>>42201636
I believe we had exhausted the regular sources on the prophecy we had heard about.
We were thinking of looking up the soul fire, but that's in the restricted section, and so we could try to get access via the Order, telling Mr. Byrne that it's needed to follow up a lead.

>>42201839
This pretty much

>>42201636
The prophecy that the chancellor's son recited. Is clearly about Jenny's boyfriend/husband/lover, who's a mugblood, entering the hall of the ancients and war breaking out.

You send a letter to Mr. Byrne telling him that you need access to the restricted section to gather more information. You also give him the prophecy you heard in the sewers the night you tracked down the minister's son.

The next day he sends back a short letter telling you that while very useful, the prophecy that the minister's son heard couldn't have been what Jenny learned since the prophecy didn't exist until after she had already escaped. He also gives you the name of a 6th year student in the Order who has access to the restricted section.

You find the girl who happens to be a Gryffindor named Priscilla Stower. She is alone in the library doing some studying.

“Hi, I assume Mr. Byrne told you I would be by?” You ask.

“Yeah, he did. So here's the deal. I can't bring anything out of there and I only have an hour at a time, you need to tell me really clearly what you need. I cant afford to waste my time looking around for your books if I want to finish my course work.”

>What should she look for. Be specific.

>>42202161
Prophecies pertaining to muggle born wizards and civil war.

>>42202161
Soul Fire. What is it, what it was used for, and historical applications.

>>42202161
I'll second >>42202246

“Okay. Doing two things in an hour might be tough, especially for the specifics but I'll see what I can do. Meet me in the small alcove on the fourth floor just outside the north stairwell in two hours.” With that she stands up and walks over to the librarian.

Two hours later you meet with her.

“Here's what I got, all from memory. I have no idea what you're looking into, but some of those books freaked me out. Unless Mr. Byrne asks, I'm not doing this again.” She hands you a stack of parchment and quickly walks away.

You sit down right in the alcove and start reading.

As to the prophecies, she came up mostly blank. The only reference to a muggleborn in any wizarding civil war is a leader from the Punjab Insurrection which seems completely unrelated.

Soul Flame though has a lot of information.

More Coming

The Soul Flame Curse is a slow acting curse with two purposes. First is that it puts a target to sleep as long as the flame is touching them. Second is that as the flame burns, it doesn't actually burn the flesh, but rather it burns the soul of the afflicted person. As the soul is the primary known source of magic and life, a person who has had their soul burned away becomes completely magically inert, and also enters a low functioning vegetative state.

In addition the soul flame, like most curses of this power, leaves a scar wherever it burns which turns the skin black and shrivels the muscle. Recovery of the scaring is impossible, and as a result limbs burned can never be returned to working order.

The soul flame was developed by one of the first wardens at Azkaban Prison to simulate the Dementor's Kiss over the course of several weeks.

In 1749 when the Decree for the Establishment of Unforgivable Magical Crimes was passed, the Soul Flame Curse was rejected from the initial list of 20 Unforgivable Curses as its effects were 'Moste protract'd and not of a severitie nesesarie to warent an unforgivable status.'

See also: Dementor's Kiss.
See also: Fiend Fyre.

A footnote left by Priscilla suggests looking into the magical function of souls if you want more information.

>What now?

>>42202925
Can we put in some research time into magical function of the soul via our perk?

>>42202925
Look in the Library again, this time into the fundamentals of magical theory, how magic and souls interact, and medical issues concerning the loss of magical ability/soul damage.

>>42202978
>>42202925
this.

>>42202967
Both of you perks are automatic, neither require you to 'use' them, they just help all the time.

>>42202978
Writing now

You look in the library over the course of the next week for clues to help you understand how souls interact with magic.

The first and most obvious use of a soul, for wizards at least, is the production of magic. How exactly that works would probably mean another trip to the restricted section.

The next is basic functions, souls are what compel people to keep themselves alive, without one a person will not sleep, eat, or even protect themselves from harm. Most soulless people just sit around doing nothing all day, a very few will walk around, you even find a reference to one at one point saying a single word, but mostly they don't do anything.

Then you get into the lesser or theoretical uses of souls. You read what little the library has to say about Phylacteries. You read about ghosts and theories about the afterlife. You read about the dementor's kiss. Finally you happen across a book, well, more of a paper, about souls and prophecies, it is very long and dense but the conclusion says what you need to know.

“It is therefore our finding that Prophecy is a function of the soul. Through the same type of guidance that our souls use to keep us safe from harm, grant us magic and allow us to speak, they lead us to follow the prophecies that we have been given. In short, a person without a soul has no destiny, no future, and is not bound to follow any path set before them.”

>What now?

>>42203284
write a letter to the order and explain what we found.

what did we find anyhow.

>>42203284
>In short, a person without a soul has no destiny, no future, and is not bound to follow any path set before them.”
do are they are trying to destroy someones soul, yet retain the consciousness so they could have someone who can work outside of the confines of fate?

>>42203351
You've learned some stuff, but you still haven't figured out what Jenny learned while kidnapped. You're missing something.

>>42203447
Probably not since losing your soul also makes you vegetative.

>>42203284
I say we worry about this later we don't have all the facts. Let's just get some dueling practice in and stuff like that for a bit.

>>42203537
So you guys want to give up and just move on?

>>42203520
What we saw of Jennie's arm, does that look like injuries caused by that curse? Is the curse now prohibited? Are there any new users?

>>42203757
I'd rather DO something, but let's see if anyone disagrees

>>42203861
The scars match the description.
The curse is illegal.
Not sure what you mean by the last question.

>>42203757
nope. Lets go and find books on house black.

>>42203757
Let's instead check on the basics of prophecies.
The wizarding world's academia obviously view prophecies not as abstracts but as actual parts of the universe.
It's possible the Cabal was trying to create a prophecy of their eventual victory, powered by a person's soul.

>>42203919
Fuck, helps if I finish the fucking thought. Are there any cults or any other users that are noted as current users of the curse.

>>42203921
What specifically are you looking for?

>>42204021
No

>>42204058
just a genealogy book or any prophecy, man I have no clue on whats going on.

>>42204058
What about the books on the basics of prophecies, from here >>42203969

You spend a week looking for a book about prophecy that isn't just about performing divinations. Surprisingly it takes a long time, it seems like most people into prophecies like making them more than talking about them.

In the end you do find a book that gives you what you want.

It goes over prophecies in great detail, in four stages it calls Creation, Manifestation, Realization and Resolution.

A prophecy is made by a seer or oracle, then it's opening clauses develop, essentially the person who it is about becomes clear, the prophecy moves toward happening, setting up any necessary events, and then it occurs and is over.

All of this is unknowingly facilitated by every living thing that comes in contact with the subjects of the prophecy, slowly creating a situation where the prophecy can be realized and eventually resolved.

Interestingly enough the book notes that a prophecy doesn't have to be created by a person, that other things can act as prophecies that are equally enforced.

>>42204263
>that other things can act as prophecies that are equally enforced.
What other things can create a prophecy?

Also, were there any details or possibilities mentioned of creating a prophecy artificially, for a seer or oracle to get a desired result?

You also start looking into the history of the family Black. You discover a number of interesting facts. First is that the family started as the personal architects and craftsmen of Salazar Slytherin. A particularly large payout from his estate on his death allowed for them to rise to prominence as a noble house.

You find a list of every one of Jenny's ancestors for the past 2300 years, everyone one of them pureblood. However as you reach the bottom something strange happens. You know from your basic understanding of how proliferation works, that the family should be getting bigger every year, but instead starting about 600 years ago the family started getting smaller. And as of the current year, right at the back of the book, Jennifer Ursaria Polinia Black is the only bloodline descendant of the family in her generation, and unless she has a sibling, is the only one possible.

>>42204351
It sites that artificial oracles can be made through dark magic, and that the prophecy produced is based on the seer in question, and that seers have a pattern of prophecies which in the case of an artificial oracle can be 'made to order' so to speak.

>>42204532
so someone is trying to make a prophecy ?

>>42204532
Haha proof that being only mage blooded eventually kills off a family line.

>>42204532
>Jennifer Ursaria Polinia Black is the only bloodline descendant of the family in her generation, and unless she has a sibling, is the only one possible.
Branch our research in two directions.
1. The reason for the Black Family getting smaller; is it due to each generation only producing 1 offspring, or are branches getting killed off?
2. Is there a significance for a prophecy to be made for the "sole descendent" of a bloodline? Does it make the prophecy stronger somehow? Or easier to generate an artificial prophecy?

>>42204625
Or already made one they don't like.

>>42204696
so did we find the thing? Obviously it would mean that the Muggleborns get some kind of advantage in life...we need to send a message.

>>42204688
It could be having a too "Pure" bloodline slowly renders a family unable to continue.

>>42204696
If there's one they don't like, then that creates a third route of research.
3. Prophecies involving the Black Family as well as Salazard.

>>42204688
1. The Black family seemed to reduce due to them being insufferable assholes who no one wanted to get with.

2. Not that you can find.

>>42204783
In your learning you've found a law that says that active prophecies are illegal to publish. All active prophecies are kept in the ministry of magic until they resolve. Even after they resolve it seems like most people are reluctant to actually print them due to some old superstition.

Question, is it possible to invent spells?

>>42204867
time to send the order a letter detailing what we found out.

>>42204867
>due to them being insufferable assholes who no one wanted to get with.
Well that's a rather sirius accusation, OP. Jenny seems like good people.

>>42204937
Well, Snape dreamed up Sectumsempra on his own, so...

>>42204937
Yes

>>42204979
Recent development, ie her branch of the family exists because it is made up of the most well mannered Blacks born for the past 600 years.

>>42204946
Writing

>>42204867
>due to them being insufferable assholes who no one wanted to get with.
So nothing to do with infertility due to contracting genetics but simply the fact that the family generally produced assholes due to their Old Money lineage.
Nothing to do with >>42204763

Anyway, from what we've been able to uncover so far, it's highly likely that the Cabal tried to use the Soul Fire to destroy Jenny's soul in order to stop a prophecy from coming true.
The prophecy itself may have been an old one, or one that was artificially created but didn't turn out as the Cabal had hoped.

In the letter to the order, detail this possibility, and that the prophecy records in the Ministry of Magic should be searched.

>>42205004
sweet I wanna make a spell mantle, like a continuous ward that as a preset limit.

With all of your information you write a letter to Mr. Byrne. He doesn't even wait for the next morning. A few hours after sending your letter Headmaster Ricimer tracks you down.

“Mr. Morris, your guardian, Mr. Byrne has arrived to see you, please come with me.”

You are led to the Headmaster's office where Mr. Byrne is seated quietly.

“Thank you Marcus, I'd like a moment alone, is the room secure against scrying?”

“Yes, but Hugh I can't bend the rules like this for you all the time.”

Mr. Byrne waves him off.

Headmaster Ricimer leaves the room a bit perturbed.

“Shane you've done a good job, you've given us a better idea of what we're looking for.”

“So, I still didn't find it?”

“No, but you're very close, and with that in mind I have to ask you to make one final attempt to bring Jennifer to our side.” He reaches into his coat and slides out a letter. “Give this to her. Tell me what she says in a letter, but don't be specific, this one has to be hush hush.”

>Okay
>No, leave Jenny out of this, she already said no.
>What does it say?
>Is this legal?
>Other

>>42205234
>What does it say?

>>42205234
>Other
"Sir, I feel that this is unwise. Jenny is already at her limit when it comes to the Order. Pushing her more could turn her against us."

>>42205234
>What does it say?

>>42205312
>>42205234
this.

>>42205312
>Pushing her more could turn her against us."
Wait, change that to "make her even less willing to cooperate."
If Bryne thinks Jenny could become an enemy, he might have her assassinated to prevent future problems.

>>42205416
This

>>42205416
A bit too much, there I think. Jenny's a schoolgirl, and vulnerable from leverage either on her parents or on her exams. No need to think about wetwork just yet.

“Sir, I feel like it isn't a very good idea to push her like this. She's just not willing to help the Order. Pushing her anymore might make her less willing to cooperate.”

“That is why we are not asking her to help us. We are extending assistance to her. This letter is an offer from the Order to escort Ms. Black into the department of mysteries, into the hall of prophecy and to give her access to every prophecy about her in the hall.”

“Why?”

“Because there is an enchantment in place in the hall that requires that either the prophecy resolve, or else the person or persons it is about come to fetch it in order for the prophecy to be read. We need her, and with the Cabal potentially producing prophecies who knows how many exist by now, she'll be at least interested in the possibility.”

>No, I still don't think you should ask her
>No, that sounds too dangerous
>Okay, I'll do it
>Other

>>42205561
>Okay, I'll do it
>Other
"And if she refuses? Will we still search the Hall of Prophecy ourselves?"

>>42205561
>>Okay, I'll do it
>Other
"But if she says no then you can't harm her and we do this some other way."

>>42205561
>Okay, I'll do it
inb4 she demands we come with, fulfilling the prophecy.

“Okay, but no retribution if she decides not to go.”

“Of course not, your friendship with her alone makes her a powerful piece for our side.”

“I don't really appreciate you talking about her like that.”

He doesn't say anything to that. After a pause he hands you the letter.

You tuck it into your shirt pocket.

“I'll be leaving now. Good evening, Shane.” He stands and walks out.

When the Headmaster doesn't return after a few minutes, you stand and walk out as well. You walk up to Ravencalw tower and enter the common room. You walk straight to Jenny and hand her the letter.

When you do she snorts in disgust at the white flower on the front of the envelope and goes to toss it in the fire. But she hesitates, and after a second brings it back from the edge of the flames and opens it. She scans quickly, then her eyes widen. She reads again more slowly.

“Yes, I'll do it.” She says tossing the letter and envelope into the fire for real this time. “But only I get to listen to it.”

A small porcelain eye in the Headmaster's office twitches toward the Ravenclaw tower, and then is still.

End of part 4

>>42205946
we're not going to have a lot of friends after this year is over right?

>>42205968
prolly not

If you liked the quest you can follow me @Tiddlybum_HE on twitter to get tweets when the thread is going up.

Thanks for reading, and sorry for the botched thread last week. At least 2 more hurricanes are headed my way and the season has only begun, so hopefully we don't have too many repeat performances.

>>42206056
Thanks for running boss, see you next time.

>>42205968
We need to become a child soldier as quickly as possible, so that we can kill Purebloods that come after us and protect ourselves from the Order.

>>42206028
didn't harry nearly lose his friends to as the series went on?

>>42206089
sure.

>>42206056
Thanks for running. Jenny mad at us?

>>42206101
Only a little bit, she's mostly mad at the Order, but this has sort of turned it around. She might be a bit distant for a while but she isn't mad at you, just mad.

>>42206132
Kinda surprised she didn't want us to go with her.

>>42206132
So How's Lem doing?

>>42206231
He's being completely closed off and not talking to anyone.

>>42206277
Well, we need to fix that shortly.