Chapter 3.
Radish was happily telling stories of Hogwarts and his favorite places, some Emeree had no idea how to get to such as the crawlspace between the owlry. She was learning a lot. Radish's ears would twitch in excitement but when he was telling her about times he didn't have anything to clean they would droop. Most of their expressions seemed to be conveyed through ears. Along with musing over Radish and his auditory sensors, she thought about Coco and how her words and decisions carried weight within the house elf kitchen. She wasn't overly surprised that they were a matriarchal society, but wondered how they were influenced by the change in the world in general and other magical beings. Soon enough they were in front of the Ravenclaw door knocker.
"Radish, thank you for helping me find my way back. Hopefully we will see each other again?" She had phrased it as a question in order to include the elf at her side. Radish nodded his head vigorously.
"Oh, yes, yes. If Missy Mer needs anythings, calls Radish." Emeree smiled brightly.
"I will. Hopefully next time you will tell me how to say your name in your language as well." Radish's eye twitched slightly but did not respond. "I didn't mean to offend." Emeree had heard a few fairy tales when she was younger talk about how fairies' names had power. Perhaps, it was for this reason that Radish was silent.
"Radish thinks maybe. Night, night Missy Mer." Emeree waved as Radish winked away, most likely back to the kitchens. She listened patiently to the riddle from the door knocker and answered it easily. She found that Cho had waited in the common room for her and smiled at the girl.
"Hello." Cho looked her over, making sure she was unharmed, before responding.
"Did your meeting with the house elves go well?" Truthfully, she was only vaguely interested. Cho had taken the girl as her responsibility as soon as they walked out of the Great Hall and wanted to make a good impression on the current Prefects and Professor Flitwick.
"Yes it did. Thank you for introducing me to Cedric. I really appreciate it." Cho nodded before going up the stairs to the dorm room. Emeree sat at one of the nooks and took out the journal.
House elf language is almost a mixture of guttural throaty sounds and singing. It is hard to replicate but seems interesting to learn. I need to look up what other creatures roam the area and see if I can ask for an audience.
Tom looked at those words and raised an eyebrow. This first year was able to hear the language of the house elves? Usually, their species preferred to stay out of the sight of wizards. Granted, there weren't any books that gave much insight on their culture from what he could remember. However, they were still a branch of the Fey and thus had their own division of powerful magic. If the current holder of his diary was set on making alliances with magical creatures, it might not be a bad idea to mold him or her into someone in a position of power that could be useful later on. He would have to wait and see what happened. With a though he let all the previous entries reappear. The book had a never ending spell woven into the pages so he didn't need to worry about space. He also allowed his comments to stay. Whoever had him in his or her possession had kept the diary close to them for a long enough time that he knew their magical signature. In the event someone else picked it up, he would just make everything blank again.
Emeree was startled to find that her previous entries, along with the comment from the book, reemerged. Even her drawing was included and she flipped the page in wonder to find that her entry on house elves was the very last one. Something must have triggered the book. Perhaps, there was a certain time limit a person had to write in it? She would need to visit the library tomorrow in order to find some information.
These children for the most part are privileged and haven't yet been held accountable for actions that have consequences. This place, while entertaining and fun, is also a place where mistakes can be made and because of the isolation, nothing really matters. Our purpose is to learn magic to the extent that we can function as regular members of society. Unfortunately, I can already see that there is a great divide and a system based on classism. I, being a muggleborn, am on the lowest tier of the social ladder especially without any connections in the magical world. It is somewhat refreshing since there are no expectations. I am already considered to be less than nothing, so anything positive will be taken as either surprise or be cast off as overachievement. It is the perfect opportunity to cultivate a different type of outlook for myself while remaining in the background of the greater picture. HP (G2) is infamous for something that I am sure was beyond his abilities. But, rumor has it, he is living with his Muggle relatives. He should be in the same position as me, but with his halfblood status and fame, people seem to forget that he doesn't know anything about wizarding culture. They have given him leeway for his ignorance while the rest of us are looked down upon.
This generation is the first to be born after a war. I have heard that the number of attending students is lower than it has been in the last few decades. It is also a generation that fears the name of a man. Voldemort was a hard name to find. The only references are to a man called You-Know-Who. Despite his death, he is still so feared that his name is not spoken. I wonder how extraordinary he had to be so that people, whose numbers overwhelmed his and his followers and that had the same abilities as him, decided it was best to kneel rather than fight. There is nothing said of his background, his name an obvious alias but if he was so extraordinary, you would think that there would be a record of him somewhere. You would think that someone would have recognized him, remembered his rise to power, or traced his knowledge. You would think that others would have been inspired enough to copy him, but improve upon his failings. He, as one man, showed the world the inability of magical Britain to take their own power. He exposed the failings of the magical community and it has not been fixed. He left a country vulnerable for the taking, with the heads of government merely for show if the current policies are anything to go by. He left a situation that I am curious to watch play out.
Emeree started at her musings and wondered what brought it on. She was also deeply aware how people would react if this page was found. She attempted to rip the page out but was confused when it wouldn't tear. After a few minutes, all she had to show for her efforts was a nasty paper cut that had bled a few drops onto the page. As if the book could understand her intentions, the page slowed faded away along with the blood stains. For the first time, she wondered if she had in her possession something that was more malevolent in nature. She took a deep breath and shut the book as normally as she could, wondering if it could sense her growing anxiety. She did not know about a lot of things in the magical world. Her bubble as of now had been relatively safe. Dark artifacts existed, she had read about them; Professor Lockhart's autobiographies mentioned a few, not that she believed he did any of what he claimed. But, artifacts of magic were real. She stared at the blood from her finger drop onto the cover of the book and become absorbed into the bindings. She had just given her blood to something semi-sentient. What would happen now?