"What do you mean Excalibur's gone?" Demanded Chris, hurrying over to where Wyatt was kneeling to examine the hiding spot himself.
"I mean it is no longer here." Replied Wyatt testily, running his hands through his hair in panic.
"But what was it doing here in the first place? It's meant to be safely in the stone in the attic!" Pointed out Chris who had now started rummaging through the rest of Wyatt's possessions in the futile hope that it had simply been buried.
"It was- until Christmas." Chris stopped his search and turned to his brother.
"Why?" He asked. "What happened at Christmas?" Wyatt sighed, suddenly still- Chris got the feeling he was keeping something big from him. "What happened at Christmas, Wy?" He repeated.
"Look, I didn't want to tell you this, but dad told me that since we've been here there has been a marked increase in demon attacks." He replied. "Dad recons that because we're gone, Mum's so busy with the club and the restaurant and he is powerless the demons have seen this as their best opportunity to come at the family."
"What!" Exclaimed Chris. "Why the hell didn't you tell me?"
"Because Dad didn't want you to worry." Replied Wyatt- knowing Chris would respect their father's concerns over his big brother's. "He only told me so I would bring Excalibur here. Hogwarts is meant to be the most secure place in the world- or at least that's what Dumbledore told dad."
"That's probably true in the dungeons but not the dormitories!" Cried Chris- frustrated with his brother's idiocy."
"Why not?" Protested Wyatt. "The common room is password protected and only the twenty magic school students know it." He paused- clearly contemplating which of their friends could have done it.
"It wasn't any of them." Cut in Callum- guessing Wyatt's trail of thought. "We were all together during the task- professor Lawrence too, and no one left." Wyatt looked like he was about to question this claim, but Chris agreed with Callum.
"No one in magic school would be dumb enough to steal it." He pointed out. "They all know the stories about its corrupting power and, more importantly; they've all seen you fight."
"Well then who else?" Asked Wyatt. The boys fell into silence trying to consider all the possibilities. Everyone knew Wyatt had Excalibur- all three schools had seen him wield it in the first task and Rita Skeeter had written an article about it informing the rest of the community- but hardly any of them had access to the common room and out of them, Chris couldn't think of anyone with the motive to take the sword.
"If we could find a map of the school then maybe you could skry for it." Suggested Callum. The sword was protected from most people's skrying but the true heir to Excalibur was an exception. Wyatt agreed to this plan- and the boys decided to go and find one of the Professors to try and get a map.
"You know." Pointed out Chris as they left the common room. "The thief has had all day to hide the sword. How do we know it's even still in Hogwarts?" Wyatt and Callum exchanged unsettled looks and then Callum suggested maybe they should also enquire about a map of the world just in case.
When they reached the main staircase the three boys split up. Callum ran off to try and find Professor Lawrence in his new office to tell him what was going on; Wyatt ran down the stairs to the great hall hoping that there would be some teachers still at dinner, while Chris ran off to the Gryffindor Common Room in the hopes that one of his friends might have one. They each took a skrying crystal- though only Wyatt would actually be able to locate Excalibur- and agreed to meet in the great hall in twenty minutes.
Xx
"So you decided to join in the celebrations after all!" Grinned Ron once Chris had climbed in through the portrait hole. Remarkably, even though the task had been over for many hours now, the Gryffindor Common Room was still a hive of celebration. There was a table filled with butter beer and snacks and people were dancing to music but Chris couldn't see where it was coming from.
He returned Ron's grin, glad that they were finally back on friendly ground, before spotting Hermione over in the corner. She was hunched over a pile of books, throwing the occasional dirty look back at the crowd of revellers. Chris walked over to her followed by Harry and Ron.
"Hey." Greeted Hermione, her annoyed frown quickly replaced with a smile at seeing Chris which was then equally quickly replaced by a frown once more as she saw the worried look on Chris' face. "Is everything ok?" She asked?
Chris quickly explained what had happened and the faces of his three friends quickly began to mirror his own concern. After he had finished his explanation there was a brief pause which was broken by Harry.
"Malfoy!" He exclaimed.
"Harry, you can't just blame Malfoy for every bad thing that happens in this school!" Criticised Hermione.
"I don't blame him for everything!" Objected Harry.
"Yeah, sometimes he blames Snape." Agreed Ron jokingly. Harry hit him on the arm, but wasn't about to drop his theory.
"I'm serious this time." He insisted. "Remember back before Christmas." He said, turning to Chris. "You found him skulking around near your common room and when you confronted him he attacked you. He was probably trying to steel it then and you stopped him! You said yourself that he always seemed to be hanging around Wyatt since he showed everyone Excalibur during the first task."
"But how could he have even got into the common room?" Questioned Hermione sceptically, but Chris was on Harry's side.
"The Yule Ball." He groaned as suddenly things started to make sense. He looked around the confused faces of his friends and quickly explained "He took one of the girls from my year- Anne. I didn't get why before as they are really different people and apparently he had been acting all sweet with her- but I bet it was so she would show him the common room!"
"Makes sense." Agreed Ron. And even Hermione conceded the idea was worth investigating. "How do we get it back though? I mean the slimy git has had all day to hide it or- more likely- to send it to his even slimier father."
"He wouldn't send a package like that in daylight surely." Said Hermione, glancing out of the tower's window at the steadily darkening sky."
"Do you guys have a map of the school or anything?" Asked Chris hopefully- finally remembering what he had actually come for.
Hermione, Harry and Ron all exchanged meaningful glances at this inquiry; their eye's flicking amongst each other apparently trying to silently reach an agreement. Eventually Ron shrugged and Harry nodded and Hermione grabbed Chris' hand and pulled him behind her as she headed for one of the staircases leading to the boy's dormitories- followed closely by the other two.
Chris didn't bother asking for an explanation until Hermione pushed him into a very untidy room which contained five unmade beds and was carpeted in robes and the everyday clothes of the occupants. Ron closed the door behind them as Harry hurried to one of the bedside cabinets- presumably his own and rummaged through it for a second, eventually pulling out a large, tattered piece of paper.
"You have to promise to keep this a secret." Said Hermione, taking a seat on Harry's bed and motioning for Chris to do the same.
"Ok..." Said Chris uncertainly. "But what..." Before he could finish his question, Harry had tapped the paper with his wand and muttered something inaudible and suddenly the paper came alive with ink lines. As Chris leaned in further; he began to see a picture emerging on the paper. "Who are 'Messers Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs'?" He asked reading the curious parchment.
"That's a long story." Replied Harry. But Chris wasn't really listening as his attention had been caught suddenly by the moving dots all over the map which were each labelled with a name. He spotted the four of their names in a little circle on one of the four towers and could see Wyatt's dot already pacing the entrance hall and Callum's dot moving quickly in that direction, followed closely by Professor Lawrence but there was no sign of any dot marked Draco Malfoy.
"The sword must be protecting him." He mused, looking up at the faces of his equally stumped friends.
"Either that or he's left the grounds." Added Ron.
Deciding to ignore this pessimism, Chris reached into his pocket and pulled out his skrying crystal. He knew he wouldn't be able to pinpoint the sword itself, but maybe when combined with the clearly significant power of this map his magic could be enough to track down Malfoy. Ignoring the questions from the others, Chris concentrated all his power on Malfoy, placing his other hand on the shoulder Draco had blasted- hoping it might be enough of a connection to aid the magic. After several minutes the crystal had still refused to drop though it had begun circling a small area of the grounds on the outskirts of the forest.
"I think he's somewhere there." He stated eventually. The other's nodded and got to their feet with no further questions about the crystal but Chris held up his hand. "You guys should stay here." He said. "Excalibur corrupts who ever holds it if they aren't the true heir. It corrupted my mom and let's face it Malfoy isn't exactly starting out corruption free. It's going to be dangerous."
"Then why are you going." Pointed out Hermione, insulted that Chris didn't think they could handle problems from his world.
"Because I need to tell Wyatt. When I do he'll tell me the exact same thing as I am telling you."
"Yeah, and I bet you'll ignore him just the same as we're going to ignore you." Pointed out Ron. Chris sighed, but turned to leave the room without further discussion. He knew there was no point arguing with any of them, and it wasn't as if he could contradict Ron's claim.
The four of them walked quickly out of the common room- breaking into a run the moment they were clear of the crowds. They made it down to the entrance hall in record time- using several short cuts Chris had never noticed before- through fake walls and hidden passage ways.
When they reached the entrance hall Wyatt and Callum were still waiting for him impatiently- apparently neither of them had made any progress in solving the theft as they both turned to him hopefully. As they passed the entrance to the Great Hall, Chris spotted Professor Lawrence talking urgently with Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, but he didn't bother to interrupt them- this was Wyatt's problem to deal with.
"He's in the grounds we have to hurry!" He informed Wyatt breathlessly, not bothering to stop to give a full explanation as they hurtled towards the main doors. Wyatt and Callum didn't even hesitate. They followed the four younger students out into the grounds, heading down a slope towards the forbidden forest.
Chris only slowed down when they reached the outskirts of the forest. He looked around wildly trying to spot any sign of Malfoy.
"There!" Called Harry, pointing at a spot just inside the forest's edge. Chris turned to look just in time to see a shadow move within the trees, but before any of the group could do more than observe, there was a loud bang, a flash of red light and then a body flew out of the shadows, landing a few feet from the nearest tree. It was Draco.
Callum, Hermione and Ron all rushed to Malfoy's side to make sure he was still breathing and to see if he still had the sword, but almost simultaneously Harry and Wyatt both set off into the forest, both of them yelling something about spotting a second figure. Deciding that Draco was suitably taken care of by his three friends, Chris sprinted off into the trees after the two Champions- following the noise of their progress through the branches.
He finally caught up to the other boys after running further into the forbidden forest than he cared to contemplate. Both of them were dead still, clearly listening out for any sign of the mysterious figure's progress through the trees.
"I think we lost him." Stated Harry glumly after a minutes' silence. Wyatt, however, held up a hand to him- indicating he should return to silence- his eyes were darting around the forest and he had a look on his face of intense concentration- listening out for the slightest noise that would show them the way.
Finally his eyes settled on a spot across the clearing behind a large oak tree. He held his finger to his lip as he began to creep towards the target. Before he got more than a few feet, however, the mysterious figure appeared, his wand out stretched in one hand and the sword in the other.
Instinctively, Wyatt rocketed back to stand directly in front of Chris, raising his shield to protect Harry as well. Harry held up his wand towards the strange man as Chris and Wyatt adopted defensive stances, ready to use their powers at the slightest hint of danger.
The man seemed quite unperturbed by this showing of defiance, however. In fact, if anything, he seemed almost amused. He was a reasonably young man with fair hair and pale skin. Chris could see a hint of madness in his eyes and he wondered if that was a result of the sword's corruption or if it had always been there. He didn't recognise him as one of the teachers from any of the schools and he certainly wasn't a student. How then, could he possibly be in the school grounds of what was supposedly one of the most secure places in the world?
"Looking for this?" He asked with a sneer. He held the sword out so the point was aimed directly at Wyatt's eye, but before any of them could respond, he let out a yell and sent a blast of red light straight at the boys.
The spell hit the orb shield hard, letting off a loud explosion which seemed to reverberate all through the forest, but the occupants of the bubble remained unscathed and now it was their turn to attack.
"Expelliarmus!" Yelled Harry, sending the perpetrator's wand flying out of his unprepared hand. At the same time both Wyatt and Chris sent a wave of kinetic energy straight at the man's chest, sending him flying into the oak tree and forcing the sword out of his hand.
The three boys advanced on the fallen man, but he was not ready to surrender. His eyes flicked momentarily between his fallen wand and Excalibur, no doubt calculating which gave him the best shot. In the last second before the boys renewed their attack, he lunged for his wand, sending out a flare of bright light straight at them, momentarily blinding them long enough for him to make his escape deeper into the forest, leaving the sword behind.
"Who the hell was that?" Exclaimed Wyatt them moment his vision had returned enough to find the younger boys. Both Harry and Chris shrugged.
"I couldn't even get a proper look at him." Said Harry whose view had been blocked by Wyatt's protective stance. As Wyatt bent down to retrieve Excalibur, Chris spotted a gleam in his eye which told him Wyatt planned on pursuing the thief further.
"Leave him Wy." He instructed, putting an arm on his shoulder. "We're lost enough in this forest without going in further!" At Chris's words Wyatt mind seemed to snap back to their current predicament. He spun around the clearing, squinting back in the direction they came to try and see a light coming from the edge of the forest, but they were so far in that all they could see was trees and the light was fading fast.
"Lumos." Muttered Harry, igniting a light at the end of his wand. Chris quickly took out his own wand and followed suit but Wyatt never bothered to carry his anywhere and besides, the small lights did little to impact the heavy darkness of the forest.
"We need to get out of here before we lose all of the light!" Declared Wyatt, quickly bending down to retrieve Excalibur, all thought of the mysterious thief forgotten.
The three boys tried to follow the path of destruction they had forged through the forest in pursuit of the Malfoy's attacker, but with the light now so low it was impossible to tell their tracks from the general ware and tare the forest endured from its regular occupants and all too soon they had completely lost the trail.
Eventually they came to a stop completely in an open clearing. For all they knew they were now making their way further into the forest and there was no point proceeding without direction so Harry suggested if they stayed in the same place, then he could send up a shower of red sparks which would hopefully show anyone looking for them their position.
"Please tell me you guys have another one of those powers which is going to help us get out of here." Said Harry. There was no fear in his voice, but Chris could tell his friend was fighting every instinct to keep it that way.
None of them could claim to be calm any more. The sun had almost completely set and any light that remained was obscured by the trees leaving the boys in total darkness bar the small lights from Chris and Harry's wands. Wyatt raised his orb shield under the pretence of adding more light to their situation though Chris suspected he actually raised it because of the anxiety all three of them were feeling. Around them they could hear the forest come to life as all the myriad of nocturnal creatures that occupied it awoke. Most of the sounds were reassuringly distant, but every now and then a branch would snap or leaves would be trodden on far too close for any of their comfort.
Chris considered Harry's question. Both boys had one power that could get them out of this situation, but thanks to the protection spells around the grounds preventing magical transportation, they were unable to orb to safety. Most of the rest of their powers were defensive and no real use against the trees that blocked their view of the castle. In the end it was Harry who answered his own question instead of the two witches.
"Don't you have some sort of detection power?" He asked. "That was how you found Chris in the lake in the second task right?" Wyatt shook his head, dismissing the idea instantly.
"We can sense our charges, or our family." He explained. "But the only person that applies to in Hogwarts is standing right next to me." Harry sighed, and he and Wyatt returned to considering other solutions, but Chris thought Harry was on to something.
"What about Callum?" He suggested. Both boys looked at him curiously, so he clarified. "Surely he counts as one of our charges. He's practically family." Wyatt considered this. He had always had a close bond with Callum- ever since they had been babies- but he had never tried to sense for his friend before. Still, anything was worth a shot now.
"Might as well try." He conceded to Chris.
The two witches closed their eyes and concentrated hard as Harry watched, his arms tightly wrapped around him as the cold February air continued to cool the night. Try as Chris might, he couldn't seek out Callum, he wasn't as close with him as Wyatt was and before this trip the pair had never even been alone in a room together.
The more he tried to strain his sensing powers, the further all thoughts of Callum seemed to slip from his mind, but as he kept on concentrating; a new thought entered it. Hermione.
"He's somewhere in that direction." Said Wyatt with limited confidence, pointing almost directly back the way they came. His arm moved in a vague circle indicating the rough area but he didn't seem all that confident. Mental powers had never really been Wyatt's area of focus when growing up. He preferred to physically see what his powers could do.
"There." Declared Chris suddenly. He pointed in the area Wyatt had indicated, but with a lot more certainty and precision. Wyatt was surprised Chris had gained such a strong relationship with Callum over the years, but then again Chris had always excelled in the areas of magic that interested Wyatt least- Wyatt suspected that wasn't a coincidence.
In the end the trio had paused barely twelve minutes from the outskirts of the forest, and had only been lost in the trees for about three hours. When they finally made it out of the treeline, however, it seemed as if they had been missing for far day as they were immediately intercepted by a group of concerned teachers- Lawrence, Dumbledore and McGonagall most prominent amongst them, but to the side of the crowd Chris also spotted professors Moody and Professor Snape.
"What on Earth were you thinking running off in there after an unknown man! You could have been killed."
"10 points from Gryffindor Mr Potter, I have warned you about such reckless actions before."
"Somebody should get a message to Hagrid informing him of the triumphant return. He'll be out in the forest all night otherwise."
Chris didn't even register the rest of the comments. His eyes locked on to a very concerned looking Hermione in the crowd and, despite himself, his mouth twisted into a grin.
"Are you alright?" Asked Hermione, throwing her arms around his neck. "Oh, Chris I was so worried! What happened in there?" Chris just shook his head and assured her everything was fine. "Who was that man in the forest?" She asked once she finally broke the embrace. Chris shrugged.
"I'd never seen him before. He wasn't from around here or from magic school." This news alarmed the listening crowd. No one was supposed to be in the Hogwarts grounds that weren't meant to be and if he had gained entry then who knew what else could or had.
Slowly the crowd made their way back up to the castle. The students were offered some food, which they all gratefully accepted, and then were sent straight to their common rooms.
Hermione and Chris hung back, walking slower than the rest of the group. They twined their fingers together and Hermione laid her head on Chris' shoulder.
"So what happened with Malfoy?" Asked Chris suddenly remembering what had happened before he had run into the forest. "Is he ok? Does he remember who he gave the sword to?" Hermione shook her head sadly.
"He didn't remember anything. Madam Pompfrey thinks he was hit by a memory charm. He can't remember anything about Excalibur at all. The rest of his memories are fine but even stuff like the first task and the stories of King Arthur are gone." This was troubling news on two counts as not only could Malfoy not give them any information about the events of the day, but it also proved that whoever they were dealing with was extremely powerful.
"Well as long as this guy is around, Wyatt's going to have to find another place to keep Excalibur." He mused. Hermione nodded, but her mind was elsewhere.
"So how did you guys get out?" She asked. "You said you and Wyatt were sensing for Callum and that all that gave you was a vague direction, but you came out at the exact point we were all waiting for you. How did you know?" Chris grinned and looked down at Hermione.
"I could sense you." He replied- mentally kicking himself for how lame those words sounded. Hermione, however, fully aware of what sort of connection that meant they had, thought it was the most romantic thing he had ever told her.