Harry Potter and the Bucket List

Year 4 - 8

Beta: Cloudy

(≖‿‿≖)ノ⌒●~*

Mid-January, I decided it was time to double-check the egg. Or, well, Draco had opened it up in the common room earlier on in the week, and it screamed shrilly at everyone so I had to deal with it. I feigned surprise with everyone else, listening to them debate on what it could mean.

To my surprise, it was Tom who said, "Sounds like a mermaid above water."

"How could you possibly know that?"

He chose not to answer that and I decided I really didn't want to know.

On Friday evening, I donned a swimsuit and took a dip in a large bath provided by the Room of Requirement. I opened the egg underwater and listened to the poem presented.

"Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching, ponder this:

We've taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took,

But past an hour the prospect's black,

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

"Pretty straight forward," I said out loud as I climbed out of the tub to write it down.

"Sounds like you might have to fight merpeople underwater. That is an unenviable task."

"Yeah. I don't suppose you know any spells to help a girl out?"

Tom hesitated. "There—There are certain Dark rituals that use merpeople as sacrifices and in turn will grant the caster the ability to breathe underwater indefinitely."

I paused in drying myself off. Is that how Tom knows what a merperson sounds like above water?

"Does it work?"

"I would say that it is not worth it. One of the downsides to using a Dark ritual is the price to be paid."

"What's the difference between a regular ritual and a Dark one? Just the sacrifice?"

"What's needed to power the ritual. It is considered a Dark ritual if body parts of a sentient creature are needed, or if a price must be paid to complete it. A legal ritual is something that can be solely powered by one wizard."

Tom was silent for a minute before he continued, "If a ritual is considered unstable—as in it does not always work as intended—it is also considered Dark. This is because when a ritual goes awry it will take a sacrifice. A witch could lose her voice forever, or a wizard might lose a piece of his mind. There is always a risk in powerful rituals, ergo most powerful rituals are considered Dark."

"Interesting. Would your homunculus ritual be considered Dark?"

"Oh definitely. I would be considered an ingredient, and a soul is highly illegal to use."

"Oooo. How scandalous!"

"Terribly so. Dreadfully sorry to be coercing you down this... Dark path."

"My dear, I'll sprint down it if you're at the end."

He snorted derisively. "How fortuitous of me. Returning to your more immediate problem... "