A Discovery of Witches
Cassiopeia whooped in delight as they flew, the broomstick zooming across the night sky, passing across the face of the moon, zipping through the darkness faster than the stars could see.
"Isn't this amazing?" Cassiopeia yelled, her blond hair flying back behind her, while it was either a miracle or some act of magic that her hat didn't fly off her head and land somewhere on the ground passing rapidly beneath them. "I've always loved flying better than anything else."
"Really?" Harry asked, fighting the chattering of his teeth long enough to get the word out. He himself was not so sure that he would ever get used to it. It was cold, he was having to cling tight to Cassiopeia in order not to plummet the great height to a certain death, the wind and Cassiopeia's hair seemed to be taking it in turns to batter his face.
"You don't like it?" In as much as it was possible to tell Cassiopeia's tone when she yelling to be heard over the rush of air, she seemed surprised.
"Not really," Harry admitted.
Cassiopeia was silent for a moment. And then, without her appearing to do anything, the broom began to slow down. The rushing wind disappeared, the stars ceased streaking as the broom flew by, Cassiopeia's hair stopped hitting him and down down her back. The broom glided along at a sedate, comfortable pace, while the moon and stars looked down on them.
"How about now?"
"How did you do that?" Harry asked.
"It responds to will," Cassiopeia said. "So what do you think? Look at that moon, Harry, look how big it is from up here."
Harry looked at the moon. It was big. A great silver orb, at least twice its size from seen on the ground, the centrepiece of night, with its court of stars all thronging around it. They were so much brighter here, brighter than he had ever seen before.
"Yeah," Harry murmured. "Yeah, that...that isn't bad."
"No one can touch us up here, Harry," Cassiopeia said wistfully. "No one can tell us what to do, no one can tell us where to go. No one can tell us what we are. That's why I love to fly, Harry: because flying is freedom."
"Flying is also chilly," Harry muttered.
Cassiopeia laughed. "Maybe a little, but it's worth it, don't you think? And you are a little more comfortable now, right."
"A bit."
"Maybe if you stopped holding me like a vase," Cassiopeia said, amusement rich in her voice as she referred to his hands, gripping her sides tightly. "Put your arms around me."
Harry felt his face flush. "Really?"
"Honestly," Cassiopeia sighed, as she pulled his hands and arms into place so that they were entwined around her waist, and he was forced to sit so close to her that he was practically leaning on her.
"There," Cassiopeia said. "More comfortable, yes?"
"This..." Harry hesitated. His eyes took in the night around him, the way that the land underneath looked almost like a model or a toy, the beauty of the night sky, the silence and the isolation...and the feel of Cassiopeia in front of him. "This is nice."
"Yes," Cassiopeia said. "That's it exactly. It's nice."
So they flew that way, slowly and gently and with Harry's arms around her waist, until her broomstick began to descend towards a great old tree, an ancient oak that looked as though it was the sole survivor of some long forgotten forest, grimly clinging on despite the disappearance of all the trees that might have once surrounded it. It towered over the barren heath on which it stood, leafless and lifeless, with massive branches as wide as the tower in which Harry slept, and twigs like the arms of strong men reaching out to grasp at the stars.
There was a crack in front of the tree, a triangular crack taller and, at its height, higher than the door into the Tremaine's chateau, and beyond the crack Harry could see only darkness within.
When the broomstick was about half a foot off the ground, Cassiopeia leapt off, trampling the grass beneath her red-booted feet as she landed with a soft thud. The broom lowered a little more before she offered a hand to help Harry down.
"I hope you didn't mind that too much, because that's how you'll be getting back," Cassiopeia said. "If you decide to go back."
Harry's knees buckled as he landed on the ground. He released her hand as he stood up. "Why wouldn't I want to go back."
"Maybe you'll come early to the truth," Cassiopeia said. "That you belong here, with us."
Harry took a few steps towards the cracked old tree. "It doesn't look as hospitable as a bedroom," he said.
"Hospitable? No, not hospitable at all, is it? At least not to prying eyes," the words were followed by a high-pitched cackling sound, as an old woman, an ancient woman with her back bent and her face so lined with wrinkles it looked to be turning in on itself, leaning heavily upon a stout wooden staff. "But then, why should we want to look hospitable, hmm? Far better to keep unwanted visitors far away, wouldn't you say?"
Harry blinked. "Er...I suppose."
"You suppose? He supposes! Oh, this bitter cold. I would sooner porter in hell than in this cold. Open, in the name of Beelzebub, who's there? A prevaricator! You'll not prevaricate yourself to paradise, you mark my words. Not with magic's mark upon you."
Harry glanced at Cassiopeia, "Um..."
"Don't mind Grandmother, Druella Black to you, I suppose," Cassiopeia said. "She's the Other One."
"The what?"
"You know," Cassiopeia said. "There are always three witches in a coven: the Maiden, the Mother, and the...Other One."
"The Other One?"
"That's what you'll call it if you know what's good for you," snapped Druella. "Come on inside. Your mother waits within." She turned away, her black cloak swishing behind her, and began to stump inside the darkened tree hollow.
Cassiopeia took a few steps forward, half running inside, before she turned back towards Harry. "It's okay, Harry. You'll be safe here."
Harry hesitated. "Your grandmother is…um…"
Cassiopeia giggled. "She won't eat you, Harry. Grandmother only eats muggle children."
Harry's eyes widened. Cassiopeia rolled hers. "It was a joke, Harry. Come on in, it'll be fun." She held out one hand. "I promise, you won't be in any danger. I'll even promise you'll enjoy yourself."
Harry waited a moment, wondering what she would do if he demanded to be taken home this instant. But she had said that her mother would be angry with her if she returned without him. She might be even more angry if she brought this far but wasn't able to make him take the last step. And that was why he'd come, in end, wasn't it? Not because of his magic, not because he was so convinced that he didn't belong with Cinderella…he had come for no better reason than because he didn't want a girl to get into trouble.
So, tentatively but at the same time inevitably, he reached out, and slipped his hand into Cassiopeia's grasp.
She gripped him firmly, as though she were afraid that he would slip through her hands if she didn't keep a tight hold on him, even as a smile lit up her face and made her brown eyes glow.
"You won't regret this, Harry," she said. "We're your people. And sooner or later you'll realise that for yourself." She began to half run, half skip inside the tree hollow, and Harry had no choice but to run to keep up with her as he was pulled further and further into the darkness of the…
…brightly lit and vast room in which he found himself. The hollow of the great tree stump turned out to be a space far too vast to be enclosed in the place he had seen from the outside, a cavernous chamber walled with rough stone, with dozens upon dozens of candles set in the walls and hanging from the ceiling to give the place a homely orange glow. The chamber was shaped like a dome, a dome as vast as an observatory, with a floor that was of yellowing grass, but strewn about with fraying rugs and slightly moth-eaten bear and wolf pelts. The walls were hung with ancient tapestries, showing all kinds of people in clothing even more old fashioned that worn by most people in this place. When Harry looked more closely, it seemed to him to form some kind of family tree, maybe Cassiopeia's family. The tapestries, too, looked as though they had seen better days.
"Welcome, boy, to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black," Druella muttered as she stomped away.
Cassiopeia turned to face him, beaming. "What do you think, Harry? Isn't it marvellous?"
"It…" Harry looked up, and all around, his mouth hanging open to catch flies. "How is it…the inside has to be bigger than the outside, doesn't it?"
Cassiopeia chuckled. "Of course it is. It's magic, Harry."
Harry shook his head as he looked down at her. "It's-"
"Harry Potter."
Harry's eyes were drawn towards the source of the voice calling his name, which turned out to come from a raised dais near the back of the chamber. There, standing around a smoking cauldron from which he could hear faint bubbling sounds emerging, stood three women. This surprised Harry, since he had only expected one more (Cassiopeia's mother, since the maiden and the Other One were both accounted for) but there stood three. The one who had spoken to him stood in the centre of the trio, an odd mixture of the elegant and the unkempt, the dishevelled and the stylish. She was dressed in a black gown, with long sleeves that half-concealed her hands, and an equally black corset worn over the top. The gown was elegant and graceful, fitting with the curvature of her body and spilling out around the bottom, he could see as she walked around the cauldron and descended from the dais towards him. But it was also old, and tearing at the hem and shoulders. Her hair was black, save for a single streak of white, but the ringlets were untidy, and some almost looked as though they had leaves in them.
Her cheekbones were sunken, and her lips where full and a deep, deep red, her nose was smallish and her chin was soft, and she had the same brown eyes as Cassiopeia. She smiled as she advanced upon him. "Welcome, Harry Potter, traveller from the beyond."
"Welcome, Harry Potter, child who was promised to us," murmured one of the two women remaining by the cauldron. She was tall and thin, almost as much of both as Aunt Petunia, though she somehow contrived to wear it better, with a pale face and pale hair and a proud look.
"Welcome, Harry Potter, that shalt be king hereafter," all three women said as one, as the first woman, the one with Cassiopeia's eyes, reached out her hands to stroke his cheeks. Harry did not resist, though he did glance at Cassiopeia for a little help.
Cassiopeia smirked. "Harry, this is my mother, Bellatrix Lestrange. Mother…you didn't let me introduce him first."
"No need, daughter, no need," Bellatrix murmured. "But you have done well, to bring him here, to his true home."
"This isn't my home," Harry said softly.
"I've promised to take him back…to the muggles," Cassiopeia said, in what sound like a confessional tone. "But he'll come back and visit us again, won't you Harry?"
That depends, Harry thought, and said nothing.
For a moment, something flashed in Bellatrix's eyes. Anger? Disappointment? But then it was gone, as quickly as it had sprung into being. "Well…I suppose you may need time to become accustomed…you have done well regardless, Cassiopeia. You have my thanks."
"And mine, niece," said the woman with the proud look.
"Welcome, Harry," Bellatrix said again. "To the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black. I am the mother of this coven, but to see you the mothers of two other covens have journeyed from far off to see you for themselves: this is my sister Narcissa, mother to her own coven, and this Allecto Carrow, herself a mother also." She indicated first the proud looking woman, and then the third woman, of a muscular build and a lumpy face, who nodded her head but said nothing. "They were as anxious to meet you as I was, and they will spread the word across our sisters."
"There are more of you?" Harry asked.
Bellatrix laughed. "Are there more of us? Of course there are, many of us, spread throughout this land and the lands beyond. We hide ourselves from the sight of muggles because we must, because if they knew of our existence they would persecute us."
"Hunt us," Narcissa said.
"Kill us if they could," Allecto said.
"Muggles hate what they fear, and they fear what they cannot control," Bellatrix continued.
"They should fear us," Allecto spat. "Our might is so great as to make them ants by comparison, why we-"
"Yes, thank you, sister Allecto," Bellatrix said quickly, as if she was somehow keen to stop her from speaking. "Why, the Black family were noble once, in England."
"A noble house in truth as well as in name," Druella said. "Possessed of wealth and lands and property. All taken from us."
"When it was discovered that we were of magic, the muggles turned on us, and drove us out," Cassiopeia. "They would have killed our ancestors, if they could, but since they were witches they escaped. But they lost everything."
"Our gold, our holdings, our titles of nobility," Druella said mournfully. "But most of all our honour. From amongst the highest of nobility we became no more than rootless exiles forced to flee across the sea."
"The same fate befell the Malfoys and the Lestranges," Narcissa moaned. "All lost everything and were forced into hiding by the jealousy and cruelty of muggles."
"If they found out we were here, we might be in grave danger, Harry," Cassiopeia said earnestly. "So it's important that you not tell anyone about us, not even the muggles that you live with. If they knew then they would come with fire and sticks and ropes and crosses and they would kill us all. None of them must know where to find us, do you understand?"
She was trembling with fear, her eyes wide and imploring. There was no way he could have refused her. "I promise," Harry said. "No one will hear about this from me."
Cassiopeia sighed with relief. "I knew I could trust you, Harry. I knew it, from the moment I saw you."
"Some of us live like this, in covens, in hidden places in the barren wilds," Bellatrix said. "Others live alone, hiding themselves amidst the muggles in their cities."
"Spreading misfortunes, disease and d-"
"Thank you, sister Allecto, we don't want to tell Harry so many things that he can't keep it all in his head now, do we?" Bellatrix said sharply. "Especially when there are so many things of greater import to discuss, such as the prophecy."
"Prophecy?" Harry said. "What prophecy?"
"The prophecy made many years ago," Druella whispered, her voice hoarse, and yet at the same time possessing an undisguisable eagerness. "The prophecy that will restore all our fortunes."
"The prophecy that a changeling, a child not of this world left amongst the muggles, would come and lead us out of darkness, and restore all that once was ours but now is lost to us," Narcissa declared.
"And put the filthy muggles in their righful-"
"Thank you, Allecto, sister dear," Bellatrix snarled, in a voice that suggested Allecto should shut up for the rest of the night if she knew what was good for her. She smiled at Harry. "Harry...you do not belong in this world, do you?"
Harry was silent for a moment. "No," he admitted.
"We felt your magic," Cassiopeia said. "When you apparated across the road, when you summoned your snake, we traced your use of magic and we were amazed, because we'd never felt you before."
"And so strong for your age, too," Narcissa said.
"And a parseltongue," Druella murmured. "A speaker unto snakes. Always a sign of the greatest of warlocks, the masters of the dark arts."
"But how am I supposed to lead anyone anywhere, when I don't even know where I am?" Harry asked. "You say I have magic, and maybe I do, but that doesn't mean that I know how to use it."
"You can be trained, of course," Bellatrix said. "And there is a test, to see if you are the one that we have longed for. If you are the one destined to bring magic out of the shadows and into the light, then you will be able to descend into the perilous realm of the fae and retrieve the Elder Wand, from where the Erlkoenig has it in his keeping."
Harry's eyes widened. "You want me to go where and get what from who?"
Cassiopeia laughed. "You don't have to go right away, Harry. You need training first. That's why you're here, so you can learn to control what you can do."
Bellatrix knelt before him, so that they were of a height. "Don't you want that, Harry? Don't you want to learn about what you are, what you can do, what you may become? Do you want to be fumbling in the dark for your whole life, blind and ignorant? Or would you rather master your potential so that you can, maybe, be a symbol of hope for all we poor, persecuted people."
Cassiopeia smiled. "It'll be fun, Harry, you'll love it. And you'll get to see more of me. Don't you want to give it a try?"
Harry found himself smiling back at her. "I can't really say no, can I?"
"That's the spirit," Bellatrix declared. "Now, let's get started."
For the next several hours, Harry did little but cast the spells that the witches instructed him in. They gave him a wand, a stick of wood like the one that Cassiopeia possessed, though Narcissa reminded him that once he retrieved the Elder Wand from the perilous realm he would capable of feats so much more extraordinary. He learned the wand-light spell that Cassiopeia had used, he learned how to summon objects, and how to send them flying away from him. He learned how to unlock doors, and how to make objects float. He learned how to disarm Cassiopeia of her wand, with a quick motion and the word 'expelliarmus'.
And he learned other things as well. He learned how make someone's hand, or arm, or knee sting, he learned how to make them break out in boils, or hives, or spots. He learned how to make their teeth grow to enormous length, how to rob people of their voices, even how to hang them upside down by their ankles.
"Why are you teaching me so many different ways to hurt people?" Harry asked.
Cassiopeia laughed. "Hurt people? You think that this is hurting people. Come on, Harry, this is just...these spells are just harmless pranks, that's all. What's a bit of hanging upside down between friends? I've not got upset once about all these spells you've cast on me, have I?"
Harry had to admit that that was true. He had tested almost all of the new spells that the witches had taught him on Cassiopeia, subjected her face to numerous deforming indignities, even hung her upside down, and she had seemed to bear him no malice for it. Yes, her mother and Narcissa had always undone the damage quickly, but still...she had almost seemed to enjoy being hung upside down, with her blonde hair spilling down to the ground, laughing as though it were all a game. He supposed it was a game really.
A game because you are all safe in this coven, with her mother and her aunt close by, a voice inside of him that might have been Harry's conscience, whispered to him. Would it be such great fun if you two were alone, with no one to undo what you had done?
Harry frowned. "So they're pranks, then...not very useful, is it?"
"I wouldn't say that," Cassiopeia said. "I think they can be very useful sometimes. Well, levicorpus maybe not, but the others certainly."
"When?"
"To protect yourself," Cassiopeia said. "Or to get back at someone that's wronged you. A muggle, perhaps."
"But that's not fair," Harry protested. "Muggles don't have any way of protecting themselves against magic."
"Fair?" Cassiopeia demanded. "There's nothing fair about the way they've treated us, is there?" Her tone softened. "But we aren't bullies, Harry. I'd hate for you to think that we went around hexing muggles just because we could. We don't, of course. That might cause our secret to be found out...besides being wrong, obviously. No, but...there are times, when someone deserves it. I'm sure you know someone who deserves a hex or two."
"I used to," Harry murmured, thinking about Dudley and his gang. It would have been nice, he supposed, to have made them hurt for once."
"With magic, you can treat people exactly as they deserve," Cassiopeia declared. "Now, we should keep practicing."
They practiced for hours, and Harry felt exhausted by the time that Cassiopeia summoned her broom to her, and announced that she was taking him home. The flight back was somewhere between her initial roaring speed, and their later gentle glide, but Harry barely noticed because he felt so bone tired from all the paces they'd been putting him through. There were times when he almost fell asleep, head resting on Cassiopeia's shoulder like a pillow, and only her giggling over the fact woke him up again. He was fairly sure that he had fallen asleep more than once by the time that, with the first rays of dawn climbing over the horizon, they arrived back at Cinderella's chateau.
"There, back just as I promised," Cassiopeia said. "I'll come back and see you-"
"There you are, Harry."
Harry whirled around. There, beside his bed, clad in a shapeless white nightgown with a little blue bow hanging from the collar, stood Cinderella. In one hand she held a burning candle; in the other, sitting on her upturned palm, was a brown mouse with an unusually human build. The light from the candle was dim, it had almost burned itself out, and in the darkness Cinderella's blue eyes seemed brighter than ever.
"Cinderella," Harry murmured. "What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here?" Cinderella said. "What were you doing not here? Jaq told me that he'd seen you jump out the window. I didn't believe it, but I came up here and you were gone! Where have you been, I've been so worried about you?"
Behind him, Harry heard Cassiopeia climb in through the window. The sound of her movements alone acted as a reminder of his promise. "I can't tell you."
Cinderella's eyes narrowed. "You can't or you won't?"
"I made a promise," Harry said.
"A promise? A promise to who?"
"Why don't you stop prying into other people's business, muggle," Cassiopeia snapped, her voice high and cold in a manner that Harry had not heard before that night.
"What did you call me?" Cinderella demanded.
"Muggle," Cassiopeia repeated, as though to a slow-witted child. "I can't believe you wanted to come back here to her, Harry."
Cinderella's eyes widened. "Who are you, and what were you doing with Harry all night?"
"Why?" Cassiopeia asked, sounding contemptuously amused. "Are you jealous?"
Cinderella made a noise that was half snort, half squeak and all annoyance. "How dare you-"
Cassiopeia rolled her eyes. "Boring." She raised her wand and pointed it at Cinderella. "Silencio!"
Cinderella's mouth kept working furiously, with no sound emerging from beyond her lips, before she seemed to realise that she could not hear herself speak. She stopped. Her mouth moved again. No sound emerged. Her blue eyes widened in alarm and she seemed to be yelling or screaming...but there was still no sound.
"There," Cassiopeia murmured, a smirk playing across her face. "Much better."
Harry rounded on her, a fierce scowl upon his face as an inferno of anger began to blaze within him. "What did you do?"
Cassiopeia shrugged. "I just quietened her down, that's all."
"Why?" Harry demanded, in a voice like ice.
"Because..." Cassiopeia hesitated. She seemed to notice his anger, and she shrank back before it, retreating towards the window and hunching to make herself seem smaller. "Because she was annoying me."
"So?"
"So..." Cassiopeia licked her lips. "Harry, she's only a muggle."
Harry let out a wordless growl, and Cassiopeia cried out as she doubled over, her wand nearly slipping from her grasp as she clutched at her stomach.
She looked up at him, with eyes like a wounded doe. "Nonverbal wandless magic. That's impressive, Harry."
"Undo what you did," Harry demanded. "And then go."
Cassiopeia nodded rapidly. "Yes. Yes of course." She raised her wand in one trembling hand. "Finite Incantatem."
"-to me!" Cinderella cried. She gasped. "I can-"
"Obliviate!"
The bolt hit Cinderella between the eyes, which instantly became unfocussed, as though she had been hit on the head.
Cassiopeia raised one hand as Harry rounded on her again. "I only wiped her memory of the last few minutes, long enough so that she won't remember me...or what I did. You'll still need to excuse yourself, but you won't tell, will you?"
Harry shook his head. "I keep my promises."
"I thought you would," Cassiopeia said, as she climbed onto her broom. "I'll see you soon, Harry, you're even more interesting than I thought." She leapt from the window, and Harry could just about see her as she flew away, a silhouette against the lightening sky.
"Harry," Cinderella murmured.
Harry rushed to her side, taking the candle from her hand and setting it down beside the bed. The mouse - Jaq, he supposed - leapt from her open palm as Harry took her hands in his own. "Are you alright?"
"Hmm? Yes, I'm fine, I'm just a little..." Cinderella paused. "What just happened?"
"Nothing," Harry said. "I came in, and found you waiting for me."
Jaq began to squeak, and Harry remembered both that Cinderella could speak to mice and that Cassiopeia, not knowing that, had not wiped his memories. Fortunately, before he could get much more than a squeak out, Hector emerged from the tangled bedclothes to hiss menacingly as he circled around the smaller creature.
"Keep your mouth shut if you know what's good for you."
"Hmm...Jaq? Did you say something?" Cinderella asked.
Jaq shook his head frantically as Hector continued to circle and hiss.
Cinderella looked up at Harry. "Where have you been, Harry? I've been so worried."
Harry shrugged. "I just went out, that's all."
"In the middle of the night? Why?"
"To practice my magic, where no one would see," Harry said, since it was close to the truth without revealing any of the secrets he had promised to keep secret.
"All alone, in the dark?" Cinderella asked. "Why would you do something like that, it's dangerous!"
"Because I wanted to find out what I could do," Harry said.
"And did you?"
Harry nodded. "A bit, yes."
Cinderella looked down. "So I suppose you're going to do it again, then?"
"Maybe," Harry replied. He thought back to Cassiopeia. "Probably."
"Well...I suppose at least I'll know next time." Cinderella squeezed his hands,and looked up at him with pleading in her eyes. "But be careful. You will be careful, won't you? I was so worried. I don't want you to get hurt."
Harry...Harry didn't know what to say...he had never felt... "I don't remember anyone apart from you ever worrying about me before."
"Is that why you left?" Cinderella demanded. "Because you thought I didn't care?"
"No, it..." Harry smiled. "I'll be fine, I promise."
"Alright," Cinderella murmured. "I suppose we'd better get back to bed while we can, hadn't we?"
Harry chuckled. "I suppose so."
"Goodnight Harry."
"Goodnight, Cinderella."
Author's Note: Some readers may wonder why, having brought Harry Potter into a new world, I've then introduced so many Harry Potter characters (with a few more yet to come). The answer is: because the alternative would be to introduce a whole load of OCs, and since you're reading a Harry Potter crossover, I thought you'd prefer it this way.
The only point against using them is the metatextual aspect: you probably guessed that the witches were not exactly on the side of the angels the moment Cassiopeia turned up dressed in Slytherin colours and announced that she was called Lestrange…but then, you probably would have worked out they weren't so nice soon enough anyway on the contents of this chapter.
One of the things I want to do with the magic plot is bring in some sort of fairytale/folkloric elements alongside the Harry Potter stuff, like the Erlkoenig and a slightly satanic air surrounding magic. You'll see that play out later on.
Four chapters in, and this has been pretty much Harry's story so far. Next chapter will be Cinderella' POV and move into the Cinderella storyline a bit more. My intention is that these early chapters will take the story to around the death of Cinderella's father, then timeskip to around the time of the main movie.
