I was much more nervous going down underground than previously. I knew the same people who kidnapped Quincy used this route to move around, so I was sure I would find her. I kept my eyes open and my nose sharp, wanting to pick up on any movement in the dark before they could sense me.
"Wet dogs..." I whispered as the air had a thin trail of that particular smell. Not that I was complaining, no... I was following it. It led me forward, straight into a wall with the familiar markings. When I pushed it open, I was looking down into a stairway leading even deeper underground, speeding up my heartbeat. "Shit!"
I felt it. The moment I stepped over the threshold, I picked up on a whiff of magic, speeding away from my position. It had to be a silent alarm, alerting others that a door had been opened. There was no time to dawdle, and I broke out in a sprint, casting counter spells in case some hexes started flying my way.
And they did.
"Protego!"
I shouted, erecting a shield charm at the last moment before an invisible fireball could hit me. It exploded against my shield, throwing sparks and flames everywhere, lighting up the long tunnel that opened up into a round chamber. I could see multiple doors on the wall, leading to who knows where, but I had no time to think about it.
"Solidifico!"
With a jump and a precise aim at my feet, I managed to create a stable surface to stand on as the ground below my feet turned into quicksand, trying to pull me under, either killing me or trapping me in place. I watched as the earth began sinking, now golden in color like the Shara's dunes. With another spell, I pointed at one of the doors randomly, opening it up, but sand started pouring out instead of an escape route. Luckily, my second try was a success, as the tunnel behind it was dark but stable. With a quick flick, I propelled myself forward, gliding through the air, landing in the tunnel just to lose all balance as it began rotating about.
"Epoximise!"
I had to think fast, gluing myself to the ground to stay afoot, but it didn't help the fact that the feeling of vertigo was making me nauseous. The whole world was spinning, and it was going faster and faster. I was trying to close my eyes and get my bearings when I felt a spell heading towards me, and my body reacted on its own.
As the two jets of red light clashed, a second one headed towards me from the room where I came from, making me raise another shield charm, fending it off. Still, there was a limit to what I could do as a third one was already coming, aiming at the gap in my defenses.
"Expelliarmus!" I recognized that voice the moment it appeared, and the spell hit the third one, blocking it for me. "STOP! NOW!"
"Father..." I whispered, opening my eyes as the turning of the room slowed down, and I managed to regain my sense of direction. I still felt horrible, but now I could finally see that at the end of the tunnel stood a red-haired man with a disfigured face. He was the first one who attacked me. Looking behind my shoulders, I saw that the circular room had already returned to normal, and three people stood there, one of them being my Father, with wands out and pointing them toward me.
"What is the meaning of this?" The red-haired man asked, his voice raspy and cold.
"I am here to ask the same thing," Father replied, not lowering his hand. "I received news that you kidnapped my daughter-in-law and have to return to find you attacking my son?"
"She is my daughter! She wasn't kidnapped!" One of the men shouted back, making me look at his disheveled, bum-like appearance... I see. He must be Regulus Black. The other one is Sirius, then. The doggy-brothers. Fitting. No wonder they look like some mangy strays.
"Stop it." Echoed a new voice, much older, calmer, and commanding. Even I began lowering my wand before stopping my hand from following the strange order. With another turn, I looked at an old figure emerging next to the red-haired guy, and I didn't need introductions to realize it was Dumbledore. "This has been spiraling out of control since the day you two left our Sanctuary without my permission. So this will end now!"
"Will it?" I asked, interrupting them.
"It will." The man next to Dumbledore said, and I saw him raise his hand, just moving it for an inch before a red light passed beside my body, curving unnaturally as it hit his hand, flinging the wand from between his fingers.
"Try it, Weasley, and it will be the last thing you do in this life." Now that is the Father I remember... I don't care what he is doing here; he is my Father, and he is on my side.
"Relax, Angus," Dumbledore said, raising one hand before turning towards the man called Weasley. "You too, Charlie. Go back to your post! Sirius, Regulus, go ahead and check the tunnels! We can't have another visitor right now! Angus, Young Conrad, this way, please!"
I was still stuck on the floor, but with a gentle flick of his wand, Dumbledore easily unglued me while my Father walked past the others, standing behind me with a troubled, painful, yet proud expression.
"I know you have questions..." He whispered as he led me forward.
"Yes, but I won't ask them. I will trust your decisions, Dad! I am here for Quincy..."
"We will get her back." He smiled, squeezing my shoulder. "I am proud of you, Son. More than you think! I didn't want you to get this involved... the less you know, the safer you will be."
"I don't think I can be any safer, not after, well, last year."
"Maybe you are right... but as your Father, I wanted to do all I could to ensure you are in the least danger."
"Fate has a weird humor." Dumbledore interjected as we reached another room with only a round table and a few chairs. Soon, floating teacups arrived, but I was not in the mood to take either of them, no matter how playfully they were bobbing up and down before me. "It isn't poisoned." The old wizard smiled, taking one and sipping on it.
"Thank you, but I am not thirsty." I refused verbally, and he didn't seem to mind.
"Why didn't you turn into a snake?" He asked, making me and my Father flinch. In such a weird way, he was letting us know that he had already interrogated Quincy.
"I wouldn't have fit into the tunnel."
"But you could have killed them." He countered sharply.
"I am here for Quincy. That is all. It is harder to escape if others are chasing me with a vengeance."
"I see." I couldn't tell if he was impressed or not, as his voice remained calm and conversational throughout our brief exchange. "Angus, you should have not come here."
"I left behind a decoy clone; as long as another Death Eater doesn't come, I can be missing for a few hours. I am here for Quincy."
"Ah yes... Quincy." He shrugged, making my heart skip a beat. "Don't worry, young man, she is fine. She just refuses to eat or drink, so she is in a... troubled state."
"..."
"Now!" He clapped, wiping his lips after emptying his cup and looking at both of us, "Here is the problem! Or... in the two children's heads, to be precise! Memories of this place must be purged!"
"You want to burn me with blue flames?" I asked sarcastically, but Dumbledore only glanced at me without saying a word.
"You will drink... this." I recognized the flask... it was a Thought Eraser elixir.
"Heh!" I scoffed, looking at him like he just asked me to kill myself.
"It is a specific brew. It will erase your memories up to the point of Quincy's disappearance. It is either this... or nothing."
"No deal."
It was not me who said it, but my Father. It was the first time I saw genuine surprise arising in the old fogey's eyes, looking up at my Father from behind his half-moon spectacles.
"Use memory charms, altering his memories of today's events or nothing." Okay... now it was my time to be surprised, but I remained silent. "If you try forcing Conrad or Quincy to drink that, go and find another wizard to do my job!"
"Angus..." He whispered, but it was not a friendly voice.
"I am not kidding, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. This. Or nothing." I had no idea what was going on; I just knew that whatever Dumbledore wanted, my Father had the upper hand in this conversation.
"So be it."
His answer was so quick that I barely managed to feel the underlying coldness and frustration. I wanted to speak, but then a spell flung at me faster than anything I had ever seen. It hit me on the forehead, and then everything went dark. The last thing I thought of was that not even my Father could react to it.
....
.....
.......
"I will destroy this," Dumbledore said, letting the memories of Conrad swirl above his palm. "Don't worry, he is uninjured. But we have little time to waste."
Angus said nothing in the end, just leaned down, picking up his son's limp body.
"You must come with me and persuade the young lady, as she is most reluctant to cooperate with us. I am willing to risk this as we are in the final stretch. Don't fail me, Angus Anguine! Don't become like the Black brothers!"
"I already told you. I will fight the Dark Lord myself, giving you enough time to find his Horcruxes in the castle and destroy them. That was our deal from the start."
"I'm just afraid that you will falter in the last moment because of the child you hold in your arms. To give us the chance, you must go all out."
"I raised him well. He is already becoming independent and no longer needs my protection. He found your place without me and infiltrated your base!" Angus added with a visible smirk on his face, unseen by Dumbledore, as he walked ahead of the two.
"Yes... yes, he did." The old wizard hummed, looking at the memories within his fingers, wanting to inspect them, but there was no time for it. Not with Angus being here, so he simply crushed it, destroying all of it. "I will implant new memories into the kids. It will be your job to create a scene for their return."
"It will be done, and don't worry. I know my task, and I will perform it well."
"The ties of a family are always the ones that cause problems in all plans under the moon... It did so almost a hundred years ago, and it is doing it right now!" Dumbledore murmured to himself, not minding Angus listening in, "This is one advantage that Tom has over us..."
...
....
......
When I woke up, I felt my head whirling around, surrounded by thick smoke rising toward the sky. I was surrounded by dead spiders and saw Quincy, cocooned, wrapped up in a nasty sleeping bag made of spider silk. But finally, I found her and she was now safe!
"No..." I groaned, holding my head, feeling it thumping. That was not right.
"Of course it isn't." A voice chuckled within me as my blood began heating up. It was like someone turned on a heater within me as bubbles of memories started emerging from my blood. Very quickly, a red mist washed away the fake memories, replacing them with those that Albus Dumbledore thought he had ripped out of me. Yes... Now I remember.
"Damn..." I coughed, spitting out a bit of rancid-smelling blood. "It's no time to wonder... Quincy!" I rushed to her, freeing her from her weird prison, seeing her awful state. "All is good now... yes... all is fine!" I whispered, picking her up and hugging her close. First, I had to bring her back. Then? I can sit down and sort out my memories and decide what is real and fake.
I was much more nervous going down underground than previously. I knew the same people who kidnapped Quincy used this route to move around, so I was sure I would find her. I kept my eyes open and my nose sharp, wanting to pick up on any movement in the dark before they could sense me.
"Wet dogs..." I whispered as the air had a thin trail of that particular smell. Not that I was complaining, no... I was following it. It led me forward, straight into a wall with the familiar markings. When I pushed it open, I was looking down into a stairway leading even deeper underground, speeding up my heartbeat. "Shit!"
I felt it. The moment I stepped over the threshold, I picked up on a whiff of magic, speeding away from my position. It had to be a silent alarm, alerting others that a door had been opened. There was no time to dawdle, and I broke out in a sprint, casting counter spells in case some hexes started flying my way.
And they did.
"Protego!"
I shouted, erecting a shield charm at the last moment before an invisible fireball could hit me. It exploded against my shield, throwing sparks and flames everywhere, lighting up the long tunnel that opened up into a round chamber. I could see multiple doors on the wall, leading to who knows where, but I had no time to think about it.
"Solidifico!"
With a jump and a precise aim at my feet, I managed to create a stable surface to stand on as the ground below my feet turned into quicksand, trying to pull me under, either killing me or trapping me in place. I watched as the earth began sinking, now golden in color like the Shara's dunes. With another spell, I pointed at one of the doors randomly, opening it up, but sand started pouring out instead of an escape route. Luckily, my second try was a success, as the tunnel behind it was dark but stable. With a quick flick, I propelled myself forward, gliding through the air, landing in the tunnel just to lose all balance as it began rotating about.
"Epoximise!"
I had to think fast, gluing myself to the ground to stay afoot, but it didn't help the fact that the feeling of vertigo was making me nauseous. The whole world was spinning, and it was going faster and faster. I was trying to close my eyes and get my bearings when I felt a spell heading towards me, and my body reacted on its own.
As the two jets of red light clashed, a second one headed towards me from the room where I came from, making me raise another shield charm, fending it off. Still, there was a limit to what I could do as a third one was already coming, aiming at the gap in my defenses.
"Expelliarmus!" I recognized that voice the moment it appeared, and the spell hit the third one, blocking it for me. "STOP! NOW!"
"Father..." I whispered, opening my eyes as the turning of the room slowed down, and I managed to regain my sense of direction. I still felt horrible, but now I could finally see that at the end of the tunnel stood a red-haired man with a disfigured face. He was the first one who attacked me. Looking behind my shoulders, I saw that the circular room had already returned to normal, and three people stood there, one of them being my Father, with wands out and pointing them toward me.
"What is the meaning of this?" The red-haired man asked, his voice raspy and cold.
"I am here to ask the same thing," Father replied, not lowering his hand. "I received news that you kidnapped my daughter-in-law and have to return to find you attacking my son?"
"She is my daughter! She wasn't kidnapped!" One of the men shouted back, making me look at his disheveled, bum-like appearance... I see. He must be Regulus Black. The other one is Sirius, then. The doggy-brothers. Fitting. No wonder they look like some mangy strays.
"Stop it." Echoed a new voice, much older, calmer, and commanding. Even I began lowering my wand before stopping my hand from following the strange order. With another turn, I looked at an old figure emerging next to the red-haired guy, and I didn't need introductions to realize it was Dumbledore. "This has been spiraling out of control since the day you two left our Sanctuary without my permission. So this will end now!"
"Will it?" I asked, interrupting them.
"It will." The man next to Dumbledore said, and I saw him raise his hand, just moving it for an inch before a red light passed beside my body, curving unnaturally as it hit his hand, flinging the wand from between his fingers.
"Try it, Weasley, and it will be the last thing you do in this life." Now that is the Father I remember... I don't care what he is doing here; he is my Father, and he is on my side.
"Relax, Angus," Dumbledore said, raising one hand before turning towards the man called Weasley. "You too, Charlie. Go back to your post! Sirius, Regulus, go ahead and check the tunnels! We can't have another visitor right now! Angus, Young Conrad, this way, please!"
I was still stuck on the floor, but with a gentle flick of his wand, Dumbledore easily unglued me while my Father walked past the others, standing behind me with a troubled, painful, yet proud expression.
"I know you have questions..." He whispered as he led me forward.
"Yes, but I won't ask them. I will trust your decisions, Dad! I am here for Quincy..."
"We will get her back." He smiled, squeezing my shoulder. "I am proud of you, Son. More than you think! I didn't want you to get this involved... the less you know, the safer you will be."
"I don't think I can be any safer, not after, well, last year."
"Maybe you are right... but as your Father, I wanted to do all I could to ensure you are in the least danger."
"Fate has a weird humor." Dumbledore interjected as we reached another room with only a round table and a few chairs. Soon, floating teacups arrived, but I was not in the mood to take either of them, no matter how playfully they were bobbing up and down before me. "It isn't poisoned." The old wizard smiled, taking one and sipping on it.
"Thank you, but I am not thirsty." I refused verbally, and he didn't seem to mind.
"Why didn't you turn into a snake?" He asked, making me and my Father flinch. In such a weird way, he was letting us know that he had already interrogated Quincy.
"I wouldn't have fit into the tunnel."
"But you could have killed them." He countered sharply.
"I am here for Quincy. That is all. It is harder to escape if others are chasing me with a vengeance."
"I see." I couldn't tell if he was impressed or not, as his voice remained calm and conversational throughout our brief exchange. "Angus, you should have not come here."
"I left behind a decoy clone; as long as another Death Eater doesn't come, I can be missing for a few hours. I am here for Quincy."
"Ah yes... Quincy." He shrugged, making my heart skip a beat. "Don't worry, young man, she is fine. She just refuses to eat or drink, so she is in a... troubled state."
"..."
"Now!" He clapped, wiping his lips after emptying his cup and looking at both of us, "Here is the problem! Or... in the two children's heads, to be precise! Memories of this place must be purged!"
"You want to burn me with blue flames?" I asked sarcastically, but Dumbledore only glanced at me without saying a word.
"You will drink... this." I recognized the flask... it was a Thought Eraser elixir.
"Heh!" I scoffed, looking at him like he just asked me to kill myself.
"It is a specific brew. It will erase your memories up to the point of Quincy's disappearance. It is either this... or nothing."
"No deal."
It was not me who said it, but my Father. It was the first time I saw genuine surprise arising in the old fogey's eyes, looking up at my Father from behind his half-moon spectacles.
"Use memory charms, altering his memories of today's events or nothing." Okay... now it was my time to be surprised, but I remained silent. "If you try forcing Conrad or Quincy to drink that, go and find another wizard to do my job!"
"Angus..." He whispered, but it was not a friendly voice.
"I am not kidding, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. This. Or nothing." I had no idea what was going on; I just knew that whatever Dumbledore wanted, my Father had the upper hand in this conversation.
"So be it."
His answer was so quick that I barely managed to feel the underlying coldness and frustration. I wanted to speak, but then a spell flung at me faster than anything I had ever seen. It hit me on the forehead, and then everything went dark. The last thing I thought of was that not even my Father could react to it.
....
.....
.......
"I will destroy this," Dumbledore said, letting the memories of Conrad swirl above his palm. "Don't worry, he is uninjured. But we have little time to waste."
Angus said nothing in the end, just leaned down, picking up his son's limp body.
"You must come with me and persuade the young lady, as she is most reluctant to cooperate with us. I am willing to risk this as we are in the final stretch. Don't fail me, Angus Anguine! Don't become like the Black brothers!"
"I already told you. I will fight the Dark Lord myself, giving you enough time to find his Horcruxes in the castle and destroy them. That was our deal from the start."
"I'm just afraid that you will falter in the last moment because of the child you hold in your arms. To give us the chance, you must go all out."
"I raised him well. He is already becoming independent and no longer needs my protection. He found your place without me and infiltrated your base!" Angus added with a visible smirk on his face, unseen by Dumbledore, as he walked ahead of the two.
"Yes... yes, he did." The old wizard hummed, looking at the memories within his fingers, wanting to inspect them, but there was no time for it. Not with Angus being here, so he simply crushed it, destroying all of it. "I will implant new memories into the kids. It will be your job to create a scene for their return."
"It will be done, and don't worry. I know my task, and I will perform it well."
"The ties of a family are always the ones that cause problems in all plans under the moon... It did so almost a hundred years ago, and it is doing it right now!" Dumbledore murmured to himself, not minding Angus listening in, "This is one advantage that Tom has over us..."
...
....
......
When I woke up, I felt my head whirling around, surrounded by thick smoke rising toward the sky. I was surrounded by dead spiders and saw Quincy, cocooned, wrapped up in a nasty sleeping bag made of spider silk. But finally, I found her and she was now safe!
"No..." I groaned, holding my head, feeling it thumping. That was not right.
"Of course it isn't." A voice chuckled within me as my blood began heating up. It was like someone turned on a heater within me as bubbles of memories started emerging from my blood. Very quickly, a red mist washed away the fake memories, replacing them with those that Albus Dumbledore thought he had ripped out of me. Yes... Now I remember.
"Damn..." I coughed, spitting out a bit of rancid-smelling blood. "It's no time to wonder... Quincy!" I rushed to her, freeing her from her weird prison, seeing her awful state. "All is good now... yes... all is fine!" I whispered, picking her up and hugging her close. First, I had to bring her back. Then? I can sit down and sort out my memories and decide what is real and fake.
