Chapter 36: Cleansed

Grigori Headquarters, Somewhere in the Underworld

November 23rd, 1992, 8:50 PM - British Time

"So, how is your school?"

Azazel asked, changing the subject.

*sigh*

Erik let out a sigh after hearing azazel's question.

"That bad, huh?"

Azazel commented.

"It's a mess."

Erik confessed.

"During sometime between my visits the Board of Governors, who were responsible for keeping an eye on the school, decided that it was a good idea to reward themselves with salaries. The big problem is that they kept raising that value, and it reached a value that was three times higher than a Master Professor... "

*whistle*

Erik explained and Azazel let out a long whistle.

"Yeah… Their pillaging left a big hole into the school's fund. They had to let go of a lot of professors and a lot of equipment used for classes needed upgrades."

Erik explained.

"But that problem is solved now, at least partially. I let go of the said body and I will let the goblins deal with them.

"Damn. I'm starting to pity them a little."

Azazel said. He knew exactly how fierce a goblin could be. And they had focused all this battle fierceness into banking after some 'rebellions'.

"And that is just the beginning…"

Erik said and started to relate the problems that he had found at Hogwarts to Azazel.

"... And that was when we discovered two horcruxes inside the school…"

Erik continued speaking.

"... So, now I have practically a full new docent body to hire, a school to renew, a mad wraith to hunt, and a thousand years old basilisk to kill. And have to do everything while surfing in British Wizarding politics."

Erik finished saying to Azazel, who started laughing at his friend's predicament.

"Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and laugh… At least my paperwork will end at one point."

Erik said to Azazel with a smug face. That made the laughing Azazel stop and let out a groan.

*groan*

Now it was Erik's turn to start laughing. As Erik stopped laughing, the pair started to talk about the more diverse topics while waiting for the scan to finish.

During one of these minor talks, the computer station that was commanding the scan let out a bell sound, indicating that it had finished. They both stopped the talk and Azazel started to analyse the data on the screen.

"Hmm… It seems that it will be easier than I imagined. You said that you have found two more horcruxes from the same person, right?"

Azazel asked Erik, who nodded in confirmation.

"It seems that the guy was stupid enough to tear his soul in so many pieces that it is now kinda of unstable. It should be easy to separate it from the diadem with very little risk because of it."

Azazel explained to Erik.

"Let's do it."

Erik said.

"Take the diadem and let's go to the extractor."

Azazel asked Erik, who took the diadem and walked after him. The 'extractor' was a neighbouring piece of equipment. It's appearance was of two platforms linked by cables and tubes and some antennas like scanners pointing to the center of each platform. Azazel went directly behind the computer station of the extractor equipment and started to import the data from the scanner to feed the extractor.

"Put the diadem in the bigger platform, then take one ball of glass from inside the cardboard box near the small platform and put it in it."

Azazel said to Erik, who did what he was asked to do.

"Done."

Erik said after he put the ball of glass in the middle of the platform. He then walked to Azazel's side by the computer station. Azazel looked at the platforms and typed some extra parameters to the extractor.

"Ok, let's start."

Azazel said and clicked the big 'START' button on the monitor. The extraction equipment started to emit a humming sound and the diadem was enveloped by a yellow light. Ten seconds after the process was initiated, the diadem started to scream. Not really the diadem, but the horcrux inside it.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Shut up!"

Erik yelled back to the diadem and erected a sound barrier around him and Azazel with a twitch of a finger.

"Thanks. One would think that they would not yell being removed since they probably didn't when being put inside the artifact."

Azazel thanked Erik for the sound barrier and commented. He was keeping an eye on the status being displayed on the monitor. Erik looked at it and saw that it was displaying an animation of a black soul being slowly moved from the diadem to the ball of glass. Two minutes later and the process was finished successfully.

"And done."

Azazel said with a smile.

"Thank you, Azazel."

Erik thanked Azazel and went to the platforms. He took the now cleansed diadem in hand and looked at it with a happy smile. Erik then proceeded to put it safely in his inside pocket of his blazer. He then went to the ball of glass. It had lost its transparency and now had a murk black cloud moving inside it. Erik took it in hand and quickly put it inside his mokeskin pouch. He then turned to Azazel and said.

"Thank you, again, Azazel."

"No problem, Erik. I got some good data on it too. Last time that I saw some of this stuff I didn't have the equipment that I have today, so I won something from it too."

Azazel replied with a shrug. Both friends started walking to the exit of the lab, where the transport magic circle was, while talking about some more light stuff. Arriving at the transport magic circle, Erik and Azazel stood on it and the last activated it, transporting both of them back to the office in a flash of yellow light.

Arriving back at it Azazel went to his chair and offered the other to Erik.

"Take a seat, Erik, I'll ask for some tea for us."

Azazel spoke and pressed a button in a box on his desk.

"Penemue, can you arrange some tea for Erik and me, please?"

"Yes, Governor. Right away."

"Thank you."

Azazel spoke to the box, and Penemue's voice came back from it with an answer. Both friends started to talk again when, some minutes later, Penemue entered the office after a brief knock on the door. She was pushing a trolley cart that had a tea set on top of it. Penemue served a tea cup for Erik first and then one to Azazel.

"Thank you, Penemue."

Erik and Azazel thanked her for the tea and she exited the office after giving them a small bow. The group of friends continued with the small talk. They talked about their business in the magical world and non-magical world, the new stuff being developed, like the industry of games, mangas, animes, and other stuff of varied subjects.

It was some minutes past ten when Erik looked at his wrist watch and took notice of the time.

"It's better that I get going."

Erik said and got up from his seat. Azazel got up too.

"It's early, Erik. But I understand that the girls are waiting for you back in the school."

Azazel said and Erik gave the man a nod. They both walked to the office's door and Azazel opened it to Erik. Azazel then accompanied Erik to the elevator, where they stopped for an instant to trade final pleasantries.

"I will probably be back with more artifacts for you soon."

Erik said, imagining that the Unspeakables would find more horcruxes in important artifacts.

"No problem, bring them, more data that I can get."

Azazel replied to Erik, who nodded.

"Good night then, Azazel."

Erik said and extended a hand to Azazel, who took the offered hand and shook it.

"Good night Erik, and give the girls my compliments."

Azazel said and let go of Erik's hand.

"I will."

Erik spoke while entering the elevator. He pushed the lobby button and the elevator's doors closed. Seconds after, the elevator's door opened on another floor, not the lobby floor, and a fallen angel entered it without looking who was inside while reading a report in a paper on his hands. The fallen angel had long pointy ears, a pale complexion and long black hair. Erik smirked at him, he recognized the fallen angel, it was Kokabiel. The fallen angel pushed a button selecting a floor and finally looked up from the piece of paper. He looked at Erik's smirking face and looked back at his paper. Then he did a double take and looked at Erik again, his eyes going wide in recognition.

"Erik Ravenclaw!"

Kokabiel said.

"Kokabiel!"

Erik said back, intensifying his smirk.

"What are you doing here at Grigori?"

Kokabiel asked, his eyes going back to normal and his face adopting some disgust on it.

"Just some minor business with the Lord Governor General, nothing that you should care about."

Erik replied nonchalantly to Kokabiel.

"Why you…"

*ding*

A soft bell chimed, announcing the arrival of the elevator at the lobby and interrupting Kokabiel. The doors opened and Erik walked out of the elevator.

"You should take better care of yourself, Kokabiel. Have a nice night."

Erik said while walking out of the building. The elevator's doors closed and let Kokabiel fuming alone on it. When the doors opened Kokabiel walked out of the elevator and passed by some other fallen angels who were looking at him with strange eyes. Kokabiel then heard a masculine voice calling to him.

"Nice haircut, Kokabiel."

Kokabiel looked back and saw Tamiel looking at him with an amused face.

"What are you talking about, Tamiel?"

Kokabiel asked and took one hand to his hair. And he felt how fluffy and spring it was.

'Fluffy and springy?'

He made a face of confusion and pulled one mesh of his air to his eyes. His hair had changed color. Kokabiel quickly ran to a nearby mirrored surface and looked at his reflection on it. What he saw made his mouth gape in horror. He was sporting an enormous blonde afro. Kokabiel then remembered who he had just encountered in the elevator and his face went from horror to rage.

"ERIK RAVENCLAW!"

Kokabiel yelled in rage. His rage was such that he didn't realize that Tamiel had a camera out and was recording everything.

"I should send Erik a copy after…"

Tamiel said with a low voice, still recording Kokabiel's reaction.

Meanwhile the perpetrator was disappearing in motes of light by activating his transportation magic circle with a wide smile on his face.

Hogwarts Castle, Somewhere in the Scottish Highlands

November 23rd, 1992, 10:20 PM

A blue magic circle with a raven on its center appeared in the front of the main entrance of Hogwarts' castle and Erik materialized from it. The blue light faded and Erik walked inside the castle, the closed entrance doors opening automatically for him to enter. Erik walked through the empty great hall and searched through the wards for his wives. Finding them inside the library, he walked to it.

Arriving in the library, Erik saw the Professors working on cataloguing the books of their section. Leona was organizing the History of Magic section with the help of Professor Binns, while Selena was organizing the Alchemy section and Joan was organizing the Arts and Music section. As Erik approached Selena, she turned back and smiled at him.

"Hi, Erik. Did you and Azazel manage to cleanse the diadem?"

Selena greeted and asked Erik.

"Hey, honey. Yeah, we did."

Erik replied to Selena, taking a hand inside his blazer and retrieving the said diadem from its internal pocket. He presented it to Selena, who looked at it and took it with both hands. She then jumped at Erik and took his mouth with hers, initiating a deep kiss.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you… You, my husband, just got yourself a very nice reward from your wife~"

Selena talked initially between kisses, finishing with a promise to Erik using a very sensual voice spoken near his ear. That voice tone sent shivers down Erik's spine.

"You witch!"

Erik said while taking Selena into his arms. Moments later, the couple heard a gasp sound and looked at its origin. It was Helena. She had, somehow, sensed when Erik took the diadem out of his pocket and floated to the origin of the feeling.

"It's that… ?"

Helena said in a low voice, full of emotion. Selena let go of Erik's embrace and showed the diadem better to Helena.

"Yes, it is, little sister. Erik managed to cleanse it with the help of a friend."

Selena said to Helena. If ghosts could cry, Helena would be crying right now. The comotion caught the attention of some nearby Professors, and between them, was the head of house Ravenclaw, Professor Fillius Flitwick, who recognized the artifact in Selena's hands immediately. The little Professor let out a 'squeak' of happiness, but managed to hold himself seeing that it was an emotional moment for the sisters.

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a/n: So, some chapters ahead, there will be an interview that Erik and Selena will do with the Daily Prophet (NOT RITA), so I would like to 'hear' from you all some questions that the reporter would make to both of them. Please writte them as a comment to this paragraph. Take it as questions that the people from magical Britain would like to Lord and Lady Ravenclaw about.

a/n2: It was pointed to me that some imgs for Erik's wives got deleted when I edited some info. So I'm reposting them here.

Selena

Joan

Leona

Serafall

Calypso