A Web Of Magic

Magnus was almost about to touch the diadem when he turned his passive Occlumency defense into active. That seemed to do the trick as the compulsion to put it on his head disappeared. 'Damn, such a dangerous artifact! I somehow doubt anything good is going to happen once I put it on. I need to increase the level of my mind arts. Is that the effect of the curse? Why did Ravenclaw curse it?' his mind was filled with a barrage of questions and conjectures. He turned to look at Helena questioningly.

Helena's expression changed from disappointment to horror and finally satisfaction all in a span of few seconds. By the time Magnus looked at her, her face was back to a neutral demeanor. She looked at Magnus's expression and seemed to have guessed his question. She explained, "That is only a part of the curse. I don't know what it does completely. And no, it wasn't mother who cursed it."

Magnus gave her an expression that said "Go on." Helena sighed, there's no point in hiding it. At least he's still a Ravenclaw and her confidant. Imagine if it was known by someone else? House Ravenclaw shouldn't suffer such humiliation! She continued, "It was another man, years before you. He spoke to me kindly, made me feel like he cared and that he was special. I had my doubts, I should've trusted my instincts! But I was too lonely. It'd been ages since someone intelligent spoke to me that well. I thought he just wanted to use the diadem for studies just like the others wanted to. But I was so wrong. He defiled it with dark magic! He ruined the legacy of House Ravenclaw! He ruined mother's legacy!" By the end, Helena was both crying and raging.

Magnus stayed silent for a moment. He had never seen her lose her composure like that. That must have deeply affected her. He wanted to hug her and pat her back, but his hands would just go through her. He settled to just console her with words, "It's alright Helena. That was in the past. We just have to cleanse the diadem and show him that none can defile the honor of Ravenclaw. Show him that a small setback is nothing for you. You'll come out of this better and wiser." Helena calmed down and regained her composure as she said, "Sorry you had to see that Magnus. That's unbecoming of me."

"It's alright. I understand," Magnus replied. He wasn't going to laugh at her because she got duped when she tried to fill her loneliness. Even he would feel lonely once in a while whenever he recalled his parents. 'But what level of curse is this? Must be a pretty high level one if even [Identify] can't make anything out. More importantly, why would someone curse a legendary artifact? What purpose does that fulfill?' he mused.

"Tell me Helena. Who was that man?" Magnus enquired. To know the type of curse and its purpose, he first has to know about the man who did it. Maybe that'd give him a clue.

"He was called Tom Riddle. It was some fifty years before your time. He was very intelligent and even served as Head-boy for his time. Everyone thought highly of him. Too bad that man was just a wolf in disguise. I don't know what became of him later, but I doubt it's anything good," Helena sounded like she wanted him to die a painful death.

"Hmm, maybe the library would have some records. Maybe we'd find some clues if we can find out what classes they taught him at the time? His knowledge had to come from somewhere, right?" Magnus suggested.

"I don't think that would do any good. Mother and the other founders wouldn't want something like that being taught here. I listened to most of the classes taught at Hogwarts for centuries. I still do sometimes. I never found anything like that being taught here. He probably learned that somewhere else," Helena let out a tired sigh.

"You're probably right. But it doesn't hurt to check the library or even the Room of Requirement. We'll find something eventually. If not here, there are plenty of magics around the world that can remove curses. I'll just have to find one and clean up the diadem," Magnus said confidently. His confidence seemed to have given Helena some hope as she nodded her head.

"If you can remove the curse, you can use the diadem if you want to," she offered. Magnus nodded his head. This seemed like a long-term project. And the 15 impact points he got as he neared the diadem seemed to agree with him. They went back to the Ravenclaw tower to deal with it at a later date when they have more information. In the following days Magnus looked for any details regarding Tom Riddle in the castle. He even used Divination to search for information. But he gained nothing more than what Helena already told him.

When he tried Dowsing divination, it always led him to the gargoyle statue leading to Dumbledore's office. He thought it made sense as Dumbledore was the only person in the castle from fifty years ago who still worked here as far as he knew. The man must know about Tom Riddle. But whenever he tried to divine if Dumbledore would tell him about Riddle, it always showed negative. He didn't know why Dumbledore wouldn't tell him, but there was nothing he could do for the moment. He tried some of the healing spells that purified dark magic remnants, but they didn't do much. The curse must be more complex than the typical ones. So, he gave up for now and decided to wait until either his Divination or DADA levels reached high enough to figure something out.

Two weeks later, Magnus got busy brewing the required potion quota to fulfill his agreements with the shops in Diagon Alley. All of his potions passed the test and the first batch was already sold and he received his proceedings in his Gringotts account. When he got his account statement from Gringotts he was both surprised and happy. All of his potion ingredients didn't cost him even half of their selling price. His potions all got sold out both in Slug and Jiggers and in Gambol and Japes. After removing the share of the shops, he received 249 galleons in total. Even deducting the cost of the ingredients, he still made about 120 galleons in profit.

He knew he'd make some profit, but only when he saw the figure in his account did the reality set in. He now had more money than what his family left for him. He made more money in two weeks than the fund the Ministry offered him which was 100 galleons per year. That was an eye-opener. He wouldn't have to depend on anyone else anymore. He wouldn't have to ask Mrs. Weasley for money to spend on whatever he wanted. Slug and Jiggers even sent him the money for the acromantula venom by post. He didn't know if owl post was secure enough for sending money, but he got all of his money without any problem. He knew his potions sold out the first time because they were novel, but he hoped that the sales would maintain a good number. Once he finished brewing the quota, he stored them carefully in his bag and set about to meet Fred and George. It's time to give them their share of the money. 'Hmm, maybe we should celebrate a bit. I did make some money after all.'