Chapter 65.6- Doom Days

I turned and began to march deeper into the stadium. The compass led perfectly, seeming to understand what would confuse me and what would not. It pointed straight when it needed me to go straight, and whenever I reached a turn, it pointed in the direction I needed to go. That was how it led me to places I had never been, parts of the stadium where there was so little traffic that I didn’t have to worry about hiding it. I’d already warned Sirius not to expect to see me for a bit after the match, so I was sure that concern was taken care of and no one would be looking for me.

I kept walking until the compass stopped pointing g straight, and instead straight to the left. I turned left, finding a wall. Of course, there would be a hidden passage.

I unsheathed my wand with a flourish, stabbing it at the wall. “Reveal your secrets” I hissed, shaping my intention perfectly. It turned out that the spell Snape had used in the Third Book was actually one of the most powerful detection spells known to Wizardkind. It made the Marauder’s map, and the four who had made it all the more impressive. This secret passage was not quite so sophisticated, I thought, as information began to flood my mind.

Interesting. I tapped the bricks in a pattern that seemed random, and still they parted to reveal a set of hidden stairs. That was only the first part of it though. There was a ward behind it, I could tell. A simple enough one designed to block unauthorized entry.

I pointed my wand at it, and instead of wasting my time trying my amateur ward breaking skills against it, I summoned a thin line of fiendfyre. It devoured the magic that made up the ward in a matter of seconds, swelling as it did so before I snuffed it out with a breath. I walked past the destroyed ward and down the stairs. The compass then led me through a labyrinth of twists and turns until I found myself before a door.

Around its surface were runes etched deeply into the copper that made it up. Another ward. This one much more powerful. But all the power in the world wouldn’t matter before this particular spell.

“Fiendfyre” I snarled, summoning my destructive intent. The fire ate into the copper, fighting the magic. I felt it fight my control as it grew stronger and stronger, but all three parts of me were stubborn to the extreme. The fire fought the copper ward, and it fought me. It won only one of those fights.

The copper pooled on the floor at my feet as the fiendfyre melted an opening large enough for me to pass through.

“Mr. Potter. Well, I admit that I should have seen this one coming” Julian said, not looking even slightly surprised to see me as he stood before a very familiar red stone.