Chapter 613

Before going out Felix briefly mentioned Percy’s report.

Ms. Bones nodded that she was aware of it. They walked out of the small lounge, and the people outside waited anxiously with their respective partners, at least as of now, the ownership of the snakewood wand is still a mystery. Uncle and nephew Steward were whispering in the corner.

“Let’s go.” Felix stated calmly.

“Where to?” Melville Steward asked with a blank look, and glanced at his uncle from the corner of his eye; Blaze shook his head slightly, so he joined the rest and focused his eyes on Felix again.

“Of course, we will go where the snakewood wand was originally kept.” Felix said, “As for who it actually belongs to, I couldn’t care less, you can discuss it yourselves.”

These words still carried a bias, and both Jura and Deputy Headmaster Greg were beaming. Melville was about to say something when his uncle pulled him by the arm and stopped him, seemingly acquiescing to this approach.

The group walked out of the minister’s office. The door slammed shut from behind.

As they made their way to leave the Ministry, Felix no longer used his magic to lower his presence, so he was greeted warmly or saluted by people on the way. As they passed through the lobby, a few sharp-eyed Squibs noticed his back and gave him a suspicious look, but before they could react, they were already on the lift and out of the red phone booth.

“I’ll meet you guys at the gate of the Ilvermorny school, is that okay? I don’t know the way around very well and need a guide – Jura?”

Jura nodded and walked over next to Felix. He glanced at the Deputy Headmaster, “Mr. Greg, I’ll join Mr. Hap then. You-”

“You guys don’t have to mind me.” The Deputy Headmaster said with a smile. Steward pair glared at him without speaking, and strode off towards a dark alley.

Felix pulled Jura along as he Apparated, and after several Apparitions, they appeared at the American border, and Jura looked around, trying to identify the location, and then his mouth grew wide open.

“This neighbourhood seems to have a-”

Black Market …? His expression snapped, and he couldn’t help but mentally speculate on what Mr. Hap had done when he first came here. And he reckoned Mr. Hap didn’t have the habit of travelling abroad to check in … Well, at least this time there was a good reason for it.

“I used to fish nearby.” Felix surveyed the surrounding scenery with interest; the landscape near where they had arrived was quite barren, with nothing to see other than salty ocean waves and battered black rocks. But his memories added a lot of colour to this deserted beach.

“I will count on you to lead the way next.”

“Sure.”

It took a while in between, but finally, they emerged halfway up the mountain to see a looming complex of buildings hidden in the clouds at the top of Mount Greylock. In the last part of the path, the pair walked all the way up, and Felix took this opportunity to find out about Jura’s recent progress.

“I’ve only met Voldemort once, the day he took the Snakewood wand.” Jura said softly, describing his experiences of what happened over almost a year as they made their way up through the mountain, “I was the only one who had seen his strength, and after repeated cross-examination again, the Congress seemed apprehensive.”

Felix knew the full magnitude of Voldemort’s killing curse and, with the snakewood wand once again resurfacing after centuries of slumber and conveniently meeting the most suitable master for it, it naturally became excited and cooperative enough that the unlucky Headmaster who might not necessarily be weak, was died so easily due to being less cautious and negligent.

“I joined the Auror squad after that, and didn’t really do much, apart from training, the only meaningful thing I did was to lead the squad to eliminate a few black markets …” After saying this, Jura glanced strangely at Felix.

“And so it went on for a while, and word came that Voldemort was looting around. I applied to lead a squad to hunt him down, or at least to investigate what he was up to, but it was turned down by the Congress, and then about the end of June or the beginning of July there was vague news about the seeming downfall of Voldemort.”

“But that news had not been confirmed,” he said calmly, “and by then the Auror squad was in name only, and I broke away from it and came to England with a few of my mates, just in time when you guys were capturing the remnants of the Dark Lord … Mr. Dumbledore had appealed that all those countries threatened by war should unite, and so I joined up and followed your operation to catch the Dark Wizard for half a month …”

Felix was slightly stunned.

Jura’s experience was truly peculiar. The Magical Congress of the United States of America is clearly putting on a show by assembling a ‘revenge squad’ in order to appease the anger of the wizarding population in their country, but they also didn’t want to make too much noise and draw Voldemort’s attention to them – there’s an interesting question here, does the Magical Congress of the United States of America afraid of Voldemort?

Felix thought, well, not necessarily, but definitely extremely wary. They probably had more inside knowledge from Dumbledore about how terrifying Voldemort could be, especially since, probably, many in the Congress had experienced first-hand the crushing pressure of another Dark Lord and would never want the war to burn on their side.

“… And then Ms. Bones officially announced the end of the war. A few days later, I was approached by Mr. Greg who wanted me to introduce him to Ms. Bones. You pretty much know everything that happened after that.”

Jura finished.

Felix nodded as they made their way up a winding stream from which a white mist rose up overhead. He asked again, “Are the Steward family famous?”

Jura had an odd look on his face.

“Quite famous in some ways. Their history goes back to the beginning of the school when the first two founders had four children in total: two adopted sons and a pair of biological twin daughters.”

“Ah, Chadwick’s Charms.” Felix said.

“That was written by Chadwick Boot, a very capable wizard whose line of descendants is quite prominent in North America to this day … The other adopted son was named Webster Boot, who became a mercenary Auror after he grew up, and while on a mission he met a beautiful Scottish witch, after which he married and followed his wife back to England to settle down. Of course, what I’m about to say actually has very little to do with these two adopted sons.”

“The twin sisters had very different fates, probably due to the different talents each inherited from their parents.” Jura said emotionally, “The youngest daughter, Rionach Steward, was born with magical abilities and when she grew up, she stayed at the school as a Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts class and remained unmarried for the rest of her life. Her twin sister Martha Steward, on the other hand, was a Squib, and it is from her that the Steward line carried on-”

Felix nodded, “Did she ultimately choose to leave the magical world?”

He could totally understand how that girl felt. He could think of two similar examples, one being Harry’s mother and aunt, a pair of blood sisters, likewise only one of them had shown a talent for magic and, as far as he could surmise, they weren’t exactly close; the other was Filch, whose existence had something in common with Martha’s, both stayed in an environment full of little wizards as a Squib, and Filch had become withdrawn and eccentric, with a tendency to infuriate others.

But Martha Steward’s situation must have been even more unpleasant because her parents were the founders of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

…

“There were no exclusive wands back then.” Jura made a small joke, but immediately his expression grew serious, “Martha grew up and married peacefully and lived as a No-Maj ever since; after that she remained in contact with her family, but that contact was broken with her death.”

“After a hundred years or so, things took a turn for the better. One of her descendants was gifted with magic, and we came to call him the first Lord of the House of Steward. When that young boy showed magic abilities, his elders told him about the family records and legends that had been passed down through the generations, and from his first day of school thereafter, he presented himself as a descendant of the school’s founder, although that was indeed true.”

“His last name is an issue.” Felix reminded Jura of that.

Jura scowled hearing that.

“That doesn’t matter, because that boy changed his last name back to Steward when he became an adult, in his words, ‘following family tradition’. With that fame, he later married a witch from a rather prestigious wizard family and rebuilt the Steward family with the help of his wife’s family. After that – there is speculation that he may have left a dying wish on his deathbed, as every generation of Steward descendants since then has tried to marry as many prominent wizardly families as possible. It’s almost an open secret and joke that just how much of Lady Isolt Sayre’s bloodline still remains in the Steward family?”

“But thanks to this strategy, the Stewards have managed to establish an in-law relationship with a considerable number of wizard families, although some are disgusted by their practices and loath to marry them. Including the Calderon-Boot family. But on the whole, the Stewards have been very influential in recent years.”

“As in this case, the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is reluctant to make a big deal out of it and draw criticism …”

Ilvermorny Castle came into view and Felix saw the figures of Mr. Greg and Steward’s uncle and nephew from a distance. They walked over and Melville said provocatively, “You guys are too slow.”

“You used the Portkey?” Felix raised an eyebrow, “That does save effort.”

Melville’s face flushed. Blaze Steward grabbed his nephew by the shoulders and said rather politely, “Mr. Hap, we are already there, and I am curious, are you planning on sticking the snakewood wand back into its original position? I mean … kind of replant it back?”

He said in what he thought was humour, pointing to a fenced-off field where there was a deep, bottomless pit.

“Pretty much.” Felix said pleasantly.

“Then I’ll see where it leads.” Blaze Steward said with a shrug and narrowed his eyes. He stopped talking and looked around instead as if expecting someone to jump out. At that moment, the main gate of Ilvermorny Castle opened and a dozen figures walked out from between two towering stone statues of a man and a woman. They were dressed in robes of blue and berry red, and Felix was no stranger to the colours of the Ilvermorny school uniform – having seen them many times during the Tournament of Champions, he knew that these people would be the professors of the school.

“The one standing at the front is the new Headmaster, Mr. Zekaraiya.” Jura said to Felix.

Felix looked curiously at Ilvermorny’s new Headmaster, who looked to be in his sixties or seventies, with dark skin, a broad forehead, and grey hair. After introducing each other, Felix took out the snakewood wand and walked over to the deep pit as those around him fell silent and observed him in silence.

From Felix’s mouth, a strange hissing sound sounded, similar to the sound that a snake would make when issuing a warning, but the sense of oppression was much stronger in the former. No one present here would be afraid of a snake or two, but they could not ignore this hoarse, sinister sound.

The surrounding light dimmed as if Felix was swallowing up the surrounding light.

“What kind of evil spell is this?” Melville shouted as he covered his ears and backed away, his uncle wanted to restrain him but it was too late, and to his surprise, a few professors gave him a contemptuous look.

“If I’m right, that would be the Parseltongue.” The new Headmaster, Zekaraiya, said with a smile on his face, “Lady Isolt Sayre’s daughter, Rionach, has inherited this rare talent. Blaze, have you called anyone else?”

The silhouettes of a wizard suddenly appeared, and as soon as they appeared they were silenced by the bizarre scene.

“They’re my friends.” Blaze Steward said stiffly, barely squeezing out a smile. His eyes still fixed on Felix, he had a premonition that his plan had gone awry. Felix Hap could actually speak in a Parseltongue! What the hell is his origin? Is he also descended from some branch of Salazar Slytherin?

Besides, he really did seem to be able to wield a snakewood wand, just like that Dark Lord. His heart burned with fervour; perhaps the Parseltongue was the key to controlling the Snakewood Wand? But then his heart turned cold – as Zekaraiya had said, apart from Isolt Sayre’s daughter Rionach, no descendant of the Stewards had ever been born afterward with the ability to speak Parseltongue, had the first lord really made the wrong decision? Had they reduced the number of Squibs in the family while also diluting their pure bloodline?

The smile on Blaze’s face disappeared, his mind was in a state of turmoil that he didn’t even have the heart to think about the allies he had summoned.

The snakewood wand floated out of Felix’s hand and hovered in mid-air, its body streaming with a dazzling light, the snake’s hiss magnified a thousand times, the light growing dimmer and dimmer, obscure and vague, the colours all around seemingly stirred into a haphazard mess.

The wizards watching this scene looked on with great shock.

Finally, Felix finished talking to the snakewood wand, and he said in a Parseltongue, “Slumber, and from your body will come new life.” The snakewood wand suddenly turned into a luminescent ball of light and fell straight into the deep pit.

A bright, vibrant, grass-green glow bloomed from the depths of the soil, and the earth around it suddenly sprouted a tangle of green blades of grass, covering and wrapping the exposed pit in the blink of an eye. Immediately afterward the brown earth near the centre began to wriggle and bulge out into a small mound. A tender green sapling tenaciously bursts out and quickly grows from the size of a fist, as if it had been hit by an Engorgement Charm. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Only when the sapling grew to the height of a man and the thickness of an arm did the snakewood tree’s growth slow down, its leaves and stems occasionally flickering with fluorescent patterns, each flicker making it grow slightly taller and wider.

This state might last an hour or two, or a week or two, but it is growing nicely, and it won’t be long before it will become lush and green, with no difference from what it once was. The students of Ilvermorny could admire, and even cool off in the shade of the tree.

Felix looked at his results with great satisfaction.

“This is the way to return it to its rightful place, the snakewood wand has fallen into a deep sleep and no one can wake it up till my magic lingers, oh, and even the properties have not changed, its leaves still retain their excellent healing properties – can I pick a branch as a souvenir, Headmaster Zekaraiya?”

Headmaster Zekaraiya was slightly taken aback, then smiled and said, “This is your right to do so, Mr. Hap. The entire Ilvermorny faculty and students should write you a letter of thanks.” “Oh, please don’t ever-” Felix muttered, stepping on the soft grass and walking forward to break off a branch roughly a foot long.

Neither of the two men gave the Stewards a second glance.

Felix put away the branch of the snakewood tree that still retained its life, ready to take it to Professor Sprout when he returned to see if a transplant is possible. It would be best to get Severus on board as well … Dumbledore had recently revealed his desire to recruit a second professor for the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, and he should be made aware of this.

“Mr. Hap, the school professors and I are going to be applying protective magic on the lost and recovered medical snakewood tree, so why don’t you let Juria show you around the castle in the meantime?” Headmaster Zechariah said with a smile, “The library at the school is not as old as Hogwarts, but it is definitely not inferior in quantity, and I’m sure you’ll be able to get something out of it.”

“That would be great,” Felix agreed readily, “I’m very interested in the collection of books at the Ilvermorny School.”

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