Harry Potter and the New Girl

From their vantage point, they could see the two vampires, dressed in their blue overalls once again, enter the museum. Before arriving, Skulduggery had hired a car for an alternative get away, in case Corvus was unable to portal them out during the break in. Hence, the trio were sat opposite the museum in a small, horrifically coloured hatchback. With a jaundice yellow paintjob and putrid pink seats, both Corvus and Stephanie were sulking.

“I don’t know why we couldn’t have just used the Aston that Gordon left me.” Corvus complained, for the third time in just as many hours.

Not even glancing back, Skulduggery responded. “You band me from driving it, until you had a chance to enchant it.”

“But a flying Aston would be so cool! And I could make it bullet proof!”

“Then practise on this.”

“But we might need it soon.”

“Then go over the plan, one last time. We’re about to go in.”

“Fine. You’ve already shorted out the fuse box to the skylight security system so that won’t activate when we open it. You’re going to winch yourself down to shut down the pressure sensors in the floor and then you and I are going to open the Vault, find what we need and get out hopefully within 20 minutes of entering, so that the vamps don’t transform before we leave.” Corvus said, in a monotonous voice. He had repeated the plan enough times to know it by heart.

“And why can’t you just portal out of the Vault?” Stephanie asked.

“Because there are a ridiculous amount of magical protections layered over it in its entirety. One was preventing shadow walking, which my portals are a stronger version of. I don’t want to try portalling out, only to trip the magical protections. We could die in a number of horrific and brutal ways.” Corvus replied seriously. It was something he had thought about though.

“Got it. No portals.” Stephanie replied, slightly pale. “What about if you don’t make it before the vampires transform though?”

“Then it’ll be armour time. I can’t risk opening a portal and setting a rabid vampire out into the wild.”

“That would be bad.”

“Incredibly. Welp. Showtime.” Corvus said, as he and Skulduggery climbed out of the car. Stephanie joining them a few moments later. “What are you doing?” He asked her.

“Coming to help. I’ll stay on the roof and keep a look out for you guys.” She replied, her voice giving no room for arguments.

“Fine. But if you get spotted, you need to run and alert us. I don’t care if that means tripping all the alarms somehow.” Skulduggery said, as he led the trio to a tree, just to the side of the building.

Whilst Skulduggery and Stephanie climbed the tree, Corvus shifted into his crow form and flew to the roof. As he waited for them to make it to the roof, he flew a few laps around the building, trying to spot where the vampires were at that moment. They were both on the other side of the building, so he landed, shifted back to human and opened a skylight ready.

After another few moments, Skulduggery and Stephanie joined him on the roof and Skulduggery pulled a winch out of his bag. After tying it to a nearby air vent, the skeleton strapped himself into the harness, and slowly began to lower himself through the skylight.

Whilst that was happening, Corvus and Stephanie watched from the roof, keeping an eye open for the vampires. After a few minutes, Skulduggery was finally in position to shut off the remaining security systems, when they heard a scraping sound behind them. They turned, looking at where the winch had been anchored to the air vent, only to see the anchor slipping off.

“Shit” Stephanie uttered softly, before the anchor slipped off of the vent completely. Before Corvus could even react, Stephanie aimed her hand down towards Skulduggery. Just as he started to fall, he stopped. He turned his head to look back at them, before giving them a thumbs up, then returned to turning off the security system. Barely a minute later, he gave a signal to be lowered, but was unceremoniously dumped onto the floor. Corvus glanced at Stephanie, and caught a slight wince on her face.

“Good job with the levitation charm. I’m guessing instinct?” he asked softly.

“Yeah, I didn’t know how to lower him though.” Stephanie replied.

“We will work on it. Just remember how that felt. Even if you can’t move something, being able to freeze it in place is still incredibly useful.”

Stephanie nodded and then looked at the winch again. “How are we going to get down?”

Corvus responded by making a small platform using his shadows. “We’ll take the lift.”

Stephanie snorted but stepped on the platform with him. It was a bit snug, and Corvus wrapped his arm around her waist to help keep her steady. “You could have done this for Skulduggery, couldn’t you?”

Corvus scratched his head guiltily. “Yeah, but he already got the equipment and I don’t want to waste my reserves if I can help it.”

They finally reached the floor, so Corvus dismissed his makeshift platform. Skulduggery nodded his head in the direction of the Vault and they began to head that way quietly. Stephanie was looking out the window while they walked, biting her lip with worry. Corvus spared a glance out of the window to see what she was looking at and paled slightly. The sun had set. They had maybe 2 minutes before the vampires would transform. He picked up the pace slightly and they arrived at the door with a minute to spare. Skulduggery immediately pulled out some tools and got to work on opening the door. Corvus and Stephanie stood behind him, looking down each end of the hallway they were in for any danger.

He heard a small gasp behind him, and Corvus turned to see what Stephanie was looking at. At the end of the hallway, looking away from them was the same vampire he had ran into the day before. He felt his pulse race slightly, before shoving down his fear and moving silently to Stephanie’s side. Just as he grabbed her shoulder, he saw the vampire’s hand go to her stomach, before reaching up to her head. With a pained yank, the vampire shed it’s human skin, clothes and all, in one clean go. Far quicker than last time, the vampire’s chalk white skin was on full show. He pulled Stephanie back out of sight, just as the vampire kicked off the last of its skin and bound off in the other direction.

Taking deep breaths to calm themselves, they were startled by Skulduggery tapping them on the shoulder. Turning to face him, Corvus could see he had managed to get the door open. Entering the door and closing it behind them, Skulduggery flicked his hand and lanterns on the walls flare to life, bathing the stone corridor in a soft glow.

They walked through the old halls, passing heavy wooden doors with various crest displayed on each one. Skulduggery stopped in front of one of the doors, this one baring a crest with a bear holding a shield. The door softly clicked open and they stepped in. The living skeleton clicked his fingers, and torches lining the walls flared to life with a soft whoosh. With the room now lightened, they could see tomes by the piles, along with various art work stacked up against the walls and scrolls by the dozen on various shelves.

Skulduggery and Corvus broke apart to search through the horde, looking for anything useful. Corvus sent out small waves of magic as he went, looking for anything magical in the vault. A few things popped up on his magical radar. A small puzzle box, a chest in the corner and a painting, deep in the piles of painting that were stacked against a wall. The frame had various sigils engraved, the only one he recognised was for absorbing magic. Shrugging to himself, he pulled out his gun to channel magic through as a buffer, and held it against the frame as he pushed magic through it. After a few moments, nothing seemed to happen, until the man in the photo blinked.

“Well now, that’s interesting.” Cirvus said to himself. The man in the painting blinked a few more times before he yawned and stretch. Taking a closer look, the man seemed to be in his late forties, if Corvus was to guess. Though with how Sorcery worked, who knows how old the man actually was. He was dressed in what appeared to be ancient styled robes, with a strange crest emblazoned on it. He had dark wild hair, and green eyes similar to himself. Honestly, the man looked like he could be one of Corvus’ ancient ancestors, but that would be impossible. He was in a different dimension to his birth one after all.

Whilst the portrait woke up, Corvus looked over at Skulduggery and Stephanie. It seemed that Skulduggery had found the puzzle box and he had roped Stephanie into opening it.

“So who might you be?” the man in the portrait said, startling Corvus slightly.

“I’m Junior Detective Corvus Black. I was hoping you would be able to answer some of my questions.” He replied.

“I must admit, I don’t know what a Junior Detective is, but it sounds impressive. Were you the one to charge my frame?”

“Yes. I don’t recognise a lot of these sigils, but I’ve come to learn a fair few, and the absorb sigil stood out to me.”

“Ah, well the rest is all just one big sigil. It stores a copy on the consciousness of the person painted, but keeps the magic in a charge loop, allowing for longer charge life than a primitive Hollow Stone.”

“I see, that is very ingenious. Did you invent it? It’s the only painting her with a frame like it.”

The man snorted. “No, I did not invent the schematic. It was another one of my family that invented this. A brilliant inventor, he was. He personally crafted my wand.” The man pulled out a white nobbly wand for emphasis. “A wand far more powerful than any focus that had every been made before. If you don’t mind my asking, what year is it?”

“It’s 2007. What year were you painted?”

“Well it has been a long time. I was commissioned in the year 86. Tell me, Young Corvus, what is it that made you seek me out?”

“We’re looking for information on the Sceptre. It was a weapon that supposedly killed and drove off the Faceless Ones. Would you know anything about it?”

The man in the painting seemed to vibrate with excitement, before exclaiming “They did it! That’s fantastic! Yes, a family that was friendly with mine was working with my brother to complete it. It hadn’t be by the time this painting was created, but I know it was to be powered by the black crystals that the Faceless One’s used to use to detect the mundane humans. We off magic were invisible to it’s detection. Sorcerers were unlucky to have too little magic to be able to shield themselves from it’s gaze. Many were lost to the damn abominations.” The man huffed angrily as he trailed off, but Corvus’ mind had latched on to something.

“Wait, you’re not a sorcerer? How do you use magic then?”

The man gave Corvus a confused stare. “Young man, you are obviously a wizard. Surely you must know of the four human variants of the world?”

“No, sir. I’m not even from this dimension. My friend is the only natural wizard from this dimension that I know of. What variants are there?”

“Well, there are wizards, like yourself and your friend. Then there are Sorcerers, who manipulate magic from around themselves in a limited fashion. Eventually that channelling alters them and only allows a few disciplines of magic to be channelled. Then there are the squibs, those who can perceive magic, but are unable to wield it. And finally, there the mundane, completely oblivious to magic in it’s entirety. Now, tell me what you mean by travelling from another dimension.” The man said, raising an eyebrow.

Corvus sighed, but explained everything that transpired on how he ended up here, and what he knew of the previous world. He also told the man his given name, seeing no harm in sharing it with a painting.

“I see, well I’m glad to know our plan worked.” The man said, closing his eyes and nodding to himself.

“Plan, sir?”

“My family, along with a few others planned on creating a ritual that would transport us and a few weaker families to a new home. We hoped it would take us somewhere safe from those damn things.”

“What were the names of these families? If I ever go back, it would be interesting to know if any of these families are still around.”

“Very well. The ones that helped with ritual were, the McKinnon’s, the Lovegoods, the Bones’ and the Malfoys. We were planning on transporting a few less powerful families, such as, the Swaysland’s, the Green's and the Ironside’s. As far as I’m aware, the ritual wasn’t able to transport those who couldn’t add strong magic to it, however.”

Corvus nodded and looked back at Skulduggery and Stephanie, they were putting the box down and making their way over. Looking back at the painting, Corvus said, “I’m afraid it seems my time is up. But thank you for all your help today.”

The man in the painting nodded. “It has been wonderful speaking with you. If you ever wish to converse again, please feel free to come back. It can be very dull down here.” He said with a sarcastic smile.

Corvus turned to head to the exit, before turning back quickly. “Oh, I almost forgot to ask. What’s your name, sir?”

The man smiled with twinkling eyes. “Well, now that you ask, my name is Antioch Peverell. It has been lovely speaking with you.”

Corvus smiled back, before meeting Skulduggery and Stephanie at the door.

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After sharing with Skulduggery and Stephanie what he had learnt. They proceeded to inform him on what they had learned as they walked back to the entrance of The Vault.

“So all we have learnt is that a black crystal powers the Sceptre, it will glow when an enemy to the wielder is close and that the last Ancient killed the rest?” Cirvus asked, incredulous.

“Well, minus those who managed to escape.” Stephanie added.

“We don’t know for sure if anyone did escape, and I’m not attempting a universal hop for answers that aren’t important right now.” Corvus shrugged as he replied.

“We also learnt where Gordon hid the thing.” Skulduggery chimed in.

Stephanie and Corvus turned as one to face the skeleton. “We do?” they responded in unison.

“We do. Under his house.”

Corvus facepalmed. “Of course. Why didn’t we realise sooner?”

“What’s under Gordon’s house?” Stephanie asked.

“A massive series of caves. Which creatures that are immune or eat magic. I’ve never been but Gordon and Skulduggery checked it out once. I was made to promise that I would never go down there.”

“Well, it looks like you’ll have to break that promise.” Skulduggery said, nonchalantly.

“oh, joy.” Corvus replied, slumping slightly.

Having made it to the door, the trio feel silent. Skulduggery opened The Vault door silently and slowly, listening for any tell-tale signs of any vampires nearby. Apparently happy that the cost was clear, he confidently pushed the door open enough for them to exit, and silently closed it after them. They began to make their way back to where they had entered, and Corvus couldn’t help but let his mind wander back to the conversation he had with Antioch. The Ancients were wizards. There might be descendants of some of those families back in his old dimension. It was almost enough for him to want to go back. Almost. He wasn’t interested in potentially being caught by Dumbledore and being dragged into whatever games he was playing.

He was harshly broken out of his thoughts, when he was roughly grabbed and dragged back behind a corner by Skulduggery. One look at Stephanie’s paling face told him all he needed to know. There was a vampire around the corner. A quick peek revealed the vampire facing the other way, head flicking from side to side, clearly searching for something. Which was unfortunate, as it was between them and their exit.

Thinking quickly, Corvus quickly conjured a ball with a small bell inside. Typically used as a cat toy, in this case, hopefully a distraction. Barely leaning out from his cover, he tossed the ball down the hall, adding a mild banishing charm to ensure it passed the vampire before it made a noise. To his infinite relief, it worked. Bouncing off a wall, and rolling down a different hallway than the one they needed to go to, it lured the rabid creature away from them.

They all breathed a sigh of relief, (well, figuratively speaking in Skulduggery’s case) before their relief was shattered harshly. Corvus didn’t really know what had happened. One moment he was stood with Stephanie and Skulduggery, the next, he was laying in the middle of the hallway. His right arm was clearly broken in several places, possibly all of his ribs on that side of his body too. His right cheek burned and felt worryingly wet. The taste of iron was filling his mouth. Ah. Blood then. He blinked the surprise and stars away and finally notice the vampire battling with Skulduggery. He couldn’t see Stephanie, but he hoped she had managed to get away. Darkness started to enclose his vision, and before he could fight it, he blacked out.

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Skulduggery was many things. Smart. A solid fighter. Intuitive. Handsome (in his opinion anyway). Dead. Right now, he was fighting for his (figurative) life, and the life of his ward. If he was still alive. He had managed to convince Stephanie to run though. That was something. One out of two children surviving wasn’t bad, right? Who was he kidding. If Corvus died here, nearly everyone he could think of would find a way to put him down permanently. Honestly? He would probably help them.

He barely managed not to scream as the vampire slashed his chest again. He didn’t want to have to kill it. Honestly, he was in the wrong here. He launched the vampire away with a blast of air. Clicking his fingers, he prepared to throw a fireball at it, when a torrent of solid black shadows, barrelled into it and slammed it into the wall. He risked looking away from the vampire, expecting to see Corvus on his feet. To his surprise, he was. But something was off. Corvus was cloaked in his shadow armour, but it was slightly different. It was still visually like the fake black metal armour he had seen before, but the body of the armour was slightly more feminine. As if it was hugging curves that weren’t there. The helmet was the most different, however. The crow like helmet was mostly gone, only covering his face with a crow-esque mask. The top of the helmet had be swapped out for long, flowing shadows. Almost as if it was mimicking hair.

The armoured face shifted its attention to Skulduggery. He felt like he was being analysed by eyes he couldn’t see. He just knew, deep down, that if he could see Corvus’ eyes, it would be obvious that it wasn’t the boy that he had come to care for in there. If he could feel chills go down his spine, he knew it would be the moment he heard this entity speak.

Eight words. Eight words was all it took to shake him to his core. He didn’t know how this was possible, but he didn’t get a chance to ask any questions. Not-Corvus moved, and in a blink of an eye, they were behind the vampire. A quick, but clearly powerful chop to the back of the neck, knocked out the beast. Not-Corvus then raised their finger to where their lips would be. He nodded. The message was clear. Not a word could be said about this.

Not-Corvus nodded back to him, before the shadow armour faded away, leaving Corvus to collapse into his arms. Taking a look at his arm and face, it was clear that Not-Corvus had healed him fully. Barely a scar remained on his face, and even that would only be noticeable in certain light, or if you knew to look for it.

“Well now. How do I explain this?” He said to himself, as he made his way back to the skylight. He was fortunate that he didn’t run into the other vampire of the way.

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Corvus groaned as he started to drift to consciousness. Opening his bleary eyes, he appeared to be in the dark place between portals. He hadn’t been here since he realised that he could shorten the distance between is portal openings, not requiring a tunnel.

Confused, he slowly sat up, inspecting himself. He was without his trademark shadow jacket, which made sense, since he had been unconscious. He tried to remember the last thing that had happened before he was knocked out. He vaguely remembered seeing Skulduggery fighting the vampire that had tackled him. It was a good thing he added a sleep charm to the ball he used as a distraction at the last moment.

Sitting there, in the dark space, he couldn’t help but let his mind drift. Drift to the conversation he had with Antioch. Did they ever make it to a new dimension? Was it the one he came from? That was the key question. He knew he would only get his answers if he went back, but did he want to go back? No. As much as he wanted answers, he equally did not want to be detected by Dumbledore. He didn’t know enough about the old wizard to effectively counter him. Corvus and Kenspecle had combed through all of his accessible memories for any information about the man, but the only things they could find was when the man had influenced Sirius into going after Pettigrew and various mentions of the man being a headmaster of the school his parents attended.

And what a novel that was. A school for magic. If they could find a way to track anyone who used magic, they could set up their own schools. It would certainly make keeping magic a secret easier. Something to put on a back burner for now though.

A shift in the dark space had Corvus snapped from his musings. Looking around, he found a dark silhouette, with green eyes startlingly similar to his own staring at him from roughly 5 and a half foot about him. The gaze from the eyes were so soft and loving, and exuded a warmth he had only felt from China.

A hum of approval vibrated through the dark space at that thought. Maybe this was his magic inside his subconscious? He had never read anything about this sort of thing before. Just as he finished that thought, a negative hum ran through the area. So not his magic then. Another positive hum. God, it was like speaking to someone who didn’t a mouth, but could still make vocal noises.

A string of excitable hums paraded through the area. Far too many to count, but if he was to guess, he was very incredibly right about that. Looking back at the emerald eyes, there was so much pride aimed at him that he felt himself flush slightly. Well, whatever this...entity was, he was going to have to figure out a way to speak through yes and no questions. He wasn’t a junior detective for nothing, he would figure it out. A six syllable hum ran through the area. He would also have to infer what words would match the syllables of the hums along with whatever the emotion displayed in the eyes could mean. Why was nothing ever easy for him.

A slam of a car door rang through the area, and the darkness began to lighten. “Well, it looks like I’m waking up. It was nice...speaking? With you. I hope we can speak again soon.”

The eyes looked sad, and as he began to wake up, the last hums rang through the area. “.. ... ...... ........ .... ... Harry.”

He wasn’t given much of a chance to process what he heard. The voice he heard was his own, but distinctly more feminine, with a British accent. The rapidly lightening space faded, and he was quickly jolted into awareness.

He was laying in the back seat of Skulduggery’s hire car, Stephanie was upfront in the passenger seat with Skulduggery driving fast, but not dangerously. He laid there for a few minutes, just trying to process what just happened, before he uttered softly, “what the fuck.”

It was soft enough, because Stephanie’s head whipped round so fast that he was worried about the state of her neck. Anything he was about to say, died in his throat at the look he was receiving. Her entire face and eyes showed only fear and rage. It was a look that clearly said “I was scared you were dead, and I’m going to kill you for it.”