Chapter Fifteen: The Return to Hogwarts

 

Chapter Fifteen: The Return to Hogwarts

            VWORP! VWORP! VWORP!

            Maureen’s Type-Z TARDIS manifested amid ancient trees, dense and rough-looking from years of exposure to the elements. Beech, oak, pine, sycamore, and yew made up the assortment, as well as undergrowth such as knotgrass and thorns. There were paths, brooks, and some clearings – one of which was exactly where Maureen’s TARDIS materialized.

            Her passengers (Samuel, Skeeta, Billy Batson, Ben Tennyson, Ruth Wilder, Debbie Eagan, H.P. Lovecraft, Hellboy, Newt Scamander, the Malfoys, and the Hawkins residents) stepped out. “Quite the creepy forest you dropped us in,” Steve surveyed their new destination. “I’m startin’ to think I should’ve gone to see the giant robots with the other group.”

            “Don’t worry, Mister Harrington,” Maureen said. “This ‘Forbidden Forest’ is just a shortcut.”

            “Forbidden Forest?” Dustin repeated the name. “Yeah, that doesn’t sound one bit ominous.” He jumped at the snap of a nearby twig, looking along with the rest of the group as they discovered three individuals emerging along one of the paths: a dwarf, an anthropomorphic cat with bushy eyebrows and pink hat – dressed like a witch – and three teenagers.

            “Finally, you’re back,” the dwarf griped with an English accent.

            “Took you long enough,” the cat did the same (also with an English accent). “How can you be a ‘Time Lord’ when you’re late all the time?”

            “I leave you two – a witch and a wizard – to watch over a magic school, and you still complain?” Maureen scolded them.

            Seeing the dwarf and cat, Newt inquired, “Friends of yours?”

            “We travel with them,” Batson told him. “The cat is Susie McCallister, and the dwarf is…”

            “Nelwyn, not dwarf, and my name’s Willow Ufgood.”

            “Is that…Newt Scamander?!” the starstruck girl in the trio of teenagers observed. Beaming with delight, she approached him and introduced herself and her friends, “Hermione Granger. This is Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. We each have a Chocolate Frog Card of you.”

            Newt frowned. “C-Chocolate Frogs?”

            “What the bloody devil are they doing here?!” Hermione’s fan girl moment was interrupted as soon as Ron brought their attention to the Malfoys. Seeing how angry he was to have them in their presence, Maureen tried to diffuse the situation before it got any more heated.

            “Let me explain,” she began.

            “They’re the whole reason that monster’s out there!” Ron indicted.

            “I’d watch your tongue, Weasley, if you still want to have one!” Draco threatened.

            Both young men drew their wands, prepared to duel each other wizard style, until Hopper intervened. “Hold it!” he bellowed. “I don’t care about what sort of bad blood you two have, but you can hash it out later! Right now, we need to be on the same page!”

            “He’s right,” Lucius said. “I wish to atone for what I’ve done…share any secrets I have learned to give us an advantage.”

            Though Hermione and Ron remained distrusting of Lucius, Harry could see how broken and remorseful the man was. Lucius Malfoy usually possessed a very arrogant, prideful disposition. To grovel like he did told Harry how this Cthulhu situation changed even him. “I believe him,” he said.

            Hermione and Ron were in disbelief, but they trusted his judgment.

            Harry proceeded to lead the group out of the Forbidden Forest. Skeeta and Penz stayed behind in Maureen’s TARDIS with Samuel, Ruth, and Debbie, indubitably to work on the pylons.

            The walk through the forest lasted close to half an hour before they came to a breathtaking sight: Hogwarts Castle. Normally an eyesore for the Malfoys, the castle was a welcome to the family as much as it was a surprise, believing it to have been in ruin following Dalek Vec’s attack.

            “This is a school?!” Lucas beamed. “Where can we sign up for lessons?!”

            “It’s just like D&D,” Dustin uttered in wide-eyed realization. “Guys, this is just like D&D! We’re going to meet real wizards!”

            Erica rolled her eyes at her overexcited brother and Henderson. “Nerds.”

            “So, this is Hogwarts,” Lovecraft looked on the castle in awe. “It’s…inspiring!”

            “Don’t even think about it, H.P.” Maureen forewarned. “This is J.K.’s territory.”

            Once inside, the Malfoys were even more astounded to discover that the school’s staff and students were there. At the time of their arrival, everyone was in training for the eventual battle to come. Albus Dumbledore, Professor Severus Snape, and Professor Minerva McGonagall oversaw the necessary instruction before all activity ceased with the appearance of the Malfoys, as well as a man Dumbledore was shocked to see among the group.

            “Newt?!” the headmaster cried out in a hushed voice. “Is it really you?”

            Scamander looked into the eyes of the old man. As ancient as they were, they were undeniably the same eyes as those of the Albus Dumbledore he knew from 1932, when they nearly apprehended the elusive Gellert Grindelwald at the Supreme Mugwump election.

            “Albus?” Newt said. “H-How long has it been for you?”

            “Sixty-six years,” Dumbledore answered. “Of course, judging from how young you look, I’m sure it’s been a lot shorter than that.” Taking in the moment, Albus smiled and asked, “Where have you been, my friend? Last I saw of you, you were the best man at Jacob and Queenie’s wedding.”

            “I’ve been on the most amazing journey, Albus,” Newt enlightened. “There are planets with creatures far more incredible than I’ve—”

            “Let me guess,” Albus interrupted. “You’ve met a Time Lord.”

            Newt saw the knowing look on the headmaster’s face and smirked. “I…I s-suppose it’s not so much of a surprise, considering our present company,” he glanced at Maureen, who giddily watched their happy reunion.

            Eventually, she had to break it up to alert Dumbledore, “We’re gonna need every able-bodied person in Hogwarts, capable of wielding a wand, to be ready for what’s coming.”

            “We’re already taking the necessary measures, Miss Curtsinger,” Professor Snape addressed her by the alias she took on as a student. Maureen grinned, hearing that deadpan, monotone voice of his again. “Have you done your part?”

            Maureen nodded. “Reinforcements are on the way. The odds are looking good for us, gentlemen.”

            As Maureen consulted with the school’s headmaster and Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Will experienced a strange sensation in the back of his neck. It had been there often, since his time in the Upside Down. He compared it to that of a rollercoaster drop, only much colder and scarier.

            Noticing him clasping the back of his neck, Jonathan asked, “You O.K.?”

            Will turned to his brother with a petrified look in his eyes. “He’s here.”

            “Who’s here?” Jonathan asked.

            There then came a series of banging over the doors entering Hogwarts. All the residents took aim with their wands, just as they were instructed, while Argus Filch – the caretaker – cautiously answered it. In stumbled a young man who neither Filch nor any of the Hogwarts residents recognized.

            Max and her fellow Hawkins natives, however, did.

            “Billy!” she yelled out. She attempted to go to him but was restrained by Lucas. “What are you doing?! Let me go!”

            “Remember what Si said,” Lucas told her. “He’s been with them.”

            “And?” Max barked. “He looks fine!”

            “He may look that way, sweetheart,” Maureen said, “but we can’t be too sure.” She then ordered the Hogwarts wizards, “Keep your wands fixed on him!”

            They did so, even as Billy collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

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            Taking advantage of Billy’s unconscious state, Maureen and Dumbledore arranged for some of the biggest, burliest Quidditch players from the houses of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor to carry Billy into the Room of Requirement, a secret room within Hogwarts that only appeared when a person was in great need of it.

            The room was thought to have some degree of sentience, because it transformed itself into whatever the witch or wizard needed it to be at that moment in time. For Maureen, she needed it to be a room with rope and steel post sturdy enough to restrain Billy. The Quidditch boys tied him to it, much to Max’s disdain.

            “Is this really necessary?” she asked Maureen.

            “Yes,” Maureen strictly replied, not missing a beat.

            “He could be possessed by the Mind Flayer,” Dustin said.

            “What’s a Mind Flayer?” Steve cringed.

            “It’s a monster from an unknown dimension,” Dustin explained. “It’s so ancient that it doesn’t even know its true home. It enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over their brains, using its highly-developed psionic powers.”

            “What does it want?” Joyce inquired, mortified by Dustin’s explanation.

            “It views other races, like us, as inferior to itself,” Dustin said. “It wants to spread, take over other dimensions.”

            Steve felt his stomach turning. “I don’t understand any of this Dungeons & Dragons stuff you geeks are into.”

            “You’re standing in a castle full of wizards, and that’s a hard pill for you to swallow?!” Dustin criticized Harrington.

            “Could you blokes pin this conversation for later?” Maureen shushed them. She then turned to Max and advised, “Talk to Billy. If he’s still in there, you may be the only one who can reach him…get the answers we need.”

            Max understood. She approached Billy, just as he was starting to regain consciousness. “Billy?”

            “Max?” he slurred, dribbling from his lips; his head drooped. “Is that you?”

            “Yeah, it’s me.”

            Billy began to sob in remorse. “I’m so sorry, Max…for everything I did.”

            Tears streamed from Max’s eyes. “It’s O.K., Billy. I’m just glad you’re safe.”

            “Max…they…did things to me,” Billy huffed. “I’m scared, Max…I’m scared of what the Hierarchy’s done to me.”

            Maureen’s ears burned. “Hierarchy?!” She moved in on Billy, brushing Max aside. “What about the Hierarchy?!”

            “Hey!” Max protested. “I thought you were letting me handle this!”

            “That was before he mentioned the bloody Hierarchy!” Maureen retorted.

            “Who or what is the Hierarchy?” Harry asked.

            Maureen gazed on all the confused faces staring right at her. None of them knew.

            “We were wrong,” she said. “The Hierarchy are the threat to the multiverse, not Cthulhu! Cthulhu’s just another puppet…of the Twilight Phantom!”

            Maureen’s chilling revelations stimulated several questions.

            Before any of them could have been asked, Professor McGonagall rushed in and alerted, “They’re here!”

            Alarmed, Dumbledore asked, “Where?”

            “Just across the lake,” McGonagall informed.

            With Eleven, Mike, and Max all keeping an eye on Billy, the others stepped out towards the nearest balcony to see the Hierarchy party (led by Voldemort) standing and waiting along the shore on the other side of Black Lake.

            “What’re they waiting for?” Willow pondered.

            “To get their butts kicked, no doubt,” Susie challenged.

            They got their answer when the waters of the lake bubbled and a monstrous figure bobbled through the surface, thundering over Hogwarts.

            Cthulhu had arrived.