The Oblivion Hex
RA WESTWOOD
Based on the world of Harry Potter,
created by J.K. Rowling
Chapter 2
Breaking and Entering
Noah and Crowe stood before the Bibliotheca Alexandria, excitement and evening breath pulling bare skin to gooseflesh. The building looked like a moon rising from the bosom of the Mediterranean. Ancient runes circled its great walls, its roof alight with the last sparks of dusk. Noah’s heart beat proud before the Library he’d helped birth. Crowe”in jeans and a polo lent him by Noah”rubbed the arch of his left foot.
“I don’t see how Muggles can stand it. My toes are bloody balloons.” Apple-redness flowered Crowe’s cheeks.
“We couldn’t just - poof!” Noah jazzed his hands, “apparate in the street. El Nozha Airport’s main terminal was the only place crowded enough for us to pop in without suspicion.”
This explanation deflected from Crowe’s mask of annoyance without effect. He tendered his foot back to the ground, wincing theatrics as heel hit pavement. “Ruddy garbage. No one would have-”
Noah thrust a hand to dam Crowe’s tide of complaints. “Enough with the grousing. Where we can, we’ll follow the rules, ok?”
Crowe discarded his pity performance and nodded agreement. “You’re the boss, mate.” A wry grin uncurled as he raised a salute.
“And don’t you forget it.”
Crowds fizzled as the sun deflated to the sea. A gaunt Muggle appeared inside the front doors as the streetlamps sputtered to life, a key ring jangling in hand. With three swift twists he locked the doors, and after pulling each to ensure the seal, spun into the blackness beyond.
Crowe rubbed his hands together. “Magic time,” he cooed, eyebrows jumping with excitement. He hitched forward, gait unsteady in denim. Noah stifled a laugh, reminded of a cat wobbling on mitten-clad paws.
All mirth evaporated as Crowe, in full Muggle sight, extracted a wand from his trousers. Noah shot forward, arms outstretched.
“Crowe!” he cried. Reflected in the oil dark glass, Crowe thrust his wand to cast the expected spell.
“Alohamoorrr-ow!” Crowe groaned.
Noah dove and swatted the wand away. It spun like a windmill blade as it skidded to concrete.
“What was that for?!” Crowe bellowed, defensive fists tight to chest.
“Please try to show some caution,” Noah hissed, pushing from the ground. A quick survey showed the Muggles thankfully unfazed by their kerfuffle. “You really think we’d safeguard history’s greatest library with a simple lock? Any first-year could ‘Alohamora’ their way in. The Auror on call would have been firing jinxes like bludgers had you finished that spell.’“
Crowe’s face softened with apology. “...Hadn’t thought of that,” He admitted.
Noah crouched to pluck Crowe’s wand from the concrete.
“ ‘S okay,” he sighed, examining the slender wand. “Poplar? I thought you used an Ash wand?”
Crowe swiped the wand and secreted it to the depths of his trouser pockets. “Old one broke,” he mumbled. “Crushed by an elephant near Bombay.”
Noah shook his head, chuckling. “Dangerous business, textbook writing.”
Crowe strained a smile.
“Now,” Noah, careful to keep it blocked from Muggle view, pulled his Rosewood wand from the kangaroo pocket of his sweatshirt. “I’ll show you the proper way to break into the greatest library ever built.”
Noah wagged the tip of his wand. “Aedificium Gelata!” he announced. A gloopy strand of thick water pulsed, coating the library’s glass door. Gel tumbled down the door, catching rainbows of smoldering dusk.
Noah stepped back and, sweeping his arm, gestured Crowe forward. “After you sir.” Crowe studied the watery door, brow furrowed. Only after Noah gave a reassuring nod did Crowe step forward.
Entering the library was unlike anything Crowe had experienced. Traversing solid walls was nothing unfamiliar”Platform 9 3/2 echoed through his head”but this wall was far from solid. It felt like swimming through syrup while standing up. Crowe rushed through the goo, sputtering jelly globules and wiping his nose and eyes. He stumbled inside, jeans saturated stiff. Jelly dripped from his fingers, wriggled down arms and legs like a earthworms.
Noah followed with a sound like the last dregs of milkshake sucked through a straw. He was drenched to match his friend, hair and face shimmering with viscous water. Crowe opened his mouth, but before he could cry even a syllable of disdain, Noah had his wand again wagging like a puppy’s tail, his spell already cast.
“Gelata Evanesco.”
The syrup evaporated from Crowe’s body, wicked from his clothes, combed from his hair. “Some spells there,” he said, giving a low whistle.
“A simple jelly transfiguration applied in a novel way,” Noah replied. “The only way to breech the place without raising half a dozen alarms.”
Behind them opened a cathedral expanse of wood, steel and glass. “May I present to you The Bibliotheca Alexandrina,” Noah announced. Pillars like trees grew from the floor, flowering up to the glass ceiling. Aqua lights breathed living essence into pine and silica. In silence the pair strolled toward the central stair.
“So how do we get to the wizard library? One of these books a portkey?” Crowe’s questions tumbled in quick bursts.
Noah shook his head as they turned down a narrow corridor of oversized books. “Not exactly,” he said. “We couldn’t risk a Muggle chancing on a portkey.”
Crowe let his fingers graze book spines. They were rough like dragon scales under his fingertips.
“So where’s the door, then?” Crowe puffed three tense breaths before Noah answered.
“I’m not sure,” he admitted as they came to a whitewashed brick wall.
Crowe threw his hands in agitation. “How are we supposed to find a passage you don’t know about?” he moaned.
Noah swiveled, face impatient and sharp. “Each floor has two invisible passages couched in out of the way walls. In the entire building, only one leads to the Ancient Library.”
Crowe stepped forward to the blank wall before them. “Well, let’s try this one, then.” Noah stretched a hand to restrain Crowe’s barrel chest but was a moment late. Crowe, arms before him, pushed wrist deep into the wall.
“Confound it, Crowe,” he hissed. “If you don’t know the code, these passages set off…”
Ten yards behind them a firecracker pop! announced the arrival of the Auror on duty. “Who goes there?” warbled a lilting and unsteady voice. Noah and Crowe turned, wands held overhead, to see none other than Fausto Marson, an Ash wand unsteady in his hand. His face bore the cherry scrapes and bruises of a recent scuffle.
“Noah Sizemore?” He puzzled, scratching snow-white hair with the tip of his wand. “What are you doing here, mate?” Eyes shifting from Noah to Crowe, Marson’s wild shrub eyebrows furrowed. His wand shot to dueling position near his hip. “Asdrubal Cr””
Marson stopped short, frozen in a haze of yellow light. For a moment he tottered on the ball of his foot like a glanced tenpin, only to fall, stiff as a board.
“Bloody hell, Crowe!” Noah cried. “You just stunned a Ministry Auror!”
Crowe relaxed his wand arm and turned back to the wall. “Marson barely qualifies as an Auror,” he clucked. “…only got the job ‘cause he’s chummy with the Weasleys.” Sensing Noah still agape at the jinxed Marson, Crowe gave his friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Listen “ it would have taken ages to explain it to Marson. He would have drug us back to London for questions and Ministry forms…its easier this way. And besides, he’s just asleep. We’ll get him on the way out and play like it was a practical joke.”
“I…,” Noah turned small steps from the snoring Marson. “I guess so,” Noah forced a smirk. “He was always a bit slow, wasn’t he?”
Careful not to overstep, Noah returned to the blank wall, wand outstretched. A gentle swish tapped the brick before him.
“Are you the wall that is also a door?” Noah asked, each word clear.
Like a mist lifted from clearest sea, the wall shimmered emerald. Green light washed over Noah and Crowe, lifting worries of Marson from beaten backs.
“Guessed right on the first try,” Noah breathed, running a hand through his hair. “We could’ve avoided jinxing Marson had you just waited a second.” He motioned to the pool of verdant light swirling before them. “Age before beauty.”
Crowe ran to the light, Noah close at his heels. The passage was akin to a carnival slide. Warm air whooshed their ears, ancient stone dank in their noses. By the time feet struck flagstone, their spirits were so buoyant they nearly floated back from where they came.
The Oblivion Hex by RA Westwood
Chapter Notes: Noah Sizemore and Asdrubal Crowe are forced to break into the Muggle Library at Alexandria in search of the darkest hex ever cast, The Oblivion Hex.