HIGH VOLTAGE
Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry
Scotland, UK
September 24th
2022 A.D.
"I don't understand how this is possible." Tannis said, still pacing his office. "They never wake up this early!"
"Just because it hasn't happened before, doesn't mean that it's impossible." Sophia remarked.
Violet news had been surprising to everyone to say the least. Sophia, Tannis, Aurora, Lincoln and Amelia had gathered in the headmaster office to discuss what was happening. They had all been under the impression that they'd have at least another 2 weeks before they'd have to deal with a newly matured female Anomaly who's primary concern would be to get pregnant as quickly as possible.
Aurora was trying her best not to show it but she was extremely worried by Athena's sudden awakening. By now she had probably picked up on the fact that there were several Anomalies present in that castle and it wouldn't be long before she demanded to meet them.
For the moment, Violet had managed to convince her to stay in the hospital wing while she searched for some cloths for her but she wouldn't be there for much longer.
"You think this has anything to do with the prophecy?" Lincoln asked.
"Maybe, I'm not sure," Sophia admitted. "she certainly seems to be a little different from what we were expecting."
"Maybe we should call Albus. Tell him not to come back just yet," Amelia suggested.
"That won't stop her from going to find him." Aurora mumbled.
"Well, we need to tell her something." Lincoln said.
"Aurora, it's probably a good idea that you keep your distance from her," Sophia said. "she doesn't know your pregnant."
Aurora nodded absently. Already images of Albus and Athena, naked and intertwined were moving through her mind. They made her feel ill.
The Hospital Wing
Violet re-entered the huge room with a stack of clothes in her arms. Athena was now wearing a hospital gown and standing near the end of the room. She was shaping her fingers like a gun and aiming at a few empty vials that were sitting on a desk. A bolt of blue lightning shot from her fingertip and struck the vials, destroying them instantly.
Violet noticed that there was already a significant amount of broken glass all over the floor. While she had been away, Athena had obviously been using various things around the hospital wing as target practice.
"Erm...I got you these," Violet said, setting the clothes down on one of the beds. "I wasn't really sure of your size..."
Athena looked at Violet. Her eyes were narrow like she was trying to judge what kind of threat the witch could be. She walked over to the stack of clothes.
"Most of this stuff is Lynx's. You look about the same size as her. Err...she has quite a large cup size so some of the bra's are mine. I hope you don't mind." Violet smiled, attempting to be friendly.
"Does your friend own a cat?" Athena asked catching a whiff of the clothes and staring straight into Violets eyes. She was purposely trying to intimidate her.
"S-she's an Animagus. She can transform into a tiger."
"Cool." Athena picked out some of the underwear. She stopped and looked up at Violet. "You wanna watch me get naked again, Violet?"
The tone of Athena's voice was extremely unnerving. Almost as if she was daring Violet to react to her.
"I'm sorry...I'll just..." Violet quickly left the room as Athena dropped the gown on the floor and began getting dressed.
As she pulled a shirt on she realized that Violet's smell was all over these clothes. Either she and her friend Lynx shared pretty much everything they wore or they were lovers. And judging by the distinct smell that was all over the pair of jeans she picked out, it was the latter. She grinned to herself. At least she wouldn't have a problem with either of them.
She walked over to the bed that she had woken up in. It was around this area that she got the strongest scents from. There were at least 2 male and 2 female Anomalies here and a 5th person that smelt very strange. One of those scents belonged to Albus, that was for certain. He smelt like honey but with a slightly sharper taste, like it had been flavored with Vodka.
It made her heartbeat faster in an almost arousing way. The other male wasn't as enticing. He smelt more like fresh apples. It was quite a nice smell but didn't give her the same feeling in her chest as Albus did. She still wanted to meet him though. These scents were at least a day or so old and she wanted to know what the real thing was like.
Of course, she would need to meet the females as well to see if she would have any kind of problem with them. One smelt so strong that it almost overshadowed the males while the other was barely recognizable. The strongest smell was actually coming from the bed just next to hers. It was like hot, freshly baked bread while the other had the distinct smell of pineapple but was still almost non-existent.
The unidentified smell from the 3rd woman was very difficult to place. Athena wondered if she was sick or dying because she actually smelt almost like wilted roses.
She heard foot steps approaching the hospital wing followed by a knock on the door.
"Athena? Can I come in?" Violet's voice asked.
"I don't own the place." Athena remarked.
Violet entered the room. It was a bit strange for her to see this girl wearing her and Lynx's clothes but under the circumstances it was the only option. Something told her that Athena wouldn't actually complain about having to walk around naked.
"Do they fit okay?" She asked quickly.
"The bra's a little tight."
Violet actually felt a little insulted. "Sorry, short notice."
Athena didn't miss her slightly snappy tone. "So, you're gay?"
"Yes."
"Why do you like women more than men?" Athena smiled knowing that Violet was getting aggravated.
"Actually, it's just one woman." Violet gritted her teeth. She knew Athena was trying to get under her skin.
"Do you love her?" Athena chimed with contempt.
"Yes, I do!"
"Well, then tell her to wash her clothes a little more often. These still have your love stink all over them." Athena remarked.
"Don't wear them then!" Violet hissed.
"So you do want to see me naked?" Athena grinned deviously. "What would your girlfriend say?"
Violet clenched her fists. She knew she probably wouldn't stand a chance in a fight against Athena but it didn't stop her from getting extremely pissed off.
"Violet," Sophia voice came from the doorway. "Lynx is looking for you." She said simply.
Violet turned on her heel and stormed out of the room.
"Sensitive little thing isn't she?" Athena remarked. She sniffed the air a caught the same smell of pineapple coming from the woman. "Who are you?"
"Sophia."
"The one Albus was talking to over the phone. What's your ability?" Athena asked, sizing Sophia up.
"Cellular Stability." She said simply, not the slightest bit intimidated by the young Anomaly.
"What?"
"I don't age, I don't get sick and I very rarely get tired."
"Oh...so, how old are you?"
"2,243."
That one stunned Athena a little. "You're older than Jesus?"
"That's right."
"Who are the others?" She asked quickly.
"The other Anomalies? Lincoln. He's a Phase-Shifter and we just found out that Albus's cousin is one as well," She explained.
"Where is Albus?"
"He's busy."
"Whens he coming back?" She demanded.
"When he's finished whatever he's taking care of." Sophia said simply.
"Are you trying to keep him away from me?!" She growled.
"Everyone here knows how powerful you are Athena. You don't have to flex your muscles every chance you get to try and prove it." Sophia smiled.
"Don't change the subject!"
"Albus will be back, when he gets back. He doesn't tell us everything about what he's doing," Sophia was still calm and non-threatening which only seemed to anger Athena more. "nobody expected you to wake up so early which is why he isn't here to talk to you."
"Early?" Athena's looked perplexed. "how long have I been out?"
"Just over 3 weeks." Sophia said. "are your abilities functioning all right?"
"Yes," She hissed. "you think I'm broken or something!?"
"Not at all. Did you see the door?" She asked softly.
Athena took a step back. "Why?"
"What did it say to you?" Sophia asked.
"None of your fucking business!" Athena roared. Sophia didn't move. She was much to old and wise to be threatened by the young hot head.
"Fair enough. I'll leave you to your thoughts." She smiled and headed for the door.
"Wait!" Athena called. "What is it?"
"The door? No one knows for certain. Some of us think it's God, Heaven, the soul of the world. We truly don't know. But not long ago, Albus found out where it is. Maybe he'll take you to see it." She smiled again.
"Well where is it?!"
"You should try and relax, Athena. And there's no need to be so aggressive, no one here will try and challenge you." She said. "Albus will be back soon."
She left the Hospital Wing, shutting the door behind her and leaving Athena to go over the dozens of questions in her head.
MI6 Headquarters
London, England
September 24th
2022 A.D.
Albus and Wells were standing in the middle of the MI6 Cyber Devision operations room looking up at the massive screens in front of them. MI6 was one of the few places Albus could go without people gawking at him constantly and If he hadn't had his hyper-cognition implant, he probably wouldn't have had a clue what this section of the government actually did. Luckily, they were still keeping to their silent agreement that they would help each other out whenever possible.
"There are about 8 Hackers in the entire world that could breach the firewalls and get into the system. But nobody could get in without alerting us," Wells said.
"But they did?" Albus asked.
"Silent and unseen until they ran into the PropMaster." Wells sighed.
"Have you questioned the Hackers on your list?"
"Yeah, but most of them are in prison and the ones that aren't certainly aren't stupid enough to try and hack the Share Index."
"What would have happened if they had actually gotten in?" Albus questioned, still looking up at the screens.
"They could have crashed the entire system, corrupting the vital financial data for half the country and erasing a few hundred billion pounds. It would cause complete chaos." He said gravely.
"But they can't get in without the alerting you guys?"
"That's what we thought. The only thing I can think of is that they actually had the passwords to the firewalls." Wells mused.
"How would they get those?"
"They couldn't. They're not stored on any system, they have to be handed directly to people that have clearance."
"Who has clearance?"
"Me, a few of my bosses. After that, you're talking about the Prime Ministers cabinet members and other people at the top of the food chain." Wells explained.
"What about the PropMaster, who's got the passwords for that?"
"No one. Like I said they were simply testing it out. Only a few tech guys actually had the access codes because they thought it would only be staying online for about a day. Now it's operational around the clock."
"Make sure the PropMasters passwords don't get given out...to any one." Albus ordered.
"You think this is an inside job?" Wells had apparently been think the same thing.
"It would explain how they managed to breach all your defenses without even been seen." He said. "nobody had the codes to the PropMaster so they couldn't get around it and the moment they tried, they got caught..."
"Then they corrupt the data on their way out to cover up the fact that they used passwords to get through the firewalls. It would make sense." Wells finished. "but to get your hands on those passwords you have to be pretty high up the government ladder. Why would someone like that want to destroy their own country?"
"Isn't that the job of the government?" Albus grinned.
"You might be surprised the know that it's not," Wells laughed. "our job is to make sure that the country doesn't destroy itself."
"Well, keep it up."
"Doing our best. We're hooking the PropMaster up to other divisions, power utilities, things like that."
"You think they'd try and melt down a power plant or something?"
"Well, that's a bit impossible to do with the new ones. The older ones...maybe."
"Why not the new ones?"
"Most of them have stand alone protection systems. They're not hooked up to an open connection of any kind. They're also encased in magnetic shielding and have there own power supply, so if all the other safety measures shut down, the computer can keep the cooling systems up and running." He explained. "But, whoever can get through the Share Index firewalls can probably get into a number of other places and cause significant damage."
"I know."
"Well, I should probably tell you that there is a lot of suspicion being pointed at the Wizards...and Anomalies." Wells admitted.
Albus's eyebrows narrowed in annoyance.
"You can't blame them for thinking that. The Wizarding world had survived for a very long time without technology that we depend on. If they did want to do some damage to us, can you think of a better target?"
Albus sighed. "The Wizarding world wouldn't do something like this, neither would Athena! You can't let this get out of hand, Wells."
"It's just whispers at the moment. Nobodies making any accusations but trust me, if something else happens, things will turn nasty." He warned.
"Understood. I've got to get back, keep me posted."
"Will do."
Albus left the room with a very bad feelings about all of this. First the bub, now the country itself. Whoever was behind this was certainly doing a good job of implicating others.
Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry
Scotland, UK
September 24th
2022 A.D.
"I told you Harry, I'm here for my family! Not you!" Ginny hissed as stormed down the corridor.
"But can't we just talk?" Harry pleased.
He had made several attempts to start a conversation and act nicely around her but it wasn't easy. As with most Weasley's, Ginny had passed the depressed anti-social faze and was now feeding off her own anger to keep her going. That was the main reason that Harry had made no attempt to reconcile with Ron.
"Talk about what Harry? You cheated on me with my sister-in-law!"
"I can't change the past Gin. I'm just trying to make things right!"
"Some things can't be made right!" she growled.
"Ginny, please! I love you!" Harry cried.
"You have a funny way of showing it!"
"I'll do anything!"
Ginny stopped walking and turned. "Fine. Go talk to my brother."
Harry suddenly went a bit red and looked very nervous. "Gin...he's not exactly..."
"You want me to give you a chance? Go and make things right with him!" she demanded.
"He'll probably try and kill me!"
"What a pity!" Ginny smiled coldly before turning on her heel and walking away.
"All right! I'll talk to him." Harry shouted.
"So this is where he gets his temper from." a smooth voice came from behind Harry.
He turned around to see Athena standing behind him, looking him up and down. "And his eyes." she remarked.
Harry looked a little confused. He hadn't been informed of Athena's early awakening and neither had Ginny.
"I recommend a really good marriage councilor." She smiled sweetly.
"I'm sorry but I don't think this is any of your business." Ginny scathed.
"You're shouting loud enough, half the castle has probably heard you."
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Harry asked getting annoyed.
"Athena."
"I thought you were in a coma?"
"Maybe your little pissing contest woke me up!" She wasn't smiling anymore.
"Excuse me?!" Ginny's face was turning red.
"Keep the noise down!" Athena growled.
"Or what?"
Athena glared at Ginny and opened the palm of her hand allowing lightning to shoot between her fingers. "Or I'll shut you up for good." She said with a dark tone.
Harry gulped and took a step back. He hadn't had much success with fighting Anomalies. Ginny on the other hand had already pulled out her wand. The lightning vanished from her hand and her glare suddenly became a lot more dangerous. Only she wasn't looking at Ginny anymore. She was staring straight behind her where Aurora had appeared.
"Ginny." Aurora said, keeping her eyes locked on Athena. "James just finished his class, he's in the great hall if you want to go see him."
Ginny pocketed her wand and marched off. Harry nervously stayed put. He didn't want to see this get out of hand.
"Why don't you go and see him as well, Harry." Aurora suggested.
"Maybe you should come with us? Get some thing to eat?" Harry suggested trying to warn her about getting into a confrontation with an angry Anomaly.
"I just ate. You go."
"Yeah Harry." Athena smiled. "leave us to have girl chat."
Harry shifted past Aurora while giving her a look of worry and caution. It was doubtful that he'd actually go down to the great hall, more likely, he'd go a find Sophia or Lincoln and tell them about the possibly dangerous meeting.
"My, haven't you grown." Aurora smiled.
"It happens." Athena continued to glare.
"I see your abilities are working all right."
"Yes, well...there's always the chance that I might shock something by accident." Athena said happily.
"You should be careful. Somethings in this castle shock back." Aurora replied with the same sweet tone.
"And hows things with you and Albus? Still beating him whenever he comes to see you?" She asked with a dark grin.
"Well, he does get a little feisty sometimes."
Athena suddenly felt a surge of anger go through her body. She hadn't liked Aurora from the start but now she loathed her. The idea that the most powerful Anomaly in the world would choose a weak little scar faced human was nauseating. Albus deserved better.
"Maybe you should treat him with a bit more respect. One day he might leave and not come back."
"He always comes back." Aurora smiled.
"Thing's change."
"Not everything." Aurora shot back.
"You really think he won't get tired of you?" Athena laughed.
"Well, I have been known to ware him out a few times." Aurora knew she was getting under her skin. She also knew that Athena wasn't getting Albus without a fight.
"What does he see in you?" Athena hissed. "you're just a human! You're not good enough for him!"
"And you are?"
"Yes!" Sparks of electricity started to build inside her palms again.
Aurora laughed to herself. "You don't have to do the whole dominant woman routine. Nobody believes it because we all know what you really are...just a silly little girl with a lot of power."
Athena snapped and sent a bolt of blue lightning at Aurora but she was ready for it. She span around on the spot with her wand raised and produced a shield right in front of her. The bolt hit the shield and bounced back at Athena, striking her in the chest. She simply absorbed the charge back into her body and sent a second lightning strike at her competition.
Aurora dodged it and this time sent a stunner straight back at Athena. It clipped her in the arm causing her to topple backwards and hit the floor. Athena growled with rage and raised her hand to strike again but nothing happened.
Her entire body had become transparent.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Lincoln roared.
He had grabbed hold of Athena and phased her out. He let go of her, allowing her to re-materialize.
"What the hell is the matter with you two?!" He yelled. "this is a school! You wanna tear each other apart, do it somewhere that some poor innocent student won't get hurt in the crossfire!"
Athena got to her feet and took a second to look Lincoln up and down. He was quite attractive and his smell was very inviting but he still had nothing on Albus. She went back to shooting daggers at Aurora.
"You must be Lincoln."
"Yes! And as you're new around here, let me explain how this works. We're all on the same team so we don't try and kill each other!"
"She started it!" Athena hissed.
"Ahh, don't start crying!" Aurora snapped back.
Athena tried to charge at Aurora but was held back by Lincoln. "Stop now!"
"I will as soon as I've barbecued that bitch!"
"Do that and Albus will beat you to death with one of your own legs!" Lincoln warned.
"In that case, let her hit me." Aurora smiled causing Athena to try and charge at her again.
Lincoln against held her back but this time she suddenly electrified her entire body causing him to let go and yelp in pain. Athena raised her hand to send a bolt at Aurora but was hit straight in the chest with stunner.
She flew backwards and hit the ground, out cold.
"Weren't you suppose to stay away from her?"
"How long do you think it would be before she came looking for me?" Aurora pocketed her wand, feeling very good about herself. "besides, she's a lot more manageable when she's knocked out."
"That's not the point!" Lincoln growled. "You're pregnant! You can't just throw yourself into fights when ever you feel like it! What if she had actually managed to hit you?! What do you think a few thousand volts of electricity would do for the baby?!"
Aurora's happy feeling vanished and was replaced by a dank guilt.
"Whatever your worries or feelings towards Athena are, they have to come second! You give up the right to be selfish the moment you bring a child into this world!" He said, grabbing Athena and lifting her up.
"I'm sorry, I just...she flat out told me that I wasn't good enough for Albus!"
"Well, he seems to disagree! That should be enough for you! Your supposed to be displaying some kind of judgment and maturity here!"
"I'm sorry! It won't happen again!" Aurora whined.
Lincoln sighed. It was painful to see Aurora actually forgetting the fact that she was going to become a mother. She was too used to being on the front lines. After fighting for so long, trying to make the transition into a safe, quiet life wasn't the easiest thing to do. Especially when she knew that there was an extremely beautiful and powerful girl that wanted to steal the love of her life, living in the same castle.
Lincoln turned and started carrying Athena back to the hospital wing. As he did, he felt slightly dazed by her smell. It was intoxicating and had a strong aroma of strawberries. Her pheromones were working over time and even he, an older, seasoned and experienced Anomaly was finding it difficult to resist. If it was this difficult for him, it would be next to impossible for Albus.
Of course, he wouldn't give that kind of information to Aurora but he would have to warn Albus about it.
Unfortunately, he won't have to the chance to. The breeze in the corridors had carried her smell all the way down the ground floor where Albus had just arrived.
It took a few seconds for him to actually pick upon it but once he did, it was all consuming. As if something was actually calling his name and tempting him to follow. He felt like his blood was on fire. Instinct was taking over and although some part of him tried to fight it, it didn't stop him from following the smell.
As the smell got stronger, so did his longing.