Paragraph 15 : Howeswold, Walth & Foames

Judith reminded herself of how much had happened recently. Arthur Fosty and Douglas Poofer had played a trick on them, and in return, they got pranked when their ink changed forms from text to shapeless liquid. As a result of the trick, she had become friend with three very different people, and they had devised a way of communicating through embroidering messages. Sigismond was lucky, he was the one who had the right to embroider in gold threads. Martin Hift's father had gone broke, and the four friends had been responsible for a duel after which this Bethany girl had found it fitting to tell Deborah about this strange room with golden dust. At that point, Judith's line of thought derailed, and she started linking the dots. She sat up in her bed. Sigismond was using gold to seam his messages, and there was gold dust in that mysterious hall. What if the pile of gold had been formerly some text written in gold ? Everything was making sense. The walls were smooth because they were supposed to be covered with text. Tracy Cobber and Melusine Datts had used some spell to turn the text from the two boys' essays back into their meaningless primary good, ink. There had to be a spell to reverse this effect. Judith barely slept that night. She was eager to tell the three others what she had deduced. However, it was night, the others were most likely sleeping, and there was just not enough space on the back of the ties to explain with copper threads her rationale and not look crazy. She thought over and over about her seemingly brilliant conclusion, trying to imagine the reaction of Ann, Sigismond and Eleanor. She opened a drawer near her bed, pulled from it an empty parchment, cast in a whisper a spell, and the timetable of her three friends appeared on the parchment. Judith examined the schedules to determine the optimal path for her to be able to get to each of the three others as early as possible, taking into account her own classes, those of the three, the distance between her own classrooms and those where the three would be, and the time needed to go from her location at different times of the day to that where each of the three would be at the same time. Thus, the following day, at 7.52am, she was able to meet Sigismond. Both she and Sigismond would have their lessons in almost neighbouring classrooms at eight o'clock. Just as she expected, Sigismond didn't react very much, and just said

Yeah, that looks right

before raising his eyes towards the ceiling, deep in thought. Judith didn't wait for further response from Sigismond, and went to her classroom, where she followed very absent-mindedly the lesson. Her brains could only focus on her finding. She knew that after this class, she would have to run to reach Ann's classroom before going to her own next lesson. Eleanor would not be in the castle this morning, since she had Herbology in the greenhouses first, and Care of Magical Creatures second. Therefore, Judith would get feedback from Ann at the break between this class and the next one, and from Eleanor at lunch. What Judith had forgotten to factor in was the fact that a sizable bunch of second-year Gryffindors and Slytherins coming from the Astronomy Tower would run into a crowd of sixth-year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws going in the opposite way on the third floor, in a corridor through which Judith had elected to make her way to Ann's classroom. On paper, it was the only route short enough for Judith to reach Ann's location before being able to get to her own. Actually, Judith lost two whole minutes in the mix of Gryffindors, Slytherins and Ravenclaws who were trying just like her to force their passage on this damned third floor. Judith made use of her short stature to extract herself from the pack in the middle of sharp remarks by dumbfounded members of the three other Houses, in the style of 'What's a Hufflepuff doing in our midst, it's already difficult to navigate this traffic jam implying three different Houses, we don't need the fourth one at this stage'. Then she ran flat out to her destination, but was just in time to see Ann entering Professor Binns' class. Judith was slightly disappointed, but nothing could markedly dampen her spirits. For the second time in the morning, she went to attend a class during which she was mostly looking at the clock, hardly hearing anything about the Muggle Studies lesson that was about televisions. When at last this one ended, she gathered her belongings and put them into her bag at top speed, and ran downstairs to the Great Hall. On arriving at the large doors, she scanned the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables, and was able to see mostly empty tables. Not discouraged in the least, she went to sit at the end of the Hufflepuff table that was close to the doors, in order to be able to spot Eleanor and Ann as quickly as possible when they would reach the Great Hall. She sat there staring at the doors, not eating anything, till Ann showed up. Judith leapt to her feet, and went to tell her excitedly the idea she had come up with during the previous night. Ann was perplexed :

This is really an appealing theory, but it is completely unrelated to the book

Judith had not expected this. She was looking for a reply that would make Ann's point moot, when Eleanor herself joined the two girls. Judith repeated for the third time in four hours her reasoning, and both she and Ann waited for Eleanor to digest the intertwining bits of information that made up Judith's theory. Eleanor smiled, and said :

That's worth a try

Ann interjected :

But that has nothing to do with the book. Is it that important ?

Eleanor replied :

Maybe it's not as important as the book, but that's an opportunity to make your friend shine. That is sufficient to me. By the way, didn't you say when we first met in the Friends' Room that you were after the book because you were looking for adventure ? Following this lead would probably be closer to an adventure than writing essays

Judith was beaming. For the first time, her typical life at home with her rigid parents looked like nothing more than memories. She felt rid from the paternal pressure, without having ever clashed with her parents. She thought, maybe that was what 'growing up' meant. Sigismond was last to arrive in the Great Hall, being the least impatient of them all. Soon, they were all set. The following weekend, they would prove or disprove Judith's theory. Ann, being in Slytherin, would ask Melusine Datts what was the spell she had used to collect Arthur and Douglas' essays' ink, and if she knew the counter spell. Eleanor would meet Bethany Radote and hopefully convince her to bring them through Side-Along Apparition to the place where she and the rest of her family had spotted the ruined castle. There, Bethany's father would be waiting for them, ready to perform the magic they weren't allowed to do outside school. At the end of the day, Ann had already transferred through embroidery to the three others five messages :

They used Extractum

Opposite is Reforma

There is an additional subtlety though

For Reforma to work, one needs to picture…

The form one wants the substance to take

On Saturday, the four of them met with Bethany Radote near the lake. This time, they would walk on the bank of the lake that was opposite to the one near which they had held their meetings. For they didn't want to disclose their historical gathering spot, that was synonymous with memories only the four of them shared. It was raining, and they hoped the weather would be better at their destination. They had packed a few things in case their trip would convert itself into an adventure. An expanding bag contained food for one day, a tent and spare clothes. Ann couldn't help but tease Judith :

I hope you didn't forget your Floo powder at home

Judith answered casually :

I still have some. When one can't Apparate, it's nice to have this kind of stuff ready

Ann replied,

Sure. Chimneys grow naturally in the middle of nowhere

The three others - Eleanor, Sigismond and Bethany - being ready and waiting for them, Ann and Judith stopped sparring. The five of them made their way along the muddy side of the lake. They reached the limits of Hogwarts' grounds, gathered round Bethany, the four friends gripped a bit of one of Bethany's arms, and off they were. They reached a hilly part of the countryside, where it was raining too at the moment, and atop one of the hills stood the medieval-looking construction. The remains of the surrounding walls were more or less high depending on the location. This made for an odd visual effect. At some points, the wall had collapsed and was only two or three meters high. At other points, the wall was complete, meaning you could see side by side a collapsed portion, then a portion complete with rampart walk spreading horizontally over two meters, then another collapsed portion. They met Bethany's father, and after Bethany had made the introductions, the six of them walked towards the ruined gate, entered the yard, and saw standing next to the back wall a tall hall that didn't seem to have taken any damage from time nor aggression. The hall was so high that at some places, it was much higher than the remains of the wall next to it, although it was apparent that initially, the hall's ceiling had been lower than the top of the rampart walk. Near the top of the hall, on either side of it, were two openings that had probably been connecting the highest point of the enclosed room with stairs leading to the rampart walk. All six of them went straight to the wooden door of the hall. The wood was pristine, which was the first hint at the fact that the place had been magically self-maintained. The four friends expected Bethany's father to cast 'Alohomora', but instead, Bethany herself just pushed open the high doors. Magic probably also played a role in this. If the huge doors had not been made as light as feather through magic, Bethany could never have moved them over a single inch. They reached the inside, and here it was, the stack of golden dust. The walls were so smooth it was impossible to discern the pattern of a single stone. Because of this, the hall seemed to have been carved and polished from a huge rock. The two openings that had in long gone days been doors allowing men to move in and out of a top floor bordered by ornate railings, were now just rectangles letting daylight come in and help people appreciate the architecture of the inside. Moreover, the intact hall, or rather the intact ceiling of the hall shielded them now from the rain, that was only passing through the two openings, high over them, at the back of the hall. They suspected once again magic had been used to protect the hall from damages that could have been caused by water and more generally humidity, since the rain that was falling through the openings vanished before reaching the floor. The floor, contrary to the walls, showed the boundaries of each stone that composed it. Bethany's father moved closer to the heap of gold, and pronounced

Reforma

The gold particles flew slowly in the air towards the walls, and one could soon read on the smooth walls, in huge letters of pure gold :

Werther Gorth, born in Coventry, had his elf write twelve copies of what a young wizard dedicated to knowing all magic could do to master the finest and subtlest of all, Dark Magic. Out of these twelve copies, three were hidden where Werther Gorth went through his darkest times. He used magic on the copies of his books, so that they would look like Galleons unless a wizard would perform dark magic near them. In this case the copies would appear for what they are. Werther Gorth, when he was close to the darkest of times a human can experience, buried his memories under the church of Tewkes. He passed away on June the third, 977

Ann was the first to react. So as not to be heard by Bethany and her father, she said in a hushed voice to Eleanor

This doesn't make sense at all. It looks like a stupid movie. We went here because Bethany had some weird story about a hall with gold. It is too much coincidental that this story could lead us straight to the book

Eleanor replied :

It's not a coincidence. I drank the Intuition Potion, and the potion directed me towards sending notes to other Ravenclaws. As a result, they went past Gryffindor's Common Room, which triggered the duel. When Deborah won the duel, Bethany went to her about her gold filled story while I was in the room. To summarise, the potion kind of knew that the first step towards accessing this hall connected to the book was to send mysterious notes to other Ravenclaws. In short, the Intuition Potion worked definitely very well. By the way, what's a moovy ?

By that point, everybody apart from the very collected Sigismond, and including Bethany and her father, was excited about the next step, going to Tewkes' church. After an expedited concertation, the five Hogwarts students went to Tewkes thanks to Bethany's father, who had allowed them to Apparate alongside him. Tewkes was a little village, and its church's tower bell was unsurprisingly the tallest building in the town. Therefore they quickly spotted the church, and made their way to it. Bethany cautiously pushed open the church's door, and caught a glimpse of what was inside. She said

Nobody's there

and opened the door wide. The group went inside, and Sigismond closed the door behind them. Ann noted :

Of course. Only a dark wizard would display a disrespect towards ethics so deep. Burying the memory of his misdeeds under a sacred place

Bethany's father moved to the center of the church, and with deferential solemnity, used 'Wingardium Leviosa' on the tiles. When he attempted to do it on the tile in front of the short stairs leading to the altar, they were able to see a pit, and a second tile moved up from the bottom of the pit. When it reached the surface, Ann set foot over it. The tile started moving down the pit, engulfing Ann whose sight quickly disappeared. When the tile moved up again, they heard Ann's voice, shouting

It's OK

She couldn't use a spell like 'Sonorus', since she was not at school. One by one, they went down the pit, while Bethany's father was keeping the stone that had hidden the pit far above them. He finally went down himself, letting the stone gently rest on the top of the pit, like it probably had for a few centuries, unless of course somebody had visited this place before them not too long ago. What they discovered was a second hall, this time lit by torches. Only one architectural element was present there : a basic stoned fountain that was permanently delivering water to its basin, the liquid splashing where it fell. Judith said :

Where are the memories?

Mr. Radote answered this without opening his mouth : he stepped into the basin. The others followed suit, Judith and Sigismond being the last ones. Their surroundings dissolved into a part of the British countryside. Just one wizard was there, on his way to a neighbouring stoned house. He had dark hair and a pale face, was young, and was wearing navy blue robes. The group followed him, guessing he was Werther Gorth. Gorth knocked on the door, and a few instants later, an older, bearded wizard with long brown hair sporting black robes opened the door. Gorth followed him, and they both sat at the table of the wide room they had entered. The older wizard's voice was imbued with seriousness, and he sounded slightly tired.

What kind of knowledge are you seeking ?

he asked, letting the words come out somewhat slowly. Gorth replied, in an excited voice

Everything that can make me known one day for my science

The older wizard paused, then summarised :

You want to be famous, in other terms. Many wizards are hugely knowledgeable, but have not achieved celebrity

Gorth went on :

You are famous yourself

The older wizard explained :

I wouldn't go as far as to say I am famous. I acquired a reputation because I taught wizards who ended up being themselves reputable, with the consequence that their word and their recommendation carried more weight than average

The environment dissolved this time in the inside of an inn. A few wizards and witches were there. Gorth was sitting at a table face to face with a wizard in his thirties, blond with green eyes. Both had in front of them a foamy beverage. The wizard opposite Gorth took a sip from his glass. He wore green robes dotted with elaborate golden shapes representing tiny magical creatures, and a thin silvery necklace that featured the symbol of the Deathly Hallows. Gorth expressed, in a seemingly concerned voice, what he had on his mind :

You are known for teaching dark magic. Does it bother you?

The flamboyant wizard answered, with a chanting voice :

Dark magic is dark only if you use it for wrong purposes. One can't possibly expect to be learned if one doesn't know a lot of it. Dark magic makes up for a significant part of all magic. A fantastic amount of formidable things, including in ordinary magic, come from dark magic

The wizard was clearly passionate and eager to teach. The not so busy tavern turned into a room of a house littered with bottles, tools, cauldrons, books, ornate furniture and piles of books, where both Gorth and his new teacher were standing, next to a steamy cauldron.

Is it ready yet?

Gorth asked. The teacher answered, delighted :

Yes, yes. It is. Do not forget to bring tomorrow the three Galleons for the ingredients

Gorth nodded, took a vial and a ladle, collected with the ladle the equivalent of a few drops of the potion that was inside the cauldron, and poured the ladle's content into the vial. Then he left the house with the vial in his hand. The group found itself next in what looked like a nearby town. Gorth had probably Apparated there. The noise of the humdrum reached the ears of the group. Gorth went to the well, turned around to check if someone was looking at the well, then promptly emptied the vial in the well. Suddenly, the shapes of the landscape and of the town's buildings changed. Most of them had fallen in disrepair. The town was now probably uninhabited. No noise could any longer be heard. Gorth entered a derelict house, and closed the door behind him. A very shiny figure was there. The ghost's head turned around. She was an old woman, a sad expression on her face.

Why are you here? Nobody comes these days

she asked. Gorth replied casually :

I went to see if the rumour was true. People from this town who die always end up as ghosts haunting the place

The old woman was sharp enough to notice something was funny about Gorth being there :

Everyone flees when they see ghosts. Why don't you do the same ?

Gorth obliged, enjoying a conversation that was harmless to him, given that he knew no ghost could ever wound him :

It is usual for people of my trade to see ghosts. Because I am a wizard

The action cut to the house of Gorth's preceptor. The latter had clearly aged, and taken on quite a few pounds. The house was still littered with objects and ingredients, but the quantity of objects made of gold or silver had greatly increased. Gorth's teacher was saying :

I need more. I have given you so much. I have made you a brilliant wizard, Werther

Gorth coldly retorted :

I can't give you more. Sell your flashy diamond-laden alambics if you need monies

The bitter remark made Gorth's master's realise his hopes of convincing his disciple to pay up were now vain :

You are breaking my heart. Such a cruel sentence for so much generosity

Then, in the following minute, progressively, the master's mood started changing, as if memories of a long forgotten life when he had to prove his skills had reached the surface. He took out his wand and slowly raised it. Gorth mirrored the move. He thrust the hand carrying the wand forward, and his master fell on the floor in a lump, unconscious, bloody gashes open on his chest. Gorth then extracted an expanding bag from his robes, and undertook the plundering of his former master's house. No valuable object had been left when Gorth departed without a word for the source of most of his abilities. The following memory showed Gorth walking in an austere manor, on the lookout for something. The walls were made of gray stone, and the long and wide corridor where Gorth was had not a single piece of furniture. In spite of the numerous windows that should have been able to let a lot of light in, the corridor was surprisingly dark, as if magic had been used to counteract the openings' effect. He arrived in front of a door, raised his wand, and the group heard a clicking noise. Gorth entered the room behind the door, the group of six on his tail. He cast a glance around the room, and the invisible others imitated him. The room held in its center a big but unadorned table, and the portrait of a severe-looking witch clad in white robes. Surprisingly, Gorth walked alongside the wall to which the door belonged, went to the corner, and crouched. He whispered something, and the stone making up the corner, just above the floor, disappeared, replaced by a completely dark cube. Gorth moved his hand close to the cube, and a surreal black dust started whirling around it, while a thumping sound came from the cube. Gorth seized the object, the dust continued circling the cube and the sound became louder and louder. Gorth said 'Muffliato', the sound became much lower, and he put the cube in his pocket. The scene then transitioned to the point where Gorth was in another room of what looked like the very same manor. He was not alone. A small wizard was standing in the middle of the room, that featured the characteristical gray-stone walls and basic-looking wooden furniture. Gorth asked the other wizard, with badly conceited glee :

Why is the owner selling ?

Then the answer came :

The former owner lost his mind, and passed away. A devastating loss, I heard

The thread of memories continued in, this time, a hilly landscape where Gorth, in crimson robes, was watching a young maid, who was washing her linen by hand under the roof of a wooden construction that was erected over a water-filled wide basin, which was connected to a neighbouring river. The maid had long blond braided hair and blue eyes. Gorth stared at the maid. The group of six was stuck in this memory where Gorth was gazing for a long time at a young woman. Ann noted that the wizard was acting as if he had been the one that had been enchanted. Then, finally, Gorth made his mind and walked down to the washhouse. Once at the other side of the basin, he told the maid :

You know, I don't need all this effort to wash clothes

The maid was witty and replied in a cheerful voice, loud enough to make it possible for Gorth to hear it distinctly across the basin and over the noise of the water flowing from the river to the washhouse :

You shouldn't woo a woman by first alluding to your wife

Ann sighed :

Damn tenth century

Gorth went around the basin, towards the maid. The maid, seeing this, paused and quizzically watched him closing in on her. When he was six feet away from the maid, he took his wand out of his pocket, raised it, directed it at the linen that the maid was holding in her hands. The linen jumped out of the maid's grasp, the maid flinched, Gorth conjured a brush, and the brush started scratching the linen in the air. Then, the linen dived in the water, before coming back up to get once more scratched by the brush. The maid was taken aback. Gorth went on :

Extend your finger to my arm, and I will show you more of this

Gorth, the maid, and the six onlookers felt on the spot transported to the manor, that had undergone quite a transformation. But what they noticed first was the maid's reaction. She landed on all fours on arrival and threw up. Gorth said

It's often like this the first time

He conjured a glass filled with water that hovered in mid-air, and wiped instantly the floor clean with a spell. He extended his hand towards the maid, who used it to get up, and proceeded to drink the water from the glass which kept refilling itself. The end of this action allowed the group to look around and see for a brief moment that portraits, ornate furniture and decorative objects had been added to the little castle by the bucket. Gorth had though kept in place the magical mechanism that prevented the brightness of the sunlight from entering massively through the windows, and installed torches instead. The maid marveled at the few moving paintings, went to one of them, and started conversing with the person in the portrait, a wizard in purple robes that was busy twirling his wand. They then jumped in the timeline, and the decor once more evolved. They were back in the hilly landscape where Gorth had obviously fallen in love with the maid, but this time they were in a village. The maid was walking alongside a sturdy, brown-haired young man with half-long hair. Gorth walked briskly towards the pair. He was clearly disturbed.

What is this man ?

he sputtered to the maid on reaching them. The maid, who was sensing that Gorth was about to make a scene, worded diplomatically but sternly her answer :

This is Walter. I and my parents chose him to be my fiancé

Gorth replied, or rather retaliated, with blame :

I am the only one who can give you a comfortable life. What can this peasant bring I can't ?

The maid, patiently but concisely, explained :

You never let me know you. In the meantime, I got to know Walter. And I was able to make sure he would be a good man. On the other hand, what you just did shows me that, even if I had let you open yourself to me, I would still have seen in you not as good a man as Walter

There was nothing to be done. Neither - ill-acquired - wealth nor magic could match the mundane but honest personality that this Walter was bringing as a gold-less dowry. The maid concluded :

Now, please excuse us

Both she and her fiancé moved away from Gorth. But now rage was swelling in him. He kept looking at the pair, who had their back on him. He just had to aim true. He cast a spell under his breath. A green light flashed around the fiancé, who fell on the ground, eyes wide open. Gorth turned around, and walked calmly away, sad resignation on his face. The maid kneeled near Walter, and kept telling him, panicked :

Say something

Then, after around a minute, anger came to her. She cursed Gorth better than a magical woman could have done, shouting in his direction :

More than any witch, you deserve to burn at the stake

But Gorth had his back on the maid, on the town. And on the hope he had had. The hilly countryside dissolved to the now familiar castle. Wizards and witches were populating it. Gorth was now visibly close to his fifties, and was walking in one of the corridors of his manor. He waved his wand, and a large door opened in front of him. A young wizard, who like Gorth had dark hair, but was smaller than him, was already sitting near a table, eating in a laid-back manner fruits from a silver plate in front of him. Gorth went to sit opposite him. Judith noted that this time, Gorth's voice was as serious and tired as that of the first wizard Gorth had approached as a potential master. He asked :

James, Why are you doing this ?

And James answered :

You need students to live. I also need students to live. I was your student, and a quite dedicated one. None of the students who are now my students and were once your students can complain about the quality of my teachings. And Mark does the same

Gorth, clearly frustrated, stated his mind :

Poaching my students is not the way to go. What is important, more than the magic you use, whether dark or ordinary, is the purpose. The purpose should not be wrong. Students are leaving the castle. They are scared. You and your students are busy injuring Mark's students, who are themselves very intent on injuring your own students, who are supposed to be my students

Eleanor thought :

He knows he is in the same situation as his own master was when they dueled

The scenery changed again. The background was still the manor, but it was empty of people and of magical objects. Gorth, still tired, was answering questions from a witch who wore a lilac dress.

Why are you selling, Mr. Gorth ?

And Gorth replied, with cold irony

A devastating loss

They again underwent a location transfer. Gorth, wearing black robes, was exiting a tiny house. He had grown still much older. He was now maybe sixty. His house was part of a wizarding village : everybody in the streets wore robes, and many people wore pointed hats, too. Gorth then headed towards the forest, and the six followed him. A few dozens of yard into the forest, which held quite a few magical creatures, Gorth met a young wizard. The path was narrow, and Gorth apparently expected the younger wizard to let way. But instead, the young wizard stopped in front of Gorth, and started waiting for Gorth himself to move out of the way. They were in kind of a stalemate, and quickly it became obvious why. The young wizard voiced his mind :

Move on, old man. You may be knowledgeable and powerful, but you are overall a failure. Move

Gorth outpaced the young wizard. He swiftly took out his wand, and cast him a spell. The young wizard opened his mouth, and it remained open. He became completely expressionless, and unable to speak. Gorth moved the now still body of the young wizard away from the path forcefully with his hand, and the young man fell as if he had lost any force to stand, without even putting his hands in front of him to alleviate the effects of the fall. When he hit the mixture of grass, moss, and mud that made up the forest's floor, he didn't yell or even utter a sound. Gorth resumed his walk in the forest. He walked still a few yards, then changed his mind. He turned around, and retraced his steps. The group followed him once again. This time, he went to his house. The group entered the house, that was very modestly furnished. However, Gorth was not ending his life alone, technically speaking. He now had a house-elf. Gorth started writing. On top of the page, a simple title : 'How To Become a Dark Wizard'. Once again, the surroundings changed, but slightly. They were still in Gorth's house, the inside of which had a bit evolved. It was now filled with stacks of parchment and quills, and bottles of ink. Gorth cast a spell on the heap of parchments that sat on his desk, and a binding appeared along the side of the parchments. He then addressed his elf :

Holly, I need you to make twelve copies of this book. Out of these, three of them will be hidden in specific places. One in Howeswold, where was my old manor, and where I stole a most fascinating magical object. One in Walth, where I killed the only Muggle who was able to thwart me. And one here in Foames, where I cursed into insanity a young wizard who spoke the truth, but in a most impudent way. On completing each copy, you will have to give me the copy temporarily for me to perform some special magic on it. As for the nine last copies, I will let you choose the places where you want to hide them