced by a spell, echoed through the Great Hall, and school. "In here you are safe. The exams will be postponed for a week, and we will contact your parents, please remain calm and return to your revisions and classes", she said.
Dreogan looked at his friends with teary, yet resolute eyes. "We must be there for one another, we must stand together", he told them, extending a hand out, at them.
"Aye", Emerick replied, placing his hand on Dreogan's.
"For sure", Charles placed his.
"Certamente", Claudia placed hers.
6