Nearly two days had passed since the Duelling Club when another attack occurred.
The students, who had managed to keep their worries under control until then, fell into a genuine state of panic. Fortunately, the situation never escalated too far, as the professors managed to calm them in time, assuring everyone that they would solve the problem and keep them safe.
With Christmas approaching, most of those who had planned to stay at Hogwarts quickly changed their minds and signed up to return home for the holidays. Some were not afraid, but their parents insisted they come back, so the castle would be even emptier than usual that Christmas.
Steve, Mitchell, Trudor, and Padma were among those returning home.
Padma and Steve had not wanted to leave at first, but their parents forced them to return. Trudor had intended to go home from the beginning, while Mitchell would be travelling with his family over the holidays. As a result, all of Extimum's Ravenclaw friends, with the sole exception of Luna, would be leaving the castle.
The cause of all the commotion was that another student—and, in addition, a ghost—had been Petrified.
Although another Petrified student was not entirely unexpected after the previous attack, the fact that the assaults were continuing, and that one of the victims was a ghost, was what truly spread fear throughout the school. After all, it was madness when one considered that ghosts were undead beings.
If the monster could attack even a ghost—a being of spiritual energy that encapsulated a soul—few people believed they stood much chance of surviving as mere young witches and wizards.
The victims were Finch-Fletchley and Sir Nicholas's ghost.
Harry spent those days in an especially difficult position.
First, he had been found near Mrs Norris. Then everyone discovered that he could speak Parseltongue, the very ability possessed by Salazar Slytherin. And to make matters worse, he had once again been found near the other two Petrified victims.
Although there was plenty that made him look guilty, Dumbledore supported him, and there was no conclusive evidence proving he had done it, so he faced no official consequences. Even so, most of the students treated him terribly, ranging from insults to cruel pranks and mockery. Others simply feared him and kept their distance.
It was rather remarkable that some still dared provoke him despite believing he controlled a monster.
Extimum could do little to help. People wanted someone to blame, and they preferred someone within reach over an unseen culprit. His influence could not change that, though he did manage to defuse a few confrontations.
Ironically—almost amusingly—thanks to his intervention, the Ravenclaw students treated Harry better than his own House did, especially his small circle of friends, who chose to trust him.
Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, on the other hand, adopted a decidedly cold attitude towards him. The latter, in particular, tended to believe that Finch's Petrification had been Harry's revenge for pointing him out during the Duelling Club, reinforced by other conveniently resurfacing rumours—such as the fact that Finch had once told Harry he was Muggle-born.
Slytherin was by far the most divided House on the matter. Some simply did not care; others were afraid; some thought Harry was unworthy of being the Heir, or did not believe he was the Heir at all. Others, like Draco and Pansy, merely found the whole affair entertaining.
Nor were there those who saw it as nothing more than a joke. Fred and George were prime examples.
Putting that matter aside, the days continued to pass, soon turning into weeks. The students returning home departed, and Christmas drew ever closer.
The day before Christmas, several parcels that Extimum had ordered with Bloom during their trip to Diagon Alley arrived along with the post. They contained a wide variety of items, ranging from Christmas presents he intended to send to materials and ingredients for his experiments and... a number of rather special instruments with which he could finally begin studying Astoria's blood.
.
25 December 1992, Christmas.
--Extimum's POV--
Morning had arrived.
Darkness greeted me as I opened my eyes, with faint rays of light slipping through the edges of the curtains. It was a familiar darkness, and at the same time an irrelevant one. I could make out every detail almost as clearly as if the room were brightly lit; the only sign of the lack of light was the faint shadowy tint overlaying my vision.
Looking down at my chest, I saw Bloom fast asleep, wearing nothing but a sheer cyan silk nightgown that revealed her figure beneath the fabric with striking clarity.
I gently cupped her in my hands and lifted her off my chest, taking care not to wake her as I got out of bed. Then I carefully laid her down on my pillow.
She shivered slightly as she lost her main source of warmth and felt the chill in the air, but the lingering warmth left on the pillow seemed to comfort her a little. It was snowing outside; it had been for the past several days.
I stretched for a moment before heading into the bathroom for a shower.
Setting my trousers aside, I looked at myself in the mirror above the washbasin.
I had not changed much over the past few months, apart from my hair having grown a little longer and my having gained another two or three centimetres in height.
Away from prying eyes, my appearance was rather different from what everyone else usually saw.
Platinum-white hair, streaked with a few purple strands, slightly messy from having only just woken up. A pair of large white fox ears sat atop my head, their tips dyed a vivid purple.
My eyes were a deep, brilliant violet, with slit pupils reminiscent of a predator's.
My teeth looked perfectly normal, though when I smiled, rather sharp fangs became visible. Not that it happened very often.
Behind me, as though refusing to be ignored, nine fluffy tails of pristine white patterned with purple swayed in slow, graceful, almost hypnotic motions, as if they possessed minds of their own.
Turning my gaze away from my reflection, I stepped into the shower.
The tails are actually quite useful when bathing. It's like having nine extra arms helping me wash my back. They're also surprisingly easy to clean. I'm not even sure I've ever seen them particularly dirty, but I wash them thoroughly anyway for the sake of hygiene.
After finishing my shower, I changed into casual clothes. Normally I would have been expected to wear my school robes, but with classes over for the holidays, nobody minded students entering the Great Hall in ordinary clothing.
For a change, I had slept in much later than usual because it was Christmas, skipping my morning training altogether.
Once I was ready, I left the bathroom, only to find Bloom still snoring peacefully. Bloom was incredibly lazy when it came to waking up; almost every morning I had to rouse her myself.
Sometimes I let her sleep, but it was already nearly half past seven. We'd miss breakfast if she stayed in bed much longer.
Gathering a small amount of magic at my fingertips, I concentrated it at the tip of one finger before flicking it towards Bloom.
A spark shot across the room and struck her squarely on the backside.
"Kyaaa! My bum!"
She jolted awake, rubbing the spot with one hand while shooting me a sharp glare full of unmistakable complaints. It was meant to be a reproachful look, but I happened to find it particularly adorable on her.
"Good. Now that you're awake, go and have your bath while we've still got time. Otherwise, I'll use the quick-cleaning spell on you."
Bloom: "No! No, I'll bathe by myself!" Bloom darted towards the bathroom as she spoke, pouting all the while.
Extimum: "I'll be waiting for you in the common room."
I picked up the pendant I had bought in China from my bedside table and headed for the door, fastening it to my trousers as I went.
I'd been wearing it ever since I bought it, even with my school robes. I still hadn't had the chance to examine it properly, and although I'd tried activating it, just as the old woman had warned, the pendant didn't work. Even so, after cleaning and restoring it a little, it had become one of my favourite accessories.
--End POV--
As he stepped out of his private room, he found the common room unusually quiet. It was not merely because breakfast was already somewhat underway—there were genuinely very few students left in all of Hogwarts.
As he made his way towards a sofa to wait for Bloom, he noticed someone was already sitting there.
Luna: "Good morning, Extimum. Merry Christmas."
Extimum: "Good morning. Merry Christmas to you too. Haven't you gone to breakfast yet?"
Luna: "Oh, I was waiting for you and Bloom, so I've just been reading this book while I waited for you to come out."
Raising an eyebrow slightly, Extimum asked,
"How long have you been sitting here, exactly?"
Luna tilted her head thoughtfully before replying,
"I think since about five o'clock this morning. Here, this is your present." As she spoke, Luna picked up a wrapped box that had been resting beside the sofa.
'Two hours...'
Extimum was genuinely surprised that she had got up so early just to wait for them.
Extimum: "Thank you. Have you already seen my present?"
Luna: "Yes. It's a very pretty hairpin. Look, I'm wearing it right now." Luna said as she removed a cyan hairpin from her hair.
[img]
Of the two hairpins Extimum had bought together with the pendant, he had given one to Hermione. The other, which he had originally bought without anyone in particular in mind, had eventually ended up in Luna's hands as the two of them grew closer.
Luna: "Where's Bloom?"
Extimum: "She shouldn't be much longer."
As they talked, Extimum opened Luna's gift. Inside was a fruit resembling a red apple... well, if one ignored its size, which was nearly two or three times larger than an ordinary one.
That was where the similarities ended. Both its skin and its flesh were entirely different. Its exterior gleamed with a crystal-like sheen, and instead of the thin little stem found on an apple, it had a thick stalk much more like that of a pumpkin.
"Where did you manage to find an aged malus?"
Extimum asked with genuine curiosity, studying the fruit thoughtfully.
Luna: "My dad had a few put away, and since I stayed here for Christmas, he sent me some. So I decided to give you one. Oh, and look—there's another present underneath the aged malus."
Extimum could tell Luna was not being entirely truthful, but he decided to let it pass for the moment and looked at the second gift instead.
The aged malus was an uncommon Christmas delicacy within Britain's magical community. At first glance, it resembled an oversized apple, almost the size of a small melon, with a thick stalk much like a pumpkin's.
What made it truly special was that no two ever tasted the same. Its flesh was used to prepare mixtures that were then left to mature, producing a unique flavour every single time.
It was also difficult to obtain, as the trees bore fruit only in winter, and only once every three years.
The reason for Extimum's thoughtful expression was that this particular delicacy held a rather special meaning for him.
His family did not have the custom of exchanging gifts, regardless of the holiday or occasion—at least not among themselves. Foreign guests were the only exception, as far as he knew.
Even so... there had been one exception.
One Christmas, during his early childhood, Bob had come up to him and handed him an aged malus, saying it was a gift from his mother.
It was a hazy memory, even for someone with his recollection.
The thought always left him with unanswered questions, for it simply did not fit the image he had of his mother.
Even so, he had never forgotten that gift, nor had he ever seen or tasted another aged malus after that day.
Beneath the fruit, at the bottom of the box, was a small woollen rag doll. It depicted both him and Bloom, crafted with remarkable care and attention to detail.
Extimum: "Did you make this yourself?"
Luna: "I did. Do you like it?"
Extimum: "Yes. It's lovely. Thank you."
The doll truly was beautiful, with an impressive level of detail. It would make an excellent ornament for his desk. Without hesitation, he placed it inside his Expansion Charm bag.
As he was putting the gift away, Bloom emerged from the room, fully dressed, and flew over to join them.
Bloom: 'I'm ready. Let's go.'
Luna: "Morning, Bloom. Here, I've got a present for you too. I made it myself." Luna said as she pulled a small box from her pocket.
Bloom: 'Ooh, let me see!'
She eagerly snatched the box from Luna's hands and tore it open without a second thought. The contrast with the calm, careful way Extimum had unwrapped his own present—leaving the wrapping paper completely intact—could hardly have been greater.
As soon as she opened the little box, its contents became clearly visible. Inside were at least two complete sets of tiny clothes. Every garment had been meticulously crafted, a testament to Luna's remarkable skill at sewing clothing on such a miniature scale.
Luna: "I noticed you didn't seem to have many different outfits, so I made these for you myself based on what you seem to like."
Bloom's eyes sparkled as she carefully examined each piece with her tiny hands.
It wasn't that she lacked different styles of clothing because there weren't any available. Rather, most of the outfits she had seen while shopping with Extimum had simply failed to catch her interest. In the end, she had only chosen a few basic ones that had been magically shrunk to fit her size.
And even then, she wore most of those outfits only to model them for Extimum, keeping just a handful for everyday use, almost as though they were her own little uniform.
Bloom: 'They're beautiful.'
Overjoyed and visibly touched, she flew straight over to Luna and hugged her. Given her size, however, it was more like she was hugging Luna's face.
She truly wished she could speak and thank Luna herself, but she knew she couldn't. It would be far too dangerous if anyone ever saw her talking.
Bloom's emotions—and her frustration at being unable to express them—were conveyed to Extimum with perfect clarity.
Watching the two of them, he pondered for a moment before an idea surfaced in his mind, and he put it into practice at once.
He rested one finger lightly on top of Bloom's head and another against Luna's forehead.
Extimum: 'Try now.'
Bloom: 'Huh?'
Confusion flickered through Bloom's mind before she realised what was happening.
Luna: "Oh?"
Bloom: 'You heard me?'
Luna: "Yes..."
Luna's eyes widened in surprise before she blinked, her gaze shifting between Extimum, the finger resting against her forehead, and the one touching Bloom as she pieced together what was happening.
Bloom: 'The dresses are absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much.'
Luna: "I'm glad you like them."
Luna smiled happily, and Extimum withdrew his fingers. It was a small gesture, but it meant a great deal to Bloom.
It was a Legilimency technique he had learned only recently. Although his progress in the art was nowhere near as advanced as his Occlumency or his spellwork, he still made the occasional breakthrough.
Projecting Luna's and Bloom's thoughts while acting as an intermediary had not been particularly difficult. Since he was already linked to Bloom, it required little effort beyond establishing a connection with Luna. The technique was not invasive, but it worked only through physical contact, and each person remained free to choose whether or not to project their thoughts.
Afterwards, the three of them headed together towards the Great Hall for breakfast.
...
The Great Hall gleamed with Christmas splendour.
Not only were there a dozen frost-covered Christmas trees standing throughout the hall, while thick garlands of holly and mistletoe criss-crossed the ceiling, but warm, dry magical snow drifted gently down from above. Christmas carols also echoed softly in the background, with students and professors occasionally joining in the singing.
The Great Hall was remarkably empty. Perhaps fewer than half the seats at each House table were occupied.
Extimum had not spent the previous Christmas at Hogwarts, so he had no idea how many people usually stayed behind, but even he felt there should have been more.
Some students were orphans or lived too far away to travel easily. Others simply preferred spending Christmas at Hogwarts, while some came from difficult financial or family circumstances and chose to remain at the castle. Harry was one such example.
The subtle suggestions had improved the way people treated him, but only to a limited extent. After all, Extimum had not brainwashed anyone, and many of their personalities left much to be desired, so interactions with them were still often strained and uncomfortable.
With none of his Ravenclaw friends remaining to keep him company, he headed straight for the Gryffindor table, where Ron and the others were already seated.
Extimum: "Good morning. Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas." ×3
Hermione: "Who's she?"
Extimum: "This is Luna. She's a first-year."
The trio thought Luna looked vaguely familiar. They had seen her around a few times before, but they hadn't known she was part of Extimum's circle, nor had they ever been properly introduced.
Luna: "Hello."
After a brief round of introductions, everyone settled in.
Hermione gave Luna a slightly more inquisitive look, which Luna answered with a faint smile.
Hermione: "Here, this is my present for you." She reached into her bag and pulled out a neatly wrapped package.
Ron: "Oh, here. This one's from me."
Harry: "And here's mine."
Extimum: "Thank you. I'll open them after breakfast."
He accepted the presents and set them aside on the table.
He had already delivered his own gifts the previous day, sending some by owl from the Owlery—after bribing them with bacon and turkey—and leaving the rest in the dormitories with Bloom's help.
Once seated, he began helping himself to breakfast. Since it was Christmas, most of the dishes were less than healthy, consisting mainly of cakes and rich pastries, though there were still a few more ordinary foods available.
Extimum: "Those are some rather interesting cakes you've got there," he remarked, noticing two small chocolate cakes that had been set apart from the rest of the food.
Ron: "Oh, they're for... you know..." he replied suggestively.
Hermione: "Yes. We'll have everything ready for tonight."
Luna: "For what?"
Harry: "Er..."
Extimum: "They're for an experiment they're planning to carry out with Potions."
Luna: "Oh."
She asked no further questions. She understood they had only just met and that it was something they wished to keep confidential.
...
They remained in the Great Hall for quite some time. First they had breakfast while chatting about everyday things, then they spent a while getting to know Luna and playing a few board games together. They stayed there until the morning had worn on, eventually saying their goodbyes before returning to their respective common rooms.
Extimum and Luna walked back together to Ravenclaw Tower. Of the students who had remained at Hogwarts, there was no one else he knew particularly well, and with the common room nearly deserted, the place felt strangely lonely.
Extimum: "Have you got any plans for later?"
Luna: "Hmm... I was thinking of going for a walk, and maybe playing in the snow for a while. Why? Did you have something else in mind?"
Extimum: "Well, I don't know whether you'd find it interesting, but I was planning to investigate a magical curse. Would you like to come along?"
Luna: "Of course."
She accepted without so much as blinking.
Her immediate response made Extimum wonder whether she had actually understood what he was proposing, or whether she simply wanted to spend time with him.
Extimum: "Then follow me."
He led her over to a wall beside the staircase. Apart from a plaque bearing the Ravenclaw crest, it appeared completely ordinary. Yet as he approached, the surface turned translucent, revealing the entrance to a darkened room beyond.
Luna: "Oh, so this is where the entrance was!"
She watched with fascination as the seemingly ordinary wall transformed before her eyes.
She had already known he had a private room—Steve had never been particularly discreet when it came to gathering gossip—but she had never actually seen him enter or leave it.
As they walked down the corridor, the torches sprang to life one after another, illuminating both the passage and the room beyond with the white-cyan glow of blue flames.
After stepping inside, Extimum opened his wardrobe and took out two cases while Luna looked around the room.
He placed them on the desk. When he opened them, the first contained a vial of Astoria's blood, preserved in stasis; the second held an assortment of instruments intended for examining it.
Luna: "Whose blood is it?"
Extimum: "It belongs to Astoria Greengrass, a first-year Slytherin."
Luna: "Oh, I think I've seen her in a few classes, but I've never spoken to her."
As Extimum sorted through several other items, Bloom flew over to the second case and pulled out what looked like a rather rudimentary dual-eyepiece microscope.
She handled it with surprising confidence, taking out the various instruments one after another, arranging them on the table in a precise order, and making a few adjustments to their settings.
Luna: "Do you do this often?"
Extimum: "Oh, no. This is actually my first time. Bloom was much more excited about the idea of investigating it than I was, and she'd already spent quite a while poking through all these instruments beforehand."
After consulting a few notes about the equipment and reviewing some additional details, he picked up the vial containing the blood suspended in stasis and withdrew a small sample.
Extimum: "Put this into the magi-scope."
He handed the sample to Luna while returning the vial to its case. She carefully placed it beneath the lens, and Extimum adjusted several dials. Almost immediately, the instrument released a faint wisp of vapour before a soft light shone down onto the sample.
Extimum: "Go on. You can have a look."
He leaned towards one of the eyepieces to observe alongside her.
The magi-scope was similar to its non-magical counterpart. While it could also magnify and focus a specimen, its true purpose was to reveal magical chains and traces hidden deep within the sample—details beyond the reach of ordinary magical instruments.
Although devices capable of observing magic did exist, blood curses were not clearly visible even through most of them, especially one that had persisted within a family line for generations. An ordinary instrument simply would not suffice; one capable of exceptionally fine detail, such as the magi-scope, was essential.
Looking through the eyepiece did not feel like peering down a narrow tube, but rather through a perfectly clear lens. Illuminated beneath the instrument's light, the sample of blood appeared in extraordinary detail.
A crimson landscape, formed by thousands of microscopic biological particles that made up the blood, spread out before them.
Within the magi-scope's view, an occasional dark flicker appeared, taking the shape of what resembled some sort of sea serpent. It would emerge without warning, attempt to devour several nearby particles without success, then dive back beneath the surface and disappear once more. Even so, every particle it touched became noticeably dimmer afterwards.
Luna: "It looks like a water dragon," she remarked as she watched the phenomenon unfold.
That "water dragon" was the visible manifestation of the blood curse within the Greengrass lineage. It was not a single entity, but merely one of countless irregular manifestations appearing throughout the sample without any discernible pattern. Its attempts to interact with the surrounding particles were weak, yet they still caused a noticeable loss of vitality wherever they made contact.
The magi-scope allowed the curse to be observed with remarkable clarity, but curing it was nowhere near as simple as eliminating those "water dragons". The curse was bound to the entire bloodline. Even if Astoria were to die, it would remain active for as long as the Greengrass line endured.
As a bloodline extinction curse, it could disappear under only the most extreme circumstances: the family name would have to be abandoned, or the bloodline would have to die out entirely. The former meant renouncing the lineage itself—something utterly unacceptable for a family of such standing. The latter depended on there being no heirs whatsoever.
In the current generation, Daphne was the heir.
Her marriage would determine whether the family line continued. Her future husband would have to take the Greengrass surname or, in less common cases, combine it with his own. There was also the possibility that she could take her husband's surname while keeping Greengrass as her maiden name, but if none of her children inherited the Greengrass surname, the family would, for all practical purposes, become extinct.
All of this assumed that her father had no more children.
Renouncing the family name would not necessarily remove the curse from those already afflicted, but it would prevent it from being passed down to future generations.
...
Extimum spent the remainder of the afternoon testing one method after another on the sample.
Spells, potions, and direct magical intervention were all applied, but none produced any conclusive results.
The curse displayed adaptive behaviour. Whenever it was damaged without being completely destroyed, it absorbed vitality from the surrounding blood to restore itself. Its resilience was also considerable.
He attempted to isolate it, freeze it, burn it, sever it, and even destroy it through controlled explosions. He also experimented with countering it using other curses. None of the methods proved effective.
Luna took an active role throughout the entire process. She suggested variations to several of his approaches, particularly those involving potions, and helped test them on different portions of the sample. Although her knowledge was limited, her ideas opened up several new avenues of experimentation.
Bloom, meanwhile, handled the instruments and assisted in carrying out the experiments. She also applied her own magic to the sample, producing only modest results, but ones that were still valuable enough to record.
Of all the methods they tried, direct magic had the greatest effect, though it did little more than disturb the manifestations without causing them any meaningful damage.
In a handful of cases, it was possible to eliminate individual manifestations of the curse, but that solved nothing. There was no single entity to destroy. Whenever one manifestation disappeared, the others simply concealed themselves, following no observable pattern. Moreover, none of these methods could realistically be applied to a living bearer of the curse.
Despite the limited success, the experiment yielded valuable information about the curse's behaviour, resilience, and possible weaknesses. Bloom carefully recorded every observation.
The work continued until nightfall, when the main sample finally began to deteriorate. Without stasis or a connection to its bearer, the blood oxidised, losing its magical properties. As a result, the manifestations of the curse vanished along with them.
Despite the limited results, the experiment yielded valuable information about the curse's behaviour, resilience, and potential weaknesses. Bloom carefully recorded all of the data.
The experiment continued until nightfall, when the primary sample finally began to degrade. Without stasis or its connection to its bearer, the blood oxidised, losing its magical properties. With that, the curse's manifestations disappeared as well.
Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Luna remarked,
"I had no idea lifting a curse could be so difficult. I'd heard that, much like hexes, they're almost impossible to cure, but seeing it for myself is completely different."
By then, they had already packed away the instruments and were sitting in front of the desk, where several delicacies Extimum had ordered from Tutu now awaited them.
Extimum: "I never expected to accomplish anything today, but at least I've gathered a great deal of information and have a better understanding of what I'm dealing with."
Luna: "You're right. You have to understand your enemy before you can come up with a plan."
Extimum: "Exactly. For now, I'll use the data to look for similarities with the effects of other curses. Finding the counter-curse would be far better... but I very much doubt it'll be that simple."
Before long, they finished eating, and Luna excused herself, saying she was tired.
Extimum: "What time is it, Bloom?"
Bloom: "It's half past eight. Do you still want to do anything else?"
Extimum: "I just wanted to see how Harry and the others got on with their attempt to gather information."
** Yaaawn **
Bloom let out a long yawn. She was exhausted after everything they had done that day.
Extimum: "If you want, stay here and get some rest. You've worked hard today."
Bloom: "Yeah... Just don't forget to wake me later for our night flight."
Bloom flew over to the room's only bed and, after slipping off her tiny shoes and leaving them on the bedside table, climbed onto Extimum's pillow.
Extimum watched her sleep for a moment before quietly leaving the room.
He made his way towards Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. He didn't know whether Harry and the others had already returned; he only knew it was the most likely place to find them if they had already finished.
...