Chương 43: Holiday Rituals II
After Daphne's confession, Hadrian thought it prudent to ask Merlin for advice. The man was one of the most powerful wizards to ever exist, after all.
He entered his room.
Hadrian then went into one of the drawers beside the bed, and dug out a pair of rune stones with the inscription, 'lock', written on the faces.
He placed the two runestones at the foot of the door, on either side, before tapping them with his wand and muttering, "lock."
The runes flashed before creating a line of magic that sealed the door shut.
After sealing the door, Hadrian went underneath his bed - and retrieved Merlin from the confines of his trunk.
"...Finally!", Merlin groaned, "How annoying it is, to have to hide in your own home!"
Hadrian raised an eyebrow, "Your home?"
"Semantics.", Merlin waved off, "I live wherever you live. Right now, it's here, therefore it is also my home."
Hadrian shrugged, "I guess so. You're going to have to pay rent now, old man."
"What do you want now?", Merlin sighed.
"What do you know about blood curses?"
Merlin stroked his beard, frowning whilst recollecting information on blood curses, "Well, there are different types of blood curses. You'd have to be more specific."
"The type that shows up once every few generations."
"Well, those are called genetic-related blood curses. Most commonly surfaces in those with weaker magic.", Merlin began, "Why the sudden interest? I guarantee you won't contract any blood curses, your Dragonlord blood is too powerful for that."
"Not me.", Hadrian explained as he shook his head, "Daphne's sister, Astoria contracted the Greengrass blood curse."
Merlin palmed his face as he said, "Poor girl."
"You must know of a way to fix this?", Hadrian asked.
Merlin sighed, "I do. I doubt you'll find anyone better."
"Then what's the problem?!", Hadrian snarled angrily.
"I could do it - I was good at Alchemy. You could even say that field of magic BELONGS to me.", said Merlin, "It is very unlikely you'll find another that has the required knowledge in the field to be able to cure the Greengrass lass."
Hadrian tightened his fist in desperation, "I promised her. I promised I would help."
Merlin stared pointedly at Hadrian's eyes, "Then learn it."
"Huh?", Hadrian blinked.
"Learn it. You've already begun your path on Alchemy at Uagadou.", Merlin explained, "All you have to do is continue it."
"How long did it take you to learn enough Alchemy that you were able to save someone else from a blood curse?!", Hadrian exclaimed.
"It took me decades. However, we are talking about you - and you are not me."
"Exactly!-"
"-You have the potential to be better than I ever was."
Hadrian paused, "You'll be there to guide me."
"That I will.", Merlin grinned.
"You're not scared, are you?"
"Hmm?", Merlin said, head tilted to the side in confusion.
"That I'll take over your field of magic.", Hadrian finished cheekily.
Merlin smiled, "When you can create your own Magical Artifacts, I'll admit you've reached my level."
"I'll do it earlier than you did."
"You're on.", Merlin chuckled heartily.
With that, Hadrian left with a slightly deeper understanding of the road he would have to take do two things. To become stronger, he'd hope to make Artifact level items - just as Merlin did.
The Artifacts were keyed to Merlin - Hadrian had only managed to wield them thanks to his Dragonlord heritage, but they were far from being entirely Hadrian's. They would never be used to their fullest potential, although - that was a problem for the future. Right now, they were steadfastly helping Hadrian improve.
The second thing Hadrian wanted to do, was save Astoria Greengrass. As per his promise, he'd have to find a way to either destroy the blood curse or make Astoria immune to it - both of which require extremely advanced Alchemy.
Luckily, he'd already begun learning Alchemy at Uagadou.
After the short meeting with Merlin, Hadrian made his way downstairs, where everyone else was currently getting ready.
They were all wearing brown robes, with hoods that covered their faces. This made them look slightly ominous.
"Put your robe on!", Charlus said as he tossed Hadrian the brown garment.
"Have you decided which Ritual we're doing?"
"Ritual-s.", Cyrus inserted.
Hadrian's eyes widened in surprise, "We're doing more than one?"
"Well, we're going to have one Ritual where everyone takes part," Dorea started, "-but we're also going to split into two groups and choose our own Rituals."
"What are the groups?"
"Men in one group, ladies in the other.", Charlus explained.
"Pretty Dragon's with the girls, right?", Theo joked.
Hadrian hit him with a tripping jinx conspicuously, causing Theo to topple over his robes.
"Theodore!", Lucinda Nott scolded, "Must you act like an idiot all the time?!"
"Sorry, mum...", Theo replied slowly as he struggled in his attempts to disentangle himself from his robes.
Lucinda scowled for a few seconds, watching Theo battle his robes. That was until she took pity on the boy, and decided to free him from the confines of his outerwear.
She gave him kiss on his brow, before wiping the smudge of dust that layered over his cheek, gained from his fall.
"What kind of ritual are we doing?", Hadrian asked Archie, who was smiling as he watched his wife dote on their son.
"A ritual that targets the muscles. Makes them stronger, more defined, tighter.", Archie answered, "It's not too complex. If it was, we wouldn't be doing it after our main ritual."
"Why's that?"
"Its generally discouraged, since the benefits gained from a ritual, is done so through a different source - it's unknown how the magic will react if another source is brought into the body.", he explained.
Hadrian nodded slowly, accepting the answer. "What are the girls doing?"
"-The girls," Cynthia interrupted, "-are doing a beauty ritual."
The women smiled gleefully.
"What a waste.", Theo snorted, "It's not going to work!"
The men laughed as the women's happy expressions dropped quickly and instead turned into one of indignation.
"Alright!", Charlus clapped, diverting everyone's attention, "To the ritual room."
Charlus walked them to the room Hadrian had finished his Blood Potential Ritual in. As he walked through its doorway, he felt the ghost-like pain from before.
The children arranged themselves in between the adults, sprayed out and around the perimeters of the ritual circle.
"Before we begin the Winter Solstice Ritual-", Dorea said, "-do you all have your ritual daggers?"
Everyone brandished their small daggers.
Hadrian chuckled as his eyes latched onto Astoria, she was smiling widely, and her knife was swinging wildly in the air as she tried to show Dorea that she did in fact, have her ritual dagger.
"I see, dear.", Dorea chuckled.
Seconds after Charlus had gone over the set-up, everyone began the chant.
It was the same one from the last Winter Solstice Ritual.
"Winter has arrived, It is now the time of transition,
Spring approaches, While Autumn dies.
We ask Mother Magic to aid us in this time of change,
We ask for your strength and magic, to do as our blood
demands us to,
The Wheel of the Year begins its rotation, and we cycle
into Light."
They all then took out their daggers and pricked their index fingers. The blood slowly seeped into the center of the ritual circle.
Hadrian felt the ambient magic in the air slowly flow into him, like a stream flowing down a creek. The familiar, exhilarating flush of magic, sent the gathering of magic wielders into elation. They basked in the euphoric pleasure the ritual offered them, wishing that it wouldn't end.
Hadrian could see how some could find this feeling addicting.
A collective 'sigh' escaped the group.
"Well then.", Charlus said, his voice echoing through the spacious room, "Off you pop!"
The women bristled over the patronizing dismissal but left regardless. Not before sending glares over at Charlus, and not before Dorea had the chance to smack him roughly on the shoulder.
The men then began their simple strengthening ritual.
The chant consisted of one word, "Strength.", repeated over and over until the ritual stopped feeding magic into their muscles.
The feeling was less... 'pleasurable' than the main ritual. This one made your muscles spasm at irregular patterns. Not pleasurable in the slightest.
They then left the room, and let the women do their ritual.
After 20 minutes, the women emerged from the room.
The first to emerge was Dorea, she looked younger than she usually did - whilst still keeping the 'refined' nature old age usually brung.
Next was Cynthia, who also looked younger. Although, the results were not as strong as Dorea's since she was relatively young, to begin with.
Lucinda emerged next, and like Cynthia and Dorea, she did look younger. Although, looking younger wasn't the only benefit the ritual bestowed them. Their skin became porcelain-like, their eyelashes grew curlier, and bodies became more...'healthier'.
"W-wow!", their husbands exclaimed, much to their satisfaction.
Soon after, the two girls emerged - gauging other's reactions for some sort of approval.
"Hello, Daph.", Hadrian said as he walked up to her, studying her face.
Daphne looked away, embarrassed, "Don't s-stare."
Cynthia chuckled before whispering something to Dorea, who responded by nodding.
"You look great."
Daphne's eyes became brighter, her nickname 'Ice-Queen', had now become more fitting. Her eyes were like blocks of ice, so prominent and hard-hitting. She'd also gained the same benefits as her mother.
Meanwhile, Theo's attention was solely focused on Astoria. He walked over to her and said, "I take it back, the ritual did work!"
"T..th-ank you.", she shyly responded.
"It's cool.", Theo shrugged, before leaving the group and making his way downstairs.
This acted as a cue for everyone to also make their way downstairs, eager to exchange gifts.
They all coalesced around the large tree, sitting beside a mass of presents.
The adults began the gift-giving, passing each other useful, boring presents like 'Never-Ending Quills', or journals. Inconsequential gifts adults liked to exchange.
It was then the children's turns, thankfully.
Theo volunteered to go first, he handed Hadrian some brand new, Duelling gloves.
"Thanks, Theo."
Hadrian's gift to Theo was another large bulk of comic books, which Theo graciously accepted. Meaning, he grabbed them out of Hadrian's hands and took to reading through one of them immediately.
Daphne gave Hadrian another book on Runes, a more advanced version. This was probably because of his complaints on how easy the first one had been to learn.
Hadrian's gift for Daphne was quite important to her future. She ripped open the wrapping to face the cover of a book that's title read, 'The beginners guide to Spell Creation.'
She looked up at Hadrian, who walked over and gave her a hug. "Don't give up on your dream."
Daphne nodded, before smiling and perusing the contents of her book.
Hadrian then had a small gift for Astoria, a bracelet that changed color depending on her mood. Her parents seemed overly delighted at that gift since Astoria was quite the reserved child.
The gift she gave Hadrian in return was a broom polishing kit.
"Daphne said you were good at Quidditch.", she said as she handed Hadrian the gift.
He nodded, and gave her a thankful hug - "I love it."
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
MIKK
MIKK I edited yesterday's chapter to decrease the Daphne x Hadrian moment a little. Mini-Holiday arc over, next chapter is a continuation of his first year.
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I've dropped the MHA book in favor of starting a TOG book - its on my profile rn. I'll probably write long chapters for that series, but I'll only begin it when I'm ahead on Hadrian Black Chapters - I caught up with my written chapter plans already,smh. Also, changed my name to Mikk.
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ty for reading and reviewing; discord - https://discord.gg/xAwFaGr
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