A/N So, I happen to be working on another story with my sister, which is not being posted on this account. I would put a plug to that story here, but that's bad for business, surprisingly. But never fear (if any of you were) for I shall not abandon this story! It's my first investment, and I will see it through.
Enjoy.
Ironing out a set of templates that were compatible with one another and worked together was not a painless task, which is why Lycus preferred to make one large template most of the time. Three people with different styles and ways of working with runes made that thought go out the window. This map was going to take years, minimum, to perfect one or more templates for what with all of the additions Luna wanted it to have. They had taken to just working on their part, the first three easiest parts, of the map during their meetings instead of discussing it. If they had questions, they could ask one another, but they otherwise stayed silent, aside from the occasional humming from the fourth year.
He already had some ideas on how to make a template that would dictate a map to self-map itself. The other parts of it, namely making it map different areas based on where it was instead of mapping the one area. A map that moved with you. Not so easy. The hard part after that was getting their templates to work with one another, and subsequently every template they made afterwards.
It was precisely this reason that Lycus decided not to focus on the ludicrous map, opting to think about how to make the horcrux into something that could be used to send messages. Although it would be more of sending messages through two pieces of a soul, not through an object.
The current book Lycus was reading was a journal dating back to the fourteen hundreds from someone named Nicandro Fame. Over five hundred years ago. Merlin. It was probably an alias of some sort, and this Nicandro Fame may very well still be alive. The very thought of that filled Lycus with veneration. The knowledge and experience this person must have by now were beyond that of which Lycus could ever hope to achieve.
Naturally, Fame was someone who created a horcrux. Oddly enough, the method of which is not stated, but he does give a fair account of the soul-splitting method. The Killing Curse was made in the early 17th Century, two hundred years after the journal was written, so the curse itself was not one of the methods Fame knew.
Other forms of soul-splitting are given instead, and they all follow along the same train of thought: damage your soul in some way to the point of shattering, and then take one of the shards of soul out instead of letting it fuse back together. This piece of soul could then be transferred to another object, living, dead, or non-living (undead unconfirmed) by which the piece of soul will continue on apart from the body. Having your soul outside of your body causes no issues, but splitting it does. A split soul indicated corruption, and that corruption took its toll on the body and mind. According to Fame, "The magic of the soul is what sustains the body. All living things have a soul for this reason. Without it, the body would crumble, and the mind would deteriorate."
Lycus had a short thought of whether or not muggles had magic since they had souls, and maybe that magic simply did not manifest in a way that allowed it to be used as wizards and witches did. If he had time in the future, he would look into that.
Fame mentioned in passing, so subtle that Lycus barely caught it, that he had made a connection with someone else's soul using his horcrux that allowed him to send that person thoughts. Since Fame's entire soul was, somehow, in this horcrux, it didn't properly connect back into his own conscientiousness, and he couldn't receive any worded messages from this other person, but she could send minimal thoughts and ideas to him. That's what Lycus inferred, at least, since the only line that mentioned this phenomenon was "My friend added part of her soul to my own horcrux, and I have found that I can sometimes hear her thoughts."
That line was what gave Lycus the idea to turn Marvolo's horcrux into his own horcrux, and maybe that would tether their minds together in some way. Give them a way to set their trains of thought along the same trail. Fame listed a few ways to call your soul piece back to you if you wanted to get rid of your horcrux, so Lycus wouldn't have to destroy the horcrux if it was later found that the communication thing didn't work. As was often the case, he would have to wait until he could speak with Marvolo before he went through with this. But at least he had a viable option that would genuinely be undetectable and presumably instantaneous.
With progress made in that department, Lycus turned his focus onto the main task at hand. The house elves, he decided, would have to wait until after he had confirmed that he wasn't allowed to make any student allies - which meant he had to wait until after spring break. The centaurs were now open to talking, not that he knew when he should visit next. The selkies and acromantulas were therefore next on his list to contact.
Which meant he now had to face the problem of going underwater for a long time to talk to creatures that may not care for him or his cause at all, and will maybe tell Dumbledore of his visit. Fun. Self transfiguring gills would be very useful right now. But he didn't have the time to learn to do that.
Lycus bookmarked and closed the journal of Nicandro Fame and took out a parchment to write to his father about potions that could be used to breath underwater. He should have done this a while ago, but runes were so very distracting. He'd have to wait for a few days to get a reply as his parents were more often than not out of the country to establish their own international connections, but that was fine. It just gave him time to visit the acromantulas.
After a cursory search on hexes that would work well against spiders, big and small, and a subtle mention of acromantulas to Hermione and Luna to see if they would tell him anything he should know, Lycus was heading into the Forbidden Forest for round one with the arachnids.
It was another Sunday, the only day there were no classes, and it was nice and sunny at twelve o'clock in the afternoon. Hopefully the sun would help temper the dreariness of the forest, and the eventual gloom of the spider's nest.
He far from feared spiders in any form, but they did creep him out. Well, the giant ones that ate humans as their primary source of food did. The other little spiders were mostly cute.
From what he knew of acromantulas, which was not much, they were probably a lost cause. But if there were a chance that they would side with Marvolo, er, Dacarus, then he had to at least try. Every number counted. Doubly so when those numbers could kill for you.
With the Evanescent Cloak equipped and at least four anti-spider spells in his arsenal, he took a step into his next venture in the Forbidden Forest. He had no idea what to look for besides webs and an eerie sense of being watched from all sides. The forest was only so expanse, however. As long as he knew what ground he covered each time he went in, he could piece together a rudimentary map of the forest in his head. Take note of landmarks, like those two trees growing inside one another, and he should be fine to escape back the way he came before being rendered into a spider snack.
After a couple of hours and a few double takes, Lycus was certain that some parts of the forest were naturally more dismal than other parts. He sometimes would be walking through a dim, densely packed forest, and other times he found himself walking through a funeral of trees that withered to mourn the lack of light and air. Perhaps something was causing that to happen. Like an infestation of spiders.
That change between the two moods of the forest happened subtly, which is why it took him so long to realize it wasn't his imagination. He had taken several turns within the forest attempting to run into spiders and map out the area, and he was pretty sure that he now going the opposite way he needed to find the funeral forest. There was a chance he would cross paths with centaurs again, if anything.
He turned around, very tempted to call it quits on the day, but he wasn't doing this for fun. This was for Marvolo, to further his goals and make him King of the Wizarding Empire. King, rather than emperor, because an emperor denotes the inability to have a choice in what the government does, and that wasn't the message they wanted to send. Maybe that's why Marvolo named his horned serpent Empress: to make up for his own lack of total control as emperor.
A sudden thought made Lycus choke on his onslaught of not-giggles. If Marvolo would one day be King, than that meant that he was currently a prince, right? Mental note to refer to Marvolo as the 'Dark Prince' sometime during spring break. That had a nice ring to it. Rolled off the tongue more smoothly than Dark Lord. Dark King, not so much, but Marvolo wasn't going to stand for light or dark with his title in the future, so that point was moot.
Internal musings now complete, and not-giggles had, Lycus pulled his attention back to the matter at hand: seeking spiders. He'd be finding webs before he found spiders, or so he hoped, so it was more him trying to find patches of white or light grey to ensure he was in spider territory. And he did, which meant he was.
"Found" was a bad description of what happened. He stepped into something squishy, and then he couldn't lift his foot. And while his reading up on acromantulas did indicate that they had intelligence, and the more intelligent brood fathers and mothers could learn a language beyond their natural clicking, nowhere whatsoever did it imply that they set up traps to catch prey. Granted, maybe this wasn't a trap, but it sure felt like one with the acromantula that just casually brushed past him.
Second time using the cloak. First time, he accidentally trapped a deer. This time, he escaped almost certain doom. It was safe to say it had its ups and downs.
And now he had to free his foot from the webbing, which was strong enough that he would have to remove his shoe to be free without using a spell. There were magical properties to acromantula silk, and it was also physically durable. But it was nothing like dragonhide, which meant a simple Diffindo would be able to cut through it. Cutting through it would only loosen the grip, not free him. Different spell it is, then.
He pulled out his wand and whispered "Evanesco." not wanting it to be loud even though it wouldn't be heard if he was. The web that caught his foot vanished.
He glanced at where the toddler sized spider went to make sure it wasn't still around. Irrational to do, but comforting. The spider was gone, as far as he could see, which wasn't very far. Misplaced comfort now in place, he continued on his way towards what would most definitely be the acromantula nest, careful not to step in any more webs.
The webs gradually became more numerous, trailing between trees, clumping in bushes, probably inhibiting the nature's ability to flourish too. As the webs grew more numerous, the trees grew less so until they had reached a point of being spaced out at least a meter, allowing for the sunlight to peek through the canopy. It was a welcome sight.
He had passed many acromantulas by this point, some the size of him, and some the size of babies. Other normal spiders dangled from the branches of the trees, spinning pretty little webs, left undisturbed by their larger magical counterparts.
Through the trees ahead of him was a sudden empty space, devoid of any trees or spiders. He slowed down, wary of an ambush even if it was virtually impossible for him to be detected, and came to a stop at the edge of a wide indent in the earth. A steep slope acted as the walls of the hollow, leading to a center massive web. It seemed the trees had their canopies, and the spiders had theirs.
Without any trees, the area was well lit. It didn't need to be well lit to see the colossal acromantula perched in the web at the center.
A drawn out Fuck made its way into Lycus's mind. This was a death trap. That he needed to enter. He really didn't want to.
He stepped into the hollow of horrors, trekking down the steep decline with great caution. If he kicked a rock down, they would know. The cloak wouldn't stop that. Taking off the cloak would also reveal him, something he was strongly averse to, and alert the acromantulas that he managed to sneak into their nest. They would not take kindly to that.
Lycus succeeded in getting to the edge of webbed dome without disturbing the environment or spiders. Here goes nothing.
He put on the Arnou glamours and took off the cloak, but kept it firmly gripped in his hands, ready to be clipped back on at a moments notice. The big, too big, acromantula in the center of the dome didn't react instantly. Maybe it was asleep.
A low clicking noise filled the air, the acromantula's pincers moving ever so slightly. Lycus didn't like that. He also didn't like the sudden appearance of one too many smaller-but-not-small-enough acromantulas over the edge of the hollow, quickly making their own way down.
With a limited amount of time before one of them were upon him, even less for when they got close enough to trap him in a web, he cut right to the chase and hoped for the best, "I want to help you!"
The acromantula he directed that towards stilled completely, pincers no longer clicking. The others didn't stop, naturally, though they slowed down. That may have just been wishful thinking on Lycus's part, but it helped him continue to keep his cool.
He went to say something else before the spiders got to him, but the big ass spider in the dome beat him to it, "My friend could not help me. No one can."
Lycus didn't bother to check how close the encroaching spiders were when he snapped his cloak back on. There was distinct shock in each eye of the big spider as he disappeared. Lycus turned around to find hundreds of smaller spiders behind him, just as they had been in front and beside. There were too many to just walk by. He should have brought a broom.
The lone human in the area began the arduous task of wading through a sea of spiders, thanking the stars, Merlin, Brooks, Dalish, Hermione, and Luna for the Evanescent Cloak. He may still be running into spiders, but those spiders did not realize it.
In the time it took to get back up to the edge of the hollow, he was able to ponder what the spider had said. He has a friend. But who could possibly have made friends with an acromantula? They may have a peaceful pact with the centaurs, and that's what he's referring to, but Lycus doubted that the centaurs would do anything with acromantulas but kill them. The only person insane enough to approach an acromantula nest without proper forces was Hagrid - and now him. Lycus would not put it past Hagrid to do that. Actually, Hagrid may be the only one who could pull it off. Clearly, Lycus didn't. Yet.
What that spider said implied that his friend had already tried to help him, which meant that he had a problem. Lycus had been referring to something more along the lines of providing them with a bigger forest that was theirs alone, or ensuring they would have food no matter what. He would still make that offer if the time came, but for now he needed to get them to simply not kill him the instant he stepped near the nest.
If he could figure out what this problem was and fix it, perhaps they would give him a chance.
He got back to the edge of the hollow, which was less spider abundant. The spiders that were there weren't moving, waiting to spring on whatever moved. He issued another round of thanks to the same people as he walked through the trees, still careful about webs, which may or may not be more numerous than before. Even the non magical spiders seemed poised to fly at whatever they thought was an intruder.
When he got to an area where no acromantulas could be seen or heard, Lycus breathed in a sigh of relief, and breathed out an even more drawn out than before verbal "Fuck."
A package arrived a couple days later, drawing the attention of Hermione and Luna. Lycus knew it had to do with the water breathing potions he asked his father about, but they probably thought it had to do with runes. He shook his head at them, to which they sighed. He'd still be asked about it later, no doubt.
He waited until he had the chance to read the letter in peace, finding his suspicions correct. His father sent him a multitude of potions for breathing underwater, though the main difference was how much time they lasted. Even so, some of them only gave him gills, and others would provide him with aquatic appendages to aid in swimming. His father mentioned a potion that would give him an actual tail, but he decided not to pursue that one.
Now he could visit the selkies. He'd have to wait a few more days to do so until he had an idea of how long he'd be down there each time. A new template needed to be applied to the cloak so it didn't provide any resistance in the water. Or the air, for that matter. He wondered how long he'd be adding new things to it.
While some of the potions provided swimming aid, he would still only be so fast. A broom would have been very useful with the acromantulas. Selkies weren't particularly violent, but they were underwater and on the bottom of the Black Lake. Water was very hard to travel through. An underwater broom would be appreciated, but those didn't exist.
They didn't exist yet. That was something he could look into. A side project. Unlike the Evanescent Cloak, the map, and the horcrux communicator, he could actually capitalize on this. Although, if he made the Evanescent Cloak into a simple invisibility cloak, just powered with runes and not demiguise hair, he could probably sell that too.
Over the days leading up to the next Sunday, he spent time on those two things since Hermione and Luna needed a bit more time on their templates. He kind of did, too, but he had a couple already drawn up.
The broom itself would need some configuring, because a person sitting on top was anything but aerodynamic. He'd probably have to turn it into a sled type vehicle, and give it a tapered glass shield so the water slid off of it, instead of pushing against. The runic invisibility cloak was very simple, done within a day. He really did wonder why wizards had never done this before, but then he'd have to start questioning his own sense of style for being out of date. He would keep his waistcoats, cravats, and peacoats, thank you very much.
Patent paperwork was as boring as expected, so being allowed to get away from his spontaneous business venture was a relief. The weather was still cold, which made this underwater endeavour less enjoyable, but it was required.
With a newer version of the Evanescent Cloak and a Warming Charm, Lycus waded into the Black Lake. Once it was up to his waist, he downed two of the potions, one meant to last two hours and the other to give you the aquatic appendages that would help you swim.
Once equipped to swim in the lake, he dove into the water. Even with the Warming Charm, he could feel the bite of the water around him. The bright sunlight allowed for him to see without much difficulty despite the water's high turbidity. There was a chance that that was an effect of the second potion.
The cloak worked just fine underwater. He was able to pass by the grindylows no problem and was not yet drowning. Finding the selkie village was not as easy as it sounded, taking almost the full first hour to do so. As he approached the stone buildings he became Arnou, taking a few extra moments to make the glamours work with the gills and feathery fins. He couldn't really see any of them from where he was, but he heard faint voices and swishing sounds. As with the centaurs, he took the cloak off before meeting any of them.
He called out to where he heard the voices rather than entering the village uninvited. Within moments, a few selkies darted towards him faster than he could follow, and at least three tridents were thrust at his throat.
Lycus had seen a selkie once, when one of them came up during the second task of the Triwizard Tournament to talk to Dumbledore. From far away, it looked a lot like a humanoid fish. Up close, he could see that they had a lot of fish features, but they still looked more human than anything. Other than the tail, discoloured skin, webbed fingers, and several fins, they were human in appearance.
Arnou slowly brought his hands up unarmed, "I just want to talk."
"About what?" the scratchy voice of one of the selkies asked. Their voice did not sound as human as they looked.
"Changing the Ministry."
The selkies looked at one another, and drew their tridents back enough that they didn't look like they were about to kill him. "Are you from the Ministry?" The same one asked.
Arnou shook his head.
"Then who are you sent by?"
"Myself, I would say. My friend Dacarus and I work together, though."
The tridents were drawn back even more at that. They seemed to relax when they heard he wasn't from the Ministry. This might be easier than he thought if they had a less stable relationship with the Ministry than he originally assumed.
"So you don't work for an organization?" another selkie asked.
An organization? Now that's an idea. "No, we don't. We don't have enough support to make one." Arnou thought they might ask why they couldn't make an organization, but they nodded their heads instead.
One of the selkies who was still very tensed continued the question line, getting to the point Arnou expected, "What do you want to change about the Ministry?"
"We want to get rid of your restrictions. We don't believe that just because you're not human and have a different culture that you should be treated differently." Arnou replied smoothly. It was the right thing to say by the looks of it, as each selkie let themselves relax completely, weapons put away.
"Have you met with the centaurs yet?" The first selkie asked.
Arnou nodded again, "It didn't go this pleasantly, but I was told that it would be taken to Magorian."
The selkies looked at each other again, surprise flickering across their features. If the centaurs, the more bitter of the two, trusted him enough to go to their leader, they had no reason not to. They came to an agreement just through their expressions and the main selkie spoke again, "We will go to Merchieftainess Murcus about this. If she decides it is worth hearing you out more, we will let you know next you visit."
He gave them a smile and thanked them. They swam back to where they came from, and Arnou took the liberty to do the same, pushing off the sandy floor of the lake for extra speed, putting the cloak back on when out of their vision.
Lycus didn't know when the next visit would be, but it would be before spring break. He needed something more than "I met with them" when he reported to Marvolo. Now that he knew where they were, he could probably take a trip to the centaurs and the selkies on the same day.
In the three weeks leading up to spring break, Arnou did manage to meet the centaurs and selkies again. The first possible Sunday was taken by a cursory meeting of the defense club from Professor Tonks. The second till last Sunday he made it to the forest, and it was spent mostly wandering around enough to map most of it out mentally. He still had yet to catch a glimpse of centaur civilization.
Like last time, he ran into a group. Two of the centaurs stayed behind with arrows trained on him. Unlike last time, the other three went to wherever they lived in the forest to fetch Pikrin, who had since been delegated the job of the "Human Liaison" by Magorian, because she was the one who spoke to him before.
Two centaurs returned: Pikrin, and another spotted one from the three that left to get her. The three remaining centaurs that weren't Pikrin went on their way.
She turned to him, her bow looped over her shoulder and not taught with an arrow. Progress.
"I'll admit, we did not expect you to come back eagle-wolf," she began. She pursed her lips while looking at him, simultaneously confused and curious. "Why have you?" She crossed her arms and gave him a piercing look. Centaurs didn't need Veritaserum to know when you were lying, it seemed.
"I wouldn't have come here in the first place if I wasn't going to come back. Unless you guys chased me out." he replied honestly.
She glared, "That's not a reason."
"I'm here to continue where we left off," he said easily, not perturbed by her glare. "So you can ask questions and know what our plans are."
The glare continued for a few moments but ultimately eased when she discerned that he was telling the truth. She took him up on his offer of answering questions by asking one, "What do you mean by 'our'?"
"I don't work alone," he started, and thought about how the selkies wanted to know if he was part of an organization. He extended the information to the centaurs, certain they'd want to know too, "I have a friend that has the same ideas. His name is Dacarus. We don't work for anyone, since nobody is willing to help."
Pikrin huffed at the last part, not surprised in the slightest and still just as apprehensive, "If nobody is willing to help, then why do you think you can do anything?"
He face was laced with a detached smile at his next words, "We have already concluded that there are not enough humans who want to help you to make a difference. We have also concluded that the humans will be helpless against magical creatures who actually do something. We'll be taking a political route to give them a chance to change their minds, but if they don't, we'll just get rid of them."
She shifted her stance, eyebrows raised slightly. "Get rid of them how?"
"If all goes right, and we are certain it will, then the magical governments will be torn down and rebuilt by magical creatures. Humans don't like change, and they certainly don't like to be told that others are equal or above them. If we have to force it through non-political means, that's what we will do." He explained freely, not worried that the centaurs would find the implied violence as off-putting.
Pikrin took on a much more considerate appearance, faint glimmers of respect showing through her eyes. The knowledge that he was willing to actually attack the Ministry evidently pleased her.
"I see... and you are going to let magical creatures rebuild the government?" she asked mildly, the tip of her tail flicking lightly.
Arnou gave her an affirmative nod, but followed it up with more explanation that he hoped wouldn't lose his points, "Yes. Specifically, any magical creature than can and wants to take part will be rebuilding. This includes humans," Pikrin's eyes hardened again, her tail still, but she let him continue. "Our aim is to be rid of prejudice and restrictions. We can't change opinions, but we can change the government. Over time, opinions will evolve to work with the new government. Humans will be included in the government making process, because to not allow that is hypocritical, but they will in no way have more power than any other creature."
She was appeased once more, but only just. "How do you decide what creatures can and cannot take part in the rebuilding?"
Lycus had "talked" this over with Marvolo for a few weeks the first time the Dark Lord told him of his plans. Marvolo was going to say that every creature could have a hand in the government, but Lycus had quickly pointed out that not every creature had the intelligence to do so. It became a conversation of if creatures with enough intelligence, like the centaurs, would be okay with leaving out those that weren't considered intelligent enough, like puffskeins. In the end, they had to settle on something, and they did so in the best way they could think of.
"As I said, any magical creature that has the ability to, and wants to, will be able to. It would be counterproductive to include the creatures that want to purely on the basis of power. You need to be able to make laws that are unbiased, and aren't just going to make you have more benefits than others. If that's not your goal, you just have to be able to comprehend what you're doing, which means that brainless creatures such as flobberworms don't count," Arnou paused to see her reaction to that part. Upon finding her nod calmly, he continued, "The other part is so we aren't forcing anyone to do something they don't want to. Sphinxes don't care about politics in the slightest, so they aren't likely to want to rebuild laws even if they are intelligent enough. We'll give them a chance, and the spot will always be open, but it's ultimately their choice."
Pikrin proved receptive to these beliefs, "I understand and I agree. I have one more question for you before we are done."
Arnou waved his hand for her to continue.
"What do you think we want?"
His amber eyes betrayed his appreciation for such a clever question. He was a human who was assuming that the centaurs wanted help, and he was offering them a way to completely revise the government without truly knowing what they would change. He was either very stupid, lucky, or had done his research.
"Land that isn't surrounded by people and inhabited by dark creatures. To be left alone and allowed to live without obstruction or restriction. I imagine that you also want to be able to be considered as the intelligent individual species that you are, who deserves respect and recognition for that fact," he hesitated on the last part, something Pikrin noticed but didn't comment on. "And I think that it's possible you may want to have... the option of government assistance, even if you never need it."
She regarded him favourably, tail back to swishing lightly and her stance more relaxed. She was comfortable enough in his presence to drop her guard, even if just a little bit. The Ravenclaw had done his research. Was that really a surprise?
"I will take this to Magorian. Next time, you may be able to speak with him yourself. Farewell, eagle-wolf." She nodded her to him head as she left, so slight that Arnou almost didn't see it. He returned it. Was it just him, or did the way she said eagle-wolf sound the tiniest bit affectionate?
It took a while to get out of the Forbidden Forest, having been deep within it. Lycus didn't bother taking off the glamours since he was going to visit the selkies.
He did essentially the same as last time: waded into the water, took two potions, and then dove in. It only took him half an hour to find the village, already knowing where it was. The conversation that happened between them that time went in much the same direction as the one he had with Pikrin. The selkies hadn't designated a "Human Liaison" as the centaurs had, but he was supposed to seek out Nisen when he came by instead of speaking to a whole group of them.
One part of his discussion with Nisen, whom he had yet to figure out if was male or female, differed to the one he had with Pikrin.
Nisen didn't ask what Arnou thought the selkies wanted. Instead, Nisen told Arnou something that admittedly threw him off a bit, "We don't care for a bigger lake or to live in our own lake devoid of giant squids and grindylows. We are friends with Dumbledore, and we want to stay."
Arnou opened his mouth to reply, but didn't know what to say for once. Nisen, thankfully, wasn't done, and went on to explain more, "We don't like the Ministry. It could certainly do with a good amount of change, however you think you can achieve that. There are other groups of us, and our cousins of fresh water, who would benefit from your presence. It's because of this that Merchieftainess Murcus has decided to support you when the time comes, but we ourselves aren't being oppressed in the way you think we are."
For a second, Arnou looked like a fish out of water. He was quick to cool his face into an impassive mask, choosing to ignore the amused look Nisen had. "Do you know how we can contact these other groups?"
A thoughtful look appeared on the selkies face, "I will have to ask Merchieftainess Murcus if she remembers where any of them are. It is likely that those she can remember have since moved, so you may have to look for them."
The sigh that left Arnou felt very weird going through gills in his neck.
He returned to the surface slowly after they ended the conversation so he wouldn't have to wait when he got there for the potions to wear off. Now that he was done with what he needed to do within the first three months back to Hogwarts, he could stop fretting over it. Maybe he'd have time to go practice some self transfiguration for the first time since he got to Hogwarts.
The train left on Saturday for spring break, giving the three one more day to properly discuss the map's first three templates. Neither Lycus nor Hermione had been able to truly complete a template, always finding some issue with it. Because of this, they started with Luna.
She laid out several templates. With just a glance, the two fifth years were confused.
"Uh, Luna?" Lycus opened with.
"Yes?" she replied sweetly. Almost too sweet.
"These are all just different things you're protecting from. It doesn't really work as a thief preventative if it only prevents thievery from one thing."
Her eyes lit up in understanding, "Oh, I see. You wanted these." She pulled a couple more templates out. These were more concise, and covered the greater range that was expected.
Luna only smiled at their irked sighs.
The two fifth years studied the provided templates, each coming to their own conclusion.
"This one," Hermione held it up, "Uses the olemuh rune. That one won't like my istotaz rune." The olemuh and istotaz runes both meant entity in their own way, and they were the kind of runes that didn't like to work together.
"And this one," Lycus held up the other, "Uses the piiru rune, which would make my use of it invalid." Pirru was an 'egotistical rune', meaning that it could only be used once on any object. It was also the only area rune that allowed you to set a radius, which meant Luna was forced to concede that point.
They only technically needed one, but they all made at least two different versions so they had options in case the templates weren't compatible with one another. Like in this case. And in the future, it would be even more so.
It was Luna's turn to sigh, "What if I used the inlahn rune for entity, and the laufan rune for area?"
Hermione was still forced to deny, "Inlahn still won't work. It's too shy when compared to the istotaz."
"...Uksu." Luna pouted. Hermione looked up in thought and then nodded.
"Uksu should be okay."
The two turned towards Lycus who gave his thoughts on the laufan rune, "Laufan would allow me to use pirru, but I don't know if it works for you. You seem to be trying to repel people that are around the map, not people who are trying to take the map, or use it."
Hermione took the template Lycus was looking at and had to agree, "This one doesn't have a password. It doesn't have a way to let the map know that you are one of the users at all." She looked at Luna questioningly.
The fourth year brought out another parchment with another template on it, "I was thinking that nobody could steal a map they couldn't get near. I made a separate template," she slid the most recent one she brought out over to them, "For that part that tells it to allow only those with the magical signatures that powered it to use the map."
"Why didn't you just make it unperceived to anyone unless they have an object that links them to the map?" Hermione asked. "Like the Evanescent Cloak, but detectable to some."
Luna sulked, "I tried to do that. I couldn't figure out how." She took out another template, sliding this one across the table with a glare.
Again, it was Hermione who took the offered parchment, smiling lightly to herself when she saw what the problem was, "You fell into the same trap I did when I first worked with the demiguise rune."
"And what trap is that...?" Luna asked slowly, keen eyes staring Hermione down.
Hermione glanced slyly at Lycus before reciting him, "You're trying to use the demiguise rune as the focal point. Of course that's not working. The only template that will allow that to happen is one where you put something inside a box and it disappears. And I don't just mean visually."
Where Lycus was highly amused, Luna was dropping her head onto the table with a groan after realizing what she did wrong.
The next few hours were spent like this, the three of them drawing out the time until the last minute. Both Lycus and Luna were out for spring break, so there would be no more meetups to discuss the ever fascinating subject of runes until they came back.
A/N A brief overview of the Marauder's Map issues in case anyone else noticed it: The map does indeed have, at the very least, two charms on it, but it was mapped by hand. The Homonculous Charm only acts to locate and track people, it doesn't make the map itself. It has a likely third charm on it as well, so that makes two charms that haven't come up. I'll find some way to wiggle those into the story in the future to save myself from explaining all of it right now.
Joshua the Arcanis: Funnily enough, I thought about adding Luna into the story before I began the second chapter, I think purely based on the fact that I love Luna. However, as the story is going right now, I feel a little bit like I may have forced her character into the story, and her personality isn't coming out naturally like Hermione has. She is, unless something changes, probably going to be a minor character, whereas Hermione seems to be becoming a major character. One of my mottos is "Where the story flows, I go" so... yeah. And, uh, the Evanescent Cloak. I actually don't have any ideas on how to bypass the Map, so if anyone out there does, feel free to let me know. For the Sword of Gryffindor and introducing Harry, I totally agree, and scenes on how to get that done have already begun popping up in my mind, so thanks for that. And now my reply is way too long, so I'll see you next chapter.