Researching Artifacts

Conducting research on any kind of artifacts was most often considered by students to be an honor. It showed that they were responsible enough to be entrusted with such an important task. For John, however, it was a punishment for attempting to spy on his female classmates using magic.

He had thought that the harshest penalty would be cleaning bathrooms or floors, but he was clearly mistaken. Setting aside the fact that most magical artifacts did nothing particularly interesting, every minute spent with Rowena—or rather Lady Rowena, as she demanded to be addressed—was pure ****. Every time she entered or left the room, one had to stand up and wait until she permitted them to sit down again, all the while keeping one’s head bowed, as if John were not worthy even of looking at her. Instead of telling him what to do, she also had a dreadful habit of simply pointing at things with her finger.

To be fair, her house-elf was treated even worse than he was, like a **** expected to carry out every command immediately. During most conversations she treated him like a piece of furniture, only occasionally apologizing for his tactless behavior, explaining that it was a matter of upbringing and that creatures like him would never understand such things.

That day, Lady Rowena’s behavior was no different; the difference lay in the chest of artifacts the elf had brought, and in the artifacts themselves, which looked far more serious than usual. Rowena, however, busy with her own affairs, noticed nothing. Although John was convinced that a mistake had been made and that he lacked the proper qualifications to examine these artifacts, he took on the task nonetheless.