Chương 9: Opportunity
14th August 1990, London
I was not feeling happy at all right now. The Director thought that there must be something wrong with my head, so she took me to a psychiatrist yesterday. That old hag, thinking that I am some weirdo who needs the help of a professional. It didn't help either that the teachers from my school said to the Director, that I am a 'special' child and that they should go with me to the psychiatrist.
They think that it's weird that I still don't want to communicate with the other kids. They should then start talking about something interesting. My time is better spent practicing my magic and ambient mana control. And how could they say that I don't have friends? I have Agony.
But I can't tell others that my only friend is a voice in my head that is an alien living in my body and talking to me in my head. At best, they would consider me a schizophrenic.
{Who are you calling a voice in your head!? Apologize or I will eat your pancreas.} I trembled a little at her threat. I still remember when she threatened me like that for the first time. I should have believed her at that time. Although I can easily heal myself, I can still feel the pain.
'Ok, sorry. I will get you some chocolate bars. Leave my pancreas alone'
{Two chocolate bars.}
'Deal.' How easy.
Well, the consultation with the psychiatrists was rather boring. A lengthy discussion, talk about my feelings and some weird pictures. In the end, I was diagnosed with a minor asociality and problems with expressing myself. I kinda expected this result so it was not a surprise.
Hmm, I am an orphan and have mental and emotional problems. Will Dumbledore get a heart attack, if I end up in the Slytherin? Well, there is a big enough chance that I will see it. I imagine myself getting only into Slytherin or Ravenclaw. Although I am indeed hardworking and patient, I am not modest, just, and friendly enough to end up in Hufflepuff. And the chance that I will be a Gryffindor is almost negligible.
One good thing that happened, is that I have got one of the single rooms, so I have my privacy now. From my former roommates, the twins got adopted early this year Emily is already thirteen, and she has her own single room. Nobody wanted to be roommates with weirdos and there were few single rooms free on the second floor, so the Director just moved me into one. Good for me.
...
It was night and I was planning to sneak out of the orphanage. Today, when I was practicing how much I could spread my magic, I sensed something like a barrier in a certain direction at a distance of around three kilometers from me, so I decided to check it out.
I waited until midnight, so everyone at the orphanage should be surely asleep. I quietly opened the window of my room and activated the Presence Concealment. Then I took off into the night sky. Flying was easy when you have an immense amount of magic and immaculate control over it. I found the flying with the help of a flying broom silly and unpractical so I tried to learn unaided flight. I first thought that I would have to practice for a long time, but it only took one try to learn it. Flying just comes to me naturally and I love the feeling of freedom it brings me.
The sight of London at night was truly beautiful from above. The city was covered by the darkness with a hint of blue and slightly lighted up by countless sparkling lights. I enjoyed the view and the night breeze for a while and flew to my destination.
After about a minute, I descended before the gates of an old-looking victorian manor on London's outskirts. Above the gates were metal letters forming the manor's name.
[Avery Manor]
Avery huh. If I remember correctly, he was one of the Death Eaters who, after Voldemort's downfall bribed the Ministry for his freedom along with the Malfoy and others. He was also one of the young Snape's Slytherin friends at the Hogwarts.
So I just stumbled upon the house of a Death Eater from a rich and old Dark Family. One of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. It seems that I am lucky today.
'Looks like we will have some action today Agony.'
{Finally.}
I focused my magic sense on the manor. I could feel some magical barriers around the manor. These should be wards. There are two of them and the second one feels quite malicious. So the first one is likely a detection ward and the second one should be a protective ward and most likely a dark one. I could also feel some magic on the gates themselves. Probably some enchantments against spells.
I simply crossed the wards.
And nothing happened. As I thought, the detection ward couldn't detect me when I am under my Presence Concealment so the protective ward wasn't activated. I lucked out with this ability.
{That was quite reckless.} Agony chastised me.
'I know. But it's not like the wards could have killed me. Sure, the wards are pretty strong, but I think I could overpower them with my magic in a few seconds.'
{True.}
I am not that arrogant to think that I am invincible, as I am far from being able to call myself that. I just have faith in my abilities, something that is important to have.
Now onto the gates. How to open them without alerting my prey? It would be bad if Avery apparated himself out or called the Aurors here. I could try using that method.
'Agony, try to lockpick the lock of the gates.'
{On it.} Replied Agony and a thin dark purple goo tentacle emerged from my index finger and entered the keyhole of the lock. A clicking sound was heard soon and I opened the gates. Well, that was easy. The wizards are lacking the common sense to not ensure their houses' safety against a simple lockpicking and other muggle means, even though it should be easy with their magic. They are looking down on muggles too much. Maybe using magic is burning up their brain cells?
I crossed the gates and had a short walk through the quite tastelessly decorated victorian garden until I arrived before the manor's door and let Agony open them for me again.
I entered the manor and quietly closed the door behind me. What greeted me was a long dark hallway filled up with magical portraits. Every portrait was currently asleep, some were sleeping soundly and some were snoring loudly. They should be the Avery ancestors.
I activated my Soul Sight, one of the racial abilities of a Demon. I looked around and found only three souls. One shining dark grey soul on the upper floor, one weird small soul somewhere downstairs, and one really small green soul that looked rather weak somewhere on the ground floor. The first should be Avery's soul. The second one is probably the soul of a house-elf and the last one is a mystery. I will look at that one after I am done here.
From what I have seen so far, then the normal human's soul is a light grey orb. The eviler they are, the darker the color and vice versa. The purest souls that I have seen until now were the souls of small babies from the orphanage. The shine on Avery's soul must be the distinguishing mark of a magical soul. And why do I think that the second soul here is weird and most likely belongs to the house-elf? Well, this is the first time, I have seen a soul with pair of pointy ears. Weird.
Let's deal with Avery first. I walked down the dark hallway and continued my way upstairs, where I stopped before a black door leading to the bedroom of my prey. I quietly opened the door and slipped inside. It was a flamboyant room with a lot of expensive-looking furniture and a big four-poster bed in which slept a tall dark-haired man with sharp facial features and a thin mustache.
Now, what to do to make the most of this opportunity that appeared before me? Should I just kill him and take what I want? No, his death could trigger the wards or some other traps. I shouldn't underestimate the wizards and especially those from these old magical families. Although I don't think that they could kill me, but they could immobilize me here and I would get captured by whoever comes here after that.
And there is also the house-elf as I don't want to kill that pitiable being. But I don't need the house-elf right now and even then, I wouldn't want one from a Dark Family. He would be either a hateful bigot or a depressed mess beaten into submission. If I wanted to have the house-elf, I would rather have a cute one. I have my standards. So I will probably let the elf free.
My gaze fell onto the wand lying on the bedside table and I got an idea. I picked the wand with my right hand and I could immediately feel my magic flow into it. I could feel the wand rejecting me but I just made it obey with the brute strength of my absurd amount of magic. Looks like I could use it.
I pointed the wand at the man's head and uttered the name of a certain spell and focused my intent on it.
"Imperio."
The Imperius Curse is one of the three Unforgivable Curses. A sinister spell that placed the victim completely under the caster's control. Although it could be defended against with exceptional strength of will.
My Presence Concealment was dropped as I 'attacked' my target. The Presence Concealment is deactivated after an attack on the target or when I make others purposely aware of me. The only weakness of this ability.
But it doesn't matter, as I need to talk right now to give my new puppet some orders.
"Wake up and stand before me," I ordered.
The puppet opened his eyes which looked somehow dull and stood up from his bed. He was fortunately clothed in some silk sleepwear so my eyes were spared.
My curse was successfully cast even though it was my first time casting a spell with the wand. I could feel a slight connection to the puppet's mind. Looks like I am talented in the Dark Arts.
The first spell that I cast when I got my hands on a wand was an Unforgivable one. I am going to be a Slytherin, aren't I?
Well, let's quickly get things done. Agony could use some snacks and I want to know what a soul of a magical person tastes like. Until now, I have only tasted the souls of random thugs and criminals, that I could get my hands on and they were only so-so.
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