Chapter 328: The Emperor Card
"It is over."
The Fiendfyre guttered out, and the mirror before Dudley shattered completely.
Behind him, Dobby jerked awake.
"Just now... what just happened..." he gasped, drawing a sharp breath and looking around.
He remembered seeing Malfoy Manor twist and warp under the assault of Fiendfyre, remembered walls and ceilings punched apart by Dudley's fists, and the entire manor finally collapsing into sooty black ruin.
"Everything just now was an illusion that the mirror created for us," Dudley said.
"What a pity. If time were not so tight, it might have been fun to play a little cat‑and‑mouse game with it."
He ran his fingers over the now‑dead glass.
By rights, the proper way to handle such an object would have been to track down the double that looked exactly like him and, through that, find the exit from the mirror world. But that would have taken too long, perhaps hours, and Dudley did not have that kind of time to spare.
So he had taken the brute‑force route instead, using Fiendfyre and raw power to smash the mirror outright.
It truly was a remarkable artefact. It could drag someone into the phantasmal world within it without their even noticing, and keep them there for a long time without them sensing that anything was wrong. If Dudley had not caught the detail about his left hand, he might really have taken the card and walked straight out of Malfoy Manor, returned to Number Four, and begun researching it in peace.
In reality, he would have still been standing right here, staring into the mirror. When Lucius and the others came back, the consequences for a Dudley still lost in illusion would have been ugly.
"Come on. We can head for Lucius's study properly now."
He cast one last glance at the ruined glass, then turned and walked the few metres to the study door.
Activating Spirit Vision, he carefully examined the magic on the frame.
"Exactly the same as in the mirror. That makes things easier."
"Dobby, take down the spells," Dudley said.
"Yes, Justiciar."
Dobby quickly set to work, unpicking the charms woven into the door one by one.
Dudley did not stand idle either. He had already dismantled these enchantments once inside the mirror world. Doing it again posed no problem.
In less than two minutes, all of the magic on the doorway had been neutralised.
Dudley pushed the door open with his right hand and stepped inside.
Just as in the mirrored version, Lucius's study was broad and richly appointed, with bookshelves running from floor to ceiling on every wall.
The moment he crossed the threshold, Dudley's gaze flicked to the desk.
That was where he had found the Emperor card earlier.
"Nothing," he murmured.
This time, there was no sign of the card that had appeared in the mirror.
"So what is in the mirror does not necessarily match reality," he said with a hint of regret.
He began methodically clearing the remaining magic in the study and searching for likely hiding places.
"I do not know whether the master has put the card somewhere else, or is carrying it on him," Dobby said as he checked shelves and corners.
Normally, the card lay on the desk. The absence of it now was troubling.
"Emperor Card, Accio," Dudley incanted, flicking his wand.
Nothing in the room stirred.
His eyes narrowed.
"Either Lucius put an Anti‑Summoning Charm on it, or that really is a Desecrated Card," he said under his breath.
A Desecrated Card did more than distort Divination. Its high level also made it immune to most spells. A simple Summoning Charm would have no effect whatsoever.
Dudley paced the study for a while, then came to a halt in front of the desk.
Several of the drawers were sealed with magic. Dobby had already opened a few of them for him, but they contained only Lucius's personal valuables. Nothing Dudley cared about.
"Justiciar, do you want me to open the rest?" Dobby asked.
"No," Dudley said.
He stood still for a moment with his eyes closed. Somewhere nearby, he could faintly sense a connection tugging at his awareness.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
He spoke softly, and Lucius's massive wooden desk lifted gently off the floor and floated aside.
Dudley crouched and examined the carpet.
"There you are," he said, the corner of his mouth tightening into a smile.
He drove his fist down.
The carpet and the stone beneath it shattered together. Fragments flew up and away under the force of the blow, exposing a hidden compartment in the floor.
A small, ornate wooden box lay inside.
Dudley picked it up and checked it over. There was only a simple sealing charm on the lid, which he dispelled with a casual flick.
Click.
He flipped the box open. Laid out on fine silk inside was a single card.
A Major Arcana Tarot card, showing a richly dressed man. Along the bottom was a single word: Emperor.
"That is it. That is the card," Dobby said at once, his voice bright with excitement.
The instant Dudley took it in his hand, a line of verse surfaced unbidden in his mind.
He rose to his feet, drew a deep breath, and murmured the incantation in Hermes.
His low voice rolled through the study, and a faint glow seeped from the card.
When the last syllable left his tongue, the Tarot card finally revealed its true face.
On the card was a middle‑aged man in magnificent robes. Dudley stared at that face, feeling a ripple pass through his heart.
"Roselle Gustav," he breathed.
There was no mistake. The figure now depicted was Roselle the Emperor, a legend of that other uncanny world.
The Desecrated Card was his work.
At the same time, arcane symbols and glyphs floated across Dudley's sight. The potion formula for the Black Emperor Pathway appeared clearly before him, along with related advancement rituals.
Click.
At that very moment, the door to the study swung open.
The excitement on Dobby's face vanished, replaced instantly by horror.
Dudley's eyes narrowed slightly and shifted to the threshold.
Lucius Malfoy stepped in at an unhurried pace. He glanced at Dudley, then at the Emperor card already transformed in Dudley's hand, and a cold smile curved his lips.
"So that is how this card must be opened," he said softly. "Thank you for your help, stranger."
His gaze slid to Dobby.
"And you, Dobby. I never thought the one to betray me would be you."
Dobby stared at him in terror. Lucius might no longer be his master, but the weight of years of authority still pressed on his chest, making it hard to breathe.
"Lucius," Dudley said, looking at the blond man before him.