Fate's Mockery

Pedro the Goblin picked up the hose and took a deep drag, then exhaled into the air.

Thick hookah smoke drifted through the air.

Then ripples appeared before him again, and his eyes seemed to grow enormous.

As his gaze fixed on the great snake, the smoke in midair began to change.

The great snake lifted its gaze from its scar-covered scales and looked out through the Iron Cage. This was a laboratory, the surroundings blurred and indistinct. Snape paced back and forth before the cage.

He stopped, turned to stare at the great snake, and pulled up his sleeve to reveal the Dark Lord's mark on his arm. He seemed relieved, yet also hesitant, utterly unable to make sense of it.

The scene surged forward again.

A young wizard waved his wand. "Shattering Curse!"

The spell exploded against the great snake. It convulsed and hissed wildly, its snake head flickering into a woman's head before vanishing again in an instant.

The young man smugly said to a Gold Leather Jacket Wizard, "See? I wasn't lying to you. This thing will definitely fetch a good price."

"I've experimented on it countless times. The time it stays as a woman's head is getting shorter and shorter. If we don't sell it soon, we might never see such a strange sight again. That would be such a los—"

"Mother!" Anna cried out when she saw the human face atop the snake's head. This snake really was her mother!

Listening to that young man's words, she could imagine what he had done to torture her mother!

Anton had used countless potions to save her mother back then.

The scene began to rewind. That young man tortured her mother again and again, tracing all the way back from London, Britain, to the forests of Albania.

"No!" Anna watched through tears.

The scene surged forward again.

In the jungle, a black shadow flashed past. The great snake fled about in panic before finally falling into a snuffbox enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm. It was one-way, and she seemed unable to escape ever again. A few days later, the young man passed by and picked it up. "What is this?"

The scene surged forward again.

The snake wandered constantly through the world's dark corners before eventually arriving in the forests of Albania.

The scene surged forward again.

An extremely familiar scene appeared before them.

It was the garden outside the castle. Yet unlike the garden beyond the window now, this garden had an extra grave. The entire castle and its garden seemed shrouded in dense black mist.

Rosier stood before the grave with Anna's hand in his, sorrowfully looking at the smile in the photograph on the tombstone. "Nana, I'm sorry I can't stay here with you. I've already lost you. I can't lose Anna too."

"The Blood Curse can be inherited. I have to find a way to lift it."

"Wait for me, Nana. Once I cure our Anna, I'll come down and be with you."

"Soon."

He took one long look at the photograph on the tombstone, then Apparated away with Anna.

But not long after he left, a snake crawled out of the grave. Its body shifted rapidly between human and snake, crushing all the flowers around it.

At last, she completely became a snake, with nothing but the coldness of The Beast in her vertical pupils.

The great snake slithered away into the distance, its head occasionally changing into a human head again and again.

"Father, come back! Mother isn't dead! Come back!" Anna cried anxiously.

But she knew her father must not have noticed. For the thirty-eight years that followed, he had never returned to this place of sorrow.

Perhaps if her father returned here again, he would bury himself beside Mother as well.

Anna's precocious mind could understand such feelings. She had merely slept for a long time within ice, while her father had been cruelly tormented by the pain of losing his wife for thirty-eight years.

The image in the air faded away.

Anna stared at Pedro the Goblin in shock.

Sorrow filled Pedro's eyes. "Yes. She was Nagini. Nagini, who had completely turned into a snake."

"I know!" Anna frowned. "But why did you stop? Keep going. Mother wasn't killed by a snake attack. She was the snake herself!"

Even when angry, the little girl remained remarkably well-mannered. She did not scream hysterically, though her face was filled with rage. "My father lied to me. Mother wasn't killed by a snake attack. I want to know..."

Pedro shook his head and interrupted her. "Adults sometimes lie to protect you, child. I can't let you see your mother's death. That would be too cruel for you. That memory would become a scar you could never erase from your life."

"No!"

Anna was resolute. "I want to know everything!"

"I'm still young. I still have time. I'll develop a more powerful Time-Turner. I'll pull my mother completely back from the river of time. I'll save her, someday!"

Pedro hesitated, still frowning. His centuries of experience gave him a very bad feeling about the scene to come.

Seeing that he was wavering, Anna hurried over and tugged hard at the hem of his suit jacket with both little hands. "Please."

Oh, heavens, Pedro could not handle that.

"But..."

Just then, Anton's voice rang out.

He looked as though he were in great pain, bracing himself against the table to keep from falling.

"I must remind you, Mr. Pedro, the 'Eye of the Wizard' potion is a great burden on me."

He pointed at the glowing pattern beside him in midair. "Your 'Goblin Eye' secret art is too complex. I almost failed to record it all. If you don't continue quickly, I may not be able to hold on!"

Pedro looked at the image of light and shadow in astonishment. It was a complex pattern formed from countless lines, blocks of color, and dark green thread-like cracks.

Moreover, the pattern was three-dimensional. The three types of markings crisscrossed one another, making it seem even more complicated than the magical mechanical structure of a Time-Turner. "What is this?"

"Caw, caw, caw." The Old Wizard laughed smugly nearby. "This is what the 'Eye of the Wizard' sees, foolish Teacher."

He floated over to the pattern and clicked his tongue. "What a pity. Now that I'm a ghost, I can no longer understand any knowledge I did not learn before. What a shame."

Pedro the Goblin finally agreed. He sighed as he looked at Anna, then picked up the Hookah Skull and took another drag.

Whoosh—

The memories appeared once more.

It was a quiet night. Thick clouds blocked the moonlight, a faint floral fragrance drifted through the air, and the wind rang the wind chimes.

Little Anna rubbed her eyes and groggily climbed up. "Mother? Where are you, Mother?"

She searched everywhere but could not find her mother, and panic began to rise within her.

At last, she reached the farthest corner of the garden, a place littered with jagged rocks, and saw her mother curled up on the ground.

"Mother, what's wrong?"

Her mother was clearly in pain, struggling and convulsing on the ground. Her eyes were unfocused, and her face was full of despair. "Andre, come back quickly. Stop looking for Pedro. Come back!"

Little Anna rushed toward her anxiously, but halfway there, she saw her mother begin to change violently.

In the end, she turned into a great snake a full twelve feet long.

The great snake opened its eyes. Its yellow vertical pupils held only coldness, only the predatory hunger of The Beast.

It flicked out its tongue and opened its mouth wide enough to seemingly swallow Anna whole.

"Young Mistress, run!" A House-elf appeared in a flash and stood before little Anna.

He anxiously grabbed Anna's hand, intending to Apparate away again, but it was too late. The great snake was so fast that no one could react in time.

Its thick body instantly coiled around the House-elf and squeezed hard.

The House-elf only had time to throw Anna far away before he was crushed into pieces by a terrifying force.

"Hiss—"

The great snake continued forward and lunged at Anna.

Just then, a panicked cry rang out from the garden entrance. "Nana, no! That's our daughter!"

Yes, Rosier had returned in time.

But the great snake paid him no heed, and she was so fast that Rosier thought his daughter was about to be killed.

"No!"

Countless streams of black mist swept forth.

Boom! The great snake was blasted away and crashed into the pile of rocks.

"Nana!" Rosier let out a heart-wrenching cry. He quickly waved his wand and cast a Shield Charm on his daughter, then rushed into the rocks in a panic, searching like a madman.

At last, he found her.

The great snake had turned back into Nagini, but his desperate attack had been too terrifying. Nagini was already dead.

He had killed his own wife with his own hands!

Rain poured down in sheets.

Rosier held Nagini's body and wept in despair, his howls like those of a lone wolf...

"No, no, no!" Anna watched the scene in the smoke in grief, shoved open the laboratory's wooden door, and ran outside.

The image ended. Pedro sighed and turned to Anton. "I told you she shouldn't have seen that. Did you draw down the image of the 'Goblin Eye' secret art?"

Anton nodded and straightened up. He looked completely at ease, without even a trace of the weakness from before.

With a light tap of his finger, the pattern in midair, which had been missing a corner, was instantly completed.

"Keep an eye on Nagini. Don't let her run around. I'm going to check on Anna." With that, he hurried after her.

Pedro stared at his retreating figure in shock. "I'm hundreds of years old. I've lived for so long, and I... I was actually fooled by a child?"

The Old Wizard cackled beside him. "My foolish Teacher."