Chapter Text
With a broad smile, Draco gently tapped his perfectly manicured fingernails against the smooth surface of the small, igneous rock in his hand. He relished in the feel of sophisticated perfection―only Mother Nature had the power and resources to create something so marvellous. Draco took an extra moment or two to let his fingertips slide over the shiny uppermost layer, allowing himself to be filled with the innocent amazement of a child.
As if the stone had been able to read Draco’s thoughts and feel his quiet reverence, the obsidian’s jet-black glassy outside shimmered underneath the bright light of the magical light floating just above Draco’s head. The abundance of the stone’s closely-spaced crystallites ensured that it was perfectly opaque and the spherical clusters of radially arranged, needle-like crystals only served to add to the stone’s shine. It was quite a piece of perfection.
A result of rapidly cooling viscous lava from volcanoes had, over the centuries, turned the obsidian’s imposing and mysterious black colour into a stone that was now frequently shaped into an amulet of protection. This made it the perfect canvas for the sigil, Draco had just finished designing. It had started innocent enough with a straight line, through the centre of an imagined circle. The centre part of the line was thicker and broader than its spiky ends.
From there, Draco had, after some thought, drawn his inspiration from the Ars Goetia, one of five antique and anonymous grimoires compiled in the mid-17th century that belonged to the Lesser Key of Solomon. Draco had no intention of summoning any of those demons but years of research and a bit of artistic skill had taught him something important. The magic power of the creatures, which conjured curses, could also be harnessed to protect someone or something from the very evil the demons and their legions had been created to bestow.
Rather proud of his achievement, Draco glanced at the elaborate safety sigil with its crown and angel’s wings-like properties. As always, he’d used an ordinary Muggle felt marker to draw the completed design onto a thick, cream-coloured parchment. It had taken him nearly a month to finalise the sketch, and now that it was ready, Draco couldn’t wait to carve it into the stone in his hand.
Careful not to let his excitement get the better of him, he placed the obsidian inside a specially-designed gripping device and ensured that the u-shaped top and bottom tangs of the tweezers had a perfect hold on the stone. Once he was satisfied, Draco reached for a nearby thin, about five-inch long box, opened it and took out a custom-made stone-carving knife.
Its blade was perfectly-shaped and made from pure diamond, which made it sharp enough to cut through almost anything. Draco handled the utensil with the utmost care, and with his eyes focused on the parchment that held his design, he drowned out the world around him and began to carve the sigil into the stone.
His movements showed expertise and a great deal of practice but even though Draco trusted his skills, had years of experience with the art of carving designs into stones, he refused to allow anything to distract him. His mind was quiet, and his thoughts left him to finish his work without disturbance. There was nothing there to draw his attention away from the importance of craving the sigil precisely as he’d designed it. The smallest mistake meant starting all over again. Since he’d already scheduled an appointment for a session with Ian for the day after tomorrow, he wanted to avoid that at all costs.