Greetings all. I've come to a decision on how to handle Halios changes from male to female. When working purely with magic, she will be in her female form, but when a more physical approach is needed, such as during the Tri-Wizard Tournament, he will be in his male form. I will also include other students into Halios group of friends as the years go by, at least one from each house. That being said, the rating of the story will most likely increase, as once they have reached the appropriate age, there will be some nudity and coarse language. But that will not happen before book five. Anyway, I hope you all like this chapter.
A Strange Christmas
The weeks went on, and soon the incident with the troll was forgotten by the majority of the Hogwarts students. The only ones who still remembered it was Halios, Seren, Neville and Hermione, whose friendship had become even closer due to the incident, Professor Dumbledore, who was trying to figure out what type of plan needed a rampant troll, and Professor Quirrell, who had set the troll loose in the first place, and was now cursing its failure.
Soon, December came, and the grounds were covered in snow. The four friends would often join the Weasley twins in snowball fights, which soon escalated into full three-way wars between the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff houses (well, that was until the Slytherins came out of Hogwarts castle, then it became a three-on-one war instead.). Towards the middle of December, the staff of Hogwarts started with the Christmas decorations, which confused Halios a bit. So, during one of the groups study sessions, she asked what was going on.
"Um, I've been noticing these decoration appearing all around the castle these last few days. Why is that?"
Seren answered her without really thinking about it. "Oh, it's just the Christmas decoration."
"What is Christmas?" Halios asked with a blank face. This caused the others to stop their work and turn towards her. It was Hermione who gave her an answer.
"That's right, you don't know about Christmas due to where you have been living." Hermione, turned to her lecturing mode. "Christmas is an holiday taking place around the 25th of December each year, and is an amalgamation of two older celebrations, namely the Roman celebration of Saturnalia (17-23rd of December) and the old Druidic celebration of Winter Solstice (19th to 24th of December, depending on year). The Christian faith took over said celebrations in order to celebrate the birth of their saviour, Jesus. Christmas is celebrated by spending time with your family, and by giving friends and family presents. Those belonging to the Christian faith also go to church and read from the bible during that time, but for most it's just a time to spend with your loved ones. Since most of the wizarding world belong to older faiths than Christianity, the only part of Christmas they celebrate are the decorations, the feast and the giving of gifts."
"Oookaayy... So, how will you celebrate Christmas?"
The three looked at each others. "Well... Neville and I will most likely return home to spend Christmas with our families..." Hermione began. "And my father has asked me to invite you to spend Christmas with us." Seren continued.
Halios blinked for a moment, then smiled. "I would love to. One thing first, thou. What is normal to give as Christmas gifts?"
"Usually, you give something that is useful, such as clothes, or books. Or if you don't know, candy or food." Neville said.
"Ohh, then I know exactly what to do!" Halios said with glee, before the group turned back to their work, chatting about what they thought of the year so far.
Slowly, the days moved on, and on the 21st of December, Halios and Seren gathered up their stuff and joined Neville and Hermione in the great hall for breakfast, before the four of them took a carriage down to Hogsmead to take the train back to London. The trip back went quick, as the four friends spent the time talking, laughing and playing games. Once they reached Kings Cross, Halios and Seren wished Hermione and Neville a merry Christmas, and told them that they would be waiting for them on the platform the day they were to return to Hogwarts. After waiving goodbye to their friends, Seren led Halios to her parents, who smiling hugged them both before apparating them and their luggage to the Black ancestral home.
After depositing their luggage in Serens room (they would be sharing room during Halios stay), they sat down for dinner and answered Sirius and Esteés questions about how the school had been. Sirius also informed Halios that so far, the Goblins hadn't found a way out of the marriage contract, but they were still looking, and as such, he had invited Nymphadora Tonks over sometime during the holiday so that they could meet. Halios informed Sirius that her mother were also looking into how to avoid the penalties for possibly breaking the marriage contract, but hadn't told her anything as of yet.
When they had eaten, they sat down in the lounge and Sirius entertained them by telling stories of his time in Hogwarts. But in the middle of a story, he suddenly stopped and got a look on his face that told them he had thought of something.
"Merlins balls, how could I forget..." Sirius looked at them. "I must contact Moony."
Turning to Halios, he explained: "Moony, or Remus Lupin, as his real name is, is another of my and James friends, and just like me, he has spent the time after Moldyshorts attack on your family looking for you. I don' know where he is right now, but I'll send him a letter tonight, telling him that I have news about you. That should make him come here as quickly as possible. If he hasn't reached us by the end of the holiday, I'll tell him you have been found, and that, hopefully, you can meet during the summer."
Nodding, Halios asked if there was something she should know about Remus before she met him.
"Yes. He is a werewolf, and while he isn't dangerous, the stigma attached to his affliction has caused him to age before his time and made him weary of other people, as he is scared he will transform and hurt them."
Halios perked up hearing this. "A werewolf, you say? Then I may know someone who can help him. You see, one of my 'uncles' is named Hircine, Lord of the Hunt, and basically the patron deity for all were-people in Mundus. He has an artefact that allows someone who has lycanthropy to control their transformation. I may be able to gain his approval, so that he can gift it to Remus in order to help him."
Sirius just stared at her, before silently asking her: "Really?"
"Yes," Halios nods. "But I can't promise Hircine will give the artefact up. So, it might be best not to mention it to Remus until I know I can help him."
Sirius became serious and nodded in agreement. He then looked at the clock and saw what time it was. After telling Seren and Halios that it was getting late, and that they should think about going to bed, he said goodnight to them and retreated to his study where he wrote a letter to Remus Lupin and sent it away.
The next few days were spent decorating the house and preparing for the Christmas feast. On the morning of the 25th, Halios was woken by an hyper Seren, who proceeded to drag her down into the lounge, where the Christmas tree stood, in order to open their gifts. From Hermione, Halios got a book on the culture in the wizarding world, and Seren got one about the muggle world. From Neville, they both got a necklace each, and a rose that, according to the letters they came with, would never wilt due to its magical properties. From Seren, Halios got a ring which was a part of a pair. Seren explained that it was a so-called friendship ring, and she had the other one. Furthermore, as long as they stayed friends, the ring would be golden, but if their friendship broke permanently, the rings would turn black.
When Seren opened her gift from Halios, she was greeted by three books and a statue. As she looked at Halios expectantly, Halios just smiled and told her what the gift was.
"I see you're wondering what I gave you, right?" Seren nods at this. "Well, the three books are spell-books. Each containing one beginner level spell from one of three schools of magic. The first book contains the spell 'Flames', a beginner level spell from the Destruction school. It's similar to 'Incedio' in that it produces a continues jet of flames from the hand you cast it with."
Halios smiles at the look on Serens face. "That's right, none of these spells require a wand to cast. Anyway, the second spell is the spell 'Healing', from the school of Restoration. This spell is an excellent first-aid spell, as it heals minor wounds immediately and slowly heals larger wounds the longer you use it. Anything below a sprained ankle is healed instantly, but anything larger than that will take time, though the spell can be used to stop bleeding if there is a risk for the person injured to bleed out. Now, the last spell is called 'Candlelight', and is from the Alteration school. Candlelight is simply Mundus version of Lumos, and creates a ball of light above the casters hand for up to a minute, before you have to cast it again."
After having explained the spells, Halios picked up the statue.
"Now this statue, it is actually a shrine connected to me" she said. "With it, you can contact me at any time, simply by sitting down in front of it and say 'Halios, hear my call'. No matter where I am, I will hear you and answer."
At this point, she was hugged by Seren, who was happy she now had a way to speak to her friend whenever she wanted. She then came to a realization.
"Halios, you have given the same things to Neville and Hermione, right?"
Halios smiled before she answered. "Correct, but I included a letter to each of them which explained what I just told you. Now, shall we go and play a prank on your father?"
An impish grin spread across both their faces as they left the lounge in order to prepare a prank. The days went by in a pleasantly pace, and on the 28th, Nymphadora Tonks arrived for a visit. At first, she was kinda sullen, not really enjoying the fact she was forced into a marriage contract, but once she learned they were working on finding some way to break said contract, she warmed up and hit it off with Halios, especially after she learned that Halios was a metamorphmagus, just like her. This led to them comparing their abilities. They found out that Tonks was better at creating completely new looks, but Halios ability to change 100% between male and female was something else all together.
Sure, Tonks could look like a man, but she would still be fundamentally female, meaning she didn't have the equipment needed to impregnate anyone, and she would still have her period, no matter how she looked. Halios, on the other hand, change was 100% complete. As a female, she could become pregnant, and as a male, he could impregnate most women (if they wanted it, he would never force himself on anyone, neither bodily or mentally).
When Tonks left that evening, she, Halios and Seren had become close friends, and Halios gave her another small shrine statue, telling her how to use it to contact her. Leaving the Black-Weiss home, Tonks knew that whatever happened with the contract, at least she and Halios would be friends, if not more.
The rest of the holiday went by quickly, but on the last day before they were to return to Hogwarts, a letter arrived. It was from Remus Lupin. He said that he was bound by contract to stay in Japan until may, as he had been working there for the last three years, but that he would be returning to England as soon as he possible could. Sirius sent an owl back to him, saying that he was welcome whenever he liked, and that he could join them at Kings Cross once Hogwarts had ended for the year in order to meet 'Harry'.
The next day, Halios and Seren packed their stuff, and with Sirius and Esteé, apparated to platform 9 ¾.
So, the chapter is over for this time, and I must say, it didn't take as long as I thought it would to write it. Two more chapters until the end of book one, then one or two chapters for the summer, and the book two begins. Have a good time.
- Baleygr
