Chapter Fourteen

Sunday 17th of August 2008

03:34 pm

'We need you to stop lying to us.' The words echoed in my head and I forced myself not to react. I had no idea how much they knew and I didn't want to give away anything that I didn't have to. First step deflect and try to learn what they thought they knew.

"Lie? Come on Mum what are you talking about?" I forced a laugh I really wasn't feeling. It sounded convincing. Mum's mouth drew into a tight line. Not convincing enough.

"Yes lie." Her words were cold and her eyes hard. "You've been lying to us for quite some time and we've been letting it go because you've never gotten hurt. Lord knows your Father and I did enough at your age that you deserve to have some secrets. But with God above as my witness that stops now."

"Harry," Dad put in a little more gently. "I don't know what happened or what's going on. But I know enough that if you really got attacked you'd have pulled your wand. So please son. Tell us the truth."

My mind raced. I really wish I could talk to Mordred right now. They weren't exactly great at lying but I needed someone to bounce ideas off of. I pushed a part of my mind towards the card and only got a flash of mind-searing pain in return. That was one avenue down. Never mind.

Reassess the situation and react.

"Okay, so it may not have been five guys." I rushed to lie again. "But really I'm fine. I just didn't want you to worry." A half-truth and a deflection. Not my best work.

"Not five guys?" Mum didn't sound surprised. "And yet you and Ciel sounded so sure about it. Did you modify her memory?" I could use this. Yes. Yes! I could use this. I grabbed at the ready-made excuse like a drowning man at a life ring.

"Yeah, we ran into some of the Dead last night and well it didn't go well. But I got her out okay."

"I see. Harry, may I borrow your wand?" Dad asked. This felt like a trap. I felt like I had just walked into a trap.

"Why do you need that Dad?" I needed to buy time. I needed space to think, to plan.

"Just need to check something." He said lightly and I felt my stomach drop into my feet. He was going to check my wand. He was going to check it for spells cast. What were my options here? Hand over my wand? That wasn't happening. Appariate out? Possible but it was going to cause more problems than it was going to fix. I wasn't going to attack them. I needed to play for time. Hopefully, they'd make a mistake.

"What are you checking for?" I was amazed I'd managed to keep my voice under control. Fou was still snacking on sausages. He wasn't going to be any help. Then again aside from turning into a massive shadow monster and scaring my parents into submission, I didn't know how he could help.

"Just need to make sure you did the spell properly. You know make sure there weren't going to be any complications. That is supposed to be done by experts after all." No way out there. Needed to change tack.

"Come on now she's fine no need for that right?" I attempted to laugh it off. It sounded fake even to me.

"Oh, I rather think there is." Mum's voice was hard though not cold. "Now the wand please Harry." Okay, okay, this wasn't going to work. I need to change it around. I allowed my face to fall and I looked to the side in a mock-up of shame. Frankly, I didn't need to try that hard.

"I didn't actually Obilviate her." I 'admitted' with a guilty look. "I didn't want to do that. So I told her the truth."

That seemed to get them to stop. Mum didn't say anything and Dad watched me impassively his hand still held out for my wand. They looked at each other and a conversation seemed to pass between them. I hated when they did that. After a moment Dad stepped forward now a meter away and pointed his wand at my chest.

I felt a flash of pain that had nothing to do with how beat up I was. I tensed the muscles in my legs, ready to move. My left arm was out of commission. My right arm was injured and I couldn't use magic right now, or at least it was going to hurt a lot. But thanks to my bond with Mordred I was still a little more than human.

"Harry, would you mind joining your wand to mine?" Dad asked sounding deceptively calm. Where was he going with this? I did as I was asked partly because doing so brought me a few more precious seconds to martial my thoughts. Partly because I couldn't see a reason to refuse. Our wands met at the tip and Dad nodded. Mum stepped up and placed her wand above ours.

It felt like I'd just taken a body blow from Iron Mike Tyson. I knew this. It was the correct formation for an Unbreakable Vow. The kind of thing that would kill me if I lied. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. This wasn't Veritaserum or Legilimency I couldn't finesse my way past this. Hell depending on the vow I couldn't even make it without instantly dropping dead or maybe I wouldn't be able to make it at all? I didn't know enough about Unbreakable Vows to have the answer. And I did not feel like gambling on it right now.

I had the distinct feeling that while this isn't something that they had originally intended to do today. It had been something planned for quite a while. My turning up injured had either moved up the timetable or made it so they decided to use it in the first place.

I felt like a rat trying to outrun a fire. Unlikely to succeed and increasingly more aware that death is right behind me. Only instead it was parental disapproval and grief. Which some people would argue is infinitely worse.

"What are you doing." I was losing my grip on my calm and it wasn't coming back. Usually Mordred would be there to shout me back into line. But that wasn't going to happen either.

"I was hoping. That you'd be willing to make Unbreakable Vow about what happened last night. Just about telling Ciel everything and not wanting to Obliviate her." Fuck. That would kill me. I didn't tell Ciel the truth last night. She already knew it. I never even considered Obliviating her. If I made an oath like that I had no idea what would happen.

"Come on Dad that's not necessary!"

"With how you've been acting I'd say it is." Mum's voice wasn't any warmer than last time. Though I could see tears unshed in her eyes. The body blow that came upon realising that wasn't any lighter than the last one.

"Is there a reason you don't want to make the oath Harry?" Dad kept his voice mild.

"Because you're both being irrational? What's the point really?"

"Oh, we're being the irrational ones? Did you hear that honey? We're irrational he's changed his story how many times now?"

"Twice so far." Mum's voice had dropped to subzero temperatures.

"Given that is it any wonder why we try to make sure you're telling us the truth?" He had a point. He had a very good point and I couldn't let him know that.

"Can't you just trust me?" It was weak. I knew it was weak. But I was rapidly running out of options.

"No Harry. Not after everything." Dad replied. Mum didn't do anything. Simply looking on, her face may as well have been carved from marble. Even if her eyes gave everything away.

"I deserve to have some privacy!" It was even weaker than the last attempt.

"You do," Dad agreed. "But regardless of what the laws say you're still kid, you're still my kid." Unlike Mum, he wasn't holding back tears and his voice was breaking. "And I'm terrified that if I let you go without getting to the bottom of this you'll be dead before I see you again!"

The worst part wasn't the tears in his eyes or the silent sobs that I saw Mum trying to hold in. It was the fact he was right. There was no guarantee I was getting out of this alive. I'd made the choice to stay involved but that didn't mean I knew I'd be walking away. Especially after my encounter with Marcel. There were equal odds I'd be leaving this city in a body bag.

"I-I-" For once I didn't know what to do, what to say, to get out of this. I didn't have the right combination of platitudes and assurances to get out of this.

For once I didn't have a lie to tell them and it terrified me.

I tried to keep a straight back but it felt like a weight was pushing me into the floor. A lump formed in my throat and tears pricked at the edge of my vision. I didn't know what expression was on my face but Mum's marble countenance broke at it and fell into a rictus of sorrow. Dad held on a bit better. A whirl of white and blue. Fou wrapped himself around my shoulders and lent warmth to me. It was all he could do.

"Fine," I muttered the word as I looked at my feet. Dad moved forward faster than I was expecting and wrapped me in a hug. Frankly, I'd half been expecting him to punch me.

"Stupid kid." He held me tighter as Mum put her arms around both of us. "Stupid, stupid, kid." I wasn't sure how long we stayed like that before I made my way to the central island in the kitchen and almost fell into a seat. A pair of stools were already on the other side of the table for them. They'd prepared well. Fou licked my cheek and nuzzled my neck. Reminding me I wasn't alone. I scratched behind his ears in return. Even when it seemed like everything was against me he was still my ally.

"Alright let's start again," Dad said he looked more worn than I'd ever seen him. "Harry what happened last night. Please tell us everything." Everything? What a big ask. I wasn't even sure I knew how to tell someone everything without holding back or lying to them. Well, not without being kidnapped and held at sword point anyway.

"I was looking into the vampire here in Annecy. Found a strange Formalcraft circle and got ambushed." I felt tired and empty yet strangely light as though letting go of a weight I didn't know I was holding.

"Why were you looking into the vampire?" Mum's voice was hoarse like she hadn't drunk anything in hours.

"Because the second night I was here I found a group of Dead, though I thought they were Inferi at the time, attacking a bunch of muggles."

"What happened after that." Dad's voice was steadier but I could hear a waver in it.

"I...I killed them, rekilled them, I'm not sure what the right tense is here."

"How?" Dad's voice was calm. I assumed it was his Auror training that he could compartmentalise better than Mum who was all naked emotion.

"I used a sword."

"A sword."

"Yeah."

"Where did you get a sword? Why did you use a sword?"

"It's a decently powerful magical artifact." Now that was a lie. It was not decently powerful. It was an obscenely powerful semi-mythological weapon.

"Where did you even learn how to use it."

"I got a trainer."

"In London?"

"Yeah." It was technically not a lie.

"Okay, we'll come back to that later," Dad said shaking his head. I scratched Fou. "And make no mistake I do want to talk about it. But for now, what happened after?"

"I called the French Knight Bus and they contacted the Aurors." I couldn't help the disgust that flashed across my face or in my tone when I said that.

"I take it that you didn't have a pleasant conversation."

"Not really." I agreed. "The bastard was more concerned with breaking the statute of secrecy than the fact people were dying. What kind of person is that! He cared more about possible inconvenience than people's lives!" I felt the familiar anger begin to roll through me.

"I understand that Harry," Dad said placatingly. "But why did you feel the need to get involved past that?"

"Because I couldn't trust anyone who spoke like that to care about people," I stated my truth and a look I couldn't decipher passed through Dad's eyes.

"Okay. Let me ask you a question then Son. You can't trust them that's fine. Hell if that's your experience that's understandable. But I need to know, why do you care?" I felt the rage and before I realised it I was on my feet teeth bared, glaring. The aches and pains along my body were shoved to the side as I glared at my Father.

"Because somebody should!" I didn't realise I was yelling until I heard myself. "They didn't care. So I have to." My words were a hiss. Fou stood up on my shoulder glaring with me the fur on his back upraised. For a moment I think I understood why he chose to stay. I think he loved humans in his own eldritch horror way. So my words resonated with him. I wonder if it's what drew me to him as well?

"Why does it have to be you? Why do you have to be the one risking his life for this?" Dad was taken aback by my words but recovered well enough.

"If I don't then who will!?" I demanded back and Dad looked at me for another second before his face turned into a mocking grin and he started to laugh. I stood in shock as my Father calmly went insane. Huge guffaws of laughter that wasn't really laughter left his mouth.

"James?" Mum asked looking concerned.

"So that's how it felt," Dad said looking at me but not really seeing. "Those are the same words that I said to my Father when he asked why I had to risk my life by being an Auror in the middle of a war. We had the money for everyone to live relatively peaceful lives. A low-risk, low-paying job would have been more than enough even with you and your mother. Once they died I could have probably still gotten by on a low-paying job even with the twins. But that's exactly what I said to your Grandfather. Hearing it from the other side I'm not sure if I should be proud of your character or appalled at your willingness to risk your life. I finally know how he felt and I wish I didn't."

He shook his head and put it into his hands. Mum wrapped an arm around him. I pulled the stool next to me out. Leaving the one I'd thrown on the floor and sat back down. The aches and pains that had been cut off by my adrenaline were coming back and they were not comfortable. Dad and Mum stayed in an embrace for almost a minute before he recovered himself.

"Okay," Mum said taking over. "You're an adult. We can't tell you how to live your life or what you should do. But we don't want you to lie to us either. Are you at least being safe about this?"

"As much as I can be." That was the truth. Though how safe you could be against vampires was an iffy subject at best.

"Alright. What happened next?" I considered my next words carefully. Some secrets weren't mine to tell. I looked at Fou. "How is Ciel involved? It's obvious that she is in some way."

"Go and ask," I told him and he nodded at me before bounding away out of the kitchen. I couldn't talk telepathically to Ciel. But I could have Fou get her in here to speak for herself.

"I can't tell you about Ciel. Not my secret." They didn't like that but they seemed to understand where Fou had gone. "I set up some Bounded Fields. Well, more like rune line tripwires to find Dead around the city. It's gone passably well. Like I mentioned earlier I found a Formalcraft circle last night and got ambushed checking it out."

"Were they lying in wait for you specifically or not?" Dad asked beginning to get over whatever emotions had been choking him up.

"No. I triggered a sort of magical tripwire. Which is kind of ironic really. But it would have activated for anyone."

"Okay, what happened then. I assume the Dead attacked."

"Y-" I went to lie and stopped. "No."

"No?"

"It was a Nightmare." The colour drained from their faces.

"A Nightmare." Mum made it a statement and I nodded.

"Yeah. It was not a fun fight." I shrugged lifting my arms a little as I did so.

"How did you get away? Apparition?" Dad asked and I shook my head.

"No."

"Invisibility Cloak?" Mum inquired.

"No. Gave that to Mark last year." I reminded her. "I didn't get away. I killed it." After my admission, you could hear a pin drop. They looked at me with wide eyes. It would have been comical if this whole thing hadn't almost burnt me out emotionally.

"Harry you have to understand how that sounds," Dad said with a frown. "Nightmares are meant to be engaged with a team of four to eight Aurors, preferably eight. For you to kill it yourself is a little unbelievable." I held up my right arm still bandaged under my pink dress shirt and pulled the sleeve back to show the bandage. I took my glove off and unraveled it. Revealing the circuit-like discolorations that resembled burn marks.

"Got these for my trouble along with my left arm," I confessed. The looks on their faces were not pleasant. Mum looked like she'd been stabbed while Dad let out a huff of air like he'd just been socked in the gut.

"What are they?" Dad asked recovering first.

"I overused a Mystic Code and it did some damage to me. I needed it to overcome his Curse of Restoration so it's a small price but I don't think I can get rid of them. They're kinda like cursed scars." Given that I was borrowing Mordred's Clarent which due to their own hate transformed it into a Demonic Sword. They were probably exactly like cursed scars.

"A Mystic Code did this kind of damage?" Mum demanded and I nodded.

"I may have taxed myself a little too much. So doing magic isn't exactly easy right now. Should be recovered by tomorrow." I didn't mention the pain. A lie of omission.

"What happened to your left arm?" Dad demanded.

"I took a glancing blow from the Nightmare." I hedged hoping he'd leave it be.

"And how much damage did it do?" No such luck.

"It broke every bone in my arm." I decided to be blunt. "Apparently the healer that fixed me up needed skele-grow and bone-mending charms to put it back together." He winced at that.

"Sirius took a similar wound once. How many days until you're back to full strength?"

"Tomorrow."

"You're healing fast. Must be because you're young." I didn't correct him on that. I wasn't sure I wanted to get into the whole Zelretch is a dimension hopper and Mordred Pendragon, yes that Mordred Pendragon, is a spirit in my head part of my life. There was being honest and then there was completely upending their worldview. It'd have to happen sooner or later but I was really hoping for later.

"That's all you have to say!?" Mum demanded. Dad sighed and shook his head.

"He's alive and tomorrow he won't be injured. Sometimes you have to take what you can get. Especially since you can't change the past." She didn't like that answer and whirled on me.

"And what Mystic Code did you overuse to cause that!" She hissed out pointing at my right arm. I sighed what the hell was I supposed to say to that?

"Must have been pretty powerful," Dad observed. "To overcome a vampire's Curse of Restoration like that." Well, he wasn't wrong. "What kind of concept does it use?"

"Not a conceptual weapon." I corrected with a shrug. That only seemed to make them more interested. "It's an amplification type Code push magic in get more magic geared towards destruction out."

"Hell of a dangerous thing," Dad observed as though it didn't really concern him. "Who did you say gave it to you again?" I was really hoping the whole I killed a Nightmare thing would have distracted them from that.

"I can't tell you that."

"What!?"

"Why not?" Mum and Dad responded respectively.

"Not my secret to tell." I held up a hand to forestall them. I really didn't want to get into this. There was going to be an argument about Mordred when the truth came out. I just knew it and I just didn't have the energy for it right now. "I can ask them and we'll see what they say."

"And if they say no?" I took a deep breath in.

"Then I won't say a thing. I owe them that much." We looked at each other for a moment none of us were willing to back down before Mum let out a breath.

"You get that stubbornness from me I'm sure. I want to see it in that case

"I'm sorry?"

"I want to see it and I want to check it. So I know there's no curses on it or anything like that." Shit that was actually a good point that I couldn't refuse out of hand.

"I don't exactly have it on me." I hedged.

"Then where is it? Your father can go get it." Again a very good point and I needed to give something to keep this from devolving into a screaming match. I grit my teeth and connected to the Saber Class Card my vision went white and I refused to scream by sheer force of will.

"Yo- G-d -an -ck -ea -top." Through the static of pain, I heard echoes of Mordred's voice.

"Alright then," I muttered as Clarent formed below my right hand as I held it just over the table. It landed with a dull thunk and I wiped the sweat from my forehead.

"I thought you said it wasn't on you." Mum's voice wasn't so much accusing as it was wondrous. As she looked at the broad two-handed longsword. Its red accents are almost mesmerizing. It's the luster of the blade itself more dazzling than any silver.

"It wasn't technically."

"Then how did you get it here?"

"It's usually in a pocket dimension but it will come when I call."

"Then why did you not want us to see it?"

"Because I need magic to call it and I'm not supposed to be using it." At my words, she immediately rushed around the table to check me over.

"Are you okay!? Do you feel faint! How many fingers am I holding up?" I snorted at the last one.

"I'm fine, no, and you're flipping me off."

"Oh good, you're fine then." Dad just shook his head and looked at the sword.

"Does it have a name?"

"Clarent." I didn't mind answering. It would be easy enough to play the name off as an homage. I doubted anyone expected me to drop a literal legendary weapon on a kitchen table after all.

"The person who gave you that. You're not in any danger from them right?" His voice was cold and hard.

"Not in the slightest. All they've ever done is help me." Technically it was people who lent me that sword. I would never have entered a contract with Mordred without Zelretch after all. And while he annoyed the absolute piss out of me most of the time. On a grand scale, he had been more helpful than anything. The firmness of my words seemed to surprise both of my parents.

"Alright, I'll accept that for now," Dad said with a nod, there was an implicit promise we'd be talking about it later. Mum continued to look over Clarent her wand out waving it occasionally. Not sure how much she'd get out of a Noble Phantasm. But good luck to her. "But if you ever think you are in danger I want you to tell me. I can't help you if I don't know something wrong."

"Okay, I can do that," I spoke softly and he nodded in confirmation of my words. I wasn't sure if that was a lie or not.

"You're an adult. You can make your own choices. The days when we could just force you to tell us are behind all of us." He clearly didn't like saying that. Given the situation, I didn't blame him. "You're my son and I love you. But you're also your own person. I'll trust your judgment. So long as you promise me you'll ask for help if you need it."

"I promise." For once my words didn't taste like a lie.

"Sorry for interrupting." I was unsurprised to hear Ciel's voice come from the kitchen door.

"No problem," I called back.

"You're not supposed to be using magic," Ciel stated frowning eyes focused on Clarnet as she picked up the stool I'd knocked over earlier.

"Only a little."

"Stop."

"Already have."

"Then don't use it anymore."

"Wasn't planning to. That wasn't exactly pleasant."

"Now then," Dad spoke and Mum looked up from her work, turning their attention to Ciel. "I apologise for the abruptness of this. But who are you really? And how are you involved in this?" Fou jumped and wrapped himself around my shoulders again.

"How much have you told them?"

"Most of it. Not about the hopping and nothing about you." I hoped that would be enough for her to steer clear of Zelretch.

"I appreciate that." She turned back to my parents and bowed slightly in her chair. "My name is Ciel I met your son while discharging my duties. I am an Executor of the Holy Church. We became friends a little after that."

She added with some levity and a small smile. I gave one of my own. That was one nice thing to come from this. Even if it did start with her kidnapping me. I may not be holding a grudge but I wasn't about to let her live it down either. Saving my life had brought her, much like Father Moreau, a lot of goodwill.

"The Holy Church." Dad didn't seem to like that.

"Ah, I see you know of us."

"Unfortunately."

"Holy Church?" Mum asked.

"A group of Church-sponsored killers. They don't work for the Catholic, Protestant, or any other directly."

"Your Husband is correct. We act only to defend humanity. Though more than a few of my associates could be called zealots."

"Only to defend? I've got reports of Executors performing summary executions on Witches and Wizards without due process." Dad snapped back. Ciel didn't react visibly.

"There are members of the Church who view magic as a taboo that requires execution. I do not subscribe to that view. And neither does the Church as a whole. However, it is true that if we found a Witch or Wizard performing dark rituals, creating Inferi, or the like we would execute them immediately. Especially if we found them responsible for the death of Muggles as you term them. Additionally, as we act and exist in the muggle world, as you call it, as opposed to being citizens of the magical one. We rarely have, or see the need to, interact with magical governments."

"This is due to the fact for the most part. Magical governments treat muggles as little better than animals. It was only in the mid-seventeenth century that most magical governments decided that muggles were more intelligent, and therefore should be the benefactors of more rights, than particularly clever dogs. This bias is still present in most if not all magical societies. Tell me if a wizard kills a muggle what is the appropriate legal response?" Her voice was light and fluffy. Her eyes reminded me of glaciers.

"Investigation of the crime. Determining the reasons for it and whatever fault there may be. Then passing it on to the local Public Prosecutor to file charges. But you knew that." Ciel nodded at Dad's words.

"I did. But it assists me in making my point. The manslaughter charge in Britain carries an average sentence of between two and ten years. Though life imprisonment is possible. Do you know the average sentence for a Wizard committing manslaughter on a muggle?"

"Can't say I do off of the top of my head," Dad admitted. But the look on his face said he knew it wasn't going to be good.

"Between six months and two years of community service. That's not even getting into the human rights violations that is Azkaban. Due to this kind of bias, we see discharging our duties as a service to the muggle world. As magicals have divorced themselves from it we have no need to report to you or involve you. Unless your actions force the issue or we find ourselves in a position where the need is great enough. You benefiting from our actions on occasion is merely a side effect of us helping our fellow man."

"That's one way to look at it." Dad admitted grudgingly.

"If it makes you feel any better. We were going to see the French Aurors after this to give them the information we had gathered from our own investigations."

"It doesn't. But I can understand your position and I'm glad you're getting law enforcement involved. Even if I think they should have been involved since the beginning." Dad closed his eyes and let out a huff.

"I get the distinct feeling you don't like me very much anymore Mr. Potter," Ciel said the plastic smile I had seen once before firmly in place. I didn't like it.

"I dislike any organization that involves itself in extra-judicial killings. Especially ones that hide behind the excuse they operate only in the Muggle World when they very clearly also do in ours. Makes me feel like they believe they are above the law. But you've been nothing but kind and warm to my sons and my daughter. So I'll hold my tongue and judgement on you specifically even if I dislike the organisation you represent."

"Above the law." Ciel tested the phrase. "You mean like many Wizards act when they do unspeakable things to Muggles?" Her words carried a teasing tone. But her eyes hadn't changed. Dad sighed and Mum patted him on the shoulder.

"I won't say the system is perfect. In fact, there are many areas in which it needs to be improved. Something I and many others are attempting even now. But that doesn't mean we should completely disregard it. It means we need to fix it."

"When the system works. I'll be the first person in line to use it. Until then, however..."

"Let's shelve this for now. I don't think it's going to be a conversation we'll enjoy. Any of us." Mum put in gently. Looking up from Clarent.

"That's fair."

"You said something about involving the Aurors?" Mum asked attempting to get us back on track.

"Yes. We need more manpower and given it's a vampire case we can be sure they'll aid us relatively quickly. As an Executor, they'll want to keep me close and involved so I don't do things my way." She didn't sound too pleased about that.

"How is Harry going to be involved?"

"Well, I could just pass him information. But given he already has a relationship with the investigating Aurors I'm going to take him with me and help hash it out. You don't mind being introduced as an independent agent in my employ?" She'd already mentioned something about that earlier. So I figured that was mostly for Mum and Dad's benefit.

"Not really no."

"Excellent." Her smile was still plastic. Dad looked at Mum and they took their eyes off us. Having another conversation without words. I bumped her shoulder with my own. Holding it there. Reminding her she wasn't here alone. The plastic smile became a little more real. It would do for now.

"I'm going with you," Dad said standing up and rolling his shoulders. "You can call me an independent agent as well. I work as an Auror back in England so you don't need to worry about me letting things slip."

"You will be in danger you understand? We will probably end up in combat."

"If you think I'm letting my son go in without me into an obviously dangerous situation you're crazy."

"James."

"Dad."

"Hey, what are you all doing in here?" Mark walked into the kitchen through whatever spells of obscurement and soundproofing my parents had put up. He looked at the four of us the serious expression on our faces and our positions around the table. Mum with her hand on Dad's shoulder and my own shoulder against Ciel's. His mind put two and two together, got five, went good enough and his mouth opened.

"Holy shit. No way. You got her pregnant?"

Thanks, bro you always know just what to say.

Chapter 14- END

By the by that bit about the 17th Century being when Magical Governments as a whole began to regard normal people as more than smartish animals?

That's actually canon in Harry Potter.

While there's a lot of disagreeable and strange background details about the series I gotta admit. Didn't see that one coming.

Between that and the whole thing about magicals shitting and pissing on the ground where-ever they were and then vanishing it before they started using indoor plumbing.

Finding both of those factoids out as canon was an interesting experience.

Also while this isn't exactly news to anyone I do want to put it here. Every time I need to research something about Harry Potter it becomes increasing apparent that while the authour did indeed create a world of wonder and whimsy. There were times where things needed to be changed around so that something introduced wasn't immediately the solution for every single problem.

Time Turners- create a cyclical time loop. Seemingly anyway. I question that because from what I remember Buckbeak did in fact die the 1st time around before they changed things. Which would imply that it's not actually a time loop. Anyway.

Vertisium, or however you spell it (Truth Potion)- Forces always truthful answers. How is there ever a miscarriage of justice when this thing exists. Dose some poor fucker and bam know for sure if he did it. They can be cheated by memory spells altering what you know as the truth and decent Occulmens can actually defeat the potion.

Felix Felicis (Luck Potion)- Fuck why not just drink this all the time if you have access to it. Reasonably certain given how perfectly Harry's day went that if Voldemort drank the stuff on the regular he'd already be ruling the world. The downsides are increased recklessness and confidence. Both of which mean shit if you're on the potion. Cuase it'll just fucking work out for ya champ.

By the way, relating to the above. In this world. Gaia does actually lash back at the people who use Felix Felicis. It's like you walk around with a curse of bad luck on you for an equal amount of time after the potion has worn off. Often times this can be lethal. As such it's very rarely used unless you have no choice, or are sufficiently ready to counter literally everything going wrong for you in the near future.

Sorry that ended up being a rant. But It's late, I'm sleep deprived and have to be up early tomorrow so screw it.

Good night everybody!