Eustace's legs trembled under James's murderous gaze. He didn't look like the same boy he'd faced. He had that coldness, but the hatred he gave off was different.
James held out his hand, and Eustace immediately cast a Protego nonverbally. A good decision, as an invisible force just hit the barrier that didn't last long, but lightened the onslaught that pushed Eustace several meters back.
"Bombarda Maxima!" shouted Eustace. He should increase the power of his magic through speech. His target was not James. It was the roof, which was already in bad shape. The cave in general already seemed to be crumbling from all the hits and explosions it took.
James didn't care about the falling pieces of ceiling, his gaze remained on Eustace, and walked towards him. However, a shout made him stop his steps.
"Let's get the hell out of here!" shouted Sirius, snapping back to reality. He managed in time to throw a Protego to stop his brother from being crushed by a piece of stone the size of his torso.
Lupin, with a quick motion, cast the counter-spell so that Regulus could move again and no longer be immobilized. Snape walked over to Peter's body with a conflicted look on his face and lifted him as best he could. He wouldn't let his corpse get lost here. Toby helped him, his eyes holding back tears. Now was not the time, or they would all die in the ground.
Gwen was still frozen in place. She had never seen murder before, let alone of a person close to her. She also knew how important Peter was to James. A rock was about to fall on her head, but it deflected at the last second.
"We have to get out of here, Gwen," James said bringing the girl back to reality.
"James..." muttered Gwen, seeing James' expression. It no longer held hatred and anger, only sadness and weariness.
"This isn't the time. Let's go everyone!" said James, floating Peter's body with his telekinesis. He didn't know how much time he had left before the headache would return, and he would most certainly pass out. His limit had long since passed.
The group made their way as quickly as possible to the exit. James as he left the room closed the door with his telekinesis. There were four dark wizards, and though their states were bad, he didn't want there to be even a 1% chance of survival for them.
'This can't be the end...' thought the death eater, seeing how the only exit was closing, and more and more stones were falling. The cave was crumbling, and, in a few minutes, he would be buried.
However, no matter how hard he tried, his arms and legs were broken. He could not walk, nor use his wand. Victor was pinned to the wall with a sword, still breathing, but only weakly. He was most likely unconscious.
Volker and Ivan were in better condition, but they could barely stand up with difficulty, and their only way out was sealed. Fate was also sealed.
'Dark Lord be careful...' Those were the death eater's last thoughts before a large chunk of stone fell on his head, and he lost consciousness forever.
...
James and the others grabbed whatever gills they had and jumped into the water escaping the landslide. In the water, James and Lupin had to carry Peter's body.
They surfaced in a few minutes, as they were not to look for the entrance to the vault it was just a swim upwards.
"Cof... cof... cof... That was a close," Sirius muttered, pale as he leaned back on the grass and looked up at the dark sky without a cloud in sight. Snape passed him the potion so that he would no longer have gills and other fish-like characteristics.
James paid no attention to his friends. The important thing was that they escaped. After returning to his human form his body began to transform again. His size rapidly decreased as his bones reconfigured, his arms transformed into wings, and his vision sharpened.
Within seconds, where James had been, now stood a peregrine falcon, its feathers glistening in the moonlight.
Without missing a beat, the falcon took off with a mighty flap, soaring through the night skies with fierce determination. His vision, much sharper than human, allowed him to see every detail of the landscape, from the treetops to the shadows moving in the distance. Rising above the lake, James scanned the terrain with his falcon-like gaze, looking for any sign of Eustace.
After a few minutes of flight, something caught his attention. In the distance, near a small hill, a hooded figure was rushing through the trees. James didn't wait a second longer. With astonishing speed, he swooped toward Eustace, his eyes fixed on his target. The wind whistled in his ears as he approached, and his body turned into an unstoppable arrow.
As he got closer, James adjusted his flight, aiming directly at Eustace's hand holding his wand.
If Eustace got beyond the boundaries of Hogwarts he could use the apparition to escape, and there would no longer be any way to catch him. He would not let that happen.
Eustace barely had time to look up before the falcon reached him. With a cry of pain, the dark wizard felt James' sharp beak dig into his hand, tearing flesh and causing him to drop the wand. Blood gushed from the wound as Eustace recoiled, falling to his knees as he tried to stop the bleeding.
'Shit!' thought Eustace in confusion, looking at the Falcon, who within seconds transformed into what was his worst nightmare. A thirteen-year-old boy with black hair, blue eyes, and a look full of hate.
'It's an Animagus!?' thought Eustace in despair. He felt his escape was assured, but he was wrong. He didn't know how a boy could have so many prowesses.
Wandless magic, corporeal Patronus, non-verbal magic, Animagus, what else? Was he the reincarnation of Merlin?
James from his wallet pulled out a sword. With his wand, he pointed it at Eustace and lifted him using a non-verbal Wingardium Leviosa. This gave him less fatigue than his telekinesis.
"Kill me. Your friend will not be able to come back from the dead. You shouldn't have taken someone so weak into that vault. It's your fault he died," Eustace said with a smile accepting his fate. He knew there was no way this boy would forgive him. He watched as he beat his companions to a pulp.
"Kill you? Your luck won't be so good," James said in a cold tone, making a slash with his sword. Eustace's hand was cut clean off. He wanted to scream in pain, but an invisible force wouldn't let him open his mouth.
James then stopped the bleeding. This bald man was not supposed to die. Death was too good a karma for him.
"I will wipe the Burkes off the face of the earth," James said in a tone full of murderous intent, looking at Eustace.
'My family...?' thought Eustace paling. Before he could regret being the main reason for his family's tragic future, James cast a stun charm on him, knocking him unconscious.
James looked at the bald man. He took the dark wizard's wand and put it in his wallet. Then, he created ropes with a transfiguration spell and imprisoned Eustace.
Finally, he raised his wand and cast a kind of flare so that his friends could find him. He was not far from the position from which they emerged. The bald man could not run for long.
James felt a great fatigue flood his entire body. His baiting was at its limit. From one second to the next he lost consciousness.
The exploration of the vaults left by Dai Ryusaki was over.