Chapter 27
Chapter 26
“I see, however, that does not explain how you got cursed to stay in your frame,” Snape said from where he was seated. The giant sunflower swayed with Mordecai on it but it seemed he didn’t care. His attention was on both Severus and Harry, eagerly waiting for them to ask that.
“Yes, funny story on that,” Mordecai said. “I got cursed because I was talking too much. Look, I will explain in detail,” He added upon seeing Severus’s brow lift and Harry frown.
After putting an end to the Civil War council, my compatriots and I were welcomed with open arms by the masses. Especially once we declared that we would lower the taxes. Aurelius had already raised the taxes to fund his lavish and debauched lifestyle. After he was deposed the Civil War council raised the taxes even more with the excuse of using the funds to rebuild. Not much rebuilding occurred and the populace suffered that’s why there wasn’t much displeasure with the deposition of the Council. The surrounding lands were quickly unified under Prince rule and it stayed that way for almost five centuries. By then of course I had already passed but my painting hung at the entryway of the new Prince Castle. I saw much of history unfold all those centuries from my spot.
“Prince Castle?” Snape frowned. “That estate was never mentioned by Gringotts,”
“Well it sort of was,” Mordecai answered. “This Chateau is built on the remnants of the castle.”
“I guess I need to add some more detail,” Mordecai realized. “So Caerleon’s main castle, what most now term Camelot… never liked that name…, was burned to the ground in the uprising after Guinevere’s death. When the Civil War council took over they used one of the smaller castles in Caerleon, belonging to one of the Noble families that supported them, as their base of operations. I ordered the Main castle rebuilt on the ruins of the old one after disposing of those wretched scum. That was then named Prince Castle.
The castle stood fast for nearly five centuries until the Norman invasion. The family and their knights protected the region to the death, however the castle fell when Norman invaders finally managed to breach the walls a month before a truce was announced. The Prince family still held a lot of influence in the area and continued to resist the Normans well after the castle fell to ruin. But that was more pockets of rebellion and ambush attacks on convoys. A month was not enough for the Normans to establish their influence in the region and with the truce they thought it best to gain power through a marriage pact. That was how the Lord Prince at the time married the daughter of a high-ranking Norman invader. Not much of the Prince Castle survived, luckily my painting suffered minimal damage and could be restored. I cannot say the same for some of my descendants.
The chateau was built on the site after the Glyndŵr Rising in the 15th century but before that, the family lived on a smaller estate not so far away. While still a prominent influence in the area there was some financial struggle. What no one suspected at the time, though they should have, was that the Norman family that married into ours tried to assert more influence. First subtly but it gradually became more apparent. Traditions were changed, and family rituals were forgotten. They were quite indigent when they could not change the Charter.
During those years I was very vocally against them. Those Normans never liked it when the current Lords called on me for advice so they chose to silence me. I was cursed to be locked in my frame and forgotten. Unable to speak of this family’s illustrious past. Only the wand that I once wielded could break thy curse. I slowly had to watch my descendants’ portraits be added to the hall, each getting more prideful and arrogant as decades went by. Where this family once valued knowledge as power now stood Lords that valued simple Dualing and magical power over all else. Before the Normans, our family thrived as Curse breakers, Alchemists, and Spellweavers. Now we’ve been reduced to Dualing masters. Mordecai spat those words as if it were a personal affront to him.
“I have a question that has been bothering me,” Snape stated while crossing his arms. Mordecai stared back, bending his head slightly to the right in curiosity. “If this… wand… was mentioned in the Charter then why and when was it sealed away in Gringotts and the key presumably lost? All the Goblins knew was that the vault in question belonged to your older brother.
“It was a decision of my own making on my deathbed,” Mordecai explained. “There is a popular saying ‘The wand chooses the wizard’, though that is an oversimplification. The full saying goes Thyrsus eligit, Magum putant ad gloriam adducendam. That is loosely translated to ‘The wand chooses the Wizard they believe in bringing them glory’,”
“That a wand needed to be a staff or a stick was only perpetuated after Merlin acquired his hemlock staff. Before that wizard-folk channeled their magic through stones and even plants. I once encountered a minority group while traveling with Sir Ambrosius that clung to the old ways. One lad, who would later become a great friend to me, could channel his magic through reed grass only. It was just the medium that worked for him. Nowadays he would have been classified as a Squib, mainly because a wand never accepted him.”
“So you’re saying that Squibs have magic, a wand just doesn’t work for them to bring out their potential?” Harry questioned, flabbergasted. He always thought Squibs were the product of Pureblood inbreeding though this school of thought made him question if that was really the case.”
“Correct, if the correct medium is found for a wizard they could unleash their full potential. However, as wands became more mainstream that school of thought was considered outdated and soon forgotten to history. This rise in the use of wands was mostly supported by the Ollivander family. Even in my time, they were a prominent clan.”
“Hold up, what?”
“Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C., did you think that that slogan was just a marketing strategy?” Severus questioned. “Garrick, at one point on a drunken night, mentioned some of his family history to me. It was quite clear that he felt embarrassed by his descendants, though he would not explain why,”
“And rightly so, it was quite the scandal during my time,” Mordecai stated matter-of-factly which caught the duo off guard. “The Ollivander clan was part of a Gaulish Parisii tribe that settled in Britton around 300 B.C. near what is now Yorkshire. With them, they brought the initial concept of wands for wizarding folk. Though at the time it hadn’t caught on as it was of an unpopular opinion. The family worked mostly as object empaths to bind the Wizard or Witch with the medium that suited them best. They only began pushing their wand agenda more after Sir Ambrosius had them craft his Hemlock staff. Sir Ambrosius had never needed a medium to channel his magic as he was that powerful though when he touched a Hemlock branch he found that his magic flowed more freely and thus brought it to the Ollivanders for examination.”
“The Ollivanders crafted his staff and as he became more renowned through history the concept of using wands caught on,” Snape stated.
“Correct, and the scandal I spoke of happened right at the height of the Ollivander clan’s campaign to popularize wands and boost their business. When the heir to the Ollivanders was born he was not compatible with any wand combination the clan’s craftsmen created. The Lord and lady at the time were quite obviously devastated that their child had no access to magic. Obviously, he could never inherit the family business then so the couple tried for another child. The younger brother was conceived and showed great aptitude for magic as the child bonded to a wand at the mere age of six. The elder brother was ignored afterward and kept hidden from the growing wizarding population at the time as if he was a shameful piece of trash. The story goes that one day the elder brother snuck out of the Clan’s compound and came across a young lady by the street selling flowers. Wanting to be kind, he bought a white rose. It is said that at that moment he felt a surge of magic running through him. Miraculously he performed a simple lumos spell right there and then and he succeeded. Passersby who had recognized him as the Olliveander’s shameful son were in shock and soon rumors spread through the area. The young man rushed back to his family to show them that he indeed could do magic, however, he was only met with more scorn. No one in his family could accept that their wands never worked for them but a simple flower had. In the end, he passed away. Whether it was due to his own hand or the hand of his relatives, trying to sweep everything under the rug was always under speculation.”
“But I have digressed, going back to your question about my father’s wand,” Mordecai muttered. “In my younger years as I wrote the Family Charter, I had foolishly put the clause of gaining ownership of my wand as the automatic right to claim the Lordship. My father’s wand, powerful as it may be and choosing me over my older brother, had inflated my ego at the time, I admit rather embarrassingly. It was only in later years that I realized what internal strive that clause could bring to the family that boasted many talented heirs. I had no idea where this wand actually came from. Father always boasted that it was a gift from Lady Magic and that myth persisted. I had always suspected that it might have been Goblin made, commissioned by a fine craftsman as one of the rewards for his actions in saving the Goblin Princess. But the criteria for that wand selecting a wielder was foreign to me. The fact that I had no clue about the selection method of my wand came alight when my two sons were fighting. My elder son imperiously stated that his younger brother should heed his commands as he was more magically powerful and would inherit my wand. My youngest was more academically gifted and I had felt that he would make a much better Lord than my firstborn who slashed first and thought later. I did not wish to take the risk as my subjects would suffer so I had my wife seal my wand in the Goblin vault and melt down the key. Of course, my sons were livid though my will had stated detailed selection criteria for who was to be the next Lord.”