HP: Fairy Tale Wizard - 148

Chapter 148: Incubus

A hand reached from behind Sterling's head, seemingly trying to cover his eyes. He grabbed it, but the instant he turned to look, he saw only a few scattered petals.

The hand he'd been holding suddenly collapsed. Sterling looked at the slightly wrinkled petals in his palm and felt an inexplicable sensation wash over him.

"Want to learn? Ah, I've always said flowers are the most suitable things for us. Mm, let me see your memories."

Sterling suddenly felt a chill. He instinctively closed his eyes.

"Your intuition isn't bad. About the same as that red dragon."

Only after that ominous premonition disappeared did Sterling cautiously open his eyes. He met a pair of milky white glowing eyes.

"Oh my, no good, no good. Still far from that red dragon. But I was just joking earlier, you know?"

Those two lights seemed to extend finger-like projections. They climbed toward his brain bit by bit along Sterling's eyes. The icy sensation spread along his spine throughout his body. Sterling tried moving his gaze away, but his body was frozen. He couldn't move.

Memories flashed through his mind. Sterling had read about this feeling in books. Legilimency.

The invasion of privacy instantly sparked Sterling's anger. He instinctively wanted to manifest something to interrupt it, but the magic that usually responded instantly felt blocked. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't use it.

Could he just submit like this?

Of course not. Sterling reached for Origin Magic.

When the tome manifested from the void, the milky white glow dissipated. Purple-violet eyes blinked once, then dissolved into petals drifting with the wind.

Sterling held the book, looking around, unsure what to write.

"Origin Magic? Ah, I forgot to block that."

"Don't be angry, Sterling Page. From a bloodline perspective, we're related. It's normal for family members to exchange secrets, right?"

"Which family exchanges secrets using Legilimency?"

"Exactly!" The person suddenly appearing in the distance clapped excitedly in agreement.

"I said this magic's efficiency is too low. Human magic is so wishy-washy. Using our usual methods, I'd have finished reading your mind already. If I hadn't heard they raised you among humans, I wouldn't bother with this unfamiliar magic."

"But did you appreciate my attempt at a human touch? I heard you humans like familiar things."

Could anyone feel home's warmth from Legilimency? Oh sure, feels just like home in Azkaban.

No, even Azkaban is more humane than this. The Ministry's regulations require "obtaining Ministry consent when using Veritaserum or Legilimency on criminals."

Sterling took a deep breath. He looked at this creature, though she appeared to be a woman.

She had a face very similar to Merlin's, the same one Sterling once saw in Galahad's story. If Sterling hadn't noticed her chest had curves unlike what men could have, he might have thought she was Merlin.

"Never mind that for now. Do you have any relationship with Merlin?"

Sterling feigned ignorance. Similar appearances by five or six points could be coincidental, but setting aside the body, being nearly identical? When he said there was no blood relationship, he didn't believe it.

Based on Sterling's deduction, combined with what this woman just said, Sterling's bloodline was obvious. This woman was related to Merlin; he was related to this woman, therefore, he was related to Merlin. He and Merlin were the same species—England's well-known magical creature, Incubus.

Was she Merlin's child?

Sterling anticipated her answer, but she paced back and forth for ages before finally clapping.

"I am Merlin!"

"I don't believe it."

"Fine, I'm Merlin's mother?"

"Still don't believe it."

Sterling knew the first claim was false. His instincts immediately rejected the second.

"Ah, so boring. Those humans and self-deluded creatures really raised you well—very unlike an Incubus."

"You should think carefully about how an Incubus should live. This isn't something anyone can teach you. But I'll give you a hint."

She suddenly darted to Sterling. She tucked a flower into his chest pocket.

"Incubi struggle with emotional perception. Or rather, we can't feel human emotions, especially you and me—pure-blood Incubi."

"I don't know how you've managed to pass as human all these years, but this won't work, Sterling."

"What's fake can never become real. You must find your own reason for existing in this world."

"Otherwise, it'll feel empty inside, you know?"

As she spoke, her hand on Sterling's chest suddenly pushed hard. Sterling felt an intense impact. He saw the back of his own head—he'd separated from his body. Everything was covered in a hazy, dreamlike layer. He looked around and saw countless tiny bubbles floating from the flower's center. Behind her loomed a sky-obscuring mass of bubbles.

These bubbles fluctuated at specific frequencies. Sterling felt an instinctive pull. He could understand these frequencies, could dive into these bubbles.

Just as he tried syncing with a nearby bubble, a shadow cast overhead. It was his body. Her palm had real physical force.

With that, Sterling returned to his body. When he opened his eyes, he was back in the muddy, rain-soaked Forbidden Forest.

"Wow."

Terry looked at Sterling admiringly. He pulled out a mirror he'd brought along and handed it to Sterling.

"Look. You don't look like an ordinary person now."

"I have to say the brown hair was too ordinary, and the blue eyes. Common, so common."

Ignoring Terry's dismissive gesture, Sterling examined himself closely. White hair with naturally curled ends, and amethyst-like eyes—these were Incubus trademarks. Besides these, there were no other prominent features.

Though upon closer inspection, Sterling's ears seemed slightly pointed, trending toward the elf ears common in films.

"Professor Dumbledore, you said my condition resembles Animagus magic. I should be able to return to my original appearance, right?"

"I must correct you. Strictly speaking, your current appearance counts as your original appearance. Hey! Albus! Don't close my pocket watch!"

After setting aside the troublemaking Nicolas Flamel, Dumbledore looked kindly at Sterling and nodded.

"Of course, exactly the same as the Animagus operation."

Seeing Sterling immediately close his eyes, Dumbledore quickly patted his shoulder hard.

"Don't rush to undo the transformation. Though no one's confirmed it yet, according to several Animagi I know, they all believe the night you complete the transformation helps most with mastering this magic."

Sterling opened his eyes and nodded.

"Sterling, you still haven't told me what magical creature you are!"

"Oh, Terry, we shouldn't call Sterling that. Perhaps 'magical being' would be more appropriate?"

"Okay, Professor Dumbledore."

Wary of Dumbledore's authority to dock points, Terry kept his "magical creature" comments to himself for now. But he'd definitely use them later. Once back at Ravenclaw common room or Utopia, Dumbledore couldn't follow him there to check, right?

Sterling glanced at Dumbledore. The professor didn't really seem averse to "magical creature." Actually sounds kind of cool, right?

"Incubus," he said calmly.

"Oh, so it's Incubus," Terry repeated.

Then Terry straightened.

"Incubus? Like Merlin? You mean the Incubus bloodline?"

Terry's barrage of "Incubus" nearly made Sterling lose track of the word.

He nodded. "There are no other Incubus legends in England's magical community."

Terry squatted down and scanned Sterling up and down.

"I'm finally relieved."

"Relieved about what?"

"You should've said earlier that you and Merlin are the same species. With that lineage, I'd believe you even if you said you could take on Voldemort in a fight."

Terry raised his index finger and wagged it.

"I originally wanted to keep up with your magical progress. Good thing I gave up early. But Hermione will suffer. She's so stubborn. Even knowing you're an Incubus won't stop her from trying to match you."

"That's also a good thing." Dumbledore smiled, stroking his beard. "Having an excellent role model can help us work harder. Of course, if we could have evenly-matched friends..."

Terry narrowed his eyes. Dumbledore's words seemed more nostalgic than practical, as if thinking about someone from his past.

"Wait, Sterling, can you be a Metamorphmagus now?"

Terry suddenly clapped. "Merlin was the most famous Metamorphmagus, right? You and he are both Incubi. You're even purer than him. You should be able to as well, right?"

The pocket watch swung back through the branches like a spider on its chain. Nicolas approved of this hypothesis.

"New brains work well. Albus, you didn't even think of this. You're truly getting old."

"Nicolas, you also didn't think of it?"

"Am I not old enough at my age?"

Dumbledore had nothing to say.

"Come on Sterling, try. Don't worry about whether you had this ability before. You didn't know you were an Incubus before either, right? Magic comes from within. Now think, can you become Albus?"

Sterling tried imagining Dumbledore's face. Excited shouts erupted beside him.

"Sterling! You succeeded! You really are a Metamorphmagus!"

It didn't feel like Transfiguration.

Sterling didn't even feel magic being drawn. Metamorphmagus abilities compared to Animagus seemed to have less Transfiguration involved. This felt more like magical creature talent.

Like phoenix flames or rebirth. Born with it, no learning needed, completely instinctive.

Sterling looked at his hand. It had also changed to Dumbledore's wrinkled appearance. He didn't focus on the hand's appearance, yet his Metamorphmagus ability filled in the details automatically.

After carefully observing Dumbledore's hand, Sterling noticed differences. Self-completed transformations couldn't be perfect.

After circling Sterling once, Dumbledore nodded.

"Still somewhat unskilled. Perhaps I can contact Tonks for you? She's mastered this ability very well."

"I'd appreciate that, Professor."

"More? More?" Terry still looked at Sterling as if he were viewing a rare specimen.

"What more?"

"Other magical talents. Incubus—such a powerful magical creature. Must have very impressive abilities, right?"

"Next time I see Fawkes, I'll tell her you think she's not amazing."

"Can you speak to phoenixes?"

"What if phoenixes have high intelligence and can partially understand English?"

Terry closed his eyes briefly, then smiled carefreely.

"No matter. I just prophesied Fawkes is about to be reborn. She won't have time to trouble me."

Dumbledore and Nicolas exchanged glances.

"Why bother keeping her? Put this kid in the Divination professor position instead. Trelawney's sometimes accurate, sometimes not."

"But when she's accurate, she's remarkably accurate. Her prophecies alone justify keeping her. Besides, the Board pays anyway."

Their silent conversation ended. They both looked at Sterling.

Obviously, they were also curious about the abilities of Incubi. The last recorded Incubus was half-Incubus Merlin. No one had seen living pure-bloods. Or dead ones either.

Just as Sterling wanted to try the ability that the woman had awakened, he felt dizzy. He collapsed unconscious.

Terry was startled. He quickly caught Sterling.

Sterling's white hair slowly returned to brown, and his ears regained their round shape.

"Professor Dumbledore, what happened to Sterling? Animagi don't faint."

"Don't worry, Terry. Sterling just switched from his human identity to his Incubus identity. His consciousness was overtaxed. He looked calm, but subconscious emotions don't disappear because of surface calmness."

Dumbledore tapped a small stone. It immediately became a stretcher. Terry carefully placed Sterling on it.

Raindrops three inches above their heads were blocked as if by transparent glass, sliding aside. Dumbledore controlled the stretcher as they slowly walked toward Hogwarts.