Author's Note: This chapter is INCREDIBLY important as it sets up the plot to the entire story. Please read EVERYTHING and do not skip parts, for you will be confused later on and the plot twists will not have the same impact on you. Yes, even the parts where the lessons are described. I say again, every little detail in this chapter is extremely important, so please make sure you don't skip anything and understand everything in the chapter. Read it twice if you have to. Hope you enjoy it.

Chapter Thirteen: Dawn of The Chosen



The sun had long crept over the layers of night. The Great Hall buzzed with rumor of Natalia's absence and the challenge Draco had given her, causing the Gryffindors great worry and the Slytherins anxiety. Draco wore a constant mask of dread. Although he knew that none of the other Slytherins would rat him out, somehow he sensed that Dumbledore already had knowledge of his responsibility for Natalia's disappearance. He feared that the Dark Lord had killed her or even worse, taken away her powers for himself. However much he acted like Dark Magic was sacred to him, Draco secretly feared Voldemort and his ways. He had always felt a bitter dislike for mudbloods, but never understood the Dark Wizard's willingness in killing his own kind. Through being the leader of the Slytherin House, Draco comprehended the thirst for power, but not enough to kill hordes of wizards. And now Natalia...secretly, he had anticipated that she would be the one hope for the wizarding world, but now that she was gone...He closed his eyes, not wanting to touch the food that lay in front of him. He had succeeded in his task for his Father, as he had done all his life, but even the glory of that could not wash away the dread that he felt. He had always wanted to be a Deatheater to ensure his life, but since Natalia had come to Hogwarts, he started to have doubts about the future of Voldemort and his dominions. At one point in the past week when she had made the Madness-Inducing Potion, he had thought that the heir of Slytherin might become a witch equal to Voldemort, but now, all his hopes lay in despair.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and the rest of the Gryffindors sat in silence. They picked at their food uneasily, not knowing what to say and not wanting to talk about the obvious. Ron hated silence. He had grown up in a large family and was accustomed to blustering noise, not this.

"Maybe Draco botched up the portkey. She's probably just stranded somewhere between here and the place he wanted her to go to. I sure hope she gets back soon." he said, afraid that the silence would begin to eat him up.

Harry shook his head. He knew that Draco had not been the one to enchant the portkey.

"Draco wouldn't have messed up the portkey because he didn't make it." Harry said, looking straight at the other Gryffindors. He continued fervently, "Not even he would have thought of something like this. He knows better than to transport a student to the graveyard where..." he cast his eyes downward, quietly saying, "Cedric died. He would know better than to pull a prank like that."

Harry's eyes glowed, angry at where this was leading.

"Only one person would have used Draco like that and be desperate enough to do so. The person who enchanted the portkey must have been Lucius Malfoy."

The Gryffindor table gasped in shock. They knew that this could only lead to one place. Harry narrowed his eyes.

"That means Voldemort must have wanted something from her."

All the Gryffindors started talking at once. Harry's theory spread across the Great Hall like wildfire. Once it reached Draco, his face turned deathly pale.

Suddenly, the doors of the Great Hall creaked open. Everyone froze in anticipation of who it was. Some hoped that it was Natalia, others feared that it was Voldemort himself. To their disappointment, neither of these expectations were correct.

A small figure the size of a walnut skittered into the Hall. Golli chirped loudly, quickly finding its way from the door to the Gryffindor table, settling itself next to Fred.

Everyone in the Great Hall groaned. They watched in disbelief as the tiny insect sat itself in between Fred and George. Nobody noticed Natalia slip into the Hall and take a seat next to Hermione until she exclaimed out loud.

"Natalia! Goodness, you're alive!"

The students at the Gryffindor table immediately began to bombard her with questions while the other students of Hogwarts whispered amongst themselves. Natalia leaned toward Hermione and whispered very quietly in her ear,

"I will tell you what happened later. Meet me after breakfast outside the Slytherin dormitory."

Hermione left for the dungeons soon after she finished her breakfast. Natalia was still stuck in the Great Hall trying her best to avoid the questions of many curious students. She had to wait in the dungeons for around fifteen minutes until Natalia joined her.

"I was beginning to worry that the other people had eaten you up alive with all their questions."

Natalia grinned, glad beyond words could express that she was talking to Hermione again.

"Come on, we have to go to my chambers to talk."

Natalia led Hermione through the Slytherin Common Room into the girl's dormitories. They passed into another hallway, leading to the Master Chambers.

"Santsioniss Sverrkonssag." Natalia quietly hissed.

Hermione watched in wonder as the snake slithered silently into the frame of the door. They entered the vast room, at which Natalia muttered a quick "Incendio" to start a fire. Hermione sat across from her on a long Renaissance velvet couch, ready to listen to her escapade.

Hermione listened to Natalia's story carefully, sometimes closing her eyes to visualize what she was saying. After she finished, they sat in a silence of relief, amazement, and distant fear. Eventually, Natalia broke the pregnant pause.

"The strangest thing was the skeleton. The entire night, everything had been against me, and if Voldemort had summoned it, it would not have killed the Deatheater."

Hermione nodded, thinking to herself. The entire incident at the graveyard with the skeleton reminded her of something greatly disturbing. The only thing this seems like, she thought in her mind, is something that I didn't think wizards were even capable of. But the way that she had just described it was not that of the original rituals. I had always just thought it was myth, but...no, it has to be. I will have to research on this first before coming to any conclusions.

"Hermione? Do you have any idea what might have triggered this?"

Natalia looked at her like a lost child. Confusion had been haunting her since she had arrived in Madame Pomfrey's office. Hermione looked very intently at her friend before answering her question.

"I think I might have an idea of what it is, but I will have to look into it some more. I will get back to you on it, but I do hope that what I'm speculating isn't...well, it wouldn rather disturbing..." she trailed off. Looking at Natalia again, she said,

"I will tell you by the end of today whether what I think triggered it is correct or not."



Madame Sprout oversaw her students plant Asphodel, watching carefully to see that they did not damage the roots. After the last student had finished, the bell rang, signaling the end of class. Natalia left for her next class with Hermione, History of Magic.

Professor Binn's reedy voice wheezed on about the Nairmalyas.

"Being the most ancient of witches, they were also the most powerful. They had more power than any one of us could ever dream of having and were immortal as long as they remained within the domains of the temple of Shambhala. It has been recorded that their only task in life was to protect the weapon against the apocalypse." Binns paused, peering at his students over his thick spectacles to see that half of them were fighting sleep. He continued on in the same droning voice.

"The city Shambhala still exists today, although it is only visible to magicals. It is located near Tibet, high in the mountains of ice and desolation. The weapon against the apocalypse was called the Shangri-La, meaning 'unattainable goal'." Rarely anyone has seen it for it is said that those who look upon it get their powers and life drawn into the weapon. Therefore, it is logical to conclude that no one knows what this weapon is. It could be a sword, a wand, or a broom for all we know."

By now, the students had fallen completely asleep. Not caring, the professor continued on to his deaf audience.

"The Shangri-La was stolen from the temple near the beginning of the Anno Domini era. The leader from the Baliman tribe, who would reproduce with the Nairmalyas, stole the weapon after being informed in a vision by the God who had also foreseen the apocalypse. The God, SaDaga, saw that the leader, Ravi, would be the one who had the power to wield the Shangri-La without being killed. For this, SaDaga was thrown out of the realm of the Gods and made to live on Earth. Up to this day, no one knows whether he is still alive or not, or what he has been doing."

The bell rang, waking the students from their slumber. Professor Binns, eyeing the class in complete indifference, slowly rasped out,

"A scroll at the length of five hundred words on the Baliman tribe will be due next class."

Hermione and Natalia headed to the Great Hall for lunch. As they reached it, Hermione turned to Natalia.

"I won't be joining you for lunch today, I want to look something up in the library before dinner time comes around."

Natalia nodded, used to Hermione's sporadic study habits by now.

After lunch, Natalia headed to her Defense Against Dark Arts class. She thoroughly enjoyed this class for she had been specially taught in Dark Arts at Durmstrang. She entered the classroom to be greeted by Professor Austerus. The tall witch approached her, lead by a long strict nose and followed by a tight gray bun that glued itself to her hair, refusing to budge one bit. Her hard face softened slightly when she saw Natalia come through the door. Austerus' fierce mauve eyes smiled at Natalia.

"Good day Natalia. I'm glad to see that you have recovered so efficiently from your encounter with the Ignes last night."

Natalia returned her smile.

"Is that what they are called? Ignes? That is a very mild name for something as awful as faceless fiends."

The professor nodded in agreement.

"The full name is Igneus Parvuli, meaning Fire Children. These spirits are summoned by fire and acid. They take over the bodies of dead children to trick victims and are powerless until they lose their faces."

Natalia looked at her inquisitively.

"Why are they powerless before they lose their faces?"

Professor Austerus responded in a detached voice.

"Children are innocent as long as they have their faces, which is the expression of their souls. Once they lose this, the body is left to the mercy of the Ignes."

Natalia nodded, taking a seat as the class filed in. Harry and Ron found Natalia and took a seat next to her in the front of the classroom. The professor waited until every student had been seated before starting. She walked very slowly to the front of the class, seeming more like she was floating instead of walking. Her low even voice rang out clearly through the class.

"This year, the dueling club is going to have a change. For this class, we will follow the same curriculum as the previous years, dueling in pairs on Tuesdays. But on Thursdays during your double Defense Against the Dark Arts class, we will use the second half of the class to have non-paired dueling matches. This way, you will not be dueling the person you are accustomed to time after time until you can read their next move before they think of it. We will begin this new course next week. During the non- paired duels, I will have Professor Snape assist me in case anything...unfortunate, should happen."

The class continued with a study on Grindylows and methods of deceiving them. Although she enjoyed this class a great deal, Natalia could not help but wonder all period about what Hermione had found.

Before dinner started, Natalia went to the library to find Hermione. Madame Pince stopped Natalia, eyeing her in suspicion. She shoved her way in front of Natalia, blocking her path.

"Looking for something in particular?"

Natalia looked around the librarian, trying to find Hermione.

"I'm looking for Hermione to tell her it is dinner time."

Madame peered down at her, scratching her withered knuckles, causing flakes to rain down on Natalia's shoes.

"Follow me. I want the two of you off to the Great Hall promptly."

They found Hermione behind a mountain of Dark Arts reference books.

"Miss Granger, I find it highly suspicious that you have been buried in books of this nature for over three hours. You can be sure that I will watch you with more care from now on." She turned curtly on her heel and stalked off to another aisle.

"Hermione, you have been here for three hours?"

The girl looked up, weariness flooding her eyes.

"Yes, I've been trying to find out more about what happened to you last night. I've been reconfirming my doubts for two hours and I'm sure now that my original speculation was correct."

Natalia sat down, listening intently.

"Last night, a skeleton that killed the Deatheater in the graveyard and chased you; that skeleton was obviously summoned."

She looked at Natalia to see if she was following.

"However, I was baffled at why the skeleton killed the Deatheater and not you, and why it followed you, but did not attack you."

Natalia nodded, curious about that herself.

"I thought that this was highly unusual because when a power is summoned, it will almost always kill its victim without hesitation. And then, I realized what it was."

Hermione looked at Natalia, her eyes filled with all the seriousness in the world.

"Natalia, you have the power of necromancy."