"You what?"
Chris shouted so loudly that the thestral stepped back from her looking offended.
"Sorry," Chris mumbled to it before turning to Fergus. "Sorry, I think I heard you wrong. What were you saying?"
"No, Christina. You didn't hear wrong. I did give you powers after you were born," Fergus said calmly and looked a little amused when Chris's eyebrows knit in confusion. "Allow to explain. After I lost control over myself, my mories got hazy and disoriented, but I know what I did. I attacked Malgino, a completely emotional, not-planned, idiotic action if you ask . I was so consud by my grief and pain from the betrayal that I just attacked Malgino without considering that just a few minutes ago, I gave him the power of the Crimson Crystal, the most powerful artifact in the world. It went as you expect it. He didn't want to fight . He didn't want to hurt. He kept saying those things as we fought but, of course, he defeated . Then maybe for the last ti, he offered — begged to join him. I did not. I swore in front of him that I will take back all his power and kill him. I will inform the founders about what he was planning. I would never let him succeed. Another grief-stricken response. Naive I thought, he was still Malgino, my friend, the farr's son, who just wanted to be rembered and appreciated for his skills, and nothing more. I still thought he just wanted the recognition. He just wanted to do sothing. I really thought I would scare him by threatening. But when he looked at for the last ti, I didn't see fear; I saw pain, confusion, and anger in his eyes. He couldn't understand why was I not choosing him. From the start, we both didn't have much and we were each other's friends and family. Yet, when the choice ca, he thought I chose Emory over him. That shredded all the love and humanity he had left while the Crystal destroyed its essence."
"The Crystal?" Chris turned to Fergus surprised.
"Yes. When my mother first brought here, she warned about Crystal's power, how it could do anything in this world but it will destroy — corrupt the essence of the wielder. And even though, I didn't understand at that ti, later I did. The Crystal gives the wielder unimaginable power but to do so its magic spreads to the wielder's core and twisting it in the way the Crystal wants. Malgino was already on the brink of evil when I revived him with the Crystal, and the Crystal just tipped it over. It gave him an illusion that he needed no one and everything he did was justified." Fergus gave bitter smile. "However, he didn't kill after I told him all about my plans. I don't know if the thought crossed his mind or not but he did not try to kill . Maybe he still couldn't bring himself to do so, maybe he thought there was still a chance I would join him. He decided to lock up here until I get back to my senses. He bound to the Blood Temple and left."
There were a few monts of silence as Chris waited for Fergus to collect his thoughts.
"Did he ever co back?"
"I think he planned to but couldn't because of the curse Madam Helga put on him. I don't know exactly what kind of curse it was but it was ant to be fatal. Helga ant to kill him, and he would have died if not for the Crimson Crystal's power. But I must say, getting so much power so easily, completely ssed with Malgino's sharp brain. He got over-confident. Spent too much power on his army of hybrid creatures, and made his all experints successful with it and whatnot. He thought the power would never run out. He realized how wrong he was about that when he got cursed and slowly started to lose power. It took a lot of power from the Crystal just to keep him alive, and slowly he couldn't access magic anymore. Malgino finally understood, why Crimson Crystal is such a powerful thing, it was because it has been fueled by generations of vampires. The blood of the first vampire still fueled it while her bloodline kept the promise and did the sa, by giving the Crystal their blood. And it dawned on him that if Crystal's powers are not recharged, he was eventually going to run out of life force to live off." Fergus walked a little bit while talking before settling down on the grass under a tree shade. He signed Chris to take sit in front of him as he continued, "The realization woke the original cunning Malgino, who could get out of any situation, no matter how bad it was. So first, he cursed himself for being stupid and then started to plan. He knew he couldn't co back to Titian because now Ryan was the King and he had ordered vampires to kill Malgino on sight and Malgino wasn't strong enough to fight them. He then turned to the wizarding world, tried a lot to find a way to gain back that power. He lost many precious years in hiding and grew weaker in the process. At last, he found a way to channel the life force of a wizard or witch to fuel the Crystal and keep him alive. But now that's all the wizard's life force did. Malgino wasn't satisfied with it. He was still hell-bent on becoming the successor of Hogwarts and its power. He thought that power would save him from Helga's curse and restore his magic and after all the founders were gone from Hogwarts —either dead or gone — he tried to strike again. Unfortunately, Madam Helga thought everything, she knew if Malgino survived, he would co back, and she with the other founders' magic used the power to create the successor as a barrier that will prevent Malgino from entering Hogwarts. What do you know about it, Christina?"
Chris was caught off guard from the sudden address to her but she answered,
"The magic that prevents Malgino from entering Hogwarts is locked sowhere and the only way to unlock it is the founders' keys. Right?"
"Yes," Fergus bead at Chris. "And only the successor gets the keys."
"Thus, Malgino's obsession with the keys. He still wants to be the successor," Chris grimaced.
"No, it's not about being the successor anymore, he had long crossed his ambitions. He wants to rule the entire world now. That's his goal. He wants to be the true King of the world, who would rule over every person, creature, human, non-human, everything. But for that, he needs to be powerful again with the successor's power. After Malgino learned what Helga had done and there was no way he could force open the power of Hogwarts, he decided to gather an army. He thought using people for life force was a waste and he could use them for his victory in many ways. He traveled the world and made followers who believed in his plans. He can be quite charismatic when he wants to be."
"Fergus," Chris interrupted.
"Yes?"
"All this ti you were here, right? Locked inside the temple?"
"Yes."
"Then how do you know so much about what happened outside and with Malgino?" Chris asked visibly confused.
"Soulbound. Do you know what that is?" Fergus intently looked at Chris.
Chris knit her brows, she had heard the na but where? Fergus patiently waited as if he could see Chris's mind working furiously. At last, she rembered.
"Soulbound, it's a bond. Usually, the bond manifests itself when soone brings back soone from death, creating a connection between them. Through the connection, the people can feel each other's emotions and thoughts or travel in each other's mind," Chris said recalling the ti she read it for Harry, to explain to him how there was a chance his and Voldemort's connection could work like that. It was so long ago that Chris was surprised that she rembered it. But then her eyes widened. "Wait, do you an you have that connection with Malgino? You two know what's going on in other's head?"
"No, just ," Fergus looked impressed by Chris. "When I saved him and practically brought him back from death's grasp. I bound him to , unknowingly. I realized after he left here that I can feel what he is feeling and what he is doing."
"Does he know about it?"
"No, he was too focused on his problems to think about his old problems, especially when he thinks that this problem —" Fergus gestured at himself. "—is solved. He has no clue, this problem is still causing him trouble. This problem is still standing between him and his plans. Just its form is changed."
"Still giving him problems in a different form?"
"Yes, in your form, to be specific. Christina, the unnatural power you possess which seems to be impossible for a normal wizard or witch, let alone a muggle and squib born, was . There is one more thing Malgino didn't realize and neither did I at that mont. When I revived Malgino with the Crystal, I absorbed so of its power as well. The power was a lot less than Malgino's but it was there, nonetheless. It took a while to utilize it because it didn't allow to leave this place, but I found a way out of it." Fergus's smile was so painful it gave Chris goosebumps. "I divided my essence into two parts. The powerful part left this place and the weaker one, a re reflection of stayed bound to this place and Malgino, with the pool of my mories. Hoping that one day my other half will find a harbor and bring back that person here. It did."
Fergus stared at Chris and Chris blinked a couple of tis. She was so stunned that she had no clue what to say. She wondered about her powers a lot of tis but here she just ca to discover Malgino's secrets, not hers.
⟦To be continued⟧
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