Confrontation

By the time I felt confident in my ability to take down the barriers that were keeping Octavius trapped. The full moon was only a few days out, pulling out my coin I sent a message for all my friends to meet up.

After everyone arrived at the room of requirement, I turned to my friends and declared, "We're ready to free Octavius."

Always eager for a fight, Anna leaned forward and asked, "Are we going to take down the Grendel?"

I was getting a little concerned that Anna's default response to most obstacles was to fight. So, I shook my head and replied, 'No, that is not the purpose of today's trip. I figured that having an ancient vampire who owes us would be useful when we subdue the Grendel."

Wanting to clarify our goals, I added, "Besides, the main goal in confronting the Grendel. Is to obtain the bracelet, which will let us pass through the time dilation field. As long as we can free Octavius and retrieve my ring, the beast can rot down there for eternity for all I care."

I think my friends were a little surprised about my willingness not to fight the Grendel. What we were doing sounded like an adventure, and in most stories, the end goal was often to slay the monster.

Both Alicia and Anna seemed disappointed that I was okay with leaving the creature alive. I had to force myself not to roll my eyes at their pouting.

Turning my best friend Cedric, it seemed he didn't have a preference, he was merely resolved not to be left behind. I think he may still be slightly offended that I left him behind the first time, and he was determined to prove his worth.

Out of all my friends, he was the one I wanted watching my back. Over the past year, all my friends had made vast improvements while we practiced together. They were probably some of the best wizards and witches in our year. But, Cedric was perhaps the most reliable out of all my friends, his ability to remain calm no matter what happened was invaluable.

Meeting my gaze with a level stare, Cedric asked, "When do we go?"

"The full moon is in three days. We go then," I replied.

Over the next few days, the more I anticipated the trip into the forest, the slower the time seemed to move. Finally, it was the day of, and we all made our way out to the forest.

Before we could leave, I saw Hargid sitting with this back towards the castle, and facing the forest. He was crying, and his shoulders were trembling. I knew that only a terrible friend, would leave someone they like in pain, so I headed over to see what was troubling him.

As soon as Hagrid saw me, he tried to weakly smile and rub away the tears leaking down his face. "G'morning Alex, What brings you out here today?"

"Just out and about with my friends," I replied. After studying his downtrodden face, I asked, "What's wrong?"

For a moment, it looked like Hagrid was going to bravely declare nothing was wrong. But, the moment passed, and the brave face he was making fell away, and he bawled, "They made me get rid of my babies."

Hearing that his babies were taken from him, Alicia interjected in disbelief, "They took your children away? They can't do that!"

I stifled a snicker, my friends hadn't spent much time around Hagrid, so they had no idea that when Hagrid said "Babies." What he really meant was his two monster Garmrs.

Wanting to let them know what Hagrid was talking about, I explained, "Hagrid had two Garmrs he was caring for." Seeing that my friends didn't fully understand, I added, "At six months they stood five feet at the shoulder and other than Hagrid, they didn't seem to care for the students."

I didn't mention that I stopped by often to feed them so that they would see me as a caregiver rather than prey.

Mumbling under his breath, Hagrid said, "They wouldn't have hurt nobody."

My friends looked at me to confirm Hagrid's belief, and I quickly shook my head, indicating that he was wrong. That seemed to dry up any sympathy for the "babies" Hagrid was talking about.

Knowing who was most likely responsible, I comforted, "Well, I'm sure Dumbledore knows what's best."

Hearing my reply, Hagrid sagged his shoulders and deeply sighed and mumbled something about Dumbledore having a point. Knowing how much he loved magical creatures, I turned to Athena and nodded towards Hagrid, indicating she should go and comfort him.

Athena always had a soft spot for Hagrid, and always seemed to enjoy his attention. After I took her collar off, which freed her horns and wings, she made her way over to Hagrid and started climbing up his large frame. Once she reached his shoulder, she nuzzled his cheek trying to cheer him up.

Seeing how today was going to be a quick rescue mission, and that we shouldn't need her, I suggested, "Why doesn't Athena hang out with you for a little while, we can meet back up later."

We left Athena behind with Hagrid, who was delighted to spend time with her. Seeing that Hagrid's spirit had been lifted, we snuck off to an area where we could mount our brooms and head towards the cave.

After arriving, I noticed that it was eerily quiet in the cave. As soon as we entered the underground cavern, I realized something was wrong. Stalagmites and stalactites were broken everywhere. Apparently, something had ripped them from the cave floor and ceiling and threw them everywhere.

Inside of the fortress was no better. The nest looked like an angry deity blew through. I gulped, apparently, the Grendel took offense to us ransacking it's home in our quest for information.

My friends and I exchanged wary looks, and I whispered, "Let's do this quickly, I don't want us down here for a second longer than we have to."

Opening the door containing Octavius prison, I was further shocked upon seeing the destruction inside as well. The Grendel must have followed our scent in here and decided since it couldn't punish us, it would make Octavius pay.

It looked like the Grendel was wise enough not to enter the wards containing Octavius. But, it had obviously figured out that it could throw objects inside.

The stone coffin Octavius slept in, had been shattered by the large boulders that the Grendel had thrown inside. To the side of the coffin was a large pile of rock, I could see an arm sticking out, indicating that Octavius was buried within.

I quietly hissed, "Octavius."

Nothing happened for a moment, then we all saw a finger twitch, and Anna turned to me horrified, and whispered, "I think he is still alive under there."

Turning sideways to my friends, I said, "This should take me long, watch my back."

I reached out with my newfound magical sense to detect the first warding circle, which blocked physical objects from passing through. Once I had found the knot, I quickly chanted, "Tollere Impedimentum."

Once I was connected, I found that this setup, was almost exactly like the once Chalie had set up for me to practice on. It took me less than a minute to break through the barrier.

I turned to my friends and bragged, "You see, I told you that won't take very long."

Rolling his eyes, Cedric replied, "Less bragging, more doing."

Emboldened by my success, I turned back to the barriers and quickly latched onto the second ward, which blocked non-physical things from passing through. However, this ward was very different from the one I had practiced on, which meant it would be more difficult to bring down.

Closing my eyes, I concentrated on forcing my magic through the barrier, five minutes later, I broke through. Wiping the sweat from my face, I focused on the final barrier, the one that prevented vampires from crossing. This barrier was the most complicated and it took nearly ten minutes to penetrate.

Once the final barrier was down, I felt so worn out, the going through three barriers in a row took alot out of me.

Concerned Anna touched my shoulder, and asked, "Are you ok?"

"Ya I just need a minute" I replied.

After I took a minute to recover, I said, "Let's get those rocks off of him."

We all pointed out wands towards the rocks, and after a quick swish and flick, we chanted, "Wingardium Levios."

As we removed the boulders one by one, Octavius's body was eventually revealed. Anna gasped when we saw that he had been impaled on a stalagmite. His skeletal frame was so pale it had no color, his eyes were bloodshot, and it appeared, he couldn't move.

Seeing him impaled and crushed made my stomach churn, fighting the urge to throw up, I considered the best way to help. I came to the conclusion that there wasn't another way to do this, other than the hard way. So, I pointed my wand at him and cast the levitation spell on the stalagmite embedded in Octavius's stomach.

When I magically yanked it from Octavius, and he groaned in pain. At this point, I was relieved that Octavius was so damaged that he couldn't move. I shudder to think of how to famished an injured vampire who hasn't feed in centuries must be, at least this way he was so weak he couldn't attack us .

Thankfully, getting ahold of fresh blood was surprisingly easy, due to my contacts at Borgin and Burkes. It didn't matter what it was, he would get you anything if you had the galleons to pay for it.

Not taking any chances, I had purchased enough blood to feed a coven of hungry vampires. Digging into my magical expanded pouch, I withdrew a crystal container filled with blood.

The container had a few useful charms woven inside of it. Not only did the inside have an expanding charm on it, but it also had a stasis charm on it, so that the blood wouldn't go bad.

I removed the crystal topper and carefully poured the blood down the throat of Octavius. For a while, nothing seemed to happen, but eventually, the huge gaping hole in his stomach began to repair itself.

Watching strands of organs, muscles, and skin fill in the gap was a very unsettling feeling. I was half-grossed out, and half-fascinated by the process.

Once the hole was fixed, Octavius's body seemed to focus on all of the other crush injuries he had. Bones began repairing themselves and his body started to fill out, and he stopped looking like a skeleton with skin on it. Eventually, Octavius's arm reached up to angle the crystal to pour out the blood faster.

Seeing how he was able to feed himself, I let him have the crystal and stepped back. After a moment, he was able to stop himself from feeding, and he looked at the four of us and said, "I'm glad you come, but I'm afraid that you shouldn't have. After your last visit, it sounded like the Grendel sealed all the other exits to the cave, leaving only one entrance and exit"

Pausing for a moment, he clarified, "It set a trap, and I'm afraid that I'm the bait."

As soon as the words left his mouth, we all heard a rumbling coming from the cavern. It sounded like there had been a small cave-in, and if Octavius was right, it was deliberate.

A loud roar of rage sounded out from the tunnel, confirming my fear. We were trapped underground with a furious Grendel.