Chapter 38. A legacy that doesn't exist
Jeanne Alter's heart raced as she pursued Jack the Ripper, breathing in short gasps and pushing her body to its limits. She leaped from wall to wall with agility that belied her usually calm demeanor, her eyes burning with fury at the figure escaping before her.
Jack moved swiftly, but Jeanne was faster. With every step and every jump, she felt the distance between them closing, her fingers itching to grab the elusive killer. But just as she was about to reach out and seize Jack, the cunning criminal turned left, knocking Jeanne to the ground.
She couldn't let Jack escape.
Jeanne got back on her feet and resumed the pursuit. This time, the stakes were higher. She had come too close to capturing the elusive murderer, and failure was not an option.
Jack was mere meters away, and Jeanne could almost feel the tension in the air. Her heart pounded so loudly that she could barely hear the sound of her own footsteps. She pushed herself harder, forcing her legs to keep moving no matter what.
And just when it seemed like Jeanne would finally emerge victorious, Jack made a sudden move, broke free from Jeanne's grip, and darted away like a frightened animal, like a gust of wind. But Jeanne Alter was not about to give up. She ran faster, driven by a determination born out of desperation, and finally, with a mighty leap, brought Jack down to the ground, gripping her torso tightly.
"Have you had enough?" Jeanne whispered in her ear.
But it was only through the smug smile on Jack's face that she realized something was wrong. Jack swung a knife at Jeanne, but she felt no fear. In the next second, the shelf on which they had sprawled shifted. Glass balls, arranged on its shelves, cascaded down, shattering into thousands of shards.
"And here it is!" Jack giggled.
She broke free and grabbed one of the balls, but it slipped from her fingers, flew in an arc, and shattered. This enraged Jack.
"It's all because of you!"
She lunged at Jeanne, who also emerged from under the shelf. The shelf fell crookedly, brushing against several other shelves, setting off a chain reaction. Glass shattered and shelves crashed in the room. Jeanne and Jack involuntarily lost sight of each other amidst the chaos. But Jeanne, with her heightened senses, quickly oriented herself and never took her eyes off Jack.
- "I'll kill you for this!" Jack shouted and lunged at Jeanne.
- "Ha! Let's see!" she shouted back and swung her sword.
As they dodged flying objects and shards of glass, Jack pounced on Jeanne. The impact sent her flying several meters and crashing into a wall. Jack wielded her knives for a strike, but Jeanne remained composed and blocked the attack with her sword. She landed a single strike on Jack, sending her across the hall and crashing into the opposite wall. The wall couldn't withstand the impact and cracked. But Jack's determination remained unshaken. She glared at Jeanne with a predatory gaze and immediately bounced off the wall, intending to retaliate. The small, fair-haired girl flew towards Jeanne with green eyes filled with primal rage, aiming to crack her skull with her pink shoes. But Jeanne was prepared for the blow. She met her with her usual smug grin and leaped towards her, holding her sword in front of her.
Mash cautiously opened another door. Before her eyes appeared a huge hall with an empty arch, inside of which floated a mysterious veil. Unknown voices filled her ears as Mash discreetly approached the arch. She glanced at the arch, circling around it. Something strange enticed her to pass through the arch, and she would have done so if a voice hadn't called out to her.
- "Hey! Who's there?" a unfamiliar voice called out.
Turning around, Masha noticed a person lying on the floor. He looked very sick and in extreme pain, his face showing signs of recent suffering. This person was literally oozing blood, but still alive and lying in a pool of blood on the remains of a broken chair, feeling its presence. The man coughed. Pain distorted his face and he whispered in a barely audible voice:
- "Help..."
He reached out his hand to Mash, and she helped him up.
- "You must be Mr. Weasley, I assume?" she timidly asked, placing his arm over her shoulders.
He didn't respond, just coughed and nodded in agreement.
- "What are you doing here so late?" Mash asked.
A mysterious muffled sound reached her ears. It seemed as if there was a noisy New Year celebration happening nearby.
- "Assignment... guarding... secret..." Mr. Weasley whispered. "And you don't look much like a dark wizard hunter..."
The mysterious sound echoed again, as if coming from a distance. Mash's nerves relaxed a bit, and she let out a relieved exhale.
- We need to get out of here. Professor Dumbledore is there... - muttered Mash, unsure of how she wanted to respond.
Her brain desperately fought for every thought, but after a short nap, her thoughts became muddled in her head and she felt helpless in the face of questions.
- Dumbledore? - Mr. Weasley suddenly came to life. - Is he here too?
This time, the suspicious noise repeated, but much closer. It seemed as though something was moving towards them through the wall...
- The train? - Mash gasped in horror, revealing her most unexpected guess.
Her fears were not confirmed - a moment later, a tiny figure of Jack the Ripper flew past Mr. Weasley's back, followed, a fraction of a second later, by Jeanne d'Arc. Their appearance was accompanied by a deafening crash of falling walls, unimaginable cries of hatred, and the clanging of metal.
Startled by the noise, Mash panicked and rushed with Mr. Weasley towards the doors. She didn't even notice how the ominous arch behind her collapsed.
- What is happening there? - Mr. Weasley asked.
- Repairs?! - Mash desperately blurted out the first thing that came to her mind, just to fill the informational void with something.
- What repairs? The Ministry...
- Unplanned, of course! - Mash giggled, feeling how little she could explain to him and how much she wanted to know herself.
Two dark silhouettes opened an additional door in the nearest wall and disappeared through the opening. Mash decided not to risk it and directed her, and Mr. Weasley's, legs towards the right door.
- I'll slash you, you monster! - Jack yelled before soaring in front of Mash's face.
Mash barely managed to shield herself with a shield before Jack, along with Jeanne, broke through the ceiling. The swiftly receding noise brought Mash two pieces of news. The first: she and Mr. Weasley were safe. The second news momentarily puzzled Mash with a question of the cost of repairs at the Ministry. Somewhere, water fountains were splashing, debris of walls were scattered everywhere, and piles of dust lay. Only a sea of blood, mountains of mutilated corpses, and disfigured survivors crying over their losses were missing.
That's how Mash remembered her first encounter with Jeanne d'Arc, when she dove into that ominous singularity with Ritsuka. The year 1431 presented her with an inhuman sight. She had stepped into the unknown then, expecting only to meet the great Jeanne d'Arc, who had saved France. Jeanne d'Arc Alter turned out to be the embodiment of her worst nightmare. Knowing how strong and dangerous Jeanne d'Arc Alter was, Mash now wondered why her dispatch to 1994 had not been helpful.
— Professor Dumbledore, silent and thoughtful, approached the dark wizard and carefully examined him. Scrimgour, standing nearby, watched him with curiosity.
- What do you see, Albus? - he asked.
The professor frowned pensively and replied:
- I see that this enemy feeds on fear. They did everything possible to avoid the attack they experienced, knowing that it greatly fuels the fear of this unknown killer.
- Jack the Ripper feeds on fear. - Fujimaru interjected.
- And what else do you know about this Jack? - Scrimgeour asked curiously.
- He is the embodiment of the urban legend of the infamous London murderer. Because of this, he has no real appearance, and no one knows what he looks like. And he himself doesn't know either. - explained Fujimaru.
- So you're saying he's some kind of boggart? - Ron asked.
Fujimaru shrugged and replied:
- Well, you can scare a boggart, but as for Jack the Ripper... It's not as simple as you think.
- How did you come to know about this killer? - Harry asked.
- It's thanks to the London Singularity. - Fujimaru briefly answered. - In 1888, we were there and learned about it.
- The London Singularity? - Harry asked. - What is that?
- It's an event that happened over a hundred years ago. - Fujimaru explained. - Although it couldn't happen in our time, it doesn't mean that similar problems won't occur in the future...
- Alright, so what do we do about Jack the Ripper? - Ron asked, cautiously surveying the surroundings for strange shadows.
- We can't say for sure what his weakness is yet. Our main task is not to let him sow horror and panic among us. - the professor replied.
His concern was evident.
- Is there a possibility that Mash and Jeanne will be able to handle it? - Harry asked, sincerely hoping for a positive answer.
- Of course, they will... - Fujimaru began.
Seconds later, the ceiling a few meters away from him collapsed with a loud crash, enveloping everything in a thick impenetrable fog.
"Hide!" Fujimaru commanded, but it was unnecessary as Dumbledore and the students had already moved behind one column, and Skrimdger dove behind the neighboring one, making sure they were all safe.
"Why aren't you afraid of me?" a small girl's voice asked.
Despite his best efforts, Harry couldn't recognize her voice, as he didn't remember the voice from his dream. All he could remember were fragments of phrases, spoken as if by a robot.
Through the fog, he could see Jeanne cornering a silhouette smaller than herself, hovering over it. Fire engulfed her right hand, illuminating the surrounding space and cutting through the suffocating dense smoke. She simply chuckled in response, which greatly puzzled her interlocutor.
"I'm not afraid of anything!" Jeanne replied menacingly. "And I never have been."
Jack was truly taken aback and looked at Jeanne skeptically.
Suddenly, Jack the Ripper lunged to the right, attempting to escape. Jeanne quickly reacted, her flaming sword following his movements. Jack glanced quickly over his shoulder to assess the situation. To his surprise, Jack saw a large, burly man standing a few feet away, his wand threateningly pointed at him. Skrimdger was determined not to let Jack get away, and Harry and Ron joined him, their wands at the ready.
Ginny seemed to know that Jack was trying to escape. She rose into the air, her armored boots echoing loudly on the marble floor. Fire licked at her hair and covered her armor, creating an imposing silhouette. The determined expression on her face seemed enough to intimidate even Jack. He knew he couldn't compare to her.
"You won't get far, Jack the Ripper," Jeanne shouted. "Your days of terror are over!"
In an instant, Jack understood everything and swiftly turned, disappearing into the fog. Jeanne lost sight of him. She stood still and took a deep, controlled breath, trying to focus on her senses.
"Where did he go?" Harry asked, his wand still at the ready.
"I don't know. I don't feel anything..." Jeanne replied, her eyes scanning the fog in all directions before leaping into the hole recently made by her and Jack in the ceiling.
They all stood still, trying to listen for any sounds that could give away Jack's whereabouts. Suddenly, Ron screamed as he heard something.
After a second, a silhouette much larger than Jack appeared in the mist - it was Mash, supporting Mr. Weasley.
"Dad!" Ron exclaimed happily and ran towards them.
Everyone else followed suit.
"Where did you find him, Miss Kyrielight?" Dumbledore asked.
"There...some sort of hall with an arch..." Mash barely comprehended her answer.
Their shared joy didn't last long.
"Mash! Jack the Ripper escaped!" Fujimaru addressed her. "He's being pursued by Jeanne Alter."
"They couldn't have gone far," she responded and jumped up.
"Let's get out of here already," Dumbledore yawned softly.
There wasn't a stone left standing in the Ministry atrium. The shards of the broken fountain were scattered everywhere, and in its center, water continued to gush out with great force. The walls of the hall had cracked or collapsed, and the entire area was covered in a layer of dust, some suspiciously white, as if it were glass. Only a few fireplaces survived, and not all of them.
Dumbledore scrutinized the extent of the destruction and listened carefully. Aside from the sound of water and occasional falling pieces of wall, silence reigned. Harry noticed Jeanne and Mash standing nearby and hurried over to them. Approaching Jeanne, he heard her discontentment:
"She won't get away so easily next time."
She turned on her heels and headed towards her waiting group. Several wizards in lemon-colored robes with the emblem of crossed magic wands and bones on their chests emerged from the nearest fireplace.
Dumbledore engaged in conversation with them. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Harry peeked into the previously hidden part of the atrium. What he saw shocked him. At the same time, he wanted to call someone and stay silent.
He had seen that face in the Prophet's news segments for several weeks in a row and couldn't mistake it for anyone else. Bellatrix Lestrange herself was in the atrium. Jack stood next to her, engaged in conversation.
"I couldn't..." he heard Jack's words. "I was interrupted. From now on, I will be more careful."
And then something incredible happened.
When Jack happily jumped up and hugged Bellatrix, Harry couldn't help but feel shocked. This was the same Bellatrix Lestrange who had enjoyed torturing Frank and Alice Longbottom, delighting in their pain and suffering, driving them mad with these endless tortures. And yet, here she was, lifting Jack off the ground and speaking to her in a loving whisper. This was the side of Bellatrix that Harry didn't even suspect existed. And not just Harry, but even Groom couldn't have imagined such a thing. Could Dumbledore have ever imagined it? He didn't know, and he didn't ask himself that question.
Bellatrix's fingers lightly touched Jack's cheek. Her expression revealed an unexpected tenderness, which sharply contrasted with the cold cruelty Harry had always associated with her. Though her voice was soft, Harry could hear every word distinctly.
"Your real name may be Jack the Ripper, but to me, you will always be my little Delphi," Bellatrix whispered, her voice full of love and warmth. Harry could almost feel those emotions.
Jack's confusion and protest disappeared in the face of her Master's sincerity. Jack silently leaned into Bellatrix's embrace, feeling a small solace in this moment of maternal tenderness. Bellatrix's intense gaze and gentle tone showed that she truly understood everything.
It was almost unbelievable - Bellatrix Lestrange, a Death Eater who was supposed to be fully devoted to Lord Voldemort's cruel and evil cause, had somehow discovered maternal feelings within herself.
Harry was deeply struck by this. He couldn't believe what he saw and heard. But he couldn't deny the reality of what was happening. Worst of all was realizing that Bellatrix, a Death Eater who had always been his enemy, had now become a Master. And the Servant of the Holy Grail, the embodiment of the legend of the cruel and bloody Jack the Ripper, was under her control.
Watching their embrace, Harry couldn't help but wonder what this meant for the future. What other secrets and surprises were hidden in the hearts of his enemies? How would this unexpected moment of tenderness impact the impending war? Only time would tell.
Just as unexpectedly as he noticed them, they vanished, leaving Harry alone with another unsolvable mystery.