For a few minutes we just stood there, quietly contemplating the intricacies of life and morality. Then, a look crossed his face, and out of the corner of my eye, I could tell he'd made up his mind about something.
The famous man reached into a pocket that stretched and was deeper than it probably should have been, and took out an old and worn journal. It was bound in plain brown leather, with no markings on it, and I could feel the weight of history just by looking at the pages of yellowed parchment.
"I want you to have this," Nicholas said.
"What is this?" I asked, taking the tome from him.
"This contains everything I know," Nicholas revealed, and I stared at him, then down at the plain looking book.
"Everything?" I whispered.
"Everything. Every recipe, every theory, every interesting fact, even every secret I've accumulated over the years. All contained within," Nicholas confirmed. "Perhaps most importantly, however, is… well, open it up to the last page, if you would."
I did as he instructed, and flipped to the end of the book. I found some diagrams that confused me, but after a moment of study I realized it was a ritual. And a massive one at that!
"Seven magical rituals, tied together to form a singular 'super' ritual," I uttered in disbelief. "And this is… elements of Transmutation… numerous Enchantments… and is that Divination I see?"
"You are correct. Those three disciplines are integral to the ritual I have spent the last two hundred years designing," he revealed.
"This is… is this genetic code?" I asked, peering closer at part of the ritual. It was! I recognized the symbols from my biology classes, both in this life and the last!
"Good eye. Most would assume it is some kind of coded Arthimancy," Nicholas praised.
"Genetic code on… no, that's impossible!" I gasped in shock, looking up at the legendary alchemist. "You figured out what part of the human genome creates Squibs?!"
Because that was what it looked like! His notes were in Latin, but I knew enough of it and genetic biology to understand what he was talking about. Despite being the last page of the notebook, more kept appearing as I read on, and I realized that this journal had been enchanted with the Many Pages spell.
"I did. Only very recently, though. And I relied heavily on Muggle sciences for it. But through a combination of disciplines, magical and mundane, I found what it is that causes a person to be born a Squib." He looked down at the page I was reading with a conflicted expression. "Just a few strands of molecules, too tiny to be seen, in the right – or wrong – place, and it results in people like you and I straddling a line. Never fully in one world or the other."
I continued to read, flipping through the pages carefully. "You found out what makes a person a Squib… and you extrapolated from there to discover the genetic code for witches and wizards," I said slowly, feeling numb.
"Yes. Look here, how the DNA sequence… well, you can see for yourself," he chuckled. "A single misplaced strand of protein… truly remarkable!"
"Do you think… is it possible to use magic to alter the DNA?" I asked, feeling something akin to hope sputter to life within me.
"That is what the ritual you saw earlier is for," Nicholas replied. "Sadly, it doesn't work as you might think. While it does alter a Squib's DNA to match that of a magical person's, the issue is that unless the Squib is an infant when they undergo the ritual, they will still not be capable of magic via a wand. There is a spiritual component to magic, one that cannot be simply gained in the middle of one's life. I do not know what the age cut-off is, exactly, but you and I are too old to benefit from the ritual, save perhaps for a minor increase in radiant magic that would make it easier to brew potions or sustain a House Elf."
"Oh. I see," I muttered, feeling my fledgling hope get crushed. It hurt. Even after so many years of accepting my status, it still hurt to lose that chance at magic I was denied at birth. He sent me a sympathetic look. Still, the fact he had found any of this at all was astounding!
"Wait, there's something else here," I muttered to myself as I glanced back down at his journal. This time I found the actual end of the notes. And I stared at what had been written down.
"Impossible…" I murmured, eyes locked onto the page.
"Nothing is impossible. Merely improbable," Nicholas chided, though it was done fondly and with a hint of amusement. I merely looked up at him in disbelief.
"This changes… it could change everything!" I hissed out. "This says here that if a completely normal person were to undergo the Squib-to-Magical Ritual, they would become a Squib themselves!"
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