Chapter 19: Mirror of Erised
"That was..." Aurelius searched for the right word after the ritual finished and was given the potion.
"Unexpected?" said a female voice.
"Yes, I believe that is the most appropriate word for it," he agreed, "Somehow, it went in a very roundabout way to cure your blood curse. By changing your animagus form into an occamy, you can morph back from that animagus form. Not to mention your unexpected rejuvenation. You don't look a day over 25."
"My body has become biologically the same as when I was twenty," Nagini replied with certainty. "Granted, it's hard to tell, given due to my physical issues like my malnourishment and injuries."
Luckily for both of them, when she returned to her human form, she still had clothes on despite them being in terrible shape, with cuts and severe wear, but they covered enough.
"Did you always have electric blue hair?" I asked.
"My hair was originally a common black color, another effect of the potion or the ritual, I suppose, or perhaps the result of my change in animagus form," Nagini answered with a smile, looking down at her hands with glee.
She is East Asian with deep, electric blue hair. She looked like a malnourished beggar, but I was confident that once she took a long bath, used some potions, ate properly for a few weeks, and got some new clothes, Nagini would become an enviably beautiful woman of revere.
"So... what's the plan now, Master?" she said awkwardly.
"Nagini, treat me informally; you don't have to call me master or lord unless the environment deems it necessary, like formal settings. I don't feel comfortable with those titles." he waved his hands nervously. "And I'm sure you don't find it pleasant because of your past in the Arcanus circus. Now, you are my partner and guardian, not my property." I told her with certainty.
"That reminds me. Why were you aware of who I was? And how did you come to know of my condition?" she said, disturbed.
"That's difficult to say due to the nature of the information, but since you are loyalty bound and protected due to our connection, I believe I can trust that you'll be able to keep this information from an accomplished legilimens."
"All right, go ahead," she said.
"I'm an otherworlder, not physical but metaphysically. This world, to me, was but a story written. I was born in this world like any other but with the knowledge and experiences of my former world. There were theories of an infinite amount of worlds existing and traveling to them, but traveling through as a soul was only pondered through entertainment as a jest of sorts. Anyway, in all likelihood, the author had glimpses of this world and had written it. Or perhaps these thoughts took physical form. It's all conjecture at this point." I told her
"Hmm, makes sense. So, my existence was known to you through these stories. From what I understand, your existence here has changed what was naturally supposed to happen here, but then again, you said there was an infinite amount of worlds that arguably would be nearly identical to what you've read of, but according to your books, what happened to me?" she asked with interest and concern.
"You remained a snake and worked with Voldemort or Tom Marvollo Riddle. And became a horcrux, which is a soul anchor, where a piece of a person's soul becomes bonded to the item or being, resulting in their soul never being able to be taken off the mortal coil until all pieces are destroyed; however, the main piece will be damaged since these are pieces of his soul." I explained.
"Is it safe to assume that is no longer the case regarding me being a horcrux?" she said with concern.
"That is correct." He said to her while she showed physical signs of relief.
"You know, due to this discovery, that the souls can travel to other worlds. Voldemort's desire to stay by fracturing pieces of his soul seems almost silly." She said offhandedly.
"I've come to that conclusion as well. Rather ironic, is it not?" he said.
"Now that that has been resolved let's focus on our immediate concerns. We need to have you fed, bathed, nourished with potions, get you various sets of clothing, set up your accommodations, hide you from wards, get you a way to travel to and from the castle, get you a wand, educate you for things that you likely forgot due to lack of use, and train you back to an acceptable level."
"The accommodations, food, bathing, and hiding from wards. The hiding part can be done easily and immediately. Due to my heir status, Hogwarts gives me more authority than the headmaster, which extends to the house elves. So, you are protected as my accepted guest, so feel free to request things like food from the house elves but refrain from speaking like a harsh master and more like they're your subordinates that you're more fond of."
"As for the potions, clothing, traveling, wand, education, and training, that will have to be covered later."
"This is the house of Galegold of Hogwarts. The facilities span everything and more. It is arguably larger than Hogwarts, so you'll more or less have access to everything you'd need. Be it entertainment, education, or training, however, keep in mind that this house is accessible to other students and professors except for restricted areas like storage or places only accessible to the heir or places that I block off with my authority that not even the headmaster can override. I've sectioned off a bedroom, lavatory, and a small library, so some books have been temporarily sent there. Other things and explanations will follow as necessary."
"Well, for now, in terms of moving around, you'll be fine in the Galegold house, but as for everywhere else, I'll take you to all the secret passageways so that you can move around the castle or leave the castle should the need ever arise."
"And pray tell, how would we go about that? I don't have a wand to cast disillusionment and notice me not spells on myself, and while I wouldn't be surprised that you're smarter than most, you most likely don't know those charms to a level that it'd fool professors."
He changed his eyes to blue, increased his height, lost some baby fat on his face, and changed his hair colors and pattern to allow Nagini's occamy form to hide within. "You can hide in my hair for now."
"Huh, so you're a metamorphmagus?" Nagini raised a curious eyebrow. "Are you perhaps part Black?"
"That, I have no clue, but probably not given the heavily opposing ideology of our houses regarding purity and all that. While not fond of the dark arts, my family could appreciate that the Blacks were willing to expand the art, and some applied it to the healing arts, but it was more like begrudging respect rather than admiration. Because we give respect, where respect is due despite our personal beliefs."
"And since when did Hogwarts have a house called Galegold?"
"Always. It just had conditions for its reveal. As for being a metamorphmagus, I'm only a minor one. It's still pretty cool, though. It may not be good enough to change into someone, but it's enough to change my appearance enough to be undetectable. Better yet, no one except my family knows this ability, so I can be a master of disguise with no one the wiser. Pretty cool, right?" he said with an almost childish smile.
Nagini rolled her eyes, unable to contain the smile that crept across her lips, and she transformed into an occamy to hide in his hair for their excursion.
Soon after returning to the Galegold dorms
'Okay, let's think out what I need to give and find for Nagini, so it would include finance, real muggle studies, a training regiment, a potions regiment, and gaining the materials for everything she'd need, which includes wound cleaning, healing her, and fixing her malnourishment.'
'The wiggenweld potion should do the trick for all her injuries. I'll have to deal with her immediate injuries the old-fashioned way with spells and bandages for now. A weaker version or smaller doses taken over time should help with her malnutrition while increasing the volume she eats to refill her nutritional needs to increase her body weight.'
He goes to the room of requirements to get a list of the ingredients for the wiggenweld potion to find that it's a massive list that, if someone somewhat versed in potions, would be able to quickly identify what the potions are for. While he wouldn't call the twins the sharpest tools in the shed, they are intelligent enough to create things they're interested in, like no one's business. So, finding out what it's used for would take no time.
"How troublesome. Oh well, just because they know what I'm making it for, they don't know who I'm making it for. They're smart enough to know not to poke in other's business unless it's detrimental to their interests, and considering I'm easily their best patron, I think they'll know not to push." I said aloud.
"Hey, is there a less expensive and shorter version of the wiggenweld potion close to its effectiveness?"
The room drops a list that essentially shortens the wiggenweld potion to a smaller, less potent version using fewer of the more difficult-to-obtain and powerful healing ingredients.
"I guess I can't complain since the original requires sixteen ingredients, and a quarter of them are pretty hard to acquire, meaning expensive," I say, thinking aloud.
"One stewed mandrake, ten drops of honey water, salamander blood, five drops of flobberworm mucus, dittany leaves, sloth brain mucus, and horklump juice that's not too bad. I think the twins can get this for me."
"I can't dilute it, unfortunately, but at the very least, I can have her take smaller doses. And I think she'd appreciate it because this alone makes this potion sound like it is more or less healing snot. Well, I have the galleons and the list."
After being healed with some spells, she was introduced to Hermes, and they took a liking to each other. After cuddling with the cute animal, Nagini gets herself reacquainted with being human. It was a surreal feeling. She never thought she'd be so elated to be able to use her hands again. She read the books that Aurelius had given her with a fervor both to be helpful and because the feeling of being able to do things that she saw as typical for a human was now a luxury that she could finally afford again. While being an animal for a day or two may be cool, but having to live like an animal absolutely blows. Having to constantly be alert, moving, and eating ugh *a shiver goes up her spine* all the uncooked small animals because she wasn't willing to risk being caught off guard because she gorged herself on larger prey and not being able to move. Now that she thought about it, she didn't have any clothes….. "I guess I'll give Aurelius my measurements and then have an elf give them to Madam Malkin's. Is the owner still alive? Wait, is the store even still there? Stores in Diagon Alley rarely, if ever close and are always passed down, so it should still be there, right? It's only been like 70 years since I last saw them." She sighs. "I'm not sure how to feel about this."
...Several days passed...
Tuesday arrives. He meets the twins at the Gryffindor table and requests them to meet him at the Galegold table, telling them it's business. He leaves the table to wait for them at his table. Before leaving, the git, Ronald Weasley, opened his stuffed mouth, spitting some crumbs. "What could the rich guy want with you two?"
"Like he said, Ronniekins."
"It's business."
They leave for the Galegold table, "So what can we do for you mate?" asked George.
"It isn't Tuesday, so you have the list early then?" asked Fred.
"Well, aren't you two on the nose? Yes, here's my list. I trust that it won't be tough to obtain. I'll need four sets." I told them while handing them one of the two lists.
"Hmmm, yeah, shouldn't be too much of a problem," Fred says while reading the list.
"That's a lot of healing ingredients," says George. "Planning something dangerous, are we?" he says mischievously.
"No, not really, but it's personal, so please don't ask further," I told them in a slightly deeper voice, suggesting they should not push further.
"We won't push, just let us know." Said George
"We can't have our best patron doing something," said Fred
"Even we'd considered stupid." Said George
"I appreciate it mates, but I'm not in Gryffindor for reasons aside from opening the house of Galegold. As for my other list, it's substantially less."
As for his project, his vision potion contained the ingredients for the oculus potion from the Harry Potter game, but some of the ingredients were unknown, and some he couldn't reasonably get his hands on. Being some unknown blue powder and ground unicorn horn. So, he had to make his own version that used some of those ingredients as a base. Also, the oculus potion was said to restore the drinker's sight, but not if it improves their eyesight beyond what it was. His list of ingredients was an infusion of wormwood, stewed mandrake, and various other ingredients that could heal the pupil while other ingredients were reshaping the pupil.
"These ingredients will be far easier to get." Said George
"We'll take our leave then yeah. We should be able to get this before the end of the week."
They return to their table, and the day goes on.
The week went on like any other except for the added excursions, time spent with Nagini, learning new spells, and doing the occasional random thing that struck his fancy.
At the end of the week, he got his potion ingredients and began brewing. With his house's more advanced potion-making equipment, he easily made the weaker wiggenweld potions. He healed Nagini with the larger vial and separated the rest into smaller vials for her to drink daily for the next month. He fully expected her to feel some contempt towards him for the time she had to drink what he mentally dubbed the "snot potion." According to her, she had only drunk one potion that was more bitter and slimy than the one he made her drink. And that was the one she made using as her last-ditch effort to deal with her maledictus.
It took him a week before Christmas to make the final version of the nova visio potion that both Snape and Madam Pomfrey approved. He had gotten the potion patented the very next day. He gave partial credit to Snape and Madam Pomphrey, giving both 15% of the profits. 'Gotta give credit where credit is due. Anything less would create unnecessary hostilities. Besides, this would endear others to me for being fair. It's only natural that you'd want proper recognition.'
He had set aside a bottle for Harry for his Christmas present.
'Harry would likely be constantly asked why he no longer wore glasses due to his appearance being nearly as well-known as his scar. And like an excited child, he'd tell everyone that he got an awesome Christmas gift, a potion, that didn't exist as far as they knew. Which would hype it up even more. Word of mouth and the endorsement of a celebrity who wasn't paid to say anything is way more powerful than most people realize. Man, I sound like a villain who said that the hero was my pawn without knowing it. Meh, idiots and sheep are easily manipulated, so it's not exactly villainous to point them a particular way. It's just that you know what will happen on that particular route.'
He also threw in a couple of "free" soaps that he'd unknowingly be promoting. Interestingly, the twins noticed and got some for their sister and mother.
The next day
"So, Aurelius, what is the plan now that you've dealt with everything aside from leaving the castle together, the wand issue, and my training?"
"Training will come after you have a wand and your body is in better shape, so roughly a month later. And as for a wand, you haven't been seen in over 60 years, and according to you, you look very different, so you should be able to pass yourself off as someone else and get a new wand from Ollivander. As for traveling, I'll need a suitcase with an undetectable expansion charm. We'll get a simple one and order a nice one after I get my inheritance. We can accomplish this by having you travel out of the castle by having a house elf take you to get a wand and suitcase. I'll give you the money. It should only be a few hundred galleons for everything."
"You make saying three hundred galleons is pocket change. That's enough to feed a small family for a year. Anyway, it sounds like a solid plan. I just worry about Mr. Ollivander. He's always been a weird guy with a disturbingly good memory that I wouldn't be surprised if he were reminded of a younger me, but his suspicions would likely not go past that. Also, I should probably change my public name. I was thinking of Lintang."
"Hmm, what language is that?"
"It's Indonesian. It was a name that my mother would call me when I was a child. She'd call me her little star."
"Well, that is adorable. This should all happen before the summer break starts so we can go to my home for the break."
"And if I recall correctly, Harry will visit the mirror of Erised that houses the philosopher stone later tomorrow. It's likely safe to say that it was already there. The stone should be ripe for picking. Naturally, I will only break off a piece and put most of it back to keep Dumbledore off my back."
"Hmm, the philosopher stone, to be honest, I understand it essentially breaks a fundamental law of magic, but at the same time, I can't help but be underwhelmed by its effects. From what I've heard, while it gives the elixir of life, the Flamels look like they have half a foot in the grave, and souls can travel across dimensions, making the stone more unappealing. The only thing that makes the stone worth anything is that it cuts the cost of transmutation to nothing, but I highly doubt that. Everything has a cost, but something that stone is made of is likely sacrificed to act as the catalyst instead of the things being transmutated." She said with lackluster
"I'm not sure of its validity, but many theories from my world about the book's interpretation of the philosopher stone was that it was created by the collection of millions of souls that died from the black death during Flamel's time." I told her
"By Merlin, that sounds arguably the darkest of the dark arts. If that's true, Flamel is arguably the darkest lord to ever exist despite him not being the reason for all the deaths. He technically killed all of those people by preventing them from passing away like a soul to whatever land they would've landed in and turning them into fuel." she responded in shock.
"For him, it could've been seen as simply making use of what was already going to waste. So, the intent may not be so heinous even if it were true, but the result, if it were true, the reality of what he has done is disturbing." I said, sounding somewhat nonchalant with tension in my body.
Later that night, he went to the room where the mirror of Erised should be housed. It took him some time, but he learned to the advanced level for the disillusionment, silencing, and notice-me-not charms. He found the room according to his memory of the books and movies, and he noticed a charm on the door that would alert if someone were to pass through the door or if the charm was broken through. Instead, he went in like an assassin with magic, he "bent" the spell to not function properly for a few seconds when he had to get in and get out. Certainly more challenging than the traps set up for the golden trio and idiots who brute force their way through, but it is child's play for anyone competent.
He met face-to-face with the mirror. He saw nothing that he didn't already know for himself in the future. He had the skill, drive, resources, and plans to accomplish them. So he moved on to the thing at hand, the philosopher stone, a desire for the stone but didn't want to use it. 'It's a rather simple spell if you think about it. You could trick both your active mind and subconscious mind into desiring the stone and just put the desire to give it to someone. A quick confundus and boom, you're sitting pretty with a new philosopher stone. Or desire it but don't care about the stone will likely have the same effect.'
Next thing he knows, he sees himself have the stone in his pocket in the mirror and reaches into it, and there it is.
'All right, I'll need to do this quickly.' His ring turns into his golden blade, and he cuts the stone in half in a jagged fashion to look natural. He then places the stone onto the mirror, and the mirror accepts the stone. 'All of my spells are still up, so I should run out after cleaning up, and maybe I should break the charm? That way, Dumbledore will focus on Voldy that he likely is already aware of both his presence and intentions.'
He casts a quick scourgify to remove his prints on anything. He then destroys the charm on the door. He runs out of the room quickly, jumping into a hidden passageway and back down several other hidden passageways to return to his dorm, only the castle being aware.
For those who want to know the original list, the wiggenweld potion ingredients are Wiggentree bark, Moly, Dittany, Horklump juice, two drops of Flobberworm Mucus, 7 Chizpurfle fangs, Billywig sting slime, A sprig of mint, Boom Berry juice, One stewed Mandrake, Drops of Honeywater, Sloth brain Mucus, Moondew drops, Salamander blood, 10 Lionfish spines, Unicorn horn, and Wolfsbane.
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