When Black regained his vision, all he felt was—sha.
If even the hint of this matter got out, then the rumor would be enough to make a mockery of his na in the entire Primordial Tower.
Who would believe that he was the sa man who had joined the Billion Club without even ascending to the 4th Set?
Who would believe that he was the sa man who had bested a Glitched Contestant of the 12th Floor from Order?
And who would believe that he was the sa man who had left behind an immortal tale in the Fate Bubble, winning one of the grandest Great Holy Grail Wars?
Because if a Dentor was enough to make him pass out, then he certainly couldn’t be the sa man, right?
Worse—it wasn’t even a real Dentor!
Black chewed on the piece of chocolate, letting the Lucky Intuitions and the Ad Infinitum run wild.
Far away from him, in the Dungeons, Darcie went to sleep, shutting down the Darcie-Echo.
Now, even Kai’s part of the Ad Infinitum joined Black’s, abandoning all the sches.
Black took a deep breath, the number of happy mories rising to millions in his mind.
Yes... once again, he was going to use brute force to storm his way into the Patronus Charm, just like he had done with the Gradation Blood.
In no way the Patronus Charm was as strong a Magecraft as the Gradation Blood.
All Black needed was one mory to conjure a full Patronus and get Lupin’s approval to get it registered in the System.
Almost ninety-nine percent of Top-level Contestants who joined Hogwarts to learn the Patronus Charm got an initial mastery over it with Lupin’s aid in the 3rd year before fully conjuring a Patronus in the 5th year when Harry created Dumbledore’s Army.
Black would not have such a choice.
It was either this or he should make his peace with never having a Patronus Charm. Ever.
"Are you alright?" Lupin asked as Harry looked at his friend with amazent.
Unlike what Black considered an extrely poor performance, making him call upon Ad Infinitum’s entire processing power, it was more than a comndable feat for Harry, at least.
It had taken Harry several attempts just to cast a cloudy wisp of a Patronus, which Black had done in his first turn.
Others might not see it as a great feat. But only those who had experienced the hopelessness brought about by a Dentor truly knew how difficult it was to retain the sanity to cast a Spell, much less such a highly complex magic as the Patronus Charm.
"I am truly astounded," Lupin said, agreeing with Harry’s thoughts. "That was brilliant, Black. I can see why Dumbledore praises you so much... You have every quality to be a great wizard. Let’s stop here today. That was as good as it could get in your first ti, I guess."
Black stared at the Professor calmly.
After years of studying the System’s workings, the Ad Infinitum and Lucky Intuitions had begun guessing the nature and timing of Notifications to so extent.
If he accepted Lupin’s suggestion now, then the System would instantly grant him a Milestone, turning his half-baked Patronus into a permanent one.
Black couldn’t have that, so he said, "No. You said the Patronus Charm aims to conjure a Patronus, right, Professor? I don’t think that cloudy fart was a Patronus, right?"
Harry’s lips twitched.
Even Lupin couldn’t help but smile at that. "No, Mr. Black," he said, pulling the boy up. "I guess not. Another round, then?"
Black licked the sweet-bitter taste of chocolate off his lips and took a deep breath, nodding.
The cabinet rattled in response, joining the excitent.
A silence lingered in the room between the three n.
Lupin flicked his wand, his eyes never leaving the boy.
The cabinet’s doors flew open with a BAM.
The Dentor lunged toward the boy.
A BOOM resounded in Black’s mindscape as hundreds of thousands of yellow crystals, each containing dozens of happy mories, beca a yellow, starry typhoon as they circled the black hole.
The might of Ad Infinitum’s full processing power was so much, in fact, that it surpassed that of tens of thousands of Supercomputers working together—and not just as a cluster, but as one perfectly integrated cognitive system.
Harry backed up several steps involuntarily.
Lupin had to step back as well.
The surroundings humd.
Even as the Dentor closed in on Black, an incredible amount of runes exploded out of him, becoming a magical, knightly armor.
Spell circles, of the most archaic nature, danced around him.
In his office, Lord Black Phoenix’s head snapped in his direction, his breath quickening.
A weight fell upon the entire School as Tiline and Death arrived to marvel at the scene.
And, in the presence of such an audience, the Knight of Ancient Magic raised his hand and commanded, "Expecto Patronum!"
The Dentor paused.
[Hahaha...] Death hissed out a laugh, Tiline laughing along with Him.
Because, in the next mont, the fake Dentor lunged forward as... this ti... not even the cloudy fart had appeared between it and the target.
The magical armor vanished with a whoosh.
When Black lost his vision this ti, it was as much a blow to his reputation as it was to his ego.
Lupin slapped the boy’s cheeks to wake him up.
"That was..." the Professor began, but couldn’t find the right words.
"... a let down?" Black finished the sentence for him.
"No..." Lupin said before repeating it more solidly. "No. Brave, I would say. Wizards much more powerful than you have failed in this magic much earlier than you. It was a mistake... letting you try it again after your first successful attempt. You should rest and..."
"One more ti..." Black said, standing up by himself. "Just one more ti..."
"Don’t be stubborn..." Lupin said.
"Let him." They all turned to look at the door and found Dumbledore, his eyes planted squarely on Black.
Lupin... nodded begrudgingly.
Black thanked Dumbledore with a nod and ignored the Death and Tiline’s laughs that kept ringing in his mind.
"Are you ready?" Lupin asked.
Black nodded.
If it didn’t work with millions of mories, then it just ant he needed to create even more...
Black suddenly frowned.
But Lupin had already flicked his wand.
With another BAM, the Dentor slithered out of the cabinet and flew toward him, but the Ad Infinitum hadn’t even reacted.
Not because it couldn’t, but because... Black had put it on pause.
It wasn’t his Lucky Intuitions that had made him do so, but he just had a feeling that... his approach was wrong.
He—the great Conspirer of Fate—had been walking on the wrong path.
~ No matter what you beco, you must always rember where you co from, son.
The words appeared out of nowhere as if the AI had been clouding his mind before, smothering them into unknown, unseen depths.
~ So, when you find yourself lost, retrace your steps.
The Dentor sucked deep, and Black stumbled.
~ Look within you and find your origin.
With a thought, the Ad Infinitum shut down.
The storm of yellow crystals paused as if soone had petrified all the raindrops amid a downpour.
In this stillness, Black recalled a mory.
Sadness, from the depths of his heart, silently spilled out, bringing tears to Harry, Lupin, and Dumbledore’s eyes.
In their minds, the image of a little boy walking next to his mother, holding her hand, appeared, a golden glow blurring his and his mother’s appearance.
No one in their wildest dreams could call it a happy mory.
And yet... a smile surfaced on Black’s lips, lost in the monts when he had t his mother after his death.
~ And in that origin, you will find hope... because you are such a good boy... Hehe...
Black’s lips arched up even higher, his head lifting to look at the Dentor. "Fuck off!"
Red mist shot out from each of Black’s pores, filling the huge classroom in a fraction of a second.
In another mont, the red mist gained a definite form, the outlines becoming a darker shade, like blood.
It was a head... the head of a giant serpent.
"So... you were watching over all along... even now..." Black mumbled, tears dripping down his chin. "Red..."
The serpent opened its slitted, yellow eyes and hissed.
And, with a POP, the Dentor exploded.
****************
AN: Original Image of Black with his Patronus is available
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