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Sirius Black SI Ch 11 Can I take it home? Part 2
🕑 Added 2023-01-15 14:00:05 +0000 UTCBeth Breaker was a woman in her 70s and while as a witch she would be still considered middle-aged. She was one of the most successful curse breakers of her generation and the life she had lived was filled to the brim with all kinds of adventures, most of them involving life-threatening scenarios.
She had passed through Hogwarts during the same decade when Dumbledore and Grindelwald started getting known across the magical community for their genius. So even though she had passed with one of the highest scores in all subjects, it wasn't anything that was particularly shocking.
So she decided that she would choose one of the most difficult and dangerous professions available to her, Curse Breaking, and prove to everyone that she wasn't any less talented than anyone else.
But unfortunately, she hit a roadblock at the very beginning of her journey. She had been rejected by the goblins when she had gone to them for an apprenticeship and the reason they gave was that she was too young and lacked experience but she knew the real reason was that she lacked a recommendation.
She should have given up like most people in her place would because everyone knew that the goblins almost had a monopoly over the curse-breaking business and no one became a successful one unless it was under them.
But she was young at that time, young naive, and proud so, of course, she didn't give up like any sane person would and in her stubbornness decided that, 'Screw the goblins, I would do it alone and by myself,'
The first time she went on an expedition, she couldn't even last through one-fourth of the journey and got herself heavily injured, she barely made it back and had to stay in St mungos for about two months to recuperate.
That was the second time the sane voice inside her head told her to give up, but like the young musclehead idiot she was at that age, she went right back into another expedition immediately after, just with a bit more preparation this time.
And that was how she spent her twenties and thirties, going on various dangerous adventures to ancient ruins, dangerous tombs, and untouched magical forests, and every single time she came back with a few more injuries, but she survived and she learned from every experience.
And in the end, her sheer stubbornness and persistence were so much that even the healers at St mungos stopped cautioning her and instead started to anticipate her arrival as if she was a regular customer and they were an ice cream parlor in Diagon Alley.
But despite a few close calls where she almost became a permanent resident of Janus Thickey ward, ultimately she achieved what she had set out to do from the very start. 'Become so successful that even the goblins come to her scraping on their knees begging for her help,'
And while that didn't happen in the exact same manner, they had just sent a letter to her asking for her collaboration with their curse-breaking team for an expedition. But for the proud and prickly goblins, asking something for help from a wizard or witch was a matter of deep shame, almost up there with them thanking someone politely.
And by that point in time, she had gathered so much experience under her belt that the expedition which goblins were dreading and were expecting many casualties, went so smoothly because of her that they were left completely speechless.
And so she had earned their grudging respect that day and from then on they kept on reluctantly asking for her help leading their team every time something difficult popped up and she accepted graciously.
She had made them lots of profit over the years owing to her string of successful expeditions that in the end, they even offered her a position as the leader of their human division.
But she declined as by that time she had become renowned enough in the community that she was able to make a team of her own and started leading them without the goblins taking a cut, which was so much more profitable.
After a very successful career, she finally decided to retire and decided to take a very long and well-deserved rest. She had isolated herself completely from the outside world except for a few close contact.
And after a few peaceful years, she had fallen into a very calming routine, and finally stopped being so vigilant all the time, like she was before due to her career.
But alas, her retirement had been broken by that old coot who didn't understand what the word retirement even meant, and who suddenly appeared out of nowhere at her door to ask her to teach someone her craft.
Of course, she had declined immediately but the old man had lived for a long while, was really wily, and had an uncanny ability to call in old favors without ever mentioning that you owe him.
So there was sitting in her living room and waiting for her prospective student, who she was supposed to prepare enough so that he wouldn't die immediately out there.
The clock struck 3 O'clock, the time of her appointment and she immediately felt the telltale sign of a portkey trying to enter her wards, and after a momentary inspection, she let it pass through straight to the entryway.
