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Serena Snape: Love of Magic - chapter 42
🕑 Added 2024-11-23 00:52:18 +0000 UTCAuthor's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
December 4, 1976 – Serena Pov
"Shh!" I immediately shut Bellatrix up, even though she wasn't talking. "Something got past my wards." I muttered. The makeshift house I had made was practically a stone box; it had small windows for ventilation. So I quickly approached them and decanted my tin mind to sharpen my senses. It was very dark inside and outside the house, but thanks to the weak moonlight that filtered weakly through the trees, I was still able to see accurately.
Bellatrix and I had decided to get some rest after hours of wandering around the Indian jungle. Bellatrix was going to rest for half an hour before we continued. There were some nocturnal creatures we could catch, but it seemed the prey came towards us.
I started walking from one wall to another without seeing what the hell had gotten past my defenses. I admit, it hadn't used anything extreme, just some basic wards, but I felt them as it passed through as if they weren't even there to begin with. At least the alarm line I had placed had served its purpose; too bad it didn't tell me where the line was breached.
It was on the third wall when I noticed something moving. "Lethifold." I muttered in surprise before my smile grew wider.
"A Lethifold?" Bellatrix asked, becoming more alert now than before as she approached my side and looked through one of the cracks.
Now, I had to figure out how to do this. I decanted the rest of my metallic minds, preparing for combat. I just needed to immobilize it, as I might not be able to harm it magically or physically. Still, it wasn't necessary; it was tangible, so it could be touched physically, and that was all I needed.
I looked back at the lethifold; it was slowly and silently approaching where I was, moving just inches above the ground, and I could see the tentacles moving beneath it. I shuddered slightly; anything with that many tentacles was an aberration of nature. I didn't know if it was dragging itself along the ground by trailing its tentacles like a starfish, or if it was actually levitating, but this was my chance.
I stayed completely silent and looked at Bellatrix, making some signs to her. Luckily, for me, she understood quickly and moved away from the wall slowly and silently. I for my part even stopped breathing thanks to my cadmium mind, it was a short wait until the lethifold got close enough to the house and began to search the walls, as if it was looking for a way in, I shuddered as I saw the tentacles spread out beneath its flying shroud appearance, I clapped my hands, which made the lethifold alert, and I hit the wall of the house.
A dozen pillars of earth the size of my fist emerged from the ground at enormous speed and curved towards the Lethifold, trying to pin it against the ground. Unfortunately, I underestimated its reaction speed, and it managed to dodge all the pillars.
"Tch" clap I quickly created a hole to exit the house, completely invisible, thanks to Aria, obviously. I clapped my hands several times as I tapped the ground in succession. If a dozen pillars weren't enough, I would make more. Many pillars emerged from the ground surrounding the lethifold, forming a prison of pillars that rose into the sky before curving to try to imprison it.
I shuddered again as I saw it fly, the tentacles becoming even more visible. They were waving furiously as it fluidly dodged the pillars and- bingo, Bellatrix had cast a hex that hit the Lethifold, stopping it for a few moments so that one of my pillars could hit the corner of the Lethifold, pressing it against the ground, preventing it from escaping. The Lethifold was now moving frantically with violence. It was time; I jumped over the pillars and let myself fall onto the Lethifold. As I increased my weight, I fell hard onto it.
I quickly pulled out the mission seal, as the now-furious Lethifold, if I interpreted its movements correctly, made its tentacles grow and attack me on its back. My eyes widened as Cia clung to my clothes.
"Expecto Patronum!" My not-so-little spider surprised me because it had grown in some way, and now it was the size of my head. It began to spin around me, preventing the tentacles from getting close to my body. It was too effective, the lethifold started to scream, it was a loud and unnatural noise. The shroud tried to curl up on itself as if the Patronus was hurting it. I took advantage of that moment and placed the seal on its back.
Once I finished, I spread my wings and flew towards Bellatrix. I took her by the waist and rose. I gestured with my chin to the pillar. Luckily, she understood quickly and shot a curse at the stone pillar that still held the Lethifold in place. As soon as the pillar broke, the Lethifold quickly flew away back to the forest. I smiled widely, my first XXXXX{T5} creature, and it was captured without problem, perfect.
"Well, that was easy," I said jovially. It was good news, so I was happy.
"It was, I guess we met our quota for the day?" Bellatrix asked.
"We might as well call it a day." I chirped, "A XXXXX{T5} creature is a fine catch, let's head back to the apartment." With that, I lowered myself to the ground once more and created a portal. It was fortunate that I could join them in the apartment. Bellatrix didn't hesitate and quickly walked through the portal. I followed her immediately; I might as well get some sleep.
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December 7, 1976 – Serena POV
It took them two weeks to announce Rabastan's disappearance. I didn't know if it was because no one had noticed he had gone missing, or they had been searching the castle discreetly and ultimately found nothing. It didn't really matter; the important thing was that no one from Slytherin seemed to have mentioned my involvement, since no one had approached me directly about his disappearance.
I was almost expecting the Headmaster to question me personally, but it didn't seem likely that it would happen. Still, I had more important things to do.
"Come! Come! I have something to show you!" I brought the trio immediately into the living room of the apartment. Finally, having completed it! Faster than I had expected, so I was somewhat anxious!
"Did you finish them?" Bellatrix asked. It wasn't unusual for her to know; we spent a lot of time together, even when I was simply experimenting with my metals.
"Yep!" I took three rings out of my pocket and showed them to the others. "The Medallions are finished!"
"Those aren't Medallions," Lucius replied immediately.
"Tomato, tomahto, same difference." I dismissed the word and gave each of them a ring, each shuddering slightly as they held it.
"Okay, I felt that. What do they do?" Narcissa asked as she placed her ring on her right hand, wrinkling her nose at it. They were fairly generic, as they resembled a plain signet ring. I was considering adding a metallurgical alphabet symbol to them, but decided against it, so they lacked any markings.
"These are medallions, yes, shut up, they are medallions, just as you saw in Era 2." I had made sure to show them Era 2, obviously. "I was thinking about how to get around the medallion limits of only three metals and one medallion per person, and I came up with this, nicrosil!" I said excitedly.
"This looks like a single metal," Lucius said, looking at the ring closely.
"Yes, it is, it's just a nicrosil mind used to store the use of nicrosil's feruchemical ability while storing my identity in an aluminum mind for anyone to use, then I created a blank connection by composing feruchemical duralumin that had stored the connection. The connection created is as deep and identical to how the connection with a body part would feel, so it tricks the spiritual web, the soul, into believing that the locket and its power are part of the person holding them." I explained happily, Lucius and Narcissa's faces went blank, Bellatrix nodded, being the only one who understood what I was talking about. I had rambled a lot when I was alone with her.
"Well, you were able to create a Medallion, but why nicrosil?" Bellatrix asked as she put the ring on.
"Because nicrosil solves all our problems!" I said jovially as I pulled out a small container of nicrosil beads. "Feruchemical nicrosil stores investiture, magic, specifically. I can store copies of my abilities to use my metal arts, and by using aluminum to strip my identity from the metal minds I make, they can be used by anyone who can use feruchemical nicrosil, meaning you."
The medallion is made entirely of nicrosil, an alloy of nickel, chromium, and silicon. It is a metallic mind that is 'alive'. The 'alive' part was arranged with Schiavo; typically, there are ways to give sentience to inorganic objects with investiture, but it was much more complicated than simply hitting them with my tail, which is what I did. I gave several simple orders to the medallions. To follow the orders, the intention of whoever held it.
It stores the nicrosil part of my feruchemy. This nicrosil mind allows the use of feruchemical nicrosil, creating a semi-sentient object with the ability to utilize feruchemy independently.
The artificial connection I form with the 'living' duralumin medallion is so strong and profound that it deceives both the medallion and the soul/spiritual web/magic of whoever holds it, causing them to believe they are one. Therefore, as the 'living' medallion, the Schiavo, can use Feruchemical Nicrosil. Then the person holding it 'can' use Feruchemical Nicrosil.
A single medallion to grant the feruchemical ability over nicrosil would allow the person to access nicrosil minds that I can create, utilizing different powers of the metallic arts. You could use any ability. However, I had to take some extra steps; it was not a very direct way to get powers, but it was much less restrictive. The important thing is that it was not limited to three powers, as the medallions should be. So if you really wanted, you could have 31 nicrosil minds and have all the powers of Mistborn.
"Alright, take your pick!" I said happily as I picked up the container of nicrosil beads. "Each one has a different power, grab any one!" Bellatrix was the first to grab one, followed by Lucius and Narcissa. Once all three had a bead in their hands, I tossed the container into my inventory, grabbing Bellatrix's bead and smiling. " Feruchemical gold, gold stores health, healing!" I handed the bead back to her, then pulled out another gold bead and passed it to her. "Try decanting the nicrosil bead first to activate the power on the gold; it feels like you're pulling something, then you can decant the gold."
Bellatrix nodded and pulled out her vario before cutting a thin line across her palm, which immediately began to bleed. Narcissa winced but didn't intervene. Bellatrix frowned, and after a few seconds, the wound healed quickly. I couldn't help but let a huge smile grow on my face.
"Ha! I did it!" I said happily, "Your turn, Lucius!" I grabbed the Nicrosilmind from him. "Allomantic tin, heightens senses, here." I pulled out a 1g bead of tin and handed it to him. "Same here, pull the Nicrosilmind out and swallow the metal, it'll feel like an oven in your stomach." Lucius made a face of disgust as he looked at the metal in his hand, before sighing. After a few seconds of hesitation, he swallowed the tin; the effects were immediate, as his eyes snapped shut.
"Shit, everything's brighter," Lucius groaned, "and louder."
"Yes, it takes a while to get used to it. You can stop the burning at any time." Lucius nodded, and his expression of relief seemed to show that he had done so.
"Lastly, Cissy!" I took the Nicrosilmind from Narcissa and smiled widely before handing it back to her. "Just try to decant it." Narcissa nodded and waited a few seconds.
Hello, Cissy, are you feeling anything different? I asked. Narcissa wrinkled her nose.
Not really? Should I notice something? she asked worriedly. My smile widened.
"You're speaking Parseltongue?!" Lucius asked in surprise. Narcissa looked confused.
"Yes, I discovered that it is not only limited to the metallic arts, but to my other abilities, the ability to use alchemy and ancient magic as well, actually, I think even wand magic if used by a muggle." The trio seemed surprised. I smiled widely once again. This was simply unprecedented. The possibilities that opened up to us with nicrosil, the ability to copy my powers, were incredible.
And not only that, since they could also use feruchemical nicrosil, they could store their abilities. They just needed a Nicrosilmind with feruchemy on aluminum to be able to remove the identity of the metallic minds, and it would be perfect.
We could share skills whenever we wanted; it was just ridiculous.
Okay, it had its limitations; both the medallions and the mind-nicrosil were temporary. If I store my ability to speak Parseltongue for 3 days in a mind-nicrosil, that mind-nicrosil will only grant 3 days of Parseltongue, so I would have to start accumulating my skills quite a bit.
There was also the fact that each nicrosil mind could only take one ' magic ' ability, no matter how strong or weak it was. So if they wanted to use, say, all of the Allomantic skills, they would have to load up 16 nicrosil metal minds each with the corresponding stored ability.
Nothing that my time bubbles can't solve. I also had to catch the trio up on numerous series and movies so they'd be prepared for whatever world we visited. During that time, I was responsible for recharging their mental energy.
Luckily, I could do several at the same time, so it was much easier.
"Now, what powers do you want?"
What followed was a lengthy discussion about the skills each one wanted, as I had said; it was inefficient to assign 32 metals to each one. More work for me, as metal minds, the nicrosil lost their capacity every time they were used, so I would have to recharge them constantly. Luckily, I could make almost all of them at the same time while I was not using them. So I could generate them almost unlimitedly. Still, it was beneficial; I could come up with several ideas to capitalize on this new ability to share powers.
Author's Notes: About the medallions, for those who read mistborn era 2, as you know, it's never explained how the medallions are created and I really didn't want to go into too much detail on their creation, if I had to do trial and error or start explaining in much more detail theories about the medallion creations, it would end up being a lot more blocks of text, which is really something I don't want. So, I simplified their creation. Even though canonically, as far as we know, hemalurgy is involved in their creation (or at least, it simplifies the process), I didn't want to delve into it yet. I have some plans for hemalurgy later on.
