Interacting with the Lethifold?!

Friday, 9 Jan 1987

Diagon Alley

Darcie woke up with a light chill lingering over her shoulders, her breath misting as she yawned.

For a moment, the dreamy hisses and whispers wreaked havoc within her mind, becoming comprehensible syllables every next day.

Yet, no matter how much she tried, she just couldn't make sense of it.

With a look from her narrowed eyes, the fire blazed up even higher in the hearth, and soon the surrounding chill was forced to battle the incoming warmth.

It was then her eyes landed on the black cloak rippling a foot over her bead, stretched like a woolen blanket.

Lethifold looked like a single sheet of the black pool of blacker water, rippling, fluttering, and flapping constantly.

"Lilith…" Darcie outstretched her hand, and Lethifold descended toward her.

The young Malfoy snatched the magical creature out of the air, and curled its soft body around her, adding another layer of blanket.

Lethifold: "…"

Darcie curled herself in a ball, clenching her Familiar with her little fingers.

But sleep had abandoned her already, and she had become too used to getting up at the right time, rather than lying on the bed for another 5 minutes.

Still, this morning, her mind couldn't help but wander.

The entire week had passed in the most ordinary manner possible, making her feel as if the strangest events she had undergone last week were just a mirage.

Her further prodding into the mysterious object and its seal had borne no fruit.

Not to mention, Daphne had gone to Norway with her parents for the rest of January.

She had come on Tuesday evening to let her know about this, but the visit had been an incredibly short one for Darcie to even begin the tale of her adventures.

Then there was the matter of the Order of the Immortal Lotus' arrangements for her training.

Madam Villanelle had not even mentioned this topic to her this week. Much less needed to be thought about the further proceedings.

Darcie wasn't an impatient girl, but she was indeed one of the most curious ones.

She liked the continuation of her Page duties and her lessons with Madam Villanelle. Yet, she liked field experience even more.

When she thought of the fascinating studies she would undergo throughout the world, Darcie blushed, and tossed herself on the bed, tugging Lethifold like a doll furiously.

Lilith drew a sharp breath, the entire black cloak puffing with air.

After a few more tossing and turning over the comfortable bed, Darcie threw herself up.

She readied herself and donned a long purple-colored coat, a hat, and thin gloves. Then she eyed Lethifold, who was hovering in peace in the middle of the room.

"Lilith, what do you want to become today?" Darcie asked, looking into the mirror.

Lethifold didn't care to reply.

The corners of Darcie's mouth lifted by the slightest amount. She hopped her way to the magical creature, grabbed one of its corners, and pulled it down.

"I've decided…" Darcie mumbled, nodding to herself. "Today, you will be a scarf."

An imperceptible noise rippled out of the black cloak as if Lethifold had just sighed in defeat.

It floated toward Darcie, and coiled itself around her shoulders according to her directions, becoming a luxurious woolen scarf.

Darcie went to the mirror, looked at herself, and nodded.

Lilith didn't speak to her, but she shared much in the most extraordinary and mysterious ways.

Darcie didn't know if Lethifold was a She or a He, but she thought of her as a female.

Instincts of a lady, perhaps?

Despite her sulky days of the last week, Darcie's time with Lilith had passed with stunning affection and in the strangest conversations.

Darcie didn't like to talk much, with Daphne as an exception. But Lethifold was another matter altogether.

It just listened and listened, breathing, hearing, and floating as Darcie told it everything.

It was during one of those conversations that Darcie discovered Lilith's magical ability to lengthen and shorten with no perceivable limits.

It was almost like Occamy, the winged serpents. But unlike Occamies, Lethifold didn't need an existing volume serving as a measure to expand or contract its dimensions.

To Darcie, it seemed to depend on Lilith's zone of comfort; her mood, to be exact.

Till now, the little girl had forced Lethifold to become a bandanna, scarf, shawl, and robe, with the experiments still going on.

"Don't you feel hunger, Lilith?" asked Darcie, hiding the suitcase under her bed. "What do you even eat?"

The Lethifold-turned-scarf breathed gently, one of its corners brushing her chin.

Darcie had tried to learn as much as she could about Familiars or Spirit Companions in the last four days.

Alas! There wasn't much written or researched about them.

The books were indeed filled with theories and tales, but Madam Villanelle had already warned her to not refer to them.

With her trusted friends — the books — failing to help her, she had only two ways to know more about Familiars.

First, it was to get help from someone who already had them.

And Darcie only knew one wizard who also had his own Spirit Companion — Professor Albus Dumbledore.

Darcie didn't even know how to go about this way. Just write a letter with a little cartoonish drawing of a seven-petaled lotus in one corner? Or visit the grand wizard in person?

No. This wasn't of any help, it seemed.

The second way was the one that Madam Villanelle had advised her to follow.

Interact. Interact with the Familiar, learn from each other, and just… be friends.

But how to interact with someone who doesn't even have a face? Darcie had retaliated, getting no response.

The business was booming in Diagon Alley, especially after the Grand Fair.

Hordes of wizards and witches could be seen walking from one end to another in the afternoons, but the mornings were still chilly enough to keep many indoors.

Darcie walked over the snow-covered cobbled street after having a light breakfast and entered the bookshop.

Ding! Ding!!!

The bells over the door of the main entrance registered her arrival, announcing it to the already present Assistant Manager.

"Good morning, mentor," Darcie greeted, taking off her gloves and the hat.

"Good morning, Darcie," Madam Villanelle replied, smiling. "A bundle of the newest edition of An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe arrived yesterday. I am leaving those to you, dear."

Darcie nodded in acknowledgment.

Just as she had stepped towards the back part of the bookshop on the ground floor, an owl fluttered its way in from the round opening over the main entrance.

However, it was a common sight at Flourish and Blotts, and it couldn't even make Darcie turn her head to look at it.

Now that Madam Villanelle knew she could do Wandless Magic, Darcie enjoyed a bit of freedom within the bookshop when the manager wasn't here.

She did, however, keep casting the spells verbally, and often loudly, making sure that her ability to use magic non-verbally and Wandlessly didn't come out in the open as well.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Darcie shouted, almost blushing at her own lie.

Inwardly, she followed her self-made principles of Specific, Belief, and Intention to make the tall and thick bundle of fresh books hover in the air.

Darcie walked out of the gloomy back hall and entered the main hall, with the bundle following her, bobbing up and down.

To her surprise, she found Madam Villanelle standing in the middle of the hall, with a wide grin planted on her face.

Darcie's heart thumped, and the bundle of books came crashing with a thump.

***************

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