HP: Fairy Tale Wizard - 170

Chapter 170: Laying It All Bare (1)

At midnight, thick fog once again shrouded London’s streets and alleys.

The Aurors posted atop Big Ben to watch the white dragon let out a breath and relayed through the two-way mirrors that the crisis was temporarily lifted.

The dragon had vanished. After a sudden blizzard so violent it leached the colour from everything, no jagged horns or half-seen wings showed through the fog. Only high-rises that had toppled when the tail support was withdrawn stood as mute testimony to what had happened here.

And the ground, pulverised until it no longer resembled a city at all. Even the muddiest country lane would be easier to walk.

Scrimgeour shut his mirror and gave Bones a twisted, bitter smile.

“At least we will not have to abandon London.”

“Yes. I will send people to extract memory of the original street layout from the Muggles who live there. But repairs must wait until Professor Dumbledore returns.”

“It is my fault. I pressed Dumbledore too hard to go to America for Mr Scamander. Otherwise, we would not be so short of hands.” Bones sighed. She had not felt so powerless since the war ended.

“No. This isn’t on you. We were arrogant in our approach to this Dark wizard and acted without investigation.” Scrimgeour lowered his head, but Bones cut across him.

“No. Whatever blame there is does not fall on the Aurors. Apprehending Dark Wizards is your duty. Faced with an unknown but highly dangerous Dark wizard, arresting him the moment he appeared was the correct call.”

“You brought the Auror Office’s best. No one can condemn you. Fudge, though.”

Bones let out a contemptuous laugh.

“That coward will see the consequences of what he did today soon enough. When tomorrow’s papers come out, our dear Minister will learn what the public thinks of him.”

“But the election is still a long way off.”

“Yes. We still have to work under this fool for quite some time. It is late. Go and rest. Our minister has already been three hours into his sweet dreams.”

“Pleasant dreams, Bones.”

Scrimgeour waved. Bones nodded and walked off with her file bundle.

Her work was not over. On the contrary, it had only just begun.

Meanwhile, in a room of an old inn, Sterling gently draped a little handkerchief over the sleeping Robin.

He had booked the room before going to gather intelligence and had not brought Robin with him. That proved wise. In a chaos like the one just now, he could not have spared the attention for a small robin.

After casting a Muffling Charm on Robin, Sterling washed quickly, sat at the bedside, and pressed his right hand firmly to his chest.

Slowly, the sensation of flesh faded, as if his hand had sunk into soft cotton. Then a vast space surfaced in his mind.

A cavern filled with gold. Coins piled into towers and gathered into seas. Jewels and jewellery lay scattered in the golden surf. Rare magical notebooks and scrolls hung from the ceiling on chains of gold and silver.

This was Maleficent’s vault.

Granted access by Maleficent, Sterling had the right to open it from the living world. It was also a way to reach Avalon.

This was the first time he had used this method. Compared to falling asleep and going to Avalon directly, it was both cumbersome and impractical.

But one advantage mattered. He could speak with Maleficent in Avalon without going there himself.

That way, he would not violate Vivian’s instructions.

He took up a gilt round mirror whose frame was an ouroboros. The face reflected nothing, a depthless, unsettling black.

Sterling drew it from the vault.

Blue-violet vapour welled from his chest in the living world as the mirror eased out of the mist. He set it beside the bed.

It was taller than Sterling but just right for Maleficent’s height.

When the familiar silhouette surfaced within the dark, the twin sharp horns on her hat met the mirror’s rim exactly.

“Lady Maleficent.”

“At times like these, I prefer Professor Maleficent.”

Green flame flared in the ouroboros’s eyes, and Maleficent’s calm voice came from the fire.

Sterling said nothing. He noticed differences. Her hat sat a little askew. There was a crack in the right horn. The glossy black robes showed scorch marks.

And perhaps it was a trick of the light, but her left cheek looked a touch rounder than the right.

“I know you are angry with me. I also know what you are thinking. About Mourning Dragon. You turned into a dragon, but not through Dragon Animagus birthed from Dragon Magic, nor out of greed.”

Sterling nodded.

“I changed in anger. It was not as you said or showed. I had no clear consciousness, only some instincts left in the flesh.”

“For example?”

“Do not casually take life.”

Maleficent pressed her lips, swallowed a mouthful of blood that had risen in her throat, and swore inwardly.

Took a beating from Vivian to pull off a violation, and this was the insight he gained.

Vivian’s magic was still that strong even now, at her weakest. No wonder. She had already lived for centuries before being confined to Avalon, a true fairy godmother.

Had the Great Collapse eight hundred years ago not struck her territory, she would not be where she is now.

“Professor Maleficent, do I represent great interest to you?”

He looked away from her eyes. He had realised he was not as central to Maleficent as he was to Vivian. Another motive suggested itself. Interest.

Andrew often told him that interest was the best thing for binding people together.

So what had Maleficent’s years of teaching been for?

He truly did not want to doubt her. But the fact remained. Even in his confused state earlier, when he failed to notice, he could not deny it now.

There was a faint trace of Maleficent’s magic in his mind.

This Dragonshift and the loss of control had been orchestrated by Maleficent.

“Interest.”

Maleficent rolled the word on her tongue.

She neither denied nor confirmed. She stood in the dark like a flawless statue.

“If it is you, no matter what you need, I will help you do it.”

There was no performance in his voice.

Even if she had harmed him this time, he still carried an ineradicable reliance on Maleficent.

She had been half a guardian and half a teacher since he was six years old.

So whatever she needed, he would do his utmost.

Call it repaying a debt of care.

“In that case, Sterling, you have already brushed against what people call Destiny.”

Sterling’s pupils contracted sharply.

Destiny. What he had glimpsed that day in the Ravenclaw Library. The spark that sent him chasing power.

He had learned nothing more since. Even Professor Dumbledore, whom he thought closest to it, had been maddeningly vague.

He did not even know whether Dumbledore truly knew. The man had spoken so mistily, more obscure than the smoke of the silver instruments in his office.

“Yes. I have seen it.”

“Good. Oh, only seen. Then there is time. Or perhaps not. From the moment you knew, Destiny, and you were bound together.”

He frowned. He did not understand.

Maleficent, however, did not intend to explain in detail. She ignored his expression and continued.

“Destiny is, in truth, a predetermined fate.”

“Take Merlin. The Destiny you know is his. Close Avalon. That is his Destiny.”

“How do you understand it, Merlin and his Destiny?”

Sterling thought. “It is his mission. Whatever he does, he must close Avalon by any means.”

“The reverse.” Maleficent moved one finger.

“No matter what he does, Avalon will be closed by his hand.”

Seeing Sterling’s confusion, Maleficent gave an example.

“Even if Merlin were killed at birth, his death would trigger a chain of causes that would end in Avalon being sealed. Do you understand it that way.”

“Or if Merlin learned no magic and became a helpless good-for-nothing, when the deadline came for Destiny to be fulfilled, the necessary power would still be placed in his hand.”

“Destiny writes the ending ahead of time. The beginning and the middle are written by you. Destiny does not care.”

The first thing Sterling learned about Destiny and it was something that could only be called repulsive.

What joy was there in a life with its ending fixed?

“Then what is my Destiny?”

Unexpectedly, Maleficent shook her head.

“Until you comprehend it yourself, no one can see its contents. No one. Even if Merlin stood before me, he could not know. Destiny is a miracle that stands above magic.”

“So you only know that I have a Destiny.”

Maleficent nodded.

“That much is obvious. Those chosen by Destiny often carry extraordinary signs. Merlin, for instance. The great magi of that age knew he bore Destiny the moment they saw him follow the Red Dragon of Britain.”

"And you. The first living person to enter Avalon since it was sealed. A wizard who can learn more than one of the Thirteen Magics without rejection. A pure‑blood incubus long vanished from the world."

“Anyone would mark a seed of Destiny. Gathered together in you—”

“There is no doubt. You are already walking the road Destiny has drawn.”

Sterling pointed to himself.

“I have already begun. But by what you said, I do not know my Destiny. Destiny does not steer me before it arrives.”

“Then have I unconsciously conformed to it. My goal is only to find Andrew—”

“And become stronger, is it not?”

Maleficent tapped his brow through the mirror, the place where horns had once sprouted.

“Though you seek power to solve the problems of the moment, after all these years, I can tell you are not one who enjoys chasing power.”

“When you studied with me and Vivian for over five years, you learned only the most basic spells and a portion of Transfiguration.”

“Thus, for five years you did not discover the link between Avalon and the living world, did not discover your bloodline, and did not learn any one of the Thirteen Magics.”

“You mean that after Hogwarts began, when I started pursuing power, I started unconsciously aligning with Destiny, and only then did I gain what came after.”

Maleficent nodded.

“Exactly. Perhaps you did not notice, but before the term started, although your ability to learn was astonishing, it did not exceed the childhood pace of us archmages.”

“But afterwards. Leaving aside the Hero’s Heart you awakened by yourself, Mourning Dragon and mastering it in a single night is so fast that past inheritors would want to end themselves in shame.”

“In one term, your progress surpassed the lifetime attainment of a mundane wizard.”

“That is because you began to align with Destiny. Among us, there is an admonition.”

Maleficent’s expression turned very grave. She spoke each word with care.

“Never stand in the way of one who walks under Destiny.”

“For what you face is not, or not merely, a peerless genius. It is the flood of an era.”

“The whole world tilts to help the bearer of Destiny approach its end. While you pursue Destiny, you have no limit. There is no trial you cannot cross. All obstacles will be broken by you until you step onto the end.”