The Eyes of Graphorns (Professor Sharp x mc)

A Lost Past

The next morning, Elaine was transferred to St. Mungo's. Sharp stood silently, arms crossed and paralysed, in the hospital wing, watching as two Healers placed her onto a transport stretcher enchanted with a Levitation Charm. Elaine's body was strapped down to ensure her safety during the journey to London. Sharp swallowed hard.

"We will send you an owl if her condition changes," one of the Healers said in a routine tone. "Does she have any family?"

Matilda Weasley, who was also present, looked at Sharp questioningly. Suddenly, he remembered the woman they had met in Scarborough who resembled Elaine and who had addressed her as "Jane." After a moment of thought, Sharp shook his head.

"Very well."

With those words, they turned and took Elaine away. Sharp watched them, trying to catch a last glimpse of her face for as long as possible.

"She'll make it, Aesop. She's strong," he suddenly heard Matilda's voice beside him. Sharp nodded slowly, pressed his lips together briefly, and looked down. He had considered going with her, but he had concluded that he could be more useful by spending the rest of the holidays searching the library for clues about what had happened to Elaine.

"I fear for her life, Matilda," he spoke into the silence of the hospital wing. He felt her concerned gaze on his face, even though he did not look at her, but it didn't matter anymore. He neither had the strength to hide what was going on inside him from Matilda, nor to resist her sympathy.

"I know," was all she said in reply. She placed a hand on his back, and they stood together for a while longer.

-

The Obscurus loomed cold and menacing before them. Its black claws reached for them, and they tried to run away, but Sharp couldn't move. His leg was fused to the ground, and the pain brought him to his knees. Elaine turned to him. Her face had transformed into Helen's on the day of her death, staring at him blood-smeared with empty eyes, but then it suddenly morphed into a black, fanged visage with red flashes flickering in its hollow eyes. The Obscurus had caught her and was slowly devouring her from within...

-

Sharp awoke in the night with a silent cry from this nightmare, and an idea suddenly struck him. He waited for his breathing to calm a bit, then sat up in his bed, pausing for a moment to let the pain in his leg subside. It was worst when he hadn't moved for too long. Carefully, he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and sighed. For a moment, everything spun around him. He took a few deep breaths and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. The cold that crept through the stone walls of the castle on winter nights helped neither with controlling the pain nor with suppressing the tremor in his tense shoulders.

Sharp leaned to the side and reached into the chest at the foot of his bed to retrieve a Wiggenweld Potion. He uncorked the bottle with his teeth and drank it in one go. The potion's effect spread slowly from his chest throughout his entire body, bringing a gentle warmth with it.

Gradually, he managed to stand up and made his way as quickly as possible to the library. He headed straight for the restricted section. There, after a short search, he found what he had hoped to find. In a large book with a dark blue, ornate cover, he read: "An Obscurus is created, among other things, when a wizard suppresses their magical abilities."

"Of course," he murmured. The Obscurus must have come from someone who was suppressing magic. And not just any magic, but Ancient Magic. He read on: "An Obscurus (plural: Obscuri) is an embodiment of dark magic that, like a natural disaster, can cause great destruction and kill many people."

The Obscurus' magic must work differently than the magic Ranrok had used, which would explain why only Elaine and he had suffered such severe injuries. And if the Obscurus fed on suppressed Ancient Magic, it was no wonder that Elaine was particularly suffering from it. It seemed that with each attack, the Obscurus left traces that were now presumably feeding on Elaine's Ancient Magic, further weakening her.