AN: This chapter contains a TW. If you would like to know what it is, I've placed it in the notes at the bottom.
Chapter 2: come to play in my garden of magic
6th July 1994
Lysander's lab was hot and humid. A litany of beakers were on a table in the darkest corner of the stoned room, and on the floor there seemed to be circles, hand drawn, with various shapes that looked suspiciously like runes, but none that she had ever seen before.
The air seemed to shimmer with the heat, and the smells that bounced around the room were making Nariyah feel somewhat nauseous as she stepped into the space. But that nausea was quickly forgotten when she saw a body lying on a slab behind Lysander.
Nariyah stopped. Her eyes glued to the figure with a blanket draped haphazardly over it.
The pale body looked dead - and if she hadn't stopped to properly look at it, she would have assumed that it was - but from where she was standing, she could see the blanket rise and fall ever so slightly, indicating that it was very much alive.
"What -"
"It's the Kissed boy," Lysander said.
"Why are you still keeping him here," she choked out.
"It's easier than getting an elf to bring him to and fro," he said. Lysander shuffled to the body and moved the thin blanket so that it was covering its face. The methodical way he did it unnerved Nariyah.
She knew they were keeping the boy in the Manor - she had seen him once before leaving, out of pure curiosity. She'd never seen a body without a soul before and had wondered if she could still extract information from him. If it was truly the mind that carried memories - like No Maj's believed - or if it was the soul.
But his eyes had been closed and it had been dark. Nariyah had been able to convince herself that he was sleeping.
Now, in the off-white light of day, the body rested on something that looked like a slab. With its muscles atrophying from lack of use, its hair stringy and unkept from the humidity of the lab, and his eyes open and just staring, she couldn't pretend he was sleeping. She couldn't pretend it was dead either.
"Thank you for coming back," Lysander said. The sound drew her eyes away from the body and to him.
Nariyah nodded stiffly. He'd called her back from Paris, and Ilyas, two days ago because he was stuck with getting his experiments to work. And while she doubted there was much she would be able to do in the way of alchemy, she said she would be back to make sure Theo had someone who was actually looking out for him.
Those few weeks with Ilyas had been stressful; he and her family had started the process of integrating themselves into the Wizarding society in Britain, and though she was very much used to politicking, it was always a constant battle between wanting to scoff in their faces and simpering enough that whoever the Daughers were bribing would take their money without question.
Her father, of course, was frustrated that they now had to form allies with such a stifling community. The Daugher's had managed to stay out of the British affairs for years, and that was mainly because none of them were all too happy to have to laugh at the insipid jokes of the Malfoys, Rowles or whichever family was the most affluent. But Ilyas was the face of the family and he handled most of it.
And it was useful; in the process of figuring out whose pockets they would need to fill, they had already learnt that the Triwizard Tournament would be taking place at Hogwarts this year, and that Albus Dumbledore was looking for a potions master to replace their former one due to a "terrible accident." Nariyah filed that information away to give to Theo. She hoped he wouldn't try to enter, but he was a teenaged boy.
Regardless, Ilyas was slowly getting them to where they'd needed to be. He had a meeting with the Minister of Magic within the next two weeks to see if the esteemed Minister would be obliged to go to Egypt and talk with their own government on how well he'd handled the Pureblood Supremist criticism directed towards his departments. After all, the Egyptian government was struggling with how to broach the subject of bringing in new blood, and Ilyas was working with the board to see how they could begin implementing new laws that would make Magical Egypt more sustainable. Like the British.
Nariyah was so glad she didn't have to be in that room. The utter garbage that had spewed out of Ilyas' mouth when trying to get that meeting made her want to throw up. If she had to sit in a room where they discussed how modelesque Magical Britain was, she may have to curse Cornelius Fudge.
But as her eyes darted back to the body on the slab, she wondered if it was that much worse being with her brother.
"What's the problem?" she asked.
Lysander heaved a sigh and pulled out a notebook from his pocket. "I thought it would be simple; the soul was already pulled from the body, but I can't figure out what runes are needed to pull Tom's soul out and bind it to the boy's."
"What have you managed to do so far?"
"Little. Tom is reluctant to experiment with his soul, so I've been using animals."
Do animals have souls? she wondered. Evidently, they must have had something, because otherwise Lysander wouldn't be experimenting on them. But from the looks of things, he was about to tell her that it wasn't working. "It's not working?" she asked.
"No. The closest I've gotten is five minutes of life before the animal dies, or the body rejects it."
He gave her the notebook to read, and Nariyah spent the next few minutes looking through it, unsure what she could help with. The notes were meticulously dictated; he'd started off with smaller animals - birds and mice. The same breeds, different breeds, even cross-breeding the souls. But nothing had worked.
His smallest success had come from two dogs, but it had only lasted five minutes or so before it seemed like the body of the first was trying to dispose of the second's soul. Nariyah continued to read through, but she knew she would have to see - to watch the process. She closed the book and handed it back to Lysander.
"Show me," she said.
He narrowed his eyes. "It's not a pretty process."
She was aware. She'd just read about it. But Nariyah wasn't squeamish, and she'd been around death before. If nothing else, that No Maj in Guarda had been a particularly gruesome experience to have to deal with, and she'd dealt with it just fine.
"Show me," she repeated. "At the very least, if you go through the process and I ask questions, I may be able to uncover something for you that you've been missing. I've done it in the past."
He looked like he was seriously considering it. Eventually, Lysander nodded and told her to stand far enough back that she couldn't mess with the circle. Nariyah moved herself so that she was far enough away from him that she couldn't interfere, but close enough so that she could clearly see him.
"What are you doing?" Nariyah asked.
Lysander stood in front of the circles and summoned two kittens to his hand. They were small and their meowing was weak, but he placed them each in an individual circle. She expected him to stun them, but the tiny things seemed too weak to be able to move much so they just lay there.
"I summoned two kittens from somewhere nearby. They have each been placed in their own transmutation circle. I am now going to cast the Avada on the one on the left." He spoke with the cadence of someone who had done this too many times, and for the first time in a long while, Nariyah felt sorry for him.
Lysander raised his wand, and then there was a whispered moment where Nariyah thought she heard an old prayer, and then the sound of the spell. "Avada Kedavra." The green light blazed in a deadly straight line, hitting the little kitten that had barely seen it coming. The one on the right started mewling, as if it sensed that its companion had just passed, and it too was in danger. But even in its fear, it was too weak to move.
Without a moment's hesitation, Lysander pointed his wand at the second kitten. "Dispergam et quaerere."
Nariyah barely had time to register the words when the kitten began thrashing. It was still lying on its side, but its body was arching in and out in the most unnatural way she had ever seen. At some point, barely audible over the screeches and cries, Nariyah heard the sound of small bones breaking - and then the kitten couldn't move. It's back was locked, bent out of shape - jagged and disjointed. But it was still alive - still crying.
Lysander said the words again, but with more force. "Dispergam et quaerere." There was one last screech and then the kitten went silent.
Nariyah was breathing hard, trying to withhold any noise that might break Lysander's concentration and force him to do this all over again. But in the light of the lab, she could have sworn she saw something shimmer or distil its way from one circle into the other.
And then, the dead kitten - the first one - moved.
In tiny increments at first; a breath, and then a twitch of its whiskers. Then the tail.
Nariyah went from breathing too hard, to holding her breath. But then it opened its eyes and she couldn't help the choked gasp that escaped.
The pupils were stark white. Void of all colour like it had just been sucked out of them, and it stared back at her from the circle, unblinking and unmoving.
"Is it -"
"Wait," Lysander said, and so, as he brought out a stopwatch, she did.
The kitten didn't move from its place. It didn't meow, or twitch, or raise its head any higher or lower than it had when it opened its eyes. It just stared straight ahead, fixing her to the spot for what seemed like forever. The sight was unnerving. Soulless.
Then it blinked, and Nariyah was given a respite from the way it bore into her. Except…
Something gathered in the corner of its eyes. It collected - dark and thick - and then it fell. Slowly, it moved down its face, and it wasn't until it passed a white patch at the corner of its mouth that Nariyah realised: It was blood.
Another drip followed - then another. The amount coming started to overflow, and then the kitten had blood seeping from its blank white eyes. And still it was just staring at her. Unmoving.
"Lysander -"
"Hush. It's nearly over."
What else could there be? The kitten looked near death. It wouldn't survive. She wanted to ask why Lysander didn't just put it out of its misery, but remembered she needed to see it all. To understand the process so she knew what to ask him.
She didn't need to wait much longer. The kitten's eyes were still pouring blood. Its fur was slick with it. There couldn't have been much left in its little body.
A shudder shook it then, and it opened its mouth for more blood to spill out. It choked and heaved like it was gasping for air, and then - just as she thought she couldn't look anymore - it collapsed. Its head fell to the floor in and amongst all the blood, but its red-tinted eyes were still open. Still staring.
Nariyah's tasted something acidic in her mouth. Her lips felt numb, and her mouth watered; all the tell-tale signs of -
She heaved. Bent over, hands on her knees, she gagged and vomited. The smell of sick hung heavy in the air, making her throw up again. Bits got into her hair and onto her shoes as the contents of her stomach formed a growing puddle on the floor.
She heard Lysander's shoes come towards her. A quick scourgify had the vomit gone from the surrounding areas, and she felt a hand on her head, stroking her hair. The repetitive motion allowed her to focus on breathing as she tried not to throw up again. Once she was grounded enough to stand up, she saw he was holding a glass of water for her. Nariyah accepted it and took slow, measured sips as she tried to wash the taste, and the image, away.
The taste went, slowly but surely, but the images seemed to be burned in her mind. She would need to lock them away as soon as possible.
"What happened?" she asked, when she could.
"That's what happens consistently, to any animal, when the body rejects the soul."
She didn't want to, but on instinct her eyes darted back to the circle. Thankfully, the blood had been cleaned and it seemed like a white sheet was covering the bodies. For dissecting later. Nariyah swallowed back the nausea. This was a little bit more than the No-Maj corpse in Guarda.
"Was there any difference between this experiment and any of the others?" she asked.
"No."
Nariyah tried to think through everything she had seen, but it was still hard to get past the gruesome outcomes of both the kittens. "Why did you summon them and not Transfigure them?"
"The rejection process is slightly slower when it's not been transfigured from an inanimate object," he said.
"Have you tried cross-species transfiguration?"
"Of course," Lysander scoffed. "It was one of the first things I tried. But at best, they live as long as natural animals."
"What actually happens to the bodies?" she asked.
Lysander motioned for her to follow him to the table. She hoped he wouldn't show her any actual dissections. Her stomach couldn't heave anything else up, though it would probably try.
Thankfully, he only used the notebook. There were fairly detailed illustrations, but she didn't know enough about the internal organs of humans, let alone animals, to be able to know what was what. It made ignoring what she was looking at easier.
"For the animals that last the longest, there's never much movement. I don't know why, but they seem lifeless - as if the soul hasn't quite connected with the body to allow them to control movements. The strain causes their brain to haemorrhage - hence the bleeding from orifices, though it does usually begin with the eyes or the ears - and their internal organs either haemorrhage or shut down as a result of the brain not working."
"And the milky-white eyes?" she asked.
"I don't know."
"Right. And it's like this with every animal, regardless of where they come from?"
"Yes," he said.
Nariyah went quiet for a moment, thinking through his answers. It was harder when the person wasn't sure themselves, but usually she could figure out what was going on if she concentrated enough.
She didn't think it would be easy. Riddle had killed their only lead to traditional Alchemy, after all. And it wasn't like Lysander could experiment on humans - though she doubted a human would fare any better.
If the problem was that the soul rejected the new body, then it didn't matter if they could experiment on humans. The result would be the same. What they needed was to figure out a way to keep the soul in a new body for long enough that Riddle would be happy.
It was possible that he could move from body to body - though that wasn't ideal either. She doubted Riddle would be happy with that. But if they could figure out how to keep him in the body without bleeding from his eyes and ears, or his body shutting down, then that was better than nothing.
And to do that, they needed to figure out why the soul was rejecting the body in the first place.
Something stirred in her mind. Lysander had said transfiguration made them last as long as natural animals, but why? "When you've used natural animals, how did you get a hold of them?" she asked.
Her question startled him out of his thoughts. "I…started off buying them, but I couldn't continuously do that, so I began summoning them from around the Manor."
The pet shop was a regular No-Maj one. Mice and then snakes. He'd wondered if different species could affect the process. Nariyah saw the information clearly and a pattern was forming.
"Did the No-Maj animals last as long as the animals you summoned?"
Lysander flicked through his notes until he found the answer. "No. Two or so minutes versus five or six. Why?"
"So, when you summoned them - when you used magic - the animals lasted longer?" she asked.
"Yes, but what -"
A theory was forming in her mind. Nariyah brimmed with tension and excitement. "And you had to say a spell to split the soul? Every time you've done it you've used the same spell? What does it mean?"
"Yes," he said, slowly. "It means 'disperse and seek out.'"
Nariyah grabbed the book from his hand and flicked through until she found the rune painted on the floor. It was still unfamiliar to her - all ancient runes were considered an old language to the regular witch or wizard. They could learn and use the runes to understand the origins of spells, and sometimes make them stronger, but it wasn't much more than that. Sometimes, in ancient magic, the runes were used in place of spells when the intention was simple. Bind. Protect. Destroy. But magic evolved to be more adaptable as its use had grown.
But the runes Lysander was using were based in a time older than that. Where symbols drew from the thing you created it with.
"What is this rune?" she asked.
"It's an alchemic circle," he said. "Its purpose is to connect two things in each corresponding circle - I used it to bind the removed soul to the new vessel."
"Did you use magic to draw the circles?" she asked.
"Of course. They needed to be exact." Lysander was confused, it was clear from his face. But Nariyah felt like there was some hope to be had. Not much - but definitely more than when she stepped into the room this morning.
"The Daughers are old blood in Egypt, but my mom's family - the Badawi - were older. They have a bunch of stipulations for marrying their children out, but one of them is that the children continue learning the ways of the tribe. Traditionally, the Badawi practised the art of sahar altashabuth - imbuement magic."
"Imbuement magic?"
"Yes. They would imbue something with the natural magic which would enhance the person's ability somehow - it's similar to witches and wizards used to use altars to honor the return of spring or summer. And how sacrifices are used to strengthen magic."
"So…you think that I somehow imbued magic with it?" Lysander still didn't understand, but she could see that there was the spark of something in his mind. He was close to connecting the dots.
She shook her head. "No. Sahar altashabuth is very intentional magic and takes years of practice - you couldn't do it by accident. But you did use an alchemic rune - an older magic. If we used runes back then in very simple protection or destruction spells, and they worked, then why wouldn't older magic work similarly? What is it you were teaching Riddle? That magic has a frequency?"
"Yes," he said. "And…and alchemy - Flamel's alchemy specifically - works of equivalent exchange."
"Exactly!" she said. "I think that when you used magic to create the circles, you transferred some of it into the circle. So when you used magic to summon the animals, it…worked better somehow."
Lysander was quiet while he digested what she said. "I - you could be right. If we base this theory on Flamel's alchemy then we know that whatever is transmuted must have equal levels. The magic couldn't have been destroyed - that energy needed to be transferred from the circle and the summoning to something else. But -" he paused. "Why would it protect the animal?"
"I don't know," Nariyah said. "But it's something. If you can figure out how to protect it with magic, then Riddle won't internally combust."
"Perhaps. It will mean more experiments - I'll need to determine whether it's my magic that's helping. And what happens if the animal is imbued with its own magic - like a familiar or a magical creature." His tone was restrained, but the first time in weeks, Lysander seemed hopeful.
Nariyah smiled. "Like I said, it's something."
Lysander pulled her into a hug. The motion was unexpected and she squeaked as she collided with him, but once she'd adjusted, she put her arms around him gently.
"Thank you," he whispered.
Nariyah swallowed. "You're welcome."
Days passed. Nariyah spent the next week trying to balance her time between Lysander, Ilyas and Theo - and did everything in her power to stay away from Riddle. If he suspected something, he would probably try to fuck with her mind again, and she was very much done with people fucking with her mind.
Lysander was making progress - he'd figured out that creatures with their own magical signature could stay alive for longer, which meant their theory about magic latching on or exchanging was right. Whether it was actually protecting the creature or things with magic just lasted longer was yet to be determined, but he was making progress and that was what mattered.
When she couldn't help him anymore, either because she didn't understand the experiments or she physically could not stomach the reactions, she tried to spend time with Theo.
She had made it a habit to help Theo anytime they were in Nott Manor at the same time - She had made it a habit to help Theo anytime they were both in Nott Manor - which granted, was not often in the grand scheme of things. But the kid had a keen mind and liked testing the boundaries of research a little too much. She assumed he got that trait from Lysander, and where she would have gleefully helped him court chaos with potions or arithmancy before, being around Lysander, frazzled and practically dead-eyed as he tried to do Riddle's bidding was a dangerous image of what Theo's future could be like if she kept doing it.
The only problem was, while she was trying to stay out of Riddle's path, he was hell bent on watching her. It was worrying.
Ilyas' advice had been that she should talk to Riddle. "I don't need to run the numbers to know that going from constantly annoying him to going out of your way to ignore him is suspicious," he said. "You need to get a handle on whatever your new relationship is to him before we make any big moves in the UK."
It was the exact opposite of what she wanted to do, and she hated it when Ilyas made sense. But she knew she would need to, so two days later while she was helping Theo with some of his Runes homework, Riddle walked past the room and she went to him.
"I wondered how long it would take," he said as he summoned himself a drink. His right arm was still tucked into a sling, but with the Stone, his wandless magic was at its peak. "Theo missed you. Lysander too, I'm sure"
Nariyah's eye twitched. "Well, here I am."
"Indeed. Where did you go?" He smiled and she felt the need to punch him in his perfectly straight teeth for reminding her just what was at stake.
"You've been stalking me for a reason now. What do you want?"
"Am I not 'Blue' anymore?" he asked.
She cursed in her mind. She wasn't sure what kind of game he was playing - or whether he was just in a stupidly good mood because he had the Stone. Its magic was amplifying his mind as well, which made it so much harder to pick up things from his answers.
Nariyah shifted her weight onto the other foot and smiled a saccharine smile. "What did you want, Blue?"
Riddle raised a brow and brought the glass to his lips, never breaking eye contact with her. "Where did you go while you were away?"
"Family wedding."
"My congratulations to your sister," he said, and Nariyah stilled.
It seemed the Stone made him a more powerful Legilimens too. Fuck. "I'll let her know. It seems like the Philosopher's Stone is turning out to be a right gem."
"It is," he agreed. "Many thanks for locating it."
Nariyah hummed.
"I seem to recall something about a bet," he said.
"Six months to find the stone and you'd tell me why you wanted it."
Riddle placed his glass down on the closest flat surface and slowly walked towards her. Nariyah stood her ground until he was right in her space. She could smell the cologne he was using – musky and inviting. She bit her tongue.
"But you found it in June. Not April. You lost," he said.
"Sure," she said, gritting her teeth. "But you didn't accept, so I didn't lose."
Riddle chuckled, still too close to her. "I suppose that's true."
"Besides," she said, stepping back so there was enough distance between the two of them that she couldn't feel the heat radiating off him through his clothes. "I wasn't interested in that."
"Oh?" He raised his brow. "What were you interested in?"
"I wanted to know your name. You gave me that information already, though I doubt you'll realise when."
Riddle was taken aback. For a moment, a look of surprise crossed over his face, but it very quickly morphed into amusement. "So it would seem. I suppose I underestimated your ability."
Him and every other person. It was why she was so vague about how her gift worked – if people realised just how much they gave up when they answered one of her questions, she would never get anything out of anyone.
Nariyah shrugged. "It doesn't matter now. I've dug myself in with Lysander – which means I've dug myself in with you."
"I don't think that's quite true, is it?"
It was a rhetorical question, she knew that. What she didn't know was how much stronger the stone made his Legilimency. Whether it was a permanent thing, or whether it was only because he had the Stone on him at all times. Regardless, she was right to have tried to stay away from him. But now, she needed a new strategy.
"I have a new job for you," Riddle said, suddenly.
"Great."
"A spot has opened up at Hogwarts. I take it you can get the documents you need in time to apply for the job?"
Now it was Nariyah's turn to be taken aback. "What about Lysander?"
"He'll be fine. And you're only a Floo call away." Riddle turned as if he was going to leave, but she wasn't done with him just yet.
"I'm not a teacher!"
"You teach Theodore all the time. Besides, Hogwarts' standards have fallen immensely since Dumbledore took over. I doubt you'll even need to do more than read aloud the potion instructions from the book. You can read, can't you?"
This dick!
"It doesn't sound like you're giving me much of an option," she said.
"There are always options, Nariyah. But I don't think you'll much like your other ones." His words sounded just as much a promise as they were a threat. "Besides, I thought you'd want to have a closer eye on Theodore. You did well, finding the Flamels, and I make a habit of rewarding those around me who do well."
"Right. I'll see what I can do then," she said.
Riddle smiled and nodded, turning from her and strutting out of the room to wherever he was going.
This new situation was not ideal. She would need to ask Ilyas for help again, but at least they had a call later on that evening.
Nariyah went about her day as best as she could, ignoring the concerned looks from Theo. At 10.30, she reached for her mirror and waited for Ilyas to answer. He was late.
The mirror finally vibrated and Nariyah answered it immediately. "Dude!"
"Hello to you too," he said. Ilyas was smiling until he realised that Nariyah's exclamation was actually worry and not just annoyance. "What's happened?" he asked immediately, and Nariyah launched into her earlier conversation with Riddle.
"Can you get whatever accreditation they need over here?" she asked.
"It shouldn't be too hard. I've managed to sweet talk the Minister into dinner in a few days. He's pretty excited about the talk."
She'd forgotten about that. The last she'd heard, Ilyas had booked the Minister for a talk in Egypt in September, and their dad had reluctantly given them access to the family accounts to make Ilyas-calculated investments. His gift was seeing outcomes which was why he was one of the best lawyers in the world. He didn't take on a case without knowing what the outcome would be, and he could plan for it either way.
Divination had, of course, been his best subject at school. But it didn't help that if he saw an outcome he didn't like, he could adjust for it to change it somewhat. His and her gifts were arguably the most useful to the family. Poor Adina had been stuck feeling all their emotions as they were growing up, and Maat was just an encyclopaedia.
"Sounds good. How intertwined is the government with the education system here?" she asked.
"No clue."
"I'll ask Lysander," she said.
"Good, do that. In the meantime, Dad's approved the investments. Brits have that annoying Sacred Twenty-Eight thing they like to hold onto, so I've looked into those families and their companies. I'm still narrowing down who we'll invest in to best secure our place if Riddle's side wins, but I think – and Maat agrees – that investing into Gringotts itself will likely secure us in most outcomes."
"Who have you narrowed the list of families down to?" she asked.
Ilyas took out his notebook. Through the mirror, Nariyah could hear the rustle of pages. "The Averys, the Rosiers, the Greengrasses, Dumbledores and perhaps the Malfoys."
"That's a long list." And there weren't many 'light' families on it. Other than the Malfoys and the Dumbledores, they were mostly considered to be neutral now.
"I don't think it's long enough," he said. "There are few families not a part of their Sacred Twenty-Eight so I'll be looking into them as well, but for now I think I'll look into those five."
"They don't like foreigners here," she warned him. Honestly, that would probably be something in her favour if she had to do this interview. Ilyas had found out that the Triwizard Tournament was happening this year. Public relations for Britain hadn't been the best when it came to foreign wizards and witches.
Ilyas laughed and the mirror shook a little from his movement. "I know that all too well, N. Don't worry. Money speaks louder than race or blood purity in that backwards country."
It spoke louder than most things, if they were going to be honest with each other. But it suited them fine.
"Alright then, I'll get information from Lysander about schools here, and you deal with the Backwards Brits."
"Adina told me to tell you that her wedding gift was immature," Ilyas said.
"Then she shouldn't have gotten married. Mom will be on all our cases now," she said.
Ilyas laughed again, and then left.
Have mercy. She was going to need to prepare for an interview now. And when she got the job – because Ilyas had the Minister in his back pocket – she would have to teach a bunch of teenagers. Fuck.
TW: Graphic depictions of animal experimentation
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AN: What do you guys think? I'm interested to hear what you think of the world building - whether there's a good balance of it and the story and character development as a whole. Always interesting to see what people pick up with what I've written.
As usual, the next chapter will be in a couple of weeks. See you soon!
