HP: Spirit Talker

I don't know how we're going to divide it up, because in the beginning I had thought of giving the teenager a 'beard', just keeping quiet about what he found, and then going back alone. But that would be low and mean. The boy won't know about it, but I will know about it, and I will know that I did wrong — that's enough to lose my peace of mind. Looking at the situation from a certain angle, it was a good thing that the books, scrolls and diaries were in Parseltongue — it would tell me who they were going to.

I hid the Slytherin ring so Harry wouldn't even know about it. I didn't sense any special magic in it, just an old piece of jewelry with the standard set of protective charms. But then karma hit me: Potter was the first to reach one of the lockers, which revealed a dagger.

And that would have been fine, except that there were a pair of short, very elegant swords made of silver metal with unfamiliar runes engraved on the blades. Before I could do anything, the teenager grabbed one of the blades and dropped it, screaming in surprise at the painful sting in his palm.

All I could do was let out a heavy, doomed sigh and cover my eyes: Karma never sleeps. Harry had become worried, fearing a curse or poisoning, and was almost hysterical at the sight of the reddened spot on his palm. It took a lot of nerve and stamina not to curse or get hysterical when the runes on the blade glowed a soft yellow light. A true rune weapon, made of spirit steel, not human forging, apparently forged by one of the local Fae. And damn it, that treasure was so close!

After a few minutes, I calmed down and began to calm a nervous hero by briefly explaining what this weapon was. It seemed that thanks to me, Dumbledore's words and his prophecy that Harry would have a power that the Noseless One didn't know about took on new meaning. With such a weapon, and a paired one at that, much could be done....until people woke up and killed you, yes.

I remained calm, rightly fearing retaliation. What if I found a unique artifact, hid it, and Potter found one of the Infinity Stones? That's what I thought, trying to keep my hamster-toad nature in check. Afterwards, we put all the items we found in my briefcase — the best place to keep treasures.

I reminded the teenager again not to talk about what we'd found, because the whole world would be out to get us that very day, and our corpses would be hidden in a swamp somewhere deeper and farther away. Gryffindor Brain is a serious disease, but magic and fear cure it oh-so-seriously and very effectively. And the oath sworn before is not a pound of flesh. Still, the reasons for paranoia and nightmares aren't bad.

We raided Salazar Slytherin's office, even the furniture was sealed. We returned to our tower at the beginning of the third night, and as we were leaving, the boy remembered talking to Black and asked for time to find a place to meet. I sighed heavily: a slacker is a slacker. I meant Potter, if anything.

On this day, Saturday, I have an appointment with one Mene Genosuke, the father of the cold twins. And Gabrielle is supposed to fly out tonight, so I didn't go to bed, and after refreshing myself with potions, I got to work on the present. Both Delacour sisters were worried about me, and I guessed why Fleur had come to my duel with a dozen battle mages.

Gabby had told me about the dragons, but she could have kept her mouth shut. My gift was an animated three-piece artifact in the shape of a milk-colored dragon. The base material was basilisk bone, which is an excellent store of magic and on which the structures hold perfectly.

Using transfiguration and trance, I made a sharp-edged chain of blue quartz that "grew" into the bone, forming a bone ridge that runs from the dragon's nose to the tip of its tail. From the same quartz I made small but very sharp claws and spikes on the wings, as well as two pairs of eyes. Inside the figure I placed a small crystal — the core and anchor of all the structures and weaves. I spent the rest of the night and most of the morning finishing both gifts.

The dragons are simply an animated barrette with a specific set of behaviors depending on the order. At second level, this artifact protects against mental magic up to medium level, meaning Imperius certainly won't stop it, but Confundus and Petrificus Totalus will, and so will Legilimenship if you put "standard" effort into it.

Increasing the effort, however, activates a third function — the dragonkin will physically attack the attacker with its magic weakened. Though the claws and spikes are small, they can mutilate the face or open the veins in the throat, giving the girls a good chance to escape in case of danger.

Of course, I realize that such artifacts are very expensive and rare, because they are unique, tied to blood and shades of magic. But I don't want to sell them, and if I have to, I'll make them again.

I finished the hairpins, had a hearty lunch, drank a potion, and went to meet Mena.