Safe. Peace. Quiet.
All of the things Chris wanted were there and she couldn't be happier. But why wasn't she happy? Everything was fine, right? Everything should be fine. Yet, sothing was missing. Sothing big. Sothing that was on her mind before this feeling of comfort took over. What was she thinking before? Why couldn't she rember? Why did this comforting feeling feel wrong? Where was she before?
. . . Hogwarts. She was in Hogwarts.
Chris's groggy mind tried to make sense but couldn't until everything ca back to her. The battle. Oziyat, Rosaline, and other vampire guardians. Gweneth's betrayal to her own kind and then . . . soone calling her na.
Chris tried to open her eyes in a jolt but still her eyes felt glued shut and her spinning head didn't help either. But after struggling for a few more minutes she finally opened her eyes and blinked. The scene in front of her chilled her bones to the core.
She was sitting in the middle of a destroyed Hogwarts. The school was in complete rune. And she was sitting on the wreckage of it.
"NO. NO. NO!" Chris scread as she stood still feeling a bit disoriented. What the hell happened? When did this happen? Why couldn't she rember?
"I see the Protector of Hogwarts is awake," a familiar cold voice taunted.
Chris's head snapped towards the owner of the voice as her hands reached for her wand but she found nothing in her pocket. Her wand wasn't with her. So she aid her open palm at him, her eyes ablaze as they set on Maligno's malicious and mocking gaze. Fergus was right, he did look stronger than any ti Chris had seen him before. He didn't look as pale and his skin didn't look broken like a wrinkled paper. There was also this aura around him which didn't feel right to Chris.
"Maligno . . ." the na left Chris's mouth with great difficulty. Her teeth grinded as she spoke, "What are you --?"
"Everything is in front of your eyes, Christina," Maligno gave a cold-blooded smile but showed no sign of attacking her. "You don't need to ask questions if you don't like it."
Chris stared at him feeling dizzy, but eventually, she turned to look around to see the rune again. She wanted to call out to Harry . . . to Ginny, Luna, and Colin. Or maybe Fergus. There was no way they were all gone, especially when Oziyat and the vampires were . . .
Oziyat, Rosaline, and the other vampires. Maligno couldn't have defeated them that easily, could he? There was no way.
"How did you enter Hogwarts ground?" Chris asked slowly looking at him.
But to her surprise, Maligno chuckled.
"Are you still having doubts about silly things like that? Do you really believe your little friends could stop from getting what I want? Dear Christina, I think this whole winning or should I say the illusion of winning again and again has made you arrogant and ignorant. Are you forgetting who am I? In front of , you all are re children."
A new dread washed over Chris because Maligno was right. He did live for thousands of years and Fergus already warned her about how if destroys the entire school there is a chance he could enter the grounds easily. Chris didn't give away how she was feeling, instead, she looked around the destroyed school again. There was no one anywhere. Not a single sign of anyone as far as she could see.
That was not right.
"Where is your army, Maligno? Where are Riddle and his death eaters? You may be as old as the school itself but I haven't forgotten how weak you are. There is no way you killed Riddle. Because we both know he can't be killed that easily," Chris t Maligno's eyes defiantly and straightened her shoulders. Even if this was the end for her and everything, she wouldn't cower in fear in front of him.
"More than you know," Maligno laughed. "I know about this situation and what is about to happen more than you, little girl, and that's why you can never win. No matter how hard you try. The outco will always be this."
Maligno gestured around the ruined school with a faraway look on her face and in that mont everything clicked in Chris's brain.
"This is one of your illusions, isn't it? To make stop fighting you? I was starting to wonder why you haven't made your move yet," Chris rolled her eyes. "And what a move, huh? At least, Riddle had the decency to fight Harry fair and square, but here you are trying to scare so I back out and give you the keys. Marvelous plan."
Maligino stared at Chris for a mont before he threw his head back and burst out laughing.
"I must say, the founders chose well. I always thought when the chosen one of the founders, the protector of Hogwarts arrived, I would have to fight a serious middle-aged powerful wizard, that's the biggest reason I kept an eye on Dumbledore since he beca a teacher at Hogwarts but honestly, I'm glad the founders chose a little girl like you. It was fascinating to watch you struggle and lose to beco the witch you are now. Fascinating, truly."
"As much as I would like to know your opinions of , I do not have ti for this," Chris said looking irritated, while she tried to think of ways to escape this illusion. "Is this your brilliant plan to capture here as long as you can?"
"You wound , little girl. Now that would be so easy and honestly, very insulting. No, I just brought you here for a little chat, that's all," Maligno smiled, his yellow panther-like eyes gleaming. "You see I wasn't joking when I said you would lose, there is no other way. The only way, however, you can choose is how you want to lose."
"Malgino, I swear --" Chris began angrily but Maligno waved his hand cutting her off.
"You should stop overestimating yourself, girl, and do not interrupt ," Maligno's smile thinned for a second. "As I was saying, your defeat is certain. You see, little girl, since I have learned to do magic I have always learned to have a backup plan, to improvise and adapt to the situation and my surroundings and that is how I have survived for so many years. Yes, you have foiled a few of my plans in the past but unlike you I never expected it to be easy. And that's why when the opportunity presented itself, I knew exactly how to utilize it."
Maligno's smile widened and a peaceful look took over his face as he looked around the wreckage of Hogwarts, which terrified Chris more than anything Maligno said before this.
"Little girl, this may not be the real Hogwarts right now but in the real one, there are four runes drawn on the four corners of Hogwarts, do you know what are they for?" Maligno looked at Chris as if he was teaching Chris sothing in a class and expected her to answer like a student but Chris said nothing so he went on looking disappointed. "I thought you knew how runes worked, how they gave more life."
Finally, Chris understood what he ant. But he couldn't possibly an what Chris thought he ant, could he?
"Why do you have runes marked around Hogwarts, Maligno?" She asked as fear gripped her heart.
"The sa reason I'm alive for so many years, little girl, I am going to drain the entire magic and life force of Hogwarts including the people in it and once there is no Hogwarts, there is no need for the keys. Do you understand why you are useless to now? I an I would have preferred if you give the keys and save your friends and teachers' lives and make this a less ssy affair but you have made clear you are not interested in it, so you leave no choice."
Every word of Maligno physically hit Chris, trying to suffocate her and make her believe that he was telling the truth but Chris had learned not to believe anything that man said. She wasn't going to take the bait that easily. He was just trying to play mind gas with her like always, right?
"You are bluffing," Chris raised her voice. "There is no way you can do that or else you would have done it sooner."
"Good observation, but you are wrong, I couldn't do it before but now I definitely can. Because now my dear, the protections are broken. The protection around Hogwarts that protected the school from foreign powers, and do you know who broke it?" Maligno stared at Chris with a nacing smile as her heart dropped. "It's your favorite vampires. They broke it when they entered the school and felt resistance, unaware that it would break a protection charm, but I already knew. I knew about the protection, I knew about their extre powers, I knew they would co to help you and I knew how it would help ."
"Because you stole that book from the vampires," Chris mumbled, her lips felt cold and numb, her entire body felt cold and numb. Maligno wasn't lying, he really was going to drain all life from Hogwarts, he would kill everyone and take all of the energy as his life force like he did countless tis. The only way to stop would be to give him the keys but that would also an they lost. She really was going to lose . . .
Chris's throat closed up and she started to have had ti breathing but she refused to look weak in front of Maligno, no matter how hopeless she felt.
"If you really can win that easily, what's the point of this little chat? In fact, what's the point of this whole war?" Chris spoke with as much as nonchalance she could master.
Maligno chuckled and shook his head.
"Oh my dear, little girl, you still haven't understood, this whole war was a distraction, Voldemort himself is a distraction. He and his death eaters will die as soon as I drain all the power from Hogwarts, and the point of this chat is that even though I don't need the keys, I would like to have them. For one, I don't have to kill so many people, and two, most importantly, I would be defeating the founders once and for all. Especially, that Helga Hufflepuff. Underestimating her was everyone's biggest mistake. I should have dealt with her in the first place but like everyone else, I was fooled by her nice exterior too. But if you admit your defeat and hand over the keys, it would sa as defeating her. Though there is no glory in defeating a 16-year-old, you being her bloodline and chosen by all four of them is a glorious win to ."
"So that's all this is about, you taking revenge from the founders through ?" Chris lashed out. Fear and hopelessness burst out as outrage.
"No," Maligno laughed. "It's about taking my rightful place in this world, it's about winning after all of the efforts those founders put on to stop . It's to rule this world and create order. Sothing I planned to do a thousand years ago, but these founders got in the way."
"The founders got in the way?" Chris spoke incredulously. "It's their power that you are trying to take!"
"No, it wasn't just theirs! It was supposed to be passed down, it was supposed to be given. It was supposed to be mine and his--!" The smile disappeared from Maligno's face and he spat his words in annoyance but as soon as he said the last words he fell silent.
His. He said it was supposed to be his and soone else. Chris knew exactly who he was talking about.
"Yours and Fergus's, you an," Chris said calmly and for the first ti, she saw Malgino losing control.
In a flash, he was in front of her. Before Chris could understand what was happening, Maligno wrapped his fingers around Chris's throat and lifted her off the ground.
"How do you know about him?"
[To be continued]
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