Ch 20 The Youngest Ever Part 1

In the midst of a vast and enchanted forest, teeming with all manner of magical creatures, there lay a small clearing. The towering trees cast a dappled shade on the tranquil space, obscuring the sky above and imbuing the air with a cool, damp scent of earth and moss.

Amidst the stillness of the clearing stood a small tent, made of an otherworldly, shimmering material that seemed to blend seamlessly with the surrounding forest. Even the creatures passing through the area either failed to notice it or instinctively avoided the tent.

At first glance, the tent appeared entirely unremarkable from the outside, blending into the natural surroundings with ease. However, once you enter the tent, you are transported into a completely different world of wonder.

As you open the tent flap, you are greeted with an interior that is far more spacious than it appears from the outside. Multiple rooms branch off from the main living area, each adorned with intricate tapestries depicting mythical creatures and plush rugs covering the floor. The centrepiece of the living room is a crackling fire nestled in a stone fireplace.

There were multiple rooms deep inside, but for safety reasons, both occupants were sleeping in the main living area. On the left bunk bed, Sirius Black was snoring peacefully, his face contorted in a perverted grin that suggested he was having a vivid dream. He had not bothered to apply any glamour to his face, revealing his true appearance.

On the right bunk bed, Celine was sleeping fitfully, her face and hands covered in small red welts from mosquito bites. Dark circles under her eyes and twitching movements signalled that she was suffering from sleep deprivation, it seemed as if she was not having a good time in this forest.

The air inside the tent is warm and dry, a stark contrast to the cool and damp forest outside. The scent of pine and woodsmoke fills the air, bringing with it a sense of comfort and security to this magical sanctuary.

Suddenly, a soft whooshing sound echoed through the tent, followed by the appearance of a small white envelope. The envelope hovered in the air momentarily, before making its way towards Celine's bed. The flap on the envelope opened as if taking a deep breath before erupting into a loud screeching noise, startling both Sirius and Celine from their slumber.

"CELINE! BREAKER! HOW DARE YOU SNEAK OUT IN THE DEAD OF THE NIGHT AGAIN—" The angry voice boomed from the howler.

"Aaaahh—" Celine tried to get up but got tangled in her sheets and fell straight off the bed with a loud thud. Sirius was a bit more dignified as it seems that his body was accustomed to sudden pranks so he was only surprised for a few seconds and slumped back into his bed after seeing no immediate danger, his heart racing from the unexpected intrusion..

Taking his wand from his bedside table, Sirius waved it toward the Howler with a mumbled 'Muffliato' and immediately the loud screeching turned into soft murmurs, only for him though.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Celine growled at the Howler while getting up from the ground but it seemed to be stuck on a loop and didn't seem to have any intention of stopping anytime soon. Finally Fed up with it Celine took her wand and started casting on the Howler indiscriminately.

Silencio!

Incendio!

Bombarda!

Evanesco!

...

Celine tried many spells, from the easiest to some extreme ones that even Sirius had never heard of but it seems as if Beth had charmed the Howler rigorously as nothing seemed to be working. Sirius could have easily included her in his Muffliatio but he didn't want to deprive his tentmate of listening to her Granny's sweet voice so he let her be. He was just thankful that Snivellus's spell seemed to be an exception and worked on the Howler.

Sirius was having too much fun watching his tentmate suffer, but it seemed that her irritation had reached its peak as with a maniac glint in her eyes Celine suddenly started waving her wand in an exaggerated motion before starting to chant a very familiar spell.

"PESTIS INCEN—"

Thankfully, Sirius acted quickly, his wand flicking towards Celine as he deftly disarmed her. She seemed disoriented and sleep-deprived, barely noticing what had just happened. It wasn't until her spell failed that she looked around and saw Sirius standing there, holding her wand in his hand.

"Why did you take my wand? Give it back and I will burn it to a crisp," Celine gestured toward Sirius with her eyes red like a zombie.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!" Sirius asked incredulously as the spell he had just stopped her from casting was one of the most dangerous ones in the magical world, it was one of the few spells that could actually destroy a Horcrux. Fiendfyre. "You could have just burnt the whole forest along with both of us,"

"I don't care," She said holding her hands over her ears to help with the noise, "Now give it to me,"

Sirius knew that she was too far along to think rationally so he just waved his wand and included her in the Muffliato field. Almost immediately he could see her face slack in relief as the loud screech of the Howler turned into a soft buzzing sound. She didn't waste a single moment and fell back on her cot with a muffled Thank You, and was out in a matter of seconds.

"ZZZ...ZZ...Z..."

Now, Sirius knew that people can be a bit crazy if their sleep is interrupted but it was the first time he had ever seen someone this determined to go back to sleep. He swore to himself to never interrupt a woman's sleep ever.

For over a week now, Sirius and Celine had been making progress in their journey through the forest, having covered a decent 10 per cent of the area. However, their progress had been far from easy, as the forest constantly presented them with dangerous obstacles.

From camouflaged man-eating plants that spit poison to bees the size of a human fist and a huge three-headed rune spoor, they had faced numerous challenges. Fortunately, both Sirius and Celine were skilled and powerful magic users, enabling them to handle everything the forest threw at them with calmness and skill.

Ironically, it was the tiniest creature that posed the greatest challenge - the magic-eating mosquito. Found throughout the forest, these creatures were fond of sucking blood and magic from people.

They were too numerous and tiny to kill and the only way to protect against them was to cast a very particular repelling charm over their bodies but the thing was that they eat through the magic of the shield very quickly so you have to recast them every few minutes. And considering that it was already a magically intensive task to cast the spells they were using to find the traces of the tomb, you could imagine the strain on them.

But thankfully Sirius found out early in the beginning that the mosquitoes seemed to be afraid of his Beerus form, so he didn't have to do anything and just his scent seem to keep them away. So the only one who was suffering from constant bites whenever she screwed the charm up was Celine, which explained her sleep deprivation and irritation.

...

At about 10 am in the morning, they packed up their tent and once again started their search for the elusive tomb. But one thing different today was that Celine was in a very good mood and was wearing one of his old T-shirts.

Despite his denial, Celine suspected that Sirius was using a charm to ward off the bloodthirsty mosquitoes, but no matter how much she asked he wasn't able to tell her the magic spell since there was no such thing.

However, she recalled that when she was downwind of Sirius, the mosquitoes bothered her less so she took one of his shirts to try it out, and found that it worked like a charm, leaving her in a jubilant mood as she skipped along the way while casting the sensing charm.

They made good progress by noon and contemplated taking a break when suddenly the trees around them began to thin out, and their path became filled with obsidian rocks. The shiny black rocks varied in size from waist-high to small mountain-like boulders towering over the surrounding trees.

However, Sirius came to an abrupt halt when the trees ended, overcome by an inexplicable feeling that he was entering a forbidden area. An ominous sensation crept over him as he realized that he hadn't heard any birds or animals for quite some time, and even the mosquitoes seemed to have vanished.

Celine didn't notice that Sirius had stopped and was looking at the curious-looking rocks scattered around in a windy spiky pattern. She was just about to touch one when she was suddenly startled by Sirius.

"Stop!" Sirius urgently hissed, his hand outstretched towards Celine as he took a step back. "Don't touch it!"

Celine looked at him, her wand held tightly in her hand, ready to defend herself against any imminent danger. "What's wrong?" she asked quietly, scanning the area around her vigilantly.

"We need to leave the area quickly," Sirius whispered urgently, his eyes fixed on a point beyond Celine. "There's something wrong here."

Celine furrowed her brow, trying to sense any danger with her magic. "Did you catch something in your magic field?" she asked.

"No, it's just a feeling, but..." Sirius trailed off, his gaze still fixed on the point beyond Celine.

"A feeling?" Celine repeated incredulously, her voice rising.

"Shh!" Sirius immediately silenced her, but it was too late. Suddenly, a loud rumbling sound rang through the clearing, and the ground beneath their feet shook violently.

Celine and Sirius stumbled backwards as the rocks around them trembled and shifted, and suddenly the mountain turned in their direction and both of them looked in horror-filled awe as two huge yellow eyes opened and the enormous black dragon fixated on them with a fiery gaze glared at them before it let out a deafening roar that echoed across the mountain range.

"ROOOAAAAARRRR!!!!!"

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