Unyielding
She opens her eyes groggily, wondering what happened and where she was. She… had been walking towards the last debate club meeting of the year with Susan and Hermione, but… everything goes black after that. She barely has time to get that far before an all to familiar voice pipes up, “Finally awake are you? You've kept us waiting. I guess I overpowered your stunner a little too much.”
She lifts her head, spotting Quirrell standing over her. She eyes him, “I thought that stutter of yours was a little inconsistent.”
He smiles mockingly, “If you say so.” He gestures to his right, her left, and she flicks her gaze over to find the Mirror of Erised, “Do you know what this is?”
She blinks lazily at him, “Mirror of Erised. Shows what you desire. I suppose you know of and are after the Philosopher's Stone hidden inside it?”
He pauses as a surprise flickers over his face, but he quickly gathers himself, “Indeed. I'm surprised you are aware of what's hidden within though.”
She snorts, “Dumbledore likes to play games.” She looks around, “Given this doesn't look like an abandoned classroom, I guess he moved it, but he actually had it out in the open in one when I came back from the Yule holiday break.” His face blanks out, and she gives her own mocking smile, “It's enchantments are based on desire, so.” She shrugs even as she continues to smile, “I just had to focus on my desire to know what game he thought he was playing now. The mirror may not be exactly intelligent, but it does know what's going on around it and remembers. It was more than capable of telling me the Philosopher's Stone was inside.”
He continues to blankly stare at her for a moment, before he takes a deep breath, “Indeed.” He says it flatly before he shakes himself, “The enchantments are based on desire as you said, so how the Philosopher's Stone is hidden must be as well. You will retrieve it for me.”
She barks a laugh, “Like hell I will!” She obviously knows the Philosopher's Stone isn't inside it anymore, but she's not about to tell him that, “If you can't get it, then why on earth would I get it foryou? It seems to me like it's safe where it is.”
Quirrell snarls in anger, “You will get it for Lord Voldemort.”
She blinks rapidly at him, “Voldemort? What's he got to do with this?”
Quirrell pauses, then starts unwrapping his turban. When it's off, he turns around, showing that there's a face sticking out of the back of his head. It has a very squashed nose and red eyes, and its voice is a hiss, “I have everything to do with this.”
She tilts her head, barely stopping herself from visibly reacting, “Huh. I was under the impression you kicked the bucket Voldemort.”
Voldemort sneers at her, “You thought wrong. Lord Voldemort is immortal. Now. You will retrieve the Philosopher's Stone for me, or,” One of Quirrell's hands gestures off to the side, drawing her attention to Susan and Hermione, tied up and gagged and watching with wide eyes, “I will kill one of your little friends. And if you still don't comply, I'll kill another. Then I'll leave you tied up here as I go up to the castle and grab some more of your friends.”
He turns to eye the other two thoughtfully, and mindful of the fact Quirrell was facing the mirror which would show him her reflection, since even if he's not watching her it'd undoubtedly draw his attention if she moved too quickly, she moves slowly as he continues, “I won't make it quick either. I'll make it nice and slow. Some crucio, then maybe I'll start steadily removing body parts. And I won't just go immediately for the limbs, oh no, there's only four of them after all. I'll go for the fingers and toes first, there's twenty of them on each of your little friends even before you start moving up joint by joint. What do you think, hm?” He starts to turn back to her, “Still don't want to get-”
He cuts off with a choke of pain as she buries the kris dagger Hei got her for her Yule present into Quirrell's heart. She tilts her head as she meets his astonished eyes, “You really are an idiot. What sort of moron doesn't check for weapons and doesn't tie someone up in this situation?”
He chokes again as she rips the dagger out through his side and Quirrell stumbles, giving her a disbelieving look over his shoulder, “You are a child.”
She snorts, “One that grew up until the age of seven with abusive relatives. I have no qualms about stabbing someone who threatens me and my friends. Which not only firmly makes this self defense, but given one of those two,” She nods over at Susan and Hermione who's eyes had filled with disbelief, “is the niece of the Head of the DMLE, and you were threatening to torture her to death?” She shrugs lightly, “I don't think I'll be getting into trouble for this.”
Quirrell collapses on his face, and Voldemort glares at her from the back of his head. Then the skin of his face starts to burn as a smokey shadow starts to rise. It detaches fully from Quirrell, then rushes at her, but she hops to the side out of its way as it tears through the air, howling in rage. It doesn't turn back to them, just disappears through the ceiling.
She shakes her head in slight disbelief before turning to her friends and starts over towards them, “Hold on a minute and I'll get you free. Though I guess we probably missed the last debate club of the year, huh?”
Susan laughs in disbelief through her gag, then once it's off dryly comments, “Unfortunately yes, though I think we have bigger problems to worry about. Especially if V- Voldemort is still alive.”
She shrugs, “Didn't seem like much to me. More of a little bitch than anything to be honest.”
Susan shakes her head in disbelief as Calanthe continues to free her friends. More importantly, how was she going to explain this to Hei? She'd let her watchful attention waver, lulled into a sense of security by Hogwarts, and it could've easily led to the torturous death of her friends, and presumably herself regardless of whether she retrieved the Philosopher's Stone or not.
He was going to be so upset with her.
She stretches as she pushes away from her desk. The year had ended fairly well, all things considered. Dumbledore had called her up, making it clear that while he understood the circumstances, he was not happy with her ‘murdering Quirrell in cold blood without hesitation’ as he put it, and he seemed even less happy that his attempts at guilt tactics did nothing to her.
Far more importantly in her opinion, much as she'd suspected, Hei had a full terror driven freak out at her letting her observation slip, and it had been weird as all hell, reading a gentle yet livid chastisement of letting her attention waver so much as to get ambushed, but even as she went back and forth with him trying to sooth his nerves, it had occurred to her that another possible explosion should also just be triggered since it would undoubtedly only get worse if she pushed it off.
Which is why she had written Moody, as well as included the pre-emptive arguments that she had already tipped off Amelia, but between his retirement and the fact even the all mighty Dumbledore wasn't saying or doing anything, as well as the fact that as things currently were, it would actually be detrimental to say anything, since that would tip his followers off that he wasn't as gone as everyone believed.
And that furthermore, while he may actually be a muggle just borrowing his sister's power, indoctrinated into it he may have been, but he was one of the best assassins in the world, and one who even before he had gotten access to his sister's power was already capable of taking on multiple people who had power at the same time. So if he continued the job, not only would he be crippling a powerful group that may interfere and make things worse if they can't finish off Voldemort before he came back and the war started back up, but he was also securing a powerful ally.
She'd welcomed him to tear into her to his heart's content at letting her ‘constant vigilance’ as he put it slip, but it wasn't just selfishness that had her damn near pleading with him to continue the job.
Which is where the letter that was currently taking her by surprise comes in. He had conceded her points and agreed to continue, though he did warn her that if Voldemort did come back before he was done, he would have to drop it, or at least suspend it. However, the surprising part was his response to her slip up.
He'd just briefly commented that she seemed to have learned her lesson well enough, and left it at that as he immediately launched into quickly explaining what the package he'd sent was.
Namely, he wasn't there to help her himself, but given she'd faced Voldemort again -the first being when she was a baby of course if it counts-, he was starting to suspect there may be something like a prophecy at play, so he'd sent her memories of things to help her learn, even if he couldn't be there to teach her himself.
There were some of him going over more obscure spells that should be within her capabilities, some of him lecturing past students on clever uses of common spells, and even some of mistakes he had made and forced him to learn some valuable lessons the hard way, to try to teach those same lessons to her without her or other people having to pay the price for not knowing better. He'd made sure to tell her to let him know when she was through then all, both so he could check how well she understood as well as to send her more later.
As she heads out to the kitchen to get lunch, her phone starts ringing. Pulling out of her pocket, the screen reveals its Hermione, so she answers it without hesitation, “Hey Hermione.”
Her friend sounds a bit troubled, “Hey Calanthe, so listen, I just got a letter from Ron asking if you were responding to mine, because you weren't responding to his letters.”
That draws her up short, “What? I haven't gotten any letters from Ron.” She tilts her head, “Actually, I didn't think much about it, but I haven't gotten any mail from… anyone from Hogwarts that I don't have a magical mailbox to, now that I think about it.” She shakes her head as her eyebrows furrow, “I've been so busy, I didn't even notice…”
Hermione hums, “I kinda figured there was something wrong, since it's not like you to ignore friends.”
She sighs, “I'll try to figure out what's going on, but in the meantime, could I trouble you to write to a list of the people I don't have a magical mailbox to, explain the situation and to send any mail to me to Nev so he can forward it through his mailbox to me? You'd undoubtedly have to use that owl mail service since you don't have your own, but I can forward you the money electronically.”
Hermione makes an agreeing noise, “Certainly. It's no big deal, just text me a list and I'll write them all short notes explaining.”
She smiles, “Thanks Hermione. You're the best.”
Her friend chuckles, then jokes back, “And don't you forget it!”
She laughs, “I'll text you that list in a little bit and talk to you later.”
Her friend hums, “Sounds good. Talk to you later.”
The call ends after that, and she shakes her head as she gets started on lunch. Remus was out right at the moment, so it's just her. She's taken quite by surprise when a House Elf pops in, and not one of the ones attached to any Potter or Black property. She blinks quickly at him, “Who are you? Can I help you?”
The House Elf stares at her anxiously, “Dobby ma'am. Dobby the House elf. And Miss Potter-Black must not return to Hogwarts this year!”
She gives him a weird look, “Excuse me? Of course I'm going back.”
The anxiety gets worse, “No, no, no. Calanthe Potter-Black must stay where she is safe. She is too great, too good, to lose. If Calanthe Potter-Black returns to Hogwarts, she will be in mortal danger.”
Her eyes sharpen, “What? What do you mean I'll be in mortal danger?”
Dobby shifts uncomfortably, “There is a plot, Calanthe Potter-Black. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year.” The House Elf suddenly starts trembling, “Dobby has known for months ma'am. Calanthe Potter-Black must not put herself in peril. She is too important!”
Her eyes harden, though she fights to keep her voice soft, “Dobby, if there is a plot to make dangerous things happen at Hogwarts, then that's all the more reason I need to return to Hogwarts. My friends and the rest of the students will be in danger, and I will not abandon them.”
Dobby suddenly looks conflicted, even as he murmurs, “Friends that don't even write to Calanthe Potter-Black?”
She feels confused for all of two seconds before it clicks, “Hang on, you're why I haven't been getting their letters?”
Dobby shifts, “Miss Calanthe Potter-Black must not be mad… Dobby be hearing her speak into that box to her friend. It be being why Dobby showing himself. Miss Calanthe Potter-Black be learning of the interference, so Dobby be needing to speak to her directly… But Dobby be telling the truth! Great danger be coming to Hogwarts this year! Calanthe Potter-Black is being too great to risk! She must not be returning!”
She tilts her head, “Whether man or woman, a great person does not abandon those in danger or need.” Dobby flinches slightly, “You keep saying I'm so great that I can't be subject to the danger, but as I said before, if danger is coming to Hogwarts this year, that is all the more reason I need to go.”
Dobby shuffles uncertainly, conflicted expression all the more pronounced. She shakes her head, “And even if I hadn't realized something was wrong with my mail and genuinely thought they had basically abandoned me, I'd still insist on going back. There are innocent people that would have nothing to do with any hypothetical problems between me and my friends who wouldn't deserve to suffer whatever danger it is without whatever help I can give just because of some assholes I thought were friends.”
Dobby's shoulders slump in defeat as he nods morosely, “Dobby understands Calanthe Potter-Black…”
She holds her hand out, “I assume you can't tell me what's going on, since I'm sure your family has you under order not to reveal their secrets,” Dobby nods, “but thank you for the warning anyway. Now, please give me my mail and stop interfering with my letters.”
Dobby hands the stack over glumly, then pops away without another word. She shakes her head in disbelief, then texts Hermione to forget about sending out notes as well as explaining what happened. Hermione, understandably, was rather concerned at the notion that danger would be descending on Hogwarts again this year.
She reassures her as best she can, pointing out that at least now they know to keep their eyes peeled, but the conversations quickly tapers off. As she puts her phone down next to the letters to finally get started on lunch, she eyes the stack of envelopes. It would be a little more complicated, but she should look into getting a mail pouch, like the one she has to Moody, but with multiple pouches like the potions in Hei's.
Theoretically, there was no reason each pouch couldn't be connected to a different mailbox or mail pouch, given that each of the potions in Hei's certainly have their own box on the other end to sort them. The only real difference was that instead of mailboxes all in the same place at the other end, its connections would be scattered all over. She could see about getting ones for her various friends each connected to her own so something like this couldn't happen again.
It was something to look into anyway.
She shakes her head as Ron rants, “Seriously! He's such a- an uppity egotistical ass! And the women there! Practically rabid! I don't know if I should be jealous that you were smart enough to avoid it, or upset with you for abandoning me to deal with that!”
She snorts, “I warned you that at minimum it'd be a madhouse when you asked me to meet up and I shot down that day. It's not my fault your mom insisted on going then to see that fraud.”
His expression becomes confused, “Fraud?”
She snorts as she looks up from Moody's latest update, letting her know that Hei had been moved to Japan, but signs were pointing to it being the base of the main higher-ups, so it'd take longer to get anything done, “Yes. I gave them a thorough read through even though they're garbage, and if you pay attention, there are things littered throughout like him supposedly being with a clan of vampires on the 12th November, 2005… but another book, he's looking into the Banshee problem hundreds of miles away at the same time. Or the fact he sometimes uses ‘solutions’ that just do not work or spells that don't exist. There are genuinely useful things sprinkled in… but they make up like, five percent of all the books, and the timeline of all of them put together constantly contradicts itself. Either they are entirely fictional and he's just lying about whether they're real or not, or he's stealing the claim to other people's accomplishments.”
Ron's jaw drops and Hermione, who had met up with them to grab some lunch and catch up before school starts since Calanthe and Hermione would initially be busy with the Student Council, lifts her head from the book she'd pulled out with a roll of her eyes when Ron had started complaining.
Her friend's fingers tighten on the edges of her book, which she notices as the motion unintentionally lifts it a bit higher is one of Lockhart's books, “What? What do you mean. That- How-”
Her friend looks distressed, so she folds Moody's letter and tucks it away with a sigh, “Hermione, there's a reason I always tell you not to take anything in a book at face value. Just because it's not marked as fiction, does not necessarily mean that the contents of a book are entirely factual or even remotely true. I have a whole paper I put together on both the contradictions, with book and page numbers attached, as well as everything else wrong with them. I can have Remus make a copy and send it to you later if you'd like.”
Hermione's brows furrow, “Please.”
Ron leans forward, “Could you send me one too?” She looks over in surprise and he shrugs, “Mom keeps going on about the tosser. Maybe if I show it to her and convince her to check the listed pages and stuff herself, she'll stop.”
She shrugs, “Sure. Hell, may even just copy them in bulk and send them out to all my friends as well as the members of the Student Council…”
Hermione purses her lips, “You do that. Most girls are too enamored with him to just listen to you at the drop of the hat, but if they can check the books themselves with your reference notes…”
Ron snorts, “Nah, I don't think so. No matter how enamored with Lockhart they are, against Calanthe Potter-Black, the Girl-Who-Lived… He doesn't hold a candle.”
She shakes her head, “Anyway, Ron isn't on the Student Council which was the whole reason we were meeting up before school, in case you forgot. So how about we talk about other things since we already knew that with the reputation the previous DADA managed to make for itself with the curse, it'd still take time before we could get a decent teacher in.”
Hermione nods and Ron perks up.
Susan all but lunges at her in the double Herbology class with Hufflepuff that kicks off the start of her first week, “For the love of magic Calanthe, please tell me you'll have time to tutor me for our Defense class again?! Like, Quirrell was bad enough last year, but now this fraud Lockhart?! Especially after that… eye opening letter you sent out. I mean, Merlin, but he makes Snape look like a good professor! And he's only still here and cleaned up his act because while Dumbledore insisted the power to fire professors remained with him, we threatened to dock his pay for every infraction, even if he ended up working for free after all was said and done!”
She grabs her shoulder, “Relax Susan. I was already planning to continue my tutoring lessons for all of you. Actually, if I have time, I was thinking about maybe expanding my tutoring a bit...”
She could absolutely have time for it with the Time Turner Flitwick had given her, though if she used it she'd have to be even more careful about her scheduling to be able to do everything she needed to without running into herself or tipping anyone else off. She shakes the thought off, “Actually, with the level I've been evaluated at by someone who actually knows the subject, I think I may even be able to tutor fourth years right now…”
Susan raises an eyebrow, “Really? I mean, I knew you were good at Defense and you admitted to getting a year ahead in theoretical stuff with everything else on your plate, but to be able to tutor two years above you…”
And it's only because she's familiar enough with Susan and there aren't really other Heirs around that her guard lowers enough for a blush to come through, “Well…”
Susan narrows her eyes at her, “You could tutor higher than that, couldn't you?”
Calanthe coughs, “Not really? I mean, if it was just the theoretical stuff, maybe, but I'm not confident I could tutor the practical aspect like I can up to fourth year.”
Susan gives her an exasperated look, “The fact that it's not even a dead no is telling enough. And honestly, with how bad our teachers are, the older students may very well be desperate enough that just helping them grasp the theoretical aspect so they have an easier time getting the practical aspect on their own would probably be more than enough for them.”
She sighs, “Look, as long as you clarify that I can't guarantee how much I can help, if you want to spread the word and the time slots I have for tutoring when I work them out and pass them on, then I guess you can. Just make it absolutely clear that I do not guarantee how helpful I can be in those higher levels.”
Susan nods, “Fair enough. Just get me the time slots you're setting aside for your tutoring lessons later and I'll see if anyone older is interested.”
She blinks rapidly in surprise at the boy, Tyler something, one of the people she tutors. They got along decently well, though she wouldn't say there was any substance to their relationship. She wouldn't even call him a friend. Tyler was either under a different impression or decided to go for it anyway apparently, since she'd been down in the common room thinking when he stumbled across her seat realizing he'd left something there.
It's far from the first time, but given she always gives them the same answer whether they ask in public or in private, if anything or just makes it more confusing that boys keep asking her to be their girlfriend. She shakes her head, “Sorry Tyler, but like I've told every other guy who's asked. I already know one of my two soulmates and the name of the other, and you aren't them, so I'm not interested.”
His shoulders slump, but he nods, “I- Yeah, alright. Goodnight then.”
She nods, “Goodnight.”
She watches him head off up the stairs, still baffled that guys keep asking. While she could see ones who asked in private not talking about her rejection, there had been more than a couple public ones that became rather hot gossip in the school. If nothing else, boys should know better from those at least.
With a shake of her head, she discards the confusing thought, going back to contemplating the changes that will be made to her tutoring lessons if the Mastery University really does start up next year. Sure, she's still got a year, but it's better to get something like that all worked out beforehand. Sometime later, she sits up as she hears a House elf pop into the common room, undoubtedly to clean up a little and not waiting until she's gone because she's staying up rather late, since it was Saturday and she was thinking. She straightens quickly as an idea strikes her, “Hey, I know you're working, but can I ask you a quick question?”
The elf turns to her in surprise, then nods, “Of course young Missy. What can I’s be helping you with?”
She smiles, “I figure you House elves know this place best, so I just wanted to know if you happened to know somewhere good a group of students could go to practice some spellwork that wouldn't be in anyone's way. Because I know there's unused classrooms, but those might start seeing use soon, and I'd prefer a more permanent spot.”
The House elf looks thoughtful for a moment, then snaps its fingers, “You could be trying the Come and Go Room!”
She blinks, “The Come and Go Room?”
The House elf nods quickly with a smile, “It be being a room up in the left corridor on the seventh floor, across from the tapestry of the wizard trying to teach trolls to dance. We elves can be popping in, but wizards can get to it if they be walking back and forth in front of the tapestry while thinking of what they be needing. The Come and Go Room be becoming what you asked for.”
She blinks quickly, then nods gratefully with a smile, “Thank you. That should be most useful.”
The elf nods happily, “Yous welcome! I’s being happy to help young missy!”
It goes back to work as she starts to think of what all she'll need to try with the Room. A thing as powerful as that, capable of becoming whatever you need? Obviously there would be limitations, but she'll need to test it thoroughly to find out what all it's capable of. It should definitely work for her Defense tutoring and not get in the way of the soon to start Mastery University, but she's certain it'll be useful for more than that.
A smile slowly grows on her lips as the possibilities run through her head. Most useful indeed.
She smiles in utter satisfaction. It wasn't a work of art like the masters of her family can produce, nor she knew, would it be her final sword after she mastered the craft to her satisfaction, but she'd finally made a good sword.
On one hand, one may think that with things like enchanted hammers that not only delivers the correct amount of force and even helps direct the blows based on intent, both to help it come out right as well as help teach those things, and magical fire that makes them easier to mold to begin with, it would be much, much quicker to start to be able to make good finished projects, and technically she had.
But she herself didn't consider herself to be capable of making anything good until she'd learned how to properly use the alchemical circles her family had created -since it wasn't an unknown field just not particularly popular since only Nicholas Flamel knew how to make its pinnacle work-, both to make the metals incredibly pure and to be able to blend the three metals it was made of together without losing the rune based enchantments she'd carved -and had been checked by Remus-, on each individual one without ruining them, as well as learning Runes enough to do it all. One enchantment to make it unbreakable, one for an enchantment for self repair, and one to bind it to her blood to allow her to summon it to herself since that aspect of Gryffindor's sword, while its summoning was different, was not goblin work.
All of the magic had been imbued into it rather permanently, even in such an event that something managed to overcome the unbreakable enchantment and the runes were temporarily damaged, the magic would easily linger long enough to repair them with its quenching into a Potter family secret mix of oils and Dragon’s blood, which she of course hasn't bothered with, given how expensive some of it was, until she'd decided she'd gotten good enough to give her first real sword a try.
With silver being one of the metals used, specifically carrying the unbreakable enchantment out of the three as the goblins had long since proved it was particularly good at that one even with its general high magical conductivity, as well as the fact it was the most prevalent of the three metals in the grip, which itself was wrapped in a mixture of primarily Elm and Fir wood, with some Redwood as well, just like her wand, the blending of woods being rather rare but somewhat needed for hers, and much like said wand, had Thestral tail hair embedded within the core of the grip, it was also incredibly good for her to cast magic through.
With a motion that's rather ingrained into her by now, she reaches out and summons a shield, Godric Gryffindor's own shield actually, given he'd tweaked the blood bound summoning on it to target the family in general rather than just him specifically. It had a lion engraved on the front, and subtly, as the family's ties to the symbolism actually predated the Peverell brothers, there were skeletal hands and scythes hidden in the design, amongst the mane mostly. There was a half circle missing from it, which did tend to confuse people, but it did have uses.
She tests out the blade a bit, facing off against the empty air for a few moments. Then she lets go of the shield, and it reads her intention and disappears back to its resting place.
She lifts the sword point up at the ceiling in front of her face and nods in satisfaction at the end result and its proof of her finally being skilled enough. Because for years now, she'd had every intention to get to a good enough level to make her very next project, after a test run of her skill level on her own sword, be making a new set of knives for Hei to replace his main pair.
She'd undoubtedly have to make a magical vow to him via writing not to use it to try to track him down, either directly or by having someone else do it, until he released her from that oath, but she'd have to get him to send her some blood to bind them to him, since unlike with things like the Foe Glass that was done during the weapons creation rather than after.
They should at minimum be helpful since it'd be basically impossible for him to lose them, only really happening if someone managed to destroy them entirely, but anything that managed that against the knives she was now up to making would be more than capable of destroying his current knives anyway.
She hopes he likes them. He should given how practical he is, but there's always a possibility… Even then, as long as he remembers them, they could still help keep him safe.
He stares at Calanthe's most recent gift. When she'd asked for a jar of blood, even having the foresight to send him a written magical oath that she wouldn't use or nor let it be used to help track him down, he had no idea what she could possibly want it for. Since he couldn't see any loopholes in her oath though, he'd gone along with it.
He had started to think that she had to be running out of ideas of things to send him, and that the constant supply as he ran low on Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder would be the only major thing she sent him. He was not expecting perfect physical replicas of his main knives, nor for them to be so… incredible. They'd just… come to him? With naught but a thought and a genuine intention to back it up?
He hadn't gotten much further than that before he'd lowered the letter to stare at the blades, but dragging his gaze back, it only surprises him more and more as she explains them. The part about practicing calling them to him, both so he'd get a feel for it and learn how not to let his assassin paranoia have him call them to him just because he's twitchy or calling them to him as a knee-jerk reaction of going for a weapon at a louder than usual noise.
It only gets more and more ludicrous from there. Self-repairing and given they do so by keeping to their form they will also sharpen themselves, theoretically unbreakable, though she straight up warns him that she's not sure how they'll stand up to contractor abilities, since while the blood identification potion that revealed what happened to Bai indicated their abilities were magical in nature, they were still somewhat of an unknown on a magical level. And to top it all off, the silver in it was one of, if not the best magically conductive metal, so it should take even better than usual to the electrical powers he gets from Bai.
By the time he reaches the end of her letter, he can't decide which is more ridiculous. The blades themselves or that she has some notion that he may not like them and all but pleads that even if he doesn't to keep them in mind in case he needs them in a pinch.
He supposes if nothing else, after he tests them out a bit so he can give her a more full impression rather than just his immediate low-key awe at them, he'll need to reassure her out of that foolish notion.
Tucking the letter away as he climbs to his feet, it's only a matter of moments to double check again that he's in the clear of being observed before his trunk is taken from around his neck and expanded. As he heads down and into the training room, he can't help but grin.
Assuming there wasn't some off the wall reaction, maybe something like them enhancing the power so much his own body struggles with errant sparks or something, then this was going to be fun.
She snorts at Justin Finch-Fletchley, “Are you kidding me? How about you use your brain a bit and do even a little critical thinking?” It's scathing, she knows, but it was such a ludicrous notion that she can't really help it. Seeing him start to scowl angrily, she cuts off whatever he was going to say, “No, really. Let's just say for a moment that I am the Heir of Slytherin. Why in Merlin's name would I ever reveal myself in front of a huge crowd like this?”
He pauses as his eyebrows furrow, but she pushes on mercilessly, “It's not like I was trying to kill you as part of the Heir's goals, either. Since, yes, from my understanding you are not a pureblood, but the snake was already going for you. If I wanted to use the situation to off a,” She lifts her hands to make quotations, “Dirty Half-blood’ which I'll remind you I would count as, why would I step in? I could have easily just stood back and let things run their course. It wouldn't be on me, since no one would've known about me in this hypothetical scenario."
"It'd be almost entirely on Malfoy, barring the fact Lockhart agitated it further and would split the blame with him, unless someone managed to prove that advising he use that spell was what Snape was doing, in which case, some of it would go to him as well. Not an iota of it would be on me though, I'm only a second year after all. So again, if I was the Heir, why would I reveal myself? And now of all times at that? Furthermore, if I was egging it on, why did it only stop after I spoke to it?”
There's a dead silence as many of the formerly accusing and fearful gazes are now directed at the floor in embarrassment and shame. She lets all that sink in for a moment before she shakes her head and moves towards the snake, “For the record, I had no idea I was a Parselmouth before today, and I only realized after Susan said I was hissing, since it sounded like English to me.”
As she scoops up the serpent, Snape jolts, “Miss Potter-Black, that snake needs to be dealt with, just-!”
She lifts her gaze to give him a disdainful look, “I am familiar with that spell. It does not conjure a snake, it summons one, and the spell does not automatically send it back or anything of the sort when the magic runs out. This one has done nothing but been ripped from its home to be brought to a loud unknown environment surrounded by threats. It was just trying to flee and defend itself when it went towards Justin. It does not deserve to be destroyed, as you no doubt intended to do. Something I would think the head of Slytherin of all people would understand. Given my newfound Parseltongue, there's no question I can keep it calm and from hurting me, so I will be taking it out to Hagrid. It would not surprise me if he knew someone who could take care of it if not be able to get it back home, and even if he doesn't know them directly, he probably knows someone who knows someone.”
Snape had twitched at her dig towards his headship, and now he scowls down at her, “And you expect him to help you with a snake of all things? With their reputation?”
She snorts, “It won't be hard to get Hagrid to see things my way.”
That's the last she says as she leaves the Great Hall, quickly making her way down to the lights in Hagrid's cabin. The half giant was a friendly man, and he had reached out to her during her first week because of the way he knew her parents. For all that so many people like to think of him as some bumbling buffoon, compared to the awe filled stares she was usually subject to, the man was actually something of a breath of fresh air. He didn't much care for the Girl-Who-Lived nonsense. He just wanted to get to know her because of his previous relationship with her parents and the way he'd known her as a baby. That was it, no extra motivation, just… more along the lines of Remus. Not as close to her parents as he was, but still in a similar situation.
She knocks, waiting for the Fangs normal excited barking and Hagrid ushering him away from the door before it opens, “Calanthe, wha-” Then he spots the snake, and steps forward quickly as he grabs for it, “Calathe-!”
She actually finds it a little heartwarming that his first instinct is to try to get the danger away from her, even if it means risking himself, but she steps back quickly and runs a soothing hand over the once more tense snake’s head, “I'm aware of it Hagrid, and I've got it under control. May I come in? This may or may not take a longer explanation.”
He blinks a little confusedly at her, then steps out of the door, “Of course, come on in.”
She settles at the table quickly, “Honestly, there's not much to tell. When I said it could take a while, it was more that your reaction may extend this.” He nods, so she sighs, “The short version is this: Susan and Hermione dragged me to Lockhart's dueling lesson to see what the idiot was up to, there was a brief demonstration where Snape disarmed him, and it wasn't long before he dragged me and Malfoy up to duel. Snape whispered something in Malfoy's ear, and when we went to duel, rather than a disarming charm or a shield, he used a spell that summons a snake."
"It was coming towards me, but then Lockhart, grandstanding idiot that he is, tried to play hero and banish it. Except all he managed to do was fling it in the air and make it rather agitated when it landed in front of Justin Finch-Fletchley and started for him. I instinctively called for it to stop and it sounded like English to me, but Susan said it was Parseltongue, which at least explained the fearful looks people were giving me.”
She sighs, “I admittedly lost my temper a bit. Chewed them out explaining exactly how stupid it was to think I was the Heir of Slytherin, for reasons like the fact I'd have zero reason to reveal myself like that, and if I wanted Justin dead all I had to do was not act, since the snake was already freaked out from being surrounded and stuff and going towards him. I wouldn't have even taken any of the blame either. There was more to me tearing into them, but I think you get the gist.”
He snorts and nods, and she smiles a bit, “Anyway, given it was summoned and not conjured and the spell wouldn't return it…” She shrugs and peers up at Hagrid, and just to be safe choses her words purposely, “Given the shit reputation the bad apples in the house have given snakes in general, I figured if anyone wouldn't immediately try to kill such a misunderstood creature, it'd be you. And that you probably knew someone yourself or knew someone who knew someone who could either get it back to where it belongs or was willing to take it in and take care of it.”
Just as she'd suspected, throwing out the ‘misunderstood’ comment has his eyes softening as he sees what she's getting at with the prejudice they face rather than falling back on the knee-jerk hatred Voldemort and the other shitty Slytherins have spread.
He rubs at his beard, “Aye, I think I know a man. Always found his love of the creatures a bit strange, but when you put it that way…” He shakes his head, “You can leave it with me, since you need to be getting back before curfew. I'll see its taken care of.”
She smiles warmly up at him, “Thanks Hagrid. If you don't mind, I'll speak with it a bit, let it know you don't mean it any harm and not to attack you and Fang. Though, you may need to keep Fang away from him, since while I know you've said before that he's usually a coward, if he gets it in his head to attack, or even that it's a chew toy…”
Hagrid nods as he gets up, “I've got a container somewhere around here I've kept smaller beasts in before, I'll look for it so I can put it in and keep Fang from getting any dumb ideas while I wait for my friend to get back to me after I write him while you speak to it.”
She nods, then carefully unwraps the snake to bring it up in front of her face, “The big man is Hagrid. He's going to be looking into getting you back to at least the vague area of where you belong if they can't outright find your home, and if that fails, you'll stay with someone who will take care of you. Don't bite them, alright?”
The snake flicks its tongue out, then nods, “Very well speaker. If they do not harm me, I will not strike.”
The voice is actually feminine, and she glances over as Hagrid starts arranging the tank, “She's a girl if the voice is any indication.”
He looks over, then smiles faintly as he nods. It isn't long before he's done and waving her over, so she gets up. When she's by the tank, she looks at the snake again, “We're going to put you inside this for now, okay? The dog is usually a coward, but we don't want to risk him trying to attack or thinking you're a chew toy.”
The snake hisses back again, “Very well. It seems to be adequate, so I will stay here as you say.”
She gently lowers the snake in and they finish getting her situated before closing up the tank, still leaving air able to get in and out through the grating on the top, but inaccessible to Fang even if he jumps up.
She smiles at the giant man, “Thanks Hagrid, but I really do need to get going so I don't miss curfew.”
He laughs, “Aye, that you do. Goodnight Calanthe.”
She flashes him a smile over her shoulder as she heads for the door, “Goodnight Hagrid.”
She doesn't know if she wants to snarl in utter rage or grin in vicious satisfaction. That close minded bigot Umbridge had tried to push through legislation that made it damn near impossible for werewolves to get jobs, undoing a good chunk of her work in making things better for them in one fell swoop, but thankfully, Horace had managed to swing the votes to turning it down.
A good chunk of that came from the statistics he presented of things like the crime rates of werewolves before and after she'd done the work just to do things like make it easier to find work. The numbers had apparently been… eye opening to quite a few in the Wizengamot. It made it rather clear that none of them actually paid much attention to werewolves in general, for all that they'd been about to push through a law to condemn them even further. But the proof taken from the Ministry's own records showing that things like crime had dropped significantly from werewolves, which rather heavily made it clear that a good chunk of it came from them just being desperate had been rather hard to dispute.
Especially given that part of Umbridge's argument was that it makes them worse, which also made it clear to everyone in the Wizengamot that she had not actually done her research and was just pushing her own views rather than anything based on fact. It had failed pretty hard, and not only that, but it had damaged her credibility to the Wizengamot.
It should help overall, since it's not the first time Horace has butted heads with Umbridge over things like this on her behalf. That- woman and the shit she pulled pissed her off quite frankly. He may not be one of her prized treasures like Hei, but Remus had long become a treasure to her as well. She did not like him being messed with. It gave her rather vindictive thoughts, first and foremost to infect her with Lycanthropy and let her see what it was like to be so low in society in general for something you have no control over. Because she has been pushing and making strides to help the werewolves over the past few years, but something as ingrained as that took time to overcome in a more complete sense, and it was not helped by nonsense like Umbridge's latest attempt.
One of these days, she was going to cross the line, either in what her fuse can take before her temper blows, or in a more official capacity, but in either case she will absolutely get her comeuppance.
She's with Ron and Neville visiting Hagrid after Hermione's petrification, mostly since they all wanted to get away from the castle and the whispers. Even the sympathetic ones none of them particularly wanted right at the moment, though they were careful not to snap at those at least, since they at least had their heart in the right place, even if their friend's attack was still too raw for things like that. It was even worse for her, since Penelope had been petrified right along with Hermione, and she was just as good of friends with the older girl.
Hagrid had been more than sympathetic, and maybe it was because he was actually friendly with Hermione himself but it didn't grate like the other's sympathy did. They'd been quietly talking to him while they sipped on tea for a while.
Unfortunately, that's when things come crashing down. Or rather, they crash further. A knock on the door and Hagrid peaking out a window has him quickly hissing at them to get under her cloak, and they barely manage to do so before that idiot Fudge is coming in with Dumbledore and some others and they're accusing Hagrid of being the one to open the Chamber of Secrets and making it clear he's being arrested.
They don't even get a chance to do that before Malfoy senior shows his face and almost gleefully hands a notice of suspension to Dumbledore.
After a brief back and forth, the Aurors gesture to Hagrid, but before he goes with them, he makes an odd comment about following the spiders clearly aimed at them. That was odd enough, but then Dumbledore makes an even stranger comment that he'll only truly be gone when there are none left loyal to him, and that anybody who needs help in Hogwarts need only ask for it.
She's actually a bit bemused at Dumbledore's. Does he think she has some sort of loyalty to him? She knows she's gone out of her way to make sure to hide her having any suspicions of him, but he also hasn't exactly done anything to ingrain himself to her in the time he's aware she's known him as more than just a name in a book or newspaper.
When they're all gone, it's only after they've left Hagrid's hut out the back door that they take the cloak off. Ron looks troubled as he gazes in the direction or the gates, where they would've gone, even though they aren't visible from here.
After a few moments, he shakes his head, “Follow the spiders. What in the name of Merlin is that supposed to mean?”
She hums as she watches a group of them heading in a line towards the forest, before she starts off, “I don't know, but I intend to find out, because Hagrid said that's how we’ll get the truth, and I'll be damned if I don't get it after a few my friends have been attacked, the rest are in danger, and another of them has been tossed in Azkaban just like my godfather.”
Neville hurries after her, “Calanthe! Wait! Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, it's the Forbidden Forest! It's forbidden for a reason!”
She shakes her head, “I don't rightly care. I will get answers.”
He sputters a bit, then the two boys scamper after her. As they follow the sting of spiders, they get progressively larger and larger, until eventually they not only find themselves in an Acromantula nest, but in front of one that calls itself Aragog, which is the size of an elephant, old and gray, with eyes more of a milky white making it clear that if it's not already fully blind, it's well on its way. The discussion… isn't as informative as she'd wanted. It refused to tell her everything it knew, all it told her was that it was something the spiders were all terrified of, which while maybe she hadn't exactly placed the reason they were leaving, she pretty much already knew.
At the end, it tries to feed them to the other spiders rather than letting them leave. She flings her hands out, wand in one, shouting a spell the moment they start closing in, erecting a domed shield spell around them. The spiders shriek and hiss, even as they leave with haste.
She tosses one last look over her shoulder at Aragog right before they lose sight of him, even as his children continue to try to break through the shield.
She wasn't entirely sure what she'd do, since she didn't want to lose her friendship with Hagrid, but if even this Aragog was willing to ignore the fact they were friends with Hagrid, that he had sent them, then the Acromantula could not be allowed to roam free this close to the castle and Hogsmeade.
It's almost a month later when it all blows up.
It had started simply enough, she'd just been visiting Hermione with Ron, both of them having slipped into the hospital wing and over to their friend, even though the petrified students were supposed to be kind of off limits.
She had reached out to pat Hermione's petrified hand as she told her that it had been announced that she should be dosed and restored soon, somewhat uncertain if she could even hear her, but unwilling to leave her friend out of the loop if she could and no one else had told those petrified.
She had noticed, however, a piece of paper clenched in Hermione's hand, and after carefully prying it out, the horrible truth as to what was happening had dropped.
She and Ron had rushed to the staff room to tell the teachers what was going on. Which is why she's standing in the empty staff room, contemplating where to go next when Professor Vector's voice echoes around them in a school-wide announcement, as she had indeed become the new Deputy Head after McGonagall stepped down and been put in charge of the Funding with the two Funding Organizers of the Student Council, and unless unavailable, such things were the job of the Head or Deputy Head, “All students are to return to their House dormitories at once. I repeat, all students return to their House dormitories. All teachers report to the staff room immediately.”
She looks up gravely, voice quiet, “There must've been another… Hopefully they just met its gaze through something, otherwise…”
Ron shifts anxiously, “Do we leave, or…”
She shakes her head, “No, we still need to tell them, and I'm sure they'll understand why we didn't return to our dormitories at the announcement after we do…”
They both wait in silence for a little while before they start to hear approaching voices. Despite the fact they were there waiting for the teachers, Ron seems to panic and drags her into a closet, “Ron, we-”
He grabs her mouth, “Shh!”
While she's initially annoyed with him, she can't deny there wasn't something to be gained from hiding, seeing as the staff probably wouldn't have been upfront about what had initiated the lock down. Namely, that a new message had appeared below the first, ‘Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever’ and discounting herself and Ron for obvious reasons the magic on the doorways had accounted for everyone except Ginny.
Ron is so numb with shock that it's not until after the teachers seem to hand things off to Lockhart somewhat vindictively, though she's certain that was more them calling him out then them actually expecting him to get anything done, and they head out that he lets go of his tight hold around her and of her mouth and they stumble out.
She shakes herself, “We'll have to chase them down I guess.”
Ron snaps to attention, “Right. Right! They left things to Lockhart! Let's go!”
He grabs her arm and starts dragging her off, and while she's certain she could pull away from his grip, he's strong enough in his panic that she's almost certain she'd end up hurting him, and he doesn't seem to even hear her trying to get his attention as he rambles on how to fix the whole mess and save Ginny.
They stumble into Lockhart's office, and she's not even remotely surprised to see him packing. He looks up quickly, twitching in alarm for a moment before relaxing, “Ah, Miss Potter-Black, Mr Weasley, terribly sorry, there was an urgent call you see-”
Her face hardens, “More urgent than an eleven year old directly being threatened and hundreds of other students, minors being in danger?”
Lockhart coughs, “Well, see-”
Ron explodes, “You're the Defense teacher! You can't go now of all times!”
Lockhart looks away, “Well, I must say, when I took the job, I didn't expect…”
Ron looks mad enough that she wouldn't be surprised if steam started coming out of his ears soon, “What about all that stuff in your books?!”
Lockhart seems to give up trying to explain himself, giving Ron an exasperated look, “My dear boy, do use your common sense. My books wouldn't have sold nearly as well if people hadn't thought I'd done all those things, now would they? No one wants to read about an ugly old Armenian warlock, even if he did save a village from werewolves. He'd look dreadful on the front cover. No dress sense at all. And the witch who banished the Bandon Banshee had a hairy chin. I mean, come on-”
Ron looks ready to physically deck the man, so she steps in, “So you've just been taking credit for other people's achievements then? I figured it was either that or that it was entirely fictional given the inconsistencies in the timeline of the overall books.”
Lockhart twitches, “It's not nearly as simple as that. There was work involved. I had to track those people down. Ask them exactly how they managed to do what they did. Then I had to put a memory charm on them so they wouldn't remember doing it. If there's one thing I pride myself on, it's my memory charms. No, it's been a lot of work Calanthe. It's not all book signings and publicity photos, you know. You want fame, you have to be prepared for a long hard slog.”
He shut the last of his suitcases, and she draws her wand as he locks them, “Let's see. I think that's everything. Yes. Only one thing left.”
He draws his wand and starts to turn, but she snaps out an expelliarmus before he can even finish turning and pointing his wand out at them. She catches his wand and almost absently tosses it out the window, “Did you really think I was dumb enough to believe you'd tell us your dirty little memory charm secret and not use that very spell on us?” She shakes his head at his dumbfounded expression then stuns him and uses another spell to tie him up as she turns to Ron, “Ron, run and go find McGonagall, Flitwick, Vector, or Sprout. You should be able to trust the other teacher's barring Snape, but only talk to them for safety's sake. Tell them what happened, alright?”
He gives her a confused look, “Why are you telling me? Aren't we both going?”
She gives him a grimacing smile, “No, because I am going to do something monstrously stupid. We have no idea how long Ginny has left if she's alive, but we worked out all that about Myrtle and where the entrance is, so… I'm gonna go to the Chamber and try to get in, grab Ginny, and hopefully get out before the Heir knows I'm there or the Basilisk gets us.”
He blanches, “I- You-!”
She grabs his shoulders, “This is not up for debate Ron. Go. In the rather likely event this doesn't work, if Ginny is still alive someone will need to save her.”
Then she forcibly turns him around and pushes him out the door and keeps pushing until they've cleared it, then she gives him one last push him down the other hall before she turns and makes for Myrtle's bathroom as fast as she can. It's a stupid and dangerous idea, but if there's any chance of Ginny being alive… If it does end up killing her, she'll never get to see Hei again, and she can only hope he'll forgive her for risking her life to try to save someone else.
Myrtle gives her a confused look when she comes rushing in, but she just gets straight to the point, “Sorry Myrtle, but I don't really have time for pleasantries. When you died, did you see eyes?”
Myrtle looks surprised, “I did. How did you know?”
She grimaces, “Because the monster in the Chamber is a Basilisk.” Myrtle's jaw drops, and she presses, “Where did you see them?”
She lifts a shaking hand to point towards the sinks, “O-Over there.” Then distantly as she whirls towards the sinks, “Merlin. I really died to a Basilisk? I can't believe something like that is in Hogwarts…”
It doesn't take long before she finds the snake on one of the taps, but she doesn't open it immediately. Instead she begins casting spells, quietly of course since just like with what she learned in school, she learned to do these non-verbally as well.
Though the lower level spells don't reveal anything, the more advanced ones do. There are indeed a few fairly new monitoring spells on the bathroom, enough that undoubtedly the Heir of Slytherin already knew she was coming. Just to be certain, once she's done sweeping with those spells, she uses the most advanced spells she knows. Then she finds it. She's completely stunned into near numbness when she detects it. Then sheer boiling rage sweeps through her.
It was an audio recording spell like the Aurors used in questioning, though it wasn't the same one, this one being more advanced and a bit harder to detect, but still not incredibly hard thankfully, likely because the caster assumed that the Heir would be too busy with their plans and the older students wouldn't have any reason to look. But she knows that magical signature. It was the one that had tainted her family's Heirloom cloak after all. Dumbledore's to be specific.
Which means that fucker knows damn well where the Chamber entrance was and therefore where the Basilisk was coming from. And yet. While she could understand being worried that his invisibility might be detected if he lay in wait for the Basilisk in the bathroom, there was no reason he couldn't have waited near the bathroom and ambushed it. No reason, that is, then unless you were more interested in getting into the Chamber than getting rid of the danger the snake was posing to the school and all of its residents. Which also means that fuckerwillingly endangered everyone just to get access to the Chamber.
For a moment her rage tempts her into destroying it with a blasting curse on the section of wall it's layered on since that would break the spell, but her common sense wins out, and she releases a long breath to force herself to calm enough to be at least more level headed, since there's no way she was calming completely. She supposes it finally answers the question as to why Dumbledore keeps doing all the bullshit he pulls. He's just a greedy, power hungry, asshole. One she would take down eventually. For now though, she's sure that the recording spell has picked up the Heir's voice as they opened it, only for Dumbledore to find that it wasn't working for some reason. The reason being it needed to be a person with magic to use Parseltongue, so it didn't matter if you had a recording of it, it wouldn't open the Chamber or anything of the like. It was like the difference between a book writing down the word Expelliarmus and a magical casting it.
He'd get nothing out of this. Shaking her head, and focusing as she's been practicing ever since she found out she had the ability she hisses at the serpent carving, “Open.” Immediately the sinks separate and the top rises, revealing a hole going down in the middle. She tilts her head, “Stairs.”
To her relief, her guess is proven right as stairs slide out of the walls at the word, and she quickly starts hurrying down. There's likely an enchantment to make traversing the stairs take less steps than one actually moves, because it's only a matter of moments before she's stepping off of them and onto solid ground covered in old animal bones.
She doesn't slow her stride, at least not until she reaches a shed skin and slows to get a good idea of its size to pass on if everything works out. Once she's got a firm idea though, she continues on quickly until she reaches a door with a snake lock, then she tosses a silencing spell on her feet before she focuses again, “Open.”
In any other circumstances, she may find a certain beauty to most of the chamber. The large statue on the end wasn't exactly pretty, but the snake statues were actually rather graceful. If her current view of it wasn't tainted by what had been unleashed on her friends from here, what could be the death of Ginny, what was currently putting herself in danger, she could admit to herself as she gives it a cautious sweep that there was a certain beauty she wouldn't be able to deny.
Under the current circumstances though, it just looks eerie.
Even after her sweep doesn't reveal anything but Ginny lying at the foot of the statue she still proceeds cautiously, doing her best not to make noise with her breathing and the like, and keeping an eye out as she creeps forward.
However, nothing appears by the time she makes it to Ginny and she can't help but feel a vague feeling of disbelief. To be honest, even she hadn't had much faith in her plan, especially after she found the spells that indicated the Heir would know she was coming, and yet…
She kneels beside Ginny and starts checking her over, but it's only a moment or two before a male voice pipes up behind her, “She won't wake.”
She whirls, heart hammering, wondering how they could've snuck up on her. She hadn't let herself get distracted! She'd been paying attention! Well, now that the surprise is starting to fade, she supposes that they could've easily also used silencing charms.
A moment later, the confusion comes back as she realizes she recognizes him. She draws back defensively, “Tom. So I was right. That memory you dragged me into was of you framing Hagrid. It was the first thing that popped into my head, but I brushed it off.” Both at the fact the Basilisk is around and because after she got far enough in general Heiress Training, Andromeda had started teaching her stuff from House Black specifically, including some of its warnings and she knows full well what a Horcrux is and that its the only possibility for Riddle, the smile she gives him is tense, but also mocking, “Thought it was too obvious for someone clever enough to have found a way to embed a replica of their personality into a book.” No reason to reveal she knows what he is, but he twitches slightly at the dig even without that revelation, “Guess I was wrong. So, is this the part where you call for the Basilisk?”
He gives her his own mocking smile, “Not quite yet. I have a few questions for you, so you get to live a while longer.”
She tilts her head, “Not too worried about that actually. More to the point, what's wrong with Ginny?”
He snorts, “Then you're more of a fool then I gave you credit for. Which makes my questions all the more… burning. But I suppose I can answer yours first.”
As he says the last he starts slowly striding around her and Ginny's unconscious form, which also unintentionally soothes her. Hei will not be upset with her. He didn't make any sound at all, he didn't cause even a single ripple in the water, and he had no reflection in its surface either, which meant it hadn't been due to her attention waning that he'd snuck up on her.
“Ginny… Ginny was a fool of a girl who opened her heart and spilled all of her secrets to an invisible stranger.” He tosses Ginny's body a mocking look as he points at the diary in her loose grip, “Ginny wrote in my diary for months. It was rather boring, hearing the woes of a pre-teen girl. About how her brothers tease her, and how she had to come to school with second hand robes and books and the like, and even,” He turns his gaze to her, “How she doesn't think famous, good, great Calanthe Potter-Black would ever like her… Honestly, I don't even think she properly swings that way, I think she's just obsessive about you and she's interpreting it that way right now.”
He shakes his head, and while he's distracted with his grandstanding as he circles them, she slips the diary out from under Ginny's hands and into her pocket, “You wouldn't believe the patience it took, having to listen to the troubles of an eleven year old girl. But I was. I wrote back. I was sympathetic, I was kind. Ginny simply loved me. ‘No one's ever understood me like you Tom... I'm so glad I've got this diary to confide in… It's like having a friend I can carry around in my pocket.’ and it was so easy.”
He laughs, “If I say so myself, Calanthe, I've always been able to charm the people I needed. So Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted… I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. I grew powerful, far more powerful than little Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to start feeding Miss Weasley a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul back into her…”
Hei sighs a little at the surprise on the man's face after he kills the female contractor before she can use her power, some sort of sound based ability from what he picked up the first time they clashed. Despite being rather unusual for a contractor, he stutters, “I- You- What? You- Were you holding back before?”
He snorts. Of course he was, he'd do everything in his power to hold as many cards to his chest as possible, especially from the Syndicate’s prying eyes. He doesn't bother to respond before he kills him too, just as easily as the other one. It wasn't difficult. He looks up at the stars, even as he starts back towards Yin, wondering what his Xiǎolóng was up to right now, since she hasn't said all that much in her recent letters.