Chapitre 251: The First Greengrass
"It's half past three," said Lupin, after checking his pocket watch. "Our visitors had better get back to school, it is getting late."
"Right then," said Sirius, slapping his knees as he rose to his feet. "Four things before you leave: remember to try and find a picture of Barty Crouch, and Ron, try to ask your brother for more details on what's going on with his boss. And while you're at it, try to dig up information on what happened to Bertha Jorkins…"
"What do we need a picture of Crouch for?" asked Ron in confusion. "We all already know what he looks like."
"I knew I had forgotten something," said Sirius, making a clicking noise with tongue. "I never did tell you Crouch's son's name, did I? Well, it's Barty Crouch Junior; he's got the same name as his dear old father."
How convenient; that made it much easier to memorize.
"What's the last thing you wanted to say, Sirius?" said Harry, who knew how to count up to four, at the very least.
"Keep each other safe," said Sirius, looking to Harry and Oleandra in turn. "I know you don't owe us anything, Oleandra, and that you don't want to be treated like a child, Harry, but something sinister is afoot, using the Triwizard Tournament as the stage. Can I count on you two to look after each other?"
Oleandra hesitated; she had entered this contest with every intention to win. How could she be expected to win if she had to babysit Harry, who couldn't even fly without a broom? Then again, there were dark forces targeting her from the shadows as well, so she could use a second pair of eyes…
"We watch each other's backs," said Oleandra, meeting Harry's eyes. "But we play to win. Is that okay with you, Hero?"
"I wouldn't want it any other way," said Harry with a grin.
"Then we're settled," said Lupin with a happy smile. "Now, off you go!"
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Rather than walk back to Hogwarts with the Gryffindors, Oleandra instead opted to fly back to save time, and to let Harry get some quality time with his godfather… even though he wouldn't be the greatest of conversationalists in dog form.
"The Animagus and the boy wearing glasses made me remember that I'd been meaning to talk to you about something," said Viviane, as Hogsmeade Village passed under them. "Back when I was still alive, I couldn't make heads or tails out of all of those strange-looking Wizards popping out of the woodwork— but it all makes sense now."
"What in the world are you talking about?" a puzzled Oleandra asked.
"Two years ago, you found Salazar Slytherin's personal office," Viviane explained. "And you learned about how the Sacred Twenty-Eight came to be. The research and the experiments the Ancient Roman Wizards inherited from the Ancient Greek; it all happened during my time, you see."
In Oleandra's second year, in an attempt to find the Chamber of Secrets, she had accidentally found Slytherin's Scriptorium. There, she had learned from his notes that the noble magical families of today actually originated from ordinary Muggles, who'd been experimented on by ancient Roman Wizards all over Europe. They'd meant to create war chimeras out of their Muggle test subjects, but they'd instead accidentally turned them into Wizards with extraordinary abilities.
"There were only so many magical clans back then," Viviane continued. "So, we were surprised when the Romans brought these Wizards out of seemingly nowhere. But they were too powerful to be controlled, and they eventually rebelled against their masters, helping bring about the end of the Roman Empire, before integrating into magical society."
"Where are you going with this?" Oleandra asked her. "If this is another stupid story that ends with you sending knights on a pointless fetch quest to find a magical item, you can stop right now."
Viviane very much liked to recount old stories about herself, in which she'd send the Knights of the Round Table after wild goose chases for her amusement. Her favourite had been the quest for the Holy Grail of doubtful existence, though she'd been very surprised when Percival had somehow returned with the Lance of Longinus.
"Peace, you'll see when I get there," Viviane said patiently. "In my youth in Britanny, I came to know a Witch of considerable power, a small girl whose hair was as green as emeralds; the very picture of your twin sister Daphne."
Oleandra raised an eyebrow; all of the noble families liked to keep a record of their family trees, but they only went back so many generations; even old Slytherin himself had spent a considerable amount of time tracing his ancestry before discovering the truth behind the noble families. If Viviane really had met her first ancestor, the primogenitor of the Greengrass family, then this was indeed a story worth listening to.
"She was known in Britanny as the Maiden in Green; she was queen of the Wood Nymphs and Dryads of the forest of Brocéliande, a place which would become very important to me and Anna," Viviane continued. "I knew her for a great many years, but her appearance never changed from the day I first met her, and her power never ceased to grow."
"A maiden?" said Oleandra jokingly, "Since my family exists, she mustn't have stayed one for too long."
"I'm certain you already know how humans gained the ability to use magic," Viviane said. "Humans accumulate Magic Circuits in their bodies continuously throughout their entire life, making them grow more powerful as they age, but they only experience explosive growth during their teenage years; among all magical species, humans are unique in this respect."
Oleandra nodded; this, she already knew. Wizards are a branch of humanity that have adapted to magic by developing Magic Circuits through evolution. Other sentient species and Fantastic Beasts have their own ways of processing magic.
Since magic is omnipresent, continually produced by the sea of chaos slowly eroding and disintegrating the physical world, Wizards can't actually run out of magic; but having more Magic Circuits means they can draw more of it at a time to fuel increasingly powerful spells. Other than that, spellcasting is only a question of stamina, mental fortitude and knowledge.
Some people have more Magic Circuits than others; bloodlines and nobility have seemingly no impact on a Wizard's magical aptitude. It's nothing weird, if you think about it: some people are just magically stronger than others, just like some are smarter or physically stronger.
Incidentally, children's Magic Circuits are undeveloped, causing their magic to be uncontrollable, to explode outwards all at once under stress, which is why students only begin attending Hogwarts starting at age eleven.
"Then, what do you think would happen to Daphne if she remained stuck as a teenager for a hundred years?" Viviane continued. "Or a thousand? Or perhaps even longer?"
"You're not suggesting that Daphne's magic would continue increasing at an exponential rate?" Oleandra gasped, the reality of her sister's situation dawning upon her for the first time. "Then, what happened to the first Greengrass? If she really had a lifespan of a few thousand years and that much magic at her disposal, then what happened to her? Why isn't she still around?"
A Wizard's strength would eventually plateau; ageing bringing about diminishing returns… but if Viviane was right, Daphne had no limits.
"I have no idea! She was still alive at the time of my death, but it doesn't look like she's still around in this age… It really is puzzling, isn't it?" Viviane commented. "Her bloodline granting her an extended lifespan, combined with the fact that having more magic in your blood slows the ageing process, she ought to have attained true immortality..."
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
Azure_Abyss
Azure_Abyss Unlimited power...!
If she manages to survive for another hundred years.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone