AN: Yo, next part. We're approaching the end game for HP. Let me know what you think.

To those who are having issues finding my QQ account. It's the same author name, google it. On my profile, look for my 'Threads' under 'Information.' Or you could just google the name of the story and my author name.

Enjoy.

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Disclaimer: I own no source material.

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Chapter 5.9: A Sirius Meeting and The First Ritual.

"So, what do you think?"

"What do I think?" Tyreus smiled wryly and looked at his cheering tribe. "I think I share my peoples view."

"Heh, I figured you would enjoy it."

Jin chuckled and stood with his arms crossed as he watched hundreds of centaurs cheer around the corpse of the Acromantula queen.

"You realize what you have done correct? The death of the queen will finally cut off the endless aspect of their numbers. There is finally hope to an end for our war."

Jin hummed at that and watched Centaur kids run around the corpse hitting it with wooden practice weapons. "About that. No offense but I was pissed drunk and still don't remember what happened and yet it only took me and a couple others to kill the queen. You realize how that sounds to me right?"

The chieftain sighed. "I know what you must be thinking, but the races that call the forest home and are willing to cooperate are not known to be able to handle the terrain of the spiders. And we Centaurs are a proud people, we wouldn't make a plea for aid to outsiders unless our spirit was first broken.

I privately wanted to make a trade with others, but I wouldn't make a choice like that against the wishes of my people. The only reason I decided to offer you a deal was that it was the best of both worlds. You showed your martial ability to my best warriors, earned a measure of respect with your achievement of getting silk from the web, and yet you do not define another race or group of your own. You are a mercenary, and I took a chance with you. Now, I am glad I did."

Jin listened to the chief's words and saw the logic in them. "You wanted to see if I would betray our deal?"

"Indeed. The defenses of my village will make sure no race besides a Centaur will recognize the entrance, and our racial nature magic will keep anyone away from our enclosure. But if you chose to bring others looking, we knew where you would have to come and waited there with scouts. I mean no offense, but I have a duty to my people."

Jin waved a hand. "Don't worry about it, I know that wizard kind are frankly assholes with a stick up their ass about racial superiority. Hell, they thought that taking a wand away from me and denying me schooling would mean I could never achieve anything as a wizard." His hand lit up with a ghostly blue flame. "Shows how much they know."

Tyreus chuckled and looked off to the side. "Indeed, you will be a mighty warrior yet. Ah, here comes Magnie to discuss the payment I believe."

Jin followed his line of sight to see the muscular older female coming his way. "Oi boy! This is what I'm talking about!" She gestured at the massive corpse with a fierce smile.

"Hey Magnie, nice to see you too."

"Bah! Screw the pleasantries lad, you fucking killed the queen!" She threw a muscled arm around his shoulders and smashed his head against her generous bosom in a side hug. "You're a hero to us boy. You sure you don't want my granddaughter?"

Jin attempted to push her back. "I'm good Magnie, just the rituals are enough for me."

Magnie raised a brow at him. "You sure you're a straight arrow lad? Young stallions your age should be raring to go."

Jin's brow twitched. "I told you I have a girlfriend woman. And she's a Veela, she can handle my stamina just fine."

"Ha! Fair enough. Bring the lass around for the party, I want to see what bird got ya on a leash."

"Oi, I'm a free feline. And what party?"

Tyreus spoke up from the side where he had been listening in amusement. "For the spider queen Jin. This is the biggest change in fifty years, we shall celebrate on the night of the full moon. You will be the guest of honor for it and may bring your paramour."

Jin blinked at that and shrugged. "Huh, ok cool. I'm down to celebrate. You guys got any interesting liquor?"

Magnie barked a laugh at that. "Do we? Boy, we are connected as deeply with nature as any intelligent species, and nature sure as hell has a bounty. Just wait and see what me and my nature mages can dredge up from the forest."

Jin unconsciously licked his lips. "You have my attention."

Tyreus shook his head with a chuckle. "Magnie, I believe you owe something else to our young warrior, correct?"

Magnie blinked and dropped a fist into her palm. "Ah, right. Boy, what rituals do ya want? I'll give you two alone for getting the queen."

Jin held up a finger and tapped at the screen of his watch. Magnie cast a glance at it before its effect came in, and her eyes slid off it without much interest. He removed a journal from his inventory and opened it to a page. "You think you can do this? I saw the option in the listings but I wanted to offer my own material for the exchange."

Magnie raised a brow as she read it. "Hm…it's not what we usually do, but it's doable. Metal is part of the natural flow, so I can use it, but you ain't gonna get all the benefits of this material."

"What will I get?"

Magnie studied the description of the Goblin Silver knife on the page. "Well first off, we gotta cleanse this of the curse. So that will count as your first ritual, and it will strip it of its adaptive qualities."

"You mean Goblin Silver's ability to incorporate other elements into it?"

"Aye. That only works cuz it's a metal and can mimic what it kills. Cursed objects have their magic corrupted, and cleansing them may save the material, but it will strip it of its magic."

"But I can still have the rest of the benefits?"

"If you want it blended in, it's gonna have to go bone deep at least up your wrists, and I can't give ya metal bones, that's against the natural order. But, I can make your bones take on the benefits of the metal."

"What do you mean?"

Magnie hummed and pointed at the image of the knife. "Goblin Silver ain't no different from mithril, they just like calling it goblin silver to make themselves feel entitled to it with how rare and valuable it is. And due to them being the only ones who know how to forge with it." She mumbled the last line in annoyance but pushed on. "The quantity of the metal birthed by the world is incredibly small compared to millennia past where it was slightly more common. Incorporating it into your claws and hand bones will give you the durability, sharpness, and mana conductivity of the metal, without changing the make-up of em."

"So they will look and feel like regular bones, but gain the benefits you mentioned?"

"Aye, might be a tad heavier from the density, but you can handle it, right lad?"

Jin chuckled and flipped the woman off and she laughed in shared humor. Tyreus leaned over to look at the page and clicked his tongue. "A fine idea. However, I thought you were studying the way of the axe under Orios. Did you change your mind?"

Jin shook his head. "Nah, I like the axe. And it gives me a good plan for what I want to request from a Goblin smith, but I prefer fighting with my hands above everything. I'm a tiger Animagus, and my animal traits will always be the core of my fighting style. I prefer throwing the axe or using charms on it than swinging it around."

Tyreus ran a hand through his beard with a nod. "Mn. Good that you are sticking to your strengths while keeping the door open for more learning. Versatility is useful, but only as far as giving yourself another avenue of attack for situations where your main style is insufficient. Too many weapons is just as bad as no weapons."

"Exactly. Just like when I first started fighting with charms. Too many of them made me keep hesitating for seconds thinking about what to use. What was most effective. What combinations to use. If it wasn't for my strong instincts and dexterity, I may have lost limbs by now trying to train in a trial by fire."

Magnie laughed and slapped his back faster than he could react. "Ya still got a way to go lad! Don't be getting on your high horse now."

Jin pushed himself off the ground with a growl. "Woman, I will end you."

"Ha! My tents open if ya want to go a couple rounds lad, I'll make a real man out of ya."

[Image on QQ]

Jin's eyes briefly traveled over her generous chest and toned, ripped stomach before he shook it off in a second. 'Thank you Veela allure for keeping my horny in check.' He stood up and dusted himself off. "I'll pass but thanks. How soon can we do the ritual?"

Magnie chuckled and stepped up to brush some dirt off his back. "Good, I respect ya more for keeping it in your pants. It's all too easy to mislead a young stallion. The best time for a ritual is the night of the full moon, so we can get it done before the banquet."

"Alright, when's that again?"

"The 5th of First Seed."

"….Do you guys have a calendar or something?"

Magnie snorted in humor. "It's the fifth day of the next month lad, you wizards have a silly notion of the passing days."

"I'd really rather not get into that discussion again. Orios argued with me for hours on it and we still don't have a winner."

"Ha, I bet. By the way, since one of the rituals is for cleansing the metal, you still have two more available for your body. Any idea what you want?"

Jin turned the page and held up his journal. "Yeah, I was thinking of these options."

Magnie read over it and smirked. "You'll be a force to be reckoned with lad."

"That's the plan."

00000

Time passed in the blink of an eye.

Jin continued his everyday battle with the spiders, whose numbers didn't seem to have taken a hit despite eliminating their source. In fact, Jin couldn't even find the path he drunkenly took beforehand.

He breathed heavily, surrounded by half a dozen dead spiders, and held out a bloody hand, summoning his axe with the summoning charm from where it was embedded in a spider's skull back to his palm and hanging it from his belt. 'How the hell did I make it in there? Even with a distraction, there's no way I could make it to the center without fighting at least a hundred of these bastards. But Fleur said there were only a dozen or so corpses when she came to get me. Even with the fires we used as distractions, that's nowhere near enough.'

The circular-shaped spider nest had heavier security the closer you got to the center. On the edge, fighting one without setting off the alarm would bring two others. On the second layer, fighting one would bring five. And it would just keep increasing, even if the alarm wasn't set off.

Jin huffed and shook his head. 'Something else must have happened that night. There are at least five layers to this nest; even with all my improvements, I'm only on the second.' He turned around and started walking back while behind him, Bron appeared and dutifully began dissecting the valuable pieces from the spiders, especially the fangs, which were still needed to buy the subsequent two rituals from Magnie.

'Whatever it was, it helped me in the end. But I shouldn't let my guard down; it seems I'm not the only one with an agenda out here.' His axe lit up in blue flames as he turned and threw it to his left with a banishing charm, where it slammed into a sneaking spider's head and knocked it off the tree it was hiding on to ambush him. It fell as the flames cooked its brain in seconds before he summoned it back and eyed the warped metal. 'I need a better axe. This is the third one already, and Orios isn't happy with me.'

He sighed and decided to call it a day.

A run through the forbidden forest was his favorite way of cooling down from half a day of intense hunting. Walking into the spider's nest forced his instincts and attention to be on high alert at all times. Made him need to focus on stealth, alertness, and taking action as fast as possible. But the nest was dark, eerie, and near dead silent at the best of times, like a muffled cap on the world.

The forest, on the other hand, was bursting with life as animals, magical and not, went about their lives. Jin enjoyed calming down his nerves by running in full animal form through the trees. Something about the action called to a primal portion of his psyche like a soothing balm.

His paws took him across the expansive snowy forest like a phantom beneath the trees until he paused about a mile out from his home and sniffed the air. 'That's a new scent.'

In the past months, he had gotten more accustomed to his new senses, and while his sense of smell wasn't great at tracking, it was helpful for identifying things he hadn't come across, and matching a scent to something he recalled when he got close enough to it.

He traced the paw prints in the dirt in confusion. 'It's like a mix of canine and man? Bah, what a weird scent. Whatever it is, it smells like shit.' He shook his nose and ignored it as he continued home. The tracks didn't head in his direction, so it wasn't his concern what it was.

Jin didn't see anyone around, so he just walked to his door in tiger form, only to get jumped by the biggest, baddest, alpha predator around.

A roar of might and power announced its presence as black death descended on Jin from above. Bright blue eyes filled with majesty smashed into his neck with all the force of a snowball as Jin turned his head and raised a brow at the small black-furred feline handing to his neck by its little teeth.

Feline stared at feline for a moment before Jin snorted in amusement and licked his little familiar affectionately. Shadow meowed in pleasure and rubbed against his larger head in shared affection.

Jin chuckled and turned back to human form while picking up his kitten. "And where exactly have you been lately missy? Tormenting some poor students in the school?"

Shadow bobbed her head in pride while sticking out her chest and got chin scratches for her actions. "Good girl. I'm glad you remembered where your home is though. You spend more time exploring than you do at home."

Shadow ignored him to turn on her back in his arms and purr at his scratches. "Right, good talk." Jin rolled his eyes and walked inside, idly unlocking the locking combination on his door with a finger. 'The locking charm is underrated. Just change it up slightly and you can add whatever combination lock you want, making the unlocking charm much more complicated then simply point and click.'

Through heavy study, Jin discovered that the unlocking charm worked on locks by changing the probability that whoever locked it had left it unlocked. The more complicated the lock, and the higher the magical defenses of it, the more mana was required to overwrite the reality of it. Doing so could break the defenses on the lock and alert whoever set it of your actions, if not setting off any traps connected to it. Not to mention that it can fail altogether if someone like a first year tried to get through something Dumbledore locked on purpose.

Inversely, just like picking a lock, if you can work through the magical combination left on a magical lock, the price in mana goes down, and you can re-lock it after you're done. That was precisely what ward and curse breakers did. Their entire job was based around picking magical locks without setting off any security effects.

Which was why Fleur loved picking his locks. She considered it training, and he kept having to make them more complicated. It was an unspoken game between the two.

Jin walked into his cabin and tossed his jacket over a chair while walking to his bedroom to grab some clothes. "I'll spoil you more later girl, unless you want to join me in the shower?"

Shadow hissed and jumped out of his arms to curl up on his pillow. "Oh sure, just go frolicking in an ancient castle and the horse stables and then sit on my pillow where my face goes. You're a real gem girl."

She meowed adorably and ignored him while he chuckled. "Yeah, yeah." He tossed his dirty clothes in a basket and jumped in the shower to let the steaming water wash off the dirt, blood, and grime from his body. Especially the clumps of it in his shoulder-length brown hair. 'Fighting spiders is great training, but it makes having longer hair a pain in the ass. Maybe I should just buzz-cut it.'

His ears twitched at the sound of steps approaching his door, but he ignored it when whoever it was didn't bother knocking and undid his locking charm in seconds. "Jin~! Is that all you got?"

Jin rolled his eyes and called back. "In the shower babe."

A usual girlfriend would usually take such a message as 'I'll be out in a bit, just relax.' But Fleur wasn't a typical girlfriend. She took it as an invitation as she threw open the door. "You're losing your touch Jin; that took me ten seconds to get through."

"I'm losing nothing. You're the one getting better at breaking them."

Fleur giggled and dropped her robe as she stepped into the shower to hug him from behind. "Flattery will get you everywhere~." Her hands came around his front to grab his pole. "How was the hunt today? Figure out how you got to the center yet?"

He groaned at her touch and his annoyance. "No, not yet. If there was a path forward, its not there anymore."

Her hardened nipples rubbed against his muscled back. "Did you ask those 'party' members of yours?"

"Ha, yeah right. Gorluff and me are still arguing over who drank more that night. Everyone had nuggets of memories but no one remembered how we did it. Or at least they aren't sharing." His palms came around to run over her thighs as she hummed in delight.

"Mn~. Did that vampire run off with the eggs then?"

"Yeah, the goblins chased him down for their share of the profits. They worked out a deal for it, I don't really care, I got the queens corpse."

"They should still give you a cut if they plan to farm the spiders."

Jin smirked and turned around to capture her lips. "I got the corpse and a five percent cut of their future profits selling silk, listed under the Delacour name. All future profits will go to you or your mother."

Fleur's eyes widened as she pushed away from his face while idly trapping his length between her thighs. "Why would you do that? The profits would be enormous!"

He shrugged and traced her face with a finger. "I won't be here for it. The time it would take to raise them, train them, and profit from them will be long after I'm gone. Better to have the profits go to you or your family. Your mother could always repay me when I come back." Jin wiggled his brows and Fleur slapped his chest playfully.

"You and my mother need to stay away from each other. You're terrible together."

"I think it's funny."

"That's because you both take amusement out of teasing me!" She pouted adorably, but the combination of her expression and the way she was rubbing her heated lips over his length did things to him she knew she was doing.

He leaned forward to capture her pulse point in a bite. "It's my favorite activity."

She moaned at his actions and ran a hand through his hair. "You sure it's your favorite~?"

"Hm…maybe my second."

She smirked and teased the head of his shaft. "And what would be the first?"

"I think you know the answer to that, Sparkles." He thrust forward, and she gasped in delight while digging her nails into his back.

An hour later, they both stepped out of the shower, thoroughly clean and satisfied for the moment. Fleur clung to him on the couch with them dressed in sweats. "What should we do today?"

Jin hummed and ran his hands up and down her back. "Charm work?"

"Non, it's the weekend and I'm tired."

"We could keep going where we left off in the shower."

"Hm…tempting, very tempting. But let's do something different today."

Jin rolled through ideas before one hit him. "How about a walk through Hogsmeade? You enjoyed it last time."

Fleur's eyes lit up at that. "That sounds like fun; it's been weeks since we last went."

"We did get a bit busy."

"Oui, in bed."

"That's more because of you."

"Are you complaining?"

"Not at all."

Fleur giggled and play bit his chest. "Good boy."

He growled back and jumped up with her in his arms. "Are you going to wear a coat like a normal person this time?"

She raised a brow. "Why would I do that when I have a perfectly good heater?"

"And a warming charm doesn't work because?"

She scoffed in fake arrogance. "My heater is superior to such a silly thing. Mine can carry me."

Jin snorted in humor. "Of course, how silly of me."

"Mn, you are forgiven for your insults. Now mush!"

"I will drop you woman."

"Please don't, I don't like the snow."

"I figured you would get used to it by now."

"Non, how you savages live like this I have no idea."

Jin chuckled and stepped outside while locking the door behind him. "Strong bodies I'm sure."

Fleur wrapped around his neck in a piggyback and hummed. "Mn, at least some of you." She bit his ear to make her point, and he slapped her ass playfully.

"Behave you, we're going into public."

"That just makes it more exciting."

"You're insatiable Sparkles."

"You love it."

"Never said I didn't."

The two shared a laugh, and for a time, just the sound of Jin's boots crunching the snow beneath his feet and their soft breaths were the only things to accompany them.

Fleur rested her chin on his shoulder and watched the light snowfall around them. "I guess it does have its charm."

"Hm?"

"The snow. With someone to carry me like this and keep me warm, it's not too bad."

"Heh, I'm sure you could have people lining up to carry you if you made a single comment."

Fleur stuck her tongue out at him. "Beh, it wouldn't be the same. I'm not dating any random man. Especially not the drooling weak minded fools."

Jin turned his head and caught her small lips in a kiss, their chilled noses poking each other as he stared into her eyes. "Good, the only other man who can carry you in this life will be your father."

The slightly possessive quality of his voice sent a shiver of delight down her spine as Fleur giggled and kissed him back. "Oui, I'm a one-man woman."

Jin chuckled and turned back to keep walking. "How about a one woman, woman?" He thought back to the incident with Jamie.

Fleur squeezed his neck with a smirk. "Oh please, that's just having couples fun. I don't mind playing with an additional third or fourth with you, but otherwise I would only turn to other Veela for release, I told you."

"I know, I just can't help but check every now and then to make sure you still feel the same way."

Fleur smiled softly and kissed his neck. "You have nothing to worry about Mon Tigre. I'm yours until the day you prove yourself unworthy."

"Ha, I'll have to do my best to make sure that doesn't happen then, won't I?"

She giggled into his ear. "Just be yourself Jin, that's all I ever ask."

"I'll try Sparkles, I'll try."

They walked in peace for a few minutes longer as Hogsmede came into sight. Being the weekend, it was full of students walking around the little town, but Jin and Fleur didn't let that bother them.

The two had been known as a couple since the Yule ball, and neither cared for what others thought of them. They dropped into Honeydukes and bought some chocolate before stopping at the apothecary for Fleur to stock up on supplies.

"What do you need them for anyway? It's not like you're taking your NEWT's for Potions."

She gently chided him as she opened the door and stepped out into the cold. "Just because I'm not persuing further academic study in it, doesn't mean I dislike making potions. They have a wide variety of uses."

He shrugged and followed behind her with his hands in his pockets. "Meh, I prefer charms, but you're not wrong. I want more Wit-Sharpening potions."

Fleur huffed in amusement. "Your body is far too immune to its effects by now. Only you could overdose without a risk of brain damage."

"I got my doctors approval."

"A crazy old lady in a side street of Diagon is not your doctor Jin."

"Hey, she knew what she was doing."

"Of course she did." Fleur rolled her eyes without faith, and he leaned down to bite her for her cheek. "Oi, I'm not your chew toy."

"No, you're my favorite meal."

Fleur flushed at the look in his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. "This has gotten a bit messy, non? Lets get it cleaned up."

"Should I? I never really cared about it outside formal events."

"Of course you should! Its not about looking good for others, it's about looking good for yourself."

"I feel like that's a biased opinion considering you always look good."

"Oh shush, you could shave your head and make it work if you don't wear a shirt."

"And whats that supposed to mean?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck and stole a kiss. "It means, don't be the pot calling the kettle black. Now, come on." She pulled him toward the hairdresser by his arm, and he let it happen.

An hour later, he came out with a happily humming Fleur and a twitching Jin with styled hair. "We are not doing that again."

[Image on QQ]

She giggled and bumped her shoulder into him. "Don't be a baby, it wasn't so bad."

"The haircut was fine; the overly affectionate hairdresser was not."

"I thought it was hilarious."

"That's cuz it was a dude putting his hands on me. How would you feel if that was a woman?"

Fleur paused in thought and shrugged. "Fuck them or burn them depending on how things went."

"I'm glad you have your priorities straight."

"Of course, I'm just that amazing."

The two shared a laugh, with Jin throwing his arm over her shoulders as they got ready to head out, only for them to pause as Jin's nose twitched.

"Jin?"

"Hm, I smell something familiar."

"We are in Hogsmeade, of course you do."

"No, it's something more distinct. Something I smelled earlier on the way home. A pungent scent of canine and man mixed into one, whoever it is needs a damn shower, ugh."

He looked around in curiosity, but his nose didn't help with pinpointing a direction, so he relied on his eyes and caught sight of something on the edge of town. "Is that….Harry?"

Fleur followed his gaze and nodded. "Oui, he is scrawny but easy to pick out among a crowd. Hermione and the orange one are with him."

Jin snorted in amusement. "I like how you title them."

"Hermione is a wonderful girl, I appreciate her focus on learning and preparing for her future career ahead of time. The orange one turns into a drooling mess the second he looks at me."

"Heh, that's fair. Don't be too hard on the orange one, he's not a bad guy, just weak of mind I guess."

"I'll take your word for it, but why are we talking about them?"

Jin's eyes narrowed on a fourth smaller form hidden behind Harry's frame. "I think we should go say hi; they have someone interesting with them."

Fleur raised a brow but didn't mind following along as they walked over.

The smaller form among the group was the first to notice them and began growling, alerting the three younger ones of their presence.

Jin had to suppress a growl of his own at the inferior canine as he waved a hand. "Hey there Harry, nice to run into you."

Harry's eyes lit up in recognition. "Oh, Jin. Same to you."

Hermione eyed them and smiled as she waved back. "Hi Fleur. Thanks for your help the other day."

Fleur smirked. "Non dear, it was no big deal."

Jin gave her an interested look, and she waved a hand. "It's nothing. It seems many young men have come to understand her beauty after the ball and decided to pester her for her time. I simply helped send them along."

Hermione snorted. "More like turned them into drooling zombies, still it was appreciated."

"My pleasure. An intelligent girl you like you needs to find a strong minded partner to match you. Don't settle for those who will drag you down."

Hermione flushed and looked away with a smile. "I'll do my best."

Ron, meanwhile, had been staring at Fleur with googly eyes since he noticed them, and Jin wasn't even annoyed. 'Sheesh, I don't hate the guy, but he needs to get laid. His desperation is shining like a beacon.'

Harry seemed to notice Ron's state and elbowed him while changing the subject. "So, Jin, we kinda got to go do something so we'll see you later."

Jin hummed and scratched his cheek as he eyed the large dog still growling lowly at him. "Actually, I was hoping to have a little talk with you and your friend there Harry."

Harry's eyes narrowed, and Hermione and Ron, surprisingly, took defensive stances. "About what exactly?"

Jin's ears twitched, and he listened closely around them and didn't hear anyone else close by. He blinked as his eyes turned into slit pupils, and his body grew a few inches with sharpened teeth.

The three teens backed up with widened eyes, and the dog bravely stepped forward, but Jin chuckled and waved a hand. "Don't worry. I just wanted to have a talk with a fellow Animagi, isn't that right, Sirius Black?"

Hermione raised a shaky finger and pointed at him. "Wait, I thought they said you couldn't perform magic?!"

Fleur silently watched the show in interest and took a second look at the dog Jin had identified.

Jin turned back to his normal human form. "There's a lot of things people say. Now, let's not make a scene, I just want to talk." He gestured to the tree line, and the teens shared a silent conversation before Harry responded nervously.

"Just to talk?"

"You have my word."

Harry showed a hint of the backbone that had been growing over the years of his challenges and stared him in the eyes for a moment before nodding. "Fine."

Ron hissed at his side. "Harry! Why should we talk to him?"

Hermione decided to answer that. "Maybe because he knows who our guest is and hasn't started raving? Honestly, Ron, think for a second."

The two teens started bickering while Harry awkwardly scratched his head. "Sorry about them."

Jin and Fleur gave him amused smiles. "It's fine, lets get going before someone notices."

Harry nodded in relief, and the three, plus the dog staying closely to Harry's side, headed for the woods with a trailing Ron and Hermione arguing like an old married couple.

Jin whispered in Fleur's ear. "Ten Galleons says they hook up." He felt no shame using metaknowledge to win a bet.

Unfortunately for Ron, he might have just sealed the poor boy's fate. Fleur looked appalled at the idea. "Non, if she doesn't have Krom in a committed relationship by the end of the year, I'm not a Veela."

"Why Krom?"

"Do you not see how taken the two are with each other? He is one of the few boys among our age who can resist a Veela Allure. Strong of mind, a noble heart, and a sweetheart who tries? He's perfect for her."

"Isn't she more on the intellectually minded side of things?"

"Oui, but she's competitive. She would only butt heads with the researcher type. She needs someone to ground her, Krom fits like a charm."

Harry coughed from the side, having heard the whole conversation. "Um, Fleurs not wrong. She's like a sister to me but she needs to be the smartest person in a room."

Fleur puffed out her chest while Jin shrugged. "Sure, whatever, you do you Sparkles."

"Don't call me Sparkles in front of others Jin."

"Why not?"

"I'll burn you."

Harry asked curiously. "Why sparkles?"

Jin smirked and covered Fleur's mouth. "You can resist her allure, right Harry?"

The younger boy looked confused but nodded. "I think so?"

"Babe, flash him."

Fleur's eyes were not friendly at his joke. "I meant your allure."

She rolled her eyes but still did so. The dog fell on its side, Ron in the background went dull-eyed and tripped in the snow, and Hermione flushed heavily and looked away. 'Huh, I guess Hermione swings both ways.' He turned to Harry and saw him still clear-eyed. "How does she look to you right now?"

Harry tilted his head. "Kinda….sparkly I guess? I can see what you mean now."

Jin threw his hands up. "Ha! I'm not the only one who sees it!"

Fleur growled as fire ignited in her hands. "Excuse me Harry, I have to kill my boyfriend."

Jin laughed loudly and dodged the thrown fireballs. "Don't deny the truth, Sparkles! The truth will set you free!" He had to duck under a beachball-sized fireball after he finished talking.

"The only thing being set free will be your soul from this mortal coil! Stay still!"

The two played their game while the rest of the group recovered from the allure and came up to Harry's side.

"Those two are bonkers."

"Then stop staring at Fleur's ass Ron."

"Why would I do that? I'm not bonkers."

The dog nodded his head in approval at those words while Hermione cuffed the back of his head.

The group continued on into the woods until they were out of sight, and only then did the dog stop and morph into the body of a grown man. Oily hair, dirt-covered skin, black nails, haunted eyes, hunched form, and a wand raised in warning. Sirius Black stared hard at Jin. "Who are you, and what do you want with me? If you're looking to blackmail my godson, I'll bury you six feet under before you can blink."

Jin was about to speak but the younger ones jumped to conclusions first. Ron and Hermione quickly pulled out their wands, but Harry actually stepped in front of his godfather. "Wo, wo, Sirius, Jin's not a bad guy, I think. He helped me out a few times this year."

Fleur had been standing on alert the second Sirius changed with her wand in her hand, but a gentle touch from Jin had stalled her from stunning everyone.

"Thanks for the assist Harry, but I got this." He looked the slightly crazed man in the eyes and held up his palms. "Take it easy buddy, I'm not here to fight. Let's take a seat and talk alright?"

Sirius stared into Jin's eyes for a long moment but relaxed at Harry's nod. "Fine, we can talk, but no funny business."

Jin chuckled and patted Fleur. "Fleur, you mind giving us a table and setting up some privacy?"

His French lover raised a brow but complied in understanding. No one but Fleur knew how advanced his practical charms ability was. She waved her wand to transfigure some roots into chairs and a table, but Sirius stopped her on the security ward.

"I'll do it, I don't trust you to not add anything to it."

Fleur shrugged and stepped back while Sirius cast the privacy ward.

A Ward, contrary to how many imagine it, was simply a charm cast over an area instead of in a singular effect. Not every charm could become a ward, and they couldn't be moved once cast, but they would all need an energy source, whether that be the caster or a ward stone to power it.

Sirius cast the disillusionment charm and silencing charm in a bubble around the table while anchoring himself as the caster and making the effect stationary. It was often considered a standard privacy ward for short-term use.

Sirius sat on one side of the table with the three younger ones and Jin and Fleur on the other. "Everyone's hands stay above the table."

Fleur rolled her eyes at the paranoia. "Fine, but I'm adding a warming charm to this shoddy ward work. It's freezing."

Sirius twitched but nodded as she added it, and the space around the table grew warmer. "My work isn't shoddy…."

Jin, Fleur, and even Hermione raised brows at him and he sank further. "It's not my wand, its not my fault."

Ron decided to be the one to get things going with his usual tact. "Can someone tell me what the bloody hell is going on? What do you want?"

Jin shrugged and pointed a finger at Sirius. "I'm here to speak to him. You three are here to see him. He is here to see Harry I'm assuming, and we're all sitting here because it makes him feel safer to speak this way."

Ron followed along and nodded. "Ah, ok. Well, talk people."

Half the table snorted in amusement, and Jin got on with it. "Mr. Black, I have an..-"

"Call me Sirius." He interrupted him, and Jin accepted it.

"Ok, Sirius, I have an offer for you. You have certain things I want, and I think we can offer you something in return."

"I'm listening."

Jin decided to start with the carrot and looked at Fleur. "Fleur, your father is a French Auror, right?"

She looked between him and Sirius and seemed to catch on quickly. "Oui, just a step below the head auror."

"How hard would it be to ask him to offer a wanted British criminal asylum in France?"

Harry's eyes lit up as she thought about it. "My papa is a fair man. He would demand Sirius submitted himself for questioning, likely with veritaserum, and would see him go free in a heartbeat if he passes. If guilty however, he would be the first to throw him behind bars."

"Could you ask him to personally handle his case?"

She smirked at him. "Oui. He has never said no to me before."

Jin's eye twitched. 'That explains some of her habits…' Fleur seemed to notice his inner thoughts and narrowed her eyes on him, but Sirius saved the day by butting in.

"Wo, wo, I did not agree to turn myself in! Why would I go to France?!"

Jin side-eyed him. "Veela conclaves."

"You have my attention."

Fleur and Hermione rolled their eyes at Sirius's immediate change. The man even sat up straight in his seat hard enough for his hunched spine to crack back into place.

Jin chuckled and went on. "I'm sure the French hospital has some Veela on staff. Wouldn't you want to go get some professional healthcare by the worlds best looking women?"

"Hey!"

Fleur gave the put-upon Hermione a look of sympathy. "He's an idiot, but he's not wrong dear. Don't compare yourself to magically enhanced racial beauty. You're going to be a stunner in a few years."

Hermione looked like she wanted to argue her case, but Sirius cut in. "Wait! Damn it, I can't just abandon my godson…..no matter how tempting that is."

"Abandon? Sirius, what exactly are you doing for him right now? He's safe, for the most part, inside the castles wards. If you want to help him, go get healed up and get your name cleared. You can legally take care of him if you do."

Sirius had a conflicted and nervous look on his face, but Harry took Jin's side. "He's right Sirius. I'm not in danger at school, usually, and you can't even come inside. I don't want to see you suffer out here. I'm going to be independent in a few years, you can't live your life for me."

"But I promised James I would take care of you!"

"Sirius, you're the only real family I have besides my friends. I don't want to see you suffering like this."

Sirius's eyes grew moist as he looked at his grandson, but Fleur decided to ruin the moment and speak up. "Actually, you are already independent Harry."

Sirius and Harry both looked up at that. ""Huh?""

Fleur waved a hand lazily. "Did you not read the rules of the tournament? Anyone submitted into the Tri-Wizard tournament is hereby declared by law to be of age in the eyes of society. It was put in place to avoid blame if an underage wizard dies, and it's the reason we don't have to go to class if you're a champion. Why do you think they actually let us skip class? It's because we are legally allowed to."

Harry blinked in shock at that. "Wait, what?! I'm an adult?! Why has no one told me this?"

He looked around the table, but the rest of the group had nothing helpful to share. Hermione was the one to speak up. "I probably should have read the rule book better, but the first few chapters were so redundant and illogical that I couldn't stomach it. What does it mean if Harry's a legal adult?"

Fleur answered. "It means he has the right to use his wand outside school and take up lordship if he wishes. He probably can't learn Apparation yet however, as its set to the age of seventeen for safety reasons first and foremost. But otherwise, he could drop out of school right now without repercussions if he wished. It would be hell on future prospects, but he is legally allowed to."

Harry blinked like a fish out of water, and Sirius slammed a fist on the table. "The lordship! How did I not think of that?!" He grabbed Harry by the shoulders. "Harry, you need to go to Gringotts right away and claim the Potter lordship. The ring will give you extra protections and access to Potter Manor."

"Manor? I have a manor?"

"Of course you do! Has no one told you? James locked it away when he moved to Godric's Hollow to go into hiding with you and Lily."

Jin cut in there. "Why did they do that anyway? Wouldn't an ancient manor have better protections?"

Sirius looked at him and raised a finger before he shut his mouth and dropped it. "….Why did they do that?" He looked confused but quickly shook his head. "Wait! Not the point. What do you want from me? Why are you trying to help? I never met you before in my life."

Jin raised four fingers. "I want four things from you. But first, you are the current lord of House Black, correct?" His eyes traced to Sirius's hand, where an Onyx ring sat snuggly on a dirty finger.

Sirius covered it quickly but nodded all the same. "Yeah, gramps sent the ring to me with a note on his deathbed."

"Weren't you in prison?"

Sirius scoffed. "Don't look down on a Black who wants something done. He passed the ring and title to me to avoid it going to Narcissa, and Malfoy by proxy. I doubt I would be half as sane right now without its mental protections." He thumbed the ring with a complicated look, and Jin chose to move on and not press into the older man's wounds.

"I don't care how you got it. But if you're the head, I want four things from you."

"I'm listening."

"First, I want you to break Bellatrix's marriage contract."

Sirius looked taken aback. "Why would I do that? Whats the point?"

Jin tapped a finger on the table. "If you break the contract, I'm curious about a few interesting things that might happen. But mainly, its so the black family can seize the Lestrange vault at Gringotts. There is something in there I want. My second request is to get your hands on the item I'm looking for through the Gringotts branch in Paris."

Sirius nodded at the logic. "Bella's bat shit insane so why not I guess? And if I'm legally free in France I don't see an issue with that. What item did you want?"

"I'll tell you when you're free. No point in saying anything before that."

"Fine, whats the last request?"

"I want you to call Kreacher and get him to hand over a locket he's holding on to."

Sirius blinked again. "That ancient grimy elf has something you want?"

"Yeah, tell him I'll destroy it and he'll understand."

"Um, ok? And the last one?"

"I want access to the black family library for tomes on charms. Don't ask why."

Sirius raised a brow. "You want charms? I think you're asking the wrong family buddy. I haven't been in my families library for years, but I doubt its changed much. The Black family collected curses predominantly, and any book not on curses has a nine out of ten chance of being cursed, even the children books. It was practically a family hobby to curse any book not already cursed."

Jin grunted in annoyance. "It's fine, even if there are only a few there, I'll take it."

Sirius shrugged. "Sure, I guess. Outside your second request, none of them are any skin off my back." He eyed Harry in concern, but his godson nodded at him in support, and he went on. "If…if you can really get me that meeting with the French Aurors without me being stunned and shipped back to Britain, I'll fulfill your requests."

"Great. That's all I wanted to say." Jin stood up and extended his hand. "Do we have a deal?"

Sirius eyed his hand in suspicion but shook it in the end. "We have a deal."

Jin nodded and stepped back. "Cool, I'll give Harry a message when we're ready on our end, and I'm sure Harry has someway to contact you, so just hang tight till then. And for Merlin's sake man, go take a shower, or use a cleaning charm."

Sirius grumbled. "I have the entire British auror department chasing me at the moment, where do you expect me to go?"

"Your house? The Black family manor has more protections than any other house in Britain."

"I don't want to go back there."

"Dude."

He got five pointed stares and cracked. "I'm sick of that place alright? I could go the rest of my life without going back there."

Jin shrugged. "Whatever, it's your call; you're a grown-ass man. I said my piece." He turned to Harry, and by the look in the teen's eyes, Sirius's living arrangements wouldn't be staying the same much longer. "Harry, I'll give you a heads up when we're ready."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, thanks for this Jin, I mean it."

Jin smiled at the teen. "Don't worry about it man, I got my own reasons." He offered Fleur his arm. "Let's go back."

Fleur had watched most of the show in curiosity and nodded while sending Hermione a smile.

They made it out of sight before Fleur attacked. "Jin, you want to give me some answers now?"

"For?"

Her unamused look had him chuckling. He set up his own version of a silencing bubble around them, a combination of the bubblehead charm and a silencing charm he created during his drunken night out. "Alright, alright. I knew Sirius was a dog Animagus and put two and two together when I saw him with Harry."

"And you showed them you're an Animagus because?"

"To establish a bit of faith at the start. Who cares if they know? Dumbledore knows, and there's no law against being a natural Animagus and not registering. I checked the book and it just says that when one goes through the ritual to become an Animagus, they must register when they succeed. I'm a loophole. Besides, those four are most likely to keep things a secret in the short term if they care about keeping Sirius a secret. I only have a few months left in this world."

"Ok, and the rest? It would have been nice to have a warning in advance about talking to my father."

Jin rubbed her arm. "Right, sorry about not talking to you first, I didn't plan for this conversation before and jumped at it when I realized I could do it. Would it be trouble for you to ask your father to help Sirius?"

She scoffed and waved her free hand. "Non, I was serious when I said he doesn't say no to me. But I never took advantage of that, I love my papa."

"Really? Never ever?"

She avoided his gaze and pouted. "Fine, maybe I got away with desserts more than I should have, or stayed up late getting bedtime stories, but that's a daughters right to ask for!"

Jin laughed and kissed the top of her head. "He sounds like a good man."

"Oui, he is. And he does care about his job. He will listen if Sirius willingly gives himself over to questioning. I didn't really expect him to be innocent though."

Jin hummed at that. "You didn't seem to have much of a reaction at all."

Fleur shrugged. "Just because someone is infamous in Britain, does not mean they are infamous everywhere. Most of the magical world treats Britain with a singular attitude."

"Which is?"

"To translate from French: 'Let them take care of their own problems, it's too much of a headache'."

"Huh. Fitting."

"It is. So whether Sirius Black is innocent or not doesn't change my world. What about the rest?"

"Hm, I want the objects for two different reasons. One is to help Harry out a bit, and the second is for a personal project. I want the charms from the Black family for an obvious reason."

"What project? I thought you shared all of them with me?"

Jin thought about how to answer and decided he didn't care. "I'll show you when we get back."

Fleur raised a brow but dropped it. "Fine, now carry me." She jumped on his back with a smile.

"Excuse me?"

"I helped you; you help me."

"How is carrying you helping you?"

"Because the snow is cold, and you are warm. Simple logic."

"I don't follow."

"You don't have to. Now mush." Fleur giggled into his ear, and he huffed.

"You want a ride? Fine, lets ride." Fleur had a second to blink as the strong back she leaned on turned into a carpet of warm fur.

She gulped at the tiger's head looking back at her with a grin. "I'll walk."

Jin didn't give her the chance and took off running as the Veela squeaked and clung to him. "Jin!" Her shout soon turned to laughter, and he made extra sure to bump into trees and cover her in snow clouds as he ran.

Once back at the cabin, she slapped his chest and shivered. "Y-you, b-brute."

"Heh, you wanted a ride. Now, come get warmed up." He put her down by the hearth and summoned a bunch of blankets and pillows to wrap her up like a cocoon.

"I'm not a child Jin, get in here."

"Just a sec, you wanted to see the project I was working on."

Jin moved over to the center of his cabin and ran his hand over a seemingly ordinary floorboard as he channeled an unlocking charm. A hidden cabinet popped up with a hiss, and he reached in to grab the box inside before coming back over to the fire. "Here, take a look."

Fleur took the box with a curious eye and opened it to see….a broken tiara. "The secret project is new headwear? Not what I would have thought you were into Jin, but I won't judge, too much."

He snorted in amusement and pointed at it. "No you dork. That's Ravenclaws Diadem in your hands."

Fleur's eyes widened as she looked back at it. "No way. Her diadem is a legend."

"You know about it?"

"Oui, I know of legendary artifacts, I wanted to raid tombs remember?"

"Ah, right. Well, that's the real one alright."

"Why is it broken? I don't feel a hint of magic from this."

Jin gave off a wry laugh and scratched his cheek. "Right, about that…."

"Jin."

"I kinda broke it."

"Explain."

Jin didn't enjoy her twitching expression and waved his hands. "Alright listen, do you know how the Patronus Charm works?"

Fleur raised a brow but nodded. "It's a difficult charm but I know the theory. It's said to be the only true protection against dementors."

Jin nodded. "Correct, but its more than that. The Patronus is a charm that has a spiritual aspect to it. It is the positive thoughts like happiness and love given form through mana, and allowing it to do anything from reject to harm corrupted souls full of negativity. It does nothing but pass on a feeling of whatever positive thoughts were used to any living creature with a real body, but its incredibly harmful for shades and corrupted souls without a living body to protect them."

"Interesting, but how does it relate to the diadem?"

"Well, the diadem used to be a soul container of Voldemort. He corrupted the item with a piece of his soul."

Fleur dropped the box with a shiver. "And you just gave it to me?! Jin!"

He quickly waved a hand. "Relax! It's gone. It's not there anymore. It's just the base material now."

Fleur calmed and took a second look at the diadem. "Ok, how did you find it?"

Jin sat down by her side and looked at her. "Do you remember what I told you of my world traveling? How I'm only going to worlds I know something about?"

"I think so? I didn't really question it at the time."

"Right, well, I know some things about this world. I didn't say anything about it because I didn't want you to start relying on me for answers. For example, I knew what the second task would be, but I didn't tell you so you could face the challenge head on and grow from it. Or how I want to help Sirius and Harry because they could use a helping hand and it won't put me or you at risk to help them."

Fleur narrowed her eyes. "Did you know about me before you met me?"

"I knew your name and that you would be the French champion. I didn't know anything about your personality, personal life, or even the majority of the Veela stuff. I can swear I didn't plan for a single thing with meeting you."

She stared into his eyes for a long moment. "I believe you Jin." She reached over and took his hand in hers. "You told me a bit about this during our week in your warehouse, but the thought only occurred to me now. I'm sorry I doubted you."

He sighed in relief. "Don't be, it's a normal concern. As normal as this situation is anyway. I brought this up to explain why I know of the diadem. Voldemort split his soul into objects, and until they are all gone, he can't die."

"He is immortal?"

"No. He currently doesn't have a real body, and his Horcruxes are all independent of him. He won't know when one dies, and if one possesses someone, it would rise as a new Voldemort from the memories it had at its creation."

"Nightmare fuel right there. I have more questions, but my first one is how this relates to the Patronus charm…wait, are you?"

Jin smirked at the look on her face. "I am. I'm trying to weaponize the Patronus charm."

"Where did you even learn it?"

"Oh please. There's a good reason that the charm is advanced, but it's not because its complicated. It's one of the few charms I don't need a tome for. The directions are literally to point your wand forward, think of your most positive memory, and will it to take form. It's an insult to arithmancy! Theres no math!"

Fleur rolled her eyes fondly. "Boo hoo, there's no complicated math involved. Keep talking."

Jin chuckled and went on. "I had the idea of the charm for a long time, but it was only after. Well, after we started going out that I had a memory I could use."

Fleur blinked at that before the blood rushed to her face, and she squeezed his hand with a smile. "Mon Tigre."

He leaned in and kissed her. "Before I met you, my happiest memory was the first time I casted magic. I was overjoyed to have real magic, and the memory was strong enough to give me the silvery mist, but it was only after we shared our first kiss in the stables that I got it to take a solid form." He held up his hand and demonstrated as a silvery ball of light grew in his palm and radiated positive feelings like a furnace giving off heat.

Fleur stared at him with unblinking eyes and pulled him back into a kiss of her own. "My curiosity is the only reason you're still wearing clothes. Talk faster."

Jin laughed and licked his lips. "To make a long story short, I haven't mastered making a corporal version yet, but it's my goal to try and weaponize the charm. It doesn't do anything to cursed objects as curses are mana based. But it has strong effects on corrupted souls and shades. I tried subtly using it around Harry before and found that it did nothing to him. A living body protects the soul shard, but an inanimate object does not."

He pointed at the broken diadem. "I wanted to try and cleanse it of the taint, but when I tried holding the charm in my hand up against it, the Horcrux violently reacted, and the soul shard inside started breaking the diadem. I didn't want to see what would happen if it exploded, so I splashed it with Basilisk venom and destroyed the shard along with the enchantments on the diadem.

End of story. I asked Sirius for those two objects because they are other soul shards I want to practice on. A side benefit is killing more fragments of the guy's soul."

Fleur processed everything quickly and understood his logic. "Why don't you practice on Dementors? They are notoriously weak against the charm."

Jin winced. "Would you want to go near those things if you had a choice?"

Fleur shivered. "Fair. So you wanted to weaponize the charm. Why keep it a secret?"

"No real reason. It's more like I never had a reason to bring it up. I worked on it whenever I had some free time alone between everything else. Not much free time for myself between the horses, the spiders, the centaurs, and you."

"Are you saying I'm a chore?"

"Yes, the most stamina consuming one of the day."

"Hmph, as long as I'm the best one."

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

The two smirked at each other and laughed.

"Anything else you want to tell me Jin?"

He thought about it and shook his head. "Not really? I told you about the centaur banquet after my ritual right?"

"Oui."

"Then that's all I got."

"Good." Fleur pulled him into her mess of blankets. "It's been an interesting day, but I'm tired of talking."

Jin chuckled and wrapped his arms around her. "Screaming sounds better."

00000

Rhythmic chanting rang out in the forest clearing beneath the full moon as Jin and Fleur stood at the entrance to a hidden Grotto with wide eyes.

"How many pockets of the forest do you have hidden away?"

Magnie laughed loudly by his side. "Ha! More than you'll know. This is where we perform rituals. Generations of brave warrior Centaur's have been given the blessings of the world in this spot, be honored to be among their numbers boy."

Jin nodded with half a mind on her words and half on the location.

The grove wasn't large, oval in shape, and yet it was filled with a feeling of magic. Mana was in the air as neon-glowing moss lit up the ground of the clearing, pulsing like a heartbeat. A massive ancient tree stood at the center, and hanging from its branches were glowing blue threads like silk that danced in an unseen wind.

[Image on QQ]

At the base of the tree, a pool of glittering water sat without a single disturbance to its surface as it reflected the full moon far above.

Magnie let him take it all in before he nudged him and waved a hand to follow. "We need to cleanse the metal first. Did you bring it with you?"

Jin tapped on his watch and brought the iron box holding the Goblin Silver knife, or more like a short sword, that he found back in the Room of Requirement into his hands.

The woman didn't bat an eye at how he got it and took the box from him. "Stand outside the glowing moss and watch silently."

Jin and Fleur didn't argue and followed along.

Magnie signaled the centaur mages in the clearing as they began chanting louder. Roots rose from the ground and connected with the blue threads hanging from the ancient tree as they spoke in a language Jin wasn't familiar with.

Fleur brushed up against him and he wrapped an arm around her as they watched. The moss began to pulse along with their chants, and Magnie opened the box before pouring the blade inside into the pool of water.

It fell in with a single ripple spreading across the surface before the water began to glow in the same neon green light as the moss.

Magnie stabbed her staff into the dirt before the water and joined in on the chanting, her root joining the others in connecting to the ancient tree as they chanted.

The water began to pulse in tune as a wail rang out from deep within.

The two watchers marveled at the sight as a black mist began rising from the surface of the water and evaporated under the rays of moonlight focusing down on them.

The chanting continued until all the mist was gone, and Magnie slammed her staff down a second time. A root shot into the water and pulled the blade out into her waiting hand.

Jin whispered into Fleur's ear. "I think she did it."

She giggled quietly and whispered back. "What gave it away?"

Magnie looked up with a smirk, her voice carrying over to them like a whisper in the wind. "Jin, come here. Fleur, stay."

"As my mistress commands."

Fleur snorted and pushed him forward. "Shush, get in there."

He chuckled and approached the head mage, only to get an interesting order. "Strip."

"Excuse me?"

"Remove your clothes. Don't get cold feet on me now." She shot him a challenging smirk that tickled his pride.

He had nothing to hide or be ashamed of, but halfway through the process, he paused at his pants and glanced at the amused-looking woman. "I don't need to remove my pants for this, do I?"

Her answering smile said it all, and he huffed and sat down at her gesture while idly sending his shirt and shoes over to Fleur with a wave of his hand. The locomotion charm, also known as the bewitching charm, was useful for charming objects to follow specific directions, like using it to set plates on a table or send your clothes to a specific location.

Magnie stabbed the blade into the dirt and gestured to her mages to begin chanting once more.

The rays of moonlight intensified as the mana in the air came alive once more. Only this time, the pulse of the moss-covered ground seemed to make the blade shimmer and vibrate.

Magnie held her palms above the blade, and when she opened her mouth, the sound that came out was not a word. Not a language. It was a sound that pulsed through his mind and body like a force. It made his animal side still as he witnessed nature take form.

Thin finger-sized roots sprouted from the ground in hundreds and began rising like a helix around the metal, intertwining and covering the blade until it couldn't be seen.

A second sound left her lungs, and Jin visibly saw her shoulder sag like the vitality was leaving her body.

The covered metal short sword vibrated and mana condensed from the earth into its sheath of wood.

The apex of the wood covering began to unravel and shape itself into a bowl shape as a drop of silvery liquid formed on the bottom.

One became two, and two became four as the surrounding nature mages increased the pace of their chanting.

The bowl was filled with the liquid metal over the course of two minutes before it finished. Magnie carefully lifted the bowl, and Jin watched in fascination as the wooden sheath left behind cracked and fell apart, with the leftover ornaments of the blade being the only thing remaining.

Magnie gestured with her free hand, and more roots sprouted from the earth, except this time, they wrapped around Jin's arm and held them taut in front of him.

Her gaze dropped to his in a silent question, and he nodded.

A third and final sound left her lips, and the bowl in her hand trembled and stirred before it began to rise up. Magnie wilted further and yet still stood tall.

The liquid metal flowed without gravity and hovered around his hands, enchanting him in a way he couldn't look away from.

A bare whisper of a hoarse voice reached his ears the second before the metal moved. "Brace yourself."

The metal shot forward all as one and drilled into his fingertips, and Jin's mind only knew agony. It didn't burn, and it wasn't cold; it was a pressure that moved through his bones and ground on his raw nerves like a rusty razor.

He never stood a chance as an animalistic roar of pain escaped his lungs.

Unseen to Jin's eyes, runes formed in the glowing moss around the clearing, and Fleur marveled in awe at the image. 'They can make semi-permanent runes from the moss to fit almost any ritual like this!'

While his lover tried to read the runes taking form, Jin thrashed in agony, and yet the roots keeping his arms held aloft didn't budge. Muscles bulged with veins like steel cables as he roared against his restraints.

But just as suddenly as the pain arrived, it vanished, and he was left with numb throbbing hands, a pounding heartbeat, and lungs working desperately to fill him with renewed air.

A hand reached out and lifted his head to face the smiling and exhausted face of Magnie. "What did ya think of your first ritual lad?"

Jin's mind shook from the pain he just went through, and yet a wheezing chuckle still managed to escape his lips. "A fucking warning would have been nice, Magnie."

She barked a laugh and gently patted his shoulder. "Wouldn't have helped, trust me. I'm proud of you for staying awake through that, I've seen men twice your age faint for less."

Jin pushed down the growl in his lungs. "Yeah, well I'm not most men. Can you take this thing off now?"

Magnie smirked and pointed her chin at his hands. "Why don't you free yourself?"

"I don't have to wait for it to settle or something?"

"No. The pain came from the metal mending itself into your bones, but it became a part of your bone, not converting your bones into metal. The actual damage is nothing more than a pin prick to each of your fingertips. Go on and try it out."

She stepped back, and Jin focused his attention on his hands as he entered his Hybrid animal mode. Razor-sharp claws shot out of his fingertips like unsheathed blades and he marveled at their silvery texture.

Feeling slowly came back to his hands, and he poked and prodded at the wood with his fingers as his nails dug in with little effort. '….sharp.'

He sliced his restraints a piece at a time, and each time his nails traced through the reinforced wood, they cut through like a hot knife through butter. The more Jin cut off, the more room he had to flex his wrist, and the more he was freed until he cut through the main support of the wood with little effort.

Jin marveled at his hands and turned them over. "They look the same, feel the same too."

Magnie chuckled and stamped a hoof on the ground as a thick wooden post sprouted up. "Try punching it."

He promptly did so and watched in awe as his fist tore right through the wood, only for the wonder to turn to pain as he registered the split skin on his hand and the pain in his shoulder. "Ow."

Magnie laughed louder and smacked him on the back. "The bones in your hands and wrists were enhanced by the metal. They should be as strong and durable as Goblin Silver, but that won't make the rest of ya durable. Toughen up your body if you want to make good use of those qualities."

Jin winced and went to shake off the blood from his hands but paused at the strange sight before him. The blood and dirt on his hands slid off like oil and water. "What the hell?"

"Hm, did you not know Goblin Silver had that quality? It repels filth, useful for making sure a blade never rusts. Seems you never have to worry about cleaning your hands again." Magnie sent a subtle message to the waiting Fleur while she spoke, and she smirked at the charging blonde.

Jin was unaware and still marveled at his hands. "Holy shit, that's awesome. My skin made using a cleaning charm a pain in the ass, but this works just fine for m-!" He got cut off by a blond missile tackling him out of the way as Fleur focused on Magnie with shining eyes.

"What were those runes?! Is this entire clearing adjustable? You can make any ritual like this! Is this natural? Did you make it? How does it work?"

Jin twitched on the ground and sent his lover a baleful gaze that got waved off, so he did the sensible and gentlemanly thing and tackled her back.

Magnie shook her head in amusement as the two lovers wrestled like kids in the grotto and signaled her mages to head back. "Oi, lad, lass, we're heading back for the banquet, come on."

Jin stopped playing and stood up while idly picking up Fleur by her collar with one hand. "You good?"

She laughed and wriggled in his hold. "Put me down Jin."

"Never." He threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and caught up to Magnie with his struggling captive.

"Jin! Don't make me burn you!"

"I thought we agreed you can't."

"Your clothes aren't fireproof." She made her point by poking his butt with a burning finger, and Jin yelped and put her down.

"Alright, alright, leave my backside alone will you?"

Fleur puffed her chest out in pride and skipped to his side. "For now, I guess. Magnie, are you ok?"

The older woman was huffing with every step but waved a hand. "I'm fine lass, just drained is all."

"It's because of that language you used right? What was that?"

Magnie didn't answer at first as she caught her breath. "It's the language of the forest, taught to us by the Dryads."

Fleur gasped, and Jin raised a curious brow at her reaction. She noticed his gaze and explained. "Dryads haven't been seen in centuries. The muggle's expansions had destroyed enough forested lands for Dryads to practically go extinct. There's one in the Forbidden Forest?"

Magnie nodded. "Aye, don't go sharing that around. Dryads are sacred to us. They are pure beings of nature and never ask for anything. One of the reasons we hate the spiders so much is the damage they do to the forest. Their nest is a tumor on the woodlands and it should be cleansed in fire to let fresh seeds birth from the ash." She spat on the ground to make her point, and Jin shrugged.

"Not to change the subject, but is that language learnable?"

Magnie scoffed and swung a lazy hand to cuff the back of his head, but he was able to dodge it in her current state. "Don't reach for what you can't have lad. Centaurs are connected to nature magic by our racial bloodline, and even among Centaurs, you might find one born a century that can learn the language of the Dryads. Luckily, my granddaughter inherited it from me and will be the one to replace me when I retire."

The three followed the path as they talked and came up upon the village lit with torchlight and buzzing with activity. Magnie threw an arm around each of them. "I'll introduce ya to her at the party. Come on, the chief is waiting for us to kick things off." She tossed both of them on her back and took off running.

"Oi! Shouldn't you be taking it easy?"

"Ha! I'll collapse at my seat and take it easy with some good liquor. Two rituals back to back isn't enough to put me down boy!"

Jin and Fleur shared a glance and laughed helplessly as they went along for the ride and waved to passing Centaurs, who laughed and waved back.

Tyreus was waiting for them in front of his tent, where a raised dais of roots was set up. "Ah, the guests of honor have finally arrived. All in good health, I hope?"

Magnie shot him a thumbs up. Jin shot him a thumbs down and got slapped, much to the amusement of the crowd. Tyreus chuckled and waved a hand. "Come on up, young Jin, young Fleur."

Jin tried to wave him off but Fleur wasn't having it and dragged him up on the stage with a laugh. "This wasn't necessary Tyreus."

The chief shook his head in amusement and placed a hand on his shoulder. "No, it is necessary. Stand tall Jin, take pride in your efforts, no matter how it was done. You are a champion to my people, never forget that."

The authority in the older centaurs voice somehow stirred something in Jin and he no longer found himself annoyed to be up there. His eyes fell over Fleur as she shot him an encouraging smile, and he couldn't help but take her hand in his as the eyes of hundreds of centaurs focused on the stage, spread out among tables lit with torches and decorated with various glowing fauna.

Tyreus stretched out his arms and boomed his voice over the tribe.

"My people! Over fifty years ago, our war against the spiders began. Many have fallen, and many have lost loved ones. We have fought with honor, waited for a chance to strike, and kept the peace in our lands as best we could. But now, the queen who birthed our foes has been slain!" The crowd cheered and stamped their hooves powerfully. "Slain by our ally Jin! An ally we decided to risk dealing with. A young cub I personally watched flutter here and there with no sense for what group combat was." The crowd laughed and jeered in good humor, and Jin even caught one of the warriors from their first meeting shouting about him learning not to jump in front of a swinging blade. "I didn't expect young Jin to make such progress so quickly. I mainly made the deal for the silk of the spiders to arm our own warriors, but sometimes, luck and other skills can be the victors of the day. The sun rose on a new day, and Jin lived while the queen had died. He was the victor, and he has shared that victory with us. Let him hear how we celebrate a victory! Drink! Eat! Be merry! And remember this day for years to come as the day our war was turned on its head!"

The crowd exploded with applause, and Jin was the only one who found himself with an annoyed expression. 'Did this dude just say I only succeeded due to dumb luck? I mean, he's not wrong, but you don't gotta publicly say it, you dick.'

Fleur bumped her hip against his. "Jin, stop spacing out, they already started."

Jin blinked and came back to the moment and saw that she was right. The centaurs wasted no time breaking out the drinks and sitting at tables full of food.

"Where do you think we're supposed to sit exactly?"

Fleur shrugged in ignorance until a voice called from the side. "Lad, lass, over here!" They turned and saw Magnie waving for them at a table with Tyreus, Orios, Rakor, and a few others.

Soon they were seated and a mug was slammed in front of Jin by a challenging Orios. "You might have outdrunk a three foot tall Goblin but let's see how you handle the big leagues."

Jin scoffed and slammed his mug against his foes. "Bring it bitch."

The two chugged their drinks and Jin's eyes widened at the sweet flavor as a static charge went down his spine. "Holy shit! What is this?"

Orios laughed proudly but a large dark skinned palm slapped the centaur on the back and sent him sputtering as Rakor laughed with a deep base tone. "Blue Draconic Ale, infused with prickly pear cactus. The static charge is from the leftover magic in the dragons bones during fermentation. One of our signature drinks our nature mages create."

Jin had to wipe a trail of drool from the corner of his mouth as he eyed his empty mug. "Where can I get a barrel of this stuff?"

Rakor laughed harder and swung another palm that Jin only dodged by the skin of his teeth. "You talk to me young one. Come talk to me in the morning and we can talk about what we're willing to trade."

"Deal."

Orios pushed himself off the ground fifteen feet away and limped back while flipping off the older centaur and soon the drinking contest went three ways.

Fleur meanwhile was to Jin's side and having a different conversation with Magnie and her fabled granddaughter.

[Image on QQ]

Fleur shook the beautiful females hand with a smile. "Saya right? Magnie talks a lot about you."

Saya flushed and shot Magnie an aggrieved look. "I'm sure she's just exaggerating. Grandma has a big mouth."

"Oi, don't sass me lass, I only have good things to say about you. Most of the time."

"Grandma!"

Fleur laughed and pulled the young woman into a talk on nature runes and their significance in rituals, and the two bonded under the smiling face of Magnie.

The night dragged on, and the centaur village shouted their joy to the heavens above. Alcohol was consumed by the barrel loads, food came and went, music from reed pipes and drums shook the atmosphere, and for that night, they released years of tension and were free as the wind.

They were alive, they were strong, and they were there. And they let the whole forest know it.

Chapter End.

AN: Thoughts?

Response to Reviews:

/: shinigami101505, 2005born, Guest – Thanks! Hope you enjoyed the update.

/: Frau Kojiro, Readermichael, jmanfitzwater – Try googling the story and author name, might help if you're unfamiliar with how QQ works.

/: Redpanda1224 – Thanks! No real need for bags of holding considering he has his inventory. Thanks for the idea about charms from Sirius. Dumbles is out of the picture, I just cant see anyway in which trying to bribe or make a deal with him will end in Jin's benefit. Despite everything, he's no match for a fully prepared Dumbledore just yet. Thankfully, Voldy is heavily weakened in baby form. Moody's eye is off the table as well I'm afraid. I see it being a rare item and Barty Jr just stole it from the still living Moody.

/: Scyfly – thanks for stopping by :).

/: randomguy9005 – The old version had way more crack, and while I'm expanding things here, I still will throw in pockets of crack here and there for some fun drunk nights out. I'm excited to rewrite my drunk scene in HxH with Hisoka.

/: T-B-R – Best birb indeed.

/: mrducking – Thanks for the awesome feedback! I greatly enjoy molding power systems to something interesting and fun. My biggest pet peeve is stories about collecting powers like Pokemon and never using 90% of them. My aim is to only give him stuff he would use, without breaking the power progression so readers can enjoy a story where the MC isn't the top dog in every world and can just smash god in the face with his balls.

If I am kidnapped and forced to write, I request bagel bites.

/: OoOXylionOoO – Please describe what you are focusing on with 'what the hell' otherwise I don't know how to respond lol.

/: Nobody – Thanks for the awesome feedback! The marathon was completed from season 1 to 9 with zero regrets. I only wish it went on longer. Lol I never played Kingdom Hearts I'm afraid, or been a doctor who fan. Excelsior!

/: dcoon – What do you mean? I've been having issues figuring out how to list it, I'm open to ideas.

/: Mr BrownOptometrist – Thanks! I appreciate the love as always my friend.

/: IcySneasel – Thank you! It was my hope to bring some laughs out. I never even played DnD and yet I love reading stories that have scenes like it. There was this one Naruto x Sekerei fic by Noodlehammer where a godlike Naruto basically created an entire DnD map and through the director of MBI into it. it was fucking hilarious.

/: HughJasz – I was super tempted to write it in a way that they forgot Grabass in the woods, and Jin added Orios and Fleur to the DnD party as they go on a 'Hangover Movie' quest to find Grabass, who was just passed out in the grass near the entrance.

I included a bit of Jin's views on sharing knowledge this chapter. Jin WILL take measures to protect Fleur, and he WILL give her a piece of advice that's very important, but he won't stop her from living her life and making her own choices. Its bad to make her reliant on his metaknowledge without being able to face challenges. That's what I did with the second task.

Rather than directly helping Harry, he's going to indirectly help while gaining something from it.

As for world jumping, I put most of the answers in chap 1, but I can see that people don't like going through it, which is fair. I made it a bit cut and dry because I wanted to set up the 'Rules' for the Jumpchain with a main focus on the actual worlds. I'm thinking about 30K – 100K words per world.

To answer you tho, since I did already mention it in chap 1, Jin will one day be able to go back, but more than that, Zelretch can practically do anything if you pay him enough. One day, the kaleidoscope magic in Jin's soul will run dry, and he won't be able to gain powers from worlds anymore on entrance, but he has plenty of time until then to grow and find his own ways to travel. Zelretch is a guy who could go to any world, but doesn't have the time or interest to do so as he has his own stuff. So, if Jin comes across an interesting item or resource, he can trade it for answers or services.

Hope that answers your questions. Feel free to jump on my QQ thread for this story, I'll respond promptly to inquiries there. Just google the story and author name.