Next Generation 2

[Ms. Elsewhere]

"Oh!" Geneve felt her pocket and discovered her parchment was there after all. So what was this parchment Damien was looking at, one so similar to hers that it looked the same and scribed on it's own? She cleared her thoughts and answered Damien's question. "It's Pureblood. The password. And... could you tell me? Where is Liam? I must talk to him. You see.. " she hesitated, wondering weather to tell Damien or not. She decided for it. "Not only does his Veela magic affect me, but we are connected through a binding spell. This happened while.. well while I was... not myself. Aparently it's unbreakable." Geneve shuffled her feet and added. "I think he was really upset, and I could feel it... literally. That's why my heart... that's why I felt like it was breaking, and then I was just so exhausted I fell asleep. Have you heard of anything like that before?"

[salemboy]

Damien looked her in the eyes, and saw that she was not lying. "Sit down," he said. "So you're saying that you've attained a magical connection with Liam." Geneve nodded. "Muffliato," he said, pointing at the door. Then he cast a spell to lock the door. "Who else knows of this?" he questioned.

[choki]

The corridor was dead silent except for the faint echoes of his footsteps. It was too dark for him to see ahead in this seemingly long corridor, hence he dug his hand into the robe for his wand.
"Lumos," Nikolaus uttered the incantation softly. But to his surprise, his wand did not light up. He repeated the incantation, this time a little louder, but still, no response. Ignoring this weird anomaly, he continued his path.

He had walked passed a couple of doors leisurely until he suddenly came to an abrupt stop. Nikolaus looked back at the door he just went passed. It was a very old looking wooden door covered with a thick layer of cobwebs. He thought he had heard something a moment ago. He listened on intently, aside from the soft breathing sounds he made, there were nothing else. Besides, if anyone was in the room, the cobwebs would not be perfectly intact in the first place. Thinking his ears were playing trick on him, the same way his wand did, Nikolaus turned away. Before he even made his first step, he heard something once again. He couldn't be mistaken. Someone or something called out his name.

He turned around and moved closer to the door. The wood hinge was covered with a layer of dusts and some cobwebs. He tried to open the door but it refused to budge.
"Alohamora!"
He waited a while but there was no apparent response. With no intention to give up, Nikolaus used all his strength he could possibly muster. Despite his best efforts, the door remained unmovable.
"Reducto!" Again, nothing came out from his wand. Not even the familiar red spark of this spell.
"What the heck!" he cursed as he kicked the door. He wheeled around, looking for any possible items that could assist the breaking, only to hear a creaking sound behind him. The door was opened.

[FawkesthePhoenix]

Valencia ate silently, barely registering what she was putting into her mouth. Gwydion and Galena seemed just as eager to be silent, which appeased Valencia, as she really didn't feel like faking pleasant conversation at the moment.

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Geneve looked at Damien for a moment, biting her lip. What should she tell him?

"Liam knows, of course. But I don't think either of us know what exactly to do to affect one another. The others might know too. The Headmistress, Mr. Potter, Nikolaus..." Geneve paused, regretting that she had said Nikolaus. It was because of his dark magic that she was able to magically bind herself to Liam.

At that very moment, she could feel the dark magic pushing through her blood, thick and consuming. She felt possitively overpowered by it, but this time, she noticed it and breathed smoothly, controlling every rush of darkness. She would not let it take over again; not right in front of Damien!

Geneve was distracted by the sound of something scratching. Both she and Damien noticed the origin at the same time; it was something in Damien's potions suit. He reached in and pulled out the partchment he had been looking at earlier. He unfolder it, looking at it, then at Geneve and back again. When he opened it to it's full length, his eyes scanned down to the bottom of the page. He mouthed a single word. Geneve watched his lips form her name. Geneve started to back away toward the door. He looked up at her again with a look of confusion on his face. Every ounce of her being was telling her to run. Run now! She turned around, took out her wand and yelled "Alohamora!" the door burst open, and as Geneve went to run out the door, she ran right into Liam, who had been leaning on the door.

She knocked Liam down with a loud "oof!" and landed right on top of him. She was nose to nose with him, she could actually feel the heat of his breath on her own lips. She looked at him in the eyes. He looked shocked that she had knocked him down, and then his eyes changed to happy when he saw it was her. She smiled at him, and then, a serious moment over took her. She leaned forward and pressed her lips on his. She had always wondered what it would be like, to kiss Liam Delacour. Geneve felt as if the darkness in her blood was pushing it's way out of her system and disolving out of her back. She felt weak, feather light, breath taken... She broke the kiss. "I'm sorry..." she muttered, and got up. She turned around and ran into Damien, who was still clutching the parchment in his hand.

[choki]

A soft warm glow was emitting out of the room through the small gap. Nikolaus held his wand tightly, ready to curse anyone or anything that was going to burst out. On the contrary, it was all quiet and silent. Looking at his own wand, he began laughing off in his head. What was a malfunctioning wand capable of doing even if something was going to happen?

With the initial tension gone, Nikolaus plucked up his fearlessness and went on to open the door which creaked at his touch. The first thing he noticed was the musty smell of the combination of stale air and dusts. The room was no bigger than the size of the portion class. It was clutched with various objects covered in dusts, ranging from books to a huge covered item against the wall and illuminating at the corner, was a branch of fire, which provided a soft luminous glow lighting up the room. Puzzled as how the fire was able to sustain itself despite having no ventilation, Nikolaus inched towards it. As he stepped forward, the door behind him closed by itself promptly. Resigned to the fate that the room seemed to be 'alive' and had wanted him to be in, Nikolaus ignored the seemingly precarious situation he was in. He focused at the fire.

"Could it be...?" he thought for a moment before taking in a huge breath and blew it all out at the fire which remained perfectly still.

"A Gubraithian Fire? The highly advanced charm of conjuring an everlasting fire?" he spoke out excitedly. He was delighted when he realised the fire branch in front of him was the legendary Gubraithian Fire. The last person who manage to perform this charm was Albus Dumbledore. He must have been the one who left this fire branch here.

"Could this be the place where Dumbledore stored his stuffs?" pondered Nikolaus as he looked around the room. A comfortable looking armchair laid near the bookshelves. Perhaps a reading corner for the peculiar wizard?

An huge object covered with a large dusty cloth caught his interests. He gave the cloth a strong tug. As expected, the dusts flew instantaneously. Despite holding his breath, Nikolaus went to a slight coughing fit. The revealed object was a magnificent mirror with a golden frame. However, he was surprised the mirror showed no reflection of himself, as if he was never there. The mirror image was rather indistinct. He could faintly make out the shape of the bookshelves behind him, but all in all, there was not anything defined. At the top of the frame laid an inscription 'erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi'. Nikolaus was absolutely clueless about the language inscribed on the mirror. Believing it to be the less-than-intriguing magical object, he did not pay further attention to the mirror, instead shifting his focus to others.

A elegant wizard chess set with its pieces in an unfinished game, a miniature World Cup Quidditch set with the players flying around with the year 1922 inscribed on it, nothing caught his interests for long. He rummaged through the bookshelves next. A History of Magic, Advanced Spells for Auror Exams, 10 Steps to Victory in Wizard Chess... he brushed his fingers across the various titles, book by book until a few books at the edges dropped off the shelf. He hastily picked up the fallen books and was about to rearrange those back to their original position when he spotted a portion of what seemed to be a corner of the back of a frame. Intrigued by its hiding place, Nikolaus placed the books he was carrying back on the floor and started removing the books blocking the object of interest. At last, he was able to reach out to the back of the shelves, grabbing a firm hold of it. He secured the frame and turned it around, stunned by what was revealed in the frame. It was a portrait of a young man who resembled like him... Grindelwald...

[salemboy]

"Geneve Riddle," Damien read, mouthing it. It was unbelievable, and, unthought of. He looked at Geneve, shocked, seeing her fearful face. She got up abruptly, and ran out of the door. Damien looked down at the parchment. It was blurred, right where her name had been. She had not completed the spell. Still, the original spell was still on the list, with her name right next to it. He got up, and walked to the doorway. Geneve was getting up from the floor. Liam was still down. Geneve turned around abruptly, running into Damien. He grabbed her by the wrist, to stop her from running, not because she was in trouble, but because he needed to understand more. He also picked Liam up by the wrist, and pulled them into his office.

He sat them down, and locked the door. Then he cast several other spells that sealed it shut. He did not want them running out again. The girl was crying, and Liam was in a daze. Damien needed to calm Geneve. "Geneve," he said calmly. "You aren't in trouble." He cursed himself for having already used up all of his calming potion. "Geneve, I need for you to calm down, and tell me everything that happened while you were being controlled by Voldemort. And, please don't lie to me. I want to help you." Why were all the girls he tried to help emotionally unstable?

[DucksRMagical]

Galena ate in silence as she gazed out at her students. They were all happily eating and chatting with each other, without a care in the world. None of them had any idea what had happened the past few days. Galena was just as keen to let them keep believing this. However, a few of them were whispering and pointing at Gwydion, probably wondering who he was. Galena figured she'd have to make an announcement at dinner about it, otherwise there would be plenty of rumors floating about. Well, there probably already were rumors going around, but Galena figured an announcement would dispel them.

Galena finished up the last of her meal and turned to Valencia and Gwydion. "Well, I should probably get going. I have to go check and see how the goblins are coming with my study and then go do some work." By 'work', Galena meant reading Harry's letter. She was far too intrigued by it to let it go unread any longer.

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Geneve cursed herself for being so unstable. "I can't... control it!" she shrieked. "My grandfather left me with a really great legacy, didn't he?? If I'm a descendant of him, I must be evil! The blood in my veins is black with dark magic!" She slammed her slender fist onto the desk, and it shook unexpectedly. Then the frames on the wall shook. Geneve gripped the chair she was in, looking worried once more. She looked around the room, horrified. Liam looked at her, then turned to Damien. "This is not MY fault! Veela magic is not dark magic!" suddenly things started falling off the shelves. Liam took cover under the desk, and Damien got his wand out again. Geneve stood up, took out her wand and muttered a spell Damien had never heard before. "I want to disappear, I want to disappear..." she kept pleading to no one. And then, she went transparent. Damien stepped forward, reached out to where Geneve should have been and swiped at air. Geneve stared at him from her dimensional shift. She looked at her own hands; she was less than a ghost. Then she looked at Damien, mouthed the word "Help" before disappearing all together. Damien swiped at the air where Geneve had been, stepping all over the room, reaching, searching. She was gone.

[choki]

His heart skipped a beat when the eyes of the man in the portrait met his, with the same gray tone intensity. At the bottom right corner, his name - Gellert Grindelwald, was adorned in a neat, cursive handwriting. And right below the name was the initials A.D. It was rather obvious to Nikolaus that this was painted by Dumbledore during his teens, seeing how close the pair were before the tragedy struck.

He plonked himself onto the armchair, paying no attention to the layer of dusts, studying the incredibly detailed features of Grindelwald as though he was trying to find a more convincing way to prove his ancestry.

A soft crackle from the fire branch broke his concentration. He had no idea how long time has passed since he first entered the room. Nikolaus had grown accustomed to the silence and silence always had the misleading influence of time.

[salemboy]

Damien swore silently. Why wouldn't that girl hold still. That didn't matter, though. He needed to find her, before something worse happened to her. "Boy!" he said, lifting Liam out of the chair. "Go get Proffessor Marcellus and Professor Sprague. Tell them it is an emergency. Do not tell Gwydion!!!" He watched as the boy ran out of the office.

Damien pulled on his potions jacket as Suge hopped onto his shoulder. It was time to do his job. He knew he wouldn't be able to find Geneve alone, so, as much as he hated to admit it, he needed Nikolaus. But where was he? Damien went up the dungeon steps to the entrance hall. Where was that man when you actually needed him. He saw a ghost floating down the hall. He ran, trying to catch up with it. Finally, he made it, and stopped in front of the ghost. The ghost merely passed through him, sending cold shivers down his spine.

The ghost didn't seem to notice, until Damien finally yelled, "GHOST!!!" The ghost turned around to see a sweating, red-faced man who was panting.

"Yes?" It asked him. As the ghost tilted its head to the side, the head suddenly just swung, as if on a hinge, downwards, hung on by a small stretch of skin.

Damien was too worried to be revolted by the sight. "Ghost, I need you to do something."

"Yes?" The ghost asked again.

"Ghost, I need for you to search for somebody. A man, looks like Grindelwald, name's Nikolaus. Also," Damien paused, not wanting to be rude.

"Yes?"

Damien was beginning to hate the word yes. "Also, can you get as many ghosts as you can to help you? It's really important that you do this. Also, should you come across a girl, first year, slytherin, black hair, granddaughter of Voldemort, could you bring me to her?"

Finally, the ghost said something other than yes. He said, "Will do. Have a nice day." Then the ghost drifted off into the distance as Damien shot down another hall, not knowing where it would bring him. He needed to find that girl. He kept running, and went up a flight of stairs, then another. And shot down a corridor, not hoping that he might come across Nikolaus. He finally came to the end of the corridor, with a wooden door at the end. He stopped running and walked to the door. There weren't any classroom markings on it.

He tried to open it, but it was locked. "Alahamora." The lock clicked open. Damien slowly pushed it open, the loud creak hurting his ears. He slid through the door, and closed it behind him. He had walked into a big, dusty room. He walked slowly in, the dust on the floor flying up, and making him cough. Somehow, even though there were no windows, he could see in the room without the light of Lumos.

He continued walking, and looking around at the room. It was obvious it hadn't been touched in years. He walked to the center of the room, and heard wood creak below him. He jumped backwards, back onto the stone, knocking dust high up around him, causing him to cough powerfully. When the dust finally cleared, he looked at what he had stepped on, and realized it had been a wooden trap door.

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Geneve had performed a very complex spell, rendering her invisible. She could still walk, but every time she tried to get Damien's attention, her hand would go right through him. She was terrified and intrigued all at once. What power! If only she could control it!
She ran after Damien, following him as he made his way through the corridors. She heard him talk to the nearly headless ghost, and realised what she needed to do if she ever wanted to be solid again. Damien was looking for Nikolaus, and she knew how to reach him, wherever he was. She took out the message parchment from her cloak. Then she fumbled through her pockets until she found a pencil. She wondered if it would work. Geneve stood back as Damien assessed the trap door he had been standing on. She ducked down, pressed the parchment on the floor and wrote carefully "Nikolaus, Damien is looking for you. We need you help. We are one the..." she thought for a moment, counting the steps she had climbed... "The third floor cooridor. It's the one that is abandoned..." She remembered at the beginning of the year hearing rumours about this cooridor. That it was officially a place where Hogwarts stored secrets. Was it true. She held the parchment in her hand, waiting for a reply.

[choki]

Nikolaus looked at the small framed portrait in his hands. Would it be good to simply leave this behind in this room? Surely anyone who seen this portrait would definitely associated him with Grindelwald for the resemblance was too canny. Almost all of Grindelwald pictures and portraits were destroyed after his defeat more than 70 years ago. Only those few surviving wizards would know how Grindelwald looked like but old memories faded as time went by.

Destroy the painting? Nikolaus contemplated. This painting could be the only one in existance and for Dumbledore to keep it in such a secretive location, it probably meant alot to him. But he couldn't risk anyone else finding the painting.

Just as he deliberated over the painting, Geneve's cry for help came. In a haste, he jumped up, reached for his wand and laid it on his bare palm.
"Intendo," he uttered. The pale coloured wand remained stationary.
"Drats, I almost forgot...arghhh" His malfunctioned wand was of no use at this moment. However, as he stowed his wand away, it jerked out of his hand and stayed afloat in midair. His wand was finally working at last.

He held his palm facing up just below the floating wand and instantly, it spun to his 8 o'clock position, slightly tilted downward. Geneve was somewhere close by. Nikolaus took a final glance at the painting and placed it back at his original hideout. He was not going to risk being spotted with the painting especially when he would be meeting Damien.
"Collocolibellus" The books flew back up and rearranged itself on the bookshelves.

With a final look around the room, Nikolaus closed the door behind him, back into the uninviting dark corridor.

"What's going on? What happened to you? Coming soon, I am close by..." The words materialised on Geneve's enchanted parchment once again.

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Geneve saw the words materialise on the parchment. Nikolaus must have figured out a way to track her. Geneve smiled as she pondered how powerful he could be if he really unleashed the power that was hidden in his mind from others. He had so much knowledge of the dark arts, but he actually chose not to use them willy nilly. Could she be that strong. Geneve pressed the parchment to the floor and wrote again. "Strange spell - now invisible and untouchable! Dark cooridor - Damien left the door open. Someone is coming! " Geneve wrote the last as she heard footsteps approaching.

[choki]

Nikolaus hastened his pace.

"Mr. Nikolaus~" A cheery, faint echo rang across the corridor, "where are you~" The voice got nearer and nearer and so was Nikolaus as he moved swiftly toward both the source of the voice and Geneve's location. Eventually Nikolaus saw a sight that made him queasy. A transulent figure floated to him, with his loop-sided head looking at him in an upside down manner.

"Yes?" Nikolaus answered in a face of doubt.

"Oooh, so you are Mr. Nikolaus! What a fine young man, indeed worthy of having the same name as me..." The ghost chatted merrily, but upon seeing the doubt on his face, he introduced himself. "Ghost of Gryffindor, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington... you can refer me as Nearly Headless Nick! And I have found you... it's a request from a rather loud man..."

"Loud?" The only person that sprung into his mind was Damien - the loud man who gave him a wallop moments ago.

"Yes, he seemed to be in a fluster. Bye bye for now~ I'm off to find others~"

"Wait, what else did he-" Before Nikolaus could finish his sentence, the ghost has vanished through the wall. Feeling strangely puzzled, Nikolaus moved on, increasing the speed of his pace.

Then a new message from Geneve arrived. He was quite taken aback by the spell Geneve had casted on herself. At such alarming rate Geneve was able to decode his knowledge, it would be catastrophic if Damien ever finds out about Geneve's hidden 'talents'. He had never really explained to anyone else what really happened between them during the showdown only days ago.

Although the transfer of knowledge was initially a grave mistake, it did not very take long before Nikolaus realised such a prodigy like her was hard to come along. Maybe, under good tutorage, Geneve would even surpass him, but the balancing act between good and evil was hard to grasp. Right now, teaching Geneve the ways of dark arts was not advisable, she need to attain better control of her own magic before everything else.

A door was left ajar, not far from him.