We went back to Hogwarts the next day. It was a short trip, but I felt like me and Fleur had become much closer that one day, spending much of our time alone in my room, talking about mundane things. She made me learn French a bit, giving me basic words to study so I could at least understand what her sister was saying.

As we went back to Hogwarts, Dooky practically begged me to bring her again, and of course I refused, telling that the manor needed a guardian if someone ever tried to do something to my home. The Portkey took us back to Hogwarts, arriving at the front door of the castle.

After that we spent the rest of the year in this old castle, with Fleur slowly teaching me French, I kept continuing to study about the uses of runes and training my stamina around the black lake.

It is now the tenth of January, 1995. The cold wind of Winter passed through Hogwarts regularly, bringing snow with it. Me and Fleur were passing through the corridor, with her bringing her golden egg.

“So where are we going?” she asked me.

“To swim.” I simply answered.

“Swim?” She threw me a questioning look. “But the lake is frozen right now, where are we supposed to swim?”

“Well I asked the Ravenclaw Prefect this morning, and I got the password for the Prefect’s bathroom.”

“We are going bathing then, not swimming.” she pointed out, but then glanced at me. “Are you implying something Archie?”

“Implying what?” I stated, starting to climb the stairs to the fifth floor.

“You are asking me to bathe with you.” she murmured quietly.

“Well, you want to know the Egg’s riddle or not?” I threw back a question. “If you want, we can go to the lake instead.”

Fleur just sighed. “Does the riddle involve water? Why the Prefect’s bathroom?”

“So you can listen to it freely.” I hummed, finally arriving at the statue of Boris the Bewildered, I spoke the password, it was Pine Fresh, and the door swung open.

The place was dimly lit with a candle-filled chandelier hanging from above. A bathing pool was at the edge of the room, with bath taps surrounding the pool to fill up. Me and Fleur entered the place, I waved my wand, and the taps turned on, slowly filling the pool with warm water.

“This is quite nice…” Fleur murmured, placing the egg on the ground. As the water kept pouring in, a thin mist of warm air covered the entire room, heating up the area. You know, this place alone makes me want to become Prefect next year, but the duties are just… not fun.

I slowly took off my robe and clothing, putting it on the side. I was only wearing a tanktop and pants now, and I turned to Fleur, who looked like she was frozen in time.

“Well? What are you waiting for?” I asked.

“I didn’t bring a bathing suit…” she said to me.

“You know there’s this thing called ‘Transfiguration’?”

Fleur clicked her tongue hearing my words. “I was ‘oping for you to say something else.”

“Haha, very funny.” I said sarcastically. “If you want to be naked, just do it. I will enjoy the view nonetheless.”

Fleur snorted in amusement as she took off her Beauxbatons robe, only using her underwear. She didn’t wear matching underwear, her bra was white and she was wearing black shorts.

She looked at me with teasing eyes. “What?”

“I was expecting more.” I shrugged, and that made her punch my arm.

“It is not funny.” she grumbled in annoyance, jumping to the bath before me.

“I meant your underwear.” I chuckled at her reaction. “I thought you’ll be wearing something else.”

“What? You thought I was wearing lingerie underneath my school robes?” she said, sitting on the bath, looking at me in amusement.

I sat beside her after I grabbed the egg, enjoying the warmth of the water. “A man could only hope.” I said, and Fleur just shoved me tenderly while snorting.

“So, what do we do now?” she asked me curiously, looking at the egg on my lap.

“Now, we listen.” I answered, putting the egg under the water.  I dived into the water, making Fleur look at me with confusion, but I just pulled her arm towards the water, making her dive down as well.

Fleur shot a glare at me for doing that, but quickly shook it off as I pointed at the egg. My hand traveled through the water, before pressing the button on the egg. It slowly opened, Fleur panicked for a second but I just grabbed her hand, stopping her from covering her ears.

As the egg opened up, some lights appeared from the inside of the egg, and it started to sing.

 

Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching ponder this;

We've taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took,

But past an hour, the prospect's black,

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.

 

As the song ended, I quickly closed the egg and went back to the surface, breathing in some air.

“We ‘ave taken what you will sorely miss?” She looked at me with worry. “Like an item?”

“You know what it means.” I smiled at her.

“Then… Oh no… Gabrielle!” she panicked. “Do you think Gabrielle will be taken?”

I just smiled weakly at her. “I don’t know, it’s up to the committee I guess.”

“But why?! Why do something like this!?” she complained. “They are bringing danger to our loved ones!”

I just sighed as she continued to ramble in the bath. I just held her hand, making her snap out of it, and I pulled her close, enjoying the warm bath. “Calm down Fleur, Gabrielle’s not going to be in danger, I can assure you.”

At first, Fleur was hesitant at our closeness, but eventually, she relaxed, leaning against me, putting her head on my shoulder. “And ‘ow will you do that? The song is clear that they will take what I will sorely miss.”

“So you won’t ‘sorely miss’ me if I’m gone?” I asked jokingly, but I could feel her tense up from the thought.

“So you mean… Non, Archie, do not do that.” she said, clenching my arm. “You are trusting me too much, what if I fail? The song said you will not come back if I fail.”

“It’s just a song, no need to worry about it too much.” I shrugged. “Besides, better me than Gabrielle.”

Fleur didn’t say anything, she just nodded softly. “Let’s stay ‘ere for a while.”

I hummed, holding Fleur closely.

—

As days passed by, February came by. Class started again, and my usual routine continued, though, Fleur usually joined in, along with Hermione in the library. I had just finished a class of Ancient Runes, it was the last class of the day, and the others were quite tired.

I walked towards Professor Babbling, who was packing her parchments on the table. I wanted to ask her a question, something that has been bothering me for a while. I wanted to try it, but I was hesitant, and I don’t want to actually cast the spell itself.

“Professor?” I asked the witch.

Babbling looked at me and nodded. “Whitlock, here for another hard question to ask me?” she said sarcastically.

“You can say that.” I chuckled nervously. “I was wondering. You said that, theoretically, scripts of magic using Runes can do anything that we can think of.”

“Yes, it’s third year material, the theory of Runic scripts.” she said. “And what you’re asking is?”

I put a book on her desk. The Tales of Beedle the Bard. I opened it, and went to the page where the Tale of the Three Brothers was told.

“These… items.” I stated. “The cloak, the wand, the stone, made by death itself, specifically the cloak, the youngest brother used it to hide from death. What my question is, can you repeat the effect of the cloak using Runic Scripting?”

Babbling looked at me like I’m an insane person. “I’m sorry Mr. Whitlock, but I don’t follow your question.”

“Can you cheat death using  Runic Scripting, Professor?” I asked calmly. “Because as you said, it is theoretically possible, but we know that technical and theoretical are an entirely different thing, if it could be done, I could bet that this supposed ‘death’ made the cloak using runes, because I couldn’t think of another discipline that could do it.”

“Mr. Whitlock. The tale of the three brothers is just that, a tale.” said Babbling, continuing her packing. “No wizards are mad enough to try to do it. It will take a lifetime to do it, with pages and pages of runes, it’s impossible.”

“Then what about the Killing curse?” I asked again.

Babbling froze, I could see that she was reminiscing for a little while. “What about it?”

“Runes. Can it stop it?”

“If you want to do that, you have to know the nature of the killing curse itself Mr. Whitlock.” said Babbling calmly. “We have to know how the killing curse works. And to do that… well… either you have to experience it yourself, or you have to talk to the one that has experienced it. So yes, it is possible, but again, it will take a lot of time to at least make an effective one.” Babbling stood up from her desk. “Anything else Mr. Whitlock?”

How the killing curse works huh… “No, thank you professor.”

“Keep up the great work Whitlock.” she nodded in approval. “I will wait for the day when you come to my NEWT class, assuming that you want to take it again of course.”

Babbling left the room, leaving me alone in the place. I sat on the table, pondering my options. If I know how the killing curse is able to bypass the Protection charm, at least I could find some things there that will give me a clue on how to write the runes.

Potter survived, right? His mother died for him, using love as some sort of sacrificial protection right? That’s not going to work, I don’t want another person to be killed because of me… unless…

What if I can change that ‘love’ to magic? What if… the person who is willing to sacrifice themself for the rune owner, is magic itself? 

I don’t know, I’m talking nonsense by now. It’s probably just one of my insane ideas anyway…. 

But what if?