Chapter 74: "Visit and Surprise"
"Visit and Surprise"
When we arrived at a house atop a small hill, I was quite surprised by all the barriers it had.
Even Hogwarts would pale in comparison to the defenses of this place.
"Grandma, what did your friend used to do for a living?" I asked, curious about the surroundings.
There were even runic traps that one would normally find in ancient pyramids or tombs.
"In her youth, she explored dungeons and dedicated herself to mastering runes," she explained calmly with a smile.
"Wow, what beautiful flowers!" Wanda said, ignoring our conversation as she approached a rose that shone like a rainbow.
"If you don't want to suffer torturous pains for months until you die, I wouldn't touch it," Grandpa said as he slowly walked behind everyone. "It's a false dream flower; obviously, it's a trap."
"Kids, don't touch anything until we're inside. Mary can be quite... cautious," Grandma said, looking for a less violent way to say that she's paranoid and distrustful.
"Will she be like Moody?" I said with a smile, thinking it was exaggerated to compare her to him.
"Possibly worse," Grandma replied seriously.
"What? Is it possible to be worse?" I was surprised by her answer.
When we finished talking, we arrived at the door. Grandma stood in front of it without making any move to knock.
"Aren't you going to knock, Grandma?" Harry asked doubtfully.
"No. Just wait a few seconds," Grandma replied calmly.
After an uncomfortable ten-second silence, the door opened by itself. A small lady peeked her face slowly, eyeing Grandma with distrust. She didn't look older than 40 and was well-dressed in quite presentable dragon leather armor. Several high-value jewels adorned her body, clearly protective amulets.
She had a small monocle on her face, glowing red, saturated with runes to the limit of what it could handle.
"Who are you?" she said as she gripped her wand tightly. I noticed several runes for traps and defenses around the house beginning to activate.
"Ah, right," Grandma said while touching the center of her necklace, regaining her elderly appearance. "It's me, Perenelle. Long time no see, Mary," she greeted with a smile.
"Blood," Mary said, sending a small vial.
Without saying much, Grandma pricked her finger and dropped a drop into it. Mary held the vial up to her monocle, where multiple runes appeared and changed color in the lens.
After completing the analysis, Mary put the vial down and joyfully embraced Grandma.
"Peny!" she said, wrapping her arms around Grandma's waist, visibly excited.
Meanwhile, the rest of us were stunned by what just happened.
"The monocle was created by your grandmother and Mary. It can read every magical component of the blood. Even with the Polyjuice Potion, one cannot copy the same magical resonance of each person," Grandpa explained as we watched Grandma and Mary quickly catch up.
"Mary, long time no see," Grandpa said, approaching the two ladies.
"Blood," Mary repeated seriously. Left with no choice, Grandpa did what Grandma had done.
"Ah, Nico, it's you. Hello," Mary responded without much interest, ignoring him, which left Grandpa a little sad. Grandma, meanwhile, tried to hold back her laughter.
"Who are they?" Mary asked, pointing her wand at us while searching for answers from Grandma.
"They are my grandchildren: Harry, Wanda, and Stephen. Stephen is the oldest," Grandma said proudly.
"Hello."
"H-hi."
"Hello, Mrs. Mary," we greeted politely as she stared at us.
"Are you sure they are them?" she asked again to Grandma.
"Yes, Mary. Their magic is especially difficult to imitate, so it would be hard to infiltrate as them," Grandma replied calmly, anticipating a more thorough investigation.
"Mmm... well, if you say so," Mary said, still somewhat doubtful. She approached us without lowering her wand. "Give me your blood; I'll register you."
Harry was the first to offer it, without hesitation. Wanda and I hesitated, looking at Grandma, who, understanding our concern, gave a soft nod. We finally followed Harry's example, letting a drop of blood fall.
Our blood, as it left our bodies, had a glow that quickly caught Mary's attention.
"You... give me that," she said, quickly taking the vials and examining them through her monocle. For a few seconds, she stayed silent.
"How is it possible that you are so alike?" she murmured, stunned.
"Well, we're twins... unfortunately," I said calmly.
"Unfortunately?" Wanda looked at me, offended and upset. "It's your reward for saving millions of lives in your past life to have me as your twin sister," she said proudly.
"More like the punishment for destroying several planets," I replied sarcastically.
Before Wanda could lunge at me, Grandma stopped her with a disapproving look. We both dropped the fight for later, though Wanda threw me a threatening look that made me laugh mockingly.
To calm her down, Grandpa gave her a bag of candies while we waited for Mary to speak again.
She stared at us as if she had understood something important.
"You don't... mm... maybe," she said, looking intently at Wanda and me. "Take off the disguise," she said while waiting.
We were a bit surprised that she had noticed we were wearing disguises or, in any case, hiding our exaggerated traits.
Obeying her, both Wanda and I deactivated our tools, and our appearance didn't change much, but the aura around us, our hair, and eyes did.
Now they were glowing with magic, drawing everything around us.
Especially our eyes, which glowed with a very magical blue, as if you could see the very mana of the world.
"The hair is different," she said, uncertain, upon seeing our bright golden hair, which even seemed to glow in the dark. "But the eyes are the same," she said, a little stunned.
I can say that we were somewhat surprised by the calmness with which she looked at us, since the first time anyone sees us like this, they tend to be spellbound or hypnotized. Even Harry, beside us, was staring with a dazed expression.
Only the grandparents could resist it easily because they had raised me since I was a baby, so they were used to it. Therefore, when they saw Wanda, it didn't have much of an effect.
But now, this lady was looking at both of us like it was nothing. As if she was just as accustomed to it as the grandparents were.
At that moment, my bad feelings came back, especially after hearing what she barely said.
"I see, I see," she muttered to herself, as though she had understood something. "Come in," she said, without explanation, as she quickly entered the house.
Still a bit stunned, we followed Mary into the house. We didn't reactivate our disguises, so Harry was still following us, foolishly trailing behind.
When we entered, Wanda and I were a bit surprised by all the weapons on the walls. There were even Muggle weapons, like shotguns and rifles.
Something rare in the magical world, as wizards typically look down on these weapons, since they aren't very dangerous to them. Obviously, I'm talking about small weapons, not overly powerful ones.
These would be difficult to use to kill a wizard, since wizards in this world are quite resistant.
They can literally lose an arm, and with a potion, in just a couple of days, it's as good as new.
And the clothes wizards wear are also quite resistant. For example, Mary's dragon leather armor. Even a high-caliber rifle would struggle to penetrate it.
Of course, if it hit her in the head, it would be different.
"Naty, your godparents have arrived! And they bring a surprise!" Mary shouted toward the stairs that led to the second floor.
"I'm on my way!" we heard a shout from upstairs.
While we sat waiting for Mary's daughter, we settled in the dining room where Mary and the grandmother were catching up.
Meanwhile, Wanda and I were throwing candy wrappers at Harry, who was embarrassed by how he had acted a moment ago.
"You should be used to this by now, idiot," I said, tossing him a wrapper.
"Haha, he looked like an idiot again," Wanda teased.
"Hello, godmother Perenelle and godfather Nicolas," a voice said, interrupting us, so we all turned to see the young woman entering the dining room.
Harry was the first to see her because he was sitting facing the door, so he immediately became mesmerized and went back to his idiotic expression.
Meanwhile, Wanda and I, without realizing it, felt something inside us.
The same feeling I had when I first saw Wanda. The blood connection.
"Here we go again," I sighed. "I was supposed to be the only sister I had," I quickly whispered to Wanda.
"I never said I'd be the only one. You assumed it because we died at the same time," she whispered back.
"Do you think she's someone we know?" I asked quickly.
"How would I know, idiot?" she responded, a little annoyed.
As we started hitting each other and fighting, the new girl who entered the room greeted the grandparents warmly with a hug.
"Naty, you're getting more beautiful every day," Nicolas said with a smile as he observed his goddaughter and handed her a gift.
"She's so beautiful, I feel sorry for the broken hearts she'll leave behind. She reminds me of my youth," Perenelle said, giving Naty a hug as she stood there stunned.
Naty, who was surprised by the youthfulness of Nicolas and Perenelle, noticed they looked around thirty years old. They even seemed younger than their mother.
"You guys are young?" she asked automatically, which both grandparents took as a kind compliment.
But, of course, it was a question.
"Naty, these are my grandchildren," Perenelle said, pointing to the three noisy ones behind her.
Well, basically, Harry was mesmerized by Naty's beauty, so he didn't make a sound.
But Wanda and Stephen had started pulling each other's hair a while ago, so they were making a lot of noise in someone else's house.
Naty, with a smile, slowly walked up behind them and spoke.
"Hello, Wanda, long time no see. Hi to you too, Stephen. Tony told me about you a while ago."
Upon hearing those words, the two, who had been in an all-out sibling battle, froze in their positions.
Sigh. "Yeah, that's where we came from," Stephen said as he released Wanda's hair.
Wanda nodded, also letting go of Stephen's hair, and the two turned to see who it was.
And standing in front of them was a beautiful redhead, a woman with a body sculpted by the gods themselves. Which, technically, wasn't wrong.
"Natasha!" Wanda exclaimed in surprise as she looked at the voluptuous woman in front of her.
"So, Black Widow, huh?" I said, a little surprised as I observed Natasha.
She looked at both of them with a soft smile.
"Naty, show them," Mary said, ignoring our words.
"Sure," Natasha said as she touched a rune tattooed on her wrist.
As she touched the rune, her appearance didn't change much. Like us, her aura, hair, and eyes were the things that shifted.
But unlike our blonde hair, she kept her red hair, which now glowed as if it were living flames, creating a beautiful display with her blue eyes shining with the same intensity.
At that moment, both the grandmother and grandfather were stunned, as they had never known her true appearance.
"Wait, why do you look like that?" Wanda asked, confused, noticing Natasha had the same appearance as in her past life, but now more magical.
"Oh, because I'm a shapeshifter, and this is the appearance I grew up with and am used to," Natasha replied simply, knowing she was among trusted people.
Shaking off their surprise, grandmother Perenelle spoke.
"Is Naty also a sister to Stephen and Wanda?" she asked, cheerfully surprised.
"From the blood samples and their eyes, I can say yes," Mary said calmly.
---End of the chapter---
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