Disclaimer : Look in the previous chapter.
Harry sat quietly beside Hermione. Neville and Dean took their seat across them. They ignored the whispering sounds and looks from the other students. The looks from most of them were hate, but some also gave them pity. Hermione patted Harry's back and they focused to the now speaking Headmaster. The once silent Hall, was erupted with murmur again right after Dumbledore mentioned the name of Aiden. Harry frowned, he stared at Hermione's knowing look. As the door opened, he saw a beautiful familiar figure strolled in followed by numbers of first years.
Clarissa Aiden has a waist length, smooth, silky, black hair. Her emerald green eyes twinkling in a mischief glint, along with her thick black eyelashes astound the color more. Her small and pinky lips curled up in superior smile. She's not very tall, only a few inches taller than Hermione, actually in the same length as Harry. Her pale complexion and slender curve along her body adding her perfect figure.
Harry looked around and he saw all the dumbstruck faces of most boys. They all were staring in awe of her beauty. Excluding him, Dean, Neville, Draco and his cronies. Soon the murmurs began once again. Harry caught a few words of Aiden, pureblood, ancient, and royals. He frowned and looked at Hermione questioningly.
"'Mione… I don't think I understand about what's happening here," Harry inquired. "Who is Aiden exactly? Why are they so fussing about her?"
"Yeah… despite her beauty, I'm sure as hell I've never seen her or read any Aiden in Daily Prophet nor in chocolate frog's card," agreed Dean.
Hermione stared at Harry for a moment, then seemed to think an easiest way to explain. "You see… I don't really know about it either, Harry…" Harry rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Harry… I'm not a God, you know! All I can tell you is from what I read in few books from library. Like Ancient Legends from North by Andrew Brafalda, The Crossing Matrimony's Ritual by Helena Perovsky, and The Pureblood and Its Pride by Alexander Magnus…"
"Yuck…!" Dean winced. "What kind of book is that? The last one I mean. And why did you even read it, Hermione?"
Hermione shrugged, "I just curious as to why Malfoy always being self-centric git, that's why. And now, I know why, I guess"
"The author must be a Slytherin then…" muttered Dean.
Harry shook his head, "Back to what I asked, 'Mione. Who is Aiden?"
"It's a very ancient family, Harry," it was Neville who answered first. "Grams told me a long time ago, as a bed-story tale. Most, if not all, the pureblood children must know about the Aiden. You see, it was believed that the Aiden is the ancestor of the wizards. What I mean is, many pureblood families had the Aiden blood in their veins. I don't know 'bout my own though, it's been a long time ago to be tracked. Besides, no one know whether it's a fact or a tale anymore."
Harry and Dean looked at each other. Hermione added in, "Neville's right. From what I read, the first generation of the Aiden married with an Elf. That's the first crossing matrimony between human and magical creature, furthermore, the ancient creature. Being the half Elf, the Aiden's heirs and heiress surely inherit few of the Elf's trait, which are being very beautiful and handsome, and a long life. The ability of doing magic was come from the blood of Elf too."
Harry tried to digest the information, "So… in the other words, the Aiden is the founder of magic itself?"
"Well… it doesn't go that way, Harry," said Hermione. "Magic is a power from nature, human cannot make it on his own, it's simply a blessing, a gift. Elf is known as a guardian of the nature, therefore has the power to control a bit aspect of it, not to create it, but to control it, keeping the nature on what something supposed to be. Most of magical creatures are the guardians of nature, or elements on the least. Aiden is… well… like a medium to pass the ability, which is carried by blood, from the guardians to the simply human beings." Here, Hermione stopped on a thought. "No actual record about it anyway, about who's the founder of human magic that is. But most believe it was the Aiden. The Aiden was spread across the country, even overseas, married to other families, thus made them able to do magic as well. In summary, the magical ability was there for humans thanks to the Aiden. That's why the pureblood families respect the Aiden, and think highly about them and their lineage."
Silence fell upon the four of them. Dean was the one who broke it with the sigh of awe. "Cool!"
"Yeah… tell you what," Neville said. "Slytherin and Gryffindor are tied with the Aiden, which actually make them brother in-law."
"The founders?" asked Harry.
"No, not the founders, but generations before them. Both of them had the Aiden's blood run in their veins. They used to get along just fine, both the founders I mean, but when they split up the hatred was there in a strong force, why do you think Slytherin only accepted the pureblood?" Harry and Dean shrugged unknowingly. "Simply because Slytherin really attached to the Aiden's blood and things and worshiped them dearly. But Gryffindor thought the opposite, He did respect the blood things and etcetera, but not worshipped them crazily like Slytherin did. Well, that's what I've been told by Grams."
Harry, Dean, and Hermione actually stifled their laughs, thinking that Salazar Slytherin was overly obsessed over a blood. Neville smiled slightly at them. "Mental, huh?"
That added a few other seconds to calm them. "Oh, yeah… still, why are they making fuss about Clarissa Aiden's arrival?" asked Harry. He tilted his head. "I mean, surely there would be another Aiden? I mean, Aiden isn't a rare name…"
"Oh, no Harry… it's not a rare name, logically. But, how to say it, in Wizarding world, Aiden is a very… sensitive name. It has its own burden, despite its popularity. The purebloods respect it to the stage of fearing it. Like You-Know-Who's name. The one who bear the name of Aiden, must only be the true heir or heiress of the family. Or at least had a strong blood of it run in him or her." Answered Hermione. "But, as I can say… from what I've been informed by the books, the Aiden is nearly just a tale… no one heard about it since, what, hundreds years ago."
"So… do you think she's a fake then?" Dean furrowed.
"I don't know…" Neville said in small voice. "I don't know, really…not until she shows her power. Like Hermione said, Aiden being half Elf inherit the Elf's power, which is to control the elements of nature. This power was bound only to the real heir and heiress. No matter how much the carrier of the blood, the heir and heiress would be chosen from their ability to control this power."
Silence again. None of them were aware that the said Aiden was now sat on a stool with Sorting Hat placed on her head. They were busy with their own conversation. They were startled when the Sorting Hat loudly announced, "Slytherin" as her house. The Slytherin clapped, and Harry saw the proud smirk formed on Draco's face.
"Thank you," said Clarissa. "From now on, we'll be school mates, and this… will be my offering as greetings."
She flicked her fingers, and a big fire ball was formed in front of her. Students near the head table gasped loudly and drew back slowly. Everyone was amazed and entranced by this. All can saw Clarissa smirked and gracefully waved her hand. Like an explosion, the fire ball shattered and transformed into hundreds of tiny fire fairies, with transparent wings etcetera. The fairies were dancing beautifully, doing it in circle around Clarissa. In a gentle manner, Clarissa lifted her right hand until it was pointed to the ceiling, in a flash the tiny fairies made a line as the said hand and rocketed to the ceiling. Clarissa waved her hand once again, and the fairies exploded into fireworks, spurting the frozen fire flakes around the Hall. While all the occupants were still in awe, Clarissa had moved to her seat. Draco Malfoy stood and bowed slightly at her, which received a smile from her. She took a seat beside him.
"It's really wonderful, Miss Aiden," Dumbledore praised warmly, twinkling his eyes. "Children, by this time I'm sure that you've already convinced that she is a true Aiden. Now, let's begin the Sorting Ceremony."
With that simple statement, Professor McGonagall started to call the new first years' name one by one.
"Wicked!" awed Dean. "That's bloody hell wicked!"
"Great, huh? That's what the heir and heiress of Aiden have in their sleeve," grinned Neville.
Harry looked at Clarissa, who was chatting in polite manner with Draco, closely. One time, the said girl looked up and caught his eyes. She smiled widely and waved her hand slightly, Draco followed her stare and did too catch Harry's eyes. Harry blushed and stared back at his plate. He mumbled something softly.
"What was that, Harry?" asked Hermione.
Harry sighed, "I… I said, no wonder she's beautiful, I… I mean… being half Elf and…" he stammered, fighting his blush.
Dean grinned teasingly, "Ah… growing up now, aren't we?"
That gave a nice laugh from Hermione and Neville, while Harry was pouting. For once, it was Neville who teased him more, "You know Harry… her eye and hair colors remind me of yours. They're definitely the same…"
"Which mean, dear Harry, that you're equally beautiful as her…hahahahaha!" added Dean.
"I'm not a girl!" muttered Harry.
None of them saw the glint of acknowledgment from Hermione's eyes and her lacked of response.
"Back to the topic, 'Mione. I still don't understand though, if you said that the Aiden was nearly tale, why is she showing up now?" Harry questioned. "No one talk about it until now, why?"
"There's a myth, Harry, that's saying the Aiden was perished by a curse. But there's also another theory that's saying Aiden only change their name because the Witches and Wizards massacre in middle-age." Answered Hermione.
"The curse? They got cursed!" Dean's eyes widened. "Bloody hell, what curse?"
"I don't know…" Hermione stared at Neville, being the only pureblood among them, she hoped he knew better.
"Well, the curse involving the twin and an unforgivable sin. I've been said like this; we all know that the twin of different gender as in girl and boy are rare in our community, right? Grams told me, the first said twin was come from the Aiden, again. It seemed that the Elf who married to the family was the half set herself. Since the Family held the crossing blood from human and elf, the Heir and Heiress of the Elf power and the right to uphold the Aiden name always passed down to the next twins which happened to be conceived two generations later. The next generation of the twin since the first generation, which means the great-grandson and great-grand daughter, unfortunately did something really terrible, which made the King of Elf himself mad at them. The curse was given, making them somewhat… live in agony after that and slowly the Aiden name became rare and perished." Neville shrugged.
"Whoa…!" Dean gaped, while Harry stunned. "The King himself, it must be very awful!"
"It's only saying that, nobody's perfect Dean. No matter how rich, beautiful and handsome, or long life, every human beings always have their flaws." Hermione said wisely. And all the four stared silently to the Aiden girl.
xXx
After the ceremony ended, the feast was begun. Harry ate a small amount of food which made Hermione like a mother hen. Hermione was in a real worry. Seeing Harry's pattern of food and lack of rest, how could she not? Neville noticed this too, they both exchanged worry glances, and silently agreed to keep an eye close to him. Harry talked animatedly with Dean, for that part, Hermione was grateful. She then secretly place small mount by mount of food on Harry's plate, without him noticing it. And she was sure to keep it as a habit. Harry was too thin for she likes.
Until it was time for her to do her prefect duty, leading the first year to Gryffindor tower, she bid goodbye to the boys and walked ahead. Harry, Dean, and Neville got their way after her half an hour later.
Harry was shocked, and terribly upset when he made it to the Fat Lady portrait, only to find his trunk were thrown out in front of the passage. His belongings were scattered everywhere, and upon that, he found a nasty smug face of Ron Weasley and Seamus Finnigan who were standing against the wall. He shot a glare at them, and manually picked his things into his trunk.
"What's the commotion here?" a stern voice said from behind Harry. "Mr. Potter, care to explain why you have your things in a mess?"
Harry stared at his Head House, "Professor McGonagall… I… I honestly don't have any idea," he said in small voice. "It's already like this when… when I show up."
"It's Ronald Weasley and Seamus Finnigan doing, Professor!" said none other than Hermione. "They threw his things out!"
McGonagall's eyes narrowed dangerously to the both said boys. "Is that true, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Finnigan?"
"Professor, we did it in our concern…" said Ron.
"Detention Mr. Weasley, and you too, Mr. Finnigan for an appropriate manner toward house mate." She cut in strictly.
Ron looked sulking for a while and sighed, "We accept the detention Professor, but we refuse to accept him back as our house mate. We petition to remove him from the dorm, concerned by our safety. I, Ronald Weasley fifth year, as Gryffindor prefect pass down the will that agreed by all of the house member."
"Liar! I didn't agree to such a thing! And not all agreed with this, Ronald!" screamed Hermione.
"Fine, by three fourth of the member then." Ron snapped at her. "We demand him out from our dorm, Professor, otherwise, we will not take any responsible of what may happen to him."
The noise from behind the red haired boy became more loudly with agreement. McGonagall gaped for a moment, and frowned deeply. Harry didn't notice the dark look shown on Dean and Neville. He too didn't realize the two Gryffindor had shove their way harshly and gone for a while into the common room.
Harry was startled with the sound of dragged trunks coming from the hole and the sniffing voice. He looked up after he locked his trunk, and once again surprised. Hermione was standing there, glaring with all her might to no other than Ron Weasley.
"Hermione, you're blocking the way…." Said Dean.
All heads turned around to the sound, including Ron and Seamus. Dean and Neville walked to the spot beside Harry and stared right into McGonagall eyes with firm determination.
"If he goes, Professor, we'll go!" said Neville and Hermione gasped from background.
McGonagall sighed and nodded curtly, "Follow me to Headmaster, gentlemen!"
McGonagall turned sharply on her heels and the three outcast Gryffindor followed closely. Before that, Hermione gave Harry a hug with a strangled sob and Neville sneered at the other Gryffindor.
"Happy now, eh Weasly? Finally have the Gryffindor wrapped in your palm?" spat Dean. "Be careful Weasley, never took more than you can grab!"
Dean dragged Harry in protective way, all three never looked back. And only the sound of a sobbing Hermione bade the farewell.
xXx