Chapter 40: Awkward Situation

Bill Weasley was taking his most recent task very seriously because of what was at stake. A chance to bring down Voldemort once and for all, and end the atrocities he would cause should he ever come back. True, his name would probably not go down in history for this, but it would definitely make his parents and ancestors proud of him.

Fortunately, he was not alone on the job. Kazuma, an ex-Curse Breaker, working under Kaiser for almost a year now as an enchanter (not that he was allowed to share that little bit of information with anyone), was assisting him, and he was glad to have him. He knew his way around wards, and was very knowledgeable about breaking them. He told him he worked in Asian Ruins before, trying to take down ancient wards, and amassed an enormous amount of experience.

He was not the only one assisting him on his endeavor. A friend of their parents, and an ex-member of the Order of the Phoenix, and also the most recent DADA professor at Hogwarts: Remus Lupin. He was surprised to hear he found employment with one of the pioneers of the enchanting world, despite his "furry" little problem. It might be an overstatement to say Kaiser was a 'pioneer', though he most definitely was.

"Ancient British Wards really are a pain in the ass." Kazuma said, annoyed at their progress. "The difficulty isn't the most frustrating part, I've seen more dangerous things, it just requires an absurd amount of time to get through."

"True." Bill chuckled. "A good thing we don't have a time limit, otherwise I'd be paying Karl instead."

The Gaunt Manor was situated east from Cambridge, in a deserted piece of land, and unless one was a wizard, it was futile to search for it. It had some of the most powerful Notice-Me-Not wards around it. At this point, it would be the same as putting it under a Fidelius, but having such a large Manor under the Fidelius was not practical.

The wards, like almost all Ward-schemes, were divided into various regions. The exterior wards' purpose was to delay and notify, in case of an attack or intrusion. And that's what was frustrating them. They would eventually break them, but it would take some time to do so.

There was a lot of overlapped wards, each anchored to the outer area's space, and while centered around various Rune Stones spread around the manor. They needed to break the link between the runes, or they might risk increasing the difficulty of their task. The manor was already on full lock-down. Alerting the wards right now wouldn't be wise. Especially since they didn't know if it might alert someone who was tasked with looking after it.

"Let's take a break, shall we?" Bill suddenly said. "It's lunch time."

"Alright." Nodded Kazuma.

"My mother packed enough lunch for an army. We can eat around here." Bill suggested, earning a hungry nod from both Kazuma an to do harmd Remus.

After taking the first bite of his sandwich, Remus exclaimed: "Delicious! Your mother's cooking never ceases to amaze me."

"Me neither." Bill said with a chuckle of his own. He was glad he was working in England, and could enjoy such delicacies. "So, tell me, I didn't have the opportunity to get to know Mr. Lunar. What is he like?"

"Well, he's very mature for his age." Remus said. "Even when he was still my student."

"So, I've heard." Bill Weasley. "My brothers tell me he's way ahead of his year. They say he could take his NEWTs and it would still be a walk in the park for him."

"He's certainly a genius." Kazuma said. "I've had ten years of experience as a Curse Breaker, and learning new things from someone that young was unthinkable for me. Yet he proved me wrong, and showed me just how ignorant I was. He is a visionary." He praised.

Bill was surprised at his confession. One must know that knowledge needs a long time to build up, and one can never expect a fourteen years old teenager, a first-generation wizard at that, to know more about anything, especially not in the same domain, as an experienced thirty years old Curse Breaker. Which was saying a lot about him.

Remus did not have the opportunity to interact with him much. He was currently in charge of the new werewolf recruits, while serving as Bill and Kazuma's backup. He was not granted access to Salazar's library, unlike Kazuma.

Daphne was not happy at the moment. She was making good progress under Salazar and Rowena's tutelage, and was absorbing their knowledge like a sponge. They were two revered characters in the Wizarding World at large, even more so in Magical Britain, and she would know since she was aspiring to be a Slytherin, if not for what she heard the first day on the train. Fortunately, that turned out pretty well, since she's got to know Kaiser.

She's been staying at the Chamber of Secrets with Kaiser, in separate rooms of course. Not that she was the only one that lived there. Her father came over almost daily to access the library, and the same goes for the founding members of Transcendence. Only her had the privilege of living there, however.

She woke up one morning, ready for a day of learning under her idols, when out of the blue, Kaiser told her: "You've been spending an unhealthy amount of time in the library. You should go out and have fun. The weather is great, and there is no sunlight here."

Naturally, she wanted to protest, but Kaiser took a firm stance: "I'll hear none of it. I won't have you burning yourself away, reducing your productivity in the process and in the long run. Take a few days off."

She obviously could not refuse him. Not only because of their special relationship, but also since she was contractually bound to obey him in the matters that concern "Transcendence", and that includes their extensive collection of books. She doubted he would use that against her, but she won't be testing her luck with that any time soon, especially not over something this trivial.

Daphne was very worried about her sister's curse, because of its unpredictable nature, which gave her great motivation to pursue ritualistic magic. The problem with that particular branch of magic, is how it was based off several other areas. As a matter of fact, it used all others areas of magic, especially Potion-Making.

Kaiser knew her sister would live, if the books were to be believed, until she reached the age of thirty-seven, which gave Daphne more than enough time to find a cure, and he believed she would. In fact, he valued her very much for her potential if nothing else, and counted on her becoming a pillar for their future developments.

Daphne was now sulking in the Greengrass manor, thinking about what she would do with this unwelcome free time. Should she visit her family's library? No, that was most likely a bad idea. If Kaiser got wind of it, he might give her even more free time.

Tracey was not available, as she was traveling with her parents over Europe. Maybe she should start working on the plan she devised a month ago, while having fun in the process. Hmm, that didn't sound like a bad idea.

She went down to the fire place to make a call. She threw in some Floo powder, before enunciating "Abbot Manor". After a minute, the face of a young woman took shape in the fire, but the woman was, in fact in her forties. Wizards had long lifespans, reaching a hundred sixty in average, and therefore aged slower than their non magical counterparts.

"Good morning, Mrs. Abbot. I am Daphne Greengrass, a friend of Hannah." She was not that close to Hannah, but she supposed they were friends by proxy of being friends with Kaiser.

"Hello dear." Mrs. Abbot had a sweet voice that spread warmth through listeners. 'Typical Hufflepuff' Daphne thought internally. "Hannah is at Susan's house, comforting her."

"Did something happen, Mrs. Abbot?" Daphne asked with a frown. If something did indeed happen, she would've heard of it. This was abnormal.

"I am not aware of the details, but Susan is having a very hard time right now. You should check on her, she could use all the friends she can find right now." Mrs. Abbot said with a sad smile.

"I will, thank you very much." She said before ending the call. Daphne was pondering over her next course of action. She could hardly be productive when you add emotional instability into the equation, which Susan was at the moment. In fact, it made her apathetic personality completely unsuitable for situation that requires "comforting people".

The truth is, she was not exactly an apathetic person. This was merely the byproduct of her extended use of Occlumency. She was taught from young age that being a slave to one's emotions was the mark of a bad wizard, or witch in her case, and that she should always think over matters objectively, and take hers and her family's interest into consideration first and foremost. Losing the habit, however, was easier said than done.

Occluding did not truly remove emotions, but reduced their output to a phenomenal degree. Therefore, unless the emotions themselves were very strong, they would never affect her in any way.

However, if she does succeed in "comforting" Susan, it might help their relationship grow, which was one of the prerequisites of her master plan. It was worth the risk, so she decided to take it.

Calling the Bones Manor this time, it did not take long for them to respond. Surprisingly, it wasn't Susan who answered, but her friend Hannah.

"Hello, Daphne, how are you doing?" She asked with a forced smile, but Daphne could not notice through the fireplace.

"Hello, I heard from your mother about Susan, is she alright?" Daphne did her best to let concern, something she rarely showed, to seep through her voice.

"Don't worry, she will be." Hannah hastily answered, which did not go unnoticed by Daphne this time. Something was very wrong about this situation, her gut told her.

"Can I come over?" Daphne asked. If there was something wrong that CONCERNED her, she needed to know.

Silence was the answer she got. Hannah stood there for a while, thinking about how she should deal with her request. She eventually sighed and said: "I don't think that's a very good idea, Daphne."

Having her suspicions confirmed, she frowned deeply. This was… unexpected. She could not think how would this concern her, it hardly made any sense. She spent the last month studying, and rarely had any dealings with Susan and Hannah, except when they hang out with Kaiser at Hogwarts. She received several invitations from them to go out, but as she was very busy, she always told them she couldn't. Was this because she made excuses, or was there more to this situation than she thought?

"Can I ask why?" Daphne asked as neutrally as possible.

Hannah seemed to struggle whether she should tell her or not. On the one hand, if she told her, it might complicate matters even more. On the other hand, if she didn't tell her, she might tell Kaiser, and he would make things even worse. No, she could not bring him into this, and she needed to convince Daphne that telling him now would do neither Kaiser nor Susan any good.

"On second thought, do come over. We need to talk." Hannah finally relented. Daphne nodded and obliged.

Once she reached the Bones Manor through the Floo Network, and was properly seated, Hannah wasted no time to get to the core of the matter at hand: "Susan knows about you and Kaiser." and Daphne's eyes visibly widened at her declaration