I apologise for the lack fo BS due to my lack of ideas and the evil
that is writer's block. Thank you all for your help and ideas!
Incomplete Chapter Forty-Six Review Responses:
Sara Minks - Yeah, he would. He's been calling her Mudblood for six
years now, it's somewhat of a habit. And he's using it like a nickname
now, instead of an actual insult. After all, she's one of Harry's
friends, and Harry is scary-strong.
Fire-Mage - I likes this idea. expect to see bits and pieces of it in
Blackened Sunrise.
Eaiva le Fay - Oh, Tom will find out that Harry was the one to kill
him. Heh. That's going to be some battle...
Black Rose - Heh, maybe I will throw in Hermione beating up on Draco
using the runes...
Lady Russell Holmes - I wouldn't know if it was similiar to Garth Nix's
books. Cecile, Kristen, Clio and Whatserface refuse to let me touch
their copies. I wonder why...? *glances at the pile of stuff that has
been "lent" to her over the past years* Hmmm, that might be it.
starwest45 - I like going in directions no one understands, it's fun.
That's why I'm not taking a whole idea just from one person, but
mashing a whole bunch all together to create general mayhem.
Rouge-Sorceress - Why do people like mazes so much? Nevermind, I think
I can guess. *grins cheerfully* Maze I may design, and ghosts may
appear, but there are others about as well, and all the ideas are just
so wonderful! I can not seem to decide! Argh!
Chapter Forty-Five Review Responses:
Lady Russell Holmes - Yeah, I've read the Ranma manga (Leigh owns it).
I was thinking more along the lines of Furuba/Fruits Basket when I came
up with Nate the Rabbit, though. Does everything make you think of
Cowboy Bebop? That's like... the forth time you've mentioned it.
Vampyre - Wow... I think I'd be scared if I watched someone stayed
perfectly still to read something online. I'm always shifting and
moving and having to force my attention back on track (Leigh thinks I
have ADHD, but my mom says Leigh has no idea what she's talking
about...). And thanks to your enlightnement of the fact that you almost
threw your computer out of the window for BS's sake, I realise that I
have one hell of a fic, to quote you.
guess - grapefruit spoon...? Wow, that would be painful. Hopefully not
long, but we should all know by now that what I type and what I paln
usually flies off the handle and gets really strange before I manage to
drag it back on course.
Rouge-Sorceress - Red because red is a fun color. Other than that, I
don't have any idea why I chose red. ^___^
Harry Potter is property of JK Rowling, who is, by far, not The Itch.
---
Blackened Sunrise
Chapter Forty-Six: Developments
The Itch
---
They had been travelling in silence for quite sometime, and Draco
Malfoy had to wonder just how far into the ground Hogwarts was for them
to still be climbing. His hands felt as though they were on fire, and
he was sure a number of the scales that decorated them had come off at
some point or another in his trip. The flickers and sparks of
ruby-tinged magic that were upon the sealed wall hurt after a while.
Shaking his head free of those thoughts, he ripped his hand out of the
wall, pulling himself and reached out to jam the talons into more rock.
When his hand hit empty air, and his forearm cracked harshly against a
corner, he gave off a bit of a yelp. They'd found the top of the
passage!
"Thank you dearest God," he muttered, hauling himself up and over the
egde. He gave Hermione and Weapon annoyed glares as the two flyers
landed lightly further into the platform. _They_ hadn't had to tire
themselves out and rip the scales off their hands and be in _way_ to
much pain. His hands _hurt_ dammit!
Idly, he wondered if Nate's drumset was still in that classroom. He was
really going to need to bang on it when they returned. Then he wondered
if it was really Nate's, since the boy was absolutely absimal at it.
Of course, such idle thoughts were washed away from his mind as he gave
a low whistle. That was some doorway.
"High Elvish..." murmured Hermione, running her fingers over the
intracetly carved wood, "Anicent High Elvish at that. This dialect
hasn't been used in nearly twlve centuries."
"Can you read it?" enquired Weapon's monotone question.
She shook her head, "Only bits and pieces. I picked it up while we were
translating the Old Norse that That Damned Bastard wrote his book in."
"So we're going to spend another five months translating?" whined
Draco, "I do _not_ want to come back up here, Mudblood!"
The Enchantress gave him a rather annoyed stare, "I _do_ know a spell
that can translate Elvish to Norse, twit. It was in the back Rune Book.
The Old Norse Runes were, apparently, derived from Elvish in the first
place, although Old Norse is a lot less... elequent."
"I didn't need the lecture," griped Malfoy, "So do your ruddy spell and
get us into that room, alright?"
She turned his nose up at him, obviously stating that she didn't have
to do what he said, but Weapon's four-fingered hand handed on her
shoulder, "Our goal is beyond those doors."
"Oh... right," she flushed a bit, embarrassed that the tiny tiff
between herself and the Living Weapon had caused her to forget that
fact.
Once more she withdrew her athame and began to trace runes into the
air, murmuring under her breath as she repeated the names of the
symbols she needed to use for the spell. The joys of memorization.
And the door began to glow.
---
Buildings were burning, debris was flying, and generally, all hell had
come down upon their heads.
"Buuuuuuuurn Ouuuuuuut!" screamed Lavender, throwing her hand in the
direction of her latest attacker, concentrating hard enough to give
herself a pounding headache as she upped the power of the attack. The
fires that surrounded the enemy burned brighter and hotter, flaring
every couple seconds for nearly a whole minute before dying down and
revealing the charred corpse of the demon left behind.
Panting, she scrambled backwards, allowing Blaise and Dean to jump
forwards to take hers and Pavarti's places as the two In-Training
Witches recovered their breath and strength. Sirius and Katar had been
training the group of four for several months on end now, never letting
up. The two Weapons wanted the Witches and Wizards under their commands
to be much stronger than the average Wizard or Witch.
After the second week, Katar had taken their wands.
After the second month, Sirius had commanded them to break their wands.
The breaking would release the power of the cores into the air, making
the wand useless, but they had already been learning how to cast magic
without their wands, using a system much like that the Weapons used to
control the Power. The Weapons just refrained form explaining to the
young wizards and witches that if they looked beyond the finite pool of
magic that was their own, they would find the infinite Power.
When a wand was broken, and it's controlling magic was released, there
was a period of thirty to forty seconds where the power could be
absorbed into a human body, and thus amplify both power reservoirs as
well as control over their already existing powers. The four students
had done so, and had spent the following month and a half learning how
to control their newly increased level of magic.
The past two weeks had been a danger-session, an unending battle,
wherein they had to use potions and spells made on the battle field to
keep themselves from drifting off into slumber. When they were given a
sufficient break in the attacks, they would sleep, but they learned to
be alert even while sleeping after the first time they had been
attacked while out cold.
Dean had three rather nasty looking scars down his right cheek from
where the felinoid monster had attacked him. They ran down the side of
his neck as well, and it had only been a quick healing spell by Blaise
that had kept him from bleeding to death from a severed artery.
They weren't Wizards and Witches, but they weren't Warlocks and
Enchantresses. They didn't use wands, and they didn't understand the
mechanics of the spells and mana they used. They were warriors, bred
for battle, ready to fight, to conquer, to die in the line of duty.
They had been born in a time when Voldemort's power was at it's
highest, a time when the mana of the populace was tainted by his
darkness, and it had flooded into the souls of all children born during
his reign of terror.
They had been born to fight, whether for or against the Dark Lord. Only
those born over a year after his destruction were free of the mana's
War-Magic taint. This was why the Weapons trained the Seventh, Sixth,
and Fifth years so harshly, and why the Fourth and Third years were
being trained in medical magics, and the Second and Firsts in muggle
technology. The Firsts and Seconds were already becoming the world's
finest Crackers, combining magic and technology to do so. They found
this entire idea of the Balance fascinating.
It wasn't war, or a holy crusade, or even the destruction of evil. It
was a game, and it was meant to be enjoyed. Hermione and Ron, their
teachers, encouraged this idea, encouraged their faith in Harry Potter,
who would lead them into a wonderful world where nothing could go
wrong. Harry Potter was a hero, after all. All the purebloods had been
hearing about him for as long as they could remember.
There was nothing wrong with following him, and everyone who had died
during the Welcome Back Feast had died because they supported Darkness
and Evil. They wanted to go against the hero, which was bad.
Older years understood better than this wasn't the way things were to
be. They had survived because they had been terrified of their new
leader. Now they were either loyal to the harsh taskmaster that was
going to help them control their own destinies, or to the kinder
woman-weapon that worked for him, that held their own well-being high
in her heart.
"Daaaaaark Raaaaaain!" bellowed Blaise, impassively watching the
draconic beasts writhe and scream as the darkness impeded on their
souls and tore them asunder from within. Even beasts of the darkness
could not compare to the shadows unleashed by the Slytherin-soldier.
The field cleared, although the quartet remained on guard, watching
carefully.
At least until the battlefield they had lived in for two weeks faded
away, the bodies vanished, and they were returned to the stone-walled
room they had been training within for ages. Dean cracked his back,
glad for the reprieve, and turned to face their instructors. The two
men stood side by side, Katar's face impassive as usual, but Dart's
face was split by a lopsided grin, "Good job."
They nodded their thanks, still stretching out sore-spots and yawning
as their lack of rest caught up on them.
"I think you could use some down time. The door's that way," he
motioned cheerfully at the door, "I expect you back here tomorrow,
Outside Time, ladies and gentlemen."
"Yeah yeah," Blaise grumbled, "We'll be back, no doubt about that."
stretching, he jogged to the door, swinging it open and feeling the
familiar tingle as he stepped back out and into real time. Pavarti,
Lavender and Dean followed shortly, all yawning, all ready to fall into
sleep. As they moved, silently and efficiently, as they had been
taught, Lavender turned curious eyes to her teammates.
"What are we, now?"
"We're something that hasn't existed in centuries," their unofficial
leader returned quietly as they glided towards the quarters they had
staked out in the Gryffindor Dorms. The Slytherin continued softly, "We
are elements in human form."
The girls' eyes widened in surprise, and Dean whistle low, "You mean to
say... that we're Druids, now?"
"Or at least, the closest a human can come to being a Druid, yes,"
Blaise nodded, pushing open their dorm-room doors, "Lets get some
sleep, alright?"
---
End Chapter
Yay ^__^ And yes, I do have ideas for what tomorrow's chapter will be
like. Be happy!
that is writer's block. Thank you all for your help and ideas!
Incomplete Chapter Forty-Six Review Responses:
Sara Minks - Yeah, he would. He's been calling her Mudblood for six
years now, it's somewhat of a habit. And he's using it like a nickname
now, instead of an actual insult. After all, she's one of Harry's
friends, and Harry is scary-strong.
Fire-Mage - I likes this idea. expect to see bits and pieces of it in
Blackened Sunrise.
Eaiva le Fay - Oh, Tom will find out that Harry was the one to kill
him. Heh. That's going to be some battle...
Black Rose - Heh, maybe I will throw in Hermione beating up on Draco
using the runes...
Lady Russell Holmes - I wouldn't know if it was similiar to Garth Nix's
books. Cecile, Kristen, Clio and Whatserface refuse to let me touch
their copies. I wonder why...? *glances at the pile of stuff that has
been "lent" to her over the past years* Hmmm, that might be it.
starwest45 - I like going in directions no one understands, it's fun.
That's why I'm not taking a whole idea just from one person, but
mashing a whole bunch all together to create general mayhem.
Rouge-Sorceress - Why do people like mazes so much? Nevermind, I think
I can guess. *grins cheerfully* Maze I may design, and ghosts may
appear, but there are others about as well, and all the ideas are just
so wonderful! I can not seem to decide! Argh!
Chapter Forty-Five Review Responses:
Lady Russell Holmes - Yeah, I've read the Ranma manga (Leigh owns it).
I was thinking more along the lines of Furuba/Fruits Basket when I came
up with Nate the Rabbit, though. Does everything make you think of
Cowboy Bebop? That's like... the forth time you've mentioned it.
Vampyre - Wow... I think I'd be scared if I watched someone stayed
perfectly still to read something online. I'm always shifting and
moving and having to force my attention back on track (Leigh thinks I
have ADHD, but my mom says Leigh has no idea what she's talking
about...). And thanks to your enlightnement of the fact that you almost
threw your computer out of the window for BS's sake, I realise that I
have one hell of a fic, to quote you.
guess - grapefruit spoon...? Wow, that would be painful. Hopefully not
long, but we should all know by now that what I type and what I paln
usually flies off the handle and gets really strange before I manage to
drag it back on course.
Rouge-Sorceress - Red because red is a fun color. Other than that, I
don't have any idea why I chose red. ^___^
Harry Potter is property of JK Rowling, who is, by far, not The Itch.
---
Blackened Sunrise
Chapter Forty-Six: Developments
The Itch
---
They had been travelling in silence for quite sometime, and Draco
Malfoy had to wonder just how far into the ground Hogwarts was for them
to still be climbing. His hands felt as though they were on fire, and
he was sure a number of the scales that decorated them had come off at
some point or another in his trip. The flickers and sparks of
ruby-tinged magic that were upon the sealed wall hurt after a while.
Shaking his head free of those thoughts, he ripped his hand out of the
wall, pulling himself and reached out to jam the talons into more rock.
When his hand hit empty air, and his forearm cracked harshly against a
corner, he gave off a bit of a yelp. They'd found the top of the
passage!
"Thank you dearest God," he muttered, hauling himself up and over the
egde. He gave Hermione and Weapon annoyed glares as the two flyers
landed lightly further into the platform. _They_ hadn't had to tire
themselves out and rip the scales off their hands and be in _way_ to
much pain. His hands _hurt_ dammit!
Idly, he wondered if Nate's drumset was still in that classroom. He was
really going to need to bang on it when they returned. Then he wondered
if it was really Nate's, since the boy was absolutely absimal at it.
Of course, such idle thoughts were washed away from his mind as he gave
a low whistle. That was some doorway.
"High Elvish..." murmured Hermione, running her fingers over the
intracetly carved wood, "Anicent High Elvish at that. This dialect
hasn't been used in nearly twlve centuries."
"Can you read it?" enquired Weapon's monotone question.
She shook her head, "Only bits and pieces. I picked it up while we were
translating the Old Norse that That Damned Bastard wrote his book in."
"So we're going to spend another five months translating?" whined
Draco, "I do _not_ want to come back up here, Mudblood!"
The Enchantress gave him a rather annoyed stare, "I _do_ know a spell
that can translate Elvish to Norse, twit. It was in the back Rune Book.
The Old Norse Runes were, apparently, derived from Elvish in the first
place, although Old Norse is a lot less... elequent."
"I didn't need the lecture," griped Malfoy, "So do your ruddy spell and
get us into that room, alright?"
She turned his nose up at him, obviously stating that she didn't have
to do what he said, but Weapon's four-fingered hand handed on her
shoulder, "Our goal is beyond those doors."
"Oh... right," she flushed a bit, embarrassed that the tiny tiff
between herself and the Living Weapon had caused her to forget that
fact.
Once more she withdrew her athame and began to trace runes into the
air, murmuring under her breath as she repeated the names of the
symbols she needed to use for the spell. The joys of memorization.
And the door began to glow.
---
Buildings were burning, debris was flying, and generally, all hell had
come down upon their heads.
"Buuuuuuuurn Ouuuuuuut!" screamed Lavender, throwing her hand in the
direction of her latest attacker, concentrating hard enough to give
herself a pounding headache as she upped the power of the attack. The
fires that surrounded the enemy burned brighter and hotter, flaring
every couple seconds for nearly a whole minute before dying down and
revealing the charred corpse of the demon left behind.
Panting, she scrambled backwards, allowing Blaise and Dean to jump
forwards to take hers and Pavarti's places as the two In-Training
Witches recovered their breath and strength. Sirius and Katar had been
training the group of four for several months on end now, never letting
up. The two Weapons wanted the Witches and Wizards under their commands
to be much stronger than the average Wizard or Witch.
After the second week, Katar had taken their wands.
After the second month, Sirius had commanded them to break their wands.
The breaking would release the power of the cores into the air, making
the wand useless, but they had already been learning how to cast magic
without their wands, using a system much like that the Weapons used to
control the Power. The Weapons just refrained form explaining to the
young wizards and witches that if they looked beyond the finite pool of
magic that was their own, they would find the infinite Power.
When a wand was broken, and it's controlling magic was released, there
was a period of thirty to forty seconds where the power could be
absorbed into a human body, and thus amplify both power reservoirs as
well as control over their already existing powers. The four students
had done so, and had spent the following month and a half learning how
to control their newly increased level of magic.
The past two weeks had been a danger-session, an unending battle,
wherein they had to use potions and spells made on the battle field to
keep themselves from drifting off into slumber. When they were given a
sufficient break in the attacks, they would sleep, but they learned to
be alert even while sleeping after the first time they had been
attacked while out cold.
Dean had three rather nasty looking scars down his right cheek from
where the felinoid monster had attacked him. They ran down the side of
his neck as well, and it had only been a quick healing spell by Blaise
that had kept him from bleeding to death from a severed artery.
They weren't Wizards and Witches, but they weren't Warlocks and
Enchantresses. They didn't use wands, and they didn't understand the
mechanics of the spells and mana they used. They were warriors, bred
for battle, ready to fight, to conquer, to die in the line of duty.
They had been born in a time when Voldemort's power was at it's
highest, a time when the mana of the populace was tainted by his
darkness, and it had flooded into the souls of all children born during
his reign of terror.
They had been born to fight, whether for or against the Dark Lord. Only
those born over a year after his destruction were free of the mana's
War-Magic taint. This was why the Weapons trained the Seventh, Sixth,
and Fifth years so harshly, and why the Fourth and Third years were
being trained in medical magics, and the Second and Firsts in muggle
technology. The Firsts and Seconds were already becoming the world's
finest Crackers, combining magic and technology to do so. They found
this entire idea of the Balance fascinating.
It wasn't war, or a holy crusade, or even the destruction of evil. It
was a game, and it was meant to be enjoyed. Hermione and Ron, their
teachers, encouraged this idea, encouraged their faith in Harry Potter,
who would lead them into a wonderful world where nothing could go
wrong. Harry Potter was a hero, after all. All the purebloods had been
hearing about him for as long as they could remember.
There was nothing wrong with following him, and everyone who had died
during the Welcome Back Feast had died because they supported Darkness
and Evil. They wanted to go against the hero, which was bad.
Older years understood better than this wasn't the way things were to
be. They had survived because they had been terrified of their new
leader. Now they were either loyal to the harsh taskmaster that was
going to help them control their own destinies, or to the kinder
woman-weapon that worked for him, that held their own well-being high
in her heart.
"Daaaaaark Raaaaaain!" bellowed Blaise, impassively watching the
draconic beasts writhe and scream as the darkness impeded on their
souls and tore them asunder from within. Even beasts of the darkness
could not compare to the shadows unleashed by the Slytherin-soldier.
The field cleared, although the quartet remained on guard, watching
carefully.
At least until the battlefield they had lived in for two weeks faded
away, the bodies vanished, and they were returned to the stone-walled
room they had been training within for ages. Dean cracked his back,
glad for the reprieve, and turned to face their instructors. The two
men stood side by side, Katar's face impassive as usual, but Dart's
face was split by a lopsided grin, "Good job."
They nodded their thanks, still stretching out sore-spots and yawning
as their lack of rest caught up on them.
"I think you could use some down time. The door's that way," he
motioned cheerfully at the door, "I expect you back here tomorrow,
Outside Time, ladies and gentlemen."
"Yeah yeah," Blaise grumbled, "We'll be back, no doubt about that."
stretching, he jogged to the door, swinging it open and feeling the
familiar tingle as he stepped back out and into real time. Pavarti,
Lavender and Dean followed shortly, all yawning, all ready to fall into
sleep. As they moved, silently and efficiently, as they had been
taught, Lavender turned curious eyes to her teammates.
"What are we, now?"
"We're something that hasn't existed in centuries," their unofficial
leader returned quietly as they glided towards the quarters they had
staked out in the Gryffindor Dorms. The Slytherin continued softly, "We
are elements in human form."
The girls' eyes widened in surprise, and Dean whistle low, "You mean to
say... that we're Druids, now?"
"Or at least, the closest a human can come to being a Druid, yes,"
Blaise nodded, pushing open their dorm-room doors, "Lets get some
sleep, alright?"
---
End Chapter
Yay ^__^ And yes, I do have ideas for what tomorrow's chapter will be
like. Be happy!