theBlackStaffAndNightMarE

ACT5CH27 - Remorse

Studies in sensory magics mention that places that were exposed to extreme emotions for an extended period of time developed preternaturally produced sound waves. In many cases, these sounds caused an auditory illusion where the sound appeared to be constantly increasing or decreasing in pitch, but never actually got higher or lower. This illusion frequency resulted in extreme reactions to victims exposed to it, ranging from a sudden spike in anxiety, to chronic fear to extreme paranoia. Occl...

ACT5CH26 - Stances

Apologies. Was caught up in what started off as an emergency and then turned into a living nightmare. Pun not intended about my co-author. Anyway, we're back. Expect the next chapter soon, since it's already half-done. And now, on with the chapter.

For Daphne, the next two weeks were like being in the center of a storm. 

As a future Lady of a Noble House, she was no stranger attending meetings with her father. Despite her frailty, Joshua went o...

ACT5CH25 - New Beginnings

The gravestone was smaller than he'd imagined. Simple. White marble, worn soft around the edges by rain and time. Two names carved into it with quiet reverence. 

James Potter (1960 – 1981) 

Lily Potter (1960 – 1981) 

Harry stood in the soft soil, cloak still fluttering faintly in the wind. Behind him, Daphne stood, a respectful distance away. The cold of the December evening had settled around him like a hush, and even the...

ACT5CH24 - The Biscuit Paradox

The nursery had gone ominously quiet as the witches and wizards there processed Harry’s reply.

“....Say that again?” murmured Daphne.

“I said if he’s correct, then it might be possible to actually revert time back to 1981,” said Harry, his voice tight. “Maybe I can recreate the moment and see what transpired on that night.”

“That’s impossible,” said Amelia Bones. “Even the Time-turners cannot go back for more than twelve hours. The sheer temporal iner...

ACT5CH23 - TIME

There were times when Harry’s natural inclination towards cynicism served some larger, more enduring toxicity — a vast, chronic paranoia. Any rare glimpses of optimism were swiftly dealt with, a virus his mind and body leapt to attack, and thus, were ultimately beaten into submission. Feelings of hope? Cancerous. There was a constant sensation for Harry that if things seemed to be going well, half of him was sure he was in the process of being mightily tricked. 

A trait he had ...

ACT5CH22 - THE BINDING OF THE ECHO

The moment the rift closed behind them, and the light of the Dumbledore house faded, Harry stood at the edge of the nursery with Dumbledore beside him. The old man said nothing at first, eyes slowly scanning the splintered mobile, the half-burnt walls, the toys cracked open like the bones of a long-dead animal. But Harry could feel the subtle shift in his breath, the weight of memory that even Dumbledore—unflappable, untouchable Dumbledore—could not quite conceal.

“I should’ve k...

At Godric's Hollow....

Azkaban Gate

ACT5CH21 - HEIR OF ECHOES

“Name’s Bathilda, dearie. Bathilda Bagshot.” Harry blinked, stuck with facing too many competing responses. He wanted to express his surpris

“Name’s Bathilda, dearie. Bathilda Bagshot.”

Harry blinked, stuck with facing too many competing responses. He wanted to express his surprise at meeting the author that wrote the History Of Magic textbooks. He wanted to mention how Hermione practically stayed glued to her History Of Magic textbook over the years, and how she had t...

Fleur Delacour

Which version do you prefer?

Hecate's wrath (from The Shape Of Fear Part 2)

ACT5CH20 - GODRIC'S HOLLOW

“Daddy! She’s awake!” “Wait. Give her time.” The world returned slowly, like fog burning away under a rising sun. Her first sensation was on

“Daddy! She’s awake!”

“Wait. Give her time.”

The world returned slowly, like fog burning away under a rising sun.

Her first sensation was one of discomfort, which grew to aching when she became more alert.  She opened her hazy eyes, and slowly, it turned to focus. The brilliant white before her turned to b...

Daphne Greengrass

Do you like it? Who's picture do you want to see next?

ACT5CH19 - WHERE POISON DWELLS PART 2

It was time. Daphne stood alone in the preparation alcove — a narrow, rune-etched corridor branching from the ritual chamber. The stone bene

It was time.

Daphne stood alone in the preparation alcove — a narrow, rune-etched corridor branching from the ritual chamber. The stone beneath her feet pulsed faintly, as if attuned to her heartbeat, or perhaps to the ancient blood running in her veins. The Greengrass blood. Cursed. Marked. Waiting to be rewritten.

Surprisingly, he...

ACT5CH18 - WHERE POISON DWELLS

The scent of paper and heatstones lingered in the air. It had been a long and tiring day for Babajide Akingbade, but his work was far from d

The scent of paper and heatstones lingered in the air.

It had been a long and tiring day for Babajide Akingbade, but his work was far from done. He had been working for an entire day straight, and yet the piles kept rising on his desk. Stacked scrolls, inkpots in varying stages of desiccation, and a half-empty tea bowl he had forgotten to ref...

ACT5CH17 - THE IRON VOW OF BONES

The War Room beneath Bones Manor had no windows. Or portraits. The Bones of old believed that windows were too closely tied to the symbology

The War Room beneath Bones Manor had no windows. Or portraits.

The Bones of old believed that windows were too closely tied to the symbology of flow and escape — open paths through which skilled sorcerers could twist meanings, subvert containment, or worse, worm their way into private thought. No one pierced this chamber w...

ACT5CH16 - SANCTIFIED BY SIN

The door to the Lord’s Study opened with a sound like uncoiling chains. It wasn’t a door, not really. It was a seal. Binding magic etched in

The door to the Lord’s Study opened with a sound like uncoiling chains.

It wasn’t a door, not really. It was a seal. Binding magic etched into the very grain of the wood, woven into the threshold like a final challenge left behind by dead men. But Harry didn’t need a key. As the Lord, there was no door, no ward, no seal, that could ...

ACT5CH15 - BENEATH THE FOLD

The sky above Grimmauld Place was heavy with clouds, the kind that smothered sound and made the world feel smaller. A solemn hush draped the grounds behind the house, where a small, overgrown Family Shrine lay hidden behind tall hedgerows and layers of enchantment. The Black family’s final resting place. It wasn’t large—barely a clearing—its perimeter traced by wrought iron, runes rusted but still potent. Between the vines and mist, the stones stood like forgotten sentinels. Here lay ...

ACT5CH14 - A KINDNESS LONG DENIED

They say the Old Ways demanded perfection.

They would choose a scion. A son. A daughter — it mattered not, so long as the blood flowing through them was blackened. 

Toujours Pur.

Always pure. 

For three years, he would be pampered. Four wives. Endless pleasure. Dark arts forbidden to all but the favored. And when his bloom reached its ripest, they would cut him down. Flay his skin. Gouge his eyes. Tear his heart from ...