Chapter 43: The Memory Formation
"Mr. Riddle... this is the Ancient Rune for 'Memory', right?" As soon as she returned to her room, Lyra opened the diary and wrote.
"I am not sure either." It was a long time before Riddle's elegant script slowly appeared on the page. "After all, as I said... I have forgotten, haven't I?"
"Ah... sorry..." Lyra muttered to herself before realizing and writing it down in the diary.
"So... you went to Hogwarts?" Riddle asked slowly.
"Ah... yes..." Lyra wrote back, a bit hesitant. "I didn't forget about your request... I just had to meet with Dumbledore first... and it was all very rushed."
"I understand," Riddle replied considerately. "It will be the same when school starts."
"With more students around... it will be easier for me to recall my own student days."
Mr. Riddle really misses Hogwarts... Lyra pressed her lips together, wondering what exactly there was to miss about Hogwarts... Her experience this morning had already exhausted her.
First, she was woken up by a house-elf standing in her bedroom, then she met a bunch of people at Hogwarts... then Dumbledore... and S... Professor Snape.
Just thinking of his name gave Lyra a lingering sense of fear.
And by 'his,' she meant both Dumbledore and Snape...
Ah, I won't think about those things... Lyra shook her head and focused her mind back on Magic Formations.
The formation she had seen on the Pensieve was indeed identical to the one in Riddle's diary.
That basically confirmed the formation was related to memories...
Lyra pressed her lips together and picked up her quill, tracing the formation from the diary onto the parchment in front of her.
She didn't draw the Energy Storage Formation first; instead, she directly drew the Memory Formation. The two formations weren't exactly the same, but they shared the same hub in the center: the Ancient Rune.
As Lyra completed the outline of the formation, she gently raised her wand and tapped it.
With a small injection of magic, the parchment in front of her instantly lit up. A halo of light appeared, like a hand pulling Lyra inside.
"Miss Hamilton?"
A dimly lit corridor appeared before her eyes. A young man with short black hair stood against a mottled wall.
"M... Müller?" Seeing the person in front of her, Lyra froze, pressing her lips together.
But Müller shook his head as if he hadn't seen Lyra at all. He walked towards her, passing right through her as she instinctively stepped back.
"Huh?" Lyra turned her head in surprise and saw a girl with messy silver hair sitting in the corner.
Is that... me?
Lyra saw the pointed ears... Yes, that was her... So where was this?
Durmstrang?
But why were there two of her? Lyra thought for a few seconds and realized the reason... This must be her memory, right?
The activation of the Memory Formation must have pulled her into her past memories.
Just as Lyra was thinking this, she saw Müller slowly approach her student self and reach out to pat her head.
Did Müller do that?
Lyra froze, feeling a sudden wave of shame... I was treated like a pet...
"Müller?" The student Lyra looked up at him. "Y... You... why?" She asked tremulously, shrinking back against the wall.
"I heard about Karkaroff. He came to bother you again, didn't he?"
"Ah... it's fine... I'm fine..."
Watching her student self waving her hands, her face pale, the present Lyra bit her lower lip.
If Müller asked me the same thing today... would I give the same answer?
"You don't look fine," Müller frowned, raising his wand. "Lumos."
A light appeared, illuminating the dim corridor and revealing Lyra Hamilton's dirty, bleeding face.
"Why don't you fight back?" Müller reached out as if to wipe the blood from Lyra's face, but seeing the girl flinch, he slowly withdrew his hand.
"I... I can't... use spells," the girl whispered. "I... I can't..."
"How can you not learn them?" Müller was stunned. "It's just chanting an incantation and waving a wand..."
Yes, chanting an incantation, waving a wand... It's incredibly simple for any normal person... but for me...
Lyra looked at the wand in her hand, then at herself sitting in the corner.
"Chanting spells... is too hard..." the girl stammered. "I... I'll faint..."
"This..." Müller was also stunned. He looked at the timid girl in silence for a long time before asking, "Where are your parents?"
"Isn't your father a wizard?"
"Didn't he teach you?"
"My father is already..." the girl whispered, her messy hair hiding her face, obscuring her expression.
Was I crying?
Or maybe not?
Lyra couldn't remember clearly herself.
But she remembered Müller's answer.
"Then don't use incantations when casting spells, Miss Hamilton." Almost instantly, Lyra's muttered words overlapped with Müller's.
"Then don't chant spells," Müller repeated, speaking to the stunned girl. "Although non-verbal spells are less powerful, it's better than not knowing any spells at all, isn't it?"
"But I... I can't even..."
Telling someone who can't even use verbal spells to learn non-verbal ones... Lyra instinctively pressed her lips together.
"Many wizards can use non-verbal spells," Müller interrupted the girl's diffident words, speaking with exceptional firmness. "Grindelwald can use non-verbal spells, and Dumbledore, who opposes him, can too."
Why is Dumbledore here too... Lyra hadn't expected the first time she heard that name to be here... At least in a memory, I don't have to worry about anything, right?
"Besides them, many others can too," Müller continued. "So, Miss Hamilton, why can't you become someone like that?"
"I... I can't..." the girl still waved her hands in refusal. "I'm a part-Veela... not a pure-blood wizard..."
"Dumbledore isn't a pure-blood wizard either," Müller couldn't help but say. "And did you know?"
"Veela can even cast magic without a wand."
"Really?" The girl froze.
"Of course it's real!" Müller paused suddenly, his eyes darting away. "I've seen it..."
It seems my past self didn't realize Müller was lying... Lyra thought, watching her younger self look up slightly.
"But... but how should I... learn?"
"We'll learn together." Müller took out his wand. "I want to learn non-verbal spells too."
"We can practice together."
"But you... must... must be very strong, right?" the girl said uncertainly. "I heard you... used that... spell."
"The Cruciatus Curse?" Müller laughed lightly. "Just a rumor to scare Karkaroff."
"I do know quite a few spells, but isn't that perfect?" He shrugged. "I can teach you, and we can practice non-verbal spells together."
"Don't worry."
"I'm going to stand with Lord Grindelwald in the future. I can naturally learn non-verbal spells, and so can you."
I really did learn non-verbal spells... Watching the scene before her begin to fade, Lyra pressed her lips together.
Not only that... I might even be the wizard most skilled at non-verbal spells, right?
A lot of the credit should go to Müller... He was a good teacher...
But... Lyra thought of what happened later, and she shook her head, closing her eyes.
When she opened them again, everything had returned to the familiar tavern room. The magic formation on the table had lost its glow.
Probably because the infused magic ran out...
She let out a soft breath, glad she hadn't infused too much magic. The ending of that story wasn't exactly happy...
Also... I seem to have succeeded.
Lyra held up the parchment, a smile appearing on her pale face.
She had learned a new Ancient Rune, and a Magic Formation capable of extracting memories.