75: Maledictus

Alaric dropped silently to the snow-covered ground, careful not to make a sound, and hid behind a frozen bush. The hushed moonlit night embraced the clearing as Alaric watched Mason, the ex-Auror, who remained the sole wakeful figure near the campfire. 

Mason sat by the dying embers, his face riddled with turmoil and what was probably regret. It was a steep fall, Alaric thought, from Auror to Poacher. Alaric tried to feel a sliver of compassion for the man, but he didn't care. After all, guilt and remorse were signs that Mason's situation was mostly his fault. 

Alaric remained concealed and held his breath as he watched and waited. He clutched his wand with his right hand, and the chant of the spell he'd use was already on the tip of his tongue. 

The cold wind rustled the tree tops, and as the waning flame of the campfire flickered for the last time and they were plunged into darkness, Alaric raised his wand. 

"Prope Mortem,"

His voice was barely above a whisper. With a crack similar to a firework going off, a dark, shadowy jet left Alaric's wand. It was hard to see anything in the middle of the night, and Mason only spotted the curse coming because of the beam's dim grey glow. 

Mason casted a fast but poorly done Shield Charm between himself and the curse. Even if weak, the shield deflected the curse of its path, hurling it towards a gnarled tree in the distance, which exploded into a thousand splinters. Still, Mason was taken off his feet, landing three meters behind where he sat a second before. 

"Tsk."

"Who's there?!" The Auror-turned-poacher quickly got to his feet and raised his wand. Alaric could see the translucent veil encasing him, meaning he'd already made another shield, this time a proper one. "Show yourself!"

No point in hiding now, Alaric thought. Slowly, he revealed himself from behind the large frozen bush and walked into the clearing. Mason whirled himself and pointed his wand straight at Alaric's chest. His eyes widened with confusion.

"A student?" 

"No, Santa Claus,"

Alaric, too, had his wand at ready. They stared at each other for a while, and it was clear Mason was still trying to make sense of why there was a teenager in their camp, at night, in the Dark Forest. He had momentarily forgotten about the curse that almost hit him seconds ago. 

"Go back, kid," he said, wand still locked in on Alaric. "There's nothing for you here. Go back to the castle and pretend you never found this place,"

Instead of speaking, Alaric arched an eyebrow. His eyes were carefully scanning Mason. 

"Oh, I don't think so," Alaric said. "I'm too curious, you see. You could say it's a fatal flaw of mine... And I can't help but wonder... what is an ex-Auror doing with a band of poachers,"

"You were eavesdropping?" Mason asked, tightening his grip on his wand. 

"Maybe," Alaric shrugged. 

Mason staggered backwards. There was something wrong...

"You wouldn't understand," He said, biting his lip out of frustration. He felt as if there was fog covering his mind. "The Ministry wronged me. I had to make money to survive somehow," He wondered why he was telling so much to a kid. 

"Still, a poacher? So many careers outside of the Ministry, and you choose to hunt magical creatures illegally?"

"Like I said, you wouldn't get it. The Minister blacklisted me,"

Almost there, Alaric thought. 

"Did he now?" Alaric said, his blue eyes glowing with the moonlight. "What could've you possibly done to get Cornelius Fudge to blacklist you,"

"I..." Mason didn't like thinking about that day. The Dementors almost kissed him out of frustration when they found out a prisoner had escaped. He thought he was lucky they didn't comprehend the fact that Pettigrew was never in jail to begin with. 

Suddenly, he was back in the prison again. The cold, dark stone walls surrounded him, and the dimly lit hallway before him seemed deserted. It was as if everything had been a dream. He could hear the wind howling outside and the distinct vile whispers of the dementors, but Mason didn't feel the sadness the creatures caused. 

He walked along the dark corridors, checking each cell. Every single one had their prisoner inside, but when Mason called them, they seemed to either ignore him or fail to notice him. He couldn't decide between each; his mind was still foggy. 

When Mason reached the topmost level, he found the weirdest scene he'd ever seen. He saw himself peering into a cell. His hair was shorter, his face was clean and shaven, and there was a certain thing about his posture he'd lost a few months ago. Beside him stood Everett, the old Auror whom he shared shifts with. He hadn't seen him since he was laid off. 

"Everett!" He called, but the old man didn't hear him. That's when he noticed the third figure, who too, stood peering into the cell. Mason didn't have a proper look at the boy when he showed himself in camp, but he could now see him. There was no doubt that it was a student and not some young-looking wizard. 

What was a student doing in Azkaban?

"So that's what happened..." Alaric muttered. He'd come looking for coal but found gold instead. In contrast to the rest of the prison, the cell was much more detailed. He blamed it on the fact that Mason spent so much time looking into it, trying to process the fact that in the place of Peter Pettigrew, was the corpse of an old muggle man and a weird-looking slug. 

Cruel, but ingenious, Alaric thought. By using the body of a Muggle, the wizard that did the spell assured that it would last much longer than normal, as there was no magic in a Muggle that could potentially fight the curse that transfigured him into Pettigrew. 

Alaric suddenly broke out of his trance at the sudden shift in his surroundings. In a flash of light, Azkaban morphed back into the Forbidden Forest, and he found himself looking down at a desperately coughing Mason. 

"You!" The poacher said between gritted teeth. His nose was bleeding furiously. "You... invaded... my mind...!"

"I did," Alaric admitted. "Much easier than senseless duelling. This is what happens when one focuses too much on one thing but neglects the rest," 

Alaric raised his wand. 

"N-No, please..." Mason pleaded, his knees sinking in the snow. 

"Oh, don't worry. This spell will only put you to sleep... for a few days," Alaric smiled. "I'll even modify your memories. Am I not so kind?"

"No-"

"Prope Mortem,"

Once the dark beam hit Mason, he dropped to the ground, motionless. Without the countercurse, the ex-Auror wouldn't see the light of the day for a week. But he'd survive. No matter what he said, Alaric didn't have the stomach to truly kill a human being.

After erasing and planting fake memories in Mason's brain from the last twenty minutes, Alaric walked up to the campfire, where the Maledictus was chirping around nervously in the cage. It was small — the bird couldn't have been bigger than six inches —, its plumage was bright red and its distinct bill was crossed at the tips. 

Alaric was about to open the cage when he heard the sound of clothes being dressed from the nearest tent. 

"I'll deal with you later," He said, trying his best to not scare the poor cursed bird. With a tap of his wand, the cage sprouted wings and flew to the castle. 

"Oi, Mason!" Who Alaric assumed was the leader of the group of poachers emerged from the tent. His shining bald head reflected the moonlight. "What was the sound I—"

When the bald poacher noticed Alaric by the campfire, his hand flew to his wand. 

"INTRUDER!" He yelled, instantly shooting curses at Alaric, which he deflected with a small Protego.

It didn't take long for every single one of the poachers to be out of their tents, each with their wand drawn and ready. It seemed they operated by a strict rule of spells first, talking later, as Alaric had to reinforce his shield when half a dozen curses were hurled at him. 

"Wait," One said, lowering his wand. "Isn't that just a kid?"

The moment of indecision cost the poacher his consciousness, as a dark jet hit him square in the chest the second he stopped doing magic. 

"I don't care if he's a kid!" Another one said. "I'll kill him all the same. Avada Kedavra!"

The Killing curse that left the poacher's wand lacked potency. One didn't only have to mean it but know how to properly do the complicated magic behind the curse. Perhaps all it would do was cause some abdominal pain were it to hit Alaric. Still, because he had his wand focusing on stopping the incessant barrage of curses, Alaric swiped his hand at a nearby cluster of pebbles, using them as a makeshift barrier to intercept the trajectory of the Unforgivable.

As the pebbles were reduced to mere dust, Alaric saw a small window of action. The explosion had startled the poachers and their wands momentarily stopped producing magic. 

"Lumos Maxima!" Alaric bellowed. Normally, he didn't need to utter the incantation for such a simple spell, but he found it easier to do so when he opted to add more power to it. 

Large and blinding was what Alaric was going for, and that's exactly what he got. As if a tiny white sun had suddenly appeared in the middle of the clearing, the poachers recoiled and fell backwards, blinded by the sudden light. 

With a quick twirl of his wand, Alaric made the tents sprout to life, throwing themselves at the struggling poachers. 

"Prope Mortem!" He shouted again, sending another paralyzing curse at a disoriented poacher. The dark colour of the spell contrasted sharply against the lingering light from his earlier charm. Poacher after poacher fell, incapacitated by well-aimed curses or hexes. 

One of the poachers managed to deflect the spell that was shot at him and retaliated with a burning curse. Alaric, who was in the middle of blocking another curse, sidestepped, but not before the poacher's spell grazed his left forearm and burned the sleeve of his coat, leaving Alaric with serious burns on the skin. 

Through the pain, Alaric continued on the offensive. Amid the ongoing skirmish, he noticed that he was slowly pushing them back into the forest. The poachers were somewhat skilled in offensive magic, but lacked proper coordination when fighting, hindering each other instead of helping. 

"Dissendium!" Alaric said. The ground beneath one of the poachers shifted and became uneven, and the unsuspecting poacher stumbled, providing Alaric with an opportunity to paralyze him. 

The tide of the battle continued to be in Alaric's favour as he employed a combination of defensive manoeuvres and strategic spellcasting. The clearing echoed with the sounds of incantations, clashes, and the occasional yelp of a poacher caught off guard.

Despite their initial aggression, Alaric saw that the two remaining poachers were opting for a more defensive strategy, struggling to regain any semblance of control in the fight. 

"Piss off!" One yelled, shooting a slashing curse. Alaric tilted his head, and with a flick, ropes tangled around both the poachers' ankles before lifting them off their feet. 

When the two landed on the ground, unconscious, the only noises echoing in the clearing were the occasional sounds from deep within the forest, or the small fires, caused by the fight, flickering with the wind. 

"That ought to save Hagrid some trouble," Alaric muttered. If they were in the Hogsmeade section of the forest, it was only about time they ventured deep enough to find themselves in Hogwarts grounds. 

He cleaned the sweat from his forehead with his good hand, before taking a look at his charred one. It was in a bad state, but he doubted it would leave scars. 

With a quick Reparo on the sleeve of his woollen coat, Alaric turned around to leave and maybe tip off the local authorities, only to find himself facing a man cloaked in dark robes and a translucent figure. 

"Thank you, Baron," Professor Snape said to the ghost beside him. "I'll take it from here," 

With a last look at Alaric, the Bloody Baron left, but Alaric doubted that would be the last he'd see from him. 

"So, Mr. Grindelwald," Snape said with the usual lack of tone. "I seem to recall the Headmaster mentioning the students were not allowed to wander off the village... much less, into the Dark Forest,"

**********

Exams are done. Chapters will resume with daily updates. 

No fun fact today because I haven't got the time. Sorry :(

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!