Three's a Charm

She's waiting with Brightblade for the parchment to finish processing the results for her to officially claim her lordship. When it does, she's not very surprised by the results, even if others would find hers mind blowing. There was a reason her family magic matched things like the Peverell family magic on the contract with the Flints she'd had to deal with back when she'd first entered the magical world.

Namely, more than once, her family had reason to abandon their previous name and make themselves a new one. Each time either someone who stayed behind with their old name or a ‘will’ would name a ‘new upcoming pureblood family’ as their successor on the Wizengamot. It may sound impossible to most in the magical world, but her family had a few spells they had developed that would trick any self updating family trees and the like into thinking they had died, as well as another spell that made it so people wouldn't notice the matching family magic between the old ‘extinct’ family and the ‘new’ one they'd named their successors.

Last time her family had seen need to do it though, the Wizengamot had made the hilarious -well if you were in the know it was funny- choice to continue to honor the Peverell family due to just how much they'd done for the wizarding world. They had still honored the wishes of their wills that the new Potter family take up a seat on the Wizengamot in their wake, but their seat remained firmly theirs, and still was to this day.

So it doesn’t surprise her in the slightest that along with the Potter and Black results and summoning of the Lord rings, Peverell pops up as well and their ring appears too. And while there aren't Lord rings and the like for each of them, there are a few other well known names like Gryffindor as well. And the ring for House Gaunt is pretty easy to explain as well, even if it hadn't said right there on the parchment that it was hers by Right of Conquest.

She shakes her head in amusement, picking up the Potter Ring and sliding it on, then the Peverell one, before scooping up the Black ring that had been called back from her own desk where it has been since Sirius authorized her to act as De Facto Head and speaks clearly at it, “On the grounds that the current Head is unavailable, I wish to attempt to claim the Lordship, at least temporarily, though potentially it will return to him if he becomes available and decides he wants it back.”

The ring flashes in acknowledgement, and she slides it on. This time, she can feel more than a cursory scan to make sure she's actually the Heir and rightfully the new Lord as it measures that she's genuinely Sirius’ Heir, that she has enough Black family blood, and that she's genuine with her intentions before it accepts her and resizes to her finger, temporarily merging with the Potter and Peverell rings on her left pinky.

She lifts the House Gaunt Lordship ring and speaks clearly again, “By Right of Conquest, I lay claim to the Gaunt Lordship.” The ring flashes much like the Black ring had, and she once again slips it on and is given a more thorough scan before it also resizes and merges with the others, at least until she or a later Heir want them to re-separate. When it's done she continues, “I also rename House Gaunt back to its ancestral name of Slytherin.”

The ring flashes in acknowledgement again. With that done, she looks up at the bemused Brightblade, “Given the mess that occurred with my parents’ deaths and that it wouldn't surprise me if Dumbledore helped himself to things not locked down by Gringotts, I would like to hire the goblins to magically retrieve all that which belongs to my family and was wrongfully taken.”

He nods, “Of course.” He quickly sends off a note, then stands, “I will escort you to the ritual room.”

He leads her down to it, and it honestly isn't particularly intense or anything, and when it's done, a large selection of items appear, including, she notes, ones that her family had been fully aware of where they were and just hadn't bothered to reclaim, like the Mirror of Erised, or the original Pensive, which… seems to have memories in it. She actually hadn't expected ones like them to come back, though she's thankful that at the very least ones her family had outright used spellwork on to essentially release their hold on some of the objects, which was as much as they could do since even her family has never found a way to sever the connection those objects would have to their family magic, so they don't appear. She'd have an awfully hard time explaining why the infamous Veil of Death appeared if nothing else.

Even then, she knows full well she's rather lucky they don't recognize the Elder Wand, given that it also appears. And immediately recognizes that it's the wand she's seen in Dumbledore's hands. Which is actually kind of funny, since he has to be freaking out about its disappearance right about now.

Far more interesting though, while she's not surprised by the Resurrection Stone's appearance, it's been set into a ring(1) with a very familiar magic on it.

The goblins all seem to recognize it as well as she approaches it and nudges it with her foot. She looks up, and seeing the way they're eyeing her, realizes she needs to clear up that misunderstanding and fast. Which is why she lifts a hand and announces clearly and loudly enough for them to hear her, “I, Calanthe Potter-Black, swear on my magic that the Stone this ring is attached to, which is the part of this ring with ties to my family, was never made a Horcrux by us, nor to my knowledge has any of my family ever dabbled in that foul magic in any capacity except perhaps in the form of looking into how to recognize and destroy it, so mote it be.”

A flash of magic goes off, and it's fairly obvious she still has her magic even without her casting anything, given she doesn't collapse as it leaves her in a rush. The goblins around her relax before Brightblade and the one in charge of the ritual, Frigidfang, approach her, both staring at the ring in distaste.

Frigidfang looks up at her, “Lady Potter-Black, if the stone is the part that rightfully belongs to House Potter and the ring was just drawn here because it was attached, I'm going to have to insist we keep the ring itself for destruction, as well as the locket in House Slytherin's belongings.”

She hums, “I can fully understand, but I was actually hoping you'd let me keep one so I can try to use it to locate the others from the wizard who made it, because I know who it belongs to, and I know he made more than three, I already destroyed one, but even with that ring and locket, that's still not all of them. And considering he went past three, I'm currently operating under the assumption that he went for seven, given the power the number has.”

He hisses, and he's not the only one, “As if making one of these abominations isn't bad enough, they made multiple? And seven at that? Who would be so depraved?”

She snorts, “You know him quite well, given that people fear to speak his name even though they think he's dead.”

Frigidfang pales, “He who must not be named?

She nods, “Yes, and given I came face to face with his spirit in my first year at Hogwarts and saw what state it was in as well as the fact I know from the Black family records warning of such things and how to spot them, I know full well he made more than three. Which is why I'd like to keep one to try to use it to track down the others. If you wanna destroy the other, go ahead, though between the two I'd prefer to hold onto the locket. It looks like it's a Slytherin Heirloom given the insignia on it and while I will destroy it if I have to, I'd like to at least try to find a way to transfer the Horcrux to something less valuable.”

Brightblade hums, “It's not an unreasonable request actually. Though we may have a standard destruction order for them, if you're just wanting to use it for the purpose of doing the job fully…”

She nods again, then tilts her head, “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that in general. Given they were sworn to him, and I claimed Right of Conquest on Voldemort, and given they're sworn to him fully, it means I can lay claim to things that belong to his Death Eaters, so I wanted to seize the vaults of the Death Eaters that were imprisoned so I could check to see if any of them were entrusted with one and left it here since while Gringotts doesn't abide by their existence, they could've easily brought them in contained in something that hides their power then just left them, since the magic on the vaults would hide it from you as well after it was taken inside. Though, I would like to request that if any searches reveal any and they're objects with historical significance that you give me time to try to find a way to destroy the Horcrux without destroying the object it's within. If Gringotts is amenable to such, we can set up a contract that I will fully destroy them after a certain amount of time if I can't find an alternative so that Gringotts can have the reassurance that they will be destroyed.”

Frigidfang had snarled at the first part, but Brightblade lays a hand on his shoulder before turning towards her, “That seems reasonable. And the Right of Conquest is your right of course, though why only the imprisoned ones? Technically you would have some level of claim to them all, even if it would be lessened by those who aren't considered legally dead from their life sentences.”

She hums, “And I reserve the right to seize my claim later, but as things currently stand, I have one of them under my thumb and therefore a foot in the door on bringing the others to heel, but it would complicate things if I started taking what they rightfully owe me via my Right of Conquest over their master.”

Brightblade nods, “Fair enough, although I hope you realize that given its in the contracts for opening vaults that you can't store such items and that you've given us reasonable suspicion that they may have broken that, we will need to search their vaults and seize any in there, as well as seize the vaults themselves and their contents as per the contract and the consequences for breaking it?”

She shrugs, “If they got in trouble with Gringotts that has nothing to do with me. Just leave my name out of where you got the suspicion from.”

He nods, “Fair enough.”

Remus comes in with a bemused expression, then he takes one hand off the letter he'd been holding to tilt it up with the other, “Dumbledore is apparently desperate to get both the Defense post covered as well as get someone familiar with Sirius and his tricks, because he just offered me the position.” He shakes his head, “He even tried to use finally getting to see you as a lure. Well, he didn't word it that way, but with his whole ‘I'm so concerned, because reports say that right before he broke out, Sirius Black kept muttering in his sleep ‘At Hogwarts... At Hogwarts…’ and given Calanthe is attending, it's assumed he's after her…’ makes it pretty clear that he was trying to use you and your safety as a lure.”

She smiles in amusement, “Well, you should probably take it, if nothing else then to spare me and my schoolmates from having to suffer another incompetent Defense teacher.” He ducks his head as though that'll hide his own amusement, and she shakes her head, “But I don't think we'll be able to hide our relationship… Maybe we could say after I got my hands on a copy of Mom and Dad's wills from Gringotts I reached out to you?”

He tilts his head, “That could probably work. Since that wouldn't require me to have gone behind his back, and it would also explain why I never mentioned it, since if I met with you I would know you had a new guardian, so it wouldn't be that strange that I wouldn't think to get in touch with him about it.”

She nods, then grins at him, “And hey! If you last more than a year before shit luck forces you out of the position, since I know it isn't the curse nowadays, then maybe it'll show that the curse isn't still around and even if you decide to leave after that we can actually get another good teacher.”

He laughs lightly, “So, basically you're saying I have to hold the position for at least two years.”

She nods firmly, “Yes.”

He shakes his head in amusement, “If you say so cub.” He looks off to the side thoughtfully, “Suppose I'll need to go write an acceptance letter then and start planning my lessons.”

She smiles lightly, “Well, good thing for you that I've been tutoring basically all of the students below what will be the fifth years now, so they at least should have a decent foundation.”

He laughs, then teasingly says, “Yeah, just need to worry about the upper years who don't have as much time to learn before they leave.”

She shrugs, “I tutored some of them, but I couldn't help them as much, and not all of them were alright with having what was at the time a second year helping them.”

He shakes his head with a chuckle as he turns to leave, “Pity for them, since that would've saved them some trouble.”

She calls out to him before he leaves, “Hey, neither of us trusts Snape, so what do you think about negotiating with Dumbledore to accept a lower pay in return for Wolfsbane so you can ‘donate’ it, but actually have a different Potions Master check it over? See if we can't get him to show what kind of man he is in a way Dumbledore won't be able to protect him from. Since unfortunately, with his excellent NEWT scores in Defense, he's probably already ‘worked out’ what you are despite your Fidelis, so he'll know, or think he knows, that it's actually for you. If he does, as much as people still look down on werewolves, given it can put a bunch of people in danger, it's highly illegal to tamper with Wolfsbane in any way and we can nail him with that.”

Remus had paused and glanced back as she began to talk, then tilts his head in thought as she finishes, “That works for me. I'll see if I can't swing it when I write Dumbledore.”

She nods as he turns away again and heads out.

Calanthe watches how tense Molly is thoughtfully from her spot at the table, waiting for Ron to come back so they can finish their game of chess since Ron, being Ron, had challenged her practically the moment she showed up to hang out with him for a few hours. Eventually she can't help herself, “Is something wrong Molly?”

The older woman jolts, then gives her a tense smile, “No, everything is fine Calanthe dear.”

She gives her a bemused smile, “No offense Molly, but given how much I often have to deal with Heirs and the like, I'm far too familiar with reading between the lines and searching for how people actually feel for that to work.”

Her shoulders slump slightly, “That… I suppose that's true. Don't worry about it though dear, it's nothing a child your age should get involved in.”

She rests elbow on the table and her chin on her palm, then dryly points out, “Molly, I've been trying to get an actual trial for my godfather who was thrown in Azkaban without even a questioning since I was seven. I came face to face with a remnant of Voldemort at eleven. And then I met another and was pitted against a Basilisk at the end of last school year. I'm fairly sure I've never stayed out of something just because it's not generally what someone my age should have anything to do with.”

Molly purses her lips as her brows furrow, and from where he was sitting over in the living room since it was his day off, Arthur sighs, “Molly, she's right. There's not much reason to keep it from her anyway.” He looks at her tiredly, “It was revealed yesterday in a department head meeting that due to Sirius’ escape and the fact they're continuing to push the narrative that he's a dangerous criminal, they're going to post Dementors at Hogwarts.”

She straightens quickly, “They're what?! They can't do that! They're endangering all of the students!”

He gives her a tense smile, “We've been told they'll be under strict orders nor to enter the grounds unless they know Sirius is there, and only for him in such a case.”

She snarls, “Right, because the Dementors will actually listen to that. Or that it'll help the people of Hogsmeade if they get hungry.”

Arthur sighs, “Quite. Supposedly they have the whole thing under control, but…”

At that Molly explodes, “I just don't understand how Dumbledore could allow them anywhere near the school.”

She carefully keeps her face from exposing how she feels about that, but it doesn't stop Arthur from frowning at her, “Something to say Calanthe?” She looks over in surprise, and he smiles warily, “I may not have taken part in any Lordship stuff in the past, but I am a department head in the Ministry, and one that occasionally needs to work to catch criminals with the Aurors. I know a thing or two about reading people as well, and people don't go as utterly blank as you just did unless there's something they aren't saying.”

She stares at him for a few moments, and he seems more than content to patiently wait, before she decides if she was ever going to break her friend and his family away from that manipulative monster, it was now.

She leans forward, and states quietly, “You don't have to take my word for it, or at least on this part, because between managing to get a discount from them and reworking the funds, we managed to get Gringotts to check the Hogwarts wards, and they're perfectly fine. Something your own son can back up… as well as the fact they're strong enough that there's no way an object as black as the diary managed to enter the school without Dumbledore's knowledge. Which means he knew full well that Ginny had it the whole time.”

“This part you would have to take my word for unless I took a truth potion or something, but when I went to get Ginny, I scanned the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets and not only were there alarms around it from the fragment of Voldemort that was possessing Ginny, there were also audio recording spells like the Aurors use. And they had Dumbledore's magical signature, which means he also knew where the beast was coming from and he allowed Ginny to continue to be possessed and the threat to the school to remain unchecked for his own agenda.”

Off to the side, Molly drops the spatula she'd been using for lunch, and Arthur stares at her aghast. Molly turns rather slowly, looking rather like she wants to be right more than she actually believes it as she speaks, “That- That can't be right! Dumbledore wouldn't-! He would never-!”

Arthur's eyes shift over to his wife, looking rather tired, “Molly. We don't even have to ask Bill. You know as well as I do that he was so confused when he stopped by for lunch before they left the country as to how something as simple as a troll got through the wards, and with no one noticing at that, for something as steeped in black magic as that…”

Molly’s eyes tear up as she turns to him, “B-but… It's Dumbledore…”

She hums, “Who has spent decades carefully cultivating his image just so everyone has that exact reaction whenever anything that puts him in a bad light comes up.”

Molly sniffles, “He's pulled the wool over our eyes rather firmly, hasn't he?”

She nods, “I'm afraid so. Don't beat yourself up over it though. Like I said, he's spent decades cultivating his image and fooled a sizable portion of the whole damn world.”

Arthur sighs tiredly, “What do we do now?”

She shrugs, “No offense, but I don't think you're all good enough at acting to pretend to be fine with him, so I'd suggest you just go with the angle that after what happened to Ginny your faith in him was broken if he comes calling or asks. It's true, and it isn't revealing as long as you leave out details.”

He nods in understanding so she continues, “Also… I don't know if he's spoken to you about it, but I've been training Ron to act like a Lord with the end goal of him working to regain House Weasley’s honor and claim both it and House Prewitt's seats on the Wizengamot, since while he's the youngest of your kids, he's also the only one remotely interested. Even Percy doesn't want to touch that with a ten foot pole. So personally, I would suggest you either get a crash course on how to conduct yourself and take them back rather than leave him as proxy, or if you don't want to do that, get a different proxy. Actually, even if you don't take the seats yourself, since I assume Molly would prefer you to hold the Prewitt seat for her, you and your family will need a crash course in nobility if you don't want to hurt Ron's attempts to fix things.”

He nods absently, “I don't even know how I'd go about either one to be honest. I can't afford hiring someone for the first, especially if I have to pay for everyone in the family, but if I can't even trust Dumbledore, who can I trust to be the proxy?”

She shrugs, “I could make some recommendations for a proxy, but that's entirely up to you in the end, and also,” Here she hesitates briefly then pushes forward, “I know you can all be rather prideful, but I can pay for the lessons.” Molly’s brow furrows, so she holds up a hand, “I've already spoken in depth to Ron about it, and we intend to officially ally our Houses. In that case, it's not so much a charity like I know you dislike, but an investment on my part.”

Arthur's somewhat troubled expression clears, “Mm, when you put it that way…”

“Does that mean we're going to do it?”

The three of them turn to find Ron and his siblings on the stairs peering at them. It had been Ron who had called put, somewhat hopefully, and Arthur hums, “I don't see why not, as long as your siblings are fine with it. This decision affects them too after all.”

Percy tilts his head, “I don't mind learning the manners and conduct expected of me.” Then his nose scrunches up, “And I may be ambitious, but I've never wanted to touch the mess that's become of the Wesley and Prewitt Lordships if that's what you're asking.”

The twins glance at each other, and one of them crosses his arms thoughtfully as the other hums, “Fred and I definitely don't mind being passed over for stuffy noble nonsense, but I'm not so sure how well we'd do with being all well mannered uppity pounces. Don't know if we'd even be comfortable with it.”

She snorts, “You know many names of famous wizards and witches who were considered eccentric and the like. In your case, you just need to learn how to skew your behavior so it's acceptable, if strange.” She waves a hand, “If you all agreed, I was already planning on finding you a good tutor that can help you figure out how to be on the right side of what's acceptable while still acting mostly the same.”

The twins perk up at that, and the one who hadn't spoken up before leans forward, “Really? In that case, sure, we can learn our manners so we aren't ruining Ronniekins’ hard work.”

Ginny glances at them, then shifts, “I suppose it doesn't matter much since I shouldn't have inherited anyway, but I don't mind if Ron takes them both, nor do I have any problem learning how to mind myself so I'm not unintentionally sabotaging him.”

Ron beams at his siblings, “You guys…”

Arthur smiles at his youngest son, “Well, I doubt they'll have any issue, but we still need to ask Bill and Charlie if they're fine with it, especially since rightly it should've gone one each to them.” He shakes himself and turns back to her, “But like I said, I doubt they'll be anymore interested in the positions than any of them are. So I guess we ought to start hammering out the details of this alliance and get it down on parchment.”

She smiles happily, “I'm fine with that.” Then she glances a bit mischievously at Ron, “Sorry Ronnie! Something came up! Have to get a game of chess some other time!”

He smiles in amusement at her as he scampers forward, “Suuuuure. Like you weren't just tired of me beating you all the time.” She flashes him an innocent smile, and he shakes his head, “But I'm not gonna complain if this is actually happening and not just something we keep talking about.”

She nods, then turns back to Arthur to get down to business.

She watches in curiosity and amusement as her classmates all take their turns with the Bogart, even as she tries to figure out what hers could be.

When she steps up, she sees Remus watching her in mildly concerned curiosity, but he quickly turns pale as his expression becomes alarmed and he jolts forward as it settles on its form and a wave of terror sweeps over her and snuffs out the laughter that had been ringing out from the class.

The Dementor takes a rattling breath as it starts forward, and she scrambles to think of a way to make it funny. How does one even make a Dementorfunny?

Before she can think of something, Susan quickly steps in front of her, and the Bogart pauses as it once more takes on the form of Amelia. Unlike the first time her friend had faced it and been pulled up short by her confusion, this time it doesn't get a chance to start going on about how disappointed in her it is before she snaps out her riddikulus and it's voice goes hilariously high-pitched.

Remus quickly gets it back in its cupboard, then turns and starts over to where Susan had wrapped her in a hug and started rubbing at her back in comfort, “Are you alright Calanthe?”

She nods jerkily, “Sorry Professor. If I'd known it would take that form, I would've sat out of the lesson, but to be honest I didn't know what it would become.”

He hums as he rests a hand on her shoulder, “Not your fault.” He looks back at the cupboard, “If you weren't expecting it though… that means it's not their ‘kiss’ that you fear. Which makes having a Dementor for a Bogart rather wise.”

She blinks at him, “How so?”

He smiles, “Because it implies that which you fear most is fear itself and its ability to paralyze one into inaction.”

She nods slowly, then glances back at the other students’ shaking, before looking at the ground, “Sorry again. Everyone had started having fun with the lesson and stuff. Didn't mean to ruin the good mood and make everyone feel a Dementor.”

He squeezes her shoulder, “And I will again remind you that it isn't your fault, though while you need to learn Riddikulus, it'll have to be more private lessons so your fellow students don't have to deal with any Dementor aura from the Bogart.” He looks over said students before calling out, “Roopy?” A House elf appears and he smiles at it, “Could you and the other elves whip up some hot chocolate for the students? I'm afraid our Bogart lesson saw them exposed to a Dementor aura for a moment.”

The House elf nods quickly and pops away, and Remus gestures vaguely, “Make yourselves comfortable. Sit if you feel weak in the knees. The House elves will get it ready in no time, and chocolate always helps with the after effects, so you should all be steady again by the time you've finished your cups. When you have, you're all dismissed. Your homework will be reading the chapter on Bogarts and summarizing it for me, due Monday.”

More than one student just shakily sits right where they are, and she gazes at the cupboard with furrowed brows. Remus checks in with them more one on one, and continues to stick around and keep an eye on them when the House elves arrive, though she's still mostly observing the shaking cupboard as she absently accepts her cup of hot choco and thanks the House elf. It doesn't take too long before the students start perking up and start dissipating.

When they're gone and it's just her and Remus, she nods firmly and turns to him with determination and he gives her an unsurprised smile, “I assume you're about to demand Patronus lessons?”

That draws her up short, “...How'd you know?”

He laughs, “Oh Calanthe. You have never once allowed yourself to be weak. Honestly, the moment the Dementors made you pass out on the train I figured you'd be asking soon, but with the Bogart too…”

She blinks quickly, “Oh. Well?”

He shakes his head, “Normally I'd consider it foolish beyond belief, but I know you're both stubborn enough to insist on trying, as well as good enough at Defense that you may very well manage it. I'd like to give us both a week or so to get settled, but afterwards we can do lessons on Thursday evening.”

She nods firmly, “Alright.”

She knocks on Remus’ door on All Hallow's Eve, and when he opens it, she smiles, “I assume you still intend to come down to be on standby in case anything goes wrong?”

He nods, “Of course I am. Honestly, it's a good thing it's almost a new moon(2) and the wolf is at its weakest. Otherwise, I'd be torn between wanting to go with you for just in case purposes and wanting to stay away else such a complicated ritual has some sort of an impact on it. It wouldn't be the first time in history something like that had happened.”

She nods, “There is that. Though from my understanding that's usually rituals heavily involving the moon, isn't it? This one doesn't have much, or really anything, to do with it.”

He nods, “In general, yes. But I'd like to remind you that the magic of a Basilisk is heavily dark, which will make the ritual darkly charged as well, and so are werewolves. Occasionally, that can cause a… sympathetic, I suppose you can say, reaction between the magic of the two which can have poor consequences.”

She nods, “That makes sense.”

He hums, “Indeed. Most people focus on the fact that Lycanthropy is so heavily tied to the moon that they forget it makes werewolves dark and that it can also affect us.”

She sighs, “And I suppose the werewolves get blamed when things do go weird, don't they?”

He nods, “Unfortunately, yes. And it's usually a death sentence for them.”

She frowns down at the ground for a few moments before Remus nudges her, “Hey now. None of that. I can practically hear that brain of yours whirling away, trying to find ways to help even more as well as blaming yourself. As though you haven't been single handedly laying down all of the groundwork to improve the situation of werewolves so much in the last few years, as well as giving us hope things can actually get better instead of just continuously worse. Or that the situation was created before your time and you had nothing to do with things getting this bad.”

She sighs, “I know, I just…”

He patiently gives her a moment to try to finish that thought before he nudges her again, “That's because you're a good person Calanthe.” He laughs, “Merlin, you practically set off on a one woman crusade to try to fix things as a child when you realized how bad things were for us.”

She hums vaguely then shakes herself as they reach Myrtle's bathroom. The ghostly girl smiles at her, “On your way back down to the Chamber then?”

She nods, “Yeah, I've got a ritual to do using some of the things I got from the Basilisk, and it should be empowered by doing it where not only the Basilisk lived for a thousand years but is also within the seat of power that is Hogwarts itself.”

Myrtle nods, “I see. Well, good luck Calanthe.”

She smiles at the ghost, “Thanks Myrtle.”

Then she turns her gaze to the sinks, and swiftly opens it and calls for the stairs. Given the magic on it that makes the walk much faster, which while it obviously wasn't super important Flitwick had been all too happy to sate her vague curiosity and confirm existed, it isn't too long before they're exiting the pipe. The area around it she had gotten around to cleaning last year, so it's not even an unpleasant walk down the hall to the door.

She hisses that open as well, then enters with Remus, quickly heading over to the wide open area at the foot of the statue. It's dry now since she had preemptively used some spells to drain some of the water until it was just in the pools rather than also on the walkway, so she doesn't hesitate to start pulling her stuff out and setting up.

She's meticulous about it, but even so, she actually practiced the set up, so it's done in no time flat. Afterwards, she and Remus both check it over thoroughly, but they find nothing wrong with it, so Remus steps back with an encouraging smile.

She takes a deep breath and starts. She's grateful that she practiced saying the words over and over immediately, as pretty much the moment she starts, a surge of magic rushes up and sweeps her and her senses away in the tide. She can vaguely hear own voice in the distance, but she's lost in the whirlpool of magic.

She has no sense of time as it goes on, just the sense of the magic continuing to build around her in a strangely ordered chaotic ocean.

Then, like a wave crashing upon a shore and leaving her behind in its wake, she snaps back to herself with a gasp.

Shivering from a vague sense of cold, she staggers over to the center of the ritual circle and picks up the finished result.

She smiles at the power coming off of the mask carved from the top of the Basilisk skull. Between that and the fact the eyes and fang had disappeared, she's fairly confident that the ritual to imbue the replica of Hei's mask with a portion of their power was successful.

She shrivers from an entirely different feeling as she meets the ‘eyes’ of the mask. It isn't capable of that same lethality or even petrification just from meeting them, but it does fill her with an instinctive primal sense of fear.

Remus whistles impressed as he steps up beside her, and her smile widens as satisfaction washes over her. She still needs to carve the additional runework on the inside of it, mostly because she didn't want to mess with the look of the mask in case Hei was attached to the design, and if there was enough of the silver from the Dragon Thunder Thread potion for his improved coat she was crafting when Horace was done making the potion, she'd need to melt it down and pour it into the carvings, but the first step was done.

She's in such a good mood that even the later revelation that Sirius had broken into the castle and tried to enter the Gryffindor dorm and the confusion as to what he could be after hardly pulls her down, even if having to sleep in the Great Hall is a bit irritating.

He's a bit bemused by the rather vague note tacked onto the bottom of Calanthe's letter, explaining that she wrote the more detailed explanation of her latest gifts on the paper in the box since she wasn't sure how long they would take to finish up and therefore what letter they'd end up being sent with.

He opens the box in curiosity, but he hardly even glimpses the contents before he slams it shut again instinctively, heart pounding in terror. It takes a moment for his head to clear and him to recall that weird line in Calanthe's letter. ‘Don't look it in the eyes.’

Taking a deep breath, he carefully opens it again, surprised to find his own mask inside, nestled on top of his coat with the note in question on top of the coat as well but below the chin of the mask.

He sets the lid aside with one hand as he reaches for the note with the other to read it. Even summarized, it's one hell of a read. The mask was apparently made from part of the Basilisk's skull. It was imbued via a ritual with a fragment of power from said lethal eyes, and though the mask can't kill or petrify, meeting its ‘gaze’ does fill you with an instinctive sense of primal fear. Like you were staring death itself in the face. Which was awfully fitting for a man called The Reaper.

Calanthe hadn't been anticipating it, but she theorized it was due to a sympathetic link due to them both being eyes, at least in a manner of speaking for the mask. Regardless it tugged on things rooted deeply in the psyche, much like a child's terror of the dark. To round it out, she'd also imbued a Basilisk fang, which had poison so powerful the only known counter in the world was Phoenix tears, to enhance the ‘striking’ power of its other features. That, and to round it up to the magical number three, since that apparently had actual power.

The extra features, specifically, were carved runes for protection, obfuscation, notice-me-not, and even sensory enhancers he can dial in at his leisure with but a thought. Furthermore, the carved runes had been filled in with something known as Dragon Thunder Thread, though it was a modified version she'd had Horace make for her.

Apparently, the original version of it was a potion made of thunderbird feathers as well as both Dragon scales and bone, in a base made of the blood of both creatures and then had silver -as the most magically conductive metal known- put in after the potion was ready, so that it could absorb it. It could then either be poured as molten liquid into runic carvings, forged into a blade and the like, or spun out into thread, which was generally its usual use and where it gets its name from. It would not only have properties of magic and physical resistance from the Dragon parts, but since it was apparently not a new concept in the magical world, would also have those properties enhanced when an electric current was run through it from the thunderbird parts.

With the near heart stopping revelation from before of her killing a Basilisk, she had Horace tweak it to use parts from it too. Now it used thunderbird feathers and even parts of one's brain, Dragon scales and bones, Basilisk scales and bones, as well as blood from all three. It had let Horace focus the Dragon stuff on physical resistance while the Basilisk stuff took over the magical resistance since theirs was actually higher. It had then been divided up and part had been poured into the runic carvings on his mask, on the inside specifically, as he was vaguely amused that she wasn't sure if he was attached to the design but didn't want to ruin it if he was, and less amusing and more practical also so as to not draw suspicion from the Syndicate at the sudden change.

Another portion of it had gone into mixing in with the one way glass on the eyes which also had a shit ton of features. An unbreakable enchantment of course, but also magical night vision, magical thermal vision, foe glass she'd carefully figured out how to set up so it had three hundred sixty line of sight around him that he can pull the results of up and even decide how large it was on said glass, a zoom in, and an identification spell that would do some sort of magical scan and tell him what power is in use, all thought controlled.

And the vague protections were nothing to sneeze at either. The physical resistance was pretty straightforward, as from careful testing by slowly ramping up to make sure they didn't actually break it and it was apparently capable of taking a wrecking ball straight to it without so much as a scratch, though while it would negate a good chunk of the impact to his head, obviously he couldn't take that kind of blow. And the magical resistance was more useful than he initially gave it credit for. For one thing, given that the identification potion he'd used to find his name and unintentionally find out about Bai all those years ago had made it pretty clear that contractor abilities were magical in nature, so it could resist those too, and on top of that because she'd set it into a skull specifically, sympathetic magic had made it particularly good at mental abilities.

She had tried it on, which briefly caused him to be distracted by the thought of how adorable the idea of Calanthe trying on his mask was, before he refocuses to learn that she'd done so since Remus had volunteered to test it out, and even an attempt at a simple confusion spell had not only not affected her, but it had even given him a headache just trying. They had to stop their testing quicker than they'd anticipated as they had quickly found out that rather than being able to overpower it, the stronger the ability thrown at it, the harsher the consequences on the caster and they had quickly grown concerned at it maybe killing Remus when he'd collapsed with a bleeding nose after he'd attempted a gentle push against her mind with a mind reading spell.

Remus hadn't been comfortable with casting other types of spells at Calanthe so they'd put it on a mannequin with as many sensor spells as they could think of and had him start casting at that. As far as they could tell, there was very little that could affect it, and while it didn't protect the mannequin on a whole, nothing had been able to touch the head and neck. Hell, in the case of area of effect things, it would even start to reflect it back at the caster. They hadn't been able to get very far there either, for safety reasons when they realized it had actually manifested the petrification ability when Remus had the heart stopping realization that the more he cast at it, the more sluggish his magic became as the mask seemed to ‘petrify’ the source of the power being thrown at it.

He wasn't sure how much of it was her being humble, but she was firm that it wouldn't have been even a quarter as good if she hadn't had such incredible materials and done the ritual in the place the thousand year old Basilisk had lived for all those centuries, and right under the seat of power for such a magical place as Hogwarts at that. After seeing the results of the ritual, Horace had even brewed the finalized recipe for the Dragon Thunder Thread in the Chamber for similar reasons.

As if all of that wasn't enough, the new coat she'd sent him was a dyed leather from something called a Nundu, with a thread made from a combination of Acromantula silk, Thestral tail hair, and Demiguise fur, as well as Dragon Thunder Thread spun out into thread, and both weaved into it generally as well as used as the thread for stitching additional runes. She'd once again been worried about both the aesthetics and hadn't wanted to ruin them, as well as not wanted to tip off the Syndicate, so both the general weave and the runes had been hidden. On top of the protections, which while not able to ‘petrify’ the power of the caster of whatever was thrown at it, while noticeably weaker it wasn't too far off the mask's in general.

Which had taken Calanthe by surprise, though she speculated it was a combination of Horace brewing the Dragon Thunder Thread in the Chamber for the aforementioned reasons, when she'd just done the ritual there not even a two weeks prior and its magic was still lingering rather strongly, as well as the fact that numbers did have power, and there was quite a lot of numerology in his coat.

Three different items from three different creatures in the Dragon Thunder Thread potion alone which was important given the magical power three had, three creatures to make up the other thread, which also made the representation of the number three happen three times itself, and finally seven magical creatures represented in total with the addition of the Nundu leather.

The secondary thread made from Acromantula silk, Thestral tail hair, and Demiguise fur had also let her give it the ability to make himself as a whole invisible, which was as thought activated as everything else. And given he wasn't under its protection when he wasn't wearing it, she'd even included something that would make the tail end of the trench coat fold up into the main body of the coat and the collar down as well as change the green inside to match the black outside when it was initiated, making it look like just a normal black coat so he wouldn't have to be without its protection just because he wasn't working.

She'd even sent him new harnesses for the knives she'd made him, though that was just Dragonhide leather. The new wires with it on the other hand, were also Dragon Thunder Thread, mostly for its increased durability, though it meant it had taken the return spell even better and probably his electricity as well. The return spell specifically was for if he had to initiate the emergency disengage and release the wire from his harness, which would make it so rather than losing it, it would just return back to its coil in his launcher. Both getting it untangled from whatever was making him use the emergency disengage to begin with, while simultaneously letting him keep the wire and even have it ready to launch again immediately. On top of that, being as thought controlled as a lot of the features, the wires could now have quite the cutting power themselves if he so desires, and even control of how they moved was more thought controlled than anything now. To round them out, she'd bound them to his blood.

All of it was tied into a bracelet with both storage and switching spells. Allowing him to switch between his full work gear and regular clothes with but a thought. It also had a third ‘slot’ as it were, where he could store his old gear in case he ever needed to switch to it to hide anything like the terror-inducing ‘gaze’ of his new, improved mask. Calanthe had pointed out that some of the functions, like the invisibility or the Foe Glass she had already sent him other singular objects for, but she'd added those features anyway so he wouldn't be constantly having to switch from item to item depending on what he needed.

Remus had added a funny little note at the end, telling him that when she'd commissioned Horace to make the altered potion, he'd asked what all she was using it for, so he could figure out the size of the batch he'd need to make after he was done testing. After she'd explained, apparently Horace, who was around as he helped with the Mastery University periodically, after a few moments of stunned silence, had murmured his understanding, but on his way out had muttered, “At that rate no one will ever touch that man again... Possessive little Dragon, I'm once again reminded of how on point he was with that nickname…”

He'd even apparently gone beyond that and quadrupled what she needed for his stuff, so she should have more than enough to make things using it for both herself and their other soulmate later if she wanted. But honestly? He couldn't blame the man for his initial reaction in the slightest. Calanthe had really outdone herself with her latest gifts…

She grits her teeth in rage.

The Potions Masters that worked in her clinic they had sent the Wolfsbane Snape was making had finally finished up their testing and gotten back to them.

It would work as intended as far as controlling the wolf goes. But it's pretty obvious, as far as the Potions Masters were concerned, purposely designed to negatively impact the health of the drinker, and worse, kill them within a year.

She tosses the letter down, “I know he's a bastard, but why would he…”

Remus sighs tiredly as he awkwardly rubs at the back of his neck, “...Back when we were in school, he pissed off Padfoot enough one time that he told him about ‘rumors’ of a werewolf on the grounds and challenged him to go see. In fairness to him, he didn't actually expect him to do so, but he did, indeed, find me, and I very nearly attacked him. Would have, if James hadn't found out about what Padfoot had said and gone to check to be safe. He managed to get me away from Snape before I could attack him, but it was an… alarmingly close call. Enough so that Snape ended up owing him a life debt as far as magic was concerned. It's very possible that with me wanting Wolfsbane that regardless of me claiming I wanted to donate it that he ‘worked out’ who the Werewolf was that night, given that even if he knew before, the Fidelis put on me would've made him forget.”

She snarls, “So what? He's just resentful and vindictive that you managed to hide throughout your school years? That he almost got attacked because he was dumb enough to go looking for a werewolf, rumored or not?”

He sighs, “I have no idea Calanthe. It certainly makes me grateful that we got in touch all those years ago and you started providing Wolfsbane for me though. If things had played out similarly, but without it…”

She growls, “He would've murdered you in cold blood. And he would've gotten away with it too, since it's not like they'd have looked into what killed a werewolf.”

He reaches out and squeezes her shoulder, “Easy Calanthe. It didn't happen. And besides, as much as werewolves still aren't great off since the changes are slow, even if they're picking up speed as you gain momentum, given the fact it could be a danger to everyone, as you pointed out when you proposed we use it against him, messing with Wolfsbane in anyway is highly illegal, and you'll nail him with it.” He shakes his head, “That being said, perhaps it was a bad idea to open it right before your Patronus lessons. You're not really in the head space for it.”

She shakes her head firmly, “No, I need to not only learn to do it, but even when I'm already upset.”

He sighs, “In general, yes, but since you're already struggling with the spell…”

She shoves her bangs back, “I don't really understand what I'm doing wrong. I'm doing everything you said, and I'm thinking of my happiest memories, and I could understand struggling with that part if I'd never gotten away from the Dursleys, but…”

He hums, “I've been thinking about that actually, and I think I may have a notion of why it's not working.”

She looks up, “You do?”

He nods, “Unless I'm mistaken, you've been using memories of Hei, haven't you?”

She nods, “Well yeah. I mean, we've had good memories as well of course, but I can't think of any particularly strong ones to fuel a Patronus.” She blushes faintly, “No offense or anything, just-”

He reaches out to squeeze her shoulder, “It's fine. While we've had a good relationship for years, you do need a particularly powerful memory for at least the first cast. After, when you've got a feel for the spell, more general ones work, but even I have to admit I don't think we've ever had a huge memory that could get one through a first Patronus. Happy in general, yes, and probably enough for later Patronus’, but for the first cast…” He trails off briefly before shaking himself, “Anyway, I've been wondering lately if maybe the current situation with Hei, with him having been dragged back to the Syndicate and constantly putting his life in danger just to keep them from murdering you isn't… tainting them? Not the memories themselves obviously, but adding a… bittersweet feeling that drags the happiness of the memories down enough that they aren't working for a first cast.”

She looks down thoughtfully, brows furrowed, “...But those are my happiest memories, period.”

He nods, “I know, but it may be what's standing in your way.”

She clenches her jaw at yet another way the Syndicate was screwing her over. Not only had they taken Hei from her, not only had they weaponized her very existence against him, but now they were even tainting her memories of Hei apparently?

Then she shakes her head firmly, “Even so, I still want to keep trying. There has to be a way for me to get it.”

Remus gives her a fondly exasperated look, “I'm not foolish enough to argue with you when you get that look, so alright then. Let's get started.”

She narrows her eyes in determination as she follows him over to the section of classroom he's been giving her lessons on the Patronus in.

As she takes her spot, determination flares into an inferno in her. She will get this by the end of the year. Failure is not an option.

It's only due to Hei's lessons she still takes to heart, especially after Quirrell got the drop on her in first year, that she notices Fred and George popping out from behind a statue before they yank her inside what turns out to be a tunnel.

She looks at them in bemused curiosity, quipping at them dryly, “Sorry boys, but even if this was an acceptable form of picking up partners, neither of you is my type.”

They both bark laughs at that, the twin on the left pressing a dramatic hand to his heart as he looks forlornly at his twin, “D'you hear that Fred? I'm not her type! My plan has failed! I may very well die from the heartbreak!”

Fred lays an arm on George's shoulders, “I'll make jokes about how poor you were at hitting on girls at your funeral.”

George sniffles dramatically, “Please make sure you do. I want to be sent off with laughter, even if it's at my poor expense.”

She shakes her head with a laugh, “What can I do for you two that had you dragging me into a hidden passage?”

Fred shakes his head in amusement, “Less what you can do for us and more what we can do for you.”

She tilts her head, “What are you talking about?”

George leans forward, “Well, see, we heard Ronniekins talking to Hermione about how unfair it was that you'd been banned from going to Hogsmeade even with your permission slip signed because of Black being loose.” He rolls his eyes, “As though you haven't practically been shoving the evidence of his innocence in everyone's face since your first year.”

Fred nods, “But Ronnie is right, it isn't fair at all, so we thought we'd pass this onto you.”

She tilts her head as with a flourish he pulls out a… tattered piece of parchment and holds it out to her. She takes it in bemusement, “And this is?”

The twins grin widely and say simultaneously, “The Marauders Map!”

She sucks in a sharp breath, “It survived? We always thought Filch destroyed it!”

That takes the twins by surprise, and George leans forward, “Wait, you know what this is?”

She smiles, then flicks her wand out and places it against the map, “I solemnly swear I'm up to no good.” The lines she's heard of but never seen herself spread out, and she points at each of the nicknames in order, “Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter. Misters Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs.” She shakes her head, “They managed to wipe it before he got his hands on it, but he knew full well that it did something given they were crowded around it in their final year when Pettigrew suddenly pointed at Filch on the map and stupidly yelled he was right around the corner instead of just casually letting them look at where he was pointing.”

Fred shakes his head in amusement, “Guess it kinda rightfully belongs to you then. Sorry about that, if we'd known before…”

She shakes her head, “It's fine. Especially since I'm not so sure about rightful ownership or anything, because yes I'm the only child of any of the Marauders and the Heir of two of them, but while they hadn't quite decided what they were going to do with it after they graduated before it was taken, and while there was an idea of just holding onto it and passing it down, they also talked about maybe somehow leaving it to future generations of mischief makers. And unintentional as it may have been, that did end up happening.”

George smiles, “Then this is kind of the best of both worlds, isn't it? It went to another generation of pranksters before finding its way back to its family.”

She laughs, “Yeah, I suppose it did!”

Fred leans forward, “Though, if you know about it, then I would assume you'd know about ways out of the castle already.”

She nods, “I do, but while I really wanted to go see Hogsmeade during a Hogwarts weekend, since I've already been there casually outside of the school year, Remus asked me to spare the teachers the potential heart attack since they're genuinely just concerned for my safety, given that even with how loud I've been about his innocence, Remus says there's been murmurs in the staff room wondering if he cracked because of the prolonged Dementor exposure. Maybe started to believe the lies himself, y'know?”

George winces, then nods in understanding, “When you put it that way…” He smiles sadly, “Guess we won't be seeing you in Hogsmeade then. Anything you wanted us to pick up for you?”

She perks up, “Would you? I didn't want to ask my year mates since I didn't want them thinking about the fact I can't go on their very first Hogsmeade weekend if I could help it, but the times I've visited have always been more business oriented, so I've never really done any shopping there and I've been wanting to try Honeydukes chocolate.”

Fred ruffles her hair, “Sure kid, no problem.”

She pouts at him as she fixes her bangs, “How much does it cost, and did you want me to pay you back when you returned or just give you money now and you could give me the change?”

George shakes his head, “Nah, don't worry about it. It's not that expensive and it's the least we can do after saving Ginny and all that.”

Fred nods, then looks off to the side, “Still, hard to believe Professor Lupin is a Marauder.”

She laughs, “That's because even before he left school he had long mastered the art of being the ‘innocent’ one of the bunch.” She smirks at them, “But really, why do you think regardless of what you try he takes it in stride? Compared to some of the stuff they used to get up to, your attempts to get him and the pranks themselves are probably just adorable to him.”

Fred and George both blush like they're making valiant attempts to be as red as their hair as the realization that they've tried to prank a Marauder sinks in.

She laughs again as she turns towards the entrance, waving over her shoulder, “I'll see you later boys.”

She shakes her head as she hears them start to hiss at one another of what to get Remus to make it up to him.