Chapter 7
"She's fine, Mr. Katagar. Ms. McCleod is completely safe. In fact, from what Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger told me, you should be more worried about the man she threw out the window than her." Madam Pomfrey wiped her hands on her apron and turned to go back into her office. "You may visit her if you wish."
"Madam Pomfrey, was there anything unusual about her magic levels?" Ice asked, running a hand through his hair agitatedly.
Madam Pomfrey just shot him a look. "Ms. McCleod's magic levels are slightly elevated, but that can happen in any circumstances. It is more than likely a result of the stressful situation she found herself in tonight. Now, I suggest that you either visit with Ms. McCleod, or go seek your own beds."
"I'm afraid that I must speak with our three young friends, Poppy." All eyes turned toward the doorway, which revealed Professor Dumbledore. The nurse nodded her head and returned to her office.
"Professor, what is going on?" Dumbledore just raised his hand for silence before continuing. "I understand that you all have questions—well, Harry and Hermione, at least. I believe Ice will be able to help fill you in." He walked through the curtains around Tira's bed and patted her hand. "How are you feeling, my dear?"
"Like something tried to use me as a power outlet. What happened?" She asked as she opened her eyes and tried to sit up. "Where's Ice?"
"I'm right here, Dia. Did you need something?" Ice rushed into the little area and picked up her hand, an almost comical look of concern on his face. Tira smacked him in the arm and glared at him. "Ow! What was that for?"
"That was for leaving me all alone, you big oaf! What did you think you were doing?" Tira yelled.
Ice snarled at Tira, his upper lip curling with the force of his anger. "I heard a noise in the common room and followed it out there. It kept moving away and I kept following it. Now I see it was nothing more than a distraction so that the Draghar's man could get to you without my interference." Ice finished, his free hand clenching into a white-knuckled fist.
Tira stared up at him, the anger in her face slowing fading. She reached up and pulled him into a hug, squeaking a bit when his arms closed around her with crushing force. She patted him on the back and pulled back, turning to Harry and Hermione.
"Why are you guys looking at me like I've grown a second head?" She tilted her head a bit in confusion.
Harry and Hermione looked at each other, and then both gave Tira an incredulous look. "We just saw you throw a man out of a tower window, Tira. You had an echo in your voice that sounded like it was someone else using your voice to talk through. You had the fire symbol on your forehead and the whites of your eyes were blood red. Tell me, why would we be looking at you strangely?" Harry demanded, counting off on his fingers as he recited the list.
Hermione smacked him lightly in the back of the head, the uncharacteristic gesture proving just how shaken she was. "I've seen a lot of things, Tira, since I started hanging out with Harry and Ron, namely Lord Voldemort himself—something very few can boast about—but I tell you now, what I saw in that dormitory was freaky even to me. I think Harry and I are entitled to some answers."
Dumbledore cleared his throat lightly and stepped forward. "Perhaps it is time to confide in someone other than your godfather and this doddering old fool." He smiled as he mentioned that last part, gesturing to himself.
"Professor, you are not a doddering old fool." Tira admonished smilingly. Her smile faded as she began to think of the events leading to her current circumstances. "Professor Dumbledore's right. It is time that I told someone my story. Who knows, maybe you could help."
Harry grinned and Hermione just gave him a look that clearly told him to behave himself. Before Tira could start her story, however, Ron and Gavin rushed into the room.
"I heard what happened—are you all right?" They asked in tandem. They turned to glare at each other, and then turned back to the others. Ron came up and put his arm around Hermione's shoulders, quickly kissing her cheek and flushing at Harry's snicker. Gavin walked up to Tira's bedside and sat down on the edge of the bed, taking her hand and kissing the back of it.
Tira blushed but left her hand in his. "There is one other person who knows this story, besides Uncle Hagrid and Professor Dumbledore. She is—was—my brother's pen pal in Japan, before all of this shit started happening. You should all remember her—Yukino Jin, Ravenclaw, got mad at Ginny for grabbing her arm…" She sighed when everyone nodded their heads. "She knows everything that I am about to tell you. And please, don't tell anyone else this. I don't know who it is that is trying to kill me, and I would rather not have them come after you as well."
Harry and Hermione nodded their heads and crossed their hearts; Gavin and Ron held up their hands and swore not to tell a single living soul. Tira sighed again and leaned into Ice as she began her story.
"I'm not here because of a transfer program. I am here because my grandmother kicked me and my brother out of her house when we became too 'unnatural' for her to handle. Uncle Hagrid asked Professor Dumbledore to send for us and include us in Hogwarts' enrollment, and so he did." A brief hint of the pain she felt shone through her eyes as she continued. "A few days before my brother disappeared, these two men came to our house. They pulled out their wands and threatened us with one of the Unforgivables. They told us that if Damien and I didn't go with them, they would kill our gran and destroy our house. Now, if we were 'normal', like Gran wanted us to be, they would have taken us and you all would not hearing this."
"What do you mean, 'if you were normal'?" Harry asked, sharing a look with Ron and Hermione before looking back at Tira.
She looked at him quickly before dropping her gaze to her lap. "My brother and I…we don't need wands to do magic. All we have to do is hold out our hands and think of something and it happens. Watch." She held out her free hand and stared at it, smiling softly when a ball of blue fire ignited in her palm. She let it burn there for a moment, then waved her hand and extinguished it. "It's always been like that—taking excess energy out of the air and using it for our own purposes. We can do many things without a wand that a lot of witches and wizards couldn't do with one."
"So, what happened when the guys threatened you?" Gavin prompted, squeezing her hand.
"Damien got really mad. I was standing in front of Gran, trying to shield her, because she isna the strongest woman in Scotland. Damien walked right up to the men and held his hand out, like he was trying to block them or stop them. All of a sudden there was this….wave, I guess you could call it. This shockwave of air hit the guys and sent them flying into the wall, knocking them unconscious. This breeze came up out of nowhere and lifted them up, carrying them out the door and away from the house. Once we knew that they weren't going to come back, Gran shoved her way out from behind me and said that there was no way we were staying in her house any longer. She kicked us out and told us never to come back. And we haven't."
"So…..what happened to Damien?" Ron asked quietly. Ice took over for Tira, putting an arm around her shoulders.
"Tira and I have been friends since I was a cub and she a mere babe. When her gran kicked her and Dae out, I went with them to keep them from harm's way. Damien also had a companion, a Sylph. Flighty little thing she was, but she was fiercely protective of Damien. Didn't like other females—ow!" He glared at Tira when she pinched him, but got back to the story. "Anyway, we always had to stay in boarding houses and hotels at night on our journey to England. The journey was Damien's idea—he'd always looked up to Rubeus, especially when Mr. and Mrs. McCleod died. Rubeus, I think, is the kind of man Damien wanted to be when he got older. Oh, not the expelled-student-still-working-for-the-school type of guy, but the kind, honorable, gentle man that Rubeus Hagrid is." He smiled slightly as he leaned his head down on top of Tira's, hand smoothing her hair away from her forehead. "We stayed at this one bed-and-breakfast about two months ago—homey little place, family-owned and run. I was the first one to wake up the next morning at dawn, like I usually do, and notice that Damien wasn't in his bed, nor was he anywhere else in the room. I woke Tira and asked if she had any idea where he was, and when she didn't, we went searching for him. He was nowhere to be found. I have no idea if someone came and kidnapped him, or if he left of his own free will. We haven't heard from or seen him since that night." Ice pressed a kiss to Tira's head as she sniffed back a tear.
"We found a prophecy about the Draghar in the library. It said that there are going to be—"
"Two descendants of the original defeater who will stop them once and for all, I know. These lunatics have been spouting that prophecy at us ever since they first tried to kill us." Tira sighed. "I believe that they are right, that Damien and I are the descendants, since Damien had an Air Elemental for a familiar and I have an Earth Elemental."
"Don't forget about me." They all turned toward the front of the hospital wing as a deep voice rang out. Ice groaned at the sight of a tall, red-haired man standing there, smirking at them.
"Who are you?" Tira asked. Her eyes widened as he grinned and showed off very sharp canine teeth.
"Don't tell me you don't remember meeting me in Care Of Magical Creatures class, Lady Tira. Although, I do admit, I was a bit smaller and scalier when we met…" The man looked down at his hands ruefully.
"Brand?" Tira gasped out, as her eyes lit up in recognition. "But…how….what in the hell?"
Brand laughed. "Easy. Just like Ice here has two forms, as do I." His reddish-gold eyes gleamed as he passed a hand over his forehead and revealed the golden horn protruding from his head. "See? I'm a Fire Elemental. And I am now your second familiar."
Tira started to smile, then laughed. "Hoo-boy, this sure is turning out to be one hell of a day."