TriNymphs - Chapter Seventeen - Happy Time (So named because the story is going to be a lot happier for the next few chapters)
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Lyssa found herself in a very familiar place that she had last been in months ago. She was standing facing the Grecian goddess looking woman, who was standing silently in front of the fountain. Lyssa sighed; she had hoped she would never end up in that place again.
She looked to her right and saw Alex, who was looking back at her, "Yo."
Lyssa was surprised, "How did you get here?"
"Fell asleep. Wound up here."
They waited in silence for a time then about an hour later Chelsea appeared. Lyssa just blinked then there she was. "What the hell!" she exclaimed.
Little brats keep making me wait so long, thought the Grecian Goddess irately. "I am Atlas, mother of the Pleiades," she announced.
"Good for you," Alex scowled, voice dripping with sarcasm. The woman scowled back at Alex and Lyssa, who she had just noticed was backing away from her. Lyssa didn't like her current proximity to this woman. Chelsea just stood there, twiddling her thumbs.
"I'm here to give you the 'talk'" she said, darkly.
"I already had the talk," Alex started, "I'm leaving, goodbye."
"Not that talk you insolent child. Get back here. Now!" Vines sprouted from the ground and grabbed Alex's leg. They half dragged her back to her original spot.
"I am Atlas, the Greek people recognise me as one of their goddesses. I am the mother of the Pleiades, which is a constellation based on seven sisters," she said, in a dull bored voice. "The sisters were all Nymphs and were named Merope, Electra, Alcyone, Taygete, Celeone, Asteropea, and Maia. The Pleiades were changed onto pigeons, then into the constellation. Every few generations one of them is reincarnated.
"Very rarely there are two of them in one generation. Weirdly enough, all three of you are Pleiades. I am required to tell you this, as otherwise things can go chaotic." she continued. "You Alexandria are the reincarnation of Merope, and you are an Earth Nymph. Chelsea is Electra, and a fire Nymph. Melissa is Maia, and a Water Nymph."
"Why did you keep bugging me during the school year!?" Lyssa snapped. She was still capable of being unkind, though she generally didn't do it on purpose anymore.
"Because you needed the burst of power you excreted whilst in the dungeon. Otherwise you would be dead now. You won't be able to use your powers at will for a while yet. Any other questions." she asked, testily.
The triplets were pondering over this; it was kind of cool to find you were the subject of a myth. But all in all, it didn't feel real to them. It wasn't like this was going to somehow change the course of their lives; Or that they would suddenly be responsible for the fate of the world; Or any other such extremity.
Alex raised her hand, like she was asking a question in class. "You," the woman said in response.
"May I go back to sleep now," she said in a falsely sweet voice.
Alex had encountered Atlas before, only she didn't realise it at the time. Atlas had shown up as a spot of light on her wall one night, in the shape of her head. She also used this method to goad Lyssa into releasing power while she had been temporarily kidnapped. It was an easy way to get the three to shut up and listen to her when she didn't want to wait for them to fall asleep.
"Fine," she snapped, and all three sisters went back to their regular dreams.
The next morning, Lyssa sat up in bed and sighed. She never wanted to have to go there again, being there put her on edge even when she wasn't being attacked. She slid out of bed and trudged down to the kitchen in her pyjamas.
She poured herself a bowl of cereal and waited for a sign of human life from the rest of the house. A sign that came when Alex woke up a half hour later. She had her ear buds in and was listening to her iPod, dancing down the stairs in time to the music.
She was a music junkie, and had been listening to her iPod all summer in preparation for the nine months of music withdrawal. An hour later the whole family was sitting in the kitchen eating some form of breakfast. Dobby was sitting in the corner stomping on his toes for having let Mr Malfoy's eggs burn slightly. Chelsea was even there; she had lately been popping in random days to see if the Hogwarts letters had come yet.
The family was sitting in the kitchen sleepily, trying to motivate themselves to move so early in the morning, except for Alex who was practically bouncing off the walls in joy from her music. Lyssa was staring dreamily out the window, trying to think of something to do that day, and noticed four owls growing steadily nearer to Malfoy Manor. "Hogwarts letters," she said. She knew what she was going to be doing today at any rate. Family shopping at Diagon Alley. She stifled a yawn behind a piece of toast.
Draco immediately jumped off his chair and bounded over to the window. He saw there were four owls and let out a cheer. This was to be his first year at Hogwarts; Chelsea remembered how she and her sisters had felt when they had each gotten their first letter.
The feeling was reflected in their surrogate brother who was dancing alone around the kitchen. Lyssa wasn't the type of person to burst into dance, and now that Alex had already been at Hogwarts a year she found her little brothers' excitement immature. Mr and Mrs Malfoy had left the room; Mr Malfoy had gone to work while Mrs Malfoy had gone to visit a neighbour.
Chelsea took pity on her little brother dancing alone and went to join him. They danced around the kitchen singing. While they were busy doing that Alex went to the window where the birds were waiting to be let in to deliver their letters.
The owls for Chelsea and Draco attempted to perch on their respective shoulders to draw their attention, Draco immediately quit to rip open his letter. Chelsea stopped too as there was no point in her dancing alone. Just as each of the four had opened their letters and were reading them Narcissa Malfoy entered the room, back from the neighbours' house.
"You got your letters!" she exclaimed, cheerily. "We'll head straight to Diagon Alley once your father gets home!" Last year she had done the same thing. The family went to Diagon Alley as soon as was possible under the circumstances.
Their house had been under siege by Siena Caine, an upstart journalist from the family sections of the Daily Prophet, desperate to be the next Rita Skeeter. The disappearance of Chelsea was the most interesting article she had been assigned to in a long time.
Lucius Malfoy got home around four and was promptly dragged over to the fireplace by Narcissa, who had been lying in wait for him to get home. She had insisted the children get ready to go out at three-thirty in the unlikely chance Lucius got home early. "Going shopping today, are we?" He sighed.
This had happened a number of other times; Narcissa always liked any excuse to go to Diagon Alley. Narcissa nodded furiously in response to Lucius' question. In response to which he sighed and took some floo power. In a flare of green fire, he disappeared to Diagon Alley to be followed by the rest of the family.
Happy Christmas Eve Everybody!