Rowena Ravenclaw stepped toward a small rise, her gaze fixed upon the highest volcano in the distance, lost in thought.
"Oh, my mother certainly doesn't know," Helena chimed in, a teasing lilt in her voice. "She says things like that when she's uncertain."
It is difficult to tell whether she is trying to save Rowena's dignity or simply attempting to provoke her.
Ian glanced at Helena, then at Rowena, standing a short distance away.
"So, time has finally erased the grandeur that once existed here," He mused, "Sweeping away whatever beings once called this place home?"
He doubted anything still lived here, at least, not anything that could be called human.
"Perhaps," Rowena said cryptically, "the so-called grandeur that once existed here served only a singular purpose, one that has long since been fulfilled."
She turned, meeting Ian's gaze. "But no, time did not take the natives of this place. What took them… was a dark wizard's ritual."
At these words, something stirred in Ian's memory, an echo of a conversation he'd once had with a certain notorious professor.
His breath caught. "Dementors?!"
He hadn't spoken the word so much as felt it, dragging it from the depths of his mind. Grindelwald had once mentioned that a dark wizard, sometime in the fifteenth century, had summoned Dementors into the world during a twisted experiment on a remote island. According to Grindelwald's research, Dementors were never meant to exist in the mortal realm.
And now, Rowena Ravenclaw's words aligned almost too perfectly with that theory.
She gave him a slow, knowing nod. "It seems you've already encountered this knowledge elsewhere. You truly are an impressive scholar."
But that was not the most shocking revelation.
"We can no longer know what bargain Death struck with the Peverell brothers," Rowena continued, her voice calm yet laden with meaning. "But one thing is certain: you can obtain the raw materials for forging the Invisibility Cloak from Dementors."
Ian felt a chill run down his spine.
"Taken from creatures that cannot die," She elaborated. "It is nothing like an ordinary Invisibility Cloak woven from Demiguise fur. That is why it possesses the power to elude Death itself."
This interpretation of the Deathly Hallows was unlike anything Ian had ever heard. It was direct. It was unsettling. And it overturned centuries of accepted wisdom.
"You've given me an incredible lesson today," Ian admitted, struggling to process it all.
As he raised the Resurrection Stone ring, his perspective had already shifted.
"Then, by your logic," He said slowly, "Should the Resurrection Stone hold the power to truly defy death?"
If it was indeed a relic of Death, if it had been made with the same eerie precision as the Cloak, then surely it should not merely summon a shadow, an echo. Surely, it should be able to undo death itself.
"I told you before, Salazar studied this deeply," Rowena replied. "Most of what I know comes from his research and..." She trailed off, casting another glance toward Ian. "And from a certain someone who caused me no small amount of trouble with his constant boasting."
There was something almost nostalgic in her tone.
"I don't much care for people prattling on at me," Ian said with a faint smirk. "I prefer to be the one doing the talking."
Yet even as he spoke, his mind remained fixed on the Resurrection Stone. The engravings upon its surface bore little resemblance to the refined alchemical techniques he was familiar with. If anything, they seemed… haphazard. Almost as though someone had absentmindedly carved them in passing.
"Did Slytherin ever use it?" Ian asked, weighing the locket in his other hand. He had not missed the way Rowena's gaze flickered toward it whenever she spoke of the Resurrection Stone's power.
"He demonstrated its secrets to us," She admitted. "This Stone was never meant for the living. If you wish to witness its true power, you must first send it to the deceased you wish to summon."
A pause. Then, with measured calm, she added, "Of course, like the Elder Wand and the Invisibility Cloak, the Resurrection Stone does not truly break the laws of life and death. But it does create a bridge between worlds, one that can, however briefly, bring the dead back into the realm of the living."
Her eyes landed once more on the locket in Ian's grasp.
"This was Slytherin's beacon," She said softly. "You may use it, if you so wish..."
She hesitated for the briefest moment before adding, almost as an afterthought, "Though I doubt you'll have need of it. Unlike others, you do not seem bound by the same laws that govern the living. You stand at the threshold freely, without the usual cost."
At this, Helena nodded in agreement.
For centuries, she had heard countless tales of wizards seeking ways to traverse the boundary between life and death. But in all that time, she had never encountered someone quite like Ian, someone who seemed to ignore those barriers entirely.
"I'm an orphan, but I do have parents. I've just never been able to find them... Of course, at the moment, my headmaster seems to need that answer far more than I do."
Ian turned the Resurrection Stone ring over in his palm, considering whether it could be traded for a chance to study the Elder Wand.
"Are you planning to blackmail Dumbledore with that ring?" Helena asked, watching Ian's satisfied expression with suspicion.
After a brief hesitation, the young-looking ghost added, "He'll throw you straight into the dungeons. He's not like the little wizards you've intimidated before."
It seemed Ravenclaw's ghost had heard plenty of rumors about Ian at Hogwarts.
"????"
Ian had half a mind to hunt down whoever was responsible for spreading such nonsense. He wasn't blackmailing Dumbledore, he just wanted to study his wand, not have the man publicly declare his resignation in the Great Hall, deliver a two-hour speech about Ian's brilliance, and miraculously sway the entire Board of Governors in his favor.
"Perhaps the current headmaster has already lost those he held most dear," Rowena Ravenclaw remarked, ignoring the mention of blackmail entirely. Her voice was calm, carrying only the weight of a quiet warning. "But I would not recommend allowing him to use that ring too often. It is neither good for the living nor for the dead."
She cast a glance at the Resurrection Stone, then added pointedly, "Do not forget, it was forged by Death itself, not by... anyone else."
There was a subtle but unmistakable bitterness in her voice at the mention of Death, as if she held some long-standing grudge.
"Those who wield such things will always pay a price. The Hallows were not given freely; they are a contract, and to use them is to sign it. No one who does so escapes unscathed."
Perhaps, in her time, such grim fates were nothing unusual. Many who crossed paths with Death did not meet gentle ends.
"I'll study it, consult others, and examine the alchemical techniques behind it," Ian said, deciding it was best to proceed with caution. While he had no particular concern for Dumbledore's personal desires, he was wary of any negative effects the ring might have on his closest friends.
To be fair, Rowena Ravenclaw had a point; the previous owners of the Elder Wand had all met rather spectacularly unfortunate ends. And if Death had truly forged the Hallows with some hidden purpose, then the question remained: why?
"When can you take me back to somewhere familiar?" Ian carefully set down both the Resurrection Stone and the locket, his gaze shifting to Rowena, who was currently helping Helena fix her hair.
Rowena does not look up.
"Little one, your time is running out," she said evenly. "The deeper you tread here, the greater the burden you will bear."
Just as she had once known exactly when Ian would leave that isolated island, she now seemed to sense how long he could remain in this realm.
"Ah?"
Ian hadn't been paying much attention to his limited time, but now, at her prompting, he focused, trying to feel it for himself.
"When will I be able to stay as long as I want?"
To his dismay, he realized that Rowena was right; his time here was dwindling at double the usual rate. His so-called "experience" was expiring far faster than he had expected.
"When your magic surpasses even the limits of this place," Rowena answered simply.
It was eerily similar to something Professor Morgan had once told him, that when he reached a certain threshold, his magic would undergo a fundamental change.
But who was right?
That would only become clear once he reached that threshold himself.
Name: Ian Prince
Occupation: Bloodline Sorcerer
Magic Power: Level 8 (in explosive transition)
Ian glanced at the information displayed at the top of his personal panel and let out a quiet sigh. He had hoped that the destruction of Voldemort's soul fragment would be enough to trigger a breakthrough.
But Rowena Ravenclaw had gone and thrown Voldemort straight into the magma before he could test his theory. He should have acted faster, perhaps infused a bit of his own magic into the fire, just to see if he could extract some of that lingering energy for himself.
Too late now.
(To Be Continued…)
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