Betrayal of the Black

forty-four

Then, the impossible happened.

Her sword continued soaring down, slicing straight through the Shield Charm as smoothly as if it were butter. The shield made itself visible in a faint blue dome, but what was most noticeable, was the very evident tear where her sword had just cut.

Both of them stopped short. The blue shield still encased him, and yet she'd caused a hole straight through a section of it. She could easily step into the shield where she'd split it.

"Holy shit," she whispered.

Theo blinked at her, and then at the tear in the Shield Charm. "What the fuck did you just do?"

"I don't know," she replied. She looked down at her sword, and said quietly, "Sevérancé, the sword which can cut through anything."

"What?"

"That's what it said on the plaque at Borgin and Burkes. That this"—she lifted her black sword—"could cut through anything. I just—I never thought it could slice through magic. It did cut through magic, right? I'm not hallucinating?"

"Come here," he said, dazed.

He held out a hand, and hesitantly, as if expecting the shield to close itself on her, she placed her hands in his. She stepped through the hole, and stood next him.

She looked around, and the shield continued to shimmer blue around them. It was a completely ordinary Shield Charm, except they could see it. It surrounded them in a dome, minus for the slash in one of its sides.

"I'm really confused. Did we jump into some alternate reality?"

"I don't know, CeCe. You didn't do anything special?" he said.

"No. I was expecting to get resistance, but it just kept going and going. It was felt cutting through air," she replied.

He nodded, and finally let go of her hand before he moved forward. He reached out to touch the shield, testing it in case it was just faulty, but it rippled like it normally should.

"Stay here," he commanded. Stepping out of the shield, he walked around the dome until he reached the side without a tear. He raised his wand, and she flinched as he said, "Expelliarmus!"

The red light shot out of his wand, and it connect with the Shield Charm, but did no further damage. Clearly, the charm wasn't weak if it could still deflect from spells. So, had it really been her sword that cut through it?

The shield shimmered, before dissipating like glass shards when it's life expectancy died out. She blinked at where it had been, wondering if the entire thing had been a figment of her imagination.

"I'm going to make a stronger Shield Charm. Try tearing through it again," he told her. "Protego Duo."

There was green and blue light for only a moment, before it fortified itself around Theo in another invisible dome. Gripping her sword in her hand, she made her way towards the unseen force.

Uncertain on what to do, she raised her sword, and thrusted it downwards. Again, she met no resistance, and yet a slash tore open where she cut.

"Alright, so not a hallucination," announced Celestia.

"And completely unheard of," he added.

"I want to test something," she said, before she yelled out, "Draco!"

She yelled out twice more for her cousin, thankful for the Muffliato Charm or otherwise they could certainly be attracting some kind of attention. Eventually, Draco stepped out of tent looking misshapen.