NOVEL WEB Chapter 48: CHAPTER 48
A young wizard with round glasses and a tall, thin wizard with a receding hairline stepped out from the inner chamber. Judging from their orientation, the pair seemed to be heading toward the chamber on the left—until they heard movement. The two Blackwood brothers locked eyes instantly.
"Alert! The Auror's escaped!" one of the men shrieked. Their polished arrogance dissolved into panic, and both turned in a scramble, clearly intent on alerting the others deeper inside.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
"Stupefy!"
The spells erupted simultaneously from the brothers' wands—Adrian's full-body-bind spell veered wide as the target bolted, while Albert, with Auror-trained precision, anticipated his opponent's path. The scarlet jet of the Stunning Spell struck the bespectacled wizard mid-run. His limbs seized, and he slammed into the stone wall before slumping unconscious. The Stunning Spell, standard-issue in Auror dueling, effectively incapacitated without causing lasting harm.
Albert spared no time to gloat. Cries were already echoing from deeper within the ruins—someone had clearly been alerted. "Adrian, I'll hold them off. Get out—!"
But Adrian was already sprinting toward the chamber entrance, wand up, robes billowing. Gritting his teeth, Albert was forced to follow.
With a calculated stomp, Adrian crushed the glasses-wizard's wand beneath his boot, then strode into the center doorway. Seconds later, Albert, having quickly secured the downed man, followed his younger brother into the corridor.
Beyond the threshold lay a vast, circular stone chamber. Torchless and windowless, the room was illuminated by perpetual magical flames atop carved animal statues ringing the walls—serpents, lions, jackals, and peacocks—each stylized in the distinct style of Indian magical iconography.
At the far end of the chamber loomed an enormous marble statue: the Moon Goddess, clearly adapted from regional magical theology. Four-armed and draped in enchanted cloth, she bore a lotus in one hand, a bottle of what might have been Amrita in another, a defensive gesture with the third, and a long scepter in the fourth. The Goddess sat atop a three-wheeled chariot drawn by antelope and ten jasmine-shaped horses. Embedded in the statue's forehead gleamed a round, yellow jewel—seemingly the Moon Gem.
But Adrian's system alert rang silently in his mind: "Warning: False Artifact Detected." That gemstone was a decoy.
Four cultists—two Indian wizards with thick, jeweled turbans, one robed figure who had slunk beneath the statue, and a final brute with a bald, pus-splotched head and rose tattoos spiraling around his eyes—now emerged, cornering the brothers. The bald man's ragged robes and infected skin didn't disguise his identity.
"Rose markings—Merlin's beard… that's Herman Heavin," Albert muttered, eyes narrowing. "Ex-Death Eater. Vanished after the First War. I've seen him in Department of Magical Law Enforcement files. But he looks… diseased. Cursed, maybe."
He shot a desperate glance at Adrian. "Get back!"
But Adrian Blackwood, with quiet resolve, grinned confidently. Just before entering the room, he had activated the full remaining charge of his Xueba Halo—a rare magical enhancement from the system that boosted his spell comprehension, agility, and casting precision temporarily. It was risky to use it here, but necessary. Four-to-two odds weren't favorable otherwise—even with Albert's Auror training.
And besides, Adrian had read enough tales—those obscure, half-finished Chinese cultivation novels in the restricted part of the Ravenclaw library—to know what happened to protagonists who ignored subtle warnings. They always fell.
As the cultists started to spread out, Adrian dipped his hand into the seamless extension pocket sewn into his robes, summoned his enchanted broomstick Neptune, and leapt astride it.
"The Moonstone's a fake," he told Albert coolly. "I'll draw them. You cover from the flanks."
"Adrian, no—!"
Too late. Adrian blasted forward, a blur of enchanted speed, the cultists' curses flashing past him like fireworks. Albert cursed under his breath but took the opportunity, ducking behind the nearest serpent statue to return fire.
Spells whizzed from four directions—green, red, and purple hexes—but Adrian zigzagged through the air with the kind of sharp aerial control that reminded one of Viktor Krum. He didn't fire back yet; his job was to distract.
Chunks of the stone ceiling shattered under missed curses, fire licking the chamber walls. Meanwhile, Albert disarmed one turbaned wizard with a clean Expelliarmus, then disabled another with a lancing Impedimenta.
On his broom, Adrian smiled grimly. They might be outnumbered, but with his Xueba Halo active and his brother's training at his side, they were not outmatched.
And the true Moon Gem—wherever it was hidden—would soon be theirs.
After Albert saw from his position that Adrian had boldly launched himself into the fray, he momentarily abandoned any adherence to Auror protocols. Though he refrained from using the Unforgivable Curses, powerful and advanced offensive spells nonetheless erupted from the wand he had confiscated from the Jewish wizard. Despite the wand not being his own aspen unicorn hair wand, Albert's mastery ensured his casting precision and power remained lethal—fiery jets, acidic jets, and concussive blasts forced the Indian wizards to divert much of their attention to dodging.
Meanwhile, Adrian, soaring overhead on his enchanted broom, narrowed his eyes and adjusted his grip on his wand. He waited for an opening, circling the stone sanctuary, the benefits of the "Xueba Halo" bolstering his reflexes, spell accuracy, and strategic awareness. After narrowly dodging a thunderbolt that Albert hurled toward the enemy, Adrian took advantage of the resulting explosion's dust cloud to dive low. With silent, swift intent, he skidded to a stop behind Herman Heavin and cast a Transfiguration charm that turned fragments of conjured metallic material into sharp-edged Lego-like bricks—gleaming silver with wicked, upward spikes.
Moments later, the barefoot Herman, trying to evade another of Albert's spells, jumped back—his heel landed squarely on the transfigured "Lego." With a gruesome crunch, the spikes pierced the bottom of his foot. Adrian winced, barely resisting the urge to look away.
Taking the opening, Adrian fired a searing flame jet from his wand at the Indian cultists. One of them failed to fully dodge, and his elaborately patterned turban caught alight. Screaming, he clawed it off, revealing an oily, thinning scalp and an uneven horseshoe of hair, matted and sweat-soaked.
Herman stumbled in agony, attempting to pull the object out of his foot, but the pain overwhelmed him. He opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out—only a strangled, hoarse gasp. It was enough of a delay. Albert raised his wand and cast, "Stupefy!"
The Stunning Spell struck true. Herman's attempt at casting a Shield Charm came too late. He crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut.
The three remaining wizards, realizing their strongest ally had just fallen, froze in disbelief before furiously retaliating. But the duel quickly became one-sided. While the Indian magical tradition emphasized rituals and enchantments, it was poorly suited to fast-paced duels. In contrast, European wizarding combat had evolved around dueling techniques. The cultists, despite their numbers, were no match for a trained British Auror and a magically gifted Ravenclaw third-year with an uncanny grasp of Transfiguration and situational spells.
Even as Adrian limited his spell selection in front of Albert, he used clever misdirection and terrain advantage to disrupt his opponents. A levitated statue here, a redirected explosive hex there—combined with the defensive strength of the hide-infused robes he took earlier, it was enough.
Albert knocked out one more wizard, then used a transfiguration spell to bind the comatose foes in conjured ropes. Another wizard, only stunned, was hit again with a Petrificus Totalus for good measure.
"When did my little brother get so bloody powerful?" Albert asked in disbelief, his wand still trained on their fallen enemies. His face, usually stern, split briefly into a boyish grin. Realizing how un-Auror-like he was behaving, he coughed and straightened up stiffly. "Mum and Dad are definitely hearing about this. And weren't you sorted into Ravenclaw? You're acting like a Gryffindor."
Adrian smirked and gestured to the Moon God statue. "Albert, the gem. But don't touch it directly—there could be enchantments."
Albert nodded and approached the idol cautiously. Raising his wand, he began to cast detection charms before attempting extraction. Meanwhile, Adrian, already tipped off by the system's alert that the gem embedded in the statue's brow was a decoy, silently circled around the statue. Beneath a stone lip at its base, he discovered a hidden compartment. A soft yellow light glowed faintly—he reached inside and withdrew a smooth, luminous gem the size of a Snitch. It shimmered with a faint magical pulse.
Without hesitation, Adrian slipped the real Moon Gem into his system storage, letting Albert focus on the decoy.
"Adrian, hold on." Albert turned his attention back to the unconscious Herman Heavin, now bound tightly in magical rope. He aimed his wand at the Death Eater's face and murmured, "Aguamenti."
A small stream of clean water splashed across Herman's face, causing him to blink groggily. Albert didn't wait for him to fully recover consciousness—he locked eyes and cast, "Legilimens."
The mind-reading spell pierced the weakened Death Eater's defenses. As flashes of memory surfaced, Albert grunted.
"It's just as I feared. These cultists are descendants of British wizards who smuggled the Moon Gem out of India during the colonial era. To maintain its power, they've been using ritualistic sacrifices… trying to create a counterfeit Philosopher's Stone by tapping lunar magic."
Adrian felt a chill run down his spine. "All this… just for that?"
"Yes," Albert confirmed grimly. "And they would have kept doing it—if we hadn't stopped them."
Adrian glanced at the still-glowing statue and the unconscious cultists around them. "Let's make sure they don't get the chance again."
However, although this counterfeit elixir possessed a limited life-extending effect, the ritual to produce it was far too cruel. The anguish and resentment of its victims were absorbed into the potion as a curse, and neither the cultists nor the Indian wizards had the knowledge to dispel it. Those who consumed the potion eventually suffered grotesque swelling and deformation of their bodies, tormented by ever-increasing agony until death brought final release.
The current generation of guardians had allied with Herman Heavin. Once a known Death Eater and now a deranged fugitive from Azkaban, Heavin had aspirations of using the cursed elixir to resurrect his fallen master, the Dark Lord. Meanwhile, the Indian wizards—adepts in ritual magic—believed their skills could help them purify or control the curse embedded in the potion. The alliance was forged out of mutual ambition, but Herman's obsession led him to become the first to test the elixir. As expected, the potion's side effects overwhelmed him, eroding his sanity and twisting his already fractured mind.
After extracting this information, Albert Blackwood muttered another spell to return Herman Heavin to unconsciousness. Then, casting a meaningful glance at his younger brother Adrian, he raised his wand and performed the Obliviate charm on each of the surviving enemies, carefully removing any memories involving Adrian: "Sorry, Adrian, under normal circumstances, your involvement here would warrant at least a Third-Class Order of Merlin. But in this case, it's better if no one outside of us knows what really happened… It's not that excelling is a problem, but if the Ministry learns about your affinity with advanced curses—especially dark ones—it could follow you for years."
"It's fine, Albert, I understand," Adrian replied without hesitation, concealing the satisfaction that came from being entrusted with real responsibility. "It's easy for people to jump to the wrong conclusions when someone our age is capable of magic associated with You-Know-Who." Then, softening the tone, Adrian added, "Don't worry—I've only been reading from some old texts I found in the Ravenclaw common room and the Room of Requirement. I'm not going dark, promise."
"Thank you… for saving me," Albert said, though his tone remained gruff. Then he allowed himself the barest smirk. "And in return, I won't breathe a word of this to Mum. But if you mess up and give yourself away later, that's on you. Now—this Seamless Expansion Charm on your bag, did a seventh-year help you? Or did you figure it out yourself? Be careful, though—if the spellwork is off and you pack it wrong, you could crush yourself to death. Right—let's get out of here first. I'll report back to the Department."
Adrian, who had been bracing himself for a lecture, chuckled instead. "One of the older Ravenclaw girls—bit of a Charms prodigy—helped me out." He avoided naming Lisa Dupin, whose assistance had helped him enchant his pouch. Then, with a sudden motion, Adrian produced his broomstick, and the two brothers mounted up. As the wind howled in the underground shaft behind them, Adrian remembered the Templar's badge in his pocket and felt a knot of guilt—but pushed the emotion down and kicked off from the ground.
After they emerged, Albert quickly performed Side-Along Apparition to return Adrian to Aunt Josephine's home. She had already gone to bed, unaware of the peril her nephew had faced. Albert gave Adrian a last nod—half pride, half warning—before Disapparating again to alert the Ministry.
Back in his room, Adrian allowed the teleportation dizziness to pass as he collapsed onto the bed. His nerves slowly unwound from the mission's intensity, and at last, he opened his system interface to review the rewards. The first item of note was the stash of magical materials—snakeskin, dragonhide, and the like. A single piece of the Scottish Loch Ness drake's skin could sell for a fortune. But the most valuable reward was the newly granted permanent enchantment: Animal Understanding.
While not as potent as Parseltongue or Animagus communication, the enchantment allowed Adrian to comprehend any creature that willingly communicated with him. It wasn't true translation—more of an empathic link that conveyed intent and emotion—but it far outpaced Hagrid's more instinctive rapport with magical beasts.
Reflecting on the experience, Adrian set his next learning target: Apparition. Though conventionally taught only to sixth-years, the theory behind it—the Three Ds: Destination, Determination, and Deliberation—was more mental discipline than raw magical power. And while his young body's development might pose some challenges, Adrian was no ordinary third-year. After flying through freezing winds on his broom and witnessing Albert vanish from place to place with a pop, he became all the more determined to master the skill.
The next morning, Aunt Josephine awoke grumbling about the wand she'd inexplicably found in the corner of the bathroom—no doubt one of the ones Adrian had borrowed. That same morning, Owen Blackwood arrived to pick up Adrian and his younger sister Emily for their return home, completely unaware that his sons had just dismantled a dark magic operation, captured a Death Eater, and recovered a cursed magical artifact—all without backup.
Returning to his home in Dorset, Adrian was greeted by an exceptionally sumptuous British lunch prepared by Mrs. Blackwood: celery soup, ham-stuffed omelettes, cardamom sourdough, veal glazed in sour plum sauce, and for dessert, sugar-cured shrimp and her signature heavy cheesecake—washed down with a generous serving of Butterbeer. Having eaten nothing since the previous night, Adrian and Albert, who had been starved for hours in the spider-infested ruins beneath the temple, became the main force behind nearly clearing the entire spread.
Afterward, Albert pulled Adrian aside and quietly informed him that he'd received high commendation from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, along with a generous pile of Galleons as a bonus. The part that thrilled Albert most, however, was the two-month sabbatical granted to him. Being upright and ever the big brother, Albert felt a twinge of guilt—thinking it only fair to pass the entire bonus to Adrian, who had technically saved his life.
Adrian, who never liked taking more than he earned, accepted only half. Though he was still too young to visit Hogsmeade and rarely had need for the allowance his parents sent, he had recently been brainstorming gift ideas—some more refined than "Weasley jumpers"—and the extra Galleons saved him the trouble of having to transfigure gold using the Philosopher's Stone. It was, in fact, the perfect solution.
The rest of the holiday passed just as Adrian had once hoped: peacefully. He spent his time reading obscure magical theory texts from the Ravenclaw common room, dueling lightly with Albert, or playing wizard chess with his younger sister Emily. In secret, when the adults were occupied or out of sight, Adrian practiced Apparition. He had mail-ordered white moss and followed notes left behind in the Room of Requirement—despite the fact that the Ministry forbade underage wizards from learning until at least their sixth year. But Adrian, with his matured intellect, knew that mastering the Three D's—Destination, Determination, and Deliberation—was more a matter of mental discipline than raw magical power.
Although he never risked going outside the house, Adrian succeeded in moving from one side of his room to the other. But on one occasion, he reappeared with half his leg inside a wall—he broke into a cold sweat and promptly decided to suspend further experimentation until he could return to Hogwarts and sneak outside the castle's anti-Apparition wards for more open practice.
On Christmas Day, Adrian received a mountain of presents. Most surprising of all was a gift from Miss Everything—a box of sugar-free horseshoe-shaped dark chocolates and a toothbrush set with enchanted Muggle-brand toothpaste. She had included detailed notes about proper dental hygiene, suggesting, in polite Ravenclaw fashion, that Adrian might not fully understand Muggle customs.
Among his favorite gifts, the most heartfelt was a magical self-portrait painted by Emily. The most useful came from Second Columbine—a thick tome on Transfiguration rituals. And the most exciting was an owl given to him by Albert: a sleek, cold-eyed creature with snow-dappled feathers. Adrian named him Benny and hoped fervently that the owl would be clever enough to stay far away from a particular Hufflepuff girl who, rumor had it, had once tried to eat an owl during a Care of Magical Creatures class. Even Professor McGonagall had reportedly thundered about it in the staffroom.
Adrian's gifts to others were simple but thoughtful: miniature pouches with Seamless Extension Charms. Though their capacity was small and they required careful use, they were reliable and highly coveted among students—especially those trying to keep enchanted ink, chocolate frog cards, or illicit items away from Filch. Compared to most first-year wizards, Adrian's magical crafting ability and attention to detail made his gifts both practical and deeply appreciated.
But while Adrian basked in familial warmth and quiet accomplishments, far away in Gryffindor Tower, Harry Potter spent the holiday in the company of the Mirror of Erised—staring, night after night, at the family he never knew. Without Dumbledore's intervention, Harry might have lost himself in its false promise of joy.
In the end, time, as always, waited for no wizard. With a reluctant heart, Adrian waved goodbye to his parents and sister and boarded the Hogwarts Express, ready to return to the magical school that, in so many ways, was beginning to feel more like home.