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Necromancy is an Art [Chapter 24]
🕑 Added 2022-04-13 15:41:38 +0000 UTC"We need to join her, there are no other options" Imogen said in a defeated tone while shaking her head. She might be arrogant and all, but she knew when to admit defeat. Destiny Grindelwald had them pegged.
"No, I refuse! You can't expect me to fight for Mudbloods!!" Fredrick Bone snarled in outrage. Dorothy and Jasper had decided to sit out of the conversation. The two of them had decided to follow the others' lead.
"What other options do we even have?" Claiborne asked in a defeated tone. "Now that our secret is out, we must pick a side. If we decide to refuse then we would need to run or we would be executed by the Ministry of Magic due to sheer principle and if we join her, we are going to at least have some support" Claiborne explained.
Fredrick grimaced after hearing his father's words. Yes, he knew that his father was right, but he simply wanted to refuse due to his pride. All of these years their family had struggled to survive and just when it was looking like everything was going to change for good, reality decided to slap them back to the bottom.
"I guess…" Fredrick reluctantly agreed with his father's point. Now that his oldest son was also onboard, he finally decided to talk with Sirius. He didn't know what to think about that man since he was the one who got them into this mess, but after thinking calmly, he realized that it wasn't Sirius' fault.
Yes, he might have brought them here, but they wouldn't be having this problem if Destiny Grindelwald didn't know anything about their Family Magiks. How the girl got her hands on the records of the Unspeakables was simply beyond him. Though he had a sinking feeling in his mind… there was a chance that some of the Unspeakables had decided to join her cause, but that would be simply outrageous.
The Unspeakables had maintained their anonymity throughout the years and they have never shown any sort of other agendas except for research. At least, that is what was mentioned in the history books of the Bones Family.
Claiborne scowled as soon as he remembered about his history books of his family, they were fucking inaccurate. It was nowhere mentioned that their family was under the surveillance of the Unspeakables. Their ancestors must have been dumb fucks… Claiborne never thought that he would curse his ancestors, but he couldn't help it. If they had been only a bit more careful.
"...I need to talk with Lord Black, do you want to accompany me, Imogen?" Claiborne asked after a few moments of silence. Imogen also wanted to blame Lord Black for their recent troubles, but she knew that blaming him wouldn't help them, especially when it wasn't his fault, at least not entirely.
Since Destiny Grindelwald knew their secret, she could have come after them on her own. Imogen released a defeated sigh and decided to follow her father's suggestion. She wanted to have as much information as possible before swearing herself to the so-called cause. Imogen didn't believe in equality, as she had grown up knowing that the Mudbloods were inferior, but if she joined Destiny Grindelwald, then she would be free to practice her Family Magiks.
"Ok, let's go" Imogen said in a defeated tone as she slowly pushed herself up from the seat. The whole family left the room after dropping the Wards they had erected inside the room to keep their conversation private. Lord Black had said that he would be waiting for them in the living room and they did find the man in the living room, having a conversation with his niece, Cassiopeia.
Sirius noticed their arrival and turned around to look at them. "I presume that all of you have made your decision?" Sirius asked, he didn't like the spot Lady Grindelwald had dragged him into, but he could understand the necessity of it and Claiborne might be his friend, but that didn't mean that he would help him out of generosity. No matter what he said, he was way too much Slytherin at heart to let go of a chance like this.
He would have also twisted their arm into joining Lady Grindelwald's cause if he had known that the Family of Bones were Necromancers. If he was really helping them out of goodwill, then he would have done this a lot sooner. The only reason he took the initiative in the first place was because Lady Grindelwald had asked him to gather allies.
"You presume correctly. We have decided to join her cause, not that we have any other options. So, what can you tell us about Lady Grindelwald?" Claiborne asked in a clipped tone. Sirius internally grinned over the fact that his friend might be trying to put up a brave front, but in reality, he was somewhat resigned.
"I can't tell you much since her secrets are protected by a Magical Contract. Lady Grindelwald likes to work from shadows, that is why she is very careful about her secrecy. Though, I think that she wouldn't mind if you ask her yourself" Sirius answered politely.
True, her secrets were protected by the Magical Contract, but Cassiopeia was sitting right beside him. If he wanted then he could have pointed them towards her, but he had no idea how Lady Grindelwald would react if she discovered that Cassiopeia had revealed her secrets to a person outside their group. Yes, his friend and his family were still outside the group since they were yet to sign the Magical Contract or swear the Oaths.
Claiborne wasn't happy, but once again there was nothing they could do. He didn't feel that Sirius was deliberately lying to him and he could believe the fact that Destiny Grindelwald preferred acting from the shadows and she is extremely careful about her secrecy. That must be why this is the first time they were hearing about Destiny Grindelwald.
"Why don't all of you take a seat?" Sirius offered with a soft smile. With nothing else to do, Claiborne decided to accept Sirius' suggestion. His wife and children quickly followed his example without wasting any time…
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"Do you think that they will join you?" Ambika asked curiously and Destiny simply grinned.
"Oh, yes. They will. Everyone cares about their own lives and their Legacy. If not for himself, Claiborne is going to convince everyone to join, just for the sake of the survival of his children. He knows if the truth comes out then they will be chased to the end of the world only to be executed" Destiny said with a grin.
"Oh… but, don't you think that it would have been better if you hadn't blackmailed them, my lady?" Quinton asked and Destiny shook her head with a grin.
"You see, unlike the Blacks, Bones are an extremely prideful bunch. If a Black was being oppressed by Lord Black in such a manner, then he or she would have surrendered long ago while internally planning for revenge, but the Bones are not like that" Destiny explained while shaking her head.
"While Blacks are a slippery and cunning bunch, Bones are known to be quite a firm and prideful bunch. They would never go against what they believe in even if it means going against the rest of their Family. That is why Claiborne decided to go extinct instead of swearing that Oath to his brother" Destiny finally finished her explanation and her Lieutenants nodded their heads in understanding.
Previously Destiny had lied about the fact that she didn't know why or how Clifford Bones was oppressing Claiborne Bones and his family. Sirius had explained everything in detail, but Destiny needed to use a bit of subterfuge to sell her offer. Destiny could have used some other method to make them join her cause, but that would have been simply too bothersome.
"So, who are we waiting for?" Donovan asked curiously. Just like Destiny had ordered, Donovan's team had gathered a dozen Muggles for the practical display of Necromancy, but they have been waiting for quite a bit. All of them wanted to witness the mysterious Black Magic, even just a glimpse of the whole genre had excited them.
"Patience, my friend. I have invited some of the Gray Cloaks to witness the fabled Black Magic. Don't forget that the Bones are still under the surveillance of the Unspeakables, so I need the help of some Unspeakables to forge or fake the records if necessary" Destiny said and Donovan understood where Lady Grindelwald was coming from.
"Though, I thought that you would want to have access to their Family Magicks…" Ambika pointed out and Destiny started to chuckle.
"You worry too much, my dear. I do want to have access to both Black Family Magiks and Bones Family Magicks, but I can't force the issue right now. I need them to trust me so much that they would offer me their Family Magicks on their own accord" Destiny grinned and inclined her head in amusement.
"It might seem that the way I treated Claiborne and his family might turn out to be counterproductive, but believe me, it would work. You see, Claiborne and Dorothy have lost everything, and their children never had anything, to begin with. Now, what do you think would happen if their life changes for the better? They will become grateful… It won't happen anytime soon, but it will happen, maybe in a few years" Destiny explained with a soft smile. That is what has happened with her too…
Yes, Gellert never threatened her or tried to blackmail her, but she did mistrust him at the beginning even though he was going out of his way to teach her and feed her and she believed that the same was going to happen with the newly established Bone Family too when they realize that after accepting Destiny's offer, their life had changed for the better. They would realize that they had made a good decision and they would start revering Destiny with respect.
"So, Donovan tell me did you find any place for your office?" Destiny finally decided to change the topic. Last night she was unable to get any reports from Donovan and she had been unable to ask him today as she had been busy as soon as she had arrived.
"Yes, my men have found a brilliant place in the Magical Alley of Edinburgh. It used to be a Magical Law firm, but they lost a pretty delicate case, which led them to ultimately lose all their reputation and they had to move out of the building at the end of the whole fiasco" Donovan explained in a neutral tone.
"I see… Since you like the place then I don't have any problems though I am yet to visit the Magical Alley of Edinburgh" Destiny mused as she rubbed her chin with a thoughtful look on her face.
"It is nothing special, my lady. It is not anywhere big like the Diagon Alley, but the stores themselves are pretty old. There are quite a few high-class restaurants in that Alley" Donovan pointed out and Destiny decided to store the information in her mind. She had no idea when the information came to be useful.
Destiny opened her mouth to say something, but she stopped when the Wards notified her of a Portkey arrival. She immediately turned her head and she saw 10 Unspeakables gracefully land on their feet. All of them pulled down their hoods. Destiny immediately recognized all 10 of them.
They quickly made their way towards Destiny and as soon as they arrived in front of her, all of them respectfully bowed their heads. "Lady Grindelwald" All of them called out at the same time when they bowed their heads.
"How can we help you, my lady?" Unspeakable #27 stepped forward and asked Destiny. Unspeakable #27 was another team leader like the Unspeakable #21.
"I thought that the Unspeakables might be interested in watching a bit of Black Magic" Destiny said with a grin and the eyes of all the Unspeakables grew wide in surprise, but Unspeakable #27 was the first one to gather his bearings.
"So, the branch Family of Bones had decided to join your cause" Unspeakable #27 said with a nod of his head.
"Not yet, but they had agreed to show me a few tricks. Fortunately, all the Muggles decided to volunteer for the demonstration" Destiny said as she gestured towards the conscious, but bound Muggles. Destiny flicked her Wand as she muttered the Patronus Charm. A Silvery Tigress emerged from the tip of her Wand and disappeared in the direction of the Black Townhouse.
All the Unspeakables eyes the tied up Muggles. "I see…" Unspeakable #27 muttered as he eyed the Muggles.
"I understand that the Bones Family were under the surveillance of your department?" Destiny question after getting a nod of confirmation from Unspeakable #27, Destiny decided to continue. "So, can I presume that the Unspeakables won't be making a move against the newly established Bone Family, right?" Destiny asked with a soft smile on her face.
"It will be hard, but still doable, but if one of them joins our Department, then it won't be a problem" Unspeakable #27 answered in a neutral tone and Destiny simply inclined her head in acknowledgement.
After a couple of minutes, everyone finally arrived and the former Bones Family members looked aghast as soon as they saw the Unspeakables, and Imogen and Claiborne were the first ones to pull out their Wands. No matter how interesting it would have been to see the fight, Destiny decided to clear the misunderstanding.
"They aren't here to kill you. They are here because I thought that they would like to miss the chance to witness Black Magic" Destiny called out loudly, but they still decided to remain on guard.
Everyone beside Sirius and Cassiopeia among the new arrivals wondered how Destiny was able to get the Unspeakables on board with her. Now, Claiborne finally realized that Destiny Grindelwald was no simple woman if she had Unspeakables as her subordinates.
"You have nothing to worry about us. We are here only to watch" Unspeakable #27 decided to speak up when he saw that the Necromancer Family still seemed to be on guard. Their fear was quite understandable from their point of view.
"Well, you don't need to be afraid of them, they are my subordinates. So, why don't you show me what you can do with these lovely Muggles who have decided to volunteer for the demonstration?" Destiny asked with a tilt of her head as she stepped forward.
For the first time in her life, Imogen felt a pang of guilt pass through her heart when she looked into the eyes of those Muggles. They were silenced, but they were awake… all of them were looking around with pleading looks in their eyes. Imogen shifted on her feet uncomfortably, she could no longer stare into those eyes. She needed to do this or she had no idea what would happen to her family. Only Imogen was quite versed in necromancy. Unlike Imogen, Claiborne wasn't good with Curses. He was good with Arithmancy and Runes, that is why he opted to work with Wards.
"...They need to be dead" Imogen said as she slowly turned around to look at Destiny. The crimson-haired woman simply cocked her head and pointed her Wand towards one of the Muggles.
"You should have said so…" Destiny drawled with a bored look on her face. "Avada Kedavra" a green beam left the tip of Destiny's Wand and ripped the Muggle's life. Destiny's Lieutenants and some of the Unspeakables followed Destiny's example and started to kill the Muggles with the Killing Curse. Destiny didn't know if Imogen needed undamaged bodies or not, that is why she decided to use the Killing Curse, as the Killing Curse leaves no damage or marks on the body.
"So, what are you going to do with them?" Destiny asked as she turned towards Imogen. Imogen had always thought that killing Muggles would be pretty easy, but now that she had witnessed the killing, she felt quite sick. She was pretty comfortable when she read about the killing and dismemberment in the books, but now… she wasn't sure anymore.
"...I am going to turn a few of them into Inferi" Imogen answered after she finally gathered her bearings.
Destiny was amused with how the woman was squirming under her gaze. She remembered how haughty the girl was acting when she had threatened her father. She wanted to put the girl in her place, but it seemed that she didn't even need to do that. Imogen was already shifting uncomfortably just because she witnessed a bunch of Muggles getting killed. Destiny snorted inside her mind, everyone can act like a bad guy until the read deal makes an appearance.
"I already know how to raise Inferi, show me something else" Destiny said in a clipped tone. She was quite unimpressed with Imogen up to this point, this was the problem with most of the Pureblood Witches. They were all arrogant as a sin, but they were all bark, no bite.
"No, I won't be raising normal Inferi. The Inferi I am going to raise will have the ability to talk. They won't be anywhere as intelligent as when they were alive, but they will retain a little bit of intelligence" Imogen quickly explained, and Destiny was already interested since this was the first time she was hearing anything about intelligent inferi.
"Really? I haven't heard or read anything about Inferi with intelligence" Destiny gushed out looking somewhat excited. Imogen noticed the unveiled excitement in Destiny's voice, but she didn't think much of it.
"Yes, this is the first time I have also heard anything about intelligent Inferi" Unspeakable #27 also decided to speak up with a hint of interest in her voice.
Imogen glanced toward her father, he had a hard and determined look on his face. Then she turned towards her mother, she seemed to be pale as a ghost, and she was tightly hugging Jasper in her arms. Jasper was also looking horrified and finally, Fredrick was standing beside their mother with a grave look on his face.
Imogen took a deep breath, she knew that there was no going back now, so she finally approached the closest corpse… Yes, she decided to call them corpses. It made her feel a lot more comfortable. She leaned down beside the nearest corpse with her Wand in her hand. She used her Wand to slice open the corpse's shirt. Then she placed the tip of her Wand over the corpse's chest and with a swift flick of her Wand, she sliced open the chest of the corpse.
Imogen was immediately assaulted by a grotesque smell, she had read in the books that the insides of a human smell really bad, but the books didn't do any justice to the real thing. Imogen wanted to cover her nose and mouth with her hand, but before she could even raise her hand, the grotesque smell was gone.
"You need to worry yourself with pesky matters" Imogen heard Destiny's voice from behind her and from how close the origin of the voice was, Imogen was pretty sure that Destiny was standing over her shoulder. After only a couple of minutes, Imogen realized that it was almost impossible to concentrate with someone breathing down your neck, especially when you don't have any experience in whatever you are doing.
"Um…? Can you back up a bit?" Unable to hold herself back any longer, Imogen requested.
"Yeah sure…" Destiny muttered her consent and moments later Imogen heard Destiny's footsteps moving away. Imogen finally released a relieved sigh, now she could pay attention to the corpse lying in front of her without worrying about someone breathing down her neck.
Imogen finally finished removing the ribs so that she could have access to the heart. In some Magical theories, the heart is considered to be the source of life, while some others considered the Soul to be the source of life. It was a highly debatable topic, but when it came to her Family, they considered the Soul to be the key to life while they considered the heart to be the source of life.
So, the Bones Family had discovered a way to reactivate the source of life with Magic, but since they couldn't recreate the key to life, which was the Soul according to them, they never succeeded in resurrecting someone. Now, that Imogen had complete access to the heart, she slowly placed the tip of her Wand on top of the corpse's unbeating heart, and then she closed her eyes.
Imogen needed to focus on the task at hand, this was the first time she was applying her Nercomantic knowledge practically and failure wasn't an option with all the audience gathered around her. According to the Bones Family Grimoire, she wasn't supposed to fail if she did everything correctly. The Spell was designed in such a way that it would work as long as you go through all the steps without making any mistakes.
Even if you are performing the whole ritual for the first time, the Spell would work for you. The only difference between a novice and a veteran was the operation time. If it was a veteran raising the Inferi in place of Imogen then he or she would have been able to retain the Intelligence of the corpse for a longer time along with an extended functioning period.
No matter what type of Inferi you were raising, at the end of the day, they were simply undead corpses and corpses were supposed to decompose. Magic is not something absolute, Magic was also corroded through the passage of time, so it could only hold together a rotting corpse for so long… So, Imogen could also raise Inferi using her Family Magicks, but she was no expert, so her Magic couldn't keep together a rotting corpse for too long…
Imogen finally started to chant as the tip of her Wand started to glow with a sickly yellow light. The heart started to glow with the same sickly yellow light… Destiny tilted her head in confusion, she wasn't arrogant enough to think that she knew all languages around the world, but she didn't expect that she was going to discover another ancient language. In the hindsight, she should have expected this, since Necromancy was an ancient and lost art.
Imogen was chanting in the Yiddish language… It is a lost language, which was spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th Century and it was mainly spoken around Central Europe. The Bones Family were known as the Beyner Family before they migrated from Central Europe to Great Britain somewhere during the 15th Century. The Beyner Family was based somewhere around West Germany.
Unlike the House of Black, the House of Beyner has always been kind of small. The parents used Potions and Spells to limit their progeny, not wanting to create branches within their Family. The House of Beyner has always been practising Necromancy and they didn't want to spread their art and secrets. They obviously had a good reason for that, they practised Necromancy, which was considered Black Magic globally, and during the middle ages, people were burned at stakes for even lesser crimes, like being suspected of being a Witch.
It was paramount that they maintained secrecy… Alas, the world works in mysterious ways and secrets have weird ways of finding their way out to the light and that is what happened with the Beyners in the 15th Century. Somehow the people of their Town started to doubt them and slowly people started to claim that the Beyners are the Agents of Satan. Before the situation could escalate, the Beyners decided to fake their deaths by using some corpses and fire to burn down their own house.
The Beyners knew that if the people started to make too much noise, then there was a chance that some Wizards or Witches might show up. The Beyners were confident that they could have dealt with the Muggles with their art, but the real problem was the Wizarding Population. If the truth about their Family Magicks came to the light, then they would be hunted down to the very last members. The Beyners were never any good when it came to fighting… Well, they were not the worst, at the best, they could be called average.
So, after a few years, the Bones Family showed up on the shore of Great Britain. Finally, they ended up settling in England. After arriving in England, the Bone Family decided to lay low, they didn't want to attract anyone's attention with their craft, especially when they just arrived here, but they continued to learn their craft in secret. They did continue to use corpses collected from the cemeteries for their experiments.
Slowly their art fell out of practice since they were laying low. After the Department of Mysteries was formed, one of the Unspeakables decided to set up a Black Magic sensor. The man simply did it out of curiosity, but he was shocked to find that someone was practising Black Magic within their country. They quickly tracked down the people responsible for it and they arrived in front of the Bones Manor. Since then, the Bones Family had been under the surveillance of the Unspeakables.
The Unspeakables noticed that they were doing experiments and raiding cemeteries. First of all, grave robbing didn't come under the jurisdiction of the Department of Mysteries, so they simply decided to look away and since the Department of Mysteries is responsible for the research of strange Magic, they decided to keep an eye on the Bones Family, but otherwise, they decided to let them do as they please as long as they stuck around to only conducting experiments and grave robbing. The Bones Family even stopped doing those as they settled to only learning the theoretical part, so the Unspeakables didn't have any reason to act…
Since they were completely autonomous, they didn't have to answer to anyone. Even now, in the eyes of the Unspeakables, the newly established Bone Family were yet to commit any crimes… Well, any crimes they had decided not to look over already ages ago. Imogen Bone was simply conducting an experiment on a corpse. After all, it was Destiny who murdered the Muggles and the Unspeakables had no obligation to carry out the duties of an Auror and even if murders were under their jurisdiction, they would have simply looked away.
Imogen finally finished her chant and now the corpse's heart was thumping with a sickly yellow light. Imogen slowly closed the wound on the corpse's chest after resetting the ribs. Imogen slowly stood up on her feet and looked around. Everyone was still watching her every action expectantly. She released a sigh and pointed her Wand at the corpse she had operated on. Finally, the moment of truth…
A sickly yellow beam shot out of the tip of her Wand and the beam hit the corpse straight on its chest. The corpse gasped and sat up. The corpse's gaze focused on Imogen. "M… I… stre… ss" the corpse growled with a lot of difficulty. Imogen immediately grimaced, this was much worse than she had expected. She expected the corpse to be able to call her Mistress perfectly.
Imogen realized that Ygvani Beyner was right. 'Necromancy is an Art…'
That is what Ygvani Beyner had said and now that Imogen thought about it, the man was right. Necromancy is an Art and there is only one way to improve your Art… Imogen concluded that she needed a lot more practice if she wanted to reach the pinnacle of Necromancy. Reaching the pinnacle of Necromancy is said to be impossible because the pinnacle of Necromancy is Perfect Resurrection, which was kind of impossible since you needed a Soul if you wanted to perform Perfect Resurrection and you can't find Souls running around…
Yes, there was a bastardized version of Resurrection. The method was created by Herpo the Foul, his answer to the problem was Soul Anchor. He dubbed them Horcrux. If a person with a Horcrux died then their Soul would be bound to this Realm as long as their Horcrux exists. The Soul will exist on the plane in the form of a Wraith. Then it was possible to recreate a body, but you would obviously need someone else's help. Even if the Soul decided to possess another person's body, it was still technically someone else's help.
While Herpo the Foul boasted that he was able to create a method to perform Perfect Resurrection, her Ancestors disagreed. To create a Horcrux, you needed to rip apart a piece of your Soul and place it inside an object. Technically a Soul could heal, but intentionally ripping apart your Soul permanently damages the Soul. That Soul would never heal. A permanently damaged Soul like that could lead to a lot of problems, the most common among them is insanity, and insanity was guaranteed. It might take some time, but the person will go insane, there was no stopping it.
Now, the Soul, Mind, and Magic are connected to each other. Now, most of the time, the others remained unchanged even though a person goes through a lot of changes, but something like ripping apart your Soul is guaranteed to affect your Mind, but Imogen's Ancestors were quite unsure how it will affect the person's Magic if it would affect Magic at all.
Herpo the Foul didn't create the Horcrux to create a way to achieve Perfect Resection. He wanted to achieve immortality and Perfect Resurrection was simply a bonus. Since the Beyners felt like they were being challenged, they decided to test it out. Well, not directly being challenged, as Herpo the Foul was long gone. The Beyners simply felt that they needed to test out the claims of Herpo the Foul since the man had claimed that he had created a way to achieve Perfect Resurrection.
Herpo the Foul existed somewhere between the 12th and 9th Century BC, while according to the Bones Family Grimoire, the Beyners came into existence somewhere around the 9th Century. So, there was no way Herpo the Foul could have directly challenged the Beyners. Laxter Beyner performed the experiment on a Witch and after 20 years the Witch went insane. After that, Zeta Beyner continued the research and decided to go way and beyond. She wanted to see how many times a Soul could be split before it dispersed into nothingness.
She used a couple of Wizards and Witches for her experiments. Zeta discovered that creating more Horcruxes would speed up the process of going insane. Some Souls disappeared after splitting it 8 ways and some disappeared after splitting it 9 ways. Zeta concluded that the Souls cannot be split more than 9 ways, but even Zeta was unable to conclude if splitting the Soul affected their Magic. Lastly using Zeta's research, her great-granddaughter Ciara Beyner concluded that Horcruxes couldn't guarantee immortality.
Ciara discovered that the Soul Anchors had started to erode due to the passage of time and by the time Ciara died, she discovered that the Horcruxes were completely gone. The objects were still there along with all the protections a Horcrux is supposed to have, but the Soul Pieces were gone. So, Ciara concluded that the claims of Herpo the Foul were false. It is a well-known fact that Herpo the Foul had created a Horcrux, so why wasn't he still alive if Horcruxes could ensure immortality.
According to Ciara, Horcruxes only guaranteed a long life and insanity. To create a Horcrux the person needed to rip apart their Soul and even after recreating a new body wasn't going to fix their Soul. That is why Ciara Beyner also concluded that Herpo the Foul didn't create a way to achieve Perfect Resurrection as the Soul was no longer in Perfect condition. If someone needed to make such a big compromise, then it could no longer be called Perfect Resurrection…
Meanwhile, Destiny was staring at the Inferi with wide eyes. 'Merlin on a bike!! It spoke!' Destiny gasped inside her mind. Even though Imogen had mentioned that the Inferi would retain its intelligence, she had believed that it might be just instincts, but she had been wrong… so very wrong. Credit where credit's due… She was quite impressed with the display. Having a Black Witch on her side will be great. Yes, Imogen probably needed a lot of practice, that could be easily tackled.
"Hmm… so, how much intelligence has this Inferi retained?" Destiny questioned Imogen. The said woman immediately turned around her head to look at Destiny.
"For now… I don't know, sorry. This is the first time I have raised an Inferi" Imogen answered in an embarrassed tone. Destiny simply waved her hand in a dismissive manner.
"You don't need to worry too much. You are free to practice and learn…" Destiny said in a dismissive tone. "So, what do you want to show me with the others?" Destiny asked, pointing towards the other corpses.
Imogen was internally relieved to find that Destiny wasn't displeased, she wasn't worried about herself, in fact, she was worried about her family. Previously she had thought that Destiny was a haughty girl who simply used her last name to push around people, but the way she killed the Muggles said otherwise. Destiny even has followers among the Unspeakables, that was not something normal…
So, yes, Imogen was now pretty wary of Destiny. After thinking for a bit, Imogen finally decided to answer Destiny's question. "You asked me about Resurrection. I will show you how to resurrect a corpse. This time, the resurrected corpse will retain all of its memories along with its intelligence, though I can't say how long the body will last. Maybe a day at best, nothing more than that. I might be able to increase the operation time with more practice…" Imogen trailed off with an unsure look on her face.
"Sure, if that is what you are comfortable with" Destiny shrugged with an excited look on her face. She would have agreed with any Necromantic Arts Imogen would have agreed to show her. Imogen simply nodded her head and with a flick of her Wand, she Conjured a parchment and with another flick of her Wand, she Conjured a quill. Unlike Destiny, Imogen was unable to perform the Spell silent, she had to mouth the incantations when she performed the Spells.
Imogen grabbed the parchment and only after that did she realize that she forgot to Conjure an inkpot. Destiny realized the girl's flight and she Wandlessly Conjured a floating inkpot for the girl with a simple snap of her fingers. Imogen's eyes bugged out in surprise as she let out a startled gasp. Her family members also reacted in a similar manner. Wandless Magic was extremely rare… According to the rumours, only Albus Dumbledore was said to be quite proficient in Wandless Magic.
"There you go…" Destiny said with a grin as she didn't miss the reaction of Imogen and her family members. She was quite pleased with the timing to… She had been waiting for a chance to show off her Mad Skillz, but until now, she didn't have a chance to show her Skills without looking like a show-biz.
Imogen did a perfect imitation of a fish out of the water for a couple of seconds before she was finally able to restart her mental faculties. She looked toward Lord Black and Cassiopeia and she found that both of them looked like nothing extraordinary had happened and at the same time, she noticed a glint of amusement in their eyes. It was the same with the people who were standing with Destiny and the Unspeakables too.
Imogen realized that this wasn't probably the first time when Destiny had decided to show her Wandless Skills in front of them. It seemed that they have gotten used to her casual display of Wandless Magic. Even though it was somewhat mind-numbing, Imogen decided to move on. She shook her head to clear her mind. She grabbed the quill and dipped it inside the inkpot and then she quickly scribbled down the name and quantities of a few ingredients.
"I will need these ingredients for the Ritual" Imogen said as she handed over the parchment to Destiny. The crimson-haired woman accepted the parchment with a smile on her face and then she turned towards the Unspeakables. Without saying anything, she levitated the parchment into the waiting hands of Unspeakable #44. The Witch quickly read through the entire list…
"My lady, most of the ingredients on this list are pretty common. Only two ingredients are restricted, but we do have them in our stocks" Unspeakable #44 said in a respectful tone.
"Good, you go and get the two of them and send someone else to get the others" Destiny ordered, and Unspeakable #44 handed over the parchment to Unspeakable #67. The Wizard accepted the parchment and Apparated away. Moments later, Unspeakable #44 also Apparated away.
"Um… can I have the rest of the corpses for practice?" Imogen asked in a hesitant tone. Destiny inclined her head with a thoughtful look on her face. To be honest, Destiny did not have any use for the corpses. She could have easily handed them over, but she decided to act like she was thinking because she wanted to make Imogen sweat.
"You can have them" Destiny answered with a sharp nod of her head. If Imogen became proficient then at the end of the day, it was going to benefit her too, but that didn't mean that she was going to give her a carte blanche. She would only allow Imogen to act freely after the girl swore her loyalty to her. Additionally, she was already planning to make Imogen and her family members swear loyalty to her after the demonstration was finally over.
After that, Destiny asked if Imogen needed anything else or not. Imogen asked for a couple of vials and a cauldron. After that, Imogen started to demonstrate how intelligent her Inferi was. Well, the Inferi wasn't going to win any smartest corpse of the year award, but the corpse still had the ability to recognize alphabets and understand some basic commands. It was still way smarter than the normal Inferi.
After around 5 minutes, Unspeakable #44 returned with the two restricted ingredients and after only another minute, Unspeakable #67 also returned with the rest of the ingredients. Imogen quickly gathered the ingredients and then she ordered her Inferi to chop the ingredients for her. It took Imogen and her Inferi about 10 minutes to prepare the ingredients. After that, Imogen quickly placed the ingredients inside the cauldron so that she could start preparing the potion.
Meanwhile. Destiny decided to talk with Claiborne and the rest of his family. "Mr Bones, now that you are going to be adopted into the Bone Family after getting chucked out from the Bones Family, do you want to reschedule another inspection, or do you want to do something else? With Sirius' influence, it would be something very easy for me to achieve" Destiny asked in a relaxed tone.
Claiborne immediately turned towards his old friend and then he looked back toward Destiny. "Um… even though I still want to continue making Wards, I don't want to sell my Wards through the Ministry" Claiborne said after a few moments of silence. Destiny simply raised her brows in interest.
"Is that so? So, do you want to work for me? I can get you recruited by the Unspeakables and you will be making Wards for me" Destiny suggested with a grin. Claiborne already knew what it would mean for him and his family if he accepted the offer, but he couldn't deny that the offer was extremely tempting. Since he had already decided to join Destiny and her cause, it didn't take him much time to make the decision.
"I will work for you and join the Unspeakables" Claiborne accepted the offer as there was nothing to lose and much to gain. Not only he was getting protection, but he was also getting a stable job. He would finally be able to support his family like he wanted to since Imogen was born.
Destiny turned around to look towards the Unspeakables. Unspeakable #27 simply gave her a sharp nod. "I need all of your help to prepare the Oath for my latest subordinates" Destiny called out and a couple of Unspeakables stepped forward from the crowd. Claiborne knew that this was coming. Destiny turned back towards Claiborne. "Your whole family would need to swear secrecy Oaths" Destiny said in a serious tone, leaving no room for any arguments.
Claiborne simply gave her a hesitant nod… Oaths were always complicated, but once again, they only had very little to lose and much to gain. Their only problem was that Destiny Grindelwald was fighting for the Muggleborns… True, they didn't like the fact that Destiny knew about their Family Magicks, but they simply couldn't do anything about that.
With that said, Destiny along with the help of Unspeakables #83 and #58 started to prepare the wording for the Magical Contract. Once again, Destiny needed to use Magical Contracts since she was planning to hide her identity.
"I am done" Imogen called out from the side with a Greenish Potion in her hand. Destiny simply gestured her to continue and Imogen tapped the vial with her Wand and once again, she started to chant in Yiddish. After a few seconds, Imogen finally finished her chant and the Potion started to glow dimly.
Imogen renewed the binding Charm on the corpse and then with the help of her Inferi she pried open the corpse's mouth. Then, Imogen quickly uncorked the vial and poured the contents inside the corpse's mind. Imogen commanded the Inferi to back away. A few seconds passed, but nothing happened. Finally, the corpse started to spasm and green veins started to appear throughout the corpse's whole body. Minutes passed and the corpse continued to spasm and the green veins finally started to disappear.
Finally, the corpse opened its eyes and started to frantically look around. Since the corpse was Magically bound by Imogen, the Resurrected corpse couldn't move. Once again, Destiny was immensely impressed with Imogen. Meanwhile, Imogen finally released a tired sigh. She had to use a lot of Magic to perform the two Spells. Once again Imogen found herself agreeing with Ygvani Beyner.
'Necromancy is an art…'
