Chapter 1 - Anger Finds a Way

Summer, 1994

'This is so gross!' Tonks grumbled to herself.

The Quidditch World cup was next week, and she was stuck doing a special kind of recon duty with her mentor. She was super excited to be involved in such an important mission.

At first.

When she got there however, it was a different story. And it wasn't even somewhere interesting! She probably wouldn't have minded recon duty so much if it was related to the World Cup.

Tripping over some vines, she fell flat on her face in clumsiness. 'Bloody hell!' she thought to herself as she cast a Confringo in anger at the vines.

She'd prefer even an old boring recon job over this.

'Constant Vigilance!' her mentor Moody yelled out, hobbling along behind her.

Tonks got to her feet, before blasting off a few more Confringos in random directions, to blow off some stream, her hair blazing red in her anger.

The important mission they were on, was to find all secret passages leading to and from Hogwarts. It was extremely important to secure them, so she had been told anyways, due to the Tri-Wizard Tournament occurring at Hogwarts this upcoming school year.

And she had been super excited to receive this assignment at first. Going back to her old school, find all the secret passages; it was the dream job!

Her mentor Moody however, quickly sucked the fun out of it. Like always, his constant paranoia of dark wizards and conspiracies caused them to not just target all KNOWN passages in and around Hogwarts, but also to look for and find all the unknown ones.

This had them basically wandering around the Forbidden Forest, destroying overgrown spiders.

They had been at this for over a month now.

'WOOOOOOOOO SHHHAAAAAAAAAAA!' Tonks exhales, breathing in and out deeply in an attempt to calm down.

"Your anger was good for something lass! Look over there!" Moody grunts out, before pointing in the direction his magical eye was staring at through the side of his head.

Tonks looks over to where he pointed, seeing the vines get burned away by her out of control Confringos earlier, eventually revealing a circular entrance.

Looking back over to Moody, she questioned "We've searched this area once a week for the past month! Your magical eye couldn't see that cave entrance?"

"Strangely enough, no." Moody grunted in response with a slight worry. "I cant see through these vines. And this is not a natural cave formation. See the ridges here?"

Moody motions to the walls and ceiling of the entrance. "Indicates this is not a naturally made cave created and hidden by nature. This was intentionally dug here and hidden."

Tonks, thinking about what her mentor said, frowns in thought. She wants to believe her mentor and he is making a lot of sense, but he is also known for being super paranoid. And she knows that Hogwarts and the surround valley is located on a leyline, and there are many magical mysteries, that even Moody doesn't know or cant explain.

But mainly, she just wants to finish this job and be done with all these searches.

'Maybe Moody will be satisfied now that we had found a new unknown cave.' Tonks prays to herself. 'If we end soon, I should be able to still make the World Cup!'

Speaking up, she asks "It does look like the ridges are made by some kind of giant drill. Should we investigate and see where this tunnel leads?"

Grunting his agreement, Moody lumbers into the cave with Tonks following behind, happy to be doing something a little more interesting, and hopefully a little less gross, than wandering around the Forbidden Forest and destroying spiders.

She slowly learned however, it was not more interesting.

It was narrow, dark and damp. With only the dull light of Lumos from their wands, and the *clomp* sounds of Moody's False leg to keep them company.

Following the winding tunnels, they marched on, for what felt like hours, before the tunnel opened up and they finally came out to a giant cavern, with a giant door towards the end of it.

'Revelio' Moody casted, quickly covering the cavern with a quick scan to check for traps or enchantments. "It's clear!"

'Lumos' Tonks casted outloud, sending out an overpower lumos to get a better look at the cavern. It appeared quite large, with giant rubble everywhere and it was evident with the remains of giant lanterns scattered around, and rusted-over weapons and armor, there had been a great battle here.

'Point-Me' Moody casted to himself as he had continuously done in the tunnel, keeping track of where they were underground. "We're under Hogwarts lass!"

"Hogwarts? Did Hogwarts have an ancient battle underneath its castle?" Tonks wondered aloud.

Turning his magical eye to look at her through the side of his head, he explained as they made their way across the cavern towards the giant door.

"The final battle of The Goblin Uprising of 1889 occurred during their final siege of Hogwarts. It is rumored that the goblins had managed to dig under the Hogwarts wards. They were fended off and defeated, with the only casualties being 1 student and 1 professor. This is more impressive if you consider the fact that Hogwarts was defended by less than 10 people. True warriors!"

Tonks, in awe, had to comment "WOW! They really built them different back in the day".

"Indeed they did lass!" Moody nods in agreement, as they continue onwards towards the door.

Stopping before they reached it, Moody noticed it seemed to be sealed shut.

'Revelio' He casted, looking for any hidden switches or tricks to open the door.

Meanwhile, Tonks was roaming around before she noticed a pair of large stones that appeared to have been placed close to the side of the door. Growing in curiosity, she quickly went closer to investigate.

Getting a better look, she noted to herself that these stones were too large to land so orderly and close together, especially with the amount of rubble in this cavern. 'Not to mention, this area is clear of any other rubble. Just the door, and these 2 large stones….' She pondered to herself.

'Wait a second…..What is that?' Tonks mutters to herself, as she notices something on the wall of the cavern, directly behind these 2 large stones, appearing to look like words.

'Lumos' Tonks disactivates and recasts an even brighter lumos, to get a better look at the words.

After pausing to read for a moment, she glances back towards the stones, and feels a new reverence for these 2 heroes, especially after reading those heartfelt words. She falls silent in mourning, her hair turning black to reflect her mood, as she holds a moment of silence in their honor.

Her moment of silence was quickly interrupted once again by Moody quickly approaching holding a strange looking wand.

"I found this strange looking wand right by the door buried off to the side, but I cant seem to channel any magic through it." Moody grunted in displeasure. "Did you find anything lass?"

Tonks nodded while pointing towards the makeshift memorial stones and Epitaph.

Pausing to read the memorial, Moody suddenly surprises Tonks by giving an offical auror's salute, traditionally reserved for heroic aurors who died in the line of duty.

"True Warriors!" Moody grunts out, with surprising emotion, before getting closer to take a copy of the inscription.

"In memorial of our 2 heroes, who fell during the Battle of Hogwarts, 1891. They represented the best of all of us; deviously clever, the most loyal of friends, the most remarkable minds, but perhaps most of all, tremendously courageous, for which we will all be forever indebted to them. If not for Jordan Khan and Profressor Fig, many of us, let alone Hogwarts, would not be here today." – Deputy Headmistress Weasley, April 1891

In Loving Memory of Jordan Khan.

"Even as the sun goes down,

To end the light of day,

It's rising on a New Horizon,

Somewhere far away."

- Poppy Sweeting

- Natsai Onai

- Sebastian Sallow