The stench of sweat clawed through the air.
The crowd roared in glee.
In the dueling arena, one of the best fights for the past years have the entire crowd captivated. A show of lights and the sound of weapons clashing were the main event of the night.
The wards around the dueling arena were shaking for the magic it tried to contain. People gathered and tried to get as close as the wards allowed them. A huge wall of smoke emerged when the last spells casted met in the middle.
There was a scream and then silence.
When the smoke was removed only one figure could be seen standing. His clothes were ruined. His hair was cover in mud and blood. His arm was bleeding and he could barely support himself. Blood cover his forehead and the front part of his body.
"I can't believe it, he defeated all of them" whisper a man while he was trying to not fell down with all the people pushing from behind.
In the top part of the place two men were sitting together, they were wearing masks as the other people around there.
"Told you, he is the wizard we need," said the man in the right
"I should have trust your word my friend, with him in our side we can manage to get the others to agree. Wizards should be above the other races. We are by far the most powerful. He proves it" answer the man sitting by his side.
"Of course, he does. He had defeated seven vampires of the guard of Vlad himself. Those were some of the best, the vampires can offer and you know it is them you fear in a duel, specially if there are weapons involved" exclaim the man "The difficult part is get him, he usually disappear at the end of the duel; but it seem that seven were to much for him in one night. When the ward gets removed, is the perfect time for us to get him"
'Sangue Roulette' was the name of the club. This was a place were the fights to control the underground were taken, since the Establishment of the Country. Here the Lord who keeps the illegal dealings out of sight was chosen. He who was the strongest was the one in power.
The runes for the ward were deactivated and a healer went immediately to the bleeding man side and start doing his best to heal him as soon as possible.
"You will be the death of me," muttered the healer "By the way, great performance Oz"
"Not good enough if I'm this wounded," said Oz
"Only you would say something like that, there were seven vampires" replied sarcastically the healer "and you only have your left arm almost removed, of course it was nothing"
When the healer was done, Oz took out his wand and a few spells later he was clean and wearing different clothes and just when he almost reached the apparition place two men approached him.
Here they come though Oz
"We had a proposition, which I'm sure you would be interested to hear," said the man
"What could that be gentleman?" asked Oz
When Italy was established as a country. A chamber was built. White stones walls protected the chamber, the ceiling was made by crystal that allowed the sunlight and the moonlight to pass and touch a small black stone, decorated by old runes, which was placed in the middle. Around the black stone, a stone ring resembles a table stood guard. The black stone only seen by few and rumored to exist by all the rest was the core of Italy. The link between the magic of the land, and the magical people who lived there.
It was in this chamber the Italian Council meet and decided what was the best for the country. Whatever they decided was reinforced by the magic of the stone, and thus the laws were easier to enforce to the others.
The council was in a meeting; seven high chairs decorated in differents ways were placed around the stone ring that guards the black stone. The chamber was humming with magic, this day the meeting had started as custom with the arrival of seven men dressed in their best robes, all of them were expressionless, they took their place in the ring and sat. The discussion started and just when all believed the meeting was over, the man wearing the blue robe start what would led to the extermination of the council if it proves to be as weak as many had fear to believe.
"There some events that had occurred recently and which I fear are of great concern," said the man, his white skin highlighted his blue eyes that show how serious he was about the topic. His hairless head was his principal feature that identifies him as Mauricio Calve "there has been werewolves attacks in small villages in the outskirts of the country, the ones that attack are those who had no accept the will of their wolfs"
"What about the people of the villages?" asked Milo Laudadio
"There were few survivors, must of the villagers were muggles, we make sure to erase all the evidence but that those not tell us anything.
His eyes rested on the man wearing red robes and strange black hat "If your race doesn't have control of themselves, which means all you are a danger for others. Three magical families died in this attacks, people will want answers that we don't have, how can you explain this Dante?" Mauricio was not taking any chances, he had to start with the doubts, the fear will follow and then he could get them out of the council.
"You said that the attack was from werewolves that didn't accept the will, the same kind of werewolves that is not one yet and had no control in the night of the full moon" replied Dante "Nobody of my clan has ever been in this situation"
"But you control those of your race in this country, there is no other explanation than someone of your clan start it. Normal werewolves are in control in their beast form besides they can transform when they want if they are powerful enough, if one of them bites someone, that does not change the other to a werewolf. Yours, have to will the change to the other person, for it to happen"
"You cannot be sure of what you claim, I will find out what really happened," said Dante
"Easy for you to say that, you were not the one to go there and see all the destruction, but there is more" ranted Mauricio
"The disappearance of children in the west coast. Let me tell you, Frida Summers came to me with the disappearance of her daughter last month, further research told us this have been happening for the past year, we did not notice because all the others were muggles" said Miguel Narde, "I try many things to determinate what happened and all the interviews of those affected were the same in one thing. The sea act weird the day of a disappearance and in the night there was some kind of music, but only children could heard it"
"How can you sure of that, if only children could heard it?" asked Vandor Fini
"There are still more children in this towns that confirm it, the memories are prove of it, we can't heard it but we made others children, magical ones go in the pensieve and tell us what they hear, Marissa told me it was like a lullaby, that finished with a come to me" Miguel was getting angry and yelled "we had to take the girl and the others out of the pensieve, healers said it was some kind of Hypnosis"
"You can't be implying that it was us, mermaids" exclaim Ragnor
"I have not say that, but it makes me wonder, the true loyalties of your race and with what Mauricio has tell us now, I do wonder about the rest of you, even the vampires, for far too long has all of you do whatever you had wanted" his voice was cold and his brown eyes gave away what he really though of the others magical beings
"I call for a vote of no confidence and to remove the three of you of this council, if your selfishness allows more to die there is not other option for us"
"You know, what you really are asking for? We will not go just because you say it" replied Vlad "there will be grave consequences for this and I'm sure, there won't be a bloodless end for this kind of decision"
"Are you threatening us?" said Milo Laudadio
"No, I'm only saying there will be consequences" explained Vlad
"This should not be decided this way, we have to analyze every evidence and then we should vote" said Vandor Fini "this will be decided in three months, all of you should be prepare for everything that may happen" with that said Vandor got up his high chair, turned around and leaved the chamber.
The other members followed Vandor but all of them have differents thoughts of the matter.
In an office room, Miguel Narde sat in his favorite chair; in the other side of the desk Mauricio Calve was sitting in another chair, sipping his tea.
"It seems that Vlad got Milo to our side but is Vandor, the one we had to worry about, even with all we had said he didn't turned to us, he is going to investigate and he could very well found out the true with the help of his inventions and spells" said Miguel "so what do we do about it?"
"Oh, don't pressure yourself for this, I understand that Fini loves his little sister more than anything, maybe even in a more deep kind of love than just siblings" answer Calve " I wonder…"
"Blackmail, you want a blackmail, her live for the vote perhaps?" said Narde
"What happened in the Council Chamber has take us by surprise" said Vlad "you have to be honest, were you responsible for this atrocious events?"
"No, my clan is not responsible for this nor are the mermaids, they are trying to take us out, but we do not know why?" replied Dante
"Maybe we could make a truce with them," whispered Ragnor
"No, that make us seem like the bad ones, we need more information, the most important; is what they want with this, what they win with all of this, we know Calve and Narde have never like us because of our differences but it has been many years since they got in the council and this was soo sudden. They are planning something and we need to find out what," The seriousness of his voice and eyes told Ragnor and Dante, they have to be careful if they wanted to get out of this one without a bloodbath.
Tania was sure she was in the middle of nowhere. She had followed the directions that Hadrian gave her and the only thing she found was a deserted mountain, okay maybe more rocks than anything else but even then she was sure this was not the place. How could this mountain of rocks be any valuable for them? But then again Hadrian had to have something planned because she really would kill him if he just sent her in just for fun, and knowing him even for a few months she was sure he could certainly do it.
Her dress was getting dirty and the hot weather was not helping her. The man she had bring with herself told her that the property was valuable to around 3 billions galleons and seven Knuts.
"What? That's to high sir," replied Tania taking her part as a businesswoman
"Well, you have to consider that you want the entire mountain and all fifteen km around it," said the man
"I'm not sure to really want this place, I mean there is not a single plant around here, is almost desert and of course no animals around either. The weather is not comfortable in the slightest and from what I heard this place have some kind of natural ward that doesn't allow magic to function properly. What kind of things do you expect me to pay for apart from the land?" asked Tania with an air of superiority that intimidated the man; she was not going to pay that high for this pile of… well this place.
"Well I'm sure there has to be something that made you look for this particular kind of place," replied the man
"What I do is my business" exclaim Tania "one had to wonder if you really have what I'm looking for, but then again I may have overestimate your place of work. There was nobody who actually recommend me there"
"Please reconsider your decision. This place values what I ask for it" mutter the man with sweat felling from his forehead, he could not believe a girl, no a really young woman could make him feel this hopeless.
"Maybe I should do business elsewhere, a pity really" Tania turn around and walked, she had to get out of the natural ward to appear, but she was waiting, she knew she had already won.
"Wait! Maybe we could make and agreement, a discount" yelled the man
"Of how much we are talking?" asked Tania; in her mind she couldn't stop the smile like the cat of Alice in wonderland.
In the middle of the street of Florida stands an imposing snow-white marble building: Gringotts Wizarding Bank
Hadrian was sure that the buildings in the branch of Gringotts have all the same structure, they were identical, the same bronze doors flanked by goblins in a uniform of scarlet and gold, which leads into a small entrance hall and another set of doors. Even the engraved words on these silver doors were exactly the same.
The message was clear, don't think about robbing the bank or you will pay dearly. Well it certainly would have a better effect if Hadrian had not robbed it already.
A pair of goblins bowed to him when he entered as custom to House Lords. In the main hall, about a hundred goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining jewels through eyeglasses. There were many doors leading off the hall, and more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Hadrian look around for a moment and then made his way for one of the empty counters.
"Greetings, master goblin" said Hadrian with a slight nod.
"A Lord of an old house, what can I do for you?" asked the goblin with an expressionless face, his glasses reflecting the light of the room, magical glasses which gave the goblin all he needed to know of the person in front of him.
"I request a meeting for some business," whispered Hadrian
The goblins, entrusted to all the gold and important items by the magical world, were creatures that treat everybody the same way, no matter race or influence. They did the best work when it came to business, which made them not a social kind of race. For them, the gold was the only thing with value.
But there was a time when goblins were civil with another being and it was when they were doing business.
Hadrian had arrived to Gringotts three hours ago but he was not nearer to finish his business than when he had arrived. He was in what appear to be a VIP room; he had been waiting for nearly two hours. It had taken him one hour to explain the contract of the business he wished to do with the goblins but it seem that they needed more time to think about it. Just as Hadrian was starting to get out of the room to find someone to tell him that he would wait the owl when they had decided, a goblin entered the room, give him a scroll with Gringotts seal am told him "read and sign"
In a beautiful room decorated with blue walls and aquariums, full of wonderful and different kind of fishes. The ceiling was white with a resplendent chandelier hanging in the center. Three men were sitting in a round table under the chandelier.
One of them have long red hair and brown eyes, dressed in a black suit and wearing a tired expression, he was not amused by the games of naïve and young people. His pale, almost white skin and his sharp-pointed ears betrayed his ancestry of years as vampire; Vlad de Bova was not someone you wanted to meet, if you were on his bad side. The man in dark green robes and strange black hat was Dante de Locre; one of the few silver werewolf as it showed with his long silver hair, he had as all werewolves amber eyes. The last one was blond, his skin was a little blue and has black eyes, he was wearing comfortable blue pants and a red robes; Ragnor Valanor was one of the few mermaids that could actually take a human form and stay out of the water for some days. He was the one whom broke the uncomfortable silence of the room "You were right"
"About what?" replied Vlad
"There truly was a reason for all of this, one that is not going to help us at all" answered Ragnor
"What do you mean?" ranted Dante
"They want us out of the country to take all we have, money, properties, influence" Ragnor was not going to stand for it to happen "there is no way for a negation and been honest I don't want one with them. If they try anything I will start a war"
"If they succeded in the council, the protection the stone gave us in this land would be removed from us and makes us vulnerable to them" Dante said "The one whose going to decide is Vandor Fini, I'm not sure if he is going to help us, the evidence is against us and without the stone it would be easier for them to hunt us down if we stayed"
"It's decided then, if they expel us from the council I'll go to war with you Ragnor" answered Vlad
"Count me in, if the choice is the wrong one for us; there is nothing to gain but everything to lose. I'll fight too" reassured Dante "I'll not allow them to destroy the reputation of my race with their lies"
In a gorgeous garden, the green trees were starting to show white flowers, it was the beginning of the season so it was expected. A lake near the garden reflected the light of the sun. It was midday and the hot weather was starting to get to the few people wandering around.
Under a leafy tree a man was sitting leaning on the wood, his eyes were closed and he was enjoying the shadow of the tree and enjoying the gentle breeze that reached him. The hot weather was not a problem for him especially with the aide of a little spell he had created for that proposes alone.
He had been there since the early morning, he had decided that he was going to made his choice that day for something of incredible importance for him and his country, but he has not yet reach his objective. The evidence was clear but inconclusive, there could be fool play and he was awared of that.
"Narde is becoming quite insistent" he murmured to himself "that makes me wonder what really is going on. I had investigated every evidence but there are some things that doesn't make sense but I'm not sure if that means anything at all"
"My willingness to support their cause is going to change everything, this is not so easy" with a heavy sigh he pinched the bridge of his nose; he was tired of thinking of all the possible consequences and was not sure how to proceed.
"Oh! There you are, I have been searching for you all day." said a girly voice.
Vandor Fini opened his blue eyes and saw his little sister, six years younger than him. A beauty with brown hair like his and her expressive blue-white eyes. Also the love of his life. He had waited for her to reach a reasonable age for her to get involved with him in a romantic way, it was not secret his feeling for her and he had made sure she knew of them. She had promised that arriving the appropriated time she would gave him her answer, they were not going to get an arrangement married; he would respect her decision.
"What have you in such state? You did not have breakfast and I was worried you were sick but it doesn't seem so" said the young woman in a calmer tone
"I wonder that myself, in the council many things are happening and you know I trust you more than anyone but I can't tell you this problems, there are mine to concern, it's just difficult" replied in a tired voice Vandor
"Trust in your instincts and try to see what usually is not there and you will find your answer" try to reassured him her sister
"I don't know what I would do without you" sighed Vandor
"That is why I want to tell you that I" she paused for a few moments "no forget it I will tell you later when you have recovered. Come we have to return you home, you need some sleep, everything is going to be fine, you will see" said the young girl of sixteen.
Some ladies came to talk to Marissa Fini and whispered something to her, with some annoyance written in her face for those few that knew her and a indifference expression for the rest, she told her brother "I will see you in the manor I have something to do first"
His brother nodded his head and saw Marissa disappear with the other women.
In one of the most famous restaurants in Italy, Marissa Fini was waiting impatiently, she had asked for a special tea to try and calm herself, the tea was a strong combination that has always relax her in times like this.
"Marissa Fini I presume, it's a pleasure to meet you. I am Miguel Narde" said the man kissing the back of his hand as custom demanded and taking the chair across Marissa
"The pleasure is mine, what can I do for you?" asked Marissa with a cold voice
"You see we have a little problem in the council in our last meeting and I was really worried for all the members, so I asked you for your sincerity to tell me if this has caused some kind of trouble with you brother?" the concern was evident in his voice but his eyes didn't tell the same story.
"My brother is fine, I dare say he is not troubled at all, your concern was misplaced" answered Marissa as there was nothing more to say. She finished her tea and stood up, ready to leave when her eyes turned pink for some seconds.
"Please my dear, we are not yet finished. I'm sure your bother has some trouble and I believed with our help he will see the truth" Miguel put his best smile for the benefit of the other people seeing them, a smirk was trying to break from his face.
Marissa took her sit again and could only nodded her head in reassurance of her help, she would do anything for the acceptance of the man with her.
Milo Laudadio was having second thoughts, what if Dante and Ragnor were innocents. No, it couldn't be. He had checked everything and he had reached a conclusion. They were guilty. But to some level he could understand Vlad. If his race was treated he would react very similar, even the same he would dare to say.
Beside he was sure Vlad hadn't said that without the means to do something about it. This could lead to a war, and if they allied he was not so sure of their survival. Moments like this made him question why he had not inhered the sit of the council to his son years ago, but seeing his son of almost thirty living happily in Rumania, he didn't exactly have a choice.
A house-elf appeared at this door "Master, you have visitors"
"I was not expecting someone, who are they?" said Milo to Wika, the chief of the Laudadio house-elfs.
"The council members Mauricio Calve and Miguel Narde, sir." Replied the elf
"Let them pass" He was surprised by the visit but he hoped it could give him some light of the matters that have been bothering him for the last moments.
The two men entered the room. They were dressed in black and a serious expression.
"What I can I do for you?" Milo was tired, at his eighty-five he didn't want to be the center of attention, even less to have such a huge responsibility for his decisions.
"We know of your doubts but this is the best direction, we can't let them do whatever they want" started to say Miguel
"Soo, you're telling me that I should not be worried by the war that we are responsible to start. I don't know anymore, even without the stone protection, you cannot underestimate three members of the council like that. They were not selected to be part of it just because they are rich. They earned their place with blood so many years ago, especially Vlad. He is the oldest member. He surely knows more of Italy and its history than all of us put together" ranted Milo with the little compose he had left.
"No, we know of the dangers that this would entice. But we're not that weak. For years the magical resistance and better physical advantages that they possess as magical creatures has made us fear them. But we forget that we too are powerful beings, more powerful in fact" said Mauricio with a strong voice, not only trying to convince Milo but to reassured himself after the truth which Milo spoke moments before.
"Ha! That's not enough, I won't risk our country like that, we can't allowed them to kill, I know; but how are we going to get out of this one as the winners? Or better yet, alive?" the sarcasm in his tone was evident.
"We want you to see something or better yet someone that will give you the answers you seek. Follow us this night and you will see with your own eyes what we meant" reassured Miguel.
"Very well, we will see what you have, it better suits the situation if not" paused Milo with a rise in his eyebrow "well, you know what will happened, don't you?"
"This will not disappoint you." replied Mauricio.
"I was not sure at first but you were right. This is what we need, what Italy needs" Milo was sure he had lost his marbles at some point, otherwise he wouldn't be agreeing with what they were planning. But he couldn't see any other solution.
"So you're the lost king of the underworld" said Milo "I heard there have not been another like you for centuries. What are you doing here?"
"Whatever you mean, I'm here by the same reason which led you here" was the only replied he got.
"Milo, I want to present you Oz. As you know, he was the last ruler of the underground of Italy for the past two years" Mauricio Calve was proud of his accomplishment in getting Oz to their side.
"Now that presentations are done" said Miguel "we should start with our meeting. We have to plan what should we do about the next war with the magical creatures"
"Wait a second! I know we should prepare for everything as Vandor said but we are not sure if it will take place at all, even with my vote. Fini will be the one to decide at the end. How can you be soo sure of his vote and alliance to us" Milo was not a fool, this was really strange behavior for the other men in the room. What is going on?
"But Milo, you inspected and investigate the cases we presented in the council and your conclusions were the same as ours" said Mauricio specially since you don't have something to make you suspect and see the truth like Fini does. "I'm sure he will see reason"
"Then you should invite him. Together would be more useful for our cause" answered Milo "Until then, I will not come and waste my time. You have my vote and that is enough, we will see about a war when it's confirmed by Fini"
With that said Milo Laudadio left the place
"Well, it seems, he is not convinced at all but you have his vote. So when will I be able to meet this Fini person, you people talked about" said Oz "Sounds like someone that is giving you trouble"
"Of course not" ranted Mauricio "we are sure he will make the right decision"
Fini's Manor was a splendid view for the newcomers. Huge walls with statues of differents kinds of creatures. High windows with great views of the beautiful gardens, which were famous in all the country.
It was in this amicable state where a tragedy was going to take place.
In the principal office of the manor Vandor Fini could be see standing in front of fireplace. His stare directed to the orange flames. With some movements of his wand and a few words, the flames flew up to his hand turning black. His fingers moved and the flames followed it.
In has taken him close to five years to accomplish this charm. It has been his project for soo long, one could tell it was because of it; he had make spell-creation his way of live.
To have finally managed it, brought a proud feeling to Vandor. It was just sad that he could manage it precisely when he had much important matters to attend. But his sister had been right. He had followed his suspicions of the things that didn't make sense at first and his discoveries were alarming. His decision was made, there will not be expulsion of the magical creatures but there were going to be another vote; Narde and Calve were going to get what was coming to them for some years.
There was a loud knock in the door that got Vandor to return from his own thoughts. "Come in"
"Good evening brother. How was your trip?" asked Marissa with almost a whisper
"Interesting and enlighten." replied Vandor "but forget that for a moment. I have missed you; tell me what have you done these past days. You have not been out of the school for more than one month and still have two more for the Easter holidays."
"Well, I had not made that much other than buying some dresses. The new fashion has arrived recently from France and I could not be the only girl left out of the season." Her expression demonstrated how young she really was. There was sometimes where she will show this part of herself. "Mrs. Zabini is competing with Mrs. Razeto for the hosting to the next ball. They are trying their best to be able to present their daughters. It appears that for this season there are many eligible young men with a good fortune."
"It good to know, this society never change" said Vandor
"Yes, well we live long enough to try and experiment with a lot of things, but this aspects will never change. At least not until something of unpredictable nature happens." Teased Marissa
"Yes, well there sure is going to be something happening very soon" Vandor was not sure if he should just for this one trust her sister, they had gone though a lot of things together, specially the deaths of their parents.
"What do you mean?" Her confusion was obvious in her voice
Fighting with himself, he decided he was going to trust her, just for this one time. There were family after all; she would keep it secret, but was not going to disclose the finnier points "There have been happening a lot of things. Remembered that sometime ago, I told you I was worried about something in the council" She nodded her head and he continue to speak "well, there have been a lot more behind it than I first thought. My findings gave me a lot to think about and I decided against the vote that was proposed at the last meeting. Not only that I will make sure there is punishment for the real culprits. Things are going to be pretty bad at first, but is something we need to do. Italy can't have that kind of people deciding the future of it, when they don't have the best interest of the country as their priority."
"You should think carefully about it, the wizards have to be together, we look out for each other. Our race is more special than you think" replied Marissa, she was nervous. She couldn't believe her brother was going to help such horrible creatures. Narde had told her all about the meeting, she could not allow her brother to do such a thing to his own race. The magical creatures have their chance and then kill magical families. But she couldn't tell him that she knew the whereabouts of the council.
"What are you talking about Marissa? I don't get the meaning of what are you saying. It's almost as…no it couldn't be" an anxious Vandor didn't know what was going on with her sister and because of his love for her, blame it all at his exhausted body for all the trying things that happened during his journey to find the truth. "I'm tired, I will go to bed early for today" and with that left the room.
Unknown to him, her sister was making a call to one of the two people he wanted to ruin. Someone he would have never allow close to her sister ever again after all his findings.
A fine cup of wine was destroyed when it impacted to the wall. Miguel Narde was not a happy man at that moment. His worst fears have been made truth. Fini has found the evidence of their whereabouts. The ones that incriminated Calve and him of the atrocious things they have blame to the other members of the council. Years of planning and getting the needed things to be able to accomplish it was ruined by one sole man. They could not allow that to happen. Lucky for them, they have a plan B for this precisely situation. That Fini girl was going to be more useful than he had planned.
He will do whatever it takes to make his dreams come truth. Nobody was going to stop him, specially a boy that had recently been put in the council. Vandor Fini was going to die soon enough and his sister would do whatever he wanted as long as the potion was doing the desired effect.
Amortentia was the most powerful love potion ever invented and only one flask of it was going to secured Italy itself to him and with that all the money and power he wanted.
Tuesday July 24th 1921
This was the date of one of the most important events in the first years of the century. One of the last members of the Italian Council had perished. That day Vandor Fini was found death in his home. The healer had said it was an infection he got in his recent traveling.
Well, lucky for Vandor Fini that was an article of an old newspaper, which was part of the many things Harry had brought with himself. So the article was telling of the future murder of Vandor Fini, which was going to take place in two weeks.
"So they don't suspect a thing about you Guilbert" Hadrian was pleased, his business with Gringotts had gone as planned and Guilbert was doing fine in his 'mission'
"Are you sure they have not some kind of notice of Fini?" asked Hadrian with a raised eyebrow, his was composed as usual and his voice was that of a bored person.
"I'm sure, but I can't assured you anything of the past three hours I have been here" replied Guilbert "Even if they trusted me, they don't plan to give me much. They are counting in my death."
At that moment an alarm went on. A blue crystal shined in the pocket of Guilbert. He took out the little piece of jewelry and saw it for some time. Then he looked at Hadrian and said. "They know of Fini, the plans for his murder are starting as you said would happen at this point. I will never know how you do it"
"I'm a seer, of course I know." replied Hadrian
"We both know that is not true, your eyes are not white. Besides you only know of matters like this. The only explanation is that you read their actions by knowing them with all the information I gave you." ranted Guilbert in a whisper; he was trying to control his temper, which he discovered he had after meeting the Head of the Isegard House.
"I could have use a ritual, a black one that allow me to know" exclaim Hadrian with a knowing smirk.
"There doesn't exist such thing, I will know of that. I'm one of the few that knows of the old ways." replied instantly Guilbert
"Who told you, it was and old ritual?" Hadrian could not contain his laugher for much; his little smirk was turning to a normal smile.
"Are you implying of creating such ritual? You have lost your mind. Have you not knowledge at all of what happens when you do something as irresponsible as that without the proper guidance or help?" Guilbert could not believe it. But then again Hadrian had showed him all the impossible fits he could do with such a natural aura around him. It could be a possibility that what he said was true.
"Well as much as I love to tease you. I need you to go and find out how they are going to eliminate our dear friend Mr. Fini. His fake death will help us." With that said Hadrian saw how Guilbert disappeared off his manor.
Hadrian would wait for two weeks more to see all his plannings falling into place. The bad news was that Tania had not give up in finding him a bride to secure the family with an heir. He could only sighed and whispered, "If wishes were hippogriffs"
In another part of the Europe some events were taking place. Important things that could change a lot in the future, caused by a man that change things with his arrival to this time.
But one family was at the center of these changes. It was fortunate that it was for their benefit.
Today was not a good day for the Gaunts, especially for the head of the small family.
Marvolo didn't known where he went wrong. His son Morfin had an affair with a muggle, a beautiful woman but nonetheless a muggle. He didn't love her, he had barely met her.
Sometime ago, there was some kind of festival in Little Hangleton and Morfin was bored so he disguise himself with muggle clothes and removed the small glamour he wore by choice, so his aristocrat feathers showed and went out to have fun; he didn't expected to drink too much and slept with a woman whom clearly took advantage of him.
Lucky of them, Morfin remembered to erase her mind, but a few months later the woman was expecting a child. Being her, the only heir to a great fortune and the only living person of her family at her thirty five years, she was having her heir. It didn't matter the baby wouldn't be legitimate, it only matter that he or she would be rich.
But for Marvolo it did matter. The next heir of his family would be a half-blood, he couldn't allow that, specially if it was a boy. His family couldn't possible... no! They wouldn't accept it, no matter the consequences. He didn't know what to do in the moment.
When Morfin had approached him and told him. The first thing crossing his mind was how to kill the muggle and then torture his son.
Now he was not sure how to react, he could not blame everything to his son. The boy was barely sixteen years old and like any healthy boy he was controled by his recklessness and his hormones. It was all the woman fault, she was old enough to know what she was doing.
Obviously, she was the one who was attracted to him, while seeing him without his glamour. Maybe even planned the whole thing, making sure that Morfin was drunk enough so she could have her way with him and have her beautiful heir. There were rumors she didn't want to get married but wanted an heir. Marvolo blame her for everything, she had stolen something precious without any knowledge.
And just as if his day couldn't be any better a man from the Ministry came saying that there had been small traces of forbidden magic around the area and since they were the only magical people around there, they were the first to be suspected.
He called his children and got their wands checked and being found innocent, the man apologize and then leave; not before warning them to be careful and watch out for whatever may be the cause. And it was exactly this, which made him notice another problem to think about.
When the man had said forbidden, he just knew Merope was the responsible, it was just thanks to her useless wand that saved them or more like saved her from a visit to Azkaban. How could she manage that kind of spell and being useless with the lesser ones? It was a signal that he needed to put a stronger block on her magic. But of course it was expected of her to be more powerful since she had reached fifteen years of age and that to his family mean that she was getting more of her power; until she turned seventeen, her coming of age, when her natural blocks were lifted.
He knew the emotion she had to have to manage the black magic she was doing but he couldn't imagine where or what made her got them. He swore if it was because of her brother or the women of the village, he would ... Ah! Even thinking about it was useless. Maybe it was time to hang himself and be done with it.