Chapter Text
“Are you absolutely sure this will work?” George raised his hands in surrender. “Percy, I’m begging you, have mercy… don’t look at me with that ‘in theory it should’ stare!”
“George,” Percy began, lifting one finger, “I can absolutely assure you that I have only read about this in books. I am an Artifact Hunter, and all I know is that the watch and the keys should work. Besides, there’s a Historian of Magic standing right next to you. Ask him.”
Marcus snorted and rolled his eyes. He lifted the bundle of keys before his face, then glanced at George’s hand, the one holding the watch, the scar clearly visible upon his skin.
I must not tell lies.
The scar. The mark carved by Umbridge during their final year. The reason George and Fred left the school without sitting their exams.
The watch in George’s hand looked almost like an ordinary pocket watch, though its interior was crowded with countless gears and numbers, measuring not only hours but every second, minute, year, even age itself. The gold gleamed faintly in George’s palm, betraying the artifact’s great age, worn thin in places.
Flint’s gaze returned to the keys. Gold as well. Worn as well. Perhaps ancient. For objects that allowed one to plunge into the past and the future, their origin dates could hardly be straightforward. Just as twisted as what they were about to do.
“In theory, Weasley,” Marcus said dryly. “The thing is, mermaids haven’t existed for several centuries, and powerful seers for who knows how long. But you said it yourself. We need the Perlica Instruments: the Soul Clock and the Prophecy Keys.”
George merely sighed, while Adrian let out a friendly laugh. Everyone turned to look at him.
“Alright…” Pucey began, feeling every gaze on him as he leaned on his cane. “I have nothing to add.”
George looked from Adrian to Percy, who was holding his long staff, wrapped in creeping black tendrils from every side, here and there blooming with blood-red roses. His gaze then shifted to Adrian’s staff, more like an oversized wand, its surface covered in frost.
“I feel like we’ve slipped into a different era,” George muttered, glancing upward. “And Percy, you’re only an Artifact Hunter on paper.”
“Hey! I have qualifications! It’s just that—”
“You’re Battle Mages,” George interrupted. “What a strange title. And the Ministry hiding something like that… on top of it, you’re both vampires. Am I wrong to think this is a bit insane?”
“I wouldn’t say anything about being a… vampire,” Marcus replied calmly, giving George a pointed look. “When you yourself are literally a merman. Who can see the future.”
George only wrinkled his nose and adjusted his red curls.
Yes, he had become a merman in his fourth year, after falling into the Black Lake. A long story. Just like Percy turning into a vampire in his own fourth year. Also a long story. And after Percy, Adrian, and Marcus finished school, Adrian became a vampire as well.
And Marcus? What was Marcus doing in all of this?
One might ask.
It turned out that during his final year at Hogwarts, the infamous Marcus Flint decided not only to finally sort out his teeth, revealing himself to be, quite unexpectedly, very handsome, but also discovered he could perceive ancient magic. And that he wasn’t the idiot everyone had claimed him to be.
Immediately after Hogwarts, he was accepted into the renowned Guild of Historians of Magic, where he passed the entrance exams with flying colors.
But let us focus on the fact that Marcus Flint could see ancient magic. Something neither vampires nor merfolk were capable of.
And so, this strange quartet stood within a runic circle, preparing the ritual known as the Coming of the Future.