Chapter 34

"The entrance of the Chamber is in an abandoned girls' bathroom?" Emily said scowling and he chuckled as he lead them towards the serpent inscribed water tap.

"I don't actually know if it had always been a bathroom...could have been remodelled in the centuries since" he said distractedly before he saw the tap.

`Open` he hissed and the sink sunk into the ground and the pipe leading towards the chamber showed.

Emily came forth and inspected it `Stairs` she hissed out and nothing happened.

"Tried that myself but I couldn't find anything. I think there is another access in the dungeons but I never bothered to find out" he said calmly before he jumped into the hole.

Soon enough, Emily arrived and she scowled at him "I'll have to find it. I would not do that again if possible" she said snippily.

They made it past the doors and he lead her towards the room past the mouth of the statue containing the ingredients and the books that her ancestor collected.

Emily scrolled through the books as he watched on and she looked back at him "I take all of the books are in Olde English?" she questioned him.

He shook his head "No, there are some handwritten books by Salazar himself in Parselscript" he said and her eyes gleamed and before she could ask he raised his hand and picked up the books and floated them in front of Emily who eagerly took one of them.

"Those are his wards and spell books. Most of them are incredibly useful and the spells don't have counters in any other language than parseltongue. An incredible advantage" he remarked and she hummed in agreement.

"If you want, I can give you the books I collected from India" he said to her and she looked at him surprised.

"What? Did you think the Slytherin family were the only parselmouths?" he shook his head.

"I'm pretty sure the Slytherin family are descendant from an offshoot of a very small tribe in Northern India." He mused. 

She took the book and made her way to him and he floated the remaining books back in their place. She sat down "Why do you say that?" she asked keenly.

"Before Hogwarts I had the opportunity to travel with my great grandfather where we once stopped over in India. My great grandfather's father was a parselmouth and I think he visited India in his own time.

Anyway, the tribe that I visited had an interesting history. Their family were descended from the Gujarat region. Their oldest records, once they were translated into modern Gujarati made it quite plain that their tribal name was Slitharahans. Those who slither." He said as he watched her reaction.

"Interesting" she mused as she contemplated what she just heard. Like most orphans, there is always something in them that yearns to know where they came from.

"The parselmagic that they know is largely geared towards healing however. They gave me a few books on it and it was dead useful. Many of them are easier to use than their non parsel counterpart." He mused.

"I wondered if there was a link between Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine and parselmagic" she said aloud and he nodded happily.

"I haven't found anything concrete but parselmouths have a special status in Greece because of Asclepius. Chances are when Alexander the Great went to conquer Persia and then later on to India, a few parselmouth children might have been begot between the conquerors and the conquered who returned to Greece with their fathers and bringing the knowledge of healing to Europe and inspiring Asclepius or perhaps changing the god to include serpents." He mused.

"You think that's how the Slytherin family came to Europe?" she asked intently and he nodded. 

"I do. I also think perhaps that's how Herpo the Foul gained his trait. Being a descended from those children that arrived with the returning Greeks." He paused briefly before shrugging "It's all conjecture anyway." He said calmly.

She looked at him strangely "Do they accept visitors?" she asked expectantly. Many magical tribes that still exist today don't like outsiders. Regions in Africa, the Middle East, South America and Asia are the regions were largely tribes remained. 

European relations with them had been disastrous for the most part however they still adhered to the Statute, it was the only requirement of them and the local ministries remained contact with them and over the centuries, tribes changed to take advantage of the governing bodies whilst also retaining their independent identity. An interesting dynamic.

"Not particularly but they make exceptions for parselmouths" he confirmed and she smiled at that. 

"Because they see parselmouths as one of their own?" she wondered and he shrugged 

"I don't know for sure but perhaps...it gives credit to my reasoning of Slytherin being from India originally." He said calmly.

"We can visit once you graduate Hogwarts if you want?" he asked with a tilted head. 

"That world tour your sister mentioned?" she asked and he nodded and she looked away for a moment.

"If you're concerned about losing time for your political ambitions, we can always make it a six months trip rather than a year long one?" he said attempting to assuage her.

She shook her head "No, that's not necessary. A year long trip is short in the first place." She paused briefly before she continued "We can do a year long trip whilst taking breaks once in every while?" she looked at him for confirmed and he nodded slowly.

"That sounds fine" he agreed easily enough. He brought out a book and she eyed it curiously.

"These books...they're in Olde English and this book is a translation book which will make it easier for you to understand" he said calmly and she smiled at him 

"Thank you. This will make it infinitely more easier." She paused briefly before she eyed him.

"Are there any rituals here?" she asked plainly as she eyed calculatingly.

He nodded slowly "There are. Most of them are enhancement rituals, like reflexes, eyesight, magical flow through the body and so on" he said as he searched her face.

"Did you use any of them?" she asked curiously and he shook his head and he saw disappointment and surprise etched on her face before comprehension dawned on her. "You've used your family's rituals" she stated plainly and he nodded.

"I have used my family's rituals which are grey and less...drastic in sacrifice. My family has always been exceptional when it comes to rituals and very early on in our history, we've deigned to use only magically grey/neutral rituals." He confirmed slowly. 

"And these...?" she said eying the books momentarily before turning back on him

"Some of them are grey, some even light whilst most are darker. It depends on the sacrifice in truth. For example sacrificing a live dragon to gain something from it and so on." He explained calmly. "The effects of the ritual, for example if you sacrifice a live magical creature to gain something from it, much of the price that is paid is from the magical creature but also from the magical itself. You may increase your power slightly more than a grey ritual intending to have the same effect but it would leave a lingering effect on your magic, on your body and your mind." He said explaining to her and she was listening. Good.

"Doing one or two of these rituals in a set is not problematic. But doing many of them, careless of what final effect it has on you..." he warned before he continued.

"I've checked out the rituals and they are expertly done though many ingredients no longer exist because the magical creatures no longer exist. Unless you are confident in modifying rituals, which you shouldn't be unless you are an expert or have experts helping you, those won't be of any use to you. In any case there are more modern rituals that you can use in its stead." He finished.

She listened raptly "How many rituals have you done?" she asked with keen interest in her eyes.

"21" he said calmly and her eyes widened.

"Three sets of seven or seven sets of three?" she asked.

"The former" he answered simply.

"Strongly balanced, arithmantically speaking" she said calmly as she eyed him critically.

"Most stable balance not the strongest. The strongest would be seven sets" he said calmly.

"Is that how you are so powerful" she asked with observing eyes.

He pondered the question. He would always been powerful but definitely not as strong as he was now. "I would have been powerful regardless, just like you...it's simply that I have enhanced my power and my control which had always been excellent in the first place" he answered diplomatically.

"When did you start?" she asked once she digested his comments.

He grimaced which she caught "You started before Hogwarts?" she asked sharply.

"I did" he admitted.

"Your parents allowed you to undergo rituals before Hogwarts?" she asked disbelievingly. She eyed him and her eyes widened. "No" she breathed out in sheer surprise "You did it without their knowledge" she accused amused.

He nodded grimacing "I did...I became greatly interested in rituals when I was five" her eyes widened impossibly and he quickly decided to remove whatever she was thinking "No, I didn't do any rituals at age five...it would have been disastrous...in truth, I was saved from probably ruining myself when the portraits at the Manor caught me" he said calmly as he settled into his chair.

"One of the portraits was...is a genius in ritualistic magic and he tutored me in it for the next few years until I was seven when I did the first set of seven" he said calmly.

"The most beneficial age" she said knowingly and he nodded shortly.

"I didn't do the next two until I was fourteen when my knowledge of rituals was much better." He said calmly and she nodded in understanding as she furrowed her brows.

"Is seven sets of seven what you're going to finish at?" she asked him critically.

"Yes." He admitted "Most ritualistic sets are fixed and time dependent. For example, in those books there are several sets, of three by threes or a set of seven, even a three sets of seven that is pretty well balanced. But to move past those sets?" he shook his head.

"If you undergo rituals without understanding the limitations that are posed on you, you become unbalanced. Often it's not clear or easy to see how you are unbalanced. It could be your magic, it could be your body, your mind even perhaps a combination of two or even all three." He said boring his eyes into her.

"If you undergo a ritualistic set and proceed to undergo another set without understanding if they can be arithmantically balanced..." he trailed off before he straighten up.

"Depending on what you are doing, it could potentially ruin you. Instead of increasing magical flow in your body, it can clog up your magic as you age and make it difficult to access. If your intend to increase the strength of your body, you may well gain the strength for the first few years until you become weaker than you ever were." He said in a warning tone.

"Rituals are by far the most risky pieces of magic you can do to yourself. It's easy to follow a ritual instruction and then follow another. The consequences of doing so are not felt immediately and you will regret it." He finished finally.

She sat there tapping her finger as she thought on it "I want to use these rituals Atticus" she said staring at him "Will you help me with them?" she asked intently.

He'd always known she'd undergo rituals and by controlling the circumstances that the subject was brought up, he'd have influence on her to make sure she isn't warped.

"I will" he confirmed "But you have to take my advice completely" he said sharply. "Just because a darker ritual is more powerful does not mean it's more beneficial to you. Power is not what you should be aiming for when it comes to rituals but improvement is what you should aim for. You're always going to be powerful and a powerful archmage at that." He said searching her face and she thinned her lips and she nodded curtly.

"I will listen but similarly if we find that a darker ritual won't unbalance me, you will not protest" she said equally as sharp and he narrowed his eyes before he nodded his assent.

His extended life ritual was pretty dark all things considered but he worked on it to make it as grey as possible but it still remained a dark ritual. He checked arithmantically to see the effects it would have to him and found it negligible. 

If he wanted Emily to undergo the same life extension rituals, he'd have to make sure to balance the rituals in such a way that it would all fit.

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"Alright class, I want five feet parchments on the uses of Ignis Inermus, the flame freezing charm on my desk in a week's time. You may go" Fawley said dismissing the fifth year class.

"Are you alright to mark the seventh year's homework today?" Fawley asked as he looked at him and Atticus nodded slowly 

"Do you want them all done today?" he asked as he looked at Fawley and Fawley shook his head "No, that's not necessary. It would be nice if it was but you have two days to do it. I'll take the sixth year" Fawley replied and Atticus nodded and returned to his work as Fawley left the classroom. He had about half an hour till lunch so he'd work on a few papers until then.

But it was not to be as someone walked in and he saw it was Jennifer Pierce a fifth year, one of the muggleborns that attended his Hogshead meeting a few years back.

"Ah Ms Pierce" he said with a kind smile as he leaned back in his chair.

"Professor" she said with a wide smile. Jennifer Pierce was close with many of the muggleborns who have since graduated and they kept contact with her. She was guaranteed a place in one of his companies. She was smart and she had talent in charms. 

He was actually speaking with Fawley about having her apprentice under him. It would work well for him as she'd become an integral part in his magical company as one of the senior people. She had a certain leadership quality in her that he believed could be fostered.

"What can I do for you?" he inquired as she stood there a little awkwardly.

"Uhm Professor, you know how I'm in contact with other muggleborns?" she asked a little shyly and he nodded and she continued "Well" she said before she reached around into her bag and brought out a brown hardback book and his eyes widened as he read the front of the cover 'The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells'

"We gathered our coin and got you first edition of the War of the Worlds by H.G Wells." She said as she passed the book to him and he picked it up and traced his palm over the front cover of the book. He opened the book and was stupefied as on the first front page, there was a little passage

'For Atticus Sayre, with all the best of wishes, from one teacher to another, from H.G. Wells, August 2nd. PS You must be an excellent teacher to inspire such thoughtful students' 

He was gobsmacked as he stared at the passage. He looked up and stared at her and she blushed heavily as she averted her eyes.

"I..." he began 

"We just wanted to thank you for taking such good care of us Professor" she said rushed, as she hoped to skip past the embarrassment.

"I'm not..." he began but she cut him off again.

"Professor, you're the only one who wants us to succeed and you're making such a big difference" she said heatedly "Derek says that there are like 47 muggleborns studying in Cambridge or Oxford and then there are the 6 muggleborns you've managed to find masters for!" she said exasperated "Who would never have taken them if you didn't ask those people directly." She said with a pointed look before her face softened.

"You've helped us so much and this is only just a little thing we could do to thank you for helping us so much when you really didn't have to." She said softly and he looked at her.

"It's not as if I'm doing it completely freely" he tried and she shook her head.

"It's because you're not doing it freely Professor. You see us as people when so many purebloods don't and see us as just bodies to do jobs they think they're too good for." She said with a sour face before she beamed "But you don't. You see us as people who are more than capable and you came to us with an offer that no one would ever beat and are helping us in ways no one ever would." She said softly.

"I would have had to drop out to help out my parents who were struggling feeding my family...my uncle who died in Normandy left behind four young children and things were getting harder on my family." She said quietly and he remained quiet as he listened to her story.

"If it weren't for the advance you gave me, I wouldn't have been able to finish my education as I would have had to drop out after my OWLS to work to help my family. That is because of you Professor." She said passionately as her face reddened as she wrung her hands in nervousness.

"There are loads of others who owe you just as much. Getting you a book from a favourite author for your birthday wasn't all that much" she finished embarrassed as she reddened somehow even further. 

He was speechless. He was touched...supremely so. Clinically speaking, he knew the psychological effects of doings to earn loyalty and respect from people but seeing it like this...

It made him feel a little guilty about the manipulation he was doing but then, was it really manipulation when he did really value them and saw them a resource ill used that only needed a chance?

Was it manipulation that he simply exploited the situation and not the people themselves? 

He sighed as he closed his eyes momentarily and looked at her "How did you all know H.G. Wells was one of my favourite authors?" he asked with a tilted head.

H.G. Wells was a favourite writer of his...not as high as Arthur C. Clarke, or Asimov or Tolkien or George Orwell but they haven't yet written their works yet.

She looked a little embarrassed "Derek and Sandra said that you liked novels like that and remembered you once said Wells was a favourite author of yours." She said with a shy smile.

Huh. Interesting. He only told them that once when they met up early in the summer. He met them a number of times, meeting a few new muggleborns who Derek vouched for and he later confirmed using mild truth and babbling potions.

They talked about all sorts of things...the war, both magical and muggle, plans of the future, hobbies, books, and so on. They were fun and intelligent people to be around and there was a certain familiarity with them that he lacked with most purebloods who were so...pureblood-y.

Likely a hang up from his past life as even with eighty or so years difference from when he had been a teenager, there was still some familiarity to the way they conducted themselves, the way they talked.

He broke out of his musings.

"Jennifer" he began gently and she looked at him wide eyed, still amusingly red "Thank you and please extend my thanks to them as well. It's...one of the most thoughtful gifts I've received" he said warmly and sincerely and she bobbled her head and her hair flew everywhere which only embarrassed her even more.

"I will!" she squeaked before she turned around clutching her bag and practically ran out of the door.

"Goodbye Jennifer" he said laughingly to the empty room.

His gaze returned to the book and his hand gently caressed it as he looked at it thoughtfully.

That thoughtfulness didn't cease as he ate lunch in the Great Hall.

"Atticus?" a voice rang out and he looked at the direction of the voice and saw Daphne's frowning face and he looked at her confused.

"Yes?" he asked tentatively.

"Are you alright? You've looked very distracted from the moment you walked into the Great Hall. You're picking at your food rather than eating it" she asked frowning at him.

His eyebrows rose "Oh." He said simply as he thought back on it. In truth he hardly remembered. 

She chuckled lightly at his continued stupefaction. 

He looked at Daphne a little sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck "I just received a very thoughtful gift that I had not expected at all" he professed to her to which she raised an eyebrow.

"Must have been some gift" she remarked gently and he hummed in agreement before he looked at his mess of a lunch.

"It was. I made an off the cuff remark about an author I liked and they bought me a signed first edition of it." He said strangely. 

That itself was not what truly bothered him...rather the ferventness of Jennifer that took up much of his mind. Had he really missed the...adoration he inspired?

It made everything much realer to him. He would be...is responsible for these people. And they were...at the very least willingly faithful to him in some respects.

And that something he did not want to take lightly...

He might be callous, he might be a terrible person in some respects but he never sought to abuse those who relied on him...who were dedicated in their goals with him.

He refused to be someone like Dumbledore. Someone who abused their allies and friends and their faith in him. 

Manipulating people he didn't know thus didn't care for was fine. Blackmailing them, threatening them...all fair game. If their deaths had purpose and if they were...unsavoury, that too was fine.

But if they were associated with him in some fashion...that couldn't happen and that talk with Jennifer made it very clear.

"Well, you should enjoy it and appreciate it..." she said as he turned to her before she smiled a little "It seems like it affected you deeply anyway and if I may say so, you probably appreciate it just fine" she said kindly and he smiled at her and nodded.

"Oh and happy birthday Atticus. You're now of age aren't you" she said with a little smile and he smiled back at her 

"I am...I'm officially of an adult age...even if I have been considered an adult for a number of years" he said amused and she smiled a little wider at him.

"Will you do anything today with your friends?" she asked curiously as she turned to the Ravenclaw table before her eyes turned towards Emily.

"I will spend a few hours with my friends before I spend the rest until curfew with Emily" he responded and she nodded in understanding.

"Good. You need to enjoy your youth a little" she said teasingly and he chuckled before taking a bit from his chicken. Once he washed it down with water he turned to her.

"Did you read Royce Coussard's essay on the use of runes on redwood?" he asked her and her eyes lit up.

"I did" she said happily "I hadn't known that redwood was magically conductive enough for runes" she breathed out.

"Neither did I, of course..." and they continued to talk about the essay and other possibilities of runes on wood and historical precedence of using runes on wood.

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"Dvalin, son of Balin" he intoned once he turned the Resurrection Stone thrice.

A ghostly image appeared and a figure coalesced. A short but stockish dwarf with dirty blond hair appeared wearing ornate armour with Norse runes expertly inscribed into it. His beard was long and gruff and it added to the warrior esque vibe he was giving off.

He also wore a permanent scowl, the same one that he wore the last time Atticus called on him

"You again" Dvalin said irritably.

"Me again" he said cheerfully.

"I've already told you!" he bellowed before he visibly calmed himself "I will not teach you dwarven secrets" he scowled angrily.

"And I told you, I will keep on calling on you until you will" he said determinedly. 

It's been just over a month since Hogwarts started up again. A few days of the new school year, he managed to struck gold as his elves managed to find a piece of jewellery in the Lisbon Magical Alley and found a piece of jewellery described as 'Heaven's metal' in a rundown unsavoury pawnshop in the Portuguese version of Knockturn Alley which matched the descriptions of Adamantite in the texts he purchased of the goblins years ago.

He'd gone to Moira to analyse the molecular structure of the material and it was known to them! Though they had never found any practical use for it, despite the immense properties it had.

The Advanced humans found that it required a melting temperature of 8,400 degrees Celsius! A higher melting point than tungsten which he knew was something like 3,500 degrees Celsius. 

It was a ductile metal, highly corrosive resistant, oxidation resistant, retained its strength at 80% of melting point temperatures, creep resistance, extremely scratch resistant and of course intensely magically conducive.

It was a perfect metal for him, the only other that would supplant it would be Mithril which was effectively liquid magic. But he had no leads on that and Merlin or any variants of his name did not appear whenever he called on those names...and given he was the only one who ever forged Mithril...

In any case, the rarity of the metal made it virtually useless to the Ancient humans as they could create alloys that would have the same or better properties than Adamantite. 

Alloys that were beyond him. But now he had a sample of Adamantite and once he assembled the information he needed, he brought down his satellites and modified his metal deposit charm spell to search for deposits. 

It had only taken just over a few days for results to be brought and nine different locations were found to have a deposit of Adamantite, to his utter delight. Somewhere in Southern Mexico, somewhere in Argentina, two locations in Pacific Ocean, one in the Indian Ocean, one in Siberia, one in Central Africa and to his utter luck, one deposit about 12 miles of the west coast of Scotland.

He'd gone to excavate the meteorite from the crater, which was buried deep underneath rock and water. He worked from a Friday evening till Sunday night nonstop to yank free the meteorite

There were several large pieces and totalled a weight of just under a couple of tons, much more than he expected. Even though time erased much of the impact crater, there were still signs that the meteorite made a damn big dent into the Earth.

In any case, he now had plenty of Adamantite to play with. The problem was however, modern forging techniques, the ones he pinched of expert muggles, were of no true use to him.

He'd even gone into the Hogwarts library to try and find books on forging that he might have missed the first time given the school once taught metal working as a class and yet he found nothing he didn't know already that could aid him forge this ore.

It was aggravating. Most magical metals were considered alchemy and rarely did any wizards work on forging them, having left it to the hands of the Dwarves and Goblins.

There were no records of legendary wizard forgers so he couldn't call on them and calling upon Goblins was laughable. Even in death, they'd never give up their secrets. 

That meant he had to go to the Dwarves. Problem was, the Dwarves of Switzerland were now only bankers and this was the only surviving population of Dwarves and their population was small. It's estimated there was no more than perhaps 1600 Dwarves in total and they were all in their fortress bank in Switzerland.

It hadn't been always the case. Thousands of years ago, they were numerous, easily tens of thousands of them.

They populated Scandinavia, Russia and the Baltics. They were known as the foremost forgers, the best crafters in all of Europe.

The Sayre Family often got their metals from them.

They were also warriors, renowned warriors and they were close to Norse mages, at least they coexisted with each other relatively easily.

That changed with the arrival of the Goblins. The Goblins began into Europe some two and half thousand years ago from Persia and wherever they went, conflict arose.

The Goblins were vicious, aggressive and greedy creatures, just as they are now but they now at least had some veneer of 'honour'...something that was forced on them and their culture on the pain of extinction which they agreed to if they were to survive.

Unfortunately, such behaviour did not come until many centuries later. The Goblins eventually made their way towards Northern Europe as resistance against them in Southern Europe was far too great given the strength of the Roman Empire and the wand wielding warmages.

And so, the Norse Mages and Dwarves came into conflict with the invasive Goblins. 

By the time 10th century, Norse mages no longer truly existed, no longer practicing their ancestral branch of magic as it was lost to time and the surviving Dwarves were driven out of their ancestral lands.

The fate of the Norse mages was actually what spawned the first wizard coalition against the Goblins and much of their population had been killed off though they inflicted significant damage to the European wizard population.

Merlin intervened and through some nifty magic managed to introduce the idea and practice of honour into their very magic in exchange for their continued survival.

It was astounding that he was capable of it and now that he knew of what the Atlanteans were capable of, he was certain that Merlin came across some kind of Atlantean collection of books or scrolls given the fact he managed to change the very nature of a species' magic. He wondered if Merlin knew that Goblins were created by wizards.

In the end, despite their nature, one of the goblin chiefs understood the severe predicament his kind was in and in the end conquered his own people and united them under his banner. Ragnarok the first, the Uniter. 

He agreed to the terms and thus, the modern Goblins were born. The Goblins managed to steal much of the fortunes of the Dwarves and learnt much about forging from the dwarves and so Gringotts was born when Ragnarok took his subjects the Isles.

Unfortunately, Merlin's way of trying to come up with a solution for both sides backfired and the notion of honour is not quite quantifiable and so numerous wars and rebellions happened throughout the centuries, each time resulting treaties being signed by both sides, constricting the Goblins to a specific territory and yet with the creation of Gringotts, they managed to retain power through the economy and the restrictions placed on them no longer truly matter given that their territory was ruled by their own laws and rules and did not venture towards the outside world.

With the grip they have on the economy in the Isles and in some other branches of Gringotts in Europe, their influence and power is far from negligible if they wished to exercise it.

In the case of the Dwarves, the first few centuries since the tenth century, they were reduced completely from the proud, strong and capable warriors and crafters that they were until they came upon a mountain in Switzerland that had a sizable deposit of gold.

That began their resurgence but their way of life never recovered and neither did their population. They grew paranoid and they saw the hated Goblins manage to leverage some control over wizards and started up their own bank.

Despite it all, the Dwarves were far more honourable and honest than Goblins ever could be and they soared to become the main banking institute in mainland Europe much to the hatred from the Goblins. 

The Central Bank of the Dwarves was a veritable fortress, he'd visited with Benedict, once, on business and it was awe inspiring. 

It was modelled after Nidavellir, the legendary home of the Dwarves that has long since been destroyed. Great gates of stone, carved out of the mountain stood, protecting two great towers, towers that resembled more skyscrapers than they did anything else.

Once you got past the gates of stone, you were greeted by a massive hall with dozens of great statues of past Dwarven Kings and Princes, all in brilliant golden armour and one stood out above them all. Grerr, the Saviour King. The king that managed to save the Dwarven species over a times span of 57 years from the brink of extinction, their lowest point before he found the very mountain that their home, Norgrost, for them to settle and save their kind.

Even if the Dwarves were no great crafters any longer, they still retained enough of their knowledge to effectively fortify their home to the point that it far surpassed Hogwarts in defensive wards, in defensive mechanisms and so on. Not even Grindelwald would assault the Bank and in truth, he had no reason to and would cause more problems than solve any given that many of his followers held accounts at the Bank.

But their art of forging was long lost to the sands of time and they longer did any works, focusing entirely on their banking and their crafting was simply related to creating golem like statues.

And this was why he was calling on Dvalin, one of the Dwarves greatest craftsmen.

"Even if I taught you how to forge, you wouldn't be able to create anything approaching the quality of Dwarven artefacts" he sneered condescendingly before he glared at Atticus.

"How do you know for certain?" he retorted as he met the glare of the dwarf with ease and calmness "I am an excellent student and dedicated. If you gave me the chance" he said calmly.

The dwarf scoffed "Apprentices of my people would spend years to even approach average competency" he said proudly before he looked down at Atticus, which was impressive considering the small stature of the dwarf. "And you, wizard, would take even longer to get to that level, even if you're a Sayre" he scoffed in derision.

"Perhaps" Atticus said diplomatically "But in any case, I am willing to learn and you are my first choice but not my only choice" he said calmly as he stared down the dwarf who now began to narrow his eyes.

The dwarves were prideful beings, especially when it came to craftsmanship. Playing to their pride will work. He hoped.

"If you are unwilling to teach me, I will simply have to call upon Gurdnok" he said nonchalantly as he rolled his head and he heard an intake of breath from the dwarf.

"As if the thieving Goblin would teach you!" he roared in maddening anger.

"He would" Atticus retorted "After I tell him Dvalin agreed to teach me but that I was uncertain in the quality of his teachings hence why I wanted a second opinion" he said calmly.

Gurdnok was the goblin that created Goblin Silver from scrolls stolen from the Dwarves during one of their raids on the third largest Dwarven settlement.

Dvalin growled "Don't think I don't know what you're doing" he said with anger in his eyes before he calmed down.

"At least hear me out on what I want your aid in." Atticus asked gently and he was met with silence before Dvalin sighed resigned.

"Speak" he said tiredly.

"Have you ever heard of Heaven's Metal?" he inquired and Dvalin's eyes lit up.

"Of course" Dvalin replied "The metal that won't melt. The metal that would be worth thousand times its weight in gold if we were able to melt it easily and if we could find enough of it in the first place. The most I've seen forged was perhaps only a single merke ( middle age weight measurement, eqv. 250 grams) and even that could only be done by our most magically enhanced furnace." Dvalin said intrigued with the direction their conversation was headed.

Atticus nodded "I have 20 skippund (several tons) of the metal and I have a way to forge it but not the skills or the magical knowledge to create artefacts from it" he replied to the Dwarf's shock.

"20 skippund?" Dvalin exclaimed "Impossible" he said immediately and Atticus brought out several broken off ores from the main piece with him that weighed approximately 15 kilograms in total.

Dvalin eyed the pieces hungrily before his eyes snapped up to Atticus "You will never be able to forge them." He said simply and Atticus nodded 

"Not without your help." Atticus said agreeably and Dvalin narrowed his eyes.

"Why don't you simply give the metal for my people to forge?" he asked suspiciously and Atticus grimaced internally.

It was something he noticed, the people he called upon were...disconnected to the realm of the living. None of them had any idea of what is going on Earth but they would get updated by those who passed on. 

Strangely, the fact that he was able to call upon this Dwarf surprised him. He had no personal connection to him and it made him wonder what the actual conditions were for actually calling upon people. Anyway he digressed.

There seemed to be some barrier in the Domain...the realm of the death...whatever it was when it came to unrelated people. Emer told Moira that she'd meet their children again wherever he was and it meant that there should be some kind of method of meeting people in the afterlife. But what were the rules? He shoved those thoughts away.

"Well..." he sighed as he eyed the dwarf "It's not a pretty tale" he said and so he informed the dwarf of the history of his people and amazingly he could see his face darken, as if his face was reddening. It would probably would have had he still been alive.

The anger that boiled off of him was palpable and once he finished, the dwarf spoke.

"I will teach you how to forge wizard" he spat out with eyes blazing "on one condition" he said with a stony face. Atticus nodded slowly.

"You will teach my people how to forge once more. I will have your word on this" he said as he floated into Atticus' personal space.

He nodded grimly "I swear it" 

Dvalin nodded before he closed his eyes "The Goblins..." he began before he opened his eyes "What is their current situation?" he asked emotionlessly.

He told them of their status and Dvalin set his jaw "They managed to even get one over your kind wizard. Merlin should not have interfered" he said with hatred in his eyes.

Atticus said nothing. The Goblins he dealt with had been...respectful enough. He wondered if it was because of his status and the relations of his family and Goblins. Almost everyone he met had dislike or hate for them. 

Perhaps he wouldn't extend his invite to them once the Island was completed. If he taught forging to the Dwarves, he'd likely be able to gain an alliance out of them...the Dwarves were perhaps, other than maybe Veelas, the least discriminated magical being and their status in most of the magical world were pretty much fair, even here in England where they weren't considered creatures – though that was because there were no populations he imagined. 

"I cannot say" he sighed "I don't know why he interfered beyond his supposed morals but I do agree that they should have been in better control, or at least in a way that didn't have them controlling the economy." He shrugged.

Both said nothing for a while. 

"There is also the case of your magic...wizard magic is different from those of my people and your artefacts will not be created the same way those of my people were" Dvalin suddenly spoke and Atticus nodded slowly before Dvalin continued.

"But that doesn't mean you won't be able to learn my people's way of forging...simply the magic imbued into the material will be different...less potent though you will have to experiment with it to find your own method of forging. I will teach you the Dwarven way, which is what you will teach my people. What you do with it, is up to you" Dvalin said calmly.

"You won't be able to forge Heaven's Metal until you know how forge in the first place. You cannot run before you are even out of the womb" he said strongly and Atticus nodded. It was sensible.

"Do you have a forge?" Dvalin asked and Atticus nodded.

"I do. I will show you tomorrow after this call? There's a time limit" he added.

"Good. It likely won't be good enough so we'll spend tomorrow redesigning the forge and furnace to adequate standards" he said a little mockingly.

"From there, you will work on iron first, to help you understand the process of how to imbue magic in metal along with my people's blacksmith practices. Then steel, and so forth until you are ready to forge Heaven's metal" Dvalin finished finally.

"How long do you think this will take?" he asked curiously and Dvalin growled.

"As long as it takes" Dvalin said gruffly with a glare "Given your weak arms, probably take years to get you to the required fitness in the first place" he mocked and Atticus scowled a little but didn't rise to the challenge.

"I will surpass your expectations to the point that I would be considered to be a prized dwarven apprentice" he said with confidence and Dvalin laughed though it wasn't mockingly.

"We'll see wizard...we'll see" he said as he looked at Atticus appraisingly.

----------------------------------------------Break----------------------------------------------

Emily POV

CLANG!

She leaned against the wall at the edge of the workroom that became a makeshift forge. The heat was oppressive but manageable with flame freezing charms.

CLANG!

Sparks flew as the hammer struck metal.

CLANG!

She watched him striking the metal once more. Even from this distance, she could see the sweat running down the length of his bare upper back. Her eyes intensely focused on the deliciously carved muscles of his back which rippled each time he moved, each time he raised his hammer above his arm, each time he brought it down to strike the red hot steel.

His magic was roused and yet so different in purpose, so different in meaning. She could feel the intensity of his magic each time he struck the metal.

It was maddening.

It's been over a month now since he decided to redesign one of the spare workrooms in the Chamber of Secrets they had found when they went exploring. They found Salazar's bedroom which was more a living room and bedroom combined and they also found a ritual room to her delight.

He never really bothered to find anything more once he found the main room.

In any case, he suddenly decided to take one of the workrooms for himself and rework it to suit his own purposes.

The workroom had been circular, roughly 20 metres in diameter and utterly plain except for a standard wooden workbench.

Now, there was a raised dais where an anvil rested and the forge was just at the other end of the room. 

She broke her eyes from the straining muscular form and turned towards the rest of the room. There were worktables, chests, hammers of all sorts at the edges of the room.

CLANG!

Her eyes returned to his form and she sighed slightly. She had seen him shirtless before, touched even, but in the past month or so, his body was becoming far more defined.

He'd always been muscular and with the rituals he'd gone under, his lithe body hadn't truly changed. 

But now...she could see the increase in muscle mass as he worked at the forge every night. She came here every night as well given her ease of access given the access door was only a few minutes away from the common room.

She had time in the evenings to work study rituals and the arithmancy required, leaning heavily on his notes that he made throughout the years.

Her eyes focused on his arms, the arms that were growing in size as each week past. His pectorals and his abs were as hard as washboards now and she wouldn't lie and say that she didn't enjoy feeling him.

She joined his exercises, now made easier now that they could meet in the Chamber in the mornings, when they'd duel and train their magic. 

He believed that constant use of magic increased the quantity of magic you had access to, and that improving your body had a similar effect if only slightly.

There were magical theory books that echoed such beliefs though it was never verified fully. Yet, she imagined there was truth to it given her own prowess and his as well obviously. Archmages are born naturally of course but that is only the potential...there were those who had the capability to become one and yet there were personality issues that prevented them from fulfilling that potential.

Regardless, they had the opportunity and time to meet up more than once each day. In truth, she had no idea how he manages to fit in everything he is doing in a single day. If he even slept at all. It was perplexing and she only got tired smiles in return which explained nothing and yet everything at the same time.

CLANG!

And suddenly, after once overhearing his mutterings about dwarves of all things, he decided to become a blacksmith. She'd looked at him with disbelieving eyes and asked him to explain. 

He called it a hobby.

A HOBBY. 

Of all things...

Given that he told her that with a grin on his face and amusement in his eyes, she knew he was unwilling to tell her, at least for now.

CLANG!

But she can't deny that it had...not been completely useless to her. Her tongue wetted her lips as her eyes roved over his Adonis like body. She was growing...frustrated. 

Him working like this did not help either. It was strange for her in truth. In a span of a year or so, her beliefs had been changed drastically, especially the ones about the nature of relationships.

She never believed she needed someone, until he happened to her. Even now, she wasn't certain she needed him, simply that she was unwilling to not have him.

His touches, when he caressed her face, her cheeks...when his lips met hers, when she managed to rile him up as she sat in his lap, grinding away, feeling his hard cock through his trousers...

She sighed as she closed her eyes momentarily as her arousal spiked once more before her eyes fell on him again.

CLANG!

She watched intensely at his muscles, the strands of muscle fibres clear to see even from this distance.

She imagined resting in those arms of hers, as she made him dance to her tune...

Her lips pursed. She'd made it clear in their time together, of which had been few of late to her annoyance, that she was...willing for more. Nothing more had happened since.

That she craved his contact...of a different nature when before any contact disgusted her filled her with dark amusement.

Rosier was a gossip and one of the things she loved to gossip about were boys though she never gossiped in front of her, knowing her disinterest. And of course the fear Rosier held at offending her.

Ever since her relationship with Atticus became public...Rosier been itching to speak with her about it but she never gave Rosier the opportunity to do so.

Rosier was well fitted into the social circles in the school, particularly amongst the girls. Parkinson less so. In any case, she had...inquired with Rosier what the girls discussed regarding...boys. 

She scrunched up her face in distaste at the necessity of it. Rosier had been a well of information and she had to exercise her Occlumency to reign in her temper. She made have not cared about what the girls said about her but what Rosier relayed to her...

It had her seething at the blatant disrespect and vileness that was being spewed about her. Comments about blood status were not something that was said about her, to her face at the very least and her reign in Slytherin made it possible for...dissenters to easily identified, or so she thought and be...talked to...perhaps not like she did with Selwyn but enough to ensure compliance and reaffirmation of her status in Slytherin.

And yet, behind closed doors in Slytherin, particularly amongst the girls, she was far from popular and was downright disliked if not hated. And hilariously enough, a major part of it was the fact they all agreed that she was unsuited for the prince of Britain she derisively thought.

She knew she had a tight grip on Slytherin that caused many to chafe even if she rarely intervened, one she was loathed to release but to know the dissension was coming mostly from the girls who were protecting each other from her...

She had chewed out Rosier and Parkinson for not informing her though she let them off without any punishments as long as they informed her. And inform her they did. 

Atticus' status in Hogwarts was...hard to believe in many ways. To put it simply, he was adored. Almost by everyone. And of course envied though mostly it was boys who were jealous at the attention he was paid. 

And as such, anything he did was followed. His antics in his first, second and third year Charms classes were the talk of the school and it made him the favourite amongst the students. He was fair, he was approachable and he made magic enjoyable according to the younger Slytherins.

It didn't help that he was extremely pretty either which had always added to the infatuation many felt for him but now as a professor...well, she began to understand more about those jealous glares when Rosier underlined it all.

She disliked it but a part of her was extremely pleased that she had him, taking him away from anyone else. It also made her goals of 'befriending' people from different houses a little more difficult.

She sighed.

The main reason she spoke with Rosier had been to gauge...what other girls their age were doing with boys. She had...made it clear to Rosier that anything of their conversation leaking would lead to actions not too dissimilar to what happened with Selwyn. It had been gratifying to see Rosier's face pale as blood drained from her face before she nodded meekly and told her everything she knew.

Most girls, it seemed did not do anything beyond groping, beyond touching, things she and Atticus were already doing. Only a rare few did anything more and that was usually girls in their OWLS year and up.

It was...unsatisfying. She was never one to follow societal standards...neither was he for that matter but she began to understand his reticence at the very least. It meant the onus would be on her.

A noise of hissing broke her out of her musings and recollections. He was dipping the piece of metal into a barrel, a barrel with runes carved on it before he took it out and inspected it. 

She began to walk towards him as he continued to eye the blade shaped piece of metal. Her eyebrows raised as she saw the metal glow a little to her surprise but it had gone within a few seconds.

"That was the magic that it absorbed from me" he said calmly though with a hint of breathlessness without looking at her as he flipped the blade and looked at it.

It had ripples in it, colourful under certain angles in the light.

"This is True Damascus Steel" he said as he turned towards her for the first time.

His hair was wet from his sweat and his face was red from exposure from the heat. Her eyes wandered to his chest, and two firm pectorals that she wanted to drag her fingernails on, to mark him as his arms wrapped around her. The sweat still dripped from him and she followed the path downwards until her eyes fixed on his groin which she could clear mark out his cock.

He was wearing a coarse material, something he called jeans that was tighter than the standard trousers that males wore. She'd never seen it before and he simply replied that it was an American thing, for now. 

It was...provocative and she was certain he didn't even know it. It highlighted his features to a maddening effect an-

"My eyes are up here Emily" a wildly amused voice disrupted her musings and her eyes snapped to his and saw matching amusement in his eyes and she struggled to keep the flush down.

"True Damascus Steel?" she asked intending to skip past her...lecherous thoughts that apparently were clear enough for him to read in her face.

He wore a smug smirk on his face and she struggled to keep her eye from twitching...though she was a little amused herself even if for completely different reasons. 

His smug smirk was remarkably similar to hers at that point...she found that little discovery quite amusing. He was picking up a few of her mannerisms, it seemed.

He turned serious as his eyes returned to the blade as he turned it in his hands "True Damascus steel is magically forged steel, with imbued magic. There are certain ores situated on leylines that make it remarkably conductive to magic...obviously not as much as gold or Goblin Silver or the other myriad of metals" he said keeping his eyes on the metal and she let him speak.

It was better to let him continue when he was...in a talkative mood like he was right now. If she didn't know better, she'd think he liked the sound of his own voice...but she did and he was passionate about magic and enjoyed imparting knowledge to people.

The fact that it was done in a lecture esque manner didn't matter. She determined he was only vaguely aware of it. It was amusing. 

"The dwarves were the ones who invented it" he remarked as he looked at her and she raised her eyebrow. 

'Once more mentions the dwarves...' she mused to herself.

"A trading caravan of dwarves in Damascus came across the iron ore and found it to be naturally conductive to magic, even if it was weak and they found the location of the ore situated on leylines outside of Damascus." He said before turning his eyes back to the blade.

"The crafty little buggers set up a forge right there and then and forged numerous blades out of it. The nobles of Damascus at the time came across them and purchases hundreds of the swords which at the time was remarkable." He said calmly before speaking once more 

"It was something like 7th century BC." He remarked offhandedly.

"Anyway, because of how relatively poorly magically conductive it is, the magic in the sword doesn't last very long unless it remains in the hands of a magical or a magic heavy place like a warded home. If it is out of the hands of a mage or home long enough, the steel becomes normal once more losing its conductive properties. But it remains better than Damascus steel forged by muggles even with the loss of magic" He finished.

"Fascinating" she murmured and he looked at her amused.

"I'd like to think so...I doubt many do" he said knowingly and she rolled her eyes.

"You still haven't told me your obsession with magical metals is about" she said with a raised eyebrow.

"Let's get out of this forge and into somewhere less hot and comfortable" he said as he walked past her.

"I could do with a shirt too" he remarked over his shoulder before she could see a ghost of a smirk "Unless you'd like to ogle me some more" he said teasingly.

She pursed her lips before she looked at him lecherously "Well it's not as if you allow me to touch you beyond a certain amount. Seeing you like this helps spark my imagination" she said nonchalantly and his smirk fell as he almost stumbled and cast his eyes forwards as they walked through the door.

"It's not as if I..." he muttered under his breath and she was only able to catch some of what he said.

She continued to purse her lips as she watched his backside in those tight jeans of his...She sighed as she looked up at the ceiling.

'Perhaps I should try those...methods Parkinson suggested to help with these frustrating frustrations' she mused to herself 'If he won't bite when I practically ask him to...'. He had no idea how accommodating she was being...

She soured her face as she was being nice about the whole thing and not pushing it.

Finally, they made it to the main room and he picked up a shirt that was there and sat down after she did.

"I purchased some texts on magical metals from the goblins and also found some texts from ancient dwarves – which I lost, don't ask me how, I don't know either – that sparked my curiosity of magical metals" he said as he set the blade against the table before he refocused on her.

"What do you know of Thor and Zeus" he said with an excited glint and she frowned a little at the direction until she understood.

"You intend to create a magical weapon" she stated as her eyebrows climbed high.

He nodded deeply "I do..." he began to grin "Famous mythical weapons like Mjolnir and the famous Thunderbolt are known to have existed and those mages that inspired such a thing were also known to have weapons that channelled magic, elemental magic" he said passionately.

"But we have wands" she began slowly as she continued to think it over. She was aware, somewhat of the artefacts that were excellent weapons though she always thought they were overblown and were likely more like the Sword of Gryffindor rather than anything else. Clearly he didn't think so...

Was it possible? She rolled her eyes as the overused phrase 'Nothing is impossible with magic' in his voice ran through her mind.

"We do have wands" he said amusedly as he broke her out of her thoughts before he turned serious "But there are some ways of augmenting weapons to devastating degree." He said before sitting back in his chair.

"Of course, they will be limited to certain things and would never have the versatility that wands do but they draw far less magic from the user due to the inherent magic of the weapon itself." He said to her.

Thor...Zeus...very specific kinds of Gods...Gods of thunder...of the sky.

Her eyes narrowed "This is to do with Northern Magicks is it not?" she plainly stated and he smiled at her softly and nodded lightly.

"Perceptive and yes. It is." He said calmly as his eyes searched her face.

"You've made far more progress than you've told me, haven't you?" she asked carefully and once more he nodded.

"I have" he said quietly "I've made significant headway...nowhere near where I want to be...but I think with a magical weapon like this, it would remove some of the strain on me" he said calmly as his eyes met hers.

She tapped her fingers on the table. The fact he was telling her now was...pleasant she supposed but it didn't remove the fact that he hadn't trusted her before. 

But then, now that she knew why...beyond her nature that he successfully determined even with future knowledge...she couldn't blame him.

"Will you teach me?" she asked curiously. She wasn't particularly keen on learning it. Her passions didn't lie in elemental magic, no, they lied in the dark arts, charms and wards. But she wanted to at least know some of it.

He nodded slowly "If you want..." before he looked thoughtful "It's unintuitive though really...you would have to really give yourself into the magic" he grimaced "There is an inherent danger to it." He said a little too uncomfortable for her liking.

Her eyes narrowed "danger...how?" she asked with thinned lips. Was he endangering himself that much?

"Dangerous as in you could explode" he said with a shrug though he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

She said nothing as she stared at him.

"And you continued to try it more...with incomplete texts...just accidentally trying to create a loss form of magic...?" she said calmer than she thought she could at this time.

She did not like him endangering himself...she was already reluctant with him going off to fight Grindelwald and his servants. If there was one thing she hated about him is how stubborn he could be once he set his mind on something. Pathetically, it was also something she liked about him.

"Yes." He sighed "I know. I know" he said tiredly as he hung his head over the chair "It's foolishly dangerous but I just have a feeling that I'm doing the right thing...it's as if my magic is pushing me into it" he said.

"My magic has never let me down Emily...you of all people know what that's like" he murmured quietly as he looked up at the ceiling.

She did. Damn him. 

"Very well" she said curtly.

"What will you craft anyway?" She asked suddenly and his head turned to her and a grin formed.

"A spear" he said as he sat up with eagerness. He outstretched his hand and a conjuration of a small spear with an almost trident like spearhead appeared.

Casual wandless conjuration like this never lost their amazement. She wasn't capable of it...yet but she was capable of conjuring water, fire and so on. 

"I'm taking inspiration of Gungnir, the spear of Odin" he said with a manic grin and her eyebrows raised as her lips twitched.

"The weapon of the King of Asgard...A king of the nine realms..." she said amusedly as her lips quirked upwards. "And you say you don't wish to rule" she mocked light-heartedly and he chuckled and a glint appeared in his eye.

"I don't want to rule but given we are to be royalty, having a weapon of royalty is only fitting no?" he said with a smile before he continued "If nothing else, I will make excellent eye candy and a fitting ornament to your throne room" he said with barely contained amusement as his lips twitched. 

"Eye Candy?" She mouthed perplexed as her eyes shone in amusement.

He sat back "Well, if you're going to be a bad ass Queen, you're going to need someone to distract the populace no?" he said with twitching lips "What better than a spear wielding hulk of a man" he said with a full blown grin.

She shook her head "Careful now...your arrogance is becoming too much, even for someone like me" she said as she suppressed the laughter that bubbled in her throat.

He shrugged "It's confidence Emily..." he said now with a mischievous glint in his eyes "after, if I can make you look at me like you want to hump me, I doubt there will be many women who won't want to..." he said before rolling his shoulders and then his neck, taking out the knots of tight muscle she imagined.

She thinned her lips...she only barely held back a retort.

"Attractiveness is a soft power in itself after all...and a dashing warrior king definitely fires up those loins of those women" he said with a grin.

She shook her head "Back on topic" she said with a glare as her annoyance grew as he enjoyed imagining all those leering women eying him up. It reminded her of all those girls here at the school that would kill to be with him for a single night. Her annoyance grew more but thankfully he broke her out of those unsavoury thoughts.

"Well, it's a work in progress obviously...I'm working on lesser materials, fine tuning the forging process, with the whole magic imbuing thing, which I've only just started after all. When it comes to enchanting and adding runes, that stuff will be easy enough" he sighed and he rubbed his eyes before he eyed her.

"Would you like one of these weapons?" he asked her and she looked at him surprised.

"I know you wouldn't really use it but I'd love to make you one" he said softly and she smiled at him at the gesture.

"I wouldn't say no to it...but let me think on it...Once you finish yours, I will let you know?" she asked him and he nodded before he yawned and checked the time.

"Well, if we leave now, we can get at least five hours sleep before we meet up again for morning exercises?" he asked her.

She shook her head "Not today." She said calmly and he nodded in understanding before he got up and stretched.

He came over to her and leaned down and kissed her gently before he leaned back and met her eyes. "Goodnight my queen" he whispered to her and she smiled at him as he stroked her cheek with the back of his hand, his thumb caressing her lips with the lightest of touches.

It made her want him so much. Damn him.

"Goodnight my consort" she said smiling with a hint amusement in her voice and he chuckled to himself before he left the room.

Her smile fell as she leaned back in her chair as her eyes closed. She didn't know why she felt so...unhappy with their situation. 

Was it because she felt a niggling doubt in her mind that he didn't truly want her? He said that they were too young but he was seventeen and she knew very well what boys his age did...

...was he acting behind her back? He wasn't difficult to read not unless he truly wanted to. But even then, she could read him.

And yet, she felt nothing to it...

Her hand touched her lips unconsciously. The way he touched her...it felt so...expertly. Was that simply his abilities or did he have some...WHORE teach him how to touch...

Did he have some other woman touching him...touching what was hers...was he betra-

She banished those thoughts aggressively as her eyes opened. She got up and made her way towards the Slytherin common room. Her hands clenched. Why was he rejecting her?