AN: I'm still not making money out of this, nor I own any rights, except the right to thank you all for your continued support.
CHAPTER 16 - Fight or flight
Ron Weasley was not a happy young man.
He had invited Rose Potter, the Girl-Who-Lived, to Hogsmade to see if she could be girlfriend material, which was good. The bird had said yes, which was very good. But then she had not showed up.
He had waited two hours in the entrance hall. Two bloody hours! It was decidedly too much even for a nice looking bird like Rose Potter.
He decided that enough was enough and went to look for the girl. He knew from sure sources ‒Patil and Brown‒ where Potter's room was, so he stomped his way there, his rage mounting.
Once there, he found a surreal scene: standing in the doorway was the girl he was looking for clad in nothing but a pair of goggles, an armored gauntlet, a pair of boots and a Gryffindor red swimsuit, while Granger of all people stood in front of her, barring her exit.
His mind registered two fundamental facts: Granger had obviously stopped Potter from coming to him ‒the redhead's attire was a non-factor in this‒ and Potter had a bloody fine body under that armor she usually wore. At this second observation, his mind stopped working and he simply stood there, staring.
"It's out of question Chandra, you cannot parade around in nothing but a swimsuit!" protested Hermione, her arms outstretched to bar her friend's exit from her own room "It isn't proper!"
"First, I'm not wearing only a swimsuit," replied the planeswalker amusedly "Second, people opinions rarely interest me, though I have to admit that if that redhead's reaction is anything to go by I might consider taking a cape..."
Hermione turned her head to see one of her least favourite students. Her face morphing from an exasperated frown into a scowl, she asked:
"Weasley? What are you doing here?"
Chandra guessed her friend had tried to keep her distaste for the boy from dripping into her voice, but if his scowl was of any indication, she had failed spectacularly. On her part, the pyromancer didn't see the point of that much clamour.
"What are you doing here, Granger? I'm here to pick up my date!" he replied, his cheeks purpling a bit in obvious anger.
"What?" deadpanned both girls, obviously surprised by his explanation, though Hermione sounded decidedly skeptical.
"Yes, Rose Potter. You know, the girl you're keeping from leaving her room," explained Weasley, his temper obviously worsening as his hand reached for his wand "But I'm going to put you in your place! Slug eater!"
With a stab of his wand, a whitish flash shot towards Hermione. She barely had the time to comprehend what was happening before it impacted with her belly. She suddenly started feeling something moving in her stomach, which only worsened the need to heave.
"You ok Hermione? I can't see anything wrong," asked Chandra moving in front of her as a human shield, her eyes trained on the scowling boy and the acrid smell of smoke filling the air.
Hermione fought valiantly, but in the end she couldn't resist and vomited a big slug on the ground in front of her, leaving behind a disgusting trail of shimmering bava.
Chandra's eyes hardened seeing this, and she stomped her way towards Weasley. While Hermione kept heaving disgusting slugs, her friend punched the obviously surprised boy in the face, with a very satisfying crunch too.
"Get out of my sight now, lest I decide to escalate!" she called before turning on her heel to assist Hermione.
"Why did you hit me?" demanded Weasley holding his bleeding face, his voice having gained a nasal quality "The bookworm is now out of the way, we can go on our date!"
Hermione didn't think that the boy could actually be that stupid, but apparently she was wrong. On her part Chandra, who had knelt next to her, went very still while her hair started igniting. The air grew uncomfortably warm, then oppressively hot as the planeswalker turned to stare down the sweating boy. Her clenched fists ablaze with orange flames, Chandra made to pummel the idiot, but was stopped by a purplish black wave of energy that sent her crashing into a wall.
"Now now dear, you're making a ruckus and ruining my Fleur time," said Liliana's voice from the door to their room.
She was garbed in a thin nightgown of purple silk that made it pretty obvious what "her Fleur time" was.
"He hurt Hermione," was the redhead's only reply as she got up, reigning in her magic and dusting herself.
"Then get her to that Pomfrey woman and don't bother me anymore," said the necromancer with a dismissive wave of her hand.
Chandra nodded and proceeded to get Hermione on her feet to accompany her to the infirmary.
Liliana let her gaze linger for a moment on her fellow guardian's rear. She had to get one of those swimsuit for herself since they apparently could make such a tasty morsel of one such as Chandra.
"Uhm, thank you for saving me," said the boy getting up.
Liliana turned her head to stare at him, a delicate eyebrow raised in question.
"You know, from Potter. She's hot but boy, she's bloody crazy!"
"Chandra? Unless you're referring to her flames I fear you're misguided," ruefully commented the necromancer tapping a finger on her lower lip "But that's beside the point. The real question is, what to do with you?"
"W-what?" asked the boy, confusion and dread warring on his face "What d-do you m-mean?"
"I have plans for Hermione," said Liliana looking at the ceiling as if looking for answers or suggestions "She's kind of a pet project you see? Turning her from plain, bookish, teachers' pet into someone I'd happily associate with, someone capable of seizing the world she lives in to make it better... But you had to stick your nose in my business, didn't you?"
The necromancer sauntered towards the redhead, her whole demeanor screaming sensuality, and yet she could see in his eyes the growing realization that the situation could only end very badly for him. She kneeled in front of him to be on his eye level, then placed a deathly pale hand on his left cheek.
"You better pray whatever deity you believe in that she comes out of this mess more determined to not be pushed down by nobodies like you," she said in a honeyed tone that belied the threat it carried "Because otherwise you'll spend the rest of eternity wishing to have died in that prison. Scurry away now, little worm."
Fortunately for Ron Weasley, Liliana's prevision of how Hermione would have reacted to his attack proved accurate: the bushy haired witch came back some hours after the confrontation much more receptive to the necromancer's whispers about the Dark Arts.
That of course doesn't mean she raided the library's forbidden section or started practicing necromancy, but Liliana was a patient woman when the prize was worth the wait.
A couple of weeks later, the trio of planeswalkers was confronted by another strange tradition of Earth: Saint Valentine's day.
Fleur was briefly put out by not having received a present from her girlfriend, but it swiftly come to an end in the face of the trio's bafflement and Liliana's promises of a special evening.
The holyday also put a big target on Luna as Krum's hostage since the two of them officially became a couple.
What surprised ‒and flattered‒ Chandra the most though was the number of admirers that, despite her infamy on the dating scene, sent her flowers, small presents, or just notes to express their "undying love" for her.
Both Weasley and Malfoy sagely decided to steer clear of her for the whole day, which probably contributed in avoiding any incident.
"They took Liliana," stated Chandra sitting in front of Fleur, who was currently hugging a small clone herself for dear life "And since they're not here I guess Hermione and Luna too."
"I'm happy zey didn't take my little sister Gabrielle, but I'm scared for ma chère now..."
The smaller blonde, hearing her name, looked up at Chandra and, smiling and waving animatedly, chirped a high pitched "Salut!"
"Don't worry Fleur," said the redhead smiling and waving back "Liliana is far too powerful to have been taken by force. They must have stroked her ego or something, so she's surely safe. Too bad she didn't implement her secret plan before being taken..."
"Ve'll have to count on our ovn strength then," stated Krum sitting next to her while a grim faced Diggory sat on Fleur's other side.
"If you have a plan to humiliate the Ministry again Chandra, I'm all for it," muttered the English champion "Our friends didn't choose to participate, this tournament is dangerous enough as it is!"
"I think that not actually competing is disruptive enough, but if anything comes to mind I'll let you know," offered the redhead with an easy grin, before getting serious again and looking at each of her fellow champions in turn "Now though, are we still on with our plan?"
A chorus of affirmatives was all they could trade before professor McGonagall arrived to escort them to the lake.
It didn't take long to reach the stage for the second task, and soon the four champions were left standing on the lakeshore waiting for the rest of the students to arrive with only their swimsuits and Chandra's magic to fend off the biting cold.
"I'm sorry my spat with the Ministry has you freezing your asses off too guys," she said as they huddled closer to bask in the heat she was radiating, her skin glowing a very faint orange.
"Nonsense, you're providing warmth to compensate," joked Diggory rubbing his arms.
"Moreover, ve nov all have our reasons to dislike the Ministry," added Krum with a short nod.
"Speaking of which, 'ere zey come," said Fleur pointing to the judge panel taking place while the fattish blonde whose name Chandra couldn't be bothered to remember started explaining the task.
They had one hour to get in the lake and save their friends and loved ones from the merrow village somewhere in the lake. Nothing new there at least, so they went with their plan.
Chandra was surprised to discover that having gills felt less weird than she expected, but the fins were very uncomfortable.
The lakebed wasn't anything like the pyromancer had expected: vast patches of kelp flowed in the undercurrents while shiny silvery fishes swam in large schools around what looked like ancient drowned ruins jutting out of the soil and the algae forests. Despite the scarce lighting, it was a breathtaking view.
Everything went fine until they reached the village: her projected warmth and light kept the dark and cold at bay while the others used the occasional spell to get rid of the predators creeping in the kelp forests, a group of smallish creatures that looked like the ugly lovechild of a goblin and a Shadowmoor's merrow. She had seen charred corpses more appealing than those things, really.
The giant octopus swam in the distance, far from their planned itinerary towards the center of the lake, and didn't seem to be acting threateningly so they paid little attention to it. Conversely, it left them alone.
Chandra had half expected to find Liliana awake and surrounded by an army of undead merrows once they got to the village proper, instead the champions were met with four unconscious hostages and lots of humanoids happy to see them leave, which the four humans did in due haste. Who knew that merfolks were magically sensitive enough to feel the Chain Veil in all its dark, corrupted repulsiveness?