The Next Generation

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

"Oh no, oh no no no no no. Return of the dark lord... something in each of us... what a complete load of rubbish," Arthur reacted. "Take me home. I'm sick of this, don't even know why I came," he shrugged.

He went for the door. The headmaster put his hand out to stop him.

"You may not leave," he said.

"Why not? It's not like I can help, it wasn't me that was casting those spells! This is ridiculous, my uncle told me once that he was gone completely, and could never come back."

"Your uncle is mistaken. And I need you here, with Geneve and Liam. You must stay together."

"I won't! Why should I?"

The headmaster approached him threateningly.

"Two reasons," he said. "One, I refuse to take you home-"

"I'll get one of the teachers to do it, then!"

"- and two, because myself, and my master, need all of you somewhere else."

"Your master?" Arthur asked, nervously. The headmaster had a frightening smirk on his face. He twiddled his thumbs.

The last thing Arthur and the other students saw before they fell into unconsciousness was a bright flash of red light, and a high-pitched laugh echoing in their heads.

[*Riley*]

Liam was laying on the floor of a beautiful emerald speckled carpet, which was stitched with fine laces of gold.

and then from the far corner came a hooded figure , which raised it's wand and shoued

"avada kadavra'

[DucksRMagical]

Galena walked cautiously around the field surrounding the shack. She had her nose to the ground, following trails, but she glanced up every so often. She was always amazed at what she could find out when she was a beagle. Before she became an animagus, she couldn't even imagine all the different scents that were out there.

She wandered towards the woods, trying to catch a whiff of the wolves that had been there earlier. Her nose confirmed what the spell had told her. They were gone, long gone. Galena was relieved. A beagle would be no match for a pack of wolves. She kept wandering down the edge of the woods, getting closer and closer to the house she saw out the window of the shack.

The house was a ways away, but Galena got there eventually. Now that she was there, she could see that it wasn't only a house. It was more like a manor, surrounded on three sides by a large stone wall. Galena sniffed along the edge of the wall, and she found a scent that made her heart leap. It was a very familiar scent, the scent of her best friend, Valencia Marcellus.

[choki]

The harsh cold of Russia northern territory was difficult to bear for most people, including Nikolaus who had been exploring the region for almost two months. Even the thick fur hide offered little protection against Mother Nature. The prospect of him finding any treasure was bleak. His stomach started to growl in protest.

"Darn weather..."

Waddling through the thick white snow in the wilderness, Nikolaus came across a few patches of red snow, each no bigger than the size of a golden snitch. He observed closer. Although consideration amount of snowfall had covered the snow covering, thanks to the past 2 months' of snow experience, Nikolaus was able to see that the snow underneath was disturbed rather recently. Then he spotted a trail of footprints.

"A injured animal? It will be an easy hunt..."

Out of curiosity and hunger, Nikolaus decided to follow the track before the snowfall would conceal it all.

[FawkesthePhoenix]

Valencia dodged a spell and stole a glance at Marcellus's eyes. There was something more. He wanted more then just the secret. He wanted something out of her. She was suddeny hit with a cloud of green mist. Death was taking her. Marcellus was taking her life for himself. She was getting weaker, the world was swimming, there was nothing she could do. Valencia thought fondly of her friends. They would never know what happened....... Now the knowledge of the book would be forever lost...... She'd broken her promise to her grandmother, that she'd tell one person it's secrets before she died, incase they were needed for the fight against dark wizards...... She'd been forced to go back on her word..... her memories were slipping away..... Marcellus was smiling, he was getting her memories, soon he'd know the secret........ No. I will not let him have it! He cannot have my life, he cannot have my memories, he cannot have me! Valencia lashed out with her mind, a pure white mist was seeping out of her, wiping away the green, evenloping Marcellus, her life was coming back, she was alive!
"You may have denied me your part in my plan," Marcellus said, fighting his way out of the mist,
"But the others will still take part! It can be done without a viale of your magic!" he glided away, leaving Valencia stunned.

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Geneve screamed as a green light filled the room, and someone from behind her fell like a ton of bricks. She stared, her voice caught in her throat; the Headmaster lay still on the floor. Geneve was kneeling beside him, when the hooded assassin grabbed her by the scruff of her cloak. "Get up." he hissed. He pulled her up so suddenly she stumbled.
She screamed again, believing she was next, and then Liam spoke out, sending a very affective curse across the room. The hooded man let Geneve go, and fell over, rigid as if he had been tied up. Genveve stared from the man to Liam.
"Thank you..." she started. Liam shrugged.
"Just a good spell I learned from my cousins." he said. Then he eyed her off. Geneve winced at this attention. His Veela charms were still affecting her; but she was very conflicted by how she had behaved earlier and what Liam must think of her now.
"I can't trust you." Liam said, as if reading her mind.
"I know. " said Geneve. "I don't trust myself."

[choki]

Nikolaus followed the tracks and soon spotted an old shack at the end of those footprints. The hope of finding a nice dinner was thrashed, but nonetheless, there was a shelter to stay overnight. Unsure of the occupancy of the shack, he crept towards it quietly, making absolutely no sound.

Placing his ears behind the wooden door, he listened intently for any movement or sound that may suggest the presence of others. He concluded that there was no one present in the shack. Nikolaus proceeded to open the door. Although he had expected the shack to be in a run down state, he was rather surprised by the damage done to the small shack. The table was overturned and broken chairs laid across the room. The dust on wooden flooring had been disturbed. Clearly, a fight had happened recently. Something on the floor had caught his eyes. Kneeling with one knee, he examined the marking on the floor closely.

"A forced transportation magic!" Nikolaus muttered under his breath as he saw the partial dark red burnt circular marking on the wooden floor. This was no ordinary spell, and unlike apparation magic, the forced transportation magic was capable of transporting any being within the magic circle. It was a dark magic rarely used.

Nikolaus was thrilled. He has always been fascinated with dark arts. He knew that during the transportation, this magic would create a burnt impression of the magic circle, containing interesting information on its destination that can be cracked rather easily for him. Now that, he got his interest onto this, Nikolaus was going to make it, his hunt.

[FawkesthePhoenix]

Valencia staggered to her feet. Who were the others? Surely she and Marcellus were the only ones here? Then it came to her. Galena. She must come with the "others" the help her. But now they were the ones who needed help. She set off after Marcellus, using the small disturbances only a ghost (and avery angry one at that) could make as her guide.

[*Riley*]

Liam sat there staring at Geneve, something about her made him feel safe but insecure at the same time, all liam could do was wait and get orders and do the best he could do defend his friends..

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Geneve felt so tired. She brought her hand to her head and swayed on her feet. Liam stayed where he was, his wand at his side. Geneve looked down at the Headmaster. "Is he...?" she looked at Liam with tears in her eyes.
"I think he is." Liam said, starring down at the Headmaster's motionless body.
Geneve covered her mouth and started to sob. She collapsed to the floor next to the Headmaster, looking him over as if trying to find some sign of life. Then she saw it; her ring. It was lying on the floor next to the Headmaster. She reached forward and picked it up. She stood up, starred at it for a moment and then looked at Liam. He was watching her, but did not speak. It took two paces to reach him. Liam stood his ground, and when Geneve reached him, she took his left hand, placed the ring in his palm, and closed his fingers over it.
"Protect this." she said. "I think it's important, but it affects me. Maybe... " she looked down at Liam's hand and squeezed it between her own two hands. "Maybe it won't affect you because you're stronger than me."

[*Riley*]

Liam felt the cold metal against his skin, as soon as he touched it he felt like an outsider like no one understood.

"I know this from somewhere " Liam wondered out loud...

He gazed into Geneves eyes and saw she was staring at him thinking deeply...

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Geneve felt that distant feeling again, like she had when she had first encountered the ring in the girl's toilets. When she had last seen Melissa Malfoy. She wondered how she was. She had lost track of time; how long had they been stranded in this place? She let go of Liam's hand, afraid of loosing herself again in the ring and waking up finding something else awful had happened.
"Well..." she said. "What do you suggest we do now? And... where's Arthur?" She looked around. She couldn't see him, and her heart sank.
"Arthur?" she called. THen she noticed a body in the corner of the room, in a crumpled heap. She ran over, taking out her wand and approached. She turned the person over. It was Arthur! He was deathly pale, and the sleeve on his left arm had been wrenched up showing a sickening gash from wrist to elbow. Geneve felt sick.
"He's hurt!" she called out ot Liam. Arthur's black robes were soaked in his blood; Geneve lifted him up a bit, and he groaned. "But he's alive. Someone has cut him." Arthur opened his eyes and when he saw Geneve he tried to speak.
"He cut me..." he started.
"Who? Who did this?" Geneve asked urgently.
"It was....pouring out.... he.... he took it...." Arthur's voice was barely a whisper.
"You hang in there, don't speak." Geneve said sternly, even though tears were welling in her eyes. She layed Arthur back down, and stood up. Liam was right beside them. She starred at him. "What are we going to do?!" She asked urgently. "We need help, NOW!"

[*Riley*]

Liam felt like crying, it was no use weeping waiting for someone to come he had to be strong..

He paced around and told Geneve he would be backa nd before he heard her reply he stepped out the door..

His heart leapt with fear and greatness when he spotted a man covered in animal furs staring at the snow covered ground..

Liam cleared his throat, he had hiswand at the ready just incase....

[choki]

Nikolaus discovered the magical coordinates laid hidden amongst the burnt symbols and words within 5 minutes.
"It's not very far away from here...a simple apparation should do the trick," he thought as he calculated its precise location. However, the person who casted this spell would not be too happy to see him appearing exactly on the spot. Was it really worth the risk? And besides, Nikolaus had no idea who or what he was going to deal with.

"Perhaps some great treasure lies nearby? Or could it be that?"
It was not an everyday business to find a dark magic being performed in close vinicity especially since the fall of Voldemort almost 2 decades ago.

With that, Nikolaus disapparated to a spot whose magical coordinators were slightly off away from the ones indicated on the magic transportation circle. He found himself thrown out of his intended landing spot and landed hard on a snow field. Nikolaus stood up and brushed off the dirt snow. An odd looking house stood on that exact location. He gathered a small snowball and threw it towards the direction of the house. As expected, the snowball broke apart in mid air as if it had hit an invisible wall.
"There's a barrier... whoever did this, must be a cautious person."
Nikolaus walked towards where the snowball had broke on impact. He inspected closely at the ground for any clues to enter the barrier without disrupting it. He was too focused and failed to notice a young wizard was staring at him with a wand clutched tightly in his shaking hand.

[FawkesthePhoenix]

Valencia walked towards a small shack, then got thrown back. The house nearby must have some sort of barrier. Valencia examined it, trying to find a way in. The shack could wait, there might be something very dangerous in the house. She edged around the bubble of protection, not paying attention. SUddenly she felt someone watching her. Valencia looked up, to find herself almost nose-to-nose with a stanger dressed in furs. In a flash Valencia's wand was out and pressed between his eyes.
"Who are you, what are you doing here, and what's one reason why I shouldn't curse you here and now?" she said in a deadly soft voice.