Chapter 55: The Black Beast
The next three weeks were hell again. I studied, studied, and studied some more, striving to meet the high standards Flitwick held me to.
My mothers looked into the young man's parents. They turned out to be ordinary businesspeople, not particularly wealthy, at least not by comparison with the Blacks or even the Delacours, who weren't themselves especially active in business.
They wanted to pull their son out of trouble, of course, but when a rather imposing gentleman paid them a visit and explained very plainly how a single phone call could demolish part of their business, they decided to cooperate and let the boy answer for his actions. They asked only that he not receive a custodial sentence. We promised to consider it, and my mothers ultimately decided not to push for jail time. Instead, the fellow would be kept in suspense for a very long time, thoroughly frightened, and then, with great apparent reluctance, be permitted to exchange a prison term for community service.
Fleur and Penny also stopped talking my ear off quite so much, for which I was grateful. Instead, Fleur took to massaging my head in the evenings, while Penny, still not especially skilled at it, did her best to work the tension out of the rest of me. The attention from my girls was very welcome, as was the way they made sure no one else pressed in on me too hard.
But all of that was beside the point.
What actually mattered was that I had been given another two days off, this time with advance warning, so I rented a small section of the wizarding beach and went to enjoy it with the whole company. My mothers joined us, as did the entire Delacour family, and even Flitwick. Quite a gathering, all told.
A sun lounger. An umbrella. The sea. Grilled meat.
What more could one want?
Oh, yes, two girls who, having gently elbowed a slightly put-out Daphne aside, were attending to my every need.
"This is perfect."
I stretched out and looked at the sea. The view was wonderful, although the more spectacular sight was Nymphadora, who was making enthusiastic use of the water and pausing periodically to strike rather dramatic poses.
"What on earth is she doing?"
Fleur hissed under her breath.
"Don't worry," said Penny. "They're too closely related. She's simply jealous that we're stealing her little brother away. She thinks we'll take him from her."
"Fine... I can bear it. She'll understand eventually that the only one with any claim to the little-sister role here is Gabrielle."
"I'm afraid none of us could possibly compete with her on that front."
"No... competing with her really is rather difficult."
Fleur looked over at her little sister, who was eating ice cream and apparently deep in conversation with Daphne. Or rather, not so much a conversation as a sustained monologue, with Gabrielle leaning close to Daphne's ear and showing absolutely no sign of letting go.
"The remarkable thing is that even you can't shake her off," said Penny.
"Well... I love her."
It came out sounding slightly flustered.
And so the first day of our vacation passed, listening to the girls chatter, wading into the water occasionally, eating grilled meat, and joining the conversation from time to time. I fully intended to spend the second day in exactly the same fashion. I was in a wonderful mood.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, several tears tore open in the air nearby, with a sound so terrible it went straight through you, a wrenching, rending noise, as though the very fabric of something was being torn apart.
Not portals. Tears in space.
Yes. That was a more accurate description.
And rather large creatures began pouring from those tears. In appearance they most resembled wolves, or very large dogs, though somewhat bigger than any dog, standing roughly chest-high to an average person. They were entirely black, with bone-white masks and bony growths jutting from their bodies.
"What the bloody hell?!"
I was on my feet the moment I heard the tearing sound, wand already in hand. I had kept it on me even at the beach, since we were in the wizarding quarter.
"Master. The girls are yours to protect."
"And you..."
Flitwick followed my gaze and understood. Nymphadora had left her wand behind when she went into the water and was staring at the chaos around her with undisguised shock and fear.
"Accio Nymphadora's wand."
I caught it as it flew to me and immediately sprinted toward her, channeling magic through my body to increase my speed. As I ran, I cast continuously, sending combat spells at the creatures, which kept pouring through without pause. They were not individually dangerous. I understood that the moment my first Sectumsempra passed clean through one, then through a second, before finally dissipating on the third. The problem was simply the sheer number of them.
A wordless flick of the wand. A wall of water rose before Nymphadora, freezing rapidly. It didn't have time to freeze solid. One creature slammed into it and crashed halfway through before the ice finally caught and held it fast.
"Here."
I'd reached her. I held out her wand. She snatched it immediately, nodded her thanks, and moved to stand beside me.
"Back to back."
She muttered something under her breath but pressed herself against me.
"Sectumsempra. Sectumsempra. Sectumsempra."
Three spells, each striking with a little more force than strictly necessary. I could afford the extra power with a wand in hand, and at this level of output I could cast all day. Those three spells alone tore through the small wave of creatures converging on us.
"We fall back to the others. One step at a time on my mark. Understood?"
"Yes... though you're keeping all the fun for yourself."
"Shut up. Fun? And what if a tear opens underwater and things start coming up from below? Will that be fun too?"
"Awaiting orders."
Nymphadora understood I was not in the mood to be trifled with. She stopped talking about anything irrelevant, and after that I simply cast Sectumsempra, which had already proven itself, at the oncoming creatures and called the march.
"Step... step... step... Sectumsempra. Step... step... Sectumsempra. Sectumsempra. Sectumsempra..."
I kept one eye on the rest of our group, but their situation was considerably better than ours. They had been able to form a circular defense, dividing into those maintaining shields and those attacking. Only Gabrielle stood at the very center, watching everything unfold with wide, frightened eyes.
"On my mark, run for the others."
"But..."
"Three, two, one. Run!"
I did not wait for a response. She obeyed, sprinting flat out toward the main group, drawing on her Metamorphmagus ability and flooding her body with magic. The moment she was clear, I unleashed a rapid volley of spells and ran after her.
"What do you need from me?"
I asked the moment I was back with our group.
"How much have you got left?"
Flitwick wore a fierce grin and was working his wand with remarkable precision, dispatching the creatures one after another. I checked my reserves and smiled slightly.
"Four hours if I cast hard. All day if it's only Sectumsempra."
"Then use Sectumsempra. It's shown itself to be effective enough."
"Understood."
I gave a short nod, took up position beside Flitwick under cover of Penny Clearwater's shielding spells, and began pouring Sectumsempra into the oncoming creatures, cutting their numbers down steadily.
Minute by minute.
Time passed, and at some point we simply became aware that there were no more enemies. The tears had closed. And still we stood in our circular formation, wands raised at nothing.
"What on earth was that?"
I tilted my head, thinking. Only one memory came to mind: Bleach. Hollows. But when I was old enough to gain access to the library, I found nothing about creatures like these. The bestiaries had been among the first things I looked through, purely because of the entertaining moving illustrations.
"I... I think I've read something like this somewhere."
Bellatrix said in a very uncertain voice.
"So have I."
Narcissa nodded.
"...or perhaps not read. Perhaps one of our relatives told me something similar when I was small."
Hmm. I seem to recall hearing something as well.
Flitwick looked deeply troubled.
"Right. I suggest we pack up immediately and get back to the house. We can contact the Delacours from there and try to find out what this was. Jean, as Head of the Auror Office, may know something."
"Papa would never...!"
I looked at Gabrielle in surprise.
"Little one, nobody is accusing your father of anything."
Fleur put an arm around her sister and threw me a sharp look.
"Gabi, Fleur is right. I may not know your father especially well, but I know him well enough to say that he loves you both more than his own life. And even if I had somehow managed to tread on his most cherished principle, he would never arrange an attack on me when you are nearby and could be hurt. And given what Fleur and I mean to each other, he would not do it at all. He would try to drive a wedge between us first, not this."
Fleur nodded slowly.
"So my words..."
I kept flicking my wand to pack up our things as I spoke.
"...didn't mean what you took them to mean. I only wanted to say that your father may have heard of similar incidents before and could help us understand what is going on."
"Oh."
The little one calmed down. My mother and I finished gathering everything, and the whole group moved toward the beach exit.
"Mother."
I gave Narcissa a disapproving look when she spotted an injured bystander and moved toward him.
"I know, sweetheart. But I am a Healer."
She looked at me steadily and walked on without hesitation. There was nothing for it. We halted our procession and set up a temporary camp, raising walls from the sand, arranging makeshift watchtowers, and establishing a space where the injured could be brought. A small illusion of a red cross over the improvised fortification let anyone who was hurt know exactly where to go.
"Hmm. I think this memory alone would be sufficient for Minerva to award you marks for second year, possibly third year as well."
"Could I take Defense Against the Dark Arts the same way?"
"Unfortunately not."
Flitwick shook his head.
"Not this year. I barely managed to arrange it with Dumbledore for you to take that exam early with a different examiner. The appointed teacher..."
I closed my eyes.
"No."
"Yes. Once again, entirely without merit."
"Would it be terribly forward of me to ask who will actually be teaching it?"
"Lockhart."
"No."
I shook my head.
"I'm afraid so."
I watched, only half-present, as Penny and Nymphadora stood on the watchtowers, scanning the surrounding area while the injured began making their way toward us.
"The man is a complete fraud."
"Let us... simply not continue this conversation. I sincerely hope the Headmaster will change his mind and not hire him, but something tells me he won't find another willing candidate."
I sighed.
"Blast."
At that moment, a series of cracks announced the arrival of Aurors, who took a moment to register that the situation was already resolved.
"Identify yourselves!"
Wands swung towards our improvised fortification.
"Uncle Thomas, tell Papa we're all right."
Fleur leaned out of the entrance so the senior Auror could see her face.
"Fleur?!"
He recognized her and came inside.
"Yes, I was here with Gabrielle and some friends, and..."
"Understood."
He conjured a Patronus and sent it to Monsieur Delacour. Most of his squad fanned out to survey the beach while the rest took up positions inside the fortification, reinforcing it with their own spells.
"The defenses are rather thin," Thomas observed.
"Bear in mind, Uncle, that a Hogwarts second-year built this in ten minutes."
"I beg your..."
"Yes. It's not elegant, and it wouldn't have held long under a sustained assault, but it would have bought time, and more importantly, it gave the defenders room to work. And most importantly of all..."
She nodded toward the building at the center.
"...his mother is in there. She's a Healer."
"Ahem. I see. My apologies."
The man met my eyes and gave a respectful nod.
"...but why didn't the others help build it?"
"Why would they?"
I shrugged.
"I built it myself, and the others saved their magic in case the creatures came back. Incidentally, do you happen to know what those creatures were?"
"No."
He answered too quickly. I noticed. So did everyone else.
The Creatures.
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