May 21st, 2005 - Quebec City, Canada
The last week was a constant whirl of activity for Cassandra. Between flying to Quebec City, getting her living and financial situation figured out with the government and the bank, finding a place to live - on paper at least - and testing out of schooling, she was exhausted. That was without taking into account…other aspects of her life.
The magical parts, that is.
Things had gone smoothly. Too smoothly some might say. Or they would, if she hadn't been liberally abusing the Confundus charm. It had started small, and Albus was definitely to blame. She'd been skimming Fantasia and Anna's minds during her brief interview a week ago, a habit that Albus had picked up due to his near-perfect mastery of Legilimency, and caught the suspicions that the two had held.
So, naturally she used her magic to…make them come to their own conclusions, with her input, of course. Conclusions that they would have come to naturally. Turns out that humans don't want to cause a scene or make their own jobs and lives difficult if they can avoid it, who guessed?
Once she started, however, she just…kept doing it. Slight nudges here and there, skimming the minds of social workers, educators, bureaucrats, the few heroes she'd encountered, etc. Albus' century of experience let her navigate their minds without issue, without raising alarm - and her…suggestions…were never anything severe. Just enforcing that part of every human that wanted to avoid conflict, don't rock the boat, stay comfortable, don't make waves…
Some heroes were more difficult than others, some people were more ambitious…but was she really worth all that effort? Would she help them make their careers? Or would it turn into a legal headache, one that stalled their careers as they dealt with the issue? Far too much effort - there better options, certainly! Or so they now think…
"I'm a terrible person…" Cassandra muttered as she fell onto her bed. She had a small, cheap, studio apartment near the outskirts of the city. Cramped, barely furnished, and she wasn't certain it had a working water heater.
But it was an address, and that's all the government cared for.
"I blame you, Albus." His bad habits were influencing her. Leaking in. As she incorporated and experienced his memories, his life, she slowly found herself taking on parts of him. She tried to keep them separate, to keep them from merging too much…but it wasn't working.
She was too small. Her existence was too small. She'd had barely over 16, near 17, years of life, and he'd had over a century. The weight of his life couldn't just be shrugged off.
Oh, she didn't think she would become Albus, that wasn't how memories worked in his experience. A lot of his memories were…dull, like a movie she'd watched a year ago but loved and watched many times. She remembered it all clearly - but it wasn't her, and she knew that.
However, when you had 60+ years of memories and experiences using Legilimency on just about everyone that you encountered, to try and predict their actions and the flow of conversation…it just happened. And when you also needed to get certain individuals, politicians mostly, to…nudge in the right direction? Well, a silent, wandless Confundo could do wonders.
And now she had these terrible habits, too. Because 60 was greater than 16. She also had a new fondness for lemon flavoured candies - and she'd hated lemon before!
"But, you really straddled that moral grey didn't you, Albus?" Cassandra pulled herself into a sitting position. "And I guess you've dragged me there, too."
She had always tried to be a good, honest, person. Do no wrong, don't harm others, obey the law, etc. Albus had tried to be a good person. The rest? Laws, honesty? Those were secondary - sometimes he'd bent a few things in order to do good. He'd always tried to do as little harm as possible…but perhaps failed more than he'd like to admit.
Suppose that's part of being a politician, huh? She would do her best to avoid that. At least as an independent hero she would likely be far from direct political action.
Well, outside public presentation, relations, marketing, etc…
Well…now what? She could get started here, in Quebec City. Hit the streets, go fight crime, go do what all the rookies do according to her research. And end up either dead, recruited into a gang, or press-ganged into The Guild or Protectorate within a month.
Not too appealing.
I need time. Time, preparation, and research. While she had his memories, his vast magical reserves, and potentially his talent with it…she didn't have Albus' skill. And that skill would be key to her future plans.
Namely, killing an Endbringer. Really setting attainable goals…
Regardless. Albus' skill had been key to his victories. Riddle had been more powerful, Gellert had the Elder Wand - and she really wished she'd gotten that with this whole "Albus Package" - and yet Albus had been able to hold his own, or win over them. Even as an old man with his ailing body in the case of Riddle. She needed a lot of practice, to turn the phantom muscle memory she had into actual muscle memory.
So, that meant leaving the city and heading into the wilderness so she had plenty of space and hopefully no prying eyes on her every step of the way. Need to get the most useful spells down first, and the big hitters.
Would the Killing Curse work on an Endbringer? What about the Banishing charm? Were they alive, or were they…power-created machines? Were they the source of powers themselves? These are the things she'd pondered the last few days, trying to use Albus' memories to find answers.
Naturally, she'd drawn a blank. There was nothing even remotely similar to an Endbringer in his world. She wasn't sure magic could even deal with them - even Albus didn't have the power to level an entire city, let alone a landmass the size of Newfoundland. She wasn't sure any Wizard or Witch could have done something like that - even tapping into the most powerful of magics.
So…how does she kill one?
"I need more data…I need to see one, upclose." And wasn't that a terrifying prospect. To be near, within sight even, of a monster capable of sinking a small continent.
Do I really want to do this? Being a hero…she just…assumed she would, with her powers. That's what you did, right? Well, that or become a villain…but she wasn't doing that.
Putting on some silly outfit - and really, Albus had no right to talk about silly outfits given his fashion taste! - and fighting in the streets. That wasn't…appealing. Not to Cassandra. That wasn't how things happened in Albus' world. And his world had been far, far better than Earth-Bet. Even if it had technically been two worlds, with his magical one hidden alongside the mundane one. Powers had just…existed. And people used them for things like ice cream shops.
"Fighting criminals in the streets is just…" Why bother? What was there to be gained? Who cared about ruling some city somewhere when you had giant monsters of death and destruction lurking about? It was stupid and pointless!
The bigger picture is more important. On that she and Albus were in agreement. What did the countless battles in the streets matter when the long war for the planet was being lost? Being a hero isn't important. Being a Monster Hunter is.
So, she'd focus on that. She'd head into the wilds with her magical tent, some books on things like tailoring and what have you, and commit fully to her singular goal of saving the world. Not by fighting every purse snatcher in existence, not by battling some random villain who can shoot acidic snot or whatever, but by fighting the monsters.
First, though, she needed to get money from the bank. And maybe stock up on some supplies. Albus wasn't a Master Enchanter, but maybe she could get something together that would be able to withstand a fraction of what an Endbringer tossed around. God, I hope so.
Pulling herself off her bed, Cassandra slipped on her shoes and grabbed her coat and purse. She paused at the door, and tapped the frame in consideration. It wasn't likely that she'd be returning to the apartment too much, outside paying bills once a month…
Nodding to herself, Cassandra reached into her coat pocket and removed her staff - the magically enlarged pocket capable of fitting the whole thing easily. It took a few tries to get the movement of her hand right, but once she was comfortable with it, she pointed her fingers to the door and silently cast a Notice-Me-Not charm, anchoring it to her apartment.
She made sure that the charm would draw from the local area's ambient energies, and set up a small ward stone - well, ward bowl that she'd pulled from a cupboard and engraved into - that she hid under her bed. To anyone that came to her apartment, they would leave thinking she simply wasn't home at that time and to try again later. They'd never question that she'd never been home in the last few months.
With that done, she pocketed the staff again and went out the door, locking it behind her. Not a single person in the hallway paid her any mind - their eyes just sliding over her and the doorway as if they weren't there at all.
Nodding to herself, Cassandra headed down the hallway and made her way to the nearest ATM and the local mall.
May 25th, 2005 - Near Lac Niskuk, Canada
"Damnit!" Cassandra sighed as yet another enchantment failed, the magics falling apart. Her jacket was completely unaffected by her experiments, thankfully. The T-shirt she'd used for a different attempt still wasn't quite right, even after numerous Reparos…
She'd set up camp far north of Quebec City, near a small lake that was right by a much larger lake - Lake Albanel - and thus suitably far from civilization. The only link she had to people was a satellite radio she'd purchased, mostly to listen in for any Endbringer news. Granted, she could, and would, Apparate into her apartment as needed.
It was horrifically isolated, and maybe too isolated, really, but also perfect for that reason. She could go as wild as she needed with magic, as long as she didn't burn down kilometres of forest…
Never touching Fiendfyre again…or at least not in a heavily wooded area. The spell was one that Albus had rarely utilised, and she lacked the control and skill to really work with. However…there was potential with it. Maybe not against Behemoth, but the other two?
She didn't know if the Endbringer could do anything to magical fire, but she didn't want to try it out.
Regardless, the area she'd picked was perfect for training. She'd set up her tent, created a little workstation some distance away from it - incase of destructive enchantment backfires - and placed a number of minor wards around to deter annoying pests and potential intruders. She'd even put up an alarm system that warned her of anything that got too deep into her camp radius. Just in case. Last thing I want is a sudden appearance of like, the S9…
Yeah, she wasn't taking chances. Just because it was unlikely, didn't mean it was impossible.
So, her camp set up, defences put in place, and paranoia partially satisfied, she'd turned to her goals. One, enchant her clothes. Two, train her skills. Three, research what was possible with magic using both Albus' memories, and other fantasy and magical medias.
"Well, back to the start for you…" Cassandra poked her jacket with her staff. It was the final piece of clothing she wanted to enchant, at least for now.
She'd already placed minor ones on her pants, shirt - a different one than the one that had exploded - shoes, and socks. Things like self-repairing, drying, heating, protection from projectiles and various elements. Nothing that'd probably stop an Endbringer, but if she found herself getting hit with, say, a molotov, she'd barely notice outside a warm breeze.
The jacket was meant to be her Big Ticket item, so to speak. She'd been trying to greatly increase the defences on it - as high as she could possibly envision - and it just…kept falling apart. She was missing something, and she believed she knew what it was.
"You're too mundane." Sighing, Cassandra sat on the table her jacket was resting on, toying with its sleeves. "Normal leather and cloth can't handle the enchantments."
Normally this wouldn't be an issue for Albus - he'd just get in touch with his contacts and get something like dragon leather or Nundu hide or similar. Something powerful, something that could provide immense protection even before enchantments. That, obviously, was not an option for Cassandra.
Alchemy was somewhat useless here, too. She couldn't create a synthetic variant of these materials, not anything truly powerful at least. Sure, magical metals, leathers, and plants could be done, but something that had a real bit of power to it was out of her ability at the moment. Famel could have done it, certainly, but Albus wasn't nearly as skilled as his old mentor. So, no creating XXXX or XXXXX-tier magical beast materials.
"Well, for now at least…" A chicken egg and a toad, some time, and she'd have a basilisk. The only issue is the whole waiting for it to grow up part. Oh, and it killing her with a glance.
Albus could speak parseltongue, though not fluently, but she didn't think it would stop the snake if it was hungry. She wasn't a descendant of Slytherin, either, so she'd have no inherent ability to command snakes. Still, it was her best bet to get good, powerful magical materials.
She'd just be unable to do it right now. Or even for years.
What to do, then? She could try her hand at creating her own bolts of cloth, imbuing her magic into them as she spun. It would be time consuming, and frustrating. Neither Albus nor herself had any experience in the matter. Any materials she made would also be far weaker than a XXXX or XXXXX-tier beast material. Still capable of holding stronger enchantments…
That was true…She could alchemically alter normal, non-magical material into slightly more magical counterparts, something she thinks is possible based on Albus' knowledge. But, if she messes up, she might lose her entire camp. And her life, of course. Slightly less risky than raising a basilisk in the middle of the Canadian wilderness…
Either way, she'd be spending time and resources. There really was no other alternative if she wanted the kind of protections she was looking for. She could simply "not get hit," but that was a laughable objective when dealing with world ending monsters. She needed to make sure that even a glancing blow wouldn't be her end.
"Ugh…Right, no complaining. Time to get to work." Hopping off the table, Cassandra tossed on her jacket and slipped her staff into her pocket. Twisting on her heel, she Apparated from her camp and back to Quebec City.
May 30th, 2005 - Near Lac Niskuk, Canada
The last few days had….not been fun. She hadn't blown apart her camp, or lost a limb, or anything of the sort, but she'd made so little progress with enchantment or alchemy that she was convinced she was cursed.
Not entirely impossible given the whole "Cursed Professor Post" that Albus' had to deal with for decades… Cassandra grimaced and sighed, leaning back in her chair. And given my situation…I might be.
Oh, she'd managed to alchemically produce the materials she'd been looking for…for a grand total of about ten minutes before they fell apart. Not exploded or anything dramatic, just…ceased to be. At first she'd thought there was something wrong with the alchemy, that she'd messed up, but even after checking over and over, she'd not found an issue. So, she tried other materials - less powerful ones that she'd been originally aiming for - only to find that, again, they fell apart.
So, she'd tried other methods. Altering plants to create potions to then use those potions to magically imbue the materials so they were less mundane. This seemed to work, at least for a day or so…but then it fell apart.
It wasn't until she'd Apparated back to her apartment in Quebec City that she'd realised the issue.
Her Notice-Me-Not charm had weakened. It hadn't failed, not completely, but it was noticeably weaker than it had been when she first applied it. She'd checked the small little island that had been, apparently, locked under a Fidelius charm near Mount Pearl and found that it was still fine, however. But, seeing as she was likely powering that particular charm herself - somehow - it had a somewhat stable source of energy to power it.
All the mundane materials she'd created with alchemy from other mundane materials were also fine, not having any sort of magical requirements after the fact. Her other, weaker, enchantments were also fine, it appeared. Even her wards were a little weaker after she'd placed them, but not by much - she'd have to recharge them once every week or so.
This all pointed to one, very critical, issue with her future plans…
"There's nowhere near enough magic in the air…Not on Earth-Bet." Cassandra glared at the sky. "Anything that needs a large amount of magical energy just…won't work."
Alchemically changing something from mundane to magical required a large amount of magic, this was a given. You needed to then let them "settle in" so to speak, and that also required magic. Specifically magic from the world. In a world where magic was abundant? This wasn't a problem. It was better to get the materials from natural sources, but one could synthetically create them without much issue.
In addition to this, every enchantment required some level of energy to keep going - that's just how it worked. Whether it be from the caster, from some other power source - which also required something to keep itself going - or from the world around it. There were some laws of physics that were consistent, and needing something to keep everything chugging along was pretty much a no brainer. In Albus' world? That had been a complete non-issue.
Earth-Bet, however, was so barren of magic that only the weakest, simplest of enchantments, the sorts that a fourth or fifth-year student would be able to make, could indefinitely function. At least in one area, at one time. She was taking too much from the air just by having what she already had in place.
She'd checked her local area for anything that could help her create the materials and settle them in - leylines, magical focal points, anything, and found that shewas the largest concentration of magic in Eastern Canada. Maybe in all of North America.
Maybe in the entire world, Cass…
"Fuck…"
Yep. She was cursed.
She blamed Albus for this.
A/N: Sorry for the long wait! Was off doing IRL things! Hope you enjoyed the latest chapter, and things will start kicking off soon in the story - this was more "dealing with her situation and some unexpected issues."
Obviously, given in a WoG post (I believe at least) that the Entities avoid worlds with magic…Cassandra is kinda shit outta luck when it comes to resources!
