The Man With No Face
I don’t clearly remember what happened next. I remember pain and darkness. I was kicked and shoved through the shadows. I felt pine needles and dirt hit my face. My head was spinning, and I wanted to throw up. When I finally became conscious of my surroundings, I saw nothing but blackness. A few seconds later, my eyes adjusted, and I saw tall vertical columns surrounding me on all sides. I realized momentarily that they were pine trees. The area was filled with mist, obfuscating everything more than a few meters ahead of me. There was some wet substance on the forest floor, and I didn’t realize until much later that it was blood.
There were Death Eaters there. There was no way to tell how many. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see two bodies on either side of me – Peter and Silas. There was no sign of Dad. We were alone here in an unknown place.
A pair of feet appeared in front of me. When I looked up, I saw the narrow face of a short witch with bleach-blonde hair and a gaze of unabated cruelty. A subconscious part of me identified her as Jenna Widow, the transfiguration teacher from John Proctor. It didn’t surprise me to see her among the ranks of the Death Eaters. What surprised me was that she was here. Where was here?
Widow placed her boot against my face and pushed back sharply. A searing pain ran through my forehead, like my skin was being pressed against my skull. Widow withdrew her foot, and smirked. “Insolent boy.”
“Enough, Jenna,” said another voice. “Let me speak with him.”
That voice made my whole body go cold. I would know that voice anywhere. I was too weak to turn and see whether Peter and Silas were conscious, or if they recognized it too. All I could see was directly in front of me. Widow stepped aside, revealing a black clearing behind her filled with discarded leaves. A tall form emerged from the darkness and loomed towards me.
He had no face. Unlike the other Death Eaters, his mask was not of a skull or some other grotesque thing, but simply a featureless black surface. Beneath his hood and flowing black robe, it looked as though there was nothing at all, merely a shadow inhabiting the clothes of a human. His appearance immediately reminded me of the Dementors, a resemblance that I now suppose was intentional. His robes dragged across the forest floor as he approached, carrying leaves with them, like a personification of the winter cold that killed summer trees. Widow and the other Death Eaters immediately knelt in his presence, erasing all doubt of the man’s identity.
The New Dark Lord. Donovan Trackwell.
Darkanoss.
He knelt down to meet me eye-to-eye, though there were no eyes for me to look at. I stared at that featureless void where his face should have been, and I felt nothing but fear. He did not feel like a human, let alone a wizard. Even my imagination’s image of Lord Voldemort had distinguishable features, ears and lips and snakelike eyes. But this robed man was more like an absence, a nothingness that had somehow found a will to walk on its own, to command the darkest of magic to do its bidding.
“Hello, Alan,” he said quietly.
It was that same calm voice that I’d heard on the radios all over Salem. There was no mistaking that voice. It was contemplative, hesitant, very selective with its wording. The whisper of a demon.
“You’re wondering how I know you,” Darkanoss said understandingly. “I’ve heard the reports. Nicholas encountered you at Summerroot. You were at Shichang, too. But I knew you before. I know the names of all the Reborn in Salem. You are all very special, you know.”
Darkanoss coiled his hand in the air. Even this was covered by a black glove. There was not a single inch of him that wasn’t pitch-black.
“Listen to me, Alan,” he said with urgency. “You have been led to believe in lies. What you’ve seen today... it’s been awful, hasn’t it? But we can end it together.”
I wanted to spit in his face, to scream and cry, to beat him without mercy and demand he beg forgiveness for what he did to Emma and the others. But I was numb with fear. I couldn’t even move. My face still stung from where Widow had kicked me.
“I want the same thing as you, Alan.”
I hated the way he said my name. Darkanoss continued.
“I love Salem. It saved me in my darkest hour. The wizards and witches of this city are noble and wise. But muggle society, muggle life... it’s made us all blind. All this violence, all this pain... these are just the symptoms. But the Rebirth Generation is our chance to change the future. For everyone. For you.”
I heard something stirring to my left, and became faintly aware that Peter was waking up. He quietly winced. His leg was still bloody. I managed a glance to my right, and saw that Silas was sitting upright, glaring warily at Darkanoss. But the New Dark Lord never diverted his attention from me.
“There’s something... different about you, isn’t there? I can sense it. But what? You are not one with the Limbo... but you have the essence of the ritual. Why? Is there something within you...?”
Darkanoss went quiet for a few moments, as if giving something great consideration. His nonexistent face tilted back upward. I could see the spot where his eyes probably were, piercing mine with invisible malice.
“Join me, Alan. Let me show you what lies behind the curtain.”
“We’ll never join you!” Silas suddenly blurted out.
“How dare you!” Widow screeched. “Crucio!”
Silas screamed. He began violently shaking, tossing and turning as if his whole body was on fire. He was in such agony that it made me feel sick by proxy. Darkanoss did nothing, only silently watched as the twelve-year-old boy writhed in unbearable pain.
At that moment, somewhere in the distance, there was an explosion.
Widow ceased her spell. Silas fell back, gasping and sobbing quietly. The sound had come from far away, over the trees and deep in the forest. It shook the earth, like the distant sound of a bomb being dropped. The Death Eaters all turned in its direction. A few seconds later, another Death Eater apparated into the middle of the clearing, and knelt before Darkanoss.
“My lord! The resistance in Lynnville... they’ve broken through our lines!”
Widow gave him an enraged look. “You imbecile! How?! We had them surrounded!”
“They got reinforcements!” the other Death Eater sputtered. “The freed prisoners from Shichang. They attacked from the northeast, and...”
Darkanoss stood up slowly. He look at the Death Eater, who immediately bowed his head again.
“We will regroup at the university stadium. Tell our forces to converge there.”
“Yes, my lord!” said the Death Eater, who subsequently disapparated.
“But my lord...” Widow protested. “They’re...”
“Not to worry, Jenna,” Darkanoss calmly interrupted. “Do not forget. This is merely the opening act. The great performance of our deliverance will carry on, regardless of the outcome.”
Widow bowed obediently. “Yes, my lord.” Then, with a twist of her heel, she disapparated too.
Darkanoss glanced back down at me, then looked at another nearby Death Eater.
“Bring me the girl,” he said.
The Death Eater nodded, and disappeared into the woods. Then, moments later, he reemerged carrying something in his arms. When the Death Eater handed the object to Darkanoss, I caught a good look at its tiny face. My heart stopped.
It was Clea.
Darkanoss cradled my two-year-old sister in his arms, stroking her sleeping face. “Sweet, pitiful squib. You will be our insurance. Sleep softly, dear child.”
All of the sudden all feeling returned to my limbs. I ran forward with my fist raised, thinking about nothing other than saving my sister from the arms of this monster. But with a single flick of his finger, Darkanoss telekinetically lifted me into the air, and pinned me against a tree. I struggled as hard as I could, but it was like all of my limbs were being held in place by invisible hands.
Darkanoss barely even looked at me. “My offer still stands. Alan. Peter. Silas. All of you have great potential. When you see the truth, when my forces rise once more... I will ask again. And you will answer.”
Darkanoss disapparated in a cloud of black smoke. A second later, all of the other Death Eaters in the clearing vanished too. I felt the force leave my body, and I fell to the ground, coughing. The image of Darkanoss holding my sister ran through my mind again and again. He had Clea. He had Clea. The man behind all of this evil, that murderer, had my baby sister. If he had her, then what had happened to Mom? I couldn’t think about that. I couldn’t think about anything. All that mattered was getting Clea back.
When I had calmed down enough to think straight again, I immediately ran back to check on Silas. He was okay, but clearly shaken by the experience he’d just been through. Peter was okay too, but his foot was still badly hurt from the battle at Shichang. Silas tended to his wounds with his magic as we discussed what had just happened.
“So that’s him...” Peter said after a disquietingly long silence. “That’s Darkanoss.”
“Monster,” Silas said quietly. He shivered.
“He has my sister!” I said anxiously. “If he hurts her, then... then...”
“They said they were going to the stadium,” Silas recalled. “If we can get there, then we can save her.”
I analyzed Silas’s face, and then Peter’s. “You’ll... help me?”
“Of course,” Silas responded without a hint of doubt. “That’s what Aurors do.”
“You’re my friend,” said Peter reassuringly. “I won’t let you fight them alone.”
“You serious?”
“We’ve come this far, haven’t we?” Peter half-laughed. “Besides, I always had your back when you got into fights with Nick on the playground. It’d be kind of crappy of me to ditch you now, wouldn’t it?”
I was deeply touched. “Guys...”
“Okay, enough talking.” Silas, ever the professional, stood up and gestured into the dark woods. “Let’s get out of here before any of them decide to come back for us.”
* * *
Silas led the way as we trekked through the forest wilderness of Salem Valley. At first I thought we were just heading in a random direction, but Silas had a method to his movements. He cleverly surmised that if the explosion we heard was near Lynnville, then we had to be somewhere roughly southwest of the city, in the mountains on the western side of Salem Valley. If we walked far enough, we’d eventually find our way down the rural farmlands, and from there we could make our way to the city. It would be a very long walk, but at least there didn’t appear to be any Death Eaters this time.
The forest seemed to go on forever. The faint light from the clouds above illuminated our path through the underbrush. I wasn’t afraid of the wilderness; it was where I’d grown up. I thought of all the hours I’d spent exploring these woods with Silas and Peter when we were little, mapping out landmarks and going on random adventures. The forests of Salem were welcoming to me. But right now, they seemed utterly hostile, filled with alien fog and the hostile scent of death. These woods didn’t feel safe anymore.
As we were walking, Peter came up to my side and gave me a concerned look. “You good?”
I shook my head. When I realized Peter was waiting for me to talk, I reluctantly spoke.
“He has Clea.”
Peter nodded solemnly. “We’ll... we’ll get her back. I mean it.”
Though he was my best friend and had fought with me through this whole nightmare, the comfort was very hollow coming from a twelve-year-old boy not confident in his own words.
“He’s the mastermind behind all this, Peter. He might be one of the most powerful dark wizards in the world. And he has her. He might kill her. He said she was ‘insurance.’ She might be a hostage. She’s...”
“Alan,” he interrupted gently. “Listen to me. It’s going to be okay. She’ll be okay.”
I tried not to cry as I looked him firmly in the eye. “How do you know that?!”
“Alan,” I heard Silas say from a few paces ahead of us. “I understand how you feel. But panicking and giving in to despair... that’s exactly what Darkanoss wants.”
“How can you be so calm?!” I demanded. I was at my wit’s end now. All of the trauma and shock of the past few hours was finally catching up to me. “Haven’t you been paying attention? They’ve taken over the whole city! Nobody can get out! They’re killing everyone! We’ve managed to get away from them up ‘till now, but how long will it be until they kill every last one of us? They...”
Without warning, Peter hugged me.
It was a gesture he’d never done before. We were boys, middle schoolers at that. Such sentimental actions as hugs were utterly foreign to us. But for some reason, the moment his arms wrapped around me, it was like I couldn’t pretend anymore. I began to cry. I remembered Emma’s face when she died, and the dead bodies in Shichang, and I cried and cried as the nightmare finally sank in. This wasn’t just a bad dream I could wake up from. This was reality, and I had no idea if any of us were going to be okay. I didn’t know if Mom or Clea or Dad were alive. The confidence that I had wielded when I conjured my Patronus was all gone. I felt completely hopeless.
Peter patted my shoulders and stepped back, giving me that same easygoing smile he always had. He didn’t need to say anything. Somehow, just the gesture had been enough. I didn’t feel any better, but letting it all out had lifted some weight from my chest.
Silas stepped over to me and put a hand on my arm. He smiled too. “We’ve gotten this far because of you. Don’t give up now. Remember what that guy said? Lynnville is winning. The Death Eaters are retreating. They’re losing.”
“But Clea...”
“We’re going to save her. You’re going to save her.” Silas looked me in the eye. “Right?”
I wiped tears from my eyes, and nodded. For some reason, I found myself thinking of what Emma would say if she saw me right now. She’d probably kick me in the butt and tell me to stop moping. She fought to the bitter end without a hint of fear, and she died with a smile on her face. I wanted to be like her. If nothing else, I wanted to avenge her death. I looked at Silas and Peter, and forced myself to grin.
“Right.”
We kept walking. Peter hovered by my side as we went, occasionally giving me a concerned glance and a reassuring smile. Silas glanced back every once in a while too, making sure that I was still doing okay. Looking back know, I have so much appreciation for both of them for helping me through that terrible afternoon. Somehow, though none of us had ever spoken of it, we had formed a silent agreement to look out for each other. We had already been friends, but on the battlefield, we became brothers. It was their strength that gave me the will to carry on, to believe that there could still be a happy ending to all this. Many people had died that day, but I was determined to stop this madness before it got worse. We had the power of the Reborn. We had our Patronuses. We could help win this war once and for all.
At long last, we reached the bottom of the hill. The mountain forests broke up into a wide field, and Salem Valley appeared before us. It was hard to tell where we were exactly, but I could see Mount Johnson far away on the opposite horizon, still covered in golden clouds. Just as Silas had suspected, we were on the western border of the valley. The university was by the narrow canyon where the Lewis River ran east out of the valley. We were at least ten miles away. The hike would take hours, but in our minds, there was no other choice. None of us were keen on hiding away. We didn’t know how long it would be until the Death Eaters would find us. Besides, I could never rest easy knowing that Clea was still in the clutches of Darkanoss. I had to rescue her.
“Alan,” said Peter. “Isn’t that your house?”
I looked where he was pointing. He was right. Surprisingly, we had come out of the woods just a few hundred meters north of a modest two-story white house, one that I instantly recognized as my own. Unlike the rest of Salem during the battle, it still looked the same as it did when I’d left it earlier that day. How long ago was that now? It felt like it had been weeks, but the sun was still up, though it was now hidden behind the mountains to the west. It couldn’t have been more than five or six hours since the battle began, yet it felt like it had been a lifetime since Peter and I were left behind at Riverfront Park.
“Do you think there’s anyone home?” I found myself asking.
“I doubt it,” said Silas. He looked at my worried face, and added, “But... it wouldn’t hurt to check.”
The three of us took off across the field in the direction of my house. I knew that in all likelihood there was no one there, but my desperation compelled me to check anyway. Maybe I just needed that sense of comfort and familiarity that came from being at my own home. It always felt safe there. Even if it was a childish delusion, I felt that if only I could go home for just a little bit, then maybe everything would feel normal for a little while. The battles and violence and death would all become just another random daydream, a playground game, not real.
We crossed the threshold from the field to my front yard, and then froze.
Three Death Eaters stood awaiting us at the opposite side of the yard. The one in the middle wore a robe ordained with strange golden designs, and had a head of perfectly curled blond hair. I recognized him instantly. The boys on either side of him raised their wands menacingly as Nick smirked.
“End of the line, losers.”
* * *
Nick, Miles, and Rodney stood in formation in front of my house. My face twisted into an expression of pure hatred. The difference between us was stark. I was still wearing my California sweater and jeans, now tattered and covered in ash and dirt, and Peter and Silas looked equally worse for wear. Nick and his posse, conversely, were dressed in the flowing robes of the Death Eaters without a hint of damage. Seeing them immediately brought me back to the confrontation on Mount Johnson. Were Liam and the other kids okay? If Nick was here, then what had become of them?
“Took you long enough to get here.” Nick spoke like the battle was already won, and this was just the aftermath. “Hoping to run home to Mommy, huh? Too bad she’s not here.”
I raised my wand, and Nick instantly raised his. Neither of us cast a spell. We remained in a deadlock. Silas and Peter raised their wands too, and Miles and Rodney followed. The standoff dragged on, the silence interrupted only by the rumbling of the storm clouds above us.
“You’re losing,” Silas declared to the trio. “The Death Eaters are on the run.”
“You really don’t get it, do you?” Nick chuckled. “You think that this is over? It’s barely begun.”
“It is over!” I yelled. “Give up already, Nick!”
Nick tilted his wand at me and spoke very slowly. “You. Do not. Speak to me. That way. I am your better, Alan Doe. I am the Master Reborn.”
“Oh, bull!” Peter retorted. “We all know who you are, Nick. You’re nothing but a sixth grader on a power trip. Darkanoss doesn’t give a crap about you! He’s just using you!”
Nick grimaced at him, but somehow maintained his composure. After a moment, he smiled confidently again. “I don’t need to bring myself down to your level, Peter Halcon. You’ll all see. What happens today will only be the opening chapter.”
“What does that mean? What are you talking about?!”
“Darkanoss said something like that too,” Silas noted quietly. “What do they have up their sleeves...?”
“Enough chitchat.” Nick brandished his wand over his head. “We will show the New Dark Lord that he needn’t bother with worthless Reborn like you! Confringo!”
A fiery bolt shot out of Nick’s wand. I blocked it just in time, but the spell shattered my Shield Charm. Nick’s subordinates split up and began dueling my friends one-on-one, the combat splitting into three separate areas. Peter managed to force Miles back to the driveway, but Miles stood his ground there and they began exchanging explosive blows. Silas and Rodney apparated short distances all over the place, vanishing and reappearing at random, firing spells, and then vanishing again.
Nick advanced on me with an aggressive flurry of spells. Every time I blocked one, he reared up with another, not bothering to recite any of them. The spells he cast were pure aggression, his barely-contained rage and pride taking form as arrows of magical energy. I held most of them off at first, but Nick was more clever than the Death Eaters who used their wands as glorified firearms. He arched spells through the air like sentient fireworks, attacking me from every angle. It was too much for me to handle at once. I blocked a spell on the left, but that just gave Nick an opening to shoot me in the stomach with a Knockback Jinx that sent me flying up onto the porch of my house.
I hurriedly got back on my feet just as another spell rocketed toward my face. I dove to the right to avoid it, and the spell collided with the front door. The door was blasted off its hinges, screeching into the middle of the foyer and smashing against my mom’s piano. The keys made a displeasing harmony as the piano was crushed by the impact. I fired several more spells at Nick hoping to knock him off balance, but he blocked them effortlessly, advancing on me with brisk pace. I ran into the house, and he followed. I took advantage of the momentary blind spot offered by the wall, and levitated the piano from its resting place, tossing it as hard as I could at him. Nick was surprised, but fired a Reductor Curse just in time to annihilate the piano before it hit him. But the distraction was enough.
“Expelliarmus!”
Nick’s wand flew out of his hand. I thought I had the battle won, and was prepared to hit him with a Stunning Spell to finish the job. But Nick just held out his hand, and stopped the wand in midair as it arched across the room. The wand flew back to his hand, and he began firing spells at me again. With nowhere else to go, I turned and sprinted as fast as I could up the stairwell of my house. Every time one of Nick’s spells flew past me, I could practically feel my skin burning. It was a miracle none of them hit me.
I was clearly outmatched. I had always been gifted with magic, and Defense Against the Dark Arts was my best subject, at least when it wasn’t being taught by Blair. But Nick was different. He was unique even among the Reborn, a once-in-a-generation prodigy with magic. He hadn’t been chosen to lead the Reborn Death Eaters just because of his overt and absolute loyalty to Darkanoss. He had been chosen because he was the most powerful wizard in all of Salem, perhaps even more powerful than Darkanoss himself. His powers were still unrefined, more akin to bursts of violent rage than anything refined or complex. He could not have cast the Limbo clouds that surrounded the valley; that required knowledge and precision far beyond his years. But if he grew under Darkanoss’s tutelage, he might become the deadliest dark wizard on the face of the Earth. Even now, as I faced him, I could sense how many leagues he was above all the other Death Eaters I had fought that day. His powers defied imagination and common sense. He broke all the rules.
This was the talent of the Rebirth Generation.
I sprinted down the hall and entered my bedroom. Shuffling through a sea of dirty clothes and action figures, I whirled around to face Nick as he cornered me. He grinned triumphantly, but before he could cast a spell, something flew toward the window directly to his left. With a deafening crash, the stray spell from Silas’s wand shattered the window. The glass sprayed in every direction. Nick gasped and shielded his face, momentarily letting his guard down. Without thinking, I did the only thing that came to mind. I ran at Nick and slammed my body into him as hard as I could. His tall torso buckled backwards, and both of us fell through the window.
Nick disapparated before he could land on the ground a story below, and took me with him. We both tumbled to a halt in the front yard again, grass biting my face. The disoriented Nick looked up just in time to see Silas disarm and knock out Rodney. The battle in the driveway was also favoring Peter. Miles looked like he hadn’t been prepared for a real duel, and was getting sloppy. Peter kept a cool poker face as he advanced, jabbing his wand out like a swordsman, before finally knocking Miles into the metal fence by the field. He was out cold. Nick’s allies were down.
His pale blue eyes trembled in anger. “No! Damn you, you worthless excuses for Reborn!”
Silas cornered Nick from behind and pointed his wand at him. “Give it up,” he said, in the authoritative voice of law enforcement. “You’re beaten. Surrender now.”
Nick’s usual cool, cocky demeanor had faltered. I saw something awaken in him that I’d never seen before. This was what the boy was like when he was cornered. His face shriveled up, and his teeth clenched. He looked like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Nick looked directly at me, and cried “Avada Kedavra!”
“Alan!” Peter screamed. He ran in my direction, but he was too far to push me out of the way. But I reacted fast. An image ran through my mind of Emma blocking Jonah’s Cruciatus Curse. I blindly stuck my wand forward, and a beam of red light shot out from its tip, stopping the Killing Curse just as it was about to hit my face. The sheer force of the spells colliding almost knocked me off my feet, but I held fast, holding my wand as tightly as I could and fighting the hurricane-like power of the spell.
It was almost unbearable. It wasn’t like the wand-to-wand standoffs that Nick and I had on the playground. I was fighting for my life, blocking a spell that would kill me if I couldn’t stop it. Nick pushed against me with unbelievable pressure, but for some reason, I could feel him weakening. I shut my eyes tight, and willed every ounce of magic in my body to push back against him. I felt the fusion of our spells being shifted back. I heard Nick sputter. Then there was sudden release, and a rushing sound, and I fell face-first into the grass.
Nick gasped, and that was the last sound he made. The green light faded around his body, and he fell slowly back, landing softly in the grass. The expression of shock was locked on his face, his lifeless eyes staring up at the spiraling clouds. He was dead.
Peter rushed to my side and helped me sit up. “Alan! Are you okay?”
I rubbed my head. It felt like the ground had turned to jelly beneath my feet, but I was alive. Silas came over and knelt down next to me, inspecting me for injuries. Then he glanced over at Nick.
“Alan... he’s...”
I looked at my enemy’s lifeless body, but didn’t allow myself to dwell on the thought. It would later sink in that that was the first time I’d ever killed another human being, another child at that. Even if it was in self-defense, it wasn’t something I would soon get over. But I couldn’t think about that now. Maybe it was the rush of the battle, but my mind focused on my sole priority.
“Clea. We need to get to her.”
Silas nodded. Peter held out his hand, and helped me stand up. I almost fell over again, but kept my balance. “Darkanoss is at the university stadium. We just need to...”
“Alan...” said Peter, his voice trailing off.
I looked to where he was pointing, and recoiled.
Nick’s body was on fire. At first I wondered if maybe the force of my spell had done it, but this was different. The scarlet-red flames crossed his face and ran down his torso, turning every inch of his flesh into ash in a matter of seconds. The elegant robes he wore burned with them, until there was nothing left but a pile of soot. A moment later, the unconscious bodies of Rodney and Miles, still lying in the driveway and yard, lit up in red flames and burned away as well.
Silas, Peter, and I stared around in shock. “What’s going on...?”
“Alan!”
The sound of that voice was music to my ears. Sure enough, when I turned around to look back at the entrance to the driveway, I saw my mother standing there. Her face was scratched and she looked like she’d been through hell, but she could have been covered in cow manure for all I cared. It was her. I was flooded with relief. I dropped my wand into the grass and ran to her as fast as I could, throwing myself into her arms.
“Mom! You’re okay!”
Mom pulled me tightly into her chest and pressed her tearful face into my hair. “Oh baby, oh baby, thank God you’re okay. I was so worried. Your father said...”
“Dad...” I pulled away a bit and looked up at her. “Is Dad okay?!”
She nodded and breathed. “Yes, he’s fine. He told me how you helped him escape from the market. But then the Death Eaters grabbed you, and I... I...”
Mom couldn’t speak anymore. She hugged me again, muttering under her breath over and over again how thankful she was that I was safe. As she clung to me, I glanced at the ashes where Miles Argo’s body had been a moment ago.
“Mom... were you the one who made them disappear?”
“Huh? Made who disappear?”
I shook off the thought. “It doesn’t matter.” Then I spoke with great urgency: “Darkanoss has Clea!”
“I know,” she said, barely containing her fear enough to speak with her motherly reassurance. “But it’s going to be okay, sweetheart. You don’t have to fight anymore. Your father and the other wizards have cornered Darkanoss at the university. They’ll get her back.”
“We have to help them!” I exclaimed.
“No!” Mom exclaimed, in a voice louder than her soft-spoken personality usually permitted. “No, I won’t let you be in danger again. I can’t.”
“Mrs. Doe, please listen,” Silas said insistently. “Even with all of the wizards working together, you may not be able to defeat Darkanoss alone. You need the Reborn. We can help!”
Still, Mom stubbornly shook his head. “Silas, your father would never forgive me if I let you get hurt. Neither would your parents, Peter.”
“My dad would understand!” Silas loudly insisted. “I have what it takes to be an Auror. It doesn’t matter if I’m a kid or not. I can prove it to him!”
“I’m going to help Alan get his sister back,” Peter said firmly. “You can’t stop me.”
“Mom, I’m not going to just sit here while Clea is with that monster,” I said firmly. “I’m begging you. Apparate us to the university. Let us participate in the battle. Let me save her!”
Mom looked like saying yes was the last thing in the world she wanted. Looking back, I’m not entirely sure why she did. There was nothing she was more afraid of than losing her children. But maybe she weighed her values, and realized she couldn’t live without either of them. She wasn’t willing to let Clea die, either. But I don’t think that was her real reason. When I later asked her about it, she declined to answer and hurriedly changed the topic. Maybe she regretted her decision. But in that circumstance that felt like the end of the world, the battle brought out unexpected sides of people, whether for better or worse.
“Okay,” Mom finally said, after a lengthy period of pensive silence. “But you just swear to me you’ll be careful, okay?”
I nodded firmly. “I promise I will.” I looked at my friends. “We will.”
Silas and Peter nodded too. Mom took a deep breath. “Okay. All of you, come here.”
I picked up my wand from the ground. I sheltered myself under Mom’s arm, and Peter grabbed mine. Mom held Silas with her other arm. I took one last glance at my half-destroyed rural home, and the ashen remains that had once been Nick Varennikov, and then Mom twisted her heel and we all vanished.