The morning of the Yule Festival, I made sure that I woke up especially early. Neither Harry or Hermione had been part of an old celebration like the Yule and, even though this would only be my second year participating, I'd been going to the Festival since I could walk. It was my duty to explain what was expected of them, how to dress, and such.
"Do you know why this tradition is so important?" I asked my friends as I led them through the woods, past the Quidditch pitch. Hermione, as always, had an answer prepared.
"I read in Hogwarts, a History that the school used to have a festival to celebrate renewal... There wasn't really anything else about it though."
"That's because," I said, "wizarding culture is changing rapidly. You can't see it like the old families, but there have been so many changes in the last twenty years or so that change how we live, how we work, and how we celebrate. A lot of old traditions, such as the Yule, have been banned from places like Hogwarts because of a perceived Dark nature to the holiday."
"Is it because of Voldemort?" Harry asked, brow furrowing when I shuddered at the name. He backtracked. "You-Know-Who?"
"Largely... It was happening before that, though. Old traditions began to lose their meaning when Muggleborns became more accepted in society, though to no offense on their part," I said, glancing to Hermione. "Muggleborns, who weren't educated in the old ways, didn't understand the importance of things like Yule and Samhain so they didn't teach it to their children. Over time, only the pure blooded families celebrated the old holidays."
"Why didn't they just teach the old traditions at school?" Hermione asked. I shrugged.
"They used to, according to my dad. The problem with that is that it isn't always safe to celebrate the old traditions... Last year was my first time participating in the Yule and... well, it didn't go very well.
"The Yule Festival renews and strengthens our core, the source of all our magical ability, in preparation for the growth of spring. The reason why only certain places are appropriate for the Yule, however, has to do with ley lines."
"Ley lines?" Harry asked. Hermione frowned, evidently at a loss for answers.
"Ley lines are ancient channels of natural magic, wild and untamed energy, that flow through the earth. Sometimes these lines intersect, making an area especially sensitive or conducive to magic. Hogwarts, for example, was built on the intersection of four ley lines- four founders, four houses, four ley lines."
"So... What happens on Yule with the ley lines?" Hermione asked. I smiled tightly, keeping my eyes locked on the path ahead.
"The natural magic spills out, just a little. Usually, it splinters away from itself, losing strength before choosing various people to be hosts. The host to the natural magic, for as long as the magic stays, can perform extraordinary magicks, spells that were normally beyond their reach. Sometimes, though, the magic stays together. It finds the one person in the group with the most sensitivity to ley lines, an ability called ley link, and throws all of the natural magic into them."
"That happened you to?" Hermione asked softly. I nodded.
"Yes... Last year was my first time in a traditional festival so I had no warning as to what was happening. Ley links are rare, almost as rare as parselmouths or true Seers, and there hasn't been a ley link in my family for centuries. We were unprepared and, when the magic rushed into me, I couldn't control it. Things happened so quickly but all I could hear was the wind howling in my ears..." I realized that my shoulders were shaking and I did all I could to stop them. "I blacked out... When I came to, we were at St. Mungo's, the hospital. My magical core was nearly drained and I'd nearly killed my father."
"What happened?" Harry asked. It hurt to remember so I gave him an outside opinion.
"The natural magic doesn't like to be tamed and it couldn't all fit into my core, from what Daddy told me. It hollowed out my own magic to make room but it still wasn't enough. What was left lashed out around me at full force..."
My voice drifted off as we came upon the familiar clearing. Like I remembered from the last time I'd been here, the clearing still bore the scars from my ley link. Near the center of the clearing was a spot cleared out for a bonfire pit but the logs that were normally there were gone. A few yards away from the pit, a crater two feet deep and four feet in diameter was carved into the earth, surrounded by smaller fissures and gouges in the dirt that extended out like ripples in a pond. The clearing was broken where trees had been pulled down and, though most of the trees had been taken out, nine old stumps still remained to show what had happened. Some trees bore scars from lightning and the area was unnaturally quiet as if no wildlife dared enter this space.
"The Ministry of Magic has a department made for this sort of thing, for stuff even wizards can't always explain," I murmured, pointing to the crater that showed where I had stood. "It's called the Department of Mysteries. The people who work there are Unspeakables because everything they do is highly classified."
"How do you know that?"
"When I was being discharged, an team of Unspeakables came to talk to my parents... They brought me to the Ministry, through so many doors and turns I couldn't find my way out without them, and did something to the ley link. They've been monitoring it ever since to make sure that the magic doesn't get to a level I can't control."
"Wait... So that magic... It's still in you?" Hermione realized, sounding horrified. I nodded. I'd had plenty of time to get used to the idea.
"I can't really explain it... The natural magic burned out nearly all of my own energy but the natural magic never left. It replenishes itself through the ley lines, like the ones here or at Hogwarts, but I can't recover it just by sleeping... If I'm using a lot of magic, I have to be somewhere I can tap into the ley lines otherwise my core will run dry. Even the wand I have is specially crafted to not drain my own magic first. Instead of the standard cores- unicorn hair, phoenix feather, or dragon heartstring- my wand's core is made from the tail hair of a Re'em, which is like a golden ox. The Re'em by nature is free and undomesticated, making its hair perfect for channeling natural magic."
"That's..."
"It's alright... I'd rather know it sooner rather than later. If it happens again this year, I'm ready for it. The worst thing about it is trying to keep it a secret," I shrugged. Hermione and Harry both looked at me incredulously.
"You mean you weren't supposed to tell us?" Harry asked, thoroughly surprised.
"I wouldn't say that I wasn't supposed to, but I'd appreciate it if you kept it to yourself. Having a ley link just means that I have a lot more room to grow and my family doesn't want that common knowledge yet. Of course, a few people know already. Neville visited me in the hospital after and I told Daphne so she'd keep an eye out for me over Samhain but if Draco found out, his father would be intolerable." I shivered at the thought of Lucius Malfoy discovering that I had a ley link.
At that, Hermione frowned.
"What were you and your mother talking about at the station?
"I'm heiress to an old family so it's sort of expected that I marry someone else from an old family. If Lord Malfoy found out that I have a ley link, he might feel it's appropriate to try and arrange a marriage between Draco and I."
"What?!" Hermione asked, eyes wide.
"Malfoy?!" It sounded like a curse as the name left Harry's mouth. I stared at the both of them with a frown.
"What's wrong?" The moment the words were out of my mouth, I understood. "Oh, arranged marriage... It's old fashioned but it's kept society together fairly well. If Harry had been raised in the wizarding world, he'd known."
"What?" Harry's deer in headlights look was almost laughable.
"The house of Potter was one of the middling houses, powerful but not as old as the others. It was getting there until your father, actually. He went against family tradition, turned down his arranged marriage, and married a Muggleborn. Your grandmother, a former Black, was less than thrilled from what Mama told me."
"Do- Does-"
"Does everyone else know about your family?" I guessed when Harry seemed unable to find the words. He nodded sharply and I hummed thoughtfully. "The better question would be to ask who still cares. Most stopped thinking about it after You-Know-Who was defeated, I think, but there are others who still remember the Potter house. My family, the Greengrasses, the Higgs, the Longbottoms-"
"Neville?" Harry asked. I nodded.
"Neville," I repeated. "His grandmother is regent for the family but Neville is going to be a powerful figure once he figures out how to get Draco off of his back."
"I need to go to the library," Hermione muttered to herself. "Genealogy, houses, marriages, ley lines-"
"Later," I interrupted. "Tonight, we're celebrating."
The Yule, despite my bad experience last year, would always be one of my favorite festivals. The fire shot off neon sparks that glowed like fairy lights before dissipating in the moonlight and dancing shadows were thrown onto the forest trees as if the trees were celebrating with us. The feast was delicious and, for once, my mother didn't question the sudden appearance of butterbeer at the table.
As the festival drew to a close, I could almost feel something inside of me begin to shift in excitement. I wasn't sure if that place behind my sternum was where my core was but it felt like it as the bonfire burned higher and hotter than ever as dawn grew closer and closer.
Moments before dawn appeared on the horizon, the fire blazed higher than ever, releasing a shower of neon sparks into the sky. I watched, captivated, as the rainbow of lights danced through the air, twisting and turning delicately before joining into a single comet of energy. When the comet began to arc back towards me, I was ready. Unlike last year, where I cowered away from it, I met it happily, knowing that this was what was meant to happen.
The fiery colors melted into my skin, burning through my veins with an icy pain that quickly gave way to warm comfort as the magic blazed through my body, leaving my toes and fingertips tingling.
I could feel as the magic shifted, writhing and wriggling behind my heart, as it made its home. With fairy lights illuminating the sky and a smile on my face, my vision clouded over.
Not for the first time, I woke up in a hospital bed. This time felt different, though. Instead of feeling exhausted and half-broken, I felt new, rejuvenated.
"Cor?" a voice asked uncertainly. I smiled, turning to see Sebastian standing nervously next to my bed. I was a little surprised not see either of our parents or my friends but Sebastian was there and that was enough. "How do you feel?"
"Great," I said, the word tasting strange on my tongue. Great didn't begin to describe it. "Where are the others?"
"Your friends were getting antsy so Mum bullied a student healer into giving them a tour. Last I saw, Hermione was badgering the girl about stitches." A wry smile found its way to Sebastian's face and I chuckled. That sounded like Hermione.
"And Daddy?" I could assume but I wanted to hear it from Sebastian.
"Working. No word yet, but Mum thinks no news is good news," my brother said with a casual shrug. Then his body language shifted ever so slightly and his eyes shone with what I thought was pride. "You did it, Cor."
"No one got hurt?"
"Not even a tree," Sebastian chuckled. "The healers are a bit confused but you're perfectly healthy. They think your core adapted to accept the influx but it's nothing they've seen before."
I didn't care about the healers' theories- my father would give me more definite information when he got home from work- but it was always good to hear that there weren't any adverse side effects of the natural magic.
"So what else did I-"
"Cor!" My attention was immediately snatched by the appearance of three more visitors. I smiled at my mother and my friends. Mynt was content to smile back while Hermione started talking a mile at a minute about the different wards and Harry questioned how I was feeling, if I had any cool new powers, etc.
"Alright, you two, give the girl some room," another voice, teasing, ordered. I looked to the door to see my father striding towards us.
"Daddy," I greeted happily. There was some weariness in his gait but his eyes betrayed nothing but happy relief. Good news.
"I just heard from our friends." That was what he called his coworkers, the other Unspeakables, that worked on the ley link they were studying- my ley link. "Good news. There's not much definitive information yet, but there's good reason to think that there won't be a repeat of last year."
There was more, I knew, but that was all he would say while we were in such a public place.
"Um... Is this a bad time?"
My eyes widened in surprise. I knew that timid voice from anywhere.
"Neville?" Harry asked, looking at the other boy incredulously. "What are you doing here? I mean..." Harry seemed to realize that he was being bit rude but he couldn't find a suitable replacement inquiry. Neville, reddening with embarrassment, seemed to understand well enough.
"I was... visiting somebody-" A bit of my heart clenched. Alice Longbottom was my godmother; I'd visited Neville's parents with him more than once. "- And one of the healers mentioned that you were here so I..."
"Thanks for coming, Neville," I said as genuinely as I could. Neville took a few steps closer as if he were walking on broken glass, barely hiding a cringe as Sebastian shifted slightly to tower over the younger boy. "Bass, it's alright."
"If you say so." Sebastian didn't move. Neville swallowed and took another step so that he was just slightly behind Hermione and Harry, as close to me as he would get without either stepping aside.
"I was worried... Is it like last year?" he asked softly, glancing uncertainly towards Harry and Hermione. I nodded slowly.
"Sort of," I acknowledged. "Not nearly as bad, though. I think I have control over most of it now."
"So it doesn't hurt now?"
"No," I said softly. Neville had chosen Gryffindor over me, I knew, but I still felt bad for him. It wasn't even just pity. I wasn't bitter that he'd picked his house over a Slytherin but I was upset that our friendship had meant so little to him after I made it clear that it meant something to me. I'd had months to get over that upset though. "It doesn't hurt."
"Good." Neville glanced again at Harry and Hermione. "So they know?"
"Yes. I told my friends." Neville winced at my choice of words. He was silent for a long moment, his eyes firmly glued to the floor.
"I should've..." I couldn't make out the mumbled words Neville was saying. My patience for my old friend was mostly gone.
"You should've what?" I asked, none too gently. A part of me wondered how many times Neville winced since stepping to the doorway.
"I should've listened to you," he repeated louder but I wasn't satisfied yet. He still hadn't looked at me.
"Glad we have something we can agree on. Anything else?"
"I'm sorry," he said. I didn't want an apology, though. I wanted him to look at me without flinching like I was the enemy.
"You chose a side, Neville. If you're going to do that, at least do it with some conviction. There's no need to apologize for it."
"Yes, there is." And then he finally managed to drag his eyes off of the tile he was standing on. He met my eyes for just a moment but it was enough. "I didn't want this... I want to be friends."
"Alright," I shrugged. Neville's eyes jumped to me and, this time, they stayed.
"What?" I rolled my eyes.
"Ask yourself, do you really want to know if I have any ulterior motives?" I asked jokingly. I did have a few but I did miss his friendship. Oh, the life of a Slytherin.
After a few moments of thought, Neville shook his head.
"Better off not knowing," he acknowledged and I beamed.
"Good. Now that that's settled, can I finally get out of here? I hate hospitals."