Hermione, upon entering the Gaean male student dorm, noticed a rather magnificent box next to one of the beds at once. It attracted her attention because it seemed to hum and glow. This mysterious box had odd writing upon it, in a script that Hermione couldn't read.
Her interest peaked, she crept over to where the box was to examine it more closely. The design and materials were very elaborate, and for the next few minutes, Hermione spent the time looking carefully at the box. She was about to eagerly pry it open, but the myth of Pandora's Box came to mind, and Hermione hesitated.
She shook the box vigorously, but when she didn't hear any suspicious noises, she curled her fingers around the edge of the box and pulled. What struck her next was easily the most intensifying pain she'd ever felt.
Hermione screamed, loudly than a banshee and more shrilly than the Orchestra at Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday Party. A voice was heard from the other end of the dormitory. "Shut up, stupid girl! You shouldn't have opened that box- it's dumb to open unidentified objects, and that is Van's box."
Hermione couldn't answer through her labored breathing, although she glared balefully towards the unseen person, who was unperturbed by this as they couldn't see her. But she staggered over in their direction once the stabbing pain had left her. Savagely yanking the curtain back from a bed, a peculiar sight met Hermione's eyes.
She could see Dilandau Albatou lying on the bed, looking as if he wasn't quite up yet, and Selena Schezar was curled up next to him. She was in a sleep so profound it reminded Hermione of the Muggle fairy tales she'd read to herself when she was a toddler. Dilandau was rousing himself at this time, and hoisted himself up in the bed.
"Oh, it's you," he remarked, glaring at Hermione.
"It is," said Hermione haughtily, drawing herself up to her full height. "But what have you been doing?"
"Sleeping, to the best of my recollection. Why? Would it happen to be your business?"
Hermione glanced at the still sleeping girl on the bed. "It looks like you've been sleeping with someone, more than just sleeping."
"No. Why are you in here, girl?"
Hermione felt a tinge of annoyance at this title. "First of all, I'm the same age as you are. Second-"
"You're sixteen, then, I presume."
"My birthday's in September," said Hermione shortly.
"My birthday- if you could call it that, is in August, and I am sixteen at the moment. So I can and will call you a girl. But you haven't answered my question. What are you doing in this room, uninvited and unwanted, screaming?"
"You don't know that I'm uninvited," said Hermione stiffly.
"I do. The DragonSlayers wouldn't invite you, because I told them not to invite anyone outside our group, and Van wouldn't invite you because he's still languishing over that psychic girl," Dilandau told her with a smirk, still lounging lazily in the bed.
Hermione felt anger rise through her. "They're your friends! You can't just boss them around and insult them! And don't lie to me, of course you've been sleeping with Selena! It's probably the only thing you do!"
Dilandau cocked his eyebrow. "You wouldn't know much about friends. You have only two. And Selena happens to be in a state of exhaustion, having collapsed on my bed. You are supposed to be smart, according to all the teachers. What is it that you can't figure out? Also, YOU'RE NOT WANTED HERE. Get that through your bushy head."
Hermione felt tears sting her eyes. She'd thought- no, hoped that Dilandau liked her, and was attracted to her. He'd asked her to the dance, after all. But he obviously just didn't care either way.
"What are you crying for, girl?" snarled Dilandau. "Get out. You hear me? OUT!" Before Hermione had a chance to start moving her feet, Dilandau leaped off the bed, and started to drag her out of the room, flinging her towards the hall.
"I thought you weren't like all the others," she whispered out in the hallway. By 'the others' she meant the Slytherins, and everyone who'd been mean to her or called her a Mudblood before. Dilandau had never done this- mainly because he hadn't thought Hermione worth his time, although she didn't know this.
When Selena woke up and emerged again, she was greeted by a pretty tawny owl, who left her with a letter. Suspecting the letter was from Hitomi (her only correspondent), she ripped it open hastily. It read:
Selena:
The item enclosed in this envelope once belonged to your father. It was passed from him to my grandmother, then it went to me, then Van, and I had it back once again. Now I believe it should go to its more rightful owner, and as you are the nearest Schezar I can get this to, I must advise you to use it wisely. It comes from Atlantis, where your father traveled to before he was killed. Good luck with it.
Kanzaki Hitomi
Selena fished into the envelope, and pulled out a reddish-hued pendant. Swinging it around, she noticed that it would swing in perfect synchronization to the grandfather clock by the wall. Pleased to have such a wonderful heirloom, Selena smiled and started singing all the way to the common room.
The common room was empty, but as it was a weekend, Selena supposed that everyone was downstairs in the Great Hall for meals. She started singing again as she strode out to the Great Hall, slipping the pendant around her neck as she walked. When she reached the Hall, her theory was proved to be right, as the whole school was there.
She sat down between Ginny and Guimel, and was absorbed in thought during her meal. So, her father had been to Atlantis. If he'd been killed after that, he must have been coming back, despite what the spiteful maids in the Circle (In other words, anyone who was in the midst of the high societies and was always invited to the balls and social events- Selena herself was in the Circle, although not by choice) said.
The maids of the Circle had been talking about how Leon Schezar had abandoned his family, running off with a young woman and living a most slanderous life indeed. Selena actually found the part about his slanderous life funny- it was, apparently, full of brigade rings and low organizations, not to mention death and destruction blazing in his path. It was a life that Dilandau would have enjoyed living.
As it was, it was very pleasant to know that her father had done neither of these scandalous things, but had only been a superb explorer, able to get to even the far-off Atlantis. This realization, however, did not put Selena's mind at peace. Instead, it sparked her curiosity, in both Atlantis and her father.
As she reasonably thought, asking Folken and Van would probably let her know about Atlantis, while asking Allen about her father would either make him withdraw from her or tell her about their father. Either way, Selena believed her solution was sensible enough to work. She set to work on it that very night.
"Van," she asked him in the Gaean boys' dormitory, where the whole group of them were hanging out, "could you tell me all you know about Atlantis?" He paused for a moment at this question, and seemed to be making an internal decision.
"Alright," he said finally. "I'll tell you all I know." Here he took a deep breath and began his tale. "Atlantis was around thousands of years ago, and they were incredibly smart- like Folken is. They invented many different devices. The most powerful of these devices was one that could change thoughts to reality. The Atlanteans used this machine to create Gaea, and they gave themselves wings. This offended the gods, and they sent down fire in Atlantis to punish the Atlanteans, who were called Draconians by the common people."
Van smiled a twisted smile. "The ordinary people didn't welcome the Draconians into their world. This was because the Draconians were said to be cursed, bringing death to everyone surrounding them. This frightened the people, and they hunted down and killed every single Draconian they could find. There is still great fear of the Draconians nowadays, in Gaea at least. Here on the Mystic Moon, they don't even know about us. In fact, I do not believe there is one single full-blooded descendant of Atlantis left alive on any earth."
"The closest thing they know about are these heavenly beings, messengers from the heavens, called angels. But the angels have halos of light around their head along with their large, white wings. If I marched through the halls with my wings outspread, people would probably bow down to me," mused Van, lost in his thoughts.
Selena was also lost in thought. "You wouldn't know anything about my father, would you?"
"Hitomi told me that your father was killed by Zaibach because he was the only one who knew the secret of Atlantis. When they searched the body, however, they couldn't find anything about the secret of Atlantis on it. Why?"
Selena indicated her pendant to Van. "She sent it to me, saying it had once belonged to my father, and he'd gotten it from Atlantis." Van nodded, in indication that he'd heard, and stared off into space for several seconds.
"Oh, Van, that girl I took to the dance came in, and tried to open your box, but she started bawling in pain before she could look in it. Forgot to tell you." Dilandau sneered insolently at Van.
"That was very stupid of her," Van remarked calmly. "The box can only be opened by someone with Draconian blood."
"What is in the box? How did you get it?" Shesta wanted to know.
"I found it after the burnings of Fanelia when I returned. It was buried underneath a column of the old castle, and must be fireproof. Mother left it for me or Folken. It shows you how to read the script of the Atlanteans, and includes several books of Atlantean origin."
"What are they about?" asked the ever-curious Shesta.
"Inventions, medicinal issues, history, and everything of useful information," answered Van. An idea struck him. "I'll take the box down to Folken, he's the only other one who can make use of it as far as I know, and he'll probably find it interesting and useful."
With this brainstorm, Van leapt towards his prized box, grabbed it, and jogged out of the room with it. Those in the room stared after him. "He is a man of action indeed," commented Viole.
The others nodded in agreement, while Dilandau scowled. Van by this time was already out of the Gryffindor tower and hurtling towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts office. When he reaching there, panting slightly, he knocked on the door. "Who is it?" came a voice from the interior.
Van identified himself. "Enter," said Folken, and Van came into the room. It was very well decorated on the walls, with many artistic ventures that Folken had tried. After discovering that he wasn't at all mediocre at art, Folken had continued to sketch, paint, draw and on down the list.
"Brother," Folken greeted Van, who nodded.
"I found this fireproof box near the castle when Fanelia was being rebuilt. It's an Atlantean box, and contains many documents from Atlantis. I thought you might want to take a look at it."
"This should be interesting. Thank you," Folken said to his brother. As Van got up to leave, he remembered something.
"Also, do not let anyone open the box, or they'd get hit with pain, I believe."
The next few days were greeted with mixed feelings by the school- Guardian Week was nearing. Over these days, Folken worked studiously on deciphering the script of the Atlanteans (and succeeded shortly), while Hermione was dreaming nerve-wracking nightmares. She suspected this was due to the box (she called it Pandora's Box in her mind) that she'd tried to open. An odd scar seemed to be snaking its way up her leg, also.
Hermione's strong will broke when she saw this scar, and despite her upcoming Defense Against the Dark Arts class, she ran frantically to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey was as puzzled as Hermione was, however, so this was to no avail. As Hermione stomped painfully towards the class, the thought occurred to her that she was cursed. She realized that the idea sounded very similar to what Professor Trelawney might've said, so tried to rid her mind of it.
By the time she reached the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, everyone was already paired up for an assignment on the Veela. Hermione was left solitary, until Folken paired her with Van for the assignment. This, after a stretch of time, irked her greatly; Van didn't seem to be concentrating at all.
"Van," she started bossily, "you've got to get some work done! I'm not going to do all of it for you."
"You seemed quite happy to do that just now," Van pointed out.
"Well, I'm not, and I think your box has cursed me, for another thing." Hermione peered anxiously at Van, whom she was hoping would deny this.
Sadly, he didn't. "Yes, I suppose it has. You really shouldn't have been so foolish as to open it."
"WHAT?" Hermione screeched, making heads turn in her direction. "Why did you curse your box in the first place, then?"
"Did I say I had? I don't think so," Van said, and left it at that.
"You have to get a cure for me!" exclaimed Hermione. "I already have so much work to do, and you just can't go spoiling all my plans like this."
"I haven't done anything, to the best of my recollection. But let's not harp on that. You told me to work- I'll work now." With this last statement, Van bent his dark head over the book in front of him and illustriously began taking notes.
Hermione left him to his own devices, and resolved to see Professor deFanel about the odd occurrence- surely a cursing box which gave you great pain was Dark magic? At the end of the day, Hermione came to the Defense Against the Dark Arts office.
"Professor?" she addressed Folken timidly.
He looked up. "Yes?"
"I think I'm cursed, but I'm not sure, and since you teach about Defense Against the Dark Arts, I thought you might be able to help me."
"I'll try. How and why do you believe that you are cursed?" Folken asked Hermione.
"Well," she began, "I tried to open this box, but I couldn't, as it made this pain go through me. And ever since then, I've been having these nightmares- and I suddenly discovered this mysterious scar on my leg."
"You say there was a box that you tried to open?" Folken asked her, realizing how Van knew that only people with Draconian blood could open the Atlantean box.
"Yes," Hermione responded while looking curiously through the room. Her eyes suddenly saw the same ancient box that had possibly cursed her. "THAT'S THE BOX!" Hermione screeched, standing up quickly and moving away.
"Calm down," Folken recommended. He strode over to the box, which he'd discovered was called the Documentator, and brought it over to Hermione. "Is this the box you've been talking about?"
"Why do you have it?" Hermione asked shakily.
"Van thought I might find it of interest." Folken opened the Documentator, causing Hermione to gasp audibly. Folken flipped through the box, and found what he was looking for. "Here we are- a warning for those who unsuccessfully attempt to open the Documentator." He skimmed quickly through it, then read part of it out to Hermione:
"For those who cannot open the box, they will find themselves struck with odd afflictions soon after. Blurring vision is one of these, along with scars, bad dreams, the impression of superiority, loss of memory, and sudden changes in personality.
To solve this, one who can open the Documentator should simply wish them good luck, and the victim of the curse should keep the next secret they have away from anyone else. Although these methods do not sound authentic, this is how we, as a very cautious and ingenious civilization, have set up precautions."
"To help you get over your dilemma, I wish you good luck. Now just keep your next secret from anyone else," directed Folken to Hermione. She gaped curiously at the piece of parchment in Folken's hand, as she was very interested in discerning the unrecognizable text.
"Professor, what language is that in?" she asked.
"I'm not quite sure of the name, but it is tremendously old- you could call it a dead language."
Hermione nodded, and thanked Folken before leaving the office to return to the Gryffindor tower. When she got there, she began work on her Arithmancy homework, and had no time to talk to Harry or Ron.
The next day, which preceded the upcoming Guardian Week, an odd occurrence happened at breakfast. A Gryffindor fifth year, who'd been dubbed Lady Angewomon, wrote about it in her journal that morning:
" Dear Diary: The oddest thing happened at the Great Hall this morning! I was, as usual, eating as much as I could, when suddenly these two people appeared in the middle of the Hall. They weren't human though- I thought they looked as if they'd tried to use a Polyjuice Potion with cat hair. A girl in my dorm, Hermione, did that in the second year (she told me all about it), and I was cleaning out bedpans in the infirmary and saw her then.
The cat-people, twin women, landed on the floor, and Professor Snape pulled out his wand. I think he would've killed them, too- although cats have 9 lives anyway- everyone knows how he hates any one or thing that is part human, part beast. Look what happened to Lupin! But that's when Professor deFanel came in. He suddenly yelled Stop, and Snape stopped immediately (he's scared of Professor deFanel!). Anyway, the cat twins got up, and as Professor deFanel was walking toward the High Table (he didn't really notice that the people were half cats, I think. If he did it wasn't very weird to him), they ran up to him, and called him Lord Folken, and gave him this huge hug.
Anyway, the rest of us were totally confused by this, but the professor seemed so happy, although he usually doesn't. Anyway, I don't know what the school's going to do- I mean, there are these half-bred people who just appear out of nowhere? Slightly odd, right? Probably the Minister of Magic will come down or something. And our parents are coming next week, too! But for now, Professor deFanel is probably going to have the twins with him, or have them go into the forest- the cats probably won't listen to anyone else.
"
That was the general thought of the students at the school, and confusion mounted throughout the day.
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What you think sounds like a Gaean name (male/female, whatever) -
What couplings you want to see -
What you think the Patronus & Boggarts of the Esca people would be like