Disclaimer: No, we don't own Harry Potter, Hogwarts, The Canadian Alliance, or anything else you may recognize as being un-original.
A/N: I, Ravenwolf, would like to thank everyone who reviewed the past chapters, and would also like to ask that all you other people reading this leave reviews. Especially ones with constructive criticism, or advice on how to make this story better.
Chapter 12
Three weeks later, Ron and Harry were serving detention in the Potions classroom when a breeze blew up from out of nowhere, swirling around the classroom for a moment before it came across the spot where the girls had been right before their disappearance. It began to spin around faster and faster until it was almost as if a tornado had been transported to the middle of the room. A small black hole opened up in the fabric of the space-time continuum, and small streamers of light swirled out of it and into the dust storm surrounding it. There was a sudden blinding flash of light, and then the wind disappeared. When the boys could see again (which took a few minutes), where the portal had been were now standing six seventeen-year-old girls, all dressed strangely, and vaguely reminding the boys of the missing girls.
The one who reminded them of Lily was wearing a sleeveless hunter green tunic (revealing the many thin white scars that marched up and down her arms), brown leather boots, and buckskin leggings. A sword was strapped to her hip, as well as a long-ish dagger. She had two tattoos circling her upper arms, one was of ivy leaves and the other of flames. Both tattoos looked eerily realistic. There was a feral quality about her, and the easy confidence with which she held herself gave the impression that she could handle anything you threw at her, especially if it was in a fight.
The one who reminded them of Airinne had the kind of hairstyle that you only get by sticking your finger into an electrical socket, very big goggles over her eyes, and was wearing a large leather apron that consisted of about 99% pockets, all of which were bulging with tools of all sorts, and the look on her face was of scientific curiosity, as though she wanted to know exactly how everything worked and then put it into some sort of invention.
The girl that looked like Kait was wearing floor-length white robes, bound with a simple rope-belt to which was attached several fat pouches, and she was holding a staff in her hand that radiated arcane power. Her hair was a bit longer than Kait's had been, and she wasn't wearing any glasses, but otherwise she looked exactly the same, only older. There was an air of mystery and quiet confidence about her, which will not be explained in further detail because she's supposed to have an air of mystery about her. End of story. :P
The-girl-who-looked-like-Amy's hair was rather longer than it had been when she'd disappeared, and she was also wearing a robe, which was also simple in design, although Amy's robe was made of some sort of interesting shimmery fabric. She was carrying a bag full of scrolls over her shoulder, and had a sort of scrutinizing look about her, as though she wanted to know everything there was to know about everything. She, also, wore no glasses.
Siri (or rather, the girl who forcefully reminded Ron and Harry of Siri), had her considerably longer hair done up in a ponytail that started at the top of her head. Her clothes were of various bright colours that clashed when put together. Loudly. She had a short sword strapped to her waist, and a large number of bulging pouches were draped about her slender figure, there were tiny wrinkles (laugh-lines) about her eyes and mouth, and she had a look about her of cheerful curiosity.
Fiona (or rather, the girl who LOOKED like- you get the idea) was wearing a long flowing gown and looked very dignified and sophisticated.
They all had a look of confidence about them; they knew what they're strengths and weaknesses were and knew the limits to their strengths. By the way they stood closely together, Ron and Harry could see that these girls had complete trust in the abilities of their companions. Ron chose that moment to completely ruin the drama of the moment by saying, "Who are you?" and peering suspiciously at them. The girls stepped forward and introduced themselves, each of them possessing strange accents that were totally unfamiliar to the two boys.
"I am Fiona Merenda" said the-chick-who-looked-like-Fiona proudly.
"My name's Siri Everly," and she stuck her deeply tanned hand out, a friendly smile on her face.
"Amy Kairs, of the Order of Aesthetics," Amy bowed slightly.
"Hi,mynameisAirinneMerchellofMt.Nevermind. Pleasedtomeetyou!" Harry and Ron stared at her blankly, at which she sighed and repeated her introduction, only slower.
"I'm Kaitlyn Gainstein."
"Lily Macleod." This confused Harry and Ron - they were sorry, but no one grows three years in three weeks. End of story. There wasn't even any magic that could do this, so far as they knew. They must be different people with strangely similar names... maybe ancestors brought back from the depths of time or something equally dramatic sounding.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Ron Weasley, and this is Harry Potter," they shook hands with the cheerful Siri. The girls looked slightly surprised at this and looked closer at Ron and Harry.
"You're Ron and Harry?" Ron wondered if he should be offended at the incredulity on their faces. So did Harry.
"Yes."
"How long have we been gone?!" Fiona demanded.
"About three weeks." Harry decided not to mention the fact that they couldn't be the girls who had gone missing, he was too confused to register any more confusion or disbelief.
"Three WEEKS?!" More incredulity and disbelief.
"Yes."
"That would explain it then."
"Nokidding."
Harry and Ron decided they'd blow off their detentions, as Snape was nowhere in sight, and escort the returned girls to Dumbledore's office, which the whole school had been told to do three weeks earlier, give or take a few hours. The girls were rather surprised at the sight of all the Aurors patrolling the halls. Now, Ron and Harry had taken on the attitude of "weirder things have happened" and were steadfastly not worrying about things they couldn't even try to explain.
"Has Hogwarts been invaded?"
"No, those are Aurors. They came here about five minutes after you left, and have been here ever since." When in doubt, tell all the truth you can.
"Why?"
"Well, because we thought you'd been kidnapped by Death Eaters." The girls looked amused. Snape spotted walked by on his way to his classroom.
"Potter! Weasley! What are you doing out of detention? Twenty points from Gryffindor!"
"Begging your pardon, sir, but these two gentlemen were merely escorting us to the Headmaster's office."
"Who are YOU?"
"I'm Fiona, and this is Siri, Airinne, Amy, Kait and Lily. I'm told we've been missing for three weeks." Snape gaped at the girls for a few minutes, then said, "Oh. Nevermind then. Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, you are excused from your detention. Carry on," and promptly swept off, leaving everybody to stare at his retreating figure blankly. They continued on and some time later passed the Great Hall, through the doorway of which they saw lots and lots of sleeping bags on the floor in the various house colours.
"And I suppose that you've been sleeping in the Great Hall for the same reason that the Aurors have been swarming Hogwarts?"
"Yes, that's exactly it!" The girls looked amused again, but this time there was a bit of concern behind it. The rest of the trip to Dumbledore's office was uneventful, and so was the visit there. Unless you included the part about how Lily stood the whole time at the window gazing longingly at the shadowy green of the forest, or the other part in which Lily began humming a sweet, haunting melody with Fawkes coming in strong on the chorus.
"You may want to leave your things here for safe-keeping."
The girls turned and peered at the headmaster suspiciously, but there was something about him that convinced them that nothing untoward would happen to the prized possessions, so they complied. Siri left nearly all of her pouches on his desk, and Lily left her axe and several daggers that had been cleverly concealed about her person. Amy left her bag of scrolls, and Airinne left the larger number of tools from her apron. Lily paused in the act of setting down a dagger, then pulled various pouches and vials from where they had been hidden, telling Dumbledore not to touch them, because they were very powerful poisons. Kait left many of her own pouches on the desk. Seeing that that was all the girls (who now merely looked like they were sixteen) were willing to part with at the moment, he had let them leave and hadn't pushed them about any of their other possessions.
Just before leaving, Kait turned back with her Staff. "Keep this for me, will you? Thanks. I don't want it to get broken or anything. Um - just, make sure you don't touch it. I don't know if it'd hurt you, but this other Mage I met had the Staff of Magius and I think it burns people or something when anyone else touches it. I never let anyone touch mine cause for all I know they could be blown to bits. I'll just put it in this corner, then, and be off." She laid her staff to rest in one corner beside an armoire, and a small glow emanating from the crystal affixed to the top of the staff faded gradually as Kait left the room.
There were several joyful reunions that evening when Fred, George, Terry and Alan learned that their respective loves had returned. Or rather, there would have been if the girls didn't look so different. Alan and Kait were still insanely happy and they both cried at their reunion. George was overjoyed at the sight of Fiona, and had hugged her and kissed her repeatedly, only to notice a certain sorrow about her, and also that she wasn't returning his hugs and kisses, and Terry had noticed (and done) the same with Lily. Fred and Siri had grinned at each other and immediately begun planning pranks, with the help of Airinne, who had obtained an expertise about machinery of all sorts in her absence from Hogwarts. Amy had simply wandered off in the general direction of the Library.
The next day found the girls back at the physical age of fourteen, and Kait refusing to wear the black Hogwarts robes.
"But they're black! I can't wear black!"
"Why not? It's not like you look absolutely horrible in it!"
"That's got nothing to do with it! I just can't wear black! I tried putting them on and looked in the mirror – I look funny! It makes my skin go crawly…" Finally the other girls gave up and let her wear her white robes. Lily had disappeared (again), but was found some time later at the fringes of the Forbidden Forest, munching happily on what looked like dried meat and fruit, and also wearing the same outfit as the day before. When it was suggested that maybe she should put her sword away and change into robes, she had snarled warningly, and had fingered the hilt of the sword almost absently, her threat hanging in the air. But, in the end, she had left the sword in Dumbledore's office (although she still kept around half-a-dozen or more daggers hidden in her clothing).
A/N: Holy reappearing acts, Batman!
Yes, they're back, and they're armed and dangerous.
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