Chapter 290: Blood Moon
If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.
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23 November 1994, Rome, Italy
Daphne Greengrass knelt as she cut her own palm with a knife. The moment the blade touched her blood, the previously hidden runes started glowing bright red.
She heard her mentor encourage her, "Alright, that was very nice… You have given a sliver of your life force into the blade to store. Now, carefully use it to power the spell. Blood magic is not as technical as wand magic and relies a lot more on visualization. Think very carefully about the contract that you have chosen. Make it very simple and very balanced. Overreach and the magic will backfire, underreach, then you would have wasted your lifeforce and would not regain it if you dispel the curse."
Yes, she remembered those lessons very well. Daphne's mentor had stressed that overpowering blood magic was very harmful in the long run and could drastically shorten someone's natural lifespan if they regularly made this mistake. However, as a beginner, it was better to overpower the magic than underpower it and cause an accident… But it was better not to make a habit of this.
Following her teacher's words, she channelled the power inside the dagger and used it to power a curse instead of her magic. The dagger itself was designed to absorb life force from blood very easily. It was the tool of a beginner blood mage; Lily Evans did not need such shortcuts to make miracles happen, but it was useful considering that it was her first time casting any type of blood magic.
A beam of blood-red light came from the edge of the knife and hit the bound pigeon on her table, with seemingly no effect whatsoever. However, Daphne felt drained and dizzy from her spell, and her mentor held her to stop her from passing out.
Lily Evans gave her a smile and spoke up, "Everything looks good from what I could tell. Now, let's see if your spell worked."
With a flick of her wand, the room darkened, and the previously flying pigeon fell to the ground, with her wings entirely motionless. When she turned on the light, the pigeon flew far faster than it used to. The older witch smiled proudly, "Hmm, you took away the bird's flight in the dark in exchange for enhancing its speed and power in the day… A classic example of blood magic and the exchange was essentially on the same subject, flight, but it's a very good first try, even if it was a bit overpowered."
"I feel drained," the blonde explained slightly.
"I'm not surprised. It's something that doesn't really go away and that you'll have to get used to. You used your own life force to stabilize the spell, making its effect almost permanent. This drain is the price you pay for losing the energy that keeps you alive. Now, undo the spell. You remember how to do it?"
The blonde witch nodded. This wasn't an open-ended curse like her sister's sickness. Her spell was simply an exchange, and that exchange could be cancelled using her own blood as a medium. Daphne cut her palm once more and used a minuscule amount of her life force, not to cast another spell, but to act as an identifier. She used it to affect the spell on the bird who glowed bright red for a fraction of a second, but whose flight returned to normal.
The young Slytherin felt slightly more energetic, meaning that her stabilizing life force returned to her, but there was still something wrong, "I still feel drained."
"That's because you underpowered the spell. You still lack the efficiency needed for something like this and you'll only gain it through practice. Until then, do not attempt to use any blood magic without my presence. A mistake as a beginner could have disastrous consequences," the redhead chided.
Daphne smiled weakly but it was a genuine one. To be perfectly honest, as harsh of a taskmaster as Lily was at the beginning, the moment they began practising actual blood magic, she became strangely supportive. It was like the lessons prior were simply to teach her resolve.
She was wrong to have doubted Daphne for a moment… There was nothing she would not do, no depth she would not sink in, for the goal of saving her sister. She had been transparent on that side from the start.
Her dedication had doubled when she got a new letter from Tracy. She was worried about her sister's health. She stopped running around like she used to before, stopped taking walks outside… She felt like she had less life in her. The bracelet that Daphne had made stopped working and her symptoms were returning.
She hadn't told anyone this… Not even Harry… She wished she could have found another counter curse but without Astoria near her, it was impossible to know what could temporarily halt the curse's progression.
Daphne had stopped doing anything other than studying curses and working on blood magic with Harry's mother. She knew that it wasn't healthy, but it was the right thing to do… For Astoria…
And it was working; she was making some good progress. For the first time in her life, she had a clear path to helping her sister. There was nothing more important than that and she felt great about it… Unfortunately, ever since she started her lessons with Lily, she felt a slight distance grow between her and Harry.
Was he angry that she was doing her best to save her sister? Or maybe it was because she was growing strong on her own without him helping her? She didn't really understand but couldn't help but feel her stomach drop every time she thought about it. Ever since their fight about Lily's lessons, things haven't been the same…
Daphne wished he would just talk to her, and explain the reasons for this distance. She didn't know what to do…
She felt a hand rest on her shoulder and turned to see a concerned pair of familiar eyes, "Why the long face, kiddo?"
"Harry has been pulling away and I don't know why…"
The redhead gave her a slight hug, "Look, I'll be the first to admit that I don't know Harry all that much. It's completely my fault, but it's the truth. What I do know is how men generally behave."
"But Harry isn't like any other guy…"
"Maybe, but for all his intelligence he's still a young man, just like I'm still a woman. People can be different, but their priorities could still be the same. For example, have you thought about how he feels about our lessons…"
Daphne nodded, "I talked to him about them, and he said he didn't like me specializing in blood magic…"
"Exactly, but he understood why you're doing it… He understood what your sister meant to you, but as much as he's drifting away, you are too."
"I'm not," she protested.
The older witch gave her a dry look, "Have you or have you not spent hours alone practising what I teach you instead of spending time with him and helping him with his plans?"
"But he's done the same to me for years," the blonde complained.
"Sure, but he's not the most social person, is he? From the moment I saw you two interact, I noticed a dynamic between the two of you… He studied magic, and made long-term plans, while you made sure that he still interacted with other people. No matter how healthy or unhealthy this was, it was something that the two of you spent years perfecting, and it's also something that you threw away for our lessons. That delicate balance is now gone and the strain on your relationship with Harry is the result of that…"
"Are you saying that I have to choose between a relationship with Harry and saving my sister's life?"
The redhead shook her head, "Not at all… What I'm saying is that you have to very clearly make your priorities. I won't blame you either way, believe me, but you do have to choose whether to dedicate your life entirely to saving your sister, or to sometimes take breaks to explore the possibility of a relationship with my son… I'm not saying that you have to do it now, but the sooner you do, the better. Because the more time you take, the further you drift apart from Harry."
Daphne's eyes burned but she controlled herself like her father taught her, "I don't want to lose him…"
"Then you'll need to put in the effort to show him that. It's not my place to interfere in your private lives, but sooner or later, you'll have to decide to either make a move or give up on the chances of being in a relationship with Harry… Saving your sister doesn't have to consume your very life…"
"I am not giving up on her!" the blonde explained.
"For Merlin's sake girl, just stop overreacting!" the redhead retorted, "All I'm saying is that when I was your age, I was so obsessed with my freedom, with my research and plans that I barely even got to live at all… That day, in Godric's Hollows, as I watched my flames burn thousands of people, wizards, witches, werewolves, vampires, and muggles alike, when I thought, I was going to die, all I could feel was regret… I regretted the fact that I didn't live my life. I hadn't fallen in love or had anything to live for other than my son… I regretted wasting the time I had on my goals and forgetting to actually live my life. Do you understand what I'm getting at?"
Daphne nodded, "I should balance my life…"
"Exactly, and why don't you start with tonight? Harry will be coming to the feast tonight… Why don't you use this to hang out with him a bit? He won't be at the champions' table this time, right?"
She snorted and nodded. The older witch then winked and left the room. Lily was right, as she usually was. Was she burning herself out? Did she do what Harry did before and ignore everyone while focusing on some project? When was the last time she had sent a letter to Astoria, or to her mother even…
Was she willing to sacrifice all of this just for the chance at healing her sister as quickly as possible… She needed more time to think about things and in the meantime, she had the rest of the night to enjoy with Harry.
Right as she was crossing the entrance to her room, she was grabbed by the side suddenly. She whipped out her wand quickly but froze when she realized who this was, "Hermione Granger…"
"Daphne Greengrass, we need to talk…"
"We have nothing to talk about… And please don't tell me some idiotic sad story about how much you miss Harry and that you'd like to be friends again because that got old considering just how many times you did that, and I have other things to do…"
The muggleborn flinched slightly but continued, "No, it's not about that. It's about Lily Evans…"
How the fuck did she know that the Unspeakable that came with them was Harry's mother. No one was supposed to know, unless… "You're working for the Department of Mysteries, and she took it over…"
"That's a polite way to put it… It would be better to say that she invaded it, and the whole thing wasn't really clean. But I didn't come to talk to you about that… Look, if it was up to me, I wouldn't do anything. I'd rather just stay in the background doing nothing while taking care of Neville while the lunatic woman who's blackmailing me using my soul does her thing but unfortunately, this is a bit beyond that…"
The blond shifted in unease, "What is it, Granger?"
"I have reason to believe that Lily Evans is working with Albus Dumbledore. I think that they're planning to kill Harry and Neville…"
Daphne would have told her to get lost if it wasn't for the damning moving picture in her hand, which had her mentor sitting right in front of the man who had almost killed her son and sipping tea of all things… The older witch hadn't said anything to either Harry or her about talking to Dumbledore… If this picture was indeed true, then they might have a big problem on their hands… And a messy one at that…
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AN: Again, this chapter was pretty rushed, but I think it was a bit necessary since I'm planning something with Daphne's character. Honestly, I think I neglected her a bit since the start of the story so that's my bad. The good news is that I'm going home tonight, meaning that everything should be back to normal on that front and I'll have time to properly re-read the previous chapters in case I need to change anything. Anyway, I have something pretty cool planned for the next few chapters. I think the story hasn't progressed a lot since the second task, so it's time to pick up the pace a bit. As usual, please tell me what you think and if you have any suggestions.
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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.