Ethan turned the broken watch over in his hands, examining it with methodical focus.
An eleven-year-old might have dismissed it as simply broken. He knew better.
Nothing his father had kept was meaningless. And nothing magical was ever as simple as it appeared.
The watch was gold, heavier than it should be. The main face showed frozen at 3:47.
But surrounding the central dial were four smaller complications:
Upper left: A moon phase indicator, currently showing a waning crescent. The tiny moon didn't move.
Upper right: Planetary positions. Ethan could make out symbols—probably representing celestial bodies—arranged around a zodiac circle. Also frozen.
Lower left: A small window labeled "Magical Exposure" with gradations from "None" to "Extreme." The needle pointed to "Moderate."
Interesting. That one might still work.
Lower right: "Danger Alert" with a spectrum from "Safe" (green) through "Caution" (yellow) to "Mortal" (red). Currently pointing to "Safe."
The crystal face was cracked in a starburst pattern radiating from the center, as if something had struck it with tremendous force.
But the crack wasn't just physical damage—there was a faint shimmer to it, an iridescence that caught the light wrongly.
Magical damage.
Ethan held the watch up to the sunlight. Yes—the shimmer intensified. Not a reflection.
Something in the crystal itself, like oil on water.
The back of the watch was engraved: "Marcus A. Drake - For ten years of breaking curses without breaking yourself. - Gringotts, 1988"
A gift from his employer. Awarded the year before he died.
Ethan tried winding it. The crown turned smoothly but nothing happened. The hands didn't move.
He pressed the crown in—sometimes pocket watches had additional functions activated that way.
Nothing.
Wait.
A memory surfaced, hazy but present. His father teaching him something when he was seven, maybe eight.
"Magic responds to intent, Ethan. Not just wands. Everything magical has awareness. You have to mean it."
It had sounded like mystical nonsense then. Now?
Ethan held the watch in both hands, closed his eyes, and focused. Not on fixing it—he had no idea how.
But on understanding it. On asking it what happened.
For a moment, nothing.
Then—
A flash of sensation. Not visual, not auditory. Just feeling.
Heat. Pressure. Terror.
The sensation of falling, or flying, or both. A voice screaming—his father's?—and then—
Nothing.
Ethan gasped, eyes snapping open. His hands were trembling.
What the hell was that?
He looked at the watch. The "Magical Exposure" needle had shifted slightly upward, now pointing between "Moderate" and "High."
The "Danger Alert" needle twitched, moving fractionally toward "Caution" before settling back to "Safe."
Still working. Not completely broken.
But the central timekeeping function? Dead.
And that shimmer in the crystal—that wasn't simple damage. That was cursed residue.
Ethan set the watch down carefully and opened his father's journal again, flipping to the end.
"March 22, 1989 - The Egypt job came through. Six months in Luxor, breaking into the Tomb of Khatep. This is the big one."
The watch had been awarded in 1988. His father had taken it on the Egypt expedition.
And it stopped at 3:47—presumably the moment the "curse accident" happened.
Which meant this watch was there. It had experienced whatever killed his father.
Ethan examined the planetary positions dial more closely. The symbols were frozen in a specific configuration.
He didn't know enough astronomy to interpret it, but if he could figure out what date and time those positions corresponded to...
Actually.
He moved to his desk and pulled out a notebook. He carefully sketched the watch face, copying the positions of all the symbols as precisely as possible.
Then he wrote down everything he'd observed:
---
OBSERVATIONS:
Main time stopped at 3:47 (AM? PM? Unknown)
Planetary positions frozen in specific configuration (date/time marker?)
Moon phase: waning crescent
Crystal cracked with magical shimmer/iridescence (curse damage?)
"Magical Exposure" dial still functional - responds to magical contact
"Danger Alert" still functional - showed brief reaction
When touched with intent, produced sensory flashback (fear, heat, falling)
Engraved: Gringotts gift, 1988
Father wore this during Egypt expedition where he died
HYPOTHESIS:
Watch stopped at moment of father's death/curse impact
Planetary positions could identify exact date/time of incident
Crystal damage indicates powerful curse direct impact
Partial functionality suggests enchantments not fully destroyed
Watch may contain "memory" of event (flashback sensation)
QUESTIONS:
Can it be repaired? Would that erase the evidence?
Can the memory be extracted somehow?
What was the exact date/time of Marcus Drake's death?
Was it really an accident?
ACTION ITEMS:
Bring watch to Diagon Alley - look for watch repair shop or magical artifact expert
Ask McGonagall about the Egypt incident (casually)
Research Tomb of Khatep when possible
DO NOT mention watch holds potential evidence to anyone until you know who to trust
---
Ethan closed the notebook, satisfied.
He couldn't fix it himself—he had no magical training, no tools, no knowledge. But he'd documented everything, and he had a plan.
The watch went back into the velvet pouch, which went into his pocket. He was keeping this on him now.
If those dials still worked, even partially, a danger warning system could save his life.
He was placing the journal and map back in the hidden compartment when he heard footsteps on the stairs.
"Ethan?" His mother's voice. "Come down when you're ready. I'll get the vault key from the safe now. And we should talk about Saturday—I think I should come with you to Diagon Alley."