Fate's Cruel Joke

Goblin Pedro picked up the pipe and took a deep drag, then blew the smoke into the air.

Thick hookah smoke drifted overhead.

Then ripples shimmered before his eyes once more, and his eyes seemed to grow enormous.

His gaze fixed on the giant snake, and the smoke in the air began to change.

The giant snake lifted its gaze from its scarred scales and peered through the iron cage. It was in a laboratory. Everything around it was blurry, and Snape paced back and forth in front of the cage.

He stopped and turned to stare at the giant snake. Pulling up his sleeve to reveal the Dark Lord's Mark on his arm, he seemed relieved, yet hesitant, as if he couldn't make sense of it.

The scene swept forward again.

A young Wizard brandished his Wand. "Reducto!"

The spell exploded against the giant snake. It thrashed and hissed wildly, its head flickering between a snake's and a woman's, but the woman's face vanished in an instant.

The young man turned to a Wizard in a golden leather jacket, looking smug. "Well? I told you I wasn't lying. This is bound to fetch a good price."

"I've tested it countless times. The longer this goes on, the less time it spends with a woman's head. If I don't sell it soon, I might not get to see this strange sight again. That'd be such a waste..."

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

Listening to the young man, she could imagine what he had done to her mother!

Anton had needed countless Potions to bring her mother back to life.

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

"Don't!" Anna watched, weeping.

The scene swept forward again.

A dark figure flashed through the forest. The giant snake fled in panic until it ended up trapped inside a snuffbox enchanted with the Undetectable Extension Charm. The box was one-way, too; she seemed to have no way out. A few days later, the young man happened upon it and picked it up. "What's this?"

The scene swept forward again.

The snake wandered through dark corners all over the world, eventually making her way to the forests of Albania.

The scene swept forward again.

A familiar scene appeared before them.

It was the garden outside the Castle, but unlike the garden beyond the window now, this one had a grave. The entire Castle and its garden seemed to be shrouded in thick black fog.

Rosier stood by the grave, holding Anna's hand. He gazed sorrowfully at the smiling face in the photograph on the headstone. "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 is hereditary. I have to find a way to break it."

"Wait for me, Nana. Once I've cured our Anna, I'll come down and join you."

"It won't be long."

He took one last look at the photograph on the headstone, then Apparated away with Anna.

But not long after he left, a snake crawled out of the grave. It twisted rapidly between human and serpent, crushing the flowers around it.

At last, she turned completely into a snake, her vertical pupils holding nothing but the coldness of a Beast.

The giant snake slithered away. From time to time, her head kept changing back into a human one.

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

But she knew her father hadn't noticed. In fact, he hadn't returned to this place of sorrow in the thirty-eight years that followed.

Perhaps if her father came back here, he would bury himself alongside her mother.

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

The vision in the air faded.

Anna stared at Goblin Pedro in shock.

Pedro's eyes were filled with sorrow. "Yes. That was Nagini, after she had turned completely into a snake."

"I know!" Anna frowned. "But why did you stop? Keep going. My mother wasn't killed by a snake at all. She was the snake!"

Even angry, the little girl seemed well-mannered. She didn't scream or shout hysterically, but her face was full of fury. "My father lied to me. My mother wasn't killed by a snake. I want to know..."

Pedro shook his head, cutting her off. "Adults sometimes lie to protect you, child. I can't let you watch your mother's death. It would be too cruel. 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 have time. I'll develop a more powerful Time-Turner. I'll pull my mother back from the river of time, once and for all. I'll save her, sooner or later!"

Pedro hesitated, though he still frowned. Centuries of experience gave him a very bad feeling about what came next.

Seeing him waver, Anna hurried over and clutched the hem of his suit with both hands. "Please."

Oh, dear. Pedro couldn't resist that.

"But..."

Just then, Anton's voice rang out.

He looked to be in great discomfort, bracing himself against the table to keep from falling.

"I have to warn you, Mr. Pedro, the 'Wizard's Eye' Potion puts a heavy strain on me."

He pointed to the image glowing in the air beside him. "Your 'Goblin's Eye' Secret Art is far too complicated. I still haven't finished recording it. If you don't hurry up and continue, I might not be able to hold on!"

Pedro stared in astonishment at the image. It was a complex pattern made of countless lines, colored patches, and dark green, threadlike cracks.

The image was three-dimensional, too. The three patterns crisscrossed, making him feel that this thing was even more complex than the magical mechanism of a Time-Turner. "What is this?"

"Gahaha." The Old Wizard laughed smugly beside them. "This is what the 'Wizard's Eye' sees, you foolish teacher."

He floated in front of the pattern and clicked his tongue. "What a shame. Now that I'm a Ghost, I can no longer understand any knowledge I never learned before. What a pity."

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

Whoosh~~

The memory appeared once more.

It was a quiet night. Thick clouds obscured the Moonlight, a faint floral scent drifted through the air, and the wind chimes rang in the breeze.

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

She searched everywhere but couldn't find her mother, and began to panic.

At last, she reached the farthest corner of the garden, where jagged rocks covered the ground, and saw her mother curled up on the ground.

"Mother, what's wrong?"

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

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

At last, she turned into a giant snake, a full twelve feet long.

The giant snake opened its eyes. Its yellow, vertical pupils held nothing but coldness and a Beast's predatory hunger.

It flicked its tongue and opened its jaws wide enough to swallow Anna whole.

"Little mistress, run!" The House-elf appeared in a flash, standing in front of little Anna.

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

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

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

"Hiss~"

The giant snake kept coming, lunging at Anna.

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

Yes, Rosier had returned in time.

But the giant snake ignored him. She was moving so fast that Rosier thought his daughter was about to be killed.

"No!"

Countless clouds of black fog swept in.

Boom! The giant snake was blasted away and landed in a pile of rocks.

"Nana!" Rosier cried out in anguish. He hurriedly waved his Wand to cast a Shield Charm on his daughter, then rushed into the pile of rocks, searching frantically.

At last, he found her.

The giant snake had turned back into Nagini, but his panicked attack had been too powerful. Nagini was dead.

He had killed his wife with his own hands!

Rain poured down.

Rosier held Nagini's body and wept in despair, howling like a lone Wolf...

"No, no, no!" Anna watched the scene in the smoke, heartbroken. In a panic, she pushed open the wooden door of the laboratory and ran outside.

The scene ended. Pedro sighed and turned to Anton. "I told you we shouldn't let her watch. Did you draw the image of the 'Goblin's Eye' Secret Art?"

Anton nodded and straightened up. He looked completely at ease, not at all like someone who had nearly collapsed just moments ago.

With a light tap of his finger, the missing corner of the image in the air instantly filled in.

"Keep an eye on Nagini. Don't let her wander off. I'll go check on Anna." With that, he hurried after her.

Pedro stared at his back, dumbfounded. "I'm hundreds of years old. I've lived through so many centuries, and I... I was actually tricked by a child?"

The Old Wizard laughed beside him. "My foolish teacher."