Chapter 77: Visit From An Old Acquaintance
As he observed the soul, he saw it was fractured with a few dark spots.
'Ruthless and unremorseful killing damages the soul, which explains the fractures. But what about the dark spots? Could that be the effect of overusing dark magic?'
Christian took out his journal and began taking notes of his observations and discoveries. Once he finished, he closed his eyes and used his Occlumency. Over the years, he had never stopped trying to find the first layer of his mind and soul, and now, with Rodolphus as an example, the process was relatively easy.
He saw a white ball floating in nothingness; his first thought was that it was twice as big as Rodolphus, and he wondered why tiny golden spots surrounded his soul.
'Why the golden light? Is it because I mostly use white magic? No, I need more references.'
Christian had the urge to secretly enter the minds of a few wizards and Muggles to study their souls. However, he knew this was unethical, especially since he could not guarantee he would not harm them. He observed Rodolphus's soul because his mind was blank — he saw his soul because he knew his own mind and had control of it. However, if he tried on someone else, even an animal, he could do irreparable damage to their psyche.
'My research cannot continue until I create a spell to see the soul that is not harmful,' concluded Christian as he closed his journal and placed it inside his bag. Now that the distraction of learning magic was done, it was time for him to focus on returning home.
He summoned Odin's Eye intending to try to see which artifact would activate it; if none of them worked, he would have to find a way to get his hand on the Gryffindor Sword, which might be his last chance.
"Hmm?" muttered Christian as he saw the artifact glowing. He instinctively ordered it to open in his mind, and a portal appeared before him. It worked?'
'Close,' he thought, and the portal closed. 'Open.' It opened. Christian looked at this portal, completely speechless. The good news is that the artifact worked, and he did not have to do anything.
'Does it have some kind of battery? After teleporting me to some dimensions, will it take some time to charge before it can be used again?' This seems like the likely scenario.
'The issue now is whether this portal will lead me home or to another parallel dimension?' thought Christian, a little indecisive on what to do. As he contemplated his decision, he suddenly heard a bird sound. As he looked, he was beyond shocked.
"You!" The crow with red eyes and silver feathers that saved him once again appeared before him. However, the creature appeared a little different as most of the feathers on its back had turned silver. The crow did not utter a word but handed Christian a piece of paper. Then, countless black feathers materialized around him, and he disappeared.
Christian had no time to ask any more questions or understand the situation. He opened the paper with a blank stare, and it contained four word brackets and one number sequence:
[Luck], [Focus & Desire], [Library of Alexandria], [Home], [3-M4-675–890].
He immediately understood what the crow meant. With luck on his side, he could ask the artifact to bring him to the Library of Alexandria, which would show him a way home. The only thing that puzzled him was the numbers.
'Is that a coordinate? It doesn't look like it?' thought Christian.
'More importantly, why does the crow want me to go through all this effort to go home? Why not directly show me the way?' Christian had too many questions and no answers. The paper suddenly combusted with a green flame, which greatly surprised Christian. He was about to throw it on the ground when he discovered he felt no heat or burning sensation.
After the flame burned everything, two small circular objects remained in his palm. "Are those contacts? Is Mr. Crow telling me to hide my glowing eyes?"
Although he did not know the reason, he followed the advice. After putting them on, he conjured a mirror to test them out. "They worked," he muttered. He once tried regular contacts, but they could not hide the glow in his eyes; they only suppressed it. These ones, however, completely hid it.
Now that he had relaxed his body and mind, Christian felt an immense wave of fatigue hit him, so he decided to eat something, sleep, and think all night about his next step. So, his next destination was home, where Elizabeth was. Although he felt terrible for using magic against her, he needed a familiar environment to calm down and sleep. Unfortunately, the house had undergone so many changes that it was unrecognizable, so Christian had to find peace simply because it was his home.
He closed his eyes to meditate for an hour, as he usually does before sleeping. However, when he woke up, it was already seven a.m., meaning he had meditated for 12 hours straight.
"I feel so refreshed, and my mind is so clear," muttered Christian. "Is it because I found my soul?" That's the only explanation he could think of. After all, the soul, the mind, and even emotions are correlated.
'The mystery of the soul is more fascinating than I thought. I wonder what other secrets I will uncover.'
Christian stood up from his bed and stretched his body. He soon frowned as he discovered the weird feeling he had had about his body since his 12th birthday had returned.
'Another strange thing to add to the list,' he sighed.
Christian summoned his bag and used the spell to enter the interior dimension. Despite the needlessly large room, the bag contained very little: a pile of miscellaneous items, a room for his potions, and a small garden where he grew a few magical herbs.
He started by arranging the miscellaneous items, mostly artifacts and books, that he had stolen from Gringotts.
'Is that the Goblet of Fire? Is that where it was sent after the end of the Triwizard Tournament?' thought Christian as he identified this object. Once he finished separating this pile into his personal items and the stolen goods, he focused on something else.
Christian picked up the shrunken rooms and flew into the distance; he placed the first one on the floor: "Engorgio." The room rapidly grew and returned to its normal size — a fact that greatly surprised Christian. He thought it would take a few more spells before they returned to their original size.
"Is it because of the Elder Wand? Is it really that powerful?" When he previously tested it, he didn't feel that it was particularly potent. Christian walked down the stone tiers leading down and soon found himself before a dais with a stone archway. He looked at the black curtain hanging down and muttered, "The Veil."
The Veil separates the worlds of the living and the dead. Christian observed it and was fascinated. He wondered what the afterlife was like and whether death magic existed.
'I did not hear any voices like Harry and Luna. Is it because I haven't lost someone close to me?' he thought. Christian was excited about all the observations, theories, and conjectures he would write in his journal because of these things. However, he soon remembered what he had come here to do and left the Death Chamber. He enlarged the other rooms and placed them near each other.
Once that was done, he released all the books Rodolphus stole and began casting the Doubling Charm on them. Surprisingly, he only used the spell three times and copied everything.
'This wand is either way more powerful than I thought, or my magical abilities have increased, and I haven't noticed it,' thought Christian before exchanging wands to try. The test proved his magical abilities did increase, mainly his spell potency; it was probably because he discovered his soul and the meditation process yesterday.
He put his wand away and continued using the Elder Wand. He then placed the copied books in another bag and wrote a letter, intending to return them to Hogwarts.
Christian saw a middle-aged British man reading the newspaper and smoking a pipe as he descended the stairs.
"Who are you?" he asked with a harsh tone.
"You must be Elizabeth's husband. Sorry about this," he uttered before waving his wand and Confunding the individual, making him ignore his presence.
'It worked?' thought Christian, who wanted to know whether the elder wand would help him in his nonverbal casting. It succeeded effortlessly, as he only needed to think about the spell incantation in his mind — no specific mental image required. Of course, like all other nonverbal spells, its potency is weaker, but compared to his wand, it was way better.
Christian turned into a short-haired adult before Elizabeth drove him to the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley. He used their owl post to send the package to Hogwarts before finding a place to use the Floo Powder to teleport to his aunt's house in the US.
During the short drive, Christian had a preliminary plan for what to do, which involved traveling to many countries, the US being the first. However, his attempt to teleport to another country failed. Baffled by why, he returned to the Leaky Cauldron to see if he could get some information from Tom.
"Don't you know?" said Tom. "You must ask permission from the Ministry to travel to another country, register your wand, and follow many other procedures. Then, you will be granted a Porkey to your destination."
"So, I can't use the Floo Network?"
"No, those are strictly regulated."
Christian smiled wryly as he realized his mother had access to an illegal Floo Network, so she could travel anywhere without any license or registration. 'I should have thought of this. Uncle Sullivan, how could you allow this? You're a law enforcer.'
Christian pretended to look around before whispering, "I heard there is an illegal Floo Network in the underground or black market. Do you know anything?"
Tom looked at him suspiciously before replying. "Those kinds of things are only rumors. And even if they were real, I would not recommend you use them now."
"Oh, why?"
"The war has just ended, but many countries are still in a state of tension or lockdown, so they are very sensitive during this unstable period."
"You have a point," nodded Christian, realizing he would have to find another way of travel.
After coming up with an idea, he thought, 'I already broke so many rules; there's no need to stop now.'