Chapter 15 is out! This one marks the start of what should be considered the second book.
For this chapter, I wanted to do some worldbuilding; as the same time as I showed a bit of backstory from some characters which had already appered in the first year; and writting a bit of the magical system, of course, but that is something I like to do in almost every chapter.
Hope you all enjoy!
Scala ad Caelum
Chapter 15: Blackdusk
Master Isaac POV
Wednesday 29th May, 1992 (Tower of Merlin, Greece) - Late afternoon
Isaac looked at the sunset, with the obsidian dagger on his balcony's table. It didn't matter how many times he observed the phenomenon, he was always left mesmerized by how the sun reflected its light on the clean water; a sight worthy of the First Master, indeed.
"You seem to be quite thoughtful today, my old friend," Jin pointed out. The mercenary was with his feet up on the table, drinking a beer as if he hadn't come back from some very dangerous mission.
"I have many things in my mind right now," Isaac answered. "It must feel good to not have anything to worry about."
"As if, we both know you wouldn't stand a single day in my mind; too carefree for you."
How that man had survived to the age of seventy was something Isaac didn't know. Drinking and fighting seemed to be his only passions, and maybe they were; but, he was the best subordinate a man could ask for, so the First Master just let him be; after all, he was the one who could offer his family the most protection and money.
"Man, you should come with me and some of my men to a pub tonight," Jin went on. "I bet you don't even remember how the warmth of a woman feels like. You should try to get wasted from time to time, otherwise, you would die of incredible boredom."
"I have many things to think about," Isaac grunted; it didn't matter how used he was to the mercenary's antics, he always managed to irk him. "For starters, this is the very first time one of the Five Masters had betrayed the Order the way that stupid girl did; to think Shana believed she could take on us…"
"I had fun fighting with her."
"She was promising, especially for the Fifth Master spot; but, she decided to dig an early grave for herself."
"Well, usually, it is you who doesn't get ahead of things, but the girl has some powerful allies; so, unless they cut ties with her, or unless she loses her head and directly confronts us… I don't see how we can end her in the near future."
"That wouldn't be a problem if you had been able to kill Elend Shawn when you had the chance," Isaac said, now looking at the mercenary.
"Yep, that's on me," Jin laughed. "But, what can I say? It was the best fight I've had in a while, and I was a bit tired after messing around with your girl; so, after their reinforcements came, I decided running was the best thing I could do."
"Those reinforcements… How were they?" Isaac asked. "Aura is pressuring me to take action since one of her Inquisitors was defeated and captured. I have told her many times to not get attached to them, but she refuses to listen to my wisdom. But, it was the Sakai girl the one who was defeated in combat, and that is something very unsettling; that girl is one of the most talented Inquisitors we've had in recent history."
"Didn't have any time to check on them, I was too busy fighting for my life," Jin answered, with a shrug of his shoulders. "But, from what I heard of the Wings of Liberty, it is said they have some kind of super soldier in their ranks; nobody really knows how capable he is because they only use him in cases of extreme need; that, and the fact every time he fights, very few people are left alive. Honestly, that runt of Jordan managed to put his hands on a gold mine, son of a bitch…"
"Do you know the captain of the Wings of Liberty?"
"Of course I do! After all, we all know each other in our profession."
"Do you think we could… convince them to change sides?"
"Beats me," Jin commented. "I don't really think anyone knows what is going on in that man's head. He is a very capable captain, one of the best I've seen, I would say; but usually, men in our guild are very simple; money, power, fame, women… they all want something, and they all live and die for it. Now, he is the first one I wouldn't dare to classify as a simple man. Would he change sides after her contract with the red-haired bitch expires? Well, maybe if we offer him something he wants, who knows what will happen?"
"Hmh," Isaac hummed, his mind already trying to come with the best solution possible.
"So, that is your plan, isn't it?" Jin smirked. "You are going to try to reduce her allies as much as you can, you clever bastard! Honestly, I don't know why Elend Shawn is after you so bad, but I might be able to do something about one of her other friends."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, that Unspeakable of yours, the one with the crow's mask, did his thing on the mission. I swear I've met plenty of shady men during all my years as a mercenary, hell, I even killed some of them because they were too fucked up to be alive; but, that motherfucker is the definition of shadiness and twistedness. The thing is he defied my orders and refused to fight against Shana's Inquisitor, because the bastard wanted to talk to him; can you believe it? Well, I don't know how, but he managed to… plant the seeds of confusion in his mind, if you know what I mean."
Seems like Raven is having fun once again, I might need to keep an eye on him. The Unspeakable sure was a very interesting ally, but he also needed to be controlled with a tight grip. "That could be helpful," Isaac told his friend. "But, Shana will be expelled from the Order in the next few days, so having one of her Inquisitors on our side won't do much; especially, since she never trusted them in the first place."
"Honestly, screw your fucking Order for once," Jin cursed. "As long as she remains as the Fifth Master, those Inquisitors should be loyal only to her, right?"
"Sure, but what are you-"
"Don't expel her from the Order yet, Isaac," Jin interrupted him. "She might have never trusted them because she knew they were disposable; but now, she is as cornered as she can ever be. Let her taste the fear and the anxiety of being alone and surrounded; then, when she has no other option but to trust in her sacred shields and swords, we will use them to stab her in the back. I know they swore all those pretty, magnificent oaths, but only a very few men and women are true to their words until the end; it doesn't matter whether they are some filthy mercenary like me, or some honorable wizard from the royal families, like they believe themselves to be."
"I see, it is not a bad plan to start with."
"And what are we going to really start, Isaac? Getting rid of the girl and her allies is just the first step, but what comes after it? Why was that dagger so important to you? What are you really looking for?"
"Those are my business, Jin. You just need to do what you are told, like you've always done."
"Whatever," Jin spat. "I don't care. Since we've known each other, you have been the one to call the shots, and I've been the one to do all the dirty work. We are like the yin and yang, Isaac; the two opposite sides of a coin. Glory and recognition was all you ever wanted, while I was just happy to live the best life I could. But even after all those years, I have yet to beat you in combat; unless that changes, I'll follow you; but, if your life's purpose gives you an early grave, well, it was a pleasure to meet you."
That being said, the mercenary went out of the big balcony, leaving Isaac completely alone with his thoughts. Getting rid of Shana should be my utmost priority right now, but I have to keep an eye on Xaladir too; in all my years as the First Master, he's been the only one whom I cannot fully control; and that makes him very dangerous…
"Everything is working out as planned," Isaac muttered to the air, a dreamy smile forming in his face. "Soon enough, Herpo's soul will be mine. I will make history; and all thanks to you, Kassandra…"
Shana POV
Saturday 30th May, 1992 (Shawn Manor, USA) - Middle of the morning
When she opened her eyes, the first thing Shana noticed was how tired she was; the second, was that she didn't know in which place she had just woken up. Where am I? Why do I feel like I've been sleeping for years? Merlin, my whole body hurts…
"Good morning, sleepyhead," a voice said, from her left.
With great effort, the witch managed to look at the voice's direction, and what she found was a kid looking back at her with his brow raised. This kid seems familiar… Do I know him? But, the most important thing right now was to know where the hell she was. "Where am I?" She asked.
"Shawn Manor," the boy answered. "You've been sleeping in this room for almost an entire week. Don't know what happened to you, but it must have been something big."
Oh, I remember now… Elend and his brother came to my rescue, and we left the town by portkey while Elend fought Jin. She sat on the bed as best as she could, trying to move her limbs, which felt really heavy. "You look really familiar, have we met before?" Shana inquired.
"Yep, we met at Ilvermorny this last winter," he nodded. "My name is Alexander Shawn, the only heir of the Great House of Shawn. I kinda followed you back then, and you caught me pretty easily; you were after Lord Yaxley for some reason, but you managed to trick both his men and I with some trick of yours."
"Oh, I remember you; do you understand what I did? Or you still don't know?"
"I thought about it for many weeks, but I don't have a freaking clue; I gave up long ago, though; care to enlighten me?"
"That would be the easy way, then," Shana smiled. The memories of the raid were coming at her; the deaths of Kouji and Jasmine; how Jin had humiliated both Valkyrie and her with ease; and the whole conversation with Kayle. Fuck, how could everything go so bad…
Luckily, another person coming into the room averted her from those depressive thoughts. "I see you are awake, Shana," Elend greeted. "You've been out for some days, but the healer I contracted did a splendid job; given the circumstances, of course."
That was the moment Shana realised her face was completely covered in bandages; everything but the mouth and one eye.
"Alex, I need you to get out of the room," Elend went on. "There are some delicate matters I have to discuss with Shana."
"Whatever," the boy huffed, before getting out of the room.
"There are very few things that stress me more than dealing with a twelve year old kid," Elend sighed. "If you ever decide to have children, please, don't."
"We've all been like that," Shana muttered, still touching her face. "What happened, Elend?"
"By the time we got to your town, there was really nothing to do," he explained. "We were the first group to engage the enemy; just as our information said, that forest village was their main objective, but it was a trap. As soon as they surrounded us, a big part of their group left the battlefield; that was when we alerted you. The moment we understood what was happening, we tried to break free from the ambush, but they were good soldiers."
"Jordan's group?"
"They also had to fight. From what I know, their place had been sacked centuries ago, and they didn't find many things in it. But, that troubled allomancer had to fight a tough opponent to get out of that cave. As soon as they finished, they also came to the town you had to investigate; when Jin saw our reinforcements, he decided escaping was his best option, so we dealt with the soldiers he left behind before coming here."
"The Horcrux was destroyed thousands of years ago," Shana confessed.
"Really?" For a moment, the man seemed surprised, but the look on her face must have given her away. "That is not the whole story, right?"
"There is another one, Elend," she muttered. "There is another fucking one, and we don't have any fucking clue about it."
"Are you completely sure of it?"
"Yes, I… don't understand what happened, but when my magic interacted with the dead Horcrux, my mind travelled to some weird place; it was some dark beach, and there was a spirit-like woman there. She told me about her life; how she had been one of the Seven Founders; how Herpo had betrayed them all and started a war which almost ended the entire wizarding society; her theory about her and the other Founders being unable to die because Herpo's soul was still wandering around…"
There were very few things which could make a man like Elend Shawn speechless, but her rambling did it; the man took a seat on one chair as she spoke. "So, you are telling me we need to start from the scratch, right?" He asked, massaging his temples after hearing her story.
"I don't know what to think anymore…"
"Don't worry," he said, with a softer voice now. "You must still be in shock after your battle with Jin. Now, you must rest and recover here; take as much time as you need. Today, I need to go to the Ministry, but I will be back for the night, or so I hope."
The blonde man left the room, and Shana eyed its decoration for some time; after some minutes of pondering about everything, she decided staying there would do her no good; so, she went to the nearest bathroom. It took her around ten minutes to find one, but when she stood in front of the mirror, doubt started to swarm her head. Come on, do it, coward; what if your face didn't heal completely? Are you really going to be scared of some silly scars now?
With trembling hands, she put the long bandage out. Her entire left side, from the chin to the forehead, was scarred, as if some cartwheel had put its stamp on her face; it looked like the healer had to sew her skin from one point to another, the new flesh being very similar to the one which was left after some burn, with a very vivid, reddish tone; but she still conserved the sensibility, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. He probably focused on repairing the bones and the nerves; I can't imagine how my face looked, but I sure remember what Jin did to me; so given the circumstances, I would say he did a pretty good job.
Shana used her magic to cover her face with an illusion, but she dropped her mask after some seconds of doubts. No, she had taken so many faces and personalities in her whole life, that she could only be herself when there wasn't any mask on; this was the new Shana, and she would not hide her identity for some silly scar.
Hours passed, and when dinner came, some kind elf delivered the food to her room. "I'm sorry, but Lord Elend has yet to come from work," the elf said, as he bowed. "Please, enjoy the dinner."
She certainly did. It was some simple dish; salmon and baked potatoes, but it was very tasty thanks to some spices. After eating, she tried to sleep, but there was no way she was closing her eyes once again after sleeping for one week. Well, Elend didn't say anything about exploring the manor… Even though her Tower was a pretty magnificent place, she was left astonished by how big and well-cared the mansion was.
In all the corridors, there were old paintings which showed images from the wizards of the Ancient Times; and in most of the rooms which weren't meant to host people, there were sets of old armour and different weapons. Merlin, these Alazthi freaks sure like to show off their bloodline.In the end, after almost an hour of wandering around, she made it to the highest balcony.
If the insides were incredible, the exterior was even better; from the giant balcony, Shana had a perfect view of the manor's lake, with many sparkling, magical spirits of the nature gliding over it; some from the trees, and others from the water, but they all flew around as if they were a bunch of bright moths under the moon's light. "This is my favourite place in the entire manor," a voice commented from behind her.
There, sat on the highest spot of the rooftop, was Elend's son; the boy was leaning back on it, looking right at her. "My father told you he was coming back for the night, right?" He asked. "That is a classical of his, but I didn't expect for him to pull it out with one of his dearest guests."
"I don't really mind," she shrugged it off. The red-haired woman drew her wand out from her robes; from the tip of it, some light rope appeared, just to coil itself around the chimney which was next to the boy. At her command, the rope violently shortened, making her fly towards the boy; who looked at her with an impressed face.
"Damn, that was incredible," he whistled.
Shana couldn't help herself but to smile at the boy's enthusiasm, but it went away when she noticed him looking at her scar; he tried to hide it very well, but Shana had caught him. "Shit happens at work," the witch sighed, as she took a seat next to him.
"I'm sorry," Alexander apologised.
"For being freaked out, or because it happened to me?"
"The second one, I guess. It caught my eye, but it isn't like it is the end of the world; I mean… you are still very pretty."
"Really?" Shana smiled, after seeing how the boy had reddened very subtly. "That was nice of you."
"Well, I've never been the best with words when others were sad, but I tried my best."
"What are you doing here all alone; isn't it a bit late for you?"
"Nah, I'm on holiday," he answered, with a shrug of his shoulders. "I told you, this is my favourite spot; I always come here when I'm in the mood."
"Does your father use to be out of home so often?"
"The rare thing is for him to be here."
"He is a busy man."
"I know, and I don't really care about it; well, I did care very much some years ago, but now, I understand how busy he is."
"Do you really believe your own words?"
"If I don't tell myself that…"
"What?" Shana helped him. "You are really hurt about it, but you also feel bad for being so bitter, so you try to act as if it didn't bother you at all. It is normal to feel like that, you don't have to lie to yourself like that around me."
"Talk about being good with words," Alexander mumbled.
"Your father is a good man," she told him. "He is very busy, but just from how he talks about you, he loves you a lot."
"Did you… have these sorts of problems with your parents, back when you were my age?"
"I didn't get to meet my parents; or at least, I don't remember them."
"Oh, I'm really sorry."
"Don't worry," Shana smiled. "I'm way past that; besides, a very kind, old man raised me with loads of love. I have nothing but great memories from him."
The two of them were enveloped by a comfortable silence. "How was your first year of school?" Shana asked, after some minutes.
"Pretty good, I guess," he answered. "I got the best marks from my year and learned a lot of magic from the professors. I also got to spend a lot of time with my friends, and I even got to know new people."
"Anyone in particular? Maybe a girl?"
"Well, there is this blonde girl," he muttered, as he avoided Shana's smirking face. "She has pretty grey eyes, and she is very clever and athletic; but, she is as tall as me, and I don't like that. Eh, what is so funny?"
"Sorry, sorry; keep going please."
"Stop smirking like that! I swear you are a weirdo. Whatever, then, there is this albino boy; he is a softie and a muggleborn, but he is as magically gifted as me, who has been training since I was six years old. He really doesn't compete against me, but we kinda push each other to the next level, trying to see who is better."
"Seems like you have good friends," Shana pointed out, getting a bit sleepy thanks to the cool air and the pleasant conversation.
"Yeah," the boy yawned. "They are a good lot."
The first rays of sun woke Shana up, who had to cover her eyes due to the intense light. What the hell? Don't tell me I fell asleep here. She looked around, but Alexander wasn't anywhere. Bloody kid, he let me here all night; but, I gotta say I feel way more rested now. As soon as she felt more awake, the young woman made her way towards her room, where some nice-smelling breakfast was waiting for her. Well, I guess it is waiting time for me…
It wasn't until past lunch that Elend didn't make an appearance; the pureblood lord found her at the manor's great library. "You have very interesting books here," Shana commented, as soon as the man took a seat in front of her.
"I'm sorry, but there was some business which I had to take care of," he apologised.
"Nah, don't worry about it; I'm fine."
"What are we going to do now, Master Shana?"
"Don't call me that," Shana sighed. "I'm not a Master anymore; by now, they should already have expelled me. Now, in regard to your question… I don't have any idea of what to do. We don't even know the basics to start; and unlike the first time, Isaac already is onto us; there won't be another surprise attack from our part."
"So, doing nothing it is, right?"
"For now, yes. First, I need to fully recover from my wounds, and then, I would like to contact Captain Jordan to secure our partnership in the long run; I don't want any surprises."
"Seems like a good plan," Elend nodded. "I know you don't have anywhere to go now that you are a traitor, but you can stay here all the time you need; even when you are fully recovered."
"Thank you, Elend, really," Shana said. "Another thing I wanted to discuss with you is that…, well, I'm afraid I will be lacking money from now on; so, if we want to secure the Wings of Liberty…"
"I lost count of how much money I had long ago, Shana; you can take as much as you need. Even if I don't like mercenaries that much, Captain Jordan is a very intelligent man; moreover, that soldier of his, Levitt, is a beast on the battlefield. We need them."
Elend got up from the chair and made his way out of the library, but he stopped midway. "There is another thing you must know," he sighed, now looking right at the witch's eyes. "All the people you left behind at the Tower of Merlin were killed as soon as Jin came back. Isaac is already selecting your successor as the Fifth Master, but meanwhile, your Inquisitor told me the news; from what I know about their job, he should still be loyal to you until you are officially replaced, but I don't trust him; and neither should you."
That being said, the man finally left the room, leaving Shana completely alone with her thoughts. They all died because of my failure… Henry, Jasmine, Seidiou… I'm really sorry.
This was the end of an era for her. Shana the Fifth had failed; now, it was time for Shana to pay the consequences.
Ronald Weasley POV
Wednesday 17th June, 1992 (The Burrow, England) - Middle of the morning
It was hard to believe that three weeks had already passed since Hogwarts ended. Ron had always thought The Burrow was one of the loudest places in the world, despite that, he couldn't help himself but to be bored as hell; that was what literally fighting for your life did to you; that, and the exam's stress, to this day the redhead didn't know what was worse.
Hearing his mother shouting at the twins; Ginny's excitement for the next school year; his father working until late and then expending most of his free time with muggle things; yeah, this sure was home. If only I could do magic, the redhead groaned. That was, without any doubts, the worst thing about being back home. In the school, he was free to train as much as he could, but here, the boy could do nothing because of the stupid Trace. Yeah, let's wait until I'm seventeen; I'm sure the bad guys won't mind waiting a bit…
"Yo! That wasn't a bad throw, Ronnie!" Fred exclaimed, as he threw another gnome as far as he could. "But you still have to grow some more to reach my level!"
"Come on, Forge; is that really the best you got?" George laughed. "I've seen babies with more strength than you!"
"Oh, you are gonna regret that, Gred!"
Going back to routine meant de-gnoming the garden; and it also meant competing with the twins to see who could throw them further from the house. Hasn't anyone taken care of the garden while we were gone? Ron cursed in his mind, as he cleaned the sweet from his forehead. Those fuckers are everywhere!
"What are those creatures?" Gerd asked, gliding through the garden. "They are barmy! They are actually laughing because you are spinning them around!"
"Welcome to the present, Gerd," Ron muttered, as he threw another gnome to the sky.
They went at it for hours, and only after successfully cleaning the whole area they were able to rest. "Boys!" Molly exclaimed, coming out of the house with a tray in her hands. "Here, have some freshly squeezed, orange juice; Miss Diggory just brought some to us because she had a very nice harvest this year."
It was the most refreshing thing Ron had ever tasted, but maybe that wasn't a very hard thing to accomplish after having worked for hours under the sun. "Oh, I almost forgot!" Molly suddenly said, after some minute of silence. "That friend of yours, Lee Jordan, sent you a letter."
"It was about time!" Fred celebrated. "That moron sure took his time."
"Fred, don't curse!" Their mother scolded him.
"Yo, Georgie, how about some rock-paper-scissors to see who goes for the letter?"
"Sure, but don't come at me crying after you lose!"
In the end, it was Fred who went for the letter, muttering some not very family-friendly words about where George could stick those guffaws of his. "Mom, was there any letter for me?" Ron asked, after finishing his second glass of juice.
"No, my dear," she answered. "Not counting the one which came yesterday, that's it; the one from your friend Tracey."
"Is she the one from your group with the brown hair?" George asked.
"Yeah, do you know her?"
"I talked with her once and she told me I was a very nice beater; no one can't say otherwise, but it is nice to know my fanbase is growing bigger and bigger."
Why did she do that? Was she trying the same thing she did with Harry and the others? And most importantly, why the hell isn't Harry answering my letters? Ron knew the boy needed to stay with his muggle relatives for the first month of the holiday before meeting his godfather, Sirius Black; the man Ron unintentionally freed when he exposed Peter Pettigrew to the world. I hope they aren't giving him much trouble; but from the little he told me about them, they definitely were bad news.
Day after day, the redhead just waited for the week to pass; enjoying the busy life of The Burrow, but with those bad feelings about his friend lingering on his mind.
Until he got tired of that monotonous life, that's it. He needed to train or do something, and reading his brother's notes for the second year wasn't enough; that was why the youngest Weasley boy decided to ask his brother Percy about it. "Percy, I need to ask you something," Ron asked, once he managed to catch him outside of his room.
"Yeah, sure, come with me," Percy said, going upstairs. "What do you need?"
"Well, you see… the thing is I miss doing magic a lot, and reading your notes for the next year is making it even worse; so, what I wanted to know was if there is… anyway I can do a bit of magic. You know, because of the Trace and all that."
"You can't be serious, Ron!" Percy gasped. "You can't break the law like tha!"
I should have expected this… But he didn't give up. "Come on, Perce, don't be like that," Ron tried to calm him. "I just want to practise a bit for next year. Even with the advantage your notes gave me, I was only able to be the fourth best student; I know I'm not as intelligent as others, and that is why I have to make it with extra effort."
It was a petty trick, but since he was rather terrible at lying back during his first months at Slytherin, Daphne had taught him another one of her aces up her sleeve; to act a bit miserable in front of others to get something you wanted. "Listen, I understand what you say, but I'm not sure about it," Percy said, after some seconds of looking rather uncomfortable. "But… wait a moment, now that I think about it; don't you have to tell mum and dad about your wand?"
Bloody hell, that is what happens when you try to act smarter than what you really are… To be honest, it wasn't as if he had avoiding that talk, not fully, at least; but, since many things had happened at the end of the school year, he had put aside the conversation he had with Percy before the whole resorting thing, and now, it was coming back to bit him in the moment he needed it the less.
"I-I haven't," Ron admitted. "I forgot about it, okay? I wasn't trying to break our promise or something like that, it is just that I had many things in mind."
"Well, listen; first, you are going to tell mum about it right now; and then, I might tell you something about the Trace, do we have an agreement?"
"Sure."
He had been very quick to agree with Percy's proposition, but now, observing how his mother was hanging the clothes up in the garden, he wasn't so sure. "This is what I get for trying to trick my brother," Ron cursed. "Back in the first months of school, I despised how they were and how they behaved around others; and now look at me, doing my best to act like them… My only consolation is that I suck at it…"
"Come on, don't be like that," Gerd sighed. "Social skills and how to manipulate other people are very important things to learn; in some situations, even more than any kind of spell or curse. You should really thank your friends for it."
"Yeah, I get that point, I'm not that stupid; but, to do it with my own blood?"
"It is for a greater good, Ron."
Honestly, screw you and your greater good. Come on, you cunt, the more you think about it, the worse it will be. With a sudden impulse of determination, the redhead made his way outside. "Mom, can I… tell you something?" He asked, once he was close enough.
"Of course!" She said, her eyes fixed on the clothes.
"Well, this might be a bit… out of nowhere, but… the thing is after dad told me we couldn't afford a new wand for me… well, I-"
"Gerard bought you one, right?"
Ron needed a couple of seconds to process those words. "Wait, what?" He almost exclaimed, more surprised than anything. "How do you know that?"
With a tired sigh, his mother finally turned to look at him. "Gerard told us, Ronnie," she answered. "It was after Pettigrew escaped. We were very worried and scared with the possibility of him trying to go after you in an act of revenge; but he appeared here, after many years, to ask us how we were doing; because he also knew about one of our sons being the one to expose Pettigrew."
"But…, how did he know? From the little the Headmaster told me, only you and some very important people from the Ministry knew."
"Because there was another person who knew about it; in fact, he is the only one who knows it was you. I'm talking about Sirius Black, the man you saved indirectly."
Among all the directions this conversation could have gone, this sure wasn't one of them. "They were old friends from the war, and when Gerard found out about Sirius' innocence, he tried to contact him as soon as he could," Molly went on. "The thing is he learned about you being the one to discover Peter, and assuming we would be very distressed about the whole escape thing, he came here to comfort us; he even promised us that he would be the one to track Pettigrew down before he could do anything. That afternoon, he also told us about your wand."
"Well, I'm sorry about it."
"Don't be," Molly sighed. "What we did to you is something no parent should ever do, so let me be the one to apologise for that. Now, it is true that you could have told us way sooner, but seeing how I acted the last time we talked seriously about anything… well, maybe you were right to hide it," she finished with a sad smile.
"Say something to light her up, you dummy," Gerd told him, pulling from his ear in case her words weren't enough.
"I guess we both acted a bit stupidly," Ron tried to lighten the mood. "Well, as dad used to say; we, Weasleys, should always learn from our mistakes!"
What had started as a very surprising revelation, had ended as a very awkward conversation; but now that he was going back to Percy's room, Ron found himself very relieved to finally get rid of the whole wand matter; and it was turn for his brother to talk.
"Yo, I've already talked with mum, Perce," Ron announced, as he knocked on the door.
"What, are you serious?" Percy answered from inside, a second before opening the door. "You aren't lying to me, right? Because if that's the case, you are gonna-"
"I'm not lying!" Ron interrupted him. Not about this, at least.
"Well, I guess now it's my time to talk."
"You better, because it was a very awkward conversation, you prick."
"There are things which need to be done, Ron," Percy tried to lecture him, falling into his old habits once again. "Well, to be honest, I'm very surprised you don't know about this, given the fact you've spent an entire year in Slytherin."
"What the hell are you on about?"
"The Trace, of course. There are many people, especially muggleborns, who still believe that the Trace was put on them at any moment of their lives; but that is not true."
"How is that related to Slytherin in any way?"
"Come on, you've seen how they are and how they were raised; do you really think their parents would allow any Ministry official to mark their sons in any way? Do you really think families like Malfoy, Selwyn or Greengrass would allow themselves to be controlled like that?"
"Well, looking at it like that, it is true," Ron muttered.
"But even those pureblood bigots aren't above the law," Percy kept explaining. "What the Trace really does is to track the minor's wands during the holidays or those periods without school, at least in us purebloods; because from the things dad told me, it works differently on muggleborns or on those families who live near muggle areas."
"Wait… are you trying to tell me that I got no Trace on me?"
"Yes, Ron, your wand does not have any Trace on it," Percy nodded. "Although I do not approve of it, and neither do mum and dad, since we are a very old magical family, the Ministry trusts us to not break the Statue of Secrecy; so I really doubt for them to notice that a member of our family doesn't have his wand under the Trace."
"Are you telling me that I can practise for the next year?"
"Yes, that is what I was trying to tell you."
"Blimey," Ron whistled. "Wait, if you knew about all of that, why didn't you ask mum and dad to borrow their wands? I'm sure that would have helped you to be even more prepared."
"Because someone in this house has to respect the rules," Percy stated. "And probably because their wands wouldn't have listened to my commands; as you would have experienced if you had used Charlie's old wand."
With a very happy smile, Ron made his way out of Percy's room, but his brother stopped him when his hand was at the door's knob."Ron, only use the information I've given you to practise the second year spells, okay? And please, don't ever let Fred and George see you doing magic."
"Sure, Perce," Ron told him, before getting out of the room.
Seems like this summer is getting better and better, the redhead thought. Now, I just need Harry to answer me…
Shana POV
Saturday 20th June, 1992 (Blackdusk, Thailand) - Early morning
Shana wasn't still fully recovered from the last mission, both physically and mentally; not as if it mattered, after all, life usually didn't take anyone's side.
She had tried to contact Jordan by herself, because right now, she couldn't afford to trust those sources who put them in contact the first time. That's why she had decided to walk right into one of the company's bases, just to find some subordinate of his, who told her the man's whereabouts; which wasn't a very welcoming place, much to her disgust..
"What are the reasons for your visit?" A guard asked her, very menacingly, in perfect Thai.
"I'm looking for some cursed item, one of the second tier," Shana answered, in the same language.
One of the best decisions she took in her time as a Master of the Order of Merlin was to use her wealth to acquire as many Translator Bracelets as she could; the Great House of Dupond had been using the monopoly of said items to become the richest family in the world, but Shana thought they deserved all the money they had; after all, they had invented something totally incredible.
"You can come in," the guard grunted. "But, you better not create any trouble, or I'll feed you to my dogs."
Yeah, yeah, whatever… Not even looking back at the man, the witch entered into the elevator; which started to go down as soon as she was inside. I have yet to come in and this place is already giving me chills down my spine; what the hell is Jordan doing here? I don't like it a bit… It turned out that the captain of the Wings of Liberty had some business at Blackdusk, Thailand's world famous black market; and one of the most dangerous places in the world to wander around.
The door opened, and the smell pierced Shana's nostrils; it reeked of rotten food and shit, but even worse, as if someone had tried to cover it, just to make it way worse. Wherever she looked, there were shady people, and in the shop's window, to call them something, there were many wrong things; from caged, malnourished house-elves, to different parts of many magical creatures. The little establishments were at the sides of a main road, which was made of a mix between dirt and sand, that led to another checkpoint; in which another set of guards would question the clients in order to grant them access to the lower floors.
This is just the first floor… it is true what they say about this place… The black market was structured like some ant's nest; in the upper floor, the mercancy was labelled as 'lighter' or easier to find; but as you went down, there were many more things to find; from elite hitmen, to very dangerous cursed items, or even human trafficking.
It was such a luck she was disguised as some common mercenary, because even with her best occlumency, she couldn't hide her disgusted face. Get a hold of yourself, Shana, you got work to do. With a confident stride, she walked towards the only pub on the first floor; there, she analysed everyone. Most of these men are just pawns for other mercenary companies' leaders, although I can tell some of them can be dangerous to play around with; but… yeah, it must be them.
She made her way towards one of the last tables, where two men and a woman were laughing very loudly. "I need to know where Captain Jordan, from the Wings of Liberty, is," Shana announced, as she took seat in front of the woman.
She had short, brown hair, and a very scarred face; but she still laughed with the question as if she had just heard a very good joke. "I don't know who the hell you think you are, but you better not try to mess with us," one of the men threatened, planting the point of his wand on Shana's neck.
"My, my, my, what do we have here?" The woman snorted. "Why would we even know who that man is? Much less where he is… do you think we are some kind of nannies?"
"Because unlike the other groups here, you ain't from any mercenary company," Shana stated, her voice as calm as ever.
The woman just raised her brow, as if she was giving her permission to keep talking. "Everyone here is drinking or passing the time, but you aren't," the red-haired witch went on. "You take some gulps of your drinks once in a while, but you three are taking turns to look at every face who crosses this shithole. The chain of command in a place like this is quite easy to understand; you mean nothing to the higher ups, but they still need some minions to control everything; and people whose only job is to remember every face who comes here are very important. So, you better tell me what I want to know, because I guarantee you three that whoever is paying you, won't mind having to find another group of minions…"
To assert her point, Shana just expanded her magical aura, which had been concentrated around her body, to cover the four of them. The man on her left, the one with his wand pointing at her neck, let out a gasp; but he still didn't put his wand down.
Enough mastery in the control of one's magical aura allowed the wizard to cover his own body with a layer of raw magic; which was enough to protect him against certain surprise attacks. Normally, the magic was concentrated around the magical core, but once you learned how to control it, you could use it to reinforce your body; and that was what Shana used to do in dangerous places, like Blackdusk was.
Now, you could also expand it to facilitate the detection of other magic in the aura's range; but you needed to be very careful with this technique, because if a wizard was to expand his aura in front of others, not only he would be announcing his presence, he would be allowing the possible enemies to measure his strength rather easily; fortunately for her, this wasn't one of those situations, because the former Master knew she was stronger than the three of them.
"Where is Captain Jordan, from the Wings of Liberty?" Shana repeated.
"Hmpf, lower your wand Max, you supid cunt," the other man ordered, with a firm voice. "He got us by the balls, ha! Is it not everyday you find yourself in a situation like this… well, I guess you mean serious business. Captain Jordan should be on the tenth floor, at some office near the battlegrounds, but I don't know why he came here. I'm telling you this because whatever happens between you and him won't affect us; hell, you can even kill him if that is why you are here. But let me tell you something, if you disrupt this place's peace, you will die. I'm a more capable wizard than these two, and I can tell you are very strong; but, there is always a bigger fish in the sea."
Not bothering to answer, Shana made her way out of the den; her next stop being the first florr's checkpoint. There, after some protocolary interview and some galleons, the witch found herself in another elevator; this time, descending right to the tenth floor, where Jordan was supposed to be.
They sure take things way more seriously down here, she thought, after observing the whole place. Unlike in the first one, here the roads were pavimented with polished cobblestone; and there were guards, dressed in the official mafia uniforms, all over the place, especially atop of the little buildings; the ceiling was also way higher, despite that, Shana could still see some kind of crystals illuminating the whole place.
But, what really stood out was the battleground arena, or as the local people called it, The Tartarus; a place in where the bosses of different mafias and organisations brought their fighters to enjoy and bet; no matter if they were subordinates, prisoners, or even slaves and desperate people. Whoever designed the structure had been clearly inspired by the old muggle coliseums, the ones built during the Roman age; they were practically identical, maybe a bit bigger, but that was it.
Blackdusk truly was one of the most horrible places in the world; but it also was a place in which you could find many rare and useful things.
Where the hell are you, Jordan? Shana had been looking for the captain for some minutes, but there was no trace of him yet; it wasn't as if she could expand her aura to trace him, mainly because the place was too huge for that; but also, because there had to be dangerous people roaming around. In the end, what allowed her to track the mercenary down was a member of his company, who just walked out of a building, muttering something about some arrogant bastard.
Not giving it a second thought, she got into the elegant house; as soon as Shana stepped into the entrance hall, her enhanced senses were able to catch three different voices talking; one of them being Jordan's.
"I don't like your new business' partners, Jordan, and neither does my uncle," a man's voice said.
"Samir Dakar doesn't need to worry about anything," Jordan answered. "And I certainly don't owe him anything. Defeating Lord Banyat Silalai was something of mutual interest; he had some problems with him, and my company was contracted to ruin him; that was the beginning of a new, healthy relationship, but that is all. If he wants me to do something, he knows where I am."
"As entertaining as this conversation can be, there is some uninvited guest at the entrance hall," a woman said. "He activated my wards, but I can't tell what his intentions or power are."
Wards? What wards? I couldn't sense a thing. As soon as Shana got her wand out, the door at the end of the corridor was opened by the woman. She had deep, blue eyes, but what really stood out from her was her hair, which had been coloured with a very light, pink tone. The witch was dressed in very fancy and extravagant robes, which looked as if they had been tailor-made for her; they were of a brilliant silver, decorated with golden ornaments in the neck and the sleeves, in the form of the classical Chinese dragons. She was very beautiful, but there was something about her that Shana didn't like at all.
"What do we have here?" She smirked. "A very brave man who stepped into the wrong house; or maybe not, because even after knowing we had discovered you, the flow of your magic is perfectly calm; and that is bad news for us."
From behind her, the door which led outside was also opened. "Shit! I avert my gaze from this house for just a second and people think they can do as they please!" A familiar voice said. It was Michael, one of the higher officials of the Wings of Liberty, and one of the very few people Jordan trusted enough.
"I came here to talk," Shana announced, just after Jordan and a black man came out of the room, their wands ready at hand.
"As if we would care!" The black man said. "You just dug yourself an early grave, bastard!"
Shana shut him up by shattering the illusion covering her body; gone was the random Thai man, just to be replaced by a former Master of the Order of Merlin.
"What the hell just happened?" The woman cursed, very surprised. "Her magic feels totally different, and that shouldn't be possible…"
"Master Shana, it is… a surprise to see you here," Jordan pointed out, not sounding very enthusiastic at all.
"Ey, who the hell is she?" The other man exclaimed. "And why are you three so calm about having an intruder here?"
"I need to talk with you, Jordan," Shana told him, ignoring the others. "It is urgent."
"So, a Master from the Order of Merlin, eh?" The woman commented. "Just when I thought this day couldn't get more interesting… You know what, Jordan? Let's hear what she has to say; but first, let me ask you something; how the hell were you able to change the feeling of your magic when you dropped your cover? I've seen a good amount of wizards who excelled in using espectres of magic and illusions to trick others, but what you just did… it was totally different…"
"Who knows?" Shana answered. "Maybe you aren't as good as you thought at detecting magic."
"Careful now, girl," the pink-haired witch hissed. "I can't take some banter, but don't ever disrespect me again…"
"Please, let's calm down a bit, ladies," Jordan tried to calm them down. "Come with us inside, Master Shana; we do have lots of things to discuss."
Ignoring the strangers' looks, and Michael's exasperated sighs, Shana followed the captain inside, with the pink-haired woman closing the room's door behind them. "Do they really need to be here?" She asked the captain.
"Well, since you interrupted our meeting, I doubt I can off them now," Jordan answered. "At least, let me introduce them; this young man is Ahmed Dakar, some acquaintance of mine; and this woman is-"
"The name is Ava," she introduced herself. "Ava, as an abbreviation from Avarice; as you can see, my mother didn't have a way with words…"
The name Dakar sounds familiar, but this woman… Who the hell is she? Shana knew the Wings of Liberty were a pretty renowned organisation, and that they liked to take as many jobs as possible; but, even if those two didn't have anything to do with her, she still had a bad hunch about them. "If this is how it is gonna be… I came here to renew our contract," she said.
"To renew the contract?" He repeated. "But, as far as I knew… the thing we were looking for turned out to be destroyed, didn't it?"
"Yeah, but it is not over yet, and I have new information."
"Really? I didn't know about that; what is it?"
"The contract first, Jordan."
"Last time you weren't this distrustful, Master Shana."
"I'm not a Master anymore," Shana stated, she didn't like a bit how the captain's eyes had gleaned when she told him about her having new information; they showed surprise, but had also sparkled the same way they did when the man learned about Herpo's Horcrux; it reeked of secrets.
"What the hell are you two talking about?" The black man groaned. "Come on, it is not nice to not include others in the conversation!"
"What has changed, Jordan?" Shana asked, preparing herself for the worst. "Last time you were so eager to keep moving forward with the whole operation, and now that I've told you we can continue, you start having doubts? That doesn't sound like the Captain Jordan I knew…"
"Come on, I don't wanna waste more time with this bullshit," Avarice grunted. "He has switched sides, you get it? You've lost, Shana; to think you really believed you could go against Isaac the First himself… hell, you should be grateful for still being alive; I mean, I wouldn't even desire that new, gruesome face of yours to my worst enemy, but at least you ain't dead."
Without Valkyrie to assume control, Shana needed a few seconds to process the revelation. Then, the witch drew her wand as she burned steel to send Avarice flying against the wall behind her, pushing against the metallic, golden ornaments which decorated all her clothes.
"What the hell?" The black man stepped back, tripping and falling on his arse in a very pathetic way.
Avarice tried to draw her wand, but Shana strengthened her allomantic pulse, crashing the woman into the wooden wall. "Don't even think about drawing your wands, you two!" She exclaimed. "You are a fucking traitor, Jordan! We had an agreement!"
"You said yourself, Shana; we had an agreement," Jordan answered, as calm as ever. "Which ended the moment we came back from Croatia, when we believed for everything to be over. I swore I would fight by your side so we could find that cursed item, as we did; but, in that mission, you learned something, and as you always do, you kept it for yourself, not giving us the chance to know if we could continue."
"It took you more than three weeks, but you finally decided to keep us in the loop," the man went on. "But it was too late. Jin the Stranger himself contracted our services for Isaac the First; and they also have more information about the real thing. I am truly sorry, Shana, but we won't be fighting on the same side anymore."
The instant he finished talking, something hit Shana from behind with the force of a bludger, disorienting her for a few seconds; by the time she could react, a man had her neck in a chokehold, and his wand pointing to her temple. "I wish things hadn't come to this, Shana," Michael apologised. "But it was you the one who showed me this trick, remember? To sneak up on Levitt and surprise him, you told me to shut my magic completely down, and to not carry any metal on me; even you, incredibly talented people, have your weak points."
He isn't trying to kill me… just inmovilizacion… it is time for lesson number two, Michael; don't ever corner a wounded beast if you don't have the guts to kill it… She burned pewter to enhance her physical strength; but, by the time she was about to break the chokehold, some kind of threads started to constrain her body; Avarice had freed herself from Shana's attack.
"You damn bitch," Avarice cursed, blood pouring down her face. "To think you would dare to blemish my beautiful face…" As the words were being spat out of her mouth, the threads, which were coming out of her voluminous robes, started to close around her body; opening dozens of little, superficial cuts all over her body.
Black points started to appear everywhere, but before she could lose her consciousness, the threads were all cut. "Who the hell do you think you are to act as you please?" Michael grunted, his wand pointed at the pink-haired witch.
"You dare to act against me?" Avarice exclaimed, as she lost her temper, many more silver threads emerged from her robes, as if they were furious snakes dancing around.
What the fuking hell is she doing? Shana was about to send her flying with another allomantic push, but Jordan jumped between the two women. "Do you both want to die?" He asked. "Because if the fight keeps escalating, we are bound to create chaos in the tenth floor of Blackdusk, and that would make the Mafia to come after us; even as confident as you two are in your powers, I assure you we will all die unless you stop this nonsense right now."
With the back of her hand, Shana cleaned some of the blood which was pouring down her neck, as she tried her best to relax her raging heart. "Have you all lost your head or what?" The black man exclaimed, hiding behind a big couch. "Where the hell did I get myself into?" He wanted to keep rambling, but four murderous glares silenced him.
"Jordan, why did you stop me?" Avarice muttered, uselessly trying to contain her rage. "This was the best chance to get rid of this bitch! Jin didn't have any idea of how to make her come out of her hiding spot, and now that she is in front of us, you stop me from ending her! What is wrong with you? Are you having second thoughts about our partnership?"
"Once I sign a contract, the only thing stopping me from fulfilling it is death itself," Jordan stated. "We are on your side, but I won't kill Shana in cold blood today; not when she came here still trusting me. We've been good partners for more than a year, and from now on, we will be enemies; but, she earned my favour long ago, enough to grant her an opportunity to live another day so she can prepare herself for what is coming."
"Jin is going to kill you when he hears about this…"
"Go on, tell him everything. This situation was one of the conditions I demanded when signing the contract."
The two of them held their gazes for some seconds, but Avarice, with a furious roar, was the first one to break contact. The woman strided out of the room, pulling the door out of the roots with a burst of magic. "Honestly, that one ain't good on the head," Michael commented. "She is a bombshell, but man, I'm telling you she is a crazy bitch…"
Shana ignored the comment and turned to look at Jordan, who did the same. "So, this is it," the red-haired witch said. "I'm still hurt because you changed sides, but… I guess I should have expected otherwise from a mercenary. Despite that, thank you; I let my guard down for a second and that woman almost killed me."
"When you contacted me the past year, I couldn't have imagined all the doors your search would open for me," Jordan told her. "This was an act to express how grateful I am to you. But now, we are on opposite sides, Shana; next time we meet, we will be trying to kill each other."
That being said, the tall man left the room with a confident stride, not looking back for a second. "Well, this day had to come," Michael sighed. "You truly were our best benefactor, Shana. Thank you for all the laughs and good moments you gave most of us, when you didn't let Valkyrie take control, of course; it was the first time that a powerful, rich witch treated us as persons, instead of looking down on us as if we were the worst scum to ever walk this planet."
With that, the former Master found herself completely alone in the room.
She had been outplayed once again.
Blackdusk wasn't the best place to wander around, but hell if she cared right now; not when she had been stripped of her second most powerful ally; not when someone she trusted had betrayed her.
There were some real shops on the tenth floor, but the witch didn't even want to know what their products were; so, she kept walking and walking, her mind trying to come up with a new plan for the future. Until a little boy stumbled in front of her; his clothes were old and ragged, and his face was stained with filth and dry tears. "I told you what would happen if you tried to escape once again, didn't I?" A thick man said. "First time it was light punishment, but for the second it would be one of your hands."
The boy raised his head to look at Shana, who had covered herself with the man's illusion once again. "Please, help me!" He cried.
"You better look the other way," another man, a lankier one, warned. "His dad owes us a lot of money, so we took him as a reminder. I've never seen you here, but if you are allowed on the tenth floor, you must know how things work in this place."
As if I would let you torture a child… oh, you found me in the best moment… Shana tried to analyse the flow of their magic, but they didn't seem to know how to manipulate it. You are that pathetic, eh? Well, I guess this will end sooner than I thought.
She was ready to act, but something came flying from her back; a metallic projectile, as her allomancy told her, and it didn't stop until it hit the fatter man's eye. "Yo, since when scum like you are allowed to get this far in Blackdusk," a new voice said, as the man fell to his knees in pain.
I would recognise that voice anywhere… Shana turned around to confirm her suspicion; there he was, the grumpy, but lethal, squad leader from the Wings of Liberty; Levitt, with his classical, long undercut, was also here.
"You will pay for that, bastard!" The kneeling man blurted out, wand ready on his hand.
"Stop it, Pawat!" The lankier man exclaimed. "That man right there is Levitt! He managed to buy his freedom in The Tartarus when he was barely an adult!"
That made the other man panic, and he dropped the wand, his other hand trying to cover his eye hemorrhage. "We are so sorry to anger you, sir," he apologised. "Please, tell us what we could do to solve this misunderstanding."
"You two really are even less than a piece of shit," Levitt spat, as he tossed them a bag full of metal things. "Here, take this, but you better listen to what I am about to say, was I clear enough?"
"As water, sir!"
"You two are gonna bring this boy back to his family, without any scratch. I gave you enough money to shut your boss up, whoever he turns out to be. Now, if this boy is hurt in any way, and believe me that I will know if that happens, you and your whole family will all die, did you understand?"
"Yes, sir! Thank you for being so merciful!" They both cried, before picking up the boy to walk away.
"Hey, Levitt!" One of the mafia guards shouted from above. "Do we need to meddle in?"
"Don't worry about it, Sukij! Levitt answered. "Some stupid misunderstanding!"
After appeasing the guard, the mercenary finally looked at Shana. "Who the fuck are you?" He asked. "This is the first time I see your face around; you better not be from the same gang as those crybabies."
The witch didn't know why, but she decided to drop her cover in front of the man. "It has been some time, eh, Levitt?" She tried to smile at him, as she always did to anger him.
"You've seen better days," he just said, looking at her new scar. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I know everything; about Jordan changing sides; about you new allies… In fact, I happened to stumble into a meeting of theirs, there was a pretty nasty woman there, not gonna lie."
"So, you met the bitchiest bitch on the whole planet, eh?"
"You don't sound very fond of your new allies."
"Can I be honest with you?" Levitt sighed.
Wow, why is he so nice today? Shana nodded at him, so the man resumed talking. "I've been working as a mercenary for almost nine years, and I've seen plenty of things during that time. All our jobs sucked as much as the previous one; fighting for some petty lord who wanted lands or money; assassinating someone who angered the wrong person; hunting magical creatures for some freak… I knew they were horrible people, the same as the ones I hated during my childhood, but there I was, working for them without saying a word…"
"Then you contracted us, so we could work for you in some dangerous search," he went on. "At first, I was furious; how did you dare to put the lives of my comrades in so much danger, even ordering us to go against Jin the Stranger. But then, at Shawn's manor, you talked about the real reason behind your search for the first time, and I understood it; you were trying to stop some very disgusting people from doing something that could turn out to be very horrible. The mission in Croatia, it was the first time I really felt like fighting for a good cause, and hell if it felt nice. I'm not a good person, not even close; but now, I find myself fighting on the same side as the men I hate once again; I felt happy for a few weeks after a long time, just to have it stripped off from me in no time…"
"I… I don't know what to say, to be honest," Shana told him, with a soft voice. "I think this is the first time we talk to each other without trying to rip the other's throat; and like you said, this will mean shit, because we will be fighting on different sides the next time we meet."
"So, I guess you already know Jordan didn't want to kill you; at least, not without you knowing nothing about our change of sides."
"Yeah."
"We all were pretty mad at him because of his decision, you know? Almost everyone who had worked with you wanted him to renew the contract; even if that meant going against the likes of Jin and the Order of Merlin."
"Why do you all follow that man so fervently? It isn't only you; Michael, Kouji, other squad leaders and common soldiers... , why?"
"Because Jordan gave us hope when we thought it was all over," Levitt sighed, not looking at her face. "That man took us out of our personal hells, and lit the way for each one of us and for our loved ones."
I see…, there isn't another way, then; I'll have to fight against all of them. The two of them stood there, in the middle of Blackdusk, under the light of the many and different magical crystals. "You should go back to America with Elend Shawn," Levitt sighed. "You can say many things about pureblood lords, but that man is different, at least, in terms of being able to fight for his own case. I hope we won't ever meet again, Shana, because if that happens, it would be on the battlefield; and I will have to kill you."
Yeah, you suck at goodbyes, but thanks for the warning, I guess… Shana observed the retreating man; her relationship with the soldier had been far from being good, but even a grumpy idiot like Levitt couldn't avoid getting attached to battle comrades, especially, after multiple missions in the span of one year.
This wasn't just a goodbye between them. It was proof they were on different sides now.
Ronald Weasley POV
Wednesday 24th June, 1991 (The Burrow, England) - Early morning
"Second year spells are easier than I expected," Ron commented. "Unfortunately, I can't really practise the Disarming Charm, the one I was looking forward to the most; but, for once in their lives, those gnomes turned out to be pretty useful to practise the Freezing one."
Just as he did at Hogwarts, the redhead got up early to practise some magic in the little forest near their house; due to the inactivity, he had lost the touch a bit, that's why he decided to start by practising those spells and charms he had already mastered; such as the Severing Charm and the Fire-making spell.
In terms of difficulty, the second years spells weren't a big thing, but they started to have a few singularities; for example, the Disarming Charm was pretty easy to perform, but the tough part about it was to direct it correctly, especially when you wanted to hit the wand arm of a wizard in movement.
"Your mind and body got used to magic thanks to all the training and practise you did the last year," Gerd said. "That is called magical-muscle memory. But, you still have a long way to go; in my opinion, you are focusing too much on rather simple spells and charms. I really think you should start to consider using other branches of magic, like transfiguration, to get better as a wizard."
"Didn't you tell me once that it was always better to become a master of one thing, instead of being very good at multiple things?"
"Well, yeah, and I still think that; but, that was meant for wizards with enough magical mastery. It is better to be a ten in something, as long as your other skills were to be, at least, a seven or a six; you can't be a ten in the field of charms, curses and spells, but a complete idiot in everything else."
"That makes sense. Even if I would never admit it in front of him, I have Daniel as the representation of what a good wizard should look like."
"Daniel as the fifth year prefect who knocked you out by using the transmutation of his own magical aura?"
"Yep, the one and only," Ron nodded. "But it's not only that. From what I know, he is one of the top students in his year, and he is the same age as my brother, so you can imagine what kind of freak he is; he also knew some notions about healing magic, because he healed my broken lip without even using his wand; but, what I really admire about him, is the fact that despite being a muggleborn, he managed to be respected by almost everyone in Slytherin, even Professor Snape treats him differently."
"You see, I am right."
"Yeah, yeah, you are always right, Gerd. One thing that has always stand out to me from the way you talk about magic is the fact that you…, I don't know how to explain it…, it sounds like magic itself is much easier from what most of the people think, and at the same time, much more complicated; you know what I mean?"
"Kind of," she answered. "Me and my people considered magic like some kind of supreme force in the form of energy, and it is everywhere; on us, in the nature, on other magical creatures, on the Elements; magic is manifested in many ways and forms, but for us wizards, it revolves around our magical cores. Now, the easiest way to manipulate that energy is by using those charms, spells, curses, and even ideas which have already been created. That being said, a true wizard should never stop there; he should know how to feel and manipulate both his magic, and the one around him; he should have an open mind and experiment with it as much as he can; but most importantly, he should respect and acknowledge it."
"Merlin, you just gave me a headache," Ron groaned, massaging his temples. "But that is what I was talking about, you make it sound like the only thing you need to know is how to understand magic itself, as if that wasn't difficult enough. Well, changing the subject, do you think I am ready to start training my magic the way you talk about it? The way it would allow me to do what Daniel does? I mean, I would understand if you thought I wasn't ready yet, bu-"
"Yeah, we can start today."
"What? Did you really just say that?"
"Yeah," Gerd smiled. "It is true that I told you long ago that your body would explode if you were to try the kind of magic I used to do when I was alive; but, just like everyone else, you need to start with the basics; and for that, the first step is feeling your magic and magical core; after that, we will start with some notions about feeling the magic and its fluctuations; how to manipulate and transmutate it; and many more incredible things. But don't get so excited, this is gonna be a loooong way, although I know you don't have so much faith in yourself, I trust in you and your determination."
"Good; now, can you translate it into English, please?"
The Essentia analysed him as she glided around the redhead, muttering words to herself. "Yeah, let's start with that," Gerd said, raising her voice so Ron could hear her. "I'm gonna need you to relax, so you better sit somewhere and start breathing slowlier; oh, that spot must be comfy. Back to the point, are you trying to relax?"
"Maybe if someone stopped taking every second…"
"Oh, sorry, you are right."
Gerd remained in silence for an entire minute, until Ron let her know he was ready to go. "As you are right now, the most important thing is to focus all your senses in trying to feel your magical core," she explained. "You must be asking, how the hell can I do that? Well, although it is not the same, it is quite similar to the feeling when you cast a spell; I'm sure you must have felt that kind of spark the moment you order your magic to act; do you get what I mean?"
"Yeah, that always happens whenever I cast something," Ron whispered, trying to keep his concentration. "But right now, I can't exactly feel it."
"If that is the case…, oh, I know what we can do. Your wand is right in front of your left hand, grab it. Good, now, I want you to cast anything; but don't overdo it, I don't want you to lose your concentration."
The first thing that came to the redhead's mind was the Freezing Spell, so he casted it with his wand pointing to the grass. "Good job!" Gerd encouraged him. "You even managed to control the force of the spell while keeping your focus. Now, did you feel the spark I talked to you about?"
"Yeah, but… it is gone once again."
"Well, that happens; don't give up, keep trying!"
That was something Ron was very good at, but after more than ten minutes, he surrendered. "It is bloody impossible," he lamented, ruffling his hair with rage. "I only feel that spark whenever I cast a spell, but it disappears as fast as it comes."
"Don't worry, it is normal to not get results in the first try," Gerd comforted him. "Look on the bright side, you really surprised me with the way you controlled the Freezing Spell without losing your focus; I assure you that wasn't something you could do long ago."
"Hurray for me!" Ron grunted. "I'm sure you were able to get it done on the first try, right?"
"You see, as talented as I am for other magical fields, it took me one entire year just to be able to control my aura," Gerd answered. "This is not a very complex technique to learn, but as it happens with everything, it just comes easier for some people; for example, one of my two teachers was a master of this at the age of fifteen, when the other one, who was considered a superior wizard, had trouble to understand even the basics of feeling and transmuting one's magic."
"Really?"
"Yep, if there is one thing I admire you for, it is the way you never give up; you just keep moving forward, getting past all the shit life throws at you. I'm sure you'll get it one day, we just need to keep practising and practising; like we always do."
I've always hated losing, but now, there is too much at stake for me to give up, the redhead thought, as he got up from the floor.
"Ron!" Ginny exclaimed, from the other side of the trees. "I don't know what you are doing, but we are about to eat! You better hurry if you don't want mom to nag you!"
That was the signal for the training to end; that, and the fact his stomach roared. I won't give up! Tomorrow, I will continue with Gerd's teachings; day after day, I will get better; and when Hogwarts starts once again, I will show that freak of Nott how much I improved during the summer!
