Ch. 1: The curse
Ciel Phantomhive impatiently brushed away the hair that was usually falling over his right eye. Sometimes it covered it completely, much to the dismay of his parents. Don't think about mother, he scolded himself. His black cat, Sebastian, meowed from where he was sitting, perched on the windowsill, and Ciel welcomed the distraction. It became increasingly difficult to be alone since everything fell apart.
Ironically, it wasn't the second rise of Voldemort that changed Ciel's life so thoroughly. No, his family, although as pure blood and as noble as they came, wasn't interested in following another or joining the murder club. Or so he thought. Well, when Voldemort rose again, Ciel's father, Vincent, was more than worried that the nagging to join the case would restart. He even went as far as suggesting that Ciel, and his adopted brother Gratien, don't go to Hogwarts for their fifth year of studies. However, Rachel, Ciel's mother, convinced him that they were the safest within the walls of the castle, under the watchful eye of headmaster Dumbledore.
Vincent gave in. Ciel and Gratien, who threatened to kill anybody who called him otherwise than by his chosen nickname – Nezumi, went to school, oblivious to the drama that would unfold in the end of the school year. They worked as hard as ever, knowing that Ciel's father did not acknowledge excuses for failing in their courses and had rather high expectations both of his biological and adopted son. Mindful of Umbridge's real mission in Hogwarts, they dutifully stayed under her radar and complained to their parents about her being a useless Defence against the Dark Arts teacher. Thankfully, Vincent thought that defending oneself was too important a subject to wait until his sons were eleven to start to learn it.
Consequently, the school year passed as all the ones before, with Elizabeth's and Shion's enthusiasm and Safu's silent adoration for the oblivious, airheaded Shion. Nezumi and Ciel quietly enjoyed the company of their friends, even if they never actually called them for what they were. Nezumi was too wary of trusting people with his feelings and Ciel was too proud to admit just how much pleasure they took from the company of the other three.
Everything was going well until Harry The Saviour Potter decided to storm the Ministry of Magic. Ciel had no idea why he did that. Even Shion, who studied often with Safu and Potter's friend, Hermione Granger, had no idea. It didn't matter though, because it was enough to know that Potter, together with some friends, found themselves attacked by a couple of Deatheaters. They survived thanks to the Order of the Phoenix and headmaster Dumbledore, who arrived right on time. Ciel learned that much later, on the funeral of headmaster Dumbledore, who defeated the Dark Lord for good this time.
Paradoxically, it was after Dumbledore's funeral that Ciel's life crumbled. An unfair but understandable demand for all the pure blood wizards to produce a proof of not being a Deatheater brought to light the fact that Rachel Phantomhive did have the Dark Lord's tattoo on her arm. Her only excuse and defence was that she did it for her family, for her husband and sons, to be protected from the wrath of the Dark Lord. She didn't fight the arrest and didn't protest to be taken to Azkaban in wait for her trial.
Father was in London at that very moment, attending to the trial. He took neither Ciel nor Nezumi with him, saying that it wasn't something they needed to see. On the windowsill, Sebastian stretched lazily and jumped off, trotting out of the room gracefully.
They must be back, Ciel thought. When Nezumi and Ciel didn't arrive at Shion's place as they would usually, the brown-haired boy came to visit them and ask if everything was alright. Nezumi took him for a walk, Ciel supposed to explain the situation.
Trust Nezumi to understand, Ciel thought bitterly. His "twin", who was really born on the same day but to different parents, went through more than Ciel could imagine. Nezumi's parents, who were best friends of Ciel's parents, had died in a horrible fire that devoured their house and very nearly took Nezumi's life as well. It had happened on Nezumi's and Ciel's fourth birthday, just before the guests were supposed to arrive. If not for the Muggle parents of Shion, who didn't understand the true danger of a magical fire, Nezumi would be dead as well.
Ciel barely remembered those events. For him, Nezumi was always a brother. Now, his brother was coming back with Shion, who was almost like a brother to Ciel as well, and Ciel would have to face the other boy. What would Shion say? Would he condemn mother for taking the Dark Mark? Would he even come back with Nezumi or would he want to have nothing to do with the Phantomhive Manor at all?
He didn't have much time to think because, as soon as Sebastian was gone through the door, Shion and Nezumi appeared. Shion's brown eyes widened as they took in Ciel and the boy all but flung himself at Ciel, much to Ciel's surprise.
'This is so horrible, Ciel,' he was saying. 'I'm so sorry to hear about your mom. If I can do anything to help you,' he added. As he hesitantly wrapped his arms around Shion, Ciel looked, above the other boy's shoulder, at the knowing smile that momentarily twisted Nezumi's face.
'He insisted to come back here immediately,' Nezumi said calmly as Shion let go of Ciel.
'I didn't want you to be alone in a moment like that,' Shion said earnestly and Ciel, who was raised to be cold and guarded, was yet again amazed by the trustful openness of his friend.
'Father will not be here tonight,' Nezumi pointed out. He always called Vincent "father", but avoided saying "my" and Ciel picked that up from him. 'I thought we might try to do something to take our minds off this mess. Worrying about it will not take us anywhere so we might just as well occupy ourselves.'
'You're right, of course,' Ciel agreed. 'But I don't see what we could do. I simply cannot focus on anything else than,' he trailed of. Shion enclosed him in another, brief hug, before suggesting that they could go to his father's library and read something. It was Nezumi's favourite summer pass-time activity and, more often than not, Ciel and Shion joined him.
'I feel like I have to stay here and wait,' Ciel protested. 'I know he will not come back tonight, but I feel like I should be here, just in case he does,' he added. Nezumi nodded in understanding and suggested they would eat something and then see what they could do.
Eventually, they ended up exploring. The Phantomhive Manor was big enough for even Ciel to not know everything about it and there seemed to be nothing that Shion liked more than a mystery. His enthusiasm was contagious and, even in his gloomy mood, Ciel found that he couldn't resist the temptation to explore the west wing of the house.
'I wonder what we will find!' Shion enthused as, armed in their wands, three boys made their way towards the corridors they have never seen. Nezumi snickered. Ciel hoped it would be more than dust and spider webs because otherwise it would be extremely disappointing.
Lights didn't work in that part of the manor because house elves were not taking care of it, on explicit orders from Vincent's grandfather. With the faint flickers on the tips of their wands, they discovered old portraits every couple of meters, probably portraying the Phantomhive family members. They were hanging on the pale walls, dust gathering on their frames. Ciel didn't know any of the people on them but, as Shion pointed out promptly, judging by their clothes and the style of painting, they were from many, many years ago. The people pained on the paintings were looking at them silently. A chill ran down Ciel's spine.
They passed by a number of doors and tried to open them, but they all seemed closed, so they walked on. Closed rooms probably meant empty rooms. They turned into different corridors, but nothing ever changed.
'I wonder why father doesn't put them somewhere more visible,' Ciel mused as they stopped in front of Archibald Phantomhive. They stopped in front of it because Ciel started to wonder if there was a point to this excursion and, he suspected, so did the other two. The man on the painting looked at them disapprovingly.
'What are you doing here, children?' he said, his eyes lingering on Shion. Knowing that the predecessors of Vincent were not overly fond of Muggle born wizards, Ciel glared at the man, warning him to not voice his thoughts. Nobody badmouthed his friends. 'This is not a place for children to be,' the man added. 'Evil lurks here.'
'Evil?' Nezumi replied, not missing a beat. Sometimes Ciel was jealous of his reflexes. 'What kind of evil can lurk here?' he asked.
'I am not at liberty to tell,' the painting said. 'Does Lady Rachel know that you're here?' he asked. An unpleasant feeling overcame Ciel for a moment. Why would the portrait mention mother like that? Did she hide something in those corridors?
'I command you to tell me,' he ordered imposingly. He would have to warn father. The man on the portrait looked away. 'I am not a stupid Gryffindor to rush into danger,' Ciel hissed at the man's silence. 'If you tell me what is there and where we will leave. But if you don't, we might want to find out ourselves.'
'Don't be silly, child,' the portrait finally said. Ciel exchanged worried looks with Nezumi and Shion.
'Maybe we should leave and tell your dad,' Shion suggested in a quiet whisper. Ciel nodded.
'Let's get out of here,' he said. Without further hesitation, they turned around and walked to where they came from. Ciel hoped that he remembered the way and they wouldn't get lost. Suddenly the idea of exploring didn't seem so good anymore, especially not when there was no adult in the manor and would likely not be before long. Suddenly the expressions of the painted people seemed malevolent.
They didn't run, knowing that in the dark corridors running would bring panic and the last thing they needed was to panic. However, when they reached a point where their corridor met with another one, Ciel's heartbeat quickened. They had two directions to choose and they stopped uncertainly. They looked around and Shion took a couple of steps one way while Nezumi went the other.
'We came from that direction,' Shion pointed with his wand, towards where Nezumi went. 'I don't recognise the paintings here,' he added. Knowing that he could trust Shion's memory, Ciel went in the direction of Nezumi, expecting Shion to join them.
'I think this door is open,' Shion said hesitantly. Ciel and Nezumi turned to him immediately. Careful not to touch anything, the brown-haired boy took another step towards the room that indeed looked to be open. A foreboding feeling washing over him, Ciel made to stop him.
Words died on his lips when a gust of wind extinguished the flickers on the tips of their wands, enclosing them in impenetrable darkness. Complete silence rang in Ciel's ears as he held his breath, waiting for something to happen. He guessed that Shion and Nezumi also held their breaths because he couldn't hear them at all. Light, he thought. He was about to cast the spell when a bloodcurdling scream tore the silence. A split of a second later, a bright glare blinded him for a moment.
When he could see again, the sight in front of his eyes made his blood freeze. Shion was the one who screamed and he was still screaming, although somewhat subdued, as he fought to breathe. Something that looked like a shining snake was wrapped around his body, from his left ankle, up his leg and torso, right until his neck.
He looked like he was struggling not only to free his neck but also to step away from the doorway. Could something be holding on to his left ankle? Nezumi ran towards him, but Ciel stopped him.
'We cannot touch him,' he hissed urgently. They both knew that it would not help anybody if two people got under the influence of the curse.
'He'll die if we don't,' Nezumi protested and broke free. To his credit, he didn't touch Shion with his hands but turned around and pushed him away from the doorway with his back, using his momentum. The screaming and the light disappeared.
'Nezumi?' Ciel asked hesitantly. He lit the tip of his wand. Nezumi was lying on top of Shion, breathing heavily, a couple of steps away from the still open doorway. As Ciel ran up to them, making sure to be as far from the door as he could, he moved and they both gasped. Shion's clothes were literary burned away where the light snake has been, the skin red and blistering.
'What the hell,' Ciel muttered as Nezumi checked the pulse. Relief washed over him when his adopted brother announced that Shion was alive. 'Shall we levitate him out of here?' he asked and Nezumi nodded in agreement. As Ciel cast the levitation spell, Nezumi collected Shion's wand and charmed his to be a compass. They were about to move when Ciel noticed a change in Shion: the boy's hair became snow-white. Didn't he get paler also?
'Come on Ciel,' Nezumi muttered and, from his expression, Ciel understood that he also noticed the changes. 'We'll worry about it when we get out of this place,' he added. Without further hesitation, they ran out of the abandoned corridors and, only when they reached the entrance hall, flooded with light, did they stop.
'Let's get him to bed and call a healer,' Ciel suggested. Not waiting for Nezumi's reply, he went to the guest bedroom that Shion used when he stayed over for the night. 'We should treat those burns or else they will scar,' he added when Shion was lying on his bed.
'If you call a healer, they will know that there is something bad in the manor,' Nezumi said quietly, fear for losing the second home in his voice. Ciel pursed his lips, watching how Nezumi gently undid Shion's shirt to check the state of the burns. They both winced.
'With mother's trial, it's not like they will be surprised,' Ciel pointed out. 'Do you think we can manage the situation ourselves?' he asked. Nezumi pointed out that they knew the basic healing spells and they should at least give it a try.
They followed his advice and, after ensuring that there was no internal damage and casting multiple healing charms on the burns, tried to wake Shion up and assess the damage fully. Shocked gasps escaped both of them when the white-haired boy finally groaned in pain and opened his eyes.
Bright, violet eyes looked up at them in confusion.