Word Count: 2,068

Former Word Count: 1,844

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What Might Be Called Possibility

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[September 3, 1994: The Atrium, the Altair Institute of Magic]

Azalea had long realized that good times never seemed to last for her, and it was tiredly that she grinned over at Terry and Justin as they approached. They were shepherded by the earth demon who had carried her before — the one she'd accepted a possibly premature debt to — Lorcan I'vores. The demon looked more than a little agitated as he assessed the group — not the group, Azalea realized, Oliver Volren.

The water fae looked equally uncomfortable, his unending stream of comments and chatter stalling as he considered the demon. They greeted each other with stiff nods, standing on opposite edges of the group of Hogwarts students.

Azalea had no idea how to breach the subject of their discomfort, so she ignored it, instead looking at Justin and Terry. Both of them looked like they were in awe of the people around them. Even so, Azalea noticed, Terry's own excitement was tampered by his likely discomfort at being around all of the things he was told went bump in the night. Justin, in contrast, hadn't been raised magical, and his understanding of magical beings probably hadn't been tainted as much by the wizard-taught stigma.

Azalea had also grown up muggle, but she'd also grown up being told that anything and everything she did was freakish and abnormal… and if there was one common feature in all the beings there, it was not that they were "normal." It likely helped that Remus had taken the time this past summer to teach her all about the different magical beings there were. He'd missed a lot (daemons, fae, and elves, to name a few) but he'd hammered home the point of treating different beings with respect as she would any human… and then he'd thought about it some more and realized it was terrible advice for her, and told her to do her best to be as respectful and polite as she could.

So Azalea did her best to avoid staring at the different beings as their two chaperones shepherded them to a more isolated table and did her best to try to figure some things out on her own. From what she could tell so far, fae and daemons… had a focal element? Yeah, that didn't sound right at all.

"When do you suppose the other kiddies will be fetched?" Volren asked I'vores, tone strained. "I can't imagine it being much later than now. I know Mercuriel said Admin was going to give them a little extra time, but I honestly can't imagine them actually bothering to wait that long."

Apparently the water fae fell back on talking as a defense mechanism.

"The leeches have likely already traumatized whoever they were sent to retrieve." I'vores replied with a roll of his eyes. "And Marcus has likely done something to his group. I'd give them a half-hour, if that. None of those three are particularly patient people."

("That rhymes!" Luna called from the background. "No it doesn't?" Azalea replied.)

"They'll probably be with Healer Vesalien until she sews them up. Or doesn't, rather. She might find the punishment humorous."

"Your healer can refuse to heal someone?" Hannah asked indignantly. "Why isn't she obligated to heal anyone she can?"

"I would like to see you try to obligate any of the Healers to do anything," I'vores said drily.

"They're all fairly abrasive people," Volren agreed. "Andronikos is probably the easiest to convince to do anything, and that's only because—"

"Need I remind you that the oldest of them is 16?" I'vores interrupted, and watched as Volren blanched. "Besides, I certainly hope the Healers' reticence doesn't surprise you too terribly. If it does, you'll be having a bit of a rough time in class."

"What's so worrying about the classes?" Susan asked, concerned.

Volren laughed, loud and warm. "If you have to ask…" he trailed off, shaking his head ruefully. "I have to say, I've always adored my classes. It might be a bit of an adjustment for you a lot, coming from the school that you did, but for the most part all the professors here genuinely want you to succeed. Admittedly, some of them go about that in ways that might be a little troubling to someone who hasn't experienced it before."

Volren paused to think for a moment, before frowning. "Actually, I'm not sure how well it'll go for you. Most of us here — I'm speaking for fae specifically, haven't a clue what the rest of 'em do — most of us here were tutored privately before coming." Volren explained. "As a consequence, a lot of us only really interacted within our own race before attending Altair. It's a bit of a culture shock, I'll say. Especially since — well, I'm a water fae, as I told you before, and I didn't even interact with fire or air fae before coming here. Some of the fae might get more — or less — interaction, but I'd say it's rare for the elemental fae."

I'vores looked momentarily bewildered by the water fae's experience. "I'm pretty sure Ollie here is an exception to the rule. I've spent most of my life traveling between daemon and non-daemon circles. I'm pretty sure most normal fae do too."

"Really, Lorrie?" Volren mocked, and ignored I'vores' narrowed eyes at the nickname. "Why imply being 'abnormal' is an insult? And, honey, if you can't take a nickname, don't dish one out."

"You little—"

"What if!" Azalea interrupted loudly, forcing a wide smile as the two men turned in unison to glare at her. "What if— um. What… okay," Azalea stammered, collecting herself. "Would one of you mind explaining what demons and fae are?" The question got her one scowl and one glower, and Azalea rushed to placate them. "I just— I didn't think I should trust what a book says! Especially since it wasn't written by—"

"Humans." I'vores scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"You want to learn about fae, do you?" Volren asked, grinning widely. "Oh, I can tell you about fae. You little humans like to mix us with 'fairies' and elves, even! Oh, if you knew…"

"Could you, uh, explain? So that we do know?" Azalea asked.

I'vores laughed at Volren's expense. "I personally enjoy what lore has done to daemons. I mean, they won't even whisper about us some places! Sure, we got thrown into the melting pot of different races, but it was all for the best in the end. I know quite a few of the Old Ones had their fun playing with humans — they even got a book on 'how to not interact with demons' out of it!"

"Uh…" Justin frowned. "Do you mean the Bible?"

"I do," I'vores said, laughing. "I will say, the Lucifer was a little bothered about the later interpretations of him being the harbinger of evil."

"'The' Lucifer?" Justin asked, confused and a little horrified.

"It is a title." I'vores pointed out. "'The Light-bringer.' It's a title he got after leading our — daemons, rather — he led a rebellion against—" he cut himself off. "Well, let's just say the Lucifer is a very special type of daemon, one who's particular kind has almost entirely died out except for him."

That… was not a description that reassured Justin, whose parents had always been rather religious, and who had panicked over learning that Justin was a 'witch.' Justin, despite his acceptance that things weren't quite what he was taught, was still religious enough to be unsettled by talk of daemons and rebellions in a positive light.

"Here I thought he was just a shadow daemon." Volren commented, bemused.

I'vores scoffed. "As if. The Lucifer is an aether daemon — hasn't been any like him born in literally thousands of years. I mean, comparing him to any other daemon is effectively an insult. He's just…" I'vores sighed rather wistfully. "Comparing him to any other daemons is like comparing Caracalla to a Johannas."

"Who?" Terry asked. "And what?"

"It's like you don't know anything." I'vores said.

"They're only kiddies," Volren reminded his fellow student. "And 'Caracalla' is referring to Caracalla Ircoriel, the oldest surviving vampire by some centuries. He teaches some of the later blood magic, necromancy, and illusion magic classes here. It's really a privilege to learn from him. He's nearly a thousand years older than Headmaster Aizaguirre, and probably five-hundred more than Professor Solaris. 'A Johannas,' in contrast, are a coven of much younger and much more inexperienced vampires. But—" he accentuated the word with a very pointed look at I'vores, "we were telling you about daemons and fae, not leeches."

"Daemon and fae are widely considered to be the results of inherent magic within things. Daemons are considered to be 'dark,'" I'vores grinned crookedly at the term, "because we draw off of the more 'chaotic' aspects of magic, while fae draw upon the 'ordered' aspects."

"What he means to say," Volren interjected, "is that beings like sprites — representations of purely the elemental and physical parts of elements — only contain a little bit of the magic of that thing, while in contrast fae were created entirely from the magic within something. Water fae, for instance, are the magic of water — the tides, or currents — while sprites would be closer to just physical water given form. Daemons are the opposite. Fae are controlled things, like tides, and daemons would be waves, or whirlpools, or hurricanes."

"Earth daemons are made from earthquakes, or landslides," I'vores explained. "Earth fae would be something like the nutrients within the earth, or the constant quiet movement of the plates of the earth."

"That doesn't mean anything 'power' wise, though." Volren added. "Headmistress Mercuriel is a weather fae, whose origins are in seasonal rain or winds and such, but she's probably one of the most powerful weather-oriented beings there is. She's different from a lot of fae, too, since she dove headfirst into the 'chaotic' weather magic and manipulation in addition to the balanced. It's incredible..."

"And she would have made a much better daemon than fae," I'vores mocked lightly. "And you know it."

"So then, what are veela and incubi?" Azalea asked over Volren's scoff. "I thought they were 'subsets' of fae and daemons."

"Oh, well now you're getting complicated." Volren teased, debating what would be the best answer. "It's true enough, I suppose. Veela are a subdivision of fae, and thus are the 'ordered' side of attraction and sensuality, while incubi are of daemons. Keep in mind, here, that when I say this, I don't even slightly mean that all fae are calm and ordered, or all daemons are chaotic, that's just where the origins of the entire race is."

"Anyways, that marks the origin of veela in very controlled love and affection and that of incubi in the more passionate side of that." Volren explained. "There's a whole lot of debate as to how or what that actually makes veela and incubi, since their behaviors are hardly corresponding to order or chaos or typical boundaries, 'cept that also goes for fae and daemons in general…? Anyways, contention aside, both veela and incubi have some sort of allure, and since I'm doubting you kiddies' abilities to defend yourselves from mental manipulation, I'd really just suggest avoiding them."

"Again, Volren, the oldest of them is 16," I'vores reminded the fae drily, and then turned to address the Hogwarts students, "Really, the most they'll do is harass you. No need to worry about incubi draining your life force and leaving you a husk."

"What? That's not something I've ever heard before—" Susan trailed off, cheeks flushing in embarrassment as the actual daemon and fae's eyebrows rose in unison. Well, Susan realized quietly, Azalea herself had taught her not to put that much faith into things she read and heard without confirming it, and Susan's own childhood crush on 'Harry Potter' was more than proof enough for that.

"If we're going by that measure, do they really have much to worry about?" Volren asked I'vores. "I mean certainly they're not going to avoid being harassed because they're, well, Hogwarts students, but they… well…"

"Oh, they have plenty to worry about." I'vores said derisively, eyeing the increasingly anxious students in front of him. "Don't forget, Volren, they've got a lot of vengeful teachers and very little brain-to-mouth filter."

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