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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2019 5:17:30 GMT
Part One
Hearing that old man Shafiq had been killed from his father got Regulus' head up quickly. "What? How did you hear about that?" His father frowned at him, but before he could speak Regulus jumped up from the table saying "I will have to eat later. That requires an immediate response I must hurry!" Without further explanation he ran from the dining room leaving his parents agog at the table. He'd deal with the punishment later, that was one of the possibles and if he hurried he might manage something important.
If he remembered right, Shafiq had no children at home. That meant very soon a lawyer would take over the house to sell off stuff and if the man had had the book it was important Regulus get in there first! The house was on the edge of a park which had once been part of an old Muggle castle grounds. While the inner section was cleared land many muggles used for games and taking time off, on the edge of it the house still sat the only one left over in the part. With a quick appiration, Regulus arrived there just as night was falling. Several glances around as he approached the house and stepped up to it's main door.
Even without someone inside this might be iffy. A touch of his wand to his head and there was a shiver as he disappeared from anyone who was watching.
He felt when he touched the door there was a protective feel to the door. No rush, right? He looked around the wall, placing his hand several feet to the left of the door, feeling he was getting warm then again a few feet farther on the 'sill' of one of the arrow slot windows. After a moment he shook his head feeling the house was covering up the opening for it's entrance very well. If the front door could not be opened except from the inside he would need another approach. Pulling out his wand he used a curse that acted somewhat like a whip.
"Flagellum Retractationum" he stated and whipped the wand out up high causing a purple slash of energy to shoot out wrapping around the third upper balcony (a tiny thing) and yanking him into the air to the edge of it! With his free hand he caught the rim, pulling his legs up so the whip-like spell pulled him over the top once his feet landed on the railing! As he let go of the spell, he leaned against the wall breathing hard and being absolutely still a minute listening for any reaction. When nothing happened, he touched the frame of the door and felt the stone, his other hand touching the wood door. After a full minute he smiled having found a loophole and moved to the other side of the door.
Using the stone work, he climbed till he was above the level of the door and then worked his way ever so carefully over the door itself till he was almost but not quite on the frame. The leaf was currently stuck on the roof of his mouth which irritated him because it changed the way his words sounded. He took a few precious seconds to move it into his cheek and then thought for a second carefully about the way this had to go. A deep breath in through his nose. Trying a piece of wandless magic, he transformed one of the blades of the fan turning above his head into a toad. The toad fell at once missing his back by a few scant inches as he also said "Alohomora!" This set off the doors defenses meant to trap an unwary witch or wizard.
A big green bubble like muggle chewing gum expanded from the door, big and rapid catching the toad and covering the entire balcony in it's green essence before wrapping around the toad's personal frame and blasting it off the balcony for distance! As the 'pop' sound happened, Regulus let go of the stone, fell onto the open balcony, and rolled inside before the doors snapped shut again! Inside! He sat up quickly and glanced around without words. Here was clearly the Master suite, not the place he needed to be, but it worked well enough. There should be few trap spells in the upper floors.
Hopefully.
He moved to the door, carefully checking the door before opening it and finding himself at the top of a stair. Stepping out onto the stair he had made three steps down when it suddenly turned into a slide and he was rapidly sent all the way down to the first floor, smacking into the wall at the bottom! The trip was so sudden and unexpected he ended up hitting the wall upside down, feet in the air like a handstand and then falling to the side. Laying there dizzily for a minute, he was aware of something passing over his head but not what it was or why. What he did not see was the sword from the hallway statue which had passed through the air above him about the time most people might have been scrambling upwards had they NOT ended up upside down!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2019 19:07:10 GMT
Part Two
It was nearly two minutes before he was focused enough to look around. Seeing the statue right beside him, he rolled away all the way to the wall before sitting up and got no reaction. So. An odd place for a statue in the middle of the hall, but it couldn't have gotten there by itself, right? About then the statue stepped back to the wall and froze again! Regulus kept his hands on the floor a minute checking out for other magic before he figured out what had happened and how close he had come to being beheaded. "Damn. What maniac does that with stairs..." unknowing it was Hogwarts inspired.
Unconsciously signing 'Lovely', Regulus stood slowly then held the wall reading what was there. Finding nothing else dangerous, he checked the hall and saw two doorframes, one on either side of the hall in the middle, the stairs coming down between them. The front door had an odd looking bar across it, diagonally. Sensing that was not something to mess with at this time, he instead touched each door in the middle, feeling about for it's magic and found neither had traps laid upon them. Thanking his lucky stars, he opened the first to find a fairly typical wizarding sitting room, clearly the place guests were received. The other door led to an office-type of space, the walls filled with moving portraits and paintings, but only one book shelf.
Casting "Accio Secrets of the Darkest Art" had no effect so he quietly closed the door not wanting to alert the pictures. There was nothing on the walls in the hallway which he felt was very odd. Looking at the stairs he studied their design first, then approached and laid a hand on the railing, standing there a minute sensing. "Damn, trap but by blood. Can't bypass normally. Railing it is." Moving to the edge of them, he pulled himself up onto the railing carefully, muttered a minor spell, and his hands and feet stuck slightly to the rail. Pulling each one off and replacing it higher, it took nearly ten minutes to reach the next floor but it worked.
He was careful to go down the railing at the top away from the stairs.
Canceling the spell with his wand, he turned towards the two doors and set a hand on each. Neither was trapped, thankfully. Opening the first one he saw a dining room and frowned, thinking he was missing some room space. Surely the other side wasn't just the kitchen? His head turned as he glanced round the room and saw only china cabinets along the walls, three large ones. No doors which, because of the narrowness of the house he believed. It would have to be an expanded space if there was one, but who didn't have a kitchen? Moving to the other door he checked it and then opened it. Den!
His puzzled head swiveled back and forth. Where was the kitchen then? And only one bedroom? Odd house!
Crossing the room towards the bookcase the rug grabbed his foot and flung him up into the ceiling lamp which caught him and spun around dizzyingly! He had to work to pry the sticky metal off his chest and arms, pushing till he got flung aside, hitting the door before the floor! Lying there breathless and now with a hurting head he missed at first the other change. After a few minutes he saw his hand had turned bright red with little what-looked-like-seeds spots on them. Frowning he lifted one to his eyes to look closer and noticed his other hand was the same. "What the Morgana...Strawberry? What sort of trick is this..."
Trying several tricks, nothing seemed to give him any help there so he ignored it for the moment lifting his wand.
"Accio Secrets of the Darkest Art" and a book sailed off the case to his hand! Success! But if there was one, could there be another? Looking at the spot he made his way around the edges of the carpet carefully, checking the bookcases as he passed them just in case. Several books pushed at him clearly wanting him to pay too much attention and he ignored them thinking them traps. At the space with the hole he also saw another titled Magick Moste Evile and took that one with his hand carefully. Putting both books in a expanded belt pouch on his belt, he wondered if there would be anything else worth trying for and decided against it.
Feeling still a bit woozy, he worked his way to a clear space and appirated, appearing on the steps across from his parent's home and his refuge. Crossing the street at the first chance with no lights, he made his front stoop without being seen closely by any muggles with a sigh of relief and stepped inside, touching the spell spot again inside. As soon as he did he saw his parents at the doorway watching him with scowls as he held up a hand saying "Job done, just before the lawyer arrived. Do you know how to reverse a fruit spell?"
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2019 10:16:50 GMT
Part Three
A week later, the seeds were gone and Regulus was looking merely reddish tan burned. He had been restricted to his room naturally with meals brought to him there, but the only reason he hadn't been cursed more was because of his already having been a victim and because he declared it a task he had been working on for several weeks for the DE. Blanking the book titles from his mind had been easy enough as well, but the notes he left behind had to be carefully written to keep certain things really private. Still, it was a hard week and the leaf was one of the few things that kept him from being more upset.
The books were hidden in his hiding spot along with the notes. There was no way he could let anyone find out what he was studying or looking for either way. The Dark Lord was involved in something deep, the knowledge well hidden and if Regulus ever wanted to understand he had to find the path that wizard had followed. That might be the trickiest thing he ever accomplished and he was sure the path had started somewhere in the Hogwarts school, but he had not found out a starting point or a hint at the trail. Unicorn's blood had been a revelation, but had not panned out.
There was of course no direct or obvious path; the Master had made it up probably as he went along. But power was something to be pursued and understood and the key to the Dark Lord was indeed in the path he followed. While he might regret his parents had fastened him firmly to this course, he would follow it none-the-less. Regulus was by no means power hungry, but knowledge-- ah yes, that was very important a task indeed. It was a few more days before he could manage much being quite busy with other things with his family, but he managed. By the time his skin was nearly normal again (Merlin did those potions taste terrible) with only a slight tint he had been able to only get halfway through one book, though it was quite interesting.
As he had hoped it had helped giving him an edge on several new forms of magic fields he could detect, though he had nothing to use to be sure of his growing skills. The reversal hex (which made a body's system try to run backwards to fatal and quite painful results) he had practiced, but found no notes saying there was any law about it. Three potions in there needing human flesh and fresh blood seemed to be the way towards making those creatures he had heard about from other Deatheaters, the Inferius. While the spells needed in addition to the potions were only mentioned here, the combinations taught him a little of Necromancy. He had thought at first that might be handy, understanding how the Master controlled such creatures. Then came the thought that might this field of magic be what the Master had mentioned, the way to his own immortality?
That was a curious thought indeed! Could the body be fixed to stop ageing, stop dying? While having no interest in stopping his age at this point in his life, Regulus did find the concept an intellectual exercise in how dark wizards and witches of the past had worked and thought. Dark magics indeed! One of the potions did effect muscle and tissue it seemed and preserving it to last far longer then most organic materials. It also mentioned a mind-numbing effect of control with a different potion which he had wondered about since two of it's ingredients were from far away in the Southern American region.
Making notes about certain details and directions still to check into, Regulus closed up the books to work on his animagus stuff in preparation for school. If this went right, he should be done just before school started...
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