NOVEL NEXT 17. Harry Potter and The Last Farlander
Hogwarts had a completely different atmosphere at night. If in the light of the sun the castle seemed magnificent, full of mysteries, fun adventures and life, then at night it became a hotbed of panic, tension and fear. One has to spend the night trying to hide from Filch to feel the horror.
The fireplaces had not been roaring with fire for a long time, but only warmed with the warmth of dim corners, the torches on the walls dimmed, casting long shadows around themselves. Apart from the moving portraits, the castle seemed almost dead. Well, at least the ghosts definitely added a sense of dread to the castle.
That's why the sight of one Harry Potter was so unusual in the middle of the night. He stayed close to the walls, not really looking anywhere and only occasionally listening to the sounds around.
Tonight, he was awakened by another nightmare. Usually, he didn't dream anything, or at least he didn't remember anything from his dreams. This time was one of the few exceptions.
Harry dreamed of dark and gloomy forests full of prey, hissing snakes and screams of pain. He couldn't remember or even understand most of his dream, but he definitely didn't want to stay in the common room after that. Even the threat of getting caught by Filch or – who was on duty today? – Sprout, wasn't enough to stop him. The common room seemed too small, almost suffocating. The corridors were no better, but the choice between being inside empty corridors or outside with lots of Dementors, was obvious.
Taking a deep breath, Harry shook his head, shaking off the remnants of sleep. He didn't come here to brood; he could do that in the relative safety of his room. Apparently, the aura of the Dementors affected him more than he expected.
Thoughts of these terrible creatures made him think of Sirius Black. Aunt Bella didn't say much about her cousin, only that he had always been the black sheep of the family. The Blacks were proud by blood, almost from birth, and only the craziest – or weakest – obeyed any Master, whether it was a Dark Lord or a Light Lord.
So, when did Valburga Black – Sirius's Mother – found out about his oath of obedience to Dumbledore, especially after the rest of his idiotic antics? Well, he wasn't kicked out of the family, but the family tapestry in the house on Grimmold got another burned patch. And when his betrayal and fall to the Dark Side became known?
Blood was spilled, accusations were thrown in all directions, and the family cracked. Some decided to join Sirius, and some remained loyal to the House of Black. Bella never forgave her mother for selling Narcissa to the Malfoys. Druella Black was the first victim of the War among the family.
Arcturus was too dead to banish Sirius from the family, so Regulus – Sirius' younger brother and the chosen heir of the Black family – could only forbid him to enter any Black property. The Wards were cool like that. And after the death of Regulus at the hands of Voldemort, the family had only Harry as a possible patriarchal heir.
'I just need to survive until twenty-one to take the mantle of Lord Black. I don't know how Bella can juggle House business and Head Hunting.' Harry decided to do something nice for his aunt after returning from Hogwarts. She was the one who shouldered the most of the responsibility in the family, because there was no one else who could.
Out of the English branch of the Black family, only a few people remained. The eternally single Bellatrix; Andromeda and her daughter Nymphadora; Narcissa and her offspring Draco; Harry and Sirius. That was it. It was possible to try to find the descendants of the Squib Blacks, but it was a lost cause. Even if there are any left, Harry didn't think they would like to return to their roots.
Harry stopped abruptly, noticing something wrong in the air. His nostrils were almost burned by the sudden stench of burnt ozone, which made the hairs on his body stand straight. Electricity almost danced in the air, clicks and zaps going all around. Harry had never seen anything like this in his life.
Abruptly snatching his wand out of his sleeve, Harry began to turn his head in search of the source of such a huge and aggressive wave of magic. Footsteps were heard in the direction of the stairs to the fourth floor, it was one pair of legs.
Another sound cut through the air, so strange and alien that Harry couldn't compare it to anything.
"̴̡͇̤̔̒͊̽̉̈́̓S̴͍͚̓͗͛͋ͅť̸̛͓͓̥̥̣̟̾͝r̵̮͖̙͊e̷͓͎̥͖̠̮͑́͂͛̍͌͝n̴̠̘̼̱̻̈́̎̒̊̍̓̃ĝ̵̞̈͠͝h̸̨̛̝͇̗̥̜͋̽̋͑̀͛ͅť̵̲ ̵̩̯̫̲̝͍̙̑͌̂̔̾̚̚G̸̯͙̯̗̻͎̀͗̌r̵̲̠͚̞̻͖̹̉̐́a̷͙͗͂c̷͙͉͔̟̩̅̒̑̄͒͝ḙ̸̢̛̖̗̺̩̜ ̴̢̯̖̫̖͓̩̈̈́R̶͖̒̉͋̃̾̑ḙ̸̜̦͒̊́͊̕͜g̸̓̽̀̎̈́̕ͅe̴̢̟͗̈́̇͆̾̈́̈́n̷̳̖͖̙͓̍͂͌e̸̤̣̣̅ȑ̴̩̪̻̜͙̓͗̓͘ạ̸̦̲̳̬͚̞̔́̆̇͛͘ẗ̸͇̱́̄̈͜i̴̫͇̩͂ợ̸̛͉͉͇͓̩́́͐̀ͅn̷̮̟̬̟̺͔̎̈́͆̀͝ ̶̟̣̻̇̓͑R̶̟̻̖̰͖̿́̇̆̂̕ḙ̶̃ś̸̛̫̯̩̱̥̆̃̈́̒͛i̷͔̥͐ş̸̼̘͖̬́̈́̄̕ṫ̵͎̱͒̚͝a̵̳̳̺̰͔͉̋̀̚͝͝n̷̟̞̹̝̩̘͋̀̏c̷͇̰͇̟̩̯̬̆̑̎͐͋̕e̴͎͈͖̳͚̽͗̉̌̚͝͝.̶̦̞̪͍͎̍̃̿̍̏̇"̶̻̀̀͌͌́̂͠
The boy didn't care so much what those sounds meant; the threat didn't go away. Harry didn't have time to take a step as the wrongness in the air suddenly increased and disappeared in a second, as if it had never existed. The footsteps on the fourth floor also stopped, leaving behind only heavy breathing.
"Oh. That's not good." Harry heard Professor Sprout's voice from above. "What did he do this time...? Dumbledore didn't say something like this could happen."
Her voice was agitated, bordering on panic and for a moment, Harry didn't know what to do. On the one hand, this is another dangerous situation that he could get involved in in the future and it was better to know at least something in advance. On the other hand, he really didn't want to know any more of the school's terrifying secrets. What he did knew, was enough for now.
And so, Harry, for the first time in a long while, did what he considered to be the smart thing. He turned around and walked briskly back to the Gryffindor Tower. Tonight, was just a small warning for him and nothing more.
The same couldn't be said about the culprit of the incident. For him, tonight was the culmination of two weeks of work and the reaping of results, even if he didn't know that he was doing something at all.
Magic runes were an interesting thing. They made it possible for wizards to attach a magical effect to any object or place on a permanent basis or at least for a long time. Yes, this was done mainly by professionals in their field, especially when it came to something serious, but this did not stop the newcomers overflowing with enthusiasm and arrogance.
Dan wasn't adept in Rune magic. He couldn't even be called interested right now; he was too busy studying the basics of magic to understand the material of the third year. Yes, he wanted to start studying runes later, after creating a suitable foundation of knowledge, but apparently the universe decided to speed up this process.
... Well, or the Traveler. One of the two.
"Albus, I have no idea what these Runes mean." Bathsheda Babbling, professor of Ancient Runes, confessed. She knew a lot and undoubtedly deserved her post as a teacher at Hogwarts, but that didn't mean she knew everything. "The main point is protection and recovery, it's obvious, but it's hard to say what kind of protection and how this recovery goes. Merlin's Beard, I'm not sure however you did, boy," she muttered towards Dan, "this scheme doesn't even use anchor points! The magic just concentrates from the surroundings. That shouldn't be possible."
Dumbledore examined the runes on the walls of Dan's room with interest. He had never had to work with Farlander's Wards before, simply because they all stopped working overtime. His old friend wasn't interested in wards enough to sit down for their training seriously or teach others.
Now he had a someone capable of creating Farlander's Wards, but who had no idea how he did it. Dumbledore believed that the situation could have been worse.
"Is it safe?" The old wizard asked first.
"Yes... At least I don't see any signs of malicious magic. The most that these Wards will do is stop the intrusion into the room from the outside. But I don't like how the appearance of these Wards can affect the Wards of Hogwarts." Batsheda declared, throwing Dan a displeased look. He didn't understand how his skinny ass was to blame for this, but so far, he decided to keep silent, least he draws the woman's wrath upon himself.
"It is most unusual." Dumbledore began, "I could've never imagined that something like this was possible without a wardstone. Arwen theorized about such a possibility, but he wasn't versed nether in Runes, nor in Wards."
"Can it wait until morning?" Dan asked curiously. "You people have things to do in the morning, why are you both still here?"
For Dan, tonight was not the most pleasant. Waking up exhausted in the middle of the room was already enough for confusion, the fact that glowing symbols appeared on the walls was a little worse. But the realization that all this time he got up at night and carved runes on the walls like a mad lunatic... It scared him.
If he did something like that just by walking in his sleep, what else could he do? What should he expect from himself? Gods know that he didn't want to wake up one day in the middle of the Great Hall with someone's torn robe in his hands.
.. Maybe Luna was right, maybe he really was an Umgubular Slashkilter and didn't know it himself.
"Mr. Khromov, we put the safety of Hogwarts and its students first." Babbling frowned disapprovingly. "Whatever incredible thing you've done to your room, if it interferes with the castle's defenses, we'll have to remove it."
Dumbledore, who was almost lost in his own thoughts again, shook his head. "No, the boy is right, Batsheda. It's long past our bedtime, Pomona had the right idea. Why would we worry about something that we can't even fix at the moment?" The old man turned to Dan, sending him a small nod. "Good dreams to you. And Batsheda, I advise you to rest, your classes start early tomorrow."
Dan was hoping for a dramatic departure from the Headmaster, but the man just turned around and headed back to his rooms. Dan and Batsheda followed suit, even if the Ancient Runes teacher sent dirty looks in the direction of the monster boy.
Suffice to say, neither Harry nor Dan were able to catch much sleep that night.