It was already December. In the past month, I was revising the spell that popped into my head when talking with Draco. With the amount of information I wrote down, it looked like I made my own spellbook. Reading it, Quincy struggled to grasp the details, many of the words eluding her completely. Honestly speaking, without the memories in my head, I would also just glare at it and deem the whole thing as nothing but rambling.

"Are you sure this would work? This looks extremely complicated. It looks like some kind of ceremony, not a spell you just cast by waving your wand."

"Yeah. It is a ritual. I will need to procure the ingredients to set it up, but I can do that back home during the winter break. Coming back, I will have time to arrange it up here!"

"Then what?" She watched me as we were sitting atop the North Tower in the old divination classroom. It was already dark, yet it was only past five. The sky was dark with clouds, and heavy snow was constantly falling for the past three days, painting the scenery completely white.

"That is the hard part; I am still trying to figure out… I know it has to be in my head somewhere; I just… couldn't access it yet!"

"Conrad, this looks fishy!"

"It is not. It makes perfect sense!" I smiled, blowing at a freshly written parchment as I waited for the ink to dry.

"Really? Then explain it to me!"

"Sure!" I chuckled, looking at her over the top of my scroll, "Have you ever heard of a monkey's paw?"

"Yeah." She nodded after a brief thinking. "It is a dark artifact from the east! It is said to grant wishes, but all of those turn out to be horrible curses instead! Whatever the owner wishes for is granted, sure, but with a catch that often results in a calamity!"

"Yep. Pretty much! I just made a wish upon one! Remember what I told you? What the imprint of Herpo told me and did to me?"

"Um." She nodded her head, furrowing her brows.

"What he did to me cleansed me of my old blood, almost killing me! It was the monkey's paw part! I asked for knowledge of how to imprint something onto my blood! For that, I was… made natural. Whatever was in my blood before, be it a gift or a curse, is gone! Flushed out and… I have started with a clean slate!"

"You mean… he made your bloodline… clean again?"

"Pretty much! I can imprint anything on it now! He gave me all the tools for it!" I tapped my head excitedly. "There is a lot, and it is explained in great detail! Even with more than what I wrote down… the rest is just… something I can't put into words."

"What about nonverbal magic?"

"It is needed for the ritual. So… it is a given." I widened my grin, happy about the extra gift.

"Okay… I… kinda believe you. I have to, don't I?" She shrugged, looking at the stack of papers between us. She read all the things I ever penned and couldn't question whether what I was saying was the truth or not. She experienced it firsthand.

"Yep! The hard part is how I am going to make the memory come to me! I know now how to prepare the ritual and cast the spell to imprint knowledge onto blood… but how am I going to get a different… well… language to be etched into it? That is my next hurdle!"

"Monkey's Paw."

"Hm?"

"You just explained it! You were tricked by him! You got the spell on how to do it, but… that is it. You don't have the second thing you need… the ability to speak to snakes."

"I did ask for it… I mean, being a parselmouth and all!" I crossed my hands, thinking, furrowing my brows. "I made that part extremely clear! I hope…"

“Haaahh… honestly…!” She shrugged, laying back on the many cushions, letting out a long sigh, "You could have asked for a killing spell! All this nonsense for what? Because you want a basilisk to kill a teacher and a poltergeist?" She turned to her stomach, watching me with a weird smile.

"Errr… well… it did get out of hand… a little," I mumbled, feeling a bit flustered. I guess my face turned bright red because her smile grew wider by the second. "But… it is turning out better and better, doesn't it?"

"Sure!" She rolled her eyes. "I won't ask what you would do to get yourself a basilisk… maybe you can conjure up an old family member again? Oh, why not Salazar himself while we are at it?"

"Yeah, yeah, keep it up, and I won't plant special powers into you!"

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"Huh?" She looked at me again, her tiny mouth forming a surprised O.

"Why? You don't want to speak to snakes or something?"

"Well… why sneaks? Why not something else? Um… speak to dogs?" She asked, playing with the idea.

"I know that some muggles can train dogs pretty well… so I don't know if that would be really special…."

"Hmph!"

"Anyway! I thought you would be interested in it... Am I mistaken? Getting something special you can pass on later in life isn't that exciting?"

"I don't know if I want to pass on anything…." She mumbled, turning sour really quickly and suddenly. "Two or three more years and I will be… 'auctionable' as my grandmother says it…."

"What? That quickly?" I gasped, sitting up straight. Quincy told me that as the last member of the direct line of Blacks, she would have to birth a son who would be reintroduced to the family tree as a main descendant. Every pure-blood wizarding family knew that. The question was, which one would take it on. Nobody was really keen on giving up a firstborn child just like that. This put the Blacks in a tight spot… not to mention their tarnished, mostly ruined reputation. But doing it so soon? I did not expect that.

"Yeah…" She mumbled, looking down, nervously playing with her fingers, and her voice was filled with hopeless indignation. "She believes I should birth an heir as soon as possible… I bet, after that, her attention will fall onto him and leave me completely to my… then-husband."

"That is fucked up." I cursed loudly, but Quincy did not look at me or react to it.

"That is why bullying does not bother me… I hope to attend school as usual throughout my seven years…. So I don't need to be... home. Wherever that will be in a few years."

"..."

I had nothing to say to that. Not that her bullying worsened or anything… Some people tried to bully her or me, but I ensured they ended up… unconscious. After that, a rumor started to fly around about Quincy being cursed because of her bloodline. Because of her Father and Uncle's betrayal… And I was the main proof of it being true. Being friends with her landed me into bullying and being in more detention than any other slytherin. Although… the last part is because I was barely paying attention in classes, working on my own spell. I can still read the 'I must pay attention' sentence on the back of my hand. For everyone else? I was simply under the influence of her curse. Same as those who tried bullying us. Her 'bad luck' made it so that their spells rebounded, knocking themselves out when trying to bully us. It was… an excellent cover; I am glad everyone has such a great imagination.

"Hey, Quincy…" I spoke up, breaking the uncomfortable silence between us. "What are you going to do through the winter break?"

"Go home, I guess…." She murmured, still not looking at me.

"No plans, then?"

"None." She shook her head.

"Want to come to us? I mean, with me?"

"Huh?" She finally raised her head, looking at me with surprise.

"I think my Father would not mind it at all, plus you could help me with the research! Or… you wouldn't be allowed to come?"

"No… I don't think so. She always said I have to make… connections."

"Good! Then you can spend Christmas with us! Easy!"

"R-really?"

"Yeah! Of course, I won't force you if you don't want to!"

"Well… I think it… well, I mean why not… it is not like… yeah… um…” She mumbled incoherently, and I saw her face turning redder than a tomato.

"Then that is settled! I'll write a letter to Father, and you send one back to your grandmother! Easy!"

"Conrad…" She spoke after a brief silence. "Thanks…"

"Don't mention it!"

…

….

……

My Father's reply arrived two days after Quincy and I sent our owls.

"Hey," I nudged her, "Read this!" I presented it to her while we sat at the end of the long table, having breakfast in the Great Hall.

"Hm?" She took it with a toast still in her mouth. She only got to half of the letter when I had to slap her back as she almost choked on her bread. "Grandma agreed? And what is this about me going over in the summer too?!"

"I think my invitation may have been… unexpected," I added, thinking about it. "I have a feeling that my family is the first to contact Miss Walburga Black. As you can read there, Father contacted her personally to invite you over. It… turned into a weird situation where…."

"She was trying to make him agree to… take me? Wait, what?!" She yelled, drawing many gazes toward us.

"Reread it!" I groaned, forcing her to be less dramatic. "Not to him! To my family! To… well… me. As there are no other males in the Anguine line who are yet to be set for the future."

"..."

"That is why I said it turned into a weird situation!" I sighed softly, taking a toast and spreading jam on it. "The rule that only pure-bloods can take up any important roles in the Ministry is a heavy one… every family tries to secure their children's future very quickly! I have been listening to this for at least a year or so back home!"

"..." Quincy said nothing, continued looking at me, and I knew she heard the same talks back home from an early age.

"Father was telling me to be mindful to not end up like him…."

"What do you mean?" She finally opened her mouth to ask.

"If you come over, you'll see. My mother is… well… she is not really a mother, besides the fact she brought me into this world."

"Oh…"

"No matter! What matters is that it seems your grandmother grabbed at the opportunity. I think she will try and force you on us in one way or another."

"..."

"I wouldn't worry about it!" I continued, seeing her expression change and feeling shy, weird, and ashamed, expressing all of them at once. "Think of it positively! You will be free of being 'sold off' to someone so suddenly! Let your grandma try and heckle my Father about it!"

"I'm not an object…." She whispered, hiding her face behind her hair.

"Of course you are not!" I snorted, "But we play with the cards that life deals us! Look at it from this angle; You gain a few years of peace of mind with this, no?"

"..."

"What? Not happy? Should I tell my Father to cancel it?"

"No!" She shouted again, clamping against her mouth, looking bright red again, and then stood up, hurrying away, leaving me there dumbfounded.

“Haaah… Women…”