TWO
~Edge of Destiny~
"Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters?" Prism asked, looking at her ticket.
"What does it mean, 'Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters'? There isn't such a
thing!"
"Calm down, sis!" Liona urged frantically. Lance watched the two
fighting. "Harry and Ron said they'd meet us here at twenty till." she
tapped her watch.
"I'm not panicking!" Prism replied in a near-shout.
"BOTH of you, cool it." Lance countered.
"YOU STAY OUT OF IT!" They yelled at him. He backed against the wall,
hands waving peace in front of him.
"Sorry, just Liona shouldn't get so excited." Said girl clapped her hands
over her mouth, but not as if that hid it particularily much.
"Liona! Lance! Prism!" Ron's voice called from behind them. He walked up
right next to the startled girl. "Liona, you ok? You don't look so well.
Maybe you should have Hermione check you out."
"No... no I'm fine, really." She took a deep breath and exhaled on an
unmistakable sigh.
"Well... ok. If you're sure you're alright..."
"Yea. I'm good." He made a small sort of puzzled face. "An american
colloqualism. It means the same thing as 'I'm okay'."
"Are you american?" Hermione asked, approaching from behind them.
"Mm-hm." Prism nodded. "We just moved here this summer."
"And did you have a magic school there too?" Hermione seemed about as
interested in the subject as Mr. Weasley with Muggles.
"Mm. It was Spirit-Song Academy." They began absently walking toward the
barrier.
"Spirit-Song? I've heard of it. Started by Seera Spirit, Echo Timestar,
Haley Windplanet... and..." she paused uncertainly, "...goodness, it's
been so long since I read that book. I was a second year then..." Lance
and Prism gaped at the fact that Liona and Hermione had just walked
through what appeared to be a solid wall. Ron stared for a different
reason.
"Harry..." he asked of the friend who had just approached. "Did Liona
just walk through the barrier without even looking twice?" Harry nodded.
"That's what it looks like." On Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters, Liona
was finishing the list of founders of Spirit-Song.
"The others were Crystal Earthi, Sadzi Void, and Lioness Blackfire."
Hermione nodded.
"That's them. Is Lioness Blackfire related to you? Your name is Liona
Coldflame, correct?"
"Yep. That's me!" Both girls laughed.
"Is that sort of thing a common type of joke in america?"
"Yea, pretty much. Most of our jokes are rather pointless, made up solely
to amuse people with little or no brain power."
"I was under the impression that america was an intelligent country." She
answered wryly. Liona smiled widely.
"Where'd you get that idea?" Hermione looked back at Ron and Harry, who
were approaching.
"I'll be right back, alright?" Liona gave a nod of acnowledgement.
Partially across the station were another identical pair of redhead twins.
One of them was watching the girl of the moment with great curiosity.
"Say, Fred?" He pulled his brother's attention, pointing. "Dosen't she
look a bit like that girl Bill and Charlie used to know back when we were
first years?" Prism ran up to Liona, talking animatedly. They exchanged
glances.
"She's got a TWIN. An identical twin!" Both smiled, and walked up to the
girls.
"Hello. Just noticed you here. I'm George Weasley."
"And I'm Fred." Liona shifted her gaze smoothly from Prism up to Fred and
George.
"Ron's brothers?" Prism asked.
"Yes. Well, two of them anyway." George replied.
"Well it's nice to meet you. I'm Liona Coldflame, and this is Prism."
"A pleasure, m'lady." Fred took Liona's outstreched hand (initially
intended for a handshake) and kissed it right on the rune Algiz. "Would
you care to accompany us onto the school train?" A slight redness tinged
her eyelids and ears.
"Why I would lo-" She was cut off by Ron's exclamation as the others
approached.
"Oh NO." He groaned. "Two sets of identical redhead twins..." Harry's
mouth twitched into a smile.
"It looks almost as if we found two more Weasleys." At that, Liona's ears
and eyelids turned scarlet. A whistle blew.
"Ah! We'd better get on the train before all the compartments are taken!"
Hermione squealed. Everyone scrambled for the train, managing to secure
one of the mid-section compartments a minute or so after they had started
moving. Then there was the problem of seating arrangements. A little hard
to choose, trying to fit eight people in, but Liona and Prism both had
insisted the twins stay. So Ron and Hermione ended up across from each
other, closest to the corridor partition, with Harry, Prism, and George dow
n from her and Lance, Liona, and Fred the same on Ron's side.
"So," began Harry, "What is this Spirit-Song place you were talking to
Hermione about, Liona? If you went to a magic school before, wouldn't you
already have a wand?"
"Well... no." She returned. "Spirit-Song... well, it focuses more on
other magical items than wands. I think that Windplanet -one of the
founders- didn't like wands very much or something."
"So what did you use?" Ron asked in awe.
"Oh... lots of things."
"Jewels." Prism piped up. "Jewels and orbs and medallions-"
"All manner of herbs." Lance interjected. "The potions classes were
murder..."
"Some things that were really weird..." Prism wrinkled her nose. "All the
totem poles..."
"Oh, and the tribal masks and coins!" Liona smiled at the memory.
"And the 'Mouth of Truth', that thing was bloody scary!" Lance added.
"But I think the favorite was the staffs. Those and candles were the
schoolwide preference. I myself had an apple wood." She paused. "Those or
the Djinni." Hermione perked up even more.
"Djinni? Those faerie things?" Prism nodded.
"They were a requirement. We all have ours if you want to see them..."
"Aren't they supposed to be wary of strangers?" Prism laughed.
"Heck no! Mine just don't like Liona's and vice versa." The twin girls
burst into laughter. "Okay... okay..." Prism gasped for breath. "Luff,
Breeze, Daina, come here!" Three small creatures suddenly apparated into
her lap. Everybody except Prism, Lance and Liona stared in awe. They were
the Muggle view of small faeries, wings and all. "These are Luff and
Breeze the Jupiters." Prism motioned to the light blue ones, "And Daina
the Luna." the silver.
"They're pretty cute." George commented.
"Could I hold one?" Fred asked breathlessly. Prism shrugged.
"You could try. They most likely won't-yea, see how she's moving away?
You do the same. How about one of Liona's?"
"Hmm... I don't know. Maybe... Mint, come!" A gold Djinn appeared in her
hand. "Mint's a Sol. They usually like people. She's a bit more promising
than an aloof Jupiter, at any rate." He reached out again, and the little
gold faerie sniffed at his hand and reached out with one of her tiny arms.
Liona smiled. "See?" She said a bit quietly, "She just gave you permission
to touch her." With one finger, shaking slightly, he stroked the minute
creature's hair. She let out a tiny purr-like sound. Crookshanks opened
one eye and kept it on Mint.
It was such a scene that Malfoy was greeted by in fifteen minutes' time:
Liona and Fred leaning close together, examining something in her hands;
Prism entertaining George and Harry with her Djinni; Lance explaining
about Spirit-Song to Hermione, who looked ecstatic, and Ron, who looked
vaguley bored. Malfoy just sort of looked from one side to the other with
a puzzled expression on his face for almost a minute before anybody
noticed. A ring of nudges and 'look up there's later, they were all
staring at him. From the look he had, it appeared he was considering just
leaving.
"Malfoy?" Liona half-asked.
"Potter, Weasleys. Liona." Harry wondered if Malfoy had been in the sun
too long and gotten the faint pink tinge of a sunburn as it appeared.
There was a long moment of silence. Liona crossed her arms and smirked.
"Going to say anything?" He appeared slightly taken aback.
"I..." he pursed his lips, eyes fixed on Liona as if trying to conjure a
comeback but failing miserably. "I think you dropped this at Diagon Alley.
Clumsy. It was inbetween my books when I got home." He held out a gold and
ruby star charm on a chain. Liona took it slowly, as if trying not to
excite an animal or small child. "I have... no need for such things."
"Well, thank you. I have missed it."
"You're far too careless to be a proper witch."
"I know." Liona replied certainly, fixing him with an unmoving stare of
her own. "I suppose I should watch out for my posessions more closely.
Like you, maybe?" She tossed his Hogwarts badge at him, which he caught
with shock in his cold eyes.
"Well..."
"Maybe you're too quick to judge people for you to be a good wizard." He
swallowed.
"I... need to be going now." He turned on his heel.
"Watch for one of us in Slytherin!" Liona called out right as he closed
the door. There was a long, very silent moment.
"Are we sure that was Malfoy?" Ron finally asked. "That wasn't some kind
of mirage?" Fred and George shrugged, Hermione shook her head with a frown.
"Did you notice... I think he got sunburned." Harry said quickly. Ron
snorted a laugh.
"Are you serious?"
"You thought he was a bit -pink- too?" George asked in an amused manner.
Harry nodded.
"He didn't have Crabbe or Goyle either." Hermione added.
"What do you know... he didn't, did he?" Harry replied. Everyone sunk
into deep thought. Harry wasn't the only one who was wondering why Malfoy
was acting oddly. After all, he had hardly given second thought to Harry
and Ron, and didn't give a first one to Hermione. Speaking of giving... he
had returned that expensive-looking necklace to Liona. Normally he would
have pocketed it, as Harry and Ron learned in their second year when
disguised as Crabbe and Goyle by way of Polyjuice potion. A low chatter
rose up before long, the main focus of which was Liona and Prism
explaining to Harry, Fred, and George what kind of magic they learned at
Spirit-Song.
"Well... not many things that would be quite safe to use here." Liona
commented. "However," she shared a mischevious glance with Prism, "We
could show you a little."
"Growth, maybe?" Prism suggested.
"We'd need a plant."
"Gaia, then?"
"What are you out to do, knock the train off the tracks?" Prism blushed.
Liona smiled. "How about you Bind and I'll Frost?"
"Fine. Luff,"
"Mint,"
"...my staff!" Said Djinni dissappeared, and moments later reappeared
with two large, wooden staves. Liona and Prism each caught one and took a
ready stance.
"Bind!"
"Frost!" Jets of icy water flew from Liona's staff and reflected off
Prism's invisible sheild onto the floor. Hermione looked over with intrest
from her and Ron's conversation.
"Frost? That's all you have to say?" The triplets nodded.
"Is there something wrong with that?" Lance asked, scrunching his
eyebrows. Hermione glanced from the annoyed Lance to Liona, who was drying
the puddle with a jet of flame from the back of her left hand, and back to
Lance again.
"The words were just... so simple. And why does it work without a wand?"
"Professor Blackfire always used to say that wands and staves and runes
were only conductors for magic--the real magic came from inside." Prism
recited. She looked back at Liona, who had retracted the flame into her
hand and was back on the seat. The twins were glancing at her hand every
few seconds.
"What's that on your hand?"
"Mine?" Liona asked and held it out. "Sowulo." Hermione traced the rune
with her eyes. It was shaped like the letter z, only on it's side. Up
close, it looked to be not tatooed, but engraved into her hand. It was
quite a sight -an almost sickening one- to behold for the three youngest
wizards.
"And why, perchance, have you got the rune Sowulo on your left hand?"
Liona faded a bit.
"It was put there when I was a baby." Hermione put a loose fist under her
chin and seemed to be recalling some important information from the depths
of her mind. However, she never got to ask the question she appeared to be
wanting to, as by the time she came out of her thoughts with a logical
answer, conversation had already started up again. Harry could almost feel
her stewing in her little corner, and he could tell Ron felt the same.
Every now and again, she would shift, as if uncomfortable, and let out a
small huff. After the tenth or so time, he turned to her.
"Ok, what's going on with you?" He whispered so nobody else would hear.
"That girl... she's not telling us something."
"So she's not telling us something. She only met you today."
"But... look at the runes she has. Sowulo, it's a rune of power and the
sun. Algiz -on her right hand- is an energy and rainbow conductor. And-"
Harry was giving her an odd look. "What?"
"Did you say a rainbow conductor?" Hermione nodded. "At Diagon Alley,
when she was picking her wand, a rainbow came out of it. Could that have
anything to do with those runes?"
"Yes, that would make perfect sense. Oh yes, and look at her now. Look
very carefully." Harry turned to Liona, who was laughing at something. She
looked odd, he could tell, but not why. Suddenly, it hit him. She was
translucent. "You see? It's because of that rune on her cheek--Dagaz. It
grants invisibility." There was a knock on the door of the compartment
(Prism and Liona jumped) and it opened to reveal a somewhat short, pudgy
boy with worried brown eyes.
"Hullo, Neville." Ron greeted. "How'r you?"
"Oh, alright. Dosen't look like there's any extra room in here, though.
Sorry." He turned to go, but George stood up.
"That's alright. Me and Fred need to go find Lee. You can sit here."
"Are you sure you have to go?" Prism asked, eyes pleading.
"Sorry. We haven't seen him since last year." The twins went into the
corridor as Neville took a seat between Liona and Lance. "See you at
dinner!" Everybody waved goodbye, and then looked at Neville. He was
looking at Liona, Lance, and Prism.
"Oh! Sorry, I'm Prism Coldflame that's my brother Lance, and-" Liona gave
her a hard look, then softened her expression and smiled at Neville.
"I'm Liona Coldflame." Her words had a gentle undertone the others hadn't
heard from her before. "Who are you?" He turned scarlet.
"I'm Neville." He mumbled to his feet. "Neville Longbottom."
"So what's up, Neville?" Harry asked. "You didn't look too happy when you
got here." Neville sighed.
"Oh, Trevor went missing this summer and never came back again. Worst
part is, I didn't even lose him. Gran took him to the vet and he got away."
"Oh, Neville, I'm sorry." Hermione murmured sympathetically. He looked
down and jumped. A different golden Djinn was clinging on his shirt,
looking up at him curiously. Liona reached over and scooped her off.
"Miruki, don't do that, now. I don't think he's ever seen an overfriendly
Djinn before. Try to behave, like Mint." Mint stuck her tounge out at
Miruki. "However, that means you have to behave too." The tiny creature
turned her back sulkily and disapparated.
"How did you get Djinni?" Neville asked, surprising the three that knew
him. "They're supposed to be really hard to catch." Miruki was climbing
onto Neville's hand while Liona was preoccupied.
"They were a requirement for our old school." Prism interjected.
"Everyone had to have at least three."
"This one's really funny." Miruki had lain down on her back on his hand
and was fluttering her wings. "Hey," he laughed, "that tickles." The lunch
candy cart rolled up to the door.
"Anything for you?" Harry and Liona both stood and went out. Liona not
before asking if Neville could handle Miruki, though.
"I haven't seen this much wizard candy in a long time." Liona said,
smiling happily.
"Didn't you have wizard candy at Spirit-Song?" Harry asked.
"Not like this. The american wizard candy is nowhere near as fun as all
this." Once they finally went back into the compartment, Harry had a big
stack of cauldron cakes and pumpkin pasties, while Liona had a rather
random assortment of other candies, purposely excluding chocolate frogs.
Miruki had managed to get up on Neville's shoulders, and was flitting to
and fro, avoiding his hands.
"Come here, Miruki." Liona called, holding up a Bertie Bott's Every
Flavor Bean. Miruki darted to her, grabbed the yellow bean, and went back
to sit on Neville's shoulder. "Well, you are so greedy today, aren't you?"
"Your Djinn not behaving, sis?" Lance laughed.
"She's being quite the little bugger." Liona replied, but smiled.
"Jellybean, Neville?"
"Thankyou." He stumbled over the words again, and took a few. Hermione
was watching this little exchange intently. Her eyes betrayed more than
annoyance, but showed slight jealousy too. There was no reason for ner not
to be jealous, either. Liona had, in the last few hours, attracted two
very sweet boys without even apparently trying or exerting energy of any
kind towards such. That was when a startling thought occured to
her--perhaps sunburn was not the source of redness in a certain Slytherin.
She shook the thought from her head as well as she could, even though Ron
was giving her an odd stare.
"What have you been thinking about over there?" He asked. "You've been
red, white, upset and uncomfortable and now I'm getting curious!"
"Sorry, sorry. I'm just..." she met his gaze, but looked away. "...going
to go change into my robes. Be right back." Ron watched her go with a
small sadness. Harry shook his head and shoved a pasty at his friend.
"Come on, you can't be upset before we've even gotten there. It's too
early, and not even allowed."
"Harry?"
"Yea?"
"Thanks."
~Edge of Destiny~
"Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters?" Prism asked, looking at her ticket.
"What does it mean, 'Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters'? There isn't such a
thing!"
"Calm down, sis!" Liona urged frantically. Lance watched the two
fighting. "Harry and Ron said they'd meet us here at twenty till." she
tapped her watch.
"I'm not panicking!" Prism replied in a near-shout.
"BOTH of you, cool it." Lance countered.
"YOU STAY OUT OF IT!" They yelled at him. He backed against the wall,
hands waving peace in front of him.
"Sorry, just Liona shouldn't get so excited." Said girl clapped her hands
over her mouth, but not as if that hid it particularily much.
"Liona! Lance! Prism!" Ron's voice called from behind them. He walked up
right next to the startled girl. "Liona, you ok? You don't look so well.
Maybe you should have Hermione check you out."
"No... no I'm fine, really." She took a deep breath and exhaled on an
unmistakable sigh.
"Well... ok. If you're sure you're alright..."
"Yea. I'm good." He made a small sort of puzzled face. "An american
colloqualism. It means the same thing as 'I'm okay'."
"Are you american?" Hermione asked, approaching from behind them.
"Mm-hm." Prism nodded. "We just moved here this summer."
"And did you have a magic school there too?" Hermione seemed about as
interested in the subject as Mr. Weasley with Muggles.
"Mm. It was Spirit-Song Academy." They began absently walking toward the
barrier.
"Spirit-Song? I've heard of it. Started by Seera Spirit, Echo Timestar,
Haley Windplanet... and..." she paused uncertainly, "...goodness, it's
been so long since I read that book. I was a second year then..." Lance
and Prism gaped at the fact that Liona and Hermione had just walked
through what appeared to be a solid wall. Ron stared for a different
reason.
"Harry..." he asked of the friend who had just approached. "Did Liona
just walk through the barrier without even looking twice?" Harry nodded.
"That's what it looks like." On Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters, Liona
was finishing the list of founders of Spirit-Song.
"The others were Crystal Earthi, Sadzi Void, and Lioness Blackfire."
Hermione nodded.
"That's them. Is Lioness Blackfire related to you? Your name is Liona
Coldflame, correct?"
"Yep. That's me!" Both girls laughed.
"Is that sort of thing a common type of joke in america?"
"Yea, pretty much. Most of our jokes are rather pointless, made up solely
to amuse people with little or no brain power."
"I was under the impression that america was an intelligent country." She
answered wryly. Liona smiled widely.
"Where'd you get that idea?" Hermione looked back at Ron and Harry, who
were approaching.
"I'll be right back, alright?" Liona gave a nod of acnowledgement.
Partially across the station were another identical pair of redhead twins.
One of them was watching the girl of the moment with great curiosity.
"Say, Fred?" He pulled his brother's attention, pointing. "Dosen't she
look a bit like that girl Bill and Charlie used to know back when we were
first years?" Prism ran up to Liona, talking animatedly. They exchanged
glances.
"She's got a TWIN. An identical twin!" Both smiled, and walked up to the
girls.
"Hello. Just noticed you here. I'm George Weasley."
"And I'm Fred." Liona shifted her gaze smoothly from Prism up to Fred and
George.
"Ron's brothers?" Prism asked.
"Yes. Well, two of them anyway." George replied.
"Well it's nice to meet you. I'm Liona Coldflame, and this is Prism."
"A pleasure, m'lady." Fred took Liona's outstreched hand (initially
intended for a handshake) and kissed it right on the rune Algiz. "Would
you care to accompany us onto the school train?" A slight redness tinged
her eyelids and ears.
"Why I would lo-" She was cut off by Ron's exclamation as the others
approached.
"Oh NO." He groaned. "Two sets of identical redhead twins..." Harry's
mouth twitched into a smile.
"It looks almost as if we found two more Weasleys." At that, Liona's ears
and eyelids turned scarlet. A whistle blew.
"Ah! We'd better get on the train before all the compartments are taken!"
Hermione squealed. Everyone scrambled for the train, managing to secure
one of the mid-section compartments a minute or so after they had started
moving. Then there was the problem of seating arrangements. A little hard
to choose, trying to fit eight people in, but Liona and Prism both had
insisted the twins stay. So Ron and Hermione ended up across from each
other, closest to the corridor partition, with Harry, Prism, and George dow
n from her and Lance, Liona, and Fred the same on Ron's side.
"So," began Harry, "What is this Spirit-Song place you were talking to
Hermione about, Liona? If you went to a magic school before, wouldn't you
already have a wand?"
"Well... no." She returned. "Spirit-Song... well, it focuses more on
other magical items than wands. I think that Windplanet -one of the
founders- didn't like wands very much or something."
"So what did you use?" Ron asked in awe.
"Oh... lots of things."
"Jewels." Prism piped up. "Jewels and orbs and medallions-"
"All manner of herbs." Lance interjected. "The potions classes were
murder..."
"Some things that were really weird..." Prism wrinkled her nose. "All the
totem poles..."
"Oh, and the tribal masks and coins!" Liona smiled at the memory.
"And the 'Mouth of Truth', that thing was bloody scary!" Lance added.
"But I think the favorite was the staffs. Those and candles were the
schoolwide preference. I myself had an apple wood." She paused. "Those or
the Djinni." Hermione perked up even more.
"Djinni? Those faerie things?" Prism nodded.
"They were a requirement. We all have ours if you want to see them..."
"Aren't they supposed to be wary of strangers?" Prism laughed.
"Heck no! Mine just don't like Liona's and vice versa." The twin girls
burst into laughter. "Okay... okay..." Prism gasped for breath. "Luff,
Breeze, Daina, come here!" Three small creatures suddenly apparated into
her lap. Everybody except Prism, Lance and Liona stared in awe. They were
the Muggle view of small faeries, wings and all. "These are Luff and
Breeze the Jupiters." Prism motioned to the light blue ones, "And Daina
the Luna." the silver.
"They're pretty cute." George commented.
"Could I hold one?" Fred asked breathlessly. Prism shrugged.
"You could try. They most likely won't-yea, see how she's moving away?
You do the same. How about one of Liona's?"
"Hmm... I don't know. Maybe... Mint, come!" A gold Djinn appeared in her
hand. "Mint's a Sol. They usually like people. She's a bit more promising
than an aloof Jupiter, at any rate." He reached out again, and the little
gold faerie sniffed at his hand and reached out with one of her tiny arms.
Liona smiled. "See?" She said a bit quietly, "She just gave you permission
to touch her." With one finger, shaking slightly, he stroked the minute
creature's hair. She let out a tiny purr-like sound. Crookshanks opened
one eye and kept it on Mint.
It was such a scene that Malfoy was greeted by in fifteen minutes' time:
Liona and Fred leaning close together, examining something in her hands;
Prism entertaining George and Harry with her Djinni; Lance explaining
about Spirit-Song to Hermione, who looked ecstatic, and Ron, who looked
vaguley bored. Malfoy just sort of looked from one side to the other with
a puzzled expression on his face for almost a minute before anybody
noticed. A ring of nudges and 'look up there's later, they were all
staring at him. From the look he had, it appeared he was considering just
leaving.
"Malfoy?" Liona half-asked.
"Potter, Weasleys. Liona." Harry wondered if Malfoy had been in the sun
too long and gotten the faint pink tinge of a sunburn as it appeared.
There was a long moment of silence. Liona crossed her arms and smirked.
"Going to say anything?" He appeared slightly taken aback.
"I..." he pursed his lips, eyes fixed on Liona as if trying to conjure a
comeback but failing miserably. "I think you dropped this at Diagon Alley.
Clumsy. It was inbetween my books when I got home." He held out a gold and
ruby star charm on a chain. Liona took it slowly, as if trying not to
excite an animal or small child. "I have... no need for such things."
"Well, thank you. I have missed it."
"You're far too careless to be a proper witch."
"I know." Liona replied certainly, fixing him with an unmoving stare of
her own. "I suppose I should watch out for my posessions more closely.
Like you, maybe?" She tossed his Hogwarts badge at him, which he caught
with shock in his cold eyes.
"Well..."
"Maybe you're too quick to judge people for you to be a good wizard." He
swallowed.
"I... need to be going now." He turned on his heel.
"Watch for one of us in Slytherin!" Liona called out right as he closed
the door. There was a long, very silent moment.
"Are we sure that was Malfoy?" Ron finally asked. "That wasn't some kind
of mirage?" Fred and George shrugged, Hermione shook her head with a frown.
"Did you notice... I think he got sunburned." Harry said quickly. Ron
snorted a laugh.
"Are you serious?"
"You thought he was a bit -pink- too?" George asked in an amused manner.
Harry nodded.
"He didn't have Crabbe or Goyle either." Hermione added.
"What do you know... he didn't, did he?" Harry replied. Everyone sunk
into deep thought. Harry wasn't the only one who was wondering why Malfoy
was acting oddly. After all, he had hardly given second thought to Harry
and Ron, and didn't give a first one to Hermione. Speaking of giving... he
had returned that expensive-looking necklace to Liona. Normally he would
have pocketed it, as Harry and Ron learned in their second year when
disguised as Crabbe and Goyle by way of Polyjuice potion. A low chatter
rose up before long, the main focus of which was Liona and Prism
explaining to Harry, Fred, and George what kind of magic they learned at
Spirit-Song.
"Well... not many things that would be quite safe to use here." Liona
commented. "However," she shared a mischevious glance with Prism, "We
could show you a little."
"Growth, maybe?" Prism suggested.
"We'd need a plant."
"Gaia, then?"
"What are you out to do, knock the train off the tracks?" Prism blushed.
Liona smiled. "How about you Bind and I'll Frost?"
"Fine. Luff,"
"Mint,"
"...my staff!" Said Djinni dissappeared, and moments later reappeared
with two large, wooden staves. Liona and Prism each caught one and took a
ready stance.
"Bind!"
"Frost!" Jets of icy water flew from Liona's staff and reflected off
Prism's invisible sheild onto the floor. Hermione looked over with intrest
from her and Ron's conversation.
"Frost? That's all you have to say?" The triplets nodded.
"Is there something wrong with that?" Lance asked, scrunching his
eyebrows. Hermione glanced from the annoyed Lance to Liona, who was drying
the puddle with a jet of flame from the back of her left hand, and back to
Lance again.
"The words were just... so simple. And why does it work without a wand?"
"Professor Blackfire always used to say that wands and staves and runes
were only conductors for magic--the real magic came from inside." Prism
recited. She looked back at Liona, who had retracted the flame into her
hand and was back on the seat. The twins were glancing at her hand every
few seconds.
"What's that on your hand?"
"Mine?" Liona asked and held it out. "Sowulo." Hermione traced the rune
with her eyes. It was shaped like the letter z, only on it's side. Up
close, it looked to be not tatooed, but engraved into her hand. It was
quite a sight -an almost sickening one- to behold for the three youngest
wizards.
"And why, perchance, have you got the rune Sowulo on your left hand?"
Liona faded a bit.
"It was put there when I was a baby." Hermione put a loose fist under her
chin and seemed to be recalling some important information from the depths
of her mind. However, she never got to ask the question she appeared to be
wanting to, as by the time she came out of her thoughts with a logical
answer, conversation had already started up again. Harry could almost feel
her stewing in her little corner, and he could tell Ron felt the same.
Every now and again, she would shift, as if uncomfortable, and let out a
small huff. After the tenth or so time, he turned to her.
"Ok, what's going on with you?" He whispered so nobody else would hear.
"That girl... she's not telling us something."
"So she's not telling us something. She only met you today."
"But... look at the runes she has. Sowulo, it's a rune of power and the
sun. Algiz -on her right hand- is an energy and rainbow conductor. And-"
Harry was giving her an odd look. "What?"
"Did you say a rainbow conductor?" Hermione nodded. "At Diagon Alley,
when she was picking her wand, a rainbow came out of it. Could that have
anything to do with those runes?"
"Yes, that would make perfect sense. Oh yes, and look at her now. Look
very carefully." Harry turned to Liona, who was laughing at something. She
looked odd, he could tell, but not why. Suddenly, it hit him. She was
translucent. "You see? It's because of that rune on her cheek--Dagaz. It
grants invisibility." There was a knock on the door of the compartment
(Prism and Liona jumped) and it opened to reveal a somewhat short, pudgy
boy with worried brown eyes.
"Hullo, Neville." Ron greeted. "How'r you?"
"Oh, alright. Dosen't look like there's any extra room in here, though.
Sorry." He turned to go, but George stood up.
"That's alright. Me and Fred need to go find Lee. You can sit here."
"Are you sure you have to go?" Prism asked, eyes pleading.
"Sorry. We haven't seen him since last year." The twins went into the
corridor as Neville took a seat between Liona and Lance. "See you at
dinner!" Everybody waved goodbye, and then looked at Neville. He was
looking at Liona, Lance, and Prism.
"Oh! Sorry, I'm Prism Coldflame that's my brother Lance, and-" Liona gave
her a hard look, then softened her expression and smiled at Neville.
"I'm Liona Coldflame." Her words had a gentle undertone the others hadn't
heard from her before. "Who are you?" He turned scarlet.
"I'm Neville." He mumbled to his feet. "Neville Longbottom."
"So what's up, Neville?" Harry asked. "You didn't look too happy when you
got here." Neville sighed.
"Oh, Trevor went missing this summer and never came back again. Worst
part is, I didn't even lose him. Gran took him to the vet and he got away."
"Oh, Neville, I'm sorry." Hermione murmured sympathetically. He looked
down and jumped. A different golden Djinn was clinging on his shirt,
looking up at him curiously. Liona reached over and scooped her off.
"Miruki, don't do that, now. I don't think he's ever seen an overfriendly
Djinn before. Try to behave, like Mint." Mint stuck her tounge out at
Miruki. "However, that means you have to behave too." The tiny creature
turned her back sulkily and disapparated.
"How did you get Djinni?" Neville asked, surprising the three that knew
him. "They're supposed to be really hard to catch." Miruki was climbing
onto Neville's hand while Liona was preoccupied.
"They were a requirement for our old school." Prism interjected.
"Everyone had to have at least three."
"This one's really funny." Miruki had lain down on her back on his hand
and was fluttering her wings. "Hey," he laughed, "that tickles." The lunch
candy cart rolled up to the door.
"Anything for you?" Harry and Liona both stood and went out. Liona not
before asking if Neville could handle Miruki, though.
"I haven't seen this much wizard candy in a long time." Liona said,
smiling happily.
"Didn't you have wizard candy at Spirit-Song?" Harry asked.
"Not like this. The american wizard candy is nowhere near as fun as all
this." Once they finally went back into the compartment, Harry had a big
stack of cauldron cakes and pumpkin pasties, while Liona had a rather
random assortment of other candies, purposely excluding chocolate frogs.
Miruki had managed to get up on Neville's shoulders, and was flitting to
and fro, avoiding his hands.
"Come here, Miruki." Liona called, holding up a Bertie Bott's Every
Flavor Bean. Miruki darted to her, grabbed the yellow bean, and went back
to sit on Neville's shoulder. "Well, you are so greedy today, aren't you?"
"Your Djinn not behaving, sis?" Lance laughed.
"She's being quite the little bugger." Liona replied, but smiled.
"Jellybean, Neville?"
"Thankyou." He stumbled over the words again, and took a few. Hermione
was watching this little exchange intently. Her eyes betrayed more than
annoyance, but showed slight jealousy too. There was no reason for ner not
to be jealous, either. Liona had, in the last few hours, attracted two
very sweet boys without even apparently trying or exerting energy of any
kind towards such. That was when a startling thought occured to
her--perhaps sunburn was not the source of redness in a certain Slytherin.
She shook the thought from her head as well as she could, even though Ron
was giving her an odd stare.
"What have you been thinking about over there?" He asked. "You've been
red, white, upset and uncomfortable and now I'm getting curious!"
"Sorry, sorry. I'm just..." she met his gaze, but looked away. "...going
to go change into my robes. Be right back." Ron watched her go with a
small sadness. Harry shook his head and shoved a pasty at his friend.
"Come on, you can't be upset before we've even gotten there. It's too
early, and not even allowed."
"Harry?"
"Yea?"
"Thanks."