Chapter 668 - The Master’s Return Ⅲ (2/2)

”And what of our newest vessels that are under transition?” Asked, the poisoned honey voice of Dolores Umbridge. ”With the cracks in the wards of Hogwarts fully closed now, there can only be two of use at any given time. I suppose in a strange turn of events it was rather fortunate of Zephyros to perish as we would have had to remove him from Hogwarts.”

”Mm, yes,” they all chimed in agreement.

”Are our hands are not fully tied,” interjected a wheezing voice, ”more vessels can enter Hogwarts, but no more than three at a time for six hours without severe repercussions. And it may have to come to that in order to extract information. Since our remaining vessel in transition at Hogwarts has already proven to be rather inoperable.”

”It is not from lack of trying,” irritably answered the youngest vessel that of a teenage girl. ”Indeed, our newest vessel is proving rather difficult to control. We have yet to even gain a third of control of him as his very nature seems to collide in direct contradiction with ours. At present, we can only subtly command him, and even that is proving rather tedious.”

”Yes, S.R. Wilkes too proved difficult at the start,” mused the young man's serene voice. ”We were forced to use five fragments for him in order to completely control him. Although Belby amazingly enough has proven to be a far more difficult vessel to acquire. It is a rather strange and particular conundrum considering his personality characteristics.”

”Yes, a most vexing nuisance,” they chorused.

”There is still the concerning, unresolved matter of Zephyros's death,” said the voice of a teenage girl. ”Zephyros unexpected demise is disconcerting. There was no trace of magic found near his last location nor was his body even found. There were no traces left behind, it was as though a powerful entity had erased all traces of the incident.”

”Could it be one of the Princes?” Asked a wheezing voice. ”There is still Georgine Prince to consider.”

”No,” answered the young teenage girl. ”Georgine Prince although powerful is not sufficiently powerful to erase all magical traces like this. Indeed, Georgine Prince's specialty is sensing magic and wards, but she cannot control Hogwarts wards only the Headmaster of Hogwarts can. As for Severus Prince, he is far too young to be capable of such a feat. He lacks his grandfather's ruthlessness and experience. I have also been closely observing Rowan Prince, who was the last person to see Zephyros alive, but she has shown no indication of guilt, remorse, fear, or any other emotion suggesting that it was she who slew him. And like her brother, she does not possess the ability to do so.”

”If it is not the Prince's, then is it Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts?” A young man's serene voice murmured. ”He was the one, Gellert Grindelwald chose...” The young man's voice trailed off in thought for a moment. ”A pity, he was a worthy foe.”

”The question is rather if Grindelwald ever hinted of our existence to Dumbledore,” the voices hissed together.

”No,” confidently answered a brash man's voice. ”Grindelwald kept his cards close to his chest, and though he sensed us at the edge of his vision, he never truly saw us. Otherwise, he would have proven troublesome.”

”Then if it is not Dumbledore nor the Prince's who slew our vessel, Zephyros, then WHO?” A cool male voice matter-of-factly.

There is a faint lapse of solemn silence before a young woman voice cheekily says, ”Life and Death will move to assign their own chess pawns. We must not forget, it is not the first time they have placed others in our path. The latest was Grindelwald and we were fortunate enough that his greed overpowered the gift of Farseer sight that he possessed, and all it took was a few simple words here and there to ensure that became a twisted fruit.

”Cheaters,” the voices chorused angrily in agreement.

A smoothing, patient woman's voice hissed, ”Life and Death have already begun to move, there were signs that we have ignored up until now and they have cost us dearly. We cannot afford to do so anymore. Lucius Malfoy had us removed from the board, and now we are blind! And with the board visiting Hogwarts as it is, we cannot risk being rejected by Hogwarts nor can we attempt to create another vessel!”

”Irksome,” they chorused, ”but we shall call in this debt with that which is most precious to him.”

”Yes,” they said with vile glee. ”But we must wait until the cards are in place.”

”Wait, we shall,” they murmured to themselves.

”The puppet shall arrive soon,” Dolores Umbridge exclaimed as she gazed up at the thin, crescent moon hanging overhead. A soft chorus of whispers escape from her mouth as if in agreement, and the glazed expression in her eyes vanishes. She impatiently taps her foot against causing a fallen, dry leave to loudly crunch underfoot. However, that mattered very little to her as she wished for the meeting to take place as soon as possible. She had places to be and people to see.