Power stones and Reviews are much appreciated!! Tell me how is the translation so far~
Happy Reading~~
***
At the edge of the Forbidden Forest, Amorsta glanced at Hagrid's hut. The simple wooden cabin was dark, with no sign of magical activity. It seemed Hagrid was not home.
Everyone knew that Hogwarts' gamekeeper was one of Albus Dumbledore's most trusted confidants. Often, Dumbledore would entrust this seemingly rough but reliable giant with extremely important and secret tasks.
Amorsta wasn't sure if Hagrid was out on an errand or patrolling the Forbidden Forest. To ensure he wouldn't be disturbed, Amorsta walked further south before finally stepping into the forest.
The dense Forbidden Forest was dark and silent. Besides the crunching of leaves underfoot, even the bone-chilling winter wind was subdued by the oppressive atmosphere.
Amorsta walked deeper into the forest, deviating from the winding paths and skirting around a cleared area with moss-covered stumps. He didn't stop until he could no longer see the castle's lights and climbed onto a large, flat stone.
"This is it, Grandma Felena," Amorsta said to the photograph of the smiling elderly woman, then placed the picture on the ground, propped up by a broken branch.
"According to the customs of the world I once lived in, on the seventh midnight after a person's death, their soul has a chance to return to this world to visit their family," Amorsta said, shaking his sleeve. A twelve-inch long, well-maintained ebony wand with a dragon heartstring core slipped into his palm.
He pointed his wand at the ground, causing a fist-sized rock to float up and spin rapidly, transforming into an orange-yellow copper basin. "At this time, the living family members would use a method to commemorate the deceased—"
Amorsta sat cross-legged, feeling no discomfort from the wet and cold stone beneath him.
He took out a cloth bag from his pocket. This bag, bought for two Galleons from Devise Bans' Magical Supplies in Hogsmeade, was enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm. Though the initial space was limited due to its low price, after some modifications, it could now hold a small car and organize items by category.
"I don't know if you'll like this way," Amorsta said, emptying a large stack of yellow paper and a pile of gold ingots onto the ground.
"Whoosh!" A blazing golden flame ignited spontaneously, quickly consuming the yellow paper and handmade gold ingots in the copper basin. The intense heat soon charred the edges of the basin and dried the damp air.
The firelight cast shadows on the glass photo frame, reflecting a slightly pale face.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be with you in your final days. This will probably be my greatest regret in life," Amorsta murmured with cracked lips, adding more paper to the flames and speaking to the elderly woman smiling in the photo.
The flickering firelight made the woman in the picture appear almost animated, like a magical portrait, softly comforting the grieving young man.
"If it weren't for you, I would have died at that woman's hands sixteen years ago and never known this magical world."
The biting north wind softened as it entered the firelit area, gently lifting Amorsta's hair like an invisible hand caressing his head.
Amorsta gazed at the photo, whispering secrets he'd kept buried deep inside. These absurd things couldn't be shared with even the closest of friends. Only before his deceased loved ones could Amorsta speak without reservation.
The crescent moon gradually slanted in the sky. In the early hours, a fog from the depths of the Forbidden Forest enveloped everything in a hazy shroud. Dense tree leaves were coated with tiny ice crystals, drooping desolately from the branches.
"What do you think he's doing, Priam?"
Lost in thought, Amorsta had lost his usual alertness and didn't notice that fifty feet behind him, two Gryffindors in red Quidditch robes had been watching him for a while.
"I'm not sure, Filioa, but it looks like he's performing some sort of evil ritual…using dark magic to summon the spirit of that old woman in the photo. You know how those Slytherin snakes love dabbling in that stuff," said Priam, a round-faced, small-eyed Gryffindor Beater, lowering his voice to his teammate and girlfriend.
"He's Amorsta Blaine, a really strange bookworm."
"A really strange bookworm?"
With her light blonde hair and delicate features, Filioa raised her slender eyebrows.
"That's right," Priam puffed up his cheeks and snickered. "I heard from Harrison of Ravenclaw that every Saturday morning, you can find Blaine in the library's reading corner with a huge pile of books in front of him. He doesn't talk to anyone, acting like he's obsessed with studying. But his grades are far worse than Charlie's brother, probably because he's not very bright."
Filioa chuckled, leaning on her Nimbus 1700 and snuggling closer to Priam. "Maybe we should go back to the castle and call a professor, sweetheart. We can't just let him use dark magic to curse a deceased old woman, can we?"
"That's not a good idea, Filioa," Priam's small eyes gleamed mischievously as he refused his girlfriend's suggestion without hesitation. "Charlie and the others are still in the Forbidden Forest playing hide and seek with that big spider. If we bring a professor here, they'll all be caught."
"Charlie said his brother Bill is on duty tonight. We can tell him. I don't think Bill would betray his own brother," Filioa blinked and suggested again.
"That's a good idea, Filioa," Priam looked at Amorsta's thin figure on the stone, a wicked smile spreading across his face. "But I have an even more interesting way to punish this evil wizard. Come on, Filioa, get your wand. Let's teach him a lesson!"
The remaining yellow paper and gold ingots were almost gone. Amorsta gathered them with his hands and threw them into the blazing copper basin, softly making his final farewell.
"—May your merits in this life turn into blessings in the next, Grandma Felena. The place where I lived in my previous life was also a very nice country. If you have the chance to choose, you could be born in…"
"Hey! Face judgment, Slytherin dark wizard!"
The sudden shout startled Amorsta, pulling him from his grief. Before he could react, two spells whistled sharply behind him.
"Petrificus Totalus! Confringo!"
In the blink of an eye, Amorsta realized he was under attack but had no time to identify the assailants. Instinctively, he reached for his wand to counterattack, only to find it was pinned under his leg. After sitting cross-legged by the fire basin for over an hour, he was dizzy, and his legs were numb, making it impossible to react in time.
'Damn, I was too careless!' Amorsta cursed inwardly. Supporting himself with his left hand, he let his body fall sideways, rolling off the stone and grabbing his wand mid-fall. In the nick of time, he dodged the spells.
However, Grandma Felena's photo and the fire basin weren't so lucky. Priam's Petrificus Totalus missed Amorsta but hit the basin, sending fire serpents dancing in the dark forest like the arrival of dawn.
Filioa's Confringo spell hit Grandma Felena's photo squarely. With a crisp shattering sound, the fragmented photo was devoured by the golden flames, quickly turning to black ash.
When Amorsta struggled to his feet, a fragment of the photo, its edges being consumed by the fire, drifted before him and fell powerlessly to the ground.
His eyes followed the photo, confusion, shock, and rage flashing alternately in his light brown eyes. As the photo turned to ashes, Amorsta's angry face finally lifted towards the direction from which the spells had come. Slowly, but determinedly, he raised his wand...