In a hidden corner of America, magical fog blurred the boundary between the muggle and wizarding world.
An enormous stadium had been built months ago here for the 421st Quidditch World Cup.
After hundreds of matches, Canada and Scotland had become the finalists, and they would meet in this stadium at 11:00 pm.
Now, the wizarding world slept, tired because of all the cheering and bellowing during the semifinal just a few hours ago.
Tents upon tents, magically enlarged from within, were standing tall on open grounds with seemingly no end.
Walls of enchanted fog surrounded the tents and stadium, hiding them from the mundane world.
It would be a grand event, starting from the very afternoon.
For now, silence reigned over this place.
A crack tore through this silence.
Hundreds of meters high in the darkness, Kai, donning Darcie's face, apparated with the help of Lilith, who had taken the shape of a magnificent black cowl today.
He looked at the thousands of tents and the dozens of wizards from the Magical Congress of the United States of America patrolling the outskirts.
The time had come. Finally.
Meg and the others had already gathered all the ingredients, except the last.
The 13th ingredient they had left not because they couldn't get it, but because it must be Kai who collected it; personally.
Moreover, the 13th ingredient needed many wizards gathered around a shared, grand event for it to come into being.
That's why Kai had waited for an entire year for this moment. And that's why Darcie had come with her family to America. Sure, she liked Quidditch. But she didn't like it more than practicing wandmaking.
Kai reached into Lilith and took out the wand.
The moment he held it, he heard the light rumble in his mind; a sign that the wand had recognized the owner it had laid its claim upon.
The minister of magic hadn't allowed Darcie to bring her wand with her because of the fear of MACUSA finding out.
However, none knew about Lilith's illogical Apparation skills.
Without a wand, it would have been a strenuous task, which he was going to carry out now.
If he had known that he would get a wand, Kai wouldn't have worried about the 13th ingredient much when he saw it appearing on the wooden portkey.
One year had been enough for him to break the Monitoring Charms placed by the ministry over the wand without them knowing about it, anyway.
"Let's hurry," he told Lilith, his voice girly. As he couldn't use the wand in his original form, he must do it while wearing Darcie's face. "We don't want Darcie's parents to wake up and find her missing, do we?"
The two beings of darkness descended, staying out of the patrolling wizards.
Kai waved the wand and cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself.
Lilith left Kai and slithered over a tent, enlarged itself, and covered the entire tent under it. Then the Lethifold changed its color, matching it with most of the other tents; Yellow.
It was a precautionary measure if things went south.
Kai would rather disapparate the entire family within the tent than leave it to chance.
It was a family of five, Kai noticed; parents and three children, with one of schooling age.
He approached the parents first and cast Bewitched Sleep charms on both of them, making sure they wouldn't wake up. He did the same for the children before returning to the parents.
With a swish, he conjured a glass bottle with a cork over it.
Then he put the tip of the wand against the father's temples.
Kai muttered the spell, not taking any chances, and pulled the wand back cautiously with a twist.
A thin, long silver strand got pulled out from the wizard's mind, glowing with an ethereal whitish presence.
A memory! The memory of the semifinals, including the plethora of emotions related to it!
This was the 13th ingredient; or at least a part of it — a thousand memories; all related to a shared, strong, emotional moment.
The process of the Dark Scroll potion mentioned the potioneer must extract the memories after experiencing the same moment himself/herself.
The moment Kai had seen it, he had almost given up on it.
For one, the memory extraction charm was a complex and high-level charm. Not even Darcie had the experience or confidence to pull it off with perfection.
Second, grand events such as this were few and far between in the magical world, where thousands of wizards and witches shared the same emotional upheavals.
Obtaining the 13th ingredient had seemed far more difficult than buying a tiny crystal of Philosopher's stone, then.
But when Darcie got a wand, everything changed.
Kai put the memory within the bottle, where the strand became almost foggy liquid.
Then he took a deep breath and put the wand's tip against the mother, repeating the process.
I said hurry, he thought, slithering toward the children, but this is gonna be a long night. Tch!
After a few hours, just before dawn when the fog had become cold, Kai walked out from the last tent, his face pale.
He possessed almost inexhaustible magic, but the body demanded rest, and it had demanded it an hour ago.
Now, he was just barely standing on his tiny feet.
The yellow-colored Lilith slithered off the tent and covered him, becoming a hooded robe.
The shout snapped Kai's mind, his body going taut in response.
The voice had come from too close.
Just a few feet behind him.
Kai's breathing quickened, hoping that the wizard hadn't seen Darcie's face.
He could apparate right now, as Lilith had used little of her energy. But what then?
The wizard hadn't seen the face, but he had seen his stature.
Darcie was tall, but not tall enough to be mistaken as an adult.
Then there was Lilith. None here would think twice about it, but what about Madam Villanelle? She would make a connection, no matter how wild the connection would be.
No. He needed to do something different. A thing which would self-absolve Darcie upon further inspection.
Kai's grip on the wand tightened.
He knew what that thing was.
The wizard paused a few steps behind him, his wand out.
"Now," Kai whispered.
Lilith hurled herself toward the wizard, blinding his vision.
The wizard fired spells at it, which ricocheted off.
Kai pointed the wand and his pupils dilated.
Green and black electric arcs crackled, snaking up the wand, as he cast the Stupefy spell.
Lilith moved out of the way and the stunner, crying like a majestic bird, hit the wizard squarely on the chest, sending him flying backward.
More cracks reverberated as many wizards apparated.
Lilith covered Kai again.
"Isn't he..." the wizards gasped at the sight of the Yellow Warlock. They had already heard of this dark wizard from the British Ministry. But why was he here? "Attack!"
Green and Blue bolts hurled themselves at Kai, his feet now hovering a few feet above the ground.
Lilith punched them away.
Kai put the wand against his throat and laughed.
His voice came out like the snarls of an undead.
"Ah!" he exclaimed, sounding like a demonic being. "That was fun. After so long..."
Then he crouched and put the wand's tip against the earth and shouted, "Deprimo!"
The entire ground under his feet and, from the way they were shouting, under the wizards' feet as well, quaked before caving inward as if a hole had opened up.
Yellow Warlock or Ekrizdis?! Kai thought, grinning and falling. Let them sweat thinking over who actually came here. Haha! Good thing I kept the Lord of Azkaban from making a raucous for three years.
The Yellowed Lethifold flailed, binding Kai's little figure within it.
It elongated as they fell, and then, suddenly, it shrunk.
With an audible crack, they disapparated.
Finally—it was time to brew the Dark Scroll Potion.
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