AN: still own nothing, and still grateful for your support.
CHAPTER 5 - Lawbringer
"Oh, you've got to hear this: Rose Potter, the returned Girl-Who-Lived, not only has changed her name in Charda Nadaar, but she is also delusional regarding her deceased foster mother, showing thus signs of mental instability, and has also been seen in the company of an ambiguous woman who's clearly a dark witch and a dangerous beast obviously fruit of some dark ritual," read Liliana between laughs from the morning paper as they all sat at breakfast the day following her sort-of-interview "Who would be so gullible to believe this trash? There's not a shred of proof!"
"They still got you down to a t there," commented Chandra sharing her companion's mirth.
"Better be careful," warned Hermione buttering a toast "Many people in the wizarding world take the Prophet articles as undeniable truth."
"And what could they do?" dared the necromancer shaking her head "Assault the castle to burn me at the stake? Please Hermione. You're a smart girl, you shouldn't care what the sheep think."
"Better be careful anyway Liliana," cautioned Ajani once again ignoring both the stares and Luna brushing his tail "Even sheep can kill a wolf if in large enough numbers."
"You're starting to sound like that uncouth barbarian, Ajani, see that you don't end up like him too," said the raven haired woman waving his concerns away.
"And whose fault is it that Garruk started hunting planeswalkers?" wondered out loud Chandra.
Whatever witty retort Liliana might had come up with was drowned by the Hall doors banging open as a group of crimson robed individuals filed in, wands drawn and at the ready.
"I received a substantial number of notices of a dark witch and a dark creature hiding in your castle, Dumbledore," thundered the squat, monocle-wearing witch at the head of the obviously military group "Care to explain?"
"For real?" Liliana's voice cut the silence like a hot knife does butter "Does these people really send guards after people they read of in the papers?"
"I guess that kind of explains everything, doesn't it Madam Bones?" said Dumbledore after a moment more of shocked silence "A mistake blown out of proportion."
"What in Merlin's name is that thing?" exclaimed one of the crimson robed individuals, a middle aged man, pointing his wand at Ajani.
"I'm a leonid good sir, and most certainly not a thing," was the planeswalker's even reply.
Thankfully, he had stopped munching on bacon, or his glinting fangs would have certainly ruined the nonthreatening image he was trying to project.
"Why don't we all calm down now? I'm sure that Miss Nalaar and her companions will be more than happy to answer your questions if we keep this civil," proposed Dumbledore with a steel in his voice that belied his age.
"Wands down, you too Dawlish," barked Madam Bones before adding "I'll question you three in a nearby unused classroom, please follow me."
And with that she turned on her heel and marched right out.
"Let's get this over with," said Chandra getting up with a sigh "Please Liliana, try to be a bit less, well, yourself, ok?"
The room, like many other similar unused classrooms, was dusty and cluttered with desks and chairs in various states of disrepair. The three planeswalkers found Madam Bones sitting at a strangely new desk with an open notebook in front of her. A group of five wizards and witches stood behind her in relaxed stances.
"Please, sit down," she said motioning to three new looking chairs in front of her "The sooner we start the sooner I can get back to doing my job. Your complete names for the transcript?"
"Chandra Nalaar, Liliana Vess and Ajani Goldmane," replied the leonid sitting in the central seat "Do we stand accused of something?"
They had agreed on letting him do the talk since he was the more level headed of the group.
"More than likely no, but checking will hurt nobody. Which one of you is Rose Potter?"
"Me," said Chandra sighing.
She'd first heard her name only three days prior and she already hated it.
"I'll start with you then," said Madam Bones "I doubt it, but can you shed some clarity on your foster family's murder? I'm talking of the arson that killed the entire Dursley family around thirteen years ago?"
"As I said that reporter, I cannot say I've ever heard that name or of that event."
"What about seeing your foster mother alive? One Petunia Dursley."
"Never heard of the woman, my mom's name is Pia Nalaar."
"I see, a simple misunderstanding," surmised Madam Bones humming "Please don't be offended by my next question, but is it possible that this Pia Nalaar killed your family and kidnapped you?"
"Whatever for?" asked Ajani noticing the pyromancer's discomfort "Even if Chandra's mother could have reached this plane, and she most certainly can't, what would she gain from such an act?"
"Miss Nalaar is very famous," pointed out one of the standing wizards, a tall, balding, black skinned man.
"Here maybe, but on Kaladesh? Nobody knows Rose Potter there, she's just another girl, nothing more."
"What do you mean by this plane? And where exactly is this Kaladesh place?" asked Madam Bones reigning the discussion back to topic.
"That would require quite the explanation," said Liliana shaking her head "Essentially, Kaladesh is one of the innumerable planes composing the Multiverse, just like this one. Chandra's going to hold a lesson on the matter in two days if you wish for a more comprehensive explanation."
Despite the snickers from the man called Dawlish, Madam Bones simply nodded and said: "I'll send someone more qualified than me to this lesson of yours. You might need to answer some of his questions. Now, let's see about you, . What can you tell me of your origins?"
"If you're inquiring on where I ail from, then I'm native of the Naya region of the plane of Alara. If you're asking if I'm some kind of deranged experiment like your paper suggests, then no. I'm simply a leonid, a race of sentient, humanoid lions native of many planes of the Multiverse."
"A new specie then? I'll pass this to the Regulation of Magical Creatures then. Are you by any chance willing to submit a memory as proof? It would speed things along considerably."
A short time and a retrieved memory later, Madam Bones turned to Liliana: "And finally our last misunderstanding. I guess you're from another plane too, Miss Vess?"
The necromancer offered a curt nod "Dominaria originally, but I reside on Innistrad."
"And regarding the accusations of you being a dark witch?"
"I've done nothing to give such an idea since my arrival. Actually, I studied as a healer."
Chandra was amazed at Liliana's ability to answer only the truth and yet to tell the story of a person so similar and yet so very different from her own. She had been an healer, true, but she tended to poison her patients; she also conveniently forgot to tell that Innistrad was ruled by a vampire sangromancer, that the populace had worse problems than a relatively tame necromancer while Nephalia was full of enthusiastic necroalchemists and their deranged creations, or that her tiara had been taken from the corpse of an angel her servants had slain for her.
"What about that artefact on your belt?" asked a shortish young woman with a heart shaped face and anonymous brown hair "It positively reeks of dark magic."
At that, Liliana paused. Chandra guessed it either was because she didn't have a rehearsed half-truth on the Chain Veil, which was doubtful knowing her, or she simply was surprised for some reason. The pyromancer wasn't actually sure about the artefact herself, knowing only that it amplified Liliana's powers much like her gauntlet but on larger scale and had a far steeper price than being heavy.
"Indeed it does," cautiously said the necromancer "I sincerely doubt I've ever met anything as... Corrupted as this object in my travels. It amplifies my magic by draining my life force."
Chandra was pretty sure it was only part of the truth and it already sounded awful, even for planeswalkers like them who had unnaturally long lives. She was more than happy for her cumbersome gauntlet if that was the alternative.
Madam Bones seemed to share her view on the subject: "That's a pretty high price to pay for anything, Miss Vess. And it also makes it a really dangerous item. I cannot arrest any of you without a valid reason so I won't, but I fear I might have to confiscate the dark artefact."
As soon as the words had left her mouth, the temperature in the room seemed to drop. The standing guardsmen tensed, exactly like Ajani, Chandra and Madam Bones. The only one that seemed to keep her calm demeanor was Liliana herself, but the ever so subtle scent of darkness and decay was an unmistakable sign of her real state of mind.
I'm so jumping out of here if I as much as see a single purple spark, thought Chandra remembering very well what her fellow planeswalker's magic did to living things.
Death magic didn't mix well with one's wellbeing unless they were the caster, and sometimes not even then.
"I'm not inclined to part with the only memento of my late brother," said the necromancer sounding and looking the epitome of calm but making the latent threat absolutely obvious "It would most assuredly also kill me."
Chandra had never heard of Liliana's brother, not that the raven haired woman was that open with her past to begin with, but she was pretty sure he had little to do with the Veil. At the very best, the necromancer had sacrificed him to obtain the cursed thing.
"If it is a family heirloom, it changes things," said Madam Bones in a placating manner "Our laws protect those more than I'm comfortable with, but I have to upheld the law and not my beliefs. I think we're finished here then, have a good day."