The Other Curse Breaker
The Other Curse Breaker
It took me a little while to explain our situation in a letter to Bill. I was trying not to say too much but also afraid if I said too little he wouldn't know how to help us. I did my best with it and showed it to Barnaby who said he approved, before I called Nightspur in and tied the scroll to her leg.
"It's a long flight" I told her, stroking her feathers. "Be sure to rest along the way." She took the owl treat I held out to her and swallowed it before flying out through the bedroom window with a happy screech and off into the cloudless night.
The next few days passed by quite happily. Barnaby and I took advantage of being able to rest and relax at home together. We were both still worried but we knew it might be the last time for however long that we'd have days free to enjoy each other's company, uninterrupted before we were busy with work every day.
Three days after sending Nightspur off to Bill in Egypt we were due back at the Ministry of Magic to meet with Mad Eye Moody. We arrived at the Ministry early enough to catch Tonks on her way in. She told us she was usually the first to arrive in the Aurors Office because she was the keenest of those in the training program. And that Moody probably wasn't even there yet. She led us over to a small stand with a sign that read 'Ministry Munchies' where we ordered coffees and had a catch up before we headed into the nearly empty lifts together.
She'd been correct about being the first one in, even after our detour. There wasn't a single other person in the sea of cubicles and she explained that, "Generally Aurors like to have a lie in, we stay late most days, leaving with Magical Maintenance long after the Ministry closes. And we take our work home with us. I was up well past midnight last night trying to get my head around some of this stuff" she said, yawning loudly as she thumped a huge stack of papers and folders onto one of the cubicle desks.
Moody arrived shortly after we'd sat down to wait. "Aye, you're as keen as this one are you." He asked rhetorically, indicating Tonks. She grinned broadly at him, and replied cheerfully, "The early owl gets the flobberworm Mad Eye!" Moody barked out a laugh and just said "Aye" again before ushering Barnaby and I into his office.
Moody conjured up a comfortable looking pair of armchairs for us opposite him at his desk and bade us sit down as he hung up his cloak. "I'm afraid I haven't got much to tell you about that ring" he started, producing it from his pocket and sliding it back across the desk to us. "Only that there is indeed a curse upon it, a bloody strong one, but something else too. It's very old magic, much older than I usually see. I had a thought I might like to send it downstairs to the Department of Mysterious to be studied, but that lot would find excuses to keep it from you for Merlin knows how long, years I suspect" he admitted with a look of deep distrust.
I sighed, another dead end. I'd had my hopes up that someone as experienced as Mad Eye would have been able to tell us something more.
"My best advice is, take it into Gringots to one of their Curse Breakers, see if they can tell you if it's Goblin made or the like. You might get more of an idea of its power or the nature of its curse if you can find out something about how or when it was made" he suggested.
Barnaby and I exchanged a smile and told Moody we'd already done just that, that we'd contacted a Gringots Curse Breaker whom we knew personally, and were awaiting his reply.
He barked another laugh at us and said, "You're well on your own way with it then. You might also think about taking it to Dumbledore to get his input if you come up against another wall at Gringots. Or you could just say to hell with it, lock it up, forget the blasted thing exists. But don't you go selling it or giving it away. We've got laws about passing on cursed objects and I'd hate to have to haul the pair of you back in here for an inquiry." he warned us, all traces of laughter gone from his face.
"That actually reminds me, Strixx. I've been wanting a word with you about another matter. I suppose your lack of reply about the Auror training program was your way of expressing a lack of interest. But it might interest you to know I was the one who vouched for you and sent the offer out for you to join. I can see you've been preoccupied with this ring but the offer still stands. I'd be happy to take you on here and train you up. Dumbledore was the one who filled me in on your previous experience and suggested you to me as a potential candidate." he finished.
I was surprised to hear that I'd been the topic of discussion between those two wizards and flattered that he still wanted me to join. I thought about how exciting it might be to train under Moody, alongside Tonks and had a momentary pause where I strongly considered saying yes. But then I thought of Barnaby and of the WCU, remembering my determination to help Werewolves and do what I could to make positive changes in the Unit, I thanked Moody and declined. I explained our intended plans to him and said perhaps someday in the future I'd take him up on his offer, but that it wasn't the right time for me just then.
We left shortly after that, calling out a quick goodbye to Tonks as she was now buried behind a vast mountain of paperwork. Barnaby and I exited the Ministry together, contemplating heading to Gringots next, as per Moody's suggestion. But ultimately decided we'd wait to hear back from Bill first, before involving others.
We arrived home to a quiet and empty house. There was still no sign of Nightspur or any other owls or post. We sat down on the sofa together and started talking somewhat dejectedly about how little progress we'd made thus far.
All we knew for certain was that two people had told us the ring was cursed. One had told us it was also extremely powerful. And Madam Lee had given it to Barnaby fully expecting me to wear it.
We went back and forth for a while, on what to believe from all we'd heard and suspected. We even spent a few unpleasant moments where we were almost considering trying Borgin's creepy suggestion of looking for a corpse, just to see if we could learn more about the rings power.
We were starting to talk in circles and I was about ready to give up when we heard a familiar voice call out, "Hello?" It was coming from the fireplace.
Bill Weasley's head was sitting amongst the embers, his vivid red hair giving the impression that his head was was on fire. I was alarmed for just a second, and then my face broke into a relieved smile as I hurried over to the hearth, Barnaby just behind me.
"Bill! What are you doing?" Barnaby laughed. "Well I couldn't leave the site, entirely, you know, to visit. We've just dug up a new tomb and it's a doozy. I can only stay for a few minutes but I thought face to would be the best way to discuss what you wrote to me about. Have you got the ring with you now?" He asked us.
Barnaby pulled the purple velvet box from his pocket and opening it carefully showed it to Bill.
"Hmm. I can't do much to examine it from here, but I can tell you what I know. I actually have come across a few cursed items out here, and one of them was a ring. The Ancient Egyptians were a weird lot, preferring that their valuables be buried with them rather than pass them along as inheritance" he told us.
"The ring I found was discovered to have a very strong, ancient curse on it that shriveled the hand of the wearer. Not because any of us were careless enough to touch it of course, but the skeleton of the poor bloke who'd broken into the tomb to steal it had. It's not clear yet if it was the curse its self that killed the thief or if he died of natural causes after. But either way, very nasty stuff. I'm glad you two have been sensible enough not to touch it directly or heaven forbid try to wear it" he finished.
Now that we didn't need to worry about what we put into a letter, Barnaby told Bill the entirety of the rings backstory and how he'd suspected it carried a curse from the moment he'd received it.
Bill actually seemed to like the idea of trying the ring on a corpse, but he brought up a problem with it that Barnaby nor myself had considered.
How to get the ring onto said corpses finger without touching it. We tossed around a few ideas, Wingardium Leviosa being the forerunner. Bill also gave us the name of one of his colleagues at Gringots who he trusted to examine the ring in person before we resorted to grave robbing.
Gillian Gylphan, who he told us had worked in the research department of Gringots ever since a spot of trouble she'd gotten herself into while exhuming an ancient cave in Peru.
Bill then invited us to bring the ring out to visit him in Egypt if Gillian couldn't help, saying we'd have our pick of skeletons to attempt trying it on. Not sure if he was joking or not I hastily thanked him and said we'd head to Gringots right away. His parting words to us were ones of caution, not to let any of the Goblins at Gringots see the ring, lest they identify it as Goblin made and attempted to lay a claim on it. Finally, he congratulated us on our engagement, which he'd heard about in a letter from Penny, and disappeared from the fire.