Rebirth

Rebirth

Chapter 9: Sertorians

"GENO! DULCE!"

Magda jumped at the sight of her friends, her voice shrieking with excitement.

"What happened to you?" she asked after a while, shocked at their yellowish faces.

"We were recovering from the... food poisoning," said Geno, remembering what Professor Ventura had told them to say.

"And it took all this time?" wondered Magda. "After only one day, I was fine."

"You look... terrible," Tulio added.

"Thanks," said Aenor. "You're an ugly bastard yourself."

The seven children sat down at the Avis table. The feast went very well, since everybody was happy to be back (well, apart from some lazy Ceutas, that is), and were happily comparing holidays stories.

At the Avis table, however, Magda and Tulio dominated the conversation; they seemed to be doing all of the talking. The five Avises had their mouths filled with food the entire time, and would only reply in monosyllables; sometimes, they would glance nervously at the High table, where they noticed that Ventura, Coleraine, and the Headmistress had their eyes fixed on their table. At a certain point, however, they realized that Ventura had suddenly vanished.

"Where did she go?" Dulce whispered to Half-Pint, when she finally managed to empty her mouth; he just shrugged his shoulders.

***

Professor Ventura looked at the water at the lake, which began to bubble near the place where she was standing. With the icy cold air outside and the thought of the feast inside, this was the last place she wanted to be. However, she had no choice.

Suddenly, the bubbling gave way to an eruption, and three heads appeared at the surface of the lake. They belonged to strange creatures, with yellow scaly skin and green hair with the texture of seaweed. Large black eyes stared straight at the Flying teacher, and the creatures' mouths turned into a smile.

"Welcome," she replied. "What do you have for me?"

The creatures rose higher into the surface, so that their hands were visible. They were Tagids - a race of merpeople that inhabit the Tagus River - and therefore communication on the surface was difficult for them, but Ventura had no difficulties understanding their gestures. However, as their gestures turned into understandable signs before her eyes, Ventura began to wish that she couldn't understand anything that they were telling her.

"I thank you," she said after they had stopped. "Your help was priceless."

The three Tagids smiled at her, glad to see that their task had been successful. "Give my regards to your Mer-chieftain."

They nodded in reply and returned to the water with a wave. Ventura continued to stare at the water in silence, until the bubbles had vanished.

"Now how am I going to explain this to Petrova?" she finally asked herself, before turning back towards the castle.

***

"Gather around, children," said Professor Ventura, her tone of voice strict and confident again. She had rearranged the common room seats so that all six of them could sit in a circle.

As soon as they were all ready, she began.

"Well..." She paused. "Well..." she repeated after a while. She was losing her serious attitude again.

After taking a deep breath, she decided to continue. "I understand that Professor Gabriel has told you about Caius Sertorius. Is this correct?"

They didn't expect to hear the name of such an ancient historical figure in her explanation, so they just gaped at her.

"If she has told you about him, you must know he was a Roman who rebelled against his own people, and led the native population into freedom."

"He was great!" Half-Pint let out.

"Yes, I know the story... and I know what an interesting storyteller Professor Gabriel is." Ventura smiled. "Besides what was told to you in History of Magic, what else do you know about him?"

"Not much," Dulce said. "Elektra wanted us to discover rumors about him, but we searched through all the books in the library and found nothing."

"That's because our library doesn't have any books about those rumors," Ventura replied, leaning closer to them, "but I'm not surprised Elektra didn't check about it."

She took a deep sigh and continued, "Sertorius was one of the greatest heroes of the wizarding world, but he wasn't a saint. You see, at that time, it was very difficult - almost impossible, in fact - to get a proper wizarding education, so Sertorius had to learn on his own, and he chose to do it at other people's expense."

"What do you mean?" Half-Pint seemed confused.

"He did magical experiments on humans, Thessaly. He usually used Muggles, mostly prisoners he had captured. And, since he didn't know exactly what the results would be, he ended up making mistakes... and some of them very serious. He ended up creating some serious plagues and diseases, creatures like the dementors... and the Asterlyth."

All of them jumped at the mentioning of the creature.

"But... did he only create bad things?" Irina asked.

"No, my dear," Ventura said, looking straight at her. For some reason, she seemed to be anxious at the sight of Irina. "He tried to correct some of his mistakes, and he succeeded in some of them. He even began developing a way to eradicate the Asterlyth, but died before he finished it."

"But..." Geno finally managed to speak. "But, Professor... what exactly is the Asterlyth?"

"It's a parasite, Miss Aleixo. It has no body of its own. It can live in a dormant state for centuries, but when it's strong enough, it takes over a body, devouring its energy."

"When it's strong enough? What do you mean?"

"The Asterlyth can be triggered when it senses that a dark witch or wizard is going to rise. The actions caused by dark magic make its task easier, and the witch or wizard can be a good ally."

The five children continued to stare at her. What they were hearing corresponded with the ideas they had from what they had discovered during those past months.

Ventura cleared her throat, and continued. "For centuries, Sertorius' actions and the origins of the Asterlyth and his other experiences was a mystery. Over four hundred years ago, however, a young wizard called Francisco de Ingarnal began to investigate."

"Ingarnal?" asked Aenor, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, Thessaly. He was the son of Inacio de Ingarnal, the founder of this school.

"As I was saying, Francisco de Ingarnal became intrigued with the fact that the Asterlyth - which was again attacking at that time - seemed to prefer some victims to others. For some time he tried to track down the creature's origins, but he only succeeded when he met Gwendolyn Gryffindor."

At the mention of Gwendolyn's name, easily recognizable by everyone, their eyes got even wider.

"Gwendolyn belonged to a very noble and ancient wizarding family connected to Hogwarts. However, she refused to follow an academic career and decided to leave. During her travels, she discovered some unusual symptoms in certain witches and wizards and decided to investigate. When she met Ingarnal and the two of them compared notes, they discovered that those witches and wizards were Sertorians."

"Sertorians?" asked Dulce. "As in Sertorius?"

"Exactly like Sertorius, Miss Zagalo. After some research, they realized that those people were all descendants of Muggles that had suffered through his experiments but were later brought back to normal... or so it seemed. The truth was that those experiments left some traces of magic inside them, and it was transmitted from one generation to another without being noticed - until a child was born with magical powers, which then would activate the Sertorian gene."

"And do you mean... us?"

"Yes, Miss Zagalo. All five of you are Sertorians. Look at the facts: the gene is transmitted through a Muggle parent to a magical child. You come from a long dynasty of Sertorians, but the first Sertorian in your family must have had at least one Muggle parent. You," she turned to Aenor and Half-Pint, "have the coincidence of both your fathers having married Muggle women with the Sertorian gene..."

"Our mothers were second cousins," Half-Pint said.

"There you go, then. Miss Aleixo is a half-blood as well, from what I understand, while Miss Petrova is a Muggle-born... the same with the Cassidy sisters."

"But what does it mean? What happens when you are a Sertorian?"

"In most cases, nothing. In fact, you might even spend your life without even realizing you are one. Some people only discover that they are Sertorians when the Sorting Globe puts them in Avis... or, like the Cassidy sisters, when they are attacked by the Asterlyth."

The five children gasped.

"This is why you were sorted into the Avis house, and why you have to take Special Studies: the Asterlyth. Francisco de Ingarnal and Gwendolyn Gryffindor discovered that it is attracted with greater intensity to a Sertorian than to anybody else. A Sertorian is immune to most of the plagues unleashed by Caius Sertorius, and they get a different reaction to the dementors than other people. But, on the other hand, they're more vulnerable to the Asterlyth, as it gets stronger and resists longer when it has control over a Sertorian."

"And they discovered that?" Irina asked.

"Yes, they did, which is why they contacted Inacio de Ingarnal and convinced him to do something about it."

"How?"

"By adding a third house to this school." Dulce was going to say something, but Ventura cut her off, since she guessed what it was. "Inacio de Ingarnal only created two houses, Goa and Ceuta - the mind and the body, according to his sorting standards. After Inacio finally accepted their request, his son made some alterations in several unused rooms, while Gwendolyn Gryffindor tampered with the Sorting Globe so that it could detect Sertorians."

They stood in silence, staring at Ventura for a long time. These things they were listening to were strange, and they were trying very hard to accept it. After a while, Geno got the courage to speak again.

"But, Professor, there's something I still don't understand... Why was Elektra doing all these things to us, and saying we were going to be great?"

"Ah..." Ventura hesitated. "Well, the story isn't over yet. Let's see if I can explain... At the time, the country was a monarchy, and our king was Sebastian the Desired."

Aenor chuckled.

"The Desired?"

"His birth was a miracle, and the last hope for us to get an heir to the throne. Anyway, he was spoiled by power. Not surprising, considering the fact that he became king at the age of three, and grew up being treated like a god."

"That's the life for me," Aenor said, smiling.

"That is not the life for anyone, Thessaly," Ventura snapped sternly. "Because of the way he was raised, Sebastian turned into a fanatic, who had an obsession with his ancestors' heroic deeds, and who was refusing to accept the obligations of being a king. He persecuted and attacked anyone who was suspected of being a wizard, and had the insane dream of beginning another holy war like the crusades."

Irina nodded, but the others remained confused.

"What's that?" Dulce asked.

"The crusades were an attempt of Christian Muggles to convert people from other religions by force. Anyway, one day Sebastian managed to create an army strong enough to fulfil such a task, and headed to Al Kasr al Kebir, in Morocco. Among his troops, was Francisco de Ingarnal."

"What?" asked Dulce, surprised. "What was he doing there?"

"His father convinced him to join the king's troops. He had vowed fidelity to the king, in an attempt to disguise the fact that he was a wizard. Besides, Inacio was trying to separate his son and Gwendolyn, who were getting too close for his liking."

"Why? He didn't like her?"

"It was a very stupid and selfish reason, actually. Inacio wanted his school to be considered as strong and independent as the others, and thought that having his son married into a family so strongly connected to Hogwarts would diminish his goal." She sighed. "Not that it worked. Gwendolyn disguised herself as a man and followed Francisco to Al Kasr al Kebir as his page."

"And what happened?"

"The battle was a disaster. Thousands of deaths from both sides, including the king himself... and Francisco."

The children's eyes opened again in shock. Irina covered her mouth with her hands, and even Aenor gasped.

"Gwendolyn herself died a few month later, the result of an injury she had received, though her grief must have done even more damage."

Ventura paused. She disliked the idea of talking about this to such young children, but couldn't see another way of explaining the rest.

"Now, the king was too young and left no heirs, so after a strong legal battle, the throne was taken by Spain for over sixty years.

"During the Spanish occupation, a seer called Bandarra predicted that a savior would return to fulfil his noble destiny. The Muggles assumed that this 'savior' was Sebastian, while the wizarding community believed it was Francisco.

"Elektra is obsessed with Bandarra's predictions, since she believes that the savior will in fact appear in the shape of a Sertorian, who will become greater than Merlin himself. This is why she is so determined in turning you into soldiers. She became so obsessed with the idea that she refuses to see any logic."

"And what do you think, Professor?"

"I think it's nonsense. Bandarra's predictions were altered by other people in order to fit into the people's wishes, so we don't really know what he actually said. We could even consider Sebastian for a while, since his body was never found and there was always the possibility that he was hiding somewhere, but after four hundred years it is most unlikely. Francisco's body, on the other hand, was found, which excludes him. He's buried in a crypt here in Ingarnal, side by side with Gwendolyn.

"There is something about the two of them that has remained a mystery, though. From their notes, it seems that they have found a way to definitely destroy the Asterlyth, like Sertorius had tried to do. However, it was never discovered what they had found out, and it is obvious that they never had the chance to use it. Elektra thinks the 'savior' will know what to do. However, I have a different theory."

"What is it?"

"When I first entered this school, the first thing I ever noticed about Gwendolyn's portrait was a large, red and gold medallion on her robes. It seems like it was a gift from Francisco, and she wore it at all occasions. When she returned from Al Kasr al Kebir, she still had it with her. However, she disappeared for a couple of days, and when she returned the medallion was gone."

"And you think it has something to do with the Asterlyth?"

"I don't know. But it must have some important meaning. However, we don't know where she hid it, or why." She took another deep sigh. "However, I try not to think too much about it. As you can see from Elektra, it is very dangerous to create obsessions, and I would rather keep my mind open to the possibilities that might appear before me. First and foremost, my task is to be sure that you will be able to protect yourselves. The rest will have to wait."

"Professor..." Geno hesitated.

"Yes, Miss Aleixo?"

"I had these strange dreams about Gwendolyn..."

The others reacted immediately.

"You had those dreams, too?"

"I can't believe it!"

Ventura signaled for them to be quiet.

"Oh yes, the dreams..." She was irritated. "Yes... Elektra has confessed recently that she has been giving you some dream-manipulating potions, which means that those aren't real dreams, but things she wanted to force into your head to convince you that they were true. Don't worry," she added, now with a softer voice, "I'll make sure this won't happen again, and that you will not be disturbed."

She then gestured for them to return to their dormitories. Their minds were spinning, so they obeyed.

"Miss Petrova," Ventura said, gesturing towards Irina. She seemed even more disturbed now, as if the most difficult part of the conversation was only just beginning. "I need to have a private word with you, if you don't mind."

Irina looked nervously at the others, but turned back. The other four separated towards their respective dormitories.

"So what do you think about all this?" Geno asked Dulce, as they were climbing the stairs.

"Dunno... It all seems too incredible. Mind you, some things end up making a lot more sense now."

"I wonder what Ventura wants with Irina..."

"Beats me. Probably she needs some extra explanations, being Muggle-born and all that."

The answer to this came some time later, when both girls had put on their pajamas and were ready to go to sleep. Irina entered quietly, her eyes red and a look of deep misery in her expression.

"What happened?" Geno asked.

Irina began to sob uncontrollably, so the two girls helped her to sit, and waited for her to calm down. After some minutes, she managed to speak.

"My mother... and my... my father... they're dead."