For Harry and Hermione their school schedule was tougher than it was for anyone else. Not because they were doing more classes, Daphne was doing the same number of classes. Rather it was the fact that they both knew they could do the same thing that Karen did, and head out to another world where time passes so much quicker. They also knew that they couldn't hide the fact that they were doing it if they did. Finally, as Hermione kept pointing out, they'd be leaving their friends behind in their physical and mental development. The fact that all three of them were allowed to sleep in the sanctuary did help, as 12 hours of sleep made a difference.

All three of them were hoping that Celia took a long time to finish training to Hogwarts satisfaction, as it had levelled off their Magi training a little. Hermione and Daphne were both happy that Hermione had got all of the home-schooling requirements for Biology and given them to Madam Pomphrey, as it had had two effects. The first, she had been able to structure her lessons to cater for age better. The second, and most important in their book, was that she was now working with Karen and Victoria to get her class ready for GCSE's.

Harry threw his quill down as he slumped in the chair, "Finally, that's my homeschool work done. How are you two doing?"

Daphne looks up a little irritated, "I'm struggling with the math, can we head to your house where we can use a calculator please? Hermione's will do, but this is just taking too long without one."

"Hermione, what do you think?"

Hermione looks up from the letter she received from her mother out of the blue, "Oh, um, sorry, what was the question?"

Daphne repeats herself.

"Sure, we can use my house."

Looking concerned Harry asks, "Mia, what's wrong?"

Hermione swallows and looks at the other two searchingly. Apparently finding what she's looking for she continues, "You know I don't exactly get a lot of communication from my parents unless I've initiated it. My mother has just spent 4 pages grovelling for forgiveness and explaining that both of them have been diagnosed workaholics.

"I… I've just found out that when they started paying attention to me when I was 8, they'd actually been going to counselling for 6 months before that. Am I the same way? Am I so focused on work and driven by learning that I ignore everything else?"

Harry levitates her over and seats her on his lap as he changes into a Girl and hugs her.

"Hermione, I may not be the most emotionally adjusted person in the world. But, even I can tell that you're none of those things. Maybe if things had been different you would have been more like your parents in that respect. Look at all the friends you have. Look at the fun we have playing with the first years and also in our clubs. Hell, look at the detail you've got on your school uniform already. Do they seem like your parents?"

Daphne adds, "Hermione, do you still have your Grandparents?"

Hermione replied, "I still have Mum's parents, why?"

"When was the last time you spoke to them?"

"Erm, when I was 10, I think."

"Why don't you send them a letter asking about how they're doing, and then see about going to visit. I'll come too if you're nervous."

"I'll always be there with you.", Harry adds.

"O…Ok, I'll do that."

"Was there anything else? As I don't think what you've told me would have had you so distracted."

"Yes, she's seeing a mind-healer and has been for a couple of weeks. You can thank Spirit Mum for that. She."

Hermione swallows, "She says that she's found out with their help that she uses it as a coping mechanism like some people use food or drugs. They've told her that she's got a lot of stuff she needs to work through. They've also suggested that she gives up Dentistry for a few years as she has strong associations between that and her workaholic state."

"Why don't you go and see Healer Gosling when she's on duty and see what she says. I don't think you've got anything to worry about. However, I know you, and you hate gut feelings with a passion."

"Ok, I'll do that.", Hermione says in a small voice.

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Roberto was struggling and loving every moment of it. He'd been disappointed when they were told that half their days were going to be spent in structured play. However, the fact that they were expected to use magic in all of their games and activities was much harder than he expected. At Emrys he'd been learning the spells needed for different crafts, as well as how to apply them. He already knew a whittling charm, sewing charm, and a cutting charm when he arrived, and they'd been working on a log splitting transfiguration. Their scribe and cooking classes had been working on the manual basics and they'd been supposed to add magic this year. Yet already with two spells he could do all of those just by creating the tools he needed and using them.

The classes that they were being taught were challenging him in different ways. With ideas of identifying freedoms, impossible choices, and the difference between ethics and morals making his head spin. The critical thinking class was even harder, as it had so far covered a what a logical fallacy is, what statistics were and how they were often used. His Ma had taught him basic numbers, but they were now being used in ways he didn't think was possible. Cultural studies was Amazing, they'd visited a town called Little Whinging where they'd been shown around to see how mu… Non-magicals lived. There were so many new things he would never have believed that this was a magical community. Lily Potter had graciously let them look around her house and how magic and non-magical technology were being used side by side. While there were lots of things that he thought were better in the magical world, he thought his mother would love to be able to walk around while she was talking to gran rather than being on her knees.

History was still rubbish, though this teacher actually knew their stuff. Any questions were met with derision, as were any other sources except the ones that the teacher approved of. The one class that didn't make sense was combat, oh it was easy to get lost in the movements. Especially when they had to do the moves slowly aiming to touch a coloured dot of light precisely and then move on. However, Goyle, a friend he'd made in the meditation class, took to it like a duck to water. He wasn't sure why he still followed Malfoy around, as he was a pretentious git who still persisted in using his wand for everything. Goyle was taking longer to find his magic that the first years had, but he'd seen signs that Goyle was getting there. He was currently working on trying to get Goyle to go for the test to start joining the Hogwarts house, as he couldn't believe how much Ginny could do. He'd also found out that Dudley was no slouch, given that he wasn't muggleborn, he was literally a mu… non-magical that had been given magic. He'd heard a rumour that getting to the Hogwarts house was also an automatic continuation next year, and by Merlin, there was no way he was going back to Emrys after this.

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Petunia looked out over the city to the countryside, Lyasa cuddled up next to her for warmth. While her magic was keeping them both warm, she hadn't realised just how cold it would get. Their manacles were off at the far end of the roof so that their magic was unimpeded. The sun had just touched the horizon, and both of the moons were dark.

Ceeley popped in behind her, "I'm scared mistress, the magic feels wrong. Like it's wild and out of control, but not the out of control of a fire."

"Shh, it's ok to be scared. From what I've heard, there's plenty to be scared of."

Lyasa lifts her head from her side, "It's worse in the clan lands. Here there's so much magic poured into the walls, the air feels positively alive compared to the clan. The hoarfrost is only a fingers width deep here, and you can faintly hear some people partying. Out there we retreat to our caves or underground rooms and barricade the entrances. During the middle of the day it's safe enough to venture out if we need to for the first few weeks. After that it's only safer. Every triple dark you hear of someone that's run out of food and had to make a dash for it, only to be separated from their home.

"We celebrate the lives of those who die doing that. It's the ones who survive that we curse, as there's only one way for us to survive, and that's to give ourselves to the magic and become part of the wild hunt and slaughter. Their first victims are usually their own family and household, as their magic drives them to absorb the essence of those around them.

"Even in our shelters we can feel the call, as you'll find out when the last of the sun disappears over there. It's like a siren calling to us, begging us to open up to it, to let it fill us and also empty us out. It many ways it's worse than the triple light, as the light only wants to consume us and everything else."

As the last few millimetres of the sun approached the horizon, Petunia could almost see the wall of magic approaching them, as a line of hoarfrost chased the light across the ground and climbed the walls of the city. With it a feeling of stillness and hunger. The whole world plunging instantly into darkness so complete she wouldn't have been able to see without the meditation she'd done on her senses. She could feel an increased pull on her magic, like the first time she'd stayed up during the dream at home. But not the siren call that Lyasa seemed to be suggesting. Nearly forgotten instincts that came from hours of practice with Karen caused her to shut down her magic, apart from that tiny kernel that kept her on the rooftop with Lyasa rather than heading to earth.

Immediately the feel of the magic took on a different note, instead of being something to be feared, it now felt like new growth. Wild, primal, and explosive. Like the world was no longer using light to grow, rather the surge of magic that was slowly building and changing everything. It no longer called to her with that promise of the sweetest thing you've ever eaten. Ceeley latching onto her arm shocked her out of her amazement.

Petunia hisses at Lyasa, "Lyasa, lower your magic like we've practiced. All the way so that the only thing still active is the part keeping you here."

She could tell precisely when Lyasa had done that, as her shivering changed from fear to cold. Glancing down she could see that Lyasa had a look of awe on her face where moments ago it was fear.

As they watched, shivering in the cold, a dark shape lifted off the ground, only visible because of the stars it blots out as it passes the horizon. It get's larger as if it's coming towards them, and then suddenly there's a spark of light where it meets the wards over the city. It appears to be a dinosaur like flying creature that's not yet sure what it's supposed to look like.

Over the next 20 weeks the sun becomes dimmer and dimmer during the day as the whole world seems to be pulled closer to the middle world and the sea of magic. Garund came out with them for the first few weeks, but after that the allure of the increased magic became to much for him to bear so he joined the rest in the house at night. Ceeley also refused to leave the house too for different reasons.

Petunia was the first to notice it as the peak of the triple dark was only days away, a literal call on the magic. A sos, or cry for help carried through the aether. She knew it wasn't the increased magic as that had long since ceased having an effect on either of them when they lowered their magic. It had even been good practice for Lyasa as it was only when she got her magic so low that she was practically invisible to her family that the feeling completely went away.

The next night she took a risk and went to one of the gates of the city. As she thought, there were no physical barriers across the gateways, instead they were relying on their wards. Ghosting past the guards with the faintest touch of an illusion and keeping her magic dampened, she crossed the wards with not even a ripple of magic. The feeling of the cry for help grew more distinct, and she could tell that it was somewhere a long way from the city. But she also knew that her tracking wasn't good enough to seek it out just yet. Just before she turned around to return to the city a wave of creatures brushed past her and tried to enter the city. Close up she could see that none of them had eyes, instead they seemed to have a band of fur where their eyes would be. Given that they snapped at each other when they got too close while they ignored Petunia, she assumed that it was some sort of magical sense.

Slipping her sword through ribs and across throats, she aided the guards unseen from the outside of the wards. Once the group had been slain, she made her way home drenched in green blood.

"Oh my dear, what happened to you?" Lyasa's mother fussed over Petunia as she let her magic levels return to normal.

"I went outside the wards to listen to the magic, and a wave of things passed me by as I was listening. So I had to kill a lot of them if I wanted to get back into the city quickly, as the guards were taking a very safe approach to dealing with them."

"They're Slaugh Petunia, Slaugh, and the survivors may even gain sentience. It's why we don't venture out into the plains much until after the triple light. What you did was risky and foolhardy. Rightly we should kill you where you stand, but the fact that you're not trying to kill us says that you didn't succumb to the magic. That and the fact that Lyasa is probably the only one that can find you at the moment if you don't want to be found."

It was another 20 weeks before the faintest sliver of light from Ghealach signalled the end of the triple dark, and life returned to normal in the city.

Garund was sent out to hunt with Lyasa and Petunia, specifically for the surviving Slaugh near the city. Not only to make it safe, but also because their bones and pelts were good for various items. Petunia supposed that the court would win either way, if they died then it was two less people from an unruly clan to oppose them, and if they survived they got their materials.