Dark Legend of Potter: Chapter 71

The door slammed open, and Lupin took a sip of hot tea. “Lupin, you’ll never believe what happened!” Sirius panted, a bit of snow still on his head. 

“Let me guess: they figured it out already.”

“They figured it out- how did you know that?!” 

“Because Megumin, when she’s not busy driving the staff insane, is a certifiable genius, much like her mother. Hermione isn’t far behind her in that regard, though she also has a great deal more sense. Then there’s the fact that Miss Longbottom and Mr. Weasley have impeccable senses of direction, and none of those four would view a forest filled with monsters as anything but a fun holiday instead of a terrifying obstacle.”

“Well, yes, but we constructed those riddles so carefully! We spent the entire holiday working on them!” Sirius complained. “Well, at least when you weren’t busy canoodling with my cousin.” 

Lupin choked slightly on his tea, then glared at Sirius, who gave him a grin back. “We’re both adults, what we do is none of your-”

“Oh it very much is. Big fan! Now, we’ll really be family,” Sirius said, pulling the glowering Remus into a hug. “You are asking her to marry you, right?” 

“...we visited Andy and Ted over the holiday, and they were…receptive,” Remus admitted. 

“Great! When’s the wedding?”

“She hasn’t even said yes yet! And I’m still not certain-”

Sirius gave Lupin a wounded look. 

“...I’m planning on asking over the Easter Holiday. We’re taking a trip to the Isle of Man.” 

“Splendid! Oh, and when are you planning on telling her that I am, you know, not dead?” Sirius asked, plopping down on Remus’ bed. 

“I was planning on letting Megumin reveal that herself. She may have solved step one of our riddle. We anticipated it would manage about one a day. Which is why there are ninety-nine remaining steps,” Lupin pointed out. “That should at least get us to April.”

“Hmm, yes, but there is going to be a slight wrinkle in your plans,” Sirius mused. 

Lupin hesitated. “Oh? And that is?”

“Well, it seems a certain set of someones has detected that Megumin is on the hunt for treasure. And, well…you know how that will go,” Sirius said with a shake of his head.

“Ah. Ginny’s little gang.” Lupin sat up, rubbing his forehead. “I’m not sure if that will speed things up, or slow them down.”

“Well, a good rivalry is healthy for young people, right?” Sirius said, giving his best dopey grin. 

“Easy enough for you to say. You don’t have to deal with them in class,” Lupin sighed. “Right, so, what are those idiots up to now?”

“Well,” Sirius said. “It’s like this…”

“...so that’s how I know they’re after treasure!” Dust finished, a few springs of pine still in his hair. He had joined the rest of Ginny and her Misfit Minions in the Great Hall, where dinner was nearly over. Most of the Slytherin table was deserted, and everyone else was staying away from the four idiots who kept picking fights with flying monkeys. 

“You actually tracked Megumin and her little friends through the Forbidden Forest, in the freezing cold, for four hours?!” Draco demanded. “THAT’S why you were late to dinner?”

“It was a very important mission,” Dust said, sounding a tad defensive. “Plus, I’m really good at tracking and hiding. There’s no way they even knew I was there.”

“Good work, Dust,” Ginny said, patting the older boy on the shoulder and earning herself a grin. She steepled her fingers. “Yes, yes, it all makes sense now. We’ve known that Megumin was up to something all year. Now, we finally know that her and my idiot brother are after a fantastic treasure!” 

“Well, whatever it is, it’s not worth traipsing about forests in the freezing cold for hours on end. Or need I remind you all what happened the last time we got into a treasure hunting contest against the Gryffindor Gang,” Dust said with a shake of his head.

“Yes, you all became international heroes, won the House Cup, and saved the world from Voldemort,” Ginny said, stabbing the table with a finger. “Clearly, we-”

“Hold on, there they are!” Kazuma hissed, and the four Slytherins fell silent as Megumin, Darkness, Hermione, Ron, and Lavender all staggered into the Great Hall and collapsed at the Gryffindor table, where they grabbed what little food was left and started eating, all while crowded around a bit of parchment and talking in low voices. 

They could even hear Megumin hiss, “Quiet, you fools! Someone will hear!” 

“Right. They’re definitely up to something good,” Kazuma said, cracking his knuckles. “We’ve got to get the treasure first.”

“Why? I’m already rich, why should I need a treasure?” Draco asked plaintively. 

“You’re already rich, arse face, but some of us could do with a little engoldening in our lives,” Ginny said, glaring at Draco. “So either help us steal the treasure or sod off!” 

“...I’m not an arse face,” Draco grumbled, but he didn’t leave. 

“I just think it would be kinda fun, you know? Who knows what the treasure could be! Maybe it’s a dragon egg!” Dust said eagerly. 

“Why would it be a dragon egg?” Draco said. “Who hides a dragon egg?!”

“Dragons, probably,” Dust mused. 

“Oh shut up. Fine, we’re going to steal the treasure. How do we manage that?”

“Clearly, we need to become experts and stealth and infiltration. Oh, hey, Blackie? Who’s a good boy,” Ginny said, and fed the big black dog a bit of roast chicken, which he happily snarfed down. “Hmm, you think we could get Blackie to spy for us?”

“Nah, he’s just a big softie. Besides, he’s a dog. What could he even tell us?” Kazuma said, scratching Blackie’s ears. 

Blackie just lay on the ground under the table and perked his ears up, listening as the Four Stooges made their “cunning” plans to steal away Megumin’s treasure. 

“Right. Makes sense, I suppose,” Lupin said when Sirius had finished recounting his tale. “We did anticipate that group would end up involved in this somehow. They always seem to be. Thanks for your report. I’ll let the rest of the staff know and we’ll adjust the treasure hunt to account for them causing havoc as well.”

“Are all the treasure parts hidden out in the forest?” Sirius asked curiously. 

“No, we’ve stashed a few in the castle as well to mix things up, and hidden a couple in Hogsmead. Obviously, we don’t want to put too many out in the wild yet, or there’s a risk they’d stumble upon one early and we’d have wasted a lot of effort. Even if Flitwick is having the time of his life coming up with ever more arcane riddles.”

“Hmm, well, where’s the next one? Not in the Room of Requirement, surely,” Sirius said. “They found that bloody quick.”

“We hid it in one of a dozen old classrooms that fit the criteria of the riddle. It’s got the next riddle, and a few of Lily’s old notebooks in it. You know the ones,” Lupin said. 

All the color drained out of Sirius’ face. “I…I thought those were burned.”

“Oh, absolutely not. So the many adventures of the Marauders are still ensconced in legend, Mr. Padfoot. Relax, it’s just a bit of harmless fun.”

“You uh, you did take out the, um, private ones from James and Lily, didn’t you?” Sirius asked. 

“Yes, of course. Though some of your more…interesting tales are still preserved for posterity,” Lupin said, giving Sirius a wolfish grin.

Sirius put his head in his hands. “Megumin will never respect her uncle now…”

“Oh please. She’ll probably find them charming. Let’s see, ah yes, ‘Dark was the night, dark as my soul, but I, Padfoot, exiled Scion of House Black, would restore my family name this night. I set out on a daring quest to plunder-’”

Realizing that Remus was reading from a notebook, Sirius dove for him, desperately trying to tear away the Cringeworthy Adventures of Padfoot (aged 13), which had been part of the RP that the Mauranders had kept going for years. 

Lupin just transformed into a giant shaggy werewolf, easily holding off his friend and chuckling. “Oh no. This is happening. I’m running out of ‘treasure’ to give Megumin, and there are literally dozens of these.”

“Then at least use your own notebooks, coward!” Sirius snarled angrily, being held back with one hand while he clawed at the hairy lummcgonagallmox futility. 

“I did. Though I started with Lily’s notebooks, of course. But even then I have to spread them out as we’re planning on a full 100-”

The door swung open, and Tonks strode in. “Remus, you’ll never believe it, but Megumin and her lot have already- bloody hell, what’s gotten into Blackie?”

Sirius had thankfully transformed as soon as the door cracked open, but now he was jumping up and down, barking and snarling as he tried to get at the notebook still. 

“Don’t know, he’s having a fit, I think,” Remus said, then used a big hairy foot to pin his ‘dog’ down. “Were you trailing them in the forest?”

“No, but I put a charm on the box we buried so that I’d know when they got it. Those girls do work fast. Good thing we have the next half dozen set up already,” Tonks said, pulling off her jacket and tossing it to the side. Then she came over and put her arms around Remus, who embraced her tenderly, sharing a kiss.

“Mmmm, it’s not even the full moon, but seeing you like this…well, it’s a good thing I have the rest of the evening off,” Tonks growled, running her hands through Remus’ chest hair.

Blackie began to whine, and Remus let him up so the dog could dart away, somehow managing to open the door and get outside. Fortunately, Tonks was too distracted to notice. 

“That was a close one,” Sirius muttered, slumping down outside the door. “Bloody hell. It’s one thing to know Moony and Tonks are shagging, but I certainly don’t want to see it.”

He shrugged, turned back into Blackie, and trotted off to see what sort of trouble was happening in Gryffindor tower. 

“-I still say we should preform the ritual, THEN go look for the rest of the treasure,” Hermione argued. 

The group was currently sitting in an abandoned classroom that had been turned topsy-turvy in their search for the next part of the treasure map. Books were off the bookshelves and had been gone through before being neatly restacked (Hermione and Megumin would kill anyone who committed the high crime of damaging a book) while all the walls had been knocked on, and the desks and chairs all turned over and rummaged through. The paintings on the wall had even been flipped over and examined, and only desperate pleas by their inhabitants had prevented Megumin from cutting them open. 

“Ha! The ritual may be interesting, but clearly, we will need the Holy Relics we obtain from our quest to complete it,” Megumin declared. “Besides, it doesn’t make YOU a Crimson Demon, it makes your CHILDREN a Crimson Demon. And you’re not planning on having babies any time soon, are you?” 

“Most certainly not,” Hermione said, making a face. “But, with just a little research, I’m certain I could figure out how to adjust the ritual so it turns the target into a Crimson Demon themselves.”

“You really can’t be serious about that, can you?” Ron said, tucking in to some of the “adventuring supplies” they had obtained, which mostly consisted of a few dinner rolls, some cold bacon, and several apples. “I mean, we already have two Crimson Demons. Surely that’s enough.”

“Clearly Hermione recognizes the sheer brilliance and mysterious aura that all Crimson Demons project!” Megumin cackled, posing dramatically. 

Ron sniffed at her, which made Megumin jerk back, then shook his head. “Nah, you’re just stinky from running around all- HEY!” 

Megumin attempted to tackle Ron, but as he’d been having a growth spurt and she hadn’t, he rather easily pinned her down. 

“It is a rather interesting ritual, but I think our focus should be on the treasure hunt,” Darkness said, dusting her hands off. The room had gotten a rather thorough cleaning as a result of the four menances tearing through it, and indeed, Darkness had seemed more interested in putting things to sorts than looking for any treasure. 

“Exacltly! Ron, gerroff!” Megumin protested. 

Ron let her up, and she sat down and glared at him, at least until he gave her a makeshift bacon and dinner roll sandwich, which she snarffed down eagerly. 

“Well, there’s nothing for it then. There’s at least four or five other rooms that meet this description, so we may as well get on with it,” Hermione said, and the group headed off. They hadn’t gone far when, completely by coincidence, of course, Ginny and her Misfit Minions walked down the hall the other way. Somehow, all four of them managed to bump into one of Megumin’s group. They apologized profusely, then headed on their way to check the next room. 

They were halfway done with it when Megumin realized that the clue they’d had was no longer on her person. “THOSE FIENDS! They must have stolen my treasure map!” 

As one, the group turned around and pelted after their rivals. After searching two possible locations for the treasure, they finally found the dust-covered thieves leaving a classroom and studying the map. 

“FOR BLOOD AND HONOR!” Megumin shrieked and launched herself at Draco, who went down with a wail and a tangle of flying limbs. Ron went after Ginny, who attempted to kick him right between the legs. However, Ron was well-versed in his little sister's conniving ways and blocked before grabbing her by the cheeks and pulling cruelly. Hermione and Kazuma just slapped at one another like the pair of nerds they were. 

The real battle was between Dust and Darkness, who circled one another warily amidst the mayhem. 

“So, this is what it comes to,” Darkness said grimly. 

“What are the terms?” Dust asked. “First blood? Or to yielding?”

“First blood. None need die today,” Darkness replied. 

Dust nodded, and pulled a spear from a suit of armor, then tossed Darkness a sword from another. They saluted one another, raised their weapons, and-

“What in the name of Merlin are you DOING!?” 

“Dueling,” Dust said, nodding to Professor McGonagall, who had just come around the corner. “Just to first blood though. Do you want to judge the match?”

McGonagall’s nostrils flared, and even poor Dust realized he’d perhaps gone too far. 

“Right. All of you, come with me. Right now. I’d take House Points, but I do believe Gryffindor is fresh out at the moment, so I will have to think of something else.”

“Now we’re in for it,” Ron groaned as the eight idiots trudged after the professor. 

“Your bloody fault for stealing our treasure map,” Kazuma hissed at him. 

“I suggest you hold your tongues, Mr. Crabbe and Mr. Weasley, lest you give me reason to come up with something even harsher than I already have in mind,” McGonagall told them, which at least got them to shut up until the arrived at the Headmaster’s office.

“Good heavens, is it that time of the year already?” Dumbledore said when the four miscreants had been marched into his office.

“What time of year?” Dust asked.

“Well, since I did not feel the castle destabilize, I can only assume that young Miss Potter has not had yet another confrontation with a dark lord, evil serpent, or another miscellaneous threat to us all that could only be dealt with by an excess of destructive firepower,” Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling. 

“They were brawling in the halls! Longbottom and Goyle even had bare steel in their hands!” McGonagal said, pointing at them. 

“I mean, it was just to first blood. We wouldn’t have killed each other or anything,” Dust said. 

Ginny kicked him. “Not helping, Dust.”

“Oh right,” Dust said, and did his best to look contrite. 

“I see,” Dumbledore steepled his fingers together. “Is there perhaps a reasonable explanation for such behavior?”

“They stole my parents' treasure map!” Megumin said, pointing an accusatory finger at Kazuma. She was sporting an impressive bruise that was certain to turn into a black eye, though that hadn’t dampened her spirits in the slightest. 

“You dropped it! We were just trying to help, when you so rudely assaulted us!” Kazuma replied, his tone slightly nasally and nose rather crooked and dripping a bit of blood. 

“Ah. I see. Well, thievery is, of course, not to be tolerated. I’m afraid there will need to be severe consequences,” Dumbledore said gravely, which got Megumin’s side looking rather smug.

“However,” Dumbledore continued, raising one finger. “Assaulting your fellow students is equally intolerable. I am afraid there is but one solution to this.”

“NOT EXPLUSION!” Hermione wailed, her hands flying to her face. 

“We should be so lucky,” McGonagall muttered, then looked half surprised she’d let that slip. 

“No. In addition to volunteering to help the House Elves clean up after supper for the next fortnight, without magic, you shall all be working together to find this treasure from now on,” Dumbledore said. 

“WHAT?!” The looks of shock and outrage on everyone’s faces was rather comical, especially since so many of them were quite bruised. 

“Yes. From now on, you shall nominate a pair of representatives from each group to work on this treasure hunt together. You will all share information and need to rely on each other to complete this task,” Dumbledore said gravely. “Should you fail to do so, I will simply locate the treasure myself and confiscate it until you are all mature enough to be entrusted with it.”

“You know where the treasure is?!” Megumin gasped, clearly delighted. 

“No. But as I am an ancient and wise wizard, should the need arise, I hardly think I will need to expend much energy to find it myself,” Dumbledore said calmly. That was true. All he would need to do was tell Lupin to pack it in, and the game would be up. 

“Stupid epic-level adventurers,” Megumin grumbled, but didn’t argue further. 

Reluctantly, Kazuma dug out the riddle, and the students were forced to agree to help. Megumin and Ginny of course volunteered themselves, then picked Dust and Darkness to be their “knights” and escort them on the next leg of their hunt.

“Fine, I’ll just find Yunyun and conduct research on my own,” Hermione huffed. 

“What sort of research?” McGonagal said darkly, her mind instantly going to their new Care of Magical Creatures instructor, and the former Serpent of Slytherin. 

“On the historical relevance of this treasure, of course,” Hermione lied smoothly. 

“Well, have a care,” McGonagall said, somewhat relieved as the treasure hadn’t even been buried yet. 

After that, the students broke up, and when they were gone, Dumbledore sighed and reached for a hidden compartment under his desk. “Strawberry Schnapps?” he asked, pulling out two small tumblers and a bottle.

“Why, Albus, I didn’t know you drank,” McGonagal said, accepting a small glass of clear red liquid.

“There was a time when I did not, but Miss Potter and her compatriots will drive anyone to distraction,” the headmaster sighed. He contemplated his glass. “You know, for the first time in my life, I am considering retirement.”

“Don’t you dare. They’d put me in charge of this school, and I’d go stark raving mad if I had to deal with Potter and the rest of that lot. At least wait until she graduates.”

“Hmm, yes I do believe there are several projects that will need to be seen to first,” Dumbledore agreed, sipping at his liquor. “I do hope this teaches them to at least not fight.”

“More likely, they’ll only learn to start an underground fight club that we’ll only find out about when they start sneaking in trolls and giants to battle,” McGonagall said wryly. 

Dumbledore half choked on his drink. “Minerva! Don’t give them ideas! If there were anyone to try such a thing…well. Aside from Hagrid.”

Both made a mental note to thoroughly instruct the groundskeeper that he was, in no uncertain terms, not to smuggle in any monsters for Megumin to fight. 

“So, you want to try to modify the ritual so that it doesn’t just curse you to bear Crimson Demon Children, but to turn you into a Crimson Demon?” Yunyun said, studying the book that Hermione had brought with her. 

“Yes, I think it will be tricky, but you’re the resident experts on complicated rituals and potions of transformation, so I decided to come to you,” Hermione said. 

They were sitting in the library at a corner table studying, along with Tom, Lavender, and Luna. Since Megumin wasn’t present, there was little danger of them being kicked out, unless Tom got on another bender bragging about his genius. 

“Well, you have certainly come to the right place. Not only is Yunyun the witch who transformed an ancient basilisk into an animagus, but I, Tom Roberts, am the reincarnation of a Dark Lord well-versed in dark and terrible rituals, and certain to be of help with this!” Tom said, drawing the scarlet-lined cloak he’d taken to wearing about himself and grinning evilly. 

“Yes, but you don’t remember being Voldemort, just him when he was a kid, so it’s not like that’s much help,” Lavender pointed out. 

“Well, I’m still very experienced!” Tom huffed. “Besides! Don’t you think it would be fun to become  a Crimson Demon?”

“No, I rather like being a Luna Lovegood. I don’t really want to be anything else,” Luna mused. 

“Tom, you want to become a Crimson Demon too?” Hermione asked curiously.

“Of course! Not only would it be a massive boost in power, but-” Tom winced, as Hermione had just kicked him in the leg. 

“Not so loud! We don’t want anyone to overhear, and you’ll get us kicked out!” 

“Sorry, sorry. But! In addition to the power boost, the night vision would be rather useful, don’t you think?” Tom mused. 

“But, we can just use Lumos and that’s just as good as seeing in the dark,” Lavender protested. 

“I-I would love to help you both!” Yunyun said, grinning. “W-we’ll have to study the ritual though, a-and look up some other ones…Hmm. W-we might need books from the Restricted Section again…”

“We can just ask Professor Mizu to borrow them. Tell her we will give her a butterbeer if she does,” Hermione said with a shrug. Their professor was remarkably easy to bribe in most regards. 

“That should w-work,” Yunyun said with a nod. “Hmm, I-I wonder if anyone else would want the ritual performed on them…”

“We’d need to work out the kinks first. We can use Tom as a test subject,” Hermione said. 

“Yes, haha! I shall be the first!” Tom said, keeping his chuckles down to avoid further kicks.

“And if it works, then we can use it on me, and anyone else who wants,” Hermione said.

“What if it doesn’t work?” Luna asked curiously. 

“Well, then we try again,” Tom said with a shrug. 

Luna nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, but what if you die?” 

“I…we…well, um…that’s…not going to happen?” Tom said hopefully. 

“Of course not. The worst would be if it rendered you sterile,” Hermione said with a shrug. 

“Oh. Um…” Tom glanced down at his pants, then back up, blushing. “You, er, think that’s likely?”

“Relax, you’re thirteen. By the time you’d be ready to have children, we’d have you fixed regardless. And anyway, you can always adopt,” Hermione told him seriously. 

“M-Maybe we should test it on someone else. Just to be sure,” Tom said.

“But then you’d miss out on the glory of being first. What’s more important, Tom?” Hermione asked. “Being safe, or proving your genius and blazing a trail of legends across the sky?”

“To blaze a trail and prove forever that you are an inspired genius of which all future generations will- OW! Fine, fine, I’ll keep it down.”

“You sure we need to do a ritual on him?” Lavender asked skeptically. “He already sounds like a Crimson Demon to me.”

“Red eyes or bust,” Tom huffed. “Right, Yunyun?”

“Crimson for life,” Yunyun said absently, not looking up from the book she was poring over. “Hmm, some of these components though…they’ll be somewhat hard to source…”

“I’m sure we can find a way to obtain them. If nothing else, we can order a lot of them by owl,” Hermione said. 

“Yes, but for that, we’ll need money,” Tom said ruefully. “And I only get a bit of pocket money.”

“Well, then we’d best find that treasure,” Hermione said, a wicked grin on her face. And then explained about the hidden treasure and the plan to find it with Ginny’s group.

“Ooo, treasure. That sounds fun,” Lavender said, grinning eagerly. “Let’s snatch it!” 

“Hmm, I think the real treasure is likely to just be more photo albums. Or the friends we made along the way,” Luna mused. 

“Sod that, real treasure is artifacts of unimaginable power! What kind of a quest ends with lame momentos?” Tom demanded. 

“Well, either way, it’s worth looking into. Now, I have some ideas on where to begin,” Hermione said, and the group set about plotting the destruction of the magical world.

Because you just know that wizards are insane enough to try a dark ritual that curses their progeny with dark powers at the mild cost of their sanity.