Chapter Text
Bill stumbled groggily out of his room towards the bathroom. He had thought he heard voices but couldn’t quite be sure. He quickly took care of his business before trying to go back to sleep, when he realized who it was he had heard talking.
“Wicked!” he heard his uncle Fabian exclaim somewhat quietly, “Only you would have thought to have a Sneakoscope tattooed on your arm. How does it work?” Curious, Bill moved down the hall to hear better.
“About like that,” Bill heard Fabian’s brother, Gideon, chuckle.
“Alright,” Fabian called softly, “which one of my nephews is out of bed at this hour. Show yourself!”
Bill suddenly started to glow and was pulled slowly towards where his uncles were talking. The first thing he noticed was an odd, spinning shape on his Uncle Gideon’s upper arm.
“Neat, huh?” Bill nodded in response to his uncle, too amazed to speak. Fabian grinned and moved towards Bill.
“That’s nothing,” Fabian boasted, “look at this one!”
Fabian raised the palm of his hand. It was glowing just like Bill had been a moment ago, and he could feel his body continue to be tugged towards him again.
"It’s a tattoo tracing the lines in my palm that allows me to inconspicuously locate people when I say ‘show yourself’. I think it’s got a summoning charm as well as lumos, but I didn’t really ask. Comes in handy as an Auror.”
“Wow,” Bill whispered in awe, “how does it do that?”
Gideon chuckled again. Bill loved hearing that sound – his uncles were so lighthearted despite Mum always worrying about how rough their jobs are. Bill’s twin brothers had even inherited their laugh, and it always made him smile to think about his mother’s brothers.
“Promise you won’t tell Molly?” Gideon asked. Bill nodded quickly. “Well, we know a guy – his family has been crafting charmed tattoos and piercings for years. He likes to hide in Muggle London and make mundane tattoos for them, but he's constantly trying to advance his skills in new and unique ways. Though lately he's seemed a bit off. One of our coworkers has a tongue piercing from him that’s made to alter his voice, and most of us have glamour charm that can alter our faces. Watch!”
Gideon wiggled his nose, and suddenly he went from a charming faced red head with to a dark brunette with beady little black eyes and foul looking creases all across his face. Bill had to throw his hand over his mouth to stifle a shriek. All too soon it was over, Gideon’s red hair returning much faster than the rest of his features.
“Hard part is that we have to concentrate to keep that spell going – and our red hair is particularly difficult to keep changed. I don't think the trace of dark magic in the spell likes it.” Fabian explained.
“But I don’t see a tattoo on your nose,” Bill observed, “where is it?”
Gideon pointed to his cheeks, “Well, Fabian and I were able to add a few freckles without drawing too much attention. Other people have had moles tattooed on or there is always a piercing. The great thing about glamors are that just about anything on the face can be used.”
“Cool!” Bill almost yelled. “When can I get one?”
Fabian looked at Bill with a laugh of his own. “It won’t be for a while yet. Molly would kill us if we took her ten-year-old son to a tattoo parlor. Besides, you won’t be allowed to get anything until you come of age anyways.”
Bill looked a bit sad, something that didn’t escape the notice of his uncles.
“Don’t worry,” Gideon reassured Bill, clamping a hand on his shoulder. “I promise we will take you to ‘Ignoble Inks’ as soon as you are old enough. Right Fabian?”
“Right,” Fabian agreed, clapping his hand on Bill’s other shoulder. “As long as you promise not to tell Molly.”
“It’s a deal!” Bill agreed hurriedly.
--Bill--
Conner Ignoble was lazily tidying up his father’s shop. It had been two years since he had graduated from Hogwarts, and family tradition dictated that he have three years interning at the tattoo parlour under his father before officially taking over the shop, but it didn’t stop Mister Ignoble from briefly stepping out from time to time. Being in Muggle London meant the majority of their business was simple, mundane tattoos, but occasionally a witch or wizard stumbled in to take advantage of the family specialty – charmed tattoos and piercings. Long ago the Ignoble family had decided to make their skills available only through word-of-mouth to avoid their talents from being misused, and having a shop in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade would be counter-intuitive towards that goal. Still, they did good business, both Muggle and Magical, enough to support themselves and their almost unhealthy obsession with learning new charms for their work.
Conner had used his time at Hogwarts wisely for this, something his head-of-house, Professor Flitwick, had taken him under his wing for. His former teacher even had the honor of receiving the first of the magical tattoos Conner had crafted. It wasn’t much – a small toad that croaked a musical scale when you poked it – but as head of the Frog Choir Professor Flitwick had been extremely giddy to receive it.
Conner was just about to head into the back to make himself a pot of tea when he heard the door open. He sighed and turned around to see a vaguely familiar young red head wearing a dark robe enter his shop. Immediately his eyes widened in excitement – he hadn’t done a magical tattoo in a few weeks and was really hoping someone might come in today while his father was gone.
“Welcome to Ignoble Inks. My name is Conner and I would be happy to assist you in any way I can.” Conner bowed cordially before continuing. “We specialize in both tattoos and piercings here. Take a look around at some of our past works, or if you have something particular in mind just let me know.” He gestured to the tattoo samples on the walls of the shop but noticed the young man hadn’t taken his eyes off of him.
“Conner? Conner Ignoble? Didn’t you just graduate from Hogwarts a few years back? It's Bill – Bill Weasley. I knew your name sounded familiar when we were in school, but I never could place where. So it’s your family that runs the charmed tattoo joint.” It wasn’t a question so much as a statement. Bill had almost a sad look in his eyes when he said it though.
“Yes, we are. Is there something wrong?” Conner asked, hoping there was a way to cheer up an old schoolmate.
“Oh it’s nothing just – my uncles told me about this place years ago. I was about ten when I learned about their tattoos and have spent years dreaming about getting one when I came of age. They had promised to take me when I was old enough and I’ve been looking throughout Muggle London for this shop ever since I turned seventeen.”
“Oh, anything in particular that kept them from bringing you themselves?”
Bill blinked and tried to hide a painful wince. “They died. Less than a year after they made that promise. I had even forgotten exactly what the name of your shop was.
“I’m sorry to hear that. That would have been during the first war, right?” Conner asked. Bill nodded before he continued. “My Da’s older brother died when I was about that age, too. He had taken over the shop from Grandad and had done much more study in charms than Da ever did. I think Da can’t wait until I can take over for him – he blames his brother for forcing him to take a job he never wanted. But enough about me, you said you’ve had years trying to decide what you would like, so I hope I can make it a reality.”
Conner noticed that Bill had calmed down a bit as he talked – working in a job that interacts with people constantly had made him very good at reading them and forming bonds. He could see the wheels turning in Bill’s head, and the longer he waited to speak the more eager Conner became to try and meet the challenge ahead.
“Well, I know I want to be a Cursebreaker for Gringotts when I graduate Hogwarts. A basic shield charm and a unlocking spell would be useful. I have a few other ideas as well but I’m not sure how to pull them off like – I’d love a piercing or a tattoo that could help me fight off venom and curses.”
Conner closed his eyes and concentrated. It was almost like he was drawing himself into a small room inside his head where nothing existed except the puzzle of figuring out how to charm a proper vessel for his client’s use. It didn’t take long before Conner began to talk – eyes still closed in concentration as he did.
“Protego. Shield tattoo – maybe on the back of the wrist and hand – swipe forward to activate?”
Conner opened his eyes – his words flowing more naturally now. “That spell is normally silver, right?”
Bill nodded.
“Okay, this is how everything works.” Conner began. “Well, most of how it works. I can’t give away any family secrets.” Both boys smiled before Conner continued. “The tattoo will come up the same colour as the spell itself – I can change it, but it is much harder. Many people seem to think we can color things like we can with Muggle tattoos and while we can – to a point – it lowers the potency of the charm. Now if this was something like a cat that moves around your body –“
“You can do that!?!?” Bill interrupted. “Sorry, please continue.”
“There have been a few witches and wizards that have wanted to have their lost pets tattooed on them. Those kind of moving tattoos don’t need to rely on too powerful a spell to function. What you are looking for, I assume given the career you are looking at, is going to be a much more powerful charm that only needs activated when you need it to. The larger the tattoo, the more powerful it becomes, but too large and it becomes unwieldy. This one will also need to be accessible. If I put it on the bottom of your foot, there is no way you could kick your shoe off fast enough to activate the charm before a jinx hits you.”
“That makes since,” Bill commented once Conner had finished. “What Kind of activation are we talking about?”
“Well, obviously, nothing too complicated,” Conner informed him. “I have to take into account how the body would normally react to the situations that would require a charm to be activated. I assume you are righthanded, correct?” Bill nodded. “Then I would expect that hand would move between you and the thing that would be targeting you. I can then set the activation motion to be merely swiping your left hand over the shield towards your target. You should even be able to do it while holding your wand. With practice, I expect you will be able to effectively cast this spell at varying power levels. I will make it as powerful as I can, but you should be able to improve on it; especially with the time you have left at Hogwarts to practice.”
A low, slow clap was heard near the shop door. Conner’s dad was standing there, giving him a beaming smile.
“Da! I didn’t see you there. How long were you…”
“Long enough to hear what ye proposed for this young man’s goals. Aidan Ignoble – proprietor of this here shop and father to this brilliant wizard.”
“Da!” Conner groaned, obviously a bit embarrassed by his father’s praise, but Bill didn’t seem to notice.
“It is nice to meet you, sir. My name’s Bill – Bill Weasley.”
Mr. Ignoble held out his hand and Bill shook it enthusiastically before turning back to Conner.
“Now that you are back, I assume you would like to do the honors?” Conner questioned his father, fully expecting to be back to the annoying part of an apprenticeship - observing.
“No, lad,” Mr. Ignoble told him, shaking his head slowly, “this be your commission. I can watch if ye would like, but I need to start letting you to do more of this kind of thing on your own.”
Conner beamed. “Thanks, Da,” he told him, fighting back a tear in his eye. “Are you okay with the proposed tattoo?” he asked, turning back towards Bill.
Bill nodded. Conner led him over to the tattooing chair, watched as Mister Ignoble wave his wand to cast a spell to make the shop appear closed to Muggle eyes, and then made ready to start crafting a charmed shield on Bill.
“Sorry, but this is going to hurt a good bit. We’ve figured out how to nullify the pain of a non-magical tattoo – something we don’t get to do often as it would be suspicious if we did it to muggles and most magical folk prefer something with at least a simple charm added– but the process of embedding the spell drains your-“
“Conner, what did I tell ye about telling folks too much about our work?” Mr. Ignoble warned.
“Sorry Da,” Conner responded sheepishly.
“It’s fine,” Bill told him. “any amount of pain sure is going to beat the hell out of getting hit with a bloody mummy’s curse someday. Let’s do this!”
Conner pulled out his wand with a grin and got started.
--Charlie--
It had been four years since Conner had fully inherited the family’s tattoo parlour and he had made quite a name for himself through both his Muggle and magical customers. He still spent most of his time doing tattoos for Muggles, but he was always itching to figure out a new way to charm a tattoo for someone. Most came easy to him – a tree whose leaves changed with the seasons, a parent with a tattoo of their kid that changed as the child grew, and more moving animal tributes than Conner could keep track of. It was rare that he got a challenge like the ones Bill Weasley had always brought him. Since his first visit, he had come back for key tattoos on the pad of his middle fingers that acted as a quick unlocking charm on one and a locking charm on the other that worked when he pointed at a lock and turned his hand like he was using a key. And then there had been the piercing they had come up with that by staying in constant contact with his body helped to combat most poisons he managed to come in contact with by immediately administering a standard antidote into his system. It helped that the piercing was actually a claw from a poisonous beast - Conner knew better than to ask his supplier where it came from.
Today he was thinking about Bill’s commissions quite a bit as he had scheduled a time to come in, but had mentioned things were going to be different today. He had failed to elaborate on how exactly it would be different, which caused a number of scenarios fly through his head anytime he stopped long enough to think about it.
At one o’clock sharp – right on time – Bill walked through the door with another red head that looked very similar.
“Hello Bill, and I’m guessing Bill’s brother? Welcome to Ignoble Inks. My name is Conner.” He held his hand out to the other red head for a handshake.
“Charlie Weasley, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
“The pleasure is all mine. Your brother never ceases to give me some of my most meaningful work. Is there something you are wanting today?” Conner tried to hold back his excitement – Charlie hadn’t even said he wanted anything magical, but he was optimistic.
“Well, here’s the thing. I would really like a tattoo that would allow me to shoot out water if any of my charges gets a bit out of hand.”
“Hmmm,” Conner thought on Charilie’s words, “well, first I would need how much water are you talking about and what kind of charges are you dealing with.”
“Quite a bit as they are dragons.” Charlie stated - with the same tone one would comment about one’s pet corgi.
“Dragons, yes, wait? What?” It took Conner a minute to fully register what Charlie had said. “Let me get this straight, you would like me to create a spell that will shoot water out at enough capacity to make a difference with a dragon?”
Charlie looked a bit sad. “Well If you don’t think you can do it-“
“I never said that,” Conner interrupted, firmly but not rudely. “It just caught me a bit of guard. Now let me see here.”
Conner concentrated, pulling himself into his mind again like he always did when trying to create a new type of tattoo or piercing. It wasn’t long before he had figured it out.
“Aguamenti – Water spray tattoo on both forearms – Activated by throwing crossed arms straight ahead”
Conner’s voice returned to its usual cadence. “Yes, I think that might actually work. Tell me, what has your brother told you about my work.”
“Other than it’s bloody brilliant you mean? Well, he said it hurts a lot, like, a lot a lot-“
“Oi, I told you about more than that. I barely mentioned that pain!” Bill teased, giving his little brother a small jab in the arm.
“Sorry, just telling the man that truth. Seriously though, he told me it’s a bit draining, the tattoos are balanced in size between controllable and power, and changing the color or other aspects of the spell can make it less potent. Oh, and practice can make the ability better.”
“Not bad. The last bit isn’t true for everyone – I remembered a bit about how dedicated Bill was in school and knew he had what it took. I wouldn’t be surprised if you did as well.” Conner smiled at both of the boys in his shop. “Now, about your tattoo. The best part about water is that it is mostly clear and malleable, so I can be a bit more fluid about the shape. Let me see your arms.”
Charlie held out his arms as directed while Conner started to move them around until he was satisfied he had looked at every angle.
"Hmmm...I assume you would like your tattoos to also be a bit less noticeable to your mother?” Charlie nodded. “Well then, you appear to have some decent amounts of scarring there, which is unsurprising given your job. I can try to move the tattoo lines around your scars, but its going to take more pain to get them to set into a scar as opposed to clear skin. Although I have a feeling most of your body will run into that problem should you decide to do this.”
Charlie gulped. It was times like this Conner really wished he could make the pain of his gifts disappear – the times when these charms weren’t just random play-things but potentially life saving spells.
“How – how much is this going to cost?”
“Don’t worry too much about that, Charlie.” Conner smiled at him which seemed to calm a bit of his nerves, “I make more than enough with my other tattoos – I enjoy the challenge of these kinds of tattoos, so I don’t charge much.”
“Well, okay I guess. Tell me exactly how it is going to work again?”
“Place your arms in front of your chest with your wrists crossed. Got it? Yes, just like that. Now, fling your hands forward so that the tips of your fingers are pointing straight ahead almost shoulder-width apart. There you go. Now, instead of shooting out of your fingers, which would be silly, the water is going to move over your arm, hand, and fingers almost like a gauntlet of liquid. Your fingers will still be what you use to direct where you would like it to go depending on where you point them.”
Charlie looked down at his hands, “I could have the power to do all that?” he asked, contemplatively moving his fingers.
Conner couldn’t see his face, but he knew that sometimes his ideas end up being a bit much for his clients. “You don’t have to get it, it is all up to you. If it’s too much-”
“No,” Charlie stated firmly. He raised his eyes to Conner to reveal a fire that hadn’t been in them before. “It’s perfect. Let’s do this!”
Conner laughed. “He really is your brother, huh?” Bill joined in with a chuckle of his own.
“Then let’s get started.”