Chapter 1
"…There was a musical box that emitted a faintly sinister, tinkling tune when wound, and they all found themselves becoming curiously weak and sleepy until Ginny had the sense to slam the lid shut…"
pg. 116, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, American edition
"'The Dark Sorceress Celestina took power thirty years after the founding of Hogwarts. It was said that she was a student at Hogwarts when it was founded, a Ravenclaw. Legend has it that she had family ties to Rowena Ravenclaw herself.' Harry, Ron, are you even paying attention?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah, I've just been resting my eyes tight shut while you talk," Ron yawned, facedown on the Gryffindor table one frigid February morning at breakfast.
Harry couldn't help yawning himself. It was a bright, cold morning, the kind meant for sleeping in, but Hermione had insisted that she review the entire History of Magic course with them. He wanted to be up in Gryffindor Tower in his comfortable four-poster bed or at least outside in the thick layers of snow, having a snowball fight with Ron and some of the other Gryffindors, if they wanted. But the last thing he wanted to do was sit here, bored out of his mind, while Hermione went over the entire curriculum from a course he didn't even take.
"Hermione," he said, trying to be patient, "why do we need to bother? We're not taking Binns' class anymore."
"Exactly," Hermione asserted. "That's why you're missing out! Do you want to be unprepared when you graduate? Do you want to know nothing about the past and be doomed to repeat it? It's not my fault if you two felt compelled to shirk on your studying last year. But I do feel that it is my duty to bring you both up to par."
"Well, then, I'll break it to you easily, Hermione," Ron said vaguely, his eyes still closed. "You're not our mother, and we're pretty well off without knowing about some two-thousand-year-old Dark sorceress. She's dead anyway!"
"But think of how relevant this could be to you!" Hermione cried in exasperation.
There was complete silence from Harry and Ron's end. They couldn't think of one way they could ever be connected to anyone from the beginning of Hogwarts.
"How many pure-blood families do we know?" Hermione asked them finally, her eyes rolling to the sky.
"Mine," Ron said tentatively.
"And Malfoy's," Harry added in a growl.
"And the Blacks," Hermione whispered to them so no one else could hear. "Their ancestors have been around for thousands of years. I'd say someone related to you, Ron, and to Malfoy, and maybe even to Sirius, I'd say they all went to Hogwarts at the time of its founding! What if this Dark sorceress knew one of your dead ancestors, Ron?"
Ron stared blankly.
"Wouldn't that be fascinating?"
"Well, not really," he confessed, looking her in the eye. "Hermione, can't you just…lighten up a bit? Who wants to go have a snowball fight?"
"I'm up for it," Harry agreed a bit too quickly. Hermione sniffed disapprovingly. "C'mon, Hermione, we need a bit of fun. Besides, you can tell us about the Dark witches of the eleventh century later, when we're warm and fully awake."
"Fine," Hermione relented, though they could tell she was anything but fine. "But if we ever find out that your great-great-great-great-great-great uncle Weasley ever knew Celestina, you'll be sorry you didn't listen."
"Whatever you say, Hermione," Ron said, winking at Harry. "C'mon, I'll bet Seamus and Dean are up for a good round of getting buried, wouldn't you say?"
The two boys hurried off, leaving Hermione far behind. She rolled her eyes and muttered, "Men," before following them through the corridors and outside into the bright, fluffy white snow-covered landscape.
Nearly a thousand years before…
Celestina was bored out of her mind.
Her long, raven-colored hair fell over her shoulders as she lay on her stomach on her bed in the Ravenclaw dormitory, all the curtains drawn shut tightly. Sure, she had schoolwork she could be doing, and sure, she knew that Orion Black was standing outside the Ravenclaw common room, waiting for her to make some mischief so he could turn her in (he had been trying to since being appointed a fifth-year prefect; now, in the midst of February, he still hadn't been able to pull it off), but she wanted to stir up some excitement. Personally, she found the Hogwarts of the eleventh century rather dull, even if it was still relatively new. Everything in this new eleventh century was dull to her. And as a Ravenclaw, she was expected to keep up appearances and be respectful and not make a misstep, but it was very dull being a girl in this day and age. She imagined the days far into the future when young witches would be able to gad about as they pleased, but now she couldn't step outside without a male escort, and there was always some bumbling do-gooder trying to be a gentleman and assist her. Well, bah on gentlemen. They were dull good-for-nothings, the lot of them. Of course, she was expected to be as courteous and polite to the gentlemen as they tried to be to her, for her mother's sake. Her mother, Rowena Ravenclaw, who had founded Hogwarts with Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, and that slimy Salazar Slytherin.
Slytherin taught one of the classes, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Celestina could not stand him. He was condescending to all the girls, and especially Celestina, because he detested her mother for having anything to do with Helga Hufflepuff. Helga had insisted, quite bravely (Celestina thought), that all wizards and witches could attend Hogwarts, and Gryffindor had backed her up, but Slytherin was dead-set on removing anyone who wasn't pureblood from the safe haven that was Hogwarts. Celestina had heard Slytherin arguing with her mother just the other day, when she was supposed to be studying for a Potions examination.
"They are just as magical as the rest of us, Salazar," Rowena chided. She was standing regally, her shoulders back, her jet-black hair falling down to her waist, and her eyes flashing, daring Slytherin to reply.
"They shall always remain a hazard to the safety of our school, Rowena! They have mixed with Muggles, and for that they should be burned."
"They do it to increase our number! If they hadn't, the only ones left would be the ones from your house."
"And Hogwarts would be safer for it! This nonsense about 'teaching one and all,' it is absurd. And I tell you, I refuse to stand for it much longer. I have my ways, Rowena. Either you shall submit to me, or I will leave."
"I assure you, you might be leaving sooner than you think," Rowena retorted. "You disgrace all of us, especially myself and Helga. You know that we are not your precious purebloods. My mother was a Muggle, and I can claim to be one of the founders of the only wizarding school in England. You only have your family ties to sell your name."
Celestina had been pretending to be absorbed in her Potions book, but she couldn't help looking up at Slytherin's face when her mother had said this. It had swelled to the size of a rather large pumpkin and was as red as a cherry. "You will regret saying this, Rowena. Mark my words."
And then he turned on the heel of his imposing black boots and strode out, slamming the door behind him. It echoed down the hallway with a clang. Rowena took on her righteous, imperious look for a moment longer, and then she sighed, and her façade fell. "Celestina, you must never repeat any of this to anyone. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, Mother," Celestina replied. Secretly, though, she wanted to expose Slytherin for the ruthless, stupid monster he was. He wasn't half as smart as he wanted his pupils to be, and she knew that he could never succeed in changing the other three to suit his liking. It seemed as if he always tried to be evil so hard, and it just would not work for him. He was pathetic. If he was intelligent, Celestina might have thought him a man after her own heart. But as it was, he was no better than the bumbling fools who tried to make sure she didn't ruin her robes in the snow when she left the castle.
At the moment, Celestina was twisting her beloved black tresses in knots. She wanted to see Slytherin gone, destroyed. He was giving her mother a bad name. She wasn't at all argumentative, but she had to be assertive to make him back down. The question was, when would he back down? Celestina sighed. At least next year she would be through with Hogwarts and free to roam as her heart pleased. She had already decided never to stop for a man of any sort, and curse any Muggles that came in her path. The half-bloods and Muggle-borns weren't the problem. It was the Muggles, who constantly made it difficult for the wizarding world to survive.
As her boredom overcame her wish to remain out of the sight of Orion Black, Celestina withdrew her curtains and climbed stealthily out of bed to her trunk. To have some adventure, she needed the assistance of her mother's invention. To be precise, one of her mother's inventions. It was a marvelous thing to have when you wanted to stir up trouble without getting caught, especially when it involved trying to undo Slytherin's ego. Digging through her belongings, she finally found what she was looking for and pulled it out. It caught the candlelight and gleamed superbly, shimmering like a thousand crystals embedded in cloth.
"'The Invisibility Cloak is only to be used for good, not Dark magic, Celestina,'" Celestina muttered under her breath, remembering her mother's warning. But what was the point of being invisible if you couldn't have a little…fun?
She slipped silently away from the dormitory, into the common room, and then out into the corridor. There was Orion Black, self-righteous little pig-nosed fifth-year Gryffindor prefect, just asking for thorough humiliation. Who did he think he was, with the red-and-gold Gryffindor badge pinned just under the prefect badge on his rumpled black robes, his brunette head held high and his brown eyes fiercely gazing this way and that, just looking for mischief? Celestina grinned to herself. Served him right, suspecting a poor innocent soul like herself of ever doing anything wrong. Time for a bit of magic.
"Arsenus…firificus!" Celestina whispered, pointing her wand at the unsuspecting boy's left boot. To her delight, the spell worked perfectly, and the boot began to smoke.
"Wha—?" he cried as the toe ignited. Celestina laughed, not bothering to keep her voice down. It was, after all, quite comical. He hopped around on his right foot, trying to blow out the small fire. Finally, when it had engulfed nearly the entire boot, he kicked it off. With a dull thud, it hit a wall. "Aqueosa!"he yelled. A jet of water squirted from the end of his wand and put the fire out. The boot lay there, smoldering. Celestina could smell burnt dragon hide.
All of a sudden, Orion turned around to face a spot about three feet from where Celestina was standing. "Celestina!" he said loudly. "I know you're there. It is of no use to hide from me. Show yourself!"
"Not just yet, Black," Celestina snickered. "Where would the fun be?"
"Stop with these childish games, Ravenclaw," Orion ordered. He was still scouring the hallway for a hint as to where she was hiding. "Show your face, you little wench."
That promptly wiped Celestina's grin off of her face. "What did you just say?" she demanded of him.
"Yes, I called you a wench," Orion answered, a sarcastic little self-righteous smile on his face. "Show your face, and the headmaster will go a bit easier on you."
"No thanks to you, I'm sure," Celestina retorted. "You would be the first to tell him I deserve to be locked up in the dungeons and only consort with Slytherins all day long. But I tell you, Gryffindor is much kinder to me than he is to you. If you were to, say, curse an unsuspecting Ravenclaw, the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw, you would be scrubbing the castle floors for a hundred years to come."
Orion caught the hint of seriousness in her tone, and he could tell the wicked grin had crept back onto her face. "You wouldn't dare…"
"Of course I would," she replied smoothly, completely believing her words. She held her wand to her forehead, fully intending to place herself under an enchantment just on Orion's level of expertise. But she couldn't. She was too concerned for her own safety, and besides, her mother would see the Invisibility Cloak and know. But she couldn't just walk away from an opportunity like this. "Petrificus Totalus!" she cried, knocking Orion to the ground. He lay there, stiff as a board, his eyes roving this way and that. Celestina threw off the Invisibility Cloak in triumph. "Mark me, Orion Black, never mess with the great Celestina Ravenclaw, or the consequences will be dear. And no one will believe you if you put the blame on me for cursing you. So you just take some time to think about what you've done."
"Nice work, Miss Ravenclaw," said a cold, excited voice behind her. "Next time be sure to provide an excuse to the professor who has the pleasure of catching you."
Celestina wheeled around in horror. There, with a menacing, completely delighted expression on his face, was Salazar Slytherin. Celestina thought she might faint dead away.
"Come," he said brusquely. "I shall take you to the headmaster's office. And I do not believe he will go so easy on you this time. I'll bring the boy, too."
Celestina felt a thrill of dread race down her spine. She knew she would be punished harshly this time. What she didn't know was that this punishing would be the beginning of her success…