Chapter 516 - Hereditary (1/2)
After having watched Aunt Georgine finish packing for the evening, Rowan had been firmly kicked out of the bedroom. As Aunt Georgine had put it, she was going to lay abed. These would be some of her last lie-in's and as a professor she would be forced to awaken quite early at least five days out of the week. It was quite the unnatural horror in Georgine's humble opinion.
With the rest of her afternoon open, Rowan finally stopped with her own personal excuses and grudgingly made her way up to the attic. She may have been actively avoiding Sir Knight Prince to proud to ask him for help. But with the new school term steadily creeping closer, she knew she he handsome ghostly figure of Sir Knight Prince as usual was playing wizarding chess with his body. Without glancing up from the chess match, Sir Knight Prince says, ”Well, why have you been avoiding me, Rowan?”
Rowan sighed. ”It's not that.”
Sir Knight Prince blinked and glanced up from his match. ”Then what is it?”
Pursing her lips together, Rowan removes the illusion from her left eye revealing a silvery, gray eye. Seeing the look of concentration on Sir Knight Prince's face, she murmurs, ”I was wondering if this is hereditary or not?”
”No,” Sir Knight Prince gravely replied. ”Such an abrupt change of eye color is always the direct result of the misuse of magic.”
”Though-,” Sir Knight Prince carefully paused, ”-I cannot help, but wonder just what forbidden magic did you cast, Rowan? A change in one's eye color is one of the indications and permanent consequences of such a foul endeavor.”
With clear hesitation, Rowan walks over to where Sir Knight Prince is and takes a seat before him. ”It is not my secret to tell,” Rowan reluctantly answered with a carefully spun truth. ”But it a direct result of being in contact with an artifact that greatly resembles one of the Deathly Hallows.”
There is a long pause of silence as Sir Knight Prince slowly says, ”Any magic relating to death is usually the source of said peculiar transformation. And if so, there is usually a change in the subject's magic as well like a poisonous magical taint, it will only increase the overall power or awaken a previously unknown ability. However, there is always a price for said magical changes, something is always lost equivalent to that which was gained.”
Rowan almost flinched at hearing Sir Knight Prince's words. Just what had she lost in the exchange? What?! But she already knew the terrible answer to that, she had already begun to see the symptoms of her humanity being eroded. Her rash actions at Mulciber Hall were only further proof of that.
Sir Knight Prince patiently waits for his many great-niece to speak. Rowan's lips are pressed into a thin line, when she finally answers, ”I can see the magic of others with my left eye.”
Sir Knight Prince instantly pieces the dots together. ”Hence the reason for your sudden clumsiness in trying to adjust to the depth perception with the illusion cast on your left eye, am I correct?”
”Yes,” Rowan bitterly admitted.
”A shame, really,” Sir Knight Prince muttered causing Rowan to glare at him.
”And what is that supposed to mean?” Rowan asked through thinly pressed pale lips.
Sir Knight Prince does not instantly respond, but rather gestures for his body to place him on its lap. In place to perfectly view her, Sir Knight Prince responds, ”It is a half-gift of sorts.”
”A half-gift?” Rowan c.o.c.ked her head to the side in confusion.
”Yes, a half-gift,” Sir Knight Prince restated. ”The males of the Prince family are born with the unique ability to see and understand internal magic. This gift only appears in the males and never in the females. Said ability allows every single Prince male to see the attack of their opponent as it forms before the spell is ever cast. It is one of the reasons, why our clan was so powerful in the past.”
Rowan makes a face of annoyance. ”Which means, Severus's ability will awaken at some point and he will be able to do the same.”