Prequel by Syriana
Chapter 4: Breakfast, Class, and Lucius2 weeks after sorting, Lily woke in her bed surrounded by her element. She pulled open the curtain and looked at the clock. 4:00 a.m. Well, better get up, she thought, I hope someone's in the common room. She knew that the mages usually woke up when their element is most powerful, or in some cases, when the others poke them until they get up and chase them around the dorm. Hey, whatever works. Lily walked down the stairs after getting dressed in her uniform to see that Ahlia, Sirius and James were all awake. Ahlia was standing in front of the fire, creating creatures from the fire, mostly phoenixes, but also some small horses, dogs, deer, and birds. She turned and smiled as Lily walked over and sat in an armchair near the couch where James and Sirius were talking animatedly about Quidditch. James looked up when she walked in, gave her the thumbs up symbol, and went back to the discussion. She got up and walked to Ahlia and asked her,
"When are the others getting up?" Ahlia just smirked and looked at her watch.
"Well, it's 4:34 now, and the morning glory in our room is going to open in 3 minutes, so Terra and Remus should be getting up soon, and Rachel and Peter usually wakes up when the gold's, reds, and oranges from the rising sun fully disappear. So they should be up within the next 10 minutes. You and James wake up at high tide, and Sirius and I wake up at sunrise. So-" she was cut off by the sound of Terra and Remus running down the stairs in their pajamas. Ahlia smirked.
"Well, that was quick," and then she laughed. Terra was holding a stuffed monkey that she quickly hid behind her back, making Ahlia laugh harder. Terra blushed and asked,
"Breakfast, anyone?" Terra absolutely hated going down to the great hall with all the students in the morning, so they had bought for her many fruit, vegetable, and herb plants that were now growing in their dorm where Lily's cats couldn't reach them. They all asked for various fruits, and Terra fished the plants (miniaturized again) out of her pockets, and resized them. Remus walked over and helped her grow plenty of fruit for them all to eat, and put them in the bowls that James had transfigured from water goblets to bring it over just as Peter came downstairs, closely followed by Rachel. They all ate happily, talking about the day.
Once they had finished, they all trooped off to Charms, their first class that day, which was held with the Slytherins. Narcissa and Bellatrix sneered at Sirius as the 8 mages took their seats, Terra and Lily next to James and Sirius, with Ahlia and Rachel next to Remus and Peter right behind them. They all waited for Flitwick to begin the lesson, and when the small wizard climbed to the top of his stack of books, he said,
I
"Today we will be working on making fire animals out of embers. The animal will be what your animagus form would be if you were to become one, and will also be able to lead you through the floo network. They are quite useful if you don't speak clearly. The incantation is Ambre Formus. Say it with me,"
Soon the whole class had the incantation down along with the wand movement. Ahlia poked Lily with her wand. Lily turned to look at her, and Ahlia waved her hand over the ember, which instantly became a blazing phoenix before fading again. Flitwick gave her a knowing look and brought over another ember and said,
"Please, demonstrate for the whole class, Ms. Potter. That last attempt was spectacular,"
Ahlia attempted to do the incantation again without her mage powers, but failed. The ember glowed red, but did not burst into flame, or form anything. The Slytherin section of the room laughed and Rachel patted her on the back, sending a small wind to a Slytherin who had managed to start creating an animal, and blew out the fire. Ahlia chuckled and went back to attempting the incantation.
30 minutes later, all of the mages had mastered the charm. James' ember had turned into a majestic stag, which was now cantering over the table, creating little burn marks where its hooves touched the wood. Sirius' turned into a playful dog, which had a small tendency to roll over, creating small fires on the wood that were constantly being put out by a gust of wind from Rachel or Peter or a bit of water from a water bottle from James or Lily. Remus' turned into a wolf, which often 'howled' (it didn't make any noise) Peter's turned into a mouse that would scamper all over the top row, bothering the students who had not yet mastered the charm, or the blazing animals that were there. Rachel's turned into a dove that soared around the room, every once in a while diving down to the other ember forms and soaring low over their heads. Ahlia's turned into a cat, which chased Peter's mouse around, making people laugh. Terra's turned into a tiger which seemed to have a crush on Sirius' dog, and Lily's was a doe which would nuzzle James' stag, and the water mage's symbol would glow each time this happened. When class was over, they had to release their embers back into the fire, or so Flitwick said, and Ahlia scooped up her cat with no protection and brought it to the fire, and set it free without a burn on her. The class looked amazed and Ahlia looked at Flitwick who promptly ended class. She mouthed 'thank you,' and waved her hands so that all the fire animals became one large ball of fire, which was tossed into the fire. Flitwick thanked her for her help and warned her not to use her powers in class to get ahead again. She promised not to and ran out of the room to meet the others. As they left, Terra ran into a tall blonde boy a year older than herself. He sneered at her.
"Little sister," he said, and touched the necklace around her neck. "You are light. Mother will be so…pleased," he said sarcastically, and pulled up his own sleeve, showing a tattoo that looked just like Peter's, only black. Terra closed her eyes, trying to control herself. She finally answered,
"I know that you are dark, Lucius. We have already established that you and I are opposites. Mother just thought that it was our elemental differences, but it's not. I finally have friends who were not scared away by you. Leave me ALONE!"
At that moment, Lily was very happy that no one was in the corridor except the 8 light mages and Lucius. Ivy vines burst through the window, binding Lucius to the wall and holding him there firmly.
"You have always ruined my life. My friends and I are the 8 light mages. I don't care if you write to mother and tell her that I am light, and that I shouldn't be part of your perfectly Slytherin dark family. I know I will be disowned for that, but even living on the streets is better than being part of your rancid family. Now get away from me," She said, and the vines released him. He ran away down the hall, and finally disappeared. Terra turned back to her friends, who were still amazed by her power.
"Your power is linked to your emotions," she said, as if reading their minds. "I was extremely angry at Lucius, and it gave me an enormous power boost," They nodded or grunted in response, and they continued the random discussion about nothing that they were having before the confrontation with Lucius.