Chapter 23-The Inheritor's Curse
I sit in the circle and try to explain as best I can. It's hard for me to meet Jeremy's eyes. I don't know why, though. I don't fancy him. I don't fancy anyone. I think it's because, out of everyone here, I care what he thinks of me because we were once friends. We used to play in the stream out behind my house and catch tiny fish in buckets. We'd run through the neighboring farm fields and climb trees and build tiny wooden boats from bark and leaves that we'd race until they sunk. I loved those days. But things changed when we went to Hogwarts. Suddenly, we weren't the only two children for miles around and Jeremy just loved it. He loved all of the people. He immediately befriended other socialites in Gryffindor like Leo and Albus, but I wasn't so fortunate. I was never quite so good at making friends and Jeremy was too busy to even look at me anymore. Things might've changed over time, but I was cursed early on. I know that if I was friends with Jeremy, I wouldn't have been cursed. The pond only feeds on vulnerable people, after all, and even one friend would have changed that. I don't blame him, but I can never like him the way Rose and Frieda now seem to think I do. If I ever were to have a significant other, I wouldn't want him to forget me as easily as Jeremy did.
"So, just to recap what's been said," George says. "Leo has a magical artifact inside his naval which is not only manipulating us, but is being hunted by a goblin named Jagobin?"
"We don't know that he's a goblin," I respond, shaking my head. "I can't be sure, but I think he's something else."
"You're the psychic, I guess."
"Carina." Frieda says. "Why did you tell me none of this before?"
"It holds little importance in the grand scheme of things." I neglect to tell her that I trust her as much as I would trust a four-year-old.
"Little importance?" Jeremy says. "Are you joking? You can see the future."
"Sort of. Sometimes. It is not as easy as you make it sound." I refuse to tell them how my curse works. It feels like my guts are being spilled out on the floor by those I would usually consider my prey. If I can keep just one part of me alive, it's how my curse works and if all else fails, I at least have that to fall back on.
"It's still better than what any of us can do."
"Don't underestimate your own positions in all of this. You're here because you each have been affected by the Living Pearl, meaning you can help us."
"But how does any of what we're doing have to do with your situation?" Scorpius asks.
"There's too many strange things going on at once for it all not to be connected," George says. "Lorcan has been drawing the same runes as his sick mother. Supposedly, she was hit with a blast from a magical creature, yet suddenly Lorcan's gone crazy just like her. I'm willing to bet anything that this Jagobin character has everything to do with this."
"But Lorcan's never even heard of Jagobin," Leo says. "At least none of us told him."
"Maybe he found out some other way or maybe the spell transfers through blood."
"It's an Inheritor's Curse," Rose whispers.
"Sorry?" George asks.
"An Inheritor's curse," she repeats. "In a will, you can inherit something when a family member dies. Well, a lot of my family works in the ministry. I know the Unspeakables have something called an Inheritor's Curse. When information is so dangerous or complex that only a single person knows it, they place an Inheritor's Curse on that Unspeakable who knows it. It means that if or when that person who holds information dies, it automatically gets transferred to another body so it won't be forgotten. In Lorcan's case, his mother is dying and she obviously made him the inheritor."
"She wouldn't put Lorcan in that sort of danger," Leo insists. "He's her favorite. She loves him more than her husband and Lysander."
"Can the curse be forced on someone?" I ask.
"I really don't know. It's never done in the Ministry." Rose tells me.
"If it can, it would make sense that if she wasn't able to pick her own inheritor, he who cast the spell would pick it for her or —."
"Or it would go to her own bloodline!" Rose exclaims.
"And Lorcan was born before Lysander," Nathan adds.
"It's just a theory," I tell them. "Treat it as such."
"But it's a good one," George admits. "Still, we need to figure out what the symbols mean.
"If no one here knows, we could go to the ancient runes professor," Nathan suggests.
"And tell him what?" George says. "What if he knows exactly what the symbols are? Do you really think that would be a completely good thing? He could send Lorcan to St. Mungo's and tell all of the staff, forcing all of our secrets out. Everything here might get ripped wide open, including Carina's secret."
"I think we should go to the hospital to see Mrs. Scamander," Jeremy interrupts.
"And what, exactly, will that accomplish?" George asks. "She's in the same state as Lorcan. We might as well just go to him to get information. We'll discover the same amount."
"Not to get information," he says. "If Lorcan is an inheritor as you suggest and things are only inherited when one person dies, Mrs. Scamander is extremely close to death or is dead already. Don't you think we should take Lorcan and Lysander to her?"
I look around at the silent party and wonder why Jeremy was the first one of us to suggest as much. Of anyone, I thought it would be Nathan, but even he was too caught up in the excitement to realize what all of this might mean for Lorcan. I stand.
"Jeremy is right. We should take Lorcan and Lysander to St. Mungo's. I know how to get out of here without detection. After all, I've done it dozens of times before."
"I'll come," Jeremy immediately volunteers.
"So will I," Nathan says.
"Well, if he's going, so am I," George says. The entire group save the dwarves all chime in that if one of us is leaving, we all are.
"No," I tell them. "Leo cannot leave. He has the Pearl and Jagobin is still after him. The second he leaves school grounds, he's no longer safe."
"Well, they know you're associated with the Pearl and we've seen Jagobin's men. They're not wizards," Leo tells me, "therefore, they might be able to remember and pay attention to you. You could be in just as much danger."
I shake my head. "As long as you keep the Pearl inside of you, they have no idea that we know how to remove it and won't try to use leverage to make you hand it over because they'll still think you don't know how. As far as they're concerned, the only way to get the Pearl is to kill you."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Leo stops me. "We know how to remove the Pearl?"
"That's why I'm leaving Scorpius and Rose with you as well," I say. "If all else fails, he knows how to remove the Pearl."
"Why am I staying?" Rose asks. "I don't know how to remove it."
Scorpius nods knowingly. "You're the insurance. Nobody here trusts me, but everyone trusts you. You're the daughter of virtual nobility in a house of loyalty and bravery who's friends with everyone here. If anyone's staying with me, it's you."
"Jeremy, Nathan, Lorcan, and Lysander can come," I say, "but the rest of you should stay at Hogwarts. Mrs. Scamander is dying and we need to remain undetected. This is hardly something to bring a lot of people to."
"Great. So the rest of us just sit and brew here?" George grumbles.
"Brewing is the only way any potion ever came to completion," I tell her. "Being together can hardly constitute as being idle as you suggest. Make wise use of this time."
I walk from the tent without another word and, unsurprisingly, Leo follows immediately after. He runs to me before Jeremy and Nathan have the chance and stops in front of me. We are momentarily alone outside.
"I know that this isn't important, what with all that's going on, but…" he looks over my shoulder at Nathan and Jeremy outside the tent, arguing with the others. He lowers his voice. "George threw the Quidditch game. Did you know that?"
"Sort of," I tell him truthfully. We've had this conversation before.
"She wanted Lorcan's spot on the team and now they'll never give it to her," Leo tells me. "Why do that? What's her game?"
"Her only game is Quidditch," I say with a smile, at risk of sounding cheesy. "She sabotaged the game because she's equally as noble as you are, Leo. She only wants that spot on the team if it's won fairly against Lorcan, when he's in his full senses."
"But before she made it seem like—."
"George just wants to be part of something," I tell him. "And she's a Ravenclaw. She's cunning and knows that she can lie and play with your emotions to get what she wants. In the end, look where it led her. She's in the middle of it all just like she wanted. Whatever she said, I doubt she meant it. She was using it to elicit a response."
"And it almost worked," Leo admitted. "I almost told her about Lorcan's mother yesterday."
"I don't think she's who you think she is," I say. "Rarely anyone ever is."
And I walk past my friend, leaving him to sit on that thought as I walk towards the school, power flowing through my legs as I march up the hill. I soon hear Nathan and Jeremy coming up behind me.
"So what do we do now?" Jeremy asks from beside me as they both follow.
"We find the two boys," I say. "Nathan, you're on the same team as Lysander. Would you know where he is?"
"Probably sulking about losing the game with the rest of the team in the astronomy tower. That's our usual place."
"Fetch him without dragging the entire Quidditch team along, if you can," I say. "Meet us outside the Headmaster's office."
"The Headmaster's office? Why?"
"Just trust me," I command. "Jeremy, we're going to the Ravenclaw dorms to get Lorcan."
"You don't know where they are. Only Ravenclaws do," Nathan says.
"I hate to be the one to break this to you," Jeremy says, "but that's never been true."
The two of us run into Hogwarts and easily bypass the question word to the Ravenclaw dorms. The common room has plenty of people, but no one notices us, perhaps because my virtual invisibility can rub off on those I'm near. When we get to the room, it's covered in runes. Top to bottom, the place is a mess of ink and parchment.
"It's all the same runes," Jeremy tells me. "At least he's consistent. Most of the pages say the same thing."
"Are you sure?" I ask.
"I can read some of them and I recognize others. There's a visible pattern, but it's very complex and for a spell I'm not familiar with. I can't imagine trying to decode any of this."
I look around as Lorcan scrawls out things on the ground. I rush to him and kneel beside him. "Give me your quill," I say. "I need it." He keeps writing. "Where are your other quills? I need to send a letter." He keeps writing. "Lorcan, can you hear me?! Wake up!"
Jeremy kneels down beside Lorcan and carefully rubs his back. "Lorcan," he says softly, "You don't have to keep writing. Give me the quill." He moves his hand to Lorcan's and stops his writing. He tries to remove the quill, but Locan clutches it.
I rise and turn over the room looking for a quill, a fresh page, and ink as Jeremy talks slowly to Lorcan.
"Lorcan, your mother is dying. Do you understand me? She's dying in St. Mungo's right now and you need to go to her. Please, Lorcan."
I scrawl out a note as legibly as possible fold it into a neat letter. I pick up a group of pages scattered on the floor and roll them, then tie the entire ensemble together.
"Lorcan," Jeremy says. "Will you get up and go with us?"
I thrust my arm out the window and Jeremy watches a brown-spotted owl lands on my arm. I attach my bundle of papers to Lovey's leg.
"Take this to Leo's father," I tell her. "Please, make haste." And I send her off. I stare out the window as she soars high into the air until she is far out of sight within seconds. I turn back to Jeremy who stands, looking me over.
"She just came to you because you wanted her near?" he asked.
"She follows me," I said. "She knew this day was coming as well as I did."
"And you're on speaking terms with Leo's father?"
"In a sense, I am, and I think he may be just the person to help us. If I am wrong, I claim full responsibility."
He stares and smiles at me, but what he doesn't know is I am equally impressed. Lorcan is standing beside him, ready to leave as if by magic. How Jeremy used his words to reach the boy, I know not, for I am ill-equipped in the art of conversation and affection. To me, such occupations are as wild as I imagine people think of my standing on the roof each morning.
"We should go," I say. "Can we get Lorcan out?"
"I'll come," Lorcan tells us. "I want to get to my mum."
"C'mon." We both grab one of his arms and run unsuspected through the crowded Ravenclaw common room. We go as fast as we can, stopping occasionally to keep Lorcan on task and push him along to remind him of where we're going. He is like an old man with dementia who keeps forgetting and is curious about everything. By the time we make it to the headmaster's office, Nathan and Lysander are already there. Lysander stands stoic and doesn't say a word.
"How do we get out?" he asks me. At first, I am surprised Lysander can even focus on me, let alone speak to me.
I shift myself out from under Lorcan's arm and walk up to the giant stone gargoyle that towers over us all. I pray that the password hasn't been changed since I last spied on the headmaster.
"Three Sisters," I say clearly. The statue groans and creaks and shifts to reveal the staircase. I smile at their looks. "He's a fan of that band. Now, c'mon."
I sprint up the stairs and take a handful of floo from the cup on his desk.
"Wait a minute," Nathan says. "How did you know he wouldn't be in?"
"He never is this time of day," I tell them, pouring some floo in each of their hands. "In fact, he's rarely ever in his office. He keeps it for traditional reasons and to meet important people, but he likes to work in humbler settlings, so he goes to an abandoned classroom."
"Are all Hufflepuffs loaners?" Lysander asks, looking me over and I instantly know he's not just referring to the headmaster and some other Hufflepuffs he's met. He's talking about me. But that defies logic. He shouldn't know me, but I play this down and smile.
"Only the best ones," I say. I step beneath the hearth and hold out my hand. "St. Mungo's!" I shout and throw down the green powder so I am eaten alive by emerald flames.