Harry contemplated the black ring that sat in the palm of his hand. As he contemplated whether he trusted Sinavre to enough to attempt wearing the ring, he realized that he had again noticed fangs among Sinavre's teeth. The fact that he hadn't been bothered by it until now upset him. He inspected the ring as closely as he could, checking for every curse he could think of. Harry found nothing, only that the ring pulsed with an inner light in mana sight. He rubbed it absently with his finger. Surprisingly, the ring was comfortably warm. Upon reaching his dorm, he set the two artifacts aside and concentrated on studying for his Potions test, which was he was very much afraid of. He would ask Ron and Hermione to have a look at the ring and bell when they finished their finals today. Come to think of it, Hermione should have already finished her final with Sinavre, assuming it was alphabetical.
As it turned out, Harry forgot entirely about asking his friends about his gifts from Sinavre for the entire weak of finals. As the majority of the school rushed to pack their things and depart, our merry trio was holding conference in the midst of the whirlwind. Harry set the ring upon the table.
"Did Sinavre give either of you something at the end of the test?" Hermione shuffled about in her bag and produced a brass bookmark of exquisite crafting, while Ron set an unusually large and detailed King chess piece on the board, one that was extremely lifelike in color and carving. "I'll take that as a yes. What do they do?"
"It plays chess!" Ron exclaimed eagerly, "Its really good. If I tell it to play hard, I can't always beat it."
"This thing," Hermione waved at the bookmark, "keeps my place in books. Except it doesn't have to stay in the book. And so far it seems to know my place in every book I've used it in. Quite handy. Here, watch." Hermione pulled a book she was reading out of her bag, placed it next to the bookmark, and touched the top of the bookmark, where a rune was inscribed. The pages of the book flew open, turning rapidly until it stopped. The bookmark still sat on the table. "Apparently putting it in the book records the place." Hermione seemed quite thrilled with her recent acquisition.
"He gave me this." Harry only showed the ring, which he had not yet put on, as it would seem he had been a minority to get two things. And Sinavre not knowing what the bell did seemed odd. His friend stared at the black ring with curiosity.
"What's it do?" They asked in unison.
"Apparently it's a light of some sort. I haven't put it on, because I'm not sure I trust it." Hermione squinted at the ring following the end of Harry's sentence.
"No curses or anything I can see."
"Ditto." Ron added.
"You know Harry, sooner or later, you're going to have to trust someone." Hermione sounded rather grave. Harry sighed, and resignedly slipped the ring over his right ring finger. He thought he saw a fire light in it's depths, but that seemed impossible. The ring wasn't at all translucent.
"It's not doing anything." Ron observed.
"Sinavre said…. It 'will bring you light when you need it most.' So maybe it only works when I its dark."
"Dumbledore!" Snape raged as he stormed into the headmaster's office. "Dumbledore! You must be aware that Sinavre is NOT what he appears!"
"Yes, Severus, I know enough." The headmaster's response was calm, and he didn't even look up from the letter he was writing.
"No, I don't think you do. He's….he's…cheated death, somehow, and it involved the blood of another creature." The headmaster looked up, and pinned Snape under his gaze.
"Really…and you know this….why?"
"The legilimens I tried to use during the duel. I saw…flashes of a memory. And it was a feeling of dying, and then drinking blood. And it was a sentient's blood. That was clear. Somehow."
"Well, despite your possible inside knowledge, I don't think we have any reason to distrust Professor Sinavre. He has been very gracious and helpful. Nor has he shown any signs of trickery. Besides, I think if he wanted to accomplish anything, he would have already done so. We've already seen that one of our best wizards is no match for him." Dumbledore twinkled at Snape, who glowered back. "And I also have the suspicion that he is not using all of his power. We are lucky he is not set against us."
"Can you be sure?" Snape asked, a little calmer, but still quite anxious.
"No, but can I be sure of anyone with absolute certainty? Can you be completely sure of me? Or can I be sure of you, for that matter? I think it best we not allow your insights into Sinavre's character to influence our judgment to greatly. As such, I implore you to keep the information to yourself." The potions teacher gave the headmaster a look of uncertainty, then quietly retreated out of the office.
Kiora stared at the monolith, still puzzled, even after days of observing it. He didn't want to touch it unless he had to, and he was nearing the limit of what he could learn by visual observation. Spells were useless, since the thing just seemed to absorb magical energy. Kiora sighed and passed his hand through the shield he had put on the thing, feeling along the smooth surface for something, anything, at this point. Doubtless the few students who where staying at the school over the winter break found his single-mindedness about the monolith amusing and scary. Kiora had been studying it for, literally, three days in a row, with no food or sleep and no breaks. Or at least, the students didn't think their magery professor had had food, but then, they supposed that he could have magicked it to himself when they weren't looking. Kiora's fingertips brushed across a slight indent. He paused, and moved his hand backwards, and then down a little. At this point, he was standing, with his hand at face level. It seemed that there was a large depression that was…hand shaped. Or at least so it seemed, tracing the outline. Curious, Kiora placed his right hand in the depression. It fit perfectly almost- and with the contact Kiora was assaulted by a tumult of memories, returning and flashing by.
"I wish Sinavre would figure out what that thing is and get rid of it. It's kind of creepy. So black." Ron was watching Sinavre's tactile examination of the object. Harry and Hermione both looked over at the monolith as well, their wary glances echoing Ron's sentiment. The professor's fingers wandered across the surfaces, and the he pressed his whole hand to the object and left it there. Harry saw something flicker around Sinavre. He squinted, and then rubbed his eyes, but when he reopened them the flickering continued. Harry felt something change, not a physical change, but rather as if some barrier in his mind had dissolved. Floating serenely behind Sinavre, and seemingly attached to his back, floated faintly luminescent wings of golden gossamer. Harry was awestruck by the beauty of them, and for the moment, was not at all concerned with exactly what or how he was seeing. No one else gave any indication of knowing they were there. Ron and Hermione soon become concerned at Harry's obvious entrancement, following his glance towards Sinavre and seeing nothing. This only made the look of rapture on Harry's face more confounding to them. To Harry, the wings were blown gently by a breeze that may or may not have existed.
Just as abruptly as they appeared, when Sinavre slowly drew his hand away from the stone, the wings disappeared. But Harry thought he could still see eddies of golden dust in Sinavre's wake as the mage retreated down the hall.
I like it when I get inspired!! Please review, because it causes happiness. Unless I really miss my mark, the next chapter should me really soon. So much is floating around in my head that needs to get on paper!!