#SEE QUIRREL ANOTHER 12 TIMES THAT ONLY LAST A FEW SECONDS

[an-ecu-harrypotter-au]

TPS Part 12: Visions and Quidditch

Ah'm sittin in a chair by the fire an Ah feel off. Not meltin down bad but still off.

"Toby? What’s wrong?"

"Um, can Ah talk ta you, Jacklin?"

"Of course. I was just about to get the gift I bought in Germany for you."

"Ok."

Ah go up ta mah dorm room. Jacklin comes up wit a real thin box. Ah look at the box, feelin' excited an' scared 'cause Ah dunno what's inside.

"Thanks."

Ah open the box an’ reach in ta see if Ah can feel somethin inside.

"A board?"

"It's a hand carved wizard's chess set. There should be little wooden chess pieces as well.

"Wow."

Ah look at the hand carved chess set. They're all tiny an’ detailed an' Ah can see they took some time ta make.

"I remember you said you once had a vision about wizard's chess. Germany specializes in wooden gifts, so I just had to have my father buy this for you."

Ah start lookin' at all tha pieces an’ lookin' at 'em one at a time while Ah hold 'em in mah hands, turnin' 'em over an' lookin' at all tha details.

"The detailin' on these're amazing."

"I think this could be a great way to use your Seer abilities. Wizard's chess is all about trying to think multiple moves ahead and predict what the other player might do."

Ah hold a couple of tha pieces up an’ start settin' ‘em up on tha wooden board. Ah smile as Ah start settin' ‘em up an’ start feelin' more an' more comfortable with the idea. It's all comin’ together in mah head.

"Um. Jacklin Ah saw somethin on the train that Ah think ya oughta know."

"What is it, Toby?"

"Well Ah got another Dumbledore frog card an had a vision a ya. Ah saw ya standin in front a some kinda mirror holdin a ruby. Then Ah saw Quirrell flyin up in the air like he was tryna attack ya."

She rubs her chin which tells me she's thinkin bout it.

"Yes I did some research on Nicolas Flamel. Let me see your card."

"Ok."

Ah give 'er the card.

"Alright. Nicolas Flamel was the wizard who created the Philosopher's Stone. You can use that stone to make the Elixir of Life. It can also make metal become gold."

"So it's real valuable?"

"Yes."

Ah start ta have a moment where everythang comes tagether.

"Ah think Dumbledore's hidin the stone cause he knows somebody's gonna steal it."

"That would make sense."

"But why here? The stone's Flammel's so Ah'd thought he'd be the one ta say what should be done wit it."

"I think it's because everyone knows Nicolas Flamel would have the Philosopher's stone. Headmaster Dumbledore would likely want to protect the stone so no one could steal it. We only know that he's using Fluffy, the three headed dog, to guard a trapdoor. He could have multiple traps involved meant to slow down or attack the potential thief."

"Yeah. Yeah. Ah get it."

We start talkin bout random thangs till Ah start thinkin bout Quidditch.

"Did yer Seeker Sean Lee get better?"

"Yes he's fully healed. The problem's that he doesn't have enough money for a new broom. A mending spell can only be done if something was only broken for a few minutes. By the time all the pieces of his broom were retrieved the spell didn't work."

"Oh. So that means yer the new Seeker till he gets a broom?"

"Yes, our next game is in March. I have to spend a lot of my free time working on my flying skills."

Ah start imaginin Jacklin flyin through hoops an all tryna catch the gold ball.

"Tell me agin how this points thang works fer the Quidditch Cup?"

"The team with the most amount of points scored after every game wins. Gryffindor can lose to another team, but can still win if we score a lot of points in our other two games. Wins only matter for the House Cup because winning a Quidditch match only gives you 50 points."

"How's it look fer Gryffindor now?"

She pulls a quill outta nowhere an some paper. Ah see a buncha numbers that mean nothin ta me.

"Gryffindor is in first place with 170 points. Ravenclaw is in second place because they only only scored 160 points. Slytherin is in third place because they lost against us and only scored 60 points. Hufflepuff is last because it was a very short game and they only scored 50 points."

"When's the next game?"

"Ravenclaw/Slytherin should be played near the end of February. Whoever wins would take the lead because they would have played two games while we only played one so far."

Ah can't do all that math so Ah try ta get ta the point a thangs.

"Wha's the biggest match in the year ta worry bout?"

"The most important match would be our match against Ravenclaw in May. The final match is always important because it determines the final total of points for two teams. A team could be in last place but win the Quidditch Cup because they scored so many points in the final match in addition to catching the Golden Snitch."

"So it ain't ever over till the final ball's caught in the season."

"That's right, Toby. The last match is about more than just winning. It's about how many points you score before you win. It can also be a matter of knowing you can lose and still win the Quidditch Cup."

Mah head gets all fuzzy an Ah shake it.

"Good thang Ah don't play Quidditch. Ah dunno how ya keep track a that."

"Yes I'm sure figuring out how to make a banner for Gryffindor would be complicated enough as it is."

"Yeah."

Ah realize Ah gotta ferget bout the stone an focus on makin a banner. If Jacklin's game ain't until March Ah got bout 2 months ta make somethin that'll look good.

Time Skip

"Ok Jacklin, the game starts in 10 minutes. How's the points lookin fer Gryffindor?"

"We dropped all the way down to 3rd place. Since Slytherin won they jumped up to 1st place with 240 points. Ravenclaw only scored 60 points so they moved up to 2nd place with 220 points."

"So ya get 1st place agin if ya win right?"

"Yes of course, Toby."

"How're ya feelin bout that?"

"This is my first game starting so I do feel a little nervous. But enough about that. How did your Gryffindor banner turn out, Toby?"

Ah hold up the Gryffindor banner an' Ah point ta the lion.

"Ah did it all by mahself! Lion's got a scarf an a broom."

The picture is colored red an' yellow to look like Gryffindor colors. Jacklin looks at the banner like it's the most important thin' in the world.

"It looks lovely. You did a great job, Toby. I hope I can see it while I'm up in the air."

"We wanna cheer as loud as we can for ya."

Ah hear somebody blowin a whistle. Ah look up an see Snape yellin at some Hufflepuff kids.

"Snape's the ref?"

"Yes and the whole team's concerned that he's going to be nothing but biased against Gryffindor."

"Dang."

Ah see McGonagall come up ta the field wit Sprout. This' the first time Ah'm realizin Sprout's the teacher in charge a Hufflepuff. No wonder she likes Pacer helpin 'er so much.

"Oh I need to line up with my team. You should go up to the stands with Gryffindor, Toby."

"Ok."

Ah start makin' mah way up ta the stands. When Ah sit down, Ah see tha Captains get all ready in the middle a the field.

"Captains shake hands."

Snape watches 'em shake.

"I will not hesitate to penalize anyone for rule breaking."

Ah sit waitin' for the game ta begin. Ah can hear Professor Snape shoutin' out all the pre-game rules.

"Go!"

He blows his whistle an Ah hear the announcer start callin the game.

"And the Quaffle is off, Gryffindor takes possession with Chaser Katie Bell trying to score!"

Gryffindor cheers as Katie Bell flies out ta catch the basketball. Ah watch as she swoops an’ tries ta get inta the scorin ring. Ah think she's gonna make it, but Hufflepuff Seeker's right there in her way. Snape blows his whistle.

"Blocking on Gryffindor! Hufflepuff will receive a penalty shot."

The Gryffindor crowd groans an moans, upset over the ref's call. Ah think Ah get wha' Jacklin's said bout it but Ah’m happy ta see the Gryffindor players gettin' all fired up.

"After a questionable call by Professor Snape, Chaser Beatrice Haywood takes the shot! It goes right in and Hufflepuff leads 10 to 0!"

Ah see one a the Gryffindor players get all mad. They got one a the black balls an use their club ta hit it right at Snape. Ah jus know that ain't good as he dodges it an blows his whistle.

"Bumphing on Gryffindor! Hufflepuff will receive another penalty shot."

"Booooooo! Booooo!"

A lotta Gryffindors boo an Ah dunno why. Jacklin did tell me the black ball can really hurt somebody if ya get hit by it.

"After that act of aggression by Jimmy Peakes, Beatrice Haywood once again lines up for the penalty shot! She makes the throw and Hufflepuff extends their lead 20 to 0!"

More groans an’ sighs as Hufflepuff score. Ah watch as Jacklin flies round. Ah see a lil flash go by 'er an she chases after it.

"Jacklin Gryffindor's following the Snitch! She's diving at such a fast speed! But watch out, Professor Snape's right in her path and there could be a collision!"

She seems ta be movin' way too fast. Ah feel real nervous. Ah start sayin' stuff under mah breath an' Ah hope Ah don’t say it out loud.

"She's running out of room and Snape is almost right in front of her! She's reaching out for the Snitch! She caught it and stops just in time! Unbelievable! With not even a meter left to spare Jacklin Gryffindor catches the Snitch and stopped her broom on a dime!"

It’s like the whole stadium jus stopped breathein'. Ah almost can’t breathe right after tha shock of her stoppin’ 'er broom. Ah see Snape blow his whistle an looks so Ah dunno? Bored? Yeah tha's a good word. Like he ain't happy bout Jacklin almos crashin inta him but he ain't all that mad either.

"Gryffindor wins. 150 to 20."

They're all cheerin' an’ screamin' 'er name. Dumbledore stands up an’ claps real hard.

"Well done Miss Gryffindor! Well done!"

She glides back towards the Gryffindor stands an’ Ah start applaudin' just as loud as Ah possibly can. She comes closer an' her face starts turnin' tha reddest Ah ever saw it.

"That was so embarrassing. I don't know what I would have done if I did crash into Professor Snape. He could have gotten seriously hurt."

"Ah know! Jus bout everybody could barely breathe when it happened. Ah thought yer broom ain't that fast?"

"Even with it's lower speed, it's very difficult to stop that quickly. I have got to work on knowing when to stop. That was 3 times now that I almost had a terrible collision."

"Yeah. That was real close. Ah’m jus glad the crash didn't happen."

She gets exactly what Ah mean. She nods an’ she looks at me wit that smile a her's like she’s fallin' in love. Nah, she's jus bein' friendly.

"Players shake hands!"

They finish their shake. Jacklin turns ta walk back ta the Gryffindor team when Ah see tha Hufflepuff Seeker look at her an’ say somethin’ like, "Good game." Ah start lookin’ at Jacklin an’ Ah see her face turnin’ red. It's real cute.

Time Skip

"So now that we won, Gryffindor got an extra 50 points for the House Cup and a total of 320 points in the Quidditch Cup."

"So we're in 1st agin yeah?"

"Of course. We now have an 80 point lead over Slytherin. They can retake the lead though if they beat Hufflepuff."

Ah start ta feel real bad fer Hufflepuff. Seems like the House tha's always gettin beat up by the other Houses. Ah hope Pacer ain't gonna start hatin me cause we beat his team.

"Jacklin? We supposed ta like Hufflepuff?"

"Of course, Toby. I know we have a rivalry but it's not as if we're supposed to hate everyone in the other Houses. The only reason we're divided like this is because the founders of Hogwarts valued different traits and magical abilities."

"Like what? Ah know the hat was talkin all bout it at the beginnin a the year but was it always like that?"

Ah see 'er thinkin bout it. Ah'm almos expectin 'er ta start givin me a history lesson bout Godric an all. Ah ain't gonna mind it but Ah dunno how much Ah'll understand it.

"When Hogwarts was founded, wizards had to live amongst humans and try not to get exposed. Godric was well known as a duelist. He valued humans' resourcefulness when he saw that they used swords in place of wands."

"See! Ah've been tryna keep it ta mahself but magic's gotta be so complicated fer no reason. Y'all don't even got backpacks! No wonder Godric loved usin a sword. That's gotta be the most useful weapon ever! Ah dunno why they don't teach us how ta use a sword. Wha's stoppin a wizard from attackin ya if ya lose yer wand? Nothin! A sword's jus the coolest weapon ta use in a fight an y'all don't even wanna use it!"

"I do admit that's very much a point of view that has been lost over the centuries. Godric valued capable duelists as they could not only fight against other wizards but also humans."

"Well Godric's had good brains ta go wit his bravery. He reminds me a old stories bout knights who got this set a rules bout how ta fight good."

Ah see Jacklin takin a breath. Ah hope Ah didn't get outta hand wit mah ramblin.

"We did have a few wizards in Gryffindor who would go on to serve kings, so I think that is what Godric wanted. He wanted good duelists who were capable of fighting for what they thought was right. Even though the class didn't exist, he taught students how to duel and be able to defend themselves and their families against the Dark Arts."

Ah realize that makes sense cause even in his paintin in our dorms he's got a sword. A knight's cool. Ah dunno if Ah wanna fight people though. Ah think bein a Healer's the right path fer me but Ah still ain't sure.

"Do ya know much bout wha Hufflepuff's founder's like?"

"I admit that I'm not as aware of the history of the other founders. I believe that because a lot of children were orphaned either due to famine or war, Helga Hufflepuff was willing to take in any child with magic ability that wasn't accepted by the other three. She had an affinity towards Herbology, Potions, and identifying magical creatures."

That does kinda sound like me. Ah'm always outside when Ah can. Makes sense that the hat really thought Ah should be in that House.

"Yeah Ah can see now why Pacer's in that House. He's real good at Herbology. Wha bout the other Houses?"

"With Rowena Ravenclaw, she was the one who suggested Hogwarts should be built here. The school needed to be kept hidden from humans and according to legend, she had a dream about a warty hog showing her this land. It's entirely possible that because she seemed to know exactly where to build the school, she was a Seer. Divination, in fact was one of the classes she taught herself as it focuses a lot on creative interpretation of events."

Ah'm a Seer so maybe the hat was wrong bout me not bein in that House. Nah. Even though tha's what she liked don't mean the kids're like that. Ah see a buncha kids in that House runnin ta the library lookin fer the answer. They all turned it inta a competition bout who's the most clever or can finish their scrolls the fastest.

"So why's we usually mad at Slythrin?"

"Salazar Slytherin. That wizard is definitely well known in my family. Since wizards were in constant danger back then, he was less likely to accept children with human parents. He wanted students that were willing to step up and do what ever it takes to accomplish a goal. He really loved the Dark Arts and of course was a Parselmouth. Since you can't exactly teach that type of language, he specifically taught various dark spells and how to defend yourself against cursed beasts."

Ah think bout Slytherin. Somethin musta got lost over the centuries cause somebody wantin ta keep the school safe from scared humans don't mean they're evil.

"Ah dunno how everybody all got long when it was Quidditch time."

"Oh Quidditch, according to the book I was reading with you, wasn't invented until after the founders died."

"How'd it get ta other countries?"

"The United Kingdom was a powerful force so it had a lot of influence throughout Europe. The first official Quidditch Cup was in 1473 but didn't become a true Quidditch World Cup competition until the 1600s."

Ah honestly didn't know wha ta expect or how ta answer. Jus sayin ok seems like Ah'm jus ignorin 'er so Ah gotta think a somethin.

"How often's this game held? Ah know most sports're annual but then we got the Olympics which's every four years."

"Yes the Quidditch World Cup is typically held every four years. There have been some exceptions though but I won't go into all of that. The next one will be held here in the UK. I'll be sure to let you know more about it when it's closer to the tournament."

"Ok thanks."

Ah yawn an realize we were talkin a long time.

"Ah'm goin ta bed. Night Jacklin."

"Good night, Toby."

Ah start walkin on the stairs.

"Oh and by the way, my father sent me a letter that he wants you and your Pop's help on his trip to France. Do you think you can send him a letter in the morning?"

Ah stop.

"France?! Ya want me an Pop ta go ta France wit ya?"

"Of course I do. This is a very specific mission for his ambassadorship regarding human affairs. Every ally of the UK must go through a review process of carefully hidden magical locations. If a human can see it, then it can be a big problem."

"But Ah'm pureblooded. How's that gonna work?"

"If your Pop can't do magic, that makes him a squib. He would be allowed into places like the Leaky Cauldron and Platform 9 and Three Quarters because he would have to help you get your supplies and get on the train. Since these are highly confidential magical buildings, a squib by design wouldn't even be able to see it. Only those born with actual magical ability can see it."

".... So yer sayin if Pop can see somethin he shouldn't be able ta see in France that's bad?"

"Yes. In fact, this would be a lovely way to show me how to properly use the camera you gave me for Christmas. I'm afraid my pictures from our Germany trip didn't turn out so well. We can take pictures of anything that your Pop can see or anything in general that can be called unusual."

Ah yawn an the only thang Ah can do's jus say yes.

"Ok. Ah'll write Pop in the mornin."

"Excellent. This would be a great way to help my father. Thank you, Toby."

"No problem. Ah'm goin ta bed now."

"Yes, of course. Good night. For real this time."

Ah can't even say anythin. Ah stumble mah way ta mah room. It's all Ah can do ta feed Trevor before bed.

"Night Trevor."

Ah get under the covers an fall asleep fast.

Tagging: @arrolyn1114, @nemos-rapture, @xanatenshi, @briefpandatimemachine, @hooked-on-elvis,

@vintagepresley, @aliengoth3, @smokeymountainboy, @bigdaddyelvislover, @mercsandmonsters,

@pledgingmylovee, @presleysgirl6, @thetaoofzoe, and @elvispresley4life.

[prenvii-moved]

SGHHS fuck quirrel

[blankdblank]

Anaticula Pt 11

Pt 1 - Pt 2 - Pt 3 - Pt 4 - Pt 5 - Pt 6 - Pt 7 - Pt 8 - Pt 9 - Pt 10 -

…

“Idris, you’ll have to behave.” Again his beak ruffled through your hair, “You’ll be with Fawkes soon enough.” A low melodic sigh left him in his move to climb into your carrier bag you had for him beside your open trunk. Inside of which you tossed the latest of Charlie’s letters filling you into all the dragons he had befriended with the use of the Draconic you had taught him. Pictures included with a final sheet coated in another heartfelt apology and slew of hopes you could find happiness with understanding why he had to end what little form of relationship you had.

In a pale golden dress over tall black socks in your boots you meandered down the steps to join the others. Eager grins spread across their faces in your path to the station once again through your Grimauld Place door. Around you the young Weasleys grouped while Molly was off on an errand helping at the Ministry entrusting them to Remus’ care on his day off while the others worked.

Tightly Neville’s hand latched onto your arm as you pushed the cart you were sharing holding both your trunks, your owl and Trevor’s small carrier. George beside you shared his cart with Draco, who anxiously was wondering where he would be sorted into while also hoping that his parents would accept any house of the hat’s choosing.

9 and ¾, confused the Grangers upon reading their daughter’s ticket. But quietly they watched the first of you pass through the barrier only to follow after their nervous daughter passing at Percy’s side after their shared cart. Topped with a medium carrier with an enchanted breed of cat, your aunt Lily’s cat Crookshanks to be exact when her parents worried about care for an owl, rat or toad through their cat allergy no longer an issue with the docile elderly cat. For a moment on the other side they halted, all staring up in wonder at the train on the other side and the bustling hoards of students hurrying to their own cars.

With a chuckle you accepted Remus’ hug and turned to your cart only to pause a few feet later staring up at the man passing you. A smirk eased across the face of the suit clad man with hair in a messy ruffle over thick sideburns and sleek glasses on, one quick wink later he softly stated in a weak Scottish accent, “Miss Black” then continued on to the waiting train car marked for teachers.

Beside you Cedric hopped up stirring a grin onto your face in his half hug you returned then carried on to your waiting car stealing another glance at the man who stole one of you in return.

Safe inside your car George eased the door shut and turned to you asking, “What was that, the pause?”

“That man, that was Barty Crouch Jr.”

Cedric, “He’s on the train?”

You nodded, “He was in Azkaban, in the cell across from mine. He seems, healthier though.”

George wet his lips, “You said he never got a trial.”

Fred nodded, “Maybe they know it’s him and they’re giving him a second chance.”

Cedric, “I doubt Dumbledore would allow a dangerous man in the school.”

Softly you mumbled, “Why would he be here though…?”

George, “On to bigger things, like, do we really let Terry try for the empty Chaser spot, already the twins were swapped out last year, Bo and Mo are glad to finally be off the alternates bench, though Terry, keeps flinching from the bludger.”

You shrugged and Cedric stated, “Well that can be worked out as long as we keep him on the skirts of it all for scoring. Wicked arm in his favor and he listens well.”

“At least we’ve a couple months to break in the new trio, Gryffindor won’t be so lucky swapping out their Seeker and Beaters.”

..

Steadily into the great dining hall you filed in again spotting the spectacle wearing Barty grinning at you while you took your seat. In a glance at Snape you caught his hint of a comforting grin twitching onto his face while he leaned in to continue his conversation with Quirrell.

A song of camouflage and subtlety from the sorting hat narrowed your eyes until its ending when Minerva stood stealing a curious glance at the hat again on her path to fetch the first years. Among them you felt a grin easing back onto your face spotting your group walking in the smallest group to date.

Ronald Weasley, “Gryffindor!”

Susan Bonds, “Hufflepuff!”

Hermione Granger, “Gryffindor!”

Two boys were next, another Crabbe and Goyle for , “Slytherin!”

Dean and Seamus followed, both for, “Gryffindor!”

“Harry Potter” silenced the hall and cheers followed at, “Gryffindor!”

Draco Malfoy followed and anxiously he sat on that stool folding his fingers around the edges of it only to smirk at your clap and grin hearing, “Ravenclaw!”

He was followed into Ravenclaw by Parvati Patil, with her twin Padma off into Gryffindor. The group dwindled and among the last few eventually sorted into Slytherin was Neville, who grinned on his trot to claim the seat by Hermione hearing, “Gryffindor!”

Through the meal you kept stealing glances at the Professor still stealing glances at you in return after being named as the new Muggle Studies Professor, “David Tennant”, just moments before the announcement that Quirrell was the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. Dinner had ended and you were off to your first night’s rest feeling not just Barty’s eyes on you but Quirrell’s too.

Something in your few weeks since seeing him had changed in him, once in your dorm you sent off a letter to your father about both Professors, one that with your owl’s help would reach him rapidly. Back in your own bed you sprawled out still fully dressed peering up at Opal and Idris in the hammock above your bed curling up for a long nights sleep. Deeper at Idris’ humming you fell into sleep, knowing full well what dream you would have.

“Close your eyes, Close your eyes,” Screams followed and your eyes shot open, behind your muffling charm you lined around the cutout for your bed your shriek went unheard by any. Warm tears streamed down the sides of your face as you shut your eyes whispering to yourself, “Three thoughts…just three happy thoughts..”

Around your head your hair shifted to its deep black shade as you latched onto a memory of a ride on your father’s bike, her hair flapping in the wind wildly shimmering in a pale teal at her joyful ride clinging to your father’s back as you sat in Remus’ lap.

“Two…” A muddle of thoughts poured through your mind searching for a happy one until your mind halted to you staring at yourself in a tall mirror back at home face coated in tears after another nightmare. Somewhere in your mind clearly the memory brought back your thought, an echo of Fawkes’ song in the early morning after a trip from visiting Tulip. Warmth spread through your body down to a prickling in your fingertips, peering down at them you saw heat lines flowing out from them, another glance up at the mirror white flames spread around you while your eyes shifted in rapid flashes between colors. Just in time to see your first change into a phoenix the twins found you. Scared you turned to them only to spot their wide grins as they both said, “Wicked!”

“Three..” a trip out to Italy had you tottering up a tall hill, barely tall enough to see over the swaying grass, wide eyed at the top you stared out over the ocean as a wave of golden light erupted around you lighting the world. Long curls pooled over your shoulders as your mother giggled whispering, “There you are, look at you,” you giggled softly as your father settled beside her grinning wildly saying in absolute awe, “My Loves, with smiles to light the world.”

Rolling over facing the wall you eyed the picture from that day in the folding picture frame set up with you in her arms as he smiled at you in awe, all coated in golden light as the grass danced around you. Closing your eyes again you felt more tears streaming over your nose trying to focus on that day instead of the one three months later when it all ended. For all your hopes to be rid of these dreams you refused the offer of draughts Newt Scamander sent your way fearing that your daily tie to your mother would be lost forever. It seemed all your happy thoughts muddled with painful ones leaving you picking and choosing which bits to focus on and which memories weren’t so painful to relive to focus on the good parts.

…

7:30 Breakfast, in a green t shirt and your worn jeans and boots you trotted down the hall between the twins in matching sweaters and scuffed jeans matching yours with Cedric in a dark grey t shirt with a deep green Kelpie on it. In the hall you found the attention on you again, filling up your glass by smoothing your finger around the rim while raising your fork hearing Hermione and Neville discussing their schedules after passing them yours.

Magical creatures 8

DADA 9

History of magic 10

Arithmacy Mon, Wed, Fri 10

Muggle Studies Sun, Tue, Sat 11

Herbology Mon, Wed, Fri 11

Break 12

Art Sun 12

Lunch 1

Break 2

Potions 3

Charms 4

Transfigurations 5

Divinations Son, Tue, Sat 6

Ancient Runes 6

Dinner 7:30

Curfew 8

Astronomy Wed 12

.

Out through the dew coated grass you joined your fellow students on the trot down to the edge of the Black Lake, today’s lesson built on a series of creatures around and inside it. Mainly the capture of tadpole and lobster like creatures you were to capture and place into the ant hill like tank he had brought to observe their interaction and advancing their dwelling. By classes end the whole class was still giggling at the escape of five of the lobster looking creatures with barbed flippers instead of claws that landed on one of the Slytherin boys who thought it would be funny to make faces at the tank between hard taps on the enforced glass.

.

You had almost forgotten the eerie feeling you had about Quirrell, at least until your path inside when the hair on your arms stood up at the snakes all coiled at the passing Professor in the wafting echo of muffled Parseltongue. Whatever he had said was lost to you but it didn’t take you long at all to know just who you felt on him at the memories of your mother’s death flashing back to you with the same raspy voice ordering her to join him.

Steadily you forced yourself to go to your seat and bring out your notebook and feather tipped pen. Around you the twins broke out the smaller pads from their pockets you used to communicate when apart copying into both of them seeing you write something in yours. Peeking inside after their first notice of the Parseltongue whispers their hearts dropped at your simple note of, “Riddle.”

Mentally your mind reached out and in a distant portrait your Ancestor’s head turned hearing your request to only let you inside with a special password you gave him through the sealing of several enchanted draconic locks you had added upon finding them to keep any from using the other entrances far below you in the dungeons. A subtle fold of your page had a second note vanishing as you wrote in its transfer onto blank pages in front of Snape, your father, uncle and Minerva.

Tentatively you sat through the class wondering why Quirrell was acting so out of place. The usual book steady class plans you had heard of from Percy were instead heavily based on verbal quizzes and demonstrations on clay dummies, most seeming far from being honorable or legal to employ. But finally you were freed off to History of Magic, where even Professor Binns was mumbling to himself about the odd hissing around the man who stole Quirrell’s turban.

.

Through your relatives the twins had gained a time turner to aid you in your schedules for overlapping courses. A sturdy floor plan was set, Arithmacy was first, three days a week, when you were through with History you grinned at Cedric. In sharing your schedules he had learned of your special tasks this year. In a group decision you would skip Arithmacy and head to either of your alternating Herbology or Muggle Studies courses and then in the break period after you would head to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom to use the time turner and then casually slip into the crowds for the walk down the hall to Arithmacy.

.

Herbology as always went well. A basic first lesson to welcome you back. Again a yearly plant was assigned to each of you to trim and collect from for the other courses and hospital wing needing them and then the first lesson began. This year began with the man eating ones finishing with Devil’s Snare. All with tentacles or poisoned vines you required thick protective layers to handle for the the lesson with added charms to help protect those unwilling to pay attention to their plants. But as always with a brief waving send off you made your ways to the secluded bathroom where you found Percy with a planned time change of his own flashing you a knowing grin as you drew out the chains.

.

Peering down at the turner Fred took the honor to ease the dial back a turn after looping the chain around your necks. The clock along the wall rolled back and out the hall you followed Percy, him off to his course as you strolled down another path off to Arithmacy.

A simple introduction later and you were granted your first packets from the Professor eyeing you all as if to memorize which on her roster had matching chains around their necks to participate to avoid naming them in passing during this hour. With packet completed she passed out another quizzing packet to complete in the next two nights before your next class and saw the other third years who had signed up for it in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw hurry off to Herbology across the school while the others left lazily enjoying their long two hour break until lunch.

Though in your new now two hour break you grinned making your way down to speak to and feed Tulip hoping to make her understand she wouldn’t be able to come for walks until Quirrell was dealt with. It ended up being for the best as she said it was time for her to molt and she didn’t feel like being around others for the three month long transition period.

..

With over an hour to spare till lunch you hurried back out of the chamber and made your way to Snape’s class where you sat outside it in the hall hearing the usual groans of the students in his first day from break test of his students. All through class you worked on the packet from Arithmacy after going through the assigned chapter to summarize for double DA.

To your left the heavy doors opened at the distant clock sounding from the tall tower to the East. Hastily you put away your things in your bag and at the end of students fleeing you four slipped inside closing the doors behind you. At the sound of bags being set on the desks he turned with a brow raised that dropped when he saw you. Leaving his stack of ungraded tests on his desk he walked around it to a couple feet away from you.

“You are certain of this?”

You nodded, “I know it’s him.”

Fred, “Even Professor Binns has been complaining about the hissing and can tell that something’s not right.”

George, “Even said that it was someone else entirely.”

Snape eyed Cedric and asked, “You are aware of this?”

Cedric nodded, “I got the most of it. But from what Percy has said of the Professor his lesson today is way off.”

Snape nodded, “I will have a word with Minerva, we will set up additional rounds, even bribe Peeves if we have to to keep Quirrell away from Harry. He hasn’t said anything to you.”

You shook your head, “Didn’t really give him a chance to. About-“

Again he nodded eyeing the students for his next class entering, “I will see to it. Off you go.”

You nodded and again off you went. A call from Terry to Cedric tore him from your side in a far from subtle hope on seeing how his try out was being taken by you three. Your move to join them halted when you heard in a thick Scottish accent, “Miss Black. A word? If your friends wouldn’t mind.”

Inhaling steadily you glanced at the twins who softly whispered while digging out the listening toy you had been working on shaped like ears on a tether, “We’ll be listening in.”

A grin flashed across your face and you joined the pinstripe suit clad Professor with slender specks, thick sideburns and tussled hair like an absurd looking cockatoo on a stroll down the hall and around the corner to an open breezeway. “Hope you don’t mind a stroll.”

You shook your head and flashed him another grin in your glance up at him in his glance at you mid turn of his head to see if you were out of earshot yet. “Not at all.”

A grin eased onto his lips in his next glance at you missing the pair of Phoenix flying behind him to land softly on the roof above you with a little ear dangling down. “I suppose you have caught onto the hoax.” After a momentary pause for his eyes to drop down to Crookshanks who strolled over circled his feet and flopped on one of them. “When you were being taken out of Azkaban my parents came to visit me. My mother knew she was near the end and took my imprisonment difficultly. We swapped places and my father decided in his infinite wisdom to lock me at home under an invisibility cloak using the Imperius curse.”

You nodded and he chuckled weakly, “However, that is not why you are curious about my being here. I managed to sneak free and knew I had to find you. I was locked away unjustly, but for a Lord I imagined to be following the just path. I waited to hear of his return. Though the longer I sat there, it began to dawn on me, I was faithful, I would do my Master’s bidding no matter the cost. However, he would never return for me. I would be cast aside.

My Master was defeated attacking two children and has been hiding ever since, and I wondered why. But then you had been thrown into the cell across from mine and I saw it, the reason why. He was boasted to be deathless, impervious to harm or being taken down. But in you, I saw it, the strength in you and I saw that I had been following the one attempting to usurp the name of mighty Salazar Slytherin. You are the rightful heir, and have my undying loyalty. The Dark Lord could never dream of matching you, survivor of the Dementor’s Kiss.”

“So, I have to ask, do they know who you are?”

He nodded, “Of course. Gave him my memories clearing me of the attack on the Longbottoms. Karkarov always hated me, said I got off too lenient in my testing to earn my mark. Said the Dark Lord was merely needing warm bodies. But yes they know and are supporting my new identity.”

“What’s with the accent?”

“Oh, ran onto this bloke who looked like this, muggle actor. Scottish,” he shrugged, “Accent is rough to master, though it works.”

“Why Muggle Studies?”

“Ooh, don’t you knock it, I actually have some great Physics lessons lined up. Got all above E on the 12 NEWTS, not many can say that, so I got the pick of the pie.”

You nodded then asked, “You…”

His head cocked to the side and he wet his lips, “Something’s been troubling you. I noticed Severus and McGonagall watching you, and he said to make sure to keep an eye on Harry and Neville. What aren’t they saying?”

“What do you know about possessions?”

His brow ticked up and he inhaled sharply, “Exorcizing them or actually possessing someone?”

“Exorcizing.”

“Why are you asking-,” his words stopped at the breeze blowing the dangling ear into his neck making him swat at it and turn his head with his mouth falling open asking, “Is this an, ear?” Gently he eased his foot out from under Crookshanks following the tether to the edge of the cover where he spotted Fred and George fifteen feet up in Phoenix form both blinking at him.

Turning to face you again his hand brought the ear up saying, “This is ingenious, albeit odd, but ingenious.” His finger rose, “The Twins I take it?” You nodded and he said into the ear, “You can come down now.” Then wet his lips looking to you, “Why possessions?”

Two red whooshes later the twins shifted around you with Fred bending to lift and cradle Crookshanks affectionately at the start of a cool breeze. George rested his arm on your shoulder after winding up the listening device he pocketed, saying, “Bit of a hunch really.”

Barty nodded repeating, “Hunch?”

His eyes landing on you as Fred said, “Can’t exactly go about naming your Professors as possessed without proof really.”

George, “But we aren’t the only ones who think so.”

Barty, “Does this have something to do with Quirrell. There seems to be a fuss about him.”

You nodded, “Though we can’t really talk to him about it.”

Fred nodded and he and George added, “Not without spooking him first.”

Barty nodded then said, “Alright, we’ll, if there is a way to un-possess him I think I know just where to find it.” A grin eased onto his face again, “To the library!” His enthusiasm making you three smirk following after him as he said, “I have been aching for an excuse to wander the restricted section for years now!”

.

Inside you four walked straight through the blocked off corner leaving Crookshanks to wander over to the self lit fireplace to lounge in the warmth as you all grabbed a selection of books to start with in the section on souls. Between books seemingly in awe Barty glanced over at you in your rapid scanning of each page mirrored by the twins joining you in sending the useless books floating back to their shelves. A final pair of books was all that was left both pointing to various methods, however you would have to uncover how he had been possessed. To not draw suspicion the books were taken back to your dorm by K and Barty escorted you to lunch.

“So, we just have to write out each form of uncovering how he has been possessed and try them out a few a day, then when we find the right one we know which spell to use.”

Barty, “Anything involving food best leave to Severus and myself to avoid the random bouts of edible gifts.”

Pt 12

[starboundfic]

Chapter 12

Lapse

Chapter 11 - Chapter 13

Two days went by without much event, save for the Galran crystal being ejected in the general direction of the nearest star once everything remotely useful had been copied off of it, and the prompt landing of the castleship on a small grassy planet that was dotted with rocky outcroppings and a few lakes.

With the sheer amount of things that had been messed up by the crystal, Allura had decided that they would be staying put for the duration of the repairs. Said repairs included a meticulous check of everything program-related for the training deck, which meant free time—which was spent, at least by Stan, Koji, and Eva, on repairing the Arrow.

Right now, the floor of the hangar was strewn with various mechanical parts; it had taken a bit of searching for other storerooms and tracking down Coran to help get some things working, but the effort had the end-result of Stan being able to finally take an actual look at the damage.

The hyperdrive was more than shot, and everything near it looked like it was at least singed. Technically, what they should do is replace the entire thing…but getting any compatible parts was out of the question, given how far they were from Earth. So they’d just have to work with what they had.

On the upside, Coran had identified at least two defunct shuttles which they could take and modify/reuse parts from. The cockpit’s covering had also been replaced, this time with a material similar to what the shuttles used. It both looked and felt like glass, but it was a lot harder to break.

On the downside, he’d also told them that getting the Arrow II to run off of a crystal was a no-go, after taking a closer look at the reactors. Not without putting together a whole new engine.

But that conundrum could wait. It wasn’t exactly like their star-racer would be seeing any actual use anytime soon.

“Any word from Allura yet?” he asked, glancing sideways at the other two.

“No,” Koji said, not looking up from his tablet. “That decoding program is going to need a lot of refinement. It’ll be a while before it can sort through everything.” Eva let out an annoyed sigh at that.

At the same time, Stan heard the door open, and a surprised “What the—?” from Shiro, who was standing in the doorway, with both Jordan and Allura behind him.

“Wanna help?” was the first thing Eva asked.

“Uh…I’m not sure I’d be much help, if any,” he got out after a few long seconds, looking around the room again.

“I don’t think I’m ever gonna know how you guys work this fast,” Jordan said with complete seriousness, while Allura looked somewhere between startled and impressed.

Koji fidgeted with his tablet a bit. “We’ll pick all this up when we’re done.”

“Well, she should definitely be functional again,” Stan pointed out, giving the Arrow another once-over. “I think everything past basic repairs is gonna have to wait for a while, though.”

“Think we could do a test-flight?” Eva looked hopeful in asking that.

Stan thought about it for a few seconds. “We probably have enough fuel left, but I think we’d have to ask first.” He said the last part lower so that only she would hear, though all that did was prompt Eva to turn the puppy-eyes onto Allura, who visibly winced for a second.

“I suppose it won’t hurt anyone, but after that, all five of you need to start practicing forming Voltron. The repairs are almost finished, and we’ll be leaving as soon as Coran and I are sure everything’s in working order again.”

That changed the air in the hangar pretty quick, and got Yellow to perk up slightly. While Stan was appreciating the downtime, the Lion had started getting restless. Eva’s eagerness was infectious, though, and it wasn’t just her either; Stan was pretty sure the Arrow would be running better with the modified parts, but he wanted to actually see her work.

So a few minutes later, they were all gathered outside. The nearest lake was roughly the size of the one that had been near their team’s pit on Alwas, with a wide expanse of open grass in all directions, broken only by a few rock piles here and there, one of which having a lone tree next to it.

“Just remember to take it easy on the fuel consumption,” Koji reminded. “What’s in there now is all we have.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know that already,” Eva said, the eye-roll being practically audible. The next thing Stan knew, he was nearly knocked over by the gust produced by the star-racer shooting forward.

“Well she seems eager,” Coran noted.

“You should’ve seen her back on Alwas,” Koji said, glancing at the tablet screen.

They’d both made sure to be very clear in telling Eva that the hyperdrive was still off-limits, but aside from that, everything else was fair game. And she definitely wasn’t holding back with the tricks, to Jordan’s audible dismay—there was no real reason for him to be in the turret, but habit probably had something to do with it.

Stan shook his head a bit, noticing that Coran was looking sideways in the direction of the tree. Shiro noticed too. “Coran?”

“We seem to have a spectator,” the advisor said calmly, which got Stan to look. He didn’t see anything at all, up until something moved. Whoever it was, they were wearing something that let them blend in with the rock and tree almost perfectly. Stan didn’t realize they were looking back at them until whoever it was bolted in the direction of the distant hill.

“I thought there was no one here?” Koji asked, also having seen the sudden motion.

“That’s what the scans reported,” Allura replied, sounding confused. “Then again, they aren’t at full power.”

“We should go after them,” Shiro said, grabbing his helmet off of the rock he and the princess had been sitting on. (Tuning the Arrow’s radio frequency to match up with what everything else was using had been the easy part of today.) “Eva, Jordan, there’s a change of plans.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“This sucks,” Eva grumbled for the fourth time. “How come stuff like this always happens when we’re having fun?”

“Beats me,” Jordan replied between breaths, pulling himself up onto the next ledge. The terrain had gone from grassy plains to rugged and dusty after a few minutes, with the one upside being the very-clear footprints winding up the rocky hill, despite them having had to take the time to both bring the Arrow back to the hangar and get their uniforms on.

“At least it’s nice up here,” Koji said, glancing back at them for a few seconds. He, Stan, and Shiro were ahead of the two of them, but that was probably only because Eva was not-quite dragging her feet this time around.

Jordan had to admit that the technician wasn’t wrong. There was a nice breeze on the cliffside, which was a pleasant contrast to the heat.

It didn’t stop him from almost losing his grip on the last ledge though; Stan grabbing his arm at the last second was the only thing that kept him from having a long and rough tumble back down, and he muttered a thanks. The top of the giant hill was, for the most part, pretty flat and covered in sand.

Being encased on three different sides with rock faces, it was something like a small grotto—with the back wall having a rusty-looking metal door in it.

“Huh. I guess someone is living here,” Jordan muttered, starting toward it.

Two seconds later he felt someone pulling him back by the collar of his uniform (which they’d all put on before starting out) right before something impaled the ground right in front of him.

Jordan wouldn’t exactly call it a sword—if anything it looked more like an oversized ceramic knife with a hole through the hilt. It was promptly pulled back up toward a ledge off to the side somehow, someone catching it by the hilt; lo and behold, it was the person they’d followed.

The camouflage shawl aside, they also had a mask covering their face sans eyes, and was wearing a dark-colored outfit—but a very distinguishing feature about them was that they had four arms.

Their eyes narrowed before lunging down at them sword-first, this time aiming at Stan, who jumped back just in time. “H-Hey, hold on a second!” Eva exclaimed, stumbling back. “We’re not—!”

Another swing of the oblong blade cut the words short, and it was too close of a call for Jordan’s liking. Shiro’s too, with how his prosthetic hand lit up violet with an low humming sound.

Their opponent’s eyes narrowed, and they withdrew two more (much-smaller) blades from their cloak—and then Jordan felt something tackle him from the side with a shrill battle-cry. At the same time, someone he didn’t recognize the voice of exclaimed “Quirrel?!”

Jordan tried to turn his head—whoever “Quirrel” was had him effectively pinned down—to try to see, but the most he could make out was an iridescent greenish-black-shelled arm with curved serrated claws that were thankfully tucked inward.

“I told you to stay put!” the new voice went on, which he assumed was the four-armed alien.

“Five-on-one ain’t fair though!”

Jordan paused in his attempt to get loose. This Quirrel person better not be a kid. They sounded young, but it also could just be their voice.

“I—I’m sorry,” Shiro broke in, sounding confused. “I think there might be a misunderstanding here—who are you?”

Silence for a beat. “Before I say anything, you answer me first. Who the quiznak are you supposed to be?”

“My name is Shiro,” the Black Lion’s pilot started carefully. “We’re the Paladins of Voltron.”

The alien mouthed the last word, eyes widening, before saying “Quirrel, for the love of the ancients, let the blue one up.” The weight slowly removed itself from Jordan’s back, and he stood up and brushed the dust off of his uniform before throwing a glare at the second alien.

In retrospect, the shelled arm should’ve been a hint. Lime-green eyes faceted into four parts glared back at him from a face that looked like some unholy cross between a dragonfly, a mantis, and an iguana. No hair was to be seen, just two antenna bent backwards.

It was also probably why Koji was staying to the opposite side of the clearing; it wasn’t a secret that he wasn’t too fond of bugs, ever since an incident involving one of Alwas’s native spiders, which were easily twice the size of a tarantula, having holed up in the workshop that had been in the back of the pit.

It had not been a peaceful morning. (Koji had been fine with all the giant caterpillars, though. Jordan would have to remember to ask him about it later.)

The four-armed alien’s eyes flicked over all five of them before sighing heavily, flipping their mask up, showing a purple-tinted face with a very fine fur coat covering it, and narrow violet eyes. “Name’s Twyla. The kid’s Quirrel.”

…the universe was just pulling out all the punches for him, wasn’t it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“You live here by yourself?” Shiro asked on the way down through the tunnel.

“Live here, yes,” Twyla replied. “Just us two, no. There’s also Wayth, Aerel, and Cedryn—and wasn’t Cedryn supposed to be watching you three?” The second part was spoken sharply and directed at Quirrel, who shrugged.

The tunnel that had been beyond the door had spiraled down into the ground, only now opening up into a spacious cavern lit by luminescent crystals that were hung from wires at intervals across the ceiling.

Shiro saw two more figures look up from where they’d been sitting at noticing the movement—one vaguely resembled some sort of combination between an armadillo and a jackal, and was configured like a centaur, even though they were more or less the size of a large dog. The other outright looked like a humanoid frilled lizard with small, short horns sticking out horizontally from the sides of their head, the dark-green hue of their scales rapidly fading to a pale yellow shade.

“Don’t worry Aerel, they’re safe,” Twyla assured, and the yellow brightened to an orange shade. “Wayth, where’s Cedryn?”

“Garage,” the armadillo-centaur replied quietly.

“Figures…Quirrel, go get him.”

“Why do I have to?”

“Because I said so!”

Quirrel hissed a bit before stalking off toward a tunnel to the side. The other two shuffled a bit in place, looking awkward, before meandering off towards a different tunnel. “She seems pleasant,” Jordan remarked dryly.

“It’s a work in progress. Now, uh.” She coughed. “The least I can do for you guys for attacking you like that is giving you some info.” She ducked into a room sectioned off by a curtain, returning a minute later. “I’ll have a storage drive for you with recent Galran troop movements stored on it in about a varga. Starmap cross-references and everything.”

“Thank you,” Shiro said, surprised. “But why—how do you have that information?”

She shrugged one set of arms. “It’s good info to have if you don’t want anyone finding you. That, and certain people pay nicely for that kind of info. Of course the computer’s ancient, hence it taking a while to process everything.”

“Twyla? If—if you don’t mind me asking, how did you do that thing with your, uh, sword earlier?” Koji asked. “Is it magnetic, or…?”

Her expression brightened. “Nope! Just a trick I spent a few years working on using the most durable thread on this side of the known universe.” She took the blade out and angled the hilt toward them, twirling one hand a few times until Shiro could see the light reflect faintly off of the string. “Aek’xai thread, to be specific. It is not cheap.”

“You needed me for something?” another new voice called.

Twyla paused. “Uh, yeah. Did I or did I not tell you to keep an eye on these three?”

The person who had spoken there went stiff, shrinking back. He had pale-green skin, with the green being darker on his head, and like Quirrel, had a few insect-like features, though not nearly to the same degree as her.

“Well, I—got the engine working again,” Cedryn (Shiro assumed it was Cedryn) defended. “That’s something, right?”

“You did? Well…yeah, I guess.” Twyla shook her head. “Just so you know, if it had been anyone else that found us, it would’ve been a whole lot worse.”

“Okay.” Cedryn looked at Shiro briefly, then at the others. “So who are they?”

“Eh, just the Paladins of Voltron.”

“…you mean like the fairy tale?” Shiro almost physically felt Black wilt at that.

“I can bring Red up here if you want,” Eva offered brightly. Shiro just barely heard a slight edge in her tone; chances were that Black hadn’t been the only one to take some offense to that comment.

“Pass. I am this close to having the ship up and running again.”

“You have a ship down here?” Stan asked.

“Yeah, on the floor below. Why?”

“Could we get a look at it?” Koji sounded hopeful. “We’re—trying to figure something out for a…project of ours, which needs a new engine.”

Cedryn gave a sort of half-grin/half-smirk in response. “Can’t fault you for that. Projects are good time-killers.” He glanced at Twyla again, who rolled her eyes. He took the cue to start back to the tunnel, both mechanics close behind.

Eva looked like she wanted to follow them for a few seconds, but instead asked “Wait, why don’t you want anyone knowing you’re here?”

“The kids’ve gone through enough already. My end-goal is to get them back to their families, but—well, long story short, we found ourselves in the back-end of nowhere surrounded on all sides by major patrol routes. We get by well enough, even if the only thing there is to eat around here is fish from the lake.”

Shiro’s focus caught on the first part. “What do you mean by that?” He had a sinking suspicion on what she meant, but he wanted to know for sure. Jordan seemed to catch onto his unease, standing up straighter.

Twyla bit her lip. “I don’t know for sure about Aurel, since a pal of mine dropped him off here, but Wayth’s family—well, they were merchants caught in some crossfire between a rebel group and the local commander. He wasn’t on their ship with them, thankfully, but…well, you can figure how that ended for them.”

There was a quiet “Oh,” from Eva at that, who’d paled before Twyla had finished speaking.

Jordan looked something between startled and uncomfortable before asking “What about the other two?”

“They found me, actually. That ship Cedryn took the other two to see? Both of ‘em were in it. Quirrel won’t say anything and Cedryn keeps changing the story, but given that it was a shuttle from a battlecruiser…”

“They escaped,” Shiro finished, and she nodded. Everything regarding his own escape was still a foggy disaster, but the underlying thought of it having been difficult was prevalent.

“Um, Shiro?” Eva started. “Shouldn’t—d’you think Allura and Coran would be wondering what happened to us by now? We’ve been out here a while.”

There was an unspoken request in there, and given the nature of the topic that had just been discussed—which part of Shiro was now considering smacking himself for—it made sense. She had a point, too.

“Probably,” he admitted. “Go get Stan and Koji.” Eva took off for the leftmost tunnel in response, Jordan stuttering something before following her.

Twyla had watched them go, and waited until they were out of earshot before saying “Older than Quirrel, younger than Cedryn,” quirking an eyebrow before adding, “What’s her deal?”

Shiro thought it over, before replying with “It’s complicated.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At that point in time, Koji was just happy that the mini-computers in their uniforms’ gauntlets had a camera function, and Cedryn had been nice enough to explain the basic details of how typical ship-engines on this half of the universe were put together.

He’d felt uneasy the whole time, given Quirrel glowering at them from the corner, but he’d tried to mask it as best he could.

It hadn’t really occurred to him until then that there were likely insect-like aliens out there somewhere. It was also likely that whatever she was wasn’t the only one, which meant that he had another personal issue to work on.

Then they were waylaid by Allura almost right after they’d finished explaining about Twyla, with the reminder of the trade-off for being able to test the Arrow’s functionality.

Green was happy to be out of her hangar, with the other four lining up on either side of her. The events on the Balmera were just another indicator of how much they didn’t know about the Lions. How exactly did they all fit together like that? (And what bits he did know didn’t even start to account for the sensory half of it.)

“Does anyone remember how it happened last time?” Stan asked, the series of monitors showing the others coming up on the display.

Koji also didn’t remember much of what exactly had happened on the Balmera. At least, not a decent portion of the events involving the lizard with all the laser-eyes.

“I—wasn’t really thinking about anything when it happened,” Jordan admitted after a few seconds, looking sheepish.

“Don’t look at me,” was all Eva had to say on it.

Green was silent on the matter this time, and judging by the near-synced expressions the others had, it was the same across the board. Shiro took a deep breath. “Okay, so we still don’t know exactly how forming Voltron works. Let’s just fly in formation for a few minutes to warm up. Maybe it’ll come back to one of us.”

It didn’t. And an hour of just circling the castle was…pretty boring. Both Allura and Coran had contacted them to check their progress once each, about fifteen minutes apart.

“Can we try something else now?” Eva asked.

“I just rebooted the castle’s defense systems,” Coran chipped in. “We could try—”

The adviser flinched at the simultaneous screams of “No!” that cut him off.

“Ah…suit yourselves.” There was a quieter addition of “They’re not actually operational yet anyways.”

Jordan huffed a bit. “Maybe we should try putting them together literally,” he muttered.

“What do you mean by that?” Stan asked.

“Like—like stacking them on top of each other.”

Koji frowned. “Jordan, I really don’t think that’s going to—”

“It’s worth a try,” Shiro said with a small shrug, having been quiet until then.

…I guess we’re doing that, then.

Three minutes later, the primary emotion Koji was able to pick up from Green was something between amusement and exasperation.

Another five passed before Stan broke the silence with, “Shiro, I don’t think this is working.”

“You got any hints for me yet?” Eva muttered, and it took a few seconds for Koji to conclude that she’d directed it at the Red Lion.

“Okay, I admit this was a stupid idea,” Jordan said, and the Blue Lion was felt adjusting its stance more than heard. “I think—now that I’m thinking about it we were all…kind of doing our own thing on the Balmera.”

That did sound familiar. Vaguely, anyways. “Well, at least we were all in the right place,” he commented.

“Hey, don’t sound so surprised.” Stan paused, then snorted a bit. “Though it would’ve been pretty funny if we did end up out of order or something. I mean—can you imagine if it ended up with a leg for a head?”

There was a total of two seconds before an indignant squawk was heard from Jordan, coinciding with a sensation that Koji hesitantly translated to Green laughing at the idea.

“Hey, at least this is nothing like when you tried flying the Arrow,” Eva reassured, trying and failing at hiding a grin.

“I guess you’re right,” he grumbled in response.

Shiro had one hand up to his face, but at the same time it sounded like he was trying to keep back a laugh of his own, commenting “Isn’t the Yellow Lion a leg too, though?” Stan abruptly went quiet, and it was Koji’s turn to hold a laugh back.

There was a cough over the comm-link before Allura said “I suppose you haven’t had much luck.”

“Try any,” Eva said dryly.

“Ah, I hate to interrupt,” Coran cut in, the words sounding sharper than usual—right as one of Green’s various alarms started going off. “But we’ve got company inbound, and not the friendly kind!”

The sky lit up for a second, bright enough to have left an afterimage of a bleached variation of the landscape in Koji’s eyesight, and right as Green turned her head to look up the cause of it slammed into the planet’s surface, kicking up a wave of dust.

There was a five-second startled silence, before there was a frustrated exclamation of “Ugh, this again?!” from Eva when the air cleared. The Black Lion was quick to jump down from its perch on Red’s and Green’s backs, with the aforementioned two doing the same.

“How in the world do these beasts keep finding us?” Koji dimly heard Allura exclaim over the comm, and honestly he was starting to wonder that too.

The metal casing fell away in short order to show that this thing, while at least followed the laser-lizard’s configuration by being humanoid, was also obviously significantly better-armored than it, and maybe even the one from Arus. Its mismatched eyes locked onto them seconds after lighting up.

“Everyone get ready,” Shiro said. “We have no idea what this thing’s going to—look out!”

Black jumped out of the way of a large, plasmatic orb that swung in a wide arc, just narrowly missing both it and the Red Lion, before swerving around again when the mech swung its right arm, which looked more like a weapon.

Green fired at it, but it did nothing—and the next Koji knew the Lion had been flung backwards and into the ground hard enough to make everything spin for a few seconds. Green’s presence spiked with some concern, to which he responded with a shaky “I’m okay.”

“Uh, a little help would be nice!” Eva exclaimed.

What followed that was the castle’s particle barrier coming up for a few seconds before vanishing again with a sharp pop, followed by a string of incomprehensible words from Allura that implied something in there had just shorted out at the worst moment possible.

Shiro said something, followed by “Wait, what did you say?” from Eva. Then Koji realized that he hadn’t caught what Shiro had said either, and vice-versa.

Then it occurred to him that whatever had just shorted out on the castle might’ve included the translator. The good news was that at least he and Shiro had a way around that. “<We have to at least keep it distracted for now!>”

“How’re we supposed to do that?” Jordan asked when Koji had conveyed the message, pitch heightening a bit when his Lion had to swerve out of the way of the orb. “Blue’s not even leaving a mark on this thing!”

The Lions by themselves didn’t have enough firepower. They more than likely would have enough together. But for that to happen…

Green picked up on the thought, and started at full-tilt back toward the others. Dimly, Shiro was heard coming to the same realization. They really had to try for it here—

Then everything seemed to fade out, and then back in over the span of what seemed like seconds, but something was undeniably different now, and it didn’t hit Koji until he noticed that the opposing mech had actually paused to re-assess its situation.

“Well that worked,” he noted, blinking a few times.

“<I guess it did,>” Shiro agreed, being heard both aloud and…and kind of like a thought?

Not now, he told himself, shaking his head a bit. Later. Agreement echoed over the link from the others—at least words weren’t exactly needed right now.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shiro took the lead for the most part, with either Jordan or Stan pitching in with ideas here and there—but the fight was mostly one-sided, as of the first hit that the thing blocked.

The orb had hit Black right between the wings, and it felt like being smacked in the back by a hammer, on top of being flung face-first into the dirt.

Not even being able to see in five ways at the same time was able to help with keeping an eye on both the mech and the orb—not without them all ending up disoriented even more.

(That three of them couldn’t fully understand what Shiro was trying to tell them outside of impressions definitely didn’t help with that, either.)

Seeing in two directions was bearable, at least. Eva saw the mech coming at the same time as Koji seeing the orb a bit too late—but instead of feeling full force of the impact, it was just…an impact, and they were able to get out of the way of the mech’s tackle in time because of that.

The reason for the hit not being as bad as it should’ve been? Black’s wings had detached and stuck themselves together in front of Green’s face instead, forming a second, larger shield.

The mech twitched its right arm, and the orb returned to its place in the divot at the end of it with a loud noise somewhere between a click and a buzz, which echoed in a way that was just as weird as feeling like the floor had shifted underfoot like it was sand instead of metal, or being able to just barely smell something acrid and metallic—

Everything snapped back into focus fast enough to make Eva jump, accentuated by a strong sense of recognition from Shiro. That immediately had the others all playing along, and for once she was content to let them handle it. This one looked just a little too much like a person for her liking, and both Shiro’s recognition and a low-lying unease from Koji stirred something else.

(The first hit on the shield had her flinch involuntarily.)

The first mech they’d seen on Arus had looked weirdly familiar, the more Eva considered it.

(The second hit made them stumble—shield integrity at twenty percent—)

This one was at least based on someone Shiro had known. Something he remembered from that year of being held prisoner.

The third hit shattered the shield, and it was both Shiro’s abrupt exclamation and the force of the intent that accompanied it that had her acting before thinking, Red firing with everything he had that he was able to then.

A plume of black smoke signified the mech being hit, but it wasn’t until the orb flew out and hit Voltron in the chest that she was able to blink away the afterimage of a dimly-lit arena shrouded in kicked-up dust, but the vague not-memory of having something weighted and sharp was still there—

Red leaped onto that trail, purring as a console to the side lifted like Yellow’s had on the Balmera.

There wasn’t time to consider what exactly the Lion was trying to convey; the mech had run at them and was coming in for an overhead strike—which left it with no way to defend itself from the sword that materialized between Red’s jaws. None of them saw the explosion that signified that the mech was down and out, but they all heard it.

There was silence, broken by Jordan saying “What the heck, Shiro! I didn’t know you knew how to swordfight!”

“(I didn’t either,)” was the response given, Shiro chuckling weakly. The English classes from the boarding school were kind of foggy because Eva hadn’t paid much attention during them, but she at least got the idea that he hadn’t really known until just then.

Red had a sword. A sword. It dissipated as soon as the Lions came apart—there was that same feeling of something that lasted for a split-second before it was gone, and Eva let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

Red’s presence felt warm, pride radiating from him for a well-handled situation, but her own thoughts on it couldn’t be any further than that.

The creature on the Balmera had seemed like nothing more than an animal. A hyper-aggressive animal with a multitude of eyes that could shoot lasers, yes, but still an animal.

This one hadn’t been like that. Or the one on Arus.

The one on Arus had been playing cautious the whole time, and this one had studied them right back.

Shiro had recognized both its fighting style and the weapon itself. It might be just what Koji’s opinion on them was—that they were just AI’s—but at the same time, she had a nagging feeling that it was something…worse than that, somehow.

The Lion seemed to shift a bit, making note of the idea, before nudging her focus toward the others. Both Allura and Coran had come out, and she almost didn’t notice Jordan edging a bit closer until he’d spoken up. “Hey uh—Eva? You didn’t…notice anything—weird during that whole thing, did you?”

She looked at him sideways. “Weird how?”

“Like—like you were—somewhere else for a second.” It was whispered, a quick glance being thrown toward Shiro.

“Y-Yeah. How did you…?”

Jordan shrugged. To the side, she saw Koji say something to Stan, too quietly for her to hear, but they both glanced at Shiro in a way that had her thinking they’d gone through the same exact thing.

“Apologies for that,” Coran said, looking sheepish. “I’d had a feeling that I forgot to check some wires somewhere, but I hadn’t realized it was the ones I’d put first on the list. This probably won’t be the only time the translator goes on strike, either. Not until we can get that board replaced.”

“It wasn’t that big of a problem as it could’ve been,” Shiro said. “But I think some language lessons might be a good idea.” Eva stifled a groan. Great. And here I thought I was done with school.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” someone said from off to the side—poking her head up out of a unnaturally-perfect circle in the ground near an overturned rock was Twyla.

“What the—how are you—?” Jordan stuttered out as she climbed up.

“Underground passageways. This hideout’s been here before I was, and whoever made it really went over the top with them. Got something for you guys.” She took a device that looked like a large USB drive out of her cloak and tossed it to Shiro. “Great fight, by the way.”

“You saw that?” Shiro asked.

“Eyup. The end of it, anyways. The kids on the other hand, well. You already saw how well they listen.” She rolled her eyes at the last part, before turning to look at the Alteans. “I’m going to assume one of you is Allura?”

“That would be me, yes,” Allura said, stepping forward a bit. “I’m sorry for causing you trouble.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it. To be honest, we’ve been bunking here longer than we should’ve. Cedryn’s got that ship working again, so we just have to wait for a good time to bail. And speaking of ships.” She paused where she’d been about to jump back into the hole. “That one you had earlier was pretty nice. And on the off-chance we meet again, expect for the kids to badger you for autographs!” And with that, she was gone.

“Well, she’s one of the more pleasant Unilu I’ve talked to,” Coran commented brightly. “The castle’s all set and ready for takeoff, so we might as well…uh, guys?”

To the side, both Stan and Koji had paled a bit, whereas Jordan blinked a few times, brow furrowing before asking “Wait, we’re not gonna have to deal with paparazzi or anything whenever we go somewhere public eventually, are we?”

“It’s…a possibility,” Shiro admitted.

“Oh. Great,” Stan muttered sarcastically.

[yumsomanyparts]

answers to brizzy’s hp video ??

soooo brizzy posted this ‘26 UNSOLVED Harry Potter Questions! ft Tessa Netting’ video to her channel and i felt like i had to answer some of these questions lmao so here goes:

1. what power do boggarts have? i’m not sure how it goes in the books because it’s been a while since i’ve read prisoner of azkaban but in the movie, lupin said that as the dementor is in fact a boggart, it can do no real harm, but it did make harry faint. i’m not sure how it’d be for snakes/spiders/other venomous things though. maybe it can just bite you but without the venom?? anyway good question! 2. why can’t harry see thestrals after he kills quirrell with his bare hands/why doesn’t he see them in his first year since he saw his mother die? for me the movies are not canon so i’ll just take the answer from the books, in which he fainted, simple as that. for his mother; i believe jo once said you have to acknowledge the death and accept it, and baby harry was too young to register what was happening, so even though he probably saw it happen, he was too young to realise what was going on. he also didn’t see the thestrals at the end of his fourth year, even though he saw cedric die, because he was still very traumatised and didn’t accept cedric was actually dead. 3. what rights do muggle parents have? I DON’T KNOW AND I WANNA KNOW AS WELL! i also always wondered how the dursley’s sent harry’s christmas ‘gifts’ to hogwart?? like, did they use an owl?? anyway i suppose for the diagon alley thing, i think it was once stated that muggleborns are accompanied by a witch or wizard to buy all their school supplies also when brizzy talks about marrying a muggle.. hmmmm i don’t know?? imagine if you’re a person that has a lot of flings that only last for a few weeks or a couple of months, you can’t possibly tell every partner that you’re magic? lol. i suppose for families it’s different, since dudley also knew about harry. also can wizarding law prosecute muggles for talking about witches/wizards?? 4. the eleven thing most people start showing their first magical signs at the age of 5, but i think british children go to secondary school at the age of 11 so i guess hogwarts ‘chose’ that age so it tallies with muggleborns or wizards who chose to go to muggle elementary school. also maybe you’re magical skills are fully ‘grown’(??) at the age of 11? 5. to what extent do muggle governments know about the wizarding world? i genuinely think it’s just the muggle prime minister who knows about it, and if anything happens in the magical world that muggles need to be concerned of, they just bring it out without full details (like when sirius black was on the muggle news but they didn’t tell which prison he escaped from) 6. the magical government in general i think it’s just people who are important in the ministry of magic who can say ‘we want them as our new minister of magic’ and they ask that person and when they refuse (like dumbledore) they ask the second idk. good question hmmm 7. peter pettigrew i know in the movies they show peter pettigrew on the map, but as i said before, i don’t consider the movies to be canon, since harry also performed magic at his house during the summer holidays in prisoner of azkaban. so, there’s this theory that says you can’t see animagi on the map unless you know they are animagi. for instance, lupin saw peter pettigrew on the map, but harry didn’t, and neither did the twins. besides that, gryffindor tower is a TOWER. at night, all the name labels would be on top of each other, so you couldn’t possibly make out all the individual names. and i imagine the twins not knowing the name, so even if they did see it appear once in a while, they maybe just didn’t pay any attention to it. also i don’t think they used the map a lot when ron came to school, because they already knew it by heart :P 8. transfiguration the only thing i can say here is: ANIMAL ABUSE. but i think to the animal it’d be like sleeping; you’re not aware it happened, so you just wake up and suddenly maybe 10 years have passed, like tessa said :’). i’m also with brizzy that when the spell didn’t work properly is because scabbers was actually pettigrew. but also; i can’t exactly remember how this scene happened in the books :) :) what i always wondered though; in the first book mcgonagall transfigures her desk into a pig and back; what about the pig’s soul/connsciousness? does it have a baby mind, is it immediately an adult? does it even have a soul?? hmmmmm???? 9. what do wizard kids do before they get their hogwarts letter i’m not sure this was stated in the books or in an interview, but i read somewhere that a lot of wizard kids go to muggle school or are homeschooled. but i feel like a lot of wizarding children would be illiterate since it’s not obligatory ?? so the system sucks a bit, like a lot of wizarding systems do lol 10. timeturners LET’S NOT EVEN START ON TIME-TURNERS LMAO (possible cursed child spoilers here!!) on pottermore it is said that it is too dangerous to use a time-turner for more than 5 hours at once, so you couldn’t use them for all situations. it is also extremely hard to get one, because you need all these forms and blah blah, like when hermione needed one for her lessons she had to show her grades and all that, so i suppose you couldn’t just say “hey let’s kill voldemort using a time-turner” idk. also good thing they were all destroyed in order of the phoenix because I HATED THEM and then they brought them back in cursed child URGHGHGH. also i probably watched too much doctor who but if time travel isn’t done right it makes me angry, like when brizzy said; they heard the axe but it happened to be a pumpkin so wtf?? if they hadn’t used the time turner it would have suddenly been buckbeak’s head?? idk thinking about it stresses me out because it CREATES A FRIGGIN PARADOX !!!!!!! imagine you go back in time to kill voldemort, but when you are on the scene he gets killed so you don’t have to go back in time IT’S A FRIGGIN PARADOX MAKE IT STOP 11. the department of mysteries I NEED ANSWERS AS WELL I NEED A SEVEN PART BOOK SERIES ON THE DEPARTMENT OF MYSTERIES. IF NEEDED, JUST GIVE ME A BOOK PER DOOR IN THE CIRCULAR ROOM I WOULD READ THEM ALL PLSSSS I’M BEGGING YOU 12. the veil?? yess the veil wtaf. okay it’s been a while since i’ve read order of the phoenix but as far as i can remember, sirius wasn’t hit with avada kedavra but he just fell through the veil ?? i’m not entirely sure though :o so i think the veil is just a portal to the afterlife but if you decide to walk through it you’d die as well. idk that’s my theory of it. 13. what happens when a ghost goes through the veil hmmmmm good question! i can relate to what brizzy said that it’s the only way of going on to the afterlife but since the department of mysteries is supposed to be a secret ghosts don’t know about it?? or maybe it allows them to travel from one world to another. i’d like the first theory best though lol 14. why doesn’t harry talk to sirius through the mirror believe me i’ve been asking myself the same question for YEARS. this still bothers me SO MUCH. “cuz harry’s dumb” YAS he is so dumb like SIRIUS WOULD STILL BE ALIVE IF YOU HAD USED THE MIRROR i honestly want to punch something every time i think about this 15. ball point pens AESTHETIC Y’ALL 16. glasses because they make harry look smart even though he is not smart at all. nah kidding idk?? the only people in the wizarding world that are known to wear glasses are harry, james, dumbledore, moaning myrtle, rita skeeter and mcgonagall (i’m probably forgetting some so correct me if i’m wrong), which makes ZERO sense to me. there probably is an eye-fixing spell though, otherwise more people would wear glasses? anyway i genuinely have no idea 17. peeves in philosopher’s stone one of the ghosts says “he’s not even a ghost” so there is a difference between ghosts and poltergeists. also i believe while the other ghosts are transparent, peeves has colour i think?? he wears a bonnet at some point, so does that make him solid? plothole probs because he can float through walls. but yes i think he is born as a poltergeist, apart from that, no idea 18. straps for wands brizzy’s reaction to this is literally me lmao. 19. crimes/aurors aurors are also called ‘dark wizard catchers’ so i think their job specifically is to catch dark wizards. but i think the definition of dark wizard reaches a bit further than just death eaters, so they’d probably also arrest thiefs and stuff. plus the wizarding community is pretty small in comparison to the muggle world so they probably don’t need all these ‘divisions’ in law people (idk the proper word lol) 20. why do they put wizards on trial instead of just using veritaserum because if you got a strong mind, you can fight the veritaserum, like harry fought the imperius curse. this was even in the books i think 21. wizards and christianity godric’s hollow is not a full wizard town, hogsmeade is the only one :) there just happen to live a lot of wizards in godric’s hollow. but the church was probably built by the muggles. for christmas/easter. i never really thought about this but i don’t think pureblood wizards are particularly religious. like tessa said, maybe they just thought ‘oh what a fun holiday let’s steal it’ lol. 22. how do you create a horcrux YES PLEASE I JUST NEED ALL THE ANSWERS 23. pensieves they’re so mysterious omg!! but i also think you just have like a general idea of the memory or like a title, but the whole specific memory is in the bottle? 24. wizarding population jo has stated that this is something she didn’t think through because there are only like 8 gryffindor students in harry’s year ?? even though there are indeed around 1000 students at hogwarts. maybe less babies were created during the first wizarding war? idk lol but in general i have no idea! i don’t think it’s very common tbh! 25. felix felicis it is incredibly hard to make and could be extremely dangerous if done wrong i believe. also doesn’t it take like 6 months to make?? of course an emergency stash would be handy but that could also get stolen by death eaters so i think it’s safest to just not make it in big doses lol 26. portraits this is actually on pottermore! for the headmaster portraits it is said that a portrait of the new headmaster is like placed in a dark room or something and the headmaster just talks to their portrait so it knows how they think and speak and all that. but i think it is also mentioned that all magical portraits do have some basic conversational skills. idk how painting a magical portrait goes though; imagine you’re peacefully painting severus snape and as soon as you’ve done the mouth it starts talking to you?? lol

yayyyy this took me over an hour to do!!! so please appreciate it lmaooo. this is all off the top of my head so correct me if i’m wrong please :D i also have a ton of random questions myself but this post is already way too long so i will spare you those lmao.

[blankdblank]

Anaticula Pt 16

Pt 1 - Pt 2 - Pt 3 - Pt 4 - Pt 5 - Pt 6 - Pt 7 - Pt 8 - Pt 9 - Pt 10 - Pt 11 - Pt 12 - Pt 13 - Pt 14 - Pt 15 -

“Third floor-,” George panted after having pulled himself from the missing step with Fred’s help after you had climbed back to your feet avoiding the suit of armor swinging from the chandelier above in a swoop down to another level to no doubt alert the Professors the secret hall had been breached. Shaking your head to get your ponytail and bangs out of your face you helped Cedric and Percy up and made for the corridor on your right trying to focus on reciting the last two charms. Between the two you were torn on which to choose as they were so similar past a few words in the second line of the description.

The thick door opened with a flick of Percy’s wand after a hall of self lighting torches revealing the large snarling Fluffy who instantly calmed and hummed inching closer to nuzzle her heads against your chests.

George, “Hey Fluffy.”

Fred, “Now girl, just let us past and we’ll bring you some treats after, m’kay?”

Eager to please she inched back freeing the trap door for you to drop down and peer into saying, “Good girl. Back in two shakes.” Inhaling steadily you shifted your feet and dropped down into the darkened room with the boys after you. Thick vines seemed to break your fall and you all stared at mumbling, “Oh Neville would have loved this…”

Closing your eyes you heard Percy mumble, “Devil’s Snare, just relax.” Exhaling together you both dropped through falling heavily to the ground. Painfully in your winded state you rolled over gasping for air in a move along to the wall as the other three fell from the ceiling. Wetting your lips you drew in an unsteady breath through Percy’s gentle patting of your arm to inspect for any serious injuries, “Just a bad bump.”

You nodded, “Yup, landed on my elbow and ribs, like a pro.”

The twins chortled fumbling their own way up once Cedric had clambered to his feet after knocking his own elbow in his fall. Around you they all rubbed their own growing bumps in your path ahead past a large empty hall cast in shadows leading to another door that opened itself when you approached making you pause to mumble in front of it, “Not creepy at all.”

Cedric’s eyes narrowed mumbling, “What, is that fluttering?” Peering through you all eyed the winged keys flying around drawing you closer.

George eyed all the keys and Fred said, “None of them match the lock.”

Turning your head your lips pursed at the crack coming from a pillar in the center of the room revealing a small pair of pearly doors that opened as you neared it revealing a small music box. The egg shaped crystal dome with a silhouette of a blue gown clad woman above the silver stand bearing the word ‘Cinderella’ etched into it. With parted lips you eyed it only to grip it tightly in fear of dropping it at its beginning to play a soft tune stirring a stone singing frog from the open doors.

The Frog began to sing as you eyed the glowing stone inches in front of your foot curiously after releasing the music box that began to float through the shifting of the flying keys into choir frogs in small bubbles.

Ten minutes ago, I saw you

I looked up when you came through the door

My head started reeling

You gave me the feeling

The room had no ceiling or floor

Percy, “What are they doing?” He asked eyeing the frogs formerly deep green glowing red in anger at your silence and frozen stance. Hastily you stepped on the glowing stone only for another to glow your next foot pressed to. A third glowing stone had the twins say, “That’s a waltz.”

Cedric, “What sort of-?” his words were cut short as he was jerked towards another set of glowing stones at the rest of the floor igniting on fire, fumbling through the steps Fred and George were sharing while Percy mimed your steps on your right noticing the door in the wall had vanished completely.

 Ten minutes ago, I met you

And we murmured our "How do you do's?"

I wanted to ring out the bells

And fling out my arms

And to sing out the news

"I have found her, she's an angel

With the dust of the stars in her eyes

We are dancing, we are flying

And she's taking me back to the skies"

 Percy, “Um, sis, isn’t this a duet?”

Rolling your eyes in taking another turning step you growled out, “Flitwick has to be behind this.”

 In the arms of my love, I'm flying

Over mountain and meadow and glen

And I like it so well

That for all I can tell

I may never come down again

I may never come down to earth again

 Wetting your lips you inhaled and at the bright red glow of the frogs floating around you humming along to the melody you began to sing calming their furious glow back to a calmer green. Each verse bringing you closer to the door.

Ten minutes ago, I met you

And we murmured our "How do you do's?"

I wanted to ring out the bells

And fling out my arms

And to sing out the news

 I have found him

In the arms of my love, I'm flying

Over mountain and meadow and glen

And I like it so well

That for all I can tell

I may never come down again

 Together with the frogs you sang the final line and found yourself stepping straight into a wall that spun to the side revealing a secret door leading into a darkened hall.

I may never come down to earth again

 “Oh you have got to be kidding me…” Peering around curiously you flinched as you heard the crashing of metal and stone over Ron’s echoing screams of a chess match. In the darkness you eyed the door-less room filled with varied styles of glowing teapots floating around the room once the wall sealed shut behind you.

Twins, both nodding said, “Okay, list the traits. Sealed room, tea pots…”

Cedric stepped closer to one only to pull his hand back at the card popping up in front of it he read aloud, “Time For Tea.”

Smoothing your fingers over your lips you inspected one of them only to peek under it curiously mumbling, “Q?”

The Twins ducked under another pair calling out their own letters glowing in the bottom of them, “A”, “Y!” Only for the teapots in the room to shuffle into new spots sending your heads to pivot for any sign of danger.

Percy wet his lips, “So, we’re spelling something?”

You Fred and George blurted out, “Tuesday! Tea Time with Minnie!”

Cedric called out, “Ok, so, we grab the ones with the right letters and, we’ll figure it out later.” Each of you moved to a teapot and started to snatch up the proper letters before the remainders would all shuffle again. Each time after you each would call out the traits of the wrong teapots until you had collected the right ones. All at once the lights cut off drawing a sigh from you at Ron’s pained scream before the trickle of water sounded from a now glowing fountain growing brighter by the moment.

With pursed lips you all eyed the fountain before Cedric mumbled, “Guess we have to brew some tea.”

Moving closer you all shifted the teapots in your arms to remove the lids and fill them with the water inside only to peer up at the round stovetop lighting up on the other side of the fountain. Around it you walked eyeing the glowing letters you set the proper teapot in each circle around the top. The necks were all aimed together and at the first sound of bubbling your hands gripped one another’s sides at the crack in the wall revealing another hidden door opening.

“Okay.” Fred mumbled taking the first step towards the door.

George, “Waltzing, tea time, what could possibly be next?”

Straight into a rubble filled room with a massive chess set you spotted Hermione on her knees, “Hermi!” You all cried out racing for her drawing her to her feet with a panicked expression explained soon by Ron’s unconscious body on the ground at her feet.

Open mouthed you raced over as she explained, “We tried to follow Quirrell! Ron had to take the final move!”

Around him you settled and your head dropped to his chest, “Still has a steady heartbeat,” lifting your head your hands rose to check his head as the twins both drew out a vial of Phoenix Tears they dropped a couple of drops onto the few gashes over him.

Wetting his lips Cedric said, “You go on.” Looking at him he nodded taking the vial, “I’ll watch these two till the Professors arrive. Go get Riddle.”

Nodding you all stole another glance at Ron and Hermione before carrying on through the open door across from you.

.

Another darkened chamber folded around you at the door slamming shut behind you making you mumble, “Of course.”

A sudden burst of flames lit up a rectangular table coated in a series of bottles filled with random liquids you moved closer to.

Their appearance was as follows:

Clear round short bottle with green potion, tall red bottle, smallest blue bottle, taller clear bottle with yellow potion, short pear shaped green bottle, tallest clear bottle dark potion, second short round purple bottle

Percy nodded running his hands through his hair, “Alright, bottles…”

Suddenly in a flash you all flinched into a tight group at a flaming ball of light revealing a rolled piece of parchment unfurling itself as Fred mumbled, “I am going to throttle whoever made these chambers…”

Peering at the handwriting you mumbled, “That’s Severus’ writing.” Then read aloud,

“Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,

Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,

One among us seven will let you move ahead,

Another will transport the drinker back instead,

Two among our number hold only nettle wine,

Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.

Choose, unless you wish to stay here for evermore,

 To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:

First, however slyly the poison tries to hide

You will always find some on nettle wine’s left side;

Second, different are those who stand at either end,

But if you would move onwards, neither is your friend;

Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,

Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;

Fourth, the second left and the second on the right

Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.”

Inhaling sharply you smoothed your hands over your face at your hair turning to a deep midnight blue grumbling, “Ok..ok…”

Fred leaned in eyeing the page again then stated, “Since the giant bottle is, not, poison, and it is a twin to the second from the left, those two are nettle wine (2nd and 6th).” His wand was drawn out and glowing orbs of light were floated above the bottles marking them out. Tall red bottle,  - Nettle Wine, tallest clear bottle dark potion, - Nettle Wine.

Percy drew out his own wand sending a pair of red lights to glow above two more, “Therefore, two of the poisons are to the left of these (1st and 5th).” Clear round short bottle with green potion, - Poison, short pear shaped green bottle, - Poison

“The ones at each end are different, and since we know the left end is poison… both nettle wines have been found, and ‘it will not help you move onwards’, the rightmost bottle sends you back (7th).” From your belt sheath you drew your wand stirring up more glowing orbs. second short round purple bottle – Sends you back

George said eyeing the final two bottles, the small, round, purple potion and the small, blue squared potion. “This leaves 2 bottles, and the dwarf is, not poison, so, it must be the one to move ahead (3rd).” smallest blue bottle, - Potion to move ahead

Percy, “The 4th bottle must be the third poison.” taller clear bottle with yellow potion, - Poison

Twins, “So, it’s the third…” They looked to you as you reached out to grab it and lift it timidly.

Mumbling to yourself, “Fingers crossed, no more pitch black surprises.” A click sounded at the lifting of the potion for the door to open just a crack revealing the agitated hissing of Parseltongue on the other side of it.

Anxiously you reached into your bag drawing out a hideous looking Rudimentary Body, a type of in between from a spectral state to a fully reformed physical body as George reached into his own pocket bringing out Scabbers who squeaked as he was set down. His tapping steps following you all to the door where you set the body down and inhaled deeply trying to remain calm reminding yourself of the two remaining curses to free Quirrell, ‘Dicedite and Apstraho’ both similar yet one could be vastly wrong.

Peering at the guys they all nodded silently agreeing if your choice didn’t work they would fire the second right after. Out of instinct almost in a thought of Minerva to draw some confidence your body shifted resembling her, hair bound up in her signature bun with spectacles and deep green robe over the ankle boots she loved to wear and gift to you. In a burst of confidence you shoved the door open raising your wand that send a burst of silver straight for Quirrell mid rant, “Apstraho!”

Nothing, the silver cloud folded around him his body turned and before any of you could react a green flash erupted from his dropping you heavily to the floor onto your back. You didn’t need to hear the curse to know which it was. The Killing Curse. And with Harry unconscious at his feet and a victorious smirk on the face resting on the back of Quirrell’s badly burned body from touching Harry staring at the trio remaining on their feet a chocking gasp jut out of him as his body seemed to warp and contort as if being torn in two internally. Jerk after jerk finally ended with Quirrell’s body collapsing to the ground as Riddle’s roaring spirit burst forth. Through the door Pettigrew shot out with wand and body in hand, following your assigned enchantment he sealed the angered soul into a docile state inside the body.

Pausing with a tearful gaze at the body struggling to move or even open its slit formed eyes in a bright red Peter’s eyes shifted to your lifeless body reflected above Harry’s in the mirror still in a glowing silver between the now crouching boys. Not even three seconds you had faced off against the Dark Lord and fallen, tearing him from Quirrell in the process and yet they seemed a lifetime suddenly tearing short at your sudden gasp and stirring coughs as your heart started beating again.

Around you the boys watched your body shift back to normal as you struggled to sit up in their arms through their tearful hug around you. Tilting your head back you locked eyes with Peter who nodded and drew a contained portkey from his pocket he used to zap away to a previously scoped out hiding place.

Shakily you sat breathing with their hands keeping you up through Percy’s tearful sob, “How, we saw you die..”

Fred eyed the bright red glowing ring on your finger saying, “I suppose that charmed ring from your Mum really worked.”

You nodded and coughed again into your painfully throbbing elbow to say, “We need to check Quirrell.” Eying his calmly rising and falling chest.

Doors could be heard flying open behind you in your group move closer to the unconscious Professor and Harry, who the twins checked a few feet from Quirrell at the base of the mirror still showing you in your silver glowing form. Wetting your lips you folded your fingers around your wand still a bit cautious as the Professors burst into the room looking over you all.

Barty and Snape were the first to cross the room as Minerva rushed to Harry, silently inspecting his exposed skin for any hex marks. A creeping set of black veins up Quirrell’s neck onto his face parted Barty’s lips, “Cover your eyes! Now!”

Peering up at him your lips parted as Snape shouted, “Don’t touch him!” Percy slid away as you remained in place only to be scooped up in Barty’s arms with your face pressed into his chest as Snape rushed Percy away covering his eyes through Minerva and Hagrid pulling Harry and the twins away, the latter with their eyes covered through a sloshing crunch of breaking bones. Turning around Barty ensured the curse contained within a glowing orb summoned by Dumbledore’s extended wand he set you down easing your head back to lock his eyes on yours.

Tearfully you squeaked out, “What was that sound?” His own tearful gaze met yours feeling your pain growing with each moment of his silence at not knowing allowing your mind to wander freely. “What-,” Turning your head you softly mumbled at the blackened pool of blood under Quirrell, “No!” Tightly his arms folded around your middle as Snape’s did as well to keep you from touching his cursed and contagious body.

Snape, “You cannot touch him!”

In broken sobbing squeaks you called out as Percy and the Twins eyed the dead Professor motionless as Minerva moved closer to you, “He was fine-… He was supposed to be ok. We did, everything-,” Folding around you Minerva’s tight hug brought your trembling body to its knees as your sobs broke free. The Professors stroked your back holding you in place while Hagrid comforted the twins as Percy simply sat down still with tears streaming down his cheeks until Hermione rushed in to hug him earning her an engulfing hug in return through his soft sniffle.

.

Broken hearted you were carried up to the Hospital Wing by Snape as the other teens were led up as well. Under pitch black curls and tearstained cheeks your bleak face settled to staring at the distant wall answering what simple questions Madame Pomfrey had for your injuries. Her worried expression lingering at your groups mournful gazes as you were settled into the beds with Neville soon added after having been paralyzed trying to keep Riddle from taking Harry from the Common Room after having been woken up in he middle of his books studying for the upcoming exams. With legs curled in front of you and arms folded around those you sat still mentally rehashing each moment for something you could have done different.

The fading warmth of Snape and Barty moving to speak with the other Professors in the corner of the room dropped your eyes to the twins and Percy in the beds across from you. All who had drank the tonic Madame Pomfrey, who was now debating with Albus on giving you in your clearly shocked state in hopes of avoiding night terrors after Percy had granted them the memory of what had happened. Barely above a whisper as your eyes fell to your rings on your left hand you said, “K?”

At your feet on the bed your eyes locked with his as another warm sandpaper tear split from your eye down your cheek to drop into your lap to pool with the other gemstones formed from your hardened tears. “Godric’s Hollow.”

Nodding his head you were zapped away and in another confirming glance you weren’t still crying Minerva’s mouth fell open, “Albus-!” Turning their heads they eyed the shimmering fire opals on the empty bed you had just been on open mouthed causing her to turn saying, “I’ll fetch Sirius!” In a wave of her hand your enchanted door appeared and she raced through it calling for your father, behind whom Remus and Regulus raced after demanding to see that memory before they shared a knowing glance as to where you could be.

..

Bright golden light washed over you as you found yourself atop that sunlit hill in the soft breeze staring off at the sunset in the picture set up beside your bed. Formerly in that death maze across from Riddle you could still feel his Killing Curse hitting you, at least until a warm hand settled on your shoulder.

Wide eyed you stared at your mother, her soft grin easing onto her face taking in the near mirror image of her younger self as her free hand settled onto your cheek lovingly, “Breathe.” The tearful gaze in her eyes shifting from purple to green in taking each detail of your face at your parting gasp tearing you from that peaceful place back to that chamber where you saw the Weasleys above you followed by coughs at your body forcing your lungs to function normally again.

.

Lost for what to do you just knew you needed to see her again, or at least what piece of her you had. In the cold night air you were seated cross legged at the foot of your mother’s grave eyeing the statue of her holding you with your father in dog form seated beside her. Your names were etched into the headstone beside the Potter’s, the stone couple cuddling with an infant in their arms, both with the shared date of ‘October 31, 1981’ with the etching of ‘The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.’

Warm tears smoothed down your cheeks as you sobbed out through K’s easing your jacket he had brought from your dorm over your back and shoulders, “It’s not fair-,” All but folding in half until a glowing bluish mist formed in front of you shaped like a hand palm up with fingers wiggling raising your eyes. Instantly your lip quivered seeing your mother crouching in front of you stirring more tears down your cheeks as you squeaked out through Lily and James appearing to kneel around you as well, “We tried so hard to free him.”

Unable to touch you James’ hand eased through your cheek he tried to wipe dry saying, “We know. And you did it masterfully!” Making your lip quiver again.

Lily spoke next, “Sugarplum, we can’t save them all. Sometimes it just isn’t enough.”

Your mother’s voice drew your eye next, “My amazing little girl. Even we lost people we loved. People we struggled for years to protect. War does not discriminate and an early death comes to those both worthy and undeserving of it. All we can do is make use of what time is given to us.”

James, “You are so strong, and there is no one I know of that has given him that much trouble before.”

Lily, “Don’t doubt yourself. It hurts, yes, but you have to keep moving. We cannot wallow in our grief.”

Peering up at your mother you sniffled and wiped your cheek asking, “You didn’t leave me this ring, did you?”

She shook her head hovering her hands over your knees pretending as if she could touch you, “No, my love. But we will always be with you. Always. Never doubt that.”

You nodded and sniffled again eyeing K in his move to draw the coat tighter to snap over your chest as you shakily slid your arms through the sleeves. A distant crunching of grass brought their eyes up over your shoulders and the steady steps sounding across the stiff grass halted at your father’s whisper, “Jewel.”

Nearing you Regulus crouched folding his arms around your back greeting Lily and James, his warm body starting up your tears again in your turn to fold into his chest through his open jacket nestling your head into his neck at Sirius nearing your mother with tears in his eyes. “How-?”

Her finger tapped to his nose and she smiled at him, “Fuzzy face, I cannot stay long. You have done so well protecting our little girl. Please, I am always here, focus on Jaqi now. Our girl needs you.” At that their bodies flickered and he looked to the others urgently.

James grinned, “Padfoot, our boy’s just like us. No telling what he’ll get into.”

Lily gave him a bright smile saying, “We love you. And please tell Harry to stop using his wand as a drum stick! You know how I hated James doing that!”

James chuckled, “And tell Remus to lighten up. Set off an explosion or something for old times sake.”

Sirius in their last moments of being visible looked to his wife inching closer again as she said, “I love you. Go hold our girl. She is every inch like you. No telling where that will get her, especially with my short fuse.” A grin eased onto his face nodding as they faded to turn to you.

Dropped to his knees he joined Regulus in folding around your back and side saying, “You did everything you could, Pumpkin.”

Again you choked out a sob and he smoothed his hand over your back as Regulus said, “We know it hurts. But you did masterfully. That charm to tear Riddle away, I have never heard of it being used so powerfully before. No one has been recorded successfully using it on their own, usually it takes groups to cast souls out.”

At your peek up at the pair of them Sirius wiped your cheeks saying, “Pumpkin, you gave him hell. And those challenges, you held firm and eased your way through it. The boys are safe, Hermione is safe, you handled it so well. More so than more than a few Aurors we know.”

Regulus, “Absolutely.”

You nodded and sniffled again as they wiped your cheeks through your father asking, “Why don’t we get you back to the Hospital Wing. Let you get some sleep.”

You nodded and used their help to stand only to freeze and say, “It’s the ring.”

Their brows inched up and your father asked, “Hmm?”

Lifting your hand you showed them the ring, “How we could see them. I think it’s the ring. It kept Riddle from touching me, and I could hear Mum through it.”

They both nodded and Sirius rested his hand on your back smoothing his arm around you, “Come on. Back to bed. Remus is currently trying to decipher just how Harry was taken, Neville’s dreaming so it makes the memories a bit harder, only Hedgewig saw it fully, which owl memories are even worse to read.”

Nodding again you asked, “Was it my spell? That killed-,”

They both stopped and shook their heads, “No! No! Not at all!”

Regulus, “Riddle’s favorite thing was to hide curses under his victims’ skin. No doubt he etched one into Quirrell in case he was cast out.”

Sirius cupped your cheek, “It was not your fault. There was no way to know he was cursed unless he had been stripped bare.” A grin inched across his lips at your relieved exhale, “Why Minerva?”

“She’s so strong. Gave me courage.”

Regulus, “She is terrifying. Incredible choice.”

Pt 17