Resembles Life what once was held of Light,

Too ample in itself for human sight ?

An absolute Self–an element ungrounded–

All, that we see, all colours of all shade

By encroach of darkness made ?–

Is very life by consciousness unbounded ?

And all the thoughts, pains, joys of mortal breath,

A war-embrace of wrestling Life and Death ?

 

– Samuel Taylor Coleridge

 

~~~~

 

In the morning of August 26th, the Ministry’s aurors overwhelmed the campsite. The victims have been transferred to a more comfortable place, and the deceased have been bagged.

Overall, nineteen civilians died that night, one pureblood member, and over forty mercenaries were killed during the battle. Most of the mercenaries are mostly killed by impalement, burning, and decapitation.

It was not looking good for the ministry.

It’s not even five hours after the battle, and the wizards and witches of the British community were demanding Fudge step down from the position. But Fudge himself couldn’t even deal with that at the moment. He was still at the campsite, overseeing the investigation of the tragedy that had happened.

A brown-skinned man was walking to the crater that the owl landed on. He was beside Rufus Scrimgeour.

"Have you found the identity of the three men that were seen in the forest, Shacklebolt?" The head of Auror asked.

"Not yet, Scrimgeour." Kingsley informed. "Only Tonks saw them; owl masks; cloaked; bizarre magic; two females and one male; other than that, nothing."

"It’s a new group then, right?" Rufus questioned him again as they arrived at the crater, standing in front of it.

"It’s highly probable." Kingsley answered. "But right now, we’re at a dead end."

"Have you used trace magic to locate them? Maybe they’re underage…" Rufus suggested.

"We did." Kingsley said. "But someone put an anti trace spell on the forest. They’ve come prepared. They know that the attack is coming, and they’re possibly underage as well, because no adult would go through the hassle of using an anti-trace ward. It would be useless to them…"

Rufus hummed. "It’s a rather terrifying premise…" he stated. "Underage boys and girls already had that much power… and weren’t afraid to kill as well…"

"But the creature is more terrifying in my opinion." Kingsley said as he leaned down to the ground and saw a shard of ice that hadn’t melted yet. "Sentient, can speak human language, its sound can break a human’s ear drums, it is capable of manipulating temperature, capable of controlling fire, capable of controlling ice, immune to the Killing Curse, and those strange blue particles as well. The list goes on and on…"

"Indeed…" Rufus agreed. "But we all know who it belongs to Shacklebolt…"

"But we have no evidence against them, and the heir is only a boy as well." Shacklebolt frowned.

"A boy that held one of the fastest growing company in the wizarding world, Shacklebolt…" Rufus added. "Who knows, maybe he’s the boy with the owl mask…"

"Then we’ll investigate him." Shacklebolt stated.

"You can try…"

Kingsley nodded, "What about the Goyle family?"

"Search their house." Rufus instructed. "We can possibly find some more death eaters through that."

"The witnesses said that there were almost twelve masked death eaters, if each one of them were the sacred twenty-eight… what will we do?"

"Brute force." Rufus answered. "Catch them off guard in their houses, we can arrest them easily then."

"Very well…" Shacklebolt murmured. "But it’s alarming that they can do this under our supervision…"

"It is indeed…" Rufus nodded. "Almost one hundred mercenaries from offshore…"

"Should we have an inside investigation? This smells like an inside job…"

"Do it, but quietly." Rufus agreed. "It’s up to Fudge now to fix this mess... But with how I’ve seen it, he’ll probably use some kind of underhanded tactics…"

Kingsley sighed in surrender. "I just hope his term ends quickly. Perhaps he’ll step down on this one."

"We can only wait."

Kingsley then excused himself. He then started to search for a particular metamorphmagus.

"Tonks!" he shouted, looking at a female auror who was clumsily bringing some supplies to the tent.

"Yes?!" she shouted as she was surprised, making the box drop. "Oh! Sorry!"

Kingsley just sighed. "Tonks! Come here!"

"Right!" the woman then walked to Kingsley.

"I need you to contact your mother." Kingsley instructed.

Tonks frowned. "What for?"

"We found a possible identity of one of the masked group."

"Really? Who is it?"

"It’s your cousin." Kingsley stated.

Tonks snorted. "Draco Malfoy? Yeah, trust me, he’s not the one."

"No, your other cousin."

Now Tonks was frowning. "That’s… possible actually…"

"You think you can investigate him?"

"He’s family... Why would I betray him?"

"You’re an auror." Kingsley pointed out. "Your duty is to the community, not your family."

Tonks sighed. "Fine… but I can’t lie to my mother, I need to tell her about this."

"That’s fine." Kingsley shrugged. "Right, that’s all dismissed… and clean up your mess, will you?"

Tonks just waved her hand lazily as she turned around. "Yeah, yeah."

---

Meanwhile, somewhere in England, there is a man who just appeared in front of a house that was barely taken care of. The man looked pale, scared to enter the house.

He then collected himself and opened the front door. Inside was a room filled with old furniture, the man then walked upstairs, where a particular dark lord was waiting.

"M-My lord…" he stuttered.

"Ah… Barty… How did the plan go? Do the Wizards and Witches of Britain remember our name once more?" A small baby who was sitting on an armchair spoke. His voice sounded rough, like he was in pain. Besides him was a big snake, staring intently at Barty Crouch Jr.

"T-The plan somewhat w-worked, my lord…" Crouch Jr. stammered, not daring to see the dark lord eye to eye.

"Somewhat?" The small baby said in a questioning tone. "Does that mean it doesn’t fully work?"

"N-No M-My lord," Crouch Jr. said. "It went smooth all night… until a-an owl appeared…"

"Owl?" the small baby asked again, confused. "What does an owl have to do with our plans, Barty?"

"T-The Aldrich Owl My lord… T-The one who attacked t-the Averys appeared a-again…"

The dark lord was silent, his face expressionless, but Crouch Jr. could feel the rage from the small body.

"I-It managed to i-incapacitate t-the entire legion my lord… a-and the mercenaries ran…" Crouch Jr. continued, gulping.

"Barty… are you telling me that our plan failed because of a single boy?" The dark lord asked in a dangerous tone.

"N-No my lord! I-it was the owl! Not the boy!"

"It doesn’t matter if it’s the boy or it’s the owl!" The dark lord shouted as hard as he could, but his small body prevented him. "The Aldrich has been a thorn to our side since the Avery failed his job! This is why I told you to hire assassins to kill the boy! This is why I told you to hire as many mercenaries as you can! And yet it still failed…"

"M-My lord…" Crouch Jr. cowered in fear.

"Oh Barty… what punishment should I give you…"

"N-No My Lord… F-Forgive me… I- I shall redeem myself in the task to come…"

The dark lord stared at Crouch Jr. intently. "What about our friends? Did they escape? Or were they captured? " The baby diverted the conversation.

"S-Strangely, everyone was let go except one, my lord…" Crouch Jr. stuttered. "Goyle was killed…"

"So the boy will not hesitate to kill…" The dark lord murmured. "Very well, Barty, proceed to the next plan… I expect you to succeed this time… or you will suffer the consequences…"

"T-Thank you, my lord… I will work hard upon your resurrection…"

Crouch Jr. then hurriedly left, wanting to catch Moody, so he could use him.

Meanwhile, the dark lord was thinking in his armchair. "Aldrich…"

---

Four people suddenly appeared out of thin air in the middle of an island. The place was quite vast, all flatland except at the edges, where there were cliffs and beaches. Three of the four people were wearing cloaks with owl masks, there was a young woman holding a bloodied sword, a girl holding a wand, and a boy holding nothing. Another boy wore casual clothes, however, his face was pale, and he looked like he was about to collapse at any second.

"I- I did it…" The silver eyed boy, who was, of course, Ed, said.

"Y-You’re mad…" Another boy, who was Richard, stated weakly as he put off his mask, and his face was also pale. "That was brilliant… but mad…"

Ed chuckled. Then, he heard someone throw up. He looked at the direction of the voice, and saw Hermione holding her stomach, barfing all the content of her stomach.

"Hermione? Are you okay? " Ed asked worriedly as he patted Hermione’s back, comforting her while she was throwing up.

"O-Of course I’m not, I just killed a lot of people out of rage!" she shouted in annoyance and frustration.

Ed gave the girl a smile of comfort. "I’m sorry…"

Hermione then avoided Ed’s gaze, "I- I need to be alone for a while…" she mumbled. She then bolted off towards the cottage, trying to lock herself out.

"She’ll be fine." Ciri said. "I recommend that you talk to her though, I know she said that she needs some alone time, but it’s better to talk it out to other people…"

Ed hummed. "What about you Richard? Are you alright? You know… first time killing…"

Richard chuckled. "Of course I’m not fine Ed…" he said. "But I can handle it… what we saw… I think they deserved to be killed…"

Ed nodded. "Get some rest you all, I’ll cook for you if you’re hungry."

"Where is this, by the way?" Richard questioned as they walked to the cottage.

"My home." Ed answered. "Remember that I bought an island?"

"It’s this one?" Richard questioned. "Nice place…"

"Yeah, I’ll be staying here with Hermione after our parents leave." Ed said. "You want to live here too?"

Richard shook his head. "No, I need to guard my parents’ house when they leave. I would appreciate it if you put some wards around it though."

"I’ll do it later." Ed nodded.

Richard hummed. "Do you have an empty room? I need some… alone time right now, and I mean it, I’m fine with myself, you just check on Hermione though, she looks really bad when she kills the first time there…"

"Will do." Ed said, "There’s a room besides Ciri’s room, just ask her where her room is."

Richard nodded and walked up to Ciri. The two then began to chat, albeit just a bit, as Richard was still quite shaken by the killing.

Ed then rushed to his room. He noticed that the door was locked and sighed. "Hermione? Darling, are you in there? " He whispered it to the door.

"Leave me alone, Ed…" she answered weakly.

"This is my room too, you know?" Ed joked a bit. "Can you open the door please?"

There was silence in the room for a little while before the door unlocked open. Ed just sighed before opening the door. He then saw Hermione was laying on the bed, her head facing the side of the bed, covering herself with the blanket.

Ed just smiled softly at this and continued to lock the door again. He then walked to where Hermione was facing. Ed then crouched, making his face aligned with hers.

"Hi." He smiled softly. He tried to stroke her hair, but before that, she turned around, facing away from Ed.

The boy just sighed. ‘Girls are really complicated…’

Ed then walked to his side of the bed and sat beside the sleeping Hermione. "Speak to me, Hermione, I know it’s hard for you…"

She then stared at Ed intently for a second, before also sitting, her legs straightened, and her head on Ed’s shoulder.

"I- I killed people…" she mumbled. "I felt horrible about it…"

"Killing is horrible." Ed said, stroking her hair gently, comforting her. "If you didn’t feel bad about it, then you don’t have a soul… I myself am still dealing with how to cope with it…"

"You also killed a man easily Ed…" she pointed out. "How did you do it? How are you so calm?"

"Occlumency." Ed said. "It helps a lot with suppressing emotions, but the bad side is it’s just temporary, once I turn it off, the emotions will just flood again."

Hermione just hummed and sat closer to Ed.

"It’s okay Hermione…" Ed cooed. "It’s okay to cry, it’s your first time killing a human… it’s normal…"

Hermione then wrapped her hands around Ed’s neck, sat on his lap, and just buried her face in his neck. She was silent the whole time, and Ed just kept caressing his head, comforting the girl.

"It’s not going to get easier, is it?" She suddenly asked.

"There will be a lot of blood on my path, Hermione…" Ed mumbled. "I’m sorry that you have to put up with this… I’m sorry…"

Hermione just hugged Ed more tightly. Ed then felt tears drop on his neck, and he comforted the girl.

"It’s okay Hermione… It’s okay to cry, you’re already handling it better than most teenagers if they dealt with this…" Ed mumbled, and Hermione cried harder as she sought comfort in Ed.

The two stayed like that for almost two hours, Hermione on Ed’s lap crying, while Ed stroked her head and patted her back, making her let go of her emotions.

Those two hours had passed, and Hermione seemed to calm down a bit. She went from outright crying to occasionally sobbing, and her body didn’t seem tense anymore, more relaxed.

"Calm down yet?" Ed whispered to the girl.

Hermione nodded weakly and hummed against Ed’s neck. She then stood up, her face looking dishevelled and her hair a mess.

"I look horrible right now right?" Hermione muttered between sobs.

Ed shrugged jokingly. "Looks the same as every day to me."

Hermione just smacked Ed’s chest lightly and mumbled. "Prat…". Her face showed a weak smile, not really getting offended.

Ed also smiled, seeing her like this. She wiped her tears gently using his fingers. "There you go, you look nicer when smiling rather than crying."

"But you told me to cry." She giggled between sobs again, her cheeks showing a faint blush.

"Well, even though it doesn’t look pleasant, that doesn't mean it’s unnecessary." Ed said. "You want to go to bed?"

Hermione calmed down a bit more, she wasn’t sobbing anymore. She looked at Ed intently, their eyes stared at each other. And Hermione began to lean her face closer to Ed’s, targeting his lips.

But before she could do that, Ed stopped her using his hand to cover her mouth, and that made her frown.

"You just threw up in front of me a couple of hours ago and now you want to kiss me?" Ed raised his eyebrow, teasing the girl.

Hermione blushed in embarrassment. "Right… forgot about that… I’ll go brush my teeth." She then leaped out of Ed’s lap and started to climb out of the bed.

"You should shower too; you’re smelly." Ed added, making Hermione giggle.

"Whatever you say, Ed." She rolled her eyes and got out of the room, going to the bathroom.

Ed shook his head in amusement, and he also hopped off to bed. He got out of the room and went to the living room. He sat down on the couch and was instantly bored. He looked around, and saw Ciri sitting outside, polishing her sword. She looked distracted, though, like something was bothering her.

Seeing something interesting, Ed stood up once again and walked outside, intending to talk to the girl.

He stood in front of the girl, still polishing her sword, not caring about Ed’s existence.

"How did you find the polishing stone?" Ed asked.

Ciri then turned her gaze to Ed. "This is just rock." Ciri said. "I made it so it can sharpen a sword."

Ed hummed, then he walked to the side of the young woman and sat beside her.

"You okay?" Ed asked.

Ciri raised her eyebrow. "I’m fine… why would I be not fine?"

Ed shrugged. "I don’t know, something’s bothering you, I can tell."

Ciri frowned. "How can you tell?"

"You’re not focused." Ed answered. "Your eyes are blank, staring at the sword."

Ciri hummed and returned to tending to her sword. "I’m just thinking about last night."

"What about it?" Ed asked casually.

"I don’t know…" she mumbled. "Seeing Hermione and your friend Richard easily threw up after seeing those kinds of things… makes me think that my world is more fucked up than any other world…"

Ed chuckled. "True… but at least it’s your home right?"

"Home, huh…" Ciri said. "I don’t know if that’s a proper word to describe it."

"What? you’ve got no friends or family there?"

"I do, I have Geralt, Yen, Vesemir, Dandelion, I’ve got many friends there."

"Then why won’t you call it home?"

"Because I’ve been on a run all my life there." Ciri stated. "I don’t have a house to go back there, everywhere I go, I either be hunted and made people around me in danger, or somebody wants to impregnate me for my bloodline."

"Damn, that’s rough buddy." Ed patted her back, causing her to snort.

"People say that I’m destined for great things…" she continued. "But I can’t see it... Sure, I can teleport wherever and whenever I want, but I can’t even control it properly, it’s like someone gave me the wrong destiny…"

Ed chuckled. "I don’t believe in destiny." Ed said. "Nobody is destined for anything except death."

"And yet I’m here, trying to fulfil a destiny that is connected with you." Ciri refuted.

"I allowed it to happen." Ed countered. "I could’ve rejected that owl’s request, but I didn’t, and here you are."

Ciri snorted once again. She then went quiet for a moment before continuing to sharpen her sword.

"What do you want to do Ciri?" Ed asked suddenly.

"What?"

"What do you want to do after your problems are over?"

Ciri went silent again. "I don’t know…" she answered. "Perhaps I’ll travel, find love, and once I got old, settle down somewhere."

Ed hummed. "Good dream, simple and straightforward." He commented.

"What about you?" Ciri asked.

"I don’t know really…" Ed said. "Probably just like you, although I have found love, I still want to travel and find my parents."

"It’s really annoying isn’t it?" Ciri said. "You were given these responsibilities that you don’t want to carry…"

Ed chuckled. "Tell me about it… although for me I sort of had a hand in it… so I can’t really complain."

"Well, let’s just hope that this will be over quickly."

Ed hummed. "When you teleported here, it is already the beginning of the end."

A voice then sounded from inside, it was Hermione, calling Ed.

"Ed? The bathroom’s empty, you can use it now! "

"I’ll be there!" Ed shouted back. He then turned to Ciri and patted her back once again. "Well, we’ll talk more later."

He then stood up and entered the house.

Meanwhile Ciri was still polishing her sword, thinking to herself. "Destiny huh…" she mumbled as she looked at her double-edged sword, reminding herself of her grandmother’s words to her.