Inklings of Celebrity Inklings of Celebrity Chapter Fifteen: Tuesday

Folken, unfortunately, did not get his moment to ponder Allen's little speech, because, at that moment, Mr. Weasley eagerly came up to him. He shook the younger man's hand, then avidly asked about the Invitaspiritus: "How did you make it? Did it take very long? What is it made out of? Do you have the plans for it?"
Folken inhaled deeply, and prepared to answer every single one of Mr. Weasley's questions. A lot of this tied in with Atlantis, although Folken did not mention this part of it. Mr. Weasley still had one more question, "Would our Ministry be able to use this machine? It could prove very useful to us- and you'll get your reward for it."
Folken smiled lightly. "Of course you can have one, once I build another model. I don't need anything in the way of rewards, though; I enjoy building these kind of things. You have an object called an Invisibility Cloak, I believe? I've made my own model of it, although I hadn't realized there was a similar model before I came here." Folken demonstrated his human Stealth Cloak by shimmering into thin air, not to be seen.
Over at the Gryffindor breakfast table, Selena's new pendant glowed. As she looked down at it, it swung in Folken's direction, although she could not see him. Folken reappeared and saw the delighted face of Mr. Weasley. "Excellent!" praised the red-haired man. "So it will cover your whole being, unlike Invisibility Cloaks, and you can turn it on and off! How did you come up with such an idea?"
"I derived it from Doppelgangers, who turn invisible at will," replied Folken absently. Mr. Weasley looked confused at the term Doppelganger, and Folken explained to him: "Chameleon people." At this Mr. Weasley's face cleared, as he'd learnt about Chameleon Ghouls, and supposed that the teacher was just slightly erring.
Eriya entered the Great Hall to look for Folken. She were looked upon oddly by the surrounding people, most of whom were polite enough to leave her be. However, as she passed the Slytherin table, the Malfoy men laughed unpleasantly. "We have a freak amongst our midst?" commented Lucius Malfoy softly.
"She appeared with some other beast the other day; attacked a teacher," exaggerated Draco Malfoy. Eriya had a very low tolerance of people who were prejudiced, especially when they thought she'd attacked Lord Folken! Hissing, she reached out and clawed the two of them, and prepared to threaten them, when someone called out from across the hall.
"Eriya!" called Folken, who'd heard the cries of pain from the Malfoys from where he was talking with Mr. Weasley. Both of them narrowed their eyes and Folken strode over. "Eriya, what happened?" Folken asked the cat girl gently.
"These people," hissed Eriya, "they said I attacked you, called me a beast and a freak, Lord Folken."
Folken looked infuriated at this, and the Malfoys shrunk from his imposing form. "What was your meaning?" he asked them in a steely voice.
"Nothing," blurted out Draco boldly, "just sharing with my father some background information about what's been happening at our school. Nothing wrong with that, is there?"
"There can be. But as I've asked- and don't want to have to ask again- what was your intention?"
"He was telling me of what went on, we've told you," argued Malfoy, senior. "I have merely never seen such an... unusual being in Hogwarts before."
"Pity," said Folken. "Enlightenment could've done wonders for a narrow-minded man, or should I say beast?" Turning to Draco, he dictated, "Thirty points off Slytherin, and a detention; maybe you still have hope. However, I am not planning to tolerate any prejudice against anyone other than yourselves any time soon." Having said this, Folken turned, frowning, and with Eriya following him, went down to the kitchens to get food for the twins.
Mr. Malfoy looked at the retreating back of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher with narrowed eyes. "I don't like that man," he muttered, "and I don't want you to be having anything to do with him, Draco." Draco nodded vehemently, feeling very insulted at his upcoming detention.

Meanwhile, in the kitchens, Folken was trying to appease a wailing house elf- Winky. She complained of a lack of work and a loss of family, and Folken commiserated with her on this point. While the other house elves brought food, which Eriya took for her and her sister, Folken got Winky to go and clean herself up. When she emerged bout three minutes later, Folken prepared to keep her busy with cheerful tasks. Picking flowers for the Great Hall was one of these things, and Winky set to work right away.
Feeling that he'd done all he could for the house elf, Folken went upstairs for his next class, with the fifth year Gryffindors. He was teaching the Memory Charm that day. When settled in the class, he asked, "Could I have a volunteer to break an object for me?" Neville Longbottom volunteered, and smashed an empty ink bottle with vengeance (he'd dropped one in Potions the other day, and therefore felt very liberated to be asked to do the same now).
"Right. And does anyone know what the spell for the Memory Charm is?" Ron raised his hand at this, as the Memory Charm had been the only thing he'd learnt from Gilderoy Lockhart as a student.
"It's Obliviate, sir," he answered, and Folken nodded.
"I will be needing two students; one to perform the charm, and another to have their memory edited." Harry tentatively raised his hand, as did Hermione. This being done, Folken bent down to where the remnants of the ink bottle was. He blew lightly on his hand, then drew his hand over the pieces of the ink bottle, which formed together instantly.
Turning to Hermione, Harry muttered, "Obliviate!" Hermione's eyes slid out of focus, and she looked around dreamily.
"Why is there an ink bottle on the floor?" she asked absent mindedly (Neville picked up his ink bottle at this point).
"There," said Folken. "Now pair up, and tell your partner something simple. Then, just lightly edit their memory with the spell." The students having done this, their parents and other Hogwarts visitors were feeling rather left out. Eries was really discontent at that moment, having nothing to do. Allen Schezar was on the other side of the room, and it was well enough to simply stare at him, but one did get bored of it, after a while. And Eries had been doing just that, for a while.
She supposed it would be fitting, as a princess, to at least try and figure out everything she could of this strange land. That was actually her intention of coming to begin with, after all. This world's timings were different, and their methods of doing several motions were unique. Of course, Eries couldn't ask any of the parents, not knowing any of them, and the students were busy. Therefore, she marched up to Folken's desk.
"I need your help," she requested.
"What in particular is it that you need help with?" Folken wanted to know.
"I want to find out everything I can about this place, and you're the only one I can ask," Eries begrudgingly admitted. Folken went to his office, and came out with several large books.
"Read," he directed her, and seeing her dubious expression, added, "Don't worry, you will be able to read it." Eries nodded and thanked him stiffly, and then took a seat by the small window of the classroom, where sunlight poured through. Eries examined the books she had; an atlas, a particularly fat history volume, a book full of different theories, a Bible, and a volume of theology.
Eries gave a short laugh. "Folken's obviously been reading up on this place," she muttered, and started a conquest on the atlas, it being the smallest of the books. When the class ended, she toted her large books to the next class, Potions (which she was required to go to, having come to meet Selena). When she reached the class, quite out of breath- for Allen hadn't noticed her predicament, otherwise he'd have been gallant and carried the books- the professor there suddenly brightened up and acted very civil, and reached out to carry her books for her with a large smile. His arms sagged slightly under the weight.
"Thank you so much," Eries profusely thanked the man, who was very pale, with glittering dark eyes and long, oily black hair.
"You're welcome," said the teacher in a soft voice. "May I introduce myself? My name is Severus Snape, and I am the Potions master at this school." He flashed her another smile after turning around to scowl at Harry Potter. "I hope you're enjoying your stay? If anything goes wrong, just tell me and I'll of course try to fix it for you."
"Oh, no, I'm perfectly fine," Eries told Snape. "Although I suppose I should be taking my seat, so would I be able to have my books back?"
"Of course," said Severus Snape, and gave a slight bow to the princess before giving her the books and giving the Gryffindors in the class a rather fierce glare. At the other side of the room, Harry and Ron watched the odd behavior of Severus Snape with avid curiosity.
"What do you think he's doing?" Ron whispered to Harry, who flashed a sudden grin.
"I think the man's in love," remarked Harry, somewhat maliciously. Ron looked as if his family had just won the lottery.
"No way!" he breathed. "Do you know how much easier this will make it on us in class? Can you believe how much better the Gryffindors will have it, not to mention Neville? I mean- wow! It'll be like Snape's become a twinkle fairy compared to his usual self! It'll be a new life for us all!" After Ron continued in this vein for several minutes, Harry nudged him pointedly under the table; Snape happened to be advancing their way. Ron stopped abruptly.
Snape, however, seemed to have no snipe to arm himself with that day. All he did was request the two to stop talking, which they did because they were speechless. The class continued in this manner, with Neville Longbottom actually relaxing against his usual trembling- although the fact that his formidable grandmother was next to him could have had something to do with this. Also, Malfoy wasn't in the class, Crabbe having delivered a note that both the Malfoy men were in the hospital due to bloody scratches along their faces.
It was this fact, combined with no Divination classes, that gave Harry the utterly best school day he'd ever had in a very long time.


Guimel had not been having the same superior day that Harry Potter was having. On the contrary, he couldn't find any traces of his Transfiguration homework. Although the wrath of Professor McGonagall was nothing compared to Dilandau's rage, in Guimel's opinion at least, he still did not want to show up without his homework. But as he was getting very annoyed, he started swearing.
After a while with still not finding his homework, he was running out of words. At least in English, anyway. Therefore, Guimel thought the only fitting thing to do would be to find out whether he could speak in Gaean or not. Guimel stopped looking for his lost parchment for a second and began to try his tongue to swearing in Gaean.
After calling his lost homework something highly inappropriate, which his gentle but overprotective mother would've fainted at hearing her baby say, Guimel realized, with delight, that he could actually speak Gaean. Abandoning the search for his homework, which he thoroughly cursed and damned to hell, he went to the Common Room, and found Selena with Allen and Eries, who'd found herself being an older-sister figure to Selena. "We can speak Gaean here," he told Selena.
Selena tried this herself, and realized that he was telling the truth. "By the way," Guimel remembered, "have you seen my Transfiguration homework?"
Selena looked puzzled. "Transfiguration homework? We didn't have any."
Guimel started his tirade of cursing again, and banged his head against the wall. Before Allen could intervene against the swearing 'in front of ladies', Selena recalled that Folken had asked to see her, and went off in search of him; leaving the Knight, the Princess, and the DragonSlayer together.
When Selena found Folken (in the Divination tower to retrieve his invention), he told her why he'd wanted to see her. "According to your brother, you were the little girl I saw at first when you came to Zaibach. Since you named Naria and Eriya, I thought you might want to meet them again. Do you?" asked Folken.
Selena could remember a slight bit of playing with the cat girls- at least the part of pulling their tails, anyway. She'd also seen herself play with them in the Invitaspiritus, so she'd wanted to meet the twins. "Yes," agreed Selena, "I do." Folken led her down to his office, where the cat girls had been bathing in the sun.
"Naria, Eriya," called out Folken, "could you come out here?" The cat girls readily consented, and they came out. Folken reintroduced them to Selena, whom they remembered well, and the three of them went out on the grounds. The grounds of Hogwarts were very deserted that day, due to the frequent clouds of the day.
Selena, Eriya and Naria all talked about their past lives, and Gaea in general. Their conversation filled up a lot of the silence running through the school's atmosphere that day. Most people were, after all, inside near the blazing fires and warm beds. However, the three girls liked cold, windy, tumultuous days better than sunny ones, for whatever reasons there were, so they continued on their path.

An hour or two later, Selena came up to the Gryffindor common room, fingering her pendant, cheeks pink from the wind. Allen was the first to rise to greet his sister, although Eries didn't look up from the book on theology. She'd found the books much easier to get through than she'd thought, as she was well-educated, and had already looked through the atlas and the theoretical book. It would've been easier for her to read the books if she wasn't in a noisy, large room, but Eries thought she didn't have anywhere else to go anyway.
Selena noticed this, and suggested, "Why don't you go down to the library, Eries? It'll be a lot quieter. Here, I'll get Shesta to take you down." And before Eries could give any kind of answer, Selena hailed Shesta and he carried the books. Eries followed him, and after passing several interesting portraits in motion, ended up in the library. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized how quiet it was.
There was a comfortable sofa at the back of the rigid library, and Eries headed over in that direction. She sat herself down, and Shesta deposited her books on a nearby table, then left. Suddenly, as Eries picked up her theology book, something shimmered in the air next to her, and Folken appeared beside her. Luckily, it was not in the princess' nature to scream.
"Hello, princess," Folken greeted her with amusement at her reaction.
"You have a Stealth Cloak!" exclaimed Eries. "Where did you get it?"
"If you'll recall correctly, I was the one to invent them; why would I not have one on my being?" pointed out Folken.
"Why are you in the library?" Eries wanted to know.
"It's quiet, peaceful, and no one except Hermione Granger and the librarian happen to be here at the moment," explained Folken. "Besides, I like reading the books here."
"Well, why were you invisible then?" persisted Eries.
"Why not? I often feel like I want to hide and not be noticed, and what better way then invisibility? And your reaction was just so amusing," Folken said with a hint of a smile. Eries looked offended at this, and turned to the book on theology to read. Folken then turned to his book, and the two of them sat in silence and read, the only sound in the library being Hermione's quill scratching against the parchment as she wrote.
Eries broke the silence by suddenly whispering to Folken, "Do you ever wish you could've ruled Fanelia?"
"What, and leave Van out of the linage?" was Folken's answer. "No, I don't wish I could've ruled Fanelia, although I do sometimes wish I had passed the dragon slaying ritual. If that had happened, my mother would not have disappeared, and my brother wouldn't have had to grow up hearing people bad-mouthing me and being alone, with no one to cling to except for Balgus and Merle. Although I think he still grew up very well." Folken sighed. "And the arm... God, I hated that metal contraption, yet it had saved my life. It made me begin to think, after a while, that maybe if I hated the object that had saved my life, that I hated my life also. Therefore, I changed myself as much as I possibly could, and left my old self far behind."
"I think your old self was very nice. When our family came to Fanelia, before your father and my mother died, you were very kind to us. We, as children, disrupted you and your work many times, but you were always nice about it, and acted as if you should be the one to apologize, not us. And the little carved boxes you gave us, they were so pretty! I still have mine- and Marlene's- to this day. They're in my trunk. Where did you get them?"
Folken smiled. "I made them: chopped the wood, polished it, carved it, and painted & decorated the boxes. You remember an awful lot from one visit at the age of nine, princess."
Eries nodded. "It was the last time my family was all together. After my mother's death, my father really changed. He wanted to get rid of Marlene and I in engagements to other rulers, to get Millerna the throne, I suspect. But he was always shrewd and calculating after that."
"Even to the extent of wanting Escaflowne, even though he'd never have been able to pilot it?" Folken's voice was masked with an odd amusement about it, as if he found blasphemies and tyrannies quite funny, and he laughed at it all from the sidelines.
By this time, Madam Pince looked very irritable and threatening, so Folken turned back to his book, and Eries to hers. It must have been several hours later that Professor Snape sidled into the library. He'd been looking for the woman he'd had in his earlier Potions class, because he didn't know her name, and also because she'd left the Bible in his class. Having looked just about everywhere he was permitted to look, he'd come to the library. He looked extraordinarily different than he had that morning. His hair had been cut and washed by one of the house elves, and he'd dyed one of his black robes green (he was, after all, still a Slytherin teacher). The effect wasn't horrendous, but was in fact a largely significant improvement, although not complete beautification.
Snape caught sight of Eries, and a large grin came over his face. Then he looked next to her, and his smile dropped. Folken hadn't bothered to turn his Stealth Cloak back on again, there being only three other people in the library. This not deterring Snape, he went up to the princess, absorbed in theology. "Pardon me," he began softly.
Eries looked up at him. "Yes?" She wondered who the man was. He looked like the teacher who'd greeted her earlier that morning, but if so, he was very changed.
He held out a book to her that said 'Holy Bible' on the cover. "I believe you left this in my class, Miss-"
"...Aston. And I believe I did leave it in your class. Thank you for returning it." With this short dialogue, Eries took the book offered to her and turned back to read. She didn't think of saying anything more to Severus Snape, for what more was there to say? However, he hovered around the area for several minutes before giving up hope and leaving the library.
"I think the man's smitten with you," Folken told his female companion, and she shivered at the thought of this. Folken checked his timepiece, then informed Eries, "The supper meal is probably ready by now. Shall I show you the way?" Eries nodded, and Folken carried her books out of the library for her with apparent ease. Upon reaching the Hall, he deposited the heavy volumes in an empty chair, and walked up to the High Table as he usually did to eat.
Professor Snape, entering the Hall, sat down in the seat next to Folken; he had some investigating to do. "Hello," he greeted Folken effusively, "how are you doing on this fine day?"
"It's windy, raining frequently, and cold, with gray skies," pointed out the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
"The best kind of day," countered Snape, then got control of himself. "So, you were in the library! Do you enjoy reading?" Folken nodded at this. "And you have a girlfriend then!"
"Who, do you mean Eries?" wondered Folken. "Not at all."
Snape leaned in with a puzzled look on his face. "Really? You seem to know her quite well!"
"Her family visited mine in our youth, and we've been in several conferences together; that would be all," said Folken, conveniently leaving out the fact that he'd saved Eries. Why would he reveal something like that to someone less than a friend?
"So you've never really socialized with her, when the facts come down to it?"
Folken looked closely at Snape for several seconds, making him squirm under the hard glance. "I wouldn't call childhood meetings- almost babysitting- or war planning any socialite's dream." He ignored the older man and turned to his plate. Over at the Gryffindor table, Harry and Ron (Hermione was still in the library) were staring avidly at Snape.
"He must be in love! Look at how he's changed in, what, 3 hours? He's sprucing himself up for that woman, the one that came for Selena, the one that showed up in the life-machine," hissed Ron.
"You think?" asked Harry. "I'm not sure, there were other women in the class that day, it could've been any one of them."
"No," declared Ron with an air of certainty, "look, he's sitting next to Professor deFanel, who just happens to be around the same age as the mystery woman. He's terrified of Professor deFanel, why would he sit there otherwise? He's checking to see if there's any romantic background!"
"Don't be ridiculous," scoffed Harry, "why would there be any romantic background? I mean, she suddenly" Ron shrugged, and waved to Hermione as she entered the Great Hall with her usual load of books. Her apparently concerned father came over, and he took her bag for her, then the Grangers all squeezed into a limited space with several chairs besides Harry and Ron.
"I was in the library just then," she informed the two (Ron muttered, "Where else?"). "Guess who else was there."
"Crabbe and Goyle?" guessed Harry, and Ron snorted into his mashed potatoes with laughter.
Hermione shook her head shortly. "Don't be silly; how would they be there? Although it wouldn't hurt them, probably..." Hermione helped herself to leg of lamb. "Anyway, I saw the woman that came with Selena's brother-" here Hermione blushed- "and Professor deFanel just suddenly appeared next to her on the sofa." Ron nudged Harry pointedly in an 'I told you so' manner.
Harry rubbed his arm, and asked, "So?"
"Well -and you'll never believe this- Professor Snape came in several hours after, and he'd had some sort of makeover. Anyway, he
comes over to her (Miss Aston, I think she said her name was?) and gives her a Bible which he says she left in Potions."
"So?" Harry repeated.
"Wait," protested Hermione, "I'm getting there, and it's hilarious. So Snape hovers around for several minutes, and he gets completely ignored! It was really funny, seeing him just standing there waiting for thanks or maybe even a love declaration, when Miss Aston and Professor deFanel have NO idea he's there, they're just reading their separate books." Ron imagined this, as did Harry, and they burst out into loud laughter, which didn't cease for a while.
"See," gasped Ron to Harry, wiping tears from his freckled face, "what did I tell you, hey?"
"What is it?" Hermione wanted to know, and Harry filled her in on their earlier conversation.
"See, we noticed how Snape was much healthier looking than usual, so we thought it was because he was in love," explained Harry between the deep breaths he was taking to steady himself from the laughing hysteria. "And Ron thought that Snape was sitting next to his greatest fear over there, he must be up to something."
"And since the Aston woman is about the same age as our Defense Against the Dark Arts, Snape's checking the man out to see if he has any romantic background with her!" Ron finished triumphantly. "And if he saw them together in the library, it works out perfectly!" With this dramatic conclusion, Ron slammed his hand on the table, hard, causing dishes to rattle and getting him many dirty looks from several Gryffindors in the surrounding disaster area.
Hermione looked critically at Snape, then at Eries, then Folken. "Wouldn't it be weird if Miss Aston actually fell in love with Professor Snape?" she mused.
Harry choked on a carrot, then when he swallowed, breathed, "No way! It's Snape, remember? I mean, who'd love him?"
Ron snickered, then added, "Maybe he'll try to rape her or something."
Hermione frowned. "Don't talk like that!" she exclaimed agitatedly, casting a nervous glance over at her parents, luckily absorbed in their food (they, as dentists, didn't seem to mind eating large amounts of treacle, despite the fact that it was most probably ruinous to a person's teeth!).
Ron put up his hands in a gesture of apology. "Joking!"
"Well, it's not funny," declared Hermione severely. "And your mother's here, too! If she heard you!" Ron shivered at the consequences of this, and proceeded to shove lamb into his mouth. Altogether, it was a most satisfactory meal, which Harry spent the remainder of wondering why his year had been so peaceful. Granted, it was an excellent change- aside from being strung from a tower- but Harry had kept his guard up for such a lengthy while that he was inclined to get suspicious in the lull of events.
Of course, it would have been a golden opportunity to take advantage of a large, magical castle, and start exploring, in Harry's opinion. As he considered this idea, he thought it better and better in quality, and began to prepare a limited itinerary in his mind. Of course he'd need his Invisibility Cloak & Marauder's Map, and Ron and Hermione would be coming with him, unless they didn't want to. And maybe he could visit Dobby, before his plans became too large-scale, disproportionate, and ridiculous.

In the Gryffindor common room, dullness was setting into its inhabitants. Van was being particularly affected, as the school was more filled up than usual, so he had limited room to practice his sword fighting skills. He went to Fred and George Weasley to find out if there was any chance of extra room in the school; Van had heard all about the Weasley twins' escapades, and he sensibly figured that they'd know everything there was to know about the school.
"You know where there's a spare tower anywhere?" asked Van.
The brown eyes of the twins glittered. "We sure do!" exclaimed Fred with emphasis, with George looking around nervously for their mother.
"Would you be able to show me, then?" asked Van with the political politeness, yet forcefulness, which he'd been required to develop.
"Of course!" said George heartily, smacking Van on the back.
"What do you want the tower for?" Fred asked curiously, pulling Van along. "Are you planning to get up to mischief-making?"
"If so, be prepared," said George solemnly. "It's a risky business, it is. In fact, we ourselves have been developing a pretty stunt for Grad Night."
"Not at all," said Van cheerily, having taken a liking to the quirky twins. "I need to practice my skill."
"Excellent, my man, excellent," praised Fred. "Here we are! And what skill will you be practicing today, my good man?"
Van smiled. "Just watch, and you'll see," he promised the eagerly awaiting twins. Inspecting the chosen tower, he withdrew his sword with a hiss. Van started on his sword exercises, of which were very vigorous. He usually found time to work on it daily, but the events of that week had been more full.
"Say!" exclaimed the twins together, looking at each other as an idea formed in their heads. They stood off to the side until Van had completed what he wanted to accomplish, then George stepped up to Van.
"Have you heard about the Slytherin bugger who's been boasting of his great swordsmanship lately?" asked he of the red hair, putting an arm on Van's shoulder and guiding him towards the Slytherin common room. Van denied hearing of this, so Fred and George endeavored to inform him of this irksome fact.
"The fellow's been feeling a little too high-and-mighty lately," declared Fred indignantly.
"Too true! And of course, it's unbearable to have a Slytherin thinking they're better than us, not to mention the rest of the school..." George steered Van towards a statue.
"... which is where you come in," finished Fred.
"You want me to duel against either he or she, and win, so you will have proved him wrong in his ability," summarized the perceptive Van.
"Why, you do catch on fast, don't you?" remarked Fred, and withdrew a Filibuster's Firework. "OK, we'll want to move back now," cautioned he, sticking the firework in the statue's mouth and lighting it. The three fairly ran for their lives, until they heard a loud explosion and angry voices. At this point, they came forward casually.
"Nasty bit of construction you have going on at this end of the castle," commented George, with feigned sympathy.
Millicent Bulstrode stepped up from the throng of Slytherins and Slytherin parents. "Don't pretend you weren't behind this," she accused heatedly.
"Yes, yes, so sad," remarked Fred vaguely. "But that is not our order of business right now. What we would like is for your sword fighting champion to appear. Our young, innocent friend here would be oh so very pleased to meet such a great champion- and would like to see the aforementioned master in action- Draco Malfoy."
"You'd make a good court messenger," murmured Van approvingly.
"Ho, Fred! A new career opportunity for you!" George declared. Someone had apparently retreated to find Draco Malfoy, for he emerged sullenly into the messy corridor. He jumped when his eyes roamed onto Van, and his pale eyes narrowed, as did Van's dark ones.
"Hello," George greeted Draco coolly. "You have a fan amongst our midst, who wants to see your sword skills in action."
Draco shrugged carelessly. "Alright," he said, "where shall we go then?" Fred made an indication for him to follow, and he did, along with many interested spectators. The crowd came up to the same tower as before, and Draco withdrew a shiny sword from a sheath next to his robes. Van then stepped out towards him, and took out the royal Fanelian sword of his. Apprehension was clearly etched in Draco's face by this time.
"OK," yelled Lee Jordan, who the Weasley twins had Summoned there to be the announcer, "we are here, fellow magicians, to witness a duel between Van Fanel, a Gryffindor-" cheers came from any students not in Slytherin- "and the celebrated Master Draco Malfoy, whose skill we have been hearing of for many long, torturous weeks-" here the laughter Lee had been holding back came out in a large torrent, while the Slytherins hissed at him and cheered for Malfoy. Lee caught his breath, and gasped, "So, the two are going to duel for us, and let us all hope the best one wins. Ready, duelers? Bow to one another, and... One, Two, Three, BEGIN!"
At this word, Van began to counter every move that Draco sent his way. "Fanel is starting off with the well-known strategy of blocking every single move that his opponent sends his way. Is Malfoy starting to pant, or is it just hot in here?" announced Lee Jordan. Draco suddenly got a move through towards Van, which was swiftly ducked. "Ho, Malfoy has just gotten a maneuver through! Quickly ducked by Fanel's fast reflexes!"
Malfoy was feeling infuriated at his steadily losing match with the other boy. He kicked out with his foot desperately, and Van stumbled backwards, off guard. "Okay, the duel is becoming dirty now! Malfoy kicks Fanel, sending him backwards a few steps. Now, folks, would be a most opportune time to place your bets with, er, well, someone rich, anyway, or a friend, before the match draws to a conclusion!"
Malfoy started to viciously lower his sword down in Van's direction when he was harshly disarmed and wounded, and fell onto the cold stone floor of the castle. A roar of both applause and dissent came from the spectators. "THERE WE ARE, PEOPLE! FANEL WINS! ... and the Slytherin fellow's been disarmed while trying to strike at Fanel, and he's lying on the floor there- someone help him!"
Van peered down humorously at Draco down on the floor, then held out a gloved hand to help him up. He was instantly pulled down towards the ground. "Fine, if that's the way you want it," he burst out angrily, took his hand back, and kicked the prostate Draco, then punched him on the face, walking backwards away from him. The watching Selena Schezar, however, looked horrified at this, and crouched down besides Draco, checking for any injuries.
"I lost," groaned he, blood dripping from his nose. "My father will be disappointed, he's been training me for two years now."
"It's not you," reassured Selena. "Van's been training for most of his life, and he's fought in war. You held up very well against him. Don't worry, alright? Just tell your father what I told you."
Draco brought himself up, clutching his stomach. "No," he gasped, "you don't understand. It's my father, he overachieves for me. I've been the second in the form mark-wise for every single year running, yet I've never been good enough."
"I know the behavior you're talking about," related Selena, ripping off a piece of her robe to bind the boy's bleeding arm.
His face wrinkled up. "You're helping me," he realized. "Why? And, when the matter comes down to it, how?"
"I've been switched around to train in many fields over the past five or six years," explained Selena.
"But we saw you in that life machine. You were dead, or physically inactive during that period of time," pointed out Draco smugly. "And you haven't answered my question: why are you helping me? "
"Why not? You are, to the best extent of my knowledge, a sentient being, who would not appreciate being defeated in front of many, then bleeding. True?" Draco grudgingly nodded.
"I think Fanel broke my rib," he gasped in pain.
"That I cannot assist. But I could try to help you down to the hospital wing, alright?" Selena asked with a measure of goodwill. And although Draco Malfoy did not look enthralled at the prospect of being supported by a girl, he nodded. With strength that astounded Draco, he was hoisted up, and stood with his arm over Selena for support.
He coughed up a bit of blood over Selena as the swinging rib hit an organ of his body, then grinned apologetically. "Sorry," he apologized, and winced from pain, "apparently my veins don't agree with being whacked by a rib."
Selena surveyed him. "Lean forward when you walk," she ordered. Draco did this, and although it was not cheering to feel his rib against his skin, no more blood went through his mouth. The largest agony was the people staring at him and laughing at his defeat. The Slytherins in the hallways shunned him, and the teachers were not to be seen anywhere in the corridors, as they were holding conferences with disappointed and distraught parents.
"Oh no, wait," he suddenly requested, and Selena stopped. "Have to catch my breath." After inhaling and exhaling several times, they two continued on their not-so-merry way. There seemed to be naught but twisting and turning corridors to Draco, and he thought, although unsure, that he could smell his blood. In what seemed to be several hours of curious onlookers in the hallways and the feeling of his rib against his skin, Draco saw the welcome door of the hospital wing. "We're here," he hissed in a low voice. He had intentionally meant to proclaim this in a joyful voice, but decided against this.
In the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey descended upon Malfoy. "You're so pale!" she fretted. "And your nose is bleeding, too!"
Selena laughed cynically. "That's the least of his problems. His arm is wounded and his rib is broken. I've bandaged his arm to stop the bleeding, and examined him for any other wounds, but found none."
Madam Pomfrey, while bustling to help make Master Malfoy comfortable, asked Selena, "Are you in Medical Magic?" Selena shook her head in denial at this. "Well, you should be! His arm is bandaged well, and you did him minimal harm in bringing him here." Selena thanked her for this, and lingered in the infirmary in concern for Draco. After applying a potion on the wound and balm on his nose, and using her wand to heal his rib, Madam Pomfrey announced, "Well, there we go! Good as new, Mr. Malfoy! You can leave now, no need to stay overnight!"
Upon leaving the infirmary, Draco told Selena with gritted teeth, "Oh, so now you've been angelic and helped poor little Draco. Well, don't think you'll get anything for it, and don't expect to be laughing about me with the others."
"Poor misguided soul, you know me so little," countered Selena idly. "Truthfully, I was glad to be able to help you, and the bandaging was good practice for me. However, losing a sword fight is nothing funny; especially if you're wounded. And the others that I socialize with don't really care, they've been fighting too long to care whether a performance duel is won or lost. You really think a soldier would care if they beat a boy in a spur-of-the-moment duel?"
"Shut up, you filthy Mudblood," insulted Draco.
"I personally wouldn't be surprised if my blood has turned to mud, considering scientific matters of my own. However, if this happened, don't you believe my skin would have more of a brown tint?"
"Oh! idiot. Mudblood is anyone with common Muggle parents, fool."
"I'm not common. I am Lady Selena Naria Schezar, a member of one of the older families around. My brother's a Knight, and we have a large house with servants and property. I can fight, heal, and know politics, economics, human behavior, am well-read and have good managing skills," described Selena honestly. "And this I can tell you with perfect certainty, although I am not trying to boast."
"So? You're a girl, anyways," noted Draco sulkily.
Selena laughed, loud and long, at this remark. "Am I?" she pondered. Upon reaching the Slytherin common room, she muttered the password to the still smoking statue, and left Draco to go in by his own self. He didn't want to do this, since he could see all the menacing Slytherins, who'd want to hurt him, inside. Having nothing better to do on that point, he sprinted after Selena Schezar and followed her. "You're not in your common room," she observed when he came near.
"Which could explain why I am standing in front of you at this very opportune moment," finished he sarcastically.
"Aren't you brilliant."
"Do you really want me to answer that? Yes, I am brilliant, considering I'm the second highest in our form," argued Draco.
"You sound like you enjoy arguing greatly, and jump at all chances to argue," Selena noticed.
"It's good fun to argue with Potter, at any rate."
"You'd be talking about Harry Potter?" Draco nodded. "You two would make good friends, don't you believe?" To this Draco did not respond, but turned away from the speaker in question. "I happen to be leaving now," Selena informed Draco as she departed, deciding that she'd rather be in the company of her brother.
Up in his dormitory, Gatti was feeling very glum. He had a few certificate, several letters, and a portrait spread out on his bed. As he scrutinized them, Shesta strolled into the room, quite at ease. "Salutations, Gatti. What're you looking at?" he asked the other.
Gatti jumped. "Nothing," he muttered, sweeping the papers off his bed and underneath it, "just looking at some old records I found here."
"Gatti, my friend, old records you found from the castle aren't so personal that you're hiding them," reasoned Shesta. "Here, let me have a peep at them. You looking at your family?"
"More or less," revealed Gatti, and Shesta reached down with surprising agility and snatched up the papers. "HEY!" hollered Gatti, and threw himself at the shorter boy. There was a furious struggle between the two, and then Ginny, Viole, Van, Guimel and Dilandau barged into the room.
"What's all this?" Dilandau demanded to know.
"He's taking my things," panted Gatti.
"Excellent, let us all see," commanded Dilandau imperiously. "Oh, except for Van."
"Shut up, Dilandau," ordered Van, and cuffed him on the head. This started another fight, which Ginny rolled her eyes at. After the first few days of getting used to Van and Dilandau fighting, she was now indifferent to it.
Guimel, taking the opportunity, snatched up the documents clutched in Shesta's hand, and gave a triumphant, "Ho!" which drowned out Shesta's indignant cry. He scanned the different papers, and gave a laugh. "Gatti, my man, why didn't you ever tell us you're a widower with a daughter?" This news was startling enough to warrant a break in the fight between Van and Dilandau.
"You were married?" Dilandau asked his DragonSlayer sharply, through a bleeding mouth. "You had a child?"
Gatti cleared his throat nervously. "Er, as a matter of fact, yes," he mumbled quietly. "I married Alexia Altai in a arranged marriage three years ago, and she gave birth to Meia that year. My last year in Gaea, they sent me the information that she'd died, and I went to the funeral."
"You got married at thirteen," stated Ginny incredulously.
"It's a family custom. My family has many customs, including that one. Another one is to have a child in the first year of your marriage, or as soon as possible, believe that as you will."
"And here I always thought your family was just strict," commented Viole lightly, frowning. "Why didn't you tell us, though?"
"I was in the army; I thought it would be wise to be cautious. As it stands, my baby girl should be three years old by this time- she's very smart, though- and Meia will be thinking I'm dead, that she's an orphan. I don't even know if she'd recognize me when I go back to Gaea this summer."
"So you're planning to go back, then?" asked Ginny shrewdly.
"I'll miss you, of course," said Viole affectionately to her, "unless you'd want to come?"
This possibility had not at all occurred to Ginny. "Really? For the summer? It would have to be the whole summer, right?"
Viole nodded. "I suppose you'd stay with Selena?" he wondered. "I lived with my father, a sailor, at sea. I know how to man a ship, but I have no home, as is."
Shesta was not to be deterred from the previous subject. "So what are you planning to do, walk up to the front gate of your house, scare the living lights out of the servants- not to mention the whole household- and just announce, 'Here I am! I've decided to come back! And could you air out my bedroom, since you've never touched it since I died?' "
Shesta could be very practical when he wanted to be.
"That's as far as my plan goes," answered Gatti frankly. "What else would there be to say?"
"My dear fellow, we should bring you your daughter!" roared Guimel merrily. "It's Parent Week, remember? You're a parent, so it won't matter!"
Shesta continued in his streak of practicality. "How would we get her here? She'd be terrified, whoever looks after her would be worried, and we then would have the problem of sending her back on her hands. To boot, Gatti's girlfriend would be severely annoyed at him, and everyone in the school would wonder at him."
Guimel looked irked. "You make it sound so stupid and rash. It wouldn't be that large of a problem, surely. Besides, don't you want Gatti to be able to have a family reunion, since the rest of us has not much to speak of when it comes to family? Oh, except for Ginny, I guess."
"We never did find out anything about each other's past, when it comes down to it, did we?" pointed out Viole. Everyone shook their heads about this.
"You were in the army; not exactly requited to share personal information," Dilandau told the DragonSlayers irritably. "And if you suddenly decided to start gushing about your families, I slapped you. But now we know Viole's father was a sailor, Gatti had a very strict family, and is the head of one, Van has his brother, Selena has her brother, and Ginny has her whole Titian-haired crew. Now what?"
"My uncle, Dryden Fassa, was a rich merchant, and I lived with him until I was thirteen," volunteered Shesta. "Of course, I have no idea where he is now, although I'm glad not knowing where my grandfather is- he has monophobia where money is concerned. A very monotonous fellow, all said and done."
Van grinned, and informed him about Dryden. "He's married to Princess Millerna of Asturia, but he's off trying to prove himself worthy of her love right now. Not a bad fellow; honest, intelligent, and charitable. He saved my life once."
Viole laughed. "An odd state of things," he observed. "Shesta, your uncle was ruling Asturia when our side attempted to burn it down; is that right, Van?" Van nodded to this.
"Oh, Ginny," Van recalled, "I had a very interesting conversation with your brothers just then- which came about with me beating this boy in a sword fight."
"Which brothers?" Ginny asked glumly, feeling irritated that she had to ask, since she did have six brothers, after all.
"Fred and George, and they told me they were planning something for the graduation ceremony," said Van seriously. He took a swig out of a bottle he'd brought up. "Would your girlfriend be mad at you if she knew you had a family, Gatti?" he wondered.
Gatti shrugged. "Probably. We already had a fight yesterday because she thought I gave her parents a bad impression. She only forgave me today, too." Gatti brightened as an idea struck him. "I know, I'll give her flowers! Of course, I'll have to find them first, but there has to be some around somewhere." He stomped out of the room cheerfully after snatching back his papers and tucking them in his robes.
Guimel spoke seriously and perceptively. "I mean it, we should bring him his daughter for the week. We're all homesick, he must be too, and how do you think Gatti must feel, as a father? I've seen the state he's in these days- looking at the parents with their children wistfully. It'll just get worse if his daughter won't recognize him when he goes back this summer, and this week is a golden opportunity to let them meet again. And Shesta was right, I know, but let's look at Selena. She disappeared, and that was for ten years, and she's fine now. And Gatti's kid will only be gone for a week, not a decade!"
"Selena's gone through horrible changes, and her mother died after she disappeared," Ginny reminded him.
"Is the world working against me, or just all of you!" was Guimel's withering response, which wasn't answered.
"Don't be stupid, Guimel," snapped Dilandau. "It's a far-fetched idea, and you are not to consider it any longer."
"Yes, Lord Dilandau," replied Guimel obediently, and bowed in obeisance.

Despite Gatti's recent attempts to stop thinking of what his family had been like, he was unsuccessful. He kept on thinking of when he'd started in the Zaibach Academy's training, and then he'd had to leave on his second day for his wife's labor. Alexia hadn't been strong enough to feed the baby, and Gatti's relatives hadn't helped. His clan had a strong sense of self-sufficiency, which in other words meant they didn't throw a bone to Gatti for help.
Alexia had been living in a small inherited house, with inherited servants and Gatti had gone out into the village to find a wet nurse. He paid for it with the money accumulated from their parents' wedding gifts. And he'd only been able to visit his daughter in the summer, too. They had still done many things together, although Gatti doubted that the three-year-old Meia remembered them.
They had used the nearby brook to go wading on hot days.
They had gone on picnics.
They had picked berries in the nearby forest until their hands were smeared red or purple.
Gatti even remembered the time when his family had gone to visit his parents. It had veritably been a nightmare, with Meia terrified of her grandparents- and Alexia no better off. Gatti had laughed and sympathized with the two of them, secretly feeling that his parents were very formidable, and something to be afraid of; although not as much as Lord Dilandau.
These memories came to mind associated with a smile, and Gatti felt very homesick. He began to worry about his daughter. She was very sensitive, and he suspected that the toddler had not lost the terror she felt for her grandparents.
Gatti smiled sadly, as an unspoken wish came into his heart and lingered there. As he turned back to the castle, he had no idea that his silent desire had just been fulfilled. Until he came up to the Gryffindor common room, where he heard wails from the inside. Gatti had a sense of curiosity, and it came out then in the form of haste.
But as Gatti stepped inside the warm room and peered around to determine where the crying had come from, a squeal came instead, and the people in the room saw a young girl stand up and scream, "DADDY!" These same people saw this little girl run over to the young man who had just entered the room.
And they saw him laugh and scoop the little girl up in his strong arms.

_____

A/N: I saw a note on the site, Those Who Hunt Dragons, that Gatti was said to be married. I then decided t use this fact to add a twist to the story.

If you review, could you tell me:

Are Fred/Naria, George/Eriya, Dilandau/Selena, Folken/Eries, Eries/Snape (insert evil laugh) good couples?
What was tolerable enough about this fic that kept you reading through 15 chapters?
What should happen next [if at all]?
Which characters do you want to see more of?????