Collecting New Souls
Fred and George looked back and forth for a few moments before George nodded and Fred took a deep breath to speak, "we know you have a group. Mostly slytherin, some from Ravenclaw. We know you leave campus at random times and every night while others sleep. You'll all disappear for exactly 6 hours and then all return one after the other. You disappear together even when you're in different places. We know you're not working with Voldemort and we know you're not working with Dumbledore. We'd like to join you."
Elianna was stunned for a moment, not expecting the candor. "How do you know what you think you do?" She asked in a serious tone. "How many others know?"
George held up his hands, "only us. And we'll show you how, we assume you have a way to keep your secrets from being revealed you'd like to use?"
Elianna met the eyes of each twin and turned to nod to Draco. He walked around to hand a piece of parchment to everyone. It was a magical contract, no one would be able to reveal anything that happened within the oasis to anyone who did not witness it first hand.
Even if they tried they'd never be able to. "A drop of blood seals the contract," Draco added, handing a dagger to Fred before taking his seat. Elianna whispered a spell and everyone on her side winced slightly and pressed a bloody finger to their parchment including Elianna.
Fred read through it thoroughly and looked to George who nodded and whispered, "it protects us all." Fred looked back and forth to the rest of his friends and they all nodded. One after the other they passed the dagger around, cut their finger, and added blood to the parchment. They all disappeared and Elianna relaxed a bit against Draco.
"We saw the absences with this," George said, pulling out a piece of parchment. He held it out to Elianna and she took it confused. "Point your wand at it and say, 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Elianna obeyed and saw the map come alive before her. Blaise and Draco moved closer to see it and they marveled at it for a moment. "Test it," Elianna whispered to Blaise in Italian. "Go off into the woods and venture home for a minute then return." The twins watched Blaise walk off into the woods and all stiffened with anxiety. Elianna watched as his name on the map walked off into the woods and disappeared. After a moment it reappeared and walked back to the oasis. "Marvelous," she said, running her finger along her brothers name. "Did you create it?"
"Your father," George said. "And his 3 best friends. They were pranksters and used the map to prank their mates."
"And enemies," Fred added.
"We've managed to replicate the spellwork and make our own copy," George said with a nod, pulling a similar parchment from his pocket.
"But that is the original your father made, a gift to you." Fred finished.
Elianna ran her fingers across the parchment and felt tears sting her eyes. "Thank you," she whispered.
"When you're finished, just point your wand and say 'Mischief managed,' otherwise anyone could read it." George added.
"You said you were looking to join us, do you speak for everyone you brought?" Elianna asked, motioning to the others.
"Yes," everyone said in unison with the twins.
"I believe most of you are from light aligned families, I know the Weasleys are, have you thought about this?" Elianna asked seriously.
Fred didn't look to George this time, he reacted immedietly standing and removing his shirt.
Across most of his torso was a dark shadow like tattoo that seemed to move and ripple.
"Your shadow touched?" Draco gasped.
Elianna silently probed his mind for an understanding, shadow touched were creatures that were touched by shadow magic when young. The black magic leaves a strain on the skin and that person would forever have a connection to the shadow plane. She shared the knowledge with everyone mentally.
"We both are," George added pulling his own shirt off to reveal the same mark crawling down his waist.
"How?" Draco asked leaning forward for a better look.
"Our older brother Bill, when we were younger. He was practicing removing a shadow curse from an object and something went wrong. We were playing nearby and it attached itself to us." Fred said sadly.
"Our parents have treated us like pariahs ever since," George added. "As far as they're concerned, we're dark wizards. They're afraid of us now."
"Not like they were great parents to you before it happened," Lee grumbled from the couch. "They treated then both like shit because they weren't perfect like Percy. And it's shit because Percy isn't 1/10th the wizard either of them are."
Oliver Wood cleared his throat, "I was addicted to Fenix Felix's for 5 years. Dumbledore supplied it. Wanted to give our Quidditch team an edge. When it got bad I switched to snorting pixie dust. And then it escalated more…I went into the forbidden forest to find a unicorn but I didn't get there. I was bit. By a werewolf. I tried to go to Dumbledore but he misunderstood and thought I was telling him a werewolf was in the forest. My maker was caught and killed. I realized he'd never understand. If the light found out…i'd be imprisoned or killed. The curse was hard for a while but the twins found me and helped. They help me every full moon."
Angelina whispered, "My mum was a changling," when everyone turned to her she continued, "Half fey and half human. A fey switched her with another human child when she was a baby. I'm a quarter fey, but the light consider fey to be dark creatures. We've been hunted for years. And voldemort and his followers feed on fey blood for its power, so we've been hunted by both sides and I just want to stop being hunted."
Katie squirmed in her seat a bit before speaking, "I killed my father." Alecia pulled her arm around Katie and she continued, "he used to beat us. I tried to go to Dumbledore but my father was an important contact he couldn't upset. He didn't just beat me…also my mum and sister. One night he was hitting me and I screamed. All I remember is fire igniting everything around me and my father was there one moment and ash the next. My mum created a golem that she pretends is our father now. She is frightened of me. It wasn't my fault I just wanted him to stop."
She began to whimper and sob into Alicia's shoulder. "My family knew what happened to her father," Alecia said, hugging her friend. "Her mother confided in us. My mother decided to turn her in. She was going to call the ministry. She was my best friend and I couldn't let them do that…I obliviated them. I've built up what memories I could but they hardly know me. I don't have anything to lose anymore." She ended quietly.
Lee seemed the most hesitant to share but eventually he spoke, "I'm a pureblood. But my family has completely stopped following the old ways. They buy into all of Dumbledore's crap and believe everything dark or even grey is evil…my core is grey. When my family found out they basically wrote me off."
George went to sit with Lee and pulled him in a side ways hug, "none of us fit in with the light. Or the dark. We were just cast aside. But we aren't weak."
Elianna mentally took a vote from her group before clapping her hands and standing, "You'll be challenged. You'll receive rigorous schooling harder than anything you've ever seen. And you'll probably lose any friends and family you have now…but you gain a new one. It's not a decision to make lightly. But think on it, and if you're serious you'll hear from me soon."
She turned to walk off with her companions when Fred called from behind her, "there will be a ball for the tournament. Dumbledore is going to be watching. He's looking for a weakness to exploit. He's looking to see who you take to the ball so he can use them to force you to comply. Be careful."
She called back over her own shoulder, "The first task in the tournament is going to be dragons. They're coming from Romania. Heard you have a contact there," and with that she and her companions melted into the shadows.
When the first task was set, all the champions gathered in the appropriate tent to wait before it began. Harry was anxious and had been puking all morning in anticipation. The twins had told him about the dragons and prepped him for how to fight them but he was still worried sick.
Looking over his sister Elianna sat at a transfigured table with her group, studying quietly as usual. She didn't look worried and that worried him. The twins said she already knew about the dragons but he was worried that she didn't know as much as he did. But before he could reach her, Dumbledore walked up with the other judges.
He explained that their task would be to enter a large metal cage with 5 angry dragons inside it. They would be responsible for figuring out which of their eggs from the 3 nests was the clue and retrieve it while leaving the other eggs unharmed. They would need to smash the egg and retrieve the clue and the key and then take the key to the other side of the cage where they could use it to escape.
The Umber Institute would go first, followed by Beauxbatons, then Dumstrang academy, and last would be Hogwarts. With that the Umber Institute children began warming up to get ready and all had a look of determination in their eyes and a glint of excitement.
When the gong sounded they all stepped off the edge of the cliff into the cage and transfigured into phoenixes in the air. Being immune to fire they flew straight through the flames and circled the area to understand the layout before they transfigured back into wizards mid dive straight at the dragons. They worked quickly tying the mouths of the dragons shut with a rope they imbued with strength and while the dragons struggled they climbed down and ran to the eggs. Draco and Blaise wove magical ropes around the dragons to keep them contained while the others used runes to decide if the eggs were authentic or not.
When Elianna found the egg with no heartbeat she cracked it and took the key and a smaller golden egg. But the egg also held a vial inside that broke when the egg was broken, the vial released a pheromone that drove the dragons crazy. They screeched and in a fit they all broke free.
Elianna cursed and mentally commanded them all to flee while she handled the dragons. She concentrated hard on a spell she'd been working on and 100 identical illusions of her all formed around her and began calling to the dragons and shooting low levels spells at them.
All 5 dragons charged towards the Eliannas and once closer they engulfed them all in flames, you could hear the entire crowd gasp. Suddenly the flames engulfing her seemed to shift and morph into a large serpent coiled around Elianna who was almost dancing around to control it.
She whispered a spell in paseltongue and it charged towards the dragons, making them screech and retreat. In their haste, Elianna transfigured into a hawk and flew towards the door. She dropped the key for Draco and once the door was open she flew through while the others ran.
They made good time and were given a score of 47 out of 50.
The Beauxbatons students charmed the dragons but fumbled the eggs and ended up crushing 2 nests of them and dropped the clue to grab the key which woke the dragons. They all escaped without the clue but only barely.
They took 4 times longer and received a score of 25 out of 50.
The Dumstrang students went the fastest but also resulted in just breaking all the eggs on purpose to find the clue. This angered the dragons and two students were injured in the process while trying to escape.
They scored a 41 out of 50.
The Hogwarts students' plan went horrible, Harry summoned his firebolt and was avoiding the dragons by flying but a dragon caught his broom on fire in the air and he crashed. The twins went to save him and ultimately George was burned pretty badly on one side and Fred retreated from the round to help him. Cedric transfigured a Boulder into a bulldog and distracted the dragons to steal the eggs but crushed most of them when he fell. Lee Jordan retrieved the key and clue from the crushed eggs and ran to unlock the cage but ended up burned.
In the end the judges intervened and rescued the group and their score was a 15 out of 50 after the penalties.
After the first event, the Umber Society students couldn't go anywhere without cheers and applause erupting, and it was getting annoying.
"We scored too well," Elianna complained as she wandlessly send a bolt of lightning through a training dummy. They were spelled to fly around while they were knocked out of the sky. Elianna had been lazily working on her lightning magic while Draco worked on a potions recipe. They'd escaped during a short 5 minute gap between classes to blow off steam. But just 2 minutes in the Feywild with Draco was 17 hours of peace.
"It'll be alright, give it time and everyone will move on." Draco said softly while vigorously writing in his journal.
"I wanted them to like us, but I didn't know it would be like this. I prefer when we were ignored in the shadows," she pouted as the sky erupted in light and all the dummies were hit with one continuous line of lightning.
"You're getting good at that," Draco commented, shielding his eyes from the light. "What spell was that?"
"I modified et illumina fierco maxima with a jinx that chases its victim with a ball of light, the Lightning jack jinx. I've got some notes on it if you want," she ended softly, flicking her finger to send the notes to Draco.
Blaise stumbled into the door a moment later looking frantic, "I was looking everywhere for you!" He exclaimed.
Elianna cast a quick tempus, "did we miss class?!" She shouted, confused. But the tempus showed that she and Draco had only been gone for a minute and a half. She'd shot some dummies, taken a nap, and went back to pouting and shooting dummies but she hadn't been gone from the outer world long.
"I saw you disappear from the map, and I got worried," Blaise explained with a blush.
Elianna laughed and rolled her eyes, "just needed space from it all. People kept hugging me and shaking my hand and patting my back…and I just needed a break."
Blaise nodded in understanding and closed his eyes to concentrate on a spell he'd been working on. The dummies began attacking themselves and after a few moments they actually destroyed each other. Elianna clapped animatedly and he bowed. "You guys coming back for class?" He asked holding out his hands.
Elianna rolled her eyes, "we don't have to go back for another 8 hours at least. And I'm sick of it out there." She ended in a pout.
Blaise laughed and said, "how about 4 hours and I'll give you and Draco an hour alone when we're in Hogsmead next month? Chaperoned but from at least 2 tables away?"
"4 tables!" Elianna countered.
"3 but Draco needs to ask like a gentleman!"
Blaise insisted and Elianna launched herself at him in a hug. He hugged her back and whispered, "next time send word before disappearing please?" She mentally agreed and he nodded.
They spent the next 3 hours just talking about potion theory and how stupid Potter looked when his broom caught on fire. Elianna had begun to calm down when Astoria appeared in front of them.
"My lord, my apologies. I was given this and told it was urgent," she said handing a note to Elianna.
Nightshade,
In the whisper of leaves, a secret takes flight,
To the mushroom ring, where shadows alight.
Beware anyones gaze, or secrets may spill,
For the leader of light holds malice still.
Meet us there now, as time slips away,
In the forest's embrace, where we once found our way.
Signed with a drawing of Gemini again.
She handed the note to Blaise and mentally sent out a mental order to everyone, "something is wrong. Stay on high alert, no one travels alone, and be prepaired to cover your tracks and flee. Everyone will await further orders." She turned to Astoria, "me, Draco, Blaise, Theo, Crabe, Goyle, and Marcus wont be attending the rest of our lessons for the day. Possibly a maneuver 4-tango-whiskey-foxtrot-7-arthur-3"
Astoria nodded and faded back into the shadows immediately. Eliana sent a silent message to Theo and Marcus to get somewhere private and lay low, she would summon them when needed.
She sent another to Crabe and Goyle to shadow her, Blaise, and Draco until further notice and suspend all other assignments for now. Looking back she saw Blaise and Draco were already changed into their shadow cloaks and with a wave of her hand she was too. The cloaks were woven with actual shadows for thread and treated to many potions, spells, and runes.
When worn they allow the wearer to blend into shadows effortlessly and disappear in plain sight any time the wearer moves. The muffle all sound as well and obscure all scent. Quickly they made their way to the outerworld and into the forest.
When they arrived in the oasis she reached out to Goyle and Crabe to be sure it was secure and they assured her it was empty and secure.
She whispered a spell in parseltongue and summoned Theo and Marcus to their location and they waited. A few minutes passed and the twins emerged out of breath and with only Lee Jordan. "Dumbledore is angry about the first task," Fred pants out of breath.
"We were supposed to score the highest. He rigged the game with the judges," George added gasping out.
"But when you won instead, Dumbledore was furious. He's planning a retaliation, but he's not going after you," Fred continued, still panting.
"He's going after," George said between gasps.
"Your school," they finished in unison.
"When?!" Elianna demanded.
"Now," Lee said, taking over. "He's taking aurors and any other powerful witch and or wizard he can find and they're going to tear down the school. He's saying that they taught dark magic there and it's dangerous!"
Elianna screamed in fury, "He's taken everything from me! He won't take that too," and without another thought or hesitation she ripped her robes off and pressed her wand against her collar bone where a tattoo shone against her tan skin and said in almost a hiss out, "serpente travestito da pecora!" Every member of the Umber Institute began appearing around them.
"Dumbledore threatens our school!" She yelled to everyone around her, drawing their attention at once. "He threatens our home! He threatens us!" Her followers began shifting their clothes into shadow robes, preparing for what they knew was coming. "The light thinks themselves invinsible but we will show them, all men that bleed may die!" Everyone began cheering and the twins grew anxious of what was to come. "We will defend our home and our school. He will regret ever stepping foot on our land! With wands held high we win or die, all souls united, now we fly!" With that she apparated to the front steps of her beloved school and side alonged everyone with her.
When they landed everything was quiet and a few fey immediately flew over to greet them. Elianna mentally commanded half of them to slink out in shadows to find the intruders, where they were coming from, and what resources they had while the other half began strengthening the defenses of the school. The school was a magical anchor, a bridge between worlds. It was what allowed them to enter the feywild at any time. It was their connection to their new home. If it fell they'd lose the feywild, possibly forever. And elianna would not let that happen without a fight.
They continued running and flying around to strengthen the schools defenses before her shadows whispered in her mind, "the enemy approaches my lord, 30 by air, Dumbledore at the helm. 15 minutes before they arrive." She mentally called them back and turned to look at the school she'd come to love and built with her family. Her home. She pointed her want at the sky and cried out, "tempestates depopulentur caeli!" And the sky turned dark, clouds grew dark and the air took on an uneasy chill.
All eyes were on her as she addressed her followers, "Dumbledore and the light approach. We kill no one. Not yet," she heard some of them groan but pressed on. "Today we are protectors of the feywild. We will not kill anyone. Stun, enchant, intimidate, scare if you must, but do not kill anyone. And keep your hoods up, at this moment no one knows who we are. Some will speculate and let them. Our identities must remain secret for now. This is what we trained for. Prepare yourselves. Today is our first battle in this war."
She held her wand up and everyone held theirs up and said in unison, "With wands held high we win or die, all souls united, now we fly!" And rose into the air blending into the shadows among the dark clouds.
Dumbledore and many others flew in on brooms flying straight at the school, a dozen or so of them swooping down and casting explosion spells at the roof of the school. The spells hit the magical shields and were diffused, the shields held for the time being.
Elianna and the others didn't move in yet, they waited and watched. Dumbledore screamed out, "destroy the shields!" And a few wizards touched down and began trying to break the spells protecting the school.
A few fey flew to the edge of the inside of the shields and began begging them to stop and leave their school alone but their pleas fell on deaf ears. Elianna ordered them to flee if the shields went down but she knew they wouldn't. Eventually Dumbledore and the others flew to the ground and together they worked on bringing the shields down.
Elianna mentally spoke to everyone, "they're stronger than I anticipated. The shields will be down soon. Draco take team delta and move down behind them, move quick and move noisy. Theo you take team Charlie and as soon as they turn around I want you to apparate directly behind them immediately and begin the attack. Blaise, you take team Bravo and shield Draco and his team so we don't take any hits. Alpha team you're with me. Like smoke everyone…fluid, quiet, and suffocating."
And with that Draco and his team distracted everyone while Theo and his team stunned as many as possible. From there most were stunned quickly and the other fled, but Elianna and her team quietly stalked Dumbledore like lions.
When he went to shoot off a spell at Blaise she shot off her own that would shatter the bones in his right arm. He groaned and dropped his wand, and Crabe and Goyle immediately had him stunned and tied up. Elianna picked up the wand and stored it away as a prize to marvel at later. She made sure everyone was stunned or incapacitated and smiled, "well done everyone. Now see they're tied up and let's take out the trash."
Everyone was tied up and apparated 9 miles outside of Hogwarts grounds. When everyone was entirely secure and all wands were confiscated she awoke everyone.
She transfigured a mask so she could pull her hood down that depicted Medusa and her many serpent's. "Why have you tried to destroy my school?!" She demanded in a dark and deep unsettling voice that was not her own.
Dumbledore struggled against my binds but when they didn't budge he yelled, "release us at once! I'll have you thrown in Azkaban for this!"
And Elianna used a silent charm to silence him.
"Someone answers me, now. Why have you attacked my school?!" She demanded in the same voice.
No one spoke and she grew impatient but Blaise put a calm hand on her shoulder and she took a deep breath. "That school is my home. And you attacked it. I take that as an attack on me and my family,"
Before she could finish someone called out, "who are you?"
"You may call me Nightshade," she said after a moment. "My men and I are the guardians of the fey. And you just attempted to destroy a fey school! We consider that treason!"
"Fey are dark creatures and we were protecting the children from their influence!" Another person called out.
"Fey are dark? You just bombed a school!" Elianna screamed. "Did you know if it contained students? Staff? How many innocent lives would you have killed because someone's views differ from your own?!" She demanded.
No one spoke for a few minutes and then one man said, "we attacked your school because Dumbledore came to the beauro and said that a school opened without proper registration or paperwork that was teaching dark magic to children under the guise of a standard magical education. That is considered illegal and it is within our rights to close a school like that…we may have taken that a bit overboard..."
"Overboard?! You were going to destroy it and everyone in it!" She yelled back.
"But we thought you were hurting children!" He argued back.
Elianna groaned and snapped her fingers, unlocking the man who was speaking. She waved to one of the fey nearby who supplied all the proper documentation and registration paperwork proving the school was a legitimate establishment.
And proof it was a fey owned and controlled establishment. According to the laws, any fey establishment is protected and their guardians are allowed to use any force they deem necessary to protect it. When he verified everything for everyone Elianna untied everyone but Dumbledore.
"I want a magical vow from him never to attack a fey, or fey establishment again nor shall he send anyone to do so on his behalf...or we kill him now." Elianna said, pointing a dagger at Dumbledore. Everyone gasped and Dumbledore began to shake his head and squirm harder.
A few argued but Elianna reminded everyone of the law. They attacked fey land. They were well within their rights to kill him. To kill them all. Eventually Fudge stepped forward and told Dumbledore if he didn't take the vow he'd be stripped of all titles and power and imprisoned if he survived the fey guardians.
Dumbledore was fuming but finally performed the vow with Elianna who bowed to him after and gave them each a box with their wand that would unlock in 24 hours. Except Dumbledore. She then wandlessly and wordlessly apparated her followers away back to their school. They checked on the defenses and the fey and once they were satisfied they apparated to an empty classroom.
Elianna knew they needed to reintegrate quickly, before Dumbledore returned. Theo began drawing runes in blood around the room and a duplicate of each of them walked into the room and began to melt into clay. When all were melted the students transfigured their clothes to match their duplicate and Elianna apparated them to different bathroom stalls or classrooms using the Marauders Map to help and ensure they all seamlessly reintegrated.
The rest of the day was uneventful. Dumbledore arrived back at the school later, shut himself in his office, and wasn't seen again that day. When classes ended Elianna knew they had to speak to the twins, they needed to see where they stood. Like her mind was being read a note was found as soon as she packed up in her last class.
Nightshade,
Let's meet. We'll be there when you are.
C & P
It was short and written in a hurry by only Fred.
The note had her rattled. She gave the map to Crabe and Goyle to watch and keep an eye on Dumbledore and make sure they were walking into a trap or ambush. They'd stay off in the shadows with a team and guard her. She took Draco, Blaise, and Theo this time because after she invited Draco the other two invited themselves. She sent a mental note to everyone to stay unseen in case she needed to summon everyone, pulled her shadow cloak on, and took off into the woods.
She reached the oasis and settled into a hammock with her 3 companions to wait for the twins. It didn't take long, a few minutes, for Fred and George to step into the clearing with Lee Jordan, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, Oliver Wood, and Katie Bell. "Brought the whole cavalry," Draco whispered and Elianna elbowed him. When they got closer she swung her legs over the edge of the hammock and hopped down and the others joined her. It was quiet and Elianna grew nervous so she sat in the grass and began anxiously plucking at blades of grass.
"Is your…everything, okay?" Fred asked awkwardly.
"Yes, the school is safe and no one from our side was injured in the slightest." Elianna said happily, "thank you for asking."
Fred nodded, "Good." He looked to George and continued, "We'd like to tell our friends what we saw, we don't have secrets from them and we don't want to start now," Fred said cautiously.
Elianna waved her hand and the twins' companions groaned slightly as the memory hit their minds. "They saw it.," was all she said. Fred and George checked on their friends and everyone looked at Elianna cautiously. "So was that all?" She asked after a few minutes.
"You're a dark lord," Oliver said seriously.
"I'm a gray lord," Elianna shot back defensively.
"Gray lord?" Blaise asked with an eyebrow crooked.
"Yes," she said, shoving him softly. "Gray lord. You never asked and so I never confirmed. But back in school they said if I can get people to recognize me as such I can become the first."
"So are all of you marked?" Alecia asked slowly.
"Yes," Theo answered, "but it was actually us that convinced her to do it. It took years. She was dead set against it, but it protects us and unites us. We use it to communicate and to travel and to fight. It's a gift." He ended,looking at Elianna with reverence.
"What is it?" Fred asked curiously.
Blaise never misses an opportunity to show off and immediately undid his shirt to show his tattoo across the back of his left shoulder and wrapping around him. A grim reaper pointing up and down. It seemed to shimmer like glitter on his skin and vibrated with magical energy.
"You all train in the land of fey?" George asked, causing Elianna and her companions to snap their faces in his direction.
Fred threw up his hands, "Hey, it was a hypothesis based on observations. He was only asking." He said defensively, stepping in front of his twin.
"Observations?" Elianna asked in a cold voice.
"You've more than once made reference to your relationship to your friends, of followers, and you've eluded to knowing them all for a long time but you allegedly met them at the beginning of term," George said slowly.
"You came to school the first day looking horrible and came back 2 weeks later looking like a goddess, and coincidentally all your friends disappeared for a week and showed back up right before you and all went from 5s to 10s. Everyone is stronger, faster, smarter all in a week or two," Fred said cautiously.
"You all have an obsession with fresh fruit and vegetables," George added.
"You all disappear any time you're alone just for a bit and come back looking well rested and calm," Fred said.
"You all attended a magic school that is rumored to have fey working there." George said.
"They were just," Fred began.
"Observations!" They said together.
"Impressive," Elainna said. "Yes. The school is in the fey realm and we have a way to move back and forth. We do it every night."
"That's how you got around the age line,"
George said in a questioning voice. "Because you're all actually older than you look?"
Elianna nodded, "at this point I think I believe everyone of my followers is somewhere around 42 years old. I believe I myself am around 56."
Blaise gave her a pointed look but she shrugged and said, "hey, you're from this world, you blend in better. It takes a lot out of me to be here and it helps."
"So approximately 30 years of training? That's impressive," Oliver said.
"We also sleep, meditate, study, but yes. At this point we've spent more of our life there than we have here." Blaise added with a shrug.
"Explains why you're all so damn disciplined, we don't stand a chance next year!" Oliver exclaimed.
"We?" Elianna asked, confused.
"Yes! Gryfendore can kiss beating slytherin in quidditch goodbye. We're playing against a militia now!" He ranted and for some reason everyone laughed. Even Elianna laughed, leaning against her brother to hold her up.
When the laughter died down Elianna gave Fred a questioning look and he shrugged, "we assumed you were a dark lord or dark lord in training. Finding out was expected but not this soon and seeing you that angry was…something else. But the dark lord part doesn't bother me."
"It doesn't bother any of us, nothing has changed, we still want to join you. At least I speak for me and my brother." George added.
Elianna gave a small smile back and Alicia suddenly said, "can you restore my family's memories? Except about Katie?"
Elianna gave a tentative look before answering, "I don't know. I've never tried anything like that before but if you'd like, I'd be more than happy to try. We have countless books to pour through and figure something out."
Alicia nodded, "I'd like to join you as well. Whether you help me or not…but I think you're the only ones I can ask. Anyone else would toss me into Azkaban and maybe Katie too."
"Joining you," Oliver said with an eyebrow crooked, "would we be able to go into the feywild? To train as well?"
"There's no quidditch pitch at our school yet," Blaise said jokingly.
"I'm afraid there's no quidditch at all, but we do love learning new things and adding new classes!" Elianna said excitedly. "I've never played quidditch! Flown of course and read about it but never actually tried it."
"Never played quidditch?! You flew so well in the tournament you were born to play quidditch!" Oliver exclaimed.
She giggled and snook her head, "honestly just never crossed my mind."
Oliver smiled, "I'd love to teach you! And of course I'd love to join you. It'll be nice not having to hide what I am," he looked down ashamed.
"We have some potions we've been working on for lycanthropy, but we haven't had someone to help us test them. We theorize to be able to suppress the part of the curse that overrides memories and personality and modify the shifting trigger to be able to shift at will. Of course no guarantees, it's never been done before." Draco said handing a notebook to him.
Oliver flipped through it and shrugged, "I'm not great with potions, I'm not sure how any of that shit works…but if you think it might help I'll give it a try. As long as I don't die." He concluded.
"Oh, you can't die in the feywild," Elianna said with a chuckle, "and we have necromancers in case you die into the outerworld."
"You can't!?" The twins said at once.
"So you can test any potion?" Fred asked.
"Without worry that you'll die! You could use any combination of ingredients without fear of what could happen!" George added excitedly.
"Infinite time to fuck around with magic and no consequences for fucking it up!? Do you know how advanced someone could get?!" Fred asked in an almost shout.
Elianna smirked, "oh I have an idea," and her eyes rolled into the back of her head, meditating into a trance-like state as the sky turned black and the air seemed to hold perfectly still.
Lightning began striking the ground behind Elianna and her companions, not one of them flinching. Everywhere lightning struck a silvery bit of what looked like lightning began to shape creatures. They looked like unicorns made of lightning were getting up from where the lightning struck until there were dozens of them.
Boistered illusions, they couldn't fight but could distract and defend. They could take quite a few hits before going down and with the right formations could protect her followers while they fought.
"Wicked," the twins breathed in unison.
"Show off," Theo joked with a laugh and Eliannas eyes rolling back to their normal green irises, the illusions melting into the ground.
"It was a demonstration Theo," Elianna argued, leaning against Blaise as she grew lightheaded.
"Have you practiced that before?" Blaise asked with concern.
She shook her head, "not successfully, but it felt like a good night to give it a go. And I knew you'd save me if I hurt myself," she said with a smile.
He shook his head and chided her on the importance of proper preparation before large spells like that and insisted if she was going to do that again to warn him so he could be prepared in case something went wrong. She sheepishly nodded and when she turned back the twins were cooing at them.
"You're nothing like we expected," Katie said softly.
"What did you expect?" Elianna asked with her head tilted to one side.
"I dunno, you to be a bit more…" Katie started.
"Evil?" Elianna asked.
Katie looked down sheepishly and Elianna chuckled a bit and said, "I get it," with a shrug.
"My life has been a series of the most heinous and marvelous events I could have ever imagined, it's made me an enigma. And I don't think I'm a good person. A good person would kill the person they love most for the greater good. And I could never do that…and in that regard I suppose I'm an evil person. An evil person would burn the world for the one they love." She ended softly and Blaise pulled her under his right arm.
"I disagree," Alicia said. "A truely good man would kill the ones they love if it saved the world. An truely evil man would burn the world for himself because a truly evil man just wants to watch the world burn, and doesn't love anyone," she ended with a shrug.
"That leaves us somewhere in the middle, I guess," Katie said sadly. "I killed my dad to save me and my mom and my sister. Does it make me evil that I killed him?"
Alicia hugged her and said, "no I don't think so. You didn't kill him just to kill him. You killed him to protect your family!"
"Does it make me evil that I don't regret it?" Katie asked back and Alicia didn't answer.
"I know this for sure, I'd burn this world to the ground for the ones I care about. Greater good be damned,"Elianna said firmly and Fred and George nodded.
Elianna conjured a box into her hands that seemed to form out of smoke and handed it to Fred, "think it through. Really think. And make your decisions. This isn't like dipping your toes in the water, you do it. Or you don't. Decide and once you have, we'll know."
With that she and her friends faded into the shadows and Fred was staring at the box in his hands. Once the twins and their friends were alone they opened the box, inside was a journal for each of them, a book of blank pages, a bracelet and a slip of paper with a vow.
"I ___ hereby vow before magic herself and all witnesses that I shall follow Elianna Zabinni, my new lord, and I shall never harm her or her followers nor betray them for I am an extension of her, as are they, and let my magic be an extension of her magic and thus her magic an extension of my own and let us fight as one for one cause under her name and if we should fall let us fall together for together we rose. In the name of magic I make these vows of my own volition and free will, I shall never go back on my word or betray these vows, lest lady magic take back her gifts from me. So mote it be."
They all looked back and forth before taking their items and retreating back into the castle. Oliver was the first to take the vow, choosing to do so later that night in bed. He whispered the words into the night and the silver bracelet had attached itself to his wrist and faded into his skin. Confused, he looked through the book he'd been given and realized it was now filled with endless pages of any kind of magic imaginable. He spent the rest of the night flipping through it and learning as much about his curse as he could.
Meanwhile Elianna felt it the moment she had a new follower and smiled at Draco, "it is done, we have Oliver. The others will join when they are ready." Draco nodded at her and continued working in his journal, making her smile. She thought he looked most attractive when he was focusing on something and the candlelight was dancing in shadows across his sharp features making him look like marble. She leaned forward to kiss his cheek and he turned red but continued working diligently. It was the first move of affection she made in the outer world. The rest of the night they sat in comfortable silence working into the night.
A few days later and the twins, Angela, Katie, and Alicia still hadn't taken the vow yet. The twins knew it meant losing their family and though they knew they didn't have a good connection now, losing them completely was different. Katie had started the vow 5 times but when she got to the end she couldn't bring herself to risk her magic and stopped.
Angela was worried about being the first of her friends to take the vow, worried if they didn't she'd be alone. And Katie was worried about the influence of dark magic, her own core had grown gray the day she killed her father and she always feared it becoming black.
They all sat in their clearing in the forest with Oliver, discussing the book, the journal, the vow, and the bracelet, but most importantly they discussed Elianna. Oliver had been quiet, he hadn't told his friends he'd already taken it and his lord had commanded him not to. His first task. He'd also been given a task to get closer to Victor Krum and had been working on it, an invite was sent to him and his friends to challenge them to a friendly quidditch game later in the week.
"Why would she give us a blank book and a journal we can't open?!" Katie whined.
"We obviously need to take the vow first," Alicia answered with an eye roll. "Then it's probably a book of ancient magic or something."
"We're gonna visit our mum this weekend," Fred said solemnly.
"Asked if we could come home for dinner and she basically said she didn't care either way," George said, watching his brother's expression.
"We just wanna have one last meal before she hates us," they said in unison.
"It's not like it would be a change," Oliver said seriously. "Your mum treats you like your Dark now, being dark will just confirm her suspicions. And honestly she'd act the same way except she'll say, 'I told you Arthur!' But otherwise it won't be any different." He ended, staring at his book and not looking up.
No one answered right away and Fred felt his chest ache, Oliver was right but it didn't make hearing it easy. "What are you even reading? I thought you finished the potions homework," Katie said to Oliver trying to change the subject.
"I'm doing my ancient runes reading, Professor Babbling has really been on me and I haven't had the time to study." He said absent-mindedly while he read.
"Ancient runes?" Angela asked in a confused voice.
"Yes, we have a 4 foot scroll on the uses of oruz due Monday and I haven't even started it." He answered.
"But, you're reading a potions textbook," Katie said leaning over to close the book and reveal the cover.
Oliver was reading the enchanted spell book from Elianna, it was spelled to contain all the collective knowledge from the library in their school and allowed him to study anything. It could also take the form of a textbook, but he forgot what textbook he had it take the form of.
"Are you serious!?" He demanded in a hurry. "I've spent 4 hours reading about the uses of mistletoe thinking it would eventually lead back to runes and you're telling me I've had the wrong book?!" He collapsed and held his temples roughly. "A year without quidditch is killing me." He whined.
"You can't tell your potions book from your runes book? Maybe you need some sleep buddy," Fred said, patting his back.
Everyone chuckled at the mistake and went back to discussing Elianna. Oliver quickly put his book away for later and paid more attention to the discussion.
Meanwhile Elianna was working with the new professors Draco had recruited on lesson plans for the summer. She wanted to eventually open the school to new students that were not followers but that wouldn't be until after the war. For now only those marked could enter the school grounds. The new professors were less conventional, some even considered geniuses in their field. Elianna was excited to begin learning from them.
"Elianna you're going to be late!" Draco yelled out from the door.
Elianna rolled her eyes and called back, "I'll be there in 5 minutes Dray!" The professors chuckled at their antics and shooed her away to class.
She had been going between worlds more often and was getting closer and closer to being late to class, but Draco and Blaise had kept her in her professor's good graces for the time being.
"Elli," Draco whined, "if we get there late we have to sit with the lions again. Pleeeeeease come on."
Elianna finally emerged and dragged Draco to class whining about Harry. When they walked into class they were about 6 seconds away from being late and the only seats were at a table behind Harry, Ron, Hermionie, and Nevile.
Elianna sighed and pulled Draco to the seats next to Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. She caught Blaise shaking his head in her direction and ducked down ashamed but ignored him to take her seat.
The class was boring, they were brewing an antidote that Elianna could brew in her sleep and she spent half the class daydreaming while Draco finished the potions annoyed.
When she saw Harry about to put his 7th drop of Death cap essence into his cauldron she jumped forward and caught the drop with her hand. "Harry, you can't put more than 6 drops in! It'll react with the dragon's blood and it could explode! And the mixture is over 300 degrees right now!" She chided. When the cauldron turned blue instead of green and began to hiss she asked hermionie suddenly, "did you heat the dragons blood before adding it to the cauldron?"
Hermionie shook her head, "no it just said it had to be warm, and it was room temperature…"
"No, it means warm in relation to a dragons body temp! Not room temp!" Elianna screamed and Snape began running over but the cauldron hissed louder and before it could explode Elianna grabbed a glass jar of fairy wings and tossed it into the cauldron and pulled Harry down, throwing a shield charm around them all just in case.
The cauldron exploded but instead of molten potion spewing everywhere it spewed a rainbow of harmless colored sparks. Elianna dropped her shield when Snape walked up.
"What did you do Potters!?" Snape called out in a thunderous voice.
"It was my fault, professor, I didn't heat the dragon's blood before adding it and it was about to explode. Elianna saved us," she ended in a small voice.
Snape glared at her and sneered, "50 points from gryfendore for the ignorance! And another 15 from slytherin for wasting $50 worth of fairy wings!"
Elianna winced and looked apologetically at her classmates who were glaring at Snape. When he stormed off she went to walk back to her table but Harry stopped her with a soft voice, "thanks."
She looked back to him and nodded, "don't mention it Potter. Next time make sure to read the text more carefully, it's dangerous."
He looked sadly at her and nodded back, "will do Zabinni. And if you ever wanted to…grab dinner with the lions, just let me know?"
She wanted to say no but he looked so genuinely desperate all she could do was ask,
"can my brother and Draco come?"
Harry bit back a retort and with a pain expression nodded, "of course. Anyone you want."
She thought for a second and replied, "I have a better idea. You have lunch in the snake den. Sunday at 2. Meet us at our spot near the black lake. Yeah?"
He nodded eagerly, "yeah. Can ron and hermione come too?"
She chuckled lowly, "sure."
The rest of the day Elianna tried not to show how excited she was to spend some time with Harry.
The second task was drawing closer and Elianna had been training everyone hard in preparation. The clue from the first task made it obvious they'd have to swim and she'd been making them all swim laps daily.
They'd swam 25 laps before they took a break for lunch Sunday and retreated to their small oasis paradise nearby for tea and food just in time for Harry and his friends to approach.
Elianna reminded everyone to he on their best behavior and even shot a look at Draco and Blaise daring them to be cruel.
When they walked up Harry awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck and stood there while Hermionie rolled her eyes and dragged him over to sit near Elianna, Blaise, and Draco. Ron walked behind her and practically sat in her lap.
"Hiya Harry, Ron, Hermionie," Elianna greeted with a smile as they sat. They all nodded but no one spoke.
"What's for lunch?" Ron asked to fill the silence.
"Oh today I think Draco picked the menu," she said, turning to Draco.
He cleared his throat,"lunch will be a salad of Rainbow Swiss chard and a roasted beet dressing, some assorted fruit, and spit slow roasted wild boar with wild mushrooms risotto, ginger and honey roasted wild carrots, and juniper berry bur blanc."
"Oooh you went hunting!?" Elianna asked impressed.
"Yeah, me and Blaise caught 12 wild boar on our last hunting trip and we set a few aside to dry age and a few to cure in salt but we also set 3 aside for meals today. I know it's your favorite," he ended blushing.
Elianna giggled and shoved him playfully with her shoulder.
"Sounds delicious!" Ron exclaimed.
Hermionie pulled a book from her bag carefully and handed it to Elianna, "thank you so much for letting me borrow it. I've read it a few times," she said looking at the book with reverence.
Elianna took it smiling, "thanks!"
"A few?!" Ron snorted. "She's done nothing but read it over and over since she got it. She's drove us all nuts over it!"
Hermionie blushed and Elianna chuckled, "that's nothing. You should see the library back at our school. Draco cried the first time he saw it." She ended with a snicker and Draco glared at her.
"Here Granger," Draco said, pulling a wooden box from his own bag. "They aren't as nice as the ones I gave Elli, but it's all I could get on short notice." He ended with a shrug passing the box over.
Hermionie took it cautiously and Harry and Ron both tensed up as she opened it. Inside was a complete set of the potions theory books from 1307. They were ratty and badly kept, some had badly beaten spines and the pages were scribbled on in places. But hermionie suddenly began to cry looking at them.
"Hey, I'm sorry they're so bad looking! Usually the nicer of the sets have to be tracked down and," Elianna put a hand on his arm to quiet him.
“Dray, I think they're happy tears,” Elliana said cheerfully and Hermione nodded, putting the books down to protect them from her tears.
The food was delicious and Ellianna was more than impressed that Draco went hunting for it. And everyone got along fine. All in all it went better than expected.