The foggy film over her pupils dissolved like burning embers on paper to reveal her brown irises. Her head drooped forward as the halo above her transformed itself into a massive manuscript completed with a title page and an abstract. It flew into the hands of Hydei who brushed a hand on the cover with a smile. Altair switched his device off and shoved it into his satchel. The commotion brought Narcissa back to her reality as her eyes focused on the wood grain of the table. It blurred and then unblurred like a camera trying to get in focus.
"Narcissa?" Hydeia's voice fluttered.
"Does she need this?" Altair asked, holding something up for Hydeia to inspect. Shaking her head, Hydeia crouched next to her, undoing the wrist constraints with a certain expertise. Concluding that Narcissa was stable enough to hold herself up, she undid her torso constraint as well. For the first time since she had arrived, Narcissa smiled. Not her usual haughty sneer, but a genuine smile that was soft and allowed for a glimmer in her eye. She wrapped her arms around herself and looked up, realizing that three other people were present.
"Narcissa," Hydeia said again.
"Yes?" she found her voice.
"Congratulations," Hydeia smiled brightly with teeth flashing like pearls, "I'll have to type up an official report, but after what we watched, " she motioned to Altair and Ms. Zenna, "you have what we are looking for."
"Which is what exactly?" Narcissa said, her smile fading.
"A majority of people are disconnected from their emotions. They would prefer not to feel as they deem emotions as weakness."
"We see many potential Unspeakables whose Mind Maze is more like a mind fortress. They never have the chance to enter because an impenetrable wall is blocking them. For so long they have blocked other people from their emotions that they themselves have been blocked out as well. So when you immediately were able to enter, we knew you had potential," Altair continued.
"However, we were still unsure, as you must understand," Hydeia interjected, "the walls of your maze were quite strange. We're used to seeing foliage or hedges as the material. Perhaps even the rare stone, but, if I am correct, I think yours was made of steel. This baffled us because steel is quite strong. We concluded that while you do let people in, they must fight for entrance. Nothing to worry about on your end or ours. You were quite narrative. Very curious to piece together what was happening," Narcissa blushed at this, "I thought it was interesting to note that almost right before you reached the center of your emotions, there was something we have come to coin as 'Sanctum'. It works as a buffer before delving into the worst of your emotions. It is an important trait that we Unspeakables have and something that allows us to rationalize decisions while keeping our emotions at bay."
"While it is advantageous to have one or two," Altair said, taking his place by Hydeia, "we have seen people have up to eight or nine. Once you go above three, it is determined that this is being used as a coping mechanism as well as a deflection of what you are truly feeling. These people usually are perpetually happy and optimistic as they are always in their Sanctums. You may have another one, however, because towards the beginning, we noticed you have a path shift. It is possible that the sanctum you needed appeared to you, but we are unsure. Just a hypothesis of ours."
"Finally, your center. Typically people have a loved one or a loved possession there. As romantic as it sounds, it means they are living their life for another. At your core, that should not be the case as it makes you both irrational and impulsive. Do not misunderstand me, it is possible for your core to change, but if it is not any variation of yourself, it is extremely hard for that to change to yourself as you do not understand what it means to live for you. Now, about yours, your sixteen year old self?"
Narcissa nodded, biting her lower lip. I would have thought Draco would have been at the center.
"You didn't expect that?" Hydeia pushed, noticing how Narcissa's eyebrows drew together, and she averted her eyes.
"I did not. To be perfectly honest, I don't dwell much on my childhood."
"Why is that?" Altair asked, scrawling down something with a quill.
"Do you?" Narcissa deflected, attempting to gain an upper hand as she felt the control over her vulnerability begin to crack.
"Sometimes," Altair said, remaining focused on what he was writing, "but you didn't answer my question."
"You watched my every thought and memory, so I would say you already know the answer. If you think that childhood has any right to be remembered, I shall be worried to continue with this interview as sanity clearly has no place here."
"Then let me ask you something else. Do you always use the same memory when you cast your patronus? The three times you casted it, only the one memory was used. Surely there is more than one happy moment in your life, no?"
"Of course there is!" Narcissa said offended, squinting her eyes and scrunching her nose. "I simply know that one works every time. Why would I risk another memory not working?"
"I didn't wish to upset you. It was just a question," Hydeia said with a smile of melancholy. "Anyways, my apologies, I think you simply asked what we were looking for," she let out an airy laugh.
"Short answer is: we were looking at certain parts of your maze to translate that into the three categories that we have deemed important: emotional vulnerability, emotional stability, and emotional auxiliary."
"We'd say you passed!" Hydeia gestured her finger at Altair and herself.
"And now you can move onto the final part!"
"What time is it?" Narcissa said, groggily, bringing two fingers to her temple and applying pressure.
"It's 4pm."
"On Wednesday?"
"On Friday." Narcissa's eyes widened.
"Don't worry," Hydeia sensing her rising panic, "You are one of the quicker ones we've had. Our longest was…what was it, Altair?"
"The one that took 3 weeks and didn't even end up getting hired was a nightmare."
"I could have sworn we had one longer. Anyways, it can range from a couple hours to a couple days. Same with the next part."
"How has it been that long? I'm only now feeling hungry and thirsty."
"The spells and magic we are working with slow down your bodily functions, particularly your mind, so although you have been with us for two days, your body only registers it as mere hours. Once you leave this room, the magic will break, and your body will feel the full force. That's why we try to wrap this up after about a week. Don't want dead bodies on our hands," Altair laughed, but upon a glare from Ms. Zenna, he awkwardly grabbed his arm and shifted his eyes around.
"Can I at least contact my husband?"
"No, we cannot trust that you won't say anything." The mental exhaustion had begun to creep its way through Narcissa, who, by now, had to prop her head up with her arm resting on the table's surface.
"This next part really relies on both your mental and physical endurance. I know you will start feeling pushed to your limit soon, which is exactly how you should feel," Altair clapped his hands together, "I think we should get started on the next part, don't you?" he pointed to Hydeia.
"Yes, the quicker it starts the quicker it ends," Hydeia explained as she withdrew another vial containing black smoke. Narcissa glared at the matter bobbing up and down.
"She'll need her wand," Hydeia said sternly, motioning to the discarded object while talking. Ms. Zenna reached over for it and plopped it into Narcissa's free hand.
"Here," Hydeia wrapped an arm around Narcissa's waist to bring her to her feet.
Altair flicked his wand and the wall between the encasements repelled itself, providing a square walkway to enter through. Narcissa steadied her legs and nudged herself out of Hydeia's embrace. The room was brightly lit with the typical black, brick flooring of the ministry. However, a large stone archway with a veil was present in the center of the room. In one of the corners was a shelf filled with spheres containing blue mist, glowing from the center. Another corner contained a fountain that had a spacious bottom bowl. In the center was a much smaller bowl with an appropriately sized marble arch over top of it where the water was cascading down in a shower of droplets. The corner opposite contained a tank that was propers up with ornately decorated table legs, Within the tank was a green liquid where Narcissa observed brains hopping and splashing about, their tendrils coiling and recoiling with each leap. In the final corner were vials of liquid sitting on racks within the center of a bright pink flower. Bubbles popped and reformed around it.
"Those," Hydeia gestured to the brains, "are the most important asset of the sect of Thought. That fountain is coined 'The Fountain of Youth' by the Time sect. They use it to safely time travel. Those right there are prophecies. The Space sect spends most of their time maintaining each one and removing the ones that are no longer applicable to our timeline or plane of existence. They change to a deep brown when they no longer apply and bright blue when they have been set in motion. Those vials over there contain the strongest love potion known to the wizarding world. For the Love sect, while not their most important asset, this is definitely the most dangerous if any witch or wizard gets their hands on them. Finally, this archway is the death veil. It is a way for the Death sect to study the way into the afterlife. This is their entire research and work. Your task will be to protect all of these things. Good luck!"
"How will I know when I completed this?"
"You'll know," Hydeia said, pouring the black smoke behind her as she strolled away, flicking her wand to implement a clear barrier. Narcissa shifted her focus to the room, gulping as she wandered about. A dense sheet of black smoke ascended before pouring down.
" Evanesco!" Narcissa shouted, pointing her wand at each of the four corners. Leaving the veil visible, she ducked as a green flash nearly collided with her cheek. Locating the direction of the curse, she sent one of her own back, connecting with the smoke creature's chest as it disintegrated into a million granules. She felt the force of another spell knock her off her feet and send her crashing into the far, rock wall.
"Ah!" she whimpered, bringing a hand to her head as she felt some blood start to drip. There were now about six smoke creatures. Their possessed faces seemed to contort to a different one at every angle. Their bodies were like normal humans however, their limbs seemed to lack the definition that one might expect if you have bones. They had dark robes, similar to what the death eaters might have once regarded as fashionable and intimidating. As they moved towards her with their lanky limbs, Narcissa scrambled up, shooting another jinx at them. It connected with the far right one's chest, disintegrating him. As his smoke twirled and disappeared, two more smoke creatures took his place.
"That's why there's so many. When I hit one, two more take its palace. It's increasing exponentially," Narcissa muttered. Catching sight of one of them attempting to run to a corner, she sent the Duro charm as the figure turned into stone. Immediately, she felt the binding ropes of an Incarcerous spell. They tied tighter and tighter as Narcissa's circulation depleted. Flickering her wrist, she silently casted Diffindo cutting the dark ribbons from her body, collapsing to the ground. Sending another Duro charm, her previous attacker froze. Her eyes darted around as she spotted the four remaining creatures going to opposite corners.
"Think, Narcissa, think," she tapped her wand against her leg, " Carpe retractum!" she said, casting the spell in the direction of the creature going towards the love potion corner. He was lifted off his feet and pulled back towards Narcissa, who sent him spiraling around the room, knocking the other three off their feet. As he landed in a heap on the ground, Narcissa shot another Duro. The creature who had made his way over to the prophecy corner now snarled at Narcissa as the one hobbling over to the time corner spun around. Narcissa deflected the curse with a simple shield charm. Just as she raised her wand to send another spell towards him, she felt the familiar sensation of the cruciatus curse. Slumping to the ground, Narcissa gripped every part of her body she could, rolling about as the caster made his way over to her. All noise had ceased except for a faint buzzing as time slowed down. Her eyelids felt as though they were lead weights, slowly closing over her eyes and reopening.
"Go!" she heard a faint voice echo. The pain was still present, but had relented a significant amount.
"What are you waiting for?! Go!" Narcissa became conscious of what was happening. Sending another curse to the caster, his body grew rigid and toppled over. The pain completely subsided as Narcissa placed a hand to her side and stood up. Both creatures had made their way to their respective targets amidst the conundrum. With a horrified expression, Narcissa realized they had both used a disillusionment charm. One was currently destroying prophecy and the other was wrestling with the brains. Aiming her wand, she dragged the creature with prophecies back to her as he relinquished the two prophecies he was holding. Each hissed as the smoke turned brown and dissipated into the air. All together, Narcissa counted 7 broken prophecies out of the 35 that they began with. After she had stunned him, her attention was refocused on the final creature. Reeling him back, she stunned his body too, landing at her feet with open eyes gazing at her. Throwing a look around, she concluded that there were no more smoke creatures present yet nothing had changed. Hydeia and Altair did not come in to congratulate her. Ms. Zenna was nowhere in sight.
"What is left to do?!" she expressed in a frustrated tone, her chest heaving and her bangs covered in a light layer of perspiration. In hushed whispers, she heard voices conspiring together. She spun around trying to locate the host. Upon finishing her search, she looked to the veil and stumbled towards it. The voices crescendoed, and she deciphered the phrase, "Give them to us."
"What?" she asked, "Give who to you? Who are you?"
"Give them to us." Glancing back, a connection clicked in her mind.
" Avada… " she said with a tremor in her voice, " Avada Kedavra." A green flash erupted from the tip of her wand as the stone figure she pointed at was lifted up and drew through the veil. She repeated this process four more times until she arrived at the last figure, one who had been merely stunned and not turned to stone. Lifting her wand, the figure rolled over the stare at her with familiar blue eyes and blonde hair.
"Why are you doing this, mum?!" came the voice of Draco. Narcissa was temporarily bewildered. "Do you really despise me this much?"
"Of course not!" she said, her wand lowering.
"You were going to kill me!"
"I wasn't. I would never dream of it!" she exclaimed, rushing over to him.
"I saw what you did to father. And Auntie Bella. Regulus. Sirius. Andromeda."
"What are you on about? I didn't kill them."
"You did. I watched you turn them into stone and send them through the veil."
"I didn't…" Narcissa stopped in confusion.
"They glamoured us, mum. They made us look like monsters. How did you not know it was me? That it was them? How could you not see?" Narcissa began hyperventilating, her breathing becoming erratic.
"That's not true!"
"You don't believe me? I'm telling you what they did. There's a price to pay to be an Unspeakable." Her head shot up as she brushed a tear away.
"Draco, who did you say I killed?"
"You know exactly who you killed!" Draco glared at her before softening his features to feign fear once again.
"They wouldn't have glamoured Regulus. He's been dead for years," Narcissa said, deeply inhaling and exhaling.
"They brought him back as a Inferi, mum."
"They couldn't have possibly retrieved his body. We couldn't even retrieve his body." She narrowed her eyes at her son in front of her.
"They did. I dunno how they did it, but they did."
"Who's they?" Narcissa questioned.
"The same people who brought me here. I don't know who they were. Just had dark cloaks and masks."
"Draco, what candy did you beg me to buy you at Honeydukes when you were 9, but made you sick for two days?"
"What? Why are you asking me this right now?" Draco said, looking appalled.
"Answer the question," Narcissa said, the color vanishing from her face as her eyes widened. She stood up from the ground to her full height as she concentrated her wand at Draco.
"Why would I remember such a stupid memory? And take your wand off me, yeah?"
"Because it's the candy you still beg me to buy you. Avada Kedavra! " An inhumane screech erupted from the creature as it was dragged through the veil like its other comrades had moments prior. The clear barrier that Hydeia had cast fell and the objects from the different sects disappeared into the air.
"Some lost prophecies, but other than that, I would say you are good to defend your sect," Altair strolled in, clapping.
"We will need to brush up on your dueling skills, but the fact that you have any is a good start," Hydeia said, a paper and pen scratching away beside her, "The first thing you should know about defense of our department is to not go for a simple stunning spell," Hydeia explained in a deep tone, "the killing curse should be your first and only option. If any of this knowledge were to get out into the wizarding world before it was completely tested, the effect would be catastrophic. Why were you hesitant to cast the killing curse?" Hydeia pressed.
"I…don't know," Narcissa stated, lowering her wand to her side, "I suppose I don't appreciate killing things."
"Well, you are going to have to learn," Hydeia said sternly, "but I would say you would make a strong Unspeakable. What's say you, Altair?"
"I agree. You have very strong traits associated with our kind. An inquisitive mind. Ms. Zenna was explaining to us that you expressed interest in Death, but after your display here, I absolutely don't think that's where you belong."
"I agree," Hydeia shook her finger, "But we must also take into account the wishes of Albus Dumbledore. Luckily, his request aligns with our results. While you would be a strong asset to the Thought sect with your Occlumency skill and mental control , we believe that you would be most suited for the Love sect. We expect to see you on Tuesday morning for training." Narcissa's pupils dilated as she bridged together what was being said.
"I'm…I got the position?"
"Yes, indeed. This concludes your interview and psychological testing. We will log your information into our system, so you will have access to this floor. It is a level 4 clearance given to all of our trainees. After you complete your training, it will be increased to a level 5 clearance. Before you leave for today, we need you to complete the oath. Do you need a moment?"
"No," Narcissa said, shaking her head moreso to clear her thoughts than to answer the question.
"Brilliant, right this way." Hydeia led her out of the simulation room and back into the dark room that Narcissa had become accustomed to.
"If you could do the honors, Ms. Zenna. Altair and I do not know the process to do this."
"Of course," Ms. Zenna nodded, sticking her hand out for Narcissa to take. As their hands intertwined, she flicked her wand to produce a golden chain that flowed around their conjoined hands.
"Do you, Narcissa Malfoy, promise to abide by the rules that have been set in place for your sect?"
"I do."
"Do you agree to not speak of the work you are conducting or the work being conducted by others?"
"I do."
"Do you agree to work to the best of your ability to contribute to the progression of this department with understanding the mysteries of the Wizarding world?"
"I do."
"Will you defend this department to maintain the sanctity and secrecy?"
"I will."
"And finally, in the event that you knowingly assist with helping someone break into this department, your mind will be broken beyond repair. Do you acknowledge that you understand the severity of committing the previous task?"
"I do."
"Then welcome to the Department of Mysteries," she grinned as the chain disappeared, leaving an imprint on Narcissa's skin, "you may leave."