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Ch 23 Heaven's Wrath Part 2
🕑 Added 2023-05-22 13:38:52 +0000 UTCA few hours later, Celine sat outside the tent on a small rock, gracefully waving her wand over a pan placed atop a crackling fire. She skillfully prepared a rabbit soup, adding in a medley of freshly gathered vegetables. Cooking came naturally to her, having spent countless camping trips with her grandmother, who had imparted her vast culinary knowledge.
And while she wasn't as good as her grandma who could cook up a feast with just some meat and wild mushroom, she was good enough to satisfy their hunger in the wilderness. Celine looked at Sirius who was engrossed in reading a massive book on a rock a few meters away from her.
When Celine realized their quest required them to defeat the Dragon, the Basilisk, and the Nundu, she had initially thought their adventure would come to an end. However, Sirius surprised her by mentioning a possible solution and promptly produced the enormous tome from his bottomless bag. He had been absorbed in its contents for hours without interruption since then.
Curiosity piqued, Celine decided to inquire about the mysterious book. "So, what's that book you're reading?" she asked, catching Sirius's gaze as the aroma of the soup wafted towards him.
"It's a family grimoire," Sirius replied, snapping the book shut before joining her and ladling himself a bowl of soup.
"Of course, you would have a bloody Grimoire," Celine said with a roll of her eyes.
"Silence, you peasant," Sirius quipped, a joking smile playing on his lips. "What could you possibly know about the grandeur of the infamous Black family?"
Celine sighed, shaking her head at his stupidity, and took a sip of her soup after letting it cool for a moment. She couldn't help but express her relief and satisfaction at the taste. Finally, she asked Sirius, "So did you find any kind of solution in that Grimoire of yours?"
"Well... there were indeed a lot of solutions to our predicament in its pages. However, the problem is that they all seem to require some form of... sacrifice," Sirius replied a hint of hesitation in his voice.
Celine eyes widened before she said with a wry smile, "I suppose that's to be expected from the Black family."
"Hey now, don't disparage my esteemed lineage," Sirius retorted in feigned indignation. "They weren't all terrible. Take my cousin's sister Bellatrix, or Narssicca or my Regulus Black or... Oh, let me regale you with tales of my dear mother. Ah, what a remarkable woman she was. So loving, she would shower me with affectionate lashes and curses in our basement whenever she was even slightly annoyed during the summer holidays—"
"PFFRRR—" Celine accidentally sprayed the soup when she heard that.
"Why does everyone react like that when I mention my mother?" Sirius asked innocently, a mischievous glimmer in his eyes. "Ah, but those were the days, weren't they? I was truly devastated when I learned of her demise while in Azkaban..." he shook his remorsefully.
Celine stared at Sirius in disbelief as he reminisced, thinking to herself, 'Oh, Merlin, I'm stuck with a madman in the middle of a forest.'
"Hey, Don't look at me like that I am a perfectly normal person. In fact, I even have proof, my mum had me tested at St. Mungos," He said with a serious face.
Maintaining his façade for a few more seconds, Sirius eventually succumbed to laughter, unable to contain himself any longer. "Pffft... HAHA... The expression on your face... Haha," he managed to say between fits of amusement.
"You're absolutely incorrigible, Black," Celine said with a shake of her head, "And I was even starting to take you seriously...Don't even try it!" She stressed the last part with a forceful finger when she saw him open his mouth for the so 'No, I am Sirius,' joke that she'd already heard a million times by now.
"Let's get back to the topic," Sirius suggested, breaking the silence after a few seconds. "As I was saying, most of the spells in here require either the sacrifice of a few dozen Muggles or Virgin Witches—" He stopped mid-sentence, his eyes widening with wonder. "You're not..."
"Do you really want to ask me that?" Celine interrupted, her voice taking on a menacing tone as she raised an eyebrow, gripping her wand dangerously.
Gulp "No," Sirius quickly shook his head, retreating from the topic. "Anyway, there is a spell I found that could be helpful for us if we can cast it."
"So... what's the problem?"
"Well, the thing is, it's not exactly a spell but rather a small ritual," Sirius explained.
"A ritual," Celine repeated, her eyebrow raised in curiosity. "And what does it require?"
"According to the Grimoire, there are two ways to cast it: the hard way and the easier way," Sirius elaborated. "The hard way involves obtaining numerous exotic ingredients like Ashwinder Egg, Asphodel, Bicorn horn, and several others that would be difficult to find around here..."
"And the easier way?"
"Well, it's not exactly 'easy' per se, but it's comparatively easier for us," Sirius clarified. "For this method, we only need three ingredients. First, a feather from a powerful magical creature symbolizing the sky, the more powerful the better and we just killed that Gryffin not too long so we shouldn't have a problem with that, and the second ingredient is the scale or hair of the creature or person we want to bring the Wrath upon—"
"Wrath? Whose wrath?"
"Didn't I tell you the name of the ritual," Sirius inquired, raising an eyebrow. When Celine shook her head, he continued, "Well it's called "The Wrath of Heaven," and it's an ancient ritual that was used by wizards to bring down 'The Wrath' which is a colossal bolt of lightning on the home of anyone they consider their adversaries,"
"Damn!" Celine exclaimed, impressed. "The ancient wizards certainly didn't mess around, did they?"
"No, they certainly did not," Sirius agreed seriously, "Anyway, other than Griffin's hair, we're going to need the hair of the creature so we need to pick one of the three among the Dragon, Bassilisk and Nundu and I think we should pick the Nundu,"
"Why? Wouldn't it be wiser to pick the Basilisk and kill the most dangerous one of them first in case they wake up from their Hibernation,"
"That's a valid point," Sirius acknowledged appreciatively. "However, I'm not sure if the spell is powerful enough to breach the Basilisk's or the Dragon's defences so I think we should try it first on the Nundu which has the thinnest defence of the three. Besides, we can always avoid the poison if we fail,"
"If you say so," Celine shrugged, "And while it's a bit tricky I think we can get the hair of the Nundu if we use the Accio spell in the vicinity," She nodded to herself, considering the plan, before looking up and asking, "So what's the third ingredient?"
"Well it's this one that's going to be the trickiest," Sirius sighed, "We need a substantial amount of magic to compensate for the ingredients required in the first method and according to the Grimoire that's about five adult wizards worth,"
"Huh..." Celine looked puzzled. "So, you're saying we need three more wizards? Well, I guess I could ask a few of my curse breaker friends, but I doubt they'll work for cheap, and—"
"Ah—I think I have a better idea than that," Sirius interjected before she could go on.
"What is it?"
"I don't know if you've noticed," Sirius said with a charismatic smirk, "but I have a significantly larger magical reserve compared to the average wizard." He gestured toward Celine, who scowled in response. "So, I believe I should be able to provide most of the magic required for this ritual and you're not so bad either so if we use a piece of Magic from the Grimoire with the help of which you can pass on your magic to me in real-time... I think we're just going to be fine,"
"Why take the risk, though?" Celine asked, tilting her head in confusion. "It wouldn't take us too long to gather a couple of wizards or witches to assist us."
"Well, for starters, I don't think most of your friends will agree once they find out about the Nundu, not to mention the Dragon and the Basilisk," Sirius explained, and Celine reluctantly nodded in agreement. "Moreover, I don't want to risk exposing the existence of Herpo's Tomb to the entire magical world, especially Merlin forbids if they somehow discover that I am Sirius Black. And lastly, well... the ritual requires us to be completely..." Sirius trailed off, his voice barely audible.
"To be completely what?" Celine asked in confusion.
"Ahem..." Sirius glanced around evadingly a few times before he gathered up his courage and said in a small voice, "It requires us to be completely... N-Naked,"
"WHAAAAT!!!!!!?"
