Chapter 154: The Glove Takes Shape

The wrist mounting remained a pouch tied to a band until Edward tried to use it with his wand.

Raising his left arm placed the barrier correctly, but the loose leather struck his right wrist during a crossing motion. Reversing the mounting solved that problem and hid the white direction stitch from view. Tightening it reduced movement and slowed his fingers.

Remus ended the exercise before Edward could propose another compromise.

"You are treating your hand as spare space," he said. "It is not."

They abandoned the wrist and returned to the hand. A thin dragonhide glove could carry the pouch along the back, leaving the palm, fingers, and wand grip clear. The recognition bead rested beneath the knuckle of the index finger, where Edward could touch or crush it with his thumb. A white line pointed from the pouch toward the protected arc.

The first glove pulled the little finger whenever he closed his fist. The second bunched beneath his palm. Kreacher unpicked both and cut a third from a softer piece of hide.

Edward wore it for an entire day without magic. He wrote, ate, opened doors, lifted books, and practised basic wand movements. Remus marked every time he looked at the glove unnecessarily. By supper, there were eleven marks.

"That habit will advertise the device," Edward said.

"And pull your attention away from people."

They practised until touching the bead became a deliberate choice rather than a nervous check.

Burke visited for the first magical test. He inspected the glove, compared its measurements with the approved pouch, and tugged every seam. He refused a silver thread Edward had added between the bead and the crystal.

"The original contact worked through the setting," Burke said. "Why add another path?"

"It shortened the delay."

"By how much?"

"Less than a blink."

"Then your impatience created a new failure point for nothing."

Edward removed it.

Behind the double wards, he attuned a fresh bead before Burke, Remus, and Kreacher. The prism released a barrier at the spoken phrase. A practice bolt scattered against it. Edward stepped behind cover before it faded.

For the angled test, Burke stood outside the marked arc and fired at the wooden figure. The bolt struck the figure exactly as expected.

"The glove does not turn," Edward recited. "It protects only the direction shown by the white stitch."

They repeated the trial after soaking the glove, chilling it, and covering it with dust. Moisture delayed the release once. Dust prevented recognition once. In both cases, the object remained inert.

Burke approved the glove for supervised practice and no other purpose. He sealed the report with dark red wax.

"You may give it a name now," he said.

Edward looked at the plain hide and visible pouch. "Heart-Flame Crest."

Burke winced. "I said you may. I did not promise to admire it."

The name survived. The grander claims did not.

At the alliance meeting, Edward demonstrated one barrier and one inert failure. He then crushed the recognition bead and invited Draco to use the phrase. Nothing happened.

"Can you make one for each of us?" Draco asked.

"No."

"Because of the expense?"

"Because this is one tested piece, not a pattern ready for production."

Pansy nodded toward the four separate boxes. "What about the other effects?"

"Laboratory samples. None belongs on the glove."

Daphne looked disappointed. Astoria looked relieved.

They voted to keep the Crest under joint custody with Sirius and to permit Edward to wear it only during approved practice. The alliance would receive copies of every test report. No family could commission a private version through Edward.

That restriction mattered more than expected. Two days later, an owl from Lucius Malfoy offered rare materials and access to a private workshop in exchange for a demonstration. Edward declined without describing the design. Draco carried the answer home and returned irritated, but he did not dispute the vote.

The next scheduled message from Albania failed to arrive.

At first, Edward followed the plan. He notified Dumbledore through the emergency brass signal and recorded the time. Dumbledore replied that Sirius's group had crossed an area where the mirror might not work and that the search interval had not yet expired.

The second deadline passed in silence.

Dumbledore came to Grimmauld Place with Professor McGonagall and two travelling witches Edward did not know. They closed the curtains around every hostile portrait and spread a map across the dining table.

The last message from Sirius had mentioned a ravine east of the second shelter. One investigator knew the border camp. The other carried a Portkey authorized by the Albanian Ministry for the search for Bertha Jorkins.

"You and Kreacher will remain here," McGonagall told Edward.

Kreacher twisted his hands. "Kreacher can find Master Sirius if Master Sirius calls the House."

"Has he called?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, Headmaster."

"Then we do not know whether following that bond would lead to him or expose you to a trap."

A scrape sounded from the drawing room. The two-way mirror had lit by itself.

They reached it in time to see branches, a patch of grey sky, and Sirius's face turned away from the glass. His voice came through in broken pieces.

"...found Jorkins... ward moving... do not..."

A flash struck somewhere beyond him. The image spun and went dark.

Kreacher made a sound like tearing cloth.

Dumbledore tried to reopen the connection. The mirror showed only mist, but one detail remained on its surface: a smear of silver shaped like the Black family star.

"That mark was not there before," Edward said.

Kreacher touched it without effect. Edward raised his own hand. The silver smear warmed beneath his finger and pulled a thread of light toward the east wall.

"A family waymark," McGonagall said.

"Old and damaged," Dumbledore replied. "Sirius may have placed it so the paired mirror would retain his direction."

The mark responded only to the current Black heir. It could guide them from the border camp, but no one suggested letting Edward follow it into the forest.

Dumbledore set the terms. Edward would travel under Side-Along Apparition to the authorized camp. He would remain there with McGonagall and use the mirror to indicate changes in the waymark. Kreacher would stay with him. The two investigators and Dumbledore would enter the forest.

"If the camp is attacked, you leave at once," McGonagall said. "You do not wait for us."

Edward touched the glove at his side. "May I carry the Crest?"

"As an emergency barrier, with its limitations understood."

Remus signed the transfer record. Burke's restrictions travelled with the case.

McGonagall added Edward's name to the camp manifest and gave him a translated card explaining his status to Albanian officials. He carried no authority to leave the camp, question witnesses, or handle evidence. The limits were written in English and Albanian, then read aloud before departure.

Kreacher repeated the extraction phrase and identified the Portkey by touch. If Edward froze or lost consciousness, the house-elf would activate it without waiting for permission.

The Portkey activated at midnight. Edward felt the dining room vanish beneath his feet.

They landed on wet ground beneath a foreign sky, with the Black family star glowing faintly in the mirror and Sirius somewhere beyond the trees.