54 ch 54 Into the woods...
September 28, 1991, Saturday, Forbidden Forest 9:30 am
-Marshall's POV-
"Get off me! Jeez... This is why I didn't buy a niffler from the Menagerie back then. You guys just can't control your obsession," I complain as I gently grabbed a little niffler who is clinging to my sleeve.
I'm currently walking through the Forbidden Forest to meet the unicorns and a centaur that my pets befriended. Naji told me that I can come at noon to a clearing somewhere in the forest.
I let my pets go there first, as I want to do a bit of exploring on the way there. I'll just follow the three's soul signatures to the clearing. Simple, right?
Never would I expected that the first creatures I'll encounter were a family of nifflers with 5 little ones. They instantly climbed onto me and wanted to snatch my golden bracelet. Gavel would probably protest if I add them in my Beast Space.
The nifflers are cute. Don't get me wrong. That's why I'm not using pressure to shoo them away. I just took seven gold galleons out and handed one to each of them. I said, "Here! Now leave. Or else I'm going to be mad at you guys..." Thankfully, the family of thieves compromised and left me alone.
I continued my way after that and found myself facing a huge sycamore tree with a wide stretch of branches. There were small creatures living at the top, but I didn't seek them out as I already sensed that they had their guards up against me.
But I didn't leave immediately, I found something odd about the tree and walked around the other side to find part of its base was rotting away.
There were a few bundinum attached at the base. These guys secrete acidic ooze that dissolves wood. It was considered a pest, so I didn't think twice to pointing my wand at them and cast "Scourgify!".
After they were gone, I sprinkled some diluted Spring water on the rotten parts, which immediately showed signs of recovery.
I sensed something from above. Looking up, I saw a shower of hundreds of winged seeds which were spiraling down like helicopter blades.
A smile appeared on my face and I immediately opened my pouch, which sucked in the seeds. I'll plant them later in my mindscape.
There was movement near me, and I saw a skeletal horse-like creature with bat-like wings. It slowly approached me and sniffed my scent.
As scary as the creature's appearance was, I'm not afraid of it. My pets told me they encountered a creature that they could not see. There was no doubt in my mind that they were talking about this guy, a Threstral. Only someone who has seen death can see such creatures.
I stretched my hand out, and it placed its head near it. I began gently stroking the lower part of its cheek. The threstral guided my hand to its neck and brushing pass its almost unnoticeable mane.
The creature then silently walked away from me without saying anything. I looked at my hand and there were a few strands of its hair in between my fingers. Immediately, I stored them in a small test tube and seals it with a cork.
"This trip is getting better and better..," I continue walking through the forest towards the direction of my pets.
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Hogwarts Library, 10:12 am
- Hermione's POV-
"Ugh! Why doesn't our common room have its library? Is it because not everyone in Gryffindor likes to study?" I complain as I make my way to the school's library.
My fellow Gryffindor first years don't really like me , even my roommates. So I'm always alone when we don't have class.
Good thing the library is open every day, even on the weekends. I can just hole myself in books.
I got surprised to see Harry and Ron also entering the library. At the door, I heard their conversation, and it seems they were still searching for information about what that three-headed dog was guarding.
"Should we ask Marshall for help, Harry?" I became anxious, hearing Ron's question.
I immediately approached them and said, "You two are such blabbermouths! Why are you going around telling everyone that we were out at night after curfew! Your little duel with Draco had already been forgotten by everyone. Why do you still keep reminding people!"
Pointing my finger at their faces, I said, " I'm warning you! If it reaches the ears of the faculties and got us in trouble, I'll burn you to ashes!!" I just left the two and my way to one of the aisles.
After I found some books that interest me, I went to the long tables to start reading. There were already some group of students occupying the tables nearby, but I saw one that has no one at the far end near the window.
As I took my seat, I frown when Ron and Harry sat at a nearby table. Harry said, "We're doing our homework. There's no problem with that, right?"
I just remained silent and mocked them, 'Ha! You're just doing your homework now. You waste your time being idle and with Quidditch and now you ...blah..blah..blah'
Then the Hufflepuff first years came. Justin saw Harry and Ron and greeted the two. I frown, as it became a bit noisy. Good thing the librarian glared at them to quiet down.
"Eh? Is Marshall not with you guys?" Harry asked in a low voice, but I could still hear him.
Wayne answered, "Yeah. He's off somewhere again with his pets.
"Again? Doesn't that guy need to study or do his homework?" Tracy Davis surprised everyone when she walked over and asked. The stone face Daphne Greengrass and the plump Millicent were with her. They sat down near the Hufflepuff girls.
Adeline answered, "Oh he does study. More than you think. He is continuing his secondary education through long-distance learning."
Millicent asked, "What's that?"
Justin explained, "He's technically continuing muggle school while being here in Hogwarts."
My eyes popped when I heard that. 'You can do that?!'
Harry explained, "Yeah, he wants to attend college after Hogwarts. He plans to enter one of those music school or something…"
"Eh? Music school? We didn't know that part." said Kevin.
Potter added, "Oh, he likes to sing. He even had a group with his muggle friends, and they perform in town events."
Adeline realized something, "Oh, so that's why he always sings in potion class. I thought it's just a hobby while he cooks... I mean brew potions. That's something new. Maybe we can ask him to sing us something on our leisure time."
"And he also sings…" Millicent absent-mindedly mumbled.
Susan laughed, "With homework, Marshall always do them on the same day. His quill writing is horrendous, so he writes his answers first with pen and paper, then rewrite them with quill in parchment."
Harry and Ron smiled and took out their self-writing quill. Everyone looked at them and Kevin said, "Huh? Marshall has one of those."
Ron nodded, "Yeah. Marshall gifted Harry, me and my brothers one each, before the school started."
"Woah! Really? But ain't those things pricey?" Wayne asked.
Ernie nodded, "Yes they are. If I was not taught how to write with quills, I probably had bought one as well."
"With that suitcase of his and how generous he is when giving away food, Marshall is really loaded." Tracy came to a conclusion. She then asked, "What does his folks do for a living?"
The Harry, Ron and Hufflepuff became quiet. I observed their faces and see they don't want to talk about it. 'Does Witcherly's parent do something shady?'
"What? Did I say something wrong?" Tracy asked with an innocent look.
Harry sigh and said, "Well… Marshall doesn't seem to mind telling the story. His parents passed away when he was a baby in America. It's only him and his grandmother now."
I was surprised to hear that. Looking at Witcherly, you never would have guessed he had a sad story. A thought came to mind, 'Wait! Is that why the school gives him and Harry preferential treatment? Because their parents died?'
"Oh? Sorry…" Tracy reacted awkwardly.
Harry just said, "Don't… As you can tell, Marshall is a happy person. He already came to terms with it a long time ago…. Unlike me..." He said the last part while looking down.
There was an awkward silence. Harry apologized, "Sorry for suddenly becoming gloomy. Let's change the subject. Did Marshall tell you his plan for a barbecue party for all the first year."
The Hufflepuffs nodded. Adeline said, "Yes. He told us about that when he gave a tour around his suitcase. The amount of meat alone he has in there was really something."
"Wait! You all went in there to take a look?" Millicent got surprised and asked.
Ernie nodded and described it, "Yeah. It has a small gym where he works out every morning, a kitchen, several warehouses under stasis charms, a herb garden, and a bath tub."
I was surprised hearing that. 'What? He had so much space, and he didn't add a place for books! '
Justin laughed, "It looks like a high-end bunker for a rich dude who believes on those conspiracies about the end of the world."
Naomi said, "Going back to that barbecue party. He already said that he got the Headmaster's permission and all four house heads agreed. It will be this coming weekend. I can't wait!"
'What? He easily got the faculties' approval?' I'm starting to question if those stern looking teachers like Snape and McGonagall are that easy to talk to.
"How did he get their permission?" asked the silent Daphne.
Megan answered, "That is…. actually a mystery to us as well. It was last Tuesday in our Astronomy class with the Gryffindor. Professor McGonagall pulled him out of class, and he returned half an hour later with a big smile on his face."
I remember that time. It was when he said something happened in school and warned everyone to be prepared to move.
Kevin added, "When we had dinner that day, he said that he got permission from the faculty for the party. But he won't tell what or where he and McGonagall went."
I saw Daphne frown, and she said, "Tuesday, you say? Hmm... Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were sent to the hospital wing that afternoon…"
Tracy reacted, "Oh, right! When they were discharged, our house lost 60 pts and those three got detention with Filch and are now cleaning somewhere in the castle."
Everyone was silent again. Even if no one said anything and they all just looked at each other. We were thinking the same thing, 'Whatever happened to Draco's group was related to Marshall being pulled out from class. But what for?'
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11:15 am Forbidden Forest
"Damn... my ears are itchy. Who is talking bad about me?" I'm still taking my time walking around the forest, heading towards my pets.
I keep finding some interesting fauna and floras. After the threstral, I've met some unfriendly bowtruckles at a birch tree, a moke who were camouflaged as tree barks, a burrow of mooncalves, a family of foxes, a herd of deer and some wild hippogriffs who quickly warned me to leave them alone.
I sigh. My gift, Angel's Tongue, does allow me to communicate with every animal, creatures, beings and read and speak in different languages. But it does not give me dominion over others, unlike parsletongue or dragon tongue.
That's why I prefer to take in creatures when they are still young because It's easier to teach them how to behave.
I look at the forest floor and saw some Chantelle mushrooms at the base of a pine tree. I started to dig them. They are not the only mushroom I found today. There were several varieties of oyster mushroom, lion's mane, shiitake, coral tooth, and honey fungus. I'm really having a field day today and with Siri, I can easily avoid the poisonous kinds.
I can sprinkle their spores around Grace's forest.
'Oh!' I sense some creatures scurrying towards me. Three large spiders lunged at me but quickly crushed down the ground. They wiggle around, but they were pinned down by their weight that increased by my gravity field.
"Finally! I've been waiting for you guys all morning." I said.
With a wave of my hand, three small wisps of ghostly white flames entered each spider. They squirmed a bit. Two died and only one survived and was under my control now.
After Marethyu/Josh told me to master the soul related abilities I got from Reza, the first ability I mastered was soul manipulation.
Soul manipulation allows me to hold someone's soul hostage and have them do my bidding. I practiced with rats back then. It is not powerful, though. My target can still resist and in their struggle, they could end up dying.
I thought practicing necromancy would awaken my twisted side, but thankfully Reza's flame has a purifying/cleansing effect to my mind which prevents me from going over to the 'dark side'.
I dispelled my gravity field and the surviving spider still didn't lunge at me.
'One out of three. Not bad!' I can still feel that it wants to eat me, but my hold over its soul was stopping it from moving. It is still alive and is conscious of everything happening.
I sense around the area and found no one. I opened the entrance to my mindscape and ordered the spider, "Go in. My elf will show you to your new home." The spider scurried through the entrance.
'Great! I can farm that guy for venom and silk. I can just feed them with rats and fish.' My plan is simple. Catch a bunch of acromantulas and keep them in an isolated space in my Beast Space. They can even be my personal army if needed.
Hunting them down and playing a game of chance with my soul manipulation is the only issue. And the stronger the target's soul, the lower the chance for them succumbing to my control.
I don't really like controlling creatures against their will. But to practice necromancy, I needed to have practical experience. I just set a rule to myself to only use it on creatures that are considered pest. I'm even averse to use it on dangerous creatures that are naturally part of the ecosystem.
I dread the day I might ,and probably, use it on a person.
Looking at the two dead spiders, I said, "Arise.." 😉😉😉. And their corpse was engulfed in white flames. The corpse became ash white in color and started to move. This is another soul ability I have, corpse manipulation. I can't call myself as a necromancer if I can't control a corpse, ryt?
Inspired by a mahnwa I read in my past life, I just used "Arise" as my trigger word. Good thing the corpses turned white, or else I might be sued.🤫🤫🤫
And unlike the mahnwa, the corpses I manipulate are more robotic and can only follow simple commands. That's why I prefer to use soul manipulation first and pick the corpses after.
I then took out a black pouch and it immediately sucked the two white spiders. Yes, they don't go into my shadow. 🙄🙄🙄 And I would rather not fill my Beast Space with walking corpses. Good thing I'm not short on pouch with expansion space.
I can't help myself laugh, imagining dumping a mountain of corpse during a fight. How will that look?🤔🤔🤔
I sensed I'm near my pets, so I cleaned up a bit and quicken my pace. A clearing appeared ahead and in no time, I saw a herd of unicorns.
I slowed down my approach. My pets welcomed me.
"Croak!" "Hoooo!" 🔔"Ting!"🔔
A lone unicorn and a female centaur approached us, but still kept a distance. I smile and walked forward.
"Hello. I'm Marshall Witcherly. Thanks for looking after this three while they are in the forest." I said with a respectful bow.
The unicorn approached me and took a sniff of my scent. His eyes light up and playfully nudges me. "Neigh?.neigh.brr!" He was puzzled why I smell differently from other humans and that he don't find me repulsive.
I just smile, "I guess it's just my gift. I can actually talk to other animals and understand them."
"Oh, that's fascinating... It seems there's more to you than meets the eyes. My name is Nephele. It's a pleasure to finally meeting you, young Witcherly." The female centaur greeted me with a smile. She has a skimpy leather vest and a messy yet lovely blonde curls reaching down her torso. She looks like Shakira except for her nose bridge that gives off a horse-like characteristic.
The unicorn herd came forward when the stallion called them. A small golden foal came rushing towards me and bumps his head at my stomach.
"neigh! neigh..neighhhh!" I laughed when I heard the young unicorn. The foal kept asking me for treats. I guess my pets told stories about me always having food.
This time I came prepared and reached in my pouch to take out 5 boxes of apples and two massive bales of grasses from Gavel's area.
"Neigh!!" "neigh!" The foal and stallion started eating the apples, and they were all praise about their taste. The herd came over and sampled the grass and apples, and immediately it became a noisy feast. I was afraid someone will poke an eye with their heads and horns facing each other.
"Hahaha... I expected no less from you, young Witcherly," Naphele broke her elegant demeanor, "From your pets' stories, you really have lots of food."
I just smile while watching the herd eat, but then I sensed a group coming towards us and look at a direction. Nephele noticing me, turned over to where I'm looking. She said, "Oh? The centaur tribe's scouts?! Just keep calm and let me do the talking...."
A group of muscular male centaurs with bows and arrows galloped towards us. Naphele came forward and stopped them in their tracks. She went over and explain the situation. The male centaurs were listening to her while not breaking their gaze at me.
Nephele and the centaurs slowly came forward. The unicorn stallion circled me and stopped behind my back while looking at the centaurs.
The male centaurs had a look of surprise in their faces, seeing the unicorn's behavior. It's a warning to them to not hurt me.
The lead male centaur of the group regained his composure and gave a curtsy greeting, "I greet you young wizard, friend of the unicorns. I'm Ronan."
I gave a polite bow and said, "Greetings centaur friends. I hope my presence doesn't cause you any issues."
*cough* Ronan said, "Won't the people in the castle get worried about you being in the forest. This place has many hidden dangers."
I shrugged my shoulder, gave my signature smile and said, "Nah. I'll return in the afternoon. The people already got used to me disappearing with my pets. As for the dangers, I won't go on the details, but rest assured that I'm more than capable of keeping myself safe."
The centaurs don't know how to respond to my answers.
I thought of an idea and took out the necklace the merpeople gave me and showed it to Ronan. "Do you recognize this?"
Ronan frowned but still nodded and said, "Mermaid guard's necklace. It is proof that you have their approval to enter their settlement in the lake. How did you get that?"
"Oh, they gave me this, so I can enter their territory freely. I met them when the Giant Squid gave me a tour of the lake a few weeks back." I said nonchalantly.
The centaurs started murmuring among themselves, and even Naphele was surprised by what I said.
"HOOO!"💢💢💢 Naji got mad, hearing that I played with the big calamari alone. Tania and Bunta kept hitting my head and pulling my hair. I chuckled, "Ok... ok... I'll bring you guys the next time I dive there. But you have to behave, as we will also meet the merpeoples."
Realizing something, Ronan became polite and said, "A friend of the merpeople, the unicorns and the lake guardian... Young wizard, please accept this as a symbol of your friendship with our centaur tribe." He took out his necklace and presented it to me with both hands.
I accepted it. It was a necklace made of centaur and unicorn hairs with a blunt obsidian arrowhead.
Happy with their gift, I took 8 boxes of apples and 3 apple saplings in clay pots. I said, "Please accept these humble gifts of mine."
Nephele approached the saplings, ang got excited. Do note that they are the variety from Avatar Long's area and had been watered by my Spring.
The male centaurs approached the boxes of apples. Ronan took one and bite it. He was surprised by the taste and said, "Thank you, young wizard. If you ever need help, do not hesitate to ask our tribe."
I smiled and said, "Sure. I'll keep that in mind." Silently, I was thinking, 'I'll earn your trust first before taking the unicorns to a safe place.'
~end chapter ~
