Chapter 14
The Key-makers
The Key-makers
Distant rumbles and shattering sounds filled the air around the castle. Well, if they were in the castle. Ashe and Lighte had been standing here for some moments already as there was no other form of exit around the domed room. There were only two passageways that broke the plain concrete walls of the place. One of the doors was the way where Ashe came from and the other is where Lighte came in and told her that the passage was a dead end.
“What do you think is happening upstairs?” Ashe asked all of the sudden.
“I have no idea.” Lighte replied quickly. “Me and my friend Ordin was one of the first few students to go out from out common rooms when the meeting was called. However, when we were halfway down the hallways, well, we came across Professor Flitwick and immediately sent me off. I don’t know why he was suddenly agitated and nervous when he saw me.”
Ashe looked at her intently and waited for her story to continue. “He brought me in his classroom, leaving Ordin somewhere down the hallway, telling him to wait. And suddenly, the walls broke to pieces like it was bewitched and revealed a passageway. He told me to go in and ask for help. I asked of Ordin could accompany me but denied the request. He said I need to ask help as soon as possible and quickly. However…”
“We’re stuck in this room, aren’t we?” a voice rang out.
With a blink of an eye, both Ashe and Lighte had their wands drawn out and pointed around the place. A third door appeared out of nowhere and revealed another girl whom they were not quite fond of. She had long blond hair and pale but strong facial features.
“Cissy? Cissy from Slytherin?!” Ashe exclaimed in shock of the person standing in front of her.
“What are you doing here?!” Lighte added, sounding aghast. She slowly lowered her wand and was followed by Ashe.
Both of them looked shocked but Cissy didn’t even give off a single reaction. She looked at the two with great apprehension with a slight touch of query.
“I was sent here by Professor Slughorn.” She said in a straight and emotionless tone.
Ashe suddenly gave off a surprising gasp and the other two turned to look at her. “Don’t you think it is quite strange that the staff of Hogwarts seem to send us off for help?”
“Uh… No?” Lighte said.
“Look! One from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin! Doesn’t that make sense? Maybe we’re something that the school wants to protect!”
Cissy shook his head. “Ashe, listen, you’re Ashe right? Okay, listen. This is not a game. Someone just tried to kill Professor Slughorn in our common room when he refused to cooperate with them. He sent me to ask for help and I will. And it does make sense that I was sent for help and just me for not the enemy to realize that someone or a student is missing. Clear?”
“How about us? What about Lighte that instead of being accompanied by her friend, Professor Flitwick denied her as she needed to ask help quickly?”
“Maybe he did want me to find help quickly?” Lighte asked.
Ashe scoffed. “Something is happening here and people want us safe and sound! There must be something we hold or possess that is of great importance! There must be!”
“But Ashe… we’re not princesses or prophets or story heroes! We’re students!”
“Are you, now?” another voice filled the room again that made all three of them to point their wands around. After some moment of searching, a shocking image came to their senses. A man whom they don’t know was standing on a fourth door with a wide grin on his face. His arms were outstretched and two men were hanging in the air obviously being lifted by him. With a strong wave, he threw the two at the ground near them.
Ashe and Lighte gasped in shock while Cissy glared at him when they saw who the two were. Lying on the ground was Neville Longbottom, unconscious and the other, Ian from Hufflepuff, who was slightly conscious. Lighte dashed towards him and examined his wounds.
“Who are you?!” Cissy snapped at the man.
The man nodded respectfully at her. “Leon Fangs, a werewolf. Pleased to meet you, Key-maker of Slytherin.”
The rest of the girls turned to face him and looked dumbfounded. “What did you just call me?” Cissy asked, still pointing her wand at him.
“Key-maker of Slytherin. Wait, you don’t know?”
“What is the meaning if this?!” Ashe yelled at the man, obviously scared of his presence. “Why are you calling Cissy the Key-maker of Slytherin?!”
The man laughed heartily. “My, my, so you girls don’t know?”
And Lighte suddenly gave off a loud gasp. “Leon Fangs… I know you! You’re a famous scholar of the Department of Mysteries! You disappeared for several months after the breakout of Alvis Aoi in Azkaban! I heard my father talking about you! You’re labeled by the Ministry as deceased! How-How come you’re here?!”
“A scholar of the Department of Mysteries?! A werewolf?!” Cissy exclaimed.
She shook her head and then turned to look at the man again. “No. He was not a werewolf before.”
“Clever girl!” Leon said cheerily. “No wonder you became the Key-maker of Ravenclaw!”
The all fell silent at once and gazed at the man with sudden shock in their faces. Leon gave off a short chuckle and then smiled at them. “Hogwarts is a place full of mystery. Yes, indeed, even the famous Albus Dumbledore failed to know all of its secrets. But there’s this important treasure that the school hides. Oh, how difficult the key of the treasure to find. You see, four souls must join forces in order to ‘calibrate’ the key to the treasure. However, the souls never existed on the same eras; they were always separated.
“We’ve got Tom Marvolo Riddle who was the Key of Slytherin, who in coincidence, also the Heir of Slytherin. Fascinating, is it not?” he paused for a moment to allow the figures to sink in the girl’s heads. “So, what do we have else? Hepzibah Smith, oh that old fool, she was in fact the Key of Hufflepuff! Helena Ravenclaw, was the Key of Ravenclaw. And as far as we could tell, Albus Dumbledore was the Key of Gryffindor. And now…
“… Is the best of all the years, because this year, the four key-makers of Hogwarts all came in the same time! Isn’t that nice?”
Ashe shook her head, looking scandalized. “Wha-What are you talking about?!”
“Can’t you see?!” Cissy yelled at her. “They’re infiltrating Hogwarts because of the treasure! And the treasure needs a key! Without a key-maker, there’s no key. So, I am sorry to say that we are in fact the key-makers in this story.”
Lighte looked at her with her mouth open, while holding Ian tightly. “You, me, Ashe and Ian are the key-makers?” she asked, tears falling on her cheeks.
Cissy nodded and then Leon laughed. “Correct! And now, to avoid more confrontations, how do I say this, come quietly?”
“Come quietly, my a**!” Cissy yelled and then with a short swish of her wand, a loud explosion occurred in the middle of the room. Due to the intensity of the spell, Ashe, Neville, Ian and Lighte flew outwards and slammed to the walls of the room. When they all recovered from the sudden attack, they saw Cissy and Leon on wandlock.
She was shouting her lungs out as their spells connected in the middle, forming a huge ball of flame, like the sun. The room was filled with light and wind howled inside savagely. The rest of them were astonished to see Cissy using such high spells non-verbally. She made another wave of her hand and the ball of flame glided sideways and crashed into the walls, virtually destroying half of the room.
Leon looked shocked as he tried his best blocking the hexes she sent at him. Bright sparks emanated all around him as she waved her wand here and there. Occasionally, a spell or two would ricochet and hit some part of the room.
“Futile efforts, Key-maker!” Leon yelled at the top of his lungs.
And there was another bright flash of light and Cissy flew across the room and slammed with great impact at the wall.
But before he could even speak again, Ashe and Lighte dashed towards him and began another fierce duel at him. Their spells were unusually weak compared to the spells Cissy used so Leon had no problems blocking it and from time to time, he gave off a short chuckle.
“You’ve got to do better than that!” he yelled and a long silver rope burst from the tip of his wand and entangled Lighte’s feet and resulted her fall at the ground. Ashe, however, was thoughtless of the spells she casted and in a split second, she was hurling into the air and landed at the ground with a loud thud.
“It is futile. It is meaningless to fight me. A meaningless effort. Now, please serve your purpose at Lord Alvis’ presence and make the key.”
“Never!” Cissy cried out loud and then ran towards him with an enraged look on her face. She waved her wand and sent a bright red flash at Leon. But when his shield charm and the spell met, a huge fiery snake burst out of nowhere and surrounded the enemy. She waved her wand and the snake lunged forward, attempting to consume the man in its fiery blaze.
Leon yelled at the top of his lungs and the flaming snake backed away and dispersed into thin smoke. He laughed but immediately stopped when a huge silver raven glided into the air and buffeted him with its wide wings. Looking around, he discovered that it came from Lighte’s wand. He fell at the ground with a loud scream.
“Not a chance!” Ashe said out loud, pointing her wand at the floor. Suddenly, dust and earth formed a figure of a huge lion and lunged at Leon. Due to the intensity of the attack of the lion, the man flew several feet in the air with another loud scream and landed on the ground. He tried to stand once again but stopped dead when he saw the raven and lion positioned before him and another giant burning serpent forming from Cissy’s wand.
But he smiled. “Truly, the strength of the key-makers is immeasurable! For such young ages, you are able to conjure magic no common mature man can ever accomplish!”
Cissy flicked her wand and the serpent moved forward as if attempting to eat him any moment. “Stop the rubbish talks and tell us about Alvis Aoi!” she yelled at him.
“That is totally unnecessary.”
They were shocked when another man appeared behind Leon. This man looked severe even though he was very old. However, despite being frail-looking, he did give off a very eerie and scary atmosphere that made the girls completely motionless. Alvis Aoi was standing before them.
“You shall surrender yourselves, key-makers and finish this task as soon as possible.” He said in a cold and creepy voice. Then, he shifted his gaze from the girls to the ceiling. “I am very sorry to tell you that we do not have the luxury of time.”
Suddenly, the raven, lion and serpent burst into nothingness. With a short shattering sound that was very similar to glasses breaking, the creatures disappeared from sight. All three of them stood there astonished.
Alvis nodded. “Don’t get cocky, girls. I do give you credit for being the key-makers and your unusual talents in wandfight. You did beat Leon Fangs here after all.” Then he turned to Leon, who looked white and extremely nervous. “I am very disappointed in you but you fought three key-makers at the same time and that is something unseen. Still, you are unfit to serve me.”
Leon looked aghast. “Please, milord! I beg of you to forgive me in failing my mission!” he cried out in a strange tone that he didn’t sound like from before at all.
“Forgiven…” Alvis replied shortly.
There was a burst of light and Leon was gone from sight. Lighte managed to let out a cry of shock while the other two gasped in astonishment. Alvis on the other hand looked unmoved and seem to be pleased with the sudden feat. He glided along the room as if he found a nice treat in a warm summer’s day.
“Ah, you have wounds! Goodness me! Let us see Madame Pomfrey at once!” Alvis said in a totally carefree and unusually cheery tone.
It was pointless to resist.
“What do you think is happening upstairs?” Ashe asked all of the sudden.
“I have no idea.” Lighte replied quickly. “Me and my friend Ordin was one of the first few students to go out from out common rooms when the meeting was called. However, when we were halfway down the hallways, well, we came across Professor Flitwick and immediately sent me off. I don’t know why he was suddenly agitated and nervous when he saw me.”
Ashe looked at her intently and waited for her story to continue. “He brought me in his classroom, leaving Ordin somewhere down the hallway, telling him to wait. And suddenly, the walls broke to pieces like it was bewitched and revealed a passageway. He told me to go in and ask for help. I asked of Ordin could accompany me but denied the request. He said I need to ask help as soon as possible and quickly. However…”
“We’re stuck in this room, aren’t we?” a voice rang out.
With a blink of an eye, both Ashe and Lighte had their wands drawn out and pointed around the place. A third door appeared out of nowhere and revealed another girl whom they were not quite fond of. She had long blond hair and pale but strong facial features.
“Cissy? Cissy from Slytherin?!” Ashe exclaimed in shock of the person standing in front of her.
“What are you doing here?!” Lighte added, sounding aghast. She slowly lowered her wand and was followed by Ashe.
Both of them looked shocked but Cissy didn’t even give off a single reaction. She looked at the two with great apprehension with a slight touch of query.
“I was sent here by Professor Slughorn.” She said in a straight and emotionless tone.
Ashe suddenly gave off a surprising gasp and the other two turned to look at her. “Don’t you think it is quite strange that the staff of Hogwarts seem to send us off for help?”
“Uh… No?” Lighte said.
“Look! One from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin! Doesn’t that make sense? Maybe we’re something that the school wants to protect!”
Cissy shook his head. “Ashe, listen, you’re Ashe right? Okay, listen. This is not a game. Someone just tried to kill Professor Slughorn in our common room when he refused to cooperate with them. He sent me to ask for help and I will. And it does make sense that I was sent for help and just me for not the enemy to realize that someone or a student is missing. Clear?”
“How about us? What about Lighte that instead of being accompanied by her friend, Professor Flitwick denied her as she needed to ask help quickly?”
“Maybe he did want me to find help quickly?” Lighte asked.
Ashe scoffed. “Something is happening here and people want us safe and sound! There must be something we hold or possess that is of great importance! There must be!”
“But Ashe… we’re not princesses or prophets or story heroes! We’re students!”
“Are you, now?” another voice filled the room again that made all three of them to point their wands around. After some moment of searching, a shocking image came to their senses. A man whom they don’t know was standing on a fourth door with a wide grin on his face. His arms were outstretched and two men were hanging in the air obviously being lifted by him. With a strong wave, he threw the two at the ground near them.
Ashe and Lighte gasped in shock while Cissy glared at him when they saw who the two were. Lying on the ground was Neville Longbottom, unconscious and the other, Ian from Hufflepuff, who was slightly conscious. Lighte dashed towards him and examined his wounds.
“Who are you?!” Cissy snapped at the man.
The man nodded respectfully at her. “Leon Fangs, a werewolf. Pleased to meet you, Key-maker of Slytherin.”
The rest of the girls turned to face him and looked dumbfounded. “What did you just call me?” Cissy asked, still pointing her wand at him.
“Key-maker of Slytherin. Wait, you don’t know?”
“What is the meaning if this?!” Ashe yelled at the man, obviously scared of his presence. “Why are you calling Cissy the Key-maker of Slytherin?!”
The man laughed heartily. “My, my, so you girls don’t know?”
And Lighte suddenly gave off a loud gasp. “Leon Fangs… I know you! You’re a famous scholar of the Department of Mysteries! You disappeared for several months after the breakout of Alvis Aoi in Azkaban! I heard my father talking about you! You’re labeled by the Ministry as deceased! How-How come you’re here?!”
“A scholar of the Department of Mysteries?! A werewolf?!” Cissy exclaimed.
She shook her head and then turned to look at the man again. “No. He was not a werewolf before.”
“Clever girl!” Leon said cheerily. “No wonder you became the Key-maker of Ravenclaw!”
The all fell silent at once and gazed at the man with sudden shock in their faces. Leon gave off a short chuckle and then smiled at them. “Hogwarts is a place full of mystery. Yes, indeed, even the famous Albus Dumbledore failed to know all of its secrets. But there’s this important treasure that the school hides. Oh, how difficult the key of the treasure to find. You see, four souls must join forces in order to ‘calibrate’ the key to the treasure. However, the souls never existed on the same eras; they were always separated.
“We’ve got Tom Marvolo Riddle who was the Key of Slytherin, who in coincidence, also the Heir of Slytherin. Fascinating, is it not?” he paused for a moment to allow the figures to sink in the girl’s heads. “So, what do we have else? Hepzibah Smith, oh that old fool, she was in fact the Key of Hufflepuff! Helena Ravenclaw, was the Key of Ravenclaw. And as far as we could tell, Albus Dumbledore was the Key of Gryffindor. And now…
“… Is the best of all the years, because this year, the four key-makers of Hogwarts all came in the same time! Isn’t that nice?”
Ashe shook her head, looking scandalized. “Wha-What are you talking about?!”
“Can’t you see?!” Cissy yelled at her. “They’re infiltrating Hogwarts because of the treasure! And the treasure needs a key! Without a key-maker, there’s no key. So, I am sorry to say that we are in fact the key-makers in this story.”
Lighte looked at her with her mouth open, while holding Ian tightly. “You, me, Ashe and Ian are the key-makers?” she asked, tears falling on her cheeks.
Cissy nodded and then Leon laughed. “Correct! And now, to avoid more confrontations, how do I say this, come quietly?”
“Come quietly, my a**!” Cissy yelled and then with a short swish of her wand, a loud explosion occurred in the middle of the room. Due to the intensity of the spell, Ashe, Neville, Ian and Lighte flew outwards and slammed to the walls of the room. When they all recovered from the sudden attack, they saw Cissy and Leon on wandlock.
She was shouting her lungs out as their spells connected in the middle, forming a huge ball of flame, like the sun. The room was filled with light and wind howled inside savagely. The rest of them were astonished to see Cissy using such high spells non-verbally. She made another wave of her hand and the ball of flame glided sideways and crashed into the walls, virtually destroying half of the room.
Leon looked shocked as he tried his best blocking the hexes she sent at him. Bright sparks emanated all around him as she waved her wand here and there. Occasionally, a spell or two would ricochet and hit some part of the room.
“Futile efforts, Key-maker!” Leon yelled at the top of his lungs.
And there was another bright flash of light and Cissy flew across the room and slammed with great impact at the wall.
But before he could even speak again, Ashe and Lighte dashed towards him and began another fierce duel at him. Their spells were unusually weak compared to the spells Cissy used so Leon had no problems blocking it and from time to time, he gave off a short chuckle.
“You’ve got to do better than that!” he yelled and a long silver rope burst from the tip of his wand and entangled Lighte’s feet and resulted her fall at the ground. Ashe, however, was thoughtless of the spells she casted and in a split second, she was hurling into the air and landed at the ground with a loud thud.
“It is futile. It is meaningless to fight me. A meaningless effort. Now, please serve your purpose at Lord Alvis’ presence and make the key.”
“Never!” Cissy cried out loud and then ran towards him with an enraged look on her face. She waved her wand and sent a bright red flash at Leon. But when his shield charm and the spell met, a huge fiery snake burst out of nowhere and surrounded the enemy. She waved her wand and the snake lunged forward, attempting to consume the man in its fiery blaze.
Leon yelled at the top of his lungs and the flaming snake backed away and dispersed into thin smoke. He laughed but immediately stopped when a huge silver raven glided into the air and buffeted him with its wide wings. Looking around, he discovered that it came from Lighte’s wand. He fell at the ground with a loud scream.
“Not a chance!” Ashe said out loud, pointing her wand at the floor. Suddenly, dust and earth formed a figure of a huge lion and lunged at Leon. Due to the intensity of the attack of the lion, the man flew several feet in the air with another loud scream and landed on the ground. He tried to stand once again but stopped dead when he saw the raven and lion positioned before him and another giant burning serpent forming from Cissy’s wand.
But he smiled. “Truly, the strength of the key-makers is immeasurable! For such young ages, you are able to conjure magic no common mature man can ever accomplish!”
Cissy flicked her wand and the serpent moved forward as if attempting to eat him any moment. “Stop the rubbish talks and tell us about Alvis Aoi!” she yelled at him.
“That is totally unnecessary.”
They were shocked when another man appeared behind Leon. This man looked severe even though he was very old. However, despite being frail-looking, he did give off a very eerie and scary atmosphere that made the girls completely motionless. Alvis Aoi was standing before them.
“You shall surrender yourselves, key-makers and finish this task as soon as possible.” He said in a cold and creepy voice. Then, he shifted his gaze from the girls to the ceiling. “I am very sorry to tell you that we do not have the luxury of time.”
Suddenly, the raven, lion and serpent burst into nothingness. With a short shattering sound that was very similar to glasses breaking, the creatures disappeared from sight. All three of them stood there astonished.
Alvis nodded. “Don’t get cocky, girls. I do give you credit for being the key-makers and your unusual talents in wandfight. You did beat Leon Fangs here after all.” Then he turned to Leon, who looked white and extremely nervous. “I am very disappointed in you but you fought three key-makers at the same time and that is something unseen. Still, you are unfit to serve me.”
Leon looked aghast. “Please, milord! I beg of you to forgive me in failing my mission!” he cried out in a strange tone that he didn’t sound like from before at all.
“Forgiven…” Alvis replied shortly.
There was a burst of light and Leon was gone from sight. Lighte managed to let out a cry of shock while the other two gasped in astonishment. Alvis on the other hand looked unmoved and seem to be pleased with the sudden feat. He glided along the room as if he found a nice treat in a warm summer’s day.
“Ah, you have wounds! Goodness me! Let us see Madame Pomfrey at once!” Alvis said in a totally carefree and unusually cheery tone.
It was pointless to resist.
So, what do you guys think? mrgreen
