Ouroboros || harry potter

Chapter Eighteen

(Harry)

Morning light filtered through branches and evergreen needles. Snow covered the ground. It muffled any sound that may have reached him during the summer. The ancient forest was so very quiet. Even Mother's magic felt sluggish underfoot. Everything slept in winter, even her.

Salazar stared down at the opening to the escape route, ignoring how slowly the wild magic moved through him. The opening was more obvious now. The tree reaching out from inside the hole was one of the deciduous trees in the forest. Without leaves to shelter it, snow floated down into the hole. Light reflected off the snowflakes in such a manner that it gave the hole a halo effect.

The snow crunched underfoot as he traced the entire opening with a hand. He had to walk several paces from one end to reach the other in every direction. His wand rotated across his other palm as he walked the large gaping hole, always pointing North. Once he traced the edge and determined the cardinal directions, he pulled out four small disks of wood. The disks were absolutely covered in runes and identical to each other.

He pressed a disk onto the inside ceiling of the opening as close to North, East, South, and West as he could estimate. A burst of magic into each disk partly stuck them in place and partly began the awakening process. Then he climbed back into the escape route.

The four disks glowed from their places on the ceiling. Magic slowly pulsed across the tiny runes etched across the wood.

Salazar pulled out the cube, now completely covered in swirl designs of runes. There were so many layers it looked like a snapshot of a vortex instead of a wooden cube. The boy pressed his fingers on opposite sides of the cube so that he held the cube between his fingertips. He pressed magic into the runic design. His magic activated the runes and began to spin the cube. The runes across the cube lit with vibrant blue and green light. Afterimages of the light seared across his sight, creating swirls of green and blue in his vision.

A humming filled the hidden hall as the cube spun. At the sound, Salazar slowly moved his hands away from the spinning, now floating, cube. He kept his hands a few inches from it, magic glowing against his fingertips as he continued to feed the runic design power. Another moment passed, then the humming rose an octave and the runic swirls visibly waved and twisted right off the cube.

Ribbons of the carefully etched runic scheme floated with dazzling brilliance out into the walls. Some even traveled straight through Salazar, intent on its intended home and unconcerned with anything else. Once the marks reached the stone, the swirling runes etched themselves into the walls. The swirls seemed to merge with the stone even as they continued to dance and unravel from the cube.

The hum reached another octave as the ends of the swirling design separated from the cube. The disks on the ceiling flared and called out with their own humming. The tails of the swirled design responded by whipping up into the disks. Each disk caught seven tails.

Light flashed from every inch possessing a runic mark, blinding Salazar for a moment. When it died away, the runic scheme faded from view. The stone returned to its normal gray appearance. Only the disks remained. Their surfaces were still covered in runes but they were stained a deep gray and blended well with the stone. They were a blatant weakness to the otherwise eloquent ward design.

If Salazar had had more time he would have been able to create something better but one had to consider all the various duties and desires and weigh them against perfection. He simply didn't have the time to spare nor was this little opening worth the time it would need. Maybe he'd come to regret his decision down the road. There was no point in worrying over it now.

Salazar dusted his hands. Fine wood dust fell, the remains of the wooden cube. His hair was soaked through. Sweat slid down the sides of his face in thick drops of liquid. His tunic had seen better days between the large swaths of sweat and the layer of fine wood dust.