Gideon Drake and the Fire Within (Harry Potter Sequel/Spinoff)

Chapter Forty-Nine: The Final Pieces

Gideon was embarrassed to be taken to the Hospital Wing on a floating stretcher, but the headmistress insisted that he, Alex and Talia all do so. Truthfully, he didn't think he could have made the journey under his own power. He expected the same was true of Talia. They had both used a lot of magic. Alex probably could have managed the journey, but he had the worst injury.

When they reached the hospital, Madam Longbottom was awake and ready. The three of them were lowered to beds side by side and she began tending to them immediately.

'I'm fine, just tired,' Gideon insisted as she poked and prodded him with her wand, 'See to Alex's arm first.'

'You're in shock, young man,' the matron advised, 'I expect you don't realise it, but you are covered in burns and cuts. Professor Dandridge may have administered first-aid, but you are far from "fine". Not to mention, you have once again dangerously overexerted your magic system!'

She glared at him reproachfully, then asked in a softer tone with her cheeks reddening, 'Are all of the teachers unharmed? Professor Keane, Professor Voronov and the others?'

'Professor Longbottom and the others are fine,' Gideon assured the worried wife.

'Oh? Oh, good. Here, drink these and I'll see to your friend,' she said, handing Gideon a magical restorative he had once tasted before under the matron's care, and a second potion he hadn't thought to ask about before swallowing, which turned out to be a strong sleeping draught.

***

When Gideon awoke, the hint of light that was coming in through the windows suggested it was around dawn. Apparently, his dark magic had recovered enough to interfere with the effect of the sleeping potion. In the relative darkness, he could just about make out somebody sitting in a chair beside his bed. Their torso was slumped over his legs.

When he lifted his neck off his pillow to get a better look, a damp washcloth slid off his forehead, and Gideon recalled something Tolly had once told him. 'Dad?' he asked hesitantly.

The man stirred and sat up. 'What is it? Are you hurt?' he asked with a definite note of concern in his voice.

'N-no. I'm fine. I just...' Gideon started. 'What are you doing here?'

'I-I just wanted to make sure you were okay,' Professor Maxwell said. 'I was worried.'

Gideon didn't know what to make of his father's words. This was the first time they had spoken in quite a while, not counting his rebukes and criticisms in Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons.

'Are you okay?' Gideon asked. 'I couldn't believe how you fought that monster.'

'I'm just fine. It will take more than a foul Demon such as that to take me down,' Marcus Maxwell confirmed.

'Demon?'

'Yes. You didn't know?'

'I thought it was some kind of magical creature. I didn't even know there were such things as Demons!'

'There aren't. At least, not anymore,' the man explained. 'Demons are malevolent spirits that possess a magical being and use its power to take form. The last of them were banished from our world long ago but there are ways to summon them. It's not easy, mind you—or legal—but it can be done. This fire Demon was summoned using an ancient magical ritual specific to their kind. Very old magic.'

'The Eye of Fire,' Gideon muttered.

'You know about that, do you?' Mr Maxwell said with a note of admiration.

'Well, I had help,' Gideon asserted.

'Indeed. It seems you've made some very interesting friends,' the man commented.