Harry Potter: The Last Exodus

The Forgotten Passage

In the damp, darkened caverns below Gringotts, the remaining wizards and witches from the Old World were growing increasingly uneasy. Word had spread swiftly about the danger aboveground—the Muggles, now emboldened by the lack of magic in the world, had become a threat, organizing groups to capture magical folk, seeking revenge or answers to old mysteries they barely understood. And now, it had become a game of survival, a constant cycle of kidnappings and rescues, each side desperate to assert control.

One day, a young witch named Marigold came sprinting down into the main chamber of the underground hideout, clutching an ancient, dust-covered parchment. Her face was flushed, and her eyes wide as she waved the paper in the air.

"Look at what I found!" she gasped, catching her breath as the others crowded around her.

Her friend, a seasoned wizard named Thaddeus, took the parchment from her hands, squinting at the faded text. "This... this is no ordinary spell," he muttered, tracing the ancient script with his fingertips. "It looks like a ritual, and a powerful one at that."

"But what does it do?" asked Elara, a tall witch with deep frown lines etched across her face from years of stress. "Could it help us escape this wretched world? The Muggles are relentless, and they'll keep coming after us until we have nowhere left to hide."

Thaddeus scanned the words carefully, translating the text as he went. "It doesn't say exactly where it leads, only that it opens a 'Passage to the Veiled Realm.' Perhaps... perhaps this might take us to wherever the others went, the ones who followed Harry Potter."

The cavern filled with a murmur of hope and uncertainty. If this ritual did indeed open a passage, it could be their only chance to escape the Muggle hunters and find a new world, a safe haven beyond the reach of those who wished them harm.

Determined to try, the group set out to gather the list of rare ingredients that the ritual demanded. They worked through the night, foraging through old potion supplies, dusting off forgotten artifacts, and repurposing objects from Gringotts itself. Finally, everything was ready.

Marigold led the way through the labyrinthine tunnels until they reached a hidden chamber deep within the Gringotts vault system. In the center of the room, a wide stone dais lay, marked with faded symbols of ancient magic. It looked to have once been used for rituals of great power, and now it would serve its purpose once more.

They arranged the ingredients in a precise circle on the dais, their nerves taut as they took their places around the edge. Thaddeus took the lead, holding the parchment up and reading the incantation aloud.

As the words echoed through the chamber, the dais began to glow faintly, and a hum of magic filled the air. One by one, the symbols on the stone floor began to light up, casting an eerie glow across the group's faces. A ripple of anticipation swept through them, but also fear—wherever this spell would take them, there was no turning back.

"Elara, Marigold, everyone—hold steady," Thaddeus commanded, his voice barely audible above the rising hum.

Together, they joined in the final line of the incantation, their voices merging as the magic intensified. The glow turned blinding, illuminating the chamber in a swirl of colors as the magic enveloped them.

And in a single, pulsing flash of light, they vanished from the chamber, leaving nothing behind but the lingering echo of ancient magic.

Cliffhanger.