A week had passed since Aurelian recovered the ring and with it the stone of resurrection. During those days, he kept it in a box in his study in the Mansion, without touching it, not even with magic. Just observing it, feeling its power, its history. It was not a tool to be used lightly.
But tonight... it would be different.
The moon was high in the clear sky, casting its silvery light on the windows of the mansion's large library. Aurelian had carefully moved the stone to the center of the room, placing circles of containment around it, not to control whoever came, but to maintain the magical atmosphere.
At his side was his faithful companion Stinky, ears lowered and eyes fixed on the stone.
"Master... are you sure about this?" asked the elf, with a mixture of respect and some fear.
Aurelian did not answer immediately. He only stroked the surface of the stone with his fingers. Its texture was cold, as if it weighed more than its size should allow.
"Stinky... have you heard of the Deathly Hallows?"
The elf blinked.
"Just legends, master. Stories of mad wizards chasing tales. The Tale of the Three Brothers... things to scare children."
Aurelian nodded slowly.
"That's what I thought too. That they were also legends. But that stone is real." He held the stone up to the moonlight, where its engraving glowed faintly. "This is the real Resurrection Stone."
Stinky stepped back a little, as if the relic emitted an aura too powerful for his senses.
"And you plan to use it? To call a soul... back?"
"Just one... Just one."
Silence filled the room. Stinky knew who he was talking about.
Aurelian stood up, letting a black velvet cloak fall from his shoulders. He focused completely on controlling his breathing. He let his magic align with the stone.
"I just want to see her... for real," he murmured.
In a clear, firm voice, he turned the stone three times in his hand, just as he remembered.
The air changed.
The temperature dropped slightly, as if the world had held its breath. A pale mist began to rise from the ground.
Stinky took a step back, stifling a scream.
Then slowly a figure began to materialize in front of Aurelian.
Tall, thin, with long hair falling over her shoulders. She wore a soft, unadorned tunic, her deep, bright eyes instinctively seeking out the boy in front of her.
It was Elaine Harper.
For a moment, neither she nor Aurelian said a word. Time seemed to stretch out, as if they both knew that what was coming should not be rushed.
Aurelian did not cry. But his lips parted slightly, trembling.
Elaine looked at him... and smiled.
Not with surprise. Not with fear. But with tenderness... with love.
It was then that she spoke for the first time.
"Hello, my child..."
Elaine did not take her eyes off Aurelian, even when a short figure with large ears approached with reverent, almost trembling steps. Stinky stopped just before Elaine, bowing his head until his forehead almost touched the ground.
"My lady Elaine... Stinky welcomes you," he said, his voice breaking with emotion. "It's been so long... and yet... you're still just as brilliant."
Elaine turned her face toward him, gently. Her serene eyes opened slightly as she recognized him.
"Stinky..." she whispered, her voice seeming to come from a distant corner of time. "You were always so loyal..."
Stinky sobbed, shedding a few tears, a mixture of joy and melancholy fluttering in his chest. He stood up with dignity, which in a domestic elf was quite a statement, and looked at her with pride.
"Stinky kept his promise. He took little Aurelian and brought him to safety... he watched over him from afar. But he is no longer a helpless child, ma'am. He is now a great wizard! Truly! He is intelligent, strong... powerful like no other of his age. He has achieved more than any human or elf could imagine."
Aurelian, still motionless, let out a small smile when he heard the elf's words.
Elaine, who until then had maintained a gentle expression, frowned slightly with concern.
"Powerful...?" she repeated, as if the word hurt her a little. "Is he... happy?" she asked.
Stinky blinked. He looked down for just a moment.
"He does what he must, my lady. He carries a heavy burden... but he has also laughed, made friends... he has noble goals. In his own way... I think he is trying."
Elaine looked at her son, now with a mixture of emotions ranging from pride to sorrow.
Aurelian didn't look away. It didn't matter how vulnerable he felt. This was his mother, and he wasn't going to lose her in silence.
"Stinky..." Elaine murmured softly, "Thank you for taking care of him all this time."
The elf bowed once more, before slowly turning to Aurelian with a faint, moist smile.
"Stinky will leave the young master with his mother," he said, his voice still trembling with emotion. "This moment... is yours alone."
And without waiting for a response, he disappeared in a slight flicker.
Only mother and son remained. The air grew thicker, more intimate.
Slowly approaching her son, her ethereal footsteps made no sound, but her presence seemed to fill the entire room. Her eyes, the same eyes Aurelian saw in the mirror every morning, looked at him with a mixture of love, curiosity, and an impossible-to-hide sadness.
"You've grown so much... more than I ever imagined you would without me," she whispered, as if each word were a caress.
Aurelian swallowed hard. He had prepared himself mentally for this, but no spell, book, or theory could cushion the emotional blow of standing before his mother. A woman he had only known through the memories of others and abstract dreams.
"I haven't just grown up, Mother... I've changed too," he said, his voice deep. "I'm not just Aurelian. There's something else inside me... something that came from another world. Memories... ideas... visions. I don't know if I'm who I was meant to be..."
Elaine looked at him silently, then nodded gently.
"I know. I felt it when you were born. There was something different inside you... But the most important thing is that you are my son above all else. I feel it in my soul."
Aurelian lowered his gaze.
"Sometimes I wonder if what I'm doing is right. If this quest for power, control, knowledge... is turning me into something different. Something you wouldn't have wanted me to be."
Elaine took another step forward, until she was standing right in front of him. She raised a translucent hand and placed it on his cheek. Aurelian felt a slight tingling sensation, not like a physical touch, but like a brush against his magic, against his soul.
"Are you doing this out of hatred?" she asked.
"No. I'm doing it for freedom. To protect the little that matters to me in this world," Aurelian replied without hesitation.
"Then you're not losing yourself. Sometimes, those who have to change the world... can't always do it with clean hands," she whispered.
Aurelian closed his eyes, feeling a mixture of relief and guilt.
"Mother... there's so much I want to tell you. So many questions. About you. About my father."
Elaine smiled bitterly.
"Tom..." she whispered, more to herself than to him. "He was like a bottomless pit... for a brief moment, I thought I could fill it. That I could pull him out of his darkness. I saw a frightened child in him. I saw humanity... before he buried it forever."
Aurelian remained silent. Elaine lowered her hand, her face bathed in nostalgia.
"I don't regret having you. Despite the pain, despite what it cost. You are the only beautiful thing that came out of all that."
"Did you love him?" Aurelian asked, unable to help himself.
Elaine hesitated. Her face reflected a struggle of emotions that, even in her spiritual state, remained latent.
"Yes... But it wasn't a healthy love. It was like loving a storm. You can't hold on to it... you can only hope it doesn't destroy you in the process."
Silence fell for a few seconds. Aurelian looked at her with a gaze that was not that of a child, but of someone who had lived more than time would suggest.
"I wanted to see you again," he finally said. "I want you to come back. Not just for today."
Elaine looked at him with infinite sweetness.
"The Stone doesn't give life, Aurelian. It only allows the echo of what we were. I no longer belong to this world... but I'll come if you call me. I'll always be with you."
A tear ran down Aurelian's face.
"Thank you for giving me life."
Elaine smiled and leaned down to kiss his forehead, though there was no contact.
"And you, thank you for not wasting it."
Elaine stood in front of him, looking at his face tenderly, as if she still couldn't believe that the young wizard in front of her was the same one she had given birth to with her last breath.
"Aurelian..." she said, breaking the silence softly. "Tell me about yourself. About your life. Where have you been all this time? How have you lived?"
Aurelian blinked, his heart still pounding with the excitement of having her there. For a moment, everything he had planned to say to her, everything he thought he had under control, turned into a whirlwind of emotions in his chest.
"Do you want to know everything?" he asked, his voice lower than usual.
Elaine smiled, with that same smile that, according to Stinky, had saved her from her father's darkness.
"I want to know everything. Every detail. Every joy, every pain. I never thought this moment would come."
Aurelian nodded slowly. He sat down in front of her.
The atmosphere became intimate, almost suspended in time, with the candles flickering softly and the stone on the table radiating a faint, warm heat. Elaine sat down beside him, or at least, the spiritual projection that she now was took shape beside him.
"Then... I'll begin," Aurelian said calmly.
Thus, without haste, as if the night would never end, he began to tell his story. He took a deep breath and began to speak, letting the words flow with the naturalness of someone who finally feels understood.
"I was in an orphanage since I was born," he began, looking at his mother's serene face, "San Emerico. It wasn't a warm place, but... I survived. I learned to take care of myself. I always knew I was different, that there was something else inside me."
Elaine listened silently, with full attention, as if she were reconstructing with her eyes every memory her son shared with her.
"One day I met Stinky. He promised to protect me, and he has," Aurelian continued with a slight smile. "He told me about you, about your story... and he was the one who reminded me that I wasn't alone."
Elaine brought a hand to her chest, moved.
"After that... I decided I wouldn't just be a lost orphan. I took the Gaunt surname. Kravix, a brilliant goblin, helped me recover the family's wealth. I bought land, restored properties..." He paused briefly. "I also reclaimed the mansion that once belonged to my father's family. Although now it bears the Gaunt surname."
Elaine nodded gently, proudly.
"You've done more than I ever imagined..." she said softly.
"This year was my first year at Hogwarts. I learned much more than I expected. About magic, about the world... and about what it means to live with others," Aurelian said thoughtfully. "I met Cedric, who is very kind, the Weasley twins, who are, how shall I put it, cheerful... very cheerful, and two very peculiar girls, Hestia and Flora Carrow."
Elaine looked at him with an arched eyebrow, amused.
"Peculiar? In what way are they peculiar?"
Aurelian hesitated slightly.
"They're very close to me. They're protective, insistent... different. I don't really know how to explain it."
Elaine let out a light, soft, vibrant laugh that seemed to fill the room.
"Aurelian, dear... those girls might not just be your friends," she said mischievously.
Aurelian rolled his eyes with a slight smile.
"Don't start..."
"No, no..." replied his mother with a mischievous tone. "I'm just saying you should pay attention. Sometimes affection disguises itself in many ways, and some girls... can be very determined."
They both laughed together, and for a moment, the world seemed to stop.
The light from the stone began to fade, the energy that sustained the connection slowly dissipating. Elaine noticed it first and nodded sweetly.
"I have to go now. But call me whenever you want. I'll be waiting."
Aurelian bowed his head, a glint in his eyes.
"I will. I promise."
"I'm so proud of you, Aurelian..." Elaine whispered, just before fading into a soft halo of light.
Stinky appeared and looked down, while Aurelian remained silent, his expression serene.
He had spoken to his mother, and those emotions would stay with him forever.