Hogwarts: Era of Darkness

After being selected as champions, school took a different turn for us. We no longer had to take tests and were given a pass for the whole year. No end-of-term tests! Which, in turn, meant we were not obliged to attend the classes either. Of course, skipping all the lessons would not be wise, especially considering we will have our Ordinary Wizarding Level exam in the fifth year. It would suck to try and fill in a whole year we missed right before that. Still... that did not mean I was not happy to bounce and miss one of Professor Binns's lectures.

"Here!" Quincy exclaimed, putting a massive codex before me in the library as we were looking up more information about Fwoopers and Grindylows. Looking at the vivid image, I saw a small, nasty-looking frog... man... manfrog... frogman... err... whatever that thing was. It was snarling with sharp teeth, ready to bite my finger as I touched the paper close to it.

"Gross. It looks slimy and stinky."

"Probably is..." She shrugged, biting her lip. "And I would need to catch one to start experimenting with what I need it for... how to open the scrolls..."

"I'll help. My birdie can wait."

"Are you sure?"

"I already know where to get one!" I grinned but decided not to say more. In all honesty... it was thanks to what she told me... and I bet she would be surprised, so I didn't want to spoil it for her.

"If you say so... First things first, we will have to go into the lake and find one. Reading about their habits, they are creatures who dwell and hide between thick layers of Potamogetons."

"Amongst what?" I asked, twitching my mouth.

"Pondweed." Without looking up from the book, she answered, "They dislike bright lights, so they are active during the night and cloudy seasons."

"Check. We didn't have a sunny day for a week now. So... do we go and dive down, find one, and come back at once?"

"That is the plan... The question is, how quickly can we find one?"

"Tell you what!" I leaned back, stretching with a yawn, "Let's get ready and go for it tonight!"

"At night?" She looked at me, unsure of the idea, twitching her mouth a little.

"What are we waiting for? It would be great to breeze through the first task! Don't forget, we only have a month, even less, to finish it! Do you think the parchment is the key for the second trial? Don't be so naive!"

"I'm not..." She pouted, making me chuckle and kiss her cheeks.

"The parchment is what will lead us to the thing we need... if not, I would be disappointed! Also... didn't you think about it? That Nicolas Flamel is old... ancient! Do you think he won't drop extra hints to his own students? I want us to be already working on the scroll when, finally, the party of Professor Slughorn comes up!"

"Ah! I totally forgot about it!" Quincy yelped, just now remembering we would have a tea party with him on the evening of Hallowe'en. "You are right! We should not dally! I will go and visit him, ask for some gillyweed!"

"Gillyweed..." I murmured, working my brain before I remembered, "Good idea! It is the best way to breathe underwater! I will go and prepare some spells that make us resist the cold water!"

"Okay! Meet you-"

"Woah, woah! Easy there!" I laughed, holding her back before she could run away. "We will go under the cover of the night! I don't want the others to see us and start suspecting something. Who knows if any of them also have a nasty lake monster on their parchment! We will do this on the hush-hush!"

"Ahaha... right... sorry, I just... became excited!"

"As you should~! You go ask the Professor for some gillyweed while I prepare the rest! Then we have a dinner in the Great Hall, and when everyone is sleeping, we go diving!"

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Sneaking out of the castle was easy. Somehow, I also felt like we were doing this so much that it became... normal. I could no longer count how many times we strolled around the castle in the night since coming here... Not that it was something to complain about.

Standing at the edge of the lake, looking at its black surface, the scenery was more scary than I expected. It was like looking into the dark abyss, and you didn't know what was waiting for you down there.

"Here!" She passed me a bunch of gillyweed that I quickly chewed on and swallowed while waving my wand around.

"How long will it hold?" I asked after placing two charms on us, making it so we wouldn't get wet and would not feel the coldness of the water.

"The Professor was nice and gave me the finest ones, so it should hold out for an hour or two! Your spells?"

"They are going to be active after getting in contact with water, and they will deactivate when we get out. Simple."

"Good! Brr... somehow I still feel cold just looking at it!"

"It won't get better!" I grinned and grabbed her hand, pulling her into the water and making her scream a little.

I wanted to laugh, but the moment we touched the water, the spells kicked in, including the gillyweed, and we hurriedly dived down, feeling it hard to breathe above the water. With my wand in hand, I brought light into the darkness after a firm wave and noticed that the water was surprisingly clean. We could see pretty far without problems or further spells. Looking at Quincy, I asked with a nod what to do now, and she took the lead, swimming away with a clear goal in mind.

What we didn't count on was how to communicate. We couldn't really speak underwater; it only produced bubbles and made me gulp down nasty-tasting lake water... oh well. We did well with weird hand gestures, anyway! It was good that we knew each other so well! Reaching the depth we were aiming for took around half an hour, going slowly and carefully. Getting there, the bottom was like an underwater forest with two- or three-meter-high pond weeds growing below, waving back and forth like grass on a windy field.

"What now?" I asked, waving my hand around, for which Quincy simply shrugged. Tapping her wand, glowing words formed before her, making it easy to see what she was thinking about.

"It said the grindylows are nasty creatures. Ready to kidnap kids. I thought one would come at us..."

"Huh... I see." I answered by copying her method and writing with my wand. "Maybe they need to be woken up!"

I pointed my wand at the 'forest,' and with a bang, a giant air bubble blasted forward, parting it and causing a proper ruckus. That was a mistake... The moment I did so, it was like kicking a hornet's nest. We saw a dozen creatures rise up, screeching and swimming right at us. It was frightening to see, but somehow, I wasn't afraid. Glancing at Quincy, I couldn't say the same. Even then, she already tried using a spell, but being underwater, her hand movements were slightly off, and the spell misfired.

It was then that my blood flared up, and an idea popped into my head. Without hesitation, I turned, taking up my basilisk form and glaring at the incoming swarm of beasts. I had never read about basilisks living in water... or being able to swim, but I felt alright. No discomfort or anything. I couldn't say the same about the beasts as they were sinking down to the bottom, turning into stone instantly when they looked into my eyes. Well, at least we know my snake form has its killer glance of the original.

What I was surprised by was that Quincy shot out, swimming fast, catching a dark body that was going downwards. To not hurt her, I quickly returned to my human form, swimming after her, trying to see what she caught. It was a small grindylow, maybe a youngling, unconscious but not turned to stone. She said nothing, just grinned, nodding at me, and started to swim away, me following her close, ready to change appearances the moment we ran into something else. I began to realize... I was dangerous.

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"He is too dangerous."

In an underground tunnel, deep below Hogsmeade, Charlie Weasley and Regulus Black were meeting privately, the former exclaiming in a dry, cold voice.

"I agree. I also read the report from the mermaids... Angus didn't mention that his son can turn into a basilisk!" Regulus groaned, biting his lower lip, "I didn't like him from the start... I know Dumbledore trusts him, but I don't! Now it turns out he keeps secrets from us!"

"Even if he and his kid are our friends, the fact that the child can kill by looking at someone is the same as wielding the killing curse and using it willy-nilly... he has to be eliminated before he becomes more dangerous... we don't need a second... HIM!"

"Mhm... Do you have any plans?" Regulus whispered, but Charlie slowly shook his head.

"I am focused on the dragons and the current plan. But in the chaos that will erupt, I can spare time to deal with him. It won't be traceable anyway... A dragon is... uncontrollable when it's angry."

"Even for you?" Regulus smirked as Charlie's blood, by now, was fully draconic, the only man who could genuinely tame dragons and even control them at will.

"Yes." Came his answer that turned Regulus's smirk into a plead.

"Just make sure that my daughter comes under no harm!"

"She won't be hurt, don't worry. And... Didn't you plan to recruit her?"

"Yes... but I need to be careful about it. It would be best if you could make it so she blames HIM for the kid's death..."

"What a father..." Charlie murmured, suddenly remembering his father and how he used to be, feeling a sharp pain stabbing his heart, making him grimace.

"Just focus on... the mission," Regulus grumbled, standing up, not wanting to discuss it anymore. The only thing he was worried about was how the boy was distorting his daughter's mind day by day...