Chapter 56
LILY EVANS
Lily had once seen the Dark Lord's power, yet that changed little as a wave of magic rushed out of him and swallowed up the entire town.
"AGHHH!" he had swatted away the three of them with nothing but pure magic, as Lily's back hit a wall, as she fell to the ground as the world around her spun, and darkness began to envelop the entire town.
Lily tried to push herself back up, when suddenly she heard the sound of glass shatter and a second later, sounds of cracks and pops filled the village.
"AGHHH!" "HELP US!" "AURORS!"
And some relief filled her heart as she realised that the anti apparition wards had been broken, and that Aurors were here. Yet amidst this craze, she could feel Voldemort's rage.
The air was tinged with the promise of death and destruction, and it reminded her of the attack on the Express months ago, when she had felt the air burn because of the Headmaster's rage.
The sensation was not as prevalent as that time, yet it was similar. Her body refused to comply yet she forced herself up, for she knew that she had to help her brother. That she had to share Alder's burden, and as the world came back into focus she saw the Dark Lord floating in the sky as he looked down at her brother.
"COME," and the words made her frown, and she saw the Dark Lord's lips move.
"IT IS TIME," and for some reason, she could hear his whisper, and there was something magical about those words.
"As you say Master," and he was talking to someone.
"COME AND DEVOUR EVERYTHING! SALAZAR'S LEGACY!" and with those ominous words, the ground began to shake, and she heard a massive hiss, as the ground rose up and down before suddenly screams and wails filled the air.
"AGHHHH!" and with those wails the Dark Lord flew away.
"WHAT IS THIS!" "HELP!"
She heard men scream, and a massive creature tore through the ground, and swallowed a dozen men in a second, before it came up, and began to tear through the village in a rapid succession.
"SNAKE! ITS A GI...." she heard screams, and yet they died as quickly as they began.
The creature was massive, and was currently heading in direction opposite to them, and Lily had never heard of such a massive snake, when suddenly a loud voice cut through all of the noise.
"IT'S A BASILISK! DO NOT LOOK IN THE EYE!" and this was Alder's voice, and she saw him come out of a broken House, as he pushed himself back to the street.
"APPARATE AWAY! I REPEAT DO NOT ENGAGE IT ON YOUR OWN! LEAVE AND SAVE YOURSELF!" and she could not believe his words.
"Basilisk," she heard James gasp, as he hobbled to her side.
"We need to go," but she was not listening to him, as her eyes remained rooted on her brother.
"Rooster," she whispered, as she saw Alder raise his wand, and aimed it forward and the tip of his wand lip up, and one could feel him gathering magic now as he prepared himself an attack.
"We need a rooster," she turned towards James, before suddenly.
"Vocatio Caelestis!" and a massive beam of magic rushed out of Alder's wand, and caught the beast square in the head as Lily quickly turned her gaze to the ground.
"AGHHHH!" she heard the beast thrash in agony, and could feel it turing its head.
"YOU DARE HARM ME! YOU DARE STAND IN MY MASTERS WAY!" and the realization finally dawned on her, as those words registered.
"Impossible," she gasped, and she felt the beast turn towards Alder as it made to devour him whole, as her heart lept in her chest.
"Nifelheim!" she heard Alder's shout, cut through the silence, and a deafening chill spread through the air, and the very ground under her feet turned to ice, and her body began to tremble from the cold.
She knew that Alder had warned them, yet still she could not help as her eyes slowly drifted up, and she saw Alder first. He stood in teh centre of the street, holding his wand with both hands as the blue beam came out of its wand, and infront of him was a massive ice glacier, just a few meters away from him and she spotted teh teeth of the creature first.
"Don't look up," James lowered her head with his hand.
"We need to get out of here," he said, and he was right, and she could hear the pops and cracks of apparition with every passing second, as people rushed out of the village and perhaps she should have done the same, yet another voice cut through the silence again.
CRACK!
"It's cracking!" a familiar voice shout out, as her heart skipped a beat.
"THE ICE! IT IS BEGINNING TO CRACK!" and Alder had closed his eyes to avoid getting killed. He did not know how close the Snake was to him.
"GET OUT! GET OUT!" Alder's voice cut through the silence, and James tried to reach for her hand, but Lily was running ahead already, as sound of ice cracking cut through the noise.
"No," she gasped, as she tried to remember that sensation from earlier. For far too long she had let Alder be the savior. For far too long they had burdened him with matters way beyond his calling.
But no more.
"LILY!" James shout came from behind, but she did not stop and as a loud crack cut through the air she opened her mouth and screamed.
"STOP!" and the voice that came out was not her own. It was a hiss, that none here would understand.
None except for the creature, bound in ice.
"WHO ARE YOU?" she heard a hiss.
"I am your master, and I order you to stop at once," and a hiss escaped her lips once more.
"Close your eyes," she ordered, and she could feel his reluctance but she did not just speak words. Parseltongue was no simple language. It was magical in the sense it allowed one to control snakes, no matter their size and disposition.
"But this human..."
"YOU WILL NOT HARM ANYONE ANYMORE!" she raged, as she came and stood besides Alder.
"STOP AND CLOSE YOUR EYES!" she repeated, and was finally met with acquiescence.
"As you say Master," and the cracking sounds stopped, and the entire village held its breath, as Lily slowly raised her eyes, and saw the creatures face and could not help but gasp at the sight.
"Do not move," she ordered, as she slowly reached for Alder's hand and noticed how cracks were visible on his wand, as blue light oozed out of them, and his entire body was covered by a thin layer of ice.
"Stop," she whispered to him in comfort.
"Its over," she whispered, and she saw him gulp as he slowly opened his eyes and looked towards her.
"What are you still doing here?" he asked, with a worried expression, as she turned towards the creature in question while a team of Aurors surrounded them all.
"Doing what you have always done for us all...."
"Alder!"
"LILY!"
"GET AWAY!"
And then the loudest pop came, and she turned her head around and saw the Heamdaster appear behind her.
"You are finally here, Albus...."
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ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
Horcruxes were ancient magic, and Albus was dealing with not just one but multiple horcruxes. His search for a solution had take him to France, and before going out of the country he had reached out to his brother, hoping that he would keep an eye out for his students while he was away.
Aberforth was reluctant but in the end he had relented and Hog's Head had found a new inn keeper.
There was great tension between Voldemort and the Ministry, and perhaps it would have been better for him to stay back, but if they were to see this war come to an end then there was no other way than to seek out the Flamels and seek their aide in dealing with Tom's horcruxes.
He had expected things to worsen. The Ministry had taken a hard stance over Voldemort's actions, and with Alder bolstering their ranks Bagnold would surely wish to strike back, hence escalating the conflict further.
Still, of all the things he had expected, this was not among them at all.
"Fourteen dead," Bagnold whispered, as she stood beside him as a team of Aurors and Unspeakables surrounded the entire creature, and continued to recast the ice spell which kept it bound in its place.
"Four Aurors, four civilians and six Death Eaters," and the Basilisk had been indiscriminate in its rage, and swallowed everything and everyone in its path, caring little for their allegiances and innocence.
"That is a tragic indeed," and for all his victories, the simple truth was that they were at a stalemate. Tom may have won himself quite a few victories and gained some allies, but Bagnold had managed to counter his offence and deal him a great blow on her own.
She had rooted out his men from the Ministry while dealing a great blow to Tom through the attack on the Malfoys and the Werewolf packs. Even within his own circles, Tom faced some resistance and opposition, as even his own allies doubted his sanity after the attack on the Express.
The attack had broken a long established precedent, and despite the sheer carnage and devastation he had unleased during the attack, it had failed to achieve its purpose.
The attack was meant to be a testament. It was supposed to be a symbol of fear, to all those who would dare go against him, and yet Alder had refused to back down. Despite being bruised and battered, he had refused to cower in his fear and had chosen to resist, inspiring others to do the same.
This resistance must have frustrated him much for Albus could think of no other explanation for this devastation.
"Honestly, I am surprised that the number is so low," Bagnold added, and morbid as it was he would agree with her. The Basilisk he had unleashed was some sixty-seventy feet long, and must have been alive for some thousand years.
The King of the Snakes was a creature unlike any, and there were few creatures that could match it in its devastation and power. Its scales made it impervious to any magic, and its eyes could kill just as quickly as its poison.
"And we have those two to thank for it," Albus whispered as he looked towards two familiar faces sitting down on a bench on the side, while a few med witch and med wizards hovered them frantically.
"He had the beast turn towards himself, and then used his ancient magic to freeze it buying time for the people to apparate away," Bagnold repeated, and that much have taken some courage.
"But I am more surprised about his sister," the Minister added as she eyed the red haired girl sitting besides Alder Evans, and Dumbledore shared her surprise.
"Did you know?" she asked him, and he shook his head.
"No," and parseltongue was a trait held by a very few witches and wizards over the course of histories. The most famous wizard to wield this power was none other than Salazar himself, and the Gaunts claimed their ancestry to him because of this very trait.
Even Voldemort owed some of his support to this trait, and the supposed heritage it carried, yet somehow the Evans sister possessed the same gift as him.
How? He did not know, but he was thankful for it nonetheless for he knew that otherwise, they could have been facing an absolute crisis right now.
"Alder doesn't have it," she added, and he would have made use of it by now if he did.
"Well, there will be an explanation for it. But first we must decide on what we shall do with this thing," he said as he turned towards the giant creature, fir it may be in a slumber right now, but the truth was that it was still alive.
"We must kill it," and there was only thing that could kill a Basilisk.
"A rooster's cry," he whispered, and Bagnold nodded.
"They tried to conjure up a few roosters, but that did not work. We will need to bring in a real one," and that would not be difficult.
"Still, this must be more than a thousand year old," the Minister whispered as he shook her head.
"How in the hell did Voldemort get his hands on this thing," and Albus had a good inkling on that.
"Well, I might have a theory on that," he added, as her head snapped towards him.
"Really?" and he nodded.
"But I will need time to confirm," he answered.
"So be it," and then she walked forward.
"And for all this to happen today," she whispered in some frustration.
"Albus," she stopped and called out.
"Yes," he whispered back.
"You said you had to go out of the country to figure something out that could help us greatly in this war," she asked as she turned her head towards him.
"How did it go?"
"It went as well as these things go..."
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