>>6107189

You are still reeling from the revelation as you two cross the anti-apparition enchantments surrounding Voldemort’s “prison” and Hermione apparates both of you back to St. Mungo’s. You feel like there is a knot in your throat, a block of ice in your stomach.

“Is… Is there no other way?” You ask as you finally manage to sit down in the isolated room you appeared in. “Does he really need to-”

“Suffer like no one else? As long as there are Horcruxes out there, yes. Harry hated it, insisted there had to be a better way, kept on searching all these years even after all of us stopped looking for another solution. He never found one.” She sighs. “It is not quite Omelas, but it is still not a pleasant thought.”

You nod, understanding the reference. An old muggle story about an utopia called Omelas, whose existence, beauty and perfection depended on the utter misery and torture of a single innocent child. Voldemort wasn’t innocent. He was the furthest thing away from innocence in the wizarding world.

And even he didn’t deserve that. Potter of all people had known that. Maybe someone more powerful, someone more clever, someone with more time would have found another way. A kinder way.

Just another thing on the list of horrors of the world, which already included things like bone cancer on muggle children and dark arts on the innocent.

You can only hope your own journey won’t end up with you adding to that list.

It takes you a while to feel sane enough to go back to Linda’s room with Granger.

“Hey, you look like you’ve seen a dementor,” Helga quips as you enter.

“Well,” you say, forcing a smile.“It’s nothing. Just got some answers that were rougher than I was expecting, that’s all.”

“And I expect that you have some more questions,” Granger adds.

“Yeah… I think the obvious is, we need a new battle teacher.”

“Hogwarts needs a new Defense teacher.”

“And I need a private tutor that can teach me like Crouch did.”

“Harry himself placed your education in Crouch’s hands. I’d be hard pressed to find someone even close to the same level as either of them. If he put you against Crouch, I suspect anyone I find will present minimal challenges, not as much because they aren’t better than you, but because I’m not friends with too many sociopaths who would be willing to put you to the sort of training you’d need to really improve.”

[Cont.]

>>6107191

“Minister-”

“I’ve seen your battles, Elliot,” she says, raising her hand against your protests. “I’ve heard Potter talking about you. With your level of skill, you could easily beat most non-auror adults. You’re close to the point where either you learn through life and death experiences or you go into the long grind, where you study and train for months to improve just the tiniest bit at a time. I could provide you with a tutor, but I suspect you wouldn’t see the improvements you’ve seen with Crouch or Harry.”

“Still, better than nothing. And besides, my friends could use the training.”

She shrugs. “If you wish. I’ll see if I can find someone.”

“Occlumency too. Potter used to pay a tutor for us.”

“I’m aware. I know Constance, she’s trustworthy. I’ll contact her.”

You keep going through the list of things you want to know. You ask for some of the rock-candy Crouch had so you can study it, and she tells you the Unspeakables have better equipment and knowledge to discover what it is. You ask for new portkey toerings, and she says she’ll have them made by morning. You ask about new prophecies and she just shakes her head.

“How about the real Robards?” You ask, finally. “He shouldn’t be dead, right? You need fresh matter from a living body for polyjuice to work.”

“For normal polyjuice, yes. Whatever it was he was taking, however… It is difficult to know. We have people looking for him, but he isn’t answering to patronuses. He could be in a permanent coma, or somewhere the patronus can’t reach.”

“And as to how Crouch escaped? He mentioned my Dark Mark caused a commotion-”

“That’s an understatement. I almost initiated the old war protocols.”

“And that lots of Death Eaters went wild,” you say, ignoring her and straining your brain to try to remember. “And that he found an ally in the confusion. The ally got him something that he used to escape.”

“I’ll mention it to my men.” She pulls the necklace of random objects from her clothes and touches one of them with the tip of her wand, transfiguring it. She is done after a few seconds. “They’ll look into it.”

“Good. And speaking about looking into things… Anything on why Potter had a safehouse blocks away from my house? Or any news on Potter at all?”

[Cont.]

>>6107192

“For the safehouse, it was just an old safehouse for our auror troops to fall back if things went wrong in missions. We used it decades ago, but decommissioned it for a bigger one. Harry purchased it from the ministry, saved himself the trouble of setting up most of the protections. He has a few of those throughout the country because he’s, well, he’s Harry. But I remember him mentioning it wasn’t worth the trouble some… ten? Fifteen years ago? Best I can guess he reactivated it once he realized how close it was to your house. More than that… I don’t know what else to tell you. I would say coincidence, if not for the fact that it would be nothing but a cop-out for the fact I don’t have any other plausible explanation.“

“As for Harry himself… Vanished. My patronus can’t reach him. James and Albus can’t either. He knows our aurors’ protocols, Merlin, he wrote most of them. Tracking them down would be-” She stops, frowns, then pulls out the necklace again, looking at a different bauble than all other times, one that seems to be in the act of changing. Once it stabilizes, her look turns grim and she stands up, preparing to leave. “Ah. Or perhaps not. Just got a message from an old friend. Turns out that at some point in the last few weeks my good friend and his wife went for a romantic trip to France. Either that or the Goblet of Fire has up and walked from its vault in Beauxbatons.”

Ah motherfu-

--

“So, how are you?” You ask once the healers leave with a nod.

“It was just a botched mind-alteration,” she says from her bed, nonchalantly. But she looks strained. Her hands are shaking just a bit. “You know. Not a big deal. Don’t even know why I was worrying about it.”

“Right. So, how are you?”

“It’s fine, Elliot. I’m fine. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“Bullshit and its brother, bullcrap. Don’t make me get you drunk so you can sob on my shoulder.”

“Really. It.. It was just a-”

There is a loud clattering noise and Linda jolts upwards, snatching her wand from the nightstand a nurse had left it on and blasting a red bolt towards the noise. Helga dodges to the side, but looks unamused, still holding the meal the healers had left for Linda. The fork and knife were on the floor, dropped on purpose.

“I fought in wars, Linda,” Helga says, placing the plate back down. “And I have taught many students. That is not a student’s reaction to a loud noise. That is a soldier’s, one who’s returned from war. And I notice you still haven’t stopped pointing the wand at me.”

Slowly, Linda puts down her wand.

“I was… I was just startled. That’s all.”

[Cont.]

>>6107193
“I’m sure you are.” Helga’s voice is quiet and soft. She takes Linda’s hand between hers. “You are also having nightmares. And because I was inside Elliot’s head back then, I know you know a lot about wars. I also know that you’re clever. So you know what’s happening. You know what you're feeling, I have no doubt you've read about it before. I can tell from experience that it is not fun. And I can also tell you bottling it up and never talking about it is the worst thing you can do.”

Linda looks away, so Helga climbs onto the bed and straddles her so she has no choice but to look at her.

“Call Rowena. I think the three of us need to have a talk.”

Linda’s eyes go black, and the two of them simply stare at each other for a while, having a private conversation to which you’re not invited.

“Elliot,” Helga asks without breaking eye contact. “Can you ask the healers for a dreamless sleep potion?”

You nod and go fetch someone. When you return a few minutes later, you find Linda bawling into Helga’s robes, so you just put the potion by the door and leave them be.

You’d once thought about getting Arty psychology books. Well, perhaps you could get them for Helga. Or perhaps she knows everything they have to say from just living and being wise and kind. But it wouldn’t hurt to try, you think.

In the meantime, you are in the middle of London. Is there anything quick you’d like to do in the city or in St. Mungo’s itself?

> Check in on Brighton’s grandparents
> Check in on Lockhart
> Try to check in on the entrance to Avalon
> Run to a nearby store and buy something muggle (What?)
> Other (Write in)

>>6107196
> Check in on Lockhart
Our BOY
The GOLDEN boy
He's totally sane even now isn't he?
Also welcome back HeadQM

>>6107196
> Check in on Brighton’s grandparents
> Check in on Lockhart
> Try to check in on the entrance to Avalon
Might as well while we're here. I do like our visits with Lockhart, he's not so bad once you get to know him.

>>6107196
>Try to check in on the entrance to Avalon
this is a priority for me, this place has to either be gone from existance or under the greatest vigilance that the magical world can provide
>Check in on Brighton’s grandparents
>Check in on Lockhart
brighton´s Gparents first, lokchart second
and hey, maybe getting a starting book on muggle psycology would be a nice gift to Helga, im sure she would find it interesting given its such an advanced field for muggles compared to wizards

>>6107196
> Check in on Lockhart
> Try to check in on the entrance to Avalon
Welcome back, HeadQM!

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>>6107204
>He's totally sane even now isn't he?

I speculated in a theory that he was sane the whole time, or at least for a while. And last time we saw him... he did give a hint to realize where Avalon was.

Lets see. Other than a bunch of dudes who are probably dead down there, nothing left for us in Avalon, unless Excalibur could do something I suppose.

We can grab something, a book for Helga to maybe figure out how to help Linda; something we could check out too. She clearly has PTSD, shell shock, soldier's sickness, ect.. How about just a novel for her that she could focus on, take her mind off the fact she has seen her lover die, her other best friend almost ripped to shreds by a monster, injured a number of times following said friend, splashed with prophesy blood, had her darkest memory relived, and now was brain fucked. Could stay with her tonight too, try and just be there for her too. Go bring some muggle slop for her if she wants for breakfast, stay there for the night. Definatly keep an eye on her when she gets out.

Give me a few minutes to come up with stuff.

And yes, welcome back QM. I had a weird feeling when I woke up today that it was going to be a good day.

>>6107196
> Check in on Lockhart

>Grab some ice cream to bring back to Linda and Helga if she is still there

> Run to a nearby store and buy something muggle (What?)
> if there is a bookstore,
some silly novel for Linda, a couple of books on daeling with PTSD and/ or helping those with it for you and Helga

>See if we can stay there tonight on a pull out sofa or recliner. Go and get Linda some muggle food if she is hungry in the morning. Be there for her. Hold her hand if she needs it, talk to her. Tell Linda we are so sorry she has been pulled into our whirlwind of bullshit and how thankful for her.

>Resolve to spend a bit more time with her after she gets out. Invite her over to spend a few days with us for Easter.

>>6107240
+1 to everything but staying there, unless Linda specifically wants us there. Sometimes some space is needed between the love-bombing, to avoid codependency developing.

>>6107262
True enough. I mean, I think Elliot would always ask even if we didn't specifically tell him to. He is a very considerate person normally, even though as players we have pushed him some like when we had our fight with Arty because she was pushing herself too hard, was walking into an early grave. We really are the worst Slytherin, but I suppose that is why we ended up with Helga in our brain.

I work in medicine seen how people deal with being isolated when they are admitted, how they are desperate for some social contact and besides that have had to spend a decent time in the hospital myself. It sucks. Tv and painkillers helped but even a couple of days there, let alone the 5 days I spent once? Especially dealing with stuff? You get into your head without stuff to distract you. I had a phone and people coming to check on me, friends coming or grabbing some fast food for us to share, ect. Had cute and good nurses who I was able to flirt with some, got social media contacts from and would walk with me around the ICU at night when I couldn't sleep since even though I was pretty alright at the end, they couldn't let me do it alone. Long story short, being trapped in a hospital sucks and Linda can't even get her mom and little sis to come by due to being muggles or under age in BauBau's case I assume, doesn't have a phone or TV; just the trauma of what she has gone through.

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Alright... so I thought of something. Our parents are Squibs. Squibs are, per the official cannon of the HP world, the children of wizards who never ended up being able to use magic.

https://www.wizardingworld.com/fact-file/magical-miscellany/squibs

There hasn't been a single mention of our grandparents on either side; wizards live around twice as long as muggles. Unless they died like in the war, why have we never heard anything about them. Why didn't they come by for Christmas? All 4 of our grandparents being dead given how young our parents seem to be is... unlikely.

Could our parents be as far back as what ever created Elliot out of nothing to perform a role and host Helga go back, unable to create anything further than that? Same reason we don't have a sibling, even though mom and dad supposedly wanted one?

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Also, a couple of notes from the character sheet:

Arty should probably have her height as 1 inch greater than Helga since that is what she asked for. One of Helga's birthdays should read as 2025, not 2005 if we are talking about when she got Arty's old body. Arty can now cast a patronus charm as well.

Not complaining, but might as well let QM know for if he cares to adjust it in the future.

Also Helga growing her hair out is both cute and hot since I like braids.

Once more, just a few things I noticed because I have a touch of the 'tism in all likelihood.

>>6107517
> Arty should probably have her height as 1 inch greater than Helga since that is what she asked for. One of Helga's birthdays should read as 2025, not 2005 if we are talking about when she got Arty's old body. Arty can now cast a patronus charm as well.
Mistypes and copy-paste errors, all corrected now. Thanks for the headsup!

Also, I will give that feedback to both you and Kektus, but it was both a busy week and Satisfactory came out, so I spent time I should be reading and writing building reinforced iron plate factories

>>6107196
> Check in on Brighton’s grandparents

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>>6107572
Thank you very much, dude. I appreciate you bothering to check it out all.

I have really enjoyed giving this a shot even if my writing or QM skills are bad. Getting like 11 votes on one of the choices made my entire night. Got some good IRL news this morning, have today and the weekend completely off, your quest is back... very nice.

So, as always, thank you. Quite glad I found this thing last year. Also, happy belated quest anniversary!

>>6107592
> I have been doing this for over a year and didn't even realize it

Fucking Merlin, time fucking flies. And when I started it I thought it would be one, maybe two threads.

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>>6107597
>I thought it would be one, maybe two threads

Heh.

>>6107506
I think you're confusing this quest's family with caretaker's family.

>>6107632
Our mom and dad were explicitly said to be Squibs in the Christmas part of the quest when we and the twins were dropped off in Diagon Alley.

https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2024/5877357/

>Muggles couldn’t see the Leaky Cauldron, but Squibs like your parents were simply “heavily disincentivised”.

>>6107572
Like Ilvermorny said, we appreciate you bothering to check out stuff, you are a great inspiration!
no hurry tho, take your time and enjoy whatever you are doing.

>>6107189
Fuck

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>>6107674
Yes I would like to fuck Arty and or HelgArty.

>>6107748
We know.

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>>6107755
What gave it away.

A Raven is fine too.

Will now quite shitting up the thread because I am happy about stuff, work on my own thing-y.

>>6107506

Well, in this case being a Squib doesn't necessarily means that your parents were wizards (which I suppose I should have mentioned). I'm going from the logic that the magic gene is recessive-ish, so it can go inactive for generations. Being a Squib is just someone who has enough magical genes to trigger magic a little bit, but not fully.

That leaves two options. A) There is only one Magical Gene. If you have none, you are a muggle, if you have one you are a Squb, and if you have two you are a wizard. Or B) There are many Magical Genes. If you have too few you're a Muggle, if you have something in the middle you're a Squib, and if you have a lot you're a Wizard.

If A is true, then every single Muggleborn is actually a Squibborn, and the parents simply never knew they were squibs. This also mean every Squib coming from Wizard parents out there didn't actually come from two wizards, but from mom banging the muggle milkman. This would also mean a Wizard-Muggle couple could never produce a wizard, only Wizard-Squib couple could.

But option A is boring, because it limits the sorts of couples you can have. B, however, allows for a muggle couple to simply luck out and have a wizard child by sheer chance because the right genes just happened to combine. At the same time, I don't really like option B because it can sort of imply that your power as a wizard comes from your genes, which is not something I want. In this world, the only thing that defines how great of a wizard you are is your grit and capacity to sit down and study (Apollo and Arty not withstanding, of course), or your willingness to perform dark rituals.

So the answer is... Something in the middle which I am not well versed enough in genetics to find an explanation for.

In this case specifically, Elliot's grandparents weren't wizards, just Squibs/Muggles who happened to carry enough magic gene that their children were squibs (and who probably bonded over the fact they seemed to notice things no one else did), and Elliot ended up as a full-fledged wizard.

>>6107770
Perks of being a Squib instead of Muggle would include being able to see and mildly interact with magical things, such as places Hidden from muggles, and even using potions (And interacting with magical artifacts, possibly)

i actually think that option B is an actual canon thing, im pretty sure there are records of muggle families of several generations randomly spawning wizards. so it is entirely possible thats the canon option

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>>6107778
From what I recall muggle born wizards can come from families that have never had a recorded witch or wizard, but that might just be that maybe there was one 300 years ago and most people don't keep records of shit that long ago. Could be a couple of people had recessive gene that just happened to meet. Shit like that happens on occasion IRL like non-Ashkenazi parents ending up with Tay-Sachs kids or dark skinned people ending up with light eyes. People also have epigenetic factors which can affect gene expression or even completely mute certain ones. If you go back far enough? Every single land dwelling mammal has a bit of normally non-expressive ancient proto-herpes virus in their DNA now due to a mass spread of it a long, long time ago. Marsupials apparently got out of that deal, but the ancient retro virus which was around is now in all our DNA. Can pop up in certain ways.

But I don't really want to think too hard about magic genes... I am just going to go with the idea that magic is something that can just pop up in anyone, though people who are already magic pass a very strong affinity for it to turn up in their kids or something. That is a force unto itself.

>>6107770
Magic could by polygenic, relying on certain gene COMBINATIONS to emerge. We only inherit SOME of each parent's genome (half from one parent half from another, so in that case two wizards could produce a squib with an unlucky roll of the dice ("oops, all nomag and low-magic-recessive genes!"), while different combinations of mutations in normal human/nomag/muggle genetics could lead to magic-receptiveness and, with proper training, the ability to cast.

Genes can also have recessive and dominant alleles, and epigenetcis can play a role: genes might not always express dominant for magic, depending on development or environmental factors.

Of course, if you want to tie it all back to a single (or a smattering of) ancient mage-civilizations like Atlantis, Lemuria, Hyperborea, etcetera... Well, then you either need to introduce 'emergent' witches and wizards from the baseline muggle population or accept that bloodlines does indeed play a role in who gets to be special.

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>>6107813
>Shit like that happens on occasion IRL like non-Ashkenazi parents ending up with Tay-Sachs kids or dark skinned people ending up with light eyes.
Gene expressions are weird. Ask Lucy and Maria Aylmer.

>>6107816
>>6107817

Genetics gave me a headache in college, almost as much as endocrinology.

But yay! Another guy who had to learn this shit! Based!

You suspect Linda and Helga will take a while to work out… well, whatever it is they are working out, so you take a walk through the hospital. Some of the healers do frown at you when they see you dragging a sword around, but their objections fade away as soon as they notice who you are.

Apparently, the Boy Who Holds Excalibur is a household name now.

You climb up the stairs and walk into the Janus Thickey Ward, and a nurse takes you a little further until you see them. An old couple. They are sitting together by the window, watching the life outside pass them by, hand in hand. You watch them for a while, and she pulls a Droobles Blowing Gum from her pocket, and unwraps it with the help of her husband. She eats it, then folds the wrapping and puts it in her pocket.

You can’t help but fight the tears.

They are fine. Alive. Still broken. Broken enough that not even Godric and Rowena could help them, nor the best medical minds in the world.

But Godric had said there was still some light inside them, and for that you are thankful.

“Ah, Elliot! How great to see you again!” Says an excited voice, waving at you from where he stands behind a painting he is working on. “I’ve been hearing a lot about you in the newspaper, you know!?”

“Ah, Lockhart, sir!” You say, pushing away the sorrow for now. It wouldn’t do too good to make this man’s only visitor in forever to be crying for someone else’s fate. “Good too see you! You receive the Daily Prophet here?”

“Well, no, but sometimes people bring theirs in and forget them around. And I can read, you know? Took me a while to get the hang of it, but boy can I do it! That’s how I learned your name!” He flashes a smile at you, still painting. “And I heard some incredible stuff about you! Something about something called Excalibur, whatever that is, and some dark wizards. Seemed quite exciting!”

“Well, turns out you’re not the only one to get in adventures, sir. This is Excalibur,” you say, pointing to your hip. “She is pleased to meet you.”

“Why the pleasure is mine! Now, say, what are you here for?” Then he sounds worried. “Have you run out of autographs? I can make more, you know!”

“Ah, no sir! You gave me plenty last time,” you say, not telling him the autographs and the painting are all still in your trunk. “Just… a friend of mine got injured and needed to spend a day here.”

“Nothing too serious, I hope!”

“Just an… inconvenience. She’ll be back up in no time. How about you, sir? What new painting are you working on?”

“Me? Oh, it is nothing new, just something that came to mind a while ago. I got inspired to paint new things by my last visitor.”

“Oh, who was it? I thought only Potter came to see you, sir.”

“It usually is,” the nurse accompanying you says. “But an old fan came by a few days ago. Really liked his paintings, too. Which one did you give him, Lokey?”

[Cont.]

>>6108768

“Oh, he didn’t really like any of the ones I had here to take with him, so I offered to make a new one! It turned out great! A great cup shattering and fire and a woman spilling from it! Really, I don’t know where I get these ideas.

You feel a chill go up your spine.

“Wait, what?”

“Yes, quite! You see, inspiration can strike-”

“No, what did you say the painting was?”

“Well, there was this great wooden cup and there was a stunning blond man by it, really handsome lad. But the cup was cracked, and this wonderful blue fire came out of it, and a girl, well, woman, really, sliding down the river of flame as if it was water! One of my most striking pieces, I think. I’ve really been improving recently-”

“What was the color of her hair?” You ask, interrupting him.

“I’m sorry?”

“The girl, woman, whatever. The lady in the fire. What was the color of her hair?”

“Well, it couldn’t have been blonde because it would clash with the man’s hair, and brown and black just didn’t work with the color, so I settled on a nice red to really contrast against the blue. Huh, funny. I don’t usually paint more than one person, have you noticed that?”

There is a sudden sense of vertigo, and you need to lean against the bed so you don’t fall.

A painting of a Goblet filled with Fire broken being painted days before Harry Potter breaks into the Beauxbatons. A stranger who had never come before, not only comes but sits and waits for him to make a new painting. If that stranger hadn’t been Potter under Polyjuice you’d eat your cauldron.

“Are you alright, Elliot?” Lockhart asks, looking worried.

“Nurse,” you ask, throat dry. “Did Lockhart ever… Say anything? In a weird way? With a weird voice?”

“No, not that I can recall. Why?”

“Nothing, nothing. And just out of curiosity… Did Potter ever take any of your paintings,sir?”

“Oh yes! Every so often he’d find one he liked!”

A seer? No, impossible. No prophecies were being made and at least in humans they only came as words. But whatever he was, it was enough that Potter risked coming to see him, and it had led him directly to the Goblet. What in Merlin’s name…

“You… You wouldn’t happen to have made any new paintings since then, have you, sir?”

“Only this one. They take time, you know?”

“May I take a look at it?”

“Well, they say an artist shouldn’t let people see what they’re working on until it is done but… why not?”

And you step to look at his painting. It is still unfinished, but the main elements are clear. A blond wizard with a scarred arm and a sword made of light in hand, fighting a creature of darkness. In the background, towers of gold and marble and platinum, guarded by silver dragons.

--

[Cont.]

>>6108769

You stumble out of there in a daze after reassuring the nurse you’re fine. In your mind there is a whirlwind of questions, most of them being simply “Why?” and “How?”

You find no answers in any of your knowledge, and your expert in prophecies is currently occupied. You reach for the coin Hermione gave you, but you stop. Lockhart, whatever he is… Is innocent. He is just someone with some strange power, who is trying to heal his mind. And if you were to tell the Minister what just happened… Well, that is the same Minister whose best friend was certain would be willing to unleash the Unspeakables on you, the same minister who put tracking bugs on you and your friends, the same Minister who keeps Voldemort’s soul in a cage of dementors.

What would she do to Gilderoy, if she thought he knew where Potter was? Potter, the one Helga Hufflepuff had said would cause calamity if he knew the things he now knows? What would she do to him if she thought Gilderoy had a seer-like power when all prophecies had dried up?

And at the same time… You all could really use a few prophecies to help light the way.

> Call the Minister, tell her you may have a working Seer
> Let it be. Whatever Lockhart is, he doesn’t deserve to be set upon by the Unspeakables
> Other (Write in)

>>6108772
> Call the Minister, tell her you may have a working Seer
She's given us a lot of reasons to trust her lately. Let's give her a chance to confirm hat trust is well-placed. And if it's not... Well, we'll adjust accordingly moving forward.

>>6108772
>>6108772
> Let it be. Whatever Lockhart is, he doesn’t deserve to be set upon by the Unspeakables
My man Gil needs his rest. I refuse to sell him out

>>6108772
>Call the Minister, tell her you may have a working Seer
if anything, he needs protection from Potter and she knows he is fucked in the head right now, she will help us

>>6108772
>> Let it be. Whatever Lockhart is, he doesn’t deserve to be set upon by the Unspeakables

>>6108772
>> Call the Minister, tell her you may have a working Seer
She hasn't dissapointed us yet, but if she does I'll call for monumental revenge.

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>>6108772
Hahaha. Knew Lockhart would be important. Giggled at thinking he was so good with Obliviate that he went full circle from being a hack to being some kind of rule breaking BS prophet or something. Also, fuck Harry even more for using a dude with magic brain damage to predict shit like that for him. Hell Harry might be part of why Lockhart stays in St. Mungo's, advised him to not asked to be discharged so he would be in a sterile environment to produce his paintings. Or maybe it is the fact that this place is right above Avalon, Merlin's hidy hole and somewhere he used the stage of Rubedo to look forward that has some effect on Gilderoy? The fact this place is just naturally resistant to outside magical influence... like prophesies no longer being able to be formed. Like if he left here he would no longer be able to make these paintings.

>Ask if he doesn't mind us looking through his collection. See if there is anything useful there, something that might give a clue to where Potter is. Take another look at the painting he gave you when you return to the school.

> Call the Minister, tell her you may have a working Seer. Make sure she knows it may only be working due to where he is and his brain being in the condition it is in. No legilimency, no Veritiserum. Maybe a few new "fans" coming to visit however. If Potter has been using him like this... others could as well and he might be a target to keep him from helping to find Harry. Might need a couple of discrete guards. Even we were able to break in here after all.

>>6108901
supporting these too

>>6108772
>> Let it be. Whatever Lockhart is, he doesn’t deserve to be set upon by the Unspeakables
Lockhart's a bro. He's happy where he is, we shouldn't ruin that.

>>6109013
>Lockhart's a bro. He's happy where he is, we shouldn't ruin that.

Fair enough, but the guy also loves attention. Was super stoked when we came to visit. A few more "fans" maybe even the Minister herself coming by and asking for a painting would probably make his month. Also, kinda forgot this, what ever we do, we should head upstairs and get everyone some ice cream. I'm sure Helga wants chocolate, we can get strawberry, and what ever Linda and Gil wants.

Was also thinking, the only ones who can host a mind spirits are children or people who have had their minds destroyed. We have all the founders accounted for, but who is to say Lockhart didn't end up with a shard of Merlin in him when he was still retarded? One that could create paintings like this? He is living right above Avalon and such.

>>6109024
>A few more "fans" maybe even the Minister herself coming by and asking for a painting would probably make his month.
It might, and if it was just that then I'd be fine with it. But if the unspeakables are set upon him, which I feel like they will as soon as the Ministry knows someone is still making prophecies, I get the feeling it won't be happy visits asking for autographs and paintings.

Put it this way: If Linda or Arty or someone else we were close to suddenly got this ability would we be comfortable trusting the Ministry with that information?

>>6109024
>who is to say Lockhart didn't end up with a shard of Merlin in him when he was still retarded?
maybe we could test that? perhaps Helga could stare into his eyes and if she feels anything, that would be a clear indication

>>6109033
>would we be comfortable trusting the Ministry with that information?

Kind of a toss up. The ministry has given us issues. Ron distracted us while his Aurors planted tracking bugs on us. Several of Hermione's rouge Aruors were trying to abduct and torture us. We, IC, know Crouch had help to escape and possibly be able to impersonate Robard. At the same time, Hermione trusted us with the knowledge of what really happened to the Dementors and Voldemort; the dementor thing was explicitly stated to be beyond top secret, and I am sure that the Voldy one is even higher. Has promised us battle training and to pay for Occulemency lessons. Had a strike team, 4 technically, take down Crouch who is about the second-strongest person we faced, even with a fucked up wand.

We only have so many resources as a 16-year-old boy. We know Potter is fucking with things he should not be, even if I have no clue how he will mess with the Cup of Promises when four of the greatest wizards of all time which could use Ancient Magic were not able to destroy or neutralize it. We just saw, if we believe, Lockhart is some weird variation of a seer and that we will be going to Atlantis to fight the strongest wizard alive and need to deal with the Merlin-Beast. Think we need all the options we can get, all the info. And I did make it clear that Lockhart shouldn't be abducted in my idea. That him being here and in this state of mind is likely important.

>>6109042
I think it only works with the spirits of the Founders but she could try when she is done with Raven; she is our expert on prophesy crap.

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I wonder if when we head back to Hogwarts, regardless of how this choice pans out if we should go try to have a chat with McGonagall. She was extremely regretful that we had to deal with all this BS that lead to Avalon, was implied to be so distraught she let the poly juiced Crouch into her school to the point Hermione though she might resign. We haven't had terribly many interactions with her, but she did help take down Salazar's men, protected us. Let her know she is doing a good job with a crisis which makes Voldemort look cute. She will be a powerful ally in the coming fight and is one of the most skilled witches around, lived through 3 different wars. Recommend instituting battle class once more to help with what is coming. She might not want children to have to fight but I don't think we will have a choice.

OP?

>>6110367
You filled my heart with joy at the little icon on 4ChanX turning robin's egg blue than ripped it away when it wasn't a new update.

>>6110367
It’s only been two days. He’s probably fine, give him time.

>>6110385
You should have suspected when there was only one post, anon, as I am chronically unable to write short posts. We could probably count the number of single-post updates in this quest in a single hand.

>>6110406
What? Shit, I could swear it was one and a half days ago, not two. Time is fucking bulshit.


--

You breathe deeply and pull out the coin Granger gifted you, tapping it with your wand. You don’t like doing it, but you can’t simply not follow up with the possibility of a seer on a sea of blind prophets.

“No rush. Entrance to Janus Thickey Ward. I may have a working seer.”

It takes one and a half minutes by the clock on the wall for the Minister’s husband to appear climbing up the stairs.

“You know our agenda for the day is already full, right?” Ron asks.

“Seers deal with important moments in time. This is a pretty important moment and this is an important place. I wouldn’t say this is exactly unexpected.”

“Every day and place is important to someone, kid.”

“Yeah, but not everyone is holding Excalibur.”

“Fair enough. So, who is it?”

“A patient from this ward. One that shouldn’t be disturbed, or taken to the Unspeakables to have his brain prodded.”

“I don’t think this is your decision to make, Elliot. The situation you’ve told us is dire, if he can-”

“He’s a man that needs his rest. That needs to be cared for the way a healer cares for their patients, not the way a government cares for its people.” You look at him disapprovingly. “I know you once placed tracking bugs on me. I have not forgotten that.”

“One of the most Ancient and fundamental pieces of our magical system had come to a sudden halt, and we believed you were at the center of it. Can you blame us?”

“Yes, I can. You did it For the Greater Good, after all. Your brother attacked me and my friends for the same reason.”

Ronald Weasley examines you from head to toe looking impressed, even if offended.

“Harry taught you well.”

“Mom and dad, actually. History and Law churn out one hell of a combination.”

He sighs. “Look, I can’t tell you what Mione is going to do. I don’t know what her plans are, or what she’ll find necessary to do.”

“Then tell her that his powers, if that’s what they really are, only work because he is where he is. Above Avalon, in a place of quiet and peace. You break that, you break into his mind, he can lose that power. A few new visitors, at most, and a few extra guards.”

“Is that true?”

“I told you it is.”

He shakes his head, but he is smiling.

“Very well.”

You pull Excalibur off its sheath and hold it with the hilt turned towards him.

“Swear it. On Excalibur.”

“Is this one of those cursed artifacts where if I’m lying it will chop off my head?”

“Are you someone for whom the answer would make a difference?”

The grin turns into a smile.

[Cont.]

>>6110463

“That part was definitely Harry.”

“Nope, sorry. Still mom and dad.”

He holds onto the hilt of Excalibur.

“I promise to do my best that your seer is not hurt.”

You put the sword back where it belongs.

“It will remember that.”

“And so will I. Now, who is it?”

You start walking and he follows.

“Your old teacher.”

He stops.

“What!?”

--

You look through the paintings and they all have an obvious subject. The central piece is always Lockhart, with small differences, doing many different things, clearly as the stand-in for whomever was the actual subject of the painting. There are two main groups of paintings, that you can see. Some are of strange adventures that you remember reading had actually involved him, back when he was still healthy. Others where from normal scenes from the hospital, people watching the roads below, people at the cafe, people mourning patients.

Only one catches your attention.

A blond man and someone else, opening a door into a great emerald flame, the date scribbled in the back not too long before you had first discovered the entrance to Avalon.

Ron awkwardly chats with him, and once you’re certain he won’t kidnap him or something, you ask Lockhart if he could please make a picture for you much like he’d done for his other fan, to which he eagerly agrees, then leave them be. When you return to Linda’s room, you find her peacefully sleeping in her bed.

“Hey,” Helga says, adjusting her glasses as she stands up from where she was sitting. “You look strange. Any news?”

“Uh… You could say that.”

It is a few minutes later and you’re once again saying goodbye to Lockhart.

“No, I couldn’t feel anything on him. And paintings… that doesn’t seem very seer-like.”

“Neither was what you did.”

“But I had the power of Merlin.”

“He has the power of Art.”

She squints at you.

“Fine,” you say, surrendering. “If not a seer, then what?”

“I don’t know. You know who he reminded me of? That blond woman from Slughorn’s party.”

“Ms. Lovegood? They look nothing alike.”

“No, not that. Just… Something about them.”

“Well, they do say her nickname in school was Looney.”

“Now that’s just rude.”

--

You and Helga sleep at St. Mungo’s on a side bed, and when you wake up early you pass by Lockhart to see he is still where he belongs, though now there are at least two new patients and two nurses you hadn’t seen before, all who carefully watch you as you walk by. Satisfied he was both there and safe with the Ministry’s new guards, you make your way out the front door, then run to the nearest market.

You are there before Linda wakes up.

“Hey,” she says, stretching. You notice she doesn’t have bags under her eyes for the first time in a while. “How long was I out?”

[Cont.]

>>6110468

“Twelve hours or so. Breakfast?”

“That is a tub of ice cream.”

“Incorrect. That is a tub of muggle ice cream, filled with awfully unhealthy and tasty things magic never managed to replicate.” You nod towards Helga, who is collapsed on a couch, mouth covered in chocolate, asleep and hugging a half-eaten tub of her own. “She got a headstart on us while still half-asleep, can you believe that?”

“I don’t blame her.” She takes the 1 liter pot of ice cream and shoves an enormous spoonful in her mouth. “-ank -ou.”

“You’re welcome. Treat this as my apology for putting you into the shittiest situations known to man. And I am sorry, Linda. I should have been a better friend.”

Finishes chewing on her ice cream and swallows, then looks into the distance.

“You could have.”

You raise an eyebrow.

“I mean, I agree and you are within your right to say it, but I admit I wasn’t expecting you to do so."

She laughs. “I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, you could have been a better friend but… That would have taken you reading my mind, which seems inappropriate.”

“I should have seen-”

“Bulshit. And you know it. I didn’t say anything.”

“You shouldn’t have to. I wasn’t there for you as much as you were for me. I have Arty to keep me company and…”

And you have me. That’s what you think, but don’t say. The flow of friendship of her with Arty, Apollo, Helga, even Brighton, goes through you. Even the Raiders, it was through you. When you weren’t there for her, she and the others didn’t exactly bond. When Taylor was alive you three were there for each other, and that was enough. Now…

“And I can get lost in my own bullshit.”

“You are trying to save the world.”

“That’s a nice excuse for me to use with someone I don’t care about as much as I care about you. But I can’t say that. You were fraying and I didn’t notice, and even after Avalon I got too excited about owning Excalibur to do something about it. When you asked us to do something, I made a party about me being king.”

“Yeah, that was a little insensitive,” she agrees, shoveling more ice cream on her mouth.

“So I promise I’ll be a better friend. And when Helga wakes up I’ll give her permission to hex me if I’m not.”

“Ohh, can I choose the hex?”

“As long as we learned it before fifth year, yes.”

“Ahhhh, but those are the most fun ones!”

Linda is released in the afternoon, and you return through the Floo. McGonagall meets you in her room, and apologizes for allowing it to happen under her care.

[Cont.]

>>6110470

“I've offered to release my seat, but the Minister insisted we couldn’t afford to have an untested Headmaster at times like this,” she says bitterly. “So, against my wishes, I shall remain.”

“Headmistress, I will have you know that those were my charms he bypassed,” Helga says, and for a moment, somehow, you can swear Helga is the tallest of the two. “I have failed far more and far more profusely than you, when I was far more powerful. I have watched you lead this school. To be the Head of Hogwarts is to be in the highest position of failure. It is inevitable. You shall fail again and again, because evil dislikes the good we do here, and it is as clever and inventive as we are. But you, Minerva McGonagal, above all else and all others, have fixed the rot that plagued Slytherin since my friend created it, a house that produced someone that saved the world twice instead of putting it in danger. You are doing a fine job.”

And when you leave her office, the Headmistress holds her head just a tiny bit higher.

--

As soon as you arrive in the dungeons, Arty is there to greet you.

“Finally! Don’t you know it’s impolite to make a girl wait?” She asks with mock annoyance. “Come on!”

She pulls you three throughout the castle, refusing to explain what is going on until you reach Charms.

“Excuse me, professor. Can I have Brighton and the Notts, please? The Headmistress requested it.”

Brighton leaves the class looking annoyed.

“You know, you don’t need me for this.”

“Shush, you’re part of this now.”

Another stop at History of Magic to pick up Apollo, then another by the Gryffindor Common Room to pick up Riley, for some reason. Then she drags the small entourage of people all the way to Hogsmead, then to the Hog’s Head Inn, through the fireplace, until finally-

“Here we are! Diagon Alley!” She says, cheery.

“And what are we doing here again?” Winter Nott asks, clearly confused from being here with this particular group of people.

“We are having a girls’ day.”

“And, uh, what’s girl’s day?” Asks Summer.

“Muggle tradition! It’s when we go out shopping for clothes and they carry the bags behind us while we go on to buy more things. Elliot’s mom told me all about it when I spent Christmas at his house!”

“Elliot has his Pouch, we don’t need to carry things,” Apollo offers.

“Not the point! Elliot can pay for me and Helga and Linda, Brighton can pay for Winter and Summer and you,” she tosses Apollo a bag of coins. “Can pay for Riley!”

“That sounds wonderful!” Riley says, ecstatic for being included and as Apollo’s… girlfriend? Girl friend? Payee? She clearly isn’t really sure what she is, but given the involvement of the Hog’s Head floo powder, it is clear she was involved in organizing this.

“Good! Then let’s go!”

[Cont.]

>>6110471

You eventually manage to pull Arty aside.

“Are you trying to burn through my allowance? And also, I thought you didn’t like me paying for your stuff!”

“Well, I don’t, but it does make me feel loved, so I figured it would be good for Linda too. And for Helga, because she only has normal school robes to wear unless I lend her some things. And I think it would make them uncomfortable if I didn’t buy anything with them. Besides, if you’re that worried about money, you coul take a part-time job! I hear there is this great place in Hogsmeade that might hire someone to be the subordinate of their part-time waitress.”

“You’re terrible, did you know that?”

“Does that mean you’re not paying for our stuff?” She asks, with the biggest puppy eyes you’ve seen.

You can’t help but groan as your galleons hurt.

“Fine. But I’ll remember this, and one day, when we become rich from the royalties of our adventures, I’ll spend your half of the fortune.”

“Deal!” And she turns to the two girls looking at her without knowing how to proceed, and to Helga who is hiding a snicker from knowing you brought this upon yourself, and Linda who is just plain amused, and shouts “Now, as I was saying... Let’s go!”

And so, you spend the rest of your afternoon, carrying bags upon bags of stuff.

You probably don’t have anything you’ll be able to actively buy with the cost of three girls upon your allowance, but is there anything you want to do while you’re at the Diagon Alley?

> Try to hear what people say about the Boy Who Holds Excalibur
> Check if the news of Crouch’s death has arrived, and how the Daily Prophet has spun it
> Window-shop something in specific for you (What?)
> Try to get some specific item for Arty, Helga or Linda (What?)

>>6110472
>Check if the news of Crouch’s death has arrived, and how the Daily Prophet has spun it.
As much as i want to buy the girls something, hearing what the government and media says about crouch feels like a priority to me, im like 95% sure he IS dead, but i want that 100...

>>6110472
> Check if the news of Crouch’s death has arrived, and how the Daily Prophet has spun it

>>6110472
>> Window-shop something in specific for you (Shield Hat from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes)
Gotta prepare for that hex from Helga

>>6110472
> Check if the news of Crouch’s death has arrived, and how the Daily Prophet has spun it

>>6110482
She had 3 strike teams of magic special forces hit him all at once. Only way I could see that him being alive is via Horcrux or the 91 we got sill not being enough and alive is being apparated by Winky and leaving a double, but after he died he should have reverted to his true form. He might have recruited some people, old Death Eaters or Neilla, however.

>>6110472
How many can we do. I mean window shopping is kind of passive, feels like it should almost be a free action.

Will decide after.

A protego hat that looks like Indian Jones would be based as fuck...

I do want to help get stuff for Helga, maybe a small hair clip for Arty, something cheap but nice for Linda.

Will think.

Also, it was stated Helga wants to grow her hair out. Aren't there specific spells or potions that would let her just do that instantlt.

If we split up, we also need a code word to ensure no one was polyjuiced or something while not around us. "Cailiburn" or something.

>>6110472
>Check if the news of Crouch’s death has arrived, and how the Daily Prophet has spun it.
also backing >>6110510

>>6110509
>I mean window shopping is kind of passive, feels like it should almost be a free action.
I think it's less about how many actions it takes and more about where QM focuses his writing.

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>>6110472
> Window-shop something in specific for you (What?)

Leather hat, Indiana Jones style with a Protego Charm on it.

>>6110920
Or I guess felt, W/E

hey, HeadQM, i was working on my next update for my own quest when i noticed something, i saw what you did when you described the Slug Club a few threads back, you cheeky, sneaky boy.

>>6111089
Please spoil it.

>>6111098
no spoilers, if you notice it, you´ll know