Wow! That's the most reviews I've ever got on one chapter before! And all good ones! (falls to the ground unconscious) Thanks ever so much to everyone who reviewed. Here's the next chapter! And I'm soooooooooooooooooooo sorry for the long wait. I wasn't really inspired.

Menace

Lirael, Ellimere and Sam left the Great Hall with Harry and his friends.

"Hey, you!"

Harry, Ron and Hermione didn't even turn around.

"What do you want, Malfoy?"

"Nothing to do with you, Potty. I was talking to the other three."

Ellimere turned around and folded her arms. "And what can we do for you, sir?"

Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "I assume you can't do any magic yet? Our kind, I mean."

Ellimere frowned. "No."

"In that case it might be a good idea not to irritate a real wizard until you know how to defend yourself." Malfoy smirked.

Sam grinned. "Tell you what, Malfoy. You show us a real wizard and we promise we won't irritate him!" Malfoy's smirk disappeared faster than a rabbit down a bolt-hole with a fox on its tail.

He drew his wand. If he'd been paying closer attention, he might have noticed the three new Gryffindors spreading out and crooking their fingers into a spell-casting stance. You could almost feel sorry for him. He didn't stand a chance.

"Expelliarmus!"

The spell shot towards Ellimere, who was standing in the centre of the group. She cast a mark into the air quicker than the aforesaid rabbit, and the spell hit her shield, to crackle for a few moments and then die. Lirael moved forward with Sam, who was casting an emprisonment spell, and drew the mark for flight. In the space of a few seconds, Malfoy was safely wrapped up in what seemed to Ellimere to be an inordinate amount of rope, and hovering upside down in mid-air.

A shout of laughter came from the crowd that had gathered to watch the argument. Malfoy was spluttering incoherently. Ellimere smiled sweetly at him.

"Sorry, didn't quite catch that." Her smile turned into an outright grin as she watched him.

Malfoy managed to get a sentence out. "How long does this last?"

Ellimere shrugged. "That'll depend on how strong the mark was that Lirael and Sam cast..."

Sam smirked. "We cast it quite strong... I'd say about three hours... Lirael?"

"About that." She smiled shyly and followed the five other Gryffindors back to the common room.

Once there, they sat in the trio's usual seats by the fire, having scared the previous occupants (second years) out of the common room when Sam used Charter magic to start the fire going again.

Harry grinned "So is that your kind of magic then? Charter magic?"

Ellimere smirked. "Yep. Useful, isn't it?"

Ron had a dreamy expression on his face. When asked what he was thinking about, he replied:

"I'm fixing that image in my memory forever. It's almost as good as when Moody turned him into a ferret and bounced him around that corridor, you remember?"

Hermione grinned. "How could we forget?" Seeing the nonplussed look on the faces of the new students, she explained. "Malfoy shot a spell at Harry's back when we were in fourth year. The Defense teacher saw and he turned Malfoy into a ferret and started bouncing him around. Then McGonagall came along and asked what he was doing, and he told her he was teaching. Her face was a treat when she figured that out!"

"But anyway, enough about us. Tell us about where you come from." Harry asked.

Ellimere exchanged a glance with the others, silently asking their permission. They both nodded yes, and she began. "Could you not talk about this too much? We don't want it being common knowledge?" The other three nodded. "I'm Princess Ellimere of the Old Kingdom, this is Prince Sameth, and Lirael is our aunt and Abhorsen-in-waiting to my mother." Harry, Ron and Hermione gaped at her. "An Abhorsen is someone who is charged with getting rid of the Dead that have come back alive, which happens more than you'd think. My father is King Touchstone and mum's name is Sabriel..."

Hermione cut in. "Sabriel? The Sabriel? The one who defeated Kerrigor when she was only a bit older than us? You're her children?"

Lirael smiled ruefully. "Yes... I'm only their half-aunt really, Sabriel and I only share a father. I grew up with the Clayr, the seers who live in the North. I only found out really recently that I was related to them. Poor me."

Hermione interrupted again. "And we're going to be learning your magic this year? Is it hard?"

Sam thought for a moment before answering. "Not really, it's just a matter of learning the marks and how to draw them properly. It might be harder for you cause you've already learnt a kind of magic, so you might mix it up with that. And then there's the fact that you're not going to see it every day like we did growing up."

Ellimere smiled warmly. "I'm sure you'll manage. We've heard of you lot even over in the Old Kingdom!"

A man stood outside the grounds, looking up to the immense castle in the distance. This was to have been the year when he launched his main attack on the castle, but the presence of the three from the Old Kingdom complicated things. They could disrupt everything. He stood there for a moment more, then, appearing to make a decision, turned and walked back into the forest. He looked back once, to see the last of the lights go out in the castle. He stood still, then disappeared with a snap of his fingers.

The man might be who you think. He might not. I haven't decided yet. Please review, and thanks again ever so much to everybody who reviewed, and also to everyone who wanted to flame and didn't (I find it hard to believe that you all think it's good!)

Carline