Chapter 20

- No offense, James, Sirius, but I really don't want to get under someone else's spells. I hissed dryly, seeing that the two guys were already holding back from starting to put pressure on me with their arguments. - And this is not simple fear or cowardice, although I have never signed up as a hero. But in this case, everything is somewhat simpler… I have no one to leave the family to. Of the younger generation of Blacks, only Sirius and I are left now… And I haven't heard that you, brother, have children or even plans for them. - I was saying in a low voice, voicing the reason I had just invented for refusal.

- Well, you know, I'm still too young for all this. Sirius muttered softly, however, no longer intending to put so much pressure on me and force me to join this order of theirs. - But I understand what you're getting at… You've always been like this–cold, calculating and cynical. A true Black who will do anything for the sake of the family. - The guy even stretched out with some fun, without showing a drop of condemnation in my direction.

- Exactly. And as the current head of the family, I simply cannot afford to risk my life once again. At least until I have an adult heir to whom I could transfer power in the family. I added calmly, noting to myself that it would really not be superfluous to get heirs. Children can be useful, especially if they are properly raised, but in my situation, they will also strengthen the position of my kind… You just need to find the right woman for the whole thing, otherwise breeding bastards does not suit the head of the family.

- So that's your answer. - Potter, who, as I heard, already has a son, whispered with a slightly displeased grimace… And in a good way, this woe to the father is not to run after the eaters with a wand at the ready, but to take care of the family. Well, it's not for me to condemn him for such behavior, he himself was not so annealed when he was young. And after that, of course, he knew how to get into problems. It's not for nothing that the archmage of Sumer set an archdemon on me.

- Not really... of course, I'm not going to get under spells myself. But I will not refuse the opportunity to take part in revenge on the enemy of my kind. Fortunately, I have capabilities somewhat exceeding the capabilities of an ordinary wizard. I whispered, putting an evil grin on my face. - Yes, and your order, most likely, does not need me myself ... but money and connections of the Black family, with which I am ready to provide you, even if within reasonable limits. I assured James, thereby making my older brother somewhat embarrassed.

For Sirius, such conversations were not very pleasant and even incomprehensible. At such moments, it is especially acutely felt that in a duet with Potter, he is precisely that slave, albeit with amendments to the very ardent temperament of my biological brother. However, it's not the point, the main thing is that Potter himself was completely satisfied with such promises on my part. Perhaps it was also affected by the fact that just a few years ago I trampled on his self-esteem, which is why James did not consider me a weakling or a coward, accepting my arguments about Rod.

Well, yes, the drinking at this point is not over. Rather, on the contrary, we all had a reason to get drunk properly, because even if it was oral, but the alliance between the Black clan and the Order of the Phoenix was concluded… And even if I didn't really like the whole situation. I actually paid off the same Dumbledore, in exchange for the opportunity to continue a quiet life, but I did not limit myself to alcohol consumption that day either. As a result, he drank both guys in one person, after which he also dragged their bodies around the guest rooms.

In a sense, I even had a reason to get drunk. Still, for me, such attention from Dumbledore did not bode well. And I sincerely hope that this whole situation will be resolved only with my valuable money and a drop of nerves. I don't care about money, of course, it's a pity to lose it, but that's why they are needed to make my life easier, and not for me to accumulate them endlessly in a fit of greed.

Well, the next morning, secretly praying to all the gods I know that the next guests would not bother me today, I escorted the couple home. Not forgetting to talk to Sirius alone. In particular, I told Tom about Narcissa's recent request, directly asking him to protect our cousin and his son on occasion. Well, I did give Sirius an artifact to communicate with... a small mirror woven into a whole network of the same mirrors, one of which is with me, one with Narcissus, and one now with Sirius…

So, he could even communicate with our cousin himself, especially if she wants to answer the call of his artifact. And something tells me that this couple will really communicate, because family ties are family ties, and even such a rebel as Sirius was in no hurry to break absolutely all ties with his relatives. In this situation, this couple can help each other so much, just by exchanging information.… Actually, it was because of this that I set up the Sirius artifact so that it could contact Narcissa.

Well, my brother, of course, will be able to contact me in case of anything. And he will even contact me, because in any case I will have to meet with Dumbledore to discuss the terms of our "cooperation". Fortunately, the Hogwarts director himself, as far as I know, is pretty busy right now, and therefore I have a couple of days of head start before the meeting anyway. And I wasn't going to waste that time going back to work on creating my own magic equipment.

Fortunately, no one distracted me from work this time, and it was much easier to create shaman beads and a ritual knife with a staff, especially since I did not make any serious changes to these artifacts. And the materials for the creation of the same beads I had been ready for a long time ... It was only necessary to carry out all the necessary rituals and enchantments, thereby completing the work of the last few years, completely updating my magical equipment. Then, however, it will not hurt to create a wand for myself, but I have not yet advanced enough in this matter to surpass the local craftsmen.

In general, yes, the next ten days, during which, surprisingly, almost no one bothered me, passed for me in work. Only Alexander got in touch a couple of times, sending new data from Voldemort's camp. For the rest, I devoted all my time to creating artifacts, not having had time to finish only the anti-demonic chain... it was hard to work with blood iron. The magical forging and hardening of this metal required a lot of magical energy indeed.

Each link of the future chain had to be forged, enchanted and tempered separately, gradually weaving the future basis of the chain. So, it should have exactly forty-eight rings, each of which will become an anchor for the future ritual. Which will allow this artifact to lengthen almost indefinitely in the future and cause huge damage to demonic creatures. For perfect control over these weapons, I will have to conduct a separate ritual, but I am unlikely to have any big problems with this either.

However, I really didn't have time to finish the robot on the magic chain. A message came from Sirius, with an appointed date for a meeting with the local archmage. And Dumbledore, if you look objectively, had a similar power as the Archmage of Sumer in Sumer itself. And the strength of this person, according to rumors, was somewhere at the level of the masters I am familiar with, or even higher… And it was annoying.

Almost anything could be expected from strong magicians in general, especially since the headmaster of Hogwarts himself was reputed to be more than an eccentric person. And even though I wasn 't too afraid of a direct attack on myself… But we still had to prepare for the worst. Well, my intuition and paranoia literally went berserk before this meeting, which is why I was preparing for the meeting itself almost more than for the call of someone from the heads of Lang.

I have never ignored the echoes of my own intuition… And even though so far it has only been ringing so disgustingly somewhere on the periphery, but this is also a serious cause for concern. Because of this anxiety, I decided to postpone work on the anti-demonic chain for a while, focusing my attention on filling the shaman's beads with new spirits. However, in this regard, I had to be very picky and for a long time to look for suitable candidates worthy of taking one of the eighty-nine places in the newly manufactured artifact.

And yes, each bead in the bundle is a separate artifact-a house for the spirit. At the same time, it is disposable. To drive one spirit into the artifact first, then get rid of or kill this spirit and drive a new one into its place simply will not work. And there is no way to get a damaged bead from a common bundle either. It's easier to create a new artifact, which is also not the easiest and cheapest idea, especially since it's very inconvenient to use several bundles of beads at once… And it's not easy to move spirits from one house to another, either.

Therefore, I treated the filling of my beads with spirits more than thoroughly, not wanting to waste precious space in the artifact on weak or finally stopped in the development of spirits. Because of this, as a result, in a few days of my preparation, I was able to take only three places in my beads, allocating those for a couple of young spirits of fire and one young spirit of life… Not the worst result, especially since lately I've been trying not to let the spirits unsuitable for me go home.

For being an astral parasite really did not pass without a trace for me. So, even having quite a physical body, I have not lost a certain instinctive habit of feeding off someone else's astral shells. But if people and other beings with a material body are protected from such influence, then spirits, on the contrary, are extremely vulnerable to me. And this pleases me, because having more or less mastered the acquired ability, I turned into a really unpleasant opponent for any spiritual entity.