Hermione starts in shock as her phone suddenly starts ringing in the middle of the corridor - shes just glad it's not class time. Still, Bloom doesnt usually call until after classes are done for the day.
And then Ron's starts ringing, quickly followed by Draco's and Lavender's, and everyone knows something's very wrong.
Hermione picks up first, asking "Hello? Bloom? What's wrong?"
Its Flora, Bloom's currently unconscious and we've only got until she wakes to keep her from going off again, help!
Draco suddenly says "Look, Musa wasn't it? Slow down I didn't catch most of that."
And then Ron's voice all but yells "Nobody could possibly be that bloody stupid! Suicidal, maybe!" The entire hall goes silent as a grave, silent enough that everyone in earshot can perfectly hear what's said next.
It gets worse, actually. According to one of my roommates who was there, it appears she was used to steal a piece of Bloom's magic. Bloom collapsed shortly after, but not before keeping Darcy Trix from escaping.
The silence is so thick Seamus is tempted to cast an Incendio just to clear it away - that voice, he thinks it was Techna's, isn't suggesting someone did what he thinks...right? Like Ron said, nobody would actually be so incredibly stupid as to take someone from Bloom.
And then Ron swears, and he, Hermione, and Draco start running to Headmistress McGonagall's office.
McGonagall stares in blatant shock at her three students, taking a long few minutes to process what they told her. Finally, she swallows and says "Let me get this straight. Someone over there was actually stupid enough to take Ms. Potter's sister from her, and then…what? Use her for some ritual to gain more power?"
Draco nods, saying "Pretty much. We're hoping to talk with my father and Godfather, have Stella take them to Magix to keep Bloom from going homicidal and razing half the place to find Daphne."
Normally, Minerva would scoff at the idea of a teenager causing so much damage - but this is Bloom. The same Bloom that nearly destroyed the Great Hall when her Familiar was attacked, the same Bloom that single-handedly took down Voldemort and most of his Death Eaters. The same Bloom that killed Voldemort as a baby.
She's not scoffing.
Instead, she throws a handful of Floo powder into the fireplace to call Lucius and Narcissa.
Lucius and Severus Snape head to the Leaky Cauldron, both of them wondering just what kind of shitshow is currently happening in Magix and just how far off the rails Bloom has gone by now if they're being called in. And just how desperate these people must be.
Severus leans against the wall and scans the room while Lucius talks with the Barman, and sees a teenage girl who looks barely out of Hogwarts come in with an anxious expression on her face…and she's twisting something on one finger, like it's a nervous tick.
'Blonde and black hair, can't miss them…'
Severus is so glad he can lipread, because he's very certain he's just found the girl they're supposed to meet - one Princess Stella of Solaria, who's got an item capable of transporting people between Earth and this Magix. She certainly doesn't look much like a princess, but that's to be expected - a princess couldn't very well go around looking like one all the time, for security reasons. After collecting Lucius, he walks over and asks "Are you looking for someone, by any chance?"
Her light brown eyes zero in on Lucius, specifically his hair, and she says "Yes. Are you two Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape?"
Lucius nods, and asks "I take it your Stella?"
She nods, saying "I am. I'd give a more formal greeting, but we really don't have time. Nobody has any other ideas for what to do, and we don't have that much time left probably." Bloom was still awake when she should've been out of it instantly, who knows how much time she'll still be out of it.
They get out of the Leaky Cauldron, quickly heading into a nearby dark alley before the brown-haired girl drops what's obviously a complex glamor to blend in some. Cropped brown hair is replaced by long sun-blonde, and she gets a much more prominent tan, aristocratic features, and elegant clothing. "I'm going to take us to Alfea, Headmistress Faragonda knows to let you in. Bloom said you have a fast mode of transport of your own? She called it...App-something, I didn't hear the conversation very well."
Severus nods, and asks "We do. Why?"
"This is similar. Brace yourselves." The next thing the grown men know, she's holding a jeweled staff, the ring that was on her finger is gone, and she's glowing bright yellow.
And then she slams the end of her staff on the ground, and they're getting consumed by her magic. Less warm than Bloom's, undoubtedly much less powerful, but also less…aggressive.
When they can see, having had to blink a plethora of spots from their vision, they see a pink and blue building not entirely unlike Hogwarts in front of them - this must be Alfea, then.
An older woman is standing at the gates, white hair in a beehive-like hairstyle on top of her head, and she nods at them and says "Welcome to Alfea, gentlemen. I trust you've been informed of the situation?" The situation that could reignite the war the Ancestral Witches waged, but in reverse. The kind of situation she was hoping to avoid.
Severus raises an eyebrow, even as they start walking to the building, saying "Far as I'm aware, someone was a big enough dunderhead as to steal from a dragon that masquerades as a girl." He wouldn't have thought anyone could be so ridiculously stupid, but life seems to delight in proving him wrong. A lot.
The younger woman next to Faragonda, with brown hair and a severe expression that rivals anything Minerva ever had, purses her lips and says "Accurate, I suppose. Princess Daphne Fyre, Bloom's sister. She was ambushed by a Coven from Cloud Tower, if Darcy Trix's current location and appearance is anything to go by."
Severus drily says "I'm going to assume she's either dead or rapidly dying. One thing Bloom Potter does not tolerate is people going after those she cares about."
Faragonda grimaces, and says "Unfortunately, its not so simple as that. I don't know if you are aware, but there was a war here in the Dimension around a decade and a half ago. It was a terrible time, one that many people do not wish to remember. It only ended after Domino was destroyed, frozen over by Belladona as one last act of cruel spite against Marion and Oritel."
Lucius says "And…?" He's not seeing the connection. He's really not - this war she speaks about is undoubtedly the war that got Bloom sent to Earth, but Bloom's not one that would focus on that when her sister is missing.
Faragonda sighs, and says "Bloom…she was presumed dead when she was never found. And now that she's returned…one wrong action could see the entire Dimension fighting itself once more. Say, if she attacked some Witches from the very school the Ancestral Witches, Belladona, Lysliss, and Tharma, founded. People would either say she was trying to continue the war in her parents' stead, trying to take revenge for them, or war would break out once more. As such…I established some rules with her, not only for her safety but for her anonymity." Well, that's not strictly true - most of them were already in effect as part of the program she's in. She just added one or two.
Severus says "Let me guess, she couldn't get rid of someone if she felt they were a threat."
Faragonda nods, and says "Yes. That was one of them. I asked her to keep her distance from Cloud Tower and the students attending the school. If a fight broke out, she would be easily recognizable. However…"
Severus deadpans "I'd say three Witches coming here and stealing her sister throws all that out the window."
Griselda mutters "Indeed it does. She nearly killed Darcy Trix, would've if she'd not passed out."
Lucius raises an eyebrow, and asks "Come again?" She beat Voldemort and most of his forces without breaking a sweat!
Faragonda takes them through the hallway that was undoubtedly the site where Bloom simply lost it altogether, many black scorch marks and a wall blown out completely, holes in the other walls and glass littered on the floor from broken windows, and says "The two other members of the Trix, Icy and Stormy, made off with Daphne while Darcy stalled for time, an attempt to impersonate Daphne Fyre from what the others have said. And while Darcy Trix stalled for time, Icy and Stormy Trix used Princess Daphne, the Holder before Bloom, to siphon off a piece of the Dragon Flame to themselves as she still had a connection to the power source."
Severus groans, and Lucius murmurs "Dear Merlin, they're suicidal."
At Faragonda, Griselda, and Stella's glances, he says "The Bloom Potter I taught for five years did not simply stop because of some obstacle as insignificant to her as distance, or because someone told her to. Especially because someone told her to. She would let you talk for however long you would, leave you thinking she'd listened, and then she would go off and do whatever it is she planned on doing while you were talking and you would only find out after she had already done it. My advice? Point her in the right direction and get out of the way, lest you be trampled by her."
Stella gulps, and says "That…doesn't sound promising."
"It wasn't meant to. These Trix ladies' chances of survival are nonexistent."
"How does it work, and where can I get at least one?"
Severus gets inside the room Bloom was placed in to wake up - Alfea's version of a Hospital Wing, if all the beds are any indication - sees the object that's very clearly a hilt in her hands, and says "Potter, the last thing you need is yet another weapon to add to your already-deadly arsenal of hidden weapons."
Bloom blinks at him, looking more exhausted than he can remember her being since the detention incident that killed Filch, and says "Somehow, I'm not surprised to find you here, Professor Snape." Only one of the most vigilant Professors at Hogwarts would somehow manage to make it to Magix at a time like this. Stella probably had something to do with it, seeing as she wasn't in the room with the other Princesses and Prince Sky when she woke up.
Severus raises an eyebrow at the unasked question, and says "Your roommates, I'm going to assume its those three ladies sitting on various beds over there, called several people frantically, and we met a blonde woman in disguise at the Leaky."
Bloom raises an eyebrow, glances at Stella, and asks "You went to the Leaky Cauldron, Stella?!" Of all the places in Magical Britain she thought Stella would go…the Leaky Cauldron, the beat-up, dirty, purposefully-shabby Leaky Cauldron was close to the very bottom of that list if not at the actual bottom.
Stella grimaces in disgust, and deadpans "It was disgusting." If she never has to be anywhere like it ever again, she'll be very happy - she's never been anywhere like it before, and isn't too keen on going anywhere like it again.
Bloom shrugs, and says "Its meant to be, Stella. The Leaky Cauldron serves a very specific purpose, and that purpose is to hide. Its smack in the middle of an overcrowded nonmagical city, they had to think of something." Bloom moves to get off the bed, and all three of the girls Severus pegged as her roommates immediately move as well - likely to hold her down.
Stella shares a look with the other fancy-dressed teenagers in the room, many of whom are looking at Bloom like she's insane, and says "You get used to it after a while, guys. Bloom, you've just woken up after a four-hour sleep. If Ophelia doesn't knock you out and tie you to the bed, I'll be amazed."
Bloom deadpans "They have Daphne. Nurse Ophelia can grumble all she bloody wants after I get back with her. Sky, I'm gonna need to borrow this for a bit."
She quickly shoves the hilt she didn't put down into her pocket, and Sky groans and says "I'm really not supposed to give it to someone else…"
Bloom shrugs, and says "Saladin will probably understand, he was in the Company of Light. If not, I'll explain to him." And then, to nobody's shock, she slides off the bed and stumbles before righting herself. Dismay, despairing resignation...but no actual shock. She's a Fyre, after all.
The dark-haired girl says "Bloom, you don't even know where the other two are."
"Yet." Most everyone in that room never thought a single word could sound so dangerous, right up until that point.
Severus pinches the bridge of his nose, and says "Control that explosive temper of yours for once, Potter, and use that considerable intellect of yours and think." He's yet to move out of the doorway for a reason, she's not making it into the corridor if he has anything to say about it.
Bloom raises an eyebrow, and says "I think you've been called in as the last-resort cavalry, your going to Legilimize Darcy Trix for any and all information about her Coven's current whereabouts, and then your going to go talk with Professor Palladium about the different kinds of Potions Magix has, and the ingredients he collects in the forest you can see from that window over there."
Severus has to admit, he likes the way she thinks.
Bloom also thinks she can ask Musa to listen in on whatever conversation takes place afterwards, since the girl has super-hearing thanks to being the Fairy of Music.
AN: Hey, everyone! Sorry about the wait, but...work, and all. Plus, I'm making it a double for this, so there's that. How did you all like my explanation of Faragonda's rules? She only really added like...two or so, to the ones that were already in place for the whole secrecy program: don't kill people you think might be a threat to you, and don't mess with Cloud Tower so you don't reignite a universe-wide war. I thought it sounded reasonable, anyway.
Can anyone see this exact scenario playing out?
Severus: If I leave this doorway, Potter, you'll be burning down that forest out there before anyone can blink.
Bloom: If I promise not to go tearing down the hall as soon as you step aside, will you go get my sister's location out of Darcy Trix?
Severus:...fine. Promise, right now.
Bloom: I promise not to cross that doorway, Professor Snape.
*Severus leaves to go Legilimize Darcy*
Bloom: I made no promises about that window.
I, for one, can absolutely see it happening, and I'm still laughing as I write this.
