Chapter Two
The Meeting Of The Minds
By Queen Tessandry de Sanyochisei
The next morning, the authors woke early and met in the Great Hall. None of the student authors knew where the teaching authors had gone after the Start-Of-Term Feast except that they'd followed Dumbledore.
"You know? I only just thought of this but what are we going to do for schedules? It's not like every year a group of Harry Potter fanfiction authors show up." Chase says, leaning against the wall. "And what about those extra courses that we read about? It's not like we know them all. We only know about the few JKR mentioned."
"We know them." Circe says with a grin.
"You do?" groans Tess.
"Yes." Ariety answers, grinning at the disdainful look on Tess's face.
"Make… Let's see… Two Fifth years, and a Seventh year, two Fourth years and one Third year… Make five of those lists that JKR wrote about in Secrets. I don't need one." Venus says, glancing around the group.
"I already know what I'm taking so make that four." Tess adds from the floor, tying her high-tops.
"How?" Liz asks Tess, looking curious.
"I found out the list through Serenity." Tess answers, standing up.
"Venus, just curious, but why do you act like you live here?" Surfer asks as Circe and the other teaching authors made one list each.
"Because I do. Look at my name." Venus replies with a grin.
Just then, students began to file in the doors. The authors parted and went to their respective tables; Chloe and Tawny to the Hufflepuff table, Chase and Venus to Gryffindor, Surfer and Ray to Slytherin, and Tess and Maia to Ravenclaw.
Tess, walking with Maia, mutters, "Just don't have Chang sit near us." Maia was confused by this but chose not to mention it around the temperamental empress.
Breakfast was quiet for the authors, save Malfoy sucking up to the Slytherin authors and Snape glaring at the authors that would be assisting in the teaching. He knew that one of the author witches dumped that jug of pumpkin juice down his back but he didn't know which witch did it.
At the end of breakfast, after the schedules had been handed out while being watched enviously by the student authors, Dumbledore stands up at the head table and clears his throat. The hall fell silent.
"I would like to see the Authors now, if I could." Dumbledore announces and walks swiftly out of the hall. Automatically, the two authors at each of the house tables and the four teaching authoresses stand and quickly follow.
When all the authors were in the Entrance Hall, gathered around Dumbledore, Dumbledore turns to face them all.
"I'll be taking you to a private office I used only when Voldemort was in power. You are to tell no one of this room. Am I understood?"
The various authors and authoresses nod and they set off after Dumbledore down a corridor towards the dungeons.
When the authors had just started looking around for the Slytherin Tower entrance, excluding the two Slytherin authors, Dumbledore halts and turns to a wall on the left. Leaning close to the wall, he mutters a word to a torch bracket and steps back quickly.
It was a good thing indeed that he had stepped away because a moment after he'd said that word, incomprehensible to any of the authors, the bracket had turned and the wall swings open.
"Come in." Dumbledore says, stepping into the dimly lit room. The authors enter behind him, glancing around the room apprehensively.
"I have a feeling that you all know why I brought you here." Dumbledore says, leaning on a dusty and old desk. Old papers were stacked here and there, an unopened envelope sat off-centered on top of everything.
"One, don't abuse or show off our abilities." Surfer says from the back of the grouping. Dumbledore nods, closing his mouth on the words that he'd been about to say.
"Two, don't use your abilities to help students cheat." Tess adds, brushing a lock of her currently unruly blue hair out of her face. Dumbledore nods again.
"Three, don't make any drastic changes." Ariety finishes. Dumbledore nods approvingly and sighs.
"Then I guess there's nothing else we have to discuss, unless Professor Stonecast has anything to add in?" Dumbledore asks, looking at a dark corner behind him and to his left.
"Nothing here, Professor." Professor Stonecast answers, stepping out of the shadows. She was tall and slim with almost-pitch black hair and electrified blue eyes.
"Actually, why don't we get this in writing?" Chloe suggests. [Authoress's Note 1: Pun, again, is intended!] The assistant teachers nod, as the written word was binding for all of them. Most of the younger authors groan but nod in agreement. Venus look slightly put out but still went along with it. Professor Stonecast quickly scribbles the three rules the authors had said.
One by one, each of the authors sign the sheet of parchment, Venus grumbling all the way. After the last author, Tess as her surname came last comparatively, had signed the paper with a flourish; there was a flash of light.
When the light subsided, the parchment that the authors had signed was now a thin, grayish metal and yellow metal where the words and signatures were. Tess, being still near the table, leans over the formerly parchment and brushes a light finger across a line of words.
"Titainimite for the parchment and gold for the lettering." Tess says, turning to face the others looking oddly strained. "Near indestructible."
"Let me guess! It's only near indestructible because rules were made to be broken?" Surfer asks brashly. Tess glares at her junior of four years.
"No, you dimension-traveling dolt! It's only near indestructible because we need to follow the rules for it to be indestructible. But other than that, titainimite is indestructible on its own but with the gold…" Tess answers, still looking odd.
"What's this 'titainimite' you keep talking about?" Dumbledore asks, politely curious.
"It's a stone slash metal that's only found on Sarcastia… my world." Tess answers; worry lines creasing her cheeks and forehead.
"What does that mean?" Maia asks, sounding concerned.
"Someone wanted us here… and he or she knows each and every one of us…" Tess replies, letting the sentence peter out. [Authoress's Note 2: Just for dramatic effect.]
"Wait! What are those? Underneath the titaini-ma-stuff." Ray exclaims, pointing vigorously at the tablet.
Carefully, Circe and Liz move the stone and find eight pieces of parchment, all with varying schedules and all with one of each of the student authors' names on it.
"I think you're right, Tess…" Liz says, handing Tess her schedule. Tess reads over it and her eyes widen.
"Excuse me, one moment…" Tess says weakly, and falls to the floor in a dead faint.
"Tess!" Circe exclaims, dashing forward to help her friend.
"What's on that schedule?" Liz snaps, darting forward as well. Circe picks up the parchment in the unconscious authoress's hand and reads.
"What? 'Vraiment seulement Wendracon dominer'?" Circe reads aloud, handing the parchment to Liz.
"Truly only Wendracon rules?" Tawny translates, sounding puzzled. "Why would that make her pass out? If anything, it'd make her happy."
"It's a line from the Imperial anthem of Sarcastia." Surfer corrects quietly. The authors stare at him.
"Didn't any of you wonder why Wendracon and I are on such bad terms?" Surfer adds snappishly. "I had a month long stay there once and they sang that song once a week."
"Author meeting, tonight, entrance hall, half-hour before dinner." Ariety orders sharply. The authors nod.
"You're dismissed to your classes but be careful. Miss Moss, Miss Electra, please take Miss Wendracon to the Infirmary then get to your classes." Dumbledore instructs and leaves the room. The authors disperse. Professor Stonecast hangs back.
"Liz, don't worry about being late. It's only my prep hour." Professor Stonecast says and sweeps out of the chamber.
~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~
"Only a few others not of Sarcastian lineage know the anthem but they've promised never to sing it or tell anyone… and those that didn't, had it wiped from their memories." Tess says, pacing in the entrance hall. She'd recovered well in the hospital wing, if now a little leery of the nurse. For all of Madam Pomfrey's fussing, you'd've thought that Tess had been mortally wounded.
The other authors look at Surfer. "Hey! I like having my memories in tact thank you!" Surfer defends, glaring back. Tess rounds on the youngest member of the meeting.
"How much did you tell them?" Tess asks accusatorially. Surfer recoils away from the angered empress.
"I just told them that the line on your schedule was a line from the anthem, that's all!" Surfer exclaims, cowering away from Tess.
Tess grumbles and stands down, looking disappointed at missing her chance to pulverize Surfer.
"Okay. This means what?" Tawny asks.
"It means that this person that got us here is from Sarcastia and quite possibly has a score to settle with Tess." Ariety answers for the empress irritably. Tess, who had been about to answer, closes her mouth with an audible snap.
"Doesn't she have some sort of personal guard or something?" asks Chase. Tess glares at him.
"If I did have one with me, don't you think that they would have shown themselves by now." Tess snaps with a pointed glare at the third year Gryffindor.
"Bite my head off, will you?" Chase mutters indignantly.
"No. Nasty flavor." Tess replies, smiling sweetly.
"Break it up you two." Circe commands and the two bickering authors glare at each other fit to kill.
"I do have a guard but that's on Parth. Besides, it hasn't been up to snuff ever since Gryffin Archiah disappeared." Tess says, still glaring at Chase but not as hard due to a strange glimmer in her mint green eyes.
"Okay. Keep eyes open and be on your guard at all times." Delia advises. The authors nod and head to their respective rooms and dorms.
Nothing major happened for the next month and a half. Unless you count Surfer trying to escape at every moment he thought he could and Tess being a smartass as usual.
~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~
First Year Double Potions- Gryffindor & Slytherin"Now if you add so much as a drop of water to this particular potion, you will severely regret it without me having to do a thing." Professor Snape warns menacingly. Ariety had a strange smile on her face as she catalogued this tidbit of information for the afternoon's First Year class.
Surfer Tsunamiya, at the back of the Slytherin section of the dungeon, absent-mindedly made the delicate potion while keeping a good deal of his attention on the "Dimensional Sea" [Authoress's Note 3: The Dimensional Sea is the ocean between each and every dimension. The "Travelers", Surfer's race, traveled on their equivalent of a silver muggle surfboard through and across this sea as a means of travel, meeting new peoples and learning new things. The Travelers are now extinct accept for one remaining survivor, Surfer.].
Each wave on this sea, to Surfer, had a rating. Surfer needed a specific rating for him to ride it out and if it wasn't a high enough rating, Surfer would merely wipeout and then land somewhere else in this dimension.
Surfer silently cheered as he thought he found one heading out of this world and throws his wand down. His wand turns into his staff, which then changes to the silver surfboard.
Hoping on the surfboard, Surfer yells "SEE YA!", and vanishes. The whole room stares at the place where Surfer had been for a whole fifteen seconds.
At the end of that fifteen seconds, however, Surfer came riding back in on his board, still on a wave of green water.
As he rode though the room, potions abruptly boiled and exploded on their creators when the water touched the contents.
Surfer crashes into the wall in the front of the classroom, his surfboard, again, a wand. He slowly slides down the wall, oblivious to the sopping and singed students and teachers.
"Ouch…" Surfer says as he collapses away from the wall.
"TSUNAMIYA!!!" Professor Snape yells. The Gryffindors were shocked as they had never yet seen Snape lecture one of his own house.
"Huh? Wha'd I do?" Surfer asks stupidly, and a soaking wet Snape began to steam.
~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~
Fifth Year Double Potions- Ravenclaw & Hufflepuff"—And that's how you make a Dead Man's Floating Potion." Professor Snape lectures the fifth years in his current class a week after the Surfer incident.
Tess Wendracon raises her hand politely, smiling her sickly sweet smile. "Um… Professor?"
"Yes, Miss Wendracon." Snape answers irritably.
"Could you show us how to make that first part? I know it'll be quick from the way you so excellently explained." Tess says, still smiling. The whole class was giving her dirty looks as though being that nice to the Head of Slytherin House was a crime in and of itself so not one of them noticed that she had quickly scribbled something down on a spare bit of parchment.
"Very well, Miss Wendracon." Snape says and starts making the first part of the potion, explaining poignant points as he went.
Just before Snape would start, though, Tess pounds her quill tip quickly at the end of her sentence. The ingrediants' order reverses completely but Snape didn't notice as he tosses various items into his cauldron.
After three liquids and four solid components, there was a great explosion that would rival one of Venus's pranks going off, shaking everything in the castle from the tables in the Great Hall to the very top of the North Tower where Trelawny was holding her Fourth year Gryffindor class.
The whole dungeon was smoky and Snape looked particularly blacked. Tess looks positively delighted, as though nothing had gone the least bit wrong. Ariety, on the other hand, had to stuff her fist in her mouth to stop herself from laughing outright.
"I see! Just do everything in reverse and we'll get it right." Tess says, acting the part of a ditzy blonde from America. Snape's face turns red, noticeable even under all the soot.
"Padma, darling, take this down. Do everything in reverse." Tess instructs her neighbor at her table. "Did anyone miss that?" Tess asks, raising her voice to be heard in the entire dungeon. Ariety sits down on the floor, holding her sides to hide the fact that she was dying of laughter.
"Do everything the reverse of what our dear professor showed us to do." Tess says loudly. Many of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs looked aghast but were biting their lips lest they start laughing at the amusing scene playing out in front of them.
"Wendracon!" Snape roars, finding his voice.
"Yes, Professor?" Tess asks sweetly, her smile back in place and it was as sugary as ever.
"Fifty points from Ravenclaw and get out of my sight!" Snape roars again. Tess didn't even flinch.
"But, Professor, I had no hand in this. I don't see why I should be penalized for your mistake. Didn't Professor Dumbledore say that all point deductions over fifty could be appealed if the penalty was not justified? I think I'll take this to Dumbledore and appeal it. Thank you for excusing me from class." Tess says sweetly, twisting his words around, sharpening them to dagger points and sending them back at him. Tess quickly exits the room before Snape could stop her.
"GET TO WORK!" Snape yells in frustration at the class in front of him. Ariety had a satisfied smirk on her face the entire remainder of the hour.
~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~
Two weeks later, October sixteenth~It was dinnertime. The entire school was currently dining on the food of feast proportions when a strange wind blew through the Great Hall.
"What the…" many say as a shadowed figure forms above the tables.
"Ah…" the form says, looking about the hall, pausing briefly as he saw each pair of student authors and the quartet of authoresses at the head table.
"My dear authors, so glad you all could join me." The form says in a definite masculine voice.
"What do you want?" Ray shouts bravely from the Slytherin table.
"Why… A battle of the wits my fellow writer, Ray Fira; age thirteen." The form answers, gesturing broadly in false welcome. Ray recoils in fear. She hadn't told him how old she was.
"Who are you?" Chloe yells from the Hufflepuff table.
"You can call me the Dark Archer, Chloe Frazier; seventh year." The figure answers again, seeming to smile with delight as Chloe sinks back to her seat.
"Why do you want to fight us?" Venus calls from the Gryffindor table.
"I don't want to fight you. Not just yet anyway, my dear Venus McGonagall. You see I do not fight uneducated opponents. I will not fight you until you can figure out who I really am. I'll leave you clues, granted, but you have to put them together." Dark Archer explains.
"What's the point of fighting us?" Chase yells up at the Dark Archer from his spot near Venus.
"You see, conquering this world without some equal opposition would be quite dull, even if there is magic here, Chase Phoenixcal. I see you're named for the phoenix; the ever rising. Do you, too rise from the ashes?" the Dark Archer asks, sounding almost innocent.
"NO!" Circe cries from the Head Table, standing and knocking her chair back in the process.
Chase realized what the Archer meant too late to do anything. Chase had, almost literally, gone up in smoke before he could so much as scream. All that remained was ashes that drifted slowly to the floor.
"Here's your first clue. You know I'm not of this world. I'm from one of yours and two of you know me well. That's all… Until next we meet…" and the Dark Archer vanished in a swirl of darkness.
Circe collapses into tears as pandemonium breaks in the Hall. Tess runs up to the Head table to comfort her friend. Delia, Liz, Ariety and the other authors look panicked under the false expressions of confusion.
"Attention!" Dumbledore cries over the racket, an unsuccessful attempt to regain order. Dumbledore shoot purple sparks to gain everyone's attention and stop the hysteria.
"Go to your houses. Don't panic. We'll get the situation under control!" Dumbledore says loudly in order to be heard over the resuming hysterics.
Before anyone could leave, though, a young man of about fifteen or sixteen bursts into the Hall looking on top of the world.
"Hello Hogwarts! Alex Bakare is in the house. Well… that can be fixed if the Hat will… What? Did I miss the party?" the boy announces loudly, oblivious to the tragedy that had happened just moments before.
Authoress's Note 4 and Disclaimer: Thank you all for letting me borrow these characters. Harry Potter and all original characters belong to J.K. Rowling. Ray Fira is property of Marie (rieb7@hotmail.com), Ariety Blythe and Chloe Frazier belong to Kel (Valentine715@aol.com), Venus McGonagall stars as herself (Her Author Page), Tawny Miryton belongs to Meg (FunnyGurl895@aol.com), Liz Electra belongs to Liz (Her Author Page), Circe Moss belongs to Circe (Her Author Page), Delia Phinium belongs to Pat (Trishd29@aol.com), Chase Phoenixcal belongs to Chase (Chase1312@aol.com), Maia Rahmlal belongs to Natalia (TOONatalia@aol.com), Surfer Tsunamiya belongs to my brother, Pory (His Author Page), and Tess Wendracon belongs to me! The New Author and explanations in Chapter Three. Tah-tah!
~Queen Tessandry de Sanyochisei~