Ectotite
I'd been poking at it on and off for quite a while now and have little to show for it. The only reason I still persist with it is because of stubborn pride. At least until a few hours ago when I lost my temper and had a bit of a rant. And midway through I noticed that the ectotite sample I had on my desk was producing a very faint light. I almost thought it was a reflection, but as soon as I saw it, it flickered and faded. I hadn't been able to make it react since, I'd tried to work myself up into a rage again, but I can't really call on it like that. But it's obvious now that it was reacting to my anger. I postulated that it reacted to strong emotion, though my excitement didn't seem to have any effect on it. Maybe it's just negative emotions? But that doesn't make any sense, does it? Emotions are emotions. They were sometimes a component in spells, sometimes a vital component such as with the Patronus.
I knew how to cast that and I'd tried to direct feelings of joy towards the pieces but got bupkiss for my efforts. I was missing something and I'd been ramming my head against a wall for hours trying to figure out what, that and trying to not think about the one idea I had as to how to get past this little hurdle.
The Stone of Ravenclaw!
DUN DUN DUUUUUN!
Yeah, the intelligence-enhancing artifact I'd plucked from the soul jar diadem a few years ago. It had been created by Rowena of course and used by her constantly since she'd made it. It was one of the reasons that she was still hailed as one of the smartest witches to have ever lived. If not the smartest.
I reached down and fished the large blue sapphire out of my pocket and held it up towards the light to let it pass through the gem. I always had it on me. A bit chancy but I couldn't put it down, it was like it was my personal "One Ring" and I was Gollum. It was beautiful and so unassuming. It looked like a piece of blue-colored glass just a bit larger than a silver dollar. It was perfectly clear, not one flaw to be found. It would likely fetch a pretty price just for the look alone.
The Stone had been her crowning achievement, and with its help, she, and her fellows had changed the British wizarding world forever. And the way she had created it, a mix of high-end alchemy and master enchantment. The alchemy had set the foundation by using a fresh sphinx brain as a cornerstone. And the damn sphinx had been alive at the beginning. I can't say I condoned that part of it, made me feel dirty just holding the thing. Sphinxes might be categorized as beasts, but they were sapient, and I just couldn't condone killing anything that could talk back. Unless it tried to kill you first... or was going to.
I hadn't used it much, which was funny as I thought that if I could get my hands on it without getting cursed I'd be using it all the god-damned time! That had been the plan, at least until Rowena went and put the fear of God into me. it wasn't enough for me to never used it, but I ket it to every six months or so. So far I hadn't noted any problems, bodily or mentally. And it had been six months... And I really wanted to get this out of the way. And I really wanted to put it on.
"God I feel like such a fucking addict..." I muttered grimly to myself.
Then I laughed and stuck the gem to my forehead with a sticking charm. I can't accurately describe the sensation of the effect of the gem kicking it. A bad comparison would be to liken it to having a cold. Your nose is clogged, your ears too and you just feel miserable all over. And then you take one of those nasal sprays and suddenly your ears pop and you can breathe again. That's whats it's like, but in your brain! It's like you had sand in your gears and then someone comes and cleans it out and everything just roars into action! And then everything connects! Things that didn't make sense before suddenly do, things that don't fit now slot into place perfectly because you just had to turn the piece over!
I just lean back and groan. This is why Rowena never took it off. Who would want to live without this? Who wants to be a dunce? And that's what it feels like to take it off! The mere memory of the sensation was often enough to... I blinked.
"Memory..." I muttered dazedly as the whirl of pieces in my mind suddenly stilled and assembled themselves into a clear picture. I felt stupid for not having thought of it before. "Of course... I should have realized. They are memories! It's so obvious! Ghosts are the memories left behind, and that means..."
I walked over to the work desk where I had several pieces of ectotite that I'd been using for experimentation purposes and picked up a chunk that was roughly the size of a small bottle of hand sanitizer. It rested comfortably in the palm of my hand. Perfect size in other words. I was just about to start placing the same charms on it that went into creating a pensive when another thought struck me. "Oh, there is no way that would work..."
I hesitated for a moment before deciding that there was really nothing to lose by trying, not like anyone was around to see me if it failed. With that in mind, I reached up and touched my temple with my index finger and concentrated on a memory, more specifcally, the first time I'd managed to cast a spell wandlessly. It had taken me almost four months just to cast the lighting charm, though part of that was my own fault. Had I picked the levitation charm instead I would likely have cut that in two, maybe? Who knew a simple-sounding lighting charm could be that complex. I'd learned to research the spells I wanted to learn thoroughly since then so it had worked out as far as I was concerned. I pulled my finger away from my temple and inspected the little silvery drop that hung of it like a luminescent booger. Then without preamble, I pressed it against the piece of ectotite I had in my other hand.
I watched with a mixture of fascination and excitement as the memory drop sank into the green crystal, and as it did it seemed to stain the crystal as it sank deeper into it, causing it to slowly shift from green to a luminescent silver like the drop itself. I felt a sense of vindication vell up inside of me. I had been right! "Well, I'll be damned... would you look at that."
Experimentally I pressed my finger to the crystal and concentrated on extracting the memory, and was gratified when I was able to pull the drop back out again. Strangely the ectotite did not revert to its previous state, remaining a softly glowing silver crystal. I decided to reinsert the memory again and took a closer look, holding the crystal up against the window to let the light pass through it. To my surprise, I saw movement inside the crystal and at closer inspection, I realized that I could see parts of the memory being replayed in the facets of the gem. Man, that was crazy!
This could change so many things. A pensive was a master-level enchanting project, a lot of stuff went into creating one of those things. I'd considered making one myself for some time but had been putting it off since I didn't have a pressing need for it while I was at Hogwarts. Once I was out that would change, then I could use it to review anything I'd done here, including any books I'd read. The Pensives ability to essentially give me perfect recall even beyond the advantages my training in Occlumency and my mnemonic techniques afforded me. I wouldn't have to buy a lot of books, though I would be doing that anyway, or head back here for another look.
However, beyond that, the pensives weren't all that useful outside of certain specific situations, like what had happened in the books. They couldn't really, the complexity of their construction precluded any substantial modifications. But with this discovery, why this shaved off a good two-thirds of the spells needed to create one of the damn things, and that opened a whole lot of doors for experimentation. I already had an idea I was sure would work, I just had to kip down to one of the extracurricular classrooms and do some browsing in their class library later.
For now, though I had another thought I needed to have a look at. I was surprised with myself that I hadn't thought of it sooner considering how fond I was of such spells. I checked to myself as I played with the Eye of Hades hanging around my neck.
"The wand chooses the wizard... hm hmhm hah hah hah!" I crackled as I walked towards the Room of Requirement.
---
Lys was in a good mood, she'd spent a productive morning in Hogwarts metal shop classroom impressing the teachers with her skill, and now she was on her way towards Drew's rooms, and the Room of Requirements, to work on the special project she and Drew had been slowly working on for the last few years. She expected to have the last parts done soon, and then they would be able to really start assembling all of it, and then...
She blinked in confusion as she heard something strange. She stopped to listen to assure herself that she was actually hearing what she thought she was hearing. It was.
"Music?" She muttered.
There shouldn't be any music in this part of the castle. The music class was on the other side of the castle from here. Also, this was unlike any music she had ever heard, it sounded like there was an entire orchestra playing with instruments she had no name for. And it was all coming from the direction of Drew's room
Lys let out a defeated sigh, "Of course it would be him, who else could it be..."
She quicked her steps and arrived at his room in moments and was surprised to find Penelope there as well, standing outside of the door with a look of faint curiosity on her face. Lys hadn't interacted much with the enigmatic blond since Drew had befriended her, preferring to spend her time in the Room of Requirement. And the times they were all in one place together Nel preferred to remain silent and aloof and would often leave after shortly after Lys had arrived. Lys wasn't sure if Nel disliked her, she had never said anything, or done anything that would suggest it apart from not initiating conversation with her, but then again Nel didn't speak with anyone besides Drew to her knowledge, so that could just be how she was.
Spoiler: Music
As she approached the door the music slowly died off, there was a momentary pause and then a new tune started up. Lys recognized the sound, it was that of a piano plinking away for a few notes. Some violins quickly joined in and after that, she lost track as the music grew in complexity and slowly rose in volume. They stood there, she and Nel, and just listen for a minute, and then when there was a sudden drop in the music Lys took that as an opportunity to open the door. She let it swing open as the music rose again, and without the door to block some of it off it felt almost like a physical force rolled over her, not because of the volume, but the power in the music.
Lys had to take a deep breath as the music rose to a crescendo before dropping abruptly and starting over again for a second turn. It was enough for her to gather her wits and look into the room. Drew was there of course. He was sitting almost in the center of the room in a simple chair, she was holding a glass with some sort of beverage and had his head tilted back slightly and his eyes closed, clearly enjoying the music. In front and slightly above him a crystal of some sort floated while shining brightly with a silver light that filled the room with stark shadows.
He opened his eyes and looked over at them, seemingly unsurprised to see them occupying his doorway. He smiled at them and waved them in.
"Hey guys, perfect timing. I'm just testing out this new thing I made." He told them with a smug smile."