"The dark roots of magic don't vanish—they burrow, waiting for blood, for power, for reckoning."
The Return to Hogwarts
The boat slid onto the pebbled shore in near silence, as if avoiding disturbing the stillness that had reclaimed the lake after their departure.
Albus stood at the edge, his wet robes clinging to him. The fragment embedded in his wrist throbbed with every heartbeat—an echo of the Root's resonance.
They trudged to the boathouse. Behind them, the mist rose again, creeping like forgotten breath until the ancient structure disappeared into a gray haze.
Inside, the boat's timbers creaked as Scorpius tied it off. Fiona wrapped her arms around herself.
"That was…" She exhaled slowly. "Even deeper than I expected."
Albus looked at his friends. "It responded to me. It accepted me. That means they can too."
Scorpius pursed his lips. "So, what—this ends when your wrist glows like a beacon?"
Albus didn't answer. Instead, he studied the shard's shape—dark silver, fine as a nail. It seemed to pulse in time with his heartbeat.
"We only have three left," Fiona said quietly. "And we know where they are."
The Next Destination
The remaining shards glowed faintly on Fiona's enchanted map.
One shimmered near the foundations of the library—under the catacombs beneath the Restricted Section.
Another twinkled near the gnarled roots of the Whomping Willow.
The final glowed at the far end of the East Wing—an abandoned wing sealed by enchantments and forgotten by most.
Albus studied the trio of lights.
"We go for the library shard next."
Scorpius raised an eyebrow. "You want to dive back into catacombs? With a third of the Root's power inside your blood?"
He gestured to Albus's wrist.
"We need every shield we can get," Fiona agreed. "Protective wards, structural charmed pathways. Scorpius, you'll help me trace the largest ward tunnel. Albus, you gather… what we need." She paused. "Hope."
Preparations Begin
They spent the next day preparing.
Under Professor Chang's guidance, they consulted the library's architectural records. The catacombs had been destabilized during Crombach's Great Expansion centuries ago. The wards that kept them sealed had flickered—just once.
Aelert Grimstone—a runes master visiting that week—helped them carve protective glyphs into their wands and robes.
Meanwhile, Albus researched in Goodyshaw's runebook for enchantments capable of detecting echo-magic and warding off possession.
That night, as the castle hushed, they gathered in the Room of Requirement.
Fiona's voice was steady but tense.
"The pawn is moving," she said, eyes flicking to Albus's scar. "The Root's allies are gathering."
She drew a matrix of runes on the floor.
"These will let us move beneath the library without triggering magic cascades. But we need silence and speed."
Scorpius tested his gloves.
"Then let's finish this."
Into the Catacombs
They descended in darkness—Scorpius leading with canvas-drenched torches, Fiona trailing wards, and Albus holding the map.
The catacombs were dank, narrow, lined with tombs and shrines of long-dead wizards.
Their steps echoed, low and funeral-like.
At a fork in the corridor, Fiona drew a ward circle.
"Once we enter echo-space, our bond will protect but also tether us."
"So we can follow you out," Albus replied softly.
"And not get lost."
They stepped through the threshold.
Echo-Space
In the deeper echo-space, reality warped.
Voices whispered around them—disembodied fragments of students past and present. The tombstones shifted like old men leaning forward to watch.
Fiona's wards glowed silver at their feet.
Scorpius's torch cast wavering half-shadows.
Albus's shard hummed.
Then they saw it.
A pool of blackened water, two feet deep—like a placid pond carved in stone.
At its center, the shard floated, anchored by tendrils of rooting magic.
The area around it was calm—no echo shifts, no ward tremors.
But the shard hummed dangerously.
A False Calm
Albus stepped forward.
The shard floated under the surface.
He leaned in.
"I can feel—"
A vine erupted from the water.
Thick, fast.
It wrapped around Albus's ankle.
He stumbled, and the shard sank floatlessly.
Scorpius yanked the vine back with a spell.
Fiona launched ward-fire.
"It wants to draw you in!"
Albus staggered, but held.
"I know."
He extended his wrist.
The shard pulsed.
The vine recoiled.
Scorpius and Fiona rushed in, magical ropes forming from their wands.
"One… two… three—"
They pulled the shard free.
Escape from the Depths
The catacombs trembled.
Walls cracked.
Echo tremors poured through the corridors—low moans and expelled breaths.
Fiona released a burst of shielding magic.
"Backward!"
They retraced their path.
Vines erupted behind them, entangling wards, flooding corridors with echo-magic smoke.
At the ward circle, they burst into normal-space.
Their shields held.