Legacy Rewritten

Unspeakable

After the boys made me stuff my face and go to bed, I did start to realize how much I needed it. I was grateful despite being minorly annoyed by their interference...though I'd never admit it to them. I was much too prideful for that, unfortunately. I got up from my bed when I remembered the letters I'd snatched yesterday: one from Professor Hecate regarding a new spell, and a mysterious letter Jackdaw 'dropped' for me yesterday before we'd been interrupted by the nosy Slytherin boys. I pulled out the one from Hecate and placed it on top of my other letters before I sat down on the bench near the foot of my bed, unfolding the letter that had slightly yellowed pages for how long it'd been since it was written. 

My dearest Appolonia,

Would you care to join me for a picnic? I know you do enjoy a good Cornish pasty almost as much as you enjoy a good mystery. Speaking of mysteries, I've uncovered a map...not sure to where it leads, but it does say something about a treasure beyond anything you could imagine. I'm not sure as to the meaning, but just imagine it: we could live outside of your ridiculous family traditions, grow old together without any intervention from them. What say you? If you choose to say 'yes', meet me at the end of the forest. I hope to see you soon.

Forever yours, Richard J. 

I sighed in sadness for Jackdaw, seeing as he told me she never came. Apparently, she'd been killed, or she'd run away already, estranged and cast out from the Black family. Purebloods no doubt from what I'd heard; Zander and I were...well we didn't really know what we "qualified" as when it came to blood status, but both of our parents were magical so maybe pure ? There was no written record of our family though; no ancestors, not even an estranged family member. I sometimes wondered if our parents had known all along who we'd turn out to be, they probably did and decided not to say anything to us. Sighing again, I shook my head slightly to dispose of the sad memories that began flashing through my mind. I didn't want to grieve the loss of my parents, even if they weren't physically dead. They were dead to us, we wanted nothing to do with them. Perhaps it's for the better, but I couldn't help the huge hole in my chest that longed to be loved so fiercely as what I'd read in stories. 

I discarded my feelings of insecurity as I glanced at my letter from the Professor once more, deciding to make my way out of the castle and perform the tasks she'd asked of me. The boys caught up with me, mumbling about how 'if they couldn't stop me, they may as well make sure I don't get myself killed', a notion that should've been reassuring and kind but really only annoyed me a bit more than I'd like to admit. Nevertheless, I allowed them to follow me. I had told Professor Hecate in a brief letter about the Merlin trials and she wanted me to complete one, so I figured there'd be no harm in letting the boys accompany me to complete a measly Merlin trial. Ominis asked me about the ancient magic, to which I said I didn't know much about (which was true), but that it was powerful and had proven effective in combat the more I learned about it. 

He looked curious to ask more, but he chose not to press as we neared one of the familiar circles with stone swirls in the middle. I told them to stay back and watch, to which they begrudgingly agreed, but they kept their heads on a swivel as they watched me place Mallowsweet onto the middle swirl. It glowed a light green as the vines swirled around me, highlighting more than 10 small stone spheres that I needed to cast at. It was just basic casts, but as I hit them, it did help me to get better at aiming and targeting specific places, allowing me to see how quickly I could spin to each target. "Ah, so this is a Merlin trial. It doesn't seem too hard," Sebastian said in a cocky manner before firing at one of the spheres. However, since it somehow knew my traces of magic and not his, it didn't explode and he was very confused as he kept trying to hit the same one.