The Lord of Azkaban - Ekrizdis!!! (I)

Hogwarts Express,

10 minutes to Hogsmeade Station

Harry, Ron, and Black had been having the best time of their lives.

A few minutes before, Ron had mentioned the Gringotts incident, telling the boys what he had heard from his father. However, the Daily Prophet hadn't published anything related to the exact details of what had actually occurred in the depths under the Wizarding Bank.

So, when Harry whispered how he and Hagrid had been at the center of it all, the moment became one of the most interesting times spent telling a tale.

It wasn't a heroic or adventurous tale, but that only made it even more special as the stakes involved were much crueler, higher, and truer in a sense.

For a few minutes, the boys had then brooded over what could be the object that the dark wizard had come to steal.

Ron, being Ron, jumped over to the topic of Quidditch when they couldn't think of anything.

Neither Harry nor Black had any experience with the wizarding sport. So, Ron kept going deeper and deeper, detailing everything about Quidditch, how it had 7 players on one side and 4 balls, the international teams, etc.

Suddenly, following a feeling bubbling in his heart, Black took out the Daily Prophet.

"You read newspaper?!" Ron asked, shocked.

"Whoa, the images are moving…" Harry gasped.

Black smiled. "I like to read comics… Mom forced me to buy it…"

After laughing over it a bit, Ron was just taking them through the finer points of the Quidditch game when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn't Neville the toadless boy, or Hermione Granger this time.

"Is it true?" the pale boy in the middle asked. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Harry and Black immediately shared a look.

"You are related to Darcie Malfoy?" Black asked.

Ron winced, finding this all very awkward. On one front, he was on talking terms with Darcie, who had been visiting his home now and then with the Greengrass girl. Ginny, along with Astoria, had already become too attached to the two older girls.

On another front, Ron hated Darcie's brother. Never had gone one moment when Draco had failed to mention how superior the Malfoys were compared to the Weasleys.

So, even though both Draco and Ron recognized each other, they just ignored each other's existence.

Draco's lips twisted as he took his eyes off Harry's barely visible scar and looked at Black. "So you are the one I am hearing so much about…"

Black almost smiled, finding it amusing.

Draco spat before the smile surfaced on his lips, though. "You keep my sister's name out of your filthy mouth, Mudblood."

Ron stood up like a pole, his face going as red as his hair. "Say that again…"

Harry looked at Draco, who was smiling, then at Ron, who was blazing with anger, and then at Black, whose smiling face had gone blank. Years spent with the Dursleys at least made him conclude based on his experience that this Mudblood was some sort of great insult.

Draco turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it.

"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly.

Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared on his pale cheeks. "I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys, that Hagrid, and Mudbloods, and it'll rub off on you."

This time both Harry and Black stood up, too.

"I think you should leave," Black said.

"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered.

"Unless you get out now," said Harry, eying Crabbe and Goyle who were a lot bigger than him and Black. Still, three versus three were the best they could have hoped for.

Somehow, after the little incident with the dark wizard, Harry didn't feel intimidated by these boys at all. A part of him seemed to have changed entirely when he fought the dark wizard and almost lost Hagrid.

"But we don't feel like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some."

Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron — Ron leaped forward, but before he'd so much as touched Goyle, the entire train jolted, making the boys fall on their knees and then roll over on top of each other.

Booommmmmm!

Standing still as the entire compartment rolled over, going off the rail tracks, Black's eyes widened, his Calm burying itself deep in his heart's abyss.

He looked at the Daily Prophet where breaking news was surfacing itself.

— LORD OF AZKABAN TRAPPED? DUMBLEDORE & GRINDELWALD ENGAGE EKRIZDIS IN FIERCE BATTLE —

"Ekrizdis…" Black muttered, the scenery around him rolling, along with the boys' scream, "… you blithering, fucking fool!"

*

*

15 minutes ago,

Nurmengard Castle

The Lord of Azkaban eyed the Merlin's Staff, refusing to believe his dead gaze.

Both Ekrizdis and the Staff were Herpo the Foul's Horcruxes.

Thus, he could innately tell if the Staff bobbing up and down on the witch's head was the real thing or not. His odd relationship with Merlin gave him such an ability, regardless of his deep hatred for the Grand Wizard.

So, as Ekrizdis kept looking at the Staff, prodding his magic in tandem with the original Herpo the Foul's magical imprint, his broken breath finally calmed down a bit.

The Staff wasn't real… or perhaps it was, but it wasn't here in reality.

"Your bluff might have worked," he told Madam Villanelle, showing a deathly grin, "if it was any other wizard but me in front of you. Heh!"

The Six had never left the magical protection surrounding the Avalon, granted by the two Half-Deep Ones' presence on the island.

Neither the Timelines nor DEATH tolerated their existence, despite their claims of protecting the world from the shadows.

That's why, every time they interfered directly with the world's events, they suffered a massive backlash, forcing themselves into hibernation.

By now, Ekrizdis already knew Merlin had suffered such a backlash and was hibernating in Avalon. So, the Staff couldn't be the real one.

Yet, the magical fluctuations the Inferi was picking up from it indeed belonged to Merlin.

What deplorable spell they have cooked up now, Ekrizdis thought, seeing the confident smile on the witch's face. Wait a minute! Can it be…

**************

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