First: I don't own the Harry Potter universe or characters, I do own however any OC's.
Be complacent and you'll never realise you're slipping
Chapter: Sewing up The Loopholes
"What type of vow?" Lyrisadora questioned, thinking carefully as she stayed alert, exchanging a look with Adrian.
Forsythia gave her a collective look, before explaining. "Ve Vow is simple and less extreme than others. It is ve blood vow," she said curtly.
Lyrisadora nodded, recognising the vow, a blood vow was a binding contract in a sense, the materials used to cast it being magical blood, a few carefully selected words and magic in the air, both parties having a bargain to fulfill both having to complete their end of the deal - the consequences for breaking the vow were not as severe as the unbreakable, instead being that of a sort of curse, bad things happening to the person who broke their end of the deal; disease, mutilation, forever misfortune and etcetera. "Very well," she said finally, before adding. "However it's only right that we first learn what exactly we are looking for," she stated, making sure she knew what she was getting herself into.
Forsythia nodded clearing her throat. "The object that was stolen was the sacred Cornucopia horn," she declared, holding her head higher.
Adrian arched an eyebrow. "Wait hold on a minute, you mean that thing exists, I thought it was just a legend," he said, ignoring the glares he was receiving.
"In every legend ver is an element of truth," she declared, her tone clipped. "Ve horn's origin and powers have been distorted over time, but it's sacred meaning has forever remained," she continued. "It was crafted by ve first Queen of the Veela, ruler of ve first court, before ve golden age was lost," she started to explain. "It's ability to produce food is false; an imbecilic legend made by muggles," she sneered. "Ve horn holds little power and it's sentimental value is irreplaceable," she added.
"Didn't stop you from taking the cup," Adrian muttered.
Forsythia hearing him and glaring at him loathingly. "A simple justice. Vour flimsy cup is vorth nothing, only kept to fill ve void," she spat, her eyes flaring up again.
Lyrisadora sighed, hastily intervening again. "Yes we understand. Now, this man who took it, did you get a good look at him?" she inquired.
This deflated Forsythia's anger slightly as the High priestess frowned. "Only a glimpse, he came in ve dead of night, taking it from our hidden shrine beneath ve caves, stunning the guard and taking it," she began. "He was voung, slender, I can barely remember his face, only ve shape being too pointy in the vrong places. I remember his eyes being vat of dark grass, his hair short and as black as a raven's feathers, his skin looked tanned," she described smoothly. "He ran fast and was light on his feet," she concluded.
Lyrisadora thought Forsythia was being rather dramatic in her wording, but nonetheless, she and Adrian nodded, repeating the description of the man in their heads, imprinting it in their minds as they tried to create an image. "Alright then," Lyrisadora said, looking back at Forsythia. "Let's begin," she said tonelessly.
Forsythia nodded. "Very vell, which one of you will be making the vow?" she questioned, looking between the two.
There was an awkward silence for a moment as Adrian and Lyrisadora slowly turned to one another. "Your idea, your vow princess," he said seriously.
"Uh I don't think so," she said simply, keeping her voice low giving him a bemused look. "You see, I have every intention in completing my 'quest' and returning the cup to Hogwarts, however I don't have the same confidence in you," she stated smoothly.
Adrian's eyes narrowed at her. "And how do I know you won't abandon me when the going gets tough?" he hissed.
"When I'm truly loyal to someone, I'm with them til the end," she stated plainly.
Adrian rolled his eyes. "A nice sentiment I'm sure. But seeing how we have our rough patches, forgive me if I'm reluctant to trust that you won't leave," he sneered.
Lyrisadora sighed, frustration cancelling out any element of fear she had that Adrian would refuse to take the vow. "Listen darling, the whole reason we're in this mess is because you didn't listen to me," she hissed, leaning in as she glared at him.
"Which would have not mattered if you hadn't dropped the cup," he spat, himself struggling to keep his tone hushed as he glared back at her.
"Which would have never have happened if you hadn't grabbed the disapperating house elf!" she growled.
"I wouldn't have had to grab him if you weren't so slow at running," he growled back.
Lyrisadora bit back a scream as she took in a deep breath and counted to ten, keeping her frustration at bay as she tried to stay focused, massaging the bridge of her nose. "Listen, this blame game isn't helping matters," she sighed. "Let's just face the facts of our situation and deal with it. You don't trust me , I don't trust you, however we both need to get home, so unless you want to be horribly killed by Veela, shut up and take the vow, please," she implored evenly. "You have my word that I'll stick by you," she added, looking at him earnestly.
Adrian hesitated, biting down hard on his tongue before glancing at Forsythia, before groaning. "Alright, fine then, but you owe me," he said sternly, giving her a piercing look, before stepping forwards. Forsythia nodded stiffly, stepping forwards as well, so they were now facing each other; Lyrisadora noted how they were of similar height. Forsythia was given a silver dagger by Malili, Adrian holding his palm out as Forsythia held hers out as well, before making a deep cut line cut in the middle of her palm. "Ve fate line," she called, Adrian struggled to not roll his eyes at this, instead keeping them fixed on the Veela in front. The blood shimmered on Forsythia's pale palm as she passed the dagger to Adrian.
Lyrisadora watched him carefully, herself shivering as she became aware of the freezing Bulgaria breeze, watching a his jaw tighten as he bit down on his tongue, the blade piercing his palm. The knife was then handed back to Malili as the vow commenced, Adrian and Forsythia locking hands, palm against palms as they kept their eyes locked on one another. Forsythia began first. "Recite vour name," she commanded. Lyrisadora remembering the Veela did not know their names.
"Adrian Pucey," he recited, earning a nod.
"Do you Adrian Pucey, swear to seek out ve lost horn of Cornucopia, returning it to ve Veela court present?" Forsythia questioned, her face glowing.
Adrian seemed to lose focus for a moment before nodding. "I promise to seek out the lost horn of Cornucopia, returning it to the Veela, in exchange for the Hogwarts house cup and my companion and I's lives not to be harmed," he stated stonily. "Does that high priestess Forsythia and all the Veela in her court agree to this?" he questioned, the energy of magic filling the air ,as it grew.
Forsythia eyed him calculatedly. "I do," she answered, the rest of the Veela nodding solemnly. "On ve condition vat ve thief who stole the horn of Corncopia is captured and given to ve Veela, to do as we wish with him," she added icily.
Lyrisadora clenched her fists, her eyes narrowed at Adrian. "Agreed," he said curtly, causing Lyrisaodora to swallow deeply, forcing herself to not think of what the Veela would do to the thief. "With the condition a member of your Veela guides us out of the forest to the nearest town, providing food for travel and a substantial amount of money to live off," Adrian continued.
Forsythia's grip tightened around his hand as her eyes narrowed. "Agreed, on the condition the task is completed by the end of the Verebit festival and no harm befalls the Veela which guides you," she replied, Lyrisadora blinked as she wondered when the Verebit celebration actually ended, herself not knowing how long it lasted, only aware of the meaning and name.
"I agree," he said, before pausing making sure to run through the list of loop holes he needed to tie. "We give you the Cornucopia, you give us back the Hogwarts house cup-undamaged-and allow us to leave to return home with our lives, vowing not to kill us," he finished.
Forsythia looked at him carefully for a moment before nodding. "Agreed," she said finally, the vow ending with the final incantation, their hands breaking apart, stained with blood, but the cuts slightly grazed over with a fresh scab, the smell of magic in the air as the two eyed each other warily, both feeling a rush that ran through them as the vow was sealed. There was no turning back now.
Forsythia provided what was promised, very reluctantly giving them 400 gallians to live off and a bag of ham each, not a bad amount of supplies, in Lyrisadora's opinion. One of the Veela hunters walking in front of them, guiding them towards civilisation. They had been walking in silence for some time, occasionally eating some of their food as they walked. Adrian broke his gaze from the slim form of the Veela in front of him, shaking his head as he tried to focus, glancing at Lyrisadora before yawning loudly. "Well this has been an adventurous night," he said brightly, earning an quilling look from Lyrisadora.
"Considering We've nearly died three times in the space of under two hours, I can't help but agree," she drawled, her eyes feeling tired, she sighed. "Looks like we won't be heading back to Hogwarts any time soon," she stated, worry filling her. "Which will cause only more consequences no doubt," she muttered.
"Then we'll just have to be quick won't we," he said grimly. "You have any idea when this Verbit celebration ends?" he questioned, looking at her expectantly, Lyrisadora shrugged, before the Veela in front called out.
"Nine days," she said curtly, not even glancing at them as she continued to walk.
"Nine days," Adrian repeated, processing the answer. "Being missing for nine days will raise a fair few questions and we do have a time limit to get this horn," he mused. "Looks like we'll have to think fast," he added. "All this trouble for a stupid cup," he muttered bitterly.
Lyrisadora scowled at him. "If you had only listened," she chimed.
He glared at her. "Yeah I know, now can we move on from this, we do have bigger things to worry about after all," he said coolly.
Lyrisadora scoffed. "I gathered," she said dryly, her scowl slipping off her face. "First we need to find a place to stay," she pointed out.
"True, somewhere low key-you know of any places?" he questioned hopefully. Lyrisadora shook her head, shrugging. "Right well that makes things a tad difficult…oh well, we'll just have to improvise," he sighed, scratching the back of his head, before straining his eyes to examine his dishevelled mucky robes. "Starting off by actually looking semi decent," he declared, pulling out his wand to clean himself up, Lyrisadora rolled her eyes but followed suit. "You know it feels weird using magic outside of school," he mused.
She glanced at him, remembering that in Bulgaria a Witch and Wizard came of age at sixteen, this coming of age status varied in many countries, but usually staying in the late teens level, she knew the ages of some; France being seventeen, Spain eighteen, Italy sixteen, America eighteen and so on. "Know what you mean," she replied, struggling to watch where she was going as she cleaned herself up, before a frown fell on her face. "There's still another question that needs to be answered," she said aloud, turning to him. "Cronks the thieving house elf," she drawled.
"Ah yes him, that does complicate things slightly doesn't it," he mused. "I have a good feeling he'll be coming back to get that cup," he added.
"And tie up some loose ends," Lyrisadora added grimly. "I believe our number of near death experiences will be growing," she sighed in exasperation, wishing she could just go to bed. "So let's play the game of assumption," she drawled, pocketing her wand as she smoothed down her hair. "First off, all the house elves that work at Hogwarts technically have no masters, if Cronks is still in his masters services then it means he was never dismissed," she started to theorise.
"Unless his master died and a new master took over, say a long lost son," Adrian assumed.
"Or daught-"
"Master is a male term Lyrisadora, accept it and move on," Adrian snapped in irritation
She narrowed her eyes at him, her lips pursed. "Jerk," she mumbled.
"So anyway, we've theorise the Master set up, let's think about the why," he continued, ignoring her comment.
Lyrisadora shrugged. "I'd honestly just assume selling it on the black market, it is a prized relic after all," she exclaimed.
Adrian frowned. "True…but all that effort, something just doesn't add up," he argued, before shaking his head. "But we'll think about that later, right now we have to find this horn," he said, before shooting a glare at her. "Thanks for making be the one to suffer the consequences by the way," he added sarcastically, Lyrisadora just smirked.
"Oh Adrian," she started sweetly, her smirk turning into a smile. "You know you're just so much better at making deals than I am," she said sweetly still.
Adrian's mouth twisted into a smirk which resembled a sneer. "Just make sure you keep up my dear, wouldn't want to trip," he said lightly.
Lyrisadora just gave him a nasty smiled. "Charmed," she retorted dryly, before facing forwards. The unpleasant smile dropping off her face as her face laid blank, herself wandering how her family would react to her disappearance, she buried a wince and hope the headmaster would keep things quiet for the time being, but even then, if they got back; the 'if' still lingering in her mind. How would they explain all of this, wondering if anyone would still believe them or expel them from under the assumption they had been trying to steal the House Cup. So far their story was that they had been patrolling the corridor at night, when they had discovered a Hogwarts house elf trying to steal the House cup, struggling with the elf and ending up in Bulgaria, stranded, before being attacked by a troll, nearly falling off a cliff and dropping the house cup, only to have it land in a fairy Circle where a court of vicious bitter Veela had just so happened to be dancing, then to be confronted by said Veela, make a blood pack and find a lost object that had been stolen, all by the time limit of nine days….Lyrisadora stopped and inwardly groaned as she read the story in her head, things did not look promising.
Meanwhile faraway in an old aged cottage in the depths of the Romanian forest, Cronks the House elf was eyeing his master fearfully, as the said Master frantically clutched his balding head, himself screaming as the voice in his head tortured him.
I did enjoy writing the Blood vow banter! I was laughing a bit when I imagined them explaining this to their parents and Dumbledore, though I picture Dumbledore believing them, their parents though...not so sure XD
Anyway let me know what you guys think! Hope you liked this one, Review!