Chereads / A Wizard's Solitude / Chapter 8 - The Ensnaring Room

Chapter 8 - The Ensnaring Room

Weeks had passed at the Blightheart manor since the Vein of the Blighthearts, Sidious, had departed for Durmstrang. Everyone continued their schedules as normal, however a specific person within the household was a lot more despondent since her brother's departure.

Cecilia being a legilimens often never had anyone talk to her, besides her brother, Graham and on occasion her uncle Jason. The other Blighthearts feared talking to her since she could peer into their minds at any moment. If they spotted her, they would make light small talk, however they would never linger long. Something that really bothered Cecilia is that nobody besides her father, uncle and brother would ever look at her in the eyes.

Usually, Cecilia would bother her brother during these times, however he was now gone, and the only other options were her father and uncle, who were both too busy to talk with her.

She spent the days since Sidious' departure absentmindedly wandering the manor, attending her internal magic lessons with her tutor and playing around with the house-elves from time to time. It was boring, far too boring, and she was hoping that something would happen soon that would at least make life her somewhat interesting.

On a specific day, her prayers were answered. As she wandered through the Manors foyer, she saw a small house elf running across the hall with several supplies in his arms. The house elf's expression was panicked as he ran through the halls towards where her uncle's study was.

"Dron? Is that you? What are you doing?"

Cecilia called out to Dron who was carrying the supplies, shocking the small house-elf. He clumsily dropped some of his supplies and quickly picked them back up, shaking as he started at Cecilia.

"Ah... M-Miss Cecilia… M-Master Jason asked me to- "

"DRON, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

A loud booming voice shot up from the study that Dron was about to enter. Walking up the stairs from the study came Jason who scowled angrily, staring down the small house-elf with disdainful eyes.

"I told you pretty clear Dron to get the supplies and be back in 5 minutes, yet here you are chit-chatting away!"

"B-But Master J-Jason, Miss Cecilia is the one who spoke to me…"

"I don't care if bloody Merlin himself decided to speak to you, I sent YOU on a task and YOU were supposed to be here MINUTES ago!"

Jason raised his wand and made all the supplies Dron was holding levitate. Dron felt a relief as all the weight from the supplies gathered was lifted. That relief didn't last long though as Jason delivered a fierce blow to the side of his face.

*SMACK*

Dron dropped to the floor with a whimper and quietly picked himself back up, apologising constantly to Jason for his actions. Cecilia who was watching these events unfold was more focused on the supplies that were brought to her uncle. Looking at the supplies she spoke up after the entertaining display.

"Uncle… Are those supplies intended for the capture of that Obscurus?"

"Ah right your dumbwit brother blabbed to the entire family about this didn't he… Well, I don't mind indulging you a bit in my current progress, I'm practically finished with the room now".

"Can I see Uncle?"

Jason's eyes grew cold as he stared at Cecilia.

"You know the rules Cecilia, nobody besides your father is allowed in my study. If you so much as glanced in there then you'd be in for a world of pain…"

Ceclia gulped as she realised she overstepped her bounds here. As the air was filled with an awkward atmosphere the situation was diffused as a voice called out from nearby.

"Jason, don't scare my daughter like that. She knows better than to go into your study without your permission".

Graham appeared from nearby and walked over to Jason. Jason rolled his eyes at Grahams comments.

"Yeah fucking right, shes at that age where everything is interesting and she just wants to shove her nose into all happenings. I wouldn't put it past her to try and sneak in…"

"Enough brother, enough. Now you called me here as you mentioned it was finished?"

Jason grinned as he ushered Graham down the stairs into his study.

"I think you will be very happy with what I've made to contain that subject when I eventually capture it… This has been in development for a long time since my trip to Belarus so trust me when I say I've worked out every little detail here".

"We will see about that…"

Both Graham and Jason started to head down the stairs, Cecilia on the other hand was just left to watch as both descended into the study. Dron also followed down the stairs into the study which left Cecilia in more of a mood.

"Why is a smelly house-elf allowed down there but not me!? That uncle of mine is so unreasonable…"

Cecilia walked off grumpily, muttering all kinds of curses as she left to do something else.

.

Graham had only been down the Jasons study a few times. The last time he remembered it mainly just being a storeroom however Jason had apparently been renovating the place ever since his trip to Belarus. 

Whilst Graham was allowed down to Jason's study whenever, he was usually too busy to make a visit. He would only visit when Jason requested his presence. If this was for anything else, Graham would have just let Jason go ahead with anything he wanted to do but knowing this was a room to contain an obscurus, he wanted to see it for himself to judge whether it was safe enough.

After descending the stairs for a while, Graham, Jason and Dron were all greeted by a cold metal door. Jason waved his wand, unlocking the door first before opening the door for all of them to enter.

As Dron entered the room last, Jason looked down at the shivering house-elf with a scowl. Looking into the corner of the room, Jason pointed at a metal stool.

"Do you see that Dron? That's your seat. When the subject is brought in you are not to move from that seat EVER. The only exception is when the subject is in CRITICAL CONDITION or you need to notify me of any important situations. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

"Y-Yes Dron understands… So Dron has to look through that window there?"

Dron pointed at the wall next to the stool. Graham looked at the wall with curiosity whilst Jason sighed deeply, hitting Dron on the head.

"Stop spoiling the surprise you damn elf, you and your enviable bloody eyesight…"

"Stop bothering with him Jason… I was just about to ask you about the size of this room as it seemed smaller than last time I was here. I knew you were renovating but I didn't think it your style to make your workplace smaller".

Jason grinned as he lifted his wand, pointing it at the wall Dron pointed out before he uttered a spell under his breath.

"Revelio".

When the spell was uttered, the wall that looked like a normal brick wall changed into a window, much like a window you would see at a Zoo. Through the window was a room that was just empty, however surrounding all the walls and floors of the room were copious amounts of runes connecting to one and other.

"I see… You posted Dron here so he could watch the obscurus through the enchantment whilst the obscurus itself wouldn't be able to see Dron. It also wouldn't be able to see you making up potions or doing whatever else you do down here".

"Very good brother, sometimes I think our father was right making you the head of the family".

"Well I can applaud you on guarding the place from sight, however this is a obscurus your dealing with not some confused beast. I can already see runes through the window, what kind of runes have you placed down?"

"I think the best way to tell you is to rather show you, follow me…"

Jason waved his wand, creating a doorway in the wall so that him and Graham could enter into the chamber where the Obscurus was to be kept. Looking around Graham was trying to guess at what the runes were for. He had some guesses but he decided to play along with his brother's game for a while.

"Now brother, go ahead, shoot your best spell at the wall there".

Graham smiled slightly as he lifted his wand pointing it at the wall. He thought for a moment, wondering what spell to use. After a short while he decided on using the most destructive spell he could think of as, if the place got destroyed, then he'd be able to sway Jason away from bringing the obscurus here. In the time it would take to make another room the obscurus would probably be dead somewhere.

"Reducto".

The spell casted by Graham hurtled towards the wall, as it collided with the wall filled with runes it seemed to get absorbed by the wall. Looking around Graham took a moment to think before turning to his brother.

"Dispersion".

"Right again brother! Right again! The runes in this room are numerous and their sole purpose is to disperse concentrated magic. After all, an obscurus is pure concentrated dark magic force that's destructive. If it were to lash out, these runes would disperse the magic throughout all the runes lessening the impact. Of course, the runes aren't the only source of defence, I've placed numerous defensive enchantments over these walls as well…"

Graham looked around for a moment before raising his wand again. Jason looked at his brother an chuckled.

"You really don't like losing do you Graham?"

"Well hearing you praise this room so much; it feels like I should give it a better go to honour your work".

At that moment, Graham casted a myriad of different spells. Not just at the wall he shot reducto at, but at all the other walls at the same time. He was trying to overload the runes to see what would happen. As the spells collided with all the walls, the room banged causing a certain air-headed elf outside to fall of the stool he was trying to get accustomed to. 

After the smoke cleared, the room was completely fine. Jason smiled to himself as Graham clicked his tongue.

"My my brother looks like another win for me. If you want to try again how about betting a few galleons?"

Graham sighed knowing he was defeated. He put his wand away and looked at his brother.

"Always a cocky bastard. Fine, you win this one. However, I'm still not exactly happy about this idea you have…"

Jason started to grow angry hearing his brother's resignation over this plan. His eyes flared as he spoke up emotionally.

"For fuck's sake brother what more do you want from me here? I've created a perfect room for containing an obscurus, placed numerous defenses, even have that thing out there keeping watch of the room and you still aren't happy? I've told you before that obscurus' power could be the next step for our family! If I succeed, it won't just be for me but for all of us!"

Graham spent a moment mulling over the pros and cons of the situation. Jason had gone to great lengths securing this place and seemingly seemed confident in containing an obscurus here. Looking a Jason for a moment Graham finally spoke.

"Fine Jason, you can go ahead with this. On one condition".

"If I ever catch wind of the obscurus acting out and potentially becoming a danger to this household, I will destroy it immediately. If you don't do well enough keeping it contained then I will come down here and remove it from this place, do you understand".

"Yeah yeah brother. Trust me you won't regret this one! I truly believe we could be onto something big here!"

Jason grew excited as his mind fell into daydreams about the obscurus' power and trying to grasp it. Graham felt trepidatious still, however he did trust his brother despite his crazy obsession with these things. Whilst he can be reckless, he hoped he would at least keep the family protected in a bad situation.

"Well Jason, I'll leave this with you. I also want you to update me on the obscurus' research when you capture it".

"Leave it with me brother, leave it with me!".

As Graham left the room, Jason looked at his desk and gathered some supplies. Last time he went to see the obscurus, he was only confirming it was alive. Now he was planning to capture it, he wanted to gather himself anything he could to help restrain it if necessary.

"Now to find that subject of mine… you better still be alive…"