Chapter 93: A Fire To Burn Them All

Hogwarts Castle, Somewhere in the Scottish Highlands

May 15th, 1060

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Immediately, Erik felt something change within the castle's wards. If before they recognized him as the admin user, the wards now recognized him as its new owner. He stood in place with the sword in one hand and the hat in the other while thinking of the repercussions of what had just happened. Since Godric Gryffindor's death, the Ravenclaws had been the sole owners of Hogwarts, but it felt incomplete. After all, three-quarters didn't make a whole, and Erik and Selena always feared that people would use that against them to try and meddle with the school. But now, with Erik pulling the sword out of the hat, literally, he was the owner of Godric Gryffindor's part of the castle and with he and Selena turning into High-Humans, the Ravenclaws would always be Hogwarts true owners.

Erik snapped back to reality and quickly put the hat on his head. Some questions had appeared in his head.

"Congratulations, Erik."

The hat jovially said in Erik's mind.

"Okay. Explain."

Erik said shortly to the hat.

"Very well, but it is very simple, really. Godric asked me to hide his sword and only give it to those I judged worthy within his parameters. The person should be brave, courageous, strong, not afraid of fighting but not seek them out, and be in the defense of Hogwarts."

The hat explained to Erik, who was thinking about all those parameters that Godric Gryffindor had set. It was just like him, less the 'not seek them out' part, of course. The man would go to the tavern and provoke people there just to fight. Yes, definitely not like him.

"And seeing that you filled all those criteria and had come back in defense of the school, I decided that you were as worthy as one could get and gave you the sword."

Avish said, finishing its explanation. It was really simple, at least for Avish.

"And don't worry too much about it, Erik, or you will end up getting expression marks even while being a High-Human now."

Avish said again to Erik and did a mental chuckle.

"Did you just make a joke?"

Erik asked the hat.

"Yes. Kinda off. Was it any good?"

Avish replied to Erik.

"No, but you are getting on the right track."

Erik said back to the hat. It was then that Erik felt some presences approaching the Headmaster's office. He quickly took off Avish from his head and put it back where it was, but stood with the sword in his hand. Soon, Selena entered the office while being followed by the current Headmaster of Hogwarts. Selena looked at her husband, smiled at him, and froze in place when she saw what he was holding in his hands.

"Is that…"

Selena said, starting a question but not finishing it.

"Godric's sword? Yes, it is."

Erik replied shortly like it was not something important. And it was not if one would consider their situation.

"You found it?"

Selena asked again. Her demeanor changed quickly and she walked to where Erik was while keeping an eye on the sword. Erik raised the sword, pointed up and parallel to his body, and rotated it in a way that the engraving of 'GRYFFINDOR' on the blade's side could clearly be seen and read.

"It looks like that, doesn't it?"

Erik replied while smirking. Selena pouted at that and slapped Erik's arm in a form of indignation. Oblivious to the couple or not really caring about it, the current Headmaster of Hogwarts was watching all of this trade between them. And the man was not bothered by it. He had known the couple since he was a student at Hogwarts and was already numb against the couple's interactions. But Lord Ravenclaw's find was big. It meant that the Ravenclaws now owned the whole of Hogwarts.

'Well, not like anything will change.'

The man thought.

"So, have you seen the army and the people who command them?"

Erik asked Selena, who nodded her head in confirmation.

"Yes. They are all corpses. Walking abominations. And the commanders are a group of vampires that had dabbled in necromantic magic too much."

Selena said, answering Erik's question.

"Hmmm. That explains the kind of magic that was festering in the Deputy's wounds."

Erik commented.

"Is Hilbert going to be okay?"

The Headmaster asked from the side. He was very concerned about the health of his friend.

"Yes, he will. Not immediately, of course. I had to get rid of the corrupted magic that was blocking any attempt to heal him and has healed his major wounds. He now needs rest above all."

Erik said, replying to the Headmaster's concerns. The man smiled in relief after hearing that piece of news.

"So, love, are you ready to hunt?"

Erik asked Selena, who gave him a wide smile.

"Why, husband. I thought you would never ask."

Selena replied and summoned her own sword. The Slytherin's sword. For the first time in decades, these two swords were together again. Green and red. Emerald and ruby. Gryffindor and Slytherin. Ready to defend Hogwarts side by side again.

The couple didn't talk anymore. It was not necessary for them. They walked to one of the windows of the office which was big enough and opened them. A quick spell later, Erik and Selena were floating in the chill air of the night, flying to the ward's borders where the army was gathered.

"Can you handle it alone?"

Selena asked Erik while seeing the high number of raised undead. Erik raised one of his eyebrows at that comment.

"Can you keep the group of vampires from fleeing?"

Erik replied to Selena.

"Point taken."

The witch replied, applied a disillusionment spell over her, and flew away in the direction where she had felt the group was staying. Erik gave Selena a little time before he started his participation in the 'show'. His right hand was raised, with the palm facing up, to his front while his left one kept hold of the sword of Gryffindor by his side. In his palm, a spark of red fire lit up and started to grow in size quickly and the heat that it was emanating was tremendous but it didn't faze Erik.

When it was the size of a dragon egg, Erik let go of the miniature sun. It slowly fell from the sky, meter by meter, until it reached the ground and touched the sea of raised undead where it exploded sideways, quickly spreading its reach and encompassing the entire army in mere ten seconds. The spell that he just cast was not Fiendfyre but it was something really similar to it. Something that Erik created while having the hungry fire in mind. While fiendfyre was very hard to control and would eat away anything in its path, Erik's fire spell was not. It would still eat away everything in its path, but only what it was specified to eat. And in this case, it was dead bodies. The heat emanating from the fire was tremendous. So much that Erik had to cast some protections around him. Thirty seconds later, the fire started to die down. And when it went completely off, nothing could be seen besides ashes. And under that layer of ashes, was charred soil. Even if the fire's purpose was to consume only dead bodies, the heat emanated by it was enough to burn away the plants near it and char the ground under them.

After 'admiring' his work, Erik felt where Selena was and apparated near her side. He found his wife fighting against two dark-cloaked vampires when he looked around. She was having fun with them while being very wary of the sword in her hand, Erik could see it clearly. He too felt the barrier and wards that she had raised. Barriers to prevent physical passage and wards to prevent any form of magical transportation out of it.

"Honey, how nice of you to join us."

Selena said while dodging a clawed attack and slicing in the middle a spell launched at her with the sword of Slytherin. It was then that the group noticed Erik's arrival. They had felt the heat coming from their army's direction, but when they tried to go see what was happening, it was too late. The group of vampires found themselves trapped inside a barrier with no way out of it. It was then that Selena revealed herself, saying that she wanted to play a little while her husband disposed of their abominations.

"Yes. They are all ashes now, but I will have to treat the area from its corrupted magic, or it will start to fester in the place and attract all sorts of bad things."

Erik said while not bothering with the looks that he was receiving from the other three vampires.

"Love, can you stop playing with them? I feel like wanting to take a dip in the Black lake. All that heat from the fire made me sweat a little."

Erik said to Selena. He had indeed sweated a ton from the fire, but a quick cleaning and drying spell had his body and clothes almost pristine. Almost. The sensation was still stuck with him. But he had said that out loud just to trigger the group of vampires. Since Helena's death to a group of Vampires, Selena had developed a strong hate for the type and the 'poor' sods had to attack Hogwarts of all places. With a quick movement of her right and left hand, one of the Vampires that she was fighting found itself without a head while the other had a wooden stake made of blessed wood sticking from its chest exactly where its heart was. Selena then turned to Erik and pouted.

"You never let me have fun."

Selena said to Erik and threw a ball of fire to the body of the headless Vampire while the one with the stake sticking in his chest dropped back, dead too, with a look of incredulity on its face. Soon, another ball of fire was launched in its body direction, starting to consume it too. The other three Vampires were looking at the scene with wide eyes and when Erik saw it, he chuckled at their faces.

"You have no idea of who you attacked, do you?"

Erik asked the Vampires, who were now looking at him with fear in their eyes. Erik let out a sigh at that.

*sigh*

"Why does everyone that has some modicum of power get so entitled because of it?"

Erik said in a low voice but the Vampires had heard it.

"You guys have attacked the castle of Hogwarts. I don't know what kind of education your lot received about the other powers of the world, but let me explain to you before my wife detaches your heads from your necks or something like that."

Erik said to the vampires, making them gulp in unison and one of them put its hand on his neck. Selena smiled wickedly at that. She loved when Erik used what he called psychological torture. It did damage to the psyche of the opponent, damage that could not be easily healed.

"Hogwarts was founded by four friends who were powerful magical users. Their objective was to teach the next generation of magic users, leveling their knowledge about magic. They were, of course, not the first ones to think about doing it, but were the first ones to have enough power to trample the resistance against the idea. I'm one of their cherished students, one who kept their teaching at heart and continued to grow in power and knowledge after graduating. My wife is another one of their cherished students and the daughter of one of the four founders. So, you lot attacking the place created by her mother and our teachers is a big no-no."

Erik said while making a no signal with his finger, waving it from side to side.

"Oh, and it doesn't help your case that her twin sister was killed by Vampires in Greece, just short of her marriage. So, though luck to be you."

Erik said to the Vampires, who had some looks of horror on their faces. The Greek coven massacre was a well-told history between them that had happened some fifty years ago that still sent shivers down their spines. Selena was looking at them with a wicked smile, basking in their feeling of horror.

"Selena, keep one of them alive. We need some answers."

Erik asked Selena. He wanted to 'interrogate' some of them to see if the attack was planned or not. Of Course, his 'interrogation' would not be in a conventional way.

"I will try to, love~"

Selena said in a sing-song voice and jumped at the nearest Vampire while brandishing her sword.

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