I am so sorry for going away unannounced; I needed to take a break from this story after the last chapter, but not in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would be absent for THIS long. A lot of stuff happened during the time I was gone that I did not expect; both good and bad. But you guys are here for the chapter that took almost seven months to arrive, so I'm not going to bore you. I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Hagara had been recovering well, but she was still in a deep sleep. Yesterday had probably been one of the worst days in Lily's life; she had watched the whole thing, and if not for all the magic in place to prevent the dragon from getting out and people from getting in, she would have jumped in to save her daughter. It still haunted her mind; the screams of her daughter as she literally welded her stomach back together with her own weapon that Lily knew burned how enough to make a room heat up after just a few moments of the weapon being on.
The dragon was nothing like the dragons the other champions had to face. It was so much larger and much more vicious than they had been. Why that thing was even allowed in the competition was completely beyond her, it was utter lunacy to have the thing. Any of the other competitors would have died against that beast; hell, even Hagara surviving had been little more than luck.
The worst thing had been after the battle was over. She had carried her daughter back with several others; bile rose to the top of her throat. She remembered grabbing Hagara's burnt arm, only for the skin to peel off like someone taking off a shirt, it had nearly caused her to throw up then, and it still did now; the dead, charred skin, the reeked, and the bloody red flesh underneath.
Several doctors had to be called in from across the Wizarding World to mend Hagara. They only left when everything was back under control again, and Hagara was stable. Lily had spent the whole night with Hagara, only leaving one time to go to the bathroom, and that had been a very stressful and quick venture. When she returned, so many people were surrounding her daughter, who had had some sort of nightmare or pain spike while she was away.
She knew she shouldn't feel guilty for being in the bathroom when Hagara had gone through that, but she did. She was once again not with Hagara when Hagara needed her most.
Ever since then, she had refused to leave Hagara's side, not for anything, not until she was better. She wasn't going to leave; she wasn't going to leave, never, not until Hagara was back on her own two feet and telling Lily off for fluttering around her.
"Lily, are you okay?" The soft voice of Dumbledore asked from behind her. Lily had not noticed anyone entering.
"I am supposed to protect her." Lily cried softly, her voice broken as she looked at her daughter, more bandage than skin.
"Are you not doing that now?" Dumbledore asked softly from behind her; as his ancient hand rested on her shoulder in a comforting gesture.
"The only time she needed help, I wasn't even here." Lily bemoaned, tears prickling her eyes as she looked upon the broken state of her daughter. "When she fought the dragon, I could do nothing but watch." Tears were falling down her face now. "I haven't been with her, her entire life, every scar; every mark on her body is a time I failed to be there to protect her, to comfort her. I failed." Lily was crying now, tears pouring down her face in vicious streams.
"You cannot always be there to help her through every trouble Lily, but you can help her in the troubles that are presented to you." Dumbledore stated softly, patting her shoulder before walking out from behind her to sit down on a chair opposite the side of the bed Lily was on.
Dumbledore looked haggard from what could only be a lack of sleep. Large bags sat under his eyes, hidden partly by his half-moon spectacles; his beard did not seem as well-kempt either, while not messy by any means, it was a notable drop in quality. His robes did not reflect his appearance, though; they were yellow, white, purple, and black; fading from one to the other in thick lines. It was probably one of his calmer outfits, yet no less interesting and beautiful in its own unique way. Yet, it did little to distract Lily from Hagara's current state.
"How has she progressed?" Dumbledore asked softly as he looked across Hagara, the twinkle utterly absent from his eyes.
"Madam Pomfrey and the other healers did an amazing job, but Hagara is still not awake." Tears fell down her face as she spoke, but they were not as heavy as they had once been. "She doesn't know any magic. How was she supposed to fight that dragon?" Lily cried.
"She has her own skills, outside of our own, and they served her well, but no one could have prepared to face that dragon." Dumbledore stated, gently setting his hand on the bed and looking between Lily and Hagara.
"But what if she didn't? She would have been defenseless. She would have died!" Lily cried out, anger and grief swallowing her.
"But she did have her powers. We can't think about the other possibility; it will get us nowhere." Dumbledore stated softly, his voice a comfort to Lily.
"Too much has happened in the last month." Dumbledore stated softly. "When she is out of bed, how about you take her home; let her meet Sirius and Remus. It will do you both a lot of good, especially you, Lily; you need to get back to what is familiar."
"What about her classes? How is she supposed to get better at magic if she doesn't go to any of them?" Lily asked softly, reaching out to grab one of Hagara's bandaged hands and held it gently in her own.
"She seems to find the library far more useful than any teacher." Dumbledore chuckled as he looked at the still resting woman.
"What do you mean?" Lily asked, confused.
"Hagara has only consistently gone to Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts, and she seems to enjoy annoying both Alastair and Minerva. Every other class, she has skipped more than she has arrived, and she has only been to one Herbology class, where she lost three hundred house points." Dumbledore smiled knowingly at Hagara. "She doesn't work well with Wizards. She is much too practical."
Lily didn't know what to feel at that moment, shock at the revelation that her daughter had been skipping basically every class, angry due to Dumbledore not informing her sooner, or further regret as her daughter still hadn't found any peace within this world. "It is not your fault for her not taking classes; she isn't a child, something we all seem to forget. Give her space; it will do her well in the end." Dumbledore stated softly before rising from his seat and leaving, leaving Lily alone with her daughter once again.
Perspective Shift: Hagara
Her body stung, burned, and ached, though she had been lit on fire and thrown around like a rag doll, so she really wasn't that surprised that she felt all that when she began to regain consciousness. She was happy, though, despite all the pain; because in her mind, she heard the steady beat of Ashara's heart, and it was beautiful.
The beating was a constant, which could be easily pushed to the side when needed, but it was also something to fall into to relax, something she would much rather do than face the outside world. But she could hear people gathering around her, talking, it was only a matter of time till they realized she was no longer out, and she hated waiting.
Opening her yellow eyes, she looked at the small gathering of people around her. She recognized Lily and Pomfrey, but she did not recognize the redheaded man standing alongside them, though if she had to guess, he was just a few years older than her.
"Hagara, your awake!" Lily exclaimed, immediately drawing the attention of everyone else.
"Sleeping overtime has not done me any favors in the past." Hagara glowered, glaring at each and every one of them, not in the mood to be dealing with the sentimentality of Lily, Madam Pomfrey, who she hardly knew, and someone she had literally never met before. "How long have I been asleep?"
"Two days, with only one incident during the whole time." Pomfrey stated softly yet firm, a no-nonsense tone that Hagara hated.
"Incident?" Hagara asked softly, ignoring the dryness of her throat in favor of further questioning them on what had happened.
"Several hours after you were brought in here, you had an episode where you were crying and moaning while shifting around. Considering your state, I was surprised you could move at all. Other than that, everything was fine; your ribs have been mended, as well as the burns on your arms. The only thing that is still not fully healed is the wound across your stomach." Pomfrey explained, and Hagara listened to her with rapt attention; she knew better than to ignore her health.
That incident was most likely the time when I established a connection with Ashara. Hagara realized, before gritting her teeth, it was supposed to be a private moment; they should not have bothered her. Sighing, she let go of her stress. She did not need to cause any internal bleeding from working herself up.
"Then I can leave? Or will my stomach fall out if I get up now?" Hagara asked casually, though she did find amusement in the disgusted faces of those around her at the mention of such a gory possibility.
"Absolutely not! You were nearly dead only forty-eight hours ago, and now you want to go about? No! You are to sit in this bed till you are taken home with Lily." Pomfrey commanded; Hagara would have fought, but Madam Pomfrey had said something more substantial.
"Go home? To what home do you speak of? Because last I checked, you have no way of getting me back to my home." Hagara's glare was dangerous; they seemed to like getting straight to her touchy subjects.
"Hagara." Lily began softly, "I am taking you to my home. When Christmas comes, the Yule Ball will be going on, so I can't take you home then, so Dumbledore gave permission to go home now instead; well, a week from now, but you get the idea." Lily stated nervously, she did not want Hagara to reject her.
Something in Hagara really wanted to reject Lily's statement. Still, Hogwarts had not proven to be a particularly useful place to be, and going somewhere else might give her an opportunity to learn more about this world. "You said we are leaving next week?" Hagara asked lazily, though something in her grew warm upon seeing the bright smile across Lily's face. Damn it, she was becoming sentimental.
"Yes." Lily said softly, a smile filled with so much hope crossed her face it made Hagara scoff internally.
Turning her head, Hagara stated at Pomfrey, "I will not remain in this bed till then; that is absurd. I would much rather have my entrails drag behind me than to stay stuck here." Hagara proclaimed with a vicious glare; her yellow eyes speckled with purple as her ire rose.
"Pease, you need to stay here to rest. The healing takes from your magical reserves to allow the damage to repair quickly, but it exhausts you like not sleeping for a week." Pomfrey explained, somewhat alarmed by Hagara's previous proclamation.
"So my physical wounds are healed, and I am simply recovering right now?" Hagara asked, figuring if she was no longer injured, she would be able to leave this place; or escape it.
Pomfrey stiffened, seemingly going into a more professional pose and attitude. "No. The wound on your stomach is still healing, and the skin on your arms has not fully grown back yet. Cauterizing the wound on your stomach has slowed the healing process significantly, and dragon fire is notoriously slow to heal." Pomfrey stated, her tone leaving no room to argue; that wasn't going to stop Hagara, though.
"So my arms are a bit messed up, and my stomach still has a chance of falling out. Seems fine to me; I've dealt with worse before." Hagara stated, lying; well, partly lying. She had suffered a horrible injury involving the farming equipment that she was made to use as a slave, which tore up the entire front of her body. It had torn open her chest cavity before throwing her in the air and flinging her across the field, breaking both her arms when she landed; not to mention it ruined the whole crop with her blood. Luckily the whippings she received only began after she had healed. That had left her out of commission for an entire month, and it had only been two days with similar levels of injuries.
Of course, now she had a lot of experience as a Sith. She had been stabbed so many times having her stomach cut open shouldn't bother her; well, at least a stomach that was partly healed like her stomach was.
"-In no way fine, so yes, you will remain in this bed till you leave to Lily's home. I will spell you into that bed to make sure you stay as well." Pomfrey finished; Hagara did not remember when she had started.
"So I am allowed to leave when the injuries are gone?" Hagara smirked, knowing it would piss Pomfrey off.
Sighing, Pomfrey waved her wand at Hagara before turning around and returning to her work. "What did you do to me?" Hagara demanded, her eyes flashing dangerously; the doctor was much too bold.
"I put a sticking charm on you, so you aren't going to be leaving any time soon." Pomfrey stated before she continued back at her work, perfectly content with ignoring Hagara.
Lily chose that moment to approach, bringing with her the red-headed man. "Hagara, this is Charlie Weasley. He was the one who brought the dragons for the Tri-Wizard-
"I am not going to pay for injuring or killing your beast if that is what you can come to say." Hagara stated coldly, doing her best to look like she was serious despite the fact that she was currently laying on a soft bed covered in bandages and wearing a thin medical gown.
"I actually came here to apologize for the injuries that the Hungarian Horntail caused you." Weasley said, bemused as he looking at Hagara with mild amusement but also a lot of guilt. She hated when people looked at her with one of those expressions, but both really ticked her off.
"Whatever. Now, if you could go, I have a lot of things I need to get done, like laying on this bed as I am currently glued to it." Hagara deadpanned. Perhaps it was unwise to piss everyone off in her life, but she was currently glued to a bed, and she was allowed to be upset about it.
Weasley chuckled, his eyes full of mirth, another emotion that she did not like being looked at with. "You remind me of someone I knew when I went to Hogwarts; they were very outspoken and cunning and didn't really have much of a filter either, if I am being honest." Now he was making fun of her.
Hagara just continued to glare at him, her eyes slightly brighter than before. He eventually sighed and left, but he was still smiling to himself at the memory of his friend when he did so. It irked her, as it seemed he was making fun of her, though her reasonable mind knew that he was not.
"So, Lily, you are kidnapping me and dragging me to your home; before you do so, can you at least tell me what this place is like and how much I will suffer during this time?" Hagara slyly remarked, she may be feeling this strange sense of empathy, but even if she was as empathetic as a Jedi, she would never cease these types of torment.
"Well, we will be staying at our home in Godric's Hollow, so it is rather small. We have a lovely old tabby cat. How he is still alive is a mystery considering it is older than you- well… he is sixteen. Outside of the home is a small park, and it is only a little bit away from the Muggle world. I know Sirius and Remus will be excited to see you, though both of them are a bit busy right now, so they probably won't be able to be there the entire time. Other than that, it will be just you and me, unless James…" Lily didn't finish. Her husband was still missing, and mentioning him seemed to bring those memories up to the surface of Lily's consciousness, which was potentially a valuable weapon, but it probably wouldn't be needed. Hagara also wasn't even sure if this newfound empathy would allow her to use it as a weapon.
"So there is a cat, two other people with odd names, you, and a park… can you hand me my lightsaber so I can stab myself." Hagara asked lamely. If not for the lulling drum of Ashara's heartbeat in her mind, Hagara may have actually been serious, but she really just wanted to get a reaction out of Lily. The horrified look that filled Lily's face was beyond satisfying.
"You need to rest, Hagara, please." Lily sighed after a long moment, resting her hands on Hagara's shoulders to try and put some physical weight into her actions and words. Hagara just glared at her for a minute before sighing. "Fine, please just leave me be."
"I know that you probably don't want to go to sleep, so I might as well give this to you. It will give you something to do while you recover." Lily stated before reaching under the bed Hagara was on. A moment later, she popped back up, holding the Golden Egg that Hagara had fought the dragon to get. The egg was somewhat discolored, stained in Hagara's blood. She had not ever been a fan of gold, though, so she didn't mind; considering how Lily was holding the egg, she did mind as her hands avoided the bloodstains.
Lily gently sat the egg next to Hagara on the hospital bed. After setting it down, Lily made her way to the exit of the medical wing, it was evident that she was hesitant to leave Hagara, but after a long moment, she went through the door and closed it behind her. Hagara smiled softly, thankful that Lily had finally trusted her to be able to handle herself. She did not know why she was thankful, though.
Pushing that thought to the side for a moment, she let her ears get filled with the soft sound of Ashara's heartbeat, though it was not particularly soft at this moment. She wasn't fighting someone, her heart was too calm for that, but she seemed to be angry about something. Hagara smiled at the thought of Ashara, accidentally sending her own amused heartbeat to Ashara, which caused her heartbeat to flutter before calming down back to the angry drum of before, after a moment.
Hagara chuckled, trying her best to imagine a flustered Ashara in her mind. After gaining all the amusements she could from that idea, Hagara turned her mind back to the egg. It was golden and intricately carved with depictions of dragons and other fantastical creatures, though the most notable aspect of it was the creases on it that seemed to indicate that the egg could open. Which was somewhat disappointing; she had been hoping for a puzzle to be carved into the egg, hieroglyphs to study. No, it was probably just some dumb note inside; what else could be expected from these people? They had no imagination and no drive to learn.
A button sat at the top of the egg. How boring, they didn't even make it a puzzle to open it. Without any hesitation, she pushed the button and opened the egg. Screaming filled the room from the egg, the sound so loud that it made her ears pop. Hagara quickly slammed the egg shut, staring at it, waiting for someone to burst into the room to make sure everything was alright.
After a moment, no one came in, leaving Hagara to wonder if everyone else already knew that the egg was going to scream at her. She'd shock them later, get some payback for that jump scare. She could even hear a slight increase in Ashara's heartbeat from that scream; Hagara's own racing heart must have worried Ashara.
Sending a gentle push through the Force she felt Ashara's heartbeat calm down; she did not wish to worry her.
By the Force she missed Ashara, what she would not give to have her sitting where Lily had sat not a moment ago. She would be there, petting Hagara's hair, she would try to braid it in the way Hagara had taught her, but she would fail, but Hagara would still happily wear it. Ashara would sit kindly beside her; she would be a voice of reason for Hagara, preventing her stupidest ideas from coming to fruition. Perhaps she could even befriend Lily. That would be nice, wouldn't it?
Why would it be nice? Hagara wondered, when did Lily's likes and dislikes become something she was invested in?
Those thoughts were pushed from her mind as she felt Ashara send a soothing feeling to her through the Force; making her eyes bleary and her mind sluggish. How cruel of her to make Hagara be sensible. With a soft chuckle, Hagara allowed sleep to soon overtake her, Ashara's heartbeat filling her mind and soul as she drifted to oblivion.
Time Jump:
It was the day before Hagara was set to be kidnapped to Lily's house, though if being kidnapped meant escaping Madam Pomfrey, it would honestly be an improvement. Thankfully, she managed to convince Madam Pomfrey to allow her to use the baths before she departed Lily's home in Godric Hollow. Someone Madam Pomfrey had managed to convince Dumbledore to allow her to use the Prefect's Bathroom to do her bathing, as it was less busy and apparently safer than the other baths in Hogwarts. She didn't care that it was a nice bathroom; it could have been the worse bathroom in this school for all she cared; she just could not stand another one of those Force-forsaken cleaning spells; they were even worse than the dry showers often kept on ships.
She was thankful for having a private bath, but she really just wanted to reach the bathroom without difficulty, clean herself off properly and then continue on her day, even if her day solely consisted of sitting in a medical bed all day long.
She was being led through the castle by Lily, who had thankfully realized that Hagara just wanted to get cleaned up in peace, leaving the walk to the bathroom silent. A silence that was ruined as a boy in yellow robes approached; it was the other Tri-Wizard Champion, Cedric Diggory.
"Hagara, I just wanted to say that I am sorry that you got really hurt during your fight against the dragon." Cedric stated, falling into step with her. She glared at him, her yellow eyes taking on an eerie glow; he was lying to her.
"What do you actually want?" Hagara stated with a level voice, her darkening expression enough to make him tell the truth.
"I wanted to say that you might want to take your time in the baths to fully reflect on the Golden Egg; you might also want to dip it into the water to get the… blood off of it." Cedric muttered, his face downcast and his movements showing clear signs of nervousness; she stopped glaring at him, and he immediately brightened.
"I can get your egg for you and bring it up while you are still bathing." Lily commented as they continued to make their way to the baths.
"That would be appreciated." Hagara stated before turning her nose upward in a desperate bid to make herself not sound grateful. What was happening to her? What was with all this unconscious niceness?
"I'll get going then; I don't want to bother your... um, bath." Cedric's face grew warm before he ran away from her, leaving Lily and Hagara alone.
"I don't think he realizes that you are gay." Lily commented with a small laugh; Hagara just leveled her with a bored glare, her eyes a dull yellow that the tiniest bit of green could be seen behind it.
"If he asks you to the Yule Ball, please tell me the story; knowing you, it is bound to be interesting." Lily commented, surprising Hagara, she had not seen this viciousness streak in her moth- in Lily before.
"I imagine the story will have a lot of stabbing in it." Hagara said with a vicious smirk.
"Please don't." Lily begged though it came out as more of an exasperated sigh.
"Making promises is not the way of the Sith." Hagara stated blandly, though she was somewhat enjoying this conversation.
Lily just sighed in exasperation, though the faint smile on her face told Hagara that she too had enjoyed the banter. It did not last for long, though, as they arrived at the Prefect's Bathroom. Opening the door, Lily led Hagara inside to a room that was far too extravagant. Honestly, even as a Sith, she had found something of this magnitude too much.
The bathroom was massive, it had toilets and sinks of good quality, but the feature of this bath that was drawing all the attention was the bath. Really, bath was the wrong word for it, it was practically a swimming pool, and it had many faucets with handles of different colors; what those colors meant Hagara had no idea. Behind the bath was a massive stained glass mirror that moved on its own, similar to how everything else in this castle operated. All Hagara could really say about this enormous tub is that there had most certainly been a few orgies here in the past; it was practically inviting orgies with the size of it. That isn't even mentioning that this room has several toilets, which means multiple people are intended to be in here at once.
So yes, this bath has defiantly had orgies; probably a lot of them too.
"You can get into the bath and turn on as many faucets as you want, they all have different smelling soaps, and so I would recommend not turning them all on." Lily began looking at the massive bath, ignoring Hagara's look of disdain. If she noticed it, she would probably just think that Hagara was being normal anyway.
"I'll go get the Golden Egg if you want it, that is?" Lily asked.
"Yes, I would like to see what Cedric was trying to get at." Hagara stated while continuing to observe the empty bath.
"I'll knock when I get back." Lily stated before the sound of the door closing filled the room, followed immediately by deafening silence.
Hagara stood in the room for a long moment, enjoying the fact that the only sound she could hear was the soft heartbeat of Ashara that perpetually sat in the back of her mind. Based on the steady and slow rhythm of the beating heart, it seemed that she was asleep. With a soft smile that she shared for only a rare few, Hagara pushed comfort through their newly forged bond. Unconsciously, Ashara returned that comfort with her own, filling Hagara with warmth.
With a pleasant sigh, Hagara began undressing; she slipped off the outer robe she had been given for modestly, leaving her only in the medical gown that she had been put into. Slipping the gown off carefully, she avoided having the loose fabric pull on the bandages that still covered her stomach; when the gown was off, Hagara took note of the state of her body.
It seemed that all the injuries that she had sustained from her battle with the monster had healed, except for, of course, the wound on her stomach; though Madam Pomfrey had stated that Hagara could take the bandage off when she took a bath, which meant that the injury was almost healed. Her arms where she had been burned by the creature's fire were good as new, except, looking at her forearm, she noticed that the edge of her slave mark had been damaged by the fire. The skin that had healed over it was not in the same branded pattern as the skin before was.
Hagara stared at it with a mixture of emotions, the slave mark was damaged, and it furthered her from her past; for anyone who had never been a slave, it would have seemed like a complete and utter victory. But that brand had been with her as long as she could remember, and she also remembered being told every day that damaging the brand was the worst thing she could ever do. She would be punished for having her brand damaged, making it harder to recognize. But she was free of that now.
Dropping her arm to her side, Hagara turned her attention to the bandages on her stomach. Carefully she started to undo them; she unwrapped the bandages on her stomach; they were clean of all blood, having been changed regularly. After a minute, the final bit of it fell off her body, leaving her completely nude in the massive bathroom.
Looking down, she examined her toned stomach. There had once been a massive gash on her stomach that could be mistaken for something other than human; now though there was just a large scar that stretched across one side of her stomach to the other, the flesh was still tender, but it hardly needed bandages anymore. Though at this point, Hagara knew better than to challenge Madam Pomfrey; the woman was a force to be reckoned with, in all honesty, she probably had a better chance at winning a fight with the Emperor than with Madam Pomfrey.
With that amusing though Hagara walked over to the faucets and turned a couple of them on, smelling the soaps as they began running out of the pipes; she was surprised by how pleasant they were, the Empire hardly had anything like this, and it was impossible to find something like this on a ship.
The tub was filling surprisingly quickly, considering the size of it, but it was still far from complete; having nothing better to do, Hagara sat on the rim of the tub and let her feet dangle over the edge; only suds reached her toes.
Hagara let the sound of running water and Ashara's heartbeat lull her into meditation. As she fell deeper and deeper into her trance, she could feel the Force, it surrounded Hogwarts, and it practically bathed it in its presence. It was like having a warm blanket draped over you on a cold morning; it was like breathing in cold air after consuming a mint. The Force was so full here. It was a beacon, neither light nor dark; it was just the Force.
She did not know how long she sat in meditation, but she was broken out of it when she heard a knock at the door, followed by the door to the bathroom opening; the bath was full to the rim, the subs creating a small mound that popped out over the rim of the tub. Before she had a chance to hop into the water to hide herself from the person who had entered, Lily popped around the stack of towels and got a generous view of Hagara's chest.
Turning her head out of respect for Hagara's modesty, Lily held out the Golden Egg, which Hagara levitated over to herself with the Force. While levitating the egg, she slowly got off the rim of the tub and instead sat on a ledge within the water, which left only her head and neck exposed over the suds. Setting the egg down on the rim of the tub beside her, Hagara thanked Lily and then excused her.
Lily left quickly, closing the door firmly behind her, leaving Hagara alone with the egg. The water was warm and relaxing, though, and she was content with just enjoying the relaxing water for a while before she attempted to figure out what Cedric had been babbling about.
She lifted her hair up, the bottom half of it soaked from sitting in the water. She threw it up into a lazy bun before leaning back against the rim of the tub, letting herself sink further into the water till only her head sat above the water. She sighed in content, feeling the warm water soak into her skin, cleaning away the stuff that was impossible to get rid of with magic; stress, anxiety, and imagination.
The warmth that soaked into her bones did wonders for the stress and anxiety and the imagined dirt that everyone always believed to be on their bodies after spending a long time without a proper bath, washed away with the water.
She snaked her hand down to her navel and gently touched the sensitive skin of her still-healing scar; she carefully poked it, feeling the tender skin with her rough, callused fingers. It was unpleasant, but she continued to examine it with her hand for several more seconds before she finally relented and gave her body some rest from her mistreatment.
With a relaxed sigh, Hagara closed her eyes, content with just listening to Ashara's gentle heartbeat. The sound was so pleasurable; Hagara could listen to it forever. Carefully her hand snaked back into the water…
Hagara lay in the water, perfectly content as she drifted around the massive pool life tub. Lazily she slowly made her way back to the rim of the tub till she once again sat on the ledge; looking over at the rim of the pool, she spotted the Golden Egg, still stained with her blood. Carefully she grabbed it and began cleaning it in the water. Perhaps she needed to get the blood off to get the proper context of what to do in the next task?
Her hands slipped due to the slippery soap that now covered the golden egg, and the egg fell from her grasp and sunk down to the bottom of the tub; worst of all though, was the fact that when the egg had hit the bottom it had hit the button that opened it against the floor. So she was going to have to dive under the water and feeling around till she found the thing that was screaming her ears off underwater.
With a sigh, she dove into the soapy depths of the massive bath; but instead of the demented screaming she had been expecting, she instead heard the voice of a singing woman.
"Come seek us where our voices sound, we cannot sing above the ground, and while you're searching ponder this; we've taken what you'll sorely miss, an hour-long you'll have to look, and to recover what we took, but past an hour, the prospect's black, too late, it's gone, it won't come back."
How peculiar; Hagara thought as she closed the egg while her eyes were closed before once again bringing it to the surface. Setting the now clean egg back on the rim of the bath, Hagara sat and pondered what the egg had meant.
The latter half had made sense; someone had stolen something precious to her, and she was given only an hour to retrieve it. The first half, on the other hand, was a mystery, it was the location of what had been stolen from her, but she did not know where it could possibly be.
"It could be mermaids." A voice supplied right next to Hagara.
Hagara jumped, flinging herself temporarily out of the water, before she fell back in, missing the ledge completely and causing her to have to momentarily tread water. Looking to the source of the voice, her eyes nearly purple with ire; she was surprised to see Myrtle pretending to sit on the ledge that Hagara had been on only a moment ago.
"Myrtle?" Hagara asked, looking at the normally weeping ghost with confusion.
"Mermaids, they live in the lake outside of Hogwarts. Plus, mermaids are unable to communicate on the surface. It would make sense if that was what the egg was talking about." Myrtle explained as Hagara made her way back onto the ledge.
"Mermaids, I'll have to research what that is, but you said that they live in the lake?" Hagara asked though it was a rhetorical question as Myrtle had been quite clear. "I'll have to find something that will allow me to breathe within the water as well."
Time Jump: Godric Hollow
Hagara loathed magical travel; that damned cup and teleportation had been horrible in their own right, but whoever thought that going into a fireplace for travel was a good idea deserved to be thrown into the fires of Mustafar. Not chucked into the lava, mind you, no, they deserved to be slowly dipped in feet first. That way, they could experience as much pain as humanly possible before they either passed out or died.
Anyways besides that, Godric Hollow was not as horrible as she had been led to believe. The cat that Lily had mentioned was delightful as well, an old orange thing that was named Honey, who seemed wholly determined to sit on Hagara's lap whenever she dared to sit down. She had tried to act displeased with the cats' actions, but the glare it had leveled her when she had first attempted to get him off her made her stop and never attempt to do it again.
Her stomach was thankfully now fully mended as well, and Madam Pomfrey had allowed to bandages to be removed, so now she was free to go about as she pleased. Meaning that the moment Honey had allowed her to leave, she had taken the opportunity to explore the outside world.
Hagara had been given a strange set of clothes, referred to as "Muggle Clothes," they allowed her to blend in with the general population. She had thought that the wizards' fashion had been poor and stupid; she was not prepared for what the general world wore.
She had been given a pair of tight black pants that seemed to be made of elastic; over it, she had been given a long dark skirt; as she had refused to wear those pants by itself. The pants revealed more of her figure than she wanted to and reminded her far too much of the clothes of Twi'lek's who worked in brothels. She had wanted to keep her boots, but the metal it was made of was apparently unacceptable, so instead, she had been given a pair of boots made out of some sort of animal hide; they were stained black and had many straps on them. However, half the straps seemed to be more for show and less for practical use. She had also been given a long-sleeved button-up white shirt; it was similar to some of the military uniforms that officers wore during events; though far less fancy. While it was far inferior to her armor and even wizard fashion in some regard, it seemed to be top of the line for the rest of the planet.
Everyone wore clothes that seemed to be of less quality than what she wore; with less cloth, some even had rips and tears in their clothes. She had thought the planet to be relatively wealthy, but perhaps she had just stayed in the upper-class area that was the wizard's hidden world. Perhaps if she were here with the full might of the Sith Empire, she would have gotten this planet to join and become far more powerful and wealthy, but as of now, there really wasn't anything she could do to allow the people of this world to have clothes that weren't riddled with holes.
Though she had given herself a future mission of providing this world with wealth, for now, she was here to find technology that could allow her to retrieve what had been stolen from her from within the lake. These mermaid creatures would suffer for taking what was hers.
Did Hagara masturbate in the bathtub to the sound of Ashara's heartbeat? -Probably!
Is that not being considerate of Ashara? -You don't know what Ashara was doing!
Hagara is becoming compassionate and she doesn't know how to handle it. Poor Lily is stuck having to be the center of Hagara's mood swings.
I hope that you enjoyed the chapter, please feel free to tell me any of your thoughts or theories regarding the story!
This shouldn't have taken seven months to write... again, I am sorry if it seemed like I abandoned this fic, that was never my intention; life just got a bit more intense for me and I took time off to find a way to manage it.
Also, Happy Pride month!