Professor Moody and Professor McGonagall were the last to arrive. Their clattering footsteps quickly quieted when they spotted the "godfather and godson" pair. Only the dark magical object in Professor Moody's hand resentfully continued its low male chant of "Ripala, ripala-"
It was a decorative crystal bottle with a large opal set into its stopper. The bottle was filled with something resembling blood, which gave off a sense of decay yet bubbled with life. The sound of "Ripala, ripala" came from this blood.
The blood's peculiar state felt familiar to Brian. After studying it for a moment, he asked uncertainly, "Unless I'm mistaken, this seems to be unicorn blood?"
He still remembered what the blood had looked like after he used unicorn blood to perform his ritual. It had looked rather like what was in this bottle,
but the blood back then had not struck him as rotten and disgusting.
"Very close," Moody said hoarsely. "Most likely, this is blood from someone who drank unicorn blood and became half-alive-there are signs that it's been processed. It seems it could be used to brew some sort of potion for killing through curses. That's why it carries traces of dark magic."
"Half-alive... that reminds me of Dementors. Filthy, foul... What did the Black family collect this stuff for? Sick," Tonks said in disgust.
Her mother had been disowned by the Black family for marrying the Muggle Tonks-which meant she had never considered herself a member of the Black family.
"Ah-Tonks, I hope you don't count me among the sickos-oh, I actually recognize this bottle. When I was little, I saw it in a battered family notebook. That notebook was probably over two hundred years old. The Blacks back then were even more ignorant than they are now."
Sirius came over and said,