Chapter Ten:
Taste of Failure

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Ornithologists say that birds, especially the top class of the aves: eagles, vultures, ravens and even phoenixes (if mythical creatures were to be counted) have the sharpest eye sight in the universe. Raven could confirm the theory. In Rook's words, he'd say, 'Blimey! I don't even need my glasses anymore!'

It was getting rather late. As per Rook's predictions, their enemy was supposed to be here three minutes ago but there was no trace of a single new whiff in the wind. Raven was just about to land on the ground and stretch when he heard the trampling of the ground. Thud! Stomp!

They were the ungodly sounds of acromantulas! Raven thought quickly and transformed into his human self, grabbing a branch nearby to steady himself, before withdrawing his DA coin and sending a quick sos to his friends. Then, he proceeded to shoot a couple of stunning spells blindly, but towards the Forbidden Forest. There was only hope that at least a few of them, if not a bunch, would get stunned before they even came into combat.

—xoxo—

When Aura got the message, she immediately broke into a run towards Hagrid's Hut. "Mr Gamekeeper! Please get into the safety of the castle! There are wild acromantulas in search of human flesh!" she announced, breaking into the small house. The gigantic man looked at her with disbelief in his eyes. She had never broken into anyone's house so, for a moment of silliness, she thought that it offended him. "I apologize for breaking in!"

"Tat's no problem 'ere. What do yeh mean they wan' human flesh?! They might be Aragog's chicks!"

"That they might be, but there's no time! They'll trample on your hut if we don't move you!"

"AURA, HELP!" Swift's call left her with no choice than to leave Hagrid. The sight that greeted her was extremely terrifying and, for a split moment, a shiver went down her spines. The giant eight-legged creatures were marching in phobic swarms towards the castle. Thinking quickly, Aura raised her arm, sending sparks and lifting the ground beneath the spiders. Cracks appeared and a few fell into pits. Swift ran into the crowd, his sword raised to dissect a couple of them.

The battle raged on. Arachnids against witches and wizards. The students were finding it harder than the staff, which was predictable with the broad difference of experience between the two. Spider legs, the red rage, everything made up the sight of the grounds. Aura knew they couldn't keep going on like this. She felt her energy going down already. Her eyes started searching for Swift, a trace of him, but what they found was not what she wanted.

Swift was overpowered; his sword was gone and he was pointing his wand at the acromantulas. Their pincers clicked together — a sign that they might strike soon. One of them inched forward. Swift uttered a spell and a white flash blinded the area around him, but Aura knew. She knew that he was indeed very much overpowered. Fear for his safety and for the students around him aroused her and, without thinking, she forced the earth to do the impossible.

To gobble the spiders down.

Soil cracked with sheer power, sending dirt and mud flying around. A pit to hellish oblivion dug itself right below the ugly legs of the acromantulas, deepening with length and breadth by each stroke of her finger. Next thing she knew, the earth collapsed and left her feeling fragile. The frantic thought that overuse of her powers was her limitation only occurred when she fell to her knees, in exhaustion.

She did not know if Swift was okay or if the rest of the people of Light were. But she felt something silky wrap around her midriff and tie her hands together. Her pockets felt strangely empty. This emptiness was unsettling. So much so that she tried, really tried, to look up at who was standing in front of her. When she emerged successful, the taste of failure and fear caught up to her; it was a hooded figure, not one of their own but one of the Dark. . .

—xoxo—

"Eternity, what if you use your time travelling power right now? Perhaps you can tell my younger self how to remove a particular rune and remove some yourself. That way, a rune erased in the past won't be present here too, right?" Crystal asked when they had received Raven's message.

"Yeah, right. How could I forget that?!" Eternity mentally wanted to smack herself for forgetting the powers they had. "Okay. You stay here and, along with the students, get rid of the runes present on the left side of the grounds. I, on the other hand, will go back to the past and remove the ones on the right side as we haven't touched them." With Crystal's acceptance, Eternity withdrew the clock from her pocket and held it close to her chest. Thinking about her third year and all the time traveling mess she had to put up with scared a part of her, but there was no other go.

Mustering up as much Gryffindor bravery as she could, she wished to time travel, thirty minutes before the present, just like how Raven told her the Gramary worked. Wish. Desire to access the power propelled the magical object to work. All her concentration was focused on that wish.

The world blacked out for a split second before her eyes got accustomed to her surroundings. It was the same Hogwarts grounds, only that she was on the other side of where she previously stood. Eternity took a moment to observe everything. The water of the lake was rippling at a quicker pace, as if the wind was blowing it. Even the leaves of the trees on the grounds rustled soundlessly. There was no external force driving them to move. Was it because Time had now given itself into her hands?

Whatever it was, there would be time to ponder about it later. She had to get to work first. If she had completed more than half of the right side of the grounds with whatever time she had, it would contribute to their victory against the enemy. So, she got to work, tracing the complicated runes in a very tedious manner.

The sun was at its peak by the time she had removed five runes, indicating that it was now noon; the time when she left the present. At that exact moment, the clock started ticking loudly. It ticked thrice. Her breath hitched, fearing the disadvantage that came with overusing the Gramary. Nevertheless, nothing happened and Eternity stayed in the place she was. The runes that she had removed were indeed gone, but there was something else that caught the witch's attention: the way the leaves moved.

It seemed that after her Gramary's three consecutive ticks, the rustling of the leaves had fastened. Even the waters were strangely clashing against the bank, as if something underneath was causing the momentum.

Then again, there was no time to ponder about why the gravity of the earth was acting up. If it was noon in the past, that is where Eternity was, her other self and Crystal would have gotten Raven's message, which only meant that her past self would also use her Gramary to go back to where Eternity was. The rule of time traveling about creating a time paradox should the same person of the past, present or future meet each other ran like cold ice across her mind, reminding her of escaping this reality.

Quickly crouching to finish removing the leftover rune that she was working on, thoughts of the way gravity acted swirled in her mind. Perhaps that was how time travelling using the Gramary worked.

The Gramary ticked twice, loudly and obnoxiously again, right when she was done with the rune. Snatching the supplies, she closed her eyes, desiring to go back to her present, the reality where she belonged. She felt her head go light, as if she had been transfigured into a feather. A limb-tearing pain shot up from her wrist, where she held the clock in her palm. It felt like she was Apparating for the first time in her life as blood drained out of her brain. Consciousness was slowly edging away despite her clutch at it.

She did not know when she fell into her captor's arms.

Just a note guys. My exams are starting so this story will be on hold for two weeks but after that, I'll try my level best to update it regularly! Please don't abandon me in this break!

Thank you for reading!

Miyoko x