37 Demons

Kaiser was slowly opening his eyes, to find out he was in a dark room, under some kind of red circle with different engravings, made by what appeared to be blood. He looked around in confusion: what the hell was going on?

He froze when he tried to move his arms, they were blocked? As he glanced at his hands, he froze. Color drained from his face that turned deathly pale, beads of sweat forming at his forehead. His heartbeat accelerated; he was panicking. His hands were chained.

He tried to move his legs, but found he couldn't move them either. Even worse, now that he glanced downwards, he noticed he had no clothes on. He was panicking even more now. He tried to use his magic wandlessly, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't for the life of him summon a once of it. In fact, he couldn't even feel it anymore. 'No no no no no no no' he kept repeating in his head. This had to be the worst nightmare. It couldn't get any worse.

"I see you have woken up, Mr. Lunar." Alas, it could indeed get worse. 'Stupid brain, why did you have to think that! Now you've messed up the universe!" Did one's thought truly affect the events around him in anyway? Logic would obviously disagree, but Magic says otherwise. Magic was basically affecting the world around you through your thought. Maybe it wasn't as simple as that, but the idea was there.

"W-w-who are you?" Kaiser asked fearfully. Yes. Fear. His life was essentially under the other party's hands. He had no idea why he was here, or even how, but being chained AND naked did not spell anything good.

A hooded black figure slowly made its way in front of him. He stopped a meter away from him and eyed him up to down. Kaiser could not distinguish any facial expression from him. In fact, his whole face was hazy, almost non-existent. The only thing Kaiser could make out was the grin etched on his face, promising all sorts of evil would befall upon him.

"Hehehe… let's not ask useless question… who am I is unimportant. What I am going to do to you, on the other hand…" the laughter that bordered on a screech would make your ears bleed, while the ominous words coming out of the wide grinning mouth would have you slap yourself, hoping to wake up from whatever nightmare your life turned into. Kaiser was shivering uncontrollably, fear paralyzing his whole body. What could he do to get out of this situation?

"I hear you have a lot of secrets… I will enjoy slowly extracting them until you break… hehehe" the figure took out several sharp tools, most likely used to dissect corpses. Was he going to use THAT on me? Kaiser was thinking with the very few brain cells still working. Not that it would help him in anyway. As the figure slowly approached, he finally cracked.

"Stop… Please, stop… don't…" Kaiser was begging pathetically. Was this how it was all going to end? In a nameless cave, with a nameless person having his sweet time toying with him. Tears started flowing from Kaiser's eyes. He did not want it to end like this. What about his hopes and dreams? Was it going to end like his first life yet again…

A bright light suddenly blinded his eyes, before the world turned pitch black.

-----------------------------------------

Daphne's day was very productive. She was introduced by Kaiser to the infamous Chamber of Secrets, and it turns out it deserved the title. She was warned about the Basilisk guarding it, which made it an even safer place than it already was.

She spoke to two of Hogwarts founders, even though it was only an image of their former selves. The knowledge and wisdom they accumulated through the ages was still there. Their ancient vocabulary was a bit difficult to deal with, but she got by. Tomorrow, she would start learning under their guidance, so she was looking forward to it.

She laid down, after changing into a comfortable nightgown, enjoying the softness of the bed that was most likely heavily enchanted to ensure comfort, thinking about what she might learn during her stay, and even some times her thoughts wandered to the person sleeping next door.

Unfortunately, her musing was interrupted by a sudden burst of magic, too strong to be a mere practicing spell. Not that Kaiser would be practicing spells in his room at night, knowing Daphne was sleeping next door. She got up from her bed, took her wand in hand, and made her way in haste towards the source.

Yet she was surprised to discover it actually came from Kaiser's room. What was she supposed to do? Should she get in? What if he preferred sleeping naked? Wouldn't that damage their relationship somehow? Besides, why on earth is magic bursts coming from Kaiser's room at this ungodly hour, and in such fearsome intensity?

She knocked on the door, asking 'Are you okay?' with a loud voice, hoping Kaiser would hear it. But no response came back. She did it again and again, gradually increasing the force behind her knocks until her fears got the better of her. She opened the door, disregarding any consequences her actions might entail.

What greeted her eyes was a sight she would not be forgetting any time soon. Kaiser was lying in bed, uncovered, though he was wearing clothes thankfully. The blanket that was supposed to cover him was stuck to the ceiling, most likely due to the power burst coming from Kaiser's body.

Everything in the room, including the bed he was laying in, was shaking, and slowly getting pushed away. Somehow, nothing that could be broken was in the room. Perhaps Kaiser was expecting something like this to happen? She did not have long to think about it mainly because of the sight of a desperate Kaiser, twitching as if someone had cast the Cruciatus Curse on him.

His face was heavily contorted, forming an expression of distress she had never seen before. Even worse, she could clearly see some tears leaving his eyes, hear sounds that resembled someone choking on his breath.

Daphne made her way hurriedly to his side, jerking his body begging him to wake up. As a witch, she had a natural resistance to 'Accidental Magic', so it wouldn't push her back. But his body moving, on the other hand, did not make things easy. At one point she just hugged him, never stopping to whisper for him to wake up.

It took a good two minutes before he finally stopped. Did he finally hear her? Or was he just magically exhausted? She did not know which one was it, but she was glad it was over.

Kaiser suddenly opened his eyes, to discover the scene he was experiencing a few moments ago was nothing more than a nightmare. He gasped for breath for a moment before he calmed down, helped by the girl that was tightly hugging him.

"Are you alright?" They stayed like that for a while before Daphne asked.

"I am. It was just a nightmare." Kaiser reassured, but it was more to himself than her. "I'm sorry for waking you up."

"Don't be." Daphne whispered. After a while, she asked worriedly: "Does this happen often to you?" Daphne was not worried about sacrificing her sleep, she could do at least that much for Kaiser. What she was worried about was his mental state. What would happen to him if this went on unattended? Would there be any permanent damage to him?

"Every once in a while." Kaiser did not need to lie. Even if he did, she would eventually find out. She would be living with him for a long while, after all. The nightmares had started from the first time he came to this world, when he was eleven. At least, the first time he remembered what happened to him in his previous life.

It wasn't this intense at the time, and it never had any magic with them, just regular nightmares. But since the beginning of his third year, it got worse. And the nightmares also have gotten more creative. They started off as another version of his murder, with more agony and despair. Now, the scenarios were diverse, but the theme never changed: Kaiser being helpless in a hopeless situation, where all he could do was beg and cry. Either because someone deemed his existence unnecessary, someone wanted to know what he knew…

Kaiser used the Dreamless Sleep potion several times, but he did not wish to develop a resistance to it by abusing it, or suffer from negative side effects.

"Thank you." Kaiser finally said after a few moments of silence.

-------------------------------------------

"I am not sure this is such a good decision, Kai." Karl said pensively. "Their family worships Dumbledore too much. If information about this leaks, it would be even worse than us breaking the statute of secrecy."

"We are paying him good money and making him sign a contract before we give further details. Not to mention, his family owes me big time for saving their daughter." Kaiser reasoned. "And all the intel points towards him as someone who would be grateful for such things."

"I'm not sure he would even agree to sign the contract. That's why I am worried." Karl explained. Contrary to Lupin, who was desperate enough to accept whatever terms were thrown his way, Bill Weasley was doing pretty well for himself. He did not even need to accept this job, especially when it came with such conditions.

"I believe the threat of Baldemort would compel him to accept regardless." Kaiser said. "His parents were one of the most active members of the Order of the Pheonix. I am not sure how good his relationship is with them, but if he wanted to make them proud, isn't it the best way to be the direct cause of Baldemort's downfall?"

A knocking sound interrupted their conversation. They gathered their wits and prepared for the next step.

"Come in." Karl said, urging their guest, Bill Weasley to enter the room.

Bill was completely at ease, not affected that he was about to meet one of the most influential figures in Magical Britain, nor one of the rising stars of the enchanting world. He was a polished veteran curse breaker, an occupation that required focus and calm, to deal with any unexpected dangerous situations one might find himself in.

Bill was dressed in formal wizarding attire, clothes his supposedly poor family could not afford. Though to be fair, it was only due to their unreasonable number of children. He did not know why he was contacted. Was it for consulting regarding protective measures? Or some other special circumstances that required his skill set.

After exchanging greetings and pleasantries, they wasted no more time to get to the core of the matter.

"We won't waste any more of your time, Mr. Weasley. We have a situation that requires your specific curse breaking skills." Karl began. "We have heard you have investigated several ancient Egyptian ruins, and lived to tell the tale. That proves you are indeed a talented Curse Breaker. However… Our situation does also require someone of integrity, someone worthy of our trust."

"May I request what your situation is?" Bill asked. He was puzzled, why couldn't they just ask anyone? Curse breakers are bound by contracts when they take a job, therefore, they cannot do it half-heartily. Which means that their concerns was unnecessary. Was there something more to this case?

"Are you aware Voldemort is still alive?"