Guardian Totem

The week passed, and while almost the entire castle attended the match, including Quirrell, he secretly checked; Aurelius finally found one of Cyrah's hiding places.

It turns out to be behind a painting deeper within the Galegold's house. It is a painting of a homeless man begging and is ignored by a wizard drinking wine with gold coins poking out of his pouch. All he had to do was say his name, grab a coin from the wizard's pouches, and put one of his own into the beggar's outstretched hand to make the painting move out of the way.

The room closed behind him, and he discovered it contained three items: an intricate magic circle on the floor, a bubbling blue potion, and a golden dagger. He spent five minutes inspecting the room and shifting through his memories to understand what each thing was used for.

The potion was an ancient recipe for altering traits such as bloodlines, curses, gifts, and talents to a more desirable or useful alternate version. The small golden dagger was made through a cumbersome process that even goblins would find tiresome and challenging to replicate. It served many purposes for the process; it was a symbolic blade and acted as a catalyst for the ritual. The magic circle was a combination of summoning magic, sacrificial conversion, and rituals used to bind totem guardians. As for what he would get. There was only one way to find out.

He approached the gold dagger that rested on a purple silk cushion and after using a weakened version of the cutting hex on his own hand, he dropped a few drops of blood to be recognized as its owner. The dagger was an artifact capable of cutting through almost anything, but it couldn't be turned on its owner, meaning the blade couldn't even harm him unless he wanted it to.

As for the potion, he'd come to that decision after summoning a potential totem guardian. After all, something so powerful as that could net him some powerful allies and enemies or strengthen himself. Unfortunately, according to the knowledge passed down to me by my mother, she didn't know how it was made except that some of the ingredients used to make it were extinct.

He moved past the potion and dripped more blood into the designated spots for the ritual on the floor. He muttered the magic circle's activation words, and with a wave of his good hand, he used a simple spell to heal the wound.

The markings on the ground spread outwards, forming a second ring in which a barrier was generated before the original circle began to glow red. Something fell into the magic circle with a pop somewhat reminiscent of apparition.

"Huh, a snake? I wouldn't have guessed that. Given the circle's impressiveness, you'd think it'd at least be a magical beast, but it looks just like a large snake."

The snake looked around in confusion, and Aurelius felt he had seen the creature before, which was weird because he wasn't a big fan of snakes.

'Was it the zoo snake that Harry released? No. Maybe the snake that Draco summoned during their duel? No. It couldn't be...'

"Nagini?" I ask.

The snake suddenly turned around, and from what Aurelius could tell, it was surprised. The longer he looked at the snake, the more sure he became. It was Voldemort's snake that became his final horcrux.

Nagini began to hiss frantically, but Aurelius had no idea what she was saying.

"I can't speak parseltongue, but we can try to communicate in a more basic way," Aurelius explained through the barrier. "Nod, if you understand me." Nagini nodded.

"Do you have any idea how you ended up here?"

Nagini shook her head.

"Has your curse become permanent?"

Nagini looked at him silently for a moment, wanting to ask how he knew about her condition, but she still responded with a nod. Aurelius fell silent and thought for a minute before speaking again.

"Okay, this will sound a little crazy to you, but remember that we are in the magical world, okay?" After seeing her nod again, he explained that they were in Great Britain, in a hidden room at Hogwarts, to be more specific. "I found one of my mother's heirlooms in the castle and activated the magic circle where, for whatever reason, you appeared due to summoning magic." He gave her a moment to process the information, then pointed the potion vial to his side. "If my theory is true, then this potion should remove your maledictus condition and allow you to be human again without the potential issues associated with the reverting process."

Nagini straightened up further upon hearing that.

"I'm not done. Let me say it all before you get excited. The circle you are in is for contracting totem guardians. Do you know what they are?"

Nagini shook her head.

"They are guardians tied to a lord for life in exchange for grace. It's along the lines of an oath of unbreakable loyalty." He looked away from the circle on the ground and back at her.

"Now, here's the crux of the matter. The potion is incredibly valuable to the point it could be considered an artifact and heirloom of an ancient noble house. Secondly, with this barrier, I can't interact with you until the contract is denied or accepted by both parties, and I will only use it if you become my totem guardian."

"In short, you have two options right now," Aurelius explained as simply as possible, "First, I can use the magic circle again, and it will return you to where you were as if nothing had happened. Or you can accept the contract; I will feed you the potion, which will make you human again, but you will be bound as my totem guardian. And I also don't know if there will be any additional side effects. So, what do you decide?"

Nagini curled up and placed her head on her body, thinking.

Aurelius did not rush Nagini to decide. It was a significant decision.

While the magic circle could force the summoned party to obey if his will is substantially stronger than hers, one significant reason not to do so is that if the summoned were willing to agree to the contract of their own free will, then some benefits would arise for both parties. Besides, an excellent symbiotic relationship holds more value than enslavement.

Nagini had moved from her original thinking position and looked at him.

"Did you decide?" I asked to make sure.

Nagini nodded and hissed again.

"Nod, if you agree to be my totem guardian. Shake if you want me to send you back."

Nagini looked at him and nodded.

"Okay, but I'm warning you, I don't know if it will hurt or what exact process we will go through, just that we will be bonded. You better mentally prepare yourself for pain, just in case.

Aurelius took the potion and returned to the circle, ready to go, when he remembered something else.

"By the way, do you have a thing against squibs?"

Nagini shook her head.

"Okay, let's get started."