➣ 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝟕 “𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣”
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The last rays of sun filtered through the dense clouds up in the sky as the dim tentacles of the night's darkness twisted their way upon the reserve's grounds. And even as the light weakened, the heat stored in the land persevered, turning the sundown into a suffocant event.
Nicolás liked to think that he was a sensible romantic teenager, but perhaps his overloaded sense of poetry at the sunset's sight was merely his coping mechanism after putting himself in stupidly life-threatening situations.
Today was the day.
Their stakes were high, but Nicolás couldn't help the excitement building up inside him—the same kind fools felt before doing their stupidity. This could mark a pivotal moment in their quest to defeat Voldemort or an utter waste of time—not to mention the risk to their lives—, but Nicolás didn’t want to delve too much on that possibility.
In front of him, Caelum was pacing a small portion of the room fidgeting with his hands. Funnily, he hadn’t done anything to be more prepared, or less anxious.
Lazy fuck his cousin was, always leaving the brains to others, like a good Gryffindor—not counting Hermione.
“Okay, can we please go over the plan once more?” asked Caelum, the small vibration in his voice showing how nervous he felt.
Nicolás was also moving around his room, albeit with a real purpose. He was taking small phials of potions and putting them inside his school bag.
“It’s simple. We leave after sunset, we go and find Huǒ Yì Hǔ, you let me speak with her, I use Legilimency to show her where we need to go, and she’ll probably take us,” Nicolás explained, as if their plan wasn't one of the most flawed and least fool-proof up to date.
“Okay, first of all, why wait after it? Wouldn’t it be better to leave now? There’s still a bit of daylight. And second of all, how can you be sure she’ll help us?” asked Caelum, throwing his hands around.
“Well, I don’t know if you remember it, but today there will be a full moon, and I’m sure it’ll be a horrible one, Dad could barely stand up the entire day, and I already feel horrible for not being there with him, Mom and Aunt María will do,” Nicolás sighed.
“This better be worth it,” he muttered, closing his bag. “To your other question, I don’t know, the prospect of being in freedom for a while will surely be tempting for her, or I can promise her extra food, I don’t know,” Nicolás shrugged.
Caelum nodded. “Okay, and what about Harry?”
“I spoke with Abu Pedro; he’ll be having an extra class tonight with him in the study, so he doesn’t hear Dad wolfing out in the forest. He and Abu Angela will be teaching Harry how to make some salves and stuff.”
Caelum stopped for a moment, clearly impressed, and perhaps more confident. “Well, you clearly have every single detail planned.”
“When don’t I?” Nicolás smirked. “We simply need to go to her, show her the cave — hopefully the cave is a real place — she’ll take us, we make our little scout mission, see what the hell is wrong with that place — hopefully we don’t die doing so — and then we come back, simple.”
“Okay,” Caelum said. “What are you bringing in that bag?”
“Many things. Blood Replenishing Potion,” Nicolás showed a phial with red liquid. “Antidote To Uncommon Poisons,” a phial with green liquid. “Essence of Dittany,” a phial with silver liquid. “And water,” he showed Caelum a large bottle of water.
“Water?” Caelum asked.
“I get thirsty, okay?! The water in that cave is probably filled with Inferi, not to mention it'll be salty, don’t judge me!” He didn't want to mention how ingrained in his mind was the unbearable thirst from the nightmare.
Caelum raised his hands in surrender, barking a laugh at his cousin’s antics, “Okay, okay, chill dude.”
“You’re asking too many questions! It’s making me nervous, Merlin’s sake,” Nicolás hissed, before starting to take deep breaths. “Okay, okay, breathe. I won’t be chickening out of this. Not at this point.”
Caelum approached his cousin, putting a stabilizing hand on his shoulder. “Okay, look, let’s just not die doing this, okay? I would really like to sit my O.W.L.s.”
“Yeah, me too,” Nicolás sighed. “How did you get so calm in a moment?”
“I’m going with you, Nico, you planned all of this, and I trust you. There will never be anything to stand in our way, okay?” Caelum smiled, and Nicolás nodded with a smile of his own.
•─────⋅☾☽⋅─────•
It was only once the sun had left space for the full moon to bathe the reserve, that Nicolás and Caelum left the warmth of the cottage.
As they entered the forest of the reserve, everything was silent. The only thing illuminating their path was the small light coming from the tips of their wands, and the silver bath from the moon. The only thing to be heard was the sound of their shoes crushing the tree leaves and the dry twigs on the ground.
Then, from the middle of the reserve, a loud, pained, and anguished howl broke out, making the hairs in their napes rise, and probably putting each and every creature on alert. Moony was out, and they needed to hurry.
Huǒ Yì Hǔ, the Zouwu, had a rather large portion at the edge of the forest, all for herself. As the creature was of Chinese origin, Nicolás’ Abus had adapted the place to resemble a rocky mountain edge and filled it with bamboo trees.
The tall green stems seemed to part ways as the two teenagers walked further in, until they reached the edge, and there, Huǒ Yì Hǔ stood, like she was aware of their impending appearance.
Zouwus fascinated Nicolás. They were big, like, elephant-sized big. But that was just their bodies, because in their rear, they had a tail, and said tail extended as if it were a flame. Their body length was of 7 meters, but their tale was just as long, leaving them at around 14 meters in total.
Their face resembled a cat, again, an elephant-sized cat face, with large fangs, and a magnificent lion-like mane. They walked on four legs, and each of their four fingers was equipped with razor-like claws.
Huǒ Yì Hǔ was slowly pacing in a circle. The moment they came in view she turned to face them with those big, yellow, feline eyes— taking in each move they made approaching her—, and hissed, looking at Nicolás, clearly displeased with their meeting. Not that Nicolás could blame her, cats, at the end of the day, were very jealous with their sleeping time.
“Just let me do the talking,” Nicolás whisper to Caelum, before walking towards the Zouwu.
“Hello, dearie, hope we didn’t keep you waiting for long,” Nicolás said with a smile, as he stood in front of her.
Huǒ Yì Hǔ only grunted, rolling her eyes, before pushing Nicolás with her snout in greeting. The boy laughed, petting the side of her head.
“Nah, it’ll just be Caelum and I.”
Another grunt from the Zouwu.
“No, I told you, I’ll show you the place, you take us there, wait for us — you can even take a stroll around if you feel like it, breathe fresh new air, and then you bring us back here — easy peasy.”
Another grunt and a skeptical look from Huǒ Yì Hǔ.
“Nope, I've never doubted your capabilities for a single moment, I have complete trust in you. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be bothering you.”
The Zouwu grunted once more, before nodding with a sigh, she knew by now that there was no getting out of Nicolás' plans, and he would never jeopardize any creature's welfare.
With a smile, Nicolás put his two hands on both sides of the creature’s head, before locking eyes with her.
A moment later, both of their consciousness were moved to a common space. It was always curious to use Legilimency on magical creatures as it was supposed to be impossible to do so, but the Cardona family gift still allowed it.
With animals, it was different.
The human mind is complex, but at the same time much easier to travel across, with distinct and strongly established paths. They all had a way to travel them, their very complexity allows its reading.
An animal’s mind was easier to get and be in, it was more straightforward, it didn’t have any complexity, but that made it so it didn’t have any path, it was like being a drifting ship, in the middle of the ocean. You had the power to go anywhere, but no path or guidance as to where.
Thankfully for Nicolás, ten years of using such abilities granted him the naturalness to employ them with ease.
All he had to do was bring forward his own memories, every single detail he could muster about the cave, from its feeling to the physical specificity of the place. He brought them all to the place in which he connected with Huǒ Yì Hǔ’s mind.
And in just fifteen minutes, all the information and description of the cave was in Huǒ Yì Hǔ’s mind, and after shaking her head trying to calm her breath, she was ready to leave.
Nicolás walked back for Caelum, who was watching the exchange with clear fascination.
“It’ll never stop impressing me all the shit you can do,” Caelum said with a sly smirk.
Nicolás rolled his eyes. “Just be grateful that I love you and will be using them in your favor.”
Caelum laughed. “So, how did that go?”
“She’s ready,” Nicolás announced, grabbing his bag and putting one of the straps over his shoulder. “We don’t have all night, move,” he started to walk back to the Zouwu, Caelum next to him.
"But of course, Mother," quipped Caelum, earning nothing but an eye-roll.
Quickly, they got on her back, and after a pensive second, Huǒ Yì Hǔ started to run in circles, with her mane shining alight, before jumping, and, as she jumped out of the cliff's edge, everything around them changed when the Zouwu finally Apparated.
They were sucked into what looked like a hole—perhaps that’s how it looked what the muggle scientists called ‘wormholes’—, and then came the Apparating sensation of your body being broken apart, before coming back together.
And with a pop, they came out of the ‘Zouwu Wormhole’, as Nicolás decided to baptize it.
•─────⋅☾☽⋅─────•
Without opening his eyes, Nicolás could feel the salt in the air, he could hear the sound of the rushing waves crashing into something and a flock of seagulls flying above his head.
Once he opened his eyes, all he could see was water. They were standing in a large, high outcrop of rocks, the water below them churning with foam.
When he turned back, still sitting on Huǒ Yì Hǔ’s back, he saw the towering cliff that stood behind them, a sheer drop, black and faceless. It looked as though large rocks, as the ones they stood on, had parted, giving way for the cliff, and the cave they knew they’ll find inside.
“That looks large enough…” Nicolás mused. Next, he scratched the side of the Zouwu’s neck, “Do you think you can take us there? Perhaps a bit closer?”
The creature grumbled, before jumping out of the outcrop of rocks, right towards the water, before Apparating once more. And next, they fell on firmer ground, inside what looked like the cave, but much bigger, perhaps, more likely, the entrance or an antechamber.
The air was cold, and the only thing to be heard was the sound of the waves and the Zouwu’s heavy breathing. The boys got off her back and started to walk, goosebumps having a party day all over their skin.
After a two-minute walk, they come upon a large stone wall, with no apparent entrance.
“Damn it, my dream didn’t show me how to get in,” Caelum said. Behind him, Huǒ Yì Hǔ grumbled unsurprised.
“This has to have magic at play, perhaps to keep muggles away,” Nicolás reflected. “Perhaps the entrance is concealed. Search,” he said, pointing at one side of the wall, before moving to the other. Caelum, understanding the order, did as told. Huǒ Yì Hǔ sat behind them, grumbling bored.
It took them the better part of twenty minutes before Caelum, pressing his palm flat against the wall, called out, “Found it!” then, he took out his wand, and quickly casted, “Revelio!”
While Nicolás walked to his side, a soft light emerged from the stone, and a second later, a crack appeared as the light went out.
“Okay, that’s clearly an entrance,” Nicolás pointed at the large crack, “How the hell are we supposed to open it?”
They spent another ten minutes looking closely at the whole space taken by the crack. Nicolás crouched down, illuminating with his wand, looking closely for any indication of what to do. The only thing to be seen there were marks of some liquid, years long since put in there.
“Look at this,” Nicolás muttered. Over the rock were dried marks from deep and worn maroon to burgundy, and then it clicked on his mind, as it did in Caelum’s.
“Is that… is that blood?” Caelum asked, color draining from his face.
Nicolás stood up, before opening his bag, "I think so too."
Caelum sent him a warning look, "You wouldn't be thinking to—"
“It’s worth the shot,” Nicolás stressed.
“What do you mean, ‘it’s worth the shot’? What are you doing?” Caelum asked, but Nicolás offered no answer.
In silence, he took out a small knife from the bag, alongside the phial with Essence of Dittany, and handed the latter to Caelum.
“Nico, wait, don't—” but before Caelum could ask, Nicolás brought the knife to his palm, and in a quick move, sliced a line from end to end, grimacing at the stinging feeling. He flattened his cut palm over the crack of the wall, letting his blood drop and sink into the stone.
The wall seemed to glow silver for a few seconds, before slightly trembling, and a portion of the wall—the one containing the crack—, simply vanished, leaving an opening into what seemed like total darkness.
Nicolás extended his arm, showing his palm up, to Caelum, “One drop shall suffice.”
After a second to get what he meant, with a frown, Caelum opened the Essence of Dittany, using the dropper to deliver the measure ordered. And it took less than three seconds for the cut in Nicolás’ palm to completely disappear, leaving no trace or indication of its prior existence.
As Caelum opened his mouth, probably to chastise him for what he just did, Nicolás beat him to it.
“Wand at the ready,” Nicolás said, walking straight towards the darkness. He pointed his wand up, and cast, “Lumos!” but it didn’t do the trick; and funnily enough, his “Lumos Maxima!” seemed to have the effect of the normal variation.
The cave had wards preventing them from using their magic at maximum power. Clever bastard, Voldemort was.
Upon them, a stone path extended, just like in Caelum’s dream, and beneath it, a large lake. The lake of water filled with Inferi waiting for them to make the mistake of waking them.
The only difference from the dream was that the path wasn’t large, for as it lengthened, it became more and more narrow, until, in the middle, it was barely enough for a single person to walk.
The path was visible until it was enveloped by a green magical mist covering the center of the cave, the island with the altar.
Nicolás turned back, facing the Zouwu. “It’s better if you stay here,” he said. The creature only grunted, before yawning and laying on the floor.
Nicolás, with Caelum behind, started to walk; the light of their wands was barely to show them the way. They could see all the bodies filling the water. The Inferi lay there, with their silvery skin, floating a few inches beneath the water. Some of them with their eyes or their mouths open.
“It’s sickening, to think that my uncle is probably floating around here,” Caelum mused, and the light from Nicolás' wand allowed him to see the faint green in his face.
Nicolás chose to not say anything as they kept walking. After what seemed like hours of walking—and was probably no more than half an hour—, the green mist, illuminated by the light of their wands, finally gave way to the island of smooth black rock.
They climbed it, and in the center, the altar stood, made of the same black stone, and sitting on its top was the basin. It was similar to a Pensive, and filling the basin was the emerald potion, the one they dreaded.
“Wait,” Caelum said, grabbing one of Nicolás’ arms.
“What?”
“I don’t – I don’t know… I just – I felt something,” Caelum stammered, looking around erratically.
“Something like what?” Nicolás asked, turning to look at Caelum’s face, seeing his eyes filled with tears. “Cae?”
“It just – I – it feels like – like my dad,” the boy stammered more.
“Like your dad?” Nicolás asked, the weight of the guilt for lying about Uncle Sirius heavying on his gut.
“I haven’t – I – I haven’t felt this ever since I was a baby, when we used to play with him, when he showed us magic. It’s like… like his magical trace. I don’t – I don’t even know what I’m trying to say.”
“His magical trace…” Nicolás repeated to himself, before something sparked in his mind. “Caelum, Regulus died here, they were brothers, what if… what if the magical trace you’re feeling is him? Regulus?”
“You think he…?”
“I think our theory may not be as astray as the others thought. Or perhaps he simply left something of his here that we can bring back, you know, to bury and that,” Nicolás shrugged.
“And how am I supposed to do that?” Caelum asked.
“And how am I supposed to know?” Nicolás retorted.
Caelum looked at him like he was ridiculous, which probably was true.
As he thought of an answer for Caelum, Nicolás brought his hands to the potion, but an invisible barrier kept him from touching it. He tried with his wand an array of spells—summoning, vanishing, transfigurations, curses—, all with the same result. Nothing.
“Well, as I see it the only way is drinking it,” Nicolás said.
“I’ll do it,” Caelum said quickly.
“Nah, you keep thinking about the thing you’re feeling and how to bring it with us,” Nicolás said, searching for something in his bag, before taking out an empty phial.
He grabbed the glass goblet next to the basin and filled it with the potion. Caelum was looking at him anxiously. But instead of taking it to his mouth, he drained the potion in the empty phial in his other hand. It took about three full goblets to fill the phial, but, to his disappointment, when he looked down at the basic, the potion had refilled itself.
“Well, that was worth the shot,” he said, closing the now-filled phial, and putting it inside his bag. “I’ll drink it then.”
“Why don’t you let me do it?” Caelum insisted.
“You've been going through it in your nightmares, I’ll do it this time, but I’ll need you to promise me, that no matter what, even if I can’t do it, even if I beg you no to, you’ll feed me the potion,” Nicolás said in a serious voice.
“But—”
“Caelum, I want your word, say it.”
“I… I’ll do it,” Caelum nodded, a big frown on his face.
“If I try to jump into the lake or something, I trust you know the Full Body-Bind Curse,” Nicolás joked. Caelum laughed, nodding.
As he moved his arm, Caelum's trembling hand grasped it, "Really, let me do it," he insisted with a shaky voice.
"You need to find the thing you're looking for," Nicolás insisted back.
"Don't play the hero right now," Caelum stressed.
"Am not, I'm only being pragmatic."
With a smirk and ignoring the way his heart seemed to want to leap out of his chest, Nicolás submerged the glass goblet in the potion, filling it to the brink, and he gulped it in one single go.
He forced his eyes closed, making use of all his years of Occlumency, to try and build a mental resistance to the effect of the potion he had seen in Caelum’s dream.
Surprisingly, the potion went down with no other effect than an unnerving heating as it moved down his throat. He quickly took advantage of this, keeping his eyes closed, and, in a quick succession, he refilled the goblet three more times and gulped it without even tasting the potion.
Behind him, he could hear Caelum muttering an endless variation of the Summoning Charm, and concentrating on his own magical trace, trying to find that which resonated with his very magical core in the cave. And maybe he did find it, because he yelped, before moving his wand with even more energy.
Nicolás, for his part, could only grip the white basin until his knuckles were white, as the first horrifying vision hit him.
“No,” he moaned, seeing as his family’s cottage, in the heart of their reserve, burned, and how the bodies of his grandparents lay on the ground, all while a gigantic skull made of smoke darkened the sky, with a snake coming out of its mouth.
He could hear Caelum calling his name, but he could barely muster enough mental strength to force his hand—the one holding the goblet—, and drink even more potion, but gulp after gulp, the liquid burned everything in its path down to his stomach, making the acidity of the gastric acids in there reach unbearable levels, making his feel like he was burning and melting from the inside out.
His whole body was sweating, from his entire back to his entire front. His face, his neck, his arms, his legs, all felt itchy and sticky, and he felt uncomfortable in his clothes.
Then, the second vision hit him. This time, Caelum was lying on the floor, lifeless, in front of what seemed to be a rock arch. It resembled a doorway, but under the arch was a veil of white smoke, or was it water? He didn’t have time to figure it out, before a vicious, bitter, and sadistic female laugh was heard, followed by two simple words, 'Avada Kedavra!'
In a loud gasp, he was forced to open his eyes, seeing everything blurry. Unable to stop himself, Nicolás collapsed, barely having the strength to grab the base of the altar in a white-knuckle dying, trying not to fall directly into the water behind.
He could only let out gasp after gasp, as he felt like all his entrails were melting, one by one, in an excruciating and agonizing dance of macabre suffering.
A second later, Caelum was behind him, helping him to his knees, while Nicolás still held to the altar for dear life. Caelum was still moving his wand, probably moving whatever he found inside the water, while he refilled Nicolás’ goblet, before forcing the rest of the potion down his cousin’s throat.
And with an agonizing scream, the third vision came.
This time, his parents’ lifeless bodies lay on the ground, it looked like one of Hogwarts’s corridors, but everything around was destroyed, as if it was the aftermath of a battle. Their bodies had so many cuts made by claws, that the whole corridor was flooded in their blood.
And over them, a man loomed, a sadistic smile, on his sharp face. His face was blurry and unrecognizable, but it was that of a man, and Nicolás had never seen a more wolf-like man, he was a vicious predator in the skin of a human. He could see how sharp his fangs—because he didn’t seem to have normal teeth—were, and his hands had claws instead of nails, and he had fur on his face.
A hard slap on his face forced Nicolás to open his eyes, seeing Caelum and everything blurry. He spoke while flicking his wand, but Nicolás’ tormented mind barely caught some words.
“Last one… doing good… almost have it… something’s coming… get done…”
And another filled goblet was forced down his throat. And thus, his last vision came. This time, he saw Harry, lying on the ground. It looked like a garden, it had grass. Wait... no... there were tombstones in there, so it was a cemetery.
And over Harry's body, the cloaked figure of a man loomed. The man was barefoot, and his skin was silvery, and if he squinted, Nicolás could swear he could almost see scales, like a snakeskin.
The nails of his toes were black, and long. And he put his foot on Harry’s throat, putting pressure, and Harry could only writhe on the floor, unable to move. Nicolás could only watch, feeling helpless and useless. The man pointed his wand at Harry’s face, before calling two words, 'Avada Kedavra,' and a beam of green light blinded him.
And as he gasped desperately, feeling as if his larynx tried to crawl out through his mouth—he probably threw up, even if he was unaware of it—, something hit the rock island, and hard, making it rumble.
Thankfully, that was all he had to see, as no other despairing vision came. The only thing that came was thirst. A thirst like he’d never experienced before. A thirst felt in each and every single one of his cells. If he focused, he would probably hear his very skin screaming for even the faintest drop of water.
“Water…” Nicolás gasped, his voice breaking in the dryness of his mouth. And Caelum had to stop his wand flicking to look down at him. He’s never heard Nicolás’ voice so hoarse, so husky, and so desperate. “Bag… bag…”
Dropping to his knees, Caelum got hold of Nicolás’ bag, opening it, he found the large bottle of water he made fun of Nicolás for, before leaving the reserve.
“A delirious, smart bastard. That’s what you are,” Caelum hissed with a raw laugh, forcing the bottle to empty its contents in Nicolás’ mouth.
And after gulping half a liter of water, Nicolás coughed, and he coughed, his voice breaking every second of it.
Reclining his head on the hard, cold, stone altar, Nicolás tried to regain his breathing, still feeling the sting of the thirst, just a little subdued. He saw, through his still blurry eyes, how Caelum stood up, and grabbed something from the now empty basin. Slytherin’s Locket. He threw it in Nicolás’ bag, before helping his cousin up.
“What—” Nicolás tried to speak, but his brittle voice was barely more than a hurt whisper. “—found?”
Caelum forced more water down Nicolás’ throat, before gesturing toward a particularly big, black stone, although it looked more like a crystal, protruding from the lake’s surface, climbing to the island’s edge.
Mustering all his will to live, Nicolás moved with Caelum's help, and the two of them did their best to drag the stone out of the water, and into the island.
One second, that was enough to screw everything they had survived so far. All, as Caelum’s foot slipped on a stone and disturbed the water.
Caelum yelped as a bony hand wrapped around his ankle, making him lose balance and fall on the water, the grip on his wand didn't waver as more and more bony fingers wrapped around his feet and legs.
One moment he was looking at Nicolás, and by the next all he could see was the water above him, and the bubbles created by his failed attempts to catch air. It was hard to look around, not only because of the salty water stinging his eyes, but because the water was consumed by darkness.
All he could feel was the galore of bodies gripping him as he went down, and he highly doubted his hallucination of Regulus was going to come to wake him up.
It was curious, how he was able to notice the stillness of the water, no current or movement from the ocean got there. It was completely still, the only movements came from under the surface as he fought for his life. And it was a fight he wasn't sure he was going to win.
Oh, and what clarity it brought, to see the dark spots trying to win over your sight, as you use every ounce of your strength to grip to consciousness. As you feel every cell in your body willing to live, willing for more existence.
The cool water burned up his nostrils and down his throat as he breathed and swallowed it.
And suddenly he wished he could go back in time, wished he had listened to Nicolás and hadn't jumped in on this fool's errand that just like him, was probably going to get Nicolás killed too.
But as the hands started to creep up his body, ready to grip his arms, the stillness of the water ceased, and with a force tantamount to Poseidon's hand, it started to rock, from one side to the other, from bellow to above, all in quick succession.
One moment he was underwater, the next one, he was sent flying out of the water, Inferi attached to him. Luckily, and given the loud sounds that reverberated in the cave, the bodies broke after impacting the rocked floor.
He barely heard Nicolás shouting, "Anapneo!" before the water stuck in his throat vanished, allowing him to draw loud gasps for air. Nicolás helped him up to his feet, and by the mere mercy of God, his wand was still in his white-knuckle grip.
Back-to-back, their wands upfront, there was a rain of incantations, for the next ten minutes. “Depulso!” “Confringo!” “Bombarda!” “Depulso Maxima!” “Stupefy!” “Incendio!” “Diffindo!”
Some of the bodies exploded, some were sent back to the water, and some burned, but one after the other, more crawled out of the water, from every direction, with only one goal: dragging them to the bottom of the water.
They tried everything, but bodies kept and kept coming out of the water. With his hurting mind, and his aching body, Nicolás could only remember one spell. It was a dark one, a very dark one. He found it in one of the books he snatched from Grimmauld Place, but it was a defensive spell, nonetheless. And Nicolás wasn’t going to lose his life, Caelum’s and Huǒ Yì Hǔ’s over hypocritical morality.
He pointed his wand upfront, and cried, “Protego Diabolica!”
And the effect was immediate. From the tip of his wand, a torrent of blue flames erupted. They attacked five Inferi, turning them to ashes in three seconds, and next, the flames started to circle around them, burning each and every Inferi in their way, until they formed a fire ring around them, and every creature lurking towards them, was burned at contact with the dark, blue fire.
The ring fire stood, encasing Nicolás, Caelum, and the strange stone/crystal that Caelum brought from the water. But they needed to figure out how the hell they would get out of here.
Nicolás didn’t need Caelum’s family gift to recognize the darkness coming from the fire, or the way it whispered of destruction, if only granted the chance. Thankfully for them, given his own state, and the cave’s wards, the magic was weak, and the fire was unable to gather its own will.
“We need to stop it!” Nicolás yelled.
“You summoned it! How do we extinguish it?!” with each passing second, Caelum’s panic increased as the flames started to melt the edges of the island.
“It’s weak!”
“What do you mean it’s weak?!” Caelum screamed, seeing how easily the fire turned to ashes everything in its way.
“I’m weakened, my magic is weakened, therefore, the fire is weak. I can’t control it, but it can't control itself either, if it was at full power, it would have burned us by now!”
“Good to know you planned this so well!” Caelum retorted in annoyed sarcasm.
“Shut up, Caelum! Help me stop it and maybe we’ll live to tell the tale!”
Next, they started to cast two variations of a spell: “Finite!” and “Finite Incantatem!”
And slowly, from the ground, a yellow light emerged like tentacles, grabbing the dark fire, and bringing it to the floor, extinguishing parts of it. And it went like that, like a fight of wills. A dance of golden and blue. The golden light vs the dark fire.
Until the last flash of blue fire was extinguished, and the energies exploded, sending a great wave of pure, raw energy, knocking down and flying back the remaining Inferi that were crawling out of the water. But even then, after hundreds of them had been burned, more seemed to try to get out.
“I… I… I…” Nicolás stammered. Seemingly out of options, he finally screamed at the top of his lungs. “Huǒ Yì Hǔ!” Their last hope of making it out alive.
And as if she understood, from the other side of the cave, the Zouwu jumped, Apparating, before landing right in front of them, on the island.
She used her body, and her tail, to hit as many Inferi as she could, before Nicolás grabbed one of her legs, Caelum grabbing the other.
“Take us back!” Nicolás cried.
And Huǒ Yì Hǔ was quick to obey, using her tail to grab the rock/crystal and jump, Apparating them.
And they were enveloped in another ‘Zouwu Wormhole,” feeling as though they were being sucked into a drinking straw before they were vomited into the heat of the sun.
After landing on the floor, and feeling natural heat, after what seemed to be an eternity of coldness, everything became a bit of a blur for Nicolás.
One moment, they landed on the hot ground, the next there were screams and grunts. Because, as he came to know later, six Inferi managed to get a hold of Huǒ Yì Hǔ when the Zouwu Apparated, hence, they came with them.
As some of the darkest creatures, the sun debilitated them, and a flash of spells floated above him, Abu Pedro, his father, his mother, Aunt María, and Abu Angela came to view with their wands drawn, and the Inferi were nothing but ashes.
Then came yelling. Yelling for answers, and answers they weren’t in any condition to give at the moment.
Nicolás felt someone grabbing him and then came the warmth of a chest, a chest he’s known his entire life, and a chest that’s never brought him anything but peace, calm, and a sense of security.
“Dad,” Nicolás whispered, leaning his face on his father’s neck, seeking the refuge that’s never failed him before. And it didn’t fail him today.
Barely hearing Caelum try and explain everything about the cave, and handing the phial Nicolás filled to Abu Pedro, all the movement and the emotional storm of the night caught up to Nicolás. And in the warmth of his father’s chest, he finally felt at home, able to rest.
•─────⋅☾☽⋅─────•
By the time he came back to it, the sun was still up, its shine comforting them after so much darkness, and its heat vanishing the last remains of cold in their bodies.
Next to him, Caelum started to shift in his place, mumbling against the pillow. With the not-so-pleasant sight in front of him, Nicolás pinched Caelum's arm to awaken him.
With a pained yelp, Caelum woke up, but before he could argue, he saw what Nicolás was seeing, his mouth snapping itself close in a second.
“You were mumbling jumbled stuff yesterday, but I trust you have an explanation, and it better be a damn good one,” Abu Pedro said, and by his tone, Nicolás knew they were not out of the hook, not even after a near-death experience.
In front of them were all the stiff adults. Their expressions were a mix of wrath, pain, worry, and vexation, but even through those heavy clouds, relief permeated, and they looked like they could finally breathe.
“What were you thinking?!” his mother demanded, and there was a small break in her voice that made Nicolás feel like the worst son in the bloody world. He couldn’t meet her eyes at the moment.
“Mom, I don’t—”
“I know you weren’t thinking! Why?! What was all of this about?!”
“I left a note,” said Nicolás, the tiredness still clinging to his body.
“It said ‘I’ll see you in the morning. Pray for us!” his mother yelled back. “How am I supposed to feel with that after you appeared here looking half dead, with a gigantic crystal, and six Inferi?!”
“Darling,” said Abu Angela, putting a comforting hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “Why don’t you let the lads talk?”
Grunting, frustrated, and still scared, Carolina conceded, gesturing for Nicolás to speak.
“Where’s Harry?” Nicolás said, looking around.
His parents were there, his mother standing next to Aunt María, and his dad leaning on a chair—and remembering he was barely recovering from the full moon made Nicolás feel even worse—, his grandfather was also sitting on a chair, and his grandmother was trying to calm his mom. But there was no messy black hair around, no sign of Harry.
“He’s waiting in the living room,” Carolina said in a tense voice.
“Tell him to come, I don’t want to repeat everything twice,” Nicolás said.
“You think it is appropriate for him to hear about this?” his mother questioned in a hard voice, a brow raised.
“This is not about property, Mom. We promised to be better than Dumbledore. I won’t stand and allow you to continue bringing up Harry like a pig for slaughter, just like he did!”
Nodding and with a defeated sigh, Carolina walked out of the room, coming a few minutes later with Harry, whose expression was just as worried as the others. The boy rushed to climb on the bed, hugging both Caelum and Nicolás. After quick reassurances that both of them were just fine, Harry finally calmed down, sitting at the feet of the bed, looking at them, and waiting for their explanation.
“The first time I saw the cave, was back in the summer break, I already told you, Milo, the Demiguise, came to me worried and desperate, he wanted to show me his pre-cognitive vision, and so he did, I saw the cave that night,” Nicolás started.
“When we went to Grimmauld Place, the first time, I told you of the vision I had after touching Regulus’ door. The vision was of the cave, of him getting dragged to the lake by the Inferi,” Caelum explained. “After that, I’ve been having nightmares about it all term—”
All the adults seemed to wince at the prospect of Regulus' fate.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” asked Aunt María, looking at her son. “You should’ve written to me about your nightmares.”
“I didn’t want to bother you. And it was fine, like normal nightmares… until it wasn’t—”
“Not until you ended up in the Hospital Wing, right? You even had an Accidental Magic burst,” Aunt María reflected.
Caelum nodded. “The nightmare was the same. I got to the cave, drank the potion, drank from the lake, and the Inferi dragged me down. But, this time, there was a man, a man that… Nicolás thinks…”
“It was Regulus,” Nicolás said. Everyone seemed to jump at that, completely confused.
“How do you—”
“What do you—”
“I saw the photos and portraits in Grimmauld Place. Please, don’t tell me you don’t see how similar he and Caelum are, they could pass as twins if they were the same age,” Nicolás said. “The point is… we’ve been theorizing… because in Caelum’s nightmare, Regulus seemed of your age,” he pointed at his mother, “But he died a decade ago, which would make it—”
“Impossible,” his mother completed.
“Exactly. So, we decided to go to the cave and investigate for ourselves.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone about this?” Remus pressed, the marks of his gaunt face highlighted by the paleness that would stay for days after the full moon; and he looked oh so tired, Nicolás' heart panging in guilt.
“Because it — I don’t — I don’t know, we didn’t think it would be necessary, we just needed to do it! It was part of Voldemort; it could help Harry! We just needed to do it.”
Harry peeked at this, desperate for clarification. Nicolás gestured for him to wait, before continuing his explanation.
“I convinced Huǒ Yì Hǔ to take us. She took us, Caelum found the entrance, I used my blood to open it—”
“Your blood?!” his mother cut him off, the fire of her wrath reignited.
“Yes, mom. My blood,” Nicolás sighed. “The entrance claimed a payment, and I gave it."
"Nicolás," Abu Pedro said in a hard voice. "We're talking about your blood! Do you have any idea what a dark wizard could do with your blood?!"
"Yes, but I—”
"Blood is sealing, Nicolás! You better than anyone knows that!" he pointed at the necklace around Nicolás' neck.
"It doesn't matter right now. It weakened me, but it let us in. We walked down a path, and inside the cave was some kind of lake, and in the center was an island, with an altar. In the altar was a basin with a potion, I took a large sample—” he looked at Caelum.
“I gave it to them,” Caelum prompted as if that made anyone feel any better. “The potion you collected.”
“Thank you,” Nicolás nodded. “The point is, the potion gave me these horrible visions, I felt like – like I was melting but – like – like from the inside out – and then came thirst, and I almost jumped into the lake with Inferi—”
“But he’s a bloody genius!” Caelum, as bad to read the room as he's always been, barked a laugh. “When he saw my dream, I went through the same. That’s why I drowned with the Inferi. He brought a bloody liter of water!” the boy explained.
Nicolás bit his bottom lip, as the adults, surprisingly, seemed to soften for a moment, and with Harry, they chuckled. “Yeah… I didn’t drown, and Caelum brought that big rock/crystal or whatever it was, and we awakened the Inferi, but…” he paused, thinking not only about the spell he used to save them but also that he wasn't going to tell them how for a hot moment Nicolás thought Caelum had actually drowned. “We managed to call Huǒ Yì Hǔ, and she was smart enough to take us back.”
“You trusted a Zouwu with your life…” commented Abu Pedro.
“I trust each and every single one of the creatures in this reserve with my life,” Nicolás said in a hard voice without a single thought. Abu Pedro only nodded with a hard, delighted, and satisfied gleam in his eyes.
“So,” started Remus, looking at his son. “Did you find what you were looking for?”
It was Nicolás’ turn to beam brightly. “Yes, we did, we found the rock outside, we’ll need to figure that out… but also, the Horcrux! Show them, Caelum.”
Caelum looked hesitant. “I don’t… I don’t think it is a Horcrux,” he said softly.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nicolás pressed, frowning.
“I…” Caelum took out the locket from his pocket, handing it to Abu Pedro. “It doesn’t have any negative energy, not like Voldemort’s diary, and not like I felt in Grimmauld Place.”
Nicolás looked crestfallen, suddenly feeling like everything had been nothing but a waste of time, and that they almost died for nothing. For heaven's sake, Caelum had almost drowned for nothing?!
Abu Pedro, moved the small replica of Salazar Slytherin’s locket in his hand, examining every inch of it, before pressing it, and the locket opened. Inside he found a piece of parchment. He took it out, opening a small letter, and he read it out loud.
To the Dark Lord,
I know I will be dead long before you read this, but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret.
I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can.
I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more.
R.A.B.
“R.A.B... Regulus Arcturus Black,” said Carolina slowly, her voice merely above whispering, but in the closed space, the others heard. “R.A.B.”
“Why would Reg — Regulus, betray Voldemort? After he joined his ranks?” Aunt María asked.
“Because he never believed in their speech,” Carolina spoke again, her eyes fixed on the paper. Every eye in the room was on her, all expecting a further explanation. “Don’t you remember? We were all friends until after fifth year when—”
“He joined them,” María finished in a tense voice. “I remember,” she added, and Carolina sighed, running a hand down her face at all the memories escaping their vaults.
“I sense much more story in that…” Nicolás said, gesturing to his mom and his aunt. “But I think you’re all missing the most important part of this. The fucking Horcrux is fake!”
“Language!” Remus scolded him.
“Sorry, Dad,” said Nicolás with a sheepish grin. “Wait. What happened to the rock?”
“It’s been outside, in the front yard, since yesterday,” Abu Angela replied.
“Yesterday?” Nicolás asked.
“Amor, you two sleep throughout the entire day after arriving,” his grandmother said.
Okay, now it made so much more sense why every adult seemed like they hadn't closed a single eye in days. They had probably been at the edge of their skin in worry.
“What?! I’ve been sleeping all day?!” Nicolás exclaimed appalled.
“I think it’s been a tiring day,” commented Abu Angela. “You better drink that before sleeping,” she pointed at the potion on Nicolás’ bedside table. “Everyone else, to bed,” she gestured, walking out the door.
After kisses on his forehead, and promises of speaking tomorrow, everyone left Nicolás to sleep. He took the potion, and he only needed a small sniff to know it was a potion for Dreamless Sleep.
•─────⋅☾☽⋅─────•
It wasn’t until three days after the start of the new year, that Nicolás decided to wake up earlier than usual and accompany his grandfather in the backyard for his morning coffee, at 4 a.m o'clock.
At first, he received a surprised look and a confused smile, but as the time stretched and he didn't seem to be able to talk, Abu Pedro decided to humor him and press.
“Not to be ungrateful for the company, but we both know there’s a reason for you to be here,” Abu Pedro said calmly as Nicolás sipped his hot coffee.
The boy sighed. “There’s… there’s something I need to talk about, and I thought you’d be the most… at least, better-responding person.”
“Why not your parents?” his grandfather questioned.
Nicolás sighed again. “It’s not… it’s not that I don’t trust them… I’ll tell them about this later, but they grew up in bloody Gryffindor, under Dumbledore’s influence, and I suspect they have a particularly… restrained view on magic.”
“You mean magic in general or in the morality of magic?” Abu Pedro asked.
“Have you ever heard about Protego Diabolica?” Nicolás asked, to fuck with bedside manners.
Pedro raised a brow in Nicolás’ direction, before sipping from his coffee, looking away for a moment.
“A most ancient magic. Some may consider it a very dark one,” he responded.
“And you? Do you consider it dark magic?” Nicolás questioned fidgeting with his fingers.
“Mhm, it’s a variation of the Shield Charm, Nico. But Protego Diabolica is not a simple protective barrier, it’s a test of loyalty. It creates a ring of dark fire through which those who represented a threat to the caster would be burned, and those loyal to them would not be damaged.”
“I’m sensing a but coming,” Nicolás said.
“Well, how did you feel casting it?” Pedro inquired, making Nicolás choke on his coffee.
“What do you—”
“Nicolás,” Abu Pedro said with a patient smile. “We both know that’s why you’re here.”
The teenager sighed in defeat. “I remember you told me that the Blacks were very… familiar to dark magics, so, the last time we went to Grimmauld Place, I went through their library and took a book on defensive spells. Dark defensive spells. It was in there… and back in the cave, we had hundreds of Inferi upon us… if I hadn’t used that spell, we would’ve died.”
"Then I'm glad you used it," Abu Pedro said in a serious voice.
"You... are?"
Abu Pedro nodded, "It saved your lives, I could never hold that against you, Nico."
For a moment, Nicolás was left speechless, gaping at his grandfather as the man sipped from his coffee.
“And how did you feel it?” he prodded.
“I was weakened and the cave had wards, so the spell didn’t go out of control, and it was relatively easy to put down, but the magic… it whispered… it whispered of destruction.”
“Do you regret using it?”
“Of course not! It saved our lives, if I had to, I would use it again, no doubt,” Nicolás said firmly, earning a nod.
“You said it whispered of destruction; did you want to give it the chance?”
“No,” Nicolás said without a hint of doubt, “I only needed the protection it offered, I didn’t care much for destruction, as long as it didn’t destroy us of course.”
“You see, that’s all magic comes down to,” Abu Pedro said. “There’s no such thing as dark and white magic — except for the three Unforgivable Curses, of course — it’s all about the intent you do magic with. Hell, even the Ministry allowed the Aurors to cast The Unforgivable Curses at the Death Eaters back in the war days.”
“I don’t allow authority figures to dictate my morals,” Nicolás grumbled.
“Precisely!” Pedro said with a laugh. “If you combine Protego Maxima, Repello Inimicum, and Fianto Duri, you can create a magnificent magical barrier, and every person who tries to pass it will be disintegrated in the spot.”
Nicolás’ eyes widened comically. “Really?!”
Abu Pedro nodded. “Do you think, that, if something ever happened, I don’t know, in Hogwarts, or the Ministry, or wherever, if the people there were being attacked by let’s say, Death Eaters, and they used this barrier, if their enemies died, do you think that would make them dark wizards, or bad people?”
“Of course not, they were defending themselves,” Nicolás prompted.
“Exactly! But I don’t doubt Dumbledore or the current Charms Master of Hogwarts would use them if necessary.”
Nicolás nodded. That was a good point.
“Tell me, if you had Voldemort right now, in front of you, at your mercy, would you use the Killing Curse in him?” Abu Pedro asked, and Nicolás needed a moment to gather his response.
“Yes,” he finally said. “I mean, if I didn’t know he has Horcruxes and is basically immortal.”
Abu Pedro laughed. “Why? Why not send him to Azkaban? Wouldn’t that be more virtuous?”
“I don’t care about virtue, at least not with Voldemort. With people like him, you need efficiency. You can’t treat a dictator slash megalomaniac with the same compassion you would treat a robber. It will only become big bad news in the future.”
Abu Pedro stood up, stretching his back. “Then I think you have the answer you came here for,” he said, ruffling Nicolás’ hair. “There’s no such thing as good and bad magic, there’s only good and bad wizards — even if that’s also oversimplifying human morality — be careful to always be aware of the intent behind your magic.”
And with that, his grandfather walked inside the house. Without notice, it was already 6 a.m., and the start of the working day was closing by, and the break was coming to an end.
Before going back, Nicolás decided to take a look at the rock in the front yard—the one Caelum brought from the cave—, to see if it was just as big and hard as the first day.
The only thing that changed about the rock/crystal was its color. When Caelum brought it back from the bottom of the lake, and when they arrived back at the reserve, the rock was completely black.
They tried to break it, but nothing seemed to be able to damage it. But around New Year’s Day, the color started to change, as if being under the sun was peeling out the blackness, letting red come into view.
It reminded Nicolás of something he saw in a film. Just a few months ago, before the start of course, they were taken to the theater for a new film, Jurassic World. In the film, some muggle scientists used prehistoric mosquitoes preserved in amber to recreate dinosaurs’ DNA and create a park of living dinosaurs—truly, muggle ingenuity at its finest.
Of course, the rock was not prehistoric amber, but it looked like it, and it was changing its color. What Nicolás did not expect after walking out of the front porch, was for the rock to be completely red, but not only that. He would’ve never, in his entire life, expected to find a human body encased in it.
One moment, he heard the sound of his coffee glass breaking against the pebbles on the floor. The next, he was running inside, yelling for his grandfather to come. Of course, as the man crossed the door, towards the rock, the rest of the family walked out.
Everyone approached slowly, their wands drawn. In a closer inspection, Nicolás was able to see how something, probably a liquid, seemed to travel around the rock, never stopping.
Then, he inspected the body closer. It was a man, but it wasn’t an Inferius, he was still human, of course they didn’t know if he was alive —highly unlikely—, or dead.
The man was dressed in torn elegant clothing. Black robes. But what completely fried Nicolás’ brain, was the fact that this man had scars (or were they wounds) everywhere. Large portions of skin from his arms, neck, legs, and even his face had been torn. The scars seemed to be made with nails—given by where they found him, the Inferi from the cave—, but that wasn’t all. This man… this man was the man from Caelum’s dream.
And even now, with the man encased in what seemed to be a crystal, Nicolás could see how much he and Caelum actually resembled each other.
“It’s him…” Caelum was the one to say, gaining everyone’s attention. “He’s the man from my dream… He’s... Regulus.”
Carolina, María, and Remus seemed to be seeing a ghost. Ashen faces, open mouths, and wide eyes. Slowly, Carolina touched the crystal, but nothing happened, it was just as firm and hard as the first day.
“He… he looks older… how…?” said Carolina.
“You think he’s…” Aunt María said, unsure of what to say.
“Alive?” Caelum finished for his mom.
“Do you… do you think Legilimency can penetrate the crystal?” Nicolás asked, looking at Caelum.
His cousin shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not a Legilimens. I only know Occlumency.”
Pressing both of his palms flat against the delicate coldness of the crystal, Nicolás willed his mind inside it, searching for something to connect with. Inside, the only thing his mind could perceive was a presence, but it was a dormant one.
He tried to poke it up, but it was to no avail, and each attempt only brought headaches to him, until he forced himself to retreat, with a small conclusion, one that he shared.
“He’s alive… but his mind is not here,” Nicolás attested. “I mean… it is here, but it’s, mhm, out of reach?”
Before anyone could question him, and with a flick of his wand, Abu Pedro made the stone levitate, starting to move towards his study. “I’ll have a contact inspecting it in a few weeks,” he said.
“But I—”
“We want to—”
“You’ll be back to school as planned,” Abu Pedro said firmly. “I’ll send you a letter when we have more information about this.”
And with that, their grandfather walked out, the big crystal with Regulus Black’s body following him.
Two days later they had their bags ready, and with a Portkey, they soon found themselves back to their country house in London. One day before taking the Hogwarts Express back to school.
⋆｡°✩°｡⋆
Author's note
Soooo, finally the cave scene and Regulus!!! any theory on him???
There were so many easter eggs on the vision Nicolás saw... any guesses???
Thank you so much to every single one of you who has read this! It's you that inspired me to continue to write!
Finally, I have news you probably didn't expect. I've noticed a lot of non-congruential nor linear aspects in the plot (I also want to add some scenes here and there), and so, I have decided to rewrite Part 1 and Part 2 of this fanfic!
But fret not, it won't take long. I will unpublish all the chapters of this story next Monday morning, and start to publish the same week! I have already started with rewriting and am almost finished with Part 1!
Thank you so much guys for the incredible support you've shown this story! I really hope the rewriting makes it an even bigger and better experience for you all!
- 𝐣.𝐟. 𝐜. 🐼💜