Fred and George and the Toilers of Trouble (Year 1) ✔

Chapter 24:2

By the time the steam had dissipated, and the twins were willing to risk another glance around the portrait frame, they were able to see that Darc and Parsimonae were facing one another, the investigator with his wand raised. Neither had noticed Kettleburn's arrival during their standoff, and a moving staircase now coasted the Care of Magical Creatures professor across the stairwell, two floors above the action.

"Stand aside!" said Aruzula boldly, as she removed a glowing glass vial from her robe.

"That potion vial. It's got to be the one from that shop on Knockturn Alley," Fred whispered.

"She's the one erasing the paintings!" said George breathlessly.

"I thought I'd be seeing one of you here," Aruzula carried on with a sly glance, as she hovered closer still.

Her words seemed to draw out a new determination in the investigator. He appraised her every move and lifted his box jaw in preparation for the coming duel.

"You were responsible. I was right all along," said Parsimonae with renewed courage. "I cannot let you do this."

Her crafty, amber eyes burned into him. "You're a pathetic fool dressed like a common-blood Muggle," she said, her wicked smile broadening. "This moment has been planned for fifty years. Long before you wriggled in your mother's womb."

"I won't allow it. Not when I've come so far," Lexington warned, a white-knuckled grip on his wand.

She cocked her head coquettishly, getting nearer and nearer as she spoke. "Haven't you realized? As long as I breathe the same air, no witch or wizard is powerful enough to stop me."

Her delicate smile grew frightfully long.

The chamber became silent.

Then, as the investigator swished his wand, Aruzula pulled back on her broomstick, dashed to a corner of the gallery, and reached for her own with astonishing speed. Their unspoken spells collided over the great chasm of the stairwell, filling the chamber with a brilliant explosion of colored light. Lexington shouted strongly as her curse climbed and clawed over his own, less powerful deflection. They held fast to their wands in the quaking battle, until Aruzula drew back her arm and stabbed it forward with a scream, forcing her curse to make its final push. Parsimonae took hold of his rattling wand with two hands, but it was no use. The conflicting spells flared to a stop at the tip of his wand, which smoldered instantly in his grasp. Then a bright blue flame burst from inside the wood and the investigator was forced to drop it to the landing, where it crackled and crumbled to dust.

With Parsimonae unarmed, Aruzula dipped her wand into the potion bottle and splashed it against the wall over his head. The twins listened with agonizing distress as every portrait in the stairwell cried out in terror. Fred and George pushed the frame further so they could see it clearly for themselves. The glimmering solution made contact with several paintings, all of which were being stripped down to the canvas in a gradual, ruinous wave.

"She's destroying the paintings! Why is Kettleburn just standing there?" George uttered in disbelief.

"Because he's her accomplice, that's why!"

"I don't think so, Fred. Look at him," said George. "He's as shocked as we are."

The figures inside one of the dwindling portraits shuttled themselves to nearby frames, while a smaller wizard they had been hiding in a cupboard within the scene, abandoned the painting and climbed into the frame hanging above, just in time to be spared from the swell of encroaching annihilation.

"There you are!" said Aruzula with a cold and satisfied smile, as she dipped her wand into the bottle once more.

"STOP!" Lexington shrieked. "YOU MUSTN'T!"

"Tell us what's happening," Angelina pleaded.

"I can't see," Lee protested.

"He wants the...the treasure for himself," said Fred uncertainly. "And only that wizard in the portrait knows where to find it...I think..."

"Then why does it look like she's trying to destroy him?" asked Lee.

George shrugged. "Er — she wants the treasure to...stay hidden..."

"This isn't making sense!" said Angelina.

"Fred, move aside. We have to be able to see," said George impatiently, as he wriggled his way awkwardly to the front.

"Stop. George, stop!"

"WHOA!"

And just like that, the twins tumbled from the passageway. To their horror, George had leaned an inch too far, and they plummeted ten feet to the unforgiving stairs. They landed with a CRACK, one on top of the other, and saw that a split had fractured down the length of the broomstick.

"Weasleys! No!" shouted Kettleburn from the staircase above.

Their painting sealed itself to the wall with a shudder, and the boys were left sprawled out on the stairs, completely vulnerable. And there, hovering over them, was Aruzula Darc. She could see them now. They had nowhere to run, and no bookshelves to hide behind. Thankfully, a bigger target had just unwittingly given away his position.

Aruzula twirled her broom and projected her wand arm in a high arc. Professor Kettleburn had no time to react, as a spell of coiling white light rocketed toward him with surprising speed. He pulled his cape aside, drew his shoulders back, and rooted himself to the staircase so the spell would hit him directly at the center of his iron chest plate. The risky maneuver succeeded in blocking the curse, but the impact threw him over the railing. His metal armature just managed to seize a banister, and he struggled to heave himself up as the stone stairs glided to a new position.

"Well, well. The rascals show themselves at last," said Aruzula in a supple voice. She dismounted her broomstick and slowly made her approach, before spinning back to stop Parsimonae as he attempted to escape the stairwell. "Think you can turn tail and run, do you?"

She jabbed her black wand over her shoulder and sent a bolt of black light at his shoes. He immediately came to a halt and tipped forward unsteadily, as the soles were fastened to the floor. Fred and George stood shakily, as the beautiful witch swiveled to face them.

"You know, I'm impressed by your courage — foolish though it may be. It is rare for your age," she said, bending her neck considerably. "How truly unfortunate that I must snuff out your little candles when you have so much potential. What a shame..."

In the blink of an eye, Darc flourished her wand at George's forehead. And as her nostrils flared in readiness, Fred stepped in between his twin brother and the wand.