The next morning dawned with a crisp chill, the kind that hinted winter was creeping closer even as autumn stubbornly clung to the air. Spinner's End looked the same as always—grey, damp, hunched over itself like an old man bracing against another beating—but Elias felt every sound, every shift of the wind, as if the world were vibrating at a pitch only he could hear.
He hadn't slept again.
Not properly.
Not since the warehouse.
Not since the beam.
Not since Lily whispering, You choose not to be a monster.
He didn't know why her words dug so deep.
He didn't know why his magic reacted whenever she was near—either chilling into stillness or threatening to flare.
But he knew this much:
Something inside him was changing.
And it was happening fast.
Severus stirred beside him as the morning light seeped into their small room. The boy blinked blearily at the ceiling, rubbing his bruised arm absently.
"Did Dad shout last night?" he asked in a whisper.
"No," Elias said.
"That's worse."
Elias didn't disagree.
They dressed in silence—Elias neat and meticulous, Severus messy and hurried. When they stepped into the kitchen, Eileen was already awake, pacing in tight circles.
"Tobias is gone," she said without turning.
Severus froze. "Gone? Gone where?"
Eileen shook her head. "I don't know. He left before sunrise."
Elias felt Severus's fear spike like a physical sensation. His brother's mind practically screamed with tension.
Elias hated it.
He hated that he felt it.
He hated that he could hear it.
"He won't trouble us today," Eileen said, with a brittle smile that fooled no one. "Just… be careful."
Elias didn't need to be told.
He was always careful.
They met Lily at the corner of the street as they had begun doing every day. She wore a green coat today, one that brought out the brightness of her eyes. Her hair was wind-tangled, her cheeks flushed from the chill.
"You two look tired," she said the moment she saw them.
Severus perked up immediately. "We always look tired."
She gave him a playful nudge. "Not like this."
Then she looked at Elias.
He felt the weight of her gaze like a physical pressure.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
He nodded once. "Yes."
She frowned faintly—clearly not convinced—but didn't push. Instead she said, "I found something yesterday. Have to show you."
"What is it?" Severus asked.
Lily smiled mysteriously. "You'll see."
They walked together, crunching through dead leaves as the sun tried and failed to break through the thick northern clouds. The three of them traversed the river path, stopping at the tall grasses near their favorite clearing.
But Lily didn't stop there.
She turned toward the woods.
"Where are we going?" Severus asked.
"I hid it," Lily said proudly. "I didn't want anyone else to find it."
They pushed through a thicket of brambles until the ground sloped downward. Lily hopped over a fallen log and motioned eagerly for them to follow.
"There!"
At first, Elias didn't see anything. Then—half-buried in a mound of dead leaves—he spotted the edge of a wooden box. Old. Weathered. Maybe centuries old.
Severus gasped. "A treasure chest!"
"It isn't a treasure chest," Lily said, though her eyes sparkled. "I think it fell out of someone's cart ages ago. Or washed up from the river."
"How did you find it?" Elias asked.
"I tripped over it," Lily said proudly.
"That sounds right," Elias muttered.
She stuck her tongue out at him.
They crouched around the box. It wasn't large—maybe the size of a shoebox—but the wood was dark, the grain marked by age. Strange symbols had been carved into the top—curving lines and intersecting shapes.
Severus's breath hitched. "That looks magical."
"It looks dangerous," Elias said.
Lily's hand hovered over the lid. "Should I open it?"
"No," Elias said at once.
"Yes," Severus said at the same time.
Lily laughed nervously. "That was very helpful."
Elias leaned in to inspect the carvings. His fingertips hovered above the symbols, not touching, but feeling—something. A vibration. A hum. A breath.
It felt… old.
Like the warehouse beam had felt.
Like the moment before magic surged through him.
"Don't touch it," Elias murmured.
"Why?" Lily whispered.
Severus frowned at him. "It's just a box."
"No," Elias said. "It isn't."
He didn't know how he knew. But he did. Every nerve in his body screamed with certainty.
"Back up," he said quietly.
Severus and Lily obeyed instantly, instinct overriding curiosity.
Elias knelt alone and brushed away more leaves, revealing the full set of carvings. The symbols grew more intricate toward the center, swirling in a pattern that made his eyes ache if he stared too long.
He swallowed.
"Elias?" Lily whispered behind him. Her voice trembled. "Is it… magical?"
"It's enchanted," he said.
"By who?" Severus asked.
"Not wizards," Elias murmured.
The air shifted.
The river quieted.
Even the wind paused.
Lily stepped forward despite herself. "Then by what?"
Elias didn't know.
But he knew he didn't like it.
Slowly, he stood. "We're not opening this."
"Why?" Severus asked, frustrated. "It could be something amazing. A relic. Or a wand. Or—"
"Or a curse," Elias said.
Lily swallowed. "Can it hurt us?"
Elias's jaw tightened. "Everything can hurt us."
Lily's face fell slightly.
But Severus crouched stubbornly, squinting at the carvings. "It's a pattern. A sequence. Like runes. If I study it—"
Elias reached out sharply, grabbing Severus's wrist before his brother could touch the wood.
Severus flinched in surprise.
"Don't," Elias said.
Severus's eyes flickered with something like embarrassment. "You're acting like it'll swallow us whole."
"It might," Elias hissed.
"And you know that how?"
Elias couldn't answer.
Severus tore his wrist from Elias's grip. "You don't know everything."
"No," Elias said quietly. "But I know enough."
The tension spiked like a crack in ice.
Lily stepped between them before the argument could escalate. "All right. Enough. We don't have to open anything today. We'll… think about it."
Severus mumbled something under his breath but let the matter drop.
For the moment.
Elias took one last look at the box.
At the runes.
At the strange pulse beneath his skin that mirrored the pulse beneath the lid.
He didn't like that feeling.
It felt too familiar.
Too much like himself.
They left the woods slowly, each casting glances back at the forgotten box hidden beneath the leaves.
Lily finally broke the silence. "Elias?"
He didn't look at her.
"What did it feel like?" she asked gently. "The box."
Elias hesitated.
"It felt… awake," he said finally.
Lily shivered.
Severus looked uncertain—torn between curiosity and fear.
But Elias knew something else was coming.
He could feel it.
Magic had a scent, a soundless vibration, and today it clung to the world like static.
When they reached the river clearing, Lily set down her notebook and sat cross-legged in the grass.
"I want to understand something," she said after a moment. "If you'll explain it."
Elias sighed. "What now?"
"Your magic."
Severus perked up.
Lily continued. "When the beam fell… when your dad shouted… when you made that pebble float… it didn't look like wandless magic. Or accidental magic. It looked… controlled."
"It isn't," Elias said sharply.
"But it is," Lily insisted. "It responds to what you feel. Or what you fear. Or what you want to protect."
Elias stiffened.
Severus's expression shifted—recognition dawning. "She's right. You always reacted fastest when—when I was in trouble."
Elias froze.
Lily nodded, voice soft. "It's tied to people. To emotions. To… us."
Elias's heartbeat spiked painfully.
"It isn't tied to us," he said. "It's tied to danger."
"You think we aren't dangerous?" Lily asked.
Elias looked sharply at her. "You aren't."
"Not now," Lily said quietly. "But one day? The world might hurt us. Or try to pull us apart. Or take one of us away."
Severus's face paled.
"And when that happens," Lily whispered, "your magic will react."
Elias stared at her, stunned.
She wasn't afraid.
She wasn't angry.
She was worried for him.
Elias swallowed hard. "What are you saying?"
"That your magic isn't the threat," Lily said. "It's what the world will do to the people you care about that scares you."
Severus stared at Elias.
Lily watched him with gentle intensity.
Elias felt something in his ribs loosen, then tighten painfully.
"I don't want to hurt either of you," he said.
"You won't," Lily whispered.
Severus nodded.
Elias closed his eyes, breathing deeply—until something cold brushed the edge of his senses.
He snapped his eyes open.
"What was that?" Lily asked, startled by the sudden tension in his posture.
"Elias?" Severus whispered nervously.
Elias stood slowly.
Something was wrong.
The air shifted again—subtle, but unmistakable to him. Like the moment before a predator stepped from the trees.
His voice dropped. "Someone's watching us."
Both Severus and Lily froze.
"But—" Lily looked around wildly. "There's no one here."
Elias stepped forward, scanning the tree line, the riverbank, the tall grasses. His senses stretched outward, as if his mind itself reached beyond his body.
There.
A presence.
Faint.
Flickering.
Not quite human.
Not quite magical in the wizarding sense.
More like…
"Something followed us from the woods," Elias whispered.
Lily grabbed Severus's sleeve.
Severus grabbed Elias's.
A faint rustle echoed behind them.
Something dark moved between the trees.
Lily's breath hitched. "Elias—"
"Don't speak," Elias whispered.
His magic coiled beneath his skin like a drawn bowstring.
Another rustle.
A cold, unnatural wind.
Then—a whisper.
No voice.
No words.
Just a pressure.
A presence.
It felt like the box.
Lily's hand tightened around Elias's coat. "Elias, what is that?"
He didn't know.
But it wasn't alive.
And it wasn't dead.
And it didn't belong in Spinner's End. Or the Muggle world.
Or any world he recognized.
Severus pressed close to Elias, trembling. "Elias, we should run."
"No."
"But—"
"No."
The presence in the woods shifted again.
Closer.
Testing them.
Curious.
Elias felt it brush against his mind—
cold, distant, searching.
He snapped the connection instantly.
The presence recoiled.
A tree branch snapped somewhere in the woods.
Lily whimpered softly.
Then—
The presence retreated.
Slowly.
Not defeated.
Not frightened.
Just… observing.
When it finally faded, Elias released a breath he didn't know he was holding.
Lily's knees buckled. Elias caught her before she hit the ground.
"What—what was that?" she whispered, breath trembling.
Severus swallowed hard. "Was it a ghost?"
"No," Elias said.
"A creature?" Lily asked.
"No."
"Then—then what?"
Elias looked toward the woods, jaw tight.
"Something awakened," he whispered. "Something old."
Severus shivered. "Because of the box?"
Elias didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
All three of them knew.
Lily clutched Elias's sleeve, shaking. "Will it come back?"
"Yes," Elias said softly.
"How do you know?"
He hesitated.
Then—
"It was looking for me."
Lily's eyes widened in horror. "Why?"
Severus stepped closer, voice shaking. "Because of your magic?"
"Because my magic woke it," Elias whispered.
Lily swallowed. "And if your magic woke it… it might want you."
"No," Elias said. "It wants something else."
"What?" Severus whispered.
Elias stared at the trembling tree line.
"It wants what I could become."
The words hung in the wind like a curse.
Neither Lily nor Severus spoke.
Finally Lily whispered—
"Elias… what are you?"
He didn't look away from the woods.
"I don't know," he said. "But something out there does."
And the wind moaned through the trees like a warning.