[A/N] I've been thinking about this for a long time now but yesterday, after having a Harry Potter Marathon, I came up with the main story line. I'm just going to lead you into the main character's life because all of it is just basic knowledge of the character herself. Basically, the main character is a girl called Abigail Zeller who has always lived a difficult life; you will find more about this throughout the story. The story will also become more informal as time passes. For example, in the beginning she is continuously called Abigail whereas later she will also be referred to in nickname later on. She is an amazingly smart individual and is good at a lot of subjects, but excels in DADA and Arithmancy. She sucks at Herbology and Divination. She's a spell creator though.
She's someone who keeps her distance, someone who remains in the shadows. She wants no attention and makes sure she doesn't get it by being quiet, making herself look plain, even though she's quite a pretty girl, and keeping her scores at an average. She has younger twin brother, Cardin Zeller, and will do anything to protect him just like she has always done. Abigail is Ravenclaw and her brother is Slytherin. He's not particularly outstanding but is amazing at potions. He sucks at Charms and Transfiguration and asks his elder sister for help quite a lot.
Abigail and her younger twin brother are CREATURES, they will have mates. You'll find out more about this later.
The Zeller siblings are from a small pureblood family and thus are easily unnoticed. Many will not bother to look at them. Abigail has only few friends, her biggest friends are the centaurs in the woods and the whomping willow. She's the type of person creatures are easily attracted to because she doesn't discriminate, for obvious reasons. She finds it laughable how she's terrible at Herbology and Divination but she's friends with the willow and centaurs and being the creature she is. The centaurs help her with her classes sometimes because she's atrocious at divination. Next times' update will include a music list and also a cast! The music lists can be found on my youtube, Soralaciel.
Love, Sarah.
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Her mind took her outside and her feet followed, unsuspectingly. They decided that her mind knew best and had long since stopped doubting its decisions. She hesitated to agree with them because even her intelligent mind sometimes became unable to properly think and thus left room for reckless actions, but now she could not help but let them do as they desired. Her mind had already become incapable of thinking and all there was left was a void. Blackness covered every corner of her brain.
It was cold outside and the icy wind cut through her clothing. Abigail had left her dorm without thinking of taking a cloak. Her mind had been preoccupied by the torturous nightmare she had endured this night and in her hurry to get to her safe place she had forgotten to think of proper clothing. Not that she had much room for thinking. Her legs were threatening to give in to the weakness they felt, but her brains spurred them on. She had to get away.
It took her another ten minutes of walking before she arrived at her safe place. There she could always go and would never have to fear being hurt. The whomping willow had always attacked people, making them distance themselves from it but it nurtured her. It started when she was in her first year. Back then she had suffered another nightmare and had to get out of the stifling Ravenclaw dorms and she knew she could not stay inside. In fear she had made her way towards a secret route that would get her outside of the castle and towards the free air she so desperately needed. Abigail was always one who sought out solitude and made sure no one paid attention to her and she preferred the outside air. She had never tried flying before, but she so desperately wished she could.
A little while after she got outside she arrived at the willow. In the beginning fear had stuck her body because she had heard of the aggressive willow, but the willow had seemed to know she was not herself and had instead gently reached out with its branches to draw her closer. In a weird sense of thinking it was almost as if it was hugging her. She slowly crawled her way into the hole inside its trunk and mysteriously branches began to grow around it, closing her off from the rest of the world. It was protecting her from whatever was hurting the girl. She fell asleep feeling as if the willow had taken up the responsibility of her mother and she did not suffer from the terrors of her dreams the rest of the night. She had always made sure to wake up in time in order to get back to her dorm and take care of herself before the rest of her housemates awoke. She could never attract attention, Abigail knew this. This is why, even though she was better than anyone in both theory and practical magic, she made sure she did not score above average. Abigail always kept to scores which were neither low nor high and had always made sure to do her practical wand work wrong for at least five times. So far it had worked perfectly. She also changed her looks. She wore oversized glasses, her dark hair falling long in front of her face, reaching until her bum.
Just like back then she now made her way towards the whomping willow which had already opened its branches for the girl. Abigail gave the willow a quick hug before crawling back inside and taking the blanket she had put there for permanent use, pulling it over her small and cold body. The willow had closed its branches around her and made sure to have a few of them embracing her. The soft leaves tickled her nose but she was too exhausted and distraught to care. The soft branches surrounding her shoulders tightened their hold as if they knew. They probably did.
Abigail had made do without sleep for a couple of days already and had tried to sleep again today, the first day of school, desperately hoping she would not suffer. Unfortunately her hopes were not heard and she suffered a nightmare which was probably one of the worst yet.
Abigail sighed as she sunk lower into the pillow. She had placed several things inside the willow knowing how much time she spent there. She knew that she could also go to the shrieking shag but nothing made her feel safer than this place. And so she once again closed her eyes, falling asleep in the loving embrace of the willow.
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Abigail woke up slowly, her eyes difficult to open. She reckoned she had a few hours of sleep, four hours tops. She slowly stretched out her back which had become quite numb after lying in the same position for such a long time. She yawned slightly, wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and quickly casted Tempus. It was 5:53. Most of her housemates would be up at 6:30 or so which meant she had little time left. She softly stroked one of the bigger branches of the willow, giving a small sign that she had to leave. She could feel the willow's reluctance to let her go. After a few years of being in the constant presence of mother willow, that's what she was told to call her; Abigail could hear her voice every now and then. It was not extremely often, but often enough. The willow slowly retracted her ranches and Abigail climbed out. She moved away from the willow and gave the willow one last wave which she answered by raising her magic a little bit.
Abigail made her way towards the sneak route and into the castle and started the long way towards the dorms. When she finally did reach the Ravenclaw dorms, she pushed aside the tapestry of a woman with a silver crown on her head and looked at the stunning door. The doorknob was already awake, ready for the day with new riddles. The eagle doorknob bid Abigail hello as she nodded her well-sculptured head slightly. Abigail answered with a polite 'Hello' and a nod herself.
"What occurs once every minute, twice in a moment but never in a thousand years?" The eagle asked as she kept looking at the brown-haired girl. Abigail smiled a little and quickly answered. "The letter M." she said. The doorknob hummed, smiled slightly- for as far as an eagle doorknob possibly could, and opened. Abigail stepped inside.
The Ravenclaw common room was basically just a big space in the colouring of blue and a crème white. It was gentle, and there were a lot of books in the room. Abigail had liked the books, but the room seemed a bit distant. She liked warm colours like orange, brown and red. She felt like the blue and crème were beautiful, but it didn't make the dorms home. She never felt at home.
She quickly made her way towards the stairs on the left side of the room that led to the dorm room she shared with four other Ravenclaws, Greta Catchlove, Amelia Bones, Dorcas Meadowes and Alice Lightwood. Most of them were outgoing girls, but Greta kept to herself and preferred to be alone, just like Abigail. They were friends and only they knew who, and what, Abigail truly was. They knew her inside and out. Over five years of being together would do that.
The dorm room was a large, round room with walls covered in stunning tapestries; the floor was covered by a beautiful beige carpet and the windows had royal blue curtains. The beds were white with, again, royal blue curtains surrounding them. There was a heater placed in the middle of the room to keep it warm, even through winter. The ceiling was painted like the night sky, with constellations shining brightly. It was beautiful. While Ravenclaw might not be one of the most prestigious houses to end up with in Hogwarts, it surely had the best dorms. Ravenclaws were known for their intelligence and love for books, and so even the little space that wasn't covered by tapestries was covered in bookcases, once again filled with books. Abigail was sure at least half of the books in the room belonged to her.
There was a certain rule between the girls. They could borrow each other's books, but you needed to ask first and you weren't allowed to borrow it to someone else. Also, you had to put it back as soon as you finished.
Abigail had never seen her dorm mates awake before her, and it was no surprise they weren't now. She took a quick look at their sleeping appearances and gathered her stuff, making her way to the bathroom. All of them took an awful amount of time grooming themselves and so Abigail always made sure to get to the bathroom before them. It would be at least another 30 minutes before they would awake.
Abigail quickly undressed and stepped under the shower. She never took long and didn't take long today either. She rinsed her body and washed her hair. When she finished she stepped out, dried her body and quickly cast a drying charm on her hair, letting it fall in front of her face as she put on her big prescription glasses. She could have worn contacts but then she would have drawn attention and that was the last thing she wanted.
Abigail made herself ready to step out of the bathroom when knocking sounded on the door. "Abby, are you done yet?" came the question of Amelia. Abigail smiled slightly and opened the door. "Yes, I am. You can go in now."
Abigail greeted her other roommates before she started to pack her bag with the stuff she would need for today. Today was September 2nd, the first real day of school. Her sixth year and she didn't even think she'd make it to see this day. Abigail snorted to herself. There were many things Abigail didn't think she'd be able to do and this was just one of them. Her status as future creature made sure of that.
Abigail and Cardin both had creature blood running through their veins. Their mother's status as a creature herself made sure of that. Abigail always found it extremely amusing people never believed that there was a male species of her sort also, because most part of her species was, surprisingly, male, but kept het amusement to herself as she never wanted the attention it would bring. Abigail and Cardin had three days left until their inheritance, and it scared the lot out of them. They didn't have anyone to guide them and even when Abigail had her mother to teach her a lot when they were younger when Cardin was more interested in Quidditch, Abigail was still frightened something would go wrong.
The process was hard and stressful. You would find yourself dreaming about your preferred land, water or element and feel drawn to it. At one point the desire would become too much and you would go to wherever your heart told you to go, there you would go through the change. The change would be painful for your body would adjust itself to fit to that of your mate, or mates, and the possibility of children. There was a dominant and submissive side of their creature, but dominants were much more common. Even now there hasn't been a submissive of their species in over three hundred years. It was lucky their kinds were immortal, Abigail supposed. It would make no difference if you were male or female, you would only be able to bear children if you were submissive. If you were a dominant female you would never be able to have children, even with a human man or a man of any other kind. Dominant males however could have children with other females. To Abigail this was incredibly cruel. Most of their kind mated interspecies, but if you were lucky enough to be submissive, which to Abigail was also a curse; it would have been very possible to mate with another species. You couldn't choose your mate, or mates, though. That had been decided for you by lady Magic. The amount of your mates depended sorely on your magical strength, as did your field of forte when it came to nature. The highest amount of mates ever reported was seven, and that was before even the time of the founders. He was an intensely powerful wizard and had seven dominant mates, all from different species.
Lady Magic was a huge part as to why the Zeller family believed that muggle-borns should be taken from their families when they first start showing magic and brought into the magical world, or at least be educated. They didn't believe in the whole pureblood supremacy thing, but the purebloods merely wanted to be able to practise their rituals and beliefs. They were the only ones keeping lady Magic alive. The muggle-borns had completely forgotten about the magical worlds' customs and just decided they were wrong without ever hearing the pureblood's sides about it. The holidays were there for a reason, samhain, for example, was a very important one. The pureblood's worshipped lady magic on this day and other important days for that matter, but the real reason for the purebloods' wishes for early education and removal of them from their magic-less families, or bringing the families in the magic world fully, had been forgotten. They were the ones keeping lady Magic alive.
Abigail sighed on her mind; she was scared of what was to come. She didn't know if she was comfortable with her creature, a nymph.
There weren't many of their kind left, approximately sixty that hid themselves around the world. The most common were the Potameides, the river nymphs. They managed the lakes all over the world and the live that was in it. Nymphs, whether water nymph or not, were respected by other creatures for their tie to nature. Nature was made out of magic, and with that nymphs were quite often viewed as lady Magic's helpers. Despite what people might often think, Nymphs were more often than not dominate creatures, and surprisingly, male. The female nymph had been hunted and killed by their natural enemies, satyrs. Abigail guessed there were no more than seven female nymphs, of whom only one was submissive and still alive and had a mate but somehow only had dominant children.
Abigail and Cardin's mother had been submissive and came from a small pureblood family from parents who were both of their kind, but she never told anyone. Her mate had been killed, which had broken her but she knew she had a destiny and thus had to live on, and then she had met their father who she had fallen for, despite his cruelty. Eventually their mother had passed after attacked by a satyr, it was her time. She had been three-hundred-sixty-one. It was a decent age, despite still being young. In the years of their species, their mother had just left the young-adult phase when she had the twins.
The elders had been overjoyed when she was born, as they were when her children were born. Their kind had a council of the four oldest, still alive, and most powerful nymphs. They were the elders and they 'governed' their kind almost like royalty. To be a member of the council was an honour and Abigail's grandmother had been a part of it before their demise by the hands of the satyr. It had been two-hundred-thirty-seven years ago.
She pushed her thoughts aside and waited for the other girls to finish with their prepping. They smeared on their make-up, did their hair beautifully and straightened their clothes before turning towards each other and approving. "Yup, we look good. Now, does everyone have their books, parchment, ink and quill? Not to forget the homework." Dorcas said as she put her shoulder bag over her shoulder and checking through everything once more. Everyone murmured a yes and they all turned to the door. As they left the room, they turned to Abigail who was the one to decide on the new password this week.
Abigail softly tapped the eagle doorknob on their private quarters with her wand before softly whispering the password. "Beatus." She turned towards the other girls. "Latin, if I'm correct it means blessed and fortunate. You chose well, Abby." Greta said as she smiled and turned away to walk down the stairs. The other girls and Abigail followed as they stepped into the common room. They said hello to everyone in it and then left to the great hall. As they made their way there, Alice, Greta and Dorcas next to each other and Amelia next to Abigail, they talked softly about the homework they had.
They arrived at the great hall and quickly moved towards their table, sitting in their usual spot. It was almost in the middle of the table, but a little bit more towards the door. As they sat down on the benches they put their bags between their legs and relaxed in their seats. "So, we have double charms first. I wonder what we're doing today..." Amelia said as they started plating their food. Abigail was never a big breakfast eater and made do with some toast, fruits and a cup of tea. "I don't know. I think we're working on those laughing charms we had in first year, but a more severe version." Greta answered as she buttered her toast and took a large bite. Abigail nodded her head. "He did say that, didn't he?" she said. The other girls nodded their heads.
"Alice!" A shout came from the Gryffindor table, next to the Hufflepuff table. We all turned towards the voice and sure there was, Frank Longbottom waving at his girlfriend with earnest. Alice's face lit up and she started waving back with an aura of happiness surrounding her. Abigail raised her eyebrow, but smiled gently before turning to the other girls and grinning. "They are so cute." Amelia, Greta and Dorcas all smiled and nodded their head, before turning to the scene that was playing out in front of them.
Frank Longbottom had appeared before them and was now hugging Alice tightly, his arms wrapped around her waist. Alice was chuckling as Frank set her down and held a hold of her hands. "Now, now, Frankie. You're sure making work of it." A voice said from beside them and all of their heads snapped up to it. "Of course, ickle Jamesie. I've got to if I want to keep this woman. She's not a pushover after all." He said as he grinned.
James Potter, sixth year Gryffindor, resident pranker and somewhat of the leader of the group of boys that called themselves 'marauders'. Abigail never really had anything with them, but that was fine. They never had anything with her either. They just kind of steered clear from each other. They wouldn't bother her, she wouldn't bother them. It was the agreement they had settled on. They didn't dare pranking Abigail because she was friends with Frank's girlfriend, but then again, she wasn't too obvious of an individual. She kept to herself and was proud of it, but also because she had to. She knew she was a submissive, her mother had told her so.
Nymphs were highly desired and should someone find out who she was without a mate to protect her, they would take her. It was illegal but many other creatures did it anyway purely for the power a nymph possessed. They were strong creatures, and as said before, their tie with lady Magic made them even more powerful which would lead to powerful offspring, the wish of every other creature. It was in their dominant blood, to produce a powerful child, and their instincts would rule them.
Abigail watched with the other girls as the others of the 'marauders' joined their friends and sighed.
"Abby!" She could hear from behind her and turned around to see her twin brother walking towards her. Cardin and Abigail looked alike but weren't perfect copies of each other, obviously. Sure, they had the same eye-colour, hair-colour and skin tone but Abby took more after her mother while Cardin, also taking some things from their mother such as the gentle lines in his face, had more of his father. He was short, not even an inch taller than Abigail, but took it with stride as he quickened his pace to get to his sister.
Abigail stood up and smiled, opening her arms slightly. Cardin ran into them and hugged her tight. "I missed you, sis." He said. They had not been apart for long, not even a day, but their bond was incredibly strong and thus every amount of time spent apart felt like a loss still. It was worse now because their change would be coming soon and thus they needed each other to depend on. They couldn't tell anyone else after all.
Abigail chuckled softly and curled her arms around her twin. She could see his friends following behind him but paid no notice. They knew she existed but had never actually talked to her or paid attention to her so she mostly ignored them. She did know who they were, and who they would become, but tried to stay away from them mostly.
Abby could feel her still inactive creature squirm as the males, and one female, moved towards them and tightened her hold on Cardin. "Are they…" she softly murmured in his ear and she could feel his subtle nod. She grimaced, but moved away from her brother while keeping her head down and holding onto his sleeve. He wasn't very dominant himself but he was more so than her and thus she tended to hide behind him.
Lucius Malfoy, Severus Snape, Regulus Black, Evan Rosier, Bellatrix Black and the Lestrange brothers stopped not far away from them, observing them quietly. "Zeller, you shouldn't act so indignifant." Lucius Malfoy said, gently hitting Cardin on his head in more of a teasing gesture than one to harm. Cardin stuck out his tongue and shook his head. "Never will you get me to act 'dignified' as you so call it." He said, and all of them chuckled. Then they turned to her.
"Hello, Abigail. How have you been?" Regulus Black asked, taking in her small form. Abigail looked up slightly and nodded her head, her desperate need to hide herself returning immediately. "I'm fine, thank you…" she said, tugging on her little brother's arm. "Cardin, I need to talk to you." She said.
Cardin turned to look at her before nodding and grinning at his friends. "I'll be right back." And with their nod he followed his older sister, who had already begun walking, into the hallway. He followed her into a corner, looking around for followers or eaves droppers. When they were satisfied no one was looking Abby cast a light muffliato charm and turned to Cardin, a stony exterior appearing. "Has it started?" she asked her sibling, taking a hold of his hand and looking into his eyes. Cardin didn't answer but she could see the answer in said eyes. "What is it?" She knew Cardin disliked talking about it but it would happen no matter what and she needed to know. She could hear him mumbling something and told him to speak louder.
"Water." He said, keeping his eyes down. Abigail sighed, leaning against the wall heavily. "Okay. That's okay. Water nymphs are more common. We'll be okay." She said, more to reassure herself than anyone else. Cardin looked up at her, grasping her upper arm. "And you?" He asked, looking at his beloved sister with concern. "Tell me. I know you've had the desires too."
It was now her time to look down. Sure, she had felt the desires, the call. It had been so strong already that she could barely resist and Abigail was slightly frightened by the intensity. Abigail sighed deeply before sliding down to the floor. She could feel Cardin moving to sit beside her and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her to his chest. "Tell me, Abby." He repeated, leaning his head against the wall.
Abigail looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath. "It's mixed." She answered. Cardin wasn't satisfied. "Abby." He said with a stern tone.
"I…" She stuttered. "I feel drawn to two things, which technically shouldn't be possible. Cardin, I feel drawn to both trees and flowers." She said, putting her head in her hands. She could hear the soft and quick intake of breath from her brother and his arms tightened.
There hadn't been a flower or tree nymph in a few hundred years, the last one had passed on not long after their mother's birth. Flower nymphs were called Anthousai and tree nymphs were called Dryades. They were two of the three most powerful nymphs, followed right after the Limnades, the lake nymphs. To have a mix was unheard of.
"Merlin, Abby. You sure make the impossible, possible." Cardin said but he softly kissed the top of her head anyway. "We'll figure it out, Abs. We always do."
With that being said they both took a deep breath to calm themselves and decided to go back to the great hall. They had little time of breakfast left and they wanted to have something in their stomachs for their first lesson, which was double charms straight away. They had this lesson together, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Most of their lessons were together anyway because the school didn't particularly want the Slytherins with the Hufflepuffs because the puffs were too timid, and the Ravenclaws were 'snobby' according to the Gryffindors.
They entered the great hall and went to their respective tables after agreeing to walk to class together.
"Are you okay?" Amelia asked as Abigail sat down again. Abby smiled softly. "Yeah, I'm fine. I told Cardin we'd walk to class with them though. That's okay, right?" She asked and started eating as all the girls voiced their agreement. Abigail went through her food relatively quickly and finished her apple in no time.
"Let's go." Dorcas said as she grabbed her bag. They all stood up and followed her example, grabbing a hold of each others' arms and laughing as they walked towards their companions. Cardin, Severus Snape and Rabastan Lestrange were laughing and talking but quieted down as the girls approached.
"Are you ready to go?" Cardin asked, but didn't wait for an answer as he grabbed Abby and dragged her towards their classroom. It was a ten minute walk, and quite a frustrating one as the stairs continuously changed on them, but they made it to the classroom. Cardin quickly let go of Abby and kissed her cheek, the reason unknown to his sister, and running towards one of the long benches and tables that were in the room. They didn't have the typical seating arrangements in this class. The girls sat down somewhere in the middle whereas the Slytherins sat down at the very back. They were the first to arrive, even before professor Flitwick. Abigail took out her books and parchment, ink and quill and placed them all down on her table before putting her chin in her hand and patiently waiting for the class to fill. Abigail sighed and looked around the slowly filling classroom. She knew this was going to be a long day, and she was already exhausted.