I'm thinking of going over my y1 write-ups, so that they're more story-consistent. Expect some small changes in the next while.

Nothing major, but enough to standardize (shift towards the lower end) Aura's power level, and set the stage for some other things.

Note: This chapter is much later than it should be. I hit a pretty big snag, but I eventually got it done.

I'd apologise, but let's be honest here: I'm writing this for my own enjoyment. I'll take all the time in the world if I need to.

Through A Half-Breed's Eyes

I

I might've attracted a little bit more attention today than I should've.

Turns out, one of the lessons I missed in Defense last year (when I was trapped in the hospital wing), was Salamanders.

I might've walked into the classroom and

Well, when we were supposed to 'neutralize' the salamanders the teacher summoned by slowing them down with spells, then extinguishing their host-flame

and

Uh

Screw it, not like anyone's going to read this, anyway.

They were absolutely adorable.

I'm never going to admit it, but the little lizards pretty much swarmed me at once, knocked me over, and began trying to climb on top of me. About half of them were successful, and I'm happier than I've ever been about my choice in fire-proof robes.

Five minutes into the lesson, and Moody (the name of the psychotic-looking DADA teacher) was grumbling about 'bloody Veela', whatever those are. I think I'll look into them later: anything that makes my cover better, or more believable, is a good thing.

Ginny had joined me on the floor, but for a completely different reason. Rather than being tackled by Salamanders, she had lost her balance once she had begun laughing at me, and had fallen to the ground, still giggling away. The other students were just blinking in my general direction, either used to me being weird, or just not caring. From what I can tell, about three quarters of the little lizards were on me, and the rest were just wandering around. It was at this time that two lizards had climbed my robes, and had taken up position on my face.

I don't know if it's my affinity to fire, or if it's something about my blood, but Salamanders, and other creatures of flame tend to be… well, neutral towards me or better. I've even considered raising a baby dragon at one point (They're pretty cute when they're young), and while I could probably pull it off (with some help from mom), they eat too much for it to really be feasible. Plus, yknow. They get pretty damn massive once they become yearlings.

I guess that's why the Headmaster's Phoenix just sits in my hair, rather than claw my eyes out, like any other dark creature.

Actually, I think I finally have an excuse to summon Cinder. A blind man could see that I find Salamanders awesome, and if I can 'happen' upon the incantation to summoning a few, who's to say that one wouldn't stick around longer than normal?

So I guess all I need to do is fabricate an excuse for knowing the spell.

Actually, do I even need to do that? I can just wave my wand around, babble nonsense, and then do the summoning silently.

I'd do it right now, but Ginny's in History right now, and I don't think she'd appreciate it if she came back to a Salamander in our room, even a tame one like Cinder.

Rude.

I had only taken three steps from my bed towards Ginny, before being told, quite loudly: "No."

I didn't even get to say what I was thinking!

I mean, she was wearing a smile the entire time, but seriously.

Stupid Ginny. Ruining my fun.

Oh well, I guess I'll ask her again tomorrow. I've got a wooden disc I need to practice fire resistance wards on.

It took asking several times, promising to help her with her potions work from now until her seventh year, and that I cover for her if she ever needs help, but Ginny's agreed.

Basically, Ginny's terms are this:

I go borrow an owl, and Owl-order in a terrarium.

Then, I need to enchant the terrarium with fire-resistance runes, which she'll then test with her burning charms.

Then, and only then, can I summon my pet.

Sounds good to me, I have something else I need to order as well: I can't have Ginny borrowing my broom all of the time, can I?

Maybe I'll give it to her as a Christmas present.

Eugh. Well, the terrarium is going to be sent over in about a week, and I've finally got the rune array drafted, and strong enough to soak an overpowered Burning Charm nine times out of ten.

The broom, on the other hand, will arrive just before Christmas. Don't want Ginny to be getting any hints about her present.

Also: I did some research today.

Yes, I was actually in the library. So sue me. I even bumped into Granger in there: she has her own little table with a personalized, stylized, and enchanted nametag. It's actually pretty hilarious.

Anyway, my options were to either bug the librarian, or ask her. And after about three seconds of thought, I knew which one was the better choice.

It took less than a second for Granger to direct me to the 'Magical Creatures' section.

So!

Veela, are…

Well, to be honest, they seem almost like demons. Pyrodaemons, to be specific. Although they're a lot more avian than Pyrodaemons. Frankly, the feel I get for them is almost like if an Incubus bred with a Harpy, and then the Incubus went and died.

Maybe not so much any more, but I'd not be surprised if, at one point, they were a demonic bloodline, but slowly it became diluted. Perhaps their patron/matron was disrupted, or they broke away. It's happened before: you can generally trace such things back to wherever you find mages with weird magics/rituals.

The book (De Creatura II) says they are always female, and generally retain some Veela traits until about the third (worst case), or fifth (best case) generation. Of course, the traits weaken every generation, and there are always some extreme cases where more or less traits are present.

Ability-wise, they're more or less all extremely inclined towards fire, with a rather large resistance to it (Check!), have enough affinity to wandlessly hurl fireballs (Check!), are extremely attractive (uhm… Check? I might need to try and mess with a couple of boys' minds to make sure), and have a secondary, more monstrous form they can shift into, when in danger (Sorta Check.)

Unfortunately, that's where the similarities end.

They've got feathered wings, which is pretty easy to tell apart from my smooth, bat-like wings. Not just that, but they usually don't quite have the level of control over their forms that I have: there's no record of them being able to pull out their wings, at least without fully shifting. I technically could cover my wings in feathers, but even then, the shape's wrong, and it'd…

Well, it'd be itchy, uncomfortable, and probably hurt my maneuverability.

Even worse, it's not just their wings that are avian: their faces resemble harpies more than mine. Whereas I look at least mostly human (save for the small horns curling around the outside of my ears, my mouth, and my grey skin), a true-form or shifted Veela has a beak, hawk-like eyes, and is feathered. Feathers tend to be greyish-white, but a few black Veela exist.

Toughness-wise, I'm miles ahead: they've got some fire-resistance, but they don't have the massive magic-resistance that I have, nor do they have the regeneration. Their descendants do have a relatively higher resistance against mental magic than a full-human mage does, though.

If push comes to shove, though, I might be able to bluff being a sub-species.

Yeah, sub-species makes sense: they're more or less considered citizens over in France, with equal rights and everything. Much more than over here. Either way, I can more or less say that it wouldn't be awkward to call a Veela my cousin.

Unfortunately, since they're pretty much universally accepted over there, people can generally recognise a Veela. Over here, where we've got bigots, idiots, and people who've never seen dark creatures in their lives, it's much easier to pretend to be something else. Hell, the book's information on Boggarts was hilariously off.

Granger gave me a weird look when I finished the section of the book, but who am I to care. Even if she finds what I was reading about, it's still a nicer, less painful red herring than the actual truth.

Last thing: I overheard on my way back up to the tower that they're going to be starting the tournament draw soon.

Quote of the day: "That's it? Seriously?"

I finally got the terrarium set up, and wasted almost no time summoning Cinder. Ginny, of course, blinked at me when I spoke the incantation. Not in Bad Latin, of course. Infernal is generally more stable for summonings.

Now, Ginny's more or less just staring at Cinder, waiting for her to either A: lunge at her, B: escape, or C: die.

Neither of those three things are going to happen.

I guess I should probably explain that I used a different spell to summon her, one that doesn't have the same restrictions as the usual Salamander spell.

Besides, I'm the host flame, here.

I should also try and convince Ginny to pet the Salamander. It's not like Cinder will burn her.

Cinder's just lounging around on the pile of powdered charcoal I put in the terrarium right now, but considering how I've put her on standby, that's about what was expected. Going to need to feed her occasionally, though. I should see if I can't get my hands on some Potassium Chloride. Last time I fed her that, she turned purple for a week.

She has been sending me the occasional pulse of deep amusement, mostly due to Ginny's paranoia.

Oh well, having an active, explainable summon will help, the next time something horrible happens to Potter.

I won fifteen galleons today.

Also, totally called it. Not going to really be able to use Cinder, but still.

We were called down today to greet the other two participating schools.

To be honest, I have no idea why the participating schools were not generally known until now. Seems sorta stupid/suspicious in hindsight.

Anyway, it took about thirty minutes, and the two, extremely pretentious-looking entrances were over and done with.

The two schools are Durmstang, and Beauxbatons, by the way.

Durmstang, from what I can tell (half rumors, half previous research) is a dark-aligned school. They've got relatively relaxed opinions towards dark magic, and tend to focus upon combat magic, over utility like here. Unfortunately, they are extremely secretive, violently xenophobic, and tend towards viciousness.

We'd briefly considered Durmstang, but, well, the whole combat training thing looks good on paper, but the school doesn't have the same smokescreen of bullshit, political intrigue, and blatant idiocy to cover me, as we have here. With Potter around, no one's even questioned my weirdness. They're too busy running in terror from whatever the monster-of-the-week is.

Beauxbatons is rather neutral, and has a lot of non-human students. Unfortunately, certain types of non-humans remained discriminated against. Demons, for example. (not like there's any sentient demons that they'd bump into, of course.) It's also an all-girls school, which isn't a problem for me, but I can only imagine the amount of gossip I'd have to endure.

Speaking of non-human, I detected something familiar about a good dozen of the Beauxbatons students. They feel like echoes of flame, actually. Perhaps Veela-blooded?

I'll need to poke around later, see if I can't make contact. It'd be nice to talk to another non-human, even if I need to lie about what exactly I am.

Then came the draw.

First out of the cup is Viktor Krum, a big-name… uhh

Somebody.

Representing Durmstang.

I don't actually know what he does, but judging from the fangirls and fanboys, he's some sort of crazy athlete. Probably Quidditch, actually.

Next up was Fleur Delacour, chosen of Beauxbatons, who was pretty obviously a Veela-blood.

I don't think I'll be able to talk to her, what with being a champion. I"ll need to speak to another, less busy, Veela.

To my surprise, the champion of Hogwarts was not Potter, like I expected, but rather Cedric Diggory, a relatively high-profile Hufflepuff. Decent guy, if my encounters with him are to believed.

Of course, this is the time when the Twins approached me, hands out, wanting their money.

I could only kick my legs up to the (still bare) table, lean back, and tell them to watch.

The three Headmasters/Headmistresses turned towards us, and had begun the mandatory ceremonial speeches, when the Goblet behind them exploded one final time, expelling a final choice.

I of course, lifted an arm, and began slowly patting Potter on the back (he was about two seats down, so I had to lean). I might've asked him what he did to piss of God. There were a few seconds of silence, as all three of the School Bigwigs stared at the fourth sheet of paper, before they blurted out Potter's name, much to the shocked silence of the gathered crowds, and the violent cursing of the Twins.

Anyway, with the foregone conclusion out of the way, I hastily collected my two galleons from the gobsmacked Twins, and began working my way around the table, collecting my payout from the other students.

They were so in shock, that they really didn't say much when they paid me. Pretty sad actually. It's only an ancient, heavily-enchanted goblet which chooses through goddamn fire. For centuries, it's been given sheets of paper, and it's given back three. It's not like any of that would be enough to stop fate, luck, or even God from kicking Potter in the groin.

'Tradition?' says the Cup, 'No, fuck that: there's a Potter over there. As a magical thing, I must do my best to kill it, to the full extent of my inanimate ability.'

I'm honestly interested in whether or not he attracts falling meteorites. Might need to convince him to wear a hat.

Anyway, by the time the ceremony was over, the students had begun recovering, and had briefly began accusing me of rigging the Cup. I of course countered this by loudly asking if they've ever seen something dangerous, that hasn't immediately tried to kill Potter. Seriously! It's an inanimate object, but I don't think even THAT'S immune to the curse. There was still some grumbling, but a majority of them just left me alone.

Anyway, we then headed up to our dorms, Ginny looking a lot more morose than I did. She of course made me swear that I wasn't involved (I wasn't), before running ahead, perhaps in hopes of finding a way to help Potter.

I'd have joined her, but I was stopped in the hall by a Beauxbatons student.

Not a Veela, this one was just human.

Anyway, she asked me if Hogwarts was always like this.

I only shrugged back.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." I said. "No, it's not always like this."

"Usually it's goddamn cold, too."