บท 2: Socks are the best loot
When I pictured going on an adventure for long lost treasures with immense power and wealth, I always thought of something different. Perhaps struggling down dark and dank corridors filled with innovative traps. Or maybe fighting through hordes of undead as I struggled to pry an enormous gem powering their unlife. I could certainly picture countless scenarios that would excite the mind. None of those things apply to my first true treasure hunt. No, while this room is an incredibly powerful artifact it's current function is a glorified storage unit. Not that I should complain about the ease with which I am acquiring treasures but I expected more.
Instead of pilfering through chests of unknown origins, I am wondering if it's really worth digging through a large mound of socks to find out if there is something valuable under it. That was something I really did not expect to find in The Room Of Hidden Things but in retrospect it makes sense. Apparently, socks going missing is a universal experience even if laundry is handled by literal magical creatures. Hell, maybe one of those buggers went mad and started to collect exclusively left socks as that is what the mound appears to be made of. Now that I am thinking about it some of these socks might have value in material alone. Surly our pure blood aroticrats would not sully their feet with any old cloth. Some of these socks could be made of enchanted material or god forbid Acromantula Silk. Due to my new found memories I knew collecting that silk is usually a rather difficult task.
The Acromantula were a plague on any land they inhabited. They hunted literally anything that moved and had a particularly fond taste for humans. If a nest was found it was highly recommended to contact local authorities so they can purge it. As allowing them to get into a proper breeding cycle could result in untold casualties. Sure killing them with fire worked just as well as their mundane counterparts but that fire tended to absolutely ruin their silk and the surrounding forest usually. So farming for their silk can only be done on a rather small scale as you were more likely to lose family members than acquire a steady stream of it. Which is a shame as nothing enchants quite as well as it and the sheer feel of the fabric gets nobility begging for more. One of the reasons the Malfoys could become such big players despite their relatively new money status was that they were able to provide a steady stream of it. Of course, no one knew how they managed to do it as they claimed family secrets not that doing so would stop spies from trying but still no one knows how they can do so. I'm sure it's the main reason the Blacks are allowing Lucius to court Narcissa.
Now in this massive pile of socks there might be some of that silk. So sorting through this pile might legitimately be worth the effort. My D&D murder hobo tendencies make me want to sort them even if I know I could spend my time better. I was the sort of person to ask my DM if the cutlery was silver after I murdered a den of bandits masquerading as a town. Or maybe they were just a regular town that took offense to my blatant murder of the town chief who knows really? Either way, I could be spending my time better for example finding or developing a spell that will sort these socks based off of the material. Snape did not know of any such spell but that was what research was for. If he failed at that Snape did have a fair amount of experience in spell crafting.
So I should skip out on sorting through a literal heap of socks and move on. It's the logical conclusion that anyone would reach. Not that the thought helps with my urge to hoard the socks anyways. It's not like I need to get the silk this very second I already found enough trinkets to sell. I was honestly expecting to find more galleons as people lose money all the time. The thing is galloens are the highest form of currency in the wizarding world so people tend to notice when they lose them. It's like losing a one hundred dollar bill as opposed to a ten. So expecting to find a pile of galloens was probably a pipe dream. I mean there could be one somewhere in this room I have only been here for a couple of hours so who knows? I did manage to find some knuts every once and awhile not in a pile or anything like that. They were usually stored in items like bags or pouches I even found a fair amount of them in a boot. I think I was going to continue to find knuts at a fairly common rate which is great as while they are not a literal gold coin every little bit helps.
Right now I had two pouches filled with knuts and a small sack filled with old jewelry and trinkets. Sure I found furniture that could probably be sold for a pretty penny but I had no way of carrying them around with me. For some god forsaken reason anything that looked valuable could shrug off a shrinking charm.
I know why as wizards did not want some thief to break into their homes and steal all their furniture in a single hour. So they instead enchanted all their family heirlooms to be resistant to certain charms. Which of course made moving furniture a pain in the ass in both mundane and magical homes. I guess that magic can be used to make things more mundane or at least orderly. Not that those enchantments could stop anyone with any real brains as they could simply make a charm to work around those constraints. The thing is anyone who could do so had better things to do than be a petty thief like lording over their lessers you know common aristocrats things. The point of all of that was unless I wanted to be caught with several leviating bookcases and wardrobes I was better off leaving them here until I could figure a way of storing them.
Well I know of a way, a house elf apparently could move these things regardless of any enchantments. Which makes perfect sense right? If the items were immune to house elf magic then those lords and ladies would have to move it themselves. No, it was far better to be completely vulnerable to house elf magic as those lesser beings would never dare to steal their things. This of course ignored the fact that someone could simply order their elf to steal from another family. Still, those lords and ladies were not completely stupid anything with any real importance tended to be blood locked and anyone not of their bloodline tended to experience some terrible things. The Blacks apparently tended to do that with almost anything in their homes. Snape was warned more than once about touching any of Narcissa's things with out double checking with her.
That was a strange friendship there, one I did not expect from my previous life. While she was a picture perfect pureblood princess Narcissa appreciated his talents. Sure she was rather snobbish but she honestly looked out for Snape when she could. Snape was unsure if her appreciation for his talent bloomed into an actual friendship. So he never really knew how to approach her. With Lucius it was easy. He knew Lucius was using him even the prideful Snape knew that but Snape felt like it was a small price to pay. While she never quite used him like Lucius did was that out of friendship or does she think Lucius did enough using for the both of them? What their actual relationship is will become clear soon enough as he was done being used without any actual gain. Still, I kind of felt like she genuinely liked the moody little shit that Snape was. Which if I am being honest is a rather difficult task to take up.
Friends were not something Snape ever thought he had. Well, that's not true he had Lily but in Snape's mind she was not just his best friend she was his life line. Something so precious that it could not be put into words. Well, not any words he could think of at the very least. She was all that mattered so he never really thought he had friends. Lucius used him but also helped him so they had a strange sort of bond. Flint and Lestrange barely tolerated him as he offered his services for rather cheaply. Regulus only ever sought him out to help with potions as well. Granted Regulus usually found some way to pay for his services. Narcissa well she never really approved of Lily so they never really hit it off. The thing is she talked to him, she would bring up random topics about innovation in the field of potions. It would always lead to him passionately talking about how it would affect other fields. Snape once asked why she took such interest in potions when she did not put the same zeal into the craft as he did. She simply replied that seeing that zeal drive him was amusing, that seeing him being alive for once was worth it. Those words and the smile on her face were absolutely charming. If she wanted to I'm sure she could have had even the obsessed Snape wrapped around her finger. Was that really her or was it a facade built to charm the budding potion prodigy? Even as I am now I have no idea.
Disregarding any thoughts about the charming snake I should probably call this expedition off for now. I have a fair amount of loot and it is going to take a fair bit of time to sell it. It rubs me the wrong sort of way to give up before finding something really impressive. Although I was going to have years of time to explore this place. Granted not nearly as much time as I would like but enough to gain a modest sum of wealth. Not to mention that The Room Of Hidden Things was just a facet of the artifact that was The Room Of Requirements. There were a couple of things I wanted to try before I had to call it a night. I do have actual classes tomorrow and I don't want to miss an opportunity to expand my knowledge of the arcane arts. So I throw one last longing look at the mound of socks and head for the door.
After several hours the corridor looks quiet and erie. It's not quite late enough that I would get in trouble but I was certainly getting to that point. There is not a soul in sight but that belief has bitten Snape before so I use the Homenum Revelio charm. A pulse of magic jumps from my wand and spreads. It spreads out until it hits a surface and then dissipates. Snape knew how the charm was supposed to work if that pulse touched anything that could be defined as human it dyed their magical aura into something the user could see. The thing is you were not supposed to see the pulse like I did. So I might have gained some sort of budding Mage Sight from my soul being formed by my previous life and Snape's. It's an interesting field to pursue but for now my spell has told me that there is no human presence in the vicinity. It would not find Potter if he was hiding under his cloak but I doubt all four of those chucklefucks are under it right now. They could be but Potter rarely used the ancient artifact maybe because it would require him hiding. It would take the fun away from pranking if he used it all the time or at least I think that is his thought process.
I don't want to risk their gang of delinquents finding out about this room. I can only hope that Potter is too busy trying to comfort the grieving Lily. Even if that thought causes bile to churn in my throat and anger bubble in my gut. I'm hoping that this room can help me solve one of my issues with them. So I walked back and forth quickly thinking the thought I needed a way to hide from the Marauder's Map. The door formed and I swear I could feel my heart skip a beat. I was honestly not expecting this to work. Well, it might be too early for that to be true there might not be anything behind this door. So I grab the handle and rush inside.
Instead of the vast and cluttered room that was behind this door before. I now see a desk with a pile of books on them. I can feel myself relax as I see them as making sure Potter and his goons can't track me was a rather large worry. The books themselves look to be the same as any other library book.
227 ways to trick or fool wards by Aster Flint
All you need to know about aura Dominic Bones
Hiding from an expert in the field Fin Waldo
There were more books but I should only need to read one of them. It appears that the room took my need to find a way to hide from the Marauder's Map and gave me all possible solutions as opposed to the best way. Considering how many of the books listed wards in some way means the way of tracking of the map is linked directly to Hogwart's ward scheme. Which is honestly baffling. How in the world did they link their tracking to the wards? Even a wizard as skilled as Voldemort was not capable of altering the wards. Hell Dumbledore was not even capable of it or he would have used them to crack down on 'illegal rituals'. While the Marauders may have had potential as loathed as I am to admit that. They in no way could compete with such titans and win. Getting into the ward room would be like beating Death itself…
Wait a minute. No, it can't be that simple. Surly Potter would understand the implications of what that means. This is Hogwarts a school crafted not by one but four of the greatest Witches and Wizards to ever live. He should have realized that breaking into the ward room with the cloak implied that it was truly something special. How did he manage to gather the balls to break into the ward room if he thought he had a regular old invisibility cloak as opposed to THE INVISIBILITY CLOAK? Unless he thought it was not really a big deal… He can't be that much of an idiot, right? To be a moron of such a degree…it's shocking. If he did not literally have a godly artifact he very well could have died trying to break into the room. Not that Dumbledore would have let a student within spitting distance of the room.
Potter has to think he has a regular old invisibility cloak or he would store it a lot more securely. I've seen the dimwit drop the fucking thing while he was walking with his goons. He did not even notice he dropped it Peter was the one who saw it and picked it up to give it back. So I have to think he thinks it's a regular cloak. If the alternative is true then his level of stupidity baffles the mind and shocks the soul. How come Lupin or Black have never noticed how special that thing is? Lupin is capable of rubbing his two brain cells together and Black has had magical history and lore beaten into his skull since he was a child. Maybe their friendship has caused them to take a negative 50 in the IQ department. Or maybe Potter never mentioned exactly how he got the map to link with the fucking wards. That sounds like something he would do to brag about if nothing else.
God I can't even begin to imagine how he manages to breathe on the regular if he was such an idiot. POTTER IS A PROPER PUREBLOOD PRINCE! He should know exactly how powerful the wards of Hogwarts are! I JUST.. I CAN'T UNDERSTAND HOW SOMEONE COULD….Fuck it. His lack of a single god damn brain cell is not my issue. In fact it could be to my benefit. Since he clearly does not appreciate having such a powerful artifact I'll just take it off of his hands. Since I now know how they are tracking everyone in the castle that is going to be a lot easier. Snape has never been able to ambush them before for obvious reasons. So they are going to be utterly unprepared for what is about to happen to them.
As tempting as jumping them this very moment is I should wait. I need to get my hands on an invisibility cloak. It's going to be pricey but if Potter was robbed of The Cloak he would have Dumbeldore looking all over the castle for it. If I replace it with a standard cloak then he'll never know the difference. I might be worried about Potter's father noticing the difference but I'll have The Cloak out of Hogwarts at that point. I might have to travel out of Hogwarts to get it but getting in trouble is well worth it if it means getting a Deathly Hallow. Hell, they might not even notice I'm gone.
Since I now know that tracking is done through the wards I can picture how it works. Every single person in the castle is under the constant scans of the Wards. The students have all of their magical auras registered at the sorting ceremony. While the teacher's aura is registered when signing their contracts. To hide from the wards I could simply enchant an object to project my magical aura and put it into my room. Snape already knew how to do this. This of course would have the wards putting me at two separate locations so it's not the true solution. No after that I would have to change my aura to a different pitch or mask it with something else.
If it was before my emergence Snape would have had to spend months of research trying to figure out a way to mask a magical aura most likely by potion. Now though I had far more control than Snape ever would have. With but a thought my vibrant and high pitch aura shifted to a low baritone and dull grey. I even take it a step further and have my aura stop 'singing' altogether. This is of course all theoretical, I could be horribly off base here but it certainly feels right.
I might have the makings of a rather impressive thief. Breaking into magical homes and masking auras is fairly common. The thing is any casting would leave an imprint of the caster's aura. As techniques that mask and suppress Aura tend to take almost the full concentration of your standard Wizard. There of course are enchanted items that could serve similar purposes but those tend to be outlawed and horded by nobility. Me on the other hand, it's taking zero effort on my part to have my aura stop 'singing'. That is not going to hold up if I have to cast but I can change the tune of my aura just as easily.
My first theft being an artifact that almost all of the wizarding world knows about is just icing on the cake. Sucks to be Potter but I'm sure he would approve of my use of it. The assassination of Voldermort sounds a lot easier if I can hide behind the Cloak Of Death.
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