A/N: I modeled this story after Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen. I hope you all enjoy, and leave a review to let me know what you think!
(Also, if you were reading this earlier, I did change the format from chapter by chapter to all together so I wouldn't have to upload them all separately.)
First story, which tells of the Dark Lord and his Mirror.
Now, at the end of this tale we shall know more than we know now, but to begin:
Once upon a time, a Dark Lord arose in the land of Great Britain, and he amassed many followers, who were called Death Eaters. He and his Eaters of Death caused much suffering and destruction in their wake, and even among themselves, for they were all fond of inflicting misery and pain. The Dark Lord himself would often torture his own followers, who afterwards thanked him gladly for the honor.
On one such occasion that the Dark Lord was greatly displeased with one of his Death Eaters, however, he summoned not the guilty party to be punished, but instead decreed that his son was to suffer in his place. The Death Eater's son, almost a man in his own right, trembled when he heard this because he had in secret become the lover of one of the figureheads of the Light, and lived in fear that it might be found out. But it was not the Dark Lord's goal that day to dig into the boy's head for his secrets – no, he intended a far worse torture.
The Dark Lord had a collection of Dark artifacts in his possession, and one of these was The Mirror of Evil, which when looked upon would distort good people into horrible frights, the most beautiful landscapes into no more than limp, boiled spinach, and things that were already ugly became magnified and increased in their ugliness. This mirror, therefore, the Dark Lord treasured above almost all of his other artifacts, for it pleased him to see everything as ugly and distorted as he was.
When the Death Eater's son had been brought to the Dark Lord in his Manor, this mirror was set in front of him, and the Dark Lord bade him look. The boy saw no other choice, and so he did. What he saw within was all horrible and terrible, but the boy knew not the nature of the mirror, and that all that it showed him might not be the truth. Devastated by what he saw there, and unable to bear the sight of more, the boy drew his wand and began to cast spells at the mirror in an attempt to destroy it.
The Dark Lord and all his Death Eaters laughed, because they enjoyed the boy's distress, and did not worry about the spells being cast at the mirror, for they thought it indestructible.
Their belief was proven wrong when one of the boy's spells struck true, smashing the mirror into thousands and thousands of tiny shards, sending them flying in all directions, into the air and out the windows and the doors, and even striking a great many of the Death Eaters. The Dark Lord, too, was struck by a shard, and at first he was angry that his lovely mirror had been broken, but then he realized that this occurrence was fortuitous, because the effect of each individual shard was the same as the whole.
The Dark Lord was still of a mind to further punish the boy out of spite for breaking the mirror, until he saw that the boy himself lay bleeding on the floor. The boy should have been dead – one or two shards would not have killed him, but he had been closest to the mirror, and at least a dozen shards had struck him directly. Unbeknownst until this very moment, however, there was fairy blood in the boy's bloodline, despite the apparent purity his Death Eater father claimed, and now that natural magic rose up to protect him. From the boy's unconscious body, ice began to creep, covering everything, and the air grew steadily cooler.
The Dark Lord quickly changed strategy and fled, calling out to his followers to gather up as many shards as they could as they went. All the Death Eaters obeyed, even the boy's own father, and soon he was left frozen and alone in a Manor of ice.
But there were still a number of these little shards floating about in the air, and now you shall hear what happened with some of them.
The second story, of a little witch and a little wizard.
Teddy and Victoire were not brother and sister, but when they were little they were as fond of each other as if they had been, and there was no separating them when they were in the same house. There was one thing that could split them, however, and that was when Teddy turned eleven before Victoire, and he went to Hogwarts without her.
Victoire was inconsolably sad while her best friend was gone, but Teddy wrote her letters often, and she cherished every one, although they were frequently short and ill written. She did not see him over the winter holiday, because her parents decided they would visit her mother's family in France, and she had to wait until summer to see her dearest friend.
They were hardly apart from each other at all that summer, for Teddy had a thousand stories to tell her, and Victoire felt like the summer had barely begun when it was over, and Teddy was off again. This year felt even longer, but Victoire could bear it better because she knew she would get her letter next summer.
Indeed, the summer brought a letter thick with parchment containing her invitation, and Victoire was so happy she cried. Teddy, too, was pleased, although he managed not to shed any tears.
Victoire had heard all about the Sorting Hat, and she was hopeful that it could be convinced to put her in the same House as Teddy, but alas, when it was put on her head it did not speak to her at all, and quickly cried out, "Ravenclaw!"
At first, she thought this meant that she and Teddy would not see each other at all, but she soon found herself happily mistaken. They shared no classes, this was true, but nearly every other moment found them together, and at mealtimes and in the evenings one of them was at the other's table or the other's Common Room. Even the professors sometimes forgot which House each of them belonged to, often deducting or giving points to the wrong one.
In this fashion, Teddy and Victoire passed their years at Hogwarts, up until Victoire's fifth year, and Teddy's last. Both of them had realized that they shared more than friendly feelings for the other, but since they shared such a long history of being only friends, neither of them were willing to admit it, even though Teddy's impending graduation meant they were about to be separated again.
They tried to hide it, but some of this tension inevitably began to spoil their relationship, and for the first time ever Teddy and Victoire had a spat. Once they had argued the first time, it was easy to do so again, and again, and although they always made up quickly, it seemed that they could never stop. The Hogwarts gossip mill, previously convinced that they would any day announce their relationship, now started taking bets on when they would break up for good.
When the winter holidays approached, Teddy and Victoire both put their names down to stay at the castle, because Victoire's parents were taking a vacation. She supposed she could have gone to her grandmother's house, but she always felt overwhelmed by the sheer multitude of cousins that were at the Burrow, and Teddy had promised to stay at Hogwarts if she was.
Victoire had been hopeful that the three-week holiday together, with the castle almost exclusively to themselves, would be nice, but alas, she was mistaken. Teddy went out for a broom ride on the first day, but soon came back in complaining of a sharp pain in his chest and in his eye. Victoire was very worried, and tried to convince him to go to the hospital wing, but in a minute it had passed, and he laughed it off, saying to her, "What are you crying for? You look so ugly!"
Then he went out to play in the snow again, leaving Victoire inside shocked and frightened by his words. She thought perhaps he had not meant it, and that when he returned he would apologize and all would be well, but Teddy didn't tell her he was sorry when he came in from the cold, and all the rest of the day he was mean and cruel with his words, used his Metamorphmagus abilities to make mockeries of their friends, and then would not sit near her at dinner with the professors and other students who stayed behind.
"There, there, my dear," said Headmaster McGonagall, when Victoire sighed loudly at dinner, "it will pass soon. Young love is always so!"
But Victoire was sure that there was something else going on. Teddy's coldness had come out of the blue; there was nothing that could have made him angry. She chased him down in the corridor after dinner and pleaded with him.
"Teddy, what is wrong? What's happened?"
"There's nothing the matter with me!" He cried, and when he looked at her Victoire gasped, because something sharp and glassy seemed to be glinting at her from within his eyes. She was quite suddenly afraid, and Teddy ripped out of her grasp and ran away.
The next day she found him outside, and tried to talk to him again, but he would not stop admiring the snowflakes, exclaiming, "Just look at how lovely they are! Nothing could ever be as interesting, and they have no faults – as long as they don't melt!"
Victoire could not help feeling hurt by his repeated rejection of her company, and she retreated to the warm castle to sulk by herself. Shortly afterwards, however, Teddy came inside and practically yelled right in her ear: "McGonagall said we could go to Hogsmeade with our sledges!"
There was a tradition in Hogsmeade every year on Yule, where all the people gathered in the square and those with fast brooms would let the young people attach their sledges and give them a ride up and down the main street. It was a tradition that Teddy had never participated in because he had previously gone home for the winter holidays, but he had heard much about it, and he was very excited. A great many people had gathered in the square to watch and have fun, and he looked about for someone to fasten his sledge to, but most of the brooms already had passengers.
He had just settled back to wait, when he saw a pale man all dressed in white fur gliding up to the edge of the square on a white broom. Teddy darted over before anyone else saw the available broom and hooked his sledge up as quick as he could. The man on the broom went very fast, and Teddy enjoyed it at first, until he went faster and faster into the next street, and then he almost unhooked himself, but the man glanced back and nodded at him in a familiar way, almost as if they knew each other, so Teddy relaxed a bit. Each time he felt like he should let his sledge loose the man glanced back again, and Teddy stayed where he was; in this manner they flew over the snow and right out of Hogsmeade and into the country.
The snow fell thick and fast now, and Teddy could hardly see past his nose as they hurtled along, travelling faster than the wind. He tried to shout to the man on the broom, but it did no good; the snow snatched the words right out of his mouth.
Larger and larger the snowflakes grew, and then at last they slowed down, finally coming to a stop before tall white metal gates. The man on the broom dismounted, and when he came round Teddy saw that the man's outfit was all made of snow – and indeed, it was the Prince of Snow himself. Teddy had heard tales of the Prince of Snow before – he used to like them when he was little – and he was frightened, because the Prince of Snow was a powerful fairy and no one knew where he had come from, but it was said that he was cold and cruel.
"We have arrived," said the Prince of Snow, "but are you freezing?" And he took off his white snow cloak and placed it around him. Teddy could not help but shiver a little more, because it felt like he had sunk into a snowdrift, and the Prince looked at him again.
"Are you still feeling chilled?" he asked, bending down and pressing his lips to Teddy's forehead. It was colder even than the snow, and sunk right to Teddy's heart, which seemed as if it was already half-frozen – but only for a second, and then he was fine, and no longer felt the cold.
"See, cousin? Now you are feeling better," the Prince of Snow laughed, and Teddy was puzzled over the address, but then he kissed Teddy's cheek, and Teddy had no more thoughts of confusion or doubt, and remembered nothing of those he had left behind. "Ah! No more kisses for you," the Prince said as he leapt back onto his broom, "or I should kiss you to death!"
Teddy looked on the Prince's face and could think of no one more beautiful, or more clever, or more lovely than the Prince, for now that he did not appear to be made of ice he seemed to be perfect, and Teddy would willingly follow him. Then with a flick of his wand, the Prince caused the great white gates to open, and they flew inside and into the grounds of the Prince's Manor.
Third story, of the witch's library.
But what of Victoire, left behind at Hogwarts?
Well, she was not worried at first, because Teddy had been so awful to her, and she did not want to speak to him anyway, but when he did not show up at dinner the next night, she was concerned, and went to McGonagall. The Headmistress took her word seriously, and the others that had gone to Hogsmeade the day before were promptly summoned.
There was little information to be got from them; they remembered that Teddy had hooked his sledge to someone's broom, but who it was and where it went none of them knew, having been too caught up in their own fun. Headmistress McGonagall now looked very grave, and immediately was off to Hogsmeade, to interview the inhabitants.
Victoire held out hope during the night that Teddy would be found, and the next morning she waited eagerly outside Headmistress McGonagall's office. Instead, she learned that there had been no progress at all, and Teddy's godfather and grandmother had been sent letters about what happened. Now Victoire was a little more afraid, even though she knew that Teddy's godfather was the Head Auror, and very powerful, and besides that he loved Teddy very much.
Indeed, the opening of the investigation into Teddy's disappearance made the front pages of the Daily Prophet, and Victoire became a faithful reader of the paper, scouring it front and back for any updates every day.
At last spring came, and with it the warm sun, and an owl with a letter from Teddy's godfather himself.
Dear Victoire, the letter read, I am very sorry to have to give you this news, but the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is officially closing Teddy's case. I have kept it open for much longer than was technically allowed, given that there have been no leads since the very beginning, and now I am not being allowed any more excuses to do so. Unofficially, of course, you have my word that I will not stop searching. Regards, Harry Potter.
Victoire started weeping, right there in the Great Hall at breakfast, and when McGonagall saw her she took pity, and told the girl to skip her classes that day. It did not make Victoire feel any better, but she did take advantage to go outside and sit by the lake.
Now, there is something to be said about the nature of Veela, and that is that their emotions are much more moving to wizards, and also magical beasts and beings. Victoire, though only one-eighth Veela, still possessed a significant portion of this power, and so her crying by the lake inevitably drew the attention of some merpeople.
They felt the power of her distress quite acutely and poked their heads above water to ask her what had made her so sad. Victoire did not understand what they said – their speech was all screeches – but she couldn't help confiding in them that Teddy was gone and might be dead, and in response they shook their heads and ducked back underwater.
She thought that they were gone, and miserably tucked her head back into the crook of her arms to cry some more, but then another screech drew her attention back to the water. The merpeople had returned, and with them they brought along a little boat, which they pushed as close as they could to the shore, and with gestures made her understand that they wanted her to get in it.
Victoire was confused, but she knew better than to anger the merpeople, and so she got in the little boat, and the merpeople went beneath to guide it. They were swift swimmers, and soon they reached the other end of the lake, where a stream led off into the Forbidden Forest. Here, the merpeople gave the boat an extra push, and when Victoire turned around, she saw them waving her farewell from the safety of the lake.
The waters of the river at its mouth were very turbulent, and Victoire was left gripping the sides of the boat in terror that she would be flung out onto the rocks to her death. It seemed a long time before the river was calm, but the sun was still high in the sky when Victoire was able to unclench her fingers from the wood.
Now that she could look around, Victoire could appreciate how the Forest was blooming with springtime flowers and plants and was very beautiful, but there was no one in sight. She wondered if the merpeople knew where Teddy was, and had sent her this way on purpose, and this made her feel a little better as she sat and watched the green banks go by.
As the sun began to dip closer to the horizon, the river at last began to exit the Forest, the trees growing farther and farther apart, until suddenly she was traveling through a large orchard, and up ahead there was a small cottage near the banks.
"Hello?" Victoire shouted, hoping that someone was home, because she did not want to be stuck out on the river in the night. "Hello, is anyone there?"
An old woman with a pinched face poked her head out the door, and when she spotted Victoire in the boat in the river she rushed to the shore immediately.
"You poor little child! How in Merlin's name have you ended up on the river!" Belying her aged appearance and stuffy robes, the old woman strode into the water up to her knees and used her cane to catch hold of the boat, pulling it ashore so that Victoire could clamber out onto dry ground. Victoire was a bit wary of the strange old woman, but she was grateful to be on solid ground again.
"Come and tell me who you are and how you have come to be here," the old woman insisted, and led Victoire inside her house and put on some tea.
Victoire felt herself relax a little at the sight of the multitude of bookshelves that lined the walls, because she was convinced that nobody who loved books that much could be a bad person, and so she told the old woman her entire story and asked her if she hadn't seen Teddy.
The old woman had not. "But," she said, as Victoire's face dropped, "that is not to say he will not pass by soon. Do not look so sad, my dear! Here, have some tea and taste my Cherries Jubilee."
Victoire was rather hungry, so she did not refuse, and the cherries were remarkably good. While she ate, however, the old woman brought out an enchanted comb and began to brush Victoire's long, blond hair, and with every stroke Victoire forgot a little more about Teddy.
If the old witch had offered her name, Victoire might have recognized it, for it was Irma Pince, who had once been the librarian at Hogwarts, but she had retired just before Victoire started her first year. Unfortunately, Madam Pince found that retirement was a very lonely profession, and as soon as she saw that the lovely Victoire was admiring her book collection she had decided she wanted to keep her.
"I've so longed to have such a pretty, smart little girl who loves books," the old woman said, brushing away with her enchanted comb. "We shall get on so well!"
And so Victoire stayed with the old woman, happy to be surrounded by such a wonderful collection of pristinely kept books, and she read away every hour of the day that she was not sleeping or chatting pleasantly about books with the old witch.
Sometimes she felt that something was missing, but she could not say what until one day in her reading she happened upon a chapter which talked about the abilities of the Metamorphmagi, and then the comb's enchantment was broken, for she remembered Teddy quite clearly.
"Oh! I have been delayed so long," Victoire cried. "I had been going to find poor Teddy – do you know where he is? Do you suppose he is dead?"
"I would not know," said the book in her lap, "for his story is not yet within my pages."
Victoire thanked it, and tried another book, and then another, but they all knew only their own stories and tales, and told her a great many things, but none knew a word of Teddy. She felt rather frustrated by the end of her interviews, but also a little hopeful, because if the books had known of Teddy then she would have been sure that he was really dead. And so she snuck out the back door of the house, thanking Merlin that the old hinges did not squeak, and she ran off into the wide world.
Now that she had looked up from her books, Victoire saw that it was late autumn, with a chill in the air, and she had been months and months at the old witch's house.
"How long I have been delayed!" Victoire despaired. "I cannot rest any longer!"
And she ran on further, not stopping for anything except the barest rest.
Fourth story, the Lady Editor and her husband
Victoire went on for some days without seeing anyone at all, until a large raven hopped right up to her as she took a rest by a stream.
"Caw! Caw!" he said. "Where are you going all alone?"
Victoire understood some of his speech, and so she told him her story, and asked him if he had not seen Teddy. The Raven bobbed his head and said, "It may be – it may be!"
"What, really?" Victoire cried joyfully.
"I think I know," said the Raven, "but if it is your Teddy, he has forgotten you for the Lady Editor."
"Does he live with her?" Victoire asked.
"Yes – listen, if you can speak the raven language it will be easier to tell."
"I have not learnt it," said Victoire, with regret. Many Veela did learn how to communicate with birds, being distant relatives of magical birds, but she had only learnt a little. "My grandmother speaks it, and Gobbledygook, too. I wish I had."
"I shall tell you as well as I can, then," said the Raven, and he began his story.
"In the land we are now in there lives a wonderful Lady who lives in a castle, and she is called the Editor. She is extraordinarily clever, because she has read all the articles in the world and forgotten them again – that is how very clever she is! Lately, she was humming a song that went like this: 'oh, why should I not be married?'
'That is a song not without its meaning,' the Lady Editor decided, and then she was determined to be married, but she wanted a husband who was good to talk to, and not one who was only pretty, for that is very boring and tiresome. So, she gathered up all of her writers and she told them what she wished, and they were all delighted."
"You may believe me that it is the truth," the Raven assured her, "because my sweetheart's roost is on the top of the Lady Editor's castle, and she heard all of this."
Victoire nodded, eager to hear the rest of the tale.
"Well, the next magazine went out with hearts on all the borders, and an invitation to all men who wished to come to the castle and speak to the Lady Editor, and whoever she felt spoke best she would marry. There was an excellent response to the advert – I could not keep track of how many men came, but it was at least twice as many the number of claws I have! But none of them impressed the Lady Editor; they all talked well enough outside, but as soon as they got inside all they could do was repeat the last word the Lady Editor said, and to hear that again was not very interesting."
"But what about Teddy?" Victoire asked impatiently.
"Patience," the Raven said. "The third day after the advert had gone out, a man came walking up – not by Apparition or Portkey like the others – and he had bright shiny eyes, beautiful long hair, and shabby clothes."
"Yes, that could be Teddy," Victoire decided. His clothes would definitely have been shabby, and his hair long after so many months.
"He had a knapsack on his back," said the Raven.
"Are you sure it was not his sledge?"
"That may be," admitted the Raven, "I did not look so closely, but I know from my sweetheart that he was not abashed or intimidated by the suitors that were lounging about; he merely nodded at them and went right in, boldly going right up to the Lady Editor at her copy machine."
"And did he get the Lady Editor?" Victoire asked, afraid of the answer. Her heart felt like it might leap right out of her throat.
"Oh, yes. He was courteous and spoke very well, and in fact had not known of the advert at all, having only come to seek the Lady Editor's wisdom. She pleased him, and he pleased her."
"Surely that was Teddy," Victoire said. "He was so humble. Can you take me there? I have come so far; I can't go home without seeing him."
"That is easy," said the Raven. "I shall lead you there directly."
The Raven was as good as his word; by short flights and hops he led her down the path to the residence of the Lady Editor, but when it was in view Victoire could see that it was not so much a castle as a large stone building shaped like a rook, which she supposed to a raven might indeed look a bit like a castle.
Surrounding the house was a dilapidated, but somehow charming fence made of wooden rails, and Victoire observed all sorts of odd and unique plants within the garden. Another raven fluttered down to meet the first as they approached the gate, and she supposed this must be his sweetheart.
There were two signs tacked onto the gate, and once she was close enough, Victoire could make out that they said: 'Editor of the Quibbler – L. Lovegood' and 'Pick Your Own Mistletoe.'
Well, Victoire had no idea what mistletoe had to do with anything, but she did recognize the Quibbler, and the name Lovegood. She had met Luna Lovegood on several occasions, but did not recall her very well, or remember whether or not she was a magazine editor.
"Go on!" The Raven cawed in encouragement as she hesitated in front of the gate. "Your Teddy may be inside!"
Victoire took a deep breath and opened the gate, and then strode as quickly as she could up the little path to the door, and firmly rapped her knuckles against it before she could think twice. The door was opened promptly, and on the other side of it stood a man with sandy brown hair and freckled, tanned skin, with clothes rumpled from his midafternoon nap, and holding a teapot.
"Hallo," he said, blinking at her, "can I help you?" He was quite genuine, but Victoire was nervous and flustered, and all she could manage to say was, "Teddy."
The man was rather befuddled by this answer, and so he did the only thing he could think to do, which was invite her inside and get her seated on the sofa with a cup of tea. Then he sat in an armchair and they sat both sipping their tea silently and feeling very awkward.
"Victoire!" a voice cried from behind in delight, "I knew you'd be here soon!"
Victoire nearly spilt her tea, she turned so quickly, and who was there but Luna Lovegood! Her hair was tied up in a colorful kerchief, and her overalls and shirt were covered in paint stains, and she beamed brightly at Victoire.
"You knew I was coming?" Victoire asked, puzzled.
"Well, of course," Luna said, "your name was on the calendar." She gestured at a large calendar tacked to the wall, and Victoire saw that on today's date, written in sparkly rainbow ink, it said, 'Victoire – afternoon tea'.
"If you're Victoire," said the man in the armchair, "who's Teddy?"
"Victoire, meet Rolf," Luna said, waving a hand at the man, "he is my betrothed."
Rolf smiled, and turned quite pink.
"Teddy is my – he's my best friend," Victoire told him. "He went out on his sledge and disappeared last Yule."
"Oh no, that won't do," Luna cried, moving to sit next to Victoire on the sofa. "We must hear the whole story, or else how will we help you look for him?"
"You're going to help me?" Victoire was surprised, because Luna was a grownup, and she had thought for certain that she would be sent back home right away, and not be allowed to go on searching for Teddy. She had set out on her journey unintentionally, but now was determined to see it through.
"I think that you are the only one who can find him," Luna told her, with all the seriousness of a prophecy. Victoire gulped and began her story right away.
She did as she was asked and started right at the beginning, leaving no part out, and when she was done Luna looked thoughtful.
"You must go to the land of Wiltshire," Luna said firmly, and Rolf and Victoire looked at her in surprise.
"Wiltshire?"
"That is where the Prince of Snow lives," Luna told them.
"The Prince of Snow has taken Teddy?" Victoire exclaimed. "But why?"
"The family resemblance, I suspect."
Victoire did not know what to make of that, and turned to look at Rolf to see if he had understood what Luna meant, but he only shrugged, just as equally in the dark as she was.
"It is decided, then," Luna nodded. "You will stay here tonight, and in the morning we shall send you off to Wiltshire."
Fifth story, the robber girl
The next morning, Luna and Rolf gave Victoire a broom, a knapsack full of provisions, and some warm clothes, because she had started her journey in fine weather, but now it was beginning to be chilly.
Victoire had an early start, and the Raven even flew alongside her for a few kilometers, regretfully turning back when the sun rose higher. The broom was not particularly speedy, but it was sturdy and reliable, and by late afternoon Victoire thought she might be near Wiltshire, but she'd seen no sign of the Prince of Snow, so when her stomach growled she at last decided to stop and eat.
Below her, cutting through the fields, was a small stream, and Victoire angled down to land beside it, in a copse of trees at its banks. She was just digging through her knapsack for some food when she felt the hard press of a wand against the back of her neck.
"What's a nice little Veela like you doing out here all alone, huh?" said the woman behind her, and Victoire froze in fear. From the trees around her emerged at least a dozen other unsavory characters, who all looked at Victoire with greedy eyes.
Victoire had heard stories from her grandmother of Veela who were kidnapped for nefarious purposes – to exploit their hair, their magic, their allure – and although she probably stood no chance against so many, and she would be breaking the rule against underage magic, Victoire began to carefully shift her hand inside her pack to the pocket where her wand was stored.
"How plump and beautiful she is!" The woman continued, poking her a little harder with her wand. "Come on, girl, stand up."
Victoire had not been able to get to her wand, but it seemed unwise to her to refuse or delay obeying, and so on shaking legs, she stood. As she did, the woman gave a surprised cry, and Victoire turned to see that a child, a girl no older than ten, was hanging on the woman's back, and had bit her ear.
"You naughty child!" The woman cried. "What do you want?"
"I want her to play with me!" cried the little robber girl. "She is so pretty, and I will make her give me her cloak and sleep at my feet!"
And with that, she bit her mother's ear again, so that she jumped and howled in pain, and the other robbers laughed and said, "Look at Alecto Carrow, cowed by her own daughter!"
That name caused another jolt of fear within Victoire, because she recognized it as belonging to a Death Eater that had long evaded capture after the Final Battle, and now she was glad that she had not managed to get her wand to try and fight them.
Victoire was instructed to mount a broom behind Alecto and her daughter, who swept the cloak off of her shoulders and bundled herself up in it happily. The other robbers all got on their own brooms and took off in formation with her in the middle. They flew across miles of countryside until they reached a deep, dark wood, and in the middle of it was a large house, with a courtyard in the center where many magical beasts lay chained.
There they landed, and the robber girl jumped off the broom and seized Victoire's hand like a vice, dragging her along as she went into the house.
"You can call me Mel," she said. "You're going to sleep with me and all my pets."
The room that Mel brought Victoire into was full of animals: there was a Hippogriff in the corner, small and thin from captivity, a couple of Augureys in a large cage hung from the ceiling, a mooncalf that looked at her with wide, mournful eyes, a few pygmy owls, and several others that she did not recognize.
"They are all mine," Mel said, seizing one of the pygmy owls and shoving it in Victoire's face. "Give us a kiss!"
Victoire gave the poor cowering bird a gentle kiss, and then winced as Mel tossed it aside carelessly. "Up there are two good-for-nothings; they would fly directly off if not fastened up," she said, pointing up at the Augureys, "and here is my dear Fleetwing!"
The Hippogriff shied away from her touch, revealing a copper ring around its neck decorated with runes which kept it from running away.
"Poor little Fleetwing," Mel laughed, "every night I tickle his chin with my knife; he is so frightened of it!" She drew a long knife from somewhere within her clothing and twirled it teasingly beneath the Hippogriff's head. It kicked out with one of its forelegs so that Victoire and Mel were obliged to back away, but the robber girl laughed at it, and turned away in order to drag Victoire to sit on her bed.
"You must not be afraid of me," Mel told her, "they won't kill you unless I am displeased. Now, tell me the truth, are you a princess?"
"No," Victoire said, and then she related to the robber girl her story; how she was looking for her best friend Teddy, and how much she cared about him.
Mel nodded very seriously when she was done. "They won't kill you, even if I am angry; then I should do it myself."
Victoire was not sure this was any comfort at all, but she said nothing more, and did her best to smile. Mel did not let her leave the room, and after they ate the dinner that was brought to them by one of the robber men, she insisted that Victoire share her bed.
"But are you going to sleep with your knife?" Victoire asked her, when she did not put it away before she clambered beneath the blankets.
"I always sleep with it," said Mel. "Who knows what might happen?"
Victoire shivered a little at her words, and Mel, thinking that she was still cold, wrapped her arms around Victoire, with the knife just below her chin.
"Tell me of Teddy again, and your travels to find him," Mel demanded. Victoire spoke immediately, telling it once more from the start, and soon Mel was fast asleep, snoring quite loudly, but Victoire did not dare stop speaking until her story was finished, afraid of the knife at her throat.
When she was finished, Victoire still could not fall asleep, kept awake by the sounds of the robbers out in the courtyard singing and drinking, and Alecto Carrow's high cackle was the loudest of them all.
Then, from above, the Augureys spoke. "We have seen whom you speak of," they said. "Months and months ago, when we lived east of here. The Prince of Snow passed by on his white broom, towing behind him a boy on a sledge. And we know it was he, for everywhere he goes there is always snow and ice."
"Oh, thank you!" Victoire said, as quietly as she could, to avoid waking Mel. "Do you know where the Prince of Snow went?"
"No doubt he is in his Manor of Ice," the Augureys said, "but the Hippogriff can confirm it, for he used to live near there."
Victoire turned her head the barest amount she dared, and she saw Fleetwing looking at her, and nodding his head in confirmation of what the Augureys had said.
"Poor Teddy!" Victoire lamented, but then Mel shifted a little in her sleep, bringing the knife against her skin again, and Victoire decided it was best to not speak.
In the morning, Victoire told Mel what the Augureys had told her, and the robber girl solemnly said, "Of course, of course. That's no matter. Do you know how to get to the Manor of Ice?"
This she directed at Fleetwing, who again nodded eagerly.
"Let me think now," Mel scratched her chin with her knife, "all the others are away now except my mother, but she will start drinking soon, and then afterwards she always needs a nap – see! I will help you!"
Mel leapt out of bed and went out to the courtyard, Victoire following a careful distance behind. Alecto Carrow was there, rummaging through the robbers' loot, and Mel jumped directly on her back without fear, crying, "Good morning, my old hag!"
Alecto jabbed her daughter with her wand with vicious affection. "What do you want, little imp?"
"I want to play with the Veela's wand!"
Alecto shook her daughter off her back and frowned down at her cruelly. Victoire, watching from a shadow, caught her breath in suspense.
"Alright," Alecto said at last, "bring me my flask, and then I'll give it to you."
Mel smiled sharply and bounded off to fetch it, and shortly she was in possession of Victoire's wand. It did not take long for Alecto to drink her flask dry, and soon she was so deeply asleep that not even a Jobberknoll's last cry would have woken her.
Then Mel went to Fleetwing and said, "I will be sad to see you go, because you are such fun to tickle with my knife, but if I let you go, you must promise to take this Veela girl to the Manor of Ice so she can find her love."
Victoire blushed prettily, and wished she could protest, although it was true. Fleetwing bent his head in agreement, and Victoire bowed to him gratefully. Mel lifted Victoire's wand to the copper collar and said a spell that Victoire had never heard before, but the runes vanished at her words, and Fleetwing shook his head in delight.
Mel helped her get seated on Fleetwing's back, and then passed Victoire her wand and knapsack, freshly filled with provisions once more. Victoire's eyes began to fill with grateful tears, but Mel shook her head.
"Stop that; you can't be sad now," Mel said sternly. "Off with you, before the others return!"
Fleetwing took off before Victoire could finish saying goodbye; the remains of her farewell were left on the breeze.
Sixth story, the Slytherin friends.
Fleetwing had a good start, but the Hippogriff was weak from his captivity, and needed frequent rests, so they did not get very far the first day, but the second day Victoire began to have a little hope, because ahead of them the land was all covered in a light layer of snow, and she knew it must mean they were close to the Prince of Snow's Manor of Ice.
Near the end of the second day, they spotted a large house, and Fleetwing took them down to it, for they both hoped to find some warm shelter there. They were both very cold, Victoire especially, because the robber girl, for all her assistance, had not returned Victoire's cloak to her. The outside of the house did not seem welcoming, and its façade was very gloomy, but Victoire went up and knocked upon the door anyway.
A woman all dressed in green answered the door, and when she saw Victoire and Fleetwing she said, "Dear Merlin! What are you doing out in the cold without a cloak!"
She bustled Victoire inside, and directed Fleetwing to the stables, where he might find food more suited to his taste. Victoire found herself seated at an elegant dining table with the woman in green and two other men, whose attire was also of a similar color. The woman in green was called Pansy, and her friends were Theo and Blaise. They had been friends ever since they had been in Slytherin House together at Hogwarts.
"Do you know how far the Manor of Ice is from here?" Victoire asked, and all three of them exchanged a glance.
"Why do you want to go there?" Theo asked her.
Victoire related to them the whole story of how Teddy had gone missing and what had happened to her so far. The three Slytherin friends were much affected by the story, and Pansy even looked close to tears.
"Whatever could he have been thinking?" Blaise said to himself, lost in his thoughts.
"I don't know! He only wanted to have some fun in the snow," Victoire replied, not realizing that the question had not been directed at her.
"Do you think this could be the answer?" Theo asked Pansy, gesturing at Victoire.
"I almost want to Floo the Aurors," Pansy admitted, and Victoire's heart leapt into her throat. "But I think you might be right, and I am selfish."
All three of them turned to consider Victoire, and she shrunk back in her chair beneath their gazes.
"Well, then you shall stay with us tonight, my dear, and in the morning we will direct you and your Hippogriff in the right direction." With that, Pansy clapped her hands, and a feast appeared on the table in front of them.
Victoire was very hungry, and ate until she was quite full and falling asleep in her chair, but she was not so asleep that she did not hear the conversation that the three Slytherin friends had as she dozed.
"Could we give her something?" Blaise asked – or, she thought it was Blaise, but it was difficult to tell.
"Yes! A charm, or an artifact, perhaps?" That was definitely Pansy.
"No, we cannot," said Theo. "You know nothing has done us any good before, and anything else will alert him to her presence."
Were they speaking of the Prince of Snow? Victoire wondered, and in her half-slumber she tried to hear them more clearly.
"Teddy Lupin must have got at least one shard in him," said Blaise. "I do not think highly of her chances."
"You only say that because none have ever succeeded," Theo accused.
"Look at her!" cried Pansy. "She has got so far already on her own power that she surely has a great deal of Light within her – it must be possible!"
"I never said it was impossible," Blaise defended himself. "I wish her to be as lucky as Felix Felicis."
That was all that Victoire heard, for sleep at last fully claimed her. When she awoke, the three Slytherin friends had prepared a large breakfast so that she might eat well before she left, and they all stepped outside to see her off and give Fleetwing his direction.
"We can give you no more power than what you already have," Pansy said, kissing her forehead, "but I think it will be more than enough."
Victoire smiled and thanked her, and then Fleetwing leapt into the air, much refreshed and eager to journey on.
It was not, in fact, much farther to the Manor of Ice, and when Fleetwing touched down before the gates it was no later than noon, although Victoire could not have known that, because a blizzard had descended upon them. She got off of Fleetwing's back and approached the gate nervously, looking to see if there was any way to open it. They appeared to be firmly shut, until Victoire touched one of the bars – then they swung inwards silently, revealing the Manor beyond.
"Fleetwing,you are free to go," Victoire told the Hippogriff. "Once I find Teddy, he will be able to Apparate us out, for he has got a license already."
Fleetwing bowed his head, and Victoire took a deep breath and walked bravely on towards the Manor of Ice.
Seventh story, what happened in the Manor of Ice, and afterwards
But what of Teddy? It is sure that he was not thinking of Victoire, and least of all that she was standing just outside the Manor of Ice.
The walls of the Manor were encased in a thick layer of ice; if anything lay beneath them it was not possible to tell. Vast, cold, and empty were the halls of the Prince of Snow, and laughter and mirth were not heard there. There never seemed to be day or night, only constant whiteness.
In the middle of the largest, emptiest room was a frozen lake whose surface was cracked in a thousand pieces and yet still joined together. The Prince of Snow called it his Mirror of Understanding, and when he was home he would sit in the middle of it and declare it the best thing in the world.
Teddy was quite blue with cold, but he did not notice it, because the Prince of Snow had kissed away the feeling of cold, and his heart was fully ice. He played with some pointy, flat pieces of ice, which he moved and rearranged constantly. He made all sorts of complicated figures, for it was an ice-puzzle for the understanding, and Teddy considered it very beautiful and of the utmost importance, because the shards of mirror in his eye and heart made it so.
The Prince of Snow himself had set him that puzzle when he first arrived, and said, "If you solve it, you will be free of this place, and I will make you a present of the whole world and a new broomstick." Thus far, Teddy had been unable to work it out, but still he tried, moving the pieces over and over.
At the moment, the Prince of Snow was not in his Manor, because it hurt his head to be around Teddy for too long. He did not know why he had brought the boy back with him, but he kept having the oddest thoughts that pained him, and the only way to stop it was to cause a snowstorm somewhere in the world. So away he had gone, and Teddy sat all alone in the empty halls of ice, staring benumbed at his bits of ice.
That was how Victoire found him, when she entered the Manor, and she immediately ran to his side, crying out, "Teddy, Teddy! Is it you?"
He was so cold and blue, and his hair was its natural color, which he rarely kept, preferring bright pink or green, and at the sound of voice he looked at her briefly, but there was something sharp and shiny about his eyes, and Victoire was frightened.
"Oh, Teddy, please come back to me," she sobbed, embracing him, and it was so cold that her tears burned her cheeks as they rolled down and dripped onto Teddy's exposed collar.
Suddenly, Teddy's hair turned a shocking blue, for Victoire's tears had gone right in and thawed his heart and melted away the mirror shards, and Teddy began to remember himself.
"Don't I know you?" he asked, but this only made her cry harder, and then Teddy found that he was crying, too. His tears swept the other mirror shard out of his eye, and then at last he knew her.
"Victoire! How did you get here? And where are we?" He looked around the hall and shivered. "How cold it is – empty, ugly, and cold!"
Victoire could give no answer but to laugh, her tears turned from sad to happy, and she kissed his cheeks and his forehead, and his eyelids, which grew warm and rosy beneath her touch.
"I think you missed a spot," said Teddy, and he tapped his lips teasingly.
"Teddy!" Victoire was flustered, but she had wanted to kiss him for so long that she leaned forward and did just that. Teddy was both astonished and pleased that she had done so.
They were both busily engaged for several minutes, and probably would have been for a good many more, when there was a loud crack, followed by: "Teddy!? Victoire?!"
Victoire looked up in embarrassment, but Teddy said cheekily, "Hello, Harry!"
Teddy's godfather went through several different emotions, ranging from shock to anger, but he finally settled on relief, and fell on the both of them, pulling them into a tight embrace.
"We've looked for you both for so long," he said. "I'm so glad you're safe."
"How did you get here?" Victoire asked.
"Teddy's emergency beacon activated," said Harry, and Victoire and Teddy blushed, because it must have been by accident while they were kissing, "and I was already in the area, because we'd finally tracked down Alecto Carrow."
Victoire wondered how they'd done that, but then she remembered that Mel had used her wand, and it still had the Trace on it.
"Where are we, anyway?" Harry asked them. He had Apparated without knowing where he was going.
"The Manor of Ice," Victoire told him. "It is where the Prince of Snow lives."
"The Prince of Snow, huh? I have a bone to pick with him," Harry said.
"He wasn't that bad," Teddy said quickly, "he was just… a bit cold? And I'm the one that tied my sledge to his broom in the first place."
But Harry was past being swayed by Teddy's arguments; his mind was cast back to many years ago, in the middle of the War, when his lover had been killed by the Prince of Snow – so it was said – and he would not hear any good of him.
"Is he here, Teddy? Tell me where the Prince of Snow is!"
The Prince of Snow had entered the hall while Harry made his demand and stood watching them uninterestedly. He was considering what to do with the people that he had not invited to his Manor when his gaze fell on the puzzle that he had set Teddy to completing.
"You have solved it," he said, in astonishment. "Love? What is that?"
Teddy and Victoire looked, and sure enough, the ice pieces were perfectly lined up together, and formed the word love. Harry, however, had no eyes for the ice; as soon as he heard the Prince of Snow's voice he was ready to blast him with a spell, but at the sight of him his wand arm dropped back to his side.
"Draco?" Harry said, with a crack in his voice.
The Prince of Snow was unmoved. "I do not know that name," he replied.
Harry was undeterred and strode forward to wrap his arms around the Prince of Snow, breaking into great ugly sobs. Victoire and Teddy watched curiously as Harry's tears fell on the Prince of Snow's chest, and a flush began to creep across his skin, until he looked alive again. Then the Prince of Snow looked down at Harry, still crying uncontrollably, and exclaimed, "Harry? What's wrong?"
"They told me you were dead, Draco," Harry said tearfully.
Draco shook his head. "No, my love; I'm here." They were quite wrapped up in each other, and Teddy and Victoire felt awkward standing there observing their reunion.
Victoire looked around the hall instead and saw that all the ice was melting, and little streams of water were making their way across the floor. The air was steadily growing warmer, and cracks started to form in the ice, until pieces of it began to fall from the walls and ceiling.
"I think we need to get out of here!" Victoire said, and the urgency in her voice caught the attention of the others.
"You're right," said Harry, pulling them close as a large ice chunk crashed down from the ceiling. "Let's go home."
Harry Apparated them directly to Grimmauld Place, from where he Floo-called Victoire's parents, and Teddy's grandmother, and soon the whole house was full of their family, all exclaiming over Victoire and Teddy, and even Draco, because his evil Death Eater father had told everyone he was dead a long time ago.
The three Slytherins came by, too, and embraced Draco with joyful tears, though he could hardly be separated from Harry's side for more than a few moments, and Pansy thanked Victoire profusely. Victoire had hoped to see Luna upon her return, but she and Rolf had gone abroad together, to look for the Crumple-Horned Snorkack. She also learned from Harry, later, that the robber girl Mel had been found by the Aurors and sent to her cousins' house.
Unfortunately, Victoire and Teddy had missed quite a lot of school, but they weren't disappointed, since they were going back together, because all they wanted was to never be parted from the other ever again.