Hogwarts: Era of Darkness

I went to the train station first, finding the entrance in the public bathroom hidden from all eyes. I had to push one of the 'out of order' toilets and descend a few yards on a sharp slope. There wasn't any light source present, and the darkness was so bad even my eyes were struggling to adapt. Probably only Quincy would have no problem navigating down here. After lighting up the tip of my wand, I began walking forward, inspecting the floor and the walls, advancing very slowly and methodically. I didn't know if they had any traps here, but I wouldn't be surprised, so I constantly used the revealing charm, ready to dodge some spikes or darts... as if I was exploring an ancient tomb from some adventure book.

"Nothing...?" I asked after more than an hour of walking. I was tempted to stop using spells, but that would be stupid because I would surely activate something if I gave up caution.

Well... after another hour, I reached the other end, emerging close to the castle's grounds. Was this a one-way tunnel? That sounded stupid. That can't be it! So I headed back, this time more confident, not wasting time looking for traps. Instead, I was focusing on the walls and possible hidden marks, anything that would give me clues.

My efforts bore fruit after multiple hours and repeated back-and-forth walks. Maybe somewhere in the middle of it all, I noticed weird markings on the right-hand side of the wall. They were like scratches, like left behind by scraping two stones together. The tunnel itself was made out of earth and stone; it was nothing fancy, so they didn't really stand out. Not until you stopped and began looking at it directly.

"Now, what is this?"

With my wand, I gently tapped the walls on both sides, but nothing happened. I tried some unlocking spells, revealing charms, even some weaker hexes... nothing. It didn't react. That told me it wasn't magical, so I tried brute force.

"Hah!"

With a healthy push, the wall moved, and scraping against the rocks, it rotated 90 degrees, opening up to a different tunnel. No magic huh? Interesting... no wonder it didn't react to anything as it was 'mechanical.'

"I am now wondering if it was truly a good idea to stop learning about muggles!" I whispered, looking into complete darkness.

Entering the new route, I returned to take it slowly and surely, making plodding progress, but I could feel my heart beating rapidly. Once again, I found no traps, but knowing what I was looking for, I more easily noticed the multiple similar scrapings on some of the walls this time. Pushing against them, they turned, revealing another route.

"This is worse than a maze!" I groaned, drawing in my notebook and making a rudimentary map for myself and the others. I had to constantly cast spells, determining where I was, where was north, or whether the route was bent or not. It slowed my progress even further, and I think it was way past midnight when I looped back to my starting point.

Looking down at my notebook, I discovered 14 tunnels and four other exits. Of those four, three were in Hogsmeade, while the last put me at the forest's edge. How the hell was anyone finding their way through this mess? I didn't know, but Quincy must be here somewhere, so there was no time to give up... but it was time to rest. I felt exhausted from continuously using magic; if it came to fighting, I would be defeated.

I had no choice but to leave the underground maze, close every door, and return to the Common Room at sunrise, collapsing onto my bed. I didn't even take off my shoes; I just went to sleep the moment I got into a slightly horizontal line.

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"Please, Quincy... you have to eat!"

"No." She answered, not accepting the food, looking worse and worse as the days went by. Her face was getting sunken in, and her lips were parched as she rarely accepted any drinks either. She only took the chance when she was on the verge of collapsing.

"Please! It isn't poisoned! I am your Father, for Meriln's sake!" Regulus pleaded with her, taking a bite from the ham sandwich, proving it to her. Even with water, others had to drink from the same water and the same cup she had to, showing that they did swallow it and stay there for half an hour before she took it for herself. But only if no visible effects were happening to the other party. "At least take the drink! It's butterbeer!"

"Bring me water or nothing at all. I told you already!" She scoffed, not even looking at him, just facing the opposite wall, sitting on her single cot. "I will drink my own urine if I must! I can't tell if you slipped any serum into the garbage you brought me, not to mention some thought-erasing ones! Hmph!"

"We wouldn't do that!" Regulus complained, but Quincy just smiled as if she had heard a cute joke from a child.

"You yourself don't believe that rubbish! Your leader already questioned me about everything and used some kind of spell because I couldn't lie. So now that he knows all I do, I have zero use for you lot."

"Dumbledore is not like that! The moment we leave, you will be freed!"

"You mean made free to follow you or nothing, yes? Don't take me for some stupid girl, Regulus Black! Now, if you finished, go away. I wish to be alone."

In the end, Regulus just sighed, feeling pain in his chest, sliding the tray inside Quincy's cell before walking away. He knew it would be futile as she wouldn't touch it, no matter what they offered her. Looking at Quincy's withering figure, it was the most stressful period he had faced in a long time.

"Maybe it was a bad idea to bring her away..." Regulus murmured after entering their resting room, where Sirius, Lupin, and Charlie sat and discussed something when he arrived.

"That it was." Lupin nodded, not mincing his words, "It was foolish... but I understand. Still, it was not the right choice!"

"I would have stopped you two from leaving," Charlie said calmly, "Even if it means by force."

"Don't start it again!" Lupin interjected, stopping the brewing argument. "Focus on our current task. For now, we are on standby! Don't tire yourself out before time!"

"We will be fine, relax... we have been waiting for this for a long time!" Sirius laughed, getting up and bringing over some heavier drink, filling small glasses with its greenish content. "It will be great to finally attack and finish off some Death Eaters! You will have the diversion you need, old friend!"

"Good." Lupin nodded, accepting the glass, "But be careful, okay?"

"It will be chaos." Charlie smiled with his injured face, looking savage before downing the shot, "The perfect time for infiltrating the school and finding that cursed item!"

"Will it be enough?" Regulus asked, somewhat unsure.

"Dumbledore knows the castle more than anyone!" Sirius countered his brother's worries, "Our biggest advantage is that HE thinks we don't know about the Room of Requirements!"

"Whoever found the Chamber of Secrets gave us an advantage!" Regulus chuckled while the others raised their cups at that. "It confirmed for HIM that we genuinely don't know about it, or we would have gone there to find his Horcrux! Instead, we came to steal some basilisk venom to use against him. Hah!"

"Which is true." Lupin smiled, "Severus did provide it for us."

"He just continues kissing up to Dumbledore." Sirius scoffed at the mention of Snape's achievement.

"Yes, but we will use the fang to destroy the Horcrux hidden here!" Lupin countered him, knowing that their childhood animosity was still there, maybe even stronger now, after the death of James, Lily, and little Harry.

"And if we succeed, Tom will only have two left in his possessions." They immediately stood up as the voice belonged to Dumbledore, who just entered their room, looking serene and all-knowing. "Sit... I'm just visiting because I need your sharp noses." He smiled, looking at Regulus and Sirius. "Alastor sent word that one of our sentries died.

"What happened?" They asked in unison.

"Someone captured him and tried to access his memories when the defensive spell activated. Sadly, after that, he was disposed of!" Dumbledore sighed, shaking his head.

"Lockhart?"

"Maybe." Dumbledore shrugged, "If anything, he is proficient in the ways of the mind. He wiggled into many of our members' brains, even extracting some pieces of information that made us give up on crucial missions!"

"We will keep an eye out for him, and if he appears, he will die." Said Charlie without any emotions.

"Death is sometimes inevitable... how unfortunate... he has a brilliant mind but a twisted personality. Now, Regulus. Sirius. If you, please entertain me, go out and take a walk around the village in your animal form and try to sniff out who was the one trying to find us!"

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When I woke up the next day, I felt horrible, but after a quick wash, I was ready to return to the underground tunnels. It was when I exited the front gate of the castle that I realized winter had come, and snow was falling, covering everything in a thick, white layer. Winter had finally arrived. I picked out my notebook, and my eyes focused on the latest news: They found something!

I hurried into Hogsmeade as the students who went out early found footsteps in the fresh snow. I could have kissed them for their quick thinking, as right then, it was still new, and the routes weren't covered in hundreds of footprints. What was weird was that they were the pawprints of dogs emerging from an abandoned well.

"Animagi!" I said the moment I met up with them and could see it for myself. "They know of the death of their comrade!" I concluded as the trail went straight to where I knocked out the man yesterday. "And I know who these two are..."

"What should we do?" The Slytherin students who found it asked, looking at me for answers.

"Go about your day! Keep an eye out for a black and grey dog, though! They will be our shape-shifting mages! Don't try to stop them; they could be dangerous... Just keep your eyes peeled!" I said commandingly and also wrote it up in the notebook. "Now... I want some of you stationed at the entrances we found. Keep an eye out because I will go down from where the footprints originate and explore it! If I stop reporting via my end for more than an hour, take it as if I was captured. Or killed. Burn your books then, and don't believe anything I write into it because that will no longer be me! Got it?"

"Yes." They answered, and before I went down, those with me insisted that they shook my hands before watching me disappear underground. It felt good... I didn't know what would happen, but it boosted my optimism, feeling I wasn't alone in descending into the abyss.