(Looks out from behind her computer screen guiltily)... Umm, hi... Sorry for the long wait, inspiration was not forthcoming.
Minerva Evenstar : Sorry for the mix-up about Sam's hair. And the reason why they suspended Malfoy in the air was that I don't like him... No, I'm kidding. He was being an arrogant git, and they took care of it. End of story.
Candy Cane Jones : You're right about the "bestest friends" thing, you'll see some follow up to your comment in this chapter.
TwilightNatalia : I did think of that, and it will be explained in this chapter.
Sorry if I haven't answered your review, but I got so many that I can't answer them here.
Discord and Dreams
The six Gryffindors continued to talk for a while, before Ellimere and Lirael decided to head up to bed, closely followed by Hermione, while Harry and Ron showed Sam to his dormitory, before going up to their own.
"What d'you think of 'em?"
Harry thought for a moment before answering, "I don't know. I mean, didn't what they did to Malfoy seem a little... over the top, to you?"
"Hell, no!"
"Well, obviously he deserved it, coz he's a git, but they didn't know that and they hung him upside down for three hours."
Ron nodded sagely, "Probably coz they're royalty, they must be used to being respected..."
"Yeah, but my point was, do you think they'll do that sort of thing to anyone who irritates them?"
"I doubt it, but if they do, they're going to spend most of their time here in detention."
"Yeah, guess so... We'd probably better keep an eye on them."
"You think they might be in league with You-Know-Who? But that's stupid, they're Gryffindors, like us!"
"So was Wormtail", said Harry grimly.
Ron fell silent, and the two boys continued up the winding stairs to their dormitory.
She stood on the East mark of a diamond, held in place by some invisible force that trapped her limbs and locked them in place. She could move only her eyes.
Who was she? She tried to remember, but the force that held her seemed to have slowed her mind as well. A name was slowly resurfacing...
Ellimere...
Her name... Suddenly everything came back to her. Where was she? She couldn't see beyond the brightness of the triangle, and the people standing on the other marks had their heads bowed...
She was surprised as they lifted their heads, one by one... Lirael stood on the South mark, her eyes betraying her distress at being trapped. Sam, his eyes wide, stood on the West mark, but the face of the boy standing on the North mark was obscured by shadows.
Ellimere watched in horror as she was forced to raise her hands against her will, and cast a summoning mark in front of her. Lirael, Sam, and the other boy seemed to be doing the same. The four marks floated into the middle of the diamond, and as they met, they each gave off a burst of one of the four elements. Ellimere's released a gust of wind, Sam's a spray of rocks, Lirael's a jet of water, and the last burst into flames.
The four marks combined into one mark, and gave off a bright light, which enabled Ellimere to get a good look at the face of the boy standing on the North mark, before something emerged from the light.
The first thing that hit Ellimere was the stench. The unmistakeable stench of the Dead. The creature in front of her was one of the Greater Dead, no question about it. She screamed as the thing sucked the life out of her. Her last thought was of the identity of the boy standing on the North Mark.
Ellimere sat up in bed, sweat pouring off her. The other girls were looking at her in fright. Lirael moved over to Ellimere's bed, sitting down on the edge.
"What happened? You've been tossing and turning and moaning about soemthing for about quarter of an hour now."
Ellimere looked at the curious faces of her room-mates. "What time is it?"
"Just before dawn." Lirael answered.
"I'm going to get up. Lil, I need to talk to you."
"Ok, you go have a shower and give me a yell when you're out. We'll go get Sam and go to the library."
Hermione came over. "Are you sure you're ok? What happened?"
"Nothing of great importance."
"Then why do you need to speak to Lirael and Sam about it so urgently?"
"I wasn't aware it had anything to do with you..."
"I'm just trying to help. Harry has nightmares all the time. Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"
"It's nothing to do with you." Ellimere insisted.
"Well, sorry for trying to help!"
"Look, I appreciate the fact that you're trying to help and all, but really, don't worry about it. It's just a dream. And we can deal with it. End of story."
Hermione looked offended and went back to her own bed.
Lirael joined Sam and Ellimere in the common room half an hour later. Ellimere had gone up to fetch him before the other girl came down, to the discomfort of Sam's room-mates. Colin Creevey had fainted dead away when he had registered the fact that there was a very pretty girl in their dorm, trying to wake up Sam. Ellimere rolled her eyes and threw a cup of water over Sam when he refused to wake up in response to the more conventional methods.
"So what's the problem?" Sam yawned. "What's so important that you had to get me up at the crack of dawn?"
"Do the words 'mass death and destruction of the entire world' mean anything to you?"
"Oh, bugger."
Lirael raised her eyebrows. "That bad? What did you see?"
Ellimere quickly told them about her dream.
Lirael groaned. "Wonderful. Just wonderful."
"So, we've got another Dead... thing to deal with. We've done it before..." Sam ventured.
Lirael sighed. "I guess. But there's something else that bothers me." Ellimere nodded.
Sam looked confused. "What?"
"The other person. The boy standing on the North mark." Ellimere told him impatiently.
"But you said you saw him...?"
"I did, and I know I recognized him as well, but I can't for the life of me remember who it was."
"That's a problem."
The three discussed the situation for another few minutes before heading down to breakfast. As they headed towards the portrait hole, Hermione, followed by Harry and Ron, walked past them with a disapproving sniff. Sam turned to the girls with a grin.
"So, what have you two done to earn the disapproval of one of the Dream Team?"
Ellimere grinned "I may have told her to mind her own business and that my dreams were nothing to do with her. Apparently she took offense."
"Oh well. It's not as if we need their approval... is it?"
Lirael rolled her eyes. "No, it's probably better not to side too firmly with them, as they're hated by a quarter of the school."
"Including the guy we hung upside down last night." Ellimere added.
"Oh yeah..." Lirael smiled. "Oops."
The first lesson of the day for the girls, as luck would have it, was Charter Magic. The two girls separated from Sam in the Great Hall, taking the stairs that led to the classroom. They took seats at the front, since they both knew they were likely to be called on for demonstrations. Harry, Ron, and Hermione took seats at the front as well, but on the other side of the room.
The Magistrix, a small wiry woman with brown hair and pitch black eyes, entered the classroom and shut the door with a snap.
"I am Magistrix Sarella, I will be teaching you Charter Magic this year. Charter Magic is a magic differentto your own, therefore it will not be surprising if you do not show much aptitude for it. However, the Headmaster feels that it would be beneficial for you to learn the basics of this magic, and so he hired me. There are on this class two students skilled in this magic, as I understand it...?"
Ellimere and Lirael raised their hands.
"Good. Now, how many of you know what is necessary to be able to perform Charter Magic?"
The entire class,except Lirael and Ellimere,looked to Hermione, waiting for her to raise her hand with a word-perfect answer, as usual. For once, the girl looked at a loss.
Lirael raised her hand. "To be able to perform Charter Magic, one must have been baptised with a Charter Mark." She touched her forehead, and her mark glowed for an instant, before fading again.
"Correct. This means that today will be taken up in performing Charter baptisms, as it is only possible to reach the Charter through your mark. If you two girls would be so kind as to help me...?"
Ellimere and Lirael nodded and got to their feet, each taking a row of students.
An hour later, the class left the room, newly baptised, and feeling very much out of their depth net to Lirael and Ellimere.
Far away from Hogwarts, a man had come to a decision. The three from the Old Kingdom would be used in his plan, and his master would once again rule the earth.
He had told no-one of his decision. When one was as powerful as he was, one did not admit to taking orders from anyone until one absolutely had to.
God, that was a nightmare to write! You lot better appreciate the hell I go through just to write a new chapter!
Carline