Nine Lives (December 2038)

The large grassy field stretched out as far as the eye could see. Yet in all its vastness, not a soul lingered. Nature nestled along within its keep of winter.

A dull pop reverberated through the thick air as Eglantine McKevin apparated in the centre of the gentle rising bluff. Her eyes carefully scanned the empty scenery and several whispered spells formed a woven protection from the elements and anything else that might interfere with her plans. Excessum had grown from the first time she'd used it... and now she finally had a student worthy of sharing its secrets with.

Serena appeared not long after, her pop was actualy very silent, she learned how to make her apperation much stealthier.. it came in handy..

Curiousity and her want to learn brought her here, to learn a magic that was in her opinion Dark, mysterious, cold and yet beautiful all the same.. If she could learn its secrets, she more then welcomed it.

Turning her gaze to her eldest granddaughter, Eglantine gave her a small smile.
"Good afternoon, Serena." she greeted, nodding slightly.

"You will have to forgive my manner in teaching; I have used the same technique in doing so for the past several decades, and my ability to adapt has its limitations." Her words had a faint teasing quality to them, almost as if she desired the young woman to ignore them and yet take them to heart as well.

"Excessum is not to be taken lightly as it is of the darkest magics this world has ever known." There was no pride in her voice; simply steady truth. After all, Excessum had not truly been made by Eglantine Rosier... rather it had simply been 'perfected'.

"The spells themselves are no more difficult than those taught to the average third year. But the power to cast them must come from the very soul. Excessum can be nothing less than the very extension of your hatred, your fury and yet your complete control. If given the opportunity, Death will outwit and slay you."

Serena had had many teachers through out her life, if the teacher was actually competant she gave them her complete attention. If they were flakes.. well good luck with that...

She merely rasied a eye brow at her amused word for her teaching method. Well she was a professor after all..

"Does that mean I have to call you professor?" she asked out of jest, yet now that she thought about it she really wasn't sure what to call the woman.

Her blood Grandmother certainly knew her stuff, so she had Serena's attention. Serena nodded at the warnings she guesses she could call them. It made sense.. all dark magics had risks... well in this case more dire then others.

"I understand" she said.

"It would be preferable to 'grandmama'..." Eglantine deadpanned. "But due to your age, our rather unusual relationship and the chorus line of those who already refer to me by more titles than I can keep track of... Eglantine will be sufficient."

With a bare pause for breath, Eglantine continued into her semi-lecture on Excessum. It was well and good that Serena understood what she'd warned of. Time would tell if she truly did understand, but for now it was as her name... sufficient.

"But truly it is the most pure of the darker arts. Unlike the Unforgivables, Excessum does not leave any trace of its having been used and the only method that can be used to ensure that it was Excessum is through a blood test from the caster. This makes Excessum the surest of all..." she trailed off, a hand lifting to her chest as her breathing suddenly hitched and became laboured.

As quickly as it had come it faded, and she continued without repeated herself.

"...Surreptitious curses. Along with its more clandestine nature, it is also lethal upon first encounter and need not be pointlessly repeated in a dueling nature." she paused, cocking her head to the side and adjusting her black cloak. "It can also be reversed by the counter-spells. However only the caster can reverse Excessum or her sister curses."

Serena nodded, "Very well, Eglantine" it still felt strange but it would be stranger calling her anything else.

She rasied an eye in reation to Eglantine seemingly short of breath, she was about of half heartedly ask if she was alright when she contined with her lecture...

She found it werid and very random.. but shrugged it off and continued listening. She thought about the words Eglantine said.

"Some how I get the feeling Excessum won't work for just anyone, merlin knows you and I are not the only dark witches out there... what is the catch?' she asked.

Eglantine cocked her head to the side.
"Catch?" she murmured, obviously not following. "Ah... Only those through the Rosier blood can control Excessum." she explained. "And not just those blood of Rosier." At first she had thought the heir was the only one able to control the dark power, but instead it had surprised her, since Serena was not the heir, and yet it was possible, should she learn properly, for the younger witch to execute with Excessum.

"The Rosier line is old and well marked through history. It goes back long before Lord Voldemort's failed attempts to conquer the world. But there are few that remain..." Her own children had Rosier blood, but leaned more toward the McKevin line as well as the DeLanquar and Riddle. Blood lines were complex and easily confusing... lines that made the difference in life and death at times. An entire war had been fought over blood; an entire family vanished due to its name.

Serena nodded "Yes of course, Old family's like the Rosier's do not die out easily" she said "So anyone of your blood could use Excessum, if they learned how? or there a accpetance process one has to go through?" she asked finding it sound alittle to easy....

If what she said was true why not teach one of her childen her magic? Why teach her? A granddaughter she hardly knew... the daughter of a man who abused and alianated her mother... daughter to her mother who thought her to be dead... and concidered her as much now that the soul seperation had been done..

(( Sorry it took me so long xD was stuck on how Serena would reaspond lol... ))

"No..." Eglantine pointed her wand at the ground before them and conjured a floating cloud of sorts. "Blood within the Rosier line is not simply who has it and who doesn't." she explained. "Although each of my children and their subsequent children have Rosier blood, only you and my daughter, Greta, have the ability to control Excessum with proper instruction." She trailed off, waving her wand in an intricate weave within the cloud.

"Greta is unstable and prone to rash behavior and thought, not an ideal candidate for a dark magic marked by complete mental control." The finished weave settled over the cloud and it shattered like broken glass. "This is the Rosier Sphere." she pointed, the broken shards of cloudy weave had formed a fist sized ball of sorts that looked ancient and delicate. "Within it is the partial soul of a Rosier ancestor set for the very purpose of selecting an heir. When my daughter was born, I discovered that she had been chosen... But upon second research, your image was also seen within the Sphere. There is no fooling with the ancient magic, Serena."

Magic in Serena opinion needed to make up its mind, as her grey eyes blinked she soaked in what Eglantine told her nonetheless.The expression on her face looking very much like her mother when trying to understand something very complex.

"Very well, suppose I should be honoured." she said folding her arms in front of her
having no more pressing questions.

"What next?"