Dark Artifacts

"You've mastered one of the spells already?" Hermione exclaimed, unable to completely keep the envy out of her voice.

"Well, that's what we're about to find out. There's not really anything to master, though; it's really quite a simple spell, provided you have the correct...instruments." He paused. "Muffliato."

Responding to their puzzled looks as he stood up to close the curtains of the compartment, he said by way of explanation, "Privacy charm."

Theo frowned. "You cast that every night before you go to sleep."

"Yes, well, I do like my privacy while I'm unconscious."

Meanwhile, Hermione looked very excited. "Will you teach me?"

Harry smiled. "Sure, but another time. Right now...Theo, do you have it?"

Reluctantly, Theo nodded, and reached into his bag, pulling out a small black box. "Lynea," he said, and it snapped open, revealing a small black quill.

Hermione looked on in puzzlement. "A quill?"

Theo nodded. "It's called a Blood Quill."

"It's an illegal dark artifact," Harry put in.

Hermione's eyes snapped open wide. "Harry James Potter! I -!"

"Hermione, it's just for an experiment," Harry interrupted firmly, "All it does is use some of your blood to write something. That's literally all it does. And yes, I'm sure that's all it does. I've done my research."

"Then...why is it illegal?" she asked, frowning, "It doesn't sound all too horrible to me – it's not like you need a magical object to write in blood. A knife and regular quill could do the same, right? Is writing in blood illegal in the wizarding world or something? That's rather silly, if you ask me."

Theo snorted. "You know, Granger, the more I get to know you, the more I like you."

She scowled at him.

"It's not illegal to write in blood, or at least, I don't think so -" he looked at Theo, who shook his head "- but for some reason it's called a dark artifact. It's probably because it's technically cursed."

"So...it's illegal because of a technicality?" Hermione asked incredulously.

"Yes," Theo said, "That's the Ministry of Magic, for you."

"Anyway," Harry said, "Having one of these really simplifies the whole magical oath process. This way we don't need to waste time and magic on long incantations and complicated wand movements...foolish wand-waving, as Professor Snape might say."

Hermione nodded slowly. "That makes sense."

"And Theo was kind enough to let us borrow this."

"You can keep it," Theo offered, "Think of it as a late birthday present."

Harry's eyes widened, and he threw his arms around Theo with practised precision, while his friend went stiff in his arms. "Thank you so much!"

Theo awkwardly patted Harry on the back, and Harry could not help but be a little disappointed that the hug was still awkward even after all his practising.

"It's no problem, really. It was just collecting dust in my father's study."

"Does he know you took it?" Harry asked curiously.

"...no."

"Huh."

"Indeed."

"Anyway," Harry began, "If you're both up for it -" seeing their nods, he continued, "- I'd like to try something called a Penned Promise. Apparently, it's the basis for some anti-cheating spells and the like. The idea is that someone writes down a secret on a piece of paper, and the secret keepers sign their names underneath, and after the secret sharer says an incantation, the secret keepers are prevented from being able to write that sentence or a grammatical variation of it...like, changed around prepositions, or change in tense, introduction of adjectives and adverbs, stuff like that."

"How does it prevent you from writing something?" Hermione asked.

Harry shrugged. "Like with most similar oaths, apparently you're physically incapable of it. I figure that can be part of the experiment. Anyway, if we use the Blood Quill, the incantation is pretty simple, and we can cast it right here."

The other two nodded slowly.

"So," Theo said, "What, do we all just think of a secret to share, and take turns?"

Harry nodded, and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. "You know my diary? It has something called a Protean Charm on it...I can rip out pages, and what I write on the ripped out pages appears in the diary."

Hermione gasped. "That's brilliant! When did you learn to cast that?"

"Um, well, I actually got the diary with it already cast on it...apparently it's a NEWT level charm, so a bit above my skill level..."

Hermione deflated at that. "Oh."

"I'm working on it though."

Hermione smiled hopefully.

"Anyway, we can write the secrets on this paper, and it will be transferred to my diary for safekeeping. To nullify the spell, I just have to find the right page in my diary and burn it out."

The other two nodded, leaving him feeling quite relieved. He had been hoping that neither one of them would insist on caring for the written oaths themselves, because while he trusted them, he didn't want any of his secrets at the bottom of one of their trunks.

"So...shall I go first?"

.....

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