Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures - H.P.S.T Chapter 1681: The Squib

“Statues?!” Marcus looked genuinely startled, as though it was only because of Evan’s reminder that he had just noticed them.

He stared at the monstrous statues in the garden, a puzzled expression settling over his face as he fell into thought.

Evan frowned, observing his expression, a strange feeling creeping into his mind.

Marcus seemed to have only just noticed the statues. It had been the same earlier, when Evan mentioned the Dark magic the Dark Witch was casting: the ghost had not seen the green beam of magic shooting into the sky at all, and had only become aware of these obvious things after Evan pointed them out. It was truly odd.

It was as though something, some kind of magic, was obstructing Marcus’s vision, causing him to be blind to certain things right in front of him and to what was happening around him. What Marcus saw was different from what Evan saw. Once Evan drew his attention to it, that magic was immediately dispelled, and only then could Marcus see what Evan had talked about.

Considering that Marcus’s very existence was also a form of magic, this possibility was quite high; what he saw might be no more than the scene left behind by the original caster at the time. The other possibility was that Marcus was pretending not to see anything, so as not to draw Evan’s attention to it — but that made even less sense. It had happened once before, and now again; whether it was the traces of the Dark Witch’s spell or the statues in the garden below, these were all plainly visible. If Marcus truly wanted Evan to overlook them, this was a very unconvincing way of going about it.

“Those statues,” Marcus’s pride vanished, and he said dryly, “those statues have always been there.”

“But you didn’t seem to see them just now?”

“I simply didn’t notice them, my lord,” said Marcus. “I didn’t expect you to be interested in them. These frightening statues have been there for a long time, so long that it’s easy for others to ignore them entirely. In fact, I can’t even remember when they were put there, but it must have been that person who liked to tinker with strange things, catching people off guard when they weren’t paying attention. The old master was always unusually tolerant of his eccentric behavior. It must have been him who placed the statues…”

“Wait, Marcus, who is this ‘person’ you’re talking about?” Evan pressed.

“That person,” Marcus’s expression went blank again. He seemed lost in a long memory, and after a long pause, he said, “It was Young Master Dalian. My lord, please forgive me for not recalling his name at once. Young Master Dalian was the old master’s youngest son — a strange fellow with very little presence. As you can see, he was always pulling malicious pranks, as if he found them amusing, though in reality they gave everyone endless headaches. No one in the castle liked him. Young Master Dalian lacked the talent of his brothers and sisters and did not inherit the Ravenclaw family’s gifts. In fact, he had nothing at all. He was a Squib.”

“A Squib?” said Evan, thinking of Filch, the caretaker at Hogwarts, who was also a Squib.

A Squib was someone born into a Wizarding family but could not use magic; they were ‘Muggles’ born wizards.

Generally speaking, Squibs were often looked down upon by some wizards, who considered them second-class citizens in the Wizarding world.

This discrimination was particularly pronounced in pure-blood Wizarding families that adhered to pure-blood principles. Many pure-blood wizards considered the presence of a Squib in their family a disgrace, and they would remove the Squib member from the family tree; the Malfoy and Black families, for example, had both done this.

Even a Wizarding family like the Weasleys, which was friendly to Muggles and did not adhere to pure-blood supremacy, found it difficult to accept a Squib in their family. As far as Evan knew, Ron had an uncle who worked as an accountant in the Muggle world, but his existence was almost a taboo subject within the Weasley family and was rarely discussed.   

A thousand years ago, the status and situation of Squibs were far worse than they were now.

They were rarely mentioned in Wizarding families, the forgotten ones.

A very few pure-blood Wizarding families that valued bloodlines above all else would even kill their own Squibs to prevent others from finding out.

“That’s right. Young Master Dalian was a Squib. From childhood to adulthood, he never displayed any ability to cast spells,” said Marcus, pausing again before continuing. “He was the shame of the Ravenclaw family. People rarely spoke of him, usually pretending he did not exist. The old master was far too kind and did not expel him from the family. Still, it’s strange — perhaps it’s simply been too long. My memories of Young Master Dalian are always fragmented, as though I’ve forgotten many things. But that’s nothing, is it? You can safely ignore him, my lord. Aside from doing a few odd things to damage the castle, Young Master Dalian never did anything of note.”

How could he possibly be ignored? This Dalian was far too suspicious.

Was it really just a coincidence that he could carve these statues that looked like creations of some evil god?

And Marcus, was that old ghost’s strange reactions and his forgetting so much about Dalian also a coincidence?!

“Were these statues carved by Dalian himself?” Evan asked softly.

“Probably.”

“And the appearances of these monsters — did he come up with them on his own?”

“Yes. He must have carved those terrifying things deliberately to frighten everyone,” said Marcus. “There are no such monsters in the world. They were nothing more than figments of his imagination, even if he went around telling others that these creatures wandered all through the castle.”

“Wait — Dalian said the monsters from those statues roamed around the castle?”

“It was a prank, my lord. No one but him ever saw these monsters; they don’t exist at all,” Marcus went on. “So it’s hardly surprising that he would say such things. Young Master Dalian was always pulling such despicable tricks — scribbling incomprehensible patterns on the castle walls, or muttering to himself as though someone were standing beside him, and so on. He probably wanted to attract attention in this way, but all it ever did was make people dislike him even more.”

“Alright!” Evan said after a moment’s thought. “What became of Dalian in the end?”

“When Death descended, everyone on this land died. I imagine he was no exception,” Marcus replied. “But he was not qualified to witness the opening ceremony at the Veil of Death, so he should have remained within the castle. Yet I never saw him. His soul may have already dissipated. After all, he was just a Squib with no magic.”

Translating_Wizard

The novel is officially complete!! 🥳🥳 Thank you for being part of this journey—it really means a lot. You can binge the full story now on Patreon (50% off!) + unlock 200+ extra chapters 👀

•