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2nd September 1991
Nettle laid in the pile of Susan's clothes beside the bed, she squeezed her eyelids as she attempted to remain asleep but it was in vain, she let her eyes slowly open, she stretched out her stiff limbs, letting out low groans before pushing strands of her hair out of her face. She glanced up at the bed where her bonded one lay sleeping between her mates. She pushed through the layers of material before flapping her wings and shooting up to the bed. She stopped her ascension a couple inches above the mattress before fluttering a little higher and began to merely hover in place, looking down at the trio.
Raven and Susan were intertwined in each other and Harry's arms came round Susan and even managed to reach Raven, hugging them both close to him, she shook her head in amusement. She began to lightly descend onto Susan's face, landing on her cheek. The nude fairy took a step toward Susan's nose, she brought back her leg, a mischievous smile breaking across her face before she delivered a 'strong' kick to Susan's nose.
Nettle shot back into the air as she watched her bonded physically recoil from the action, releasing her hold on Raven and manoeuvring herself so she could cradle her nose, her almost chaotic movements awakening her two mates. Susan glared up at Nettle.
"Time to wake up." Nettle said with that same smirk adorning her face.
"There are nicer ways to wake people up than hitting their nose." Susan spat.
"Actually for the record, I kicked your nose…as for nicer ways of waking you up…" Nettle began before descending on her bonded once again, perching herself on her nose, before sitting herself on her knees, giggling as she watched the redhead go cross-eyed "Maybe when you're older." She stated before lowering her head and pecking Susan on the bridge of her nose.
Susan's cheeks flushed with a blush, Nettle laughed again and flew away from her bonded's face, chuckling to herself as she watched the two mates and her bonded glare at her.
"You two should really start getting dressed if you don't want to be late for breakfast." Nettle said before flying out of the area of the bed and sitting herself on the top bar, not far from where Eris had perched herself, still sleeping. A thoughtful expression crossed over the petite fairy before she shrugged and headed over to the Dark Phoenix, dropping to her knees upon arrival, she laid against her feathers and went back to sleep. Smirking as she listened to the others roll and slither out of bed and set about getting dressed.
…
The trio entered the great hall to see most of the students had already arrived and were tucking into the food littering the table, Harry glanced round, quickly finding Hermione sat at the Ravenclaw table, he frowned as he felt his magic pulling him towards her once again.
"Maybe we should eat at the Ravenclaw table?" Harry mused, Raven glanced towards him with a curious expression.
"Is that allowed?" Raven asked.
"I would have thought so, wouldn't teachers encourage socialising outside houses as much as if not more so socialising in the houses." Harry answered.
"We could ask Hogwarts." Susan suggested, her voice in a low whisper.
"Good idea…she did say we could contact here telepathically." Harry answered in an equally quiet voice.
'Hogwarts, can you hear me?' Harry called out.
'Of course Master Harry.' Hogwarts' answered, her voice echoing throughout his mind, sounding almost like a soft melody to Harry's 'ears'. 'What do you require of me?' She asked.
'What are the rules concerning seating during meal times?' Harry asked.
'There aren't many rules for seating apart from faculty can only seat at the faculty table and no students may seat there, otherwise students can sit at which ever table they like apart from during the welcoming and end of year feasts during which students must sit in their houses.' Hogwarts explained.
'Interesting, thank you Hogwarts.' Harry replied.
'You need not thank me Master Harry I am merely enacting my duty to serve you.' Hogwarts answered.
Harry turned to the two with a small smirk adorning his face.
"According to Hogwarts the only times we have to sit at our house tables is during the Welcoming Feast and End of Year Fest." Harry explained in the same hushed voice he had used earlier, a smile broke out across Susan's face as she heard that she didn't have to seat at the Hufflepuff table on her own again, at least not for a long time.
"Why weren't we told this at the Welcoming Feast?" Raven questioned.
"Don't know…but it doesn't like anyone is seated anywhere but their house tables and I doubt they all just prefer the people in their houses and have no friends in other houses." Harry answered.
"Hey you guys, why're you just standing over here instead of getting somet to eat?" Tracy asked with a rather peppy demeanour as she and Daphne approached them, Daphne appeared the same as she did each time they met, reclusive.
"Just deciding where to sit, we were thinking of sitting at the Ravenclaw table, care to join us?" Harry offered as he extended his hand to Daphne.
"Isn't that against the rules, I thought we had to sit with our houses?" Tracy questioned.
"Only during the Welcoming Feast and End of Year Feasts." Harry answered "We did a little research." He added, Tracy turned to Daphne with a large smile across her face.
"What you think Daphne? Shall we join them?" Tracy asked as she turned to her friend, Daphne glanced towards the Slytherin table and then back to Harry, she bit her lower lip in indecision as she considered her options before finally shrugging her shoulder, she extended her hand and Harry took it.
"We shall join you." Daphne said, Harry sent her a small smile before lowering his head and kissing the back of her hand.
"Then come this way." Harry said as he began to lead the way to the Ravenclaw table, Hermione glanced up, her cheeks burning red as she saw Harry, feeling her magic pull more strongly towards him, she quickly looked away and turned back to the girl beside her, her cheeks burning brighter than before.
"You okay Hermione?" Padma asked as she took in how red her friend now was, Hermione felt her blush deepen as her roommate called her on it, when she had heard Raven had her own private quarters she had thought she'd end up alone like she was back in the muggle schools, her fears were quickly dashed when the dark haired witch had seen her re-reading some of her text books and began to engage in conversation with her. Hermione was more than relieved to find someone who enjoyed reading and learning almost as much as she did.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Hermione stammered, Padma frowned, she glanced up when she spotted a Slytherin sit down beside Hermione but not just any Slytherin but Harry Potter himself, the Boy-Who-Lived, she frowned, wondering why he would sit here when he was a Slytherin.
Harry took a seat beside Hermione, feeling his magic stretch out towards her once again, he made no effort to retract it, Susan sat beside him and Raven aside her, Daphne seated herself opposite Harry and Tracy sat beside her, opposite Susan.
"Hey Hermione." Harry greeted.
"Err…hi." Hermione stammered, struggling to stop her magic from entangling with Harry's, she could physically feel her magic caressing his, shivers shot throughout her body, she slammed her legs together, goose bumps littering about her smooth delicate flesh.
"So, I see you've made another new friend." Harry stated as he nodded to the Ravenclaw beside her, she extended her hand towards him.
"Padma Patil." She introduced, Harry took the hand.
"Lord Potter, but you can call me Harry, any friend of Hermione is a friend of mine." Harry greeted, Padma gave him a kind smile, Harry turned and set about introducing the others on the table, indicating to each one as he said their name, refraining from even hinting at their heritage.
"Nice to meet you all." Padma said, giving them all the same smile she gave Harry but that smile soon fell, she chewed her lower lip "But why are you all here? This the Ravenclaw table?" Padma asked.
"Because we're allowed, the only times we have to be at our house tables is during the Welcoming and End of Year Feasts." Harry explained, Padma felt her eyebrows rise at this new information, she sent a glance towards her sister, a small glow appeared before the new arrivals to the table, Harry, Raven, Susan, Daphne and Tracy each looked down to see a timetable had materialised before them, their names along the top of it.
'Must be assigned to our magical signatures.' Harry and Raven thought as one as they began to glance over their lessons for the day.
From across the hall several of the professors watched the Twins-Who-Lived and their small collection of friends with genuine interest, surprised that they would seat themselves at the Ravenclaw table despite their assigned houses. While most of the professors were simply curious of their actions Dumbledore found himself intrigued and Snape found himself glaring at the Boy-Who-Lived, seething at how brazenly he betrayed the Slytherin house and broke the school rules.
'He could at least wait for classes to start.' Snape thought begrudgingly before rising from his seat and moving to approach the group.
He came to a stop behind Harry, their conversation seethed, Harry and Raven turned first, picking up his scent, Hermione, Susan and Padma turned round when they saw Daphne and Tracy look up and soon all eyes were on the head of Slytherin house.
"Potter, Miss Greengrass, Miss Davis should you not be seated at the Slytherin table?" Snape questioned, all the while glaring at Harry, not seeing the young wizard before him but his old hated rival, James, the likeness was uncanny if it wasn't for the eyes Snape would have sworn it was James, back from the dead to torment him, Harry even walked with the same arrogance James had.
"Lord Potter." Harry corrected, glaring at the Potions master, an old memory resurfacing, the one of the night his father was murdered, the words of the Dark Lord echoed throughout his mind
'I promised to save you for Severus.'
Harry felt his anger rage as the sealed memory was unlocked once again, a dim glow surrounded his irises, he felt his senses sharpening. His gaze locked on the professor's eyes as did the potions master's own, a strange scent wafted into Harry's nostrils, the stench of magic of the darkest kind. Snape found himself drawn into Harry's his eyes, fighting not to lose himself in them, Harry's eyes seemed to almost pulsate.
Harry felt his teeth begin to sharpen, he felt something push down on his shoulder, his head shot round, he bit back a snarl when he saw his sister's hand upon his shoulder, she looked upon him with a concerned expression, he sent her a weak smile before turning back to the professor who seemed to no longer to be in what could be considered close to a trance like state.
"Professor, I apologise but I'm afraid I must correct you on what you said, first off like I already said, I would prefer it if you addressed me by my title, LORD Potter." Harry began, emphasising the word 'Lord' "And secondly there is no rule forbidding students from sitting at other tables, aside from during the Welcoming and End of Year Feasts, so I fail to see why it should be a problem that I choose to sit with my sister, Lady Black and unless you can show me a reason I shouldn't sit here then I suggest you familiarise yourself with the rules of Hogwarts and apologise for offending a Lord by refusing to acknowledge him as one and for attempting to separate him from his sister without proper cause." He continued, inwardly smirking as he watched the colour gradually drain from Snape.
Snape grit his teeth, wishing he could curse the brat but knew how foolish that was, by showing a Lord such disrespect and in public no less, the brat could take him to court and since a Lady was involved as well and since they were both considered to be 'war heroes' to some degree in the wizarding world, the two could very well put him in Azkaban if they used their power. He glanced to where Raven sat and forcefully swallowed as she watched him, assessing him, the same way Lily did whenever a confrontation occurred between him and the marauders, evaluating everything. He turned back to Harry, increasing the force on his teeth before muttering.
"I apologise Lord Potter for disrespecting you and I shall familiarize myself with the rules to verify your claim." Snape muttered, his hands becoming fists as he saw a tiny almost unnoticeable smirk upon Harry's face.
"I accept your apology, this time…but remember this, I don't give second chances very often." Harry warned, Snape could only nod before returning to the faculty table, inwardly cursing Harry or rather the 'insufferable brat' only to be interrupted with the mental image of Raven and couldn't help but compare her to her mother, he swallowed again, feeling his heartbeat increase in strength.
Dumbledore simply watched as Severus reclaimed his seat, he glanced back to the Harry to see that he had returned to eating and discussing with his friends whatever they were talking about before, he glanced round to see the hall now full, everyone had arrived, he stood from his chair and tapped his goblet, gaining the attention of a few student before sighing and bringing up the Elder Wand and releasing a bolt of lightning from it, gaining the attention of all the students.
"Now that all have arrived I have one minor announcement to make, for the first years, like every year, today you will be free of your classes as to give you chance to get the lay about of the castle and the location of the classrooms, use this time well." Dumbledore declared before once again seating himself in the centre chair at the faculty table, soon the noise of student chatter filled the air once again.
Raven turned to Harry.
"So what are you going to do with the time?" Raven questioned.
"Well I was planning to hit the library after looking round the grounds." Harry admitted 'I want to do a little research into Snow-Women.' He added telepathically.
"Well, just make sure you tell me if you find anything interesting." Raven replied.
'So what are you going to be doing?' Harry asked.
'I was thinking of wandering the grounds, teasing Susan, maybe have a word with Hogwarts.' Raven admitted.
'What about?' Harry asked.
'About the curse that binds her to this castle, what she can do.' Raven answered.
"You're going to the library?" Hermione asked, a bit too quickly, unable to hide her excitement, she quickly shut her trap and looked away, her cheeks burning with renewed vigour and just as she got her blush to fade too. Harry turned to face the brunette.
"Yeah, I have a little reading to catch up on." Harry answered, he gave her a warm smile with his words, unable to deny that he liked the feeling of his and Hermione's magic intertwining, almost playing or maybe even flirting with each other, Hermione's blush began to grow, spreading outwards from her cheeks.
"Would you mind if…I joined you?" Hermione asked, stammering as she fell over her own words, biting her lower lip.
"Sure, maybe we could head down after lunch?" Harry offered.
"Okay!" Hermione said, a little too loud, still struggling to control her magic, her blush continuing to spread, Harry couldn't help but smile as he watched the shy girl.
…
Raven sat on the bed she shared with Harry and Susan, the Lamia in question sat beside her.
"Hogwarts!" Raven called, the spirit herself then appeared before her, on her knees with her head bowed.
"You called for me Mistress Raven." Hogwarts greeted.
"Yes, I have some questions I need to ask you and was hoping you would answer them." Raven stated.
"But of course Mistress Raven, anything you wish to know you need only to ask." Hogwarts answered.
"You said you were bound here by a spell." Raven said, Hogwarts looked up at her mistresses.
"That is correct Mistress Raven, I am bound to this castle." Hogwarts explained.
"Is there a way to unbind you?" Raven asked.
"Yes." Hogwarts answered, deliberately being vague as she turned to look away from her mistresses.
"How?" Raven asked.
"By the heirs of the four founders, all they need to do is say that they release me from the castle and I'd be unbound." Hogwarts answered.
"So you'd be free?" Raven asked.
"Not really…if I were to be unbound from this place I would lose my anchor in this world and be forced into the next world." Hogwarts answered.
"And you don't want that?" Raven asked.
"No, I want to remain here…in this world, in service of the heirs of the founders…they saved me from being forced into the next world…they created me, they're my family...even if you see me as nothing but a slave and use me as such I am happy to be in your service." Hogwarts answered as she turned back to face Raven, making eye contact, her smile never fading from her face.
"So you actually want to be in our service?" Raven asked, not entirely sure why anyone would want to spend eternity as nothing but a slave.
"Yes…especially considering what you are and what you will become." Hogwarts answered.
"What do you mean?" Raven asked.
"Hybrids…half vampire and half werewolf, when you come into your full powers you and your brother shall become unstoppable." Hogwarts answered.
"What do you know about our kind?" Raven asked.
"Everything…I was created by the four founders and by Merlin himself, their blood ran through my veins…they created me from their blood, their magic…but what they used for my body was not of their own or what they created, they used the bones of one of the ancient Hybrids who died several millennia ago…they weren't certain of what it was but they knew it was powerful and as such to that point the only thing that could contain the power of the founders and Merlin himself." Hogwarts explained.
"You were a Hybrid?" Raven gasped, suddenly very interested in the spirit.
"My body was…that power was incredible, but nothing is truly immortal, I was killed, Morgana forged the weapon that did the job…and from then I was bound to this castle…but I know all the secrets of the Hybrids, their strengths, weaknesses, abilities, everything." Hogwarts explained.
Raven mentally filed this away for later and put at the top of what to tell Harry the next time she saw him list.
"What else do you wish to know Mistress Raven?" Hogwarts asked.
"What can you do as you are at the moment?" Raven asked.
"I can control the castle and the grounds its one, I am linked to all the faculty and as such have certain privileges because of it…but that's about it…I can do very little, I can weaken and strengthen the faculty and yourselves with your command and control the castle I am bound to and the grounds it's on." Hogwarts answered.
"Can you become corporeal?" Raven asked out of genuine interest.
"No…it takes a lot of power to create a body, I can't generate that sort of power, no matter how many items of magic are in the castle to draw upon…if I focus enough I can touch things but it exhausts me." Hogwarts explained.
…
Harry and Hermione entered the library, Hermione had remained silent the entire journey, her cheeks burning with a blush as she felt her magic play with Harry's, attempting to merge with his. Once they entered Hermione was awestruck when she saw how many book there were, Harry less so, mainly because the Potter Library was a lot bigger, there were very few people in the library, then again most students were still in class.
Harry and Hermione headed to the shelves, Hermione started scanning through the section containing books on Magical Cores, curious as to why her own was acting so strangely around Harry. Harry himself, however, headed to the centre of the library where he found the shelves upon shelves on supernatural creatures, he quickly found a book on water based creatures and two on elementals before heading back to Hermione to find her holding five large tomes in her tiny hands, each about Magical Cores, at couple on their development and a couple on their reactions to certain substances.
"Wow." Harry said; his eyes widening as he watched her carry the books to a table before depositing them. "You're stronger than you look." Harry commented, Hermione's cheeks burned with a new blush.
"Practice I guess." Hermione said quietly as she took one of the books from the pile and opened it to the contents page, Harry sat beside her and took out the book on water creatures, Hermione glanced at Harry through the corner of her eye as Harry opened the book to a chapter on ice creatures.
"What are you looking for…I don't remember this being on the list of books we needed?" Hermione asked.
"I'm looking for something on Snow-Women…I heard someone mention them during the Welcome Feast and was curious." Harry answered, it wasn't a total lie, he had just heard about them a little earlier than he said.
"Snow-Women…aren't they those creatures who freeze unsuspecting men to mate with them?" Hermione asked, Harry glanced to Hermione when he felt a gust of wind and the turning of pages; he turned back to the book to see it open on a section depicting the creature in question.
'Sorry to intervene Master Harry but I thought you would prefer it if I sped up your search.' Hogwarts' voice echoed throughout her mind.
'Thanks Hogwarts.' Harry sent back.
Harry scanned the page, turns out Hermione was right, in ancient times that was how the Snow-Women mated, being a female race like the Lamia they mated outside their species, normally using lost travellers near their home. But that wasn't all, apart from this they were depicted as being peaceful creatures, mainly due to being so weak, sudden changes in temperature could kill them and so they usually lived in cold environments and physically they were not really known for strength, however, even weak they were dangerous, they could freeze anything with a wave of their hand and when in groups they could conjure blizzards that none could bare.
'So they're peaceful…but powerful, that's good to know and it certainly makes Daphne a great ally, according to this they can control their own ice, even animate their creations but they're tied to their emotions and can be quite erratic…guess that explains why she keeps her emotions in check.' Harry mused.
"They sound dangerous." Hermione said as she read over Harry's shoulder.
"Dangerous but peaceful…as far as I know they haven't participated in any wars, not the Goblin Rebellions or when Voldemort was at large." Harry replied, if anyone had being near enough to hear the conversation they would likely have at the very least flinched from hearing the Dark Lords name, Hermione, however, being Muggleborn didn't react.
"True." Hermione admitted, even with her extensive reading she didn't find any trace of the Snow-Woman participating in wars, then again, she didn't find much about any creatures partaking in wizard wars.
A/N Sorry if this seems rushed, hope you all liked it and thank you all for your suggestions, I know have a brief timeline for the first year, so I should be able to update a little quicker, though some months will be briefer than others. Please review and as always I am open to suggestions, not sure if Padma will become a main character or not.
And just cause, here are the stats of the four sites this fic is on.
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