LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 12: The Trial of Magic (U)
A/N: The U in the brackets stands for unedited. I will come back and some point and edit it properly. Till then just bear with errors.
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No matter how many times she used the Room of Requirements, it didn’t cease to amaze her. Simply based on the wishes of the user it can morph itself into so many different things. And it always, always understood the user’s desire to an uncanny degree. To a degree, that, perhaps even the user did not.
So it was no wonder that she really wanted to know how this room came to be. Was it like many fanfictions would have you believe? That this was in fact, the Ravenclaw equivalent of Chamber of Secrets? That it was meant for young ravens who sought knowledge and stumbled upon it?
Or was it born due to Hogwarts being as magical as it was? Ginny felt that the latter theory had at least some credit to it. There was a growing suspicion in her mind that Hogwarts was not as simple as the books and movies made it seem.
Or was the Come and Go Room perhaps entirely different? To find out she used the most straightforward way: she asked it.
She walked past the wall thrice, while she focused her mind as much as possible to convey her intent, ‘I want to understand how the room works… I want to understand how the room works… I want to understand how the room works…’
Just like usual, a door appeared. But this door was very different from the one that usually appeared. For one, this door was far more intricate, embossed with beautiful silver patterns, which very strangely seemed to flow. Like mercury.
‘... F*ck, is that untreated goblin silver?!’ her eyes nearly popped out of her sockets. ‘This is f*cking untreated goblin silver! Used for decoration.’
She really, really wanted to tear this door off its hinges right there.
Goblin silver was very expensive. But untreated goblin silver? That was priceless. Goblins never, ever sell untreated goblin silver.
Goblin silver was a very powerful magical metal that was quintessential when making a powerful magical artefact. It was the absolute best possible metal in the entire wizarding world. But what is even better is untreated goblin silver. It’s not any better in terms of magical activity. Nor was it more durable. There was only one thing that made it better. Adaptability. A one time adaptability that allowed to suit the magic of the artefact being created perfectly, allowing for a perfect match with its magic. After which, it would become ordinary goblin silver.
In muggle terms, it was a superconductor that was superconductive only when you apply a very specific current, frequency and voltage.
Even the highest quality goblin silver had some degree of resistance which sort of added up to a very significant amount of resistance.
Barely suppressing her greed, she quickly ran inside. She was afraid she would not be able to bear it any longer. ‘One day, I’m definitely gonna get that door.’ She made a very strange promise to herself.
Inside, she found a large table, a rather comfy looking chair and finally a small bookshelf with only 2 books in it, one titled ‘The Intent Amplifier’ and one without any titles on it. Making herself comfortable in the chair, which remarkably shifted slightly to fit her current stature making her comfy and at the same time it supported her body so that she was in the best possible position at all times. One who had this chair would never suffer from back problems.
After thinking for a while she decided to take a look at the untitled book - which actually looked more like a diary now that she looked closely.
She flipped open the cover. The first page of the diary had a sentence that was written in a crisp hand, beautiful and elegant, but was apparently struck out with much greater force:
‘Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure’
Was scratched out. And beneath it, ‘Perhaps not’ was written with an obviously trembling hand by the same person.
She already had a very good idea of what was going on, but decided to read through it anyway.
Just as any fan of the Harry Potter franchise would have guessed: this was the diary of the one and only Rowena Ravenclaw and during her last few years at that. At the start, the diary was simply a place where Rowena liked to put down her ideas, thoughts, epiphanies and revelations she had in her pursuit to understand Magic. Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Dark Arts and their counters, Alchemy. All sorts of insights about magic and the way it worked were written down by Rowena. Some Ginny could understand immediately, some she would have to ponder on for a while before it finally clicked, sometimes she had to cast magic to see how it worked, but most went right over her head, especially alchemy. In fact, whatever she could understand was thanks to Riddle. If she had only her own meagre expertise, she would have chucked it across the room in frustration.
As she read through, Ginny realised due to her perspective that Rowena’s tone was changing slightly, slowly her thoughts turned more and more emotional, until suddenly there was a sentence that stuck out like a sore thumb between Rowena’s elegant hand, ‘I don’t have much time.’
After that it was basically about how much she missed her daughter and longed to see her just one more time. She poured out her deepest regrets. How she wished she was a better mother. A better teacher.
Towards the end something that made Ginny doubt her life appeared. The first few words were pretty normal, expressing her concern for Helena’s well-being after she was gone. And then a giant bomb was dropped with no foreshadowing at all.
‘That blockhead father of hers would rather chase after his snakes than his own daughter!’
Ginny set the diary down and rubbed her eyes and picked it up again.
The sentence did not change.
She set it down again, took a deep breath in and -
“AAAAAGHHH!!!!” screamed her lungs out.
-x-x-x-
It took her a few days to reconcile the fact that Salazar Slytherin and Rowena Ravenclaw were a thing. She would never look at the Grey Lady the same again.
But due to this revelation she had a new pastime. She had a fabulous time imagining all sorts of drama involving the Founders. It was her ardent belief that she would give that Skeeter woman a run for her money with all the juicy situations that popped up in her mind.
Soon, she returned to the Room to read the rest of Rowena’s diary. In which she discovered that the Room of Requirement was the place that held her Magnum Opus: the Intent Amplifier. It was a Room that allowed for the user to amplify their intent artificially and experience a higher level of magic casting. An experience they could later use to quickly make progress in their magic.
In short, it was supposed to be a sort of training amplifier.
Well that was what it was supposed to be. The thing is, Rowena failed. Partially. Intent was far too personal for any outside force to augment effectively. So what she ended up making was a prototype of the embryonic form of the Room of Requirements. The Room of Requirement was slowly nurtured by Hogwarts’ powerful magic into what it was today.
Her eyes burned as she realised that the amplifier was absolutely perfect for her! It was not able to do it because it was an external force. If she could create one and assimilate it…
A brilliant smile appeared on her face. Her eyes hungrily zoned in on the book titled, ‘Intent Amplifier’
Without wasting a single second she picked up the book and opened it excitedly, only to find out that it was written in code.
“F**k! Rowena, you damned tease!” she nearly threw the book.
After cursing Rowena to the deepest of hells, she put the book down and picked up the diary again.
It was then she found out, at the end of the diary, that she had left a series of trials for a future inheritor. That was when she realised that this diary was meant for a potential inheritor to find. It was a way of giving both benefit and warning. The benefit being her insights into magic and the warning to not lose sight of what’s most important: family and friends.
She did not say it explicitly, but bared her deepest feelings to the reader; hoping perhaps, that, in this way they would heed her.
Ginny did not need to be told that. In her previous life, there was no one she could truly care for, being an orphan. Now, she had a great family that loved her dearly. She had everything she wanted and she wouldn’t let it go. No matter what.
“Hmm… perhaps I’ll find the code in the inheritance?” she mused. She could of course try and decipher it herself; with her hyper-cognition it was entirely possible. But she did not want to waste her time on it. Even with the tremendous advancement in stats, she could not use her hyper-cognition freely. She needed to grow much stronger for that.
As she read the last few pages of Rowena’s diary, she figured that Rowena had left clues that would lead a potential inheritor to the Room of Hidden Things. And after having used it, if they had the right mindset - one that Rowena valued - and wished to understand how it works, it would lead them to this room.
It was just that Ginny was a cheater and directly came to the Room. Even Rowena might not have thought of a bizarre phenomenon like transmigration. And let’s not even talk about the fact this world was a book for muggles’ amusement in another world.
“Even Luna might not be able to come up with something so wacky.”
Then she got up, and walked around the room, carefully surveying it for a while before stopping in front of the wall. She walked closer, and caressed the wall with her fingertips, feeling the tingling sensation of the Room’s magic entangling with her own she directed through her fingers. Another thing that she gained from assimilating the basilisk was that she no longer felt restricted when her magic was constrained in her body. She could even direct it through her body parts, concentrating her magic and therefore boosting Magical Perception immensely. Like she was doing right now through her fingertips.
This was much like what Dumbledore does at the entrance and while finding the chain of the boat when he goes to the cave with Harry to retrieve Slytherin's fake locket.
After hours of patiently searching, she finally found what she was looking for. Pulling out her wand she pointed it at the wall, poking it. She pushed her magic through her wand and into the wall and whispered. “Man’s greatest treasure is not wit beyond measure.”
Immediately, she felt the low rumble of shifting stones, the vibration echoing inside her. The stones in front of her slid over each other configuring themselves into the form of a majestic eagle, which raised its head and proudly peered down at Ginny.
“Welcome, inheritor. You are the first in a few centuries to have qualified for the inheritance of Ravenclaw.” it spoke in a haughty manner, “Be warned however, that regardless of whether you refuse or accept to participate, you will be bound by an oath that will disallow you from informing anyone else in any way, shape or form about this Trial. This oath will bind you for the rest of your life or until you complete all the Trials. Now, do you wish to take the Trial?”
“Yes.” she nodded firmly.
“Very well. The First Trial, The Trial of Magic. The content is simple enough to understand: You must create your own spell within the next two years. The specific type of spell will be decided randomly after you have signed this contract.” a piece of parchment appeared in front of her.
She nodded and carefully read through the contract and used Hyper-cognition at full power to check if there were any possible loopholes that might be of harm to her. She found none and, therefore, signed it by dropping a drop of her blood. The writing on the contract glowed a few times before it burned up.
“Contract acknowledged.” The eagle nodded, “Potential inheritor, Ginevra Molly Weasley, aged 11, first-year student. Trial of Magic. Task: create a spell, type: sound, duration: 2 years.”
“I wish you well, inheritor. May you succeed.” saying so it disassembled itself and fused back into the wall.
“Huh. Spell creation.” she spoke to herself as she walked over to the bookshelf, which was now filled with books on spell creation, from utter noob to expert spell creator, many were penned by Rowena herself. A few by Slytherin and Gryffindor and one by Helga. A large number of the remaining were penned by other famous magicals.
Her eyes lit up in ecstasy as her fingers brushed across the tomes. Just this was great enough as a reward. She wondered what she would get if she actually completed the trial.
-x-x-x-
It was three days after accepting the Trial that she lay on the shore of the Great Lake, amusing herself by watching Gwen destroy Aileen in a snowball fight when suddenly, popped out a Luna, who looked at her and asked very seriously, “What did you do to yourself?”
That’s when she realised: she f*cked up.