Chapter 113: Rituals and a Decision
"Bella, come in..."
My mother obeyed me, stepping into the ritual circle. It activated almost at once, and my senses for detecting curses all heightened. What I saw made me frown.
"What kind of curse is it?"
"I don't know..."
I shook my head.
"...there are elements of rotting flesh, boiling blood, slow death..."
In total, I identified ten complex curses, fragments of which I had detected in the curse on Bella.
"And the worst part is that we can't take the simple route..."
"Simple?"
Bella asked with faint mockery.
"Well... I had hoped we could simply cut off your arm a bit higher up, and that would be it. The curse would be removed, but now..."
I thoughtfully moved my wand through the air, canceling several information displays and enlarging others.
"...now I can see that it's a stupid idea. It would help, of course, but only for a couple of days. They would have time to graft on a hand, and then the curse would start spreading through your whole body."
"I told you..."
I looked questioningly first at Bella, then at Cissy, who had gone pale.
"Will someone explain to me what's going on?"
"I... I suggested just cutting off the arm and grafting on a new one... But Bella stopped me. She said the Lord simply wouldn't have ignored such an easy solution to the problem."
"Yeah..."
I shook my head.
"...good thing you didn't insist and called me instead. I understand your desire to solve everything quickly and simply, but that won't work here."
I continued examining each block of the spell until I found a way out.
"I need a criminal... a real criminal. We'll be transferring the curse."
"Transferring it?"
"Yes. I noticed that the curse can sort of move through the body. It's like an octopus with a lot of legs clinging to it, except this octopus doesn't have just one mouth, but dozens on every leg. So we'll carefully detach one leg and immediately transfer it to another body."
"And the calves?"
"We'll sacrifice the calves to raise the energy levels in the hall, so the curse doesn't notice it's being transplanted onto another body."
"All right, I can do that quickly... a criminal without a hand will do, yes?"
"One of the ones whose hand you already tried to graft onto Bella? That will do."
"Then wait here. I'll bring one soon. By the way, the calves are in the trunk, as usual..."
Cissy nodded toward the trunk standing forlornly by the entrance, though the calves were still a long way off.
"Shoo..."
I gestured for Bella to step away from the ritual design, then began drawing another, even more complex pattern. The realization that I wouldn't be getting any sleep came with unprecedented clarity, and I remembered that I hadn't warned my girls about the matter that had come up.
"Mum Cissy, can you send a Patronus to Fleur and Penny so they won't worry?"
"I can..."
Bella was already about to take out her wand, but her sister immediately slapped her good hand.
"Draco isn't asking you not to do it for no reason. So don't you dare cast."
"Well..."
I shrugged.
"...actually, there aren't any special reasons why I asked you specifically to do it. I'm just being cautious, and I don't want to allow even the slightest chance of failure."
"And how exactly can my magic affect that chance?"
Bella said in a snide voice.
"I don't know..."
I shot her a gloomy look.
"...but I don't want to risk it."
After that, no one argued with me anymore...
It was already toward morning when I finished drawing the ritual design, and I made Bella enter it while I laid down the unconscious criminal.
"All right... here we go..."
With those words, I killed the first calf, then the second and the third, and only after that did I carefully hook one of the curse's legs, or tentacles, and slowly transfer it onto the body of its new victim. Then came the second leg, then the third...
This curse wasn't sentient. Such things simply don't occur in nature. But it did have a certain behavioral pattern. It was designed to prevent its removal, but fortunately for me, I worked slowly and surely, so the curse didn't have the slightest chance of remaining on my mother...
"What are we going to do with her?"
When the curse had been fully transferred, almost a day later, Bella asked.
"Kill her. Of course, I would have kept her and tried to send the curse back to its creator, but there's too great a chance that after all these manipulations, it would return to you or jump to me. So kill her and burn the corpse. And it's time for me to go to Hogwarts..."
I glanced at Cissy, who hadn't slept the entire time either.
"Don't rush with the hand. Let me come back in a week and check her again, just to make sure I really removed everything, and only after that..."
Mother nodded, and I staggered off to the room with the fireplace and traveled from there to Dumbledore's office.
"Draco, how did it go?"
The Headmaster looked at me with interest.
"Well..."
I yawned, already imagining how I would end up in bed that evening.
"...I removed the curse, but we'd better check everything again in a week. After that, if everything looks good, the hand can be grafted."
"Draco, what if I know several people who also need curses removed?"
"Let's do this. Either arrange for me to use a ritual hall at Hogwarts, or allow me to go home. The first option is better, though. Bringing outsiders home..."
I shook my head.
"All right, then Hogwarts. And the price?"
"I'll only tell you after diagnostics."
I yawned again.
"All I can say is that the diagnostics alone will cost between one hundred and one thousand gold. It all depends on the complexity of the curse and the ingredients I need to use for the analysis. And yes, I won't be able to give any guarantees about successfully removing the curse until after the diagnostics."
I'll pass your words along to them. Now go. Your first lesson will begin soon...
Nodding, I hurried to my office.
"Lippy..."
"Lippy is here, young professor!"
A house-elf appeared beside me, her ears quivering slightly.
"Coffee, please. Very strong and very sweet, along with some sandwiches and sweets. I need to somehow get through this day."
"It will be done, Master Professor!"
The house-elf disappeared and reappeared right before the bell.
"Good..."
I practically melted into my chair after tossing the first sandwich into my mouth and washing it down with several large gulps of coffee.
"All right..."
I glanced at the register.
"In the last lesson, we practiced the combination that lets you shield yourself from an opponent and send a short lightning bolt at them, correct?"
"Yes!"
"Excellent. Today, we're supposed to have an intermediate exam, which will show how well you've mastered ordinary spells and charms outside the combat section. So..."
A wave of my wand, and the exam tickets hovered in the air.
Another wave, and they mixed at great speed, then flew to the first desk and hovered in front of the student, who hesitantly drew one.
"Well?"
I looked at the student closely.
"Do you need time to prepare, or are you ready to answer right now?"
"I need time."
She barely bit her lip, after which the tickets flew to the next student, then another, and another.
Out of the whole class, only three were ready to answer their questions immediately, and after they did, I let them go wherever they liked. That drew a lot of envious looks. As for me, sipping coffee and eating sandwiches and sweets, I began calling students up. Naturally, I started with those who had received their tickets first.
No one failed the exam. Everyone answered the questions on their tickets, and that made me proud of myself and of the teaching method I had chosen...
I didn't notice when evening came until I was already lying in bed.
"Draco, how are you?"
Penny and Fleur lay down beside me.
"Fine... sleepy... all these questions..."
When I opened my eyes, the wonderful smell of coffee was spreading through our room. I looked at my wristwatch and realized it was early morning. It was time for me to get up if I didn't want to miss morning training, but I was too lazy...
Stretching in bed, I shifted a little, made myself more comfortable, and sank into a light doze, until someone nudged me lightly on my shoulder.
"Draco, it's time to get up... it's already morning..."
"Mhm..."
I nodded, rolled onto my other side, pinning Penny underneath me, buried my nose in her hair, and dozed off again.
"No, just look at them!"
Fleur's indignant voice made me open my eyes again, but this time I had to rise a little and half-turn to see her.
"You wouldn't wake him either if you were in my place... at least not after he pinned you under him."
"Well..."
Trying to sound uncertain, Fleur did not even notice that she nodded in agreement with her friend.
"...but we still need to get up. We have morning training ahead of us, by the way."
It was said in a slightly mocking voice. Apparently, the thought that I would have to overcome my laziness amused her somewhat.
"I'm skipping today..."
I collapsed back into bed.
"...these few hours of sleep matter much more to me than the chance to swing an axe around."
"Draco?"
Penny loomed over me.
"Are you sick?"
Fleur appeared beside me.
"No... just very tired..."
"So what happened over there? Mother Cissy only said you had business and wouldn't be showing up. As for the details, she said you would tell us yourself when you got back to Hogwarts."
"Mother Bella had her arm cut off and cursed so badly that they couldn't graft a replacement arm."
"What?! But she..."
"It was the Lord."
Penny flinched, and Fleur simply frowned. They both understood exactly who I meant, so no explanation was needed.
"And? Were you able to help?"
"Yes..."
I nodded.
"...I transferred the curse onto a criminal, but in a week we'll need to examine Bella again to make sure there are no curses left and that the hand can be grafted."
"I see..."
"So he's back?"
Penny and Fleur said it almost at the same time.
"Not yet. He's still flying around as a spirit. As I understand it, he possessed Gregory Goyle, and Bella simply wasn't expecting that, so she couldn't defend herself. But considering how openly he revealed himself, I don't think there's much time left before his return. It's entirely possible that without this operation to storm the Crabbe and Goyle manors, he would have returned very soon. As it is, I'd give it no more than three years..."
"He'll return in three years, then?"
Penny wasn't very happy to hear that.
"If we don't find all his Horcruxes, then yes. And we still don't have a way to find them. No, we found where another one might be, but whether it's the last..."
I shook my head.
"...and the protection there is such that it would be easier to burn the whole thing to hell with Fiendfyre."
"Damn it, and there's also this Convergence. At least that giant portal closed..."
Fleur weakly struck the doorframe.
"Well, it closed, yes, but how many Grimm are wandering the area now? They didn't kill them all this time, so the world has clearly become much more dangerous."
"Yes..."
I did have to get up after all. The unpleasant topics made me give up on sleeping in, while the smell of coffee and several sandwiches put me in a slightly more benevolent mood.
"All right, then. Do what you want, but today, I'm being lazy..."
I walked to the shelf, picked up a book, and lost myself in reading. The book was about charms, so you couldn't say I was wasting time, but I definitely wasn't going to do any training today.
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