Hey, this is the author, and from the title, you can see this isn't a chapter, just a rant and a talking chapter from my own mouth about the story and other stuff. So first of all, thank you so much for reading and leaving comments, to those of you who actually commented and weren't just a scammer or a bot looking for overpriced commissions. If you are one of those people, go fuck yourself. Seriously.
So, onto my schedule, first I want to say that I wanted this story to reach 200 chapters, and I probably couldn't get that, or even less, depending on how I structure some other chapters, maybe adding different parts to separate chapters, but whatever, 198 is still pretty good if im honest. So the main things I want to blab about is Echo. I know im talking about my own Oc, what a surprise. Anyway, the thing I want to talk about is his abilities and what would have happened had everything with the Death Eaters breaking into the school and showing he could use dark Magic never happened, and he finished his last four years at Hogwarts.
If the Death Eaters hadn't broken into the school and exposed Echo as a practitioner of the Dark Arts, Echo would have allowed himself to be bullied by James and the Marauders until it finally boiled over. Echo gets into a brawl with James, where he would've poured out his own self-deprecating emotions and thoughts onto James. Janes would come to realize that they were both victims, in their own right, and that there was no guilty party between them, and start to mend fences with one another and the other Marauders. Echo would've helped keep things to a simmer between James and Severus so they wouldn't be so hostile towards one another. They wouldn't be friends, but they wouldn't hate Echo so much. Remus wouldn't make up with Echo. And of course, Lily would've really laid into all four of them after they and Echo made up. Before she graduated, Lily would've performed a blood ritual with Echo to make him her brother in the magical sense. Minerva and Flitwick would've adopted Echo. Echo would've kissed all the Marauders just once for laughs. Echo would've been punished for his actions during the Triwizard tournament, but wouldn't have been granted leniency, since he's a minor, was under severe distress, wasn't a willing participant, actively tried to avoid being part of it, and helped by testifying for Dumbledore. Echo still wouldn't trust Dumbledore. Echo reputation would've gotten better when people started to learn the truth of all that happened behind the scenes.
Echo would've celebrated Filch's birthday every year until he graduated. Echo would've gotten Skate pregnant before the start of his seventh year and been a new father caring for a baby throughout school. Echo would've married Skater when he graduated and became a prince by marriage. Echo would've sent a fully detailed outline for His Beast Magic, and it would've been recognized as a new school of Magic, implemented at Hogwarts and in the Auras. Echo would've unlocked his animagus form. Echo would've become a magizoologist and worked under the Scamander family, even making friends with Newt's grandson, taking his daughter and Skate with him. He would've made large contributions to the study and protection of magical creatures. He would've worked to implement certain laws for the rightful treatment of magical creatures and beings, and to help crack down on poachers. Echo would've remained friends with the Potters, losing his bet to Frank and becoming an uncle to Harry and a godfather to Neville and Cedric.
So yeah, Echo would've had a much happier life if that one event had never happened. Now onto his power, abilities, and other achievements. First, his Magic.
Wand: Echo wand, made of Hexed wood and using a basilisk horn core. His wand is cursed, and anyone it bonds to is bound to a cursed fate. Although not good at Magic and needing to jump through several hoops to make his wand work and produce proper Magic, Echo is able to use his Magic in two ways, with his true Magic and without. Without his true Magic, which the dark beast controls, Echo can produce normal spells. With his natural dark affinity, his spells come out far stronger than they should. Using parcel tongue, Echo can literally command his wand to do certain spells he either can't do, or by passing the dark Beast's influence and his need for wielding his wand in a certain way.
Magical expertise: While Echo is still young, he has become highly adept in many forms of Magic, but not a particular master of any, apart from his self-made Beast Magic and Dark Magic, with transfiguration and shadow magic coming in as a close second.
Shadow magic: the name Echo has given to his dark affinity, his Magic in its rawest form. Without proper control, spells either won't work, backfire, or become too powerful to manage. When used correctly, spells hit harder, faster, and cleaner. And if Echo uses enough, he can't fundamentally cause a spell to perform its opposite quality. For instance, when used with the Lumos spell, instead of light, a black fog covers him, making him completely invisible and silent. However, the fog is very visible during the day. Echo can also command shadows to do his bidding, making projectiles or physical projections.
Ancient Magic: by using the locket of Slytherin, which he got from the man himself after some accidental time traveling, Echo is able to use ancient Magic but has very limited use of it since the fundamentals of controlling ancient Magic or Mercy at best and Echo can only use the necklaces power a maximum of three times before it begins to overheat and Echo has to wait 24 hours before use. With ancient Magic, Echo is able to do a whole host of unusual things, which is fueled further by his dark affinity.
Beast Magic: This is the Magic that Echo created by himself and almost entirely by accident. By broadcasting his Magic as a radio frequency, Echo can project his desires onto a creature despite language and intelligence barriers. However, it must be noted that this is not like the imperious curse. It does not take control of a creature and make it do Echo's bidding. It is completely consensual between caster and creature. The creature can readily decide not to do what it is asked, but depending on the relationship and the creature's personality, this may vary.
While this is the simplest form of Beast Magic, the most advanced form involves transfiguration, apparition, and ledgemancy. By using one's Magic to link themselves to a magical beast, with their express consent, and mixing in a bit of transfiguration, magic Echo is able to take on the qualities and traits of a magical creature, from their strength and speed to bodily abilities. However, this must be used carefully. Otherwise, Echo may permanently take on the traits of a creature, and if he needs to do something like sprout a pair of wings, they will manifest from his back, but extremely painfully. Through apparition, Echo can use something called Beast summoning, which allows him to summon a creature from far away. The range of this depends on the user's strength and their connection to their Beast. By using legitimacy, Echo was able to communicate more complex thoughts to the creatures, and they were able to communicate their thoughts to him more clearly. This also allows Echo to read and take in their memories, in addition to using something called Beast Sense to experience the senses a creature is seeing and hearing in real time, at the cost of leaving him without those senses. Through his experimentations with Beast Magic and raising his dragon wick, Echo was also able to develop Dragon spells.
Dragon spells: Through the proper raising and bonding with a dragon, Echo is able to give simplistic commands to a dragon to make them do what he wants, like a rider pulling on the reins of a horse. By using his wand as a pointer and calling out spell names without casting Magic Echo, he is able to make a dragon move, stop, fly, breathe fire, and more. Through this, he was able to make the Dragon Whistle, which allows him to call a dragon from any distance. This also led to the creation of the Beast whistle, which allows Echo to call a beast using a specific frequency so long as they are within hearing distance. This also allowed Echo to create the spell known as the Magic Flute.
Magic Flute: This spell allows Echo to generate Magic through his wand, then blow it into the tip, and then play it like a flute. Echo can play any melody he likes without any formal training. He can put an enemy to sleep, affect their emotions, or, if he employs a little sneaky dark magic, he is able to hypnotize them.
Hag Magic: This form of Magic was taught to him by the hag called Aunty Ethel. Although his understanding and use of it are extremely limited, Echo can use this form of Magic to command plants to do his bidding. However, the type of plant depends heavily on the situation, and to use hag curses, which are actually permanent.
Dark Magic: due to his own Magic's natural dark affinity, Echo has an easy understanding and use of the dark arts. So easy. In fact, he almost cast fiend fire by accident. Echo has practiced the dark arts safely to the point that he can use the three unforgivables in much more unique and creative ways. He can cast the imperious curse on three individuals at once. He can increase and decrease the power of the cruciatus curse. However, the killing curse remains the same. Through this practice, Echo also created a mark known as the dark mark.
Numerus Mortuorum: also known as toll of the dead, is a curse created by Echo that allows him to manifest a large church bell out of Magic. Connect it through a thread of Magic with his wand and then ring it. The accompanying sound causes vertigo and nausea to all who hear it, except for the caster, though Echo has not perfected this spell entirely.
The Dark Mark of Echo: not to be confused with Voldemort's dark mark, Echo's dark mark allows him to imprint a minuscule amount of his Magic into a person, and if two individuals have this mark, any damage done to one person will be reflected on the other. This also extends to the effects of spells such as being pushed, pulled, levitated, Frozen, burned, or electrocuted. This includes the cruciitis and the killing curse, but not the imperious curse. However, if anyone is under the imperious curse while having the dark mark, they can spread the dark mark to others whom they attack. In addition, Echo is able to use the unforgivable curses without any intent whatsoever. This allows him to bypass the normal immunities of most creatures, such as dementors, who are unaffected even by the unforgivables.
The Dark Beast: The Dark Beast, which is Echo's own Magic, has developed sentience. It has its own personality, desires, and goals, separate from Echo, despite both inhabiting a single form. The Beast was born after Echo had used all three unforgivable curses, resulting in the Beast forming in his nightmares and then in real life. The Beast has no true form and instead takes on whatever it finds most appealing, which is usually whatever is most terrifying. When the Beast first started to manifest from his traumatic memories, Echo had to face them head-on and heal from them in order to gain control of the Beast. Once he did, Echo was able to force control over the Beast within himself, preventing it from going off and doing whatever it wanted. Even though this required much mental strain from Echo, he eventually learned how to restrain the Beast while going about his normal life subconsciously. The Beast is egotistic, prideful, lustful, malicious, and horribly petty. It refuses to let Echo use any of his Magic in the beginning, simply due to not finding whatever Echo was doing to be particularly entertaining. The Beast is fully cognizant of what's going on around Echo's environment despite being locked away. Whenever the Beast does get a chance to escape, it uses Echo's shadow as a catalyst to start forming. However, it's never allowed to leave Echo's Shadow and is usually forced back whenever Echo decides to. The Beast is also able to control and interact with others through their shadows. Harming them or controlling them like puppets. The Beast is also able to eat ghosts for some reason, though Echo has never allowed him to eat one ghost in Hogwarts.
Exspecto Daemonem: Exspecto Daemonem is another spell that Echo made completely by accident when he was still recovering after having all the happiness and joy sucked out of him by a dementor, leaving him as an emotional husk. When trying and failing to produce a Patronus Echo, utter these words and form a swirling vortex of black fog, in which the dark beasts manifested as a demonic-like figure; dementors began to spawn from said black fog and violently flew around the vortex. Upon using this spell and pointing it at an individual, a person is completely killed by it, much like the killing curse. However, it can hit multiple targets or targets within a wide radius, though at the cost of causing significant stamina reduction to Echo. Echo is actively afraid of this spell and tries his best not to use it in any situation.
Now we move on to Echo's skills and abilities.
Potions: Despite being horrible at potions in his first year at school, Echo eventually became a very competent potion brewer as he found a new and unconventional way of brewing them and was even able to craft the wolf's bane potion with relative ease. One of his most favored potions to create is the mermaid potion, which allows him to take a mermaid-like form to swim and breathe underwater.
Herbology: Echo was never extremely good with magical plants; however, he does know enough to handle them safely and grow them, especially combat varieties such as mandrakes, venomous tentaculars, and Chinese chomping cabbages.
Inhuman capabilities: despite being so young, Echo is extremely unusual for a human being. He is much faster, stronger, and more durable than most humans, as he demonstrates by wrestling and fighting centaurs for fun.
Fighting: unlike most witches and wizards in wizarding society, Echo is one of the few who actually know how to throw a punch. Though he has no style or actual form since he mostly relies on his opponent, not knowing how to do anything without a wand. He also has a very scrappy fighting style, much like a honey badger. No idea what he's doing. Just goes in there fighting with all he's got.
Intelligence: Despite being called one of the dumbest students at Hogwarts, which wasn't entirely unfounded once Echo had gotten his footing, he showed a very deep understanding of certain subjects' curricula, and when he really found something he was interested in, he could retain that knowledge much more easily. Which is how he managed to make such big leaps in his grades during his mid-years at Hogwarts.
Charisma, honesty, and wit: these are simultaneously Echo's biggest strengths and his greatest flaws. Echo always says what's on his mind, even if no one particularly wants to hear it. He has very little filter for his thoughts and a sharp tongue to boot, shooting down people with insults and burns the moment they insult him. While he is very open and honest about his feelings and the facts, Echo still strives to be more conscientious and kind to those he talks to, or at least to his friends. He still does play favorites. Echo also has an unusual natural charm that usually allows him to connect with magical creatures very easily, but not so much with people.
Multilinguist: Echo is capable of speaking mermerish, reading centaur sand scrip, and understanding goblin speech.
Parseltongue: Echo, a descendant of Slazar Slytherin, can communicate with and command snakes through the use of Parseltongue.
Basklisk Immunity: Echo, for some odd reason, is immune to the basklisk's deadly gaze.
Now we move on to Echo's weaknesses. He's not some overpowered OC… okay, he is, but he's got enough to make himself human enough. Has almost no filter and is very blunt about what he says and when he says it. He does not care about seniority or status and will usually say the first thing that comes to his mind, no matter the situation. Echo also has a hair-trigger temper, and he does everything in his power to manage it and not randomly blast people with spells. Echo tends to be very impatient despite looking like he is. He likes to get to the point or the end result, which makes him hasty. Echo has a very shoot-first, ask-questions-later mentality, which usually gets him into trouble he has to deal with later. Echo is a very bad liar, and even without his mood-changing hair, people could instantly tell when he's not being entirely truthful. There are very few times when he has actually lied perfectly. Echo takes personal failure very seriously, and overly so, to the point that it actually hinders him. Echo can't ride a broom… That's it. He can't ride a broom at all. Every time he tries to get up on it, it ends up trying to kill him. Echo has no form of dueling style. His main mode of attack is to hit the target faster and harder than they can until they give up, die, or explode. Echo regularly plays favorites, extending only to his friends and magical creatures, and then to everyone else. If you're some random nobody, Echo couldn't care less to help you out with whatever. But Echo will help any one of his friends at the drop of a hat.
Now is the time for most of Echo's magical creatures. Ones that he has either befriended or discovered.
Sniffles: Sniffles was Echo's first magical creature and his first friend. In a strange roundabout way, Sniffles helped Echo first figure out how to use his Magic in the early days. From there, he spent 100% of his time with Echo, protecting him, bringing him shiny objects, or bringing Echo simple joys. He met his end at the hands of Lucius Malyfoy, disgusted as James Potter, and killed him under direct order of Voldemort.
Shimmer: Shimmer is Echo's pet demiguise, whom he rescued from a trap in the forbidden forest. When Echo tried to release the Demiurge into the Room of Requirement, the animal decided to stay with him. From then on, Shimmer sat on his shoulders throughout Hogwarts while invisible. Echo used Shimmers most readily through his trails and experimentation with Beast Magic, making a habit of turning invisible but never using the future sight to cheat on tests. Shimmer is also remarkably intelligent and has learned to duel, craft potions, and fight with his iconic beating stick.
Nugget: A cockatrice hatched by Echo from an egg gifted by Hagrid. The two-headed creature bonded with Echo, and through this, Echo was able to gain information on a wildly unknown creature who was highly aggressive and followed Echo around during his last few months at Hogwarts. But he ran away from him during the final trial of the trowazard tournament and reunited with him after Echo fight with Voldemort. And through the creature's aggression, Echo was able to make the Beast Calming spell, the Beast Sleeping spell, and the Beast Box.
Nibbles: a chubacrapba that Echo rescued from poachers and used to experiment with Beast magic. Echo uses him as a threat to people.
Shrink: Shrink is an Occamy that Echo acquired and used to spy on Lucius Malyfoy when trying to expose him as a Dark Wizard.
RuneSpoore: Echo found this creature in the Forbidden Forest and helped discover one of his skills, parseltongue. The animal grew to massive proportions in his care and acts as a fear tactic for Echo. Each head has a different name (but I forgot).
Chip and Skip: a mother and daughter unicorn set that Echo grew close to in the early years. Echo uses them for potion ingredients and healing wounds or banishing curses, jinxes, and hexes, or to show off a bit.
Pretty: Pretty is the basilisk that was left in the Chamber of Secrets by Salazar Slytherin. Echo had found the chamber by mistake and befriended the giant snake. He kept the creature company and fed it while also testing out his anti-basklik glasses, which are still a work in progress.
Godric: the griffin that Echo rescued after going mad. Echo sometimes used him to fight, for transportation, or for intimidation.
Rowena: The thunderbird that Echo rescued from the forbidden forest in a cage and healed. Echo kept her in the room of requirement and summoned her when he needed effects or to make some noise.
Hellga: the graphorn that Echo found as a pup and raised in the room of requirement; she acts as both shield and battering ram in fights or when Echo needs to break out of somewhere.
Flying Snakes: This is a new kind of magoical creature that Echo found in the forbidden forest. Their real origins are unknown, but Echo has discovered three varrinets. A bird-winged variant, a bat-winged variant, and a bug-winged variant. The bird winged is the largest, at three feet long and brown in color. The bat-winged are the middle of the road in terms of length at two feet and are green in color, and the bug-winged are the smallest at one foot but are the fastest and the most venomous.
Nebuia: Nebuinas are a species of large fairies discovered living in the forbidden forest after they were nearly driven to extinction and out of their ancestral home by the people and students of Durmstrange. They have a hive structure and follow a golden queen; young queens are silver, and worker females are iridescent white. Males are so small that they appear like snow. They dance and sing to communicate, appearing to defy gravity.
And yeah, that's it for Echo. At least what I can remember, before I end this, I wanted to say that a ton of things changed as I wrote this, but I won't get into detail about it, mostly cause I don't want to. And there are certain scenarios and scenes I wanted to put into the story for fun, one being James messing with Echo so much that they get into a fight with Echo strangling James in deer form and James making distressed deer sounds as everyone watches, including Sev. But yeah, apart from that, that's it.
Now don't be too sad, the story isn't over, far from it, it's only the beginning of Echo's story. His story will continue in the next two stories. The first one is a much smaller story. The number of chapters I'm not sure of being The Dark Beast Wizard: into the many Magical Schools. And the second one, which will probably have the same number of chapters as this one, The Dark Beast Wizard: Reign of the New Dark Lord.
Now, I would like to clarify that these stories will not be coming out anytime soon. I think pumping out close to 200 chapters has earned me more than enough of a break, and I desperately need it. So I'm going to take a break from this and work on some other stuff, including some other fanfictions and my own original books. So thank you for reading this story as far as you have. I really appreciate it, and I look forward to seeing you in the next one.