บท 622: The Third Harvest Moon Ⅱ

The moon was near the peak of her trajectory with Rowan waiting long-sufferingly beneath the sight of the full moon with a silver knife in hand. Glancing up at the moon for the hundredth time, she grasped the knife that much tighter in her hand and counted the seconds left until the Hunter's Moon began. A strange yellow sheen slowly crept across the moon and the moon began to take an eerie and almost hungry shine casting a dreadful spell over the castle and those that inhabited it. A deep slumber came upon them all as one by one the professors fell sound asleep in their beds and offices, and even that of Dumbledore at his desk with a dozing Fawkes at his side.

Raising her blade to the moon, Rowan begins to chant, "Four founders bound Hogwarts of old, four cardinal directions there abide, and four great elements there reside. Long ago magic that was sworn and has since been undone. I ask the great moon, Birther of Magic, I ask on this night to hear the call of your mortal daughter."

The breeze around Rowan ceases to blow as a great stillness seems to surround her. Not daring to even swallow lest she breathe wrongly, Rowan continues with her chant. "To the ruling Queen Mother in the sky, I plead for mercy to undo the great wrong that was wrought. That which was bound must be unbound and that which was unbound to be bound anew."

The swirling pentagram begins to brightly glow as the candles begin to wildly flicker as black-like squirming strings of darkness begin to peel out of Hogwarts like a great vile spiderweb. The inky, twisting strings gather and move and almost seemly hiss in rage to form a serpent-like beast with a gaping ravenous maw.

Turning her blade from the moon to the unconscious lying figure, Rowan kneels and holds the blade right over the tip of Mulciber's chest. "Four Founders bound this ground, and four elements came into place. I, Rowan Prince, a descendant of the three founders, Salazar Slytherin, Godric Gryffindor, and Helga Hufflepuff hold blood right. And so, I ask again that which was unbound must be bound and that which was bound must be unbound. By blood right, I ask and beg that my request be granted by the great Queen Mother of the night!"

The dagger in Rowan's hand plunges into the skin of Mulciber and begins to carve delicate runes into the flesh. A crimson web spreads across his skin, while Mulciber remains in a deep slumber, unaware of the dramatic events of the evening. In the background, the tendrils of darkness slither and move to reveal an enraged, enormous ink-like, withering snake.

The ink-like serpent opens its gaping jaws wide to swallow Rowan and the living vessel, whole, but a glowing-like shield appears surrounding them in a protective light. The spell matrix's enchanted shield began to glow even fiercer as it drew on the power of the caster and the moon. And on this extraordinary night, there was no lack of strength provided by the moon.

The shield brightens time and time again as the ink-like serpent attacks the shield as Rowan finishes carving the rune script onto the chest of Mulciber. At long last, her blade comes to a halt a single stroke from completing the rune script. The blade hovers in place as she says, "That which has been bound by the light of the moon on this Hunter's night be unbound, I ask the Birther of Magic, the Lady of the Night, and Queen Mother in the sky by the blood of the Founders, I offer this living vessel to bind that which will be unbound and be rebound. I ask to bind this curse on this Hunter's night when fate can be exchanged from predator to prey. I ask, that the curse be bound tight to this vessel's very life. A life for a life shall be exchanged, and the vessel shall forevermore bear the sins of old."

Drops of blood drip down from the blade onto the figure of Mulciber as Rowan plunges the dagger's blade to complete the last rune stroke. The red spiderlike patchwork across Mulciber's chest begins to glow with a fierce light as the shield around Rowan and Mulciber vanish. The ink-like spiderweb tendrils eagerly rush to attack the defenseless prey, but a sinister crimson light is emitted from Mulciber's chest which hungrily feasts and absorbs the ink-like curse tendrils.

The curse ink-like tendrils attempt to escape, but it is impossible as the crimson light spreads like a poisonous wave and voraciously engulfs the entire curse. For a moment, Hogwarts is bathed in a hungry ruby red light, before the light vanished leaving nothing in its place. The night is quiet and peaceful again except for the still bright glow of the great moon in the sky.

Slowly lowering the blade held in hand, Rowan reaches into her pouch to remove a healing potion. Holding the potion up the sky, Rowan chants, "Birther of Magic, Lady of the Night, and Queen Mother in the sky witness my act of contrition, I heal that which has been sacrificed. And seal the curse that is bound to the living vessel. A life for a life has been exchanged, and the day the sacrifice shall perish, and in turn, so shall the curse. I dare ask no more than that which has been granted, and seal this thus forevermore."

Rowan pours the healing potion onto the crimson rune script that has been carved on Mulciber's chest. The healing serum instantly begins to heal as the cuts begin to glow a clear blue light and the scars utterly vanish leaving behind not a single trace. All that is left as proof is not a rune but a single small rune mark across the right side of his chest directly over his heart in the shape of a serpent.

Bowing her head, Rowan holds out empty palms and clasps them together in gratitude. "Four founders bound Hogwarts of old, four cardinal directions there abide, and four great elements there reside. That which has been done has been undone, and by blood right, I say and thank the great moon, Birther of Magic on this Hunter's night," Rowan said as the candles around her go out one by one, and the great moon in the sky ceases to glow hungrily as the time of the Hunter's Moon passes by and ends.

Quickly and hastily Rowan points her wands at the items and has them float into her pouch including the silk sheet protecting Mulciber's modesty. Sneering again, she casts a cleaning charm on the ground to erase the chalk marks of the spell matrix, before casting a spell on Mulciber. The clothes belonging to Mulciber slide back onto his body just as before.

The instant that the task is completed, Rowan teleports away with her charge not daring to remain a second longer lest she is found. She fears that she may have attracted the attention of someone or better yet that of Professor Zephyros. She had not forgotten her encounter with the Divination Professor and much less her suspicions regarding the Divination's Professor. She would be damned to believe otherwise.

Mere seconds later after the two figures have vanished from atop of the Astronomy tower the pounding of footsteps can be heard as a breathless figure emerges from the tower's staircase to reveal the figure of Professor Zephyros. Professor Zephyros' wand glows as he chants a spell and waits. Strange blurry wraiths begin to move to show the events that had transpired before him; however, the events can only be seen and not heard.

Professor Zephyros' eyes lose their dreamy appearance as he says in a cold voice, "The curse has been bound to a living vessel, the cracks in the wards are healing as we speak. We cannot enter anew evermore except for those that have already entered and been accepted in the past by Hogwarts."

Professor Zephyros paused as if listening to a voice in his head. "No, Mulciber cannot be killed now. Another sacrifice must be chosen, one that still retains a single droplet of purity," he replied in his usual dreamy voice.

"Yes, it will be difficult, but it can be done," Professor Zephyros said in a cold tone voice. "We still know of another."

"But what of the Plague Doctor?" Professor Zephyros asked in an unusual high-pitched female-like tone of voice. "Who is it?"

"We do not know, but only those that carry the Founder's bloodline will Hogwarts permit the wards to be tampered with," Professor Zephyros snapped in an impatient tone of voice.

"The Prince's, there are three presently in attendance," Professor Zephyros hummed in his usual dreamy voice.

"The boy and girl are far too young and weak," snapped Professor Zephyros in a high-pitched female-like tone of voice. "The Prince women, however, she is certainly powerful and dark enough to do so."

"Then we shall wait, and watch. The puppet soon returns, and it will become that much easier to act," Professor Zephyros coldly said, before he hissed in agreement. "Yes."

Turning away from the scene, Professor Zephyros departs with his usual dreamy expression and tone returned humming to himself a lullaby that would have sounded very familiar to Reginald Prince. "Hush, little child, be good. Hush, little child, the beast comes. Hush, little child, he will eat you. Hush, my child, hush."

"Mm, I do miss the old names," Professor Zephyros hummed to himself, before returning to his quarters to dream and dream, a many dreams. And dream he would.

Elsewhere, sometime later, the figure of Damian Mulciber awakens to a start on a park bench. Cursing, he hurriedly checks his person to find that neither his wand or purse is missing. Furrowing his brows, he recalls the Plague Doctor, but nothing felt wrong on his person nor was missing. It must have encountered a prankster.

Damian sorts and mutters under his breath that he shall kill the prankster the next time he sees them. Rising to his feet with great swagger, he makes his way to the nearest whore house to satisfy his needs. And satisfied, he would be.