This is going to be a two-parter since in this chapter I'm trying to set up some adult-children relationships and background actions.
There's some bullshitting about magic and its relation with the world of 'Bleach', which will be built up more n later chapters.
Also, I apologize for my lateness. When the family was not visiting, my internet was gone to warmer plains.
November brought around the start of the Quidditch season. It seemed like the whole castle was vibrating, the lively interior a stark contrast to their grey surroundings. There were betting pools all over the castle and Ellie was pretty certain there was even one concerning her too.
"Did you hear you were the new Gryffindor Seeker?" Pansy asked her when they sat down in the Library, handing Susan the book on herbs they needed for their Potions homework.
"Oh, I remember. McGonagall even threw out the rulebook before appointing me," she snarked back, crossing out the introduction of her Transfiguration essay.
"Wait, you told me she had burned it!"
"I'm sorry, Parvati. The enormity of the situation must have messed with my memory."
"Honestly Ellie, at least pay attention to these things," Hermione chided her, the whole table breaking into snickers.
They're walking back to their dorms later that afternoon, the attendees of the Quidditch match also flooding the hallways, Ron and Neville, both red-cheeked, joining them. They were gushing about how Hamilton, the new Gryffindor seeker, had wiped the floor with Terence Higgs, his Slytherin counterpart.
"It would have been cooler if you were the Seeker, Ellie, but this was good enough too."
"Not in a million years, Ron. Not in a million yea-" The steps moved before she could reach the landing, and she felt gravity pull her down.
She could see her friends shouting at her, reaching to catch her, but every sound around her seemed to dim, turning into nothing. Her bag slipped off her shoulder, falling down onto the open chasm left behind when the stairs had moved and this was it..this was the end.
"You know, your average witch and wizard can't see your Spiritual Forms. I'm a special case, and you, Prongslet, seem to be one too."
"There's a story about how the Potters are tied to Death. James was quite proud of it. Said his Cloak came from Death itself."
"There's something strange about her, love. She feels like we're similar. Like she should be a Quincy, but there's something stopping her."
Ellie closed her eyes and tried reaching inside herself. The world came to a halt when she finally felt the river of her magic, then dove under it, trying to go deeper. Compared to her magic, her Reiryoku was only a stream. But it was enough to save her.
She reached for it, trying to recall how her Uncle felt when he was meditating, and pulled.
The rush of the wind changed and she tried standing, floating in mid-air. She was two stories away from splattering onto the ground. Her friends were staring down at her from the fourth floor, eyes wide and complexion pale.
With a deep breath, she turned towards the closest landing. With slow, calculated steps, she walked over to it, concentrating on remaining afloat and circulating her Reishi. When she finally reached the stone, she collapsed, gasping for air. There were footsteps and Ron was suddenly holding her, followed shortly by Neville and Hermione, crushing her.
"I'm alive-"
Accidental magic. They call the thing that saved her 'accidental magic', and she feels her shoulders slump in relief. Still, she sends letters in Japanese and only smiles at her friends when they ask her what happened.
"Are you going home for Christmas?"
"Yeah. I don't need Mum to build up steam until the Easter holiday."
"So you're treating it like a band-aid?"
"Pretty much. At least this way I'll get over everything quicker. And Dad will have the Necromancy books at hand if I need to be resurrected before the term starts again."
"Think on the bright side. At least you get to go home," Ron told her, resting his head in Neville's lap. "I envy Ginny so much right now."
"Well...you could come home with me? The manor's big enough for all of us. We could meet up like this! And your brothers can come too!"
"Really?" Ron perked up, nearly falling off the couch. "But my Mum would never allow it!"
"Even if my Mum asked her? Personally?"
"That could work, but I'm not sure."
"Oi! Percy!" She clambered up onto one of the armchairs, waving her hand enthusiastically at the prefect. He looked up, eyebrow raised in annoyance. "Would your Mum say 'yes' if mine were to invite you guys over for Christmas? In person?"
"I think so?"
"Good enough!"
"I still can't believe your Mum managed to talk ours into letting us stay over."
"She does have the charisma of a god," Ellie had to hit Ron on his back to help him with his choking.
"Wait, really? Is it because...y'know?"
"Most likely. No one really explained it to me."
The hallway was starting to fill up with children as the train got closer to the station, and Percy started ordering them around to clean up.
"Chill out, Perce. It's not like we made a mess," Fred told him, slinging an arm around his twins' shoulders. Percy scowled at them, but sat back down, placing his bag into his lap.
"And we don't have a lot of luggage."
Hermione was nodding along to the conversation, sitting sandwiched between Ellie and Ron. They had been discussing their future meet-up, planning on spending a whole night just watching cartoons Ron had missed out on.
"Sooo, who are we looking for?"
"Tall and orange, George. Most likely scowling too." She told him, addressing all of the Weasleys around her.
"Like him?" Percy asked, pointing towards a man standing next to Lucius Malfoy.
"Dad!" And Ellie was off, leaving behind her bag in her hurry. Her dad knelt down, opening his arms, and she collided with him with tears in her eyes.
"I missed you so much!"
"We need to go over a few house rules before I let you go explore the place." Her Dad told them right after they left the garage, addressing the Weasley boys in particular. "Unless given permission, you don't enter Kisuke's labs. You only use the training grounds when an adult is supervising you. The library has sections that are charmed to redirect anyone underage to the kitchen if they enter, and some display cases are spelt unlockable too. If you want to eat anything special, tell us and we'll handle it. You don't go near the stove and use knives unsupervised. If you act rude against others, you'll be sent to your room and one of us will come and talk things over with you. You have no set curfew since it's the holidays, but we'd like you to be in bed at a reasonable time. And we encourage you to do your homework during this week, so you'll be able to enjoy the rest of your stay here. Any questions?"
"Can we ask for help with our homework?"
"Absolutely. Now, my wife is at the Ministry and Kisuke is in his lab, so you have until dinner to roam freely."
"Dad?" Ron and his brothers had been lured away from them by Fred and a promise of food, leaving Ellie and Ichigo in the living room. He sat down onto the couch, rubbing his eyes with a tired sigh, while Ellie stood on the other side of the coffee table, balancing from one foot to another.
"We had long talks about what happened in Hogwarts. Hell, your mother is doing recon there just as we speak."
"Am I in trouble?"
"For now? No. But for the love of your Uncle, sit down already!" She obliged with a bitten-back giggle, hiding her face when he gave her a look. "Honestly, I don't know why I'm the one talking to you right now. Going after opponents stronger to save people you barely know is right up my alley."
"But you were older!"
"By four years, which doesn't make things easier," he leaned back, and Ellie took it as an invitation to move over to his side. "Listen, kid, I understand why you went after a Troll, but add this to the other stuff, and...if we had wanted you to be in danger, we'd have sent you on a camping trip with Goat-face."
Ellie screwed up her face in disgust at that, finally making her Dad laugh.
"You don't hate that much, do you?"
"Never. Besides, knowing Kisuke, he'd end up in a ditch somewhere right after the plans would get approved."
"Thank Ra!"
"Can we return to our main topic now?"
"Yes. Let's get over it."
"So - If we had known all of this would happen just under two months, we would have moved back home a long while ago and enrolled you to Mahoutokoro. But-" and he held up a finger, "that's the past and now all we can do is focus on the future. Which involves protecting you."
"Did you start up the war-council again?"
"No. Instead, we managed to hire you a tutor in Defence from home. It took some time for the request to get approved, but by the time you'll return, Uryuu will be there too."
"You mean Uncle is going to teach me?!"
"Yes. Since you discovered how consciously use your powers, you'll need to be trained so they will not rely on luck and near-death situations to activate."
"Wait...what do you mean by 'consciously'?" Her Dad froze, then let out a string of barely-audible mutters, clapping his hands over her ears. Ellie watched him finish cursing, trying to keep as still as possible, while her heart felt like it was going to explode in its rush.
"When we gained your custody, both Lilly and Kisuke did some diagnostics on you. There were plenty of sings the showed you had managed to activate your Blut Vene, which, combined by a ritual Lilly Potter has managed to perform last-minute, helped you survive that Halloween. You were left with an active magical shield which protects you from dark magic and that scar you hate so much, which had traces of containing a soul. However, there was nothing existing in it."
"Could it be that my powers broke it down and absorbed it?"
"That's a theory we'll have to ask Kisuke about. Do you want to go see what your friends are doing?"
"Sure! Can we also talk Fred into giving us cookies?"
"You'll need to break out your best kicked puppy impression that one."
Ellie woke to the creaking of her door, bolting up when her Mum tiptoed into the room. She looked tired, even in the pale light of the moon, her eyes shining eerily.
"Mum!" She jumped off the bed, running over to her Mum. Lilly let out a surprised gasp but kneeled down to be on the same level as her.
"Did I wake you, my little Star?"
"No Mum." She told her, hiding her face into her mum's robe. "I missed you so much. I even thought that...that I wouldn't see you again!"
She woke up to her head pounding and hair sticking to her face. Her Mum had an arm around her, and she snuggled closer, enjoying her warmth. Breaking down in front of her mother like she was a toddler. Her face was burning from embarrassment.
"You know, having a good cry really helps you to calm down." Her Mum told her, petting her head. Her voice was still heavy with sleep, and Ellie let out a small yelp.
"But I couldn't control myself."
"People usually can't. Even Kisuke, who likes to pretend he can control his emotions, breaks down sometimes. And your dad and I are there to help him when he's like that. Just like we are and will be here when you need us."
Ellie burrowed closer into her hug, hoping her Mum would understand that she knew just from that gesture alone.
"Love you too, my little Star."
"Again, why did we have to get up?"
"I promised Fred he could sleep in today and I'd make breakfast. And why are you complaining? I'm carrying you to the kitchen." Her Mum jumped over a few steps, laughing when Ellie tightened her hold on her shoulders with a yelp.
"Mum!"
"What? It's not like your dads don't deserve to be woken up early. After the night they most likely had-," she trailed off, almost falling over from laughter when Ellie started gagging.
"That's so gross!"
Lilly kicked open the door of the kitchen, startling whoever was inside. There was the sound of glass shattering and pans falling to the door, the sight of the Weasley children covered in flour greeting them. Percy had a carton of eggs in his hands, Ron was holding a torn bag of flour while the twins were covered in chocolate syrup, something burning on the stove behind them.
Ellie slid off her mother's back when her hold weakened. They were staring at each other, slack-jawed with round eyes. Then her Mum's took a deep breath, strode forward, and with a wave, everything started to right itself.
"What in Ra's name were you four doing? Making a wasteland of my kitchen?"
"We-"
"We just…"
"We wanted to make breakfast to show our gratitude!" Fred finally told her, his brothers nodding along.
"With what cooking skills?" Ellie asked too, walking into the kitchen.
"Percy helped out Mum before!"
"Did it occur to you that cooking with magic and coking without it are two different things? You're lucky you didn't set everything on fire."
"We're sorry, Ma'am!"
"As your punishment, you'll help me make breakfast. Follow my orders to the point and you won't be in trouble anymore. Deal?" Their faces lit up and Ellie remembered Molly Weasley usually punished them with degnoming the garden.
Lilly smiled at the children in front of her, all of them squirming and sweating under the artificial sunlight of the training room.
"Since you are planning on sticking together for the foreseeable future, we need to train you. By the time we'll be finished with you, hopefully, you'll be able to protect yourself and others."
"Are we going to learn how to mow down entire armies like you guys?"
"Maybe one day. But not today," She held up two blades, solid and heavy against her palms. They were rough against her skin, lacking Asagiri's warmth. "Today, you're going to learn some stances. Grab a weapon and line up in front of me!"
Ellie stared at her Dad, and he stared back at her. Ron shifted next to her, while the rest of their guests were scattered around the room, all staring at her Dad.
"Do you want me to take over this?"
"Maybe. Can you give them a deeper explanation?"
"If you help me with it."
Lilly watched Kisuke explain plants to the children with a smile, the interest blooming across their faces filling her up with pride. Ichigo also stopped by, kissing her cheek and handing over a sealed envelope, ready to be sent off to Karafan's.
"The Minister is waiting for your call."
"Then I shall put him out of your misery."
"Watch your language, wife."
"Maybe you should punish me later for it, husband."
"I hope you got my present, Minister."
"Yes. It was quite surprising. I wasn't expecting such a rare find."
"Well, I did spend years searching for it."
"Only for it to fall into your lap?"
"Exactly. Was our request approved?"
"There was some opposition. Luckily, your candidate came with excellent recommendations that eventually swayed everyone."
"And now we only have to convince McGonagall. Which will be quite easy once she learns about what we're planning to stop."
"So you're working on making her an inside-man. Clever, Lady Blackmoor, very clever."
"I'm only trying to keep up in this game, Minister. Like many of us are."
Never said anything about Quincies, did I?