"Hey," Ella says as casually as possible to Yeoreum as they're lining up for History of Magic, "have you ever heard of — what was it? The resurrection stone?"
Yeoreum blinks at her, eyes wide, and she realizes that this is the first time she's actively asked a question that isn't related to their schoolwork. The surprise is short-lived, however, when Yeoreum hums and her lower lip juts out. She's thinking.
"It sounds familiar… I think I've heard it in an old wizard's tale or something," she says as Professor Binns once again floats through the classroom doors. This time it's Vesper who opens them for everyone. "Why do you ask?"
"I heard some third years talking about it and was wondering if wizards really have that sort of power, it's kind of… freaky." It isn't a lie, not really. She genuinely wants to know if this is something wizards can do, and it is freaky.
"They don't." Yeoreum takes the initiative and lies on her desk before Binns starts speaking. "It's like… the universe knows it's against the rules. It's against nature or something. And if it actually worked, I think people would be using it a lot. Especially right now…"
There is a faraway look in her eyes that Ella can't interpret, but she isn't game enough to ask about it. She doubts it's any of her business. Instead, she faces the front of the classroom and feigns interest while attempting to clear her mind. All signs point to resurrection not being plausible, but if Harry Potter and his friends think it is, then there must be some merit to it.
"Though," she starts, mostly to herself, "how in the world would you resurrect someone with a stone, anyway?"
Despite the question not being directed at anyone in particular, a hand clamps down on the front of her desk and it takes willpower not to jump. "Are you talking about that Tales of Beedle the Bard story?"
The owner of the hand and the voice is Reena Sethi, a small Ravenclaw with dark brown eyes that are currently focused on Ella's every move. They are full of excitement and, while Ella doesn't want the entire class to know she's interested in the resurrection stone, she can't deny them when Renna appears bursting at the seams to impart her knowledge. It's a demeanour she's seen when a question has been asked in class.
"The Tales of Beedle the Bard?" Ella asks, confused.
Yeoreum, her gaze fixed on them again after Reena's small outburst, says excitedly, "Oh, of course! How could I forget?"
"It's fine," says Reena. "Most people probably haven't read the story in years."
"Hold on, hold on." Ella holds her hand up. "What story? What are the Tales of Beedle the Bard?"
Reena's eyes widen even more, something Ella didn't think was possible. "Never? But they're essential bedtime stories for young witches and wizards!"
Ah, so that explains it. "I'm Muggleborn, Reena."
"Oh, right! I forgot," Reena says, and at least she's taking it in her stride. "Anyway, the Tales of Beedle the Bard is a collection of stories meant for children. The resurrection stone is a key item in one of them."
"The, uh, Tale of the Three Brothers, right?" Yeoreum says, tapping her cheek. "I'm surprised you remember that. I haven't heard that story in years."
Reena shrugs. "Neither have I, really, but when I was little my cousins — Parvati and Padma — would take turns reading the tales to me right before I went to bed, so I ended up memorizing them all."
So Harry Potter was (allegedly) in possession of a resurrection stone straight out of a children's tale. What can't the Golden Boy do?
Yeoreum nudges her. "After class, I'm dragging you to the library and we're going to check out The Tales of Beedle the Bard."
"If you say so." But if it gets her more answers, she isn't complaining.
Class drags on, but they make it all the way to Potions without incident. It isn't that any specific incident happens when they get to Potions, but there is something that undoubtedly and unequivocally stirs the class up.
"From where I'm standing," starts Professor Slughorn, "all of the house groups are sitting together, for better or worse."
"For better," mutters Damien from his seat behind Ella.
"What us at Hogwarts want to encourage this year is house unity," Slughorn continues, and a few students groan. "Now, now, I'm not asking for much. We'll just be switching partners in potions." He holds up a tattered bowler's hat. Ella hopes it won't start singing. "When I tap the hat with my wand, two names will pop out. Some of you may end up with a housemate, but most of you won't."
Slughorn taps his wand against the hat and two small pieces of paper fly out. "Matilda Vu and Theresa Burke!"
Theresa rises from her seat beside Vesper and hesitantly sits beside Matilda Vu, an upbeat Hufflepuff girl, towards the front of the classroom. Slughorn nods at them before summoning another two names out.
"Marius Gold and Aurelia Carrow!"
Damien splutters in protest, but Marius just laughs and pats him on the head before sitting next to Aurelia. She doesn't look at him, or at anyone, her head down and hands in her lap.
Names are continually read out and the list of people for Ella to be potentially partnered with dwindles each time. She can count on one hand the amount of students she's interacted with at Hogwarts so far, and all of them are her fellow Gryffindors. She supposes that's the point of 'house unity', but she can't say she appreciates being forced together like this.
"Ella Creevey and Torian Shafiq!"
Luck is in her favour, then. Torian is not only one of her Gryffindor classmates, but is also the most relaxed of them all, and good at his classes to boot. It will require speaking to him more without having Yeoreum as a buffer, but she thinks she can manage.
Torian is kind enough to move next to her instead of the other way around after Yeoreum vacates her seat in favour of one beside Zorion Parrish. He smiles at her and says, "I look forward to working with you."
She can't help but give a slight smile in return.
The mood is ruined at the end of the class when the Gryffindors reunite to leave the classroom and Damien storms out, hands in his pockets and a scowl on his brow. The rest of them share uneasy glances, but also knowing ones, used to Damien's attitude by now. They knew this was coming the moment he was paired with Vesper Selwyn.
"Who cares about house unity?" he says as they walk behind him. "We can't be a united front when one quarter of the student body are evil cowards."
Torian appears cautious when he opens his mouth to speak, and Ella understands why when he says, "You know you're counting your brother in that, right?"
"Oh, I'm well aware."
Ella doesn't bother holding back the way Torian does when she says, "Sounds like only one Worth twin is being an evil coward right now, and it's not Lucien."
Torian is concerned, but Yeoreum covers her mouth and nose to stifle a snort and Marius raises his eyebrows, but says nothing in either's defence. Damien whirls around. His glare isn't anything new to her, especially in the past few weeks. He isn't especially threatening.
"Who asked you?" he says.
"Who says I needed to be asked?" she retorts. "We're in the middle of a conversation, I'm just contributing."
"You never contribute anything nice."
"Perhaps that's a reflection of you, not a reflection of me."
Damien's face goes red, but Marius laughs before he can respond, putting an arm around each of them as they walk. "Come on, guys, it's not that serious."
"Try telling him that," Ella says, but lets it go for now.
The moment they're dismissed from their final class, Yeoreum grabs Ella's arm and hauls her out of her chair, barely letting her pack her books before dragging her down the halls and towards the library. She lets it happen. It's hard to say no to Yeoreum when she's as excited as she is.
They pass by all the non-fiction books, ignoring the mostly fifth and seventh years who are (trying) to study, and head straight to the back of the library, which works for Ella. It's away from the study groups and Madam Pince. The best of both worlds.
Yeoreum begins skimming the shelves. "B… B… Beedle the Bard… Aha! Here it is!"
The book she slides out from the shelf is bigger than Ella thought it would be, but the fancy embossed cover reminds her of one of her mother's old fairy tale books. So this is a wizard's equivalent of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Fascinating.
She holds that thought. She shouldn't be getting invested.
"The Tale of the Three Brothers should be somewhere around the middle," Yeoreum says, flipping through the pages until she finds what she's looking for. She points at an illustration of three men with an ominous figure behind them. One holds a wand, another a stone, and the last is covered in a cloak. "This is it."
She passes the book to Ella, who takes it and scans the page. The story is longer than she thought, but she reads it aloud anyway.
"'Three brothers walked along a lonely winding road at midnight. In time, the brothers reached a river too treacherous to pass, but being learned in the magical arts, the three brothers simply waved their wands and made a bridge.
'Before they could cross, however, they found their path blocked by a hooded figure. It was Death, and he felt cheated. Cheated because travelers would normally drown in the river. But Death was cunning. He pretended to congratulate the three brothers on their magic and said each had earned a prize for being clever enough to evade him.
'The eldest, a combative man, asked for a wand more powerful than any other in existence, so Death fashioned him one from an elder tree that stood nearby. The second brother decided he wanted to humiliate Death even further and asked for the power to recall loved ones from the grave, so Death plucked a stone from the river and offered it to him. Finally, Death turned to the third brother. A humble man, he asked for something that would allow him to go forth from that place without being followed by Death. And so it was that Death reluctantly handed over his own cloak of invisibility.
'The first brother travelled to a distant village, where with the Elder Wand in hand, he killed a wizard with whom he had once quarrelled. Drunk with the power that the Elder Wand had given him, he bragged of his invincibility. But that night another wizard stole the wand and slit the brother's throat for good measure. And so Death took the first brother for his own.
'The second brother journeyed to his home where he took the stone and turned it thrice in hand. To his delight, the girl he had once hoped to marry before her untimely death appeared before him. Yet soon she turned sad and cold for she did not belong in the mortal world. Driven mad with hopeless longing, the second brother killed himself so as to join her. And so Death took the second brother.
'As for the third brother, Death searched for many years, but was never able to find him. Only when he had attained a great age did the youngest brother shed the cloak of invisibility and give it to his son. He then greeted Death as an old friend and went with him gladly to parting this life as equals.'"
Ella leans back, taking the words in, the wires of her brain making connections between them and the Golden Trio's conversation. "A bit dark for a children's story, don't you think?"
"So is the Boy Who Cried Wolf," Yeoreum points out, "and even some older versions of our favourite princess stories."
She has a point. "So that's where the resurrection stone comes from… Why would they be talking about it if it isn't actually real?"
"Well, that's the thing, some people actually believe it exists. Same with the wand and the cloak," Yeoreum says.
"You're joking."
"Nope! My dad once caught a guy who went a bit, you know, loopy after trying to search for them obsessively."
There is a lot to unpack there. "He caught him?"
"My dad's an auror," says Yeoreum. "He basically catches magic criminals for a living."
"I see."
Yeoreum leans across the table, fiddling with the book's pages. "So, what did you think of the story? Other than it being kind of dark."
Ella leans her cheek against the palm of her hand. "It's interesting, I'll give it that. The first two brothers were complete tossers, though. And I guess tales of magic in the wizarding world would have more truth to them, wouldn't they?" Perhaps reading the rest of the book wouldn't be such a bad idea. "I might read the whole thing, actually. This weekend."
"Great!" Yeoreum pushes the book further into Ella's hands. "Though — you can't do it this weekend."
"Why not?"
Yeoreum's eyes sparkle. "Quidditch."
Heading down to the Quidditch pitch on a windy November day isn't Ella's idea of a good time. It isn't that she's against sport (she was quite good at cross country back in primary school), but this is yet another wizard custom she doesn't want to entangle herself in. She's already reading their literature — for research purposes only, of course — she doesn't need to care for their sporting competitions, too. Besides, from what she's heard, the crowd is just as likely to be hit by a rogue ball than the players are.
She and her Gryffindor associates (they aren't friends) are making their way down together, red and gold scarves wrapped around their necks. Most of the students have red and gold on them in some capacity save for the actual members of Slytherin house. That becomes clear when they take their seats in Gryffindor's stands. Three quarters of the stand are filled with red and gold. The last section is littered with green and silver.
Beside her, Yeoreum squeals, grabbing her arm. "I'm so excited! The first match of the year!"
"And Gryffindor versus Slytherin, too," Damien says. He's made the wise decision to sit as far from Ella as possible. "We're gonna thrash 'em."
"Normally I'd tell you to calm down, but not when Quidditch is involved," Marius says.
"Yeah!" Yeoreum jumps a little in her seat. "The Quidditch Cup is on the line!"
Ella and Torian's eyes meet and they share a headshake. Athletes.
Both teams run onto the pitch, brooms in hand, and Madam Hooch stands between them as they shake hands. Ella doesn't recognize Slytherin's captain, but the fiery red hair of Gryffindor's is familiar. She hasn't seen it in person, but in photographs, and her heart clenches when she realizes why.
"That's Ginny Weasley!" Yeoreum all but squeals in her ear. "Not only did she fight in the Battle of Hogwarts despite being underage, but she's apparently one of the most talented seekers ever! She could go pro!"
Ella nods numbly. She knows this, but that information is nothing compared to what Colin said about her. She knows that Ginny Weasley would defend her friends, even hexing others to do so. She knows that she was just as much a victim of the Basilisk as her brother was. She knows that she and Colin were friends, that they would see each other almost every day, that they would frequently talk inside and outside of the classroom.
Her hands shake and she digs her nails into her skirt.
The game begins. It isn't the first time Ella is seeing people flying on brooms, but this is different than Hikari and Vesper's impromptu race. There is an actual game afoot here and both sides are determined to win. It's just like football back home, except this game is more, well, magical.
"Welcome to the game, everyone!" The voice is amplified and carries across the pitch. "I'm Antonio, your favourite Hufflepuff-ian commentator, and this is the first match of the season, who will win?!"
"Gryffindor!" Marius yells, and Damien howls like a dog at the full moon.
"I'm hearing an overwhelming amount of support for Gryffindor! And I must say, I agree!"
So he's biased, then. Ella is too, she supposes, because she's a Gryffindor herself. A commentator shouldn't be biased when their house isn't either of the teams involved. It's consistent with the anti-Slytherin biases many of the other students hold, though, so she can't say she's surprised.
She doesn't understand Quidditch in the slightest, but Yeoreum points out each team member, their role, and what they do so that she can at least vaguely follow along. The chasers are fast, the bludgers sometimes even faster, and she's worried that one of them is going to fly into the stands and knock her in the face. They never do.
"So, why is Ginny just sort of hovering there? Same with that guy from Slytherin," Ella says to Yeoreum.
"They're waiting for the snitch."
"The what?"
"The golden snitch!" Yeoreum doesn't take her gaze away from the action as she explains. "That's what the seekers have to catch. It's a small golden ball with wings that's really fast and it's worth a hundred and fifty points!"
"Wait." Ella holds a hand up despite Yeoreum not paying attention. "You're telling me that all the points they're scoring right now could be made completely useless if the opposite team catches the snitch and immediately gets a hundred and fifty points?"
Yeoreum's eyes follow the Gryffindor beaters (Ella recognizes one of them from Colin's photos, she thinks, but can't remember their name) as she says, "I guess? If they get a whole lot of goals before someone catches the snitch, then they can still win, but it usually comes down to catching the snitch."
Ella makes a face. Who in the world invented this game?
The score is seventy to fifty in Gryffindor's favour when the seekers finally see some action. Ella doesn't understand why they've started racing in the same direction across the pitch at first, but then she sees a speck of gold in the distance. She squints at it, but it doesn't become any clearer.
"Both seekers have seen the snitch! Who will get it?!"
The crowd is on their feet now, shouting and hollering. Ella stands, but doesn't join in, standing on her tiptoes so she's able to see from behind the tall Gryffindor in front of her. When she can finally see again, both seekers are closing in on the snitch, close enough that moving their arm to the side would smack the other in the face. That's what the Slytherin seeker tries to do, but Ginny sees through it and ducks without slowing down.
Ella isn't invested in Quidditch, she swears. It isn't her sort of game. Yet here she stands, hands gripping onto Yeoreum's coat, teeth worrying her bottom lip, unable to take her eyes off the action. She doesn't shout like the rest of her friends are, but on the inside she's screaming.
Come on, come on, come on.
Hands close around the snitch, holding it up in victory. The crowd goes wild.
"Ginny Weasley's caught the snitch! Gryffindor's won!"
Ella doesn't cheer, but the smile doesn't leave her face as she claps.
The Gryffindors host a celebratory party afterwards, because of course they do. Ella doesn't stick around for it, instead heading upstairs as the sun descends in the sky, aiming for some peace and quiet after the chaos of the day. Jinxie waits for her in her room and purrs when she all but falls onto her bed.
"Hey, Jinxie," she says, scratching the cat behind the ears with one hand while the other reaches for her borrowed copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
She promised Yeoreum she would read all of it, and she plans on making good on that promise, but for now she wants to re-read the Tale of the Three Brothers. She can spend as much time as she needs on it when she's alone.
One passage in particular catches her eye: To his delight, the girl he had once hoped to marry before her untimely death appeared before him. Yet soon she turned sad and cold for she did not belong in the mortal world. The 'soon' is key to her. She wasn't initially sad and cold. It was only after spending too much time in the mortal realm that her existence was torn between the world of the living and the world of the dead.
If one can use the stone to speak to their departed loved one, even for just a short amount of time…
She shuts the book, resolute. She's going to find that stone that Harry Potter dropped.
Now she just needs to figure out where he dropped it.
i feel like i should have a lot to say but it's 3am and i am so tired, so i will just say thank you for reading!
