A Web Of Magic

The next morning didn't do much to alleviate Magnus's sorrow. He was lost in a haze. The others gave him some space to make peace with his situation. It was only on the morning of the third day that he got better and started talking to the others again.

"I see you made peace with your heart Magnus," Mr. King spoke to him while they ate a breakfast of bread and some soup.

"What else can I do?" Magnus replied sadly.

"We all have to face such a situation some time in life young Magnus. Yours just came very early. Have a strong heart, you will come out of this stronger," Mr. King advised.

"Can you tell me who those dark wizards are?" Magnus asked hopefully.

"I can see fire in your eyes my boy. Revenge will not solve your loss. You are in no position to even attempt it. Let it go for now. The group calls themselves The Widowed Hags. We do not know how many of them there are. Leave them to the Ministry young Magnus. They have trained Aurors for this sort of thing. The Hags will be brought to justice. You have a whole life ahead of you young Magnus. It is not wise to rush to your demise," Mr. King cautioned.

Realizing that there was nothing he could do now; Magnus could only hide his thoughts of revenge in his heart. No one would support a child in such matters. 'Wait till I grow up and learn magic. I'll find you if the Ministry doesn't,' he promised in his heart.

"Can you teach me how to do magic?" Magnus asked hopefully. The thought of sitting still and not doing anything to apprehend those murderers didn't sit well with him. The sooner he learned magic the better.

"That would have to wait till you start school young Magnus. Do not be impatient. I heard that you were accepted into Hogwarts. It is a fine institution, I'm sure they'd teach you well," Mr. King advised. It would not do well to learn magic on a burdened mind, especially when one was so young.

"Hogwarts? But how and when did that happen? My parents didn't tell me!" Magnus exclaimed in surprise.

"I do not know why they didn't tell you Magnus. Maybe they wanted it to be a surprise? Have patience lad, you are still young" Mr. King offered.

"Please. I don't want to feel so powerless. Teach me something. You people aren't using a wand for magic. At least teach me how to do that. Back home they say we cannot use magic without a wand," Magnus pleaded.

"Ah that is a misconception of most European wizards. Magic can be used without a wand it just needs good practice from young. Don't get me wrong though. Wands are a great tool for wizards. There's a reason the European Ministries of Magic have such influence over the rest of the world. How about this? You help us in our investigation and I'll give you a reward that'd help you learn magic," Mr. King offered.

"Alright. What do you want me to do?" Magnus asked with renewed hope.

"We need you to recall the memory of the hag Magnus. We need to know what they wanted. You are the only proper lead left," Mr. Bad explained.

"I tried to recall before, but it is very hard and painful. Can't you do it with magic?" Magnus replied.

"While there are methods of extracting memories, the traditional methods aren't suited to be used on children Magnus. The side effects could be very harmful. So, I'll employ another method. Don't worry, it is very safe. I just need you to relax and cooperate," Mr. King further explained.

"Ok. What should I do?" Magnus agreed.

Mr. King gestured for Akina and Shiza who were sitting nearby and took out an incense from somewhere. He placed the lit incense in front of Magnus and instructed," Palo Copal incense, very rare yet very effective. Take deep and slow breaths young Magnus. Listen to my voice and I'll guide you."

Magnus followed the instructions and soon he entered a deep trance.

"Go to the day your family came to Egypt Magnus. Think of what happened that day and tell me what you see," Mr. King asked in a hypnotic voice.

"We came to Egypt using a portkey. My parents came to Egypt to search for something. They wouldn't tell me what. They said it was a surprise, that it'd help us in the future," Magnus replied softly in a trance.

"Go on what happened next," Mr. King encouraged.

"We stayed in a hotel near the Ministry. We went to look at the pyramids. We toured for two days. Then they got a message asking them to come to a hotel for some exchange," Magnus replied still in a trance.

"Good, now where was this hotel? Walk me through what happened afterwards," Mr. King suggested.

"It was near Al-Azhar street. We went to that hotel and waited for someone to come. Then there was shouting and bright light. And then pain. I woke up on a table. I couldn't move or scream. Some woman with no teeth and wrinkles was carving something on my body. It was so painful. There was chanting and I was put in a cauldron with hot liquid. It was too hot; it burned my skin. Then she started laughing and chanting…." Tears streamed down Magnus's cheeks as he seemed to relive the pain. He was shaking and almost came out of the trance.

"It's alright Magnus, it's all in the past. You are safe now. Just one more thing Magnus and we'll be done. What was she chanting?" Mr. King encouraged while signaling to Akina who was ready to hold Magnus.

"…bones of the warriors, unknowingly taken…"

"…blood of the beasts, unwillingly given…"

"…eyes of the scholar, unwittingly olden"

"…flesh of the changeling, greed forsaken…"

"…soul of the lost, early unladen…"

"Rise my brave warrior…"

"Rise my wise scholar…"

"Rise my loving husband…"

By the time Magnus finished, he was shaking badly. Mr. King waved a hand towards him which put him to sleep.

"Was that all necessary. Poor boy is still a child," Akina reprimanded.

"We did what was necessary Akina. There's no other choice. You know that if it was the aurors they'd do much worse things. There's a reason we were called. Now put him to bed. Let him sleep it off. He shall be fine in no time," Mr. King explained. Akina did as instructed.

"How is it master? Did you get what you were looking for? Do you recognize the ritual?" Shiza enquired. He knew that his master had his reasons and he wasn't emotional unlike his sister.

"It's both better and worse than I thought," Mr. King sighed.

"is it a forbidden ritual?" Shiza asked.

"Worse. It looks like a made-up ritual. The symbols we found from before and the details provided by Mr. Webb show clearly that whoever designed this ritual didn't know what they were doing. From what I saw the symbols, ingredients and the incantations were all taken from different rituals and none of them synergize with each other. No wonder all the sites we visited met with accidents. This is what happens when you dabble in things you don't understand. The hags were always dangerous not because they were powerful but because they were mad. Mad enough to do things others wouldn't. Such a sad excuse for wizards. It's a miracle that the child survived. I'll send the details to Dumbledore. Maybe he can find something that I missed. Anyway, our work here is done. Cleanse the site after collecting enough evidence. We do not want the remaining hags to find out what happened here. Once that's done, we'll go back to Egypt and drop him off at the Ministry. There'll be someone from the British Ministry waiting for us there," Mr. King ordered.