" gah !" Blood. Pain. Blood. So much pain. So much blood.
Keep calm. Keep calm. Don't freak out!
"Albus! She's just a student, how could you! " I ignored the former headmistress's scream. Stay calm. I can regenerate arms, don't go crazy! I could feel Aria freaking out as she trembled around me, her straps immediately closed around my arm and squeezed tightly preventing any blood from gushing out.
"Miss Snape, I'm sor -"
snap !
"DON'T COME ANYMORE!" I hated how my voice broke, how shrill it sounded, how tearful I sounded, but the fear was instinctive when I saw him approaching, I gritted my teeth and decanted my mindgold, and squeezed my stump, which quickly stopped bleeding. I stopped decanting the mindgold, the pain stopped for the most part and I was conscious enough not to reveal my regeneration abilities, but my breathing was still heavy, I looked down at the ground, I shuddered when I saw my right hand on the ground, my wand was lying in the pool of blood and next to it was the half empty vial of cadmium, the beads scattered across the floor.
I bent down and took my wand in my fingers, my blood dripping down it, my wand felt wrong in my left hand, I tried to use magic to stop the bleeding from my cut arm, the cut had been right in the middle of my forearm and it was really clean.
I moved my wand several times only to fail, I'm not good with my left hand for magic.
"leave-" Dumbledore stepped forward and I saw his wand move, my body moved on its own.
snap
"NO! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER! " I stopped Dumbledore with a wall of fire, or rather, he let himself be stopped, I knew it was no use at this point but I couldn't help it, I wasn't going to let him get close to me with a wand. I kept trying magic with my left hand and gritted my teeth when I kept failing, I could feel tears forming at the corner of my lips but I wouldn't cry, not in front of Dumbledore, not in front of him.
I let out a sigh as I finally stopped the bleeding from my severed arm, now I continued to move my wand to remove all my blood, I wasn't planning on leaving even a drop with Dumbledore. It took me several minutes to complete the simple task, Dumbledore just looked at me from a distance but I ignored him, I also went to clean Aria up to see that she didn't have a single drop of blood, it had all slid to the floor so I cleaned that up too.
Once I finished cleaning up my blood, I grabbed my cut hand, placed it under my right arm, ignored the cadmium and stood up once again, silently heading to the door.
"Open up, Dumbledore" he didn't even deserve the respect of being called headmaster anymore, Dumbledore stood still "what more do you want from me Dumbledore?" I growled at him through clenched teeth "open the door!" I could hear him sigh.
"Miss Sn-"
"I don't care what you have to say! Open the bloody door! " this was humiliating, during the entire "confrontation" if I could call it that, Dumbledore simply defended himself, when he decided to attack I lost a hand, it was that simple, I didn't see it coming, I didn't think he would do it, I was stupid, it's frustrating how easily he defeated me.
"Okay," Dumbledore sighed, with a wave of his wand the door finally opened, but he didn't have the strength to do the walk of shame, so without hesitation he opened a portal. "I-" I didn't let him finish, I threw myself through the portal and closed it immediately.
I sighed in relief before grimacing, Spinner's End, I returned home to my room in Spinner's End, with a tired sigh I dropped my arm onto my bed and walked out of the room, after a quick tour of the rooms, it would seem that Tobias still hadn't returned, perfect.
Once in my room I looked down at my severed hand and winced, it was as good a time as any, I completely undid my Baiser transformation, shook off Aria who began to visibly thrash around and pulled out a gold mind bead and swallowed it before composing the metal, it was… fascinating to watch my arm grow once again, it was fast, taking only a few seconds to grow. I closed and opened my right hand, it felt no different than my old hand, it seemed to be exactly the same… or most of them, I winced when I saw that the transmutation circle was not on the back of my hand, that would be a problem, I would have to avoid losing any more arms.
I started removing the rings and bracelets from my old hand and placed them on the new one… and it didn't sound weird at all, now, what do you do with a severed arm? I shrugged and tossed it into my inventory for now, I'd figure out what to do later.
Now, it's time to analyze this shit show, I grimaced.
Albus Dumbledore is the fucking MC of Hogwarts Legacy, that simple statement made me shudder, because obviously it wasn't enough that his great and extensive resume of being the next coming of Merlin in the canon that Severus remembers, was not enough, now he had ancient magic at his disposal, ancient magic and the Elder Wand.
I shuddered once again as I recalled our conversation in his office, I was lucky he hadn't silenced me otherwise at that moment, very lucky.
Now, I don't know if that would change anything with the canon of Hogwarts Legacy, at most maybe just the year the events took place or a change in Dumbledore's age? If I'm not mistaken, the events of Hogwarts Legacy take place in 1890~1891, Dumbledore started Hogwarts from 92, so the events of Hogwarts Legacy would have to take place in 96.
Again, I didn't know if that meant anything or if the only thing that changed was simply the dates, the little I could find out about everything that happened was that everything in Hogwarts Legacy would seem to remain the same for the most part.
There was no reason to keep thinking about it, the only place I could find answers was with Dumbledore himself and that's not going to happen, ever, I sighed as I focused more on the fight that happened.
The difference between Dumbledore and me was abysmal, I have to start burning electrum, it would only serve to see my shadows from the future, but it would be a good way to avoid being hit unawares.
And learn to fight, urgently.
Now I also needed a way to not have to use my wand, a wand in hand was completely incompatible with clap alchemy, I had some ideas but I could think more deeply about them later.
First I wanted to sleep, I didn't feel like doing anything, I didn't want to cry, I didn't want to shed tears on this and much less waste energy getting angry in another way, so I just… sleep. Aria launched herself at me without hesitation as she changed into her sleepwear.
---
October 24, 1976 – Serena PoV
I woke up after… 9 hours of sleep if my calculations were correct, and I was completely refreshed… yeah I didn't even believe it myself, but… I'd already slept on it and really, there wasn't much I could do to change yesterday's results, yes, I lost completely and came away with a severed arm, but I didn't end up with a blood pact or an unbreakable vow hanging around my neck, I'll take a victory wherever it comes from.
Now, I just had to stay away from Dumbledore and avoid threatening him again, now, there were better things to do than wallow in my self-loathing, so, homework! Nothing like diverting emotional discomfort with physical activities!
I stretched lazily as I activated my transformation and returned it to my diminished form as I took off my clothes and asked Aria to change into a dress, first stop, breakfast or lunch, it was already noon.
After fully satisfying my hunger, I headed to Diagon Alley, the tattoo shop was my next stop, the owner looked at me strangely as I asked again for the transmutation circle where one should already be, but I shrugged and paid extra so he wouldn't ask questions, luckily I still had the money from The Company and what I earned from royalties for the potions and poisons Mary used in her shop, so I had enough.
Once my tattoo was back on the back of my hand I thought about it lightly, I had to learn how to tattoo myself, it would be annoying to have to go back every time I lost an arm or had the circle cut off somehow, I didn't feel like answering questions.
I'm back at Spinner's End, now what to do with my wand?
I could try to learn wandless magic, even if it would take a long time to master, it was the best option, but it would only work in the long term, in the short term, I needed an immediate solution.
I had an idea floating around in my mind, a wand didn't need to be in a person's hands, you just had to be touching the wand, you could hold it with the crook of your elbow, your feet, your mouth, between your armpits or any other place that someone could think of and it would still work just as well, well, not just as well, most witches and wizards were used to letting their magic out through their arms and hands, they would have to do a total reset to get used to having a wand in a different place.
My idea, bend the wand, a little alchemy and it would be enough, I didn't need to destroy it, just manipulate it, I didn't need to touch the core either, I wouldn't even know how to begin to transmute a dragon's heart, but Hawthorn? That was easy, extremely easy, the length didn't have to touch it, the rigidity either, just the shape.
My idea? Wrap it around my forearm like a bracelet and hope for the best… maybe it's best to go to Ollivander and ask how feasible the idea is before transmuting something as sensitive as a wand.
My next idea? It was a really bad one, and I've already followed too many bad ideas for the moment… or maybe not…
The last time I used Baiser's Schiavo to transform the cloak into something more sentient I ended up with Aria, a cloak stupidly jealous of other clothes and in need of attention, so now I can only wear clothes that cover only 30% of my skin, using Schiavo on my wand was a risk... but I like Aria, despite her insistent needs to undress me.
I sighed deeply, Morgana, I hope this doesn't make me regret it even more than I already do, I swallowed copper and spread my cloud.
"La Verità" once I transformed into La Verità and swallowed duralumin, I prepared myself, once I burned the duralumin my eyes opened, duralumin burns my metals and empowers them without distinction, the copper burned instantly, my copper cloud expanded at high speed due to the burst of power so I gritted my teeth and tried to keep it as small as possible.
Meanwhile I concentrated all the power of Baiser Magic on my Frusta and struck my wand, the total consumption of my power detransformed me once again, just in time for my copper cloud to explode due to the lack of metal to burn, I just hoped that the large blind spot that formed over the entirety of Cokeworth wouldn't be noticed and if they were, that it couldn't be traced back to me.
Putting those thoughts aside, I looked at my wand as it began to come to life, normally, my Schiavo had a theme, female, most of my slaves transformed into a female aberration of whatever material I used for my slave, with obvious exceptions, Aria to begin with, had barely taken an identifiable form, it was just a cloak in its default form.
My wand kept changing, but to my surprise, it changed completely, the wand was left behind and now there was a fairy, I blinked several times to see if I was looking correctly.
Yugioh duel monster , maybe from Zexal if I'm not mistaken, I was never a big fan of XYZ so I never saw the series, but I recognized a duel monster when I saw one.
I quickly pulled out my phone and a quick search found what I was looking for.
CXyz Dark Fairy Cheer Girl.
Purple hair, red eyes, a tight purple and red cheerleading outfit with white feathers at the waist and neckline, along with more feathers and what looked like black wings on her back, she looked exactly like the picture on my phone, the only difference was that she was shorter than 30 centimeters, and instead of having a baton with stars on the tip, she had a wand, my wand, a very tiny one.
Okay , someone had to be meddling in all this, it was almost impossible for my Schiavo to form a duel monster by pure coincidence.
I took a deep breath and exhaled, it was no time to panic, it was a member of The Company, it was very likely that it was a person from that place, I just pray to all the deities above and below that that was the only thing they interfered with, there was nothing I could do.
"Hello... I guess, what can you do?" I asked the fairy/wand, the fairy looked at me before smiling and launching herself in my direction, I was slightly surprised when she started hugging my face, the first thing I felt was warmth, the same warmth I feel when I hold my wand. I let out a soft smile, it was my wand, it was shaped like a fairy, but it was certainly my wand, there was no mistaking it "Hello to you too" I smiled.
The fairy pulled away from my face and started moving her hands and I moaned loudly.
"Of course you know sign language," I said exasperatedly as I massaged my temple. "Okay, I had to learn urgently."
" Okay , slow down, I don't know sign language, now what can you do?" I asked softly, the fairy brought both fists to her waist and puffed out her cheeks, she seemed upset but I found it adorable, before signing, I took out my phone. MAGIC. I looked up at the ceiling .
"Can you... show me?" I asked sufferingly, the fairy at least seemed happy as she sat, she took her wand and began to move it while flying, flowers, lights and fireworks came out of it, she made a wooden cube appear before transforming it into bubbles.
My eyes widened, unbelievable, she could use her own magic, or well, mine, I could feel the tiny leak in my magic every time she used magic, but the fairy could use magic, the problem… it was all in scale.
Everything was tiny, from the flowers to the fireworks, everything was her size.
She looked at me expectantly, I smiled crookedly at her "that was amazing" the fairy had a goofy grin as she darted in my direction once again, I sighed "now, my wand?" "Where is it? " I asked, the fairy pulled away and tilted her head in confusion, I suppressed the urge to massage the bridge of my nose, "Do I need to use magic? How do I use it without my wand? " the fairy waved her hands. ME. WAND.
"You... are you my wand?" I wrinkled my nose as I tried to figure out what to say, an idea occurred to me but I couldn't figure out the logistics. Much like Aria, despite knowing sign language, she also couldn't seem to form complete sentences, only a few words, the fairy seemed happy and nodded vigorously as she stood on my shoulder and held me tightly, I felt the warmth again.
I frowned slightly as she looked at me in confusion, she looked at me expectantly "you want me to use magic? " she nodded quickly, I made a face as I raised my hand " orchideous " to my surprise, flowers came out of my hand as easily as if I was using my wand, or easier if I could say so, it was hard to tell with such a basic spell.
I started casting other spells, hexes and curses and got the same results, I could use magic just as well as if I was using a wand, I even tried using my left hand which had equally favorable results, my smile was huge.
"You're amazing." I said to the fairy, she smiled widely "Can you fly for a few seconds?" She obeyed without hesitation and as expected, without the fairy touching me yet I couldn't perform any kind of magic that I couldn't already do without a wand, that is, only my sparks for now.
A few more tests with the help of the fairy and it didn't matter where the fairy was holding me, I could use magic either way, it was perfect.
"You need a name." I said to the fairy, she got excited and nodded vigorously, I hummed considering it, it was a shame that Dark Fairy Cheer Girl was not a name as such, so it was not viable to use that one.
"Blake? Kali?" the fairy wrinkled her tiny nose and shook her head "Ciara? It's Irish Gaelic, it comes from the word 'dark', it can mean 'dark hair' or 'little dark'." The fairy got excited and nodded vigorously, I smiled slightly.
"Nice to meet you Ciara, Cia for short" Cia hugged my face once more "now, it's time for you to meet Aria" with that she gently patted my dress, I hope they don't get along badly.
Author's notes: Ciara wasn't planned, in fact, the original idea was exactly Serena's first idea, to meet Ollivander and curve the wand into a bracelet, I had already written a whole chapter of the resulting conversation, but, at some point I came up with this version and just wrote it and I ended up liking this version better, so here it is.
Now, about Cia's appearance, there were several options, the first and most boring was to make her look like a Kaleidostick from Fate Kaleid , literally just a living wand, but I wasn't completely convinced, so the thought came to mind of making her a fairy, which I'm not ashamed to mention that the first thing that came to mind was Vidia from Tinkerbell , why? Just Because.
But it didn't fit with the idea I had of Cia, so I tried to remember other fairies I knew and finally ended up arriving at Dark Fairy Cheer Girl and I liked it, so that was the chosen look.