Here's a fresh new chapter. Hope you like it :)
Chapter seventeen
The stranger
There was a moment's silence in the dark of the night before it was cut through by a shriek like no other. The scream died down at once, leaving behind the same silence like before. A man was lying on the floor apparently seething with pain. His hair was so long and wild that they covered his entire face as he sat kneeling on the ground, panting like a thirsty animal.
For a few moments the silence stayed before being corrupted by the painful shriek once more. This time the screaming man pulled back his head and under the moonlight his face shone a pearly white.
Had the villagers laid their eyes on this man they would have fled, leaving behind any misconceptions that they could burn this man or even accuse him of anything. Such grisly terror was etched on every line of his face that a person would have had to look twice to spot that he was human.
His eyes including his pupils were dark as tar. His face was not scarred but they were oddly contorted as though someone had moulded it into place with their fingers. His fingers were pale and spindly, and they were bleeding profusely, but the wild man didn't seem to wince in pain. Instead, he looked as though lost in a trance.
There was a howl from behind the trees which caused the man to turn behind instinctively. There was a yelp and a thud followed by a rustling of the leaves. The man, after killing the helpless animal pocketed his wand. He was here for some quiet and he was going to get it. Even the sounds of nature seemed to disturb what this man was intending to do.
For several hours the man repeated the procedure. Silence, a touch of magic from his wand, an ear splitting shriek of agony, followed by a few moments of stupor. The man finally threw his wand back on the floor. He lay on the ground facing the stars. It seemed the magic he had been performing was wearing off, for his face was regaining its natural shape.
The man seemed to be lost in a vast amount of pleasure. His breathing eased and just as he was about to close his eyes, he heard the rustling of voices once more. But before he could aim for his wand, he heard a rough voice echoing from among the trees.
"Nay. Do not aim for your wand. It is me. Bernaby," whispered a man who stepped out of the shadows whose dirty ragged clothes stood out in contrast to the person lying on the floor who was almost naked.
Bernaby looked at the man on the ground with utmost revulsion. Despite looking much more haggard and dirty than the person in front of him, he seemed to wear an expression of pure disgust.
"Don't thou have nothing else to do with thy magic boy? Wasting all that Dark Magic for pleasure when there are tasty Muggles on whom you could use it for free. And you wouldn't even need to feel pain," he said.
The man on the floor gathered his robes from the floor and didn't reply. He looked like he didn't try too hard to blend in with the Muggles, for he was quite comfortably dressing himself in wizard robes. He straightened up once he got dressed and turned to face the grumpy old wizard.
He moved a few steps forward so that his face was illuminated by the moonlight. It was only then one could see that he was not as old as he seemed a few minutes earlier when the Dark Magic had transformed him into a repulsive creature. In fact he could have been only a few years older than Lancelot's son, William.
"How is Will?" he asked once he had robed himself properly.
"As lazy as a Muggle. Not worth any good, that boy is. Hasn't even got the nerve to curse a Muggle," he said with the disgust on his face more pronounced than when he saw the boy lying on the ground.
"Why have thou come to see me?" asked the boy who was quite eager to leave but yet felt obliged to stay for it was no doubt apparent he was slightly afraid of the old wizard.
"I have a job for you m'boy," said Bernaby his face doused in a greedy expression.
"What is it?" he said after eyeing the man sceptically for a few moments.
"I will tell you all about it. However thou shall not recount any of it to thy father," he said while moving forward.
The boy looked away as he couldn't stare too long at the utterly disfigured face of the man in front of him.
"I seldom do," he said curtly and bend down to pocket his wand.
"But what shall I get in return?" he asked in a much more confident tone, now that he knew Bernaby needed something from him.
However, upon hearing this, Bernaby's face twisted into a fierce anger.
"Oho. I see. You now need payment in return for your services? And that too from your Master who has taught you all you know of the Dark Arts!" he spat.
But the boy seemed unnerved by Bernaby's anger and nodded without fear.
"Fine. You ungrateful lout. I shall give thou payment. But how about I giveth thou something more than mere galleons and sickles. How about if I giveth thou the opportunity to make a trip to the future with expanded magical powers," he said excitedly.
The boy's expression changed swiftly and it kept growing more curious as he listened to Bernaby speak, as he went on about the visitors from the future, the portal and his plan to kill the two of them before jumping into the future himself.
"And William? You shall not take him with you?" he asked suspiciously.
"Nay. He serves no purpose. I need someone who is well practiced in the Dark Arts. You of course were one of my best students I recall. Very talented and eager to prove yourself. This I have decided, this will be your reward,"
"So what will I have to do?" he asked, since he hadn't yet been told what price he would have to pay for this extremely generous reward.
"I will inform you of that later. Until then keep away from this" he waved around with his hands looking repulsed "and hone your Dark magic skills for more useful purposes", he said and walked away leaving behind the boy standing pale faced and confused.
Scorpius had never seen anyone so beautiful, or rather anything so beautiful. He was ears were letting words in and out without processing it. How could he concentrate when the young witch's beauty was radiating off her face like sunlight and brightening her surroundings.
"What is Hogwarts like in the future?" she asked in between her chatter.
It took a while for Scorpius to realize that Roslyn's lips had stopped moving, she was looking at him expectedly. It looked as though she had asked him a question.
"Sorry. Could you repeat what you said. I drifted off for a…"
Scorpius stopped talking mid sentence when he noticed something. He turned around and scanned the surroundings behind them.
"Where's Rose?" he asked.
Roslyn turned around as well and looked behind her curiously.
"I do not know. I presumed she was walking behind us," she said.
Scorpius went back and walked towards the forest, for they had just left the woods and reached the entrance to the town. He called out her name a few times, but the only sounds reaching them were the rustling of leaves.
"I am sure she is merely lagging behind and that she is not under any harm," said Roslyn trying to prevent him from going all the way back.
"You think so?" said Scorpius absentmindedly while looking around.
"Oh yes I am sure. Miss Weasley, after all, does like to jest, she must be staying back in order to scare us. It is the sort of thing she finds funny," said Roslyn with a tone which clearly indicated she didn't find Rose's idea of humour too funny.
Scorpius kept looking behind him while frowning. Was she after all playing one of her silly pranks? It is was quite like her to do so. She would have wanted nothing better than to ruin his time alone with Roslyn. Playing the damsel in distress so that he would abandon Roslyn and go looking for her seemed like the kind of thing she would do for fun.
"Yeah," Scorpius said finally. "This is probably just one of her silly pranks," he said, despite his mind thinking otherwise.
Roslyn sensed the disturbance in his voice too, which is why she quickly got back to her job of charming him. Scorpius fell under its effect soon enough, for he turned his attention back to her instantly as she waved her hair around.
But Roslyn didn't have to work too long to attract Scorpius' attention. He was immediately distracted by a distant scream which emanated from inside the woods.
"What is it?" asked Roslyn quickly.
"Didn't you hear that?" asked Scorpius who had now turned very pale.
"No," replied Roslyn eyeing him sceptically.
"I heard someone screaming," said Scorpius and scurried back a few steps into the woods. He craned his neck in hopes of hearing echoes of the scream he heard earlier.
"It is probably just one of the creatures that lives in the forest," said Roslyn, sounding a bit impatient.
Scorpius like earlier wasn't listening to Roslyn, but this time because he was, and he hated admitting it, concerned about Rose's safety. After what the elder wizards had told them, he was worried whether Bernaby had finally cracked the mystery of the portal and figured out what Kai and the others wizards had.
Roslyn was halfway through convincing Scorpius that he had perhaps imagined it, when she too heard a scream echoing from the forests.
Scorpius didn't wait for a confirmation from Roslyn this time. He set out straight into the woods once again. He was surprised at his readiness to walk into the forest and go help the Weasley with only a borrowed wand at his defense. He would have done this for anyone, he said to himself. Humanitarian consideration. That's what it is.
Rose, screaming turned to face the person she had expected to see the first time. She staggered a few steps back, while holding a trembling wand.
"I am armed. I warn you!" she snarled, her voice trembling as bad as her wand.
William didn't seem even remotely affected by Rose's threat. Instead he looked around the woods grimly. He seemed to be anticipating something and looked slightly frightened of whatever it was.
"Why have you been following me and Scorpius? What do you want from us?" shouted Rose.
William turned his attention back to Rose and looked at her for a long time. Rose noticed that he was bruised and bleeding from his lips. He also looked slightly offended by what Rose had just said,
"I have not been following you and the boy," he finally said not taking his eyes off Rose.
"Liar! I caught you more than once following me and Scorpius. Mr Lancelot even ousted you from his house for doing so!" she shouted, trying to keep her voice steady.
"I have not been following you and the boy," he repeated.
"I have only been following you," he said softly as he stepped forward.
Rose ought to have been more scared to know that Bernaby had asked William to follow Rose alone, but something about the manner in which he spoke made her relax.
"You ought to be careful. You are being followed by dangerous folks," he said in barely a whisper.
She looked at his face and saw that there was an earnest panic etched on it. He was looking straight into her eyes and for a brief moment she wanted to believe him.
"Oi! Get away from her!" shouted a voice from behind them. Rose twirled around swiftly. Scorpius was standing behind them looking livid with his wand held high and ready to shoot a spell.
Rose didn't have time to turn back around. William had disapparated the next second.
She sighed longingly as she searched the woods for a trace of the young wizard. She had wanted to ask William why he had been following her, whether he was asked to do so by his father and who were the dangerous folks she needed to worry about. Rose, frustrated that she wouldn't be getting any answers any time soon, turned around and saw a fuming Scorpius walking towards her.
"Where the hell did you wander off to!" yelled Scorpius the moment he reached Rose.
Rose was surprised to see him so angry. His face was red and swollen with rage with sweat trickling down his forehead. He seemed to have run a stretch to get here.
"I was.." she began.
"You thought it would be funny to wander off on your own, and get yourself caught by Dark Wizards!" shouted Scorpius.
"I..I.." stammered Rose. She was rendered speechless by Scorpius' sudden outburst. She had never seen him look so angry before. But before she could get herself to say anything, she caught a glimpse of Roslyn standing in the background looking pretty pleased about something.
The sight of Roslyn enjoying Scorpius badgering her, was enough for her to regain her spunk. But before she could utter even a word of rebuke, Scorpius strode off towards Roslyn.
"Come on. Lets get going then," he said to her and they both walked away. Rose stood there looking both hurt and confused, unaware that the blonde scampering off was feeling equally confused at the way he had reacted.
Note to readers: Please don't think I accidentally mixed two stories. I purposefully introduced our new character. You'll see why in the coming chapters :) Don't forget to leave a review :)