Of Shadow, Shine, and Shades

Ch.12 Not Horcrux, Not Human

"Torture chambers, Master."

He closed his eyes almost in pain and swallowed the uneasiness away. It had to be done. As far as he could tell, this was the origin of the taint. Dark magic on its own was fine but with this added malevolence he was worried someone would get hurt sooner or later.

And with his luck it would be sooner rather than later.

A ball of pure white light appeared above his palm and the man walked through the doorway, the darkness swallowing him entirely. There were a couple of stairs and then he was in the room. But the only way he could tell was with the sense of space around him. The darkness kept swallowing the light of his magic.

For how many years and how many must have suffered here? he wondered. It had the same feel as the dungeons in Voldemort's headquarters had had, only older. The darkness seemed to breathe and he was reminded of his own buried memories of torture.

No sense of day and night, only darkness and pain. It was usually dark and painless, except when they decided to have their fun without letting Him know. And when there was light, there was always pain. The despair... The desire to die, to end it all. How many days passed? How many curses, how many... He shuddered and had to close his eyes at the onslaught of memories. Caelum tasted blood; he'd bitten his own tongue.

Suddenly the room was bathed in green light that shone through his closed lids and seemed to drive the darkness further back but not away. He cracked his eyes open and had to smile at the almost defensive position the Staff had taken before him.

"Thank you." His voice was hoarse.

But now he could see the interior. He did not know when was the last time anyone living had come here but it seemed not even a decade had passed since some of the devices had been in use - probably in the First War. He swallowed at the sight of dried blood covering every inch of this place but at least the air was clear.

Must be a spell, he commented detachedly.

With a thought the Staff appeared in his hand and Caelum backed to the door.

"Fire." The whisper was followed but a sea of red flames tinged with green that erupted from the depths of the Emerald. The darkness that earlier had seemed content to just breathe now screamed and rose against the torrent of fire but was soon pushed aside. Everything burned and the darkness raged helplessly.

Caelum watched the flames lick at the walls and wished he could have burned his memories in the same manner. Some things even magic couldn't do and he let the fire dissipate with a sigh. The darkness immediately returned to its place and he didn't even consider walking back into the room. Instead, the wizard rolled three of the stones into the churning darkness and turned his back to the torture room and returned to the kitchen.

"Master?" He'd nearly forgotten Kreacher.

"Stay close," he ordered and the elf came to stand nearly on his toes. He stifled an amused snort and fished the biggest of the stones out of the bag. In fact all of the stones were part of the same one, the smaller ones cut off to be placed around the purified area.

He channelled the magic of the Blacks through his ring, focusing it on the stone in his hands and felt all the separate pieces respond all around the house.

"Deduco Tenebrae. Deduco Mansio." His voice echoed with the power of the Blacks in their home dwelling, and the mage shuddered as the old and Dark magic washed over him.

The stone in his hands shattered into fine dust and an invisible wind picked up the remains, throwing them around the kitchen. He knew the same was happening in all of the rooms of the house and he stayed put as the purifying magic swept over the Blacks' London house. Looking down, he saw Kreacher regard the dust with a curious air, all the while keeping close to his master. He felt the flow of the Black magic change direction and blinked as an angry scream tore the air before being suddenly cut off. That was that.