Holiday Rituals I

A week had passed since the debacle that happened during the Ministry Ball.

The Daily Prophet had a lot to say about a 'screaming match that nearly caused a duel'. This of course wasn't true, but other 'witnesses', that 'witnessed' the exchange had seemingly thought it to be true.

Lily Potter crying with her child in her arms didn't do much to help either. Whilst the Prophet had not explicitly mentioned that the Black Family was the cause of this; they'd certainly made it so any competent reader would come to that conclusion.

Luckily, Hadrian and the family would be going on Holiday! So, their only worries would be what bathing suits to wear, or what floats to bring.

The Most Noble and Ancient House of Black was a Pureblood house which used to be a part of the Sacred 28. However, it was common knowledge that they had a significant connection to France.

Even its motto, 'Toujours Pur', was French for 'Always Pure'.

So it was no surprise when Charlus told the family they would be going to a beautiful Parisian beach to escape the dreary winter weather. There was also the added benefit of releasing Dorea from the week-long, temper fuelled streak she seemed keen on continuing.

Hadrian was also excited and that was because the Greengrass and Nott Family would be joining them!

Since there was a day or two until the others joined them, Hadrian would be able to do the Blood Potential Ritual. Charlus had followed through with his promise and gathered all the required materials/ingredients within the week, all Hadrian had to do was perform the ritual!

Merlin walked both Charlus and Dorea through the Ritual's preparations seeing as they already had experience with setting one up.

Whilst they did this, Hadrian walked around the grounds of his holiday home. It had an extremely spacious courtyard and a large lake hidden behind the small manor. There wasn't much to do aside from swimming or relaxing on one of the deckchairs beside the lake.

Most opted to go to the public beach instead; that was the main attraction.

An hour after strolling aimlessly around the grounds, Korby was called to fetch Hadrian in.

Hadrian walked inside one of the rooms that had been emptied to be used as an area for Rituals. The room had spacial-enhancement runes etched onto the walls, which quadrupled the room's original size.

On the floor, was a large rune circle drawn on with some sort of white powder - Hadrian guessed it was chalk.

In the rune circle were the ingredients and materials that Merlin had asked for. Some looked to be extremely bizarre, and others...slightly frightening. There was a range of things from; hearts, horns, scales, fur, and teeth. To; blood that was carefully painted on in different colors - probably from different magical beasts, and luminescent flowers.

Hadrian was alone in the room, at least that's what he thought until he heard a-

Cough.

Hadrian swiveled his head to above the doorway he had just entered. When he'd done so, he was met with a smirking, long-bearded wizard.

"Why on earth are you up there?!", Hadrian hissed, annoyed at the old man's antics.

Merlin rolled his eyes, "I wanted a better view."

Hadrian blinked in confusion, "Seriously? Here I was thinki-"

"Of course not!", Merlin interrupted, "I'm here for the Ritual too!"

Hadrian scowled, "Then why didn't you say so!"

"That doesn't matter, you know now.", Merlin waved off, "Step into the middle of the circle."

Hadrian begrudgingly did as Merlin asked. As soon as he stepped in, the inscriptions that were written in blood began to pulse as bright as the luminescent flowers. The room became engulfed in a ray of colorful light, pulsing and cycling through every color in the rainbow.

"The Ritual will begin once I start chanting in Dragonic! Your blood will feel as though it is burning, but remember that you are in no danger, Hadrian!", Merlin boomed out as he reassured Hadrian.

Merlin then began chanting in a low and deep voice. It was quite quick, but Hadrian could make out the words 'Blood', 'Veins, and 'Magic'.

The chant triggered something within Hadrian; his ears roared with the blood that was rapidly rushing through his ears. It traveled down his body, and soon enough - he was able to feel the flow of his blood in every part of his being.

The colorful flowers grew brighter, before levitating slightly above the ground.

Hadrian's blood hissed, the heat had been steadily rising ever so slightly. Hadrian didn't even feel it at first.

That was until the lights that filled his vision began growing brighter. After that, the speed in which it was rising, increased dramatically!

Hadrian's breath hitched, the heat became stronger and stronger. He could feel an increasing amount of pressure in his torso, and...eyes?

His eye's flashed silver.

And then...an incredible roar reverberated in Hadrian's head!

Hadrian grit his teeth and waited out the ritual.

Under the immense heat, Hadrian failed to notice black scales that had begun to emerge from his forearms. Nor did he notice the fact that his hair had decided to take inspiration from the colorful plants, and also begin to cycle through every color in the rainbow.

Another roar emerged, this time it was from...Hadrian.

The roar made the room's foundation tremble, but it also left Hadrian tired because after that - he'd collapsed in the middle of the ritual circle.

The scales slowly sifted back inside Hadrian, and his hair began to lose its saturation until it dulled back to the familiar black it'd originally been.

-

Hadrian awoke the next day in his bed. Merlin was hanging opposite him, on the other side of the room.

"Get up, Princess.", Merlin said as he stared intently at Hadrian, "I need to confirm a few things."

Hadrian rolled out of the bed lazily and made his way over to Merlin.

"You could have waited until after breakfast.", Hadrian said as he rubbed his eyes.

Merlin raised an eyebrow, "I doubt you would have gone to breakfast before finding out the results of the ritual."

Hadrian shrugged in response, "Yeah I know, I'm just tired. I needed something to complain about."

Merlin chuckled, "First things first, why don't you go into your mindscape. Try and find your Dragon and tell me what it looks like."

Hadrian sat on the floor obediently and calmly entered his mind. He found the familiar abyss once more, but he knew that after a while he'd be able to find his Dragon and not a barrier like he'd gotten so used to seeing.

The search didn't take long. After a few minutes of meandering and feeling out his magic, Hadrian saw two bright, green orbs shining in the distance.

He got closer and closer and found himself next to a large, dark magical beast. The Dragon's face couldn't be seen, it was constantly contorting and sifting into the darkness that surrounded it. The only proof Hadrian had for its existence was the two green eyeballs that bore into his soul.

It had pitch-black scales, either that - or they were invisible.

Hadrian went to touch it, but to his dismay - his hand passed through it. He looked up at the Dragon, but found that its eyes were gone, signifying him that it had left. He was then forcibly ejected from the within his mindscape.

"...So?", Merlin asked.

"I saw it...kind of.", Hadrian replied, "I couldn't see its body that well. It kind of...sunk into the background like it was both there and not there..."

Merlin stroked his beard as he pondered on what he'd just been told. Hadrian took his silence as a cue to continue.

"I saw its eyes, they were like mine. That's the only way I could convince myself it was there. Even then I'm not sure."

"Hm?"

"My hands passed through it when I tried to touch its scales, and then...it was gone."

Merlin nodded slowly, "I see."

"Is that normal?"

Merlin shrugged, "I've no idea."

"What?!", Hadrian exclaimed, "You've done this before, surely something like this has happened to some other Dragonlord!"

Merlin sighed, "Calm down, let me explain."

Hadrian gestured for him to explain, before crossing his arms and waiting.

"Our race can turn into Dragons, yes. The type of Dragon is...different from the regular type.", Merlin said before changing into his Dragon form.

Merlin's body then brightened, before catching aflame completely. The flames didn't seem to phase him, however. He turned back into his human form and continued his explanation, "You see, most of the time-"

"Merlin.", Hadrian interrupted.

"I'm explaining!", Merlin shouted.

"Not that! Your beard!"

"What about my beard?", Merlin asked he went to grab his beard, "I admit it's long, but-AUGH!".

Merlin shrieked in surprise, his beard was on fire!

He furiously slapped his beard, hoping to extinguish the fire that had slowly begun to grow. Once he realized it wasn't working, he paused before facepalming.

He waved his hand over his beard, a jet of water gushed from his hands, soaking his beard. Pieces of singed hair fell off, caught up in the stream of water that had got rid of the fire.

Hadrian meanwhile, laughed at the man, "'Greatest Wizard Of All Time'!", he guffawed.

Merlin waved his hand over his beard, reverting it to its earlier state. He crossed his arms in annoyance, "Ha, ha. Funny moment over!"

Hadrian chuckled, "Not entirely! Ever heard of a neat thing called a Pensieve?"

"I helped make them!", Merlin shouted.

Hadrian smirked, "And that makes it all the better."

Merlin glared at Hadrian for a while, before coughing and continuing, "As I was saying before my, um...incident."

Hadrian snorted.

"Incident.", Merlin emphasized, "Most Dragonlords can turn into a unique type of Dragon."

"An Elemental type?", Hadrian inserted.

Merlin nodded in confirmation, "Yes, but there are those who have no Elements too, they're just lower in number."

Hadrian whistled, "So you're a Fire Elemental Dragonlord?"

Merlin nodded again, "Not the most unique, but not to be trifled with either."

The conversation went into a lull until Hadrian asked, "What...am I?"

Merlin shook his head, "I don't know. Sometimes there were exceptions to the basic elemental type Dragonlords, but they were so rare that no document exists about them."

"You must have some sort of idea...?", Hadrian asked pleadingly.

Merlin sighed, "I do. I think you could be anything ranging from an Illusion type, Dark-type, Camouflage type, anything..."

Hadrian listened intently but found himself frowning after that theory, "They don't sound very element based to me."

"The unique type of Dragonlords could have any ability. I suspect it may have been a mutation or some other external factor that gave them a unique factor to their Dragonization."

"Is that what we call our-"

"Yes.", Merlin confirmed, "We called it Dragonization because the Animagus ritual isn't needed for us. The only way to first access our form is to connect with our Dragons. In most cases, the Dragon would reach out to the Dragonlord, particularly in times of great danger."

"The Dragon preserving itself.", Hadrian guessed.

Merlin smiled in response, "That's the general belief. Once you connect with your Dragon, you can use its abilities by entering a partially transformed state."

"Like your wings!"

"Yes, like my wings.", Merlin said as his scarlet wings burst from his shoulder blades.

"Is that Dragonization too?"

Merlin nodded.

"Well...what about my other blocks?", Hadrian asked - eager to find out about his other potential abilities.

"Ah, yes. You wouldn't have been able to tell, what with all the flashing lights..."

"What do you mean?"

"You've become an enhanced Partial-Metamorphmagus!"

"Really!?", Hadrian tightened his fists and clenched very hard, trying to change his hair color forcibly.

"Careful!", Merlin exclaimed, "Wouldn't want to excrete all over the carpet now, would you?"

Hadrian softened his fists and relaxed his posture, "Never done this before...", he replied bashfully.

"I'd think visualization is the way to go, not the horse stance.", Merlin jested.

"I'll get it down, just watch.", Hadrian said as he tried to imagine how his hair would look if it were Neon Navy-Blue.

Slowly, Hadrian's hair began to change into a light, an almost white shade of blue.

"What color were you going for?", Merlin asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Neon Blue."

"Close enough."

"I'll have to practice.", Hadrian said, "Erm...any other abilities?"

"Not to my knowledge, it was pretty hard to see the rest of you, with the rainbow plants and rainbow hair obstructing my view.", Merlin defended.

Hadrian shrugged, "I've got my hands full already. I don't need anything else."