It was hard to believe, as Danny and Eve sat in the Great Hall, that it was only noon on their first day at Pronghorn. There were almost no students in hall anymore, and Danny and Eve were left alone, sitting across from each other at a table, both of their plates piled with sweetmeats that they ate with ravenous hunger. Quidditch practice had taken a lot out of them, it seemed, and they were in a hurry to get to their first lesson with professor Hayeel. Several groups of students still lingered, but none of them seemed to pay the pair any mind as they talked.
"-so we just came back here, and he said he had an advanced Potions lesson to get off to. A few minutes later, you were here," Eve said, finishing the story of her and Dominic. Danny looked nervous.
"I don't like that boy," he said. "I thought you said you'd stay away from him?" She rolled her eyes, looking at him in disbelief.
"I needed him to take me to you!" she said. Danny blinked, rubbing his eyes.
"You were in the infirmary?"
"Yeah, and so was Professor Krum." She saw him redden, and looked at suspiciously, a slow smile creeping onto her face. "What did you do?" she asked slyly. He looked away, innocent.
"Nothing," he muttered. "Just talked. He said I needed extra flying lessons." He left out most of the conversation. Eve laughed, and agreed, wolfing down food, and spraying it over the table in her laughter at the look of surprise on Danny's face. "Well, I still can't believe you beat up Lucifera DuMarne," he said, shifting uncomfortably. Eve swallowed hard.
"What do you think's gonna happen?" she asked nervously. "Do you think that I'll get- I don't know- detention, or something?" Danny laughed at her.
"This isn't high school," he chided her, and she smiled nervously. "More like we just got a powerful and dangerous witch to hate us forever, and we don't know any magic or anything whatsoever about her world at all, really. No big deal." He shrugged, smiling; his comment was meant to be lighthearted, but it rang with a somber tone of truth. "Don't we have a Charms lesson to get to?" he asked, breaking the mood. This seemed to perk Eve up considerably, and she devoured the rest of her food, leaving Danny scooting his around his plate.
He wasn't very hungry; he hated how he had left things with Krum. "Professor Krum," he hissed to himself under his breath. Eve looked up, making a sound that sounded almost like a question through her full mouth. Danny shook his head. "Nothing." He's your teacher, for Christ's sake! he reprimanded himself in his head. It was pounding dully, now, but before he could rub his temples, Eve was done with her food. He stood grudgingly and followed her out of the Great Hall.
Eve seemed to know where she was going, and Danny followed her, his head down, through the twists and turns of the corridors. Sunlight leaked through many of them, spreading a dappling warmth through the halls. It wasn't until after making one unfamiliar turn after the other did Danny ask Eve, "Do you know where we are?" She looked around, rocking on her hip, her arms crossed.
"I think so…come one, it ought to be just over here," she said, dashing off down a corridor. The halls were lined with doorways, here, but most of them were missing doors, revealing empty, dusty rooms inside. Every once in a while, a sound would echo through the halls; Danny dismissed it, pulling Eve from investigating one of the rooms.
"I don't think we're in the right place," he whispered. One on end, the hall ended in a heavy, solid door, worn and weathered, but still holding strong. On either side were two massive suits of armor, their spears crossed in a protective fashion over the bolted door. A cool wind seemed to blow from the door, and Danny steered a curious Eve away from it, reminding her of their Charms lesson- which, incidentally, they were already late for.
The high ceiling-ed, vaulted hallways were long, and endless, and several times Eve could have sworn they passed the same statue twice, the same painting, the same suit of armor. In the middle of the day, the castle seemed more decorated, more alive than it did at night; the cold stone was no longer cold, but was draped with intricate tapestries and paintings depicting all sorts of scenes. This one read, "The Defeat of Grindelwald by the Great Wizard Dumbledore"; that one was entitled, "A Grindylow Slumbers." In every corner stood a hulking suit of armor, and more than once Danny did a double take as one of them turned their heads to watch them as they passed.
They turned again in front of the giant, heavy doors of the Great Hall, which were engraved with the school crest. Even the eyes of the unicorn an the thestral seemed to watch them as they passed, and just as Danny was about to ask if everything here was watching them, a woman walked through the wall and stepped in front of them, walking down the hall as if nothing was the matter. The woman wasn't corporeal, but rather seemed to be made up of something silvery and cloudy, and her feet didn't touch the ground; she floated an inch or two above it, though she moved her legs as if she still walked.
The ghost wore an old Victorian dress and corset, moving stiffly, her head held high, tight curls bouncing around her face from underneath her bonnet. On her shoulder she held a parasol, and walked around the hall as if it were but a brisk summer's day. "Oh," she exclaimed calmly, seeing Danny and Eve gaping at her. Her accent was decidedly British. "Hello there. I'm Lucinda Poffing; I don't think I've ever seen you around here before." Danny and Eve, shaking, introduced themselves, Eve gripping Danny's arm, hard.
"Ah well; it was nice to meet you," the ghost said, after her gloved ahnd passed straight through Danny's extended hand, poised for a handshake. She curtseyed politely before meandering off down the hall; as she retreated, Eve pointed out a hole in the back of her head, which seemed to be leaking some sort of silvery substance, thick, like blood.
"Wait!" Danny called out to her. She turned, and glided back over to them. "Are you a…a…a ghost?" he stuttered, hardly believing his words as they came out of his mouth.
"Oh, yes," the woman said mournfully, her eyes filling with tears. "I died in this castle, a long time ago…" She sniffed, and began to sink down through the floor.
"No, no, wait," Danny said. She lifted her head, but didn't come back up, her face at the level of his stomach. "Have you seen Professor Hayeel?" She nodded, sniffling again.
"Just down that way," Lucinda pointed, before sinking into the floor altogether. For a moment, Eve could have sworn she heard the echoes of deep, sorrowful sobbing. Danny and Eve looked at each other a moment before continuing down the way that the ghost woman had pointed; after all, they had seen many odd things in the past few days, it was no surprise that a ghost should live in the castle.
The door was already open by the time that Eve and Danny found the classroom where they were supposed to go. Though it was no more decorated than before, it now had the scent of dark, exotic spices, and the light seemed a shade darker, despite the fact that outside the sun was streaming brightly on the snow-capped hills. In the centre of the room, floating several feet off of the ground on an incredibly ornate and detailed silk carpet, was a thin Indian man, his eyes closed, his legs crossed.
He wore all white robes, and the tips of his white shoes curled up; atop his head he wore a finely wound turban, all white. His face was long, and thin, with sharp featured and skin untouched by age. His skin was smooth; there were no wrinkles, or any indication at all of what his age might be at all. To contrast against the white of his robes, he wore his beard, black and bushy, down to a long point somewhere around his navel. He opened his eyes as Eve and Danny entered; they were piercingly blue.
"Hello," he said cheerily, with no accent at all. "I am Professor Hayeel." He floated up to them on his carpet, scrutinizing them carefully. The only hint to his age, it seemed, was in his eyes; they seemed ancient, worn as he looked over Danny and Eve. "I teach the delicate art of Charms," he said, finally stepping down from his carpet, which the rolled itself up in the corner.
"With Charms," he began, "one can change the world around them, manipulate their surroundings to follow their every whim. With Charms, one can breathe underwater, one can sense where the unwanted ones tread, one can control, if only for a fleeting moment, the emotions of those around them…" His voice was soft, and his words enchanting as he explained to them the possibilities of learning and mastering Charms.
"But," he stopped, suddenly, breaking Danny and Eve free from his aural spell, "it has come to my attention that neither of you know anything about Charms, or magic, at all, really." He frowned, thinking. "I suppose I will have to start from the very beginning them, the very basics…
"Diffindo!" he shouted suddenly, pulling his wand from his robes in a flourish and pointing it at his carpet. Instantly an awful ripping sound was heard, and the carpet let out what sounded like a scream. Hayeel walked over to the carpet and waved his long, thin wand over his carpet; in an instant the painful howling ceased, and the carpet was back as it was before. "The Severing Charm," he said, patting his carpet affectionately. "Useful spell."
With a snap of his wrist, a parchment appeared; on it, with- as Danny couldn't quite believe- a quill, the professor wrote out a long list of charms, ranging from the Severing Charm he had just used to the Engorgement Charm. Eve read it aloud, in disbelief. "Severing Charm, Diffindo, Engorgement Charm, Engorgio, Gluing Charm, Epoximise, Disarming Charm, Expelliarmus, Flame-Freezing Charm, Frigidus ignis, Homorphus Charm, Homophify," Danny snorted here, "Hot Air Charm, Calidum…Professor, this is a long list!"
Hayeel nodded wisely. "It's the list of all of the Charms that you will need to learn to enroll in my class next term," he said solemnly. Danny blinked as Eve dropped the scroll of parchment to its full length; it bounced on the floor, rolling out to be at least fifty feet long. Hayeel hadn't been writing for that long, Eve mused. Another Charm, most likely. "It will be a lot of work for you, and unfortunately, as you were both nearly an hour late, we have only got another two hours before my next class starts. We will be meeting twice every week, Sundays and Wednesdays; by each of these meetings, I expect that you will have at least five more Charms ready for me to inspect." Professor Hayeel seemed nice, but he also seemed like he gave a lot of work. "This is all of the spells that would ordinarily be taught in Charms classes over the course of seven years at Hogwarts; many of them are very advanced. If you have any trouble, simply go to the Floo network and come to my office. We can talk there.
"Now, then, the Severing Charm is really very simple…" he began to explain, as Danny and Eve pulled out their wands. "Oh, I've forgotten something," he said blankly. "Protego," he said, halfheartedly, flicking his wand at the list of spells. Instantly there were two of them, and Danny took one, feeling the weight of it and grimacing. Hayeel conjured a large tapestry, which he hung on the wall; he guided them on how to do the Severing Charm and the Repairing Charm, and by the end of the two hours Danny could both tear and repair the clothe with relative ease, and Eve could tear the clothe. Her attempts to repair it often led only to further tearing, and she looked at her wand with disgust.
"Tomorrow," Danny whispered through the side of his mouth. She smiled, thinking of how he described the feeling of being in touch with his wand, and looking forward to experienced that for herself.
At the end of the lesson, Hayeel turned to Danny and Eve, kindly demonstrating the Disarming Charm before speaking. "I will not see you until Wednesday; until that time, I expect you to practice what we've done here today, and learn the first five spells on that list. Howl wanted me to give you this." He handed Danny an embossed, sealed piece of parchment before he waved to his carpet, and it glided to be alongside him; he walked over to the edge of where the floor met the windswept, snow-covered land below. Danny gasped as Hayeel leapt off of the side of the room, but sighed in relief as he came floating up, sitting on his flying carpet and waving to them kindly.
Danny opened the letter to find Howl's familiar scrawl, his signature, of course, taking up half of the leaf.
Dearest, Darlingest Evelyn and Daniel:
Tomorrow I will return, which is worthy cause of celebration. I do expect gifts; I prefer Dashing Dragonflies to Chocolate Frogs, don't you? Anyway, after we have dined on our feast that will, no doubt, await me, we shall depart to Diagon Alley. Ollivander has sent me an owl telling me that Eve's wand is ready. After that, and picking up a few necessary items around the Alley, you will have afternoon lessons. Danny, you will have, as Professor Krum already told me, an extra flying lesson during lunch. Eve, you are expected at the Quidditch field at 6:oo tomorrow evening for practice. Both of you will attend a Defensive Magic lesson with Professor LaHaye from lunch until 5:30. This time, try not to get lost in the halls. You rather upset poor Lucinda Poffing, reminding her that she's dead and all.
Eagerly awaiting his presents,
Howl
Eve blinked. "Where in the world are we supposed to get presents? And what is a Dashing Dragonfly, or a Chocolate Frog for that matter?" Danny shrugged and shoved the letter into his pocket.
"I have no idea." The pair, disgruntled by their workload, trudged off towards the Great Hall. When they entered, the roar that normally accompanied the dinner crowd quieted to a fearful whisper. Eve found Lucifera's eyes boring sinisterly into her head, her cold gaze filled with malicious intent. Eve sighed. She supposed she had gone a tad far, but she had lost control, there was really nothing she could have done. In an attempt at reconciliation, Eve waved cheerily at the girl, who hissed and leapt to her feet only to be held back by her friends. Danny grabbed Eve's arm, shaking his head at her naïveté, and pulled her to the table where Lorelei sat, her lion hat cocked slightly to one side.
"I heard what you did." She said, shaking her head as they sat, a sardine hanging from the corner of her mouth. "Can't say that was altogether smart, Lucifera sure has nargles in her knickers now. But, I still really wish I could have been there." She laughed, her eyes filled with glee. Eve chuckled nervously and glanced at Danny, who was shaking his head, still not altogether sure he believed his friend was capable of such feats. There was a loud crack behind them and Danny and Eve fell backward in surprise, staring up into Dominic's stony face.
"Ah, good. I was looking for you." Eve blinked.
"Really?" both she and Danny asked at the same time, though his voice was tinged with fear. Dominic looked at Danny thoughtfully before responding.
"Yes… Professor Krum wanted me to remind you of your lessons tomorrow at lunch, in case Howl forgot to mention it in his letter." He said, his sharp gaze trained on Danny. Reminded of the letter Eve asked a question.
"Speaking of which, why am I supposed to go to the Quidditch field at six? We got a letter but there was no explanation." Dominic shook his head, sighing heavily, and simply walked away without responding to her question. "Hey!" exclaimed Eve, annoyed. "Hey, I asked you a question!" Her frustration was turning her ears red. "NIC!" He spun at this and returned to the pair, who by this time were standing.
"What did you call me?" he asked, his tone and face calm but his eyes confused and a little annoyed.
"Nic," said Eve brushing her robes off. "Honestly I have no idea where it came from. But it's shorter, and when you're angrily yelling at a receding figure shorter is better." She said with a sage nod of her head. Dominic blinked.
"Whatever; just don't do it again. Ever." Eve frowned.
"Are you going to answer my question?" Dominic pursed his lips just a little.
"No." Eve's face turned a little crimson and Danny thought she might hit him. He turned and meandered off towards his table without a backward glance at the pair. Danny sat and Eve eventually joined him, muttering darkly about people with long legs. Lorelei, who had watched the whole exchange with avid interest, finally spoke.
"You know, I think that's more words than he's said in the two and a half years he's been here. He's a third year." Eve shook her head and Danny tapped her shoulder.
"Don't make him angry," he said, urgency lacing his tone. Eve waved him off, taking a savage bit from a huge turkey leg.
"Yeah yeah." She garbled out around her food before chewing, swallowing and repeating the process as she devoured the meat in her anger. Danny was going to point out that she hated turkey but then simply shook his head and grabbed a leg of his own. Their meal was not silent however, as Lorelei rambled on about her wonderful experiences that day taking care of baby boggarts, and Danny and Eve listened attentively, even if they were unwilling to volunteer any information of their own.
After the trio had eaten their fill Lorelei led them to the very back of the Hall, where hundreds of stone tablets were floating, several feet off of the ground, all of them tinged with a soft blue glow. "What are these?" asked Danny curiously, his hand reaching out to touch one. Lorelei grabbed his hand, stopping him.
"These are portkeys." Eve and Danny took a few steps backward, Danny's face reflecting the horror he felt at the memory of his last portkey journey. "Sometimes I stay late helping out with the school's menagerie. On those nights, I won't be here to Apparate you back. So, until you master Apparition, you'll have to use a portkey." Speaking clearly she said in a firm voice. "Great Blibbering Humdingers!" Eve and Danny glanced at each other as a tablet began to float gently towards them. "That's our password." Lorelei said with a wink.
As one tablet began to float towards them, Eve and Danny saw it was triangular, with each of their names carved into one side. It came to rest floating between the three of them. "Hands." said Lorelei. Eve and Danny, neither of whom wanted to be abandoned in the Great Hall with Lucifera, quickly took hold of an edge. The ride to their dorm was surprising pleasant, much more gentle than their first ride had been; the violent maelstrom now just a tug behind their navels as the portkey zoomed away. The tablet let them off tenderly in their room before vanishing with a soft pop.
Eve fell heavily into her bed, passing out instantly and displacing the kneazel, which resembled a massive lizard-like cat and hissed violently but settled down in a large ball on her back. Danny found Rudolphus had left him a little present on his pillow and tossed the mouse away in disgust. It landed on the floor and he watched as an arm shot out of the shadows and snatched it away, the action followed swiftly by a series of crunches. Shivering, Danny climbed under the covers and slowly fell asleep to the sound of Lorelei crooning to her plimpies.
Eve woke with a start, the uncanny feeling of someone watching her causing chills to run up and down her spine. Her eyes flew open and found an unfamiliar pair staring straight back. She shrieked and jumped up, displacing the furious kneazel and waking everything in the room, except for Lorelei who, when she did sleep, slept like the dead. Reaching into her pocket she brandished the bejeweled dagger at the intruder, her hair falling wildly about her face.
The man laughed and Eve slouched in relief, letting the dagger return to her pocket. "You scared me, Howl." She muttered as he threw back his hood revealing his face. Danny, who was just beginning to realize what had occurred, yawned his greeting.
"Did you get me presents?" he asked, his eyes sparkling like a child's at Christmas. Eve looked outside incredulously.
"It's barely dawn! Why are you here so early?" Howl shrugged.
"I tried to wait, but then I got bored and started Charming things and Sophie got mad, and well, quite frankly, it was a mess. So now I'm here." He looked at Eve expectantly. Eve, who above all else hated to wake up early, glared at him almost contemptuously, running her fingers through her hair. Howl looked from Danny to Eve and back again. "Have you two been sleeping in your robes?" Eve snorted and Danny shrugged.
"What else could we have slept in?" Howl shook his head, tossing his cloak, this time jewel-toned, with flair.
"Yet another thing we must buy today. Get ready, we must away to Diagon Alley." Blinking, Eve remembered the purpose of their visit and fell of her bed in delight. Running over to Danny she held up her arms.
"Clean me." Danny, hoping he remembered the spell right, pointed his wand.
"Scourgify." She turned red but looked completely refreshed. Danny directed the wand at himself and repeated the spell, achieving the same results. Howl looked perplexed.
"Don't you take baths?" Eve rolled her eyes.
"We have boomslangs living in our tub." Eyes widening Howl went to look. He practically sprinted back out again, followed by murderous hissing.
"It seems you do. Are you ready?" Eve and Danny took the older wizard's hands after writing a brief explanation for Lorelei and felt the world swirl around them. With a soft pop they arrived in Diagon Alley, ankle deep in snow. The street, which had once been so active, was sleepy in the early hours of the morning and the trio often found themselves alone. They soon found Ollivander's, practically the only shop without a closed sign in its window, and Howl rapped sharply on the door with the butt of his wand before entering.
Ollivander practically leapt at them as they came in, excitement bubbling in his eyes, his snow white hair pointing crazily in every direction. "You're finally here!" he said, pumping Howl's hand vigorously up and down. "It doesn't do to keep an old man waiting you know." Howl nodded slowly, skillfully extricating his hand and pushing Eve forward. Ollivander's eyes sparkled when he saw her, but she still noticed the dark, heavy bags under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept for days. "The combination goes quite well together. You should be very pleased."
Scurrying behind his desk he returned with a long, black box identical to the ones filling the shop. Slowly, he lifted the lid. Eve stopped breathing. The wand was beautiful, a golden orange color that glowed dully in the low lamplight. It was simple in design, the butt swooping inwards for the handle before curving outwards and inwards and outwards then inwards again into the actual wand, tapering to about a third of an inch at the tip. It glistened welcomingly, its glossy surface beckoning her hand.
"Orange wood, fourteen and a third inches, fairy wing core, pliable." Howl's eyes snapped up to Ollivander's gaze sharply.
"Fairy wings!" he hissed. Ollivander simply shrugged and offered the wand to Eve. She looked at the beautiful thing and apprehension filled her gut, knowing this was her last chance to back out.
"Go on." urged Danny. Nodding grimly Eve reached out and gripped the wand. At first there was nothing, but then a searing pain overtook her, filling her being. She gritted her teeth, realizing it was the pact Ollivander had spoken of taking effect, and waited until it subsided. When it did, she was left with a tingling sensation running up her arm, the warmth prickling and spreading pleasantly all along her body, like she was lounging on a beach somewhere soaking up the sun.
Ollivander looked immensely pleased and Howl appeared slightly horrified. "Try a spell." suggested Danny, excited for his friend. Nodding, Eve directed her wand at the lamp and spoke.
"Frigidus ignis." The flame solidified, still giving off light but ceasing to flicker. At the end of her spell the wand let off a light, citrus smelling puff that washed pleasantly over Eve and the others.
"Well that's interesting." commented Ollivander, writing something down in journal. "If you could send me any other unique properties your wand may have I'll be much obliged." Eve readily agreed, pleased with her wand, and Howl glared at Ollivander.
"You think it's funny to use my students as guinea pigs, do you?" he growled as he put a pouch of money into Ollivander's hands. The older man shrugged and weighed the pouch before nodding.
"Thank you for your business. It's been a pleasure as always, Howl." Grumbling Howl led Eve and Danny out of the shop and up the street back to Madam Malkin's. She had just Charmed the sign to read open when Howl walked in.
"Oh! I didn't expect to see you back so soon, Howl." He sat heavily in a chair, deep in thought.
"They need pajamas." Madam Malkin raised an eyebrow but dragged Eve and Danny off to the proper section of the store. First she sized Eve up, as she had last time, and selected a package from a shelf. She shoved the package into Eve's arms and told her to go get dressed before retrieving a package for Danny and shoving him into a different stall. They came out moments later and stared at each other.
Eve was dressed in a silk nightie of sorts with spaghetti straps and a matching pair of pants which insisted on changing color every few seconds. Danny was clothed in a black velvet shirt and pants set with silver stitching that had been enchanted to look like a meteor shower. Malkin nodded in approval. "Those should work. They are both lined with 100% genuine puffskein fur, known to be the warmest and highest quality fur on the market, harvested from my very own puffskeins." Madam Malkin's chest puffed out at the mention of the creatures and Danny and Eve nodded sheepishly.
Quickly they donned their robes and the pajamas were repackaged. Howl read the bill with a raised eyebrow. "What's this extra bit at the bottom here?" Malkin sniffed.
"That's for the anti-tearing and self-cleaning charms, both of which I suspect they'll need if they're living with Luna Lovegood's daughter!" Scowling, Howl paid her and they left the shop, both Danny and Eve thanking her profusely, glad to not have to sleep in their robes. Carrying the packages under their arms, they walked down the Alley, which seemed to be waking up around them. People were slowly leaking to onto the streets, and the stores were changing from dark, stoic buildings to brightly coloured, eccentric shops.
"Ordinarily," Howl said to Eve as she pressed her nose up against the window to Eeylop's Owl Emporium, "a wizard or witch is expected to have an owl. Deliver the mail and whatnot. But, I think that your dorm is full enough…" Eve, disappointed, left the store, joining Danny in pressing their noses against another display window, this one to an incredibly brightly coloured shop reading "WEASLEY'S WIZARD WHEEZES: Fun Toys For All Ages!" Inside, lining the walls and most of the floor space, were bins and shelves and displays, all with odd labels such as "Extendable Ears" and "Skiving Snackboxes". A tall, thin young man with red hair stood behind the counter, wearing a suave green dragon-skin jacket; Howl made Danny and Eve jump, walking up behind them and grabbing their shoulders as to lead them away. "Believe me," he said, "The last thing I need is more jokes at my school."
They stopped a massive bookshop, Flourish and Blott's, filled with too many books to fill the shelves; they were sprawled onto the floor, stacked in piles, everywhere. Howl paid for several editions, including Charms: A Concise Look Into The Ligher Magics and A Brief History of Time. The latter was a massive book, thick and heavy, weighing enough to make Danny hunch over as he carried his edition out of the shop. "A Brief History of Time?" he asked Howl, who laughed at him.
"Not your stupid Muggle one, about physics and what-do-you-call-it; no, this one is a concise summary of all of the events to happen in the wizarding world in the past two hundred years." Danny's jaw dropped. Finally, after hours of shopping, buying more thing such as quills, parchment, and ink, the great clock above Gringotts chimed eleven; Danny and Eve were struggling to carry all of their supplies, which were weighing them down so much that Howl had to but a Feather Weight Charm on them just so that the two could stand up. Howl turned to them apprehensively.
"I'm afraid that we'll just have to leave now, to be able to drop your things off at your dorm and still be able to make lunch on time." Howl held out his hand; in a flash, they were gone, stumbling out into their dorm, both of them collapsing supplies onto their beds, careful not to spill their many bottles of ink onto the bedspreads. Howl muttered a spell under his breath, and pointed his wand and the piles of supplies; in an instant, a silvery globe covered them, fading away after a moment. One of the nifflers sniffed at the supplies curiously; but, when it took a step too close, it was shot backwards several feet, sneezing in apprehension.
"That ought to protect them," Howl said smugly while Eve jumped up to comfort the poor niffler, fearing for Lorelei's reaction. "Anyway, it is time for lunch; I suppose I'll see you eventually!" With a pop, he was gone, leaving Eve and Danny breathless and tired already.
"I should go to the Quidditch field," Danny said, trying to act as if he wasn't excited.
"I should go to lunch," said Eve, clear onto the fact that he was. Both of them stepped forward to the fireplace; Eve pulled a pinch of silvery Floo powder out of a small leather pouch that Howl had bought each of them to keep on their belts. In a flash of emerald flame, they were both gone, walking out casually into the Great Hall. They were both starving, and Danny stared at the pumpkin pasties wistfully; Howl hadn't let them eat breakfast. However, he still rushed off out of the Great Hall, leaving Eve alone to find Lorelei.
"So," Eve asked Lorelei, eating ravenously, "why did you come to Pronghorn?" Lorelei looked at her, and blinked.
"Well, it's the best private university in the world," came her simple answer. "I didn't want to go to a big university like Rathsack Academy for Students with Higher Magical Ability."
"I mean…" Eve struggled to find the words, "Why come to a wizard college at all? It sounds like everyone got a lot of their training at those other schools." Lorelei nodded quickly.
"Oh yes," she said solemnly. "Not a lot of students go to university after they finish at a school like Hogwarts. But there aren't many jobs outside of the Ministry for wizards or witches anymore…and not a lot of people want to work for the Ministry, especially after what they did during the last Great War…" Eve looked at her confused; Lorelei waved her off, as if it were a subject that she didn't want to get into. Pronghorn is one of the only universities that still trains wizards and witches for the world outside of the Ministry. Rathsack trains Aurors for the ministry- Dark wizard hunters," she explained. "Howl doesn't believe that magic itself is good or evil; he believes that it's all up to the person using it. A lot of people question him, but a lot of people are afraid of him too…"
Eve leaned forward, intrigued. "Why are people afraid of him? He doesn't seem dangerous." But, try as she might, Lorelei didn't answer her; so she got back on the subject of colleges.
"Are there a lot of colleges?"
"Well, not too many. I mean, there are really only three major wizarding schools in Europe- that's Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang- and so there's only two big universities, too. That's Pronghorn and Rathsack. Of course, there's also Berbatov, but that's somewhere deep in Russia, I don't know anyone's who's ever gone there. Doesn't stop them competing in the Inter-Continental University Quidditch Cup, though."
"What's that?" Lorelei huffed.
"Well, here, we have four higher-level teams, and four lower-level teams. Each year there's a competition to see which team gets to compete for the school in the Inter-Continental University Quidditch Cup. It's sort of one step below being professional. Very big deal." It didn't, however, sound like a very big deal, as Lorelei sat unblinking, eating her pudding. "A lot of students play on one of the Quidditch teams here. It's really very competitive. It's a small school, after all. Oh, have you seen my shoe? I seem to have misplaced it…" Lorelei trailed off, investigating her now shoeless left foot.
After a moment of searching, to no avail, to find her shoe- "It'll turn up. These things always do"- Eve went back to asking questions. "So how do you pick your major here? You said you were a Care of Magical Creatures major..."
"Oh, you don't choose. They choose for you, according to how you behave in class. You see, first they'll give you a few rudimentary course, and according to how you, you get assigned a different major. You can pick your own minor, though. I'm a Hexing minor." Lorelei said this with a shallow indifference, choosing instead to play with her fork. "Most people are friends with other people in their majors- they have most of their classes together, after all. You can tell who's who, too." She gestured around the Great Hall, where students in groups as large as two dozen and as small as three or four sat all clustered together.
"Well, why don't you sit with the other Care of Magical Creatures people?"
"They think I'm weird," Lorelei answered, finding her shoe hidden in the inside pocket of one of her robes. "I'm okay with that, though; you should see my brothers."
Danny found the way to the Quidditch field relatively easily, taking a couple of wrong turns but still finding the exit out of the castle with some amount of ease. The snow wasn't falling anymore; in fact, the sun was glittering warmly off of it, making the icicles drip slowly and the trees extend their boughs eagerly upwards. Danny crunched through the snow, keeping a lookout for the Quidditch fields; he didn't want to be anywhere near Lucifera DuMarne or her gang after her outburst in the Great Hall. He rushed down the cliff and across to the same field as the day before.
Krum was already waiting for him, Quaffle in one hand, his sleek golden brrom in the other. He looked to Danny reproachfully, saying, "You're almost late." Danny winked at him, against every fiber of his being, which told him not to.
"Almost," Danny repeated, reminding the professor that he was, in fact, on time. Krum didn't acknowledge him, instructing him to mount the broom lying in the snow. This broom was in significantly better shape than the ones that they had used before, with a smooth handle and a manicured head, the bristles hardly sticking out at all. Along the end of the shaft was engraved in squat, blocky letters, "CLEANSWEEP 9". Danny looked over to Krum's broom, which read in the same place, in elegant, swirling letters, "NIMBUS 2004".
Danny mounted his broom with ease, remembering the position Dominic had instructed him to use as to best balance his weight. Beneath him the broom felt spongy, yet it was firm in his hands as he pushed off from the ground. "Feel ze broom," Krum instructed him. "Feel how one turns ze broom, how one may haffe to move to be nimble." Danny rose higher and higher, Krum keeping pace with him, reminding him every once in a while of his commands.
Krum first had Danny fly up, and fall down at a sharp fall almost perpendicular to the ground; he had him practice sharply turning and maintaining balance on the back of his broomstick at increasing speeds. At first, the shaft of the broom felt resistant and unyielding to Danny, and he found it hard to stop his hand from jerking the broom to the side and making him fall perilously; he breathed slowly, keeping his hands firm and shifting his weight to where he wanted to go.
After a half an hour or so of these practices, Danny felt considerably better at guiding the broom under him, and commanding it when to speed up and slow down. He still felt shaky, though, when Krum called him over to him. He handed him the Quaffle, and for the remainder of the hour that they had for lunch he practiced throwing the rusty red ball back and forth with Krum, who would try and make it so that he couldn't catch it.
The last throw met him dead on, and passed just under his thigh; Danny couldn't reach it in time, and instead sent his broom spinning under him until he was upside down. Snatching the ball as it passed and righting himself again, Danny completed the spin, holding onto the Quaffle, his face red and flustered. He looked to Krum, who looked impressed. "Good," he said gruffly, taking the Quaffle back and landing back on the snow below, the ball under his arm. "Ve haffe missed lunch," he said, a twinge of sadness in his voice.
"Yeah," Danny said, landing on the snow beside Krum.
"Here," Krum said. "Come vith me. I can get us food. You vill be late for your next lesson, but…" he trailed off, as if telling Danny that it was alright that he was late. With Krum looking at him, all thoughts of his Defensive Magic lesson were long gone from his mind. Krum instantly took off, the Quaffle under his arm and his Nimbus 2004 slung on his shoulder, Danny flanking him as they walked back into the tent where Eve and Danny had changed the day before. The leathers lay untouched where they had left them the previous afternoon.
Krum tossed his equipment callously on the snow, where the Quaffle fell almost too slowly and his broom fell with a crack. Danny jumped. "Professor, don't you care more about your broom than that?" he ventured carefully. Krum laughed.
"Of course not," he replied. "Zat broom is a few years old. I fly a Phoenix." Danny laughed nervously alongside him, not sure if Phoenix was a type of broom or whether Krum rode the actual creature.
"Is that what you were riding at the World Cup?" Danny asked, as to clear up the confusion. Krum nodded, sitting down on the bench and untying the calf and forearm leathers under his robes. So it was a broom, then. He looked up after a moment, wondering why he had thought that the swull man in front of him had ridden a phoenix, and held back the urge to gasp, flushing instead a deep scarlet to match his robes.
Krum had taken off his robes, wearing nothing but a pair of black shorts, over which were more leather plates, which he was untying and placing aside. Danny looked over him, struggling to keep his jaw shut while Krum turned towards him. "Can you help?" Krum bade him, turning around so that Danny could untie the knots lacing his breast and stomach leathers shut. Danny stepped up behind him, his legs shaking as if he had been hit with a Jelly-Legs Jinx. His breath caught in his through as Krum looked to him over his shoulder, and his fingers began to pry open the knots.
He closed his eyes a moment, taking in the scent of the man's skin under his hand. It fogged his mind up, and for a moment he couldn't think straight through the fog of enticing scent. This, he mused, is what a Wrackspurt must do. The scent was like vanilla, warm and smooth, mixed with traces of the man's own musk and the seductive scent of cinnamon; catching it, Danny's breath became ragged with the desire to touch his skin, to feel that warmth…
The leathers clattered to the bench, and Danny stumbled backwards, away from Krum, who stood, looking at him curiously. Danny avoided his eye, taking a brief, almost unnoticeable glace at his naked torso as he stood. His muscle glimmered with sweat, and sharp lines of his body contouring, inviting Danny's eye in wickedly, from his broad shoulders to the web of dark hair spread over his smooth chest. Krum was a big man, thick with toned muscle, and Danny had to fight hard to resist the urge to keep his eye from following the trail of dark hair that led down from his navel.
In a massive effort of will, Danny tore his gaze away from the smooth, lightly bronzed skin of Krum's body and to the corner, allowing the professor time to change back into his robes. Krum cleared his throat, letting him know that it was all right to turn around and face him; he looked regal in the scarlet military shirt and furs. He tapped his wand on the bench; instantly a small meal appeared, steaming in the chilled air.
Suddenly, Danny found he wasn't hungry; he took a step back, away from Krum, who was inviting him with a kind smile to sit and join him. He shook his head, apologize the best he could. "S-s-sorry," he stuttered, knowing full well he was flushing deeply feeling the burn of it in his cheeks. "I-I have to g-g-go…" he stumbled out the tent rather ungracefully, leaving Krum stunned, and, if Danny had seen it right, disappointed. But paying it no mind and wanting nothing but to dash out of there, Danny ran off into the castle, tripping several times over his own feet in the deep snow.
Eve gave Danny a reprimanding look as he stumbled into the classroom some time later, having gotten lost several time along the way. He was shaking, she noticed, but not too much, and his cheeks were enflamed red; he walked over to her, a flash of fear in his eyes. She gestured to him not to speak; and pointed with her eyes at the man standing at the head of the room.
Professor LaHaye was a thin, nervous-looking witch, dark circles under her large eyes and spectacles shoved onto her small, smashed-looking nose, as if it had once been long and thin, but had been broken several times. Her shoulders seemed permanently bent forward, she seemed to give off a sort of aura of timid-ness and caution. She was certainly older, and wore regal, velvety purple robes; so different from the furs they had seen nearly everyone else wearing at (insert school's name here). Her eyes, however, flashed with the air of authority, and she already held her long, rigid wand in front of her, as if Danny had interrupted a demonstration.
"I'm glad you decided to join us," she said, her voice tweedy and watery, just as nervous as her appearance. "Why are you late?"
"Professor Krum kept me late," Danny stammered, looking away from Eve, who perked up in interest. Professor LaHaye nodded, frowning.
"Well, make sure it never happens again," she said, before repeating whatever it was she had been saying before he walked in. "Protective Magic is very important; let's say, shall we, that you get into a duel. How can you protect yourself, I ask you? With a spell to defend yourself."
The next several hours passed somewhat quickly as Professor LaHaye instructed them on the uses of the Shielding Charms and how to turn an offensive spell defensive. Danny found it hard to listen to her; though his hunger hadn't returned, he found his thoughts straying… Eve, on the other hand, was eager, touching the handle of her wand whenever at every chance she could, casting the Shielding Charms just as Professor LaHaye instructed and marveling as it worked for her. She loved the thrill of her hand brushing the sienna wood, the warmth that would prickle into her hand, the feeling of her heart swelling with pride, knowing that the wand was hers. Ollivander had taken back her other, useless wand; she as glad to see it gone.
The sun dipped below the horizon before Professor LaHaye announced that it was time to go. She showed them out, and slammed the door shut behind her, jumping at the sound before rushing off down the corridor nervously, muttering to herself and keeping her head down. "A bit twitchy," Danny commented to her receding back.
"Well, I suppose she's had to defend herself from a lot, if she's good enough to be a teacher and all," Eve mused. They walked back to the Great Hall, Eve marveling at the touch of her wand. "It's really amazing, isn't it, how a single wand can fit a person so perfectly? I mean, what are the chances of finding the perfect one for you?"
"In your case, nearly impossible," Danny replied, giving both of them a laugh as they remembered the hours in Ollivander's shop, as Eve tried out wand after failing wand. "Uh…what was the password again?" he asked Eve, his eyes flitting away from her.
"Great Blibbering Humdingers!" she said firmly. As the portkeys shifted around so that theirs could come forward, she handed Danny a note from Howl. "Professor LaHaye gave this to me at the start of the lesson. Tomorrow we have History of Magic with Professor Lubman in the morning, and Offensive Magic with Professor Calcifer in the afternoon. You have another flying lesson with Krum during lunch; how'd that go today?" Her eyes flashed eagerly.
"I don't want to talk about it," Danny murmured as they took hold of the portkey. Eve raised an eyebrow, but let him go, taking a hand on the portkey with him and feeling the familiar pull somewhere behind her navel as space swirled around her, reforming into the dorm as the stone disappeared with a pop. Instantly Danny tumbled over to his bed and collapsed on it, facedown.
"Are you ok?" Eve asked, concerned, but knowing that it was almost time for her to be in Quidditch fields. Her only response was a short, muffled groan; taking that to be a yes, and very curious about what awaited her on the field, she sprinkled Floo powder on the fireplace and disappeared into the emerald flames, leaving Danny alone in the dorm with Lorelei's small menagerie.
Eve's stomach tightened into smaller and smaller knots of nervousness as she walked towards the Quidditch field, her breath like white smoke in the frosty air. The snow crunched noisily beneath her feet, something she was unused to but altogether enchanted by. She walked for a few moments more, absorbed in the sound of her footsteps, before she noticed a louder crunch above her own crackling stride.
Glancing over her shoulder she found Dominic coming towards her, his lengthy stride causing him to rapidly close the distance between them. Biting her lip, Eve's competitive streak sprang to life and she increased her pace until she was almost jogging. Dominic, who had also been lost into his own thoughts until that moment, noticed her change in speed and, not being one to turn his back on a challenge, also increased his stride. Soon they were sprinting across the snow covered field, Eve struggling to keep up with Dominic's impressive pace.
"Give it up." he panted over his shoulder. "You'll never match me for speed." Eve's eyes glinted with adrenaline, her gaze almost hungry.
"Never, you pompous… you pompous… tree!" she finished, her face red from the passion of her words. Dominic blinked rapidly for a few moments before releasing a wild howl of laughter, tears pouring down his face. Without losing speed he doubled over, clutching his gut as his sides split, spasms of mirth bursting forth from his lips.
"Tree?" he asked incredulously between irrepressible man-giggles. "You pompous tree? All that energy and that's really the best you can come up with?" He threw his head back and roared, his laughter shattering the stillness of the field. Eve's skin slowly drifted towards the volcanic end of the spectrum.
"Well, you're tall… and trees are tall… it was short notice okay?" she snapped, her embarrassment shining vibrantly in her face. Dominic paused a moment to look at her, a wolfish smile on his face before his lips began to tremble.
"Tree!" he exclaimed, guffawing as if he had no shortage to his air supply.
"Shut up." Eve sulked, putting all her attention back on running. When they finally reached the equipment tent and Professor Krum, both were winded and fell to the ground heaving. Krum glanced down at the pair with raised brows, an amused quirk to his lips.
"You know you are early, no?" Eve nodded, winded and glanced over at Dominic. His eyes filled with tears of amusement.
"Pompous..." He whispered one last time before writhing on the snow with mirth, his body shaking with uncontrollable laughter. Eve punched him in the arm in annoyance, which only made Dominic laugh harder than ever, pounding the ground with his fist. Then Krum coughed and both Eve and Dominic were instantly silent.
"You are probably vondering vhy you are here." said Krum, wrapping his furs tighter about his person. Eve perked up a bit.
"Actually, yes, I was." Krum's face was stony.
"Zat vas rhetorical qvuestion. You are here, Mizz Berry, because Luciffera, vhile undeniably a bitch, iz a very good Beater who vill not be able to play because she haz been zuzpended vor malizious and wrongvul use ov eqvuipment. I need a Beater, Mizz Berry, and you vill be taking her place." Eve's eyes popped out of her head and she blanched, her skin turning almost as white as the snow. If Lucifera was mad before this last development had signed Eve's death warrant. Of course, it also explain why she had been so ready to fight her in the Great Hall.
"B-b-but I barely know how to fly!" she spluttered, her hands falling helplessly to her sides. Krum's face turned stormy.
"Are you rejecting my offer, Mizz Berry?" Eve shook her head vigorously.
"No sir, I'm just a little surprised. Okay, well, very surprised." Dominic snorted his agreement and Eve cast him a withering glance.
"You vill be joining ze Zestrals, a top tier team. Ze ozer teams are ze Phoenixes, ze Hippogrivvs, and ze Gryphons. I muzzt varn you, It vill not be easy for you. You vill haffe to practice harder and longer zan effery vone else. Effery day you vill come here from zix until sundown, are ve clear?" Krum's voice left no room for questions.
"Yes." Eve said, struggling to her feet.
"Good. Get dressed." Without thinking Eve offered a hand to Dominic, who was still splayed in the snow, to help him stand. Cursing her southern upbringing, but too polite to remove her hand, she gritted her teeth as he grasped her fingers and hoisted himself up. His skin was dry and warm and his hands completely engulfed her own. As soon as he was stable she snatched her hand back and ran off to the tent to get dressed.
She was lacing up a shin guard when a stick-thin girl with short, spiked flaming red hair burst into the tent flanked closely by a burly young man with a neatly trimmed afro, his thick brown curls corkscrewing outwards from his blockish head. The girl's piercing blue eyes instantly snapped to Eve, who smiled sheepishly, unsure as to the reaction she should expect.
"Hi, I'm Eve… Berry. I'm replacing Lucifera. I'm really sorry for any inconveniences I've caused you." The girl blinked and practically threw herself at Eve feet, her eyes brimming with tears.
"For the love o' Chocolate Frogs… thank Merlin she's nice!" The girl's bony arms flew around Eve's shoulders in a crushing hug before being peeled away by the boy.
"Sorry about that, Ariadne's a little… clingy. I'm Tristan, by the way. Tristan Keel, the other beater." Ariadne snatched her hands away, glaring at Tristan.
"I am no' clingy!" she snapped before offering Eve a slender hand. "Ariadne O'Duffy. Zodiac sign Aries, Hex major, an' seeker for the Thestrals. Pleasure t' make yer acquaintance!" Eve took her hand and Ariadne nearly tore it off with her vigorous shaking.
"So you're not upset?" asked Eve, rubbing her wrist. Ariadne cocked her head to the side, confused.
"Why would we be?" Eve looked down.
"You know I know absolutely nothing about Quidditch right?" Tristan waved it off.
"If Krum thinks you can handle it then that's good enough for me. Besides, we weren' exactly tha' 'tight' with Lucifera, if ye catch me drift." Ariadne, who apparently had the need to clarify, jumped in.
"She's a frigid bitch. One o' these days I'm goin' t' take that fancy little broom o' 'ers and shove it up 'er-" Tristan clamped a hand over Ariadne's mouth.
"You'll have to forgive her. She's Irish," as if this offered explanation. As the two of them were getting dressed the other players entered the tent, greeting Eve with icy stares. They, apparently, numbered among Lucifera's friends and were not likely to be forgiving towards the newcomer. The players, now fully dressed began to file out of the tent, grabbing brooms on the way. Ariadne shoved a heavy broom into Eve's hands.
"She's old, but she'll do until ye get one o' yer own." Eve nodded looking nervously at the rest of the team over her shoulder. "Don't worry about those fockin' goblin turds- I've got yer back." Eve chuckled and nodded her thanks, following the skinny girl out into the snow. Team assembled, Krum addressed them as a group, but not before Eve had caught sight of Lucifera glowering at her from her place in the stands, surrounded by still more friends.
"Tventy laps flying, zen tventy laps running. Stretch in betveen. Go!" The team took off and Eve followed. She was the slowest, but she supposed that was mostly the fault of her broom, and was for the most part very pleased with how she was handling herself. The turns were easy and she even took out her hair band to let the wind whip through the strands.
In the middle of her thirteenth lap, she felt her broom lurch, but merely attributed it to the broom's age. That was at least until she smelled smoke. "Holy shite, Evee!" yelled Ariadne in warning. "Yer arse's on fire!" Eve swiveled her head to seen bright flames licking their way up her broom and towards her. Breathing deeply to calm herself, Eve attempted to ease her broom towards the ground, but it was too late.
Her broom gave out, dropping Eve through the sky like a stone, the pair swirling in a deathly dance towards the ground. Eve could hear the rush of blood and air in her ears, feel the sensation of falling deep in the pit of her stomach and the pain as the flames scoured her legs and fingers as she attempted to beat them away. She could see the ground fast approaching, a sea of white before her eyes. And then it was all over.
She was balanced on a pocket of invisible magic, levitating her gently in the air before tenderly easing her to the ground. Eve looked up gratefully at Professor Krum, who had been the one responsible for saving her life, as he rushed towards her. Eve was vaguely aware of Dominic shouting "Aguamenti!" and dousing the flaming pieces of her broom before Krum reached her, stamping out her flaming practice robes in the snow. Gently he examined the burns that laced Eve's fingers, calves and thighs, his brow puckering with concern.
"Dominic." He called. "Take her to ze invimary. Zese could be qvuite bad if she does not get treated. Ze rest of you, practice iz off." To Eve's surprise Dominic complied without complaining, helping her to stand and grabbing a part of her arm untouched by burns.
The last thing Eve saw before they Apparated was Krum, moving like a hurricane across the snow, his crimson robes flapping furiously about in his rage as he charged full speed, uphill, after the quickly receding figure of Lucifera DuMarne, who was clearly trying to suppress her laughter. Krum's square jaw twitched in rising fury as he approached her, grabbing her violently by the robes; but crane her neck as she might, Eve couldn't avoid the feeling of being twisted into a knot as she was swept away in a rush of bright light.