Today Hydra found herself in the dungeons with Gareth Greengrass who was her duelling instructor. She thought back on previous lessons with him trying to remember all the details about footwork and breathing. It was surprisingly challenging to incorporate two seamlessly. Gareth told her it will come with practice.
"Concentrate Hydra. Remember you need to be clear with your articulation. Try one more time." said Gareth leaning on the wall in the left corner of the poorly lit room. In the centre of the room was a training dummy still intact despite all the Hydra's attempts at casting Depulso at it. "You need to connect with your core. Close your eyes and look inside. Search for magic inside you. It can be blazing inferno or bone deep coldness. It can be coloured in multitude of colours or can be just a black hole that sucks in light. Look for it right now. When you find it imagine it flowing out of your hand into your wand. Then you can cast."
Hydra did as he asked. She did not know how long it took her to find it. Might have been a minute or an hour. Finally she felt something in the middle of her chest. She was scared to look closer at the unknown entity inside her because it felt dangerous and very sinister. It was taken out of her hands when the cold crept up her hand and into her fingers.
"Depulso" she shouted and tried to contain the feeling of her magic inside her. However it fizzled out pretty quick. The spell worked and the dummy was in tatters on the other side of the room.
"Very good! You did it! Now next time all you need is to control the amount of power you put into your spell. That was very overpowered Depulso if I might say. Couple more times after which I can answer any questions you have." Gareth fixed the dummy at that and pointed at it in a sign for Hydra to start practising. She managed two more times, each being less and less powerful. After two tries her magic refused to cooperate any further.
"Don't worry about it." Gareth said, looking at her. "Magic is like a muscle. You need to train in order to use it frequently, especially in the beginning."
"You said I can ask questions after the lesson."
"Of course! What is on your mind?"
"I wanted to see some curses in action. Entrail-Expelling curse and Blood Boiling curse." She blurted that out without even thinking which was a really horrible trait of hers. She was ready for any reaction but all she got was a stare from her teacher.
"Very gruesome curses, not for fainthearted." He almost whispered. In a second without any hesitation he conjured a very fat rabbit.
"Intesti Inverso '' Red light hit the rabbit after which he basically was blown up from inside. The specks of blood were visible on Gareth's face. Hydra thought she probably looked no better. The sight of the blown up rabbit was disgusting. It almost made her throw up. However everything before his untimely demise was fascinating to her. The power that a person can hold over the other be it an animal or a human. It was intoxicating just to watch. She wanted to try it.
"I see you enjoyed it. It is too early for you to try it but in the future we can easily go over it. Now to the Blood Boiling curse." He conjured another rabbit.
Gareth pointed his wand at the rabbit and intoned "Ulcera Sangi". After the screams died down Hydra could breathe again. It was an absolutely new experience for her. It was cruel, borderline psychopathic. She was sure she had one or two people in her previous life on whom she could easily train this curse. It was a curse for very special cases in her opinion.
"Now these curses are not to be cast easily. I hope you understand this?" Gareth inquired looking intently at her as if trying to understand if she was okay.
"Yes, of course. I was just thinking to myself they are curses for very special cases." Her smile was just a tad bit bloodthirsty.
"Good, now let me clean everything and we will conclude our lesson at this." said Gareth, vanishing all the blood and gore.
Hydra was in daze for quite some time after the lesson. Considering in the evening she was going to attempt her first reanimation it was not very convenient.
After lunch Arcturus called her to his study to discuss what they are going to attempt in the ritual room. Hydra asked him a couple days ago for assistance with rituals and reanimations. She read that in order to reanimate someone necromancer have a window of one minute after death of the subject. The corpse should be placed inside a circle with four runes spaced equally along the circle. It was written that usually necromancers would have bones with runes inscribed since one minute was a very short window to draw a circle and runes perfectly. First rune to be used was Uruz that was bringing strength and energy back to the corpse. Next followed Wunjo for good luck with the ritual, Isa for fixing the soul inside the body and finally the most important one Ehwaz the one that transported the soul to the body.
"Hydra, come in. It's nice to see you in good spirits after your productive duelling lesson." Arcturus said, smirking a little bit at her.
"Yes, well that was a very informative lesson." She smirked back at him.
"I am happy you enjoy dark magic as much as we do in this family. And today is not over yet. You asked for my assistance and you will certainly get it. Please guide me through the ritual we are to attempt tonight." Said Arcturus while leaning back in his armchair.
"We are to draw a circle with four runes spaced equally on the edge of the circle. We need a living subject to start with. I need your assistance because we need to kill it of course to reanimate it. And while I could certainly use a dagger for this purpose, I thought Avada Kedavra would be more effective."
"And what makes you think I am capable of such a spell." Arcturus's voice was deceptively mild. Hydra did not know why he was being so elusive when it was obvious Blacks did not shy away from unforgivables. She said exactly that to him and he agreed that it was of course the truth.
"After our subject will die you have to step back and let me chant. That is all. Hopefully I will succeed." Hydra finished confidently while feeling dreadful inside because she was sure the ritual would fail. She learned the chanting spell by heart but her pronunciation was probably all wrong.
"Will conjured animal suffice for the ritual?" Arcturus had an inkling that they would need to catch one out in the open.
"No. It is stated that nothing conjured should be used in the ritual." Hydra almost forgot to mention it. Arcturus called a house elf after that who brought them a rabbit.
After that they descended into the lower level of dungeons and there was no turning back for Hydra. Arcturus helped her to draw a circle subsequently showing correct implementation of runes on the stone surface.
"Are you ready Hydra?"
"Yes"
"Avada Kedavra'' Nothing extraordinary happened to the rabbit in question. It was immobilised before so he just continued laying there in the middle of the circle. Hydra started to chant and felt a wave of relief when she realised that it was much easier than she anticipated. She felt magic helping her, coming out in waves and saturating the space around her. She was so concentrated on that feeling she did not even notice Arcturus sitting down on the ground not able to withstand the pressure of magic in the small ritual room. Suddenly it was over and after she opened her eyes she saw just an empty circle with runes that turned black. She felt disappointed but Arturus pointed to the corner of the room where a rabbit was sitting alive and well. The ritual was a success after all. They left the ritual room very drained but with a sense of achievement.
Arcturus congratulated her and thanked her for the opportunity of witnessing true necromancer at work. It was not every day such an opportunity presented itself.
"Come Hydra it is time for dinner. Nothing gets you more hungry than murder and reanimation of corpses." He winked at her going in the general direction of the dining room. Hydra followed of course. She was really hungry.
Slowly everyone gathered for dinner. They still had some time before the meal so they were in the sitting room close to the dinning hall. Cassiopeia and Callidora were talking animatedly between themself about something apparently important. Hydra did not see both of them for a couple of days. She had an inkling they were busy researching possible protections that might be placed on the ring and the locket.
"Hydra there you are! Come help us out!" Callidora called Hydra waving her hand at her.
"What do you think is more possible to be in that blasted cave with the locket? You did not mention anything so we don't know what to research." Cassiopeia was almost pouting, almost being the key word.
"I didn't tell you? Really? Must have slipped my mind with all the information we were trading. In those books published in the future the cave had some charm that needed blood sacrifice to enter. Next there was a lake filled with Inferi and poisoned potion in a bowl on a stand. To get to the locket one needs to drink the potion and it's lethal. Apparently Tom created it himself… I really forgot to tell you? I am sorry." Hydra turned beetroot red when she realised her mistake. If they did not ask and went unprepared they could have died for Merlin's sake.
"See that next time you are not keeping anything of importance to yourself." Cassiopeia was really angry and turned away from Hydra.
"Did you figure out how to break the compulsions on the ring?" She asked mainly Callidora now.
"There is only one way to break powerful compulsions. It is best done with amulets that protect you from outside influences. We already purchased two pendants made by goblins which were enchanted by them too. We also ordered more pendants for the rest of the family including you. Price was extortionate but it will be worth it when we get the ring unscarred. Sapila curse will be easy to remove. Now we will work on the cave protections and soon we will have both the ring and the locket."
"Have you heard anything from Lord Malfoy and Lord Lestrange? Will they cooperate with us on this?" Hydra asked both women. Cassiopeia was facing Hydra again apparently over their small disagreement.
"He is waiting for an opportune moment. Politics and deals can't be rushed. Otherwise you are risking making a fool of yourself." Cassiopeia lectured with a very condescending voice and Hydra could understand why. They were brought up with knowledge of politics and the inner workings of society. Hydra was as far removed from all of it as one could possibly be. She pledged to herself that one day she will be as adept at scheming as those two ladies in front of her. For she had no doubt that they could outmanoeuvre even Tom himself.
"Oh I almost forgot one more thing! Are you two busy tomorrow? I need to go to Gringotts to get my estate in order. Do you want to come with me? I need someone who is actually capable of casting spells just in case."
"Sure, I can help you with that." Said Callidora with Cassiopeia nodding along.
"Great, thank you both." Hydra was quite happy to get out of the castle tomorrow for a change of scenery.
Dinner was announced shortly after they finished talking. From those who attended the meeting only Orion stayed at the castle. Everyone else returned to their own homes with Lucretia and Ignatius apparently already in Albania retrieving the diadem. Rest of the evening was spent peacefully in the smoking room where no Horcruxes or murders were mentioned.
Next morning Hydra, Callidora and Cassiopeia apparated to Diagon Alley. They applied glamours before heading there so now all one could see were three middle aged women going for a stroll. Goblins were not fooled of course so they were escorted straight away to the Black estate manager. In the cavernous room filled with armour they were faced with a rather sour looking goblin who went by the name of Wkaddlad.
"May your gold ever flow and enemies be beheaded by your sword master goblin" said Cassiopeia spine straight as ever. Blacks did not bow to anyone.
"May your gold flow and enemies be brought down by your wand. What brings you here today and in glamorous no less? You may drop them of course though it is of no consequence to me."
"We would like to visit the main Black vault." Callidora said, looking straight at the goblin. "We also need Peverell account manager brought in." finished Cassiopeia.
"It will be done. Lady Peverell please wait here for Trovaal while we visit the main vault."
Hydra was left alone in the room with absolutely nothing to do. After some time Trovaal walked in. He of course did not even think to apologise for the wait.
"State your business Lady Peverell."
"I would like to make a full audit of my accounts, properties and anything else that is included in Peverell estate. However I insist on waiting for the rest of the party."
"As you wish Lady Peverell."
Silence reigned after that. Hydra was scared to even breathe too loud while the goblin had no such problem grunting and making some weird hissing noises all the time.
When everyone arrived it turned out that Peverell vaults were untouched and full of gold. Seven properties were available to Hydra in every corner of the world. She left the bank quite dazed because with her Black stipend and Peverell vaults she was filthy rich now.
When they returned to the Black castle Callidora gave Hydra a similar amulet to protect her from compulsions. They made one for everyone in the family. That was the reason for visiting the main vault earlier. Later that day Lucretia arrived from Albania where she and her husband successfully located and retrieved the diadem. Understanding how dangerous the object was Lord Black locked it in the magic dampening box straight away and placed it in his most secure drawer.
Time passed slowly after that day. Hydra read as much as she could about different topics including texts on necromancy. She went to all her lessons and duelling practises without any protests. Before she travelled in time she struggled a lot with education.
It was a rainy day in the end of May when Callidora and Cassiopeia found Hydra in the library surrounded by piles of notes and way too many books.
"Hydra, dear, what exactly are you trying to do with all these books?" Cassiopeia asked, arching her brows.
"I am trying to learn arithmancy. I want to make sure the ritual for bringing Tom's soul together is perfect." Hydra responded thinking she has no right to fail. She trusted Death with ritual of course but her anxiety made her want to double check everything. Considering she was not that good with numbers the whole thing was turning her brain into mush.
"Whatever you wish, dear. We are going to retrieve the locket and the ring today. We thought you should know." Both women smiled at Hydra after Callidora said that.
"Please be careful. It's a pity I am useless and can't help you with this task."
Hydra really was quite stressed because she was so behind in her education.
When both women left, anxiety slowly crept inside Hydra. This was dangerous, though she was certain both Callidora and Cassiopeia were most capable. Time slowly passed, it was dark outside when finally they returned to find Hydra in the same place staring into the night through the window. After she noticed them she let out a long breath and slumped in her chair. It turned out that with all the information Hydra provided they managed just fine.
Now it was up to Lord Black to get the diary and the cup.
Surprisingly Lord Black decided to include Hydra in his plotting and asked her to meet him in his study a couple days later. They sat in companionable silence for a while both deep in thoughts. Finally Lord Black cleared his throat and looked at Hydra with his piercing grey eyes.
"Hydra you are here because I would like to seek your counsel on the matter of the cup and diary." He looked away from Hydra deep in thought. "We can bring Lord Malfoy and Lord Lestrange in on the truth with all the precautions of course. But it may have consequences. They can start doing something independently from us and muddy the waters so to speak." He signed and started rubbing his temples.
"Lord Black correct me if I am wrong but surely there is a way to get both the cup and the diary without alerting them to the truth." Hydra leaned forward and stared intently at Arcturus.
"It is always a risk to use Imperio. One can fight against it if the will is strong enough." Arcturus had no qualms about using the spell. It was, as he said, still dangerous.
Suddenly Hydra had an idea. She can use Parselmagic for this after all spells in Parseltongue were extremely powerful.
"Arcturus I think I know of an exactly similar spell in Parselmagic. As you know it is much more powerful. Also if it does not work Death will come to my rescue." Hopefully, Hydra thought to herself.
Arcturus seemed doubtful however he caved after some minutes. They decided that they would do it during the gala that was about to take place in two weeks in Malfoy manor. Lord Malfoy was always happy to help the minister and offered his manor frequently to host Ministry galas.
"Lord Black one more thing before we adjourn. Yesterday I thought about that despicable Headmaster of ours and all his machinations. And it irked me that we have absolutely no idea what exactly he is doing right now with his Headless Chickens Order. How about we use Sirius and James as our spies? I of course do not know them at all so it will be impossible for me to ask them." It was bold to suggest that to Lord Black however it was a good idea.
"We can try but I doubt they will do it. Righteous Gryffindors, always thinking about morals. At least both know Occlumency so in theory they can do it."
With that both vacated the study and parted ways.