Legilimens
His vision was blurry and the white smoke in the corners blinded Lincoln a little. But he exhaled slowly to gain more concentration. He walked through the smoke until he saw something. His central vision sharpened so he could discern the colored walls of what seemed to be an elementary school. Lincoln stopped to study his surroundings but suddenly, he heard shrieks and laughter. He walked towards that noise which became more and more deafening. A group of children was forming a wide circle in the playground, so he placed his hand on a child shoulder and tried to find a way to cross them. When he reached the center of the crowd, he saw two kids; one above the other. Lincoln bent over, understanding what was happening, and tried to separate them, but he couldn’t do anything. Of course, Legilimency didn’t allow interactions with memories. The children were cheering as the little girl punched the boy under her. Blood was starting to drip from the boy’s nose. Lincoln guessed the girl must be five or six years old, even if her long brown hair was hiding her face.
“Lexa?” he asked frowning.
The little brunette turned her head towards him, hair falling away from her face so Lincoln could see her look of pure fury throughout her green eyes.
‘STOP!’
Lexa’s grown-up voice resonated in Lincoln’s head as the memory disappeared. He was once again surrounded by white smoke.
He knew Lexa’s youth had been agitated but seeing his friend like that bewildered him a little. Lincoln tried to regain his focus. He needed to find THE memory that would help them, and quick. Going through too many memories and furthermore dark memories like that, could be tiring and stressful for Lexa.
He breathed heavily and walked. Lincoln heard different voices and different kind of conversations. He knew Lexa was probably concentrating as much as she could so he tried to pinpoint the voices that seemed louder than the others.
“Enough!”
Lincoln turned around at the scream. He moved forward slowly and entered a large dark corridor. The walls seemed red and big framed paintings were covering them. As he walked farther and farther, some type of invisible force was slowing him down, like if he was walking against a powerful wind gust. A beam of light emerged from a door ajar so Lincoln could distinguish the shadow of a little girl. Lexa. This time she seemed older. She was kneeling just aside the door, obviously spying on the discussion occurring on the other side. He fought all he could to come near enough so he could spy on the conversation.
“But you have to be careful sir! A lot of people will try and steal it. Let me help you.”
“We are more than capable of guarding the nightblood wand, mister Shade!”
A tall white man could be seen leaning on a wooden desk in the middle of the room. Must be Lexa’s dad.
“I know, I know, but…”
“Stop! Mister Shade you’ve been helpful for our family, I can’t deny that. But you can’t come and tell me what I should do when none of this is of your business.”
The room was filled with silence until heavy steps sounded against the floor. The door suddenly flew open and the mysterious man came nose to nose with the girl. That was him, Lincoln knew it as he felt Lexa’s mind walls building back up gradually.
“Alexandria, you shouldn’t be here.” The father said before grabbing his wand and walking towards his daughter.
The bald man passed past the girl and Lexa’s father kneeled in front of her. Everything went white one more time and Lincoln came back in the real world.
“Guys, you’re back” said Octavia as Raven entered the room. “So?”
Lexa found Lincoln’s gaze puzzled and afraid.
“I think my parents tried to block my memories!”
“But that was him, right? The man.”
“Yes Linc’. That was the man who took Clarke in Hogsmeade.”
“He seemed really interested by the wand. That must have something to do with the kidnapping of Clarke.”
“What wand?” asked Octavia.
Lexa looked down, trying to connect the neurons in her brain. She may have the answers to all her questions and yet something was blocking her from pinpointing them. The wand could help them. She raised her head and looked into Octavia’s eyes.
“The nightblood wand.”
***
The heavy door was opened again and Nia entered with another man that Clarke had never seen yet. He wasn’t that tall but he looked athletic. She had a feeling they wouldn’t be friends.
“Well.” Nia grabbed a chair and sat elegantly on it. “I’m sure you know what is going to happen now, but I’ll explain anyway. I’ll ask you some simple questions, and you’ll answer them. Or else Nick here may hurt you a little bit.”
She didn’t move, only her gaze went to this mysterious Nick. Clarke didn’t know if she stayed still because she didn’t want to seem weak in front of Nia or if she simply couldn’t move considering how cold she was. She felt her pulse beating hard against the skin of her neck as she turned her eyes back towards the woman.
“So,” she pressed her back on the chair and crossed her arms, “What are the names of Lexa’s parents?”
The blonde relaxed, knowing what was coming. She simply waited for something to happen. The man took a step forward and punched her in the jaw. Clarke’s head straightened and he punched her again in the cheekbone. Her vision became hazy when she looked back at Nia.
“I’m sure you already know that, why asking me?” she said shaking her head.
“Because I want to know if you’ll be cooperative enough.”
Clarke didn’t say anything waiting for the fist to come, and it did. She wouldn’t take many blows like that before passing out and she knew it. It wasn’t dangerous information so she talked.
“Lauren and Connor!” she said spitting blood on the floor.
“Good.” She gestured for Nick to back off. “Connor is a serious guy, protecting his bloodline at any cost, but Lauren… She’s a spoiled bitch. She looks down on everybody. She has always hated me, and it is mutual. Anyway, next question. What do you know about the nightblood wand?”
Clarke clenched her jaws and looked at the man coming towards her.
“I know nothing, so go ahead.”
Nick looked at Nia and saw her nod. He seized Clarke’s hair roughly and pulled. The blonde grabbed him by the wrist and suddenly felt a massive pain on her nose. She immediately fell to the ground and felt pain on her stomach. Blood was coloring the brown floor as Nick continued kicking her, again and again, Clarke huffing at every blow.
Everything became blurry then dark and finally everything went back into focus.
“Lexa are you okay?” asked Octavia from her bed when she saw Lexa pant.
“Yes, sorry. Just a nightmare.”
She had accidentally fallen asleep on her book. Lexa had stayed on Clarke’s bed all night. Sharing information from the books she read with Octavia, even though none of the information were helpful. She straightened up against the head of her bed and took a glance at Octavia who was reading one of the dozens of books scattered on her cover.
“It’s eight a.m. Do you want to come with me to the library now or do you want to get some sleep? Nobody will hold it against you.”
“I’ve slept long enough, let’s go” Lexa said already standing from the bed.
Both girls were already dressed so they put their shoes on and walked towards Hogwarts library. It was early and students weren’t up this early on a Sunday morning so they made it pretty quickly. The rest of the group was already there, reading in a deserted area of the library. They sat with them and resumed their reading for again several hours.
“Nothing, nothing!” said Octavia closing her book abruptly.
“Nothing about the nightblood wand. Even the books I read from the restricted area” Raven did the same.
“Oh my god. I know where I heard the name Shade” said Bellamy. “Roan’s mother. Roan and Ontari McCole have their father’s name but their mother is Nia Shade.”
“How come you know this much about the McCole’s?” asked Raven.
“I used to hang out with Roan in fifth grade. They live in a mansion in North England. The whole Shade family live there. I know that because he always said he couldn’t have privacy even though his house was huge.”
“Well, let’s go” said Anya. “Bellamy, could you get the address of the Shade ‘castle’?”
“I guess.”
“Okay well you go and we all meet let’s say in the courtyard?”
They all nodded, stood up and crossed the library. Suddenly, Lexa stopped in her track, her head buzzing.
“Lexa, are you okay?” asked Lincoln, Anya already supporting her.
Their voices were blurry. Lexa closed her eyes before everything went black but when she re-opened them, she wasn’t surrounded by books but by her father’s study, again. And he was there, kneeling in front of her. He said nothing and placed a stick in Lexa’s hand. The brunette looked down and saw a wand. That was it. The nightblood wand. It was really long and light compared to normal wands. It was totally black but a dark red string was spiraling around it. The lights of the chandelier hanging from the ceiling became more and more blinding. Lexa blinked a few times until her friends were in front of her again.
“What did you see?” said Lincoln.
When memories had been erased, legilimency could bring back memories sometimes. And Lincoln and Anya knew it.
“I think I know what it looks like. The wand…” she took a pen and drew it on the inside of her forearm. “And I think I know where it is.”
***
The sound of their form apparating in the middle of a cold empty street resonated against the street walls. The group watched carefully their surroundings without making any noise. Lexa had explained that her family lived in a popular but badly famed district. Raven startled when a bat came flying near them. She turned around after understanding what it was and narrowed her eyebrows at Anya’s mischievous grin. They went along huge mansions, most of them had their shutters closed, until the brunette came to a halt.
“It’s here.”
They rose their heads analyzing the entirety of the building. It was difficult to see all the details because of the huge shadow it was creating. The full moon was bouncing off the black flat tiles covering the roof and the tower peaks. More than twenty windows were on the front façade surrounded by dark brown bricks.
“Well I made fun of Roan and Ontari’s mansion but you have a hell of a house too” said Anya.
“Are your parents there?” asked Octavia.
“I don’t think so, they didn’t switch on the front door light” answered Lexa while taking a few steps along the wide way. There was a wide yard which probably served as a parking. It was delimited by perfectly pruned plants in black pots.
She didn’t seem quite at ease about entering her own house. In fact, she had never been comfortable at ‘home’ so she was kind of glad the lights weren’t on.
They all followed close behind her before reaching the porch. Lexa seized her wand and agitated it in front of the wall aside the door. Some bricks disappeared to deliver a key. The brunette took it and immediately opened the door. Everything was silent.
Lexa pushed the large wooden door open, creaking resonating through the house. The group entered in a cold and wide reception hall. Everything was perfectly clean: the marble surfaces could reflect your image like a mirror, no footprints could be seen on the tiled flooring, no hint of a cobweb in the corners of high ceilings. Also, there was no kind of any sound. Even the wind, once the door closed, could not be detectable.
They were all waiting in the center of the room, analyzing every walls and furniture, and waiting for Lexa to make a move. She let out a small sigh before heading towards the huge black stairs. Most of them startled at a glass breakage sound. They turned around and stared at Bellamy, who was kneeling before a now broken vase. He looked at Lexa with an ‘I’m sorry’ look. Raven got closer and punched him in the shoulder.
“Ow, what are you doing?” he said breaking the tensed silence.
“You scared the shit out of me.”
“Well, I didn’t make it fall on purpose duh” he replied standing up.
“I know I had to release the tension in my body.”
She smirked at him and joined the rest of the group that had already resume the exploration. Once arrived at the top of the stairs, they went along a corridor until they saw a big wooden door with a golden doorknob in the center.
“This is your father’s office, right?” asked Lincoln.
“Yes, it is” said Lexa with disdain. She turned the knob and opened. “Welcome to manipulation land.”
The room was as impeccable as the rest of the mansion except the marble was dark green. There were tall windows covered by dark curtains, a long desk in the middle directly in front of the door, a huge library on the left and a small lounge on the right.
“Here!”
Lexa pointed an old tableau hanging from the wall.
“Um, okay I’ll say it” said Raven nodding at her other friends. “Lexa, it’s a painting.”
“I know Raven, but that’s it. That’s the wand.”
The group looked at each other to see if one of them had understood, but everyone seemed lost.
“Let’s see,” Lexa continued, “I’ve seen it somewhere.”
She grabbed the piece of wood and dropped it on the floor before kneeling. The others gathered around her with frowning eyebrows. The brunette lifted her hand above the painting, expired and slowly plunged her fingers towards it. They all gasped as her phalanges disappeared through the canvas. Her hand englobed the wand and she started pulling gently. The mouths opened wider when the stick came out in Lexa’s hand.
“How did you do that?” asked Bellamy bewildered.
“I don’t know” she replied.
They all stared, mouths wide open, at the mysterious looking wand. They stayed still a few seconds trying to take all of this.
“So?” said Anya. “What do we do now?”
“I don’t know what this wand is capable of but I can feel it” Lexa turned the wand in her hand, “it is powerful. I’ve never felt something like this.” They looked at her serious face. “If they wanted Clarke to learn more about me, it must be because of it.”
“I agree” replied Lincoln.
“Let me see.”
Octavia grabbed the antique in Lexa’s opened hand but she immediately started to feel a weird burning sensation travel through her fingers.
“I can feel it too” she said.
The warmth spread to her hand, then her forearm but slowly became unpleasant. Octavia furrowed her eyebrows. Instantly she dropped the wand to the ground when the palm of her hand started to hurt.
“What just happened?” asked Raven.
“I-I don’t know, it burned my skin.”
They frowned and turned to Lexa. The brunette kneeled down to seize the piece of wood before standing back up and looking at her friends.
“What?” she asked.
“It didn’t burn you. How come?”
“Well, it’s the nightblood wand.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” asked Bellamy.
Lexa rolled her eyes. She went to grab a letter opener on her father’s desk. The brunette turned around, facing them, and pushed the tip of it into her palm tracing a straight line. They grinded their teeth, except Anya and Lincoln who knew what she was doing, and then opened their mouth wide. Blood droplets came out of the line and fell like in slow motion to the floor.
“It’s black! Your blood is… black” stuttered Octavia.
“Oh my god, so nightblood is real?!” Raven took a step forward bringing Lexa’s hand closer to her eyes.
Lexa said nothing and nodded.
“How come we spent several years at Hogwarts with you, and never knew this?”
“Mmh you didn’t ask. Whatever, that is not important. What’s important is that we probably just found the one thing that got Clarke kidnapped” said Lexa.
“It must be really poweful” Lincoln’s eyebrows furrowed.
“And, dangerous in the hands of malicious people” finished Anya.
They all stood in silence for a few seconds before Raven talked.
“So!” she said excessively loud. “Shall we?”
“Yeah,” replied Lexa, “whatever this is about, we need to get Clarke back.” She walked out the room, the others following close behind. “Let’s go!”
***
The grass was wet from the cold night temperature. It left a bad feeling up the friends’ spines that made it harder to focus on what they needed to do; don’t make any noise. Of course, after apparating in the small forest near the house, they had decided to enter from behind, through the wide and empty garden. Most of the shutters were closed and only two or three spots of light could be seen from the windows. They reached a wooden door and waited in silence for someone to make a move.
“Again,” said Lexa, “nothing is forcing you to come with me.”
“Shut up and open that door Woods” answered Raven, her nerves falling apart.
The brunette grabbed her wand in her coat and pointed it at the lock.
“Alohomora!”
A deep click sounded and the door opened itself. They all stopped breathing for a moment and Lexa took a first step inside. The group walked along the first corridor until they reached a big hall.
“Okay,” began Anya, “we have to split up. Linc’ and Octavia, you’ll take the left corridor, Bellamy you’ll go straight, and Raven and I will take the corridor on the right. Lexa, you…”
She looked behind her and saw her friend already climbing the stairs.
“Go upstairs” she finished anyway, rolling her eyes.
Anya took Raven’s hand and went for the third corridor when everybody did as she’d told. Raven had ‘Lumos’ activated even though the light intensity was as low as possible. Anya opened a first door, they walked in and searched for any kind of hidden door or hatch. But nothing.
“I can’t believe we’re in this situation” whispered Raven.
“I know, I hope Clarke’s okay. These people don’t seem really pleasant.”
They continued their search for a few more minutes.
“There’s nothing here, let’s continue” said Anya going for the door.
Raven turned around and went behind her. Her coat flew over a dresser, bringing a large rock lamp down in its path. A loud noise sounded in the small dark room. Raven and Anya startled at the same time. Anya turned around, her lips pursed and a deadly stare in her eyes.
“So – rry?”
***
“What was that?” asked Lincoln with widened eyes.
“I don’t know, continue searching.”
The couple went from door to door without finding anyone behind any door. Small droplets of sweat started falling from their forehead. The tension was unsustainable. Octavia huffed. Lincoln placed a hand on her shoulder and her nerves relaxed. He threw her a loving and supporting glare before stepping forward and opening another door.
They entered what seemed to be an office. Octavia went for the walls, searching for a small button or something that could hide a passage. Lincoln went for the desk in the middle of the room. Several papers and scrolls scattered over the wooden surface. He grabbed a letter.
Dear Ms McCole,
The high council has been reunited last night.
They all agree with your proposal.
I hope you will be ready for next week events, because we all already are.
Fear is the only way.
Dante Wallace.
“O, take a look at this” he said.
Octavia gave up the walls and approached. She read the little piece of paper above her boyfriend’s shoulder and opened her mouth widely.
“Oh my god, what does that mean?”
“I don’t know but I don’t think it is good news.”
They paused a few seconds before Lincoln folded the letter and put it in his pocket. He grabbed Octavia’s hand and walked at the door.
“Let’s go!”
***
Every step was so slow that even the old wooden floor didn’t creak under her weight. Lexa was focused on her goal. She controlled her breath and her moves carefully. Her wand was risen in front of her and her eyes were scanning the whole area.
She took a few more steps and heard low chattering.
“Nox” Lexa whispered.
The door was slightly open so she could see a little what was happening. She clenched her fists when she saw her. Clarke was curled up on herself, her side pressed on a wall. Her entire body was shivering and her face was hidden by her lousy hair.
“Stop it Titus!”
“Nia, you are forced to admit Legilimency is not working, let me try someth…”
“No, Legilimency doesn’t work because she doesn’t know anything. Are you stupid? She’s just a fragile Hogwarts student, there is very little chance that she learned Occlumency.”
“So, what are we going to do?” Titus said his nerves about to break.
“I have another idea” she said turning to the blonde ball on the floor.
“And can I ask what is this idea?” Lexa said pushing the door.
She stepped up, pointing her wand at the tall woman. Titus startled but quickly regained his spirits and raised his wand at the brunette. Clarke slowly straightened, sliding along the wall. She placed her hair behind her ear and looked at Lexa. Their eyes met. Tears began to fill the blonde’s eyes and Lexa’s heart broke before this scene. She just wanted to close the distance between them and hold her tightly in her arms. Lexa’s gaze suddenly went a different direction when Nia laughed.
“Well, well, well” Nia started walking towards the brunette, not caring about the wand pointing at her face, “seems like you are right on time Ms Woods!”