Chapter 12 is out! But first, I wanted to share some thoughts.
1. This chapter is a heavy one in terms of explaining a new mechanic of the magic system. Honestly, this might be my favourite part of HP having that few rules in regards of it.
2. I never thought I would say this, but first year is finally coming to an end. It is been a long ride, and I never thought I would keep writting to reach this point; but if there is something I now know, is that I love writting much more of what I imagined I would.
3. To finish this rambling, I wanted to say that my intention is to write two more chapters about the first year. One in which I finish the events of canon, that might be a bit shorter; and the other one closing Shana and Elend's arcs.
Now, hope you enjoy!
Scala ad Caelum
Chapter 12: A Tale of Dragons and Snakes
Master Shana POV
Wednesday 26th February, 1992 (Rumanian forest) - Afternoon
"The trails are still fresh," the Hunter announced, just as he examined something in the ground. "That could mean two things; either, they are way greener from what you told me; or they are just that confident in their skills, that they don't care if someone is tracking them."
From what we know, it could be a mix between both, Shana thought. After the Wings of Liberty finished their war in the east, they started to investigate the activities of Jin's men in Europe, just as they promised. Since they were already covering the most transitioned countries and areas, Shana had decided to do a little incursion on her own; without telling anything to her partners, of course.
The small, but strong, group of three people advanced after the Hunter's words. Said team was compounded by Shana herself; by Snake, who was one of her two High Inquisitors; and by a contracted Hunter, who was the main responsible to guide them across the forest.
The man led the team with a confident stride. Shana didn't know his age, nor did she care for it, but time and experience had already started to leave its mark in the Hunter's face; despite that, he was a tall and strong man, something needed in his dangerous profession.
In his grey cape was embedded the logo of the Hunter's Union, which along with his official license, proved that Kristian was an official member of it, and not just some fake mercenary.
"Do you happen to know about the group we're following?" The Hunter asked. "Because you didn't pay me enough to fight against something, or someone, strong enough to put my life at risk in a possible brawl. In the trail we're following, there are tracks from vampires and werewolves; but, if there is some skilled wizard among them, we won't know until we find them."
"We don't know, but don't worry about it; if that situation comes, we will deal with it," Shana answered, rolling her eyes to the Hunter's back.
Even though Kristian Mitrea was a licensed Hunter, he wasn't a very powerful or important man; he was strong enough to be a member of the Union, and only that, made him a far more capable wizard than most of the normal population. But, what they wanted from him wasn't his power; it was his experience and knowledge of the local terrain.
When talking to the Union in order to select the Hunter who would accompany them, Shana had considered other more capable candidates, but none of them could speak fluently any of the languages she dominated; so, in the end, Kristian had been the chosen one.
The three of them kept walking in silence, paying attention to any noises or magical fluctuations. The sun could seep through the tall trees' branches, but it was still very dark; and the wind didn't help at all to relax a bit.
After thirty minutes of walking, Shana's enhanced senses, thanks to burning tin, capted the voices. "We are getting closer to them," she announced in a low voice. "We should start conceiving our presence before getting closer; we don't know if a capable wizard is with them, but it is always better to be wary."
"How do you know they are close?" Mitrea asked, as if he didn't trust her words.
"That is none of your concerns," Snake replied. "We didn't pay you to ask questions either."
"Whatever," Mitrea grunted. "If what you say is correct, we should start shutting our auras down."
Shana focused on the little magic that was flowing out from her body, and shut it down with little effort. Conceiving your presence like that was a very good skill, which every wizard should learn if they wanted to be more capable than average. It wasn't a perfect skill, of course, but it would work unless a few circumstances happened. Since they've been constantly on the move, they shouldn't have placed any detection wards; and I highly doubt about them having a wizard skilled enough to feel us when we are like this.
As they were getting closer, Shana started to hear some conversations here and there. "This is just a waste of time," a voice grunted, with a strong German accent. "We already know the big boss is in Croatia; what the fuck are we doing here? Lost in the middle of a forest! My balls have been frozen for hours!"
"Shh," another voice shushed him. "Don't let the shorty hear you; he will report you to the squad leader."
There they are; we finally got them. Shana allowed herself to smile; it wasn't as if they had been a difficult group to track down, but the weather was very cold, and she wanted to go back to the warmness of her chambers as soon as possible. "We should sight them very soon; be prepared," she announced.
Mitrea separated from them and walked to the right, while they took the left flank. Soon enough, they found a clearing, packed with werewolves, vampires, and even some wizards. Shana eyed them from the safety of the bushes, which were hiding her body.
"What do you think?" She asked the Inquisitor, just as she felt his presence at her side.
"They are nothing but scum," he stated. "I can barely feel their auras; not even the wizards would put up a decent fight."
"You sound disappointed," Shana pointed out; then, she increased the combustion of steel, trying to see how many of them were carrying weapons. As soon as the allomantic metal was burnt, the ethereal blue lines started to get way more prominent; all of them gathering in a same point, her heart. "Most of the werewolves are carrying some kind of weapon," she let his companion know. "Some of the vampires too, so I'll assume that there are some of them who have wands."
"Don't you dare to bring me out just to face some weaklings like those," Valkyrie grunted in her mind. Shana sighed, bored with her other self's antics; but it wasn't like those words meant a change of plans or something like that.
With a shrug of shoulders, she came out of the bushes. "Hello there," she greeted with a loud voice.
Silence was the only answer she got; silence, and more than a dozen shocked faces looking back at her. "You've really lost your head, Master," Snake said from behind, getting out of the bushes with a tired sigh. "Please, there is no need for you to get your hands dirty with scum like this; let me handle them."
"If you say so…" Directing a last confident smile to the enemy group, she tossed a coin to the ground, burning iron to push against it. The allomantic pulse launched her upwards, and with a delicate move, she landed at a big branch. "All yours!" She exclaimed, taking a seat to observe the battle in a more comfortable position. This is the perfect opportunity to see him fight; even if they aren't a force to be reckoned with, their number's advantage should mean something.
"Who the fuck are you two," one of the werewolves, the one who seemed like the leader, said. "Whatever, it doesn't matter. We'll kill you first, and then, we'll have some fun with the girl."
"I don't understand what the hell you are saying," Snake practically spat. "But hearing a creature like you talking to us…, it boils my blood." He took a duelling stance; his wand coming out of his robes as fast as lighting, just as his free hand moved in front of his body.
"Oh, that was very swift," Shana whispered, impressed with the Inquisitor's move.
Unbeknown to them, in the move Snake made with his free hand, from the tip of each one of his fingers came five very faint and ethereal cords; all of them directed towards the necks of the five most aggresive, or stupid, enemies. The white cords circled their necks as soon as Snake extended his fingers.
"Look at this scrawny kid, boss," a second werewolf, one not as buff as the leader, laughed. "He thinks he can win against us all!"
The whole group started laughing uncontrollably, and even the vampires who Shana suspected to be carrying wands, shook their heads in bewilderment; as if the mere idea of that masked wizard defeating them all was just a joke. "Poor souls," she commented. "The difference between them is that big, that they can't even understand it."
"Don't you dare to laugh at me," the Inquisitor hissed. The instant he closed his hand, all the cords circling their necks closed; five heads falling to the ground with a soft thud.
They didn't have time to retaliate.
Before they could react, Snake raised his arms, the two of them crossing right above his head. As soon as they met, spikes were born from the earth, impaling four of the remaining werewolves; their shouts drowning in their throats. Only the leader and two others, the fastest ones, managed to avoid the attack.
"Avada Kedavra!" One of the two wizards from their group shouted.
Snake dodged it with a clean spin, and before another row of killing curses could hit him, he touched the ground. The moment his hand made contact, the earth rose; creating a thick shield that stopped the curses.
"What are you waiting for, you stupid fools!" One of the vampires shouted. "You two run and contact the boss! The rest; fight for your fucking lives!"
Shana stopped shutting down her aura, allowing her magic to flow out of her body once again. She expanded it as far as she could, but she stopped as soon as she thought it would be enough to feel most of the battle without getting too tired.
She felt how Snake's magic gathered in his left hand. He's not even trying to hide the flow of his magic; this fight is just unfair.
WIth a fast but concise move, he palmed his improvised shield, shattering it to pieces. This was followed by a twist of wand from his right hand, which launched all the debris forward with a strong Depulso. Much to Shana's surprise, the attack flew past the werewolves and the armed vampires, totally focused on the ones who could do magic.
Unlike the humans, none of the vampire's shields were strong enough to stop the attack; so they were pierced by the many rock's fragments. It wasn't as if it mattered, because mixed with the slowest debris, came four strong shield-shattering spells, which impacted in the middle of the magical shields, shattering them with ease.
With shock written all over the men's faces, they fell to the ground; meeting the same fate as his companions.
Snake stood there, in the middle of the clearing, his breathing as calm as if he was reading a book. "You should have thought twice before attacking me like that," he said aloud.
"You piece of shit are going to pay for that," the werewolf leader growled; now taking out the big axe he was carrying on his back.
"So is going to be that way, eh?" Snake sighed. "I don't even need my wand to deal with you."
Oh, that is interesting; but, I don't think it is going to work, Shana though as she observed the sneaky vampire who jumped from behind the Inquisitor. The knife he was carrying seemed dangerous enough to inflict severe damage on the wizard; but, unfortunately for the magical creature, the sneaky attack didn't work.
A second before getting stabbed, Snake easily dodged the knife without even turning back; in the same motion, his left hand went backwards, grabbing the vampire's face, just to make it explode in the next instant.
Hmh, since his aura is barely expanding from his body, he couldn't have felt him approaching from behind just by using his magic. He must have used another way of detection; maybe legilimency? The few remaining enemies, meaning four werewolves and two vampires, all charged towards the Inquisitor with furious roars, their weapons ready at hand.
Snake just casually walked forward to meet them. He was quickly surrounded by them, who were attacking him with a very clever strategy for close combat. As soon as a member's attack was dodged by the wizard, another came to cover him from the opposite side, preventing his teammates from being grabbed by Snake's hand, and testing his defenses at the same time; killing two birds in a row, as people said.
Unfortunately for them, it was useless. Snake was just dancing in the middle of them; completely surrounded, but dictating the pace of the skirmish. He was moving like he knew the enemies' move beforehand; dodging everything just with calculated moves and with the threat his hands meant for the magical creatures.
Well, I think I've seen enough. Shana let herself down from the tree's branch, landing in the ground as graciously as she could. She made her way towards where two of the vampires had ran away some minutes ago; she had learnt enough about Snake's fighting skills, and now that he was just toying with his prey, she didn't have any reason to keep watching; she didn't enjoy murdering for the sake of it.
Lost in her thoughts, a new, but familiar, presence coming into the range of her still expanded aura woke her up. Oh, I was starting to wonder where he was. Kristian Mitrea made his way to meet her; the unconscious bodies of the two vampires who had run were being dragged by his hands.
"Since your shady friend back there seemed to be doing fine by himself," he started. "I saw these two trying to run to their base; so I intercepted them in the way."
"Thank you," Shana smiled. "It would have been a problem if they had managed to escape and alert some of his comrades."
"If you were that worried about it; why did you let them escape that far?"
"I had a hunch that a Hunter like you would work to earn his money."
The Hunter looked at her as if she had grown another head, but she ignored it and started to walk back to the clearing; hoping for Snake to be finished with his little massacre.
They didn't even need getting to the clearing, because after some minutes of walking, they met with the Inquisitor midway; he was walking very calmly towards them, as if his bloodied mask and robes were just an everyday thing. "I see that you took care of those two," he said. "Good, it was about time for you to do something."
Shana sent him a sour look, but thankfully for them both, Hunters like Mitrea usually didn't care about almost anything if they got paid. "It sure took you long enough," she commented.
"Yeah, sorry about that; but, what did you expect?" He shrugged it off. "This is the first time you take me out for one of your missions. All those years of waiting for you to call for one of us definitely made my skills rusty as hell; those guys just had the bad luck to be ones to finally welcome me to the High Inquisitor's life."
"Even if they are meant to be your sworn shields and swords, I don't trust them," Valkyrie rambled. "We were better when it was just the two of us. But as always, it is up to you; I'll have to be the one to cut them down as soon as they do something suspicious. That is our equilibrium, don't forget about it; you take the decisions, and I take our enemies down."
Even though Shana wasn't as radical as Valkyrie, the two different identities agreed on that; which wasn't something that happened very often. The red haired witch knew that all the others Master made good use of their Inquisitors, just like all their predecessors did; but despite of that, she just couldn't trust anyone; it didn't matter if those persons were supposed to be men and women who swore to protect and serve her under any circumstances.
Shana and Valkyrie; the erudite and the warrior. Valkyrie and Shana; the fire and the ice. They were the two sides of the same coin; two minds and one heart.
As long as the two of them were together, they didn't need anyone else; just as it has always been, and just as it would always be.
"What do you want to do with them?" Snake's voice pulled her out of her thoughts. "I don't think they are giving us any valuable information; and it didn't seem like they had found something here either."
"We take them back with us to the Tower," Shana stated. "Before we got to the clearing, I heard them talking about someone they called 'the big boss', who is supposed to be in Croatia right now. If they happen to know anything else, we could help to narrow the searching possibilities for our allies."
"If those are your orders, so be it."
The two bodies, which were still hanging from the Hunter's hands, levitated as soon as Snake pointed his wand at them. Meanwhile, Shana grabbed a pouch from her belt, introducing her hand on it up to the elbow; after some seconds of searching, she got a bigger pouch out of it. "Here you have," Shana said, tossing the Hunter the bigger pouch. "All the money we agreed is in there; you can check it yourself."
That is what the Hunter did; as soon as the pouch was in his hands, he measured it, nodding his head in approval after some seconds. "Everything seems to be fine," he said. "This is goodbye for us then. If you ever need another Hunter to do anything in this country, you know where to find me." That being said, the Hunter just disapparated in front of them.
"At least, he wasn't totally worthless," Snake commented.
As she usually did, Shana ignored his comment, and eyed the two floating bodies. I don't think we are getting anything valuable from these two; and it isn't like we didn't know they were focusing on Croatia. Our main objective from now on should be collaborating with Captain Jordan and his men there; and leave the rest to Lord Elend.
With a tired sigh, Shana closed her eyes and breathed heavily, the forest's fresh air invading her nostrils; a happy smile forming on her face despite the mission's lack of success. Even if this was a waste of time and money, hell, it sure feels good to be on the move once again.
Ronald Weasley POV
Saturday 28 March, 1992 (Hogwarts) - Middle of the morning
"Let me get this straight," Ron said. "You are telling me that the Stone is protected by all the Professors, including Snape; and that Hagrid has gone full barmy and he's hatching a dragon's egg."
"Yep," Harry nodded, getting up from the grassy ground. "That was pretty much our reaction."
Well, at least we now know how is the Headmaster guarding the stone from whoever is trying to get it, Ron thought. He sighed, relieved, after knowing one of the things which had been eating his mind in the past two months. It didn't matter how many times the four of them went to the third corridor door to see if they could still hear Fluffy's snores; everynight, that same anxiety came.
Now looking back, it was still astonishing for the redhead to see how fast those two months have passed. Every week was almost the same as the previous one. His life had been pretty much reduced to keeping an eye on the Stone with the Gryffindor trio; to practise and train as hard as he could all the possible mornings; and to survive the constant homework's bombing the professors were throwing at them.
"We've already tried to tell him how bad of an idea that was," Neville piped in. "But it was as if we were talking with a wall."
"By the way, where is Hermione?" Ron asked. "If you just came back from Hagrid's hut, why isn't she with you?"
"She's in the library," Neville answered with a shrug of shoulders. "As soon as we left Hagrid alone, she started to ramble about how careless he was and how he had no idea of what he was doing, so she did what she's best at; going to the library to seek information about dragons to help Hagrid."
Ron hummed in response, closing his eyes and enjoying the warm sun of spring in his face. "How are you and your friends doing with classes?" Neville asked after some moments of silence.
It wasn't very noticable, especially if you didn't talk with him often, but the boy was getting more and more comfortable when talking with others; that was also helping him to do better at most of the classes, but not in potions, of course.
That didn't change Ron's surprise after hearing the question; sure, they were way closer friends than they were at the beginning of the year, and Neville was way past the point of caring about whether Ron's robes were green and silvery, or golden and red. But before that question, he had never asked anything about his friends.
"Honestly, we are doing pretty fine; but, what's with the sudden interest in them?"
"You didn't know about it because you don't really go to the library anymore," Harry answered as he threw a rock to the lake, making it rebound five four times. "But for the past week, both Zabini and Tracey had been studying with us almost all the mornings."
Bloody hell, that must have been Tracey's idea; she is the only one mad enough to pull something like that out. It wasn't like Ron couldn't imagine that scenario, especially since he kind of avoided all the questions from the girl when she asked him about what he was doing during all that time with the Gryffindors. What really impresses me is that she managed to bring Blaise along.
"Those two aren't that bad," Harry commented. "I can see why they are your friends. Sure, Zabini still stands out to me as a bit weird, and Tracey isn't good on the head; can you believe that she threatened to curse us if we didn't use her first name?"
"I can totally imagine that," the redhead laughed. "We had our ups and downs at the start of the year, but right now, I wouldn't change the three of them for anyone."
"That's nice," Neville smiled.
"Talking about Slytherin," Harry asked, now looking at Ron. "What is going on with Malfoy and his goons? He is still the same idiot as always, but he isn't as interested in us as he was months ago."
"Beats me," Ron told him. "I've been wondering the same as you for months, but I don't know a thing. He doesn't even look at me when we cross at the common room or in classes. I think it has to do with…, some problems we have back in the first weeks of class. I know that he was summoned by Snape not long after that, and since then, he is way more centred in the studies; he still is the same bigot and idiot rat as always, but at least, he doesn't look at us that often."
"I thought of something like that too," Harry agreed. "That rat is one of the top five students of the first year, after all."
"What? How do you know that?"
"Professor McGonagall told Hermione," Harry said. "She has a soft spot for her; in a tutorial the other day, she congratulated her for all the effort she's putting and the results she's getting. McGonagall also told her about the top five list; it seems that after the seven years of school, the students with the best academic record are granted some kind of scholarship to help them in whatever they want to do after school; so they keep a record of the five students with the best results each year."
"Really?" Ron asked them. "I had no idea about it; you won't happen to know if I'm in that list, will you?"
"You are," Neville answered. "If I remember correctly, Hermione was the top student, and then, came Padma Patil from Ravenclaw; the third was Malfoy; you were the fourth; and in the fifth spot there was a tie between your friend Greengrass and Anthony Goldstein, from Ravenclaw."
"Wow, look at you," Gerd piped in; she was currently laying down at his side, with her arms behind her head, imitating the redhead's previous posture. "Who would have thought you'd come that far; not me, of course."
Ron ignored her completely and allowed himself to smile; maybe a bit too smugly, but he didn't care, this was just the results of all his efforts, and he wouldn't let anybody tell him otherwise.
The three of them remained in silence; Harry still throwing rocks to the lake, and the other two boys enjoying the warm sun. "What are we going to do about the Stone?" Neville asked, out of nowhere. "We've been checking up on Fluffy for the past months, and so far, Quirrell seems to be holding up. It is like we've been on the same spot for years…"
"It is simple; we do nothing," Ron proposed. "We know that the Stone is being protected by all the Professors, and we still know nothing about who really is the one after the stone; bloody hell, we don't even know if he is in the castle since Gringotts' robbery happened after the school year commenced. We just don't have enough information about anything at all, so we better keep an eye on everything like we've been doing all this time."
"Whatever; even if it pains me to say it aloud, you are right," Harry sighed. "I hate it, but there is nothing we can do; we must trust Professor Dumbledore and the others." Then, the boy made his way towards the other two, just where his Nimbus and training bag were. "Well, it is time for me to go; unless you two want Wood to kill me, that's it."
In the end, the two Gryffindor boys went to do their things, leaving Ron alone. "To be honest with you," Gerd started. "I didn't have much faith in a bunch of twelve and eleven years old kids discovering this whole thing from practically nothing."
"Well, it's not like we did everything on our own; we had a lot of help, like Hagrid's tongue slipping each time he talked, or even you."
"Yeah, you are right; I'm awesome."
"But it was way better back then, when we knew almost nothing," Ron confessed. "Even if I had a hunch of it being way more serious than it seemed, it was funny and exciting; you know, this whole thing of discovering a mystery and trying to solve it. Nowadays, there is nothing like that; it is the same feeling everyday, waiting for something to happen and praying for everything to be alright at the end of the day. I know I just turned twelve, but this feeling of impotence…, I hate it; we should be able to do more, especially given what we know."
The Essentia sent him a weird look, now fully sitting after hearing his ramble. "You've just summed up what I hated the most back when I was alive," she commented. "I also felt powerless very often. It is true that I wasn't a kid like you, but I still was the less powerful person in a group of monsters. I felt worthless; having the True Sight, but not having the power to do something about what I saw. But I learned to endure it all and to wait for the right moment; that is how I stopped him; even with my innumerable mistakes, I managed to provoke his fall."
"I, Gerdnyaram, stopped that demon," she kept going. "But I couldn't destroy his legacy due to all those mistakes. And that it is why now, after more than two thousand years, I'm here once again, with the opportunity to guide you; with the opportunity to make things right for good."
It had been a long time since the last attack of Gerd's seriousness and deepness, but just as every other time it had happened, it always left Ron totally speechless. "That was deep," he whispered. "I don't know if that's what I needed to hear, but thank you, I guess."
"Thank you…, I guess?" She repeated. "That is all you are going to say when I opened you the door to my heart? Okay, fine, get up."
"What? Why?"
"Because we are going to the training spot right now."
"What? But today was supposed to be my free day!"
"Change of plans! Today, we are going to work in your spellwork; next time, you better think twice before talking!"
Thursday 12th April, 1992 (Hogwarts) - Afternoon
Why can't I just have a week without any accidents? It is not much what I ask, Ron thought. He was readying himself for some relaxing afternoon after classes, not having any extra homework for once in a long time; but, of course, things just couldn't go as he wanted.
"Okay," Ron sighed, massaging his temples. "I'll write to Charlie and tell him everything about that damned dragon and his barmy 'mummy'."
"Thank you," Harry smiled, very relieved. "We were starting to lose our heads, and Hagrid was relentless with the idea of keeping him. Thank God that Hermione remembered about your brother Charlie; do you think he'll accept?"
"If it depends on him, he will; trust me, if you think Hagrid is smitten with that dragon, you haven't seen my brother. The moment he reads that a Norwegian Ridgeback is waiting for him here, he'll move heaven and earth to get it."
"That's good to hear," Harry said. "How long will it take for us to have his answer?"
"That's a good question," Ron muttered. "I mean, Romania isn't that far from here, the thing is that…, well, let's just say that the school's owls aren't the fastest ones in the country."
"That ain't a problem, we can use Hedwig; he is a fast boy."
"Well, if that is the case…, maybe around four or five days."
Much to Ron's surprise, Hedwig managed the feat to come back with his brother's response in less than three days. "My brother told me to get Norbert to the Astronomy Tower at midnight on Sunday," Ron announced. "Which happens to be…, tonight."
"That is such a relief," Hermione sighed. "I was starting to lose my head over Hagrid's obsession with the dragon; and the fact the Malfoy saw us and has yet to act against us has deprived me of a lot of sleep this week; even the essays are starting to accumulate!"
I get that after Snape's talk he centred more on himself, but he can't possibly let us get away with this, Ron though. Right now, Malfoy's intentions were his main concern. Getting a dragon to the tallest tower of the castle in the middle of the night? Sure, that was easy; now, guessing the blonde rat's intentions? That was a whole different story.
"Wow," Neville whistled. "I'm pretty surprised that you didn't complain even once about having to break the rules."
"What?" She practically shrieked. "We are way past that! We have to get rid of that dragon now! Besides, it is not like I'm that…, serious anymore."
"Whatever, that's not important," Harry piped in. "This shouldn't be very hard; we have the invisibility cloak. I think the four of us could fit if we try, but we will have to walk very slow."
"Yeah," Ron agreed. "We have to tell Hagrid to be ready at eleven o'clock; it is always better to have some time to spare rather than to run out of it."
"Then, it is settled," Harry announced. "We'll meet with you at the entrance of your common room at half past ten, is that right?"
"Yeah, sure; let's end this before it comes back to bite our arses."
The night came, and with it, the nervousness; but Ron was prepared for whatever the night had in store for him. He got up from his bed ten minutes before the hour of meeting. "Where are you going?" Blaise asked, as he read a book on his bed.
"I can't find my potion' essay," Ron lied. "I think I left it in the common room; or so I hope, because if it is not there, I'm pretty much dead."
"That is a good way to put it; you better be quick, because tomorrow is gonna be a tough day; and I might be the one to kill you if we are late to classes because you couldn't get up in time."
"Kiss my arse."
Blaise sent him a sour look, but his eyes came back to the book. Yeah, that's it; keep reading that book. Even if it wasn't that late, there was nobody at the bedroom's corridor or in the common room; it could be a work of fate, or maybe, because everyone was kind of depressed on Sunday's night.
But as Ron should have imagined by now, it was impossible for everything to go as planned for once. "Going somewhere, brat?" A voice said from behind, just when his hand was at the door's knob. "A bit late for some incursion into the castle; don't you think so?"
Shite, among all the people, it had to be him; but, where the hell was he? There was nobody here on my way to the door. Ron turned around, just to find the smirking face of Daniel Williams, the fifth year prefect; a muggle-born wizard who managed to triumph in Slytherin.
"W-What are you doing here?" Ron managed to ask.
"Chilling in the common room of my House," he answered, taking a more straight posture on the couch. "Some little bird told me that you had some night escapade in mind, is it true?"
How the hell does he know about it? Shit, Harry and the others must be almost here, I need to convince him somway. Time was running, and just like it always did, not in the redhead's favour. "Daniel, please," he pleaded. "This is very important for me, I-"
"I don't care," Daniel interrupted him. "You ain't going anywhere. This year, the race for the Cup is much tighter than the previous ones; I don't want to lose against those self-righteous lions unless any circumstances. You getting caught in the corridors in the middle of the night would mean loads of points taken, and I won't allow that to happen."
"Come on," Ron insisted. "You are exaggerating; lots of students get caught in the corridors and they don't lose that many points. Trust me, please, I won't get caught; and if I do, I will earn those points back, you have my word."
"Your word means shit to me, Weasley," he stated, his face getting darker. "If that was the case, I wouldn't be here, losing my precious time with a brat like you. I know you would earn those points back, after all, you and me resemble more than what you think. But, how would you earn back those points if you were to be expelled?"
"What? What the hell are you talking about? I'm not going to be expelled; that is some mad shit."
"Oh, is it?" He wondered, his voice tainted with irony. "Tell me then; what would happen to you if some prefect or Professor were to find you and your little friends trying to smuggle a dragon out of the school? That is some illegal shit, as you would say."
Ron's face turned as white as marble in an instant. It was impossible for him to know that; no one could know about Norbert. "H-How…, do you know?" He mumbled.
"I've already said it; some little bird told me. You should be sure that no one is listening to you when talking about sensitive matters; it would solve you loads of trouble in the future."
Ron's hands tightened the grip on his wand, hidden on his robes' pocket; if force was the only way forward, so be it; he would worry about the consequences later. "Don't even think about it," Daniel warned. "You won't ever put a scratch on my face even if I fought you with my eyes closed and hands tied."
"Listen to me, please," the prefect kept going. "I don't know how the hell you guys put your hands in a dragon; but I know that you also have an invisibility cloak, and that you pretend to use it. I understand that feeling of wanting to help your friends, but trust me, it ain't worth it. A cloak won't save you if you stumble into one of the professors, and maybe, even some of the prefects could feel that something weird was going on; especially, since we were told by the Headmaster himself to take way more serious our patrols since Pettigrew was discovered in the castle."
"I don't care about any of that!" Ron almost exclaimed, pointing his wand to the prefect's face. "If a friend of yours needs help, it doesn't matter what you need to do, you have to help him; because that is what friends are for!"
"Very beautiful words indeed," Daniel commented with a dark voice. "Okay, if that is how you want to do it; let's play then."
He finally got up from the couch, and walked some steps towards Ron, stopping in the middle of the way. "If you manage to knock me out, you can go," he proposed. "But, if I win, you will go back to your room with your tail between your legs; is that okay?"
"If that is what it takes for you to let me go, so be it," Ron gulped.
Even before he could make any move, Ron felt something coming out of the older boy's body, and directed to him; it was some sort of invisible aura, one full of malice, which enveloped him. His hand, which had been holding his wand very firmly, started to tremble. What the bloody hell is this? It is like…, some sort of malicious aura enveloping me…, it is freaking horrible.
"Do you see it now?" Daniel asked. "That is why I told you that it was impossible for a kid like you to even touch me. I gotta thank you, though; this is some new technique that I started to practise not long ago; it still reeks to amateurishness, but it is something."
"W-What is…, this?" Ron muttered; falling to the floor on his knees, completely devoid of any will to fight.
"Some advanced magic I've been practising; actually, it is nothing out of this world," Daniel explained, ceasing the malicious aura. "I can't even hold it for more than some seconds, but it is a pretty neat technique to get rid of those weaker than you."
"How…, is that possible? It…, it was one of the worst things I've ever felt…"
"You know that magic is fueled by emotions, right? Well, this is nothing but the hyperbole of that theoretical concept. It is a very useful, and advanced, skill that only those who seek true magical knowledge develop. Putting it in a simpler way, I fueled my magic with dark emotions; such as anger, rage, or bloodlust; just to redirect it to you."
"Since your magical skills are those of a newbie right now, it is practically impossible for you to counter it," he went on. "The last thing I'm telling you about this, and I'm doing it because I'm fond of you, are some clues about how to fight against it. For that, you only need two things; the first, and the important one, is knowing how to feel and work around your magic, unless you achieve that, it will be impossible for you to develop your aura; and the second, if you happen to miss the previous one, is nothing but an absurd amount of willpower."
Then, the older teenager made his way towards where Ron was still kneeling, with his head down. "I'm sorry for being that harsh," he said with a much softer voice; kneeling in front of the redhead and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "But just as helping your friends is important to you, winning the House's Cup means everything to me; I want to be the first student ever to win it in all his seven academic years; I want to prove everyone who didn't have faith on me that I made it; that despite of not being from their world, I'm better at it than they are."
Ron let the prefect to guide him back to his room; totally defeated, and with no will to fight anymore. Whatever the thing Daniel did to him was, it had completely crushed him with little effort on his part; and that maybe was what hurt him the most; even more than having failed to his friends.
"Don't be that hard on yourself, Ronald," Daniel said. "There was nothing you could do, and you still tried; no one ever could blame you for something like what just happened." Not long after those words, the two of them finally came to the first years' bedroom. "Here we are; try to rest as much as you can, you friends even might be able to pull that stunt out; if that happens, this whole thing would have meant nothing, but I still want the message to stick in your head; think twice before fighting with an opponent out of your league; especially, if you don't know what he can do."
Ron just opened the door of his bedroom, and thankfully, both Blaise and Nott had their curtains closed around their places. The redhead slowly walked towards his bed, and not bothering to change clothes, he threw himself onto it; his face hitting the pillow.
I failed today; Harry, Hermione, Neville…, I'm sorry, he thought, just as the tears started to roll down his face. I just hope that whoever tattled me, didn't tell the professors about Norbert and our plan…
Unlike every morning, this time, the alarm charm didn't wake Ron up. When the redhead opened his eyes, he somehow knew that it wasn't time to get up from the bed yet; still, he did it. What Daniel did to me…, was one of the worst feelings I've ever experienced; but, even if I was crushed by it yesterday, I feel completely normal today.
Ron opened the curtains that covered his bed and used his wand to light the dark room. His two roommates still had theirs closed, so that kind of confirmed his hunch about still being too early. Despite knowing that, it didn't stop him from dressing and getting out of the room; right now, what he really needed was the morning's fresh air hitting him in the face.
Walking through the corridors, he was so immersed in his thoughts that he didn't recall the pair of eyes watching him closely; until a bright blue light practically appeared on his sight, that's it. "I think you owe me an explanation," Gerd said; a raised brow and hands on hips to show off her indignation. "Not only you didn't appeared at midnight in the tallest tower; but, when I came back looking for you, pretty worried I must say, the door to your common room was closed, and there was no sign of you; and since you know that I can't go through walls, I've been waiting for you here for the whole night!"
"Sorry," Ron apologised, his eyes averting hers. "It is a long story."
"Oh, it better be," Gerd warned; but then, she finally saw his anxious face. "Is it that bad?"
"I guess so. Come on, I'll tell you everything in the way; the only thing I want right now is to go to our spot."
In their way outside, the boy talked and the Essentia listened; no more words than those necessary were exchanged. "That is what happened," Ron said, taking a seat in the ground to see the sunrise. "Do you know anything about what he did?"
"I do," Gerd answered. "But it is not going to light you all the doubts you have; to be honest, the explanation that boy gave you was pretty good. That thing he did was nothing but magical transmutation; one fueled by emotions. I'm pretty impressed that a boy of sixteen years old managed to control it to the point of causing you that impression; but, at the same time, it isn't like he's a wonderboy or something like that."
"What do you mean?"
"It is a pretty advanced technique, one that wasn't taught until the wizard knew how to feel and control his magic; reached that point, it was like a jump to another level of magical mastery. But it was also pretty common, and whoever wasn't able to truly control his magic, was at great disadvantage against other wizards and all the dangerous magical creatures which depredated us."
"Sending a malicious aura to someone like he did with you, is one of the things you can do when transmuting your magic into aura," she kept explaining. "Having controlled that skill, you can do many things; but the most useful and desired one was the skill to feel. When expanding your aura, you can feel everything it touches; either other magical living beings or even the little magic that resides in nature. We called it the Sixth Sense; the skill of being one with your magic; the skill of integrating it into your mind and body to a point in which you have total control over it."
"Wow," Ron muttered, totally amazed by the Essentia's words. "I didn't know something like that was possible…"
"It is," she nodded. "From what I've seen in all those years by your side, nowadays, the wizards have it way easier to understand magic than we did. The wands you use help a great deal, but what is really different from our time, is the knowledge you have. In the past, it took many years to develop any skill; even to people as talented as me or my comrades. But we needed to do it if we wanted greater odds of survival; now, in the present, only those ambitious or curious enough take that path."
"Daniel must be one of those, right?"
"From the little I know about him, maybe he is," she agreed. "But just as he told you, he was only starting to master the transmutation. It is true that he managed to create a very powerful aura; based on what you told me that you felt, that's it. But he only managed to hold it for some seconds; enough to crush you, but probably not very effective against someone who knew who to protect himself."
"How can you protect yourself from something like that?"
"That is pretty easy; you do the same. Just as you can expand your aura to detect or attack, you can focus it on yourself to create some kind of shield; and if you master it, you can even hide the flows of your magic when fighting; that way, the opponent won't know what your next move is going to be."
"Merlin, there is so much I still don't know about," Ron whispered, both excited and overwhelmed. "I don't know what I would without you, Gerd; you always know everything and the best way to talk to me about it. Even to a point in which…, well, there are times when I feel that I don't deserve a teacher like you; that your talents and wisdom should be used with someone more capable."
"Don't say that," the Essentia lightly smacked him in the arm. "Don't look down on yourself like that! There are things which you've already done that I wouldn't have been able to do at your age. For example, taking down that mountain troll just for the sake of some people who you barely knew? I wouldn't have been able to do that; maybe, if I was to save some precious friend, I could have caused some uncontrollable burst of magic to hurt the beast, but that would have probably ended with me and my friend dead; so don't sell yourself short ever again!"
"Okay, I think it is about time we stop," Ron suggested. "I feel like my brain is gonna melt or something. That was too much information at once, and we both are starting to say nonsense."
"If you say so. There is no such a thing as too much information; the more, the better."
"Well, yeah, I understand what you want to say, but I just woke up; I need to eat something before my brain starts functioning," the redhead said. "Changing the subject…, there is something I need to ask you; what happened yesterday? Did Harry and the others manage to smuggle Norbert out of the school's grounds? Did everything go alright?"
"Mmh, yes they did. Just as your brother said in his letter, his friends came mounting those brooms you like to use and took the dragon with them. But, in regards of your second question, I don't have any idea about them; as soon as the dragon was secured, I flew down to see what the hell were you doing; so, if they got caught thanks to the one who rattle you or not, it is something I don't know."
Ron looked at the sun, now rising in the sky, and taking a decision, he got up. "I'm going to wait for them at the exit of their common room," he told her. "They usually wake up later than we do, so I won't have any problem intercepting them before breakfast. You can do whatever you want today; I don't think I'll have time for any training or something else."
WIth a nod of her head, Gerd transformed into her eagle from she adopted when flying; even though she didn't need it to fly or to move faster, she liked it, or that was what she said. Ron observed her until she got out of his sight, and with a tired sigh, the redhead made his way towards the lion's tower.
Just as someone could expect from a monday morning, there weren't many students in the corridor before breakfast time, especially now that the exams were coming. When the redhead made it to the Gryffindor tower, he didn't even bother to answer the Fat Lady's questions; he just sat there, with his back against the wall, waiting for Harry and the others to come.
"Ron? What are you doing here?" A femenine voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Merlin bless you, Hermione!" Ron exclaimed, getting up from the floor as fast as lighting. "Are you guys okay? Did everything go alright yesterday? I'm so sorry, but I swear I couldn't go!"
"Hey, hey, hey," she said. "Calm down a bit, okay? You aren't making any sense. Everything went okay; just as planned, your brother's friends came and took Norbert with them. There won't be any dragon's problems for a while, or so I hope."
"If everything went alright, why are you looking that…, gloomy?"
"Oh, well, that it is because…, we were bloody stupid," she cursed. "We forgot the cloak in the tower! And then, when we were going down, Filch caught us! Probably because that rat of Malfoy told him we were there! The only good thing is that McGonagall also gave him detention."
"Wait a moment," Ron cut in. "Did you just say that Malfoy was the one to rattle you? Thàt doesn't make any sense…"
"What do you mean? Of course it does make sense! It is Malfoy whom we are talking about!"
"I know that! What I was trying to say before you interrupted me, was that I was also rattled by someone, and that was the reason I couldn't get out of the common room; whoever it was told everything, and saying that I mean the whole plan, to a prefect, and he intercepted me before I could go out."
"What?" Hermione exclaimed. "But…, that doesn't make any sense! Why would Malfoy try to prevent you from joining us; he could have gotten all of us at the same time. Besides that, if you said that the snitch knew about the whole plan, if it was Malfoy, he wouldn't have gotten caught like that. He didn't tell McGonagall anything too precise, just that we had a dragon and we were trying to smuggle it out. If we hadn't left the cloak in the tower, we wouldn't have gotten caught. Ahg…, why were we so stupid!"
"What it is done, it's done," Ron tried to calm her. "At least, they didn't catch you with the dragon; otherwise, you wouldn't be talking with me right now."
"I don't know if that would have been better," she muttered, looking down to the floor and biting her lip. "Both Harry and I got fifty points taken from us…, as soon as everyone finds out…, they are gonna hate us…"
"What the bloody hell did you just say? That makes a hundred points! Merlin…, I now get that face of yours."
"Seems like it is another Cup for your house, eh?" She tried to joke, a sad smile on her face. "But as you said, what is done, it's done. Now, all that mess is the last thing I want to think about; I need to eat something, are you coming with me?"
The two of them made their way towards the Great Hall; walking forward as if they were on automatic pilot, each one thinking about what was eating their minds. They didn't even exchange any words when they separated to go to their own table.
Just as every morning, the Slytherin table was the one with the most students; Ravenclaw being the only one close enough to them. All his friends were already waiting for him there, but Ron's eyes weren't on them; Malfoy was also already there, and just for once, he didn't look as smug as he used. If Ron didn't know what had happened, he would have been ecstatic to see that things weren't going well for the blonde boy; but, after his incident with Daniel, and after hearing the truth from Hermione, he just felt hollow.
"Did you really go to one of your morning escapades on a Monday morning?" Blaise asked, raising a brow at him. "I knew you were barmy, but not that much."
"Yeah," Ron answered, taking a seat between the boy and Tracey. "Blame it on the professors; they are melting my brain with all that much homework before the exams."
"Are you feeling okay?" Daphne asked with a soft voice. "You look a bit downcast today."
Merlin…, why is this girl that bloody observant, the redhead thought. "Yeah, I just had some trouble sleeping," he ended up saying. "You know, with all the stress due to the exams coming and everything, there are some rough nights."
The blonde girl raised an inquiring brow; just as she always did when the redhead lied, she had caught him with ease. But whatever was in her mind, she didn't get to say it aloud, because out of nowhere, Daniel Williams appeared; announcing his arrival by taking a seat at Daphne's side with a loud sound.
"Hello, Ronald," he greeted with a nice smile on his face. "And hello to you three too, whatever your names are. I'm gonna need you to leave us alone for a moment; there are some mundane matters I would love to discuss with your friend here."
The three of them didn't get up; instead, they just kept staring at the older boy. "It wasn't a request," he added, his smile still in place.
With a loud huff, Daphne was the first one to get up; the other two following her after a second. "She's got quite the temperament," Daniel commented. "That is going to be a tough one to score; she is pretty, but I don't envy you."
"What the hell are you saying!" Ron cursed, his face reddening.
"Come on, that was just an easy joke to crack the ambient," the prefect smirked. "But I see that you are back to your usual self, that's good. I gotta tell you that I had some problems sleeping tonight; my mind just kept reminding me that maybe I went a bit too…, rough on you. That is why I came here to apologise."
"Really? Wow, I wasn't expecting you to do anything like this."
"If you keep talking like that about me, I can assure you that there won't ever be anymore of them."
"Come on, I was the one joking now."
"If you say so," Daniel laughed. "I also think that you should definitely be thanking me for what I did. If I had allowed you to leave, you would have gotten caught just like your friends; and as we are talking right now, the whole House would be trying to kill you with their gazes; just as those lions are doing with your two friends."
Those words made Ron look at the furthest table from theirs, where Harry and Hermione were eating with their eyes not leaving their plates; trying to gather as little attention as possible. "In my book, what happened yesterday was a perfect play," Daniel commented, taking a sip from his cup of juice. "Not only did I stop my favourite first year from being the most hated person within Slytherin, but on top of that, a hundred points were taken from Gryffindor thanks to the actions of the two little lions."
"Well, as much as I'm enjoying our little chat, I must go," he went on. "The O.W.L.S are coming and I must prove my talents and wisdom to everyone once again."
Before he could get up, Ron stopped him. "Wait," the redhead called. "Who was the one to tell you our plan? I know it wasn't Malfoy because he also got caught."
"If there is one thing you have to do with your sources, is to keep their identities secret; you never know when the next time they can tell you something interesting will be."
Smile still in place, the fifth year prefect finally left him alone, and seconds after it, Ron's friends came back; their faces showing nothing but pure curiosity. "What did he want?" Tracey asked as soon as he took her seat back.
"Nothing, really," Ron answered, still looking to where had gone. "The thing is that yesterday's night he…, taught me some magic, and he just wanted to ask me if I had understood it."
"Really?" Blaise wondered. "Why would a prefect teach you magic on a Sunday's night without expecting anything in return."
"He said that he was fond of me, back on the first day of school," Ron shrugged it off. "Besides, he did get something in return; he has been getting it for the whole year, in fact. The only thing he wants is to win the House Cup, so, with me being the first year who have won most points, he kind of felt in debt with me."
"Well, winning the Cup must not be one of his main worries right now," Daphne stated. "I don't know what happened, but news is that Granger and Potter lost a hundred points between the two of them; and whatever it was, it had something to do with Malfoy, because he also lost twenty points."
"It must have been something grave," Blaise commented. "But it is not like I care; in the end, they practically gave us the Cup."
"Come on, don't be like that," Tracey sent him a sour look. "They don't deserve the looks they are receiving right now! I thought you were starting to like them a bit!"
"They aren't that bad to be lions," Blaise agreed with her. "But that doesn't mean that I won't be happy if because of their own mistakes, they handled us the win."
"Well, that's one less thing to worry about," Daphne piped in. "Now that we have secured the House Cup, we should fully focus on our exams. None of us should have much problems with them, but we should go for a last push; better safe than sorry, or so they say."
"Well, if that last push means a soporific class of History of Magic as first thing in the morning, count me in," Tracey said, getting up from the bench. "Come on, guys! We don't want to make Professor Binns wait for us, right? He might die from boredom for a second time, wouldn't that be some kind of record?"
Well, I guess that after finally getting rid of Norbert, everything will go back to the normal routine, Ron thought, aslo getting up to follow his friends. Now, it is just a matter of time to see what happens with the Stone; that, and dealing with the bloody exams. Thinking about it, I don't know if this is worse than dealing with a bloody dragon...
Ashram POV
Saturday 4th May, 1992 (Unknown English's forest) - Before midnight
Ashram waited, just as he had been doing for the last hour. The only sounds which could be heard in the forest were the crackles of the little campfire he had created. Everything else was pure silence; darkness and silence, that's it.
"So tonight is the one we are meeting with the Dark One once again," Kadir said; the Essentia was currently looking at him from above, standing in some branch. He was currently back in his human form; if it could be considered as human, of course. He was little, maybe around fifty centimetres or something like that; but what he lacked in size, he got it in presence. No matter what form he adopted, he was alway brightening with that dark red light; of a shade darker than blood.
"Yes, it is," Ashram answered, "He must be close from getting the Stone, and he will want to know what the plan after getting it is. Oh, how have I waited this moment to come; the chosen one will finally be reborn after all these years. He will be the one to bring the glory back to us, the wizarding kind; and we will be right at his side to see our dreams come true, my friend. Our life's mission to regain our legimetly place at the top of the food chain once again; just like it was in the Ancient Times."
"Don't get excited that easily, Ashram the Wizard," Kadir warned with a sour voice. "Your chosen one already failed once because he couldn't control his fear of a prophecy. This time, we will act as his right hand, so we can prevent anything like that from happening again."
"Do you know when was the first time I realised he was special?" Ashram asked. "Before I met you, I happened to witness a battle, back when the war was at its critical point. Thanks to some dual attack, the Death Eaters managed to trick Albus Dumbledore into believing that the fake one, which took place in a forest near Hogwarts, was the real one."
"There were plenty of important people there to fight him, so at first, he fell into the trap" the wizard continued, after some pause to take a bite of his smoked rabbit. "But the real attack took place in Brighton's outskirts; where the Ministry's foreign allies had one of their most important bases. The battle was a bloody espectacle, from the two sides. The strongest loyalists against renowned aurors and some of the most notable pureblood allies the resistance had. And then, He descended-"
"He descended from the sky," the Essentia completed, his voice tainted with boredom. "I already know it; you have told me that tale before."
"And he descended from the sky," Ashram went on, not caring about the interruption. "He rained hell all over them. I had never imagined for something like to be possible; how naive I was. Five of their strongest warriors tried to stop him, but they were barely able to hold him. Three legendary aurors like Alastor Moody, Rufus Scrimgeour, and Viktor Shatov; with the help of Elend Shawn and Ludwig Larsson; and the only thing they could do was to withstand his might with the hopes of Albus Dubledore coming to their aid."
The two of them remained in silence after the short tale; the human eating, and the Essentia looking at the dark sky. But both detected the third individual coming into the clearing at the same time. The newcomer's presence spiked all of Ashram's senses when he entered in the range of his expanded aura; that, and the fact all the detection wards got activated, of course.
"My lord," Ashram greeted, falling to one knee as soon as his master presence got close enough. "I have yearned for our reunion."
"Arise, my loyal follower," a dark voice said, one that came from behind of the man he had in front of him; the man who acted as his master's vessel.
Quirinus Quirrell, once a proud professor of Hogwarts, had been reduced to nothing but a puppet; which was, under Ashram's opinion, a far greater destiny that the man could have ever thought he would have. The man didn't even send him a look, he just took a seat on a log in front of Ashram.
"Where is Peter?" The Dark One asked.
"Outside of the country, under hiding," Ashram answered. "Right now, he might be the most searched man in the whole wizarding world. I already have enough problems to hide myself; I wouldn't make it having to babysit him. That auror, Gareth Marshall, took it personal; he is being relentless in his search."
"What is the state of our men?"
"They are prepared for the day in which you'll announce your rebirth to the world."
"Will they be there when that happens?"
"Some of them will even be before that," Ashram stated. "Those are the ones who really want you back; and the ones who trusted my words. But most of them will need to see the aftermath of your rebirth; after all, I didn't tell everyone about you; we can't afford any mistakes due to trusting the wrong people."
"That was a good decision," the Dark One agreed. "Since the day you found me, back in Albania, I've been wondering why I didn't use you more in the first war, Ashram. It took me a few days to absorb enough energy from my vessel to be able to regain most of my memories; and then, I saw your face among many others nameless subordinates. That was a mistake on my part, a rare thing which will not happen again. When I freed all my true loyalists, your name will be there, by my side; among those truly worthy to see how I change the world."
"I'm honored to hear those words, my lord," Ashram said, placing his hand over his heart. "I can't wait for you to get the Stone."
"The day is close; I can feel it. I just need for this worthless vessel of mine to know one more thing, then, I will be able to get ridden of him," he said, his voice tainted with a dark desire. "Especially after what happened yesterday."
"What happened, my lord?"
"I saw him, and I was so close to putting my hands on him; oh, if that scum of a centaur hadn't interfiered, Harry Potter would be dead."
Normally, Ashram was very good at hiding his emotions, but this time, he couldn't stop his face from showing his surprise. "Harry Potter?" The wizard asked. "How was that possible? I thought that Dumbledore, knowing that we are after the Stone, will have the boy on close watch."
"Seems like that stupid geezer lost his touch with the long peace. I found the boy in the Forest, just when I had just killed another unicorn. He saw me, and when he did, it was like some needle poking at my brain; some sort of connection between him and me. I couldn't stand the simple fact that such a thing could happen, so I instantly went after him; to kill him like I should have done it ten years ago; but, this worthless vessel wasn't quick enough."
"I'm so sorry, master," Quirrell meekly cried. "I swear I will get the Stone for you very soon; then, you won't need to remain attached with an inferior being like me; you will be able to kill the boy with your own hands."
"It better be like that, Qurinus; it better be," the Dark One growled. "That is enough time wasted for today. When the day comes, I will need you to do something in order to get Dumbledore out of the castle; unless that happens, I won't be able to get the Stone. And when he comes back, the corpse of his golden boy will be the first thing he'll see; that, and all the bodies from the rest of the professors; especially that traitor of Severus, oh, how I am going to enjoy myself with him…"
"If that is what you request from me, it will be done. I know exactly what we need for that," Ashram smirked. "I think it is about time for my dearest friend Peter to make an act of presence."
Even though the Dark One was only a negligible fraction of what he used to be, Ashram's aura could feel the great malice and desire coming from Quirrell's body; the wizard's own aura completely darkened by the one which belonged to a demon. This is the power of the chosen one, Ashram thought. Serving him is the only reason for my existence; and for that, I'm grateful. We are going to do it, Kadir. Our dreamed world is at our hand's reach.
Ronald Weasley POV
Monday 20th May, 1992 (Hogwarts) - After lunch
Everything had bloody changed after that night in which Harry and Hermione went to the Forbidden Forest to fulfill their detentions; the night in which Ron's theories about You-Know-Who being the one after the Stone were confirmed.
That monster was indeed roaming around the castle's terrains; and the only thing they were doing to protect the Stone was doing bloody exams. Now, the redhead didn't know how the hell he was managing to keep the facade of everything going alright, acting as if the exams were the most important thing in the world. And most important, he didn't know how the hell he was doing that good in all of them.
"That is some very well done snuff-box, Mr Weasley," Professor McGonagall congratulated, her wand taking notes on a parchment. "So far, it might have been the best of this year; and I can assure you that is the one of the best from the recent years. Keep working hard, Mr Weasley; I can see your brother William in you."
Maybe, in another lifetime, that compliment could have been one of the best moments of his life, but right now, it was just another mundane comment. I'm not sure about that , Professor; if I had just a portion of Bill's intelligence, I would have figured what the bloody hell to do with my life right now, he thought; but, he still thanked her for everything.
After Transfiguration, came the exam of History of Magic; and even though Ron was one of the last students to leave the class, he wasn't that sure about having aced that one. Despite that, as soon as he came out of the classroom, he let out a huge, and tired, sigh.
Exams were finally over.
He started to walk towards the main courtyard, and when he got there, he took a seat under the shadow of a big column. Him and his friend had agreed on meeting at their usual spot, under the tree near the Black Lake; but Ron knew that right now, they would be talking about the exams and what the answers were; there was nothing the redhead hated as much as that.
He closed his eyes and enjoyed the warm breeze, taking a moment to fully relax since Merlin knew when. He felt Gerd's presence taking a seat at her favourite spot on his right shoulder; the Essentia probably was imitating his posture, but the redhead didn't open his eyes to check it.
Time passed, and Ron was sure he must have dozed off at least twice; but, it felt so good that he didn't care. "You shouldn't make your friends wait like that," Gerd's voice disturbed him. "It's been more than an hour since the exam ended, I'm sure they aren't talking about it anymore."
Sighing and stretching in an exaggerated way, Ron got up from the ground. "Let's find it, then," he said as he started to walk. Looking back at the last weeks, it seemed nearly impossible for everyone to be out of the castle like they were right now; but exams had ended for everyone except for the fifth and seventh years, and the students were sure letting the world know about it.
Just when he was at the main entrance of the castle, someone crashed with him, sending the redhead to the floor. "Hey!" He exclaimed. "Look where the hell you are going!"
"Ron?" Hermione's familiar voice said. "We were looking for you! This is terrible!"
The one who had crashed with him was no other but Harry, who was getting up with the help of Neville. "Dumbledore is gone," Harry told him in a frenzy. "He's been called from the Ministry due to some urgent business."
Oh shit, it is happening. He took Harry's hand to get up from the cold floor, and as soon as he was on his feet, he started to walk around in a frenzy, muttering nonsense to the air. "Hey, hey," Hermione called. "We all need to relax, okay? Let's think about some solution with our heads cold."
"What is it that we need to think about?" Harry almost exclaimed, making the girl shush him. "Okay, sorry; but, I think it's pretty clear that the only thing we need to do is to keep an eye on the third corridor's classroom and on Snape."
In the end, Hermione was tasked with keeping an eye on Snape, while the three boys went to the abandoned classroom in which Fluffy rested. But everything went wrong the moment they separated, because McGonagall was there, waiting for them to come; and with a very good demonstration of what could happen if she was to lose her temperament, she sent them back under the threat of taking a hundred points from each of them.
Obviously, Hermione had also failed carrying out her task, so the four of them met once again near the castle's main entrance. "I'm going out of here tonight and I'm going to try and get to the Stone first," Harry announced after some minutes of discussion.
"You're mad!" Neville exclaimed.
"You've gone barmy, haven't you?" Hermione said, looking at him with open eyes. "You've heard McGonagall! You will be expelled!
"I don't freaking care!" Harry shot back. "It is you who don't understand; this is Voldemort whom we are talking about. If Snape puts his hands on the Stone, there won't be any school to be expelled from!"
"Harry's right," Ron simply announced. "We need to do something."
"I don't care if you don't agree with me either; I'm going... Wait, what?"
"I said you were right," the redhead repeated. "But you ain't going by yourself; count me in."
"I-I'll go as well," Neville announced with a trembling voice, but with sheer resolve written on his face.
"Well, I guess four heads are better than three," Hermione added, as if she didn't have another choice.
"Thank you, guys," Harry said, much calmer now. "So, tonight it is."
"Tonight it is," the other three echoed.
Those hours of waiting before something were the worst; at least, that was what Ron thought as he nervously tapped his foot against the floor of the common room. There was almost no one around; just some seventh year students who had passed out because of the exhaustion. He definitely needed to thank whoever was after the Stone for choosing the day in which exams had ended; otherwise, he would have had way more problems to get out.
"Can you stop doing that?" Gerd asked. "You are making me nervous."
"Sorry," Ron apologised. "Is there any magic to accelerate time? Because I'm about to lose my head here."
"Come on, don't be that dramatic. Focus on the mission; ready yourself for it. I pray for everything to go smoothly, but this time, we might not have the same luck as other times. This one is the real deal."
"The real deal? You almost talk like a real person right now; not like some woman from centuries ago."
"Well, what can I say; I am a woman from centuries ago."
Second after second, the time to go was almost here. Ron got up from the couch and stretched his limbs; readying himself for whatever was to come. But, of course, something had to happen. "You are going to do something really stupid and dangerous, don't you?" A familiar voice said from behind.
Bloody freaking hell, why does it always happen to me? Ron turned around to see no other than Daphne, looking at him with concern on her face. "There is no point in lying to me," she went on. "I heard everything. Tonight it is; wasn't it something like that?"
"Well, it seems like we've been caught red-handed," Gerd pointed out. "Once again."
But, unlike her, Ron wasn't feeling that relaxed. "You sure like to hear things you shouldn't, eh?" Ron said, his ears turning red with anger.
"I know; and I'm sorry," Daphne apologised, trying to keep peace. "But you can't expect me to sit there, doing nothing, when you disappear for an entire afternoon. Not considering what I know; especially not after observing you for the past weeks, as if you were waiting for something big to happen at every minute."
"Calm down a bit, okay?" Gerd told him. "Her concern is real; and I like her, so you better relax."
Ron huffed in indignation, but he still tried to do what she said. "I don't understand you at all," Ron said, calmer now. "You told me that you didn't want to know anything related to the Stone, that it was too dangerous; but now, you come at me with this?"
"Things have changed!" She exclaimed, raising her voice. "What seemed like something unthinkable now it isn't. I just don't get why it is you the one who always need to do everything; this is way out of your league, go and tell the Headmaster the whole thing!"
"Do you think we haven't tried yet?" Ron asked, losing his temper once again. "The Headmaster isn't at the castle, he's been lured out! We tried telling everything we knew to the professors, but they dismissed us; they told us that the Stone was very well defended; that no one could steal it. But that isn't true! Someone very dangerous is going to do it tonight!"
"T-There has to be some other option…, right?" She said, her face losing all colour. "Potter said something about…, You-Know-Who going after the stone. T-That can't be true…, right?"
"Shit," Ron cursed. "Okay, try to breathe and regain your composure; I'm sure this is not how the regal Daphne Greengrass would want others to see her. Yeah, that's it; well done. Listen carefully. We don't know for sure who is going after the Stone, but maybe, he could be someone who is doing everything in his hand for You-Know-Who and his people to come back once again."
"That is why we four need to do this, okay?" Ron kept going. "If there is the minimum possibility of that happening, we'll have to do something; at least, until the Headmaster comes back."
He started to walk towards the door, but the blonde's voice stopped him once again. "I-I'm coming with you," she let out. "Don't try to stop me now; otherwise, I'll probably cower."
"What? You can't be serious, Daphne! This is going to be dangerous!"
"That is why I can't let you go alone! You are too impulsive! Last time something happened you spent two entire days at the medical wing!"
"This is bloody absurd," Ron commented, totally shocked. "Let me get this straight, because I don't understand anything here. You, Daphne Greengrass, are telling me that you want to come with us, and risk your life, because I'm the one who's impulsive. This is completely unreal."
"A friend of mine told me once that I should start following what my heart and mind told me," she started, not giving up. "That I shouldn't just stay quiet and do what people expected me to; that I would probably regret it in the future. That friend is just like you; a hot headed and impulsive moron who doesn't think twice about risking everything to follow one of his hunches. But, you also remind me of him in the good way; both of you really tried to help me when I needed it; you both helped me to change for the better."
"That is why I'm doing this right now," she kept rambling, tears starting to form in her eyes. "I won't just stand aside and let you go kill yourself doing some stupidity of yours! I would never forgive myself if that happened! So, you are going to shut the hell up and accept my help!"
"Holy shit," Gerd whistled. "That sure was intense. I wish others had cared for me like that back when I was still alive."
Ron looked at the crying girl as he fidgeted with his wand in his fingers, totally speechless. "I…, woah…, I mean," he spluttered. "I guess nothing of what I say will make you change your opinion, right?"
"I've already told you," Daphne said as she dried away the last trails of tears from her chek. "We better start walking, because otherwise, I might go back to my room with my tail under the legs."
Ron led the way as the two of them got out of the common room. "Thank you," the redhead whispered. "Try to not risk yourself too much when stopping me from doing something recklessly, okay?"
"That is my job, you dummy," she smiled softly. "And I'm always the best at my job."
They kept walking in silence, thanking the lack of prefects patrolling that night; but then, some thought came to Ron's mind. "There is something I have to ask you," he started. "With this one, it is the second time you overheard me talking about something secret with my friends. Were you the one to tattle me to Daniel?"
"Daniel as the fifth year prefect?" She inquired. "No way I would do that, no matter what it is. I'm not talking to that arrogant idiot even if he was the last person alive. By the way, what happened? It should have been something serious, because otherwise, you wouldn't be asking me about that."
"Forget about it, it is a long story."
The redhead sent some subtle look to the Essentia, who was walking midair by his side. "I think she's telling the truth," she said. "It is not like I can always tell if someone is being honest; but, I've lied, and been lied, far too many times to know one or two things about the game of lies."
The walk finally came to an end when they reached the forbidden corridor on the third floor, and Ron instantly knew that there was a big problem; the door was already opened. "What the hell is she doing here?" Hermione's voice asked, materializing out of nowhere in front of them. "What are you playing at, Ronald? Why did you bring her along?"
Ron also felt both Harry and Neville's inquisitorial gazes, but he tried to shrug everything off as best as he could. "Listen, it is a very long story, but the thing is that she knows about everything; and when I say everything, I mean it. Despite that, she still insisted on coming along; she wants to help us, and Merlin knows we need as much of it as possible."
Hermione was about to open her mouth again, but the blonde girl was faster. "Listen, I don't really care about what you are going to say right now," she started. "Just as Ron said, I know everything; so what about we all stop acting like lost kids and do something before it is too late."
"That was…, smooth," Gerd said; looking at the blond girl in a weird way the instant after the words came out of her mouth.
Her words resounded in the corridor, and Ron felt the emotions infused on them as clear as water; and from the other's faces, they also did. "Okay, she is right," Harry said, after some seconds of silence. "I don't care about how we ended up with this situation, but we gotta do something before Snape gets his greasy hands on the Stone."
That being said, the boy practically stormed into the room; the other four following him, a new fire ignited inside of them. But what was inside of the room definitely extinguished it with ease. Looking at them was Fluffy, just as menacing as it was seven months ago.
"H-Harry, the flute!" Neville managed to exclaim.
From the pocket of his robes, the black haired boy pulled a flute out, putting it on his lips as fast as his seeker's reflexes allowed him. It wasn't even a melody, but as soon as the first notes sounded, the Cerberus started to close his eyes, falling to the floor; completely asleep, after some seconds.
"We did it," Hermione whispered. "We actually put Fluffy to sleep..."
"Come on," Harry urged. "There is no time to waste!"
To his side, Daphne muttered something, and Neville started to talk with her; but, to Ron, nothing of that was important. Gerd had just started to mutter things nonstop, and only bad things happened when she rumbled like that. "That was it, of course; it was music!" She spluttered. "How could I forgot! That was what Niklos used to fight those beasts… Niklos… who were you?"
Ignoring her as best as he could, Ron met with the other four at the open trapdoor; which led to nothing but complete darkness. "Well," Daphne commented, evident nervousness on her voice. "Someone will have to go first, right?"
Harry made some signals to Hermione, indicating her to grab the flute and to keep playing it, but Ron stopped them by raising his hand. "I'll go first," he declared. "Keep playing the flute, Harry." Then, he turned to the others, putting on his face the best confident smile he could manage given the situation. "I'll see you guys down there! Don't be late, or I'd start to think that you left me alone!"
Without thinking it twice, he jumped to the darkness, Gerd-eagle following him closely. Completely blind, the only thing he could feel was the fall and his mind rambling. Come on, Ron, he thought. This is the moment for which you have been preparing for so long. Remember those visions; remember your family. That future won't ever happen; and everything starts right here, right now!
