Darcie's decision, Dementors, and the 14th chamber!

The explosion caused by Darcie's alchemical fire pillar and Inferius' spell had inflicted substantial damage on the ruin's walls and roof.

Believing that the wreckage had finished the knight off somehow, the group of Darcie, Daphne, and Dobby, covered in dust and light bruise marks and protected by the large Lethifold rippling over them, stumbled their way into the ruins.

They didn't know what they were looking for, but they did know that if they didn't manage to return home soon enough, even greater troubles were waiting for them at home.

Their mothers!

Darcie's and Daphne's one study session, whenever they got together, often lasted for hours. So, not going out of the bedroom for 2 hours wasn't a big deal for them. The only problem was that it was Daphne's birthday, and the grownups had a penchant for show-off among each other, they knew.

"Wish I could pass through these walls!" Daphne spat.

Darcie looked at her friend and felt ashamed. "Sorry, Daph," she apologized. "I had no mind of ruining your birthday."

Daphne looked at Darcie, dumbstruck. "Are you kidding?" she blurted, clearing the dirt off her face. "This is the best birthday I've ever had."

Darcie forced out a smile.

"Dobby had fun, too," the house-elf squeaked, clenching a silver fork. The other one he seemed to have lost during the explosion. "But Dobby doesn't want to return to this place. Dobby feels bad."

Daphne looked at Darcie, her mouth opening to say something, but then she didn't.

For over 20 minutes, the girls fumbled around the shifting walls of the corridor, hoping to chance upon something.

Meanwhile, Darcie kept having a feeling that she knew these corridors as if she had walked these paths before. The sense of Déjà vu became stronger and stronger as time passed.

"Here." Darice fired the word, sharper than she intended. "Follow me."

Left. Right. Left. A wall shifted, but Darcie hurried her way to a narrower corridor to the left.

One more sharp right.

"You know where to go?" Daphne asked, running to catch up with the young Malfoy. "Are you certain?"

"No." Darcie was uncertain about where she was going at. "But I have a feeling," she added, hopping to another right corridor before it disappeared, "that I know where to go."

One little, ordinary left turn.

And the girls, the house-elf, and Lilith found themselves in a rather large circular hall with a grave in the middle. At the head of the grave, a gravestone was standing. There was an epitaph on the gravestone, and it was parted at the top, where a little marble was embedded.

10 minutes later, and after translating the writings on the door and the gravestone, Darcie, Daphne, and Dobby found themselves standing near the grave, stunned and stupefied.

"Sir Dagonet?" Daphne asked, not daring to believe it. "How's this possible? The timeline doesn't match at all. Ekrizdis came way after the Knights of the Round Table, didn't he?"

Darcie had to nod in agreement. "Ekrizdis is from the 15th century," she told Daphne. "While the legends surrounding King Arthur are from anywhere between the late 5th and 6th centuries. I… must consult it with Madam Villanelle."

Daphne looked at Darcie concernedly. "That is for the best," she commented. "But… What about the Dark Scroll, the legacy, and… this place? Should we include our parents and other grownups? Mother said never to believe any dark wizardry, even if it seems tempting at one glance."

Darcie drew a sharp breath, and her eyes stumbled upon the Chinese Fireball's Claws, the 1st ingredient of the 13, engraved on the other side of the Portkey. "Aunt Rachel…" she stretched her words as if taking a decision, "… is right, Daphne. It's best to let this legacy remain buried here. I think I have enough brains to last one lifetime, no?"

Daphne gaped at her Darcie, knowing well her friend's ambitions, and how hard it must have been for her to come to this decision. "Hehehe," she burst out in a feat of laughter, "at least two lifetimes, Darcie. Believe me."

"Three!" Dobby shouted, showing five thin fingers.

Darcie leaned over the gravestone, pulled out the marble, and threw the woodcut over the grave, her heart paining to let go. But she knew it was for the best. They'd barely survived today. Magic was already useless here, and this was only the 1st Circle. Not to mention, she just felt nauseated by the name of Ekrizdis as if some sleeping trauma was waking up within her.

Greatness had many faces, Darcie believed. But this wasn't one of them.

"Let's go," Darcie said, snapping her head away from the grave. Daphne held Darcie's hand, giving the woodcut a last look as well.

Dobby ran in front of the two girls, looking around at the stone slabs menacingly.

But just as the girls were about to enter the corridor, the smooth, silk-like black cloak rippling over them stirred.

The end of the Lethifold flailing behind the girls, unseen to their eyes, stretched. Lilith grabbed the woodcut and the palm-sized Portkey vanished between its folds.

After another bout of fumbling, stumbling and chancing upon lucky turns, the girls and the house-elf arrived at the main circular hall, crossing the first door.

Countless Billywigs were still buzzing here, and the moment they saw the three intruders, the magical creatures pounced on them, their needle-like long stingers out.

"Lilith!" Darcie shouted, making the Lethifold wrap itself around them.

"Why didn't we think of it in the beginning?" Daphne wondered as they headed for the door of the stone slab. The Exit.

"Shock factor, perhaps," Darcie guessed, rubbing her fingers on the black cloak, noticing its renewed thickness. "You seem alright now, Lilith. I was so worried about you."

Lilith: "…"

The black cloak over Darcie ripped as if Lilith was rolling her eyes. Still, a corner of the cloak arrived near Darcie, and caressed her cheeks, rubbing the dust off them.

"She saved us," Daphne said, recalling the Inferius' spells. "You were right, Darice. Even with magical creatures, it isn't right to take tales and looks for granted. I… have decided."

They had arrived near the stone slab. In its middle, there was a circular marking with 13 holes in its circumference, and a vertical slit at the center.

"Decided what?" Darcie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I want to study magical creatures, Darcie," Daphne said, her eyes brimming with resolve. "I want to know them, their secrets, and their lives and emotions. Everything."

"You know," Darcie said, eying the marble in her hand, "I think I can take you to Avalon, Daphne. Not too soon, but it's not impossible."

Daphne went silent. "But you said only…"

Darcie smiled. "Who am I?" she asked, lifting her chin in a mocking tone. "The future Indigo Seat. The least they can do is to let my friends have some fun along with me."

Daphne knew not what to say. "You seemed to have changed, Darcie," she observed, a smile flashing across her thin lips. "But… I like this Darcie more, I guess."

"Dobby has decided, too!" the house-elf squeaked, raising the fork. "Dobby will become a true knight, miss Darcie, and Dobby will…"

"Alright!" Darcie patted Dobby's head, making the house-elf grin. "Let's go home."

Click!

The moment marble entered the socket, a distinct click reverberated into the circular hall.

In the next moment, they saw the stone slab rippling as if it had become water.

Darcie outstretched her hand cautiously, and it went right into the door. The girls looked at each other and nodded.

With Dobby between them and Lilith over their head, they stepped into the stone slab, vanishing inside it.

When Darcie and Daphne walked out, they didn't come out of the door.

It was a vast grave within a vaster graveyard, full of rotten smell and cold fog, the darkness of night creeping in the corners.

The girls were walking out from the giant slab over the grave. It was as if the grave was a bed and they were lying on it before deciding to walk up, remaining in the same horizontal position.

A sudden feeling of imbalance crept up in the girls' and Dobby's heads, and they fell over the grave with a thud.

"Unbelievable!" Daphne muttered, sitting over the grave after some time. "When we went into the 1st circle, we were actually going deeper into the earth."

"Spatial spell?" Darcie wondered. "But… where are we?"

The girls looked around, but other than the thick fog, they saw nothing. The Lethifold over their heads, though, had neared them even more as if it knew the horrors of this place.

"Miss Darcie!" Dobby suddenly shouted, horrified. "Look."

Darcie and Daphne turned their heads toward the direction in which Dobby was pointing, their necks craning up and up.

And then they saw a sight that terrified them equally.

"Azkaban!" Daphne shrieked. "That's Azkaban!"

Daphne's inadvertent shriek seemed to have awakened something. The thick fog stirred, and the girls heard rattling breaths, cold and despair making their knees wobble.

"… Dobby…" Darcie forced out, seeing hundreds of black blurs advancing toward them from the sky. "… Appa…"

But Dobby had already gone petrified, trembling at the thought of reliving his worst memories, repeatedly.

Long, ripped black cloaks fluttered noiselessly, and the legion of Dementors had taken forms in Darcie's and Daphne's eyes. A fate worse than death awaited them.

Just as the tiniest hope was about to abandon them, Lilith enlarged at a rate that defied logic. In one swoop, the Lethifold wrapped itself around the girls and Dobby, spun, and threw itself toward the cold, dark sky.

The Dementors lunged at the Lethifold, their furious breath rattling at the sight.

Lilith, however, became a dozens of feet long black cloak, rippling like a banner. Suddenly, it shrunk at a rate higher than it had enlarged.

And then it vanished.

*

*

Around half an hour back

Down and down, deeper than the 13 circles, which were buried into the ground like 13 discs, each larger than the previous ones, there was a chamber.

The 14th circle!

This 14th circle felt more like an odd cave than a circular hall. And in no way, it felt like part of the ancient ruins, for it was just too old; older than the dust-covered stone walls and roofs.

Giant, pointy rocks, wet and covered with algae, were jutting out from all around, the sound of water dripping and stream running echoing everywhere.

There was also something extremely sinister about this place; a thin, ethereal black mist roiling and churning, going in and out of existence.

If Kai could see this black mist, he could have instantly recognized it, for he had used it to create the vilest creatures that walked the earth only a few months back.

Despair!

It was the embodiment of Despair, and its quantity surpassed that of the Port Royal by far.

In this chamber, hovering many feet above the wet and slimy floor, was a humongous stone slab.

Long spikes were nailing a figure on this slab without touching it. The skeletal figure had no distinct features other than it was very tall. Its feet were up, its head was down, and its hands were outstretched, matching the shape of an upside-down cross.

The very air felt impure and sinister around this figure, hideous and heinous to the extreme.

On another look, one would have noticed that the number of spikes was exactly 13.

Also, right under the stone slab, on the floor, there was another figure, sprawled like a corpse.

If Darcie could see this lifeless figure, then she could have instantly recognized it, for it matched the appearance of the seller from last year, who had given her the mysterious object before disappearing for good.

It was then something happened that nobody, not even the grandest being of the Harry Potter World, could have expected to happen. Not here.

The moment Darcie took out the embedded marble from the gravestone, one of the 13 spikes, hovering horizontally over the nailed figure's right palm, stirred.

Then it shattered.

Bang!

With a bang that shook the entire chamber, two pale red dots lit up where the nailed figure's eyes were supposed to be.

It was then a hoarse voice, full of mockery, echoed, before melting into the lingering despair.

"Merlin… Oh, Merlin! Kekeke!"