Secrets of the Darkest Art [Jenny/Open]

[Amber Black]

Amber had come down to the library earlier than she had been planning to. She had agreed with Jenny to meet at the library after dinner, but dinner had only begun when she came down. She had grabbed a couple of pieces of chicken and a treacle tart to eat as she walked through the corridors. When she finished with her chicken she quickly used magic to make the bones disappear. When she arrived at the library door she still had her treacle tart to eat and took big bites and managed to finish it in a couple of seconds flat. She then entered the library and took out her pieces of parchment which had everything related to necromancy and questions and ideas she had about all of it. It was a rather long list, which Amber made sure no one else saw and kept it close to her at all times in case more ideas came to her when she was in the most random places – like the bathroom for example.

Amber looked around for books in the library, deciding to stay away from the Restricted Section until Jenny arrived. She took out books that made it seem like she was only studying certain things for school, but they were on her list of things related to necromancy. First, she found quite a few books on phoenixes, but only took out a couple which talked of the phoenixes immortality. It was the only known creature which was immortal, which would burn and rise from its ashes. Amber wanted to know how it worked, how was a phoenix able to come to life just from its ashes? Amber had never thought about it before until now and figured she might be able to learn something from it. She then moved away from it and then went over to the defence against the dark arts section and took out books which told of inferi, vampires, zombies and others on the living dead and how one was able to defeat them. Fire, interestingly enough was the only thing which could kill inferi (and most likely also get rid of vampires and zombies). Amber made a strange, possibly useless connection in her mind. Why could inferi be destroyed (she would say killed, but they were technically already dead) by fire, yet Phoenixes rise from the ashes after catching fire. Amber put the word ‘fire/flame’ onto her list and then went to a section in the library where she could learn about fire spells. Yes, it was more than likely fire had nothing to do with necromancy but Amber was determined to learn about everything that could relate even slightly to it.

Amber then looked down her list of things and spotted where she had written Unicorn Blood. Of course, apparently taking unicorn blood can keep a person near death alive. When she had discovered that she had been very angry at herself for not finding it out before her father’s death. Though the person would have a cursed life, at least it would have kept her father alive. Amber pushed those thoughts back as she often did with her thoughts these days and went back to the magical creature section. She placed her pile of books down (which was getting rather large and heavy) and looked through books about unicorns. She only borrowed a couple which had information on unicorn blood. Amber decided for now she had enough books. Although she was tempted to go and find books on amortality, spirits, ghosts and poltergeist. She decided against it and thought that she could go get more books later. She had quite a few books now and she was still in need of at least one book from the restricted section. If only she was allowed in. Amber waved her wand and levitated her large pile of books. She walked over to a desk which was located near the restricted section and sat down at it, her pile of books landing on the table.

Amber went through some of the books, writing down information on her pieces of parchment when necessary. She also wrote some ideas she got, even if they were rather far-fetched. Her eyes kept travelling over to the restricted section. At one point, she even got up and went over and lingered by it, having a look to see if she could see what sort of books there were. She didn’t stay long though and quickly went back to her desk to do some more reading. She looked at her watch a few times, surprised at how slow time seemed to be moving. When she felt like she wasn’t getting anywhere fast, she went back to her list on necromancy and things related to it. Her eyes fell on the resurrection stone and also the wand made of elder. She had come across in the book titled Magick Moste Evile (which she received from home) about a wand which the author owned which was made of elder and was apparently very powerful. In the Tales of Beedle the Bard, the oldest brother had a wand of elder made by Death and was supposed to be incredibly powerful. Recently it had crossed Amber’s mind more than once that the wand could exist, which meant the resurrection stone could exist as well. Then she could get her father back and that was worth more than anything to her.

As she looked down the list, there was one word at the very end which was followed by a question mark. Horcrux. What was a Horcrux? It was a term Amber had once again come across from a dark arts book from home. It didn’t say anything about the Horcrux though and merely mentioned it as something far too dark to actually be talked of. So why mention it in the first place? Amber knew her answers to what it was lied in the restricted section. Not to mention information on how to create inferi and such would most likely be found in there too. Maybe, she could also find out exactly what the elder wand is and anything on a resurrection stone. Amber looked down at her watch. Dinner should soon finish and hopefully Jenny will be here soon so they can figure out what to do and how to get into the restricted section. Hopefully Jenny had some ideas at hand, because Amber was all out. She’d spent all her time thinking of questions about necromancy and souls and didn’t think about how to get into the restricted section without being noticed. Amber noted mentally to learn about invisibility spells and/or how to make an invisibility cloak. She then leaned back in her chair, closing the books, and waited for the younger Slytherin to arrive.

[Jenny Bay]

If life had background music, everything would have been so much more interesting. Jenny mulled over the idea as she wandered towards the library. A wry smile came to Jenny's lips as she realised that with background music a lot fewer people would be eaten by sharks, after all it would be difficult not to hear the music. She wondered what music would be be playing as she wandered down the corridor. She had just finished dinner, although she used the term 'finished' loosely. In reality, Jenny had been able to have only a few slurps of her pumpkin soup before she had given up on eating at all. She had been anticipating the trip to the library ever since she and Amber had planned it. Food simply seemed like a waste of time. After exactly 5 flights of stairs and 1 accidental detour (the stairs always seemed to shift at the most inconvenient of times) Jenny had decided that the song would be one alike to the playlist of Dr Who; not for any particular reason - simply because she had been unable to make up her mind and the soundtrack to Dr Who was frickin' awesome. After coming to her substandard conclusion after putting far too much thought into the matter, she became aware that she had almost reached the library. Inadvertently, her pace slowed a little. Jenny knew that she was early, she had left dinner before a majority of the students.

When she reached the library, she looked around quickly before entering. It wasn't that she felt guilty about what she was doing - after all there wasn't really anything to feel guilty about. All she and Amber were doing was a little research she reasoned with herself. There was no harm in that right? What they were researching may have been slightly on the darker side... and they may have been planning to look in the restricted sections... But that didn't mean they were doing anything wrong did it? The restricted section simply contained books that the professors did not think were suitable for young students. She and Amber were definitely mature enough to handle whatever they would uncover while browsing the section. Jenny would not allow doubt to creep into her mind and quickly entered the library. Scanning the room, she was not surprised to see the library almost completely vacant. A small group of younger students, probably Ravenclaws, had their heads buried in books and were whispering quietly amongst themselves but other than that, the library was practically empty. Except for Amber of course, who sat surrounded by books on one of the tables to Jenny's right.

She was slightly surprised to see that the older girl was already there, having expected she would be at dinner. It seemed that, like Jenny, Amber was eager to begin research into the intriguing topic. Already being plagued by insomnia, it had been unsurprising for Jenny to find that her mind was completely occupied with the idea of resurrection while she lay in bed the previous night; it would not allow her peace. In fact, the idea did not just haunt her through the night, it had plagued her the entire day as well. She had been unable to concentrate on any of the classes she had attended that day and knew that she would have to find someone to copy notes from. Then again, it wasn't like the classes were exactly challenging. After all, because the classes contained students ranging from 1st to 7th year, the professors had to cater for the lowest level. Jenny found that she seldom had to put too much effort into her studies. Recently this year, she had begun to challenge herself by attempting non-verbal magic - an idea actually inspired by observing Amber's attempt. It had given her a focus for the year and succeeded in making classes marginally more interesting. That day though, Jenny had failed even the simplest of spells that she had attempted - her mind had been completely preoccupied by the idea planted in it.

The ideas Jenny had devised during the long night had ranged from vague fantasies to highly thought out logical concepts. She was curious to see whether or not Amber had had any ideas of her own on the topic. Judging from the books surrounding the older girl, Jenny assumed that she had. Heading towards Amber, she greeted the girl with a casual "Hey," before taking a seat and peering over at what the other girl had been working on. She caught a glimpse of a list with Amber's handwriting. She could make out the word 'Horcrux'. That had been one of the mysteries that had intruded into her thoughts the previous night. She had been itching to come to the library and find out what a Horcrux was. The lack of technology at Hogwarts was often a source of frustration to Jenny who had been raised with a Muggle father. Being familiar with the 'Google' research at a library always seemed slow. If she had been able to use the Google at Hogwarts, finding out what a Horcrux was would ahve taken only a matter of seconds. "Have you found anything about Horcruxes yet?" Jenny questioned, wondering exactly how long Amber had been at the library.

Eyeing the books Amber had collected, they didn't look as though they had come from the Restricted Section. Jenny was glad that Amber hadn't ventured into the section without her, not wanting to miss out on the fun. The temptation to head towards the Restricted Section immediately was strong, but would have been brash. Instead she decided to see if Amber had found any information that would be of any use yet. Picking up the closest book to her, Jenny browsed a few of the pages casually. "Found anything yet?" she asked and continued to skim the book. It contained information about unicorn blood, and Jenny was surprised that the other girl had thought of that. The idea had come to Jenny only that morning when she had reviewed her notes on unicorns from a CoMC lesson a few days ago. However, she was adamantly against using unicorn blood. Jenny completely refused. Just reading the information in the book made her stomach turn. She had always loved unicorns, in awe of their innocence and purity. The thought of slaughtering them for personal gain was... wrong. She tried not to let her emotions show on her face though as she slowly closed the book and placed it back on the table.

It was curious that she should feel so strongly about preserving innocence and purity - all that the unicorn represented - while undergoing research into raising the dead. Jenny was able to admit to herself that resurrection was in a moral grey area, however, she did not see it as something inherently bad. If the people performing the resurrection were doing it out of love, there could be nothing wrong with that right? Love was something pure, something good. Jenny loved her mother with her entire heart. The fact that she was endeavouring to raise her mother from the dead could not possibly be evil. Although she might be looking into using the means of dark magic to obtain her goal it was all for the greater good. She also knew that whether she was a part of this or not, Amber would continue to delve into the topic and Jenny did not want to miss out on that.

[Amber Black]

Amber heard a greeting and looked over to see Jenny had joined her. “Hi,” Amber said. She noticed the younger girl eyeing her list and Amber let her. It’s not like anything on the list was that secretive anyway. It was only a whole bunch of stuff that was connected to necromancy...or seemed like it could be connected in some way. Whether or not any of the things on the list could help was debatable. Amber took a careful look at her list again, wondering if there was anything else that could possibly be added.

Immortality
Lord Voldemort (attempted to become immortal? Didn’t die first time, why?)
Regeneration Potion
Rudimentary body potion
Phoenix (literally immortal, rises from ashes) (rises from flames?)
Unicorn (blood, half-life, cursed life)
Souls
Dementors
Person can live without soul, though no memories or nothing
possible to put another soul into empty body?^
Resurrection Stone? (Tales of Beedle the Bard – the three brothers)
Fidelius Charm (implants secret onto persons soul)
Death
Avada Kedavra
Living dead: Inferi, Vampires, Zombies (all killed by flames?), charmed skeletons.
Life
Amortal
Ghosts
spirits
Poltergeist
Philosopher’s Stone
fire
wand made of Elder extremely powerful (Tales of Beedle the Bard, brother had elder wand?)
thestral
limbo
TerrorTours – Zombie Trail (get a zombie!)
Horcrux?? (find out what it is)

Jenny questioned about the horcruxes which didn’t surprise Amber. Amber simply shook her head in reply. It frustrated her that she still didn’t have even the smallest speck of idea of what it could be. Why didn’t any book say anything about them? Amber noticed Jenny pick up the book on unicorn blood. Amber knew that drinking the blood meant living a half and cursed life, but Amber was the type not to care. She would do anything to succeed in her project and it didn’t matter what she had to do. If she had to kill a unicorn to do it, she would. However, she still wasn’t completely cruel and she preferred to leave something like that as a last resort.

As Amber looked at her list and she stopped at thestral. She wondered if they could be best killed by fire. It wasn’t that she was planning on doing that, just the whole connection with fire being related to necromancy was still twisting through her mind like a plague. “Do you think fire could have a connection with necromancy?” Amber decided to ask the younger girl. It was probably best to get another person’s opinion, “I mean inferi, zombies and vampires are the living dead and the only way to kill them is with fire. But then you have phoenixes, the only immortal creature to ever live, actually rises from the ashes after burning.” Then Amber wondered if mixing phoenix DNA with a human could work, but that might have to require muggle technology and was not something Amber wanted to use. She pushed that thought aside.

Amber was quite amused by the TerrorTours zombie trail. She would like to go on that particular tour. However, apparently you may not necessarily live through the experience. Amber was certain she could take on a few lousy zombies though, especially after reading up on them. It would be great if she could get hold on one and dissect it. She figured getting her hands on an actual zombie would help them out with their whole necromancy study. They would have to travel during a summer though or when they were both out of school as she doubted they would be allowed to go during school time. Unless they went on it for an excursion, but she doubted the Professors would even consider it due to its danger.

Amber’s eyes travelled over to the restricted section and she wondered whether they should try entering it yet or not. Amber looked around the library and it seemed quite deserted.
“How do you want to go about this?” Amber asked Jenny casually. She grabbed one of the nearby books on her table and opened it up. She didn’t pay attention to it though as she was still eyeing the restricted section. She was determined to get the book ‘Secrets of the Darkest Arts’. She was certain it contained incredibly useful information. She flexed her fingers at the thought of finally getting a hold of the book. She knew she had it somewhere at home as well, though her mother would never give it to her if she sent an owl asking for it. Quite the opposite, her mother would probably burn it or hide it away. Of course, instead of going to the restricted section she could always just wait until school holidays. Amber was usually patient, but at the moment she wasn’t. She was itching to find out the information, especially on horcruxes.

Amber took another look around the library, and then she looked at her watch. There was still a little bit of time before dinner was over. If they did it now, when there was no one in the library, there was less risk of being caught. If they wait for too much longer, then dinner will end and there are quite a few people who come to the library after dinner. Namely Ravenclaws. “We need to do this quickly,” Amber said to Jenny, “Maybe one of us should go in and the other could keep watch?” Amber wasn’t quite sure which the younger girl would be better at doing. Amber would preferably keep watch as she would be very good with stalling any Professors that would come by, by questioning them and lying smoothly to make sure Jenny could then have enough time to go in and out of the restricted section. On the other hand, the other girl might be too scared to go into the restricted section and would prefer to keep an eye out and stall if possible. Amber would then have to go straight into the restricted section which she could do, but there would be a bigger chance of her getting into trouble. She wouldn’t exactly be too crazy about it, but she decided to wait for the younger Slytherin to reply or maybe come up with a better plan.