On the sa day, after we left the ruins and arrived back ho, I hurriedly pulled out the box from our pouch, doing it like how muggles think a wizard should act. It would have been only better if I pulled out a bunny of it; alas, we didn't have any crowd of muggles watching us.
"Well, the symbol is on it, so this is the correct thing. The question is, are we going to open it?" I asked, making Quincy chuckle.
"Maybe... But I don't think we would be able to."
"Charms and hexes?"
"Charms and hexes!"
"Exactly." Answered Grindelwald, walking into the room, smiling, not looking offended at all. "You can, of course, try it. I am curious if you can crack it or not."
He didn't have to say anything else as we took turns trying to dispel the magic on it without blowing the whole thing to pieces. It was, as one would expect, an abject failure. Our first prodding spells simply bounced off it, almost setting our ho afla. Then, we tried to do it more subtly, but that also backfired. For the following night, I had whiskers for so reason while Quincy sprouted a sunflower, growing from the top of her head. It just did not work.
"I give up!" I shrugged, throwing my hands in the air while Quincy was trying to pull out the sunflower, but it was like yanking on her hair.
"Make this thing disappear!" She cried, looking at Grindelwald, who simply smiled, clearly enjoying our plight.
"It will be gone by the ti morning cos, don't worry. I enjoyed your approach, trying to disturb the sealing spell on it; the only problem was none of you had deep enough knowledge to outplay it. You would have to cast a preliminary, probing spell that does not activate the seal but excites it only enough for you to gain an understanding of its nature and workings. Then, you can identify it by comparing the spell with others of its kind, deriving the unknowns before modifying an already existing counter-spell to the paraters of this one. The true grandmasters of magic could do it. If I had to guess, Albus could open it in a day or so. That is why you don't have to feel bad, kids. As I said, you lack the experience to do it; one day, you will be able to break it without my help!" He concluded, tapping his wand at the box that answered with a soft click.
I don't know what I expected to be hidden within it, but when he opened it, I did not expect a weird-looking cauldron, a rolled-up leather toolkit, and a bunch of tied parchnt greeting us. But these should be important, or why would it have been guarded by a vampire in the first place?
"Oh, so this is the Flal-kit, huh? I didn't rember which one I hid deep down with old Volgonid."
"Flal-kit?" Quincy asked, looking weirdly at him while I was also voicing the other question we both thought about.
"What's with the deal with the vampire anyway? He said that he no longer owes you or sothing..."
"I stumbled upon Volgonid when I was young, around your age. I was searching for clues regarding the Hallows, and I found so pointing towards a very old, ancient vampire who may have known more in his ti. I didn't think I would find him; I just wanted to explore his lair. Well, he is not a barbarian, so he gave two options when I was caught by him. Either beco their nial servant for a decade or beat him in chess. You see, I used quite the force when excavating the tunnel and killed multiple ghouls they had who were there to guard their sleep."
"Ugh..."
"Oh? You too? Ahaha... don't worry about it, they can quickly replenish their numbers." He waved at us, continuing his tale, sounding deeply nostalgic. "So we played. And I won. And I won again. And again. You see, I had many questions, so after my first win, he agreed to answer them if I could beat him again. At first, I thought he was going easy on , but he beca really flustered and accused of cheating."
"In chess?" We asked simultaneously, but he simply smiled at us.
"So, it happened that I won a favor from him. I learned what I wanted and began preparing for my future. I knew it would cause so trouble, so I asked him to hide sothing for if I ever returned and asked for his help. Later on, through the new knowledge I acquired from him, I was able to find the first of the Hallows, the Elder Wand. To obtain it was not easy as I had to steal it from a famous wandmaker, Mykew Gregorovich. It was not simply a well-hidden secret of his, but also sothing that was guarded by him to the best of his abilities."
"Who's that?" I asked, looking at Quincy, but she simply shrugged.
"Ah yes... You have your Olliwander, which I always forget. Well, the world is vast, and not every wandmaker bears the sa na. They are not the only family that is well respected amongst wandlore experts! So, to steal it from him, I had to practice and... what you see here is the result of that."
"You stole these?" We asked, looking at the items that did look ancient.
"Yes. From Flal himself. The best part is that I don't think he noticed it, nor did he rember it. After living for centuries, people forget where they hid their precious items."
"But... How?!"
"What could I say? I was a really good thief!" He answered with a laugh, visibly proud of his old achievent. Looking into his eyes, what I saw there was not gloating or stroking his own ego; it was different. Watching him felt like when soone old retells stories from his life, enjoying the nostalgia that the old mories brought along. "This cauldron here is unique, one in a kind. It has properties that can adjust to the potion you want to make, helping the alchemist. This ans if you tell it that you want to make a polyjuice potion, it will set its temperature automatically, and when adding the ingredients, it self-adjusts every ti, always keeping the brew at the exact temperature it needs at the different stages."
"Telling it?" Quincy asked, and Grindelwald answered.
"Just as I said. Point your wand at it and tell the cauldron what you will try to make. Also... I am pretty sure it only speaks French."
"Damn, that sounds really nifty!" I humd, picking it up and examining the football-sized thing. "And heavy!"
"Let see!" Quincy squeaked, looking extrely excited, so, of course, I handed it to her while Grindelwald continued.
"Watching it, many of my old mories had been flooding into my mind. I am sure the philosopher's stone was created in this cauldron. So, it is part of wizarding history!"
"...!" I watched Quincy's hand tremble and almost drop it after hearing him.
"Maybe it is fate's interesting way to express that things co to you when you are not looking for them. I did try to replicate his work... As a youngster, I dread of the power of his elixir and having it for myself. Now, after consuming it, I find the thing that is responsible for its existence. How quaint!"
"Are those?" I gulped, pointing towards the parchnts, but he shook his head, making exhale.
"No, there are no written recipes. He made sure to destroy them all. These are my recollections when I tried to replicate his work. On one hand, they are useless as I never once succeeded, not even partially. On the other hand, they are invaluable experiences for anyone who wants to pick up alchemy because a true talent could learn from the mistakes in them and avoid repeating them." Of course, Quincy was already opening them up, reading them, forgetting the sunflower swaying above her head with every move she made.
"Master," I asked, not even realizing the way I called him, "Why did you hide this away, protected by such a powerful entity?"
"It has to do with my old self's contingency plan." He added with a sigh, leaning back on his chair, watching Quincy, who was not really paying attention, imrsed in the 'toys' before her. "I don't rember what I hid and where I did to this day. I just know that there are three such boxes and that besides valuable trinkets in each, I also hid the clues for the three Hallows."
"What do you an?" We asked, looking at him and then at the cauldron.
"I don't know. I an... I don't rember. I made it when I realized I had a good chance that I may lose, so I did sothing to myself, most likely expecting that even if I lived, my mind would be wiped clean. I left behind thoughts, feelings, and instincts, things that can't be modified or ripped away, prompting to rediscover what has happened to . That is what I am working on: triggering and recalling my suppressed mories. I am still waiting for my mories to flare up and make rember where I hid the other two."
"So... are the clues hidden in the cauldron... or?" Quincy questioned him, running her fingers over its surface."
"I don't rember. We will need to keep examining and using it, hoping that it will show itself or make rember. But everything that was in the box contained a clue about one of the Hallows."
"But your mories were never tampered with..." I added, furrowing my brows, forcing Grindelwald to shrug.
"As I said, I was feeling that I may lose against Dumbledore. I was paranoid and made sure that if I did and he captured , he wouldn't be able to learn what I already knew. So, I made myself forget before I was defeated, but I also don't rember how or what I forgot. Not until sothing triggers it."
"Ugh... mory spells are a bitch..." I cursed, making both of them chuckle, "We should seriously find Professor Lockhart; maybe he could think of sothing!"
"If anybody, I am sure he is the one that would be the hardest to find." Quincy humd, unrolling the leather toolkit, picking out the different scissors, scalpels, and whatnot, all for handling and collecting ingredients for brewing potions.
"I don't know how much Albus has learned about the Hallows by himself, but I believe that in the end, he would have made the sa discoveries. So, to have a chance, we also need to unlock my mories within these. I only know that the Elder Wand ended up with him. As for the cloak and the stone, who knows!"
"You old, grand wizards are weird. All of you..." I grumbled, and he only laughed as an answer.
"That is true. I can't argue with you there, Young Conrad! Knowing my old self, I am pretty sure I hid what I knew about the Resurrection Stone within this set, as this was what gave Flal his famous, 'eternal life.' It is sothing I would do, knowing my type of humor."
"So, it is a treasure hunt with a puzzle, huh?"
"You can look at it like that... and after you solve it," He sighed, standing up, ready to leave, "you can keep it. I no longer need it, and between you two, it would see the most use in Young Quincy's hand. I would prefer it, to be honest, much more so than returning it to Nicholas Flal."
I didn't argue with him on that. I just watched him go and smile happily because my wife's eyes were shining so much; I knew she loved the sudden gift falling into her lap.
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