บท 76: Intricacies of the Soul
Harry looked at the runic array he'd created with acromantula blood and sighed.
Despite all the help that Hogwarts provided him with, he still lacked in resources.
Besalla, the miserly basilisk had been reluctant in giving him any more skin these days. And as for the Unicorn blood, his existing stock was already starting to run out and he couldn't get any more until Quirrelmort goes to the Forbidden Forest in order to hunt once again.
So for now, he simply had to make do with Acromantula silk and their blood which looked rather beautiful with it's bluish-green and despite being mildly toxic.
Thankfully, there was no lack of Acromantulas in the forbidden forest and he simply had to go out on a hunt once a week to refill all of his stock.
He had kept their eyes and other organs under stasis for now as they could probably be used as potions ingredient in the future or might just gift it to some Potions' master on a whim.
Hermione was sitting behind him and working on inanimate to animate transfiguration. He knew that he would not be able to help her this time since he didn't truly understood the subject of life himself.
When someone transfigures a piece of rock into a sparrow, how does the sparrow gains it's life.
Or was it never alive in the first place but simply an imitation of the real thing.
Selena had told him that any transfigured animal or bird created by him held a magical signature similar to his own.
Did it meant that the animal worked because of his magical signature and because it had a soul.
Or because he gave away a small part of his own soul to bring like to the animate object.
When he first thought about the possibility of giving away a part of his own soul in order to bring an animal to life, he would admit that he was scared.
After all, he had seen first hand what happens to people who give away a part of their soul in the form of Voldemort.
But when he studied the subject in a little depth, he realized that truly complicated human's soul was.
And how easy it was for him to use his own soul in order to give life to another smaller being.
In fact, the soul of an adult wizard or even a muggle regularly gives life to a million of tiny little sperms.
Those lifeforms might not contain much sentience but that didn't change the fact that the tiny bit of soul inside them was given to them by the wizard's soul itself.
After understanding this, he came up with a theory that whenever wizards try to give life while performing transfiguration, they take a little bit of their own soul and give it to the animate object they're trying to create and then magic takes that soul then grows and molds it to fit the lifeform.
Since Selena was incapable of seeing a soul, all this was merely a conjecture at this point in time but he realized that this study of him could probably earn him an Order of Merlin if he simply published him to the wizarding world.
But he would never do such a foolish thing because he never really cared about the medal or the honor and fame that came with it.
In fact, he would keep this study of his as a well hidden secret and do some more research with it in the future.
He had a feeling that if he just keeps taking a miniscule amount of his soul over a long period of time and kept it contained in an artifact, then over time the artifact will turn into a kind of Horcrux without the actual cons that came with it.
The actual process of course won't be so simple and he was not sure if this will even work at all but there was no danger in trying.
Still, soul magic was not a field that he wanted to step into just yet so he had not started the process.
He would probably do so sometime in the future.
The scratching of a quill on paper reminded him that Hermione was working behind him as well.
He turned around and looked over her shoulder at the runes she was working on.
Since the runes she was learning was based on will and intent, his learning style was far different than the one used by the other Ancient Runes teacher.
For now, Hermione was simply writing 'Float, Float, Float…' continuously on a piece of parchment with a simple quill and ink while pouring her intention in the paper and willing her magic to do the job.
She had not met with any success just yet but he knew that was persistent and won't stop until she gets the result.
He felt slightly mischievous and pulled her cheeks and got a 'Harry' in a mock-annoyance tone and a huff from her in return before he smiled and went back to his own work.
Just as he did however Selena bristled in his shoulders about something.
"What is it Selena?" he asked while stroking her head trying to calm her down.
"It's that woman again." Selena said angrily "That woman who wanted to seduce you. She's coming here once again."
"She is?" he asked, trying not to let his annoyance show in his voice "Is she with anyone?"
"She is. She's with Pineapple right now."
"Penelope Selena. Not Pineapple." He chided gently though the slight quirk of his lips must have shown his mirth at the nickname Selena had given to the older girl.
"Sure whatever." She huffed before settled down on his shoulders once again.
A few seconds after she informed him about Daphne, there was a knock on the door. He gave a wave and seals he'd placed in place flew away, opening the door in the process.
Magic can be convenient like that sometimes.
"Is there a reason why you've brought her with you Penelope?" he asked without looking up from his desk. It gave him a mysterious all-knowing air even though Penelope should have easily guess that it was Selena who told them of their arrival.
"What are you doing here?" he heard Hemione say venomously before Penelope could even explain herself. He could imagine that the girl must be really angry right now. As she should be.
"She's here to apologize." Penelope replied "And tell you the whole truth about her circumstances. I think you should at least hear her out once Harry."
"Remove your shields Penelope." He said without looking up from his workdesk.
"Harry?" Hermione asked from beside him. His request was odd after all but there was a reason behind it.
"I need to make sure that you're not under compulsion charms." He clarified.
"I am not that bad you know." Daphne said in a soft and sad tone from behind Penelope "I won't put someone under compulsion charms just to get what I want."
"I don't know that." He replied as he turned to face the blonde girl, oh wait, both Penelope and Daphne were blonde."I don't know you. And you must admit that you didn't make a very good first impression either." He pointed out.
Daphne let out a defeated sigh at that and he looked questioningly at Penelope who gave a short nod to him "But you'll be buying us lunch this holiday." She said and he gave her a slight nod in return before he gently slipped into her mind.
She was not under any compulsion charms.
But apparently, the Slytherin girl could be very convincing with her desperate act.
Or maybe she was just desperate in truth.
He didn't know.
He didn't saw a lot of her memories the last time he forcefully entered her mind in fear of causing her mental damage and her dad did seemed like a dick whenever he talked with her.
Maybe he should give the girl one more chance.
He glanced at Hermione who did not looked very happy to see the Slytherin girl but didn't wanted to come in between this discussion either.
Clever girl.
She was learning not to barge into other people's business.
A trait that most people don't learn in their entire life time.
"Very well then." He said "I'll hear out what you have to say. But do expect a few legilimency probes as I still don't trust you all that much."
Daphne nodded demurely at that, something he saw her doing a in front of her father.
He could already tell that he was not going to like this talk.
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