LazyWizard
patreon
Ch 19 Let me tell you a Story... Part 2
🕑 Added 2023-04-02 15:26:21 +0000 UTC"Hey! STOP! STOP! STOP—AHHHhhh" Sirius shouted as he flicked around dodging spells thrown his way by a very irate Celine, who was red with anger and didn't look as if she would stop any time soon.
"You Bastard! First, you gave me a heart attack, and then you tell me that you have no idea where the tomb is," Celine said furiously, panting with exertion as even though she was trying with all her might, she hadn't been able to hit the bastard, who was too good at dodging just like a monkey, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't flay you alive!,"
"Hey! Why are you behaving like I was the one who forced you to come here," Sirius said indignantly the moment spellfire stopped. Even though Celine was using non-lethal spells, they were of the variety that would really sting so Sirius didn't want to get hit by them, "Didn't Beth tell you about that when you told her about this trip," Sirius asked
But Celine started acting suspiciously and avoided eye contact, "Wait don't tell me—You didn't tell her?!"
"Why are you shouting like it's my fault? You didn't tell her either!"
"That's because I thought you would since you live in the same F*cking house," Sirius said with his eyebrow twitching, "So you mean to tell me that Beth has no idea that we are even on this trip,"
"Of course, she has some idea... I left a letter for her," Celine's cheek reddened as she looked away before she coughed and said calmly as if ignoring everything else, "So now that we are here, do you want to continue on this trip or not?"
Sirius looked at the lush green forest around the place where they had landed for a while before he sighed, "Of course, I want to continue otherwise we would have come here for nothing,"
"So how are we doing this?"
"Do you know of the spell to scour your surrounding for magic," Sirius said and when Celine nodded he showed her the map, "Well about 20% of this map that is the marked area had been scoured by a trusted source not to have any magic in the area. So all we have to do is scour the remaining area,"
The 'Trusted Source' Sirius was talking about was of course Dumbledore who had provided him with the map. He had spent all his free time searching for the illusory tomb of 'Herpo the foul,' but alas even with his expertise it was hard to find things in a forest this big, still, the 20% he had completed was enough of a head start for Sirius.
As they looked at the map, Celine's eyes widened. "Wait a minute – now that I see the map, I think I've heard of this forest before."
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Really? Where?"
"It's one of those top ten most dangerous forests in the world in the ICW list," Celine said with wide eyes, "In fact, it comes above Forbidden forest so it's got to be a Death Trap if even ICW considers it more dangerous than Hogwarts Forest with its Werewolves, Unicorns, Colonies of Centaurs and who knows how many Acromantulas,"
Sirius was taken aback, "Huh... I had no idea it was this famous,"
"And you want us to scour every inch of this forest," Celine said incredulously.
"Of course, if it was easy to find the place, it would have already been soured by the magical who came before us," Sirius replied, placing a mark on his map and choosing a direction, "Let's go, the sooner we start the better,"
"Wait a minute!", Celine grabbed Sirius's arm, stopping him in his tracks, and with a serious face asked, "If we're really going to do this and enter this forest, then you need to tell me who you are behind that glamour first."
"What! Why?"
"I need to know who I'm entrusting my life to if we're going to put ourselves in danger," Celine replied firmly. "It's only fair."
Sirius hesitated for a moment before meeting Celine's gaze. "How about I offer you a bigger share of the loot than we agreed upon beforehand?" he suggested, trying to dodge the question.
"No," Celine resolutely, "No that condition is the deal breaker. Either you tell me your true identity, or I apparate out of here right now,"
Sirius stood there, considering his options. While he had learned a lot under Beth, it was not enough for him to do this alone, which was why he had agreed to Celine's offer in the first place.
Sirius thought about it for a while before he sighed and said, "Alright, I can tell you about my real identity but only if you take a magical oath that you'll not reveal my identity to anyone without my permission, among a few other things,"
Celine narrowed her eyes suspiciously, taking a step back from Sirius. "Why?" she asked, her tone cautious. "Are you some kind of criminal or something?"
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Do you think your granny would have agreed to teach me if I was a dark wizard?" he retorted, hoping to ease the tension. "Now, are you going to take that oath or not?"
"Alright, fin— Wait you're not a Death Eater, Are you?"
"No, I am not," Sirius said, he was just suspected to be one.
"Fine then, tell me the oath then,"
Sirius brainstormed for a while before telling her the exact wording of the oath which made sure that she couldn't break his identity to anyone intentionally or unintentionally, as well as a few other things.
Celine completed the oath, "...So mote it be," as her wand glowed, signifying its success. She then turned to Sirius and asked, "Alright, I did what you said. Now tell me."
Sirius took a seat on a boulder and gestured for Celine to join him. "Before I tell you anything about myself, I need to tell you a story," he said. Celine was a bit confused but still sat on a nearby boulder. "This story is about four friends - a stag, a grim, a werewolf, and a rat."
"What is that some kind of a joke or something, do they all walk into a bar next or something," Celine interrupted, rolling her eyes.
"No... but remind me to tell you about the one time they did walk into a bar," Sirius said before he stopped reminiscing about that memory, "Anyway, the story starts at Hogwarts where the four of them met and instantly became the best of friends and...
"... One day, The Stag saw a red-haired Doe and was instantly smitten with her, and as they say the rest is history..."
"...So the grim escaped from its terrifying prison to hunt down and kill, to finally finish the crime he had been imprisoned for..."
"... The pup of the stag and the doe stopped him from committing to the deed just like his father had done in his fifth year..."
