章節 27: Errands to Run
A/N: Pat-reon: HelloDarkness07.
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February 1938:
For the first time in a very long time, I had a lot of free time, and nothing much to do. I literally have months, before any Medical College starts the admission process.
Acquiring the muggle Certificates, that were needed to prove my Secondary education was easy. I just had to give a few exams, after learning and remembering the High school level knowledge. I did this last summer itself, when I had a small holiday from my apprenticeship.
And now, I was free from the Apprenticeship, two months earlier than I'd expected, with more than enough free time on my hands.
Which means, I finally have enough time for my errands, which I'd been putting off, or planning, since I was 11.
Finishing with the last Runic symbols, I stand up, and look at my latest project. On the floor of the Ritual Chamber, in the Aves Manor, were four concentric circles, having radii of 2m, 2.1m, 2.6m, and 2.7m each, all drawn using crushed charcoal. The pair of closer circles had runes in between them, using white chalk, while the 2nd and 3rd circles have a continuous zig zag line drawn between them, also with plain white chalk.
In the middle of the smallest circle, was a 6 pointed Star of David, with the points touching the circle's inner border. Each corner had a few ingredients in them, that I needed for this particular Ritual.
Bicorn horn, a 100 gm of Mercury, a single ruby from the back of a fire-crab, blood of a Demiguise, a rock that has touched dragon flames, and the tears of a mermaid, collected underwater. Surprisingly, none of this stuff was exceedingly rare, and I found them all in the Diagon Alley itself.
While the Circles were drawn by charcoal, the Star of David was drawn by burning firewhisky after using a brush to draw it on the ground, in the exact shape. And right in the middle of the star, exactly where the centre of all four circles should be, was a single copper plate, with water filling it.
The water had to be from underground, that hadn't seen the light of day for at least 24 hours, and it had to be distilled no longer than 12 hours ago.
Checking the Runes, the ingredients, and the placement of them all once again, I sigh in relief. This was the first time I'm preparing this Ritual, and I was a little bit nervous. The quality of the materials was top notch, and I hadn't messed with any of the steps. At least, not yet.
Walking out of the biggest circles, careful not to smudge anything, I take a deep breath, and say, "Mother Magic, hear my plea." I tap the Rune for activation on the outermost Runic circle, and when it glows a dull orange, I walk into the empty space between the 2nd and 3rd circles, and stop.
I say, "Show me what I want to see." Another smaller step forward, to the edge of the inner two circles. "Grant my wish, and let me prove my measure." Taking another step forward, I enter the Star of David, and place a Silver blade on my palm.
Finally, I tap my leg on another rune, one in the circle right behind me, and say, "Show me those, that are my ancestor's greatest treasures."
Slowly, I pierce the tip of my dagger in the palm of my hand, and allow the blood to flow out of it. Holding the hand above the water filled copper plate, I clench my fist, and as the first drops of blood start falling into the plate, I say, "Thesaurum Quaerere Quod Perierat."
Immediately, the blood in the plate starts bubbling, as the entire plate heats up. The temperature keeps rising, heating the blooded water with it, and within 10 seconds, the entire liquid contents of the plate evaporates into the air. The steam from the evaporated water and blood floats all around the room, moving in seemingly random directions, expanding and becoming thicker, making the air in the room entirely foggy, the fog being red in colour.
It happens for a few more seconds, before the Fog stops moving, and transforms. As if I'm seeing in a Pensieve, the fog transforms into a different place, somewhere that I recognise.
The Slytherin Vault.
Every direction that I turn my head towards, I see only the Slytherin Vault. But.. funnily enough, the entire vault was empty. It was as if the Illusion couldn't see what was inside my vault. It's probably the limit of this Scrying Ritual, or the protections laid into the Vault.
Other than that, it felt as if I was actually inside my Vault, and not seeing an illusion.
It stays like this for a few more seconds, after which I see a different image. This time, it is the Aves Family Vault. Just like before, I see the entire vault, and once again, I don't see anything from within the vault. Even this looked completely empty to me.
Next, I see a Vault door that I don't recognise, which is really weird. The other two Vaults I could see from the inside, but this one is only visible from the outside? Before it can disappear, I look all over the door, and manage to find a very small marking that identifies the Vault for me. The Mark of Peverell, the symbol for Deathly Hallows. This is the Peverell Vault!
Suddenly, the vision changes, and I see no more Gringotts Vaults. Which makes sense, since the Ritual will show only those things that I have an actual claim to. And while I am descended from a lot more magical families, it does not mean I have a claim to all of those Vaults.
The next sight that the illusion changes into, is not one I recognise. I was near a cliff, seemingly empty of anything prominent, but I could feel that something was hidden here, call it a hunch.
The grass was green in colour, and in front of me, I could see the ocean. There were no trees, as far as I could see, and the land was only covered in grass, or smaller plants.
I quickly memorize everything around me, so that I can find the place again, before the place disappears from my sight.
And then, the illusion changes again, showing me my own Aves Manor. I chuckle, waiting for the sight to change, and keep feeding blood to the Ritual, with my fist still clenched.
Soon, the illusion changes once more, and this time, I smile wide. This.. is what I was looking for.
I was in a forest, in southern Europe, from the looks of it. There were trees everywhere, but I could see a few animals moving around, and one of them immediately catches my eye. A Unicorn. And not just one, an entire herd of them, all of them laying down peacefully.
There are very few places that Unicorns live freely, the Forbidden forest in Scotland one of them. The others were Ireland, Portugal, Greece, and Albania. Some other countries did have them, but they weren't as large in numbers as the countries I mentioned.
And I now knew, that the illusion was showing me Albania, which is what I was hoping for.
Once again, I memorize everything about this place, even looking at the stars above so that I can find the exact location of this place, down to the coordinates.
A few seconds later, the illusion changes once again, to show me my house in Islington, and then, it turns back into red fog. And then, the ritual ends, with the fog disappearing into thin air.
With that, the Ritual circle I so painfully drew on the ground also disappears, the enchantments on the Ritual Chamber itself doing it, and I drop down, somehow feeling tired.
The Ritual Chamber was necessary for just this reason. No contamination for future Rituals, and no evidence to prove I did any ritual. Real handy, I know.
Getting up, I summon a glass of water from the kitchen, and drink up. The Ritual was tiring, but at least now I have the location, or locations.
I wonder what the Cliff contains, but that's not important right now.
10 minutes later, after an application of my Arithmancy and Astronomy knowledge, I have the Coordinates of the Albanian forest in hand. I knew what the stars looked like from there, and I had the position of the Sun relative to that location.
This was enough for me to find the location easily enough, with the error down to just a single kilometre. But, I also had an Arithmancy formula that took into consideration the animals I saw there, the types of trees, and the exact time I carried the Ritual out.
This decreased the error, so that I now had a patch of land, 100 squared meters in area, that I had to now look through.
That night, after a healthy dinner, I create a portal to the location, since apparition won't work that far, and walk through, coming out into a forest. The Unicorns were nowhere in sight, with their magically attuned senses probably having warned them of my arrival, but I don't mind. I wasn't here for them.
I could see that I was in the exact spot that I was trying to find. I couldn't sense anything Magical about this place, nor did I get any sense of wrongness. But, I didn't mind, because I was ready for it.
Pointing my palm upwards, I say, "Accio!" While focusing on the target.
Unfortunately, nothing happens for a minute or so. But, I had already expected it. If it was easy, anyone could have done it.
Smiling wide, I look down and push the rocks away with my legs, to clear the spot up a little. I then widen my arms, and slap both the palms on the ground, while closing my eyes. A wave of magic travels through my arms, and into the ground, making the surroundings light up in a soft white light.
This light then travels in a wave, with me at the epicenter, and after a mile or so, it comes back towards me. My very own Magical echolocation, that can show me physical objects in my own mind's eye.
Most of the stuff here was mundane, exceedingly so. Just plants, trees, insects, and animals. there were a few magical animals, that I could see, but nothing about them was something I was particularly hoping to find. And then, I see it. A single Magical artefact, buried in the ground.
"Bingo!" I whisper, looking excited.
It's no wonder that no one found it yet, it was hidden just that well.
Thankfully, I don't have to go that far to dig it out. Walking a few steps to the left, I find a tree, that looked as normal as they come.
The trunk of the tree was about 4 feet wide, which showed it's age, and just by looking at it, no one could even guess that it was hollow.
Pointing my wand at the tree trunk, right near the bottom, I transfigure the ground into water, which is really tougher than it seems. Immediately, the ground becomes black, having turned to water in the dark, and I hear the sound of something dropping on the ground, underneath the water.
Smiling, I dip my hand inside, and feel for the bed of the newly formed body of water. A Lumos orb forms above my wet hand, to allow me to look into the water clearly, and then, I see it.
"The Lost Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw."
With a gentle movement, I pull it out, by hand, and place it on the ground beside me, and just stare at it.
For so long, I'd wanted to come here, to seek it out, but I couldn't. I didn't know enough magic to do it then. I could have done it after learning Sorcery, but I didn't want anyone to know that the Diadem was taken. More accurately, I didn't want Tom Riddle to know that the Diadem was taken.
Which is why, I had waited until I learned Alchemy. Or, at least enough Alchemy to transmutate a replica that won't turn back into its original form.
But now, I can do it. I can replace the Diadem with an exact replica, without fear of someone coming to look for it.
I don't know what it does, I don't know why the Sorting Hat wanted me to find it, but I do know it belonged to Rowena, my ancestor, and then Helena, the sister of my other ancestor. So, technically, it's mine. And there's no way I'm letting anyone else claim it.
Placing it to the side, I tap my left palm on the ground beside the small body of water, and hold it there for a second. When I lift my palm, there's a single Runic symbol, the Anusuz, that denotes stability. This way, my transfiguration spell won't time out, or be uncast before I allow it to.
And then, I start taking out ingredients from my moleskin pouch, including a vial of Phoenix tears, and a bar of molten Goblin's Silver.
"Let's get to transmutating a replica!" i whisper to myself, excited to finally accomplish one of my old goals. Find and claim the Lost Diadem, check!
I'll check its capabilities later, for now, focus on replacing it.
When I return home that night, I bring with me the Lost Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, an artefact thought lost to the world more than 900 years ago, having replaced it with an almost flawless replica.
The only flaw it had, was that the replica was completely mundane, and was just a headpiece. But, it was just as worn out by time, thanks to a handy Time spell of mine, and for all intents and purposes, was 1000 years old.
If anyone finds it(Tom, or the unspeakables), they'll just assume that the Diadem has lost all magic, as Artefacts are wont to do.
I keep the original in the Chamber of Secrets, in Salazar's own rooms, because I did visit them at least once a week. I wasn't going to study it immediately, I had to run a few tests first. But before that, I had another errand to run.
And this one, was not even a little bit as happy as the first errand.
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Two days later, I take the form of a random muggle I saw one day, thankful for my Metamorphmagic once again, and apparate outside a small village in Northern England.
The name of the village, was Little Hangleton. And this is where my bastard of a father lives.
Mind resolute, I walk towards the trees, that I know hides the path to the Gaunt Shack. I had visited this place yesterday, just to scout it out.
Marvolo Gaunt had died more than a decade ago, and Merope Gaunt had died right around that time, while giving birth to Tom Riddle Jr, leaving Morfin Gaunt, my father, as the sole heir to the Gaunt shack.
But, he hadn't kept the shack completely intact. It was almost broken down, and there was grime and dirt all around the shack's building. He was now lonely, and mentally unstable, and I was afraid for nothing.
I didn't care though. He raped my mother, and I won't forgive that.
Approaching the shack, I knock on the door, and wait.
~~GO AWAY!~~ A voice from the inside yells, while at the same time, the snake stuck to the door comes to life, and tries to bite my face.
Swatting it aside with my wand, I wave it at the door to unlock it.
~~I said go away! Fucking pig, can't even talk to snakes and thinks he deserves to come to the land of the mighty Gaunts!~~ a man that could only be Morfin Gaunt says, coming from an inside room.
He was as ugly as I'd expected, with a long beard not even maintained. The brown mane of hair that stood up in places was not pretty. His face was covered in warts, which could make someone believe he was a Hag, but the wand in his hand was enough to prove otherwise.
His eyes were also brown, and he had a distinct misalignment visible.
He points his wand at me, and snarls, ~~Go away, insect! You're not worthy of coming here!~~
If the short conversation wasn't enough to prove my doubts about his character, his memories of raping multiple muggle women definitely is. So, my mum wasn't his only victim, eh? Fucking asshole, this just makes me hate him even more.
Glaring at him, I say, ~~I would have spoken about how much I hate you, but what's the point? You won't remember anything anyway.~~
Before he can do anything more than drop his wand in shock, the fact that I'm speaking Parseltongue shocking him, I point my wand at his face, and hiss out, "CRUCIOOO!"
"AAAARGH- AGKH- KHGGH!!" My father yells, screams, dropping down to the ground, and twitching on the ground.
The shock of causing so much pain by the twist of my wand, is almost enough to make me stop casting the curse, but I don't. This man raped my mother, and many more women. He then erased their memories of the encounter, but nothing can erase the trauma they went through.
I look on impassively, and stop casting. Giving him a few seconds to breathe, I once more point my wand at him, and cast, "CRUCIO!" Not relishing in his screams, but I do feel a little satisfaction at the pain I can feel him going through.
For 5 times, I hit him with 3 seconds worth of the Cruciatus curse, every hit giving him a break of 10-20 seconds.
And then, I stop. Still with a glaring look, I ignore the tears falling down my face, and place my hand on his head. A small journey through his mind, and I completely erase the memories of the last 15 minutes, just in case.
When I come out of his mind, I sit down on the ground, my victim unconscious. He has tears running down his face, his cheeks were read from all the screaming, and I bet that he will have a sore throat for months and months, along with twitchy muscles.
And just like the women he violated, he won't know exactly what went on here. He'll know someone hurt him, he'll know someone used the Cruciatus curse, but he won't know who did it, or why.
Morfin was sleeping in an awkward position, the struggling from the curse having messed with his body a lot. I scowl at his still twitching fingers, and then stop, my eye noticing the ring on his hand.
The Ring of Cadmus Peverell, which held an artefact of Death itself. A Deathly Hallow, the Resurrection Stone.
It wasn't my goal to take it, heck, I hadn't even thought of it. But.. I can't just keep it here in the unworthy hands of my father, or for Tom Riddle to hopefully find. No..
But first, I put my hand in my mokeskin pouch, and summon the dagger to my hand. I just stare at it for a second, contemplating if I really should do this.
This was a cursed dagger, one that I found in Salazar Slytherin's Vault. Made of iron, the dagger was already rusted beyond repair, but the Curse on it still held.
One single cut, and the victim dies a slow, painful death. For 30 years, he will be hurting everywhere. No healer will find the cause, and no Curse Breaker will know what curse caused this.
This Dagger of Certain Death, was undetectable by any and all methods. Just the way Slytherins expect their enemies to die, and I am a Slytherin.
Taking the dagger, I lay a small cut at the back of Morfin's knee. And then, I move on to the Ring.
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Behind a small church in the City of London, there is a cemetery. The Cemetery has no one in it, since even guards refuse to come inside during the night.
Sitting down in front of a grave, I look at the headstone. "Marigold Aves- Sister, Mother, and a caregiver." The headstone said.
Keeping my wand down on the ground, I finally allow the feelings to get out, with the sniffles quickly evolving to a silent wail.
I had done it. I'd avenged my mom. All without breaking my Guardian's Oath.
There's a reason it is called the Guardian's Oath, because that's what kind of healer I am. If I think a person is a danger to society, I could take steps to prevent them from harming anyone, even killing them, or refusing healing if necessary.
Cursing probably isn't a method, but I don't really care. If it pings on the Oath breaking, then it does. I'll be an Enchanter, as it is a backup plan that I've been working on.
"Hey, mum. Sorry for the show." I say, wiping my eyes after a few minutes of crying my eyes dry.
Looking at the headstone, I say, "I know.. you probably don't agree with what I did. Or if you do, you probably don't agree with my methods. I don't really care. He hurt you, he ruined your life, caused your death. I wanted to hurt him.. and I did."
Sniffling a bit, I control my trembling mouth, wipe my eyes again, and say, "If.. if you hate me.. I understand.. I'd hate me too. But.. I hope you understand why I did it. I hope you're proud of the person I've become.. despite this one.. crime."
"I won't ask for forgiveness.. I don't think I deserve that. I did what I think he deserved for hurting you. I won't ask for praise either, because.. I didn't like doing it. I just.. did it." I say, and pause for a while, wondering what else I should say.
I'm not a Christian, and I'm not even a Hindu anymore. My Rebirth gave me a second chance, and I'm not going to waste it on religion, when I have knowledge to run after.
What else, what else?
I say, "I'm sorry for not coming here before.. I didn't think I deserved to.." I did take the place of her son, or merged with him.
I felt like she won't appreciate me coming here. But now, I wanted to confess my crime to her in person, hoping that her soul gets the peace she deserves.
"I probably don't deserve to come here now either.. but I had to say this in person. Thank you for giving life to me.. thank you for not giving up, even when life threw everything it had at you. I know.. nothing can return your life to you, at least, I don't know of any method to do it yet, but I hope, that knowing the fate of your tormentor gives you a little bit of satisfaction."
I stay silent for a minute, just enjoying the silence, and feeling a little bit lighter. I'd stopped crying sometime in the middle of my rant, and I was just moving my finger through the dirt.
Standing up, I say, "This is goodbye.. for now. I'll leave you to your rest, leave you to enjoy Heaven. Maybe I'll return someday, when my mind isn't as chaotic as it is now. Goodbye, mum."
Moving forward, I lay a small kiss on the headstone, careful not to step on the actual grave, and turn around.
And then, I freeze, finding someone staring at me, whom I didn't even hear coming. It was an old man, that looked to be about in his last years, and just the robes on him were enough to tell me that he's a wizard.
There was nothing coming from him. Smell, magic, thoughts, sound, everything other than my sight told me that the man didn't exist, that he wasn't standing right in front of me, close enough to hear my private words, looking at me with sympathy.
"Mason Aves, we meet at last." The old man says, in a raspy voice.
"Nicholas Flamel, I presume?" I ask, getting my wand back in my hand, just in case.
The old man smiles, and claps his hands softly. He says, "Bravo! You recognised me even without having seen me before!"
"I knew you'd come some day, your wife's hints were clear enough. I just didn't think it'll be.. here." I say, frowning at him, and waving my hand around to show the graveyard.
Nicholas Flamel, an immortal Alchemist, bows to me a little, and says, "If you're worried about your private words, then I didn't hear anything. I recognise a mourning soul when I see one."
He then straightens up, as much as his age would allow him, and says, "Now, as much as I'd like to continue, let's take our conversation elsewhere, shall we? They're about to find you, and it'll be really bad if they do, even if you manage to somehow escape from them."
And with a snap of his fingers, we're somewhere else. The change was so sudden, that I lose my balance, and lean backwards, involuntarily. I widen my eyes, and am about to cast a spell to save my fall, when I find myself sitting in a soft chair, just as suddenly.
I look around, eyes moving around from one point to the other, trying to find where I am, and to find a way out of here.
"You'll be free to go in a day, when your trail gets cold. But, until then, my house is open for your stay." The old man says, seated in a similar chair in front of me.
I'm strong, and ever since I've been practicing my spells and physical combat, on empty suits of armour of all things, I've gotten stronger. Even still, I know for a fact, that I am no match for this old alchemist here.
"Relax, why don't you? You must have some questions, no?" The old man asks, seeing me just stare at him.
I relax a little, still keeping my guard up. I might not be able to defeat him, but I will find a way to get out if he tries to trap me. I mean, Nicholas Flamel has no reason to do so, but I'm not going to chance it.
I re-holster my wand, and say, "Yes. I have a question. What the bloody hell is going on here?!"
The old man smiles, and says, "In short, I saved your life, that's what. If you want the long answer, that's.. a very long story. Have some tea, my wife makes an amazing croissant."
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A/N: I'm evil, aren't I? A cliffhanger!
So, basically the Guardians Oath is an open Oath. He is a Healer, he will heal, but he can refuse to heal someone depending on what type of person the patient is. It'll only count as not breaking the Oath, however, when the patient is an absolute evil piece of shit, or if the patient is on the opposite side of a War.
This also gives the Healer permission to harm someone, the severity once again, depending on the type of person they are, and the sides in a war. It also depends on the Healer own views, so not all people can take the oath.
If the Healer is a piece of shit himself, then the Oath won't even show itself, he won't be a true healer, and other Healers will know it.
Hope this explains it all, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask!
The Ritual he went through didn't show the Locket and the Ring. Locket, because it doesn't belong to them anymore, Merope sold it off, and the Ring, because the Gaunts don't actually consider it a treasure. They like it, but they don't treasure it.
Thank you for your support! Tata!
每周推薦票狀態
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榜單 
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