I don't own Harry Potter
Two months.
Airiala had been separated from Severus for a full two months and it was making her physically ill.
Luckily her illness kept Lucius far away from her, which was good. She didn't know why all of sudden she was feeling sick, but she didn't really care. If it kept Lucius from approaching her then she would take it.
She took a few deep breaths to calm her stomach after another session of sickness and leaned back against the tree she had taken to sitting under.
Although Lucius was leaving her alone, he hadn't stopped in his crusade to find others like him. Deatheaters that had gone into hiding at Voldemort's defeat were the first ones he contacted. The rest were pure-blood assholes who hadn't wanted to follow Voldemort or be caught supporting him to protect themselves. Lucius had taken it upon himself to force their cooperation in this campaign by either blackmail or threats.
Airiala stood slowly before walked back to her tent. Everyone ignored her as it had been made clear that she was not to be touched. Her power was stronger than any of them and they knew it, especially the Deatheaters who had witnessed it firsthand. They avoided her at all costs.
She laid down in the tent and sighed. She missed the other Elementals, she missed Hogwarts, she missed Severus. She just hoped that this would all be over soon.
Severus was frustrated.
It had been two months since he had last seen Airiala and now they were back at Hogwarts with no leads to her whereabouts.
He refused to teach until she was found and Dumbledore had allowed it. He could see that the man was too lost in his worry over Airiala to properly teach a class.
The other Elementals were doing what they did best, research.
There had to be a way to find her, to track her, something. They had tried a tracking spell, but because of Airiala's new unique abilities it hadn't worked. They had to find another way.
Raina was walked around the courtyard at sunset trying to clear her mind after searching through the books in the library, but she couldn't stop thinking about Airiala.
They had to find that girl, if not to save her but to help Severus. That man was almost as bad as he was when Airiala was lying in the Hospital Ward. At least this time he actually ate rather than ignoring his food.
She sat on the grass and felt the wind blow. At least they knew that Airiala was still alive.
She closed her eyes and felt the wind flow over her. It was then she noticed something was off.
She concentrated on the wind, allowing herself to really feel the variations of it. Despite popular belief that the wind would just go where it wanted, that wasn't true. It was only when an Air Elemental was new and hadn't learn control yet that it was chaotic, sometimes even causing strong wind storms in the process.
The wind now started off gentle, as an experienced Air Elemental would make it blow most of the time, and then it would jump to something faster and push from the opposite direction, like a newly formed Air Elemental just starting to figure out how to make the wind move.
It was like there were two Air Elementals, one experienced and one just learning. That was impossible though. There could never be two Air Elementals. There was always just one Elemental for each element. Never two.
Unless Airiala wasn't the actual Air Elemental anymore.
Raina's eyes popped open. Airiala wasn't the Air Elemental anymore. She could still control the wind, just as before, but she had also taken on the powers of the other Elementals as well. It was possible that she was still fulfilling Air Elemental duties out of habit without actually being the Air Elemental. She had to be something else.
She jumped up and ran back inside the school to where the boys were. They had been researching how to find the Air Elemental and coming up short. Of course they couldn't find the Air Elemental if it was just formed. From the feel of the opposite power she had sensed, it was still rather weak. The new Air Elemental wasn't born just yet.
They needed to try looking for something else, for Airiala's unique power.
She burst into Pyro's room, which they had been using as their research room for the past two weeks. Pyro and Lando looked up from their books at a smiling Raina.
"We've been going about this all wrong," she said firmly. " We were looking for the Air Elemental, not Airiala."
"But Airiala is the Air Elemental," Lando said with an eye roll.
Raina ignored the disrespectful action. "But she isn't. She is something more. She is the first and only Air Elemental to use the Ultimate Truth and survive. When she woke up she had control over all the elements, not just wind. She is something more than and Air Elemental now."
Raina rushed over to the window and flung it open. "Feel the way the wind is moving. Airiala is still controlling it as habit from years of doing so, but there are moments when the wind shifts unexpectedly, like any of our elements would do with a new Elemental just learning how to control our power. We didn't notice because we were focused on Airiala as the Air Elemental, as we have always known here. It never occurred to us that she might have changed."
Pyro stood with Lando following. Both men went up to the window. Pyro took some fire from the fireplace and held it in his hand outside.
The flame flickered slightly, as expected when the wind was blowing gently. Then both of them watched as the wind suddenly pushed the wind in the opposite direction in a violent move that neither would have noticed otherwise.
It was weak, but it was newborn Air Elemental ability.
Pyro smiled as he watched the flame flicker. "We were doing the location spells wrong." He turned back to Raina as he extinguished the flame. "We need to get Severus. He can cast the spell looking for Airiala's new unique power signature and it should work."
Lando smiled at his friends as they hugged each other. They were obviously in love with each other. Lando had wanted it with Airiala, but it wasn't meant to be.
Perhaps when this was all over he could find himself someone to spend the rest of his life with, but first he had to make sure that Airiala and Severus worked out their issues. He felt responsible for it and he wasn't going to stop until they were back together.
The three Elementals rushed down to Severus' quarters, mumbling the password and entering without so much as a knock.
Severus was lying on his couch, passed out asleep in his teaching robes. In his hand was an open book about tracking spells with several other books lying on the table next to him.
Lando wasted no time waking the older man with a shake. Severus jumped up and found himself staring at three smiling Elementals,
"Did you find a way to locate Airiala?" he asked, unable to keep the hope out of his voice.
Raina quickly explained what the they had discovered. Severus was surprised that they hadn't thought of that before, but it made sense why they wouldn't. There could only be one Elemental for each of the four elements, but there had never been one that could control all four at the same time.
Severus grabbed his wand and the map and concentrated on the location spell. He cast it, just as he had dozens of times before, only this time adjusting for the unique magical signature of all four elements rather than just one. He held his wand over the map and hoped this worked.
The light flew out of the end of his wand and hovered in the air for a moment, causing Severus and the Elementals a moment of panic that perhaps they were wrong and it wouldn't work. Then the light drifted down onto the map, highlighting in the French countryside.
Apparently Lucius had taken Airiala out of the country entirely. No wonder they hadn't been able to find her before.
As the Elementals cheered in happiness, Severus focused on the light. Airiala was there, she was right there.
Now he just had to go and get her.