Work Text:
Mk looked nervously from side to side. He knew it was a bad idea, and yet he fell for the stupid fifth-year tradition. Now starting to regret more and more. The only reason he didn't run back to the Gryffindor common tower was because Mei and Red Son were with him. The blushing fifth-year-old anxiously searched the forbidden forest, looking for a lion flag apparently hidden there, but he couldn't find anything.
“Are you sure they didn't just want to get you out of the tower for the night?” asked the sixth-year Slytherin.
“Yes, apparently someone searches for it every year, but the last person who has ever succeeded is Sun Wukong.” Mk replied, continuously scanning the forbidden forest.
“It's just a legend. Considering the number of fools who come out here on the autumnal equinox in search of the lost Gryffindor flag, underneath which they will find a treasure that no one else but a fifth-year can see and that will give you an advantage in every fight? This must be a myth!” Mei fumed, kicking a rock in her path.
“You're just mad that you couldn't find it last year.” only the teenager replied.
“I didn't find it because it doesn't exist!” replied the black-haired girl.
“We'd better get back, if Professor Bone catches us, we'll have the detention of our lives.” the redhead sighed tiredly, and Mk sadly had to admit his friends were right. There was no chance of finding the treasure, even if it existed, due to the darkness and fog.
“Hey, what's that?” asked the young Gryffindor, seeing a shape in the fog, a moment before his legs were wrapped in something and he was dragged into the darkness.
“Mk!” the screams of his companions suggested to the boy that the couple was running after him, but even this could not calm him down.
In all this confusion, he forgot that he had a wand that could help him free himself. Although even if he remembered it, there was no chance that Mk would remember any of the spells, especially after he spotted his captor. The giant spider dragged him to its hiding place, and Mk started screaming loudly, ignoring the fact that someone might find out that they had broken the rules.
"Don't worry! We're coming for you!” the terrified boy heard his friend's scream as the giant spider dragged him deeper and deeper into an underground tunnel covered with a thick layer of cobwebs,
“There are spiders everywhere!” Mk shouted back in panic, trying to grab something with his hands, but to no avail.
"Do not panic!" Red Son replied, and Mk forgot about his arachnophobia for a moment.
“Oh you're right! I don't panic anymore, I'm not afraid at all! Because what should I be afraid of? A giant spider that caught me for dinner? Or maybe lots of smaller ones hidden in the shadows for which I can also be a tasty snack?! But I have no reason to panic!” the kidnapped young wizard shouted, earning a loud sigh of annoyance and easily imagining the Slytherin rolling his eyes.
The boy's anxiety returned in full force as the spider dragged him into a huge chamber where all the walls were covered with eight-legged creatures similar in size to his captor. Everywhere the boy turned he saw dark or blood-red eyes of arachnids staring at him, and Mk began to get really worried that he was going to be used as a snack when his friends ran into the room, dramatically flying into the spider webs with their faces. The sight almost made the bound teenager laugh, but his stress level was too high to allow that.
“Oh great magician... There really are a lot of spiders here.” Mei commented with her wand at the ready as Red Son freed the younger boy with one simple spell.
“They look like they're waiting for something.” replied the surprised Slytherin, after a while, when no arachnid made the slightest move.
“Maybe let's take advantage of this and run away.” Mk suggested, hugging his shoulder.
“Hey, what does that spider have on its back?” the girl asked, pointing to a silhouette across the room that had a red stain on it.
"Let's check it." Red Son said, seeing her interest and ignoring the fear in his friend's eyes.
“A moment ago you wanted to go back to the castle!” whispered Mk, his voice squeaking with fear, but his friends pretended not to hear him and moved across the room, so the fifteen-year-old reluctantly and full of foreboding followed them, ignoring the sounds made by hundreds, if not thousands of tenants.
The boy tripped over a bone lying on the ground and almost landed face-first on it, if not for the fact that his friends suddenly stopped and he ran into them. However, after lifting his head, he understood why the two were standing still, because he couldn't believe his eyes. The red spot on the spider turned out to be the symbol of Gryffindor, and the arachnid itself was sitting on a spider's web that separated the young heroes from the tunnel where it secreted various types of items.
“Wow.” burst from their throats, observing the treasures from which the spider's web and its owner separated them.
Piles of books and scrolls, specific items that they couldn't even imagine the use for, gold coins, silver jewelry, various crystals, diamonds and other precious stones, and all kinds of weapons, were an unearthly sight.
“We have to get there.” Mei announced when her gaze landed on the emerald sword sparkling in the light from Red Son's wand.
"But how?" the Slytherin asked, turning to Mk at the same time as the girl.
"What?" the one asked weakly.
“You didn't call yourself the most brilliant wizard since Sun Wukong? Maybe it's time for you to take advantage of this and come up with a plan.” Red Son replied, and the Gryffindor swallowed nervously.
'What have I gotten myself into?' the boy asked himself as his friends stared at him expectantly. Mk began to think frantically on how to get to the treasures as he saw how much Mei's hands were itching to get the sword that caught her eye. When the Slytherin would definitely like to look through the books collected in the tunnel. Mk himself wanted to see what other fantastic artifacts might be hidden there. An attack was out of the question, their opponents were too numerous, and the teenager had no doubt that the spiders would immediately join forces if they attacked. On the other hand, the boy was wondering about the passivity of the creatures in their presence, although maybe they were there as a snack when someone got hungry, but for an obvious reason he did not like this vision. Red Son may have been the brightest student at Hogwarts when it came to spells, and he and Mei were unrivaled in duels, but there were too many eight-legged creatures.
“Red, can you cast an incendiary spell, but only in a small area? So that the flame can't spread too much?” the fifth-year-old asked thoughtfully.
"I think I can do it." the Slytherin replied with a smile.
“Then I have a plan.” Mk announced with a smile, leaning forward and revealing the details in a whisper.
~~~~
Red Son resolutely moved closest to the spider web covering the tunnel they wanted to enter, carefully watching the spider as it stared back. The sixteen-year-old carefully knelt three steps away from the spider's web, feeling the eyes of the tense Gryffindors behind his back.
“Tempus parvum ignem.” the wizard whispered, and red sparks flew from his wand and slowly began to climb the spider's web.
The owner of the web immediately started moving his numerous legs to get away from the source of heat, which the three wizards immediately took advantage of, squeezing under the burning spider's web and finding themselves in the desired corridor. The girl ran to the sword without any hesitation, immediately picking it up and starting to admire its workmanship, the sharpness and precision of the blows she could make with it. At this time, the spell master silently repeated "Reprehendo si est tutum" and picked up the books, which glowed white, avoiding the red and black glows.
Mk, on the other hand, looked at everything, looking for something that would intrigue him and be a perfect souvenir from the trip. His eyes suddenly caught sight of a red potion in an oblong vial, sealed with gold stoppers on both sides, giving the bottle the shape of a staff, which the boy immediately associated with the necklace of his Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. The interested man immediately grabbed the bottle and felt a terrible need to drink it. With great difficulty, he opened the potion and without thinking, drank the entire contents at once, which tasted of fresh peaches and honey.
“Mk?” the boy heard the voice of his friend and immediately turned to face her. Suddenly his entire vision turned gold and the girl gained horns, scales, a tail and wings. The teenager blinked nervously and the gold disappeared and Mei looked human again, and he felt a sudden rush of revelation. Wanting to test his theory, Mk looked at Red Son, straining his eyes, and after a while the world became golden again and the Slytherin gained additional attributes.
“Woah.” the delighted teenager whispered.
"What is?" Red Son asked.
“The legend doesn't lie. Sun Wukong has something that gives him an advantage in every fight, and now I have it too.” confessed the overjoyed boy.
“So what is it?” the girl asked, coming closer and hiding her sword in her belt.
“A mystical skill called the golden sight of truth, able to see through any illusion.” Mk replied enthusiastically as his friends' jaws dropped.