The Adventure of Dudley Dursley

Chapter 7: Portal to the Past

As Dudley and Hannah hurried towards the glowing light, the book in Dudley's hands also started to light up. Again, the title was visible to him, and he came to a halt to look at the book. Hannah looked at it and could see that it was glowing, but she couldn't actually read the text besides the title. "Dudley, we've got a problem. I can't read this."

Hannah went to draw her wand out to perform some sort of revealing spell when Dudley said, "What do you mean you can't read it? It says, 'Instructions for the Chosen Finder of the Ax of Coifi' right there in shimmering golden writing."

Hannah's jaw dropped. "What? You can read it?"

When Dudley nodded affirmatively, Hannah continued to look amazed, yet also she smiled. "Wow, so that means that it was fate, or luck, or something amazing that brought you here. I mean, that title makes it sound like you're the only person who was meant to find the ax. That means that all of the people throughout history who've looked would never have been able to find it, even if they were literally looking at it."

Dudley was happy that they were making progress, yet did not know why he'd been the one that was destined to find the ax. "Why do you think it chose me? I mean, I'm nothing special. I'm just an ordinary person, and I don't even have any magical ability."

Hannah squeezed his hand and said, "Well, I think there is something special about you."

Dudley grinned sheepishly and the pair exchanged a brief kiss. Then, with a gleeful laugh, Hannah grasped Dudley's hand again and they began running into the wind towards the church. As they got closer and closer, the wind increased in intensity and whirling colors flew past them. Suddenly, the pair came upon a silver glimmering pool that hadn't been there before, right in the middle of the ruins. Dudley was confused what this weird looking material was, but Hannah exclaimed that it was a pool of memories. She tugged Dudley towards to pool, and with a deep breath, they jumped in.

Dudley expected there to be a feeling of wetness, or to have to hold his breath, but neither was required. There was a feeling of falling before the two landed with a thump in the middle of an ancient shrine of some sort. Hannah explained to the confused Dudley that they were in the past somewhere and were unable to affect events, only to witness them. However, they were interrupted by a laugh behind them. The pair spun quickly around to see a regal looking man, dressed in battle armor and holding a sword.

The man smiled at them and said, "Normally you'd be right missy, but this isn't any ordinary memory. I can see you, and so can anyone else inside this shrine that you can see. For you see, we are the trapped souls of those destroyed by Coifi so many years ago. This site has become a well of souls, where all those of magical power who were destroyed here are trapped here by Coifi's murderous action which set into action the conflict between Muggles and Wizards."

Dudley and Hannah were in shock that they were talking to someone who had lived apparently thousands of years in the past. Hannah said, "Excuse me sir, but who are you?"

The man smiled at her and said, "True enough, I haven't given you the honor of introductions, but I'm so well known in my time, and I of course know who you are Hannah, and you Dudley. My name is Aethelberten of Kent, grandson of the legendary King Ethelbert of Kent, who ruled over all the Anglo-Saxon territory of his time, although it of course was not known in such terms then. I, along with the others here, have been trapped here for many hundreds of years waiting for the two of you to free us and right the wrong that was caused so long ago with the wedge driven between our two peoples."

Aethelberten then introduced those surrounding him, which included a variety of people, from warriors to witches and wizards, and ordinary people. He explained how all of them had been at the shrine that the Muggle and Wizarding communities had built together, not really to worship a god, but to allow for a mingling of the two cultures. These groups had worked and lived in harmony both in Goodmanham and across the country, and the action undertaken that day had spread outwards across the island and eventually the world so that wizards now have to live in hiding or else risk war with the Muggles. Both groups had no real reason to fight, as both had adopted Christianity separately, but because of the fear instilled by Coifi, a wizard who turned his back on his people and severed ties between the groups, the split had occurred and grown to what existed in the modern world.

Understanding the situation, Dudley and Hannah asked what it was that they could do to help free these souls from their imprisonment. They were told that they didn't quite understand why they were trapped, but that apparently Coifi had trapped them here for all eternity, forever doomed to exist in silence, unable to either go onwards or to roam the world as ghosts. Aethelberten then told them, this memory exists to allow us to relive the moment of out capture. "I can show you what occurred as part of your quest."

With that said, the openings that acted as windows suddenly flashed white and then returned to normal. Looking outside, Dudley saw a man dressed in black, with his head shaved and only a long strand of hair remaining on the back of his head riding towards them at a gallop on a huge chestnut horse. He dismounted, and ignoring the greetings of the people Dudley and Hannah had just met, began to silently cast spells. Everyone stopped moving, and the sky darkened. The man, who the pair now realized must be Coifi, knelt down and began to mark runes on the ground, and when he finished, he slowly turned and walked away. Once he was twenty paces away, he removed a gigantic bronze ax from his back, and with no emotion cast it towards the shrine. With a roar of noise and blast of light, the building caved in upon the people standing there and the runes on the ground glowed silver before somehow bleeding into the ground, creating the pool of memory into which the souls of the people became trapped. Without looking back, Coifi remounted and rode away in silence.

At that moment, Dudley felt a hand grasp the back of his shirt and a jerking motion upwards. Both he and Hannah were speeding away from the memory and the pair plopped down on the ground next to the glowing pool of memory. Dudley turned to look at Hannah and asked, "What just happened" when suddenly there was a blinding flash of pure white light that light the sky and a scream.

With a burst of color, the souls of those who had been trapped were speeding up out of the pool. Aethelberten paused and said, "An old man who was dressed in the robes of a priest somehow managed to sacrifice himself to reverse whatever curse was on these ruins. We're finally free to journey onward to the afterlife. Don't ever forget the sacrifice that this man made for us." With that said, Aethelberten wished the pair of them good luck in their quest and vanished, leaving the ground suddenly empty of the pool. On the ground, lying in a crumpled heap was Langford Baldwin, a good man who sacrificed his life to release the souls of many others who had been trapped for over a thousand years.

With an anguished cry, Dudley ran to the body of his fallen friend. Grasped in his hand was a bible, and inside of that was a note in what Dudley recognized as Langford's handwriting. Dudley, wiping away a tear, removed the letter, and seeing that it was addressed "To Dudley and Hannah," beckoned her over and sat down at his mentor's feet to open the letter.

Inside the envelope was a note written to the pair of them. "Dear Dudley and Hannah, I know that as you're reading this, I have moved on from this world. Don't be sad for me Dudley, as I know that I am reunited with my beloved wife and have done a noble deed in rescuing those who had been trapped in that well of souls. I wasn't fully honest with you when I was describing that vision I had earlier tonight. In my vision, I was told about those who were trapped, and that it would be my choice as to whether or not I wanted to save them. I was told that if I did, I would need to perform an act of sacrifice on the spot where you two vanished. Therefore, I followed you here and managed to trade my life for the souls of all of those who were trapped. I was able to do this because the man who told me that you were the chosen seeker of this book was an old man who descended from a man named Coifi. He told me that Coifi had been placed under an evil enchantment the likes of which he had never seen by a strange looking man who arrived from nowhere and forced him to undertake the actions he did which led to all of the tension between wizards and normal people. He told me that Coifi had never wanted to cause so many deaths, and that Coifi had managed to break free of this enchantment only late in life and record what had happened so that someone in the future could try to undo some of what he was forced to do. Therefore, I undertook my own act of sacrifice tonight to both free those who were trapped and to set you on your way. I want to thank you Dudley for making the last few months of my life better than I could have imagined, and for being a true friend. God works in mysterious ways, my friend, and I believe that if you follow your conscience and work hard, the two of you will achieve your goal. I just wish that I could have been around to see you two succeed. With love and may God grant you success, Lang."

With a sob, Dudley hugged Hannah and said, "I can't believe it, he sacrificed himself to save all those people, and no one will ever know."

Hannah, whose breathing was ragged and face was streaked with tears continued to hug Dudley and said, "We'll know, and I know I'll never forget."

The two of them then noticed another note in the envelope and saw that it was a copy of Langford's will. He specified that all of his money was to be bequeathed to his formed Anglican church, that his house was to be given to his son, but that all of his books were to go to Dudley and Hannah with the wish that they would help them both grow intellectually and in their search for justice (as he obviously couldn't allude to their quest in a legal document).

With these documents in hand, Dudley and Hannah walked back towards Hannah's home, both needing to notify the local constable of the death of Langford Baldwin as well as to think over the epic events which they had seen that night. They decided to say that Langford had walked their with them, and had sat down and drifted away into death, because they agreed that there was no way anyone would believe that there had been a well of souls that existed, or the story of sacrifice that had occurred there.

After the constable left, Dudley and Hannah went outside to say goodbye, and to figure out their plan for the near future. They decided that Dudley should undertake to read and take notes on what the book they possessed said, as obviously they didn't want to stumble again into something that they weren't ready for.

Hannah said, "I wish Harry was here, because he's really good at quest stuff like this." The death of Dudley's friend really seemed to have struck home with her. Suddenly, the fact that she was dealing with things much older and more powerful and dangerous than any textbook was a reality. A good man and friend of someone she cared for had sacrificed his life to do something good and noble, yet that man would still be alive if she had not set Dudley on this quest.

When she mentioned these doubts and regrets to Dudley, he shook his head sadly. "Hannah, this isn't your fault. Did I tell you about how I met Langford? He had fallen down outside and was trying to get back to his house. He often spoke about the afterlife, and his wife, who he missed dearly. I'm not saying that I'm not going to miss him, but he made this choice. It seems like we're destined to find this ax, and that Langford was a part of that. He undid the damage that Coifi was forced to do, and he did it willingly. Its ok for us to be sad, but I think that we'd be doing Langford's memory a disservice if we didn't finish the quest upon which he has helped us."

Dudley took her hand in his and continued, "I wish Harry were here too. From what I've heard, he really would be a huge help, but I guess he has his own quest at the moment. But I do know that you and I can do this. We'll find this ax and maybe we'll be able to help in the battle of good versus evil. But I do know that I wouldn't want to have anyone by my side then you." Dudley then leaned in and kissed Hannah and wiped away her tears before turning to walk home.

As Dudley walked home into the dark lane, Hannah was struck by how right Langford was. Here she was in a strange place in a serious search for a powerful magical artifact with apparently potent consequences with a kind boy for whom she had strong feelings. God did seem to be working mysteriously...