Hidden Slytherin

Chapter 49 Yule Never Believe This

Over the next few days Jane stayed at the Lighthouse. She wrapped her friends gifts and sent them with Iago, and further debated what to get her brothers and father. When the answer wasn't forthcoming, Jane decided to leave it for now and ended up in her library.

She looked through it and ended up picking some at random to read, flipping through the pages. It wasn't in till the second day of her reading marathon that inspiration hit. If nothing seemed to fit them she could just make something. It would be tight but...

She looked at her notebook of half-finished projects and random notes on thoughts she had had before a grin spread across her face. She spent her time working on the Levitationspell and she ended up cannibalising the Notice-Me-Notspell for it too. Jane managed a prototype for a unnoticeable levitation that was all one spell. It still needed testing but she could think of several things her brothers could get into with it. Jane then started tinkering with her Witness charm. She didn't want it too close to the original so it couldn't be traced back as easily but she did want it to work the same.

Jane tapped her fingers on the table. She had forgone her usual glamor charms that hide her fingers and the dark shadows seemed to twirl underneath her skin. She watched them as she contemplated. She didn't just want to give them each of the same. She wasn't terrible at transfiguration but...

She headed back to her room and pulled open the chest from the foot of her bed. It had appeared the day before and, according to Pidge, held family heirlooms that had been left her for safe keeping. Jane figured after a generation or two they had been forgotten.

As she ran her fingers over them gently, feeling for traces of dangerous magic. Ever since the ring in the Birth Giver's room she had trusted that even if she didn't know what it meant that she could tell the difference to some extent. A few set off alarm bells and some felt like they gave off a pull to use them now. She ignored all of those and focused on the ones that try to force her either way. She pulled out the remaining.

There were some broken chains, an old watch that didn't work, a pair of earrings that had strange stones in them, an old tin, some beads, a quill and some bits of silk, lace, and ribbon that were falling apart that had wrapped them. It had been tied up with an old piece of leather that she also kept. Jane lay them out and pulled her notebook towards her. She began to sketch out some designs.

When she was sure that she had them well thought out she started. She made a thin bracelet for Mel, transfiguring the lace into a woven cord with a deep green bead in the middle which she put a permanent Notice-Me-Not charm on so her wouldn't need to actually use the spell. It would feed off his excess magic. The leather became a leather cuff for Sable with a warding charm that she spent ages setting, making it far more powerful them her past ones. She had managed to sink another bead in the center, this one smaller than the first in a deep blue color with flecks of green. Next she had made the silk and bits of chain into a pouch for Sorel and added an infinite expanding charm and a weightlessness charm. She dyed the silk a dark green and made the stitching look like brown roots. For Mort she transfigured the earrings into cufflinks and changed the shape into that of small half spheres. She charmed them with wards as strong as the ones for Sable each. The stone's were black with red flecks. She tapped the last objects, wondering about her Father's present.

She wasn't sure if she could pull it off but she wanted to try. She took the metal tin, the quill, the watch, and the last of the chain and started. This one was the going to be the hardest because of all the parts. When she had been given her necklace it had reminded her of an old saying she had read. Memento mori, remember that you must die. It was Latin and meant that you should live as you must die.

Jane slowly transfigured the shape of the watch making almost circular and then moved the tin around it. She slowly manipulated the shape, holding the image in her mind. Once that was finished she added the chain, putting it back together and lengthening it. When she finished a small skull, wrapped in metal roots sat in her palm. The underside of the jaw clicked open to reveal a watch and the chain had a thin clip to attach it to the person. The pocket watch ticked away quietly in her hand.