Aeris Blake
The mark on Aeris's wrist wouldn't stop burning.
She sat cross-legged on her bed in Gryffindor Tower, trying to breathe through it. Soft candlelight flickered on the walls, but shadows danced more wildly than they should've.
Morrigan Slytherin.
The name haunted her since the duel. She didn't remember casting that spell. Didn't remember summoning a serpent made of fire. But everyone else had seen it.
And Scorpius… he hadn't looked afraid of her.
He'd looked afraid for her.
Her fingers traced the mark again. The faint snake-shaped tattoo was now darker, pulsing with every beat of her heart. But worse than the pain was what came with it—visions.
Whispers. A woman in green robes standing in a ruined corridor, her face half-shadowed. Behind her: Hogwarts, but older. Wild. Alive in a way Aeris had never seen.
Then the voice again:
"Find me."
She flinched.
"Aeris?" Rose peeked in through the bed curtains, carrying a stack of books. "You okay?"
"Define 'okay,'" she whispered.
Rose Weasley
Rose dropped the books onto Aeris's bed. "You're not going to believe what Albus and I found."
"Does it involve ancient curses and dead relatives?"
"Actually... yes."
She opened a book titled Bloodlines: Lost and Forbidden. The pages were old and cracked.
"There's almost nothing about Morrigan Slytherin anywhere," Rose said. "No mention in the main Hogwarts library. Not even in the family trees."
Aeris tilted her head. "So how did you find her?"
"We bribed Madam Pince with lemon biscuits and snuck into the Restricted Section."
Aeris stared. "You what?"
"Desperate times," Rose said smugly.
She flipped the book open. A page showed a rough sketch of a woman in a hooded cloak holding a wand made of bone.
Morrigan Slytherin, exiled daughter of Salazar, founder of the Obscura Sanctum.
Below it, a symbol—a coiled serpent with a flame inside.
Aeris looked at her wrist. Same mark.
Her blood ran cold.
Albus Potter
Albus sat in the corner, tapping his wand against his boot. "The Obscura Sanctum was some kind of hidden chamber. Not the Chamber of Secrets—another one. Deeper. Hidden even from Dumbledore."
"How do you know that?" Aeris asked.
"Because I found this in my dad's study over Christmas break." He pulled a torn page from his cloak and unfolded it. It was from a letter. Handwritten.
"The Obscura was never closed. It sleeps. If Morrigan's blood returns, so shall it awaken."
— From the journal of Albus Dumbledore
The room fell silent.
Aeris's breath caught.
"I'm her blood," she whispered. "The magic… it's responding because I'm her."
"And it's waking up," Rose murmured.
A loud crack of thunder outside made them all jump.
Scorpius Malfoy
Back in the Slytherin common room, Scorpius couldn't sleep.
He held a candle in one hand, flipping through his father's old journal in the other. It had entries from Lucius Malfoy—grim, bigoted, and obsessed with lineage. But one entry stood out.
"The girl was sealed. Her power fractured. The serpent mark was hidden in the child of ash and fire. If she awakens, Hogwarts will bend—or burn."
He closed the book slowly.
Child of ash and fire.
Could that mean Aeris?
And what would happen if she unlocked everything?
He couldn't tell his father. Couldn't even tell Headmistress McGonagall.
He had to protect her.
Even if it meant betraying everything he'd ever known.
Aeris Blake – Later That Night
She shouldn't have gone out alone.
But the dreams were stronger tonight. The whispers clearer.
She followed them through the darkened corridors of Hogwarts. Her feet knew the way even when she didn't. Past the Great Hall. Past the statue of Godric Gryffindor. Down a narrow spiral staircase that hadn't existed yesterday.
Her heart pounded.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The air grew colder.
At the bottom was a black stone door with a single engraving:
Speak the name that binds you.
Her mouth moved before she could stop it.
"Morrigan."
The mark on her wrist blazed with fire.
The door opened.
The Obscura Sanctum
Aeris stepped inside.
The room was massive—bigger than the Great Hall, yet hidden beneath the school. Black stone arches stretched to a ceiling covered in glowing runes. In the center stood a fountain, its water glowing silver.
And floating above it: a ghostly figure.
Long robes. Green eyes. Raven-black hair.
Morrigan Slytherin.
"Welcome, heir."
Aeris couldn't move.
"You're not real," she whispered.
"I'm a memory," Morrigan said. "But I am yours. As you are mine."
"Why me?"
"Because they feared me. They erased me. But magic like ours cannot be killed—only buried."
Aeris shook her head. "I don't want your legacy."
"You don't have a choice," Morrigan replied. "The Obscura is waking. And so is he."
"Who?"
But Morrigan was already fading.
"Beware the one who carries the blade of ash. He will come for you when the stars bleed."
A wind whipped through the chamber.
Then darkness.
Rose & Albus – The Next Morning
Rose nearly screamed when she woke up and found Aeris's bed empty.
She dragged Albus out of bed, both racing through the corridors until they spotted her, standing just inside the courtyard, barefoot and pale.
"Aeris!"
She turned slowly. Her eyes were rimmed with shadows.
"I know where it is," she whispered.
"Where what is?" Albus asked.
"The chamber."
Rose's breath caught. "You found the Obscura?"
Aeris nodded slowly. "It's alive."
Final Scene – Elsewhere
In a chamber deep below Malfoy Manor, a boy in silver robes stared at a curved blade glowing with green fire.
A voice behind him whispered:
"She has awakened."
He lifted the sword.
"I've been waiting."