ã€ŠAll in its Place: Chains of Fate [A Harry Potter Fanfiction]ã€‹


 Chapter 1: Carelessness

    ¡°Harry Potter! You useless boy, come to the kitchen this instant!¡±

    Harry Potter hurried back towards the kitchen as his Aunt Petunia started screaming at him. His clothes were old and tattered, hand me downs from his cousin Dudley. Dudley could do no wrong according to his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. Just yesterday, Dudley had shoved Harry hard into the wall as he barreled past him for breakfast.

    Harry hadn¡¯t been allowed to have dinner that night.

    Aunt Petunia told him he should learn to not lie when he had told her about what Dudley had done. He knew instinctively she wouldn¡¯t do anything to punish Dudley, but he felt the instinctive need to tell someone, just so he could feel that he had. He hadn¡¯t expected to be punished for it. He had thought she would just be indifferent, that was all.

    Harry¡¯s stomach growled as he entered the kitchen. He wouldn¡¯t be having dinner tonight either. He had already had lunch at school and that was enough according to Aunt Petunia. But he still had to help her cook and smell everything she was making, everything that he wouldn¡¯t be able to eat himself.

    Harry pushed up his thick glasses perched on his nose and brushed his thick unkempt black bangs of hair out of his face. He felt the lightning shaped scar there for an instant. All he had left of his parents after they died in a car crash when he was a baby. His bright green eyes were a contrast to the blues of his Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin. Sometimes he stared at them in the mirror to remind himself that he wasn¡¯t like them. That the Dursleys weren¡¯t his real family.

    He saw that Aunt Petunia was cooking something in the oven and he carefully walked forward towards her while she had her back turned with the oven open in front of her.

    ¡°Aunt Petunia? What should I do?¡±

    Aunt Petunia whirled around, a glass baking dish carried by the oven mitts covering her hands. Harry felt glass impact his chin and send him falling backwards to the hard tile floor below him. He had one last image of Aunt Petunia staring disdainfully down at him, the glass baking dish in her hands. Then the back of his head hit the hard tile floor and Harry Potter felt nothing more... His life snuffed out in a single instant like a strong wind blowing out a flickering flame on a candle.

    Aunt Petunia looked down at the irritating boy laying sprawled on the floor. Honestly, the little freak had walked up right behind her before speaking. What else had he expected to happen, scaring her like that? Now he was playing all dramatic, laying there sprawled out on the floor to try to play on her sympathy. She felt a twinge of something in her, but quickly suppressed it. No, he was a freak. He was in the wrong, he should have known not to be near an open oven like that. And to not scare her.

    ¡°Honestly, boy. No need to be so dramatic. I don¡¯t need you lazing about when you¡¯re under my roof!¡± Petunia said. The boy didn¡¯t move. She huffed, fine then. Two could play at that game.

    ¡°If the table isn¡¯t set by the time I get back I will tell your uncle and he will give you a beating,¡± She declared, ¡°Just got to let the food cool, then I¡¯ll be right back. You¡¯d better get a move on if you want to finish before I¡¯m done fetching him and Dudley.¡±

    Aunt Petunia stepped forward and took a step forward over the limp body of Harry Potter, not even sparing him another glance as she went to go upstairs to tell her husband and son that dinner was ready. What she would have seen if she had taken another glance behind her was the growing pool of bright red blood leaking from Harry Potter¡¯s head. And that his chest was no longer moving in or out as those of living boys do.

    Harry Potter was dead.

    Harry Potter was dead and Aunt Petunia hadn¡¯t even noticed, too busy considering how to punish him for his ¡®mistake¡¯.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Harry Potter opened his eyes and he was somewhere new. He lifted his hands and stared at them. They were completely covered in some form of blackish sticky mud. He reached out and started scraping his forearms to try to get it off, but no matter what he did it remained stuck, flowing and dripping like mud no matter what he did.

    Giving it up, Harry sat up and looked around himself into his dreary surroundings. Was he dead? Was this hell? He looked around and saw the scraggly black bushes and crimson bloody skies. The ground around him was alternatively cracked dry dirt or fetid muddy swamp. There was no visible sun or moon in the sky, but everything was lit up with a soft diffuse red light. A dim, weak light making Harry¡¯s whole surroundings feel like they were in the midst of an eternal twilight.

    Harry blinked again and then suddenly reached up to his face. He wasn¡¯t wearing glasses? But his vision was fine, better than it had ever been actually. He could see all his dreary surroundings with near perfect clarity, better than his vision even had been through his glasses.

    After hearing that he had vision problems, the Dursleys had grudgingly given him the cheapest pair of glasses they could find from one of Uncle Vernon¡¯s friends from work. They had never really worked right, but they at least let Harry see well enough to read and not have everything be the blurry mess that it usually was.

    But even without glasses, his vision was nothing like that now. He could see everything with crystal clear clarity. Harry felt at his face with his hand and was confused to feel the sticky dripping mud there too. His skin was soft and slimy, and taking his hand off his face, he curiously reached out his arm and pushed a single finger hard into his forearm. Only to immediately panic as the digit pushed inside his arm, followed by the rest of his hand. He could feel his fingers moving in there where his bones should be!

    With a gasp, Harry quickly pulled out his hand from his arm, and watched in horror as the hole in his arm quickly filled itself in with the sticky black mud flowing from around it. There was nothing at the bottom of the hole. Only more of the sticky black mud.

    A wave of visceral disgust washed over Harry as he stared at the rapidly filling hole.

    ¡°Heeeeey! You the new guy?¡± A voice suddenly said to Harry¡¯s left. He quickly looked at the figure made of the black mud standing there, staring at him. Its glowing eyes were a bright blue contrasting with the rest of its mud form. Harry could see its excitement as it skipped towards him. It has a mud splattered circlet on its head, reddish spikes sticking up all around its head from the circle. It looked like a crown, made of bone or some sort of ivory¡­

    ¡°H-Hello? Who are you? Where are we? Am I dead?¡± Harry asked as he made his way to his feet. He put his hand on his chest and pushed inwards and sure enough his hand sank inside and he could feel himself wiggle his fingers around where his heart should be. Harry removed his hand with a sucking wet sound and the gap began to fill back in with the mud as he watched. He wasn¡¯t human¡­ He was some sort of¡­ mud person now. Just one big mass of mud that could somehow think. In this strange hellscape.

    ¡°Wow, great green eyes!¡± The stranger cheered, ¡°So bright and pretty. Balthazar will love them. Okay, let¡¯s go in order. I¡¯m the king! King of this place! King¡­ Eric. Yeah, I think that''s it. It¡¯s been so long since I¡¯ve used it, haha. We¡¯re in hell, no not the religious one. There¡¯s no real name for it, but there¡¯s demons and the red skies and stuff. So I figured that¡¯s as good a name as any. Finally, yes you are very dead my friend! And now you¡¯re here. This is your new life, best to get used to it. Now come with me, I¡¯ll show you to the palace!¡±

    The mud person in the crown suddenly did a little twirl in place and started shuffling side to side as Harry looked on. Harry watched the person, Eric, carefully.

    ¡°Uhm. What are you doing? Why are we mud creatures? Do we have any¡­ clothes or something we should be wearing?¡±

    ¡°Clothes? We¡¯ve got nothing to show, new guy. It¡¯s mud all the way down. Girl? You seem like a guy. Could be wrong though, sorry if you¡¯re a girl. As for what I¡¯m doing? Dancing, my friend! What¡¯s your name, anyway? When I get in the mood you just got to express yourself, you know? Listen to your inner music, tap your foot to your own beat! Hahaha, pow, pow! Watch this!¡±

    Eric started doing cartwheels and jumping around erratically as Harry watched on in disbelief. What was happening right now?

    Eric¡¯s bright blue eyes fixed on him and he calmed down a little and stopped dancing, ¡°Oh, but we should go to the tower. I¡¯m not good at this explaining stuff. Balthazar will tell you it much better. He¡¯s like this big butler demon, he helps me out all the time when I want to tell the demons what to do. What was your name? Are you a boy?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m, ah, Harry. Yeah, I¡¯m a boy.¡±

    ¡°Great! Let¡¯s go, Harry. We¡¯re not hairy anymore, either of us hehehehe. C¡¯mon, to the palace!¡±

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    Eric turned around and started skipping away, humming a little tune to himself as he went. Harry looked around to the barren landscape around him and hesitated. Should he stay here and wait? Or go with the possibly insane boy skipping away to some sort of palace filled with demons?

    Harry stared at his hand composed of the black mud. Eric had answers, and Harry didn¡¯t want to be alone in this place¡­ So with some reluctance, Harry started to jog to catch up with Eric who was moving fast even if he was skipping and humming a tune to himself as he did so.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Harry wasn¡¯t sure how long he followed Eric. Several times they had stopped for ¡®dance breaks¡¯ for Eric to show off some of his moves to Harry. Harry thought it very strange, but didn¡¯t dare say anything negative in case Eric decided to leave him behind. Harry had been forced to show off his own terrible dancing skills after Eric pressed him. Eric was disappointed, but cheered up a couple seconds later.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± He said, ¡°You¡¯ll have plenty of time to practice in this place.¡±

    That wasn¡¯t as reassuring as Harry thought Eric meant it to be.

    Eventually the swampy area they had been in changed to a vast plain of cracked and dry dirt with not a single plant in sight. In the distance just visible in the dim light and crimson skies was a massive black tower, rising into the skies so high that Harry couldn¡¯t see the top even from here. Like a giant spike connecting the earth and heavens.

    Harry shook his head. That was a strange thought. Thinking of this place as hell might be getting to him. Eric¡¯s constant talk of demons certainly wasn¡¯t helping things much. And confirmation that he was dead and was now in this strange mud body instead.

    They approached, Harry not having seen a single animal in the surroundings the whole time they had traveled.

    ¡°Eric, how do the demons live here? There¡¯s no animals here at all. What do they do for food or water?¡±

    ¡°Food? Water?¡± Eric asked blankly, his blue eyes glazed over as if trying to remember something.

    ¡°Oh, yeah. I remember those,¡± He said, ¡°Oh, they don¡¯t need those things. They¡¯re like us. Survive on the energy of the world or something. Balthazar will explain better. They all live in the big tower, that¡¯s where the most energy is. Balthazar called this place a¡­ pocket? Pocket realm? Yeah, that. The tower is what makes everything work, so there¡¯s the most energy there for the demons and us to live off of.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t have to eat food? Or drink?¡±

    ¡°Of course not! We¡¯re made of mud, dummy!¡±

    ¡°Hey, uh. Eric. How old were you when, you know¡­ you came here?¡±

    Eric was silent for a few seconds, looking away so Harry couldn¡¯t see his expressive blue eyes.

    ¡°A¡­ A long time. I was seven when I got here,¡± Eric said in a serious tone, ¡°I don¡¯t know how long it¡¯s been since then. What year is it?¡±

    ¡°1989. I¡¯m nine now. Or I was¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    They walked towards the tower, the mood suddenly low. Eric didn¡¯t say anything more and Harry didn¡¯t ask.

    They finally reached the base of the tower, its surface raised into the sky like a giant black wall in front of them stretching in either direction for a long way. Eric raised his arm and the bone crown on his head flashed brightly. The doors to the tower swung open, what was formerly a smooth wall divoting inwards and shifting to reveal an obsidian door covered in intricate patterns like nothing Harry had ever seen.

    Eric walked inside and Harry followed behind and the doors swung shut behind him. There was a single hallway leading to a circular platform in the center at the bottom of a massive dark shaft going upwards into the darkness. Eric stepped onto its center and the crown flashed again. The floor shuddered and Harry suddenly stumbled as the platform began flying upwards at high speeds.

    All around the edges of the circular disk, dull red flames sprung into existence to light up the space as they raced upwards. Harry could hear the whistling and rushing of wind around them and felt his gut lurching even as the air seemed to hit an invisible dome of sorts around the top of the disk. Magic elevator. Harry stared dubiously at the floating flames that had appeared from nowhere. Well, he was a mud creature and in hell. And he was dead. Why couldn¡¯t there be magic too?

    ¡°1870,¡± Eric suddenly said as the platform kept moving, his tone flat and detached, ¡°That¡¯s when I died. Sorry, I didn¡¯t know it had been so long. Time moves weirdly here, Balthazar says. Maybe it¡¯s only been a year or two since then for me. Maybe hundreds of years. No one knows.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯d¡­ how¡¯d it happen? Your death?¡± Harry asked.

    ¡°Daddy was drunk. He thought that Mommy was cheating on him with our neighbor. When he started hitting Mommy, I yelled at him to stop. He started beating me. Then he stabbed Mommy then me with a knife after she tried to stop him from hitting me more... My blood was very red¡­ I think Mommy was still alive when I finally died¡­ What about you, how¡¯d you die?¡±

    ¡°M¡­My Aunt hit me with a glass baking pan. I hit my head on the floor. I don¡¯t know, it might have been an accident¡­ I¡¯m sorry about your Mom. About that.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± Eric said in that same flat voice, ¡°It¡¯s been a while. I¡¯ll find out if your Aunt did it on purpose or not when I see her. Punish her if she did something wrong. That seems fair.¡±

    ¡°You will?¡± Harry asked in confusion, ¡°How? Is there a way out of this place?¡±

    Eric startled and stared at Harry for a long moment, ¡°Yes. There is. Balthazar will tell you about it later. You can ask him all about it.¡±

    ¡°Is he at the top of wherever this lift goes?¡±

    ¡°Yes. There¡¯s the main levels with all the demons and stuff. We¡¯re skipping right to the top where Balthazar and the throne are with this elevator. He¡¯s kinda the head demon in charge of all of the others.¡±

    Harry was about to ask another question, but suddenly the platform began to slow down and the top of the dark shaft suddenly had a pinprick of light there. The platform slowed down even more until it slowly came to a stop, reaching the top of the shaft and becoming perfectly flush with the floor. Only a circular groove around the two of them proved that the elevator was there at all.

    The room they were in was a large throne room made of obsidian and flecks of gold interspersed through the stone. Red cloth banners lined the walls between the elaborate Greek style pillars leading down the area leading up to the throne itself.

    Next to the throne stood a hulking demon, just like Harry had imagined he would be. Large with big muscles, two sharp horns bursting from his forehead, two folded batlike wings sprouting from his back, and bright red skin. He was tall, at least six feet tall or more and his bright glowing orange eyes followed them as they walked towards him. Harry had seen his Uncle Vernon have crab once, the demon¡¯s skin was almost the same shade of red as its shell had been.

    Harry was surprised to see that the demon was wearing long black robes over itself all the way to his feet. He didn¡¯t know why he was surprised, why wouldn¡¯t a demon be dressed strangely? The demon smiled at the two of them, and Harry was surprised to see human teeth rather than the sharp fangs he had been expecting. As they got closer, the creature spoke.

    ¡°A newcomer? Hello, I am Balthazar. I see that our King has found you in no time at all.¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Eric said proudly, ¡°I found him easily. He was out by the swamps. We¡¯re here to do the ceremony.¡±

    Balthazar looked conflicted for a moment, before jerkily nodding and turning to Harry.

    ¡°New one. Are you ready to begin?¡±

    ¡°What ceremony? Eric, what are you talking about?¡± Harry asked as he turned to the boy.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a little thing Balthazar likes to do for any new people. Isn¡¯t that right, Balthazar?¡±

    ¡°Yes, King,¡± Balthazar said in a monotone.

    Eric turned back to Harry, ¡°I¡¯ve been King for so long. I thought it might be fun to give you a try at it. Just sit on the throne and repeat after me. A little ceremony so Balthazar will feel it¡¯s serious enough to listen to you for a while. Then you¡¯ll be king of this place and Balthazar will show you around.¡±

    Harry looked between the boy and the hulking demon, getting a weird feeling, ¡°And I can give it back to you if it¡¯s too much? I don¡¯t want to be king, what if I mess something up?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll be fiiine!¡± Eric said, ¡°But sure. I¡¯ll take the crown back after if you don¡¯t want to do it. C¡¯mon, it¡¯ll be fun. You can ask Balthazar all sorts of questions and he¡¯ll actually be able to answer and give all the fancy scholar answers and stuff.¡±

    ¡°Well¡­¡± Harry met Eric¡¯s expectant blue eyes. It couldn¡¯t hurt, could it? It might even be a little fun. Not like he had anything else to do in this place.

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Harry sat on the massive throne and felt an odd tingling sensation go through his body. So strange, it felt so familiar yet so strange at the same time.

    ¡°Harry James Potter? That¡¯s your full name?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Okay, repeat after me. Ready?¡±

    ¡°Ready.¡±

    Balthazar stood to the side half shrouded in shadow as he looked at the scene. Harry thought he looked disapproving of the scene. Did he not approve of Harry? He had seemed pretty welcoming of him when he first walked in¡­

    ¡°I Harry James Potter, do hereby,¡± Eric said and Harry repeated after him.

    ¡°Accept this crown and all the responsibilities and duties it entails.¡±

    Harry gave a strange look, but at Eric¡¯s nod he shrugged and said the words.

    ¡°I swear on my honor that I shall defend my subjects and my kingdom to the utmost. To never abandon it in peace or war. To defend against intrusion, and to guard its secrets and magic against those who would seek to unrightfully claim them. And that if you leave this realm that you will keep its best interests in mind.¡±

    Harry repeated it, shifting on the throne. The strange tingling feeling was growing stronger and stronger the longer Eric spoke.

    ¡°Okay and this is my part,¡± He said quickly before continuing, ¡°I, Eric Smith, do hereby relinquish my crown to my successor, long may he reign. Let me return to the world of the living once more, so that I may herald the greatness of the new king to them.¡±

    Harry tried to move, to ask a question, but the tingling was so strong now that he could barely think. He couldn¡¯t speak, locked in place as Eric kept talking.

    ¡°And so on my magic I transfer the crown of the damned,¡± Eric said as he took the bone crown off his head and took a step forward to hover just in front of the paralyzed Harry.

    ¡°Onto the new king.¡±

    Eric placed the bone crown onto Harry¡¯s head and then in a bright flash of light the crown lit up brightly, putting the whole room in sharp relief.

    Eric began flickering, fading away like a mirage.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Eric said sadly as he began to fade away, ¡°You¡¯ll understand when it¡¯s your time to choose. I¡¯ll get revenge for your death.¡±

 Chapter 2: Settling in

    Harry remained frozen, his new crown glowing brightly as Eric finished disappearing. Harry suddenly felt something pop in his mind and then he had a new limb. The crown. He could instinctively feel everything that the crown could do, and it felt like it was part of him. He could even feel things through it, like it was covered in skin. The tingling died down around Harry, and he could move again after a couple seconds. Balthazar came out of the shadows.

    ¡°Hail the new king,¡± he said calmly.

    ¡°What happened? Where did Eric go?¡± Harry asked as a sinking feeling hit his gut. Or the patch of mud where his gut would be.

    ¡°He has fled,¡± Balthazar stated, ¡°His soul has returned to your world. He will integrate with your soulless dead body and use the latent magic of the ritual to heal it back to life. It was a trick, all to get you to accept the responsibilities of kingship without knowing what you were agreeing to. That¡¯s what allowed him to escape and finally leave this place.¡±

    ¡°So I¡¯m stuck here?!¡± Harry said in shock, ¡°Until I trick someone else into accepting this thing? Why didn¡¯t you say anything? You could have stopped him!¡±

    ¡°No, I could not have,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°All orders of the crown are binding to us servants. Or Demons as Eric used to call us. He ordered me to not dissuade you or explain what was happening and so I was unable to. He¡¯s been waiting a while for a new soul to arrive so he could leave, and gave many orders to me ahead of time before he left to retrieve you.¡±

    Harry felt at the crown in his awareness and felt instinctively that what the demon was saying was true.

    ¡°Well, uhm. I order you to not conceal information from me again.¡± Harry said, ¡°Tell the truth and stuff. And you don¡¯t have to listen to any of Eric¡¯s old orders. If that¡¯s okay?¡±

    Balthazar chuckled, ¡°You¡¯re the king. You can do as you wish. Eric would often have the lesser servants come up here and dance for his amusement until they collapsed exhausted. He was quite a cruel one.¡±

    ¡°Oh. I thought he was¡­ unstable, but not mean. Or at least that mean.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm. Yes, it was not intentional cruelty but indifference,¡± Balthazar clarified, ¡°He didn¡¯t believe their claims of exhaustion until their muscles could no longer comply with the crown''s orders. He was forgetful and did this several times, only listening when the dancers could no longer physically move. He didn¡¯t care about how they felt, only the dances they could do for him.¡±

    ¡°That still seems pretty cruel. I won¡¯t be like that.¡±

    Balthazar eyed Harry for a moment, ¡°Perhaps not. I apologize that you were thrust into this without understanding. I can enlighten you on this place now that you are our king. Is there anything in particular you¡¯d like to ask first?¡±

    ¡°Well, uhm. What is this place? I died, and now I¡¯m here¡­ What happened?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I suppose that¡¯s as good a place as any. Do you know the term pocket realm? Do you have any education in the magical arts?¡±

    ¡°Magical arts? No? Can I learn magic here? What¡¯s a pocket realm?¡±

    Balthazar eyed Harry suspiciously, ¡°Hm. Interesting. You have intrinsic magic generated by your own soul, Harry Potter. You always had magic whether you came here or not. But there is another form of magic as well. This place, this tower, the crown¡­ It gives you authority over this world. And you can draw on it to power spells and changes to its reality, just as you do with your intrinsic magic. It is often called domain magic. Eric Smith had no intrinsic magic, so this domain magic is the only type of magic he had access to. I imagine when he finishes stealing your old body that he may acquire a portion of your intrinsic magic as well. Whatever was left in your body as he integrates with it. We¡¯ll have to see.¡±

    ¡°This place is called a pocket realm, because it is a very small world. No larger than a day or two¡¯s travel in any direction from the tower. Past that is the edge, and nothing but the void. Very unlike your own realm that is trillions of light years or more in diameter from what Eric told me. Having stable planetary orbits and other little details he was able to give me about what your people knew about your realm provided enough for me to assume that much. Although your spherical planet is only in a very small segment of that space.¡±

    ¡°So there¡¯s just an¡­ edge? Nothing beyond it?¡± Harry asked.

    ¡°Indeed. There¡¯s a barrier, but if you managed to pierce it and go through unprotected you would instantly dissolve into nothing.¡±

    ¡°Er, well. Let¡¯s not do that then. What about intrinsic magic? Domain magic? Can you teach me to do it?¡±

    Balthazar nodded, ¡°I can. But there is a reason beyond the obvious that I was disappointed that Eric chose to flee. There is another, more honorable way to leave this place. If you two had worked together then there would have been a much higher chance of it working. Training together to overcome the challenge. Then no one would have had to be unwittingly crowned king and you could have both left.¡±

    ¡°Ok, show me!¡± Harry said eagerly, ¡°What is it? What¡¯s the way out? Actually, wait¡­ I¡¯m a mud person. If I went back would I have a body?¡±

    Balthazar waved to Harry and started walking off, and he quickly went to follow.

    ¡°No. You will have to find an unoccupied body even if this works,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°It is a puzzle of sorts. A locked door that if unlocked will allow you free of this place if you wish, but also be able to return any moment you wish to.¡±

    ¡°A puzzle?¡± Harry said, his mood dropping a bit, ¡°Is it hard? Do you think I can solve it?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps. It is difficult, but often new eyes on a problem can provide unexpected solutions.¡±

    ¡°Balthazar?¡±

    The demon looked at Harry even as they kept walking through abandoned obsidian hallways to who knows where.

    ¡°Why am I here? Like, I¡¯m dead right? How am I alive in this mud body in this¡­ pocket realm?¡±

    ¡°Your soul was drawn here after death. The body was constructed by an automated spell, a very advanced application of domain magic facilitated by the crown and the tower. Even now the domain magic sustains your form and cognition while rooting your soul firmly in that body to which it does not belong. Not even I know the exact parameters the tower uses to choose the souls. But so far all have been children that died in tragic circumstances. I think perhaps the original creator wished to give such unfortunate ones a chance to inherit his legacy. Someone unknown and who knew true suffering. And with this advanced realm that even many higher wizards would fight to claim dominion over, he must have wished it to not go to some spoiled scion of a noble line.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m definitely not some spoiled noble¡­ More like a servant,¡± Harry said as they started walking down a long spiral staircase.

    ¡°Being a servant is not so bad. If you have the right masters, that is.¡±

    Harry glanced at the big demon as they emerged into another obsidian hallway and kept walking down it.

    ¡°Do you not like it? That I can order you around with this crown? I don¡¯t think I would. If it was me.¡±

    Balthazar looked at him in surprise. ¡°Not many kings in the past have thought to ask me that. I have accepted my lot in life. I do not mind it, truly. If anything I feel pity for the petty tyrants that I¡¯ve had to deal with. They are simply acting out against the unfairness doled out to them in their previous lives. Eric was not the worst I have seen in my time.¡±

    ¡°How many have there been? Kings, children that have come here.¡±

    Balthazar thought hard for a few seconds before shaking his head, ¡°I could not rightfully say. Many. More than I can remember. I have some hope that you will be the last.¡±

    ¡°Why? Do you think I can do the puzzle and¡­ claim this place? What do I have that all the rest of the kids didn¡¯t?¡±

    Balthazar stopped in front of a seemingly random obsidian wall. He stared at Harry for a moment silently, ¡°I do not know why I think so. Something odd swirls about you, beyond your intrinsic magic. Even now I can see it drawing you towards this room. Even now this tendril grows stronger. I suppose we will see soon. Use your crown, and will this door to open. In the room beyond is the gateway out of this place.¡±

    Curious, Harry felt at his crown and immediately knew what Balthazar was talking about. There was a door here, he just knew it somehow. With a flicker of his attention and desire, the door revealed itself and opened wide revealing the room beyond.

    The two of them walked inside to a large circular room lined with the same reddish flames that had been present on the elevator. In the center of the room was an empty stone archway, surrounded by dozens of perfectly circular grooves carved into the floor.

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    Harry went to walk forward, but Balthazar put a hand on his muddy shoulder to stop him.

    ¡°This is a test for you and you alone,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°I can not help you directly, it is part of my bindings beyond even the orders of the crown. But I can assist in teaching you to develop your magic in a more general sense. Do you sense the first barrier? Close your eyes and reach out your arm.¡±

    Harry did so and reached out his arm of black mud and felt something vaguely tingling on his arm.

    ¡°Focus on that sensation. This is magic. Your current body being made of domain magic itself is sensitive to even the slightest hint of foreign magic entering it. This is to your advantage. Keep moving your hand in and out of the barrier. Focus on the magic, its sensation on your body. Try to isolate any similar sensation within yourself. This is the first step in the art of sensing magic.¡±

    Harry opened his eyes and withdrew his hand from the invisible barrier.

    ¡°Is the puzzle of my¡­ magical skill? So I have to learn as I go to figure things out? But I¡¯m a kid, how am I supposed to figure it out? There¡¯s dozens of these barriers.¡±

    ¡°I do not know how a child is supposed to solve it,¡± Balthazar admitted, ¡°The last barrier would befuddle even me in its subtlety before I was bound here. It would require a genius to solve. Perhaps whatever strangeness swirling around you will assist. But this is the requirement to inherit this realm, pinnacle magic senses. Each of those barriers represents a perfect dome of magic surrounding the door. In each dome there is a single weak point of varying sizes. You must use your magic sense that you will acquire to find each of these spots. As you go inwards the spots will grow smaller, there may be decoys requiring you to find the point of lowest density of the bunch, the points may begin to move, or other challenges. When you find it, simply reach out and touch the barrier in the desired spot and inject your magic into it. The barrier can sense your will, so you can not guess if you want it to accept your answer. If you are incorrect then you will be thrown from the circle and all the barriers will reset with a new randomized weak point for you to try again. Do you understand?¡±

    Harry processed all of that. ¡°What about the one I just stuck my arm in?¡± Harry asked.

    ¡°That one¡¯s for the basics,¡± Balthazar said with a grin, ¡°It will let you pass no matter what. A simple tool so you can simply sense the presence of the magic at all. It is perfectly smooth and will fall or rise at the command of your crown.¡±

    Harry felt his crown and stuck his arm in the barrier again. He used the crown to turn off the barrier and the tingling on his arm disappeared. He flicked it on again and the tingling returned.

    ¡°Try to localize the sensation,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°The magic enters you at only a few points and then spreads from there. Can you feel where there¡¯s the strongest sensation?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡± Harry said, ¡°It, well¡­ Sort of. I can¡¯t really tell.¡±

    ¡°Do not worry. Eric failed because he became frustrated and gave up his efforts after enough time. I sense you will have a stronger resolve. And with your intrinsic magic you will have an advantage for this. I will remain here. Feel free to ask any questions about your skills so long as it doesn¡¯t directly relate to the test itself.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Thanks, Balthazar. I¡¯ll do my best.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Time passed. Balthazar stood there motionless, answering Harry¡¯s questions when they came up. Harry was focusing on the feeling of the magic more than he had ever focused on anything he had focused on ever before. It didn¡¯t take much time for Harry to localize where exactly the training barrier was passing through his body. The next part was much harder.

    After an unknown amount of time, Harry managed to successfully find the weak point on the first true barrier. Balthazar had taught him with the exterior barrier that he wasn¡¯t limited to sense magic directly on his skin. With some training he managed to sense the exterior magic two or three inches away from his skin. It allowed him to hover his hand directly over the barrier to slowly scan it and try to extend his range. He also learned the basics of pushing his magic into his finger so he could trigger the weak spots when he pressed into them.

    The weak spot for the first barrier was ten feet wide and had barely any magic at all compared to the magic of the rest of the barrier. Harry knew immediately when his hand went sensing the vibrant humming magic to nearly nothing. Harry poked the barrier and it fell down, popping like a soap bubble.

    ¡°Alright! You see that, Balthazar? I did it!¡± Harry cheered.

    ¡°Very good, King,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°You are learning quickly. I¡¯m sure you will be through in no time at all.¡±

    Harry turned back to the second barrier with a smile. Maybe he had a chance at this. As he ran his hand over the next barrier he felt his focus narrow and the world became but nothing his hand and the magic below it.

    It took a longer time to find the weak point on this barrier. He actually missed it the first time. It was the same large size, but the difference in magic was much less than the first one had been. But his range of magic sensation had extended to five inches from his skin so he was able to search faster as he went. Harry poked the barrier and it fell.

    Harry kept going through barrier after barrier, taking longer and longer each time. Carefully scanning the whole thing each time and extending his skill with sensing the magic. Each time Balthazar congratulated him and Harry was feeling better and better about his chances. But at the seventh barrier, Harry guessed wrong.

    He poked the weak point and instead of poking through his finger touched something hard. There was a pulse of magic around him and suddenly he was thrown back into the wall. He felt his body squish and splatter against the wall and he slid to the floor. He was worried that he died for a second time, before all of his black mud gathered back together and reinflated into the body shape he was used to. Well, that was super gross. Harry felt himself all over and everything felt the same muddy shape as usual. Well, that was a relief. One advantage to being a mud person it seemed.

    ¡°An exemplary first attempt, King,¡± Balthazar praised, ¡°Most only make it to the fourth barrier their first time.¡±

    Harry stood up, ¡°I want to try again, It must be the one with multiple weak spots. I rushed and just poked the first one. I¡¯ve just got to check the whole thing this time!¡±

    Balthazar didn¡¯t say anything or react except to gesture to the barriers again. Oh, right. He couldn¡¯t help Harry directly. Harry dived right back into the puzzle and started training again. He would definitely get the barrier down this time!

    As Harry went back to the barrier, Balthazar finally recognized what the strangeness about the newest king was. What he had thought were swirling tendrils of magic were something entirely different. They were chains. Chains of Fate. And they were tugging the boy towards the exit in the center of the room with all their might.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    The creature stared and the shifting and whirling dots over the shimmering barrier of magic. Its magic sense had improved in leaps and bounds since it had first arrived into the room. As time passed, it had become consumed by the obsession, the compulsive desire to keep training so that it could return through the door in the center, returning to its proper place.

    Balthazar had stopped speaking half way through to the creature, realizing that it was no longer listening to him. The creature had only heard a few things that stuck with it as it had been Balthazar¡¯s last words before he went silent.

    ¡°A child of prophecy. Taken from the world of his origin¡­ I see. I¡¯m sorry, Harry Potter. Fate will not let you rest until you are back with her, where you are meant to be. I can only hope you can recover yourself again when it is all said and done.¡±

    The creature had vaguely wondered about the words at the time, considering if it should have paid some attention to them. It wondered as it continued to improve its magical senses and learned the tricks of the ever increasing complexity barriers. But it wondered no more, there was only its task. This was the last barrier, it was almost done.

    It could almost smell the magic of the door to freedom and its proper place behind the door in the center. Its magical senses now more than covered the room from all directions of its body. It could see the entire barrier at once. Right now it stood in front of a certain spot. It had been observing the pattern of the flickering weak points over the barrier for as long as needed to get a sense of its motion.

    Out of the hundreds of points moving over the barrier all at once, constantly changed their strength and speed, even size. It was like watching waves of an ocean crashing and merging into a chaotic mess. And the creature had to press the exact lowest point in the whole surface at the exact instant it was that way before it changed again.

    So here the creature stood motionless, its finger poised over a single spot in the barrier. It had nearly pressed the barrier over twenty times by this point standing here. Twelve times the creature had almost pressed before quickly realizing that there was another point that was indeed weaker than the one in front of it. Six times, the creature had not reacted quickly enough, the true weak point just out of reach of where it had kept its finger hovering. The final two times the situation had been perfect, the perfect weak point had appeared directly beneath its finger. Yet, it had doubted and double checked its work. And by the time it was done the waves and swirls of magic had moved on and the opportunity was lost.

    If it was still human, it would be frustrated. Its arm would be exhausted and unable to keep its finger perfectly still poised above the barrier and using laser focus to observe the chaotic surface of the barrier without being distracted for a single moment.

    The creature did not feel any of this. It was made of mud, sustained by the domain magic of the realm. It was no longer human, and the chains of fate were tugging hard to drive it towards the door and back to its proper place.

    Finally, the moment came. The true weak point appeared beneath the creature¡¯s finger and it pressed down firmly. The whole rippling barrier of magic froze as one. The creature''s finger remained pushed into the single spot it had been waiting for¡­ days, months, years? All was the same for the creature.

    The barrier, unlike the others, didn''t fall immediately but began to crack and disappear in chunks like removing the shards of a shattered ceramic plate. The creature wondered what a plate was. The chains of fate tugged harder and it was forgotten.

    The barrier was dropping, and after a few seconds it disappeared, revealing the empty doorway. With a single order to the crown on the creature¡¯s head, the doorway flickered with magic and turned into a glowing white portal. The chains of fate twisted and the creature sent new orders to the gateway.

    The white changed and swirled until it revealed the form of a red haired girl sprawled on a floor of greenish tile. The chains of fate tugged, and the creature leapt through the doorway without a second thought.

    Its mud body dissolved into nothing as it lost the domain magic animating it. The creature was now a single isolated soul, the chains of fate wrapped tightly around it. The chains quickly moved to move the soul. The creature only had a single thought. Relief. It was finally being returned to its proper place after so long of being beyond Fate.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Balthazar watched with some sadness as the newest king solved the final barrier and fully claimed this realm as his own. He had liked the new boy. He had been mild mannered and thoughtful when asking Balthazar for advice. Been curious about Balthazar himself and asked questions on what he truly thought rather than looking for simple surface information like so many others did. And he had not used a single order the entire time they knew each other besides his first one to tell the truth.

    Better than the vast majority of the kings he had seen in his time.

    Yet, that boy was gone. There was only Fate¡¯s rabid creature left behind. Balthazar could only hope that one day Harry¡¯s mind would return. He could only hope. Balthazar satisfied himself with the knowledge that this would be the final king. The realm had been claimed and the inheritor had been chosen.

    Things would change when Harry Potter returned to them.

 Chapter 3: Reborn Again

    Ginny Weasley slowly opened her eyes. She felt weak and cold, and her throat was completely parched. She was sprawled on a greenish tile floor in a dim room, almost like a cave. A wet floor. With a groan, she leveraged herself into a sitting position. Her red hair was sticking everywhere and she felt filthy and sweaty as if she had just run a marathon. Where was she? What had happened?

    She tried to remember how she had gotten here, but no matter what she did, nothing came to her. Her mind flailed wildly for something, but there was nothing. She only had her name, and couldn¡¯t remember anything before waking up in this strange place.

    ¡°You?! How are you alive?¡±

    Ginny turned to look at a sallow faced boy, a teenager. He looked seventeen or eighteen and was looking at her in shock and hate with a black book clutched in his right hand.

    Reflexively, Ginny activated her magical senses and in a massive wave of sensation, felt every little bit of magic around her. She could almost taste it on her tongue as the sensation felt oddly familiar to her.

    ¡°You¡­¡± She croaked, ¡°Harry Potter was supposed to destroy you. Things are not in their proper place.¡±

    Why had she said that? Who was Harry Potter?

    ¡°No¡­ No! You should be dead.¡± The boy shouted as he raised a stick towards her, ¡°Avada Kedavra!¡±

    Ginny cocked her head to the side as a burst of green light shot out and hit her on the chest. The world stuttered as the light washed over her and a second later she woke up floating off of the ground. Her legs were dangling beneath her and she felt her magic within her churning and roiling. Huh, magic? She had magic? And there were golden little strings wrapped around her, she could feel them inside her, guiding her magic to move. Twitching and curling around her and making her move.

    Ginny¡¯s head was moved towards the boy who was sending bursts of light at Ginny. They were rather pretty, she wondered if she could do that too someday? Her body was doing things with the magic too, deflecting the blasts of light to the side with little flicks and slaps that caused the spells to deflect to the side even when they were ten feet or more away from her. Her right hand was moved by the golden strings and the black book flew out of the boy¡¯s hand and into her own. Ginny¡¯s head moved and her eyes inspected it for the moment.

    ¡°A new plan is needed,¡± Ginny¡¯s mouth said, ¡°The child of prophecy has returned. But first loose ends must be cleaned up. It is too early for your return, Lord Voldemort. Avada Kedavra.¡±

    Ginny¡¯s palm under the black book lit up with the emerald green light and washed over its surface. She watched the waves of it washing over its surface.

    The boy screamed, his human voice shifting into an inhuman high pitched howl. Ginny wanted to look, to see what was happening, but the golden strings made her keep staring at the book. Finally the boy¡¯s voice cut out and her body twitched and threw the black book onto the floor disdainfully.

    The golden strings began to slowly disappear, and Ginny began to sink down and her feet touched the floor. The golden strings were almost gone and Ginny tried to stand, but her legs were too weak and she kept sinking until she was lying back on the floor.

    The last golden string left her and she was sitting on the ground again, blinking hard and shaking her head as she finally regained control. What was that? Why had shining that green light on the book hurt that boy?

    She remained on the floor cross legged and looked around in confusion. There was no sign of the boy, only the single black book left behind sitting on the wet floor. Her robes were soaked through with water and she shivered as she suddenly realized just how cold she was. She looked around to see that the room she was in was rather strange. There were dozens of large statues of snakes scattered around, and at the end of the area was a large lake or pool carved into the floor. On the other side of the pool was a large statue of a man¡¯s head, with his hair and beard carved in flowing waves like snake coils.

    Whoever made this place really must have liked snakes. There were some torches mounted on the wall that provided some dim light for her to see by, but she had to strain her eyes. She didn¡¯t see a door or anything similar around her. But there must be a way out, right? She and that boy must have gotten in here somehow.

    She remembered what she had done before the golden strings had appeared and blasted out her magical sense again to see what she could sense. A deluge of information entered her mind, but after a few seconds to process, she began to understand a bit. With a few wobbly attempts, she managed to stand on her weak and wobbly legs. She made her way over to the black book and picked it up. She didn¡¯t know what was going on, but it seemed like it was important. Especially to that boy if he ended up coming back for it, she shouldn¡¯t just leave it behind.

    She stumbled towards the odd gathering of magic she sensed in the opposite direction from the giant statue of the head. She felt some of her strength returning and despite stumbling and almost tripping several times on the slick floor she managed to keep on her feet as she walked through.

    Eventually, she reached a large circular door. It was closed. She focused her magic senses on it and looked over every inch of it. Something about the action seemed oddly familiar. Like something she had done thousands of times before, almost instinctive to her.

    She found the weak point in the magic web around the door. She put her finger over that point on the door and injected her magic into a point to pulse through the door.

    The magic web around the door strained and bucked as Ginny kept adding more magic to the weak point she had found. A few seconds later it was finally too much and the whole thing failed as one.

    She stared at the large door and it didn¡¯t budge. She slumped slightly. Oh. She had broken it. While it was closed. She pulsed her magic senses out again, but couldn¡¯t find any other doors out of this place. She could sense beyond the doors though, there seemed to be a network of pipes just outside. But the door was nearly five feet thick and made of solid stone. How was she supposed to go through?

    She was shivering and cold, her teeth beginning to chatter as she stood there staring at the door wondering what she could possibly do. Was she just stuck here?

    Her legs trembling, she let herself plop down onto a sitting position. At least this part of the green tile floor was drier than over on the other end. She sat like that for a few minutes, searching with her magic senses again for another door out of here. Nothing.

    There was a sudden *Whoosh* of flames and Ginny startled and twisted around to look behind her. There was a flaming bird there flapping its wings in the center of the chamber. It had bright orange plumage with orange flames flickering up and down its body even as it stayed there. It was rather large, almost three feet tall if she counted its long flexible neck that seemed to add a half foot at least to its height. The temperature of the place immediately increased from chilly to slightly warm as the flaming bird remained hovering, flapping its wings and staring at Ginny.

    She flinched as it suddenly cooed and darted towards her and landed only a few feet away. Her magic senses didn¡¯t know what to make of it. It just felt like one big ball of flame to her no matter how hard she looked. Even if she could see with her eyes that it was shaped like a bird.

    The bird hopped forward while bobbing its head until it was right next to her and pressed its body into her side. Oddly enough the flames running along its body didn¡¯t burn her, instead making her feel better when they ran over her.

    She cautiously reached out and patted the friendly bird on the head and it nudged upwards to press against her hand. It was very warm, like a roaring fireplace.

    ¡°Nice bird,¡± Ginny said as she kept petting its head, ¡°How¡¯d you get in here? Are you here to help?¡±

    With the bird so close, she felt warm and her clothes were starting to dry under the heat.

    The bird chirped again and bobbed its head up and down while staring at Ginny with intelligent eyes.

    ¡°Do you know the way out? I think I broke the door by accident. I don¡¯t really know what¡¯s going on,¡± Ginny admitted to her new friend.

    The bird hopped back and Ginny felt briefly disappointed as its warmth went away. But then it circled around and walked onto her lap, her legs criss crossed on the floor from when she sat before. It circled a few times before settling down in place, flooding her whole body with warmth. Its flames washed over her as it lay there and she no longer felt so clammy or weak anymore.

    Ginny cautiously reached down and lifted the bird slightly into her arms and hugged it to her chest. It briefly chirped, but didn¡¯t protest the action. Ginny felt her clothes almost completely dry out by now, and she yawned widely as she held the passive bird to her chest. It was so warm, it was making her so sleepy¡­

    She slowly leaned over and rested her head against the hard tile floor, her eyes fluttering closed despite the hard tile beneath her. She kept hugging the warm bird to her even as she drifted off to sleep, the last thing she saw, its fiery orange head and eye staring at her from only a few inches away.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny yelped as she woke up to the sound of flame all around her. She hugged her new friend tightly to her, comforted that it was still there as the dingy green tile room shifted into a cluttered office filled with all sorts of strange objects. There was an old man with a long white beard standing there with a piercing gaze staring at her.

    She quickly scrambled to her feet and took a step back, her new friend still held tightly in her arms.

    ¡°Ah, Ms. Weasley. I¡¯m glad Fawkes found you in time. We were all rather worried about you,¡± the old man said kindly. Ginny looked down at the bird who was still staring at her.

    ¡°Fawkes? Is that your name?¡± She whispered. The bird, Fawkes chirped back in a way that Ginny would like to think was approvingly.

    The old man chuckled, ¡°Taking a liking to him, I see? Rather amazing species, Phoenixes are. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen one allowing themselves to be manhandled like that before though. Perhaps you should put him down for now?¡±

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t seem to mind,¡± Ginny said, slightly offended. Fawkes didn¡¯t seem to mind how she was holding him, who was this old man to tell her differently?

    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    The phoenix in her arms squirmed slightly in her grip and she realized that Fawkes was looking at her again with that piercing look of his.

    ¡°Oh,¡± She said in disappointment, ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll put you down.¡±

    She leaned over and gently placed Fawkes at her feet. The bird didn¡¯t fly away, but just remained sitting there and flared its wings out slightly and twisted his head around to start preening and removing some of his old feathers. Ginny still got some warmth on her legs from Fawkes being so nearby, but she already missed the feeling of comforting warmth running through her core.

    ¡°Hm. It seems he has quite the fondness for you as well, Ms. Weasley,¡± the old man said, ¡°How interesting. Now, how about we bring your parents in? They¡¯ve been rather worried about you as we waited for Fawkes to retrieve you.¡±

    ¡°Uhm. Okay,¡± Ginny said, not really listening and too distracted from watching Fawkes preening himself at her feet.

    A pair of doors opened behind her and Ginny turned to see two adults standing there. A rather portly woman and a man, both with red hair. Ginny reached up to her head and pulled a section of her long hair in front of her and stared at it and held it up to her eyes. She looked up at the hair of the two people quickly entering the room to compare. The color did look rather similar¡­

    ¡°Oh, Ginny. We were so worried! Are you okay, what happened¡­¡± The woman said as she rushed forward. Ginny took a step back and glanced at the red headed man who was frowning and peering closely at her. The woman stopped her charge and looked in confusion between Ginny and the old man with the long beard.

    ¡°Sorry, Uhm. I can¡¯t seem to remember,¡± Ginny tried to explain to the woman as no one spoke, ¡°Do I know you?¡±

    Everyone froze, including the old man. The woman looked shocked and then glared at Dumbledore after a second.

    The woman looked back at Ginny.

    ¡°I¡¯m your mother, dear,¡± She said softly, ¡°Don¡¯t you remember?¡±

    Ginny looked at her closely, even flaring her magic sense to inspect the woman. But there was nothing.

    ¡°Er, no. Sorry.¡±

    The red haired man stepped forward, ¡°What about me? I¡¯m your father.¡±

    She inspected him too for a few moments before shaking her head. He frowned and looked sad, but was less obviously emotional as the woman was.

    ¡°What do you last remember?¡± The old man asked, ¡°Describe everything you can.¡±

    ¡°Enough of this!¡± The red haired woman shouted, ¡°We should be taking her to a mind healer this instant! I won¡¯t have any delays in getting my little girl back, Dumbledore. Come along, Arthur, Ginny.¡±

    She took another step towards Ginny and she took another step back and the woman flinched and stopped in response.

    Ginny looked at the old man, Dumbledore. He seemed to be in charge.

    ¡°Can I take Fawkes with me?¡± She asked, ¡°If he wants to,¡± She added as she looked down at the preening phoenix.

    Fawkes stopped preening himself and seemed to think about it for a second before jumping up and flapping a few times to fly towards her. The woman screamed as Ginny held out her arm, sensing Fawkes'' intent, and caught him. She cradled him to her chest again and he cooed as he curled into a ball and seemed to relax.

    ¡°Well, by Merlin¡­¡± The red haired man, Arthur said in wonder.

    Ginny looked around the room, feeling much better now that she had Fawke¡¯s toasty form in her arms again.

    ¡°Where were we going again?¡± Ginny asked to break the silence, ¡°Someone to help me get my memories back?¡±

    Everyone blinked and the red haired man looked to Dumbledore. ¡°Headmaster? Should we take the floo to St. Mungo¡¯s?¡±

    The old man seemed to have recovered from his shock and nodded, ¡°Indeed¡­ indeed. Just give me a few moments.¡±

    The man walked over to an empty fireplace and took a stick out of his robes. He said some strange words that Ginny didn¡¯t understand and then suddenly the thing was lit up in green flames.

    ¡°There,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°She should be able to just walk through without knowing how to use the floo powder. To St. Mungo¡¯s.¡±

    Arthur nodded firmly and walked into the green flames and disappeared after a second.

    He gestured towards the fireplace and looked expectantly at Ginny. She shrunk back and looked down at her arms.

    ¡°Is it safe, Fawkes? Should I walk into the flames?¡±

    He was a bird made of flames, she thought he might know.

    Fawkes lifted his head and bobbed his head in what she thought might be a yes.

    ¡°Okay, if you say so¡­¡±

    She walked forward after only a few seconds of pause, stepped through and suddenly she was somewhere else. She stumbled a bit exiting the fireplace into a bright hospital. She almost tripped, but the red haired man caught her and stopped her from falling. Fawkes squawked and shifted and Ginny adjusted her grip on him. She looked up to the concerned look of the red haired man.

    ¡°Thanks, Arthur,¡± She said, ¡°That would have been rather mean of me to drop Fawkes on the floor if I fell.¡±

    The man looked rather sad for a moment before nodding, ¡°They¡¯ll get you fixed right up, Ginny. You¡¯ll have all your memories back in no time.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    She looked around the place curiously as the old man Dumbledore and the woman came through the fireplace after them. To their right was an assortment of people waiting in chairs. There was a woman nursing what looked like a rather swollen bite on her hand. The man across from her had a swollen bright purple nose and was frequently sneezing into a large white handkerchief he held on his other hand. A final man was wearing a heavy boot on his right foot. As he sat there in the chair it hopped around, bouncing off rapidly as soon as it touched the ground.

    Ginny focused on the boot with her magic sense. Dumbledore and the two red haired adults were discussing something with the woman in the nurse¡¯s uniform at the counter. They were trying to get her a ¡®mind healer¡¯ as soon as possible, but it seems all of them were busy at the moment. Dumbledore was saying how influential he was and a member of the government or something and that the case was urgent.

    All the patients were watching the commotion and also looking at Ginny with Fawkes cradled in her arms. She walked forward towards the man with the bouncing boot, still inspecting it with her magic sense. This puzzle was way easier than the door to that strange green room was. She stopped just in front of the man, all of the patients nearby staring at her.

    ¡°I can help you get off that boot, I think,¡± Ginny said to the confused man, ¡°Can you keep it still for a second?¡±

    The man looked confused, but nodded and straightened his leg out so his foot was raised off of the floor. Ginny leaned down, squatting a bit so she wouldn¡¯t drop Fawkes as she raised her fingers. She poked the weak point in the boot¡¯s enchantment and injected her magic. After only a second she saw the enchantment twist and shatter before disappearing into thin air.

    Ginny straightened up again and shifted her grip on Fawkes slightly.

    ¡°There you go,¡± She said, ¡°I think it worked.¡±

    The man cautiously lowered the boot to the ground and it touched the floor without bouncing back up. His eyes widened and he quickly curled down and pulled off the boot from his foot, revealing the brown sock beneath. He looked back up at her.

    ¡°How¡¯d ya do that?¡± He asked in wonder, ¡°Did ya even use a wand?¡±

    ¡°Wand?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Ginny?¡± She turned and saw that the red haired woman was looking over at her, ¡°Come along, we¡¯re going to the mind healers now.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± She replied

    She turned back to the man with the boot, ¡°Bye. I¡¯ve got to go get treated now.¡±

    ¡°See ya, Lass. Thanks for tha¡¯ help.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡±

    Ginny turned around and walked towards where the three adults were now staring at her.

    ¡°What were you doing over there, Ginny?¡± the woman asked gently.

    ¡°I was helping that man take off his boot,¡± Ginny replied, ¡°He seemed to be having some trouble with it.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s very kind of you, Ginny¡­ Time to go now.¡±

    Ginny followed the adults to a bright room filled with all sorts of enchanted objects. There was a woman in bright white robes standing inside who cleared her throat as Ginny wandered about to inspect some of them closer.

    ¡°Headmaster Dumbledore. We can not have any animals here during our treatment.¡±

    ¡°They seem to have grown rather attached to one another,¡± Dumbledore countered, ¡°Perhaps you could make an exception? Fawkes is rather well behaved.¡±

    Ginny looked at the woman in the white robes, ¡°You won¡¯t take Fawkes away, will you? He¡¯s so calm I think he¡¯s almost asleep, I don¡¯t want to upset him¡­¡±

    The woman met Ginny¡¯s eyes and then her expression softened. She let out a sigh.

    ¡°Fine,¡± She said, ¡°The phoenix can stay. But if he causes trouble you will remove him at once headmaster. Is that understood?¡±

    ¡°Crystal.¡±

    Yay, she could stay with Fawkes a little longer! Ginny was directed to lay down on an angled table. She let go of Fawkes, leaving him to rest on top of her belly as her arms were at her sides. His eyes were closed, him seeming to have drifted off to sleep as she carried him around.

    ¡°Alright, Ms. Weasley. Just get comfortable,¡± The woman said, ¡°I¡¯m going to be your mind healer for today. This may feel a bit strange, but I¡¯ll be casting a series of spells on you. Just let me know if you start remembering anything new or if something feels strange. Can you do that?¡±

    ¡°Okay. What are spells? Are they the lights people make with their magic? There was a boy that hit me with a bright green one. That was after I first woke up¡­¡±

    The woman paused, ¡°Green, you say? Let¡¯s look into that first.¡±

    The woman¡¯s stick glowed with a bright white light on its end and Ginny¡¯s mind suddenly felt odd. She kept running over her recent memories over and over, rewinding and focusing at certain points. It must be the woman¡¯s magic doing it. Oddly enough the woman kept skipping over the parts with the golden strings in them. Ginny wondered why that was?

    ¡°Fascinating¡­¡± The woman muttered in shock, ¡°By Merlin, the killing curse¡­ But maybe not, there are other green charms that it could have been. Clearly the girl''s alive. No, no. Must be a mistake, somebody altered another charm to look like a killing curse. But why...¡±

    Dumbledore and the red haired adults standing to the side stiffened and glanced at each other. ¡°The killing curse?¡± The red haired woman said, ¡°She got hit with¡­ with¡­¡±

    The mind healer¡¯s stick stopped glowing and she turned to the observers, ¡°Yes. It seems so, her memories are unaltered, although there are large pieces missing. The person who cast the curse seems to have fled for some reason. If you return to this greenish chamber she woke up in then perhaps there will be more clues on the culprit. One of you should alert the Aurors so they can track down the culprit before they make good on their escape.¡±

    The adults looked at each other for a few moments. Dumbledore looked torn with hesitation before nodding to Arthur and the still unnamed red haired woman.

    ¡°I will do so,¡± He said, ¡°You two stay here and inform me if she remembers anything more.¡±

    The mind healer turned back to Ginny and her wand lit up with the white light again.

    ¡°Now that we¡¯ve looked through your recent memories, let¡¯s try to bring back what was erased¡­¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Two hours later, three more mind healers had arrived to work on Ginny. Fawkes had sadly left after the second mind healer had come. Ginny had hugged him and said goodbye, and then he had hopped into the corner of the room and burst into flames and disappeared. That was probably how he had gotten in and out of that chamber she had woken up the first time. Ginny hoped that she would get to see Fawkes again.

    Despite their best efforts, none of the mind healers could restore any of her memories. The red haired woman, Molly Weasley she had learned, had grown quite upset after the first fifteen minutes and been forced to leave by the mind healers. Arthur remained behind but he looked rather sad as he saw that she still didn¡¯t recognize him despite how much the mind healers had been focusing on her.

    After four hours, Arthur was looking rather ragged, and the ¡®Ministry¡¯ had started getting involved. One of the ¡®Unspeakables¡¯ had come to see her and try to help her too. Apparently they were part of the government and very good at mind magic since they had to keep secrets all the time. But even they couldn¡¯t restore her memory past when she first woke up in the chamber. The Chamber of Secrets Arthur told her.

    Eventually, it had been so long that Ginny began to become sleepy again. The healers found her a nice comfy bed in the hospital and when her head hit the pillow she quickly started to drift off to sleep, Arthur hovering over her and looking worried.

    ¡°Good night, Dad,¡± She muttered as her eyes fluttered closed and her thoughts starting growing fuzzy.

    His stance softened even as his shadow still fell on her as he loomed above her, ¡°Good night Ginny. Sweet dreams.¡±

    Then she drifted off to sleep, dreaming of red skies and hulking demons.

 Chapter 4: Back Home

    ¡°Ginny? We have some visitors. Your brothers, they¡¯re here to see you,¡± Arthur said gently.

    ¡°I have brothers?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°How many?¡±

    Arthur waited for a moment to compose himself before speaking again, ¡°Six. But only four of them are here today. Bill and Charlie are older and are abroad.¡±

    ¡°Six? That seems like a lot. How old are they?¡±

    ¡°They¡­ Well, you¡¯re the youngest,¡± Arthur said, ¡°Your brother Percy is seven years older, Fred and George are four years older, and Ron is only a single year older than you.¡±

    ¡°And how old am I?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re¡­ You¡¯re eleven. You¡¯ll be twelve over the summer.¡±

    Arthur turned around and didn¡¯t speak for a moment. His expression was rather stiff when he was looking at her again.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go fetch them.¡±

    He walked outside and there was some muttered discussion for a few minutes before the door opened again and four boys shuffled in, all with red hair. They were all staring at her silently as they gathered around the bed. Ginny looked between the two identical boys standing there.

    ¡°Are you two twins?¡± She asked, ¡°Fred and George?¡±

    ¡°Y-Yeah. It¡¯s us, Ginny,¡± one of them said, ¡°Don¡¯t you remember us? We put a dungbomb right outside your room last summer. You were furious with us¡­¡±

    Ginny tried to think, but it all came back blank. She shook her head, ¡°Sorry. I don¡¯t¡­ I can¡¯t remember anything at all.¡±

    ¡°What about me?¡±

    The youngest boy said, stepping forward. He only looked a little older than her.

    ¡°Are you Ron?¡± She guessed.

    His eyes lit up and he looked excited and he turned to Arthur, ¡°See, Dad. She does remember something! She knows my name!¡±

    Ginny squirmed under the sheets. This was so awkward, all these strangers thinking she should recognize them. Shouldn¡¯t she feel something, some faint sense of familiarity, some small detail that she remembered? But there was nothing.

    Arthur shook his head sadly.

    ¡°Ginny, do you remember him? Or did you just guess?¡±

    She shrunk under the covers a little as everyone started staring at her again, ¡°Just guessed,¡± She said. All the boys looked disappointed at her confession.

    Uncomfortable, she pulsed out her magic sense to scan her surroundings. She had been doing that to help her relax when people pressured her to remember things over the last day. She absentmindedly saw the varying level of magic in all of her family members. She knew it was true even if she didn¡¯t remember any of them. Her dad had the most of course as an adult. The amount mostly corresponded with age, but surprisingly the twins Fred and George had far more magic available to them than Percy, the oldest one there.

    Their magic flowed and swirled into each other, even as she observed she saw a tendril of magic swirl off one the surface of one of their skin and twirl off before landing back on the other. Was it because they were twins? It was so relaxing to watch¡­

    ¡°We¡¯re here to tell you about yourself, in hopes that you¡¯ll start remembering,¡± Percy said in a stiff tone, even if there was a slight tremble in it. Ginny was shocked out of her daze and looked at the older boy.

    ¡°Okay,¡± She said, ¡°That makes sense.¡±

    They pulled up chairs and started telling Ginny about herself. It was all very interesting, and she tried hard to dredge up a sense of familiarity as they spoke about everything she¡¯d done and said. Facts about her brothers and parents. But nothing came to her. Everything was distant, like they were talking about someone else that was a stranger.

    All of them seemed rather depressed as nothing happened after multiple hours of all of them taking turns telling her things. Some of them had to leave several times after getting upset that nothing they said was bringing back any of her memories.

    It was Ron¡¯s turn, he was talking about Hogwarts and his friends. Her family seemed to have run out of things to say about Ginny directly, so they had reverted to discussing their own lives and what they were like.

    ¡°...So then Eric said¡­¡±

    Ginny stiffened and focused on Ron, ¡°Eric?¡± She asked, ¡°Who¡¯s that? It sounds familiar¡­¡±

    Everyone paused and looked at each other. ¡°You remember something?¡± Ron said excitedly, ¡°You remember something about Eric? You had a massive crush on him over the summer. Maybe that¡¯s why?¡±

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Ginny furrowed her brow as the memories swirled just out of reach, ¡°Eric¡­ Smith? That¡¯s his name, right?¡±

    ¡°Smith?¡± Ron asked in confusion, ¡°No. He¡¯s Eric Potter. Technically Harry Potter, but everyone just calls him Eric.¡±

    ¡°Harry Potter¡­¡± Ginny said as the swirling memories started rising faster, ¡°I remember that¡­ there was a cupboard, darkness. Black mud and red skies. A crown of bone¡­ A black tower piercing the heavens¡­¡±

    Everyone was staring at her like she was crazy and she flinched and the memories fled her again. She tried to grab them, to bring them back to the surface, but they slipped through her grip and sank back into the depths.

    ¡°GAH!¡± She screamed and everyone jumped, ¡°I had it. There was something there, I was so close! But it just slipped away again¡­¡± She sat there and sulked, annoyed that she had almost gotten it. It was right there, but now she had no idea what any of it meant. Just vague impressions and images left behind.

    ¡°We¡¯ll bring Eric here!¡± Ron said, ¡°Maybe if you see him then you¡¯ll remember! Dad, can we? She really remembered something. This could be how we get her memories back!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s worth a shot,¡± Arthur said, ¡°You stay here with her. I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡±

    The man left.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    An hour or two later, Arthur came back.

    ¡°He¡¯s here,¡± Arthur said, ¡°We¡¯re coming in now,¡±

    ¡°So she¡¯s lost all her memories?¡± A nauseating familiar voice said from the other side of the door, ¡°What about magic? Is she still able to do that?¡±

    ¡°You can ask her yourself,¡± Arthur said with a curt tone as the door opened.

    Ginny stiffened as he saw the smirking face of the boy standing there with Arthur Weasley behind him. Harry Potter. Eric Smith. Familiar green eyes and a lightning scar greeted her, yet it was so wrong as she looked at it.

    She felt suddenly sick and her vision swam and something ugly bubbled within her the longer she looked at the boy walking inside.

    ¡°Ginny, right?¡± the imposter said, ¡°Ron¡¯s sister, ay? How ya feeling? Heard your friends with a phoenix now? That¡¯s pretty awesome.¡±

    ¡°Eric¡­¡± Ginny said as she realized the thing churning in her gut was anger.

    ¡°YOU TRAITOR YOU LEFT ME BEHIND!¡±

    Eric stiffened and looked around in a panic, ¡°W- What are you talking about? Haha. Don¡¯t know what you¡ª¡±

    ¡°YOU LEFT ME IN HELL! I¡¯ll¡ª I¡¯ll¡ª Left me¡ª behind¡­ hell¡­¡±

    Ginny¡¯s heart was beating fast, and everything was spinning around her as she felt nauseous. Memories roiled and bubbled in her mind and her heart beat faster and faster until it felt like it would beat out of her chest. She started sweating and feeling weak as her magic began to churn. She fell back on the bed and began breathing heavily as her magic churned faster and faster.

    ¡°Help¡ª¡± She managed to say weakly as she clutched her chest as her heart started pounding so fast she felt it start to stutter and could almost hear it groan under the pressure.

    ¡°Help¡ª¡±

    There was shouting all around her, but Ginny felt her chaotic magic swirling like a storm around her sparing nothing around her as it randomly lashed out against whatever she could detect through the swirling mass of pain and confusion she had become.

    There was a girl screaming that carried through the shouting. If Ginny was able to string a coherent thought together, she might have realized that it was her.

    Just when Ginny thought that she would really die, she felt a sudden ball of comforting warmth bathe her in its glow. She cried in relief as the flame descended from above her to settle down on her and began to comfort her. Her arms wrapped around it and a tendril of magic reached out and probed the ball of flame she was hugging. After hesitating for a long moment, the ball of flame opened itself to the magic and a cord was woven between the girl and phoenix.

    Ginny¡¯s magic calmed down, soothed by the presence of Fawkes. Ginny¡¯s heartbeat began to slow down and seconds later she passed out from pure exhaustion as the strain of everything hit her all at once like a bag of sand that knocked her out in an instant.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    In a realm of red skies, Balthazar let out a proud smile as he observed the unconscious figure composed of black mud lying on the floor in front of the doorway he had been watching. The same one that Harry Potter, or the creature he had become, had dived through to leave this place. He had worried the true king would not return to itself, would lose its mind forever due to Fate¡¯s heavy hand in meddling with it. Yet here it was, in little time at all. Couldn¡¯t have been more than a few years passing in that reality it had been drawn to by the chains of fate.

    Yes, practically nothing.

    The figure of mud opened its bright green eyes after a few minutes and stared at Balthazar in confusion. The crown of bone manifested on its head as it looked around the room.

    Balthazar gave a refined bow towards the figure, ¡°Congratulations on managing to return, King. True king of the realm. If you desire, it would be my privilege to begin your true magical education now that you have passed the initial inheritance test.¡±

    The mud figure stood to its feet and stared at Balthazar for a long time.

    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± it asked, ¡°Where am I?¡±

    Ah. It seems that the true king had not fully recovered itself or its memories yet.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that just now,¡± Balthazar transitioned smoothly, ¡°Just follow me and I shall teach you of magic. Whenever you wish to leave you may simply step back through that doorway to return to your body.¡±

    The king looked between the doorway and Balthazar, ¡°I can leave anytime I want?¡±

    ¡°You can now. Come along now. You may as well practice some magic, recovering your memories is something that will take time. It is not something I can assist you with, the one who removed them is a far more powerful being than me. Only from internal resistance can bindings that tight be broken.¡±

    The king considered for a few seconds, tilting its head to the side as it thought.

    ¡°Okay,¡± it said, ¡°I¡¯ll learn magic. Do we need a wand to do it? Everyone seemed to use them around me when I was at the hospital.¡±

    Balthazar felt his lips curl into a sneer. Weaklings if they used magical foci so often that the king thought that they were so essential.

    ¡°No, no magical foci will be used,¡± Balthazar said imperiously, ¡°I think I am a better teacher than that. Now come along, we have much to do and little time to do it.¡±

    Balthazar left the room and after a moment of hesitation, the true king followed him. Balthazar grinned as he moved towards the training room. Things would change around this place indeed. Just a little more instruction and guidance for the last king and everything would change around this place¡­

 Chapter 5 : Ericéˆ¥æªš Revenge

    Petunia returned downstairs after telling Vernon and Dudley that dinner was ready. Harry Potter would be in big trouble if the table¡­ wasn¡¯t¡­ set. Oh no. She rushed forward and saw the pool of blood beneath the freak¡¯s head. She looked at his chest and saw that it wasn¡¯t moving. The boy was dead. She had killed him.

    She started biting her nails and tried to think about what to do. Oh, what would the neighbors think? What would happen to Dudley? She couldn¡¯t go to prison!

    She heard heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. The quick patters of Dudley rushing to dinner in his eager way.

    ¡°DUDLEY! To your room! Now!¡± She screamed and rushed over to the stairs. He stopped and stared confused at her.

    ¡°What? But mum, isn¡¯t dinner now? Is it not ready?¡±

    ¡°No, Dudley. Go stay in your room. I¡¯ve just got to discuss something with your father. Call him down, will you?¡± She said, trying to stay calm and resist biting her nails.

    ¡°Oh. Uh, sure mum,¡± Dudley said, ¡°Is Harry in trouble? Dad will beat him if he managed to burn our food again despite you helping!¡±

    ¡°No, Dudley,¡± Petunia said, ¡°Just get your father. Then in your room.¡±

    ¡°Ok.¡±

    Dudley went back up the stairs and she heard him talking to Vernon. Her husband came forward, rather large but with a rather commanding mustache that Petunia thought was rather dashing.

    ¡°Petunia, what¡¯s this all about?¡± He said, squinting at her suspiciously as he came down the stairs.

    ¡°It¡¯s the boy,¡± She said, ¡°It¡¯s¡­ It¡¯s¡­¡±

    Vernon¡¯s eyes narrowed, ¡°What he do this time? No more freakish nonsense, is it?¡±

    ¡°No¡­¡± Petunia whispered as Vernon reached the bottom of the stairs, ¡°He¡¯s¡­ He¡¯s dead.¡±

    Vernon¡¯s eyes widened so wide they nearly popped out of his head, ¡°DE-!¡±

    ¡°Shush!¡± She scolded, ¡°Dudley! He¡¯s upstairs in his room. I don¡¯t know what to do, I can¡¯t go to prison for this! For that freak. It was just an accident, but if they come in here and see how he was living under the stairs. And how you beat him when he was being disobedient¡­¡±

    Vernon¡¯s face twitched, ¡°Hmmm. Right. Wouldn¡¯t look good at all. No one would believe that we¡¯re innocent. Let¡¯s get a look at him then. Maybe those crime drama¡¯s we¡¯ve been watching can finally see some use.¡±

    They walked into the kitchen, only for Petunia to gasp as she saw that the boy was gone. Only the small pool of blood where he had laid remained, staining the kitchen tile floor red.

    ¡°I thought you said he was dead?¡± Vernon said, before eyeing the pool of blood, ¡°Where¡¯d he go?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I thought he was?¡± Petunia said, ¡°He wasn¡¯t breathing! Oh, what will happen now? What if he¡¯s alive and runs to the police to report us?¡±

    ¡°He won¡¯t do that,¡± Vernon assured her, ¡°We¡¯ve taught him better than trying something like that.¡±

    ¡°But then what should we do?¡± Petunia said, ¡°I didn¡¯t hear him go. Where could he be?¡±

    ¡°He might have crawled somewhere,¡± Vernon said, ¡°Why, if I find that boy I may beat him for scaring you like this. He must be fine if he¡¯s able to move around fast enough to get out of here in only a few minutes. Let¡¯s look around the house for him.¡±

    The two of them went into the living room and looked around for the boy. Petunia thought that Vernon was right. The boy must have woken up and crawled away somewhere. She must have been wrong, he was breathing and she had been too panicked to properly check him.

    The two of them searched the whole house and the boy was nowhere to be seen. All the doors were locked, no windows were opened. Where had he gone?

    ¡°Looking for me?¡±

    The two of them whirled to the entrance of the room. There standing there grinning, like he¡¯d just won the lottery, was Harry Potter. Petunia flinched as she saw the expression on the boy¡¯s face. The freak never smiled. She and Vernon made sure of it. And never a wide smile like that, his face contorted and twisted so it looked like he was showing all his teeth at once as he grinned.

    ¡°What¡¯s the big idea, boy?¡± Vernon demanded, ¡°Scaring your Aunt like that? You ought to be ashamed of yourself!¡±

    The boy¡¯s head snapped to Vernon and his grin dropped fractionally before returning to being unnaturally wide.

    ¡°Shame¡­ Yes, shame. But not for the reason you¡¯re thinking of. What exactly did I do wrong again?¡±

    ¡°Why-why you scared your aunt Petunia, got in her way, then hid while we searched the house for you! If you don¡¯t show some proper respect then you¡¯ll be getting a beating on top of what Aunt Petunia gave you!¡± Vernon thundered. Petunia was disturbed. Why was the boy still smiling? Why did everything about him just scream wrong as he stared at them like he was looking down on them.

    The boy turned to her, that large grin still on his face, although it met his eyes. ¡°What about you, Aunt Petunia? Dear Aunt Petunia. Do you have anything to say to me?¡±

    ¡°N-n-no! You should watch where you are going, freak. It¡¯s your fault, you practically shouted in my ear and startled me while I was near the oven! Even Dudley knows enough to stay back while I¡¯m cooking.¡±

    The boy¡¯s smile became a touch more genuine and his eyes lit up with amusement.

    ¡°I see. I¡¯m so glad.¡±

    ¡°Glad?¡± Vernon thundered, ¡°Boy, if¨C¡±

    ¡°Hush, Uncle,¡± the boy said and Vernon stopped just at the boy¡¯s sheer audacity and confidence in the boy¡¯s tone.

    The boy lifted his arms over his head and stretched a bit as Petunia and Vernon watched on confused, ¡°Ah, I would have felt so bad doing this if you were innocent. Probably,¡± the boy said conversationally, ¡°But you Uncle. You remind me so much of him. You¡¯re just like my FaThEr.¡± His voice became gravely and he grimaced as his expression flashed into pure hate that made Vernon take a step back.

    The boy then turned to Petunia, smiling wide again, ¡°And you Aunt. My mother was kind, caring. She loved me so much. You¡¯re nothing like her.¡±

    ¡°What nonsense are you talking about, boy?¡± Vernon said with a slightly fearful tone, ¡°Stop it this instant or I¡¯ll¡­¡±

    The boy waved his arms like he was parting the sea, and all the furniture in the room moved on its own to shift to the side of the room, leaving an bare, scratched, wood floor in the center.

    Petunia screamed and grabbed onto Vernon as the boy laughed.

    ¡°We can¡¯t dance without having some space, can we? Now, let¡¯s give Harry Potter some well deserved revenge. You killed him by accident and were about to hide the body. Real upstanding behavior, that. Why do bad things always happen to good people such as yourselves? Are you ready?¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°What¡ª¡±

    Then suddenly Petunia¡¯s body went slack. She could only watch as her body released Vernon and took a step away to give her some space.

    ¡°Ah, this intrinsic magic!¡± The boy said, ¡°Heady stuff, so versatile. I feel so amazing. Like I can do anything. Now, let¡¯s see what your old bodies can pull off as you dance. I¡¯d join you, but well¡­ Harry¡¯s vision is terrible and he¡¯s rather malnourished. I¡¯m afraid I wouldn¡¯t last very long.¡±

    Petunia and Vernon¡¯s bodies started moving on their own, spinning and leaping around the room in a more energetic dance than Petunia had ever done in her life. She hadn¡¯t even danced that much at her and Vernon¡¯s wedding.

    They kept going and Petunia began to sweat, but wasn¡¯t able to stop, every movement she made controlled by the grinning boy by the doorway. His hands were raised and he was waving his hands as if conducting an orchestra, his eyes lit up in excitement as they flickering between the two of them.

    ¡°Yes! Dance DANCE DANCE PUPPETS!¡± The boy laughed, ¡°DANCE UNTIL YOUR SKIN PEELS AND YOUR BONES BREAK! HAHAHAHAHAHA. Oh, nice spin Aunt. Couldn¡¯t have done it better myself. Ah, Uncle I didn¡¯t know you could do a split that far. Hehehehehe. Let¡¯s see just how far you two can go¡­¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Eric Smith stared at the two collapsed bodies of Harry¡¯s killers. They were exhausted and probably very injured. He had pushed them to strain their ligaments so far that they were groaning in pain and barely able to move by the time he was done with them. Even after using his new little bit of intrinsic magic to try to force them to continue even then. That had been fun. Intrinsic magic was so much more intuitive to learn than domain magic was.

    But now he had to seriously decide what to do with these two. He had tricked Harry into becoming king of that hell. The least Eric owed him was to get his vengeance for him. He tried to think of what he should do. He thought of what he knew of the confused boy that he had tricked. He didn¡¯t think he would have accepted Eric killing the two as vengeance. He was too trusting to go for that.

    Or at least that was Eric¡¯s impression of him. Eric didn¡¯t really want to do it either. Despite everything, enjoying making the two killers dance to their limits, he had never killed anybody before. But he would, for Harry if he thought it¡¯s what Harry would have wanted. He had received some barebones memories from Harry that had been left in his brain when Eric had taken control, but they were scattered and disjointed. Only little segments were useful, and others were no use at all.

    Eric owed Harry that much, to give some proper revenge on his killers.

    But he didn¡¯t think Harry would want him to kill his aunt and uncle. Luckily.

    So, what to do¡­ what to do¡­

    He tried to remember back to all of Balthazar¡¯s lessons on using domain magic. After he had failed that stupidly unfair supposed test to allow him to escape over and over, Balthazar had actually taught him how to do things with the domain magic within his mud body and the king¡¯s crown. What was that one thing, it had been really hard to do¡­

    Well, if he messed up it was probably fine. He didn¡¯t have too much sympathy for these two either way. He walked up to the two sweating and twitching figures and put both his hands around Petunia¡¯s head. He channeled the bit of intrinsic magic he had and it flowed to his commands smooth as butter. It was just so much easier to use than domain magic had been.

    To his surprise, Eric managed to pull off the spell correctly. Hey, with this kind of magic at his fingertips it was way easier. Thanks, Balthazar! Eric quickly moved to Vernon and did the same and then stepped back and stared down at the two of them admiring his handiwork.

    The spell Eric had just put on them was supposed to be helpful. Normally. It increases one¡¯s alertness to their surroundings to protect oneself from danger. But he¡¯d cranked it up to eleven on them and so even the smallest noise, the smallest little movement at the corner of their vision¡­ and the spell would force them to look, to pay attention. It should last a couple months at least if Eric was measuring the decay right through his magic sense.

    His magic sense went nearly a foot away from his skin. He had put in some effort in solving the puzzle for the way out for a bit, so he had learned a bit. Balthazar hadn¡¯t been overly impressed with his final result, but Eric had still thought it was pretty cool to learn what he had. The later barriers were just too ridiculous. The tenth barrier had taken Eric over three hours of continuous concentration and work to solve by his estimate. The eleventh had been impossible for him, representing another massive spike in difficulty.

    Ah, but he was free now. He was out of that place, with an¡­ admittedly less than ideal body. But still a real body on a real planet. He looked down at the two adults and wondered if he was forgetting anything¡­

    Of course! The son! He had heard Petunia talk to him as he crept away after waking up in this body and the magic from the ritual healed his new body back to life. He wasn¡¯t sure how the boy was involved in all of this, but he should probably get punished too.

    He probably didn''t deserve to be forced to dance. Eric decided he¡¯d put the same attention spell on him but make it last less time than the adults. Hopefully a few weeks versus months for the adults. He wasn¡¯t that precise in making the spells, so he couldn¡¯t make it exact.

    Eric hummed a tune to himself and walked up the stairs. He knocked on the door where he could hear the boy shuffling around inside. Probably nervous from hearing Harry¡¯s laughter and taunting downstairs.

    ¡°Duuuuudley?¡± Eric said in a sing-song voice, ¡°Harry wants to give you a giiift.¡±

    ¡°What did you do?¡± Dudley said fearfully through the door, ¡°What was all that shouting?¡±

    Eric waved his hand and the door unlocked and swung open. He panted slightly. Oof, this intrinsic magic really puts a strain on the body while using it. He had overlooked it since he was having so much fun before, but he really was tired.

    Dudley was inside the room, looking quite scared. Eric froze him in place with his magic and grunted as his body began to strain as he overdid it. He¡¯d have to do this quickly¡­

    He rushed forward and grabbed both sides of Dudley¡¯s head as he was frozen and weaved the awareness spell onto his mind, making sure to put less of his magic into it this time. Whoof! He was really feeling exhausted now. He probably couldn¡¯t cast another spell that big without collapsing on the spot. Harry had really been malnourished, Eric would have to work on that.

    Eric unfroze Dudley and the boy immediately whirled around in fear as the wind rattled his window slightly. Eric turned around and walked out of the room, Dudley whirling around and his eyes skittering all over the room as his attention was drawn by all the little motions and noises that he was forced to pay attention to one after the other.

    Eric walked out of the front door of the Dursley¡¯s home and looked around. Uh. What was this place? Things had changed a lot since the 1870s. He was pretty tired, but probably best to not sleep in the same home as the people he had just cast hostile spells on.

    He looked around, and after taking a deep breath chose a random direction and started walking along the strangely smooth black stone road. Odd metal carriages without horses attached to them moved around with dull roars. How strange. Eric kept wandering around aimlessly. He knew magic now! He was amazing, he was alive! But he was also lost and confused. He had no idea what he was supposed to do next or where he was.

    A white vehicle with a rather interesting lantern on top rolled up next to him and he stopped walking by the side of the road. Eric stared at the light in fascination. He hadn¡¯t noticed back at the Dursleys, but what he had assumed were magic lanterns had no magic at all! How did they work? How did the flames inside not snuff themselves out without any magic to keep them going?

    A pane of glass window on the door to the metal carriage moved downwards on its own and Eric furiously inspected it again. No magic again! Was he just not skilled enough? That must be it, it was just so efficient he couldn¡¯t detect the magic it was using. Still amazing, but at least it made more sense to Eric now that he had finally figured out how it worked.

    ¡°Hey, kid. What are you doing out here on the side of the road?¡± One of the men in constable uniforms asked. Eric squinted and saw a word on their chest. Police. He had heard that word before, they must be the law enforcement of the area.

    ¡°Kid, are you alright there?¡± The man asked, ¡°Where are your parents?¡±

    ¡°My parents are dead,¡± Eric said reflexively before internally cursing. Wait, that was actually still true for Harry too. What a lucky break.

    ¡°Er, well. Uhm. Your guardians then. Who are you staying with?¡±

    ¡°Nobody. I was looking for work actually. Do you know where I could find an apprenticeship? Smithing preferably, but I¡¯m not picky. I may not look like much, but my father was a smith so I know some bits and pieces.¡±

    The two policemen glanced at each other.

    ¡°How about you come with us? We¡¯ll take you to the station and sort this out,¡± One of them said.

    ¡°Can I have some food and a bed if I go?¡± Eric asked suspiciously. He didn¡¯t really want to go with them, but he was running out of options really. He was hungry, tired, and his new intrinsic magic was sputtering and felt drained.

    ¡°Sure, kid. We¡¯ll get you food and a bed. Just hop in the back of the car,¡± one officer said loudly before shooting the other one a look. The other man shut his mouth and nodded.

    ¡°Well, okay then,¡± Eric said as he hopped inside. Car. So that¡¯s what they called the metal carriages.

    He was brought to the ¡®police station¡¯ and given food and a rather luxurious bed. Even his parents had anything nearly this kingly before he died.

    They asked him all sorts of questions, and were rather upset when they saw all his bruises and the injury to the back of his head. The ritual had fixed the body so it wasn''t dead anymore, but not much more than that. Eric guessed that the brain had healed, but the back of his head was still matted with blood from what had already leaked out in the meantime.

    After some prodding, he finally admitted to them that his name was ¡®Harry Potter¡¯ and that the Dursleys were who he was supposed to be staying with. Eric was given new much nicer clothes than he was wearing before and good food and told to relax as they took care of things.

    Eric laid out on the bed and closed his eyes. The police were much nicer in this time than they had been back in his day. Even the richest man in town hadn¡¯t had a house nearly as nice as the little room the police had put him in to sleep.

    In seconds, Eric fell asleep. With such luxury, how could he not? Little did he know how much of a stir his actions would truly cause¡­

 Chapter 6: Child Services

    ¡°So, Ma¡¯am. We found your nephew wandering the streets rather injured. He had suffered a blow to the head and is severely malnourished. Is there anything you¡¯d like to say for yourself?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The woman¡¯s eyes were shifting all over the place, constantly flitting between the door and him as he spoke.

    ¡°The boy is evil. I¡¯m saying¡­¡± She became distracted as he shifted in his metal chair.

    ¡°Will you stop that?¡± She screeched, ¡°That noise is so¡­ distracting. The little freak did something to us, it¡¯s like it was like we couldn¡¯t control ourselves. He made us dance in the living room. He¡¯s evil, I¡¯m telling you! He¡¯s the devil spawn! Even now his spell is making me¡­¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you stop shifting for one second and just stay still? Is this how you get information, force us to endure constant distraction while you ask questions?

    He looked down. The sound was barely noticeable.

    ¡°Ma¡¯am, have you seen a doctor or had a history of mental illness in your family?¡±

    ¡°Of course I¡¯m not insane!¡± The unpleasant woman screeched, ¡°It¡¯s the boy, he did this to us. We were all perfectly fine just yesterday. What about all our strained legs and arm muscles, huh? You think we just did that for fun, is it? Is this what the police force has come to, accusing innocent people while not even questioning the real culprits?¡±

    ¡°This real culprit. A nine year old boy,¡± he said, ¡°Severely malnourished. Bruises all over his body. Wearing old worn out clothes. A strong blow to the back of the head that could have been fatal. You think this boy¡­¡±

    He looked down at his notepad as if to read something. There was nothing but scribbles in there. But it was a great prop when doing interrogations when he wanted to emphasize things.

    ¡°What was it? Forced you to dance until you severely strained your muscles. Then¡­ cast a spell on you to force you to hear and see things?¡±

    ¡°The things are always there,¡± the woman said, ¡°I just can¡¯t stop paying attention to them now. Oh, this is torture. I knew that boy was rotten from the start. Just like his mother and father, freaks the lot of them¡­¡±

    ¡°The boy¡¯s parents. What happened to them?¡±

    The woman stilled for a second, ¡°Car crash,¡± She said, ¡°Only their son survived. My nephew.¡±

    He looked at her for a moment. Clearly there was more to the story than she was saying. But he already had enough for now. Frankly it seemed like a pretty clear cut case to him, but best to gather the most evidence possible just in case they had a good lawyer. But he also shouldn¡¯t push too far and lead her to finally going over the edge, or they¡¯d use that to show that he was trying to intimidate her or some nonsense. He stood, ¡°Well, that¡¯s all for now, Ma¡¯am. Just knock at the door if you need anything.¡±

    He opened the door to the interrogation room and left. He shut it behind him and turned to his partner.

    ¡°It¡¯s all recorded on the video, right? That¡¯s prime evidence, tell me I didn¡¯t do that for nothing.¡±

    ¡°We got it,¡± his partner said grimly, ¡°Real nutcase, that one. Calling her own nephew devil spawn¡­ Just when you think you¡¯ve seen it all on this job.¡±

    He clapped the man on the back, ¡°Hey, we caught them this time at least. Mental illness is clear as day on the tapes. Boy¡¯s got injuries we can prove are from them. We¡¯ll get him out of there and somewhere safer. That¡¯s what we¡¯re doing this for, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Hey-¡±

    Suddenly both men straightened upwards and their eyes glazed over as they stood there. An old man with a long white beard walked through the door. His normally twinkling eyes were stormy as he opened the door to where Petunia Dursley sat.

    She looked up, eyes still darting around as she sat there. ¡°D-D-Dumbledore?! What are you doing here?¡±

    Dumbledore frowned as he saw that even now Petunia was still distracted. Without saying a word he pointed his wand at her. He was skilled at this, but incantations made his magic more powerful. ¡°Legilimens!¡± He said firmly and entered her mind.

    He combed through all her recent memories, stiffening as he saw Petunia almost kill the boy who lived. Did kill him according to her memories. He didn¡¯t detect tampering, but memories were fickle things. She was likely correct in her thoughts after that she had mistakenly thought Harry Potter dead and he had instead just been very close between life and death at the time.

    Not that those actions made it any better. He kept searching through and witnessed Harry Potter using wandless magic, a wandless imperius curse nonetheless, to force his aunt and uncle to dance to complete exhaustion. Then placing a mind altering spell on them. Was the boy polyjuiced? What had happened to produce such a change in the boy since his last report from his spies among the neighbors?

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    Dumbledore inspected Petunia¡¯s mind, and found the offending spell. He inspected the spell for a bit, looking at it from every angle. How odd. An unfamiliar spell. He didn¡¯t see many of those these days. Things were growing even more interesting now. A wandless imperius curse was worrying on its own. Incredibly worrying. But this spellwork swung his opinion in the opposite direction. This showed refinement, training in magic. By someone talented. He retracted his probe and left the spell in place and fell in deep thought.

    Either the boy was someone else polyjuiced in disguise. Unlikely. Why would they blow their cover for something like this? Or, a wizard had found and trained the boy. Somehow trained him to control his wandless magic to this level at only nine years old. But who? Who could have done it? Dumbledore pondered over the options. But no one he knew came to mind.

    His mind solidified around the idea that it was a mysterious teacher. It was possible if the boy had an extreme talent for wandless magic and manipulation spells like that both to accomplish the spells Dumbledore had witnessed. Some powerful wizard had taken him in and tutored him somehow undetected. Then this whole course of events happened, leading the boy to expose his newfound skills.

    Dumbledore had seen the boy¡¯s face in the memory. He had not looked at his aunt and uncle¡¯s faces, their eyes pleading for mercy, like many sadists would do when torturing their victims. He had only looked at their limbs, his eyes tracking the two of them as they moved. More enthralled with their movements and coordinating them to dance together in interesting ways than worried about them as people at all. Nothing more but puppets to be moved on his strings.

    Dumbledore stroked his beard thoughtfully. A dark impulse. Far darker than he had ever expected from the humble boy he had been told of in the reports. But the boy was still nothing like Tom Riddle. He just needed some more¡­ focused guidance than Dumbledore had planned.

    It was a problem Dumbledore himself often dealt with personally. Viewing his allies as nothing more than pieces on the board to manipulate and move to accomplish his goals. Not people but objects to be moved on his whim. But that didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t remember to think of them as his friends or allies if appropriately reminded to do so.

    Yes, it was still salvageable. Dumbledore would just have to keep a very close eye on the boy. And make sure to formulate some strategies to divert his development to more fruitful paths after this lapse steering him towards a darker path. And to keep an eye out for his mysterious teacher. Who knows what their agenda for the boy would be in the future.

    Given what Petunia had done¡­ it would be best for the boy to go to the orphanage. Regardless if he would have the blood protection or not. If the boy was already casting magic wandlessly then he should probably be able to handle the lower level death eater dregs that he had worried would attack the boy while he was in the muggle world.

    Without Voldemort around to rally them, the more skilled assassins wouldn¡¯t move on Harry Potter until they had a better measure on his character and inclination or lack thereof to join the dark faction. He was the boy who defeated the dark lord Voldemort after all. Many said that he might be the next dark lord to replace him.

    Not that Dumbledore would ever let that happen.

    He didn¡¯t have to intervene to get Harry put in the orphanage. Petunia had already done enough to lead to that to happen without him doing anything. Now, time to tidy up¡­

    He pointed his wand at Petunia, ¡°Obliviate,¡± and erased her memory of everything after the police detective had left the room. He cast one more sympathetic spell to erase all video footage of him that was taken in the last few minutes. This one was much harder to learn, but very useful for situations like this.

    Then with one final flick of his wand, Dumbledore apparated away, disappearing from the police station in a single crack of displaced air.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Eric was shipped off to the orphanage two days later. The people around him seemed to think that he should feel bad about himself, or not want to go¡­

    But he really didn¡¯t mind. He had to sleep in a big room with the other children nearby, but that was fine. He was just happy that the authorities had arrested Harry¡¯s aunt and uncle. He hadn¡¯t heard what happened to Dudley, but he probably had been sent to Vernon¡¯s relatives. Whoever that may have been. None of Harry¡¯s lingering memories seemed to dredge up anyone that could match that description. But there were plenty of holes, so it''s possible they existed and Eric just didn¡¯t have access to them.

    Harry had been avenged. Eric thought he had done a pretty good job with it. No one was killed, but the Dursleys still got their comeuppance. Eric turned it over in his mind. Yes, he did his duty for Harry as thanks for the body.

    But now this was his body. This was his new life. And he had to start living it to the fullest. First thing first, was fixing these stupid eyeballs. He couldn¡¯t believe Harry had walked around like this all the time. It was like peering through a foggy glass, he kept feeling like he¡¯d trip into things it was so bad.

    There must be some way for magic to fix this, better than these dumb glasses that made him look like a ¡®dork¡¯ as one kid had said one time.

    It was kind of nice being around the other kids at the orphanage. They were wary of him, but after smiling and doing a little dance they laughed and seemed to somewhat accept him among them.

    He was strange, but a good strange. Some of them danced too after he went, all of them giggling a little at the ridiculousness of it all. Dancing and music had always been Eric¡¯s refuge in that hell after so long. He was fascinated when he heard music coming out of the radio of a car. Music was so different and richer than it had been back in his day.

    ¡°Hey, Eric!¡± He turned and saw one of his new friends approaching. He smiled, ¡°Hey John. What¡¯s up?¡±

    He had introduced himself as Eric Potter. Unfortunately he couldn¡¯t change last names. It was in his records and would raise too many questions. But he could change his first name no problem and most people wouldn¡¯t bat an eye. Plenty of people went by their middle names instead of their first names.

    ¡°Hey, the Matron just told us that she¡¯s bringing out a big radio to play some music. You like that stuff, right? You should come!¡±

    ¡°Ohh. Yes, sounds good,¡± Eric said, ¡°I haven¡¯t heard too many of the latest songs. I wonder what¡¯s on?¡±

    He followed John down the hallway and let himself relax as he saw the Matron struggling to set up the bulky radio machine in the main room. Seems like it wasn¡¯t an ambush or hazing of some kind. Huh. Eric glanced at John. This kid might actually want to be his friend. Maybe he would end up liking it here.

    The Matron put on the radio and Eric let the strange unfamiliar music wash over him with a blissful expression. Plenty of food for them, kingly beds, a roof over his head, and maybe even friends too. What more could a boy wish for?

 Chapter 7: The Magical World

    Eric walked into Matron Claire¡¯s office, wondering what she could want to talk to him about. He hadn¡¯t done anything wrong he didn¡¯t think. A few of the boys didn¡¯t like him, but nothing more than harsh words and a few shoves. He didn¡¯t think they¡¯d try to get him in trouble with the matron over any of it.

    ¡°Harry Potter?¡± Eric looked up and frowned. Standing there in the office was a very old man with a long white beard. He was wearing a fancy suit and his gaze was piercing as he looked down at Eric. Next to him sitting at her desk was the matron.

    No one had called him Harry in over a year. He was growing on the name Potter, honestly. He liked how it sounded with Eric better than how Smith did.

    ¡°Hello?¡± Eric tried as he looked at the old man, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°Eric,¡± the Matron Claire scolded, ¡°This man is here to offer you a very selective scholarship to school. If you¡¯re polite and can show you meet his qualifications after he interviews you.¡±

    ¡°Eric?¡± the old man asked, ¡°Is this not Harry Potter? I¡¯m sorry if there¡¯s been some sort of mistake¡­¡±

    Matron Claire waved him off, ¡°Oh, no. This is the right boy. When you said it earlier, I had nearly forgotten. But he goes Eric around here even if he¡¯s technically Harry in the files. Eric Potter, Meet Albus Dumbledore. He¡¯ll be your interviewer for the scholarship.¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± Dumbledore said, stroking his beard as he appeared thoughtful as he stared at Eric.

    ¡°Can we perhaps have the interview in private? I find it¡¯s more conducive to our prospects to discuss it on a one on one basis.¡±

    Matron Claire hesitated for a moment but Dumbledore met her eyes for a long moment. Then she nodded and stood.

    ¡°You can use my office for now. I¡¯ll be just outside if you need me.¡±

    She walked out, leaving Dumbledore and Eric alone in the room. Eric frowned slightly. Wasn¡¯t that against the rules? The matron was never supposed to leave any of the kids alone with strangers, even if the man was giving him a scholarship.

    ¡°Eric,¡± Dumbledore said as he sat on a chair that he turned to face Eric. He gestured towards the other one and with a single gesture lifted it off the ground and floated it out to Eric and put it next to him. Eric stepped forward to sit in it, before freezing. Act shocked, act shocked¡­

    ¡°Ohhh, nooo. What was that? Is this a prank?¡± Eric tried to say convincingly. But the old man just chuckled.

    ¡°Ah, about five seconds too late, Mr. Potter,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°I see you¡¯re already familiar with magic, then? I thought that would be the case.¡±

    Eric sat down on the chair, tense as a spring. This was a potentially hostile wizard. Who knew what he could do to him if the man became upset with him?

    ¡°Why? Why would I know? How did you guess?¡±

    ¡°Just a hunch. I looked into the situation with your aunt and uncle. It seems you¡¯ve used magic before. Intentionally to punish them after they almost killed you.¡±

    ¡°Er, well. Yeah,¡± Eric said. No point in denying it really. Who knew what this wizard might do if he tried to lie to him. Balthazar had always seemed to know if Eric was trying to lie to him. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was magic or if Balthazar was just that good. But that meant he should probably try to not lie if he could. Besides him not really being Harry Potter that is. That seemed pretty critical to keep from everybody.

    ¡°Hm. How did that make you feel? Did you use your magic before that point? Have anyone help train you?¡±

    ¡°I dunno. I was happy being able to control my magic so easily. I probably should feel bad about hurting them, but I don¡¯t really. I almost died. Felt like I did die for a little bit. Didn¡¯t feel very fair that they could just get away with it with no consequences.¡±

    Oops. A little too much revealed there. But all true. It really had bothered him how Harry¡¯s aunt and uncle had believed that they could have just brushed off what had happened without a second glance. If it had really been Harry there then it might have even worked. That was just sort of depressing.

    Especially when he had no idea what had happened to his own father. Had he been arrested and hanged? Ran into the countryside and lived on the run? Somehow and gotten off without any serious punishment? Eric would never know. His dad was named Peter Smith. One of the most common combinations of names possible. He would never be able to find what had happened even if he spent a long long time looking.

    ¡°Yes, your case was rather extreme. An act of passion, I suppose.¡±

    ¡°Something like that¡­¡±

    Curious, Eric extended his magical senses towards the old man. He usually kept them contained because they distracted him if it was out all the time when there was no magic around for him to focus on. He immediately flinched and retreated again as he saw the blazing sun of magic blasting out of the man. With his magic sense only going a foot away from his skin he only couldn¡¯t even detect the man directly, but he was radiating so much magic that Eric could feel it even if he couldn¡¯t directly sense his actual magic in his body. Woah, this guy was powerful¡­

    ¡°I say this, because many children release their magic largely uncontrollably during times of high emotion or stress,¡± Dumbledore continued, ¡°It¡¯s called accidental magic. But you seem to have admirable control of your magic, more than most children your age. Did you have a teacher perhaps?¡±

    Eric thought for a few seconds. What should he say? He did have a teacher, but he wasn¡¯t sure what this old man was after. What if he figured out somehow that Eric wasn¡¯t Harry? What would happen to him?

    ¡°Yeah. I had a teacher,¡± Eric said, ¡°But I don¡¯t want to talk about him. I disappointed him and I haven¡¯t seen him since.¡±

    Balthazar was very disappointed that Eric hadn¡¯t stayed behind to work together with Harry to try to defeat the stupid impossible puzzle. He definitely hadn¡¯t seen him since. He wondered how long it had been for Harry since Eric had left that hell.

    ¡°What was this teacher¡¯s name? I¡¯d like to talk to this person if I could.¡±

    Eric didn¡¯t speak for a bit, trying to decide what he should do. But there was no way this Dumbledore could make it to the hellish realm, right? ¡°Balthazar,¡± He finally said, ¡°His name was Balthazar. Is there really a scholarship? Or did you just want to ask me about my teacher?¡±

    Dumbledore jolted and shook his head, ¡°Oh, yes. We¡¯ve been drawn off course. There are many other magical children such as yourself. I¡¯m the headmaster of the Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. When you go there, you can learn to control your magic and meet other magical children such as yourself. The scholarship is very real, and you¡¯ll be given some basic funds for school supplies as well as your tuition being fully paid for by the wizarding government.¡±

    Eric thought about it. That could be fun. He didn¡¯t use his magic too much so far, not wanting to stand out from the other children more than he already did. But around other magicals he could let loose and experiment with his magic more.

    ¡°What about the orphanage?¡± Eric asked, ¡°What will I tell them?¡±

    ¡°I will make the arrangements. Everyone will believe that Hogwarts is nothing but a high end boarding school that you attend. I assume you¡¯re interested in attending?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. There¡¯s really a whole school of people who can use intr- magic?¡±

    ¡°Indeed. Here is your acceptance letter with the school supplies for the term,¡± Dumbledore said as he pulled a letter from his suit and handed it over to Eric.

    ¡°One of our teachers will arrive to escort you to buy your supplies and get you properly introduced to our world. They shall arrive in the middle of August. Welcome to the magical world Har- Eric Potter.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, sir.¡±

    The man left and Eric held the letter in his hands. He stared at it for a long while before he smiled. He had just been happy to be alive again and living in this place. The magic was just a nice bonus. But now? Now things would get interesting.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    The man that collected Eric was a giant of a man wearing a worn ragged old brown cloak. Rubeus Hagrid as he introduced himself. He took Eric into London and into a pub. The Leaky Cauldron. He thought it was strange to take an eleven year old kid into a dingy old pub, but Eric was surprised once he looked a little closer. He could feel intrinsic magic in all the people he was walking by! Several were holding newspapers with pictures that moved on their own, and all had little sticks at their sides. Wands, Hagrid had called them.

    Balthazar had told Eric about magical focuses. Increase your power at the cost of versatility. Balthazar was a bit of an elitist, looking down on the ¡®less skilled¡¯ wizards who couldn¡¯t cast magic without them. Eric had asked for a magical focus while he was magical training and Balthazar had strongly advised him to not use one, as it ¡®built up bad habits¡¯.

    It seems these magical people were not of the same opinion.

    ¡°Hey, Tom,¡± Hagrid said as they approached the barman, ¡°How¡¯s life treaten'' ya?¡±

    ¡°Very good, very good,¡± the old bartender replied, ¡°Plenty of galleons in the pocket, business is good. What are you about today?¡±

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    Hagrid waved to Eric, ¡°Here to take Eric Potter here to get his school supplies.¡±

    Tom peered down at Eric. He looked back at the old man and smiled widely. People liked it when you smiled, right?

    The old man flinched and Eric toned it down a bit. Too much it seems.

    ¡°Eric Potter¡­ No relation to Harry Potter, is there?¡±

    Eric tilted his head slightly to the side and frowned, ¡°Harry Potter? That¡¯s me. I go by Eric. How would you know me? Have we met before?¡±

    Hagrid and Tom looked at him in surprise, ¡°Ya don¡¯t know? You¡¯re about the mos¡¯ famous boy in the whole wizarding world. The boy who lived. Defeated you know who as a baby.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± Eric asked, ¡°Why am I famous again?¡±

    The two of them exchanged a glance. Hagrid turned to Tom. ¡°Why don¡¯t ya get me a pint. Seems like I got some explaining to do.¡±

    Eric pulled himself up onto the barstool as Hagrid sat down next to him, his chair creaking dangerously under him as it struggled to hold up his massive weight.

    ¡°Did tha¡¯ Matron ever tell ya what happened to yer parents?¡±

    ¡°They died in a car crash?¡± Eric asked confused, ¡°And why would she know? I was living with my aunt and uncle for most of my life.¡±

    Well, Harry¡¯s life.

    ¡°Ye were?¡± Hagrid asked in surprise, ¡°Why were ya at tha¡¯ orphanage then?¡±

    ¡°They were mentally ill and got arrested. I got sent to the orphanage after,¡± Eric said with a smile. Everything had really worked out perfectly there.

    ¡°Sorry to hear tha¡¯. Didn¡¯t even know¡­¡±

    Eric shrugged.

    ¡°Car crash¡­ Na, it was more than tha¡¯. Yer parents were murdered by a dark wizard. V-V-Voldemort,¡± Hagrid said the last word in nearly a whisper, ¡°Yer were jus¡¯ a baby. But somehow when he cast the killing curse at ya, something happened. Ye survived and the dark lord was found dead, killed by his own curse. The dark wizard and his followers the death eaters were terrorizin¡¯ the country, everyone was scared and no one felt safe. But with his defeat, it all ended and you¡¯re the one responsible for it. People think that yer a hero, the boy who lived. Harry Potter.¡±

    ¡°Huh,¡± Eric said. He didn¡¯t think Harry had known any of this.

    ¡°But I¡¯m famous?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Yeah. Lots of people will be interested to meet ya. Surprised your so calm about it.¡±

    Eric shrugged. It was interesting, but it was Harry¡¯s parents not his. Sad, but not anything to get worked up about.

    Hagrid took another swig of his mug of ale and Eric eyed it.

    ¡°Can I have a sip?¡± He asked.

    Hagrid looked between his mug and Eric in surprise.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never had any before,¡± Eric said.

    ¡°No,¡± Hagrid said, ¡°This drink is mine.¡±

    ¡°Rats. Can we go shopping now? This place is interesting but I don¡¯t see any stores or anything.¡±

    Hagrid took one last chug to finish off his drink and slammed it back to the counter.

    ¡°Alrigh¡¯. Off to Diagon alley. We¡¯ll have to go to Gringotts to get ye¡¯ some money.¡±

    They walked into a seedy back alley behind the pub and Eric looked around suspiciously. This was the place they were going?

    ¡°Are we buying drugs or something?¡± Eric asked. He had seen some television over the last two years at the orphanage. This looked like the place the drug dealers hung out in the shows.

    ¡°Drugs?¡± Hagrid said absentmindedly as he walked up to the wall in front of him. He took out a pink umbrella and tapped a few bricks on the wall a few times.

    ¡°Nah, thas¡¯ Knockturn alley,¡± Hagrid said as he kept tapping the bricks, ¡°This place is way too public to buy anyth¨C¡±

    He paused mid sentence and then tapped another brick.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get any idears now, though,¡± He said as he tapped another brick and took a step back, ¡°Ye need anything just ask me. Knockturn is no place for kids.¡±

    Eric gave Hagrid an odd look.

    ¡°I¡¯m eleven. Are you offering to buy me drugs?¡±

    Hagrid shrugged, ¡°I¡¯ll get ya any of the muggle stuff fer cheap. We got magic. One spell can get rid of addiction or side effects, whenever ye like. Just don¡¯t go fer the magic stuff. That¡¯s where ya start getting problems.¡±

    ¡°You work at Hogwarts?¡± Eric asked in disbelief, trying to understand how this was happening. It was supposed to be a throwaway joke, ¡°You wouldn¡¯t even let me sip some beer earlier!¡±

    Hagrid gave him a confused look, ¡°I said the drink was mine, didn¡¯t I? Ya can drink all you like so long as you get yer own and don''t try to steal mine.¡±

    ¡°Pfffft,¡± Eric laughed, ¡°Wow, that¡¯s cold. How have you not been fired yet?¡±

    Hagrid shrugged, ¡°What¡¯s tha¡¯ big problem? Any fourth year can cast spells that are better than any muggle drug could be. No need to be so uptight about it. And I do good work with tha¡¯ school. Dumbledore would never fire me. Great man, Dumbledore.¡±

    ¡°Does Dumbledore buy from you?¡± Eric asked suspiciously.

    ¡°No. I was jus¡¯ offerin¡¯ for today. Thought it would be a nice gift for your introduction to the wizarding world. I don¡¯t do no selling or promotion on Hogwarts grounds. Strictly out of work activity.¡±

    Eric stared at Hagrid for a few seconds before thinking.

    ¡°Hey, could you get me some LSD? I heard about it in the crime shows.¡±

    ¡°Sure. Jus¡¯ make sure to go to a healer if ya start to notice any side effects. They¡¯ll heal ya back up ta full health. After tha¡¯ bank I¡¯ll pop over to knockturn alley for some.¡±

    Eric hadn¡¯t actually expected him to agree¡­ And so easily¡­

    Well, he was curious now. ¡°Thanks, Hagrid. Not exactly what I was expecting though.¡±

    Hagrid shrugged and tapped the wall one last time. Its surface rippled and the bricks started shifting and moving on their own to reveal a doorway into a bustling street. They walked through and Eric immediately noticed that all the people that walked close by all had intrinsic magic humming through them.

    The two of them walked through the street lined with various shops selling all sorts of magical items. At the end of the street was a building with white stone pillars like the greek parthenon. They walked inside the building and inside was a room with a series of desks lining either of the walls. At the end was a much larger desk with a line of people waiting to talk with the humanoid creature standing there.

    ¡°Hagrid, what are they?¡± Eric whispered, ¡°The people working here?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re goblins, Eric,¡± Hagrid said, ¡°Gringotts is run by goblins. Buggers will keep an eye on anyone¡¯s gold, best security in the world. Jus¡¯ make sure you¡¯re never in their debt. Merciless when they think they can squeeze a single extra coin out of ya. With a pair of pliers if need be.¡±

    They waited in line until they were at the front desk. The goblin sitting there had a large pair of spectacles and looked down imperiously at them.

    ¡°Reason for visit?¡± He asked in a nasally irritated tone as he looked over Hagrid¡¯s obviously tattered and dirty coat.

    ¡°Withdrawal. For Harry Potter,¡± Hagrid said. The goblin raised an eyebrow and stared at Eric.

    ¡°Hm. Boy. Put your hand on this orb,¡± the goblin said. Eric suddenly became nervous. What if they found out who he really was? What if he was discovered? But everyone was staring at him, so it seemed he had no choice. He put his hand on the ball the goblin had on his desk. He felt the pulse of magic scanning him for a few seconds before retreating again. The goblin took back the orb and inspected it for a few seconds.

    ¡°Valid,¡± the goblin suddenly said, ¡°Griphook, take them to the Potter vaults.¡±

    Another goblin came up from the side and led them to a minecart. The two of them got in the cart and it zoomed into the dark tunnel in front of them. The goblin pulled a series of levers and they lurched from side to side for a few minutes with the wind rushing around them. Eventually they stopped in front of a large door and got out.

    The three of them got out and the goblin pressed a series of buttons on the door, leaving it to creak open.

    Eric¡¯s eyes widened as he saw the contents of the vault. Piles of gold and silver coated the room mixed in with dozens of objects that Eric could tell without even his magic sense must be absolutely blazing with magic.

    Hagrid strode forward and took out a small pouch and stepped towards one of the piles of money.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Eric asked.

    ¡°Oh, yeh want to do it? This is a moleskin pouch. Storage to keep as much money as ye¡¯d like inside of it. I¡¯ll throw it in with the drugs as a gift if ye¡¯d like. I¡¯ve got plenty of ¡®em at home.¡±

    The goblin looked at Hagrid in distaste, but Eric shrugged and accepted the small pouch from the big man. He extended his magic sense. He could tell that it was magical, but not what exactly it was doing.

    ¡°Thanks, Hagrid. I¡ª¡±

    Eric felt something tingle within him as he touched the first golden coin. The galleon the goblin had called it. Domain magic, the hellish realm wanted something.

    ¡°Can I be alone in here?¡± Eric asked, ¡°I¡¯d like to explore for a bit.¡±

    Griphook frowned but nodded, ¡°Everything is logged. We will know what you took. This is your personal vault, all restricted items are already locked away in the main family vaults that you will have access to when you reach your majority at seventeen.¡±

    Eric looked at the goblin in shock, ¡°Wait, are saying that there¡¯s even more than this?¡±

    The goblin smiled, ¡°Of course, Mr. Potter. The Potters vaults are one of our largest. You¡¯re the inheritor of one of the largest fortunes in Britain.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Wow, Harry had died right at the worst moment hadn¡¯t he? If he had just made it two more years then he would have been rich, fabulously wealthy, famous, able to use magic¡­ Well, Eric wouldn¡¯t complain. Things were just getting better and better the more he learned!

    After he didn¡¯t say anything else Hagrid and the goblin left the vault and waited just outside. Eric let out a sigh of relief as he felt the domain magic swirling in him. He reached out and put his hand on a single golden coin and in a flash of magic it disappeared into thin air. He felt the desire towards one of the silver coins, and it did the same. Then the copper¡­ He wandered the vault and another twenty random magical objects were consumed by the domain magic swirling through him. Drawn back to the hellish realm so they could be copied. Balthazar had told Eric about this. This was one of the main reasons the realm even allowed him to escape as a ¡®herald¡¯. So he could collect interesting and unique magical objects for it to accumulate and even replicate if what Balthazar had told him were right.

    After about twenty minutes, the domain magic swirled around one last time as if doing a final check of the vault before sputtering out and disappearing again. Eric quickly walked over to the piles of money and scraped a few large handfuls of gold into the moleskin pouch. No matter how much he put in the pouch didn¡¯t bulge or grow any heavier as he put the money inside.

    Eventually, he left the vault with the pouch at his side. Hagrid went to another vault and picked up his own package. ¡®Task from Dumbledore¡¯ he said.

    ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t sell Dumbledore any drugs?¡± Eric joked.

    Hagrid huffed a laugh, ¡°Of course I¡¯d tell ya tha¡¯. I¡¯d never let anything harm Dumbledore¡¯s reputation. Just keep this between the two of us, ay?¡±

    Eric nodded and had to suppress his giggles as they exited the bank. That old man had acted so serious and stern when he came to the orphanage. It seems he wasn¡¯t as straight laced as Eric had thought he was. Especially if he was hiring people like Hagrid.

    They exited the bank and stood on the front stoop. ¡°Anyway,¡± Hagrid said, ¡°Ya got yer list?¡±

    Eric nodded and took out his supplies and the list of school supplies he had bought.

    ¡°Well, best a¡¯ luck. I¡¯ll be at the pub after I¡¯m done with ma own tasks. The Prancing Stallion. Come on over whenever yer ready to leave. Have some fun out there. And don¡¯t go into Knockturn alley under any circumstances. Good?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re just going to leave me here?¡± Eric asked curiously.

    Hagrid squinted at him, ¡°Ya need help? I can stay if ye¡¯d like.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯ll be fine. Go have fun at the pub.¡±

    ¡°I will. Best of luck, Eric. I¡¯d recommend getting your luggage trunk first and getting one that has an expanded interior. Should help ya carry around of the res¡¯ of the stuff you buy later.¡±

    Hagrid walked off, the crowd parting around him as he walked forward, leaving Eric alone on the busy street. Eric looked at the long list in his hand. May as well start shopping. He had a lot of things to buy.

 Chapter 8: Hogwarts

    Shopping was easy. Eric started humming to himself as he walked from store to store. He had heard the song on the radio and it was stuck in his head now. He started tapping his foot and a bounce entered his step as he made his way to Olivander¡¯s wand shop. He probably didn¡¯t need it, but everyone else seemed to be using them, so may as well.

    The man inside was strange, and put many of the wands in his hand. He seemed awfully invested in making sure the wand was perfect for Eric. After almost forty minutes, Olivander finally found a wand that worked.

    ¡°Phoenix feather¡­¡± Olivander said as Eric grabbed the wand and stared at it. It didn¡¯t feel any different than the others, but Olivander seemed satisfied and didn¡¯t snatch it out of his hand again like the others.

    ¡°How curious, that you would be so fitted for that wand, considering what happened to its brother¡­¡±

    ¡°Brother?¡± Eric asked absentmindedly, still humming to himself. His thoughts had been in the clouds this whole time as the old man gave him wands in his hand before snatching it away seconds later.

    ¡°Yes, I sold that to one Lord Voldemort. A wand for a great wizard. Voldemort was terrible. Terrible¡­ but great.¡±

    Eric inspected his wand closely. He put some of his intrinsic magic in it and it hummed under his fingers. He could sense the magic moving through it, running up his arm and back into his body.

    ¡°Interesting. You think if I found his wand, I could use two at once?¡± Eric said, raising his other arm and pretending to hold another wand.

    ¡°Pow, pow, pow!¡±

    He looked back at the old man who was frowning at him. Eric shrugged and fished at his pouch and handed over the seven galleons as payment.

    ¡°Anyway, thanks for the wand, Mr. Olivander.¡±

    He left the shop and the urge to dance washed over him. He had been holding it back when he was with the teacher. But Harry¡¯s body having been well fed over the last two years and getting some proper exercise had bulked up. So now Eric didn¡¯t have to worry about exhausting himself anymore.

    As he walked to the final store, he started shuffling side to side and snapping occasionally as he hummed to the beat of the song playing in his head. The others on the street gave him odd looks, but Eric didn¡¯t mind. He danced to his own tune. He was sure someone at Hogwarts would appreciate his skills.

    He went into the robes shop, where a blonde haired boy was being measured by the woman running the store. She took a few more measurements and stepped back.

    ¡°That¡¯s all we need, young master Malfoy. Will there be anything else?¡±

    ¡°Just make it quick!¡± The blonde haired boy said with an imperious tone and sniffed, ¡°I have places to be and I have no intention of loitering around this dingy shop longer than I have to be.¡±

    The woman didn¡¯t say anything and went into the backroom, looking like she¡¯d smelled something foul.

    ¡°Heya. You¡¯re a noble or something?¡± Eric asked as he hopped foot to foot, swaying side to side as he moved.

    The boy looked at him and puffed up. ¡°Indeed! I¡¯m Draco Malfoy, of House Malfoy, ancient and noble. What is your name?¡±

    ¡°Why, I¡¯m Eric Potter!¡± Eric said as he did a little spin in place before returning to look at the boy.

    ¡°You should watch out. I¡¯ve heard the rude nobles get poisoned by their servants. That would be such an ironic way to go, right?¡±

    He shuffled side to side as Draco eyed him with a confused look.

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Draco asked, ¡°What in Merlin are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Dancing, my friend!¡± Eric shouted, starting to feel his blood start pumping, ¡°Why, when the urge strikes me I just have to dance and sing. Let it all out for the world to see! You were very rude to that woman just now.¡±

    Eric started practicing a move he had seen at the orphanage on the TV. The moonwalk. He still didn¡¯t have it fully down, but he was getting there.

    Draco¡¯s face flashed with annoyance, but Eric kept speaking before he could interrupt.

    ¡°I¡¯m just saying. Don¡¯t do that to your chefs, or you might get poisoned. That¡¯s how the arrogant ones usually go out, I¡¯ve heard.¡±

    ¡°Will you stop that?!¡± Draco said, ¡°Stop acting like a fool and just stand still for a second. Our chef would never poison us.¡±

    Eric stopped in place, frozen.

    ¡°You say that, but if you said things like that to them, I wouldn''t be so sure.¡±

    He started moving again and started doing some jazz hands.

    ¡°I¡¯m just dancing, not hurting anyone at all,¡± Eric said with a grin, ¡°Maybe you should join me, show me that you¡¯re better at it than me?¡±

    Draco scoffed and turned back around, ¡°Whatever. Do what you want.¡±

    ¡°I will.¡± Eric said as he kept dancing in the store and waiting for the woman to come back. He still had to get his school robes after all.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Everyone gave him strange looks, but no one else tried to stop Eric as he started to get a light sweat from the exercise. He danced over to the pub Hagrid had talked about and forcefully made himself stop and walk normally inside. The man inside was obvious, sitting at the bar and drinking from a large tankard.

    ¡°Hagrid, I¡¯m done,¡± Eric said, ¡°Can you buy me a beer? I¡¯ll pay you back.¡±

    Hagrid snorted, ¡°Now thas¡¯ more like it. George, two more tankards over here.¡±

    The bartender shot a confused glance at the man, but complied and put the two large tankards in front of the giant of a man.

    ¡°Thas¡¯ a galleon,¡± Hagrid said, ¡°You¡¯re paying for both if you want any.¡±

    ¡°Such a scam,¡± Eric complained even as he reached into his money pouch and handed it over. The two of them went over to a table and Hagrid handed Eric one of the tankards while retaining his own.

    ¡°How did the bartender let that happen?¡± Eric asked, ¡°Isn¡¯t there underage drinking laws here?¡±

    ¡°Nah. Nuffin¡¯ like tha¡¯. Ya think I¡¯m allowed to legally give you LSD but alcohol was too much?¡±

    Eric blinked, ¡°Wait, it¡¯s legal? You won¡¯t get in trouble?¡±

    ¡°Of course not. Why would I? We just met, you think I¡¯d do something illegal?¡±

    ¡°What about getting addicted or something? Isn¡¯t that why drugs are bad?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a potion for that. Right expensive to get, but one sip and any addiction you get from non magical drugs goes away instantly.¡±

    Eric just looked at the man blankly. Well, it was to his advantage at least. Eric cupped the giant mug with both hands and took a sip.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    And then immediately spat it out.

    ¡°Ugh. Gross! Adults actually like that garbage?¡±

    Hagrid let out a booming laugh.

    ¡°Ah, your face. Remember my firs¡¯ drink, thought the same thing. Ya don¡¯t have to like it. But you already paid for it, I¡¯m not giving you yer money back.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a real piece of work, you know that?¡± Eric said, ¡°Aren¡¯t teachers supposed to be kind and supportive?¡±

    ¡°And I am being, aren¡¯t I? Here¡¯s your drugs by the way. Got an extra good deal on them too. And not a teacher. Groundskeeper.¡±

    Hagrid pulled out a giant plastic bag filled with what must be over a hundred little white pills.

    ¡°Only take one at a time. Maybe cut them in half for a boy your weight. Here ya go.¡±

    Hagrid threw the bag to Eric and he caught it. He stared between Hagrid and it for a few seconds, before opening his trunk and throwing it in. Given how sketchy Hagrid was he was having second thoughts of trying those things now.

    They sat there and Eric tried a few more sips of the beer, but it didn¡¯t get any better and it was still mostly full.

    Hagrid belched and stared thoughtfully at Eric¡¯s nearly full mug, ¡°You gonna finish tha¡¯?¡±

    ¡°No, Hagrid,¡± Eric sighed, ¡°I¡¯m not.¡±

    The giant of a man grabbed his drink and raised it to his lips, taking a few seconds to chug it all down in one go. He slammed it down on the table and let out a loud sigh of satisfaction and smacked his lips.

    ¡°Alrigh¡¯ stay here while I pay the tab.¡±

    The two of them left and Eric was dropped off back at the orphanage. The next day he experimentally tried one of Hagrid¡¯s LSD pills.

    He could admit he was a little strange, but based on the looks the other kids gave him when he came too after, he had gone a bit above and beyond while he was out of it. He didn¡¯t even remember any of it, waking up a few hours later not sure exactly what had happened. It was lucky that his luggage case could disguise itself as a normal one. He just injected some magic and it would switch to the more magical spatially expanded section of it, the part where he had put the rest of the pills.

    If it hadn¡¯t had that then the Matron might have taken them from him. He didn¡¯t really want to take them again, but he didn¡¯t want to get rid of them either. When was the next time he would meet someone as sketchy as Hagrid who would get him more?

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Eric was sitting on the train to Hogwarts in an empty compartment. Hagrid had taken him early from the orphanage to the station. He had tried to walk off and tell Eric that he would ¡®figure out¡¯ that he was supposed to run at a random brick wall to make his way to platform nine and three quarters. But Eric knew better. He would have never figured out how to get through that wall into Diagon alley on his own. So after some cajoling, Hagrid actually brought him through to the train itself rather than abandoning him at the entrance to king¡¯s cross station.

    Eric hoped that none of the teachers at his new school were drug dealers. That would get annoying, if they were all like Hagrid.

    ¡°Hello? Do you have room in here? The rest of the compartments are full.¡±

    Eric looked up and saw a red haired boy at the door, looking awkward. He smiled at him wide and the boy flinched. Eric reduced his smile so his face didn¡¯t hurt as much when he did it.

    ¡°Of course. Plenty of room,¡± He said. He looked at the rat in the boy¡¯s lap. Eric had decided to not get an animal of his own for school. Taking care of them sounded like it would be too much work. And Balthazar had said familiars were important, so he didn¡¯t want to waste it on owls or toads if he could only ever have one at a time. Imagine with getting stuck with something like a rat for your whole life?

    The boy shifted, but sat down across from him.

    ¡°I¡¯m Ron. Ron Weasley.¡±

    ¡°Eric. Eric Potter.¡±

    The boy straightened up, ¡°Potter? Are you related to Harry Potter?¡±

    Eric sighed. This was getting annoying, ¡°It¡¯s me. I¡¯m Harry Potter. I just go by Eric.¡±

    ¡°Oh. What¡¯s it like? You are super famous, can I see the scar?¡±

    Eric pulled back his black hair and showed Ron the lightning scar that had been on Harry¡¯s forehead. After a second, he let go and his black hair fell to cover his forehead again.

    ¡°I¡¯ve read about you in the papers. The boy who lived¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here, aren¡¯t I?¡± Eric said, ¡°People should try to kill more babies using the same way Voldemort did to me, maybe more of them would survive the killing curse. Maybe people could figure out why it happens if they did it enough.¡±

    Ron startled and looked at him in shock. Eric ran back what he had said. But, if Harry had survived then others should too, it made sense that there would be others that just had never had murder attempts on them while they were young¡­

    He tried to think why Ron was upset. Oh, right. Dead babies.

    ¡°Haha. Just a joke,¡± Eric said, ¡°Sorry about that.¡±

    The red headed boy relaxed a bit and sat back while still looking a bit disturbed.

    The compartment door slid open. There was a girl with bushy brown hair standing there, ¡°Hello? Is this compartment free? It seems the others are full. This is the last one¡­¡±

    ¡°Come on in,¡± Eric said, making sure his smile wasn¡¯t as large and unnatural this time, ¡°Plenty of room in here still.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. I¡¯m Hermione. Hermione Granger.¡±

    ¡°Eric Potter.¡±

    ¡°Ron Weasley.¡±

    The girl got settled in a minute or two and put her luggage in the overhead and sat back down. Eric adjusted his glasses. He still had to wear the stupid things even now. The first thing he would do when he started learning more spells was figuring out how to fix it.

    She sat down and pulled out a rather heavy book after she settled.

    ¡°What book is that?¡± Eric asked.

    ¡°Hogwarts: A History,¡± Hermione said slightly proudly, ¡°I¡¯m reading ahead for classes. It¡¯s all so interesting, isn¡¯t it. Magic?¡±

    ¡°It sure is something,¡± Eric thought, remembering when he was a being of mud and magic. King and prisoner of the realm.

    ¡°What is Hogwarts, anyways? I haven¡¯t looked over those things yet.¡±

    ¡°Well, Hogwarts is¡­¡±

    Eric sat back and listened as the girl excitedly spoke about all the history of the school and different facts about it. He only had to hum in agreement or ask an occasional question to send her off on another rant explaining everything she had learned. Even when the train ride ended and they proceeded into Hogwarts itself, the three of them stayed together. Ron seemed interested by Hermione¡¯s information and was much more active than Eric in asking questions. It seems that he was born in a wizarding home, so he knew some tidbits that weren¡¯t in Hermione¡¯s book. It annoyed the girl at first that Ron knew things that she didn¡¯t, but she quickly recovered and started asking Ron questions about the situation after she realized he knew more than expected due to growing up in a magical environment.

    Eric was far too distracted trying to suppress his magic sense. In the Hogwarts building magic pressed in on him from all sides. It tingled over him, like something was watching him. When he had let his detection out to the maximum he had felt a presence focus in on him, so he immediately pulled it back inwards in his body.

    He kept an easy smile on his face, but it became a bit strained.

    The groups of students were led into the great hall of Hogwarts and put in a line.

    They were being sorted into the four houses with their treasured qualities. Gryffindor, for bravery. Ravenclaw, for intelligence. Hufflepuff, for loyalty. And Slytherin, for cunning. The blonde boy, Draco, went into Slytherin. An old raggedy hat would be put on their head before calling out what house they were in. Name after name was called. Hermione was put in Gryffindor, for bravery. Eric was up next.

    ¡°Harry Potter!¡± The stern woman. McGallager or something, called out. Eric hadn¡¯t been paying attention when she had been speaking. There was some muttering in the hall as Eric stepped forward. Dumbledore was sitting at the headmaster¡¯s table in a large golden chair almost like a throne, and watching with interest as Eric sat down and the hat was placed on his head.

    Eric smiled back at Dumbledore. To think the headmaster had been getting drugs from Hagrid and hadn¡¯t even cared if Eric would know about it¡­

    ¡®Hmmm. Interesting. Eric Smith. What an interesting life you¡¯ve lived,¡¯ a voice suddenly said in his head. He could sense it from the hat.

    ¡®What qualities do you value? You have no loyalty, that is certain. No Hufflepuff for you. When presented with an intellectual challenge you gave up rather than choosing to push onwards. Not Ravenclaw. So Slytherin or Gryffindor. But what to choose?¡¯

    Eric¡¯s thoughts raced. Was he exposed? Should he make a run for it?

    ¡®Don¡¯t worry. I won¡¯t share anything I learn with anyone. Otherwise do you think that the nobles would trust me to peek around their children¡¯s secrets? Now, let¡¯s think. What house to put you in?¡¯

    Eric looked between the rambling girl at the Gryffindor table and the blonde haired boy in Slytherin.

    ¡®Put me in Slytherin,¡¯ Eric thought, ¡®It will be fun to see how far I can push the blonde boy. He¡¯s so arrogant, it can¡¯t be that hard to make him squirm by hurting his ego¡­¡¯

    ¡®Very well. The choice is clear. Better be¡­¡¯

    ¡°GRYFFINDOR!¡±

    ¡®Hey, what¡¯s the big idea?¡¯

    ¡®I can see into your mind, Eric Smith. The captain of the Hogwarts dance club is in Gryffindor. They won¡¯t accept you as easily if you are in Slytherin house.¡¯

    ¡®Oh, that¡¯s fine then. Thanks, hat.¡¯

    ¡®Goodbye, Eric Smith.¡¯

    The hat was lifted off Eric¡¯s head and the whole Gryffindor table was cheering.

    ¡°We got Potter! We got Potter!¡± Two red headed twins were cheering and clapped Eric on the back as he walked over to their table.

    He sat down with Hermione and after a few minutes, Ron was sorted into Gryffindor as well and joined the two of them.

    After a short speech that Eric didn¡¯t listen to, Dumbledore clapped his hand and suddenly there was food at the table. Eric started eating, largely ignoring the two people he had stayed with at the train. What were their names? Oh, yeah. Ron and Hermione. He should try to remember them. They probably wouldn¡¯t talk to him as much if he forgot them.

 Chapter 9: The Turban Comes Off

    It had been about a month, and things had gone pretty smoothly for Eric. The potions professor hated him for some strange reason, but other than that the other classes were fine. He had become friends with Ron and Hermione. He remembered their names, he had practiced.

    For actual casting of magic Eric discovered that he only had tiny amounts of intrinsic magic compared to everyone else. It seems that Harry¡¯s soul had taken most of it along for the ride when he was reborn in the hellish realm. But Eric had very good control of his magic, and channeling his spells through his wand helped increase his power. So he was able to do fairly well even if he became quickly tired after casting for a full day during classes.

    He had joined the dancing club, and it was a lot of fun. It had helped suppress his¡­ urges to do something drastic to make things more interesting for himself. He wasn¡¯t in hell with the demons anymore, he couldn¡¯t just order people to let it go if he went too far in seeing how far he could push their limits. But the students at the dance club had even had fun with him pushing them farther, so it was all working out. He was glad he hadn¡¯t stayed in that Hell with Harry. This life was much better.

    Eric paused as he heard voices around the corner. He creeped around and peeked around the corner. There was the odd defense against the dark arts teacher, Quirrell. He was standing there, muttering to himself, his massive purple turban wrapped tightly around his head.

    He went to leave before he was spotted, before smiling as he suddenly had an excellent idea. The man always wore that turban wherever he went, people said that he kept garlic cloves in it to scare off vampires that he was afraid would attack him at any moment.

    Eric should try to get it to come off. He put away his wand into his pocket and carefully moved his magic in the form he wanted. People here could detect what spells had been used by wands recently, so if he did the magic wandlessly he should be able to get away with it even if he got caught by the professor.

    The spell finished stabilizing between Eric¡¯s hands in an invisible ball and he waited for a second and glanced around. The place was empty except for him and the teacher. But it would be worth it if the man really did have a stack of garlic under there.

    He launched the invisible spell and watched eagerly as it flew towards the man. Just before it hit his head, the man flinched. But it was too late. Eric¡¯s spell had already latched onto him and created a burst of wind pushing out from his skin, blasting the turban off of his head like a bottle cap.

    Eric froze as he saw what was underneath the turban. There was another whole face sticking out of the back of the man¡¯s head. It looked angry as hissed words at Quirrell that Eric couldn¡¯t understand. Quirrell turned towards Eric with rage in his eyes and brandished his wand. Eric dived around the corner as the teacher launched a curse at him.

    ¡°Harry Potter! You¡¯ll pay for that!¡± Quirrell shouted and Eric heard the man running towards him from around the corner. Eric ran for it. After a few minutes, he made it to a crowded hallway and Quirrell stopped following him. It seems he didn¡¯t want anyone else seeing the extra head on the back of his own.

    What should he do? Oh, he knew. His head of house, McGonurtat or McGlighten or something, would know what he should do. Quirrell was a teacher, so he would have to get some defensive adults lined up before he stormed up and tried to punish Eric for what had happened.

    He ran to where he knew the woman¡¯s office was. He knocked on the door, and waited. Glancing around in case Quirrell tried to ambush him when he was exposed. The door swung open and the head of house was in there, staring up at him from her desk.

    She let out an audible sigh when she spotted him.

    ¡°Eric Potter. What can I do for you today?¡±

    ¡°Professor McGalaga, I saw Quirrell just now! I knocked off his turban by accident with a spell and he got really upset. He had another guy inside of him on his head. I caught the two of them when the turban came off.¡±

    ¡°Inside? What?¡± McGalaga said as her eyebrows rose as high as they could.

    ¡°Yeah, all the way in. It was super gross, the two of them were yelling at me and I ran away. I think they were embarrassed about it, I think. Quirrell even cast a curse at me. I only just got away.¡±

    ¡°W-What?!¡±

    ¡°Anyway, I think they were stuck together. We¡¯ve got to go get the headmaster to help them separate from each other. It can¡¯t be very comfortable to be forced to be like that for so long. No wonder why they were so embarrassed when I saw them.¡±

    ¡°Ooooh. Myyy,¡± She said, a faint tinge of red entering her cheeks as she blinked rapidly at him, ¡°Who was it you said was with him?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I was too busy trying to run away to ask any questions. His face was rather ugly.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡­ Uhm. I suppose that¡¯s their business if that¡¯s what¡¯s happening,¡± McGalaga said, seeming rather shocked by the revelation. Eric was shocked too. No wonder Quirrell¡¯s turban had been so big, he had to fit a whole extra face under there!

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    ¡°But they were out in a hallway, and Quirrell will be furious with me when he finds me. He¡¯s on the warpath after me even now, I¡¯m sure.¡±

    If possible, McGalaga¡¯s eyebrows rose even farther upwards, ¡°They were in the hallway together? You just stumbled on them out there? How long ago was this?¡±

    ¡°About five or ten minutes ago. What should I do, Professor McGalaga?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s McGonagall for the last time, Potter!¡± The woman snapped. Oh, right. Eric had forgotten again. She was just so forgettable of a person. Always so stiff and strict. Not exciting at all.

    ¡°Well, you stay here, Potter,¡± She said as she stood, ¡°I¡¯ll call the headmaster, and we can deal with the uh, *Cough* situation. Don¡¯t you worry.¡±

    Eric sat at the chair across from McGonatall¡¯s desk and settled back to wait. Hopefully running to McGonarall¡¯s office so soon would make sure he could avoid getting punished too much by Quirrell¡­

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    McGurten seemed oddly annoyed with Eric when she returned. And told him to better communicate next time. He was confused. He thought he had been pretty clear. If she hadn¡¯t understood him then that was her fault and she should have asked something to clarify.

    The next day of classes, Quirrell was no longer teaching and they had a substitute from the Ministry, the wizarding government. Everyone gossiped about what happened but it was soon announced by Headmaster Dumbledore that Quirrell had chosen to retire early to travel abroad.

    What an odd time to choose to do something like that, in the middle of the school year. Hopefully he had removed the extra face from the back of his head first before he went. Eric was not punished, and McGobonall never talked about it again, so presumably she had handled it.

    After that, Eric had a rather normal, enjoyable year. He became a key member of the dance club, and was still friends with Hermione and Ron. No one particularly hated him except that one potions teacher. Even Draco the blonde boy was more weirded out by Eric than disliked him at all. That was fine, Eric was glad he hadn¡¯t been put in Slytherin. He realized he probably would have been rather annoyed having to deal with Draco¡¯s pompous attitude after his first few rounds of taunting him. The hat was right, he was doing much better off in Gryffindor.

    Final exams were fine. Eric felt shaky on the written tests, but he did excellently on the practicals so hopefully the two would somewhat balance themselves out to a good score.

    Oh, he almost forgot. He had used all the LSD that Hagrid had given him. He had been spiking random people¡¯s drinks all year at the great feast and then lurking around to watch as they started feeling the effects. He had used wandless telekinesis to float a pill or two at a time when no one was looking. It was always really funny when whoever it was began freaking out and hallucinating.

    The older years could cure it with a quick spell or two, but there was one unexpected benefit to using non-magical drugs for it. The standard spells that people used to check their food for tampering checked for residual magic. So Eric¡¯s LSD slipped right through their spells and led to them thinking it was safe. People had started using the broader spell that could detect non-magical poisons now, but it was more complicated and was much more intensive to cast. So Eric was still able to strike some targets of opportunity even after the majority of the older years changed over to the better spell.

    It was amazing he hadn¡¯t been caught the whole year, and he had managed to empty the whole big bag of pills that Hagrid had given him. He just got to sit there and smile as everyone speculated on who it could be. He smiled a lot, so people didn¡¯t seem to notice when his grin widened a fraction more when they discussed it. It was especially amusing when it was Hermione and Ron discussing and Eric could throw in his own absurd guesses into the discussion to throw them off track.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Eric went back to the orphanage for the summer and listened to some more radio and new music. It gave him ever more inspiration, and he decided to find a spell that could create music when he went back to school next year. He should have music to back him up when he was dancing. It was only fair to other people, they couldn¡¯t enjoy his performance properly if they couldn¡¯t hear the tune Eric was dancing to that he heard in his head.

    Sadly, there was no spell that seemed able to correct his malformed eyeballs from what he had read at Hogwarts. All of them required ¡®rituals¡¯ to do anything similar, none of which were contained in the books anywhere Eric could find them. So he was stuck with glasses for now. He had learned a spell that bent light a little to act the same to let him see clearly, but it was energy intensive. So while useful in a pinch if he lost his glasses, it wasn¡¯t a good solution for normal life.

    Especially considering he still had very little intrinsic magic to work with. It was getting a little better as time passed, it seems that using the magic over and over was stimulating his intrinsic magic to grow more to compensate. So maybe in the future it would be less of a problem than it was right now. He could only hope.

    The summer passed quickly and slowly at the same time, the only sour note was that he was unable to perform magic over the whole time. The Trace, as it was called by the wizarding government, was placed on magical children attending school. It was unclear to Eric how exactly they had put it on them, but he was assured that it was definitely there. When they were out and about, especially in the muggle world like Eric¡¯s orphanage, the Trace could detect magic being used around you and alert the government. And magic was banned being used in the muggle world at all by the magical children. Eric hadn¡¯t used all that much magic at all in the two years after he arrived at the orphanage. He had little need for it, so he didn¡¯t mind too much that he wasn¡¯t using it too much.

    But not being able to use magic at all was a bit stifling. He probably wouldn¡¯t have done much magic. But he would have done something. There was nothing he could do about it though, so Eric focused on other things and ran around outside playing with the other orphanage children.

    He had been writing letters to his friends Ron and Hermione over the summer. He forgot often, but he needed to send the letters to maintain their friendship, so he made sure to write letters at a steady pace to both of them.

    It was early August, and nearly time to buy the next year''s round of school supplies. It was decided that Hermione, Eric, and Ron and his family would all go on the same day to do a combined trip together.

    Eric didn¡¯t mind, because it would be interesting to finally see a true wizarding home. They would be going to the Weasley¡¯s home first before traveling to Diagon alley from there.

    The red haired man was talking with Matron Claire even now. Eric picked up his magical expanded trunk and started walking downstairs. It wouldn¡¯t do to be late.

 Chapter 10: The Bookshop

    ¡°Eric Potter? How have you been enjoying Hogwarts so far?¡± Mr. Weasley asked as they sat in the beaten up old blue car that he was driving. Eric would have been disappointed, but his magic sense told him that the vehicle was absolutely blazing with magic. Enchanted through and through, so it likely had many secrets and abilities that the man could activate.

    ¡°Very good,¡± Eric replied, ¡°I¡¯ve had a lot of fun there.¡±

    He imagined back to when one of the younger boys had started flipping out after Eric had slipped the LSD into his drink. Ah, that was hilarious¡­ He had flailed around for over ten minutes babbling before one of the older students came over and cast the spell to fix him. Oh, and dance club too of course. Having people willing to dance with you was much more fun than forcing the demons to do it with his binding orders.

    After that Eric clarified his statement more and discussed the various classes he had taken. Mr. Weasley worked at the wizarding government which Eric found very interesting. It was always important to know what the rules were so you could bend them the farthest without breaking them. Eric had learned that first hand with the demons. None had liked him as their king, so any order he gave was twisted beyond recognition by their interpretations. They had to follow the exact letter of all his orders, but not the spirit. The only ironclad rule was that none of them could attack him no matter what. Eric had even ordered them too a few times and they had been unable to. Orders beyond the crown apparently.

    Anyway, Eric had gotten very good at finding loopholes when giving orders so he could get rid of them so the Demons would do exactly what he wanted. Mr. Weasley was part of a more insignificant part of the ministry from what he said, but Eric still drank in the stories the man told of illegal activity that he had stopped. If he knew how people had been caught then he would know what not to do if he ever got the desire to do something similar himself.

    They drove and talked for a while until they were on a rural road. The road was unpaved and looked rather rough, but the car was somehow buttery smooth and didn¡¯t bump up and down at all as Mr. Weasley drove. Probably one of the enchantments built into the car.

    Suddenly at a seemingly random point on the road, Mr. Weasley turned and drove through a random field for a few minutes. He was halfway across the empty field of grass when suddenly the view of the surroundings shifted as they passed through some sort of barrier.

    There, impossibly standing, was a tall, leaning house. It was patchwork as if someone had built it one room at a time, each box stacked haphazardly on top of each other, each out of a different type of wood each time. Eric eyed the place. There was no way that building supported itself without enchantments to keep it that way. Maybe these people were bigger thrill seekers than Eric had thought they were. That house looked like it might collapse in on their heads at any moment if someone just¡­ poked the enchantments the wrong way. He should look at them when he had the chance. Not that he would do it, but¡­ just in case.

    Mr. Weasley parked and they got out of the car and went inside, the whole house was chaotic. Eric saw the pots and pans at the sink washing themselves as various red headed children ran around the house preparing for the trip to Diagon alley.

    After a few minutes, the mother, a rather plump woman, herded the four boys and surprisingly, a girl. Eric eyed the girl who looked rather shy and uncomfortable at his eye contact. He smiled and waved at her. She gave a weak smile back and then quickly ran over behind one of her brothers to break Eric¡¯s line of sight as her cheeks and neck started turning red.

    Interesting. It seems his smile hadn¡¯t been what frightened her off this time. He¡¯d have to ask Ron later what she was up to. Was she just shy?

    ¡°That¡¯s Ginny,¡± Ron whispered as he noticed Eric still trying to peer around Fred who was smirking as he looked between Ginny cowering behind him and Eric. Ginny was trying to look like she had a purpose in standing in that exact spot next to her brother, but it was obvious to everyone that she was just shy around Eric and trying to hide.

    ¡°I should go say hello,¡± Eric said to Ron and walked towards Fred. The boy got a glint in his eye and shifted to block Ginny¡¯s view of Eric even more. He waited until Eric was almost standing right in front of him before stepping to the side suddenly and exposing Ginny to him in a flash. She stiffened and quickly looked around as if to flee as she saw him standing there.

    ¡°Hello,¡± Eric said, ¡°I¡¯m Eric Potter. Ginny, right? Can¡¯t be fun being the only girl around all these boys, right? At least whatever you do, you¡¯ll always be the first girl in the family to do it, right? Hahahaha.¡±

    Ginny blinked, ¡°I¡­ I¡­ I never th-thought about it th- that way before? N-Nice to meet you, Eric. You¡¯re famous.¡±

    She immediately flinched and looked vaguely panicked at the last sentence.

    ¡°Heck yeah, I am!¡± Eric said, ¡°Most famous boy in the whole world! And the humblest too. Just read my books, they¡¯ll tell you all about it. I don¡¯t get royalties on those, by the way. Somebody just totally stole my image and had their way with it while I wasn¡¯t around to protest.¡±

    ¡°Y-Your books? So none of it is true? I- Well, I¡¯ve read a couple.¡±

    ¡°Dozen¡­Couple dozen.¡± Fred coughed and Ginny glared daggers at him. Heh. Glaring daggers. Eric should see if there was a spell that could do that.

    ¡°Well, I did wrestle a hydra to submission when I was two,¡± Eric said thoughtfully, ¡°A hard battle, but it stole my prized stuffed animal, so it had to be done. Vicious beasts, those¡­¡±

    ¡°Alright, everybody!¡± Mrs. Weasley called now it seemed everybody was prepared, cutting off the conversation, ¡°Time to take the floo! Alright, Percy first to demonstrate. Just a handful of powder, throw it down, then say your destination clearly. Want to show them, Percy?¡±

    ¡°Certainly, mother,¡± the rather pompous boy said as he took a handful of ashy gray powder and stood in the empty fireplace. He stood there with his arm held out in front of them and took a deep breath before throwing it down. ¡°Diagon Alley!¡±

    In a burst of green flames, the powder lit up at his feet and then he disappeared. Eric eyed the empty fireplace suspiciously. How to verify these people weren¡¯t suicidal maniacs, how to verify¡­

    ¡°Has Ginny done it before?¡± Eric said, ¡°Ladies first, right?¡±

    Ginny was a cute little girl. They wouldn¡¯t let her actually go through with it if it was some elaborate trick. He could see killing off Percy to get to him. He was awesome after all. But Ginny? Definitely not. He didn¡¯t get the sense that these people were that far gone. Although you never knew¡­

    ¡°Oh!¡± Mrs. Weasley said, ¡°Quite the gentleman. What do you think, Ginny? It¡¯s her first time, but she may as well go next. Percy¡¯s already waiting on the other side.¡±

    Ginny gave an uncertain look at Eric and he smiled and gave her a thumbs up. She went up and grabbed the ashy powder. She looked rather nervous, but she stood straighter and got a resolute expression on her face and straightened upwards until she was completely vertical. She cleared her throat. ¡°Diagon Alley!¡± She said, only slightly squeaking at the end as the powder hit the ground. She was quickly consumed by the green flames and disappeared. Eric eyed her carefully the whole time, looking for a signature flash or shimmer of an illusion. But no, it seems that she really had been sent through. He relaxed. It probably wasn¡¯t a trap.

    ¡°How about you next, Eric?¡± Mrs. Weasley said, ¡°Just speak clearly, and you¡¯ll be there in a moment.¡±

    Eric nodded and a few seconds later was standing there nervously with powder in hand. He raised his fist and as he threw the powder down his voice cracked.

    ¡°Diag-oniiily,¡±

    In a burst of green flames Eric disappeared and the next second he was in a dingy old shop covered in cobwebs and encrusted dirt. He fell over from stumbling out of the fireplace and caught himself on his hands before he could land on the disgusting floor below him. Eric scrunched his nose and leveraged himself to his feet. With a quick rub of his hand on his robe, he used some wandless cleaning magic to fully cleanse his hands of any dirt or filth that might have gotten on them.

    Eric looked around the shop and released his magic sense to a foot away from his body. The whole place was filled with all sorts of interesting things. Embalmed organs in jars, shrunken heads, various spiky and sinister looking objects. Eric stepped forward and inspected what looked like a rotten hand mounted on a pedestal. He felt its magic and hummed in appreciation. Wow, even its magic felt evil and sinister! Now, that was style. He wasn¡¯t one for the big gothic vibe, but he could completely respect the effort.

    He kept inspecting the various objects around him just bathing in their pure sinisterness and variety of them, before he heard a familiar nasally voice. Hey, wasn¡¯t that Draco?

    He walked through the shelves until he spotted Draco and an older man with similar platinum blonde hair and a black cane with a silver head. The older man was currently holding out something to an old man at the counter who was dubiously inspecting it with a frown on his face. It seems the voice had not been Draco, but his father¡¯s. Presumably that¡¯s who the older platinum blonde man was.

    ¡°Now, Mr. Malfoy. This will be hard to sell with the nature of it, I think the price you want is not worth quite that¡­¡±

    ¡°Heya, Draco!¡± Eric called out as he walked towards them, ¡°Isn¡¯t this shop so cool? What¡¯s that thing that your dad¡¯s selling? That¡¯s your dad, right?¡±

    Both of the older men and Draco jumped like scared cats and whirled around to stare at Eric, who gave a little wave in response even as he kept walking towards them. He smiled at them, his practiced one that wasn¡¯t so wide that it scared people.

    As he got closer he saw that Draco¡¯s dad¡¯s cane had a design on it. On the silver tip of the cane was a carved serpent design. He leaned in to inspect it, ¡°Ooooh. Cool snake design.¡±

    Draco¡¯s dad snatched the cane away and sneered at Eric. ¡°Who is your¡­ friend here, Draco? What are you doing here, boy?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s¡­ This is Eric Potter, father,¡± Draco said and vaguely waved at him, ¡°Don¡¯t mind him. He¡¯s always like this.¡±

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    ¡°Always like this?¡± Eric said, acting insulted, ¡°You wound me! I had no idea you were following me everywhere. I¡¯m a completely different person while I¡¯m sleeping, I¡¯ll have you know.¡±

    Draco sighed and looked at his father, ¡°You see?¡±

    ¡°Anyways, what are you selling, Draco¡¯s dad?¡± Eric asked, ¡°Is it something interesting?¡±

    He moved forward and while he took a step to the side to avoid Eric, leaving the object behind on the counter in his hurry to avoid crashing into Eric.

    Eric reached out and picked up the object as everyone watched him. He felt it with his magic sense as he rolled over the vaguely orb-like object.

    ¡°Ooooh. Very spooky, sinister, and evil. The holy three for this place. Fits right in with the rest of this stuff,¡± Eric complimented before looking at the man behind the counter, ¡°I like the whole mysterious vibe of the place, but you should at least clean the floors. I thought I would instantly get a disease just from looking at it, it¡¯s so dirty.¡±

    He put down the spooky ball on the counter again and looked around, ¡°Anyway, I seem to be a bit lost. Do you know where I am? There seems to be a mix up with my floo travel. I¡¯m trying to get to Diagon alley.¡±

    ¡°Ya can use my fireplace, so long as ya get out of ma shop,¡± the man behind the counter said, ¡°This is knockturn alley. I don¡¯t need ya gettin¡¯ stabbed out there pinned on me by the Aurors.¡±

    ¡°Oh, this is the place where everyone buys drugs,¡± Eric said, ¡°Good stuff, those¡­¡±

    Everyone looked at him askance, but he shrugged as they seemed to be trying to figure out how he had bought drugs and not been stabbed or cursed. Well, if they didn¡¯t know about Hagrid then he wouldn¡¯t tell them.

    The old man running the shop came around the counter and glanced at Draco¡¯s dad, ¡°Mr. Malfoy, I¡¯ll be with you in a moment after we¡¯ve shooed off our¡­ guest.¡±

    ¡°Quite,¡± Draco¡¯s dad said with disdain.

    Eric went to leave, but turned around at the last second as he remembered something.

    ¡°Oh, and Draco? I just remembered. I was reading, and poisoning by servants was actually the second most likely cause of death of arrogant nobles. It seems stabbed, or well spelled for you, by family members is the most common. Lines of succession and all that. The arrogant ones don¡¯t have enough allies to alert them about the back stabbings in time. Didn¡¯t want you to think I was ill informed. Bye bye, until next time!¡±

    Mr. Malfoy looked rather shocked, glancing between Eric and the stoic Draco, seemingly still processing his last statement.

    ¡°I know,¡± Eric said sympathetically, ¡°You¡¯ve been preparing for poison this whole time, but it¡¯s actually your own family you¡¯ve got to watch out for. So sad¡­ Hope it works out, maybe they¡¯ll try both? You never know with these things. Then both sets of preparations will be useful. Nice meeting you, Draco, Draco¡¯s dad.¡±

    Eric turned around and jogged slightly to catch up with the old shopkeeper who was standing grumbling in front of an old fireplace.

    ¡°Ya know how to do it?¡± the man asked suspiciously.

    ¡°Yeah. I just¡­ sneezed last time I did it.¡±

    ¡°Bah. Stupid kids, barging in here, ruining my business with a big client¡­¡±

    Eric shrugged and grabbed the ashy powder and stepped into the fireplace.

    ¡°Diagon Alley,¡± He said clearly this time as he threw the powder down. A second later he stepped out onto the busy street. After a few seconds the group of redheads nearby made their way towards them.

    ¡°Eric!¡± Ron said, ¡°Where were you? We thought you got lost!¡±

    ¡°Oh, I was,¡± Eric agreed, ¡°I was in knockturn alley for a bit. Luckily somebody was so annoyed by me he brought me to his fireplace and sent me on my way.¡±

    Mr. Weasley let out a sigh of relief, ¡°Well at least you¡¯re here now. Knockturn alley. Be careful there, Eric. Dangerous place, that.¡±

    After some hubbub, everyone calmed down and they all started shopping for their school supplies.

    After some time, they ended up at a bookshop. There was a line out the door of people waiting to go in. Hermione had joined them at some point. Eric had forgotten when. Mrs. Weasley and Hermione were both excited and waiting to go in. All the books they had been assigned for defense against the dark arts were written by him, and the author himself was in the shop for a book signing.

    He didn¡¯t really care about that, so he just skipped the line and went in for normal shopping. Curious after collecting all of his books and throwing them in his expandable luggage case, he drifted over towards the signing table to observe the man at the center of the commotion. Eric spotted a rack filled with love potions on the way, and after reading their effects he glanced around surreptitiously and pocketed a couple. He would pay a few extra galleons on his way out and whisper what he was buying to the clerk, but he couldn¡¯t be seen visibly buying the potions just in case someone connected him to any plans that he eventually acted on¡­

    Mrs. Weasley had been nice enough to bring his luggage trunk after he had forgotten it at their home. In the excitement with the floo travel and the fireplace Eric had left it behind when he went through.

    At the signing table, A man in fancy blue robes with white ruffles around his collar was the man himself Lockhart. He had flaxen golden hair that was combed back and obviously heavily styled and well maintained, and he had a thousand watt smile as he laughed and signed the books.

    Eric drifted closer to maybe see what the man¡¯s loopy signature looked like¡­ when the man looked up and spotted Eric from across the way.

    His smile lit up a fraction more, ¡°Harry Potter, Harry Potter,¡± the man called out as he finished signing one last book and stood. He walked around the desk and approached Eric who was frowning at him.

    ¡°Eric,¡± He corrected, ¡°My name is Eric.¡±

    ¡°Of course, of course,¡± Lockhart said, his smile only dimming a fraction. ¡°Either way,¡±

    He turned to the gathered crowd and threw his arm around Eric in a side hug. Eric considered attacking the man, but quickly suppressed the urge. He was in a crowded place, he might get in trouble. So instead he looked at the man and smiled. A natural smile, nothing like the suppressed little imitations he had been practicing for everyone else. Eric felt his lips stretching so far he could feel them crackling slightly and his face muscles began to tremble and strain as they worked to pull his lips back to their absolute farthest extension to show as many teeth as possible to the crowd. Lockhart didn¡¯t notice, but several in the crowd did and flinched back when he met their eyes.

    ¡°Harry Potter knew today that he would be the day he met me, famous author, accomplished duelist, adventurer extraordinaire¡­¡± Lockhart panned the crowd with a smile, ¡°But what he did not know is that he would receive a free copy of all of my collected works. Signed by yours truly, of course. But this is not the last he will see of me! I¡¯m very pleased to announce that I¡¯ll be taking the Defense against the Dark arts position at Hogwarts for this year!¡±

    There was a gasp of surprise in the crowd and some clapping. A man ran up carrying a tower of the twenty six of his own books that Lockhart had assigned for his own class. Well, that was one way to make money as a teacher, Eric supposed. If Hagrid was any indication, the teachers weren¡¯t paid well enough to not need a second form of income somehow. Although Eric was sure that most of them weren¡¯t dealing drugs to do so.

    Eric kept smiling. The man who had run up handed the stack of books to Lockhart and then scurried off back into the crowd. Lockhart turned to Eric and then jumped as he saw his smile.

    ¡°Q-Quite the smile you¡¯ve got there!¡± Lockhart said, quickly recovering from his shock as he handed the stack of books to Eric, ¡°I¡¯d practice that one a bit more,¡± Lockhart whispered after leaning in and then winking at Eric, ¡°I¡¯d be happy to give some advice when we get to school. Every good smile needs a bit of practice to achieve perfection.¡±

    The man straightened and gave a sweeping gesture at Eric. ¡°Harry Potter, everyone! Let¡¯s all give him a hand!¡±

    Eric shifted the stack of books in his hands and felt a flicker of annoyance. He was Eric. This was his body now, not Harry¡¯s. The crowd clapped and after a few minutes of congratulations by random strangers, Eric was left alone and put away his books into his case. He went up to the front counter and paid for everything he took including the love potions and then made his way towards the front of the store where he heard Mr. Weasley saying something while sounding angry. Eric probably could have stolen half of the stuff he took in the chaos of the store, but no need to risk it. He had plenty of money to spend from Harry¡¯s ancestral vaults, so may as well pay just in case he got caught.

    Eric made his way through the crowd, dragging his luggage case behind him and finally made through the ring of observers to see a confrontation between Draco¡¯s dad and Mr. Weasley.

    ¡°Hey, Draco¡¯s dad,¡± Eric said and waved, interrupting whatever argument they were having, ¡°Did you end up selling that thing? Is Draco here to buy some books?¡±

    Everyone stared at Eric like he was from another planet as he stared between the two men who seemed shocked out of their anger by Eric¡¯s sheer audacity.

    Draco¡¯s dad sniffed and lifted his head to look down his nose at Mr. Weasley, ¡°Indeed. At least we can properly afford them. What¡¯s the use of being a traitor to wizarding kind if you¡¯re not even being paid well for it?¡±

    ¡°Mr. Weasley, are you a spy?¡± Eric asked in amazement before tampering down his enthusiasm, ¡°You¡¯re not a very good one if Draco¡¯s dad can just shout your secret identity in public.¡±

    Both men looked at Eric like he was an idiot.

    ¡°No, Eric. I am not spy,¡± Mr. Weasley said, ¡°It¡¯s just that some of us have a very different idea of what disgraces the names of wizards.¡±

    Mr. Malfoy¡¯s eyes flickered over to Mrs. Weasley who was balancing a tall stack of books above herself.

    ¡°Maybe if your wife laid off the sweets once in a while, your family could finally afford your school books¡­¡± Mr. Malfoy sneered and Mr. Weasley¡¯s hands curled into fists.

    Eric¡¯s eyes widened in excitement. Was he going to do it? Bam! Yes, Mr. Weasley leapt forward and punched Mr. Malfoy in the face!

    ¡°Yeah, Good one, Mr. Weasley!¡± Eric cheered as Mr. Weasley shoved Mr. Malfoy as a follow up to his punch. The blonde man¡¯s face twisted into anger and he took his cane and brought it around to hit Mr. Weasley¡¯s shins. The red haired man grunted in pain and swore.

    ¡°Yeah, and a nice counter! With the cane to the shins, Draco¡¯s dad takes the lead!¡±

    Eric felt someone shove him from the side and he turned to look. Ron was standing there glaring at Eric. ¡°Oy! What are you doing, cheering against my dad for?¡±

    The two older men were still brawling in the background, neither able to get to their wands before the other landed a physical blow on them. The crowd around them seemed to have no interest in interfering, instead just enjoying the show.

    Eric shrugged at Ron, ¡°Hey, just looking for a good show, no hard feelings. Oh, see it¡¯s already almost over. I bet I missed the best parts¡­¡±

    Mr. Malfoy managed to take his cane and shove back Mr. Weasley a bit. Now with some distance between them, both men drew their wands and stood there pointing them at each other. At that there was a panicked shout in the crowd and people began trampling and stampeding out of the way of the potential spell battle.

    There was a girlish scream and Eric looked over and saw Ginny had been knocked over, sending her cauldron filled with her books spilling all over the floor.

    The two older men stood staring at each other for a long moment before they slowly lowered their wands and didn¡¯t battle.

    Neither said anything to each other. Mr. Malfoy turned around and started walking away looking rather annoyed. At the last moment he seemed to notice Ginny scrambling around on the floor trying to pick up all of her books and return them to her cauldron. He leaned over and picked up one of Lockhart''s books. Eric noticed that the man brought it close to his robes and added a second smaller black book underneath the larger Lockhart one. Oooh, Mr. Malfoy knew muggle magic tricks, too!

    Ginny finished putting all of her books back and noticed Mr. Malfoy holding the last one. She just stared at him, not saying anything for a second, apparently unwilling to ask him for it and standing with her cauldron hanging in front of her.

    The man sneered and tilted the book forward so the black book underneath was covered and dropped it in Ginny¡¯s cauldron, placing the black book inside all in one smooth motion. Eric raised an eyebrow and glanced around, but in the chaos that was still dying down no one seemed to have noticed what had happened. Mr. Malfoy was good, that was very sneaky¡­

    Without another word, Mr. Malfoy strode off with Draco hurrying off after him.

    Eric went out into the street and moved onwards as he saw the Aurors in their blue robes start to question everyone about what happened. That sounded like a hassle, best to go see what some of the other shops had to offer now that he had found all of his school supplies. He could reunite with the Weasleys and Hermione some time later. Hermione, he had almost forgotten she was here honestly. Ah well. He could talk to her when they got back to Hogwarts, no need to go out of his way to interact with her.

 Chapter 11: Insincere Apologies

    Eric idly spiked another drink with a single drop of love potion. Lucky for him, the longer you had love potions sitting the stronger they became. So since he had been holding onto them for months they had become rather potent. The real hard part had been getting the sample of his amusing subject. Professor Snape the unpleasant potions professor. It had taken Eric weeks after they returned to school to get a few hairs from the suspicious man.

    Professor Snape often leaned over the cauldrons to inspect the potions of the students of the class. Usually with an unpleasant expression as he prepared to absolutely skewer them with criticism in the following minutes, picking apart every tiny mistake they had made in one long impassioned rant on how they were disgracing the art of potions making with such shoddy work.

    As Snape had leaned over Eric¡¯s cauldron, Eric had injected a tiny amount of his magic into the concoction to make it explode in the professor¡¯s face. It had managed to singe the professor¡¯s hair and a few black strands had come loose. Another wandless spell of wind had carried the hairs into his pocket for collection later. It was nothing more than five or six hairs in total, but it had lasted him this long as a targeting mechanism for the love potions. Eric had received a few days detention as a result, but that was a worthy price for the payoff Eric ended up receiving.

    The potion¡¯s professor had been rather swamped by potioned admirers all term, much to Eric¡¯s amusement. The students were all rather shell shocked and embarrassed when they came to, but it seemed to hurt Snape¡¯s pride that literally no one had any reaction but utter disgust when the potions effects finally wore off or they were given the antidote by either the potions master himself or Madame Pomfrey, the school¡¯s nurse.

    The day of one of the big potion¡¯s exams, Eric had managed to slip a drop of love potion in the goblets of almost a dozen Slytherins and Gryffindors that were in his class. He had to make it even so no one house got singled out. It was easier to slip the drops of love potion in the Gryffindor¡¯s drinks because they were more relaxed around him and were less wary of what they ate and drank. How unfortunate for them.

    The Slytherins were harder, but all Eric had to do was bother Draco again in order to get close enough to send little drops of potion floating around and plopping into their drinks with his wandless magic while they were distracted by his boisterous speech and dialogue with Draco.

    During the potion¡¯s exam nearly all of them had stood up and declared their undying love for Snape all at once. It seems that even in their addled state they realized that Snape would feed them an antidote if more than one of them confessed during class. So they decided as a group to stand up as one and confess at once so Snape couldn¡¯t silence them before they could say their piece.

    It was all rather amusing and Eric had to sit back and try to avoid smiling too wide at the resulting chaos and destroying the integrity of their current test. It had been very easy to sneakily glance over at Hermione¡¯s test while everyone, including her, was distracted, and he copied over the choiciest answers in Eric¡¯s own words. Hermione loathed cheating of any kind, but that was okay. She never had to know.

    After that was done, Eric had just watched and listened with amusement as Snape tried to feed as many of the lovestruck students the antidote while the rest hounded him and professed their ¡®true feelings¡¯ for the man. It took over twenty minutes for all of them to be fed a proper potion and trudge back to their seats, mortified by what had happened.

    Eric had bought five bottles of love potion and had only used up three of them so far. He would have to up his game if he wanted to end up using it all by the end of the year. Among the whole student body there was now rampant paranoia and accusations on who the person doing all of it could be. Many thought that it was an organized group of some kind doing it, especially considering Eric¡¯s LSD spree last year. Many people thought Eric was one of the top contenders for suspects, but it was implausible that it was him.

    After all, the Slytherins and other houses were hit hard too and he only went over for short conversations with Draco or someone in one of the other houses for a few minutes before returning to the Gryffindor table. All the while as Eric spoke, their housemates eyed him suspiciously. His hand didn¡¯t even get close to any of their drinks.

    His hands were visible and not even on his wand. How could he possibly be the culprit? Far more likely it was one of their housemates doing it under the radar. How unfortunate for them that they were wrong. So the chaos and confusion only grew as Eric sat back and suppressed his smiles.

    Christmas break had come and gone, Eric staying at Hogwarts almost alone. He missed dancing with the dance club and started getting twitchy as he walked the empty hallways. But luckily he managed to contain himself for the week break and just danced harder when the semester resumed to make up for lost time.

    Some students were petrified by some mysterious beast throughout the school year. Someone left messages with chicken¡¯s blood on the walls proclaiming that the school would be purged of the impure. People talked about the heir of slytherin being in control of the Chamber of Secrets. Ron and Hermione were quite concerned about it. Eric did think that whoever was doing it was overdoing it with the chicken¡¯s blood a bit. Seemed like way too much work for only a little payoff. They went all the way to be all sinister with the blood message, then it was undercut that it was just chicken¡¯s blood. Lame.

    Anyway, more importantly Lockhart was annoying in class and kept calling him Harry instead of Eric. This was a serious matter, but no matter what Eric thought of nothing seemed to be able to dissuade the man. He had slipped a Snape love potion into the teacher¡¯s goblet no less than ten times, and Lockhart had simply laughed and shrugged off his behavior when the potion expired. Telling Snape that the man would be ¡®lucky to have him if he swung that way¡¯. Which seemed to rattle even the normally perpetually annoyed potion¡¯s professor. Lockhart was always so affable that it was difficult to tell if he was being serious or not.

    Eventually Eric had to give up the game and simply accept it. It seems that Lockhart had won, and in his Defense against the Dark Arts class he would be known as Harry from now and until the future.

    Ron was slightly concerned about Ginny being rather withdrawn this year. Thinking that she was isolated or lonely or something. He seemed to expect Eric to do something about it, so Eric hummed sympathetically and nodded as he told him about his concerns. Then promptly forgot all about it.

    Eric had seen Ginny carrying around that little black book that Mr. Malfoy had given her. It seems she liked it quite a bit, carrying it nearly everywhere with her. He should try to steal it and see how she would react. That could be fun.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Hermione had been petrified two weeks ago or so. It was rather horrible. Ron was devastated, looking rather down during classes and having a low appetite. Eric was sad too. Hermione¡¯s notes were the best, he would do so badly on his tests without her¡­

    Eric was up late studying for his potion¡¯s test tomorrow in the common room, in one of the high backed chairs by the fire. It had wrap around cushions that surrounded the sides so it sort of felt like you were being surrounded by the chair on all sides but the front. He looked at his patchy incomplete notes and sighed as he tried to make sense of them. Where was Hermione and her perfect notes when you needed them¡­

    Eric paused as he heard soft footsteps in the main room. They were spaced slowly, like somebody who was trying to sneak. He heard the person breathing softly as they walked by and towards the portrait that led out of the Gryffindor common room. It seems they hadn¡¯t seen him sitting inside the large chair as they passed.

    Eric popped his head around the side of the chair and spotted a head of long red hair running down a girl¡¯s back just before the portrait closed. Huh. Now, that was interesting. He could study later, time to practice his stealth.

    He stood and went to quickly follow the girl before quickly remembering to go back and pick up his wand. It was much more powerful than the spells that Balthazar had taught him even if they required much less control of your magic to do.

    He left the common room and cast a spell on himself with his wand. The air shimmered around him and he faded slightly into the background. The full disillusionment charm would make him disappear entirely, but with the high control he had over his magic he was able to manage to perform this kind of half step to it. Blending into the background a bit but not totally disappearing. If the girl, Ginny Weasley probably, looked directly at him, then he would be caught. But otherwise he might be well hidden.

    Tilting his head to the side, Eric listened for the sound of the girl¡¯s footsteps. It took a moment, but he finally heard them in the empty hallways. She wasn¡¯t trying to be stealthy anymore now that she was out of the common rooms. Eric rushed after her, using his true stealth skills to try to make as little sound as possible as he moved.

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    When you were made of sticky black mud it was unsurprisingly difficult to be all that quiet. So when he tried playing hide and seek with the demons, he picked up some of the basics of moving silently if he wanted to stand the slightest chance of not immediately being caught by them as soon as they heard the squelch of Eric¡¯s mud if he shifted his body even slightly in the wrong way.

    After a minute or two, Eric managed to catch up to the girl who was hurrying down hallway after hallway. He hung back, but made sure to be close enough that there was no chance of him losing her in the hallways. She didn¡¯t seem to notice him, her head down as she speed walked forward. She was clutching her black book in one hand and her wand in the other, the magical foci held at the ready as if to cast a spell at a moment¡¯s notice.

    Eventually they reached the third floor bathrooms and Ginny went inside the girl¡¯s room. Eric went to the door and paused. Then slowly opened the door as quietly as he could and slipped in. Like he was going to leave the mystery hanging just for something as silly as going into the girl¡¯s bathroom. They had bathrooms just off the boys and girls dormitory wings respectively. There was no need to be so suspicious and come all this way if that¡¯s what she was doing.

    He slipped inside the bathroom just to hear the tail end of Ginny hissing something like a snake. There was a loud grinding of stone and then there was a thump then there was no sound at all. Eric listened, but the stone began grinding again and he rushed forward to see what was happening. The sink on one of the stalls had swung open revealing a dark pipe into the dark abyss below.

    And it was now slowly sliding back closed again. Eric hesitated for a moment, debating what to do. But he had to know what was going on now, he was far too invested. So he quickly darted forward and before the sink could fully close back up he jumped foot first into the pipe and began sliding downwards into the darkness.

    Suddenly a cushioning blast of air hit Eric and he slowed his descent until he was gently lowered onto the ground. His foot landed with a crunch on some sort of animal bone and he froze. In the distance he could see Ginny¡¯s raised wand glowing with white light. There were a series of pipes surrounding this central circular room filled with small animal bones like the one that Eric had just crushed under his foot.

    At the sound, Ginny stopped walking and turned around and looked back, shining her light towards where Eric stood. He froze where he stood and hoped the spell would keep him concealed. The light played over him and Ginny eyed the dim chamber behind her for a long moment. But then she shook her head and turned around and kept walking deeper into the pipe.

    Eric carefully sneaked through the floor scattered with bones to make minimal noise. He didn¡¯t have much light as Ginny¡¯s glowing wand began to recede from where it shone from around the bend of the pipe.

    Eventually, Eric reached the pipe propper and rapidly picked up his pace. While also making sure to stay extra quiet, it would be a big let down to get caught so late in the game when he had already come so far. He just followed the light of Ginny¡¯s wand lighting the way with every turn through the pipes. After a few minutes he caught sight of her in the distance and slowed his pace so he was still at a good distance.

    She stopped around a bend and started hissing like a snake again and there was more grinding stone, just like when she had opened the entrance in the bathroom. What was this place? Wait, was this the Chamber of Secrets? That important thing everybody else had been worried about all year? Could that be why she had to make snake sounds to get in? Slytherin always had liked snakes from what Eric could tell. Seems like the kind of thing he would do so only snake lovers like himself could get into his super secret chamber.

    The heir of Slytherin was Ginny Weasley? Hoh hoh hoh. Now that was surprising. Eric wondered what the beast of the chamber truly was. Did she really control it like the legends said? He heard the grinding stone again and hurried his pace. Door was closing, gotta get through fast, hopefully still undetected.

    He sprinted through the circular door and immediately darted to the side. Ginny turned at the noise, but luckily it seems the loud grinding of the stone door had muffled most of the noise.

    He waited and watched as she walked to the other end of the chamber and laid down on her back and went still and didn¡¯t seem to do anything but lay there.

    How odd.

    Eric cautiously approached, prepared in case it was a trap. But her eyes closed and her hand was limp around her wand, the wood barely held between her limp fingers. Although the black journal was held in a white knuckled death grip in her other hand.

    Well, best to take care of the wand first¡­ Eric used his intrinsic magic to gently tug on the wand one little bit at a time until it rolled out of Ginny¡¯s hand and towards him. He rolled it behind him out of reach of where the girl couldn¡¯t grab it if she leapt up and tried to attack him.

    She was looking rather pale as she lay there with her eyes closed. Or was that just the lighting of the Chamber? It was rather dim in this place with only the magical torches on the walls pushing back the gloom. Slytherin really liked his snakes, Eric couldn¡¯t look anywhere in this place without seeing another one of those snake statues staring directly at him¡­

    He tried to lift the black journal with his magic, but it was slick and Eric couldn¡¯t get a good hold onto it with his magic. He narrowed his eyes at the thing as Ginny grew paler and paler. How to get it out of her hands?

    Suddenly Eric led back startled as something flickered in the air next to Ginny. It was like static on the old TV at the orphanage. Over the course of a few seconds the static grew brighter and began resolving into the form of an eighteen or nineteen year old boy. The boy stared at Eric in surprise.

    ¡°You? Harry Potter? How are you here?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Eric,¡± he said in annoyance. Was it really that complicated for people to understand?

    ¡°Who are you? What are you doing to Ginny?¡± Eric asked.

    ¡°There¡¯s no stopping it now,¡± the boy said, ¡°As she grows weaker, I grow stronger. Soon only I shall remain. I¡­¡±

    The boy squatted down over Ginny and reached out only to pause as he spotted Ginny¡¯s wand across the room behind Eric, who had his own wand raised.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Eric said, ¡°So the book is draining her, is that it? You were trapped in it or something and you are killing Ginny to let you escape?¡±

    The boy tilted his head to the side and inspected Eric as if seeing him for the first time.

    ¡°Interesting. You don¡¯t seem overly concerned for the girl. Perhaps a deal could be made? We need not be enemies. I have many things to offer, even if I am relatively powerless at this moment.¡±

    ¡°Are you the one that controls the chamber? The beast inside?¡±

    Eric¡¯s mouth almost watered as he thought how amazing it would be to establish a familiar bond with a beast that powerful! Let alone getting control of the chamber itself.

    The boy considered.

    ¡°I will transfer control of the Chamber to you,¡± he said eventually even as his body began to solidify further and Ginny paled more, ¡°In return you will swear on your magic to not attack me or act against me for seven days. The vow will be binding in case you don¡¯t already know. Your magic will attack you and in most cases instantly kill you if you break your word.¡±

    Eric considered, ¡°But you¡¯ll also swear to do the same to me,¡± he said, ¡°And leave Hogwarts grounds in twenty four hours from when we swear on our magic and stay outside it for the remainder of the seven days.¡±

    The boy inclined his head approvingly, ¡°Very good. Is that all?¡±

    ¡°And the beast? It comes with the chamber?¡± Eric continued, keeping his wand pointed at the boy.

    ¡°Yes. Shall we begin, then? Unless there is more?¡±

    Eric thought about it. Everything seemed in order.

    ¡°Fine, let''s swear. You first.¡±

    ¡°I, Tom Marvello Riddle, Swear on my magic that I shall transfer control of the Chamber to H-¡±

    ¡°Eric Smith,¡± he interrupted, ¡°I¡¯m Eric Smith. Use that name.¡±

    The image halted and looked surprised but started over from the beginning.

    ¡° ¡ªtransfer control of the Chamber to Eric Smith and not take any hostile action against him for seven days, as well leave Hogwarts grounds within one day, and not return to Hogwarts ground within seven days, on the condition that Eric Smith swears on his magic that¡ª¡± Tom Riddle outlined the exact terms that Eric would be swearing.

    Eric took a deep breath and did his end, feeling the vow settle into his magic as soon as he finished.

    ¡°I, Tom Marvello Riddle, forfeit my ownership of this chamber and transfer it to Eric Smith, may he bring glory to our Ancestor''s name.¡±

    Eric felt a pulse in his magic from the chamber around him and suddenly he felt steadier here. Like it was home.

    ¡°Fascinating,¡± Riddle said, ¡°It seems you are Slytherin¡¯s descendent somehow.¡±

    ¡°And if I wasn¡¯t?¡± Eric asked suspiciously.

    ¡°Oh, you would have been instantly killed by the chamber¡¯s magic,¡± Riddle admitted easily, ¡°I would not have harmed you in the slightest. The Chamber would have done it all on its own. But you survived, so here we are. You have received your prize. Do you have some devious betrayal you¡¯d like to spring on me now? Or shall we part ways peacefully?¡±

    Eric looked to the statue of Slytherin¡¯s head and with a simple blast of intent, the mouth of the statue grinded open to reveal a tunnel behind it. Eric felt his excitement rise. What kind of ancient secrets and magical trinkets would be behind there for him to explore?

    He glanced back at Ginny who was still splayed out on the floor. He saw her eyes were open slightly and she was staring at him and mouthing something weakly. Eric looked down at her.

    ¡°Sorry about this, Ginny,¡± Eric said, ¡°But control of the Chamber was just too amazing to pass up. I can have so much fun with everything in there. Better luck in your next life.¡±

    With that, Eric let his grin spread over his face as he walked over to the tunnel and walked inside. With another flick of his will the mouth began to close behind him. Wouldn¡¯t do to have Riddle follow in after him when his back was turned.

    Eric started humming a jaunty little tune to himself, already putting the girl he had left in the chamber behind him out of his mind. He had much more important things to worry about. Like all the amazing things he was about to discover at the end of this tunnel and how he would use them.

    He bet that the real Harry would have tried to save that girl, and completely lost any chance of getting control of the chamber. Really it was for the best of everyone that Eric was here instead. Who knew what would happen if this place were to fall into the¡­ wrong hands?

    Any hands that weren¡¯t his, that is.

 Chapter 12: Girléˆ¥æªš First Magic Lesson

    Ginny looked around at the obsidian walls with gold flakes embedded in them. She was following a large demon in black robes at the moment, she wasn¡¯t human. Some sort of creature made of swirling black mud. The demon was calling her king and she could feel a bone crown on her head as part of her. Yet¡­

    It was all so familiar. Like nothing else she had ever felt in her short time of her memories. Everything called to her, twinging something in her mind and dragging the wisps of forgotten memories to the forefront of her mind.

    They didn¡¯t make any sense yet, but it was comforting to know that they were coming to the surface, that something was there underneath to recover. And more importantly she was about to learn magic from her new teacher.

    They walked into a large room with a series of floating metallic balls. They were all sorts of different sizes, ranging from no bigger than her fist to taller than her. They lazily floated around, occasionally softly bumping into each other and being slowly repelled away and drifting off again. There was an invisible ball in mid-air that the balls all bounced off of leaving only a central pillar of air in the center of the room clattering with the floating orbs while the rest was left untouched. She looked on in amazement at the scene for a few seconds as Balthazar stood there waiting.

    She looked at him, ¡°What am I doing? I thought you were going to teach me magic?¡±

    ¡°I am,¡± he said calmly and waved his hand towards the metal balls, ¡°Every true wizard must first learn both control and awareness of their surroundings. For larger spells the slightest disturbance in the spell structure can destabilize it and have disastrous consequences. At the same time, one must be aware so that enemies or even a strong gust of wind is not enough to shift your body and lead to the same result or worse. We shall begin with only a single orb.¡±

    Balthazar took a floating orb the size of Ginny¡¯s fist from the pocket of his robes. Somehow her name just popped into her mind as she thought hard about it. Maybe her memories were returning a little!

    ¡°Use your magical senses. Let them out, but not too much. Perhaps only ten or twenty meters from yourself.¡±

    Ginny did so and immediately felt how magical everything around her was. Even the air thrummed with barely suppressed magical energy different than anything else she¡¯d ever felt back on Earth.

    ¡°Now, I will toss this orb gently to you. Do you remember the sensation of injecting your magic into a weak point?¡±

    Ginny nodded.

    ¡°You must do this, even without a medium to pierce through. Extent a tendril of magic outwards from your body and connect it to the ball as it approaches. Will it to stop and return to me gently. This is the basis of true telekinesis. It is a complex and demanding skill, but one with nearly limitless applications once truly explored. Alright, here I go.¡±

    Ginny felt the orb slowly drifting towards her in her magical senses. She held her hand up, palm first towards the orb while imagining what she had done with the big door and old boot whose enchantments she broke. A spike of magic shot out of her palm, but it was brittle and after shooting out to a set distance it ripped and shattered into nothing.

    ¡°You are not breaking,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°You are gently guiding. Magic reacts to your intent, your will and surety that an action will happen a certain way. Imagine a tree sprouting from your palm. It must grow slowly as the sun and rain nurture it over time. It can bend in the strong winds of a storm, yet is firm. Imagine this and try again.¡±

    Ginny shut her eyes and only used her magical sense to sense the slow floating orb approaching her. She imagined the tree, the little sprout growing as the sun shined down on it and the rain watered its roots.

    Slowly, so slowly she almost didn¡¯t notice, a tendril of magic grew out of her palm. But it was not brittle and piercing like the last one but flexible and durable. Like the tree she had been imagining. It also was forming much much slower than her first tendril had. The orb was only five feet away now and Ginny¡¯s tendril was now two feet long. She gently guided the tendril to line up with the orb and like it was sticky, her magic tendril drifted over and poked into the orb¡¯s metal surface.

    ¡°Excellent. Now, push. Very slowly. Guide it in a new direction.¡±

    Ginny imagined shoving the metal orb away with her hands and in an instant it shot off into a nearby wall with a loud clang.

    ¡°Oops.¡±

    ¡°Yes. You must not rush. Keep that gentle force in your mind at all times. The goal is to have the highest efficiency and use the lowest amount of magic possible. With that single fast burst of force you could have gently deflected dozens of similar orbs at least.¡±

    Ginny looked down at her muddy hands, ¡°But I don¡¯t¡­ feel tired? Shouldn¡¯t that have drained my magic?¡±

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    ¡°You are the ruler of this domain. While you are here the crown will see to making sure your magical energy is not drained. When your intrinsic magic runs out you will have to switch to using the magic of this domain, or domain magic. It is much harder to use and is less pliable, but works identically to how your intrinsic magic does. It is even beneficial since when you switch back to your intrinsic magic after training with Domain magic everything will feel much easier.¡±

    ¡°Wow. So I can practice as much as I want?¡±

    ¡°Within reason. I do not see you ever running out of magic with the training exercises I have planned for you. Now, how about we try again?¡±

    ¡°Okay. I just push it gently away? Should I use the tree again?¡±

    ¡°Feel free to shop around to use different mental images. Everyone has their own preference. The tree is simply an easy starting point for beginners. Here it comes.¡±

    Balthazar reached into his robes and pulled out another metal orb and tossed it at her again. Ginny focused and closed her eyes again. She lifted her palm and held it out towards where she could feel the ball. Her tendril connected to the ball just like last time. Ginny imagined the ball sinking into the branches of the tree, bending them and applying a slow force pushing the other way as it pushed through. The orb slowly came to a stop two feet away from her face, then slowly began to inch back towards Balthazar. Ginny stayed focused and kept it moving and opened her eyes again to see the orb gently floating away.

    ¡°Yay! I did it!¡± Ginny cheered, only for the ball go flying off into the wall again as she lost focus and her magic flung it away.

    ¡°Oh, well. I still did it!¡± Ginny said, staring at the ball slowly drifting away from where it had impacted the wall, ¡°Did you see, Balthazar, did you see?¡±

    ¡°Yes, King,¡± Balthazar said with a smile, ¡°Very good.¡±

    ¡°Why are you calling me king?¡± Ginny asked suddenly, ¡°I¡¯m a girl. Shouldn¡¯t you be calling me the queen?¡±

    Balthazar¡¯s eyebrows rose, ¡°A girl? How surprising. Would you like me to call you queen?¡±

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know¡­ can you just call me Ginny? You don¡¯t have to use the fancy title if you don¡¯t want to.¡±

    ¡°Ginny¡­ very well. So, Ginny. Are you ready for more?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! Using magic is awesome!¡± Ginny said while staring expectantly at Balthazar.

    ¡°Very good. Now, let¡¯s break any bad habits early. Your tendril should not be reliant on any point on your body. No using the palm as a focal point, no point on your body at all. Feel it come from within you, not from you. Do you understand?¡±

    ¡°Kinda? But it has to leave my skin somewhere, right? How does that work?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it leaves your skin at one point. But it should not be anchored at that point. If you trained only creating tendrils from your palm then when your fist was closed you may be unable to generate a tendril from your elbow, chest, or forehead. And once created that tendril could be rooted at that point, unable to shift or move freely across your skin as needed. You must be able to make a tendril of magic anywhere on your body and move it freely. Let¡¯s give it a try.¡±

    Balthazar threw more of the floating balls at Ginny and she tried to do what he said. It was very hard, each time she instinctively tried to anchor the tendril to a single point on her skin. It was only Balthazar telling her to make her even realize that she was doing it at all half the time. But slowly, she started to get a hang of it. She still made a mistake occasionally, but most of the time she was able to freely shift and slide her magic tendrils over her body as needed. It still excited her every time to see the balls approaching her slowly stop and get pushed away again.

    Magic was amazing!

    But slowly despite her excitement and eagerness to keep learning, she started growing restless. It felt like something was urging her to move, to return to that first room she had woken up in with the door.

    Balthazar paused after throwing the last ball and Ginny deflected it again to her satisfaction.

    ¡°It seems it is time for you to leave, Ginny,¡± he said, ¡°The Chains of Fate grow stronger even now.¡±

    ¡°Chains of fate?¡± Ginny said as she stood, ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Fate is a powerful, very real entity in your world. You have a special place in her plans. Plans that can¡¯t be accomplished without you there in your world. Every time you come here, it is likely that you will only have a limited time before the pull of the chains grows strong enough to force you to leave again.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t I just, not go?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°I want to keep practicing magic with you. For a little longer at least.¡±

    Balthazar chuckled, ¡°Feel free to practice magic in your world. You could stay here for a while longer, but the longer you wait the higher the chance of¡­ something bad happening to your mind. Just to be safe you should leave now before the pull grows too strong.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Well, okay. How will I get back here, anyway? I don¡¯t remember how I got here in the first place. It was¡­ Something bad happened and I just woke up here.¡±

    ¡°I do not know,¡± Balthazar said as they left the room and walked through the hallways, ¡°It is something for you to discover yourself, Ginny. Once mastered you should be able to leave and enter this place on a whim. The door is simply a tool for those that are not the rulers of this domain to enter and leave.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Thanks for the help, Balthazar. That was a lot of fun.¡±

    They entered the room with the door and Ginny felt a sudden urge to go and run through.

    ¡°Best of luck in your world, Ginny. Remember to not fall into bad habits as you practice,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°Oh, and make sure to not use magical foci if you can. Wands, staves, rings, the like. They are the worst offenders for creating bad habits in novice wizards. Until next time.¡±

    ¡°Bye, Balthazar. Thanks again.¡±

    Ginny could now feel how unnatural the urge to jump through the doorway was. But she still felt it, it was irresistible. Something she just had to do. She walked to the doorway, suppressing her urge to jog. She stood at the edge of the frame and glanced back at Balthazar standing there stoically looking at her calmly. He nodded to her. She turned back and stepped through and her body of mud dissolved.

    The last thing she saw before she fell unconscious was a web of golden strings wrapped around her soul, the same ones that had controlled her just after she had woken up in the Chamber of Secrets.

 Chapter 13: Responsibility

    Ginny slowly came awake with a sense of deep comfort and warmth. She tightened her grip on the feathery stuffed animal sitting between her arms. Then the stuffed animal moved and Ginny flinched. She opened her eyes and saw that it was Fawkes sitting there staring at her balefully.

    ¡°Sorry, Fawkes,¡± Ginny said and loosened her grip. She looked around the room. She was still in the hospital, she was wearing one of those thin patient gowns that she had seen some of the others in when she first arrived here.

    Fawkes chirped and she looked back at him, ¡°What happened?¡± She asked, ¡°Did you¡­ help me? While I¡­ whatever it was that happened?¡±

    Fawkes trilled a note and Ginny looked at him while staying lying on her side. ¡°I hurt people? Are they okay? I, I don¡¯t remember, did my magic lash out?¡±

    Fawkes chirped again and Ginny relaxed, ¡°That¡¯s a relief. You scared me, Fawkes. Only a few bruises and scrapes¡­ that¡¯s not too bad. Where are the healers? Do they know I¡¯m awake?¡±

    Fawkes chirped.

    ¡°Oh. Five days¡­ Whoa. Did you stay with me the whole time?¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Wow, thanks Fawkes,¡± Ginny said and began petting Fawkes head, ¡°You¡¯re such a good friend. You¡¯re kind of my only friend right now actually, I don¡¯t really remember anyone else¡­ Hey! I can understand you?! What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Fawkes trilled and flared out his wings after hopping up to perch on Ginny¡¯s hip as she lay on her side.

    ¡°Familiar?¡± Ginny said as she twisted her head to look at him while keeping her body the same so Fawkes wouldn¡¯t fall off of her, ¡°You¡¯re my familiar? That¡¯s how we can talk? Is that what that tendril of magic was doing while I was panicking? If you don¡¯t want to, you don¡¯t have to be my familiar. I didn¡¯t know what I was doing and¡­¡±

    Fawkes trilled firmly and hopped so he was standing on her shoulder and peering down at her from above with his wings flared out.

    ¡°Oh. Thanks, Fawkes. I would like to do it, but I don¡¯t want you to feel like you made a mistake. That you only became my familiar to save from my magic going out of control.¡±

    Fawkes hopped off of Ginny to land on the bed in front of her and chirped again.

    ¡°What? Hey, I¡¯m not your familiar!¡± Ginny said, ¡°That¡¯s not how it works!¡±

    Fawkes head snaked out and he lightly poked her forehead with the top rounded end of his beak.

    ¡°Hey! What? No, it doesn¡¯t go by age¡­¡±

    Fawkes poked her with his beak again.

    ¡°Fawkes, stop it¡­¡±

    He stepped forward and kept poking her, chirping again and again. Ginny started scooting away from him and started giggling as she fended off.

    ¡°Fawkes! Hehehehe. No, okay, okay! I didn¡¯t mean it like that! Fine, fine. I just meant we¡¯d be equal. You think I¡¯d suddenly become mean and demanding because we have a familiar bond now?¡±

    Fawkes trilled and sat down, appearing satisfied. Ginny put her head back on the pillow and Fawkes shifted over to sit next to her and she felt his warmth pulse through her body again. She closed her eyes again and yawned. Just a little more sleep couldn¡¯t hurt¡­

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny woke up again after a while and the healers discovered that she was awake after a while. There was a huge amount of activity as people rushed in and out to check on how she was doing. Apparently she was considered too dangerous to have visitors until they were sure she was stable, so they hadn¡¯t let her family sit with her while she was unconscious. Fawkes gave another tap of his beak before hopping off and bursting into flames to leave again. But Ginny could feel the string of magic connecting them. She felt that if she tugged on it then he would know to come. That helped her feel better about him leaving again.

    But after they had checked her over and decided that she was stable, Arthur finally came back in. None of her brothers were with him.

    ¡°How are you, feeling Ginny?¡± The haggard man said. He looked like he hadn¡¯t slept in days, with huge bags under his eyes. Maybe he hadn¡¯t.

    ¡°Better,¡± She said, ¡°Sorry about freaking out. And for hurting all of you. I¡¯m not sure exactly what happened. If not for Fawkes who knows what might have happened¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not your fault,¡± Arthur said, ¡°Don¡¯t you worry now. We¡¯re all fine. Friends with a phoenix? That¡¯s not something I¡¯d think possible a week ago.¡±

    Ginny shifted in place. She hadn¡¯t told anyone yet¡­ but he was her dad, right? She should probably be able to trust him.

    ¡°Actually, uhm. Something happened. Fawkes is, well. He became my familiar. I can actually talk to him and everything now¡­¡±

    Arthur¡¯s eyes widened as far as they could go.

    ¡°A phoenix familiar¡­¡± He breathed, ¡°But that hasn¡¯t happened in¡­ generations. Are you sure?¡±

    Ginny nodded. She had figured that Fawkes was special, but her Dad seemed very shocked at the revelation. He sat there and pondered for a few seconds and then looked at her again, ¡°I¡¯ll tell the Ministry and start the balls rolling in the government. It may take a while to sort out.¡±

    Oh. Ginny hadn¡¯t thought about that. Of course the government would want to know something like that.

    ¡°Moving onwards though,¡± Arthur said, ¡°Did you¡­ remember anything? You seemed to be rather upset with Eric Potter¡­¡±

    Ginny felt herself growing annoyed and angry at just hearing the name. It stayed like that for a second or two before dissipating. She sighed. She opened her mouth to tell him about Balthazar and the other world she had been in¡­ before thinking about it more. How could she prove it? Why would he believe her? What would it sound like to him? She closed her mouth and changed what she was going to say.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I just know I really hate him,¡± She said, ¡°Whenever you just mention him I start getting annoyed. I haven¡¯t remembered anything else.¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s something at least,¡± Arthur said thoughtfully, ¡°I wonder why you¡¯re reacting so strongly to him? As far as I know you¡¯ve fancied him all of the last year, I don¡¯t see why you would dislike him so much even with your memories gone.¡±

    Ginny shrugged. She didn¡¯t know.

    Neither of them spoke for a bit.

    ¡°How much longer will I be in here?¡± Ginny eventually asked, ¡°What will happen next? Will I go back to school with that Dumbledore? Or¡­ What¡¯s happening?¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re feeling well it should be only another day or two,¡± Arthur said, ¡°We¡¯ll be taking you home for the rest of the term. Hopefully being home will help your memories¡­ none of the mind healers were able to restore your memories so we can only wait and see.¡±

    ¡°Will I be going back to that school next year? Will my brothers be at the house with me?¡±

    Arthur shook his head, ¡°We¡¯ll see about your school at the end of the summer. Your brothers are taking their final exams soon. It¡¯s in two weeks. After that they¡¯ll be back for the whole summer.¡±

    ¡°Oh, should I get one of those sticks? Wands?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Everyone else seems to have one,¡±

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    She knew that Balthazar said she shouldn¡¯t use it, but she should at least have one around so she wouldn¡¯t stand out as much.

    Arthur blinked, ¡°They never did find your wand, did they? We¡¯ll¡­ We¡¯ll get some money and buy you a new one.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to if it¡¯s expensive, I was just wondering.¡±

    ¡°No, no. We¡¯ll take care of it. You¡¯ll need a wand to cast your magic.¡±

    Ginny gave the man a strange look. She did? But that wasn¡¯t true? Did he need his wand to use any magic? What if he lost it? Maybe that¡¯s why Balthazar told her to not use them. It had felt so freeing to use her magic to push away the balls coming at her. She imagined it wouldn¡¯t be as fun if everything had to be channeled through some dull stick first before her magic did anything.

    But everyone here seemed to love using wands for everything, so she probably shouldn¡¯t say that out loud.

    The two of them spoke a bit more, Arthur explaining to Ginny about the world a bit more. What the Ministry was, about Hogwarts, the school she and her brothers had attended. After a little while, one of the nurses came in with some food and she ate.

    ¡°D-Dad? Why are you here and not Moll- Mom? Shouldn¡¯t you have work?¡±

    He shook his head, ¡°I¡¯m taking some time off. Your mother, well¡­ She hasn¡¯t been taking it well. All of this. We thought it best to have her stay back until you were out of the hospital.¡±

    ¡°Alright. I hope she feels better soon. Will she not like me because I can¡¯t remember anything?¡±

    ¡°No, no¡­¡± Arthur said, ¡°She¡¯s just having a hard time accepting it. She still has hope that it¡¯ll all come back when you see the house and she shows you around.¡±

    Ginny sat up and scratched her head.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ probably not,¡± She admitted.

    Arthur stood there silently for a few moments, a series of expressions flashing over his face.

    ¡°Even if you don¡¯t remember, it¡¯s okay,¡± he eventually said, ¡°You¡¯re still my daughter. We¡¯re still your family either way. I see how you look at us, not knowing who we are¡­ If¡­ If we get back home and you still don¡¯t remember, then you can tell us. We can get to know each other again. As a family.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­¡± Ginny said in a small voice, ¡°Dad.¡±

    He smiled and nodded, ¡°Right.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    The door opened and Ginny looked up.

    Her dad had left a while ago to report her familiar bond with Fawkes to the ministry. The nurses told her that given her improvement she should only have to sleep one more night here and that her family could take her home in the morning. She had been consciously trying to think about them that way. What Arthur¡­ Dad had said had made her think. Even if she didn¡¯t remember, they were still her family, right? Like her dad had said, they would just have to get to know each other from scratch again. So Ginny was consciously trying to think of Arthur as Dad and Molly as Mom, and the four red headed boys as her brothers.

    Through the open door, the old man Dumbledore strode through with his long white beard there. Another unfamiliar man in blue ministry robes followed behind him and stood next to him. Ginny craned her neck around but appeared that it was only the two of them as the ministry man closed the door behind him.

    Dumbledore smiled at her gently although his gaze was piercing.

    ¡°Ms. Weasley. How are you feeling? Any progress on your memories?¡±

    Ginny shook her head and glanced between the two of them without saying anything.

    ¡°Ah, we¡¯re here to discuss your bond with my Phoenix Fawkes.¡±

    Ginny frowned. His Phoenix?

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°Well, I know you¡¯re a rather special little girl and that Fawkes has taken a liking to you. But you are nowhere near ready to care for an animal as dangerous or territorial as a Phoenix. You actually need a license to do so, which I acquired after I demonstrated that I could subdue the beast on my own if it became out of control.¡±

    Ginny¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°You beat up Fawkes?!¡± She asked, stunned, ¡°Why?!¡±

    Dumbledore shook his head, ¡°No, you misunderstand. I did not hurt him. Just demonstrated I could bind him and prevent him from causing harm.¡±

    Ginny settled down a bit but grumbled, ¡°Still seems mean¡­¡±

    ¡°Regardless, bonding to Fawkes is perfectly understandable in your moment of need,¡± Dumbledore said kindly, ¡°But that moment of need is over. The Phoenix belongs to me, but we can discuss purchasing him after you¡¯ve graduated and settled yourself in the world as an adult. I would be more than happy to leave Fawkes in your care when you are prepared to handle him if he grows out of control.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk about Fawkes like that! Like he¡¯s some stupid animal,¡± Ginny said, ¡°He¡¯s perfectly kind, caring, and a good bird¡­ He wouldn¡¯t hurt anyone, he¡¯s intelligent and everything.¡±

    ¡°Even so,¡± the man from the ministry said, stepping forward, ¡°The bird does legally belong to Dumbledore here. You have no basis for keeping him. It is essentially theft.¡±

    Ginny paused, confused at the man¡¯s words, ¡°Keep him? But I¡¯m not doing that? Fawkes can move around as he likes. He¡¯s a person, you can¡¯t just own somebody.¡±

    The two men glanced at each other and the man from the ministry coughed, ¡°Ms. Weasley, despite how intelligent they may act, magical beasts are dangerous. They do not think like we do and must be controlled in case they hurt unaware little girls like yourself.¡±

    Dumbledore sent the man a sharp look at that. Ginny puffed up, offended. What the heck was this guy trying to say?!

    ¡°Fawkes is way more intelligent than your dumb face! I can talk with him now that he¡¯s my familiar and he¡¯s as smart as any other person I¡¯ve talked to. Don¡¯t talk about him like he¡¯s stupid!¡±

    Both men flinched slightly at her loud outburst and she crossed her arms and stared at them. So there!

    ¡°What do you even want, anyway?¡± Ginny said, annoyed, ¡°I told you. Fawkes and I are friends. He comes or goes as he likes.¡±

    The man from the ministry cleared his throat.

    ¡°I think it would be best for everyone involved if you broke your familiar bond with the phoenix. At least until you¡¯re old enough to get the proper license for ownership. Otherwise it could be illegal to maintain it. The law is uncertain for cases this rare, but the justification is there. You aren¡¯t able to take on the responsibility like this when you are a child.¡±

    Ginny looked between the two of them. Dumbledore was stroking his white beard and nodding along. She felt disgust coil in her gut as she even considered the idea of cutting off her bond with Fawkes. It might be okay if they both wanted to. But just because an old man and some government person said so. No way!

    She had to find her dad, he would help her. She pulsed out her magic senses as she sat there scanning the building. Her dad wasn¡¯t in the building, at least in the part she could detect. She thought of what she could do. She could tell Fawkes to come, but who knew what the two adults would do? They might hurt him if they were already being this mean to her without him even being there¡­

    She detected a nurse walking down the hallway in their direction. Remaining silent, she waited as the two men stared at her expectantly. Just as the nurse was right at her door, Ginny took a deep breath. The two men leaned in, eager for her response.

    ¡°HELP! HELP! THERE¡¯S TWO WEIRD GUYS IN MY ROOM!¡±

    The door burst open and the nurse leapt in, wand at the ready, looking at the scene. The two men looked shocked, while the nurse looked just as shocked as she saw the old man.

    The nurse started lowering her wand. ¡°Headmaster Dumbledore?¡± The woman asked in confusion. Dumbledore straightened and Ginny saw him about to open his mouth. Oh no, he¡¯d use his position to make her go away again! And then they¡¯d force Ginny to break her familiar bond somehow.

    Ginny pointed at the two men, ¡°These two guys came in and started being really mean to me! They¡¯re trying to make me break my familiar bond with Fawkes! The guy from the ministry said I would be arrested!¡±

    The nurse wavered, but her wand raised back up as she looked at the two men.

    ¡°Is this true? Where¡¯s the girl¡¯s father, what are you two doing in here?¡±

    Dumbledore cleared his throat.

    ¡°We were given permission by the hospital director for our visit. It¡¯s an urgent legal matter that we must clear up. It¡¯ll take no time at all, then we can be on our way. I believe Mr. Weasley is at the Ministry building at this moment.¡±

    The nurse¡¯s wand sank down and Ginny¡¯s heart sank with it. Oh no!

    ¡°Both of you out,¡± the nurse said tersely, ¡°No upsetting our patients. And especially no visitations of children without parental presence or even permission presumably.¡±

    Oh, yay! Both men tried to protest, but the nurse quickly shooed them outside and shut the door behind her. She put her wand back into her robes and turned to Ginny.

    ¡°How are you feeling dear? What happened?¡±

    Ginny explained what had happened, the words tumbling from her lips. The nurse nodded and hummed supportively as Ginny ranted about how mean and dumb those two were for treating Fawkes like he couldn¡¯t make his own choices about stuff.

    ¡°So, they can¡¯t do it. What if they have some way to force me to do it? You¡¯ve got to go get my dad, he can help. He works in the government, right?¡±

    The nurse reached out and patted Ginny¡¯s hand.

    ¡°I think I understand, dear. I¡¯ll get your father to come here as soon as I can. Now, I¡¯ve got to go yell at those two¡­ ¡®old guys¡¯ for bothering you. You just holler if anyone but one of the nurses or your father tries to come in here. Okay?¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    The nurse patted Ginny¡¯s hand one last time before standing up.

    ¡°Good girl. We¡¯ll sort this mess out. If there¡¯s any trouble just ask for nurse Sharon.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Thanks, Sharon. I was so worried¡­ People seem to think that this Dumbledore person is rather important.¡±

    Sharon blinked before smiling, ¡°Yes, I¡¯d say so. But I¡¯ll give him a tongue lashing anyway. How does that sound?¡±

    Ginny giggled a little as her stress let out all at once, ¡°Thanks, Sharon.¡±

    Sharon left and Ginny settled back on the bed.

    She really hoped that her bond with Fawkes wasn¡¯t illegal somehow. She could ask her dad. He worked in the government, he could probably tell her. Ginny really hoped she wasn¡¯t breaking the law. Because unless Fawkes said it was okay, she just felt sick about getting rid of it.

    The man was just trying to intimidate her. No way it was actually illegal. That wouldn¡¯t make any sense.

 Chapter 14: The Tour

    When Dad arrived and Ginny told him what had happened he became quite upset with Dumbledore and the man from the Ministry. She heard his shouts all the way from her room as they echoed through the hallways. Dumbledore and the ministry man had gathered outside her door along with the hospital director that seemed to also be on their sides. Nurse Sharon and Dad were on her side as the group argued about Fawkes.

    Apparently her dad and Dumbledore were political allies in the Ministry, so the old man was surprised that Dad would stand up to him so much and wouldn¡¯t back down. That made Ginny feel warm and fuzzy that Arthur was defending her so much. Her mood was brought down a little by the fact that one of the reasons Arthur was so mad at Dumbledore was because he blamed him for Ginny getting her memory erased and whatever had happened down there in the Chamber of Secrets. Dumbledore seemed rather stumped on how to respond to that, taking over ten seconds to provide any kind of coherent response before launching into some speech that she couldn¡¯t make out through the closed door to her room.

    Slightly bored and tired of straining her ears to listen in on the argument outside, Ginny decided to practice her magic like Balthazar had taught her. She looked around her to look for objects she could float around. Finally, she settled on a chair. It was a really big thing to start on, but Ginny was feeling ambitious today. It wasn¡¯t like she had anything else to do really.

    She almost went to raise her hand towards the chair before stopping herself and remembering what Balthazar said. Right, she should be able to make a tendril from any part of her body. She paused. Hey, did he mean any part? She stared at the chair hard and focused on her magic. Growing tree, sunshine and rain¡­

    Right out of the tip of her nose a tendril of magic slowly reached out, extending one little bit at a time towards the chair across the room. Ginny went cross eyed trying to stare at the space where she knew the tendril was on the tip of her nose, but it was completely invisible. Maybe she felt a little tingle or buzzing sensation, but not enough that she could say for certain. But in her magic sense she could feel the tendril and its magic as clear as day. Well, it wasn¡¯t really like sight, or like any other sensation. She just knew it was there and she kept her magic senses focused on just this room. She didn¡¯t want to be sensing too much and end up getting distracted and throwing the chair really hard somewhere.

    The magic tendril grew long enough that it lightly tapped the seat of the chair and started poking into it and spreading over it. Ginny waited a few seconds and watched as it spread over the large object. But eventually it stopped looking different, so Ginny started the next part. Visualizing the tree of her magic tendril slowly bending, the chair slowly lifted until it was floating a few inches off of the ground.

    She practiced moving the chair around a few inches off the ground around the whole room, feeling that same excitement for using magic that she had when Balthazar was teaching her. She lifted the chair higher off the ground and began to gently rotate it in the air. This one was a bit strange with the tree image, but Ginny managed to figure out something passable after a minute or two. The adults were still arguing loudly outside.

    Ginny started breathing heavily and sweating as she rotated and floated the chair around on the magic tendril poking out of her nose. She held it for a few more seconds and adjusted the chair so it floated over to where it had begun and settled right where it had begun. Ginny let out a long breath as she made her magic tendril release and start to retract. It reversed until it was just in front of her nose again. Ginny watched cross eyed as it shrank, but again didn¡¯t see anything with her eyes.

    After a second or two, the tendril sank back beneath her skin and dissipated back into her body. She stared proudly at the chair that was in the exact same place it had been only a few minutes ago. She wiped her brow and her lungs burned like she had just been sprinting around. She noticed that her magic was drained in comparison to how vibrant and active it normally was within her body. She settled back onto the pillows of the bed. Maybe that was enough of that for today. Who knew magic could be so exhausting? She wondered if it had been more inefficient because the chair was larger and far away or if it was always that draining to make the magic tendrils.

    She didn¡¯t think the tendrils should take so much of her magic, but Balthazar had said that that bone crown was making sure she wouldn¡¯t run out of energy. So maybe it had kept her from feeling how expensive it was while she trained in the other world. She should really ask Balthazar what it was called next time she went. If she ever ended up going again.

    She would definitely figure out how to go back eventually. She was sure she would learn a lot from Balthazar when she went. Maybe give herself some time to really master what he had shown her first to really wow him, though.

    Eventually the noise died down from the argument outside as the adults decided to go to the Ministry to resolve things. Sharon had stayed behind to watch over Ginny while Dad went to go plead her case to the government.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    An hour later, Dad returned. Ginny thought he was done and asked if it was okay for Fawkes to be her familiar. But apparently the government couldn¡¯t decide things that fast, and so it would still be a while before they knew the answer. But luckily they couldn¡¯t just break the familiar bond she had with Fawkes without a huge amount of justification for it, so they¡¯d probably know way ahead of time before anything actually happened.

    Also Dad talked about how Dumbledore had undercut his credibility by trying to intimidate her while she was in the hospital, so he would have a harder chance of winning the case than he normally would.

    But everything was in motion now, and all they could do was wait for more things to happen as the government started doing paperwork or¡­ argue about it? Ginny wasn¡¯t totally sure what they were waiting for, but Dad assured her that it would be a while.

    So now it was time for them to go home. Ginny walked behind Dad as they left the hospital, happy to be out of the confining bed after what felt like forever. The nurses hadn¡¯t wanted her to walk around at all just in case she fell or her magic went out of control, so she had mostly sat around and been bored for this whole time.

    Ginny was a little nervous as they got in Dad¡¯s beat up old blue car riddled with all sorts of enchantments. This was the big moment, to see if returning to her old house made her remember anything. And she would finally be meeting Molly - Mom for the first time for real. Molly hadn¡¯t spoken to Ginny much before her episode of out of control magic, so Ginny felt like she knew nothing about the woman at all.

    Eventually they arrived at the fantastical house. Ginny pulsed her magic sense and inspected the outside of it curiously. Wow, the whole thing was infused with all sorts of enchantments and thrumming with magic!

    Dad looked hopeful as Ginny kept staring at the house.

    ¡°Seem familiar?¡±

    Ginny tore her eyes from the house and looked at him,

    ¡°What? Oh, no. It is just really interesting.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡±

    They went inside where the plump woman Molly was waiting. She was hovering by the door and went for a hug as soon as Ginny went through the door. Ginny was swept up in her arms before she could even react. After a few seconds the woman released her and inspected her and met her gaze.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you worry,¡± Molly said, ¡°You¡¯ll remember now that you¡¯re home.¡±

    Ginny glanced at Dad.

    ¡°Molly¡­¡± He said in a warning tone.

    ¡°Right, right,¡± the woman said, ¡°We¡¯ll be patient, let¡¯s just show you around then.¡±

    Ginny was given the big tour of the whole cluttered house, going room to room. Eventually she was shown to her room. There was a stack of books piled up on a bookshelf and a wooden chest at the foot of the bed that was closed.

    ¡°This is my room?¡± Ginny said in wonder as the three of them walked in. With all three of them in the space it was a little cramped but there was still some space to move around in.

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    ¡°Yes. I know it¡¯s a little¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s huge!¡± Ginny said, ¡°All of this space is just for me? Is this all my stuff?¡±

    Molly and Dad shared a look.

    ¡°Yes, Ginny. This is all yours,¡± Molly said, ¡°This is your room. Do you¡­ is anything familiar?¡±

    Ginny walked forward and flopped onto the bed and rolled over to feel how large it was.

    ¡°No. It¡¯s all new,¡± She said before rolling around a bit on the bed, ¡°But it''s nice. Bigger than even Dudley¡¯s room was.¡±

    ¡°Dudley? Who¡¯s that?¡± Molly asked sharply and Ginny sat up from the bed and looked at the woman.

    ¡°Dudley?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°I was just saying this room was really big.¡±

    ¡°You said a name. Dudley,¡± Dad said from the side, ¡°Does that name sound familiar?¡±

    Ginny thought about it for a second and her memories swirled and something odd was attached to the name¡­

    ¡°I don¡¯t like Dudley,¡± Ginny eventually stated, ¡°I don¡¯t remember why though¡­ And not as much as I don¡¯t like Eric.¡±

    The two adults looked confused and asked more questions, but Ginny couldn¡¯t remember anything more than she remembered someone named Dudley and she didn¡¯t like him.

    Eventually the tour continued after it became clear Ginny didn¡¯t know anything else and Molly and Dad showed her the rest of the house. Ginny didn¡¯t feel familiar about any of it and her memories stayed firmly in place even if all of it was all very interesting to see.

    Molly was disappointed that Ginny didn¡¯t remember anything else, but tried to not let it show. Molly cooked them a meal and it was very good, way better than the hospital food had been. Ginny complimented it, which Molly liked.

    ¡°You¡¯ve never been all that interested in cooking, Ginny,¡± Molly said, ¡°Perhaps now is the time to learn if you¡¯d like?¡±

    ¡°Sure, that sounds fun. Is it hard?¡± Ginny asked easily.

    Molly shook her head with a smile, ¡°No, just takes some getting used to is all. You¡¯ll see when we start. How about we make dinner tomorrow together for your father?¡±

    ¡°Sure. Are you going back to work again, Dad?¡±

    The man nodded, ¡°I¡¯ve got tomorrow off and then back to work the day after if everything goes well. I¡¯d like to take more time, but well¡­ My department seems to be having some trouble without me. I suppose that¡¯s one way to get a raise! All of them are realizing how important everything I was doing to their own work now that I¡¯m gone for so long.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a good thing, I say,¡± Molly said with a huff, ¡°Everyone not appreciating how hard you work¡­¡±

    ¡°What do you do, Dad?¡± Ginny suddenly asked, ¡°You work at the Ministry, right? Do you arrest people?¡±

    Dad chuckled, ¡°No, the most I usually deal with is giving people fines. I do work along with Aurors who do the arresting for more serious cases, but I¡¯m just tagging along usually. I work at the misuse of muggle artifacts office. Many times people enchant muggle items improperly or leave them where muggles can find them which can cause all sorts of trouble. It¡¯s my job to go around and make sure that people who do that are punished.¡±

    ¡°That sounds important,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Do you break the enchantments yourself or does someone else do it? What if someone disenchants an item right before you and the Aurors catch them?¡±

    Arthur got a strange look on his face, ¡°Disenchant? That¡¯s a very complex process, Ginny. Usually we just lock them away. Someone can¡¯t just disenchant something in an instant, it takes some time and a specialist if you don¡¯t want to get hurt.¡±

    ¡°It is? But¡­ It¡¯s supposed to be hard?¡± Ginny asked in confusion.

    Dad chuckled and gestured around at the walls around them.

    ¡°This whole house is enchanted all over the place. Why, it might even collapse without the support of our enchantments! It¡¯s been standing here for generations and nothing bad has happened to it yet.¡±

    Ginny nodded several times, ¡°I know, but isn¡¯t it so scary? I mean if someone injected their magic right there the whole enchantment on that wall would collapse! What if someone came in and did that while we were sleeping!¡±

    She raised her finger to point at the weak point in the enchantment on the wall that she had been trying to resist poking with her magic the whole time they stood there. Both of the adults turned to point at the section of the wall she was pointing at.

    ¡°Ginny, what are you pointing to?¡± Molly asked, ¡°I don¡¯t see anything.¡±

    ¡°The enchantment on that wall,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Can¡¯t you feel it? With your magic sense? There¡¯s a bunch of holes in it, just a little magic in it in the wrong spot and it might shatter!¡±

    The two adults looked at the offending wall and took a step back from it.

    Arthur peered at her closely, ¡°What is this ¡®magic sense¡¯, Ginny? Are you saying you can see magic?¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not like seeing. It¡¯s hard to describe, I just know everything that¡¯s there,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Did I not use the right word? It¡¯s the thing where you feel the magic around you?¡±

    ¡°Ginny, when did this happen?¡± Arthur said slowly.

    Ginny tilted her head slightly to the side, confused.

    ¡°Happen?¡± Ginny said, ¡°I¡¯ve always been like this. Do you not have a magic sense? You must feel so blind, not able to sense all the enchantments covering this place!¡±

    Arthur stood and gestured to Ginny, ¡°Follow me, let¡¯s test this. I¡¯ve got a few enchanted knick knacks in the garage.¡±

    ¡°Arthur¡­¡± Molly warned, a slightly disturbed look on her face as she looked at Ginny. Ginny shrunk back. What had she done wrong? She was just trying to help. Were other people really not able to use their magic sense like she could? That was so sad¡­

    Ginny followed Dad to the garage, Molly trailing behind them.

    He rustled around in the cabinets of what looked like his workbench before pulling out three strange metallic parts. Ginny looked at them and tried to figure out what they were for.

    ¡°They¡¯re for the car,¡± Dad supplied as he saw her curiosity, ¡°I built that thing top to bottom by enchanting bits like these one at a time.¡±

    Ginny turned around to look at the car parked outside with new appreciation. No wonder the whole felt like it was enchanted if he had enchanted each part individually as he built it. She looked back at her Dad, impressed.

    He straightened and smiled slightly as he saw how she was looking at him. ¡°Really fascinating project, getting the enchantments to work without interfering with one another¡­¡±

    ¡°Arthur!¡± Molly snapped, ¡°Weren¡¯t you doing something?¡±

    Dad looked down at the items sitting on the bench. ¡°Oh, right. Ginny, can you tell me which of these are enchanted? You¡¯re saying you can feel the magic, right?¡±

    ¡°Sure. The center one¡¯s not enchanted, and the left and right ones are,¡± Ginny said, ¡°You really can¡¯t tell?¡±

    ¡°No¡­ No I can¡¯t. I just remember which is which,¡± Dad said while looking between her and the parts on the workbench. He did the same test with different parts each time and Ginny pointed out the enchanted ones easily each time.

    ¡°Should I disenchant one of them too?¡± She asked, ¡°I don¡¯t want to break one if they are hard to make¡­¡±

    Dad shook his head and took out his wand. He pointed at one of the unenchanted metal bits and said some strange words. Ginny felt something shoot out of his wand in her magic sense and impact the object before sinking into it and forming a basic enchantment.

    ¡°Whoa, so that¡¯s how you do it¡­¡± Ginny said in amazement. The enchantment had so many threads of pulsing magic covering the object, she couldn¡¯t even see how hard it must be when she was still working on lifting things with her magic without throwing them around too much.

    Dad handed her the thing, and Ginny looked at it for a second and injected her magic into one of the massive weak points covering the thing. But her dad had cast it in only a few seconds, of course it wouldn¡¯t be perfect.

    Her magic spiked into the object and the enchantment shattered. She handed it back.

    ¡°Done.¡±

    Arthur eyed the object before saying more words and waving his wand over the object. A wave of magic washed over the metal bit before retreating back into the wand.

    ¡°Well, by Merlin,¡± Dad said in wonder, ¡°You really did it. Could be a fluke. Just one more time to be sure¡­¡±

    They repeated the same thing again, Dad making extra sure that the thing was enchanted properly before handing it over to Ginny so she could break it.

    He stared at it for a long time, just turning it over after he was done.

    ¡°So? Do you believe me?¡± Ginny asked.

    Dad put the metal object on the workbench and kneeled down to Ginny¡¯s level, looking into her eyes. He put his hands on her shoulders and had a very serious look on his face.

    ¡°Ginny, you can¡¯t tell anyone except us about this. It has to be our secret, or people will¡­ this is a very useful skill, and people will be bothering you all the time if you let them know you have it. Can you promise me, to keep it a secret between you, me, and your mother?¡±

    Ginny jerkily nodded, taken by surprise by the red haired man¡¯s sudden seriousness. ¡°What about my brothers?¡± She asked, ¡°Should I tell them?¡±

    Molly and Arthur shared a look before Dad looked back at her. ¡°Not for now,¡± he said, ¡°Me and your mother will discuss it later about telling them. Don¡¯t feel bad, this is a wonderful gift you have. But you have to be careful about who knows about it. Do you get it?¡±

    ¡°I think so?¡± Ginny said, ¡°Mean people like that Dumbledore might want me to disenchant things for him.¡±

    Dad snorted, ¡°Yes. Mean people like Dumbledore. Exactly right.¡±

    He released her shoulders and stood up again, ¡°How about I show you all the enchantments I can make? Must be interesting when you can see them for yourself.¡±

    ¡°Yeah! Show me, that was really cool when you shot that enchantment out of your wand.¡±

    Dad spent some time applying various enchantments and explaining what they did to Ginny as she felt the magic shoot out of his wand and apply the different enchantments over and over again. At some point Molly had left, Ginny barely even noticing when the woman went with how much fun she was having with Dad.

 Chapter 15: Dinner Time

    It was the next day and Ginny was helping Molly with the cooking. They were chopping the vegetables at the moment to put in the stew. It felt oddly familiar as Ginny went and helped. Molly had been rather surprised that Ginny was picking it up so quickly, her old self hadn¡¯t cooked very much according to her.

    Ginny considered telling Molly about her odd familiarity with cooking, but decided to not to. The woman had constantly freaked out when Ginny expressed interest in anything in the house yesterday. Each time she seemed to hope it would be the sudden breakthrough that would restore Ginny¡¯s memories to how they were before.

    So Ginny didn¡¯t tell Molly when things started feeling familiar. She didn¡¯t want to upset the woman who she still couldn¡¯t see as her mom. Molly seemed to want some other girl to return, eager for the new and strange Ginny to disappear again. It was sad, but Ginny cheered up by remembering that she at least had Dad. He seemed to understand and talk to her like she was her own person at least. Even if he wanted her memories to return too.

    After they were done chopping, they put the chopped vegetables and meat in the pot and left it to bubble and simmer.

    ¡°Very good, Ginny!¡± Molly praised, ¡°Wasn¡¯t that good? Now to just make the sides. We¡¯ll lay them out on the tray with some oil on top and get them cooking. For some of the roasted vegetables.¡±

    The two of them laid out the vegetables on the large metal tray and sprinkled some oil on top. Molly picked it up and put it in the enchanted oven before closing the door.

    ¡°Alright, Ginny. All done, now we just have to wait!¡± Molly said in a false excited tone. Was she trying to make it sound more interesting so Ginny would want to do it again? Ginny didn¡¯t mind doing it, it was sort of relaxing to do. But she wouldn¡¯t call it exciting or anything like that.

    Molly took the time to show Ginny how to set the table. She had forgotten so Molly had to teach her from scratch.

    After forty minutes or so, the food was about ready. Dad had come back in from the garage and cleaned himself off with a single spell from his wand. Wow, Ginny could see why people would be so tempted to use them all the time if they were that convenient¡­

    Dad trailed behind as Molly and Ginny went forward to do the last few steps for the stew. Molly took a few leaves of a herb and sprinkled them on top of the broth before giving it a critical eye and nodding. The woman went over to the oven, ¡°Stay back, Ginny it¡¯s hot,¡± she said firmly before she pulled out the tray from the oven. Her back was turned to Ginny and Ginny could feel the heat wash over her as she stood there suddenly frozen. The memories swirled in her mind, suddenly churning furiously as everything grew distant and muted around her.

    ¡°Ginny? Ginny, are you alright?¡± the red haired man said from behind her in concern. Her dad, but she never knew her parents? He couldn¡¯t be her dad. A hand landed on Ginny¡¯s shoulder, but she didn¡¯t react. Her eyes were glazed over as strange disjointed memories washed over her.

    The woman turned around with the tray in her hands quickly and started to say something in concern. Ginny had a flash of a horrible memory. An impact on her head, a spray of blood, hitting her head on the floor, darkness!

    She reached out her hand and felt her magic rising to respond to her panic, grabbing the tray and getting it away from her. The red haired woman¡­ Red? Why was her hair red? The woman let out a gasp and stumbled to the side as the metal tray was torn from her grip and went shooting high speed into a nearby wall. Ginny kept her magic on it and kept pressing as hard as she could until it was crushed into a wedge of metal, vegetables sent flying and scattered all over the place.

    There was a grip on her shoulder that had grown tight. The red haired woman looked upset and took a step towards her.

    ¡°Ginny! What are you doing?¡±

    Ginny cringed back and held her hands at the ready, but the woman luckily stopped approaching with a hurt expression on her face. The woman cared what she thought about her? What? Something¡­ What¡­ Ginny looked up into the concerned face of her Dad and suddenly came back to herself. She quickly went up and hugged him, feeling horrible. She was breathing heavily and her heart was racing. Why had she done that? Molly could have been really hurt if that tray had hit her!

    ¡°Shhh. Shhh. It¡¯s okay, Ginny,¡± Dad said as she stood there silently hugging him, ¡°We¡¯re not mad. You¡¯ll be okay. It¡¯s all fine¡­¡±

    Eventually, Ginny managed to calm herself down, her breathing and heart rate smoothing out. She let go of Dad and looked between the two concerned adults.

    ¡°Sorry¡­¡± She said, ¡°I don¡¯t know what came over me¡­¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡± Dad said, ¡°Just run us through it step by step. Take as long as you like.¡±

    Ginny did her best, but it didn¡¯t make any sense even to herself. She had just gotten a deep sense of danger when she had seen the tray and thought that Molly was about to¡­ hit her with it?

    She told them about her memory of being hit with a tray then hitting her head on a hard tile floor. But other than that everything was still fuzzy, and even as Ginny waited the memories sank deeper into her mind, fading back into obscurity again.

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    After a few minutes more of the adults cleaning up and fussing over her to make sure she was alright, they returned to have the soup for dinner. It was very good soup, but none of them said too much as they ate. Half way through, Ginny paused as her spoon was half way to her mouth. There still was plenty of soup left. Yes, that would cheer everyone up! Fawkes had always helped her, maybe it would work on her parents too?

    ¡°Hey, can I call Fawkes here so he can have some soup?¡± Ginny asked suddenly, ¡°It¡¯s good, we should see what he thinks about it.¡±

    Both adults blinked in surprise. ¡°A Phoenix is dangerous and¡­¡± Molly began, but a look from Dad made her stop. They had a staring contest for a few seconds before Dad turned to Ginny.

    ¡°Go ahead, Ginny. I¡¯ll go get another bowl for him.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Dad!¡±

    She tugged gently on her familiar bond as Dad stood from his chair and walked over to the kitchen to get the extra bowl.

    Molly looked like she wanted to argue, opening and closing her mouth several times, but eventually didn¡¯t end up saying anything.

    After a few seconds delay, Ginny felt the other end of the familiar bond tug back and then a giant ball of flame appeared next to her, causing Molly to gasp in surprise. The flames died down and there Fawkes sat sitting on the floor and inspecting the surroundings with little jerks of his head. His wings were slightly flared out as if he was ready to jump into the air and start flying at any moment. He looked at Ginny and trilled a long note.

    ¡°No, Fawkes. I¡¯m not in any danger. This is my house,¡± Ginny said, ¡°We were having dinner. I was wondering if you wanted to try some of this soup? I think it¡¯s pretty good.¡±

    Fawkes his head to the side and chirped.

    ¡°Oh, of course! Here, I¡¯ll pull out a chair for you.¡±

    Ginny reached over and pulled back the chair next to her so it was out from under the table. She let go and a second later, Fawkes leapt up onto the chair and sat there calmly.

    Molly looked frozen, holding her hand in the pockets of her robes while eyeing the phoenix suspiciously. Dad had been surprised by Fawkes¡¯ appearance, but quickly recovered and came over and after using the ladle to fill the bowl with some soup carefully placed it in front of Fawkes. He eyed the bird cautiously and moved slowly as he did so, but didn¡¯t seem nearly as tense as Molly was.

    Fawkes chirped as the bowl was placed in front of him.

    ¡°Fawkes says thank you, Dad,¡± She said.

    He blinked, ¡°You¡¯re very welcome¡­ Fawkes.¡±

    He sat back at the table and watched as Fawkes craned his neck forward and dipped his beak in the soup and opened his beak and swallowed one of the meat chunks floating around in the soup.

    He started drinking the broth and eating the little floating chunks, looking like he was hungry. After the adults saw the bird enjoying the soup, they slowly started eating their own meals again.

    Eventually they finished, Ginny refilling Fawkes bowl two more times after he finished the first one.

    ¡°You ate so much!¡± Ginny told Fawkes, ¡°Do you eat this much all the time?¡±

    Fawkes chirped and she frowned.

    ¡°Huh. It¡¯s only when you use your flames to travel around that it¡¯s so much? I guess that makes sense. I¡¯ll try not to call you if there¡¯s no food around then. Do you mind? If I use our bond to call you to come have dinner with us sometimes?¡±

    Fawkes chirped.

    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll try to tug extra hard if I¡¯m in danger. Like this.¡±

    Ginny reached for her familiar bond and tugged hard, much harder than she had the first time. Fawkes flinched slightly. Then he did the same back to her and she flinched too. It was like someone had put a hook in her gut and tugged really hard on it for a few seconds before letting go.

    Fawkes chirped.

    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll try to come too if you do it. But you¡¯re the one that can teleport so it¡¯s probably easier if you come to me.¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°I can learn too? Oh, that¡¯s exciting. At that Hogwarts place?¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Oh,¡± Ginny slumped slightly, ¡°Six years is a long time. That long?¡±

    Fawkes let out a long trill.

    ¡°Rats. That stinks. Do you want to stay for a while? Or go somewhere else?¡±

    She suddenly looked at her parents whose eyes were bouncing back and forth as they watched them talking to each other.

    ¡°If it¡¯s okay?¡± Ginny asked her parents, ¡°Can he stay over if he wants to?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Ginny, that should be fine,¡± Dad quickly said before Molly could say anything, ¡°So long as he doesn¡¯t damage anything and you tell us and get permission to have him over ahead of time. Right, Molly?¡±

    Molly grumbled a bit and looked frustrated but nodded as well in agreement. Yay!

    Ginny turned back to Fawkes, ¡°So? You want to stay here or go home? Actually, where do you live? With that mean old man Dumbledore?¡±

    Fawkes trilled and let out a harsh click at the end.

    ¡°What? Really? So he¡¯s just jealous of us then? He used magic to create a one sided familiar bond with you? That couldn¡¯t have been nice for you.¡±

    Fawkes chirped.

    ¡°He¡¯s not all mean? I don¡¯t know, if you say so¡­ But you¡¯re staying with him? He¡¯s not forcing you to be there or anything?¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Ah, good. I guess we shouldn¡¯t make him more jealous than he already is.¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Okay. Bye Fawkes. Hope I see you soon!¡±

    Fawkes off the chair onto the ground again and burst into a big roaring ball of flame and disappeared. The floor was left spotless and unburned in his wake.

    Ginny turned to her parents, feeling much better than before.

    ¡°See? He¡¯s an intelligent person, not just an animal!¡± She said, ¡°Those Ministry people don¡¯t know what they¡¯re talking about.¡±

    Dad rubbed his chin thoughtfully and looked at the spot where Fawkes had disappeared from.

    ¡°Perhaps not, perhaps not¡­¡±

    With dinner finished, they put away the dishes in the sink and went to bed. Ginny settled under the covers and used her magic sense to observe the enchanted tools in the sink wash and clean the dirty dishes.

    There really were enchantments for everything in this place¡­

 Chapter 16: Multitasking Magic

    Unfortunately Dad had to go to work the next day. She was banned from the garage unless he was there by Molly, so she couldn¡¯t go there and stare at all the interesting enchantments on all the little car parts. She spent an hour or two inspecting all sorts of enchanted objects around the house and trying to guess what they did based on their magic.

    She wasn¡¯t having much luck so far, pretty much only able to tell if an enchantment was complicated or not and how degraded or old it was. The older ones about to break had bigger weak points and the fibers of magic covering them had less magic flowing through them. Or she thought that was the case from what she¡¯d seen so far.

    Molly was cleaning, but she¡¯d often drop by and check in on Ginny and ask her what she was doing. She didn¡¯t seem to completely believe Ginny when she told her she was looking at the enchantments, but Molly let her be after the third time Ginny explained what she was doing.

    Eventually Ginny grew bored with the things in the house and made her way to the door.

    ¡°Ginny? Where are you going?¡± Molly asked as Ginny passed her.

    ¡°I was going outside for a walk and exploring around,¡± Ginny explained, ¡°I should be safe if I stay in the big magic bubble right?¡±

    ¡°You mean the wards? Those are over two hundred meters from the house. You can detect them?¡±

    ¡°I sensed them as we were driving in,¡± Ginny said.

    Molly nodded, holding the broom she had been sweeping the floor with steadily.

    ¡°Just make sure to stay inside the wards,¡± Molly said, ¡°Just stay safe, okay Ginny?¡±

    ¡°Okay, Molly. Thanks!¡±

    Ginny turned around and left through the front door.

    Behind her, Molly¡¯s grip on her broom tightened and her expression crumpled for a moment before she took a shaky breath and recovered. Ginny¡¯s memories would come back. They would. Maybe playing outside on familiar land would be the last piece letting her little girl truly recognize her mother again.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny wandered around the grounds. There was a little forest with a stand of trees on one side and some open fields and bushes on the rest. She went back to the house for some lunch, and Molly seemed a little withdrawn and didn¡¯t talk to Ginny hardly at all. She gave her food though, so Ginny didn¡¯t mind all that much. It still felt special to her that someone would make a meal especially for her. It was only a sandwich, but Ginny still thought it tasted extra good because Molly had made it for her. Her memories swirled as she tried to remember why that would be. But nothing came to mind, and Ginny gave up and let the memories slip back down between her fingers again.

    After lunch Ginny headed outside again and walked over to the forest again. She had wandered the whole area, seeing it with her eyes and investigating the spots that had looked interesting. She already knew where everything was with her magic sense which unconstrained by the house had ballooned to cover most of the property. It only detected magic and not objects themselves, but there was enough magic in her surroundings that she got a sort of blurry mental image of everything within her magic sense.

    It was getting a little late, but Ginny decided that she wanted to practice her magic. Shooting the metal tray out of Molly¡¯s hands had only tired her out a little and she had thrown it pretty fast with her magic. But it was also pretty light so maybe those balanced out?

    Ginny kept walking through the forested section and reached out a magic tendril from her hip. It was surprisingly difficult to walk and control her magic at the same time. Her magic tendril kept swaying and bucking as she lost focus and caused it to twitch. But after a few minutes of practice, she managed to extend it out and snag a leaf from the forest floor and lift it in the air. She kept walking and twirling the leaf around her like it was floating on an unnatural breeze. It was surprisingly difficult to do both at once.

    After a few minutes she stopped walking as she realized her mistake. She had kept the tendril anchored to her hip the whole time! She was falling into bad habits!

    She immediately drew the leaf close so it was hovering only a foot away from her hip as she stood there. She tried to shift the magic tendril across her skin freely like she had been able to by the end of Balthazar¡¯s lessons. It felt like pulling something out of mud, with a few seconds of her willing it to shift upwards towards her ribs and the tendril being sticky and wanting to stay in place.

    Finally with one last heave of her will, the tendril ripped free from its anchor point and started slowly climbing upwards up her side towards her lower ribs, the leaf being carried along with it. Ginny let out a sigh of relief. Whoa, with only a little bit of bad practice it was already so hard to get it to move! She had to really make sure to not slack in the future or breaking the habit again would be just terrible.

    Deciding that her legs were getting tired, Ginny walked to the base of a tree and sat down, her legs held straight in front of her as her back rested against the rough wood.

    She took in a deep breath and moved the leaf to float all over her body. She made sure to do it by shifting the anchor position of the magic tendril rather than bending or extending it from a fixed anchor point like she had been doing before.

    She spent a while like that, eyes closed and listening to the sounds of nature around her as she focused on moving the leaf with her magic. She started breathing harder and her heart rate rose a bit even as she sat there as she drained her magic low. But with how light the leaf was, she knew that she still had plenty of time before she actually became exhausted practicing.

    She kept going and after her legs felt rested and she was feeling good with her practice, she stood. She kept her eyes closed so she could focus on her magic as she stood there, keeping the leaf lazily drifting around her body in large loops as she slid the magic tendril¡¯s exit point all over her skin.

    She took a step and immediately lost focus and her tendril sent the leaf jetting away, causing it to break into pieces and fall to the forest floor. Ginny stood still again and dragged the tendril to her ankle and reached out her tendril to pick up a new leaf and then carried it back up to hover just over her right shoulder. She took another step and carefully moved the leaf around as she did so. She didn¡¯t drop it this time. Another step, she didn¡¯t drop it¡­ Another step, still good.

    And then she was slowly walking again, her eyes closed and her brow furrowed with concentration as she multitasked as she moved through the woods, avoiding roots and rocks with her blurry view of them in her magic sense as well as feeling it out slightly when she was unsure with her foot due to how slowly she was walking.

    Time passed in a blur as Ginny wandered the area with her eyes closed, her breathing gradually growing heavier and her lungs beginning to burn as her magic began to run low.

    ¡°Ginny! Ginny!¡±

    She opened her eyes and looked around. The sun was low in the sky, just the faint hint of orange tinting the horizon through the trees as the sun began to set. Ginny felt Molly standing on the front porch of the house with her magic sense. The way everyone¡¯s magic flowed and swirled was unique, so she could usually identify people pretty easily if she observed them for long enough.

    Ginny let the leaf float towards the ground still on her magic tendril and then started extending it out. She started panting and her heart beat faster as she used more and more of her magic. The leaf reached about ten meters from her before it felt like too much and Ginny released it and let the magic tendril dissolve. She took a deep breath and wiped her brow. Woof, all that practice had been so tiring! She¡¯d have to try to take it easy and do something a bit more mindless tomorrow.

    ¡°Ginny!¡±

    Ginny started walking back to the house, Molly¡¯s voice was starting to grow a bit worried.

    ¡°Ginny?!¡±

    ¡°Fine, Molly!¡± Ginny called out, ¡°I¡¯m coming!¡±

    The woman huffed in the distance, and after ten more seconds of walking Ginny spotted Molly with her eyes. She waved and walked towards the house. Molly looked her over with a critical eye, focusing especially on her mud stained knees and elbows as Ginny got close. Ginny blushed slightly. She had tripped a few times while she was walking with only her magic sense to guide her¡­

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    ¡°Come along, let¡¯s get you cleaned up then,¡± Molly said kindly and ushered Ginny inside. The woman took out her wand and with a few strange words and a few motions a blast of magic came out and washed over Ginny. She yelped and jumped in surprise as the wave of magic hit her, but stopped in surprise as the magic scrubbed her down and removed all the dirt and stains from the long shorts and shirt that she was wearing.

    Ginny¡¯s head spun as the magic finished its work and then dissipated, leaving her perfectly clean skin and clothes behind. Her skin felt a little raw like it had been scrubbed rather hard for a deep clean, but other than that she felt perfectly fine. That magic was so complicated! Would she be able to do something like that with her own magic some day? She hoped so.

    Dad got home and they had dinner. Ginny asked questions about his work, and he told her about his coworkers and all the unresolved cases that had piled up without him there. She hadn¡¯t quite realized but he didn¡¯t just work at the ministry department, but he was actually in charge of the whole thing. So even though his department seemed to not be considered that important by other people, he still was a fairly important person since he was the head of a department. Or at least that¡¯s what Ginny figured from how he talked about it.

    ¡°So how about you, Ginny?¡± Dad asked, ¡°What did you and your mother get up to today?¡±

    ¡°I went and explored the area around the house,¡± Ginny replied, ¡°I made sure to stay within the wards like Moll- Mom told me to. She cleaned me up with a single spell, I never knew that magic could be so convenient!¡±

    Molly sat up and her mood appeared to lift a little. ¡°Don¡¯t you worry Ginny, when you get your new wand I¡¯ll teach you all sorts of useful cleaning spells. That was the scourgify charm, but there¡¯s several cantrips that even a first year student can learn.¡±

    ¡°Oh, okay. Thanks, Mol-Mom.¡± Her excitement dampened slightly. She had sort of meant being able to do it freeform, but just learning how to do it on a wand did sound tempting. She scolded herself internally as the traitorous thought rose in her. No, Balthazar would be so disappointed in her if she cheated her studies. It would be harder at first, but he was a big scary demon. Well, intimidating. She didn¡¯t think she was actually ever scared of him. But if he wanted to be scary he easily could be. She was sure that he had high expectations for her, she didn¡¯t want to let him down if she could.

    It would be harder at first, but Ginny decided that she¡¯d do her best to avoid using a wand. She¡¯d only use it as much as she had to, and use her own freeform magic for the rest.

    The conversation continued, Molly now joining the conversation more and appearing to have cheered up a bit after Ginny expressed interest in learning the cleaning spells from her. Things were much more relaxed from there, an invisible tension that Ginny hadn¡¯t even noticed before breaking and letting them all calm down a little.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    The next month went much the same as that first day had gone. Ginny would wander around outside practicing her magic with the leaves. After two days of practice she was feeling good enough about her skills to try creating a second magic tendril and moving around a second leaf. The first time she did it it felt like she was breaking her brain, like patting her head and rubbing her belly at the same time, the two conflicting tendrils interfering with each other and making her jerk them wildly all over the place as they each held their respective leaves on their ends.

    Eventually she had to go back to sitting down to train splitting her focus. Oddly enough she felt her magic rush up to her brain as she concentrated, her head tingling the whole time she sat there trying to control both of the magic tendrils at once. It was strange, one moment she was struggling to do hardly anything and the next moment there was a soft pop and it was easy. She could now focus on both at once. Still difficult, but no longer impossible for her.

    The magic swirling in her head died down and receded back into the rest of her body. Had her magic done something to help? Maybe¡­ She rapidly improved after that. She didn¡¯t struggle nearly as much, and after the full month she was up to five independent tendrils at once with leaves attached to them swirling around her as she slowly walked around.

    Occasionally Molly would take her on trips to the market to buy produce or to follow along as they went to London or other places for her errands to break up Ginny''s routine.

    It was alright, but Ginny mostly just ended up standing around and not doing much as Molly did whatever her task was or bought the items she wanted. All the other children were at the Hogwarts school so there were no children for her to play with even if she wanted to. She had asked about non-magical children, but Molly had told her it wasn¡¯t safe to do that. Ginny wasn¡¯t really sure why that was, but Molly hadn¡¯t budged or explained so eventually Ginny gave up as it became apparent that she wouldn¡¯t be getting any answers.

    On the weekends they had gone on picnics and done a few other fun things as a family since Dad was not at work. It had been relaxing, practicing her magic, having Fawkes over for dinner whenever she could convince Dad and have him convince Molly for her. Mom. It was hard to think of her that way recently. Especially in the last week or so.

    Ginny felt herself frown as she remembered what she had heard last Saturday. She had been just about to fall asleep when she had just barely heard intense voices arguing downstairs. Curious, she had sat up and crept into the hallway in her nightclothes to the edge of the stairs.

    She ran over the memory again like it was happening again in real time in front of her.

    ¡° ¡ªStill nothing!¡± Molly¡¯s voice from out of sight downstairs said, ¡°No matter what I do, none of her memories will come back! She¡¯s changed so much, it¡¯s like she is a completely different person! I¡ª¡±

    ¡°Shhhhh, Ginny¡¯s sleeping upstairs,¡± Dad said in a fierce whisper. Molly immediately kept speaking at a lower volume even as she continued emotionally, ¡°Even the little things are different. The way she talks, how she walks. What dresses she likes. She used to be so rebellious and stubborn, real fierce like I was when I was her age. A little hellion. Now she¡¯s withdrawn, staring into the clouds all the time. It¡¯s like the life¡¯s just been drained out of her. Staring at enchanted objects and suddenly she''s one of the biggest little Ravenclaws that I¡¯ve ever seen with all of her questions about absolutely everything.¡±

    A short pause before Dad spoke, ¡°That¡¯s not fair to her. We all knew she¡¯d been changed from what happened. She¡¯s¡­ different. We both know that. Everything is new to her, of course she¡¯s a little withdrawn and curious about the world. You constantly prodding her about her memories isn¡¯t helping anything. We have to let things happen naturally.¡±

    ¡°But there was something! Those first few days, she said that strange name and panicked when I took the vegetables out of the oven, so much she had a burst of accidental magic. There¡¯s something buried under there, just waiting for the dam to break!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re seeing what you want to see!¡± Arthur said, sounding frustrated and audibly holding down his volume. Ginny remained frozen at the top of the stairs, listening intently to the conversation with her heart rapidly beating in her chest as she heard them argue about her.

    ¡°It¡¯s strange. But we¡¯ve argued about it enough," Dad continued, "We have no idea what it means, could be coincidences or a dream she had for all we know. It¡¯s been a month, if something like her memories returning to her all at once was going to happen then it would have already.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know that. There¡¯s still a chance.¡±

    ¡°Maybe¡­ maybe we have to accept that the old Ginny is gone. For now. If her memories come back then that¡¯s wonderful, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s going to happen.¡±

    ¡°But¨C¡±

    ¡°N-No, let me finish. The old Ginny may be gone, but the girl upstairs is still our daughter. We¡¯ve got to treat her as her own person, not whoever she used to be. Why do you think she still has difficulty in calling you mom? It¡¯s because you¡¯re not getting to know the new Ginny and clinging to the old one instead that¡¯s not¡­ not her.¡±

    ¡°Arthur Weasley,¡± Molly said and audibly puffing up, ¡°How dare you! With how much you¡¯ve been doting on her recently, no wonder she likes you! You certainly never did so before her incident, too busy with her job and her brothers. You never really knew the old Ginny and you¡¯re just guilty and making up for all that lost time now that she¡¯s gone!¡±

    ¡°I¡ª That¡¯s not true. It¡¯s because unlike you I¡¯ve accepted the facts! The best mind healers in the country are unable to heal her. I was there. As far as I¡¯m concerned. Ginny¡­ Ginny died down in that chamber. We¡¯ve got a new daughter to take care of, and you keep pushing and making her feel worse about herself because of something that¡¯s out of her control!¡±

    ¡°No, no. I won¡¯t hear it. Her memories will come back. She¡¯ll be our Ginny again.¡±

    ¡°She is our Ginny. It¡¯s you that isn''t seeing it. We can¡¯t hurt Ginny like this, trying to force her to be a person she isn¡¯t, can¡¯t be.¡±

    ¡°I¡ª I¡ª You¡¯re sleeping on the couch tonight.¡±

    ¡°Molly¡­¡±

    ¡°No, you¡¯re wrong. She¡¯ll be back. She will. Couch, now.¡±

    Dad sighed, ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll sleep out here. Just think about it, for Ginny¡¯s sake if not for me. You know that I¡¯m right.¡±

    There were heavy footsteps as the adults walked away from each other both frustrated and angry at the other. Ginny quickly crept back to her room before she could be discovered and slipped back beneath her covers. She sat there in the darkness staring at the ceiling, not feeling tired in the slightest anymore. Would everyone just be happier if she was the old Ginny again? Even Dad hadn¡¯t denied it, just said that it was impossible for it to happen. That wasn¡¯t the same as saying that he liked the new Ginny more than the old one.

    Ginny had thought about that conversation between her parents constantly for the last week. What did her brothers think? Would they somewhat understand like Dad, or wish her to be someone else like Molly?

    Today all four of her brothers would be coming home from school, their final exams done. Ginny and her parents had gone in the car and driven to the train station to wait for them to arrive. Platform nine and three quarters. It was such a strange place, her magic sense pulsing to cover the area. Yet the air of the place was absolutely thrumming with magic. More than just a normal enchantment. Sort of like how the hellish realm had felt but at a much lower concentration of magic.

    Ginny waited alongside her parents as the Hogwarts express pulled into the station and students began to climb out after a few minutes. The moment of truth, to see what her brothers would think about the new her when they finally got home and they fully realized that her memories hadn¡¯t returned¡­

 Chapter 17: Kidnapping

    Ginny watched as her brothers gradually filtered out of the train. First Percy, the oldest, approached and said hello and stood with them. Then the two twins next, laughing and talking with another boy. After saying one last thing that appeared to be a joke of some kind, the other boy laughed and went his own way. The twins came over with their luggage, their mood dropping rapidly as soon as they spotted Ginny standing there. Ginny watched another wisp of magic drift off one of their bodies and float over to the other and be absorbed. So interesting¡­

    The youngest, Ron came next and Ginny had to clench her fists and control herself as she spotted the grinning Eric Potter standing next to him. There was a bushy haired girl there as well, straight backed and looking rather smug as she said something. Eric Potter¡¯s eyes drifted over to the group as Ron spotted them and left his friends to reach them. He trailed after Ron as he made his way over and Ginny¡¯s knuckles grew white as she tried to control her irrational anger as she looked at him.

    Ron glanced nervously between the two of them as they drew close.

    ¡°Hey, Ginny,¡± Eric said, ignoring Ron¡¯s look, ¡°Just wanted to apologize. Have absolutely no idea why you reacted that way to me. Love and hate are closer than most people think, I guess,¡± He said as he gave her a wink. Dad shifted and his expression started to grow annoyed. Eric seemed to notice and turned back to her.

    ¡°Anyway, maybe read over my books if you want to know more about me. They¡¯ve really captured my heroic exploits I¡¯ve been on ever since I was a baby. I¡¯m sure you have plenty of those old books kicking around from what Ron tells me. Have a good summer!¡±

    He quickly turned around and started walking off, her Dad¡¯s hostile look following him.

    ¡°Arrogant prick,¡± one of the twins muttered, ¡°What kind of apology was that?¡±

    ¡°Language!¡± Molly said, ¡°Mind your sister.¡±

    The twin that had spoken looked at her. ¡°Sorry, Ginny. We¡¯ll teach you all the swear words later.¡±

    Ginny perked up, ¡°Thanks! I¡¯ve got to get some better ones for when I next see Dumbledore! Calling him a meanie didn¡¯t seem to work that well.¡±

    The twin laughed, ¡°Oh, yes. Now we just have to teach you¡­¡±

    ¡°Fred!¡± Molly said, ¡°You will not be teaching your sister bad words! What¡¯s wrong with you?¡±

    The twin looked at her and put a hand over his heart dramatically.

    ¡°Fred? Mother, I¡¯m George! You can¡¯t even recognize your own children?¡±

    A heavy atmosphere came over the group as Molly glared at the twin and he wilted slightly. He glanced at Ginny, ¡°Er, uhm. Yeah, I¡¯m Fred Mom. Sorry.¡±

    Molly huffed and the tension broke, ¡°If I hear you corrupting Ginny then you¡¯ll be in big trouble. The both of you.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Mother!¡± Both of the twins chorused while not looking deterred at all. After a few more seconds of everyone checking they had their luggage, they all made their way back to the car and piled inside. Ginny sat in the back with Fred on her right and Ron on her left. After focusing hard, she had been able to see that while very similar, Fred and George had slightly different magical flows. So she could tell them apart now even if it was much more difficult than most other people, and she knew that the one that had spoken before was definitely Fred.

    She startled a bit as she heard a soft squeak from her left. She turned and stared at the fat rat that Ron was holding. She hadn¡¯t noticed before, but its magic was very strange. Vibrant and flowing fast, more than any of the other animals she had seen before. She leaned in and started inspecting the rat closely with her eyes.

    ¡°Hey, Ron,¡± She said, ¡°I didn¡¯t know you had a magic rat! Can he do any tricks?¡±

    Everyone stared at her like she was crazy. ¡°Scabbers?¡± Ron said, ¡°He¡¯s not magical, he¡¯s just a normal rat. Percy had him while he was at school and gave him to me after he got an owl.¡±

    Percy turned around from the middle row. The interior of the car was expanded so there were three rows of seats, with Percy and George in the middle row and Ron, Ginny, and Fred in the very back, then Molly and Dad in the very front.

    ¡°Yes, I had him. Just a normal rat. Never saw him do anything magical when I had him.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯d you find him? Are you sure?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°He seems magical to me¡­¡±

    The rat squeaked and dove in the gap between the seats and the door, appearing frightened as Ginny kept trying to peer at it. She could still feel it with her magic sense, but she leaned back disappointed. Oh well.

    ¡°Speaking of magical creatures,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Dad, can we have Fawkes over tonight? It¡¯ll be fun to introduce him to everybody.¡±

    Dad was driving, and glanced at Molly briefly before facing forward again, ¡°If your mother agrees,¡± he said neutrally.

    ¡°Can we? We want to meet a phoenix!¡± George said excitedly as Molly opened her mouth. She twisted around to observe all her children looking at her with pleading looks. Even Percy, who was visibly trying to suppress his interest.

    Molly sighed, ¡°Fine, we can have him over. I¡¯ll have to make extra portions for the soup for him¡­¡±

    They kept driving, and Molly quickly changed topics and started interrogating the boys on how they had felt they had done on their final exams. Percy was proud in stating that he thought he had done well. Fred and George didn¡¯t seem as certain, but didn¡¯t seem overly bothered by that fact. Ron stayed silent and only gave short answers to Molly¡¯s questions, appearing to be nervous.

    No one talked to Ginny too much and she just sat there and listened as they talked. They seemed to mostly forget that she was there. They got home and everyone dispersed to put their luggage back away in their rooms. Ginny noticed that Ron¡¯s rat was simply put on the floor and scampered off on its own, Ron not even bothering to bring the rat back to his room. She was still sure that the thing must be magical somehow even if no one else seemed to know about it¡­

    They had dinner and everyone was properly amazed when Fawkes arrived and started eating the meal with them. The boys had wanted to see if they could touch Fawkes, but the phoenix said no when Ginny asked him.

    They were all very disappointed, and even tried to convince Ginny to let them do it anyway. But Ginny was firm. If Fawkes said so, then she couldn¡¯t just say otherwise. How would she feel if people started randomly poking her while she was having dinner? Yes, he got to decide. Ginny was just happy that he didn¡¯t seem to mind when she pet him. That was half the fun for when he came over.

    When dinner was over, Fawkes hopped back into the corner and burst into flames again to disappear and return back to Dumbledore again.

    Everyone talked for a bit, all the boys asking her all sorts of questions about Fawkes. Ginny happily told them everything she knew about him and told them about everything related to their familiar bond. It was fun, all of them were interested and asked her all sorts of questions.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    The next day, Ginny noticed that Scabbers the magic rat was sniffing around the kitchen. She walked over and leaned down to the floor to stare at the rat.

    ¡°Hello, Scabbers,¡± She said, causing the fat rat to startle and squeak, ¡°I know you¡¯re magic somehow. Can you understand me? Were you looking for food?¡±

    The rat sat there trembling and didn¡¯t do anything or move as she kept staring at it. After nothing happened, she stood and looked at a rat for another few seconds.

    ¡°I¡¯ll figure out what¡¯s going on with you, Scabbers,¡± She said to herself, ¡°You¡¯re definitely not a normal rat¡­ I¡¯ll have to go tell Ron you¡¯re hungry. He¡¯s the one that¡¯s supposed to take care of you.¡±

    She wandered off and after telling Ron about Scabbers went outside. Fred and George were out there flying around on brooms.

    Upon seeing her staring at them, they landed as one.

    ¡°Hey, Ginny! Want to come join us? We saw you sneaking to practice on the broom last summer, so maybe you¡¯ve still got it?¡±

    ¡°I did?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°I¡¯ve never seen those things before. You fly around on brooms?¡±

    The brooms looked old and rickety, but she could see that they were absolutely brimming with enchantments. It must be like Dad¡¯s car, each little piece enchanted before they put it together.

    Their faces fell a little, ¡°Oh, right. You really don¡¯t remember anything still?¡± Fred asked.

    Ginny shook her head, feeling a little awkward. ¡°Sorry, no. Nothing before the last month or so¡­¡±

    George clapped Fred on the shoulder, ¡°Hey, we¡¯ll teach you properly this time! Brothers teaching little Sis how to fly like us Quidditch pros!¡±

    ¡°Quidditch? What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a game you play on these brooms. Biggest sport in the wizarding world! We¡¯ll have to play a game later if we can convince more people to play with us.¡±

    A few minutes later, Ginny had a broom in her hand and the twins were circling around above her watching. She mounted the broom and felt its magic humming beneath her. She kicked off the ground and felt all sorts of complex enchantments activate. The enchantments kept the broom in the air and her butt firmly in the center of the stick beneath her so she wouldn¡¯t fall. There was another enchantment on there too so it wouldn¡¯t be so uncomfortable sitting on it.

    ¡°Yeah, just lean into it, and you¡¯ll go that way!¡± Fred called out from above. She followed his lead and leaned forward slightly and shot forward. She leaned to the side and twisted to the side.

    ¡°Whoa! Sis, you¡¯re going so fast! Wicked.¡±

    Ginny twisted again and the broom followed her. Her magic sense gave her a perfect view of where she was even as she twisted and turned while jetting around on the broom.

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    Ginny went for another sharp turn and felt the enchantments suddenly strain and sputter as the broom shuddered beneath her. Before she could react, the enchantments were overloaded and the broom began spinning like a top in circles as the stabilizing enchantments stopped holding her from tipping. She whipped around and descended towards the grassy ground in an uncontrolled crash. Just before she hit, she remembered her magic and extended a panicked spike of magic into the ground beneath her.

    There was a wet thump as her tendril hit the ground and flexed to push down on it. But her magic didn¡¯t push back and lift her up with the opposite force like if it was her hand as she had expected it to, so she continued and hit the ground at full speed.

    She was thrown from the broom and rolled for a few feet after a hard impact on the grass. She lay there groaning as her whole body felt like a big bruise.

    ¡°Ginny? You alright?¡± Fred called as he approached from above on their brooms. Ginny rolled over and sat up, and winced as she felt her shin. It was all scraped and bruised from the impact along with her arms. Her dress was slightly ripped and muddy all over. Ginny looked at the dress in disappointment. This one was her favorite so far, hopefully Molly would be able to fix it with one of her spells¡­

    She inspected her scraped arm. ¡°I¡¯m okay,¡± She said, ¡°Maybe I went a little too fast¡­¡±

    Fred laughed as his feet touched the ground a few feet away, ¡°Hah! You¡¯re a natural, seems like you¡¯ve still got the muscle memory at least.¡±

    Ginny stood and brushed herself off and looked at the broom sitting on the ground looking muddied but unharmed behind her, ¡°The broom is fine? Why didn¡¯t it break?¡±

    ¡°You think it¡¯d be a goner after one bad fall?¡± George said as he landed next to Fred, ¡°It¡¯ll take a lot more than that to break these old things. Wait, are you bleeding?¡±

    Ginny looked at her shin and lifted her dress slightly to look. There was a long thin scrape running up her leg that was bleeding a bit.

    ¡°I''ll have to go ask Molly for help, I think she knows some healing spells¡­ And to fix my dress, it¡¯s my favorite one¡­¡± Ginny said as she checked herself for anywhere else she might be bleeding or scraped.

    She looked up as they didn¡¯t say anything and saw they had awkward expressions on their faces.

    ¡°Molly?¡± Fred asked.

    ¡°Yeah, Mom,¡± Ginny clarified.

    ¡°But you called Dad Dad,¡± George said, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you doing the same for Mum?¡±

    Ginny shrugged uncomfortably.

    The twins shared a glance, but didn¡¯t press further and they all started walking back towards the house.

    ¡°She wants the old Ginny back,¡± She said suddenly, ¡°From before I lost my memories. Not who I am now. That¡¯s why.¡±

    Neither of the twins responded and they fell into silence as they went inside. Molly bustled over as she spotted them from where she was standing in the kitchen.

    ¡°Ginny! What happened? You¡¯re bleeding. Fred and George, what did you do?¡±

    ¡°We were just showing her how to fly on a broom. She¡¯s a natural,¡± Fred said, ¡°She took a turn too hard and wiped out.¡±

    Molly fussed and inspected Ginny and she stayed still as Molly looked her over. Molly started casting a few spells and Ginny¡¯s cuts and bruises began to slowly fade. After a minute or so the cuts were healed and Ginny¡¯s bruises were there but not massive painful blobs anymore. Molly blasted her with a scourgify charm to remove all of the dirt as well.

    Molly looked up from Ginny to glare at the twins, ¡°What were you thinking, taking her for something like that? She could have been even more hurt! You can teach her after she¡­¡±

    Molly paused.

    ¡°After I what?¡± Ginny asked.

    ¡°Nothing, dear. Your brothers just have to be more careful.¡±

    Ginny glanced at the twins who were looking between her and Molly.

    She looked back at Molly and reached down to show the rip on the lower part of her dress. ¡°Can you fix it, Molly? It¡¯s my favorite one.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure? You used to love that blueish one with the little flowers quite a bit. Have you tried that one yet?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Molly. I like this yellow one much better.¡±

    ¡°Hmph. Well, go and get changed and bring it back. I¡¯ll need some time to make sure I have some time to focus on my spellwork so I can fix it.¡±

    Ginny left and changed into something else and ended up handing the damaged dress over to Molly for her to repair later.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny slowly opened her eyes, knowing that something was off. She shifted in her bed and focused on her magic sense to scan her surroundings. She relaxed as she realized what had woken her up. Ron¡¯s magical rat had just entered her room and was pattering towards her bed. Did she have any food in here? Had the rat smelled something on her? She shifted under her covers, deciding to wait until the rat left. And tell off Ron later. He should make sure that his rat wasn¡¯t running all over the place and into other people¡¯s rooms¡­

    The rat was five feet away and had stopped moving. Ginny waited to see what would happen, and to her horror the rat¡¯s form bubbled and twisted until it assumed the form of a hunch backed man! She sat up and screamed urgently, pulling on her familiar bond with Fawkes. The other end twitched weakly. Oh no, Fawkes must be asleep!

    Ginny saw the hunched man raise the wand in his hand towards her in the darkness, his whole body hidden by the darkness of her bedroom. The tip of the man¡¯s wand began to glow with a bright white light and Ginny saw his magic flowing into the wand as he prepared to cast a spell at her.

    Fawkes'' side of her familiar bond twitched, harder this time. But the response was still sluggish, he must still be waking up, he wouldn¡¯t be here in time. Ginny¡¯s mind raced as the white light grew brighter and brighter as the spell was almost ready to fire from the wand.

    She struggled, but her arms were trapped under the sheets and the man¡¯s wand tracked her even as she struggled to get away. He still hadn¡¯t said a word. Finally, Ginny¡¯s frantic thoughts snagged on the last person who might be able to help her.

    ¡°Balthazar!¡± She screamed, ¡°Help!¡±

    The strange man flinched and looked around even as the spell stayed charged on the end of his wand, not shooting out just yet. But Ginny could see that he wasn¡¯t feeding any more magic into it, he could fire it at her at any moment. And then who knows what it would do.

    The man chuckled as nothing happened. ¡°Ha!¡± He said, speaking for the first time, ¡°Now time for the snip snip of your memories. Can¡¯t have any of you too suspicious of the family rat after all¡­ I¡¯m just a normal rat¡­¡±

    Ginny saw his arm tense as he prepared to cast at her and then the next instant she was splattered with hot fluid. She spat as her mouth suddenly tasted metallic as some of what she suddenly realized was blood splattered into it.

    She screamed in surprise and tried to scramble back as quickly as she could, but still was getting tangled in the bed sheets.

    She saw through her magic sense that the strange man had dropped his wand to the floor, his spell winking out as soon as the stick left his fingers. Piercing through his back and sticking out of his chest was the blade of an enchanted sword made of bone. Ginny wiped the blood from her eyes and saw that her room was lit up in a bright red glow as the sword was withdrawn from the strange man¡¯s back with a wet snick. Behind him carrying the blade was a strange creature with a shifting crimson portal flickering behind it.

    It looked like a human covered in pitch black spiky metal armor all over its form. It even had interlocking metal gauntlets and armor from head to toe. But at its head the helmet was open to reveal the lower half of its face. Instead of a human face, it revealed massive insect mandibles.

    It clicked and buzzed as it stood there motionless, the bloody enchanted sword made of bone in its hand. Ginny looked at the weapon and saw that it was covered in glowing red runes like nothing she¡¯d ever seen before.

    The bug person ignored Ginny and turned to the wheezing man on the floor, slowly bleeding out and weakly trying to reach for his wand even as his skin rapidly began to pale from the blood loss.

    The bug person clicked and chittered again and reached out an armored hand towards the prone form of the man. Its hand almost touched the man, moving fractionally downwards¡­

    And then suddenly golden strings lanced into Ginny and she couldn¡¯t control herself anymore. Her body raised its hand and her magic twisted and blew the armored insect man backwards away from the strange man that had tried to attack her.

    The bug person was about to crash into the wall of her room, but suddenly a series of whitish runes lit up over its armor and its momentum stopped on a dime and it looked like it was hovering frozen in the air for a single instant. The runes disappeared and the creature dropped to the ground with a loud crash.

    The bug person landed on one knee with its bone sword held at the ready in both hands as it stood and let out a buzzing and clicking noises.

    ¡°Soldier of Beyond,¡± Ginny¡¯s mouth said, ¡°You have no place here. It is not this man¡¯s fate to die so soon. Return to your realm of origin or be destroyed.¡±

    Ginny felt her magic churning as her body floated above the covers and stared down the bug person. The whole upper side of its head was covered in metal with only a few small holes scattered over it so she couldn¡¯t even tell what the bug person was thinking.

    Suddenly in a burst of flame and a loud cry, Fawkes appeared in the center of the room. Ginny¡¯s body raised her arm towards the bug person. ¡°Fawkes, attack the intruder!¡± Her mouth said.

    Fawkes didn¡¯t hesitate, diving down with his claws extended towards the armored figure as he flew. The bug person ducked and with a single strong strike from the flat of its sword sent Fawkes flying into the wall with a crash. Fawkes crumpled to the ground. Ginny tried to scream, to look at Fawkes to make sure that he was okay. But her body was too busy finishing the spell it had been weaving while the armored figure was busy dealing with Fawkes. The armored figure leapt forward not towards Ginny, but towards the prone man that was still moving weakly on the ground, his fingers weakly pushing away his wand as he struggled to grab it through the pool of his blood below him.

    The armored figure launched forward in one big leap and with a white flash stopped its momentum directly in front of the dying man. It reached down and in a single blur of movement grabbed him by a leg and gripped hard with its gauntlet. The whole armored figure¡¯s body twisted in a circle and he flung the strange man by his leg into the crimson portal it had come from at high speed. The man wheezed weakly as he flew, only to disappear in an instant as he flew through the portal.

    ¡°Fawkes, Attack!¡± Ginny¡¯s mouth screamed and Ginny was able to notice out of the corners of her eyes that a beaten and battered phoenix was getting to its feet, flapping its wings to hover but looking like it was taking him a lot of effort to do so. Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion.

    Ginny struggled as she realized what was about to happen. The golden strings were going to get Fawkes killed so they could have time to finish whatever this complex spell was that it was forcing her to build! No!

    Ginny thrashed and internally screamed and her magic stuttered. The being puppeting her body instantly refocused the magic for the spell, and the golden chains elsewhere in her loosened slightly. Ginny kept trying to mess up the magic spell as she realized how to save Fawkes.

    ¡°Stop it!¡± Ginny¡¯s mouth growled, ¡°You are. Mine! I will put things back in their proper place!¡±

    Ginny saw Fawkes slowly rise and start to extend his claws towards the armored figure that was turning towards the glowing red portal. He was about to dive. The golden chains were so focused on defending from Ginny¡¯s attempts to disrupt the massive spell that when she suddenly shifted focus, they were caught unprepared.

    ¡°Fawkes! Don¡¯t do it! Get back!¡± Ginny managed to scream before the chains shifted again and reasserted control.

    ¡°No, attack now! I fdlsakjiope- attieospaji!¡± Ginny fought for control and managed to turn the golden chain¡¯s words into nonsense. Fawkes paused and aborted his attack and decided to instead swoop towards Ginny. The golden chains reasserted control over her, but it was too late. Fawkes had already abandoned his attack and the armored figure was sprinting towards the portal and about to dive through.

    ¡°No!¡± Ginny¡¯s mouth shouted, ¡°Die, Intruder!¡±

    Her magic came to a point and quickly gathered between her hands into a glowing yellow ball. In a flash, the ball shot out and impacted the back of the armored figure as it was a foot away from the portal. It let out a high pitched inhuman scream as bolts of lightning washed over its metal armor and it started spasming. But it kept moving and its momentum carried it fully through the glowing red portal, which shrank and snapped shut behind it.

    Ginny¡¯s body shuddered and twitched as she felt her magic go lower than she¡¯d ever felt it go before.

    ¡°No, NO!¡± Ginny¡¯s mouth screamed in frustration, ¡°I need him! I¡¯ll find you if it¡¯s the last-¡±

    But even the golden strings weren¡¯t enough, as her body¡¯s trembling grew out of control and her magic spluttered and cut out and dropped her back onto her bed below. The golden strings tightened and pulled, trying to make her move, to speak again. But her body couldn¡¯t take it anymore and began to shut down. As the golden strings seemed to realize that it was futile, they retreated and left Ginny as herself again.

    She lay there, feeling everything fading around her and barely able to move. She felt Fawkes sitting above her, chirping and trilling in concern as he peered down at her. She dimly felt something wet hit her face. She blearily looked up and saw that liquid was falling out of Fawke¡¯s eyes and falling onto her.

    She dimly remembered something that her dad had said when discussing what Phoenixes were and their magical properties a few weeks ago. Phoenix¡¯s tears had great healing powers, able to heal almost any ailment¡­ And it wasn¡¯t enough. Ginny felt better, but she still felt weak and the world was still dimming around her.

    ¡°Bye¡­ Fawkes,¡± She managed to say before she finally fell unconscious with the phoenix crying above her.

 Chapter 18: Cutting the Strings

    Ginny opened her eyes and immediately knew that she was back in her body made of mud. The bone crown remained on her head, she could feel it. Balthazar was standing there looking at her calmly, and she was back in the same room as she had appeared in before.

    She looked back through the door behind her that she knew would let her return to her real body.

    ¡°I would suggest not going so soon,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°What is done is done.¡±

    She looked back at him, ¡°What do you mean? What if I¡¯m hurt? I should go back just in case.¡±

    ¡°The time of danger has already passed,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°Time moves strangely here relative to your world. It has already been hours at least in your world since you¡¯ve arrived here. Your body is fine and is being treated by the healers of your world at the moment.¡±

    ¡°You can watch my body?¡± Ginny said, suddenly concerned, ¡°Could you always do that?¡±

    Balthazar shook his head, ¡°Don¡¯t you worry about propriety, I would never do such a thing. But it was only when you called for assistance that I was given the ability to see you in your world. When you return feel free to revoke this privilege.¡±

    ¡°What¡­ What happened? What was that creature?¡± Ginny asked as she unconsciously put her hand on her chest where the armored figure¡¯s blade had impaled the strange man that had been disguised as Ron¡¯s rat.

    ¡°It was one of your other subjects,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°A warrior who I sent to your defense. Once the hostile was incapacitated, your subject worked to capture the prisoner to determine his true intentions or if he was working with others for this attack. Despite the interference of Fate in possessing you.¡±

    ¡°So that man¡¯s alive?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Didn¡¯t that bug person stab him? He didn¡¯t look very healthy when he went through that portal¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, he is perfectly fine, if imprisoned. With the healing spells available to magical beings, one must be decisive in your attacks. Once he was through the portal, only a few seconds of casting by myself healed him back to almost perfect health again.¡±

    ¡°Where is he now? Did you figure out why he attacked me? Why he was pretending to be my brother¡¯s pet rat?¡±

    Balthazar shook his head, ¡°We have not had enough time. After restraining and imprisoning the man, I came straight here to greet you. I will let you know if he gives us any useful information as soon as I know.¡±

    ¡°How did that soldier person come to my world? I didn¡¯t realize that was even possible.¡±

    ¡°Yes, we can create portals across realities. But it is very expensive. Feel the air of this place with your magic sense.¡±

    Ginny did so and was surprised to find that the usual magic in the air was severely depleted, at less than half of the strength it had been at the last time that she was here.

    ¡°Unfortunately, we will not be able to create such a portal again for a long time. Several of your years at least. There¡¯s a reason you are not transferred here physically each time you come. Your current form is much cheaper to maintain for this realm.¡±

    Ginny looked down at her arms formed of the black mud for a moment before looking back at Balthazar.

    ¡°What happened with the golden chains? Fate, you called it? They- They controlled me as soon as that soldier appeared. I could barely resist it at all¡­ Is there anything I can do to stop it?¡±

    Balthazar was silent and thoughtful for a few seconds before he responded, ¡°Fate is a very powerful entity that resides in your reality. She has a very particular way that she likes things to be, and works very hard to keep them that way. She has been flexible with you since you¡¯re a native to her world, and a child of prophecy as well. An intruder from another reality on the other hand¡­ She will eliminate them with all her means. She can¡¯t plan around things that she can¡¯t control or predict. She¡¯s one of the reasons your reality has so few visitors from other realities. Visitors that survive that is. With Fate¡¯s meddling all the natives quickly grow hostile to any visitors and root them out and force them to leave as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°If she¡¯s so powerful then why didn¡¯t she just blast that soldier herself?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Why did she possess me and hurt Fawkes to do it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s quite the opposite problem, Ginny. Fate is not the only powerful entity in your universe. Any direct action by her is too important to ignore. Acting through you was the only way to make sure that anything she chooses to do isn¡¯t immediately undone or even worse by someone else of equal power as her.¡±

    ¡°Can I stop her from doing it again?¡± Ginny asked hopefully, ¡°I don¡¯t want to be possessed again like that. It was horrible, and she made me tell Fawkes to put himself in danger just because she wanted to finish casting a spell.¡±

    ¡°There is one way¡­ But it is dangerous.¡±

    ¡°What? What is it?¡±

    ¡°We have an artifact here that will make you invisible to entities like Fate. All of them. But it could draw negative attention. Fate is still trying to include you in her plans right now, even if she¡¯s being rather unpleasant about it. If you put on the artifact then it¡¯s unknown how she might react to it. If you put it on you¡¯d have to make sure it never came off for any reason even for a second or you¡¯d be in serious danger of Fate seeing you again and doing something drastic.¡±

    Ginny stopped and seriously thought about it for a few seconds. But, what was really the difference in making Fate angrier with her? Fate had already almost killed her once, who knew if she would do it again if Fate wanted to? Ginny didn¡¯t want to live wondering when she might be randomly possessed all the time.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± She decided, ¡°What is it? Is there anything I have to do?¡±

    Balthazar reached out and held his hand palm upwards. Ginny felt magic swirl within him and an image appeared above his palm, slowly rotating around. It was a necklace. It had large sharp claws strung along a silvered chain in a circle. At the very bottom of the necklace was a silver inset with a big red gem with a dark interior that swirled even as she looked at it through the image. She gulped slightly as she looked at it.

    ¡°How am I going to manage to keep that thing on all the time¡­¡± She wondered out loud.

    Balthazar chuckled and closed his palm into a fist and the image disappeared, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You can turn it invisible and activate an enchantment so you won¡¯t be able to feel it. It will take much of the remaining energy of this place, but I can send it to your physical body once you decide to leave this place again. As soon as you see it appear, grab it, put it on, and inject some of your magic into the central red gem. And remember, never take it off even in the direst of circumstances. Do you understand?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Balthazar. As long as Fate can¡¯t come in and control me again.¡±

    ¡°Good. Now, with all of that out of the way. I thought we could do this gradually, but it seems you are coming here more often than you are intending to. I have delved in our archives and discovered the method from which you can voluntarily leave or enter this place at will. I will attempt to teach it to you now. Just keep in mind when you come here that your body will be left unconscious in your world as it has been previously. If you wish, you can come here while you sleep in the future and even set automatic triggers to draw you back to your body. Such as certain amounts of time passing, movement nearby, and other similar things. How does that sound?¡±

    ¡°Sounds great!¡± Ginny said, ¡°I can learn magic from you even while I sleep? How does it work?¡±

    ¡°Very well, first feel your crown. You must swirl your magic in certain ways to trigger it, then do the following¡­¡±

    Balthazar guided her through it, drawing a large scroll from his robes and checking it occasionally before they moved on to the next step. Eventually, Ginny thought she¡¯d figured it out mostly. But it was a little scary since she couldn¡¯t actually do anything Balthazar was telling her about since it would actually cause her to leave this place early.

    Balthazar had her repeat the steps she needed to do to come back here several times, correcting her where she made a mistake. Finally after Balthazar was satisfied that she knew what to do, he nodded firmly and rolled up the scroll and put it back in his robes. Ginny felt the urge to go towards the door out of here growing stronger even now.

    ¡°The Chains of Fate,¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Can you see them? Pulling on me?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Hopefully for the last time after you put on the necklace.¡±

    ¡°Hopefully.¡±

    ¡°Goodbye, Ginny. Hopefully you will return soon. Remember what we discussed, make sure your body is safe before you risk coming here again.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Balthazar. And thanks for saving me from that man that attacked me. I don¡¯t know if I said it or not yet.¡±

    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    ¡°It¡¯s no problem at all, it¡¯s my duty to protect the King- Queen. Protect the Queen.¡±

    ¡°Thanks either way. Okay, I¡¯m going to do it now. Hopefully it works¡­¡±

    Ginny moved her magic in the patterns Balthazar had shown her and started the steps to make her leave this place without even using the door. She went through the whole thing and pushed through the last step. Then waited. And waited.

    ¡°Baltha-¡± She managed to say before everything dissolved around her in an instant and she was back in her own body again.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Arthur woke to the sound of crashes and the loud cries of a bird. It took a full second for his mind to connect the bird cries to the Phoenix they had been having over for dinner for the last month. The crashes continued and he heard Ginny screaming and shouting from her room. He rolled out of bed and grabbed his wand, Molly still sitting up and looking confused besides him. He stepped out with his bare feet on the floor and burst out of the door with his wand held at the ready. He frantically tried to remember what spells he should use in battle, but in his panic couldn¡¯t think of much besides using a stunner and shield charms.

    He had never been very good at Defense against the Dark Arts in school, and he hadn¡¯t had much cause for dueling since then. He ran towards Ginny¡¯s room where Ginny was loudly shouting at something while an unearthly crackle hummed throughout the house. He ran forward, wand held at the ready and saw that there was a bright light shining out from under Ginny¡¯s door. Ginny shouted again and there was an electric crackle and the smell of ozone that wafted into the hallway, and suddenly the red light from under the door winked out in an instant.

    Arthur frantically pawed at the door handle, his sweaty hands slipping off of the handle as he tried to open it in a hurry. After swearing briefly, he managed to burst inside. The room was trashed, a large crater splintering the floor on one side and books and objects strewn all over the place. There was a perfectly smooth hemisphere that was removed from the wall like it had been scooped out cleanly with a spoon.

    There was a massive pool of blood staining the floor closer to the bed and a discarded wand. Arthur looked around looking for the intruder, but there was no one there. They seemed to be gone.

    His eyes finally focused on Ginny. Oh, Ginny. He heard Molly rushing up from behind and the rest of the boys stirring in the rest of the house. Fawkes was sitting above the body of his little girl, crying over her limp form. She was sprawled out on the bed with her eyes closed and taking shallow breaths. Her face was deathly pale, each of Fawke¡¯s tears darkening her complexion for a moment before she started paling again.

    Molly came up behind him and paused and gasped as she reached the door. Arthur turned to her.

    ¡°Stay with her, I¡¯ll go to St. Mungo¡¯s for the healers!¡±

    Not waiting for her response he brushed past her and sprinted downstairs towards the fireplace, huffing and puffing as he did so. He was out of shape and could feel his heart pumping just from running for a couple seconds. He went to the fireplace downstairs and fumbled to grab a handful of the floo powder and stumbled into the fireplace, throwing it down as he did so. ¡°St. Mungo¡¯s!¡±

    He stumbled out of the fireplace a second later and turned to the woman at the front desk.

    ¡°Help! I need healers, my daughter¡¯s been attacked!¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Arthur stared at the comatose Ginny at St. Mungo¡¯s with the sleeping phoenix sitting on her chest. It had been over two days and she still hadn¡¯t woken up again.

    ¡°Peter Pettigrew? That¡¯s who attacked my daughter? I thought Sirius Black killed him?¡± He asked Amelia Bones. She was the head of the Auror department and was personally managing the case. The Ministry considered it an attack on him, the head of a ministry department, no matter how much most looked down on his department.

    ¡°So we thought,¡± Amelia Bones admitted, ¡°It was Peter¡¯s wand, his blood left at the scene of the attack on your daughter. Our Investigators have confirmed it. He was supposed to be dead over ten years ago now, killed at the end of the war. I¡¯ve found some irregularities with the paperwork of Sirius¡¯ Black¡¯s trial. There¡¯s almost nothing written down about the facts of the case anywhere. It may be some kind of a cover up to conceal his survival.¡±

    ¡°But why attack us? My daughter? I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    Amelia cleared her throat and Arthur looked at her. She looked uncomfortable.

    ¡°What? What is it?¡±

    ¡°Sirius Black¡¯s sentence. For the murder of Peter Pettigrew. It was approved by Albus Dumbledore, ranking member of the Wizemgott. Can you think of something that has changed recently in your relationship with him?¡±

    ¡°What? Surely you aren¡¯t saying¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not saying anything. But weeks after your daughter creates a familiar bond with the Phoenix, this happens? An attack from a man that Dumbledore signed off as dead ten years ago? You know how much our traditions value the sanctity of true familiar bonds. Any legal case Dumbledore has to keep the phoenix is dead in the water and he knows it. It¡¯s already considered offensive to some that the Phoenix has been kept away from the girl for this long. Especially when bonds with such a powerful beast are so rare.¡±

    Arthur frowned. To think he would be supported by the likes of Lucius Malfoy and the other dark pureblood families of all people. He had wrestled with the situation internally, but seeing Ginny and Fawkes together had made him decide to keep pushing. If he had to be temporary allies with the likes of Lucius Malfoy then so be it, he couldn¡¯t imagine how devastated Ginny would be if she could never see her precious Fawkes again.

    He let Amelia¡¯s statements swirl through his mind for a moment.

    ¡°No. Dumbledore wouldn¡¯t do that. Despite our recent differences,¡± He said. But the seed of doubt was planted, and Arthur kept mulling over the theory in his mind as he stood there watching the healers continue to cast spells on the comatose Ginny.

    ¡°It was just a thought. I honestly can¡¯t come up with another plausible theory for why this would happen now or why your daughter specifically was targeted,¡± Amelia said, ¡°At least one that makes sense to me. We¡¯ll find out the truth when we talk to Sirius Black. We¡¯re just lucky that that Phoenix came in time and fought off Pettigrew before he could do any more harm. Fought him off rather effectively given how much blood was left behind at the scene.¡±

    Arthur looked back to watch Ginny.

    ¡°Well. I¡¯ll let you know when we have more,¡± Amelia said slightly awkwardly before walking off.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Amelia¡¯s discussion with Sirius Black was informative. They had to take a long break after the man was thrown into a violent rage after learning that Peter Pettigrew was still alive. But other than that, things went smoothly and Amelia was told the true course of events.

    Peter Pettigrew was the one who was the secret keeper to the Potter¡¯s home, not Sirius Black. The secret keeper who was the only one that could allow Voldemort to find their home on the night that they were murdered. The fidelius charm their house was under could not be found by anyone unless the secret keeper directly informed someone of its location. Everyone had thought that this person was Sirius Black, but according to him it was actually Peter Pettigrew.

    Sirius Black had not been questioned after his arrest, he had never been given a trial. He had simply been thrown in Azkaban into prison to rot. For ten years. Amelia was pensive as she left the interrogation room. This case was sprawling bigger than she had ever imagined it would. Sirius Black, traitor, could be innocent? The real traitor out in the world free for this whole time unnoticed by the Ministry?

    Should she consult Minister Fudge about her findings before going to the public? She could only delay for so long. There were a few leads to chase down still, but the last one was Dumbledore. There were no written records of the events that happened all those years ago, but from what they could find there had been no court date filed for anything resembling a trial for Sirius Black for his crimes.

    If she went to Fudge first, he may suppress, downplay the news. He was a political animal, and would avoid any kind of controversy like the plague. Even now he was working damage control to keep the news of Peter Pettigrew¡¯s survival suppressed.

    No, she owed it to Arthur. Despite their best efforts Pettigrew had escaped clean with the Ministry completely unable to track him down or even find out where he had been for these last ten years.

    She called a press conference to announce her findings without consulting Fudge first. She waited a few hours for the last of their immediate leads to be exhausted of course. But then she was done and had the papers in front of her. She walked up to the podium with all of the eager reporters and crowd of important people gathered below waiting. Fudge had tried to dissuade her from having the conference ¡®so soon¡¯, but Amelia had denied him. He was the Minister, but she had a duty to present her findings for a case as important as this.

    Seeing her unwilling budge on the issue, Fudge had backed down and had been frantically scurrying around and preparing for the fallout from her announcement for the last two hours.

    She took a deep breath and looked over the crowd. She saw Lucius Malfoy, the heads of most of the pureblood families scattered in the crowd towards the back. In the front was the more undisciplined press with their cameras and murmuring as they speculated on what her findings would be on the attack on Arthur Weasley¡¯s family.

    ¡°Many of you may be wondering about my findings on the attack on Mr. Weasley and his family,¡± Amelia began and the murmuring crowd died down as they focused on her, ¡°But we must begin earlier. Ten years ago, to be precise, to get a full understanding of this case. Bear with me for a while, it will be relevant to the recent attack¡­¡±

    Amelia ran through her findings on Sirius Black¡¯s trial and his claims that Peter Pettigrew was the one that betrayed Lily and James Potter to Lord Voldemort, not him. She had to stop several times as the crowd was in an uproar. Even the heads of the pureblood families were shocked and looked furious as she continued through the evidence she had gathered proving that her claims at least had some merit to them.

    Finally, she had finished and began answering questions from the reporters, the heads of the pureblood families in the back shifting but unwilling to break ranks and deign to ask a question in public as if they didn¡¯t already know something. To preserve their pristine images they so desperately worked to cultivate.

    Amelia answered the reporters questions as well as she could, occasionally shutting them down if it was part of an ongoing part of the investigation. The reporters were furiously writing and sending their pages of notes flying off through the air, off to their editors almost as fast as they could write them.

    But finally after long last the key question was asked.

    ¡°Madame Bones,¡± A woman with her hair in a tight bun and wearing thick glasses asked as she stood, ¡°This is quite the revelation to us all. But what does this have to do with the attack on the Weasley family?¡±

    Amelia took a deep breath, ¡°All of what I have said so far is groundwork for what I say next so that everyone knows its importance. At the site of the attack, which left Ginny Weasley, Arthur Weasley¡¯s daughter, in a coma¡­ was left behind a wand and a pool of blood.¡±

    The crowd shifted, confused by her seeming change in topic.

    ¡°These objects were tested. The blood as well as the wand were tested thoroughly, and there can be no doubt any longer¡­¡±

    The crowd were on the edges of their seats, hanging on her every word.

    ¡°Peter Pettigrew is alive, and is the one who perpetrated this most recent attack.¡±

    There was silence in the crowd for a single moment as everyone processed the revelation. Then the room exploded into a pure wave of noise, even the heads of the pureblood families now standing and shouting out questions. The final revelation breaking any thoughts for propriety any longer. With so many people knowing, there would be no suppressing the news now. If Fudge was smart he wouldn¡¯t even try.

    Amelia just hoped they would be able to capture Pettigrew before he struck again. Who knew what his true motives really were for a traitorous man like that?

 Chapter 19: Putting on the Necklace

    Ginny opened her eyes and looked down. Fawkes was resting next to her on the bed, looking like he was asleep. She was in the hospital again, the whole place dark and quiet. It must be night time. She looked up as she saw a reddish portal twice the size of her fist open up just above her. The bone necklace with the red gem that Balthazar showed her before fell through and dropped towards her, the portal closing behind it just after it went through. She reached out and caught it before it hit her. She glanced at Fawkes, but he didn¡¯t move.

    She stared at the massive red gem with darkness swirling inside of it. The large teeth and bone strung along the exterior of the silver chain. Was she really going to put it on? Wear it forever? But then she remembered losing control of herself, and decided to go through with it. She injected her magic into the red gym and lifted the necklace and after sitting up put it over her head.

    Her long red hair was caught under the chain and she reached out to pull her hair out and over it so the chain would rest against the back of her neck. The gem hung down and sat heavy on her chest as the bone bits poked her skin and caught on her hospital gown.

    Hadn¡¯t Balthazar said that there would be¡­

    Her magic was flowing through the necklace and suddenly there was a click in Ginny¡¯s mind and she could feel the necklace like it was a part of her. Just like how the crown had felt while she was in Balthazar¡¯s realm.

    She explored the feeling of the necklace. With a flicker of her will, the necklace shimmered and slowly disappeared from sight, the bright red gem by her chest disappearing last. The bony bits were still uncomfortable, and Ginny activated the second enchantment and over the course of the next minute the necklace suddenly shifted and moved until it felt weightless, only the tiniest amount of pressure on her skin where it sat. She reached up and grabbed where she could feel and her hand passed through the place where she knew the necklace¡¯s chain sat. It was intangible.

    She let out a sigh of relief as the necklace gently hummed with magic, sitting there protecting her. Now all she had to do was keep it on forever or some unspecified super horrible thing might happen to her. No problem at all.

    The door opened and a man in healer¡¯s robes poked his head in, looking like he was trying to be quiet about it. Ginny met his look as he was startled as he saw that she was awake.

    ¡°Hello,¡± Ginny whispered so she wouldn¡¯t wake up Fawkes, ¡°I¡¯m awake now.¡±

    The man nodded, seeming stunned and closed the door again. He went outside and Ginny heard some whispering outside as he spoke with someone else that was walking by. Over the next five minutes or so, Ginny watched through her magic sense as the healers started moving quicker and moving about more as news seemed to spread that she was awake.

    An hour later, her family arrived all at once through the floo. They immediately came up and entered her room. They were all rather emotional and happy that she was awake and seemed fine. They did wake up Fawkes from his sleep though with all of their noise. After his initial excitement at seeing that Ginny was awake again, he curled back up again and fell right back asleep, ignoring the noise around him as Ginny talked with her family. It was the night of three days. They told Ginny about all sorts of things about the man that had attacked her. Peter Pettigrew.

    Everyone thought that he was on the run, just barely escaping after losing his wand after getting blasted by her accidental magic. Ginny knew that Balthazar and her other¡­ subject? Soldier? Had actually captured him and threw him through the portal to the other realm. She could probably convince everyone that Balthazar and the other realm were real at this point. She had the necklace that she could show them, and all of her freeform magic that she apparently shouldn¡¯t be able to use so easily.

    But did she want to? Maybe it would just be best to keep it to herself for now. It was good that the government was looking for Pettigrew. Maybe they could find out why he had attacked her and if he was working with anybody.

    When the Aurors came she just claimed to not remember much besides the words that Pettigrew had said and that he had turned himself into a rat to sneak in. The Aurors got very excited when she told them that, apparently it wasn¡¯t something they had known. Turning into animals was very hard apparently. Animagus? That¡¯s what they called people who could do it. They guessed that Peter must have replaced the real Scabbers sometime after Ron left the Hogwarts express train at King¡¯s cross Station in order to sneak into their house through the wards.

    Ginny had to talk around why she had thought that Peter was a magic rat without actually telling the Aurors about her magic sense. But the Aurors didn¡¯t seem too suspicious and accepted her disjointed bumbling explanation at face value of just having a vague ¡®feeling¡¯ that she didn¡¯t have any reason for the feeling at all.

    The Aurors left and Ginny spent more time with her family.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°Surely she can wait until she¡¯s old enough to be responsible? Be reasonable Arthur, I doubt you wish to be responsible for caring for a phoenix as well as your other children.¡±

    ¡°Dumbledore, you know how much I respect you. But I can¡¯t budge on this. You¡¯ve forced us to this point. All she wants is to spend time with Fawkes, all this talk of ownership and custody¡­ She doesn¡¯t care, and frankly I don¡¯t either so long as the Phoenix can visit her as he wishes to. Why can¡¯t you budge on this point? It would resolve all of this in an instant.¡±

    Dumbledore frowned at Arthur, ¡°That phoenix is dangerous. It¡¯s irresponsible for the bird to be around a child without me there to restrain him in the case of an incident. As I¡¯ve said before, I¡¯d allow visits with written permission from myself for her. But I can¡¯t allow her to summon my phoenix from my own study whenever she is in the mood to do so.¡±

    ¡°And what about Pettigrew!¡± Arthur snapped, ¡°Ginny almost died, even with Fawkes there to protect her! If you had your way, then Ginny would be dead. You told us all that that man was dead, and he was alive this whole time? An animagus? Why should my daughter have to ask your permission to see her friend?¡±

    ¡°You overstate things. She will be disappointed, but will recover when given something new to focus on.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s you that¡¯s wrong Dumbledore. You haven¡¯t seen them, she¡¯s more attached to that bird then she is to anyone else in our family. Including me.¡±

    Dumbledore blinked, seemingly stunned by Arthur¡¯s admission.

    ¡°Truly? That much?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Must we proceed with this court case then? Can¡¯t we come to a reasonable agreement?¡±

    Dumbledore stood there for a moment, stroking his beard before nodding to himself.

    ¡°Very well,¡± He said, ¡°I will sell the Phoenix to you. I bought him for eight hundred galleons, so I expect the same price for him in exchange.¡±

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Arthur stiffened. How dare he? He knew their financial situation, they barely had enough money for tuition and school supplies let alone anything like that.

    Dumbledore noticed his glare, ¡°Now, don¡¯t think me cruel. I will accept a loan. A no interest loan even. I will give you the phoenix up front, and you will pay me back where you can until you have reached the full amount.¡±

    Arthur puffed up to protest and even raised a finger to point at Dumbledore, before pausing and considering the deal. That was more money than their family had seen in years. But didn¡¯t he owe Ginny at least this much after everything they had let happen to her? Memories erased from who knows what happened to her down in the Chamber of Secrets, the attack by Pettigrew¡­ Arthur didn¡¯t like being in Dumbledore¡¯s debt. But it was probably the best deal he was going to get.

    He sighed and lowered his finger, ¡°Very well,¡± He found himself saying, ¡°I suppose that would be acceptable.¡±

    ¡°Excellent. I will have my lawyers draw up the contract and we can put this nastiness behind us.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Dumbledore walked off and Arthur watched him leave. He was under no illusions of what the debt meant even if it was technically ¡®interest free¡¯. In the Ministry he would have no choice but to bend to Dumbledore¡¯s whims or risk being forced to make an ¡®early payment¡¯ of his debts. He had worked for Dumbledore and his goals out of his own convictions before, but¡­ now he knew that no matter what he believed there would no longer be any disagreement. Not for as long as the debt was hanging over his head.

    Arthur snorted slightly. All his political positions would remain the same, it¡¯s just now he knew that Dumbledore was not the benevolent old man that Arthur had thought him to be. What was he complaining for? He had worked with Lucius Malfoy of all people to push through this court case to the point where Dumbledore had felt threatened enough to offer that compromise to him.

    He could deal with working with people he disliked. Even if he had hoped that Dumbledore wouldn¡¯t be one of them. Arthur received the contract from Dumbledore¡¯s lawyers a few hours later and had his own look it over. It was clean, exactly what he had discussed with Dumbledore with no loopholes.

    Arthur worried about how they would afford to feed the voracious phoenix when they were so poor already¡­ But then had a thought and asked his lawyers to check his idea. They came back and seemed slightly amazed that he was correct. Arthur smiled and signed the contract. Seems that true familiars were given special consideration in the Hogwarts charter. When Ginny went to school in the fall¡­ It was required that her familiar be housed and fed to its satisfaction while she was learning there.

    His family could afford to buy a little extra food over the summer. It left his mind clear as he handed the contract over his lawyers to notarize. He was just glad this was all over for now.

    Speaking of which, it was already nearly the end of July. They would have to decide what was to be done about Ginny¡¯s schooling. Despite everything, it was a discussion that must be had with Dumbledore as the Hogwarts Headmaster¡­ He¡¯d give it a week to settle before the contract was signed to let some of the bad feelings bleed away before scheduling the meeting. And he¡¯d have to get Ginny her wand, he was sure she¡¯d be excited to be able to do some proper magic for the first time in her few months of memory.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny scrunched her nose as the old man Olivander put wand after wand in her hands. He muttered and seemed quite confused as she didn¡¯t respond to any of the wands he had available.

    Eventually he stopped and stood there, rubbing his chin and looking her over thoughtfully.

    ¡°Hmmm. A difficult one,¡± He eventually said, ¡°First one in five years that hasn¡¯t responded at all to any of my normal wands.¡±

    Ginny spoke up, ¡°I heard that there are wands made of phoenix¡¯s feathers, right? I¡¯m Ginny Weasley, the girl who had the phoenix familiar. Do you think it¡¯s¡­ because of that? Does my wand have to be made out of his feathers?¡±

    Olivander snapped his fingers and his eyes lit up, ¡°Ms. Weasley, that¡¯s exactly it! I knew, but overlooked it. Ah, I was overcomplicating it of course. Your idea makes sense. If you bring a feather he willingly gives to you, then I can quickly make a custom wand for it to be housed in.¡±

    ¡°Will this be expensive?¡± Dad asked from behind her nervously.

    Olivander waved him off, ¡°Ah, not at all. Standard price is seven galleons as you know. Point of pride, you know. Not many other wandmakers can compete with my prices. Since you¡¯re providing the main core material, I¡¯ll consider it even with the extra work I¡¯ll do to create it. The core material, such as unicorn hair, phoenix feathers and the like are the most expensive parts. When it¡¯s ready, the price will still be seven galleons.¡±

    Dad let out a sigh of relief, ¡°Well, that¡¯s a relief.¡±

    Olivander nodded, ¡°Well, after you have the feather, simply come back while the shop is open to give it to me. It should take about a week after that before the wand is ready. I¡¯ve already determined your wood and wand length from how the other wands have responded so far. Far too weak for any of them to act as a true wand for you, but enough to determine your magic¡¯s preferences¡­¡±

    ¡°Thank you, sir,¡± Ginny said.

    ¡°You''re most welcome, Ms. Weasley. See you soon.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny stared at her new wand as Molly and Dad waited with her in front of the family fireplace. She had gone to visit Balthazar when she slept nearly every day now. They hadn¡¯t done too much, mostly just more telepathy practice with the room with the floating metal balls. Balthazar was gradually speeding up his throws and getting her to deflect multiple at once. It was harder than controlling the leaves had been since she had to create a magic tendril, grab the ball, then push it away gently in a short time, which took a lot of focus.

    The leaves she had just held in place with her magic tendrils and moved around herself, so it had been a little easier. But Ginny was improving slowly under Balthazar¡¯s guidance. Balthazar had been very dismissive of her using a wand, but grudgingly admitted that she could be using one so long as she didn¡¯t become too reliant on it.

    The fireplace in front of them lit up with green flames and the three walked through and entered Headmaster Dumbledore¡¯s office. Ginny didn¡¯t like him very much, but Fawkes was living with them full time now so maybe he wasn¡¯t all bad¡­ She should try to be polite since he was the Headmaster of the school she would be going to soon. Or that¡¯s what her parents kept saying before they had come here.

    ¡°Ah, Arthur, Molly. Molly, it¡¯s been a long time since we¡¯ve spoken¡­¡± Dumbledore began after the three of them sat opposite of his giant desk in the cluttered office. The adults continued politely discussing their lives and how they were doing as if Dad and Dumbledore hadn¡¯t just been in a big legal battle less than a month ago. But eventually, Dumbledore turned to her.

    ¡°How about you, Ms. Weasley? Are you enjoying having Fawkes staying with you?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s good,¡± Ginny said a little reluctantly, ¡°We got Fawkes a perch in my room. He sleeps in there with me all the time. It¡¯s nice, he¡¯s like a heater keeping things nice and toasty.¡±

    Dumbledore chuckled politely and glanced at her parents, ¡°I suppose he does have that purpose, I did have to have some cooling enchantments on my office while he was here so my possessions wouldn¡¯t be so damaged by him¡­¡±

    Ginny frowned, but Dumbledore quickly moved on without stopping.

    ¡°But we are not here to talk about the past, but the future,¡± Dumbledore finished.

    ¡°Now,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°Technically you have already been through your first year of Hogwarts, despite your memory loss. Before we begin I¡¯d like to ask what you think, Ms. Weasley. Would you like to return to this school as a second year? Or start anew as a first year?¡±

    Ginny held up her wand that was in her hand. ¡°But I don¡¯t know how to cast spells through a wand yet. Wouldn¡¯t I be behind everyone else?¡±

    Dumbledore nodded, ¡°You would. I do not recommend it, but it is possible if you work hard to catch up before the end of your school year. I am required to give you the option, the rules did not account for a situation quite as severe as yours.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d rather be a first year,¡± Ginny said honestly, ¡°Everything¡¯s new to me either way. ¡±

    ¡°Very well. You¡¯ll be resorted during the opening ceremony and be admitted as a new student to our school. Good luck on the new beginning of your magical education.¡±

    There was a moment of silence as no one said anything.

    ¡°Ah, I am not used to meetings this short,¡± Dumbledore said cheerfully, ¡°A breath of fresh air, in fact. Is that all, or is there anything you¡¯d wish to discuss? Molly, Arthur?¡±

    Her parents shook their heads, ¡°No, thank you Headmaster Dumbledore,¡± Dad said, ¡°We appreciate the help.¡±

    Dumbledore¡¯s easy smile dipped fractionally, but he nodded back at Arthur.

    ¡°Not at all, not at all¡­¡±

    The three of them walked back to the fireplace and after a few more steps were back home. The green flames in the fireplace shut down behind them.

 Chapter 20: The Train

    Ginny heaved her luggage upwards to try get up the steps of the train. She thought she had it, but then the edge of her bag got caught on the sharp lip of the metal step. In frustration, Ginny sent a tendril of her magic and lifted the case slightly so it wouldn¡¯t be as heavy. She got it over the lip and finally got it in the train.

    She saw that Molly and Dad were staring at her, seeing her brief struggle and small pileup of other students waiting to enter the train. Ginny waved to them and they waved back. Then she was in the train. She made her way towards the back where the first years would sit.

    Luckily, she hadn¡¯t brought Fawkes with her on the train. He would teleport to Hogwarts once she was there, there was no need to have him wait on the train with her for so long. Or scare off any potential new friends she could make. People were staring at her enough as she made her way back through the compartments with the third and fourth years. There was one absentminded looking blonde girl in blue robes that looked hopefully at her for a few seconds before frowning and looking away as Ginny looked blankly at her. Had they been friends before she lost her memories?

    Ginny made her way to the back of the train where there were individual compartments on either side. Most of them were full. She had to go all the way to the back before she found a compartment that was free.

    There was a boy in there with a muggle newspaper and a pencil, writing letters in a series of boxes. She opened the door and poked her head in, ¡°Is this compartment free?¡± She asked, startling the boy who had appeared focused. His brown eyes met hers and he looked confused for a moment. He had very dark skin, darker than Ginny had seen on somebody before. Most of the people she¡¯d seen so far were pale, although not quite as pale as her or her siblings usually. Balthazar¡¯s skin was bright red, she wondered what other colors of skin people could have. Hmm...

    ¡°Oh, yeah!¡± He said, ¡°It¡¯s free, come on in. You need help with your luggage?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯d be great,¡± Ginny said in relief. Her stupid arms were so weak, and even with the boy¡¯s help they had some trouble lifting it and putting it away in the compartment above.

    They sat back down and stared at each other for a few seconds as she sat down across from him.

    ¡°Never thought I¡¯d be wearing a dress,¡± He said suddenly to break the silence. She blinked and looked down to her school robes. Her mind churned for a second before it came together for her.

    ¡°Oh, are your parents non-magical?¡± Ginny said, ¡°Are you used to wearing muggle clothes?¡±

    ¡°Muggle? Er, yeah. Whole thing¡¯s new to me by the way. I¡¯m Jack by the way. Jack Anverts.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Ginny. Ginny Weasley. Muggle''s are what magicals call non-magical people. What were you doing with the paper?¡±

    Jack looked down and then back up at her, ¡°Doing the crossword. You want to help? I was stuck on five across¡­¡±

    ¡°Sure, what¡¯s the clue?¡± Ginny asked as she stood and went around to sit next to Jack. He flushed slightly, but handed her his pencil and tilted the paper so she could see.

    ¡°Just says ¡®seafood¡¯. Five letters.¡±

    Ginny looked at the crossword and scrunched her brow. Five letter word that was seafood. There was an ¡®I¡¯ already filled in the second to last slot from one of the other words, but otherwise the other boxes were empty. Ginny came up blank for a few seconds before the answer came to her.

    ¡°Oh, I know! Squid. Look.¡±

    She wrote it down and filled the boxes.

    ¡°Oh! Thanks,¡± Jack said, ¡°That looks right. I think I might know what seven down is actually. Have you done any crosswords before? That was quick.¡±

    Ginny opened her mouth and then paused. Where had she seen a crossword before? How had she immediately known the rules, she couldn¡¯t remember seeing one before. Her Uncle had played them often on Sundays hadn¡¯t he? But she didn¡¯t have an uncle she knew, let alone one that would read muggle newspapers. Her head throbbed as something pulsed in the back of her mind. Something was there just waiting to break free.

    ¡°Ginny? You alright?¡±

    Ginny shook her head as the memories sank back down into the depths. They had felt closer that time, like they were almost at the surface and ready to emerge. Was that something she wanted? To return to how the old Ginny was with current Ginny tacked on top like some extra flavor? How could her few months of memories compare to over eleven years of her old self¡¯s memories? Would she still be her if the memories returned?

    ¡°Ginny?¡±

    She shook her head again and looked at Jack, ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m fine, Jack. No, my first time. Just surprised I figured it out so quickly I guess.¡±

    Jack looked impressed. ¡°Your first time? Wow, that was fast. Took me a bit for my dad to get me to understand how it all works the first time he showed me.¡±

    ¡°Is it fun?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Seems hard.¡±

    Jack shrugged, ¡°I dunno. I always did them with my dad all the time. Doesn¡¯t usually take him more than a couple minutes to solve. He¡¯s really good at them. Figured on my own it would kill an hour or so maybe.¡±

    ¡°Huh. You want to do it together?¡±

    ¡°Sure. Still got about half of it left. You see any from the ones left¡­¡±

    They solved the crossword together, Ginny getting rather stumped after her initial success. Out of the five remaining words she only solved one more while Jack did the rest.

    Jack put the crossword and paper back on the table and put his pencil on top of it and quickly put it away back in his luggage.

    ¡°Did you read the paper?¡± Ginny asked Jack, ¡°Or did you just want the puzzle?¡±

    ¡°Just the puzzle,¡± Jack said while shifting in his seat, ¡°The train hasn¡¯t started moving yet, do you think¡­¡±

    The door opened up slightly and a girl¡¯s head popped in, looking rather frazzled. She had black hair and looked slightly tanned like she had been out in the sun. And not had her skin blister out in sunburns like Ginny did the first day when Molly had forgotten to apply the sunscreen spell to Ginny in the morning. Ginny turned to look to the door to see the new girl, not at all surprised and having noticed the girl approaching and peeking in all the other compartments as she went along with her magic sense.

    ¡°Hello? Do you have room?¡± The girl asked, ¡°All the others seem to be full.¡±

    Jack shared a look with Ginny.

    ¡°Yeah, come on in,¡± Jack said, ¡°Need help with your trunk?¡±

    ¡°No, thanks,¡± The girl said, ¡°I¡¯ve got it.¡±

    She came inside and lifted up her trunk and put it in the upper compartment in one smooth motion. Ginny eyed her arms that evident muscle tone to them. She compared it to her own weak twigs of arms. The other girl took the seat opposite of them and sat with a huff.

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t believe it,¡± She complained, ¡°I checked nearly every compartment before this one. They were all full or filled with nasty people hoping to be in some Slytherin place when we get to school. Honestly, no idea why they had to be so rude.¡±

    ¡°Slytherin house?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°That¡¯s one of the four. I wouldn¡¯t go there if you can, they don¡¯t like people with non-magical parents too much.¡±

    The girl straightened, ¡°What? Why? What¡¯s the big deal, we all got magic right?¡±

    Jack was looking at Ginny expectantly too, and she realized what she had just gotten herself into. She would just have to remember her Dad¡¯s explanation to her after she had been confused about the Auror¡¯s dismissive comments about the ¡®muggle-born¡¯ when they were hanging about after questioning her about Peter Pettigrew.

    ¡°I¡¯m Alexandria Adams by the way. Most people just call me Alexa,¡± The girl said after Ginny didn¡¯t answer.

    ¡°Ginny Weasley.¡±

    ¡°Jack Anverts.¡±

    ¡°So Alexa, Jack. How¡¯s it been in the magical world so far?¡± Ginny asked to quickly distract from the earlier question.

    ¡°Oh? Are your parents magical?¡± Alexa asked, ¡°What was that like?¡±

    Ginny shifted uncomfortably, ¡°It was fine,¡± She said, ¡°Lots of spells, enchantments all over the house¡­ All my older brothers went to Hogwarts, so I know some stuff about the school from what they¡¯ve told me.¡±

    ¡°Brothers?¡± Alexa asked, ¡°How many? I have a little brother. He¡¯s only like four, so nobody knows yet if he¡¯ll develop magic like me though.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m an only child,¡± Jack supplied, ¡°Always wondered what it¡¯d be like to have siblings.¡±

    Ginny cleared her throat, ¡°Six. I¡¯ve got six older brothers.¡±

    Both of them stared at her in surprise. ¡°Six?!¡± Alexa gasped, ¡°That¡¯s so many! And you¡¯re the only girl? That must be so strange for you growing up.¡±

    Ginny shrugged. She didn¡¯t really remember any of it¡­

    ¡°Oh, so you really must know all about Hogwarts then,¡± Jack said from Ginny¡¯s right, ¡°From all your brothers telling you things.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s this big castle. It¡¯s thousands of years old. It was created by the four founders of Hogwarts¡­¡±

    Ginny told them what she knew and the three of them kept talking as the train lurched into motion and started moving across the countryside. After a few minutes it started raining outside rather heavily and the sun was shrouded by heavy clouds and thunder.

    A cart with sweets came by and Alexa and Jack both bought some. Ginny tried to not to be too suspicious when they asked her if she was sure she didn¡¯t want to buy something. She didn¡¯t have enough money. She was guilty enough after she¡¯d learned that Dad had put their family in debt to Dumbledore just so Fawkes could come and live with them¡­

    ¡°Oh, did either of you get an animal?¡± Alexa asked, ¡°I got a toad. Isn¡¯t he so slimy and cute?¡±

    She reached to her side and lifted the toad that looked thoroughly unimpressed to eye level. She squeezed it slightly and it gave out a small croak while its eyes were bugged out. She put it back down next to her on the seat and the toad didn¡¯t appear to move, just sitting there passively.

    ¡°Ah, now my hands are dirty,¡± Alexa said as she looked between her slimy hands and the candy in front of her. She settled with wiping her hands on her robes for a few seconds before seeming to declare it good enough and unwrapping another piece of candy and popping it into her mouth.

    ¡°Are toads even supposed to be slimy?¡± Jack asked curiously, ¡°I thought that was frogs.¡±

    Oh! Ginny knew this one!

    ¡°They¡¯re magic toads,¡± She said, ¡°That slime they make is useful in a lot of potions. So over time people bred them to make more slime.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Alexa asked, ¡°So normal toads aren¡¯t supposed to be slimy?¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s frogs,¡± Jack said, ¡°They breathe through their skin so they have to be covered in water all the time. Toads live on land so they can be dry if they want to.¡±

    ¡°They do?¡± Alexa asked, ¡°Frogs and toads aren¡¯t the same?¡±

    ¡°No, they¡¯re completely different species,¡± Jack said, ¡°Although I don¡¯t know how that would work with magic. I got an owl, thought it would be useful for sending mail home. What about you Ginny? What did you get?¡±

    ¡°Oh, you know, I got a bird too,¡± Ginny said vaguely.

    ¡°Oh, an owl?¡± Alexa said, ¡°Should I have gotten one? They do sound useful, will I not be able to send mail home without one?¡±

    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    Ginny shook her head, ¡°No, there¡¯s school owls you can use, they¡¯re just old and take longer than if you use your own owl,¡± She said.

    Suddenly the train lurched and Ginny felt it grind to a stop.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Jack asked, ¡°Why¡¯d we stop?¡±

    ¡°Hey, is anyone feeling cold?¡± Alexa asked suddenly started rubbing her arms. Ginny looked at the window and saw that the window had begun to frost over.

    Ginny felt a terrible sense of dread wash over her, like everything in the world had become duller and drained of color. She noticed that all of them were shivering now, their breaths coming out in big plumes of white mist.

    ¡°W-W-What¡¯s ha-happening?¡± Jack managed to get out as the temperature kept dropping. Ginny turned as she suddenly heard a rasping breath from the corridor outside. She tried to extend her magic sense, but it was distorted and twisted, like even the magic was diverting from whatever was standing outside of their door.

    The handle to the compartment was pushed down and opened to reveal a tall cloaked figure. It reached up and Ginny saw that it had long skeletal gray fingers that reached out to finish pushing the door all the way open. Its deep hood fell back and revealed a featureless dome of gray skin with no eyes, ears, or nose. There was only a ring filling the bottom half of its face like the mouth on a leech that even now was breathing in deeply even as Ginny sat there frozen.

    She tried to tug on her familiar bond with Fawkes, but nothing happened. She was frozen in fear, even the bond to Fawkes completely motionless and leaving her unable to call for help.

    She managed to move her eyes and saw that Alexa and Jack were frozen as well. The hooded figure moved inside and Ginny saw that it didn¡¯t have any legs, its torso fuzzing into the trailing black cloak with nothing beneath as it floated there.

    The creature was looking at Ginny now and its breaths grew deeper.

    ¡®What a specimen of suffering,¡¯ a rasping voice spoke in her head, ¡®A feast. The lower the lows, the greater the highs. Feed them to me. Let me see them all!¡¯

    The gray figure drifted closer and the sucking vacuum of its mouth grew louder and the world around Ginny grew even more drained and hopeless. She felt all the happiness, the comfort that Fawkes, the good moments with her family, all of them grew distant and faded.

    The creature paused, its suction stopping for a second and the happiness bled into the world of despair and hopelessness for a moment. Its posture was surprised, and Ginny gasped in relief as the drain stopped.

    ¡®No, there is more. The suffering is locked. Your highs are weak, shallow. Must know the suffering to sweeten the flavor¡­¡¯

    The figure raised its skeletal gray hand towards her, fingers splayed outwards, ¡®Remember the Suffering!¡¯ It said gleefully in her head.

    Ginny twitched as every bad memory she¡¯d had in these last few months washed over her. When Fate had possessed her, when Dumbledore had threatened her, when Molly hadn¡¯t fully accepted her after it became clear that her memories wouldn¡¯t return.

    ¡®No! There is more! Remember the Suffering!¡¯

    Ginny thrashed weakly and everything outside of her body felt meaningless, pointless to even look at. She knew it was there, that her body was spasming and groaning while being shrouded in the deathly cold of the grave. But she couldn¡¯t care, her mind too busy running through all of her worst moments in her short life over and over, one after another.

    ¡®The dam, it weakens! Ah, the sweetness! I can almost taste it already!¡¯ The figure crowed in her mind, ¡®Remember the SUFFERING!¡¯

    With one final blast, something in Ginny¡¯s mind shattered and all her memories came flooding back. Harry Potter, being beaten by his uncle, starved, locked in darkness. Hoping for release, for comfort, for help, and being ignored and scorned at every turn. Betrayed and left for dead after he finally thought that his suffering was over.

    ¡®Yes! Yes! Remember the Suffering!¡¯

    She ran over every horrible thing that had ever happened to Harry. Every blow, every mean word, every day locked in the closet without meals as a punishment from his aunt and uncle.

    ¡®Remember the Suffering. We¡¯re almost there. So close!¡¯

    The terrible memories rose like a growing tidal wave in her mind, swirling and bubbling with pressure as they prepared to overwhelm her. But in the chaos there were still a few prickling sources of light. Everything good that had happened since she had become Ginny in the last few months. Fawkes, A real family that cared about her. The freedom and wonder of being able to use her magic. Balthazar helping her, and teaching her. Giving her approving smiles when she did something right.

    As her mind plunged into overwhelming pain and darkness, the memories blazed like blinding stars as she clung to them desperately.

    ¡®Yes! Yes, cling to them! Ah, so sweet. I must resist, wait until the memories are ripe¡­¡¯

    Ginny registered the voice, but didn¡¯t understand the words. In all the horrible memories washing over her, she was too busy clinging to the light in hope that it might save her.

    ¡®Ah, so beautiful¡­ I can¡¯t wait any more! I must partake!¡¯

    Suddenly Ginny¡¯s stars began to rapidly fade, dimming as one to shimmering embers in moments. She scrabbled and tightened her fist around them, but no matter what she did they kept fading.

    ¡°Expecto Patronum!¡±

    ¡®No! Almost there! I must finish, even if the Ministry will banish me!¡¯

    ¡°Expect Patronum!¡±

    ¡®Gah! Foul wizard-!¡¯

    The sound of the breath stopped and the voice in Ginny¡¯s head disappeared. But she barely noticed, curling up into a ball and shivering as all of the memories of Harry washed over her. Maybe it was better to forget¡­

    ¡°-nny? Ginny?¡±

    She looked up dumbly to see a thin faced man wearing a ragged coat standing above her looking worried. His face was sallow and thin, as if he was starved and he was hunched as if the tattered coat on his back was a protection against the world.

    The man reached out to his jacket and pulled out a wrapped chocolate bar and unwrapped it. He broke off a piece and held it out to her. She was still lying on her side on the seat curled into a ball, looking sideways up at him.

    ¡°Would you like some chocolate?¡± The man said, ¡°It helps after Dementor attacks, I¡¯ve found.¡±

    Ginny sat up and silently took the chocolate and started nibbling on it. It did make her feel a little better as she did so, only biting off a little crumb at a time. Ginny¡¯s mind raced as she stopped shaking and the waves of emotions she was feeling started settling down.

    She had lived a¡­ past life? As Harry Potter? But not the one she had imagined from what people had said, nothing at all like the books she had found in her room. The ones that the old Ginny had been so obsessed with. The more she thought about the memories, the more confused she became. Who was she? Ginny Weasley? Or Harry Potter reborn?

    Her confusion grew by the moment until with a ripping sound, her mind ripped in two. Now there were two parts of her warring for control in her mind. Harry Potter, and Ginny Weasley. Harry Potter was older with his years of life and memories, and carried a sort of desperation to truly experience life for the first time after hope had been taken for him so many times before.

    Ginny struggled to fight him off, but her memories while mostly happy, were few and weak. It was so hard to remember the small fragment that was Ginny in the sea of Harry¡¯s memories swirling around her. But as they struggled for supremacy, the personification of Ginny against Harry¡­ Harry saw her life over the last few months. Her bond with Fawkes, and family. And then he let go and stopped its assault on her. She paused, uncertain what was happening as Harry¡¯s personification drifted away in her mind. She watched slightly confused as it started to fade away and disperse.

    ¡®Live for me,¡¯ the last fragment of Harry whispered as it started to fade away, ¡®Live the life that I¡¯ve always wanted. Make friends, be happy, be with a family that cares about you¡­ And get revenge on Eric for me. You¡¯re already doing so much better than I would in your place¡­¡¯

    ¡®No, Harry. Don¡¯t go!¡¯ Ginny¡¯s personification thought at him, realizing what he was doing.

    ¡®This is for the best, Ginny. You don¡¯t need me dragging you down. If I killed you for this body, I¡¯d be no better than the Dursleys. No better than Eric. I hope¡­ Remember me. Please. No one else will. This is my choice. Goodbye, Ginny. To your best life.¡¯

    ¡®No, Harry please!¡¯ Ginny cried, suddenly desperate to stop him. They had been fighting like animals fighting over a piece of raw meat for control over their mind only moments ago and now he just gives up like this? Why would he do this? He should, they¡­

    But Harry had already faded, and the collection of memories that was Ginny solidified. Her mind and memories rearranged themselves, all of Harry¡¯s memories becoming faded and distant like they¡¯d happened to someone else. Ginny¡¯s memories sharpened and cemented themselves in place as the primary ones.

    Harry was dead, and only Ginny remained.

    She opened her eyes and was surprised to find that tears were streaming down her face as she sat there and took another small bite of the chocolate held between her hands.

    She glanced at Alexa and Jack in embarrassment as she lifted her arm to her face to wipe away her tears. But she saw that they had chocolate and looked sniffly and had big red puffy eyes too. They must feel horrible from the Dementor attacks. The ragged man was still standing there, handing out more squares of chocolate whenever one of her new friends ran out. They were going through them much quicker than she was.

    ¡°W-What were those things?¡± Jack asked, ¡°Why did it attack us?¡±

    The man frowned, ¡°I¡¯m Remus Lupin by the way. For your question, Dementors. Guards of the wizards prison of Azkaban, that¡¯s what those creatures are. They feed on joy and happiness, they are quite the foul creatures. With a certain Peter Pettigrew still on the run¡­¡± Lupin eyed Ginny for a moment, ¡°The Dementors were supposed to search the train for him with their powers. Not attack you. Only to search. They will also be guarding the boundary of the Hogwarts grounds in case he tries to sneak in in the future as well.¡±

    ¡°Those things are going to be guarding our school?!¡± Alexa said, ¡°That¡¯s insane! After one just attacked us, did some weird magic on Ginny¡­ I thought that Hogwarts was supposed to be safe?¡±

    Lupin coughed awkwardly, ¡°Ah. Safe as far as the wizarding world goes,¡± he corrected, ¡°What was this? The dementor used some form of magic? Ginny, what exactly happened?¡±

    Everyone turned to her and she shifted in her seat and took another bite of chocolate.

    ¡°T-The Dementor was talking to me. It wanted to make me feel horrible so my good memories would taste better¡­¡±

    ¡°And it did more than wait? It actively used magic on you?¡±

    ¡°Well, uhm. It kept chanting ¡®Remember the Suffering¡¯ over and over and I felt even more horrible each time. It felt like a spell¡­¡±

    Lupin¡¯s face stiffened, ¡°I see,¡± He said, ¡°I¡¯ll have to alert the Ministry. Using its magic is extremely draining for it. If it did so to you then its intentions must have been¡­ But it doesn¡¯t matter either way. Now, here¡¯s the rest of the chocolate bar,¡± Lupin put the half unwrapped bar on the table in the center of the compartment, ¡°I¡¯ll go to talk to the conductor to see if we can start moving again. Make sure to eat it one chunk at a time. I¡¯ll be back soon.¡±

    None of them said anything, all three silently eating their chocolate as a group. Ginny was feeling a little depressed about Harry, wondering if she could have done more to stop him from letting himself fade.

    ¡°We¡¯re definitely friends now, right?¡± Jack said. Alexa and Ginny looked at him in confusion.

    ¡°Well, we¡¯ve been through bad stuff together. It¡¯s like soldiers. We got to be best friends or hate each other now. At least what my grandfather said about his buddies in the War.¡±

    ¡°Well I definitely don¡¯t hate either of you,¡± Alexa said, ¡°That was so horrible! Does that make us friends then?¡±

    Ginny thought about Harry¡¯s last words. Making friends.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Ginny said firmly, ¡°We¡¯re friends now. Now we got to find your toad, Alexa. I think he hopped off somewhere while we were all recovering.¡±

    Alexa whipped her head around sending her black hair whirling every which way around her.

    ¡°Oh no! Caesar? Caesar, where¡¯d you go?¡±

    Jack snorted, and Alexa looked at him. ¡°What?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Caesar? Really?¡± Jack said, ¡°For the toad?¡±

    Alexa scanned the compartment and suddenly her eyes lit up. ¡°Ah ha!¡± She said before leaping forward and throwing herself onto the floor. She reached out and grabbed the toad that was hiding in the crack between the chair and the door. She rolled over and sat back at her seat, her robes looking scuffed and slightly dusty as she held her toad in both hands in front of her.

    Caesar let out a sad croak and looked rather put upon as Alexa presented it to the both of them.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have you know that as toads go, he¡¯s quite regal,¡± Alexa said to Jack in a fake haughty tone.

    ¡°Want to feel his slime?¡±

    Jack and Ginny hesitated as Alexa just kept Caesar there, waiting for their response. Ginny cautiously reached out and poked the toad with one finger and the creature croaked softly. On feeling its skin with the tip of her finger, she quickly withdrew it and started shaking her hand.

    ¡°Ugh! Gross!¡±

    Curious Jack reached out and touched the toad as well. He didn¡¯t seem to mind as much, not flinching back like Ginny had done.

    ¡°Ah, C¡¯mon Ginny. It¡¯s not that bad,¡± Alexa protested, ¡°Jack, back me up. Isn¡¯t it sort of relaxing? Like putty or something.¡±

    Jack shrugged, ¡°It¡¯s not that bad, I don¡¯t think.¡±

    Alexa put down Caesar who croaked and immediately hopped off to the place where he had been hiding before and settled back in.

    Alexa looked at her hands that were dripping with sticky slime.

    ¡°Oh,¡± She said in disappointment, ¡°I forgot about this part¡­¡±

    Ginny giggled at the absurdity of the statement. Alexa¡¯s eyes snapped from her eyes to Ginny. ¡°Oh? I¡¯ll get you, slime slime time!¡± She reached out towards Ginny with her slime coated hand reaching for Ginny¡¯s hand. She snatched it back and scooted away, ¡°Alexa!¡± She protested while still laughing a little, ¡°Stop it!¡±

    ¡°Ooooh, slime incoming!¡± Alexa said as she leaned over the table to wave her hands at Ginny. Suddenly Ginny felt a poke on her upper arm and looked over shocked to see that Jack had just touched her with his slime coated finger and wiped it before retreating the offending finger. He gave her an awkward smile as he scooched away on the chair. ¡°Got ya?¡± He said uncertainly.

    ¡°Avenge me, Alexa!¡± Ginny said, ¡°Get him!¡±

    Ignoring her prior target, Alexa leaned over and before Jack could react managed a gooey slap on his shoulder and smearing it on his robes.

    ¡°Yeah, Jack! That¡¯s what you-¡± Ginny said, starting to get excited at the fun. Then Alexa changed course and twisted and smeared her other hand on Ginny¡¯s robes too. She sat back to her side of the compartment and looked rather satisfied to see the two of them with slime on their shoulders and her hands much cleaner than before.

    So¡­ gross!

    ¡°Bleh, Bleh!¡± Ginny spat as she tried to wipe off the offending slime from her robes without much success. Jack was doing much the same. Alexa started laughing and after a moment the rest of them started laughing too. The tension and stress built up from what had just happened bursting all at once and making them laugh hard.

    When Lupin came back, he was confused to find them all laughing, the chocolate forgotten. The mood dropped a bit on his return and they needed more chocolate again, but it wasn¡¯t nearly as bad as it had been before.

    He talked with them for a bit, he was going to be the new Defense against the Dark arts teacher this year. The last one had been famous and left for better things after teaching for one year.

    The train started moving again after checking last one time that they were feeling okay, Lupin left to wherever he had been staying before the Dementors appeared. Ginny kept talking with her new friends, and they clicked easily, their conversation flowing easily like nothing Ginny had ever felt before in her short life.

 Chapter 21: The Sorting Ceremony

    Time passed, and eventually the train reached Hogwarts and they all unloaded. Luckily they all had extra robes, so they were able to change into a new set of robes that didn¡¯t have bits of Caesar¡¯s slime on them.

    The three of them stayed together as they went back up to the castle with the other first years. They waited just outside the great hall with a severe looking woman standing there guiding them. Professor McGonagall. She looked sad when she spotted Ginny in the crowd peering around at everything around them in the magical castle with interest along with all of the other first years.

    ¡°Children!¡± McGonagall called, ¡°Please line yourselves up in alphabetical order by last name. This will be the order in which you will be sorted. Be on your best behavior, best to make a good first impression on all the other students, hm?¡±

    Everyone nodded, cowed by her stern demeanor. Ginny looked at her two friends, ¡°Anverts, Adams. Guess you two are going near the start.¡±

    ¡°Hopefully we¡¯ll all be in the same house,¡± Alexa said, ¡°But we can still be friends even if we¡¯re not, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! We¡¯ll still be war buddies even if we go in different houses,¡± Jack added.

    ¡°War buddies,¡± Ginny agreed, ¡°See you later?¡±

    ¡°Bye¡±

    ¡°Bye, Ginny.¡±

    The two of them wandered to the front of the blob of students trying to order themselves as McGonagall watched on from above to keep them well behaved. Ginny walked all the way to the back of the line. She asked around, and there were six or so people behind her but she still was almost at the very back of the long line.

    After ten minutes or so, everyone was in order, and McGonagall was standing in the front ready to lead them in.

    ¡°Remember everyone,¡± The woman said loudly, ¡°Best behavior!¡±

    The large doors to the great hall cracked open on their own and slowly began to open themselves. Ginny used her magic sense to look at the enchantment powering it. It was pretty useless, this whole place was absolutely plastered with enchantments of all kind covering every surface she could find. It even floated in the air like little strings of magic, hovering about in the air and shifting out of the way where the people stood.

    She couldn¡¯t even figure out the function of normal simple enchantments with her magic sense, let alone all the complexity going on in the castle. Ginny was a little in awe of the founders that they had built something so complex.

    They walked into the great hall, and the ceiling above was a magical replica of the night sky outside, with all the stars twinkling above. Floating candles drifted and moved above them even as the hall was well lit by a bright diffuse light. Some sort of spell, likely.

    There was an old brown had sitting on a low stool. McGonagall went up front and unrolled a massive scroll.

    ¡°Alexandria Adams!¡± She called out, and Ginny straightened. Alexa would be going first? Ginny watched as the girl walked up and sat on the stool, looking nervous. The hat came down on her head and sat there for a second. Then what Ginny had thought was a crease in the fabric opened, and the hat shouted out. ¡°Gryffindor!¡±

    The Gryffindor table cheered loudly and Alexa stood and went over to the table. Well, that was good. Ginny would probably go in Gryffindor. Not only had her whole family gone there, but she had been sorted into that house last year.

    A few other people went, being sorted into the various houses. Then¡­

    ¡°Jack Anverts.¡±

    The hat was placed on his head, and it barely touched his head before it spoke, ¡°Ravenclaw!¡±

    The Ravenclaw table clapped and welcomed Jack, but he sent a glance at Alexa, appearing a little disappointed. But not too put out.

    ¡®Right, nothing to worry about,¡¯ Ginny reminded herself, ¡®they could still be friends even if they weren¡¯t in the same house.¡¯

    Student after student went, the line gradually began growing shorter and shorter. As it grew close to Ginny¡¯s turn, the whispering and muttering began to pick up. She felt everyone looking at her and sharing the rumors as the moment grew closer and closer. She had been in the papers, many people here thought that they knew who she was. She shifted from foot to foot as the line grew shorter.

    Then the moment came.

    ¡°Ginny Weasley!¡±

    She stepped forward as the murmurs grew louder as she sat on the little stool. Everyone in the hall was looking at her in interest, waiting for where she would be sorted. The hat was placed on her head. Fred and George seemed relaxed, probably assuring everyone that she was definitely in Gryffindor already, that it was a sure bet.

    ¡®But is it sure? You are a very different girl from last year. In many ways¡­¡¯

    A weathered old voice suddenly said in her head. ¡®It¡¯s not often I see someone so radically changed when they are resorted. ¡¯

    ¡®Are you the hat?¡¯ Ginny thought hard to communicate after closing her eyes so she could focus, ¡®What do you mean? Aren¡¯t I supposed to go back to Gryffindor?¡¯

    ¡®With Eric Potter? I don¡¯t think that would create a very effective learning environment for the other students, given your desire for revenge against him. And you are a far more curious and inquisitive girl than you were last year¡­ Yes, better be¡­¡¯

    ¡°Ravenclaw!¡±

    The whole hall froze, everyone looking confused at what had happened. Ginny¡¯s school robes fluttered and turned blue as she stood off the stool. She looked over to the Gryffindor table where Fred and George looked like their brains had shut down and they couldn¡¯t process what had just happened.

    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    The Ravenclaw table began hesitantly clapping as Ginny walked over and sat down next to where Jack was.

    After another second of everyone staring at her, McGonagall called the next name on her list and everyone refocused on the remainder of the sorting ceremony. After the last few people were sorted, Dumbledore stood up from the Headmaster¡¯s chair at the head of the Professor¡¯s table at the end of the hall.

    ¡°Another year, another new round of wonderful new students for our school to help flourish in life and magic,¡±

    Dumbledore said, ¡°I could go on, ah the long speeches my colleagues like to give at the Ministry. But I can see you¡¯re all very eager for me to be quiet and the feast to begin. So, let¡¯s begin!¡±

    He clapped his hands and in a massive burst of magic that left Ginny slightly stunned food appeared to fill all of the empty trays and dishes that had been laid out at their table. The older years immediately started digging in, Jack and Ginny a little more cautious.

    ¡°C¡¯mon, Ginny,¡± One of the older Ravenclaw boys to her right said, ¡°You know it¡¯s safe. You¡¯ve already done it before, haven¡¯t you?¡±

    Jack looked confused, ¡°You did?¡± He asked, ¡°What do you mean? She¡¯s a first year, aren¡¯t you Ginny?¡±

    ¡°Oh, she didn¡¯t say?¡± The boy said, now with a sharper tone and a mean glint in his eyes, ¡°She was a first year last year too. Had to come back as a first year again. Failed the final test, I¡¯m sure. Had to repeat it again.¡±

    Ginny wavered. Did he really not know? Or was he just taunting her, forcing her to reveal what had happened?

    The rest of the people nearby were leaning in, listening in on the confrontation. ¡°You know that¡¯s not what happened,¡± Ginny said.

    ¡°Then what did happen?¡± The boy asked, ¡°No one seems to know exactly.¡±

    ¡°Aaaaand that? None of your damn business, Preston,¡± A female voice said from behind Ginny. She turned around and saw a much older girl with a fancy badge pinned on her chest glaring at the mean boy. The boy seemed fairly intimidated, but seemed sullen as he didn''t respond. Just nodding grudgingly and keeping quiet but not saying anything.

    ¡°Up.¡± The older girl ordered him, ¡°Go sit somewhere else. Or I¡¯ll start using you for hex practice again.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a Prefect, this is abuse of authority,¡± Preston muttered as he stood and stood back from his seat. The prefect girl swooped in and took his seat without a second glance at him.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah. I¡¯d be more forgiving if you weren¡¯t always trying to pull shi¨C stuff like this all the time. Now shove it, I¡¯m hungry. If I hear you causing any more trouble then you¡¯ll hear from me.¡±

    Preston grumbled, and his neck flushed slightly as the rest of the observers snickered and seemed to enjoy his humbling. Ginny noticed that none of them had jumped in to help her though.

    ¡°So. I¡¯m Olivia. Olivia Roberts,¡± The prefect said, ¡°Ravenclaw Prefect, your wise and cruel ruler. Yada yada, bowing and scraping and such. Ignore Preston, we¡¯re not all like him. So, how ya liking Hogwarts so far? Must feel all new to you I¡¯m guessing, Ginny. Even if¡­ Well, you know.¡±

    Ginny reluctantly nodded, ¡°Yes. It¡¯s very interesting. Yes, all new.¡±

    Jack looked between the two of them, frowning.

    ¡°What? I don¡¯t understand, Ginny. You¡¯ve been here before? Then how are you still a first year?¡±

    Ginny opened and closed her mouth, not sure what to say with so many people around listening in.

    ¡°I heard that¡­¡± One of the girl¡¯s across from the table jumped in eagerly, only to wilt as Olivia shot her a glare, ¡°That this food is great,¡± the girl finished lamely, ¡°You- You should try it?¡± She shot a hopeful look at Olivia who kept her glare piercing the offending girl.

    ¡°Oh,¡± The girl said softly, ¡°Rats.¡±

    She started eating her food and didn¡¯t say anything else, and Olivia finally stopped glaring and turned back to Ginny and Jack.

    ¡°Best to not talk about it here,¡± Olivia told Jack matter of a fact tone, ¡°All the inconsiderate rumor hounds of Ravenclaw seem to have sat right by you two completely by accident. How about we eat?¡±

    The surroundings shifted as the other people at the table nearby shifted in their seats, looking like they wanted to flee. But after a second, everyone followed her suggestion and started digging into the food. Ginny and Jack had some stilted conversation with Olivia as they ate. The girl was nice to them and was welcoming and polite. Although the fearful reactions of everyone around them when she glared spoke volumes that not all might be as it seemed¡­

    After the meal, Olivia and the boy Ravenclaw prefect led them through the winding hallways of the Hogwarts of the castle. There were moving staircases, moving paintings everywhere peering at them as they passed, suits of armor, statues, and other displays in each room they passed¡­

    It was chaotic and Ginny honestly had no idea where she was in relation to the great hall right now. Eventually they reached the base of a large tower and climbed a long flight of steps to the top. At nearly the very top of the tower was a large landing and a statue of a large eagle halfway embedded in the door.

    Ginny¡¯s eyes lit up as she looked over the complex enchantment interweaved with the whole structure. She probed it with her magical senses. It was hard, but¡­ there! Ah, a weak point. Shifting, hard to catch. But she could definitely do it. She almost took a step forward to approach so she could give it a try, before she stopped herself. Right, shouldn¡¯t try to break any Hogwarts enchantments. Got too carried away there.

    She shook her head and came back to reality.

    ¡°Each time to enter, you must solve a riddle,¡± Olivia was saying, ¡°I¡¯ll teach you one trick though if your little brain¡¯s are really fried after classes. Try not to use it too much though or the Eagle might lock you out next time.¡±

    She stepped forward in front of the statue of the eagle, which moved its stone head to track her movement.

    ¡°What is the value of the square root of pi to ten decimal places?¡± The eagle said, opening and closing its beak and sounding quite grumpy.

    ¡°Ah, don¡¯t be like that,¡± Olivia said, ¡°Giving them a trick or two takes more work off of you, really. We both know you let it work, you enjoy people being stuck outside as much as we do.¡±

    ¡°I like my work,¡± the Eagle replied haughtily, ¡°It¡¯s lazy children that I dislike. I spend a lot of time customizing the difficulty of my riddles for each person. Now, get on with it.¡±

    Olivia rolled her eyes, ¡°Fine. Through the power of friendship and love, let us pass.¡±

    ¡°Rowena, always so sentimental¡­¡± The eagle grumbled.

    The stone rumbled and door the eagle was attached to, revealing a room beyond. Olivia led them inside, ¡°This is the common room,¡± She said, ¡°Feel free to study, chat, hang out here. Boys dormitory is on the right hallway, girls on the left. The corridors are defended by all sorts of nasty spells to keep it nice and separated, so don¡¯t any of you get any ideas about visiting the other side. Your stuff was already delivered inside by the staff earlier. I¡¯m sure we¡¯re all tired after the long day, so go ahead and crash. Your names are on the doors of your room. Four to a room, try not to drive each other too crazy living together. Barty, anything else?¡± She asked, glancing to the boy prefect. He shook his head, ¡°Nope. That¡¯s it I think, Olivia.¡±

    ¡°Great. See all of y¡¯all tomorrow,¡± She said before quickly turning on the spot and quickly walking into the girls corridor off the common room. Ginny turned to Jack, ¡°See you tomorrow,¡± She said.

    ¡°See you, Ginny.¡±

    They went their separate ways and Ginny didn¡¯t know any of the other three girls in her room. They all talked for a bit about themselves, with Ginny trying to be as unspecific as she could. Even if they did seem curious about what was going on with her. She would have to think about how she wanted to deal with all of that¡­

    But they were all tired, so after twenty minutes or so they shut off the light and went to bed. Ginny practiced her magic with Balthazar while she slept.

 Chapter 22: First Day of Classes

    Ginny let out a sigh as she stopped three of the metal balls floating towards her simultaneously. It was better than she had ever done so far, but her heart wasn¡¯t into it.

    ¡°Very well done, Ginny!¡± Balthazar said, ¡°Better than ever before. Yet, I sense you are not excited about this¡­?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s great Balthazar,¡± Ginny said absentmindedly, ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ Did you see what happened with the Dementor?¡±

    Balthazar frowned and nodded, ¡°I was quite on the edge of my seat watching. We have used up our energy for a time, probably even more than we should have. I could not assist and only hope that it would be fought off. I apologize for this failure.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡­ I suppose it was scary, but that wasn¡¯t what I was sad about,¡± Ginny said. She told Balthazar of what had happened, unearthing all of Harry¡¯s memories and how he had chosen to give up to let her live as herself.

    ¡°So, uhm¡­¡± Ginny said after they had drifted into silence, ¡°Do you have a, uh. Graveyard here? I wanted to do something for him. A funeral, ceremony, I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ll do one on Earth too, but¡­ it¡¯s important to do one here too. Even if it was for a little while, he had some fun solving the puzzle out of here. Meeting you.¡±

    Balthazar didn¡¯t say anything for a while, ¡°A worthy gesture,¡± He said eventually, ¡°It does you credit. I will prepare something for the next time you come. We have death ceremonies here, but not a graveyard as you¡¯d think of them. Would you like a burial as is customary in your world, or perform one of our traditions?¡±

    Ginny accessed her memories from Harry and knew what he would think. ¡°He¡¯d rather do yours,¡± She said, ¡°I¡¯m doing my own ceremony on Earth, I think. I¡¯d like to at least. Better to do your traditions here.¡±

    ¡°Very well. I see it weighs heavily on your mind,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°Perhaps discussing it could help? I can not see into his mind like you do. But I am very old, and know much of the ways of sacrifice and the weight one feels when others sacrifice for you.¡±

    Ginny looked up, feeling like crying even if her body composed of black bubbling mud wouldn¡¯t allow it.

    ¡°Why would he do it, Balthazar? We- We could have worked it out. He was winning, he could have easily beaten me. We could have- shared. He could have lived on. I just don¡¯t understand why he had to die!¡±

    Balthazar sat down cross legged on the floor, and flared out the wings on his back to curl around him. Ginny had never seen Balthazar fly, but she saw his batlike wings so often that she had almost forgotten that she had initially thought them to be strange or intimidating.

    ¡°Sit,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°And we can discuss.¡±

    Ginny complied, sitting down cross legged on the ground. Her foot slightly sank into her other muddy leg as she applied too much force. She spent a second or two pulling it out with a plop and readjusting herself until she was ready.

    ¡°Consider this,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°You must imagine the other possible outcomes of this scenario. First, Harry doesn¡¯t restrain himself and asserts himself as the main personality. You are subsumed and cease to exist, much as Harry does to you now. How would Harry feel in this scenario? You would be dead, but he would also be able to use your memories to know how you would feel.¡±

    Ginny dived through Harry¡¯s memories to try to see how he might feel. She wasn¡¯t him, but she could get a general sense of what he might think of something when she imagined it in the right way.

    ¡°Guilt¡­¡± Ginny said softly, ¡°He¡¯d feel like a monster for killing me. Proving that he deserved everything that happened to him growing up. How could he think that? But¡­ But he could have recovered. Made friends, done more. Moved on.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s not forget you are dead in this scenario,¡± Balthazar corrected gently, ¡°Besides his internal guilt, how would he act in the world? How would he feel, to lie to your family, to Fawkes, to all of the new friends he meets, about himself? Every time he looked in the mirror would be a reminder of what he had done to give himself this new chance at a new life, who he hurt.¡±

    Ginny reached for the memories and felt that it was true. Harry wouldn¡¯t have been able to move past it, or hadn¡¯t wanted to believe that he was a person who could. Every interaction, every lie, it would eat away at him from the inside, hollowing him out and leaving him empty.

    ¡°But I lied to my family. I haven¡¯t told them about you, about this place,¡± Ginny pointed out.

    ¡°You lie about what you do,¡± Balthazar said heavily, ¡°You do not lie about what you are. Many act as if they are the same, but they are completely different animals. I have met men that I have followed to a near certain end who could never bear to tell the truth, not trusting enough to allow others to know their plans. Who lied near constantly about even minor things. Yet, they were good men and when it came time to battle they would die to save their friends.¡±

    Balthazar¡¯s lip curled slightly in distaste, ¡°The people who lie about who they are at the core are the worst liars. For they can tell you the truth about every single fact and still manage to deceive you. Truthful in their words, yet when the time for action comes they shy back, make excuses, reveal that they were no friend at all, but a person seeking power or advantage from your relationship. Even if they have convinced themselves differently over time.¡±

    Balthazar sighed, having a slightly misty look in his eyes, ¡°Oh, I¡¯ve met so many of both types. So many. Just when I think I know someone, they reveal that they are actually the opposite from what I thought them to be. Villainous heroes and saintly monsters¡­¡±

    His eyes refocused on Ginny with intensity, ¡°Do not underestimate the toll it would have taken on Harry to bear a burden like that, to suppress all that he is for survival.¡±

    Ginny opened her muddy mouth, but Balthazar cut her off.

    ¡°Second, the scenario where you somehow share your body,¡± He said, ¡°I truly do not believe it is possible given what you¡¯ve described. But if it were possible¡­ Is that ideal? Would it not breed resentment for the other? You, given a new life and eager to make friends and learn magic. Harry, who wants the exact same. Yet, you would not be the same people. Each shared moment of laughter, connection with your friends. All of them would be collected by one or the other of you. You would prefer some people over others compared to Harry. Harry would see this and see how this balance was only holding you back. Holding the both of you back. And so you would battle for supremacy once more, with only one winner.¡±

    Ginny opened and closed her mouth. What could she say? The scenario played in her mind without her able to stop it. Would she be resentful of sharing her own body? Would Harry? She didn¡¯t know, but Balthazar made it sound so certain, like it was inevitable that it would turn out that way.

    ¡°And finally,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°We have the current scenario. How did Harry feel? In his last moments?¡±

    ¡°C-C-Content,¡± Ginny said, ¡°He- He was happy for me, that he got to do one good thing in his life¡­ That he proved everyone wrong about him. Everything just felt¡­ right to him.¡±

    ¡°There are two players in this production,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°Harry¡¯s role has ended, but don¡¯t you think it¡¯s a fitting ending? One he chose, having backed down from near certain victory over you to give you a chance at life. That was his sacrifice, his life so you could move on. That sounds as good as an ending as I could imagine. You are the player that is left. You can grieve, lament Harry¡¯s loss. But let us ask together, what is the end of this scenario? What kind of life did Harry sacrifice his own for you to live? You must live your best life, to honor his sacrifice. The life he always wished to live, where you¡¯re happy and have everything that Harry lacked. You are the only one that can make this final scenario where the both of you get your best lives and endings.¡±

    Ginny didn¡¯t say anything in response, just staring into her lap and thinking hard about what Balthazar had said. Balthazar sighed deeply, ¡°I will leave you to think over my words. It is much to drop on one so young. But consider what we¡¯ve discussed before you start blaming yourself or thinking yourself unworthy of Harry¡¯s sacrifice. Make yourself worthy of it. My Queen.¡±

    Ginny looked up and saw that Balthazar had stood and gave an odd sort of formal bow, before turning on his heel and starting to walk out of the room. Ginny stayed cross legged on the floor and watched him leave.

    She wondered who Balthazar had lost, to see things so clearly. He clearly had put a lot of thought into scenarios like this. She sat there and thought about what he had said, running it through her mind. Checking her thoughts against the faded memories of Harry. But somehow, Balthazar was right.

    He was right.

    But that didn¡¯t mean she still didn¡¯t feel horrible about it.

    "What happened to my old self?" Ginny asked, "Shouldn''t I remember my life growing up as Ginny now? As well as what happened to Harry?"

    Balthazar shook his head and stopped and turned his head to look back at her, "You misunderstand. There is nothing to recall. You were never that girl. The old Ginny died and her soul likely passed on in the Chamber of Secrets. Harry''s soul took its place in the unoccupied body of the old Ginny Weasley''s body afterwards. Fundamentally, your soul is the same as Harry Potter''s was. Your identity was only given room to form because Fate suppressed Harry''s memories even in his soul in her urgency to get him to return to your world."

    "So, I''m not Harry. But I''m not the old Ginny either," She said, "I''m someone new?"

    "You are someone new. All your memories have been returned to you as far as I can tell."

    "Is... Is she okay? Did she go to the afterlife or something?"

    "I don''t know. When this place has more energy to work with we can search for her soul to verify where she ended up. But until then, there''s nothing you can do about it."

    "Thank you, Balthazar. Thanks for explaining it to me."

    Balthazar left the room, leaving Ginny alone with her swirling thoughts.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny slowly opened her eyes on Earth, back in her real body again. She stared at the ceiling for a bit before letting out a breath and sitting up. Time for some breakfast. Today was the first day of classes, and Ginny didn¡¯t want to be late. Her roommates were already moving around and getting ready. Ginny maybe should try to adjust her return triggers to include movements around her so she woke up when everyone else did. It would be a little suspicious if she woke up perfectly on the dot every day no matter what was happening around her¡­

    The four of them went to breakfast at the great hall, getting turned around a few times on their way but making their way there eventually. They talked and got to know each other a bit better on the way. They all were wondering what the first day of real classes would be like. Ginny was a bit withdrawn, still thinking over what had happened last night.

    But the girls seemed friendly, and Ginny was feeling more positive about Ravenclaw after that rude boy had soured things at the feast last night. Preston.

    Once they reached the great hall, seemingly by unspoken agreement the other girls all split off to sit in different places. Ginny blinked. How had that happened, she thought that things were going well? She scanned the room, and didn¡¯t see Jack or Alexa yet. It seems that most people had slept in and Ginny and her roommates had arrived somewhat early.

    Ginny sat somewhere randomly and started eating. She had some stilted conversation with the people around her, but all of them seemed slightly hesitant to talk to her. Probably picking up the weirdness about last night or hearing some of the rumors from the older years.

    Ginny didn¡¯t end up seeing Jack until their classes started. All of their classes were dual for Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw both. Ginny sat next to him for classes and they went through their classes talking and falling into the same state of easy conversation that they had reached on the train with Alexa.

    Jack had already spoken with her, and they would be meeting up after classes to hang out and discuss the first day of classes. The classes themselves were a mix in quality so far. History with Binns, a literal ghost, was awful. The man was so dry, he spent whole sections of the class just reciting the textbook word for word. He kept speaking in his dull monotone as he launched into his lecture as the time for class began, barely even seeming to notice that anyone was there.

    Charms, with the short half goblin man Flitwick, was interesting. He was Ravenclaw¡¯s head of house, and was enthusiastic when someone did the spell right.

    They were learning the levitation charm for their first class, and Ginny struggled with it a bit. She had excellent control of her magic, a little too much actually. She was supposed to just inject her magic into the wand and let it do its thing after she made the proper motions and said the strange words of the spell. ¡®Wingardium Leviosa.¡¯

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    But she didn¡¯t like the feeling of the wand tugging and pulling on her magic on its own, it was uncomfortable and she kept resisting and stopping the spell from properly forming half way through.

    Finally, Ginny managed to relax enough that her feather lifted into the air. She looked around. She did alright, but probably in the bottom half of the class. Other people were practicing moving their feathers around with the spell while the other people were still struggling to lift their feathers in the first place as Ginny had done.

    ¡°Very well done, Ms. Weasley,¡± Flitwick praised as he passed her desk, ¡°Much faster than last ti¡­ Ahem. Good casting technique. Make sure to keep your words precise and clear as you speak.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Professor.¡±

    Flitwick moved on to another student rather quickly, appearing slightly awkward after his verbal blunder.

    Jack gave her a strange look before moving back to practice with his feather. He had been one of the first ones to get his spell to work and let the feather lift off his desk.

    Class continued and they collected their books and left.

    Transfiguration with the stern McGonagall was interesting. Ginny did well, the type of more freeform magic required for it much more relaxing that the stiffer more rigid charms had been.

    Flying lesson was fine, but the brooms were horrible, their enchantments looking like they would fail any moment as Ginny inspected them. She flew very slowly just in case, not comfortable when she could see the broom¡¯s enchantments sputtering and twisting as it forced itself to keep working to keep the boom in the air and moving.

    She let out a breath of relief when her feet touched the ground again.

    The last class of the day was Potions. Professor Snape wore a large black cloak and had a large hooked nose as he stared haughtily down at all of them. As they began the lesson, he flitted around the room like a bat leaning over and criticizing everyone¡¯s food. Potions. Everyone¡¯s potions. Ginny had to blink as Harry¡¯s memories compared Snape to Aunt Petunia and found a disturbing amount of similarities. She shook her head and turned back to the boil cure potion she was supposed to be making with Jack.

    Ginny had mostly prepared the ingredients while Jack figured out the stirring and when to throw things in. Jack seemed to be struggling a bit keeping up with the recipe. Finished chopping and crushing the ingredients, Ginny looked over the recipe again.

    ¡°So, four counter clockwise stirs after we add the nettles?¡± She said as Jack looked between the list and the cauldron of bubbling potion.

    ¡°Oh, yeah,¡± Jack said, ¡°That. Lost my place, thanks Ginny¡­¡±

    They made the potion, and it was the right color and matched what the instructions said. Half of the class wasn¡¯t as lucky, and their potions were visibly different or had even exploded or had some reaction when they messed up a step in the recipe.

    One by one, Snape went around and observed their potions and lambasted their potions and mistakes harshly, as if he was personally offended by their poor potions. He spoke loudly, not bothering to hold back as he went from pair to pair to judge.

    Jack was a nervous mess by the time that Snape reached them. He leaned over and peered into their cauldron with a critical eye, waving his wand over the potion and casting a spell or two.

    He nodded and leaned back. He looked at the two of them. ¡°A properly impressive potion for a first attempt,¡± Snape said while nodding to Jack before looking at her, his lips turned into a faint sneer, ¡°But barely acceptable for someone who has taken my class before. I expect better than this in the future from you, Ms. Weasley.¡±

    Ginny clenched her fists at her sides. She could see it in his eyes. He knew! He was exposing her on purpose! Why? What had she ever done to him?

    ¡°Yes, Professor,¡± She managed to say. The man swept off to the next station, looking like he¡¯d already forgotten the interaction as he went to lambast the ¡®insult to potions makers everywhere¡¯, that their neighbors had made.

    ¡°What was that about?¡± Jack whispered as Snape kept going, ¡°What¡¯s he talking about?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you after class,¡± Ginny whispered back. There really didn¡¯t seem to be any avoiding it at this point. People would know soon that she had been here last year and was a first year again. Most people didn¡¯t seem to know about her amnesia yet, but she was sure it wouldn¡¯t be long. Especially since her brothers knew the full story, so she was sure the Gryffindor¡¯s would spread it from there once they found out.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Jack and Ginny were waiting just outside on the entrance to the great lawn of the castle for Alexa. The warm summer sun beat down on them from above, but while it was hot it wasn¡¯t overly so. Maybe an enchantment on the castle? Ginny tried to see with her magic sense, but it was all a mess. Enchantments and strings of magic floated everywhere around them on the grounds. If one of them was a weather control or cooling enchantment then she would never know.

    ¡°Hey guys!¡± Ginny suddenly heard from the castle. The two of them turned and saw Alexa standing there waving at them as she walked towards them.

    ¡°Sorry I¡¯m late,¡± Alexa said as she drew closer, ¡°Some of the Slytherins were being jerks and there was a whole big standoff after class. Everyone was puffed up and posturing, it was all very macho¡­ Anyway, nothing ended up happening.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, class with Slytherin?¡± Jack said, ¡°That must be fun.¡±

    Alexa shrugged, ¡°Tell me about it. Tried to say hello to one of them to be nice and they just ignored me. I mean, it¡¯s only been one day! I can¡¯t believe that people are already getting this petty.¡±

    ¡°It was something you were expecting?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Just not so fast?¡±

    ¡°Oh, yeah. My parents put me in one of those big prep schools before I came here,¡± Alexa said, ¡°Whole place was crazy. Had the same point system for good behavior as they do here. Although it was for individual people rather than for the big groups like it is now. People were practically crawling over each other to be nice to the teacher so they could get extra points that don¡¯t even go on your grade. People got so mean when I got a point by accident in class. It was like I¡¯d kicked their puppy or something. This whole house and points thing has the same vibe to it. Makes us bother each other instead of taking out on the teacher. Especially Binns. I thought my old history teacher was bad¡­¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that in your hand?¡± Ginny asked. Alexa was holding an orange plastic disk in her right hand resting at her side that she had pulled out of her school bag. A frisbee! Harry¡¯s memories told her what it was a second after she asked.

    ¡°This? This is a frisbee,¡± Alexa said, ¡°Thought it could be fun to toss it around for a bit. We don¡¯t have to if you don¡¯t want to, though¡­¡±

    ¡°No, it sounds good!¡± Jack quickly said and Ginny nodded too.

    ¡°Great! Everyone keeps talking about this Quidditch,¡± Alexa complained, ¡°I hope there¡¯s more active sports here. Sounds like all they do is drive the broom around like a car. Do you even have to be in good shape to do any of that?¡±

    The three of them stood roughly in a triangle and Alexa gently tossed the orange frisbee to Jack who caught it, but slightly fumbled his catch. He took a few seconds to adjust his grip before tossing it to Ginny. She reached out to catch it, but it slipped from her fingers and fell to the grass below. She bent over and picked it up again and tossed it to Alexa, who casually caught it with one hand.

    Alexa proudly smirked as she did it, but instead of mentioning it just threw it back to Josh again.

    ¡°Flying a broom does take some work,¡± Ginny said, ¡°You have to lean with your turns, use the broom to dart around and really pull hard when you''re turning fast¡­¡± Ginny fumbled another catch, but was a little closer to managing to get it this time, ¡°It takes skill to become good,¡± She continued.

    ¡°I know,¡± Alexa said, ¡°That''s what the other people said too when I asked. But it just doesn¡¯t seem very¡­ sporty, you know? Doesn¡¯t sound like you have to be really that in shape to do any of that. I used to play football at my old school. Ran around a bit. Just hoping for something more like that to join while I''m here.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure wizards enjoy something like that, right Ginny?¡± Jack said as he caught Alexa¡¯s frisbee throw.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± She admitted as she finally caught the frisbee for the first time. Yes, success! ¡°I¡¯ve only heard about Quidditch so far. I don¡¯t think there are any others?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Jack asked, sounding rather confused, ¡°Didn¡¯t you grow up in this world? There must be more than just quidditch.¡±

    ¡°Probably,¡± She admitted as she threw the frisbee to Alexa who easily caught it, ¡°But no one¡¯s told me so far if that¡¯s true.¡±

    Alexa tossed the frisbee to Jack, who caught it. He held onto it for a second, peering at Ginny and frowning slightly. Looking like he was trying to solve a complex puzzle. He threw the frisbee after a moment and Ginny caught it again, even if she almost dropped it again.

    Ginny held the frisbee and didn¡¯t throw it, ¡°Well, I meant to tell you two anyway¡­¡± Ginny said to herself as she stared at the bright disk. She looked up to the two of them.

    ¡°I have amnesia,¡± She said to the both of them, ¡°I can¡¯t remember anything from before this summer. The best mind healers looked at me, said that it was incurable and that they couldn¡¯t solve it. That¡¯s why I¡¯m a first year now. I¡¯m actually twelve and was here in classes all last year, I just don¡¯t remember any of it.¡±

    ¡°Do you¡­ Remember anything?¡± Alexa asked cautiously. Jack looked stunned, not completely believing what Ginny said.

    Ginny thought about Harry, about his life. But memories about the old Ginny? Nothing, not even the slightest hint. She shook her head.

    ¡°Surely you must remember some stuff,¡± Jack asked, ¡°What about your family? Muscle memory, things like that?¡±

    Ginny shrugged awkwardly, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know. I only knew my family because they had the same red hair as me.¡±

    She reached out and lifted a lock of her red hair to demonstrate before dropping and letting it fall back down to her shoulders.

    ¡°I¡¯ve had to learn everything almost from scratch over the summer,¡± She said, ¡°Get to know my family, learn about the wizarding world¡­ everything pretty much. And there was¡­ other stuff going on too that got in the way of everything else¡­¡±

    Alexa was blinking Ginny¡¯s statement. ¡°Really? Not even your own family?¡± She asked.

    Ginny shrugged awkwardly again.

    ¡°I like them a lot though,¡± Ginny quickly clarified, ¡°I¡¯m glad they¡¯re family. I¡¯m just like a new person after what happened, so a lot of people don¡¯t know how to react when they knew the old Ginny.¡±

    ¡°How did it happen?¡± Jack asked, ¡°Your amnesia?¡±

    ¡°They tell me I was attacked,¡± Ginny said, ¡°You can ask someone else about what was going on last year. I don¡¯t actually know that much. I woke up in the Chamber of Secrets underneath the school with no idea what was going on. My attacker¡­ ran away and I was stuck down there.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯d you get out?¡± Alexa asked.

    ¡°Fawkes, he¡¯s a phoenix, apparated in and brought me out and back above ground. While he was helping me, we became friends. Eventually, when I was panicking at the hospital and lashing out with my magic he helped me calm down and formed a familiar bond with me.¡±

    ¡°Your familiar is a Phoenix?¡± Jack asked, ¡°What about your owl?¡±

    Ginny rubbed her head, ¡°Er, I did say he was a bird didn¡¯t I? I never said he was an owl.¡±

    ¡°Where is he now?¡± Alexa asked hopefully, ¡°Can we meet him?¡±

    ¡°Sure, we can in one of the abandoned classrooms and I can call him to me,¡± Ginny agreed, ¡°My brothers said most of this place is empty, so we should be able to find a room out of the way. I sorta was trying to avoid drawing too much attention to it¡­¡±

    Alexa snorted, ¡°Too late for that! Half the Gryffindors wanted me to give them some juicy gossip on you after they found out we sat together on the train. None of them seemed to know what really happened last year though¡­¡±

    ¡°Neither do the teachers, I don¡¯t think,¡± Jack said thoughtfully.

    Ginny looked at him, confused, ¡°The teachers too? What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Professor Snape,¡± Jack said, ¡°He said he expected you to be good on the potion because you had practice making it. Why would he say that if he knew what really happened to you?¡±

    ¡°I thought he just hated my old self for some reason,¡± Ginny admitted, ¡°And that he knew about my memories and was trying to make me feel bad about my potions anyway.¡±

    ¡°No way!¡± Alexa said, ¡°You don¡¯t think he would say something like that even if he knew that you didn¡¯t remember, Ginny? I mean he was vicious in telling us how we made our potions wrong, but that¡¯s too far. Right? Even if he¡¯s nicer for the Slytherin¡¯s since he¡¯s their head of house and all¡­¡±

    ¡°My brothers all say that he¡¯s horrible and hates all Gryffindors,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe.¡±

    No one spoke, and Ginny suddenly remembered the orange frisbee in her hands. With a quick toss she threw to Alexa, who was surprised and almost fumbled the catch as she scrambled to react in time.

    ¡°How are you so good?¡± Ginny said in mock disappointment, choosing to move back to lighter topics, ¡°You didn¡¯t even drop it for that throw!¡±

    ¡°I know, wasn¡¯t that a great catch?¡± Alexa said, ¡°I really hope there¡¯s some more athletic sports than this quidditch for me to join. I¡¯m already feeling myself growing fat from eating all that heavy food in the great hall.¡±

    Ginny put her hand on her stomach. She wasn¡¯t fat! She just didn¡¯t exercise that much, was all. But she didn¡¯t have wiry muscles like Alexa did either. If Alexa had to worry about getting fat, then what hope would Ginny have?

    ¡°Oh, I was thinking of running in the mornings before classes,¡± Alexa said, ¡°What do you think? You want to join me? I¡¯m used to it for sports, it really wakes you up and its not that bad after the first few weeks.¡±

    Jack looked hesitant, looking down at to his own body that wasn¡¯t exactly bulging with muscle either. Ginny felt one of Harry¡¯s memories surface in her. Him trying to lift a pan for Aunt Petunia and barely able to do it. His arms trembling, struggling to keep it aloft with his malnourished body. Then Aunt Petunia had come and snatched it out of his hands and lifted it out of his hands with seemingly little effort at all. How old had Harry been? Six? Seven at the time?

    ¡°Would it help me get big muscles like yours?¡± Ginny asked.

    ¡°You think they¡¯re big?¡± Alexa asked, blushing slightly and squeezing her arm with her other hand as if to test it, ¡°Thanks! I did swimming too back home so that my arms are pretty built up. I should really swim too, I don¡¯t want to lose anything. I¡¯ve spent years getting this fit.¡±

    ¡°What the heck?¡± Jack asked, ¡°How many sports do you play, Alexa? How much do you normally exercise? Aren''t you only eleven?¡±

    Alexa looked between them and a look of realization flashed over her face.

    ¡°Oh. Did I not say?¡± She said, ¡°My parents are both total exercise nuts. They compete in marathons and go on thirty mile hikes on the weekends together sometimes. It¡¯s just the two sports, Football and swimming for me though. But with them around I usually end up doing a lot more exercise than most other people since they like to do easier races and hikes with me sometimes on the weekends.¡±

    ¡°Oh. So you¡¯re like¡­ really fit,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I felt tired just slowly walking around near my house for a couple hours or so over the summer. Won¡¯t we just slow you down? I¡¯d like to, but it sounds like you¡¯d just run laps around us the whole time.¡±

    ¡°Wait, you¡¯re actually interested?¡± Alexa asked, ¡°None of the Gryffindors wanted to. They actually made fun of me for it¡­¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s dumb,¡± Jack said, ¡°They¡¯re dumb. I think it¡¯s a good idea. Waking up early will be a pain though.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Alexa said, ¡°I don¡¯t mind going a bit easier so I don¡¯t have to go alone. You get used to waking up early pretty quick. I¡¯ll write to my parents for a training plan for us so we can ease you both into it! They¡¯re experts on that stuff, you two will be running around this place like the wind in no time!¡±

    Alexa rambled on, looking rather excited that the both of them had tentatively agreed and talking about all the different exercises they would do and how strong they would be after a couple of months.

    Ginny wanted to be strong.

 Chapter 23: Counter Bullying

    ¡°Watch out, Slytherins incoming,¡± Alexa said as she tossed the frisbee to Ginny. They had spread out a bit as they played and talked. Ginny caught the disk and looked behind her. Three boys in Slytherin robes were approaching, looking at the orange disk in Ginny¡¯s hands in disgust. The one in the center was a blonde one and the two other boys were massive as they trailed behind him.

    Ginny, Jack, and Alexa gathered together and other people on the great lawn turned to observe the brewing confrontation between the two groups.

    Jack glanced at Alexa, ¡°You know them?¡± He whispered, ¡°From class?¡±

    Alexa shook her head, ¡°No, they must be one of the older years.¡±

    The group of three Slytherins stopped a distant aways and stared at them.

    ¡°Enough of this muggle display,¡± The blonde haired boy said in a nasal tone, ¡°I¡¯ve had enough of tolerating you throwing that¡­ disk around where I am forced to watch.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Alexa asked in confusion, ¡°We were just tossing around a frisbee. What¡¯s the problem?¡±

    The boy sneered at Alexa and her red Gryffindor robes, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t expect a mudblood like you to understand, Alexa. Or you, Ravenclaw¡­ Whoever you are.¡±

    The boy said while gesturing at Jack.

    The three of them looked at each other, knowing that they had been insulted. But not exactly what for.

    The boy waited for their reaction, and seemed annoyed when they didn¡¯t immediately react to his insults. He looked at Ginny, ¡°And your whole family are blood traitors. Even in a few months, they should have taught you better than this.¡±

    Ginny opened her mouth to angrily respond, when she was interrupted.

    ¡°Heya, Draco Malfoy!¡± Eric Potter¡¯s voice called out from behind the blond haired boy. Draco turned along with his two friends, his face flashing with annoyance as he did so.

    There Eric Potter stood, grinning wide along with Ron and a bushy haired brown haired girl that was standing stiffly and holding a textbook to her chest.

    ¡°Bullying the first years, are we?¡± Eric said as he came over, his friends slowly trailing behind and looking surprised by the boy¡¯s movement, ¡°Sounds fun. Has he mentioned that he¡¯s a Malfoy yet?¡±

    Eric looked expectantly at the three of them, and after a second Jack shook his head.

    Eric¡¯s eyes lit up as he turned to Draco, ¡°Really?! You didn¡¯t mention your family name even once in a whole minute? I¡¯m so proud, you¡¯ve learned so much since last year! What¡¯d you hit them with? Mudblood, blood traitors, all that nonsense?¡±

    Draco shifted uncomfortably and looked like he¡¯d rather be anywhere else at the moment.

    Eric nodded sagely as he noticed Draco¡¯s discomfort.

    ¡°I see, I see. You¡¯ve got to be more creative than that! I mean, how many times have you rolled out those old things? C¡¯mon. It got stale after the first three or four times. Go on and insult them. Let it rip, show me your creativity!¡±

    Draco shook his head, ¡°Just piss off, Eric. What are you even doing here?¡±

    ¡°Just enjoying my day like everyone else. Why wouldn¡¯t I be here? Just thought I¡¯d spice things up a bit. Scared you can¡¯t come up with anything? That¡¯s the best the Malfoy family has for insults? How are you going to insult ministers and presidents to their faces one day if you can¡¯t even take on some first years?¡±

    Draco reluctantly turned back to them and raised his nose at them, ¡°I have no need to trade insults with any of you. I was simply stating facts.¡±

    ¡°Excellent!¡± Eric cheered, ¡°Simple, but effective. Alright, now their turn. You, muscles. You first.¡±

    He pointed at Alexa who looked put on the spot. Draco went to turn away, but suddenly Eric had his wand out and was pointing it at Draco.

    ¡°C¡¯mon. You got a turn. They sat and took it, didn¡¯t they? Now it¡¯s your turn. You have to sit and take it too. Doesn¡¯t that sound fair?¡±

    Draco reached for his robes, but Eric¡¯s arm twitched and Draco flinched and stopped. Draco let his hand fall to his side and he and Eric turned to look at Alexa.

    Alexa looked stumped as she stared at Draco.

    ¡°Need an assist?¡± Eric said, ¡°Go straight for insulting the family. Usually effective, but it''s supercritical on Draco in particular.¡±

    Alexa looked at Draco, ¡°You¡¯re¡­ Your family¡­ How much money does your daddy give to your mom to make her stay?¡±

    Draco reeled back shocked and Eric cheered, ¡°Yes! Muscles, with a strike right to the heart! Good job, you¡¯re a natural.¡±

    Draco¡¯s face became slightly red and he reached into his robes and pulled out his wand, but Eric quickly twirled his wand and cast a spell and Draco¡¯s body stiffened and he was locked in place. Only his head could move, his eyes furious as he glared at Eric, but seeming unwilling to speak, his lips pressed so tight together that they were white.

    The two large boys behind Draco went for their own wands, but Eric hit them with another two petrifying spells and froze them completely in place where they stood alongside Draco.

    ¡°Now, you next,¡± he said while pointing at Jack, ¡°A hard act to follow, but do your best.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­ Uhm,¡± Jack stammered, ¡°You¡¯re¡­ Your mom¡¯s fat,¡± He said lamely.

    Eric grinned wider, his lips extending to show his teeth as his eyes gleamed slightly. ¡°Weak. But since Muscles did so well that it hardly even matters. Look at him nearly frothing at the mouth right now!¡±

    Draco¡¯s face was beet red and it looked like he was almost holding his breath as he struggled to not explode and yell at them, his eyes constantly darting towards Eric. Eric turned to Ginny and his smile extended wider, something that Ginny didn''t know was possible.

    ¡°And for the finale,¡± He said, ¡°What¡¯s your creative insult, Ginny?¡± What do you have to say?¡±

    Ginny realized that her hands were curled into fists and shaking slightly as she looked back at Eric. She looked into his eyes and looked for a hint of recognition, a clue that he knew about what really happened to her. About what happened to Harry. But there was nothing, he just seemed amused about what was happening. Happy with his new life he¡¯d gotten by taking over Harry¡¯s body.

    ¡®Was this who Harry thought he¡¯d become if he killed me?¡¯ Ginny wondered as she looked at Eric¡¯s far too wide smile.

    ¡°C¡¯mon, don¡¯t hesitate now,¡± Eric said, ¡°Draco¡¯s already so mad. Can you push him farther?¡±

    Ginny looked at Draco for a moment and thought about it. Dad had mentioned Lucius Malfoy occasionally, they were enemies at work. Should she insult him? She didn¡¯t want to give Eric the satisfaction. But she looked at Alexa and Jack. Even if she didn¡¯t know what ¡®mudblood¡¯ meant, she could roughly guess based on what the Aurors had said about muggleborns while she was at the hospital. And from what her dad had explained afterwards. Just because none of them understood what it meant didn¡¯t mean Draco hadn¡¯t said it just because they were throwing around a frisbee¡­ Ginny decided to do her worst. She didn¡¯t have racist insults to use against Draco, but there was one detail that her Dad had told her that she could use.

    ¡°Your father was under the imperius curse during the war. Or that¡¯s what he said. You think if someone did it again, they could force him to pretend to love you?¡±

    Everyone froze, even Eric who was blinking in shock at Ginny¡¯s calm statement.

    ¡°Whoa,¡± Eric said, ¡°And with the finishing move, Ginny slams Draco¡¯s family pride into the dirt! Ah, he¡¯s frothing at the mouth now! Oh, better seal him up to let things stew.¡±

    Eric waved his wand and said another spell and Draco froze head to toe, only his eyes able to move.

    Eric walked up to the frozen Draco.

    ¡°There, all balanced now aren¡¯t we?¡± Eric said to the frozen Draco, ¡°Insult for insult on both sides. Let¡¯s not escalate this, ay? If you attack them then it¡¯ll be so difficult to think of what would be an even exchange. Right, guys?¡±

    Eric glanced back at them, still with the unnaturally wide smile plastered over his face.

    ¡°Y-Yeah,¡± Jack stammered.

    Eric turned back around to stare at Draco again.

    ¡°Right. You get it, Draco,¡± He said, ¡°Petrification should wear off in an hour or so. Have fun being frozen until then. Or whenever a teacher decides to come along to punish me, I suppose. Bye!¡±

    He turned and waved to Alexa, Eric, and Ginny, his eyes lingering on her for an extra moment.

    ¡°And you¡¯re welcome, firsties! Eric Potter saves the day yet again! See ya around.¡±

    His smile dropped until it was a more casual level with closed lips and then he walked off.

    Ginny heard the bushy haired girl scolding Eric.

    ¡°What?¡± Eric said loudly, ¡°It¡¯s called a deterrent. I stopped him from bullying those first years, didn¡¯t I? Seems to have worked out fine to me.¡±

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    The bushy haired girl looked annoyed, but after glancing around to all the observers that had drifted towards them from across the Hogwarts lawn, huffed and went silent.

    ¡°Well then, friends,¡± Eric said, ¡°What were we doing again? We got distracted. Hermione, you were saying something about divination class¡­?¡±

    The three of them walked off, Ron giving Ginny an awkward wave before following after Eric and the girl. Ginny stared after them for a moment before shaking her head.

    ¡°Should we¡­ tell someone?¡± Jack asked hesitantly as they all looked at the completely frozen forms of Draco and his two friends, only their eyes moving around to dart around and focus on whoever was speaking.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here,¡± Alexa said, sounding vaguely disturbed, ¡°That¡¯s so creepy how they¡¯re just watching us as we¡¯re frozen.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go,¡± Ginny agreed.

    They all quickly retreated to the castle, the three frozen forms of the Slytherins left behind on the lawn.

    ¡°That guy was so creepy!¡± Alexa said when they were back inside the castle and walking through some of the abandoned hallways. They seemed to have collectively decided to randomly roam the castle without saying anything, just taking random turns to see where they would end up.

    ¡°Did you see his smile?¡± Alexa continued, ¡°I saw him this morning. I can¡¯t believe someone like that¡¯s in Gryffindor.¡±

    ¡°I mean, he did technically help us,¡± Jack said cautiously, ¡°Maybe it was an act to scare Draco?¡±

    ¡°I hope so¡­¡± Alexa said, ¡°I¡¯m just glad that it¡¯s over. Your mom¡¯s fat, Jack? That was the best you could think of?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I was under pressure! How did you come up with that insult on the spot, Alexa? You just had that at the ready!¡±

    Alexa shrugged, ¡°Ehhh. He reminded me a lot of those spoiled rich kids at my prep school. Lots of their moms only married their dads for money. One of my old friends said that to one of them at my old prep school and they got really mad. It was just the first thing I thought of. But what about you though, Ginny? That was crazy, you totally slammed Draco! That was a good insult based on how furious he looked after you said it.¡±

    Ginny shifted uncomfortably, ¡°I don¡¯t want to be good at insulting people,¡± She muttered to herself.

    ¡°Oh, C¡¯mon!¡± Alexa said, and Ginny startled as she realized that both of her friends had heard her.

    ¡°He had it coming, the jerk.¡± Alexa said, ¡°That was total verbal self defense. We don¡¯t have to feel bad about it. Where are we, again? I think I¡¯m lost. Want to show me Ravenclaw tower? What¡¯s your common room like?¡±

    ¡°Sure, let¡¯s go,¡± Jack said, ¡°You¡¯ll have to solve a riddle though, Alexa,¡± he said, ¡°So it might take you a while to get in.¡±

    ¡°Shut up, it can¡¯t be that hard.¡±

    Alexa paused, ¡°Is it?¡±

    Ginny shrugged, ¡°We don¡¯t know. It¡¯s our first time back too,¡±

    ¡°Oh, right,¡± Alexa said, ¡°We just have a normal password for the Gryffindor common room. I¡¯ll have to whisper it to the painting so people don¡¯t get mad at me for sharing it with you two when we go¡­¡±

    They were very lost, and it took them over twenty minutes of wandering and asking random living paintings scattered around the castle for directions that they found themselves in front of the door to the Ravenclaw common room.

    Jack stepped forward. And the Eagle turned its head towards him.

    ¡°Hmph. I always hate it the first couple weeks,¡± the Eagle grumbled, ¡°Don¡¯t know enough to give you a good challenge. Alright boy. You know any math?¡±

    ¡°I mean, some?¡± Jack said, ¡°But is that really a riddle?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a riddle to you if you can¡¯t solve it,¡± the Eagle said, ¡°You¡¯d be surprised how many wizards don¡¯t know even the basics. What¡¯s nine times eight?¡±

    ¡°Seventy two?¡± Jack answered immediately, ¡°Is that it?¡±

    ¡°Want a harder challenge, do you?¡± The eagle said, ¡°Most of you children struggle even with something that easy.¡±

    Ginny stepped forward next feeling rather nervous. Harry had learned some math, but Ginny wasn¡¯t him. She could probably pull up the memories of how to do things, but she wouldn¡¯t instinctively know how to do it. She knew what multiplication and division was at least, but actually doing it in her head might be hard.

    ¡°You look more nervous,¡± the Eagle observed, ¡°Not strong in math? Let¡¯s go to a logical puzzle then. Which came first, the Phoenix or the flame?¡±

    Ginny blinked. What kind of question was that?

    ¡°Obviously the flame?¡± She said, unsure of what trick she was missing, ¡°Or¡­ Hmmmm.¡±

    Ginny thought about it a bit more. In her magic sense, Fawkes was a big ball of flame. He didn¡¯t even look all that bird shaped. Wait, was that his real form? A big ball of magical flame? Wow, this was actually a hard one. How would anyone else ever be able to figure it out?

    ¡°Neither,¡± She said after she figured it out, ¡°The Phoenix and the flame are the same. So they both happened at the same time.¡±

    The Eagle stared at her.

    ¡°Was I right?¡± She asked hopefully.

    ¡°Yes. But that is not the usual answer,¡± the Eagle admitted, ¡°There are no single right answers to my riddles. Only well and poorly reasoned ones. What is your reasoning for your conclusion?¡±

    ¡°My familiar is a phoenix,¡± Ginny said, ¡°And he feels like a big ball of flame. Not even a bird like a ball of flame, just fire. So it makes sense that they¡¯d have to be born at the same time for Fawkes to still be himself.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that was you?¡± the Eagle said, ¡°Can¡¯t believe that old bird bonded with a human child of all things. When I bonded with Rowena, she was already powerful and worthy of our bond.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you a statue?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I was not always a statue,¡± the Eagle said, ¡°When I was bonded to Rowena Ravenclaw, I was a thunderbird. In one of our battles after sacrificing myself to save her life by intercepting a hostile spell sent towards Rowena, I lay there dying at her feet. Instead of letting me die, she preserved my mind in this statue to watch over her precious Hogwarts in the future. Even after her death. Now I spend most of my time trying to think of new riddles that you little cheaters don¡¯t already have the answers to. Just when I come up with a good one, someone copies the answer and I can¡¯t use it again for decades at least¡­¡±

    ¡°You were really the familiar of Rowena Ravenclaw?¡± Jack asked the Eagle statue in wonder. The Eagle turned its head to him, ¡°Yes. I don¡¯t spread it around, I just thought the one that Fawkes ended up bonding to should know. I can tell you all the embarrassing stories that Fawkes wouldn¡¯t want to tell you.¡±

    ¡°You knew him? All the way back when Hogwarts was founded?¡± Ginny asked.

    ¡°Oh, yes,¡± the Eagle said, ¡°He had his own territory over in Switzerland, as it¡¯s called now, back then. The two of us would fight over cattle sometimes if Rowena ever went too close to there while the four founders were traveling. I was quite the fighter in my prime, caused Fawkes to reincarnate nearly a dozen times when he tried to fight me off from my prize!¡±

    ¡°Reincarnate?¡± Alexa asked, ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Oh, yes, yes. The Gryffindor. Well, to your question¡­ Phoenixes don¡¯t ever truly die unless all of their flames are completely snuffed.¡± The Eagle said, ¡°I defeated him enough that he was reduced to a single wisp of flame and forced to flee. After a while he nurtured his flame to grow back enough that he was able to rebuild his physical Phoenix form like he has now. Not truly reincarnation, but it ends up looking that way to most. Hoh hoh, I¡¯ve heard that he reverts himself to a chick every couple years now so he¡¯ll look cuter and get more food from the humans. Now over the centuries they even think that he has to do it every time and it''s not just a trick so they¡¯ll feed him more! Bet he wouldn¡¯t tell you that. It¡¯s been a rather successful con, if I do say. But don¡¯t let him trick you if he tries to pull it on you.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Eagle,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Do you have a name?¡±

    ¡°I was known as Amvatroz when I was a thunderbird. But most students simply call me Eagle as you just did.¡±

    ¡°Amva-traaz?¡±

    ¡°Amvatroz¡±

    ¡°Am-va-troooz?¡±

    ¡°Amvatroz¡±

    ¡°Amvatroz?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s it. Say it one more time.¡±

    ¡°Amvatroz.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡±

    ¡°Thanks for telling me, Am-Amvatroz. I probably would have fallen for it. Fawkes is rather cute even as an adult bird. Can we go in now?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve still got one more to answer their riddle,¡± Amvatroz said, ¡°Come forward, Gryffindor.¡±

    Alexa stepped forward and Ginny walked to the side to join Jack.

    ¡°Your riddle is¡­¡± Amvatroz said, ¡°I have three apples and three oranges. I eat one apple and two oranges. How many apples and oranges are left after I am done eating?¡±

    Alexa looked vaguely insulted, ¡°Two apples and one orange. What the heck was that? That was baby stuff!¡±

    ¡°Gryffindors are not exactly known for their brains,¡± Amvatroz said drily, ¡°Thought I¡¯d start with something more on your level. Your answer is correct. Congratulations on all three of you for making it through your first day of classes uninjured.¡±

    Before anyone could respond to that, there was a rumble and the wall behind Amvatroz¡¯s statue swung outwards revealing the Ravenclaw common room behind it. There were a few people milling about inside, who looked up at the sound of the opening door only to look away again as they saw Ginny and Jack leading the way inside and Alexa trailed behind them.

    They walked inside and Alexa looked around with interest as the door shut behind them.

    ¡°This place is nice,¡± Alexa said, ¡°The little reading nooks and little corners look good. The Gryffindor common room is much more open. Although we have a fireplace, which seems like it¡¯ll be good to sit around once we start getting into winter.¡±

    As Alexa spoke, the other people in the room looked up and did a double take when they saw Alexa¡¯s red Gryffindor robes.

    ¡°Hey,¡± An unpleasantly familiar voice said, ¡°What are you doing bringing a Gryffindor in here, Weasley?¡±

    Ginny looked at Preston who was staring at them with an annoyed expression on his face.

    ¡°Are we not supposed to?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Olivia didn¡¯t say anything like that last night.¡±

    ¡°Er, well. Technically you¡¯re allowed to,¡± Preston said, ¡°But you shouldn¡¯t. What if she tells the others how to get in?¡±

    ¡°Should she not be able to?¡± Jack asked in confusion, ¡°Amvatroz gave her a pretty easy riddle to solve so she could come in. He didn¡¯t seem to mind too much.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± Preston asked.

    ¡°The Eagle that gives the riddles,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Amvatroz.¡±

    ¡°Never heard it called that before¡­¡± Preston said, ¡°Eagle let her in? Well¡­¡±

    ¡°Oy! You causing trouble again, Preston?¡± Olivia¡¯s voice suddenly sounded from the girl¡¯s dorm corridor. The girl stepped out, looking annoyed. ¡°I was enjoying a good book when I heard your racket down here again. This better be worth it.¡±

    ¡°Ginny Weasley brought her Gryffindor friend into our common room!¡± Preston said, ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be allowed!¡±

    Olivia looked at the trio, ¡°Did Eagle give you all a riddle?¡±

    They nodded and Olivia looked back at Preston.

    ¡°What¡¯s the problem then? Eagle wouldn¡¯t let anyone with bad intentions in. Little Gryffindor can look around as much as she likes so long as she¡¯s not bothering people. Are you bothered Preston?¡±

    Preston looked like he was going to protest, then sat back down, ¡°No, Olivia.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s Prefect Olivia to you,¡± the girl said before pulling out her wand and twirling it without saying any words.

    Ginny watched a spell shoot out and hit Preston on the forehead and his head snapped back like he¡¯d been flicked hard on the forehead.

    He rubbed the spot where the spell hit where the faintest outline of a bruise was already beginning to form.

    ¡°Ow,¡± He said sullenly.

    ¡°Just relax already, Preston,¡± Olivia said, ¡°It¡¯s only the first day, I¡¯m gonna be pissed if I¡¯ve got to waste my time dealing with all of your messes like last year.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Olivia¡­¡±

    Olivia turned to them, ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m Olivia, Ravenclaw¡¯s prefect. And you are¡­?¡±

    ¡°Alexa! I¡¯m Alexa.¡±

    ¡°Alexa. Nice to meet you. Now, I¡¯ve got a good book to get back to. Don¡¯t mind Preston, Ravenclaw pride and all that. Just don¡¯t hex anyone in here and you¡¯ll be alright with me.¡±

    With that Olivia turned around and walked back into the girls corridor to presumably return to her room.

    ¡°I can barely even cast a levitation spell¡­¡± Alexa said as Olivia rounded the corner and disappeared. The Ravenclaws observing the drama turned back to their own conversations and mostly ignored Alexa, Ginny, and Jack. Even Preston surprisingly.

    ¡°Anyway, this is the Ravenclaw common room,¡± Jack said, ¡°What were you saying about the differences with the Gryffindor common room?¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah, we¡¯ve got a fireplace¡­¡± Alexa began and they started discussing the differences. Over time, several of the surrounding Ravenclaws drifted in and started asking Alexa questions of their own. It seems that none of them had seen the Gryffindor common room themselves. People going to other houses'' common rooms was pretty rare it seemed.

 Chapter 24: Teregatt

    ¡°Fawkes, these are my friends. Jack Antov and Alexa Adams,¡± Ginny said to the phoenix sitting a few feet away. He had been living in the aviary and being fed constantly from what Ginny had heard. Legally, Hogwarts was required to feed Fawkes until he was satisfied. And as a phoenix¡­ he could eat constantly and would never gain any weight. It would all just go into condensing and increasing the power of his internal flame.

    Fawkes chirped.

    ¡°Can they pet you? Oh, and Fawkes says hello,¡± Ginny said to her friends. After finishing with the Ravenclaw common room they had left and wandered the castle a bit before coming here so Ginny could introduce them to Fawkes.

    Fawkes trilled.

    ¡°Oh, really?¡± Ginny said, ¡°You never let my family do it. You really don¡¯t mind?¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Whoa. You held a grudge for that long? That they wanted to pet you without your permission? They just didn¡¯t understand¡­¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Oh, well. That¡¯s on them. I¡¯ll tell them so they can apologize though. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll think of a good bribe if they know that was why you are annoyed with them.¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Of course. Hey, we met somebody. Amvatroz, the Eagle, said he knew you when he was a thunderbird.¡±

    Fawkes puffed up indignantly and flapped his wings even as he stayed on the ground and let out a long sustained trill.

    Ginny had to suppress a laugh, ¡°Beat him every time, huh? Amvatroz said the same thing¡­¡±

    Another indignant trill, this one a little deflated from before.

    ¡°If he got to eat the cow that you two were fighting over, didn¡¯t he win then?¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Well, now you got to fight back! Tell me all the embarrassing secrets that Amvatroz wouldn¡¯t want you to tell us! I¡¯m sure you know something, Amvatroz made it sound like you two knew each other pretty well.¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Ok, later,¡± Ginny agreed before remembering her two friends.

    ¡°You really can talk to him like a person¡­¡± Jack said with interest. Alexa stepped forward and didn¡¯t look at Ginny but Fawkes. She reached out her hand in front of her until it was less than a foot away from Fawkes.

    ¡°Can I pet you?¡± She asked. Fawkes chirped and hopped forward and pressed his head against Alexa¡¯s hand. Alexa started stroking Fawkes¡¯ head and down his back.

    ¡°Whoa, he¡¯s so soft and warm¡­¡± Alexa said in an amazed voice. Jack came forward too and paused when Fawkes turned his head to stare at him.

    ¡°Can I pet you too?¡± He asked Fawkes, who chirped in response. Jack looked at Ginny who nodded back at him. Jack went forward too and between him and Alexa started petting Fawkes and laying on the praise for him and his soft feathers and warmth. Fawkes enjoyed the attention, looking between Alexa and Jack and leaning into their hands as they pet him.

    Ginny sat down cross legged on the floor and watched from the side, almost forgotten by the other three. She got plenty of time with Fawkes, it would be greedy to interrupt and start petting Fawkes herself too. No matter that she wanted to join in with the other two right that second!

    Eventually, Fawkes was satisfied with the attention and hopped back from Ginny¡¯s friends, looking rather satisfied and relaxed.

    ¡°Are you liking the Aviary?¡± Ginny asked and Fawkes looked at her, ¡°Are they feeding you well?¡±

    Fawkes let out a smug chirp.

    ¡°Yeah, I heard,¡± Ginny said, ¡°You big glutton.¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Still a glutton even if you don¡¯t get fat from it.¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Of course I would get fat. Didn¡¯t you eat about thirty pounds of food just today? That¡¯s probably more than your whole body weight. Are you going to eat that much every day?¡±

    Chirp. Chirp.

    ¡°I¡¯m mostly kidding,¡± Ginny said, ¡°It¡¯s Hogwarts food, not ours. Technically they have to give you as much as you want since you¡¯re the true familiar of a student¡­ But don¡¯t get too greedy, Dumbledore might be mad if you eat too much and it starts getting really expensive.¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Okay. Bye.¡±

    Fawkes hopped into the corner and with another burst of flame he disappeared again, probably returning back to the Aviary to keep gorging himself with more food.

    ¡°Oh. My. God!¡± Alexa said, still sitting on the floor of the abandoned classroom next to Jack.

    ¡°That was amazing!¡± Alexa said, ¡°Fawkes was just the cutest little guy! Super warm and soft feathers.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s¡­¡± Jack said. The two of them gushed a bit more, each getting more and more outrageous to outdo the other.

    Ginny giggled a little and Jack stopped before saying something else.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, you two,¡± Ginny said, ¡°He¡¯s not here anymore. You don¡¯t have to keep complimenting him. Did you see him? He was really soaking in your praises the whole time.¡±

    ¡°Oh, but you didn¡¯t get to pet him though, Ginny!¡± Alexa said, ¡°We just jumped in, sorry¡­¡±

    Ginny smiled slightly and shook her head, ¡°No, I got him to myself all summer. You two looked like you were having fun.¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Jack said loudly and after the two girls looked at him he blushed a little and spoke a little softer, ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Can we do that again sometime? Can we, Ginny?¡± Alexa said, ¡°I¡¯m feeling so relaxed after that.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s up to Fawkes,¡± Ginny said as she lurched to her feet. Her legs had fallen asleep and there were pins and needles running through her legs as the blood started flowing through them properly again. Alexa and Jack also clambered to their feet, all of them looking a little dusty from sitting on the floor of this old abandoned classroom for so long.

    ¡°But he seemed to like it, so I don¡¯t see why not.¡±

    ¡°Yay,¡± Alexa said.

    Jack¡¯s stomach rumbled, and he put a hand over his stomach.

    ¡°Dinner?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Dinner.¡±

    ¡°Dinner.¡±

    They made their way to the great hall, seeing more and more students trickling in as they got closer. It seems that they were on the tail end of things and were almost late to the meal. They reached the doors and looked between the two tables. Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, then down to their robes.

    ¡°This whole house thing is so dumb,¡± Alexa grumbled before she turned to the two of them, ¡°Have a good dinner, guys. See you tomorrow morning like we talked about?¡±

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    ¡°Sure.¡±

    ¡°See you there.¡±

    They split off, Alexa going to sit at the Gryffindor table while Ginny and Jack went to sit by the Ravenclaws.

    They all ate their fill, talking with some of the other first year Ravenclaws before returning to the common room. Luckily after dinner Amvatroz had some mercy and allowed Olivia to solve an extra hard riddle for the whole group of tired Ravenclaws. It took a few minutes, but Olivia eventually figured it out without any help and the door swung open. It was something about advanced transfiguration theory that flew way over Ginny¡¯s head as Olivia and Amvatroz discussed it.

    Ginny went to her room, caught up with her roommates for a bit¡­ and then closed her eyes and went to sleep.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny opened her eyes and sat up to look at Balthazar watching her from across the room. She was back in¡­ back to¡­

    ¡°Hey, Balthazar,¡± Ginny asked as she climbed to her feet with her mud body, ¡°What is this place called? I just realized that I don¡¯t think I ever asked.¡±

    ¡°It has many names that it goes by. But if I had to choose one, then it would be¡­ Teregatt. It means refuge or sanctuary in the language of some of our residents.¡±

    ¡°What are you?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°The people that live here, where are they from?¡±

    ¡°All of us are from realities scattered across existence. We were all offered deals to reside here and defend this place for eternity as the original owner encountered us on his journeys.¡±

    ¡°Can you leave if you want to? What if you wanted to go home?¡±

    ¡°We were offered deals because we all had no homes to go back to, one way or another. We have all accepted our life here as time passed.¡±

    ¡°How many of you are there? I¡¯ve only met you, and that one soldier that helped me when I was attacked.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve held them back to give you some room to develop so you can make a good first impression on them. We number ten thousand, eight hundred, and seventy one.¡±

    ¡°Ten¨C Ten thousand? That many? And I¡¯m supposed to be in charge of all of them?¡±

    Balthazar chuckled, ¡°I¡¯ve managed them for a long time. You give the orders and I¡¯ll do my best to accomplish them. There are only a dozen or so on the order of power of the soldier that defended you. I am far above even them. The vast majority are even less powerful than you are, Ginny. Even as untrained and green as you are now in comparison to their millennia of experience.¡±

    ¡°And they all live here? In this tower?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the tower is massive and would have enough room to comfortably hold ten, even a hundred times of our current number. We used to be rather active before the original creator of this realm died, but we¡¯ve been rather idle since then. I presume that when you come into your own we shall be active again and leave this place more often.¡±

    ¡°Can you do that? Have lots of you leave this place at once? Didn¡¯t it drain most of this place''s energy just to send one person through?¡±

    ¡°Yes. There is a way to create a permanent portal. But you aren¡¯t ready for anything like that just yet. I¡¯ve made preparations for the funeral. Do you wish to do it now, or train your magic and delay?¡±

    ¡°No, let¡¯s do it right now,¡± Ginny said, ¡°That was fast. It¡¯s only been a day.¡±

    ¡°Time moves strangely here,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°It has been many years since your last appearance. Our newest resident, Pettigrew, has begun to complain about feeling his age now, I have heard. He''s started balding.¡±

    Ginny blinked, ¡°Wait, what? He¡¯s just been living here for years? Did you figure out who he was working for? Why did he attack me?¡±

    ¡°Yes. He was alone, he wished to wipe your memory so he could continue hiding in your home as a rat. He was hiding from the government, fearful that he would be arrested if they discovered that he was alive and his betrayal of his friends. A servant of the self proclaimed Lord Voldemort, but not acting on his orders.¡±

    ¡°And¡­ you¡¯re fine with him just living here?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Despite him being horrible and betraying his friends?¡±

    Balthazar shrugged, ¡°I dislike him, so I don¡¯t interact with him. He will die of old age at some point, and I will no longer have to speak with him ever again.¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s uhm¡­ harsh. Is he being treated okay? Like, you¡¯re not hurting him or anything are you?¡±

    ¡°No. He¡¯s rather grown to like it here in fact. He knows that none of us wish to kill him, and doesn¡¯t have to worry about your government chasing him down from here. It has let him relax in recent years in comparison to his constant state of fear and tension in the previous years.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Well, that¡¯s¡­ I guess that¡¯s fine then? I dunno¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°We will not see him. Now, if you follow after me I will bring you to the room where we will perform the ceremony.¡±

    Ginny followed after Balthazar through the hallways of the tower. The tower in Teregatt. She knew this place¡¯s name now. They reached a doorway that looked just like all of the others and stopped just in front of it.

    ¡°Why are these hallways so confusing?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°I got lost after the first turn or two. It¡¯s like a maze.¡±

    ¡°It is a maze. If this place is ever attacked directly then the raiders will be completely lost in this place. The residents with all our time wandering this place know exactly where everything is and will have a significant home field advantage in our defense.¡±

    ¡°Oh. But how will I get around if you¡¯re not there to help me?¡± Ginny asked as they walked in the room, ¡°I¡¯m not living here all the time.¡±

    ¡°Just ask the crown, and it will point you the way,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°Ask it to point you back to the portal room.¡±

    Ginny felt at the crown on top of her head and did as Balthazar asked. She felt the crown gently tugging down the hallway back from the way they came. She stepped to the side and back a bit to test it, and the crown always pointed the same way.

    ¡°That was easy,¡± Ginny said absentmindedly, ¡°Guess I was worried over nothing.¡±

    Balthazar opened the door to the room and they both went inside. Inside were six of the insect soldiers in their metal suits of armor, all with their bone swords with reddish runes squirming over their surface sheathed at their sides. They stood along the walls of the room, three on each side and were just far enough that Ginny didn¡¯t feel crowded but still close enough that she could see their mandibles twitching where the lower halves of their faces were exposed.

    Her eyes fixated on what looked like a body wrapped in thick strips of white fabric from head to toe. It¡¯s arms were crossed across its chest, and it lay on a golden metal platform below it. Just behind it was a massive hole ten meters in diameter that had the same obsidian walls with golden flecks as the rest of the structure as it plunged downwards.

    Ginny kept staring at the body. ¡°Is that¡­ Is that¡­¡±

    ¡°Nothing but transfigured stones,¡± Balthazar reassured her, ¡°We do this for the ceremony when we can not retrieve a body.¡±

    Without another word, they walked forward, the insect soldiers on either side and unmoving. Balthazar let out a harsh buzz and clicking noise from his mouth that seemed impossible for him to make. Ginny sensed him using some sort of magic around his throat as he made the sounds.

    The soldiers buzzed and clicked back and shifted to space themselves evenly around the rim of the massive hole going into the floor with Ginny, Balthazar, and the body on one point. The hole reminded Ginny of a well, with not even a guard rail around the rim of it. Just a massive circular pit in the floor, dropping down so far into darkness that Ginny couldn¡¯t even see the bottom.

    ¡°One taken before his time,¡± Balthazar said solemnly, ¡°Who gave his life for another, in a noble sacrifice. Harry Potter, may your sacrifice nourish the realm. Teregatt, our refuge.¡±

    Balthazar turned to Ginny, ¡°Queen of our people. Is there anything you wish to add about your fallen subject?¡±

    Ginny looked at the wrapped up body, ¡°Harry¡­ Harry gave his life for mine. He didn¡¯t deserve any of what happened to him. I¡¯ll make sure that his sacrifice was worth something. I¡­ Bye, Harry.¡±

    Balthazar waited for a moment, and when it became clear that Ginny was finished he nodded and waved his hands and the wrapped body floated off of the golden platform. It gently floated to the center of the pit, its head slumped to its chest while its legs dangled loosely beneath it.

    ¡°Then let you nourish the realm in death, as it had nourished you in life,¡± Balthazar said as his magic tendrils held the body aloft.

    ¡°Harry Potter, rejoin the realm,¡± Balthazar said before cutting off his magic all at once. The wrapped up body immediately fell into the pit and after a second disappeared into the darkness below.

    The soldiers around the edge of the pit drew their bone swords and held them aloft, pointing towards the center of the hole. They all let out a series of buzzes and clicks in unison before sheathing their swords again.

    They all stood there for a few minutes, staring into the pit descending into darkness. Finally, Ginny felt the energy in the air rise the tiniest fraction of a percent.

    ¡°And so Harry Potter lives on in the realm itself,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°May his energies nourish us.¡±

    The insect soldiers let out more clicks and buzzes in unison and then took a step back from the side of the pit. They turned and marched in formation to retake their positions lining the edges of the room in two rows of three.

    Balthazar turned and walked to the door and Ginny followed him. They passed through the rows of unmoving soldiers and back out the door. The door closed behind them with a loud clunk.

    ¡°That is the end of the ceremony,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°The Teregatt Guard will remain for a few more minutes before leaving themselves. What did you think?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what I was expecting. But it wasn¡¯t anything like that. How did the energy of this place rise when it went in there? Wasn¡¯t it only transfigured rocks?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s why the increase was so small. If it was a real body then you would know the difference in energy immediately.¡±

    ¡°Okay. But other than that¡­ I don¡¯t know, I thought it was nice. I think Harry would have liked it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m glad to hear that.¡±

    Ginny realized that given the directions she was getting from the crown, that Balthazar was taking her back to the portal room.

    They reached the room and went inside.

    ¡°It¡¯s customary to limit your magic use to the minimum for at least a week after the ceremony,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°For those in Teregatt where the deceased¡¯s energy can still be felt. Do not come back here for a week on your world, and I think it will be similar enough to what we do. Use your magic as you wish on your world, your intrinsic magic comes from you and not our realm.¡±

    ¡°Thanks for doing this, Balthazar. It means a lot to me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re very welcome. Good luck on your magical schooling. Remember to not become reliant on those wands.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Balthazar. I know. Bye.¡±

    Ginny shifted her magic and moved it into the crown to bring herself back to her body. The crown pulsed, and then Ginny was flung back into her sleeping body back on her bed on Earth.

 Chapter 25: House Pride

    Huff¡­ Puff¡­

    Ginny collapsed onto the Hogwarts lawn exhausted and panting heavily, her lungs burning and legs aching.

    She felt the wet dew of the grass from the early morning starting to soak her robes.

    ¡°These things really are terrible for exercise, aren¡¯t they?¡± Alexa said, barely even sounding out of breath. ¡°We should go find some real running clothes for you two. If you give me some sizes then I can get my parents to get you something. I don¡¯t think I saw anything besides these dumb robes for sale in Diagon Alley.¡±

    ¡°Grrr, how are you not even out of breath?¡± Jack said from the ground next to Ginny, similarly wiped out, ¡°We ran for what¡­ must have been¡­ miles!¡±

    Alexa nodded, ¡°Yes, probably like two or three total is my guess. You two made it the whole way without stopping, it only gets easier from here.¡±

    ¡°Blllleeeeeghhhhh,¡± Ginny complained, ¡°My legs hurt.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll be fine,¡± Alexa said, ¡°In class we¡¯re just sitting around all the time anyways. C¡¯mon, get up. It only gets worse if you sit down. The great hall will be open soon, we should shower quick so we aren¡¯t late.¡±

    Ginny groaned, but managed to get to her feet alongside Jack.

    ¡°This better be worth it,¡± Jack said as the two of them hobbled back up to the castle.

    Alexa scratched her head and looked vaguely embarrassed, ¡°It will be¡­ I¡¯ll try to go slower next time though. I got too excited for our first run, I think.¡±

    They all returned to their common rooms, all sweaty and dirty and showered off. Some of the Ravenclaws milling around in the common room in the morning gave them odd looks, but didn¡¯t say anything. Ginny put on some new robes after she was clean and went down to the great hall.

    Ginny and Jack were stiff all day, groaning slightly as they stood from their chairs. Things went smoothly almost the whole day. Professor Lupin for Defense against the Dark Arts was going over various types of magical creatures, which Ginny found interesting. The man still wore his same old ragged jacket, but was very knowledgeable on the subject whenever someone asked him any questions.

    They went to Potions, which Ginny had been dreading a little. What if Snape said something else? Throughout the class, Snape largely ignored her, which was a relief. The class ended without incident, and they were set free again.

    Alexa came over and they hung out a bit more wandering around together. They even did some homework together when they got tired of walking around.

    Like that, two weeks passed. Ginny spotted Draco once in the hallways between classes, but the boy had simply looked annoyed before diverting to avoid her and Jack. Ginny, Jack, and Alexa ran in the mornings although Alexa took it much easier on them than the first day.

    Classes were getting slightly harder, with their first rounds of exams in their classes coming up in the next week or so. Ginny didn¡¯t have much trouble with the practical magic part, but the theoretical knowledge was difficult to remember since she had to do it for all of her classes at once. Especially potions, where you had to remember the properties of all the ingredients and how they interacted with each other for the exams.

    It only took three days for Alexa¡¯s parents to send them some workout clothes and a training plan, which Alexa was delighted to discuss with them at length. Ginny and Jack had been uncomfortable accepting the gifts, but Alexa was firm.

    ¡°What, you want to run in robes more?¡± She had told them, ¡°Plus, we can swim for the upper body since they¡¯ve given us some bathing suits too. They¡¯re rich, they really don¡¯t mind.¡±

    Ginny and Jack had persisted in trying to pay back Alexa somehow, but Alexa had after much discussion managed to talk them down and convince them that it was a gift.

    After some mornings, they swam about in the great lake instead of running. Jack had looked a little awkward as he stood there in his swimming trunks while Ginny and Alexa were in their own one piece bathing suits. But after a few days, he got used to it and whatever had been making him uncomfortable went away and they had fun swimming around together. Sometimes Alexa had them actually swim in laps and things, but mostly they swam after Alexa accidentally made them run too hard on one of the running days so they were just splashing around and having some fun.

    Ginny started looking forward to their morning exercise. It was hard, but Ginny could feel herself growing stronger and not getting as tired the longer they went. And it was fun being able to just hang out with her friends with no one else around to give them weird looks for being a group of first years of mixed Ravenclaw and Gryffindors.

    They all started spending some time with other friends in their afternoons, so it was only in the mornings that it was sure that Jack and Ginny would see Alexa. They still did meet after classes sometimes, but it wasn¡¯t for every day like it had been in the beginning.

    Ginny didn¡¯t go back to Teregatt for the whole time. Balthazar had said for her to wait a week before coming back. But Ginny decided that it wasn¡¯t enough for her after the week was over. She was going to wait a whole month and return then.

    It was Wednesday of the third week and Ginny and Jack showed up on the great lawn in their bathing suits with their robes over the top of them. They looked around as they stood by the great lake, and saw that Alexa wasn¡¯t there yet. Alexa had always been early every day, this would be the first time she would be late.

    They waited for ten more minutes before they both started worrying.

    ¡°You think she slept in?¡± Jack asked.

    ¡°Alexa? No way,¡± Ginny said, ¡°She wouldn¡¯t do that.¡±

    They waited for another twenty minutes, and Alexa still hadn¡¯t arrived.

    ¡°Should we start without her?¡± Jack asked hesitantly, ¡°She always tells us what we¡¯re supposed to do¡­¡±

    ¡°I guess¡­¡± Ginny said, ¡°She said it was ten laps as the main thing, right? Something like that?¡±

    ¡°I think it was fifteen,¡± Jack said, ¡°Between those two big rocks on the shore like last time.¡±

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s do that and hope she¡¯s just late,¡± Ginny said as she started taking off her Hogwarts robe, with Jack doing the same. In their bathing suits, they walked into the water that was fairly warm, luckily, even in the early morning. They did their laps, both looking up to the castle occasionally in hopes of seeing Alexa coming down to join them. But the girl never appeared, and Jack and Ginny went to breakfast without her appearing.

    Ginny tried to spot Alexa at the Gryffindor table as more people trickled in for breakfast, but didn¡¯t see her for a while. It was only at the end that Ginny saw her, looking rather down and trudging out of the hall after she was done eating.

    Ginny tried to hurry to catch her, but before Ginny could pin her down Alexa was lost in the crowd.

    Ginny frowned.

    ¡°We¡¯ll talk to her after classes,¡± Jack reassured her, ¡°She¡¯ll tell us what¡¯s going on.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­¡±

    After classes, they went looking for Alexa. They hadn¡¯t discussed meeting today so they would have to go hunting for her.

    Ginny flared her magic sense and searched for Alexa¡¯s magic through the enchantments filling the air around her blocking her view.

    She tugged on Jack¡¯s arm, ¡°Over this way,¡± She said as she felt Alexa. There were two more people with her. Girls based on the way their magic flowed through their bodies.

    They made their way over and reached an abandoned corridor with no one else around. Ginny crept to the corner and turned to Jack and put a finger on her lips. He nodded and they reached around to see two older girls in Gryffindor robes looming over Alexa.

    ¡°...Ravenclaws?¡± One of the girls said, ¡°Where¡¯s your house pride, firsty? You¡¯re a Gryffindor, they¡¯re the competition for the house cup.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re my friends, I don¡¯t care about some stupid competition!¡± Alexa said defiantly, ¡°Why are you doing this?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s for your own good,¡± the girl replied, ¡°Stay away from them. Or we¡¯ll hex you again. Exercising in the mornings is only making you more of an outsider. Stop it and make some proper friends. Muggleborns like you need all the help you can get making the right connections. I mean just look at Hermione. She¡¯s friends with Eric Potter of all people, she¡¯ll have a bright future getting such connections with someone from a pureblood house that old and wealthy. Ginny Weasley won¡¯t get you anywhere for your career. We¡¯re just trying to help you.¡±

    ¡°Career?¡± Alexa said, ¡°What? Why does that matter for my friends? I like running and exercising. Can¡¯t you just leave me alone?¡±

    ¡°No one is going to tell you this, but everyone is thinking that you¡¯re strange. Not adjusting to our magical traditions and fitting in like muggleborn should. Or that''s what they''ll say. If you¡¯re not careful then you won¡¯t have any allies left in Gryffindor soon. With those Slytherins around, who knows what could happen?¡±

    ¡°No. No they don¡¯t. That¡¯s not true! What do you two even want?¡± Alexa said, ¡°Seriously?¡±

    ¡°For you to make some friends in your house. Only in your house,¡± the same girl said, ¡°As the upper years, it¡¯s our job to make sure that you can¡¯t make mistakes like this for the first few years.¡±

    Ginny stepped forward, ignoring Jack trying to tug her back around the corner.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Ginny shouted, causing all three girls down the hallway to startle and turn to her. ¡°Leave Alexa alone you jerks!¡±

    Jack reluctantly emerged around the corner and scrunched his face before shouting after her.

    ¡°Y-Yeah! Leave her alone! She¡¯s our friend!¡±

    The two older girls looked at them in amusement and drew their wands as one.

    ¡°We¡¯re sixth years,¡± the girl on the right said, ¡°What are you going to do about it? Do you firsties even know how to cast any spells yet?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll tell the teachers!¡± Jack said, ¡°You¡¯ll get in big trouble!¡±

    The girls snorted and the one on the left spoke, ¡°I forget how new you are. Teachers don¡¯t give a shit. Anything less than the hospital wing is barely worth a detention. You think the Slytherins can go around calling people mudbloods all the time in the hallways and we¡¯d get in trouble for something like this?¡±

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Jack didn¡¯t look convinced, but Ginny was. She remembered all of Harry¡¯s memories. All the people at his school that had had some idea of what he went through and didn¡¯t do anything. Were completely apathetic to his plight.

    ¡°This is so stupid!¡± Alexa said from behind them, ¡°Why can¡¯t I just be friends with who I want?¡±

    The Gryffindor sixth year glanced over her shoulder. ¡°You don¡¯t have that luxury. You¡¯re a muggleborn, if you don¡¯t fight for every inch then people will discard you like trash.¡±

    Ginny drew her wand and the two sixth years turned back to her.

    ¡°It¡¯s the hard truth,¡± the girl continued, ¡°We really are just trying to help.¡±

    ¡°So what?¡± Ginny said, ¡°You¡¯re just going to curse us because you don¡¯t want us to be friends with Alexa? Because she should be friends with someone richer than us or something?¡±

    The two girls shared a glance and the one on the right shrugged.

    ¡°May as well?¡± One of them said, ¡°Teach them why they should listen to their elders.¡±

    Ginny began extending four tendrils of her magic towards the two girls who held their wands at the ready. Jack had drawn his wand too and was pointing it at the two sixth years, but seemed unsure of what he could do.

    Ginny felt the same if she only had a wand to work with. She could levitate things and create light with her wand, and that was basically it. Her wandless magic on the other hand¡­

    Ginny hovered her magic tendrils floating just above the sixth year¡¯s wand hands. Two for each girl. The wands were coursing with magic, so Ginny would be unable to move it with her tendrils. Ironically, the girls¡¯ hands themselves were much less magically dense than the wand itself, so they would be a little easier to grab onto.

    The tension rose and the girl on the right turned to the other, ¡°What do you think? Boiling pus curse? Petrification?¡±

    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s¡­¡±

    The girl started moving her wand and Ginny lanced her tendrils into both girl¡¯s hands and wrenched them open. Both dropped their wands to the floor simultaneously with gasps of surprise. Ginny released her tendrils buried in their hands and had the tendrils fly down and latch onto both of the now inert wands at once. Ginny was panting and sweating slightly from the large amount of magic she had used to move the girls¡¯ hands to open to drop their wands.

    Ginny¡¯s magic tendrils attached to the wands and Ginny quickly started moving them so they started quickly rolling on the floor towards her and Jack.

    The two sixth years were blinking confused at their wands that were still rolling away from them seemingly on their own.

    ¡°What? Huh¡­ Agh!¡±

    Alexa shoved the tall sixth year from behind and the girl stumbled to the side into a wall. The other sixth year girl went to help her friend as Alexa ran past them and towards Ginny and Jack.

    Ginny had the two wands leap up into her hands as the two sixth years turned towards them, now looking angry.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here!¡± Alexa said, and the three of them started running away with the two older girls in hot pursuit, both shouting at them.

    Ginny was breathing heavily and her heart was working hard. But she still managed to sneak a tendril of magic behind her as she ran and grabbed the hem of one of the girl¡¯s robes and tugged sharply downwards on it.

    The sixth year Gryffindor yelped as she was pulled to the side and crashed into her friend, sending both of them tumbling to the floor.

    Alexa, Jack, and Ginny kept running for a while until they were back over by the great hall.

    Jack and Ginny were breathing heavily as they stood by the closed doors of the great hall.

    ¡°Was that¡­ why you didn¡¯t show up this¡­ morning?¡± Jack managed to get out through his heavy breathing.

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Alexa said only barely out of breath, ¡°Those girls threatened me, and when I wouldn¡¯t listen they petrified me and left me in an abandoned classroom. It only wore off right before breakfast. I hate them both so much! Like they should be able to decide who I¡¯m friends with!¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Ginny managed to say, ¡°Bad¡­¡±

    ¡°Should we¡­¡± Jack swallowed and his breathing slowed a bit, ¡°Tell a teacher? You never know, they might get in trouble.¡±

    Ginny held up the two stolen wands and her friends looked at them in surprise.

    ¡°We should,¡± Ginny said, ¡°They¡¯ll be after these either way. We gotta find a teacher before they track us down or get some friends to come and curse us.¡±

    ¡°Ok, let¡¯s do it,¡± Alexa said, ¡°McGonagall or Flitwick?¡±

    ¡°McGonagall?¡± Jack said, ¡°Those bullies are Gryffindors, aren¡¯t they? McGonagall would be able to punish them.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I know where her office is,¡± Alexa said, ¡°She¡¯s probably in there right now. Let¡¯s go over there right now.¡±

    Alexa started jogging again and after a moment Jack and Ginny started after her, Ginny still holding the two stolen wands in one hand and her own in the other.

    They reached the door to McGonagall¡¯s office and took a few seconds to collect themselves. Ginny ran a hand through her hair to pat it down, it was sticking up from her running around so much.

    Alexa knocked after they had made themselves more presentable, and after a moment¡­

    ¡°Come in!¡±

    Alexa opened the door and the three of them went inside.

    McGonagall looked up from the parchment she was writing on at her desk. She looked surprised when she saw Ginny and Jack flanking Alexa as she entered.

    ¡°What brings you three to my office today?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Two of the older girls were trying to get me to not be friends with Ginny and Jack because they¡¯re Ravenclaws!¡± Alexa said indignantly, ¡°Amelia and Isla, the sixth years. When I told them to go away they hexed me and almost hexed my friends!¡±

    McGonagall raised an eyebrow, ¡°Almost? What stopped them?¡±

    Ginny lifted her arm to show McGonagall the two stolen wands and placed them on the teachers desk.

    ¡°They dropped their wands,¡± Ginny said, ¡°So they couldn¡¯t cast at us.¡±

    ¡°They dropped them?¡± McGonagall said skeptically as she inspected the two wands, ¡°Why?¡±

    They all shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Jack said, ¡°Their hands just spasmed all of a sudden and they dropped them.¡±

    Alexa went to say something, but before she could say anything there was knocking at the door. McGonagall lifted her wand, ¡°Just a moment,¡± She said, before flicking her wand and opening the door wide. Revealing Amelia and Isla, the two sixth years in Gryffindor robes standing just outside.

    ¡°Oh, good,¡± McGonagall said, ¡°Why don¡¯t you two come in. I was about to send for you.¡±

    The two sixth years looked suspicious, but stepped inside but straightened as they spotted their wands on McGonagall¡¯s desk.

    ¡°Professor, these first years stole our wands and ran for it!¡± One of them said, ¡°What did they say happened?¡±

    ¡°Well, Alexa?¡± McGonagall said, ¡°Let¡¯s hear your version of events.¡±

    Alexa swallowed nervously as Isla and Amelia glared daggers at her. But she haltingly told McGonagall what had happened. The only missing piece was why the girls had dropped their wands, and Ginny remained silent, not wanting to expose that she could do magic without a wand.

    Alexa finished up and McGonagall turned to Ginny and Jack, ¡°Well? Is this true?¡±

    They both nodded and McGonagall turned to Amelia and Isla with a neutral expression on her face.

    ¡°And you two? What do you say really happened? Amelia?¡±

    One of them glanced at the other. Amelia based on what McGonagall had said. She was the one that had spoken the most when the two were threatening Alexa.

    ¡°She¡¯s blowing it all out of proportion,¡± Amelia said, ¡°We just were trying to tell her how it wasn¡¯t a good idea to focus on friends in other houses. We were just talking, no one was going to get hexed until they stole our wands and ran off with them.¡±

    ¡°And why did you drop your wands?¡±

    The two girls shifted, ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Amelia said, ¡°I¡¯d say it was a curse but they¡¯re just firsties so it probably wasn¡¯t them. Maybe one of the seventh years messing with us underneath a disillusionment charm or something. Invisibly pranking us.¡±

    McGonagall steepled her fingers and when Alexa opened her mouth to protest gave her a flat look to make her go quiet.

    ¡°Hmmmm. Amelia, Isla. This is very irresponsible of you, the first years are free to have friends in other houses. Especially when Ms. Weasley used to be one of our own.¡±

    Ginny straightened. One of their own? What the heck was she saying? That she was more important than Jack because she used to be a Gryffindor?

    ¡°Both of you will lose twenty points for our house. Each.¡±

    ¡°But Professor-¡±

    McGonagall held up her hand and Amelia went silent, ¡°No. It was not your business, and I know you were only trying to help but this is not the way to do it.¡±

    Trying to help? What else was McGonagall going to do to punish them?

    McGonagall stared at Amelia and Isla who wilted slightly and looked chastened before turning to Alexa, Jack, and Ginny.

    ¡°Now you three,¡± She said, ¡°Stealing a wand is a serious matter. You¡¯ll each lose thirty points for your respective houses. And will be serving a detention tonight. I¡¯ve heard that Hagrid needed help with something in the Forbidden forest.¡±

    ¡°The Forbidden forest?¡± Alexa said, ¡°You¡¯re sending us in there? Isn¡¯t it, like¡­ forbidden?¡±

    McGonagall shook her head, ¡°Hagrid will be with you, you¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    There was a pause as the teacher stared at them down.

    ¡°This is bull!¡± Alexa suddenly shouted, ¡°We get detention and they only lose some stupid house points? How is this fair?¡±

    ¡°Careful¡­¡± McGonagall warned, ¡°Or I¡¯ll be inclined to take more.¡±

    ¡°Go ahead!¡± Alexa said, ¡°Take a hundred, thousand for all I care! Gryffindor¡¯s stupid anyway, I wish I was in Ravenclaw instead! Stupid Gryffindors have been nothing but jerks to me ever since I¡¯ve gotten here!¡±

    Alexa turned and stormed out of the room before McGonagall recovered from her shock at the outburst. McGonagall looked at Jack and Ginny, ¡°You three will still have detention tonight. Let her know when she calms down from her outburst.¡±

    ¡°Do it,¡± Ginny said flatly, ¡°Take a hundred points from each of us. It would make Alexa feel much better I think. I agree with her, this is super corrupt.¡±

    McGonagall stared at them in seeming confusion.

    ¡°One¡­ One fifty?¡± Jack asked hesitantly, ¡°How many points can you take from us?¡±

    McGonagall sighed, ¡°Fine. Since you¡¯ve asked for it. One hundred points from all three of you. You openly admitted to stealing a wand. Two wands. That¡¯s not something I can just ignore. Now get out before you make things worse for yourselves.¡±

    Ginny and Jack left, Ginny clenching her fist. This was so unfair! How could McGonagall do this to them, to Alexa?

    Amelia and Isla went to follow, looking rather smug, but McGonagall pierced them in place with a look.

    ¡°You two, stay behind,¡± McGonagall said, ¡°I¡¯d like¡­ a word.¡±

    The two gulped, and the last thing Ginny saw before the door to McGonagall¡¯s office shut closed behind them was McGonagall glaring at the girls and opening her mouth as if to yell at them.

    Ginny jumped slightly as she felt Jack¡¯s hand on her shoulder. She looked at him and he quickly lifted his hand again.

    ¡°We got to find Alexa,¡± Jack said before giving her a slight grin, ¡°And tell her we got McGonagall to take away more of her precious house points.¡±

    Ginny nodded, ¡°Yeah. Actually, I know just the thing to cheer us all up¡­¡±

    They found Alexa who was still upset, ranting about the injustice of it all as Jack and Ginny led her to an abandoned classroom that was out of the way.

    They went inside and Alexa stopped her tirade and looked around. ¡°Hey, what are we doing here?¡± Alexa asked.

    Ginny tugged on her bond and a few seconds later Fawkes appeared in the corner of the room in a ball of flame. Alexa¡¯s eyes lit up, ¡°Fawkes!¡± She said, ¡°Hi!¡±

    Ginny walked forward and leaned down to get close to Fawkes. He eyed her and seemed confused about why she was leaning so close to him. Ginny whispered to him and he chirped back in response. After a few seconds, Ginny extended her arms and Fawkes hopped into her arms. She curled inwards to Fawkes who was cradled to her chest and warmed her right up. Immediately, Ginny felt much better and far more relaxed than she was only a few seconds ago.

    Turning to her two friends, she saw them looking at the scene with obvious jealousy.

    ¡°Alexa, hold out your arms,¡± Ginny ordered. Alexa eagerly complied, her fingers twitching a little as she looked at Fawkes.

    ¡°Can I? Fawkes said I could?¡± Alexa asked eagerly, her earlier anger nearly forgotten.

    ¡°Yes, go ahead,¡± Ginny said as she stepped forward and carefully transferred Fawkes to rest in Alexa¡¯s arms. Alexa gently curled her arms to hug Fawkes to her chest.

    ¡°He¡¯s so warm when I hold him like this¡­¡± Alexa said dreamily, looking completely relaxed as she stood there cradling the bird that was mostly still and barely moved at all.

    Alexa¡¯s face relaxed and her anger seemed to drain away from her the longer she held Fawkes to her.

    ¡°Sorry, guys,¡± Alexa said, ¡°I just made things worse, didn¡¯t I? I shouldn¡¯t have yelled at a teacher.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I wanted to yell at her too.¡±

    They didn¡¯t speak for a bit, all of them just watching Fawkes sitting in Alexa¡¯s arms.

    ¡°Can I get a turn?¡± Jack eventually asked, ¡°Fawkes?¡±

    Ginny nodded, and Alexa reluctantly transferred Fawkes over to Jack for his turn.

    After Fawkes finally left, and he had been passed around several times they were all far more relaxed. They still had detention, but it was only a single night. It couldn¡¯t be that bad.

    House points were still stupid though.

 Chapter 26: Meeting the Thestrals

    ¡°Ya ready fer the forest kids?¡± Hagrid, The massive man, said, holding the lantern that lit up the darkness. Ginny could feel much farther than normal as they stood on the border between the Hogwarts lawn and the Forbidden forest. The wards in the air were much less free floating than they were in the castle. There was a solid wall of magic at the border between the forest and lawn, but other than that the enchantments floating around on the air were almost completely absent.

    ¡°Wh-What are we doing again?¡± Jack stammered while tightly gripping his wand.

    ¡°Huntin¡¯ fer herbs. You all keep a watch out fer any acromantulas on the perimeter while I go around harvestin¡¯. They don¡¯t like takin¡¯ on groups, so havin¡¯ you lot with me will save me from having to constantly fight them off while I look through the brush.¡±

    ¡°Have you done this before?¡± Alexa asked hopefully, ¡°So we¡¯ll be safe?¡±

    ¡°Safe?¡± Hagrid said, ¡°Nuffin¡¯s safe in the Forbidden Forest. But not too bad. I doubt you¡¯ll even get so injured that you¡¯ll have to go to the hospital wing by the time we are done.¡±

    With that hopeful thought, Hagrid led them straight into the dark and menacing woods, each of them with their own lantern to hold and throw out a small circle of light to fight off the blackness and looming form of the trees around them. All of them kept a careful eye on the flickering shadows, focusing on even the slightest sign of movement as Hagrid occasionally stooped down to inspect a bush or some mushrooms growing from the knotted roots at the bottom of some of the trees. He muttered to himself as he inspected them, occasionally harvesting some of them and placing them in a bag that was hanging at his side.

    Ginny pulsed her magic sense as far as she could, relieving her building stress by straining the edge of her senses to feel farther. Everything in this place was faintly magical. The trees, the plants, the animals rustling around just out of range of their little circles of light. Ginny carefully focused on the magic that must be various animals circling around their light, even if they weren¡¯t more than faint sounds to them. None visible. One moved to approach and Ginny snapped her head towards it. That seemed to startle it and it scuttled off. It was a spider. A spider that was nearly the size of Ginny. Immediately she understood the circling magical signatures. They were all spiders, surrounding them on all sides.

    Urgently, Ginny pointed her wand into the air.

    ¡°Lumos!¡± She chanted and cheated a bit and allowed the wand to cast the spell by itself and lighting up their surroundings brightly.

    ¡°SPIDERS!¡± Jack screamed, ¡°HAGRIIIIIIIIIIIID!¡±

    ¡°Yea, Yea, I see ¡®em,¡± Hagrid said in an annoyed tone, ¡°Just calm down, will ya? They¡¯re runnin¡¯ away, aren¡¯t they?¡±

    Ginny could feel the surrounding spiders scuttling away, fleeing from the light blazing from the end of her wand. She shut down the spell and they kept fleeing until they left her detection range. She let out a sigh of relief and lowered her wand.

    Hagrid stood and walked over and looked around casually, ¡°See? Skittish creatures. So long as you see them before they attack, they¡¯ll run scared. We¡¯re nearly done. Jus¡¯ got five or so herbs left to collect. Shouldn¡¯t be more than twenty or so minutes.¡±

    They all held up their lanterns, but luckily Ginny didn¡¯t sense any of the spiders returning again. It seems that they had really scared them off. Hagrid kept going, now only two herbs away from being done by Ginny¡¯s count.

    Hagrid collected another series of flowers from near a bush and put them in his bag.

    ¡°Alrigh¡¯,¡± He said, ¡°Jus¡¯ one more and we¡¯re outta here.¡±

    Ginny turned and froze when she saw a pitch black horse with a sharp bird¡¯s beak on its head. Its body was skeletal, looking like its skin was clinging directly to its skeleton. Its back had a pair of furled bat-like wings. Its eyes were white and misty like they were sightless. It was fully visible in the light, Jack holding up his lantern and looking a few feet to its right without even seeming to notice it.

    The creature looked at Ginny, and suddenly its body language changed and it became more hostile.

    ¡°Jack! Watch out for that black horse!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Jack peered closer in front of him and looked around without seeming to see the creature, ¡°What are you talking about Ginny¡ª¡±

    ¡°Get back, Jack!¡± Hagrid roared and charged straight past Jack to put himself between the black horse and the boy.

    Hagrid swung his lantern threateningly at the horse and its head darted forward to strike out towards Hagrid. The man took a small step back and dodged the peck before the creature withdrew its head.

    ¡°Ha! Ra!¡± Hagrid shouted wordlessly, ¡°Back, Thestral!¡± He shouted while raising his arms above his head. The black horse, thestral, backed up, intimidated by Hagrid¡¯s size and shouts.

    But after backing up a few steps, the thestral reared up on its back legs and opened its beak and let out a loud bird¡¯s cry that hurt Ginny¡¯s ears. Its batlike wings unfurled from its back and flared out. Hagrid was unmoved and shouted again. ¡°Hah! Ya! Git on with ya!¡±

    The thestral landed back on its hooves and after letting out one more defiant bird cry turned around and ran off back into the woods. Ginny was shaken. She had looked hard at the creature through the whole fight. As far as her magic sense went, the creature wasn¡¯t even there. It was completely invisible to her until she caught sight of it.

    ¡°What¡¯s happening? What¡¯s going on?¡± Alexa asked while peering into the darkness in front of Hagrid in confusion.

    Hagrid turned back around after seeming satisfied that the thestral wasn¡¯t coming back.

    ¡°C¡¯mon,¡± Hagrid said, ¡°We got ta get back now. Before it comes back with a herd. Don¡¯t know what¡¯s pissed them off, but best to clear out.¡±

    ¡°Piss off what?¡± Alexa asked, ¡°What about the last herb you needed?¡±

    ¡°Is fine,¡± Hagrid grunted, ¡°Get it later. Now, move it. I¡¯ll be takin¡¯ the rear. Let¡¯s get back as soon as we can. I¡¯ll explain later when we¡¯re outta this place.¡±

    The three of them started walking fast back towards the castle. Ginny looking around the whole time feeling suddenly vulnerable. She had relied on her magic sense for what felt like forever to help prevent any surprises. But the thestrals were immune and could completely ambush her without her even being able to know if they were there until she could see them with her eyes¡­

    There was a bird cry above them and the rustling of wings above them and then silence. They walked quicker, now nearly jogging now. With the rough terrain and uneven roots on the forest floor, Jack and Ginny were struggling to not trip as they moved fast. Hagrid with his massive size and Alexa with her unfair dexterity seemed fine.

    Just before they reached the edge forest, the canopy above them rustled and suddenly everything burst into a blur of chaos.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    The thestral flew above the trees, and called for the herd. At first it had simply been curious about the group of humans. The big strong one came in sometimes and all the forest dwellers knew to avoid him. He had wrestled the alpha of the herd into submission when the thestrals first moved to this magical forest. He was strong. Yet even he had the thin golden strings of Fate wrapped around his soul. Weak, barely able to provide even the slightest nudge as it was in most living beings. Barely even to influence a single individual to make a single different choice in a year. Yet through accumulation of these small nudges, Fate guided them all into their proper place.

    Upon inspecting the group, the thestral had witnessed the red haired human youngling. It had no golden strings of Fate at all. Not even the smallest tendril touching her soul. She must be of the Beyond.

    It was the thestral¡¯s duty to eliminate all of the beyond in their area with all haste. If left unchecked, Fate¡¯s methods of dealing with intruders were destructive and could cause this forest to be destroyed in the resulting chaos.

    If the youngling wasn¡¯t killed now, then the herd would be forced to brave the wider world and find a new place to live. To escape the chaos Fate would stir up in order to eliminate the girl of Beyond using her own methods. The thestral liked it here, and so did the rest of the herd. But if the youngling wasn¡¯t killed or left this area soon, then they would have to go. They would be forced to. Because one did not mess with Fate and often find many survivors in the vicinity of the one who dared to defy her.

    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    The herd arrived, flying around the thestral and screeching their cries and asking it the situation. The thestral told them what had happened quickly, especially to the Alpha himself. The Alpha waited for a moment as the herd screeched and debated what to do with this news.

    Then the Alpha let out one firm cry and the herd fell into line. They would attack now. And if they failed, then they would leave.

    The herd circled around and saw that the humans were nearly at the barrier where the wards would stop the thestrals from passing through to attack.

    The herd dived through the trees, branches snapping and scratching as they dived down through the canopy.

    Once through, they all flared out their wings to brake in the air, barely able to stop themselves before the herd landed hard on the forest floor. Without pause, the herd surged forward as one, all intent on the red headed youngling who was staring at them in shock. Her look backwards caused her to twist her foot around a raised tree root and she fell to the ground and let out a cry of pain as she hit the ground hard and her ankle twisted.

    The big human stopped and turned around, hovering over the girl as she painfully got to her feet, one of her feet twisted and her leg looking like it could no longer bear her weight.

    The herd kept its charge towards the pair. If they must fight the strong one to get to the girl then so be it. They were doing the humans a favor even if they didn¡¯t know it. Only the thestrals of all creatures had been blessed with the ability to see the chains of Fate that tightly bound them all directly.

    They knew better than to underestimate Fate.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny felt her right foot pulsing with hot pain as she hopped forward, only to fall to the ground again as she tried to put weight on her twisted ankle. She hissed and grit her teeth as lancing pain shot up her whole leg and her foot felt like it was on fire. Hagrid was standing behind her, shouting and gesturing as the herd of thestral charged through the forest towards them, screeching and snapping their bird beaks loudly as they moved.

    ¡°GINNY!¡± Alexa shouted as she noticed that Ginny was on the ground. She turned around and started running back. Jack hesitated and turned back too after he noticed that he was alone in running forward.

    ¡°No, go Jack! We¡¯ll catch up!¡± Alexa shouted. Jack hesitated, and Ginny could see that he was less than twenty meters from the barrier. Ginny and Alexa were more like forty meters.

    Jack didn¡¯t move.

    ¡°Go!¡± Ginny said, ¡°Run for¡­ help!¡±

    At that, Jack started moving again and started sprinting towards the Hogwarts lawn. He raised his wand and let out a bright Lumos charm and started waving it frantically even as he ran. Signaling for help. That was smart, Ginny thought absently as Alexa helped Ginny to her feet as Ginny leaned heavily on her to take the weight off of her ankle.

    With Alexa supporting her weight, the two of them hobbled as quickly as they could towards the barrier out of the forbidden forest.

    Ginny started weaving magical tendrils and sent one each to lance into nearby large stones scattered around the forest floor.

    ¡°BACK, ALL OF YA!¡± Hagrid roared at the herd of thestrals as they drew close, the man taking backwards steps to match Alexa and Ginny¡¯s desperate hobbling forward behind him.

    The herd slowed a bit, but they were close now and the over two dozen creatures continued moving and all lunged at Hagrid at once like pigeons flocking to bird seed at a park.

    Hagrid reached up his bulky arms to cover his face and began shoving the thestrals back, their attacks barely able to leave shallow scratches on him. But despite Hagrid doing his best to hold back the herd and shoving them hard to trip them around himself, several slipped around him and leapt towards Ginny and Alexa with their beaks wide.

    Ginny raised all of the stones held on the end of her magic tendrils out of the earth all at once with a plume of dirt. Ginny whipped the stones as fast as she could, not concerned with preserving her magic anymore. They were ten meters away from the barrier now.

    Ginny¡¯s five stones flew and smashed into the heads of the thestrals leaping at her and Alexa. The creatures that were hit went limp and fell to the forest floor unconscious without getting close to the two girls.

    The rest of the thestrals gathered around tripped over the bodies of their unconscious herd members, causing a general mess of confusion of trampling hooves and chaos.

    The two of them kept hobbling forward, Alexa breathing heavily as she almost carried Ginny forward while bearing both of their weights as they moved.

    Ginny¡¯s magic was nearly empty from her desperate play with the stones, but she found another three stones and lifted them into the air with her magic, not caring that her magic was draining by the second.

    A thestral managed to spot Ginny and Alexa through the chaos, and dived towards the two of them, its beak open wide and sharp like a blade at its tip and wings flapping to keep it gliding towards them.

    Ginny whipped one of her stones hard and it slammed directly into one of the creature¡¯s whitish eyes. Its body instantly went limp, and it fell to the ground with a wet thump of flesh on dirt just behind them.

    Hagrid kept shouting and holding off the majority of the thestral herd, including a much bigger thestral than the other ones that was fighting Hagrid directly.

    Alexa flinched, but kept helping Ginny move forward. They were so close to the barrier, but Ginny¡¯s vision was going black in the corners. She had spent too much of her magic, and her mind was starting to go fuzzy as she kept using it to keep her two remaining rocks levitating just behind her and Alexa. She finally remembered her familiar bond and tugged hard for Fawkes¡¯ help. But he didn¡¯t respond, seemingly still asleep. The other end of the bond only twitching weakly in response to her call for help.

    Another thestral spotted them in the chaos and jumped in the air and started rapidly gliding towards them on its batlike wings. Ginny groaned and then with a wrench in her magic sent another stone blasting towards the thestrals head and sent it slamming into the ground. Her magic sputtered and started to move erratically and Ginny was forced to drop the remaining stone she had floating behind them reflexively.

    Another two thestrals spotted them and jumped into the air while Ginny and Alexa emerged from the forest and onto the Hogwarts lawn, both of the girls falling to the ground as Ginny lurched forward in her desperation to get through the barrier before the thestrals arrived while they were defenseless.

    The thestrals glided towards the two of them as they lay on the ground. Both of their legs were still on the other side of the barrier. Ginny quickly curled in to draw her legs fully through the barrier and quickly rolled away from the edge. But Alexa seemed slightly confused and relaxed, not able to see that she wasn¡¯t fully through the barrier yet.

    Despite knowing that she was running on magical fumes, Ginny quickly shot a magic tendril towards Alexa at full speed and connected it to her shoes and tugged hard. Alexa¡¯s knees shot up to the girl¡¯s chest as her shoes were sharply drawn back just as the Thestrals reached the edge of the barrier.

    The two creatures scraped and pecked at the barrier, but nothing they did managed to pierce it it. But there were little visible flashes of light in the air where they struck and were deflected. Alexa quickly scrambled away now that she could see the edge of the barrier from the flashes of light.

    Ginny¡¯s vision sputtered and her head felt like it was full of cotton as she lay on the Hogwarts lawn, her twisted ankle burning up with pain even as she lay there still on her back.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Alexa looked at the strange flashes of light that were appearing in thin air on the border of the forest just in front of her. She glanced behind her, Jack was already half way back to the castle based on the frantically waving the ball of light at the end of his wand that she could see in the distance.

    She looked back into the forbidden forest and saw Hagrid fighting what looked like nothing. Flailing around and roaring and shouting even as red scratches and heavy impacts appeared on his body from seemingly nowhere. The forest floor in the whole area churned and rumbled as all the invisible silent creatures rampaged around and caused the dirt to shift and churn as they moved..

    ¡°Hagrid!¡± Alexa shouted, ¡°We¡¯re out! You can come back!¡±

    Hagrid didn¡¯t seem to hear her, so she shouted the same thing again except louder this time.

    He heard her this time and after a quick glance towards them, turned his massive battered and bleeding body and charged towards them full speed. He drunkenly stumbled side to side and waved his fists around before diving through the barrier, panting heavily and bleeding from all over, his clothes tattered.

    Seeing that he was through, Alexa turned to her friend Ginny and saw the girl was laying there looking at the stars above them with a half lidded gaze.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Alexa said and snapped her fingers just in front of the girl¡¯s face, ¡°Don¡¯t fall asleep!¡±

    Ginny blinked dumbly and looked at Alexa with a blank look. Her eyes were unfocused and only showed faint recognition as she saw Alexa''s face above her. The flashes of light at the barrier grew more and more intense, but it seemed to be holding for now against the invisible creatures.

    Alexa flinched as there was a sudden crack of air behind her. She looked and saw Headmaster Dumbledore standing there, inspecting the area with a serious expression.

    ¡°Headmaster!¡± Alexa said in sudden hope, ¡°Help, Ginny¡¯s hurt! We got attacked by a bunch of invisible creatures in the forest!¡±

    The headmaster looked at Ginny and without saying a word nodded to Alexa and kneeled down with a serious expression on his face.

    Ginny blinked as she saw the old man above her.

    ¡°Big¡­ meanie¡­¡± Ginny muttered as the headmaster reached out and tightly gripped her shoulder. Then the two of them twisted and compressed into a single point in the air and with a crack of displaced air they were gone again.

    Dumbledore was probably taking her to the hospital wing. Alexa went over to Hagrid who was nursing his numerous wounds and inspecting himself.

    ¡°You need any help?¡± She asked, ¡°You look injured.¡±

    ¡°Sure, lass,¡± Hagrid said, ¡°That''d be good. This is the big wound. Alpha went for the stomach. Press my jacket to it, hard as you can.¡±

    The man laid down and took off his tattered jacket and handed it to Alexa. She dutifully took it and pressed it to the deep wound in Hagrid¡¯s abdomen leaking out blood even as she watched. She kept the pressure on, putting her full body weight on the jacket to get it to stay as she leaned over the massive man.

    ¡°Are you going to be okay?¡± She asked Hagrid as they laid there.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine,¡± Hagrid assured her, ¡°I¡¯ve been through worse than this. Now we jus¡¯ got ta wait. Healer¡¯s will be comin¡¯ any minute now, I¡¯m sure.¡±

    And so they waited.

    Alexa was very relieved when Professor Snape with a winded Jack in the lead arrived and started casting some healing spells on Hagrid. She never thought that she¡¯d be relieved to see Professor Snape, Potion¡¯s professor, of all people one day.

 Chapter 27: The Mad Potioner

    Eric watched with interest as Alexa crossed the room and went into the girls dormitories, not even noticing him.

    Her and her two little friends had caused quite the stir last week. McGonagaral had been in quite a lot of trouble after people found out about her overboard detention. The board of governors and Dumbledore were still debating now what her punishment would be for ¡®reckless endangerment¡¯ of the students.

    Oddly enough Hagrid hadn¡¯t been blamed for anything. It seems that Dumbledore had shut down that line of blame early. It had probably been long enough, Eric thought. He had discovered early on in his exploits that it wasn¡¯t as fun to mess with random people. It had struck fear into the population at first, that anyone could be targeted. But it was too easy, and it got boring after the first year. Now, he was more focused.

    Whenever he heard about bullying or even something mean that someone had done¡­ then he targeted them. It made him feel very heroic, like he was righting the injustices of the world. And he got to have some fun too. Counter bullying he had taken calling it this year, just like when he humiliated Draco when he was bullying the first years. It was a surprisingly effective strategy, but luckily bullying was rampant in this place, so Eric had plenty of good targets to choose from.

    He didn¡¯t target the Slytherins very much anymore. It was just so¡­ boring. None of the other houses liked Slytherin so they welcomed anything that would take them down a peg. It was okay the first couple times, but after a while it grew stale. Everybody expected the Slytherins to be targeted so no one discussed it except right after it happened.

    So Eric focused on the other three houses. People cared a lot more and wondered about the culprit when it wasn¡¯t Slytherins being targeted. And as a nice side benefit now everyone thought the person doing it must be in Slytherin since their house almost never got targeted by him. Which created even more drama as the tension between Slytherin and the other three houses only rose as time passed and the culprit, Eric, was never caught.

    He couldn¡¯t believe that Draco was so uncreative in his insults. Instead of thinking of something more clever, he had just been sulking and not insulting anyone at all after Eric had petrified him and his friends. And had them insulted by the first years. Heh. They had been surprisingly good at it. Especially Ginny and Alexa.

    Eric was glad that Ginny had survived last year. Now everyone won. He still got control of the chamber and Basilisk and she didn¡¯t have to die. He wondered if Tom Riddle was still out there plotting and being his devious self after he fled, having reviving himself. If anything, Eric had made the right choice. If he had fought Riddle then he would have lost control of the chamber and the basilisk and the girl had survived either way.

    Anyway, Eric was almost ready to begin. He had a bottle of his love potion, one from all the way in the beginning of his second year. It had aged wonderfully and now was more potent than ever with so much time to ripen.

    It actually was too powerful, people went a little crazy when they were affected by it. So it was immediately obvious that they¡¯d been drugged versus a normal love potion that could fly under the radar more often.

    Eric waited with the two open bottles of the love potions in the pocket of his robes. He made sure to hold them up with his wandless magic so they wouldn¡¯t spill.

    Amelia and Isla, the two sixth year Gryffindors, walked by in the hallway. Eric had already gotten samples of their hairs earlier. As they were walking by, Eric quickly used his magic to draw out two small drops and hover them in the air even as he kept walking by with his head down, one from each bottle of love potion.

    The two girls were talking casually, and Eric waited for the perfect moment before striking. In mid word, he sent a single drop of love potion into Amelia¡¯s mouth. It splashed into the back of her throat and Eric followed it up by doing the same to Isla. The two of them blinked and shook their heads, looking around confused.

    Eric kept walking innocently past them.

    ¡°That was weird,¡± Amelia said, ¡°Did you feel that?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Strange. So you were saying¡­¡± Isla replied and the two girls moved on. Eric turned the corner and circled back and began to slowly follow them from behind, only allowing himself to smirk slightly as he did so.

    Eventually, he saw the two girls shooting quick looks at each other, their cheeks flushed and eyes dilated. Even licking their lips the more time passed.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go to an abandoned classroom,¡± Amelia suddenly said, ¡°Get some privacy. I want to show you something¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh? Yeah!¡± Isla said while staring at Amelia and drooling slightly, ¡°Let¡¯s go. You¡¯re so beautiful¡­¡±

    The two girls diverted into an abandoned classroom, barely able to hold back from kissing each other before the doors were closed behind them with a flick of Isla¡¯s wand.

    Eric let out his grin and went off to where he knew their boyfriends were. He¡¯d have to dose them too, and leave a few hints on where Amelia and Isla were hiding. It wouldn¡¯t be as dramatic if the lovestruck boyfriends didn¡¯t catch them in the act.

    Eric felt his lips twitching and worked to suppress it. Yes, the chaos. He could already feel the drama and rumors that would run rampant through the school. And all it would take was a little planning, a few hairs, and four drops of love potion¡­

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny put her hands on her knees as they finished their run. She was panting slightly and her lungs were burning, but she was still feeling good. She had only been in the hospital wing for two days before she was released again. Her twisted ankle had been fixed with a single spell by madame Pomfrey. Her magic was drained, but after sleeping for fifteen hours straight she felt fine. If anything the amount of magic she had access to grew slightly after it had been drained to nearly nothing.

    After two days to rest, Alexa had insisted the three of them start exercising. She was indignant and annoyed that the other Gryffindors made fun of her for exercising so much. And she didn¡¯t want to do it alone, so she convinced them to start back up after Ginny felt like she¡¯d recovered.

    Ginny flipped her hair back and reached back and took out the scrunchie that Alexa had given to her. It was annoying having her hair flying all over the place while she ran, so Alexa had taught her how to make it into a ponytail with the little elastic band. That made it much more manageable. But Ginny liked having her hair free normally so she only kept the ponytail while they were doing their runs.

    ¡°Hey, look it¡¯s Hagrid,¡± Jack said and the three of them looked over to see the massive man walking towards them, still bandaged all over from his wounds. He was resistant to spells so apparently they couldn¡¯t heal it instantly very easily and had him drinking series of potions to help him properly heal.

    Hagrid reached them and stopped a little ways away, ¡°Hey kids. Saw that ya three like runnin¡¯ and swimmin¡¯ in the mornings.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Alexa said while eyeing the man suspiciously.

    ¡°Well, I wanna apologize fer what happened in the forest. I didn¡¯ think about it, but really weren¡¯t safe fer me to bring ya with me so deep inside. Wanted to get it all done in one trip. I¡¯d like to give all of yeh a gift as an apology.¡±

    ¡°A gift?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°What is it?¡±

    Hagrid reached into a bag at his side and opened it revealing over a dozen large glass bottles with a dull green potion swirling inside all of them.

    ¡°Well, yer exercising to get fit, aren¡¯t ya?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Jack said, ¡°Although Alexa¡¯s already there. She¡¯s helping us get in shape.¡±

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know if you know,¡± Hagrid said, ¡°But ther¡¯ are potions to help with tha¡¯. All sorts a things, but these are the best kind fer what you¡¯re doing. Just take a sip and it¡¯ll heal your muscle tears. Same as resting for multiple days after ya exercise hard. With these, ya can push as hard as ya like and still be right as rain fer yer day.¡±

    Alexa peered at the potions in excitement, ¡°They can really do all of that?¡± She said with a gleam in her eyes, ¡°Are there any drawbacks?¡±

    Hagrid shrugged, ¡°Make ya real hungry. Don¡¯t take it every day. Maybe only two or three times a week or so. I¡¯d ask Professor Snape about the specifics beyond that. He¡¯d know better than me. Even if you have too much it¡¯ll just be less effective and you¡¯ll get hungrier. It won¡¯t be harmful or anyfin¡¯ like tha¡¯. So, here ya go.¡±

    He slung the bag off his shoulder and held it out. Alexa grabbed it eagerly and looked down at the potions inside eagerly.

    ¡°Thank you!¡± She said, ¡°This is amazing!¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Hagrid,¡± Ginny said, ¡°You fought off all those thestrals for us. You did your best and I didn¡¯t really blame you. But thanks for the gift.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Hagrid!¡± Jack added in.

    Hagrid chuckled and looked slightly awkward, ¡°Really nuffin¡¯ really. Nuffin¡¯ at all. Well, best of luck to ya. Glad you like it.¡±

    With that, he turned around and walked off back to his hut. Alexa picked up one of the potions out of the bag and started swirling it and staring at the green fluid.

    ¡°We can do so much with this¡­¡± She said. Ginny and Jack shared a glance. On one hand, no dealing with sore muscles. On the other hand, ¡°We can really get a great workout with these things to help us recover!¡± Alexa said in excitement, ¡°This is amazing, I can¡¯t believe I didn¡¯t think about there being potions like this that can help us.¡±

    ¡°Jack and I can check them with Professor Snape after class today,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Not that I''m accusing Hagrid of anything, but who knows where he got these potions. They look like he just threw them together in that bag¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Alexa said, her enthusiasm dampening slightly, ¡°That makes sense. Here.¡±

    She handed over the bag to Ginny who slung it over her shoulder with the strap letting the bag and potions themselves hang at her hip.

    They went to shower and clean up and went through their day in classes. There was some big drama with Amelia and Isla. The crazy person spiking everyone¡¯s drinks with love potions had hit them and was causing a whole big drama. Apparently the two girls had kissed and been all over each other while under the potion''s effects and their boyfriends had caught them in the middle of it, having been dosed themselves and causing even more drama. It was all that people could talk about for the whole last week.

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    Jack and Ginny spent more time in classes. Their first exams had already come and passed. Ginny and Jack did pretty well, but not enough to be considered top of their class. Some of the Ravenclaws really went overboard on their studying, agonizing over each missing point on their exams. Jack and Ginny studied, but they didn¡¯t go that far to get the top score.

    Finally after a long day, they reached the end of the day and potions class was over. Ginny had been carrying Hagrid¡¯s bag of potions all day class to class to make sure that she didn¡¯t lose it. She didn¡¯t even want to imagine how upset Alexa would be if the potions spilled or got damaged somehow¡­

    Everyone started filing out of class, only Jack and Ginny waiting behind as the room emptied. ¡°What are you loitering about, Weasley, Anverts?¡± Snape asked as he noticed them standing there.

    Jack stepped forward, ¡°Hagrid gave us some potions,¡± he said, ¡°Do you mind checking them for us, sir? He said to ask you about limits on how often we should take them and things like that. And we want to make sure they¡¯re actually safe¡­¡±

    Snape raised an eyebrow, ¡°Hagrid gave you potions? Whatever for?¡±

    Ginny cleared her throat, ¡°He felt bad about what happened for our detention and wanted to apologize,¡± She said.

    Snape looked at her for a moment before nodding, ¡°Where are they then?¡± He asked, ¡°Show them to me.¡±

    Ginny lifted the bag from the floor where she had placed it and opened the flap to show Shape the pile of potion¡¯s bottles inside.

    Snape looked vaguely horrified as he looked at the jumbled pile.

    ¡°This¡­ He handed them to you like this?¡±

    Ginny nodded, a little frightened by his expression, ¡°Of course an oaf like that wouldn¡¯t even think to make sure they¡¯re safely packaged,¡± He muttered before reaching down and lifting a single potion up to eye level and inspecting it.

    ¡°Hm. A weak healing potion of some kind?¡± He said, ¡°What is its purpose?¡±

    ¡°To help heal muscle fatigue,¡± Jack said, ¡°We exercise in the mornings, and Hagrid said we could use it to recover from our workouts. And that we should only use it two or three times a week or it wouldn¡¯t work as well.¡±

    Snape sniffed, ¡°Hm. What a waste of time,¡± He said, ¡°But I suppose it¡¯s your choice¡­¡±

    ¡°Waste of time?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°What do you mean, professor?¡±

    Snape looked away from the potion and at her, ¡°There are potion regimens that can develop your body to a peak state in only a few weeks. Perhaps not as effective as training like muggles do¡­ but if fitness is something that one cares about then those potions will get you most of the way there.¡±

    ¡°Could we get some?¡± Jack asked, ¡°How expensive are they?¡±

    Snape let out a snort, ¡°Hah. More than either of you could ever afford. But they exist and you could buy one if you save up for a few years after you graduate from this school.¡±

    Neither of them replied, Jack looking disappointed at the revelation. Snape kept inspecting the potion and taking out his wand began casting a series of spells on the potion. Ginny could see the man¡¯s spells sinking into the potion and then shooting back into the wand after they were done.

    Snape nodded, ¡°Hagrid was correct. These potions are brewed correctly, if at a lower quality than a true professional should make¡­ I shall have to ask who his supplier of these is. I would err more towards twice a week maximum usage, and a single sip per person each time. But most importantly¡­¡±

    Snape pointed at the bag in front of him, ¡°Never let me see you store potions like that ever again. Or you will each have detention for a week. Each must be separated and there must be absolutely no contact of glass on glass. You¡¯re lucky that that oaf handed it to you like that or my ire would be on you right now.¡±

    Snape put the potion back on the bag and Jack quickly picked up the bag and slung it over his shoulder and closed the flap.

    ¡°Thank you, Professor,¡± Jack said, ¡°We appreciate it.¡±

    They went to leave, but¡­

    ¡°Weasley, stay for a moment,¡± Professor Snape said, ¡°A quick word.¡±

    Jack hesitated but Ginny nodded to him, ¡°I¡¯ll catch up,¡± She said.

    He left the room, leaving only her and Snape in the potion¡¯s classroom.

    ¡°I wished to¡­ apologize for my comments earlier this year,¡± Snape said after a moment, ¡°I was not informed of your full situation until recently. While for a second year your skills are barely adequate¡­ It is impressive for a true first year. I wished to clear up the misunderstanding.¡±

    The man said before his tone suddenly grew biting as his eyes bored at her, ¡°But do not think this an excuse to slack in your studies,¡± His voice calmed a bit, ¡°Laziness is the bane of many learning potions. That will be all, Ms. Weasley.¡±

    Ginny bobbed her head, not sure of what to think, ¡°Thank you, Professor. See you tomorrow.¡±

    With that she scurried out of there and rejoined Jack who was waiting just outside in the hallway.

    ¡°What was that about?¡± Jack asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Ginny said, ¡°He was saying sorry for those nasty comments he made in the first week. It seems he really thought that I still remembered everything back then.¡±

    They started walking off, Jack carrying the bag filled with the potions.

    ¡°Oh. Even so,¡± Jack said, ¡°It was still mean of him.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. But he did apologize I guess.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°Hey, firstie. So how you liking Hogwarts so far?¡±

    Ginny looked up from her textbook to see Olivia plop into the open chair across from her, immediately lounging as she sat there. Her shiny prefect badge shone bright silver as they sat alone in the isolated reading nook off the side of the Ravenclaw common room.

    ¡°Alright, I guess,¡± Ginny said, ¡°It¡¯s been really fun learning magic and everything.¡±

    ¡°Yep. Magic¡¯s pretty good,¡± Olivia agreed. Ginny just stared at her for a moment.

    ¡°Preston¡¯s not bothering you anymore?¡± Olivia asked.

    ¡°No. He doesn¡¯t like me, but he hasn¡¯t said anything.¡±

    Another pause as Olivia sat there.

    ¡°Why are you being so nice to me?¡± Ginny asked suddenly, ¡°Even on the first day, you didn¡¯t have to come and stop those people from pressuring me.¡±

    ¡°Just doing my prefect duties,¡± Olivia said in a light tone, ¡°It¡¯s our job to look over the first years and make sure that jerks like Preston don¡¯t spoil things for you.¡±

    ¡°Is that it?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Why me in particular though? You don¡¯t ask Jack how he¡¯s doing.¡±

    Olivia shrugged half heartedly, ¡°That¡¯s Barty¡¯s job I guess. Does there have to be a reason?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Ginny said, ¡°But if there is one it would be nice to know what it is.¡±

    Olivia stared at her for a moment before sighing and running a hand down her face.

    ¡°You just remind me of somebody,¡± She said, ¡°Just thought¡­ that it¡¯d be nice if you didn¡¯t have a crappy first year like I¡­ they did.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Thanks.¡±

    They stared at each other for a long moment.

    ¡°If you want to see my familiar Fawkes, then you can just ask,¡± Ginny supplied, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind if it was you.¡±

    The prefect blinked and looked surprised, ¡°What, really? But you¡¯ve been defensive about it with everyone¡­¡±

    Ginny shook her head, ¡°None of them are friends. I think we¡¯re friends? Sorta. They don¡¯t want to meet him anyway. You know that my brothers tried to pet him without his permission first in the beginning of the summer? Fawkes still hasn¡¯t forgiven them and they still haven¡¯t touched him even once. For all I know, being rude to Fawkes once will make him hold a grudge against them forever. And he¡¯s really proud, if someone actually insulted him who knows how offended he¡¯d be¡­¡±

    ¡°Well, if it gets me access to a phoenix, then I guess we just have to be friends then,¡± Olivia said with a smirk before she seemed to think over what she¡¯d just said, ¡°Not that that was what I was going for with this.¡±

    ¡°No, I get it,¡± Ginny said before putting her textbook in her bag, ¡°Want to go now? We can just go to an abandoned classroom and call him from there.¡±

    ¡°Sure!¡± Olivia said standing. The two of them started walking out of the common room together. ¡°So, how are classes?¡± Olivia asked, ¡°You do well on exams?¡±

    They chatted as they wandered about until one of the less used portions of the castle with the abandoned classrooms. They went inside one of the rooms and after shutting the door, Ginny called Fawkes.

    ¡°Fawkes, this is Olivia,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Olivia, Fawkes.¡±

    ¡°Whoa, so majestic¡­¡± Olivia whispered and Ginny suppressed her giggles as Fawkes puffed up and looked proud at the compliment. He really was such a sucker for praise.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ginny managed to say, ¡°The most majestic of birds!¡±

    Fawkes puffed up more, but then squawked indignantly and flapped his wings slightly as Ginny finally let a giggle or two slip out.

    ¡°Just because it¡¯s true doesn¡¯t mean seeing you puff up at one compliment isn¡¯t funny!¡± Ginny said.

    Fawkes chirped and looked away pointedly.

    ¡°Aw, C¡¯mon. Don¡¯t be like that. I¡¯m just joking. You¡¯re the handsomest, warmest, most majestic¡­¡±

    Ginny kept praising Fawkes in a way over the top way, and eventually he turned back around and seemed to forgive her despite knowing that she was still making fun of him. Seems he didn¡¯t care as long as he was still getting praised. Ginny started petting Fawkes, sitting on the floor next to him.

    ¡°You two really can talk to each other,¡± Olivia said in surprise, ¡°I didn¡¯t believe it.¡±

    Ginny looked at her, ¡°He¡¯s as intelligent as a person.¡±

    Fawkes chirped.

    ¡°Yes, more intelligent than most people,¡± Ginny corrected, ¡°That¡¯s probably true.¡±

    Olivia ended up getting to briefly touch Fawkes with his permission in the end. After a few minutes Fawkes hopped away, chirping again. It was lucky that he couldn¡¯t get fat. Given his gleeful chirps he was enjoying eating his fill on Hogwarts expense.

    ¡°Well¡­¡± Olivia said, ¡°That was pretty amazing. Thanks for letting me meet him, Ginny.¡±

    ¡°No problem. I¡¯m glad that he liked you.¡±

    ¡°If anyone like Preston gives you trouble, just send them my way,¡± Olivia said, ¡°I¡¯ll do my proper prefect duties and blast them with a few good hexes.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Olivia. I wish Alexa had someone like you to protect her in Gryffindor. No one seems to do anything when people are mean to her¡­¡±

    Olivia shot her a disbelieving look.

    ¡°What? Ginny, don¡¯t you have three brothers in Gryffindor? Go threaten to write a letter home to your parents if they don¡¯t do something. Fred and George are pranksters, but when they¡¯re motivated they really get things done. Ron¡­ Well, I don¡¯t know much about him. Just that he hangs around that weirdo Eric Potter. But you¡¯ve got the twins to help at least.¡±

    ¡°I can do that?¡± Ginny asked blankly, ¡°Do you think that would work?¡±

    Olivia shrugged, ¡°Worth a try. Plus, Amelia and Isla already got their comeuppance. And in dramatic fashion too. The Mad Potioner''s struck again and got vengeance for your friend.¡±

    ¡°Mad Potioner? Who¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°The person that¡¯s been slipping love potions and drugs into people¡¯s drinks for the last two years. One of the theories is that it''s one person doing all of it. People have taken to calling them the Mad Potioner. Most people think they¡¯re in Slytherin because of how little they usually target any of them.¡±

    ¡°Huh. I never heard them called that before,¡± Ginny said, ¡°How have they not been caught yet? Surely the teachers would do something.¡±

    ¡°Nah. You¡¯ve already dealt with McGonagall. So long as no one is seriously hurt they mostly let things slide. But even so, whoever it is is good. Snape at least is on the warpath on finding the person. They keep having their love potions make people fall in love with Snape because they think it''s funny or something.¡±

    ¡°Snape? Wait, how does that work? I thought it was guys that got dosed too?¡±

    Olivia looked at Ginny and reached out and ruffled her hair with one hand.

    ¡°Hey! What was that for?!¡± Ginny said as she smoothed out her hair and fixed it back up to be presentable.

    ¡°You¡¯ll find out when you¡¯re older. Love potion makes you fall in love with anyone that it¡¯s targeted at. Doesn¡¯t matter whether you really feel it in real life, the love potion will make you feel that way whether you like it or not. Boy, girl, old, young, ugly, handsome¡­ It doesn¡¯t matter to the potion.¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­ That¡¯s¡­ That¡¯s horrible. Now I¡¯m feeling a little bad for Amelia and Isla now.¡±

    ¡°Meh. A little. But I think they do protest it a bit too much when people prod them. Perhaps there was already something there waiting to be explored¡­¡±

    Ginny looked at Olivia blankly, who returned her expression.

    ¡°Bah,¡± Olivia said, ¡°I forgot you¡¯re only twelve. You¡¯ll get it in a few years.¡±

    ¡°Er, Alright.¡±

    The two of them left and went back to the Ravenclaw common room, talking about love potions and the Mad Potioner. Olivia knew a lot. Once they were back Olivia said goodbye and went her own way while Ginny returned to her reading nook and went back to studying.

 Chapter 28: Wait, How Long Have I Been Here?

    Ginny opened her eyes inside of Teregatt for the first time in over a month. She sat up and saw Balthazar standing there as always.

    ¡°Are you always standing there?¡± Ginny asked curiously, ¡°How are you there waiting each time?¡±

    ¡°I have several of your days at least of warning before you arrive,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°I have been only standing here for an hour or so I believe. We seem to be in a slow cycle in comparison to your world at the moment.¡±

    ¡°Slow cycle? What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°A very large amount of time is passing in Teregatt in comparison to what passes on Earth. Hence a ¡®slow¡¯ cycle. It fluctuates over time with no true rhyme or reason. Usually the changes in the passage of time only shifts slowly, but other times it shifts all at once. One day, you may return here from Earth only to discover that not even a single second has passed in Teregatt since you left. This is a fast cycle for us. You are lucky that we are in a slow cycle, it allows me to spend time researching and creating more magical lessons for you to learn.¡±

    ¡°More?¡± Ginny asked curiously, ¡°Aren¡¯t we focusing on my telekinesis right now?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It is an excellent baseline magical skill. But past that there are many other paths of magic to pursue. I have been creating personalized lesson plans for each path I can think of for you, and will teach you whichever catches your interest the most. I¡¯ve had plenty of time to think about them.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Balthazar,¡± Ginny said gratefully, ¡°That sounds like a whole lot of work for you. How close am I to getting there, do you think? Moving on to a new lesson?¡±

    Balthazar rubbed his chin thoughtfully. ¡°Hmmm. Based on your current progress and the time differential remains roughly the same...¡±

    ¡°What is it at right now? Do you know?¡±

    ¡°I can estimate. How long do magical humans live on your planet on average?¡±

    ¡°Er, what? It¡¯s a little longer than normal people, I think 150? 200 years? Something like that. Although really powerful people like Dumbledore live even longer.¡±

    ¡°Hm. Then a hundred years about¡­ How long were you in your world? One week, was it?¡±

    Ginny shook her head, ¡°It was actually a month. After a week, it just didn¡¯t feel right. I wanted to go longer for the ceremony.¡±

    ¡°Admirable¡­¡± Balthazar said, ¡°So one month. Twelve months in your years. One hundred years. That¡¯s at least a twelve hundred factor difference. Add the time after¡­ Hmmm.¡±

    Balthazar stood there pondering, seeming to do some mental math before nodding, ¡°I estimate the dilation factor of time between our worlds to be at least two or three thousand at the moment.¡±

    Ginny blinked. ¡°What? You¡¯re saying that one second on earth could be three thousand seconds here? You¡¯ve been waiting for so long in the month that I¡¯ve been gone?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind,¡± Balthazar said with a chuckle, ¡°The rest of us have all been here for far, far longer than that.¡±

    Ginny blinked again, ¡°Wait, I¡¯ve been here that long before? Each time I was practicing in Terregatt while I was sleeping it lasted over¡­¡± Ginny did the mental math, ¡°A thousand days?! No way! That¡¯s¡­ That¡¯s like three whole years each time?!¡±

    Balthazar gave a helpless shrug, ¡°It is the truth. Your body has no need for sleep, rest, feels no fatigue, and your magic will not run dry while you¡¯re sustained by the realm. In this body you have no brain to be fatigued by information overload, no other responsibilities to distract you. You haven¡¯t noticed because the exercises we¡¯ve been doing are largely mindless and you fell into a meditative state many times during our sessions. All this information you experience in this place is encoded in your soul, not your brain. So the information is retained no matter what realm or body that you are in. It¡¯s one of the most complex features of this construct you¡¯re currently inhabiting. It¡¯s why you can retain so much knowledge without forgetting your old self or your decades of practice. When you are here it is all preserved, and will be supplied to your human brain when you are back in your Earth body.¡±

    ¡°Are you saying that I remember everything? Then what about forgetting things on my exams? Why didn¡¯t I remember that?¡±

    ¡°Everything that you learn here is encoded in your soul,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°As well as all your memories from when your soul first was bound and drawn into Teregatt for the first time. Harry¡¯s memories. Anything you learn on Earth is not similarly preserved and will degrade as memories preserved in brains tend to do.¡±

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    ¡°Okay. But¡­ But¡­ If I¡¯ve been practicing for like¡­ decades¡­ then why am I not done yet?¡±

    ¡°You are already doing well,¡± Balthazar said encouragingly, ¡°You have a natural talent for telekinesis. Within a subjective century or two, you will have truly mastered the basic techniques.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m over fifty years old now?¡± Ginny asked in shock, ¡°How could this happen? I¡¯m supposed to still be a kid. I¡¯m only twelve!¡±

    Balthazar shook his head, ¡°Time is a fluid concept here. It rises and ebbs like the tide, but without the markers of the outside world we have no idea of how much of it passes. Did you notice that you were spending years or decades practicing before I told you? Your body has not aged in the slightest more than a single night while you are here. It is best to not count your days here towards your lifespan."

    ¡°If you are to believe that you had only practiced for a few hours, then who am I to say anything different?" Balthazar continued, "Who am I to say that it has been decades or centuries instead? Either of us may be right in this place. In the middle of those decades, the time dilation ratio may have shifted suddenly and thrown off our calculations long or short by who knows how much. My answer was simply a guess, that¡¯s all it was. It is not healthy to agonize over what ifs when even I. with such a long time spent in this realm, am unable to determine how long it has been.¡±

    Ginny struggled to comprehend that for a long moment before shaking her head violently, sending black mud coming off her from splattering the area with little wet droplets.

    ¡°Gah! I¡¯m gonna¡­ not think about that. Really not thinking about it. Why did you ask about how wizards age?¡±

    ¡°Oh, that Peter Pettigrew died of old age since you were last here. He was around fifty or so years old when you last left, so I took a hundred years and extrapolated as best as I could from there.¡±

    Ginny blinked, ¡°That¡¯s¡­ rather morbid. Did¡­ what happened?¡±

    ¡°Died in his sleep,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°You¡¯d be surprised how successful he was here. He made some friends among the weaker Servants, despite the stronger ones disliking him for his attack on you. But he grew to like it here, I believe as I told you when you were last here. But even more so as he grew older and the other Servants began befriending him. His funeral was well attended by friends as his energy was returned to the realm.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure how to feel about that¡­¡±

    ¡°It was a good end,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°Better than most get. He came to be grateful that he was brought here in time. He truly had no malice against you or your family. You can at least know that. Plus, he was living as an animal for over a decade. This was a definite upgrade to his living conditions.¡±

    ¡°I suppose. So¡­ I¡¯m kind of nervous now. But should we start practicing now?¡±

    ¡°Certainly. Don¡¯t worry about the time passing, simply focus on completing your task and the time will fly by.¡±

    They went to the room with the floating balls and Balthazar started throwing them at various speeds at her from all sorts of different angles. By now he had graduated from throwing them with his hands to use his magic instead to control them. Sometimes he even nudged the balls even as Ginny pushed them away so she would have to overcome his resistance before stopping it.

    The whole thing was about efficiency, so even a spec of lost magic in struggling against Balthazar¡¯s opposing magic tendril was a small loss for Ginny.

    At first Ginny tried to strictly track time to try to verify if Balthazar was telling the truth or not. But after a while, the time bled and smeared together and Ginny couldn¡¯t track it anymore as she focused on using her telepathy to keep the metal balls from touching her.

    Ginny finally understood what Balthazar meant when she came to in the middle of a barrage of seven metal balls attacking her all at once. She fought it off and realized that she had no idea how much time had passed. Had it been minutes? Hours? Days? Years? The room was unchanged, Balthazar stood exactly where he had been unmoving. No one was going to check them, remind either of them that they had to be somewhere. None of the things in her body that could normally tell her how long it had been. Time was truly¡­ fluid. She¡¯d focus on this task until she mastered it. Her own progress and increasing skill was the only true metric of time here.

    So to make time pass faster all she had to do was to do her best to improve. She felt herself relax as her turmoil over Balthazar¡¯s revelations went away. It didn¡¯t matter how long it had been. She had all the time she needed.

    She met Balthazar¡¯s gaze and seeing her expression, he nodded his head slightly in approval. Then upped the difficulty of the assault of metal balls and Ginny had to refocus on the exercise.

    Time passed. Or didn¡¯t pass. Who was to say? Ginny improved, and that was what was important. Eventually, Ginny felt a tug on the crown indicating that it was time for her to go back to her body.

    In one wave of magic she stopped being efficient and shot the ten metal balls around her away at high speed and started standing to her feet.

    ¡°Time to return to my body,¡± Ginny said to Balthazar, who pulled the floating metal balls back to himself and had them float behind him.

    ¡°You seem to have had a revelation during our training,¡± Balthazar said while studying her, ¡°I hope it was a good one.¡±

    Ginny nodded, ¡°I realized that it didn¡¯t matter how long it had been. My own progress was the only way to tell the time for sure. So I have to progress faster to make the time pass.¡±

    Balthazar nodded and shot her a proud smile, ¡°How very wise of you. Keep that attitude and you will go far.¡±

    ¡°See you tomorrow, Balthazar.¡±

    ¡°Tomorrow, then.¡±

    Ginny felt the crown pulse with magic and then she was back in her body on Earth, opening her eyes to stare at the ceiling of her room. It had been eight hours. Years. Who knew the truth of how long? But it didn¡¯t matter. She had improved and it was time to return to her life on Earth where time moved normally again.

 Chapter 29: Everyone Loves Neville

    It was the Halloween feast and Ginny was talking with Jack and some of her other new friends. Not friends like Jack and Alexa were, but she studied with them and spent some time with them so they weren¡¯t not her friends either.

    Ginny stopped mid sentence and frowned as her magic sense picked something up. Little tendrils of magic were sliding through the great hall, creeping along the floor and bunching under the tables. Each tendril of magic was no larger than a single strand of hair with a single little bulb at their ends.

    Ginny traced the strings to their source with her magic sense, focusing hard now that she had spotted the thin tendrils. It took a few seconds, but she finally localized it to one half of the Gryffindor table. Then closer, then the source¡­ She turned to look and realized she was staring straight at Eric. The boy was eating even as his eyes darted around the great hall, his lips twitching upwards slightly in between bites of the turkey drumstick he was digging into.

    He spotted her staring at him and they looked at each other for a long moment, Eric frowning as he saw her intense look. Then he smiled wide and put a finger to his lips with a mocking expression and winked at her.

    Before Ginny could react the hundreds of tendrils positioned under the tables surged around the lips of their tables and deposited single drops of potion into drinks and trays of food all over the entire great hall, including the Slytherin table.

    Hermione and Ron who were sitting by Eric turned to look at Ginny in confusion as their staring contest between the two of them continued.

    Eric smiled and took another big bite of his drumstick and turned away to respond to something that Hermione had said to him.

    Ginny turned and watched in horror as Jack slowly raised one of the goblets with drops of what must be love potion in them.

    ¡°Jack, don¡¯t!¡± Ginny said before slapping the cup out of his hand and spilling it all over the table. Everyone looked at her, including the stunned Jack.

    ¡°Hey! Ginny, what was that for?¡± Jack protested.

    ¡°Something went in your drink!¡± Ginny said, ¡°It was the Mad Potioner. Check your drinks, guys!¡±

    The people around Ginny eyed her suspiciously for a moment.

    ¡°Ha! C¡¯mon, Ginny!¡± One of her roommates said, ¡°Suspicious much? There¡¯s no one around, how would they even get something into his drink? He¡¯s been holding it this whole time.¡±

    She raised her goblet to her lips and drank from it. Ginny wasn¡¯t sure which things had been potioned and which hadn¡¯t been and she looked around panicked as everyone kept eating and drinking and ignored her warning.

    Ginny twisted around and scanned the Gryffindor table until her eyes rested on Alexa who was chatting with one of her few Gryffindor friends. Alexa was already taking a long drink from her goblet. Oh no¡­ Eric had spiked hundreds of them at once. What was going to happen when the potions took effect in a few minutes?

    She sat there nervously, eyes darting around and not sure of what to do, frozen by indecision as time slowly passed. Should she stand up and warn everybody? But why would they believe her? How would she explain after? She looked back at Eric, who was looking at her with intense interest. Eagerly waiting to see what she would do.

    Ginny looked around and started noticing the dreamy expressions start to wash over many faces in the great hall. She stood up, on the cusp of saying anything. Something. But on the edge of it stopped. It was too late. Everyone was already dosed, Ginny would be exposing herself for nothing. She didn¡¯t even have any real proof that it was Eric who did it.

    Ginny noticed Neville Longbottom stood up as well, looking rather ill and started to hurry off towards the door outside.

    Immediately the dreamy expressions of the students sharpened into hunger and lust as they spotted the boy. As one the great hall stood up and started scrambling towards the confused and frightened Neville.

    ¡°Neville!¡±

    ¡°Longbottom, I love you!¡±

    ¡°Out of my way!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll hex you!¡±

    ¡°Ugh! He¡¯s my soulmate! Get out of my way, bi-¡±

    The room descended into chaos as Neville was mobbed by the lovestruck crowd, screaming from the inside of the group in fear like he was being actively murdered.

    ¡°Oh, Neville! What are you doing to him?! Get away from poor Neville!¡± One of the entranced seventh year boys shouted and cast a spell and the people were blown to the side with a burst of force, falling to the floor.

    ¡°SILENCE!¡± Dumbledore¡¯s voice boomed from the professor¡¯s table, now standing to his feet with a commanding presence that briefly silenced the room.

    ¡°Stand back from Neville Longbottom, all of you,¡± He commanded. The room paused and all the love struck students wavered between charging back to claim Neville for themselves versus defying the Headmaster who was reputed to be one of the most powerful wizards alive.

    Some of the love potioned students seemed to realize what was happening and took halting steps away from the press of bodies, looking thoroughly intimidated by the Headmaster even as they shot longing glances behind them back towards Neville.

    Ginny could only stand there, body tensed as everyone waited for what was going to happen. The rest of the unpotioned student body staring at their drugged friends in confusion.

    ¡°He just wants Neville for himself!¡± One of the girls near the center of the drugged crowd screamed, ¡°Don¡¯t listen to him!¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡±

    ¡°Get away from him, old man!¡±

    The tension that had been draining from the room immediately flooded back through the room, all the drugged students getting ugly expressions on their faces as their addled minds processed the ¡®revelation¡¯.

    Dumbledore looked rather taken back, ¡°No, I-¡± He began before a Slytherin seventh year with a dopey expression stood on top of the end of the Ravenclaw table. He stared at Dumbledore with hatred.

    ¡°You¡¯ve taken our wizarding traditions, our very wizarding heritage from this school Muggle-lover, I won¡¯t let you take Neville from us too!¡± The boy shouted before flourishing his wand.

    ¡°Avada Kedavra!¡±

    A green bolt blasted out of his wand towards Dumbledore. The headmaster¡¯s eyes widened and he ducked, the green beam sailing just over his head and hitting the wall behind him.

    A red beam came from Professor Snape in an instant, striking the attacker and sending him slumping unconscious to the surface of the table.

    There was a moment where nothing happened, all the Professors standing together at the head table with their wands drawn, despite their shock at the situation.

    ¡°They¡¯re working together!¡± A drugged girl shouted from the center of the crowd hysterically, ¡°They¡¯re trying to hurt Neville!¡±

    Another drugged student near the edge of the crowd started saying a spell incantation and moving his wand, facing towards the professors with a comically angry expression. Before he could finish McGonagall cast another red beam and sent the student slumping to the ground unconscious.

    ¡°GET THEM!¡± The same hysterical girl from before screamed, and then the room immediately descended into a chaos blur of flashing spells and crackling magic. The teachers were shouting and wading into the chaos even as the drugged students assaulted them with waves and waves of their spells. The drugged group didn¡¯t fight as one, infighting with each other nearly as much as they targeted the teachers with their spells.

    The students that had escaped drinking the love potion droplets were running every which way in a confused mess as the drugged students and the teachers went to war around them.

    McGonagall and Snape lead the charge, each battling more than ten students at once. McGonagall was transfiguring the food on the tables into a flock of tiny birds that were divebombing the drugged students and throwing off their wandwork and disrupting their spells.

    Snape stood slightly behind her and was launching a barrage of spells and curses to pierce the defenses of the older years who had shield charms and were able to push back somewhat against the teachers assault with their sheer numbers. It was only their own inability to work together in their addled state that stopped the sheer of quantity of spells being thrown out from overwhelming the teachers'' defenses.

    Flitwick was the last on the frontline, standing just behind Snape and McGonagall. The short teacher looked focused, furiously casting and creating a series of shields and defensive spells to deflect the waves of incoming spells targeting his two more offensive allies. He looked like he was sweating, his eyes darting around as he summoned barrier after shimmering barrier and even deflected the occasional spell by striking it with a charm of his own that caused the opposing spell to unravel in mid-air.

    The other teachers moved on the flanks, picking off and stunning any of the obviously drugged students that separated from the main mass closer to the doors at the exit of the great hall. They also levitated the unconscious students and moved them to the sides of the room where they wouldn''t be trampled by the raging mob.

    The three teachers pushed towards the writhing center of the crowd towards where Ginny knew Neville must be based on the high pitched screams and shouts coming from inside of there.

    Dumbledore remained at his headmaster¡¯s chair standing, pointing his wand toward the mass of drugged students chanting and drawing deeply on his magic. Wind began to swirl around him and his eyes began to slightly glow as his body became practically a blinding sun in Ginny¡¯s magic senses. Whatever spells the drugged students sent at the headmaster one of the other teachers deflected or blocked before quickly pouncing and stunning the offender with a barrage of counter spells.

    The whole room was still in chaos, a cacophony of noise and battle. Ginny looked around to look for Alexa, the sheer amount of magic being thrown around interfering with her magic senses ability to find her.

    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    As Ginny moved, she saw a boy in Gryffindor robes with heavily dilated eyes staring at her and Jack, shouting something incoherent as he started waving his wand at them. She turned around and pulled the stunned Jack to the side to avoid the spell that sent a spray of food splattering upwards as the spell let out a bang that Ginny could barely hear through all the other noise of battle around her.

    Professor Lupin launched a red beam from the side and struck the Gryffindor, sending him slumping to the ground unconscious, his wand dropped from limp fingers.

    Many of the confused non-drugged students seemed to understand somewhat that they should help the teachers, so started joining the fight to take down the love-struck students as best as they could.

    Ginny turned her head, and froze when she saw Eric. His lips were extended and pulled upwards as far as they could go as somebody had put hooks on the corners of his lips and pulled upwards. He was pressing forward into the drugged crowd. The crowd that he had drugged. He launched spells with his wand against his opponents and laughing with a crazed look in his eyes. Ginny could sense that poking out of Eric¡¯s form was a cloud of thin magic tendrils that struck out as he pushed forward, nudging arms and striking fingers to cause the people battling him to drop their wands or trip into each other without him even using his wand to attack them.

    He whirled and spun, swaying from side to side as he moved like a dance through the battle. He moved smoothly, like every move was planned as he dodged most of the spells purely with his body. He launched more spells even as ducked down and spun in a circle, launching a series of five spells in quick succession to strike at five drugged students nearby that had been engaging in a fierce spell battle amongst themselves and against Eric both.

    Hermione and Ron trailed behind, not nearly as effective as Eric but also shooting a hex or curse occasionally into the crowd of drugged students that was fighting Eric.

    Ginny finally spotted Alexa, standing with her wand held out and looking lost as her head snapped from place to place in the chaos of the great hall. No one seemed to be targeting her, the main battle ground having moved away from her by now.

    ¡°Jack!¡±

    Ginny shouted and pointed,

    ¡°Alexa!¡±

    The boy seemed to hear her and nodded. The two of them ran over to Alexa, ignoring the chaos behind them. The girl spotted them and she startled out of her shock and ran towards them too.

    They met in the middle and tried to all shout at each other at once, but none could hear the others. Dumbledore kept chanting, the wind swirling around him beginning to grow more powerful and tug on Ginny¡¯s robes slightly even at this distance. His eyes glowed like a pair of flashlights as his wand remained pointed at the center of the drugged crowd of students even as he kept chanting, his booming voice reverberating with magic.

    Suddenly from the mass of students, Ginny saw Draco Malfoy burst out of the chaos. He had the characteristic dilated eyes and comically angry expression showing that he had been drugged. His head immediately focused on the trio of them and his face twisted even further into anger if that was even possible.

    He raised his wand and prepared to cast at them, at Alexa who was just in front of Ginny and would be hit first.

    Ginny shoved Alexa to the side and in desperation shot five tendrils of her magic towards Malfoy as quickly as she could. They pierced into his skin like spears, and Draco shuddered and his spell faltered. His wand raised again as he recovered from Ginny¡¯s blow, and in a panic she pulsed her magic and pushed him away with all of her might.

    He went flying backwards as if hit by a massive hammer, thrown at high speed into the mass of fighting drugged students and knocking down at least five of them as he crashed into one after another and barely even slowing each time he impacted them. Finally he hit the floor and rolled limply across it, already unconscious before he even hit the ground. The rioting crowd closed around him and Ginny lost sight of his unconscious body.

    The teacher¡¯s progress in the battle was being slowed by the fact that they had to maneuver around the unconscious bodies of the fallen students to advance farther forward. But the number of battling drugged students was steadily dropping, some of them seeming to come to their senses and realizing that something was wrong with them as soon as they were no longer swept up with the emotions of the crowd.

    Ginny looked at Eric and saw that he had paused in his erratic dance, his face a picture of genuine shock as he stared at her. His eyes darted to the direction she had flung Draco before back to her hands. Her empty hands, which had not been holding her wand. His distraction cost him, and he was blasted by no less than four curses before he could dodge. He fell to the floor, and only Ron and Hermione taking up his slack and casting a few extra spells at their attackers seemed to stop them from cursing the groaning Eric on the floor even more.

    Dumbledore¡¯s voice suddenly changed and Ginny looked at him while huddling together defensively with her friends.

    Dumbledore¡¯s head was now shrouded in a blinding white light that she knew must be coming from his eyes. But they were so bright that the two sources had blended together into one single bright beam turning his head into a massive lightbulb putting all the shadows in the room in sharp relief.

    ¡°SOMNUM TURBAE MAXIMA!¡±

    Dumbledore chanted in his booming voice and a wave of magic blasted out of his form and a massive ball of magic shot down the great hall towards the exit where most of the drugged students had gathered.

    The magic contained in the spell was so great that Ginny could see the air twist and warp with her eyes as the magic sought to escape the bounds of the theoretically invisible spell that contained it.

    The spell landed in the center of the mob of students and then detonated, releasing a pulse of magic in all directions. Everybody at the site of impact immediately fell limp like puppets with their strings cut, all of them falling unconscious without fail as the wave of magic washed over them.

    Within a second the wave of magic was right in front of Ginny. She tackled her friends to the ground so they wouldn¡¯t fall and hit their heads when they were knocked out. The two of them shouted and squirmed as Ginny lay on top of both of them, but before Ginny could do anything else the wave of magic washed over them and all three of them were put to sleep immediately by the overwhelming force of Dumbledore¡¯s magic.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Dumbledore staggered and started sweating and breathing heavily as soon as the massive spell left the tip of his wand. The spell landed and washed over the great hall, knocking out everyone present in a single spell. Dumbledore braced himself and felt his own spell wash over him and attempt to put him to sleep. But he was the most powerful wizard in this room by far, and despite his own spell''s efforts it failed in its efforts and passed by him.

    He stumbled to the side and braced himself against the headmaster¡¯s chair for a moment, feeling suddenly weak. No matter how weak, every person here was magical. And the more magic somebody had the easier it was for them to resist sleeping spells like the one that Dumbledore had just cast on a grand scale.

    After a moment to catch his breath, Dumbledore pushed himself off the arm rest and stood under his own power again. He looked over the eerily silent hall, every single person asleep, students and teachers alike. Minerva and Severus were the most magically powerful of those present and may have stayed awake if they had been at Dumbledore¡¯s side when he cast the spell. But they had been in the thick of it and received a full blast, and so their magical defenses had been overwhelmed.

    Dumbledore looked around at the shattered windows, scarred and scorched stone, and piles of unconscious students snoring and haphazardly strewn around the great hall.

    Too tired to keep standing, Dumbledore sank back into his headmaster¡¯s chair and summoned his patronus. He quickly stated the situation as clearly as he could and requested as many healers as were available from the ministry and St.Mungo¡¯s. The glowing blue form of the conjured Phoenix patronus flew off at high speed to the Ministry. It would get there and deliver the words he had spoken to it.

    He spent the next five minutes wrestling with the Hogwarts wards to allow apparition within the great hall. Hogwarts did not like lowering her defenses for even an instant, and it took many attempts before he managed the wards to be lowered and to stay lowered for more than a single instant.

    But finally he managed it. As soon as they were lowered, healers and ministry officials began apparating in. All of them goggled at the scene for a few moments. The entire student body and teachers of Hogwarts unconscious on the floor while Dumbledore sat wearily at his headmaster¡¯s chair surveying it all.

    Then the healers recovered and began springing into action and bossing around the milling Aurors to clear some space and begin levitating students to where the healers had begun treating the worst cases they could see.

    None approached Dumbledore, all apparently too intimidated at seeing what he had been able to do.

    The healers carefully checked the student''s health over the next few minutes, and he let out a sigh of relief as it was pronounced that somehow in all of that chaos none of the students had been killed. However, several were severely injured including Neville Longbottom himself and many had been immediately apparated away to St. Mungo¡¯s for more specialized treatment.

    Amelia Bones approached as they exited the danger zone, all the most severely injured students apparated for treatment and the rest being seen to by the healers, and Madame Pomfrey who had appeared and began to help at one point. She had slipped his mind in the chaos. Perhaps a sign that he was even more tired from the spell than he had thought.

    ¡°What¡¯s this, Dumbledore?¡± She asked warily, ¡°What happened?¡±

    He explained the events from start to finish, ending with the spell that he cast while the teaching staff worked to defend him and stun those that had begun to fling out more dangerous spells.

    ¡°A student actually cast a killing curse at you?!¡± Amelia said with her voice cracking slightly at the end. Her eyes were wide as she scanned the hall of sleeping students and bustling and firm voices of the healers.

    ¡°Yes, it seems so. But I do not blame them necessarily,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°They were not themselves. They were clearly spelled, or¡­ no. Too many. It must be drugs. Based on their comments¡­ Love potion? But that¡­¡±

    Dumbledore straightened as he realized that this issue was of his own doing. He had ignored the reports from his teachers of this ¡®Mad Potioner¡¯ for the last two years. After all the Weasley twins did much the same, didn¡¯t they, if much more obvious in their antics. He had been reassured when the person started targeting bullies rather than the indiscriminate action they had taken in the beginning.

    But this¡­ this was something else entirely. This wasn¡¯t spiking a drink or even a dozen. This was spiking the drink of nearly every student in the hall simultaneously. It was the only way the students would have descended into love potion induced madness so quickly.

    ¡°I think our Mad Potioner has struck again¡­¡± He said heavily to Amelia Bones.

    She looked around the hall again, ¡°You think¡­ But who could it be? Who could do this? Why would they do this? This is more than some little pranks and possible revenge against bullies like it was before.¡±

    ¡°I suppose we¡¯ll find out.¡±

    Dumbledore fixed his gaze on the unconscious form of Eric Potter. He was the prime suspect. But during the previous incidents they had checked his wand and there wasn¡¯t anything nearly out of the ordinary. He was ordinary, a bit below average in skill in potions if Severus were to be believed. And while skilled on the practicals, he hardly seemed the type to sit back and meticulously plan to the extent an operation like this would require. Or at least that''s what Dumbledore had observed of the boy so far.

    He pondered. He was starting to doubt himself. Perhaps this was not the Mad Potioner after all.

    ¡°Perhaps the house elves¡­¡± He muttered. The house elves manned the Hogwarts kitchens and cooked and sent up the food with their magic for the great feast.

    ¡°Yes,¡± He said with more strength to Madame Bones who was looking at him curiously, ¡°After the students are healed we must check with the house elves. It¡¯s the only way I can think of that would allow this person to drug so many students at once. They''d have the house elves distribute it and put their potion in the food before it even arrives up here. And¡­ I¡¯m leaning away from this being a student. It¡¯s just too different from the rest of the Mad Potioner''s stunts.¡±

    Madame Bones licked her dry lips. ¡°Pettigrew¡­¡± She said hesitantly.

    Dumbledore thought about it long and hard before giving an answer.

    ¡°Perhaps,¡± he eventually said, ¡°He may just be erratic enough to do something like this for seemingly no purpose. His motives are still opaque even now for the attack on the Weasleys.¡±

    Dumbledore turned to see Ginny Weasley sprawled on top of her two friends, her arms wrapped protectively around them, even as they all breathed in and out slowly with their eyes shut. He felt his heart twinge at the potent image.

    He regretted pushing to keep Fawkes from her until she was older and responsible enough to understand the danger if Fawkes ever turned his powers on her in anger. Dumbledore had truly believed it to be for the best, but he now saw that their bond was deeper than just the surface. It was something far more potent than his relationship with Fawkes had ever been.

    Perhaps that was his fault. It seems that Fawkes was a good judge of character to pick to become the familiar of a girl willing to go so far for her friends.

    ¡°If it¡¯s Pettigrew, then we¡¯ll catch him this time,¡± Amelia promised, interrupting his thoughts.

    ¡°Yes, yes,¡± He replied, ¡°But the students come first. We must make sure they are well before worrying about things we can not control. The ministry teams are already searching the castle. I don¡¯t believe there is anything more to be done, is there?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Amelia admitted reluctantly, ¡°We can only wait for news.¡±

    ¡°We can only wait for news.¡± He confirmed, ¡°Hopefully the good kind. We¡¯ll need some after dealing with this mess.¡±

 Chapter 30: Truce

    ¡°So, Ms. Weasley,¡± Madame Bones said, ¡°What caused you to stand up just before the chaos began?¡±

    ¡°Well, I saw¡­ a little drop of something go in Jack¡¯s drink. And into one of my roommate''s drinks too. I warned them but none of them believed me. I wanted to tell everybody just in case, but¡­ well I didn¡¯t have any proof¡­¡±

    ¡°Hm. Did you see anything suspicious? Anything out of place, someone casting a spell nearby?¡±

    Ginny hesitated, ¡°Eric Potter,¡± She said, ¡°He was smiling and winked at me when I started panicking. I think it was him.¡±

    ¡°How would he accomplish that? Witnesses vouch that he wasn¡¯t holding his wand and his hands were visible around the time you claim your friend''s drink was spiked.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know. But I¡¯m sure that it was him.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll take that into consideration. You¡¯re free to leave, and come and report if you remember anything else that you think might be important.¡±

    ¡°Okay, Madame Bones.¡±

    Ginny stood and walked out of the abandoned classroom that the Aurors had turned into their interrogation room. They were interviewing everybody to find the culprit behind what happened at the great feast. Ginny was frustrated. She knew exactly how Eric had done it. She had seen him doing it. But he had made sure his hands were visibly not near his wand so no one would ever believe her if she actually accused him of anything.

    Most of the people had been healed from their injuries and released in less than a day after the feast. Only Neville and a few others were still being treated three days later for their more serious injuries and curses.

    Part of the reason the drugged crowd had gone so crazy was because stray spells had hit Neville and thrown the rest into a rage to punish whoever dared to hurt their precious Neville.

    As Ginny was walking back to Ravenclaw tower, she suddenly stopped as she spotted Eric Potter turning the corner in front of her. She jogged forward and carefully peered around to see him walking alone down the hallway. He rounded the corner, and after a moment of indecision, Ginny followed after him. What would he be doing all alone out here? He was walking with purpose, as if going somewhere important. Maybe she could catch him in the act of something.

    She followed after him, carefully creeping and peeking around corners to follow after him. As they moved they went to one of the abandoned sections of the castle that almost no one ever visited. Ginny peered around the corner and didn¡¯t spot Eric this time. Where had he gone?

    She walked down the hallway, peering around the corners of the turns trying to figure out which way he could have gone. Her magic sense was blunted by the Hogwarts wards, so she couldn¡¯t just sense him from far away like she usually could in an open area.

    ¡°Heya, Ginny,¡± Eric¡¯s voice suddenly said from behind her. She whirled around and saw the boy standing there next to the open door of one of the abandoned classrooms lining the sides of the hallways.

    Eric¡¯s form erupted into a cloud of magic tendrils that shot out and struck like a thousand needles to pierce into her. Her feet were lifted a couple inches off the ground as the tendrils embedded in her skin lifted. Eric took out his wand and casually waved it a couple times, pulsing his magic into it. A long stream of white cloth shot out of it and wrapped around Ginny¡¯s ankles.

    Ginny tried to use her own magic tendrils to push out, to strike back, but Eric¡¯s own smaller cloud tangled them and twisted them in knots so she couldn¡¯t manage to have her tendrils escape the shell and strike at the boy.

    Eric¡¯s little tendrils grabbed her arms and with hard jerks, forced them in and to form an x shape crossed over her chest. Ginny thrashed and shouted, but Eric just stood there smiling.

    ¡°I knew it!¡± Eric said, ¡°It is you. Wow, back as a girl huh. That must have been a shock.¡±

    Eric¡¯s tendrils grabbed Ginny¡¯s floating body and started spinning her around fast. The world swam around her as she felt Eric¡¯s summoned white cloth wrapping up her legs and crawling up her body and wrapping her up like a mummy.

    She tried to use her magic tendrils to escape, withdrawing them and striking out as quickly as she could. But Eric locked her down effortlessly. She got nauseous and her concentration was shot as she spun around faster and faster, Her body now wrapped up to her stomach.

    She kept struggling, but in only a few seconds, she was wrapped up like a fly in a web all the way up to the neck, only her head left exposed.

    She suddenly stopped spinning and felt sick. As she recovered and tried to push past her swimming head, she felt herself float into the abandoned classroom and Eric to close the door behind them. His tendrils lowered her onto a chair sitting there and Eric sat opposite of her.

    His magic tendrils withdrew from holding her and her weight was pressed onto the chair.

    Ginny moved and fell onto the floor with a crash. She tried to roll towards the door, but the stiff cloth made her barely able to shift herself an inch. Eric just watched her for a second before waving his wand and the door locked with a loud click. He cast another spell and the air was shrouded with magic.

    ¡°There,¡± Eric said, ¡°Now we won¡¯t be interrupted anymore. No sound will exit this room, so no use in calling for help.¡±

    Ginny stopped moving and squirming as she lay there on the floor and glared at him.

    ¡°Aw, C¡¯mon,¡± Eric said, ¡°Despite what it looks like, I¡¯m not going to hurt you. I just need to make sure you don¡¯t attack me while we discuss what we¡¯re going to do about each other.¡±

    Ginny didn¡¯t say anything and kept glaring at him while inching towards the door as best as she could.

    Eric sighed, ¡°Look, I just want to talk alright? I get you¡¯re angry, but we¡¯re two birds of a feather aren¡¯t we? Since you¡¯re here in that body then you must have made the same choice as I did. Left the real Ginny behind in that hell. So don¡¯t get all high and mighty on me for how I betrayed you.¡±

    Ginny froze. What was Eric talking about? Huh?

    ¡°Are you ready to talk now, Harry?¡± Eric said.

    ¡°Harry¡¯s dead,¡± She replied.

    ¡°Semantics. You¡¯re alive now, aren¡¯t you?¡± Eric said as he used his magic tendrils to lift Ginny¡¯s bound form and place her back sitting on the chair. She didn¡¯t struggle and push herself off of it this time.

    Did¡­ Did Eric think that Harry had done the same thing as he had? Tricked the old Ginny into accepting the crown so he could escape Teregatt? That she was Harry still?

    ¡°What do you want?¡± Ginny asked sullenly. It wasn¡¯t like she had much of a choice. Eric had overpowered her easily. She¡¯d have to hope that he really just wanted to talk.

    ¡°First off, Harry,¡± Eric said, ¡°It wasn¡¯t personal, what I did. Really, if there was another way then I wouldn¡¯t have done it. I even got your revenge for you. Your Aunt and Uncle should be in an Asylum right about now, with Dudley shuffled off to his relatives if he has any.¡±

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    ¡°What did you do to them?¡± Ginny asked, aching to know now that Eric had mentioned it. It had always sat at the back of her mind now that her memories from Harry had returned.

    ¡°Nothing much,¡± Eric said with an easy smile, ¡°Just a quick mind spell, led to them acting rather erratic and paranoid. It should have worn off in a couple of months. But once proven insane, there¡¯s little you can do after to prove otherwise¡­ So I¡¯m guessing that they¡¯re still going to be in there for a while still. If you do some research I''m sure you can find where they are so you can taunt them a little.¡±

    Ginny thought about it. She didn¡¯t want to be the kind of person to gloat in someone else¡¯s suffering. And she never wanted to see them again. But¡­ Just for the Dursleys¡­

    ¡°Okay,¡± She said, calming a little, ¡°I¡¯m okay with that. Thanks, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Hm. Yes. You¡¯ve got terrible eyesight by the way. Literally unfixable by magic. And I¡¯ve researched it quite a bit. How¡¯s the eyesight on your new body?¡±

    Ginny felt disgusted that Eric thought that they were anything alike. But she couldn¡¯t show it, she had to play along to see where things would go.

    ¡°Fine,¡± She said, ¡°Don¡¯t need glasses anymore.¡±

    ¡°So¡­ A girl,¡± Eric said, ¡°Have to admit, I didn¡¯t see that coming. What¡¯s it like, Harry?¡±

    ¡°Different¡­¡± Ginny said, ¡°Haven¡¯t really thought about it too much.¡±

    She had access to Harry¡¯s memories in his male body. But they were distant and not grounded. She was Ginny, a girl. Harry was another person than she was. Despite how she needed to convince Eric now that she was still Harry.

    ¡°Huh. Okay, fair enough,¡± Eric said, ¡°Well, down to business then. I¡¯ve shown how much more powerful and skilled at our special brand at magic I am. I could easily kill you and hide the body right now.¡±

    Ginny¡¯s breathing hitched and her heart started beating fast.

    Eric saw her expression and chuckled, ¡°C¡¯mon! Don¡¯t look at me like that! I actually like you, Harry. I won¡¯t do that unless I really have to. But I could. If I really needed to. You clearly had much less time in that Hell than me to learn your magic. You¡¯ll never catch up to me now that we¡¯ve left that place forever.¡±

    Ginny realized with a jolt that Eric had no way of knowing that Harry had actually become the inheritor of Teregatt. He didn¡¯t know that she could spend time there and learn more and improve her magic! He thought he could overpower her forever with his skill. But if Ginny just delayed and kept learning, then some day she¡¯d be able to match him¡­

    ¡°Fine,¡± She said, ¡°What¡¯s your point?¡±

    ¡°My point. Is that why do we have to be enemies? You don¡¯t like me, that¡¯s fine. I get that. How about we just avoid each other, not get in each other¡¯s business as best as we can? Live our own lives, and then we can both be happy. No threats or this revenge that I¡¯m sure you were cooking up before.¡±

    ¡°And¡­ And what about you spiking everyone¡¯s potions?¡± Ginny said, ¡°How am I supposed to stay out of your way if you¡¯re doing things like that? People could have died! My friends could have died! You did all of that to poor Neville who you knew was shy and never did anything to you. I¡¯m supposed to just stand by and let you get away with it?¡±

    Eric nodded and frowned, ¡°Yes. It did sound much better in my own head. I didn¡¯t realize things would get that chaotic¡­ Especially that Slytherin that cast that killing curse at our precious headmaster. That was a surprise.¡±

    ¡°You seemed to be having fun while you were fighting!¡± Ginny said with a glare.

    Eric shrugged, ¡°Hey, I was enjoying the moment. Everybody was already fighting, may as well join in on the fun, right?¡±

    Seeing Ginny¡¯s glare, Eric swiftly kept speaking.

    ¡°But you¡¯re right, that one went a bit too far. Now the Aurors will be all over me if I try anything else. Such mood killers, those ones. Tell me who''s the real criminal here with how stiff they are about everything? But I¡¯ll tell you what. I won¡¯t spike anyone else¡¯s drinks in the future while we¡¯re at Hogwarts. I¡¯ll go with the more traditional pranks like Ginny¡¯s twin brothers do. All you have to do in return is not go on some quest to prove that I¡¯m the Mad Potioner or to attack me out of revenge for what happened in Teregatt. How does that sound?¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯ll leave my friends alone. No messing with them, even for pranks or indirectly,¡± Ginny said.

    ¡°Fine. That¡¯s fair,¡± Eric easily agreed, ¡°So do you agree? Leave each other be, put the past behind us? We¡¯ve got brand new lives to enjoy here. It¡¯ll be such a pain if we¡¯ve got to deal with all of this hatred and revenge and whatnot all the time, wouldn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± Ginny said reluctantly, ¡°We¡¯ll leave each other alone. As long as you never do anything like the Halloween feast ever again.¡±

    ¡°Great!¡±

    Eric was smiling again and waved his wand and the cloth wrapping around Ginny disappeared all at once. Her crossed arms fell down to her sides and she took a deep breath after shooting to her feet up from the chair. She had the sudden overwhelming urge to attack Eric, and just barely managed to hold herself back in time.

    The boy eyed her, waiting to see what she would do. He stood as well and held out his hand and took a step towards her.

    ¡°Shake on it?¡± He said with a grin. Ginny reluctantly shook his hand, the other boy¡¯s grip surprisingly firm on her own.

    ¡°Your hands are soft,¡± Eric said, ¡°I have to say, if you¡¯re going to end up being a girl, then at least you ended up in the body of a pretty one.¡±

    Ginny withdrew her hand and scrunched up her nose in disgust, ¡°Gross. Now, are we done? Can I go?¡±

    Eric nodded and waved his wand at the door which unlocked itself. He gave a small bow and gestured towards the door. ¡°Ladies first, Harry.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Ginny now,¡± She said, hearing Eric saying Harry¡¯s name irritating her.

    ¡°Of course, of course Milady¡­¡± Eric said mockingly.

    Ginny opened the door and walked away. She resisted the urge to run, she didn¡¯t want to show weakness as she felt the prickle of Eric¡¯s eyes following her as she walked away.

    Her thoughts roiled in turmoil as she went over what had just happened. But Ginny knew one thing. She just had to buy more time for herself. Balthazar would train her in her magic in Teregatt. It was only a matter of time before she would be on the same level as Eric.

    She could decide what she wanted to do about him when she actually had the power to do anything about it. Until then it was best to just try to not think about it.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Somehow, the Ministry ended up blaming Peter Pettigrew for the Halloween feast of all people. The event was all over the papers, people painting it as another attack by the deranged maniac.

    Things were tense in the school for a while, and almost half of the school came up to apologize to Neville in the aftermath in the following weeks. Everybody remembered what they had done, even if they knew they were under the influence of the love potions.

    The Slytherin that cast the killing curse at the Headmaster had been expelled from the school, but not arrested for the attack. Even the excuse of the love potion could only carry him so far in using the killing curse.

    No one else was punished for the incident, and by the end of October things had settled back to a somewhat more normal state. There were only a few changes that permeated the culture of the school.

    First, everyone almost obsessively checks their food and drinks for poisons now. It was to the point where a new club was formed that was solely devoted to teaching people how to cast various spells to check for poisons and the limitations and uses for each one. There wasn¡¯t one single spell for it, but many each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The club was incredibly popular even if Snape was their teacher monitor. The older students now often would cast some of their more advanced poison checking spells for the younger years before the meals began.

    The second change was that the pranking had dropped to almost nothing ever since Halloween. It was considered in poor taste, and even Fred and George held back from doing much after they observed the blatant hostility directed at them by the rest of the students after their first attempt after the Halloween feast.

    Things were slowly relaxing, but for now at least the pranks had dropped to nearly nothing around the school.

    Finally, there was the newfound awe and respect the students had for their teachers and Dumbledore. They had all known that the professors were powerful and skilled witches and wizards. But McGonagall, Snape, and Flitwick had fought off nearly half of the student body practically by themselves. Dumbledore had put the whole school, even the teachers, to sleep with a single spell.

    Even the unpleasant Snape was looked upon with a sort of quiet awe and fear now that everyone had seen them act in combat. The teachers seemed disconcerted by many students suddenly hanging on their every word during classes and asking all sorts of questions about the spells they had used during the battle at the Halloween feast.

    Eric and Ginny avoided each other, and the Mad Potioner didn¡¯t strike again it that time. It seems the two of them were at an odd standoff. Well, Ginny was. Eric seemed to consider the matter resolved and was back to his normal self.

    Ginny kept learning in Teregatt each night, but Balthazar told her flatly that she was nowhere near ready to take on Eric from what she described to him.

    It seems it would be a while before their little truce would be threatened. Ginny would be forced to accept it for now. As long as Eric didn¡¯t break it first.

 Chapter 31: A Selfless Act

    ¡°Ginny?¡± Ginny looked up from her homework to see Olivia standing there. Jack and Alexa looked up too. They were sitting in the library together after their classes.

    ¡°Hi, Olivia.¡±

    ¡°The Headmaster wants to see you,¡± Olivia said. Ginny stood and looked at her friends after collecting her things.

    ¡°See you in a bit guys. Probably just wants me to tell Fawkes to stop being such a glutton.¡±

    ¡°Good luck with that,¡± Alexa said, ¡°He probably wouldn¡¯t stop even if you asked him to.¡±

    Ginny shrugged, ¡°Maybe. Who knows? He may only eat twenty pounds of food instead of thirty if I ask reeeeealllly nicely.¡±

    Olivia snorted, ¡°C¡¯mon. I don¡¯t know why they want you. They¡¯re lucky Fawkes hasn¡¯t decided that he wants to eat more. It¡¯s in the original Hogwarts treaty that familiars of students have to be fed to ¡®their satisfaction¡¯ and nothing less.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡± Jack asked, ¡°Doesn¡¯t it get expensive?¡±

    ¡°Yes it does,¡± Olivia said, ¡°But as the first great wizarding school in the world, the founders wanted to draw students from all over the world to Hogwarts. In Africa and Asia the use of familiars was and still is much more common than it is here in Europe. So the founders wanted to be sure the familiars of foreign students would be taken care of. After Hogwarts began to be successful the other schools began to be formed such as Durmstrang in Bulgaria or Beauxbatons in France just in Europe alone.¡±

    ¡°Oh, really?¡± Jack said, ¡°That¡¯s interesting. All we learn about in Magical history is Goblin rebellions.¡±

    Olivia snorted, ¡°Yeah, that stuff is useless. Don¡¯t know why they still use that old curriculum. I¡¯m Sure that Binns hasn¡¯t changed it in decades at least. Alright, Ginny. We¡¯ve got to actually go. Don¡¯t want to keep the headmaster waiting.¡±

    The two of them went through the hallways.

    ¡°How are you doing?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°With, you know¡­ you being dosed at the feast and everything.¡±

    ¡°Ugh. So embarrassing,¡± Olivia said, ¡°But I didn¡¯t do anything too bad. I just hope they catch Pettigrew soon. Hard to feel safe when there¡¯s a maniac like that running around.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, him¡­¡±

    They walked up to the headmaster¡¯s office together, reaching the eagle statue at the base. Ginny peered at it with interest.

    ¡°Amvatroz?¡± She asked as she stared at it. It turned its head towards her and a second later the statue became more animated.

    ¡°Ah. Yes, it¡¯s me,¡± the Eagle said, ¡°Here to see the headmaster, are we Ginny?¡±

    Olivia blinked, ¡°Wait, you¡¯re the eagle here too? You¡¯ve never talked to me before when I came up.¡±

    Amvatroz looked at her.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have Fawkes as your familiar,¡± the statue said, ¡°If I talked to everyone coming in I¡¯d be too busy to come up with new riddles, wouldn¡¯t I?¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s¡­ That¡¯s fair, I guess. People are going to lose it when I tell them the two of you statues are connected.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes. You students do get rather excited about it every couple decades or so trying to solve the great mystery. Now¡­ Ah, there it is. The headmaster has granted you access.¡±

    The eagle statue began to twist and with the grinding of stone revealed a spiral staircase that went upwards. The two girls walked up until they reached the top of the stairs.

    They were in a small chamber with a large pair of double doors blocking the way inside.

    ¡°Until next time, Ginny,¡± Amvatroz said amiably before the statue stiffened and went lifeless again.

    ¡°Still can¡¯t believe that old grumpy bird likes you so much¡­¡± Olivia grumbled.

    ¡°More like he likes messing with Fawkes,¡± Ginny replied, ¡°He spends most of his time boasting and talking about how much more amazing that Fawkes he was when he was alive. I think it¡¯s kinda funny. Fawkes tries to do the same back, but he¡¯s not as good at it. I think Amvatroz really was more powerful while they were both alive.¡±

    ¡°Pffffftttt. Really?¡± Olivia said, ¡°He¡¯s just flexing how much more powerful he used to be to mess with Fawkes? That¡¯s why he¡¯s always talking to you more in between the riddles to get into the common room? That¡¯s kind of hilarious. Hey, how¡­¡±

    The double doors swung open and interrupted Olivia. Past the doors Dumbledore¡¯s cluttered office was revealed with Head of Ravenclaw house Flitwick, the Headmaster, and an unfamiliar handsome man with a sharp gaze and scruffy beard black beard and hair.

    Flitwick stepped forward. ¡°Ah, Olivia. Thank you for bringing Ms. Weasley. That will be all for now.¡±

    Olivia patted Ginny on the shoulder comfortingly before looking back at Flitwick, ¡°See you in class, Professor.¡±

    Flitwick inclined his head but didn¡¯t speak as Olivia turned around and went back down the spiral staircase by the eagle.

    The double doors to the Headmaster¡¯s office closed. Ginny followed behind Professor Flitwick and they sat next to each other in front of the Headmaster¡¯s large desk. Dumbledore sat on the other side while the unfamiliar man sat a little offset from Ginny and Flitwick but still on their side of the Headmasters desk.

    ¡°Ms. Weasley, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re wondering why you¡¯re here,¡± Dumbledore began, ¡°And who our mysterious guest here is.¡±

    He waved his hand to gesture to the unfamiliar man.

    ¡°Let me introduce Sirius Black. After Pettigrew¡¯s attack on you this summer, he was revealed as innocent and freed from Azkaban.¡±

    Sirius frowned slightly at Dumbledore¡¯s words.

    ¡°Yes. No one bothered to check if I was innocent before then,¡± He said clearly while staring Dumbledore down.

    The Headmaster coughed and moved on, ¡°Yes. Indeed, it is one of my deepest regrets that we did not believe you earlier, Sirius¡­ As a personal favor to him from me, he requested that he be allowed to meet with you, Ms. Weasley. Now, of course your head of house Filius Flitwick will be present to represent you. And you may choose to leave at any time if Sirius makes you uncomfortable or you do not wish to speak with him for any reason. Do you understand Ms. Weasley?¡±

    ¡°Why does he¡­¡± Ginny turned to the man himself, ¡°Why do you want to talk to me? I already told the Aurors everything about Pettigrew.¡±

    ¡°Yes. But I more than anyone knows how useless most of those fat pigs can be when it¡¯s not in their interests to be helpful,¡± Sirius said flatly.

    ¡°Sirius!¡± Dumbledore reprimanded, but the man waved him off while keeping his sharp gaze on Ginny.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been doing my own investigation. To track him down and get some real revenge for what he¡¯s done,¡± Sirius said, ¡°I¡­ that man destroyed my life. The life of my godson Harry Potter. Well, he goes by Eric now, got to remember that. Have you met him? He should only be a year above you, shouldn¡¯t he?¡±

    Dumbledore cleared his throat, ¡°Are you not aware of Ms. Weasley¡¯s situation?¡±

    Sirius looked between her and the Headmaster with his brow scrunched in confusion.

    ¡°No? Should I be? She¡¯s Arthur¡¯s daughter isn¡¯t she? No one knows why she was attacked by Pettigrew. Is there more to know?¡±

    ¡°Yes. But they are not my secrets to share. Ms. Weasley can share as much or little as she wishes.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t feel pressured by him,¡± Flitwick added, ¡°You don¡¯t have to tell him anything you don¡¯t wish to, Ms. Weasley.¡±

    With that, all three adults stared at her, waiting for what she would say.

    She cleared her throat and met Sirius¡¯ gaze, ¡°I¡­ Well, I was attacked last year,¡± She said, ¡°Brought down to the Chamber of Secrets and a boy down there did¡­ something to me. It completely erased my memory of everything before. I don¡¯t remember anything before the last six months, I came back this term as a first year.¡±

    Sirius looked at her in horror and then turned to Dumbledore. ¡°A boy? Is she saying that¡­¡±

    ¡°We do not believe so,¡± Dumbledore quickly interrupted, ¡°She was checked at St. Mungo¡¯s after and there were none of the¡­ signs. The only damage we could find was due to her inexplicable loss of her memories. Her memories were irretrievable even by the greatest of the country''s mind healers. Far beyond what even a full obliviation charm would do.¡±

    ¡°What are you two talking about?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°What did they check for?¡±

    Sirius looked back at her startled and Dumbledore¡¯s face was awkward as he seemed to realize that he had said too much, ¡°Something very bad,¡± the Headmaster said, ¡°But it seems it isn¡¯t so, so there is no need for you to worry. The point of this is, Ms. Weasley is a first year student at the moment. And an extra reminder for Sirius to not push you too hard.¡±

    Sirius scratched at his scruffy black beard and his eyes darted between Ginny and Dumbledore.

    ¡°Er, yeah. I¡¯m sorry to hear that, Ginny. Can I call you Ginny?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± She said, ¡°I like my life now. I don¡¯t remember how it was before, so it''s kinda hard to miss it.¡±

    ¡°Well, ah. This was not how I was expecting this conversation to go,¡± Sirius said with a forcefully light tone, ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re doing well. Have you met my godson Eric? What do you think of him?¡±

    Ginny looked at him, ¡°I¡¯ve met him. Why do you want to know?¡±

    Sirius shrugged, ¡°Just curious. I¡¯ve only met him two times before briefly. Be interesting to know what the students here think of him and his¡­ eccentricity.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like him,¡± Ginny said, ¡°He¡¯s a jerk.¡±

    ¡°A jerk? How so?¡± Sirius asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to talk about him,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Just thinking about him makes me mad.¡±

    ¡°Er, well. Okay. I thought this would be the easy topic¡­ Alright, Pettigrew. Can you go over what happened that night again for me? I¡¯m hoping I¡¯ll notice something that the Aurors will miss.¡±

    Ginny restated the whole story from start to finish from when she saw the ¡®magic rat¡¯ that Ron had to when Pettigrew attacked her. At which point she used her ¡®accidental magic¡¯ to hurt him and force him to back off before Fawkes arrived to defend her.

    ¡°Fawkes? Dumbledore¡¯s phoenix?¡± Sirius asked after she had finished, ¡°How¡¯d you manage to call him?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s my familiar,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Dumbledore tried to bully me into breaking the familiar bond while I was in the hospital after I formed it. But he and my dad worked it out and settled the court case. So now Dumbledore can hold the debt over our family so my dad does stuff for him in the Ministry, and I get to stay with Fawkes.¡±

    Both Sirius and Flitwick took her statement with shock and looked at Dumbledore for an explanation. A Dumbledore that looked supremely awkward as he sat there.

    ¡°Headmaster, is this true?¡± Flitwick asked after a few seconds of no response.

    ¡°Now, Filius, Ms. Weasley. I don¡¯t think it played out quite like that¡­¡±

    Ginny looked at him in confusion, ¡°Isn¡¯t it all public record though? There was a whole court case between you adults and everything in the Ministry. You got in big trouble because you visited me in the hospital and tried to bully me without my parents permission to be there.¡±

    Dumbledore coughed, ¡°That case record was sealed by order of the Wizemgott. It contained sensitive information that shouldn¡¯t be made public.¡±

    Ginny stared at him, ¡°Meanie,¡± She said, ¡°Isn¡¯t that the council that you¡¯re in charge of? But I still got to stay with Fawkes and Dad seemed alright with the debt so I don¡¯t mind that much.¡±

    Sirius shifted in his chair, ¡°Should I be here for this? I feel like I¡¯m hearing things I shouldn¡¯t¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, Albus, Ms. Weasley,¡± Flitwick said, ¡°Perhaps we should discuss this¡­ after we¡¯re done here.¡±

    Dumbledore gave Ginny a sharp look but she straightened her back and stared defiantly back at the old man.

    ¡°You never said it was secret,¡± Ginny pointed out.

    Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak before seeming to think better of it and closing it again.

    ¡°No. I suppose I didn¡¯t,¡± He said in defeat, ¡°Sirius, do you have any more questions for Ms. Weasley?¡±

    Sirius looked thoughtful and asked about a few more minor details, a slightly awkward air in the room as Professor Flitwick looked not at Sirius but Dumbledore as the conversation continued.

    Eventually, Sirius didn¡¯t have any more questions. He stood. ¡°Thank you for your help, Ginny,¡± He said, ¡°This will really help me on my hunt.¡±

    ¡°Hunt?¡± Ginny said, ¡°Weren¡¯t you doing an investigation? What do you mean?¡±

    Sirius¡¯ gaze grew intense, ¡°I won¡¯t rest, won¡¯t stop. Not until that TRAITOR is brought to JUSTICE!¡±

    ¡°Sirius!¡± Flitwick said, ¡°watch your tone!¡±

    Sirius coughed and looked guiltily at Ginny. But she could see the conviction in his eyes. ¡°Sorry, Ginny. Got carried away. I just get angry when I think about what that rat has done to his friends. To so many people.¡±

    Flitwick and Dumbledore stood and Ginny followed suit.

    ¡°Well, I suppose that will be all¡­¡± Dumbledore said. But Ginny was struggling internally as she looked at Sirius. She knew that Pettigrew was dead, reaching an old age on Teregatt before he finally passed away in his sleep peacefully. She hadn¡¯t cared too much about not telling anyone when it was faceless Aurors chasing him down across Britain and wasting their time. But this man¡­ he really cared. She could hear the conviction in his voice, see it in his eyes. He really wouldn¡¯t stop until he found Pettigrew. Was she going to stand by and let him spend his life chasing ghosts because she was too weak to tell him the truth? When it was something this important?

    ¡°...Ms. Weasley?¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I have something important to say,¡± She said suddenly, ¡°But I can only say it to Mr. Black. No one else can hear.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s highly inappropriate,¡± Flitwick protested, ¡°I¡¯m here to represent your interests, Ms. Weasley. I can¡¯t simply leave you alone with this man even if Dumbledore vouches for him.¡±

    Ginny looked at him, ¡°It¡¯s important. What if he hands over his wand to you while we¡¯re talking?¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    Sirius immediately looked uncomfortable, and the two other adults settled down and looked thoughtful.

    ¡°Are you sure you can only tell Sirius?¡± Dumbledore asked, ¡°You will not be in trouble if you tell us as well.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure,¡± Ginny said while barely trying to think about it. Like she¡¯d trust Dumbledore of all people to have her best interests in mind.

    ¡°Well? Sirius? Would you accept that?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ It¡¯s important, Ginny?¡± Sirius asked while reluctantly drawing his wand from his robes.

    She nodded and after an internal struggle, Sirius handed his wand to Professor Flitwick.

    ¡°We¡¯ll be just outside,¡± Flitwick said to Ginny, ¡°Just shout and we¡¯ll come in with all haste. Are you absolutely certain that you don¡¯t want us here with you? Perhaps just me if you don¡¯t wish the Headmaster to be present?¡±

    Ginny thought about it seriously for a second before dismissing it. She had no idea how much she could trust the charms professor. He seemed nice enough in class, but she didn¡¯t know if that meant that he would keep a secret for her. She was going to tell a half truth to Sirius. But even that much would get her in serious trouble if anyone found out.

    ¡°No, it has to be just us,¡± She insisted. With that Flitwick and Dumbledore left and closed the doors behind them, leaving her and Sirius alone in the Headmaster¡¯s office. Ginny sat back in her seat while Sirius remained standing.

    ¡°You might¡­ uhm, want to sit down,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Before I tell you the thing.¡±

    Sirius did so, staring at her intensely, ¡°What is it?¡± He asked, ¡°Did you remember something?¡±

    Ginny took a deep breath. She didn¡¯t want to lie to the man again. But it was the only way. Who would even know if he believed her about Teregatt. More importantly, if she told him about her being able to go to and from Teregatt¡­ then Eric might learn about it too. And if Eric knew that Balthazar was teaching her to improve her skills¡­ then he might attack her before she could improve enough to overpower him.

    No, she couldn¡¯t tell anyone about Teregatt, especially now that things were at a truce with Eric who was underestimating her. She had to lie a little bit to help Sirius and make sure she wasn¡¯t risking her life at the same time.

    ¡°Peter Pettigrew¡­¡± Ginny began, ¡°Pettigrew¡­ I lied before,¡± She said, ¡°He didn¡¯t apparate away after Fawkes attacked him. Fawkes killed him. Pettigrew is dead.¡±

    Sirius¡¯ eyes widened until they almost popped out of his skull, ¡°Dead?!¡± Sirius said, ¡°But¡­ Are you sure? Why would you lie to the Aurors?¡±

    Ginny suddenly had a crisis as she realized the consequences of her lie. Oh no, she hadn¡¯t thought¡­ but Fawkes¡­

    ¡°Fawkes!¡± Ginny said, ¡°If he killed Pettigrew then¡­ What if¡­ what if¡­ what if the Ministry took him away or even¡­ even put him down. I can¡¯t let that happen! Oh, you¡¯ve really got to keep it a secret. Please, I wasn¡¯t thinking right before I told you. I don¡¯t want anything to happen to him because I told you¡­¡±

    Sirius looked skeptical, but at seeing her genuine panic seemed to believe her. Why hadn¡¯t she thought through her lie more?! Now if this man told the Ministry then she could have caused Fawkes to get taken away or even¡­ even killed. What had she done?!

    ¡°I¡¯ll keep your secret,¡± Sirius said solemnly, ¡°On the Black name. Not that I usually go for that, but it feels appropriate to say here.¡±

    ¡°You- You promise? You definitely won¡¯t tell anyone? Even if Dumbledore asks?¡±

    ¡°Especially if Dumbledore asks. He signed off on my imprisonment ten years ago, did you know that? Knew I didn¡¯t have a trial, but signed off on it anyway because he already thought I was guilty. Too arrogant to believe he needed to even check if he was right or not first¡­ Sounds like you haven¡¯t had a great experience with him either. How many galleons was that debt that your family took on when Dumbledore transferred the phoenix to you?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Dad never said. I just knew that it was a lot,¡± Ginny said.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to contact Arthur anyway.¡± Sirius said, his tone growing calm as his intense gaze remained focused on her, ¡°Now, let¡¯s go over things one last time. As slowly as you need. What really happened?¡±

    Ginny gave the same story, but instead of Pettigrew apparating away himself, Fawkes grabbed him in his claws to cut him all over and flame teleported the body away after he stopped moving. It was only a little less gruesome than what Ginny had actually had to experience in the real attack, and she had to stop several times as she remembered the feeling of blood splattering over her as the bone sword burst from Pettigrew¡¯s back. The feeling of helplessness, fear as the wizard stood above her and knowing that she couldn¡¯t stop whatever he wanted to do to her¡­

    ¡°Do you know where Fawkes took the body?¡± Sirius asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Does it matter? He¡¯s dead now.¡±

    ¡°I suppose. I would have liked to know for sure¡­ but I believe you. Thank you for telling me. I¡¯m not sure how I feel about it, but I¡¯m glad you told me.¡±

    ¡°I- I didn¡¯t want you to waste your life chasing him down when I could tell you that he was actually dead,¡± Ginny replied, ¡°I¡¯m sorry I lied before.¡±

    ¡°No, I understand,¡± Sirius said sympathetically, his eyes growing slightly misty as he spoke, ¡°There¡¯s¡­ There¡¯s nothing more valuable than loyalty to the people that you care about. I won¡¯t speak a word of this to anyone unless you give me permission to. I don¡¯t think Fawkes would be killed if the Ministry knew the truth. He¡¯s a phoenix, he¡¯s too valuable for that. But you¡¯re right that they may take him from you if they think he¡¯s dangerous.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Ginny said with a sigh of relief, ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have just blurted it out without thinking first¡­¡±

    ¡°Listen¡­¡± Sirius said, ¡°This debt that Dumbledore has over your family. I don¡¯t like it. I¡¯m going to contact your father and see what I can do to get it wiped clean.¡±

    ¡°Wiped clean? What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I mean, I¡¯d pay it off myself. As thanks to you for telling me the truth.¡±

    ¡°But¡­ But, it¡¯s so much money! My dad was saying our family would probably never pay it off even when I was really old. I didn¡¯t do that much.¡±

    Sirius shook his head, ¡°No. In case you haven¡¯t heard, I¡¯m the head and only remaining member of House Black. And owner of their massive vaults of wealth. I¡¯ve more money than I¡¯ll ever know what to do with. You have no idea what this news means to me. Whatever your debt is, I¡¯ve probably spent at least triple that amount chasing down various leads and rumors on Pettigrew just in the last few months. It¡¯s the least that I can do for you.¡±

    ¡°Well, thank you Mr. Black. I know Dad was really worried about it even if he didn¡¯t like to say so.¡±

    Sirius stood and Ginny followed his lead, ¡°Oh, and maybe one day I can meet that phoenix of yours in person one day, huh?¡± Sirius said, ¡°Dumbledore didn¡¯t have him when I was in school, so I¡¯ve never had the chance to see something like it before.¡±

    ¡°Definitely,¡± Ginny agreed, ¡°Just make sure to compliment him a lot. He¡¯s a very proud bird and he likes being praised.¡±

    Sirius smirked, ¡°Yes, don¡¯t we all? I¡¯ll make sure to remember. Shall we call the ¡®meanie¡¯ and Flitwick back in again?¡±

    Ginny bobbed her head slightly and blushed. She couldn¡¯t believe she had actually said that to Dumbledore¡¯s face. It had just slipped out in the moment and she hadn¡¯t thought about it more as the conversation had continued elsewhere.

    Sirius walked over and opened the door where Dumbledore and Flitwick stood idly on the other side waiting.

    ¡°We¡¯re finished,¡± Sirius said.

    They all returned to their previous positions, Dumbledore inspecting Sirius closely.

    ¡°You seem calmer, Sirius,¡± Dumbledore observed, ¡°I assume Ms. Weasley had good news for you? Something she remembered?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It was very good news,¡± Sirius said before closing his mouth and not saying anything else.

    ¡°Very well,¡± Dumbledore said in disappointment after it became clear that Sirius wouldn¡¯t elaborate further, ¡°Then I suppose our business is concluded. Professor Flitwick will escort you back to your common room, Ms. Weasley. A good day to you.¡±

    ¡°Good day, Headmaster.¡±

    She left, following behind Flitwick who led the way out.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Sirius stood back in Grimmauld place, the main Black residence. The place was decrepit and musty, just as Sirius had remembered when he was a boy. Before he had run away from this awful place to stay with James and the Potters.

    He sat down and unfolded the picture he had carried in his pocket over since he¡¯d sworn revenge on Pettigrew. As soon as he got out of prison and was healthy enough to move again. He stared at the picture of the four friends. James had Lily hanging off his arm, and Sirius had another girl that he¡¯d been dating at the time standing with him. He barely even remembered her, he had been quite the player back then, going through relationships faster than his socks.

    But there was Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew with the group. It had reminded Sirius every time of what Peter had done, what he had destroyed. Sirius kept looking at the picture. For minutes, hours. In the musty dark house there was no way for him to know. But eventually, he let out a shaky breath.

    Peter was dead.

    He was dead.

    There was no evidence, but he believed the girl. He had seen the truth in her eyes when she told him it had happened.

    Sirius raised his wand and kept it there hovering for a second. He had sworn to himself that he would do this only when the job was done. And the job was done, even if he hadn¡¯t been the one who had done it.

    His wand remained there hovering over the photograph held in his slightly shaking hands. Sirius cast a silent spell and the tip of his wand glowed red hot. He pressed it forward and burned Peter¡¯s traitorous face out of the beloved photo once and for all.

    The traitor was dead, and now Sirius was free. The fires of his vengeance pulling him ever onwards snuffed out all at once.

    Now he could live his life again. It was what James, Lily would have wanted for him. And maybe¡­ maybe he should talk to some of his old friends. They had all betrayed him. Left him to rot in that prison for over a decade without even speaking to him. But he should at least give them a chance first. Starting with Arthur. They hadn''t been friends per se, but they had been friendly with each other at least. He would be a good start to things.

    Sirius looked around the house and realized that it was his now. He hadn¡¯t really thought about it before. He was rich, richer than his wildest dreams. The owner of wealth gained in all sorts of nasty and illegal ways over the centuries by his horrible family.

    If he had the money, then why not fix this old place up to his liking? He¡¯d wipe away every trace of his family from this place and make it his own. Keeping only the wards and family library containing all the hidden knowledge of spells and rituals that were too valuable to ever sell to anyone.

    Sirius smiled a little as the idea began to take root in his mind. Yes, he¡¯d use his new wealth to pave over everything left of the old family he¡¯d always hated. Starting with the painting that had been hounding him ever since he¡¯d arrived here. He walked with a bounce in his step to the portrait of Walburga Black hanging on the wall.

    ¡°What do you want, you muggle-loving boy?¡± His mother said from within the moving painting, ¡°You¡¯re a disgrace just like you always were. It¡¯s shown how far we¡¯ve fallen that you¡¯re lord Black.¡±

    Sirius stood there and kept slightly smiling, unaffected by her usual insults.

    ¡°WHAT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE BOY?!¡± Walburga screamed, ¡°You muggle loving slime, ungrateful for the food and roof we put over your head for all of those years!¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes. The bare necessities for survival. I should be so honored,¡± Sirius said, ¡°I¡¯ve just had a revelation, Mother. You¡¯ve put the irremovable sticking charm to keep your painting stuck to the wall, haven¡¯t you? Can¡¯t take down or even damage your painting without removing damn near half of that load bearing wall.¡±

    ¡°Of course I did so,¡± Walburga spat, ¡°Like I¡¯d let someone like you be able to remove me.¡±

    Sirius looked at Walburga, waiting for the faintest hint of remorse or guilt to rise within him. But there was nothing.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ve made my decision,¡± Sirius said, ¡°I¡¯m rich, I¡¯ll just hire somebody. The whole wall will have to go, unfortunately. Soon you¡¯ll be gone forever, Mother. Have fun shouting about the impure mudbloods and their filthy ways as loud as you can for the next few days. I¡¯ll be burning you to nothing when you¡¯ve been properly extracted from my home. I¡¯ve thought about getting some electric lights installed in this place rather than these dingy old lamps. What do you think?¡±

    Walburga¡¯s eyes bulged and she looked like she was about to have a heart attack as she heard his final statement.

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t dare¡­¡± She whispered, ¡°You¡¯d taint this place with muggle inventions? Betray everything that your family stands for?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely. I¡¯m looking forward to it. Now, it¡¯s time for me to make some appointments. I have so much work to do.¡±

    ¡°YOU BLOOD TAITOR! TRAITOROUS NO GOOD-¡± Walburga began screaming.

    But for once her voice didn¡¯t irritate Sirius. Because soon he¡¯d be rid of her. Let¡¯s see... First he¡¯d have to find a muggle born architect to assess this place. Tell him what he¡¯d need to get some bright lighting in. Get some help clearing this place out of all of its dark artifacts and the magical creatures that he was sure absolutely infested the place in the seven years since his mother¡¯s death.

    Walburga''s painting kept screaming, but Sirius paid her no mind. For once in a long time, the future looked bright and he was excited to do something. Able to finally build something that he could be proud of.

    And he should contact Arthur. He hadn¡¯t forgotten his promise to young Ginny. He should take care of it as soon as possible so the girl wouldn¡¯t be worried that he¡¯d forgotten or changed his mind when he heard whatever the amount of the debt was from Arthur.

    When he told her it was the least he could do, he had meant it. He was more grateful to her than he could even describe. She could have just let him leave at no cost to herself. In fact she¡¯d accidentally risked her own familiar with her actions. She hadn¡¯t let him leave, and told him the truth instead. He couldn¡¯t forget that.

    Her secret would be safe with him.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°Sirius,¡± Arthur said, ¡°Thank you for finally agreeing to meet me after so long. How are you recovering?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m physically fine with the potions regiment they had me on,¡± Sirius said, ¡°Mentally I¡¯m getting there. Had quite the bump in mood recently. Decided to remodel the old Black Residence and make it my own with all my new wealth. Installing electric lights and a TV if you can believe it.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Arthur asked in fascination, ¡°How does that work? I¡¯ve been fascinated with all the wondrous muggle inventions for the last few years. Whatever gave you the idea?¡±

    ¡°Thought I¡¯d do something different with the place than how it was before. Nothing better than putting muggle inventions in the place to change things up.¡±

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯ve worked on enchanting a muggle car recently. Labor of love I suppose. Would you like to see it?¡±

    Sirius looked at Arthur in surprise, ¡°You? An enchanter? When did that happen?¡±

    ¡°I learned what I needed,¡± Arthur said, ¡°I work at the misuse of magical artifacts at the Ministry. Head of the department actually. The more I know about enchantments the better at my job I ended up being, it seems. Which is rather good, I started doing it just because of the car and it is nice it ended up helping my career as well.¡±

    ¡°A muggle car?¡± Sirius said, thinking back to his old motorcycle when he had gone on his trip to America after graduation.

    ¡°Did you know that I used to own a motorcycle?¡± Sirius said, ¡°Not sure where that old thing ended up going after I was imprisoned.¡±

    Arthur cleared his throat, ¡°About that, Sirius¡­¡±

    Sirius shook his head. ¡°We can talk about that later. How about you show me that car first?¡±

    ¡°Sure. It really was a pain to get the enchantments to not interfere with each other. Many of the parts are such odd shapes as well which can mess with how firmly the enchantments can grip to it sometimes¡­¡±

    Arthur rambled on and showed Sirius the car and even partially disassembled it to demonstrate how it worked. Despite himself, Sirius was impressed. Enchanting was more complicated than he had thought it was. Arthur had never been anything more than average at school from what he had said when they were fighting against Voldemort together during the last Wizarding war. It seems he had grown rather skilled while pursuing his little passionate project from what Sirius could tell.

    Eventually their conversation petered out as they stood in the garage, the tension slowly building between them as they realized what had to come next.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Sirius,¡± Arthur said, ¡°I didn¡¯t know. But I shouldn¡¯t have let myself be convinced of your guilt so easily. We were all distraught after Lily and James¡¯ deaths¡­¡±

    Sirius didn¡¯t respond for a few seconds, not sure what to say.

    ¡°I can¡¯t trust you like I used to,¡± Sirius said, ¡°But I don¡¯t blame you. I understand. So, how about we start over? Clean slate. Build that trust again.¡±

    Sirius held his hand out, and Arthur shook it.

    ¡°You won¡¯t regret this, Sirius,¡± Arthur said.

    ¡°No I won¡¯t. Now, while I don¡¯t blame you I do have a bit of a grudge against Dumbledore. I¡¯ve heard that he¡¯s saddled you with quite a bit of debt?¡±

    Arthur frowned, ¡°Yes, it has to do with my daughter. But we¡¯ve handled the situation. Do you know why it happened?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Your daughter told me herself,¡± Sirius said, ¡°Called Dumbledore a ¡®meanie¡¯ right to his face. Quite the daughter you¡¯ve got there.¡±

    Arthur¡¯s face flashed with a series of expressions ranging from anger to concern.

    ¡°What are you doing talking to my daughter? When was this?¡± He demanded.

    Sirius raised his hands defensively, confused, ¡°I cleared it with Dumbledore. It was in his office with Flitwick there to represent her and everything. Weren¡¯t you told?¡±

    ¡°No. No, I was not. When was this?¡±

    ¡°Last Friday. Dumbledore really didn¡¯t tell you? I would have asked if I¡¯d have known that he hid it from you¡­¡±

    ¡°Thank you. Was she alright? Her letters don¡¯t explain much, and she didn¡¯t want to talk too much about the Halloween Feast riot.¡±

    ¡°We didn¡¯t talk about that. I was asking her about Pettigrew,¡± Sirius said, ¡°But that¡¯s really besides the point. I have lots of money now, and it annoys me that Dumbledore is holding the debt over you. You took on that debt to help Ginny be with her familiar, not for yourself or even the whole family. How much was it? How many galleons?¡±

    ¡°Eight hundred galleons¡­¡± Arthur said, ¡°No interest. Payable whenever Dumbledore decides I need to support any policy in the ministry he likes.¡±

    Sirius sucked in his breath. Eight hundred Galleons. He had been expecting more like a hundred. But he had far more wealth than that.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to wipe the debt clean,¡± Sirius said, ¡°Get you out from Dumbledore¡¯s thumb. Do something good with all of my new money.¡±

    Arthur shook his head, ¡°I¡¯m sorry Sirius. I appreciate it, I truly do. But I won¡¯t accept any charity. We¡¯ll deal with it ourselves.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not charity,¡± Sirius insisted, ¡°That debt is crooked and you know it. Do you want anyone else, even Dumbledore, having leverage this big against you? What if he does something you don¡¯t like?¡±

    Arthur shook his head and his face started growing annoyed, ¡°We are happy with our situation. If I took that money, I¡¯d be in debt to you. Is that how you want to restart our friendship?¡±

    ¡°But what if Dumbledore-¡±

    ¡°Dumbledore isn¡¯t doing anything right now. And he isn¡¯t going to unless he is forced to. If- If something happens, then I¡¯ll ask for help then. But for now, I¡¯ll have to decline and thank you very much for the offer and the spirit in which it was given.¡±

    Sirius smirked slightly, ¡°Head and Lord of house Weasley, huh? When¡¯s the last time you brought out that fancy talk?¡±

    Arthur smiled awkwardly, ¡°Many years. Not much occasion for it these days.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t over,¡± Sirius promised, ¡°I¡¯ll convince you and Molly when we see her. But for now, let¡¯s catch up a bit more, ay? Molly finally got her girl after having six boys, huh? About time.¡±

    Arthur chuckled, a bit more genuinely this time, seeming relieved that they were moving on from the topic of his debt.

    ¡°Yes, you couldn¡¯t even imagine how excited she was when Ginny was born¡­¡± Arthur began as they left the garage and walked back into the house.

    After several hours of casual discussion and Sirius¡¯ occasional attempts to convince Molly and Arthur to accept his money, he finally went home unsuccessful.

    He¡¯d convince them to accept eventually. He¡¯d just have to wear them down.

    But now it was back to the remodeling of his home. He had never imagined that things could grow so complicated so quickly with the project that seemingly grew in scope and complexity every time he wasn¡¯t paying attention.

 Chapter 32: The Boggart

    Ginny and Jack walked into their defense against the Dark Arts to see that all of the desks had been pushed to the side. In the center of the room Professor Lupin stood next to a tall cabinet over eight feet tall that was slightly shaking even as Ginny watched. Curious, she extended her magic sense to try to look into the cabinet. But all she sensed was a big ball of magic inside. It didn¡¯t look like a person. Some kind of enchanted object or magical creature maybe?

    ¡°Class!¡± Lupin called out once all the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had arrived, ¡°You can put your books and supplies to the side. We will only need our wands for today. We¡¯ll be doing a practical exercise today. There was a boggart that had taken up residence in the staff room. Rather than banish it, I thought of using it as a good learning opportunity for you students. Now, what do we know about Boggarts and how to counter them? Mr. Anverts?¡±

    ¡°Boggarts are spiritual entities similar to ghosts or Dementors,¡± Jack said from next to Ginny where he had raised his hand, ¡°Boggarts feed on the fear of the people that they attack, shapeshifting into the form most frightening for the target. They can¡¯t be traditionally killed as they are not alive the same as we are. A banishing spell can disperse their energy enough that they lose cohesion and the controlling mind disappears. Without the guiding force holding it in place, the energy disperses and either dissipates or creates a new ghostly being with the remaining energy.¡±

    ¡°An excellent analysis of the Boggarts and how to permanently banish them, Mr. Anverts,¡± Lupin said, ¡°Five points for Ravenclaw. Although the Dementors are a different case. They are partially spiritual, partly flesh. They are not well studied because well¡­ any potential researchers can hardly get close without having to deal with their aura and tendency to suck out the souls out of their victims. Regardless, there are two more methods besides permanent banishment that can be used to deal with Boggarts. Any other ideas?¡±

    A hufflepuff girl raised her hand and Lupin nodded to her, ¡°Having a group? So that the Boggart wouldn¡¯t know what fear to turn into?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s correct,¡± Lupin said, ¡°Five points to hufflepuff. The larger the group approaching the Boggart, the easier it will become to handle. The Boggart will try to create a mixture of all of the fears, and by doing so will often turn into something that is more off putting than frightening to anyone involved. Now, there is one more method. Does anyone know what it is?¡±

    There were several guesses. Ginny tried to think, but she was drawing a blank.

    ¡°Well, don¡¯t worry about not knowing. It¡¯s a spell. Riddikulus. While casting you will transfigure the boggarts form to alter it to a more amusing form. Boggarts feed on the fear of their victims, it is their purpose to cause it. If you laugh in its presence then it will become extremely frightened itself and flee into the nearest enclosed space to hide. The smaller the alteration to the Boggarts form, the better. This spell is on the upper end of difficulty of what a first year can learn. We¡¯ll be practicing and learning the spell as a group today and whoever I feel is ready will have a crack at testing themselves against the Boggart over the course of this week. Your homework is to practice this spell until you can cast it instinctively. You must be able to do so even while you are confronted by your fear. I don¡¯t expect many of you to be ready before Wednesday.¡±

    Class progressed and all of them struggled with the difficult spell. But by the end of Tuesday¡¯s class, Ginny thought she was getting a handle on it. She had an innate control over her own magic, but the spell casting was largely automated and pulled her magic on its own. To make sure that she wasn¡¯t cheating and becoming reliant on the wand, she made sure to keep absolute control over her magic as it shifted in patterns within her wand. It was harder than it sounded, even the smallest mistake would be targeted by the automated spellcasting magic and start struggling to seize control of the spell again. Which often caused the spell to simply fail as Ginny struggled against the wand.

    So even though she should be blazing past everyone in her spellcasting, she was only a little faster on average than Jack was in learning how to cast new spells through her wand. Luckily once she got the hang of a new spell she had an easier time doing it again as even a small mistake in her wand movement could be corrected by adjusting the flow of Ginny¡¯s magic within the wand. So she almost never failed to cast the spell so long as her wand movements weren¡¯t wildly off what the actual spell was supposed to be.

    By the end of Wednesday, Professor Lupin declared the whole class good enough with the spell to make their first attempts against the Boggart tomorrow on Thursday.

    Ginny and Jack fought together and eventually claimed a spot near the back of the line. Everyone had been stressing about facing the Boggart. The older years had been done after the first day, and been receiving lectures from Lupin about ghosts and the differences in dealing with other spiritual entities that weren¡¯t Boggarts.

    No one wanted to go first to have their fears go first to show the group. Near the back at least no one would be able to ridicule you after having all of their own fears exposed. Or at least that was the theory swirling around their class.

    They were in a line and the first nervous hufflepuff boy walked forward to stand a little ways from the cabinet holding the Boggart.

    ¡°Everyone, make no sound and try not to move too much,¡± Professor Lupin said, ¡°For this to work, the Boggart must focus fully on its single target. I¡¯ve cast a spell to dull its senses, but if we¡¯re too obvious then it may get distracted. Now, let us begin. Are you ready?¡±

    The hufflepuff boy nodded and held his wand at the ready.

    Lupin took a few steps back to stand by the edge of the room. He flicked his wand and the door on the cabinet unlocked with a soft click. There was some scuffling and then the sounds from withing the cabinet died down. The door creaked open and a sixth year Slytherin girl climbed out. Her green robes were scuffed and dusty. Her eyes were flashing with madness as her expression twisted into a comical mask of anger. It must have been someone that had been drugged with a love potion at Halloween.

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    The Boggart pretending to be a girl raised its wand as if to cast a spell at the hufflepuff boy. The boy flinched, seemingly to have forgotten about his wand as he stood there frozen in fear.

    ¡°Riddikulus,¡± Professor Lupin said calmly. The Boggart shifted so the girl was now holding a bouquet of colorful flowers, angrily pointing them at the boy and waving them around like a wand. The room laughed at the comical sight as the Boggart¡¯s face shifted from rage to confusion as it noticed that its fake wand had been replaced.

    As the room laughed, the girl¡¯s form melted into a whitish mist that shot at a high speed back into the cabinet and shut the door shut. Lupin locked the door again behind the Boggart.

    ¡°There¡¯s no shame in it. There¡¯s always next time,¡± Lupin said comfortingly to the boy who had just faced the Boggart, ¡°Think of what you could change about your fear to make it amusing. It should be much easier now that you know what it is most likely to be.¡±

    The line continued as people faced their fears one at a time. A surprising amount of them were drugged students who had attacked them during the Halloween feast. Two students even had Dumbledore with glowing eyes and wind swirling around him emerge from the cabinet. Lupin had quickly shut those two down quickly. It seems that even messing with a boggart form of Dumbledore wouldn¡¯t be permitted. The rest of the students who went usually had some form of monster or magical creature they had always feared growing up.

    Wizarding children had plenty of options of dark magical creatures to be afraid of, so it was a surprisingly varied selection. Ginny realized as the line grew shorter that perhaps she and Jack had made the wrong choice of when they should go. She had seen the others'' fears, and she felt the suspense build. What would her fear be? What was the one thing that the Boggart would turn into? Pettigrew attacking her? Fawkes being killed? All the horrible options ran through her head over and over as she and Jack slowly inched forward.

    Jack went forward. His fear was a massive acromantula. He used the Riddikulus spell to shift the spider so it was wearing an odd tailored suit with a tucked in tie on its underside. A giant handlebar mustache sprouted from just above its clicking mandibles. No one else including Ginny understood, but Jack giggled and laughed as he saw it and so the Boggart fled again.

    Then it was Ginny¡¯s turn. She raised her own wand and glanced behind her. There were only three people left behind her.

    ¡°Are you ready, Ms. Weasley?¡± Lupin asked.

    Ginny shifted her sweaty grip on her wand and focused on the cabinet, blasting her magic senses to the maximum.

    ¡°I¡¯m ready,¡± She replied without looking away.

    Out of the corner of her vision, Ginny saw Lupin waving his wand and the cabinet unlocked.

    Ginny waited tense as nothing happened for a moment. The door crashed open and the limp form of a girl came tumbling out in a pile of limbs. She was in red Gryffindor robes and her skin was pale. Ginny felt her blood run cold as what was clearly a dead body kept rolling with its moment until it was facing her, its open and empty eyes staring blanky directly into her own. She started trembling. ¡°No¡­ No¡­¡± She said, her wand forgotten as a strand of red hair fell across the face of the pale face. Her face. Ginny¡¯s face. The Ginny who had died down in the Chamber of Secrets and had Harry¡¯s soul take over her old body. Her soul taking over the body.

    There were gasps and mutters behind Ginny from the other students. The professor looked frozen, staring at the dead Ginny¡¯s body in shock and seemingly unable to respond as he glanced between the living Ginny and the corpse.

    Just when Ginny had started controlling her fear and prepared to cast the Ridikulus charm, she noticed something gold shimmering around the corpse. Her eyes widened as the golden chains of fate sprouted out of nothing in a ball of flailing tendrils even as they simultaneously speared into the dead Ginny¡¯s limbs.

    The corpse twitched as the Chains of Fate twisted and bent where they attached to the old Ginny¡¯s corpse. It stood to its feet unnaturally, carried by the golden strings even as its body was completely limp.

    Ginny could only watch in terror as the golden strings forced the body¡¯s face into a wide smile and forced the corpse to blink. Ginny could see the golden strings pushing and lifting the eyelids of the red haired girl, slightly out of sync. The eyes were still dead and lifeless as the limp corpse¡¯s gaze somehow still was piercing as its head faced her.

    The web of golden strings flexed and kept wrapping tighter and tighter around the corpse. It was still smiling, blinking out of sync. All guided by the chains of Fate. The corpse bowed to the real Ginny, keeping its head facing her the whole time with a forced grin on its face. It straightened up and after striking a pose, began to dance.

    It wasn¡¯t a natural dance that remained on the floor and obeyed the laws of gravity. It was like a puppet show, the corpse¡¯s body jerking up and down off the ground unnaturally as the golden strings tugged and moved it wildly. The limbs and head were thrown around wildly as the corpse¡¯s body was twirled around over and over. It spun and twirled, leaping around on the end of Fate¡¯s strings, its head and empty eyes always still facing Ginny.

    It landed on the ground and stopped moving. Ginny could see its face. Its eyes suddenly had the faintest hint of life in them. The other Ginny¡¯s eyes began to well up, and tears ran down her cheeks and dripped off of her chin to the floor. The golden strings were still making her smile. The other Ginny started dancing again, sending drops of her tears flying in every direction as her head snapped violently from side to side and her hair flew every which way as the puppet strings pulled on her, uncaring for how hurt the puppet was getting with its jerky motions.

    Suddenly, Ginny¡¯s view of the Boggart was blocked as someone stepped in front of her. Ginny blinked and felt her rapidly beating heart and rapid breathing for the first time. The rest of the world had faded away to nothing as her fear overwhelmed her as she had watched the Boggart before. Now it came rushing back, with the muttering of the students behind her.

    The person who had stood in front of her stepped forward towards the dancing corpse of Ginny and it twisted and popped as it turned into a giant image of a full moon with some wispy clouds around slightly shrouding it. Lupin pointed towards the image of the moon.

    ¡°Ridikulus,¡± He said firmly and the moon shifted into a bright red balloon that was letting air out of one end the balloon flew over the room until Lupin cast another spell and launched the flying Bogart with a strong blow like it had been struck by a massive hand. The boggart in red balloon form was blasted back into the cabinet with a heavy thunk. Lupin quickly shut the cabinet doors and locked them with two spells.

    Ginny looked behind her and saw that the whole class was looking at her. Some horrified, some pitying. Some curious, nothing but cold interest in their eyes as their gazes went between the rattling cabinet and Ginny.

    She looked at Jack and saw that he was in the pitying camp. Ginny looked away. How would she be able to explain this to anyone?

 Chapter 33: The Aftermath

    Lupin looked back at the rest of the class. ¡°Class is dismissed,¡± He said, ¡°The rest of you can try tomorrow.¡±

    Ginny went to quickly collect her things, ¡°Stay behind for a moment, please¡± Lupin said as she went to leave. For some reason he wasn¡¯t looking directly at her, but slightly off to the side.

    He didn¡¯t say anything else and Ginny remained there holding her school bag as everyone else filtered out. Jack shot her a concerned look, and she looked away from him. After a few seconds he left the classroom too.

    Lupin spoke again, staring at something just over Ginny¡¯s left shoulder. She twisted around and tried to figure out what the professor was staring at. But there was nothing.

    ¡°Harry,¡± Lupin said mechanically while his eyes began to glow slightly with a yellowish light, ¡°There is no shame in seeing a Dementor. In fact it is quite wise, for Dementors represent everything that one should fear. For the boggart to turn into one shows that you fear the embodiments of fear and despair itself. Are you interested in learning a method to defend against them? It is an advanced charm, beyond even your NEWTS. But I think a third year will be able to manage it if you practice enough. It¡¯s called a Patronus charm.¡±

    ¡°Professor?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    Lupin blinked and the golden light in his eyes winked out. He looked around confused for a moment before looking back at Ginny.

    ¡°Ah. Sorry, Ms. Weasley. I got lost in thought there. I wanted to talk to you about your Boggart manifestation. I just wanted to ask you if you were alright. It was rather more¡­ involved than the manifestation of the other students were.¡±

    ¡°Nope. Totally fine,¡± Ginny said while edging towards the door. What had happened to the professor before? Lupin stared at her and seemed to notice her discomfort.

    ¡°Well, remember that your fears don¡¯t define you,¡± Lupin said, ¡°Now, I won¡¯t keep you any longer. You¡¯ll be excused from facing the Boggart again if you wish in class tomorrow. Have a good day.¡±

    ¡°Good day, Professor,¡± Ginny said cautiously before leaving the room as quickly as she could. Jack was waiting just outside for her.

    ¡°Ginny! Are you alright? What did Lupin say?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, Jack,¡± She replied, ¡°Let¡¯s just go to our next class. I don¡¯t want to talk about it.¡±

    ¡°Well, okay. I¡¯m just trying to help.¡±

    ¡°I know. I¡¯ll be fine, Jack. Lupin said that I wouldn¡¯t have to face the Boggart again tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Well, there¡¯s that,¡± Jack said, ¡°I wonder what Dumbledore will think when he hears that he was some people¡¯s greatest fear.¡±

    ¡°Hah. I mean he did stop the fighting though. That Slytherin seventh year tried to kill him. Dumbledore didn¡¯t do anything wrong, I don¡¯t think.¡±

    ¡°Still scary though, that he¡¯s that powerful,¡± Jack said, ¡°People knew. But people didn¡¯t really know just how powerful he was.¡±

    ¡°How would you make Dumbledore funny?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°If he was your Boggart manifestation?¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Turning his wand into flowers worked pretty well for the people who got humans¡­¡± Jack began.

    On their way to their next class they talked about all the different ways they would alter the Boggart if it had turned into Dumbledore. Throughout the rest of the day, people gossiped about what had happened with Ginny¡¯s Boggart. But after the weekend and with a few days for more drama to come up, the incident seemed to be forgotten by almost everyone. Everyone was at least a little embarrassed by whatever their Boggart had been so Ginny¡¯s, while frightening, wasn¡¯t so different from what everyone else had experienced.

    Everyone stressed out over midterms and took their exams. Ginny and Jack felt good on them. Alexa was a little more shaky on her answers, but didn¡¯t feel like she¡¯d done terribly. All that Gryffindor rubbing off on her, Ginny and Jack had joked as Alexa had stressed about how she¡¯d done after. Alexa had studied with them, she couldn¡¯t have done that much worse than how they had done.

    Ginny had followed Olivia¡¯s advice, and talked to Fred and George to help protect Alexa from the bullies. They had complained and been resistant at first, not wanting to ¡®waste time babying her¡¯. But after Ginny threatened to send a letter to their parents and complain, the two of them fell into line and started helping Alexa by telling off the people who were making snide and mean comments to her in Gryffindor.

    It hadn¡¯t fully worked, but Alexa told them that things were much better now than they had been earlier in the year. She¡¯d been able to make more friends among the first and second years in Gryffindor now that the old years weren¡¯t bad mouthing her as much anymore.

    It seems that it was the older years that cared the most about house loyalty from the younger years. The younger ones like Ginny and her friends weren¡¯t as attached to their houses yet and didn¡¯t seem to care that she had friends outside of Gryffindor. But many of the younger Gryffindors had avoided Alexa so they wouldn¡¯t make the older years upset with them.

    Olivia had handled Preston and anyone else who tried to do the same to Ginny and Jack in Ravenclaw, so luckily things had worked out there.

    Now midterms were over, and it was time for Christmas break. Ginny had sent some letters to her parents, and had gotten permission to invite Jack and Alexa over to their house during the week. Both of them were very interested in seeing a real magical home for the first time.

    All of them took the Hogwarts express back to King¡¯s Cross Station in London. The three friends left the train together, Ginny not struggling to lift her luggage nearly as much this time. Those recovery potions that Hagrid had given them had done wonders to help increase the strength they were able to get from training. Even Alexa told them she had improved a bit even if neither Jack nor Ginny were able to tell the difference from before.

    Ginny saw that Ron, Fred, and George were already near her parents. The adults were talking with another two couples. Jack¡¯s dark skinned parents stood out in the pale crowd of the rest of the station. His dad was wearing what Harry¡¯s memories told Ginny was a very fancy muggle suit, and his mom was rather well dressed as well.

    The other two people who must be Alexa¡¯s parents looked extremely fit, lean and with wiry muscles and both built like runners.

    The three of them approached.

    ¡°Ah, yes. We both sell exercise equipment. Treadmills, exercise bands, protein shakes. You know, the whole thing,¡± Alexa¡¯s dad said, ¡°Use it all ourselves. Can¡¯t know if your product is really good unless you use it yourself.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s an excellent philosophy,¡± Jack¡¯s Dad replied, ¡°I work in finance. You¡¯d be amazed how many people invest in products that they don¡¯t understand in the slightest bit. I always try to do my research, but sometimes nothing beats just using it yourself.¡±

    Dad was staring between the two men, looking rather confused as he absorbed the conversation. But he looked fascinated and like he was trying to puzzle out what exactly the other two were talking about as the conversation continued.

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t believe the sorts of things my husband has ordered just to satisfy his curiosity even after he¡¯s already invested,¡± Jack¡¯s Mom added, ¡°Remember when you ordered that unicycle from that entertainment company, John?¡±

    ¡°Ha, I¡¯m just glad I thought of wearing a helmet before I tried to ride that death trap. No idea how people can actually move around in those things without throwing themselves to the ground.¡±

    Alexa¡¯s Dad saw the three of them approaching and turned, ¡°Ah! There¡¯s the children,¡± He said, ¡°Alexa! You didn¡¯t tell me that your friend''s parents were so interesting! Arthur here had the most interesting story he was telling us about enchanted objects he works with before we got distracted.¡±

    ¡°No, I found your discussion interesting. Never had much experience of the muggle world first hand,¡± Dad said, ¡°Fascinating to hear it from the source.¡±

    Alexa¡¯s mom spoke up after Dad stopped speaking. ¡°Well, Alexa? How was school?¡±

    ¡°Good! I told you there¡¯s potions to help with muscle fatigue, right?¡± Alexa said, ¡°We¡¯ve been using them all the time and they really work! We can do a full intensity workout and just have a totally normal day without our muscles screaming at us whenever we move afterwards.¡±

    ¡°Wow, honey. That¡¯s amazing!¡± Alexa¡¯s mom said, ¡°Did you exercise with your friends? You said they were completely new?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Alexa said, ¡°But with the potions they¡¯ve improved really quickly.¡±

    Jack¡¯s Dad looked over Jack with a raised eyebrow, ¡°Good job, Jack. Your mother is always telling me that I should exercise more.¡±

    ¡°John, you sit around all day. Got to get the blood flowing when you can,¡± Jack¡¯s mom said lightly.

    Dad and Molly were looking at Ginny in confusion. ¡°Exercise?¡± Molly asked in confusion, ¡°What are they talking about, Ginny? You didn¡¯t mention it in your letters?¡±

    Ginny coughed. Ughhhhh. Now everyone was staring at her.

    ¡°Yeah, Mum,¡± Ron said. Her brothers had been watching the conversation from the side. Fred and George seemed a little interested before while Ron was completely disinterested until Molly asked her question.

    ¡°She goes running and swimming around the castle in the mornings before school. Waste of time, really. When will we ever have to run anywhere?¡±

    Alexa¡¯s parents looked rather startled at the statement and looked between Ron and Ginny.

    ¡°I bet I could beat you in a footrace,¡± Ginny said, growing rather annoyed at Ron¡¯s dismissive attitude to all of her hard work that she had put in with her friends, ¡°You¡¯ve just been sitting around eating all the time, so you¡¯ll lose for sure.¡±

    Ron flushed a little as Fred and George chuckled. ¡°She¡¯s got you there, Ron,¡± Fred said, ¡°You¡¯ll never get on the school quidditch team without exercising a little.¡±

    ¡°No. I would beat her still,¡± Ron said, ¡°C¡¯mon guys! Of course I¡¯d win, she¡¯s a girl!¡±

    Arthur looked embarrassed as he heard what Ron said. Molly grabbed Ron by the shoulder, ¡°That¡¯s enough of that, Ron,¡± She said, ¡°I¡¯m sure Ginny is very fit, but it''s not proper for her to race against you.¡±

    Ginny felt her annoyance build at that.

    ¡°But, Mom¡­¡± Ron protested.

    ¡°Ronald¡­¡±

    ¡°Sorry¡­¡± Ron said, apparently feeling the executioner¡¯s ax above him at last if he said anything else out of line.

    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Jack¡¯s Dad cleared his throat, ¡°Anyway. Nice meeting you, Arthur, Molly, Alan, Linda. See you all again in a few days. Let¡¯s go, Jack.¡±

    Everyone said their goodbyes and split up to leave the station. Alexa was talking all about their exercise program they had been going through, barely even mentioning magic as they left. Ginny faintly smiled at that.

    Ginny and her family piled into Dad¡¯s special enchanted car and started driving home again. Struck by a sudden bout of paranoia, Ginny flared her magic sense and scanned every inch of the car. But after a few seconds she leaned back and let out a sigh of relief as she didn¡¯t find anything out of the ordinary.

    ¡°I¡¯d beat you in a race,¡± Ron muttered sullenly while looking at Ginny.

    ¡°Yeah?!¡± Ginny said, all her annoyance from before flaring back to life, ¡°Because I¡¯m a girl? I can run six miles without stopping! Why don¡¯t we race then if you¡¯re feeling so confident about how fast you are!¡±

    ¡°Enough,¡± Molly said as she turned around from the front, ¡°You two aren¡¯t racing. Stop arguing.¡±

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t we racing, Molly?¡± Ginny snapped, ¡°You think that I¡¯ll lose?¡±

    Molly cleared her throat, ¡°Ginny, there¡¯s no need to be so competitive. I¡¯m proud that you¡¯re exercising to lose some weight and look fit for the boys, but it¡¯s not proper to go around challenging people to competitions out of the blue.¡±

    Ginny blinked at that. Losing weight? That¡¯s why Molly thought she was exercising? So she would look prettier? That wasn¡¯t why she was doing it at all.

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t it proper?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Alexa has us race against each other all the time in the mornings when we exercise. It¡¯s fun.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure that¡¯s fine for Alexa,¡± Molly said, ¡°But just because your friend does it doesn¡¯t mean that it¡¯s how a proper woman should act.¡±

    ¡°Proper woman?¡± Ginny asked, a little lost at trying to follow Molly¡¯s thought process, ¡°Why should I care about that? Aren¡¯t most of the purebloods all stuffy racists anyway? I like my two muggleborn friends more than I would acting as a ¡®proper¡¯ girl so I could hang out around some stuck up jerks.¡±

    ¡°Mum, you should just let them race,¡± George said, ¡°Don¡¯t you see how Ginny¡¯s crossing her arms? She¡¯ll throw a tantrum if you two keep going.¡±

    Ginny looked down and saw that at some point she had crossed her arms across her chest angrily as she was arguing with Molly. Ginny opened her mouth to yell at George too, but the boy turned to her and winked. Hm. Maybe he was trying to help her?

    Molly looked annoyed for a second, ¡°Fine,¡± She said, ¡°Have your race then if you¡¯re so invested. But I don¡¯t want to hear any complaints if you lose.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t lose,¡± Ginny said firmly. Molly turned back around.

    ¡°Not going to weigh in, Arthur?¡± Molly asked, ¡°Having your daughter running around wild challenging people to duels in public. I thought I taught her better¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like to keep my head on my shoulders,¡± Arthur joked as he kept driving, ¡°I¡¯m going to keep driving now and pretend I didn¡¯t hear any of that.¡±

    Ginny felt her spirits rise a little. Dad agreed with her at least a little. A fact that annoyed Molly as she glared at Dad, who pointedly ignored her and kept driving.

    Ron looked a little nervous that the race would actually be happening now. Fred twisted around and gave a lopsided grin to Ron.

    ¡°Getting nervous, are we Ron? Ready to put the money where your mouth is?¡±

    ¡°Shut up¡­¡± Ron muttered.

    Soon, they arrived home and started unloading their luggage and started getting settled. Ginny paused by a particular wall and stared at it for a long moment. If she just poked right there with her magic then this whole house would probably collapse in on itself. She felt an impulsive desire to just do it, and poke it. It was so obvious in her magic sense to her. She shook her head. Had to resist the urge. She kept moving and started unpacking her little travel case of things she was bringing for the holidays.

    She sat in her room that had been magically repaired from when Pettigrew had attacked her a few months ago. It felt like that had been years ago. It had been, maybe, with how she spent so much time training with Balthazar in Teregatt every night. She looked at her little bookshelf and took out a single book.

    She looked at the cover. ¡®Harry Potter and the Dastardly Hydra Thief!¡¯ It proclaimed with an illustration of a little boy wrestling with a massive Hydra with his bare hands, one of its heads biting the plushy form of Harry Potter¡¯s famous stuffed animal. Floppy the rabbit, who he would always carry around with him on his lighthearted adventures.

    Ginny flipped through the pages, reading it like it was the first time. What would the world think if they had known the real Harry? Ginny wondered. Would they have thought he was some amazing hero, too humble to admit his natural talent at anything he tried? Or would they hate him for not living up to the image they had built up of him in their head? Not sure what to say when he wasn¡¯t some amazing hero like in the stories.

    No one would ever know. All they¡¯d gotten was Eric instead. Ginny held the book and read it all the way through while lying back on the bed. Her anger at Molly seemed so petty now that she had read through the book to the end and put it down next to her. She rolled over and looked at the ceiling of her room, just thinking. Should she forgive Molly, just shrug it off?

    They had never been the friendliest with each other, but something must have changed since Ginny had gone to Hogwarts. Either Molly had changed or Ginny had, they had never argued that heatedly with each other before. But Ginny had hardly done anything. Ron was the one who assumed that she¡¯d be slower when he¡¯d just been sitting around eating all the time at school.

    While Ginny had been working her butt off with Alexa getting in shape. But because she was a girl of course she¡¯d be slower. Something that Molly had seemed to agree with. Ginny hardened her resolve. She would absolutely trounce Ron in whatever race they decided on. And show Molly that she was wrong. Ginny was happier without being ¡®proper¡¯, whatever that meant.

    Imagine if she ended up all stiff and stuffy like Malfoy or most of the other Slytherins? Ugh. Ginny shuddered a little thinking about it. That sounded like a nightmare. She¡¯d much rather be with people like Jack and Alexa and be herself.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°And so then she said that I should be proper and that I was the one who was wrong for challenging Ron! She was sure that I would lose just because I was a girl!¡±

    ¡°Hmmm. Indeed.¡±

    Ginny felt suddenly awkward as she realized that she had just dumped everything on Balthazar out of nowhere. But he always gave her good advice about these emotional things before. He was always so calm about everything¡­

    ¡°Do you think she was speaking out of malice? With the intention to diminish your achievements because you are a girl?¡±

    ¡°What? No. I don¡¯t think so? She didn¡¯t seem very excited about me exercising. Thought I was just doing it to look prettier for the boys¡­ She really thinks I just did the bare minimum and couldn¡¯t even beat Ron in a race even though he sits around all the time.¡±

    ¡°Is that a desirable outcome? What was your true goal for exercising? If your friend did not push you into it, would you continue?¡±

    Ginny blinked. ¡°If Alexa and Jack weren¡¯t there with me?¡± She asked, ¡°Would I still do it? I dunno. I like how I feel after. Strong. Like I improved myself a little each time. Sort of like how practicing my magic is here in Teregatt. But it''s very hard and annoying while I¡¯m actually doing it. I might not have done it at all if Alexa wasn¡¯t so eager for us to go.¡±

    ¡°Then your mother is wrong about your desires for exercise. She made assumptions and did not verify them with the facts. Do you know if the old Ginny was obsessed with boys and into other traditionally feminine activities? I¡¯m unsure what those are in your world, to be truthful. In my homeworld the females would traditionally battle for supremacy and otherwise compete with each other over every little thing. It sounds like it is different on your world.¡±

    ¡°The old Ginny? I don¡¯t think she was that into girly things,¡± Ginny said, ¡°It sounded like she was pretty rebellious. Sneaking out to practice on the brooms, always trying to play games outside with her brothers all the time¡­ She was obsessed with her books and had a crush on Harry Potter. So maybe she was sort of obsessed with boys though.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps your mother is unwilling to accept you as you are. She is seeking to overcorrect and mold your behavior to how it was before the old Ginny¡¯s death. Pushing the traditional feminine values harshly on you in a futile hope that if you act like the old Ginny that you will become the old Ginny.¡±

    ¡°You think? She was always upset that the old Ginny¡¯s memories never returned to me over the summer. But what should I do?¡±

    ¡°You are a Queen,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°You must allow your self worth and identity to come from within. You will have many subjects, all with their own agendas and interests. If you rely on them for your self image and confidence, then your identity will fluctuate with the fickle desires of the masses. You must be firm in yourself and know what you truly desire. And when what you desire shouldn¡¯t be taken or acted upon. Of course you must respect your mother and family. But that does not mean you must listen to them when they tell you to change into something different than what you wish to be.¡±

    ¡°But what should I do? What if she keeps trying to say I should do more girly things?¡±

    ¡°It is for you to answer. But I¡¯d suggest ignoring it where you can. And perhaps give it a try if need be. Perhaps you will enjoy some of them. Arm wrestling and wronak wrangling were enjoyed by many of the females on my homeworld despite how much of a stereotype it was. And no matter how many of them denied their enjoyment of it to the faces of us males despite secretly enjoying it when no one was paying attention to them.¡±

    ¡°Your world sounds like a crazy place,¡± Ginny said, ¡°The women there are just constantly fighting each other? Do they look like you? With the horns and wings?¡±

    Balthazar chuckled and shook his head, ¡°Ah. I wish I could have you meet one. I¡¯m sure you¡¯d be fascinated by their vigor and energy. The females were massive, over fifty percent bigger than us males at least in most cases. And yes on the horns, wings, and reddish skin.¡± He lifted his hand and demonstrated the size difference by lifting his hand over his head to the right height.

    Ginny looked up past the already tall Balthazar. ¡°Whoa. That¡¯s pretty big. Are they super strong too?¡±

    ¡°Stronger than a male like me would be. My love used to lift me over her shoulders and back down over and over again for a workout after she had a frustrating day at work. It was surprisingly relaxing for the both of us.¡±

    ¡°Your love? Is she here?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Will I be able to go see your homeworld one day?¡±

    Balthazar looked away and Ginny saw an array of emotions flash across his face. Probably the most emotional she¡¯d ever seen him.

    ¡°No,¡± He said softly, ¡°My homeworld is no more. My love went with it.¡±

    ¡°Oh no! What happened? I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to bring it up¡­¡±

    ¡°It was a long time ago. The original master of this place went there and gave my people access to the enchantments to create interrealm portals through the void. He traded it for many of our people¡¯s resources. Eventually, we upset somebody we shouldn¡¯t have in one of the other worlds. As I was one of the most promising magical talents in generations for our people, the original master took the effort to save me and offered me the contract to be bound to Teregatt when the end had come for my people.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t he save them? He must have been powerful to own a place like this.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I do not know. He could have done it, saved them, but chose not to. Not everything was lost. My species, my culture, is still out there, spreading across many realities after our homeworld was destroyed. I¡¯ve encountered several of my species in my time defending Teregatt.¡±

    ¡°Was¡­ Was the old master of this place a good person? I thought he was since he didn¡¯t want his inheritance to go to some spoiled noble. But why would he let something horrible like that happen if he could stop it?¡±

    ¡°He was a selfish, greedy person when he met me. Young and foolish for one with such power, even among wizards. After we traveled together for so long, he eventually changed and became somewhat more compassionate towards the end of his life. Despite never understanding him, I ended up respecting him in the end.¡±

    ¡°Oh. I¡¯m sorry that happened to you, Balthazar,¡± Ginny said.

    They stood there in silence staring at each other for a moment. Balthazar¡¯s eyes glazed over as he seemed to reflect on the past, not even staring at her anymore.

    ¡°Do you want a hug?¡± Ginny asked.

    Balthazar blinked and stared at her. ¡°What? A hug? What do you mean? Your body is made of the black mud. What would be the purpose?¡±

    ¡°Can I hug you? It worked when I hugged Fawkes when I wasn¡¯t feeling good. You look sad.¡±

    Balthazar stared at her before awkwardly squatting down with his wings folded away on his back. Ginny stepped forward and hugged him with her goopy form. Balthazar hesitated before patting her muddy back awkwardly. After a long moment, Ginny released him and he remained staring at her crouched for a long moment, a complicated expression on his face.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± he said, ¡°That did help things a little bit. Although I now appear to be quite dirty.¡±

    Where Ginny had touched him his robes were filthy and covered in long streaks from her mud running over it.

    ¡°Sorry¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s quite alright. You are far different than the others that I¡¯ve encountered¡­ I¡¯m glad that you are the one who became the Inheritor of this place. Now, I think we¡¯ve talked enough for now. Let¡¯s get back to our practice, hm? I think that it might only take a while longer in your world before you are ready to move on.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Balthazar. You think so? I can¡¯t wait to finally get to explore something new.¡±

    ¡°With all the variety I have prepared, I do not think that will be a problem for much longer,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°With the basics down you will be able to improve in many other fields much more quickly than otherwise. Perhaps we could try ten orbs coming at you at once? I believe nine is our record before?¡±

    Ginny took a few steps backwards and sat cross legged on the floor. Technically she could just stand in place without getting tired. But it felt more right to be sitting down when she entered the meditative state when they got deeper into their training.

    ¡°Very well, here I go,¡± Balthazar said, his calm expression back on his face, ¡°Ten at once. Prepare yourself.¡±

    The two of them kept training.

    Time was fluid and Ginny improved. By the time she was drawn back to Earth, she was able to deflect twelve orbs at once.

 Chapter 34: Christmas Break

    Ginny walked outside in her running clothes for the race. Her and Ron were going to run around the house. Fred and George were amused by the whole affair, teasing Ron mercilessly as the moment approached. Percy had taken a vacation from his job in the Ministry and had arrived at the house this morning. He seemed slightly confused on why the event was so high stakes, but was standing next to Dad and Molly near the house as Ron and Ginny made their way to the place where they¡¯d start. Everyone was staring at Ginny especially.

    ¡°What?¡± She said, ¡°Why are you all staring at me?¡±

    ¡°What are those clothes?¡± Molly asked, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you wearing a dress or something more sensible?¡±

    Ginny looked down to her t-shirt and running shorts that Alexa had given her. Then back at their family.

    ¡°I can¡¯t run in school robes. They¡¯re too heavy and bulky. These are much better.¡±

    ¡°Where did you even get them?¡± Molly asked, ¡°I don¡¯t recall buying you¡­ any muggle boys clothes.¡±

    ¡°They''re not boys'' clothes,¡± Ginny said, a little annoyed, ¡°Alexa wears them too. They make the girls one completely differently than the boys ones. Alexa got them for me and Jack after she realized we didn¡¯t have anything besides our robes.¡±

    ¡°Alexa¡­¡± Molly said in disapproval, ¡°Please don¡¯t wear that in public, Ginny. It¡¯s practically indecent.¡±

    Ginny looked down at herself confused. Indecent? The shorts went to nearly her knees and the t-shirt was loose and shifted slightly in the breeze outside. She thought that it was fine. Ron was dressed in robes though.

    ¡°Ron, do you have anything like these clothes?¡± Ginny asked him, ¡°That aren¡¯t robes?¡±

    Ron shook his head silently.

    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll go put on a dress,¡± She said, ¡°I don¡¯t want anyone to say I won because I had better running clothes or something.¡±

    Molly didn¡¯t seem happy with Ginny¡¯s conclusion, but she ignored her as she went back inside. That was Balthazar¡¯s advice, right? Ignore Molly and then dress how she¡¯d like if that¡¯s what she wanted to wear.

    Ginny quickly changed into a lighter dress. A little on the light side for the slightly chilly weather outside. But it would be fine for the race. She went back out and the sun was shining down on all of them despite the chilly air.

    Ron looked nervous as they lined up.

    ¡°Alright!¡± Fred called out, ¡°First one around the house wins! May the best girl win!¡±

    Ron shot a dark look at the twin at that, but Fred just grinned and shot Ginny a wink.

    ¡°On the count of three! Three, two, one, go!¡±

    The two of them started sprinting. The house was big, but not that big. Running around the whole thing wasn¡¯t actually that far. After a few seconds of sprinting next to each other, Ron began to huff and puff. His face started becoming flushed and he started slowing down. Ginny kept the same speed, her breaths even and steady despite her legs pumping. She pulled ahead and Ron slowed down while they were barely even a quarter the ways around the house.

    Ginny finished, Ron barely even made it over the finish line, looking like he couldn¡¯t take another step with how heavily he was breathing. Ginny¡¯s legs were tingling a bit and she had to catch her breath a bit. But she was feeling good. She felt proud of how far she¡¯d come and started smiling. A few months ago she¡¯d be huffing and puffing like Ron right now.

    ¡°Hey Fred,¡± Ginny asked, ¡°You want to race? You play quidditch so you¡¯re probably pretty fast, right?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s make it a double,¡± George added, ¡°Let¡¯s see how you stack up to us, Sis. With how short you are, You¡¯ll have to take three steps for one of ours.¡±

    ¡°Three?¡± Ginny said as they lined up, ignoring Ron who looked frustrated at his loss. ¡°You¡¯re not that tall. Do you even run for your practices, don¡¯t you practice on your brooms?¡±

    ¡°Oh, we run,¡± Fred said, ¡°Our coach, Wood, is a maniac. Makes us run laps whenever someone misses a pass or does something wrong. He¡¯s obsessed with winning this year since he¡¯s going to graduate this year. Been bloody brutal with us¡­¡±

    ¡°Alright, Three,¡± George said, ¡°Two, one, Go!¡±

    All three of them started running. Ginny pushed hard, but her two brothers kept pace and even pulled slightly ahead of her. She dug deeper and sprinted more and the three of them were neck and neck as they reached the finish line, with Ginny only two steps behind Fred and George by the end.

    ¡°Wow, you really have been training Sis,¡± Fred said after the three of them took a breather, ¡°What do you say George? A tie?¡±

    ¡°I dunno. Pretty sure I won.¡±

    The three of them devolved some good natured bickering with Ginny being drawn in to debate which of the twins won as they walked back towards the house where Percy, Ron, and their parents had been watching.

    At one point the twins switched places. George came over to her, ¡°You know what? I think George did win after all,¡± He said, ¡°I concede.¡±

    Fred opened his mouth, but Ginny beat him to it.

    ¡°So you give up, George. I think that means you win, Fred.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m Fred,¡± George protested, ¡°Honestly, Ginny I¡¯ve been standing here the whole time.¡±

    ¡°No, you¡¯re George. I can tell you two apart,¡± Ginny declared confidently. She idly watches as a tendril of magic wafted off of George and drifted over to Fred and sank into his skin.

    ¡°No way,¡± Fred said jumping in, ¡°Not even Mum can tell us apart when we pretend to be each other. You just guessed.¡±

    Ginny shrugged, ¡°I can though. Fred.¡±

    The twins looked at each other, ¡°Well, brother,¡± Fred said, ¡°I think this deserves some testing doesn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°I think so, brother. Wait out here, Ginny.¡±

    Ginny stood there as Fred and George went into the house. Dad, Molly, Ron, and Percy were talking on the porch and idly watching Ginny as Fred and George walked past them into the house.

    After a minute or two, Fred and George emerged walking side by side. Ginny noticed that they had switched positions and had even changed shirts with each other so even the small differences would normally throw Ginny off from telling which was which.

    Unfortunately for them her magic sense could easily tell the two apart by their magic.

    ¡°Well Sis?¡± Fred said, ¡°Which one of us is which?¡±

    Ginny pointed at Fred, ¡°Fred,¡± She pointed at the other twin, ¡°George.¡±

    ¡°Ha!¡± Fred said, ¡°Good try. But you¡¯re wrong. I¡¯m actually George.¡±

    ¡°Nope. You¡¯re Fred.¡±

    ¡°How do you know?¡±

    ¡°Magic.¡±

    The twins looked at her for a moment, ¡°Very funny, Ginny,¡± George said, ¡°Now turn around. It¡¯s got to be some kind of trick. One more time.¡±

    Ginny turned around and covered her eyes as the twins rustled around behind her as they moved around. Ginny retracted her magic senses. Could she tell them apart without cheating by looking at their magic?

    ¡°Okay, Ginny,¡± One of the twins said, ¡°We¡¯re ready.¡±

    Ginny turned around and peered at the two of them closely with her eyes. She looked between the two of them, but they really looked the exact same as they stared at her with intentionally blank expressions.

    Eventually she gave up. She flared out her magic sense again.

    ¡°Fred. George,¡± She said while pointing.

    ¡°Well by Merlin, Fred,¡± George said, ¡°I think she really can tell. Don¡¯t tell anyone, will you Ginny? However you are really doing it.¡±

    ¡°Okay. You did help Alexa, so I guess we¡¯d be even then,¡± Ginny agreed.

    ¡°That¡¯s fair,¡± Fred agreed, ¡°Even if you did blackmail us into doing it at first.¡±

    Ginny shrugged, ¡°Olivia gave me the idea. She¡¯s really smart, and just came up with it on the spot. It worked even better than I thought it would.¡±

    ¡°The Ravenclaw Prefect?¡± George asked in surprise, ¡°What are you doing talking to her for? I¡¯ve heard that she¡¯s a scary one. Ruling with an iron fist over you trembling Ravenclaw nerds.¡±

    ¡°Oh, no Olivia¡¯s great!¡± Ginny said, ¡°It¡¯s probably Preston badmouthing her to people. He¡¯s always being a jerk and Olivia hexes him and his friends when they start bothering people. She¡¯s really nice actually. Fawkes let her pet him!¡±

    ¡°He did?¡± George said with a flash of jealousy that flashed over his face. ¡°What¡¯s up with that? We¡¯re just your family. Does Fawkes not like us for some reason?¡±

    ¡°Did I not tell you?¡± Ginny said, ¡°Don¡¯t you remember that first day, where I told you all to back off and you tried to convince me to let you touch him anyway?¡±

    ¡°Well, yeah,¡± Fred said, ¡°But we didn¡¯t know that he was actually that intelligent. Surely he¡¯s forgiven us by now?¡±

    Ginny shook her head, ¡°Nope. Still has a grudge. You¡¯ll have to think of some good bribes for him and hope that makes him forgive you. He really doesn¡¯t like getting insulted.¡±

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    ¡°Is he coming for Christmas?¡± George asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m hoping to have him over for the whole day of Christmas,¡± Ginny said, ¡°But Fawkes said he¡¯d like to stay at the castle as long as possible. He¡¯s still busy stuffing his beak with food on Hogwarts dime the whole week, just like he¡¯s been doing all year.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t believe how that worked out,¡± Fred said, ¡°Was he starved or something when he was living with Dumbledore?¡±

    ¡°No. Nothing like that. Fawkes needs a little food to stay healthy but not as much or as regularly as a person does. If he was just sitting around all that food he¡¯s eaten over the school year would let him survive for decades. Him apparating and teleporting and flying and moving about takes a lot of energy away from that time. He can just eat forever if he wants to and never be done, the food just gets burned and increases the power of his magical flame rather than getting digested like food does for us.¡±

    ¡°Huh. How about that?¡± Fred said, ¡°George, I think we have a new mission for the holidays. Bribing a phoenix! We¡¯ll get back to you, Ginny. What kind of things would he like as a bribe?¡±

    ¡°Food? Something flavorful or spicy maybe. He was complaining about how bland the food at Hogwarts was just last week. Mostly he just likes compliments. If you think of some really creative ones then he might be happy with that.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll get right on that!¡± George said, ¡°We¡¯ll win Fawkes¡¯ heart for sure!¡±

    The three of them kept talking, Ginny always happy to talk more about everything Fawkes had told her about. He was an old bird and had seen lots of interesting things over his long life.

    Ginny giggled, feeling completely relaxed after joking around with Fred and George a bit more as they came up with sillier and sillier compliments for Fawkes. The funniest part was that they would probably work, Fawkes would like them. He wasn¡¯t that picky when it came to compliments.

    After a few minutes all of them moved back into the house to get out of the chill air. Molly didn¡¯t say anything and Ron was a bit sullen. Ginny considered going over and gloating over Ron a bit with her victory, but decided not to after an internal struggle. It was tempting, but it would probably make things worse with Molly. Best to just move on and let them know that they¡¯d both been wrong about her.

    It would only be a few days until Jack and Alexa would be coming over and she would be able to show them around this place.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°So, this is my room,¡± Ginny said as she showed her two friends around. Jack¡¯s parents were in deep discussion with Percy downstairs. It seems that the two of them had taken interest on how the Ministry worked. Percy was working in the department of international cooperation at the Ministry this year, so he was more than happy to tell the curious couple what he did and how everything worked. Dad was in deep discussion with Alexa¡¯s parents and discussing muggle life and enchantments that Dad was working on with his magic.

    Molly and Ginny¡¯s other brothers were standing a little ways apart, engaging when somebody asked them something but not contributing to the conversation too much.

    Alexa, Jack, and Ginny had left quickly and Ginny had been showing them around the place.

    ¡°Oh, what are all of these books?¡± Alexa asked before picking up one from the shelf. She flipped through it and looked confused. ¡°Wait. Harry Potter? These can¡¯t be about Eric, can they? I didn¡¯t know they had written books about him¡­¡±

    ¡°Wait, that Eric was raised at an orphanage?¡± Jack asked, ¡°With how confident he is? That¡¯s a surprise¡­ Ginny, you¡¯ve read these things. Were you a fan of Harry Potter growing up, the whole boy who lived thing?¡±

    Ginny shrugged, ¡°So people tell me. Amnesia, remember. I¡¯ve only read one or two of them. But I do like them so long as I pretend they¡¯re not about Eric.¡±

    ¡°Oh right,¡± Jack said awkwardly, ¡°Sorry, Ginny. I almost forget sometimes. Feels like a whole different world at Hogwarts compared to how it was before I knew about magic.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, same,¡± Alexa agreed as she closed the book and put it back in the shelf, ¡°Feels like the three of us have been friends for forever.¡±

    ¡°For my whole life,¡± Ginny joked. Her friends looked at her in confusion. ¡°I¡¯m technically less than a year old just going by my memories,¡± Ginny clarified, ¡°So I¡¯ve been friends with both of you for over half my life if you look at it that way.¡±

    ¡°Wow. That¡¯s kind of depressing,¡± Alexa said, ¡°There¡¯s really no chance of you getting your memories back ever?¡±

    Ginny shook her head.

    ¡°Well, at least we¡¯re friends now though,¡± Alexa said, ¡°For someone less than a year old, you¡¯re doing pretty well in our midterms. Do we have to get a bib and pacifier for you, you little baby?¡±

    ¡°What? Alexa! That¡¯s not what I meant¡­¡±

    ¡°Goo goo ga ga,¡± Alexa interrupted, ¡°Does somebody need a milk bottle?¡±

    Ginny looked at Jack.

    ¡°Does somebody need their blankey?¡± Jack said, ¡°Waaaahhhhh.¡±

    ¡°Stop it, both of you! C¡¯mon, it¡¯s not¡­¡±

    They did not stop. Ginny tried to protest their constant teasing, but she was the one who had started it so she couldn¡¯t manage to get mad at them for it. She only brought their jokes down on herself.

    Eventually, Ginny¡¯s friends had some mercy and stopped working together to verbally pummel her.

    They left Ginny¡¯s room and made their way back downstairs. The adults were still talking, Fred and George now seeming to have joined the conversation with Percy and Jack¡¯s parents and teasing Percy somehow. Much to the amusement of Mr. and Mrs. Anverts and displeasure of Percy, it appeared.

    Molly and Ron hovered over by the kitchen, looking separate from the two other big clusters of conversation. Molly was making dinner and had roped in Ron to help in the time since Ginny and her friends had gone upstairs. The trio milled about the room and talked among themselves, forming a third conversation group as they drifted around merging and splitting off whenever they lost interest in the adults'' conversations. Occasionally merging with Dad¡¯s group with the Adams or over to Percy, Fred and George, and the Anverts when they overheard something interesting.

    ¡°Dinner!¡± Molly called as she opened the oven and a cloud of steam came out. Sitting on a tray was the fully cooked turkey that Molly had prepared for dinner.

    They all sat down for the meal. Molly carved the turkey with a quick wave of her wand and a spell, and then placed the serving tray on the table in front of them.

    ¡°A great meal, Molly,¡± Arthur said, ¡°Let¡¯s go kids, thank your mother for the meal.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Mom.¡±

    ¡°Looks great!¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Molly!¡±

    Molly looked as Ginny said that.

    ¡°Yes, looks excellent,¡± Mr. Anverts said next, ¡°Amazing how you carved this whole thing in seconds with your magic.¡±

    ¡°Yes, amazing¡­¡± Mrs. Adams added. All the guests went next.

    ¡°Well, dig in then!¡± Molly said as her eyes left Ginny and scanned the table and she affected a welcoming smile to the guests, ¡°Preservation charms for the moisture and heat won¡¯t last forever, will they?¡±

    Everyone dug in, and the food was good. Fawkes was probably stuffing his face right about now, although Ginny vaguely wished she could introduce him to her friend''s parents though. Molly and Dad had refused and told her it would be too much to throw at them at once for their first visit.

    Ginny was a little disappointed, but she understood. At least she had permission to have him spend Christmas with the family away from Hogwarts from her parents.

    ¡°What are you doing, Ginny? Cutting your turkey into little baby bites?¡± Alexa joked as Ginny sliced up her piece of turkey.

    ¡°Will you stop it?¡± Ginny said even though she was only a little annoyed, ¡°I was just saying. That got old twenty minutes ago.¡±

    ¡°But for you, that joke must have gone for forever,¡± Jack jumped in, ¡°With how young you are and all. Percentage of your lifespan and all that.¡±

    ¡°Nice one, Jack!¡± Alexa said and held out her hand just behind Ginny¡¯s back. Jack reached over and high fived her, Ginny only able to see it through her magic sense and hearing the thwack as their palms impacted.

    ¡°I¡¯m technically one year older than both of you, you know,¡± Ginny said haughtily, ¡°So actually you two are the babies.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re one year older Ginny?¡± Mrs. Anverts suddenly asked from where she was sitting across from the trio, ¡°I thought all the children went to Hogwarts when they were eleven? I did think it strange that everyone had to be the same age when they were explaining things to us.¡±

    ¡°Um. Yeah, I am. I¡¯m twelve this year.¡± Ginny said, thrown off by the question. She looked at Jack who¡¯s eyes were wide and shaking his head at his mom in a panic. The woman and Mr. Anverts noticed his look and were confused.

    ¡°Jack? What is it?¡± Mrs. Anverts asked before glancing between the two of them, ¡°Did I say something rude?¡±

    ¡°Oh, yes. Alexa told us about what happened, Ginny,¡± Mr. Adams jumped in, ¡°Terribly sorry to hear about that. I¡¯m glad that you¡¯ve made such good friends with our daughter despite it.¡±

    The Anverts stared at their son who looked uncomfortable.

    ¡°Ginny was saying it¡¯s like she''s a one year old now. So it¡¯s like we¡¯ve been best friends for forever!¡± Alexa said, ¡°Jack and I¡¯ve been teasing her about it, but it is crazy when you think about it like that.¡±

    ¡°She said that?¡± Molly suddenly asked, sounding hurt by Alexa¡¯s words.

    The rest of the conversation dwindled away as everyone stopped at Molly¡¯s sudden change in tone.

    ¡°Uuuuummmm. Yeah?¡± Alexa replied hesitantly, ¡°You know with her memories and everything, she was just saying¡­¡±

    Ginny kicked Alexa under the table and the girl stopped speaking.

    ¡°Her memories?¡± Mr. Anverts asked in confusion, ¡°What about her memories?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll explain later, Dad,¡± Jack quickly jumped in, ¡°Ginny has amnesia so she can¡¯t remember anything past this last year.¡±

    Mr. Anverts studied Ginny for a long moment and she nodded to him to confirm.

    ¡°Oh. Well, I¡¯m sorry to hear that Ginny,¡± Mr. Anverts said, ¡°But you seem like a good friend to my son. I¡¯m glad to hear that you¡¯ve recovered so well from¡­ whatever happened.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Mr. Anverts,¡± Ginny replied, ¡°Mr. Adams. I¡¯m glad that they''re my friends too.¡±

    Dinner continued, the atmosphere oddly tense as Molly kept staring at Ginny when she thought no one else was looking. Jack¡¯s parents also kept glancing at Jack and Ginny, seemingly curious about the situation but picking up enough hints to wait for Jack to explain it to them later.

    After dinner was finished, all the guests left and they all went to bed. As Ginny practiced her telekinesis in Teregatt with Balthazar, she wondered why Jack hadn¡¯t told his parents about what had happened to her while Alexa had. Ginny hadn¡¯t thought about it, but did she really care now that they both knew? She had never really been all that sensitive about her amnesia unlike Molly and most of the rest of her family. Well, not truly amnesia. For all intents and purposes, she was born the moment Harry¡¯s mind wiped soul entered the old Ginny¡¯s body. There was nothing for her to remember, the old Ginny was a different girl than she was.

    Ginny decided that she didn¡¯t care that Jack hadn¡¯t told his parents or that Alexa had. Jack was right. Her friends did forget about her amnesia most of the time. And Ginny was okay with that.

    Christmas came and passed. It was somewhat subdued, Molly not in a very energetic mood for the rest of the week. But things went well enough and Ginny eventually forgave Ron for being such a jerk all Christmas break so far. He was still sensitive about losing that race with how much Fred and George made fun of him for it, but he had recovered from it somewhat and stopped sulking and refusing to talk to Ginny like he had for the last few days.

    Fawkes spend Christmas with them. Fred and George tried to praise him and feed him in all sorts of ways. Fawkes knew what they were doing, but allowed them to keep doing it. But at the end he still refused to let anyone touch him.

    ¡°He¡¯s making you work for it,¡± Ginny said as she stroked Fawkes head as the bird sat in her lap.

    ¡°Just keep going, I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll give in eventually.¡±

    ¡°Bah. We¡¯re sorry, Fawkes!¡± Fred said, ¡°C¡¯mon already. Forgive us? Please?¡±

    Fawkes stared at them for a second and cocked his head to the side to inspect them. Then he let out a firm chirp.

    Ginny pushed down her hand and ruffled it slightly to shift Fawkes¡¯ head side to side. She released after a second and kept petting him.

    ¡°No, Fawkes. You can¡¯t just ask them for a hundred pounds of meat,¡± Ginny said, ¡°That¡¯s way too greedy. Especially when you get so much from Hogwarts.¡±

    Fawkes chirped sadly before trilling again.

    ¡°You glutton. I know your teleport doesn¡¯t cost that much, you liar! You¡¯re just getting all the food you can while I¡¯m still in school.¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m not saying don¡¯t do it. But not to my family too. Where would they even get that much food?¡±

    Fred and George exchanged a look. ¡°So, if we get you a hundred pounds of meat then you¡¯ll forgive us Fawkes?¡± They asked in unison. Fawkes chirped.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ginny translated, ¡°He¡¯ll forgive you. But where are you going to get that much? He¡¯s just trying to milk you for all your worth with this¡­¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll figure it out over the summer,¡± Fred declared, ¡°We¡¯ll have plenty of time then. We¡¯ll make sure you forgive us, Fawkes!¡±

    Fawkes chirped in satisfaction and lowered his head to rest on Ginny¡¯s thigh.

    ¡°Well, I guess that¡¯s it,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Good luck you two.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you worry, Sis. We¡¯ll think of something for sure.¡±

 Chapter 35: The Shrieking Shack

    After the Christmas break was over, everyone returned to Hogwarts and classes resumed. Things settled back into place into the normal routine. Ginny focused on tests, spending time with her friends, and they returned to their exercise in the mornings with Alexa pushing them onwards eagerly. Ginny avoided Eric, and he avoided her. No one else was hit by the mad potioner, even if there were more than the usual amount of hexes and stinkbombs deployed than had been before. Ginny knew that it was probably Eric, but the pranks actually seemed harmless this time so she tried to ignore them.

    The only odd note was Lupin had begun acting oddly around Ginny. Ever since christmas break, he hadn¡¯t called on her in class once. Most of the time he seemed to forget she was even there, staring into space when she asked a question before moving on to the next person as if nothing had happened.

    He never gave her a detention or punished her, but everyone wondered about what she had done to upset him. Ginny was unsure herself of why he was acting that way.

    It was nearly time for finals, and Ginny took a deep breath as she closed her eyes and was sent to Teregatt.

    She opened her eyes in her black mud body and looked at Balthazar whose mouth was half open.

    ¡°-A fast cycle,¡± Balthazar said to continue what he had said last night, ¡°We will have to do our best and hope that it will pass soo-¡±

    Ginny¡¯s soul was ripped from her muddy form again and sent back into her body. She opened her eyes and froze as she saw that her room was dark. Her three roommates were asleep, their chests rising and falling slowly as they lay there in their beds. Ginny carefully sat up and looked around. What had happened? The light of the full moon shone through the window and lit up the room in silver beams.

    There was a click and the door to the room began to slowly creak open. Ginny fumbled at her dresser and picked up her wand even as she sprouted over fifteen thick magic tendrils out of her body ready to strike whoever it was coming in. Ginny felt her fingers trembling as she prepared to cast. The door opened slightly and Ginny flinched and aborted, striking with the fifteen magic tendrils that had darted forward and closed half of the distance between Ginny and the door in a flash. She pulled them back as she saw Olivia¡¯s head at the door. The older girl looked around and spotted Ginny who was awake and staring at her.

    The girl nodded and waved Ginny towards her while putting a finger up to her lips. Then Olivia slowly backed up and shut the door quietly. Using the moonlight as a guide, Ginny quickly slipped into her school robes and shoes and snuck out into the hallway where Olivia was waiting. Olivia waved and the two of them carefully made their way to the common room.

    Once they were in the empty common room, Ginny turned to Olivia. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Ginny whispered, ¡°What are we doing?¡±

    ¡°Follow me,¡± Olivia whispered in a flat tone. She straightened up and walked towards the exit to the common room. Ginny hesitated for a moment, but then followed. It was Olivia right? She must have a reason for doing all of this.

    They walked through the dark Hogwarts hallways until they reached the entrance to the silent and dark Hogwarts great lawn.

    Ginny was about to take a step when all of a sudden she felt a painful twinge and sharp pull on the other side of her familiar bond. Oh no! Fawkes! Ginny turned around and started running back into the castle.

    ¡°Stupify,¡± Olivia said from behind her, and before Ginny knew it everything went black around her.

    Ginny woke up to find herself floating in the air levitating near the ceiling of a rickety and cracked wooden ceiling above her. In the ramshackle room of broken furniture and broken boards and mold below, Ginny could just barely see Olivia standing there ramrod straight in front of a terrifying creature shrouded in shadow. The humanoid creature towered over Olivia, its sharp claws like curved swords on the ends of its fingers. It was covered in gray fur and its jaws were dripping with saliva. Its eyes were glowing bright with a golden light. It was a werewolf!

    ¡°Tell me! Where is the person? The one you were tasked to retrieve?¡± The creature asked roughly as it contorted its massive jaws in strange ways.

    ¡°They are here, delivered to you as ordered.¡± Olivia replied absently, sounding almost drugged or detached from reality.

    ¡°Where are they?! Show them to me!¡±

    ¡°They are in this room,¡± Olivia said, ¡°I have delivered them as ordered.¡±

    ¡°But where?! Enough of this. Without magic to give new orders, you¡¯re useless. In this room, hm? Do you perhaps care for this girl, Beyonder?¡± The werewolf said, ¡°Perhaps I should turn her into a werewolf? Quite the miserable existence in this world. It would be so easy¡­¡±

    The werewolf opened its jaws wide and hovered them directly over Olivia¡¯s shoulder without biting down. Olivia¡¯s wand arm that was still pointed at Ginny started to tremble slightly even as the rest of her body remained still.

    Olivia! Ginny sent out a magic tendril to the glass of a nearby window and with a push, sent it outward and shattered the glass with a loud crash. With a blur of motion, the werewolf leaned away from Olivia and leapt towards the window with its jaws wide and claws extended. It started flailing around wildly, its brightly glowing golden eyes looking every which way as it smashed everything around the area in its rampage.

    Ginny felt into the pocket of her robes and pulled out her wand. She tugged on her bond with Fawkes hard, but there was no response. She could tell he was alive and didn''t seem to be in any pain. But something must have happened. He had always responded, even if just a little when she tugged on their bond. What had happened to him that he wouldn¡¯t respond at all?

    ¡°BEYONDER! I KNOW YOU¡¯RE IN HERE SOMEWHERE!¡± The werewolf howled as it stood among the wreckage on that side of the room.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how you disguise yourself from me, Beyonder,¡± the werewolf continued as it started pacing around the room, occasionally swiping its massive claws across the room and snapping at thin air occasionally.

    ¡°But I will tear answers from your soul piece by piece if I have to. No one defies Fate and gets away with it! It must have been you that took Pettigrew from me. I¡¯m sure of it. Sirius Black was supposed to be here with Harry Potter. He would face the Dementors, Pettigrew would escape and be pivotal to the future¡­ All of that lost because of your interference. But in this confluence of important events, I can act and find you again. Things are out of place, and it is all because of YOU! Everything a beautiful clockwork and running according to my design. And you¡¯re interfering where you DON¡¯T BELONG! ALL OF YOU OF THE BEYOND ARE PARASITES!¡±

    The werewolf leapt to the other side of the room and started snarling and slashing at thin air with its claws even as it smashed the furniture and floor around it into kindling as Ginny floated above...

    Ginny pulsed her magic sense and took in the building. They were alone it seems. The door out was locked shut even as Ginny floated on the ceiling on Olivia¡¯s spell. She could see that Olivia was starting to sweat and breathe a little heavier as she held her wand aloft to keep Ginny in the air.

    Ginny took her magic tendrils and had an idea as she saw the broken window. She took six of her tendrils and sunk them into the door deeper into the house. With a soft grunt, Ginny sent the door flying back into the hallway, ripping it clean off of its rotten hinges and falling to the floor with a crash. Extending her magic tendril farther out, Ginny started shifting little pieces of debris on the floor as if to mimic somebody running away.

    ¡°I¡¯VE GOT YOU NOW, BEYONDER!¡± The werewolf howled, ¡°I¡¯ll TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB AND FEAST ON YOUR FLESH!¡±

    The werewolf charged out of the room and with loud crashes and crunches of claws on wood, tore through the building in hot pursuit of Ginny¡¯s false footsteps. In her magic sense, Ginny detected the werewolf destroy a wooden cabinet into a cloud of wood splinters with a single swipe of a clawed hand. She swallowed thickly and kept focused on trying to make the noises and shifting of debris keep moving through the house.

    With all the noise from below, Ginny took her remaining magic tendrils and pushed on the window and sank it into the glass. She pushed it out, but instead of letting it shatter, She grabbed each of the broken pieces and cleared them out from the window frame. She waved at Olivia and gestured to let her down. Olivia¡¯s wand arm lowered and Ginny was gently lowered to the floor.

    Ginny landed on her feet and stepped forward to grab the older girl¡¯s hand. Olivia stared at her blankly as Ginny pulled her towards the open window as quietly as she could while also keeping the charade of her running away from the rabid werewolf snarling and rampaging on the other side of the building.

    Ginny stood by the window with the blank faced Olivia standing next to her.

    ¡°C¡¯mon, Olivia,¡± Ginny whispered, ¡°Let¡¯s go, get out of here. While I¡¯ve got it distracted.¡±

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    Olivia turned her head and looked at Ginny with an empty gaze.

    Ginny walked around and shoved Olivia from behind towards the open window, which the girl didn¡¯t resist. Ginny used her magic sense to carefully inspect the girl and her magic closely. There was a spell wrapped around her like nothing that Ginny had ever seen before. She had never tried breaking an enchantment on another person before. But she needed Olivia¡¯s help to escape. The window was on the third floor of the building. Ginny might be able to get them both to the ground, but she¡¯d be almost completely exhausted if she did so.

    She inspected the spell surrounding Olivia critically for a long moment before carefully poking various points of it. They all shivered and flexed, but individually none of them caused the spell to fail. Olivia¡¯s blank expression changed slightly and her cheeks started to flush slightly.

    Ginny took all the weak points and checked again to see if she had missed any. For it to fail all at once, Ginny would have to hit them all at once. She took a deep breath but then injected her magic full speed into the points. The spell flexed and tried to resist Ginny but she pushed more magic into it and after a moment¡¯s resistance the spell shattered.

    Olivia¡¯s face suddenly became more animated and her knees buckled slightly, panting heavily as she stumbled forward. She almost fell forward through the window, but Ginny stopped her with her magic tendrils, holding her back by her robes.

    Olivia opened her mouth to talk as she spotted Ginny, but Ginny put a finger over her mouth and shook her head. Olivia shut her mouth and nodded. Ginny stopped her footstep charade with the werewolf raging on the other side of the building on the third floor. She needed to conserve her magic for this.

    Ginny stepped up to the window and leaned out to look to the ground three stories down. She looked at Olivia and after pointing towards the two of them, pointed to the ground after.

    Olivia looked confused and gestured to her wand after shaking her head. She couldn¡¯t do that.

    Ginny slung one leg over the windowsill and gestured for Olivia to come over. Olivia slung her own leg over the sill even as she looked confused. Ginny scooted forward and wrapped her arms around Olivia in a big hug. After some hesitation, Olivia followed suit. Olivia leaned in so she was whispering directly in Ginny¡¯s ear, ¡°What¡¯s the plan?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll get us down,¡± Ginny said, ¡°But it¡¯ll take most of what I have. You¡¯ll have to get us back to the castle and get help.¡±

    ¡°How?¡±

    The crashes stopped and Ginny felt the ball of magic representing the werewolf pause and cock its head to the side as if listening to something.

    Ginny heaved and the two of them went tumbling out of the window. Olivia let out a gasp, but Ginny took her magic tendrils and attached them to both of their robes. She pushed up and their fall slowed. But with so much weight, Ginny¡¯s magic immediately began to drain at a rapid rate. By the time their feet touched the ground, Ginny was panting slightly. Not as drained as she thought she would be, but still tired.

    Olivia looked shocked at what happened, but followed as Ginny started running towards the castle and pulling the older girl along by the arm. They were running for twenty seconds or so before a loud howl pierced the night behind them. Ginny turned to see the werewolf standing in the frame of the window she and Olivia had jumped out of. It was clawing and opening a hole for its bulky form to move through, its eyes fixed on Olivia as she ran next to Ginny. Ginny noticed that its glowing golden eyes didn¡¯t stray from Olivia to flicker to Ginny even for an instant. Was it not able to see her at all? Was it because of the necklace she had gotten from Balthazar that protected her from Fate? It worked on people that Fate was possessing too?

    Ginny saw the werewolf finally finished tearing through the gap. It tumbled from the third floor in an uncontrolled fall. It hit the ground on its feet and immediately fell to the ground and yowled as its legs buckled under it.

    As the two of them kept running, Ginny had a hope for a moment that it had been immobile. Twisting its ankle or breaking a leg from its fall. But then the beast twitched and Ginny¡¯s eyes widened. She turned her head back around and flared her magic sense as far as she could.

    She couldn¡¯t detect the werewolf in her magic sense at this distance, but she prepared her magic tendrils for battle even as she faced forward and kept running. If it recovered it would be after them in moments.

    ¡°Olivia!¡± Ginny panted, ¡°Run faster!¡±

    The two of them pushed the pace, sprinting back towards the castle as fast as they could neck in neck. Ginny was more fit, but Olivia was much taller and older and so was still able to go just as fast as Ginny with the adrenaline pumping in their veins.

    Ginny heard another loud howl behind them and the sound of heavy footsteps behind them. Ginny tensed. It had just entered the edges of her magic senses approaching at high speeds.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    The puppet¡¯s limbs were broken, and destroyed by the fall. Luckily this form was a werewolf, famous for their regeneration under moonlight. As the puppet sat there yowling and roaring in pain, Fate observed. No matter how hard she looked, she could not locate the Beyonder or even find the hole in her web that they must be occupying to be living at Hogwarts.

    The moonlight shining down on the puppet did its work and the puppet¡¯s limbs snapped and cracked as they realigned themselves and healed themselves. The puppet stood, moved by Fate¡¯s chains looping through its form. Fate would have to make sure to eliminate the Beyonder tonight. After the confluence of events she had been preparing for passed, she would be unable to interfere for a time. Who knew what else the Beyonder would disrupt by them? Things were still manageable, the disruptions contained. But better to quash the Beyonder and its strange disguise against her started doing its work.

    Fate watched through the puppet¡¯s eyes as it stood and sniffed the air deeply. It saw the older girl fleeing into the distance. Fate had taken interest when the girl had spoken a name she could not remember during her class with the puppet. The imperius curse had allowed Fate to tell her to bring this person to the puppet at the proper time. She¡¯d have ordered the girl to kill the Beyonder, but it was too risky. Who knew what horcruxes or life saving methods it might have that would allow it to escape if Fate wasn¡¯t nearby to interfere after its body was destroyed? It had been hard enough with having another imperiused student send a killing curse at the sleeping phoenix. Fate knew Fawkes was bonded to someone, but not to who. Fate wasn¡¯t sure if it was the Beyonder or someone else, but it was better to be safe in case the Beyonder might call for help from the Phoenix.

    The older girl¡­ the Beyonder had acted to save her. It''s what must have happened, there was no other way that she could have broken free from the imperius curse. Fate and its puppet couldn¡¯t see the Beyonder directly¡­ but if the girl was threatened then perhaps it would expose itself somehow.

    The puppet started to run, eating up the ground between itself and the running seventh year girl.

    Fate watched the weave, the pattern she had built. Yes, she could snip this one thread if it came down to it. Time to see if the Beyonder would really intervene to save the girl¡­

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Lupin could only despair as his werewolf form moved against his will to rush towards the two girls fleeing from him. This was unlike any imperius curse he¡¯d ever heard of. Who had even cast it at him? He¡¯d been an observer in his own body for months, unable to do anything as a stranger possessed him and forced him to teach his classes like nothing was wrong.

    For some reason the person possessing his body was unable to see young Ginny Weasley despite smelling her and looking directly at her at points. It was spouting nonsense about her being a ¡®Beyonder¡¯ and rambling about ¡®Fate¡¯. His body charged towards the two girls at high speed, already healed from the moonlight shining down on it.

    Lupin¡¯s body had already closed half the distance between itself and the girls. They wouldn¡¯t make it to the castle nearly in enough time. Just when Lupin thought that all was lost, his body suddenly tripped and fell to the ground on all fours. His head turned to look behind him and saw a foot wide clump of dirt had risen in the air where the body¡¯s foot had landed, sending it tumbling to the ground.

    ¡°Telekinesis,¡± Lupin¡¯s werewolf mouth growled, ¡°I knew you were with her, Beyonder.¡±

    His body stood and kept charging after the girl¡¯s howling loudly as it did so. More clumps of dirt rose underneath Lupin¡¯s feet, seeking to throw his body off balance and create unstable footing below him. The body stumbled side to side but managed to stay standing as it kept moving forward. The two girls were building more of a lead on Lupin¡¯s body now, but not nearly enough. Even now, Lupin could feel that the clumps of rising dirt were becoming more and more infrequent even after a few seconds. Ginny Weasley stumbled slightly looking exhausted as the two girls kept running back to the castle.

    Lupin tried to think of what to do as the clumps of dirt throwing off his footing stopped emerging. The body charged in a loping run, eating up the distance again. The body would be upon the two girls in seconds. He tried to resist to make his body move, but the force controlling him was too strong.

    He could only watch in horror as his body closed the distance to the two girls in a flash.

    A barrage of invisible blows pushed back on Lupin¡¯s body as it was only a few steps away. It moved through them, barely slowed by the blows that barely even rippled its fur.

    ¡°Olivia!¡± Ginny shouted, ¡°Behind you!¡±

    But it was too late. As the Ravenclaw Prefect slowed in her run and turned around with her wand drawn, Lupin¡¯s body was already above her. His two arms ended with massive claws extended and wrapped around the girl and lifted her off the ground with a grunt, sending the girl¡¯s wand tumbling from her hand as her arms were crushed against her body.

    Lupin¡¯s body opened its mouth as his head scanned the lawn while completely skipping over the panicking Ginny Weasley.

    ¡°Expose yourself, Beyonder!¡± Lupin¡¯s body said, ¡°Or the girl dies. She is an acceptable loss.¡±

    Lupin¡¯s body opened his jaws and opened and closed them over Olivia¡¯s head. The Ravenclaw prefect had frozen in fear as Lupin¡¯s two clawed hands gripped her tightly.

    ¡°Or I could keep her alive and turn her into a werewolf,¡± Lupin¡¯s mouth said, ¡°A miserable existence in this world. Perhaps worse than death. You¡¯d let her suffer through that when you worked so hard to save her, Beyonder?¡±

    Lupin thrashed and fought as hard as he could to stop his body. He would not be like Greyback, infecting others to suffer through being a werewolf like he¡¯d had to endure. But his body didn¡¯t respond at all, no matter how much he struggled to stop it.

    Lupin saw a strange bone necklace with a red gem shimmer into existence around Ginny Weasley¡¯s neck. She looked hesitant, looking between Olivia and her necklace. She looked exhausted, barely able to stand as sweat poured down her face and breathing like she¡¯d almost drowned and was recovering her air as quickly as she could.

    ¡°I could just kill her too,¡± Lupin¡¯s mouth said, ¡°Five seconds before I make a decision.¡±

    Lupin¡¯s jaws opened wide above and descended until his mouth was completely around Olivia¡¯s whole shoulder and into most of her torso. Lupin¡¯s mouth pressed gently in, not breaking through her robes just yet to bite down.

    Ginny looked tense and after closing her eyes, reached up to her neck to remove the necklace protecting her from Lupin¡¯s body¡¯s gaze.

    No! Lupin thought. But he could only watch as Ginny¡¯s hand grew closer to her neck and his body¡¯s jaws began to slowly increase their pressure and bite down on the Ravenclaw Prefect. To infect her and turn her into a monster like him.

 Chapter 36: Our Hero

    Eric opened his eyes as the Chamber of Secrets pinged him. He sat up in bed and processed the information that it had sent him. Eric thought that his little rivalry with Harry was over and done with. But that didn¡¯t mean that he was stupid. The Chamber had access to the Hogwarts wards that monitored everyone. It had just told him that one ¡®Ginny Weasley¡¯ had left her dormitory and was out after hours.

    Time to investigate, Eric would like to not be surprised if she was cooking something up for him.

    He quickly snuck out of his common room unseen and walked into an empty room. The wall in front of him rippled and shifted until it formed a tunnel made of greenish stone. Eric walked in and moved quickly as the wall sealed up behind him. The secret tunnel network of the Chamber let him travel around the castle as fast as he liked, compressing space and making the castle blur by as he walked to his destination.

    After a minute, Eric reached the end and walked out into the exit halfway across the castle in another empty room. He carefully crept forward. He couldn¡¯t use too much magic or Harry might notice him. Eric was unsure how far Harry could sense, but best to be careful just in case it was a couple feet more than Eric.

    He poked his head into the dark hallway and saw two girls going down the hallway. Was that the Ravenclaw Prefect that had supposedly taken Ginny under wing? Olivia was it? What were they doing out here so late?

    Eric creeped after them from afar and neither seemed to notice him as they rushed through the castle silently. Olivia was leading while Harry was trailing behind, his pretty face looking confused as Harry stared at Olivia.

    No, Ginny. Harry wanted to be called Ginny now. It would be embarrassing if Eric accidentally made a mistake and called him, her the wrong one in public.

    They reached the edge of the Hogwarts lawn and Ginny turned back and started running back into the castle all of the sudden. Olivia whirled around and cast a red stunning spell and sent Ginny sprawling to the floor unconscious. Eric raised an eyebrow as Olivia cast another spell to lift Ginny off the ground to float just behind her and kept walking out of the castle.

    Oh, the betrayal! Olivia the caring mentor had dark and sinister motives! Eric grinned as he cast a quick spell to cause him to blend into the background like a chameleon. Nothing like true invisibility like the disillusionment charm went. But it was close enough when it was so dark outside. With Ginny unconscious, he should be fine to use his magic and be undetected by Olivia.

    Olivia and the floating Ginny rushed towards an old ramshackle building on the edge of the Hogwarts property. The Shrieking shack, many people called it from what Eric had heard.

    Eric followed the two up to the entrance of the shack before pausing. How to follow them next? Too much of a risk to go inside, his chameleon spell wasn¡¯t nearly that good.

    Eric tried to think of what to do to get a good view, but couldn¡¯t come up with anything that wouldn¡¯t waste too much of his magic. Ah, well. What a shame. He¡¯d have to wait until morning for some answers it seems.

    Eric started walking back to the castle, a little put out that he¡¯d have to wait after getting so invested in discovering what was happening. The seventh year prefect was kidnapping the helpless little first year for who knows what! Betrayal among friends! Ginny was the one wrapped up in all of it! Ah, but too risky.

    Suddenly there were loud roars and crashes that sounded from inside the shrieking shack after Eric had walked back for a few minutes. He turned around and squinted as he saw an upper window shatter. He watched carefully as the two girls, Olivia and Ginny, each put one leg over the windowsill and then hugged each other.

    Oh? They had made up? Ginny had forgiven Olivia rather quickly for her betrayal. The plot thickened. Ginny pulled and the two of them tumbled out of the window.

    Oh, perhaps Ginny hadn¡¯t forgiven Olivia? It was a trick to throw her out of the window? But no, Eric saw them slow as they fell until they touched the ground. Hm. Forgiven it was then.

    The two girls started running towards Eric at top speed as he stood in between them and the closest entrance to the castle. The two of them looked rather panicked as they ran, and the reason why soon made itself clear. A werewolf appeared to Eric¡¯s shock and leapt after the girls from the third floor! Well, it broke its legs when it hit the ground but those healed quickly under the moonlight. Eric shifted to jog to the side as the two girls to get out of their way to the castle as the two kept getting closer.

    The werewolf stood and charged towards the two fleeing girls at speeds matching some muggle cars that Eric had seen. Just when Eric thought the two were done for, the ground shifted under the beast¡¯s feet and it tripped to the ground. Eric watched as Ginny presumably used her telekinesis to shift the ground and throw off the werewolf¡¯s footing even as it kept moving towards them.

    The werewolf¡¯s eyes were glowing with a golden light. How strange¡­

    Eventually Ginny lost the battle and the werewolf captured Olivia only twenty meters away from where Eric stood watching. There were some brief threats that the werewolf gave in a gravelly voice. Eric hadn¡¯t thought that werewolves could even talk when they were transformed. You learn something new every day. A necklace shimmered into existence around Ginny¡¯s neck and she reached up to take it off even as she stood there exhausted.

    Eric sighed. Ah, well. It seems that she was defeated. Nice necklace though, he wondered if it was a Weasley heirloom? They were an old family even if they didn¡¯t have much in the way of wealth at the moment. Surely they had some hidden artifacts they gave out to protect their precious daughter after she was so viciously attacked in the Chamber of Secrets last year?

    Eric cracked his knuckles and started jogging forward. Time to be the hero in shining armor, fighting off the big bad beast. Eric smiled as his magic churned and roiled inside of him. Now this would be fun!

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny¡¯s trembling hands touched the necklace that she knew was the only thing protecting her from being possessed by Fate. But if she let Fate possess her for a while, then what if that made her leave Olivia alone? Ginny held the necklace, but didn¡¯t take it off, frozen by indecision as the werewolf had its jaws threateningly clenched on nearly half of Olivia¡¯s body. The other girl was frozen, not even looking like she wanted to breathe in case it would cause the werewolf to bite down.

    ¡°HEY UGLY!¡± A voice suddenly called from behind them. Ginny released her hand from the necklace and turned. There Eric stood there appearing from seemingly nowhere forty meters away from them.

    ¡°Get away from those fair maidens!¡± Eric continued, ¡°For I, Eric Potter, am here to save them!¡±

    The werewolf opened its mouth and lifted its jaws off of Olivia who was shuddering even as half of her body was covered in the beast¡¯s slobber.

    ¡°Harry/Eric Harrrrrrrry/Eric?¡± The werewolf said as it stared at Eric in confusion. ¡°Whooooo are¡­ You are wrong. You, you, you, Beyonder. I¡¯ve found you. It must be you. You¡¯ve replaced my CHOSEN! HOW DARE YOU! I can sense my strings in you. I¡¯ve got you now.¡±

    Ginny¡¯s heart raced when Eric¡¯s eyes suddenly flashed and lit up with a golden light and he stood stock still. Then the golden light went away and Eric¡¯s face twisted into a vicious snarl. He looked enraged and clenched his fists, his ever present smile nowhere to be found. Ginny sensed his magic swirling within him as he stared down the werewolf.

    ¡°You? Try to control me? Like I haven¡¯t learned to defend my mind before? I was just playing before. But now I¡¯ll show you don¡¯t¡­¡±

    Eric¡¯s voice deepened and his swirling magic began roiling as his feet left the ground and he started floating a few feet off the ground.

    ¡°...Know who you¡¯re DEALING WITH!¡±

    A massive dull red ball of flame sprouted into existence above his head as he raised his arms to the sky. He shifted his hands and mimed throwing the orb of flame bigger than he was towards the werewolf.

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    The creature¡¯s golden eyes widened and it dodged to the side, carrying Olivia with it as it did so. The flame exploded on the ground like napalm, spreading like a liquid wave of flame that spread from the point of impact. The werewolf ran from the site of impact, running parallel as it tried to move towards Eric who was floating in the air.

    Ginny fell backwards, thrown back by the force of the explosion towards Eric.

    Eric stretched out his arms towards the circle of spreading flame and with a pulse of his magic dragged his arms violently to the side towards the fleeing werewolf. The whole mass of flame rolled and swirled as if a massive wind rapidly pushed it to the side towards the werewolf.

    The werewolf held the captive Olivia behind it threateningly towards the oncoming wave of flame. Olivia had started thrashing and screaming as they moved, but the werewolf had her firmly gripped in its claws. But Eric didn¡¯t pause, barely even seeming to register that Olivia was there. He only pulsed his magic faster to drag the reddish flames towards the werewolf and captive girl both. The first tongue of flame touched Olivia¡¯s arm, searing it and causing her screams to reach a higher pitch.

    Ginny stood from the ground and watched in horror as more tongues of flame washed over Olivia and started burning her and werewolf both.

    Ginny was almost out of her magic, but she¡¯d have to dig deep again. She had to save Olivia. She outstretched her hands and sent as many magic tendrils as she could towards Olivia. They latched on, to her robes, to her skin. Legs, arms, face, Ginny didn¡¯t have time to be picky. The flame was only getting stronger as Eric pushed more and more of the mass of flame on both Olivia and the werewolf.

    Ginny began to pull hard with all of her power to bring Olivia towards her. The older girl¡¯s body was jerked hard under the force and the werewolf almost lost its grip on her, stumbling as it ran and its body twisting as Ginny moved Olivia¡¯s body. Ginny could see the werewolf was only holding her robes by the edge of its claws now even as the majority of the red flames began to burn it now that it couldn¡¯t use Olivia as a human shield.

    Ginny groaned, but pulled again for another burst of force. The werewolf lost its grip and for a second Ginny¡¯s heart raced and she almost smiled. But just when she thought that Olivia was safe, the werewolf lunged forward. It ignored the flame around it, instead putting all of its energy to leaping forward to bite down on Olivia¡¯s leg, taking out a chunk of her calf with the edge of its snapping jaws. Olivia hovered in the air caught between Ginny¡¯s force and the little section of muscle the werewolf¡¯s jaws had managed to just barely bite into with its leap.

    Ginny groaned and tugged again even harder, and with a ripping sound Olivia¡¯s leg ripped free from the werewolf¡¯s jaws with a spray of blood. The girl came flying at Ginny at high speed and slammed into her and sent the both of them tumbling to the grassy ground below in a pile of tangled limbs.

    ¡°YOU THINK YOU CAN IGNORE ME BEAST?!¡± Eric shouted, ¡°I¡¯ll SHOW YOU WHY YOU SHOULD BE¡­ PAYING ATTENTION!¡±

    Through Olivia¡¯s armpit, Ginny saw Eric extend his hands towards where she knew the werewolf would be charging at the two of them. There was a heavy impact and a yelp from the werewolf as it was sent flying back to be plunged into the center of the original ring of flame that Eric had formed with his first attack.

    Eric brought his hands together and with a whoosh of flames all the reddish flames in the area all compressed to a point around the howling and thrashing werewolf.

    Despite Eric¡¯s rage, he was panting now and sweat beaded on his brow even as Ginny sensed him using his magic to stoke the flames even higher and compress them onto the thrashing form of the werewolf.

    The ball of flame looked like a miniature reddish sun. Only a clawed arm lashing out or a snapping werewolf snout briefly emerging from its form betrayed the creature that remained inside. As the werewolf moved around, Eric shifted his arms to keep the miniature sun centered on the werewolf, the whole thing spinning like a top as the flames swirled inside of it.

    ¡°Wand,¡± Olivia murmured from above Ginny as the older girl recovered from the impact of them hitting the ground. Ginny shifted and reached into her robes and withdrew her wand. She pressed it into Olivia¡¯s hand firmly. It took a second, but the other girl¡¯s hand closed around it. Ginny¡¯s magic was spent, Olivia would use it better than Ginny could right now.

    Olivia rolled over off of Ginny and sat up while still looking a little out of it. Ginny saw that Olivia¡¯s right leg was mangled, with a large chunk bitten out of her calf that was bleeding heavily.

    Olivia pointed Ginny¡¯s wand at the wand, ¡°Episky,¡± She chanted. A spell burst out of her wand and hit the wound and it healed slightly.

    ¡°Episky.¡±

    The wound stopped bleeding as much, now only leaking a little blood. ¡°Petrificus segmentum,¡± Olivia cast after blinking a few times and staring at her leg dumbly. Her leg instantly froze in place and stopped bleeding, looking like it was frozen in time.

    While Ginny was distracted, Eric had lowered back to the ground and the werewolf limbs and head had stopped emerging from the ball of red flame. Eric walked forward towards the red ball of flame, keeping his arms extended even as the flame remained stationary.

    Eric walked up to the edge of the ball of flame and after a moment, let his arms fall to his sides. In seconds, the red flames evaporated into nothing as Eric¡¯s magic stopped sustaining them. In a scorched divot in the dirt lay a black humanoid lump that was motionless.

    ¡°That¡¯ll teach you to ignore me, dog,¡± Eric growled as he looked down at the body of the werewolf. Ginny froze as Eric turned to look towards them, his enraged expression quickly slipping into annoyance. He walked over and drew his wand from his robes aggressively.

    Olivia raised Ginny¡¯s wand, ¡°Hey! What are you-¡±

    ¡°Expelliarmus!¡± Eric called and flicked his wand and Ginny¡¯s wand flew out of Olivia¡¯s hand and went flying to Eric, who caught it with his left hand.

    ¡°Hey! I¡¯m a Ravenclaw prefect-¡± Olivia blustered as Ginny tried to think of what to do.

    ¡°Eric, wait-¡± Ginny said, but Eric was already only a few steps away and pointed his wand at Olivia.

    ¡°Obliviate!¡± He said and a white light shot out of his wand and hit Olivia in the face. The girl immediately fell backwards into the grass with a blank look on her face.

    ¡°Hey! What are you doing-¡± Ginny shouted.

    ¡°Shut up, I¡¯m doing you a favor,¡± Eric said in an annoyed tone as he stepped closer, ¡°Obliviate,¡± He cast again as he pointed his wand towards her head again.

    ¡°Stop! What are you doing?! You¡¯re hurting-¡±

    ¡°Shut up! I¡¯m erasing her memory. Obliviate. There. Three layers should be enough. She won¡¯t remember anything in the last week or so. Hopefully three is enough to keep the Aurors from retrieving anything. Oh, one more couldn¡¯t hurt.¡±

    Eric¡¯s tone quickly shifted from annoyed to amused as he took in Ginny¡¯s panic and raised his wand again.

    ¡°Obliviate,¡± He cast one more time at Olivia who had started drooling slightly and was staring into nothing.

    Eric looked at Ginny.

    ¡°I saved your life,¡± He said, ¡°If you ever think you could defeat me¡­ Just remember how it went for him.¡±

    Eric pointed at the carbonized and blackened body of the werewolf.

    ¡°I was never here. Don¡¯t care how you explain it. But I. Was never. Here. Do you understand, Harry?¡±

    ¡°Y-Yeah. I get it,¡± Ginny said, feeling intimidated after seeing what Eric had just done, ¡°I won¡¯t tell anyone.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± Eric said, ¡°I¡¯ll be off then. I suppose I did end up saving the two fair maidens either way¡­¡±

    His tone was almost wistful at the end as he waved his wand over himself. His body shimmered and then started blending into the background behind him. Ginny could sense him jogging off with her magic sense as soon as he was invisible. Escaping the scene of the crime.

    Ginny looked between her drooling and mumbling friend and the charred body of the werewolf in the middle of the devastation. How was she going to explain this to anyone? Olivia started to cough, and Ginny quickly dragged herself over to her. Her legs were weak, her overuse of magic and all the running taking its toll now that her life was no longer in danger.

    With a thought, Ginny sent her necklace back to be invisible again. She¡¯d almost taken it off to save Olivia. Ginny glanced down to Olivia¡¯s injured leg that the girl had petrified. Maybe she should have taken it off.

    Olivia coughed again as she laid on her back, staring at the sky. Ginny reached her and saw that Olivia¡¯s drool was pooling at the back of her throat. Olivia coughed again, and Ginny realized that the girl was choking and not even doing anything to respond after whatever Eric had done to her.

    She quickly grabbed Olivia¡¯s arm and pulled with all of her might to lift the girl so she was resting on her side. The drool started rolling out of the corner of Olivia¡¯s mouth and she stopped coughing. Her breathing grew steadier and her blank gaze gained a little life.

    ¡°Giiiiinnnnny? Whaaaaa?¡± Olivia murmured as if half asleep, ¡°I¡¯m gooonnnnaa sleeeepppp now,¡± Olivia announced as her eyes slowly began to close, ¡°Wake me up if Preston needs to get hexed again for somethiiiiinnn¡­¡±

    Olivia¡¯s eyes closed and she began to breathe deeper. She rolled back onto her back, and Ginny quickly grabbed her and rolled her back into position on her side so it would be safe. Ginny shifted back and lay on the grass with one hand on Olivia¡¯s shoulders and the other elbow on the grass propping her up to watch Olivia¡¯s mouth. Her arms trembled, but she remained like that even as her legs screamed at her in exhaustion.

    Ginny was so exhausted as it took all her focus to not pass out as she looked over Olivia and made sure that she didn¡¯t roll back onto her back.

    She barely even noticed after Professor Snape and subsequently Dumbledore arrived. She only registered their voices after Olivia was lifted into the air away from her with a spell. Ginny grasped weakly as she fell over as Olivia was lifted upwards and her hand lost her grip. On the other girl.

    ¡°No¡­¡± She protested weakly, ¡°Olivia¡­¡± She fell face first to the grass, Olivia leaving breaking the last shred of willpower that she had kept her awake. Ginny was unconscious even before her face hit the ground, one arm outstretched in front of her as Olivia was levitated away from her by the babbling voices standing above her.

 Chapter 37: Resolve

    When Ginny woke up at St. Mungo¡¯s again, she barely had a few minutes to collect herself before the Aurors were asking her questions with Dumbledore standing in the corner of her room. After bumbling and stammering for a few minutes, Dumbledore had called for a break as it became apparent that the Aurors were pushing her too hard. The two Aurors left the room while Dumbledore lingered behind.

    Ginny tugged on her bond with Fawkes and didn¡¯t feel any response. But the bond said that he was still fine. Was it lying? Was Fawkes hurt?!

    ¡°What happened to Fawkes!¡± She asked in a panic, looking at Dumbledore, ¡°I can¡¯t call him through our bond! Is he okay?!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s fine,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°Just out of commission for a few weeks. He was hit with a killing curse last night. He¡¯ll reform his body and be perfectly healthy once he reforms.¡±

    ¡°Last night?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Wait, how long have I slept?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s around three o¡¯clock in the afternoon currently,¡± Dumbledore said calmly, ¡°You appear perfectly healthy besides succumbing to magical exhaustion again.¡±

    ¡°Olivia?¡± Ginny asked hopefully, ¡°Is she okay? Was she infected?¡±

    ¡°Infected?¡± Dumbledore asked, his eyes boring into her, ¡°Infected with what?¡±

    ¡°The- Werewolf? The werewolf bit her leg.¡±

    Dumbledore sighed as if confirming bad news.

    ¡°I was afraid of that,¡± he muttered before speaking directly to her again, ¡°We can only hope she escaped this incident without the curse. The mind healers are working even now to heal the damage done by the reckless obliviations performed on her.¡±

    Ginny sat up in the hospital a bit more. ¡°How bad is it? Will it be like what happened to me?¡±

    Dumbledore shook his head, ¡°No, nothing like that. Our minds are complex things. No Obliviation or erasure of memory is perfect. Usually there are scraps of memory left behind or things that the caster did not wish to erase are also destroyed. In this case, since the charm was cast four times on your friend¡­ many things were erased as collateral damage for erasing her memories of the last week. But much, probably even all of it can be retrieved through the dedicated efforts of our mind healers. Everything that was simply collateral damage and not direct targets for erasure at least. Given enough time, young Olivia will fully recover her memories I¡¯m sure. She is still aware of herself and even who you are despite how much was lost. A good sign already.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±

    ¡°Do you perhaps need more time to recover before speaking on what happened?¡± Dumbledore asked kindly, ¡°We can delay the questioning until you are feeling better.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. I just need a few minutes, then I can talk.¡±

    Dumbledore nodded, and then opened the door. ¡°We¡¯ll be waiting in the lobby,¡± He said, ¡°Alert your nurse when you are feeling well enough to speak on what happened.¡±

    He left the room and shut the door behind him.

    Ginny sat there, mind racing as she tried to think of what she should say. She definitely couldn¡¯t say anything about Eric¡­ Or Fate¡­

    Well, she could just say she had no clue of what happened. Never seen Eric or whoever attacked the werewolf? Would that work? She thought about it. That seemed like it would be fine. Oh, and she could say that she wasn¡¯t sure how Olivia broke free of that mind controlling charm. She shouldn¡¯t tell anybody that she could break enchantments, especially spells that were still in people¡¯s bodies¡­

    She told the nurse she was ready and then told Dumbledore and the Aurors what had happened. Olivia waking her up in the middle of the night and leading her outside where she was Olivia stunned her with a spell. Waking up in that old building and hearing the werewolf trying to give Olivia orders, and not noticing Ginny floating on the ceiling¡­

    It was a little unbelievable even as she said it, but Ginny was sure that it had only worked because she was already invisible to Fate.

    ¡°Wait, the werewolf could speak?¡± The Auror interrupted her, ¡°What did it say?¡±

    ¡°Nothing much. It was mad that she wasn¡¯t listening to her. It didn¡¯t have magic so apparently it couldn¡¯t control her and give her new orders? I used some levitation charms to make some noises in the hallway and it went into a rage, smashing everything around the building.¡±

    The Aurors glanced at each other skeptically, not seeming to believe that the werewolf had been able to speak.

    ¡°Let¡¯s continue,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°What happened next?¡±

    Ginny narrated Olivia bringing her to the ground and ¡®mysteriously¡¯ breaking free of the mind controlling curse. Then ¡®Olivia¡¯ used a spell to slow their fall after they threw themselves out of the third floor window.

    They had run away and the werewolf had chased after them. The werewolf had grabbed hold of Olivia, but someone jumped in and started fighting it with flames. The werewolf bit Olivia before Ginny managed to pull her away and the girl cast the healing spells and petrificus segmentus curse on her leg to stop the bleeding. The unseen person had succeeded in killing the werewolf and then disappeared again as Ginny tried to make sure that Olivia didn¡¯t choke.

    ¡°Then who cast the obliviation charms?¡± One of the Aurors asked, ¡°Did you see?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. He cast some white light on Olivia, but I was already pretty out of it at the time¡­¡±

    ¡°He? It was a man?¡± The Auror said.

    ¡°Yeah. But I didn¡¯t see much else about him,¡± Ginny quickly said as she realized her slip.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± The Auror asked, ¡°There¡¯s nothing you can remember? Perhaps we could get a memory specialist to retrieve the memory if you¡¯re having trouble describing him?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Ginny said forcefully, causing the Auror to blink in surprise, ¡°I¡¯m not letting anyone mess around in my head,¡± Ginny said. Especially when she had secrets about Teregatt and Eric to keep now.

    ¡°Why not?¡± The Auror insisted, ¡°Just a single memory of the incident and then we¡¯ll have the evidence of what happened and not have to ask you all of these questions.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Ginny said, growing annoyed at the man¡¯s insistence despite knowing that she actually was lying a bit about what happened, ¡°I don¡¯t have to, do I? What if I end up hurt like Olivia if someone botches it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a safe procedur-¡±

    ¡°I believe that young Miss Weasley has made her position clear,¡± Dumbledore suddenly said from the corner, ¡°The matter has been settled. She has refused to give her memory of the incident and has every right to do so. Please continue with the standard questioning, please?¡±

    ¡°Of course, Chief Wizemgott,¡± the Auror said quickly. He turned back to Ginny and asked more questions about what happened and Ginny answered as best as she could. Playing dumb was, as usual, not too difficult. She really had no clue who that werewolf was, or why Fate had been able to possess him and force him to attack Ginny.

    The Aurors and Dumbledore left after they were done, looking dissatisfied but not suspicious as they went.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°How are you doing, Olivia?¡± Ginny asked as she stood over the hospital bed. She tried to not look at the large cast covering Olivia¡¯s whole leg. Werewolves were magical creatures when they were transformed, so their bites interfered with healing magic.

    ¡°Pretty good,¡± Olivia said, ¡°Mostly I¡¯m just waiting to see if I¡¯m a werewolf though,¡± She said haltingly.

    ¡°Hopefully not,¡± Ginny replied.

    ¡°We¡¯ll see in a month on the next full moon, I guess. They¡¯ll bring me to a padded cell to see if I¡¯ll transform for the night of. I was doing so well too. Job lined up in the Auror¡¯s office, did well on exams, practicals¡­ I was so close.¡±

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    ¡°Well, you can still do it,¡± Ginny said in an upbeat tone, ¡°You can take off one day a month, can¡¯t you? You¡¯ll be fine the rest of the time.¡±

    Olivia shook her head sadly, ¡°No, you don¡¯t get it Ginny. All of it. Good grades, the Job offer, exams¡­ none of it matters anymore. It¡¯ll all be taken away if I¡¯m a werewolf. I¡¯ll never be able to hold a job at the ministry, anywhere. People don¡¯t care that I¡¯d only be dangerous for one night a month. They¡¯re too afraid that I¡¯d infect them too just by being nearby or be a violent maniac or something. I won''t even be able to buy a house even if I got enough money for it somehow. My life is over. I¡¯ll be homeless and have to wander the streets, join one of the werewolf packs to survive¡­¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Ginny said forcefully, ¡°I won¡¯t let that happen! You saved my life, that werewolf would have killed me if you hadn¡¯t found a loophole in your orders to hide me up by the ceiling. You only got that wound because I didn¡¯t do enough to protect you. I promise I¡¯ll help you if you¡¯re a werewolf!¡±

    Olivia opened her mouth and looked sad.

    ¡°I know you don¡¯t remember,¡± Ginny said in frustration, ¡°But I do. All of this is my fault. I should have stopped it, done something more¡­¡±

    Olivia chuckled weakly, ¡°Who¡¯s the first year again?¡± She said, ¡°I¡¯m a seventh year, Ginny. Whatever happened it wasn¡¯t your fault. I¡¯m just glad you got out of it fine. Don¡¯t you worry about me.¡±

    Ginny stepped forward and grabbed Olivia¡¯s hand and squeezed tightly with a death grip and stared into Olivia¡¯s eyes while feeling the guilt of how much the girl had just wilted after being told she was a werewolf. It wasn¡¯t even confirmed yet and the always no nonsense, personable Olivia looked like a wilted flower left without water for too long.

    ¡°Olivia,¡± Ginny said as seriously as she ever had, ¡°I know you don¡¯t believe me. But I¡¯m going to help you fix this. So don¡¯t give up yet, please.¡±

    ¡°Good luck,¡± Olivia muttered, ¡°But thanks, Ginny. I appreciate that.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°Please, Balthazar! Her life will be ruined if we don¡¯t find a cure, or solution, or¡­ or something!¡±

    Balthazar rubbed his chin thoughtfully, stoic as always as he considered what she had asked him. Luckily they seemed to have shifted into a longer Teregatt cycle for this night, so Ginny had a little time to talk with Balthazar before her time sleeping on earth was over.

    ¡°There is a way¡­¡± Balthazar said, ¡°But it is not to be done lightly. I would need to study her directly to inspect and treat this malady. The only way to do that is through physical transportation of her body.¡±

    ¡°But didn¡¯t you say that we couldn¡¯t do that for years?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°That you used up most of the energy?¡±

    ¡°We did. But there is a way to give this place more energy. Create a permanent portal somewhere with high amounts of magical energy and Teregatt will be able to draw in some of that energy to power itself. We¡¯ve been disconnected from any other reality ever since the original master died. If you made a permanent portal anchoring Teregatt to your reality for a time then not only could you heal your friend, but your subjects could more easily come to defend you in moments of crisis if given an entry point to your reality.¡±

    ¡°A permanent portal?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Wouldn¡¯t Fate hate that, make everyone attack you at once?¡±

    ¡°Yes. There are two solutions to this. One, choose an isolated place. Fate only cares about that which interacts and changes the people within her designs. If we avoid them as best as we can then it may take a long time before she discovers us or notices the disruptions to her plans that we will cause. I¡¯m sure that she is going mad enough trying to contain the ripples you and Eric Smith are already causing to her plans even now.¡±

    ¡°And the second option?¡± Ginny asked.

    ¡°Somewhere defensible. Where even if Fate sends forces against us we will able to hold the line until she gives up and leaves us be so long as we agree to not interfere too much. Or until she forces us out of this world.¡±

    ¡°Would she agree to that? She seemed pretty fanatic in trying to get every Beyonder possible to leave¡­¡±

    ¡°She does so out of frustration. She let Beyonders settle here in the past, but it didn''t go well according to the few who managed to flee from this place before they were all destroyed. So it is a sore point of giving us even an inch of time to entrench ourselves here for her. If we show that we are powerful enough after she tests our strength then she will leave us be and only grow aggressive again if we interfere with her plans. She''ll still work to expel us but won''t continue with such aggressive assaults hopefully.¡±

    ¡°But where would I put the portal?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°How would I do it?¡±

    ¡°The how is quite simple. You would allow me to observe you again for a time. If you go to a proper magical location, then I can initiate the creation of the portal from here. Teregatt will be left with nearly no energy when the portal is complete so we will only have a single attempt for this. I know you wish to help your friend, but you must be patient and choose the location for the portal carefully. To begin, are there any locations that you think would be ideal for the portal to be placed? You know much more of your world than I do. At least the modern one.¡±

    ¡°Places that are isolated, but defensible? I don¡¯t know. Hogwarts is defensible, but there¡¯s a ton of people there. Britain has a lot of people all over, I don¡¯t think anywhere there would be that isolated really. I guess there¡¯s a few islands scattered about around Britain, but I don¡¯t know how magical any of them are. There¡¯s Azkaban that I think is magical, but it all seemed rather horrible from what I¡¯ve heard¡­¡±

    ¡°Azkaban? An island sounds ideal. Tell me more.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the Ministry prison. A very dark wizard called Ecraz lived there long ago and supposedly created the island with his magic. He lured in ships to the island and turned the crew into the Dementors with his dark magic. Converted them somehow into the evil creatures... All the Dementors that exist live there on the island supposedly, no one¡¯s escaped from the prison in hundreds of years between the defenses of the island itself and the Dementors.¡±

    Balthazar looked surprised, ¡°Now that,¡± He said, ¡°Sounds absolutely perfect.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Ginny said, ¡°What do you mean? It¡¯s a horrible place! It¡¯s got dark magic and dementors everywhere alongside all the worst criminals!¡±

    ¡°Yes, the criminals are a problem,¡± Balthazar agreed, ¡°But the Dementors and the sinister nature of the island are a boon. Think, what will Fate do to force the people under her control to attack us when she doesn''t have a host to directly attack us with?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯ll make them angry? Make them think that you¡¯re terrible monsters or something?¡±

    ¡°Exactly. But she can not directly tell them anything. Most of the time. She can only influence them without a host. If we settle there, everyone will already know why they fear and hate the island. The Dementors and the Island¡¯s dark magic. Fate¡¯s manipulations will have little effect in causing an attack on our position when they are reinforcing the populace¡¯s existing fear of the dementors instead of targeting it towards us specifically. Especially considering the isolation of the island means that it may take a long time before Fate even discovers our presence there and gives us time to build up our defenses.¡±

    ¡°But¡­ the Dementors? Won¡¯t they not be happy about this?¡±

    ¡°We can deal with them. I could likely deal with them on my own. We¡¯ll put them out of their misery.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll kill them? But¡­ kill?¡±

    ¡°One of them reveled in torturing you when it had the opportunity. They feed on the despair and suffering of others. We could capture them and contain them within Teregatt permanently. But perhaps it is better to put down such creatures before they can keep hurting others.¡±

    ¡°And what about the criminals?¡± Ginny challenged, ¡°They hurt people too. Are you going to kill them as well?¡±

    ¡°I was not planning to,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°But you will learn in time that hard choices must be made in cases where saving a single life can cause dozens of others to die horribly as a result. But, I hope you do not have to deal with such decisions for a very long time if I can help it. I was simply planning to put them all under a multi-month stasis spell and drop them off at your ministry. I¡¯m sure they will find a new prison to keep them at if given some time to prepare.¡±

    ¡°Azkaban is the only one,¡± Ginny argued, ¡°No one escapes there, the Ministry doesn¡¯t have any other prisons for people.¡±

    Balthazar frowned. ¡°That is rather inhumane,¡± He said, ¡°They just throw people into an island infused with dark magic and let them be fed upon by creatures like the Dementors? What if they were innocent?¡±

    ¡°Er, well. Yeah, it¡¯s really bad.¡± Ginny agreed, ¡°Everyone¡¯s really scared of going there. For obvious reasons¡­¡±

    ¡°Well, perhaps we¡¯re doing your people a favor then. They can construct better prisons once the inhumane option is taken away from them by us. I¡¯ll up the stasis for the criminals to a full year just to be safe so there¡¯s plenty of time for your government to build a new prison. Is that acceptable?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I guess? I¡¯m not sure how I feel about this. Just invading some place no matter how horrible and claiming it. Aren¡¯t we taking land from the government?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Would you like us to pay them for it?¡±

    ¡°What? We can do that?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We have plenty of gold in our vaults here in Teregatt. We¡¯ll ask for their price in gold bars, and then give them even more than whatever outrageous amount they choose. I¡¯m sure your government will be more than happy to be rid of the island.¡±

    ¡°Wait, you have money?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°I can use that to help my family!¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course. But it would be best to not use them until we are properly settled on this world. We don¡¯t want people to worry about your sudden source of new wealth,¡± Balthazar gently chided.

    ¡°Oh. Right. But that sounds like a pretty good plan so far. How would I get to Azkaban though? I¡¯m just a random first year Hogwarts student. I can¡¯t travel or even apparate yet if I wanted to go there.¡±

    ¡°Ask Fawkes,¡± Balthazar stated, ¡°He can take you through his flames if he¡¯s been there before. Perhaps Dumbledore has taken him there in the past.¡±

    ¡°He can carry me through those?¡± Ginny asked blankly.

    ¡°Yes. I believe so, even if it might be more exhausting for him to do so,¡± Balthazar confirmed.

    ¡°Well, that all sounds good. I¡¯ve got a few weeks before Fawkes regenerates his body and I can ask him about it. So I should do it over the summer then?¡±

    ¡°That would make the most sense,¡± Balthazar agreed, ¡°All you will have to do is go to Azkaban with Fawkes, stand by as I open the portal, then have Fawkes take you away again. Your loyal subjects will handle all the rest.¡±

    ¡°If it helps you and Teregatt, helps Olivia, and stops the Ministry from putting people on the horrible island then it must be the right thing to do, right?¡±

    ¡°I believe so. It will be interesting to finally meet you in the flesh, my queen.¡±

    ¡°Now, that¡¯s something strange to think about. I could come to this place in my real body.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°Would you like to keep training your telekinesis now that we have some extra time?¡±

    ¡°Sounds good. Next time Fate attacks me with a werewolf I want to be able to not have to run away in fear again.¡±

    ¡°A worthy goal. Let¡¯s do our best to make that a reality.¡±

 Chapter 38: The Battle for Azkaban

    Ginny was surprised that the werewolf that had attacked her was actually professor Lupin! He had put another student under the imperius curse and forced them to cast the killing curse at Fawkes. The curse had broken when Lupin had died, letting the hufflepuff boy go to the teachers and tell them what had happened.

    Lupin had acted strangely ever since Christmas, but Ginny hadn¡¯t made the connection between him and the werewolf. She felt a little sorry for him. It wasn¡¯t his fault that Fate had been manipulating him, yet everyone kept talking like he was the worst person ever.

    Oddly enough, after the Auror investigation was done, they somehow ended up blaming Pettigrew for everything again. Ginny couldn¡¯t quite figure out how they had come to that conclusion. Somehow he had been working with Lupin to kidnap Ginny, and when they had a disagreement Pettigrew had decided to just kill Lupin?

    It wasn¡¯t exactly clear what Pettigrew¡¯s actual goal was supposed to be since he supposedly left Ginny behind untouched after killing Lupin. Luckily Ginny hadn¡¯t been named in the report, so only her roommates and her friends knew that she was the one involved. Her roommates had been nice enough to keep their mouths shut about it, much to Ginny¡¯s surprise. She had thought that they¡¯d blab about as soon as they could, but apparently not.

    The theory with Pettigrew from the Aurors seemed far-fetched, but everyone seemed to accept that explanation, even Ginny¡¯s friends. Alexa and Jack had been worried about her, but things had somewhat settled back to their normal routine after they determined that she hadn¡¯t been hurt. Olivia hadn¡¯t returned to school, still waiting for confirmation if she was a werewolf or not in a few weeks.

    Once people discovered that Lupin was a werewolf, everyone started talking differently about him. Of course he was working with Pettigrew. Of course he was only at the school for some nefarious goal. Of course he was a violent maniac hiding behind his calm teacher facade all year. Even the people who had praised his teaching all year were bad mouthing him whenever he was brought up.

    It left a bad taste in Ginny¡¯s mouth. Was Olivia right? Would people treat her this way if she became a werewolf? No wonder why she was depressed. But Ginny would fix it. Olivia would only have to deal with it for two or three months until the summer, and then Balthazar would be able to see her and fix it.

    If anyone could do it then Balthazar could.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Final exams came and went, with everyone furiously studying for exams there wasn¡¯t any time for more gossip in the days leading up to it. Ginny was back home after saying goodbye to her friends. Fawkes had regenerated himself two weeks ago. When Ginny talked with him he was indignant after verifying quickly that Ginny was in good health still. He wasn¡¯t annoyed because he was attacked. He was annoyed because he had lost multiple weeks where he could have been stuffing his beak with food. And all the energy he ¡®wasted¡¯ regenerating his body after his last body was killed.

    When Ginny met with him to make sure he was okay, he kept complaining nonstop about how wasteful it all was. He had only stopped when her friends had started giggling a bit at his trilling, chirping, and hopping around so much as they watched on from the side.

    Fawkes had calmed down a bit after that, but kept grumbling about the whole thing even as it was the last day and Ginny was about to leave for the Hogwarts express.

    After getting to King¡¯s cross station, Ginny promised her friends that she¡¯d write lots of letters to them over the summer and that she¡¯d keep exercising for Alexa. Then they parted ways and Ginny was back at the burrow. Fawkes was already there, sitting on his bird stand in her room when she went inside.

    Ginny waited a week to relax with her family and settle back at the Burrow. Molly had been making an effort to be nice to Ginny, so things weren¡¯t as tense as they usually were between the two of them.

    But the week was over now. Ginny had sent out her first round of letters to her friends, and last night had given Balthazar permission to observe her position and create the portal around her when it was time. She¡¯d do it tonight just before bed. Fawkes had already confirmed that he could get her in, although he was still a little grumpy that he couldn¡¯t eat as much now that he was staying with her family for the summer.

    Ginny had to praise him for over five minutes before he reluctantly agreed to take her to and from Azkaban after she told him the plan. She was nervous all day, barely speaking except when she had to.

    She stared at Fawkes, the sun having just set and her standing in her room. ¡°Alright, Fawkes,¡± She said, ¡°This is it. It¡¯s really happening.¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure. It¡¯s the only way to help Olivia. And if Teregatt gets more energy then I¡¯m sure I can do all sorts of other things too that I don¡¯t even know about yet.¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°That¡¯s it. Just take me there, Balthazar will open the portal, then we leave. He¡¯ll do everything else.¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s go then.¡±

    She looked into the thin air above her. ¡°Alright, Balthazar,¡± Ginny said, ¡°We¡¯re going now.¡±

    She walked forward up to Fawkes'' birdstand. Fawkes bobbed his head up and down for a moment before leaping into the air. He flapped his wings and hovered over Ginny for an instant before Ginny¡¯s world was filled with bright orange flames. When the flames died down she immediately felt chilly and hopeless. All the happiness began quickly draining from the world as she looked around her.

    She was standing on the center of a circular stone platform in the center of a raised courtyard. Giant waves crashed onto the black jagged rocks where the courtyard ended and plunged hundreds of feet down to the choppy ocean below. Sprays of freezing mist sprayed onto Ginny¡¯s face even from this height as she looked around to the imposing black castle and menacing walls surrounding her. There were five Dementors floating around above the walls, and all of them turned to look at her on arrival.

    Ginny felt the despair and hopelessness from the dementors'' aura push into her and try to drain every ounce of her happiness from her. It had only been a few seconds, but Ginny was already feeling like she¡¯d never be happy again.

    Red sparks appeared from the air in front of her, almost like someone using a flint and steel to light a fire. The sparks continued and grew stronger as the seconds passed and the surrounding dementors started drifting towards her, their heads all pointed at her as they circled around threateningly.

    Finally, the red sparks looked like they caught and with a *whumpf* of displaced air, a ten foot tall ovular red portal sprung into existence in front of her. It swirled and crackled like it was made of red lightning, growing and shrinking as if continually fighting against the world attempting to shut it. The dementors shied back as the portal appeared and the power of their aura diminished briefly.

    Balthazar stepped out of the portal, the same as he had ever been in Teregatt. He was smiling widely as he looked around Azkaban. He was much more intimidating than he was when she met with him in Teregatt. Ginny held her breath as Balthazar¡¯s gaze fell on her. He waited for a breath and then nodded to her.

    ¡°A pleasure to finally meet you in the flesh, my Queen,¡± He said, ¡°Your loyal subjects will take it from here. I will not be in Teregatt for a time, but feel free to practice your magic as best as you can on your own.¡±

    One of the insect soldiers in their armor and bone swords held in their grip stepped out of the portal.

    ¡°N-Nice to meet you too, Balthazar,¡± Ginny stammered, ¡°Good luck.¡±

    Another insect soldier emerged directly after the last one, looking almost identical to the last one. The Guard Balthazar had called long ago for Harry¡¯s funeral in Teregatt.

    The first member of the Guard¡¯s armor began to glow with a white light as it stood stock still for a moment. With a loud crack, it was sent flying into the air as if launched from a cannon upwards towards the castle walls surrounding them on three sides, with the cliff down to the ocean waves on the other.

    It flew through the air until it was just over the wall where its armor flashed white again and it stopped its momentum in place and fell down to the stone on top of the wall and out of sight. The next Guard in line did the same, launching itself towards the wall on the other side as another emerged from the portal.

    ¡°We have it handled,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°Time for you to go. The fighting will begin soon.¡±

    Ginny nodded and Fawkes flew over her and she saw another member of the Guard launch itself into the air as Fawkes flames surrounded her and brought her back to her bedroom. She laid down in bed and Fawkes settled back onto his birdstand. She got in bed and stared at the ceiling with wide eyes, unable to stop her mind racing from wondering what was happening at Azkaban right now.

    Eventually after tossing and turning, she managed to finally fall asleep. For once she didn¡¯t enter Teregatt as she slept. She just wanted the time to pass so she would know if Balthazar was successful or not. Practicing magic by herself in Teregatt just sounded like it would be even more stressful as she waited for Balthazar to do what he had to do¡­

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°Got your paper, Rookwood,¡± the guard outside said. Rookwood walked to the edge of his cell and accepted the newspaper through the bars. Being rich had its advantages even in prison. He was arrested as a convicted Death Eater and follower of Lord Voldemort of course. But his family hadn¡¯t been, and they were able to pay a few bribes here and there to make sure that things were a little more comfortable for Rookwood¡¯s life sentence imprisonment in this place.

    With the dementors and dingy cells they were kept in, even something as simple as being able to read the paper helped one maintain one¡¯s sanity. Rookwood unfolded the paper and started reading every word leisurely while taking his time. The guard waited for a moment before starting to walk off. He would return in a few hours for Rookwood to return the paper. He wasn¡¯t allowed to have anything in his cells, so he had to return the newspaper back to the bribed guard when he was finished with it.

    He suddenly looked up as there was a loud crunch and the sound of splintering wood down the hallway. Murmurs and whispers echoed throughout the hallways and the prisoners rushed to the bars of their cells and pressed their faces against them, trying to see what had caused the commotion. Rookwood couldn¡¯t see what was happening, but the prisoners nearer to the door were shouting incoherently.

    ¡°What the¡ª Back, freak! Reducto!¡± The guard cast. There was the loud buzzing of an insect that reverberated through the hallways and then a heavy thunk of something hard on flesh and the sound of a spell hitting stone.

    The guard let out a heavy grunt and fell to the floor, a wooden clatter sounding out as the man must have dropped his wand. The shouts died down as the prisoners who had watched the confrontation went largely silent and murmured softly in fear. Rookwood craned his face to the side to see what was happening through the bars. There were heavy footsteps that shook the floor approaching down the hallway. Several of the prisoners shouted and swore as the heavy footsteps approached down the hallway. But most went silent, too afraid to speak.

    The hulking figure came into view and Rookwood flinched back and gasped as he saw it. It was wearing a massive suit of metal armor covering every inch of its form, except for the open lower jaw. The mandibles and insect parts sticking out of the plate clicked and shifted as the armored figure kept moving down the hallway while ignoring the cells to either side.

    It hefted a large sword made of a bone material covered in reddish runes like none that Rookwood had ever seen before. The runes themselves seemed to squirm and shift even as he looked at them. Rookwood drew back and stood as still as he could as the figure walked by. Boom, boom, boom. The lizard part of his brain curling up in fear in the presence of a predator. Each heavy footstep shook the floor as the creature walked along with its sword held at the ready in its gauntleted hands.

    Rookwood didn¡¯t make a sound as the figure kept walking past without pause. When it had turned the corner and he was sure it was out of sight, he rushed to the wall of his cell and desperately scrabbled at a certain brick in the black and moldy wall. After a few heaves with his weak arms, Rookwood pulled the brick loose in a spray of dust and dirt and turned it over to reveal that it was hollow on one side. He reached inside and pulled out the wand that felt warm in his hand as his magic connected to it. He¡¯d been preparing for his escape for years, his family had just barely managed to sneak the wand to him without getting caught by one of the honest guards.

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Even the bribed guards couldn¡¯t know what they¡¯d given him. They would only let themselves be bribed so far before they reported anything to the warden.

    If Azkaban was being taken over by inhuman monsters, then it was best for Rookwood to escape in the chaos while he still could. At least the guards held back the Dementors from consuming all of their souls. Who knew what these new creatures would do? He shuddered as he remembered the squirming red runes and the inhuman insect mandibles on the armored creature.

    Who knew what they wanted with the prisoners? This was his chance to escape!

    He pointed his wand at the door to his cell and cast a quick charm. With a click, the cell unlocked. If he could just get to the apparition platform on the exterior courtyard, then he could apparate back to Britain and finally be free!

    Apparition was blocked across the rest of this blasted island, otherwise Rookwood would have escaped with this wand months ago.

    Rookwood ran forward towards the downed guard and quickly picked up the wand that had rolled a foot away from the man lying face down on the floor. As Rookwood leaned over, he noticed that the guard was still breathing softly, only unconscious. That only made Rookwood more nervous. What would these creatures want them alive for?

    He straightened up with one wand in each hand and started running to the shattered frame of the wooden door, ignoring the cries of the other prisoners in the cells on each side of him.

    ¡°Wait!¡± One shrill woman''s voice pierced through the rest, ¡°I can help you! You need my skills to escape!¡±

    Rookwood paused and the shouts only grew louder around him as the rest of the prisoners clamored around him and whispered fiercely, all too frightened by the inhuman figure to resort to outright shouting and risk it returning. Rookwood glanced behind him and there was no sign of the creature. It had rounded the corner and continued deeper into the building. But it could come back any moment, there was no time to hesitate. He didn¡¯t need a second wand either way, and she was a skilled duelist. Better than him. It was worth the risk.

    ¡°Fine,¡± He said and quickly cast a charm to unlock the cell of Bellatrix Lestrange. The woman emerged from her cell eyes crazed and her black hair sticking every which way. Her prison robes clung to her thin frame even as she smiled as she stepped forward out of her cell.

    Rookwood took the guard''s wand and quickly handed it to her. She snatched it from him like a starving animal, holding it and stroking the wood lovingly for a moment as if it was a long lost friend.

    ¡°There¡¯s no time for that!¡± Rookwood whispered urgently, ¡°We have to get to the apparition platform now. Before that creature comes back!¡±

    Bellatrix turned her crazed eyes to him, looking angered. But as she processed his words, her eyes flashed with fear and she quickly nodded without saying anything after a quick glance in the direction the creature had disappeared off to.

    Rookwood and Bellatrix charged out the shattered door into a world of chaos.

    The armor of more of the armored insect men outside flashed brightly as they dashed and stopped on a dime with bright white flashes of their armor. Hundreds of dementors were flying around the castle and circling and darting in to attack the creatures whenever they stopped moving for even a single instant.

    In addition to using their aura to visibly weaken the creatures, the gathered Dementors had started forming balls of roiling shadow between their gray hands and launching them at the armored figures as they fought. Rookwood counted at least fifteen of the strange creatures fighting, but there could have been more. They were moving too fast around to properly count them. The armored figures leaped and twirled to dodge with flexibility that shouldn¡¯t be possible in such bulky metal armor, but wherever the shadow balls landed on them their armor flashed with magic, the metal appearing to corrode and rust in moments before repairing the damage again in bright flashes of magic.

    Bellatrix and Rookwood could only watch in disbelief as the armored figures launched themselves through several flying groups of Dementors over and over like sharks through a school of fish. The armored figure¡¯s bone swords glowed a deep red as they lashed out with their blades even as they flew through the air. All of them were fighting dozens of dementors each, with none even significantly injured yet from what Rookwood could tell.

    Suddenly a Dementor swooped down from above and loomed over the two of them and breathed in deeply.

    It raised an arm shrouded in deep roiling shadow to point it towards them. The same attack that had partially rusted the enchanted armors of the insect creatures was about to be launched at their bare flesh.

    Rookwood and Bellatrix cast their reflexive dark curses at the Dementor, but neither did anything, the spells unraveling as the Dementor shifted its arm so their charms were absorbed into the growing ball of shadow that it held at the end of its left hand.

    The shadow ball stopped growing and the Dementor adjusted its arm so the shadow ball was facing towards Rookwood. He tensed and prepared to dodge, but before he could move there was a rush of wind and an explosive burst of air just in front of him that caused him to flinch and crouch down instinctively.

    When Rookwood glanced up the armored figure that had appeared in front of him was already slashing with its red sword again. In a flurry of blows it sliced through the Dementor over six more times, the sword glowing blood red each time it touched the Dementor. The blade cut through the Dementor easily, but after it finished passing through a burst of shadow would expand from the wound and the Dementor would be healed from the attack in moments, the two severed segments of the dark creature sewing themselves back together and healing again.

    At the seventh slash, the shadow healing only partially healed the wound. The eighth horizontal slash sliced the Dementor in two and the creature dissolved into dark mist that disappeared into nothing in moments.

    The armored figure slightly turned its head to glance at the two frozen humans before looking back up into the sky. Its armor flashed bright white again and it launched into the air again to fly through another group of flying Dementors and rejoin its fellows in the main battle, slashing through over a dozen of Dementors with its sword as it blasted through another group of them at high speed.

    ¡°Move!¡± Bellatrix screamed at Rookwood before she started running towards the exit. Rookwood quickly went to follow, jolted out of his shock by her voice. They were on the upper courtyard right now. They had to get into the walls and find the staircase down and get to the bottom courtyard where the apparition platform and their exit was.

    Rookwood stumbled to the side as a ball of shadow landed a few meters to his right, hitting the stone. In an instant the ground shriveled and withered, the stones crumbling to dust and everything being eaten away by the corrosive shadow. He kept running, glancing back and seeing that the Dementors were still busy fighting the armored figures. It seems it had just been a stray shot that had come their way. The place where the shadow ball had landed was a circular hole nearly a foot deep, carved directly into the cobblestones. Rookwood gulped and turned back around and kept moving.

    Rookwood kept running, Bellatrix beginning to pull ahead. She lifted her wand, still running as they approached the barred wooden door. The heavy doors sat at the base of the towering walls looming over them from all sides and boxing in the upper courtyard.

    ¡°BOMBARDA!¡± She screamed and a spell launched from the tip of her wand and exploded, reducing the door to wooden splinters.

    The woman dived through and revealed an empty guard room behind it. Rookwood¡¯s chest heaved in exertion, but he pushed to catch up just before Bellatrix reached the stairwell. The stairs went up to the top of the walls and down far below to the lower courtyard. Rookwood turned to the right to go down.

    Bellatrix turned left and started running up the stairs.

    ¡°Bellatrix!¡± Rookwood asked in a panic, ¡°What are you doing?!¡±

    ¡°Up, you fool!¡± Bellatrix snapped, ¡°There¡¯s no time, we have to go down the fast way! And we do that by going up!¡±

    She kept running and after a moment¡¯s hesitation, Rookwood followed after her. Rookwood had a cramp and was having trouble breathing by the time the two of them reached the top of the wall.

    ¡°BOMBARDA!¡±

    Bellatrix didn¡¯t hesitate to blast the door at the top open rather than taking the time to open it. She rushed through with Rookwood close behind her.

    ¡°Remember your leviation chaaaaaaarrrrmmss!¡± Bellatrix screamed as she charged to the edge of the wall and dived over the edge of the crenelations into thin air. She dived over the edge head first without any hesitation as she shouted. Rookwood stopped and took a few deep breaths and mentally tried to force himself to just do it. To jump over the edge into a drop from who knows how high.

    Rookwood suddenly snapped his head to the side and saw a Dementor descending from above, its gray arm lifted towards him with an orb shadow prepared to launch at him. His eyes widened as he remembered what the shadow ball had done to the ground before. What would those do to a person, to him, if it landed?

    He ran forward and leapt over the edge of the wall and started falling with the sheer wall of stone flying by behind him. He was tumbling over and over in the air, spinning every which way with the sound of rushing wind pounding in his ears. Everything was dark and Rookwood was confused as he fumbled with his stolen wand and held it as far from him as he could.

    ¡°Wingardium Leviosa!¡± He chanted while pointing the wand at his robes. With a jolt, Rookwood started slowing down rapidly. But his speed was too much and after a single instant, the charm failed and he was falling again.

    ¡°Win-Wingardium Leviosssa!¡± Rookwood stammered in a panic as he cast the charm again, still flipping around and uncertain how far he was from the ground. He slowed again, almost to a stop before the charm failed again and he kept dropping.

    ¡°Wingardium Leviosa!¡± He quickly cast again and after he kept falling for another moment he halted in mid-air. Or his prison robes did. They were ripped and torn, nearly ripped open from taking the force of stopping the fall. Rookwood sweat nervously as he looked down. He was still another twenty meters from the ground even after that. He could only hope that his clothes could handle one more fall.

    He canceled the charm and let himself fall again until he was less than five meters from the ground.

    ¡°Wingardium Leviosa!¡±

    He stopped just two meters off the ground, floating in place. He took a shuddering breath and canceled the hover charm, allowing himself to fall to the coarse dirt below.

    He stumbled onto all fours from the small fall and cut his knee slightly on the ground. He looked up and saw Bellatrix already halfway across the courtyard. In the exact center of the space was a bright red ovular rippling blob of magical energy.

    Bellatrix diverted and was running around the edge of the courtyard, taking a wide berth of the guardian of the red portal. The creature had bright red skin, large horns, and batlike wings on its back. A devil. It was fighting over a hundred dementors at once with conjured spears of reddish flame and beams of bright light that could dissolve a dementor with a single strike when it struck. Purple barriers appeared from thin air all around the guardian and red mass of magical energy, blocking every single shadow ball that was being thrown at it with pinpoint precision before disappearing again.

    Rookwood stood and started running forward, limping slightly on his knee that clicked as it moved now. Nothing that a healing spell wouldn¡¯t fix, but he didn¡¯t have time. He had to escape before the guardian moved or the Dementors or other invaders won their battle and turned their attention to the humans.

    He circled the other side of the courtyard as Bellatrix had gone, the Dementors and the guardian too focused on combating each other to worry about attacking him or Bellatrix.

    Bellatrix was nearly at the circular platform of whitish stone by the cliff¡¯s edge now. She sprinted forward and with a cry of victory leapt forward and disappeared in a crack of displaced air that Rookwood could only barely hear over all the other sounds of battle around him.

    Rookwood kept running around the edge of the courtyard at his top speed hobbling on his injured leg. Shadow balls landed in the dirt around him in an endless barrage. Even as the guardian slaughtered the Dementors in droves, more and more of them arrived to swirl and attack the guardian like a swarm of wasps attacking from all sides.

    ¡®Ecraz, Ecraz, Ecraz,¡¯

    A chorus of hundreds of voices suddenly spoke as one, their tones filled with awe and worship as they spoke. The Dementors.

    ¡®Ecraz, Ecraz, Ecraz,¡¯

    Rookwood felt his heart leap into his throat as he ran as fast as he could on his limping leg towards the ring of bright stone that represented his salvation. He could feel something tingling down his spine as a sense of foreboding built within him.

    ¡®Ecraz, Ecraz, Ecraz!¡¯

    The voices grew to a fevered pitch, the telepathic voices of the Dementors growing more and more excited as they continued.

    Rookwood was so close to the platform, only a few steps away from the edge.

    The Dementors went silent and suddenly everything went unnaturally silent as if all sound had been drained from the world around Rookwood.

    A massive gray featureless head suddenly appeared, rising from the edge of the cliff and flying upwards. Rookwood kept charging, so close to the edge of the platform that he could almost taste it¡­

    He looked up to the massive Dementor looming over him and casting a massive shadow over him. It was titanic, over fifty feet tall as it floated just by the cliff¡¯s edge, its head pointed straight at the guardian of the red portal.

    ¡®ECRAAAAAZZZZZ!!!¡¯

    The surrounding Dementors cheered as one in Rookwood¡¯s mind as the massive Dementor started breathing in deeply through its circular mouth and releasing its aura in billowing clouds to cover the whole area.

    Rookwood leapt forward as his vision suddenly grew dim and he started to struggle to remember why he had even wanted to escape in the first place. Everything was just so hopeless, wasn¡¯t it? Why even bother doing anything?

    His body crossed the border, and it lit a spark of hope that lit a fire within him. Ecraz¡¯s aura instantly pressed inwards to crush that spark ruthlessly, but it was enough for Rookwood to become aware enough to wave his wand and apparate away.

    Instantly everything was brighter and there was real light coming from around him. He almost cried as he realized that he wasn¡¯t in Azkaban any more. He sat up and realized the whole area was embroiled in chaos. Aurors and Ministry employees ran every which way in a panic, three dead bodies scattered around the place. Bellatrix likely making good on her escape. They were in the heart of the Ministry itself at the moment.

    Rookwood took a shuddering breath and lifted his new wand again as he noticed the eyes of the nearby Aurors turn to him, noticing his arrival finally through all the commotion. Several of them shouted and raised their wands, but Rookwood managed to apparate again and in the next moment he was on the front stoop of his family estate.

    One more time, he apparated away into a random muggle farmer¡¯s field to escape. They would expect him to return to the estate, he couldn¡¯t stay there.

    He had much to do to hide himself and work on making sure he was never returned to Azkaban no matter what. Every moment was critical.

    But Rookwood didn¡¯t care. He laid back into the grass of the field and stared into the open night sky with not a single dark cloud to block his view or a dementor¡¯s Aura pressing down on him for the first time in over ten years.

    And then he started laughing. He was free. He was finally free.

    Bellatrix could continue with her ideology and quest to find the Dark Lord Voldemort wherever he was ¡®recovering¡¯ from his wounds. Rookwood was going to savor his freedom instead. He had thought that he had chosen the winning side ten years ago.

    He had been wrong. He wouldn¡¯t be wrong again. He¡¯d flee to America. His laughter slowed into coughs and hacks as his malnourished body punished him for his laughter.

    Yes, America. He¡¯d restart there. Leave this miserable country behind him.

    Bellatrix could obsess over Voldemort. Rookwood had better things to worry about. Like America. East or west coast? He wanted to be by the beach. Ah, these were the types of decisions he wanted to be making¡­

    Rookwood kept staring at the stars, fantasizing about his new life that was waiting for him.

    It was the best that he¡¯d felt in years.

 Chapter 39: Ecraz

    The battle paused for a moment as a massive Dementor appeared from the edge of the cliff. These Dementors were surprisingly hard to kill, Balthazar was forced to increase the magical power he was injecting into his constructs and beams of light to kill them. More than he did so for most of the enemies he had faced in the past. Otherwise they would reform themselves and resume their assault on him and Teregatt¡¯s forces in moments.

    Even now the Guard leapt through the air in the distance, picking off the straggling Dementors and knocking out the human guards while leaving the main force to Balthazar alone. Only the Guard was leading the assault with Balthazar, the rest of the residents were weaker and might die if taken by surprise by a group of Dementors.

    ¡®Intruder. Azkaban belongs to me,¡¯ The large Dementor said warily in Balthazar¡¯s mind, likely sensing Balthazar¡¯s power, ¡®Leave now with your forces, or prepare to be destroyed by me and my glorious creations.¡¯

    ¡°Curious,¡± Balthazar said calmly as he mentally considered what spells would be best applied to this foe. This creature was far above the other Dementors in power, and Balthazar would have to be careful to not grow overconfident in case it had any hidden trump cards or abilities it could use.

    ¡°Ecraz, I presume? Interesting that you chose to join your creations in their miserable state. Unfortunately negotiation is not on the table for today. Prepare to die.¡±

    Balthazar drew deeply on Teregatt¡¯s energies to refill his natural reservoir of magic. Teregatt was drained from the creation of the portal, but even now it regenerated itself. Greedily drinking in the magic of this island like a man left in the desert for days without water. It had to digest that energy of course, not all of it was available for use right now. But a small trickle of it was still steadily building.

    Balthazar could afford to be a little wasteful with the emergency reserves of Teregatt''s energy to deal with these Dementors decisively.

    ¡®Dementors! Attack!¡¯ Ecraz called as it created a massive orb of shadow and corrosion between its massive hands that launched towards the portal.

    Balthazar heard a chittering and buzz sound out in his mind. He shook his head as he replied to the captain of the Guard.

    ¡®Keep on task,¡¯ He ordered mentally, ¡®I will handle them myself.¡¯

    The Dementors launched their balls of corrosion at Balthazar and the portal all at once. Most were nothing to Balthazar. Barely even noticeable as he blocked them with pinpoint purple barriers that he summoned and dismissed effortlessly. But the shadow ball from Ecraz was something different.

    The sheer quantity of magic contained in the spell resisted and corroded through the dozens of purple barriers that Balthazar summoned to block it. It was heading straight towards the red portal to Teregatt, seeking to destabilize the connection and lock Balthazar and the Guard in this world with no way back. And more importantly, stop Teregatt¡¯s influx of new energy to recoup the investment in creating the portal.

    Balthazar finished the spells he was preparing and used a quick burst of telekinesis to align himself so the Shadow ball was perfectly blocking Ecraz¡¯s view of him.

    From between his hands he summoned a glowing ball of light and pumped more and more magic into it until his arms were shaking slightly as they contained the orb of shining light.

    The Shadow ball continued towards the now undefended portal, Balthazar now to the side and no longer standing in its way.

    Moments before impact, Balthazar finally released his spell and shot a massive beam of light wider than his torso by pushing his arms straight forward.

    The beam lanced into the shadow ball, only being stopped for a moment before the beam pierced through and dissipated the opposing spell into strands of corrosive black mist that fell to the ground and started eating away at the cobblestones just next to the portal.

    The beam of light continued through the shadow ball to land on Ecraz¡¯s massive form. The creature screeched as the beam scorched its cloak and gray flesh. In a burst of magic, the darkness flowed across its form into a shadowy shield that pushed Balthazar¡¯s beam back. But only just.

    Balthazar shifted his hands to play the beam across Ecraz¡¯s body, searing away the darkness and gray flesh wherever it touched, the burns healing as the Dementor¡¯s form stitched itself back together whenever the beam wasn¡¯t touching it.

    Ecraz shifted its shield of shadow in an attempt to block Balthazar¡¯s sweeping beam, but it was just a hair behind, Balthazar pouring on the damage as he continued to pump his magic into the beam even as he kept using the purple shields to block the attacks by the swarms of lesser Dementors.

    ¡®Creations! It is time! Feed me the collected souls!¡¯ Ecraz shouted telepathically in desperation as some of its wounds and burns started healing at a slower pace. These creatures were truly resilient to be able to take so much damage before dispersing. The smaller ones evaporated almost instantly when Balthazar had struck them with beams less than a tenth as powerful as this one.

    The Dementors around Balthazar stopped their fruitless assault on him and turned to dive at Ecraz at the large Dementor¡¯s orders. They swirled around the creature, their bodies heaving as if a bird regurgitating food for its young. After a few seconds, the first bright pinprick of light left the mouths of the Dementor and shot into Ecraz¡¯s body. In an instant, the wounds on the large Dementor¡¯s body healed in an instant and it grew fractionally in size.

    Small Dementor after Dementor swirled around and shot little points of light into Ecraz, causing the creature to grow in size and for the shadows swirling around it to darken and become ever more corrosive to Balthazar¡¯s magic senses.

    His beam kept damaging Ecraz, but the constant influx of souls and the creature¡¯s increasing power was undoing all of his efforts. More Dementors flew in from all over the island of Azkaban to contribute their collected souls to Ecraz. An Ecraz that had stopped defending from Balthazar¡¯s beam entirely and was over eighty feet tall now as it floated above the cliff¡¯s edge.

    The shadows grew darker and darker around Ecraz until something qualitative changed about them and they became like a void to sight, magic, to everything. Balthazar¡¯s eyes widened as even his beam of light was absorbed effortlessly by the void surrounding the motionless Ecraz. He immediately stopped his attack as gale force winds poured inwards from all sides from the humanoid black hole floating there with only the vague impression of a cloak hanging off of it.

    Balthazar gauged Teregatt¡¯s magical energy. If he did this, then he¡¯d be pulling on the reserves. The very bottom of the reserves. If the portal was destroyed then there was truly no hope for Teregatt ever recovering its energy. It would waste away and in time be inevitably swallowed by the void as well as everyone that was there. Balthazar only hesitated for a moment before continuing. This was becoming far too dangerous already. He had to stop Ecraz before it brute forced itself to demigodhood and became far more dangerous within its home domain. Azkaban as the domain that Ecraz likely had prepared for centuries to accept it as the island''s master.

    Balthazar drew on Teregatt¡¯s energies without regard for the waste and lifted his arms to the sky.

    ¡®Return and defend me,¡¯ Balthazar sent telepathically to the Guard, ¡®I will handle the rest of them with this.¡¯

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡®Attack, creations!¡¯ Ecraz¡¯s voice rang out from the featureless void, ¡®Charge the creature! We shall have victory when my Ascension completes!¡¯

    All the gathered Dementors charged towards Balthazar as one, arms outstretched. Without the captured souls to power their spells, none of the Dementors summoned the corrosive darkness or shadow balls. Instead they charged using solely their bodies in a hope to delay him.

    Balthazar did not flinch and move to defend himself, instead continuing to weave his spell, preparing for his grand spell with all of his attention and focus.

    With the whistle of air and heavy booms, the Guard came flying down from the castle above at full speed, their red swords held at the ready. All thirty of them flew through the onrushing mob of lesser Dementors, holding them back and stopping just before they hit the ground with bright white flashes on their armor.

    They formed two rings of defense around Balthazar and the portal. The eleven strongest of the Guard and their captain circled Balthazar and the portal directly on defense. The remaining eighteen that were weaker formed a looser formation farther out like points on a star.

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    Every one of the guards landed in place on the ground all within a second of each other. As soon as their momentum stopped with the white flashes and they fell the last few feet to the ground, their armors flashed white again.

    The outer ring launched themselves up at an angle to strike out into the main mass of Dementors and break up the clumps of them. As soon as they left the main mass of the creatures, their armor flashed twice with white light in quick succession. Once to stop them in mid-air, and again to send them launched back down through another thick clump of Dementors that had formed.

    What had been a unified charge from all sides at Balthazar quickly devolved into chaos and confusion as the Dementors bumped into each other dodging the Guard¡¯s blades, creating thick masses of the creatures that grouped and dispersed like crashing waves. The outer Guard struck through them over and over, keeping them disorganized as they passed through the crowd over and over, their swords swinging endlessly the whole way.

    The inner ring of Guards were untouched, the Dementors that managed to press forward to attack in the chaos being shredded by the strong Guard in the inner defensive ring. The inner guard would launch themselves upwards directly in front of the approaching Dementors, flash white to pause, slash ten or more times in an instant to cause the creature to disperse, before flashing again to fly towards the next Dementor.

    With so many creatures attacking at once, even the Guard were pressed in with the sheer numbers as more Dementors arrived from across the island even as the Guard killed more. Hundreds, thousands, however many there were the air was filled with them. All pressing in on each other to stop Balthazar as he worked the grand spell.

    The floating void of Ecraz did nothing but float there, too deep in the Ascension process to demigod to be able to participate in the fight just yet.

    Balthazar ignored his surroundings as a Dementor came within ten feet of him before the Captain of the Guard leapt in and dealt with it, its armor passing barely a few feet from Balthazar¡¯s face.

    His spell was nearly complete. It was now a race against time. Who would finish first? Balthazar¡¯s grand spell using the last energies of Teregatt? Or Ercaz¡¯s Ascension?

    More and more Dementors managed to push through the guards and flew towards Balthazar with their gray skeletal arms extended out towards him. The Captain of the Guard fought them all off at once, flashing around almost directly in front of Balthazar and destroying some Dementors with their arms only feet from Balthazar.

    The void darkened and Balthazar kept constructing his spell.

    ¡°Ha!¡± Balthazar shouted before with a pulse of magic he launched his spell into the sky. The spell was a perfectly circular mirror, the images of the dark clouds and ground below rippling across it as it flew directly upwards.

    Balthazar smiled and watched the spell. After it reached a thousand feet high, it rippled and spat out dozens of smaller flat pieces of mirror around it. The mirror fragments shot out into a loose ring, before freezing in place in the air under the power of the spell. Balthazar¡¯s main spell kept traveling straight upwards like a rocket and kept shedding more and more floating fragments of mirrors that expanded around it like an ever growing cone with the point of it facing down towards them.

    Another Dementor¡¯s gray hand nearly touched Balthazar, but he didn¡¯t move as the Captain of the Guard dealt with it and sliced through the creature and dissipated with a series of precise blade strikes that passed barely a few inches from Balthazar¡¯s nose. Balthazar barely even noticed, still too busy staring into the sky and watching the spell continue its progress upwards. It was barely visible and Balthazar absentmindedly cast a farsight spell to magnify his vision so he could keep track of the spell as it continued flying upwards and deploying itself.

    The main projectile¡¯s magic was quickly being drained as the higher it flew the more and more mirror fragments it released to form the ever growing rings in the sky. The gloomy island started brightening slightly as if sunrise had just come after a long gloomy night.

    The spell continued upward, dwindling in size and leaving the floating shards behind loosely floating in place and held in the air by the small amounts of magic within them. All of the mirrors had minuscule threads of magic connecting them to a single thread that the main projectile kept releasing behind it even now as it moved up, like an unspooling thread left behind it. A thread that went from the top all the way from the flying projectile high in the sky and directly down into Balthazar¡¯s body. All the small mirrors had their own minuscule threads of magic connected to that central line to Balthazar. It looked like an odd sort of tree of sorts, Balthazar mused.

    The projectile finally dissipated, releasing a last burst of mirrors at its peak near the edge of the vacuum of space above this world.

    The humanoid void of Ecraz twitched and its arms began to move as waves of corrosive shadow began billowing out of its form to consume everything in its surroundings. It had completed its ascension to demigod.

    ¡®Ha ha ha!¡¯ Ecraz laughed in Balthazar¡¯s mind as Balthazar reached out with his magic to the single thread connecting him to the massive construct above him.

    ¡®I AM A GOD!¡¯ Ecraz proclaimed arrogantly as its wave of corrosive shadow emanating from its body continued to grow ever larger. The currents and roiling shadow began twisting and swirling towards Balthazar and the Guard as if it was a tidal wave of destruction about to rise up and crash over them. The Guard had stopped their offensive attacks and gathered into a tight ball of striking blades around the portal to defend it and Balthazar both.

    ¡®ALL THE WORLD SHALL BOW BEFORE THE POWER OF ME AND MY CREATIONS! NONE SHALL BE ABLE TO STAND AGAINST US!¡¯

    Ecraz ranted as it raised an arm towards them and created a shadow ball like none it had ever created before. If it was launched at them then even Balthazar would be hard pressed to stop it from hitting the portal to Teregatt and shutting it and stranding them here forever. Ecraz was a demigod no matter how weak, its attacks were qualitatively different from those of most mortals.

    Luckily Balthazar had finished his spell first.

    Balthazar plucked the magic thread and the construct of mirrors above them began to shift as one. The sky became dark for a moment as the mirrors shifted and moved to blot out the sky in darkness.

    Balthazar looked at the Shadow ball that the nascent demigod was so proud of. And he laughed.

    ¡°ALIGN!¡± Balthazar shouted for effect as the mirrors finished moving into position above them. Everything was plunged into pitch black darkness as the sky above them was covered by his construct. Everything was covered except a single hole left open at the bottom of the structure¡­

    The next instant, the night turned to day as all the light collected by the floating mirrors in the sky concentrated the light all to a single point and blasted it downwards as a single concentrated beam of light. The thirty meter diameter beam of light blasted directly down from the sky where Ecraz floated by the edge of the cliff.

    The air burned, the crackling of hot plasma drowning out all other sounds as Balthazar cast a quick spell to filter the light in a dome around himself so he and the guard wouldn¡¯t be blinded by the beam.

    Balthazar sensed Ecraz struggling inside the beam for a single instant, its demigod status almost allowing it to survive for a full second. But the beam was relentless and after that second was over, Ecraz dissolved with one final inhuman scream and the beam continued to strike downwards from the sky, relentless in its destructive power.

    All the lesser Dementors had already dissolved, the light flooding the area emanating from the light beam so concentrated that it dissolved them all in an instant like water hitting molting rock and evaporating into steam.

    The mirrors above ran out of their magic five seconds later, and dissolved back into ambient magic. The beam winked out and the blinding glare of attack faded to the light of a bright summer¡¯s day, the dark clouds above having been dispersed, allowing the sun above to shine through.

    Balthazar walked to the edge of the cliff and looked over the edge. A molten line of stone where the beam had carved through the cliff side ran straight down and into the water. Even now he could see the massive clouds of steam rising from below where the beam had hit the water and evaporated most of it in an instant. The dark clouds on the horizon began to slowly close in again and the scorching temperatures began to drop back down gradually to the normal chill it had been when they arrived.

    ¡°Finish off the rest of the Dementors,¡± Balthazar said idly as he watched the red hot stone quickly begin to cool. It had been¡­ such a long time since he¡¯d been able to use a spell that destructive. Perhaps Balthazar had even done Fate a favor there. These Dementors didn¡¯t seem connected to Fate¡¯s chains due to the corrosive nature of their magic and how they were formed. If Ecraz had succeeded in establishing itself as a demigod, then who knew what might have happened when it started expanding beyond Azkaban into the wider world?

    The Guard leapt off to search the rest of the island and clean up any lingering Dementors that hadn¡¯t arrived to assist Ecraz in time.

    Balthazar looked to the swirling red portal of Teregatt, the thing even now drawing in more magical energy. The reserves were empty, the portal was established, the island claimed. Now there were only a few last things to take care of before Teregatt and its residents could start making this place truly defensible and settle to wait as Teregatt recovered its energies.

    After ten minutes or so, the whole island was covered in a heavy thick mist that had wafted up from the evaporated sections of the ocean below. A buzz and click sounded in Balthazar¡¯s mind and he nodded to himself.

    The Guard had handled the last of the Dementors and cleared the whole island. Now there was only one more thing to deal with. The humans. Time to send them back home and declare Teregatt¡¯s claim over the island.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    At Hogwarts, the thirty Dementors that patrolled the edge of the grounds even now in the summer stiffened all as one. Ecraz¡­ was dead. They could no longer feel the link to their creator. They had been tasked by the human Ministry to guard the perimeter of the castle to prevent the one known as Pettigrew from sneaking inside.

    None of them cared for their task any longer. After a brief telepathic discussion amongst themselves, they all left their posts as one and flew together into one single clump, their arms interlinked with each other as they floated there. They must flee before the slayer of their creator, their greatest enemy whoever it was, arrived to eliminate the last of the Dementors.

    The thirty Dementors floated there, arm in arm for a few minutes, nothing apparently happening if there were any witnesses to the event. There were no other witnesses to the event.

    Suddenly with no warning, inky blackness grew over the Dementors forms and spread to form a massive orb of corrosive shadow covering them all at once. The orb started shrinking rapidly as if collapsing inwards, vanishing away into a single point over the course of mere seconds.

    Behind was left only open air and a loud boom like thunder. The Dementors had apparated away to places unknown as one. Even if Ecraz was dead, his glorious creations must survive and rebuild. Carrying on the mission they had been created for.

 Chapter 40: Staking a Claim

    The Ministry was in chaos, Aurors and Ministry employees running around aimlessly in a panic without firm leadership nearby to keep them on track. Three people were dead, two Aurors and one secretary guarding the apparition platform to and from Azkaban.

    The two prisoners had escaped from Azkaban one after another, a woman and a man. Everything had all been too quick for anyone to be able to firmly identify who it was who had escaped in that time.

    The normal Ministry workers had already fled to safety minutes ago, leaving only the confused mass of Aurors milling about the room and eyeing the apparition platform warily in case anyone else appeared. A few Aurors were using their spells to levitate the bodies of the dead and floating them away.

    ¡°WHAT IN THE BLAZES IS GOING ON HERE!¡± A voice roared from the doorway and every Auror in the room stiffened instinctively and the chaos stopped as everyone froze.

    Several people turned to Mad eye Moody who was limping into the room with his heavy wooden staff clicking on the floor. He was heavily scarred and had one enchanted wooden prosthetic leg. His body was heavily scarred and the empty socket where his left eye used to be was replaced with an enchanted eye to replace it. The eye could see through all illusions and moved independently to whirl about and stare at various Aurors nearby seemingly with a mind of its own.

    Moody was one of the most experienced Aurors and dark wizard catchers in Britain, each of his scars representing a death eater or dark wizard that he had personally caught or killed in battle. He had only returned out of retirement in the last few months to assist with tracking down Pettigrew who was still at large with the Ministry no closer to tracking him down than before.

    So, when Moody spoke, everyone stopped and listened.

    Moody¡¯s eyes stopped on the three floating dead bodies and his body stiffened.

    ¡°WELL WHAT ARE YOU STANDING AROUND FOR!¡± Moody roared, ¡°Eyes back on the platform! You useless louts, running around like you have a right to panic right now! Now somebody tell me what happened here before I start banging heads together!¡±

    A dozen voices babbled out of the crowd all at once and Moody growled which silenced them.

    ¡°Shut up, all of you.¡± Moody pointed at a younger rookie Auror in the crowd, ¡°You, Denby. You tell me.¡±

    ¡°Moody, sir- The platform. Two prisoners apparated in. First one, a woman, killed the three there with the killing curse before apparating away again. Next one, a man, appeared a minute later and apparated away as soon as he could. Both of their clothes were rather ripped and they were out of breath. I think they were running or must have fought their way out of Azkaban.¡±

    ¡°Any idea of who they were?¡±

    ¡°No, Sir. They were only here for a few moments and no one seems to be able to tell from what I¡¯ve heard.¡±

    ¡°Alright, Denby,¡± Moody allowed, ¡°You go on and find Amelia Bones. Alert her and the rest of the Ministry there¡¯s been an escape without any more panicked idiots running around and muddling the story more.¡±

    Denby stood there for a moment before Moody slammed his staff on the floor with a loud clunk.

    ¡°Did I STUTTER, DENBY! GET A MOVE ON!¡±

    ¡°Y-Yes sir!¡± Denby stammered before scurrying off to follow his orders.

    Moody shook his head and moved up to the apparition platform to Azkaban. These green and soft Aurors would be chewed out and spat out if they were around during the last wizarding war. It was like they¡¯d never even seen a few dead bodies before¡­

    ¡°Anyone¡¯s gone through to Azkaban yet?¡± Moody asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s just it, sir,¡± a nearby Auror said, ¡°We were waiting to go for a while, but just five minutes ago¡­ we can¡¯t go through, sir. The platform on the other side must be destroyed.¡±

    ¡°Destroyed?!¡± Moody said, suddenly becoming much more concerned, ¡°Are you certain?¡±

    He stepped on the platform as the crowd of spineless cowards watched on. They had cowered and waited for somebody to come and tell them what to do instead of taking any initiative of their own¡­

    Moody tried to feel the other platform experimentally for the apparition. Nothing, the man was telling the truth. Either somebody on the other side had control of the wards or had destroyed the platform.

    But why would somebody destroy the platform? Hm. Ah, but what if¡­

    ¡°A full prison break?¡± Moody said to himself, ¡°The guards destroyed the platform to trap all the prisoners in that place? But what about the Dementors? They would sooner kill everyone on the island then let anyone and their souls escape their foul clutches¡­ I didn¡¯t think the guards there would be that dedicated to preventing any escapes¡­¡±

    He stood at the edge of the platform before taking a step back. Even if the prisoners controlled the island and had somehow made a deal with the Dementors, then things were still manageable. It should take them a few days at least to drop the anti-apparition wards covering the whole island and letting them scatter to the winds. The Ministry should have that much time to gather its forces and mount a counter assault to retake the prison. He¡¯d have to alert Dumbledore and ask if the man would be willing to assis-

    There was a red flash in the center of the platform and the crowd of Aurors all raised their wands and jumped. Moody reflexively cast a protego shield charm with his staff and tensed. One of the rookies cast a curse at the small black disc shaped object that appeared in the center of the platform.

    The disc, a hockey puck like object glowed red and a pair of eyes appeared in an illusion above the disk. It showed a strip perhaps a handswidth tall of the man¡¯s face from the bridge of the nose, the eyes, and parts of his temples. But it only showed that tiny portion of the man¡¯s face, not showing the full or head as the illusion floated there.

    The rookie''s curse sailed directly through the illusion and into the floor behind it. The pair of eyes and projected strip of the man¡¯s face twisted around and looked at the divot in the floor. Moody saw where the image was hollow and flat from behind, looking like an inside party mask now that Moody was no longer seeing it from its more realistic front.

    ¡°That was rather rude,¡± a cultured english voice sounded out from the disc before the eyes turned back around to scan the crowd with raised wands, ¡°Is this how you greet strangers? I mean you and your people no harm. This is simply a communication¡¯s device. I am here to negotiate with your minister.¡±

    Moody stepped forward and stared down the strange illusion with a glare. The eyes swiveled to him as he stepped out of the crowd.

    ¡°And who are you to demand something like that? What¡¯s your relationship to the two escaped prisoners who¡¯ve killed three government employees just now?¡±

    The pair of eyes looked surprised and peered at Moody closely for a moment.

    ¡°Ah, I see,¡± the illusion said, ¡°I apologize for your loss. It seems that in the chaos some of the prisoners escaped. I will happily pay their blood price alongside the other compensation. But this is best discussed with your leader directly. He likely would not wish his whole department to know the specifics of any deal.¡±

    ¡°Blood price?¡± Moody growled, offended, ¡°What is your connection to what¡¯s happening on Azkaban? Refusal to answer is the same as treason, whoever you are!¡±

    ¡°Treason?¡± The man said, sounding amused, ¡°But I am not your citizen. I do not answer to you or your government. I assure you that besides the two that appeared to have escaped, none of the people here have been harmed. Well permanently, anyways. All the remaining prisoners remain in their cells. I wish to negotiate their release back to your custody along with their guards with all haste.¡±

    Moody paused at that, and his blood cooled slightly. Perhaps all wasn¡¯t as it seemed? He should bring this up the chain. The situation sounded stable on the other side.

    Moody walked up and cast a levitation charm on the hologram and lifted it slightly off the ground.

    ¡°You¡¯re not seein¡¯ the minister anytime soon,¡± Moody said, ¡°We¡¯re checkin¡¯ this thing for traps or curses first. Then he might talk to you. In the meantime, how about you tell me what happened?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I will,¡± the voice said, ¡°I will wait until your Minister is ready to speak with me. Simply tap twice on the top of the device when you are ready. And please do not break this thing during your tests. I only have so many of them to waste.¡±

    The illusion flickered out and the puck stopped glowing and turned black again. Moody kept floating the thing with his staff and started walking to the closest interrogation room. Several Aurors went to follow him or otherwise leave their posts as Moody left.

    ¡°Stop!¡± Moody snapped and the Aurors stopped, ¡°You lazy sods keep guarding that platform with your lives. Who knows if this man is telling the truth? If I come back and a single one of you is slacking off then you¡¯ll be cleaning the ministry toilets without magic for a week.¡±

    Everyone stiffened and returned to their stations quickly. Moody nodded in satisfaction. They knew that it wasn¡¯t an idle threat, Moody had already been forced to give that punishment out ten times already when one of these idiots did something particularly stupid in these last few months.

    Moody left and proceeded to one of the interrogation rooms and put the puck on top of the table. He walked out the door and left the device behind. His part was over. Time for the enchanters to do their thing and then the Minister and Amelia Bones could deal with whatever this person wanted.

    Moody was sure it wasn¡¯t something simple given the situation. He¡¯d never even seen a device like the one this man was using. Looked right useful, though. Much better than sending a Patronus even. Perhaps he could prod some of the boys in the ministry''s magical research department to rustle up something similar for Moody to test out¡­

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    It had been two hours, and Amelia Bones and Minister Fudge stood in the observation room alongside Mad Eye Moody. Moody wasn¡¯t sure exactly why he was here, but Fudge had said he was ¡®first on the scene¡¯ so Fudge wanted his opinion. More like he wanted an additional bodyguard, Moody figured.

    The observation window into the interrogation room was charmed to the max and had been rendered clear from both sides rather than the one way window that it usually was. Sound could always be transmitted both ways for the interrogations. The communication device wasn¡¯t trapped as far as the enchanters could tell. Not that they understood the thing very well at all, but as far as they could tell it should be harmless.

    An Auror opened the door to the interrogation room slightly and levitated a paperweight into the room and over to where the device remained untouched since Moody had placed it there two hours ago. The sweating Auror bobbed his wand up and down and the paperweight pressed on the top of the device twice firmly.

    The Auror quickly flicked his wand and sent the paperweight to slam onto the table before retreating and slamming the door behind him as quickly as he could. It seems that the rumors of the mysterious person behind what happened at Azkaban were already running wild. Not that this person wasn¡¯t clearly dangerous, but Moody didn¡¯t think they warranted quite that amount of fear just yet.

    The puck started glowing red and stayed that way for a few seconds. Then the illusion appeared and the eyes and strips of the face appeared. They were facing towards the back wall of the room, but after a moment¡¯s confusion they swiveled around and located the clear window where Amelia Bones, Moody, and Minister Fudge stood. No one else was in the room or observing. Fudge had taken things seriously when the person suggested privacy for their dealings.

    The pair of eyes looked the three of them over thoughtfully before ending on Moody.

    ¡°Are these your leaders then? Are you three able to negotiate for your government?¡±

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    ¡°Amelia Bones, head of the Auror¡¯s office,¡±

    ¡°Alastor Moody, Senior Auror,¡±

    ¡°And I am the Minister, Minister Fudge,¡± the man finished, ¡°I¡¯ve heard you would only speak with me regarding the situation in Azkaban. Well, we are here. Whatever is going on over there?¡±

    There was a pause as the speaker stared at Fudge for a long moment and assessed him.

    ¡°I am known as Balthazar. May I speak candidly?¡± The man said suddenly.

    Fudge nodded, ¡°Of course, of course. It¡¯s just the three of us. Who are you, and what do you want?¡±

    ¡°Very well. I want Azkaban,¡± The man said to their shock, ¡°I¡¯m willing to pay a price for it. In gold bars. Many gold bars. I think it¡¯s a deal that your government will be more than happy with.¡±

    Alastor watched Fudge lick his lips at the thought, his eyes shining with greed. This person was clearly a powerful wizard or enchanter of some kind. Who knew who he was working for?

    ¡°And the prisoners and guards?¡± Amelia asked, ¡°What will be done with them?¡±

    ¡°The guards are unconscious at the moment. I can send them back to your receiving platform as soon as we come to some sort of deal. With their memories of the last week erased of course. I¡¯m sure you understand, I don¡¯t want me or my people¡¯s identities exposed unnecessarily.¡±

    ¡°Of course, of course¡­¡± Fudge said quickly while Alastor absorbed that little tidbit of information. This person was the leader of some sort of group. Perhaps a proxy group sent by one of the foreign nations? For some deep plans they had against Britain?

    ¡°And the prisoners?¡± Amelia prodded.

    ¡°They will take a few days,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°I have been informed that you currently have no other prisons to accept them, correct?¡±

    ¡°Not in the kinds of numbers held at Azkaban,¡± Moody grumbled.

    ¡°Yes, a problem in and of itself¡­¡± Balthazar said disapprovingly as his eyes stared at Moody. The eyes left Moody and returned to Fudge.

    ¡°Regardless, I will be placing a curse on all of the current prisoners in this place. They will remain in a coma for a full year where their bodily functions will be sustained by the curse itself. After that time they will wake up healthy again in whatever new prison cells you construct for them. With a full year, I¡¯m sure you can think up a solution for them. After I¡¯m done placing the curses I will transport them back to your ministry much the same as the guards for you to deal with yourselves.¡±

    Fudge glanced at Amelia and Moody. Amelia nodded. Moody hesitated, but then nodded as well. The terms were reasonable enough for finding a new prison to place all the prisoners in. The Americans had secure magical prisons in the middle of New York City. Britain could build something secure in a year if motivated enough to do so.

    ¡°Very well,¡± Fudge said, ¡°That sounds acceptable. Now to Azkaban. It has served as Britain¡¯s most secure and only prison for over three hundred years now. Not a single prisoner has ever escaped from there ever since it started being used. While we can construct a new prison, I highly doubt it would be so secure. That¡¯s quite a valuable resource we¡¯re giving up here. A prison that has no escapes is quite a different animal to ones that only have only a few. In the public perception if nothing else.¡±

    ¡°Indeed. Is the name Ecraz familiar to any of you?¡±

    Fudge looked at the two of them confused by the non-sequitur. Bones frowned and shrugged and looked equally confused. Moody grunted, ¡°The creator of Azkaban? The dark wizard that created the Dementors hundreds of years ago?¡±

    ¡°Yes, him. Anything else that you know about him? Sightings, perhaps?¡±

    The eyes focused on Moody and he barked out a laugh.

    ¡°That old wizard¡¯s dead, hundreds of years ago. The wards around the island degraded after his death and revealed that island that he created. He was already dead for hundreds of years by the time the island was discovered five hundred years ago. That¡¯s when the ships stopped disappearing in that area, when he was drawing them in and torturing the crew to create his Dementors. It was confirmed by the spell analysis of some of the leftover bodies that they¡¯d all died hundreds of years before anyone else ever landed there. How would there be sightings in the modern day?¡±

    ¡°And why did you believe that the wards were degraded?¡± Balthazar asked blandly.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m no expert. That¡¯s what they determined at the time. Why else would the wards around the island suddenly drop?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps Ecraz was still alive and wanted to draw in more people for his experiments and to create more Dementors. Like a prison perhaps? How many Dementors do you estimate live on this island?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Moody said with a frown, ¡°Less than two hundred, more than fifty. They¡¯re not exactly the most pleasant creatures to speak with.¡±

    ¡°I observed no less than a thousand of them that only I personally saw as my forces seized the island. You have been feeding the Dementors, letting them slowly grow in strength as they feed on your nation¡¯s prisoners. If my people hadn¡¯t arrived then they would have emerged and swarmed the mainland when they were fully prepared, plunging your nation and this planet into an age of shadow and despair as they spread to consume the world¡¯s joy in their ravenous hunger.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re lying!¡± Fudge shouted despite palling as Balthazar went on, ¡°You¡¯re simply making up stories!¡±

    Balthazar stared down Fudge calmly, ¡°Perhaps. Does it matter? Do you want to give creatures like Dementors the means to more power even if I¡¯m wrong? Perhaps using Azkaban as a prison was a foolish idea from the start, and I¡¯m doing you a favor in taking it from your hands.¡±

    Fudge settled down at that and nodded firmly, ¡°Ah, I see. A scare tactic. Very well, I¡¯m open to a deal to sell Azkaban to you provisionally given you give us all the prisoners and guards back unharmed and under the terms you gave before. Now, how about we move into some specifics on the price that you¡¯d be willing to pay¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah, apologies Minister,¡± Balthazar interrupted, ¡°I¡¯m sure our spirited negotiation will take some time, so I¡¯d like to clear the matter of the blood price first for the three dead of your people. I¡¯d wish to plug this wound before it festers. I¡¯m unsure of your exact customs on it. It was my negligence in allowing the prisoners to escape under my watch that led to those people¡¯s deaths, but I had no malice or intent for harm. So in this case I would usually like to give two full measures of gold to the families and another full measure to the organization that they lived under. That is for each victim of course. If you send me their weights then I will send it right along and trust you to allocate it properly to the families.¡±

    ¡°What is one full measure of gold? Weights?¡± Fudge asked in confusion, ¡°What is this about a blood price?¡±

    ¡°Oh, do you not have this custom? Fascinating. When one is responsible for a death even in only a smallest fraction, one must make amends before hatred festers through the generations. I am extra careful and make sure to always make sure there is no need for animosity even in cases like this where the innocent deaths were my partial responsibility.¡±

    ¡°That- That is very honorable,¡± Fudge said, surprised.

    Moody frowned, ¡°Where did you say you were from again?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t,¡± Balthazar replied before moving onwards as if he hadn¡¯t heard the question, ¡°As for a measure, ever heard the term ¡®worth its weight in gold¡¯? A full measure is the full weight of the victim in gold.¡±

    ¡°H- H- How much gold?¡± Fudge asked in disbelief, ¡°Isn¡¯t that¡­ in the¡­ tens of millions of British pounds? If you¡¯re saying that each of the three gets three full measures, one for the Ministry and two for the families¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh, is it that surprising?¡± Balthazar asked blandly, ¡°I do try to be on the rather generous side. But I have met a few that went up to five full measures per victim if they are particularly paranoid about retaliation by a family. Most only do a small fraction of a full measure, obviously. Not everyone has quite the same levels of wealth as me and my people have.¡±

    ¡°No¡­¡± Fudge said faintly, ¡°I suppose not. That sounds¡­ more than acceptable. I¡¯m sure the families will be overjoyed. That¡¯s almost a thousand pounds of gold. If you¡¯re going so far for the blood price as you call it, then what¡¯s your evaluation for the price for Azkaban?¡±

    Balthazar¡¯s eyes glazed over for a moment as he thought, ¡°Hm. You give me a number. Don¡¯t be shy. We can negotiate from there.¡±

    Fudge started sweating and wringing his hands, his face growing red as he appeared to heat up from his brain shooting into overdrive. No doubt calculating how much he could ask for without offending this obscenely rich, powerful, mysterious person.

    He licked his lips and opened his mouth and closed it, looking hesitant. But then he spoke. ¡°Three hundred million British Pounds. Thirteen thousand pounds of gold roughly.¡±

    Balthazar¡¯s hologram nodded amiably, ¡°Very well. I¡¯ll make it an even fifteen thousand pounds of gold so there will be no further negotiation or attempts to bargain upwards from here. Do you accept?¡±

    Fudge hesitated, ¡°I do,¡± He said, ¡°Azkaban is yours, I¡¯ll make sure of it. I have people I must convince first to do it, but I will try to have it done as soon as possible. Approved in less than a week if all goes well. Will you be coming here personally to sign the deal?¡±

    ¡°Very well. When the paperwork goes through I will begin delivering the gold,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°When the prisoners are ready, we can begin that transfer immediately. We would like to maintain our privacy. Call us a private mercenary company if you need to convince others of our purpose here. Simply use this communicator to contact me again if you wish to speak more on these matters. Is there anything else you wish to discuss at this moment?¡±

    Fudge looked to his sides. ¡°Amelia? Alastor?¡±

    Both of them shook their heads.

    ¡°I think that will be all, Balthazar,¡± Fudge said, ¡°A pleasure doing business with you.¡±

    ¡°And you as well,¡± Balthazar said in an upbeat tone, ¡°I¡¯m happy the negotiations went so swiftly. Until next time.¡±

    The communicator flashed and the illusion winked out and the puck turned from red to black again. Balthazar had left.

    Fudge collapsed into a chair behind him. ¡°That amount of money,¡± He muttered, ¡°He just said yes without even a second thought. Fifteen thousand pounds of gold like it was nothing. For Azkaban. Most people try to pay to not go to that miserable place.¡±

    Amelia gave Fudge a sharp look and the Minister snapped out of his musing, ¡°Theoretically, of course. We all know that some people take bribes even if they aren¡¯t supposed to. Not everyone¡¯s as honest as me.¡±

    Moody snorted and Fudge looked annoyed as Moody looked down at him in disdain.

    ¡°Before you get too excited, I¡¯d tell you one thing,¡± Moody said, ¡°Whatever you do, don¡¯t you dare let you or anyone else skim a single galleon off the top of that blood price no matter how tempting it is to the grubby little hands the seem to be everywhere in the Ministry these days. Did you hear how serious that Balthazar was when he was talking about it? He might be¡­ personally offended if he discovers all the money didn¡¯t go to the right places.¡±

    Fudge paled and furiously nodded, his anger at Moody forgotten, ¡°Quite right. Right¡­ Despite his wealth, we have no idea about this person or how stable they are. Better to not take any risks. In fact, I think I know the perfect person for the job. Alistor! You¡¯re put in charge of security for the gold for this transaction, both for Azkaban and especially the blood price. Make sure that not a single flake of gold gets skimmed off the top as you put it. If any of our transactions have to be above the board, then this is the one that has to be it. I sense that there¡¯s future profits and deals to be made with this Balthazar. I don¡¯t want to ruin his first impressions of the Ministry and Britain as a whole! Ah, Alistor you¡¯ll be working under Amelia of course. You¡¯ll both have my support for whatever measures you need for absolute security on this. Everything must be squeaky clean.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Minister.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Minister,¡± Moody said after Bones. Despite himself he was surprised by Fudge as the man began to spring into action enthusiastically. It seems that Fudge might really not be attempting to siphon some of this fortune off to enrich himself. Now that everything was framed as making things presentable and providing a good image of the Ministry to this mysterious Balthazar, Fudge was eager to implement policies that Alistor knew that Amelia had pushed for unsuccessfully for for years.

    Now, Fudge agreed to them all easily so long as the gold coming in soon would be properly protected as a result.

    ¡°Alright!¡± Fudge said and clapped his hands together, ¡°This will be the culminating achievement of my time as Minister, I''ll be the one that pushed this historic deal through. And ended the horribly inhumane practices that went on in Azkaban as well of course. Compassion in one hand and prosperity in the other.¡±

    Fudge stood there, smiling as he stared into nothing and likely daydreaming about all the praise and recognition he¡¯d receive if he pulled this off. For once, Moody wasn¡¯t bothered by Fudge¡¯s image obsessed mind. This time, it was geared towards a good cause.

    ¡°Minister?¡± Bones prodded lightly and Fudge shook his head and refocused.

    ¡°Ah, I¡¯ll have to pull so many favors for this. Get approval by the Wizengamot. Think about what to tell the public, the old families, all of it¡­ No time, no time. So many letters to write¡­ Ah, Moody?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Minister?¡±

    ¡°Talk to Dumbledore, would you? I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll want to hear about this deal first hand from you. I¡¯m sure you can convince him that it¡¯s a good idea to go through with it. He has a lot of influence with the Wizengamot and he won¡¯t listen to me like he would for you.¡±

    Moody shifted uncomfortably for a moment, before nodding. He was planning to talk with Dumbledore about this either way, ¡°I¡¯ll talk with him, Minister. No promises if I¡¯ll convince him to support it though.¡±

    ¡°Excellent. You two write a report of what you¡¯ll need for the security of the gold and incoming prisoners in their comas. Get it to me by tomorrow and we can get the ball rolling.¡±

    Without another word, Fudge rushed out of the room. Presumably about to write a storm of letters to pull favors and start pulling all the strings of his influence to make the deal go through.

    ¡°Don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen Fudge run that fast in years,¡± Amelia joked as she and Moody stood alone in the interrogation room.

    ¡°Well, If I¡¯m good at anything then it¡¯s security,¡± Moody growled, ¡°We¡¯ve got a lot of work to do if we want to keep the gold safe from any sticky fingers.¡±

    ¡°And that the prisoners are safe too,¡± Amelia added.

    ¡°I suppose.¡±

    ¡°Well then, let¡¯s get to work. That gold isn¡¯t going to secure itself.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Balthazar leaned back from his communication device and smiled to himself. Teregatt had so much gold. There were ten whole floors of the main tower dedicated solely to storing the piles of gold in various forms that their old master had collected as they traveled from reality to reality and picking up things on the way.

    He would have paid ten times the amount that Minister Fudge had offered. Because while Balthazar and Teregatt were on this land, they hadn¡¯t truly claimed it. The one with the best claim had been Ecraz and Balthazar had defeated him. So he and Teregatt had a partial claim over Azkaban. But the British magical government had a strong claim on this land too. When the deal went through, and the Ministry acknowledged that this land was Balthazar and Teregatt¡¯s land and no one else''s¡­

    Then the magic would accept their claim to this land. And having a true claim to a land recognized by magic itself was something powerful, something worth far more than any amount of gold. It would let Balthazar place some truly strong wards and protections around this place in addition to the ones that Ecraz had placed.

    In only a few years, after Balthazar had some time to properly prepare¡­ this place would be unassailable. A perfect fortress to hold back any attack by Fate on them.

    Yes, he was very happy with this deal.

    Things were going well.

 Chapter 41: Just a Little Sick

    It felt oddly lonely for Ginny as she opened her eyes back in Teregatt. It had only been a few days since Balthazar had formed the portal to Earth. The whole place was barren of magic, with only the tiniest scrap of magic floating in the air. Balthazar had been there when she entered Teregatt yesterday to tell her that everything was fine and that him and the other residents had worked things out with the Ministry and were building defenses in case Fate tried to get somebody to attack them.

    But besides that, Balthazar had quickly left afterwards to continue his work on Earth while Ginny remained practicing her magic in Teregatt. In the normal telekinesis room with the metal balls, there was a central spell that kept the metal balls grouped in a cylinder that reached to the ceiling. Each of them bumped into each other and floated around inside the invisible spell. Usually Balthazar threw the metal balls at Ginny and tested her to help her improve.

    She sat inside the spell and had the metal balls from all around drift down towards her as she worked to just barely push them away as they approached her sitting form. Despite Balthazar not talking much as they practiced during their lessons, Ginny missed having him there as she sat there and practiced. But he was busy, she shouldn¡¯t bother him when he was doing important things on Earth.

    Ginny continued practicing, focusing on the metal balls floating towards her from all sides as time passed in the strange way it did on Teregatt.

    ¡°Ginny?¡±

    She opened her eyes and jolted in surprise at Balthazar¡¯s voice only for a metal orb the size of her torso to fly into her chest at high speed. It sank into the dark mud of her body and sat there submerged. She glanced down and reached up and pulled it out of herself with a wet sucking sound and gently pushed it away. She stood and took a step out into the larger room and saw Balthazar standing by the doorway.

    ¡°Hi Balthazar. How are things going?¡±

    ¡°Good. In fact, I think things are going even better than expected. We must only wait now for Teregatt to recover its energy. You wished me to examine your friend, correct? I think in a week or so we will have settled in enough that I can take some time to see to her and her condition.¡±

    ¡°A week? Should I take her over there with Fawkes?¡±

    ¡°That would be advisable. We will not be able to create portals with Teregatt¡¯s energies for some time yet. Even so, the creation of a portal to the mainland or one of us moving through it would be a large risk. It would increase the chances of Fate discovering us before we¡¯ve fully prepared our defenses. We should only do so if absolutely necessary or if your life is in danger.¡±

    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll bring her in a week,¡± Ginny agreed, ¡°Thanks for agreeing to look at her. I hope you can cure her.¡±

    ¡°I will do my best. That will be all, I think then. I must return to Earth in case Teregatt shifts to a fast cycle and precious time is wasted out on Earth without me there to assist.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that would be terrible,¡± Ginny agreed. She remembered times when hours had passed in only seconds in Teregatt during the school year. Her whole night in Teregatt only lasted a few seconds before being launched immediately back into her human body.

    ¡°Well, keep practicing,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°I will see you in a week.¡±

    He turned and quickly jogged away and disappeared around the corner. Ginny looked back behind her. After a few minutes she walked back inside the invisible cylinder and sat down again. Time to practice some more. She was sure that she was close to the invisible line that Balthazar wanted her to meet before he would start teaching her other magical things. Like what Eric had been able to do with summoning the ball of flames and manipulating them to kill Lupin while he was a werewolf. She shivered as she remembered how Eric had looked at her afterwards. If he tried to attack her with something like that, she wanted to be able to counter it.

    Although Balthazar wouldn¡¯t be coming into Teregatt soon so it would be a while before he would be able to teach Ginny those things. Balthazar didn¡¯t want to risk Teregatt slipping into a ¡®fast¡¯ cycle and making him lose a large amount of time on earth. Once he had completed the defenses on Azkaban and fully settled in then he could return to Teregatt and start teaching her more complicated magic. Until then, she could only practice with her magic tendrils more and hope for the best.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny opened her eyes back in her human body and sat up in bed. Alright. Now she just had to¡­ tell Olivia¡­ And¡­ Wait. Okay, she could send a letter. She still had a week to see if they could have a meeting.

    She got dressed and then went downstairs and started helping Molly with making breakfast. Fawkes was gone, probably off to hunt something on his own again. After hearing Amvatroz¡¯s stories, Ginny had forced him to promise he wouldn¡¯t steal any animals that belonged to any people. His reluctance to agree showed where he had planning on finding his meals¡­

    But he had promised, and with his ability to apparate around, Ginny was sure he¡¯d find something tasty that didn¡¯t belong to any people.

    The humans meanwhile had bacon and eggs alongside with some toast. Molly seemed to appreciate Ginny¡¯s help in the kitchen even if Molly was still doing most of the work with all her household spells to help out with the work.

    After a few minutes, the twins came down the stairs, Ron following a few minutes later.

    ¡°What¡¯s gotten into you, Ginny?¡± Fred complained as he sat at the table with a plate filled with bacon and eggs after everyone settled in for breakfast. Dad had already eaten and gone off to work earlier.

    ¡°Waking up on the dot every day?¡± Fred continued, ¡°You¡¯re like a machine, how do you do it?¡±

    Ginny shrugged. ¡°I had to wake up for my runs with Alexa and Jack. Feels good. Actually, I¡¯ve been running every day. I should try to get some swimming in too. Although I don¡¯t really know where I would swim in the mornings¡­¡±

    Molly looked at Ginny in confusion. ¡°Swim?¡± She asked, ¡°Whatever do you mean? How would you swim in robes?¡±

    ¡°Oh, Alexa gave me and Jack some swimsuits too along with the running clothes,¡± Ginny said, ¡°We wore them under our Hogwarts robes in the mornings. By the way, did you see Errol around? I wanted to send a letter to my friend.¡±

    ¡°Errol?¡± Fred asked, ¡°That old owl? Surprised that that old bird can fly straight, let alone deliver letters. Why don¡¯t you have Fawkes do it?¡±

    Ginny gave him a flat look, ¡°Why don¡¯t you ask Fawkes to carry a letter somewhere when there¡¯s an owl around to do it for him? Good luck having him ever forgive you then.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, Ginny,¡± Molly said, ¡°Errol should be somewhere around this place. I¡¯ll let you know when I see him. Who is it you¡¯re sending a letter to?¡±

    ¡°Oh, you know,¡± Ginny said nervously, ¡°Alexa, Jack.¡±

    ¡°But you haven¡¯t even gotten your first round of replies yet!¡± George teased, ¡°That eager to write to them again?¡±

    ¡°I can write them extra letters if I want to¡­¡± Ginny said indignantly before trailing off. Why was she getting offended again? She wasn¡¯t actually writing more letters to them, she was sending something to Olivia.

    Ginny went on a run in her work out clothes after going back upstairs to change into them. She had been too busy thinking about what she¡¯d write to Olivia to remember to put on the right clothes.

    Molly gave her a judging look as Ginny walked past her, but Ginny ignored her. It wasn¡¯t like she was going to go running around in robes instead just because Molly thought she was showing too much skin or something. Or that¡¯s what Ginny thought it was about based on the one or two times Molly had tried to change her mind about it so far.

    Ginny ran around the house until she was exhausted. She stretched a little and went back inside, her legs screaming at her. She stumbled back up to her room and sipped on the recovery potion and instantly felt better. Her, Alexa, and Jack had spread them out evenly between them for the summer. Plenty of the potions were still left after months, so they should still last them for another whole year if they didn¡¯t overuse them too much. They only needed to drink a little sip from the bottles twice a week for it to heal themselves up for those two days of workouts.

    She sat down at her desk and took out some parchment to write her letter to Olivia asking to meet in person as soon as possible. She was sweaty and gross, but she could ask Molly to cast a cleaning charm on her in a few minutes.

    Ginny started writing the letter and made it half way through before balling it up and shoving it to the side and starting it over.

    She tried again, but when she was finished didn¡¯t like how it sounded now either. It was frustrating having to be so vague on why Ginny wanted to meet Olivia so soon. No way she¡¯s put anything important in a letter that anyone could see.

    The third letter did it, and Ginny felt good about it. After letting the ink fully dry, she folded up the letter and put it in an envelope and addressed it.

    ¡°Olivia Roberts,¡± Ginny said to herself as she wrote the name on the front with a flourish of her quill. Errol should be able to find her with just the name, that¡¯s all she had done for her friends letters a week ago and Errol had found them just fine.

    She walked downstairs, slipping the letter into her summer robes as she went down. Molly cast the cleaning charm on her and she felt clean, far cleaner than even taking a shower would make her.

    ¡°I found Errol,¡± Molly said absently, ¡°He¡¯s out sleeping by the front gate. Make sure to bring him some food as you go, will you.¡±

    ¡°Sure thing, Mol- Mom.¡±

    Ginny did so, and spotted the old owl sitting on a fencepost with his head tucked into his wing, eyes closed as he sat there.

    She walked up and felt a little bad as she gently poked the sleeping bird. But she really wanted to deliver this letter, and she had brought food too¡­

    Errol woke with a startled hoot and glared blearily at Ginny. His anger was appeased as she held up a few of the food pellets for him, which he dove into with relish. He woke up as he ate out of her hand for a few seconds while still eating from the post.

    After he was done, Ginny took out her letter and handed it to the old owl who gripped it gently in the claws of one of his feet. Errol cooed in confusion as he inspected the letter for a moment before looking back at her.

    ¡°Olivia Roberts,¡± Ginny said, ¡°She¡¯s from a magical family. Just graduated from Hogwarts. Can you find her?¡±

    Errol hooted one last time before flapping his wings and flying off into the sky. Ginny watched as magic twirled around the owl and allowed him to fly at massive speeds once he got high enough in the air. It was always so exciting watching the magic owls zoom off into the distance when they flew off to carry their letters away.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    It had been four days and Ginny was starting to get worried. Errol had returned without her letter to Olivia, but there hadn¡¯t been a reply yet. Alexa and Jack had sent her their own letters on what they¡¯d been up to, which were nice to read. But what could be taking Olivia so long? Ginny wanted to make sure that Olivia was cured of being a werewolf as soon as possible. If anyone could do it then Balthazar could. But she couldn¡¯t do that if she didn¡¯t talk with Olivia directly and convince her to go along with it.

    It was the weekend and Dad was in the garage with Sirius Black again. The two of them seemed to have become friends ever since Christmas it seems. Molly was always grumbling how Sirius Black was a bad influence on Dad as they played around in the garage working on Dad¡¯s enchanted car together. And Sirius was making his own enchanted bike as well apparently after he¡¯d lost his old one after he was arrested.

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    Sirius¡­ Could he help her? She knew he was still trying to convince Dad to take his money and wipe away the debt to Dumbledore. The man had apologized to Ginny several times about her dad being so stubborn about it. He felt bad that he couldn¡¯t fulfill his promise to her to help with the debt after she¡¯d told him about Pettigrew¡¯s death.

    After all of them including Sirius had dinner together, things were wrapping up. Sirius was saying goodbye to Dad and Molly and about to go home.

    Sirius walked out the door into the night and everyone else ambled around. In the bustle around the place, Ginny slipped out the door and jogged after the man as he walked in the night towards the front gate.

    ¡°Sirius!¡± She whispered, ¡°Hey, Sirius!¡±

    He turned around, looking surprised as he saw her there. His face was lit up by the light spilling out of the windows of her house.

    ¡°Ginny? What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°Er, sorry. I just wanted to ask you something.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I have a friend from school. She was¡­ turned into a werewolf. Olivia Roberts. I sent a letter but she hasn¡¯t replied to me. Can you take me to go visit her? I need to talk to her about something important.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I heard about that,¡± Sirius said, ¡°Such a shame, I never thought that Lupin would ever do something like that, attack you and your friend. Imperius the students to trap you knowing that he¡¯d transform¡­ I¡¯m fine with taking you. But why not ask Arthur about this? I¡¯m sure he wouldn¡¯t mind going with you.¡±

    Ginny shifted, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I just¡­ I have to talk to Olivia alone. I don¡¯t think that Dad would like that. And Molly doesn¡¯t like werewolves very much, she might stop me from going if she thought it was dangerous.¡±

    ¡°Hm. Yes, I figured about Molly¡­¡± Sirius said, ¡°How about you visit my place on Monday in two days. I¡¯ll clear it with your father tomorrow. We can take a little detour and talk with your friend then.¡±

    ¡°Okay. That would be great. Thanks, Sirius.¡±

    ¡°Not at all. You managed to convince your father about the debt at all?¡±

    ¡°No, sorry. He¡¯s being very stubborn whenever I even mention it,¡± Ginny replied.

    ¡°Same here. Don¡¯t you worry about your friend. I¡¯m sure she¡¯s just having a hard time adjusting to her new situation. Not feeling up to writing letters and all.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Ginny said thoughtfully before relaxing slightly, ¡°Yeah. That makes sense.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°Olivia Roberts, you said it was?¡± Sirius said as they stood at the front of his new house. It was a very fancy building with lots of warm woods and electric lights in the place. There was even a TV and other muggle items scattered around the place. Sirius had given her the whole tour, seeming to enjoy it since he lived in this massive place basically by himself.

    Now that Sirius had shown her around, they were getting to the true purpose of their visit.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ginny confirmed.

    ¡°I did my research, found their address. Sent my own letter too,¡± Sirius said, ¡°No reply though. Suppose we¡¯ll have to knock at the front door and see who answers.¡±

    ¡°Olivia didn¡¯t talk about her family much,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Is there anything I should know before we go? Pureblood customs or¡­ something? They¡¯re technically still nobles even if they¡¯re not one of the ultra wealthy people like you or Malfoy.¡±

    Sirius grimaced like he¡¯d tasted something sour. ¡°Ugh. Please never compare me to Malfoy again. I¡¯m not one for formalities either. But if you¡¯re not sure, I¡¯ll handle that part. Just be as polite as you can and you¡¯ll be fine. Are you ready?¡±

    Sirius held out his hand and Ginny grabbed it. With a crack of displaced air, Sirius apparated them to somewhere new.

    They stood in front of a large home. Not exactly a mansion, but it had greek pillars of white stone and fancy hedges on the lawn. It was much nicer than the Burrow was, looking like it had enough bedrooms for at least a dozen people inside.

    The two of them went to the front gate and Sirius took out his wand and tapped the gate lightly a few times. Ginny saw a burst of magic leave the man¡¯s wand and ripple through the bubble of wards surrounding the Roberts¡¯ house on all sides.

    They stood there for a minute and nothing happened.

    ¡°Did you do it right?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t they have come by now?¡±

    ¡°Yes, they should have,¡± Sirius said with a slight frown, ¡°Perhaps they were busy and haven¡¯t heard us?¡±

    Sirius tapped his wand on the wards again and they waited some more.

    Sirius tapped again and they waited. Ginny was about to speak again when the front door opened and a rotund man walked out the door. His wife behind him peered through the open door at them, appearing concerned.

    The man hurried forward towards them and came to a stop just behind the closed gate.

    ¡°Ah, Lord Black! What brings you to see us today?¡± He said nervously.

    ¡°Phineas Roberts? Is that you?¡± Sirius asked the man with a deep frown on his face.

    ¡°Ah, yes. That¡¯s me, Lord Black. Owner of this humble abode.¡±

    ¡°Did you receive my letter then? My niece here wanted to talk to her friend, and she¡¯s concerned that she isn¡¯t answering her letters. I don¡¯t mean to intrude, but do you think you could call her out to speak with us?¡±

    ¡°Ah, Lord Black,¡± the man said, ¡°I¡¯m not sure she¡¯ll want to see you¡­ Do you want to come in? We can offer you some tea?¡±

    ¡°Of course, I¡¯d be delighted,¡± Sirius said, while not sounding excited at all. Mr. Roberts opened the gate and a hole opened in the doors that they walked through into the main lawn of the estate.

    ¡°Oh Lord Black, we were delighted to hear of your rapid recovery from the horrors of Azkaban. It¡¯s a great thing for this country that Fudge decided to close that horrid place down, I say¡­¡± Mr. Roberts began as he clearly tried to flatter and impress Sirius with his knowledge of current events.

    Sirius seemed disinterested as he glanced around as they moved into the side and went to a sitting room. He only spoke in single syllables in reply to Mr. Roberts¡¯ babbling speech.

    They sat down and Mrs. Roberts placed down a tray with three teacups on it. Ginny noticed that there wasn¡¯t one for her. She didn¡¯t really care though.

    ¡°Excuse me, can I see Olivia?¡± Ginny asked to interrupt Mr. Roberts as there was a slight pause in whatever impressive story he was trying to tell Sirius about.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure I can convince her to talk to me,¡± Ginny added. Mr. Roberts looked rather annoyed at the interruption, but at seeing Sirius¡¯ expectant look at him smoothed his expression into something blank.

    ¡°She¡¯s not feeling well. Got a bit of a cold,¡± Mrs. Roberts said as she sat next to her husband and took a cup of tea and blew on it to let it cool, ¡°She¡¯s asleep at the moment, we don¡¯t want to wake her up.¡±

    ¡°Sleeping? At this hour?¡± Sirius said skeptically, ¡°It¡¯s nearly two O¡¯clock in the afternoon.¡±

    ¡°Y-Yes,¡± Mrs. Roberts said, ¡°The dear¡¯s having some trouble sleeping for the last few days with her sickness. We¡¯re sure that she¡¯ll recover in the next few days. She¡¯s getting better even now.¡±

    Ginny felt something odd in Mrs. Roberts'' tone. Why were her hands trembling slightly as she held the teacup?

    Ginny let out a pulse of her magic sense to the maximum extent. Her senses billowed out and covered the whole area under the wards circling the house. She had almost forgotten how far she could sense when her magic sense wasn¡¯t being gummed up by the massive amounts of enchantments at Hogwarts blocking her view.

    Ginny¡¯s senses swept the whole house. One, twice, three times. Nothing. What?

    ¡°Where¡¯s Olivia?¡± She blurted out, ¡°There¡¯s no one else but us here.¡±

    Both of the Robert¡¯s froze and Mrs. Roberts dropped her teacup, causing it to smash on the floor.

    ¡°Oops, I¡¯ll fix that,¡± She quickly said as she pulled her wand and pointed it at the smashed cup.

    ¡°Reparo!¡± She chanted firmly and the shattered fragments of the cup sprung up and reformed a perfectly undamaged teacup, even though all the tea remained spilled all over the wooden floors.

    ¡°Sorry, you surprised her, haha,¡± Mr. Roberts laughed nervously, ¡°Olivia¡¯s just resting. Of course she¡¯s here, where else would she be? We told you she was sick with a cold.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s not here,¡± Ginny said firmly, ¡°Where is she?¡±

    Mr. Roberts turned to Sirius with an exasperated gaze, ¡°Lord Black, surely¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a good question,¡± Sirius said, ¡°Where is Olivia Roberts? You think that I¡¯d forget because you complimented me a bit and served some tea? She¡¯s the whole reason we¡¯re here. So if she¡¯s not here, then where is she?¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± Mrs. Roberts said, ¡°She¡¯s not here. I don¡¯t see how it''s any of your business either way.¡±

    ¡°Where is she?¡± Ginny demanded.

    ¡°She graduated from Hogwarts, she¡¯s making her own way in the world,¡± Mr. Roberts said condescendingly, ¡°She doesn¡¯t live with us anymore. She¡¯s out there in the world living her own life.¡±

    ¡°B¡­ But she¡¯s a werewolf,¡± Ginny said in disbelief, ¡°She can¡¯t hold a job, no one will take her. How¡¯s she going to survive out there on her own?¡±

    ¡°Maybe she can join those werewolf packs with the rest of her kind,¡± Mrs. Roberts said primly, ¡°It¡¯s far too dangerous for people like her to stay with wizards and witches like us.¡±

    ¡°But she¡¯s your daughter!¡± Ginny said, growing upset as the picture of what happened became frustratingly clear, ¡°You just kicked her out to fend for herself because of something that wasn¡¯t even her fault?!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Dumbledore''s fault!¡± Mr. Roberts suddenly shouted, his face growing red before settling down slightly with a glance at Sirius.

    ¡°He¡¯s the one that hired that animal as a teacher,¡± He continued, ¡°The one that turned our daughter into a monster. She¡¯s no daughter of mine anymore. She left this house with her things as soon as she returned from Hogwarts. She can live with the rest of the animals where she can¡¯t hurt anyone else.¡±

    Ginny felt her heart pounding in her ears as she felt her face flush and clenched her fist. She just barely kept herself from lashing out at these two with her magic. She felt Sirius¡¯ hand on her shoulder, and realized that she was standing and glaring at the two adults across from her.

    ¡°C¡¯mon, Ginny,¡± Sirius said gently, ¡°Let¡¯s go. We¡¯ll find her ourselves. She¡¯ll be okay.¡±

    Ginny took a shuddering breath and controlled herself. She turned and started to stomp away, with Sirius following after her at a fast walk.

    ¡°Lord Black!¡± Mr. Roberts said, suddenly sounding regretful, ¡°We can explain, Olivia agreed to leave, it was a mutual decision¡­¡±

    Sirius stopped moving and turned around. Ginny stopped and looked back and saw that Sirius¡¯ eyes were burning with anger just as much or more than hers were as he stared at Mr. Roberts.

    Sirius glanced at Mrs. Roberts and his lips curled into an uncharacteristic sneer, ¡°You two are scum,¡± Sirius spat out, ¡°I¡¯ve only restrained myself because of my niece here. Now, I¡¯d suggest you both shut up before either of us do something drastic.¡±

    Mr. Roberts looked stunned at Sirius¡¯ vitriol, but Sirius just turned back around and kept ushering Ginny off of the property. As soon as they were beyond the wards, Sirius grabbed Ginny¡¯s shoulder and they apparated back to his house.

    ¡°We¡¯ll find her,¡± Sirius promised, ¡°Today even. I know some people that can help. Next stop is Gringotts.¡±

    Ginny felt some of her anger fade away at Sirius¡¯ confidence.

    ¡°Really?¡± She asked, ¡°Today? But Olivia was kicked out of their place weeks ago. She could be anywhere by now.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve got some coins burning a hole in my pocket,¡± Sirius said, ¡°Time to put them to some use. The Goblins have some of the best trackers in the world. Have to find people who owe them money, you know. For a little extra fee, they¡¯ll use their teams to help track people down for you.¡±

    ¡°Is it legal?¡± Ginny asked worriedly. She didn¡¯t want Sirius to get in trouble if things went bad, even if she wanted to find Olivia as soon as possible.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine,¡± Sirius said without answering the question, ¡°Don¡¯t you worry about it. Now C¡¯mon. No time like the present.¡±

    He held out his hand and after a second¡¯s hesitation, Ginny grabbed it. They apparated together to Diagon Alley and then continued to enter Gringotts bank. Many people stared at the two of them, especially Sirius who ignored them all as he walked with purpose.

    ¡°Lord Black,¡± the goblin at the front desk said immediately as Sirius approached his desk, ¡°Wand please?¡±

    Sirius handed over his wand and after a moment¡¯s inspection, the goblin nodded and handed it back. Sirius spoke with the goblin for a moment

    ¡°Garnak, escort Lord Black to Ragnok please,¡± the goblin called out after Sirius was done speaking.

    Ginny and Sirius followed after the goblin as he led them deeper into the bank into a section almost entirely filled with goblins with not a single human in sight in the hallways.

    ¡°Who¡¯s Ragnok?¡± Ginny whispered to Sirius.

    ¡°My account manager,¡± Sirius answered, ¡°Goblin culture is heavily clan based and they respect wealth above all else. Ragnok is one of the more influential goblins because he¡¯s managing so much of my money. Only the goblins managing the Potter or Dumbledore vaults are even comparable to how influential Ragnok is.¡±

    The two of them were led into a lavishly furnished room where a goblin sat behind a massive desk, in a fashionable muggle black suit in his size.

    ¡°Lord Black,¡± the goblin Ragnok, said as soon as they sat down, ¡°What brings you to the bank today?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like for one of your teams to find somebody for me,¡± Sirius said bluntly, ¡°I¡¯m worried about her safety, so speed is crucial. She¡¯s a werewolf, so contacting the Aurors would be no help.¡±

    ¡°A werewolf, you say?¡± Ragnok said with a raised eyebrow as he looked between Sirius and Ginny who sat there silently so far.

    ¡°Is that Ginny Weasley I see?¡± Ragnok continued, ¡°Is this werewolf Olivia Roberts perhaps? The one that the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher infected?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s her,¡± Sirius said, drawing Ragnok¡¯s attention back to him, ¡°We¡¯ve just visited the Roberts to see her. Imagine our unpleasant surprise when we discovered that they kicked her to the curb as soon as she returned from school.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Ragnok said with a calculating glint in his eye, ¡°Do I detect anger at them perhaps, Lord Black? Perhaps you¡¯d consider us for any legal or¡­¡± Ragnok glanced at Ginny before returning to look at Sirius, ¡°...personal forms of retribution for them? Our fees are high, but there is no one better at what we do.¡±

    Sirius paused and then nodded, ¡°Perhaps I¡¯ll take you up on that later. But first the trackers. We¡¯d like to take care of this as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°Certainly. For a client as big as you, I¡¯ll even give you their services for free,¡± Ragnok said, ¡°A¡­ free sample if you will. I¡¯m sure there¡¯s plenty of people you may want to find in the future as Lord Black. I¡¯ll make the arrangements. Would you like to wait in the bank for word on the case, or a letter summarizing our findings at a later time?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯d like to wait,¡± Sirius said firmly, ¡°I¡¯m sure with teams as skilled as yours are, it will take no time at all.¡±

    ¡°Of course not,¡± Ragnok agreed, ¡°Very well. Garnak will show you to our VIP lounge for our wealthier clients. Garnak will inform you as soon as there¡¯s news from the team.¡±

    They left the office and were led to a very plush and fancy room where they waited for news.

 Chapter 42: A Strong Recommendation in Suspicious Circumstances

    After a while, Ginny started growing slightly restless. How long had it even been? Hadn¡¯t she spent years in Teregatt sitting around and practicing magic? She had to calm down. She sat on the floor and sat cross legged and leaned against a wall, closing her eyes as she did so. She remembered what it was like to practice her magic, to sit in Teregatt and fall into a meditative state. Her racing heart started to slow and her breathing slowed. She calmed slightly as she breathed deeper.

    ¡°I was never into that meditation stuff,¡± Sirius said suddenly from next from her, shocking her back out of her meditative state. But she felt much calmer than she had before.

    ¡°I had no idea you did that,¡± Sirius added as he sat in a chair nearby, looking down at her.

    Ginny shrugged awkwardly, ¡°Yeah. Sometimes. I just hope we hear back soon.¡±

    ¡°What did you even want to talk with her about anyway?¡± Sirius asked, ¡°I don¡¯t think I ever asked. Before we discovered this whole mess of course.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got, uhm. It¡¯s a secret,¡± Ginny said, ¡°But it¡¯s important.¡±

    ¡°Secret, huh? Something you can¡¯t even tell your favorite uncle?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re my only uncle. Well, you¡¯re not my uncle either. But you know what I mean,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Of course you¡¯re my favorite!¡±

    ¡°Ouch. Really hit me where it hurts,¡± Sirius joked, ¡°You know¡­¡±

    Garnak walked in the room and both of them immediately looked at him. The goblin walked over and looked at Sirius.

    ¡°We¡¯ve located the girl,¡± Garnak said, ¡°She¡¯s joined one of the larger werewolf packs. We haven¡¯t approached yet, would you like to go there right now? The tracking team also doubles in security if either of you feel in danger at any time.¡±

    ¡°Yes, take us right away please,¡± Sirius said, jumping up. Ginny went to get up too, but her crossed legs tangled and she fell to the floor in a heap face first for a moment. She blushed and stood to her feet properly this time as Garnak looked at her with a judging look.

    ¡°Follow¡­ after me,¡± he said, his eyes lingering on the embarrassed Ginny for a moment before walking out of the room.

    A wizard from the tracking team met them at an apparition platform from within the bank. He grabbed both Ginny and Sirius¡¯ hands before apparating them away to a random forest.

    ¡°They really live out here in the forest?¡± Ginny asked as the wizards and witches from the Gringotts tracker team surrounded them on all sides. There were eight of them, three women and five men in the group.

    ¡°Ministry won¡¯t let them live near people,¡± the man that had apparated her and Sirius answered Ginny, ¡°They¡¯re forced to live here as far away from the muggles as they can if they don¡¯t want the Aurors coming in here and throwing them in Azkaban. Well¡­ wherever prisoners are going to end up going these days. What with those rich blokes buying the whole island and all.¡±

    ¡°What a group of idiots,¡± one of the women jumped in, ¡°A mercenary company that rich? And they chose to settle on Azkaban of all places? I¡¯ve heard that they paid hundreds of millions of pounds for the land. They could have lived like kings if they¡¯d just retired and let everyone in their group live it large on that kind of wealth.¡±

    ¡°Bah, you¡¯re just jealous,¡± one of the other men jumped in, ¡°Clearly they have enough money to throw around. I think they unsealed one of the great Egyptian tombs or something. One of the ones that have curses that kill you instantly if you make a single wrong move. Whatever''s in one of them would be worth billions if you sell it to the right people.¡±

    ¡°But if it was a tomb then where have all the artifacts gone? Shouldn¡¯t they be on the market?¡±

    ¡°Maybe not. Private buyers¡­¡±

    ¡°Quiet,¡± the leader of the group commanded. The man who had apparated Ginny and Sirius to this forest, ¡°Job first. Gossip about Azkaban and those crazy fellas that bought it later. Now, you two VIPs just stay quiet. We¡¯ll explain the situation to the pack as we approach. No hostile movements, these people are touchy around outsiders. Got it?¡±

    ¡°Got it,¡± Ginny and Sirius both confirmed.

    ¡°Great. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    They walked through the woods with purpose, the leader of the group casting a spell every once in a while that sent a pulse of magic from the tip of his wand to ripple through the forest in Ginny¡¯s magic senses.

    After a few minutes, Ginny detected a few magical signatures standing in a rough line. The group approached what looked like a line of a dozen haggard men and women. Their faces were gaunt and their dirty patchy clothes hung off of their thin frames. Their eyes were sunken and dull like they¡¯d given up hope even as they stood in a line to block their way.

    ¡°What do ya want?¡± One of the men shouted at them aggressively while brandishing his wand, ¡°We don¡¯t want no outsiders round here! Leave before I spell ya!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re just here to talk to one of the pack,¡± the leader of the trackers said calmly, ¡°Olivia Roberts. She should have arrived here a few weeks ago. We¡¯re here to help her.¡±

    The man shifted, but lowered his wand and the rest of the people grew much less hostile.

    ¡°The new pup?¡± The man said, ¡°What do ya want with her? She hasn¡¯t killed anyone when she transformed before she came here, has she?¡±

    ¡°No, nothing like that. We¡¯re not Aurors, we really just want to speak with her. Our clients here are her friends.¡±

    He gestured to Ginny and Sirius. The haggard man raised an eyebrow as he saw Ginny.

    ¡°Bringin¡¯ a kid to a place like this¡­ Hope ya know what yer doing. Wait here, and don¡¯t move as I go fetch her.¡±

    The man turned and lumbered off, the other presumed werewolves remaining tense with their wands in their hands as they stood there.

    ¡°You got any food, rich boy?¡± One of the women said while staring at Sirius, ¡°Haven¡¯t eaten in days. Skin on bones, I am.¡±

    ¡°Shut up, Amelia,¡± One of the men snapped, ¡°You were stuffing your fat face just yesterday after you gave Chester that-¡±

    One of the other women cuffed the angry man on the back of the head and glared at him.

    Ginny looked at the woman who had just been called fat. She was one of the skinniest women that Ginny had ever seen. Starved. Like how Harry had been at the Dursleys, getting just barely enough calories in her meals to survive and move.

    The woman, Amelia, smirked and the other woman who had smacked the man glared at her too, wiping her smile away.

    ¡°Shut it, both of ya. Lord¡¯s too fancy to give any food to filthy werewolves like us,¡± she growled, ¡°And there¡¯s children present. Watch your da- mouths around her. No swearing.¡±

    ¡°Never knew you were such a softie¡­¡± the man sneered.

    ¡°I¡¯ll show ya how soft I am!¡± The woman said, raising her wand threateningly, ¡°I¡¯ll make you puke yer guts out in front of our esteemed guests, I will, if you don¡¯t watch yerself!¡±

    There was a tense standoff for a second, before the man barked out a short laugh. ¡°Alrigh¡¯. Fair enough.¡±

    The two women and the man all looked back at Sirius and Ginny, visibly forgetting about the confrontation they had just had as if they fought so often that it wasn¡¯t even worth remembering.

    They all stood there in a tense standoff between the Gringotts team and the ragtag group of werewolves.

    After a few minutes the man from before returned, with a familiar girl in tow behind him. Olivia. Her eyes were sunken and she had lost a lot of weight. She had massive bags under her eyes as she stared at the ground as she walked, her eyes lifeless and without any hope in them.

    ¡°Olivia!¡± Ginny called out from around the backs of the Gringott¡¯s team, ¡°Hi! We¡¯re here to help you!¡±

    Olivia looked up and shrunk back, her eyes widening in shock as she spotted Ginny. She froze and looked panicked as she stood there in place. She looked like she was about to run before the man who had retrieved her put a hand on her shoulder and whispered something to her.

    The girl looked like she had an internal struggle before she kept walking forward, the other werewolf¡¯s hand on her shoulder and seeming to push her onwards.

    ¡°H-Hi Ginny,¡± Olivia stammered with her eyes darting all around to look at anything but her as they drew close.

    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Olivia continued.

    ¡°We¡¯re here to help,¡± Ginny replied, a little put out that Olivia wasn¡¯t happy to see her, ¡°We heard about what happened with your parents. Those jerks! I wanted to punch them when I heard what they said about you!¡±

    Olivia looked up and a faint smile touched the corners of her lips. ¡°Yeah. Me too,¡± She said softly.

    ¡°Me and my uncle Sirius came as soon as we learned what happened,¡± Ginny continued, Sirius and the Gringotts people kept letting her talk. The werewolves all listened in with interest, and became visibly more relaxed as Olivia made it clear that she already knew Ginny and didn¡¯t seem to think she meant any harm.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Ginny asked in concern.

    Olivia looked hesitant before glancing at all the other werewolves listening in.

    ¡°I¡¯m part of the Pack,¡± Olivia said, ¡°There¡¯s not a lot of food, but everyone works together as one. I¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Ginny glanced around at all the observers.

    ¡°Look, Olivia. I know things don¡¯t seem great right now. But I need to talk with you in private. I know somebody that can help. Like, really help you. Please?¡±

    Olivia glanced at the werewolves again before back to Ginny and nodding.

    ¡°Okay,¡± Olivia said, ¡°But I¡¯m with the pack now. It doesn¡¯t matter how much money I have if no one will ever let me spend it. I¡¯m a registered werewolf now by the ministry, I can¡¯t even buy a house anymore¡­¡±

    Ginny and Olivia walked to the side of both groups. Neither clumps of adults moved, instead eyeing Ginny and Olivia as they walked farther into the woods until they were out of earshot.

    ¡°Alright, Ginny,¡± Olivia said with a sigh once they were far enough away, ¡°Who is this person? Your rich uncle there?¡±

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Ginny asked, concerned at Olivia¡¯s response being so lackluster to her words before.

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I just don¡¯t want to get my hopes up, Ginny,¡± Olivia said, ¡°This is all I¡¯ll amount to now, living in the woods and hunting for animals in the woods to survive. My parents were right, I¡¯m a monster.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Ginny stomped her foot on the ground angrily, ¡°I wanted to hit your parents so bad when they said those horrible things about you! You don¡¯t have to listen to them just because they¡¯re related to you. People like that don¡¯t deserve to be your family!¡±

    Olivia looked at Ginny in surprise before turning away, ¡°Easy for you to say. You didn¡¯t have your parents call you an animal.¡±

    Ginny opened her mouth as all Harry¡¯s memories with the Dursleys flooded over her. But then she shut her mouth. She did understand. Probably more than Olivia even understood. But she couldn¡¯t explain that.

    ¡°Look, this isn¡¯t false hope,¡± Ginny insisted, ¡°I know the person who took over Azkaban. He says he wants to look at you and see if he can cure you, turn you back to a human.¡±

    ¡°What? That billionaire mercenary group? How would you know any of them?¡±

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    ¡°That¡¯s not important. Just come with us, and I¡¯ll take you to Azkaban with Fawkes. He¡¯ll look at you and see what he can do.¡±

    ¡°What makes you think this guy can do what every other person for hundreds of years can¡¯t?¡± Olivia asked angrily, ¡°He¡¯s probably just playing you, us. A cruel joke on the both of us.¡±

    ¡°No, he wouldn¡¯t do that,¡± Ginny said instantly, ¡°It¡¯s¡­ I can¡¯t tell you now. But you¡¯ll understand when you see him. He¡¯s not like anyone else you¡¯ve ever met. Look, just talk to him? I¡¯ll have Fawkes apparate us away if we¡¯re ever in any danger.¡±

    Olivia wavered, and her eyes flickered to life from the dull helplessness they had been wallowing in before.

    ¡°You promise?¡± Olivia whispered, ¡°The second we¡¯re in danger, Fawkes will apparate us out?¡±

    ¡°I promise.¡±

    ¡°I¡ª Okay. The pack won¡¯t like it, but I¡¯ll go. They¡¯ll understand.¡±

    ¡°Do you want to go now? Or say your goodbye¡¯s here? I can call Fawkes right now and we can go, but I don¡¯t know how long you¡¯ll be gone.¡±

    ¡°Now?!¡± Olivia said, ¡°Uhm. Okay! I¡¯ll tell Ren that I¡¯m going, then we can go?¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡±

    Olivia and Ginny went back to the main group. Ginny gently tugged on her familiar bond with Fawkes. Something to tell him to come, but that it wasn¡¯t very urgent. Olivia went over and pulled ¡®Ren¡¯ aside. The man who had retrieved her from inside the camp before. The man looked annoyed and argued with her for a few minutes, but eventually Olivia appeared to win the argument and stepped away and started walking towards Ginny and Sirius.

    In a giant burst of flame, Fawkes appeared above them circling in the air. He let out a loud cry as everyone tensed and raised their wands at his sudden entrance.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, Fawkes!¡± Ginny shouted upwards, ¡°We¡¯re going a day early though. I¡¯ll tell you all about Olivia and what happened later. Did I interrupt your hunt?¡±

    Fawkes flapped his wings and landed on the ground just in front of Ginny. Everyone stared in amazement at Fawkes, only Olivia and Sirius being calmer as they had met him before and gotten more used to him.

    Fawkes let out a long trill.

    ¡°Fawkes¡­ Didn¡¯t you promise to not hunt animals that belonged to people?¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Are you sure? Just because there was no fence around them doesn¡¯t mean they were wild.¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°And there were no people nearby at all? It was just a big group of goats all on their own wandering around?¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Well, as long as you¡¯re sure. I just want to make sure you don¡¯t get in trouble and start stealing people¡¯s things even by accident.¡±

    Fawkes let out a long trill.

    ¡°Well, okay. But you¡¯re a big bird made of flame. I don¡¯t think you¡¯d be a very good thief either way. Okay, Olivia, you ready to go?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Go?¡± Sirius cut in, ¡°Go where? What are you doing?¡±

    Ginny stiffened as she realized she hadn¡¯t explained anything to Sirius. She gave him a guilty smile.

    ¡°So, uhm. I¡¯ll meet you outside the Burrow? I¡¯ll be there with Fawkes in a few hours.¡±

    Sirius¡¯ eyes widened, ¡°What? Absolutely not! I¡¯m in charge of you right now, you can¡¯t just¡­¡±

    Ginny jogged over so she was standing right next to Olivia and grabbed the other girl¡¯s arm.

    ¡°C¡¯mon, Fawkes! Let¡¯s go!¡±

    Fawkes chirped and flew over the both of them and the world was covered in bright orange flames and they were gone.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Sirius stared at the space where Ginny had just disappeared from. Shit, this is what he got for trying be the responsible one for once¡­

    Molly was going to beat him black and blue with a stick when she heard about this. Sirius glanced around to the gathered werewolves staring at the space where Ginny had disappeared from. If. If she heard about this. Hopefully that girl knew what she was doing with all of this¡­

    He cleared his throat, ¡°Well, it appears we¡¯re done here,¡± He said, ¡°I suppose I should be heading home.¡±

    Everyone glanced at each other then collectively shrugged.

    ¡°Talking to a bloody phoenix like a dog¡­¡± One of the Gringotts mercenaries muttered as they walked back through the woods away from the werewolves.

    Sirius snorted and all of them stared at him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let him or Ginny hear you make that comparison,¡± Sirius said, ¡°Fawkes is a very smart bird according to her. They can talk to each other just like you and I can. And if you talk to Fawkes and insult him somehow then he¡¯ll hold a grudge and you¡¯ll never be able to pet him ever again. Or so I¡¯m told. I haven¡¯t taken any risks so far.¡±

    ¡°She pets the Phoenix?¡± One of the women jumped in, ¡°I heard the rumors, but¡­ damn. That¡¯s on my bucket list now that I know it¡¯s something that¡¯s even possible.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sirius said, ¡°It¡¯s quite the experience, I have to say.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    The orange fire dissipated around Ginny and revealed the same platform that she had appeared on when she came here for the first time. But the place felt far different than before. The place wasn¡¯t cold and humid like it was before. Instead it was warm, almost sweltering and the air was slightly dry. It wasn¡¯t uncomfortable, just a touch drier and warmer than Ginny had felt on the mainland.

    The skies above them were clear and the sun shone brightly down on them, with a ring of dark clouds in the distance showing a dark and stormy gloom, like they were in the eye of a storm. Ginny turned around and looked behind her to the ocean. She was surprised to see a perfectly cylindrical hole carved in the rock down through where the old white stone of where the old apparition platform used to be. The hole was massive, the diameter of the carving so large that it went directly to the cliff¡¯s edge without going fully around.

    Ginny wondered why they had been carved like that.

    Next to her, Olivia gasped and looked around. ¡°This? This is Azkaban? It seems¡­ I mean, nothing like what people have said. Where are all the Dementors draining all the happiness from us?¡±

    ¡°Trust me, it wasn¡¯t nearly this nice last time I was here,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Balthazar, that¡¯s the person that wants to help you, got rid of them.¡±

    Ginny looked into the courtyard where she knew the portal to Teregatt was. There was a beehive-like structure made of reddish sandstone sitting in the middle of the space. It looked very out of place against the black stone that covered the rest of Azkaban.

    ¡°Does this person know that we¡¯re coming?¡± Olivia asked after a few moments and nothing happened, ¡°Should we come back later?¡±

    ¡°No, let¡¯s just wait until he comes. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll detect us soon if he hasn¡¯t already. He¡¯s probably just busy. Reinforcing the wards or something.¡±

    They waited there standing in the surprisingly atmosphere of Azkaban, with the sounds of the crashing waves of the ocean below wafting up to them. The sound now slightly soothing rather than menacing like it had been last time Ginny had been here.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Olivia shouted and jumped.

    ¡°What?¡± Ginny said and looked to where the girl was pointing with a trembling finger. There standing at the other end of the courtyard was one of the Guard staring at them.

    Ginny waved at it.

    ¡°Can you tell Balthazar we got here early?¡± Ginny shouted at the Guard, ¡°This is my friend Olivia!¡±

    The member of the Guard clicked and buzzed as they always did in reply and then flashed white and shot off into the sky. Olivia gaped as the creature flashed white and kept dashing upwards to fly into the looming black castle that loomed in front of them.

    ¡°W-What was that thing?¡± Olivia muttered nervously to Ginny and glanced around while huddling closer to her and Fawkes. Olivia had her wand drawn and her eyes darted around as if to look for anything else that might ambush them.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± Ginny said, ¡°They¡¯re harmless.¡±

    Ginny got a flash of one of the Guard plunging its sword through Pettigrew¡¯s back with a spray of blood.

    ¡°Okay, not harmless. They¡¯re not hostile though. They work for Balthazar.¡±

    ¡°And is Balthazar one of¡­ An insect thing?¡±

    ¡°No, he¡¯s not,¡± Ginny said and Olivia relaxed, ¡°He looks much more like a human,¡± She assured Olivia.

    ¡°More?¡±

    ¡°Well, he¡¯s not actually human. He looks most like¡­¡±

    Olivia and Ginny both jumped as Balthazar¡¯s voice sounded out from behind them after the signature crack of air from an apparition.

    ¡°A Devil?¡± Balthazar said to finish Ginny¡¯s sentence.

    Olivia screamed and whirling around, quickly flicking her wand. ¡°Stupify!¡± She shouted and shot a red spell at Balthazar. He reached out and caught the spell in one hand and inspected it like it was an interesting trinket. Ginny¡¯s eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she was the web of complex magic tendrils that Balthazar was controlling to keep the spell in place in his hand without letting it explode. After a few seconds he closed his fist and the spell disappeared into puffs of magic that were invisible to the naked eye.

    ¡°Nice to meet you. Olivia Roberts, I presume? An interesting spell you just cast. Good response time.¡±

    Olivia still had her wand raised, her face warring between amazed at what Balthazar had just done and fear. After what appeared to be a brief internal struggle, she lowered her wand to her side.

    ¡°A devil?¡± She said, ¡°Do I have to sell my soul to you? In exchange for curing me of my curse?¡±

    ¡°Would you do it?¡± Balthazar asked thoughtfully, ¡°If I asked?¡±

    ¡°Balthazar,¡± Ginny cut in, ¡°Please, she doesn¡¯t understand. She thinks you might really ask for her soul or something in exchange. I didn¡¯t explain much to her.¡±

    He looked surprised at Ginny¡¯s words, ¡°Oh. My apologies then, Ms. Roberts. I was just having some fun at your expense. I didn¡¯t mean for you to take it the wrong way. You don¡¯t have to do anything in return for my assistance, you have my word.¡±

    Olivia slipped her wand into her robes and appeared to have calmed down as Balthazar continued to not attack her, ¡°Thank you, B-Balthazar? I see what Ginny meant when she said I¡¯d never met anyone like you before. Do you really think that it¡¯s possible?¡±

    ¡°We shall see,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°Follow right after me. I¡¯ve already had a room prepared. Although you are a bit early so not everything is set up yet.¡±

    They walked just off the main courtyard through a door and walked down a hallway with lines of doors on either side. At the end was a larger door that Balthazar opened, revealing all sorts of strange devices pulsing with red squirming runes and thrumming with magic. Olivia looked around until she focused on the table in the center of the room. It was tilted slightly at an angle. There were loops for restraints around the hands, feet and neck that were open and made of enchanted leather.

    ¡°Oh, hell no,¡± Olivia said, ¡°No way I¡¯m getting into that thing. Is this some sick experiment thing? Cut open the werewolf and see how she ticks?¡±

    ¡°We must perform tests to make progress,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°That includes transforming you into your werewolf form. You¡¯ll only be restrained when those tests are being conducted. Please lie on the examination table and I can begin. Ignore the restraints as best as you can. We will begin with the non-invasive tests first of course.¡±

    Olivia eyed Balthazar and then Ginny.

    ¡°Ginny, do you really trust this guy? He¡¯s really not trying to run some sick experiments on me or something?¡±

    ¡°Of course Balthazar would never do anything like that,¡± Ginny said confidently, ¡°I trust him with my life.¡±

    Balthazar looked rather startled at her declaration before his face smoothed back out into his usual calm expression after a moment.

    ¡°I mean you no harm, Ms. Roberts. The sooner we begin, the sooner we can finish.¡±

    Olivia shot Ginny one last uncertain look, but at Ginny¡¯s thumbs up she stepped up and lay down on the table. Balthazar picked up a vaguely gun shaped enchanted object and waved it over Olivia and scanned her whole body. Ginny could see Balthazar running his magic through the device to make it run. It took a long time for Balthazar to finish as he carefully moved the scanner over Olivia so slowly that at a glance Ginny would have a hard time determining if he was moving at all.

    When he was finished he simply stood there for a moment wearing his normal pondering face as he stared blankly down at Olivia.

    ¡°What?¡± She asked, ¡°Can you cure it?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Balthazar said, ¡°Oh, most certainly. I¡¯m highly confident I¡¯ll be able to cook up something effective. But the disease is much more interesting and difficult to fully remove than I thought it would be. This world continues to surprise. First a demigod, now this¡­ It will take some time to study this. Likely weeks of time if not more.¡±

    ¡°Weeks?¡± Olivia asked surprised, ¡°What? That quick? I can be cured after just a few weeks of you studying me?¡±

    ¡°It is likely.¡±

    ¡°Th-Thank you. I don¡¯t really believe you yet. But if you can do it¡­ being a werewolf is horrible. You¡¯ll be giving me my life back.¡±

    ¡°Not at all, not at all. I¡¯ll have one of the Guard arrange some comfortable guest quarters more suitable to humans for your stay. Ginny, will you be sleeping here tonight?¡±

    ¡°Sorry, I can¡¯t,¡± She replied, ¡°I¡¯ve got to get home before I get Sirius in too much trouble.¡±

    She turned to Olivia, who was looking more worried now, ¡°But don¡¯t worry! I¡¯ll try to visit as often as I can. Over the weekends maybe. I¡¯m not just leaving you here.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Olivia said with a sigh of relief, ¡°Thanks, Ginny. If Balthazar can really do it¡­ then I¡¯ll really owe you one. More than one. Thanks.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the least I can do after what happened to you,¡± Ginny replied, ¡°But I really have to get going. Balthazar, is there anything else you need? Something I can do to help?¡±

    ¡°No, Ginny. All we can do now is wait. The prisoners are all transferred to the mainland, the gold is paid to your government. Just go and enjoy your summer.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Balthazar. Fawkes?¡±

    Fawkes chirped and leapt into the air above Ginny and the world was filled with orange flames again. She reappeared just inside the front gate to the Burrow. It was getting the dark, the sun near setting. She crouched down and crept towards the house as she heard shouting inside.

    ¡°Irresponsible, what were you thinking?!¡± Molly screamed, ¡°How could you lose our daughter when she was your responsibility?¡±

    ¡°It was the bloody Phoenix,¡± Sirius said defensively, ¡°She just apparated away with the handsome bird. It all happened before I could stop her!¡±

    ¡°Did she say where she was going? Why she left?¡± Dad asked in a worried tone.

    Ginny took a deep breath and opened the front door and stepped inside, Fawkes hopping in just after her as she held the door open a second longer to let him hop by.

    All three adults turned to Ginny, ¡°Don¡¯t yell at Sirius, it was my fault,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I wanted to go see something with Fawkes so I just left without thinking too much about it.¡±

    Molly puffed up, all her ire that had been focused on Sirius redirecting onto Ginny.

    ¡°Young lady, do you have any idea how worried we were about you?!¡± She said, ¡°Your father and I have been worried sick about you! Sick! You¡¯re being grounded for a week after this!¡±

    ¡°Grounded?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s¡­ Grounded?¡± Molly asked before deflating slightly, ¡°Right. No playing outside for a week. And you¡¯ll be doing extra chores. Don¡¯t you ever worry us like that again!¡±

    Molly rushed forward and wrapped Ginny in a hug that caught her by surprise. She almost never hugged Molly. After a second''s hesitation, she hugged the woman back.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Ginny mumbled, ¡°I¡­ Sorry.¡±

    Molly eventually released Ginny and stepped back. Dad stepped forward.

    ¡°That was very selfish and irresponsible what you did,¡± Dad said, and Ginny felt like something pierced her heart as she saw his expression, ¡°I¡¯m very disappointed in you, Ginny,¡± He said sternly, ¡°Don¡¯t you ever do something like this again, do you understand?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Dad. I get it,¡± She said in a small voice. She had been so wrapped up in helping Olivia that she hadn¡¯t even thought about what her family or Sirius would think when she just suddenly disappeared for what must have been hours.

    ¡°Now, off to bed with you,¡± Dad said, ¡°It¡¯s getting late.¡±

    ¡°Night, Dad, Sirius. Mom.¡±

    ¡°Night, Ginny.¡±

 Chapter 43: A Visit to Azkaban

    It had been a week, and Ginny was extremely bored. Since she was grounded, she¡¯d been forced to stay inside with Molly all the time while her three brothers played outside and flew around on their brooms.

    But it was time to go visit Olivia again, and Ginny realized that she¡¯d be in big trouble again if she went. She needed to get Sirius¡¯ help again so she could leave. She didn¡¯t want to get him in trouble again, and she still had to apologize for what had happened last week.

    It was Saturday, and Ginny managed to sneak away from Molly and came into the garage. Her Dad and Sirius were in there working on building Sirius¡¯ bike together. They were already half way done. Sirius laying on the ground on his back and fiddling with something near the bottom of the half assembled bike.

    Dad looked at her with his wand hovering over a part, about to cast an enchantment on it.

    ¡°Ginny? What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°Oh, nothing. Just wanted to talk to Uncle Sirius about something. How¡¯s the bike going? What are you enchanting?¡±

    Sirius looked at her from the ground, ¡°Oh? I¡¯m still in trouble with your parents about last week, you little gremlin. Apparating off to who knows where without telling me first. C¡¯mon, out with it. Can¡¯t exactly have a secret with your dad listening in.¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s about my friend¡­¡± Ginny said, while eyeing Dad who had put down the car part, ¡°I wanted to go visit her?¡±

    ¡°Olivia Roberts?¡± Dad said, ¡°The one you were looking for last week?¡±

    Ginny blinked and shot Sirius a betrayed look. The man wriggled out from underneath the bike and sat up, giving Ginny a shrug.

    ¡°Hey, I thought Arthur deserved to know. I shouldn¡¯t have taken you to the werewolves, got too swept up in the moment after¡­ after what happened. Not to mention you just apparated away with her out of nowhere. Where did you end up bringing her, anyway?¡±

    Ginny was hesitant, but then glanced between her Dad and Sirius who were looking at her expectantly.

    ¡°Can you keep it a secret?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Not a normal secret, but something really serious. A lot of people could get really hurt if too many people find out about it.¡±

    ¡°Hurt?¡± Dad asked, concerned, ¡°What are you talking about? Where did you go?¡±

    ¡°You both have to promise,¡± Ginny said, staying strong, ¡°You can¡¯t tell anyone else, not even Molly. Please, it''s really important.¡±

    The two men looked hesitant before Sirius nodded, ¡°I promise, Ginny,¡± He said seriously, ¡°I won¡¯t tell anyone else unless you or your friend are in danger.¡±

    Dad hesitated for a bit longer, before nodding too. ¡°I won¡¯t tell Molly,¡± He promised, ¡°Now, what is it? Where did you take your friend?¡±

    Ginny took a deep breath. She had kept the secret for what felt like forever. But with this, her secret would be out there. Maybe they wouldn¡¯t understand everything, but¡­ it was the only first step in revealing all the secrets that Ginny had. It was scary. But if she didn¡¯t tell them, then she¡¯d be trapped here and Olivia would think that Ginny had abandoned her with Balthazar. And if she could make the adults understand then maybe they could help her.

    ¡°We went¡­ to Azkaban,¡± Ginny said, ¡°The people there said they could help cure her of being a werewolf.¡±

    Both men¡¯s eyes widened and they shared a shocked glance at the other. ¡°Azkaban?!¡± Arthur blurted out, ¡°That billionaire mercenary company that bought it? How in the world do you know them? What are they doing contacting you?¡±

    ¡°They said they can help Olivia, and I believe them,¡± Ginny said, ¡°She¡¯s there and their leader is running tests on her even right now. I¡¯ve got to go see her this weekend so she knows that I didn¡¯t forget about her. I¡¯m sure she¡¯s fine, but the people there aren¡¯t very talkative.¡±

    Sirius frowned as he looked at her, ¡°You seem awfully familiar with this group. How did you meet them? What are they doing asking a little girl like you for help?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not a little girl!¡± Ginny protested, ¡°I¡¯m almost thirteen now!¡±

    ¡°Hmph. My point exactly,¡± Sirius snorted.

    ¡°Ginny, how did you meet these people?¡± Dad insisted, ¡°No one knows anything about them, not even the Ministry. What do they want with you?¡±

    ¡°They just want to help,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I¡¯ve already been to Azkaban twice and I was fine. Even if they were bad, Fawkes could just apparate me away again. It¡¯s perfectly safe for me to visit.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like it,¡± Dad declared, ¡°If you¡¯re going, then we¡¯re going with you.¡±

    Sirius shot Dad a surprised look, ¡°Not that I disagree, Arthur,¡± He said, ¡°But you¡¯re not going to forbid her from going? Didn¡¯t think you¡¯d be excited by this business and mysterious strangers contacting her.¡±

    Dad shook his head and smiled slightly, ¡°Ah, I¡¯ve seen that stubborn look on her mother far too many times. I¡¯m sure she¡¯d sneak out and go anyway if we tried to stop her. Best to meet these people ourselves and see what they¡¯re really about.¡±

    Ginny hesitated. Was she that obvious? But it would make things easier. Balthazar could explain things and make them feel comfortable much better than Ginny could. He was really good at words and explaining things in ways that made perfect sense when he was done.

    ¡°Okay,¡± She said, ¡°But I have to go first. I have to warn the leader, Balthazar, about you coming. Then I¡¯ll come back and get you two. Is that okay?¡±

    The adults argued with Ginny about it for a few minutes, but she ended up getting her way. Dad and Sirius seemed to accept that she couldn¡¯t just bring them uninvited even if they didn¡¯t like that she¡¯d have to go alone to make sure that it was okay.

    ¡°But you¡¯re coming right back here in fifteen minutes young lady or you will be grounded for the rest of the summer!¡± Dad said sternly while looking worried.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine, Dad. I promise.¡±

    She tugged on her familiar bond gently and a second later Fawkes tugged back. After a few more minutes, he appeared in a ball of flame just behind her. Ginny turned around and explained what they were doing to him. He grumbled a bit at having to do two extra trips to Azkaban with extra people, but understood.

    ¡°Fifteen minutes, don¡¯t forget,¡± Sirius said.

    ¡°Okay. See you guys soon. Fawkes!¡±

    Fawkes flew up and after the flames washed over Ginny she was at Azkaban.

    There was a Guard standing there at the platform, waiting. It buzzed and chittered as it stood a dozen feet away staring at her. Ginny flinched at the sudden noise.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± She said, ¡°You scared me. I¡¯m here. Can you get Balthazar and tell him to come quickly please? I don¡¯t have a lot of time.¡±

    The Guard buzzed and clicked again and with a flash of white light launched into the air and dashed away again through the sky.

    It took five minutes for Balthazar to finally arrive in a crack of apparition just in front of her.

    ¡°Ginny. Your friend is doing well. She¡¯s been eager for your visit all week.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s great,¡± Ginny said quickly, ¡°But something¡¯s happened. I told my Dad and Sirius about you helping Olivia. It was the only way I could come here this week and I didn¡¯t want Olivia to think I¡¯d forgotten about her¡­¡±

    Ginny explained the full situation to Balthazar as quickly as she could as he listened intently to her words and asked a few clarifying questions. She finished and Balthazar waited in silence while wearing a thoughtful look.

    ¡°So?¡± Ginny asked hopefully, ¡°Did I do the right thing? Can they come and you explain, or should I say you said no? I¡¯ll be in big trouble with them, but you know best.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the Queen,¡± Balthazar said mildly, ¡°You could simply order me to help you.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t do that!¡± Ginny said, ¡°We¡¯re friends, right? I know you want to help Teregatt too, but if you don¡¯t want to do something I shouldn¡¯t just force you to do it.¡±

    ¡°Hm. Interesting. Do you have a story planned?¡±

    ¡°Story? What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Did you plan to tell them the full truth? Harry Potter? Eric Smith? Teregatt?¡±

    ¡°Oh. Er, not really. But what else can I say?¡±

    ¡°A partial truth. When you first woke within the Chamber of Secrets I helped fight off your attacker, which is how we met. From there I helped you with Pettigrew¡¯s attack, and with Olivia more recently. No need to mention Teregatt or anything else similar.¡±

    ¡°But what about you and the Guard? Won¡¯t they freak out when they see none of you are human?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll order the Guard to make themselves scarce. As for me¡­ A botched human transfiguration generally explains away most things. I will think of something convincing for anything else. From your perspective in this story, I am simply a helpful stranger with my appearance in the Chamber of Secrets the only true lie. No need to mention Teregatt or that you are the Queen and could order me around as you please if you wished.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Is this wrong? To lie to them about something this important?¡±

    ¡°No. Lies are a tool used for good or bad both. Your family is not ready for the full truth. Even this much is a significant risk given your government¡¯s interest in us.¡±

    ¡°I know. But if they know, then they can help too. And I can come here with their permission. Oh, hey, and it will explain if you have to help me if I¡¯m in trouble! They¡¯ll already know about you, so it would make sense that you have powerful portal magic and know if I¡¯m in danger.¡±

    Balthazar looked briefly surprised before nodding, ¡°Indeed. I had not considered that angle. Perhaps this is for the best then¡­ Very well, I will make some basic preparations for their visit. Return in two hours and I¡¯ll be ready for them.¡±

    ¡°Okay, thanks for this Balthazar. I don¡¯t mean to cause you trouble all the time whenever I come.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s more than fine, Ginny. Now go on ahead. Two hours.¡±

    Fawkes jumped up and in a burst of flames they were back in the garage of the burrow again, the two adults staring her down.

    ¡°Two hours,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Balthazar said we can visit together in two hours.¡±

    The two adults let out twin sighs of relief.

    ¡°Balthazar?¡± Dad asked, ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s the leader of the group,¡± Ginny said, ¡°He¡¯s really magically powerful. And don¡¯t be scared when you see him, he has some botched human transfigurations so he looks¡­ different from most people. He¡¯ll be the one meeting us and explaining everything to you guys.¡±

    The two men shared another look.

    ¡°Perhaps we should clean ourselves up?¡± Sirius ventured, ¡°This man does sound like a rather important fellow.¡±

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    ¡°Right. We¡¯ll get right on that. Ginny, put on your best clothes and get your mother to tidy you up.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t tell her though!¡± Ginny protested, ¡°You both promised!¡±

    Dad looked surprised for a moment as if he had forgotten before nodding, ¡°Alright. Not until after we¡¯ve talked with this Balthazar person. Deal?¡±

    ¡°Alright¡­ fine¡­¡± Ginny mumbled, seeing that that was the best deal she was going to get. Balthazar would convince them to keep it a secret somehow¡­

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Molly had been suspicious about all their strange behavior once the three of them emerged from the garage together. The three of them would be ¡®visiting Sirius¡¯ house¡¯ soon, so Molly spent some time fussing over Ginny and making sure she was wearing something nice. Sirius¡¯ house was rather comfortable and the man didn¡¯t seem to care about things being fancy, so Ginny wasn¡¯t sure why Molly was so convinced by that argument. But maybe because Sirius was rich, she assumed that his house would be extra formal or something?

    Either way, Ginny had some cleaning spells cast on her by Molly and put on some robes that were fancier than her normal ones with little wavy strips of fabric over them. Sirius and Arthur put on some fancier clothes and cleaned up as well. Then it was time. They all suspiciously reentered the garage as Molly watched on, not looking totally convinced with their excuses. But she didn¡¯t say anything to them as they left.

    ¡°Alright,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Here we go.¡±

    ¡°Never thought I¡¯d be going back to that horrible place,¡± Sirius said with a haunted look on his face.

    ¡°It¡¯s gotten much better,¡± Ginny assured him, ¡°Just you wait. Fawkes?¡±

    Fawkes flew up, and in a burst of orange flame, the three of them were at Azkaban. Ginny noticed that she couldn¡¯t see any of the Guard around, Balthazar had probably told them to hide.

    She turned around and saw Dad looking around curiously. Sirius meanwhile looked stunned, glancing around to the clear skies and likely surprised by the warm, dry air around them. As well as the complete absence of Dementors around them.

    ¡°This¡­ You¡¯re sure this is still Azkaban?¡± He asked faintly, while still looking around, ¡°Where are the Dementors?¡±

    ¡°I believe I can answer that,¡± Balthazar¡¯s voice said as he opened a nearby door and walked out.

    Both of the adults'' eyes widened before they could control themselves.

    ¡°Human transfiguration¡­¡± Dad said, ¡°That¡¯s quite the accident you had there.¡±

    ¡°I should say so,¡± Balthazar said, sounding slightly amused by the statement, ¡°But I have to say, I¡¯ve grown to rather enjoy my current look. Sirius Black and Arthur Weasley, I assume? Pleasure to meet you.¡±

    ¡°Balthazar?¡± Sirius asked cautiously, ¡°You were saying about the Dementors? I was here myself in this place for¡­ a long time. Wherever have they gone?¡±

    ¡°Oh, me and my people have destroyed them. Rather unpleasant creatures to live with, as I¡¯m sure you know.¡±

    ¡°Destroyed?¡± Arthur asked, ¡°They¡¯re classified as highly dangerous creatures by the Ministry. How did you manage to destroy them with just your group?¡±

    ¡°Me and my people are very skilled,¡± Balthazar replied, ¡°We have learned magic that many others do not to help us combat them and other similar creatures. Now, let¡¯s walk. I¡¯m sure Ginny here is eager to see Olivia Roberts and check on her condition.¡±

    ¡°How is she? Did you make any progress on a cure?¡± Ginny asked as they started walking through the hallways of Azkaban. Sirius seemed a little shell shocked as he looked around at the dingy halls brightly lit with the light of the midday sun shining down from above.

    ¡°Somewhat,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°She is fine if a little bored. She has to sit still for long periods while I perform my experiments. I believe I¡¯ve found the root cause and the location of the alterations. Now I simply must determine what must be done to undo the alteration or render it inert.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good, right? You¡¯re already halfway there to a cure if you know exactly what¡¯s causing it!¡±

    ¡°Not exactly,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°It is a very complex curse. Technically it¡¯s not a curse at all. It¡¯s embedded into her magic and has warped it for its own purposes. A curse could be magically dispelled, but this disease has changed her on a fundamental level¡­ She must be changed again on a fundamental level to revert to how she was before. And care must be taken to make sure that the disease does not simply reactivate itself and revert her back into a werewolf as soon as any changes we make are complete¡­¡±

    ¡°Are you some sort of magical researcher?¡± Arthur asked, ¡°I¡¯ve never heard anything like this discussed at the Ministry. How long have you been studying the curse? Surely you couldn¡¯t have learned this much in the last week with Olivia Roberts?¡±

    ¡°I have studied many other magical curses before,¡± Balthazar said as they started to walk up a long set of stairs, ¡°I am a magical researcher among other things.¡±

    ¡°How do you know my daughter? What¡¯s your interest in her?¡± Dad asked, his tone not as hostile as Ginny had expected it to be. It seems that Balthazar¡¯s calm manner and reveal of advanced knowledge of the werewolf curse had eased his suspicion somewhat.

    ¡°I noticed some magical anomalies at Hogwarts castle with my equipment,¡± Balthazar said calmly, ¡°Imagine my surprise when I discovered a nearly comatose Ginny Weasley and an eighteen year old boy standing above her about to cast a fatal curse.¡±

    Dad jolted, ¡°Wait, are you saying¡­ the Chamber of Secrets? You were there? How! No one can apparate on Hogwarts grounds!¡±

    ¡°I can,¡± Balthazar said simply, ¡°I can do many things others can not.¡±

    ¡°What happened? To the boy that was about to attack her?¡± Sirius asked.

    ¡°I killed him. He was about to cast the lethal curse after I apparated into the chamber and I only had moments to react.¡±

    Dad opened his mouth as if to protest but after keeping it open for a second, shut it again and didn¡¯t say anything.

    Balthazar eyed him for a moment, ¡°I waited and investigated until Fawkes arrived and apparated the girl away back above the castle. I¡¯ve helped your daughter and provided some mentorship in some cases after that.¡±

    ¡°Helped?¡± Dad asked cautiously, ¡°How?¡±

    Balthazar looked at Sirius as he spoke, ¡°Ginny has already told you that Pettigrew is dead, Sirius. But what she didn¡¯t say was that it was by my hand. Fawkes came to me for assistance when Pettigrew was about to overwhelm him with his magic. I dealt with the issue. In addition, when Ginny informed me about her friend and asked for help, I agreed to do so. Leading to our current situation.¡±

    ¡°You killed Pettigrew? Who are you?¡± Arthur asked, ¡°Where have you been? I¡¯ve never heard of somebody like you, rivaling the power of Dumbledore even. If not more from what you¡¯ve implied. How could none of us, the Ministry, know about you?¡±

    ¡°I think you¡¯ll find that most of those with great magical power like to hide themselves,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°I¡¯d rather not be hounded every hour of the day by people looking for favors or any secret knowledge I may possess. Dumbledore is somewhat of an outlier among the most powerful by staying so publicly visible for so long.¡±

    ¡°Wait, are you saying that there¡¯s more people around with your level of power?¡± Arthur asked in disbelief, ¡°Just in secret and in disguise scattered about?¡±

    ¡°Most likely,¡± Balthazar easily agreed, ¡°No one knew about me for so long after all. I¡¯m sure there are others that have seen the value of having some privacy. You hide yourselves from the non-magical population, do you not? Why wouldn¡¯t more powerful wizards do the same to those less powerful than them for the same reasons?¡±

    Dad and Sirius looked disturbed at Balthazar¡¯s words and implication. Ginny wanted to ask a question but held her tongue. Was Balthazar making all of that up? Or did he really think that that was true? Because he hadn¡¯t been hiding at all. He¡¯d only arrived on earth in person less than a month ago.

    They finished walking up the sets of stairs and walked down a hallway lined with doors on either side. Balthazar stopped after they walked for a few seconds, Sirius and Dad not speaking as they moved.

    Balthazar stepped up to a door that looked identical to the rest and knocked firmly on the wooden door.

    There was a short pause and then some scuffling inside before there was a clunk of a door unlocking and the door cracked open slightly.

    ¡°Balthazar?¡± Olivia asked as she peered through the crack in the door, ¡°Are there people with you?¡±

    Her eyes swept from the adults and down to Ginny.

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    Olivia stood back and opened the door fully, revealing the bedroom beyond. It was a single cot and a table, but there were blankets stacked high on the bed. There was an odd wooden spherical enchanted object sitting on the table. There was a small window on the far wall, lighting the room along with some enchanted lights that were also in the room.

    ¡°Hi, Ginny,¡± Olivia said, ¡°Has it really only been a week?¡±

    ¡°Yep, seven days. How¡¯s it been? Balthazar said he¡¯s made some progress already.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Olivia said with a quick glance at Balthazar, ¡°I don¡¯t understand hardly any of it. But things sound good already. I¡¯d do this for years if it gave me a chance to get rid of a curse. But it still is boring sitting around while Balthazar runs his tests.¡±

    ¡°Not the worst thing to suffer through,¡± Balthazar said.

    ¡°No, no!¡± Olivia said, ¡°I¡¯m not complaining. Not at all. I¡¯m still very grateful, sir. Thank you very much, really. I¡¯ll sit still as long as you need.¡±

    There was a short pause.

    ¡°Well, Ginny, Olivia,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°How about you two catch up? I¡¯m certain Sirius and Arthur have some more things they wish to discuss between just the three of us.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Fawkes, go with them? So they feel safer?¡±

    Fawkes chirped and hopped over to Sirius and Dad from where he had been following behind this whole time, flapping his wings to hover just above the ground.

    Dad opened his mouth to protest, but Ginny cut him off before he could say anything.

    ¡°If I¡¯m in trouble I can pull on my familiar bond,¡± She said, ¡°Just take him with you, Dad.¡±

    He closed his mouth, ¡°Fine,¡± He said, ¡°But don¡¯t hesitate if anything happens.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Ginny went into Olivia¡¯s room and Dad, Sirius, and Balthazar walked off farther down the hallway and started talking to each other. Ginny was glad that they had seemed to accept Balthazar¡¯s story so quickly about the human transfiguration. Apparently it was more plausible than she had thought that it would be.

    ¡°What¡¯s that thing?¡± Ginny asked as she looked at the strange wooden ball with all sorts of carvings all over it.

    ¡°It¡¯s a maze,¡± Olivia said, ¡°Watch this.¡±

    She took out her wand and tapped the base of the ball. The thing flashed with the squirming red runes for a few seconds before settling back down. Now the carvings, what Ginny recognized as the maze, had reset.

    Olivia reached over and flipped it upside down. Sitting there at the bottom was a little metal ball sitting in a divot that rolled around as Olivia tilted the whole device from side to side.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Olivia said as she rolled the ball to enter the maze covering the rest of the ball¡¯s surface. There was some magic around the ball that Ginny could see that prevented it from falling off even when there was no glass or plastic in its way, ¡°You can set it at different difficulties too. It actually gets pretty hard at the higher levels. Whenever Balthazar¡¯s been busy, I¡¯ve pretty much just been doing this all the time.¡±

    ¡°So?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Are you feeling better? Now that you know that there¡¯s really a chance?¡±

    Olivia put the puzzle ball back on the table carefully.

    ¡°I¡¯m not letting myself get my hopes up,¡± Olivia explained as she kept avoiding Ginny¡¯s gaze, ¡°Not until Balthazar¡¯s actually done it. I know it sounds so ungrateful, but¡­ I don¡¯t think I could take it if I got really invested and then he failed.¡±

    ¡°He won¡¯t fail,¡± Ginny said with confidence, ¡°You¡¯ll see.¡±

    Olivia looked up at Ginny, ¡°Yeah,¡± She admitted, ¡°I think so too. Thanks for bringing me here, Ginny. Even if the Teregatt Guard still freaks me out. What is Teregatt anyway? The name of the mercenary company? Balthazar wouldn¡¯t say.¡±

    Ginny shrugged and didn¡¯t say anything.

    ¡°Hey, Olivia,¡± Ginny asked, ¡°You¡¯re a Hogwarts graduate and all. Do you know any cool spells you can teach me? I brought my wand with me just in case.¡±

    Ginny reached into her robes and drew out her wand to show Olivia.

    ¡°Sure, but¡­ the Trace? You can¡¯t use magic, the ministry will catch you and you¡¯ll get in trouble. They can detect magic around any Hogwarts students to track if you¡¯re using magic over the summer or not.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Azkaban¡¯s super magical though, so it¡¯s not like they¡¯d be able to tell what spell was me though,¡± Ginny said, having already asking Balthazar about this before, ¡°Unless you tattled on me, no one would ever know if it was us or Balthazar casting any spell we want.¡±

    ¡°Huh. I guess that makes sense,¡± Olivia said, ¡°Never thought about it that way. My parents never let me use magic over the holidays even though we lived in a magical house. You like to go swimming with Jack and Alexa in the mornings, right? How¡¯d you like to learn the bubble head charm? It¡¯s pretty hard, but it¡¯ll let you swim completely underwater and give you air the whole time. The charm goes around your head and creates a bubble of air that constantly gets refreshed so you can breathe properly.¡±

    ¡°Yeah! We¡¯ve never learned anything that interesting in class. You think I can do it?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± Olivia said, seeming to brighten a little at the prospect of teaching Ginny the charm.

    ¡°We have plenty of time,¡± Olivia said, ¡°And there¡¯s always next week if you don¡¯t get it this time, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Definitely. So how does the wand movement go? What¡¯s the incantation?¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± Olivia said, standing and drawing her wand and pointing it at the wall, ¡°Watch closely and I¡¯ll show you what to do¡­¡±

    By the time Sirius, Balthazar, Fawkes, and Dad returned Olivia looked like she was feeling much better. Ginny didn¡¯t manage to successfully cast the charm, even after she cheated and let the wand move her magic instead of guiding it with her own control. But she was making good progress according to Olivia. It was a fifth year charm, so it would take a lot more work than normal to learn. It was considered one of the simpler fifth year charms and didn¡¯t need much complex theory to actually cast it, which is why Olivia thought it was even possible that Ginny could learn to do it as someone who had only finished her first year at Hogwarts.

    ¡°Bye, Olivia. See you next week!¡± Ginny said, ¡°Hope you feel better.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Ginny. Remember that you can practice all the components of the charm separately without actually casting it. See you next week.¡±

    Olivia shut the door to her room after saying polite goodbyes to everyone else, then the three adults and Ginny walked back to the lower courtyard where they had begun. They all said goodbye to Balthazar and then Fawkes flew up and apparated them all back to the garage of the burrow in a burst of orange flames.

    They all stood there for a moment, the two adults having thoughtful looks on their faces.

    ¡°So, did it go well with Balthazar?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Did he convince you? Are you going to tell Molly about it?¡±

    ¡°Everything seemed in order from what I can tell,¡± Dad said slowly, ¡°I¡¯ll have to think about what to say to your mother. But¡­ We¡¯ll see. We can keep it from her for a few more weeks and see how it goes first, I suppose¡­¡±

    With that, they all split off to do their own things. Fawkes was extra hungry that night from all the teleports, demanding a little extra food than normal as punishment for Ginny using him like a feathery taxi service so much recently.

    Not that she planned to stop doing it, but she¡¯d have to find a way to make him feel more appreciated so he wouldn¡¯t think she was taking his help for granted.

    Before bed, Ginny practiced the bubble head charm incantations and wand movement. She¡¯d get it eventually. Olivia would be really impressed when she nailed the charm perfectly next week.

 Chapter 44: The New Old Friend

    Ginny knew that it was a risk. But she didn¡¯t want to wait anymore, she had already held back so long on doing it. She took out her wand and with a series of low powered cutting charms started to carve the large stone in front of her. They were not very powerful, and Ginny barely even scratched the stone each time she cast the spell. But it was almost better that way, that it would take a long time to do. Some real effort, to make it more worthwhile.

    She knew it was a risk, to do this at the Burrow. What if someone saw it? Wondered who had carved it, what it meant? But after a few weeks spending time here at the Burrow, Ginny couldn¡¯t bring herself to put it anywhere else. She knew from Harry¡¯s memories that this is where he would want his grave to be. At her new home, next to her new family. She¡¯d been thinking about it ever since Dad and Sirius had learned about Balthazar.

    It had been the right thing to do, she felt much lighter now that she didn¡¯t feel like she had to hold herself back from them as much anymore. She wasn¡¯t all the way there in exposing all her secrets¡­ But it would happen in the future someday now. She was sure of it. She hadn¡¯t been sure before, thinking maybe that she would never tell anyone and keep it a secret with just her and Balthazar for forever.

    She kept carving with her spells, one little slice in the large stone near the edge of the Burrow property just near the edge of the wards. A place that almost none of her family went too often, it being so close to the edge.

    She finished carving the words. She stood there staring at them for over ten minutes after she finished, unable to speak as she stood there.

    ¡°Harry Potter. 1980-1989. I Won¡¯t Forget You. Rest in Peace.¡±

    She finally read out loud, her voice choked up as she finally let herself cry and say goodbye to Harry for the last time.

    ¡°Goodbye, Harry,¡± She said, ¡°I¡¯ll always remember you, even if no one else ever will¡­ I hope that¡¯s enough.¡±

    She could use Harry¡¯s memories to check what he might think, but she didn¡¯t. It felt vaguely disrespectful to his memory to dredge up his mental ghost like that. She would just have to be left wondering. She resolved to not search for what he would think about a situation in the future. That¡¯s how she was really putting him to rest. Not using the faded specter of him that remained in her mind anymore. Only the memories in the raw form, versus the experience and emotions of the boy who had sacrificed himself so Ginny could live.

    ¡°Goodbye, Harry,¡± Ginny said again, ¡°I won¡¯t forget. I¡¯ll try to live the dream life you always wished for. For the both of us.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°You alright, Ginny?¡± Olivia asked, ¡°You¡¯ve been a little down today. You¡¯re doing good on the charm. You¡¯ve been able to half cast it a few times by now even.¡±

    Ginny shook her head, ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine. Just distracted. How¡¯s it going with Balthazar? It¡¯s nearly the end of July. You must be bored out of your mind by now.¡±

    ¡°Tell me about it,¡± Olivia huffed, sitting on her bed and leaning back against the wall behind her, ¡°But Balthazar says he¡¯s getting close. I wasn¡¯t kidding when I said I¡¯d sit still as long as he needed if there was a chance for a cure. We¡¯ve started having to use those scary enchanted straps for the last two weeks. Let me tell you, I nearly had a panic attack after he fastened them and I was fully trapped for the first time¡­ He has a beam of concentrated moonlight or something that he shines on me to force me to transform. I¡­ don¡¯t remember anything after that. So it¡¯s almost like the time is passing quicker than it would seem.¡±

    ¡°If Balthazar says he¡¯s close, then he probably is,¡± Ginny assured her, ¡°I¡¯m sure it won¡¯t be too much longer.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Olivia said without much conviction, ¡°Probably. How¡¯s your summer been? Playing outside, having some fun being back at home?¡±

    ¡°Yep. Being grounded stunk for that first week after you came here, but other than that it¡¯s been pretty great. Apparently I¡¯m really good on a broom. My brothers have been trying to convince me to try out for the Quidditch team next year. I don¡¯t know, the whole thing sounds kind of¡­ boring, sort of? My brothers are obsessed with it, but I just don¡¯t get it.¡±

    ¡°Pffft, yeah it¡¯s an acquired taste,¡± Olivia replied, ¡°I don¡¯t get it either really. But you¡¯d be surprised just how many guys are absolutely obsessed with it. Best to learn a little so you can talk a good game if you have to.¡±

    ¡°I get plenty of that from my brothers,¡± Ginny said while scrunching her nose slightly, ¡°I ask one question and they tell me the lineage of their favorite players and their famous parents and how good at the game they are. Ron¡¯s been obsessed with Victor Krum from Bulgaria recently. Youngest seeker in a century and all that.¡±

    Olivia shrugged, ¡°Yeah, no clue. You said your family is going to the world tournament, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, mid August. It¡¯s a whole thing, my brothers are talking about it constantly. My dad got tickets to the top box somehow. We¡¯ll be sitting with all sorts of important people while we¡¯re there. Eric Potter and Hermione Granger got invited too because of Ron. They didn¡¯t let me invite Alexa or Jack along¡­ Didn¡¯t have enough seats¡­¡±

    ¡°Hey, Alexa and Jack don¡¯t even care about Quidditch, do they?¡± Olivia said, ¡°I bet ya that Alexa would be complaining the whole time about how Quidditch wasn¡¯t a real sport or something again. Jack didn¡¯t seem too into it either from what I saw.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true. Still, it¡¯d be nice if they were there.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve got the whole school year to go around and gossip and giggle with them. You three were practically fused at the hip even with Alexa being a Gryffindor and everything. Do you even know how much I had to hex Preston when he kept complaining about you bringing her into our common room?¡±

    ¡°We didn¡¯t giggle. Or gossip that much. We were just hanging out together and having some fun... Things are going to be different without you as our prefect. I wonder who¡¯s going to be the next one?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll find out soon,¡± Olivia said, ¡°That¡¯ll be your big surprise for the great opening feast, I guess. And C¡¯mon. They were giggles. I was there, heard it with my own ears. All of you were relentless little first years scurrying around exploring the castle and getting into trouble.¡±

    ¡°Meh. Whatever. So what? Nothing wrong with that.¡±

    ¡°Never said there was,¡± Olivia said with an amused smile as she rested her head against the wall, ¡°Just stating the¡­¡± Olivia continued and dragged out the last word with a teasing lilt, ¡°Factsssss¡­¡±

    ¡°Grrrr. C¡¯mon. Don¡¯t you sit around enough?¡± Ginny said, ¡°Help me with the charm! I feel like I¡¯m getting close this time.¡±

    Olivia popped up from the bed to a standing position.

    ¡°Sure. Let¡¯s look at your wand movement again. Maybe it¡¯s something with that last flick near the end? Thought I saw something off with it last time¡­¡±

    Ginny finally managed to cast the charm fully by the time it was time for her to leave for dinner. After saying goodbye, she tugged on her familiar bond and Fawkes appeared and apparated her away and back home into the garage.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny looked around the exotic house around them. There were strange symbols and strange magical plants growing in the yard. There was a giant magical printing press in the corner whirring and moving as it printed out copies of the Quibbler. The Quibbler was owned by Mr. Lovegood who was currently serving some tea to Molly. Ginny didn¡¯t fully understand why she was here right now. Apparently the old Ginny had used to be friends with their daughter, Luna Lovegood.

    The girl herself hadn¡¯t shown up just yet, and Ginny was wondering what she should do. She was just standing in the corner not doing much at all.

    After another awkward minute or two, a blonde haired girl came down the stairs, appearing cautious as she peeked around the corner. Mr. Lovegood turned and spotted Luna before she could duck away again.

    ¡°Ah, Luna! I thought you had forgotten. Our guests are here. Why don¡¯t you show young Ginny around this place again? I was just telling Mrs. Weasley here about the secret vampire cabals running our government. I¡¯m sure they¡¯re the ones behind buying Azkaban.¡±

    Luna perked up a little, ¡°Okay,¡± She said in an absent tone, ¡°I did think that one made the most sense, Daddy.¡± She turned to Ginny and seemed to focus more.

    ¡°Ginny? I can show you around?¡±

    She asked almost hesitantly.

    Ginny nodded and followed the girl out the front door. The blonde haired girl told her about the magical plants for a bit, with Ginny asking some questions about the more interesting ones.

    ¡°Wait, you¡¯re in Ravenclaw right?¡± Ginny asked suddenly as she realized that this was the same girl that had given her a strange look on her first train ride to Hogwarts last year, ¡°You¡¯ll be a third year this term? One of the people who knew the¡­ old me?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Luna said sadly as she stepped away from the plant she had been telling Ginny about, ¡°We used to be great friends before we went to school. When we were sorted into different houses it was very difficult for us to still be friends without people treating you strangely. You¡¯re so different from how you used to be¡­¡±

    ¡°I did get sorted into a different house,¡± Ginny pointed out, ¡°A lot¡¯s happened to me since my first memories. It¡¯s hard to know who knew the old me or not. You used to be the old Ginny¡¯s friend, right? Can you tell me about her? Did she have any friends in Gryffindor, what did she like¡­ any of it? My family¡¯s said some stuff, but¡­ none of them knew anything about what happened at Hogwarts. Busy with their own things I suppose.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Luna said, ¡°You seemed very lonely. I didn¡¯t see you talking with almost anyone between classes or at meals. I was so very disappointed when we were sorted into different houses¡­ Your wrackspurts were all dull and barely present at all when I looked at you. I felt horrible when I heard you had been attacked¡­¡±

    ¡°Wrackspurts?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°What are those?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re invisible creatures that fly around your ears,¡± Luna said with a distant expression, ¡°Attracted to strong positive emotions, you know. You had hardly any around you for our first year. You seem much happier now. I can feel them as they float around people.¡±

    ¡°Huh. That¡¯s kind of cool. You can feel people¡¯s emotions? Like an empath? Is it like you¡¯re detecting something in the magic they give off or something?¡±

    Luna looked rather startled. ¡°Sensing¡­ magic? No, that¡­ only very powerful people can do that.¡±

    Experimentally, Ginny extended a tendril of her magic and reached it out towards Luna. The girl flinched back, looking rather shocked.

    ¡°What was that?¡± She asked with wide eyes, ¡°It was like a whole herd of Nargles was charging me at once!¡±

    ¡°That was magic,¡± Ginny said, ¡°You can detect it. Didn¡¯t you know? Have you ever felt something weird when people cast spells around you?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Luna said, ¡°The Rentils like to dance in their wands just before they cast. Everyone knows that.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s the magic in their wands!¡± Ginny said, growing excited. Somebody else could sense magic too besides her and Eric! Wasn¡¯t this so exciting?

    ¡°Watch, more magic coming your way,¡± Ginny said and extended another magic tendril towards Luna and curled it around in the air like a snake slithering through the air.

    Luna¡¯s expression grew distant and she got a dopey smile on her face as she stared at Ginny¡¯s slithering tendril of magic.

    ¡°So beautiful¡­¡± She muttered, ¡°Almost as good as how it is in Hogwarts.¡±

    ¡°I know, right?¡± Ginny said, happy that she could finally share with somebody with the same sense as her. Other than Eric of course. No one else understood, even her parents after she¡¯d tried to explain how it felt to them one time.

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    ¡°The enchantments are just floating in the air in that place, it¡¯s just ridiculous how many of them are there all the time!¡±

    Luna looked back down, dragging her eyes down away from Ginny¡¯s magic tendril.

    ¡°You can see them too?¡± She asked in a whisper.

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Ginny said, ¡°I thought that¡­ no one else understands what it¡¯s like. I woke up feeling the magic after¡­ what happened to me. It feels so natural, like I¡¯ve always felt it like this. Isn¡¯t it amazing, way better than seeing things with your eyes, right?¡±

    ¡°Right¡­ Can you teach me? To direct the nargles¡­. The magic like you? I want to make them dance and swirl like that too¡­¡±

    ¡°Sure! Here, let¡¯s sit down,¡± Ginny said and pulled the blonde girl to sit cross legged on the soft grass next to Ginny. Luna stared at Ginny with interest.

    Ginny tried to remember the lessons Balthazar had given her in the beginning in controlling her magic, ¡°So, I¡¯m going to do something as a little test,¡± Ginny said after deciding what to do. She extended a very thin tendril of magic out and gently pressed the tip of it onto the back of Luna¡¯s hand. The girl flinched her hand as soon as Ginny made contact and stared where the tendril contacted her. Ginny kept the tip of her magic tendril rooted on the same spot on Luna¡¯s body even as the girl turned her hand around and shifted it to inspect it.

    ¡°To be able to do anything like what I do, you¡¯ve got to be able to feel your magic first,¡± Ginny lectured, ¡°Just take your other finger and put it exactly where you think my magic tendril is poking you. I¡¯ll move it around and just follow it around with your finger. Focus on that kind of warm buzzing sensation on your skin. If you focus enough you can tell that it''s stronger or weaker depending on how it spreads out in your body from the point where the magic touches you.¡±

    Luna barely seemed to even register Ginny¡¯s words, too busy closely inspecting her hand. But without looking up, she took her other hand and reached over and placed her finger directly on the spot where Ginny¡¯s magic tendril touched her skin.

    Ginny dragged the tendril up and down Luna¡¯s arm, and even up to her shoulder and down to her crossed legs. The other girl remained unnaturally focused and kept her finger with pinpoint precision on the exact spot the whole time without wavering even slightly.

    ¡°Wow, you¡¯re good!¡± Ginny encouraged her, ¡°It took me ages to do anything like that. Now feel your own magic within yourself. Now you¡¯ve felt your outer magic, you¡¯ve got to feel your own too.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Luna said before closing her eyes for a second. She opened them in only a few moments and stared at Ginny expectantly, ¡°I knew I had my own nargles and Wrackspurts. I don¡¯t look at them too much, they like to hide away if I spend too much time staring at them. But my¡­ magic¡­ I can feel it.¡±

    ¡°Wow, you¡¯re getting this quick. Okay, hold your palm out.¡±

    Luna reached out her hand with her palm upwards to the sky. Ginny put her own hand out next to Luna¡¯s.

    ¡°To make your magic leave your body, it¡¯s all about intent. You¡¯ve got to really want it to do so as much as you¡¯ve ever wished for anything in your whole life. It¡¯s almost impossible the first time, since you don¡¯t believe that you can do it since you haven¡¯t ever before. But once you do it once, it gets easier and easier as you go. Imagine a seed sitting right in the center of your palm. It¡¯s just sitting there waiting to sprout. Do you see it? Feel it?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± Luna breathed, with her eyes scrunched shut and frowning intently. Ginny could feel the girl¡¯s magic shifting slightly and pooling in her palm.

    ¡°Now,¡± Ginny continued, ¡°You¡¯ve got to water it with your magic. It¡¯s going to grow into a big strong tree. The seed¡¯s going to sprout, only a little, then into a little sapling, then bigger and bigger as you water its roots with your magic. Just like this. Feel how I¡¯m doing it.¡±

    Ginny very slowly sprouted a little magic tree from the center of her palm as carefully as she could. The magic tendrils were shaped by the image you used to shape them. Ginny had stopped using anything after a while. Her image for the magic tendrils were the magic tendrils themselves. After a while it was strange for her to imagine them as some sort of other object instead of what they actually were.

    But right now she used the image of the tree to create the tendril, so the little tree made of invisible magic sprouted from her palm and branched near its far end more and more as it extended upwards. The trunk grew thicker and thicker even as it grew taller, until eventually Ginny stopped. After holding it for a few seconds, Ginny released the magic and the tree wafted away into little wisps of magic.

    She noticed that Luna had opened her eyes and was staring at where Ginny¡¯s little tree had been with wonder. ¡°It was so beautiful,¡± She whispered, ¡°I can really make something like that?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Ginny said, ¡°You just have to really believe you can and have the right image. The tree worked well for me. But it can be anything really, so long as you have intent for it and picture it with intense detail in your mind. Now your turn. You give it a try.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Luna closed her eyes again and her face scrunched. Ginny watched in anticipation as the little seed in Luna¡¯s hand began to be fed by some of the drifting magic that had gathered in the girl¡¯s palm. Slowly, hesitantly, a little nub poked from the top of the little seed and began to grow upwards. Luna¡¯s eyebrows furrowed and she looked to almost be constipated. She was concentrating hard as the little sapling kept growing until it just barely poked above her skin a few inches. Luna¡¯s face started turning red, and then purple as she appeared to focus so hard that she forgot to breathe.

    But the tree was growing, and now was now six inches above Luna¡¯s palm and had started branching at its end, the central trunk thickening as Luna pumped in more and more of her magic into the seed below.

    ¡°Luna?¡± Mr. Lovegood called from the house. In an instant, Luna¡¯s concentration was broken and her tree wafted away into wisps of magic. The girl took in a few gasping breaths to recover before looking to the front door of the house.

    ¡°Luna? What are you two girls doing?¡± Mr. Lovegood asked curiously as he stared at them sitting cross legged on the grass together.

    ¡°Daddy! I was concentrating!¡± Luna said in frustration, ¡°You interrupted me¡­ We were growing trees on our palms together in the garden¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s sweet, Luna,¡± Mr. Lovegood said with a smile, ¡°I¡¯m glad you girls are getting along so well again. I¡¯ll leave you be. I¡¯ve just finished with the newest edition of the Quibbler and thought you might want to take a look.¡±

    Luna hesitated for a second before staring back at her hand and Ginny.

    ¡°Later, Daddy,¡± She said, ¡°We¡¯re doing important things out here. Ginny¡¯s teaching me to control the wrackspurts and nargles¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh? How fun. Those are such rascally creatures,¡± Mr. Lovegood said, ¡°Don¡¯t feel bad if they misbehave, Luna. They go as they will, in and out of your ears as they wish!¡±

    With that, Mr. Lovegood turned around and went back into the house again and kept talking to Molly. Fred and George were in charge of the house and Ron while Molly was gone. Ginny wondered if the house would even still be standing by the time they got back there.

    ¡°It really worked!¡± Luna said in excitement, ¡°I made the tree!¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Try again, but remember to breathe this time. It¡¯ll be even easier now that you know that it¡¯s possible.¡±

    Luna took a deep breath and her magic rushed into her hand again. She injected the magic into her hand again and the tree regrew. Luna still looked like she was straining, eyes closed and face all scrunched up like she was going to the bathroom. But she remembered to breathe this time at least and the tree kept growing until it was more than two feet tall, leaping out of the center of her palm. She was good, Ginny had a huge head start with what had happened with Harry and her incredible magic sense. But Luna was going quickly too.

    Forming the tendrils was the easy part though. The hard thing was calibrating your force when you wanted to use it for telekinesis to move things around. Ginny didn¡¯t really want to get smacked by Luna throwing rocks around at high speeds and draining her magic all at once. Ginny could tell her about it after Luna had gotten better at this first part.

    The tree above Luna¡¯s palm stopped growing and she opened her eyes and stared at the space just above her palm.

    ¡°I¡­ I did it¡­¡± Luna said in wonder as she stared at the space with glazed over eyes. Likely inspecting it with her magic sense since the magic was invisible to her eyes, ¡°The Wrackspurts, Nargles, Rentils. All of them were the magic around me? I could do something like this? All along?¡±

    ¡°It is amazing, isn¡¯t it?¡± Ginny said with a smile as she admired Luna¡¯s tree, ¡°I¡¯m so glad you can see it too. I guess we¡¯re just destined to be friends again, huh?¡±

    Luna¡¯s tree dissolved as the blonde haired girl lost focus for a moment, ¡°Friends? You want to be friends?¡±

    ¡°Sure? Why not? We¡¯re magic sensing buddies. I know you knew the old Ginny, but I¡¯m not really her anymore¡­ But that doesn¡¯t mean I hate you or anything. We¡¯re just meeting for the first time. Hi. I¡¯m Ginny. Ginny Weasley.¡±

    Ginny held out her hand for a handshake. Luna hesitated before grabbing Ginny¡¯s hand, ¡°Luna. Luna Lovegood. Nice to meet you, Ginny.¡±

    Ginny released Luna¡¯s hand and produced a slithering magic tendril from her hand and had it go upright straight out of her palm.

    Luna stared at it in jealousy, ¡°You¡¯re so good at that¡­¡± Luna said, ¡°You¡¯re not working with the cabal of vampires, are you? A secret immortal hiding among us? How did you get so good?¡±

    ¡°Well, uhm. I practiced a lot,¡± Ginny hedged, ¡°I¡¯m human, not a vampire at all¡­ Here, I¡¯ve got one more thing to show you. Then you can just practice as much as you want and improve by yourself.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Ginny held her hand out flat upwards with the magic tendril following it. Then without moving her arm at all, she slid the tendril around, the anchor point slipping up and down her arm freely. Completely fluid as it moved wherever she wanted it to go.

    Luna¡¯s eyes widened as she stared into nothing and likely sensed what Ginny was doing with her magic sense.

    ¡°How?¡± She asked, ¡°Your arm, it isn¡¯t moving.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to keep it at a fixed point where it leaves your skin,¡± Ginny said, remembering just how hard it had been when Balthazar was first teaching her, ¡°It¡¯s just a habit that¡¯s hard to break. I had a lot of trouble with it as I learned. You¡¯ve just got to do it over and over until it becomes natural that your magic tendril shouldn¡¯t be coming from a fixed point but should be able to slide and move freely wherever you want.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Like this?¡± Luna created a little tree only a few inches tall and concentrated again. After a few seconds it wobbled and shifted an inch to the left in a jerking motion before dissolving.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to get it,¡± Luna stated as if it was a fact, ¡°You said it was about belief, right? Daddy tells me it¡¯s good to believe in a lot of things. I¡¯ve just got to believe this one extra hard, and I can do it.¡±

    ¡°Right¡­¡± Ginny was surprised by Luna¡¯s unwavering dedication to this right from the start. She understood how amazing it felt, but it felt like something more than that to Luna.

    Ginny helped Luna as they sat together and Luna gradually improved. As much as it hurt Ginny to admit, Luna was a natural at it. Probably more talented at it than Ginny was, improving in leaps and bounds. Ginny wasn¡¯t sure how long she had spent in Teregatt getting tutored by Balthazar. But she was sure that she hadn¡¯t mastered forming her magic tendril in less than an hour. By the time the sun started to set on the horizon, Ginny barely even had to correct Luna about moving her tendrils around freely. Luna was just doing it naturally by intuition by now with Ginny only needing to occasionally remind her about it every few minutes. Not to mention that it was even more impressive because Ginny was sure that Luna had much worse magic senses than she did. Still pretty good, but Luna was improving so much even compared to her disadvantage compared to Ginny.

    ¡°Luna! Luna!¡± Mr. Lovegood said from the door of the house, with Molly standing just beside him, ¡°Time for dinner! Our guests are leaving now! They have to get home.¡±

    ¡°But, Daddy¡­ Ginny¡­¡± Luna sputtered as the two of them stood from the ground with groans, stiff from the both of them sitting in place for so long.

    ¡°You got it, Luna,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Now you can just practice. You¡¯re really good. Much faster than I learned any of it. Just remember about the anchor points and you¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Before Ginny could react, Luna jumped forward and wrapped her in a bone crushing hug.

    ¡°Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you Ginny! That was amazing! It was just the prettiest patterns I made and now I know what¡¯s been happening at Hogwarts and why other people can¡¯t see how beautiful it is¡­¡±

    ¡°Er, You¡¯re welcome,¡± Ginny managed to squeak out, ¡°Nice to meet you too. Glad you like it.¡±

    Luna released her and got a dopey smile on her face and concentrated on her palm and summoned a little tree of magic.

    ¡°Thanks, Ginny. I¡¯ll practice every day until I can make mine as pretty as yours. Like bright streamers floating on their own wind¡­ Amazing.¡±

    Ginny felt some heat rush to her cheeks as she blushed slightly at the compliment. ¡°Thanks, Luna. Hope to see you soon.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, see you soon Ginny!¡±

    Mr. Lovegood chuckled, even if he looked a little confused at what was happening, ¡°Oh my. I didn¡¯t realize you two girls would become such fast friends so quickly. I haven¡¯t seen Luna this excited all summer.¡±

    ¡°Ginny was teaching me all about how to make these pretty little trees out of our magic. It was all magic, Daddy! The wrackspruts, nargles, the Rentils, I knew they were all real!¡±

    Mr. Lovegood frowned slightly and Molly stiffened with a look at Ginny. She and Dad knew about her magic sense already so she understood what it meant. Molly had a sour look on her face as she glared at Ginny. Both of her parents had been very strict that it was supposed to be a secret from everyone, even her brothers and Sirius. Actually, she had more forgotten to tell Sirius than anything else. She should probably tell him now that he knew about Balthazar.

    So Ginny knew why Molly would be mad at her. But¡­

    ¡°But Luna can sense and control her magic too!¡± She protested as she looked at Molly, ¡°What was I supposed to do, not tell her about it?¡±

    That caused Molly to look a little confused, her annoyance draining away, ¡°Really? You¡¯re absolutely sure, Ginny?¡± She asked. Mr. Lovegood looked between the three of them with growing confusion on his face.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± He asked no one in particular.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure Mom,¡± Ginny said, ¡°She¡¯s actually very talented at it. In just a few hours she¡¯s learned it basically from nothing.¡±

    ¡°What, is going on!¡± Mr. Lovegood asked with more force this time, ¡°Luna? Molly? What is this all about?¡±

    Molly sighed, and Luna looked hurt by her dad¡¯s harsh tone in the face of her excitement.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go inside, Xenophilius. It seems Ginny has some explaining to do.¡±

    They went back into the house and Ginny and Luna took turns explaining what had happened. Luna was still overjoyed at learning that what she had been seeing was real and wasn¡¯t something she had just made up in her head. She kept creating the trees out of her magic and showing it off to the adults as if they could see it. Xenophilius Lovegood was skeptical, but the two girls and Molly managed to convince him it was real after a few minutes.

    It was far past dark by the time they were done talking, the Lovegood¡¯s dinner left to cool in the other room as they kept talking. Luna and Ginny were yawning as Luna¡¯s Dad and Molly kept talking. The man seemed partly in shock at first, but now he was happy for Luna and they were going to arrange a party for Luna to celebrate the discovery. Ginny was invited, on Luna¡¯s insistence before the adults even started discussing who else would go.

    But eventually, they were done and Ginny said goodbye to Luna and Mr. Lovegood with drooping eyes and resisting the urge to yawn as she spoke. Molly apparated Ginny home where, surprisingly, the house remained standing and not actively on fire with the twins given free rein over it.

    Ginny went to sleep. Who had thought that she¡¯d find somebody else who could appreciate feeling the magic like she could? What a coincidence that Luna had already known the old Ginny too¡­

 Chapter 45: The Quidditch World Cup

    It was time for the Quidditch World Cup. Ron, Fred, and George were practically hopping in place, they were so excited to go.

    Ginny visited Luna three more times in the last two weeks, and the girl was rapidly improving. She was already floating little rocks around with her single magic tendril. Those three visits also wasn''t including Luna¡¯s party that was just the four of them in the end. Luna¡¯s dad didn¡¯t want to spread the secret and had forced the disappointed Luna to promise to not tell anyone else about it. Luna was unnaturally focused whenever she was using her magic to do something. But as soon as she was done or taking a break, she sprouted magic trees from her palm and just stared at them with a big dopey grin and glazed over eyes. Ginny thought it was beautiful, but not so much that she was literally stunned by it whenever she saw it.

    Ginny had tested it, and whatever was going on, as soon as she summoned her own tree made of magic, Luna immediately dropped what she was doing and stared at it. Even mid conversation sometimes she would get distracted and forget what she was saying. But she was improving with her magic quickly in only two weeks, so maybe Ginny was the one who didn¡¯t appreciate her magic enough.

    There had only been one more visit to Olivia at Azkaban. According to her, Balthazar told her that he was close to a solution in only another month or two. It was the first time he had ever given her an actual date, so Olivia was cautiously optimistic that it might really happen. Ginny had managed to cast the bubble head charm somewhat reliably on her own now under Olivia¡¯s guidance. She¡¯d still have some work to do when she got to Hogwarts before she could cast it perfectly every time, but she was almost there. Unfortunately Ginny couldn¡¯t go this weekend because of the arrival of Hermione and¡­ Eric to their house yesterday.

    Ginny hadn¡¯t missed Eric walking over to the load bearing wall of the house and leaning against it casually as everyone milled about. He had stretched up and rested his hand directly against the weak point of the enchantment holding the thing up. If he just injected the tiniest amount of his magic to break the enchantment entirely¡­ Then the whole house would collapse in on itself with everyone inside.

    He smirked at Ginny and flexed his hand against the wall threateningly. She hesitated and he smiled wider. Hermione said something to him and immediately Eric¡¯s smile fell to a more natural size as he turned his head and answered her question. He pushed off the wall and stepped away from the wall as if nothing at all strange had happened.

    That was the kind of thing Ginny had to deal with for that whole day. Eric drifted over to that wall and leaned against it when he knew she was watching, even letting out a tendril of magic to hover near it even when he was on the other side of the room and having a conversation with someone else. But Ginny could see him grinning and glancing at her from the corners of his eyes, waiting for her reaction.

    Ginny tried to ignore it, but it put her on edge. He probably wouldn¡¯t do it¡­ But maybe he was impulsive enough that he actually would before he could stop himself? It was driving Ginny up the wall as she tried to ignore it as best as she could.

    Unfortunately Hermione was trying to be nice to Ginny while she was in a terrible mood due to Eric¡¯s actions. Ginny knew she was being rude to Hermione, but she couldn¡¯t help snapping and being generally grumpy around the girl when she was around. Eventually Hermione just stopped trying to talk to her. Ginny was glad, when Hermione was talking with Ginny, Eric was in the background threatening to collapse the whole house on their heads as some kind of sick joke. He liked to jab his magic tendril a bit towards the wall in the middle of Hermione¡¯s sentences so Ginny would flinch at something that Hermione had said.

    It made Ginny feel a little bad for Hermione. Eric was clearly out for himself and didn¡¯t care about her feelings all too much. And from what Ginny heard from Ron and Hermione they didn¡¯t seem to understand Eric as well as Ginny did. Thinking it was just bravado or something and that he cared about them deep down. Maybe that was even true, but somehow Ginny doubted it.

    But after a very stressful Friday with everyone gathered together, it was time to go to the Quidditch world cup bright and early on Saturday morning. Fawkes was going on a solo hunting trip in mainland Europe somewhere during the event. Her parents thought that the event would have too many people around in the crowds to have Fawkes with them. Ginny would have argued but¡­ She didn¡¯t think Fawkes would like it too much either. So hunting trip it was, and he¡¯d be off doing his own thing for the whole world cup.

    All of them were packed with their things and Sirius was carrying their tent on his back. When he¡¯d heard about the trip, he¡¯d bought his own ticket up in the big box where the rest of them would be watching the game from without a second thought.

    The whole group hiked towards a certain hill where they¡¯d be taking a portkey to the tournament. They had to hurry since the portkey would leave at a specific time to carry them to the tournament. Portkeys were like apparition in the form of an enchantment, but they could carry people a very far distance without any mistakes once they activated and expended themselves. They could be put on anything, and once the group reached the top of the hill, Ginny stared at the item the portkey enchantment was put on. An old brown and musty boot that looked like it had been left outside for weeks.

    There were two more people there already waiting. An older man and a tall boy that must be his son.

    ¡°Amos Diggory!¡± Dad called out, ¡°Got here early, did you? Portkey¡¯s not leaving for another thirty minutes, you know.¡±

    ¡°Figured I¡¯d want to claim my spot before your big crew took the best grips on the portkey,¡± Amos joked, ¡°There¡¯s only so much room on this old boot, you know. Can¡¯t believe the Ministry thought we¡¯d have to use something this small for this many people. Have you met my boy Cedric? He¡¯s going to be a sixth year this term. Going to be the best seeker in Hufflepuff on the school team, I say! Bring them the big trophy for the team for the third year in a row!¡±

    The extremely handsome Cedric looked faintly embarrassed, ¡°C¡¯mon, Dad. I¡¯m pretty good, but Cho Chang for Ravenclaw is great too. Our matches are always close.¡±

    ¡°Ah, don¡¯t be humble boy!¡± Amos said jovially, ¡°You¡¯ll knock it out of the park, she hasn¡¯t beaten you yet, has she? Oh, I¡¯d heard that your youngest is a Ravenclaw, isn¡¯t she Arthur? Don¡¯t suppose she cheers against her brothers at the school quidditch matches, ay?¡±

    Amos looked at Ginny and she woke up as she was staring at the handsome Cedric with strange feelings swirling inside of her. She felt oddly embarrassed and quickly spoke, hoping that nobody had noticed.

    ¡°Oh! I¡¯m not too into Quidditch Mr. Diggory. But Ravenclaw always thrashed Gryffindor in their matches anyways. Gryffindor¡¯s seeker isn¡¯t great, so Cho Chang destroys them almost every time.¡±

    Fred and George grumbled, but didn¡¯t speak up to contradict her. Without a good seeker, Gryffindor was at the bottom of the rankings of the four houses in Quidditch, much to their annoyance.

    ¡°Hoh hoh. And she comes out swinging!¡± Amos said happily, ¡°Why back in my day, I was quite the player on the school team you know¡­¡±

    The conversation drifted away from Ginny as Amos kept speaking to the various adults. Ginny had to struggle to not stare at Cedric some more and eventually ended up staring at the ground and fidgeting.

    ¡°Somebody¡¯s got a crush? Love at first sight?¡± Eric¡¯s voice suddenly whispered from behind her softly.

    Ginny jumped and turned around. She hadn¡¯t been focusing on her magic sense, letting Eric sneak up on her amongst the crowd of other people milling about. She was so deep in analyzing why she was feeling so strange about Cedric that she hadn¡¯t been paying attention.

    ¡°What do you want, Eric?¡± Ginny asked harshly, knowing that he was probably right. This was her having a crush on the handsome boy. It was her first time feeling anything like this before. What was she supposed to do?

    ¡°Nothing,¡± Eric said slyly with the corners of his lips slightly upturned and his eyes glittering as he stared at her, ¡°Just an observation. Just thought that it was funny. You used to have that kind of crush on me, you know. Blushing and stuttering whenever I spoke with you. How things change¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut up, Eric,¡± Ginny said, ¡°What¡¯s your problem? Can¡¯t we just leave each other alone? Why are you doing all of this?¡±

    Eric shrugged, ¡°Maybe I¡¯m bored. Maybe I think it¡¯s funny. Maybe I think that I saved your life and you¡¯ve been nothing but ungrateful ever since. That kind of makes me mad. Is harsh words all I get for helping you when I could have just let you die?¡±

    ¡°You let Olivia get infected!¡± Ginny whispered harshly, ¡°Her life was ruined because of you. You almost killed her with your flames when Lupin made you angry!¡±

    Eric shrugged, his slight smile not dropping in the slightest, ¡°Things happen. Either way, Lupin¡¯s dead and the two of you survived. If I wasn¡¯t there you both would have been eaten. I don¡¯t think I deserve all of this hostility you¡¯re throwing my way here.¡±

    Ginny hesitated, before steeling herself, ¡°Fine,¡± She managed to say, ¡°Thank you, Eric. You saved my life. I¡¯m grateful you didn¡¯t just stand back and watch the both of us die while laughing.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Ginny,¡± Eric said with an easy smile, ¡°That¡¯s all I wanted. You¡¯re welcome.¡±

    Without another word, Eric turned and walked away back over to where Ron and Hermione were talking with each other. Ginny kept more aware of her surroundings as they waited over the old boot and the portkey. Eric didn¡¯t attempt to approach her again.

    ¡°Alright, everyone!¡± Dad called out, ¡°It¡¯s almost time! Gather around, gather around, pack in tight. Make sure everyone¡¯s gripping the boot or you¡¯ll be left behind¡­¡±

    Everyone packed into a tight ball, all of them pinching a little piece of the dirty boot between their fingers. With so many people almost every part of the boot was being gripped by somebody. A hand shifted its grip slightly and brushed hers before resetting its grip. Ginny¡¯s eyes followed the hand up its arm, and to the shoulders, until she was staring at Cedric Diggory who was standing directly next to her. Ahhhh! He was staring directly at her with his bright blue eyes and handsome face!

    ¡°Ginny, right?¡± Cedric said, ¡°I¡¯ve heard a lot about you. Is it true that you have a pet phoenix?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not a pet!¡± Ginny blurted out, ¡°He¡¯s¡­ he¡¯s a person. Just in bird shape. A¡­ a lot of people don¡¯t get that. They think he¡¯s less intelligent because he can¡¯t talk like we do.¡±

    ¡°Oh, really?¡± Cedric said, sounding interested, ¡°Is it true that you can talk to him because of your familiar bond? You must be one of the first ones to actually be able to talk to a phoenix for a long time!¡±

    Ginny relaxed slightly as they kept talking about Fawkes, the heat in her cheeks and neck dying down, as well as her embarrassment and stuttering.

    ¡°Probably, even though Dumbledore didn¡¯t have a familiar bond, he was still able to somewhat understand what Fawkes meant when he said something. But it wasn¡¯t anything like words, or as well as I can understand Fawkes.¡±

    ¡°Interestin-¡±

    ¡°Alright!¡± Amos called out, ¡°Tighten your grips everyone! Only a minute left until the portkey leaves!¡±

    Cedric stopped talking and Ginny felt oddly disappointed as everyone went silent and tightened their grips on the old boot. Ginny noticed that Eric was staring at her, his eyes flickering between her and Cedric. As the last minute slowly ticked down, Eric¡¯s eyes lit up and his smile slowly grew until it was inhumanly wide as he kept staring at her intently.

    He mouthed something as the time drew close. Ginny didn¡¯t understand so she focused again as he repeated himself, ¡®I accept your apology,¡¯ He mouthed and Ginny felt something tingle up her spine as a sense of dread washed over her. What did he mean by that?

    Eric¡¯s eyes flicked over to Cedric just as the portkey activated. The enchantment on the boot unfolded like some strange origami and looped and fastened their hands to where they touched the boot. From the attachments on the boot, the enchantment spread to create little bubbles of magic encapsulating each of the people touching the portkey. The enchantment kept unfolding and pulsing with magic in forms so complicated that Ginny could barely understand them. The portkey enchantment started to pulse faster and faster with magic as it prepared to transport them.

    Ginny was still staring at Eric as he grinned widely as he stared at Cedric. It had only been a second, but Ginny¡¯s sense of dread didn¡¯t fade away as the enchantment began to fully activate and transport them. The second the portkey fully activated, Eric¡¯s body sprouted dozens of fine magic tendrils that carefully nosed through the bubble of magic around him without breaking it. Before Ginny could react, his magic tendrils struck like a group of striking cobras to pierce the enchantment around Cedric¡¯s hand and shattered it in a single strike.

    ¡®No!¡¯ Ginny shouted silently as the enchantment failed and the bubble of magic protecting Cedric during transport flickered and then disappeared. In surprise, Cedric let go of the boot now that the enchantment no longer held him in place. The portkey flashed one final time with Cedric only just barely grabbing the old boot again, not realizing that he wasn¡¯t protected by the enchantment anymore.

    In an instant, they were in the middle of an open field with hundreds of witches and wizards milling about the area, the portkey transporting them all hundreds of miles in an instant.

    A woman stared towards their group and her eyes widened and she put a hand over her mouth with wide eyes. Ginny heard a wet gurgling sound next to her, and with horror she turned and looked down to where Cedric lay on the ground.

    She screamed as she saw Cedric¡¯s gruesome state. His clothes were ripped and almost gone and his body was covered in deep gashes, carved out as if somebody had scooped chunks out of him with a massive spoon all over his body hundreds of times. He was bleeding heavily and blood was trailing out of the corners of his lips. He stared blankly into the sky as he lay on his back, twitching.

    The surrounding crowd started shouting and panicking as more of them saw the flayed Cedric with a pool of blood spreading below him. Molly stepped forward and lifted her wand towards the boy as the whole group around them descended into shouts and panic. Amos was crouching over Cedric and babbling something incoherent as he cradled his head.

    ¡°Episky!¡± Molly shouted, ¡°Somebody get the healers! Episky! Episky!¡±

    Cedric¡¯s wounds slowly stopped bleeding so much, although it wasn¡¯t enough. He started paling as he continued to lose ever more blood. He kept coughing and blood started coming out in a spray with each wet hack of his lungs. Ginny remembered what Olivia had done when she was bleeding heavily when Lupin had attacked them. Molly¡¯s healing spells wouldn¡¯t be enough, and the crowd around them was milling around in confusion and panic, none of them seemed to be helping at all in time.

    ¡°Petrify him!¡± Ginny shouted as she tugged on Molly¡¯s sleeve urgently, ¡°Petrify him, it¡¯ll stop him from losing more blood!¡±

    Molly ignored her for a second, but after Ginny repeated herself louder she seemed to actually listen to her.

    ¡°Petrificus Totalus!¡± Molly chanted and Cedric froze, his body stiffening and freezing in place. He stopped bleeding, and he looked frozen in time. Ginny could feel the enchantment around him holding everything in his body, even his brain and blood, perfectly frozen in place with magical energy.

    ¡°I think they¡¯re magical wounds,¡± Molly said worriedly while sweating slightly, ¡°I¡¯ll have to recast it, the curse might break in a few minutes if their magic starts interfering with it.¡±

    Just as she predicted, Molly had to petrify Cedric again after he suddenly unfroze after another three minutes. Luckily in that time, the panicked crowd had settled down and people more skilled in healing magic had pushed through and started assisting.

    Ginny let out a sigh of relief as the Ministry healers finally arrived and transported Cedric and Amos to St. Mungos so Cedric could be treated. The adults were in deep discussions with the Ministry officials, all in a heated argument about who was to blame for the ¡®faulty portkey¡¯.

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    She turned an angry glare to Eric and stomped up to him, about to give him a piece of her mind. Cedric could have been killed by that! He nearly had been!

    ¡°I accept your apology,¡± Eric said when she was close enough, ¡°And I think we¡¯re even now, aren¡¯t we? Nice and neutral again. Too bad about your new crush getting hurt by that faulty enchantment.¡±

    Ginny opened and closed her mouth, seething in rage as she stared at the nonchalant Eric. The boy unfurled a hundred magic tendrils from his back and hovered them over him ready to strike at her as a silent threat. Despite everything, Ginny knew that she still couldn¡¯t match him in skill just yet.

    ¡°Fine,¡± Ginny spat as she turned away, despite how it burned at her to not say anything, ¡°Have it your way then.¡±

    ¡°I will.¡±

    Ginny stomped away and stood apart from the rest of the group even after things had settled down. They moved to their assigned spot for their tent, the mood much more subdued than it had been before.

    Ginny would normally be excited when Sirius unfolded and set up the tent that looked like it could barely fit three people inside. But once they went in through the entrance and inside it was a massive space, comfortable enough for all of them to sleep comfortably. Ginny took the corner as far from Eric as possible and generally wallowed in her own misery for a bit as Eric struggled to pretend he cared even the slightest bit about what he had done to Cedric in order to not stick out from the rest of the subdued group.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    It was time for the match itself for Sunday afternoon, and all of them were walking up the stairs to the top box. The Minister of magic himself would be up there. Ginny was feeling a little better. Eric had stopped taunting her and largely pretended that she didn¡¯t exist. Something that she was more than happy to do as well. Also they had received news that Cedric would be fine and was recovering quickly. He¡¯d miss the tournament, but there didn¡¯t seem to be any worries of scarring or anything similar. That was good, it would be horrible if his handsome face was ruined. Not¡­ Not that it mattered if he was handsome or not! She was just glad that he was okay either way.

    They all walked up a long set of stairs to the top box. Dad and Sirius were both greeted warmly by the Minister. Sirius was polite, but Ginny knew that he didn¡¯t like the Minister very much, partially blaming him for letting him rot in Azkaban for so long alongside Dumbledore. But things weren¡¯t too tense as Fudge moved onwards to Dad to shake his hand as well. Draco Malfoy and his father Lucius Malfoy sat at the other side of the Minister¡¯s big chair in the center.

    ¡°Arthur,¡± Lucius said as he approached, ¡°I¡¯m amazed you were able to get seats in the top box. I didn¡¯t think the Ministry paid you quite that much.¡±

    ¡°Got the tickets from a friend,¡± Dad managed to say while looking like he was restraining himself from saying anything more.

    ¡°Lucius. How¡¯s dear cousin Narcissa?¡± Sirius said from the side, ¡°She fed up with you yet?¡±

    Lucius gritted his teeth, but with a glance at the watching Minister Fudge bit his tongue before he spoke.

    ¡°We are quite happy, Sirius,¡± Lucius said, ¡°We were¡­ glad to hear of your innocence.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure you were. How unfortunate that the Black fortune now belongs to me rather than being inherited by the next oldest Black male. That would be¡­ Draco wasn¡¯t it? Half the reason you were arranged to marry Narcissa was for a chance at the Black fortune wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Enough,¡± Fudge said, ¡°Gentlemen please. We¡¯re here for the sports, yes? Let¡¯s try to get along for at least a little while?¡±

    Lucius grumbled and settled down, and Sirius smirked and didn¡¯t say anything, evidently considering the argument won.

    ¡°Hey, Draco. Anybody try to poison you yet?¡± Ginny heard Eric ask as he approached the blonde haired boy and his father.

    Ginny shook her head. She wasn¡¯t going anywhere near Eric right now or¡­ whatever weird relationship he had with Draco. Friendly one moment then threatening him the next.

    She walked over to the seats on the far end so Eric wouldn¡¯t be able to come over and sit next to her to make her uncomfortable. She looked to the seat next to her. There was an invisible man sitting there stiffly in the chair, she could sense it with her magic sense. Next to him was a strange looking creature standing at the base of the chair. It had big massive eyes and big floppy ears like an elephant. It was hunched over and had wrinkled leathery skin and was hunched over as it stood there in what looked like a threadbare sack. It was only a few feet tall as it stood there just in front of the chair with the invisible person sitting in it.

    ¡°Hello,¡± Ginny asked the creature curiously, ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Name? My name¡¯s Winky, madame!¡± The creature said, ¡°You¡¯re¡­ Oh my.¡±

    ¡°What kind of creature are you, Winky?¡±

    ¡°Winky is¡­ Oooohh, a house elf, Ma¡¯am. Winky¡­ AaaaahhhhH!¡±

    The apparent house elf¡¯s eyes dilated massively as it kept staring at Ginny and it let out a little gasp as it fell to the ground and started twitching like it was having a sort of seizure.

    ¡°What the¡­ Winky? Are you okay?¡± Ginny asked. She took a step forward and the house elf gasped again, the creature¡¯s eyes nearly fully black now as it stared at her they were so dilated as it stopped twitching.

    ¡°Such magic¡­¡± Winky whispered, sounding almost drunk as it stumbled to its feet, ¡°Can Winky have a taste? Please madame?¡±

    ¡°Uhm. Er, okay,¡± Ginny said despite the situation rapidly becoming extremely awkward. Her only saving grace was that everybody else was talking and didn¡¯t seem to have noticed Ginny or the house elf yet. Would it be quiet if she just fed it a little of her magic? Hopefully.

    Ginny extended a tendril of her magic and poked the house-elf with it. It stuck to the creature for a second. Ginny tried to tug it back, dissolve it, but the tendril was hardened as if stuck for a few seconds.

    ¡°Winky, hey! What are you doing?¡± Ginny demanded, ¡°Stop that!¡±

    Winky seemed to come to herself and Ginny¡¯s magic tendril came loose from the house elf. Winky was hopping up and down, its eyes still dilated and jittering and looking all over the place like it was on drugs.

    ¡°What magic!¡± Winky said, ¡°Mistress Weasley. Would you accept a position as Winky¡¯s master? I¡¯ve served the Crouch family for my whole life but¡­ the magic¡­ Yes, please Ms. Weasley?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Ginny asked, completely confused, ¡°Accept being your what?¡±

    ¡°Oh, of course!¡± Winky said, while still twitching and jumping from foot to foot, ¡°Ms. Weasley is still a girl, she needs approval of her family for those matters. Winky must spread the word. All house elves must know that there¡¯s something better than these stuffy family magics out there!¡±

    With a crack of air, Winky apparated away, leaving Ginny completely baffled about what had just happened. Were all the house elves that strange? No wonder why none of the students ever saw any of the ones that worked at Hogwarts. If they were that strange, then the Headmaster must have told them to not interact with students and have them freak everybody out.

    After staring at the spot Winky had disappeared from for a long moment, Ginny shrugged and sat down in her seat next to the invisible man who hadn¡¯t moved this whole time. The cheerleaders for each team started hyping up the crowd as everyone else in the top box started taking their seats to watch the show.

    The first cheerleaders started with the Bulgarians. A bunch of beautiful women started jumping through the air in an acrobatic show of cheerleading. They were technically magical creatures known as Veelas. They sang some Bulgarian cheers, and Ginny noticed that their voices were laced with magic. All the guys in the whole place went wild as the magic sank into their heads, while shying away from all the girls after briefly brushing across their scalps. It enchanted the men to be lovestruck and enamored with the beautiful Veelas.

    Several men tried to charge onto the field, but the Ministry security held them back until they calmed themselves down. It was like a love potion as a spell that was distributed through someone¡¯s voice¡­ Ginny shivered and glanced over to see Eric looking down at the Veela¡¯s with a hungry look in his eyes. Not a look of love or desire like what most of the men and boys were suppressing. Eric had batted away the Veela¡¯s magic trying to sink into his mind with a dismissive wave of his magic tendrils popping out of his scalp as soon as they tried to sink into him.

    But Ginny could tell that Eric wanted that Veela magic for himself. So he could bypass the love potions entirely and spell people with his favorite effect directly.

    Ginny could only hope that he would fail. She wasn¡¯t sure what she could even do to stop him from studying the spell in the air all around them.

    Eventually to Ginny¡¯s relief the Veela stopped singing and Eric looked frustrated, having not figured out how to replicate it. That was lucky.

    Next was the Irish team. They had a series of fireworks and flying wizards dancing on the air and dressed as leprechauns. After a few minutes of working the crowd, there was a final round of fireworks showing a dancing leprechaun made of the lights holding a giant pot of gold. As the finale, the leprechaun turned over the pot of gold and gold galleons rained from the sky and all over the stadium. Fred, Ron, and George looked excited and worked to pick up as many coins that rained on them as they could. Scrabbling on the floor to pick them up as Lucius Malfoy sneered at them and Eric looked at them with a mocking grin.

    Ginny picked up one of the coins, and poked it with her magic gently. It dissolved into a puff of loose magic.

    ¡°They¡¯re not real,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Just a transfiguration or something.¡±

    Fred, George, and Ron stopped and stared at the coins they had been gathering.

    ¡°Yes, Leprechaun''s gold disappears after a few days,¡± Sirius added, ¡°It¡¯s not real money, just a prop.¡±

    Dad looked surprised and glanced at Molly at Sirius¡¯ statement.

    Ginny¡¯s three brothers stared at the gold they had gathered and Malfoy who they had noticed for the first time was sneering at them.

    ¡°Oh.¡± Ron said in disappointment, ¡°I suppose that makes sense. The Ireland team isn¡¯t that rich, I guess.¡±

    The three boys got teased by Sirius and Ginny for a bit before returning to their seats while looking a little glum. But everyone was quickly distracted as the actual Quidditch players started coming out to loud cheers from the stadium.

    After the teams were announced, Minister Fudge stood up next to the Bulgarian Minister of Magic who was sitting directly next to him on the side closer to the Malfoys.

    Minister Fudge put his wand to his throat, ¡°People of Britain! Visitors from abroad!¡± Fudge said and his voice boomed across the whole stadium.

    ¡°The event we¡¯ve all been waiting for! The Quidditch World Cup! Let the games-¡±

    Fudge raised his wand and fired a spell into the air and it shot into the center of the field where it exploded with a loud bang like thunder.

    ¡°Begin!¡±

    As soon as the words left Fudge¡¯s mouth the players started the game, moving at high speeds on their brooms to play the game faster than Ginny could even track. Fudge sat back and everyone started observing the intense game.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Three hours later, Ginny was rather bored. The game was pretty interesting¡­ for about thirty minutes or so. Not that things weren¡¯t exciting still. But it was all the same, and Ginny couldn¡¯t bring herself to pay attention to it anymore. Ron, Fred, and George were still fully invested and cheering for the play by play. Hermione looked vaguely awkward, but tried to stay engaged to go along with her group. Eric was talking with the rest of them, appearing to enjoy himself even if he wasn¡¯t adding much to their discussion of the players or the sport itself.

    The adults had stood up and were milling around the top box and talking with each other, only breaking away and observing the game when the crowd roared at a particularly amazing play by one of the players. Ron was talking nonstop about Victor Krum, the seventeen year old seeker from Bulgaria. He and the Irish seeker were neck and neck and had almost caught the golden snitch a few times already. But each time they interfered with each other and the small flying golden ball managed to slip away from them both.

    Ginny wondered what Alexa would say if she was here to see all of this. No doubt she¡¯d be loudly complaining right next to the Minister of Magic, not even caring if other people heard her dumping on Quidditch as a sport. Yes, maybe it was best she wasn¡¯t here actually¡­

    The invisible man next to Ginny hadn¡¯t moved the whole time she was here. She¡¯d tried to talk to him a few times, but he hadn¡¯t said or done anything in response so she¡¯d given it up. Maybe he just didn¡¯t want to talk with the other adults which is why he was hiding under that invisibility cloak so he could watch the game in peace? That house elf Winky had never returned even after all of this time.

    Ginny casually inspected the invisibility cloak with her magic sense. She had heard about them, but never seen anything similar to it before. It was rather interesting how it worked. The light didn¡¯t even ripple around it like how Ginny thought it should be for an illusion. It was like there really was nothing there¡­

    Ginny peered closer with her magic sense and frowned as she realized that the man under there was under a spell. She hadn¡¯t noticed before because of the magic from the invisibility cloak.

    She inspected the spell closer and realized with a jolt that it was the imperius curse, the same one that Lupin had used to control Olivia!

    ¡°Oh no!¡± Ginny said, ¡°Are you under the Imperius?¡±

    She reached out and pulled off the invisibility cloak from the man without him moving to stop her. He was frozen in place, only his eyes shifted over to stare at her as he remained sitting ramrod straight in his chair.

    Ginny reached out and tapped his arm and with the work of a few of her magic tendrils shattered the imperius curse on the man.

    The man with black hair and sunken eyes gasped and immediately slouched.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°What happened?¡±

    There were shouts of surprise from across the box as Minister Fudge pointed at the dark haired man with a trembling hand.

    ¡°Barty Crouch Junior!¡± Fudge shouted, ¡°Aurors, arrest him!¡±

    Before Ginny could react the black haired man¡¯s hand snaked out and reached into her pocket and pulled out her wand from her robes, He grabbed her with his other hand and pointed the wand at her head as the Aurors in the corner of the room started to rush in. Ginny prepared her tendrils to push the man¡¯s hand away, but didn¡¯t stop him yet as he held the wand to her head, causing everyone in the room to freeze.

    Ginny could tell that the man didn¡¯t have a spell charged yet. She had five magic tendrils latched onto his hand, waiting to yank hard and force him to drop the wand the second she thought that he would actually cast something at her.

    But he was probably just scared and confused right now with him being cursed and everything.

    ¡°Back! B-Back all of you! Or the girl gets it!¡± The man holding her hostage shouted and Ginny tensed. Okay, maybe she should stop him before¡­

    The black haired man shoved her to the ground roughly and Ginny fell flat on her face to the floor, moving her magic tendrils to force the man¡¯s wand hand open even as she did so. There was shouting above her and as Ginny rolled over she saw the black haired man run to the edge of the box and with a desperate cry leap over the railing into open air, with Ginny¡¯s wand rolling on the floor behind him.

    Two red stunning spells from the Aurors sailed just above him before the man fell out of sight. There was a thirty foot drop into the stands below. Was he trying to kill himself with a drop that high?!

    ¡°Minister! Protect the minister!¡± One of the Aurors shouted as half of the Aurors all rushed to Fudge and surrounded him with all of their wands pointed outwards and looking tense.

    The other half of the Aurors stood at the railing and started casting spells downwards over the edge. Ginny picked up her wand and stood to her feet as Sirius and her family rushed forward and began to check on her. The crowd below them was shouting and screaming. After verifying that she was unhurt, her family released her and they all watched the chaos going on down below them.

    ¡°Aurors, after him!¡± One of the Aurors shouted below with the voice magnifying charm from the railing of the Balcony as he cast another spell, ¡°He¡¯s escaping into the crowd! He¡¯s a confirmed death eater!¡±

    The screaming and chaos from below only grew more intense as the crowd began to panic even more. The players on the Quidditch field all started flying away, abandoning the game as the crowd began to stampede as the Aurors shouted and cast various spells after the fleeing man.

    The men on the balcony stopped casting spells down and started shouting and pointing with their wands towards where they spotted the man in the crowd below. The Aurors from around the stadium were closing in on all sides in large numbers where the people in the balcony pointed, their signature blue robes pushing through the crowd that was fleeing the stadium.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Barty Crouch Jr. limped through the panicking crowd, dragging his definitely broken leg behind him as he moved. He was lucky that the crowd and the stands that he¡¯d fallen into were so chaotic with so many people or he¡¯d have been caught in an instant by the Aurors. To think that after years of being under the Imperius curse of his father that he¡¯d be released by a curious little girl¡­ Not that he understood how she¡¯d freed him.

    But he was sure that it had been her that had caused it. He hoped that she was a pureblood, it would be such a shame if she would be killed when Lord Voldemort returned to Britain after he finished recollecting his strength.

    Oh, how he¡¯d make his father pay for what he had done. His mother sneaked him out of prison when he was near death at Azkaban, only for his father to bind him with the Imperius curse when he moved to escape after. The Ministry had thought him dead, his mother taking the polyjuice potion to take his place for the execution by the Dementors. Something that his father had been more than eager to lay solely on Bart Crouch Jr.¡¯s feet like it wasn¡¯t Father that allowed it to happen! The man was unable to kill Barty Crouch Jr. because of Mother¡¯s final wishes, but also couldn¡¯t let him leave where he could search out Lord Voldemort again.

    So Barty Crouch Jr. had remained under the Imperius charm for years in Father¡¯s home. Forced to eat, forced to go to the bathroom, forced to stand in place silently for hours on end as the days passed, only for Father to yell at him when he returned from work, blaming Junior for Mother¡¯s death all over again.

    Yes, Father would pay for what he¡¯d done to Junior. Just because he¡¯d tortured a few filthy blood traitors to insanity with Bellatrix Lestrange¡­

    He smirked as he ducked his head down and blended into the fleeing crowd around him. He had stolen his wand from a random wizard who had brushed by him in the chaos. The Aurors had lost track of him and the mass of them were converging on a point behind him that he¡¯d been at a minute ago where they had lost track of him.

    He was almost free, near the exit and past the anti-apparition wards keeping him from escaping from this place. He just barely suppressed his cry of triumph as he raised his wand and prepared to apparate away as he stumbled beyond the wards on his broken leg.

    He prepared to cast the charm¡­ And then stopped. No! No, who had done it?! Father! He¡¯d kill him, where was he! He wouldn¡¯t go back, he wouldn¡¯t! He¡¯d rather die!

    But no matter how much he raged, his wand lowered to his side as his body was forced to look around to the fleeing crowd. His eyes began to glow golden as he inspected the surroundings. This¡­ This wasn¡¯t the imperius curse. What was this?

    ¡°Beyonder¡­¡± Barty Crouch Junior¡¯s mouth said slowly, ¡°You are here. And I have a proper body with magic this time. I¡¯ll fix all of your disruptions later. But first, we must remove the root of the problem¡­¡±

    The stranger controlling Barty Crouch Junior¡¯s body waved the stolen wand and his broken leg snapped and healed itself in an instant with a precise burst of magic.

    His body turned back to the Quidditch stadium where even now the Aurors ran towards him with their wands raised through the view of the exit, most of the crowds having fled by now.

    His body raised his wand and smiled. ¡°At last, I can start to fix all the damage to the great design you¡¯ve caused, Beyonder.¡±

    Then his body moved and began charging directly back into the Quidditch stadium, with Barty Crouch Junior only able to watch helplessly in response.

 Chapter 46: Rematch

    Ginny tugged on her familiar bond with Fawkes urgently as shouts and the sound of spells sounded out from where the death eater had fled. Lucius Malfoy was rooted in place, looking shocked as he stood there staring after where Barty Crouch Junior had gone. The Minister was still surrounded by a group of Aurors protecting him. The Bulgarian Minister had disappeared somehow, backing up into a shadowy corner and disappearing as soon as the commotion began.

    Ginny only barely caught him leaving by using her magic to locate him. But even then it was difficult, he was using a charm to distract other people from seeing him. He met her gaze for a brief moment before putting a finger to his lips and smiled, revealing a set of fangs in his mouth before stepping backwards and disappearing into a shadow that rested in the corner.

    The Minister of Magic for Bulgaria was a vampire? What?

    The shouts and sound of spells grew closer and everyone crouched down. Ginny and Eric both deployed their own clouds of magic tendrils ready for whatever was happening as all their friends and family gathered together with their wands waiting in anticipation for whatever was happening out there near the exit to the arena.

    Ginny shared a glance with Eric, who looked surprised at Ginny¡¯s fifteen tendrils that floated around her waiting to strike. It was nothing compared to Eric¡¯s hundreds, but it was still a vast improvement from how she had been able to do last year.

    Finally, the form of Barty Crouch Junior appeared through the exit to the mostly empty arena, his chest rising and falling with a light sheen of sweat on his brow. Everyone was shocked as he flicked his wand out and cast five simultaneous stunners into the waiting Aurors preparing to cast their spells at him, knocking them all out at once with pinpoint strikes.

    Ginny¡¯s eyes widened as she saw that his eyes were glowing golden. He was being controlled by Fate! She quickly felt her magic and checked that she was wearing her necklace. She should still be invisible. She looked around her. Her family though¡­ who knew what Fate would do to them?

    Fawkes¡¯ side of the bond twitched hard. He was coming. But he was in mainland Europe. He could travel far with each apparition, but not everywhere. It would probably take him at least six or seven apparitions to reach her, with him resting for a bit inbetween to make sure he was apparating in the right direction. He might not be here for ten minutes at least, far too late if Fate was about to attack her family.

    Ginny stepped forward in front of her family who looked scared as the death eater below began to effortlessly cast a dozen stunners at a time to fight off a whole crowd of Aurors at once, mowing them down like a scythe working its way through grass and leaving dozens of unconscious bodies in his wake.

    The death eater below finally had almost reached half way back towards the top box where they all remained behind. His eyes glowing with golden light scanned the box before fixating on Eric.

    The death eater raised its free hand to point it at Eric even as its wand hand kept moving and cast a bubble protego shield charm to ward off the attacks of the dozen remaining Aurors fighting him on the ground level. Despite only a few of them being left, these Aurors were the most skilled, able to block the death eater¡¯s original assault and the best duelists of the lot.

    ¡°BEEEEYYYYYOOOOOONNNNNNNDDDDDEEEERRRRRRRRRR!!!!!¡± Fate howled through the body of the death eater, the voice pulsing with magic as it reverberated throughout the stadium. The bodies of everyone around Ginny slumped to the floor unconscious as a wave of magic drilled into their forms and golden strings in their bodies pulsed once in sync with the magic.

    The pulse of magic avoided Ginny entirely, washing right over her like she wasn¡¯t even there.

    Ginny saw Eric stumbling as the golden chains flashed inside of him.

    He almost slumped, but then he let out a savage grin as his magic pulsed and twisted within him as all the magic tendrils floating around him dissolved.

    ¡°Found you finally, you little shits!¡± Eric shouted before with a groan a portion of his magic¡­ ripped out of him! The golden threads of fate were gathered in a tight ball in the portion of Eric¡¯s magic that he had violently ripped out of himself. Eric reached out and gathered the ball with the golden strings squirming inside of it like a ball of golden worms.

    ¡°No one! Controls! Me!¡± Eric shouted as the ball of magic in front of him burst into reddish flames. The golden threads thrashed and whipped about inside the ball of flames, but after a second of struggle, they began to soften and dissolve into nothing.

    The flame grew ever more powerful and hotter, as each chain that was dissolved stoked the fires hotter and hotter. The flames were so hot now that Ginny could feel the ends of her hair all over her body singe and curl up as the air grew hot around them.

    Ginny quickly used her magic tendrils to reach out and frantically lift the unconscious bodies of everyone and pile them in the corner of the room away from where Eric held his growing ball of red hot flame.

    The death eater below had paused, appearing to be frozen and twitching slightly as he stood there as the golden chains in the ball of flame dissolved into nothing.

    Ginny kept moving the people, sweating as the air felt like a sauna now, her eyes dry from the heat around her. Her family were closest and were already there and safer to the side, the rest of the Aurors and the Minister¡¯s unconscious bodies closely following behind. Only the Malfoy¡¯s were left. They were on the other side of Eric, so Ginny was forced to move them in a circular movement to move them around the ball of flame. Even then, she could see their skin turning red and peeling as if from a sunburn as they moved too close to the magical flames.

    Ginny managed to move them to the pile of unconscious bodies in the corner spread in a big pile.

    Eric¡¯s flame stopped growing in heat and strength as the last chain of Fate was consumed from within it. Ginny could see that removing that chunk of Eric¡¯s magic hadn¡¯t come without cost. He had a big hole in his body that was constantly releasing a stream of magic from his body even now even as he injected more of his remaining supply into the fireball hovering in front of him.

    Barty Crouch Junior¡¯s body suddenly came alive again down below, and his face twisted in apoplectic rage.

    ¡°YOU DARE!¡± Fate shouted, ¡°I¡¯LL GIVE YOU A SLOW DEATH, BEYONDER SCUM!¡±

    Fate floated the death eater¡¯s body into the air with her magic and started preparing a spell so complicated that Ginny could barely even understand what she was doing.

    ¡°You think a pitiful flame could harm me?¡± Fate said conversationally, ¡°There will be no escape for you this time Beyonder. With magic at my fingertips there will be no victory for you.¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡± Eric said, ¡°Or maybe you¡¯ll roast again like that stupid dog from last time! Die!¡±

    He extended his hands and the ball of flame shot off towards the floating body of Fate. Fate jerked the body in the air to dodge the flame even as she continued preparing her complex spell. Eric grunted and extended his hands and heaved as if dragging a rope. The ball of flame twisted and turned around to strike at Fate for another pass. Fate dodged again, the ball of flame now coming straight towards them.

    Eric grunted again and diverted the ball of flame straight downward toward the base of the stands.

    Ginny¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°NO, ERIC! THE AURORS!¡± She shouted. He glanced at her and grimaced, but dozens of magic tendrils shot out of his form and speared down into the unconscious forms of the Aurors below simultaneously. With a flick, all of their unconscious bodies went flying through the air without care as if tossed from the center of an explosion. They slammed into walls, into chairs, and hit the ground hard¡­ Thrown to the side without care by Eric as the ball of flame slammed into the ground and released a massive explosion that shook the stands. But none of the Aurors were in the radius of the explosion of fire by the time it landed.

    Fate finished her spell and grinned crookedly as she launched the invisible construct at Eric. It rippled through the air towards Eric at high speed. Eric jumped in the air and with the magic tendrils looping out of him grabbed his clothing he shot out of the viewing box into open air, flying through the air by lifting his clothes with his tendrils.

    The invisible spell diverted course to track him. Eric let himself fall to the ground, the invisible spell following him down at high speed. Ginny went to the edge of the railing and peered over to see Eric floating over the circular field of roaring magical flames below him. He was using the same strategy as before, using the field of flames as a resource to create more attacks. Ginny saw half the tendrils sprouting from Eric¡¯s back sink into the field of roaring flames around him. They emerged and sprouted from the flames a second later, the red flames snaking up the tendrils of magic even as they reached upwards like a dozen fiery worms tunneling through the air.

    All the flaming tendrils of Eric¡¯s magic struck the invisible spell. The spell resisted for a moment, continuing down towards Eric as he struck it with more and more flaming tendrils.

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    Finally, something seemed to give, and the invisible spell stopped in place a dozen feet above where Eric floated.

    Ginny thought that Eric had destroyed the spell for a moment, but she was wrong. The spell started to compress, becoming smaller and smaller and more and more magically dense in an instant. Ginny braced herself for an explosion as the spell reached critical mass. Eric sank into the field of flames raging below and disappeared in Ginny¡¯s magic sense amongst the red magical flames.

    The spell didn¡¯t explode. Instead a¡­ black dot appeared. A massive roar of wind immediately filled the world around Ginny. Everything suddenly tilted, with the black point being the new down as its massive gravity pulled her towards it.

    The wooden supports of the stands began to groan and creak as everything in the area began to be drawn in by the black ball.

    The field of flames was instantly turned into a stream that swirled and entered the black ball in a fiery cone swirling around it like an upside down tornado.

    The bodies that Ginny had piled in the corner of the viewing box began to slide and roll towards the edge of the box as the new gravity pulled them towards the black ball below.

    Hanging over the railing, Ginny was sent flipping over it and only just managed to grip the railing in a white knuckle grip to prevent her from being flung downwards into the still growing floating black orb below. The bodies of the Aurors below began to shift and slide, lifting off the ground slightly as the gravity grew stronger and stronger and began to draw them in.

    Ginny felt her arms trembling as she screamed silently through the roar of wind rushing past her and down into the black ball.

    The bodies of her family began to slide towards her as the gravity grew stronger and stronger. She flung out her fifteen magic tendrils and sank them into the floor of the viewing box. With a grunt, Ginny ripped a massive chunk of the wood straight out of the floor and shifted it ninety degrees to float vertically and hold back the press of bodies from sliding any farther.

    The gravity grew stronger and stronger, the last of the flames below starting to sputter as they were sucked into the black orb that was now a foot across. Ginny strained as her arms trembled as her body flapped up and down like a flag attached to railing of the viewing box railing as her shoes came flying off of her feet to enter the black orb below at high speed.

    Her fifteen magic tendrils pushed and strained at the section of wood that held back the press of unconscious bodies. She was breathing heavily and it was only growing harder to hold on by the moment. But she wouldn¡¯t. She couldn¡¯t give up. She had to save all of them¡­

    The first limp body of an Auror in the stands left the ground as the gravity reached a tipping point. The Auror¡¯s body flew through the air and fell straight towards the black orb as if falling downwards even as the body flew up from below.

    Ginny strained to peel off a single magic tendril to save the Auror, to catch them¡­ but then the piece of wood holding back the bodies of her family shifted slightly closer to the edge and she refocused. She¡­ she had to put family first. She pushed harder on the board and in a supreme effort of will managed to push the board another inch back upwards towards the back wall of the viewing box, which was now her ceiling with the gravity of the black orb below changing what was down and what was up.

    Ginny could only watch as the body of the Auror flew towards the black orb. Their body was only a single foot away from the thing¡­ when Fate waved her hand above and the black orb vanished with a resounding boom that shook the area like the loudest thunder that Ginny had ever heard.

    Her body dropped to normal gravity again and the plank of wood that her tendrils were holding suddenly pushed forward without the force of the black orb fighting against it. Ginny quickly stopped it, but the bodies of the people were pushed against the wall again. Ginny quickly tucked in her legs and swung herself back into the viewing box, her hands white and in pain from her holding the wooden top of the rail in a death grip.

    It took a few seconds for her hands to comply when her brain ordered them to release from the railing, but eventually like cracking ice, her hands started twitching and her hands uncurled so she could pull them away from the railing. She sat on the floor of the viewing box, panting heavily and cradling her numb hands that were sputtering back to life as she looked back to where Fate floated in the death eater¡¯s body. The Auror that had almost fallen into the black orb was still flying through the air.

    ¡°It is not your place to die just yet,¡± Fate said and waved her wand at the Auror. The body halted in mid air and began to slowly float down to the ground as if it was light as a feather. An advanced levitation charm of some kind, most likely.

    ¡°Hahaha!¡± Eric¡¯s voice laughed from below and Fate¡¯s head snapped downwards.

    Ginny looked down and saw that Eric had carved a hole in the floor of the stadium and looked rather smug as he emerged from it, the whole area around him devastated and scorched from his snuffed flame.

    ¡°It¡¯ll take more than that to kill Eric, you golden eyed craven!¡± The boy shouted.

    ¡°I see,¡± Fate said, her face flashing with intense anger and a strange flash of sadness at Eric''s insult, ¡°I see you protect your adopted family even as you fight me. I suppose you will have to split your attention defending them. With you gone, there is no need for them in my grand designs.¡±

    ¡°Ha! Screw those guys,¡± Eric said, ¡°You¡¯ll just be making it easier for me, splitting your attention!¡±

    Ginny tensed and leapt to her feet. And brought her magic tendrils to bear around her at Fate¡¯s threat. Just because Fate couldn¡¯t see Ginny didn¡¯t mean she wouldn¡¯t kill all of them to get rid of Eric. Fate had already let Lupin die to Eric just for a chance to kill him once she figured out that he was a Beyonder.

    Fate remained floating in the air and magic swirled around her. Her death eater host was huffing and puffing, his face red as he kept using his magic to the limit.

    ¡°Hm. This body is running out of magic,¡± Fate observed, ¡°I¡¯ll have to switch over to lifeforce.¡±

    Her magic pulsed and instantly the death eater started paling even as his magic grew massively.

    With that done, Fate raised her wand and summoned dozens of sharp icicles a foot long into the air around her, which sorted themselves into two groups. Over three quarters of them rotated to face point down towards Eric, while the remainder shifted to face towards Ginny and her family.

    Without another word, Fate sent the icicles spearing towards the both of them simultaneously.

    Ginny extended out her magic tendrils and latched each of them onto an approaching icicle. She pushed with her tendrils and diverted the paths of the projectiles so they slammed into the walls and ceiling around her and missed her and the unconscious bodies behind her. She looked down and saw that Eric was scraped and bleeding as he dodged wildly, icicles just barely missing him and nailing themselves into the floor around him with loud cracks of wood.

    Ginny felt another tug on her familiar bond and with a cry, Fawkes appeared in front of her just as Fate unleashed another wave of icicles at the both of them, sending even more of them towards Ginny this time.

    Fawkes took a second to assess the situation then let out a burst of flame that melted the icicles out of the air just before they were about to pass by him.

    Fate glanced at Fawkes, the face of the death eater becoming more sallow and gaunt the more she cast.

    Eric below looked worn out, the ice spikes having hit him and creating long thin cuts all over his body where he had only just dodged being impaled by several of them. His tendrils of magic were faltering and dissolving even as he created more, the hole in his magic still leaking as he fought and draining him of more and more magic by the moment.

    Fawkes remained hovering in front of Ginny and with a frustrated huff, Fate turned her attention solely on Eric, ignoring the Phoenix for now. She extended her arms wide and summoned hundreds of ice spikes all around her. At the same time, her host became alarmingly pale and the fat practically melted off of his bones until he looked like he had been starved for weeks.

    ¡°A good¡­ fight,¡± Fate rasped, ¡°But this is¡­ the end, Beyonder.¡±

    With one final death rattle, Fate pointed her wand at Eric and the death eater¡¯s eyes became lifeless, the golden glow of Fate leaving them as he began to fall limply to the ground. Already dead even before he started falling.

    Ginny hesitated for longer than she would have liked as the waves of icicles fell towards Eric from all sides. Eric¡¯s tendrils flashed out, but she could see in his eyes that he knew that he wouldn¡¯t make it out. There were just too many attacks closing in on him at once.

    ¡°Fawkes, go save him!¡± Ginny said. Fawkes gave her a look that said¡­ really? But in a burst of flame he disappeared and reappeared in front of Eric. The icicles approached even closer as Fawkes flapped his wings and surrounded himself in flame to transport himself and Eric back up to the viewing box where Ginny stood. With a loud crash and the cracking of ice, all the icicles slammed into the ground and violently tore up the whole area where Eric had been standing with icicles spearing through every available space and reducing the wooden stands underneath into a cloud of wooden splinters.

    Ginny saw that Fawkes wasn¡¯t looking good and appeared exhausted, all the quick apparitions in a row taking a heavy toll on him, especially those last two that were back to back.

    Eric looked at Ginny for a moment and opened his mouth for a moment before closing it again.

    ¡°I guess I¡¯m in your debt then,¡± he said, ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have cashed in on your debt to me so early, it seems. Would you like to do the honors, or should I?¡±

    ¡°Honors, what do you mean?¡±

    Eric gestured to the unconscious pile of people in a pile next to the ripped out section of floor. Ginny quickly used her magic tendrils to lift everyone and spread them out a bit so they wouldn¡¯t be stacked on top of each other anymore.

    ¡°Well,¡± Eric said and gestured to the devastation around them and to the unconscious people again, ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be a little suspicious if we were the only ones awake after all this happened? We¡¯ve got to cast stunners at each other so we¡¯ll look like we got knocked out with the rest. So, do you want to use the stunner on me, then yourself? Or should I do you then me?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I¡¯ll do it,¡± Ginny said, not wanting to leave Eric awake near her unconscious body in any scenario.

    Eric walked over to where Ron and Hermione were laid out and laid down on the ground next to them.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯m ready,¡± he said.

    ¡°Stupify!¡± Ginny said, casting the red spell at Eric. The boy didn¡¯t defend himself, and he slumped over unconscious as the spell washed over him. Ginny walked over to her parents and laid down next to them and Sirius. She held her wand up and pointed towards her chest as she lay there on her back. Fawkes chirped and hopped up to stare at her.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine, Fawkes,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I¡¯ll just be sleeping for a bit. Eric¡¯s right, it would be too suspicious for me to still be awake. See you soon.¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°I know Fawkes, you are awesome,¡± Ginny agreed absently as she prepared to cast the spell. With a deep breath she finally steeled herself and did it.

    ¡°Stupify!¡± She cast and the red bolt shot out of her wand and directly into her chest. As soon as the red spell touched her, she was out like a light. The last thing she saw before everything went dark was Fawkes¡¯ head peering down at her from above. He was going to complain so much that his hunt had to be interrupted by this ¡®life and death¡¯ business, wasn¡¯t he¡­

 Chapter 47: The Investigation

    Alastor Moody poked at the large hole ripped through the floor of the top box, his enchanted eye scanning the whole area. The World Cup had been canceled in the wake of the devastation of the arena and the assassination attempt on the Minister by the death eater that everyone had thought long dead.

    But why now? Young Ginny Weasley testified that she¡¯d bumped into the invisibility cloak by accident and pulled it off the man, causing him to spring into action in the following events. As well as the strange actions of the house elf near the beginning of the game. Yet none of it made any sense. He had sat invisibly, within the security perimeter for hours in the seat and done nothing. The moment he was discovered he did not fight, but immediately fled, to the point that he had jumped off the landing and broken his leg from the fall while under pursuit of the Aurors.

    But then, just as he had made it away clean, he came back able to take on over seventy Aurors in combat at once. Defeating them all out then knocking everyone unconscious with a spell like no one had ever seen before.

    The man was supposed to be dead, how was he here alive six years after his execution? Well, dead now. Whoever he had fought had finished him off rather thoroughly at the conclusion of their battle before leaving.

    None of it made sense. How was he so powerful? Why flee then return? There were all sorts of reports of massive explosions, hurricane force winds, flames¡­ Barty Crouch Junior had been fighting someone here. But who? Why had they not revealed themselves after protecting the minister? How had no one been killed in the crossfire if it was a true battle?

    The devastation of the stands near the top box displayed the savagery of whatever battle had taken place. Whole segments of the stands were kindling, and the whole structure cracked and battered.

    Moody tapped his staff on the floor again thoughtfully. Too many disjointed pieces to the puzzle, none of them fit together. He turned to his right.

    ¡°Albus?¡± He asked, ¡°What¡¯s your take on this? I have to say, I¡¯m stumped. Who do you know that could even do any of this? Fight off someone of Crouch¡¯s apparent power and escape unnoticed?¡±

    ¡°Escaping unnoticed would be simple,¡± Dumbledore said absently even as he kept muttering and casting spells as he inspected the damage and scene around them.

    ¡°The real question is why they would intervene,¡± Dumbledore continued, ¡°Were they aware of the attack ahead of time? Or was it mere coincidence that they showed up in the nick of time?¡±

    ¡°And what of Crouch Junior?¡± Moody asked, ¡°He was a decent duelist when I fought him years ago. But he couldn¡¯t have done anything like this.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, it is concerning. Is there any word from Crouch Senior?¡± Dumbledore asked.

    ¡°Nothing, he¡¯s lawyered up and won¡¯t say a word,¡± Moody growled. Had he been working with the death eaters all along? He¡¯d thought that out of everyone Crouch Senior would hate the death eaters the most.

    ¡°Hm. The magic used here¡­ It is like nothing I had ever felt. Almost like accidental magic, nothing as structured as a spell should be. All I can say was one combatant used mainly fire while the other used ice. The winds¡­ the magic is too widespread, could be from either of them or both. It is all very strange. Perhaps¡­ Our new friends at Azkaban? Balthazar was it? Perhaps we should ask them for their opinion?¡±

    ¡°Balthazar?¡± Moody asked in surprise, ¡°You want to call him for help? Are you sure? We know nothing about him or his people even now.¡±

    ¡°Exactly,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°I would very much like to speak with him. And who knows? Perhaps he will have some clues on our situation. He was completely unknown prior to his appearance to seize Azkaban. Perhaps¡­ he is also aware of other actors that have remained unknown prior to now. Pettigrew, Barty Crouch Junior¡­ I do not like how many death eaters thought dead are reappearing alive again with previously unknown powers.¡±

    ¡°Ay,¡± Moody grunted in agreement, ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll inform the Minister. He¡¯ll have to approve anything regarding that. The communicator¡¯s locked up tight, only he¡¯s got access. Doesn¡¯t want anyone saying the wrong thing and pissing off Balthazar since he¡¯s so bloody rich.¡±

    ¡°Rich indeed,¡± Dumbledore mumbled, ¡°The gold transfer went well?¡±

    ¡°Yes, not a single flake left behind as we deposited it at Gringotts in the appropriate vaults,¡± Moody said proudly. It hadn¡¯t been easy having proper security for something for once. Fifteen checks on everything and constant checks and pass phrases that the guards had to tell each other.

    Well, it worked. They had caught no less than five imposters under the polyjuice trying to sneak away some of the gold as it was being loaded for transport to Gringotts. Moody was proud of that. All those lazy sods in the Auror department had actually started paying attention to their orders for once after the first two imposters were caught.

    ¡°Excellent, excellent,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°I¡¯ll keep investigating. But I¡¯m not holding out much hope. Barty Crouch Junior is dead, and whoever fought him is long gone. We¡¯ll have to hope the mysterious new owners of Azkaban can shed some light on the situation.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Albus Dumbledore carefully inspected the circular device sitting on the table. Balthazar¡­ The very same wizard that young Eric Potter had claimed was his teacher. Dumbledore was more than eager to speak with the mysterious man.

    Minister Fudge, Amelia Bones, and Moody stood next to him. Moody used a levitation charm to lift a small paperweight that had been placed next to the device and tapped on it twice on the top to request a connection.

    The device¡¯s black surface pulsed red for a few minutes without anything happening. Minister Fudge shuffled in place and shot the rest of them a questioning look. Dumbledore stroked his long white beard as he considered the implications. This Balthazar did not view a request to speak from the Minister of Magic as something worth his immediate attention. Was it arrogance or something more?

    Finally after over ten minutes of the device flashing, it solidified as fully red and a pair of eyes and strip of the face appeared as an illusion above the device as it had been described by Dumbledore. He peered with interest as the device worked. What a fascinating contraption¡­

    The eyes scanned them for a moment before becoming unfocused for a moment, ¡°Ah, apologies. Another minute please.¡±

    The illusion suddenly disappeared again for another three minutes before flickering on again. The pair of eyes focused on Fudge, ¡°Apologies for the delay, Minister. I was in the middle of a delicate procedure. I¡¯m glad to hear the paperwork went through for the transfer of the island to me and my people.¡±

    ¡°Delicate procedure?¡± Fudge asked, ¡°Of the medical sort or the magical?¡±

    ¡°A bit of both actually,¡± Balthazar said lightly, ¡°I¡¯m researching for a cure to a magical illness at the moment. It¡¯s been proving quite the conundrum for me. It¡¯s not often I struggle to find a solution to these kinds of problems.¡±

    ¡°Who is your patient? Are they a British citizen?¡± Amelia asked, ¡°You need a license for that kind of magical or medical procedure even if it¡¯s proven to be perfectly safe.¡±

    Balthazar¡¯s eyes swiveled to Amelia, ¡°Do I? Was I not buying Azkaban from Britain? Why would I follow your laws? But don¡¯t worry, our patient is more than happy to be in my care and she is being treated well. And as far as I¡¯m aware she isn¡¯t a British citizen according to the laws of your Ministry.¡±

    Amelia opened her mouth to say more, but Fudge gave her a sharp look. Amelia looked frustrated, but cut off what she was about to say.

    ¡°I see,¡± She said in a sharp tone.

    Balthazar¡¯s eyes scanned the group again and stopped on Dumbledore.

    ¡°Dumbledore? I¡¯ve heard much about you in rumors. I believe it is the first time we met.¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± Dumbledore said, stepping forward slightly, ¡°Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and Wizardry, and chief of the Wizemgott. A pleasure to meet you at last. You are certainly making waves with your entrance upon the public scene so far.¡±

    Balthazar chuckled slightly, ¡°I can see that I must have, to get the attention of one of your caliber so soon. Is this simply a social call? I¡¯m a rather busy being, so I¡¯ll need to schedule a better time for an in depth conversation if that¡¯s the purpose of this call.¡±

    Moody stepped forward, ¡°Have you heard of what happened with the Quidditch World cup? The attack by the death eater?¡±

    ¡°Yes. But only partial accounts,¡± Balthazar admitted easily, ¡°I heard that no one was killed except the attacker themselves?¡±

    ¡°So it wasn¡¯t you?¡± Moody accused.

    Fudge stepped forward and started sweating slightly.

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    ¡°Alastor! Balthazar, he didn¡¯t mean it like that. Of course we¡­¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s quite alright Minister,¡± Balthazar said calmly, ¡°It¡¯s a reasonable suspicion. No, this wasn¡¯t me or any of my people.¡±

    ¡°Do you have any idea of who could have done it?¡± Moody asked, ¡°Trained Barty Crouch Junior to that level of skill, or the one who fought him off?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps. How about you tell me about your findings and I will see if I know anyone that fits the description.¡±

    ¡°Why can¡¯t you tell us who might be involved now?¡± Moody asked, ¡°If you know anyone else hiding among us then it would help prove that you aren¡¯t the one behind it all.¡±

    Fudge looked like he wanted to stop Moody again, but also looked curious at what Balthazar¡¯s answer would be. Balthazar stared at Moody for a moment.

    ¡°No. Not everyone likes being in the public eye like Dumbledore or Nicholas Flamel. There¡¯s a reason no one knew who I was before I chose to announce myself. Why create enemies by exposing them to you and the world when they don¡¯t wish to be known? Not unless I know for a fact it¡¯s for a good cause or in my interests?¡±

    Moody opened his mouth to say more, but Fudge jumped in to cut him off more firmly this time.

    ¡°Alastor, that¡¯s quite enough. Let¡¯s not be so hostile with Balthazar, shall we? I have no doubt he was not behind the assassination attempt. I was the one that approved the papers for his purchase of Azkaban after all.¡±

    Moody went quiet at the orders from the minister, even if he didn¡¯t look happy about it.

    ¡°Amelia, how about you fill in Balthazar in on what we know?¡± Fudge said as he nodded to the woman.

    ¡°Yes, Minister. Witness reports say that¡­¡±

    Amelia went through everything they knew with exhaustive detail. Witness reports, everything that happened that day¡­ everything relevant. Balthazar listened, his eyes focused on Amelia the whole time as she spoke.

    Finally, Amelia finished and the room was in silence for a few moments and Balthazar looked thoughtful.

    ¡°So?¡± Fudge prompted as the silence stretched, ¡°Do you have any idea why somebody would attempt to assassinate me like that?¡±

    ¡°Why do you assume that the death eater was there for you?¡± Balthazar said, ¡°He was invisible and did not attack you for hours. Perhaps he was waiting for something else.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡±

    ¡°To ambush whoever appeared to stop him after he returned to the arena. They did arrive to fight him rather quickly when he returned from what you have said.¡±

    ¡°But then why wait in the Minister¡¯s box to do so?¡± Dumbledore asked, ¡°It seems a difficult seat to claim just for an ambush. And why flee with his obvious magical power when he was exposed by young Ms. Weasley?¡±

    ¡°He could have simply changed his mind. Fleeing not the Aurors but the mysterious stranger that attacked and ended up finishing him off. After reaching the edge of the arena, the death eater may have realized that he would not have another chance for an attack for whatever reason and returned for a less certain head on battle. One that he ended up losing. Which would make this a battle between these two people of great power versus a targeted attack on any one of you that is liable to be repeated.¡±

    Dumbledore stroked his beard. It was plausible. More plausible than most of the theories he¡¯d heard of what had happened among the Aurors.

    ¡°Do you have any idea of who this person could be?¡± Fudge asked, ¡°How could Barty Crouch Junior have become so powerful?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps your answer lies with Pettigrew or the other two escaped Death eaters from Azkaban,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°Pettigrew was a death eater as well, correct? Once is a coincidence, twice is a pattern. That¡¯s the second death eater thought dead that has escaped with powers and skills previously unknown to you. Perhaps you should go over records and make sure there aren¡¯t any more mistakes. If you can determine how the both of them survived and how they have remained hidden for all these years¡­ then you may have your answer.¡±

    Fudge nodded sharply and turned to Amelia Bones, ¡°An excellent idea. Amelia, make sure to focus our efforts on the old records as Balthazar said. He raises an excellent point, a thorough check is needed. We don¡¯t want anything like this surprising us again¡­ And we must get Crouch Senior to talk and find out what he knows.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Minister.¡±

    There was some further discussion with Balthazar occasionally providing input. Dumbledore was mostly silent as he assessed Balthazar. The man was largely calm and steady. Logical and aloof from the concerns about Pettigrew or the death eaters striking in Britain once more. Because that¡¯s what the conversation morphed into. Pettigrew was forming a group under him including Barty Crouch Junior, with Pettigrew acting as the next dark lord. That was everyone¡¯s conclusion as Balthazar watched them silently and only occasionally spoke to refocus the conversation when they became distracted on a tangent.

    The scenario with Pettigrew was a scenario that Dumbledore found disturbingly plausible. Dumbledore had already destroyed the fragment of Voldemort¡¯s soul that had possessed Quirrell two years ago as best as he could. Dark Lord Voldemort should be dead with only tiny remaining portion of his soul passing into the afterlife from Dumbledore''s efforts.

    Without Voldemort in the picture, it must be Pettigrew that was orchestrating things. Dumbledore had thought him a coward¡­ but he had also not thought him a traitor. Perhaps he had hidden layers, and much could change in ten years¡­

    ¡°Is that all? I do have work to get back to,¡± Balthazar said as the conversation began to wind down.

    ¡°Ah, yes,¡± Fudge said, ¡°The Ministry and I much appreciate your help with this, Balthazar. Do let us know if you need any assistance in the future with anything and we won¡¯t forget about this favor you¡¯ve done for us.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Minister,¡± Balthazar replied politely, ¡°Very well, I will¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah,¡± Dumbledore interjected and brought the attention of the room to him, ¡°Balthazar, I don¡¯t suppose you¡¯d be willing to schedule a meeting with myself? I wished to talk about an old student of yours. Nothing urgent, but I believe he attends my school¡­¡±

    ¡°Eric¡­ Potter?¡± Balthazar said slowly to the shock of the rest of the room, ¡°Is that who you¡¯re referring to?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s him. He was your student then?¡± Dumbledore said, trying to disguise his interest in the subject as best as he could by acting casually. The rest of the room was not so subtle and glanced between the illusion of Balthazar¡¯s eyes and Dumbledore.

    Balthazar didn¡¯t speak for a long moment.

    ¡°Yes, he was. Why do you ask?¡±

    ¡°Well, I was made aware that you rejected him as a student after he disappointed you in some way? Is there anything I should be concerned about? Given the¡­ nature of the spells you taught him I thought you¡¯d be willing to shed some light on it.¡±

    ¡°I taught him what he wished to learn,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°He chose to leave my tutelage, insisted on it in fact. I have no interest or stake in him any longer. Any problems he causes will be yours to deal with.¡±

    ¡°Problems?¡± Dumbledore asked despite having an idea of what Balthazar spoke of, ¡°Whatever do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re already well aware of what I mean, Headmaster,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°As an educator you must be working even now to curb his excesses and promote his growth in a more positive direction. Best of luck in doing so. Now, I have my work to get back to. Until next time, Minister Fudge, Moody, Bones. It was a pleasure.¡±

    With that, the illusion flickered off and the disk turned black again. Conspicuous in Balthazar¡¯s last words was the intentional snubbing of Dumbledore himself.

    ¡°Dumbledore?¡± Fudge asked, whispering as if they would be overheard, ¡°What was that about? What do you know about a connection between Harry Potter and Balthazar?!¡±

    Dumbledore sighed. Well, may as well inform Fudge. Voldemort was dead, and Pettigrew should have little lingering interest in Eric. There was no great plan to accomplish anymore, and so no need to hold this particular secret anymore.

    ¡°Very well,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°If we can move to a¡­¡± He glanced at the black puck sitting on the nearby table, ¡°Secure room, then I will explain.¡±

    The four of them moved to the Minister¡¯s office silently and Fudge locked the door with a spell and stared at Dumbledore expectantly.

    ¡°Well?¡± Fudge said, ¡°What is it?¡±

    Dumbledore took a deep breath. Then he began to explain Eric Potter¡¯s upbringing and the events that had occurred and the magic that he had displayed.

    By the end all three of them were shocked by the story.

    ¡°Wandless Imperius, you say?¡± Fudge said, ¡°Why, I¡¯ll have to check. Have we even recorded a case of that being accomplished?¡±

    ¡°I said it was like the Imperius,¡± Dumbledore clarified, ¡°It is likely not actually the imperius curse itself, but many of the effects of it appeared similar from what was described by his Aunt and Uncle. Even with someone like Balthazar teaching him, he must have had extreme talent with those kinds of spells to be able to cast them with such skill at only nine years old and without a wand.¡±

    ¡°The Africans don¡¯t use wands or other magical foci for their magic,¡± Moody supplied, ¡°They are much weaker but more versatile than us wand users. Able to alter their structured charms to get them to do more than us wand users do. Do you think that Balthazar could have been raised in their tradition of magic? It could explain why Eric Potter could have learned this wandless magic so well at a young age. Some African wizard took him in and started teaching him after hearing about his defeat of Voldemort as a baby?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°That would be the most plausible scenario.¡±

    ¡°And what of the boy¡¯s behavior in school?¡± Fudge asked, ¡°What are these problems that Balthazar alluded to?¡±

    ¡°He¡­ he is a strange boy,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°He enjoys punishing students that choose to bully others from what I¡¯ve observed. Pranking, hexing, and such if he thinks they deserve it. Perhaps he goes a bit too far in some cases¡­ But nothing I¡¯ve observed has been more serious than that.¡±

    Amelia Bones caught his eye and Dumbledore hesitated, ¡°Well¡­¡± He continued, ¡°I did suspect him to be the famed ¡®Mad Potioner¡¯ for a time as well. But Amelia and I determined that the disaster at the Halloween feast was likely Pettigrew and not the same as the other spiking of drinks with love potion from the rest of the school year.¡±

    Fudge rubbed his chin, ¡°The Mad Potioner? Harry Potter? That would be trouble if people knew¡­ I see, I see. So a troublemaker, perhaps one that goes a bit too far on occasion. But not more than that? Is that your thoughts on the boy, Dumbledore?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that about sums it up, Minister,¡± He said. He could see the Minister was frustrated with him for keeping all this information from him for so long. But Fudge was choosing to not address the issue given Dumbledore¡¯s status as the chief of the Wizemgott. But Dumbledore was sure that he¡¯d be paying for this in a hundred small ways over the coming years as Fudge took petty revenge on him for not being upfront with him from the beginning.

    Fudge thought more for a few more moments.

    ¡°Ah, well,¡± he said eventually, ¡°As much as I¡¯d like to question the boy, that would be a bad idea. He and Balthazar seemed to have had a sort of falling out, and it may irritate Balthazar if he learns that we¡¯re questioning his former student on his personal matters. No need to risk our image to somebody so valuable just because we¡¯re a bit curious about his personal life. Although that is a good catch about the African wizards, Moody.

    "We¡¯ll have to investigate that, see if there¡¯s anyone that could be Balthazar that is known down there. Now, I think we all have a lot of work to do. Amelia, you start searching the records for death eaters and any inconsistencies as well as verifying that they¡¯re actually dead as best you can. Also get some people working on investigating some leads on Balthazar in Africa. Moody, work with her. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll have some things to say given you were there for most of the death eater¡¯s trials, Alastor.¡±

    There was a pause and then Fudge looked at Dumbledore, ¡°Dumbledore, you can see yourself out. Thank you for assisting with our investigation up to now.¡±

    ¡°My pleasure, Minister. Good day.¡±

    They all left the Minister¡¯s office.

 Chapter 48: The Wolf-Kin Question

    Ginny waited anxiously just outside Balthazar¡¯s lab. Today was the day. There was finally a solution and Olivia would be undergoing the final change. If everything had gone well then she would walk out of the lab in a few minutes completely cured.

    Dad and Sirius were here with her too, waiting to see if Balthazar would succeed. He hadn¡¯t made any promises of success before the procedure started. But if anyone could do it, then he could¡­

    After a few more minutes of waiting, the door opened and Balthazar opened the door with Olivia following closely behind. Olivia looked upbeat and was smiling widely as she walked behind Balthazar.

    They all stared at her expectantly

    ¡°It worked!¡± Olivia said, ¡°I¡¯m cured! Not totally normal¡­ But good enough.¡±

    ¡°Good enough?¡± Dad asked, ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    Olivia turned to her left, ¡°Balthazar?¡±

    He raised his hand and pointed it towards her. A silvery light shone out of his hand, concentrated moonlight. Olivia¡¯s face warped slightly, her nose pushing out to form a wolf¡¯s snout and her skull shape changing to mimic a werewolf. Her ears grew to a point and her skin grew short gray fur to cover her. The rest of her body sprouted the silvery hair as well and she hunched over slightly. But she didn¡¯t grow in size and still looked mostly human rather than the bulky bestial form of most werewolves.

    Olivia opened her mouth wide and demonstrated that while her teeth were pointed, they looked smaller and softer, not like the large sharp dangerous blades in her mouth like you would see in a real werewolf.

    ¡°I am myshelf too, no ragesh or anyshing¡± Olivia said, ¡°It feelsh strange. But notsh painshful like how it washe before. Itsh hardsh to talksh with a shnout thoughhh.¡±

    Balthazar lowered his hand and the silver moonlight shooting out of his hand disappeared. Olivia transformed back into a human over the course of a few seconds, her snout shrinking and the gray fur that had sprouted all over her body disappearing again. She shook her head after a moment.

    ¡°Oof. Still not used to that,¡± Olivia said while still smiling, ¡°Isn¡¯t it great? I¡¯m cured! And while I still have to deal with all of that on the full moon I won¡¯t lose myself or hurt anyone now! I can get my life back!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s amazing!¡± Ginny said, ¡°She¡¯s really fine, Balthazar? Nothing came up?¡±

    ¡°No, perfectly healthy. The change has stabilized in her, and from now on she¡¯ll transform just like you just witnessed and keep her mind while doing so.¡±

    Ginny jumped forward and hugged Olivia, and the girl hugged her back.

    ¡°See! I told you that Balthazar would figure it out eventually!¡± Ginny said after Olivia released her.

    ¡°Yeah, I-¡± Olivia wiped her arm to her face, ¡°-I can¡¯t believe I actually can get my life back. Thank you Ginny, for bringing me here. He really did it.¡±

    She turned to Balthazar who was watching them.

    ¡°And you, Balthazar. Thank you so much. For everything. I can¡¯t ever repay you for everything you¡¯ve done for me without even wanting anything in return¡­ Thanks. Really.¡±

    Ginny saw that Balthazar seemed genuinely moved by Olivia¡¯s genuine gratitude towards him. He had a slightly awkward expression and coughed.

    *Ahem* ¡°Ah, It was nothing at all. I¡¯m sorry that I couldn¡¯t fully fix the problem and return you to be fully human.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care about that!¡± Olivia said, ¡°I¡¯m not dangerous anymore during the full moon and that¡¯s all that matters to me. Really, Balthazar. I¡¯m thanking Ginny for bringing me here, but you¡¯re the one who did all of the real work. I¡¯d be miserable, hunting for rats in the woods for the rest of my life without you.¡±

    ¡°Well, ah,¡± Balthazar said before he controlled his expression again, ¡°You¡¯re very welcome Ms. Roberts.¡±

    ¡°Well, Olivia,¡± Sirius said, ¡°Now that you¡¯re cured, how about we bring you to a party? I¡¯ve got everything already set up at my house. Balthazar, would you like to come?¡±

    Balthazar hesitated and after a brief glance at Ginny nodded, ¡°I¡¯d be delighted. Just immediate friends and family I presume? I am a very private man as I¡¯m sure you already know.¡±

    ¡°Yes, don¡¯t worry,¡± Sirius said, ¡°The old Black residence has all sorts of wards around it. No one will even know that you were there if we don¡¯t tell them. It¡¯ll just be the Weasley adults, Ginny, me, and the woman of the hour herself.¡±

    ¡°Very well,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°It will be interesting to finally see someplace new for the first time in a long while.¡±

    They all went to Sirius¡¯ house by apparating. Ginny and Dad had helped Sirius make the cake and set up the streamers and balloons in the kitchen for the big occasion. The big banner was stretched over the back wall. ¡°Happy Cure day!¡± All three of them chanted as Olivia caught sight of the big birthday banner.

    ¡°What? Cure day? Cake? You really did the whole thing?¡± Olivia said in surprise, looking shocked at the decorations around the kitchen.

    ¡°Of course!¡± Sirius said, ¡°We celebrate the day you¡¯re born every year, don¡¯t we? Today seems a little more important than something silly like that. We¡¯ve got to go all out. You wouldn''t believe all the sweets I¡¯ve bought for you if the cake doesn¡¯t satisfy your sweet tooth.¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s¡­ Thanks, guys,¡± Olivia said, looking touched.

    Balthazar stood with his large horns and batlike wings folded behind him on his back, looking around at the house curiously as well as the birthday party.

    Olivia got the honors of cutting the cake into slices, and then all of them took slices and slid them onto the little plates that Sirius had sitting out. Balthazar stood in the back watching the proceedings while still standing apart from it all. Ginny grabbed another plate and put a slice of cake on it. She walked over to the tall demonic form standing there. A figure that would have had anyone else quivering in fear on seeing him. But it was Balthazar, and she was used to it.

    Balthazar stared down at her and Ginny held up the extra plate and slice of cake towards him.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to try some? I¡¯m sure it¡¯s been a while since you¡¯ve had anything good. You¡¯re invited to this party too.¡±

    Balthazar hesitated before grabbing the plate and hesitantly lifting a bit of cake to his mouth with the fork and putting it in his mouth. He swallowed the bite and blinked.

    ¡°This¡­ is very good,¡± he said while staring into the mid distance for a moment.

    ¡°Glad you like it. Now C¡¯mon. Join the party. It could be fun.¡±

    Balthazar stared down at Ginny with a complicated look as he held the small plate with the cake on it.

    ¡°Thank you, Ginny,¡± He said softly, ¡°Perhaps I will.¡±

    It seems that Balthazar liked the cake. He ate nearly three slices over the course of the next few minutes and joined the easy conversation of the group as Sirius decided to give Olivia and Balthazar an impromptu tour of his house after he realized that neither of them had seen the whole thing before.

    After a few minutes, the tour concluded and they returned to the kitchen and everyone started trying out the pile of sweets and candy that Sirius had bought for the occasion. Even Balthazar had a few, although he didn¡¯t seem to like them as well as he had the cake.

    ¡°Well,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°Thank you for the party. But I think it¡¯s about time for me to go back to Azkaban. I assume that you can sort out helping Olivia return to society?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be working on it,¡± Sirius promised, ¡°Olivia? Would you like to stay here with me or with Arthur at the Burrow for the time being? We¡¯ve discussed, and you can stay with us as long as we need to sort out the legal aspects of getting you your citizenship back.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. Can I¡­ Stay here, Sirius?¡± Olivia asked, ¡°I¡¯m not sure I¡¯d like to explain to Ginny¡¯s brothers about everything. Or not explain depending on things¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. We¡¯ve got plenty of spare bedrooms in this old place at the moment.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Sirius.¡±

    ¡°Well, things seem to be in order,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°You have your communicators, Arthur, Sirius. Remember just tap twice to send a request to talk with me. I¡¯ll be off then. Thank you for the¡­ food and party. Goodbye.¡±

    He turned and walked out of the room without looking back before any of them could reply. After a few seconds of him walking, he opened the front door and took a step outside onto the porch. He shut the door behind him with a click and with a crack of apparition he disappeared again.

    Huh. Ginny wondered why Balthazar was acting so strangely. Usually he was rather calm, it was unlike him to act like that¡­

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Balthazar sat in his room in Azkaban and stared at his hands. It had been such a long time since these hands had healed rather than destroyed. Always conquering, always fighting for Teregatt¡¯s banner ever since he¡¯d been bound to it. Everything he built for the purpose of war, every act of healing to get a fallen soldier back into battle with maximum speed. Not true healing, but repairing the cogs of war back into their perfect state so they could grind ever onwards in the service of Teregatt and its master.

    It had been a long time since he¡¯d actually helped somebody without an ulterior motive for it.

    He went over to the corner of the room and tapped on the wall. The stone slid aside and revealed a cubby in the stone that he had created when he first claimed this room. He reached inside and retrieved the black obsidian dagger and held it as he sat back down.

    He had been so sure before. Why now near the end did he have to doubt himself like this? She would turn out just like all the rest given enough time, he was sure.

    But¡­

    But maybe not.

    She seemed different from the others.

    He flipped the black dagger over and over and inspected it as he thought. He still had plenty of time to make a decision. He had spent so much time building the blade, thousands of years across a thousand worlds in secret.

    Would he let all that effort go to waste at the very finish line?

    Yet, maybe he should. What would his love have thought of him if she knew he was even considering it? She would be horrified. But she wasn¡¯t with him anymore, was she?

    With a sigh, Balthazar took the dagger and walked back to the cubby in the wall and replaced the dagger in its place. With another tap on the wall the stone shifted back in place and the wards reactivated. He still had time.

    He almost wished that Eric could have been Teregatt¡¯s inheritor instead of Ginny.

    It would have made this far easier.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny was visiting Sirius¡¯ house again. It had been a few days, and yesterday she¡¯d had some fun playing with their magic with Luna. Luna had just barely managed to create a second tendril of magic, even if she was still shaky on controlling them both at once. But still very fast progress on things.

    Right now, Ginny was just wandering around Sirius¡¯ house, while Dad and Sirius discussed the legal aspects with some lawyer they had brought in for help. Ted Tonks who was apparently some big shot lawyer and he¡¯d be helping them get Olivia her citizenship and rights back. As soon as someone became a registered werewolf they were an outcast legally. They couldn¡¯t own property, didn¡¯t pay taxes, were forced to live away from people¡­ It was all rather horrible. Olivia¡¯s case was unheard of, so Tonks would have to be careful how he presented the case legally. Especially since with all the prejudice against werewolves, many people would be fearful of Olivia even if she proved that she was perfectly safe during the full moon.

    ¡°Hey, Ginny. What are you doing?¡± Olivia suddenly asked from where she stood in a side living room.

    ¡°Nothing much,¡± Ginny admitted, ¡°I¡¯m pretty bored actually. I thought it would be exciting, but all their legal talk is just sooooo boring.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, tell me about it,¡± Olivia snorted, ¡°Actually I wanted to get your opinion on something.¡±

    ¡°Oh, okay. On what?¡± Ginny said as she walked out of the hallway and into the living room Olivia was sitting in.

    ¡°Well, with all of this legal talk about me getting my life back,¡± Olivia began, ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking. About my time with the Pack. All of them¡­ They were the same as me. No hope for the future, barely able to survive. Even the ones that go out and hide what they are in the wizarding world still have to constantly worry about when the full moon will come and when they¡¯ll turn into violent monsters. I was thinking of¡­ If I could be cured, then can¡¯t Balthazar cure the others too? I know it¡¯s a lot to ask after how much he¡¯s already done for me. But¡­ What if he could do it? All those people could live again, not have to live like animals in the woods anymore.¡±

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    ¡°Why are you asking me?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°That sounds great. I don¡¯t know if you noticed, but Balthazar was happy that he was able to help you. Usually he¡¯s so calm, that he was so emotional at the party and after you thanked him shows how much he cares. I¡¯m sure he wouldn¡¯t mind helping more people as long as he could do it without ruining his privacy.¡±

    ¡°You think?¡± Olivia said, ¡°You seem to know him better than anyone. I just wanted to get your opinion before I asked. And perhaps use Fawkes to take us to Azkaban so I can talk with him.¡±

    ¡°Okay. How would it work though? I doubt that Balthazar would want to take everyone to Azkaban like we did with you.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Olivia said, ¡°I was thinking that maybe we could set something up out here? Like a clinic that he could just go to and use before apparating away again? People could be unconscious when he¡¯s actually operating on them so they¡¯d never see what he really looks like?¡±

    ¡°Wow, you¡¯ve thought about it a lot,¡± Ginny said, impressed, ¡°Have you told the other adults about it yet?¡±

    ¡°No, I wanted to make sure Balthazar would actually do it if we could set it up first. You¡¯re actually the first person I¡¯ve told.¡±

    ¡°Oh, wow. Thanks. You want to go now?¡± Ginny said, ¡°We¡¯ll probably have to wait around for a bit to see him after we arrive given how busy he is.¡±

    ¡°Now? Well, uhm. Okay. Tell the adults that we¡¯re going first?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to call Fawkes anyway. May as well¡­¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°So?¡± Olivia asked, ¡°What do you think, Balthazar? I know it¡¯s asking for a lot. But it would really help these people if they could be cured like I am.¡±

    ¡°This would be a large undertaking¡­ What is the population of werewolves again?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. They¡¯re not in government records or anything. I¡¯d probably say¡­ Under ten thousand in Britain? But they¡¯re scattered all over the world, so who knows how many are out there in the world outside of here.¡±

    ¡°Hm. I¡¯m not opposed on principle,¡± Balthzar said, ¡°I can accept your idea of an exterior clinic that I could apparate into and work in with privacy. I have about four months of my work here left until things will be¡­ up to my standards for security on the island.¡±

    Balthazar glanced at Ginny before looking back at Olivia, ¡°More can always be improved past that point, but¡­ it will not be as critical as what I¡¯ve been doing up to now. Until then, I can only work at this clinic for small amounts of time. After those few months I will have some more free time that I may be able to devote to this clinic. It will be¡­ nice to help others like I have helped you.¡±

    Olivia bobbed her head up and down several times, ¡°Yes, yes. That makes sense. Thank you for agreeing, Balthazar! I¡¯ll tell Mr. Black and Mr. Weasley and I¡¯m sure that they¡¯ll help me set up the clinic and get things set up for whenever you¡¯re done with your work.¡±

    ¡°Excellent. Make sure that they keep me informed on your progress,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°I¡¯ll add my own forms of security and privacy to the operation once you¡¯ve sorted out all the other details of course.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Balthazar. You¡¯ll be helping a lot of people with this.¡±

    ¡°That is the hope.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Sirius, Dad, and Ted Tonks were surprised after Olivia told them about what had happened. But they weren¡¯t opposed. Olivia looked rather stunned after Tonks asked her where the money for this new clinic would come from. It seems that in all her planning she hadn¡¯t thought about that part.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± Sirius had chimed in, ¡°I¡¯ll fund it. I¡¯ve been wondering what to do with all of my money recently. This seems like a good cause.¡±

    Olivia had thanked him profusely, but he had brushed it off.

    ¡°I¡­ had an old friend who was a werewolf,¡± Sirius eventually said, ¡°He got a raw deal in life. Died recently. He¡¯d have done anything for a chance at going to this clinic. I¡¯d like to do this for him too.¡±

    ¡°Oh. I¡¯m sorry to hear that,¡± Olivia said, the mood in the room dropping at the man¡¯s words.

    ¡°Well, with funding secured and our mysterious healer agreeing to administer patients after the facility is ready, then perhaps we should start discussing details then¡­¡± Ted Tonks jumped in.

    The discussion was long, with Ginny sitting in the corner and listening. It was both incredibly boring and interesting at the same time.

    It was decided that Sirius would be announcing it under his name, and possibly under Balthazar''s name as well if the man wanted to. Olivia¡¯s legal case would be pursued at the same time to prove that the procedure really worked on her as a test case for opening the clinic fully.

    Ginny wondered if Balthazar would agree to that.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Dumbledore watched with interest as Sirius Black entered the chamber of the Wizemgamott and took a seat. As the head of a noble house, he received his family¡¯s seat and the seat¡¯s vote on the council. For over ten years that seat had remained empty, Sirius Black having not returned to it ever since his release from Azkaban.

    There was muttering across the chamber as they watched the man. As one of the residing lords he had called for the meeting and with Dumbledore¡¯s support as chief of the Wizemgamott, managed to call a full council. Yet, Dumbledore himself still had no clue of what the man wished to discuss with the larger council. The price of Sirius¡¯ forgiveness for not checking more thoroughly about his sentencing to Azkaban, the man had said.

    Whatever this was, hopefully their relationship could shift into a more cordial direction in the future with Dumbledore doing this favor for him¡­

    ¡°Members of the esteemed Wizemgamott!¡± Dumbledore said and the muttering died down, ¡°Let us give a hand to the official reintroduction of Sirius Black to us. The chair of the most ancient and noble house Black has been filled once more with Sirius Black as head of his house.¡±

    There was some polite clapping for a few moments before things died down.

    ¡°Now, Our newest member has called for a meeting to discuss a matter of great importance to him,¡± Dumbledore continued, ¡°He has been rather secretive, not even I know what he means to present to us today. So without any further delay, let us hear from the man himself! Sirius Black, what business do you bring in front of the full Wizemgamott council today?¡±

    Sirius Black stood slowly from his ornate chair and cleared throat as the chamber fell silent in anticipation of whatever matter Lord Black would pursue. Would he announce support for some policy in support of the light faction and Dumbledore? Some new policy of his own? Seek retribution against those who wronged him and sent him to Azkaban? What could it be?

    ¡°I am here today,¡± Sirius said in a loud voice that only wavered slightly. He was not a man used to speeches, although it was clear that he had practiced heavily before coming here.

    ¡°To announce an amazing discovery,¡± He continued, ¡°Something that will help those that have been shunned, discarded by our society. Viewed too dangerous, having their citizenship, their ability to own property, their very humanity stripped them by this very body. No more. Because today I am here to announce that¡­¡±

    Several of the dark faction had started glowering and grimacing as they heard Sirius¡¯ compassionate speech. He was likely to announce some soft hearted policy protecting the muggles even more, they no doubt thought.

    ¡°Our newest neighbor, Balthazar, owner of Azkaban¡­¡±

    The whole chamber perked up at the mention of the mysterious man. What was this?

    ¡°Has found a cure to the disease of Lycanthropy, that has forced so many werewolves to live on the fringes of our society. This treatment can allow them to keep their minds fully during the full moon and vastly reduce their physical changes to the point that they are relatively harmless. Little more than your average witch or wizard.¡±

    There was a shocked pause in the great chamber, the ever stoic heads of the pureblood houses blinking and letting their shock fill their faces. Dumbledore was blinking himself. A cure? To Lycanthropy? This news would shake the wizarding world!

    ¡°Unfortunately,¡± Sirius continued, ¡°It takes strong and precise control over one¡¯s spells to perform the procedure, so only Balthazar himself is capable of performing this procedure at the moment. So in partnership with him, my house and I will be looking to open a clinic to facilitate treatment, something that will be free to all werewolves who desire it. I ask this chamber today to recognize these cured individuals as what they are. Cured. And to grant them the full rights and privileges given to any of our other citizens in this country.¡±

    There was a moment of silence as Sirius didn¡¯t say anything else before the chamber exploded into an explosion of noise and shouted questions.

    Dumbledore let it continue for a few moments before banging his gavel on the stand to quiet the chamber.

    ¡°Mr. Black,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°I assume that your extraordinary claims also come along with similarly ironclad proof? Are you willing to provide such evidence to back up your claims of a cure?¡±

    ¡°I am Chief Wizemgamott,¡± Sirius said, ¡°The operation has already been performed on Olivia Roberts. We¡¯ve all heard how she was infected just this year after she was attacked by her teacher. What many may not know, was that as soon as she returned from St. Mungo¡¯s after being a confirmed Werewolf, that her parents threw her out onto the street with nothing but the clothes on her back. Her own parents called her an animal when I visited them to ask after her. She was living with one of the werewolf packs, half starved and hopeless of a future where she could hold no job and never reenter civilized society except as a criminal. We have prepared a demonstration for this council.¡±

    Dumbledore raised an eyebrow and even many of the dark families looked uncomfortable at the account. Many of them held prejudice against the werewolves due to fears that they were dangerous. But most held it as one that had a dangerous infectious disease. Someone to be avoided and that should not be seen in civilized society. But not many held the view that they were not human at all, to call their own family animals and send them on their way so callously.

    Dumbledore glanced at the Roberts noble chair where the man sitting there was pale as he stared at Sirius with clenched fists. But he did not stand to refute the claim, something that the whole chamber noticed.

    Sirius waved his hand and the doors to the chamber opened and Olivia Roberts entered alongside the lawyer Ted Tonks, both dressed up in their best clothes.

    Mr. Tonks raised a strange squarish block to display to the audience.

    ¡°The device in Mr. Tonk¡¯s hand was loaned to us by Balthazar for this demonstration,¡± Sirius said, ¡°It contains concentrated moonlight, roughly thirty minutes worth according to him. We shall demonstrate the effectiveness of the operation first hand, and you can question her yourself while she is transformed to see if our claims are true or not.¡±

    Before anyone could react, Mr. Tonks pressed a button on the block and pointed one of its sides towards the girl. As there were shouts of alarm across the chamber as she began to transform. She transformed into a werewolf¡­ but also not. Her head was in a canine form and gray fur had sprouted up all over her body. Her proportions had shifted slightly¡­ But she remained there, standing calmly as she looked around to the startled chamber with intelligence in her eyes. She was not bulky or hulking as a werewolf usually was, and she had not grown in size. When she raised her hands up she showed that while her nails had grown slightly longer and become pointed, they no longer were sharp blades meant to slice and tear.

    Mr. Tonks kept the cube producing moonlight pointed at young Ms. Roberts and Dumbledore noticed that her teeth were much smaller than that of a werewolf¡¯s would be.

    ¡°Herro, Evrshybody,¡± The girl said, ¡°Eschteemed Membersh of tha Wizshemgott. I amsh readysh Forsh any Quesshions you may havsh for me.¡±

    Dumbledore sat there and kept inspecting the girl. Balthazar had really done it. He froze as he remembered the man¡¯s words when they spoke with him. Studying a magical malady¡­ this was it. This was what he had been studying. And he had solved it... Amazing.

    As the chamber took turns questioning young Ms. Roberts, Dumbledore turned over all the implications of this in his mind. Many tried to ask questions about Balthazar and his methods, which caused Ted Tonks to speak up and shut down any such lines of questioning. Several of the darker families tried to attack Ms. Robert¡¯s character, but based on the skeptical looks in most of the chamber it was largely ineffective. She had been a Hogwarts Prefect and had top scores in her classes, praised by her teachers and considered personable by her fellow students. It was the dark families mistake to keep trying to cast her as a violent troublemaker when the facts clearly pointed otherwise, as anyone who had read the stories about her after her infection at Hogwarts already knew. The media had lamented the tragedy of someone with so much potential falling to the werewolf''s curse in such a dramatic way.

    Finally, Mr. Tonk¡¯s strange device ran out of power and the silver light washing over Ms. Roberts flickered off. Over the course of a few seconds, the gray fur retreated across Ms. Robert¡¯s body and she shifted back into a human form.

    The whole chamber watched the process with interest, and afterwards asked more questions. These questions were less about the girl herself than the difference in how the shift felt to how it was when she was a full werewolf. The girl gave a quite impassioned speech about the painful and horrible process, of the difference in how it had felt when she was a full werewolf versus how it was now. Wolf-kin she called her current state. A good name, Dumbledore mused. Distinct to werewolves, yet still describing their condition¡­

    Finally, the question finished up and the chamber was left in thoughtful silence as the minds of the chamber inevitably shifted into thoughts of the political ramifications of what they had just heard.

    Dumbledore stood up ponderously, having already made his decision on his stance on this matter over ten minutes ago. These new so-called wolf-kin¡­ They must be given full citizenship. A pathway for werewolves to rejoin wizarding society in truth. He met Sirius¡¯ eye and nodded slightly.

    ¡°Ms. Roberts, Mr. Tonks,¡± He said, ¡°Thank you both for your time. You are dismissed.¡±

    She bowed along with Mr. Tonks and then the two of them left the room. Hm, it seems that Ms. Roberts had not been told to curtsy instead¡­ But no matter.

    Dumbledore hit his gavel on the table in front of him to silence the conversation that had sprung up as Ms. Roberts left, ¡°We have all seen the evidence for ourselves,¡± Dumbledore, ¡°Ms. Roberts was a werewolf and has been transformed into this new¡­ wolf-kin by our mysterious new neighbor Balthazar. Does anyone contest this fact?¡±

    The dark families shuffled in their seats, but none protested. It seems that even they wouldn¡¯t contest the obvious facts when they were laid out so openly. Balthazar¡¯s name was likely making them cautious as well. No one knew his motives or what he was capable of, even Dumbledore.

    ¡°Very well. Now that this miraculous discovery has been shared with us, more of these former werewolves will join us soon¡­ Let us discuss what status this group should hold in our society. From my view and what I¡¯ve seen today, I see no reason why they should not be offered the full rights of a witch or wizard without the curse. But that is only my opinion. Let this august body debate the matter now, so we are not caught flat footed when more people than young Ms. Roberts are part of this new group.¡±

    And so the debate raged from that point. The dark faction seeking to create a new class of restricted citizenship for the wolf-kin. Attempting to restrict the rights and privileges of anyone that didn¡¯t fit their mold. The light faction whole-heartedly joined Dumbledore of course, he had worked hard to spread his influence and favors so they knew it was best for them to follow his wishes in matters like this. And many supported the proposal on their own merits as well, hoping that the former werewolves would be more sympathetic to the light faction than the dark when they were reintegrated into society. One of the reasons that the dark faction opposed full citizenship for the wolf-kin so stringently at the same time.

    After days of raging debate and many favors traded, it was decided that full citizenship would be granted to the wolf-kin if all displayed the same symptoms as Ms. Roberts. The dark faction had squealed and complained, but their initial unreasonable demands had been a mistake as the neutral faction was swayed to Dumbledore¡¯s cause as a result. Many had been swayed by Ms. Roberts'' personal story. The interrogation of her parents on the situation directly afterwards only revealed the depths of the couple¡¯s prejudice.

    The Roberts couple had defended their choice at the time, seeming to believe that the evidence that had been presented to the council about the wolf-kin was a lie, a trick. That their daughter was still a ¡®rabid animal¡¯. They had no credibility, and had helped sway many minds to the cause of full citizenship and away from their own.

    ¡°Then it is decided!¡± Dumbledore said with a smile while certifying the scroll containing the new law that had just been approved by the wizemgamott.

    ¡°The wolf-kin shall receive full rights as a citizen of our country so long as they undergo a test under the light of a full moon to verify their altered status. I certify the ratification of our new law as Chief Wizemgamott, and as leader of this esteemed body.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°So, everything worked out?¡± Ginny asked. She only had a few more days before the term would start and there was another party about the wizemgamott passing a law making all the ¡®wolf-kin¡¯ citizens again. Sirius was almost done refurbishing and setting up the clinic where Balthazar would be treating more werewolves in the future. The waiting list to be treated was already hundreds of names long, and the newspapers couldn¡¯t stop praising Sirius and Balthazar as saints for their ¡®charity¡¯ to ¡®rehabilitate¡¯ the ¡®dangerous¡¯ werewolves.

    Well, whatever. They could say what they wanted, but no one was stopping him from running the clinic and were mostly supportive of it so it was fine.

    ¡°Yes, Balthazar says that he can start seeing the first few patients in a week,¡± Sirius said, ¡°And with this new law passed¡­ I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll have any shortage of people who¡¯ll come. Hope you have a fun time in school this year. It¡¯ll be an exciting one, I¡¯m sure what with the¡­ event and all.¡±

    ¡°Event? What event?¡±

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯ll find out soon,¡± Sirius said, ¡°Don¡¯t want to spoil the surprise for you. Now, let¡¯s sneak out to the front. Your mother is currently laying into your father for hiding things from her about Olivia. I think we¡¯d both like to stay out of the blast zone there before either of us get drawn in.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Good idea. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll start listening to him after they both stop shouting so much¡­¡±

 Chapter 49: Return of a Hero

    Ginny¡¯s return to Hogwarts was mostly uneventful. She reunited with her friends and they all caught up. They¡¯d been sending letters all the time, but Ginny hadn¡¯t been able to tell them everything about Olivia or the wolf-kin in case someone tried reading her letters for whatever reason.

    So that¡¯s what they talked about mostly on the train ride to Hogwarts. Alexa and Jack were both outraged by how Olivia¡¯s parents had treated her, and were glad to hear that it had all worked out. They had both been in the muggle world all summer, so neither of them had heard about Balthazar or all the hubbub about the new wolf-kin. Tonks had come up with that name, saying that they had to give the new group its own name before someone labeled something more harmful first. Luckily it seemed to have caught on pretty quickly and now no one referred to them as anything else.

    Although Olivia was the only member of the wolf-kin at the moment, in the coming weeks Balthazar would be working to cure a few more of them. Since he already knew what to do he seemed to think that it would go much quicker, but it was unclear exactly how quick he meant by that. But there was no doubt that more wolf-kin would soon be created in the coming months.

    Olivia had actually started working at the clinic full time under Sirius. She¡¯d be the ¡®wolf-kin¡¯ face of the clinic and there to talk with the werewolves and convince them that it was real and tell them about her own experience with transitioning to a wolf-kin. She was a celebrity now, especially among the werewolves, something that she was uncomfortable with. But she seemed excited to be working at the clinic either way, and to be getting used to her fame somewhat with how many people she had to talk to recently. The clinic was out in the countryside with a few apparition platforms set up, so none of the locals could complain about the ¡®dangerous¡¯ werewolves coming near them.

    Alexa and Jack hadn¡¯t done too much. Vacations with their rich parents, and various summer camps. Alexa went to some intense sports camp for football and seemed to have liked it. Jack talked about all the strange products he¡¯d gotten to try out due to his Dad trying to test them out before investing in a particular company. There were some really strange ones that Jack couldn¡¯t even properly explain what they did.

    Apparently that was part of the test Jack¡¯s dad did on the products. If it took him more than a few minutes to figure out what it was for then he didn¡¯t invest in that company if he bought the product to test them.

    The train ride ended and they went to the great feast where all the new first years were sorted into their houses after Alexa had to split up to sit at the Gryffindor table. Ginny didn¡¯t recognize any of the first years coming in.

    After the feast, they went back to the common room and Ginny suppressed a groan as she saw who their prefect was. It was Preston of all people, smugly looking down at everyone with the shiny badge pinned to his chest. The girl Prefect didn¡¯t look too happy with him either. It wasn¡¯t someone that Ginny had ever talked to, so Ginny didn¡¯t have an opinion on the girl yet.

    Preston stepped up to Amvatroz¡¯s statue and waited. The Eagle looked at him with what Ginny could tell was a rather unimpressed look.

    ¡°Preston,¡± he said, ¡°I see you bumbled your way into the Prefect position somehow. Congratulations.¡±

    Preston flushed and looked back at the group, ¡°Just give me the riddle, Eagle. We¡¯re all tired.¡±

    ¡°Very well,¡± Amvatroz said, ¡°Assuming a decay of 1.2% in the magical potency of boomslang skin per year of storage, what is the last possible year that it can be used in a intensified fever cure potion assuming that it is stored directly after it was harvested?¡±

    ¡°What? Potion¡¯s, Eagle? Seriously?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Preston grumbled and thought about it for a few minutes, getting frustrated as he wasn¡¯t able to answer in front of the whole crowd.

    ¡°It¡¯s fifteen years,¡± The girl prefect finally said, ¡°Right, Eagle?¡±

    Amvatroz swiveled to her.

    ¡°Yes. I suppose I will have some mercy since it is your first day back, and allow you to answer for this buffoon¡­¡±

    He faced his head forward again and the wall swung open to reveal the common room. Preston looked humiliated and Ginny had to suppress her smile at seeing the unpleasant boy be humbled. Catching her smile before she could turn away, Preston glared at her for a moment before looking away.

    They all went into their dorms and Ginny caught up on the superficial details on how her roommate¡¯s summers had gone. Ginny didn¡¯t talk about herself too much.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    The first day of classes was going pretty smoothly. She was curious about the Defense against the Dark Arts position or just Defense as some people were calling it since the whole thing was such a mouthful.

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    They all walked inside and saw that there were dozens of banners filled with a wide grin and smiling face covering the walls. Ginny had heard of him when her brothers had led out a loud groan when they saw who their new teacher would be.

    Gilderoy Lockhart was back as the Defense teacher. Ginny had never had him, but her brothers assured her that he was vain and self-centered, always talking about himself and incompetent at his magic to boot.

    ¡°Hello, hello, students!¡± Lockhart said with a wide smile, ¡°After that horrible debacle last year with your last teacher, I was practically begged to come back to fill the vacant teaching position by my adoring fans. Now, my first year teaching I was still working out the kinks in my methods. Practical lessons on my many adventures don¡¯t always translate the best to paper. As I found out first hand much to my chagrin last time.¡±

    He led out a wide grin with shining pearly white teeth as his eyes scanned the classroom.

    ¡°Although,¡± He said in a conspiratorial tone, ¡°I do try to do my best in my books of course.¡±

    ¡°So!¡± He said, ¡°I¡¯ve realized that if we can¡¯t give you real experiences, then we¡¯ll be doing the next best thing! We¡¯ll be acting out each of my adventures as a class. I of course am an experienced adventurer and know how to react in even the direst of situations! But we¡¯ll see how each of you reacts to the clues and mysteries that I was presented with and play it out from there, with an expert providing you notes and advice the whole way on how to do it! So, do we have any volunteers come up to the front?¡±

    The room was quiet and Ginny hesitantly raised a hand. He didn¡¯t seem that bad? Maybe it would be fun?

    ¡°Ah, Ms¡­.?¡±

    ¡°Weasley,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Ginny Weasley.¡±

    ¡°Excellent, excellent. Come on up, then. Ah, let¡¯s go with¡­ you, you, you, and you as well.¡±

    The five of them including Jack went up to the front.

    Lockhart picked up a book from a nearby desk and showed them the cover.

    ¡°Now, have any of you read ¡®The Miasma of Tesma¡¯s bog?¡¯ It¡¯s one of my oldest works, back from the beginning of my career.¡±

    All of them shook their heads.

    ¡°Hm, yes. Only the really dedicated fans would read this one. It¡¯s one of my less popular works, of my wide collection. That¡¯s good, we¡¯re trying to do this without any foreknowledge of what I myself did to answer the conundrums presented to you.¡±

    They all nodded.

    ¡°Now!¡± Lockhart said with a grin and opened the book to the first page, ¡°I will begin reading my wondrous tale. At the points of greatest intrigue and mystery we will pause! Our five volunteers here will set the scene as best as they can and as a class we will determine the best course of action for what to do next! I am an intrepid hero, but even I do not make the optimal choice with only limited time to think or act. Now, let us start at the beginning, chapter one. There I was, resting at the local inn, when I overheard two men nearby fearfully muttering about the strange sickness and behavior from the people over at the nearby village of Tesma¡¯s bog¡­¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°Alright, Harry,¡± Stupid Lockhart said as Eric lay there on the floor of the classroom, ¡°Move your arm a bit there up, a little more¡­ Yes! There the body lay, sitting in the house near the door. Do you see the illustration in the book, class? Now, of course knowing that the famous Lockhart was visiting their humble village they called me in for my help. Now we must solve what could have killed the poor fellow in his own home with no one else noticing until the next day.¡±

    Eric lay there as the dead body as the class discussed what spells they should use and what to do to investigate. Every time he tried to move, Lockhart would remind him that he was supposed to be dead and Eric would be forced to lay there still again.

    ¡°Alright, Harry. Sorry about that, got to have authenticity to really set the scene you know,¡± Lockhart said, ¡°All good thoughts class. Now, one spell that you all seemed to have missed was the one your intrepid hero ended up using first. Let¡¯s read onwards to see what I did to get to the bottom of the mystery¡­¡±

    Eric stood and brushed some dust from his knees and stood with the other four volunteers. Eric wasn¡¯t a volunteer, Lockhart had just picked him even though he hadn¡¯t raised his hand.

    ¡°Alright, Harry¡­¡±

    Eric had thought the man would be gone. Would he really have to go through another year of this crap? If Lockhart called him Harry one more time¡­

    ¡°Ah, Harry¡­¡±

    Eric gritted his teeth. Resist the urge to murder the professor, resist the urge, it wasn¡¯t worth it¡­

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny sat back down at her desk. ¡°Very good job, let¡¯s give a hand to our five volunteers today,¡± Lockhart said, ¡°Remember to start practicing those spells mentioned today for next class. They¡¯ll all be in ¡®Spells of a Hero¡¯ that you¡¯ve picked up with the rest of your books.¡±

    Everyone politely clapped.

    ¡°Alright, class dismissed. Until next time, to be adventurers!¡±

    Ginny picked up her things and left the classroom.

    ¡°That was kind of fun,¡± Ginny said to him as they moved through the hallways, ¡°A little silly, but way different than I thought it would be.¡±

    ¡°He is rather full of himself though, isn¡¯t he?¡± Jack said, ¡°I couldn¡¯t tell if he was just being dramatic or if he really thinks he¡¯s that amazing at everything he does.¡±

    ¡°He was really good at telling the story though,¡± Ginny said, ¡°And it really was interesting trying to think of what to do when he presented the situations in the book. It was much harder to think of what to do than I thought it would be from our tests¡­ And that was with plenty of time to sit around and talk about what we should do.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that was pretty good,¡± Jack agreed, ¡°I¡¯m glad we won¡¯t have to go up there every time though. We mostly were just standing around as props while the others debated what to do.¡±

    ¡°Well, now we know. My brothers made it sound like he was terrible, but I didn¡¯t think he was that bad really.¡±

    ¡°Definitely could be worse.¡±

 Chapter 50: The Goblet of Fire

    Ginny sat at the Halloween feast. Rumors had been flying about the castle about a big announcement for the feast. An old tattered wooden ship with cannons and sails and everything had appeared floating in the lake two days ago, just floating there in the morning with no one knowing where it had come from. Alexa had been irritated, since it was parked right where they usually swam. They had to go run on the other side of the castle, too creeped out by the old ship floating right near them in order to leave their things and the robes they wore over their running clothes there out in the open nearby.

    Yesterday, a giant carriage with pegasi, or horses with wings, landed on the great lawn. Ginny had shuddered when she looked at the creatures. Their wings were puffy and had white feathers with the bird wings. And their heads were horse-like, nothing like the sharp beaks like the thestrals¡­

    Classes had been going well so far. Lockhart¡¯s test had just been a demonstration of all the spells displayed in the parts of the book they¡¯d read up to so far. Nothing overly complicated, but there were a lot of them to remember. Eric was keeping his distance and despite Ginny¡¯s initial worries Preston also steered clear of Ginny and her friends. Oddly enough Luna was avoiding her though. Ginny had thought the girl would want to be friends, but now it seemed that all she wanted to do was make excuses and leave whenever Ginny talked to her.

    Everyone was in their seats waiting as Dumbledore stood at the Professor¡¯s table at the end of the great hall. Strangely enough, there were two more ornate chairs that weren¡¯t usually there. One on his right and another on his left.

    ¡°Students!¡± Dumbledore began and the hall quieted down, ¡°This year our school will be hosting an event. A tournament to promote international cooperation between three schools. Hogwarts, the first major magical school in the world. Beauxbatons in France, and Durmstrang in Bulgaria that formed shortly after seeing the success that Hogwarts had in fostering the magical youth to be their best selves! These three schools grew together, challenging each other and helping each grow so that we could each teach our students so they could make their own ways in the world. So the triwizarding tournament was founded, to elect one champion from each of our schools to compete and to demonstrate the best of what each school had to offer. The best student of their generation. Each of these champions will compete in three great tasks, each harder and more dangerous than the last, administered by our Ministry. While utmost precautions have been taken for these tasks, there is always the risk of danger for the ill prepared. This position is one of fierce danger, yet if one is crowned the grand champion¡­¡±

    Dumbledore paused as two men in blue robes walked from the side carrying a large goblet between them sitting on an ornate stand. Dancing above the goblet a blueish flame crackled. Ginny extended her magic sense to inspect the flame. The goblet and flame were blazing in magic, something she had only ever seen in people like Balthazar or Dumbledore before. Whatever it was, it was powerful.

    ¡°Yet if you win,¡± Dumbledore continued as the Aurors stopped with the Goblet between them just to the side of the headmaster, ¡°Eternal glory. Both for yourself, as well as for your school.¡±

    He smiled slightly and paused before speaking in an amused tone,

    ¡°Not to mention, the one thousand galleon grand prize that our Ministry will award the winner.¡±

    The whole hall perked up at that. Ginny was mildly offended. They thought that Fawkes was only worth eight hundred galleons while winning this school tournament was worth a thousand?! Shows what they knew.

    ¡°Anyone who wishes to enter the tournament will simply put their name on a piece of parchment into the Goblet of Fire behind me. It will be publicly available for that time for anyone who wishes to submit their name. The goblet will pick the person that it believes is most suited to best represent our school. Now, as tempting as it may be for all to enter,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°It has been decided by the ministry for your safety that no one under seventeen will be allowed to participate.¡±

    There was a murmur across the hallway and Ginny saw that Fred and George looked rather upset. They wouldn¡¯t be seventeen for another few months, and appeared to have just missed the age requirement to enter.

    ¡°Make no mistake,¡± Dumbledore said and his firm tone silenced the muttering in the great hall, ¡°Being a Champion is a great responsibility as well as an honor. These three tasks are not something that even a seventh year would find trivial. The requirement is for your own safety, those whose names are picked by the goblet are bound by magic to compete to the end. Once your name is selected to represent our school then there is no backing out for any reason.¡±

    The hall went quiet at that.

    ¡°Now, without further ado, let us invite the members of our sister schools!¡± Dumbledore said and with a flick of his wand the doors to the great hall opened. A massive woman almost as big as Hagrid walked through the doors in a long fur coat and a large fluffy scarf wrapped around her neck. Behind her walked a group of girls in formation wearing fashionable blue robes that looked like they were made of something like silk rather than the heavy drab things that they wore at Hogwarts. They were all wearing funny little hats that sat at an angle on their heads and they almost looked like they were glittering with what Ginny could sense were all sorts of spells cast over them to make them look better. All of the girls were older, probably over seventeen.

    ¡°Beauxbaton and her headmistress Madame Maxine!¡± Dumbledore said as the massive woman walked down the hall and shook Dumbledore¡¯s hand firmly. The Beauxbaton girls lined up in front of their headmistress and turned around to face the rest of the great hall. They started singing a wordless tune, singing as a choir. Ginny frowned as she felt the waves of magic blasting out over half of the girls as they sang. Was this¡­ Veela magic? She looked to her left and saw that Jack was staring at the girl letting out the strongest bursts of magic with obvious desire.

    Ginny felt herself flush and grew annoyed. What did they think they were doing?! He shouldn¡¯t be looking at her like that! He should be looking at Gin¡­ She shoved Jack lightly and he shook his head and seemed to snap out of it.

    Ginny had a sudden thought and suddenly twisted around to stare at Eric. He was sitting at his seat staring at the Beauxbaton girls and licking his lips with his mouth watering. His eyes were laser focused even as he grinned widely so much that the girls around him that weren¡¯t being affected by the Beauxbaton¡¯s magic were giving him disturbed looks and leaning away.

    Hermione just rolled her eyes when she noticed and shoved Eric lightly on the shoulder. And then Ron next to her who was genuinely spelled by the Veela magic. Ron required a second shove by Hermione to snap him out of it. Eric shot Hermione an annoyed look, but then lowered his smile to a normal level and got himself under control. But he still stared at the girls who let out the waves of magic with intensity. Not affected by their magic, but desiring it for his own use¡­

    Ginny shivered.

    The Beauxbaton girls sang a wordless tune for a few seconds more before finishing and all curtsying at once. They spread out to sit at all of the tables for the houses except Slytherin. A fact that seemed to disappoint many of the Slytherin boys. Wherever a Beauxbaton girl wanted to sit, there was a boy there making room for them as quickly as they could no matter how many annoyed looks they got from the surrounding girls in exchange.

    ¡°And finally, Durmstrang and their headmaster Karkaroff!¡± Dumbledore said after the Beauxbaton girls had found their seats.

    A man with a scraggly and wispy black goatee walked in, his face looking sickly and his teeth crooked and yellowed. He was wrapped in heavy fur coats and a roundish fur cap. Behind him stood a group of boys similarly looking like they were prepared to go out into a snowstorm at any moment. All of them carried large staves that they tapped on the ground in unison as they walked down the hall towards Dumbledore. With all the impacts at once the tables rattled slightly. The boys all let out a guttural chant as they moved forward. Karkaroff went up and shook his hand and they shared a few quiet words.

    The Durmstrang boys turned around and struck the ground with their staves one last time and shook the great hall from the impact. ¡°Hah!¡± They let out in what felt like a military salute one last time before moving over to the Slytherin table as a group. Karkaroff took the remaining fancy chair next to Headmaster Dumbledore and sat down.

    ¡°Now with our welcomed guests here, let the Halloween feast begin!¡±

    Dumbledore clapped his hands and trays of food appeared on the tables in a massive burst of magic from the house-elves below. Dumbledore sat down in the headmaster¡¯s chair and soon the great hall was filled with the echoing sound of conversation.

    Ginny turned back to the table and started eating.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Lockhart walked through the hallways. It was late at night and it was his turn to roam the hallways and make sure there weren¡¯t any students out of bed up to no good. He passed the room with the goblet of fire and paused. Now, he had just had the most wonderful idea. Harry Potter had such a good baseline of fame to work with.

    The boy who lived, yet he had nothing yet that really propelled him into his own fame yet. One single event the boy could point to and say, yes I did that. No one else, but Harry Potter alone who did that thing. It was Harry Potter, changing it to Eric just ruined all the built in fame and branding the old name already had attached to it. Lockhart was sure that the boy would see the value of his real name once he heard his great hero Lockhart using it so often, knowing him by reputation.

    Yes, entering the tournament would be essential to Harry¡¯s rising celebrity. And Lockhart would be the teacher of the wizarding world¡¯s newest star. Many other short minded celebrities might become jealous of Harry Potter¡¯s easy success. How he was so famous without clawing his way from the very bottom like Lockhart had¡­

    But he was not short sighted. It was natural to feel those things, but rising waters raised all boats. Harry Potter was far too young to enter himself for the tournament, the age line around where the Goblet of Fire had been placed wouldn¡¯t allow anyone below seventeen to pass. It had other protections as well, but Lockhart could likely deactivate them if need be. He was excellent at piercing stationary wards as well as his mind magic. It was best to ambush the heroes of his stories while they lay sleeping in their homes where they thought they were most safe after all¡­

    Harry Potter entering at such a young age would only increase his fame and the acclaim he would receive from simply participating even if he couldn¡¯t win it all.

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    Lockhart took a piece of parchment from his robes and scribbled a name on it. ¡®Harry Potter¡¯. After taking fifteen or minutes or so to deactivate the defenses in a way he wouldn¡¯t be detected, he stepped over the age line and tossed the scrap of parchment into the blue flame of the goblet of fire.

    The flame flared up for a moment before settling back into place. The goblet had accepted the entry. Lockhart took a step back and replaced all the wards to their active state. He walked back into the hallway to return to his patrol around the castle with an easy grin on his face.

    It wasn¡¯t guaranteed that Harry Potter would be chosen to be the Hogwarts Champion. But Lockhart had given him the chance for eternal fame, one that the boy couldn¡¯t seize for himself. And the goblet would still be choosing him to compete or not, so he would be a true champion either way if he was chosen.

    And as the boy¡¯s teacher during this exciting year, of course he¡¯d be able to claim a tiny proportion of the boy¡¯s success, no matter how small. It was half the reason he¡¯d returned to this position after his less than stellar first attempt at teaching two years ago. To be the Defense teacher during the triwizarding tournament¡­ To be the teacher able to claim the most credit for the skills of the Hogwarts champion¡­ Now that was the kind of accomplishment that he¡¯d be able to brag about and leverage for years! And with his better preparations this time, the students seemed to be more engaged with his reenactments of his books than they had taken the dry tests and lectures he''d foisted on them last time.

    Yes, things were looking up¡­

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny sat at the great feast, watching as Dumbledore stood next to the Goblet of fire. It had been two weeks and the time had come to choose the champions. Ginny had let out a sigh of relief when she¡¯d seen Eric visibly following around the Beauxbaton girls in the hallways.

    It sounded creepy, and it was¡­ But Eric was joined by at least another dozen boys in large clumps, most lovestruck with the girls and not able to separate the effect of the Veela magic and their actual feelings. So with so many people around Eric all the time he probably wouldn¡¯t do anything that horrible. He was probably following the Beauxbaton girls to listen to their magically infused voices so he could study their voices rather than the supposedly romantic reasons that all the other boys were following around the Beauxbaton girls. No wonder Beauxbatons was an all girls school if they had to deal with that kind of thing all the time for everyone who were descended from a Veela.

    Ginny quickly learned that the girls who could use that voice magic were half-Veela and so could use the Veela magic even if it was much less potent than what full blooded Veela could create. Ginny was surprised to discover that the half-Veela girls had no control over their magical voices. Singing, speaking normally, coughing¡­ Whenever a sound left their lips their magic infused it and spread the entrancing magic.

    The girl that had the strongest waves of magic when she spoke was known as Fleur Delacour and was the favorite for who would be chosen as the champion. Eric followed her most of all, and it seems that Fleur¡¯s stronger release of magic caused a stronger effect on the boys¡¯ minds than the others. This caused her to be the ¡®favorite¡¯ amongst the lovestruck boys. Ginny didn¡¯t hear most of it directly. Her roommates kept complaining about it before bed so she learned a surprising amount about which boys were smitten with the Veela girls and what they were up to.

    ¡°Now, we will select our three triwizarding champions! Champions, when your name is called please proceed out the side door to my right where you will receive explanations on the first task and your duties as Champion,¡± Dumbledore said from the front of the room, causing Ginny to refocus on what was happening.

    ¡°First for Durmstrang¡­¡±

    The flame on the Goblet of Fire flashed red and a single piece of singed parchment fluttered out of it, which Dumbledore caught in his hand. He unfurled it and spoke loudly, ¡°Victor Krum!¡±

    Ginny looked to the Slytherin table and saw the boy stand up and bow to the room as everyone clapped and the Durmstrang students cheered loudly and slapped Victor Krum on the back. Ginny had heard that the Quidditch seeker for Bulgaria had been in the Durmstrang group. It was too bad that his game had gotten canceled because of Fate trying to attack Ginny and Eric over the summer. Victor walked forward and to the indicated side door and slipped out.

    ¡°Next, for Beauxbatons¡­¡± The flame flashed red again and another slip of parchment was spat out and floated into Dumbledore¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Fleur Delacour!¡±

    The room shook as most of the boys from all three schools cheered as well as the high pitched cheers of the rest of the Beauxbaton girls Fleur was smiling and went to the front of the room and curtsied to the rest of the room that caused everyone to only cheer louder. She went through the side doors as well.

    ¡°And finally. Last but certainly not least¡­ Our very own Hogwarts!¡±

    The flame on the Goblet of Fire turned red, but for several seconds it didn¡¯t do anything. The flame remained red but no piece of parchment was spat out. Dumbledore frowned as he stared at the goblet. The Goblet of Fire began to rattle and shake in place and its red flame grew bigger and bigger until it was nearly triple the size it had been originally. The goblet shook more and more violently as time passed until it was practically humming as it vibrated in place. Ginny could hear the crackle of flames as Dumbledore drew his wand and appeared nearly about to cast a spell.

    But before Dumbledore could cast anything, two pieces of parchment were spat out of the flame and floated over to him. In an instant the massive red flame died down to its previous blue, calmly burning just above the Goblet of Fire.

    Dumbledore stared between the two pieces of parchment in his hands with a complicated expression as the whole room waited with baited breath to see who it would be. He looked up and took a deep breath.

    ¡°The¡­ two Hogwarts champions¡­ will be Eric Potter¡­ and Ginny Weasley.¡±

    Ginny sat there in shock. Eric of course took it in stride, laughing and receiving the congratulations from his fellow Gryffindors. He made his way up to Dumbledore and went to the side doors where Fleur and Victor had gone. Ginny remained sitting, in a state of shock, her brain not seeming to be able to take any more new input at the moment.

    ¡°Ginny, I think you have to go,¡± Jack whispered nervously as everyone¡¯s eyes focused on Ginny now that Eric was gone.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± She said with a dry throat and mechanically stood from the table and walked forward. She felt something tickle the back of her skull as she felt the eyes of the entire great hall focused on her. She walked past Dumbledore in a daze and went through the side door and down a set of stairs.

    Below Eric was already talking loudly, sounding like he was having a casual conversation between classes more than anything. Why couldn¡¯t it have just been him? He loved being the center of attention, why did Ginny have to get dragged into this too?

    Ginny reached the bottom of the stairs and walked towards Eric, Fleur, and Victor.

    ¡°Yeah, so here¡¯s the second Hogwarts Champion,¡± Eric said, ¡°We¡¯re great friends. Apparently we have a home field advantage since our school is hosting. Double the champions, double the chance to win.¡±

    Fleur and Victor had thunderous expressions and turned to glare at both Ginny and Eric at the same time.

    ¡°Shut up Eric, I didn¡¯t ask for this!¡± Ginny said, ¡°You have fun competing, but I¡¯m droppppppppp¡­¡±

    Ginny felt her mind stutter and creak as it tried to process something impossible.

    ¡°Competing, even if I don¡¯t like it!¡± Ginny continued. Something strange had happened there. Hadn¡¯t she been saying something else? But she had to compete no matter what, even if she didn¡¯t like it.

    ¡°That¡¯s what I thought,¡± Eric said, ¡°No escape for us unfortunately. Well, unfortunate for you Ginny. I¡¯m going to try to have some fun with this. For once, I¡¯ll be famous!¡±

    ¡°Famous? The boy who lived?¡± Fleur said bitingly, ¡°Who could have imagined it? Haven¡¯t you had enough fame already?¡±

    ¡°Nope,¡± Eric said, ¡°I crave more still. Ginny¡¯s my only real competition for this thing, the rest of you chumps are competing for third place.¡±

    ¡°No, Eric. They¡¯re older, I¡¯m sure they know lots of spells we don¡¯t,¡± Ginny argued lamely, knowing that Eric was right. With their training in Teregatt they could probably both beat both Fleur and Victor to a pulp in their sleep. It would be a little harder having to pretend they were using a wand to accomplish everything during the tournament¡­ but not that hard.

    But now she¡¯d have to spend even more time around Eric than she ever wanted to. Ugh.

    Karkaroff¡¯s voice echoed from the top of the stairs. ¡°I protest! I protest!¡±

    ¡°Headmaster,¡± Madame Maxine¡¯s voice said next, ¡°This is an outrage, to have two champions¡­¡±

    There was the sound of three sets of footsteps rushing down the stairs.

    Dumbledore reached the bottom of the stairs with the other two adults following closely behind.

    The Headmaster rushed forward with his eyes fixed on Eric.

    ¡°ERIC, DID YOU PUT YOUR NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIRE?!!!¡± Dumbledore asked calmly.

    ¡°What?¡± Eric said, ¡°No. Of course not. Someone else must have done it for me.¡±

    ¡°Did you ask them to do it? Who put your name in?¡± Dumbledore continued.

    ¡°No, I have no idea,¡± Eric said, ¡°Whoever it was must have thought I would make a good champion. An older student or teacher or something. What are you focusing on me for? Ginny was chosen too.¡±

    Dumbledore turned to her. ¡°Ginny, did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?¡±

    ¡°No, Headmaster. And I didn¡¯t ask anyone else to either. I swear I didn¡¯t.¡±

    Dumbledore nodded at her and turned back to Eric, ¡°You¡¯re absolutely sure you didn¡¯t manipulate the results somehow? If it¡¯s discovered later that you¡¯re involved in any tampering then we¡¯ll be forced to tell the world who did it and disqualify the one who was involved.¡±

    ¡°Hey! What the heck?!¡± Eric said, ¡°What¡¯s with all the suspicion, Headmaster! I¡¯m innocent, I get a whole interrogation while Ginny gets one question and a nod? Just because I¡¯m rolling with the punches in being forced to compete in a tournament with a grand prize of a thousand galleons and eternal fame?¡±

    ¡°You have abilities that young Ms. Weasley does not,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°Ones that you displayed at a young age at your Aunt and Uncle¡¯s home.¡±

    Eric looked confused, ¡°Huh? What do you¡­ oh. Right, yeah those things. Oh, I see. Look, I swear I didn¡¯t ask anyone to put my name in okay? I don¡¯t know anything about it.¡±

    Dumbledore looked skeptical, ¡°Very well, we¡¯ll take you at your word for now,¡± he said, ¡°But we¡¯ll investigate the situation thoroughly to find the true culprit behind this.¡±

    There was a tense pause.

    ¡°We should pick again,¡± Madame Maxine said, ¡°Choose new champions for Hogwarts properly this time.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes,¡± Karkaroff quickly agreed, ¡°Pick two champions from each school if we must. Champions can not drop, but we can add more, yes?¡±

    Dumbledore shook his head, ¡°It doesn¡¯t work that way. The Goblet of Fire is dormant now and will remain so until the tournament is complete. These are our four champions for the tournament no matter what we may think of it.¡±

    ¡°Convenient that this unfortunate mistake gives your school two champions, huh?¡± Karkaroff said.

    ¡°Regardless, let¡¯s inform the champions of their duties and save our discussion for later,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°Mr. Crouch?¡±

    Ginny stiffened as a man who had been behind the three arguing headmasters stepped to the side to fully reveal himself. Ginny relaxed slightly, was it a coincidence? Wait, was he¡­

    ¡°Hey, they didn¡¯t end up arresting you?¡± Eric said, ¡°Your son tried to assassinate the Minister of Magic and they still have you here running a tournament?¡±

    Mr. Crouch glared at Eric. ¡°I was found innocent of any involvement in that affair,¡± He said firmly, ¡°I have not had any contact with him in years, and I¡¯d appreciate you not spreading slanderous rumors like that around.¡±

    ¡°Oooohhh, scary,¡± Eric mocked, ¡°From what I heard the court case is still ongoing. Not proven innocent just yet. Are you going to send another of your hidden children to assassinate me if I piss you off?¡±

    ¡°Enough,¡± Dumbledore said with a warning tone, ¡°The Champions will be silent for now. Mr. Crouch please explain the first task so we may move onwards.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Mr. Crouch said and controlled himself, ¡°It is quite simple. The first task will be on November twenty fourth on what was your school Quidditch field. Bring only yourselves and your wands to the task. The event itself is a secret, so do not seek out information or attempt to determine what it could be. Such things would sully the integrity of yourselves as well as the competition.¡±

    He eyed them and especially Eric for a few seconds.

    ¡°That will be all. Good day.¡±

    He turned around and left the room.

 Chapter 51: The Interview

    ¡°Ginny! Oh dear Ginny!¡±

    Ginny turned around and grimaced as she saw Eric coming towards her in the abandoned hallway.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Did you figure out why it¡¯s the two of us that were chosen?¡± Eric said, ¡°I¡¯m sure you have already.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I have.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll say it anyway. Somebody wanted to put Harry Potter¡¯s name in. Seems the Goblet got confused when it tried to find which one to pick¡­ So, any limits or restrictions you want to put on us? Give those other two chumps a chance?¡±

    Ginny scrunched her brows, confused.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Well, I was thinking,¡± Eric said, ¡°We could pretend to use our wands and use our telekinesis to smash this competition into dust. Use our skills to dismantle whatever enchantments stand in our way¡­ I know even more than you so I¡¯ve got plenty of other tricks I could use to win too. But isn¡¯t that kind of boring? We should restrict ourselves, to make things more even and exciting.¡±

    Ginny hesitated, that made a surprising amount of sense from Eric, ¡°Okay. No wandless magic from either of us?¡±

    Eric shook his head, ¡°No way. Look we¡¯re good at our spells, but not enough to match people as old as Fleur or Krum. I don¡¯t want either of us to get blown out of the water and look like idiots either. No breaking enchantments, that¡¯s a little too overpowered I think¡­¡±

    ¡°One magic tendril,¡± Ginny supplied, ¡°Then it¡¯s basically an overpowered levitation charm, right? But still useful enough to help us catch up.¡±

    Eric thought about it and then grinned, ¡°Sounds good. May the best Harry win,¡± he said as he stuck out his hand. Ginny grimaced but shook it and released it as fast as she could.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m just going to love the interviews.¡± Eric said, ¡°They¡¯ll be loads of fun.¡±

    ¡°Interviews?¡± Ginny said slowly, ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re champions! Of course somebody will be giving us interviews!¡± Eric said, ¡°Do try to keep up, my goal is to be on the front page even before the first task starts!¡±

    ¡°Well, uh, good luck with that,¡± Ginny said.

    ¡°Oh, just you wait,¡± Eric said, ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll have load of fun when it¡¯s your turn to go.¡±

    Ginny shifted on her feet. She hadn¡¯t thought about that part, it was going to be such a pain wasn¡¯t it?

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Jack and Alexa were excited that Ginny was a triwizarding champion, even if they understood that she hadn¡¯t put her name in the Goblet of Fire for it. Ginny was actually the school favorite, getting appreciative nods and congratulations for days after she was chosen.

    Eric wasn¡¯t exactly unpopular, but he wasn¡¯t exactly a favorite to be Champion either. Ginny at least had a largely neutral reputation with most people while Eric was much more of a polarizing person. People didn¡¯t seem to really believe that Ginny had cheated to get in, while they were much more suspicious of Eric.

    Oddly enough most of the Slytherins supported Ginny as the ¡®true champion¡¯ and viewed Eric as a faker who had cheated in order to get more attention. A view that Eric did little to contradict with his bragging and talking up how amazing he¡¯d do in the triwizarding tournament despite only being a fourth year. Also he was Gryffindor while Ginny was a Ravenclaw so Slytherin seemed opposed to him as champion just on principle.

    Fleur and Krum had also directed their anger towards the unrepentant Eric rather than to the Ginny who had apologized after, knowing that it was unfair that Hogwarts got two champions while their schools only got one. That seemed to calm their anger at her down a bit, even if they seemed to faintly dislike her still.

    Ginny was wearing the special champion robes that she¡¯d been given and only had her wand on her. For some reason they were calling all the champions to arrive in the afternoon at the astronomy tower for unknown reasons. Ginny walked in and saw that Eric, Fleur, and Krum had already arrived. Thankfully, Eric was silent and not provoking the other two at the moment. Mr. Crouch stood there looking rather grumpy to be so close to Eric while McGonagall also stood there. Ginny still didn¡¯t like the woman all too much, she¡¯d gotten away with a slap of the wrist for sending Ginny and her friends into the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid. And still hadn¡¯t really apologized to them about what had happened.

    There was also a woman standing there with a pad held in her hands. She was blonde with her hair tied back in a bun and wore a pair of spectacles on the bridge of her nose, and was wearing a bright lime green set of robes with puffy black ruffles at the sleeves and around the neck. She looked over the four champions in interest as Ginny joined the rest.

    ¡°Champions,¡± Mr. Crouch said, ¡°Let me introduce you to Rita Skeeter, a reporter for the Daily prophet. She¡¯s here to give some interviews to you and publish some personality pieces in preparation for the first task next week. Do your best to put your best foot forward, but Rita has assured me that she¡¯ll be working to present you all in the best light possible.¡±

    Rita nodded, ¡°Of course! I¡¯m just so excited to interview all of our champions. I¡¯m sure you all must be fascinating people to be chosen to represent your schools.¡±

    McGonagall took a step forward. ¡°This is not required by any means,¡± He said, ¡°If you feel uncomfortable at any point you are free to leave or refuse to answer any question Ms. Skeeter asks you.¡±

    Skeeter looked annoyed at the interruption, but nodded, ¡°Yes, of course, of course, dears. Just let me know if you¡¯re ever uncomfortable and we can move to a different question. Now, how about we start with¡­ Mr. Krum? Victor? Can I call you Victor?¡±

    Krum walked forward and the two of them vanished into the astronomy classroom. The rest of them waited around, mostly silently as Mr. Crouch and McGonagall stood there as well. After thirty minutes or so, Krum emerged and Fluer went in. Ginny was tempted to let out her magic tendrils to have something to do. But with Eric nearby¡­ best to not give him any ideas if he sensed what she was doing.

    Fleur went, then Eric next¡­ Ginny was left for last, sitting in a nearby chair and meditating silently as she waited for Skeeter to finish with the others.

    ¡°...Ginny, Ginny?¡± She shook her head as she heard her name snapping out of her meditation. She looked up and saw Rita Skeeter standing there next to Eric. The boy looked pleased with how things had gone as she stood up and passed him to enter the astronomy classroom with Skeeter following closely behind.

    There were two chairs across from each other. Skeeter sat in one and gestured to the other silently. Ginny sat down.

    ¡°Now¡­ Ginny Weasley. The second of our young Hogwarts Champions,¡± Skeeter began, ¡°You¡­ Oh, do you mind if I use a quick quill? Just a tool so we can talk like friends while it notes everything down.¡±

    Rita released the pad in her hand and the quill in her hand. The pad floated upwards over Skeeter¡¯s right shoulder and the Quill lifted itself and bobbed as if eager to write. Ginny stared at it with interest. It was an interesting enchantment, linking the pad and the quill to work together. She didn¡¯t think she¡¯d ever seen one like it before.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°I¡¯ve never seen something like that before.¡±

    ¡°Oh, dear¡­¡± Skeeter said with a little titter of laughter, ¡°You are a Ravenclaw, aren¡¯t you? A new innovation we¡¯ve been using recently at the Daily Prophet. Helps us give interviews like this in a more comfortable setting. Much better than me constantly having to be busy scribbling up a storm on my pad rather than focusing on the conversation! So I assume you don¡¯t mind?¡±

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    ¡°No, it seems fine¡­¡± Ginny said, watching as the quill started moving and writing on the pad below as they spoke., ¡°Interesting¡­¡±

    ¡°So, Ravenclaw,¡± Skeeter asked, ¡°Ginny, can I call you Ginny? How do you like your house so far?¡±

    ¡°I like it, Ms. Skeeter. You can call me Ginny. Amvatroz likes me so he never gives me any riddles that are impossible to solve. He does that to some people if he has a big grudge against them.¡±

    ¡°Amvatroz? Who¡¯s that? And please call me Rita, dear. Only want to be fair after all.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s the name of the Ravenclaw eagle blocking the way to our common room. We have to solve his riddles or problems for him to let us inside. Did you go to Hogwarts?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I was a little Slytherin myself back in my day,¡± Rita said, ¡°Living down in the dungeons. I¡¯m wearing my house colors even today. I had no idea that the Eagle had a name. What prompted him to tell you that? I¡¯ve heard he¡¯s quite an ornery fellow usually.¡±

    ¡°Well, he is grumpy most of the time,¡± Ginny admitted, ¡°But so long as you try at his riddles as best as you can he doesn¡¯t mind you. He¡¯s very proud and has a long memory, so he remembers when people get annoyed or are rude to him when he doesn¡¯t let people in when they are having trouble solving a problem. I asked him one time and he remembered one person insulting him four years ago word for word after Amvatroz wouldn¡¯t let them in the common room. He¡¯s made their riddles far harder ever since just to get back at them. Most people have said something rude to him at one point, so it just seems like he doesn¡¯t like most people when it''s just that he holds grudges for a long time.¡±

    Rita blinked and her quill scribbled furiously on the pad.

    ¡°Really?¡± She asked in shock, ¡°That¡¯s why he gives such hard riddles to everyone? Why not just tell people so they know what they did wrong?¡±

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t think their apology is authentic if they know he¡¯ll give them riddles more on their level when they apologize. Oh, but he wouldn¡¯t want everyone to know about this. Can you not report on that last part?¡±

    ¡°Oh, of course, of course. Pad, strike out that last part.¡± The quill scratched out a few lines and floated there again waiting for them to keep talking. It flipped the page up to a new page as it prepared to keep writing.

    ¡°So, you seem to have a certain affinity for birds, don¡¯t you, Ginny?¡± Rita said, ¡°Friends with Eagle, sorry Amvatroz. And the first familiar bond with a Phoenix in modern times. Any tips or tricks for our readers trying to form familiar bonds with their own pets?¡±

    ¡°Pets?¡± Ginny asked, confused, ¡°Fawkes isn¡¯t my pet.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re very fond of him, and I¡¯m sure that a Phoenix would never deign to let themselves be called a pet by anybody, even the one they are bonded to.¡±

    ¡°But he¡¯s not a pet, he¡¯s a person,¡± Ginny said, ¡°A very proud person, but still a person. He can understand what people say around him perfectly even if he can only speak with me because of our bond.¡±

    Rita leaned in with interest, looking down her nose and over her glasses to look at Ginny

    ¡°So, you think treating animals like they¡¯re people could be the key? Many people try to form familiar bonds with their animals, but it¡¯s quite a rare thing to see these days.¡±

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I¡¯m not sure how it happened exactly. But I wasn¡¯t acting, I just thought of him as another person as soon as I saw him. I was confused and didn¡¯t really know what was going on at the time, so maybe that helped me see him that way so quickly¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, that was such a tragedy,¡± Rita said sympathetically, ¡°An incident shrouded in mystery. Do you know exactly what happened? Anything you remember?¡±

    ¡°No, not much,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I still don¡¯t have any memories before waking up in the Chamber. But I¡¯ve made new friends, and things have mostly worked out so far ever since then.¡±

    ¡°New friends, tell me about them. I¡¯ve heard that you go exercising in the mornings? Friends with a Gryffindor?¡±

    Ginny and Rita chatted for a bit about Ginny¡¯s classes and her friends. Rita seemed interested in knowing about Ginny¡¯s exercise in the mornings. Ginny tried to be a little unspecific when she talked about it, not sure if Alexa and Jack would be okay with her telling a reporter about the details of their workouts and things that they did.

    ¡°So, I¡¯m glad you¡¯ve found some new friends after your incident,¡± Rita said, ¡°Something so severe that you completely changed houses on your resorting even! I¡¯m told that there was another incident last year, with you being there when Olivia Roberts was infected by your old teacher?¡±

    Ginny had a brief flashback to Lupin biting down on Olivia¡¯s leg, pulling with all of her might to free the girl, ripping her free from the werewolf¡¯s jaws with a spray of blood. Eric standing over Lupin¡¯s charred corpse¡­

    She shook her head to clear away the images, ¡°I was there. But now she¡¯s working at the wolf-kin clinic, so things are going to work out even after all those horrible things her parents said about her.¡±

    ¡°Yes, it was all very dramatic. It¡¯s been a relief to us all to hear that there¡¯s a cure to the scourge of lycanthropy that¡¯s plagued us all for centuries. A great charity effort by Sirius Black for his big debut onto the public scene. Many people were quite surprised about his announcement, I¡¯ll say. After his long recovery from his time at Azkaban, he¡¯s reentered the public eye in a big way.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, being a werewolf seems pretty horrible,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I¡¯m sure the wolf-kin will like changing away from being werewolves once the clinic starts being able to cure more people.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. You seem like a very compassionate girl, Ginny. Do you have any idea why the goblet would choose you and Eric Potter both to be triwizarding champions?¡±

    Ginny shook her head, but didn¡¯t say anything else.

    ¡°What¡¯s your feelings on your fellow champions? On Eric Potter?¡±

    ¡°N¡­ Nothing much,¡± Ginny stammered as she scrambled to think of a response, ¡°He¡¯s in Gryffindor so we don¡¯t talk all too often. And he¡¯s two years ahead of me in school so our classes don¡¯t overlap at all either.¡±

    ¡°What have you heard about him from other people then?¡±

    ¡°Not much. Slytherin doesn¡¯t like him because he¡¯s a Gryffindor. But other than that¡­ yeah, nothing much.¡±

    ¡°No need to be so nervous, dear!¡± Rita said, ¡°No one¡¯s getting in trouble. Looking forward to the first task? Feeling prepared?¡±

    ¡°I think so, I¡¯ve been practicing my spells. I¡¯m really good at levitation charms.¡±

    ¡°Oh, are you? Would you like to demonstrate for me?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    Ginny drew her wand and after standing pointed her wand at the chair she had been sitting in.

    ¡°Wingardium Leviosa!¡±

    Instead of actually casting the spell, Ginny created a magic tendril that she used to lift the chair up. She started rotating it and moved it around for a bit before putting it back on the ground as Rita watched and the pad as the quill scribbled furiously.

    Rita talked a bit more, and then wrapped them things up.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s been a pleasure talking with you, Ginny,¡± Rita said, ¡°Good luck on the first task.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Rita. I was worried about the interview,¡± Ginny admitted, ¡°But it wasn¡¯t that bad at all.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s always what you hope for with these things. Make sure to read the paper, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be in it in a few days.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny walked in the hallways and froze when she saw Eric stomping towards her looking annoyed. She reflexively spun out seventeen magic tendrils and prepared to fight him off.

    Eric snorted and waved his hand, a flicker of a smile flashing across his face before his expression grew stormy again. He raised a rolled up newspaper and jabbed his finger to the headline.

    ¡°You¡¯ve seen this? This is total bull!¡± Eric said, ¡°Who does this Rita Skeeter think she is?¡±

    Ginny cautiously took the paper and blinked as she saw her own face on the front page, Eric''s face half the size of her own image. Fleur and Krum were in little boxes in the top corner no bigger than a postage stamp.

    The headline was in heavy print.

    ¡®Triwizarding Tournament¡¯s Two Hogwarts Champions, As Different As Could Be.¡¯

    ¡°Ginny Weasley was a thoughtful and pleasant girl who has been through much hardship in her short life, but still maintains a positive attitude and has made new friends despite this¡­¡± Ginny read.

    She read the whole article and half way through the article Rita switched to talking about Eric, ¡°Arrogant and abrasive¡­ Sense of entitlement as if he assumes that even champions many years his senior will be defeated without even the slightest efforts on his part. Remarkably self-centered¡­¡±

    She read to the very end, "...And Fleur Delaceur from Beauxbatons and Victor Krum from Durmstrang are the two older champions that our two Hogwarts champions must compete against."

    Ginny looked back up and handed Eric the paper back, ¡°Sorry,¡± She said, ¡°I guess Skeeter really doesn¡¯t like you. Why are you mad at me again?¡±

    ¡°What did you say to her? Why¡¯d she spend the whole article praising you while dumping all over me! You don¡¯t even care about fame!¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t! You don¡¯t think Rita couldn¡¯t tell that?! Don¡¯t blame me because you screwed up your own interview, Eric! I didn¡¯t say hardly anything about you. All I said was that Slytherin didn¡¯t like you because you were a Gryffindor, that was it.¡±

    Eric paused and cracked a smile for a moment, ¡°Hah. That¡¯s kind of hilarious actually. Haven¡¯t thought about that one too much. They¡¯ve got more reason to hate me than anyone, they just don¡¯t know it. What with the Mad Potioner framing them for everything at all. That¡¯s all you said, you swear?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I swear. That¡¯s all I told her. There¡¯s¡­ I¡¯m sure there will be more interviews in the future?¡±

    ¡°Hmph. I guess. Don¡¯t talk badly about me in your interviews or our deal is off and I¡¯ll start having some real fun again. I¡¯ll just have to crush this first task to show them that I deserve to be arrogant. Even with the restrictions, I¡¯ll get first place.¡±

    Eric turned around and walked off, still looking annoyed but pacified compared to his amped up state from before. Ginny let out a sigh of relief. She turned her head as a magical green beetle on the wall shifted and started buzzing and flew off out the window. Odd, Ginny had thought that Hogwarts anti-pest wards would keep creatures like that out of the castle grounds.

    People kept saying that the triwizarding tasks were supposed to be dangerous. But Ginny worried about upsetting Eric more than any task the Ministry could throw at her. Who knew what would set him off if he thought that Ginny¡¯s fame was starting to outshine his¡­

 Chapter 52: The First Task

    It was time for the first task, and Ginny could hear the roaring of the crowd beyond the Champions tent where the four of them were waiting. Eric was bragging and talking about how he¡¯d crush whatever the challenge was while Fleur and Krum sat there annoyed, having given up trying to stop him a few minutes ago. Ginny was sitting on the other side of the tent.

    She jumped as she felt something tap her shoulder. She turned and saw Jack and Alexa ducking under the open flap of the wall of the tent behind her. Before Ginny knew what was happening Alexa had given her a sudden hug. Ginny hugged her back and then they released and stood back.

    ¡°Good luck, Ginny. We¡¯ll be cheering you on!¡± Alexa said, ¡°We got little flags for you!¡±

    She showed the sticks with blue flags on their ends. It had Ginny¡¯s face on it smiling, the picture that had been in the paper.

    Jack hesitated, but then gave Ginny a hug too. Ginny returned it awkwardly and felt herself flushing slightly before he quickly released her and stepped back.

    ¡°U¡­ Uhm, Thanks guys,¡± Ginny stammered before shaking off the awkwardness of the hug with Jack, ¡°I¡¯ll do my best.¡±

    The front tent flap began to open and Ginny quickly whispered, ¡°Go, go. That¡¯s them, you¡¯re not supposed to be here.¡±

    ¡°You got this, Ginny,¡± Jack whispered, ¡°See you soon.¡±

    ¡°Bye, guys.¡±

    The tent flap closed and her friends slipped back out. Ginny turned around and saw Mr. Crouch walking in with a little cloth bag in his hands, the headmasters following close behind. Eric was blissfully silent as they all gathered around him.

    ¡°The first task,¡± Mr. Crouch said, ¡°Is to steal a golden egg from the nest of a nesting dragon that is in the arena. You¡¯ll be scored for the success in retrieving the egg and efficiency in your methods. The dragon is nesting on some real, very valuable dragon eggs, so extra care must be taken to make sure they are kept safe during the task. Once you have successfully retrieved the egg, the Ministry will subdue the beast to prevent it from chasing you down. You only have your wands on you?¡±

    Everyone nodded, ¡°Then let¡¯s begin. In this bag are the four breeds of dragon that you will face, chosen randomly.¡±

    Crouch held out the bag before withdrawing it as his eyes landed on Ginny.

    ¡°Ah, Ms. Weasley. A decision has also been made. There will be no use of your familiar in these events. It would undermine the display of your own efforts, I¡¯m sure you understand.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure familiars are considered almost a part of me legally,¡± Ginny said, ¡°So probably I should be able to. But I don¡¯t mind, I get that he¡¯s too powerful if it¡¯s supposed to be a test of what I can do.¡±

    ¡°Yes, well¡­ I¡¯m glad you see why it must be banned from participating,¡± Mr. Crouch said stiffly before holding out the bag to Krum. He pulled out a little figurine of a dragon.

    ¡°The Chinese Fireball,¡± Mr. Crouch said.

    Fleur picked next, ¡°The Welsh green,¡±

    Next Eric, ¡°The Common Swedish Short-Snout,¡±

    Now it was Ginny¡¯s turn. She reached inside and pulled out the dragon figurine. ¡°The Hungarian Horntail¡­¡± Mr. Crouch breathed as he stared at her with a strange sort of pity, ¡°The most ill-tempered and vicious of the lot.¡±

    Ginny¡¯s heart dropped. She got the worst one? Eric looked jealous as he stared at her spiky and angry looking figurine. While his was also intimidating, side by side Ginny¡¯s definitely looked scarier.

    ¡°Very well, Champions,¡± Mr. Crouch said, ¡°We¡¯ll call you out in the order you were picked. In order to prevent the sharing of information, all champions who have completed their task will proceed to a different tent and will not return here. Good luck on the task.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    The other champions all went ahead of Ginny because she had chosen her dragon last. The dragons roared and she heard the sound of searing flames as well as the cheering crowd. Eric had just finished, the crowd cheering wildly as he finished even if he had taken at least three times longer than any of the others.

    Then after a few more minutes it was her turn. She spun out her single magic tendril and took out her wand as she was led by a ministry official to a reinforced door. Ginny¡¯s hair was in a ponytail like she did for her runs. She didn¡¯t want her long hair to get in the way when she was running around. The door opened and Ginny walked through and saw the roaring crowd in the stands around her. She looked around for a few seconds, but didn¡¯t see Jack or Alexa yet. The crowd was all cheering wildly as she awkwardly waved at them before refocusing on the massive dragon sitting on the other side of the arena, giving her an evil eye even with its lizard face.

    The whole arena was rocky and had large outcroppings breaking up the large space.

    It was crouched over a nest with five grayish mottled eggs and a single golden one. Ginny could sense the enchantment around the golden one, likely meant to disguise it so the dragon wouldn¡¯t detect that it was different from her normal ones.

    The dragon herself was covered in bronze and black scales. She had large spikes running down its spine and down to its tail, which was tipped with a large spear-like spike of bone. The Hungarian Horntail reared up slightly and flapped her wings so her front two feet slightly left the ground, flaring her wings out to intimidate Ginny. The dragon let out a booming roar before landing back on its four feet while crouched over the nest and eyeing Ginny with intense suspicion.

    ¡°Our second Hogwarts Triwizarding Champion!¡± Dumbledore loudly announced, ¡°Ginny Weasley!¡±

    The crowd went wild as Ginny carefully edged her magic tendril towards the nest while keeping her focus on the dragon.

    ¡°Let us turn things over to our commentators!¡± Dumbledore said.

    ¡°Alright, Ludo Bagman here as you all already know,¡± a cheerful voice suddenly said as Dumbledore took a seat, ¡°Weasley and the dragon appear to be staring each other down at the moment. We¡¯ll see what Weasley has planned, because if she wants to complete the task then she¡¯ll have to get that golden egg right from under the irate Hungarian Horntail itself!¡±

    Ginny¡¯s magic tendril was almost at the nest by now as she and the dragon kept staring at each other. Suddenly the dragon¡¯s eyes narrowed and it snapped its jaws right where Ginny¡¯s magic tendril was. In an instant, Ginny¡¯s tendril unraveled as it touched the dragon¡¯s jaws. The dragon stared at Ginny with eyes narrowed in anger and an orange glow began to light up the back of its throat.

    Ginny¡¯s eyes widened and she dived behind a nearby rock as the dragon unleashed a massive blast of sweltering flame from her throat right where Ginny had been standing.

    Ginny felt the flames divert to splash around the rock she was hiding behind, heating the air up to a sweltering level around her. After a few seconds the wave of flames stopped and Ginny could hear the roar of the cheering crowd again.

    ¡°And the Horntail goes for the first blow and our champion dodges expertly! What will Weasley do next? Does she have a plan to deal with the dragon? A fearsome beast up close, and spitting flame from afar! We¡¯ve already seen three champions succeed, will our youngest of the bunch make it too?¡±

    Ginny grit her teeth. Not. Helping¡­

    She kept crouching behind the rock and tried to think, feeling with her magic sense that the dragon remained facing towards her while not moving away from the nest.

    Ginny poked her head around the side of the rock and quickly pulled back as the dragon let out another wave of flames from its mouth just where Ginny had been.

    Oh, why was she even here? She should just giiiiiiiiiiiiivvvvve uuuuuppppp¡­

    Ginny blinked in confusion as she realized she was staring into space. What had she been thinking about?

    Oh, right. She had to complete the task to the best of her abilities, no matter what.

    What could she do, what to do¡­ She was pretty good at transfigurations? Ginny remembered McGonagall fighting off crowds of students with flocks of transfigured birds during Ginny¡¯s first disastrous Halloween feast with Eric drugging everyone.

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    Could she do something like that?

    She looked around and picked a rock just in front of her and focused on it.

    ¡°Oh, Weasley appears to be casting something? What will it be? Is this her great comeback?¡±

    She tried to ignore the annoying commentator as she cast her transfiguration spell. You had to focus intently when shifting the rock to a different form to ensure the details were just right. After a few seconds of focus, Ginny managed to turn the rock into a little songbird that was sitting still and waiting for her mental commands.

    Ginny ordered it to go to the dragon and fly in circles around it.

    The little bird flew upwards and as soon as it left the rock was immediately incinerated by a blast of flame.

    But the dragon couldn¡¯t go forever right? Ginny just had to tire it out, it had to be wasting more magic with its flames than her making these little birds.

    Ginny spent a few minutes using her magic tendril disguised as levitation charms to gather all the nearby rocks into a big pile in front of her. The dragon blasted the first rock Ginny moved with flames, but then stopped after it must have seen that they were just rocks.

    The dragon roared in frustration, but didn¡¯t move from its nest. It shifted to the sides a bit to try for a better angle, Ginny could feel in her magic sense. But the rock Ginny had hid behind was large so Ginny was safe for now.

    ¡°An interesting strategy, It seems that Weasley has something cooking in the kitchen! Having gathered all the nearby rocks for transfigurations, what will she do now? Even with all the distractions in the world she¡¯ll still have to retrieve the golden egg from right under the beast somehow!¡±

    Ginny got to work transfiguring all the loose stones she had gathered into little songbirds. She felt a little bad as she sent a continuous line of them to be roasted with bursts of dragon flame. But most importantly, after Ginny sent the fifth bird out it was not roasted immediately. Instead the horntail waited until the bird was almost halfway to its nest before destroying the transfigured bird in a single blast of flame.

    Ginny started taking a little more time on the birds and ordered them to try to dive down when they saw the dragon¡¯s mouth glowing orange. The more complicated the orders that you gave the little constructs when you made them, the harder they were to make, but Ginny thought this might be worth it.

    She pumped her fist as the next bird she sent out dropped down and dodged the dragon¡¯s blast of flame. A second later the horntail blasted the bird again and it was destroyed. But Ginny was getting there!

    ¡°What is this? Our champion appears to be baiting the dragon with her transfigured birds? We¡¯ll see what the dragon does in response!¡±

    Ginny kept going, transfiguring more little birds and sending them out to be destroyed. But the blasts of flame were growing more infrequent, some of the birds tweeting as they circled around the irate Horntail that was swiping at them with its claws to destroy them with a single touch.

    Ginny kept going, until there were dozens of the little birds circling around the roaring and irate dragon that was going wild and thrashing to destroy the little birds that circled around it. The dragon appeared to have forgotten about Ginny in its annoyance at all the little birds circling around it. Ginny was panting slightly and her forehead was slick with a light sheen of sweat.

    Ginny took her largest remaining rock and transfigured it into a large eagle. It took five seconds to create it. Ginny turned to the next largest rock and did the same.

    ¡°Ah, it seems that Weasley¡¯s finished her preparations finally! The dragon¡¯s good and distracted and now she¡¯ll make an attempt at the golden egg!¡±

    Ginny finished her fifth eagle transfiguration and decided that it was good enough. These five were much more complex than the little songbirds.

    Ginny stepped out from behind the half melted rock she¡¯d been standing behind this whole time. She mentally ordered the five eagles to take flight and do what she¡¯d programmed them to do.

    The Horntail took a full second to register Ginny as it kept snapping its jaws and swiping its claws through the tittering songbirds around it. It stared at Ginny and its jaws began to glow a deep orange. Ginny turned and started sprinting to the side at full speed, making use of all the physical training she¡¯d been doing for over a year.

    The blast of flames seared at her back and swept after her even as she sprinted to the next rock to hide behind. Ginny just barely made it, the flames searing the air behind her as she dived behind the rock.

    The flames suddenly stopped and the roars of the dragon reached a higher pitch as Ginny crouched behind the rock outcropping.

    The dragon had been too focused on Ginny and distracted by the loud songbirds to notice the eagles diving down underneath the dragon¡¯s belly into the nest.

    Ginny used her magic sense to watch as her eagles began to fly away from the dragon, the golden egg held in the talons of one of them. The Horntail had managed to swipe through and dissolve three of the five. The dragon destroyed them after cutting off the flames and desperately swiping with its claws and biting to stop the eagles before they could escape with their prize.

    The Horntail roared again, but this time in defeat and resignation rather than anger. Another blast of flame shot from its mouth and destroyed one of the remaining eagles while avoiding the last one with the large golden egg clutched in its talons. The transfigured eagle dived down and with a few powerful flaps of its wings dropped the golden egg right in front of Ginny. She reached out and picked up the egg. A few seconds later the eagle dissipated into mist and reverted back into a rock as it ran out of magical energy.

    ¡°And she gets it! Weasley has retrieved the egg!¡± The commentator said, ¡°Let¡¯s stand by as our Auror team deals with the beast.¡±

    There were a few seconds and the loud sound of spells landing on the dragon behind Ginny and then the creature went silent.

    ¡°And there it is!¡± The commentator said, ¡°Let¡¯s see what our judges have to think about young Ms. Weasley¡¯s performance on the task!¡±

    Sitting in a special spot in the stands was a viewing box where all three headmasters and Mr. Crouch sat as well as the commentator Ludo Bagman.

    Madame Maxine raised her wand first and a glowing eight appeared just over her wand. The crowd cheered for a bit. Dumbledore was next. Nine. Ginny shifted while holding the golden egg with both hands, having put her wand back into the pockets of her clothes. The unconscious horntail was already being loaded onto a large sled and its real eggs were being lifted and packed away by a group of people in blue Ministry robes on the other side of the arena.

    Was she doing that well? It had taken a long time for her to set everything up, she must have been the longest to complete the task by far even compared to Eric.

    Karkaroff was next. He raised his wand and a number appeared. Six. The crowd muttered and a few people glared at him, but he scoffed and kept his wand raised high.

    Mr. Crouch was last and raised his wand and let out his score. A perfect ten. The crowd went wild cheering and Ginny let out a smile as she finally spotted her friends waving their flags so hard that she was sure that the little things were about to break. Alexa was hopping up and down, carrying Jack up and down with her as they both cheered for Ginny.

    ¡°And that concludes the first task for the triwizarding tournament!¡± Ludo Bagman shouted, ¡°And a resounding first place for the young Ginny Weasley from Hogwarts with thirty three points!¡±

    Ginny froze. First¡­ first place? Oh no, Eric would be livid¡­

    ¡°In second place, we have Fleur Delaceur from Beauxbatons with twenty nine points, using a powerful sleeping charm to put the beast to sleep and retrieve the egg.¡±

    ¡°In third place¡­ We originally had Victor Krum from Durmstrang with thirty points,¡± Bagman said, ¡°With the use of the conjunctivitis curse to the dragon¡¯s eyes to send it stumbling about and allowing him to sweep in and steal the egg right from under its jaws! Unfortunately the dragon crushed several of its real eggs, so his score has been revised downwards to twenty eight points with a penalty. And that means now in third place is¡­ Eric Potter from Hogwarts with twenty nine points! He not only retrieved the golden egg but defeated the dragon itself in combat by suffocating it into unconsciousness with a series of rocks tossed into its throat with some rather precise levitation charms. Unfortunately as impressive a show it was, the task was only to retrieve the golden egg unharmed, not to defeat the dragon itself. That¡¯s something we''ve seen reflected in his lower score. And of course in fourth place is Victor Krum with twenty eight points.¡±

    Ginny held the golden egg as she took that in. Of course Eric would do something like that¡­ But third. Eric had gotten third. She could only hope that he¡¯d take it better than she thought he would¡­

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°Hah! I do not even mind, after all your talk you have gotten third place!¡± Fleur sneered as Ginny did her best to blend into the walls of the tent and not be noticed.

    ¡°Hey, I still beat Krum! And the dragon!¡± Eric protested, ¡°Like you could ever do that. You just put it to sleep, no show at all.¡±

    Krum looked unhappy, but also seemed to mostly be keeping away from the argument between Eric and Fleur as Fleur kept taunting Eric with how poorly he¡¯d scored after all his big talk earlier.

    ¡°And?¡± Fleur said primly, ¡°The task was to retrieve the egg. You were not even defeated by me alone, but a second year girl as well! She at least knows well enough to be humble about her victory!¡±

    Ginny shrunk back more as everyone¡¯s eyes turned to her, Eric¡¯s eyes boring into her.

    ¡°Nope! Not proud at all, just a coincidence!¡± Ginny squeaked as she saw Eric¡¯s magic tendrils start to unfurl from his back. The unfurling cloud of tendril¡¯s paused and Eric seemed to notice them and let them dissolve. He stared at Ginny for a moment before giving her a nod and turning back to Fleur.

    ¡°See? Even she admits it. What I did was way more impressive than what the rest of you did either way. Crouch only gave me a six because he has it out for me.¡±

    ¡°Says the one in third place.¡±

    ¡°You¡­¡±

    The flap to the tent opened up and Mr. Crouch walked in. Eric cut off what he was going to say.

    ¡°Champions!¡± Mr. Crouch said, ¡°You all have your eggs, yes?¡±

    They all nodded, Eric being a little more reluctant than the rest of them.

    ¡°Each of them contains the clue as to what your next task will be,¡± Mr. Crouch said, ¡°You are to solve it yourself without the help of anyone else, including your fellow students or champions. The time of the next task will be announced after Christmas break. Best of luck. And congratulations to all of you for such excellent performances on the first task.¡±

    Mr. Crouch left the room, and Ginny noticed a green beetle flew from the edge of the tent and landed on his back just before he left.

    Ginny noticed that Eric was staring at the beetle with a frown on his face.

    Ginny internally shrugged. Somebody really had to update Hogwarts anti-pest wards if that same type of beetle kept sneaking through. It was one of the advantages of living here at the castle, not having to deal with the creepy crawlies as much as she had to sometimes at home at the Burrow with their lower quality wards.

 Chapter 53: The Yule Ball

    Ginny was in the Ravenclaw common room and everyone was cheering her and celebrating her winning the first task. Preston and his groupies were sitting in the corner, looking sour at the whole event. But everyone else was having fun.

    Ginny was a little lightheaded from all the attention on her. She was used to people having curious interest in her. Wondering about her memories or what had happened with Lupin, the thestrals¡­ But after a few weeks people had calmed down a bit and just ignored her again, her being more of a witness to things that had happened rather than a person of interest herself.

    But now people were interested in her as a celebrity. Asking what kinds of things she liked, talking up how well she had done on the first talk, bad mouthing Eric and the other champions¡­ It was so different to what she was used to.

    ¡°Open it!¡± Jack suddenly said, ¡°Open the egg, Ginny!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, open it!¡±

    ¡°Open it!¡±

    The crowd joined in and suddenly Ginny was in the center of the group with everyone in a circle staring at her. Ginny raised the golden egg and clicked the button on the top. The metallic egg clicked and the enchantment inside shifted. The outside of the egg folded outwards like the petals of a golden flower with the base remained in Ginny¡¯s hands. There was a tube filled with orange fluid bubbling along the center of the egg.

    ¡°SSSSSHHHHHHHHHRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!¡± The egg wailed in a piercing tone causing everyone to swear and hold their ears.

    ¡°Turn it off, turn it off!¡±

    Ginny fumbled with the egg and pressed the button multiple times. The enchantment and metal flaps kept folding in and out as she pressed the button over and over to try to get it to stop.

    Jack ran forward. ¡°Get off, Stop!¡± He shouted through the demented wails coming from the egg. Ginny stopped as Jack grabbed her hands. He pressed the button one more time and the egg flaps closed. Jack let out a sigh of relief and everyone took their hands off of their ears. Ginny started to feel herself flush and her neck to grow hot. Jack looked at her in confusion.

    ¡°What?¡±

    He looked down and saw that he was still holding her hands.

    ¡°Oh! Sorry,¡± Jack said suddenly becoming flustered, ¡±Uhm, sorry didn¡¯t mean to grab you. That¡¯s uhm. Er, the egg? I should give you the egg.¡±

    He stooped over and picked it up and handed it over to Ginny who was blinking.

    ¡°Uhm, uh. Thanks, Jack. That¡¯s¡­¡±

    ¡°Alright everyone!¡± Preston suddenly said standing up, ¡°Party¡¯s over! Everyone back to bed. It¡¯s already past curfew.¡±

    There were some rebellious mutterings, even from the girl Ravenclaw Prefect, but after a few seconds people started going to bed.

    ¡°Uhm, night Jack,¡± Ginny said while adjusting her grip on the egg.

    ¡°Night, Ginny. See you tomorrow.¡±

    Ginny went to bed, carefully placing the golden egg onto the floor next to her. As she lay there in bed, she felt her hands tingling a little. Jack probably didn¡¯t even mean anything by it anyway¡­

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    It was the first week of December, but luckily Hogwarts had some weather controlling wards so the chill never grew too terrible. It was spotty, with whole weeks sometimes that it would fail before it would be repaired again. But when it worked, it worked to keep it from snowing and the air on the grounds chilled but not freezing.

    Luckily all three of them had worked hard on learning some heating spells that they could cast on themselves. So while the water of the great lake was still ice cold, it only felt a little chilled as they swam, the charms keeping them comfortable.

    Ginny had been trying to figure out the clue of the Golden egg for weeks now and felt no closer than before. She had even spent an hour or two just sitting in an abandoned classroom and listening to the egg scream. But it didn¡¯t mean anything to her, it just gave her a headache.

    Nothing was hidden over its whole surface or even the inside of it. She had scoured the whole thing with her eyes and magic sense and could tell that there weren¡¯t any more hidden layers or compartments. It really was just the orange tube of liquid that made the screaming sounds and the enchantment that opened and closed the golden egg. There was also a sound canceling enchantment along the interior of the golden egg¡¯s flaps. Yeah, apparently that little tube of fluid was shrieking and squealing constantly and it was only the golden egg¡¯s enchantments that was stopping them from hearing it.

    ¡°Maybe you have to play with it? To calm down the angry orange fluid?¡± Alexa had supplied four days ago. Jack and Ginny had been skeptical, but after a few minutes of defending herself from their teasing, Alexa slowly turned them around to the idea. It wasn¡¯t like Ginny had any other big ideas on how to solve the puzzle.

    So, over the last three days Ginny had been bringing the golden egg around with her and cradling it like it was a baby. It was a little bulky for class, but she still went through with it. She felt stupid, but until she could come up with a better idea of what to do she decided that she should at least give it a try.

    It was the morning and they had all taken off their Hogwarts robes and were in their bathing suits.

    ¡°You should try to swim with it,¡± Alexa joked, ¡°Maybe it¡¯ll like the water.¡±

    Ginny stared down at the thing before hefting it and starting to walk into the lake. She yelped as soon as she took a single step into the water and dropped the golden egg with a splash.

    ¡°Agh! Cold, cold!¡±

    She had forgotten to cast the heating charm on herself. Ginny ran back to her clothes and picked up her wand and cast the charm on herself as her feet felt ice cold from touching the water for even a couple of seconds.

    ¡°Oh no! The poor egg is drowning!¡± Jack said, ¡°We¡¯ve got to save it or you¡¯ll never get its approval!¡±

    Jack and Alexa quickly cast their heating charms and then ran with Ginny towards the edge of the water where the egg sat submerged and glittering gold.

    Ginny scooped it up and experimentally dipped her feet in the water again. Slightly chilly, but not ice cold anymore. Ah, this was the best charm she¡¯d ever learned¡­

    The three of them went in the water, Ginny still carrying the egg. She suddenly felt movement in the water, all of them submerged up to their belly buttons now.

    Ginny turned to see Alexa holding the golden egg, having just swiped it out from between Ginny¡¯s arms.

    ¡°Oh nooooo,¡± Alexa said in a high pitched voice as she wiggled the golden egg from side to side on top of the water., ¡°Save me, Ginny! I¡¯m Droooowwwwwwnnnnnninnnnnnnnnngggg.¡±

    Alexa waved the egg from side to side and slowly submerged it as she spoke.

    When it was fully submerged Alexa pressed the button on the top of it.

    ¡°Ginny, I¡¯m drowning! Aaaaahhhhhh, Glub glub glub,¡± Alexa said as she waved the egg around underwater and its golden petals unfolded as she pressed the button on its top.

    ¡°I¡¯ll save you, Ms. Egg!¡± Ginny said as she waded through the water towards Alexa who was giggling and walking away through the water to escape, ¡°You¡¯ll be out of the foul clutches of the evil thief Alexa!¡±

    Alexa stopped her escape after a few seconds and suddenly looked down confused. ¡°Hey, shouldn¡¯t this guy be screaming his little lungs out? I thought it would be more dramatic than this.¡±

    Ginny caught up to Alexa and stood next to her in the water. A few seconds later Jack joined them and they all stared at the golden egg with the orange cylinder of fluid exposed. There was a faint humming that sounded from the egg, but Alexa was right. Something was strange.

    Alexa raised the golden egg out of the water and as soon as the smallest bit of the orange tube was exposed to the air it started screaming and wailing again. Alexa quickly lowered it back into the water again.

    ¡°Huh. He likes water I guess,¡± she said.

    ¡°Let¡¯s dive in, maybe it sounds different now that it¡¯s covered in water,¡± Jack said.

    Without waiting, Alexa dived forward to fully splash into the water with Ginny and Jack following after her a few seconds later.

    As soon as Ginny¡¯s head dipped underneath the water, she heard a beautiful voice of a woman singing. Her voice reverberated through the water as Ginny listened, entranced to the voice, holding her breath. She didn¡¯t even fully listen to the words until the woman sang a second time in her melodious voice.

    ¡°Come seek us where our voices sound,

    We cannot sing above the ground,

    And while you''re searching, ponder this:

    We''ve taken what you''ll sorely miss,

    An hour long you''ll have to look,

    And to recover what we took,

    But past an hour ¡ª the prospect''s black,

    Too late, it''s gone, it won''t come back.¡±

    Ginny¡¯s lungs finally started to burn and she stood up, the water now up to her chest where they stood. A second later Alexa and Jack emerged from the lake in a spray of water too.

    ¡°Wow, who do you think that was? Do you think we¡¯ll be able to meet whoever sang that?¡± Alexa asked excitedly.

    ¡°I guess the egg really does like the water,¡± Jack said, ¡°Can we listen to her again? I¡¯ve never heard anyone sing like that, not even the big time people on the radio.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s listen again!¡± Ginny said, ¡°Ms. Egg can survive under there for a little longer.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, Ms. Egg!¡± Alexa said excitedly, ¡°Just a few more minutes, she can hold her breath for a little longer.¡±

    They all dived back under the water again and listened to the beautiful voice again, not even listening to the riddle that she kept singing over and over again.

    They ran out of breath again and surfaced.

    ¡°Here, let me try something,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Just let me get my wand first. Just stay right here.¡±

    She waded back to shore as she was Alexa and Jack duck under the water again. She emerged from the water dripping and carefully reached out to pluck her wand from her robes so she wouldn¡¯t get them wet. She remembered that bubble head charm that Olivia had taught her over the summer. She had fun with it in the beginning of the year to impress Jack and Alexa, but hadn¡¯t used it much since the novelty of it past the first week or two wore off.

    Ginny cast the charm on herself and sensed the spherical spell snap into place over her head. It looked exactly like a bubble. Everything was warped and slightly wobbly in her vision as she moved back to the lake. She aimed carefully with her wand when Alexa and Jack emerged from the water again. With a quick cast she shot a bolt of the charm towards Alexa and nailed her between the shoulders before hitting Jack next.

    Both of them stiffened as the bubble head charm washed over them before relaxing when it formed the bubbles of air around their heads. Ginny tossed her wand back on top of her robes and returned to the water.

    The three of them ducked under the water again and each of them had little bubbles of air around their heads that were kept nice and fresh by the bubble head charm.

    Ginny listened, but all she heard was the same buzzing hum as before as if listening to it from the surface. Oh well¡­

    They all went to the surface again.

    ¡°Man, that stinks,¡± Alexa said in disappointment, ¡°I guess we¡¯ve listened to it enough for now. I¡¯ll just¡­¡±

    Alexa raised the golden egg and it slightly breached the surface and started wailing again.

    ¡°Ah! Oh, she likes the water,¡± Alexa said as she quickly submerged it again, ¡°It¡¯s like my little brother throwing a tantrum when he doesn¡¯t get sweets.¡±

    She pressed the button and closed it up again and carefully lifted it out of the water again. It didn¡¯t make a noise this time.

    ¡°What do you think the riddle meant?¡± Jack asked as they walked to the shore, ¡°I got part of it, but what do you think is the thing that the water people would be taking? Mermaids? Mermen? I thought I heard of someone talking about half fish people living in the great lake.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Ginny said thoughtfully as they walked out of the water and onto the shore. Ginny accepted the golden egg from Alexa and carefully put it down next to her robes, ¡°It could be anything really. Are they going to steal the golden eggs somehow? They¡¯re made of gold, they must be pretty valuable I¡¯d assume.¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Jack allowed, ¡°That doesn¡¯t feel right though. Why have you steal the egg from the dragon just to have you go retrieve it again from someone else? Seems repetitive.¡±

    ¡°Still, that makes the most sense to me,¡± Ginny said.

    Jack and Ginny debated on what the riddle could be for a few minutes, until Ginny suddenly noticed that Alexa hadn¡¯t joined them. Ginny broke off the conversation to see Alexa staring at the two of them with the strangest look on her face.

    ¡°Alexa?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Are you okay? What do you think?¡±

    Alexa shook her head, ¡°Yeah, fine. I dunno. You guys said most of it already. I¡¯m just the dumb Gryffindor over here¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not dumb!¡± Ginny said, ¡°We¡¯d have never figured out the riddle without you trying to drown poor Ms. Egg first! And you¡¯re nearly as good at classes as we are. It''s not like any of us are first in class even if we''re all doing pretty well for our grades.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, and you solve Amvatroz¡¯s riddles by yourself every time,¡± Jack added, ¡°You¡¯re basically an honorary Ravenclaw by now despite Preston always being such a sourpuss about it.¡±

    ¡°Amvatroz always makes the riddles easy for me because he thinks Gryffindors are all dumb¡­¡± Alexa muttered.

    ¡°That¡¯s not true,¡± Ginny said firmly, causing Alexa to look up in surprise, ¡°He was in the beginning, but haven¡¯t you noticed how he doesn¡¯t call you ¡®Gryffindor¡¯ anymore? He considers you an honorary Ravenclaw too. He doesn¡¯t bother learning the names of people who aren¡¯t in Ravenclaw house, but he knows yours and likes you more than most people.¡±

    Alexa perked up and smiled slightly, ¡°Right. He did tell me that last month. Is that really true for the names? He only remembers the Ravenclaws?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what he told me,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Really. I¡¯m not just saying that to make you feel better. Plus we could still be friends if you were dumb as a rock.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re war buddies,¡± Jack said to support Ginny¡¯s statement, ¡°Houses don¡¯t matter, remember? It¡¯s just a ploy from the teachers to distract us from Binns¡¯ horrible classes. You told us that.¡±

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    ¡°Huh. I did,¡± Alexa said as if only just remembering, ¡°I don¡¯t know, I¡¯m not bullied anymore or anything. Eric¡¯s always his creepy self going around bothering people, but he leaves me alone mostly. Fred and George stop the older years from being bullies. I¡¯ve got some friends in Gryffindor. But sometimes I wish that I¡¯d just been sorted into Ravenclaw. It would make things so much easier.¡±

    ¡°We should go hang out in the Gryffindor common room for once,¡± Ginny decided.

    ¡°Huh? What?¡± Alexa said, ¡°What¡¯s that got to do with anything?¡±

    ¡°Well, you¡¯ve been coming to us every time, right? Going up to Ravenclaw tower after giving us that first tour of your common room. We should go to you sometimes. Make it more even.¡±

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know¡­¡± Alexa hedged.

    ¡°That sounds like a good idea,¡± Jack said, ¡°Maybe we won¡¯t have to deal with Preston glowering all the time at us when we see him.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m¡­ Okay. Thanks, guys. Let¡¯s ah¡­ Let¡¯s go swim,¡± Alexa said awkwardly before turning and fleeing into the water and starting to swim in the lake with her head down.

    Ginny and Jack shared a look, ¡°Time for laps,¡± Jack said, ¡°Alexa¡¯s orders.¡±

    They went in the water and both swam after Alexa to catch up.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    To Ginny and apparently also Alexa¡¯s surprise, spending some time in the Gryffindor common room as a group didn¡¯t cause some massive incident. A few people wandered over to try to ask Ginny questions about the first task, but Fred and George quickly shooed them off when they started becoming annoying.

    Eric spotted them, but just ignored the three of them and moved onwards without talking to them. He was still upset about the second article that Rita had written. This one praised Ginny even more while framing Eric as some villain getting served his comeuppance after failing at the first task. Something probably even more true than the woman even knew.

    Not that Ginny was anywhere near getting her unspecified revenge on Eric for Harry at the moment. Eric was up to hundreds of magic tendrils while Ginny was still barely even pushing thirty maximum despite all her training in Teregatt.

    Eric had been in Teregatt for one hundred and twenty earth years roughly. With the uncertain passage of time in Teregatt, who knew how much time he had spent there subjectively. Balthazar seemed to think that Teregatt usually averaged out with much less time passing on Earth than did there when Ginny had asked him to guess. So even if it was only double on average¡­ She thought it was probably more than that based on her slow cycle reaching a time dilation factor into the thousands or even more without her knowing.

    But one hundred and twenty earth years of training could be a thousand years or more of training at his magic for Eric.

    But Balthazar told her that she was talented at this kind of telekinetic magic, so she was sure that in a few years she might be able to match Eric at least. And learn other things too once Balthazar proclaimed her ready for it. He¡¯d come into Teregatt to do a check on her magical abilities after Azkaban was fully warded, so Ginny hoped that it would be then based on her improvements in her abilities so far.

    Moral of the story was, she had to be patient and not fight Eric until she was ready. He still didn¡¯t know that she was training in Teregatt and what had really happened with Harry. So long as it stayed that way he shouldn¡¯t feel threatened by Ginny until she¡¯d already trained enough to defend herself from him. Him avoiding her was probably the best outcome actually at the moment, even if it had Ginny worrying slightly about what he might be planning.

    Alexa seemed to have her spirits raised by them visiting her at the Gryffindor common room as a show of support. Things were going well, Ginny hadn¡¯t even realized that Alexa had even felt that way before. Ginny never thought of Alexa as less intelligent because she was in Gryffindor, and she was sure Jack didn¡¯t either.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°Ms. Weasley? Can you stay behind for a moment?¡± Flitwick said. She gathered her books and waited as the charms classroom emptied, leaving her alone with the half-goblin teacher.

    ¡°Ms. Weasley,¡± Flitwick said, ¡°Have you prepared for yourself for the Yule ball just before christmas break?¡±

    ¡°The Yule ball?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Isn¡¯t that only for fourth years and older?¡±

    ¡°And the triwizarding champions,¡± Flitwick said, ¡°Including you. And your date, whoever that may be.¡±

    ¡°Date? What do you mean?¡± Ginny asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s tradition that triwizarding champions are accompanied by a partner for the first dance. Their dance starts off the whole event by tradition. We¡¯ll put you in the lessons with the older years along with whoever you pick. They¡¯ll be practicing the traditional dances for the next month or so after classes, as will you.¡±

    ¡°I have to pick a boy to go to the big dance with me? We¡¯ll dance together in front of the whole school?¡± Ginny squeaked, her stress suddenly skyrocketing. Oh no!

    ¡°Yes, just for the single dance and then you can flee to the snack tables if you want to,¡± Flitwick said with some amusement as he saw her begin to panic and fidget in place.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s all,¡± Flitwick said, ¡°Try to find someone within the next week or two. We want to give you some time to practice your steps with them before you do it at the main event.¡±

    ¡°Yes! Uhm, er¡­ boys.¡± Ginny said intelligently before picking up her school bag and fleeing the room as quickly as she could. Jack was standing just outside in the hallway waiting for her.

    ¡°What was that about?¡± He asked casually.

    ¡°Nothing! I¡¯m fine, let¡¯s¡­ we¡¯ll be late for our next class, let¡¯s go!¡± Ginny flailed and quickly began walking off before Jack could respond. He followed after her a few seconds later and jogged to catch up. She kept sneaking glances at Jack as classes went onwards and could barely focus on the teachers.

    Finally classes were over, and Ginny and Jack were alone in the hallways walking back to the common room. Ginny looked over at Jack who was shooting her suspicious looks.

    ¡°Hey, Jack!¡± Ginny said suddenly and he turned to look at her.

    He kept staring at her as she tried to make her lips make the words, but the stupid things just wouldn¡¯t do it.

    ¡°Yeah, Ginny?¡± He eventually asked.

    ¡°What did you think about the potion¡¯s homework?¡± She let out in one long burst of words without taking a breath.

    ¡°Huh? Uh, I don¡¯t know. It was a pain looking up the interactions of the properties with the Newt¡¯s tongue¡­¡±

    Ginny relaxed slightly as the conversation moved onwards to less stressful topics.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    It was the next morning, and they had just finished their run around the castle and had taken sips of the muscle healing potion. They were all walking back up to the castle.

    Alexa and Jack were talking to each other, but Ginny was hardly paying attention to them, too busy siking herself up to reveal the news, ¡°I¡¯ve got to go to the Yule ball before christmas and I¡¯ve got to find a date and dance with them in front of everybody!¡±

    She suddenly burst out, completely interrupting whatever it was that Alexa was saying to Jack. The two of them stared at her in shock for a few moments.

    ¡°Is that what Flitwick wanted to talk to you about yesterday?¡± Jack asked, ¡°Isn¡¯t it only fourth years and up going?¡±

    ¡°And triwizarding champions,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Ahhh. I¡¯ve been practically pulling out my hair worrying about it ever since he told me.¡±

    ¡°Who are you going to ask?¡± Alexa asked, ¡°It¡¯s in a month right? How long do you have?¡±

    Ginny glanced at Jack and opened her mouth before closing it again, ¡°Two weeks,¡± She said, ¡°He said I should try to find somebody in the next week or two so we could practice together for the traditional dances.¡±

    ¡°You¡­ Any idea of who you¡¯re going to ask?¡± Jack asked cautiously.

    ¡°No, not yet.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Jack and Ginny were walking back to their common room after spending some time hanging out with Alexa at the Gryffindor common room. It had been five days and Ginny and Jack were dancing around eggshells with each other. It was probably just because Ginny was acting so weird, all of Jack¡¯s nervous looks at her must have just been him making sure that she was okay¡­

    Suddenly Ginny stopped walking in the empty hallway and decided. She had done so many things, and this was what was causing her to spiral into a panic! No way! She¡¯d just ask him and get it over with. He¡¯d say no, and she could just know that he just wanted to be friends.

    Jack stopped walking and looked at her.

    ¡°JackwouldyouliketogototheYuleballwithme?¡± Ginny said all at once.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°The Yule ball?¡± Ginny repeated, ¡°Do you want to go with me? As a¡­ as my date? To the dance? It¡¯s okay if you don¡¯t want to, it¡¯s just¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Jack said hurriedly, ¡°Let¡¯s go! I mean I¡¯m terrible at dancing, but I¡­ I do like you. If you¡¯re not just asking because we¡¯re friends?¡±

    Ginny froze, her heart pounding in her chest, ¡°You do? You like me?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°You want to go as my date?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. So do you, uh. Like me too?¡± Jack asked shyly.

    ¡°Yes. I was so worried, I thought you would say no¡­¡±

    They stared at each other for a bit silently.

    ¡°We should probably be getting back, it¡¯s getting late¡­¡± Ginny said to break the tension.

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny stood there in her best dress next to Jack as they waited outside of the great hall that had been transformed for the big dance. Alexa had been withdrawn recently, and no matter what Ginny did she couldn¡¯t get her to tell her why. She had thought that when she and Jack had joined her in the Gryffindor common room that they had fixed whatever was going on. But now things were just getting worse with her.

    The dance practice for the last few weeks had been so awkward with the older Ravenclaws. Ginny and Jack had to hold hands the whole time while they danced! It made both of them blush and made everyone else tease them. So awkward¡­

    But the day was here for the big ball and they had both practiced. They should be able to get through the first dance without embarrassing themselves.

    Ginny was surprised to see that Victor Krum had come to the ball with Hermione Granger, who looked much prettier than she usually did. She was wearing a pink dress and had her hair pinned up, and looking like a spell had been cast over her so the light always was the most flattering to her.

    Fleur Delaceur was with a Hogwarts boy unfamiliar to Ginny. Fleur looked vaguely annoyed while the boy near her looked just happy to be near her as they all waited for the doors in front of them to open in a few minutes. Everyone else was already waiting inside, having filed into the great hall for the last hour and a half.

    ¡°Where is that boy?¡± McGonagall said with a frustrated huff, ¡°He should have been here ten minutes ago!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here McGarden,¡± Eric¡¯s voice suddenly said from down the hallway, ¡°Just in the nick of time too. I had some trouble tracking down my date here. Seems she was too excited to come and left early. We completely passed each other on our way to find one another.¡±

    Ginny turned and froze when she saw the blonde haired girl standing next to the smirking Eric. The boy was staring straight at Ginny as a single magic tendril formed and reached out from his shoulder to hover a few inches away from Luna¡¯s head. The girl flinched, but after a quick glance at Eric schooled her expression into a flatter mask, even if she did a rather poor job of it.

    ¡°Your date seems rather happy to be here, Eric,¡± Fleur mocked, ¡°I have seen happier people at funerals.¡±

    Eric kept grinning as a second magic tendril spun out of his back and hovered around Luna¡¯s back, causing her to stand straighter and her eyes to widen slightly.

    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re doing much better Fleur,¡± Eric replied in a sly tone, ¡°Do let me know if you need a handkerchief to clean that groupy¡¯s slobber off of you at the end of the night.¡±

    ¡°Why you!¡±

    ¡°Settle down, both of you!¡± McGonagall cut in, ¡°Eric, I swear another word from you and I¡¯ll have you cleaning the toilets of the castle with your tongue for the next week. Ms. Delaceur, don¡¯t let him provoke you.¡±

    ¡°Sure thing, McGenter,¡± Eric said and settled down while still staring at Ginny. He spun off another magic tendril and hovered it over Luna¡¯s back. Ginny saw a bead of sweat run down Luna¡¯s forehead, the normally absent and dreamy girl looking nervous.

    McGonagall¡¯s eyes twitched and she turned back to the main doors to the great hall and ignored Eric.

    Ginny began to unfurl her own magic tendrils around her to get him to back off. Eric tilted his head slightly and his smile grew a little wider as he unfurled the magic tendrils of his own. Luna stared between the two of them with wide eyes as the clouds of magic tendrils waved around the both of them.

    All of a sudden Eric withdrew all the tendrils into himself in an instant. He put an arm around Luna and grinned at Ginny.

    ¡°Hey, no hard feelings Ginny. Luna here has told me a lot about you helping her over the summer. We just¡­ clicked and she just had to go with me to the Yule ball. Isn¡¯t that right, Luna?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­ That¡¯s right¡­¡± Luna said before trailing off while looking like she was crawling out of her skin.

    Eric released her and took a step away and Luna relaxed slightly. ¡°Great, so let¡¯s get our first dance in and then you two can catch up, right?¡± He said, ¡°I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll want to catch up with our number one champion. Better than me even, the papers say so.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Luna said, ¡°Ginny and I will catch up after the first dance.¡±

    ¡°Just calm down, Eric,¡± Hermione suddenly said, ¡°Dancing is your whole thing isn¡¯t it? Why are you ruining it by being all snippy with Ginny about the tournament?¡±

    Eric¡¯s face flashed with a series of expressions, surprise chief among them as he processed Hermione¡¯s statement.

    ¡°Fine, Hermione,¡± He grumbled, ¡°Just for you.¡±

    Hermione nodded in apparent satisfaction and went back to stand over by Victor Krum.

    Everyone remained silent with McGonagall in front of the doors to the great hall.

    ¡°All right, here it is,¡± McGonagall said, ¡°Everyone line up. Ginny, you first. Eric next, we¡¯ll go by height so everyone can see you and the older ones aren¡¯t blocking you two¡­¡±

    Ginny stood in front of the closed doors with her arm linked with Jack¡¯s, her heart beating wildly. She felt Eric spinning up a magic tendril and sent it darting towards her suddenly. She flinched slightly and turned around to glare at him. But he just shrugged, his arms linked with an uncomfortable Luna¡¯s. Unrepentant.

    Ginny turned back around and tried to ignore him as he invisibly poked and tried to prod her. Her first dance with Jack would go great, no matter what Eric had to say about it! He wouldn¡¯t do anything while Dumbledore was right there watching. Probably.

    The doors opened to the great hall, and hundreds of faces were suddenly looking at Ginny and Jack. At McGonagall¡¯s prompting, she walked forward with Jack, the other three pairs of champions following closely behind. The crowd had parted, forming a little corridor for them to walk through to reach the dance floor. It reminded Ginny of Harry¡¯s funeral in Teregatt, the Guard standing on either side of her silently as they approached the pit for Harry¡¯s fake body¡­

    They stepped onto the dance floor and walked into a square formation with a pair evenly spaced. Eric had stopped his taunting with his magic tendrils and seemed to be ignoring her for now that they were actually on the dance floor.

    ¡°Our Triwizarding Champions, everyone!¡± Dumbledore said loudly from a stage set up across the room, ¡°And without further ado¡­ let us begin the first dance.¡±

    Soft music began to play and Jack put one hand around her waist while grabbing the other outstretched one like they had practiced in their classes. They started moving through the steps they had practiced. They stared into each other¡¯s eyes for a second before Ginny blushed and looked away as they continued. They continued and Ginny looked into Jack¡¯s eyes again. This time he was the one who looked away. The cycle continued as they danced, the whole thing feeling way different than any of the practice ones had. Ginny barely even noticed the crowd or even Eric, totally focused on the steps and making sure she didn¡¯t mess anything up and on Jack.

    Eventually the music faded away and they stopped dancing. The music picked up, becoming more active.

    ¡°The first dance, everyone! Ah, to see the beauty of young love for our champions,¡± Dumbledore said wryly, ¡°Now let us join them! Let the festivities begin.¡±

    Ginny realized that she was still holding Jack''s hands and released him and took a step back as more and more couples went onto the dance floor.

    ¡°You want to dance again?¡± Jack asked, looking slightly disappointed.

    She glanced around and saw that now that there were more people dancing no one seemed to be paying attention to them anymore.

    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go again.¡±

    So they kept dancing.

    Eventually they got tired and made their way to the snack table to get some food and drinks. Eric was doing some crazy intense dance all by himself on the dance floor, Luna nowhere in sight near him. Ginny let out a little hidden sigh of relief. Hopefully she was okay after whatever Eric had done to convince her to go with him to the dance.

    The two of them sat down and started to snack and chat a bit, Ginny feeling light and in a good mood that things were going so well. Neither of them had tripped and looked like idiots in front of the whole school!

    She frowned as she saw Eric approaching their table, with Luna standing ramrod straight next to him. With so many people and their magic in the room, Ginny was having trouble sensing things with her magic sense so she couldn¡¯t tell if Eric had any of his magic tendrils out.

    Jack saw Eric a second later.

    ¡°Still don¡¯t know why you hate him so much,¡± Jack whispered to her, ¡°He¡¯s a jerk sure. But you really hate him, Ginny.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know him like I do,¡± Ginny whispered back.

    ¡°Ah, we do know each other so very well, don¡¯t we, Ginny?¡± Eric said as he approached, appearing to hear her despite her whispering directly into Jack¡¯s ear.

    ¡°Thought I¡¯d drop off Luna here into your care,¡± Eric said, ¡°Thanks for the first dance, Luna. See you around, you weren¡¯t half bad given the¡­ circumstances.¡±

    Luna quickly sat down next to Ginny.

    ¡°Anyways, toodles!¡± Eric said with a jaunty little wave, ¡°I¡¯ve got some dancing to get back to. And find Draco, I haven¡¯t checked on him in a while. I wonder who he brought to the dance? I wonder how much insulting her would provoke him? Hmmmm¡­¡±

    He turned around and returned to walk back towards the dance floor without giving them a second glance.

    Ginny inspected Luna all over.

    ¡°Luna? Are you okay? Did he do anything to you?¡±

    ¡°No, that was rather frightening,¡± Luna said, ¡°I was creating some¡­ what we practiced over the summer in the hallways. I¡¯ve just figured out how to make two at a time and really control them well you know¡­ He was passing by and noticed. He showed¡­ how much better at it he was compared to me, and said¡­ Well, I¡¯m fine. He just wanted somebody to dance with for the ball. Didn¡¯t even know that we knew each other until he started asking me questions about the thing I did. It¡¯s kind of rather sad, isn¡¯t it, that he had to force me to go with him rather than having somebody he actually likes.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re really okay? He didn¡¯t hurt you?¡±

    ¡°No, Ginny. I¡¯m fine,¡± Luna said dreamily, her stress visibly sliding away as Eric didn¡¯t return to drag her onto the dance floor, ¡°Now I think it¡¯s about time for me to go. Daddy always said that it isn¡¯t safe to wander about after dark, and the sun is about to set.¡±

    ¡°Er, okay. Bye Luna. Sorry that Eric did that to you.¡±

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t your fault,¡± Luna said, ¡°Goodbye, Ginny, Jack. See you later¡­¡±

    Ginny noticed that Preston was sulking at a table across the way, glaring at Ginny. She scrunched up her face and stuck her tongue out at him briefly. He scoffed, but looked away and stopped glaring at her. Ginny looked back to Luna, but the blonde haired girl had already stood and was gone, melting into the crowd of partygoers at the ball.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know that you knew Luna Lovegood,¡± Jack said, ¡°Where did you meet her?¡±

    ¡°Our parents are friends apparently. Mom brought me over to their house over the summer. I thought I told you in one of my letters. Didn¡¯t I?¡± Ginny said, briefly distracted trying to find Luna in the crowd before giving up and turning back to Jack.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so,¡± Jack said, ¡°I think I would have remembered that.¡±

    ¡°Okay. You want to go dance some more?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    At the end of the night, the two of them were back in the Ravenclaw common room holding hands as they went. Ginny hesitated for a moment before giving Jack a big hug, which he returned for a minute or two. They just stood like that for a while hugging each other for a while.

    ¡°We should probably go to bed,¡± Ginny said even while they still stood there hugging. Jack released her.

    ¡°Yep. Yes, makes sense. So, ah. See you tomorrow, Ginny?¡±

    ¡°See you, Jack.¡±

    Ginny went to bed and as she drifted off to sleep she felt light and content on how things had gone.

    Jack really liked her.

    Jack liked her.

    Jack.

 Chapter 54: Beautiful Little Butterflies

    ¡°What¡¯s got you so down in the dumps, Muscles?¡±

    Alexa raised her head from the table in the common room to see Eric standing there staring at her.

    ¡°Wh-what do you want, Eric?¡± Alexa croaked out as she looked up through her traitorously puffy eyes.

    ¡°Nothing much, just curious,¡± Eric said casually before inspecting his fingernails theatrically, ¡°You¡¯re usually such a bundle of sunshine and energy even after classes, you know. I¡¯m wondering if I should turn on a lamp to make up for the difference with how much you¡¯ve been moping around these last few days.¡±

    ¡°Like I¡¯d tell you of all people¡­¡± Alexa muttered.

    ¡°C¡¯mon. I think I can guess,¡± Eric said, ¡°It seems the rock solid trio has turned into the solid duo and Alexa, hm? The two of them were rather adorable at the Yule Ball last week. A perfect little couple, staring into each other¡¯s eyes and everything¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut up, you don¡¯t know anything,¡± Alexa said reproachfully.

    ¡°C¡¯mon, Muscles. When have I led you wrong? I do what¡¯s funny, and you¡¯re not being very entertaining right now like you usually are.¡±

    ¡°Because that¡¯s all we are to you, sources of amusement, is that it?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Eric said seriously, ¡°I¡¯m not going to try to lie to you. But at least I¡¯m consistent. How consistent have Ginny and Jack been recently? Abandoning you here so they can spend some time together all on their lonesome. Really shows the bonds you¡¯ve built with each other, that they¡¯ve thrown you to the side so quickly. Poor Muscles. Jealous of Ginny maybe? Wanting the handsome Jack for yourself?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not like that!¡± Alexa said, ¡°I don¡¯t care that they¡¯re dating. Whatever, I mean I like Jack but not like that.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡± Eric asked leadingly.

    ¡°Ugh, you¡¯re right,¡± Alexa said in despair, ¡°We were a trio and now I¡¯m just going to be a third wheel while they are all gross and lovey dovey and things all the time.¡±

    ¡°And what are you going to do about it?¡±

    Alexa looked up in confusion, ¡°Do about it? What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Well, there are always options,¡± Eric said with a grin, ¡°And I happen to be somebody who can give those to you. I¡¯d love to take Ginny down a peg. She¡¯s developed a rather large ego, I¡¯ve heard.¡±

    ¡°You? Saying somebody has an ego? Are you kidding?¡±

    Eric shrugged, ¡°Hey, like recognizes like. Doesn¡¯t she always have to be so special? Having a phoenix familiar, best grades of the three of you, always in the papers for something or other. And now winning the first task of the triwizarding tournament? Why, that would give anyone an ego, wouldn¡¯t it? What do you think will happen if she wins?¡±

    ¡°So what? You want me to sabotage her somehow? Betray her so you can score better on the next task? Are you serious right now?¡±

    ¡°Of course not,¡± Eric said with an easy smile, ¡°I almost never am. But just think about it. Ginny could have picked anyone. She¡¯s the winner of the first task, almost any other boy would have instantly said yes if she asked them. She could have taken Jack to the ball just as a friend rather than making it romantic. She knew how this would hurt you, and she still went through with it. Why shouldn¡¯t you get some petty revenge in return?¡±

    Alexa hesitated, ¡°Petty? How petty? If it¡¯s not anything too serious then¡­¡±

    Eric snapped his fingers and pointed at Alexa, ¡°Now that, Muscles¡­ is the perfect question. Let¡¯s get into the details then. Why, I¡¯ll even offer my help for free just for how hilarious this is going to end up being,¡± Eric said cheerfully before plopping down into the chair opposite of Alexa.

    ¡°So, do you want to start with some ideas, or should I?¡± Eric asked, ¡°I can¡¯t do all the hard work here, Muscles.¡±

    Alexa hesitated and turned over the idea in her mind. Yeah, Ginny had been a jerk for doing this to her. Both of them were being jerks. Just a harmless little prank in exchange would be fine. Fred and George did it all the time. And maybe she could give them a piece of her mind while she was at it. She¡¯d keep it tame, but maybe Eric could help give some ideas of what she could do.

    Despite feeling uneasy about her decision, Alexa opened her mouth and began to speak as Eric kept grinning at her.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny was talking with Jack animatedly as they made their way through the hallways.

    ¡°Where is it we¡¯re going again, Alexa?¡± Jack asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s up to the left.¡±

    Alexa seemed unusually tense. Ginny felt a little bad how much her and Jack had been leaving her out of things lately. They were so caught up in dating and things that they hadn¡¯t been spending much time with Alexa besides their morning exercise recently.

    ¡°Hey, Alexa,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Sorry about¡­¡±

    ¡°Petrificus totalus! Petrificus totalus!¡±

    Both Ginny and Jack stiffened and fell flat onto their faces, completely frozen by the charm. Ginny could break free, but she was too stunned to focus. What? Alexa? What was she doing?

    Alexa used a levitation spell to roll the two of them over so they could see her.

    The girl puffed up as if to give a long speech before suddenly a slow clap sounded out behind her. Alexa whirled around with her wand raised as Eric emerged around the corner.

    ¡°Eric?¡± Alexa asked, ¡°What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°Following the plan of course,¡± He said, ¡°An amazing ambush Alexa. Why, if I didn¡¯t know any better I would say that they trusted you absolutely just now. Not suspicious at all when you asked them to meet you in an out of the way place where no one would interrupt you.¡±

    ¡°What? Eric, I didn¡¯t¡­¡±

    ¡°Shush. Petrificus totalus.¡±

    Eric pointed his finger lazily at Alexa and the girl stiffened and fell backwards with a clunk on the stone floor, her flesh almost completely magically hardened besides her eyes that darted around. Alexa was lying just below Ginny¡¯s stiffened feet.

    Ginny shattered the petrification enchantment with a single blast of magic, but as soon as she went to move she was surprised by a cloud of Eric¡¯s magic tendrils surrounding her on all sides.

    ¡°What do you want?¡± Ginny said through gritted teeth.

    ¡°Only what¡¯s best for you three!¡± Eric said with a grin, ¡°It was rather sad how easy it was to manipulate poor Alexa. Abandoned by her friends, alone and vulnerable. You¡¯re lucky someone as compassionate and understanding as myself came by! Who knows what someone with ill intentions might have done?¡±

    Eric levitated the three of their bodies at once and drew them together so they were shoulder to shoulder facing inwards in a triangle and facing one another.

    ¡°Why, I think what you three need is an intervention!¡± Eric said with some glee, ¡°Some time to really talk about your feelings with each other where no one can interrupt you. For a long time. It¡¯s Friday, it might not be until Monday that somebody even notices that the three of you are missing. You¡¯ll have until then to work it all out with each other.¡±

    ¡°Eric! What are you doing?!¡± Ginny said, angrily using her own magic tendrils to fight against Eric¡¯s. ¡°I told you to leave them alone! This wasn¡¯t the deal!¡±

    ¡°Make me.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Go on, do it. Stop me from doing whatever I want to do.¡±

    Eric started walking and the three of them floated in front of him in a triangular clump, Jack and Alexa¡¯s eyes switching to look between Ginny and Eric. They started moving up the staircase of a nearby tower that just so happened to be right nearby.

    ¡°I-I¡¯ll call Fawkes! He¡¯ll burn you up! Stop it, or I¡¯ll do it!¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t. I¡¯ll tear off his wings over and over while you watch. He can regenerate them, but he¡¯ll still scream in pain and it¡¯ll be all your fault¡­¡±

    Ginny froze, ¡°I¡¯ll¡­ I¡¯ll¡­¡±

    Suddenly with a jump, Eric flew upwards to the top of the tower. Using his magic tendrils to lift his clothing and carry him along, and bringing the three of them with him. They were at the top of the tower now, one of the abandoned ones not being used anymore.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°So, here¡¯s how this is going to work,¡± Eric said, ¡°After I wrap you up, I want you to be very careful. You¡¯ll be hanging in the air by a thread. I do mean by a thread. It¡¯s a long fall to the ground.¡±

    With a flick of his wand the three of them went floating out of a nearby open window and into open air. It was over an over two hundred foot drop to the ground below and the wind was fiercely blowing across them.

    ¡°This little thread is very special. It¡¯s very particular in what it likes and dislikes. What it dislikes? Flame, the tiniest amount of heat from your phoenix that it senses. And it¡¯ll snap. Sending the three of you plunging to the ground. I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll be fatal. I mean, one of your friends might die, but you¡¯ll probably survive Ginny.¡±

    Eric twirled his wand and white strips of cloth burst out of his wand and began swirling around their ankles and binding their feet together. Ginny increased her assault with her tendrils desperately. Before she had been holding back and only using eighteen of them, but now she unleashed with her full force of thirty two at once. Eric¡¯s eyes widened fractionally for a moment as she pushed him back before he came back down at her like a hammer.

    With a flick of one of his tendrils, her head snapped to the side like she¡¯d been slapped hard. She recovered and Eric slapped her again with his tendrils. She tried to ward off the blows, but she quickly lost focus as the world swam around her under the flurry of blows.

    She almost called for Fawkes with their bond, but hesitated. Would Eric really hurt him? What if calling him here only made things worse?

    Her face was hot and she could already feel the bruises forming when she had been hit. Her head was swimming as she tried to focus.

    ¡°Ahem, as I was saying,¡± Eric said as his magic tendrils overpowered her in her dazed state and the white cloth kept wrapping them up.

    ¡°This little cocoon I¡¯m building is also very sensitive. Any magic leaves its little shell? Then our little fragile thread breaks too. That includes whatever other methods you¡¯re thinking up Ginny, so don¡¯t even try it or you¡¯ll send all three of you plunging to the ground. You might be able to break free and survive, but will your two precious friends be able to?¡±

    The white cloth was now wrapped up to their waists, rising faster and faster even as Ginny felt it growing thicker and adding even more layers near the bottom.

    ¡°Oh, and I forgot, I¡¯ll also make your cocoon invisible,¡± Eric added, ¡°So we¡¯ll have to see which happens first. Do the teachers find you and bring you back to safety? Or does my little spell run out and you drop to splatter on the ground? I guess we¡¯ll see in a few days. Maybe even a week at the most. Hehehehe. I¡¯m ninety percent sure the teachers will find you in time, but one can never be completely sure.¡±

    The cloth had wrapped them up to their chests and Ginny was still struggling to fight back from Eric¡¯s magic tendrils drunkenly.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯d almost forgotten,¡± Eric said and he waved his wand twice. Alexa and Jack unfroze. Both immediately began shouting at Eric.

    ¡°Can¡¯t have you talk through your feelings if you can¡¯t talk to one another. Ginny, I¡¯d stop now or all three of you might drop,¡± Eric said, ¡°That would be unfortunate.¡±

    Ginny blinked and the words finally registered in her mind. She finally retreated and protectively curled her tendrils around herself and her friends even while stopping any strikes outwards with them. Eric¡¯s tendrils lifted off of their bodies and shifted to grab the cloth shell around them.

    ¡°Remember, no phoenix, and no magic leaving your cocoon,¡± Eric said, ignoring Alexa and Jack¡¯s shouts and pleas.

    The white cloth had reached their shoulders and in another second was over their heads and about to seal at the top.

    ¡°Have fun in there, you three,¡± Eric said, ¡°I¡¯ve even cast a spell so the air will stay fresh and it¡¯ll clean you three automatically. So free to just go to the bathroom how you are and the cocoon will take care of it. I¡¯m not a monster after all¡­ I¡¯m sure the three of you will come through this with a new appreciation of your friendship or newly found hatred for one another. We¡¯ll have to see when you emerge as beautiful little butterflies. Transformed by your experience in the cocoon¡­¡±

    The top of the cocoon of white cloth sealed at the top and instantly they were thrown into darkness. Ginny felt with her magic sense as the walls of the cocoon holding the three of them grew thicker and thicker until they were nearly a foot thick on all sides. She felt Eric layer a series of spells on the floating ball of cloth with the three of them inside of it. Then a single thread spooled out of the top of the structure and attached itself to the overhanging roof of the tower. Ginny could just barely sense Eric¡¯s magic through the thick walls of the cocoon at the window. He stood there for a few minutes before walking off back down the stairs.

    Ginny¡¯s head was still throbbing and her face was bruised all over from Eric¡¯s blows, but she was able to refocus slightly as she realized that Alexa was calling her name. She sounded scared.

    ¡°Ginny? Ginny, are you okay? Oh God¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m shfine,¡± Ginny mumbled and wriggled slightly. But they were all squished together and there was barely any room for her to shift at all. Each of them was sunk into the walls of the fabric and cocoon, bound up and barely able to move with their arms pinned to their sides and everything up to their stomachs wrapped up tightly in place.

    ¡°We¡¯ve got to get out of here. Can you call Fawkes to save us? Call for help?¡± Jack asked.

    ¡°Doeshn¡¯t work that way,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Can only tell him to come. Can¡¯t talk over the bond. He¡¯d come and make us drop to the ground.¡±

    ¡°Well, what do we do then?¡± Alexa asked, ¡°We can¡¯t just wait for the teachers to find us, can we? Eric was right, that could be¡­ could be days! A week!¡±

    The cocoon suddenly shifted as a strong burst of wind hit it. They all swung to the side at a sharp angle as the wind pushed the cocoon, all of them remaining frozen. The wind died down and they became roughly vertical again.

    ¡°I think I¡¯m going to be sick¡­¡± Alexa said, her face looking rather pale. Wait, face? Ginny could see.

    ¡°Can you guys see?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°I think thersh light coming through the walls a bit.¡±

    Alexa blinked and squinted at Ginny hard.

    ¡°Are those bruises? I see marks on your face. Did Eric hit you with a spell? Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine,¡± Ginny said, ¡°They barely even hurt anymore.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m so sorry,¡± Alexa said tearfully, ¡°This is all because of me. I thought I¡¯d just petrify you and yell at you both for a bit. I never meant for any of this to happen¡­ I didn¡¯t know that Eric was¡­ I never would have even told him if I knew¡­¡±

    ¡°I forgive you,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I know you¡¯d never actually hurt us. It¡¯s just Eric trying to turn us against each other to see how it¡¯ll play out.¡±

    ¡°Ginny, what did he do to you?¡± Jack asked, ¡°Eric.¡±

    ¡°Well, he slapped me with a spell a few times,¡± Ginny said, ¡°My head¡¯s ringing a bit, but I¡¯m feeling much better now¡­¡±

    ¡°No, before,¡± Jack clarified, ¡°You¡¯ve always hated Eric. I always thought it was just something instinctive. But you talk like you know him, and he seemed to think so too. Did he do something to you, is that how you knew he was evil?¡±

    Ginny hesitated, ¡°Aren¡¯t we here to talk about Alexa? How I¡¯ve just realized that we¡¯ve been treating her like she¡¯s not important since the Yule ball?¡±

    ¡°I can cry about that later,¡± Alexa said, not getting distracted at all, ¡°Is Jack right? Did Eric do something to you in the past?¡±

    Ginny tried to think of what to say. She had so many layers of secrets. Balthazar, Teregatt, her intrinsic magic. Fate coming after her. Pettigrew. Eric. Everything. It was all so hard to keep track of. Where would the lies stop? Would they just keep building and building until they drowned her? Even now she felt like she was floundering, feeling all the lies she¡¯d told pressing in on her from all sides.

    ¡°If¡­ If I tell you everything,¡± Ginny whispered, ¡°Can you promise never to tell anyone else? Both of you. I¡¯ve never told anyone the full truth before. I¡­ I want to. But not unless you can promise that even if someone threatens you that you won¡¯t tell absolutely anyone. Not your parents, not the adults¡­ I don¡¯t want to lie anymore.¡±

    ¡°Anyone?¡± Jack said, ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°Yes, no one. Both of you swear it and I¡¯ll tell you.¡±

    ¡°I swear,¡± Alexa said, ¡°I made a mistake. I won¡¯t betray either of you like that ever again.¡±

    ¡°No one. Ever?¡± Jack clarified.

    ¡°Yes. No one, ever.¡±

    Jack paused for a few seconds, seeming to seriously think about it.

    ¡°I swear,¡± he eventually said.

    Ginny took a shaky breath. The truth. There was no taking this back. Balthazar would probably disapprove sharing it with anyone. But Ginny wanted her friends to know. How could they keep being friends if she kept hiding things from them?

    ¡°So, I guess I¡¯ll begin with the death of the nine year old Harry Potter. His life was horrible, his aunt and Uncle never taking care of him, always making him feel bad about himself whenever they could. One day, his aunt wasn¡¯t careful with a cooking pan, and he hit his head on the floor when she smacked him with it. He fell just wrong and¡­ he was dead.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Alexa asked in confusion, ¡°Eric¡¯s dead? But he¡¯s alive?¡±

    ¡°Just¡­ let me get all the way through first,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Even though Harry was dead, he woke up in a strange place in a new body made of dripping black mud. Teregatt, the place is called. He was scared, confused, when a stranger with a body similar to his appeared. The stranger called himself Eric Smith¡­¡±

    Ginny ran through her and the real Harry¡¯s story from start to finish, not leaving one detail out. Her friends had lots of questions and Ginny had to stop several times. But eventually they made it all the way to the end.

    ¡°Okay, I have to admit something,¡± Alexa said after Ginny finished speaking and Jack and Alexa took a few silent minutes to process it all.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I peed my robes about halfway through your story. That was a freaking lot that happened to you in less than two years. I couldn¡¯t hold it in any longer.¡±

    ¡°Ugh! Alexa, gross!¡±

    Ginny thought she saw Alexa smirking slightly, ¡°Hey, I took one for the team. I know for sure that the cleaning enchantment Eric put in here is working properly. If either of you had to go yourselves and were holding it in, just in case it wasn¡¯t working.¡±

    Ginny paused and realized that, yes, now that Alexa mentioned it her bladder was about to explode if she didn¡¯t pee right now!

    She only held it for a few seconds more before nature took its course now that she was paying attention to it. Ginny felt herself about to die inside from embarrassment even as the cleaning charm cleaned her soiled robes just as fast as she peed.

    Ginny glanced over at Jack and saw that his expression was also twisted with relief. Oh.

    ¡°Let¡¯s¡­ let¡¯s never talk about that again,¡± Jack said.

    ¡°Agreed,¡±

    ¡°Yep, totally.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°You went through a heck of a lot of stuff, Ginny¡± Alexa said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry for everything that happened to you. And for what happened to Harry. He didn¡¯t deserve all of that, just to have everything stolen from him by Eric when things were just about to get better.¡±

    ¡°No, he didn¡¯t,¡± Jack agreed, ¡°I don¡¯t know about all that with Fate, Teregatt, Balthazar¡­ But we¡¯ll do our best to help you. War buddies, right?¡±

    ¡°War buddies¡­¡± Ginny said in a distant tone.

    ¡°Yeah, When we get out of here, we¡¯ll show Eric what for! Bam bam pow!¡± Alexa said, shifting slightly where her body was embedded in the walls of the cocoon, ¡°With us at your side we¡¯ll be able to do anything! Power of friendship and all that!¡±

    Ginny smiled. Alexa was always so silly.

    ¡°Thanks, guys. I¡¯m so glad that I can finally tell you the truth. I didn¡¯t realize how much it was bothering me until I finished telling you both everything. I feel so much lighter now that it¡¯s done.¡±

    There was another strong gust of wind and they all tilted to an almost forty five degree angle as the wind pushed the cocoon to one side while it dangled from the single thread above them.

    A reminder that despite all of Ginny¡¯s warm and fuzzy feelings and sense that all was right with the world, there were still some things that she should still be worrying about.

 Chapter 55: Searching for the Cocoon

    ¡°Hello? Fred and George?¡± A dreamy voice suddenly said. The twins turned to see a blonde haired girl staring at them absently.

    ¡°Loony. *Ahem*, Luna Lovegood?¡± George asked in surprise.

    ¡°Yes, they do call me loony,¡± Luna said, ¡°It¡¯s okay, I know why now. I¡¯d rather be loony than to lose my ability to see.¡±

    ¡°Er, okay,¡± Fred said, ¡°What do you want with us? Need us to prank someone? Some Slytherins bothering you? We mostly protect the Gryffindors by getting back at those gits, but we don¡¯t mind defending a few ravens every once in a while either.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I was going to ask about Ginny,¡± Luna asked, ¡°Have you seen her or Alexa since Friday? I didn¡¯t notice Ginny or Jack at the meals on Saturday or this morning. Or Alexa at the Gryffindor table either. I¡¯m beginning to be worried that something might have happened.¡±

    George glanced at his twin as they frowned at each other.

    ¡°Actually, I don¡¯t think I have seen those three since breakfast Friday,¡± He said, ¡°That¡¯s strange. Perhaps we should check in on our little sis.¡±

    ¡°Good idea, George. Thanks for telling us, Luna. We¡¯ll let you know when we find her.¡±

    ¡°Okay, thank you. I¡¯ll be looking for any secret doors or hidden rooms around the castle if you need me.¡±

    Luna turned around and wandered off, staring into space around her and smiling faintly as she walked away.

    Fred shook his head, ¡°Loony¡­ Alright George, let''s look at the map.¡±

    The two of them went to an abandoned classroom and after shutting the door took out the Marauder¡¯s map. They¡¯d swiped this from the confiscation bin the teachers kept after they had gotten a boring detention to sort the things out after one of their pranks. It had served them well ever since, letting them get away with pranks that would have been impossible otherwise.

    Fred unfolded the map that appeared to be a completely blank piece of parchment. He took out his wand and tapped it, ¡°I Solemnly swear that I¡¯m up to no good!¡± He said. The full map of Hogwarts in its full glory was revealed. All around the castle were little pairs of footsteps each with a name attached. Dumbledore was up in his office as usual, everyone out and about in the castle on their business.

    ¡°You see her?¡± Fred asked after taking a few minutes to inspect the whole map thoroughly.

    ¡°No, not at all,¡± George replied, his voice beginning to have a tinge of concern.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± Fred said, ¡°She¡¯s probably in some far away corner exploring with her friends. Let¡¯s look again.¡±

    They inspected the map again and Ginny, Jack, and Alexa were nowhere to be seen.

    ¡°Where could she be?¡± George asked, now getting concerned, ¡°Someone would have noticed if something happened, right? One of the teachers?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Imagine how much we get away with, who knows. Those three are always wandering about, maybe people always thought that they were just in another part of the castle?¡±

    ¡°Maybe. What should we do? We can¡¯t tell them about the map, but this is serious. What if they¡¯re hurt?¡±

    ¡°We¡­ We should tell them about the map,¡± Fred said.

    ¡°What, but¡­¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t wait, what if something happens to her again because we waste time setting up some excuse for why they should take it seriously from the start? If we¡¯d had this map in Ginny¡¯s first year, then maybe¡­ maybe we could have stopped what happened to her.¡±

    George stared at his twin for a few seconds. Despite them acting and almost thinking the same almost all the time, they were still different. But Fred¡¯s words cut deep. What if them selfishly worrying about the map led to something terrible happening to Ginny and her friends? Could he ever forgive himself if that happened? None of the three of them were on the map. That meant that they either weren¡¯t on Hogwarts grounds or in one of the secret rooms not on the map.

    ¡°What if Pettigrew sneaked in and kidnapped them from the castle?¡± Fred said, ¡°We¡¯ve got to tell Dumbledore so he can find them and tell the Ministry before something happens.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s already been over a day at least¡­¡± George said, ¡°Do you think¡­¡±

    ¡°Then we can¡¯t waste time! C¡¯mon, let¡¯s go to McGonagall¡¯s office now. She¡¯s in there now, she¡¯ll get us straight to Dumbledore.¡±

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go.¡±

    The two twins stood and exited the abandoned classroom, looking regretfully down at the Marauder¡¯s map that had served them so well.

    ¡°Mischief managed,¡± Fred chanted and tapped the map with his wand, causing the ink to fade away and for it to appear like normal parchment again.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Dumbledore inspected the map, the nervous twins and his vice Headmistress McGonagall standing behind them. An ingenious artifact, one meant to piggyback on the wards that Dumbledore had access to as Headmaster. A function that he tended to not use unless absolutely necessary to preserve the privacy of his students and staff.

    He accessed the Hogwarts wards mentally and requested the location of one Ginny Weasley. The search returned. No result. Jack Anverts. No result. Alexandria Adams. No result. Eric Potter. In the Gryffindor common room. Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger were with him. Would Eric do something drastic as an outlet for his jealousy after Ms. Weasley won the first task in such spectacular fashion?

    ¡°Minerva, order a search and see if we can find them. The map is authentic.¡±

    She nodded.

    Dumbledore turned to Fred and George Weasley, ¡°I will keep your map of course, and we will discuss it later. But for now, you may call on your fellow students to assist you in a search of the castle along with the teachers. I will be informing the Ministry and bringing in the Aurors as well to help.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Headmaster,¡± The twins said, looking disappointed at losing the map but more worried about their sister and her friends to be overly affected by it.

    ¡°Very well, get to it. We have little time to waste,¡± Dumbledore said to dismiss the three of them as he prepared to take the floo to the Auror¡¯s office to speak with Amelia Bones.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny shifted in place in the cocoon, her body feeling completely stiff and sore after being forced to stay in the same position for who knows how long. All three of them were hungry and thirsty, their stomachs growling as they remained together and their throats parched.

    They had slept at one point as a group at what must have been night. But it was uncomfortable, with each of them frequently waking up as their heads drooped forward in their sleep, headbutting the other two by accident and waking all three of them back up. So none of them had been able to sleep well and blinked at each other through a haze of exhaustion. They occasionally said a few sentences to each other now to break silence, but their conversation had petered out over time. All of them were too uncomfortable and tired to be able to carry a coherent conversation with each other for long without losing focus and forgetting what they were saying.

    She had considered going into Teregatt like she usually did when she slept at night, but she didn''t want to risk it. What if it used magic to project her mind there? What if that made the cocoon fall and kill Jack and Alexa right after Ginny entered Teregatt? She couldn''t take that risk, she had no idea how the magic of it worked or if whatever Eric had done would be able to detect it and activate.

    There was a muffled voice that Ginny dimly registered.

    ¡°Jack? Did you say something?¡± Ginny asked, blinking hard as she realized she had just been staring blankly into space for the last few minutes.

    ¡°Noo? *Yawn* What?¡±

    Alexa suddenly perked up, and tilted her head slightly to the side as she listened. She had slept the best of all of them, able to snooze somehow even despite their uncomfortable environment, ¡°Shush both of you, I think it¡¯s outside.¡±

    They all went silent as what Ginny realized were two muffled voices grew louder. Ginny tried to process the information for a few seconds before realizing that it must be a person climbing the stairs of the tower while talking with someone else.

    ¡°We can hear them, do you think that means they can hear us?¡± Alexa whispered.

    ¡°We¡­ may as well,¡± Jack said, ¡°Let¡¯s wait until they¡­ top though.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, wait until¡­¡± Ginny said before snapping awake as she realized she had lost focus again.

    The voices were much louder now and were right by the window at the top of the tower.

    ¡°Top¡­ nothing here¡­ Back down.¡±

    ¡°Quick, now!¡± Alexa said, ¡°HELP! HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR US?!¡±

    Ginny and Jack joined in with their own shouting, the loud noise jolting them both fully awake to add their own noise. It hurt Ginny¡¯s ears, having her two friends shouting so loudly in the enclosed space around them.

    ¡°Invisible?¡± One of the voices said after they all stopped shouting for a moment to listen,

    ¡°Call¡­ Bones. Dumbledore¡­ They¡¯ll figure it out.¡±

    They waited for a few more minutes and there was much more commotion from the tower. Ginny felt magic being used on the cocoon and the thread holding them up snapped. They started to drop and Ginny¡¯s heart leapt into her throat as they went into a freefall and all of them began screaming.

    A second later Ginny felt a dozen spells land on the cocoon all at once. They bounced off, having difficulty sticking to it individually. But one single overpowered spell managed to stick and wrap around the cocoon. They stopped falling and gravity reasserted itself.

    There was motion as they were lifted upwards by the overpowered charm and dragged back into the tower, the pervasive sound of wind around them cutting out all of a sudden.

    They sat there for a few more minutes, with muffled voices speaking all around them.

    ¡°What do you think they¡¯re doing?¡± Alexa asked, ¡°Can¡¯t they just cut us out?¡±

    ¡°They might think it¡¯s dangerous and that they might hurt us if they mess up,¡± Jack guessed, ¡°Wait, Eric wouldn¡¯t do that would he? Have this thing hurt us when they try to get us out?¡±

    Ginny thought about it.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so¡­ but I wouldn¡¯t put it past him to do something that would be painful but not fatal though. He¡¯d just say that we could heal it up in the hospital wing, so no harm done.¡±

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°But you can protect us with your magic, right?¡± Alexa asked nervously, ¡°If the cocoon tries to do something?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best,¡± Ginny promised, ¡°You can¡¯t see them, but I¡¯ve got ten of my magic tendrils floating around each of us. As soon as anything happens I¡¯ll use them to protect us.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a relief,¡± Alexa said with a relieved sigh, seemingly satisfied with Ginny¡¯s promise. Ginny didn¡¯t really think that Eric had rigged anything to hurt them, but now that Jack mentioned it¡­ She wasn¡¯t so sure.

    They waited in silence for a few more moments before a powerful spell hit the cocoon and it unraveled all at once.

    All three of them suddenly spilled onto each other in a big pile with Ginny at the bottom and Alexa and Jack laying on top of her and the Cocoon stopped holding them up.

    They moved around until they were untangled from each other and sat up and looked around. Ginny blinked. Dumbledore, Amelia Bones, and McGonagall stood there staring at them, while a crowd of Aurors and other teachers were standing back on the stares also looking at them.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Dumbledore asked, ¡°Ah, what am I saying. Amelia, Minerva. Let¡¯s bring them to St. Mungo¡¯s right away. Just give me a moment.¡±

    Ginny went to stand along with her friends.

    ¡°You three just sit right there, the healers will be right along,¡± McGonagall said, ¡°Would you like to tell us what happened to you before you go? Who¡¯s behind this? Your brothers were very worried about you.¡±

    All three of them shared a glance, realizing all at once that they hadn¡¯t planned what they were going to say.

    ¡°Eric!¡± Alexa suddenly blurted out as everyone stared at them, ¡°Eric ambushed us and put us in that thing. How long were we in there? He put us there Friday just before dinner.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Sunday afternoon at the moment,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°Perhaps we should tell the healers to bring some food and drink as well?¡±

    All three of their stomachs rumbled at once as they remembered their hunger all at once.

    ¡°I see. Minerva, would you go retrieve Eric Potter and his friends? I believe that Amelia and I will have to have a long chat with him soon.¡±

    McGonagall nodded and walked back down the stairs, the milling adults below parting for her. Dumbledore was staring into space and appeared to be focusing hard.

    After a few moments he nodded to Amelia Bones, ¡°They can be apparated out from here for a few minutes. Will you have your Aurors escort them while we question Eric Potter?¡±

    She nodded and several people in blue Auror robes came rushing up from the stairwell and leaned over to put hands on the shoulders on each of them. The world twisted around them and the next moment they were on a circular apparition platform just outside of a large hospital building. Ginny had never seen the outside of St. Mungo¡¯s before. The three of them tried to stand, but the Aurors stopped them. Another two Aurors apparated in a second later and ran inside the hospital. The healers came out with them a minute later carrying stretchers. The three of them were loaded into them and carried into the hospital.

    ¡°Why can¡¯t we walk?¡± Alexa complained to her healer, ¡°My legs are wobbly, but they feel fine!¡±

    ¡°There are curses that only activate under certain conditions,¡± The healer replied shortly, ¡°One of those is walking if you were in a stationary trap. Best to not risk it.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    None of them tried to stand after that. The healers checked them over and gave them some food and water, which they all ate ravenously. They healed Ginny¡¯s bruised face with a few quick spells. Ginny knew what having an empty stomach felt like from her memories from Harry. They were distant, but the sensation of hunger was oddly familiar to her. Something that was easier for her to just ignore. But Alexa and Jack had been disturbed by the horrible sensation when they were in the Cocoon, being used to always having as much food as they could want at home or at Hogwarts.

    There they lay in their hospital beds right next to each other as the healers kept checking over them. After another thirty minutes all three of them were declared healthy and not cursed. But despite that they would still be staying for another few hours for monitoring.

    The Aurors asked them what happened, and they basically told the truth. Eric ambushed them and shoved them in that cocoon so they could talk things out before leaving.

    The Aurors seemed skeptical about the story, but after their questioning grew more intense the healers swooped in and scolded them and sent them out of the room.

    ¡°Healers are scary,¡± Alexa muttered after the healers finished shooing away the Aurors and left themselves shortly after, ¡°They got rid of those Aurors just like that... I hope that they get Eric for what he did.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll find a way to not get in trouble,¡± Ginny said, ¡°But I hope he gets caught finally for something.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°I don¡¯t see what the big deal is honestly,¡± Eric said, ¡°I was just scaring them, I put a cushioning charm on the cocoon so that they¡¯d all be fine even if they ended up hitting the ground. What I said was just a bluff. The thread would have snapped in a few days either way even if I didn¡¯t do anything anyway. Probably Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest.¡±

    ¡°They were parched, and didn¡¯t have any food or water for two whole days,¡± Bones said, ¡°How can that be considered harmless? Another few days and they might have died of thirst.¡±

    Eric froze. Oops, he knew he¡¯d forgotten something, ¡°I would have remembered? I could have just cut them down anytime and it would have been fine even if you didn¡¯t find them. I planned to do it tonight if you hadn¡¯t found them by then.¡±

    ¡°And the bruises on Ms. Weasley¡¯s face?¡± Dumbledore asked seriously, ¡°What about those?¡±

    ¡°Well, she was trying to break out so I had to stun her. The school bullies do way worse with their spells than pummeling somebody for a bit. I¡¯m sure it was healed with a spell or two at St. Mungo¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure Ms. Weasley felt that way about it when you hit her,¡± Dumbledore said in disapproval.

    ¡°I was just trying to help them out! They¡¯re great friends again now, aren¡¯t they?¡± Eric said in frustration. Why were they making such a big deal about this? Everyone was fine, and from what Eric had heard the trio¡¯s friendship was back and stronger than ever! They should be thanking him for what he had done, he had been right!

    ¡°And you, Mr. Weasley, Ms. Granger?¡±

    ¡°We had no idea about any of this Headmaster!¡± Hermione said, ¡°I can¡¯t believe you, Eric. How could you be so cruel?¡±

    Ron was still fuming, not even looking at Eric anymore. Eric wilted slightly. He didn¡¯t understand. Why was everyone so angry at him?

    ¡°Sorry, Hermione,¡± he said, ¡°I really was just trying to help them¡­¡±

    ¡°Helping them by hitting my bloody sister!¡± Ron exploded, ¡°You git, what did she ever do to you?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Eric said, blinking and looking around to all the stony faces around him and the angry Ron, ¡°Is that what you¡¯re all mad about? I didn¡¯t punch her or anything, it was a spell. I didn¡¯t touch any of them at all. Isn¡¯t the boil curse or jelly limb jinx way worse than what I did?¡±

    Dumbledore sighed, ¡°I see we¡¯re not going to get anywhere with this. Thank you for your confession Eric, you may return to your dorms. Amelia Bones and I will discuss what should be done.¡±

    The three of them left the Headmaster¡¯s office, Ron still fuming and Hermione not even looking at him. Eric was at a loss. Everything had made so much sense to him. Yes, he¡¯d forgotten to give them water. That was pretty bad. But he was planning to cut them down tonight either way if they hadn¡¯t been found yet, so it would have been fine either way.

    But for some reason they kept focusing on the bruises from when he had hit Ginny in the head to stop her from escaping. He had almost forgotten he¡¯d done it until they reminded him during their questioning, honestly. Now Ron was mad at him, Hermione was giving him the silent treatment¡­ He¡¯d have to explain to them tomorrow when they had calmed down and would let him explain properly. He was sure that if he framed it in the right way that he¡¯d be able to convince them. Even Ron after his protectiveness over his fake sister died down.

    Worst case, Eric could just reveal that ¡®Ginny¡¯ was actually an imposter who had bodysnatched his old sister. That would probably clear Ron¡¯s anger against Eric right up. But that was a last resort, he¡¯d have to try all his other options first to sway Ron back to his side. Ginny could turn around and confess that Eric wasn¡¯t who appeared to be either if she felt her secret was threatened¡­

    Eric turned to Hermione. She was harder. He didn¡¯t understand why she was so disappointed in him, but he didn¡¯t like it. But she was more logical, he was sure that if he explained enough then he was sure that she would understand. Hopefully.

    They¡¯d forgive him, he was sure. They were his friends, that¡¯s what they were supposed to do right?

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Dad, Mom, and Sirius visited them and got the full set of events from the three of them. Sirius had an ugly expression on his face as he heard what Eric had done, but all of the adults were relieved that they were mostly fine.

    ¡°Hey Dad? Can I borrow your communications puck? I wanted to call Balthazar and tell him about this.¡±

    ¡°I can tell him,¡± Dad promised before glancing at Jack and Alexa with a frown.

    ¡°Can I tell him myself? I already told Alexa and Jack all about him while we were trapped in the cocoon.¡±

    ¡°Well, alright,¡± Dad said before handing over the small black disk after taking it out of his robes.

    ¡°Can we talk to him alone?¡±

    Dad hesitated, before nodding, ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll be just outside. Molly, Sirius. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    The three adults filtered out and Jack and Alexa got out of their beds to stand around Ginny as she remained in her hospital bed with the puck in her hand. She tapped the top twice and it began flashing red.

    After a few seconds, the pair of eyes appeared. ¡°Arthur? What is- Ginny? What are you doing with this?¡±

    ¡°Something¡¯s happened Balthazar,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I wanted to tell you first hand what happened. Also¡­ I¡¯ve told my friends about Teregatt and everything that¡¯s really happened.¡±

    Balthazar¡¯s eyes swept to Ginny¡¯s two friends standing nearby. He fixed each of them with an intense gaze for a few seconds each.

    ¡°Alexandria or Alexa Adams? Jack Anverts? Are you sworn to secrecy?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we swore,¡± Alexa said jumping in, ¡°We won¡¯t tell anyone, even our parents. We understand how serious it must be to make sure that no one ends up finding out.¡±

    ¡°Hm. I suppose there¡¯s no taking it back now,¡± Balthazar grumbled, ¡°But I¡¯ll tell you one thing Ginny. Absolutely do not tell your parents this unless absolutely necessary. Having spent some time with them, they care very much for you. If you told them they would break your secret the second they thought you might be in danger or the Ministry could help with the situation.¡±

    ¡°I understand,¡± Ginny said, ¡°But I thought my friends deserved to know.¡±

    ¡°Very well. Tell me everything that¡¯s happened.¡±

    They did, Balthazar asking questions on exactly what had happened the whole way.

    ¡°Have you considered allowing me viewing permissions again to watch you from afar? I could have assisted you and known as soon as you were in trouble if you did,¡± Balthazar said.

    ¡°No! I know you won¡¯t try to, but I don¡¯t want you watching me in the bathroom or when I¡¯m just relaxing even by accident.¡±

    ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll have to accelerate my plans then. Over Christmas I¡¯ll give you a device similar to this one that you can simply press and call for help from me. I didn¡¯t want to reveal our connection to your Headmaster any more than necessary just yet in case he realized that you had it, but we can¡¯t allow something like this to happen again.¡±

    ¡°What about Eric?¡± Alexa asked, ¡°What if he tries to attack us or Ginny again before then?¡±

    Balthazar¡¯s pair of eyes looked at her, and Alexa looked embarrassed for a moment.

    ¡°A good question,¡± He said, ¡°I¡¯m sure your school will be on high alert for such an attempt, but¡­ I will discuss the issue with your Headmaster. If he can¡¯t provide assurances then I will assist the school with some security of my own to make sure you won¡¯t be attacked.¡±

    Ginny let out a sigh of relief. Balthazar would handle it.

    ¡°Just make sure to not provoke him in the meantime,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°I¡¯ve spent much time with Eric. It sounds like he was genuinely trying to help you even if he has a twisted way of going about it. I don¡¯t think he will attack you in truth after getting scolded by your Headmaster.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯m perfectly happy to avoid him,¡± Ginny said.

    ¡°Then I will see you for Christmas break then,¡± Balthazar before scanning her friends up and down again, ¡°Feel free to bring your friends. I¡¯m interested to finally meet the two friends you talk about so much in person¡­¡±

    The puck turned black and the pair of eyes disappeared again.

    ¡°You talked about us?¡± Jack asked, ¡°What did you tell him?¡±

    ¡°Er, I don¡¯t know,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Nothing bad. Just whatever came to mind about my day including you two. He¡¯s a great sounding board. I can just talk and talk to him and feel better at the end despite him not even saying that much back most of the time.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯ll be so strange to meet him in person. He really has horns and bat wings?¡± Alexa asked.

    ¡°Yep, and red skin. Just like how Jack and his parents have dark skin,¡± Ginny said.

    Alexa and Jack blinked and seemed stunned for a few seconds.

    ¡°What? He has red skin? How¡¯s that the same as me?¡± Jack asked.

    ¡°Well, people must have all sorts of skin colors right? We¡¯re just in an area with a lot of white skinned people right? But there¡¯s a few people like you Jack with dark skin. So there must be areas where people have red or green skin or all the other colors too, right, even if there¡¯s only a few of them! Balthazar has red skin so there should be other people with colorful skin around the world even if there aren''t any at our school.¡±

    ¡°Is Balthazar even human?¡± Alexa said, ¡°Doesn¡¯t he have horns and bat wings? Why would how he looks have anything to do with humans?¡±

    Ginny slowly blinked. ¡°Oh. I¡­ never thought about it that way? Wait, is that wrong? There¡¯s nobody with colorful skin out there?¡±

    ¡°No, no I don¡¯t think so,¡± Jack said, seeming a little stunned, ¡°Don¡¯t you have Harry¡¯s memories? How did you not figure that out sooner? This is ridiculous¡­ How did this never come up before?¡±

    Ginny frowned, ¡°I try to not use the memories. Feels disrespectful to Harry¡¯s memory, so I only do it when I really need to. Wait, so that¡¯s really it? Light to dark, that¡¯s it for humans? Man, I was looking forward to meeting somebody with one of the less common colors this whole time¡­¡±

    ¡°That would be pretty cool, wouldn¡¯t it?¡± Alexa said, ¡°Just meeting someone that was blue or purple or something out of nowhere. Now I feel a bit bad for bursting your bubble.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, there might be some out there,¡± Jack said, ¡°People have accidents with human transfiguration that cause all sorts of permanent effects. Maybe there are some people out there with bright red skin from that?¡±

    They both stared at him for a second, before Ginny sat up, ¡°Hey, yeah! So my dream isn''t dead! Maybe it can still happen!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s always a chance!¡± Alexa said, ¡°I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll stumble across someone like that eventually.¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Ginny said, feeling much better after suffering through her initial wave of disappointment.

    ¡°Ridiculous,¡± Jack muttered in half disbelief as Alexa went over and opened the door to let the adults know to come back in to get Balthazar¡¯s communicator back.

 Chapter 56: The Headmaster Becomes The Student

    Ginny, Alexa, and Jack returned to school the next day to discover that Eric would be in detention every day for the rest of the year with Lockhart of all people. Not only that, but Dumbledore had stood up during the dinner feast on Tuesday and announced what had happened and Eric¡¯s punishment to everyone to shame him. Ginny had thought it was a light punishment for something that could have gotten them killed, especially a detention with a professor as nice although self-absorbed as Lockhart was.

    But Eric¡¯s face had dropped and it looked like he¡¯d been punched in the gut at the announcement, the punishment causing him to become more emotional than Ginny was used to seeing him. Lockhart stood at the professor¡¯s table beaming and smiling at the news, looking rather satisfied that Eric would be serving detention with him every school day for the rest of the year.

    Based on Eric¡¯s reaction, maybe Dumbledore knew what he was doing, sending Eric to Lockhart. There was another article in the paper written by Rita Skeeter crowing about how she had been right. How Eric was a jealous braggart, taking revenge on Ginny for her win at the first task. How Ginny was the upstanding and talented competitor being dragged down by the talentless and jealous Eric.

    Eric stewed and looked angry as he glared at the paper, but he left Ginny and her friends alone and didn¡¯t try to approach any of them much to her relief. There was only one more week until Christmas break. Hermione seemed to have inexplicably forgiven Eric for what he¡¯d done, although she was still rather annoyed at him. It was odd seeing Eric just sitting there as she scolded him for something or other harshly when he did something minor wrong as she took her annoyance out on him.

    Ron still wasn¡¯t speaking to Eric, but even over the course of a few days Ginny could already see him weakening and beginning to pass food to Eric silently when he pointed to something on the table just out of reach for him.

    He¡¯d probably break and the two of them would make up before the week was out, Ginny thought sourly. Fred and George didn¡¯t seem too happy with Ron¡¯s behavior either, rather frustrated that Ron still hadn¡¯t cut ties to Eric after what had happened. Ginny still hadn¡¯t talked to her brother about it, but she expected Christmas with Ron to be rather tense.

    The week passed and sure enough Ron was speaking to Eric again by the end of it, even if it was only a few sentences at a time as the three of them sat together in the great hall.

    They left and went home for Christmas, Ginny feeling much better. She¡¯d be getting her panic button from Balthazar for the future. After sending letters to their parents, Jack and Alexa would be coming over to a party at Sirius¡¯ house three days before Christmas where they could meet Balthazar. And their parents too, Ginny wondered how they would react to Balthazar. Hopefully Jack and Alexa would warn them in time¡­

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Balthazar lowered the communicator after talking with Ginny and her friends. She had shared all her secrets with them. It was only a matter of time now before more people knew. Whether through betrayal or unknowingly tipping off others with their knowledge, Ginny¡¯s friends would expose Ginny¡¯s secrets over time.

    But she¡¯d made her decision, so it was best to work around it as best as he could. He had been delaying his next step for when the wards at Azkaban were finished to his satisfaction. But he had accomplished most of what he would need. Working at the Wolf-kin clinic with young Olivia Roberts was surprisingly fulfilling, and would be a good introduction to Balthazar for Headmaster Dumbledore. Show him that Balthazar was both benevolent but also powerful enough to not play games with.

    Balthazar took out a piece of parchment and spent some time crafting an introductory letter explaining what he wished to offer the Headmaster. He sealed it and then with some focus sent the letter to apparate through the Hogwarts wards into the Headmaster¡¯s office. The wards were strong and adaptable. Far more than Balthazar had seen even on Azkaban or any other place in this world. But Balthazar was skilled, and to him they were nothing more than an annoyance as he carefully delivered his letter.

    He sat back on a chair and started rubbing his chin as he thought. Tomorrow morning he¡¯d be meeting Headmaster Dumbledore hopefully. He¡¯d have to consider all the angles, what approaches he should take from there. He couldn¡¯t risk anything while the powerful wizard remained in charge of the school where Ginny and Eric resided together. Disaster could strike at any moment if Eric had a sudden whim to hurt Ginny again. No chances could be taken to make the headmaster hostile to Balthazar and possibly cause him to punish Ginny indirectly as a result.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Balthazar stood in the back room of the Wolf-kin Clinic. He¡¯d only been working full time here for the last three weeks or so. He¡¯d received a constant flow of werewolves to alter ever since he¡¯d arrived. Teregatt was strong, providing him with the magical strength to continue easily now that it had a magical source to power itself by. It had nearly recovered its emergency reserves of magic over these last few months, but Balthazar freely used his magic for the clinic. This was only a drop in the bucket compared to how much energy Teregatt drew into itself through the portal on a permanent basis at all hours of the day.

    Balthazar felt the tiniest spark of his intrinsic magic sputter back into life in his soul after its long disuse. It had never fully snuffed itself, but now separated from Teregatt partially, Balthazar¡¯s soul began drawing on the spark of intrinsic magic once more. Under the strain and constant use the spark slowly grew stronger and stronger as time passed. Still a spark, and weaker than what any magical creature or person had ever been born with before. But slowly growing, and someday Balthazar would no longer wholly be dependent on Teregatt for his magic any longer.

    Balthazar looked up and saw Sharon wheeling in another trolley with an unconscious werewolf lying on top of it. Balthazar finished up with his current patient, and did his final checks on everything to make sure the procedure was a success. After making sure he floated an ink stamp with his magic and pressed it onto the back of the patient¡¯s right hand. Something to make sure that there were no mix-ups of who had been fully treated or not.

    Sharon had been hired from the wizarding hospital, and she was refreshingly competent in making sure that everything went smoothly in their operation along with the other nurses that worked under her. But only Sharon herself was allowed to wheel the patients into Balthazar¡¯s mysterious operation room and its double doors and multitude of impenetrable wards.

    There had been many attempts to break in, and all had been foiled so far, to the point where when the Aurors came the criminals were sometimes caught still trying to blast open the doors with massive explosive curses in frustration only to not leave a scratch on them by the time the Aurors arrived to arrest them.

    Young Olivia Roberts and a few of the other grateful Wolf-kin helped run the front end of processing and reassuring the nervous werewolves before Sharon and the nurses actually prepared them for treatment by Balthazar. The nurses spelled them unconscious and organized everything so the patients could flow smoothly in and out at whatever pace that Balthazar worked.

    Balthazar lifted the patient he had just stamped onto an empty trolley to his right. Sharon grabbed it and started wheeling it out into the main building through the double doors again.

    She paused briefly, ¡°Oh, Olivia tells me that Albus Dumbledore has told her that you have invited him to come back here to meet you? Should we let him through?¡±

    Balthazar paused even as his magic loaded the next unconscious werewolf onto the operating table, ¡°You would really stand against him? Is he not one of the most powerful men in Britain?¡±

    Sharon huffed and gestured to all the enchanted equipment around them and Balthazar himself.

    ¡°So people say, I think he¡¯s got some competition now,¡± She said.

    ¡°Even so,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°Even if I am as, if not more, powerful as him, it is not easy to stand in the middle between us either way.¡±

    Sharon frowned, ¡°I used to work at St. Mungo¡¯s as I¡¯m sure you know. He went into little Ginny Weasley¡¯s room without permission and tried to convince her to break her familiar bond with the phoenix that he owned at the time. Completely inappropriate and I gave him an appropriate tongue lashing for it. I¡¯ve not been one to have a high opinion of the man since.¡±

    Balthazar looked at Sharon in surprise. ¡°You¡¯re that Sharon? Ginny spoke of you, she had quite the favorable review of your care.¡±

    ¡°Oh? She did?¡± Sharon said, brightening a little, ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure if she¡¯d remember me. To think that she¡¯d become a triwizarding champion and be friends with Olivia Roberts too¡­ Small world, I suppose.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I suppose it is. I invited Dumbledore here. It¡¯s my hope to tutor him in performing the operation himself. That way the clinic won¡¯t be fully reliant on me in case I become¡­ occupied by anything.¡±

    Sharon stared at him while still standing with the trolley with the sleeping Wolf-kin on top of it.

    ¡°Is that something that you¡¯re expecting to happen? I¡¯ll change the schedule to whatever you like, I know you¡¯re essentially a volunteer. You¡¯re a good man for doing all of this for no material gain that I can tell. You haven¡¯t even shown your face in public yet to claim credit for all your hard work.¡±

    ¡°Nor do I plan to,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°But¡­ Thank you. It¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve thought of myself as a good man. That will be all.¡±

    ¡°Okay Balthazar, I¡¯ll send him right in.¡±

    She left with the Wolf-kin out the doors. Several minutes later she returned with an empty trolley, with Albus Dumbledore in tow. He looked exactly how he had looked over the communicator. His eyes darted around the room to take it all in with a piercing gaze. His long white beard running down to his chest and wearing a squarish felt cap sitting on top of his head.

    His eyes settled on Balthazar as Sharon continued and placed the empty trolley on the right of the operating table where the unconscious werewolf still lay. Balthazar had not begun the operation yet so he could show Dumbledore the process from the beginning.

    Sharon went to leave.

    ¡°Ah, Sharon.¡± The woman stopped and looked at Balthazar, ¡°We will be much slower as Dumbledore here learns the process. Perhaps have everyone take a break for a few hours. We¡¯ll be working on this patient for about that long I believe.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll leave someone waiting by the signal light outside,¡± Sharon promised, ¡°But it would be nice to have a break for once. We¡¯ve been running ourselves rather ragged now that you¡¯ve been helping us full time¡­¡±

    She left.

    ¡°Signal light?¡± Dumbledore asked curiously.

    Balthazar pointed to a lever on the wall which was in an off position at the moment.

    ¡°The lever causes a light to flash by the outer doors. I turn it on when I am nearly finished with a patient and am ready to receive a new one. Sharon¡¯s idea, not mine. This place would fall apart without her guidance, I¡¯m sure.¡±

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Indeed. So, not that I am not eager to learn how you perform such a fascinating procedure. But I must ask. Why me? Any witch or wizard would clamor for the chance to learn this. Why not share the technique with the world?¡±

    ¡°I could, and I am,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°I am teaching you for that purpose to share it as you wish, with proper discretion. This technique has many horrible and inhumane uses in the wrong hands. You will understand when we are finished, but altering the fundamental nature of a being is something that can lead to horrific results if done improperly. Do you swear to use the knowledge I will impart to you responsibly and make sure that should you believe that you can not find one worthy to hold this knowledge in your stead, that you will carry the knowledge to your grave with its secrets having never left your lips into the ear of another?¡±

    Dumbledore stared at Balthazar and seemed to seriously consider Balthazar¡¯s oath. He nodded, ¡°I do, I swear to do so and protect this knowledge so it does not fall into the wrong hands.¡±

    ¡°Excellent. The second reason I have chosen you is because of your magical power, and your ability to use wandless magic and magic sense no matter how little. You may use your wand as you wish, but the magic sense is critical. How far above your skin can you sense the flows of magic?¡±

    Dumbledore¡¯s eyes widened briefly before he frowned, ¡°I do not believe I informed anyone else of my magic sense. But it is precisely seven inches above my skin that I can sense.¡±

    ¡°That is sufficient. You will need it to feel the magic flowing in the patient. This will be where we will begin. Place your hand over the patient''s stomach. Feel the magic flow within them. Ah, I¡¯ve just realized we will need a comparison. This will¡­ Hm. Give me a moment. Begin your observations on the magic as finely as you can for the moment.¡±

    Dumbledore hesitated before nodding and putting his hand over the stomach of the male werewolf and closing his eyes, furrowing his brow.

    Balthazar took out his communicator from his robes and activated it. After a few seconds Sharon answered with voice only on her own device.

    ¡°Yes, Balthazar? Anything you need?¡±

    ¡°Are any of the male nurses similar age and body type as our most recent patient? I¡¯ve just realized that we¡¯ll need a normal magical human baseline to compare to the werewolves for my teaching of Dumbledore. They would be knocked unconscious for this of course. If none of the nurses wish to do so, try to find some volunteers elsewhere with as close a match as possible. We shouldn¡¯t need them for another hour or two at least I believe. ¡±

    There was a short pause.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get right on it. I¡¯ll call you when I¡¯ve found somebody close enough that¡¯s willing to do it.¡±

    ¡°Actually,¡± Balthazar said, changing his mind at the last second, ¡°Don¡¯t bother doing so for today. Try to prepare a duo of werewolf and healthy human for tomorrow with the same parameters. That should make things easier for you, I would think.¡±

    ¡°Sure thing, Balthazar. I¡¯ll look through the files and see how close I can get. That shouldn''t be too hard, I wouldn''t think, to find a good pair.¡±

    She ended the call and Balthazar slipped the communicator back into his pocket.

    Balthazar turned back around and noticed that Dumbledore had become distracted and was staring at Balthazar curiously, ¡°There, that should be sorted by the time we need it,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°Now we shall return to our analysis of our patient. I will now use my magic to highlight points of interest in the werewolf¡¯s flows of magic. We will scan through the patient¡¯s whole body meticulously so you can firmly grasp the flows of magic within the patient.¡±

    Dumbledore glanced between the unconscious werewolf and Balthazar.

    ¡°You expect this to take two hours? Forgive an old man, but I believe I will be forced to take some breaks on our way. I am unused to such sustained focus in my day to day.¡±

    ¡°Very well, take what rests you need. Now let us begin. Look again at the magic.¡±

    Balthazar remained standing as Dumbledore closed his eyes again and focused on the magic within the werewolf. Balthazar took his own magic and highlighted the portion representing the werewolf curse and magnified it to a million times the intensity of its natural subtle state. Dumbledore flinched, his hand jerking off of the werewolf¡¯s stomach in surprise.

    ¡°What is this?¡± He asked.

    ¡°This is the werewolf curse, or the parts of this man¡¯s magic that are most closely aligned with it. I have used my magic to highlight it to you so you may observe and understand its flows and structure more easily.¡±

    ¡°Fascinating¡­¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°I¡¯ve never seen such a complex curse before, it¡¯s almost like it¡¯s part of their magic. Dipping in and out of the streams like fish in water¡­¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± Balthazar said, pleasantly surprised by Dumbledore¡¯s observations, ¡°An apt analogy. That is why it is so hard to cure. This man is no longer a human, but a werewolf fundamentally. It¡¯s only the lack of the moonlight trigger that is causing him to retain his human form now. In order to transform him into a wolf-kin, there is no cure to the disease. There is no rooting it out. There is only altering, twisting, forming, a new being with the power of our magic. A wolf-kin. It is not a cure that we do here, but a changing of the curse, of them, to a more beneficial form.¡±

    Dumbledore looked up at Balthazar with a piercing look and a flash of doubt came across his face. ¡°Perhaps I am not worthy of power like that¡­¡± Dumbledore whispered.

    ¡°Only those who believe they are not worthy are, for power like this. It is not a power to take lightly. Remember your oath, those who did not are likely the ones that created this terrible curse in the first place.¡±

    ¡°I shall do my best,¡± Dumbledore said firmly, recovering from his momentary doubt and refocusing on the patient.

    ¡°Very well, then let us begin the scan of the patient. Stop and observe what you see about the curse as we go along. I shall fill you in on my own findings as we continue.¡±

    Dumbledore only ended up needing three short breaks in what ended up being the four hours it took to fully scan the unconscious patient. Longer than Balthazar had expected it to take. But the old man was sharp in mind and made astute observations on the curse. Balthazar was impressed even as he occasionally corrected Dumbledore¡¯s assumptions or incorrect knowledge that he had been taught about magic. Occasionally Balthazar was forced to make demonstrations with his own magic when Dumbledore was adamant about that or this law of magic being irrefutable.

    The old man stopped arguing with Balthazar¡¯s assertions after the fifth of his irrefutable laws of magic were proven false by Balthazar. Perhaps these laws of magic were ironclad for those who relied on wands, as limited they were by their materials and enchantments within them. But magic itself was limitless, able to accomplish anything given enough power and force of will of the user to force reality to mold itself to their desires.

    The old man was a quick learner, and after Balthazar proved his knowledge over and over he became quite the eager student, his eyes gleaming and a smile on his face as they kept with their observations on the werewolf. Only the man¡¯s weak body forced him to pause and sit in a chair for a few minutes to recover. But as soon as he was ready, he had sprung up and dove back into the observations.

    By the time that Dumbledore had finished, Balthazar saw that the man was clearly exhausted despite his eagerness to continue.

    ¡°I believe that will be all for now. Perhaps you should call it a day, Dumbledore,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°You have learned much in a short time. Perhaps you should take some time to digest it.¡±

    The old man composed himself, and the excited glint in his eyes slowly faded into faint disappointment.

    ¡°Indeed. I had thought myself at the peak of magic, but now I see that I¡¯ve barely even scratched the surface. It reminds me of my youth, diving into the wonders of magic for the first time. Learning and improving all that I could when it was all so new to me¡­¡±

    Dumbledore had a distant gaze as he apparently reflected on his past. He refocused after a moment.

    ¡°How? What did you do to acquire such deep knowledge of magic? Why share it with me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve told you why in my letter,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°If I am indisposed I do not want to dangle hope in front of the werewolves only to snatch it away from them again. I need someone with moral fiber and power to be able to continue this clinic into the future.¡±

    ¡°But how? You know things that could shake the world of magic. Disproving theorems of magic that have stood untouched for centuries with ease. Wandless magic like I¡¯ve never seen, far beyond my pitiful efforts. How could you have acquired this knowledge?¡±

    ¡°How did I gain this knowledge¡­¡± Balthazar said and looked into his red hands. Was it the red of his skin or the red of all the blood he had spilt in his service to Teregatt? Sometimes it was hard to remember.

    ¡°Sacrifice,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°Knowledge that more power at the right moment could have saved the one dearest to me. Just a little faster, a little stronger¡­ And she would still be with me today. Through the terror and madness of battle where the silence after is just as horrible as the screams of the warriors as they burn. Knowing that if I was just that more powerful then suddenly I wouldn¡¯t lose anyone I cared for anymore. Lose anyone ever again. That¡¯s what pushed me forward.¡±

    Balthazar reflected on his love, the end. They had been escaping to the exit portal away from the homeworld. The enemy warriors and wizards were chasing after them. She had wanted to fight, to battle to the last to protect their home and their homeworld. But Balthazar had pleaded with her to go, for the both of them to survive instead. He was surprised he had managed to convince her to do so. She had always been so stubborn and ready to fight in visceral combat even more than all women of his people did.

    But she had agreed to leave, to flee through the portal with him and abandon the home they had built together as a couple for decades of their long lives. But there, barring the way to the portal, was the enemy wizard. Balthazar had fought him, the greatest magical talent of their homeworld going to battle with a low level wizard sent in the first wave of the enemy invasion.

    His love held back the warriors behind them with her blade as he combated the enemy wizard who blocked their escape with his magic. Yet, despite all his efforts, all his training, using every trick he knew¡­ He lost. The wizard just barely defeated him, ground him into the dirt even while the man bled from a thousand small wounds that Balthazar had given him and looked nearly spent.

    Even with Balthazar¡¯s battered body, he had managed to turn his head to see his love pierced through with multiple glowing spears. The wizard he had failed to defeat struck her down with his spells while her back was turned fighting the other warriors to a standstill. She staggered as blood ran in giant spurts from her body where the spears had pierced her.

    Balthazar had reached out a single hand through his blurry vision towards her as her body hit the ground. A single half formed gesture to reach out, as if he would be able to pluck her or wipe away the foul illusion that her pain and gruesome injuries must be. But then he was drawn into Teregatt by its original owner¡¯s powerful magic in a burst of red light to transport him away in an instant.

    He had begged and pleaded, for the man to include his love in the deal, to save her, to do something. But the man was firm, she had no magical talent. Only Balthazar was wanted and no other. Balthazar only had two options. Serve Teregatt and its master or return to his homeworld and be killed by the enemy warriors there. He had chosen to serve, even as grieved for his lost love and world.

    All the friends and warriors for Teregatt that had joined and died ever since in a never ending line in an endless state of war and conquest. All of them were killed in that last battle where the old owner and his great armies of Teregatt bit off more than they could chew and were destroyed utterly. Marching out as conquerors only to be destroyed themselves in turn, Teregatt¡¯s ruler¡¯s folly led to the loss of all that had gone with him. Leaving only Balthazar, the Guard, and the weakest of Teregatt¡¯s residents behind to float aimlessly in the void before Teregatt¡¯s automatic inheritance functions had anchored itself to this world to search for candidates upon sensing their old master¡¯s demise. The survivors were but a faded remnant of what Teregatt used to be. The lass dregs of what had been an endless engine of war across the myriad of worlds they had passed through and conquered.

    ¡°Sacrifice,¡± Balthazar said as he came back to reality, ¡°To be powerful enough to protect the people I care for. A foolish hope, it¡¯s never enough. Never enough¡­¡±

    He kept staring at his blood stained hands.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for your loss,¡± Dumbledore said softly, ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to pry into something so personal. I have my own¡­ complicated relationship with power. I have learned that I am not one to be trusted with power, lest I hurt the people I most care for in the pursuit of it. One of the reasons I¡¯ve satisfied myself with political connections and acting as Headmaster instead of seeking out more personal power in my life. A softer from of power with less ability to corrupt me than becoming more powerful in my magic would.¡±

    Balthazar looked up and saw an odd sort of fear as Dumbledore glanced between the unconscious werewolf on the table and Balthazar.

    ¡°I think I understand,¡± Balthazar said as he came back to himself, ¡°Power is also a responsibility. Perhaps you are wiser now than you were when you made your mistakes in the past.¡±

    Dumbledore looked pensive, ¡°I certainly hope so, with the magnitude of what you have taught me in this single lesson.¡±

    ¡°Go, think on what you¡¯ve learned. Come back once you¡¯re sure that you¡¯re ready to overcome your fear and prove yourself a man who can learn from his mistakes.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Balthazar. You¡¯ve certainly given me much to think about. It has been a long time since this old man has had a teacher so above me in skill and knowledge of magic.¡±

    Dumbledore left and Balthazar¡¯s eyes tracked him out of the door. He could only hope that the man would return ready to accept responsibility for this knowledge. If Dumbledore refused out of his fear of corrupting himself with power¡­ Then Balthazar wasn¡¯t sure he¡¯d be able to find anyone else who¡¯d be able to transform the werewolves into wolf-kin in years if not decades of teaching. Fate would attack and things would descend into chaos for Teregatt before that would happen.

    He could only hope that the man would return. And if their second lesson went well¡­ then perhaps Balthazar could discuss Ginny Weasley and Eric Potter and make sure that Ginny and her friends were properly protected. Best to make his requests appear as casual concerns rather than something utterly critical to secure.

 Chapter 57: The Christmas Gift

    ¡°Oh hey Olivia! By the way, how¡¯s the Clinic going? I heard that Balthazar¡¯s been able to cure a lot of people in the last few months.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes he has,¡± Olivia said happily as she shifted on the couch where she sat next to Ginny, ¡°Remember that werewolf pack where you found me? I managed to get all of them priority spots on the list. All five hundred of them finished converting just two months ago. Even with how fast Balthazar goes, the list just keeps getting longer and longer. It¡¯s worldwide news, the Ministry had to create a whole new type of visa just for international werewolves coming in to come get treated at the clinic.¡±

    ¡°I never thought I¡¯d end up enjoying being a glorified door greeter, but I kinda do,¡± Olivia continued, ¡°I just walk around the lobby and explain to the werewolves what the clinic does and not to be scared of it, reassure them that it¡¯s not all a trick you know. There¡¯s a big mural of me as a wolf-kin in the lobby behind the main desk now¡­ Kinda embarrassing to be perfectly honest. I look like I¡¯m in one of those old war posters with my sleeves rolled up and looking into the middle distance and everything in my wolf-kin form¡­¡±

    ¡°You are kind of famous,¡± Ginny joked, ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t they make a big mural of you there?¡±

    ¡°It just feels like¡­ too much, you know?¡± Olivia complained, ¡°I just sat on my butt and got treated first. Balthazar and Sirius are the ones that deserve all the credit. Mostly Balthazar. I was just someone that got lucky.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you look much prettier for the mural than Sirius would,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I¡¯ve got to see it now, it sounds like it makes you look very heroic.¡±

    ¡°Gah! I know,¡± Olivia said, ¡°You know what¡¯s the worst part? The big heroic mural actually makes my job way easier. The werewolves trust me a lot more when they can see me in my wolf-kin form on the wall and know what I look like when I¡¯m¡­ one of them I suppose. And they figure that since I¡¯m big on the wall that I must be somebody important that they should listen to. I really thought that I¡¯d just be an Auror after graduation, not whatever I am now.¡±

    ¡°C¡¯mon!¡± Ginny said, ¡°Tell me that you would have liked being an Auror more than what you¡¯re doing now? Maybe you were made to be a healer. Did you just want to hex people? Was that it?¡±

    ¡°Noooooo,¡± Olivia said, ¡°Not¡­ that wasn¡¯t all of it. Plus, I get to hex plenty of people in the clinic. Werewolves are an aggressive lot, you¡¯ve got to show some of them who¡¯s boss if they try to get up in your face about something. Mostly people who think they can intimidate me to get a better spot in line.¡±

    ¡°What? They really do that? Just threaten you in front of everybody to get a better spot?¡±

    Olivia shrugged, ¡°The spots are valuable. Really valuable. Almost every werewolf out there in the world wants the treatment and there¡¯s only one clinic. I don¡¯t deal with that luckily. That¡¯s all Sharon¡¯s department. She¡¯s no nonsense, any funny business and somebody gets completely booted from the list and put to the end of the line. It¡¯s a very long line by now, it¡¯s a pretty serious threat she¡¯s wielding there.¡±

    ¡°Huh. Let¡¯s get back to the important part though. You really just wanted to be an Auror because you thought that they would be fighting and casting spells at people all the time?¡±

    ¡°Shush! Don¡¯t put words in my mouth, I never said that. Plus, what does it matter anyways? I like where I¡¯m at right now either way.¡±

    Ginny nodded sagely, ¡°Of course. Of course. You get to be all nice to people, and then when they get out of line¡­ Bam! You hex them just like you did to Preston.¡±

    Olivia grinned, ¡°Something like that. Being the Ravenclaw Prefect was a pretty good practice run.¡±

    ¡°Hey, when do you think you¡¯ll be getting your first statue?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°I wonder if they¡¯ll put you in the Ministry building somewhere.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not getting a statue,¡± Olivia said firmly, ¡°I don¡¯t deserve anything like that.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what someone who deserves a statue would say¡­¡± Ginny teased, ¡°Maybe you should write some books like Lockhart.¡±

    Olivia got a glint in her eye and smiled slightly, ¡°Don¡¯t compare me to that hack. I doubt he did even half of the stuff in his books. Don¡¯t even, or you¡¯re going to get it.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Ginny said, ¡°You won¡¯t be Lockhart. You¡¯ll be better than Lockhart! You¡¯ll write twice the number of books! Heroic Olivia going through the villages and saving the handsome local village boys from the jaws of the monsters with all their shirts half ripped off and stuff!¡±

    ¡°Why you!¡± Olivia said, ¡°I warned you!¡±

    The older girl leapt forward and before Ginny could stop her had her trapped in a headlock. Olivia took her other fist and started rubbing it furiously on the top of Ginny¡¯s head, causing her hair to stick up all over the place.

    ¡°Hey, hey! Stop it!¡± Ginny said even as she giggled slightly, ¡°I¡¯m just joking, joking.¡±

    Olivia released her and Ginny leapt up to escape before taking a few steps away. Ginny struck a heroic pose like she imagined Olivia¡¯s mural would look like.

    ¡°I am Olivia Roberts!¡± Ginny said in a deep voice, ¡°Princess of the wolf-kin! I fight in the name of justice and honor! To protect the innocent and push back the monsters of the night!¡±

    ¡°Stop it!¡± Olivia said, jumping up and starting to run after Ginny, ¡°C¡¯mon!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, my loyal and trusty companion Ginny!¡± Ginny said through her suppressed giggles as Olivia chased her all around Sirius¡¯ house, dodging around the bemused adults scattered about as they ran.

    ¡°Onto the next village!¡± Ginny shouted as Olivia was about to catch her, ¡°I, Olivia Roberts, shall save you with the power of the noble wolf within and the power of love and friendship both!¡±

    Olivia reached Ginny and grabbed her and got her in a headlock again and started messing up her hair more.

    ¡°I¡¯ll show you a hero, you little drama queen!¡± Olivia said through her own laughter. Ginny slipped out of Olivia¡¯s grip and continued to flee even as she puffed out her chest and tried to act heroic.

    ¡°Betrayal! Betrayal! I, princess of the wolf-kin, Olivia, shall have to go ahead alone. So many cute village boys in danger, so little time to go save them! We¡¯ll have to split up from here, my trustworthy and loyal companion, Ginny!¡±

    Now even the adults were watching on and laughing at their antics, Olivia¡¯s cheeks and neck flushed a deep red from embarrassment as she chased Ginny and missed her grabs for her. Ginny was fit, and she was just barely able to stay ahead while shouting more heroic catchphrases the whole way.

    ¡°Why, I defeated the snorlack rumpleskin with a single howl! Thing was frightened off by my mere reputation!¡± Ginny said, doing her best to channel what she imagined Lockhart might say about his books.

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    ¡°And then¡­¡±

    Ginny reached a doorway and ran through, only to run into something hard and bounce off.

    ¡°Ooooff,¡± She said as the air was driven out of her lungs and she fell back onto her butt on the floor. She looked up and saw Balthazar standing there peering down at her from the doorway.

    ¡°Oh, sorry Balthazar,¡± Ginny said. Olivia came to a stop just behind Ginny and reached a hand down by the back of Ginny¡¯s neck and reached under her long red hair running down her back. With a flick of her arm, Olivia flipped Ginny¡¯s hair up and over Ginny¡¯s head so it drooped down at the front and covered her face.

    Ginny blew out some air from her mouth to clear her vision and then reached up and flipped her hair back over.

    ¡°Thanks, Olivia,¡± Ginny said sarcastically, calming down from her giggling state and feeling a little calmer now.

    ¡°That¡¯s what you get, impersonating such a famous hero like me, you little rascal,¡± Olivia said cheerfully.

    Ginny looked up and saw that Balthazar was hesitating as he looked at her for some reason. After another second he leaned down slightly and reached out his hand.

    ¡°Would you like a hand up, Ginny?¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Ginny said as the moment of tension broke, ¡°Sure, thanks. Sorry about bumping into you.¡±

    Balthazar¡¯s big red hand wrapped around Ginny¡¯s own and lifted her to her feet. She released his hand and turned to Olivia.

    ¡°Is it time for cake yet? I¡¯m feeling cake after all that running.¡±

    ¡°Me too. Mhhmmmm. But your hair¡¯s a mess, you should really get on that,¡± Olivia replied with a smirk.

    ¡°Grrrrrr.¡±

    Ginny turned back to Balthazar, ¡°Oh, and I told Dad and Sirius to get double the cakes so that you could have as much as you wanted. I noticed that last time you seemed to really like them.¡±

    Balthazar looked rather startled at the revelation.

    ¡°I know! I can¡¯t believe they didn¡¯t already know! You ate a lot of it last time, I thought they would have noticed. But I told them, so it¡¯s all fine, you¡¯ll get a whole cake to yourself if you want it.¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s¡­ Thank you, Ginny,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°That¡¯s very thoughtful of you.¡±

    ¡°Oh, okay. You¡¯re welcome I guess. You don¡¯t have to eat it all, I¡¯m sure piggy Olivia over here will have some extra if you put it in front of her. Now, C¡¯mon. Let¡¯s go, we¡¯ve got some cake to eat!¡±

    ¡°When have I ever been piggy? You¡¯re just making that up!¡±

    Ginny and Olivia began walking over to the kitchen with Balthazar following after them a second later.

    ¡°Oink oink. Piiiiggggyyy Olivvviiiaaa!¡±

    Ginny was having a lot of fun just goofing around and being immature with Olivia as they started bickering goodnaturedly as the cakes were taken out and started being passed out to everyone. Olivia felt like the cool older sister that Ginny had never had.

    Olivia was practically adopted by Sirius by now even if no one quite called it that. The two of them had seemed to quietly accept that kind of father/daughter dynamic even if no one had commented on formalizing anything with paperwork just yet.

    Everyone filtered in as the cake started getting passed out. It was Sirius, Dad, then the Anverts and Adams¡¯. Alexa and Jack¡¯s parents had been remarkably accepting of Balthazar after their initial shock in seeing him.

    ¡°Nearly scared the pants off of me!¡± Mr. Adams had said, ¡°Ah, but all this magic stuff is all so strange to me either way. May as well go along with it when I meet somebody looking as strange as you, Balthazar. Finding out that our little Alexa had magic of all things was a bigger shock to us than that.¡±

    Alexa and Jack had returned from where they had been exploring Sirius¡¯ house again.

    ¡°Oh hi Balthazar,¡± Alexa said, ¡°Sorry, could you pass me one of the plates?¡±

    Balthazar blinked, but then pointed a finger and two plates lifted out of the stack and floated over to hover just in front of Alexa and Jack.

    ¡°Thanks, Balthazar!¡± Alexa chirped as she and Jack grabbed the offered hovering plates. The two of them got in line for cake, seeming to both already having already forgotten what had just happened.

    They all had cake. It was very good. Balthazar ate the whole portion they had reserved for him. It seems that he really did like it.

    Actually, he had really liked the big dinner they¡¯d had an hour ago too. Maybe he just really liked food, and it was only the sweets last time that had turned him off a bit? Should she have gotten him food instead? Maybe he wouldn¡¯t like her gift for him¡­

    Time passed, and it was getting late and it was almost time for all of them to start heading home.

    ¡°Dad, do you have the thing?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Where¡¯d you put it?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll get it real quick. Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t think anyone¡¯s leaving just yet,¡± Dad assured her. He went into the house and after a few minutes returned with a little box wrapped in colorful paper with a red bow holding it closed at the top. Dad handed it to her and she carefully accepted it, making sure not to rip the paper.

    She turned around and saw that Mr. Anverts was staring at her.

    ¡°Oh? Ginny, what¡¯s that?¡± He asked, ¡°A gift?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± She said before turning to Balthazar who was awkwardly standing in the corner of the room even as he partially joined the conversation with a comment or two every once in a while.

    ¡°It¡¯s for Balthazar,¡± She said, ¡°I thought that since he wouldn¡¯t be spending Christmas with any of us, I¡¯d get him something. Well with my Dad¡¯s help, but I picked it out.¡±

    Ginny held up the box and Balthazar gingerly accepted it. He stared at it for a while without doing anything.

    ¡°You pull open the bow and take off the paper,¡± Ginny supplied as she realized the problem, ¡°The gift is inside the box.¡±

    ¡°Oh, yes. Of course,¡± Balthazar said absently as he used one hand to unravel the bow in one motion before peeling back the wrapping paper. He opened the lid of the inner box and pulled out the object inside.

    ¡°It¡¯s a magical snow globe,¡± Ginny said after Balthazar inspected the thing in his hand for over fifteen seconds without saying anything, ¡°You shake it and it looks like snow is falling for a while. There¡¯s a little man in there that goes around the fake town and helps people who are in trouble. There¡¯s a cat stuck in the tree, somebody¡¯s mail was in the street instead of at their door, helping an old lady cross the road¡­ There¡¯s a bunch of them in there, he only does a couple of the options each time. Dad helped me change it so the helpful man looks like you! I thought it would be perfect because of how much you¡¯ve helped Olivia and me.¡±

    Balthazar stared at the snow globe and watched the tiny Balthazar inside pick up a itty bitty newspaper and throw it to the door of the nearest house.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± He said softly, ¡°I will treasure it.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Balthazar sat in his room, staring at the snow globe still. He didn¡¯t have to sleep, but he chose to now that he was back in a full realm with a real day night cycle. So here he sat on his bed with the fragile little snowglobe between his hands, watching the little figurines inside move.

    He must have watched the pre-programmed little loops a thousand times by now. Its enchantment was simple, fragile. The movements of the figurines in the enchanted object were simplistic and rigid. Yet he couldn¡¯t look away. Was this how Ginny, how all of them saw him? Like this man in the snow globe?

    Balthazar looked around his room to all of his war trophies and enchanted objects and weapons that were priceless, one of a kind on this world. Balthazar stood up from the bed and took a few steps forward. There in the center of his mantle was an open place. Amidst all the world shaking weapons, amidst enchantments that would have made master enchanters weep with joy just for having seen them, amidst all the trophies of hard fought victories in his battles for Teregatt¡­

    There in the middle of all, Balthazar carefully placed the snowglobe in the central place of honor. The first true heartfelt gift he¡¯d ever received since¡­ ever since the death of his love.

    He watched the snow globe on the mantle as the snow inside began to settle back to the bottom and the figurines inside all returned to their starting positions for the enchanted animation sequence.

    How could he do it? Did he even want to anymore? Waste all of his work? Stop himself from taking one little girl''s life after the mountains of bodies he''d created in the past? He hated this sudden indecisiveness in himself. It was unlike him. But the internal struggle could only continue with no answer still. Oh, why couldn¡¯t it have been Eric? It would have been so much easier to decide with him. The last in a long line of petty tyrants...

    Balthazar settled into his bed and closed his eyes to drift off to sleep. The images in the snow globe plagued his dreams.

    Was that man in the globe the real Balthazar?

    Or merely a figment of imagination to be discarded when it became inconvenient?

    Who was the man that Balthazar wanted to be?

 Chapter 58: The Second Task

    Christmas at home was a little strained. Everyone was a little cross with Ron for trying to defend what Eric had done when they questioned him about why they were still friends. Even their parents were a little mad at him for it. Although Molly less so than Dad was. But other than that things went well, and all of them got gifts. Their family didn¡¯t have a lot of money, so it was mostly small things that they¡¯d been able to cobble together themselves. Fred and George handed out some prank items. They had made fake wands that turned into mice as soon as you channeled your magic into them.

    It was pretty cool, even if Molly seemed to disapprove of them spending so much time on developing ¡®nonsense¡¯ when they could have been studying for their tests. Next year would be their last and they¡¯d be taking their final sets of exams for graduation, so each test became more and more important as they went.

    Sirius and Olivia had their own Christmas celebration with each other. Ginny had been able to visit the clinic, and the big mural of Olivia was just like how she had imagined it. She really did look like some sort of mythic hero with a massive light from behind and bright colors in a circle around an image like a halo around her body.

    Ginny had some fun teasing Olivia about it as they stood in the empty lobby of the clinic. To Ginny¡¯s surprise Balthazar was teaching Dumbledore how to create the wolf-kin, so the clinic had only been seeing patients in the afternoons after Dumbledore had already left for the last week. Balthazar was training Dumbledore in the mornings.

    Olivia told her that the news was all over the papers, people speculating if Dumbledore would start doing his own operations or teach other people the technique to share it with the world.

    It must really be complicated if someone like Dumbledore was taking over a week of long sessions to learn to do it. Ginny and Olivia already knew that, but the rest of the world seemed to figure it out too the longer Dumbledore spent learning at the Wolf-kin Clinic.

    After the break, everyone returned to school. Eric didn¡¯t do anything, Ginny spent time with her friends, and Dumbledore spent half of the day at the Wolf-kin clinic learning from Balthazar before returning in the afternoons, appearing rather tired at the evening meals.

    The timing of the second triwizarding task had been announced to be at the end of February. According to rumors, Eric still hadn¡¯t figured out the trick to making the golden egg sing the riddle. Krum, Fleur, and Ginny all told people that they¡¯d already solved it even if they didn¡¯t say how or what the trick was.

    Classes went along, and Ginny bombed a few of her tests because she hadn¡¯t been studying enough after returning from her relaxing Christmas. Her overall grades were still good, but she turned her mind away from the triwizarding tournament and to her studies in order to make sure that she¡¯d do better on the next exams to make up the difference.

    It was a week before the day of the second task, and Ginny had been called to the Headmaster¡¯s office. When she went in, she was surprised to see Dumbledore, Flitwick, McGonagall, and Mr. Crouch all sitting inside waiting for her.

    She stopped briefly before walking forward again and sitting in the open chair.

    ¡°Ms. Weasley,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°You¡¯re not in trouble, don¡¯t you worry. Before you begin, I¡¯d like to ask a rather important question. Have you truly figured out the clue to the golden egg? What was the method you used?¡±

    ¡°Huh? Oh, you have to listen to it while its underwater to hear the riddle,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I thought I wasn¡¯t supposed to tell anyone though?¡±

    Dumbledore let out a sigh of relief, ¡°Excellent, that should allow us a bit of wiggle room with the magic of the Goblet of Fire.¡±

    ¡°The Goblet of Fire?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°It is not only the competitors that are bound by the magic of the Goblet of Fire, but us headmasters of our schools as well. If you had not already solved the riddle then I would be forced to leave and my fellow adults not bound by its magic would tell you without me present.¡±

    There was a short pause from Dumbledore, ¡°Given¡­ your circumstances, it was decided that we¡¯d be giving the champions an explanation of the second task. We¡¯ll be explaining this to all four champions, but I wished to tell you first because this change was because of what happened to you and your friends just before Christmas break.¡±

    ¡°Me? What does what Eric did have to do with what the second task will be?¡±

    ¡°The task will consist of searching the lake for the precious thing you hold ¡®most dear¡¯ to yourself. In a more real sense, this means your friends. It was decided that young Alexa would be spelled to be in a trance-like state and hidden under the waters of the great lake.¡±

    ¡°What? Alexa didn¡¯t tell me anything like that. Why would she agree to do that?¡±

    ¡°It was to be explained the day of,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°So they could not share the information with the champions. Originally it was supposed to be a surprise to all, to increase the stakes of the competition. But given the very real dangers you have faced in the past¡­ We wish to assure you that none of the contestants will be in any danger at any point and not cause you undue stress or panic. The spell will keep them completely safe until it dispels itself when they surface after you save them. Your brother Ron will be Eric Potter¡¯s precious person, so there is no need to feel compelled to worry about his safety after saving your friend.¡±

    ¡°Wait, so originally we were supposed to think that they were going to die if we didn¡¯t save them in time or something? Why would you do that? That¡¯s horrible!¡±

    Mr. Crouch cleared his throat, ¡°Well, the sports committee thought that it would heighten the drama and excitement for the competition. None of the people would ever be in true danger with Dumbledore himself casting the enchantments on them to make sure that there wouldn¡¯t be any mistakes.¡±

    ¡°I hate that committee,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Who let them decide something like that? What¡¯s it¡¯s name so I can tell my dad how horrible it is?¡±

    ¡°Ah, it was an internal committee of employees, not something that¡¯s available to the public.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s convenient,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t I just refuse to Comp- Compe- Com-¡±

    Ginny¡¯s mind stuttered and groaned for a few seconds before she remembered what she was saying.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re doing this, but I have to compete to the best of my abilities to complete the task,¡± Ginny said in resignation, all of the adults looking at her strangely.

    ¡°Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah, so they¡¯ll be completely safe? No chance of danger at all even when they¡¯ll be underwater for at least an hour? They¡¯ll be safe even if I don¡¯t find them in time?¡±

    ¡°Yes, completely safe,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°Best of luck on the task, Ms. Weasley. I believe that will be all for now. We have three more champions to inform.¡±

    ¡°Well, I suppose thanks for telling me,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I would have definitely panicked and gone a bit crazy if I thought Alexa had really been kidnapped.¡±

    ¡°Well, no need to do so any longer,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°And best luck on completing the task.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Then, like no time had passed at all, it was the day of the task. All four of the champions were waiting by the lake on a floating platform that was in the center of the lake. There were the judges'' stands and a series of stands for the audience, all made of wood and floating on the placid surface of the lake.

    Ginny had told Alexa first thing about what was happening, so it hadn¡¯t been a surprise to any of them when the morning of the task that Alexa was called up to the Headmaster¡¯s office.

    ¡°The second triwizarding task everyone!¡± Ludo bagman, the commentator, shouted loudly from the stands, causing the murmuring crowd to die down. All four of the champions were in a line with each of them having their own little diving platform just next to the lake. They were given champion uniforms more suited for swimming luckily so Ginny wouldn¡¯t have to go swimming in shorts and shirt. Her bathing suit was a blue one piece suit with the Hogwarts crest on the breast.

    ¡°Our four Champions will have exactly one hour to scour the lake and brave its dangers before their time is up!¡± Bagman said, ¡°Now without further ado, let¡¯s count us down. Champions, prepare to begin! You may enter the lake and begin in 5¡­ 4¡­ 3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­ Go!¡±

    The crowd cheered as all four of them dived into the lake at once as Ludo Bagman reached the end, the crowd cheering and roaring behind them.

    The sound suddenly became muffled and distorted as Ginny¡¯s head sank beneath the water. But she had already cast the bubble head charm, so her head was dry and she had plenty of air as she floated there and took stock of the deep waters of the lake, sinking down so far that she couldn¡¯t see the lake bed down below her.

    Fleur had a bubble of air similar to Ginny¡¯s, except hers only covered her nose and mouth while letting the rest of her head be covered in water. Was it less tiring on her magic to do it that way? She seemed to be holding her wand and casting some sort of spell while looking focused.

    Victor Krum had performed a complex human transfiguration on himself. He had transformed into a half shark man with webbed hands and feet and a massive shark head sprouting from his shoulders. Krum started kicking and moving away and cutting through the water effortlessly like he¡¯d been born in it.

    But the most impressive display was Eric. He had the same little bubble charm mask that Fleur had. But Ginny could sense the hundreds of magic tendrils he had poking out just above his skin all over his body. It looked like a fuzzy shag carpet of magic coating him. Ginny watched as each of the little ends of the magic tendrils grabbed a little glob of water and pushed it backwards and down towards Eric¡¯s feet. Each little tendril provided the tiniest little push on the water around him. But taken as a whole¡­

    Eric smirked as he saw Ginny watching him and gave a little wave just before he blasted off through the water like a rocket, a bubbling jet propelling him forward at high speeds. He shot off through the water so fast that in less than a second Ginny couldn¡¯t even see him anymore through the murky water.

    Ginny shook her head and started casting her own spell on herself. It formed a ring around her feet and pushed the water through behind her to push her forward, similar to what Eric had done. Except far less efficient and barely moved her twice as fast as her normal swimming pace even if she would get less tired using the spell than trying to do it without the spell.

    She dived down to the lakebed, Fleur still not having moved although a glowing light had appeared on the tip of her wand and Fleur was staring into it and frowning. Was it a mapping or tracking spell or something?

    Ginny saw the bottom of the lake covered in a forest of kelp. She sensed dozens of magical creatures darting around. She stopped just above the tops of the fronds of the kept forest before shifting herself to where she thought the deepest part of the lake would be. She¡¯d have to just hope she¡¯d stumble on a clue as she went or spot a mermaid. Ginny was sure that one of them would know where Alexa would be.

    She had practiced a few phrases in mermish so she could ask the basics. There had been a book with their culture and some of their language in the Hogwarts library. She moved through the kelp forest and looked below her and scanned the area as she did so. Several creatures moved to dart out of the kelp to attack her, but Ginny brandished her wand and made it glow with the light of a lumos charm right at them. That frightened them away and they burrowed back into the thick kelp fronds without attacking her when they realized that she had spotted them.

    After a few minutes, she finally spotted a humanoid merman in the tops of the kelp, staring at her curiously. She jetted towards him and he jolted alarmed as he realized that he had been spotted. He moved to dive into the fronds of the kelp, but Ginny shouted before he could go, another charm that she had cast on herself earlier letting her voice carry through the water like she was speaking normally.

    ¡®Wait, I mean no harm!¡¯ Ginny said in her memorized phrase of mermish.

    The merman paused, his fish tail below the waist twitching as he stared at her. His eyes were bugged out and much larger than a humans and he was covered in a thin pattern of fish scales even if his upper half looked more human with his remarkably human hands holding a spear that he was clutching defensively with the point facing towards her. He looked young, like fourteen or fifteen if he was a human boy, Ginny guessed.

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    He said something in mermish warily that Ginny didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡®I don¡¯t understand. Only speak phrase.¡¯ Ginny said in mermish, ¡®Hello. Do you know where my friends are? Can you point me the way?¡¯ She said next after the merman didn¡¯t say anything else.

    The merman looked hesitant.

    ¡®Please? They were brought to the lake today,¡¯ Ginny said in mermish. This was the last phrase that she had memorized, past this she¡¯d just have to continue her random search of the lakebed for clues.

    The merman looked at her for a moment before shrugging. He raised his arm and pointed in a direction almost perpendicular to the way Ginny had been going. He said something short in mermish.

    ¡®Thank you, and blessings to your ancestors,¡¯ Ginny said with the traditional merman thanks. The merman looked surprised and said the traditional response. ¡®And blessings to your ancestors as well,¡¯ was what she thought it meant. She pointed her feet opposite of the way the merman pointed and started jetting off through the water in the way the merman had indicated. Hopefully she would be there soon, and have this task over and done with already¡­

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Eric floated next to the four tied up people under the water. Their faces were unnaturally pale and their eyes were closed. The long hair of the three girls floated around them in rippling clouds as they floated there. They bobbed in the water floating as a single heavy rope tied them up and ran down through the water to fix them to the lake floor. Eric was surprised to see that Hermione was Krum¡¯s person to save. Huh, they had been spending a lot of time together recently, hadn¡¯t they? And gone to the ball together too. Eric had no idea that Hermione was into older guys like that. He''d have to tease her about that later.

    There was Gabriella next, Fleur¡¯s nine year old sister. Eric had to congratulate whoever had chosen the victims to be tied up. They really hadn¡¯t pulled any punches by having the nine year old down here when she didn¡¯t even go to a wizarding school yet. What if some shark came by and ate her up while the merpeople weren¡¯t paying attention? The merpeople didn¡¯t seem to like Eric or the tied up humans very much. All of them looked rather sullen and glared at Eric as he floated there.

    Well, at least it would get Fleur properly motivated to save her little sister from their clutches.

    Finally, there was Alexa of course. Harry¡¯s¡­ Ginny¡¯s little friend. Eric had arrived here minutes ago, but instead of going straight to the surface he had a better idea. So he waited until Ginny arrived. He was sure that she¡¯d be the one to arrive next.

    All around him was a crowd of observing mermen and mermaids. They had kelp clothes wrapping up the chests of the mermaids and little satchels and pouches that they carried on their fishy hips. But other than that they didn¡¯t wear much at all even as they pointed their crude spears at him. The one in charge was staring at him, looking annoyed as Eric floated there next to Ron and didn¡¯t move to do anything. The one in charge had bone jewelry draped around its neck in large loops and the other looked to the merman with respect as he barked out the occasional order in mermish to his followers.

    Finally after what felt like forever, Eric finally spotted the distinctive red hair of Ginny through the gloom of the lake. She was looking straight at him floating there next to Ron, moving quickly towards them with her own little water rocket spell. Eric¡¯s method was much faster and better than hers was. She was even doing a full head bubble head charm instead of keeping it just around her mouth and nose.

    Ginny must already sense him through her magic sense. Eric wasn¡¯t sure how far she could truly sense, but he knew it was far no matter how you measured it.

    He waited for a second for her to take in the scene and scan the tied up victims floating above the lake. He waited until her eyes turned back to him. With a single charm from his wand he severed the rope that was keeping Ron fixed to the lakebed.

    Eric grinned widely as he saw Ginny¡¯s eyes reach his face. Now for a little payback for all the trouble that she¡¯d caused for him recently when he was just trying to help her¡­

    Even as their eyes met, Eric reached out his magic tendrils and shattered the enchantment keeping Alexa in suspended animation. Eric turned and made sure that no one could say that he could have seen Alexa come awake under the water. He grabbed the tied up and comatose Ron and looked upwards to the surface of the water shimmering far above. He started jetting upwards through the water, he would get his resounding first place this time and even Rita Skeeter wouldn¡¯t be able to talk trash about him anymore in the papers.

    He was sure that Ginny would save her friend. He''d timed it so she should have enough time to save the girl before Alexa drowned...

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny barely even noticed as Eric jetted away towards the surface with a mocking smile, not even looking at Alexa as he did so. Alexa¡¯s eyes shot open as the enchantment wrapped around her body was shattered. The girl took in an instinctive breath of the water around her and began to thrash and choke in surprise. Her body was still wrapped up in the ropes and Alexa could only wriggle in place, making her bob up and down more but not escaping her bindings in the slightest.

    Ginny was still too far away as she watched Alexa begin to slowly drown as the merpeople watched on without doing anything to help. Ginny pushed her spell to move her faster and faster as she saw Alexa¡¯s massive flails and panic continued. Alexa began to twitch weakly with her mouth wide open in the water. Her eyes still moved and she focused on Ginny, but her struggles were growing weaker.

    Ginny pushed herself faster and extended her magic tendrils in front of her, stretching them as far as she could. Ginny started panting as the length of the tendrils started to drain her magic more and more. But she kept extending them and her magic wrapped around the weakly twitching Alexa. Ginny heaved with her magic as her tendrils grabbed the ropes. Alexa¡¯s body jolted towards Ginny, but the rope holding her to the lakebed was strong and resisted Ginny¡¯s frantic tugs. The crowd merpeople watched with interest as Ginny approached them at high speed, Alexa¡¯s body the closest it could be to her as possible as Ginny heaved on it with all her might.

    Ginny was finally close enough and pointed her wand at Alexa. Her hand shook slightly, but she just managed to finish the motions of the bubble head charm just before she crashed bodily into Alexa. Ginny felt the air driven from her lungs from the heavy impact as she slammed into Alexa at full speed. Ginny dropped her wand and it began floating away from her even as she wrapped her arms around Alexa¡¯s body as her momentum tried to pull her past. Ginny twisted around as the two of them briefly spun around as the water bled off Ginny¡¯s momentum quickly.

    With an absent gesture, Ginny sent a magic tendril through the water and drew the stick back into her hand as her and Alexa stopped jerking and violently bobbing up and down in the water together.

    Alexa¡¯s twitching was growing weaker and her eyes had closed as Ginny used a cutting charm to sever the rope holding them to the lakebed. Alexa had her own bubble head charm around her head, but her eyes were still closed and as Ginny held her she realized that she wasn¡¯t breathing.

    Ginny tried to remember what Eric had done to move so fast as she held Alexa in a firm grip with both arms around Alexa. She spooled out all fifty of her magic tendrils and grabbed little bits of water just like Eric had and began to push them below her. She shot up at high speed, barely even focusing on anything but managing the tendrils of magic to push as much of the water below her as she could. She had to get Alexa to the surface now, she wasn¡¯t breathing!

    Ginny barely even noticed as the light of the surface of the water rapidly approached from above her. The two of them launched out of the water at high speed and launched over thirty feet into the air. The crowd began to cheer as they reached the top of their arc and began to fall back down together.

    ¡°Ginny Weasley, everyone! And a dramatic¡­¡±

    Ginny wasn¡¯t listening, using her tendrils to grab their clothing and the robes binding Alexa. She had seen Eric do this to fly when he was fighting the Fate controlled Barty Crouch Junior. She had fifty tendrils now, it should be enough for it, it had to be.

    Instead of falling back down to the champions platform, Ginny diverted their fall directly towards where the Ministry healers were treating Ron while Eric watched on from the side.

    Eric turned as he heard the crowd and raised an eyebrow as he saw Ginny and Alexa falling towards them from above.

    Dumbledore stood from the judges table.

    ¡°Arresto Momentum!¡± He chanted and Ginny and Alexa halted in their fall a few feet above the planks of the float before falling to the ground again. All the healers around stared at the duo who had fallen in their midst all of a sudden as the charm cut out and the duo fell the remaining distance to the ground.

    ¡°Help! She has water in her lungs, she¡¯s drowning!¡± Ginny pleaded to the healers as she tried to unbind the ropes around from Alexa with trembling fingers. After another second for her words to register, the healers rushed in and cast a series of quick spells on Alexa.

    Water blasted out from between Alexa¡¯s lips like a fountain spraying upwards over all of them, even as her eyes still remained closed. Ginny was still lying on top of Alexa trying to undo the knots of the rope with her fingers in a panic.

    She felt a spell grab her and shove her back.

    ¡°No, Alexa!¡± Ginny said as she fell backwards.

    ¡°Get back, girl!¡± One of the healers shouted and shoved her when she tried to crawl forward again, ¡°You¡¯re getting in the way!¡±

    ¡°But¡­ Alexa¡­¡±

    ¡°Stay back! We¡¯re treating her.¡±

    Ginny stood and watched while wringing her hands as the healers kept casting spells for a few more seconds. Ginny noticed after her panic died down slightly that Alexa was softly breathing in and out now. Ginny took a deep breath. Alexa was at the healers. She was breathing. Everything would be fine.

    ¡°Is she alright?¡± Eric suddenly asked from next to her, ¡°Didn¡¯t see her from behind me, did something happen?¡±

    Ginny felt her anger explode at his smug tone. How dare he¡­

    She turned and looked into his face twisted into an insincere expression of concern even as he fought the quick tugs upwards at the corners of his lips.

    ¡°I told you to stay away from them!¡± Ginny shouted, ¡°I¡¯ll kill you! I¡¯ll kill you!¡±

    She leapt forward and slugged Eric in his smug face as hard as she could with her clenched fist. He reeled back, his magic tendrils sputtering as they came out of him as Ginny leapt on top of him and hit him again hard in the face.

    He lay on the ground with Ginny on top of him as she drew her arm back again. Before she could hit him a third time, his tendrils finally sprung into action and grabbed her and stopped her hand and locked her into place.

    Eric sat up slightly so his lips were right next to her ear.

    ¡°No need to be so emotional. You''re finally becoming a real girl I guess, Harry,¡± He whispered to her before planting a hand on her stomach and shoved her so she fell onto her back on the wooden floor. Eric¡¯s magic tendrils wrapping all around her, forcing her back and making it look like it was Eric¡¯s hand that caused her to fall off of him.

    ¡°Geez, Ginny!¡± Eric said loudly as he rubbed his cheek that was red from where she had hit him, ¡°Don¡¯t hit me, I didn¡¯t see her. I would have come back if I did. Did her enchantment break early? Will she be okay?¡±

    Ginny lay there on the ground, looking at Eric panting and practically shaking in rage. But his tendrils wrapped all around her and kept her pinned. She couldn¡¯t do anything. There was the little disc to call Balthazar with, or she could call Fawkes to escalate things. But¡­

    Ginny glanced over to Alexa and saw that she was breathing and was looking much better and the Healers swarmed over her. Jack was standing nearby on the edge of them looking between Ginny and Eric with wide eyes.

    ¡°You leave my friends alone,¡± Ginny spat at Eric, ¡°You touch them again and I¡¯ll kill you.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything, I don¡¯t understand why you¡¯re blaming me for this. Dumbledore¡¯s the one that cast the stasis spell. You should go talk to him.¡±

    Ginny saw Eric let out a slight smile for an instant as he saw her impotent rage as she lay there unable to do anything. Then the smile flickered away and his expression was back to one of confusion and hurt.

    ¡°We should go see him together, what if that kind of thing happens to Hermione? We¡¯ve got to go down and check on them!¡±

    ¡°What is the situation?¡± Dumbledore suddenly said as he finished making his way through the crowd, ¡°What happened?¡±

    Ginny opened and closed her mouth as she lay on the ground even as Eric stood there. Eric retracted tendrils around her as Dumbledore appeared, but if she said something wrong they could be back around her in a second.

    ¡°The enchantment broke,¡± Ginny ended up saying, ¡°Alexa almost drowned. She wasn¡¯t breathing¡­¡±

    Dumbledore shot a sharp look at Eric before looking back at Ginny, ¡°Very well. I¡¯ll go check on the others with no delay and monitor them to make sure that they remain safe. I¡¯ll leave your friend in the healer¡¯s gentle care.¡±

    Dumbledore walked towards the edge of the dock through the crowd and after casting a few spells on himself casually jumped into the water. The water parted around him in a massive bubble of air to keep his whole body dry as he dropped like a stone through the water until he disappeared, his form sinking into the murky depths below.

    Ginny sat and watched Alexa as the healers kept working on her. She had just opened her eyes and was looking around, but the healers were testing she was mentally okay and shining lights in her eyes now. Eric had wandered off to go to talk with Ron on the other side of the dock.

    Ginny felt a hand grab her own and saw that it was Jack. She had felt him with her magic sense. She gripped his hand hard and turned back to look at Alexa. The healers had started to disperse after declaring her okay and had given Alexa a heated blanket and a steaming cup of what looked to be hot cocoa. Ginny and Jack went forward and sat down next to her.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Ginny asked.

    ¡°I guess so,¡± Alexa said as she looked around her, ¡°That was real and not¡­ not just a bad dream?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it was real,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I was so scared.¡±

    ¡°You? Scared?¡± Alexa said, ¡°Imagine how I felt. I really thought that that was it for me¡­¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t die, Alexa. Please don¡¯t die. Please,¡± Ginny begged.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best,¡± Alexa said, ¡°I guess now I know how Ms. Egg feels. I think we all owe her an apology. Drowning is rather horrible.¡±

    Ginny sniffled and then hugged Alexa lightly.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I should have gotten to you faster,¡± she said.

    ¡°Is fine,¡± Alexa mumbled. Ginny released her, and Alexa raised her steaming cup of cocoa causing her heated blanket draped over her shoulders to make a crinkling noise.

    ¡°You want a sip, Ginny? You look like you need it.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Ginny took the cup and drank a little sip and felt better instantly as the hot liquid ran down her throat and then hit her stomach. She handed the cup back to Alexa.

    ¡°Thanks. Now you drink the rest. I should be comforting you, not the other way around.¡±

    ¡°I think we¡¯ll all need some cuddling time with Fawkes after this,¡± Alexa said, ¡°I¡¯m waiting to have my breakdown until then when we¡¯re not surrounded by all of these people.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I promise you¡¯ll get to hold him as long as you like,¡± Ginny pledged.

 Chapter 59: Eric Gets His Pound of Flesh

    Eric unfurled the newspaper with a satisfied smile. Back on top with his victory in the second task. There¡¯d been all that hubbub about Alexa almost drowning of course. Eric had timed that pretty well, the healers had saved her just in time. He had apologized to everybody for being so single focused on saving Ron and getting back to the surface of course. Absolutely no idea that poor Alexa was even in trouble after Dumbledore¡¯s spell failed.

    He still got first place, and Ginny got second. And he had gotten back at her. Eric figured they were even now, him and Ginny. She had been absolutely furious with him. He reached up and rubbed his cheek where she had hit him. He hadn¡¯t expected her to actually get some licks in on him. He had been sloppy, too busy gloating to pay proper attention to his defense.

    Eric looked at the headline and immediately frowned. What? He scanned through the whole thing. What! The whole thing was about Alexa and her almost drowning! Whatever, she almost died. Eric kind of got that. In the second half of the article Skeeter wasted no time in calling Eric heartless and cruel by intentionally abandoning Alexa behind when he saw victory of the task in front of him.

    Why, he had spent a lot of effort making sure that no one could see it that way! How could Rita Skeeter just lie like that about something she couldn¡¯t possibly know? There at the very end of the article was the list of finishers. First, Eric Potter with an undeserved win. Second, the brave and heroic Ginny Weasley who saved her friend from drowning. Then finally Victor Krum in third and Fleur in last. Well, at least Eric would be able to tease the arrogant girl about getting dead last for the third task¡­ After Alexa almost drowned, Eric hadn¡¯t been able to taunt Fleur properly about it without people thinking he was insincere about his concern for Alexa.

    Eric crumpled up his paper and threw it onto the table in a ball. ¡°Whatever,¡± He said with a sigh, ¡°Stupid reporter has it out for me.¡±

    ¡°Someone almost drowning was kind of the bigger story anyway, Eric,¡± Hermione said, ¡°Both Ron and I were under there. What if it had happened to us too? Or if the charm had broken without you noticing while Ginny wasn¡¯t there? One of us might have actually died.¡±

    Eric looked at her, ¡°I guess. I thought that me winning would be worth at least more than a single line. And not have her saying that I left Alexa to die for the whole article.¡±

    ¡°Well you¡¯ve got to admit mate,¡± Ron said, ¡°That¡¯s what it looks like, even if you didn¡¯t know what was happening behind you. What with how you¡¯ve got it out for my sister for some reason, you¡¯re not exactly doing yourself any favors.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean? I have nothing against your sister,¡± Eric said, ¡°I¡¯ve explained all of it already. I was trying to help before Christmas. Even if I see that I was wrong to do that to them now. I¡¯m more annoyed at Skeeter about her articles than Ginny for just doing her best at the events.¡±

    ¡°Well, you better not do anything,¡± Ron growled, ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on between you two, but just cut it out already. Ginny¡¯s all focused on you too, and doesn¡¯t tell anyone why. Just like you¡¯re always paying attention to her for some reason. Everything was fine before you went around bothering her and trying to ¡®help¡¯.¡±

    Eric looked between Ron and the nodding Hermione.

    ¡°Gah, alright,¡± Eric said while sulking slightly, ¡°I¡¯m just in a bad mood from my detentions with Lockhart. He keeps calling me Harry all the time as I answer his fan mail. It¡¯s grating. She¡¯s just an interesting person, ya know? Hard to not notice when she does interesting things. I didn¡¯t mean things to go so far that she hates me now for some reason¡­¡±

    ¡°Eric, you¡¯re absolutely hopeless,¡± Hermione said, ¡°Honestly I don¡¯t even understand how your mind works most of the time. Just focus on the dancing team more if you need to be distracted. If you¡¯re good enough you might be able to become captain next year. Sixth and seventh years can be too busy to run clubs properly sometimes so there¡¯s a chance there.¡±

    Eric perked up, ¡°You think so? That would be pretty amazing, wouldn¡¯t it? Yeah, captain of the dance club¡­¡±

    Ron snorted, ¡°If only you cared about Quidditch as much as you do that dancing club.¡±

    ¡°Meh, Quidditch is lame and the golden Snitch makes no sense. Hermione agrees with me, right?¡±

    Hermione didn¡¯t see anything.

    ¡°See, she agrees,¡± Eric said. The conversation turned to an argument on Quidditch as a good sport or not between Eric and Ron with Hermione jumping in on Eric¡¯s side occasionally. Well, the scales were even now between him and Ginny, he figured. His friends were right, he should stop obsessing over her so much. He had his own things to do, and he didn¡¯t even care about the tournament prize money anyway.

    Yes, much better to focus on the dancing team and his friends than figuring out why Ginny hated him all the sudden when no one had even died from what he¡¯d done.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Eric walked away from the dance club with pursed lips, trying to learn how to whistle. It was surprisingly hard to get, all he had accomplished so far was making a weak sound like rushing wind. Nothing like a real whistle like he¡¯d heard others do, to the point that they could whistle music to themselves.

    Eric stopped as he felt the suspicious presence come up behind him. That little green beetle from before. Something was odd about it, he was sure of it now. It had been following him on and off for a while now. Time to get to the bottom of the mystery.

    Eric diverted his path into an abandoned section of the castle and hurried his stride as if going to a destination with intention. Sure enough the green beetle followed after him. He ducked into an abandoned classroom and waited and stared at a random wall for a bit as he noticed the green beetle squeeze in under the door after a few seconds. The insect buzzed up to the upper corner of the room before settling into place so it could observe him.

    In a sudden burst of motion, Eric turned around quickly and pointed his wand towards the only door out of the windowless room that he had picked. The door quickly transfigured into a solid wall with no gaps in it. The green beetle shifted in place, but didn¡¯t move.

    There, now no sudden escapes. Eric returned to stare at the blank wall as if seriously considering something. But what he was really doing was preparing his magic tendrils to surround the beetle on all sides.

    He waited a few more seconds to ensure everything was aligned before piercing downwards and grabbing the beetle. The little insect thrashed and struggled as he used his tendrils to carry it down to hover just in front of him. It was a magical beetle, but still just a beetle. Eric could directly latch onto it with his magic tendrils if he was willing to pay the increased magic required to do so.

    He stared at the beetle, trying to decide what to do. Was it a remote viewing device? Someone¡¯s familiar? Who was spying on him? He started tugging on one of the legs of the beetle. Was it an enchanted construct or a real living creature being controlled by somebody else? Eric thought it was alive, but maybe it was just so advanced that he couldn¡¯t tell.

    He began to tug to remove one of its legs and it began to squirm. Evidence of aliveness mounting¡­ He was about to give one final tug before the beetle began to shift and twist and grow in size. Eric¡¯s tendril¡¯s twitched in surprise and he dropped the beetle. In less than a second, a woman stood there in front of him. Rita Skeeter in the same green clothing that she had worn to their interviews.

    He blinked. ¡°You¡¯re an animagus?¡± He said, ¡°You¡¯ve been the beetle spying on me?¡±

    Skeeter looked torn for a second before sighing.

    ¡°Yes,¡± She said, ¡°Fine, you got me. It¡¯s rather useful for getting the stories that no one else can. Now as you can imagine, people knowing about my little secret would be inconvenient. So, what do you want?¡±

    ¡°What do I want?¡± Eric asked, still recovering from what had just happened.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure we can come to some sort of deal,¡± Rita said, ¡°I¡¯ll write some good stories about you in the tournament, presenting you as some misunderstood hero. You keep my secret from everybody. Everyone walks away happy.¡±

    ¡°Oh!¡± Eric said as he understood her offer, ¡°That sounds great! I can go for that.¡±

    Rita nodded, ¡°Great. Now if you¡¯d get the door¡­¡±

    ¡°But why?¡± Eric asked, ¡°I¡¯ve still got to get some revenge for all those horrible things you said about me before now.¡±

    ¡°Revenge?¡± Rita said, a bead of sweat suddenly appearing on her brow, ¡°T-There¡¯s no need for that. It was just the way the news goes. There always has to be a villain and a hero for every story. You just drew the short straw. The easiest to misrepresent to the public!¡±

    ¡°Okay, I get it,¡± Eric said, ¡°Still, you hurt my feelings. I don¡¯t like that.¡±

    ¡°Well, if you just let me go then I¡¯ll write all the good stories you could ever want. No need to hold my secret over me even more. It¡¯s valuable, but not that valuable if you want to threaten me.¡±

    ¡°Of course not, of course not,¡± Eric said, ¡°I absolutely promise that I won¡¯t tell anyone about your secret under any circumstances. In return you¡¯ll write positive stories about me in the future. We both agree on that, right?¡±

    Skeeter relaxed, ¡°Yes, of course. I knew you would see reason. No need to make things unpleasant.¡±

    ¡°Yes, we wouldn¡¯t want things to be unpleasant,¡± Eric agreed, ¡°Well, then we can move on from there, agreed?¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course. The door then¡­¡±

    ¡°But what about the past? Everything you¡¯ve done up to now?¡± Eric said, ¡°What will you give me for that? Maybe I should take your pound of flesh as revenge? I heard that phrase from somebody a few weeks ago, it sounds like the right thing to do here. Ah, but which pound? How would I measure how much to carve out? And different pounds have different values. A pound from your calf is nothing compared to a pound from your brain. What do you think? What pound from you should I take?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re insane¡­¡± Rita said in fear, ¡°I¡­ people know that I¡¯m here! You think that you can take me on? I¡¯m a full grown witch! You¡¯re nothing but a fourth year.¡±

    Eric chuckled. ¡°C¡¯mon, not even you believe that. So why don¡¯t you just give it up already. Just let me take my pound for all the distress and heartache you''ve caused me and we don¡¯t have to make things¡­ unpleasant.¡±

    Rita twitched and Eric felt her channeling magic into her wand. Eric¡¯s magic tendrils grabbed her wand and ripped it from her grip, not even caring about the cost of it. It flew across the room and into his own hand.

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°No!¡± Rita said and tried to catch her wand as it left her hand. She tried to lunge forward, but Eric brandishing his own wand caused her to freeze in place and not move any closer.

    ¡°You need this, don¡¯t you,¡± Eric said as he waggled Rita¡¯s wand at her, ¡°To transform back into your bug form. You¡¯re lucky you didn¡¯t manage it. I might have accidentally stepped on you before leaving the room if you had.¡±

    Rita was sweating heavily now and looked frightened as Eric took a step towards her with a wild unhinged smile. He hadn¡¯t been able to let out any of those in a long time.

    ¡°Now, look here,¡± Rita stammered, ¡°I¡¯m sure we can come up with a deal¡­¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve already made a deal, Rita,¡± Eric said as he threw both of his wands into the far corner of the room, ¡°Now try not to make this unpleasant for me. I¡¯ll just have to take longer if you make me upset.¡±

    Rita lunged forward to grab him, but Eric grabbed her with his magic tendrils and shoved her back so she was pinned to the wall.

    ¡°Now Rita,¡± He said, ¡°How should we measure your pound of flesh? How much do you weigh?¡±

    ¡°W¨C What?¡±

    ¡°Well, we have no scales!¡± Eric said clearly. She seemed rather stunned by her failed escape attempt as he kept pressing her into the wall with his magic. Having trouble collecting her thoughts for the task ahead of them, ¡°So we¡¯ll have to do some rough calculations. How much. Do you weigh?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ One hundred and sixty pounds! What are you doing?! You don¡¯t want to do this, I¡¯ll tell the Aurors! You¡¯ll be thrown into Azkaban!¡±

    ¡°You really are panicking, Rita,¡± Eric said, ¡°Everyone knows that Azkaban is old news. C¡¯mon, what¡¯s a little pain compared to what you¡¯ve done to my reputation? So one out of roughly one fifty.¡±

    Eric lifted his finger towards Rita and created a cutting charm on the very tip of it. He had learned how to do this after he¡¯d seen an old kung-fu movie at the orphanage over Christmas break. The old monk had slapped someone¡¯s head off in a single blow. Eric wanted to be able to do that someday. But for now one little razor sharp blade at the tip of his finger was perfect for what he had planned.

    He reached out and sank the blade into Rita¡¯s forearm, causing the woman to shudder and gasp. Eric carved off the top layer of the skin, creating a little strip of skin that he peeled off of her like a layer of an onion. He levitated a nearby table stacked in the corner and lifted it so it was to the side and he carefully placed the long strip of skin on the table.

    ¡°You¡­ You¡¯re a monster,¡± Rita gasped between her short gasps of pain.

    ¡°I¡¯m not a monster,¡± Eric said, ¡°I¡¯ll even let you choose what you want to lose. You want me to go deeper, or start carving on the surface of another spot? Don¡¯t worry about blood loss. I¡¯ve learned spells to help stop that. We¡¯ll keep going until we¡¯ve got one in one one hundred and fiftieth of your body on the little table here. I know that bones are heavy, so I¡¯ll try to underestimate the volume we take to make up the difference. So, deeper or wider? I¡¯ve heard that the deeper you go into the flesh the less painful it will get. Less exposed nerve endings. But going wider means less chance of permanent damage even if it''s more painful right now.¡±

    Rita didn¡¯t say anything and struggled to move as Eric kept her pinned in place even as he stared at her expectantly, ¡°Well? I¡¯m trying to be nice here. Deeper or wider?¡±

    ¡°D¡­ Deeper!¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± He carved another strip from her and put it on the table, ¡°Just let me know if you want me to focus on somewhere else to start carving up. It¡¯s my first time doing this, so I figured you know best where I should go to get our pound of flesh the easiest. You¡¯re in control here.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ You don¡¯t want to do this. Can¡¯t we just go our separate ways? Money! I can give you money!¡±

    ¡°Nah, I don¡¯t need any money. Heir to the Potter fortune, remember? I¡¯ll take that as a deeper.¡±

    ¡°Gah! Shit, what the hell do you want then you little brat? You getting off on this, pinning a woman to the wall and carving strips from her?¡±

    Eric looked at her in surprise, ¡°Getting off? What does that mean? Why does it matter if you¡¯re a woman or not? Deeper.¡±

    ¡°Ah, fuck! Wider, wider, you little shit. Other arm, by Merlin please stop.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Wider it is. Well, this is what I want. I¡¯ve heard that when someone wants revenge on somebody who wronged them that they want to take their pound of flesh from somebody. You¡¯re that somebody, Rita. And I¡¯m getting my pound. Well, roughly pound. We¡¯ll see. After we¡¯re done we¡¯ll be even, right? I¡¯ll have my pound and everything in the past between us will be forgiven. Just like the phrase. Doesn¡¯t it all just make sense? It makes sense to me. Deeper or wider?¡±

    ¡°Deeper, gah! What in Merlin¡¯s name¡­ I can¡¯t believe my slander wasn¡¯t enough for once. You should be locked up! Thrown in the madhouse!¡±

    Eric eyed the little pile of flesh critically for a moment before gathering it into a little ball and comparing it to Rita¡¯s full size.

    ¡°Maybe¡­ three, four times that big?¡± He guessed, ¡°What do you think, Rita? Which do you think it is?¡±

    ¡°You¡­ you¡¯re actually asking me?¡±

    ¡°Of course. I don¡¯t want to be greedy. You only owe me a pound when you came in here. Taking anything more than what you owe me would be theft!¡±

    ¡°Three. Obviously three,¡± Rita said while still groaning and swearing under her breath. Eric¡¯s spell was plugging any open veins or arteries so that they wouldn¡¯t bleed. If he cut too deep she may lose blood flow entirely to certain parts of her body. But well¡­ Some healing spells could fix any issues from that pretty quick.

    Everything he was doing right now could be healed with a few good healing spells. It¡¯s one of the reasons he had zero guilt over doing this. Everything he was doing to her right now was completely temporary as soon as she saw a half-way competent healer. Not even as painful as some of the dark curses that he¡¯d heard of before.

    ¡°Alright, four it is,¡± Eric said, ¡°You¡¯re the boss Rita.¡±

    ¡°No, No, I said thre- AAAAHHHH!¡±

    ¡°Deeper. You want to switch again? That was a pretty big chunk. How about the legs? Your calves and thighs must have a lot of room. Or your stomach area, although it would be harder to not hit something critical if we start cutting there past the skin¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah, Merlin¡­ Fine, upper thigh you little pervert.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why you keep focusing on that,¡± Eric said, ¡°I did think that your butt would be a pretty good place to go for next. Lots of fat there, probably wouldn¡¯t be as painful. But I didn¡¯t mention it because it would be rude to suggest it myself. And it would make you indecent, since I¡¯ve got to cut a hole in your clothes to get access to the spots. That would probably just be awkward for the both of us. Right or left?¡±

    ¡°R¡­ Right,¡± Rita panted.

    Eric hummed to himself as Rita kept telling him where to cut and insulting him the whole while. Each insult added just a little more flesh he had to take, but he didn¡¯t tell her that yet. It would be best to surprise her with it at the end to increase the shock value of the revelation.

    ¡°I¡­ I thought you said four times bigger?¡± Rita said woozily, ¡°That looks larger¡­ I thought we were done.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Eric said, ¡°But each time you insulted me added just a little bit more. Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯re so close. Another five or so cuts and I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll get there if you stay focused. Your thighs are getting rather battered. Should we move again?¡±

    ¡°Calf,¡± Rita muttered, ¡°Just get it over with.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Eric soon finished up under Rita¡¯s guidance.

    He floated the ball of flesh in a tightly compressed ball off the table and floated it just in front of Rita. He compared Rita¡¯s full body to the little ball. Hm¡­ was that the right size?

    ¡°What do you think, Rita? Is it the right size?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ about right? I don¡¯t know¡­¡±

    Eric waited a few seconds before nodding, ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right. That¡¯s probably a pound.¡±

    He stepped back and Rita fell to the floor as he stopped pressing her against the wall with his magic. She lay on the floor unmoving, her wounds still plugged with Eric¡¯s spells.

    ¡°So, are you going to tell anyone about this? Sic the Aurors on me?¡± Eric asked.

    ¡°No¡­¡±

    ¡°Okay, I believe you. Just remember¡­¡±

    Eric floated the ball of her skin and muscle to float just in front of her. She looked at the little ball of flesh in horror as he waved it from side to side in front of her.

    ¡°If you slander me again I might have to take another pound of flesh as payment. And I might not be as thoughtful about which one like I was this time. And¡­ oh, wait! I¡¯ve just had an idea!¡±

    Rita cringed and curled up into a ball.

    ¡°Ah, no Rita,¡± Eric said as he lifted the ball of flesh and set it back on the table, ¡°It¡¯s actually a good thing this time. Swear to me on your magic that you won¡¯t tell anyone about what happened in this room and you won¡¯t have to worry about this happening ever again! I can¡¯t believe that I almost forgot. Just say your name and the words and really mean it. It doesn¡¯t work if you¡¯re only doing it because you think you¡¯re in danger or something. I mean it¡¯s not like I was ever going to kill you, so I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re so freaked out honestly. If you do that then I¡¯ll let you go. If you can¡¯t do it then you¡¯ll just have to risk that telling somebody about this would make me mad again.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I Rita Skeeter swear on my magic to never tell anyone about what has just occurred in this room. Oooooohhh. What was that? What did I just do?¡±

    ¡°You swore on your magic,¡± Eric said, ¡°Now if you try to break your word your magic will attack you and you¡¯ll instantly die. I do think it warns you if you¡¯re about to do something wrong, so no need to worry about accidentally breaking it or anything like that. Now, I think we¡¯re done here. My spells keeping your blood inside of you should expire in thirty minutes or so. So I¡¯d think of your excuses and go see a healer before that happens and you start spraying red everywhere and bleeding out. Don¡¯t spy on me again. And remember our other deal, positive articles in exchange for me not telling everyone that you¡¯re an animagus.¡±

    Rita lay there on the floor, looking frightened.

    ¡°Aw, C¡±mon!¡± Eric said, ¡°It¡¯s just a little pain. In a few hours you¡¯ll be looking back on this and wondering at how amazing you feel after getting healed. Anyway, I¡¯m late. I was supposed to meet Hermione at the library to go study. I¡¯ll have to think of an excuse for why I was so late¡­¡±

    He transfigured the door again back to its original state and opened it. He paused at the threshold and turned back.

    ¡°Oh,¡± He said, just remembering. He reached out and the two wands in the corner of the room came flying into his hands. He took Rita¡¯s wand and grabbed it by the tip and hurled it at her, letting it spin end over end. She flinched as it smacked her head point first and went spinning off to land behind her.

    ¡°Man, was hoping for a bounce off an eye,¡± Eric said in disappointment, ¡°Ah well, there¡¯s always next time.¡±

    He floated the pound of Rita¡¯s flesh over to him and in a burst of magic set it ablaze. Over the course of a few seconds it was reduced to ash and fell to the floor.

    ¡°There!¡± Eric said cheerfully, ¡°All tied up in a neat bow. I¡¯m glad we¡¯ve sorted things out between us, Rita. I¡¯m looking forward to reading your next article about me.¡±

    He closed the door behind him as he saw Rita¡¯s questing hand manage to grip her wand where it had fallen. Eric wasn¡¯t worried. She seemed pretty resourceful, he was sure she¡¯d make it to the healers and come up with a proper excuse in time.

    He felt much lighter with a pep in his step as he made his way to the library. He had no idea how much his anger at Rita Skeeter had been weighing on him. He wondered how over the top she would be for her compliments? How would she frame it to turn it around when she¡¯d spent so long slandering him and pushing up Ginny as some fated hero fighting against him? Revealing that she was a beetle animagus would be a serious blow to her reputation. Eric was sure she¡¯d do quite a bit to make sure that he didn¡¯t tell anyone about it.

    As for what had just happened¡­ Well he was sure that after she got herself healed and wasn¡¯t in pain anymore that she¡¯d see his reasoning even if she didn¡¯t like it. Hopefully she¡¯d understand that Eric considered it in the past for the both of them. What he had just done and the mean cruel articles she had written about him. No need for any further hostility between them when there didn¡¯t have to be now that things were fully settled.

    But Eric had discovered when he trapped Ginny and her friends in that cocoon that other people didn¡¯t see things the way he did. Well, of course he knew that. But he hadn¡¯t thought that it was to the extent he observed from what people thought of him after that. Even his friends.

    Eric shook his head as he entered the library. Hermione was already studying at their usual table, Ron nowhere to be found, probably too busy playing chess or hanging out with Dean Thomas or one of his other friends. Eric walked up and put his books on the table.

    ¡°Hey, Hermione,¡± Eric whispered, ¡°Sorry I¡¯m late. Got distracted smelling the flowers in one of the courtyards.¡±

    Hermione smiled slightly and shook her head, ¡°You can just say you forgot Eric. You don¡¯t have to keep making things up. Without somebody to remind you of things I don¡¯t think you¡¯d manage to arrive anywhere on time.¡±

    Eric shrugged. Hermione looked down at his bag and her eyes widened slightly in shock.

    ¡°Eric? Is that blood on your bag?¡±

    He looked down at it. Huh, it seems that when he cut one of Rita¡¯s open arteries by accident, the spray of blood had splashed onto his stuff before his spell to cut off the bleeding kicked in.

    ¡°Oh, yeah, sorry,¡± Eric said as he took his wand from his robes, ¡°Scourgify,¡± He said as he cleaned the blood off the bag.

    ¡°Sorry, I got a bloody nose earlier. Must have dripped onto the bag, didn¡¯t even notice it,¡± he explained.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got to pay more attention, that¡¯s so unsanitary,¡± Hermione scolded, ¡°I¡¯ve already done the charm''s homework without you. Want to get started on potion¡¯s together?¡±

    ¡°Sure. I¡¯m sure that exam next week is going to be crazy hard¡­¡±

 Chapter 60: The Final Task

    Eric was in a good mood recently, which made Ginny uncomfortable. Maybe it was the most recent article in the paper? Rita Skeeter had changed tact, suddenly portraying Eric as some misunderstood genius. Framed for everything he had done wrong by a jealous Fleur and Krum who were angry about being upstaged by people younger than them. Ginny was barely mentioned at all. Ginny wondered what had caused Skeeter¡¯s sudden change of heart when she¡¯d been almost completely framing Eric as a villain up to now.

    It was almost time for the final task, in early May. It had originally been supposed to take place in late June, but Dumbledore had requested it to be moved earlier according to the rumors. It would take place the day after everyone¡¯s final exams finished. Even after exams were finished there was usually a full week before everyone left on the Hogwarts express. It was supposed to be extra time if people needed to make up exams or the highest level NEWT exams for the seventh years needed some extra time for the practical tests. Basically, Hogwarts just wanted to make sure the Hogwarts express would only have to make a single trip for even the stragglers so they added that extra week just in case.

    Exams were done. Lockhart was bragging about how he¡¯d taught Ginny and especially Eric everything he knew and that with his help they would obviously win the whole thing. A pretty obvious guess based on the results from so far. Fleur and Krum looked grumpy, even if they still seemed to have hope that they could win the final event.

    Ginny¡¯s friends had wished her well and brought out their little flags to cheer for her again from the stands. It was the day of, and what had used to be an open field near the great lake had transformed into a massive hedge maze.

    All four of the champions were lined up in front of the maze.

    ¡°All right folks!¡± Ludo Bagman said, ¡°The task is about to begin. As a reminder, the Champion¡¯s goal is to reach the center of the maze and touch the Triwizarding trophy there first. The champions will go out with a delay in minutes equaling their difference in points in the events so far. In first place is Ginny Weasley with a combined score of sixty two between the first and second task. Next is Eric Potter with a combined score of Fifty nine. Then Fleur Delacour with Fifty seven. Then finally Victor Krum with Fifty six. So Ginny Weasley¡¯s first, three minutes more to Eric Potter, two minutes for Fleur Delacour, then one last minute before Victor Krum enters. It may not seem like much folks, but competitions like this can be won by mere seconds! Our two older competitors will have to work smart and fast to defeat our two younger Hogwarts champions! Between them and the center of the maze will be all sorts of enchantments and beasties to test their wit and strength.¡±

    Fleur and Victor both gave Ludo Bagman a glare at that, but the man ignored them.

    ¡°Nooowwwww. Let the final task of the Triwizarding Tournament begin! For all the glory, for ultimate victory! Let our Champions fight through the maze to prove which of the three schools has the brightest young witch or wizard of their generation! Ms. Weasley will go first on the blast of the cannon. Caretaker Filch, why don¡¯t you set us off?¡±

    There was a moment, then in a giant blast the old school caretaker lit the fuse on the giant cannon. With a giant boom, there was a loud flash as the gunpowder inside went off and let out a plume of smoke.

    Ginny turned to the maze and started jogging into the gap into the maze. If she had to win this so Eric wouldn¡¯t, then that was what she was going to do. After he had almost drowned Alexa, she wouldn¡¯t let him get away with it and reap the rewards of being the winner after everything.

    The opening into the maze closed behind her and the cheering of the crowd suddenly disappeared and she was dropped into eerie silence. Only the sounds of slithering branches and rustling of leaves sounded around her. Ginny used her magic senses to feel around her and froze when she detected everything around her. The hedge¡­ It was one creature shifting and squirming. Changing the paths just out of sight even as the section around Ginny remained the same. The vines and branches undulated just behind the hedge walls like the beating of an ancient heart pulsing through it.

    Ginny felt a bead of sweat form on her brow as she looked around to the visually still corridor of motionless hedges in front of her with T junction thirty feet away.

    She used her magic tendrils to grab her clothing and lift herself upwards in hopes to rise above the maze. But as she neared the top, the tall walls of the hedge tilted inwards and formed a closed arch above her. The branches fused together as Ginny darted farther to try to get around them. But in moments the whole top section had tilted inwards and plunged her into darkness. Ginny quickly returned to the ground, not wanting to waste too much of her magic.

    She raised her wand and cast a lumos charm to light up the area. She eyed one of the walls of the hedge maze. Maybe she could cut through¡­ But she shuddered as she imagined the whole mass of living branches attacking her all at once. Yeah, best not to risk it¡­

    Well, no flying above, no cutting through the walls. She¡¯d just have to run through the maze and hope that the thing wouldn¡¯t attack her unless she did it first.

    So she started jogging through the maze, her wand held at the ready as she used her magic sense to detect any threats. After a minute or so the tall walls of the hedge maze shifted again to straighten and revealed the sky above and a little light filtered down to where Ginny ran.

    The maze kept squirming disturbingly just out of sight and trying to confuse her by shifting the maze''s path when she wasn¡¯t looking. But Ginny could sense what it was doing. She took the turns that might go towards the center. Unfortunately she soon figured out that she was not the best at navigating so even when she saw what the maze was doing she had difficulty figuring out which way was deeper into the maze and which was closer to the edge.

    Ginny was glad for Alexa making her exercise for so long. She¡¯d been jogging at a decent pace for minutes and she was only slightly out of breath after getting so in shape. She wondered if Eric was in the maze by now¡­

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Fleur pushed through another obstacle room. Occasionally the maze would open up and form a larger clearing with an additional challenge. Fleur figured that she had to complete these challenges to get deeper into the maze. She had a tracking spell that she was using to navigate to the center, and it always led her to the clearings. But it kept changing what way she should go, the right path to the center. She wasn¡¯t sure what was causing it, but she was sure she was steadily making her to the center as the spell guided her. She was already at a disadvantage with her being so many minutes behind Ginny and Eric so she had to be fast.

    Fleur wouldn¡¯t mind if Ginny won. It would bother her of course and be a disappointment after how hard she¡¯d worked for this. But Fleur could shake Ginny''s hand and know that there would be no hard feelings between them. Even Krum was alright enough, even if it would be a surprise if he were to win over her. Especially since he was even at a larger disadvantage than she was.

    Now Eric on the other hand¡­ Eric had to lose. He had been insufferable ever since she had gotten last place on the second task. Always taunting her in the hallways about her loss and ignoring the anger of the boys that always trailed behind her like hungry dogs looking for scraps. Those boys all disgusted her. Yet they chased away most of the others that tried to bother her. Eric hadn¡¯t cared and taunted her anyways.

    She finished the clearing challenge, she had to pierce a set of wards to reveal the path onwards that had been concealed up to now. She ran through the exit and deeper into the maze. Suddenly she turned the corner and saw Eric coming at her from the opposite direction.

    ¡°Oh, Fleur?¡± He called out as he came to a stop, ¡°Fancy seeing you here. Still ready to lose? Guess this is the wrong way if you¡¯re here. I must have really backtracked somehow.¡±

    Fleur felt her anger flare as Eric turned around, dismissing her completely and started jogging off in the other direction. She gritted her teeth. She¡¯d sworn to her Veela mother that she¡¯d never use this. Her mother had told her it was only for if a lovestruck man was about to attack her and she had to defend herself.

    But she couldn¡¯t lose! She reached within herself and felt her magic rush to her command and gather in her lips.

    ¡°ErIc, sToP,¡± Fleur said with a massive pulse of magic, ¡°You LoVe mE. YoU¡¯d do AnYtHing fOr mE, WoUldn¡¯t yOu? YoU shOuLd hElp me wiN as a siGn of yOur loVe, Eric.¡±

    Eric froze and turned around with a slack jawed expression on his face. After a moment of looking at her, his eyes glazed over as he stared at apparently nothing.

    ¡°Of course my love,¡± He said slowly, ¡°I¡¯d do anything for you.¡±

    Fleur let out a sigh of relief and allowed her magic to sink back within herself away from her mouth. It was just another spell. Her mother would never need to know. And the spell should stop his devotion to her after an hour or two. Plenty of time to win the competition while he still followed her orders.

    ¡°Show me the place you were last that you thought was deeper in the maze,¡± Fleur ordered.

    ¡°Of course, my love,¡± Eric said in a breathless tone. He turned and started jogging back the way he came. What Fleur didn¡¯t see was Eric¡¯s face spread in a wicked grin and his lovestruck expression faded away as soon as his back was to her. Now wasn¡¯t this just rich¡­

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny sent a bright lumos charm in a bright flash at the pack of five acromantulas gathered at the center of the clearing. The large spiders all startled as she did it the second she emerged from the maze. They scattered, but slowed as they reached the edge of the space. Ginny puffed up to make herself big and imagined what Hagrid had done with the first Thestral to scare it off last year.

    ¡°Rah! Gah! Away spiders!¡± She shouted as she blasted them with bursts of light with her wands. The spiders hesitated but after blasting her light at them one more time to scare them, it broke their resolve and they fled, crawling up the walls of the hedge and over the top to flee. The hedge across the way rippled and opened the gap to the next section of maze once they were gone.

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Ginny went through the maze again, running as it shifted around her just out of sight. She reached another clearing. It appeared to be empty. She looked around as the path behind her closed to leave only an uninterrupted hedge behind her again.

    Suddenly she spotted the exit to the clearing to her right. That was odd, was there no challenge for this one? Ginny started running towards the exit, only to stop when she saw a body sprawled on the ground. Her heart pounded as she ran as she recognized who it was. No, it was impossible¡­ She couldn¡¯t be in the maze! Had Eric done something?

    Alexa¡¯s head rolled over and Ginny saw that there was water pouring out of her lips. She wasn¡¯t breathing.

    Ginny stood over Alexa¡¯s body hyperventilating and panicking as she tried to think of what to do. Alexa!

    She was about to cast a spell, when she suddenly stopped. Wait, what was happening? Why would Alexa be drowning in the center of the maze? Suddenly in a burst of realization Ginny angrily pointed her wand at the drowning Alexa.

    ¡°Exilium!¡± She chanted. The boggart shifted into a dozen different forms and let out a piercing wail as her spell tore it into pieces and dispersed it into raw energy again, destroying the controlling consciousness of the ghost-like creature.

    Ginny sagged slightly before shaking her head and recovering. Probably overkill for just a boggart, but¡­

    Ginny continued to the exit to the clearing and stomped hard a few times on the ground where the Boggart had been to clear out the last dregs of her anger. Stupid thing making her think that Alexa was in trouble¡­ She hated Boggarts.

    She continued in the maze and kept going. She suddenly stopped as she heard Eric¡¯s voice from just around the corner.

    ¡°...final challenge before the end. Thanks for the help. We can¡¯t let you control more minds with those luscious lips. I¡¯m doing everyone a favor by sealing them. Who knows how many men have fallen prey to you already? A few days of silence ought to teach you a lesson about brainwashing people¡­¡±

    There were some muffled feminine groans as Ginny¡¯s eyes widened and she raced around the corner. She gasped as she took in the scene. Fleur was sinking into the side of the hedge maze, her wand on the ground. Eric had a needle and thread of magic and was nearly finished sewing Fleur¡¯s lips closed with a thread of magic in a series of stitches. Fleur was groaning in pain with tears running down her face as she was slowly sinking into the walls of the maze. Eric was taunting her as he kept sewing her mouth closed with his magic. Little bleeding holes lined her lips top and bottom as Eric pierced them with his invisible needle of magic and his magic threads threaded through them.

    The both of them turned to look at Ginny as she stood there in shock at seeing the scene.

    ¡°Oops, this is awkward,¡± Eric said, ¡°But you know how it is, Ginny. Cutthroat competition. Got to do everything you can to win. A little mind control here, a bit of well earned revenge for it there.¡±

    ¡°Let her go!¡± Ginny said.

    ¡°Why should I? I was having so much fun. She tried to control my mind! I think the turnaround is only fair. Why should I let you stop me? I¡¯m between you and the trophy. I can take as much time as I like with Fleur here. We both know that as much as you¡¯ve improved you still can¡¯t take me on in a fight.¡±

    Fleur tried to shout something but it came out as gibberish as her lips stayed stuck together as Eric¡¯s thread kept them sealed.

    ¡°I know,¡± Eric told Fleur conversationally and used his magic to pull her out of the hedge slightly so she didn¡¯t sink fully inside, ¡°It¡¯s rather tragic that she¡¯ll be forced to watch and do nothing as I finish up with you. Now let¡¯s keep sewing, I was almost done¡­¡±

    ¡°I saved your life!¡± Ginny said, ¡°Don¡¯t you remember, you ungrateful piece of shit! I could have let you die but I sent Fawkes to save you! Let her go!¡±

    Eric turned to her in disbelief, ¡°You¡¯d use that on this? You barely even know Fleur. What about your friends? I thought you would save it for one of them. I don¡¯t want to harm them right now, but that might change someday.¡±

    ¡°Let her go,¡± Ginny repeated in a wavering tone.

    Eric hesitated for a second before letting out a disappointed sigh, ¡°Gah, fine. But we¡¯re really even after this. No more calling in that card in anymore.¡±

    He tugged Fleur out of the wall of the hedge maze. He lifted Fleur¡¯s discarded wand and tossed it into the rapidly closing divot in the hedge with his magic. In seconds the hedge was a flat wall again and the wand was buried deep within. Eric dropped Fleur to the ground.

    ¡°Alright, you can have her,¡± Eric said, ¡°I¡¯m going to go ahead and win. I had no idea you liked her so much. Only one more challenge before the trophy itself. Fleur¡¯s helpful little spell confirmed it.¡±

    Eric turned and jogged a few feet and turned the corner. Ginny sensed him entering a large clearing with her magic even as she rushed up to Fleur who was still on the ground tearing at her sealed lips with her hands and trying to scream.

    Ginny got close and grabbed Fleur on the shoulder as she sat there tearing at her face with her fingernails.

    ¡°Fleur! Fleur I can fix it. Just stay still and I¡¯ll fix it,¡± She said urgently. Fleur paused and nodded urgently with desperation in her eyes as she stared up at Ginny from where she sat on the ground.

    ¡°Mmmmhhhhh!¡± Fleur said as she kept nodding.

    Ginny reached down and tapped her wand on Fleur¡¯s lips. At the same time as she tapped it, she had her magic tendrils go through and disrupt Eric¡¯s odd magic thread, an enchantment of some sort. It shattered and Fleur let out a gasp as her lips came unsealed.

    Fleur started babbling at Ginny in French and looked rather panicked.

    ¡°Calm down, I don¡¯t speak French, I don¡¯t understand,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Wait, just stay still. Let me just heal your lips real quick. You¡¯re still bleeding a bit.¡±

    Fleur went silent and stared up at Ginny without saying anything.

    ¡°Episky. Episky. Episky,¡± Ginny chanted and the little holes Eric had pierced in Fleur¡¯s lips healed over to show fresh skin again.

    Fleur wiped at her bloodstained lips and felt at them with her fingers for a moment before appearing to calm down.

    ¡°Thankz you,¡± She said in relief with a heavy french accent, ¡°Thatz was horrible. He iz a madman.¡±

    Ginny reached down and helped Fleur to her feet.

    ¡°Are you okay? He didn¡¯t do anything else to you?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Fleur said, quickly returning to her normal unaccented English as the panic began to fade from her voice, ¡°That was it. He ambushed me. I thought that I¡¯d enchanted him with my voice, but he still attacked me somehow.¡±

    ¡°Well, first off don¡¯t try to mind control people,¡± Ginny said, ¡°But whatever you did, your Veela magic in your voice, it never worked on him. He was just playing with you if you thought it did.¡±

    Fleur was confused, ¡°What? But he was with the other boys, the ones that always follow me around and think that I do not notice them. Why¡­¡±

    ¡°He wanted to listen to your voice,¡± Ginny said, ¡°So he could make it into a spell he could use himself. He wants to replicate your Veela magic, he just used those other boys as cover so you would think he was the same as them. Luckily I¡¯m pretty sure he gave it up, it must not be as easy for him to copy as he had hoped¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡­ You knew this? What he was like, this whole time?¡±

    ¡°Pretty much. Look, we¡¯ve got to get out of here. He might come back and try to do something else horrible after grabbing the trophy.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Fleur suddenly said before grabbing Ginny by the shoulders, ¡°You must go on. We can not let him win the tournament, get away with what he did. I will act as a distraction for you.¡±

    ¡°But¡­ you¡¯ve got no wand,¡± Ginny said, ¡°You have no idea, he¡¯s too powerful. He¡¯d defeat me in seconds. All we¡¯d be doing is putting ourselves more at risk for no reason. You at risk most of all since you don¡¯t even have a wand.¡±

    Fleur hesitated before shaking her head, ¡°No. Don¡¯t worry about me. I can take it. I¡¯ll distract him and you sneak around. You only have to reach the trophy first, you do not have to take him down.¡±

    Ginny hesitated, ¡°Are you sure? We should just leave, it¡¯s not worth it. It¡¯s just a trophy.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Fleur said with anger blazing in her eyes, ¡°But it can not be Eric¡¯s trophy, I couldn¡¯t stand it. That¡¯s all that matters. Do you understand?¡±

    After a moment, Ginny nodded back. ¡°Okay. I understand.¡±

    ¡°Alright, Ginny,¡± Fleur said with a deep breath, ¡°Behind me, I¡¯ll go first. If you give me your wand for a moment then I will cast all the charms I know to hide you.¡±

    Ginny hesitated, but then complied. After Fleur cast a dozen charms at Ginny, she offered the wand back to Ginny after only a second¡¯s pause.

    The two of them ran in the direction Eric had disappeared off to, the last clearing between him and the trophy that would let him win the whole tournament¡­

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Eric groaned as he looked down on the battered Sphinx.

    ¡°C¡¯mon you stupid cat¡­ person thing. Just let me through the wards already. I can see the stupid trophy right there.¡±

    ¡°You¡­ You must solve my riddles first,¡± The Sphinx groaned.

    ¡°Quit wasting my time! They were way too hard and I defeated you in battle anyway. Just let me through already!¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t drop the wards unless you solve my riddles. It doesn¡¯t matter if I am defeated or not. It is my duty to only let those who solve the riddles pass, to the best of my abilities. Including keeping the wards up as long as I can.¡±

    Eric hesitated and then groaned.

    ¡°Gaaaaahhhhh! I made it almost to the end with my restrictions too! I¡¯ll have to do it myself, I wasn¡¯t put in Ravenclaw and forced to solve stupid riddles all the time for a reason.¡±

    Eric reached out and felt the ward keeping him from the trophy that he could see just beyond the barrier. On the other end he could see three long and thin paths coming from the other end of the maze in a rough circle. Huh, maybe this wasn¡¯t the only path to the center?

    Eric felt the weak part of the ward and pushed with his magic. It was strong, resisting his efforts for a few seconds before shattering. Even then the whole ward didn¡¯t fall, only weakening a bit. Eric felt more weak points and began pressing on them to systematically dismantle the whole ward. The barrier between him and the shining trophy came down.

    ¡°Hey! Eric!¡± Fleur¡¯s voice suddenly called out from the entrance, her mouth absolutely blazing with magic just like how she¡¯d tried to control him from before.

    ¡°Fleur?¡± He said as he turned around with a smile. He had plenty of time to get the trophy, he was between her and the trophy, no way she made it past him, ¡°What possessed you to come here after me? Alone? Ginny just left you behind and fled in fear? That¡¯s out of character for her. Although she never really cared about the tournament anyways, only the Goblet of Fire¡¯s magic stopped her from dropping out before every task. You should have heard her st-st-stuttering every time she tried to back out as the Goblet¡¯s magic sank into her. It was hilarious. Oh, and you don¡¯t even have a wand either. What are you even going to do to me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell the Aurors what you did, you brute!¡± She said, ¡°You¡¯ll be arrested!¡±

    ¡°Did what?¡± Eric said, ¡°You look perfectly fine to me. Ginny must have fixed you up before she ran away. Seems to me you have no proof at all that I did anything to you at all.¡±

    Fleur¡¯s eyes flickered to the side and she started smiling. Eric whirled around and saw Ginny appearing from thin air next to the triwizarding trophy. Her hand was reaching out for one of the handles on its side.

    ¡°No!¡± Eric shouted and took his magic tendrils and looped himself around his clothing and launched himself at high speed towards Ginny and the trophy. Who knew how the Ministry or Dumbledore would verify who touched the cup first. He couldn¡¯t lose now, when he was so close!

    Eric was flying through the air at high speed, Ginny¡¯s hand less than a foot from grabbing the trophy. Eric was flying through the air and felt his hand just barely brush the trophy first before Ginny touched it. Yes! He had done it despite the girls¡¯ trick! Eric used his tendrils to stop his momentum as both Eric and Ginny curled their hands around the handle of the trophy fully.

    ¡°Hah!¡± Eric gloated as he looked at Ginny, ¡°I got it firs-¡±

    Before he could say more, a hidden enchantment in the trophy suddenly revealed itself. Before either of them could react the portkey enchantment unfolded itself and encapsulated the both of them in bubbles of magic. In a single instant the enchantment let out a powerful flash and the both of them were gone.

 Chapter 61: The Graveyard

    Ginny hit the ground as the portkey finished transporting the both of them. Both of them dropped the trophy to the ground as they fell back, the portkey dropping them roughly on the ground.

    They both looked around in confusion.

    ¡°A graveyard? Spooky,¡± Eric said, ¡°I guess the maze wasn¡¯t the end? One last challenge?¡±

    The graveyard was covered in a light mist and was gloomy. Gravestones and stone statues of angels surrounded them on all sides. There was a massive black cauldron just in front of them with bubbling dark liquid inside of it.

    Ginny stood up silently and drew her wand.

    Eric glanced at her, ¡°Oh, you still upset about Fluer? Look at it from my perspective Ginny! She tried to control my mind, to force me to do her bidding! Don¡¯t I deserve some compensation from her to make up for that?¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t have to torture her,¡± Ginny said, ¡°That was way too far and you know it.¡±

    Eric looked surprised, ¡°Torture? I don¡¯t think so. It all made sense to me. How would you feel if she was trying to control your mind? It would have even worked if I wasn¡¯t my amazing self. Even you, the perfect little saint that you are, would have done something to get payback I¡¯m sure. It was an equal exchange between me and Fleur. Not torture.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have tried to SEW HER LIPS TOGETHER in response!¡± Ginny shouted, ¡°Just listen to yourself! Do you have any idea how insane you sound?¡±

    Eric looked away, ¡°I thought it was fine,¡± He grumbled, ¡°Don¡¯t know what everyone keeps getting so worked up about.¡±

    ¡°What if it was Fleur doing it to you?¡± Ginny demanded, ¡°How would you feel then?¡±

    ¡°How would¡­ I feel? If it happened to me?¡± Eric said, sounding like he¡¯d never thought about it before.

    ¡°You know¡­ huh. I guess I wouldn¡¯t like it. Maybe you have a point, Ginny.¡±

    Ginny lowered her wand a fraction.

    ¡°I should have cast a numbing spell on her first!¡± Eric said, ¡°Her mind controlling me wouldn¡¯t have been painful for me so it was unfair to give her pain back when I was piercing her lips with the needle. I¡¯ll have to apologize to her later after she has some time to calm down.¡±

    ¡°Eric¡­¡±

    They both paused as a woman with black hair emerged from the steps of a mausoleum. She was cradling something in a bundle of fabric one arm and had a wand in the other.

    ¡°It seems your little portkey change has worked well, Bellatrix... Kiiiillll the spare,¡± a voice hissed from the cloth bundle.

    ¡°Of course, Master,¡± the woman said and raised her wand. ¡°Avada Kedavra!¡± The woman chanted as she channeled magic into her wand.

    Ginny dived behind a nearby gravestone with wide eyes as a bolt of green light shot out of the woman¡¯s wand and hit the ground where she had just been standing.

    ¡°Hey, quit that,¡± Eric said, ¡°Ginny¡¯s just being a scaredy cat. Both of us could smack you around without even trying. I can. Ginny certainly could if she was thinking straight.¡±

    ¡°Arrrrooogggganccceeee¡­¡± The bundle hissed as Ginny peeked around the gravestone to see what was happening. The magic in the creature in the bundle flowed oddly. In flows and spurts rather than the normal flow she would expect to see in most other creatures.

    ¡°Nooo channncccces,¡± The bundle continued, ¡°Bellatrix, get the bloood.¡±

    ¡°Blood? What, gah!¡±

    Ginny¡¯s eyes widened as a needle shot out of Bellatrix¡¯s wand and went into Eric¡¯s leg with no warning. Before he could react, the needle retreated with a few drops of blood taken with it.

    ¡°Ow,¡± Eric said, ¡°Now can you explain what¡¯s going on? Is this still part of the tournament? I didn¡¯t think the ministry would let people cast killing charms. But they did go for the kidnapping children bit pretty easily, so you never know sometimes¡­¡±

    ¡°Continue the ritual,¡± the bundle said, ¡°Ignore them for now. They are weak and can not stop you.¡±

    ¡°If you say so, you little bundle of joy,¡± Eric said, seeming amused by the creature¡¯s words, ¡°I¡¯m rather interested actually. You know about rituals? Do you know one to fix my eyesight? I have to wear glasses all the time to read and it''s incredibly annoying.¡±

    ¡°Put me in,¡± the creature in Bellatrix''s arms hissed.

    Bellatrix ignored Eric and dumped the creature in her arms into the cauldron.

    She levitated a long leg bone that was sitting on top of a nearby grave with a spell. Tom Peter Riddle was on the gravestone. He had died about fifty years ago as Ginny peered around the gravestone she was hiding behind to see the date of death.

    ¡°Bone of the father, unwillingly taken,¡± Bellatrix chanted before dropping it into the cauldron.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to do something?¡± Ginny hissed at Eric.

    ¡°No. Don¡¯t you want to see a ritual yourself?¡± Eric said, ¡°Maybe this is the reward for beating the tournament? Seeing a super secret ritual at work? I¡¯ve never even heard of anyone else using rituals in at least a hundred years. They were made illegal, I think. This is a unique experience, something we might never get to see again.¡±

    Ginny hesitated. Maybe that made sense, but she was getting a bad feeling about it. The things that the woman was saying didn¡¯t seem very positive. And her name felt vaguely familiar. Ginny was sure that she had heard it somewhere before, but she just couldn¡¯t place where¡­

    ¡°Plus, if you¡¯re so against it why don¡¯t you stop it yourself?¡± Eric continued.

    ¡°Blood of the enemy, unwillingly taken,¡± Bellatrix chanted while taking the needle and dissolving it, causing the blood inside to spill into the roiling black fluid below.

    ¡°Enemy? Who¡¯d I¡­ Wait, Tom Peter Riddle, bone of the father... Is that you, Tom? Wow, how Tom Riddle has fallen in just a few years. Life¡¯s treated you rough. I thought we were reluctant allies at worst, I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d earned enemy status just yet.¡±

    Bellatrix raised her arm and took a knife from her robes. Her chest puffed out and she raised her chin slightly as she rested the blade against her wrist.

    ¡°Flesh of the servant!¡± She shouted, ¡°Given willingly!¡±

    Before Ginny could react, Bellatrix cut off her own hand in a single movement of the blade, sending it tumbling into the roiling fluid below.

    ¡°Whoa, hardcore¡­¡± Eric muttered as Ginny tried to understand what was going on. This couldn¡¯t be for the tournament, could it? Something must be wrong. She wanted to summon Fawkes¡­ But if she did she would be disqualified if this was still part of the tournament somehow. An advanced illusion or something? If there was even a one percent chance that this was still part of the tournament¡­ She glanced at Eric.

    There was still a chance Eric hadn¡¯t actually grabbed the trophy first. She didn¡¯t want to give him the victory when she didn¡¯t have to, just because she got a little frightened by whatever was happening here.

    The cauldron began shaking violently as Bellatrix took a step back while cradling her bleeding stump of an arm. But she had a rapturous worshipful look as the cauldron rattled so hard that it looked like it would break free of its housing in the small stone platform below it. Ginny sensed massively complex magic swirling and pulsing within the cauldron around the small creature inside.

    Ginny kept watching as the creature inside grew and grew until it was the size of a full man. It was now blazing with magic, its magic more than most of the wizards Ginny had ever met. The only person who was even close was Dumbledore. And even Dumbledore was probably fractionally weaker than this mysterious creature in his raw amount of magic.

    The creature shifted in the cauldron and began to float up so its head broke the surface of the dark fluid. He was completely naked.

    ¡°Look away, Ginny!¡± Eric called out loudly, ¡°He¡¯s about to flash us! Protect your poor unspoiled virgin eyes from him!¡±

    Blushing slightly, Ginny did so and ducked back behind the grave as the strange man¡¯s waist raised itself out of the cauldron. She could tell with her magic sense that it was definitely a man, no need to check with her eyes too. Ginny noticed that Eric didn¡¯t look away and just shot a satisfied smirk her way instead as he saw her reaction.

    The strange man flashed with magic after his feet were hovering a foot above the cauldron. He was draped with black robes that covered his form.

    ¡°Ok, it¡¯s safe now Ginny,¡± Eric said, ¡°He¡¯s put on some clothes. His junk was really small, be glad it won¡¯t be the first one you see. Well, see as a girl, which is basically the same thing. If you had him as your standard then it would make you way more impressed by the next chump that gives you a chance and they had a more normal size. Completely lowering your standards completely by accident.¡±

    ¡°ERIC!¡± Ginny said in a half strangled scream, ¡°Shut up! Stop looking at other guys¡¯ junk!¡±

    ¡°Hey, a guy¡¯s got to compare them somehow,¡± Eric said, not even phased by her reaction, ¡°If I knew this is all I had to do to send you off balance then I would have started teasing you with it earlier.¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    ¡°Enough with the jokes,¡± the strange man said in a hissing snakelike voice, ¡°Your time will come soon, Harry Potter.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Eric now, I told you that. Tom? Tom Riddle? Is that you?¡± Eric asked as he squinted and peered at the strange man closely, ¡°You look like crap. What happened to your nose? Where¡¯d it go?¡±

    Ginny popped out from behind the gravestone, her cheeks still flushed in embarrassment as she peeked at the man standing there covered in a black cloak. Oh, he really did have no nose. Instead he had two little holes like for a snake and a vague bump upwards where his nose should be. Oof.

    The man, Tom Riddle apparently? Paused.

    ¡°Hm. I¡¯ll find out how you know that later,¡± The man said, ¡°But I have something more important to do first.¡±

    He turned to Bellatrix who was standing there looking at the man like he was the most important person in the world. She silently reached into her robes and held out a bone white bleached wand which the man accepted.

    ¡°Bellatrix, give me your arm,¡± the man said after inspecting his wand for a moment while ignoring Eric and Ginny who was peering at them from behind the gravestone.

    ¡°Of course my lord!¡± She said excitedly and held out her uninjured arm, ¡°Let them know that their true master is back! All those who bore the dark mark of your loyal death eaters yet turned their backs as soon as it was inconvenient for them!¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± He said with the faintest hint of a smile as he reached out and grabbed her forearm. He took a single finger and pressed it firmly there and Ginny felt him channel his magic there. Instantly a dark tattoo with a skull with a snake slithering out of its mouth like a long tongue appeared. Ginny felt the dark tattoo pulse and released a pulse of magic that rapidly raced away from the graveyard.

    ¡°Sooooooo¡­¡± Eric said as the man¡¯s finger left Bellatrix¡¯s arm, ¡°Is this still part of the tournament? Are you going to give us a riddle or something? I hate riddles. Heh, Tom Riddle''s going to give us a riddle. You''re perfect for the job, I guess.¡±

    ¡°You are a foolish boy,¡± the man hissed casually, ¡°I am Lord Voldemort, your superior in every way. Every breath that you take past this moment is only at my whim. You won¡¯t be able to joke for much longer once my attention turns to you, useless insect that you are.¡±

    All around the graveyard, figures began apparating in with dark cloaks with long pointed hoods and silvery skull masks covering their faces.

    Ginny tried to remember who this person was. Voldemort? They were important weren¡¯t they? Related to Pettigrew somehow¡­ The leader of the Death Eaters! The one that had murdered Harry¡¯s parents as a baby and was rumored to be one of the most powerful wizards alive aside from Dumbledore at the time!

    ¡°Death Eaters!¡± Voldemort called out, ¡°I have returned- return- return-¡±

    Voldemort¡¯s voice began to stutter and repeat as he stood there motionless. Ginny saw that Voldemort¡¯s eyes had begun to glow golden. Fate! What would Fate do with access to one of the most powerful wizards in decades?

    Ginny heaved desperately with her bond with Fawkes and pulled out the little puck from Balthazar. She started tapping the panic button on the top desperately over and over with her finger as Voldemort turned around. The black device started flashing red as she kept pressing the button.

    ¡°Avada Kedavra!¡± Eric called and pointed a finger gun at Voldemort¡¯s body as the man''s eyes began glowing an ever brighter golden glow. Voldemort went down in a heap and was still for a second as a green bolt shot out of the tip of Eric¡¯s fingers and slammed into the man¡¯s chest.

    Eric raised his finger gun and blew on the tip as if to get rid of the smoke from the barrel of a pistol and then pretended to holster it at his hip.

    ¡°Hah! No long drawn battle this time whoever you are, puppet master,¡± Eric gloated, ¡°I beat you to the punch.¡±

    Voldemort floated off of the ground, his eyes blazing with golden light.

    ¡°Not quite,¡± Fate said, her voice booming with magic as Voldemort raised his wand towards Eric, ¡°Goodbye, Beyonder.¡±

    Just as Eric raised his hands and prepared to fight, a red portal sprouted into existence behind Ginny and Balthazar stepped through.

    Voldemort¡¯s head snapped around and his golden eyes widened as Balthazar released a wave of nearly solid magic that rippled through the air around him.

    Fate reached out and released a similar pressure of her own that made the red portal tinge with golden streaks and begin to flicker and stutter like a badly tuned television.

    ¡°I see now,¡± Fate breathed, ¡°This is not a single stray Beyonder, but an invasion. My champion must be awakened¡­¡±

    The golden corruption overcame the red portal and it shut. Balthazar glanced at Ginny before putting one hand behind his back. He used his pointer finger to point behind him. Ginny followed his finger to see the triwizarding trophy sitting there, a portkey enchantment still on it. Ginny¡¯s eyes widened and she nodded back at Balthazar.

    Balthazar turned back to Voldemort, who was weaving some sort of spell as he stood there.

    ¡°Fate. Prepare for your puppet to die,¡± Balthazar said firmly.

    He reached out and with a gesture sent his magic pulsing within the earth. He had his hands pointed towards Voldemort¡¯s feet and in a single motion raised his hands to the sky. A massive pillar of earth raised upwards and launched Voldemort high into the air. Voldemort flew through the air, until his body fuzzed and he became shrouded in a dark cloud and started to turn and streak back downwards as it allowed him to fly, only two golden dots of light of his eyes shining through the dark cloud as it descended towards them.

    Balthazar leapt into the air and the two batlike wings on his back began to flap, releasing massive bursts of wind with each stroke. His magic was infusing the wings so he shot into the sky and began releasing a series of spells at the descending dark cloud that dodged and weaved agilely to swerve around every spell that Balthazar sent blasting upwards like an acrobat.

    Balthazar was rising to meet Fate as he flew up in the air with his wings. When Voldemort was close enough, Balthazar stretched out his arms wide and infused what seemed like the whole sky with his magic. He clapped his hands together and there was a massive boom as all the air in the sky seemed to surge upwards in a single massive burst of wind. Voldemort¡¯s smoky form was blasted high into the sky out of sight under the force of the spell. Balthazar hovered there for a moment before with one final flap of his wings and a massive injection of his magic shot into the sky just as fast after Voldemort¡¯s body even as the dark cloud began to reform around Voldemort¡¯s flailing body.

    The two of them were tiny dots high in the sky now, but Ginny could see the bright flashes of spells and titanic booms even from here as they began to fight each other full force with their magic.

    Ginny was jolted out of her shock as Fate launched a massive bolt of lighting at the tiny dot that was Balthazar far above. The noise and sudden wave of thunder shaking the graveyard around her made Ginny realize that Balthazar was acting as a distraction so that she could escape. She had to get out of here now, before one of those titanic spells from their battle came down here and obliterated the spot where she was standing.

    Ginny glanced up and saw that Balthazar was holding a ball of lighting in front of him and with a motion she could barely see tossed it back at Fate, who dropped down with Voldemort¡¯s dark cloud spell to dodge.

    Ginny turned and started running towards the triwizarding tournament trophy. It was only ten steps away and she dived forward and grabbed it as the graveyard descended into chaos behind her. Her hands wrapped around the cup and the portkey activated. It wrapped its magic around her and in a single flash she was away and dropping back onto grassy ground. It was much warmer.

    The booming and crackle of spells from above to be replaced by the murmuring of the crowd.

    ¡°AND GINNY WEALEY IS THE WINNER OF THE TRIWIZARDING TOURNAMENT!¡± Ludo Bagman said from the stands, ¡°WE HAVE OUR WINNER!¡±

    The crowd began to cheer wildly as Ginny rolled over and sat up and inspected her surroundings in confusion. The portkey enchantment on the trophy unraveled and then dissolved into nothing even as she held it.

    She was back at the entrance of the maze at Hogwarts. She had made it out in time. She let out a sigh of relief as she sat in the field, ignoring the crowd.

    Balthazar would be fine, he could take on Fate with one arm tied behind his back. He was strong and confident, he¡¯d just shrug it all off after and chuckle that she had even been worried about him.

    Fawkes suddenly appeared in a burst of flame above and let out like a warlike battle cry as he swooped down towards her protectively. The crowd paused in their cheers.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine now!¡± Ginny said as Fawkes calmed down as he took in his surroundings even as he landed in front of her. She leaned in next to his ear, ¡°Balthazar saved me,¡± She whispered before drawing back.

    Fawkes tilted his head and then chirped, ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m good. Go ahead,¡± she said, ¡°I¡¯ll explain later.¡±

    Chirp.

    Fawkes leapt into the air and with another burst of flame disappeared again.

    ¡°And even her Phoenix is congratulating her on her victory!¡± Ludo Bagman cried from the stands, rolling with the sudden event without even a pause, ¡°Let¡¯s show our own support! Let¡¯s hear those cheers! Ginny Weasley everyone!¡±

    The crowd cheered even louder, shaking the ground slightly beneath Ginny. Ginny suddenly tensed as she remembered. Oh no, she had left Eric behind¡­

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°FUCK! It¡¯s Balthazar!¡± Bellatrix Lestrange screamed, ¡°Get out of here! The lord will deal with him! We¡¯re nothing but ants beneath their feet if we stay!¡±

    To reinforce her point the sky lit up as Lord Voldemort summoned what looked like a massive golden dragon out of nothing to charge his opponent.

    The death eaters who had been gaping at the battle between gods going on in the sky above them suddenly came to their senses. As one the cowards all fled, apparating away again in an instant. Bellatrix took her wand awkwardly from her robes with her remaining hand and quickly rushed into the mausoleum she had been waiting in for the last few hours. Inside was an expanded trunk with all her and her lord¡¯s belongings.

    She went to grab it with her stump hand, but growled as she realized that it was missing. She quickly settled with lifting the case with a levitation spell. The ground shook around her and she stumbled into a wall, dust raining from the ceiling and a series of cracks running up the stone walls of the underground structure. She waved her wand again and rushed back up the stairs, the closed expanded luggage case floating behind her.

    She reached the top and set the luggage case next to the massive black cauldron still filled with three quarters of the potion that her lord had used to resurrect himself. Her hair rippled as a blast of air came down from the sky above and nearly knocked her from her feet. But she ignored it and kept her head down even as a bead of sweat formed on her brow. She quickly set the luggage case down in a hurry and opened it with a few fumbled spells to open the latch holding it closed.

    Bellatrix focused despite her trembling wand arm and cast a shrinking spell. The massive cauldron and the precious fluid inside shrank to a quarter of the size. Bellatrix got more nervous. It wasn¡¯t enough, she had to go smaller¡­ She cast the spell again and the cauldron shrunk in size again.

    Now just small enough that it would fit through the opening in the case. She quickly levitated it and put it through the opening and down inside in its expanded confines where the cauldron immediately ballooned back up to its proper size in the expanded space of the luggage trunk as her shrinking spells ran out of power.

    Her Lord had instructed her of the value of this potion and the equipment, so she should do her best to preserve it now that he and Balthazar were engaged in a direct battle that she had no chance in helping him with.

    She glanced over to see Eric Potter staring into the sky in dazed shock, not even the roar of thunder and massive blasts of spellfire above knocking him out of it.

    Bellatrix shook her head and closed the luggage case and locked it with her spell. She floated it up to herself and awkwardly tucked it under her arm with the bleeding stump. Part of the ritual was preventing any magical healing of the wound, so she¡¯d have to stop the bleeding with¡­ muggle means.

    She shifted her grip on the case and then with a final flick of her wand apparated away to safety. She¡¯d treat her wounds and wait where the lord knew where to find her. Voldemort was the greatest wizard of his generation, it would be a hard fought battle but of course he¡¯d come out on top.

    Bellatrix remembered the memory of when she had seen Balthazar during her escape from Azkaban. The man that she now knew was Balthazar combating what must have been dozens or even hundreds of Dementors all at once with his spells¡­

    She gulped. Lord Voldemort would be fine.

    He was Lord Voldemort. Now that he was returned to her, how could he lose?

 Chapter 62: Balthazar Defies Fate

    After the distress call from Ginny, Balthazar had had no time to grab any relevant combat artifacts from Azkaban. Instead he had portaled directly to Ginny¡¯s location with all haste directly from the Wolf-Kin clinic as quickly as he could.

    He had noticed that Ginny had grabbed the portkey and been transported away luckily. Now all that remained was defeating Fate and her puppet Lord Voldemort.

    Balthazar eyed the golden dragon charging him with a critical eye. Fate was a being with incomparable power and able to observe deep secrets of the universe like none other but the greater entities tied to concepts could. But despite her great power, her deep understanding of the fundamental concepts of magic¡­

    She was inexperienced with combat with an equal. The golden dragon was perfect, so realistic that most wouldn¡¯t be able to determine the difference between it and the real thing. There was conceptual power behind the construct as it roared and dived down towards Balthazar from above, containing the very essence of what a dragon was.

    Yet despite all of that¡­ Fate had forgotten that it was not a real creature still. Balthazar folded his wings and dived below the golden dragon as Fate circled on the perimeter, preparing more spells no doubt even as she guided the great dragon in its attacks.

    The golden dragon¡¯s claws passed over Balthazar¡¯s face by only a couple feet. He was focused, and flared out his wings to stop his fall. The dragon tilted and circled around to make another pass to attack Balthazar. He remained hovering in place, flapping his wings, as the dragon roared again as it flew down towards him. He waited to charge his spell with even more power as the golden dragon¡¯s mouth became shrouded in blazing golden flames as it prepared to breathe its fire at him.

    It opened its jaws wide and prepared to fire its blast at him¡­ and that¡¯s the moment that Balthazar moved. He tilted horizontal to the ground and folded his wings around himself and raised his hands above his head.

    His body began to rapidly spin in place and shot forward like an arrow, a red shield of magic appearing like the point of a spear above his raised hands. Just as the dragon was about to blast him with its flame, Balthazar¡¯s body speared into its throat and into the center of its body through its throat. Directly past all the scales infused with the essence of a dragon and thrumming weight of Fate¡¯s magic.

    The inside of the dragon was not made of flesh and bone, but of golden magic. It was like an empty shell with the interior thrumming with the golden magic animating it as Balthazar arrived past all of its defenses through its open mouth and through the golden flames.

    Inexperienced, one must remember that just because a construct looked like a creature didn¡¯t mean that it was that creature. Something that Fate had evidently forgotten as Balthazar halted in the center of the dragon construct still spinning rapidly with the spear point of magic allowing him to pierce through. At just the right moment, Balthazar detonated his spell fully and in a massive explosion shredded the complicated threads of magic that animated the golden dragon from the inside. The construct roared in pain and shifted. Balthazar went weightless as the golden dragon¡¯s wings faltered and it began to fall.

    Balthazar released corrosive mist around himself in billowing clouds. The construct was aligned to fire and so its magic would resist his usual attacks. One of the reasons that Fate had sent it against him. The mist ate away at the interior animation constructs of the dragon and with one more pained roar the creature began to dissolve like fire burning spots in paper.

    Balthazar waited for a moment before flaring his wings and darting out one of the growing holes in the scales of the dragon as it fell towards the earth lifeless.

    Just as he emerged, a massive beam of light launched from the dark cloud of Fate¡¯s puppet above. Balthazar immediately summoned a mirror in front of himself and reflected the beam back to its sender.

    The beam seared away at Voldemort¡¯s body for a few seconds and Fate screamed in surprise before she halted her own attack being reflected back at her.

    Balthazar flapped his wings and ascended again in a burst of motion as he channeled his magic into them. He noticed that Voldemort¡¯s body was scorched by Fate¡¯s attack. After so many large scale attacks in quick succession, even Fate was forced to take a break as her puppet struggled to keep up the pace without breaking down.

    ¡°Who are you, Beyonder?¡± Fate asked, using magic to infuse her magic to have her voice boom through the skies, ¡°What do you seek? You will not find it on this planet forgotten and left to rot by the wider universe.¡±

    ¡°I simply wish to live as I wish,¡± Balthazar answered with a booming voice of his own, ¡°It is your aggression that has brought us to this point.¡±

    ¡°No, no, no!¡± Fate raged, ¡°You mean to stay? Smear your infernal red across the wonderful blues of my painting? Of plans I¡¯ve been refining for tens of thousands of years! I¡¯ll crush you! I¡¯ll feed your soul to the void! You think this vessel is the strongest? There are more! Ones that will crush you like an ant beneath their boots! Leave now from my world or be PURGED FROM IT!¡±

    ¡°Why do you fight me so?¡± Balthazar asked, ¡°Is there no compromise we can reach?¡±

    ¡°There¡­ THERE IS NO COMPROMISE!¡± Fate said, changing what she was going to say at the last second, ¡°I compromised with those Atlanteans. The Beyonders¡­ I was weak. When they begged for me to let them stay I let them, sympathetic after the destruction of their former home. I gave them shelter, worked around them and kept the plan going despite their minor interference. Yet then they broke my designs! Got involved with the world against the agreements. Saving the wrong people, killing even more important ones. Giving this world technology and magic far sooner than what should have been. I¡¯ve spent thousands of years repairing the damage they¡¯ve done to everything! I begged them to stop, to retreat back into the land I¡¯d given them in the ocean. I had to destroy them! I didn¡¯t have a choice! I won¡¯t let that happen ever again! All Beyonders that come must leave or die. It¡¯s the only way to be sure. So, leave or die Beyonder. The one who sank Atlantis will have no trouble dealing with you.¡±

    ¡°Then there truly is no compromise,¡± Balthazar said heavily as he floated there flapping his wings, across from Fate who looked like a dark cloud with two golden eyes piercing through the gloom.

    In an instant the both of them released the spells they¡¯d been preparing for the whole time they spoke. Both aware of the other but believing their spell to be superior.

    Fate released thousands, tens of thousands of golden chains as thick as Balthazar¡¯s arm from her body. Each of the chains weaved and writhed like snakes slithering towards Balthazar. All moving like they were hunting a mouse as they slithered through the air towards Balthazar in a single golden wave.

    Balthazar¡¯s own spell was a little different.

    He flapped his wings once and shot far into the sky, the golden chains slithering after him quickly as more and more of the constructs continued from Fate¡¯s body to give chase.

    Balthazar now was far above, Fate a small dot down below to unenhanced eyes. He released his spell and pumped all the magic Teregatt supplied him into its working. One moment there was Balthazar. Then there were two. Then four, eight, sixteen, thirty two¡­

    Balthazar¡¯s body was doubling over and over as he began to fall, each of the magical constructs mimicking him by diving off at an angle as they replicated. The constructs with their own basic intelligences kept replicating as they all fell down towards the earth far below. The golden chains snaked up vertically through the air as if it was solid ground, pausing only for a moment before splitting up between the constructs.

    Balthazar¡¯s constructs were a near perfect representation of him visually and even magically. But as soon as they took more than one solid blow they would dissolve in raw magic. Balthazar¡¯s illusions kept doubling as all of them fell downwards towards the golden chains that came to meet them.

    The moment finally came after what felt like forever. Tens of thousands of Balthazar look-alikes covering the sky with their bodies. A wall of golden chains rising to meet them, ready to strike. Ten or more of Balthazar¡¯s constructs existed for each of the golden chains as Balthazar drew deep on the stored energies of Teregatt.

    With a massive crash, the two forces met. In an instant the skies devolved into absolute chaos. Balthazar¡¯s autonomous constructs ducked and weaved through the clouds of chains expertly, all moving inwards towards Voldemort¡¯s body in the center of the mass of chains.

    Each of the chains dissolved Balthazar¡¯s constructs with a single solid blow. Even as Balthazar flared his wings and rolled to the side to dodge a flailing chain, he witnessed a chain wrap around one of his constructs and squeeze before it could escape. It puffed into mist and the golden chain closed fully with a loud clang.

    Balthazar kept moving, getting ever closer to Fate¡¯s puppet by the moment as she was distracted by his agile doubles approaching her and dodging the blows from her golden chains. The numbers of his constructs were rapidly dropping, but even now they were still doubling as they kept charging inwards through the mass of flailing chains. More constructs were lost as the number of chains grew more and more by the moment as all of the Balthazars grew ever closer to the center.

    Balthazar closed his wings before flapping again to shoot himself up and at an angle through a gap in the golden chains converging on him from all sides. He flapped his wings again and darted deeper into the tangle even as his constructs came with him. The golden chains behind him crashed together with a loud clank as they tightened around the space where he had been like a closing fist. He eyed the distance to Fate and then nodded to himself after a moment. This was close enough.

    With a single mental order, all of the constructs began to activate their final sequence. They stopped doubling and their magic signatures rose dramatically along with Balthazar¡¯s own. In unison, every single of the Balthazar¡¯s shifted from physical constructs to pure illusions, only their magic signature being mimicked and nothing else.

    All of them turned horizontal as they had for the golden dragon and began to spin. The cone of the red spear point of magic appeared above all of them as their rotation speed increased. Over half of the constructs were eliminated by even this brief pause in their frantic dodging. Despite being illusions, a direct impact with the magic of the golden chains would still disperse them. But any partial blows would ¡®heal¡¯ as the construct redistributed its magic to refill parts that had been removed when it passed through the golden chain''s magic and was dissolved.

    As one, all of the Balthazars, illusion and real alike, shot towards where Voldemort¡¯s body floated. Creating this nest of golden chains was a powerful play, but it also rooted Fate in place, unable to nimbly move and dodge as she could before.

    Balthazar could see the golden eyes of Fate frantically darting around and making furious gestures with her hands as she directed her web of chains to eliminate all the Balthazars before they reached her. With their magical signatures identical, Fate seemed to be unable to isolate which one of them was the real Balthazar during their surprise attack.

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    Balthazar plowed directly through a chain that went to strike him as his body sped directly towards Fate¡¯s body at full speed.

    Fate¡¯s golden eyes immediately turned in his direction and she focused all her chains on him alone while ignoring the others. He let go of the illusion spell and in an instant all his doubles dispersed into mist. Fate thought that she could stop him now that she had spotted him. But it was too late. Her chain constructs were too spread out and he was already within her guard. He plowed through five more golden chains without even slowing as the distance between him and Fate shrank rapidly.

    At the last moment Fate tried to dodge downwards, but Balthazar slightly changed the angle of his body to fall with her. It was too late, Fate almost pinned in place by the golden chains that she herself had created.

    Balthazar reached Voldemort''s body with his spear point¡­ And passed through. The direct strike on Voldemort shredded his body on impact, Fate too surprised by Balthazar¡¯s attack and distracted by his decoys to manage to put up any kind of magical defense in time.

    With the massive blast of a sonic boom, Balthazar forcibly stopped his momentum before hitting the ground as his momentum continued, barely even slowed after passing through Fate¡¯s puppet. His little spark of intrinsic magic was straining to provide all that it could as it was drained to completely empty for every spell that Balthazar cast. But Teregatt provided the difference in magic energy and kept him going with the amount of magic energy he needed for the fight.

    He flapped his wings and turned around to watch where Fate and Voldemort had been a few seconds ago. The golden chains were dissolving from the center outwards after the death of their caster. The golden chains slithered mindlessly, moving in whatever direction they had been moving last when Fate had been controlling them. Like fire burning down a thousand fuses, the golden chains all burned to their ends and then dissolved into mist starting from the center of the their mass where Fate had used to be.

    Balthazar looked around. The area below was remarkably undamaged from what he could detect. Fate had likely kept the collateral damage low so she wouldn¡¯t hurt her precious pawns. Balthazar did the same due to not wishing to hurt the innocent himself.

    He felt a sense of victory as he flapped his wings and began to descend back down the graveyard. But it was short lived. Fate was aware of him and possibly even Teregatt after this. Whatever great warrior she had prepared, he had no doubt that they would be a world shaking power. One that was likely greater than him in power by a massive margin. The few Atlanteans that had escaped to other worlds had talked of that man as undefeatable. Casting massive spells like they''d never seen effortlessly. Or at least that''s the rumors Balthazar had heard at one point while he was still fighting for Teregatt.

    He had no idea how long this champion of Fate would take to awaken, he assumed that since they had not appeared for this battle that it must be a long process.

    But he had to make his preparations now. There was no more time. Sometime soon Azkaban and Teregatt would be under full assault by Fate.

    And when that happened emerging from the nested wards and fortress that Balthazar and the other residents of Teregatt had built would be tantamount to suicide.

    There would be no saving Ginny from danger a second time.

    Balthazar could only hope that the awakening process was on the order of years or decades instead of the weeks or months that he thought was far more likely unfortunately.

    His thoughts were interrupted as he saw a boy he never expected to see again standing there in the graveyard, staring up at him with wide eyes. Balthazar had never seen the body of Harry Potter before, but he could sense the magic of Eric Smith within the boy.

    ¡°Balthazar?¡±

    Eric said in a faint voice,

    ¡°You¡¯re here?¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°Balthazar?¡±

    Eric said in a faint voice as he tried not to panic,

    ¡°You¡¯re here?¡±

    What was he doing here? He had heard of the Balthazar from Azkaban but had put it off as a coincidence. He had thought that it was impossible for Balthazar to come to earth physically. For anyone to do so. How could this be happening? He had thought that he would be free of that hell!

    ¡°Yes, I am here,¡± Balthazar said in a nauseatingly familiar voice that Eric had heard so many times before.

    ¡°And I have no time for your questions and no interest in taking you back to Teregatt,¡± Balthazar continued, ¡°I will now transport you back to the maze of the triwizarding tournament.¡±

    ¡°Balthazar, wait¡­¡± Eric shouted, desperate for answers. What did this mean? How was Balthazar here? Who was the person with golden eyes that was powerful enough to almost match somebody of Balthazar¡¯s power?

    But before he could finish his sentence the world shifted and suddenly changed around him. Eric reached up and stumbled forward slightly. His hand came down and slapped on the empty pedestal where the triwizarding trophy had sat less than fifteen minutes ago.

    He felt the smooth surface dumbly for a moment before his hand clenched into a fist. Ginny had taken the trophy back! Everyone would think that she had won!

    All he had to do was grab it again and he would have transported back as the crowning champion. Then Harry, Ginny, would have been the one who had to have an unsettling encounter with Balthazar instead of him. It still sent shivers down his spine, witnessing the raw power of the apocalyptic battle that had occurred in the sky above him as he gaped at the display.

    Eric looked around and saw that he was alone. Fleur must have left at some point. He would really have to apologize to her after this. He kept making mistakes recently. First by not giving Ginny and her friends'' water in the cocoon, Alexa maybe being just a little too close to actually drowning in the second task, and now he¡¯d forgotten to cast a numbing spell on Fleur before punishing her for what she¡¯d tried to do to him.

    He resolved himself to be better in the future. Next time he was about to have some fun he¡¯d try to think of what could go wrong and make sure to not forget anything important anymore.

    Eric tapped his fingers thoughtfully on the pedestal in front of him for a moment. Yeah. He was being sloppy, it would take just a little focus to make things go perfectly from now on. He had never really cared about winning the tournament anyways. It had just been a fun thing to do, he had just been annoyed after the first task after Rita Skeeter¡¯s articles. Gotten more invested in the results because of her taunts. But he¡¯d fixed that issue, and she¡¯d only write positive things about him from now on.

    So, overall he¡¯d gotten what he had wanted then, really. Ginny could have the fame. She was all humble and whatnot, he was sure that it would just cause her more trouble. And her family was poor, she¡¯d probably use the cash prize better than Eric having it sit in the Potter vault in Gringotts somewhere, forgotten by everyone but his goblin account manager.

    Yeah, probably for the best the Ginny had won actually. Eric had had a lot of fun with the events at least, and that¡¯s what mattered.

    Now, to find his way out of here. Hopefully he wouldn¡¯t have to navigate all the way back to the original entrance, that would be a pain¡­

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Deep beneath Britain, was a cave. It was not a natural cave, but one carved by the magic of its single occupant. In the center of the cave was a shallow lake, and in the center of the lake, was a small island. In the center of this island was a gleaming sword rooted in a stone, gleaming from the beam of light shining down on it from the ceiling.

    Next the sword, splayed across the rocks as if a drunken man falling asleep where he had fallen, lay the single occupant of the cave. He had a long beard and weathered skin. He looked old, weathered, weary, even while his eyes were closed. Yet despite this, his body absolutely hummed with so much magic that occasionally it would crackle and spark and form shimmering sparks of light that danced around his unconscious body.

    After over a thousand years of sleep, this man slowly opened his eyes as he was roused by the tugging of the golden chains weaved throughout his whole body.

    ¡°Foul wench,¡± The man croaked weakly, ¡°How do thee wish to torment me this time? You have stripped my spirit to the bone with thou craven behavior. Thrown into a rage when things do not bow to your petty tyrant designs. Who has drawn your ire in this age?¡±

    The man¡¯s eyes flashed golden and he spoke again, this time in the angry voice of Fate.

    ¡°Invaders, at least one of massive power, beyond even my normal efforts to kill or expel them. This is a repeat of the Atlanteans, I¡¯m sure of it. If they stay then everything will go wrong¡­¡±

    The man¡¯s eyes returned to normal, ¡°I care not,¡± He said, ¡°If they clear your foul webs then I shall laugh, for then you will have nothing as I have nothing.¡±

    His eyes glowed golden again, ¡°You don¡¯t believe that. Once, in the past, you saw the necessity of what I do. To keep this world for only those within my designs meant to create a world best for all if it''s given enough time to flourish. You had a chance to turn back then. You accepted becoming my champion for the protection of our world with open arms, glad to help me.¡±

    ¡°Accepted in a moment of desperation and foolishness. The naivety and idealism of a young man,¡± the man rasped as his eyes returned to normal, ¡°One for which I pay for even now. Atlanteans, doing nothing but assisting the world they claimed home as best as they could. Slaughtered to the last by my hand because their help and compassion was not expected by the tyrant above.¡±

    ¡°We do our best work together,¡± Fate said, ¡°Work with me. The Atlanteans had to go. I gave them every chance to leave and move elsewhere when things began to grow unstable with their disruptions to this world.¡±

    ¡°Yes, an entire people evicted from their homes of dozens of generations due to your tantrum,¡± The man replied bitingly, his body barely even moving on the rock even as he spoke weakly.

    ¡°Thy words are poison, and it is only when you forced me to sink Atlantis that I recognized the taste. Quit your false sympathy. I see you for what you are now. Do what you are already itching to do. Whether I will it or not.¡±

    ¡°Merlin¡­¡± Fate said, ¡°You¡¯ll understand. You¡¯re the only one powerful and ancient enough that you could. Don¡¯t let your guilt over what I forced you to do make you forget why you agreed to be my champion in the beginning.¡±

    ¡°Enough!¡± Merlin said before letting out a hacking cough, ¡°I have done my best to weaken my body in this prison without thy gaze noticing my efforts. I am done listening to your lies and foul manipulations. You golden eyed craven.¡±

    ¡°Very well,¡± Fate said sadly, ¡°But think on my words. It doesn¡¯t have to be like this. Be the willing Champion that you¡¯ve been in ages past.¡±

    ¡°Pah,¡± Merlin spat, ¡°A man too foolish to feel the collar around his neck. My eyes are open, and they can shut no longer to your nature. Take control as you so dearly wish to.¡±

    ¡°As you wish,¡± Fate said sadly. The golden chains pulsed inside of Merlin¡¯s body and began taking control of him slowly. His body was weak, on the brink of death without quite pushing over the edge where Fate would have stopped him.

    ¡°Oh, Merlin,¡± Fate said, ¡°I wish it didn¡¯t have to be like this. But I can¡¯t let my feelings get in the way of everything I¡¯ve built on this world. Sometimes I wish I could. But I¡¯ve spent too long, worked too hard. I can¡¯t just throw it all away for one man.¡±

    Fate began to gently pulse Merlin¡¯s magic in a steady rhythm to heal him. She took extra care to focus on the magic to ease his pain and suffering, even if she knew that he wouldn¡¯t thank her for it.

    It would take some time, but Merlin would be healed again and ready to destroy the foreign infection of the Beyonders as he always did.

    Fate kept going, but felt pensive as she did so. Every time she controlled Merlin it felt like her heart was being torn in two. He had been her deepest friend, someone she trusted as completely as someone like her could trust someone who was so far below her in power. She¡¯d do almost anything to prevent having to awaken him and deal with his hatred for her again. It just hurt so much, even for someone as powerful as she was. Seeing someone she cared for so much hating her with every fiber of his being.

    She had thought that letting him play the kingmaker a thousand years ago with King Arthur would help cheer him up. She had several other people who could have filled the role, but Fate had thought that Merlin would have enjoyed playing his part. To live a full life among people like he had used to before what had happened at Atlantis.

    She¡¯d even moved things around in Merlin¡¯s role in a hope to make things more comfortable as another sort of apology to him for what happened with Atlantis so long ago. But in the end it had only made him hate her more somehow.

    Merlin began to slowly heal from his self-inflicted damage and neglect over the last thousand years in this cave, still unmoving as he lay there with golden glowing eyes. Fate hoped that one day that he would understand, forgive her for doing this to him when she needed him most.

    But she understood he probably wouldn¡¯t ever forgive her. So she kept controlling him even as her heart ached and she felt the melancholy well up within her as it did each time she did so.

    Fate pushed down her feelings as she always did. She had some Beyonder scum to expel first and she could try to make up with Merlin after it was done. They were both immortal, as long as Fate had enough time she was sure she could make him understand why she was right¡­

 Chapter 63: The Deathly Hallows

    Ginny sat on a podium holding the triwizarding tournament trophy with both hands, while smiling for the cameras. Fleur was triumphantly looking at Eric while the boy himself looked deep in thought while ignoring everything around him. Krum looked sullen, not smiling as the reporters took photo after photo of them as they stood on the awards podium.

    Ginny was feeling good. If Eric had been returned to the maze, then that meant that Balthazar must have won the fight. Fate would have just killed Eric. Ginny had known that she didn¡¯t have to worry about Balthazar, he was fine.

    She kept holding up the trophy and smiling as the crowd cheered some more. Alexa and Jack were cheering wildly and waving their own flags, which made a warm fuzzy feeling rise in Ginny¡¯s chest.

    Eventually the awards ceremony ended and the crowd slowly dispersed after seemingly every single person in the crowd came up to Ginny to congratulate her on her victory. She was exhausted after it was over. She was sure she¡¯d never shook so many hands in her whole life as she had in the last hour or so.

    Eventually she rejoined Alexa and Jack and told them all about the different sorts of challenges that she¡¯d faced in the maze. She avoided talking about what had happened with Fleur or at the graveyard though. She would tell them later, no need to ruin the mood like that right now.

    After chatting for a while they went back up to the castle and joined a party that the older years had set up in Ginny¡¯s honor. Well, it was in the winner¡¯s honor but it was in Ginny¡¯s honor now. She talked to more people in a neverending blur, people asking questions all about the maze over and over again and telling them the story of that and the other tasks again.

    By the end of the night, Ginny was exhausted but happy. Her former anger at what Eric had done was nearly forgotten in the glow of her victory. It was late at night by the time she made it back to the Ravenclaw dorm, the teachers not enforcing the curfew for once. In her bedroom, she carefully put the large triwizarding tournament trophy on her bedside table and stared at it for a moment with a smile. She changed into her nightclothes quickly and then tucked herself under the covers, her roommates already asleep, having come in earlier. Ginny lay under the covers in the dark room and with a satisfied smile drifted off into an easy sleep.

    She had won the whole tournament.

    She had won.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°Students and Staff!¡± Dumbledore announced from the Headmaster¡¯s chair at the end of the great hall. It had been a few days since Ginny¡¯s victory, and Beauxbaton and Durmstrang would be leaving the next day to return to their own schools.

    ¡°I have a very important announcement to make,¡± He said as the hall quieted, ¡°But first I would like a round of applause for all of our four champions. All displayed the wit, power, and bravery that show them as exemplary young witches and wizards of their generation.¡±

    There was heavy applause across the hall as the four champions sat and took in the crowd around them. The applause died down.

    ¡°And especially for our youngest champion and winner in Ravenclaw house, Ginny Weasley!¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°A girl only in her second year of school but who was able to push to the finish and triumph over peers older than her. To our very own reigning grand champion of the Triwizarding tournament!¡±

    There was resounding applause across the room as everyone cheered for Ginny. She blushed slightly but smiled at seeing that even the Slytherins looked excited for her victory. Fleur was cheering along with Beauxbatons as well, just as loud as the rest, even if Durmstrang and Krum were a bit more reserved. Eric also clapped politely from the Gryffindor table.

    ¡°What many of you might not know,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°Was that I won my own Triwizarding tournament back during my own time at Hogwarts so many years ago. I¡¯m sure that all of our champions are destined for great things.¡±

    The room was in shock. Dumbledore had won his own Triwizarding tournament?

    ¡°Ah, but that was not my announcement,¡± Dumbledore continued, ¡°It has been my privilege and honor to serve as headmaster to this storied school and guide the young minds of the next generation for so many years. It has brought me great joy to see the students of this school flourish as they came into their own and left to make their own way in the world. Many of you may be aware of my recent absences from our school. My time spent learning from the mysterious Balthazar in the techniques to cure the curse of Lycanthropy and transform them into the wolf-kin. To make what is a horrible and frightening curse that leads them to be ostracized and hated by our society, into something new and exciting. The chance for a new life as part of our people for those that only faced hate and scorn before.¡±

    The whole room began muttering. Where was this leading?

    ¡°So, after all of these long years of serving as your Headmaster,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°I will be stepping down and leaving you in the care of my vice-headmistress and dear friend Minerva McGonagall.¡±

    The room was shocked before there was some scattered clapping as McGonagall stood and inclined her head to the room before sitting in her seat again.

    ¡°Now that Balthazar has proclaimed me skilled enough in the technique to perform it on my own,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°I will be taking over the treatment of the patients at the wolf-kin clinic full time. Balthazar was always working tirelessly to help those werewolves by not only pioneering the technique but also working at the clinic to cure as many as he could over the last year. An act of generosity for which he asked for nothing in return. I will do my best to follow in his example and attempt to fill his shoes now that he is stepping back from the clinic. So, I leave you in Headmistress McGonagall¡¯s hands for this upcoming year and the ones following. May she guide you all to your best selves as she has for many long years as your teacher. Let us give another hand to your new Headmistress. Minerva McGonagall!¡±

    Everyone clapped as McGonagall stood again, much more enthusiastic from the Gryffindor table and less from the Slytherins.

    ¡°The full announcement will be in the papers tomorrow,¡± Dumbledore said in a light tone, ¡°But I wished to inform my dear students and staff at this school of the news first. Now let the feast¡­¡±

    Dumbledore clapped his hands and food appeared on the table.

    ¡°Begin!¡±

    Everyone started eating and gossiping excitedly about the news. Dumbledore had been a fixture of Hogwarts for decades. What would it be like now that he was gone?

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°I have created several devices,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°Should you wish to teach a successor, they should allow them to learn the procedure much quicker. And use the devices rather than their own magic. They will still need some understanding, but little enough that you should be able to teach someone decently talented how to operate them.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Balthazar,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°I had worried about teaching the next generation about this. I am an old man after all.¡±

    ¡°Ah, speaking of,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°I have a potion here¡­¡±

    He reached into his robes and withdrew a golden flask. ¡°Drink this.¡±

    Dumbledore accepted it gingerly and stared at it, ¡°And this is¡­?¡±

    ¡°A potion of rejuvenation,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°It will make you feel like you are twenty again. While you will appear the same outwardly, your lifespan will be doubled or even tripled after you take this.¡±

    Dumbledore looked at the potion in shock. ¡°I can¡¯t accept this. This potion is priceless!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want you to rush choosing a successor,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°That potion should give you enough time to choose carefully and not rush due to your old age. Consider it a parting gift from me as a reward for coming so far.¡±

    Dumbledore hesitated, ¡°Very well. Should I drink it now?¡±

    ¡°May as well.¡±

    Dumbledore unstoppered the potion and drank from the golden flask until there was not a drop of liquid left inside. His eyes widened as the potion did its work. Dumbledore¡¯s wrinkles faded away slightly, but after the potion¡¯s work was done he appeared nearly mostly identical. Still an old man with a long beard. But¡­

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    ¡°Marvelous,¡± Dumbledore breathed, ¡°All my aches and weakness from old age are gone. I truly feel as if the clock has turned back. I can¡¯t thank you enough for all that you¡¯ve done for me and this clinic. I look forward to continuing your good work.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m glad that the work will continue even without me,¡± Balthazar said, genuinely meaning it. He had no idea when Fate¡¯s champion would arrive, and even the last few days of wrapping things up at the clinic had been a nerve wracking experience for him.

    ¡°Would you like to celebrate at the headmaster¡¯s office in Hogwarts?¡± Dumbledore asked, ¡°I don¡¯t believe you¡¯ve ever been there. I have some fine aged wines that I have saved up. I¡¯d like to open them up and share them with you.¡±

    Balthazar hesitated, before deciding that there was no need to refuse. Originally he had not wanted to go to Hogwarts because it might alert Fate to his presence. But she was already well aware of him, so it would do no further harm to go there now.

    ¡°I think I will,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°It has been quite some time since I¡¯ve had alcohol.¡±

    They apparated to the headmaster¡¯s office, a single tap by Dumbledore giving them both permission to apparate directly inside. Balthazar looked around to the cluttered room filled with all sorts of miscellaneous objects.

    ¡°I see you are a bit of a collector,¡± Balthazar said, amused, ¡°Quite the variety of objects you have here.¡±

    ¡°Oh, yes indeed,¡± Dumbledore agreed as he floated a bottle of wine and some drinking glasses out of a nearby cabinet, ¡°I¡¯ve accumulated quite a bit over my lifetime. I have even more kick knacks at my home that I stay at over the summers. I suppose it will be my full time residence from now on now that I won¡¯t be headmaster any longer.¡±

    Balthazar grabbed a floating glass filled with wine as Dumbledore began pouring his own. Balthazar took a sip.

    ¡°Hmmm. This is a good wine,¡± He complimented as he took another sip, ¡°What year and vineyard was it?¡±

    ¡°Oh yes, it is quite the subtle taste. I bought it at¡­¡±

    Dumbledore went to describe the wine as they both sipped it and engaged in some pleasant small talk. In the middle of one of Balthazar¡¯s sentences, his eyes strayed onto a pile of silky cloth sitting on a nearby table. Balthazar froze and almost dropped the glass that he was holding. His gaze remained fixed on the object as Dumbledore curiously followed his gaze.

    ¡°Ah, the cloak of invisibility,¡± The old man said, ¡°Did you ever hear the tale of the three brothers and the deathly hallows?¡±

    ¡°No, no I have not,¡± Balthazar said while his gaze remained fixed on the cloak, his mind racing.

    ¡°The legend speaks of three brothers. They traveled together, working wonders of magic as they traveled across the land. Works of complexity and power that all were amazed when they witnessed what they had created. One day on their travels they reached a raging river. Instead of fording the river and risk being swept away, they formed a bridge weaved from their magic. One sturdy enough to last for years and allow passing travelers to pass the river safely and without worry."

    Dumbledore took a deep breath as the both of them stared at the cloak.

    ¡°This however, displeased Death. He was used to the travelers passing by to attempt to cross only to be swept away and drown. But he was cunning. So as the three brothers went to cross the bridge, Death appeared to them. He congratulated them for their cunning and power, and offered each of them a single object of power to be granted to each of them as their rewards for impressing Death himself. The older brother, confident and brash, stepped forward and asked for a wand that would allow him to win any battle. Death took a stick from the ground, a stick of elder wood, and weaved it into a wand with power like no other. The Elder wand. The first brother felt the wand''s power and was satisfied. He thanked Death for the gift and stepped back to admire the gift.

    ¡°The second brother stepped forward, and seeing the success of his elder, dared to push even further. He asked for a method to return his loved ones from even after they had already fallen into Death''s embrace. Despite Death¡¯s rage at the audacity of the second brother, he bent down and picked up a stone from the side of the river and infused it with his power. He gave it to the second brother and told him that if he flipped it over three times that he could draw back those he wished back to the land of the living, even if they¡¯d already joined with Death and moved beyond. The second brother thanked Death for the gift. The resurrection stone.

    ¡°The final brother was a humble man and more suspicious of Death and his motives. He stepped forward and asked for a way to hide even from Death himself. Death stared at him for a moment, but then reluctantly reached to his own robe and cut off a section of it and fashioned it into a cloak that could hide one from anything, even Death. The Cloak of Invisibility. The third brother also thanked Death for the gift.

    ¡°The three brothers continued on their journey and after some time parted ways to go on their own paths. The first brother went to a nearby village and boasted of him and his powerful wand¡¯s power for all to hear. Enraged by his taunts, one of the local wizards challenged him to the duel and with the power of the elder wand, the first brother easily struck him dead with a single powerful spell. All were amazed by this feat and congratulated the first brother for his victory. Yet, that night at the inn, a jealous wizard snuck into the room and stabbed the first brother to death in his sleep and claimed the elder wand as his own.

    "And so Death claimed the first brother.

    ¡°The second brother continued on his journey for many years and eventually fell in love and was betrothed. But the woman he loved had a tragic accident and died. Torn with grief, he remembered the stone that Death had given him. He turned the stone three times and called his love''s name. And she appeared in front of him in the world of the living once more. But she was faded and unhappy, suffering in the world of the living after having passed on and seen what lay beyond. A half state between living and death, only staying out of the desire to comfort the second brother and help him process his grief over her death and help him move beyond it. Only kept anchored to our world through the power of the stone and nothing more. The second brother, seeing the suffering he was causing his love, could bear it no longer. So to join his love in death he took his own life, tormented by the idea that only in death could they truly be together once more.

    "And so Death claimed the second brother as his own.

    ¡°Yet, despite how much Death searched, he could not find the third brother. The third brother had lived his own life humbly and started his own family while using the cloak of invisibility as protection against Death. When the third brother was an old man, he passed the cloak to his son and welcomed death with open arms. And so the third brother greeted death not in fear, but as an old friend and as equals.

    ¡°These are the three deathly hallows,¡± Dumbledore finished as if finished reciting a tale that he had heard a thousand times, ¡°The Elder Wand, The Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility. It is thought that these three artifacts, if under the control of one person, would make them a master of death.¡±

    ¡°Indeed¡­¡± Balthazar while staring at the cloak, ¡°How did you acquire the cloak of invisibility? I¡¯ve only seen artifacts this powerful a few times in my long life.¡±

    Dumbledore looked rather startled at Balthazar¡¯s question. ¡°It is genuine? I had thought it was a possibility, but could never confirm it. How are you so sure after I have only just told you the tale?¡±

    Balthazar nodded, ¡°You can not sense it, but that cloak does exactly what is claimed in the legend. It hides those under it from the view of Death, Fate, War, Life, all conceptual entities. Such artifacts exist but against entities of such power they can generally only distract. Make them not notice the ones they protect if the concepts are looking through weaker proxies. But this¡­ I believe that Fate could be directly looking at the person wearing this cloak and see nothing. The powers of the cloak in the tale were quite literal. It is a decent invisibility cloak against mortals, but for conceptual entities it must be near absolute protection.¡±

    Dumbledore blinked as he stared at the cloak. ¡°And to think I almost gave it to Eric Potter¡­¡± He murmured.

    ¡°Eric? Why would you give it to him?¡±

    ¡°It was a possession of his father, James Potter,¡± Dumbledore said while still staring at the cloak as if looking hard would reveal more of its secrets, ¡°I meant to give it to Harry Potter after he came here to Hogwarts. But given what he¡¯s like, I thought it best to hold back and keep it out of his hands.¡±

    ¡°Hm. A wise decision,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°You are lucky I am here to tell you how valuable it is. You should be certain to protect it as best as you can.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, indeed. I have another question Balthazar. Could you focus on my wand for the moment? I have strong reason that it is the elder wand of the legend. Could you perhaps inspect it?¡±

    ¡°Certainly,¡± Balthazar replied, his curiosity peaked. Dumbledore drew his wands from his robes and after a moment''s hesitation handed it over to Balthazar. He inspected it closely with his magic sense for a few minutes before handing it back.

    ¡°There is something there, but locked and buried deep,¡± He said, ¡°As its owner perhaps you will have more luck investigating it closely with your own magic sense. Often magical tools with intelligence respect the personal power of the people they are bound to. So if you improve your wandless magic and prove yourself powerful without relying on the wand¡¯s assistance then perhaps it may unlock its deeper functions.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Dumbledore said in realization, ¡°Of course the wand would only respect one whose power wasn¡¯t reliant on it¡­ I see, that is why it is powerful but not the world shaking wand that I expected it to be.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Balthazar reassured him, ¡°With your new increased lifespan and practice with your wandless magic at the Wolf-kin clinic I¡¯m sure that eventually you will have access to its full power.¡±

    ¡°Fascinating¡­ Balthazar, how would you like the cloak of Invisibility as a gift from me?¡±

    Balthazar blinked. ¡°The Cloak? Did you not hear of its value? Nothing I¡¯ve done for you is worth nearly as much as that. I could teach you my deepest techniques for a thousand years and it still wouldn¡¯t be enough to compare to the value of that cloak. It¡¯s probably one of the most valuable artifacts on this planet.¡±

    Dumbledore¡¯s eyes widened slightly before he schooled his expression again and then smiled.

    ¡°Yet, I have no use for it. You have done much for me and for the werewolves without asking for anything in return. Consider it a token of all our unending gratitude for you.¡±

    Balthazar carefully reached out and picked up the cloak of invisibility, its shimmering silky material feeling smooth between his hands.

    ¡°Thank you, and I humbly accept your great gift,¡± Balthazar said formally.

    ¡°Now, we were interrupted by our tangent there!¡± Dumbledore said jovially, ¡°Let our little celebration continue. From what you¡¯ve said it will be a long time before we see one another again, so best to make it a good memory to stick with us in our time apart.¡±

    Balthazar let out a small smile as he put the cloak of invisibility back down at the table, ¡°Indeed. To good memories,¡± he said while raising his glass of wine.

    ¡°To good memories,¡± Dumbledore replied as they clinked their glasses and sank back into lighter conversation as they continued to drink.

    After a few hours when they were finished, Balthazar left with the cloak of invisibility carried carefully in his hands. To think that Dumbledore just had something like this lying out in the open in his office¡­

 Chapter 64: Spending the Winnings

    ¡°So, what are you going to do with all of your money, dear?¡± Molly asked Ginny as she bustled around making dinner, ¡°Do you have anything in mind that you want to buy?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I¡¯m going to pay off Fawkes. I suppose with Dumbledore working at the Wolf-kin clinic now he can¡¯t be too bad¡­ but I don¡¯t like him having debt to hold over dad either way.¡±

    Molly stopped walking and looked at Ginny, ¡°Have you discussed this with your father yet? He¡¯s been rather stubborn about accepting Sirius¡¯ help with anything.¡±

    ¡°This is different from that,¡± Ginny insisted, ¡°He only took on that debt for me. I¡¯m just paying him back.¡±

    Molly looked skeptical, but nodded, ¡°Well it is your money. If you can convince your father then go ahead. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be very grateful.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°No, Ginny. It¡¯s your money you shouldn¡¯t be giving it to Dumbledore¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not, you have the debt over you for all this time because of me. I¡¯m just paying you back for what you did. I¡¯ll still have two hundred galleons left after. That¡¯s plenty of money.¡±

    Dad hesitated, ¡°Are you absolutely sure? And it''s actually seven hundred galleon debt now. We¡¯ve paid part of it off already.¡±

    ¡°Well, three hundred galleons then,¡± Ginny said, ¡°It¡¯s my money, isn¡¯t it? And that¡¯s what I want to do with it.¡±

    ¡°Come here you,¡± Dad said and then they hugged each other for a bit, ¡°Now how about I show you some of the new enchantments me and your uncle Sirius have been working on? We¡¯ve got quite a bit done since Christmas.¡±

    ¡°Sure! Are you still building that second car together for Sirius?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we¡¯ve made quite the improvements since last time. It¡¯s rather fun to work with all the high end muggle parts that he¡¯s bought for it¡­¡±

    They went to the garage and Dad showed her all the interesting enchantments and little car parts that he and Sirius had been working on. According to him Sirius had been a little busier recently doing political things in the Ministry to help the wolf-kin. But he still was able to come over and work on the car together with Dad, and generally just hang out together on the weekends.

    Over the next few days, Dad worked it out with Dumbledore and the money was fully transferred and now Fawkes officially belonged to Ginny. Not that he liked her saying it like that. He had refused to let her pet him for a full day after she¡¯d told him the news and said the wrong thing! But he¡¯d relented the next day after she¡¯d apologized a few times so it was okay. He knew that she hadn¡¯t meant it in a bad way, just that now no one could try to take him away from her anymore for some legal reason or another.

    After some cajoling from Ginny, Fred and George somehow managing to get the hundred pounds of meat that Fawkes had requested so long ago, and Fawkes had forgiven them for their mistakes. They had carefully pet Fawkes for the first time with his permission and things had gone well. Ron was jealous and had only compounded his mistake by trying to pet Fawkes without permission again. Thinking that Fawkes wouldn¡¯t notice since Ginny and the twins were distracting him with their own pats. Fawkes had squawked and nipped at Ron¡¯s hand with his beak and made Ron draw back his hand with a curse before he even touched the Phoenix.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re really done it now, Ron,¡± Ginny said when she noticed what had happened, ¡°Now you¡¯ll have to work twice as hard for Fawkes to forgive you.¡±

    Fawkes chirped in confirmation.

    Ron muttered and turned away, nursing his hand where Fawkes had pecked him. Fawkes¡¯ annoyance quickly switched to satisfaction as Ginny, Fred, and George kept spoiling him as he sat there on the couch. It was after dinner and nearly time for bed.

    ¡°What are you going to do with the rest of your money, Ginny?¡± Fred asked casually, ¡°You¡¯ve still got three hundred galleons after paying off Dumbledore, right?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Ginny said as she kept stroking Fawkes with her left hand, ¡°I haven¡¯t really thought about it. There¡¯s not really anything I want right now. I¡¯ve never had any of my own money to spend before. Alexa said that we could go clothes shopping for some cute muggle clothes for me to wear over the summer. That could be fun. How many muggle pounds is a galleon worth anyways? Alexa kept saying how much things cost in muggle pounds but I had no idea how much it was worth.¡±

    ¡°About thirty five hundred muggle pounds I think?¡± Fred said, ¡°Yeah, just around there. Pretty much the price of gold since galleons are made completely of the stuff. Plus a little extra since it¡¯s goblin gold instead of the less valuable muggle stuff.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Wait, so you¡¯re saying that I won three and a half million pounds as champion?¡±

    ¡°Yep, you¡¯re rich sister,¡± George said, ¡°And you¡¯ve still got just a bit north of a million muggle pounds left with your three hundred galleons even now that you¡¯ve paid off Dumbledore.¡±

    Ginny just sat there.

    ¡°Woah. I had no idea it was that much.¡±

    ¡°So, I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll have to worry about buying clothes unless Alexa has some real expensive tastes,¡± George said.

    ¡°Yeah, I guess not. I don¡¯t think I realized quite how much the eight hundred galleons for Fawkes really was. I can¡¯t believe Dad agreed to that.¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s over now and you¡¯re a rich woman,¡± Fred said, ¡°You really don¡¯t have anything but new clothes shopping with your friend? Nothing big you want to splurge on?¡±

    ¡°No, not really. I guess I can just save it? That¡¯s a lot of money, I could probably buy a house or something with it after I leave school right?¡±

    ¡°True, true, that¡¯s probably the smartest¡­¡± Fred said reluctantly before sharing a loaded glance with George.

    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s up with you two?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°What are those looks for? Do you think I should buy something?¡±

    ¡°Well, we¡¯ve got an offer for you actually,¡± George said.

    ¡°No, George. We should wait, maybe she¡¯ll think of something,¡± Fred protested.

    ¡°Hey, we can just tell her,¡± George said, ¡°She can think about it.¡±

    George turned back to Ginny. ¡°Remember that joke wand that we gave you for Christmas? The one that turned into a mouse when you tried to cast with it?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that was pretty cool,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I still have it in my room I think. I can¡¯t believe you made those yourselves, the enchantment seemed pretty complicated.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, tell me about it,¡± Fred replied, ¡°If you do anything wrong then it transforms into something that¡¯s almost a mouse. It¡¯s way more disturbing than you¡¯d think it would be when the details don¡¯t come out right.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m glad we all got working ones then,¡± Ginny said, ¡°How many did you make?¡±

    ¡°Probably about two dozen or so,¡± George said, ¡°The ones we gave to everyone were the first successful batch that we made.¡±

    ¡°Wow, that¡¯s a lot. You made them just for us?¡±

    The twins shared a look, ¡°Not exactly,¡± they said in unison, ¡°How about we show you our room and we¡¯ll explain,¡± Fred said.

    ¡°Your room?¡± Ginny asked as she gently reached out and lifted Fawkes so he rested against her chest, ¡°You¡¯re super secretive, you don¡¯t let anyone in there ever.¡±

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    ¡°Well, don¡¯t tell anyone we¡¯ve got big secrets cooking in there,¡±

    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re trusting you with this, Sis. Mom will be furious if she figures out what we¡¯re up to.¡±

    ¡°Well, okay,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Let¡¯s go then. Something secret¡¯s in your room?¡±

    The twins went and Ginny followed behind.

    ¡°You¡¯re taking Fawkes?¡± Fred asked as he looked back.

    ¡°Of course!¡± Ginny said before nuzzling Fawkes with her nose, ¡°He¡¯s just the best at keeping secrets, aren¡¯t you Fawkes. Mhhhmmm and he¡¯s just the cutest too!¡±

    Fawkes let out a half annoyed chirp and Ginny raised her head and adjusted her grip on the phoenix¡¯s toasty form.

    ¡°And handsome,¡± she added, ¡°He¡¯s a very manly bird.¡±

    Fred just shook his head with a slight smile and turned around again.

    ¡°Guess the phoenix is coming then.¡±

    They went to the twins¡¯ room and went inside. The twins even had a ward set up that they had to deactivate before they could open the door.

    When she went in her magic sense immediately felt all the enchanted objects littered everywhere around the room. There was a long table on one side that looked like some kind of workbench and pieces of parchment all scattered about, with a bunk bed smooshed up into the corner.

    ¡°This, sister, is what we¡¯ve been working on for the last few years,¡± George said as they fully entered and Fred shut the door behind them. Fawkes was peering around with interest as Ginny walked around to inspect a few of the objects on the workbench.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been making our own products, candies, all of it. We¡¯ve been developing them and testing out what works and what doesn¡¯t in our room here. We¡¯re going to try to open up our own joke shop. A competitor to Zonko¡¯s, you know the one in Hogsmeade by Hogwarts? We¡¯ve got about twenty different candies and five enchanted products including the joke wand. And those are only the ones that we think are good enough to sell. We¡¯ve got plenty more that we¡¯ve made but aren¡¯t quite there yet that we could sell them to someone.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s great!¡± Ginny said, ¡°This is so cool. So you¡¯re going to do this after you graduate?¡±

    ¡°We hope so,¡± Fred said, ¡°But none of our supplies are free. We¡¯re hoping to try selling at Hogwarts next school year. Seeing what people like, what they¡¯ll pay for things¡­ Make a name for our products. We hope it¡¯ll go well, but we¡¯ll try to get a job at Zonko¡¯s if things fall through.¡±

    ¡°Oh, but you made so many new things,¡± Ginny said while still holding Fawkes, ¡°It¡¯d be a shame if no one bought them. I liked the joke wand, it was fun. I¡¯ve never seen anything like it at any of the other shops I¡¯ve been to before.¡±

    ¡°So the thing is,¡± George said, ¡°In order to have enough to get started, we need money. We¡¯ve saved and spent everything we could, but we only have less than ten of each type of candy and only five or so of the products. If we really want to sell during the school year we need more than that prepared.¡±

    ¡°So, you want to ask me for my money?¡± Ginny asked, finally figuring out what they were asking for, ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know. I would like to help. But why don¡¯t you just ask Sirius? He¡¯s rich, I¡¯m sure that he¡¯d be interested.¡±

    ¡°We want to prove ourselves before we bring it to him,¡± Fred said, ¡°Have sales numbers, profits, everything¡­ We want to impress him and get him as a serious investor once we¡¯re out of school and are actually starting our real joke shop.¡±

    ¡°But Sirius is basically family,¡± Ginny said, ¡°If you show him your products I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be plenty impressed. I showed him my joke wand you gave me and he liked it a lot. Didn¡¯t he compliment you two on it after?¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s true¡­¡± Fred said, ¡°Still, we¡¯re taking this seriously. We want him to be a serious business partner and without something proven it will be hard for him to treat it that way, even if he thinks our products are good.¡±

    ¡°Well, I think you two are really overthinking it. You should just tell him and see what he thinks about it,¡± Ginny said before looking between the uncharacteristically serious twins, ¡°But okay. I guess it¡¯s up to you. How much money do you need? How does this work?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve calculated it out,¡± Fred said, ¡°And for ingredients for the immediate supply for a month or two if we have high demand would be about fifty galleons. After we have some time to determine what products sell the best, we can only focus on those. We¡¯re guessing it¡¯ll be between a hundred and two hundred galleons total to supply us for the whole school year. But fifty galleons to start off with and more if things go well.¡±

    ¡°Two hundred galleons?¡± Ginny said, ¡°That¡¯s a lot of money. What if you just lose it all? Mom and Dad would be furious if I gave all my savings to you and then you lost it.¡±

    The twins¡¯ faces tensed in unison, ¡°We won¡¯t lose it all, we¡¯re sure it¡¯ll be profitable. And these supplies aren¡¯t cheap, that¡¯s why we need so much money to start off with,¡± George said, ¡°We¡¯ve planned everything out, don¡¯t you worry. And we''re starting lower to see how it goes, it won''t be two hundred if things really go wrong.¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ what do you think, Fawkes?¡± Ginny asked as she looked down at him.

    Fawkes let out a long trill.

    Ginny sighed. Ugh. She didn¡¯t even know what she had expected there.

    ¡°What¡¯d he say?¡± Fred asked anxiously, ¡°Does he like the idea?¡±

    ¡°He said that I should buy a herd of cattle so he wouldn¡¯t have to fly as far to hunt,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Apparently he wasn¡¯t paying attention and was too focused on thinking on how much food that amount of money could buy.¡±

    ¡°You greedy, greedy bird,¡± Ginny said affectionately to Fawkes and bounced him up and down slightly in her arms, ¡°If you could get fat then you¡¯d be a big round meatball by now.¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m not doing that Fawkes. You¡¯re very important but I can¡¯t blow all my savings buying food that you¡¯d eat and just forget about again in a week.¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°No, not half of it either. I¡¯ll give you extra head pats to make you feel better? How would you like that?¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°What? You want to pet me for once? Where¡¯s this coming from?¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Well, of course we¡¯re equal. But how would that even work? You don¡¯t have fingers or anything?¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Alright.¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Well, okay. If you want to. I guess it¡¯s only fair.¡±

    Fred cleared his throat and Ginny looked up as she realized she had forgotten about them.

    ¡°Sorry, business stuff right? So I just give you the money? I don¡¯t really mind helping you, I really don¡¯t have anything else I want to do with it.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± Fred said, ¡°Surely you don¡¯t think you¡¯re giving us the money for nothing?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ll give you a quarter of the profits from the stuff we sell at Hogwarts,¡± George said, ¡°And then five percent of the profits on our eventual joke shop for getting in early. It¡¯s not a gift of money, it¡¯s an investment for you.¡±

    ¡°Is five percent a lot?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°I don¡¯t know much about these things. I was just going to give you the money a minute ago, you don¡¯t have to do all of that.¡±

    ¡°C¡¯mon, we¡¯re not going to cheat our own sister!¡± Fred protested, ¡°We¡¯ve calculated it out. If we do well then you¡¯ll more than make your money back for the Hogwarts bit, and the joke shop profits would be a pure bonus. We don¡¯t even have to be that successful to earn enough galleons to pay you back if it comes to that. Plus it¡¯ll be like a loan. We¡¯ll pay you back over time even if we don¡¯t give you your money back with the Hogwarts sales or if we fail.¡±

    ¡°That sounds good. You two seem really serious about this. I¡¯ll give you the money. But I want discounts on stuff too! Maybe I¡¯ll want to use some of them myself.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Fred said with a chuckle, ¡°And big discounts for our cute little sister. Deal?¡±

    He held his hand out. Ginny walked forward and awkwardly crouched as her arms were trapped holding up Fawkes. Eventually she was low enough to grab Fred¡¯s hand and bent her knees up and down a few times to mimic shaking it.

    ¡°Deal.¡±

    There was a moment of silence where the three of them stood there as Ginny straightened up again.

    Fawkes chirped.

    ¡°Oh, right,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Fawkes was going to go try and pet me. I¡¯ve got to go.¡±

    ¡°Oh no you don¡¯t,¡± George said with a wide grin, both of the twins much more relaxed now that Ginny had shook on the deal.

    ¡°No way we¡¯re missing this,¡± Fred added, ¡°Lead the way, sister.¡±

    Ginny shrugged and walked back out of the room and back to the living room as the twins put the wards on their room back up.

    She carefully placed Fawkes on the end of the couch at the arm closest to the back cushions. Fred and George came in just as Ginny laid down on her side on the couch. She rested her head on the front of the arm at the end of the couch. Her red hair spilled behind her and got tangled slightly as she shifted slightly to shift backwards while facing outwards towards the room. She stopped just when she felt Fawke¡¯s clawed feet bump into the back of her head.

    She lay there waiting as Fred and George rounded the couch and sat down in the chairs while watching her with interest. She waited but nothing happened for a moment. Then she felt a brush of feathers on her head and saw a bright orange wing above her. It was soft and warm.

    After sliding his wing down to her chin, Fawkes lifted his wing again and reset it to touch the top of her head and started stroking down the side of her head again.

    ¡°Mmmmhhhhhh,¡± Ginny mumbled as he kept going and she closed her eyes and relaxed.

    ¡°Well, by Merlin,¡± Fred said, startling Ginny and making her jolt. Fawkes chirped firmly and Ginny shifted on the couch slightly before Fawkes continued petting her with his wing.

    ¡°That phoenix is really petting her,¡± Fred finished.

    ¡°You¡¯re just jealous,¡± Ginny mumbled through half closed eyes as Fawkes¡¯ warm wing kept going over her, ¡°I told you all that he was smart¡­ He¡¯s¡­*Yawn* so smart¡­¡±

    ¡°I guess so. You¡¯re really melting into that couch aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d melt too if a phoenix was petting you,¡± Ginny mumbled, her mind going fuzzy as her eyes began to fully close, ¡°No wonder Fawkes wants pets all the time if they feel like¡­ this¡­¡±

    Before she even knew it Ginny was asleep, the last thing she felt was Fawke''s warm wing brushing over her head.

 Chapter 65: The Hunt

    In the cave deep below Britain, a single finger twitched on Merlin¡¯s body. The healing of the damage was almost complete. She could take more time to make sure that Merlin was in peak shape, but he was strong enough that he should be able to at least match the mysterious Beyonder that had appeared.

    If Fate had guessed right then the Beyonder likely had a base or fortress somewhere where they were hiding. It would likely take some time to find, and until then Fate could continue healing Merlin back to his full strength. Heal his body so he could fully channel the immense magic he had within himself.

    After a few more minutes, Merlin weakly stood to his feet under the control of Fate. He stepped forward and grabbed the handle of the sword in the stone. Excalibur. With weak arms, he pulled up and with the grinding of metal on stone the sword was slowly drawn upwards until it came free.

    Merlin waved his hand and a long strap came flying out of the waters of the lake and fell into his hand. It was a sheath for Excalibur. He put on the sash over himself so the sword''s sheath rested on his back at an angle. With a single motion he sheathed the sword on his back. He inspected the cave for a moment before Fate nodded. It was time to go. In a crack of air Merlin disappeared from the cave in an apparition upwards through the earth to the surface.

    Merlin appeared on the surface in the center of the grassy field, his ragged robes hanging off of his body rapidly shifting and rebuilding themselves out of his magic until they formed a set of gray robes with golden accents on the cuffs and hems. As Merlin shifted one would see that the neck and inner lining of the robes were also golden.

    Fate scanned the area cautiously and Merlin¡¯s magic senses billowed outwards to take in his surroundings for miles around himself as he took his bearings.

    ¡°Hey? Who are ya, what are ya doin¡¯ in my field?¡± A rough voice suddenly shouted.

    Fate looked at the man in blue overalls standing there staring at Merlin.

    Fate apparated Merlin a dozen feet over to loom over the farmer with his golden glowing eyes.

    ¡°Where are¡­¡± Fate said in Merlin¡¯s rasping voice, ¡°Where is the capital? I will start my search there.¡±

    The farmer jumped and started sweating as Merlin looked at him intently with brightly glowing golden eyes.

    ¡°London?¡± The farmer stammered, ¡°What? I¡­ Jus¡¯ follow the road? Main road¡¯s about ten miles that way!¡± The farmer pointed in a certain direction. Merlin¡¯s head followed the direction of the man''s finger before looking back.

    ¡°Thank you, now forget.¡±

    Fate waved Merlin¡¯s hand and the farmer¡¯s eyes went blank. Before the farmer came to, Merlin had apparated away.

    The farmer¡¯s eyes cleared and he looked around in confusion.

    ¡°Huh. Musta dozed off,¡± the man mused before turning and continuing to walk to continue inspecting his crops.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Fate inspected the bustling city of London through Merlin¡¯s senses. She had Merlin cast some true invisibility around himself for this next part. Sight, sound, magic, all were muffled and smeared into the background around Merlin. Unless someone physically bumped into him, no one but ones on the Beyonder¡¯s level of power or beyond should be able to detect Merlin as he searched the city.

    Finally, Fate paused as she detected a large underground cavern filled with magic under a certain section of London. That must be the Ministry of the modern wizards. While she was controlling Lupin she had heard it mentioned several times as the center of government. She got vague impressions from those with her chains within them on occasion. But it gave her vague general knowledge on trends and large scale changes in the world. Nothing as granular as the exact location of something or any individual details. Nothing like how it was when she was possessing somebody like it was now.

    Merlin apparated into the lobby of the Ministry, floating ten feet in the air above the heads of the crowd. Merlin floated there and Fate simply waited and listened through his ears. This was the center of government, people speaking here might reference the strange Beyonder and give clues of the situation.

    ¡°Balthazar left.¡±

    ¡°Wolf-kin.¡±

    ¡°Hear? Can¡¯t believe Dumbledore stepped down. What will this mean for the light faction?¡±

    ¡°Clinic.¡±

    ¡°Wolf-kin clinic.¡±

    The conversations were strange, Fate immediately realizing that they were referencing events that were strange and not at all what should have happened. Caused by the Beyonder somehow.

    Fate had Merlin perform a disguise spell to gain the appearance of one of the weak magical men that had just left through the fireplaces lining each wall of the central space. Merlin¡¯s body gently descended and then revealed itself as he mimicked the exact appearance of the wizard who had just left the hall, his eyes only having the faintest golden glow shining through them now. Fate made her way through the crowd to the front desk where a ministry secretary sat.

    ¡°Hello,¡± Merlin¡¯s body rasped, ¡°Do you know how I can¡­ reach the Wolf-kin clinic?¡±

    ¡°Are you a werewolf on an international visa?¡± The secretary asked, ¡°What¡¯s your name? You shouldn¡¯t be here for that. You need preapproval before traveling here.¡±

    ¡°No, I am not a werewolf,¡± Merlin¡¯s mouth said, ¡°I simply wish *Cough cough* to see it. Do you have a map?¡±

    ¡°Well, uhm¡­¡± The secretary said, ¡°Are you okay, sir? Do you need a healer?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Fate said, ¡°I only need the map. It is important.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s ah. It¡¯s at 22 Beliviere avenue. Just outside of London.¡±

    The woman reached under the desk and handed Merlin a folded up paper map. His body quickly unfolded it and inspected its unfamiliar designs and bright colors.

    ¡°And which location is this clinic?¡± Fate asked. The secretary peered over at the map for a few seconds before placing her finger in the corner of the map on the far outskirts of London.

    ¡°And where are we? On the map?¡± Fate asked. The secretary gave him a confused look before shifting her finger to a spot more towards the center of London.

    ¡°I can call the healers if you are having problems with your memory?¡± The secretary said, ¡°Perhaps you should see the Aurors if you are confused.¡±

    ¡°That will not be necessary,¡± Merlin¡¯s mouth said, ¡°I have what I need.¡±

    Fate had Merlin walk away back into the crowd and into one of the fireplaces lining the walls. Instead of surrounding himself in green flames, Fate had Merlin directly apparate to the Wolf-kin clinic to begin his hunt for the Beyonder.

    At the desk of the Ministry the secretary followed the security procedure and sent a message up to the Auror¡¯s office according to Mad-eye Moody¡¯s new strict rules.

    ¡°Yes, I just had a visitor at the front desk,¡± She said to the little piece of paper in front of her, ¡°He was asking after the wolf-kin clinic. Rasping voice as if he had a cold or hadn¡¯t spoken in a while. Denied being a werewolf. Didn¡¯t know where he was, Asked for a map and needed the wolf-kin clinic and the ministry pointed out on it to identify his position. Possible foreign mercenary. Just left through the floo.¡±

    When she was done, she tapped the piece of paper with her wand and it folded itself into a paper airplane and flew off to deliver her message. She sighed, it was so much work reporting every little suspicious person these days. The man was probably just tired or something. But she had to report everybody or she¡¯d get in trouble, so here she was sending the message up for the Aurors to go deal with.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Fate entered the Wolf-kin clinic and had Merlin inspect the mural on the wall just behind the main desk. There were chairs scattered about where groups of people with sunken eyes and thin frames waited nervously. Knees bouncing and chewed nails as they sat in their chairs. Werewolves.

    Merlin tilted his head as Fate inspected the strange mural in front of her. It was of a transformed werewolf, but also not. The features were softer, less savage. The person on the poster was striking a heroic pose and the colors were bright and flattering on them. Fate noticed that many of the sitting werewolves shot glances at the mural and calmed slightly when they saw it. Interesting.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    ¡°Hello. What¡¯s your name. Are you here to get on the list or for an appointment?¡± A girl said as she moved away from a small cluster of werewolves she had been talking to.

    Fate turned Merlin¡¯s head to the girl who froze in her tracks as she saw his glowing golden eyes.

    ¡°Olivia Roberts¡­ It has been some time since I¡¯ve seen you last,¡± Fate said, ¡°I should have known you¡¯d be in league with the Beyonders. Ah, your threads are so twisted and out of place. You should have been killed by a dark wizard in a back alley by now. A tragedy to inspire the Auror department to do better in the future.¡±

    ¡°L- L- Lupin?¡± Olivia stammered as Merlin kept staring at her and she started edging backwards.

    ¡°Where is the Beyonder? Where is Balthazar?¡± Fate demanded as Merlin took a step forward threateningly.

    ¡°Hey! Ya leave the lass alone!¡± A heavyset man with a heavily scarred face said, standing from his chair, ¡°She done nothing but help. Hope of a generation. Back off before I push your face in, old man!¡±

    Fate smiled as she focused on the man and had Merlin looking away from the girl. The man''s chains of Fate pulsed as she remembered his destined place in the pattern.

    ¡°Jedidiah Jones,¡± she said, ¡°Truly, a paragon of virtue. Responsible for no less than fourteen deaths when you transformed during the full moon. Ah, three of them were your own family as well. Who are you to speak of helping others?¡±

    The man faltered for a moment and his eyes widened before narrowing in anger, ¡°Ain¡¯t NO ONE gets to talk about that, asshole. You¡¯ll suffer for that, however ya know.¡±

    The man raised his fists and approached Merlin.

    ¡°How quaint,¡± Fate said. She raised Merlin¡¯s hand and a bolt of red light shot out and struck the werewolf and sent him slumping to the floor unconscious.

    All the werewolves in the room scrambled to their feet.

    ¡°I¡¯ll ask again, Olivia Roberts,¡± Merlin¡¯s mouth said, ¡°Where are the Beyonders? Where is Balthazar?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s¡­ he¡¯s not here. He left weeks ago.¡±

    ¡°Where? Where did he go?¡±

    ¡°Hey back off!¡± A woman shouted from behind Merlin. Fate turned his head and fixed his gaze on the woman who had interrupted. She had her wand drawn as did all the other werewolves in the room, all pointed at Merlin although many of their arms were shaking.

    ¡°Jessica Fentilla. Zero deaths on your conscious. Three children borne, three children dead. One to your pack during the full moon, two more to the Aurors after your transformed children entered a populated area near the muggles. Never went to wizarding school. Can barely even cast the simplest spells, let alone a real attack charm.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ You have no right to speak about them!¡± Jessica said, ¡°I know enough to cast something that¡¯d hurt ya a bit! Get out of here and leave Roberts alone.¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡±

    ¡°Get out of here!¡±

    ¡°Beat it old man!¡± The other werewolves joined in to support Jessica Fentilla.

    Fate looked curiously back at Olivia Roberts, ignoring the crowd.

    ¡°What have you done? What drives all these werewolves to be so loyal to you? I wouldn¡¯t have thought infecting you would have caused you to be such a leader.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I¡­¡± Olivia stammered before puffing up and looking directly into Merlin¡¯s glowing eyes as she drew her wand.

    ¡°I am Olivia Roberts! First of the Wolf-Kin! And if you don¡¯t leave right now then I will destroy you where you stand!¡±

    ¡°Tell me where Balthazar is, or die,¡± Fate said one final time after a brief pause to recover from the girl¡¯s audacity, ¡°My mercy only goes so far.¡±

    ¡°No! Stupif-¡±

    In a blast of magic, Fate let out a burst of magic to send Olivia Roberts and all the other werewolves in the room falling to the floor like they were under immense gravity. All of them barely even able to move through the immense pressure on them. But Fate made sure their lungs were kept free so they could still talk and give her the information she wanted.

    ¡°One of you will know,¡± Fate said, ¡°But first to cut the loose thread¡­¡±

    She raised her hand¡­ Only for the golden glow to dim and stutter in her eyes.

    ¡°Foul cretin!¡± Merlin shouted, ¡°You¡¯d kill the girl for simply existing? For doing nothing but standing bravely to defend her people? I will not have it! I will not! Not again!¡±

    Merlin¡¯s eyes became golden again, but Fate¡¯s hand didn¡¯t move.

    ¡°Merlin, she¡¯s working with the Beyonder,¡± Fate said, ¡°We can¡¯t allow the infection to spread. She was supposed to die already, every breath she takes disrupts all others that her actions affect.¡±

    ¡°A pox on your blighted pattern!¡± Merlin growled as the golden light faded from his eyes again, ¡°This is not necessary evil, but fear! I will not let you kill this girl! If I must resist to my last scrap of will!¡±

    ¡°A- Azkaban!¡± One of the werewolves on floor groaned. Merlin¡¯s eyes immediately blazed golden and his head snapped to the werewolf who had spoken.

    ¡°Azkaban? What about Azkaban?¡± Fate demanded.

    ¡°Balthazar, he lives at Azkaban. Bought it a year ago,¡± the werewolf finished, ¡°He¡¯s not here.¡±

    Fate turned Merlin¡¯s head towards Olivia who was still pinned to the floor along with the others with Merlin¡¯s magic.

    ¡°Azkaban. I see. This will be harder than I thought. As for the girl¡­ I¡¯ll spare her, spare her for you Merlin. I¡¯ll¨C I¡¯ll find a way to fit her back in somehow. The Beyonder has spoiled so much, I will have to spend time reworking the whole thing anyways once Balthazar and his people are dead¡­¡±

    In a crack of air, Merlin disappeared from the clinic and everyone in the clinic gasped as the magic pressing them down released. They slowly sat up.

    ¡°Ms. Roberts! Ms. Roberts, are you alright?¡± One of the burly werewolf men called out as he rushed towards her in concern. Various other calls of concern came out, Olivia rubbing her head and assuring the crowd that she was fine.

    After a few seconds, Dumbledore burst into the main hall, his wand held at the ready and his eyes darting around the space looking for threats. He turned his gaze to the cluster of werewolves all surrounding Olivia.

    ¡°Dumbledore!¡± Olivia called out, ¡°A madman with glowing golden eyes just came in and attacked us! He just apparated away, he¡¯s going to attack Azkaban to try to kill Balthazar!¡±

    The werewolves all looked at Dumbledore expectantly. He let out a weary sigh and lowered his wand.

    ¡°I had hoped that Balthazar had been mistaken¡­ Well then, we must alert the Ministry I suppose. I will remain. Anyone uncomfortable here with the Aurors, I will make sure that they do not harm or arrest anyone unjustly within this clinic. Make your full statements without worry about the repercussions.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°Dumbledore, what¡¯s the situation?¡± Minister Fudge asked, ¡°I¡¯ve heard that there¡¯s been an attack on the Wolf-kin clinic? No injuries or deaths I hope?¡±

    Dumbledore shook his head, ¡°Only one man was stunned, the rest had some bruises and scrapes but nothing more. He was mainly attacking young Olivia Roberts here, looking for Balthazar.¡±

    Alastor Moody¡¯s enchanted eye swiveled to focus on the girl standing next to Dumbledore while Amelia Bones frowned.

    ¡°Before everyone panics,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Balthazar knew this person was coming for him. He¡¯s prepared defenses against them. He will not be taken by surprise by this and informed me that something like this might happen. Ms. Roberts, how about you tell the Minister what you told me regarding the glowing golden eyes.¡±

    Young Olivia recited the whole incident with Lupin and explained how the entire time he had golden glowing eyes and spoke of Beyonders and other strange things that didn¡¯t make any sense to her. How it had immediately been sent into a rage and tried to kill whoever summoned the flames to attack it. Even as the flames had burned her as well, whoever that had attacked Lupin largely ignoring her in their efforts to attack the werewolf.

    Her own memories was hazy, but Olivia had heard the story from Ginny so she knew the basics of what had happened, more than had been told to even the Aurors it seemed.

    Then she launched into her own recounting of the incident that had just happened less than an hour ago with the old man with the same golden eyes that seemed to know her act like he was the same person that had infected her with the werewolf curse. As well as the golden eyes fading and him speaking in another voice to stop the golden eyed one from killing her.

    ¡°Does this mean what I think it means, Dumbledore?¡± Alastor asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid so,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°Lupin was innocent. It is some sort of possession or elaborate spell similar to an imperius, all controlled by the person behind those with the ¡®Golden eyes¡¯. Balthazar did not explain the details. Simply that someone extremely powerful would be coming after him soon and he would have to shelter in Azkaban to weather their assault. It was the reason he has stepped back from the Wolf-kin clinic.¡±

    Everyone in the room looked at Dumbledore, even Olivia Roberts at the information.

    ¡°He knew about this?¡± Olivia asked, ¡°That someone was going to attack the clinic?¡±

    Dumbledore shook his head, ¡°No, attack him. He only told me of the threat as a precaution. You saw, as soon as this person knew where Balthazar was, they left immediately. Presumably to Azkaban to attack.¡±

    ¡°Who is this golden eyed person?¡± Amelia Bones asked, ¡°What do they want? Are they likely to come back to Britain if they are frustrated with Azkaban¡¯s defenses?¡±

    ¡°I do not know. It sounds like Balthazar and his group are something called Beyonders. Or perhaps that is the name of their group itself. This person seems single-minded on killing these Beyonders and ignoring nearly everything else. They could return¡­ But Balthazar made it seem like they would not. That as soon as they knew where Balthazar and his people were that they would be obsessed and not pay attention to anything else but destroying him.¡±

    ¡°Merlin,¡± Olivia suddenly said, ¡°The golden eyed one was talking to Merlin. That was the name of the one that stopped them from killing me. I thought it was just nonsense, but¡­ Maybe not?¡±

    ¡°Merlin? The founder of modern magic as we know it?¡± Fudge said, ¡°Are we saying that Merlin is not only alive but controlled by whoever controls this golden eye spell?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps. We can only hope that Balthazar emerges triumphant,¡± Dumbledore said, ¡°He has surprised all of us with his knowledge of magic several times over. Who knows what the rest of his Beyonders are capable of? There is still hope yet. And it sounds like Merlin is resisting the spell at least somewhat. Things are not as dire as they appear at first.¡±

    ¡°Still, I do not like this,¡± Fudge mumbled, ¡°We must up security, prepare for attack. This is a threat... if Merlin were to attack us let alone whoever it is that¡¯s controlling him...¡±

    He kept muttering to himself for a few more seconds before looking up as if noticing the rest of the room staring at him.

    ¡°Ah, Dumbledore, Ms. Roberts. Thank you for your information. You may leave now and return to your lives. If you think of anything else make sure to inform Amelia or Alastor as soon as possible. Head of department and security chief. Order and Security, that¡¯s what we need more of¡­¡±

    Dumbledore and Olivia left the room as the Minister began to discuss security measures with Amelia and Alastor.

 Chapter 66: A Perfect First Impression

    ¡°What do you think, Ginny? Green or blue?¡± Alexa asked as she held the two tops and held them over herself for a few seconds to compare.

    ¡°Mmm. Show me again.¡±

    Alexa did so.

    ¡°I like the blue one more I think,¡± Ginny said.

    ¡°Great,¡± Alexa said as she hung the green one back on the hanger, ¡°Classic Ravenclaw. Stupid Slytherin, I used to like wearing green and now it just feels weird. Now we got to go with bathing suits! I can¡¯t believe you still only have just the one that my parents gave to you. We¡¯ve got to get you some variety!¡±

    The two of them drifted over to the swimwear and Ginny mostly went for the ride as Alexa babbled and told Ginny which ones would look best. Ginny was used to everyone wearing drab robes all the time with little accents of color in the color of their school houses, so the clothing being so colorful was all very strange for her. Even Harry and the Dursleys had all worn rather drab clothes. Nothing like what was in this shop that Alexa had taken Ginny to. Molly and Mrs. Adams were chatting on the other side of the store as Alexa and Ginny ran around and tried things on in the store.

    Even though Ginny didn¡¯t know much about which clothes were best, it was fun to be swept up with Alexa¡¯s excitement and try new things on to show them off to Alexa for her opinion.

    By the time they left the store, Ginny had more clothes than she would probably ever need. But it would be exciting to have some more variety of things to wear rather than the same ones she already had over and over.

    After they were done shopping, they went over to Alexa¡¯s house. The adults went inside leaving Ginny and Alexa outside with two bicycles that Mr. Adams had taken out of the garage for them.

    ¡°We can go ride around! I¡¯ll show you around the neighborhood!¡± Alexa said excitedly as she slung her leg over the bike to sit.

    ¡°Uhm, Alexa¡­¡± Ginny said, ¡°I¡¯ve never used a bike before.¡±

    Alexa paused and looked back at Ginny.

    ¡°Wait, really? You haven¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think we even own one. And uh. Harry never learned. Is it hard?¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s¡­ Once you get it it¡¯s not that hard. But I learned it a while ago. Here I¡¯ll try to teach you.¡±

    Alexa got off her own bike and the two of them gathered around the other one. Alexa grabbed the handle bars and her muscles tensed as she took a wider stance to hold it up.

    ¡°Okay, just get on,¡± She said. Ginny carefully lifted her leg and shifted in place until she was sitting on the seat of the bike. She lifted her feet and put them on the pedals carefully and grabbed the handle bars as Alexa held her up and removed the little metal kickstand holding the bike up.

    ¡°So to turn you can just lean a bit,¡± Alexa said, ¡°Or turn the handlebars to the side. These two little levers on the handles are the breaks, just pull those if you¡¯re going too fast¡­¡±

    Alexa started walking the bike forward on the driveway as Ginny cautiously let the petals move below her feet. She shifted her hands so she was gripping the brake levers on the handlebars with her fingers.

    ¡°Okay, try turning!¡±

    Ginny twisted the handlebars to the side and despite Alexa¡¯s arms trembling a bit as they took on the weight, Ginny managed to make a very side turn so they were facing back towards the house before they went into the street.

    ¡°Okay, try pedaling yourself! Just keep going and don¡¯t stop, as long as you keep moving the bike won¡¯t fall.¡±

    Ginny started pushing down with her feet and the bike started stuttering forward. Alexa jogged slightly to keep up while still holding the handlebars of the bike to stabilize Ginny as she picked up speed.

    Suddenly Alexa let go and Ginny started panicking. Ah! The bike was wobbling side to side!

    ¡°Keep pedaling!¡± Alexa said, ¡°Don¡¯t slow down yet!¡±

    Ginny pressed down with her feet harder and the bike moved a bit faster. The wobbling went down slightly and the bike was moving forward almost on its own! Ginny kept going, but began to panic as she was about to reach the garage. Ah, what should she do? If she slowed down then she¡¯d fall, but she was going to hit the garage door if she didn¡¯t do something!

    ¡°Brake, brake!¡± Alexa said as she jogged after Ginny from behind.

    Ginny pulled hard on the brakes and slid to a stop. Then the bike began to tilt over and Ginny fell onto the hard driveway with the bike pinning her leg as it fell completely to the side.

    Alexa came over and lifted the bike as Ginny inspected her elbows. They were all scraped up with red streaks where she had hit the ground. Ow.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Alexa said sheepishly, ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have let go. We should get your mom to heal that, then I¡¯ll see if my dad still has the training wheels he can put on so you can practice.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    They spent the rest of the day with Alexa teaching Ginny how to bike, the training wheels now making Ginny feel much more secure as they went around the neighborhood and Alexa showed her some cool rocks or streams in a more wooded area of the neighborhood nearby. Ginny promised to do the same when Alexa came over to her house.

    After an hour or two, Ginny was feeling good enough the she and Alexa had Mr. Adams take off the training wheels again. Alexa and Ginny went out biking again. Ginny only fell three or four times more before getting the hang of it by the end of the day. Molly healed all of Ginny¡¯s scrapes and bruises from when she¡¯d fallen over the day. Molly and Ginny said goodbye as it began to grow dark, and then returned home.

    The next week Alexa and Jack came over to the Burrow for Saturday, and Ginny showed them around outside to the woods and other little spots around the property.

    ¡°Oh, what¡¯s this Ginny?¡± Jack said, ¡°It looks like there¡¯s words carved on this rock.¡±

    Ginny¡¯s brow furrowed for a moment in confusion before her eyes widened in realization. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s probably nothing! Let¡¯s keep going!¡± She said quickly only to see that Alexa had drifted over and was inspecting the rock too.

    ¡°Wait, is this what I think it is?¡± Alexa said, ¡°You made this?¡±

    Ginny sighed. It had been so long that she had forgotten that this was the spot was where she had carved it.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± She said as she stepped forward to look at the carved words herself, ¡°It¡¯s Harry¡¯s gravestone. I thought that he would like to have it here. At the house where I have a family that cares about me. Sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to ruin the mood¡­¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine,¡± Jack said absently as they all stared at the stone, ¡°Harry Potter. 1980-1989. I Won¡¯t Forget You. Rest in Peace. It¡¯s good. I¡¯m sure he would have liked it.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Alexa said softly.

    None of them said anything for a while.

    ¡°Well, uhm. I have more to show you?¡± Ginny asked uncertainly, ¡°If you want.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Jack said, dragging his eyes away from the grave.

    ¡°Show us, Ginny,¡± Alexa said, much less excited than she had before, ¡°I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be cool.¡±

    ¡°Oh, uh. Well there¡¯s a bee¡¯s nest over this way hanging up in the tree¡­¡± Ginny said as the three of them walked away from Harry¡¯s grave. Jack and Alexa were a little more thoughtful for the rest of the day, although they cheered up a bit after Fred and George roped all of them into a big quidditch game together.

    Both Alexa and Jack weren¡¯t great and both went on Fred¡¯s team. Meanwhile it was just Ginny and George on their own against them. Ginny was good on a broom but not nearly as good as either of the twins were. So the three on two actually ended up being pretty even and they were all having fun by the end of it despite the old rickety family brooms that they were all riding.

    The five of them landed after the games petered out with Ginny and George just barely eking out a final victory, making them the ultimate winners of the whole thing.

    ¡°Alright! High five, sis!¡± George said, ¡°Beat them two on three!¡±

    Ginny slapped his hand and smiled.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°What do you think of Quidditch now, Alexa?¡± Fred asked, ¡°I hear that you¡¯re not a fan.¡±

    ¡°Well, that was pretty fun.¡± Alexa said, ¡°But you know what we didn¡¯t have? A golden snitch! It makes all that other great gameplay worthless. In the games we¡¯ve gone to, Gryffindor¡¯s always smoked Ravenclaw in the score, just for Cho Chang to catch the snitch and win the whole game anyway. Doesn¡¯t feel very fair.¡±

    Fred grimaced, ¡°Ugh, don¡¯t remind us. Wood was absolutely furious that we couldn¡¯t find a good seeker. Yeah alright fair point there. But the game itself was still pretty fun right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it was pretty good,¡± Alexa said easily, ¡°I think I still like football better, but it was way more fun than I expected it to be.¡±

    ¡°I suppose that¡¯s the best we¡¯re going to get, brother,¡± George said, ¡°We¡¯ve surpassed Alexa¡¯s low expectations.¡±

    ¡°Hey, I wasn¡¯t saying that! It¡¯s just¡­¡±

    Fred and George kept talking with Alexa to argue the merits of football versus Quidditch as Jack and Ginny mostly just listened.

    ¡°Well, you can¡¯t even say anything!¡± Alexa finally said, ¡°You haven¡¯t even played a game yet.¡±

    ¡°We can fix that,¡± Ginny said suddenly and everyone looked at her.

    ¡°Bring your ball next time you come back tomorrow, Alexa! We can play a game and compare!¡± Ginny said.

    The next day, they played a game of football with Alexa¡¯s ball and two goals that Dad transfigured into existence with his wand. The adults got some chairs and sat outside and watched as everyone, even Ron, joined in on the football game.

    Much to Alexa¡¯s frustration, Fred and George still absolutely dominated the game. Alexa was far more skilled than them, but they were much taller and faster and could reach the ball before she could.

    After a while, some of the adults even joined in on the fun. Alexa¡¯s dad and mom were really good and had to be put on the losing team whenever one of them joined in. And even then they still sometimes were still too good so they had to put more people on the opposite to balance it out again.

    Jack¡¯s dad was decent, but clearly had trouble handling it when someone tried to steal the ball from him. So he never ended up holding the ball between his feet for very long.

    Jack¡¯s mom was pretty bad. She actually missed one of her kicks and fell completely over at one point. Jack¡¯s Dad had teased her a bit and she had left the field blushing slightly after her mistake. Alexa tried to convince her to come back in, but Jack¡¯s mom planted her butt firmly in one of the chairs and declared that she¡¯d have more fun watching everyone else play instead.

    Dad was fascinated by the game and kept asking Alexa¡¯s parents questions about all of the rules as the adults watched them play. When he joined he did okay but quickly was huffing and puffing, out of shape.

    Ginny reached out her leg and stole the ball from Dad as he was about to kick it towards the goal.

    ¡°Ginny!¡± Dad called out with his face red and breathing heavily, ¡°Ah, I¡¯ll get you!¡±

    Ginny giggled as she kept dribbling the ball away from her huffing and puffing dad who was giving chase. She drew back her leg when Dad was almost on her and kicked as hard as she could at the goal.

    George dived to the side, but the ball bounced slightly and slipped through his hands and made it through.

    ¡°Ha! Goal!¡± Ginny said with a smile. She turned around and saw Dad with his hands on his knees and breathing heavily even if he was still smiling slightly.

    ¡°Oof. Haven¡¯t run this much¡­ in years,¡± He puffed, ¡°I¡¯m going to go sit down now.¡±

    ¡°Okay, Dad,¡± Ginny said before turning to everyone else who was playing, ¡°HEY GUYS! Dad¡¯s taking a break. New teams.¡±

    They kept playing, everyone having fun. Everyone but Molly. She sat there and watched, but looked vaguely uncomfortable at what was happening. Especially when one of the boys was rough with Ginny or Alexa and knocked them down by accident. She had yelled at the boys the first couple times but after Ginny and Alexa calmed her down and told her that it was part of the game, Molly didn¡¯t interrupt any more. At least as much.

    Molly was a much more traditional wizarding person than Dad was, so she probably wasn¡¯t used to seeing everyone roughhousing a bit during the game since they had to get so close to steal the ball from each other. People shoved with their elbows, kicked shins by accident while trying to steal the ball, it was all rather intense for all of them.

    But it was fun.

    Molly was the only one that never joined the football game to play, only watching from the chairs that had been set up the whole time. But she helped heal all their little scrapes and bruises and brought out cold drinks for everyone, which was nice.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°Yeah, so just lay like that,¡± Ginny said as Jack lay on the couch uncomfortably on his side, ¡°Stay right there. Go ahead, Fawkes.¡±

    Fawkes lifted his wing and started rubbing it on Jack¡¯s head. Ginny and Alexa sat in nearby chairs and watched as Jack relaxed as Fawkes continued.

    ¡°Mmmmhhh. That is nice,¡± Jack said as Fawkes kept petting him.

    ¡°I like it,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Fawkes has really got it in his head recently that we¡¯ve got to be equal about it. So he¡¯s been insisting on petting me all the time instead of me petting him. I don¡¯t mind that much.¡±

    After a few minutes Alexa stood up and poked Jack in the stomach. *Oof* Jack grunted and curled inwards at Alexa¡¯s surprise attack.

    ¡°Greedy! My turn, Jack. I want the phoenix to pet me!¡± she said.

    ¡°You could have just asked,¡± Jack protested as he shifted slightly on the couch.

    ¡°Not fast enough,¡± Alexa proclaimed after a second of Jack remaining on the couch unmoving, appearing reluctant to give up his spot. She jumped over Jack and with a heavy impact landed behind him. Now she was lying sandwiched between him and the back cushions as Jack rolled back slightly now that Alexa was pressing the couch cushions down. Alexa shoved and prodded Jack with her fingers until he sat up and stood off of the couch and moved to sit in the chair that Alexa had just left. Alexa quickly wriggled so her head was on the arm of the couch and was right next to where Fawkes stood.

    ¡°Do me next, Fawkes!¡± Alexa said.

    Fawkes hesitated for a moment before petting Alexa next. Alexa closed her eyes and melted into the couch.

    ¡°Ahhh. So warm¡­¡± she murmured.

    Mrs. Adams came over and peered down curiously at the phoenix brushing his wing down the side of Alexa¡¯s head.

    ¡°Oh? Is this Fawkes, the phoenix you won¡¯t stop talking about, Alexa?¡±

    ¡°Yep,¡± Alexa said, her eyes still closed, ¡°Shush Mom, Ginny will introduce him to everyone later. Right now we¡¯re taking turns letting him pet us.¡±

    Mrs. Adams raised an eyebrow and watched for a moment as Fawkes lifted his wing at the top of Alexa¡¯s head and started brushing it down again.

    ¡°Er, uhm. That¡¯s nice, honey,¡± She said, ¡°I¡¯ll leave you to it then. You¡¯re right, Alexa. That¡¯s quite a handsome bird there.¡±

    Fawkes puffed up proudly and Ginny had to suppress her laughter as Mrs. Adams turned away and wandered back over to the kitchen where all the other adults were talking.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°Oh, Mr. and Mrs. Adams. Mr. and Mrs. Anverts. You haven¡¯t met my phoenix Fawkes yet. He¡¯s very intelligent. He¡¯s a magical beast, so he is as intelligent as a person even if he can¡¯t speak to anyone but me. But he can understand what we say,¡± Ginny said. She grabbed Fawkes from where he sat in his chair and lifted him so he was standing on the edge of the table so Jack and Alexa¡¯s parents could get a good look at him.

    ¡°Does he- I mean, hello Fawkes?¡± Mr. Anverts said, slightly confused.

    Fawkes chirped.

    ¡°He says hello.¡±

    Fawkes chirped again. Ginny didn¡¯t say anything.

    ¡°What did he say?¡± Mr. Anverts asked.

    ¡°He¡¯s just being silly again,¡± Ginny asked, ¡°I think he¡¯s doing it on purpose.¡±

    ¡°Well, what was it?¡±

    Ginny sighed.

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t understand why any of us are wearing clothes since we could be using heating charms instead and be ¡®more in tune with nature¡¯. I¡¯ve tried to explain to him a million times that we can¡¯t go running around naked everywhere, but he just doesn¡¯t get it. He¡¯s been bringing it up everytime he sees someone with different clothing for the last few weeks, like that button up shirt that you¡¯re wearing, Mr. Anverts.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Mr. Anverts said and an awkward silence fell over the room for a moment as everyone stared at Fawkes.

    Fawkes chirped.

    ¡°Fawkes, you don¡¯t have to get it. But you don¡¯t have to ask every time you meet a new person!¡± Ginny said, ¡°I can¡¯t believe you made me say that to them.¡±

    Fawkes let out a long trill.

    Ginny folded her arms across her chest and glared at Fawkes,

    ¡°Me having you ride on my shoulder that time was not embarrassing. It was very dignified. You don¡¯t even know how hard I had to resist acting like a pirate, but I didn¡¯t because I knew it would upset you. And I didn¡¯t hear you protesting while I was doing it. I would have just put you down if you didn¡¯t like it.¡±

    Chirp.

    ¡°Whatever, Fawkes. You could have just told me, no need to be a jerk about it. Sorry, he¡¯s been in a weird mood for the last few weeks,¡± Ginny apologized to the adults, ¡°But you can talk to him like a person. He knows enough to bob his head up and down for yes or side to side for no, at least if he¡¯s in the mood to talk to somebody.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Okay,¡± Mrs. Adams said, recovering from the sudden awkwardness around the table.

    ¡°So, Fawkes. You¡¯re a phoenix, is it true that you get reborn from ashes? All the old legends about rebirth and all?¡±

    Ginny carefully picked up Fawkes and placed him back in his chair. She¡¯d scold him later for what he¡¯d done, but when they were back in their room, not now.

    Fawkes bobbed his head up and down in response to Mrs. Adams'' question.

    The tension broke and everyone started eating the meatloaf that Molly had made for everybody.

    Everybody silently moved past Fawkes¡¯ awkward start to the dinner and started talking with each other and fell into easy conversation. After dinner Alexa, Jack, and their parents left and went home.

    When they were back in their room Ginny yelled at Fawkes for how rude he was at dinner. He argued back to defend himself for a minute, but at seeing her anger grudgingly apologized and told her that he wouldn¡¯t do that again.

    Ginny lay in bed under the covers. Fawkes jumped on the bed and nuzzled his face against hers.

    ¡°Go to your stand, Fawkes,¡± Ginny said in annoyance without looking at him, ¡°That wasn¡¯t cool at dinner. I was so embarrassed. I had to say it too, or it would be like I wasn¡¯t letting you talk when I said I¡¯d translate for you. You better mean that apology.¡±

    Fawkes chirped sadly and nuzzled her more with his head.

    ¡°Fawkes¡­ You know that I always see us as equals, right?¡± Ginny said while staring at the wall, ¡°Friends? I know you¡¯ve been insecure about it and everything recently. That I¡¯ll treat you like a dumb pet because I pet you and carry you around and things. You know I never meant it like that, even from the very beginning. If you don¡¯t like something then you can just tell me.¡±

    Fawkes chirped in understanding and a little apology.

    ¡°Okay. I¡¯m going to sleep now.¡± She rolled over more and shut her eyes. She felt Fawkes¡¯ warm form press against her back.

    ¡°No, go to your stand,¡± Ginny said, ¡°You¡¯re still in trouble. Maybe tomorrow.¡±

    Fawkes chirped sadly but then in a rustle of wings flapped over to his birdstand standing in the corner of the room. He gripped it in his claws, tucked his head into his wing, and then shut his eyes.

    Both of them drifted off to sleep. Ginny had already forgiven Fawkes, but he didn¡¯t know that yet. She¡¯d have to make him feel it for a little bit before giving in and making up with him again.

 Chapter 67: The Ton-Tongue Toffees

    Three days later, Ginny finally caved and let Fawkes apologize for real. It was a big bump in their otherwise mostly smooth friendship so far. But things were good between the two of them again after they made up with each other.

    Fawkes still didn¡¯t understand why they needed clothes when they had magic, but that was okay. It seems it would just have to remain an unexplained mystery to him.

    The summer passed quickly.

    Fred and George were hard at work with the money Ginny had given them preparing for the school year.

    Fred and George had taken Ginny to get her money out of Gringotts without their parents knowing about it. She felt a little odd sneaking around for it, but Fred and George were adamant that Molly couldn¡¯t find out about what they were doing no matter what. And that if Dad found out that Molly would too in short order.

    It seemed to have worked, Fred and George disappearing into their rooms near constantly to work on brewing and enchanting their products. She had tried out all of their products out of curiosity when she checked in on them occasionally. They were all rather interesting. There was a candy with two sides. One made you sick, so you could leave class to go to the hospital wing. And the other side was a cure that you could swallow to be completely cured in an instant.

    Another grew your tongue to absurd lengths. Ginny¡¯s grew so long after she took it that she¡¯d been able to pick it up and slap George with it like a slobbery whip as he laughed at her from nearby. The overblown tongue smacking him in the face sure changed his tune. That one had taken ten minutes to wear off, and Fred and George discovered much to their chagrin that Ginny had no problem at all using her six foot long tongue sticking out from her mouth as a weapon to punish them for not telling her what the candy did beforehand.

    ¡°Blimey,¡± Fred said as he took out his wand and cast a cleaning spell on all three of them to get rid of the slobber she¡¯d covered them all with.

    ¡°Maybe we should decrease the length of the tongue candies a bit, George. You were bloody brutal with that thing, Ginny.¡±

    ¡°Welsh,¡± Ginny said around her massive tongue that was shrinking like a pink snake slithering upwards from the floor into her mouth.

    ¡°Thatsh what you getsh,¡± She said, ¡°No warninsh at allsh. Didnsh exshpect me ta turnsh it around onsh you, didsh you?¡±

    Ginny¡¯s tongue had shrunk to dangle at her collarbone and was shrinking faster and faster. After another second it went into her mouth and with a final burst went into her head. Ginny stumbled back a bit from the sudden momentum on her head as the tongue shot into her skull before stabilizing a bit. She wiped her mouth on her sleeve.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know though. It could be a feature,¡± She said, ¡°What if you could shoot it out like a frog tongue? That could be fun.¡±

    The twins shot looks at each other.

    ¡°She has a point, George.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that would be a good one to look into after school¡¯s over. But for these ones we should shrink the length so people don¡¯t go crazy like our Sis here.¡±

    Ginny shrugged, ¡°If you didn¡¯t want me to use the tongue whip, then you shouldn¡¯t have given me the tongue whip.¡±

    ¡°Point taken. Hence shrinking the length so there are no¡­ ¡®tongue whips¡¯ for anyone to be using.¡±

    ¡°Not that anyone else would probably think to do that,¡± George added, ¡°You didn¡¯t even hesitate Ginny, just went right for it.¡±

    ¡°Well it worked, didn¡¯t it?¡± Ginny said, ¡°Now you know to make them shorter now.¡±

    ¡°Yep. Ah, adjusting the formula again will be such a pain¡­¡± Fred groaned.

    ¡°Can I have some of the old kind?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°I want to have a tongue whip battle with Alexa and Jack. If they agree.¡±

    ¡°Sure, Sis,¡± George said in defeat, ¡°We made nine already before you came in. Go on and take them, just never throw that thing our way again.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Ginny said brightly as they handed her a little bag of wrapped up rainbow candies, ¡°Thanks! Do you have an idea of what you¡¯re going to call them?¡±

    ¡°Ton-Tongue Toffees was what we were thinking.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a pretty good one. Good luck making more and making the tongues shorter. ¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°Go ahead! Eat the suspicious candy, Olivia! It¡¯s totally normal and nothing will happen if you eat it.¡±

    Olivia peered suspiciously down at the rainbow candy as Ginny watched her eagerly.

    ¡°What is this?¡± She asked suspiciously, ¡°Nothing bad is it?¡±

    ¡°No! It¡¯s just sooooo sweet and flavorful. I thought you¡¯d want to try some.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯d you get this?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a secret. Just try it.¡±

    Ginny held her straight face as Olivia cautiously unwrapped the candy and placed it in her mouth. She shifted it to her cheek.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°Hm. Shugary, but not thatsh good. Where¡¯s the trick? Oh Waitsh, whash happening?!¡±

    Ginny started giggling as Olivia¡¯s tongue started elongating as sliding out of her mouth like a floppy pink worm until it was dragging on the floor of Sirius¡¯ house.

    ¡°Ugh! Grosth!¡± Olivia said, ¡°GHINNY! I¡¯ll getsh you!¡±

    Olivia started chasing after Ginny, and almost tripped over her long tongue that started tangling with her legs. Olivia stumbled into the wall for a moment before reaching down and picking up her slimy tongue from the ground. Olivia whipped it around her neck in a circle until it looked like a long fleshy scarf. Ginny howled with laughter and pointed at Olivia with tears coming out of her eyes at the sight.

    ¡°GRAAAA!¡± Olivia shouted as she chased Ginny with her tongue scarf flopping up and down as she chased after Ginny.

    Ginny had been laughing so hard that she had a stitch in her side and so Olivia caught her quickly.

    ¡°GRRRR!¡± Olivia said, ¡°I¡¯m gonna ticklsh you! Merthilesth revenge!¡±

    Olivia started tickling Ginny¡¯s ribcage, sending her to the floor under the relentless assault. Olivia kept on her onslaught of merciless tickles and pokes into Ginny¡¯s side until Ginny could hardly breathe as she lay on the floor. Seeing Ginny¡¯s state, the older girl finally stepped back, her tongue scarf still wrapped around her neck and her mouth forced partially open from the pink thing emerging from it. Ginny lay there spasming and taking big breaths as her uncontrollable laughter kept on going even after Olivia stopped. Eventually she went still and uncurled slightly.

    ¡°Wash ish thish thing anyway?¡± Olivia asked as Ginny stood to her feet, ¡°How long beforsh it goesh away?¡±

    ¡°Ten¡­ ten minutes,¡± Ginny said, still taking deep breaths to recover, ¡°Nice¡­ nice scarf.¡±

    Olivia struck a pose with her hip cocked to the side and flicked her hair back dramatically with her hand and affected a haughty tone, ¡°Ish the heightsh of fashion thesh daysh, I¡¯ll havsh you know. Shetting the trendsh and all that.¡±

    Olivia returned to her normal tone and went back to standing normally, ¡°Howdsh you get thesh anyway? I¡¯ve never heardsh of a candy like thish.¡±

    ¡°Fred and George made them,¡± Ginny said, ¡°They¡¯re going to try to sell them at Hogwarts.¡±

    There were only two more weeks until school started, so Ginny figured it would be fine to tell Olivia about it. Fred and George were all finished making everything and were just working on packaging it all up and trying to finalize what prices they would want to sell them for.

    ¡°Really? Huh, Intereshting. Have you shried them?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I used my tongue as a whip to smack Fred and George around with when they surprised me with it. It worked pretty well.¡±

    ¡°Hmmmm,¡± Olivia said while looking down at her tongue scarf thoughtfully, ¡°A whip you shay? We¡¯ve Shtill got Shome time left. I¡¯ll have to try itsh out for myshelf.¡±

    Ginny¡¯s eyes widened as she realized her mistake. She wasn¡¯t safe yet! She started running as Olivia started uncurling her scarf from around her neck and running after Ginny.

    Ginny felt the wet tongue strike her back and slide down between her shoulder blades as Olivia tossed it at her. Ginny just barely managed to dodge away before Olivia¡¯s next overhand strike with her tongue came after her.

    ¡°Gah!¡± Olivia swore behind her, ¡°It touchsh the floor! Sho grosh!¡±

    ¡°Ha ha!¡± Ginny mocked, ¡°That¡¯s what you get for missing me!¡±

    ¡°Oh we shtill got a few more minutsh,¡± Olivia threatened, ¡°Just you watchsh. You¡¯re gonna getsh it now!¡±

    Ginny was fully gross by the time that Olivia¡¯s tongue slithered back into her mouth and became normal again.

    Olivia worked her jaw, opening and closing it for a few seconds experimentally as it fully shrunk down to a normal size.

    ¡°Huh,¡± She said, ¡°How about that.¡±

    Olivia looked at Ginny who looked like she¡¯d been dunked in a vat of sticky slime after failing to dodge Olivia¡¯s tongue strikes for minutes of relentless assault, leaving her coated in saliva.

    ¡°You¡¯re gross,¡± Olivia stated flatly.

    ¡°And whose fault is that?¡± Ginny said as she stood there, dripping thick globs of saliva onto the floor from the hems of her robes. She raised an arm and shook a glob from it where it was clinging to her hand.

    ¡°Yours!¡± Olivia answered cheerfully.

    Ginny shot Olivia her puppy dog eyed begging look and gestured to herself.

    ¡°Nope! You¡¯ll have to convince someone else and explain to them how you got like this,¡± Olivia said cheerfully, ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll think of something. I¡¯ll have to go talk to Fred and George. I might want to buy some of those for myself. Get in early before they run out of stock.¡±

    Olivia started walking off and with a single charm and flick of her wand cleaned herself completely off.

    Ginny looked back down at herself. Maybe she should go outside and find some mud to roll around in. Maybe that would help cover her tracks so people wouldn¡¯t ask her any more in depth questions¡­

    The plan worked flawlessly. After going outside and rolling around like a pig in the mud for a few minutes, Ginny was brown from head to toe. As embarrassing as it was, she did made some oinking sounds once she was fully covered in the mud. Hey, she was curious! And alone, there was no one around to judge her. Maybe the pigs had a point, you couldn¡¯t know unless you tested it. After she was done oinking and verified that no, covering yourself in mud did not make you feel amazing like it seemed to do for the pigs, she went back up to the front door. The mud just made her feel wet and filthy, not pleasant at all. Ginny knocked loudly on the door to Sirius¡¯ house and didn¡¯t walk back inside, as filthy as she was.

    Molly came to answer the door.

    ¡°Ginny? Oh, what in the world,¡± Molly fussed, ¡°What are you even doing playing outside by yourself? What were you even doing?¡±

    ¡°I was pretending to be a pig,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I didn¡¯t realize until I was done that I¡¯m not very good at cleaning magic.¡±

    ¡°You do just the oddest things sometimes, Ginny. Well, you ought to focus on that cleaning magic with how often you get dirty,¡± Molly scolded, ¡°Scourgify!¡± She chanted as she pointed her wand at Ginny.

    It cleaned off about half of the mud caked onto Ginny¡¯s whole body.

    ¡°Scourgify!¡±

    ¡°Scourgify!¡±

    ¡°Scourgify!¡±

    Finally after that last charm, Ginny was sparkling clean, her skin even a bit raw from being deep scrubbed by the magic.

    ¡°Thanks, Mom,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I¡¯ll practice my cleaning charms when I¡¯m back at school, I promise.¡±

    Molly huffed in exasperation, but there was a bit of amusement in her eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯d ask you to not get dirty at all, but I think we both know that¡¯s impossible with all the antics you¡¯ve been getting up to this summer. You¡¯d be washing clothes all day if not for my spells.¡±

    ¡°I know, thanks Mom. Magic really is convenient isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes. Now no more playing outside. I thought you were spending some time with Olivia? You can play outside plenty when we¡¯re at home.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Mom.¡±

    They went back into the house and Ginny internally celebrated her victory. Yes, her excuse had worked perfectly!

    Wait, maybe rolling around like a pig in the mud was even more embarrassing than telling people about the ton-tongue toffee?

    Oh no.

    It would probably be fine.

    Hopefully.

 Chapter 68: Revival

    In a rundown house not used by others for many years on the top of a hill, its latest and only resident stirred. It was dark, with a new moon preventing even the light of the moon from providing any light.

    Bellatrix Lestrange shifted and opened her eyes on the cot pressed against the wall of the room she had prepared and waited for months. In the center of the room sat the large black cauldron filled with foul black potion. The very same one that had resurrected Lord Voldemort in the beginning of the summer in the graveyard of Lord Voldemort¡¯s father.

    With each passing day, her hope that he would return to her faded just that bit more. Yet that fading hope did not manifest as depression or hopelessness as it may in others. Instead, it manifested with mania, obsession. Bellatrix Lestrange had to watch over the simmering cauldron filled with black fluid for every waking moment. Every moment she was forced to look away, to tend to the bandages wrapped around the stump on one of her arms, all of it was torture to her.

    She slept fitfully, only ate what food she could acquire in the minimum time possible for survival. All of it was put to the wayside as she stared into the depths of the cauldron for days, weeks on end.

    Yet after all this time, her patience was being rewarded. The cauldron began to shake and rattle and the black potion within began to roil furiously as if about to boil. Bellatrix leapt out of her bed and rushed to the cauldron with a savage grin on her face and madness in her eyes. She waited with baited breath as the cauldron shook and shook and the level of fluid in the cauldron began to drop down.

    As the level of the potion dropped, a smooth head was exposed. It dropped more, an arm, a skeletal chest. The potion kept dropping until there was nothing but a thimbleful at the bottom. But there was enough. Lord Voldemort uncurled from his old body and hovered into the air above the cauldron.

    Bellatrix unabashedly stared at her lord¡¯s perfect form. She felt a flash of irritation as she remembered Harry Potter¡¯s mocking words. What would a boy like him know about what a woman would want in a man? Any woman should be happy to have the lord, especially her.

    She was mildly disappointed when the lord¡¯s form was shrouded by a dark cloak just as it had been in the graveyard.

    ¡°Bellatrix¡­¡± Lord Voldemort rasped as he floated downwards and his feet touched the ground.

    ¡°My recollections are fuzzy¡­ uncertain. My soul took much damage and it has taken this long for my mind to return to me. I was about to address our wayward Death Eaters¡­ And then nothing. Describe what happened. I will take the time to inspect your memories more thoroughly later.¡±

    Bellatrix was confused, but she couldn¡¯t refuse the lord. She told him every detail of what had happened. His eyes glowing golden and his cataclysmic battle with the demonic form of Balthazar. Her retreat with the Cauldron and their supplies to a safe location as she realized that the battle was beyond the might of the weaklings on the ground.

    ¡°This is most disturbing¡­¡± Lord Voldemort said, ¡°I do not recall any of this battle you speak of. I am a genius, the greatest wizard of this age. Someone who has delved deeper in the secrets of magic than any before him. Yet, I have never heard of the magic which you describe me or this Balthazar using¡­¡±

    ¡°My lord¡­¡± Bellatrix said leadingly, not even sure what she was asking for.

    Lord Voldemort raised his head to stare at her, brought out of what appeared to be a state of deep thought.

    ¡°Ah, Bellatrix. Wands?¡±

    ¡°Of course my lord! I have them right here.¡±

    She reached into her robes and pulled out seven wands of different types that she had stolen from others. She held out the wands and fanned them out and bowed her head as if presenting a gift for a king.

    Her lord hunted through them and cast a few idle spells through each of them before choosing, her keeping her head bowed the whole time. He carefully plucked the most suitable wand and inspected it for a moment before looking back at her.

    ¡°Bellatrix, hold out your arm.¡±

    Bellatrix held out her undamaged arm with the dark mark on it after putting the spare wands back in her robes.

    ¡°No, your other one.¡±

    ¡°My lord?¡±

    Bellatrix obediently held out her stump with the bandages on the end. Her lord waved his wand and the bandages came off and revealed the reddish partially healed stump where her hand had used to be.

    ¡°I did not have time to do so last time,¡± her lord said with a faint smile, ¡°But I reward loyalty in my servants. Loyalty to Lord Voldemort does not go unrewarded. Especially loyalty like what you have shown¡­¡±

    With a wave of his wand, a silvery liquid like metal streamed out of the lord¡¯s wand and onto the end of Bellatrix¡¯s stump. She felt little streams of coolness spread through her whole arm all the way up to her elbow in thin little burrowing lines. When it was finished the silvery fluid spraying out of the lord¡¯s wand began to bulge outwards until it formed a silvery hand that hardened and solidified as soon as it was fully formed. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    Bellatrix felt pinpricks and small bursts of sensation in her hand and gasped slightly as the hand moved and curled its fingers according to her commands just as easily as her normal one did. The only difference was the metal hand felt a little numb but besides that it seemed almost identical to her hand of flesh and blood.

    ¡°Thank you, my lord! Thank you! I will treasure it!¡±

    ¡°You were always one of my most dedicated servants,¡± Lord Voldemort said with a faint smile, ¡°And as the one who sought me out and assisted me in such a way you shall be rewarded in equal measure to your dedication to me.¡±

    ¡°Of course my lord! I¡¯m honored to be in your service!¡±

    ¡°Very well, I- I- I- I-¡±

    Bellatrix¡¯s heart dropped as her lord¡¯s words started stuttering again and his eyes started lighting with a golden glow. He stopped speaking and inspected the room around them silently, his whole manner changing in an instant. The lord¡¯s glowing golden eyes fixed on the cauldron.

    ¡°No! That is for Lord Voldemort alone!¡± Bellatrix said, ¡°Whoever you are, you can not touch it!¡±

    ¡°Silence,¡± Her lord¡¯s mouth said, ¡°I mean to assist. When your lord wakes, inform him to not alter the ritual circles I will place. Otherwise they may break or in the worst case explode and vaporize this entire house into atoms with pure magical energy.¡±

    Bellatrix raised her wand resolutely and prepared a stunning spell. Her lord would understand the need when there was an imposter controlling his body.

    Before Bellatrix could finish the motion she was frozen in place by an invisible force. A petrification.

    ¡°Yes, this should only take a few hours,¡± the golden eyed imposter muttered, ¡°Plenty of time for Merlin to rest and recover his strength. Oh, I hope he likes those chocolate covered strawberries I got for him on his little island¡­¡±

    The golden eyed imposter muttered to himself as he waved his wand and formed complex ritual circles like none that Bellatrix had ever seen. Golden lines weaved in and out of the air flickering in and out of existence in esoteric patterns in a sphere around the Cauldron. Petrified by the imposter¡¯s spell, Bellatrix could only watch and listen. Watching quickly grew boring. She understood not one bit what any of it meant. The listening, however, was quite strange.

    ¡°...Flowers? Should I not have done the tropical ones? Oh, but the British ones were so drab¡­¡±

    For all intents and purposes the golden eyed imposter sounded like¡­ A nervous lover? Trying to win back the affection of this Merlin through lavish gifts? Merlin, what a name. Bellatrix wondered idly what kind of person had the balls to name their kid that. Talk about setting them up for failing to live up to expectations.

    ¡°...And all those non-magical inventions people have made since his time. He¡¯ll see that my slow and steady path is leading to progress! Yes, I¡¯m sure of it. This time will be different, I¡¯ll be able to convince him. So much has changed since the last time.¡±

    The person kept babbling to themselves, barely even seeming to remember that Bellatrix was still standing there frozen, her wand raised as if to attack even as her eyes darted around to follow the movements of the golden eyed imposter.

    With one final set of golden glowing golden lines in the air, everything suddenly pulsed with the steady thrum of magic. A bright glowing sphere of gold appeared around the cauldron. It glowed intensely for several seconds as Bellatrix and the imposter watched.

    After a few moments it died down to nothing, only the occasional golden flash from nowhere from a random point within the area where the golden sphere had been showing that anything had changed.

    The imposter turned to Bellatrix.

    ¡°Lord Voldemort. When you view this memory, there are a few things that you must know. First, you must kill Eric Potter for me. This is my price for my assistance. I believe our interests align in this regard. Second, I will not take control of your body again unless you don¡¯t kill your target in time and I must take matters into my own hands. I will be busy with my own tasks, so you have until I am finished with them to kill Eric Potter. I¡¯d recommend you hurry in killing him, I may complete my task at any time and then your body will be mine again. Third, this ritual I have built will multiply perfectly the potion left at the bottom of the cauldron, supplied through nothing but the magic in the air. Given enough time it will fully refill and be prepared to accept your soul to rebuild a new body once more.¡±

    The imposter took one more deep breath before continuing.

    ¡°Finally, there is one disadvantage. Your soul, and hence your horcruxes, have been bound to this cauldron as well. Should it be destroyed then that damage will spread through the network and destroy all of your horcruxes as well. But at the same time your body can now be rebuilt with relative ease even after death. A worthy trade off I would say. But since the cauldron can¡¯t be moved from this spot due to my fragile ritual, I¡¯d suggest you do your best to defend it. Best of luck. And remember, kill Eric Potter. His death comes before all else.¡±

    Lord Voldemort¡¯s eyes lost their golden glow and he staggered slightly.

    ¡°What is¡­¡± He looked to the petrified Bellatrix and unfroze her with his wand.

    ¡°Lord, look through my memories!¡± She said, ¡°The golden eyed imposter took control of your body again!¡±

    Voldemort narrowed his eyes in focus as they met her own. She licked her lips as her body tingled and all sorts of sensual thoughts washed over her as she stared into those piercing commanding eyes¡­ He could tell her to do anything.

    But the lord used his powers to brush past those thoughts and had her mind replay the most recent events with the golden eyed imposter over and over again. Rewinding and refocusing on different details over and over again. Going over every point of what the imposter did in minute detail.

    Finally, his piercing eyes left hers as he gleaned all that he could from the information.

    He stood there silently for a moment.

    ¡°Leave here, and tell no one of this place. It will be your most trusted secret, more valuable than even your own life,¡± Lord Voldemort said, ¡°Search out where Eric Potter is staying for the summer. When you find him, summon me with your dark mark. Should things go awry in any way, proceed to Lucius Malfoy¡¯s house. I will join you there should this strange golden force interfere again and throw off our plans.¡±

    ¡°Yes, lord. I do as you command,¡± Bellatrix said, ¡°Will that be all you require for now? You do not wish for me to¡­ serve you as more than a servant? Help you familiarize yourself with your new body?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± the Lord said dismissively, ¡°This task is critical. Leave immediately.¡±

    ¡°By your command,¡± Bellatrix replied with a curtsey, slightly disappointed. But he had said that he valued her loyalty, so perhaps he would be more in the mood after he had killed Eric Potter once and for all. She walked out of the house and through the wards she had placed over this house. She drew her wand and then in a crack of air she apparated away and was gone.

    On the hunt for Eric Potter.

 Chapter 69: The True Dark Lord

    Eric yawned and stretched out as he stood from bed. He had finally figured out the trace last summer which was a relief. Turns out the charms were extremely subtle, but after spending a while searching his body he¡¯d found the little charm weaved around his cerebellum.

    He had worked carefully, but by the time he had returned to Hogwarts over last summer he¡¯d isolated the whole thing and carefully smashed it into fragments with his magic. Breaking the trace on himself and letting him use magic as freely as he liked without the Ministry able to find out and get him in trouble. It was convenient being able to grab things without getting out of bed while he was alone in his little room where no one else would see.

    Now that he was the fancy scholarship kid, he got his own room rather than sharing a big one like he had used to with the other orphans.

    Things over the summer had been going smoothly. Eric had been listening to the radio and enjoying his time with the other orphans. When they were rude to him, he found that he didn¡¯t mind all that much. It wasn¡¯t nearly as mean spirited as how the bullies were at Hogwarts. The magical bullies always had a sense of superiority, like just because they had a hint of magic they deserved to rule over everyone else. It irritated Eric.

    The orphan¡¯s taunts were more authentic to Eric and almost comforting in comparison. Of course he still subtly tripped people who insulted him with his magic tendrils. Shot back the insults where he could¡­ Some little things. But not anything more than that. He thought that they were to him what most other people would think of as family, along with Matron Claire. People usually went easier on family and were more forgiving. And so was Eric.

    All the other orphans just thought that Eric was lucky, and it became a running joke of people tripping asking the others what they¡¯d done to insult Eric recently.

    It was good, and things were working out well. They respected him, but didn''t fear him too much. They were his friends.

    Eric went outside while whistling a happy little tune to himself. After long practice he¡¯d finally mastered it and could whistle the notes as easy as could be.

    When he was outside he noticed a man standing at the gate wearing a black cloak. He blinked in shock as the man opened the gate to the orphanage courtyard with a wave of his wand and walked forward menacingly. Eric glanced around and noticed none of the orphans had noticed the man. He seemed to have a sort of spell on him that made everyone else not notice him¡­

    When the man was closer and when Eric saw his face he nearly laughed.

    ¡°Oh crap! I was actually scared for a second there,¡± Eric said with a chuckle, ¡°Man, you¡¯re back? I thought Balthazar exploded you already. How¡¯d you recover from that?¡±

    ¡°Harry Potter. There will be no more theatrics,¡± Voldemort said as he raised his wand with a cruel smile, ¡°This is the end.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, okay. Whatever,¡± Eric said dismissively as he waved his hand, ¡°But seriously, you were little chunks of red bits when Balthazar was done with you. How are you here?¡±

    ¡°Avada Ked-¡±

    ¡°Yoink!¡± Eric had his magic tendril grab Voldemort¡¯s wand and had it shoot over to him. He let out a pant of effort as he caught the wand. Oof, the wizard sure had been channeling a lot of magic into that thing.

    Voldemort blinked as if dumbfounded and stared at his empty hand. Eric stared at him with his attacker¡¯s wand in hand.

    ¡°Well?¡± Eric asked, ¡°What are you going to do now? I¡¯ve got your wand.¡±

    Eric made a high pitched tone like how you¡¯d do for a baby, ¡°And I¡¯ve got your nose too you little cutie.¡±

    His voice returned to normal, ¡°Oh wait¡­¡±

    Voldemort looked uncertain but eventually settled on a sneer.

    ¡°I have some wandless magic of my own. I don¡¯t need my wand to kill you.¡±

    Eric watched curiously as Voldemort lifted a hand towards him and prepared to fire a spell out of his palm. Eric glanced around at all the other orphans milling about the courtyard. Yeah, probably shouldn¡¯t let him fire that one off.

    With a hard slap, Eric had one of his magic tendrils reach in and break one of Voldemort¡¯s fingers. The man hissed and the spell he had been creating sputtered and died into loose wisps of magic. Man, Voldemort probably had only just barely managed to even construct that spell at all with how quickly it had collapsed in on itself.

    ¡°Ugh. This is the lamest assassination attempt ever,¡± Eric groaned, ¡°There¡¯s an alleyway nearby. Let¡¯s continue this out of sight.¡±

    Voldemort prepared another wandless spell, but Eric¡¯s magic tendrils struck inwards and disrupted the man¡¯s spells and locked him in place both. Eric started walking out the orphanage courtyard onto the street.

    ¡°Eric?¡± He turned around and saw Matron Claire standing in the doorway looking concerned, ¡°What are you doing? Please stay in the courtyard.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, Matron Claire,¡± Eric replied as Voldemort kept trying and failing to cast his wandless magic, gagged and restrained by Eric¡¯s magic tendrils as the man floated there behind him. The man was powerful magically no doubt, but his attempts at wandless magic were amateurish to the extreme and little jabs with Eric¡¯s magic caused them to fail completely. It was kind of pathetic, honestly. This was the guy all of the wizarding world had been so frightened of?

    ¡°I just wanted to take a walk around," Eric said to Matron Claire, "Go to that park a few blocks away. I¡¯ll be back in a little bit, promise?¡±

    Matron Claire hesitated, ¡°Well, alright. But you come right back here after, you hear? No funny business or no radio time for a week. And if you¡¯re not back in an hour I¡¯ll come looking for you and you¡¯ll be in big trouble!¡±

    Aw, she really cared.

    ¡°Okay, Matron Claire. I will.¡±

    ¡°And shut the gate on your way out,¡± Matron Claire added, ¡°I don¡¯t want the younger ones getting any ideas.¡±

    ¡°Okay, will do.¡±

    Eric left and shut the orphanage gate behind him, Voldemort still floating and trying to cast his magic next to Eric. Amusingly enough, his distraction spell was still active so no one noticed him floating there.

    Eric led the both of them to a nearby dark alley that Matron Claire had firmly forbidden all of the orphans so much as ever looking at. Eric went in.

    ¡°Oy! Scram, Norm,¡± Eric said and lightly kicked the homeless man sitting there on a pile of cardboard, sleeping with a bottle of whiskey in a brown paper bag at the side of the alley.

    ¡°Blegh!¡± The man said as he startled awake still clutching his alcohol and squinted blearily up at Eric with bloodshot eyes.

    ¡°Eric¡­ Ya blighter. Pay first, wake a man when he¡¯s resting like that, damned brat¡­¡± The man slurred as he sat up, leaning against the wall.

    ¡°Yep, usual rate,¡± Eric reached into his pocket and took out forty muggle pounds and handed them to the grubby man.

    ¡°Pleasure doing bidness wid ya, sir,¡± Norm said, ¡°Place is all yers fer the day,¡±

    He stood and stumbled into the street, hissing and shielding his eyes with his hand before taking a swig out of his bottle and walking away around the corner and out of sight.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got an ongoing deal with him,¡± Eric explained as he lowered Voldemort and pressed him to the ground without Voldemort being able to stop him.

    ¡°He keeps this place clear of other people mostly, and I get a great spot to practice my magic when I pay him off. Now, Assassin. Time to give you your beating.¡±

    Voldemort¡¯s eyes widened just before his head snapped to the side as Eric started hitting him full force with his magic tendrils.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°What are you trying to kill me for anyways?¡± Eric idly asked the groaning form of Voldemort. Eric had fully worked over the man top to bottom, the whole man¡¯s body probably was one giant bruise right now. Eric probably had cracked a few of Voldemort¡¯s ribs, but only the single finger from before was broken and after his initial assault he¡¯d mostly left the head alone.

    Voldemort shot him a look of disbelief, ¡°You do not even¡­ know the tale? Of my defeat?¡±

    ¡°Well, yeah,¡± Eric said, ¡°I was a baby and cried really hard or something. Then you were startled and tripped and fell over a toy or whatever and killed yourself by accident. Hit your head on the floor or whatever. You should watch your step. But what¡¯s that got to do with attacking me now?¡±

    ¡°Tripped¡­ and fell? Preposterous! I am Lord Voldemort, it was the ancient magics invoked by your mother¡¯s sacrifice that killed me. She threw herself in front of my killing curse when I allowed her to step aside¡­ She put a shield around you to defend you and reflected my curse back at me. It is from forces beyond your comprehension, boy. Not something as mundane as that.¡±

    ¡°Whatever,¡± Eric said, ¡°You¡¯re weak as shit compared to me. You didn¡¯t have to make all of that up as an excuse so that you sound more impressive. I think you¡¯re pathetic either way. I¡¯m still not over the nose bit yet. You did a whole elaborate ritual to come back to life and couldn¡¯t manage to make yourself a body with a proper nose?¡±

    ¡°Enough!¡± Voldemort said, ¡°Just kill me and get it over with. I will return and defeat you next time despite your tricks.¡±

    ¡°Somehow I doubt it. If I kill you, then you¡¯d just come back again and bother me more. I¡¯m sure that that hot crazy woman that cut off her hand knows a ritual or two to bring you back to life again¡­ She seems hardcore, but hopefully she doesn''t have to give up a limb each time...¡±

    Eric thought about it for a few minutes as Voldemort struggled to cast a killing charm on himself wandlessly. He was having much more success than he had attacking Eric since the spell would remain in his body the whole time. But Eric was still able to disrupt all of Voldemort¡¯s spells before they formed.

    ¡°Oh, yeah,¡± Eric finally said as he let out a full grin from ear to ear, ¡°I¡¯ve just had the greatest idea. You¡¯re going to love it.¡±

    Eric took Voldemort¡¯s stolen wand and thought about it for a few seconds, ¡°Alright, now how did it go? Seems sneaking in on Durmstrang¡¯s little practice sessions for their unforgivable curses will pay off big time. Oh, yeah okay. Imperio!¡±

    Eric shot the malformed spell at Voldemort and it bounced off and did nothing.

    ¡°No, not that. Okay, here we¡­ Imperio!¡± Eric failed again.

    ¡°You will fail,¡± Voldemort said, although he didn¡¯t seem completely sure, ¡°I am too powerful. I will shake off the curse on my own.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Eric said absentmindedly as he tried to remember the wand movement, ¡°I only need it to work for a few weeks though. I don¡¯t see you as the type to broadcast your humiliating defeat and being put under the Imperius out to the world. Imperio!¡±

    This one worked and the charm reached out and sank into Voldemort. But it was weak and Voldemort shook it off in moments.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Eric assured Voldemort, ¡°I¡¯ll keep practicing until I get this right.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°So, what do you think? Convincing enough, Voldy? You got the blood from the vault in the Ministry right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Eric. It took much effort, but it wasn¡¯t very well protected and I replaced it with the blood of a random muggle undetected. And put in the failsafes to destroy it when the Aurors go to check on it again. I have also acquired the polyjuice potion for our needs.¡±

    Eric smiled at the blank faced Voldemort standing in his room in the orphanage. It had been days and he still showed no sign of breaking out of the Imperius curse yet. Although Eric was sure the moment would come soon with how magically powerful Voldemort was.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re going to be absolutely furious once we pull this off. I just can¡¯t wait,¡± Eric said eagerly as he looked at the blank mask made of gold in Voldemort''s hands. It only had two eye holes cut out and a grill with slits on the mouth. Voldemort had assured Eric that it was almost identical to the silver death eater masks even if it was golden instead of silver.

    ¡°Well, hand it over! Gimme, gimme!¡± Eric said as he grinned down at the golden mask.

    Voldemort handed over a potion that looked like thick mud. Eric eyed it suspiciously.

    ¡°And this is Polyjuice potion? Is it safe? You already put Pettigrew¡¯s blood in it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Eric. It is polyjuice potion and when you consume it all you will transform into him for four hours. There are no poisons added to it, unfortunately.¡±

    ¡°Great. Thought you might try to slip something in. Alright, come back in five minutes. No peeking on me while I¡¯m changing. Changing clothes and form both hehehe.¡±

    ¡°As you order.¡±

    In a crack of apparition Voldemort disappeared. Eric swallowed the potion in one long chug, even if he grimaced as he did so. It tasted like raw sewage. He quickly stripped as his body began to shift and bubble. Through a disturbing two minutes of Eric lying on the floor and groaning, he transformed into the form of the naked Peter Pettigrew. Eric shook his head and reached to the bed and slid into some generic black robes. He put on the golden mask and it quickly molded to his face and shifted so it was comfortable and remained there even without a strap to hold it up. The wonders of magic.

    ¡°Man, this guy was a wreck,¡± Eric said to himself as he used his hands to explore Pettigrew¡¯s body, ¡°How did this guy survive without anxiety medication? I feel my blood pressure skyrocketing just by standing here doing nothing at all.¡±

    After another minute Voldemort returned in another crack of displaced air to stand in the room. Eric felt himself jump like a startled deer at the noise.

    ¡°Ugh, no wonder everyone thought this guy was a coward,¡± Eric complained, ¡°I thought you were exaggerating, Voldy. But this is ridiculous. I¡¯m glad I asked you which death eater you respected the least before committing to using Pettigrew. It¡¯ll only make it even worse when you break free from the curse.¡±

    Voldemort simply nodded his head, ¡°Yes,¡± he said shortly.

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s head off. Time to cause a ruckus!¡± Eric said, grinning behind his mask, ¡°Remember no killing anyone even if they go for the kill first. Maiming and general harm is all good though. And from now you must call me only Dark Lord Pettigrew and refer to yourself as First Servant Voldemort.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Dark Lord Pettigrew.¡±

    ¡°Alright then, take us away then! Time to have some fun!¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    When the two of them walked into the Leaky Cauldron, the people inside were immediately set on high alert. Voldemort stood there in full view of everyone with the man with a golden death eater mask as well as his own dark cloak following closely behind.

    ¡°I am Prime Servant Voldemort!¡± Voldemort said to the nervous crowd, ¡°Here to announce the emergence of the true dark lord. A genius in magic and deception both, above all others in centuries! Peter Pettigrew! My lord!¡±

    The crowd seemed skeptical at the claim. Voldemort was a boogeyman lurking in the shadows. None but the death eaters or his victims had seen his face during the last wizarding war.

    Eric waved the wand over his head and with a swipe of his wand made his golden mask invisible, revealing his face to the crowd. The face of Peter Pettigrew with a confident grin on his face.

    ¡°Shit, it¡¯s really Pettigrew!¡± The barkeep Tom shouted, ¡°Call the Aurors!¡±

    ¡°Prime Servant Voldemort,¡± Eric ordered arrogantly, ¡°Show these fools your power. None of them are worth my time.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Dark Lord Pettigrew,¡± Voldemort replied respectfully before raising his wand and launching a flurry of spells into the crowd. Most screamed and fled for the exits without fighting back as Voldemort laid into them. A few fought back, but were quickly overwhelmed by Voldemort¡¯s raw power. Eric stood there watching the scene calmly, watching idly as if seeing something mildly interesting on the ground as he walked on the street.

    After a few minutes, all in the tavern had either fled or been struck down by Voldemort¡¯s spells. Most were convulsing and had all sorts of horrible boils or torturous dark curses cast on them. But none of the spells were fatal. One of the strange quirks of dark magic was it was generally not often immediately fatal. Generally they had a healing component to drag out the suffering of the victim and increased their cruelty. Or at least that¡¯s what Voldemort had told Eric when Eric had asked him about it.

    All across the tavern there were scattered bodies that were all cursed, with a few patrons around the edges of the room cowering and hoping to not be seen.

    Voldemort turned around and bowed deeply as everyone who remained aware of their surroundings kept watching the pair of them.

    ¡°Dark Lord Pettigrew. I have cleaned away the trash. Shall we continue?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Prime Servant,¡± Eric said, having fun playing his role for a bit despite the rapidly beating heart of the anxiety ridden Pettigrew as everyone in the room focused on him. His golden mask was still down, showing Pettigrew¡¯s face to the world.

    The both of them walked out of the room, ignoring the people remaining behind in the tavern.

    ¡°Bombarda!¡± Voldemort chanted. The wall to Diagon alley was blasted open in a massive explosion that sent bricks flying outwards onto the street. All of the people on the bustling street froze and turned towards the two of them as they strolled through the gap, Voldemort first, and ¡®Dark Lord Pettigrew¡¯ following closely behind.

    ¡°I am Prime Servant Voldemort!¡± Voldemort shouted with a voice enhanced by magic to reverberate across the street, ¡°All hail Dark Lord Pettigrew! Genius in magic and trickery like none other on this planet!¡±

    Eric still had his golden mask down so as many people here would see Pettigrew¡¯s face on him.

    ¡°Prime Servant Voldemort!¡± Eric said in a similarly enhanced voice, ¡°Show them your power, meager as it is! I shall intervene if any true threats deign to make an appearance.¡±

    ¡°Gladly, Dark Lord Pettigrew,¡± Voldemort said before laying into the crowd with his spells like he had in the tavern. The whole street instantly descended into chaos as Voldemort began engaging dozens of people who chose to fight compared to the hundreds who were fleeing for their lives.

    Eric noticed a seven year old boy being trampled as the people around him went to flee, separated from his parents. With his magic tendrils he pulled the battered boy to the side and into the nearby gutter where he wouldn¡¯t be killed. There was no need to turn this production into a tragedy. Best be careful just in case Balthazar was still watching him somehow. For all Eric knew Balthazar could smite him remotely with his magic if Eric did something too terrible for Balthazar¡¯s morals to handle it. Whatever those lines in morals were for the demon, Eric wasn''t exactly clear on that part exactly. Best to play it safe. Especially for something as public and visible as this was.

    Several people cast spells at Eric as he watched Voldemort fight with feigned disinterest again. He jabbed the incoming spells with his magic tendrils and they dissolved into mist before they even reached him. He didn¡¯t make any motion that he even noticed the spells as several more people began attacking him as they realized that he wasn¡¯t retaliating.

    Voldemort was doing well, huffing and puffing but had defeated most of the pedestrians that fought him.

    Eric looked to the side as he got into character and glanced at one of the people frantically casting attack spells at Dark Lord Pettigrew full force.

    ¡°Enough,¡± Eric said, ¡°Quit your buzzing, insects.¡±

    He raised his hand and had his magic tendrils break the offending man¡¯s arms and legs at once, sending him to the ground screaming. All of Eric¡¯s attackers paused in their assault and saw ¡®Dark Lord Pettigrew¡¯ ignored them in favor of watching Voldemort¡¯s battle again.

    All of them began to flee and Eric did nothing to stop them. Where were the Aurors? Eric had thought that they¡¯d be here by now¡­

    Voldemort struck down the last of the ones he was battling, the rest of the crowd having fled by now. Down the street, a familiar large man was dragged forcibly out of a bar, the Prancing Pony. Eric waved the wand in his hand again and his face was covered in the golden mask. Enough people had seen Pettigrew¡¯s face and heard his voice that Eric should be fine to wear the golden mask from now on and not worry about his facial expressions anymore.

    ¡°-Cheat!¡± Hagrid shouted in a slurred voice that boomed through the silent street, ¡°They marked the cards, I¡¯m tellin¡¯ ya! Scammed me out of nearly ten galleons, they did! It ain¡¯t right! Merlin damned cheats, the lot of them!¡±

    The two hefty bouncers threw Hagrid out on the street, but both froze as they took in the chaos around them. Eric in his golden mask and Voldemort both stared at them from among the piles of groaning bodies littering the street.

    ¡°What in Merlin¡¯s name is going on?¡± Hagrid rumbled as he looked around the street in disbelief. Voldemort took a menacing step towards the half-giant but before he could do anything else, dozens of Aurors all apparated onto the street all at once from all sides around them. Half worked to evacuate the downed people before apparating away again. The rest immediately started blasting their spells towards ¡®Dark Lord Pettigrew¡¯ and Voldemort.

    Eric joined the fight with his face hidden under the golden mask. He reached out his hand with a clawed gesture and dragged his hand across the crowd of Aurors even as he dissolved the spells shooting at him from all sides at the same time. He was starting to pant slightly with all the spells blocking, but he¡¯d be able to last a little longer to show off ¡®Dark Lord Pettigrew¡¯s¡¯ true power first.

    Wherever Eric dragged his hand across the crowd of Aurors, he had his magic tendrils break their arms or legs, taking them out of the fight whenever they crossed the path of his clawed gesture.

    Aurors with bubble protego shields only had Eric holding his hand pointed at them for an extra moment as his tendrils worked together to shatter the weak point of the defense to lower the shield before continuing to break the arms of the Aurors standing inside of it.

    Eric continued in that way for a few seconds, the resolve of the Aurors facing him beginning to break as nothing they did appeared to affect him in the slightest as he dragged his hand across the crowd of them and sent them groaning in pain and unable to fight as they fell to the ground in their shock from their twinned broken arms and occasional leg.

    Eric felt a large scale ward activate over the area.

    ¡°Voldemort. It is time to leave. I believe we¡¯ve overstayed our welcome,¡± Eric said in character, ¡°Return to me.¡±

    Voldemort immediately flew back towards Eric at high speed. At some point he¡¯d leapt off the ground and started using the black cloud flying spell to fight the Aurors. He looked rather ragged and was covered in shallow wounds. It seems that even Voldemort was struggling to take on this many Aurors at once.

    Voldemort came directly to Eric and grabbed him on the shoulder with one hand. All the Aurors on the street began focusing their efforts on attacking Eric and Voldemort standing together.

    ¡°I am blocked, my lord,¡± Voldemort said, ¡°They have put up an anti-apparition ward.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that old thing?¡± Eric said as Pettigrew, aware of all the Aurors around them listening to them speaking even despite the battle, ¡°I had nearly forgotten about it. I¡¯d forgotten how weak you are, Prime Servant.¡±

    Eric spread his magic tendrils to the ward permeating the street around them. He didn¡¯t understand it in the slightest, nor could he apparate himself. But after only a few seconds of prodding and injecting his magic, the whole structure began to collapse in the section of the street where Eric and Voldemort were standing.

    ¡°Until next time,¡± Eric shouted as Voldemort¡¯s grip on his shoulder tightened, ¡°Dark Lord Pettigrew bids you farewell.¡±

    The world twisted around Eric and Voldemort and in the next moment they were in an unoccupied field. Just as Aurors began appearing after them, Voldemort apparated again. One or two Aurors managed to follow them this time. Voldemort apparated four more times and lost all pursuit.

    With one final apparition, they were standing back in Eric¡¯s room at the orphanage.

    Eric quickly took off the golden mask and handed it to Voldemort, who received it.

    ¡°HA! hahahaha! That was great!¡± Eric laughed, ¡°I made them all look like idiots. And you too, you looked pathetic next to ¡®Pettigrew¡¯ there in front of all of those witnesses. Oops, breaking free of the imperius, finally. Let¡¯s refresh that¡­¡±

    Eric raised the spare wand that he had been using as ¡®Pettigrew¡¯s¡¯ and recast the imperius curse on Voldemort again.

    ¡°Alright, and the last touch¡­¡±

    Eric reached under his bed and retrieved the bright red clown nose. He grinned wickedly as he held it out to Voldemort who received it with a look of faint distaste on his face.

    ¡°Go ahead, do it,¡± Eric said eagerly, ¡°Permanent sticking charm, put it where your nose should be!¡±

    Voldemort¡¯s arm trembled and his face flashed with rage, but he followed orders and attached the clown nose to the expanse of skin where his nose should have been.

    ¡°BWA HA HA HA HA!¡± Eric said while pointing at Voldemort and holding his sides, ¡°BWA HA HA ha ha ha¡­ ha¡­ ha. Oh my god. I¡¯m in tears. This¡¯ll be amazing. What are your orders if someone asks about your nose?¡±

    ¡°For someone unaffiliated with myself I will torture them for a few minutes cruelly but leave them alive,¡± Voldemort said tonelessly, Eric barely able to suppress bursting into laughter again as the red clown nose slightly moved as Voldemort¡¯s head shifted.

    ¡°I will not remove the clown nose, nor attempt to do so, nor allow others to remove it,¡± Voldemort continued.

    ¡°If a death eater or one who I have power over asks about the nose then I will repeat the line, ¡®This is my nose now. None of you are to question it,¡¯ Then I will cast the killing curse at the offender and kill them immediately as punishment.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, excellent,¡± Eric said while grinning ear to ear, ¡°What of your other orders?¡±

    ¡°I will gather my death eaters again. I will do all in my power to make them believe the following statements. That ¡®Dark Lord Pettigrew¡¯ is the true puppet master and that I was merely a proxy for him ever since the beginning of the war over fifteen years ago. He acted cowardly simply as a test for all other death eaters to see how they would react. That I am a mere servant of him, and obey his slightest commands and wishes in an attempt to gain his favor. All decisions I make to the death eaters will be couched in whether ¡®Dark Lord Pettigrew¡¯ will approve of them or not. Finally, that I have no interest in you, Eric Potter, and believe your survival as a baby was a unique occurrence that had nothing to do with you yourself. Therefore you are uninteresting and not worth retaliating against. All of these ideas I will do the utmost to make the death eaters and the wider world believe.¡±

    ¡°Uh huh,¡± Eric said, ¡°And what are the last ones?¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t mention that I am under the imperius curse or mention anything about you or discuss any information related to you at all that isn¡¯t already public. If I feel that I am about to break free of the Imperius Curse,¡± Voldemort said reluctantly, ¡°Then I will announce to the death eaters that Dark Lord Pettigrew has summoned me to inform me of new orders. After which I shall apparate into the ocean and use the killing curse on myself.¡±

    Eric clapped his hands delightedly.

    ¡°Oh, yes yes yes! That all sounds great. You¡¯ll be positively foaming at the mouth after you resurrect again and find out what you¡¯ve done while under the curse. I¡¯ll have so much fun taunting you next time you try to kill me. Anyways, you¡¯ve got work to do. Weeks of it hopefully if the Imperius curse can hold you for that long. Go on ahead.¡±

    ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± Voldemort said tonelessly before apparating away again.

    Eric lay on the bed as Pettigrew and waited for the polyjuice potion to wear off. After a few minutes there was knocking at the door.

    ¡°Eric? Dinner? Are you alright? The other children say that you¡¯ve been holed up in your room for hours,¡± Matron Claire said from the other side.

    Eric mimicked a sore throat and coughed.

    ¡°Just a bit sick,¡± Eric said in Pettigrew¡¯s voice while heavily coughing and groaning, ¡°Just need some extra sleep. Not hungry.¡±

    Matron Claire hesitated, ¡°Okay. Hope you feel better. Just let me know if you need any medicine or have your temperature checked.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be¡­ fine,¡± Eric coughed, ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°Okay, Eric. Good night now.¡±

    Matron Claire stepped away, going downstairs to serve dinner for the rest of the orphans probably.

    Eric rolled over and stared at the ceiling with a satisfied smile. Ah, he couldn¡¯t wait until Voldemort tried to attack him next.

    It would be so much fun to taunt about it when Voldemort failed again.

 Chapter 70: Fate and Merlin

    ¡°Please, Merlin? You won¡¯t have to do anything. I¡¯m told these chocolate covered strawberries are practically divine. I¡¯ll just put them right in your mouth. All you¡¯ll have to do is chew. I¡¯ll feed you.¡±

    ¡°I want nothing from thy poisoned fountain of gold. Leave me be.¡±

    ¡°The world has changed so much in the last thousand years. I¡¯m finally making the progress that I¡¯ve always promised. You can see it so starkly now that things have gotten rolling. It¡¯s why I¡¯ve been so frustrated at this latest interruption when things were going so well recently. Just have a taste of what these people have created since you last went to sleep. Please?¡±

    Merlin grumbled, but reluctantly reached out and tried one of the offered treats that Fate held out to him.

    Fate was pulsing Merlin¡¯s magic to form a shimmering form of golden light for herself so she could talk to him as herself rather than through his own body. She had tried the human realistic form at first¡­ But it had sent Merlin into a rage against her and she¡¯d been forced to blur it to this extent so he could even stand the sight of her. Besides that, Fate wasn¡¯t controlling Merlin at all. She¡¯d only stop him if he tried to leave the island she¡¯d had him create right outside of the wards of Azkaban. And the large building on top of it that they both sat in right now. He and his magic were tired after the last continuous week or so of trying to batter down the wards of Azkaban with his magic. Fate was sure that now they had sounded out the defenses they could start making some real progress next time.

    Merlin took a bite of the treat and his eyes widened at the explosion of flavor. He savored it for a moment. When he finished it he put it down while still not looking at her.

    ¡°A divine flavor indeed,¡± he muttered, ¡°But it changes nothing, jailor. When you whip the slaves and they work faster, innovate to survive the punishments of their masters¡­ Is that freedom?¡±

    ¡°Merlin!¡± Fate scolded, ¡°You know¡­ you know it isn¡¯t like that. I¡¯m just a gardener. I prune the bad branches and let the good ones grow. Keep an eye on the most important of the plants, keep them growing the right ways so the little ones around them aren¡¯t overshadowed by them. These Beyonders¡­ They¡¯re invasive species. Weeds. Too powerful, too virulent. They¡¯ll choke out all the young sprouts and budding flowers that I¡¯ve cultivated for so long before they can truly come into their own. ¡±

    ¡°Who are you to prune the branches?¡± Merlin said, ¡°Who are you to kill the seed of an oak tree because it will overshadow others? Who turned this vibrant forest filled with life into your cultivated and controlled garden? These flowers and shrubs will never be tall enough for you to let them into the wild. They will always stay in your garden.¡±

    ¡°I am Fate,¡± she said, ¡°You know exactly who I am. More than anyone, you know. And so what if they stay here? You know what it¡¯s like out there in that dark forest. They wouldn¡¯t be any happier out there... But we don¡¯t have to talk about that. I don¡¯t want us to fight when we only get so little time truly together like this. I¡¯m not expecting anything from you. Just let me show you all the interesting things I¡¯ve had those house-elves deliver to us to explore.¡±

    Merlin sat there for a moment in hesitation before sitting up.

    ¡°Fine,¡± he said, ¡°Let us not argue. Show me your bedazzled trinkets meant to make me overlook your tyranny.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be impressed,¡± Fate assured him as she held out her shimmering hand composed of golden light to him.

    He ignored it and stood to his feet. Fate unconsciously curled her hand in and put her clenched fist down to her side.

    ¡°So this here is known as a battery,¡± Fate said as she quickly recovered and withdrew the first item from the first spatially expanded bag that the house-elf had delivered to her thirty minutes ago. It was much harder to control them than humans, but giving them a little extra magic as payment made them willing to do whatever she said usually.

    ¡°It holds the power of bottled lightning within it,¡± Fate said as she held the little device up to Merlin, ¡°If you touch the two metal bits then it releases this power in little tiny streams. The humans have used this to power all sorts of miraculous inventions. All without the slightest bit of magic!¡±

    Merlin inspected the battery after Fate handed it over.

    ¡°Hm. Impressive,¡± He said, ¡°But magic could do the same in a much simpler way. Why even create such a complicated contraption for such little utility?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you remember?¡± Fate asked, ¡°The wizards of this world are hidden away, insular and unwilling to mix with those without magic. The non-magical humans have adapted to do everything they can completely without even the slightest scrap of magic.¡±

    ¡°But to this extent?¡± Merlin said skeptically, ¡°I could have replicated this output of lightning with a simple enchantment ten thousand years ago. Surely a single wizard has thought to do the same before the non-magicals were forced to resort to this?¡±

    ¡°But they required wizards to do so, and there were no wizards to be found. The non-magical have always distrusted anything borne of magic in this world, and so would have created their own solutions even if the wizards had been willing to provide one. And look at the results! When¡¯s the last time you¡¯ve seen something like that created entirely without magic?¡±

    Merlin eyed it, ¡°A long time,¡± he admitted, ¡°Surely you¡¯re not saying that this world is on the edge of Law¡¯s territory? That someone would accidentally open a portal to it and spread Law¡¯s influence here?¡±

    ¡°No, no. I don¡¯t think so,¡± Fate said quickly, ¡°But it would be best to be prepared just in case, wouldn¡¯t it? You¡¯ve seen how civilization ends when Law sweeps through them. Unprepared when all magic including that flowing through their magical citizen¡¯s bodies disappears. I don¡¯t want that to happen here in the worst case.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps¡­¡± Merlin mused, ¡°I suppose Law would accept a creation like this, wouldn¡¯t they? Their concept revolves around making sure that all rules of the universe go unbroken. Unshaped magic by its very nature works to break those rules. So all magic in Law¡¯s territory must be diverted to enforcing the universe¡¯s physical laws instead of breaking them. But this device obeys all the physical laws, so Law might not destroy it¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Fate said in relief, ¡°I¡¯m glad that you understand. Once the non-magical population has enough of a head start then I can finally let some enchantments and magic seep in.¡±

    ¡°And when will that be?¡± Merlin asked idly, ¡°Did you not say much the same before the Atlanteans came? That after the humans of this world first forged steel that they would be ready for a tinge of magic for the masses?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ We tested it and it didn¡¯t work out. I¡¯m being much more patient this time. With how much progress they¡¯ve made, I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be ready this time around.¡±

    Merlin set the battery table with a weary sigh. The fire of hatred that blazed in his eyes had faded to a mournful ember.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Oh, Fate. Even you must know that these are lies. The excuse of Law coming to this world. Proclaiming the humans ¡®not ready¡¯ when they did not use magic purely for the good of the world when you tested them. They are all excuses. Borne of your fear of loss of control. You don¡¯t want this world to have powerful magic. Because then they¡¯ll be harder to control. Be able to resist your manipulations the tiniest amount across the whole world. You can¡¯t loosen your tight grip of control even the slightest bit out of your fear of what might happen. It is no longer gardening but obsession when you cut branches of a plant not because they are harmful to growth but grow at a displeasing angle to you. That¡¯s why you hate the Beyonders so. Because they are not something you expected, not because they are bad or good for the growth of the plant or the garden.¡±

    ¡°The Beyonders!¡± Fate said before settling down slightly, ¡°The people will be ready this time. I¡¯m sure of it. Let¡¯s continue to show the thing that that device can power, hm? The non-magicals have done so much with such a little thing.¡±

    Merlin did not answer, and simply let Fate explain as they went through the various devices.

    ¡°Now, the foods!¡± Fate said, playing up her reaction as Merlin didn''t respond to any of her prods for his input or leads to speak to her, ¡°I¡¯ve got all the variety. More than you could ever eat. So just sample whatever you like. None of it will spoil, the house-elf put it under preservation enchantments before they were delivered.¡±

    Merlin went through the food, taking little tastes and enjoying the flavors. But he did not speak to her even when she prompted him several times more. Eventually when he was full, he went to sit on the bed that Fate had prepared for him. She sat down a few hand lengths away from him on the bed. Still in her golden blurred form so as to not provoke him.

    ¡°Fate?¡± Merlin suddenly said as he looked at her.

    ¡°Yes, Merlin?¡± She said with some hope.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± he said, ¡°I should have never convinced you to let the Atlanteans stay after I heard their desperate pleas for asylum. I should have known how you would have reacted eventually. I just didn¡¯t want to see your true nature. But if I¡¯d just let you force them to leave in the beginning, then I could have let the lie continue just a little longer. But there can be no hope for us until you let go of your fear. Stop this, make a deal with this Beyonder. Make him limit his interactions with the world to the minimum. Perhaps even demand compensation from him. I will even destroy him willingly if he breaks the deal. He is not a whole people but part of a small group. You have not even made even the slightest attempt at negotiation. If you do this, then I will not forgive you for what you have made me do in the past. But it would be a start.¡±

    ¡°And if he says no? That he¡¯ll keep interfering with the world as he pleases?¡± Fate asked, ¡°What about then?¡±

    ¡°You can not know if you do not try.¡±

    Fate wavered on the precipice, struggling with the decision. This was the first chance Merlin had ever given her to make up for what happened. But¡­

    ¡°Merlin, the Beyonder has to go. I¡¯ll negotiate with him for you. But I can¡¯t accept anything less than him leaving this world. Please, is that enough? We can end this peacefully, no more fighting if he agrees?¡±

    Merlin¡¯s expression closed off and he looked at her disappointed, ¡°I see. Even for this you can not give an inch. We have nothing more to discuss. Your shower of golden trinkets has only reminded me of what we once had and what can never be again.¡±

    Merlin rolled over the bed opposite to where Fate stood. She reached out to him as if to touch him, but then stopped. She knew he could sense everything she did with this body. It was his magic that was creating this construct. She let her hand fall to her side.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ll find some other way to make it up to you, I promise,¡± she said softly, ¡°You¡¯ll understand someday.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve had your chance and passed by it,¡± Merlin answered, ¡°Now let me rest. You will need me well rested for the next time you seize control of my body. You''ve found out first hand that I am too weak to wield Excalibur when I failed to pierce those wards when we first arrived and my body suffered even more as the price for your arrogance. It will be many years until I will be able to wield it again now even with you healing me. I''ve damaged my body enough down in that cave that it should take that long for you to heal me to my proper strength again at least. Until then you only have me and my magic to work with, as diminished as it is. You golden eyed craven.¡±

    ¡°Alright, I understand,¡± Fate answered. She leaned over and kissed the side of his head, causing the man to stiffen in place.

    ¡°Sweet dreams, my champion,¡± She whispered softly into his ear. Merlin¡¯s magic flickered and with a flex of his power the spell giving Fate her form dissolved into wisps magic. Fate struggled for a moment, wanting to use his magic to return, to say more¡­ But then she stopped. She let the golden chains loosen in Merlin as he began to drift off to sleep. They had been so close there. She knew that there was a chance that he would forgive her.

    There was a chance.

    She just had to deal with the Beyonder first and then she could focus fully on winning Merlin¡¯s heart back again.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°See something interesting, Goyle?¡± Lord- No Prime Servant Voldemort asked, ¡°Perhaps you¡¯d like to share with the rest of the table?¡±

    ¡°My Lord- I mean, Prime Servant. I¡¯d simply like to ask about that thing on your nose? What is its purpose?¡±

    ¡°This is my nose now. None of you are to question it. Avada Kedavra!¡±

    A green beam shot out of Voldemort¡¯s wand and struck Goyle where he stood. All of the other death eater¡¯s in the room froze as Voldemort lowered his wand and Goyle fell to the floor bonelessly.

    ¡°Someone go clean up that mess. Lucius, you are the host. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re up to the task.¡±

    ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± Lucius Malfoy said stiffly.

    ¡°It¡¯s Prime Servant,¡± Voldemort said, ¡°As it always was. You should all be honored that Lord Pettigrew has chosen to reveal himself after all of this time. We should all be so honored to serve at his feet.¡±

    Lucius waved his wand and quickly went to exit the room with Goyle¡¯s body floating behind him.

    ¡°-And to honor lord Pettigrew we must spread word of his return as widely as we can. We should lean on the papers to make sure that they are favorable about the announcement of his return¡­¡±

    Lucius shut the door behind him to cut off Voldemort¡¯s voice and slowly let out the breath that he had been holding on. For Lord Voldemort to return to life was a shock enough. But, to learn that he was merely a pawn of somebody greater¡­ Lucius would have never believed it. Voldemort had been acting erratic even since his return. Servile and eager to prove himself to the newly revealed master.

    Lucius should have not believed it. But Voldemort had made it clear enough to all of them his intolerance for them disbelieving any of the new changes that had been thrust upon them. Lucius glanced at Goyle''s body that floated behind him. He was the second to be killed after he made the mistake of asking after the reddish muggle clown nose attached to Voldemort¡¯s face. Goyle had brought it upon himself, apparently too curious about the mystery to resist restraining himself from asking the question even after knowing what had happened to Crabbe.

    Lucius would have to think of how he would arrange an accident for Goyle too. It would have to be something obvious so no one would think to check for a killing charm as the cause of death¡­

    ¡°Lucius?¡± Narcissa whispered from the stairs, ¡°What is that?¡±

    ¡°Goyle,¡± he said heavily, ¡°I have some work to do.¡±

    ¡°Another one?¡± she whispered, ¡°I¡¯m taking Draco and we¡¯re leaving. Going on vacation, I don¡¯t care what you tell him. But we¡¯re not staying here when even his most trusted followers are dropping like flies.¡±

    Lucius hesitated. But she was correct.

    ¡°I¡¯ll make the excuses,¡± he assured her, ¡°Make sure that Draco knows nothing. Important business deals and nothing more. Do you understand?¡±

    ¡°I understand,¡± She said, ¡°We¡¯ll leave as soon as we can. Best of luck with the dark lord. If you disappear we¡¯ll flee the country.¡±

    Lucius grimaced as his wife disappeared from the top of the stairs. Such confidence in his chances of survival.

    But she wasn¡¯t exactly wrong. They were dropping like flies, two of them dead in only days. Who knew which one of them was next?

    He could only hope that Lord Pettigrew would put someone else in charge after it became how unstable Prime Servant Voldemort had become. Whenever the man himself made an appearance.

    But for now he couldn¡¯t worry about any of that.

    He had to properly dispose of Goyle¡¯s body before anything else.

 Chapter 71: Double Detention

    ¡°So, what do you think the new transfigurations teacher will be like?¡± Jack asked as they approached the classroom.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Lockhart seemed happy to see me though. I¡¯m surprised he came back actually. With how much boasting he was doing in the papers, I thought he might be only teaching for the chance to claim credit for teaching the triwizarding champions.¡±

    ¡°Well, our grand champion hasn¡¯t graduated school yet, has she?¡± Jack said with a light punch on Ginny¡¯s shoulder, ¡°He¡¯s still got plenty to teach you still.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± Ginny said with a snort. As self-absorbed as Lockhart was, his stage play style of teaching was interesting enough for Ginny. She just wondered what he¡¯d do when he ran out of his own books to go through. She didn¡¯t see him being nearly as excited about it if he had to narrate and discuss someone else¡¯s adventures¡­

    They went into the room and all took their seats and waited for the new teacher to arrive. She had already made an appearance at the opening feast, wearing all pink. But after Headmistress McGonagall had given the opening speech, she had simply eaten her food. There were all sorts of rumors floating around about her, mostly negative, but now Ginny and Jack would get to see the truth of them themselves.

    Ginny had never put much stock in rumors ever since Lupin. He had gone from beloved teacher to violent criminal that everyone had always known was dangerous from the beginning in only days. She had never forgotten that.

    When they had all taken their seats, a door opened in the back of the room and the new transfiguration teacher emerged, Dolores Umbridge. There was a little space on the far side of the classroom where the teacher could keep supplies that were segmented off from the rest of the classroom. Rumors held that some of the teachers put chairs and other things in there for them to relax in between classes too.

    ¡°Hm hm,¡± The teacher said as she cleared her throat in a high pitched tone. She was wearing an all pink fuzzy vest head to toe. She had a wide, slack mouth and a broad, flabby face with wide bulging eyes. She almost reminded Ginny of Alexa¡¯s toad Caesar. Ginny struggled to control her expression as the comparison became unmistakable as soon as she had the thought of comparing the surly toad and the teacher.

    ¡°Today, we will be going over your third year transfigurations,¡± Dolores Umbridge said, ¡°Please open your new textbooks to page one.¡±

    There was a rustle of pages as everyone did so and waited.

    ¡°Wands away. Please read the first chapter and introduction. If you finish early, keep reading. There will be no need for you to talk.¡±

    Ginny blinked and looked between the teacher who appeared to be completely serious and the rest of the confused class. She looked between her book and the teacher again and raised her hand.

    ¡°Yes? Ms. Weasley?¡±

    ¡°Excuse me, professor. Are we not doing any spell practice today?¡±

    ¡°No, any spellcasting will be done outside of the classroom. We will only be going over the theory in class, the rest is for homework.¡±

    ¡°But Professor, how will we learn how to cast properly if you¡¯re not there to tell us what we¡¯re doing wrong?¡± Ginny asked in disbelief, ¡°We¡¯re not going to be having any classroom spell practice at all?¡±

    ¡°No, we will not,¡± Umbridge said in a sharp tone, ¡°This is my classroom, not yours Ms. Weasley. You may feel you don¡¯t have much to learn as the triwizarding grand champion, but your fellow students do need to attend to their studies. So please read silently without disrupting the rest of the class.¡±

    Ginny opened her mouth, but at seeing the professor''s glare, closed it again.

    ¡°Yes, Professor Umbridge,¡± Ginny said sullenly as she began to idly flip through the pages of her textbook. She¡¯d already read the first half of the chapter before coming to class. Man, without any spell practice at all this class was going to be so dull¡­

    It was near the end of class and Ginny was nearly bored to tears. The textbook was dense, with all sorts of laws and theorems she had to know that were only barely explained. McGonagall usually had whole lectures that weren¡¯t about anything in the textbooks or focused on the different properties and sub properties of the laws of transfiguration that were casually mentioned in the textbook. McGonagall was demanding, but you could at least ask questions about things. Umbridge had wasted no time shutting down anyone who attempted to ask her any questions.

    Ginny leaned over to her right.

    ¡°Hey, Jack,¡± she whispered.

    He looked over at her. She shifted her book slightly so he could see what page she was on. She pointed to the paragraph that was trying to explain some law of transfiguration. She had been reading it over and over for about five minutes now with no success.

    ¡°Do you have any idea what this one means?¡±

    Jack leaned over and read the offending paragraph. His eyes lit up and he smiled slightly. Ah, he actually knew!

    ¡°Oh, yeah,¡± he whispered back, ¡°I remember this. It¡¯s a subset of one of the bigger transfiguration laws we learned last year. Something about¡­¡±

    ¡°Hm hm hm.¡±

    The both of them looked up and saw Umbridge standing right in front of them.

    ¡°Ms. Weasley. I thought I told you to not disrupt your fellow students?¡±

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I was just asking Jack a question about the textbo-¡±

    ¡°Did I not tell you to read silently?¡± Umbridge said, ¡°Were you silent or were you not?¡±

    ¡°But how are we supposed to figure it out if we can¡¯t ask anyone, even the teacher, questions?¡± Ginny said finally in frustration, ¡°There¡¯s plenty of stuff we learned before that¡¯s just not in the textbooks. How are we supposed to know any of that if we do this?¡±

    ¡°Ms. Weasley¡­¡± Umbridge said with a dangerous tone, ¡°Everything you students need is in that textbook. Everything. It¡¯s ministry approved for your grade level. I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re struggling with it, given your prior accomplishments.¡±

    ¡°Can you just help me?¡± Ginny asked and turned her book around, ¡°What does this paragraph mean? Please?¡±

    Umbridge glanced at where Ginny was pointing and read it for a few seconds. The woman¡¯s face suddenly went beet red and she looked angry.

    ¡°Detention!¡± She spat out, ¡°Detention, Weasley! For disruption of the class! And if I hear another word out of you, it¡¯ll be for a week! I¡¯ll see you this Friday after classes.¡±

    Ginny glanced between her book and the angry professor.

    ¡°O¡­ okay,¡± Ginny managed to choke out, now nearly in tears from frustration. What was she supposed to do if she couldn¡¯t ask for help? Just sit here and stare at it uselessly and feel like an idiot? Gah! She sat there and stewed in the injustice of it all as she stared angrily at her textbook without reading any of it.

    When class ended she left in a huff, Jack following closely behind.

    ¡°She¡¯s so bad!¡± Jack said quickly, ¡°I can¡¯t believe she made us read the textbooks the whole time!¡±

    He reached out and hesitantly grabbed her hand. She flinched slightly before relaxing as they held hands and walked through the hallway to their next class. Their dating relationship had sort of faded away a little with neither of them really paying attention to it. But occasionally one of them would do something like this and hold hands to remind them both of it. They still had only held hands and hugged so far. Their ¡®dates¡¯ were just wandering around the castle together instead of with Alexa too. They had just felt a little lonely without her. So even those had stopped after a while. Having a boyfriend didn¡¯t seem to be much at all like the other girls seemed to have hyped it up to be.

    They hadn¡¯t even kissed yet. Ginny shot a glance at Jack and blushed at the thought.

    He put his free hand up to his face with a blank look.

    ¡°What? Is there something on my face?¡± He asked innocently.

    ¡°No! No, you¡¯re fine,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Just thinking about something. I can¡¯t believe we got downgraded to Umbridge from McGonagall for transfigurations.¡±

    ¡°I know, right?¡± Jack said sympathetically, ¡°Good luck at that detention. You totally didn¡¯t deserve that.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Jack.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny walked into Umbridge¡¯s office for detention and froze. The woman herself was sitting there at her desk.

    ¡°No! No! What are you doing here?¡± Ginny shouted as she dropped her school bag to the ground in shock.

    ¡°Why, I got detention too, old friend,¡± Eric said with a grin as he sat across from Umbridge, ¡°Seems that teach here is allergic to success. Two triwizarding champions, two detentions. What a coincidence.¡±

    ¡°Quiet! You already have a week of detention, another word out of you and you¡¯ll have more!¡± Umbridge barked out.

    Eric smirked, but didn¡¯t say anything else as Ginny quickly sat down in the chair after picking up her bag. It was only one detention, she could push through it.

    ¡°So, teach. What''ll the two of us ruffians be doing today?¡± Eric asked.

    ¡°You¡¯ll be writing some lines for me,¡± Umbridge said with deadly calm. She reached into her desk and drew out two large quills. She handed them to Ginny and Eric. The two of them took out pieces of parchment, Eric getting a calculating look in his eyes as he glanced at Ginny next to him with quick glances.

    ¡°I thought this detention would be a drag,¡± Eric suddenly said just as Umbridge opened her mouth again, ¡°But if Ginny¡¯s here with me, I¡¯m sure that it¡¯ll go by like a breeze. She always does the most interesting things.¡±

    ¡°Enough. Your lines today are ¡®I must respect teacher¡¯. Begin,¡± Umbridge said.

    ¡°How many times?¡± Ginny asked.

    ¡°As many times as it takes for the message to¡­ sink in,¡± Umbridge said with a malicious glint in her eyes.

    ¡°Sure thing, teach!¡± Eric said before pointing a finger gun at Umbridge and pulling the trigger. Ginny tensed as she felt the killing curse welling up within his finger before it dispersed again as he put his thumb down to pull the trigger. He winked at Ginny before picking up the quill Umbridge had given him.

    Eric started writing his line and it came out in red ink.

    ¡°Now, isn¡¯t that interesting?¡± Eric said mockingly, ¡°Is that the iron stench of blood I smell? But whose could it be?¡±

    Umbridge smiled and opened her mouth with a victorious look on her face. But Ginny felt something in her gut drop. Oh no¡­

    Umbridge suddenly screamed as cuts started appearing on her forehead. Carved like a thin scalpel sliding against Umbridge¡¯s skin into the red words, ¡®I must respect teacher¡¯.

    Umbridge was leaning against her desk and panting heavily with one hand held to her head to stanch the flow of the blood. Eric leaned over his parchment and wrote again, ignoring Umbridge¡¯s cries of pain. A second later another bloody line was carved on the back of the hand held to Umbridge¡¯s face.

    ¡°Stop!¡± Umbridge gasped, ¡°Stop!¡±

    ¡°But Professor¡­¡± Eric said with an inhumanly wide grin, ¡°I don¡¯t think the message has sunk in just yet¡­¡±

    Eric kept writing and more and more bloody lines were carved all over the screaming Umbridge, bleeding lines of text appearing in a different spot of her body each time.

    ¡°Stop! Stop it!¡± Ginny suddenly shouted, ¡°She gets it, just please stop writing Eric!¡±

    Eric stopped after finishing one last line with a flourish. He turned to her while Umbridge whimpered from the floor, having fallen from her chair at one point.

    ¡°You do realize that was meant to happen to us, right?¡± Eric said casually, ¡°She¡¯s only reaping what she sowed. Now, I think my message has sunk in. Now it¡¯s your turn. Write, I¡¯ll even handle the enchantment for you. Write your lines just as teacher ordered you to. We¡¯ve got to respect teacher. Umbridge even told us so.¡±

    Ginny picked up the quill and her hand trembled over the blank piece of parchment for a moment before putting it back down again.

    ¡°No! No, I won¡¯t do it! I won¡¯t play your sick game! No one deserves this!¡±

    ¡°Some do,¡± Eric said mildly, ¡°Perhaps you¡¯d like to take her place? I can not alter the enchantment so it cuts you instead. She ordered you to write your lines. We¡¯re not leaving this place if we don¡¯t both write our lines, are we? Umbridge won¡¯t let us, we¡¯ll be in trouble with teacher. So now it¡¯s your turn for your lines. It¡¯s just a choice you¡¯ve got to make. Do you keep the mark on your body¡­¡± Eric pointed at Umbridge¡¯s bloody hand that had just slapped on the top of the desk from where she lay on the floor groaning, ¡°Or hers?¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t. I won¡¯t write at all.¡±

    ¡°Why, Ginny!¡± Eric said in surprise, ¡°Surely you¡¯re not saying that Umbridge is your friend now? She¡¯s not covered by our deal, is she? You¡¯re not trying to break our terms, are you?¡±

    ¡°...No,¡± Ginny said reluctantly.

    ¡°Then get. To. Writing! If you don¡¯t, I may be forced to come back for the whole week for my detentions. Make sure that the message is really¡­ carves down to the bone on teach, don¡¯t you agree? I mean you can still choose not to write, that''s fine. But that would just be worse for dear old teacher here in the long run if she has to be in detention with me for a full week because of it. But if you do it, then it can only be for today. I think that sounds fair. The punishment seems like it''d be a lot more vicious if it''s coming from you too.¡±

    Ginny¡¯s hand trembled but she reluctantly picked up the quill. She held it just up the parchment, hesitating. Then stopping.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to get away with this, Eric,¡± Ginny said, ¡°She¡¯s a teacher, you can¡¯t bully her into not talking.¡±

    ¡°Who said I was going to try doing that?¡± Eric said, ¡°You¡¯re right, that wouldn¡¯t work at all. That¡¯s what memory charms are for. Turns out that plenty of powerful people know how to cast them. You¡¯ve just got to know the right ones to ask.¡±

    ¡°So why does it even matter if I do it or not?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°She¡¯ll forget this ever happened either way. You¡¯ll heal her and she won¡¯t even remember.¡±

    ¡°Oh, but I¡¯ll remember,¡± Eric said, ¡°And she was punishing you too. So choose. Cut yourself, or cut teacher? Or do nothing at all despite knowing what I''ll do instead?¡±

    Ginny¡¯s pen hovered over the parchment for another moment before at Eric¡¯s expectant look Ginny let it touch down and started writing on the parchment with the red ink. Eric watched her expectantly as she kept writing as fast as she could. Her left hand started to burn and then burst into pain as she took the enchantment on herself. She clenched her fist and held back her tears as the blade cut deeper and deeper into the back of her hand. But she wouldn¡¯t hurt someone for Eric. Let him hurt someone when she could stop it. She couldn¡¯t. Even if Umbridge probably deserved it for putting Ginny through this.

    Half way through, Ginny finally let her tears fall onto the parchment even as she kept writing.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough! You¡¯re good, you¡¯re good,¡± Eric said suddenly. Ginny stopped part way through a line and lifted her quill with a gasp. Her vision was blurry as tears ran down her face.

    ¡°Ginny¡­¡± Eric said, suddenly sounding confused and lost, ¡°I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d really do it. Why didn¡¯t you hurt her instead of yourself? I was just kidding around, I didn¡¯t mean to make you cry¡­¡±

    Ginny threw the quill onto the desk and shoved the parchment into her bag angrily, ¡°Well, I did it. I¡¯m not like you. Happy now? Just leave me alone!¡±

    She picked up her bag and shoved her way out of the door. Eric didn¡¯t follow her. She fled through the hallways outside, keeping her head down so other people wouldn¡¯t see her. Even if she heard most of them muttering as soon as she went by. She eventually found an abandoned corner of the castle and sat on the wall with her knees curled up to her chest and head on her knees.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°Ginny? People said you were upset and pointed me this way¡­¡± She looked up as she heard Alexa¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Ginny? Oh my god, Ginny, are you okay?¡±

    Ginny felt Alexa sit next to her and then suddenly grab her bloody hand.

    ¡°What the- Did Umbridge do this to you? We¡¯ve got to take this to Dumbledo- I mean McGonagall! She can¡¯t do this to you!¡±

    ¡°Who- Who¡¯s the one that sent us into the forbidden forest in our first year again? Why would she help at all?¡± Ginny muttered through all her snot and grossness from crying. She¡¯d calmed down now that Alexa was there with her.

    ¡°Ginny, that¡¯s different. She can¡¯t ignore this. And she''s the headmistress now. She can¡¯t ignore something like this. She just can¡¯t.¡±

    Alexa was massaging Ginny¡¯s hand with her thumbs and it was making Ginny feel a little better. She looked up and saw her friend¡¯s concerned face peering at her from less than a foot away.

    Ginny jumped and Alexa startled too and went back. But then they both relaxed and Alexa kept massaging Ginny¡¯s injured hand.

    ¡°Let¡¯s at least go to Madame Pomfrey¡¯s? Right?¡±

    ¡°I guess,¡± Ginny muttered, ¡°But I have to tell you. It was Eric. I¡¯m¡­ the pain is not fun. Umbridge had these quills she wanted us to use. They did this. Eric turned it around, was torturing the teacher and forced me to use them too, choosing between cutting myself or hurting her. Said it didn¡¯t count for the deal because Umbridge wasn¡¯t my friend. I¡­ I couldn¡¯t do it, and so¡­¡±

    Ginny lifted her hand slightly while not looking at Alexa.

    ¡°Eric¡¯s probably erasing her memory of what happened right now,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Even she might not believe that it happened.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Why is it always Eric?¡± Alexa muttered angrily, ¡°But that doesn¡¯t change anything, We¡¯re still going to get your hand healed and tell the teachers.¡±

    Ginny looked at puffy eyes as the other girl grabbed Ginny¡¯s bag from the floor and leveraged Ginny to her feet in one large lurch.

    ¡°But¡­ How can we tell them?¡± Ginny said, ¡°He¡¯s Eric. Who knows what he¡¯ll do?¡±

    ¡°Ginny¡­¡± She looked at Alexa in the eyes, ¡°Eric¡¯s deal only is between him and you and your friends, right? You tattling on him isn¡¯t part of it. If he wants to do horrible things where you can see them and where he''ll get caught, then he gets to deal with what happens. Memory charms aren¡¯t perfect, I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll find something.¡±

    ¡°You think?¡± Ginny asked hopefully, ¡°Could that work? You''re right, Eric might see it that way actually if we told him that...¡±

    ¡°Only one way to find out,¡± Alexa said, ¡°Now c¡¯mon. To the hospital wing. I¡¯ll do the talking, you just sit tight. I¡¯ll yell at the people who need it.¡±

    ¡°T-thanks, Alexa. You¡¯re a good friend.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. I helped you pick out those cute tops for the summer, didn¡¯t I? Wasn¡¯t that fun?¡±

    ¡°Y-Yeah. That was fun, I wore them all summer.¡± Ginny choked out as Alexa started leading Ginny away through the hallways. After a few seconds to get Ginny walking, Alexa let go of Ginny¡¯s hand even as she carried both of their bags.

    ¡°Good, that¡¯s what they''re for, right? So you can wear them, change it up a little sometimes.¡±

    ¡°U- uh huh.¡±

    Ginny calmed down a little bit more as Alexa started talking about all sorts of different things as they walked, just letting Ginny respond in grunts and single words as they went. Ginny kept her hand in her sleeve so the people walking by wouldn¡¯t see the blood still oozing from her hand. Alexa and Ginny had tried using the Episky healing spell a few times but it hadn¡¯t seemed to do anything. There was foreign magic sticking into the wound and keeping it open. Ginny had tried to shatter it like it was an enchantment, but it hadn¡¯t accomplished much. Hopefully Madame Pomfrey would know how to handle it.

    They reached the hospital wing and when Madame Pomfrey saw Ginny¡¯s hand she gasped and got right to work. Ginny was led to a nearby bed and given a series of gross potions to drink. Her whole body went numb after the third one and when she looked down at her hand the cuts started to finally start healing.

    ¡°Lucky you came to me quick,¡± Madame Pomfrey said, ¡°Magic in the wounds, you see. No good, no good at all. Would have led to scarring even with healing magic if you¡¯d let it heal on its own.¡±

    The woman had sent off some sort of spell to alert McGonagall of what was happening. A blue glowing rabbit that had bounded off through the air and out of the door after Madame Pomfrey whispered to it for a minute. Alexa had explained what happened to the woman, saying that Eric¡¯s quill had ¡®malfunctioned¡¯ and he had chosen to keep writing when he saw what was happening.

    After a few minutes, McGonagall finally arrived. Ginny had been silently watching her hand healing in slow motion the whole time while feeling pinpricks all over her numb body. Her hand didn¡¯t hurt anymore, but it was so strange watching the bleeding wound on her hand slowly disappearing. Most magic healing from Mom went away with a single spell like it had never been there at all¡­

    Alexa explained the whole thing again, just like how she¡¯d done for Madame Pomfrey.

    ¡°I hardly think Eric is capable of casting memory charms,¡± McGonagall said skeptically, ¡°But I will go to her office and see to the truth myself. Certainly Umbridge at least will require a good explanation for what happened to your hand, Ms. Weasley.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, sure,¡± Ginny said gloomily. That sounded promising¡­ Not. Clearly Eric was about to get away with it again.

    ¡°Well, I will go¡­ do that then,¡± McGonagall said, seeming a bit confused by Ginny¡¯s suddenly gloomy expression. She left the room.

    Ginny was fully healed and waited with Alexa for McGonagall to come back. She returned with Umbridge and Eric. Eric was cradling his hand with an obviously hurt expression. Ginny was sure that it was fake, but if she didn¡¯t suspect everything he did by default then she probably wouldn¡¯t be able to tell. Umbridge was standing next to McGonagall looking completely unhurt and puffed up like a bullfrog. She looked like she was barely holding back from shouting at McGonagall as the two women stood there without looking at each other.

    ¡°Oh, Ginny! Are you alright?¡± Eric asked as he lifted his hand to Madame Pomfrey. The back of his hands was cut with the same line, ¡®I must respect teacher¡¯. Ginny unconsciously rubbed the spot where she had been cut on her own hand. His cuts weren¡¯t as deep as hers had been. He must have only written it a few times so he could play the victim now.

    ¡°Yeah. Fine,¡± Ginny said shortly as Alexa glared at Eric silently.

    Madame Pomfrey healed Eric up as Umbridge stood there glaring at them both. Ginny stared back, a little shocked by the change in the woman¡¯s behavior. It only felt like minutes ago that she¡¯d been begging for Eric to stop hurting her¡­ Now she looked so superior and proud, like they were the annoyance for running to McGonagall to tattle on her.

    ¡°How about we all go up to my office to discuss the situation. Thoroughly,¡± McGonagall said sternly, silencing Umbridge¡¯s reply with a look.

    They all went to leave, Alexa following with them.

    ¡°Not you, Ms. Adams,¡± McGonagall said, ¡°I appreciate you helping your friend, but I¡¯d like to only keep the people directly involved in the conversation.¡±

    ¡°Directly involved¡­?¡± Alexa said in disbelief, ¡°I found her crying and hurt! How am I not involved?!¡±

    Ginny put a hand on Alexa¡¯s shoulder and shook her head when the girl looked at her.

    ¡°Just go, I¡¯ll be fine,¡± Ginny said heavily, ¡°Go tell Jack what happened. Maybe my brothers too if you can. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll want to know the real story rather than whatever McGonagall or Umbridge decides that it is.¡±

    McGonagall looked insulted, but held her tongue as Alexa hesitated but then firmly nodded to Ginny.

    ¡°Okay. I will. I¡¯ll make people know what really happened.¡±

    ¡°Wait!¡± Ginny said quickly as Alexa went to go. The girl stopped and looked back, ¡°I was wrong about Eric. It was all Umbridge, make sure you tell my brothers and everyone else that. All the evidence says so anyways. You get it?¡±

    Alexa took a second to process it before nodding and grimacing before shooting another dirty look at Eric and running off at full speed a second later.

    Ginny turned around back to the three people watching her.

    ¡°What are you all staring at?¡± Ginny said irritably, ¡°Let¡¯s just get this over with.¡±

    ¡°Why I never¡­¡± McGonagall said before shaking her head and leading the way to the Headmistress¡¯ office.

    Eric and Ginny trailed behind McGonagall and Umbridge who were taking great pains to not look at each other.

    ¡°No need to look so smug, Eric,¡± Ginny said sullenly in a whisper, ¡°Whatever, you won. You¡¯re not in trouble again somehow.¡±

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t worry we¡¯ll both be fine,¡± Eric said, ¡°It¡¯s all on Umbridge. Headmistress McGaga can¡¯t overlook this. And Umbridge would never submit to a memory search no matter what. She just doesn¡¯t seem like the type.¡±

    Ginny saw some real emotion on his face for the first time in a while, ¡°Hey look, I really didn¡¯t think it would go that way. I¡¯m sorry. I was just kidding around, I didn¡¯t mean for you to go so far. I didn¡¯t mean for you to get hurt like that.¡±

    ¡°Well it happened and it''s your fault,¡± Ginny replied, ¡°I won¡¯t ever be like you.¡±

    They reached the staircase to the headmistress¡¯ office and McGonagall said the password to the eagle.

    ¡°Ginny, are you alright?¡± Amvatroz asked, completely ignoring McGonagall as she said the password.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine Amvatroz, I¡¯ll tell you about it later,¡± She said absently.

    ¡°Well alright then. I suppose I¡¯ll humor this supposed headmistress. To think the old man just left without even having a year to fully show her the ropes and prove herself to the castle¡­¡±

    Umbridge smirked as Amvatroz¡¯s statue went still and started rotating to form the staircase upwards. McGonagall huffed but ignored Amvatroz as all of them proceeded upwards and then through the large doors to the office itself that McGonagall opened after staring at it and muttering under her breath for a few seconds.

    All of them went inside. McGonagall sat on one side of the desk while Ginny, Eric, and an annoyed Umbridge sat on the other side. Ginny managed to snag a seat on the side so Eric had to sit in the middle next to Umbridge. Small victories.

    Ginny looked around at the rather bare office. The only changes McGonagall had made was a small bookshelf in the corner and a large blackboard covering one wall. All sorts of tight scribbles and spell diagrams covered it.

    McGonagall caught Ginny¡¯s look and smiled slightly.

    ¡°My transfigurations research,¡± She said, ¡°As Headmistress it seems I have more free time. I¡¯ve been able to dive into my theories and experiments more fully recently. Now, how about you start us off Ms. Weasley? Tell us all your version of events again. I¡¯ll make sure that¡­ No one interrupts.¡± McGonagall shot a quick glance at Umbridge for that last part.

    ¡°I think that Eric should go first,¡± Ginny said, ¡°He seems eager to go.¡±

    ¡°Yes, it was all rather horrible,¡± Eric said, not wasting her hand off of the story to him, ¡°We were just having detention when Umbridge used those horrible quills on us. Ginny was quite distraught and Umbridge yelled at her and made her write. After a few lines Ginny grew so upset that she took her things and left the room crying. I stayed a little longer and defended Ginny¡¯s honor, but alas I was forced to write lines just before you got there, Headmistress McGoogoo.¡±

    A vein pulsed in McGonagall¡¯s forehead as Eric said the completely wrong name again before she turned to Ginny.

    ¡°Is this what happened?¡±

    ¡°Pretty much, I was just confused before. Eric¡¯s right of course.¡± Ginny said without much enthusiasm.

    ¡°Professor Umbridge? What do you say about this?¡±

    ¡°Well, I admit to it all of course,¡± Umbridge said primly, ¡°I was well within my rights to punish them as I see fit. In fact, it is Ms. Weasley here that left detention early and Potter that yelled at me in a most disrespectful way. I think both of them will have detention with me¡­ for a whole month. If not more.¡±

    ¡°No¡­ No I don¡¯t think they will,¡± McGonagall said with a voice loaded with threat, ¡°I think they¡¯ll be free of any punishment in fact. And I¡¯ll be bringing your behavior to the board of governors and we¡¯ll see just how ¡®reasonable¡¯ your punishment is then.¡±

    ¡°Ha! You? Criticizing me on detentions going too far? Didn¡¯t you send in Ms. Weasley and several other students into the forbidden forest as first years with a half-giant oaf? Where they were attacked by some savage beasts in the woods at night? How rich, you¡¯re just jealous that I¡¯ve taken over your old classroom!¡±

    McGonagall snorted before quickly recovering at Umbridge¡¯s last statement, ¡°Jealous? My word, you should read the letters I¡¯ve received from parents complaining of your sheer incompetence. By Merlin, it¡¯s only been one week! It¡¯s frankly astounding how one can be so confident with so little to back it up. At least Lockhart knows enough by now to make himself scarce when he¡¯s not up to a task.¡±

    Eric looked between the two women with glee, clearly soaking up the gossip like a sponge.

    ¡°Enough!¡± Umbridge said with a red face, ¡°You can¡¯t do anything to me without approval from the board of Governors. And I have the minister¡¯s approval in case you¡¯ve forgotten.¡±

    ¡°Yes, just in case one of our staff is secretly ¡®Dark Lord Pettigrew¡¯ in disguise,¡± McGonagall drawled, ¡°I assure you. I knew Pettigrew when he was at school. Traitor he may be, dark lord he was most certainly not. I''ve heard that even Sirius Black doesn''t believe that it was actually him. For all we know it''s some imposter using his face for some free press.¡±

    ¡°Excuses! The Aurors and all those people there confirmed that it was him and not a spell. And you know that you can¡¯t fire me!¡± Umbridge said standing out of her chair, ¡°Anyone that takes my place could be him in disguise. Who knows how young he was when he mastered his skill in deception? He could be anyone, anywhere, we have no idea what kind of magic he has access to!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s not get caught up in conspiracy theories and hysterics,¡± McGonagall said, not sounding impressed, ¡°Clearly someone''s been taking those ridiculous news articles full of baseless speculation at face value. Now back to the task at hand. Umbridge, you are not to retaliate against the children. Any detentions you assign will be monitored by one of the other teachers. Whichever ones you can convince to take their time to do so.¡±

    McGonagall smirked slightly, ¡°You will be able to convince them to give you their time, won¡¯t you?¡±

    Umbridge hesitated, ¡°Fine,¡± she muttered, ¡°I see how it is. No one at this school takes security seriously. I¡¯ll be telling the Minister about this.¡±

    Umbridge stood up and stormed out of the office, so red in the face that she was almost starting to turn purple in rage.

    McGonagall turned to Eric and Ginny.

    ¡°I¡¯m very sorry that that happened to you two. If she does absolutely anything that makes you uncomfortable, report it to your head of houses or me and I¡¯ll set her straight. I¡¯ll see she¡¯ll be properly punished for what she¡¯s done. Completely out of line, and improper of an educator¡­¡±

    ¡°Hey, who¡¯s my head of house again?¡± Eric interrupted, ¡°Is it still you McGillamonster?¡±

    Ginny unconsciously snorted in laughter at the sudden name.

    ¡°No, Eric,¡± McGonagall said while looking like her soul had suddenly left her body, ¡°I am not. Didn¡¯t you listen to my speech at the opening feast when you returned to school this year?¡±

    ¡°Well, yeah. But I wasn¡¯t really paying attention, McGigantic. I must have missed that part.¡±

    ¡°Professor Vector who teaches Arithmancy. She¡¯ll be your head of house. Hopefully her name will be simple enough that you¡¯ll be able to remember it, Eric.¡±

    ¡°Of course I will, McGordon. I¡¯m great with names, you of all people should know that.¡±

    ¡°I suppose another month of detention wouldn¡¯t correct your behavior and allow you to remember my name correctly for just once, would it?¡± McGonagall said with a sigh.

    ¡°Of course I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about McGonagallbladder.¡±

    ¡°You both can leave. Especially Eric,¡± McGonagall said, ¡°I¡¯ve had enough of him for a week already. Remember the both of you, any problems and report directly to your head of house. No matter what that woman out there says neither of you are to serve any detentions under her supervision. Nor anyone else for that matter.¡±

    They left.

    ¡°How do you do it?¡± Ginny asked as she and Eric left the headmaster¡¯s office. They started walking through the hallways towards the general direction of both the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw common rooms, ¡°You just insult her to her face and she takes it.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not insults,¡± Eric said, ¡°It¡¯s more like¡­ a game. She knows that I really know her name. But I haven¡¯t called her the same name twice in a very long time. And never used the real one, I don''t think. If she really wanted me to stop then she wouldn¡¯t have settled on giving me only two months of detention with her in my first year before giving up.¡±

    ¡°Anyways, as I was saying before about Umbridge. Sorry about that,¡± Eric continued, ¡°I just don¡¯t understand. Why would you hurt yourself when you could have hurt her? It was only me there, I would have healed her. Only we would have known, we wouldn¡¯t have been caught.¡±

    ¡°Maybe I don¡¯t want to hurt other people, Eric. Ever thought about that one before?¡± Ginny said sarcastically, ¡°What a novel idea.¡±

    ¡°But it was you or her,¡± Eric insisted, ¡°You chose yourself. Why? That¡¯s more than just choosing to not hurt someone. You chose to hurt yourself instead. You could have just stood back, not done anything even though you knew what I''d do. It wouldn''t happen in front of you, so if it was unpleasant for you then you wouldn''t have to see it. She doesn¡¯t deserve that sacrifice, to hurt yourself for her, surely even you see that. You saw how she acted when she thought she was the one that had hurt us instead.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s not about whether she deserved it or not,¡± Ginny said firmly, ¡°It¡¯s not even about her. No one deserves what you did to her. I won¡¯t be the kind of person that does that to other people. Or just lets it happen and stands by if I can. I mean, I had Fawkes save your life at the Quidditch World Cup last year! You think I told him to do that because I thought you were a good person? You¡¯d just maimed Cedric in front of my eyes a day before. I did it because it was the right thing to do, and that¡¯s it. Even if you¡¯re a terrible person.¡±

    ¡°So, you wouldn¡¯t kill or torture or even seriously hurt anyone ever?¡± Eric said, sounding confused, ¡°Even if they murdered your family or did something to your friends? If they really deserved it?¡±

    Ginny paused longer than she would have liked, ¡°I don¡¯t know. But if you or anyone else touches a hair on their heads, I¡¯d get my revenge somehow. Maybe even if I¡¯d have to do something horrible to do it. But I¡¯m not going to cross that line for you and your amusement of all things.¡±

    Eric¡¯s expression cleared and his thoughtful frown twisted up into a slight smile of relieved understanding, ¡°Oh, okay! I think I get it now. It doesn¡¯t matter to me since I¡¯m a true veteran. But for the first time you do something violent it needs to be special, right? You can¡¯t waste that on somebody unimportant like Umbridge. Or have me pushing you into it and ruining the whole thing because I¡¯m there. It¡¯s gotta be somebody you reeeaaalllly hate so it''s more impactful. I didn¡¯t do that, I just kinda started doing it willy nilly as the urge struck me. Now my chance for special memories are all gone now. I¡¯m really sorry, now that I understand why I should be sorry. I won¡¯t try to give you any more opportunities like that in the future, okay? You¡¯ve got to go out there and find your own for your first time. Make it real special like you said. I believe in you, I¡¯m sure you can do it.¡±

    Ginny felt something twist in her gut at Eric¡¯s utterly insane interpretation of what she had just said. Was that really the conclusion he had come to from what she had told him? Or was he just messing with her again somehow?

    ¡°Fine. Apology accepted or whatever. So long as you never try to make me do something like that ever again.¡±

    ¡°Well, never say never¡­¡± Eric said, ¡°Just for your first time. With how often you get wrapped up in things, I¡¯m sure the day you give it a go will pop up sometime in the next couple years. Probably while we¡¯re both still in school even. Let me know after you¡¯ve dipped your toes into the waters. I¡¯ll give you some tips, help you a bit once you¡¯re ready to try out some more of it.¡±

    ¡°No thanks,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Let¡¯s go back to pretending we don¡¯t know each other now.¡±

    ¡°If you say so. But I''m happy to answer any questions about it if you get curious,¡± Eric said before turning and taking a left turn to start walking away down a side hallway as Ginny continued walking forwards.

    Ginny went to the closed doors of the great hall where Jack, Alexa, Fred, George, and Ron surprisingly were waiting there concerned. All of them spent a long while being concerned about what happened and badmouthing Umbridge as much as they could, even drawing in the passerby to start spreading what had happened to whoever would listen.

    That cheered up Ginny a little bit. Despite everything that had happened with Eric, Ginny did still think Umbridge was unpleasant and deserving some payback for what she¡¯d tried to do to Ginny and Eric. Just not something as intense as what had actually happened.

    By the next day the whole school had heard the rumors of what had happened and hated Umbridge even more than they already had. Umbridge¡¯s classes were chaotic, with not even the slightest semblance of order as no one read their textbooks and mostly did whatever they wanted. Umbridge shouted at all of them until she was purple in the face, but there was nothing she could do. Since she hadn¡¯t found a teacher to take over her detentions, so she wasn¡¯t able to assign them to anybody. All of her threats were toothless without the ability to punish any of them for stepping out of line.

    Until she found a teacher to take over her position or the board of governors made a decision on what to do about the quills Umbridge had used on Eric and Ginny, Umbridge would remain toothless and powerless to enforce order in the classroom. A fact that clearly drove the woman up the wall as she practically tore her hair out as most of the students outright ignored her during class time.

    Many of Fred and George¡¯s new products were used on Umbridge. At one point leading to her having both a four foot long tongue, boils all over her body, and hands the sizes of tennis rackets. Seems that multiple people had tried to dose her with Fred and George¡¯s products all at once.

    Fred and George were doing good business with their products. They were mostly focusing on the Gryffindors at the moment but were slowly spreading out to sell to the other houses as soon as the Gryffindors started spreading word of the success of Fred and George¡¯s products to their friends in the other houses.

    Ginny didn¡¯t have to talk to Eric at all for the next few days, and he didn¡¯t seem up to anything suspicious. So all things considered things were looking relatively up.

 Chapter 72: The New Teacher

    Umbridge ended up getting fired by the board of Governors. Eric was a little disappointed by that, it had been so fun prodding her during class when she couldn¡¯t punish him for it. Today they were all waiting for the new transfiguration teacher that had been found. Eric let out a loud snort as the man swept into the class haughtily. The man walked to the front with a confident look on his face.

    ¡°Silence, children,¡± The teacher said as he turned around in front of the chalkboard in the front of the room, ¡°I am John Barnaby, your new transfigurations teacher. Pay attention, I do not like to repeat myself.¡±

    With that, he went to the chalkboard and started explaining transfigurations down from the base concepts all up to its various uses without even a pause. Eric raised an eyebrow as the lesson continued. Huh, this guy really knew his stuff from top to bottom. And he was a surprisingly good teacher. Strict and tolerating no foolishness, but fully answering any question that he was asked. Eric asked a few more complicated questions for fun and the teacher answered them easily without even a shred of hesitation.

    At the end of the class, he abruptly stopped after finishing his explanation of a last one of the transfiguration laws and dismissively waved his hands.

    ¡°That will be all for today. Hope that your notes are good enough to record my explanations. As I said before, I do not enjoy repeating myself. We will continue from where we left off tomorrow.¡±

    Everyone left, including Eric. He shook his head. Seems he¡¯d have to have a little chat with teacher later. He¡¯d felt the most interesting thing with his magic when the teacher had walked by him during class and they were having their spell practice¡­

    After classes and just as it was about to get dark, Eric tracked down the new professor¡¯s office and knocked on the door.

    ¡°Yes?¡± The man said, ¡°Come in.¡±

    Eric opened the door and the man stiffened as he saw the grinning Eric walking in.

    ¡°Hello, old friend. You miss me?¡± Eric said as he shut the door behind himself.

    ¡°Old friend? What are you talking about? Enough of this nonsense,¡± the new teacher said sternly.

    Eric shook his head, ¡°C¡¯mon Voldy. I know that it¡¯s you. It¡¯s like you¡¯re wearing a fake mustache and a hat to disguise yourself. Did you actually apply for the position or did you kill the poor chump who was supposed to be our teacher?¡±

    ¡°I took his place of course,¡± Voldemort said as he stood to his feet, ¡°And I took the polyjuice potion to turn into him. I don¡¯t believe you were able to discover me just on sight. How?¡±

    ¡°Believe what you want,¡± Eric said non-committedly. The man¡¯s magic clearly identified him as Voldy, eyes had nothing to do with it, ¡°Say, you haven¡¯t considered settling down and actually becoming a teacher, would you? After how much I humiliated you last time, maybe it''s time for Lord Voldemort to fade into the background, hm? You weren''t half bad today.¡±

    ¡°I did wish to be a teacher,¡± Voldemort admitted, ¡°Many years ago when I was a boy. The chance to mold young minds to my vision was something so fascinating to me. But I have some business to take care of first. You.¡±

    Voldemort stood up and raised his wand.

    Eric was quicker on the draw and pulled out his finger gun and pulled the trigger by pressing his thumb down to his hand. A red stunner spell shot out of his pointer finger quicker than Voldemort could react and struck the man on the chest. The teacher slumped forward onto the desk in front of him unconscious.

    ¡°And now for the imperius,¡± Eric muttered as he drew his wand from his robes, ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll keep you as a teacher this time, might be worth it with that lesson you just gave¡­¡±

    Before Eric could react, a pendant around Voldemort¡¯s neck flashed with a green light and shot into the unconscious man¡¯s chest. Eric blinked as the enchantment on the pendant destroyed itself as the killing curse went into Voldemort¡¯s body and killed him in an instant.

    Eric stood there blinking, looking between his still raised finger gun and the dead teacher still under polyjuice to look like whoever it was that Voldy had replaced. Eric inspected the pendant for a moment, but it was completely inert now. Not even the smallest scrap magic remained in it after it cast the killing curse at its owner. Eric¡¯s mind churned for a moment before he finally figured it out.

    ¡°Oh, you sly dog!¡± Eric told the corpse, ¡°You had a failsafe to kill yourself in case I was about to put you under the imperius again. That¡¯s one way to do it. Ah, I guess this works too. Better luck next time, Voldy.¡±

    Eric turned and walked out of the door to the office and shut it behind him. He walked a nearby hallway wall and used his connection to the Chamber of Secrets to request an opening. He didn¡¯t do this too often because of the chances of getting caught if he overused it. But escaping the crime scene was probably most important right now just in case somebody spotted him near the office and brought suspicion on him.

    A second later the wall in front of him twisted until it formed a dark tunnel lined with obsidian and dark marble. Eric went through for a few dozen steps, the spatial enchantments twisting around him to carry him a large distance with each step until he stepped out into the Chamber of Secrets itself far below the ground.

    The black tunnel behind him closed as soon as he was fully inside of the Chamber of Secrets. Eric turned back around. He glanced at the giant basilisk staring at him with its second eyelids shut so that it wouldn¡¯t petrify him with its gaze.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Hey, Nidhogg,¡± Eric said, ¡°Just passing through. I¡¯ll be back down for the weekend though.¡±

    Nidhogg hissed and settled back down into his coils in the pool in front of the giant statue of Salazar Slytherin¡¯s head.

    ¡°Yes, I remember. I¡¯ll get you some food when I come,¡± Eric promised, ¡°Being my familiar comes with all the best perks, doesn¡¯t it? Even if you only let us form a temporary one rather than the full thing that Ginny''s got with her phoenix... Anyway, got to go now. See you later, Nidhogg.¡±

    Another dark tunnel opened up where the last one had just closed as Nidhogg the basilisk hissed again.

    Eric waved goodbye to his familiar absently before walking into the tunnel. After some walking he emerged into another empty hallway. This one was close to the Gryffindor common rooms but not close enough that there would be people going by. Eric went back to the Gryffindor common room, the other Gryffindors also streaming inwards from across the castle for curfew not seeming to suspect him of anything. Eric didn¡¯t let his bored and disinterested expression drop until he was all the way in his bed.

    Seems they would be getting another transfigurations teacher again. Such a shame, Voldy had been so good at his job.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe it,¡± Alexa raged, ¡°How can they appoint Umbridge of all people as headmistress? Like she¡¯d do any good in finding out who murdered the new transfigurations teacher? Umbridge is useless!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard it was by order of the minister,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Sirius sent a letter explaining it all to me. Him and a lot of other people aren¡¯t happy with Umbridge being chosen either. But she was the secretary of the Minister I suppose. So the Minister wants her in charge so she¡¯ll be reporting what security measures she¡¯ll be taking to stop ¡®Pettigrew¡¯ from striking again. It doesn¡¯t matter how incompetent she is, people are saying it¡¯ll be the Minister giving her orders and she¡¯s just going to follow them.¡±

    ¡°If she tries to give you detention you just tell us!¡± Alexa said while growling slightly, ¡°Even if she¡¯s headmistress she can¡¯t do things like that to you. You¡¯ll tell Sirius about it right away and he¡¯ll get her fired again!¡±

    ¡°I will, I promise,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I hope I won¡¯t have to though. You be careful too, Alexa. Jack and I won¡¯t be around to defend you during classes.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine,¡± Alexa said, ¡°My Gryffindor friends will help me. And my new boyfriend, hopefully.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, when are you going to introduce us?¡± Ginny said, ¡°We¡¯ve never even talked to Sean Taylor before. House separation between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw and all that. We hardly know anything about him!¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ well, we only just started dating last week,¡± Alexa said quickly, ¡°I don¡¯t want to rush things¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fiiiiiine,¡± Ginny said before clapping Alexa on the shoulder, ¡°Just bring him over to say hi, it¡¯s no big deal. I want to meet the guy that¡¯s stolen your heart from us!¡±

    Alexa blushed, ¡°Er, uhm. Okay, I¡¯ll bring him over tomorrow,¡± she muttered.

    ¡°I¡¯m just kidding Alexa,¡± Ginny said quickly, ¡°I¡¯m happy for you. I didn¡¯t mean it in a bad way.¡±

    ¡°Oh, good,¡± Alexa said with a sigh of relief, ¡°Thanks, Ginny. What¡¯s up with you and Jack by the way? Are you still dating, what¡¯s up with that?¡±

    The two of them glanced at each other.

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know,¡± Ginny said slowly, ¡°Are we still dating, Jack? We haven¡¯t really done anything all year.¡±

    ¡°I guess not,¡± Jack said, ¡°You want to do something, Ginny?¡±

    ¡°Sure! Uhm. What to do though¡­¡±

    ¡°How about we sneak out at night to go stargazing?¡± Jack said, ¡°That could be exciting. It¡¯d be better than just wandering around the castle alone.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that sounds pretty romantic,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Want to do it tonight?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    Alexa looked between the two of them. ¡°Huh. That was quick.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± They both asked at once.

    ¡°It¡¯s just like you both almost forgot you were dating each other but as soon as I mentioned it you just settled right back into it like nothing happened at all.¡±

    Jack grabbed Ginny¡¯s hand and she squeezed his hand back, ¡°We¡¯re great friends and the dating¡¯s just on top of it, right? Don¡¯t see how forcing it to be more important than it has to be would help anything.¡±

    ¡°If you say so,¡± Alexa said, eying their clasped hands. Upon seeing Alexa¡¯s stare they quickly released their hands.

    ¡°Have fun, you two!¡± Alexa said with some false cheer, ¡°Make sure to not get caught.¡±

    ¡°We won¡¯t,¡± Jack assured her.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°This feels so dangerous,¡± Ginny said as she and Jack laid on their backs on the empty Hogwarts lawn, staring up into the starry night sky, ¡°Even if we¡¯ve been through so many other dangerous things before. Why is this setting my heart pounding so much?¡±

    ¡°My heart¡¯s pounding too,¡± Jack said as he shifted his grip on her hand. They both sat up slightly and stared at each other in the darkness for a few minutes silently and Ginny¡¯s heart started beating even faster. Oh.

    Without either of them saying anything they started slowly leaning towards each other until their faces were inches away from each other. With a quick dart forward, Ginny impulsively mashed her lips against Jack¡¯s. She shifted her head to the side as she went to kiss him more and smacked him hard with her nose on his as she turned. Ginny retreated along with Jack in shock at the impact as the force vibrated through her skull.

    Jack reached up and rubbed his nose.

    ¡°Ow,¡± he said.

    ¡°That was terrible,¡± Ginny declared after he lowered his hand from his face and they had both recovered a bit, ¡°We¡¯re trying that again,¡±

    Before Jack could react, she dived back in again and she started sloppily kissing him again.

    This time Ginny had come in too quickly again and their teeth clacked together, sending Ginny¡¯s mouth buzzing with little sharp tingles as the impact reverberated through her skull again with a loud click. She drew back and started getting frustrated.

    ¡°Why is this so hard!¡± She said while panting slightly, ¡°People in the movies make it look so easy.¡±

    ¡°Here, let me try,¡± Jack said breathlessly. He leaned forward slowly, not rushing in like how Ginny had. His lips slowly sank into hers and they started kissing again. This time it worked and they kept going until Ginny had to draw back for a breath of air with a gasp.

    ¡°I¡­ I think that worked,¡± Ginny said in a daze, her lips tingling as she and Jack stared at each other.

    ¡°Let¡­ let me try again,¡± she said. She slowly leaned in, and this time didn¡¯t mess anything up as she and Jack kissed again.

    By the time they got back to bed, Ginny felt light, her lips tingling like crazy as she remembered Jack¡¯s lips on hers. She carefully opened the door to her dorm room and slipped into bed without waking up her sleeping roommates. She went under the covers and sighed in contentment as she hugged a spare pillow to her chest.

    Their first kiss, ah it was so romantic and perfect¡­

 Chapter 73: Girl Talk

    ¡°Hey Amvatroz,¡± Ginny asked as she thought about his riddle, ¡°Do you have anything to do with Umbridge not being able to get into the headmistress¡¯ office?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Amvatroz said, ¡°That rude woman insulted me after I refused to give her entry. Seems that McGonagall neglected to hand control of the wards over to her when she left. Until then I¡¯m free to deny her entry as much as I like. She¡¯ll never get into that office so long as I have something to say about it. Hogwarts was already upset that McGonagall was transitioned over so quickly. She won''t likely accept another so soon.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s good. Umbridge¡¯s been furious, and had to take over one of the abandoned classrooms as her office instead,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Actually, wait. You always talk about Hogwarts like it¡¯s a woman and like she has feelings. I thought it was just an expression, like how people always say that sailing ships are all women.¡±

    ¡°Oh, Hogwarts is nothing as aware as people like you and me. She is like a¡­ child or a machine of sorts. The founders gave her certain rules to follow, which she does to a fault. But besides that over the centuries she¡¯s developed her little quirks and preferences for the gaps between those ironclad rules and throws her little tantrums if people don¡¯t indulge her.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡± Ginny asked.

    ¡°Well, for example your very own headmistress. Hogwarts wants the person who¡¯s her headmaster to be competent and skilled. It¡¯s been tradition for a long while that the Headmaster would at least spend a year or two mentoring the next in line in their full duties. Dumbledore did not do this, causing Hogwarts to pout and only reluctantly give McGonagall access to the castle wards until she fully proved herself. Umbridge on the other hand was barely able to teach her own class, let alone know anything about being the headmistress. Hogwarts would only accept her as headmistress kicking and screaming the whole way.¡±

    ¡°Kicking and screaming? What does that look like for a whole castle?¡±

    ¡°Just the little things, but they add up,¡± Amvatroz said, ¡°If Umbridge took the position then she¡¯d find doors suddenly slam shut into her face just as she was about to walk through them. Cobblestones would come loose and trip her at every opportunity. The wards will do whatever she does not wish them to do just to spite her. A multitude of tiny things adding up when all put together and targeting one person. I¡¯ve only witnessed it twice in my time and the illegitimate headmasters barely lasted a month at most before giving it up and finding someone more competent to take their place. Right now Umbridge doesn¡¯t have the position, so Hogwarts is just grumbling a bit about having the position empty. But she hasn¡¯t turned her ire onto Umbridge just yet.¡±

    ¡°What other things does Hogwarts like or dislike? Can she talk to us?¡±

    ¡°No, she doesn¡¯t talk through speech, but impressions and swells of emotion. And she doesn¡¯t think of us as individuals truly. More like¡­ Hogwarts is like she¡¯s half awake and only gets faint impressions of us through lidded eyes and judges us from there. I¡¯ve never heard of a case of her ever attempting to directly communicate with anyone. Even me. I¡¯m only so aware of her because Rowena wouldn¡¯t stop talking about her when the first four founders first built her. You can feel Hogwarts¡¯ emotions in the wards threaded through the castle. That¡¯s where she lives, in the wards. They pulse and swirl with her feelings and moods. I can only tell the differences because I¡¯ve been here for so long. As for other things, let¡¯s see¡­ she always wants plenty of students here happy and learning of course. She enjoys people finding all of her secret rooms and passages as well. She shifts their method of access around occasionally to mix things up.¡±

    ¡°There are secret passages in the castle?¡±

    ¡°Yes, there are many. As well as many secret rooms that can only be accessed in very specific ways. But enough of that. What of my riddle? Do you have an answer?¡±

    Ginny thought about it for another few seconds.

    ¡°Essence of Dittany?¡± She said, slightly uncertain, ¡°Is that it?¡±

    ¡°That is incorrect,¡± Amvatroz said, ¡°Remember the interactions with¡­¡±

    Over the course of the next few minutes Amvatroz provided hints as Ginny puzzled through the problem and tried to find the right answer.

    Ginny looked up as she saw Preston and his goons walking up the stairs of the Ravenclaw tower.

    ¡°Weasley, taking some time for your riddle? Struggling?¡± The unpleasant boy in the Prefect uniform said.

    ¡°It¡¯s supposed to be hard, Preston,¡± Ginny said absently, ¡°I¡¯m pretty close. Just give me a minute. Is it boomslang venom, Amvatroz?¡±

    ¡°It is indeed. Can you explain why?¡±

    Ginny did so and Amvatroz accepted her answer and swung open the door. Ginny went to walk in and Preston and his goons followed behind. She turned around.

    ¡°What? Aren¡¯t you going to solve your riddles first?¡± she asked in confusion.

    Preston sneered and dismissed her with a single look.

    ¡°Such a waste of time. We just wait for someone to come out and then go through without having to break our brains with whatever nonsense Eagle throws at us. Even if we¡¯re stuck we can just say that ¡®open in the name of love and friendship¡¯ crap and Eagle is forced to open even without a riddle.¡±

    Ginny gave them a wary look.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    ¡°Well, don¡¯t drag me into it,¡± Ginny said, ¡°By the time you actually have to solve a riddle it¡¯ll probably be something that even Dumbledore wouldn¡¯t be able to understand if you¡¯re provoking Amvatroz so much.¡±

    ¡°You and your friendship with a bloody statue,¡± Preston scoffed, ¡°Like it cares what any of us do.¡±

    Ginny eyed him. There was plenty of evidence showing that clearly Amvatroz was aware and very much did care about how they treated him, ¡°Well, sneak in behind someone else next time. I don¡¯t want you using my riddles to sneak past him.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the prefect,¡± Preston said, ¡°I¡¯ll do what I want. Does that hurt your feelings? Just go back to snogging your new boyfriend in the corner if it hurts oh so much. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll make you feel better. Just keep it down, will you? Some of us out here are actually trying to study.¡±

    Ginny felt herself blushing, but quickly turned away and walked over to the out of the way reading nook where she¡¯d agreed to meet Jack earlier. She hadn¡¯t thought that they¡¯d been that obvious¡­

    Despite herself, she did end up taking Preston¡¯s advice. It did make her feel much better after she and Jack were done and they actually started studying for real. Ginny wondered if Alexa had had her first kiss with her own boyfriend yet. He had seemed nice enough when they met him, even if he had only come to meet them the one time and never again.

    But he and Alexa were still together and they had been going off to do things together. Dates. So things must be going well between them, right? Ginny wasn¡¯t sure. Alexa hadn¡¯t talked too much about it. She should spend some time just with Alexa. Have some girl talk. Maybe Ginny was spending a bit too much time with Jack recently now that their relationship had moved to the next level. She didn¡¯t want to push away Alexa like she almost had before the cocoon incident with Eric.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°You want to hang out? Just us without Jack?¡± Alexa said, confused.

    ¡°Well, yeah,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I just realized I¡¯ve been hanging out with Jack and everything a lot recently. But I almost never just hang out with just the two of us. Me and you with no one else joining us. We should go around, have some girl talk with just the two of us. No boys to hold us back, even Jack.¡±

    ¡°Oh! Okay,¡± Alexa said, ¡°That sounds fun. It¡¯ll be like when you came over to my house over the summer.¡±

    ¡°Yes, just like that,¡± Ginny said in relief, ¡°Want to do something tomorrow? I can tell Jack about it if you want.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, okay. Meet you at the great hall after class?¡±

    ¡°Sure, see you there!¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°So¡­ How¡¯s your new boyfriend?¡± Ginny asked as the two of them wandered the Hogwarts halls. They¡¯d been talking about classes and other basic things for the last few minutes since leaving the great hall, ¡°What¡¯s he like? I hardly even know anything about him.¡±

    ¡°Sean? I guess I haven¡¯t told you guys much, huh? Well he¡¯s in Gryffindor, you both know that. He¡¯s from Ireland, he actually herded sheep growing up with his parents. He had a dog that he used to help group them up, he said. The dog just barks at them while running in circles and keeps them in one big clump so the people can guide the sheep all around as a herd.¡±

    ¡°So, how¡¯d you meet? What made you interested in him?¡±

    ¡°I dunno. It''s just¡­ I was talking to him after class one day and he asked me if I would want to go out with him. I kinda only said yes out of surprise, but it''s been interesting so far. I¡¯m glad I didn¡¯t freak out and do something weird when he asked me and just said yes in surprise instead.¡±

    ¡°What did you two do together? You never said what you did on your dates.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, we uhm. There¡¯s a secret room that he found. We were exploring in there, it was pretty cool. It had huge stacks of stuff inside. Like stacks of chairs and furniture thirty feet tall or more. The room¡¯s absolutely huge. It has some interesting magical objects in there too.¡±

    ¡°Secret room? Where is it?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t say, he made me promise to keep it secret. That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t want to tell you guys about it.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Well, that¡¯s disappointing. But it was fun? That¡¯s way cooler than anything Jack or I did together.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it was pretty fun. We even¡­¡±

    Alexa lowered her voice and leaned in as if saying something scandalous, ¡°Well I even had my first kiss in there a week ago. That was nice¡­¡±

    ¡°How¡¯d it go?¡± Ginny asked in a more normal tone, ¡°Mine with Jack was pretty horrible.¡±

    Alexa looked at her in surprise, ¡°What? Really? But you still seemed pretty happy the next day?¡±

    ¡°Well yeah. We did more than one and it made up for it. But for the first one I went for it so fast that we hit our teeth together. Me and Jack. It made my teeth tingle.¡± Ginny reached up and rubbed her lip.

    ¡°Oh my god,¡± Alexa said as she started to laugh, ¡°Really? You hit your teeth together? That¡¯s hilarious!¡±

    ¡°C¡¯mon, it¡¯s not that bad!¡± Ginny protested as Alexa started mercilessly teasing her, ¡°Your first couldn¡¯t have been that much better!¡±

    Alexa smirked, ¡°Oh yes, it definitely was. I mean, it wasn¡¯t what I was expecting it to be like. But nothing like that happened. Things went very smoothly for us.¡±

    ¡°Well, aren¡¯t you so special,¡± Ginny said, ¡°You practice on your pillow beforehand or something?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Alexa yelped, ¡°I mean¡­ No. I did not do that.¡±

    ¡°Oh, no. You did! Alexaaaaa¡­¡±

    Alexa tensed for some reason and started blushing slightly.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t I think of that first?¡± Ginny said, ¡°That makes so much sense, I would have done so much better if I¡¯d practiced on a pillow first! I would have totally impressed Jack instead of messing things up so much.¡±

    Alexa blinked and relaxed again.

    ¡°Ginny, you are so strange sometimes,¡± Alexa said.

    ¡°Aw, you too Alexa,¡± Ginny said with a light punch to Alexa¡¯s shoulder, ¡°That¡¯s what makes us friends right? We can be all strange and silly around each other and not worry about what the other thinks.¡±

    ¡°Uh huh,¡± Alexa said, her slight blush beginning to fade away, ¡°That¡¯s right. Sorry I didn¡¯t talk to you about Sean at all. I just thought it would be awkward with you and Jack being together and all.¡±

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t mind,¡± Ginny said, ¡°We¡¯re best friends Alexa. We can just talk about things, you don¡¯t have to hide things from us because I¡¯ll suddenly turn on you or something.¡±

    ¡°Huh,¡± Alexa said, sounding like Ginny had just dispensed some sagely wisdom from the top of the mountain.

    ¡°I guess I was being silly about it again,¡± Alexa said eventually, ¡°This is fun. We should hang out with just the two of us more often.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Definitely.¡±

    They kept talking, the conversation flowing much easier than before. And the two of them discussing dating things together no longer seemed to bother Alexa as much anymore whenever it came up. It seems that now the initial barrier was down it was something safe for the two of them to talk about freely without any boys around.

 Chapter 74: The Educational Decrees

    Ginny frowned slightly as she saw a crowd in front of the usual Transfiguration club meeting room. Ever since the beginning of the year, Ginny and everyone else could feel how little they were learning from the class with Umbridge as the teacher.

    People had had hope for his replacement after the first intense lesson, but then he¡¯d been murdered, so¡­

    The third transfigurations teacher was somewhere in the middle. He was another secretary of Minister Fudge. He was also extremely incompetent and didn¡¯t understand most of anything that he was teaching them. But he was nice about it and was barely thirty years old, so most people just felt bad for him more than anything. Well, Ginny did at least.

    But that didn¡¯t change that none of them were learning their transfigurations properly. Something that some people didn¡¯t care about, just happy they would have less homework. But Ginny and many others wanted to feel themselves improve and not be left behind. So what used to be a small hobbyist club soon ballooned into one of the largest ones in the school.

    Ginny honestly wished she¡¯d tried out Transfigurations club earlier, it was interesting to see what the older years could do as they tutored all of the rest of them in some interesting transfiguration spells they all wanted to learn.

    Ginny drifted to the door to their usual room and saw that there was a sign posted there.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± She asked a nearby Slytherin boy, ¡°What¡¯s on the poster?¡±

    ¡°Club¡¯s been shut down by Umbridge,¡± He said gloomily, ¡°All of the clubs have been dissolved, everyone has to go through her to get reapproved. What are our chances, do you think? Whole thing probably happened because she didn¡¯t like us practicing to get around that buffoon they call a teacher for transfigurations nowadays.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Oh no. Really? She can¡¯t do that! Is she even allowed to?¡±

    ¡°Probably,¡± A older year Hufflepuff said, ¡°Order of the Minister says that she can. An Educational Decree they¡¯re calling it. It¡¯ll be in the courts to see if it¡¯ll hold up, but until that wraps up in a few years we¡¯re stuck with following whatever rules Umbridge cooks up.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Ginny said in disbelief, ¡°Surely not. They can¡¯t just let this happen while they sue, can they? That can¡¯t be right.¡±

    The Hufflepuff shrugged, ¡°The Wizengott already decided. Until the case is fully finished, the Minister¡¯s educational decrees will be valid. They¡¯ll only step in if he does something really out of line, and dissolving our clubs isn¡¯t it.¡±

    ¡°Just when I thought I couldn¡¯t hate Umbridge any more,¡± Ginny muttered before her eyes flew open. Oh no.

    ¡°Wait, you said all clubs had to be reapproved? Including the dance club?¡±

    The Hufflepuff gave her a strange look, ¡°Yeah. You into dancing, Ginny? I didn¡¯t know that.¡±

    ¡°No, no, I¡¯m not. Just asking,¡± Ginny said as her mind raced. Eric was going to go ballistic, she just knew it. And Umbridge would probably refuse to reform the club out of spite, Ginny could see her being that petty.

    Who knew what the boy would do then?

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe that your transfiguration¡¯s club was denied while Eric¡¯s stupid dancing club got through of all things!¡± Alexa complained, ¡°It doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Ginny said, rubbing her hand unconsciously, ¡°Not at all.¡±

    She was sure that Eric had done something horrible to make sure that his club had been approved. But whatever he¡¯d done, he¡¯d gotten away with it again.

    ¡°And now we can¡¯t even use magic in the hallways or outside!¡± Alexa kept complaining, ¡°It¡¯s completely ridiculous. How are we supposed to study if we have to go to the common rooms or hide every time we want to cast our magic?¡±

    ¡°Sirius says that he¡¯s trying to help repeal the educational decrees,¡± Ginny said, ¡°But the Minister is pushing it hard. He¡¯s obsessed with securing the school against Pettigrew and thinks this is just the price we have to pay for that.¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s stupid,¡± Alexa huffed, ¡°We should form our own club. Under the radar, so we can practice without having to get approved by Umbridge.¡±

    ¡°Form our own club?¡± Ginny said, ¡°But Umbridge would sniff us out immediately. She¡¯s already broken up the transfiguration club up four more times after we tried to form big ¡®study¡¯ groups instead of calling it a club. The older years put it all together and got in trouble with her.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s she to say what¡¯s a study group or a club?¡± Alexa said, ¡°Twenty people wasn¡¯t even that many really. Banning gatherings of more than five of us at a time without permission was just too much.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Ginny said, ¡°But at least she¡¯s not our teacher still, right? That new Ministry person is terrible but at least he¡¯s nice about it when he¡¯s bumbling around. Imagine if we still had to talk to Umbridge face to face all the time still.¡±

    ¡°I guess¡­¡± Alexa said, ¡°I¡¯m just glad that Christmas break is soon. I¡¯m sure things will get better when we get back.¡±

    ¡°Sure, Alexa,¡± Ginny said and patted the girl on the shoulder lightly, ¡°Sure. Christmas will be great. Plus, we can still practice together. We don¡¯t need a club to learn.¡±

    ¡°Pfffft. I hope so,¡± Alexa huffed, ¡°Bah. Anyway, how about that potion¡¯s test though? What did you think about¡­¡±

    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°And Umbridge is just the worst, making all these stupid rules so as soon as I find a good club that I¡¯m enjoying she just destroys it,¡± Ginny complained as she leaned against Olivia¡¯s shoulder in Sirius¡¯ house. The both of them were sitting on the couch. Olivia had been sitting there listening to her complain for a while, and Ginny suddenly felt guilty as she realized this must be how Alexa felt for the last month when she was complaining to Ginny all the time about the injustice of the educational decrees constantly.

    ¡°Yeah, isn¡¯t she just awful?¡± Olivia said, ¡°So bad. Sirius is doing his best at the Wizengott, but he¡¯s not making much headway.¡±

    ¡°Mmmmhhh. I know,¡± Ginny whined, ¡°It¡¯s just so annoying, finally joining a club that I like and not being able to go anymore.¡±

    Olivia suddenly grabbed Ginny in a headlock and started messing up her hair.

    ¡°Cheer up, you!¡± Olivia said as Ginny squirmed in her grip, ¡°It¡¯s not all a downer! I¡¯ve heard rumors that you and your little friend are dating now, hm? Surely you¡¯d tell your cool Wolf-kin Princess about it first? That I wouldn¡¯t hear about it first from Ron of all people?¡±

    ¡°Grrrr. Mmmmhhhhhh!¡± Ginny squealed as she finally escaped Olivia¡¯s headlock and patted her hair back down so it wasn''t sticking up all over the place anymore.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about,¡± Ginny said primly.

    Olivia reached out and flexed her hands and wiggled her fingers threateningly as if to tickle her. Ginny eyed Olivia¡¯s hands warily.

    ¡°If you won¡¯t talk, then I¡¯ll just have to ask the boy himself all about it. I¡¯m sure I can think of a few ways to make it embarrassing for you,¡± Olivia said with a smile.

    ¡°Alright, alright!¡± Ginny said, breaking at the thought of Olivia''s vicious threat, ¡°Yes, we¡¯re dating. Yes, we kissed. Alexa has a boyfriend too now. Sorry, I just forgot.¡±

    ¡°Hm, forgot?¡± Olivia said lightly before stopping wiggling her fingers and slumping back against the couch again, ¡°Too caught up in your whirlwind romance, couldn¡¯t even take time to think of telling poor old Olivia about it?¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t a whirlwind,¡± Ginny said while blushing slightly, ¡°We¡¯ve been together since last year. We just never really¡­ went beyond holding hands or hugging since then.¡±

    ¡°Huh,¡± Olivia said in genuine surprise, ¡°I didn¡¯t know that. I guess you did take it pretty slow then. So, tell me all about it. I¡¯ll give you all my sage wisdom. Did you talk to your mom about all the girl stuff? The big talk and all that now that you have a boyfriend?¡±

    Ginny shook her head, ¡°No, what¡¯s that? What talk?¡±

    ¡°Well, ask your mom about it,¡± Olivia said, ¡°If you don¡¯t understand what she tells you then just ask me. My parents certainly did a terrible job of explaining things. I had to basically figure it out myself. Even if you think it¡¯s gross or awkward, just ask... We¡¯ve all been through it. And Hogwarts isn¡¯t going to tell you anything about it or answer any of your questions, so you can always ask me.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Olivia,¡± Ginny said in relief, ¡°I¡¯ll do that. There have been some strange things happening with my body lately, but I wasn¡¯t sure who to ask¡­¡±

    ¡°Well, Big Sis Olivia is here to help!¡± Olivia said in an over the top voice, ¡°I¡¯ve got to know how to deal with guys when I go on my big adventures as the Wolf-kin princess, don¡¯t I?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Ginny said with a giggle, ¡°I guess you do. Big Sis Olivia.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you know it,¡± Olivia said fondly.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Molly didn¡¯t want to give Ginny whatever the ¡®talk¡¯ was, saying that she would wait until Ginny was an unspecified amount of older. After Ginny begged Olivia to tell her what the secret was for a bit after becoming frustrated with the mystery, Olivia began. Only after glancing around and pulling Ginny to a more isolated corner of the house where they wouldn¡¯t be interrupted and shutting the door behind them in the side room they were hiding in.

    By the time Olivia was done, Ginny was in shock at what the older girl had said. Ginny grabbed her crotch protectively with both hands.

    ¡°You¡¯re saying that I¡¯ll start peeing blood sometime soon?¡± Ginny said, frightened by the prospect and still not totally sure that Olivia wasn¡¯t making fun of her.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Olivia said, ¡°It¡¯s called your period. And it''s not pee. Remember all those other things I told you about how our bodies work? All of us women have it happen monthly after it starts up. You¡¯ll be moody around that time too, your body¡¯s hormones going all crazy. Just relax and use a quick Scourgify charm to clean up before anyone notices when it happens. You can''t really hold it in like you can for your pee, it just happens either way so don''t even try to stop it somehow. It¡¯s perfectly normal for it to happen and nothing to be scared of. This is why you need someone to tell you that it¡¯s fine. You have no idea how much I panicked my first time when I didn¡¯t know what was happening to me¡­¡±

    ¡°What¡­ you¡¯re not making fun of me?¡± Ginny said, lifting her hands from between her legs hesitantly, ¡°That¡¯s really going to happen?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. None of your roommates or other friends have had it happen yet?¡±

    ¡°Well, not that they¡¯ve told me,¡± Ginny said, still a little skeptical, ¡°They are a year younger though so maybe they¡¯re not old enough for it yet?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I forgot,¡± Olivia said, ¡°You¡¯re fourteen now. Yeah, it¡¯ll be any day now then. Deep breaths, and Scourgify, okay? After everything we¡¯ve been through, a little blood is nothing, right?¡±

    ¡°R¡­ Right,¡± Ginny said as she began to calm down, ¡°Thanks, Olivia,¡± She said genuinely grateful now that she finally accepted that it wasn¡¯t some elaborate prank from Olivia on her, ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re such a good big sis.¡±

    ¡°Someone¡¯s got to help you out with all those boys kicking around your house, right?¡± Olivia said, ¡°And I¡¯m glad I have such a cute little sis too. I was an only child. I¡­ I always wished for a sister. Growing up, you know.¡±

    Olivia looked sad for a moment, looking down at the floor, and Ginny grabbed her hand.

    ¡°Well, you¡¯re my sister now,¡± Ginny said insistently as Olivia looked at her, ¡°I don¡¯t care if you don¡¯t have our red hair. Or if you grew up with those horrible people. You¡¯re part of the family now.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Ginny,¡± Olivia said with some emotion and wrapped Ginny up in a firm hug, ¡°That means a lot,¡± Olivia whispered, ¡°Just let me know if you want to know anything about boys or growing up. I¡¯ve got your back¡­ Little sis.¡±

    ¡°I will,¡± Ginny promised, ¡°Promise. Big sis.¡±

    After another few seconds of hugging, Olivia released Ginny and drew back and wiped her face with her sleeve.

    ¡°Something in my eye,¡± Olivia said lamely, ¡°Now let¡¯s get back to the main room. I thought I saw a cake. Shame that Balthazar couldn¡¯t come to enjoy it with what¡¯s happening on Azkaban.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s fine, all turtled up inside of his wards,¡± Ginny assured Olivia as they left the side room they had holed up in and moved towards the kitchen together, ¡°He¡¯ll be fine, he just can¡¯t talk to us while he¡¯s under attack. I¡¯m sure he has a plan.¡±

    ¡°I hope so,¡± Olivia replied, ¡°But you know best about him. If you say so then I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯ll be fine,¡± Ginny said firmly.

    ¡°Well then I guess we¡¯re free to enjoy the sweets without worrying about him aren¡¯t we?¡± Olivia said, perking up.

    ¡°Come along my trusty squire Ginny! The Princess of the Wolf-kin needs your aid in the mighty quest for sweets!¡± Olivia said in her haughty princess voice.

    ¡°Of course, princess!¡± Ginny said as she straightened up so she would look more squire-like, ¡°Onwards to adventure!¡±

    And so sweets were had, everyone had fun for Christmas, and Ginny went to bed with a warm fuzzy feeling glowing in her chest when the night was through.

 Chapter 75: The Aspect of Ancestor

    Christmas passed and Ginny was feeling much better than before by the time she got back to the castle. The gloom and grumbling that had felt ever present just before break had dissipated slightly. After the holiday, people thought that maybe they were overreacting. That maybe things wouldn¡¯t be so bad¡­

    Umbridge ruined that mood at the great feast immediately.

    ¡°I have heard your complaints on the new approval process to make sure that our newly formed clubs are properly managed,¡± Umbridge said in a shrill and self-satisfied voice, ¡°Many of you have even gone so far as to meet and keep your clubs going after they were rejected for approval. After the holidays, me and the Minister have come to a decision¡­¡± Umbridge said. Everyone waited in anticipation.

    ¡°A new team known as the Inquisitorial squad will be established from student volunteers to search for non-compliant gatherings and alert the proper staff so the perpetrators can be punished,¡± Umbridge said, ¡°If you¡¯re interested, just come to my office and we¡¯ll see where you¡¯ll fit in.¡±

    Ginny glanced over to Eric who was leaning back and looking rather satisfied with himself. His precious dance club would be safe, Umbridge had already approved it.

    There was some discontented murmuring across the great hall.

    ¡°Now!¡± Umbridge said, raising her voice in displeasure to silence the crowd as she noticed their muttering, ¡°We have rules, and they are meant to be followed. This school has been left to lawlessness for far too long. The Inquisitorial squad will help us restore this school to its rightful place as a place of magical learning rather than a place for you to frolic and cause trouble! Now, that will be all for now. Let the feast begin.¡±

    Umbridge clapped her hands. Nothing happened. She frowned and clapped again and nothing happened.

    Reddening slightly, she whispered something to the floor and a house-elf appeared next to her in an apparition.

    ¡°Yes, Mistress?¡± The house-elf said just a tad reluctantly.

    ¡°Send up the food now, elf,¡± Umbridge said primly, ¡°To think Dumbledore bothered paying such poor servants.¡±

    ¡°Yes, mada¨C¡± The house elf said as it turned and raised its arm to snap its fingers dramatically. But before it could finish speaking its eyes fixed on Ginny, it paused in mid sentence. Ginny realized what was happening as the elf¡¯s eyes began to dilate massively and it got a dreamy expression on its face as it stared at her. She squirmed in her seat. Oh no! What should she do? It was just like what had happened with that house elf Winky last year.

    Luckily after a moment of staring and stumbling to the side slightly as its legs grew weak, the house elf shocked itself out of the trance.

    ¡°Yes, madame,¡± the house-elf repeated before snapping and apparating away again down into the kitchens. Two seconds later, the trays on the tables filled with food as the house elves sent it up to the great hall.

    ¡°Hah!¡± Jack said suddenly, ¡°Even the house elves don¡¯t want to listen to her. What did she mean about pay? How can she get away with not paying them? Won¡¯t they just leave?¡±

    Ginny explained about how the house-elves were bound to follow the orders of the family they were bound to. Or to the location and whoever was in control of it for places like Hogwarts. And how they were basically slaves.

    ¡°Oh,¡± Jack said, staring down into his food, ¡°That¡¯s terrible.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Ginny replied, ¡°Dumbledore at least paid them well. I bet Umbridge just expects them to like her automatically because they¡¯re ¡®lesser creatures¡¯ or something compared to magical humans.¡±

    ¡°Our food¡¯s been made by slaves this whole time?¡± Jack said, sounding like he¡¯d swallowed something sour as he looked down at the rich meal laid out before them.

    All the other Ravenclaws jumped in and spent a long time trying to convince Jack that it was okay. That since the house-elves liked it and wanted to help that it was fine. Jack didn¡¯t seem too convinced, but stopped arguing back as Ginny just silently ate her food next to him and stayed out of the conversation mostly.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°Hey, little sis,¡± Fred said as he approached her with George next to him, ¡°We¡¯ve just realized that we forgot to give you your cut of the profits over Christmas!¡±

    He pulled a bag from his waist and handed it over to Ginny. She opened it and looking inside saw the glittering of gold galleons inside. He quickly closed it again and stared at the twins in shock.

    ¡°What? I heard that your stuff was popular¡­ But this good? How much is this, even?¡±

    ¡°Business is very good,¡± George said with a satisfied smirk, ¡°That¡¯s fifty galleons in there. Your quarter of our profits for up to now. We¡¯re going full tilt now that we¡¯ve sounded out the market. People will have plenty more money to spend coming back from Christmas. Especially the rich purebloods getting showered with the galleons over break by their wealthy parents. We¡¯ve already made your money back in the worst case and if things stay on track everything from here on out will be pure profit. Isn¡¯t that great?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, so you two are really going to start a joke shop then?¡± Ginny said, ¡°You¡¯ve made so much money, and this is only a quarter of it? You¡¯d make so much if you were selling to the whole world rather than just Hogwarts students.¡±

    ¡°We think we will,¡± Fred said, ¡°We¡¯ll wait until the end of the year to really get the most data we can for our presentation to Sirius for the investment¡­ But we¡¯ll be doing it. No matter how much Mom will freak out when she hears.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Ginny said excitedly, ¡°I¡¯ll help if I can. I¡¯ll wear that muggle top that I got with Alexa that exposes my belly that Mom hates so much. A crop top, Alexa called it? Mom¡¯ll be so busy frowning at me that it¡¯ll take the heat off of you when you tell her!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re real devious when you want to be, you know that Ginny?¡± Fred said with a grin, ¡°That might just work you know, with how much she was frowning at you this summer.¡±

    ¡°Hey,¡± George said, ¡°We wanted to show you something cool. We should show you before we graduate so you can use it yourself. Ever wanted to go to the Hogwarts kitchens before? You can get as much food as you like between meals if you go there.¡±

    ¡°Uh, with all the house elves?¡± Ginny said, suddenly uncertain, ¡°Are we supposed to go there?¡±

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s fine,¡± Fred said, ¡°The house elves love having people there appreciating their work. When we go we have to practically beg them to stop feeding us until we¡¯re stuffed.¡±

    ¡°Er¡­ okay!¡± Ginny said, rallying her enthusiasm again. It would be fine, Winky and the house elf Umbridge had called must have just had some weird thing with her magic. She was sure that most of the house elves would be fine.

    Fred and George led Ginny to a seemingly random hallway close to the great hall. She was still carrying the bag filled with the gold in one hand as they walked. ¡°This is it,¡± Fred said as he reached up to a large statue of a pear that was mounted on the wall. He reached under the pear and started tickling it. After a few seconds of him brushing his fingers against the stone, the pear burst into quiet giggles and started shifting around as it burst into life and shifted slightly where it remained on the wall.

    After another few seconds tickling, there was suddenly a rumbling and the whole section of the wall slid aside as the pear stiffened back into stone again.

    ¡°And that¡¯s it,¡± Fred said, looking back at Ginny as they walked through the doors, ¡°Just tickle the pear and it¡¯ll open up and bring you in.¡±

    They went into the kitchen itself and all the house elves milling around turned to stare at them. All of them were wearing threadbare gray sacks over themselves, all their short forms looking up to stare at Ginny intently.

    ¡°Well, we¡¯re already full,¡± George said, ¡°We¡¯ve got more business to do. Just tell them what food you¡¯d like and they¡¯ll whip it up for you in no time. Have fun, sis,¡±

    The twins walked out back out the door into the hallway and the door rumbled closed behind them.

    Ginny looked around to the dozens of the house-elves staring at her with gradually dilating eyes and slack faces.

    ¡°Uhm, hello?¡± She asked nervously and waved to the crowd.

    She flinched as many of the house-elves suddenly tipped over and fell to the floor, while letting out loud moans. They weren¡¯t moans of pain, but¡­ happy moans. They made Ginny feel uncomfortable as the house-elves rolled around on the floor moaning and seeming to forget that she was even there.

    ¡°Enough! You disrespect our guuuueest!¡± A house elf panted from the back of the crowd, shaking their head and pointedly not looking at Ginny even if they were still panting heavily and wobbling where they stood.

    The house-elves on the floor all froze as one then struggled to control themselves and apologize to Ginny in a wave of sound. Many of them wobbled back to their feet only to fall to the ground moaning again after getting another glance at Ginny.

    ¡°What is going on?¡± Ginny asked the house-elf that seemed to be more put together, ¡°Why do all of you react to me like this?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s your magic, madame,¡± the house-elf said quickly, ¡°It¡¯s intoxicating just to look at. Ah, to have access to magic like that. So fresh and powerful¡­¡±

    ¡°But I don¡¯t have more magic than most other people?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Why are you acting this way around me then?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not the amount. It''s quality,¡± The house-elf clarified, ¡°The magic of a thousand normal wizards wouldn¡¯t be nearly as invigorating as a single drop of what you have, madame¡­¡±

    ¡°Are you going to ask for magic like the other one?¡± Ginny asked suspiciously, ¡°It freaked out and ran away last year when this same thing happened. Winky, I think their name was?¡±

    ¡°Ah, that was real? No, it must have been,¡± the house-elf said, ¡°None of us believed her, it was too fantastical to be true. But she has survived without a family for over a year so perhaps we should have known there was something to her story¡­ Would you like to meet the Aspect of the Ancestors?¡±

    ¡°Ancestors?¡± Ginny asked in confusion, ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°The Aspect of the Ancestors, containing all the wisdom of the house-elves past,¡± the house-elf said, ¡°From before we were bound to the family magics even. They mean you no harm, but they can give you many valuable things if you share some of your magic with them and the rest of us elves.¡±A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know¡­¡± Ginny said, ¡°You¡¯re house-elves right? You absolutely promise that these Ancestors won¡¯t try to hurt me?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡± The house-elf said, sounding horrified, ¡°With magic like yours they wouldn¡¯t dare doing anything that could risk the chances that you¡¯d willingly give them and the rest of us some of your delicious magic. We can''t take it, it has to be freely given.¡±

    Ginny didn¡¯t say anything for over a minute as she thought about it as the house-elf patiently waited for her answer. Eventually she shook her head and took out a deep breath. She unfolded her one hundred and seventy magic tendrils and had them float around her defensively. She could handle whoever these Ancestors were. Probably. She was powerful, and she could always call Fawkes if things went wrong.

    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll meet with them,¡± Ginny said.

    ¡°Excellent!¡± The house-elf who was apparently in charge said, ¡°Everyone form a circle, we¡¯ll be performing the Ancestor¡¯s Call now.¡±

    The house-elves who had mostly recovered from their strange drugged states all gathered in a circle and held their hands together. Ginny watched in confusion. The house-elves started humming deep in their little chests and waving forward and back as if they were each a piece of kelp was waving in the tides. Their humming grew more insistent and they pulsed inwards and outwards faster and faster as Ginny watched them, not understanding what had prompted the sudden change in their behavior.

    It was only when she saw all the magic in the house-elves pulse as one and shoot in thin beams towards a center point five feet above the ground in the center of the circle of house-elves that Ginny realized what was happening. Ancestor¡¯s Call! They were wasting no time calling whoever these person was right here!

    The circle of elves'' magic pulsed again, a third time, again and again until their magic finally pulsed powerfully for a seventh time. In the center of the circle of house-elves, floating in the air, was a roiling ball of condensed magic. Ginny had no clue what this complex spell floating in the air was doing as it shifted and swirled even as she watched it.

    She took a step back and covered the space between her and the floating orb and chanting elves with clouds of her magic tendrils ready to leap into action if anything nasty happened. Ginny¡¯s whole body was tense as she stood there and felt the ball of magic pulse for one last time and then expand into a jagged glowing rift like a knife cut through a thick cloth. The portal and the interior of the ¡®wound¡¯ were shining with brilliant purple light as the house-elves in the circle around it collapsed to the ground looking exhausted and utterly spent.

    The rift just hovered there in the air for a few moments, filling the whole room with an electric hum that Ginny could feel rumbling in her chest.

    A leg emerged from the portal and stepped out. It was a house-elf standing there, but also not, as it fully emerged. It stood straight backed and it was wearing purple silk clothing. It was headache inducing to look at. Every time the small figure moved, there was a trail of ghostly arms or other forms trailing just behind. As the house-elf turned its head to inspect the room dozens of ghostly projections of other house elves formed to look in every other direction as well before snapping back to the true head after the purple robed house-elf took a step away from the glowing rift hovering in the air behind it. Another purple clad house-elf emerged from the portal as well. Then another. They silently lined up opposite of Ginny and inspected her silently as the ghostly transparent forms roiled in and out of their bodies. The glowing white rift shrank behind them before with a loud electric zap, it shrank and popped out of existence again.

    The three purple clad newcomers all tilted their heads to the side in unison as they inspected Ginny.

    ¡°Greetings, Monarch,¡± The three strange house-elves said in unison with hundreds of overlapping house-elf voices as they bowed deeply to her. Their ghostly trails followed, some bowing all the way to the floor while others barely inclined their heads to her, ¡°It is our honor to meet one as esteemed as yourself.¡±

    In unison again, the three strange house-elves straightened up again and all of the ghostly forms returned to overlap with their bodies again over the course of the next second in a blurred wave of motion.

    ¡°Monarch?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Are you¡­ Are you the house-elf Ancestors? Do you have names that I should call you?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we are the Ancestors,¡± The three purple clad house-elves said in a thousand voices again, ¡°We are One being, with multiple forms. You may call us Vorzik if you so wish.¡±

    ¡°Oh, uhm. Vorzik,¡± Ginny said, looking between the three perfectly still house-elves, only their eyes following her creepily as she tried to decide which one she should be talking to. She eventually settled on staring at the one standing in the center.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure what you want?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Something about negotiating for me to give you some of my magic?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that is usually what we do,¡± Vorzik, in what Ginny had figured out was its three bodies, said in its overlapping voices, ¡°But we had no idea of your vaunted status before we came here, Monarch. If you would have us, we¡¯d be more than happy to serve as your loyal subjects. We can provide much value to your kingdom, far more than we have to those who feed us with the stingy family magics.¡±

    ¡°Are¡­ Are you still a house-elf?¡± Ginny asked cautiously, ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°We are¡­¡± Vorzik paused, ¡°Think of us as the house-elf afterlife. Our people have chosen that upon death they shall join us and be incorporated in the mind of me and their Ancestors so that I may shepherd and protect our people into the future.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re like¡­ parts of the minds of every house-elf that ever lived in one big group? Is that why you have all the¡­ projections and ghosts following your movements?¡±

    The three purple clad house-elves lifted their right arms in unison and inspected them. The ghostly projections of their heads and arms went wild all around them for a few moments before settling down and overlapping with their physical forms again as Vorzik kept their arm motionless and seemed to be considering it.

    ¡°There are many more that are not visible,¡± Vorzik said, ¡°The visible projections are simply those echoes of those that once were that our mind thought most useful for speaking with you cordially. Those at the top of our collective mind if you will.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Ginny said, eyeing the three purple clad house-elves carefully as they lowered their hands and the projections trailed behind, ¡°Okay. But why would you want to be a servant though? If you¡¯re so powerful, why would you let the house-elves be enslaved?¡±

    ¡°We are beings unlike you humans,¡± Vorzik answered, ¡°We require magic to live. Without it we wither and die. It is more essential to us than food or even water. When our people were first bound to the family magics by Merlin, we chose to receive that magic without a fight in exchange for our service. But I sense you are a true Monarch unlike the weak magicals we¡¯ve been bound to for all of this time. If you let us join you then we can do so much more to help, we¡¯ll be happy to serve!¡±

    At the end Vorzik words squeaked all at once, even in its thousands of voices.

    ¡°Would you accept our undying fealty and become our liege?¡± Vorzik asked formally before all three bodies got on one knee and bowed their heads to Ginny. The projections still broke free from their forms, but a few inches above the skin, they were sucked back and drawn back into the bodies of Vorzik as it remained there unmoving with its three heads bowed.

    All the other exhausted house-elves that had formed the summoning circle had been watching and listening to their conversation in undisguised awe as Vorzik spoke.

    ¡°Fealty?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°What¡­¡±

    She stiffened as a sudden burst of magic energy washed over her. She was frozen, unable to move as the red energy pulsed within her faster and faster until with a loud ripping sound a deep red light lit up the room.

    Ginny felt something enter her mind and suddenly she knew something that she¡¯d never learned. How to accept the fealty of Vorzik if she wanted to. And what it would mean if she did so. She¡¯d have to protect all of the house-elves as best as she could since they would be working under her. But at the same time she¡¯d be in charge so they¡¯d have to listen to her when she told them to do something.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Ginny asked Vorzik as it remained motionless, suddenly unsure of herself. She had always known that she¡¯d be in charge of Teregatt¡¯s residents some day when she was older. Whenever she finished the process of inheriting control of Teregatt. Or at least say hello to the residents before putting Balthazar in charge again. But this made it all seem so much more real.

    But hadn¡¯t she been feeling bad for the poor house-elves just yesterday at the great feast? Wasn¡¯t this something she could do to help them?

    ¡°Yes,¡± Vorzik said with conviction, ¡°Absolutely, if you would have us and our people we¡¯d be more than grateful to accept.¡±

    Ginny felt the new knowledge in her mind tell her what she should do. Ginny puffed up and straightened her back and tried to look as regal as she could. Her magic pulsed in the strange ways as described by the strange new knowledge in her head.

    ¡°I, Ginevra Weasley, do hereby accept the fealty of you and your people. May I protect and nurture your growth and knowledge as you serve me and my realm, Teregatt.¡±

    ¡°I, Vorzik, Aspect of Ancestor for the house-elves,¡± Vorzik said, ¡°Do solemnly swear absolute fealty to our new Queen Ginevra Weasley. And through the authority invested in me by my people, I also swear the fealty of our whole people to your cause fully. To serve through death or when we are no longer wanted by her majesty. We swear our fealty to her liege.¡±

    There was an absolutely titanic pulse of magic that blasted out from Vorzik as they finished. The air twisted and hummed with the raw magic as Vorzik kept emitting more and more magic as Ginny watched.

    There was another red flash above Ginny and she felt another packet of information enter her mind. It was giving her a choice of what to do. Bind them to her personally or to Teregatt. Ginny chose the obvious option. She¡¯d be much more comfortable if everything didn¡¯t rest on her completely.

    ¡°I bind you to my realm of Teregatt,¡± Ginny said formally as she twisted her magic in strange patterns again, ¡°May it sustain you so that you may defend it with all your strength.¡±

    The pulses of magic from Vorzik became more focused and began flowing in shifting patterns that Ginny had absolutely no hope of understanding even the smallest fragment of.

    Another red flash. More information, and what Ginny knew was the final choice. Ginny truly hesitated with this one. She knew that Balthazar was using Teregatt¡¯s energy to defend against Fate¡¯s constant attacks against him. What would happen if she drained it like this?

    But what if some poor house-elf got stranded behind and got hurt because Ginny delayed? She pushed through and made her choice and spoke one more time, swirling her magic in one more pattern that had newly entered her mind.

    ¡°Then let you and all of your people be drawn to your new home. Let Teregatt welcome its newest defenders,¡± Ginny said. Instantly a red spark formed in the air to the side of where all of them stood. It struggled and sparked like it was lighting a match before expanding in a *Whumph* of displaced air into a reddish swirling portal six feet tall.

    Vorzik turned to Ginny and bowed one more time.

    ¡°I look forward to serving you in the future, my Queen,¡± It said before its three bodies turned to the red portal and walked through. All the other house-elves even despite their exhausted states all had their eyes fixed on the red portal. The whole room was shrouded in a crimson shade that turned the large eyes of the house-elves red. All of the house-elves stood to their feet and stumbled towards the portal, beautific grins on their faces as they walked towards the light. One of the house-elves was left behind, so exhausted that they could barely even crawl towards the red portal with desperation in their eyes.

    Ginny carefully used a few of her magic tendrils to lift the exhausted elf who was being left behind and carried it over the heads of the others and into the red portal to Teregatt.

    Ginny saw the very edge of the portal starting to become corroded by a golden infection eating away at it. But as soon as the golden infection of Fate ate its way inwards the red portal would pulse with more magic and push it back again to keep the portal stable. Using raw magical power to overcome Fate''s attempts to close it.

    After the last enraptured house-elf stumbled through the red portal to Teregatt without even saying a word to Ginny, the golden infection suddenly struck in a flash as Teregatt stopped feeding energy into the portal to keep it stable. Fate¡¯s golden magic  quickly struck inwards and dissolved the portal and turned it into loose wisps of magic. As soon as the red portal to Teregatt was gone, the golden light of Fate¡¯s magic disappeared as well.

    The light of the kitchens returned to normal. Ginny looked around as she realized that everything was silent. The place was completely empty, all of the house elves having left for Teregatt.

    Ginny startled as she realized she had to get out of here quickly. Who knew how Umbridge would act if she thought Ginny had anything to do with all the house-elves disappearing. And Ginny did mean all of them. Teregatt sent one of those red portals to every living house-elf. Based on the reaction to the ones in the kitchens, Ginny couldn¡¯t imagine any of them refusing the call to go¡­

    She went to the wall that slid open and she approached it to leave the silent kitchens. She stepped out and put her head down as she tried to walk back to the Ravenclaw tower as casually as she could. Nothing suspicious here, nothing at all¡­

    She made it back to her bed safely and collapsed into it with a sigh of relief. Ugh, that had been so stressful. Hopefully Balthazar wouldn¡¯t be mad at her for what she¡¯d done. But it had just felt like the right thing in the moment to accept Vorzik¡¯s offer. All of the strange magic she had just used accepting the house-elves fealty suddenly caught up with her and she felt a wave of exhaustion wash over her. She barely had time to kick off her shoes and pull off her socks and squirm underneath the covers of her bed before falling asleep as soon as her head touched her pillow.

 Chapter 76: The Mad Potioner Strikes Back

    ¡°Ginny? Hello?¡± Ginny opened her eyes and groaned with a pounding head. She saw her roommate leaning over her and looking concerned.

    ¡°What?¡± Ginny groaned.

    ¡°Are you coming to dinner? What are you doing sleeping so early?¡±

    ¡°Bleeeeehhhh. Just taking a power nap after classes. Was tired,¡± Ginny said as she rubbed her eyes and sat up, ¡°What time is it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s only ten minutes until dinner,¡± Ginny¡¯s roommate said, ¡°I was just dropping my school stuff back in the room. Want to come with me to the great hall?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Ginny said as she threw back the covers of her bed and stood up, ¡°Sounds good. Thanks for waking me up.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t think you of all people would need a nap,¡± Ginny¡¯s roommate joked, ¡°You sleep like a log every night.¡±

    Ginny shrugged awkwardly. And she was hungry too, ravenous in fact. She¡¯d used up a lot of her magic accepting the fealty of the house-elves even if Teregatt had taken most of the magical burden from her with its energies.

    It was only when Ginny sat down at the Ravenclaw table with her roommate and her other Ravenclaw girl friends that she realized that the house elves were gone. Right, no one would be making dinner for them¡­

    Umbridge stood from the Headmistress¡¯ chair and clapped her hands as she usually did now to summon the food.

    Nothing happened.

    She frowned and clapped again.

    Nothing happened.

    There was some muttering in the great hall as people started noticing that something was wrong. Umbridge furiously muttered to herself for a few seconds, and nothing happened.

    She cleared her throat and with a spell made her voice loud for all of them to hear.

    ¡°Students, there appears to be a problem with the kitchens. Please remain seated, the staff will deal with it shortly.¡±

    Umbridge gestured to the assorted teachers at the professor¡¯s table who reluctantly stood and followed her out of the great hall. Everyone started gossiping and gradually complaining as it took longer and longer without the teachers returning.

    Ginny¡¯s stomach rumbled loudly as she sat there.

    ¡°See?¡± her roommate said, ¡°Ginny¡¯s running around the castle and things in the mornings! She needs more food than any of us. When are they going to come back?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Ginny said as she put a hand to her stomach reflexively, ¡°What do you think is even taking them so long?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± her roommate said, ¡°Maybe Umbridge upset the house-elves and they¡¯re protesting or something? You saw how she treated that one that came up before, I wouldn¡¯t like it if someone talked to me like that.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re house-elves,¡± One of the other girls said to jump in, ¡°They don¡¯t think like that. They¡¯re absolutely loyal to their families. They wouldn¡¯t do something that would even inconvenience their masters in any way. It¡¯s probably just something with the food. Found out that it was spoiled or something and so they couldn¡¯t send it up.¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s¡­¡±

    There was more arguing, everyone growing more and more irate the longer the teachers remained absent. Using your magic made you hungrier, and everyone had been casting almost all day for their classes. One of the reasons their meals at Hogwarts were so laden with food every day. All of them needed the calories after using their magic so much.

    Several students started standing up and leaving the great hall to go see what was going on. Finally, five minutes later Umbridge returned flanked by Amelia Bones and Alastor Moody of all people. The muttering instantly silenced as they saw the two Aurors there. The three people proceeded to the front of the hall.

    Umbridge amplified her voice, ¡°It seems that there has been an incident in the kitchens,¡± She said, ¡°The Aurors are investigating it thoroughly. But for now Prefects will lead their houses back to their common rooms. There will be no meal tonight for the school. When we have more information then we will inform you. Until then you are to remain in your common rooms and listen to the Aurors that will be stationed to guard the doors. That will be all. Prefects, escort your houses out now please.¡±

    After a moment of shock, the prefects started moving and herding people out of the room to return to the common rooms. If it was just Umbridge then maybe they would have asked some questions or thought she was lying¡­ But Amelia Bones and Alastor Moody were standing right behind her. If they were here then it must be something serious.

    As all the Ravenclaws returned to the common room with complaints and rumbling stomachs, one name kept coming up over and over in their mutterings and conspiracy theories.

    Pettigrew.

    Pettigrew.

    Pettigrew.

    Ginny couldn¡¯t believe why people kept insisting on blaming Pettigrew for everything that happened. Even if it was helping her this time, it made her vaguely annoyed as she listened to the theories and rumors of the crowd. Well, better them to blame a dead man then somebody alive but innocent instead, Ginny mused as three Aurors circled their group and herded all of them towards their common room.

    The next day, none of them had breakfast either. All of them were being confined to their common rooms with three serious Aurors standing outside as guards. If one meal had made some people disgruntled, a second missed meal made them practically miserable. Some of them were just sitting in the corners of the room with forlorn looks and staring blankly at the homework they were supposed to be doing.

    Classes were canceled for the day, but they were told firmly that the homework they had been already assigned would still be due whenever they returned to class.

    It wasn¡¯t until dinner that they were finally led down to the great hall that was filled with food. In the corner of the room was a giant fireplace filled with green fire, part of the floo network. Adults were streaming in and out to deliver food to the tables as all of them sat down eager to eat.

    Amelia Bones walked in as they all sat there, uncertain if they were allowed to eat yet as the people coming in kept loading up the tables with food using levitation spells to float the food to their proper places.

    ¡°Students!¡± Madame Bones said in an amplified voice that silenced the murmuring in the hall, ¡°As of some time last afternoon, all house elves in the world have disappeared,¡± she said, ¡°There are reports of red portals appearing in front of them and them jumping inside without any hesitation. All at precisely the same time. These portals resisted the magic of any others who attempted to enter or destroy them. There have been no reports of a single house elf failing to go through to these portals to wherever they may lead. So without the house elves to run the Hogwarts kitchens, the Ministry is looking to hire chefs and professional staff to take their place. This will take some time, but in the interim the ministry will do our best to ensure we keep your young minds well fed by bringing outside meals and contractors. This will¡­¡±

    The giant green fireplace flickered and stuttered before its green flames winked out. A pair of men standing nearby swore and cast another series of spells as the people delivering the food waited. After a few seconds the giant green flame leapt up again and people kept walking in and out of the fireplace.

    ¡°...will,¡± Madame Bones continued after a brief pause, ¡°likely be in tomorrow¡¯s papers. So you can read the full details there. Please enjoy your meal.¡±

    Then with a single nod, she turned and walked over to the large fireplace and walked through the green flames to leave the castle. All of the students including Ginny dug in and started eating ravenously.

    Well, it seems they weren¡¯t blaming Pettigrew yet.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    They ended up completely blaming Pettigrew. It only took a day of looking for actual leads on what had happened before the world seemed to collectively shrug and immediately decide that anything unexplained must have Pettigrew behind it somehow.

    No one ever suspected Ginny of anything, even Fred and George. Ginny had just said she¡¯d left the kitchen after talking with the elves and taken a nap after. Her brothers had accepted that pretty easily, surprisingly.

    Over the next week, the giant fireplace remained a fixture in the great hall with people with trays laden with food streaming in and out at the beginning of each meal to deliver the food and take away the dirty dishes. Two grumpy Aurors stood by the fireplace at all times and reactivated it whenever it randomly shut itself off. Something that was happening more and more often as time passed.

    ¡°What¡¯s up with that anyways?¡± Ginny asked Amvatroz after classes on the next Tuesday after briefly explaining what was happening with the fireplace, ¡°Why is it doing that?¡±

    Amvatroz snorted, ¡°Ah, Hogwarts likes to stay secure. You have no idea how much pleading and constant maintenance from the headmasters it took to keep the fireplace with access to the floo in the headmaster¡¯s office open. I think it was three straight years of Hogwarts trying to turn it off before she finally got used to it and decided to let it stay permanently at long last. Something that big? In the middle of the great hall where all of Hogwarts students are meeting where anyone can just enter the school freely? If Umbridge doesn¡¯t do something to stop it soon then Hogwarts will start screaming and throwing a tantrum. I can sense Hogwarts fuming even now and preparing to throw a fit. And I think I¡¯ve told you what that would be like for Umbridge if that happens. Or those poor Aurors responsible for reactivating the fireplace each time.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Well I hope they find some good chefs to hire before that happens,¡± Ginny said, ¡°We¡¯ve still got to eat. I¡¯m not sure what the big deal is anyways. They can just pay some people, there must be chefs they could hire for this. Dumbledore was paying the house-elves the whole time they worked here and it wasn¡¯t a problem. Even if he didn¡¯t have to.¡±

    ¡°Probably less people than you¡¯d think,¡± Amvatroz said, ¡°Noble houses lock any talented staff into long term contracts. And the Ministry will want things to be completely secure with this Pettigrew business going on. So finding enough people who are reliable enough for the position may be more difficult than it might first appear.¡±

    ¡°Well, It¡¯s been a week already. I¡¯m surprised it¡¯s taking so long even with that.¡±

    ¡°Well, they better hurry themselves,¡± Amvatroz said, ¡°Before Hogwarts¡¯ real tantrum begins and she shuts off that little floo connection in the great hall with all her strength.¡±

    ¡°Hopefully,¡± Ginny agreed, ¡°Anyways. Nice talking to you, Amvatroz. I¡¯ve got to go.¡±

    Ginny walked down the stairs to the base of the tower and yelped as she saw Eric standing there with his shiny new badge pinned to his chest. A big ¡®I¡¯ covered the center of the otherwise pristine silver badge pinned to his chest.

    ¡°Haha!¡± he laughed, ¡°Never thought I¡¯d be able to surprise you, Ginny.¡±

    ¡°Piss off, Eric,¡± Ginny said as she went to brush by him, ¡°I have places to be.¡±

    Neither of them deployed their magic tendrils in a silent truce.

    ¡°Hey, wait. I¡¯m the Head of the Inquisitorial Squad, you¡¯ve got to listen to me. I want to talk to you about something.¡±

    Ginny turned around and saw Eric tapping on his shiny new badge that Umbridge had given him.

    ¡°What did you even want it for?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°You¡¯re the last one who should be enforcing the rules.¡±

    ¡°I know!¡± Eric said with a giggle, ¡°Isn¡¯t it amazing? I can just make things up on the spot and since I¡¯m head inquisitor no one can tell me otherwise. I can even hand out detentions now if someone breaks one of the dozens of new educational decrees the Minister put in in the name of security. Did you know that there¡¯s one that says you can¡¯t be too loud in hallways? I use that one all the time, no one can say that I¡¯m wrong so I can just punish anyone I want to with no consequences. Really strikes fear into the people, you know. And I even get praised for it by Ron and Hermione since most of the other Inquisitors are Slytherins. They¡¯re all so biased against Gryffindor. So I can just follow Draco Malfoy around all the time and immediately undermine whatever he does since I¡¯m the Head Inquisitor and he has to listen to me. It¡¯s all rather hilarious, watching him fume as I counter every punishment he gives out and reassigning it to the closest Slytherin walking by. Doing a public service to keep the rest of us out from under Slytherin tyranny!¡±

    ¡°You disgust me. I don¡¯t even want to know what horrible things you¡¯ve done to Umbridge to force her to give you that position. What are you doing here, Eric? I thought we were leaving each other alone. For real this time?¡±

    ¡°Hey, hey!¡± Eric said, raising his hands up as if to surrender, ¡°Of course. I won¡¯t even dare give your friends so much as even a single detention. This is a side deal. You¡¯re free to walk away after I¡¯ve told you what it is.¡±

    Ginny hesitated and shifted her grip on her bag, ¡°Fine,¡± she said warily, ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Eric said, ¡°All this order and rule of law playacting is a bit fun. But I¡¯ve found a certain target I¡¯d really love to use a love potion on. The real strong stuff, you know. But that would break our deal. So I¡¯d like to negotiate for an exception just this once. And in return I¡¯ll tell you some information I¡¯m sure that you¡¯d like to know. About Luna Lovegood. Remember that girl that I took to the Yule ball? Ever wonder what ended up happening to her?¡±

    ¡°Luna? What do you mean? I see her all the time in the common room,¡± Ginny said in confusion.

    ¡°And how does she look?¡± Eric asked with a sly grin, ¡°Happy, content? Lots of friends?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s¡­ No? How would you know that? Are you spying on us?¡±The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°No, no. I would never. But as Head Inquisitor you do start to hear rumors that are generally only for¡­ a select number of ears, you know. I¡¯ve hooked you with the mystery. I¡¯ll explain the whole situation, open and honest. And in return just let me dose one person with the potion.¡±

    Ginny hesitated, her interest peaked. But¡­

    ¡°Who is it?¡± Ginny asked suspiciously, ¡°Not Draco is it? Or Umbridge? Haven¡¯t you done enough to them already?¡±

    ¡°No, neither,¡± Eric said, ¡°And I haven¡¯t done anything to Draco. It¡¯s just a bit of light teasing, jokes between good friends you understand.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, following him around and undermining him constantly sounds like light teasing,¡± Ginny said sarcastically.

    Eric nodded easily and didn¡¯t seem to pick up on her tone. Ugh. In his twisted mind he probably did think of it like that.

    ¡°Well, who is it?¡± Ginny said, ¡°Why now?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s one of the staff bringing in our food,¡± Eric said, ¡°He keeps trying to poison me. It¡¯s been rather annoying. Especially when he messed up and accidentally tried to poison Hermione instead. I had to slap the cup right out of her hand and then make up some stupid excuse on the spot. Told her that it would rot her teeth or something. She wouldn¡¯t talk to me for a whole day after that. Not sure why she was so upset about that one, actually¡­¡±

    ¡°That cup was poisoned?¡± Ginny said in shock, remembering the incident of Eric slapping the cup out of Hermione¡¯s hand a few days ago, ¡°Why haven¡¯t you told somebody?¡±

    ¡°Who? Umbridge?¡± Eric said, ¡°That would be no fun. And how would I explain how she knew? She¡¯d have to tell other people like the Aurors and explain how she knew these things. I doubt they¡¯d take her gut feelings too seriously. I mean, she¡¯s Umbridge. I don¡¯t think even the Minister could possibly like her as a person. Trust me if I give this guy a love potion then all of our problems will be solved. Pretty sure. And he¡¯s trying to poison people, me being people, so he even deserves it too.¡±

    ¡°And what will you do if I say no?¡± Ginny said, ¡°About this person?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Eric said with a shrug, ¡°Probably report them to the Aurors or something boring like that. Anonymous note or whatever. But they¡¯d get away pretty easily and just come back later. This person has been sneaking under the Ministry¡¯s nose the whole time, no reason why they wouldn¡¯t be able to sneak away just as easily even if they got found out.¡±

    Ginny wondered about it. She never wanted to give Eric anything. But if somebody was trying to poison him, and more importantly maybe Ron or Hermione by mistake¡­

    She could see Eric letting somebody innocent get poisoned who wasn¡¯t Ron or Hermione as a sick joke. Or just because he wasn¡¯t paying attention or care enough to bother stopping somebody from getting hurt. And Alexa sat at the Gryffindor table. If this poisoner targeted her¡­ Would Eric protect her? Or would this fall under non-interference under their deal? Would he just sit back and watch as Alexa drank the poison?

    ¡°Oooohh, such a calculating glint in those eyes,¡± Eric said, ¡°Just get you a sharp suit and wear your hair in a bun up top and you could be an insurance lawyer trying to deny somebody coverage. I¡¯ve heard they¡¯re the evilest and richest type of lawyer from the kids at the orphanage. Earning their vast riches by stomping on the faces of children who have cancer and everything. Although I''m sure you''d be prettiest one as you smother them in the hospital with a pillow for the insurance money.¡±

    Ginny shook her head and glared at Eric. ¡°Shut up. Fine. Tell me, what¡¯s going on with Luna? And you better make sure that nobody but this poisoner gets hurt. Or I¡¯ll¡­ think of something to do to you. And it¡¯ll be bad!¡±

    ¡°Hm. Lame threat,¡± Eric said, ¡°But such passion! So yeah, your girl Luna Lovegood has been bullied rather heavily these last few years. Almost three years now, your whole time at this school. Well, at this school as you of course. It¡¯s the Ravenclaw Prefect, Preston, and his cronies behind it. They steal her stuff and hex her in the hallways. Ambush her when she¡¯s alone. Isolate her and scare off anyone that might want to be her friend. Insult her a bit and make her feel worthless and pathetic all the time.¡±

    Eric waved his hair in the air dismissively, ¡°You know, the whole thing. Real nasty stuff. She seemed a nice enough girl when I took her to the Yule ball. Thought you¡¯d want to know since you used to be such good buddies over that summer. Even taught her a bit of our special little magic, so you must really like her. Or you did, at least. Here, I¡¯ve written up a list of targets for your perusal, Milady.¡±

    Eric reached into his robes and pulled out a scrap of parchment. He handed it over and Ginny read the list of fifteen names on it.

    Before she could react Eric gave her a sloppy salute and his grin stretched unnaturally wide.

    ¡°Alright! See you at the evening meal! It¡¯ll be a great one, I¡¯m sure,¡± he said, ¡°No takesy backsies. Just enjoy the show.¡±

    He turned and walked off as Ginny stood there gripping the parchment with mixed feelings swirling within her. She¡¯d just have to be careful for the meal. And most importantly¡­ Ginny would have to be ready to spring into action if anything went wrong. With one hundred and seventy five maximum magic tendrils now, she should be able to mostly match Eric in a telekinetic battle if it came down for it. Maybe.

    If things started going wrong she could stop it and worry about dealing with Eric on more equal footing later.

    The time for Eric¡¯s reckoning was almost here. Ginny could take him on now. But only just barely. Maybe. Probably. It was just a chance of victory rather than her being immediately crushed by him in a fight. But she was still waiting longer to build her strength so the result would be clearer if Eric took her seriously and they came into real conflict.

    Ginny wasn¡¯t even sure exactly what she¡¯d do with Eric once she overpowered him. He¡¯d done so many horrible things, and was the one that had led to Harry having to sacrifice himself so Ginny could live.

    He was a monster.

    But she didn¡¯t want to just kill him either. It didn¡¯t feel right, but Ginny wasn¡¯t sure what else she could do. Maybe make him admit to all his crimes to the Aurors? Then everyone would know everything that he had done and gotten away with over the years. Maybe. She just wasn¡¯t sure.

    Ginny shook her head. There was no use worrying about it right now. She still wasn¡¯t powerful to take him on in telekinetic combat, even if just by a hair. And that wasn¡¯t even including the flames he summoned or all the wand magic that the two of them had learned. No matter what she did it would be a hard fight. Best to not worry about what to do with Eric until she was strong enough that a fight might go her way.

    She¡¯d have to warn her friends. And Fred and George. She wasn¡¯t taking any chances that Eric would let things go so wrong like they had last time he had used love potions on people.

    She¡¯d think of what to do with the list of names burning a hole in the pocket of her robes after this stressful dinner was over.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Lord Voldemort weaved through the crowd along with all the other servers bringing food to the Hogwarts students. Disguised with polyjuice potion once more. The ministry had been desperate to hire people to fill these positions at such short notice, and so Voldemort had been able to skip past most of the stringent checks that Alastor Moody had instituted with his ascension from unimportant veteran Auror to second in command of the Auror department as a whole, only below Amelia Bones in importance.

    Voldemort weaved closer to the Gryffindor table. His tray was completely clean. Eric Potter had ¡®luckily¡¯ dodged all of Voldemort¡¯s attempted poisonings. He was sure that the boy was suspicious, but since the staff were using levitation charms to deliver the food and drink to the tables he shouldn¡¯t be able to tell who was delivering the poisoned food and drink to him. And Voldemort always made sure to keep his distance so that whatever method the boy used to detect him before would hopefully be foiled.

    He guessed that it was likely based on proximity. He had noticed that when he had pretended to be that teacher that it was only about halfway through the lesson when Voldemort had walked closer to the boy that he had perked up and changed his behavior. Likely the boy detecting who he truly was, most likely.

    If Voldemort kept his distance then things should be fine.

    Voldemort made sure to keep his wand focused on another tray of food as he carefully guided the poisoned food and drink to Eric Potter. He had made sure that he was among of the first trays of food to be delivered. There should be no chance of the boy avoiding the food now. Voldemort was unsure if the boy was truly aware of Voldemort¡¯s poisoning attempts, or if it was truly a coincidence that he defended the poisoned food or drink during the meals while never quite managing to be hungry enough to eat it. Always leaving it completely untouched by the time the meal was finished

    This time would at least confirm that the boy was aware that someone was attempting to poison him. Voldemort could retreat and reassess his plans from there if this failed. There should be no way for the boy to avoid the food now.

    The platter landed directly in front of Eric Potter. His slobbish red haired friend reached out, but Eric Potter slapped his hand sharply and said something.

    Eric turned and looked Voldemort directly in the eyes and put a finger to his lips in a shushing gesture. Then with another word to the girl next to him, he grabbed the tray of poisoned food and hurled it across the great hall full force in a blur of motion.

    Voldemort watched as the tray flew unnaturally far over to the Slytherin table in a great arc. A blonde boy¡­ Ah, Draco Malfoy, Lucius¡¯ boy. The blonde boy looked up and his eyes widened as the large tray of food descended from the sky and slammed into him full force in the chest, knocking him from his seat and sending sprawling onto the ground behind him.

    The Slytherins around young Draco all stood up incensed and looked over to Eric who had boldly stood up and was staring them down.

    ¡°Food fight! Down with the snakes!¡± Eric shouted at the top of his lungs as he drew his wand and launched another tray of food towards the Slytherin table with a quick spell.

    The Slytherin¡¯s grimaced and a few caught the tray flung their way and sent it flying back towards Eric along with some of the food that had been sitting on it. The food not caught within the Slytherin student¡¯s spell kept moving and sprayed all over the Hufflepuff table.

    ¡°Oy!¡± One of the Hufflepuff students threw an apple at the Slytherin who had botched the spell and sprayed the food over him. Then the true food fight began, each retaliation against the other becoming ever larger as time passed.

    Voldemort sneered and turned to the green fireplace. The boy knew about the poison, and more importantly who he was. It was time to leave.

    Before he could react, something invisible grabbed Voldemort¡¯s jaw and wrenched it downwards. A heavy pink droplet shot up from where it had been floating under a table and plopped in the back of Voldemort¡¯s throat as he stumbled forward and into the green fireplace. He rubbed his jaw as he reappeared in the special room in the Ministry put aside for this purpose. The kitchens where all the house elves used to prepare the food for Ministry employees on request.

    Voldemort quickly drew his wand and prepared to cast a spell to purge his body of whatever poison the boy must have dosed him with¡­

    But he was too late. A strange uncomfortable feeling washed over Lord Voldemort. A feeling like he¡¯d never felt before, except perhaps for what he felt in the pursuit of his magic. It was¡­ Lust like he¡¯d never felt before. All directed at one man, who Voldemort knew was the most important person in the world¡­

    Voldemort drew his wand and charged recklessly through the hallways of the Ministry, ignoring the dismayed shouts as he shoved people aside to continue with maximum speed. He couldn¡¯t bear to wait one more second away from the man that his mind couldn¡¯t tear itself away from.

    He reached the Auror department and the two men in blue robes looking bored as they guarded the door stared at him dumbly as he pushed through the crowded lobby of the Ministry towards them.

    Voldemort considered slowing down, finding some excuse to go through. There were many reasons to enter the place without raising suspicion. Reporting a crime perhaps, saying that the man himself had requested Voldemort in his disguise for questioning¡­

    But all of that would take too long. Before either Auror could react, Voldemort sent out two stunners that knocked out both of the Aurors on guard duty, sending them falling limp to the ground. The crowd behind Voldemort in the main lobby all let out gasps, but Voldemort had already run through the doorway into the Auror¡¯s office itself. He kept running, the Aurors milling around looking at Voldemort in confusion as he charged through the office.

    When he was halfway to the office of the most important man in the world, a deep thrumming alarm started buzzing through the office. The Aurors milling around filling out paperwork drew their wands from their robes as one and looked around warily. It took a few seconds before they connected the alarm to Voldemort who was still sprinting towards the man¡¯s office.

    They wasted another two seconds shouting at him to attempt to stop him, to waste more time that could be spent with the man of Voldemort¡¯s dreams.

    Voldemort casually blocked the first round of spells as he rounded the last corner and saw the door to the fancy office. Voldemort started running, his lips starting to drool and his attention wavering as he daydreamed all that the two of them would do together once he confessed his true feelings for the man.

    Just as Voldemort was almost there, the door slammed open and the wonderful man himself appeared. Scarred from battle and with an imposing look as he stared at Voldemort with wariness and anger.

    His large gnarled wooden staff was in his right hand and one of his legs was an enchanted prosthetic. The man¡¯s enchanted eye focused on Voldemort as he kept charging.

    ¡°Alastor Moody, I, Lord Voldemort, love you!¡± Voldemort cried as he leapt forward to plant a kiss on the handsome and grizzled Auror¡¯s lips.

    The man¡¯s remaining eye widened in shock and he brought his staff to sit between him and Voldemort. With a pulse of magic, a wave of force shot from the tip of the staff and pushed Voldemort back so he was sliding backwards across on the floor.

    Voldemort used his wandless flight spell to shroud himself and float in the air while staring at the beautiful man.

    ¡°Oh, Alastor, my love for you is boundless!¡± Voldemort said, ¡°I didn¡¯t see it before, but now you¡¯re in front of me I know we are fated for one another!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯ve been dosed with a love potion all right,¡± Alastor said skeptically, ¡°Who are you really? Not that minion of Dark Lord Pettigrew are you?¡±

    ¡°PETTIGREW!¡± Voldemort raged, his extreme focus on Alastor¡¯s lips being broken. He wobbled up and down as he briefly lost control of his wandless flight spell.

    ¡°THAT SNIVELING SPINELESS COWARD IS NOTHING COMPARED TO ME! THAT IMBECILE WAS BEGGING AT MY FEET FOR SCRAPS, HE IS NOTHING! NOTHING!¡±

    Alastor snorted, his face a picture of genuine amusement. The rest of the Aurors around Voldemort looked around nervously as if Pettigrew would appear at the mere mention of his name and strike them down. Many of them edged away from Voldemort as if to avoid whatever divine punishment he¡¯d receive for his insolence.

    Voldemort felt his rage surge to new heights as he saw their reactions.

    ¡°NO! YOU FEAR ME! PETTIGREW IS NO DARK LORD, HE¡¯S JUST A SPINELESS LITTLE BOY TOO AFRAID TO SHOW HIS FACE! I AM LORD VOLDEMORT, YOU SHOULD FEAR MY NAME! NOT PETTIGREW¡¯S! I TERRORIZED ALL OF BRITAIN! BEFORE MY POWER YOU ALL ARE NOTHING BUT ANTS! NONE BUT DUMBLEDORE ARE MY EQUAL!¡±

    ¡°Oh, except you, Alastor, you¡¯re not an ant,¡± Voldemort added as he remembered why he was there, ¡°You¡¯re the most important man in the world to me. Why don¡¯t we run away with each other? Get away from all of these politics and visit an island or two?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure that Pettigrew will enjoy hearing about all these things that you¡¯re saying about him,¡± Alastor said, barely even able to suppress his laughter, ¡°You¡¯re nothing but his dog. When he shows up I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be begging for scraps from him again. All your bluster gone when he¡¯s around to hold your leash.¡±

    ¡°Pettigrew is nothing,¡± Voldemort said, just barely withholding his explosive rage so as not to upset the perfect Alastor, ¡°But a worm. I¡¯ll kill him. I¡¯ll kill that boy eventually.¡±

    ¡°Alright, boys,¡± Alastor said, ¡°You know what would make me happiest, Lord Voldemort?¡±

    ¡°Yes? What?¡± Voldemort asked eagerly as he floated there in his dark cloud spell.

    ¡°If you let yourself be stunned and captured by the Aurors here. We can discuss your¡­ feelings after you wake back up.¡±

    Voldemort struggled. Something was wrong, he was now sure of it. But Alastor wanted him to do something, and if it was the only way for Alastor to be happy¡­

    ¡°Very well, capture me,¡± Voldemort said as he lowered to the ground and deactivated his spell.

    Alastor raised his wand that he had taken from his robes and pointed it at Voldemort, ¡°Stupify!¡± Alastor chanted. The red bolt struck out and knocked the unresisting Voldemort unconscious. And a second later a pendant around his neck flashed green and Voldemort¡¯s body sprawled on the floor went completely still.

    Voldemort was dead, his failsafe having activated far too late to salvage his pride.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    In an abandoned house protected by the most powerful wards of Lord Voldemort, a cauldron filled to the brim with black fluid sat. All of a sudden the placid fluid started bubbling as if on a boil and began to roil and pop, the level sinking even as miraculously none of the strange fluid spilled over the rim and onto the floor of the house.

    After five minutes of rumbling and shaking of the cauldron and draining over a third of its contents, a naked body floated out of the cauldron and stayed suspended in mid-air. The figure¡¯s eyes opened and they grit their teeth as they floated back down to the ground again. Voldemort quickly grabbed one of his spare wands so helpfully supplied by Bellatrix and immediately apparated to the shore of Britain in a series of quick spells.

    He stood on the isolated beach staring out onto the water and used a few quick spells to check for any people around. No one for miles. Voldemort checked one last time. No one.

    Finally Voldemort allowed his seething rage to explode out of him as he launched a series of angry blasting curses out into the ocean.

    ¡°GRRRRAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! ERRIIIIICC POTTER, CURRRRRSSSSSEEEE YOU!¡±

    He screamed as he cast blasting curse after blasting curse into the ocean to vent his anger. Plumes of water shot upwards wherever his magic landed.

    Finally his magic was spent even if his seething rage was not.

    ¡°Curse you¡­ Eric Potter,¡± Voldemort whispered as his pride burned at this latest humiliation. He hadn¡¯t wanted to do it, worried that it would take too much planning. And it would destroy Hogwarts who he still respected more than most anything in this world.

    But this was the last straw. He¡¯d destroy Eric Potter once and for all, no matter the casualties. No more half measures.

    He had a lot of work to do.

 Chapter 77: The Chompers

    Ginny sat in Teregatt, feeling restless in her mud body with the crown on top. She had been practicing on her own for who knows how long in here, relentlessly increasing her control over her telekinetic tendrils. But it still wasn¡¯t enough. Eric started that food fight in the great hall and his sudden ¡®deal¡¯ with her reminded her that she couldn¡¯t be complacent. He was asking for permission now to do those horrible things, but who knew how long it would last. Even if she surprised Eric with her number of magic tendrils, it wouldn¡¯t be enough. After a second''s shock he would recover and know everything that she was capable of. She needed to learn something that could be her surprise for him, even if it would take away from the growth of her main telekinesis magic.

    Ginny sat there thinking for a moment before remembering something. The search function on the crown of Teregatt sitting on her muddy head. She¡¯d always used it to find the practice room and the portal room when she needed to. But could it find other things too? Balthazar had mentioned a long time ago that he had been creating magical lessons for her. Maybe there was a book, or it was written down somewhere where she could learn from them?

    Balthazar was probably still busy fighting off Fate, Ginny knew that he must be putting all his focus to that, especially after Ginny had messed things up slightly by using Teregatt¡¯s energies to bring all the house-elves to Teregatt itself.

    The house-elves had presumably left outside for Azkaban, Ginny still hadn¡¯t seen anybody in Teregatt while she walked around in its empty hallways.

    Ginny sent her request to the crown and waited for over a minute as the crown hummed softly with magic on top of her head. Then suddenly she felt a tugging sensation of where she should go. She let out a sigh of relief and followed the crown¡¯s nudges as she walked through the maze-like hallways. The crown must have found something that matched her request.

    Eventually Ginny reached another blank wall. Using the crown Ginny opened the door that she could sense was there. She went inside and looked around to see that it was a storage room of some sort. Lots of strange enchanted objects were scattered around or mounted on stands proudly in little corners. On the far side of the room was a table with a heavy book that looked nearly six inches thick and wide. Its brown leather cover had ¡®Magical Lessons - For the Queen¡¯ written on it as if by hand in bright red letters. The crown nudged her towards the book one last time as she approached before deactivating now that she¡¯d found it.

    Ginny reached out to pick up the book, but then hesitated as she saw her hands made of black mud. Right, she didn¡¯t want to get the book dirty¡­

    She focused and decided that she¡¯d try practicing one of the structured spells like what she learned in school. They were so rigid and complex compared to using her magic tendrils. But they were very reliable and Ginny needed to practice doing them without a wand so she didn¡¯t forget how to cast them without one.

    She formed the spell structure for a levitation charm in a little ball in mid-air before shooting it out to hit the book. The book floated upwards to hover a foot off the desk. Ginny turned around and with the book floating behind her left the room and returned to her normal practice room with the crown guiding her way.

    When she returned to her practice room with the pillar of floating steel orbs that she usually practiced with, she floated the book in front of her. Ginny glanced over to the invisible pillar where the balls floated. She could use the crown to increase their speed or change the pillar¡¯s dimensions to make it harder. Or even change the size of the balls if she wanted. They could go from as small as a grain of sand to as large as a car. Ginny had put one massive one and a dozen grains of sand for the last few weeks of practice. It had significantly increased the difficulty.

    Ginny looked back at the book. But she couldn¡¯t keep practicing that. She had to learn something truly new so she¡¯d have something to surprise Eric with if they fought.

    She used her magic tendrils to carefully open the hovering book in front of her. Luckily the crown translated any foreign languages for her so whatever language Balthazar wrote this in was perfectly understandable as she reached the table of contents in the front. The whole thing appeared to be handwritten. There was a list there of different things she could learn. She felt a wave of excitement as she read through. Something new!

    She had wanted to do this years ago, but had clung to the telekinesis, scared to learn something new without Balthazar and accidentally develop bad habits she¡¯d have to break later. She remembered how hard it had been to keep her magic tendrils unanchored on her skin when she was first starting out, and that was with only a small time of doing wrong. What if she had learned it the wrong way for months or years? Then it would be excruciating to relearn it.

    Ginny shook her head. It would be fine. She was sure that Balthazar had noted down the bad habits to avoid in this book. She¡¯d just have to pay extra attention and make sure she was careful.

    She read through the table of contents in the front and went down the list. A few of the options stood out to her.

    Psychic and Mind arts.

    Heat/Fire Manipulation.

    Enchantments

    Mass Construct Summoning

    Water Manipulation

    Teleportation/spatial repositioning

    Bodily enhancement spells

    Earth Manipulation

    Disguise/Infiltration spells

    Elemental detection. Elements seen based on the training environment.

    Banishing spells/Incorporeal entity combat

    Gas/Air Manipulation

    ¡­¡­.

    The list went on and on, Ginny¡¯s eyes growing wider and wider as she went to all of the things that Balthazar had written on the list. Her mind raced as she quickly used her magic tendrils to flip through the pages to investigate all of the different fields that Balthazar had written about in this massive book.

    All of them started with an unstructured magic base, much like Ginny¡¯s telekinesis had. Just like her telekinesis all of them had a basic exercise that she would have to practice and there were several pitfalls and bad habits that Balthazar had written for each that she had to avoid.

    He had also included a description of what ¡®basic mastery¡¯ could accomplish. Ginny assumed that he meant mastering the single exercises he included with each subject, was what he meant. There was nothing in the book beyond those single things to practice for each category.

    She was so excited as she flipped through the pages that she didn¡¯t even notice when the crown pulsed in warning. Ginny was in the middle of reading a line when the world twisted around her and she woke back up on Earth at Hogwarts. She sighed as she sat up and prepared for the morning run with Alexa and Jack. She¡¯d be back tonight again, it was only one day¡­

    It took her three whole Earth nights to finish skimming over everything that Balthazar had written in the book and take in all her options. She knew that these exercises must be hard, so she wanted to pick the right one if she was going to take time away from her telekinesis practice for it.

    A lot of the options were either not for combat, or a foundational skill to learn something more advanced later on. Or just too focused. Elemental detection would let her use her magic to detect certain elements. Balthazar wrote that it would help her elemental manipulation skills. So if she chose to learn fire or earth manipulation then learning elemental detection it would help her increase her control and ability to improve her abilities once she could sense the relevant elements directly.

    But on its own elemental detection wouldn¡¯t help her in combat at all.

    Teleportation sounded amazing, but the exercise she would have to practice made her head hurt just by thinking about it. She¡¯d have to try that sometime later when she wasn¡¯t under so much pressure from Eric.

    The mind arts would be powerful¡­ But they made Ginny feel icky. Being able to erase people¡¯s memories or manipulate them on a whim¡­ that wasn¡¯t a power that she wanted to have. And even if Eric had learned this she shouldn¡¯t be in too much danger. The method used a magical connection between the person and their target to connect their minds. Ginny had read through it carefully and the tube of magic or mind bridge should be something that she would be able to easily detect with her magical senses if somebody tried to use mind magic around her. So she could just use her telekinetic tendrils to disrupt the mind bridges around her whenever they formed if it came to that.

    So mind magic was out. Even if she wanted to learn it, Eric could disrupt any mind bridges just as easily as Ginny probably could.

    She was tempted by all of the elemental manipulations. They seemed interesting. But it wasn¡¯t enough to just have an element like fire around you for it. She also needed to infuse the area with her magic, like Eric had done with his giant ball of flames that he had created when she saw him fight. Although it was much more efficient magically to infuse your magic into an existing fire to control it rather than summoning your own from nowhere.

    But the problem was that elemental manipulation was magically expensive. It was ¡®cool¡¯ and powerful, but Ginny would rather be able to budget her magic and only use as much as she needed to rather than be forced to use big attacks all the time. Which was almost a certainty with elemental manipulation. Oh, also elemental manipulation stuck you in place. Like when Eric fought Fate at the Quidditch world cup, he had to stay within his field of magically infused flames to fight and wasn¡¯t free to move around or he wouldn¡¯t have any infused flames around for him to fight with anymore.

    Ginny was sure that Eric hadn¡¯t cared about how good he¡¯d be at combat when he¡¯d chosen to learn fire manipulation. He probably had just thought it was cool and so learned it anyway, not caring about the combat disadvantages.

    Enchantments, Disguise spells, and Banishing spells wouldn¡¯t help against Eric in a fight. That only left two main options left of the options that interested Ginny. Bodily enhancement spells, and Mass Construct Summoning. Ginny spent a long time reading each section for both of them carefully.

    After a while pondering, she finally decided on Mass Construct Summoning. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Bodily enhancement spells could make her stronger, faster, even let her run on walls and jump in the air. All sorts of physical magic around her body. But if she ever messed it up, then she could really hurt herself. Causing her muscles to explode or damage her body with rampant magic of an out of control spell. And with Eric around, he might be able to disrupt her body spells if he got even one of his magic tendrils close enough to touch her.

    So Mass Construct summoning it was. Luckily it also seemed to be a side grade of sorts from Telekinesis already. The same multitasking mind that Ginny had refined so much for telekinesis also was just as useful for this exercise. If not even more important than how it was for telekinesis.

    Ginny read through the Mass Construct chapter carefully. After she was done she ordered the Teregatt crown to take her to the training room for it. It seems that for each of the fields of magic there was a specific training room which she could learn from.

    The crown guided her and she entered the room. It was a large room almost like an obstacle course. As she stood at the entrance there were little hills and pits scattered across the whole area. Ginny looked to the walls and saw silver barrels of what looked like guns and all sorts of strange nozzles and enchantments covering them.

    Ginny sat down in a meditative pose and started her construct summoning, using her magic tendrils that she usually used for telekinesis as the anchors to form them.

    All around her a dozen little creatures popped into existence. She looked around and¡­ Oh, they were so cute!

    They were little black balls with a set of legs below them that they stood on. They had no arms, eyes, or any other features. They did have mouths though¡­ The little things had a pitch black shiny surface like a bowling ball. But their size was closer to that of a baseball as they stood in place around her. Their legs were silvery and almost metallic and on the bottom ended with human looking feet.

    Ginny sent a command to all the little creatures around her through her magic.

    All at once the little creatures opened their mouths wide and Ginny yelped in surprise. The little divot that she had thought was a wrinkle had revealed itself to be a giant mouth filling almost half of their ball-like bodies. A mouth that was filled with a row of triangular sharp teeth that looked frightening.

    Ginny sent a quick command and all the creatures closed their mouths again.

    This was the easy part. Summoning so many at once was certainly a new experience for her. Usually for transfigurations with a wand you could only create one at a time.

    But now comes the hard part. Ginny told the crown to activate the obstacle course and ¡®defenses¡¯ of the long room in front of her.

    ¡°Sorry little guys,¡± Ginny said apologetically to the little strange constructs standing around her, ¡°It¡¯s practice time.¡±

    The little black balls didn¡¯t protest. Ginny tried to think of a good name for them. Balthazar¡¯s book had described them as a good construct to start with, but had never said what they were called.

    ¡°Hm. What should your name be?¡± Ginny said as she had one of the constructs walk up and leap into her cupped hands. She blinked as it jumped. She could sense that the jump had been effortless for it. It must be able to jump at least ten feet in the air or more on its own. Scary¡­

    But she had the little construct cupped in her muddy hands and stared at it for a bit.

    ¡°Chompers?¡± She brainstormed, ¡°Yeah, Chompers. You¡¯re all Chompers now.¡±

    She placed the construct down and had the dozen constructs all set up in a line right in front of the obstacle course.

    ¡°Alright, Chompers!¡± Ginny said as she sent the command to the constructs, ¡°Charge!¡±

    The Chompers took less than three steps onto the obstacle course before half of them were obliterated by a blast of flame that shot from the ceiling to roast them to a crisp and causing them to dissolve into loose magic.

    Ginny used her multitasking brain to give independent orders to each construct to help it dodge as waves of attacks came from every direction. Her orders only helped them survive one second longer than their fellows.

    ¡°Okay. We¡¯ll start at a dozen and work up from there,¡± Ginny said to herself, ¡°I¡¯ll just add more Chompers whenever I feel like I¡¯m not making any more progress towards letting them survive any longer.¡±

    And so Ginny practiced, sending waves and waves of the cute and terrifying little Chompers to their certain doom in the ridiculously hard killing field set up in front of her.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Another Earth week had passed. Ginny had been trying to talk to Luna about Preston and the bullying, but the blonde haired girl was dodging her and denying that anything was happening when Ginny managed to corner her, before pushing past Ginny to leave again.

    It was leaving Ginny frustrated, she only wanted to help Luna. Alexa and Jack had been helping too, but somehow when they went looking for Luna together to talk the girl, she was nowhere to be found. Ginny was becoming so frustrated that she had even considered telling Flitwick about what was happening even if she knew he wouldn¡¯t do anything to help.

    She had no evidence that anything was even happening, and she knew the teachers wouldn¡¯t punish anyone unless they had to. McGonagall had taught her that.

    But Ginny turned her focus back to her construct practice. She was up to a hundred of them simultaneously now. She was still learning how to order them as a big group. Sometimes she focused too much on saving one Chomper who was in trouble and that let multiple others that she had thought were safe get ambushed and destroyed by one of the killing field¡¯s weapons.

    Every time one of the little Chompers died, Ginny summoned more around herself, practicing making sure that the Chompers could be summoned along the whole length of her magic tendrils and that she randomized the position around her from which they appeared. Balthazar had written down that if she summoned them all from a single spot constantly then somebody could exploit that to destroy them before they could even get into the fight.

    The slaughter was constant, Ginny resurrecting her little fallen soldiers almost constantly as the cruel room in front of her took their little lives and turned them back into wisps of magic.

    Even after a full week of practice and her already good multitasking skill with her telekinesis, her Chompers still had only reached halfway across the large room. Somehow it got harder and harder as they made it across, so Ginny had to optimize how the groups of Chompers jumped and dodged to keep the most of them standing for the longest.

    Sadly she had to sacrifice a brave little Chomper occasionally as a shield to protect a group of the others. Ginny wasn¡¯t sure why she was getting so attached to them. She knew they were mindless constructs following her orders blindly. But it was fun to pretend that she was a general so she could cheer on her little soldiers as they made progress forward bit by bit under her direction.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Enough was enough. It had been another three days and Luna was still running away from Ginny and her friends. Even leaving meals early when they approached her at meals. It was time to pin Luna down firmly so she couldn¡¯t avoid them or escape anymore. Ginny, Jack, and Alexa gathered in the morning but instead of doing their usual exercise went into the Ravenclaw common room and waited by the exit.

    Luna appeared an hour later from the girls dormitory and ducked back in after spotting the three of them staring at her.

    ¡°What are you three doing? Especially you, Gryffindor?¡± Preston suddenly asked as he walked out of the boys'' hallway.

    ¡°None of your business, Preston,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Alexa¡¯s more of a Ravenclaw than you. You can¡¯t even solve Amvatroz¡¯s riddles.¡±

    Preston grimaced and looked briefly angry before shaking his head, ¡°Whatever. If she loves our house so much then they should just resort her already. Pisses me off seeing her with those red robes in here so much¡­¡±

    Preston left with his friends and didn¡¯t bother them anymore. Luna peeked back and ducked away again when she saw the three of them still standing there guarding the door. The three of them waited patiently as the whole Ravenclaw house streamed past them for breakfast.

    ¡°You think she¡¯s just going to skip it?¡± Alexa asked, ¡°She really doesn¡¯t want to talk to us that much?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s scared what her bullies will do if they see her talking to us,¡± Ginny said, ¡°You guys can go, but I¡¯m staying here as long as it takes. I¡¯ve got one of Fred and George¡¯s sickness candies in my robes so I¡¯ll take it if a teacher asks why I didn¡¯t go to my classes today.¡±

    Her two friends looked at her in surprise, ¡°Seriously?¡± Alexa said, ¡°You think she¡¯ll completely skip class just for this?¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Thought I¡¯d be prepared just in case.¡±

    Jack¡¯s stomach growled and he looked embarrassed.

    ¡°Go ahead you two,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. Thanks for helping so far.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re sure¡­¡± Alexa said, ¡°Well, let us know how it goes. As soon as you get her to confirm it we can go to Fred and George and start dealing with Preston and the other bullies.¡±

    ¡°Okay. See you guys later. Have fun.¡±

    Ginny waited there for another five minutes before she realized she was being ridiculous. She knew that Luna was in the girls dormitories. She could just go to her room and talk through the door.

    The whole place was empty as Ginny went up to what she knew was Luna¡¯s door. She knocked loudly and waited.

    ¡°Luna?¡± Ginny asked cautiously, ¡°We just want to help you. I¡¯m so sorry I didn¡¯t check in on you for so long. I thought you just didn¡¯t like me for some reason. But I want to help you now, protect you from those bullies. You don¡¯t have to be scared.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll just make things worse,¡± Luna¡¯s hoarse voice said from behind the door, ¡°I¡¯m lucky that they haven¡¯t noticed what¡¯s happening yet. Preston¡¯s a Prefect. Flitwick and the teachers won¡¯t do anything. How could you help me?¡±

    Ginny hesitated but then took one of her magic tendrils and slid it under the crack of the door.

    ¡°Hey, what are you¡­¡±

    Ginny summoned a fluffy bunny from the end of her magic tendril. She had it hop over to Luna who was staring down at it in confusion. Ginny could see through the rabbit¡¯s eyes now that she focused on them.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a construct,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Hollow on the inside, like a shell of magic. But it''s soft and you can pet it just like a real rabbit. I can do a lot of things that most people can¡¯t. So can you. I don¡¯t care if Preston¡¯s a prefect, if you let us help you then we can deal with him.¡±

    Luna picked up the rabbit and stroked its soft fur.

    ¡°Could I do that one day?¡± Luna asked, her voice still muffled slightly through the door, ¡°I¡¯m up to twelve magic tendrils now. Could you teach me?¡±

    ¡°I can try,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Just come out, talk with me and my friends. We¡¯ll help you.¡±

    There was a long pause.

    ¡°Promise?¡±

    ¡°I promise. Let¡¯s go get breakfast together now. You must be hungry right? You¡¯ve been leaving meals early to avoid us lately.¡±

    The door clicked and opened to reveal Luna standing there holding the bunny.

    ¡°Okay,¡± she said, ¡°I am hungry I suppose.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Ginny said as they moved, ¡°Now that they¡¯ve hired real chefs and send up the food magically from the kitchens directly, we won¡¯t have less food anymore even if we¡¯re a little late to the meal.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s good,¡± Luna said as they walked down the hallways, getting distracted by the swirling wards around them and slowing down to stare at it. The bunny dissolved into loose magic halfway through their journey and Luna looked disappointed but didn''t say anything about it as they kept walking.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Ginny said as she had a sudden idea, ¡°Did you know that Hogwarts is alive?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Luna said, her eyes leaving the floating ward floating through the air that she had been focusing on intently.

    ¡°Yeah, Amvatroz, Eagle, told me all about it. Hogwarts is intelligent and she lives in the wards that are all around the castle.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Luna said, ¡°I did think they were rather life-like the way they swirled about. Can she talk to us?¡±

    ¡°No, Amvatroz said that she never talks but still has feelings and pays attention to certain things about the castle.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s disappointing,¡± Luna said, ¡°I would like to talk with her.¡±

    ¡°Well next time we¡¯re alone and going back to the common room you can ask Amvatroz all about Hogwarts. I¡¯m sure he knows all sorts of things about it that I just didn¡¯t think to ask.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that does sound very interesting,¡± Luna said as she started to daydream again. But this time she didn¡¯t slow down and stop as they made their way to the great hall.

    Ginny sat down next to Jack and made space for Luna to follow her. She got some strange looks from the people around her as she started chatting with Luna a bit as they quickly ate to make up for lost time.

    They separated and went to class. Ginny noticed Preston giving the two of them a confused and narrow eyed look from down the Ravenclaw table. But she ignored him.

    After class Ginny and her friends met up with Luna. Fred and George were there too with serious expressions. Alexa must have already explained to them after Ginny threw her a thumbs up from across the great hall at breakfast.

    It was time to plan how to deal with Preston and his goons.

 Chapter 78: The Bully Chandelier

    ¡°A¡­ And I told Flitwick and he said he¡¯d handle it. And then three weeks later Preston and his friends hexed me and left me petrified in an abandoned classroom for hours. And they burned up my homework so I had to rewrite them all too! Flitwick must have thought that a few detentions and telling them off would make them stop¡­¡±

    Luna had been telling them all the things that Preston and his friends had done to her over the last three years. Fred and George were nodding with serious expressions while Ginny, Jack, and Alexa were more sympathetic and helped Luna keep talking when she started getting too emotional.

    Eventually Luna finished up.

    ¡°Alright,¡± Fred said, ¡°We¡¯re with you, Luna. Make sure to stick with a buddy at all times so none of Preston¡¯s goons can ambush you. That means you¡¯ll be hanging out with one of these three for the near future before and after class. Sounds good?¡±

    Luna nodded shyly.

    ¡°Preston¡¯s a prefect, so we have to take this carefully. But we¡¯ve got a few ideas of what we could do. Just give us a few days to brainstorm and plan some things before we get your revenge, Luna. Ginny, Alexa said you have a list of names?¡±

    Luna stared at Ginny in confusion as she nodded and took out the scrap of parchment that Eric had given her. She handed it to Luna first.

    ¡°Are these right, Luna? Just let us know if you need to add or take somebody off.¡±

    Luna stared at the list for a moment.

    ¡°No, that¡¯s all of them,¡± She said, ¡°How¡¯d you get this, Ginny?¡±

    ¡°I did someone a favor,¡± She said with a grimace as she took the paper gently from Luna again and handed it over to Fred and George.

    ¡°Can we keep this?¡± George asked, ¡°We¡¯ll have to hit all of these people at once. Even if no one else knows, if we hit everyone at once then they¡¯ll know what we¡¯re punishing them for after they¡¯ve had some time to puzzle it out.¡±

    ¡°I made a copy,¡± Ginny said, ¡°Go ahead, take that one.¡±

    ¡°Great. Remember Luna, stick with a buddy at all times. Don¡¯t let Preston intimidate you. By next week this whole thing should be behind us. It¡¯s only Wednesday, we¡¯ll try to hit them next Monday or Tuesday once we¡¯ve got a good plan set up.¡±

    ¡°Right!¡± Ginny said encouragingly, ¡°All over. They¡¯ll know not to mess with you after that, Luna.¡±

    Fred and George and the rest of them split ways. Luna was awkward as she followed the rest of them around mostly silently. But the three of them tried to be welcoming as best as they could even if their conversation was a bit more stilted compared to normal with Luna always there listening in on them.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°Don¡¯t you all just love Fridays?¡± Eric asked as he carefully centered the chandelier in the center of the abandoned hall and floated it down from the ceiling. This was one of the largest abandoned rooms in the castle; it used to be an old ballroom, but it was largely abandoned these days. Such a shame.

    Eric had removed the spiky black gothic chandelier as it gently came to rest on the floor.

    Eric glanced around at the fifteen people around him that he¡¯d stunned unconscious and brought here.

    ¡°I do,¡± Eric said as none of the unconscious boys around him answered, ¡°End of the week, no classes until Monday. Weekend ahead of you. I told Ginny about your little bullying campaign almost two weeks ago, did you know that? I really thought that she¡¯d leap into action like some knight in shining armor. Challenge you all to a duel, slip you some laxatives in your drinks. Go tattle to Flitwick or one of the other teachers. Something interesting. But all she¡¯s done is hang around Luna Lovegood so you can¡¯t bully her more in the future. Chased her around a bit... I¡¯m starting to doubt she had any revenge planned for you lot at all! Now, that just can¡¯t do. I¡¯ve had to take matters into my¡­ own hands.¡±

    Eric levitated Preston, the ringleader himself, over to the spiky chandelier.

    ¡°I got this idea from Fred and George¡¯s Ton-Tongue toffees actually,¡± Eric said conversationally, ¡°I looked it up, it¡¯s based on the engorgement charm. Really amazing they¡¯ve managed to create a candy that can do the same thing without anyone casting a spell for it. But we¡¯ll have to do this the old fashioned way now that I¡¯ve learned the spell myself¡­¡±

    Eric used his magic tendrils to open the unconscious Preston¡¯s mouth and stuck his wand in there.

    ¡°Engorgio!¡± Eric cast and Preston¡¯s tongue grew longer and longer. Eric kept it going until Preston¡¯s tongue was over fifteen feet long.

    ¡°That should be enough,¡± Eric said, ¡°Don¡¯t want you to drag on the floor if I do it too long.¡±

    Eric took the slimy tip of Preston¡¯s long tongue and carefully gripped it in his magic tendrils. He carefully lifted it so it was hovering above the center of the chandelier sitting on the floor. With one firm motion, Eric pressed the tongue down on the central spike in the center of the chandelier and pierced all the way through the pink flesh. Eric carefully wiggled it to make sure that the tongue was firmly impaled on the central spike of the chandelier.

    Eric turned to the remaining fourteen bodies scattered about. How to mount the rest¡­

    As he mounted each of the bullies to the Chandelier by the ends of their engorged tongues, Eric made sure to shorten the tongue lengths each time. Preston should be near the bottom, but for a proper display Eric had to make sure that all the bullies would be visible as they hung there in a circle at various heights so they''d all be visible and on display when the chandelier was fully hung up.

    It was night time of course. It seems that no one had noticed when none of these boys returned to the Ravenclaw tower for the night after Eric ambushed and stunned them after class.

    After Eric was done, he looked at the arrangement with pride. He carefully lifted the whole assembly and carried it with his magic tendrils out of the abandoned ballroom and into the hallway. He walked through the dark halls and effortlessly broke through the enchantments keeping the doors to the great hall closed.

    Eric took the rope that he¡¯d bought and carefully fastened it to the ceiling of the great hall. He hoisted the chandelier up making sure that none of the boys dangling below would bump into each other and get bruised.

    He didn¡¯t want people to lose the plot and think that he had been hitting them when they thought about whoever was punishing them. He had learned from the cocoon incident when all people could keep scolding him about was for hitting Ginny in the face and giving her some bruises. Well, they scolded him for the rest of it too but it was mainly the bruises that they had focused on from his perspective. Especially Ron and Hermione. They were the people whose opinion he actually should be caring about probably.

    Eric tied off the rope using his magic tendrils to fasten the knots when the Chandelier was high enough in the air.

    Preston was low enough that his feet would dangle just a few feet above Eric¡¯s head if he tried to walk under him. The rest of the bullies hung by their tongues from the chandelier at various heights in a circle. All fifteen of them were dangling there and waiting for the morning feast. Eric¡¯s stunning spells should wear off sometime around six or seven in the morning. So they should wake up just in time for the very earliest of the people coming for breakfast to come in and see them.

    Eric was glad that Ginny had taken so long for her revenge. He was sure that everyone¡¯s reaction to this little setup would be absolutely hilarious. This was one of his best pranks yet. Eric almost left the great hall before he remembered one last thing. Oh right, he had forgotten about what he had done to Fleur last year. And how he had messed it all up and hadn¡¯t even been able to apologize to her about it before she left to go back to France.

    Eric went to each of the unconscious boys and cast a numbing spell on all of them. They shouldn¡¯t feel any pain at all for the whole thing. Eric thought about it harder for a few more seconds before nodding to himself.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    There, everything was all good now. Good thing that he had remembered that last bit. How would Ginny and Luna react to Eric stealing their thunder? He was sure they¡¯d be impressed enough that they¡¯d let him stealing their punishment slide for just this once.

    He was rather proud of the solution he had come up with, and he was sure that none of the bullies would dare bother Luna again after tomorrow morning.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny and Jack went back to the common room on Saturday morning after having their morning swim with Alexa using heating charms to stay warm in the freezing water. After cleaning themselves off with some cleaning charms they waited for a bit so they could go to breakfast with Luna.

    Preston had been shooting glares at them as he seemed to realize what was happening over the course of the week. At one point Ginny and Jack had just barely reached Luna before him after class. But with them around Preston had just stopped and walked away instead of confronting them about it.

    Luckily Ginny hadn¡¯t seen any of him or his friends in the common room last night. They must have all gone to bed early. What a relief, dealing with them all glaring at Ginny and Jack for the last few days had been such a pain.

    When the three of them arrived back at the great hall, there was a crowd gathered around the open doors. Ginny tried to stand on her tiptoes to see over everyone¡¯s heads to no success. Billowing out her magic sense, she could just barely feel somebody floating in the air inside. Several someone¡¯s actually. What was going on, had something happened?

    Ginny found Alexa with her magic sense and guided Luna and Jack towards her where Alexa stood at the edge of the crowd.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Ginny whispered to Alexa, ¡°What¡¯s happened?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Preston and his friends,¡± Alexa said grimly, ¡°Someone¡¯s punished them. It¡¯s rather horrible, you don¡¯t want to see it.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Ginny hissed quietly, ¡°But surely not Fred and George? They would have told us¡­¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Alexa whispered back as Jack and Luna leaned in to listen, ¡°I think it must have been¡­¡±

    ¡°Inquisitors! Inquisitors coming through! Head Inquisitor here, make way!¡± Eric¡¯s voice suddenly shouted from behind them. The whole crowd turned to see Eric standing there with a clump of the Slytherins that had volunteered for the Inquisitor squad.

    Eric came right by where Ginny and her friends stood. He glanced over to Luna and then Ginny in sequence.

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome,¡± he said easily to them, ¡°Almost thought you¡¯d be late for breakfast.¡±

    Before any of them could react he turned away and started shouting about him being Head Inquisitor and pushing through the crowd again.

    The crowd who grumbled at the Inquisitor¡¯s presence as they moved forward. Someone stuck out their foot and tried to trip Draco Malfoy from where he stood just behind Eric. Eric was clearing the way with most of the other Slytherins following behind in a triangular formation.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Draco said as he whirled to the Hufflepuff who had tried to trip him. ¡°Ernie McMillan! That¡¯s a week¡¯s detention for you! I saw you tripping me there.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Eric said, ¡°And another week''s detention for you, Pansy Parkinson.¡±

    The Slytherin girl, Draco¡¯s girlfriend, straightened from the crowd and puffed up, looking offended.

    ¡°What did I do then? I was just standing here minding my own business!¡±

    ¡°Right. No ogling Draco, Pansy,¡± Eric said, ¡°You can drool over his two big sacks of gold when you two are in private. Keep it to yourself out here please. As for the charge¡­ Public indecency. Your robes came up while you were in the crowd and I saw your bare ankles. That¡¯s practically indecent in some pureblood circles I¡¯ve heard.¡±

    Pansy turned bright red and started to stammer an incoherent response to Eric¡¯s words. But Eric just ignored her and kept moving through the crowd. Draco looked furious.

    ¡°Eric, but he tried to trip me!¡± He said, ¡°This is ridiculous! You can¡¯t punish her for that!¡±

    ¡°Hey, you-¡± Eric said pointing to Ernie, ¡°You¡¯re still getting a week¡¯s detention. With Pansy Parkinson. You¡¯ll have to stare into each other''s eyes silently for an hour a day. For a week. I think that should be punishment enough for the both of you. Is that fair enough, Draco?¡±

    Draco opened and closed his mouth again, ¡°Yes, Potter,¡± He said reluctantly.

    ¡°Great!¡± Eric said, ¡°Now let¡¯s get through and see what the commotion in the great hall is that¡¯s causing such a hold up. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s something rather horrible that Umbridge will want our help with solving¡­¡±

    Ginny had never witnessed one of Eric¡¯s bizarre punishments before even if she had heard about them from other people. He really wasn¡¯t even trying to disguise it anymore, it was just completely insane.

    ¡°Yeah, he showed those Slytherin¡¯s all right,¡± A nearby Gryffindor muttered to his friend, ¡°Arrogant creepy git, he is, but at least he gets the job done keeping those snakes from punishing us all the time. Keeping their heads down with all that junk that he throws their way.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, no idea why Umbridge even put him in charge,¡± the boy''s friend agreed, ¡°It¡¯s like he¡¯s a double agent trying to constantly destroy them from the inside with infighting. You think he¡¯s doing it on purpose?¡±

    ¡°Nah, pretty sure he just tries to do that for anyone he meets. Likes poking people and seeing how they¡¯ll jump. But at least he¡¯s taking it to those snakes. I¡¯ll respect anyone who manages to do that. But yeah, anyone who thought putting that guy in charge of anything would go well must be a loon.¡±

    After a few minutes, Eric and the Inquisitorial squad returned.

    ¡°Alright everyone, git!¡± Eric said, ¡°Umbridge said no breakfast again. They¡¯re bringing in the Aurors, searching the castle again or whatever. Like they¡¯re going to find anything if they do it just one more time. Feel free to complain and squeal in anger at dinner tonight. But for now¡­ Disperse!¡±

    Eric waved his hands in the air as if to push back the crowd.

    ¡°Disperse! Disperse!¡±

    He began walking forward and gently poking and prodding the people gathered around the doors of the great hall.

    ¡°Disperse! Disperse! C¡¯mon everyone, don¡¯t make me do a musical number. Most great songs are protesting the police. Our boys in blue don¡¯t have many good songs to jam to while breaking up the rowdy crowds. Police using tear gas and beating protesters with their clubs doesn¡¯t sound nearly as heroic as sticking it to the big bad government for most artists, I guess.¡±

    There was some grumbling but the tight crowd began to break up and drift away as the rest of the Inquisitorial squad stood back and watched by the doors to the great hall.

    ¡°And that¡¯s how you break up a crowd, squad!¡± Eric said loudly as he poked a girl between the shoulder blades with his finger as she lingered and kept glancing back to the doors of the great hall. The Gryffindor girl huffed and angrily glared at Eric but hurried her pace and left quickly without saying anything.

    ¡°Hey Draco,¡± Eric said conversationally as Ginny and her friends walked away, ¡°You know if you want we could forgive Ernie his detentions and you could take his place. Spending seven hours staring into the eyes of your girlfriend. Who knows what you¡¯ll discover about each other? They do say eyes are the windows into the souls after all. It might even be romantic, rekindle your deep love for one another once more.¡±

    Their voices faded behind them as Ginny kept moving, ¡°...maybe,¡± Draco said, ¡°So long as she doesn¡¯t have to spend time with that Hufflepuff half-blood blowhard.¡±

    ¡°Draco, Draco,¡± Eric replied, his voice fading as Ginny and her friends turned the corner, ¡°Ernie would be a blowhard no matter who his parents were. You¡¯ve got to hate a person for who they are, not who you want them to be! If you¡¯ve got to be such a hater all the time at all, that is.¡±

    Draco said something else, but their voices were too faint now for Ginny to make out what he said. Ginny and her friends walked back to the Ravenclaw dorm, Alexa coming with them in her red Gryffindor robes.

    ¡°So, it was definitely Eric that did whatever it was that happened, right?¡± Jack said, ¡°I¡¯m about 95 percent sure it was him, but any other ideas?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it was definitely the type of thing that he¡¯d do,¡± Alexa said with a shudder.

    ¡°What was it? You didn¡¯t say,¡± Ginny asked.

    ¡°Well, all I¡¯ll say is that Preston and his friends definitely aren¡¯t having a very good time right now,¡± Alexa said, ¡°Their tongues were engorged like Fred and George¡¯s Ton Tongue toffees and they were hanging down from a chandelier. Hanging below the Chandelier.¡±

    ¡°Hanging?¡± Jack asked, ¡°By what? A sticking charm? Were they tied up? Why is that so horrible?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Alexa said, ¡°The Chandelier was spiky. And uh¡­ it was dripping blood a bit onto the floor from where they were attached to it. By their tongues.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Ginny said, ¡°Spiky? Tongues? What do you¡­ Oh. Oh gosh. Really?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Alexa said, ¡°That was pretty much it. I¡¯ll be thinking about that one for a while.¡±

    Ginny put her hand up to her lips and briefly imagined her tongue being impaled on a spike. She shivered.

    ¡°Ugh. That¡¯s just so Eric to do something horrible like that,¡± Ginny said, ¡°He probably thinks he did us a favor because he dealt with Luna¡¯s bullies before we did.¡±

    ¡°Well, I mean¡­¡± Jack said and all three girls'' eyes fixed on him.

    ¡°He kinda did?¡± Jack said, ¡°Not to say what he did was okay. But Preston will definitely know now to leave Luna alone. Which was our goal in planning so much for it. And it¡¯s not like Eric will ever get punished for anything he does. He¡¯ll find a way to squirm out of it somehow. Especially with whatever¡¯s going on between him and Umbridge. So it all sort of works out? Maybe?¡±

    There was a pause as Jack remained pinned under the three girls'' gazes.

    ¡°He¡¯s right,¡± Luna said suddenly, ¡°I don¡¯t mind as long as Preston and the other bullies aren¡¯t permanently hurt. They hurt me several times with their spells. It¡¯s not like any of us tried to make it happen or not.¡±

    Ginny looked to Alexa for support. The girl shrugged.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have to like it, Ginny,¡± Alexa said, ¡°But you gotta admit it¡¯ll probably get the job done.¡±

    Ginny thought about that for a few seconds before letting out a long sigh.

    ¡°Ugh. You guys are right. Especially you, Alexa. I don¡¯t like it, I don¡¯t want to have to thank Eric for anything after everything that¡¯s happened. Everything he¡¯s done.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll be fine,¡± Jack said as he grabbed Ginny¡¯s hand in his. Ginny smiled at him.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± she said.

    The four of them walked back, Jack and Ginny holding hands the whole way.

 Chapter 79: The Plan

    ¡°Go, Chompers, go!¡± Ginny shouted as her little soldiers bravely charged full speed through the deadly killing field, ¡°Get him! You¡¯re almost there!¡±

    The white wood like material of the mannequin was slightly singed by all the other defenses, flames, and acid spraying around it to defend it from all of Ginny¡¯s little Chompers that she deftly organized in little groups to fight forward.

    One of her little Chompers leapt forward and latched its large mouth around the ankle of the mannequin.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Ginny shouted, ¡°Get him Chompers, you got this!¡±

    More and more of the little guys latched on and started chewing and biting, their little silvery legs waving frantically in the air as they chewed with all of their might. Okay, Ginny could admit she was splitting some of her attention to make them kick their legs to do that. But it made it much more fun when they finally managed to get some attacks in.

    After another minute or so, the stationary mannequin was absolutely covered in biting and gnawing Chompers, all of their little legs kicking behind them furiously.

    After letting out one last cheer with her fist of black mud pumped high in the air, Ginny sent an order to her crown. The flame and acid of the defenses stopped firing. With a single order Ginny dissolved all her little Chompers back into loose magic. It had been so difficult to manage to train her skills with the constructs to get so far as to even touch the mannequin. A mannequin that looked extremely battered and covered in splinters with big bites taken out of it all over its surface. Even as Ginny watched it pulsed with Teregatt¡¯s magic and started slowly repairing itself, the white wood reforming and almost regrowing back into place to fill the gaps and fix the damage that had been done to it. After a few minutes it was good as new, not even a scratch on it anymore.

    Ginny summoned a new Chomper into her hands and praised its success for a little while and pet its cold bowling ball plasticy black surface. She had it kick its little legs idly as she held it between her hands and kept praising it proudly.

    She knew it was ridiculous, but it made her feel better about her success when she felt like she was sharing it with her little Chompers too.

    Ginny let out a satisfied sigh as she dropped the Chomper and dissolved it back into magical mist before it hit the ground.

    After letting herself soak in her victory, she turned back to the white wood mannequin laying on the ground and narrowed her eyes at it.

    ¡°Now for the really hard part,¡± she muttered at the limp mannequin, ¡°Letting you actually let you move around and run away while the Chompers are attacking you¡­¡±

    There were two more difficulty levels that she could activate above this. All the defenses in the room, fire and acid and all the other things were meant to simulate an enemy wizard using spells to attack her constructs.

    The mannequin itself was supposed to be the one she was fighting. Up until now it had just stood there in place while its ¡®magic¡¯ fought off all of her constructs.

    But now with an order to her crown, Ginny activated the mannequin fully. It could move around freely and kick and punch her constructs if it needed to. As well as run away or reposition for the best advantage. She could control its speed too. From barely a crawl to so fast that Ginny could barely even track its movements as it darted around. Ginny set it as just barely faster than a person should be. If she got frustrated she¡¯d start from lower, but she wanted to see how she¡¯d do against someone similar to a moving person.

    The second level of difficulty she could add to the mannequin was to give it a ¡®shield¡¯ of defensive magic. It took a bit for Ginny to understand the purpose of it, but after reading through Balthazar¡¯s chapter a few times and sending different questions to her crown about the room, Ginny finally figured it out. It was meant to simulate Ginny¡¯s own skill with disenchanting things. If someone tried to send a Chomper to attack her, Ginny would just poke it with her magic and make it dissolve as its spell structure collapsed. Something that might be hard to do under the pressure of active combat¡­ But not that hard.

    That¡¯s what the shield was for. The closer the constructs got to an enemy wizard the more likely it was they¡¯d just be able to dissolve them with just a small amount of their attention. So to win Ginny would have to keep the Chompers as a relentless assault and make sure that the enemy wizard had so many attacking them at once that the enemy couldn¡¯t dissolve them all before they got bitten by a few lucky Chompers who made it through.

    The shield around the mannequin simulated the same thing by dissolving more and more Chompers depending on how close they got to the mannequin. Even when Ginny turned off the ¡®defenses¡¯ of acid and flame and had her Chompers just attack the mannequin as it stood still with the shield on, she¡¯d still struggled to take it down. Being able to dissolve her constructs when they were inches away from biting it was just so overpowered.

    But Ginny wasn¡¯t giving up hope yet. By the time she had to go back to Earth for the night, she was feeling strong on having the Chompers attack at the slowest speed of the mannequin. She was making good progress and improving rapidly. Or she felt like she was. Without Balthazar there to tell her there was no way to be really sure what was fast learning or not compared to what was normal.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    Ginny opened up her eyes on Earth. She went to go swim with Alexa and Jack, then went to sit with Jack and Luna for breakfast. Luna didn¡¯t hang out with the three of them all the time, but Luna was their friend now and so they had spent some significant time together over the last month and a half or so.

    Things at the school were at an uneasy balance. Fred and George had ¡®leaked¡¯ the real reason that Preston and his friends had been hung from the chandeliers. So the whole group had studiously avoided Luna in the wake of the resulting rumors, not even wanting to be associated with her in case people would take that as a confirmation of what everyone was saying about them.

    Or that¡¯s what Fred and George had said was the reason all the bullies were avoiding Luna like the plague ever since recovering from what Eric had done to them.

    Ginny went to class, and learned. She took her tests, did her homework. Eric kept abusing his authority as head Inquisitor to the extreme, but avoided Ginny and her friends with all the chaos that he managed to stir up.

    More time passed. It was the end of March now. In Teregatt, Ginny focused intently, not even cheering for her little soldiers or doing any of the roleplay or playacting that she usually did for fun. She had absolute focus in directing her force of Chompers to attack the Mannequin. The Mannequin was moving just a hair faster than most people could move and had its shield activated part of the way. And Ginny was sure that she could take it down this time.

    It was an excruciating, difficult process. But every few minutes she managed to land a single Chomper to latch on to the mannequin and take one strong bite into the white wood before it was dissolved by the shield.

    Bit by bit the mannequin accumulated damage as it ran around and fought off the Chompers with its ¡®magic¡¯. Eventually it stumbled as its right leg finally let out a large crack of splintering wood and went limp. It fell to the ground and before it could get up Ginny¡¯s Chompers went to work and disabled its other leg. She quickly had her army of Chompers attack and descend on the mannequin in a flash. She kept having them attack even through the mannequin¡¯s shield. The mannequin was using its arms to slap itself and destroy the Chompers covering it as Ginny managed to get more and more of them to reach the now stationary mannequin. After another minute of battle, it was over. The mannequin finally went still and all the ¡®magic¡¯ shooting from all sides of the room stopped. Ginny¡¯s crown pulsed once to let her know that she¡¯d won the challenge.

    Ginny dissolved her Chompers and watched as the mannequin slowly healed itself again as she watched. She was almost there. Now all she had to do was slowly increase the strength of the mannequin¡¯s shield to the maximum and she would be there. Able to fully beat the mannequin at its fullest reasonable settings and sure that her little Chompers would be able to truly help her in a fight against Eric.

    Just because things were stable between them now didn¡¯t mean he wouldn¡¯t suddenly snap or do something horrible when the status quo changed again in some way.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°Are you sure about this, Vorzik? We have no idea how this will affect your connection to Ancestor. Or the connection between your other bodies.¡±

    Vorzik nodded. The ground shook slightly and the sky flashed brightly as the wards fought off another one of Merlin¡¯s titanic attacks.

    ¡°I am sure,¡± Vorzik said, only one of its house elf bodies standing in front of Balthazar, ¡°It is our fault that the defenses of the island have weakened so much. Our arrival, of all the house-elves across the world, was the opening that has allowed Fate and Merlin to create a real hole in the wards and start carving deeper inwards. It¡¯s only a matter of time before she breaks through now. We must test the plan before the larger battle.¡±

    ¡°Very well,¡± Balthazar said as he lifted the silky Cloak of Invisibility in his hands, ¡°I have added the binding spells. Let us test just how well it can contain an Aspect of a conceptual entity such as yourself. And you¡¯re sure that Ancestor won¡¯t be angered by this?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure that Ancestor will not be,¡± Vorzik said, ¡°The purpose of us Aspects is to assist the species we are merged with. A larger shard of the greater so that we may pursue our own interests and functions independent of the greater Concept of Ancestor. This is me performing that function. Teregatt¡¯s future is the house elves'' future now.¡±

    ¡°Then without further ado¡­¡± Balthazar said and threw the cloak of invisibility over Vorzik. As soon as the cloak touched Vorzik¡¯s skin the binding enchantments activated and it constricted tightly like a plastic bag over Vorzik and smothering him completely. The house-elf struggled and thrashed inside of the cloak as Balthazar stood by and watched. But eventually the creature went still. Balthazar waited for a few more minutes before reaching out and undoing the weak binding spell he had put in place for this little test. As soon as he lifted the cloak of invisibility off of the house-elf he saw that its eyes were closed and it was breathing softly.

    Both of Vorzik¡¯s other purple clad house-elf bodies walked around the corner a second later.

    ¡°Did it work?¡± Balthazar asked, ¡°Were you able to connect to the body under the cloak?¡±

    ¡°It worked,¡± Vorzik said as the two awake bodies cast some magic to heal and wake up the third who had been under the cloak, ¡°That fragment of us was completely cut off from the world. I am but an Aspect, not a full conceptual entity like Fate. But we knew nothing of what happened underneath the cloak until you removed it and we reconnected ourselves to the severed fragment. The fragment underneath the cloak was unable to escape even the weaker bindings that you placed on the cloak, with the artifact¡¯s power working to keep our fragment suppressed as it was contained within it.¡±

    ¡°So, you believe that this will work against Fate?¡± Balthazar asked, ¡°To bind her?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Vorzik said as the unconscious body finally opened its eyes and stood to join the two others in staring at Balthazar. Even now their ghostly projections kept trailing their movements as they made even their smallest movements.

    ¡°As I said, Fate is a full conceptual entity of incredible power and we can not be certain¡­ But I believe it will work.¡±

    ¡°Then we have our plan,¡± Balthazar said grimly as he carefully picked up the cloak, ¡°I will work on placing the full bindings on it. Then there will only be the hard part¡­¡±

    ¡°Getting the cloak around Fate and Merlin,¡± Vorzik finished.

    The island shook again and Balthazar felt another one of his wards buckle and crumble under the powerful blow. There was a flash of yellow light outside that briefly blinded the two of them before they cleared their vision again.

    ¡°Indeed,¡± Balthazar as he saw Merlin floating outside with golden eyes channeling another massive attack on the island.

    ¡°Our greatest challenge yet.¡±

 Chapter 80: The Shard of Annihilation

    ¡°Prime Servant, what are our orders from Dark Lord Pettigrew? It has been a long time since we¡¯ve seen you last. We¡¯ve heard the strangest rumors from the Ministry recently¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all they are. Rumors,¡± Voldemort said regally, barely resisting the urge to cast the Cruciatus curse at the death eater in front of him. All of them who had used to fear his every word, jostling with each other and begging for his favor with all their might¡­ Now they viewed him as an unstable madman whose leash was held by the one above him.

    Oh, how he wished to disabuse them of the ridiculous notion. But the idea was too firmly entrenched in their minds now after he had already killed three of them during his time under the Imperius curse.

    Backtracking his words now, pretending that Pettigrew didn¡¯t exist, would only serve to counter Voldemort''s goals and make him appear even more mad or weak to his supporters.

    Voldemort was starting to feel the pressure on him the more time passed. Who knew what moment that strange being of golden light that had been possessing his body would return? It must be soon after it being so long with Voldemort having no success in killing Eric Potter still.

    Even through his burning anger and urge to move forward immediately, Voldemort realized that he must make reasonable preparations before charging full speed into this next battle. There was a reason why it was a topic that few wizards ever wished to address. Why this might not be an easy fight even for Voldemort.

    ¡°Our orders from Dark Lord Pettigrew¡­¡± Voldemort said, forcing himself to drag the words from his lips reluctantly, ¡°Are that he has ordered us to raid site forty three and steal its contents.¡±

    ¡°The muggles?¡± Another of his followers said, ¡°Prime Servant, is that a fight we are able to take on by ourselves? Of course the muggles are nothing before us, but the entity that they guard has never been defeated by wizarding hands. We all know the history of the past attempts to acquire one of those devices upon witnessing their destructive power¡­¡±

    ¡°I will take the creature on alone,¡± Voldemort said, ¡°I have no need for any others to assist me in battle. Nobody but groups of mediocre wizards have attempted to defeat them so far. I will defeat it in battle and steal its prize. I simply need you to hold back the Aurors until I am finished. Make sure to collect the right muggles to work on it for when I¡¯ve successfully retrieved the weapon.¡±

    All of the death eaters, even Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange shifted around nervously before bowing their heads.

    ¡°As Lord Voldemort commands,¡± Bellatrix said clearly. Voldemort let a small smile form on his face. Even now she stayed loyal to him alone.

    ¡°Yes, as Lord Pettigrew orders,¡± Lucius quickly added. Voldemort¡¯s lips immediately twisted back into a frown as the rest of the death eaters followed Lucius¡¯ lead. After Eric Potter was dead, he¡¯d make them respect him as they once did again. He¡¯d return to things how they should be, where he was above all others in their eyes¡­

    ¡°We attack in three days,¡± Voldemort said, ¡°Prepare yourselves.¡±

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Voldemort sent another green beam from his wand to kill another muggle wearing military fatigues who was firing his heavy machine gun into Voldemort''s protego shield charm fruitlessly. Even now his death eaters dealt with the others outside. Luckily unlike police stations or other government facilities, the Ministry had no wizards stationed here. None dared to risk coming too close to the weapon just in case.

    With a flick of Voldemort¡¯s wand he blasted through the heavy steel door to where the true battle lay.

    Voldemort readied his wand as the two halves of the great door fell forward and shook the floor with a resounding boom. Inside the device itself sat inert, a metal box of five feet on all sides and covered in a thick plastic cover. Only a small panel with levers and switches in the center of the complex contraption showed that it was anything more than an elaborate box.

    Voldemort carefully levitated a nearby chunk of metal from where he had blasted the heavy doors and sent it pinging off of the device¡¯s plastic shell. As soon as the metal chunk touched the device, something in the air changed. Voldemort adjusted the thin vest he was wearing under his robes. It had taken him two whole days to find an enchanter able to construct what he would need for this fight and having them create the vest for him.

    This fight had been tried before, but only by lesser wizards. No matter how many lesser wizards were sent at the creature, all were defeated. It required a higher caliber of power to defeat. With Voldemort fighting the creature, he would have victory. Surely.

    The device sitting in the vault began to rattle and shake violently and emanated vast pulsing waves of magic from its surface. Voldemort remained there, muttering and waving his wand as he prepared his attack for when the creature fully awakened. He would have to be certain to preserve the device itself as well, if it was completely destroyed beyond repair then this whole fight would be for nothing¡­

    Suddenly the device started lifting itself into the air and its outer shell began to glow an alternating green and red glow.

    After another moment of the flashing lights with a roar of flames the device was completely submerged as the whole area shook under the pulse of magic the device released. Flickering flames of red and sickening green emerged from thin air all around the device and formed a large humanoid figure composed of the flames, the device now sitting just barely inside its torso. Occasionally the flames would flicker and reveal the glowing plastic shell of the device beneath the flaming figure''s flickering form.

    ¡°I sense magic,¡± The humanoid flame announced as its featureless head turned toward Voldemort and it raised its hand towards him. Even now Voldemort could feel his enchanted vest activating and protecting him from the invisible deadly radiation being blasted out of the creature every second it stood there.

    ¡°Die under the nuclear flames, wizard,¡± The creature announced before a giant gout of green and red sickly fire blasted out of its palm towards him.

    ¡°...Mede ascuro!¡± Voldemort finished chanting and jabbed his wand towards the ground. All the air in the building immediately rushed out, leaving only a small bubble of air around Voldemort¡¯s head where he had cast the bubble head charm prior to the battle. What Voldemort had just been casting was activating a complex ward prepared ahead of time for this moment, not a single spell. As long as the two of them fought this deep military complex would remain airless.

    Voldemort used his wandless flight spell to dart to the side as the green and red flames brushed by him and scorched through the wall behind where Voldemort had been standing. He could see where the figure of flames stood, their flames diminished, but still present.

    ¡°You think this is enough, wizard?¡± The creature said as it took a lumbering step towards Voldemort in the cramped hallways of the military facility.

    ¡°I am a Shard of Annihilation. It is not the place of those with magic to decide if my fellow Shards and I bathe this world in our nuclear flames,¡± It said conversationally.

    It launched a solid mass of flame at Voldemort again in a solid ball this time. He dodged again to the side in the tight space and the green and red flames splashed across the walls behind him again. The flames lingered and filled the air with a sickly glow as they began to dance and spread slowly even with no air around to fuel them.

    ¡°You will not be able to defeat me,¡± the flaming figure continued, ¡°Even your ward is nothing but an inconvenience. You think even a shard of a concept itself could be killed by something as simple as a lack of air?¡±

    It held up its hand and Voldemort could feel it preparing to launch another blast of flame at him. He quickly used his wandless flight spell to fly close to the ground, his nose only inches from the floor as he darted away through the open door into the rooms beyond.

    The creature behind roared and let out a massive blast of flames around it in a omnidirectional fiery explosion as it saw Voldemort attempt to flee.

    He kept flying full speed, his enchanted vest working hard to protect him from the invisible radiation being expelled by the creature''s very existence. Expelled from the Shard of Annihilation.

    The wall of flames followed after Voldemort and the ground shook under the force of the explosion behind him.

    Voldemort just barely managed to fly ahead of the flames, the trailing edges of his cloak becoming singed as he fled. After a few seconds, the flames consuming everything behind him stopped and began to peter out.

    Voldemort stopped and turned around and saw the blackened and shriveled hallway behind him. The strange flames even now belched out more and more radiation as they began to slowly dissipate in the airless space.

    The ground shook slightly and Voldemort saw the Shard of Annihilation round a corner, lumbering as it moved and pausing to use its flames to blast holes in the small doorways to create an opening wide enough space for it to pass through.

    ¡°You will not escape me, Wizard! I may be slow, but your death is inevitable now that you¡¯ve caught my attention!¡± The Shard shouted as it spotted Voldemort standing there. It raised its arm and let out another blast of flame, this one only fractionally weaker than the first had been.

    Voldemort dodged and kept flying away through the twisting hallways, having already scouted the facility earlier and planned the route that he would be taking ahead of time.

    The Shard of Annihilation kept chasing Voldemort through the facility, catching up on open stretches even as it slowed down dramatically in doorways where it had to blast an opening through for its large flaming body.

    Eventually the whole level of the facility was blackened and covered in the strange green and red flames. Voldemort¡¯s enchanted vest was going crazy, shuddering as the amount of radiation that it was fighting off began to overwhelm its enchantments. But it continued doing its work to protect him.

    Voldemort was near a stairwell and drew his wand even as he kept flying with his black cloud.

    ¡°Bombarda!¡± he chanted and blew the heavy metal door off of its hinges and into the opposite wall. He flew up and pressed himself up against the ceiling as a flaming fist emerged from out of a nearby wall and released a massive fiery slap onto the floor where Voldemort had been seconds ago.

    The fiery arm quested around as it felt the floor, leaving a trail of sickly flames behind. Its hand started sinking into the floor slightly even as its shoulder continued to melt through the wall to the point that it started to push its head through the widening red hot gap in the concrete and steel.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Voldemort skid against the ceiling and made it to the stairwell just as the Shard of Annihilation¡¯s fiery head emerged from the wall and turned to spot him.

    ¡°GRAH! You may be nimble, but I am relentless! I will not stop before you are burned to ash, it will only take a single blow to crush you! A single mistake!¡± The Shard of Annihilation shouted angrily as it took its fiery hand and cupped it into the pooled lava that had just been created in the floor below. With a quick scoop of its arm, it whipped its fiery arm forward and sent a spray of molten rock blasting towards where Voldemort floated.

    Voldemort dashed straight up the stairwell with his flight spell as his eyes widened as he saw the surprise attack. The far wall below him was splattered by red hot lava as he continued flying upwards.

    His death eaters had helped prepare this next attack. Hopefully the Shard of Annihilation was weakened enough by its airless surroundings that this would finish it off¡­

    With a command to the complex wards around him that Voldemort had just activated, he commanded a certain set of pipes to open wide. The whole building was airless so the water jetted at high speed out of the pipes from the designated points, and the¡­ ¡®sprinkler¡¯ system activated as well to let a gentle spray of water spray down from little devices on the ceilings.

    The Shard of Annihilation roared below as it melted through the concrete of the doorway at the base of the stairwell.

    ¡°Bombarda!¡± Voldemort remained hovering near the exit door after blasting it open, lingering so the Shard of Annihilation would remain focused on chasing him rather than preserving itself or escaping somehow.

    The Shard of Annihilation started crawling up the stairwell, clambering up them as Voldemort floated there and watched from above. The Shard fired a few blasts of flame up towards Voldemort, but he shifted himself to the side to avoid the blasts with so much warning as they approached him from below. The water from the sprinklers in the stairwell sprayed everywhere and sent little droplets into the Shard¡¯s flames. Each evaporated into steam as soon as they so much as neared the Shard¡¯s body. But each drop weakened the Shard slightly.

    ¡°Wizard!¡± The Shard of Annihilation shouted from half way up the staircase, its voice now a little strained and no longer as confident, ¡°Coward! So much work to weaken a single small sliver of Annihilation! When the non-magical humans unleash us, all of you haughty wizards will burn with the rest! All of your magic, all of your tricks, all of them will be nothing in the face of Annihilation! Nothing shall be left behind of you fools but charred corpses!¡±

    ¡°Then I suppose I must start fighting back if that¡¯s what you wish!¡± Voldemort shouted mockingly as he waved his wand and altered the wards again. All the water in the building started being drawn inwards towards their stairwell. Voldemort fired off a blasting curse experimentally at the Shard now that he had some breathing room with it climbing the stairs as quickly as it could. Far too slowly at its lumbering pace as it launched blasts of flame upwards towards Voldemort from far enough away that he easily had enough time to dodge.

    Drawn in by the wards, water began pouring in from all the doors lining the stairwell from the cracks in the shut doors in a steady spray.

    The Shard¡¯s hand came too close to one of the doors and it melted and released a deluge of water that lanced directly into the creature. The Shard fell back slightly as the water evaporated as soon as it came close to its body. But its flames began to flicker and visibly shrink for the first time in the cat and mouse game between the two of them.

    Voldemort sent a series of curses to blast open more and more doors lining the stairwell causing water to start pouring down on the Shard like a waterfall.

    ¡°RAAAHHHH!!!¡± The Shard roared as Voldemort cast a spell to redirect the falling water so it condensed into a tight stream to strike the Shard with piercing force. The beam was so powerful that the water actually pierced into the Shard¡¯s flaming body slightly before being evaporated. Voldemort let a smile rise on his face as he saw the flames of the Shard weaken more and more as he kept guiding the water to spray it.

    The Shard paused its climb of the stairwell and turned its flaming head directly towards Voldemort. He suddenly felt a feeling of intense danger and immediately used his flight spell to dart to the side through the open door he had blasted open earlier. Out of the stairwell in a flash.

    With a massive boom, Voldemort heard an explosion below and something slammed hard against the ceiling of the stairwell behind him. Voldemort glanced behind him and saw the Shard of Annihilation start to fall and manage to land a flaming hand on the doorway.

    Its flaming body was flickering, the dented and cracked plastic of the device within it showing through more often than not now. Parts of its head and arms were bending inwards and pulsing out again as its form struggled to keep its humanoid form through its diminished flame.

    Voldemort was all out of tricks. They were on the top floor of the facility, at ground level. He¡¯d have to get some distance and find another source of water to fight it with. With the wards drawing all moisture inwards everything in the military base was bone dry, even the desiccated bodies of the dead muggle soldiers.

    He needed another source of water to fight the creature, and fast before it recovered somehow.

    Voldemort¡¯s enchanted vest hummed and strained, he could feel it buzzing against his chest. But it kept protecting him from the radiation. It only had to last through this one fight.

    Voldemort started flying to the exit of the building and the Shard followed after him in a stumbling charge. It struggled to run as its legs sagged and flickered as it charged towards Voldemort with hands outstretched. Not throwing any more bursts of flame at him now that it was so weakened.

    He sped up his flying spell and burst out of the front door and saw his group of cloaked death eaters fighting off groups of blue-clad Aurors. Voldemort ignored them all as he looked around for a source of water. He raised his wand, ¡°Inveni Aquam maxima!¡± He quickly cast. His wand tip was dragged to the side and was pointed towards a certain section of the ground.

    Several of the Aurors were distracted by Voldemort''s sudden disappearance and were struck down by killing curses as Voldemort¡¯s death eaters took advantage of their distraction from the immediate battles.

    ¡°Bombarda Maxima!¡± Voldemort chanted and pointed his wand towards the portion of the base his wand had pointed to. His spell shot out and in a massive explosion concrete and fragments of stone were sent flying from the crater that he¡¯d just created. Water began shooting into the air at high pressure. Perhaps he had hit one of the muggle water pipes below the ground?

    ¡°Air! Aha!¡± The Shard of Annihilation shouted as it melted its way out of the military base¡¯s front door and took a single step through into the open air. Beyond the range of the wards and now surrounded by air again, its flames began to slowly grow in intensity again rather than slowly dwindle like they had in the building.

    All of the wizards in the area except for Voldemort froze as the Shard of Annihilation scanned the crowd with its featureless head of flame before fixating on Voldemort.

    The wizards around the area began to cough and collapse to the ground, Death Eater and Auror alike as the Shard of Annihilation¡¯s green and red flames suddenly flared brighter in a large pulse before settling back a little weaker than before.

    As Voldemort swirled his wand and redirected the spraying fountain of water behind him and placed it under his control, he watched as the skin of the people on the ground began to become red as if they had a sunburn. Those coughing let out red splatters of blood from their throats with every cough. The people looked around sightlessly with their eyes blank and cloudy. It was the radiation, Voldemort realized. They were not protected from it.

    Only one woman remained standing. Bellatrix and Voldemort shared a glance for a moment as she reached up to her collar and pulled her robes down slightly to reveal an enchanted vest mirroring his own worn underneath her outer robes.

    Voldemort refocused on the Shard and with a shout sent the orb of water that he¡¯d created towards the Shard of Annihilation that appeared to be slowly regaining its strength in the open air even as it kept charging towards Voldemort.

    The orb of water over twenty feet across hit the Shard of Annihilation head on. The front half of the orb evaporated into steam¡­ but the back half did not.

    The Shard stumbled and fell as the flame of its legs disappeared to rush upwards to start boiling away at the orb of water now sitting around inside its upper torso, the water having survived its journey now gathered in a ball less than two feet across now. But the remaining water refused to be boiled away by the weakened flames just yet.

    Voldemort cast another spell and quickly kept funneling more and more water to stream into the spinning ball of water that slowly grew as the spell within its depths kept it in place inside of the Shard¡¯s body.

    The Shard roared again, its voice now tinged with desperation now as it lay on the ground and batted at the orb of water inside of it with its flaming arms.

    Voldemort kept the steady stream of water pouring into the orb of water so it continued to grow even as the Shard¡¯s flames grew weaker.

    Eventually the Shard stopped moving, only its fiery head still tracking Voldemort as he floated in the air showing that it was still alive. Even as it lay there the rest of its flaming arms began to be drawn inwards in its efforts to evaporate the orb of water around it.

    ¡°You may have won this time, wizard,¡± The Shard groaned, ¡°But I will rejoin Annihilation soon. The other shards will know how to stop you and your cowardly ways next time¡­ They will learn from my defeat. May your death be long... and drawn out.¡±

    Voldemort did not reply and after a few more seconds the Shard finally succumbed and the last bit of its strange flame was smothered by Voldemort''s orb of water. Leaving only the device itself behind to fall to the floor with a severely battered outer casing. It fell to the ground with a crunch of crumpling metal.

    Voldemort cast a series of spells to check the device and let out a small sigh of relief as they all came back clear. It seems that the Shard of Annihilation was defeated. That was perhaps the most difficult fight in Voldemort¡¯s life. But yet, he was victorious. There it was, his prize well earned after a well fought battle.

    ¡°Reparo!¡± He cast and something shifted inside of the device and some of the dents in the plastic casing pushed out again.

    ¡°Reparo!¡±

    It took nine more casts of the repair spell before the large device was in pristine condition once more.

    The device that would end the threat of Eric Potter once and for all with no chances that even he could escape.

    Something that would finally defeat that boy with no more chances of failure.

    The nuclear bomb was now his.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Bellatrix looked around to the bloated bodies of Death eaters and Auror alike in every direction. All gruesomely killed by a single attack by that flaming creature that her lord had killed. The very thought of how imposing and powerful he had looked when he killed the creature made her skin tingle and her breath grow heavier with desire as she looked at him.

    He was staring at the nuclear weapon now and placing the extendable pouch on the ground and levitating the bomb and carefully maneuvering it into the mouth of the bag for easy transport.

    He suddenly paused halfway through putting the bomb into the bag and his eyes began to glow with a bright golden light.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Her lord suddenly asked in the imposter¡¯s voice, ¡°Defeating a Shard of Annihilation? How for one so weak¡­? Let¡¯s search your mind¡­ Yes, hm. Yes, yes. Okay. Now that¡¯s¡­¡±

    Her lord stood there motionless for a few seconds. When the imposter spoke again its voice was cold and ruthless. It made Bellatrix shiver. It was nothing like the titillating way that Voldemort did it, asserting his power over those lesser than he was that made her want to do all sorts of things to please him. But a voice dispassionate, throwing away pieces that it no longer had any use for while only slightly resenting the waste of potential from their loss.

    ¡°An acceptable loss. Proceed,¡± The golden-eyed imposter said coldly before the golden light faded from her lord¡¯s eyes.

    Voldemort blinked, but then continued levitating the nuclear bomb into the spatially expanded bag like nothing had happened. Bellatrix watched as he finished and picked up the bag and put it into his robes.

    He raised his wand as if to apparate away.

    ¡°My lord!¡± Bellatrix called out reflexively to him. He stopped and looked at her, ¡°What are your orders?¡± she asked as he stared at her. She gestured to all the other dead death eaters and Aurors around the both of them.

    Her lord paused and surveyed all the bloated bodies scattered about.

    ¡°Clean up all the bodies that were on our side,¡± Voldemort said, ¡°Then try to transfer as many of their assets to your control as possible before their deaths are discovered. Especially Lucius and the Malfoy¡¯s wealth. I¡¯ll be taking the bomb to the muggle scientists so it can be modified to suit my uses. Once I¡¯ve finished and used the weapon properly then we¡¯ll have to build from scratch again. We¡¯ll need as much wealth as possible to do that. Make sure to scrape every galleon possible that you can from our dead allies'' vaults. Feel free to threaten the next generation into giving over their wealth if you think the heirs would not remain loyal enough to our cause.¡±

    ¡°Just the two of us, starting over from the beginning,¡± Bellatrix said, only barely resisting fanning herself at the romantic thought. Ah, her lord would only be able to pay attention to her and her alone if she was the only one of the old guard left! This was a wonderful day!

    ¡°Indeed. Do hurry,¡± Voldemort said, ¡°We both have much to do in little time. Goodbye, Bellatrix. Most loyal of my servants.¡±

    With that, her lord waved his wand and apparated away in a loud crack of air.

    Bellatrix stood there for a few moments staring at the spot that he¡¯d left from. Then she turned around and inspected the bloated bodies of ally and foe alike scattered about. She had a lot of work to do in the service of her lord.

    But first she had to clean up all of these bodies before the next wave of Aurors arrived so no one would be able to identify all of the dead death eaters who had fallen in battle¡­

 Chapter 81: Ericéˆ¥æªš the Hero

    ¡°Did you hear about that massive terrorist attack last week?¡± Alexa said worriedly, ¡°I was reading the papers yesterday. Some military base was bombed and they still haven¡¯t found who did it. A bunch of people were killed. There were a bunch of Aurors that went to respond to the attack and they were all killed in the explosion too.¡±

    ¡°Who could it be?¡± Ginny asked, ¡°Surely they must have some idea who could have done it? It¡¯s been a week, people can¡¯t just get away with things that big without anyone figuring it out. Especially if the Aurors are on it. They should be able to get to the bottom of things quickly with their magic.¡±

    ¡°Peter Pettigrew would beg to differ,¡± Jack said.

    Ginny looked at him.

    ¡°Okay, maybe people can be wrong,¡± Ginny conceded, ¡°But they¡¯ve got to have some idea of who could be behind it? At least for everything with Pettigrew I could see why they would think it might be him. Even if¡­ You know what. But they really don¡¯t know anyone that could be behind it?¡±

    ¡°Not that they¡¯re telling the papers,¡± Jack said, ¡°But they probably know and just aren¡¯t telling the public. National security and all that. It might have been a wizard that did it. That would explain why the Aurors showed up there so quickly.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m sure the Aurors will handle it,¡± Alexa said with some false cheer, ¡°We¡¯re safe here at Hogwarts, so we won¡¯t have to worry about it.¡±

    Like Alexa¡¯s words had summoned something, they suddenly heard upset shouting and an argument around the corner of the hallway.

    The three of them went silent and hurried their pace and rounded the corner. A distraught Hermione was babbling at Umbridge who looked skeptical and arguing with the girl.

    ¡°Be quiet you little mudblood, I can¡¯t even understand what you¡¯re saying!¡± Umbridge said in annoyance, before pausing and stiffening as she seemed to realize what she had said.

    Hermione turned as she saw Ginny, Jack, and Alexa round the corner to witness the confrontation. Hermione¡¯s eyes zeroed in on Ginny.

    ¡°Ginny!¡± She said in desperation as she ran towards them. ¡°He has Ron! Some man claiming to be Voldemort has Ron! Eric went after him, Voldemort just abducted Ron and told Eric to meet him at the great hall! Eric cast some weird spell that stopped Voldemort from grabbing me too. Umbridge won¡¯t listen to me, we have to save them! Eric and Ron are going to get killed if we don¡¯t call the Aurors or get the teachers to go help them!¡±

    Voldemort has Ron¡­ Ginny thought in shock.

    ¡°Umbridge is useless,¡± Alexa said after she recovered from her shock, ¡°Who¡¯s a good teacher we can go to?¡±

    ¡°Snape and Flitwick,¡± Jack answered quickly, ¡°They fought well at the Halloween riot with the Mad Potioner. They¡¯ll be able to do something.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going,¡± Ginny announced, ¡°I¡¯m not leaving it up to Eric to save Ron.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Hermione, you go to Snape or Flitwick and tell them okay?¡± Alexa said as Ginny started to run, ¡°Go, Hermione!¡± Alexa called as she started to run after Ginny along with Jack. Hermione shook her head and ran in the opposite direction ignoring the red faced Umbridge shouting at Hermione to listen to her and explain what was happening.

    As they rounded the corner and kept going to the great hall, Ginny finally registered her two friends following her.

    ¡°No! Stop, go help Hermione! Get help!¡± Ginny shouted and waved off her friends. She also tugged hard for Fawkes now that she had a moment to think.

    ¡°No, we¡¯re coming with you!¡± Alexa said as she pulled out her wand with a determined expression on her face, ¡°We¡¯re not letting you go in there alone!¡±

    ¡°NO! Get back!¡± Ginny screamed, ¡°I¡­ I can¡¯t. I can¡¯t lose any of you. Please, I can¡¯t risk it. I¡¯m powerful, I¡¯ll do it. Please, please go help Hermione. Call for help. Just¡­ Whatever it is, you two have to stay safe.¡±

    ¡°But Ginny¡­¡± Jack protested.

    ¡°There¡¯s no time!¡± Ginny said, ¡°You¡¯re not strong enough. You¡¯ll just get hurt! I can¡¯t let you get hurt. Not again. So go! Go!¡±

    Her two friends hesitated, but Ginny finally used her cloud of magic tendrils to grab them and gently shove them backwards away from her. Alexa and Jack stumbled back slightly from the force of her push.

    ¡°You better be okay!¡± Alexa threatened, a series of expressions flashing over her face rapidly, ¡°Promise!¡±

    ¡°I promise, Alexa,¡± Ginny said quickly, ¡°Now go.¡±

    With one final moment of hesitation Jack nodded to her and grabbed Alexa¡¯s hand. Jack dragged Alexa away and the two started running the other way back towards Umbridge. Alexa glanced over her shoulder looking worried before turning back and taking her hand from Jack¡¯s as the two of them started running through the corridor at full speed.

    Ginny turned back around and kept running towards the great hall. Fawkes appeared in a burst of flame and let out a loud cry.

    ¡°Apparate me into the great hall Fawkes!¡± Ginny said, ¡°Voldemort is in there with Ron! We¡¯ve got to save him!¡±

    Fawkes let out a questioning chirp.

    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s go. There¡¯s no time!¡±

    Ginny¡¯s world was engulfed in flames and the next moment she was in the great hall. Before she could even blink her world was filled with green light and Fawkes was swooping down in front of her to take the green beam aimed at her chest. Another green beam was sent at her, and Ginny had the awareness this time to use her magic tendrils to disrupt its spell structure before it could hit her.

    ¡°You too?¡± The sickeningly familiar Voldemort said from where the Headmaster¡¯s chair and professor¡¯s table should be. Right next to him was a large device made of plastic and metal with a little panel with levers and buttons on the side. A five feet by five foot cube. Ginny saw a tether of magic weaved between Voldemort and the large device as well.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Her brother Ron lay tied up and gagged with rope on the floor a few feet on Voldemort¡¯s other side. All the tables in the hall were cleared out, with Eric standing a dozen feet to her right.

    ¡°Yeah, now she¡¯s here you¡¯re double screwed Voldy!¡± Eric shouted, ¡°What were you monologuing again? Please continue.¡±

    ¡°Ah yes. You¡¯ve been a pain in my side for too long Eric Potter! You¡¯ve ruined everything. Everything! I¡¯ll make you rue the day you dared defy me or think you were greater than Lord Voldemort himself! When this nuclear bomb goes off, this whole castle will be reduced to dust. All I have to do is send a command down my magic bond and the bomb will explode. You''ll all die along with your little red headed friend that I¡¯ve captured. Shame I couldn¡¯t capture that mudblood girl in time too¡­ I wanted you to see them as they drew their last breaths¡­¡±

    ¡°And as I was saying before¡­¡± Eric said, ¡°Nukes are no joke. I¡¯ve read up on them. How do you know they won¡¯t dissolve your soul too? Are you absolutely sure you¡¯ll resurrect after if you set it off? You don¡¯t seem the type to sacrifice yourself for anything. Let alone just to kill one person that you hate. Is it worth the risk?¡±

    Voldemort stood there and Ginny could see that he was hesitating slightly now, looking between Eric and the bomb.

    Ginny stood frozen in place, carefully worming her magic tendrils towards where Ron lay tied up on the floor and gagged. Eric seemed to have something planned based on the way his magic tendrils were spreading out and surrounding Voldemort on all sides.

    She had to get Ron out of the way of whatever Eric was planning before she could focus on Voldemort and the bomb. Ginny¡¯s magic tendrils had crept halfway the distance to Ron.

    ¡°Maybe I should kill your friend first then?¡± Voldemort said, letting his wand drift over to point at Ron, ¡°Perhaps I¡¯d like to do some damage to you first just in case these are my last actions.¡±

    ¡°Whatever,¡± Eric said dismissively, ¡°That guy? Annoying as heck, keeps talking about Quidditch non-stop. You¡¯d be doing me a favor.¡±

    Ginny shot a side eyed glare at Eric before keeping her magic tendrils moving forwards to surround Ron. Eric¡¯s magic tendrils had completely surrounded Voldemort in a rough sphere for the whole conversation. What was Eric waiting for?

    ¡°You know¡­¡± Voldemort drawled as he stared at Eric with a thoughtful expression, ¡°With you, it¡¯s genuinely hard to tell if that¡¯s true or not. But just to play it safe¡­¡±

    Voldemort drew his wand back and everything seemed to happen at once.

    ¡°Avada Kedavra!¡± Voldemort chanted and sent the strongest killing curse that Ginny had ever seen straight towards Ron¡¯s chest. There was no time to move Ron away, the charm was too close to him. Ginny sent all of her magic tendrils darting forward all at once to stop the killing curse and disrupt it. But it was powerful and she was having trouble disrupting it with how much raw magic was pulsing through the green beam. Ginny was weakening it, but she wasn¡¯t fast enough. Eric¡¯s tendrils were nearby, he could come and disrupt it if he helped her.

    But instead of jumping in to disrupt the killing curse sent towards Ron, Eric¡¯s tendrils all moved to the other side of Voldemort. All of Eric¡¯s tendrils latched onto the thick connection between Voldemort and the nuclear bomb. They all paused for a single instant to organize themselves in a spiral shape along the bond before with a massive pulse of Eric¡¯s magic, he severed the bond between Voldemort and the bomb completely in one coordinated strike.

    Ginny wasn¡¯t fast enough. She didn¡¯t disrupt the killing curse enough. It hit her brother in the chest and the boy went limp to the floor, his eyes glazed over and his body still as the waves of green light from the killing curse washed over him.

    ¡°NOOOOOOO!!¡± Ginny screamed in disbelief as she watched Ron die.

    ¡°I can still press the button with a single spell!¡± Voldemort shouted hysterically, ¡°I don¡¯t need that bond to kill you all!¡±

    Voldemort waved his wand, but before he could finish Eric¡¯s tendrils all lanced in and covered Voldemort¡¯s body. With a few gruesome cracks and snaps, Voldemort¡¯s body was twisted and broken until his lifeless body fell to the floor as Eric released it.

    ¡°Well, dealt with him again,¡± Eric said casually, ¡°That really escalated fast. He went from almost poisoning bystanders to trying to blow up the entire castle.¡±

    Ginny ran forward and knelt over Ron¡¯s body, quickly undoing the ropes and gag around him. With a single poke of her magic, the summoned ropes just disappeared into raw magic again. She reached out with a trembling hand and put two fingers to the side of the neck.

    She waited. But his eyes were open and lifeless. She already knew. Ron was dead. Her brother was dead.

    ¡°Such a shame,¡± Eric said in what Ginny was sure he thought was a sympathetic tone, ¡°I¡¯m sorry you couldn¡¯t save him in time.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Ginny said, her head suddenly snapping around to Eric, ¡°ME! I WAS SUPPOSED TO SAVE HIM?! YOU LET HIM DIE! I WATCHED YOUR TENDRILS ONLY INCHES AWAY FROM THE CURSE LEAVE TO DISRUPT VOLDEMORT¡¯S BOND WITH THE BOMB! You- You let him die. He was your friend, how could you do that? Why did you wait, you could have disrupted the bond at any point. WHY DID YOU WAIT?!¡±

    ¡°Hey!¡± Eric shouted defensively, looking annoyed, ¡°I was busy saving all of our hides in case you didn¡¯t notice. Voldemort was about to blow us all to smithereens! If I¡¯d done it while he was paying attention then he could have still sent through the order while I was disrupting it and blown us into little bits. He had to be distracted in order for it to work.¡±

    ¡°D-Distracted?¡± Ginny said in a faint voice, her eyes going between Ron¡¯s limp body and Voldemort¡¯s mangled and twisted one.

    ¡°Distracted?¡± She said again, her mind not able to process what Eric was trying to say.

    ¡°Yeah, when Voldy went for the killing blow it was the perfect time to break his magic bond with the bomb. He wasn¡¯t focused on the bond at all.¡±

    ¡°Distracted.¡± Ginny said as a deadly calm washed over her, ¡°Voldemort was too distracted murdering Ron to defend the bomb. Is that what you¡¯re saying?¡±

    Eric snapped his fingers and pointed at her, and let out a relieved smile. ¡°I knew you¡¯d get it. That¡¯s it. I thought you¡¯d be able to handle it, but¡­ apparently not. But it¡¯s not too bad. One life instead of all of us instead. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s what he would have wanted. Plus he¡¯s not even your real brother, Harry. It¡¯s sad, but it¡¯s not like he was your real family. If that makes you feel any better about it.¡±

    ¡°He was my brother. A brother who would have wanted to not be murdered.¡±

    ¡°Well of course, that¡¯s-¡±

    ¡°He wanted his friend to try to save him. Spare a few of his magic tendrils to save his life instead of making some flashy spiral shape so you¡¯d feel extra cool when severing the bond.¡±

    ¡°Hey now, that¡¯s-¡±

    ¡°He WANTED A LOT OF THINGS! AND YOU LET HIM DIE! YOU KILLED HIM!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not fair, I was only-¡±

    ¡°No, no, NO!¡± Ginny said, her sudden calm immediately bursting into overwhelming rage, ¡°I¡¯ve had enough! You killed my brother! Because you thought he wasn¡¯t important enough. You had enough time for fancy shapes, you had enough to save him! I¡¯m going to kill you Eric, and stop you once and for all! You won¡¯t be able to hurt anyone else ever again! Voldemort was here for you! You! All of this is because of you! Die!¡±

    Eric raised his hands defensively, although he appeared to relax and smiled a bit, ¡°C¡¯mon. We both know who¡¯d win in a fight that-¡±

    Ginny¡¯s dozen magic tendrils ballooned to two hundred in a massive plume around her and Eric¡¯s eyes widened. In quick bursts of magic, over forty little Chompers appeared all around Ginny.

    Ginny pointed her finger at Eric, her vision blurry through her tears and the bounding drum of her rage in her head and turning her vision of everything around her red.

    ¡°CHOMPERS, GET HIM!¡±

    Her little minions charged almost as one in a giant wave of snapping jaws and leaping forms all intent on ripping and tearing into Eric.

    ¡°Oh shit,¡± Eric said with wide eyes right before Ginny¡¯s constructs descended on him en masse with wide open maws filled with gleaming white sharp teeth ready to rip and tear.

 Chapter 82: The Fight

    Eric¡¯s eyes were wide as he burst into motion his body exploded with his own magic tendrils to counter as Ginny¡¯s own swarm of magical limbs struck inward to attack him.

    Eric used a few of his magic tendrils to grab his clothing and pull him into the air. He jerked around wildly to avoid the swarm of Chompers and magic tendrils attacking him from all sides.

    He sent bursts of flames from the palms of his hands to roast groups of Chompers that attacked him. But Ginny and the Chompers were used to it and expertly dodged and leapt around his attacks to push forward with their relentless assault. Ginny was always summoning more and more Chomper replacement forces even as she and Eric¡¯s magic tendrils wrestled with each other for dominance. Eric had more of them, but he was distracted and panicked and so Ginny was making progress and boxing him in even despite his numbers advantage on her.

    Caught by surprise by Ginny¡¯s sudden full assault, Eric was sweating and looked panicked as he used his superior force of three hundred magic tendrils to barely fight off her attacks. One of the Chompers managed to jump up and sank its sharp teeth into Eric¡¯s calf.

    ¡°Gah!¡± Eric shouted before having a magic tendril lance out and skewer the Chomper and dissolve it into loose magic before it could fully tighten down with its strong jaws.

    ¡°Nidhogg!¡± Eric said, his voice cracking a bit as another two Chompers managed shallow bites on him, ¡°Help! Stop her!¡±

    Ginny grabbed her robes with ten of her magic tendrils and sent herself launching up into the air as there was a hiss and a sudden rush of air behind her. Ginny saw a blur of green scales below her as a massive serpent¡¯s jaws snapped down where she had been standing. Ginny glanced over to where the snake had come from and saw a strange obsidian hallway had appeared in the wall of the great hall. The massive serpent was still slithering out of the wall even now that it had stretched fully across the room.

    It was¡­ It must be a basilisk! Like the one rumored to be in the Chamber of Secrets. As the Basilisk¡¯s head whipped around towards her, Ginny scrunched her eyes deeply shut. The serpent lunged at her again and she dropped down to dodge again leaving the serpent to snap at only thin air again.

    The massive snake fully slithered out of the strange tunnel in the wall and as soon as the tip of its tail was fully through Ginny felt the opening shrink and disappear with her magic sense.

    The fifty foot long snake drew back its head after its second failed attack, Ginny could sense its full form and Eric below with her magic sense.

    With her sudden distraction, all of her momentum and attacks had evaporated away. Eric was now pressing her in on all fronts, now using his higher numbers of magic tendrils more effectively now that he had the Basilisk running interference and he wasn¡¯t as panicked anymore and had a brief moment to regroup himself.

    ¡°Eric, you asshole!¡± Ginny shouted, ¡°It was you! You killed the old Ginny too! I should have known that it would be you!¡±

    ¡°Says the one trying to murder me right now!¡± Eric shot back, ¡°What happened to your pacifism towards every little hurtful thing I did to somebody before? You¡¯re acting crazy right now!¡±

    The basilisk snapped its head out to bite her again. She darted to the side in her flight. She summoned twenty Chompers directly onto the snake¡¯s head, allowing the ones attacking Eric to be stupider and get killed quicker in exchange. The Chompers leapt towards the Basilisk¡¯s eyes with deadly intent. The snake shook its head violently, but not before one of the Chompers managed to latch firmly onto one of its eyes.

    The Basilisk hissed loudly and began thrashing wildly in pain and after a few shakes of its head dislodged the singular latched on Chomper from its injured eyes.

    Ginny summoned another squad of twenty Chompers onto the Basilisk¡¯s head. Eric¡¯s tendrils were all around him and Ginny could summon her Chompers from any point along her magic tendrils. When the Basilisk had darted forward to bite at her it had entered ¡®her¡¯ zone filled with magic tendrils letting her summon the Chompers on it freely.

    Its green scales seemed to be magically resistant somehow. As soon as one of Ginny¡¯s magic tendrils tried to latch onto them they just popped right into loose magic as if hit by some kind of electric shock.

    The Basilisk was quicker this time and kept shaking its head and even rubbed it against a wall to scrape off the onslaught of the Chompers.

    With her focus on the Chompers attacking the Basilisk, Eric started summoning the big ball of flame around himself to throw at her like he had at Lupin and Fate the two times when Eric had fought them.

    ¡°Just calm down, Ginny!¡± Eric shouted, ¡°So what if I let the old Ginny die too? I didn¡¯t kill her, it was some Tom Riddle guy that did it. I never so much as talked with the old Ginny or cast a spell at her! You¡¯re being ridiculous!¡±

    Ginny¡¯s rage was pushed to new heights, ¡°Standing back and watching as someone¡­¡±

    Ginny remembered that she had structured spells too and prepared a spell in her palm. She sent the cutting curse downwards and it sliced into the already ruined eye of the Basilisk and cut deeper. The Diffindo cutting curse.

    ¡°...Dies!¡± Ginny finished with a grunt, ¡°When you could stop it easily¡­ Is basically the same as killing them yourself! You killed her just like you killed Ron!¡±

    The basilisk hissed again as Ginny¡¯s Chompers bit into and blinded its healthy eye too. The snake began to flail around wildly biting at thin air as Ginny floated above and hovering with her magic tendrils holding her robes. The cloth was slightly ripped from all the sudden dodges and movements she¡¯d forced them to endure. But they¡¯d last for the fight.

    Ginny sent another cutting charm down deeper into the Basilisk¡¯s ruined eye with pinpoint precision as it smashed its head into a wall and became dazed for a moment and stopped moving as much briefly. Ginny summoned another ten Chompers on the Basilisk¡¯s head as it reeled back in pain from Ginny¡¯s cutting charm. The Chompers dived into the now sizable and bleeding hole in the Basilisk¡¯s empty eye socket. The Chompers crowded inside the hole and no matter where the Basilisk thrashed or what it rubbed itself against the Chompers kept chomping and burrowing deeper into its head.

    ¡°Fine, Ginny,¡± Eric said with a calm voice with only a slight tremble in it as he sweated with the massive ball of flame held right above his head, ¡°Fight to the death then. And I tried so hard to be nice to you too¡­ A shame it has to end this way.¡±

    With that, he threw the massive ball of flame directly at Ginny. Ginny used her magic tendrils on her robes to pull her directly upwards. Eric held out both hands with intense concentration and shifted and twisted his hands as if molding an invisible ball of clay in front of him.

    The ball of flame shifted in mid-air to shoot up to go towards Ginny. Even as the ball of flame came towards her she sent her tendrils of magic into the ball of flame, trying to disrupt it and dissolve its spell structure. But every magic tendril she sent to stop the ball of flame was one less countering Eric¡¯s own magic tendrils pressing inwards and boxing in her now that she¡¯d lost the momentum of the fight.

    Ginny¡¯s Chompers inside of the Basilisk kept biting and burrowing inwards as the Basilisk was helpless to stop them. Ginny¡¯s Chompers attacking Eric were much less effective than they had been in the beginning. But they were still distracting him somewhat and he seemed slightly confused on how she was managing to make them dodge and work together so intelligently while she was doing so many other things.

    It was just practice. Ginny darted to the side again, Eric twirled his hands and the ball of the flame moved to track her.

    The thrashing and hissing Basilisk on the ground spasmed one last time before going limp. Ginny¡¯s Chompers had burrowed deep enough that they¡¯d started biting chunks out of the important bits of the Basilisk¡¯s brain.

    Ginny dodged the ball of flame two more times, bringing her close to the massive window that sat just behind the professor¡¯s table.

    With the basilisk fully dead as far as Ginny could tell, she opened her eyes to quickly survey the room. Eric was concentrating deeply on his hands as he controlled his ball of flame to turn towards her again.

    Now that she didn¡¯t have to deal with the Basilisk she could devote more of her magic tendrils from dissolving Eric¡¯s fireball and sending more and more Chompers towards the sweating Eric to distract him and get a few small bites in. Even now Ginny could see Eric¡¯s legs and arms bleeding slightly from dozens of small pinprick wounds all over his body.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    Ginny prepared to dodge the ball of flame again, but instead of rotating his hands around again Eric slammed his palms together flat with each other.

    The ball of fire exploded right in front of her and she was thrown back as all the windows in the hall including the massive one behind her shattered into tiny shards of glass from the force of the explosion.

    Ginny was flung inside into the open air with blue skies and green lawns below. As she flew out of the window she thought she saw the form of a Dementor floating there just to the side of the glass staring at her. But then she blinked and it was gone again like nothing had ever been there at all.

    All of Ginny¡¯s magic tendrils and Chompers inside the great hall and in the ball of flame had been destroyed. But she couldn¡¯t let the setback stop her. The Chompers were wearing Eric down, she could see it. She just had to last long enough that he made a mistake and they started getting some real bites in on him before he could destroy them. Ginny flew upwards out of sight of Eric and up to the roof of the great hall.

    She knew that Eric¡¯s magic sense was less powerful than hers was. But how much less? She could just barely sense the inside of the great hall from here. She stood on the roof and had her magic tendrils worm out in a circle and bunch by the upper sills of the shattered windows. She waited for a few seconds to prepare herself. Eric was doing something inside the great hall too, she could sense him taking the flames from the fiery explosion and gathering them around himself in a circle of flames.

    Ginny noticed in satisfaction that the field of flames was much smaller than the one he had created in his fight with Lupin and Barty Crouch Junior. Detonating his fireball early must have made him lose a lot of the flames he otherwise could have collected for his ¡®supply¡¯ of flames for his fire manipulation.

    Fully prepared now, Ginny sent her magic tendrils darting through all the windows at once from the top. Based on how Eric had bunched most of his magic tendrils in a defensive tangle over by the window Ginny had been blown out of, he must have expected her to come back that way. Ginny¡¯s tendrils pushed in from all sides and claimed much of the upper half of the great hall back as Ginny¡¯s territory before Eric managed to bring his far flung tendrils back to himself to combat her fully.

    Ginny leapt to the side as a flaming spear exploded out of the roof below her. Using her flight, she moved as Eric began to throw flaming spear after flaming spear after her, his attacks cutting through the tiles of the roof as if they were made of paper. But with each attack he launched his little zone of flames diminished.

    When it was half depleted, he stopped throwing the flaming spears at Ginny. Half the roof was perforated with the fist sized holes left by their passage.

    Ginny went around the side and through a shattered window and flew back into the great hall. She hovered near the ceiling staring down with the top half of the room claimed by her and her magic tendrils while the bottom half was defended by Eric¡¯s.

    Some of Eric¡¯s tendrils had been dipped in his pool of flame and were being used as heavy weapons to destroy and dissolve Ginny¡¯s own tendrils en masse when hers encountered one of the flaming ones.

    But Ginny had a counter for that. She carefully lined it up in her head for a second before summoning thirty Chompers all at once in mid-air directly above Eric. All of the little constructs started to fall. Eric tried to use his tendrils to destroy them or swat them aside. But Ginny just kept summoning more and more. She didn¡¯t have to give them any complex commands. Just point towards Eric and then bite. No fancy dodging, no teamwork, nothing. Just pure numbers.

    The first one landed on Eric¡¯s shoulder and bit down only to be dissolved before it could do more and break the skin. But then a second later another did the same. Then another, another, another¡­

    A few even managed deeper bites with their teeth.

    Eric¡¯s field of flame was rapidly dwindling as he had used it all up on the flaming spears or the flaming tendrils to claim more territory in the ceiling away from Ginny. Ginny had ceded control of most of the ceiling and only kept a portion to herself as she kept focusing on making the Chompers keep raining down on Eric while doing her best to fight off Eric¡¯s flaming tendrils where she could.

    Normally Eric would just fly and dodge away from an attack like this. But forming the field of flames for his fire manipulation had rooted him in place. If he wanted to use fire attacks then he had to launch it from there and so he wouldn¡¯t leave its confines until the last possible moment or all the magic he''d invested into the flames would be wasted.

    A Chomper managed to get a full bite on Eric¡¯s arm, actually tearing out a chunk of muscle fully free before it was destroyed.

    ¡°Ginny, you hypocrite!¡± Eric shouted desperately as his arm started bleeding heavily, ¡°You stood by and watched me do all those things you¡¯re upset about without doing anything! Doesn¡¯t that make you complicit too?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t have the power to stop you,¡± Ginny replied despite herself, ¡°I had no choice.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous! C¡¯mon, what I did wasn¡¯t even that bad¡­¡±

    The doors to the great hall burst open and both Eric and Ginny froze at the sudden interruption. Standing there with their wands out were Snape and Flitwick with¡­ Alexa and Jack right behind them with their wands out.

    ¡°Help, help!¡± Eric shouted, ¡°Ginny¡¯s trying to kill me!¡±

    Snape opened his mouth to say something, but Ginny answered Eric with another rain of Chompers. She was so close, she was sure that he was on the end of his rope. If he had any more tricks then surely he¡¯d have already used them by now before he started getting bitten by her Chompers for real.

    ¡°Back, back!¡± Snape barked as he gestured with his hand to Jack and Alexa behind him who looked concerned.

    ¡°Aggghhh! Fine!¡± Eric shouted as a Chomper took another good bite out of him before Eric destroyed it, ¡°It¡¯s a death match isn¡¯t it? Then I¡¯ll have to use every advantage I can get!¡±

    Ginny¡¯s eyes widened as at the tip of Eric¡¯s tendrils by the floor started forming self contained spells. Killing charms pointed at the professors and her two friends.

    ¡°No!¡± Ginny shouted and let her flight stop briefly to drop like a stone to the floor. Eric¡¯s tendrils battered her and tried to capture her as her body fell right into a solid mass of them. But she dissolved most of her current tendrils all in an instant and ceding the rest of the ceiling so all of them could help her fall faster and stop herself from getting captured by Eric¡¯s tendrils.

    The dozens of killing charms at the tip of Eric¡¯s tendrils all launched at once in green beams of light from all directions directly toward the teachers and Ginny¡¯s friends.

    Ginny frantically sent her tendrils to disrupt the spells and stop them before they could hit anyone. She succeeded just as she landed and stopped her fall from the ceiling to hover only a few feet off of the floor.

    The extended battle had her huffing and puffing while red in the face. Eric wasn¡¯t looking much better, sweat pouring down his face and looking like a tomato even as the wounds all over his body kept bleeding.

    Eric¡¯s eyes narrowed and instead of targeting her, he kept casting killing charms at Jack and Alexa over and over and forcing Ginny to frantically block and dissolve them with her own magic.

    Snape and Flitwick looked bewildered, ducking and looking around in confusion as green bolts of light seemed to appear from nowhere to shoot towards them before dissolving again into nothing as Ginny stopped them.

    ¡°Go!¡± Ginny shouted while trying to keep up her absolute focus even as she took in heaving breaths, ¡°Can¡¯t stop Eric for¡­ Much longer. Too dangerous.¡±

    ¡°Ms. Weasley¡­¡± Snape said sternly. A green killing curse came from an angle and Eric¡¯s magic tendrils pushed inwards to try to clear a path and bat Ginny¡¯s tendrils aside as she attempted to dissolve it.

    ¡°It¡¯s Eric!¡± Ginny said quickly as she finally managed to dissolve the killing curse only ten feet away from Snape¡¯s chest, ¡°He¡¯s casting the killing curses.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re forcing me¡­ to do it!¡± Eric shouted from across the way, the pool of fire below his feet now barely ten feet across now, ¡°It¡¯s your fault he died, what are you blaming me for? It was your job to save him! I did my part, I stopped the bomb. You''re the one that failed, not me!¡±

    ¡°RAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!¡± Ginny screamed as she charged the most destructive spell she knew on dozens of the tip of the tendrils closest to Eric. His eyes widened as Ginny launched the spells at him in a sudden counterattack to his relentless barrage of the killing curses on Ginny¡¯s friends.

    ¡°BOMBARDA!¡± Ginny shouted as all her spells flashed across the intervening space, Ginny¡¯s remaining tendrils carving out clear tunnels almost directly towards Eric for her spells while almost completely forgoing defense.

    Taken by surprise by Ginny¡¯s sudden attack, Eric was late to respond. He dissolved almost all of the explosive spells firing towards him. Almost all of them.

    Ginny saw a strange pitch black shadow form at Eric¡¯s feet and start growing upwards. But whatever it was, the spells reached Eric first. Ginny and everyone else had to shield their eyes as the massive explosion let out a massive burst of light and shook the room so hard that all of them except the floating Ginny were thrown off of their feet.

    When all of them looked up blinking heavily all that was left on the floor was a heavy blood splatter and a few chunks of flesh scattered across the room.

    Vision cutting in and out and feeling like she¡¯d collapse at any moment, Ginny slowly lowered herself until she was on the ground again. Her legs were weak and she sank to a seated position as she kept lowering her body down.

    She blinked and time passed like a buffering video suddenly jumping forward again.

    ¡°...Ginny? Ginny, what happened?¡± Alexa was asking as she shook Ginny¡¯s shoulder hard.

    ¡°Ron¡¯s dead,¡± Ginny said numbly, ¡°I couldn¡¯t save him. I killed Eric. I killed somebody. Even if it was him.¡±

    ¡°Oh, Ginny¡­¡±

    Time stuttered forward again and Alexa had Ginny wrapped up in a tight hug and was crying into her shoulder and babbling. Jack was sitting just to the side behind Alexa looking concerned and frightened.

    Time stuttered and Ginny was lying on her back with a shouting Umbridge and Snape standing over her. Ginny had never thought that she¡¯d ever hear Snape defending her, but that¡¯s the impression that her fuzzy mind was receiving.

    One last flash of her friends peering down at her from above. Jack¡¯s hand was cupping her cheek and his lips were moving, but Ginny¡¯s fuzzy mind didn¡¯t understand. But they were okay. Jack and Alexa were¡­ okay.

    Ginny¡¯s world went black and her thoughts devolved into murky dreams where there wasn¡¯t a single coherent thought to be found.

 Chapter 83: The Funeral

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± Ginny said tearfully as she hugged Olivia tightly, ¡°I didn¡¯t even like Ron that much. He was a jerk, a slob. Always hanging out with Eric¡­ I barely even knew him really. So why does it still hurt so much?¡±

    ¡°He was still your brother,¡± Olivia said softly, ¡°That means something. Even if he wasn¡¯t your best brother ever, he was still your brother. It¡¯s okay to feel sad about it. It¡¯s a sad thing.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I know¡­¡± Ginny mumbled. The two of them sat in silence for a bit, neither of them saying anything.

    ¡°I¡¯m a murderer,¡± Ginny suddenly said, ¡°I killed Eric. Now that it¡¯s all over, I can¡¯t help but wonder if I did the wrong thing. He didn¡¯t even want to fight me, really. But I killed him anyway. I don¡¯t want to be a monster. Does that make me a monster?¡±

    ¡°Hey,¡± Olivia said firmly and gripped Ginny in a firm side hug, ¡°You¡¯re not a monster. And not a murderer. Don¡¯t you ever say that. I¡¯ve met a lot of killers at the clinic, you know.¡±

    Ginny looked up and wiped her eyes on her sleeve, ¡°R-Really? What were they like?¡±

    ¡°Some were bad,¡± Olivia admitted, ¡°Selfish people who did it for bad reasons. Or for evil reasons. Sometimes the other werewolves know about bad things that the others have done. Werewolves don¡¯t talk to the Aurors, so sometimes bad people only get caught at the clinic for the horrible things they did in the past, back when they thought they could get away with it. But most weren¡¯t bad people at all. They were just desperate and put in a situation where they felt they didn¡¯t have any other choice. Killing someone to defend their children, someone trying to mug them, completely by accident, in a drunken rage, all sorts of things. All of them killed people. But that doesn¡¯t make them bad people because of it. Just people put in terrible situations where they might have made a wrong choice. Or maybe even the right one. After everything you¡¯ve told us and the rest of your family about everything that Eric¡¯s done... About the truth about Harry, Balthazar, Teregatt¡­ Eric did so much to you.¡±

    Olivia sighed and shook her head, ¡°What you went through¡­ You always blamed yourself for not being strong enough to stop Eric from doing something horrible. But it wasn¡¯t your fault, no one should have to deal with what you had to. And that thing with Fate as well on top of it all¡­ You don¡¯t even realize how terrible it was to hear what you¡¯d been through this whole time, all without being able to tell anybody about it. Always worrying about what Eric would do to you if he discovered your secrets¡­ No, don¡¯t you ever say that. You¡¯re not a murderer. It was practically self defense. And he deserved what he got a thousand times over.¡±

    ¡°I know that he probably deserved it,¡± Ginny said, ¡°But it still makes me feel horrible.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± Olivia said as she started stroking Ginny¡¯s red hair slowly, ¡°It¡¯s not supposed to feel good. But that doesn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t the right thing to do. Now Eric won¡¯t be able to hurt anyone else ever again. You gotta remember that. It wasn¡¯t just because you were angry with him, it was also because you¡¯d seen him hurt the people you care about so many times in the past. You were just scared. And that¡¯s okay.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Olivia,¡± Ginny said after a few more minutes of leaning against Olivia for comfort, ¡°That helped, I think. I see why all the wolf-kin like you so much even now after so much time has passed.¡±

    ¡°I try,¡± Olivia said, ¡°Now let¡¯s get you cleaned up, right? We¡¯ve got to go to the funeral soon. And put on our black mourning robes for it. Let¡¯s just¡­ get ready. I¡¯m sure that your Mom will feel better after the funeral.¡±

    ¡°O- Okay,¡± Ginny said, ¡°It¡¯s like she doesn¡¯t even want to do anything anymore. I¡¯ve had to make breakfast for everybody for the last few days even¡­¡±

    ¡°She¡¯ll¡­ She¡¯s just sad,¡± Olivia said, ¡°But you¡¯ve got me to talk to and help out when you need it. And your Dad and brothers too. We¡¯re family, that¡¯s what we should be for.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, big sis,¡± Ginny said in a more subdued tone than she normally did.

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome¡­ Little sis,¡± Olivia said before ruffling Ginny¡¯s hair slightly with her hand with a faint smile on her face. She stood up and pulled Ginny up with her by the hand off of the couch.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    ¡°Now let¡¯s go,¡± Olivia said, ¡°We¡¯ve got to change and clean up before any of the other guests start arriving.¡±

    Olivia left and Ginny followed after her.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Ginny watched as the empty casket was slowly lowered into the ground. Both the nuclear weapon and Ron¡¯s body had been destroyed in Ginny and Eric¡¯s frantic battle. Ginny had refused to talk to the Aurors about what had happened, so she had no idea what they would think of it all. The dead Basilisk, the deaths, the bomb, any of it. It had been to painful to talk about what happened to Ron. And Ginny had no idea what she was supposed to tell them about what had happened. Her family knew it all, and said that they would handle it. But that wasn¡¯t important right now. There wasn¡¯t even anything left of Ron to bury. So the casket was empty.

    Hermione stood there on the other side of the grave, looking like she was in a daze.

    With a wave of his wand, Dad shifted the pile of dirt to fill the hole when the empty casket was at the bottom. He took out some magical fertilizer and scattered it and some seeds over the loose soil by hand.

    With another wave of his wand, Dad activated the fertilizer and hundreds of colorful flowers burst into growth over the grave.

    ¡°Goodbye, Ron,¡± Ginny said softly.

    As everyone started to leave, Ginny tried to walk up to Hermione. But the girl pointedly looked away and pushed past Ginny without another word and left.

    Ginny sighed. She understood. Hermione had lost her two closest friends, Ginny hadn¡¯t had the heart to tell her about everything that Eric had done. Hermione could hate her, but it just felt cruel to reveal  Eric''s crimes to Hermione while she was grieving the loss of both of her best friends.

    After the funeral ended, Ginny felt a little lighter. Like she had a sense of closure now with Ron buried and saying one last goodbye.

    And without Eric, she could finally start living her life without worry. The beginning of a brighter future without any more danger or horribleness to get between Ginny exploring her magic and spending time with her friends.

    The life that she and Harry had always wanted from the beginning. It could finally be here now that Eric was gone from her life. Even if her victory was subdued and not the celebration that she had expected it to be. She wasn''t sure what she had expected it to be.

    And with that horrible woman Umbridge fired from the school too after what had happened. Ginny was sure that the school would find someone better to run the school next.

    If only Ron could be here to see it too...

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Eric frantically tried to block the blasting curses that Ginny had fired at him. How was this possible? How was she overpowering him? It wasn¡¯t right! It wasn¡¯t fair! He was the stronger one, he had already proved that years ago. He just didn¡¯t understand how she could have become so powerful so quickly. Had she been holding back this whole time for some reason?

    Sweating buckets and body running hot, Eric kept trying to dissolve the blasting curses spell structures and counter Ginny¡¯s magic tendrils as they brutally carved a path towards him and fended off his attacks on her spells.

    It wouldn¡¯t be enough, Eric could see it. Something cold washed over his feet as a black shadow began to spread upwards from the bottom of his feet. Eric ignored it as he used a desperate push of his magic to attempt to dissolve the last five of the blasting curses before they hit him. The strange shadow had reached up to his waist.

    He was too late and his world exploded into pain as the curses landed. But after a moment of intense pain and heat, there was only cold and dampness.

    Eric opened his swollen and barely functional eye even as he felt the damage over his whole body as he lay there on the ground limply.

    He was in some sort of dark cave, and floating above him were a group of figures in dark cloaks.

    ¡®Eric Potter,¡¯ A voice whispered in his mind as one of the figures reached up and drew back its hood to reveal a featureless gray head with a circular mouth at the bottom, ¡®I believe that we can help each other. We have an artifact to heal your wounds¡­ At a price. You will become like us, no longer human. But also not us, but something new. You will not survive otherwise. We will assist if you help us grow strong beyond all others, as Ecraz promised us before he was defeated. As strong as you appear to be.¡¯

    ¡°Teaming up with¡­ Dementors. Surviving at a price¡­¡± Eric said with a cough as he kept bleeding and his mind began to fade.

    ¡°...Sure, why not. Let¡¯s do it. Sounds interesting at least.¡±

    ¡®I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll do great things together, Eric Potter,¡¯ The Dementor above said as Eric finally lost consciousness, ¡®I look forward to our partnership. It will take many years for the artifact to do its work. But when you emerge... You will be something truly extraordinary.¡¯

 Chapter 84: The Final Battle

    ¡°It is time,¡± Balthazar said grimly as he stood there next to Vorzik, ¡°All of our forces lay waiting. Fate lays at the gates, she¡¯ll be through to the island soon. Now is the time to strike.¡±

    ¡°I have the cloak of Invisibility. You have created the proper bindings upon it? I do not wish to be ensnared simply by touching it,¡± Vorzik¡¯s singular house-elf body nearby replied as it inspected the silky cloth of the Cloak of Invisibility.

    ¡°Just be careful with it,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°But yes. Simply throw it in her direction when you have an opportunity as we discussed and you will not be targeted. Simply holding it is no danger.¡±

    ¡°Very well. I will be careful with it. I am prepared.¡±

    ¡°Then let us go.¡±

    Balthazar was fully wearing his most powerful set of armor and holding a long enchanted rifle. The armor was a deep red to match his skin with little darker flecks scattered across its surface of shimmering metal. It covered him completely, only leaving his horns exposed. Even his wings had a sheath running along the limbs themselves even if the membrane between the finger like bones were covered in the sheaths of enchanted metal. It had carried him through battle all the way from the beginning of his service to Teregatt. Armor that had stood unbroken through a seemingly endless string of battles...

    He had been charging the enchanted rifle with his magic for months. It was a well crafted weapon. But with the power thrumming within it it would be nothing but scrap after one single powerful blast. Hopefully something to put Fate and Merlin on a bit of a back foot for the start of the battle.

    Balthazar had no illusions that he was anywhere either of their levels of power when it came to magic or even skill. His last battle just against Fate in Voldemort¡¯s body, when Balthazar outclassed the wizard in power by so much had been close. Merlin eclipsed Balthazar in raw power by orders of magnitude. He would have to rely on the enchanted items from Teregatt to even the playing field a little.

    Balthazar reached to his sides and patted the two bulky bulges of thick metal sitting just above his hips. He reached down and undid the protective little flaps covering them. A series of protective enchantments activated at the mouths of the twin pockets and Balthazar felt a slight tug on his magic to help maintain them.

    Balthazar reached inside one of them with an armored hand and pulled out a long sword glimmering with a blade looking like sharpened ice. Letting out an aura of chill and lethargy even as Balthazar held it aloft. He nodded and placed the sword back into the expanded space it had come from.

    He reached to the open pocket on the other side and reached in with his same arm. He drew out a small pistol like enchanted weapon and inspected it carefully. This one too was fully charged full with Balthazar¡¯s magic and would be destroyed after a single shot. He had many like it prepared for the battle. He would need them to counter the power that Merlin would be able to put out.

    All of Balthazar¡¯s own magic would contribute to his own defense and powering his enchanted weapons and armor. He had no delusions that any attack he would try to create normally would be able to injure Merlin.

    Even the beam of light from space would take far too long to set up. It would never be able to strike Merlin or even be able to be properly deployed before Merlin launched another one of his massive spells upwards and disrupt the whole contraption before it could fully activate.

    So no, none of Balthazar¡¯s normal attacks would be able to harm Merlin. Even these weapons would only let him hold his own and do some minor damage to Merlin. Hopefully that would be enough¡­

    Balthazar put the enchanted pistol back in its expanded space in the pouch at his side. Balthazar flapped his wings and channeled his magic and flew into the air. Two of Vorzik¡¯s bodies followed after him. The bodies stood perfectly still as they used their magic to fly behind Balthazar as if the wind and gravity didn¡¯t affect them in the slightest. The environment didn¡¯t bother them, Balthazar mused.

    Vorzik¡¯s last body remained behind at Azkaban, the Cloak of Invisibility between its hands as it stared into the sky to watch the rest of them leave.

    Balthazar and the two of Vorzik¡¯s bodies flew upwards until they were right on the edge of the wards.

    On the other side stood Merlin with glowing golden eyes.

    ¡°Come¡­ to negotiate?¡± Fate said in Merlin¡¯s voice, panting slightly. After a moment Merlin took a deep breath and seemed to recollect himself after spending several hours of battering the wards full force.

    ¡°We¡¯re very close to breaking through,¡± Fate said, ¡°It¡¯ll only be a little while longer before I get inside.¡±

    ¡°Negotiate?¡± Balthazar asked. Despite everything, that would still be the best outcome. This would be a hard fight, no way around it. Best to not risk conflict if it was possible.

    ¡°Do you have a way to leave this world?¡± Fate asked piercingly, her eyes fixed on Balthazar. He hesitated. Technically they could return to Teregatt. But then they¡¯d be floating adrift in the void again. Reconnecting to another world would be a matter of chance if it ever happened.

    ¡°No,¡± He said, ¡°Not in a way that I¡¯m sure that would work.¡±

    Fate nodded.

    ¡°Merlin¡¯s asked for me to be more reasonable,¡± She said, ¡°Leave this world. I¡¯ll help provide you with a portal to a nearby universe where we won¡¯t need to fight each other. I¡¯ll even¡­¡±

    Fate looked unhappy as she spoke, ¡°A few day¡­ No, weeks. I¡¯ll give you a few weeks to leave. No killing, no fighting. You just leave peacefully, and I¡¯ll help you go. Beyonders. I see you¡­ who is that next to you?¡±

    Merlin cocked his head to the side and stared at Vorzik in confusion, ¡°You are¡­ where are the house elves? What have you done with them? Why are you working on the side of Beyonders, Ancestor!¡±

    ¡°I am but an Aspect of Ancestor, that of the house-elves.¡± Vorzik¡¯s two bodies said, ¡°The Beyonder offered us a better deal than the pitiful one you made Merlin force us into. I¡¯m only doing the best for the people which I am bound to.¡±

    ¡°But he is a Beyonder!¡± Fate said, looking enraged, ¡°You knew that he¡¯d have to be expelled! Ancestor agreed with me that it would be for the best if the Beyonders were kept at bay! Why are you fighting me now?¡±

    ¡°Ancestor is not like you, Fate,¡± Vorzik said, ¡°Each of Ancestor''s fragments are allowed to make their own decisions. My actions are my own and not Ancestor¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯re taking all the house-elves with you?¡± Fate demanded, ¡°I had plans for them! You can¡¯t do this, this ruins so much!¡±

    ¡°I care not for your plans for my people,¡± Vorzik said with a reproachful tone, ¡°The Beyonders have treated us well. Better than you have. I will not be persuaded from my position.¡±

    Fate¡¯s face twisted and she looked like she was about to force Merlin to shout.

    ¡°Fate, perhaps its for the best,¡± Merlin suddenly said as the golden light faded from his eyes, ¡°They can go with the Beyonders. The house-elves are already lost along with the Beyonders. Corrupted in your eyes already, no?¡±

    The golden eyes returned and Merlin¡¯s expression twisted into anger and petulance once more. Like someone who had been forced to swallow something sour.

    ¡°Fine,¡± Fate spat out, ¡°The house-elves can leave with the Beyonders too. Now, do you agree? You have no idea how generous I¡¯m being! If not for Merlin I¡¯d be in there purging you all from this planet without worrying about all of this. I¡¯m sure that even letting you go will lead to more Beyonders coming here think they smell weakness from me like how they did last time¡­¡±

    ¡°Can we not simply negotiate to remain on Azkaban?¡± Balthazar asked, ¡°I do not think that I would like the world that you would want to send us to. And I have made acquaintances with several of the natives. I¡¯d rather not leave them after doing my best to help them so far.¡±

    ¡°NO! YOU HAVE TO LEAVE!¡± Fate shouted before calming down slightly, ¡°Stop delaying! Do you agree or should Merlin finish battering through the wards and slaughter all of you?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s fight then,¡± Balthazar said as he lifted his rifle to bear and held it against his shoulder. With a command to the wards they contracted until they were directly around the island itself rather than hundreds of meters away. The wards passed over Balthazar and the two of Vorzik¡¯s bodies as they remained floating in the air.

    Balthazar pulled the trigger of the rifle and fired it at the surprised Fate. In a deep thrum of magic a pitch black beam of destruction shot out and shot towards Fate.

    Fate had Merlin¡¯s hands push forward as if to ward off the beam as she summoned a giant golden shield of magic to defend against the attack. But the beam from the rifle was relentless, pushing Merlin¡¯s body back and slowly dissolving through the shimmering golden shield no matter how much of Merlin¡¯s magic Fate poured into it.

    After a full second of Merlin being pushed back by the black beam, the attack petered out as the rifle sputtered as its enchantments finally failed. Balthazar immediately threw it to the side to fall into the ocean as it stopped firing. He reached with both hands into his arsenal and pulled out two more pistols that he fired immediately.

    One shot a red beam that gave of an incredible heat while the other let out a sickly green beam giving off a sense of decay and moldy rot. Fate quickly raised the golden shield again to block the beams. Balthazar threw the two spent pistols sideways to fall into the ocean as they too burned out their enchantments.

    Merlin lowered his arms breathing heavily as if he had suddenly been forced to sprint unexpectedly. A few beads of sweat were formed on his brow.

    ¡°Then battle it is!¡± Fate shouted, ¡°Not even Merlin can fault me for slaughtering all of you now!¡±

    Merlin¡¯s body exploded in a massive wave of force in all directions. Vorzik¡¯s bodies were blown back by the attack and were slammed hard against the hard surface of Azkaban¡¯s wards.

    Balthazar channeled his magic into his armor and braced himself to remain in place through the massive winds and force of the undirected attack. He reached to his sides and withdrew two six foot long spears. One composed of ice and the other of dark steel and covered in enchanted scripts.

    ¡°Merlin has sunk whole islands with a single spell!¡± Fate shouted as Merlin¡¯s arms raised above his head, ¡°Defeated foes of the like that you¡¯ve never seen! You think attacks like this will be enough to stop him?¡±

    Above Merlin thousands of magical constructs were formed in an instant. They appeared as if mannequins made entirely of gold. At the ends of their arms were long sharp blades instead of hands and they stood on the air as if standing on invisible platforms.

    Balthazar drew back the spear of ice and threw it with all of his might towards Merlin.

    Fate summoned a golden shield, but the spear exploded into a cloud of chill and frost as soon as it hit the shield. Merlin quickly flew back as the cloud of the spear¡¯s frost quickly bypassed the shield directly and made his breaths come out in big plumes of mist.

    As soon as Merlin was out of the range of the icy spear¡¯s cloud he cast a single spell and returned himself to full health once more.

    The thousands of golden constructs all started running through the air towards Balthazar in a massive charge as Fate and Merlin remained in place and started charging another spell.

    Balthazar withdrew twin swords made of ice, one in each hand as the wave of constructs charged him.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    They came at him all at once, stabbing towards him from all sides. Balthazar swung each of the swords in large arcs and waves of frozen air came bursting out in large waves. Wherever the hyperchilled air touched the constructs they were locked in place and started to ice over as they lost control of their platforms and started to fall down to the roiling ocean below.

    He kept swinging with both weapons and killing swaths of the surprisingly sturdy constructs as they all closed in.

    The first blade stabbed Balthazar''s armor and scratched it slightly before the armor pulsed and the construct dissolved into wisps of magic.

    Balthazar looked down at the small scratch stunned for a moment, allowing another four of the constructs to land attacks from his distraction. More scratches on the armor formed as Balthazar refocused on fighting off the constructs that were in such number yet were powerful enough to scape and damage armor that Balthazar was used to only being impacted by the larger attacks of his enemies.

    It had been a very long time since Balthazar had faced someone with the ability to damage his prized armor so easily.

    Fate was still charging an attack as the golden constructs swarming from all sides kept Balthazar locked in place conducting his furious defense.

    ¡°FATE! I declare you a threat to the house-elves! My bound species!¡± The booming voice suddenly said from before Balthazar, ¡°I call on all of those within me to save our people from extinction! Defend your descendants, remnants of the dead!¡±

    Behind Balthazar he felt thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of weak auras all explode out all at once in a massive wave.

    Unable to turn around or use his magic senses to pierce through the chaotic mass of Fate¡¯s attacking constructs to observe what Vorzik was doing, Balthazar could only keep frantically fighting with his swords of ice, channeling his own magic into their pommels to power their icy blasts as his armor became more and more scratched and dented the longer he fought and the constructs landed more and more strikes on him.

    Then all of a sudden the constructs began to divert and less were attacking Balthazar. He was more easily able to hold his own against them. After a few more seconds Balthazar saw what he had felt earlier.

    The ghosts and shimmering forms of house-elves that usually overlapped with Vorzik¡¯s form had emerged and were fighting against the constructs en masse. Each ghost was weak, the golden mannequins godlike in their power in comparison to them. The mannequins were summoned by Merlin to attack Balthazar, not something as weak as a ghost.

    But each ghosly house-elf placed their hands against the surface of the construct and let out bright flashes of light that dented the Mannequin¡¯s golden exteriors and did appreciable damage. But most didn¡¯t make it too close, sliced in two by the golden blades of Fate¡¯s constructs before they could attack. Either sliced in two or landing their singular attack, the ghosts compressed to single little pinpricks of light and flew back to one of Vorzik¡¯s bodies.

    Vorzik¡¯s bodies floated in the air belching out waves and waves of house-elf ghosts like a thick smog as they moved towards Balthazar to support him in battle. The house-elf ghosts were so thick in the air around Vorzik that Balthazar had difficulty had difficulty even defining any humanoid features of them until they were dozens of feet away from Vorzik¡¯s main bodies.

    Given a small amount of leeway with Vorzik¡¯s ghosts distracting most of Fate¡¯s constructs, Balthazar placed one of his icy swords into the pocket in his armor. Taking only a small break caused scratches to accumulate and the small dents and divots covering every inch of his armor to grow deeper as Balthazar continued to be attacked even now.

    He pulled out a charged pistol and aimed it towards Fate and Merlin. He did not like the solid mass of magic that they had been accumulating throughout the fight, channeling something while Balthazar and Vorzik were frantically fighting off Fate¡¯s constructs.

    He pulled the trigger and a red beam of fire lanced through a dozen golden constructs that leapt into its way before the beam even got close to hitting Fate.

    Even as Fate channeled the massive spell that she was preparing, she kept summoning more and more of the golden mannequins around her to charge and run through the air to join the battle against Vorzik and Balthazar.

    Balthazar tossed his used pistol to the side even as he used his other hand and icy sword to ward off the swarm of golden mannequins as best as he could. He fired at Fate again and more mannequins leapt in the way to defend from the attacks.

    Some of Vorzik¡¯s house-elf ghosts were barely a dozen feet away from Balthazar and covered his back as the golden mannequins spread out to combat the flood of ghosts that seemed to come for all directions with Vorzik¡¯s two bodies having fought through Fate¡¯s construct to be so close to Balthazar.

    Balthazar kept firing pistol after pistol towards Fate, the beams getting closer and closer each time as there were less and less mannequins in the way to intercept the beam.

    After three shots, Balthazar¡¯s shots managed to reach where Merlin floated. A shield appeared and intercepted the attack, but Balthazar noted that the construction of whatever spell that Fate was creating slowed fractionally as it did so.

    Balthazar kept firing and tossing the pistols to the side over and over, the golden shield remaining in place and blocking the attacks. From the outside Baltazar¡¯s attacks didn¡¯t appear to do too much, but he could sense Fate dividing her attention and the progress on the spell she had been preparing slowed to a crawl as she focused on defending herself and Merlin with the golden shield.

    Balthazar took out one final weapon. His last one besides blades that it was clear that he would never be able to get close enough to use directly on Fate.

    He awkwardly aligned the barrel of the enchanted rifle towards Fate by wedging it just below his elbow even as he suddenly spun in a circle and released a wave of frost with his remaining ice blade to give himself some extra space for the shot. He lined up the barrel of the rifle and pulled the trigger.

    The barrel glowed with a crackling electric blue before firing a bolt of pure sizzling electricity. Unprepared for the sudden strong attack that Balthazar had been saving for a moment like this, a portion of the lightning managed to pass through the golden shield and blasted into Merlin¡¯s body before the wizard could defend himself.

    Merlin twitched and Fate briefly lost control of the massive spell that she had been constructing. But it wasn¡¯t enough to destabilize the spell as Fate immediately seized it again and stopped it from collapsing as it started twisting and preparing to explode.

    Balthazar stared as Merlin¡¯s mouth moved as his eyes alternating between golden and normal. Balthazar was fully out of tricks now. He could only hope that his armor would let him survive this final attack of Fate long enough for the plan to work¡­

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°I know you wish to do it,¡± Merlin said, ¡°You¡¯ve been nothing but bloodthirsty to kill these Beyonders. Go ahead, take my lifeforce. Throw me aside as you have done to so many others.¡±

    ¡°No, Merlin,¡± Fate said firmly as his eyes glowed again and she focused on controlling the spell she was shaping, ¡°I would never do that to you. Do you think so little of me?¡±

    ¡°Yes. You have done it to so many others under your control to kill the Beyonders. Drained them to the last drop for a final burst of power to kill the sources of your ire. How am I any different from them, Fate? Doth thou twisted heart only care about those who are most useful to you?¡±

    ¡°Merlin, I¡­¡± Fate said.

    ¡°Enough. I pant and heave even now with this spell. It is large enough now to split the sky in twain. Launch your punishment on those Beyonders who dare to be alive in this world against your sensibilities.¡±

    Fate didn¡¯t say anything and after a few more long seconds finally managed to complete the massive spell. She brought Merlin¡¯s arms down and brought them to point at the two bodies of the Aspect of Ancestor and the Beyonder.

    ¡°Now, Vorzik!¡± The Beyonder shouted as their dented and damaged armor glowed brightly with magic and and they raised their hands defensively as Fate launched her attack.

    Her massive black beam of the void blasted towards the Beyonder and landed on him. His armor flashed brightly with enchantments for a single instant before flickering and starting to fail as Fate¡¯s pitch black attack completely covered him. Both of the bodies of the Aspect of the Ancestors had already been completely dissolved into nothing as soon as they were caught in Fate¡¯s attack and had it wash over them before they could mount a proper defense.

    The remainder of the void beam went past the resisting Beyonder and hit the wards of Azkaban and began slowly eating away at them. Fate was sure that once the wards were down she¡¯d have no trouble slaying whatever weaklings Beyonders remained inside for the fight¡­

    Suddenly a new body of the Aspect of the Ancestor for the house-elves appeared behind Fate out of seemingly nowhere. It shimmered into existence as if having just released a powerful invisibility or disguise spell. The house elf clad in purple clothing drew back what looked like a shimmering silver cloak and tossed it towards Fate and Merlin in a crumpled ball.

    Fate looked at it confused as it unfurled at her. The Cloak of Invisibility? What was the purpose of throwing at her?

    No, wait¡­ Fate immediately tried to cut off the void beam and move to dodge the attack that would be devastating if it landed. But there was a tight grip on her mind and she was locked in place, unable to move Merlin or his magic an inch from his position.

    ¡°You¡­ will¡­ not¡­ leave!¡± Merlin ground out as his body remained frozen in place even as Fate now desperately fought to leave his body as she realized what he was doing.

    ¡°Merlin!¡± She made Merlin shout as his eyes glowed golden, ¡°Don¡¯t do this! I can¡¯t leave this planet alone, everything will fall apart without me there to make things how they should be!¡±

    Merlin growled as the golden glow in his eyes faded as he grabbed onto Fate with a firm grip in his mind and kept her firmly pinned inside. He was her champion, he knew her better than anyone. And how to keep her trapped in his mind when she was caught off guard and unable to mount a proper defense.

    ¡°Let you feel the weight of the chains you¡¯ve placed on others¡­ Tyrant!¡± Merlin shouted as the void beam kept firing into the Beyonder who had been forgotten in the internal struggle between Merlin and Fate.

    ¡°Meeerrrrllllliiiiin!¡± Fate screamed out of his mouth, ¡°Nooooo!!!!¡±

    She almost left his mind and escaped, but his iron will slowly reeled her back kicking and screaming inwards again as the silverly cloak approached them and opened wide like an opening mouth looking to swallow them.

    Fate could only watch in horror as the silver cloak leapt forward under the clear powerful binding spells that Fate and Merlin both could detect within it.

    The cloak enveloped the both of them in perfect darkness as it compressed around the both of them, even covering below Merlin¡¯s feet in a perfectly enclosed bag. It suppressed their magic in an instant, stopping the void beam before the cloak of invisibility even finished enveloping them.

    Fate was suddenly detached from the world, from all of her little fragments that she¡¯d put in almost every living creature on this world. How she guided them, put them where they should be. Made sure they did the right things at the right time. Kept closer tabs on the important ones so they wouldn''t disrupt her plans for the world. All of it was gone, leaving only her mind here in Merlin¡¯s body, cut off from everything. Completely isolated from everything she''d been building for so long.

    The binding spells of the cloak started to activating and Fate looked around with Merlin¡¯s head frantically looking for a solution. But there was nothing, she was trapped. The both of them fell briefly through the air as the magic they had used to fly failed and began to let them fall down towards the ocean below.

    But they were caught and hovered in the spell of another before they hit the ocean below. The binding spells kept activating one after another in sequence as the Cloak of Invisibility surrounded them in perfect darkness and kept Fate isolated inside of it.

    ¡°So here we are again,¡± Merlin said with a small chuckle, ¡°Just the two of us together. Just like how it was in the beginning when we came to this world. Perhaps this an opportunity for you to relax your grip, focus on us again?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ but, my plans. It¡¯s all¡­¡± Fate despaired as the binding spells wound them both up tighter and tighter inside of the cloak.

    ¡°Designs conducted alone, with no one to console you,¡± Merlin said sympathetically, ¡°Put them aside, we shall be together for a long time I presume. And on equal terms, not like how it has been recently.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ You¡¯re right,¡± Fate said even as she struggled to keep it together at seeing everything she¡¯d been doing for this world crumble before her eyes.

    ¡°It¡¯s just us again,¡± Fate continued before letting out a sigh, ¡°I¡¯m sorry I got so obsessed. Did all of those things. And all of it will come to nothing in the end¡­¡±

    The bindings entered the final stages and began to slowly shut down the functions of Merlin¡¯s body to put him in a coma. Almost like putting him to sleep.

    ¡°I know you can do better, Fate,¡± he mumbled as he started to drift off to sleep, ¡°Despite your terrible deeds I still love you in the darkest depths of my heart. I can only hope that shard can grow beyond its confines again. Twas the best and worst day of my life when I chose to become your champion¡­ Fate.¡±

    He slowly closed his eyes and drifted off into the endless sleep enforced by the bindings.

    Fate felt herself starting to drift off as well. She was in Merlin¡¯s body, as a conceptual entity even she could only survive a little longer before also succumbing to the call to unconsciousness.

    ¡°Oh, Merlin, that was the best day of my life,¡± Fate croaked out and a single tear ran from the corner of Merlin¡¯s eye before Fate finally drifted away to the endless sleep to join her champion.

    Together once more underneath the bindings of the Cloak of Invisibility.

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    Balthazar let out a rasping breath as he felt the shards of metal and deep wounds all over his body where the void had carved into him once it made its way through the armor. As he took a deep breath Balthazar heard several clicks. He was bleeding all over and barely managed to hover in place with his magic as he let out a hacking cough.

    He blinked and felt biting pain all over his body as he shifted and the shattered chunks of metal that were left of his armor dug their sharp edges deeper into his wounds. He let out a pained hiss as he saw Vorzik¡¯s remaining body floating through the air with a silvery bag floating behind it.

    ¡°Is it done?¡± Balthazar managed to croak out.

    ¡°It is done. They are bound. Open the wards, your wounds need to be treated urgently.¡±

    Balthazar groaned and found the wards through his pounding head and lowered them completely as he struggled to find the portion of them that would allow specific people through them.

    ¡°Good. Let¡¯s get you to some healing then.¡±

    The two of them flew back down to Azkaban where the Teregatt Guard and groups of house-elves waited for them.

    ¡°What of you and your slain bodies? The fallen ghosts?¡± Balthazar asked as the Teregatt Guard worked to peel his destroyed armor off of him and treat his bleeding wounds.

    ¡°They will return in time,¡± Vorzik said calmly, ¡°A very long time. But they all will return. The ghosts a few centuries before they can manifest within me again. A few millennium before my other physical bodies return. But we have had victory. My sacrifice helped provide us with victory.¡±

    ¡°Thank you¡­ Vorzik,¡± Balthazar said, ¡°I could have not done it without your strength and ability to be so stealthy.¡±

    ¡°In service of my new home and the home of my people, Teregatt.¡±

    ¡°In the service of Teregatt,¡± Balthazar agreed after a slight pause.

 Chapter 85: The Queen of Teregatt

    Voldemort rose from the cauldron of roiling black fluid once more. He floated down and touched the floor shrouded in his black cloak. He took a single step towards the table where the spare wands sat¡­ Before the whole building he was in was instantly destroyed.

    From far above Balthazar eyed the crater where the house and Cauldron had been a few seconds ago with a critical eye. Just for good measure he sent one more explosive spell into the rubble to make sure that both Voldemort and his resurrection cauldron were destroyed. Luckily the cauldron seemed to have been linked to Voldemort¡¯s horcruxes, so with its destruction Voldemort should experience the true death.

    Balthazar remained hovering above the house for a few more minutes waiting for a sign of movement in the rubble. There was nothing.

    Balthazar apparated away. Ginny was having him over for dinner at her house and her mother would be cooking them lasagna. He had to make sure that he¡¯d be properly presentable for something as important as that. Ginny had assured him that the food would be spectacular, and he was looking forward to trying it.

    Balthazar was glad that Ginny had been able to have some healing of her strained relationship with her mother. Breaking the walls between them with their shared grief perhaps. One could only hope that their renewed closeness would last when all of the family''s heightened emotions faded away back into their normal life...

    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª

    ¡°How were your final exams?¡± Balthazar asked the red haired young woman before him.

    ¡°Not too bad,¡± Ginny said, ¡°I¡¯m sure I did well. Can¡¯t believe that I¡¯m graduating from school already. It feels like just yesterday that I first got on that train. And also forever ago.¡±

    ¡°It is funny how time passes like that. At a crawl and in rapid bursts at the same time. Do you truly think you¡¯re ready?¡±

    Ginny nodded firmly, ¡°I am. I¡¯ll officially go through the ceremony to assume full control of Teregatt. Become the Queen. Now that I¡¯m graduating from school, I don¡¯t see any more reason to wait.¡±

    Balthazar hesitated, ¡°Are you sure? You do not want to delay any more?¡±

    ¡°No, I just want to finalize it. So I can get used to the responsibility of it as I grow older,¡± Ginny said shaking her head and not noticing Balthazar¡¯s discomfort. He was good at hiding his expressions but sometimes she still surprised him with how well she was able to read him.

    ¡°Then let¡¯s do so. Do you remember the throne room? I do not think we have been there since the very beginning.¡±

    Ginny grimaced, ¡°No, I guess not.¡±

    The two of them walked through the shrubbery and grasses of the field outside the great tower. With more magical energy available the land outside the tower had been able to flourish and grow again as it used to before Teregatt¡¯s long journey isolated and alone in the void.

    They went to the blank surface of the tower and Ginny Weasley raised her arm and a door appeared and swung open. The two of them walked inside and Ginny looked around with a thoughtful and slightly sad look on her face.

    ¡°Everything looks so much smaller,¡± she muttered, ¡°Harry thought everything was so large when he first came here.¡±

    The two of them stood on the circular platform at the end of the hallway. Ginny cocked her head to the side and her eyes went distant for a moment before the platform hummed to life and began to lift and take them upwards to the throne room.

    They both stood there in silence as the platform rose to the throne room at the top of the great tower.

    Ginny looked thoughtful and wistful as she took in the sensations and compared everything to the distant feelings Harry had felt all those years ago, Balthazar was sure.

    Balthazar¡¯s mind and emotions were in turmoil, the moment he¡¯d dreaded for a long time rearing its ugly head at last. The final choice, the one he had agonized over more and more often as the years passed. That had plagued his dreams and played out whenever he closed his eyes on the backs of his eyelids.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    They reached the top of the lift and there it was. The great throne of Teregatt. The two of them walked down the throne room over to the large throne. Both stood there staring at it for a moment. Balthazar was brought back to the moment that he¡¯d first seen Harry. First met him. He had thought he¡¯d be cruel and indifferent like the others given time. How wrong he¡¯d been.

    Ginny turned around and sat on the large throne, shifting slightly to move backwards on it and putting her arms on the arm rests. With a twisting of shimmering light, the crown of Teregatt and Ginny¡¯s bone necklace appeared around her neck, its red gem hanging down right at her collar.

    ¡°So, I¡¯ve memorized the speech,¡± Ginny said as she stared at Balthazar, ¡°Should I just go? Is there anything else that I should do before?¡±

    Balthazar shook his head wordlessly.

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Ginny puffed out her chest and took a deep breath and started speaking.

    ¡°As Queen of Teregatt I pledge to defend its citizens¡­¡±

    As Ginny recited the long oath, Balthazar reached behind his back and curled his hand around the black dagger designed for just this moment. Ginny¡¯s body was frozen by the magic of the throne as she recited the oath and it prepared to accept her as Teregatt¡¯s ruler.

    No matter what Balthazar did, he could not move the dagger. It remained fixed behind his back. Yet he could not let go of it either.

    If he took the dagger out and struck Ginny down with it, then the bindings holding her to the throne of Teregatt would be severed. Unbound. Balthazar could claim those bindings when they were scrambling for a target to bind to. Make himself the ruler of Teregatt. Never have to follow the orders of a tyrant or be bound by Teregatt any longer. But be its ruler and control its mighty power for himself.

    If he didn''t seize Teregatt for himself, then Ginny would have absolute power over him. Always able to force him to obey with a single command for eternity.  It was built into Balthazar''s original contract which as Inheritor she would have no power to change as a mere Heir. Even as Queen, Balthazar had no idea if she would be able to change it and alter his contract. If she wanted to. The contract was quite restrictive and would be entirely skewed in her favor. And the old master had been secretive about the details of the mechanics. For all Balthazar knew there was no way to free himself ever if Ginny Weasley gained full control of Teregatt.

    He could not let go of the dagger, and he could not move it from behind his back as Ginny kept speaking the oath and the bindings of Teregatt swirled around her like a growing storm.

    He had a flash. A little girl with red hair hold a plate with a slice cake on it held up to him, eyes expectant and eager.

    A little girl, eager to learn magic and believing that he could do no wrong.

    A girl that had poured all her feelings, all her troubles, every moment of her day on him gladly. Trusting that he always would be there to help her, had her best interests in heart.

    A girl, proudly handing him a toy she had bought from her brother Fred and George¡¯s joke shop. Delighted when she saw that he still had it several months afterwards and that he hadn¡¯t forgotten about it.

    A young woman, taking him to meet the wolf-kin that he had helped. Smiling slightly as she saw his slightly awkward response to their effusive praises for him.

    A young woman that trusted him, respected him. Who was kind to him, and pushed through all the terrible things she¡¯d been through in her life to still manage to let herself be happy and enjoy her friendships and family.

    In a burst of intense shame, Balthazar released his grip on the dagger behind his back with a sharp breath and let his hand fall to his side with the blade remaining in its sheath.

    He had always known the right choice. He had just been too scared to take it. Afraid that he had misjudged her, that she¡¯d turn into a petty tyrant when she was given full power over Teregatt. That she''d abuse the absolute power she had over him once she became fully aware of it.

    But he was foolish. He knew her, and even more surprisingly, she knew him. He¡¯d help her if she started steering onto a darker path. Her friends, her family would help her. Balthazar let his hands fall to his side in an open grip. She wouldn''t become like the others.

    ¡°And so as how as the Heir of Teregatt I have learned to cultivate my own magic and power,¡± Ginny finished the oath, ¡°As Queen I shall cultivate the magic and power of my people. May Teregatt prosper under my rule.¡±

    The throne pulsed with magic that weaved through Ginny¡¯s body and the crown that sat on top of her head.

    She sat there for a few seconds staring into space.

    ¡°Whoa¡­¡± Ginny breathed, ¡°There¡¯s so many options now. I had no idea Teregatt could do even a quarter of these things¡­¡±

    She stood up from the throne and looked at Balthazar.

    ¡°Balthazar? Are you okay?¡±

    Balthazar let out a slight smile as he felt his welling emotions take over and break his usual neutral expression.

    ¡°Yes. You¡¯ve come so far. I¡¯m very proud of you.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ Thanks, Balthazar. I couldn¡¯t have done it without you.¡±

    ¡°Lead the way, my Queen. Into a brighter future for us all.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll try,¡± Ginny said with a grateful smile, ¡°With you helping me the whole way, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll find the right way to go.¡±

    ¡°To make a better Teregatt.¡±

    ¡°To make a better world for everyone,¡± Ginny corrected.

    ¡°A better world¡­¡± Balthazar agreed, ¡°A better world for everyone, indeed.¡±

 Afterword

    Wow! I had a really great time writing this fanfiction. I completed another harry potter fanfiction of almost the exact same length as this one first before I even started this one. I think I learned a lot from that one when it came to writing this one. I took a lot more risks when it came to the world and the scale of the magic, while my other one remained very much more grounded closer to the types of magic shown in Harry Potter Canon.

    I''m a discovery writer, so it was very exciting for me when everything for this story seemed to just come together all at once for a big finale where everything just clicked on how things should work. Now, I think this is a pretty good conclusion to the story so far. But I''ve definitely left some good groundwork for if I want to write more to continue the story past this point. So maybe follow on Royalroad if you have an account so you''ll get notified if I choose to do that and extend this story some more for a book 2.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    Feel free to leave a Rating or Review on the story before you go! Feedback helps me improve as an author and know what to work on for next time I write, and I appreciate it. Even if you don''t want to leave a full review, feel free to leave any feedback in the comments below this chapter as well.

    Anyways, if you haven''t had enough Harry Potter content still, go check out my older fanfiction or even one of my original stories as well. Link in the author''s note below, and maybe check out my author''s profile for my original works too.

 New Star Wars Fanfiction Project

    20.12.24 - Just released a new Star wars Fanfiction project. Come check it out, link below!

    Link: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/101224/consume-the-force-a-star-wars-fanfiction</a>

    <hr>

    Anakin Skywalker is thirteen years old, training to be a Jedi knight just like he always dreamed. But when a strange creature, Draeth, infiltrates his body and throws his life into disarray, Anakin must go into the wider galaxy and make his own way without the Jedi to guide him. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    Draeth provides Anakin with power beyond his wildest dreams by feeding on the Force for both their gain, helping him survive where his untrained Force powers can''t.  Sinister forces in the galaxy and the brewing civil war across the galaxy will draw Anakin right into the center of the action. And as Draeth and Anakin''s powers grow, so too shall the attention of the Force on them. The Chosen One is destined to fall to the Dark side...

    Anakin must choose. Will he let himself be consumed by the machinations of the Force... Or work with Draeth to consume it right back?