Chapter Thirty-Four:
Altschmerz
Toothless shot through the air like an arrow over the rooftops. Hiccup wondered if they had ever flown so fast; he had to clutch to the base of the creature's neck to avoid sliding backward on its rump, the dragon's wings barely beating as they soared the night, immersed in the blackness. There were barely any lights from the city, but in the fog they could make out the rough outline of the abandoned buildings.
After what felt like hours with nothing but the slicing wind battering their faces, Toothless slowed down its streak, enough so that Hiccup and Astrid could relax their grips on the dragon's body.
"I could have disapparated, I could have!"
"Don't start now, Astrid," Hiccup scolded, still unwilling to look back at the girl. "I told you there's no way I'd allow you."
"You are bleeding," The girl said, her hand holding around the thin but long cut the bullet had pierced on the boy's shoulder.
"It's fine, it's only superficial." He spoke, shaking her fingers off. "I'll take care of it once we're on the ground."
The girl groaned frustrated, but remained quiet for the rest of the trip, until Toothless began hovering lower in the darkness. There were fewer constructions as far as they could see, and they could not make out whether they had gone North or South. The dragon landed on a soft patch of grass, and Hiccup stubbornly slid off from his back, patting the scales as he aided Astrid off the hump. "Where are we?" She said, and as both looked around, Hiccup noticed the silhouette of small houses peppering the horizon. They were in a large field, pine trees covered by a thick fog that surrounded most of his view. A streetlamp stood several metres from where they stood, signalling a street in the distance. He drew his wand off his robes.
"Let's go," he took her hand as he marched forwards through the night. "Escuro Revelio," he commanded, and Astrid noticed as even in the gloomy scene, his eyes seemed to sparkle a green ring in his irises.
They neared the first house in brooding silence, watchful of every sound other than their breaths - nothing but the soothing peep of an owl, or rustling of the wind. The doors were closed, but the windows had collected dust and dirt throughout the years. Hiccup tapped the door with the tip of his wand, and it unlocked with a smooth click. Astrid stepped forwards, lightly pushing him aside.
"Homenum Revelio!" She shushed. There was nothing but the eerie creak of their own steps. "We're alone."
Two wizards ventured into the devastated street, black muggle clothes covering their bodies as they held each other's hands; their wands aimed at their surroundings. The smoke still dispersed in the air, the small fires being the only source of light in the night.
"I don't know about this, love, a dragon here after three years?"
"It has to be, look a'the street, Dean!" The other one said in a thick irish accent.
"There are no dragons anywhere near London, not even Gringotts has been using dragons for years-"
"We can thank Potter fer that one," The other wizard replied, still clutching at the other's hand. "Besides, look at 'oll these wrecks… it's a bloody rampage. A couple of wizerds couldn't have possibly won a fight against 'oll these muggles, specially with 'oll this machinery-"
"Oh, be real, we both know wizards who could walk this one out..."
"No, they did not walk out;" A third voice emerged from the shadows. "They flew it out."
"Who are you?" The tallest one spoke, stepping in front of the other. "Say it now or we'll jinx you."
"I'm Ether," Jack lied, raising his hands with his wand in his pocket. "I am a wizard, I'm one of you."
"Step into the light 'den." Seamus commanded. "Let us see yer face."
The wizard in the black coat stepped near the fire, allowing his black pointy hat to slide down his head, revealing a massive crown of night black hair. The blue eyes still shone in the night, but no wizard seemed to recognize him.
"I saw what happened here," Jack spoke. "I was here."
"Then it will be easy to decide whether to curse you or not." Said Dean. "Did you see the dragon?"
Jack nodded once, and the two wizards looked at one another, considering, frightened. "Then you'll come with us. The resistance will want to see you."
Once Hiccup put the protective charms into place, Astrid slumped on the couch, pampered by cushions and blankets Hiccup had drawn from their travel bag. As much as their sore mood had damaged their conversational status, for an instant he was thankful she was so skilled at intricate spells such as the expansive charm. In the short leverage he had to know the hunters had found their location, he had managed to sack up all their belongings into their bag. The books had been shuffled inside in careless manner and were now scattered in the bottom of their items, but he could rearrange them later. With a wriggle of his wand, he drew their old radio to his open palm, laying it on the small coffee table.
"...it is confirmed, two wizards escaped the onslaught in London earlier this evening, and it is said they escaped while riding the back of a what?"
"It was a dragon, Steve, I saw it with my own eyes!"
"No, Caesar, I seriously doubt it…"
"They're dangerous people, Al, I'm telling you…"
"They can throw fire from their hands!"
"They can freeze you with their eyes!"
"One of them punched me in the face!"
Hiccup shook his head, disgusted. "Do you hear this bud? It's like they're underestimating your firepower."
Toothless threw a look of complete indignation back, growling through his teeth. Hiccup had decided to let him stand on his natural size, and the dragon seemed more than happy to mount guard, staring through the dirty window.
"I know, you did burn their asses tonight. Not your fault they didn't get the message." Toothless nozzled his face with his nostrils, and Hiccup brought his hands to scratch on his head. "Happy to fly for a change?" He asked, and like a domesticated puppy, the dragon wriggled its tail in excitement, leaning further into the boy's hands.
"Hiccup," Astrid called out, and as Hiccup turned at her, his expression frozen in the amusement of petting Toothless and the inquisitive look he shot at her – the dragon grumped dissatisfied at his interrupted scratching session. Astrid was still working her fingers on the radio's buttons, twisting the settings. "Listen to this."
A static signal distorted and wavered until a familiar voice spoke.
"...it's the first time in three years since the fall of Hogwarts, right in the streets of London, the dragon rider is back, I repeat, the dragon rider is back-"
Static signal cut the transmission. Toothless stared wide-eyed.
"...we will continue to broadcast this transmission to every last wizarding soul" the static twisted and distorted the voice "-if you are the dragon rider, the resistance awaits-" more static. "‒ we've been waiting for long enough-"
The signal disappeared, and Astrid desperately twitched the buttons again. Hiccup remained as still as a statue, eyeing the way Astrid worked the radio as if the world was ending again. Then the radio snapped, the button perked up by itself, and a shiver ran across the two wizards when a familiar Australian voice boomed from the radio.
"...Hiccup…"
A piercing ring interrupted the transmission, and Astrid gave out a silent cry of recognition before everything got quiet. They'd recognize that voice anywhere.
That voice belonged to Aster.
"So, Ether, ye' fled from Hogwarts at Doomsday, wasn' it?"
The three wizards paced their way through the darkness of the undergrounds of London, a maze of dark grey concrete, lit only by the incandescent tips of their wands. Trying not to trip on the metal tracks, Jack looked around himself, feeling increasingly more anxious as he imagined himself trapped into a labyrinth of stone. The subterrain wasn't his favourite location.
"Yes," He answered simply, being followed by the two wizards, who did not trust him enough to allow him in the rear position of their strutle. "Haven't dared to return to the castle yet."
"No one dares to do so," The brown-skinned wizard added. "The place is now the Ground Zero for all the evil in the world. It's safe to say that it is the single most deadly place on the planet, currently."
"Bloody hell, I never thought' I'd get to hear 'dat," The shorter one spoke. "I thought' I had seen bad'enough when the Carrows took 'deir place as teachers. Now I kinda miss 'dem."
"Don't remind me," His companion said, who Jack remembered to be named Dean. "I still remember what they did to you when I got there, a bloody mess of beaten meat you were."
Seamus laughed. "Eh? I wasn't as bad as ye were when the snatchers took ye, tho'," And Dean laughed along.
"Wizards who get beat up together…"
"Stay togedah'." Seamus concluded, and Jack heard their hands clasping back together. A rush of jealousy burst through him, the image of their joined hands causing him to wander back to his memories, reminiscing ever so terribly. "We're almost there," He signalled with the light of his wand so that Jack could turn on a shadowy corner where the tracks seemed to descend further into the Earth.
"So, you said you had heard of the Resistance before, Ether?" Dean inquired.
"Yes, months ago…" Jack replied, trying not to lose balance as his foot got caught in the metal of the tracks. "There wasn't much of a formation back then, though."
"How long ago?"
"Right after the Ministry got shut down;" The underground path seemed to grow further in distance and blackness, the harder it was to notice anything past a couple metres in front of their light's reach.
"No one really knew what to do back then." Dean explained. "Nobody had faced such a threat of exposure with such violence… We had the rugs pulled from beneath our feet."
"Back then, most of the Resistance was formed by what was left of the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore's Army… and what was that other thing again they had?"
"The Black Army." Jack replied.
Dean and Seamus stared at him through the shadows. "Ye knew about that one too?" Jack remained silent, his head bent down as he focused on the two wizards remained silent until they reached a final curve on the underground, the tracks suddenly disappearing near a wall that enclosed the tunnels. A dead end. "We're here."
Jack looked at the wall in front of them with curious eyes, until Dean and Seamus swissed a metallic sound. Looking back, he saw Dean pulling a small blade to his palm.
"No, Dean, ye've already done it last time…" Seamus tried taking his hands, but the other man quickly shushed him with a chaste kiss to his lips.
"You can pay me back later tonight," He muttered in a manner that made Jack stare at the ground, uncomfortable. His mind wandered to the last time he felt such affection.
A sudden slice from the blade later, and he could smell the blood as Dean took the steps towards the wall, pressing his hand flat against the stone surface. With the light from their wands, Jack noticed how several other tiny red streaks marked the wall. As he observed further, though, a deep rumble shook the ground. A thin curtain of dust rained on them, and then a warped sound of contorting metal twisted the train tracks, stretching them into the wall - which had now collapsed into what seemed like a long cavernous corridor. Unlike the human-built path of the underground, the new walls were naturally flawed, rocks and soil extending their way into the earth.
"Ye go first." Seamus said, flicking his wand over Dean's palm to close his wound.
Jack trekked forwards, venturing deep into the cave. "What is this place?"
Dean flicked his wand, the light from the Lumus charm floating ahead of them. "This is the old Gringotts underground. After the Ministry was shut down, the enemies mounted a tight guard on the Diagon Alley. There was nothing left we could scavenge."
"Enemies?" Jack asked. "I thought Muggles were our fight."
"We wish," He scoffed back. "Muggles only found our spots after the real enemies exposed them. Someone had been giving the secrecy of the wizards for too long."
"...It's how the muggles found-"
"Hogwarts, yes." Dean concluded. "And whoever they are, they've been wanting this war."
"And 'dey got'it." Seamus concluded, marching angrily through the tunnel.
"So, after everything went to hell, we had to find other ways to hide from the muggles. So we went underground."
They reached an old lift, so spiked into the earth that it seemed to blend into the stone. Jack walked into the cabin first, followed by the two wizards. Seamus drew the rusted metal gate with a shrieking sound, closing it before pulling a heavy lever before they shot down so abruptly that the boy was almost yanked towards the ceiling of the lift.
"Yer get used to it," Seamus cracked him a smile.
"How deep this thing go?"
Dean grimaced to shadows. "As far down as the old Gringotts tunnels. We've established camp there, you'll see."
Then just as abruptly as they began their descent, they stopped, and Jack nearly crashed on the floor. The stones and earth suddenly lit up with flickering lights, and noise, more human noise than he had heard in years filled his ears.
A smile split Seamus' face. "Welcome to the Resistance headquarters."