The Others

The next day, everyone was sitting at breakfast in the Great Hall. Mora could hear Harry and Ron talking softly about the revelation she made last night. She couldn't help but smile. Her friends now knew one of her greatest secrets and were still acting the same towards her.

As usual, she finished her breakfast early and went down to Pearl.

Mora greeted Pearl and Mahshi. The falcon flew to a low wall near her. Mora rubbed the bird, who was happy to see her again. When Mora began preparing Pearl's bottle, Mahshi flew out of the stable, to stretch her wings and find something to eat.

How did you sleep? Mora asked Pearl, who was laying in her stall.

Very well. Pearl stared at Mora and spoke to her through her mind again. So, you told your friends last night that you are a princess.

I made a promise, that, if they asked, I would tell them the truth. She sat next to Pearl and offered the bottle.

As she drank, she said, It's good you trust them so much. They are very respectful and trustworthy.

Mora sat in thought. iIf they are so trustworthy, then why did you choose me?/i

Pearl stopped drinking. You must realize your own destiny.

They sat in silence for a while. When Pearl finished, she said, I won't take another bottle today. Please check on me tonight, though.

Do you want me to leave you some sweet hay?

She nodded and stood up. I think I'll walk around the stable some more today. Then, maybe tonight,we can go for a walk outside?

Mora thought about it and agreed. She placed a large amount of hay in Pearl's manger and said goodbye.

She walked out of the stable only to meet Ron. She took a step back, slightly startled. You surprised me! I did not expect you here, she said.

Ron blushed. I'm sorry. I just thought you'll like company walking to Divination.

Mora giggled. Do you mean a royal escort back to the castle?

He could tell she was joking but still said, Something like that. His face was now as red as his hair.

I would be honored.

They walked back together into the castle. Hurrying up to the upper tower, they climbed up the silver ladder, into the Divination classroom.

Professor Trelawney appeared from behind the curtains, as usual, and started babbling about predicting the future through meditation. Mora was amused by what she was saying but, more than anything, was still bored. She couldn't wait to get out of that stuffy classroom.

Potions was uneventful, except for Neville accidentally adding too much firefly jelly and making a Constant Fire potion rather than Nightlight Juice. It took Snape ten minutes to make up a batch of Dousing Drops to put it out. He also took away ten points from Gryffindor.

Mora was expecting more curses and hexes during Defense Against the Dark Arts class. However, Dumbledore welcomed everyone saying, Today, we are going to study our allies against the Dark Arts that aren't a part of our immediate wizarding community. He looked around at the slightly confused faces. Does anyone know who I'm talking about?

Everyone began looking to each other for answers. Even Hermione was stumped. Finally, Neville raised his hand, timidly. In a quiet voice, he said, Do you mean the others?'

He smiled brightly. Ten points to Gryffindor. Today we will be discussing the others.' How many of you have heard of them?

Only about a fourth of the class, which were Ravenclaws and Gryffindors, raised their hands. Mora noticed some of the Muggle-raised students, like Harry and Hermione, kept their hands down.

It's no surprise. Not many know or talk about the others.' To put it simply, they just use a different form of magic.

Most of you, I'm sure, have been told that they are not true wizards and witches and that they base their magic off unrealistic divine powers. Perhaps you've heard that they think they are better than those who don't share their powers.

However, there are stretches of the truth. They DO believe they are given their powers by God and they pray and thank him for giving them their powers. But they don't think they are any better or worse than us. It is just we have shunned them for so long that they choose to not associate with us unless there is a great need.

We have affiliated ourselves with them during the years of terror when, sorry for the pain to sensitive ears but, Voldemort was around. They posses powers most of us do not have.

A Ravenclaw student raised her hand. I've always heard you can't trust them.

That is false, Dumbledore said, simply. We've trusted them many times, but have not shown proper gratitude to them, most likely because of ongoing fear of them.

Mora's hand went up. Why are they feared?

Dumbledore smiled. We fear what we don't understand. Many people believe they use their power to manipulate. However, they are taught ethics of magic at a young age and know what is acceptable and what is not.

That's not to say that there aren't evil ones, too. But they aren't as many of them as the trustworthy ones.

Hermione asked, About how many are there?

According to one of the wizards I once knew, usually, there are no more than fifty on the planet at a time. Usually, there are families who carry the potential and whose children inherit the ability. However, there are those who are in the Muggle population who exhibit the potential and normally are identified and trained by them.

Another Ravenclaw asked, What do you mean by potential?

Ah, good question. Dumbledore's eyes sparkled. In their division of magic, they have a way of determining the amount of magic in a person, and giving them a numerical value for it. Potential is described as the ability and amount a person might improve during their training.

What's a normal number for anyone who's tested? Ron asked.

All good questions, today! Supposedly, a Muggle will be anywhere from one to fifty because everyone has a bit of magic in them. Under formal training, most of these wouldn't surpass seventy five. Anyone who scores above a hundred is considered gifted.' However, most of the people who are trained start at two thousand or above.

How do you get tested? The students were no longer raising their hands. Dumbledore seemed pleased that there was so much interest in the subject.

I don't know the exact details of how the test is done, except that you have to give your permission to be tested. Someone who has been trained will perform the test. It is painless. If you ever have it done, they will remind you that their test picks up the magic that you practice now, and the amount of ability you have in their branch. So if you were a powerful witch or wizard in our world, you may only have a thousand magic count. If they split the number into their branch and our branch, it might be two hundred and eight hundred, respectively. This would mean you had a strong suiting for our magic, but wouldn't be all that good in their magic.

But don't think it's all Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Botts to be a high-numbered wizard. If anyone has had training in their branch of magic, then you can usually pick out another person with a high amount of magic. It essentially makes you a target for an enemy to hit.

Now why am I telling you about this? Because, as I said at the Final Feast last year, Voldemort is alive again. The Ministry of Magic denies that this could have happened. But now, more than ever, we need to know who our friends are. Since these wizards and witches have fought and been persecuted by Voldemort, they are being asked to help with our fight, again.

Mora sat in class, listening to all that was being said. It was comforting to hear that a war against Voldemort was in the works.

The rest of the day was uneventful for her. Then, even with the mysors running around on leashes after the gnomes, Mora was more focused on what Dumbledore had said.

On the way back to Gryffindor Tower, Ron and Hermione were talking about Dumbledore's class. I've never heard anything bad about them. I just didn't know much about them,said Ron.

In all my reading, I've never come across a reference about them, Hermione added. I'm a Muggle so I never had any impression about them, but they sound nice enough. Perhaps a bit misunderstood, though.

Yeah, I'd like to meet one, replied Ron.

We better get some homework done so we can eat and get to practice on time, said Mora.

Oh, yeah! We have our first game in two weeks, said Harry.

I think we will do well, though, said Mora. Ravenclaw is mostly first-time players. We have some veterans and, of course, a first-class Seeker on a first-class broom.

Harry blushed. Usually, our first game is against Slytherin, but Ravenclaw played first last year because of Draco's injury.' They enjoyed it so much, they asked Slytherin if they'd switch, and they agreed. They must think they'll get an advantage by watching us play before they come up against us.

They stood before the Fat Lady. they all said at once.