Chapter 236 - Ink, Blood, and Contracts

{15th July 1991} 

{Rigel's POV}

Mr. Patil rolled the parchment out with a care that bordered on reverence, smoothing the curl from the vellum until it lay flat and pale as an untroubled pond. The feather he set beside it was crafted simply—raven-black barbs, clear spine—until he turned it in the candlelight and the nib flashed a dull, hungry red.

A quick inspection told me what it was. 'A blood quill, then.' Likely not something similar to Umbridge's petty torture piece, but an older, proper tool—the kind made for contracts, not punishments.

"Let's begin," Nalini said. She stood to my left, half-lit and half-shadowed, the candle drawing a thin gold edge on her cheekbone. Her mana was a still lake again. The only movement in her was the rise and fall of her breath and the movement of her clothed breasts.

I flexed my fingers once to wake the ache and rested my hands on my knees. "You first," I said. "The core of what you want."

"Clarity is efficient for contracts." She lifted a hand. Mr. Patil pressed the quill on the page. "You will share whatever knowledge you gain from the moment you pass the bloodlock and enter the sanctum," she said, voice even. "All texts, inscriptions, procedures, maps. Copies of your memories of every second inside." She looked at me. "We will provide vials. The extraction must be done by me."

Mr. Patil wrote as she spoke. The nib did not scratch; it hissed as the quill drew mana from the man, and blood red ink was whispered onto it. Letters bloomed crimson and quickly dried to a dark, elegant brown. My mana sense followed the line as it sank into the vellum; the blood did not sit on the surface. It rooted, a lingering mana began to cover the parchment as some of the residual mana from the room was now being pulled into it.

I let a beat pass. "Reasonable, but scope matters, so let's define it," I said. "Memories from the moment I step into the sanctum till the moment I leave it. Not my life before or after that moment."

Nalini inclined her head a fraction. "Confine it to the sanctum and the bloodlock," she said.

"Next?" She asked

"My core points," I said, and my voice stayed level. "Sirius Black and the others, each name to be included in the contract, are to be relocated promptly to the Leaky Cauldron in London by Portkey before I am obligated to lift a finger. You deliver them alive, whole, and unmarked. You will provide a second Portkey for me to the same location—armed, not primed—and you will not attempt to tamper with it. Activation of the portkey will be voice-locked to a password I choose. Not timed."

Mr. Patil's hand paused above the line at that. He glanced at Nalini, who was already looking at me, the barest question in her eyes.

"Timed portkeys could be a problem," I said. "Voice-locked with a password is more flexible. And safer if I'm mid-rite before the schedule decides to snatch me and makes me lose my magic."

She weighed it, then nodded once. "Voice-locked. Your phrase, our binding. The destination will be the Cauldron's rear corridor."

"And the harm clause," I said. "You will not attempt harm on me or on any of my companions, directly or by proxy, nor will you commission harm to bystanders in pursuit of this project... Violate that, and your side voids the contract. You lose your magic, and I'm free to activate the portkey."

...

The silence stretched for a bit before she admitted. "Fine," she said. Her eyes narrowed, but she didn't argue. She looked to Mr. Patil. "Write: no harm to Rigel Black or his named companions. The bystanders will not be added to the clause." She stated with a firm tone to which I relented.

'I wasn't really all that worried about that anyway, I have my own escape plan as long as I get the portkeys.'

The quill moved. Each clause added one after another, as it unfurled, the mana sent a faint fernwork of sigils branching into the parchment beneath the words—a living, creeping geometry my mana sense could just catch at the edges. This was not simple witnessing magic. 

"And your favorite part," she added dryly. "The penalty."

I kept my gaze on her and spoke, "You asked me to swear on my magic. Fine. I will. I will abide by the contract, or I lose myself. That I will agree to." I let my next words settle like stones. "You will do the same. Not just you and your husband. Anyone acting under your roof or at your expense in this matter. Anyone who knows of my existence here and of my friends' kidnapping and who seeks Dhanvantari's knowledge alongside you—all of them whistle the same tune. If any of you breach the terms, all of you lose your magic."

Mr. Patil's head snapped up. The nib hung above the line and bled a single, fat drop that fell and bloomed into a neat, accusing period.

Nalini went very still. Her gaze did not flick to him; it stayed on me, but the room shifted around the new gravity. The fan's shadow seemed to slow.

"That is overbroad," she said at last. Quiet, precise. "It punishes those who do not know what is happening."

"It punishes them if you fail to uphold your end of the bargain," I said. "If I am to stand in front of a door and perform a ritual, then you have to take the risk too, by binding your lineage to this gamble."

Mr. Patil found his voice, a rough edge under the careful vowels. "The guardians would know a contract with their names has been signed, it won't affect them just—"

"—You kidnapped a foreign minor and his friends," I said without heat, "to solve your family problem. I am not bargaining here; I am naming a price. You wanted an oath. This is what it will cost you."

Nalini's stare sharpened; my mana sense caught the thin, quick flare of anger and then the hiss as she tamped it flat. "And if we refuse?"

"Then we experiment with Imperius until someone strolls through your roof," I said. "Or we wait for Dumbledore to pick up Harry's thread and give us all a very loud afternoon. Neither is the correct choice."

Silence, and not the comfortable kind. The candle's flame lifted and held, a tiny spear. Blood ink dried to the steady brown of a deep bruise. I did not look away. 

Nalini's jaw eased first. She made a small motion with two fingers. "Write," she said.

Mr. Patil's breath left him like a man stepping into cold water. The quill touched down.

"Specify," she said, not looking at him. "Lineage of Patil by blood or oath, and allied lines formally entered into compact for the recovery of Dhanvantari's knowledge, who knew of Rigel Black's capture and of the presence of his companions." She glanced at me. "Knowledge is the key. Anyone who doesn't know will not be harmed."

'Likely trying to spare Padma or some parts of her family.'

"Agreed," I said. "Specify that breaking the contract will result in loss of access to personal magic, immediate and total. The silence stretched longer as the words were etched across the old parchment.

"Portkeys," I said. "Details."

Mr. Patil produced two small objects from his pocket—a thin brass coin stamped with a lotus and a smooth, long rope the color of old bone. They were mundane to the naked eye, but to my senses, they were dense clusters of magic.

"The rope will take the five and Sirius to the Cauldron," Nalini said. "The coin is yours." I detected a hint of nervousness in her voice, which prompted me to conduct a simple check. I focused on the rope and the coin and thought, 'Inspect'.

...

[Rope{Portkey} (common): A common rope charmed with the Portkey spell. The rope will activate in 1hr 15min 37s and will take anyone holding onto it to the keyed location.

+ Keyed location: Leaky Cauldron, London]

...

...

[Old Coin{Portkey} (common): An old coin charmed with a command-activated Portkey spell. The rope will activate upon command {} and will take anyone holding onto it to the keyed location.

+ Keyed location: Ashura Valley, Lonavala]

...

'Well, not like I wasn't expecting that. I wonder how they would have justified that second portkey with the contract.'