After sitting silently for a few minutes, having watched the wizard examine undecipherable objects on the table or waving them over her body, Ranma felt the itch to talk, “So, I’ve been wondering how we’re talking so… you know, easily. I mean, you’re definitely not Japanese and you’re lips sometimes don’t match the words I’m hearin.”
“Oh, that would be the Rosetta Stone”, Dumbledore supplied, gesturing offhandedly towards a man-shaped rock on the table. With that, the elderly man started to wave yet another device over the young martial artist, “While magical and named after the fabled stone of legend, it doesn’t actually translate any language per say. It mainly facilitates the clear transfer of ideas if both speaker and listener know at least a certain level of the language being spoken.” Seeing a questioning quirk of the young girl’s eyebrow, he further explained, “If I spoke a sentence which was grammatically incorrect but got across the correct subject, the stone tricks your mind into hearing a more natural wording. As such, if I was speaking German, which I assume you don’t know, instead of English, the stone wouldn’t do anything and we’d just be babbling incoherently at each other.”
Ranma just blinked at the impromptu lecture she just received from the school headmaster before her. She blinked again as Dumbledore shook what looked like a mercury thermometer and then placed it against her forehead, “Okay… That’s cool and all, but aren’t you worried about someone seeing us? I mean, Nerima’s sort of used to crazy things but…”
The blue eyed school master was focused on the thermometer as he frowned slightly in consternation, “That won’t be of much concern, Mr Saotome.” Setting down the device to look into mirror reflecting the image of the Japanese fighter, he continued, “Before you awoke, I had already cast a minor charm on the area which will cause any muggles to avoid it and ignore anything happening here.”
“Muggles”, the pigtailed girl asked, confused.
“It’s a term for ‘people without magical ability’ used by the magical community”, Dumbledore explained easily as he set the mirror back down and choose instead to stair directly into Ranma’s clear blue eyes as if searching them. “You would fit that term normally, but with the amount of magical effects you’re carrying on your person… Well, you could be classified as a partially magical creature by some people but that’s neither here nor there, right now.”
Before Ranma could ask about that, the taller European suddenly brought a small vial between them and requested, “Spit in this, please.” Ranma flashed a curious look at both the wizard and vial before her before putting the glass to her lips and spitting into it. “Now, if you don’t mind, I must concentrate for this”, Dumbledore stated as he took the vial and turned back to the table.
It was quite a while later, as Ranma’s boredom had kicked in once more, that the wizard focused once more on the young martial artist. After a quick question as to how hot the liquid had to be to cause the change: Ranma was turned back male, more devices were run over his body and yet more spit taken for the mysterious tests.
Feeling quite a bit hungry as the day continued to pass by, Ranma tried to keep the irritation out of his voice as he asked, “No offense, but how much longer you think this is going to take?”
“Not much longer”, Dumbledore replied as he turned around with a new device in his hand, “In fact, I there’s only this last test left to perform.” Coughing lightly into a fist, the elderly wizard focused directly into the youth’s eyes, “For this last test, I must ask you to keep looking directly into my eyes, no matter what happens. Do you understand?”
Cocking his brow slightly, Ranma shrugged unconcerned, “Yeah, sure. No problem.” A second later, that statement became mostly incorrect as the martial artist heard the most terrifying sound he could imagine…
“Meeeoowww!”
Shooting completely rigid, Ranma stared into the cool blue of the wizard’s eyes, as if he couldn’t break contact even if he tried. Time seemed to stop for a second before Dumbledore broke the gaze, letting the Japanese male to jerk his head around in search for the nearby feline. He just as quickly snapped his back as Dumbledore stated, “That was me, Mr Saotome.”
“What the hell was that for”, Ranma irritably demanded, standing up from the bench while glaring daggers into the wizard’s back. “I thought you were testing for a cure, not scaring the hell out of me!”
“Oh, I have been performing those tests; more than quite a few of them in fact”, the headmaster replied, cleaning his spectacles with a linen cloth from a pocket.
Looking slightly less agitated, Ranma ran a hand through his hair, “So what was with the c-cat thing, then?”
“It was an unfortunate necessity, Mr Saotome”, Dumbledore stated as he sat down on the now vacant bench. “During my tests I kept having errant readings show up and needed to perform the last test to confirm my theory.” Letting out a sigh, he looked Ranma in the eyes, “I’m sorry to say that I have bad news and slightly more mixed news to give.”
Crossing his arms, Ranma grimaced, “Let me guess, you can’t cure the curse…”
“Indeed”, the wizard solemnly agreed with a nod of his head. He quickly raised a finger as he forestalled any further words, “But that isn’t to say that I cannot help you, Mr Saotome. You see, those odd readings led to the ‘mixed news’ I mentioned, which the last one confirmed. It seems you suffered under a very dark event when you were a child… am I correct?”
Ranma nodded hesitantly, “Yeah, my dad tried a training method to teach me the ‘Neko-ken’. It was pretty messed up and, like an idiot, didn’t read the entire manual to see that it was forbidden.”
“Indeed”, Dumbledore agreed with a nod, having seen the event through Ranma’s fear induced memory via legilimency. “Unfortunately, it seems that it wasn’t training at all but, in fact, most likely a mislabeled or corrupted dark ritual”, he stated with a sad shake of his head. “While the exact nature of the original ritual is unknown, your experience as a child has left you with a contamination of your spirit. I’m not too alarmed as I’ve seen more dangerous results than your case, though I do believe it is the cause of your… altered state of mind when we met.”
“And you’re bringing this up because you think you can ‘fix’ the neko-ken”, Ranma asked with a dubious look.
Dumbledore paused then hesitantly nodded, “That is… partially correct, Mr Saotome.” Stroking his long beard, he thought of the correct words to continue, “I may be able to ‘fix’ it, but it is not without risk. Of the readings I’ve taken of you, I’ve see you’ve had quite a few encounters with magical effects in your short life. You may not know this, but each effect leaves a… ghost of itself on your spirit, even after it has run its course or been dispelled. Almost like a scar from a cut.”
Seeing the young Saotome listening intently, the elder male continued, “While I am reasonably sure beyond a doubt that I can successfully cure your feline ailment, I cannot assure that there won’t be complications caused by your prior magical experiences.” Nodding almost to himself, Dumbledore added in, “Also, the ritual to cure it, while complicated on my part, can be performed here in the span of an hour.”
Pulling out a small pipe from his robe and lighting it with his wand, he smiled fatherly, “Take your time and think it over, I’ll wait on your decision.”
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(Posted Wed, 14 Dec 2011 11:15)
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