After receiving the potion recipe, Senna became completely absorbed in her work. Taking the rare materials Lys had brought back, she disappeared for nearly ten days.
When she finally returned to the shop, carrying a potion case, her hair was greasy and disheveled, and she was still wearing the same clothes she had left in. The strong smell of calming draughts and invigorating potions filled the entire reading room.
"Your classmate was right. This potion recipe can indeed be improved for better efficacy. But I can't do it. I even drank a bit of Felix Felicis, but this is the best I could manage." She shook the bottle in her hand and gave Lys a sidelong glance. "What have you been drinking?"
The little lunatic reeked of a rotting smell, unicorn horn powder, and... something else. Was that even a potion?
Senna sniffed hard, but the overwhelming scent clinging to her own body hindered her ability to discern it.
When Lys was nervous, strange words often slipped out. "Today's soup was onion butter soup, Mom." Who knew what kind of peculiar smell butter soup could produce?
Senna, holding the potion bottle, didn't press further. She set down her potion case and went to the back washroom to clean herself up.
During the ten days Senna was away, the reading room remained quiet. Fortunately, the shop was located at the end of the alley, with only a flower shop as a neighbor. The florist had no prejudice against a disabled werewolf and even shared her homemade cherry pie with Lys.
Lys spent her days immersed in early mornings and late nights of study and experimentation. At one point, she attempted to remove the disguise from her wand but was nearly blinded by the array inside.
Forced to continue her research on wand-making and magical arrays, Lys grew so frustrated with her lack of progress that she angrily slammed her experiment table. Only then did she remember it was time to take her soul stabilizer potion.
Lys hesitated about asking her mother for help in brewing potions. After all, the quality of her current soul stabilizer was... unspeakably poor.
The scar on her left arm had begun showing signs of festering and decay due to the substandard potion. When her father urged her to go out and buy new clothes, Lys didn't dare. After taking the potion, her wildly fluctuating emotions and the occasional unpleasant odor emanating from her body made her retreat to her corner, unwilling to move.
She even avoided eating with her father, timing her meals differently. Now that her mother was back, she found herself too nervous to tell the truth.
With a sigh of resignation, Lys decided to replenish her mother's wine cabinet. Perhaps this time, she could buy some sweet wine. Whiskey, while tempting, would leave her with a headache the next day. Three bottles should suffice.
Throwing on her cloak, Lys headed out. The wine shop was in another alley. She needed to hurry. Dinner could be made more elaborate tonight. After all, her mother seemed genuinely happy holding that potion. Clutching her robe, Lys quickened her pace.
At the dinner table, Lys carefully cast a weather charm on herself. Although it made her feel cold and dry, it was better than letting the smell of her wounds spread—after all, it wasn't a pleasant odor.
Seated at the specially transfigured dining table, Senna downed another glass of wine. Even Noah, upon hearing about the potion, allowed himself a small drink. After all, the pain of a werewolf's transformation was almost unbearable.
As they ate, Senna took a swig directly from the bottle and said, "I asked you when I came back—what have you been drinking? Hmm? Little lunatic... your Patronus Charm? It's been three years. Which Black are you, really?"
Lys's heart skipped a beat. She had never stopped practicing the Patronus Charm, but all she could produce was a mass of silver mist, which seemed to be shrinking instead of forming.
Swallowing hard, Lys decided to start with an easier question.
Seeing her father take a sip of his drink at the mention of this topic, she rolled up her left sleeve under the cover of the table and showed it to Senna. "I've been experimenting on myself. Something's not right because the quality of my soul stabilizer is too poor."
Both Senna and Noah immediately turned their attention to Lys. If his body allowed it, Noah might have stood up to see what his daughter had shown his wife under the table.
"Soul stabilizer? My little star, what have you done to yourself?!" Noah's glass fell onto the table, and Senna gripped her bottle, staring at Lys as if seeing her for the first time.
Scanning Lys from head to toe multiple times, Senna muttered, "Ha, I knew it. A lunatic. The Black family—all lunatics except your father! The soul!"
When Senna slammed the bottle onto the table, it hit with a loud thud, the force causing the bottom and body to crack.
"Did I not tell you—" Senna paused, seemingly recalling whether she had ever mentioned it. Then she continued, "The soul is a forbidden field of research! Merlin's domain!"
Her expression grew even stranger. How had this little lunatic even stumbled upon the concept of the soul?
Wine spilled across the tablecloth, dripping onto Lys's exposed wound.
Noah reached out to pull the tablecloth away, stopping the wine from spreading further. He took Senna's hand, checking for injuries. "Senna... don't be angry. Don't rush. Let's ask again. Let's ask again. Starlis, tell me, what have you done?"
Lys stepped back and extended her left arm. "I read some healing magic and anatomy books. I thought I could fix it."
She swallowed hard, unable to lift her gaze. "But I realized it's been too long. My soul has already fused with my arm as I've grown. If I only treated the arm, it would revert under the influence of my soul. I... I didn't want that. So I corrected my soul using... dark magic."
Noticing the trembling table, Lys quickly added, "But once the fusion between soul and body stabilizes, this should stop happening. I suspect the current issue is due to the poor quality of my soul stabilizer, which is causing the flesh to decay."
Noah slumped in his wheelchair, staring at his daughter's bowed head, the fear and panic in her eyes, and the festering wound on her left arm. He closed his eyes, unwilling to face it.
"Senna, help the child. There's so little we can do." He placed a hand on his wife's arm.
Lys began to wonder if answering the question about the Patronus Charm might have been easier. Pulling down her sleeve, she silently cleaned up the chaotic mess on the table.
It seemed she still didn't fully grasp the taboo surrounding the soul in the wizarding world.
"My little star, does it still hurt?" Noah's voice was muffled as he buried his face in Senna's shoulder.
Lys glanced at her left arm, confused. Did it still hurt?
Yes, it always hurt. From the day she was injured to her reckless experiments, the pain had never ceased.
But could she really hide behind her parents, like that cowardly boy at school?
Her heart raced.
To say it...
Or not...
"It hurts a lot, Dad. Always." Lys waved her wand, sending the dishes and tablecloth to the sink for cleaning.
"Every moment."
Burying his face in Senna's shoulder, Noah finally choked back a sob. As the only man in the family, he felt useless. The harm and burden were his doing.
He opened his arms to Lys, repeatedly apologizing to both mother and daughter.
Lys stiffly leaned into her parents' embrace, her mind blank. A wave of immense happiness overwhelmed her, making her vision blur. She had never felt this before...
Just like that, she had it?
Though she awkwardly curled up to avoid pressing against her father, the position was uncomfortable. Yet, she could feel her father's hand on her hair and her mother's hand on her shoulder.
Merlin... thank you for extending your hands to me, no matter the circumstances.
"No one can bear all responsibilities perfectly. I'm just glad you didn't truly abandon me."
Whether during my struggles or yours.
Hearing this, Noah cried even harder.
Feeling the weight on her shoulder, Lys glanced up at her mother.
Senna awkwardly said, "Give me the stabilizer recipe," then left Noah in Lys's arms and stood up.
As the last member of the Lam family who had grown up alone, Senna knew all too well that her earlier neglect and harshness toward Lys had been a projection of her own helplessness.
The next day, when Noah recalled sobbing in his wife and daughter's arms, he tried to explain it away as the effects of alcohol.
Senna, holding her cauldron, and Lys, clutching her carving knife, nodded dismissively.
The three of them, with their swollen eyes, avoided each other's gazes.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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