Disclaimer: Do I really have to do this every chapter? Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, not me.
A/N: Originally Harry was going to tell his new friends who he was this chapter, but I thought it was too soon.
The morning Harry was leaving for Aether was a little chaotic. To start with Libby had forced him into a bath and then promptly burst into tears on him. After calming down the sobbing house elf he couldn't find Mer. He found her strolling the halls 20 minutes later looking for a rat and she refused to leave the halls until she had one to eat. So he joined her on the hunt until he got fed up and called for a house elf to get them a rat for her to eat. Lastly on his way down to breakfast he was nearly caught in five prank traps and was actually caught in one that gave him a large boil n his left arm that he had to burst and heal.
"Uncle Paddy those pranks were quite juvenile and the color changing charm wouldn't have worked anyway."
"The color changing charm wasn't me as for the rest, well I'm going to miss you prongslet."
"So your way of telling me you're going to miss me while I'm away at Aether is to try to pull every prank you possibly can on me?"
"Er… yes?"
"You're unbelievable!" Sirius just grinned and returned to his breakfast. Harry noticed a piece of paper by his plate. "Hey what's this?" Remus took a look at it.
"That's a list of all the classes you can take this year. Why don't you pick whatever sounds interesting and ask us what it's about? You're supposed to choose 10 classes and then after the first month of classes drop the two you feel most unsuited for."
"Alright, so I suppose I'll choose Elemental class, after all that wandmaker did even write out a note. What's Cruor Sorcery?" Sirius perked up immediately.
"That's my specialty, basically cruor sorcery is bloodmagic. Bloodmagic is as versatile as magic gets; it is both defensive and offensive. You can carve runes into your body to correct your eyesight, create a shield of blood, or charge your blood with electricity. You can also turn your blood into blood whips and bullets and use it as another set of limbs. Do be wary of blood loss though, the mortality rate of the cruor sorcery classes is the highest in the school." Harry checked that one on his list.
"What about runes class? I didn't take runes while I was at Hogwarts, will that be a problem?" Peter replied,
"Nope, I didn't take runes at Hogwarts either and I became the apprentice of the runes teacher at Aether. For runes class you'll need a special stylus and some kind of clay to write on at first. You've heard the phrase 'words have power' right? I think that's the best description of runes I can come up with. Every rune has a meaning assigned to it, and combinations of runes can be used to get a certain effect. If you take Cruor Sorcery you have to take Runes, it's one of Professor Alexei's requirements." Harry checked that one on his list as well.
"Wandless magic class?" Remus shook his head.
"By the time you go to Aether you're expected to know wandless magic. Taking that class is the equivalent of taking a remedial class at Hogwarts. You won't learn anything useful, and you'll be seen as weak by the other students." Harry didn't check that one off.
"Weaponry? And Mind Magics?" Padfoot nodded.
"Weaponry class will be harder than what you've done with me. You'll need that one in case you're ever challenged to an honor duel, which happens much more often than you would think." Harry checked off Weaponry. Moony explained mind magics,
"You're going to learn different techniques to occlude your mind properly. Also they have the students practice against each other, you'll find every single chink in your Occlumency and reinforce it, but you can also do that another year. You are required to take it though, unless you're a prodigy, which you might actually be." Harry decided to hold off on Mind Magics.
"What other classes are required?" Peter answered,
"Healing isn't strictly required, but you don't want to go to the Healer for any injuries if possible. She requires a payment; I know she asked a vampire for his fangs and a changeling for her talons. Unless you're on the brink of death or have something to trade for her services don't ever go to her for help." Harry checked that class off with a shudder.
"What about Transmutation? What is that?" Padfoot raised his hand.
"Transmutation is similar to transfiguration I guess you could say. Except you can't use a wand for transmutation. You can already do some minor transmutation, conjuring objects is considered transmutation. By the end of that class you should be able to do permanent conjurations." Harry checked that off.
"Any recommendations?" Remus thought for a minute,
"Well given the situation with Moldy Voldy you have to take Animus Sorcery. Animus Sorcery is soul magic maybe that can help you with the horcruxes, and maybe you should try Divination." Harry made a face at that. "Divination at Aether is different, we have a proper teacher who is actually a seer and can hone the seer in anyone with a talent. If you don't have the talent she'll tell you on your first day." Harry shrugged and checked off both classes
"How about Necromancy and Void magic?" Peter nodded,
"Necromancy revolves around death magic which should include inferi. You will either have a ton of death magic from that killing curse or it will have burnt through it all. As for void magic, well I wouldn't exactly suggest it. You'll either have an aptitude for it, or you'll leave after the first class, similar to Divination. But, void magic is also pretty much unstoppable. If you can master it that's be a nice ace up your sleeve." After a bit of hesitation he checked both off. Moony smiled,
"Now that you've chosen your class list have you decided on your new name?" Harry shook his head.
"I'm set on my first name as Dante, but I can't think of a last name that will go well with it. I don't want to use Potter in case someone figures out who I am, and Dante Jameson sounds, cacophonous." Sirius sat back,
"Dante huh? I can see it, hey why don't you use Black. Everyone knows the Black line ended with me, no one will link you to Harry Potter. You can say that you're a distant relative and inherited the Black estate through your paternal grandmother. Which actually is the truth, and it will silence any questions if you accidentally show how well off you are."
"You don't mind? And what do you mean it isn't far off?" Mer finally came out of hiding.
You and that nest mate share blood. I can smell it.
Thanks Mer, where've you been?
Shedding. Harry took a look at her she looked glossier. Her skin was a shimmery seafoam color with specks of white.
"I mean that your father's mother was a Black, Dorea Black. She was my aunt actually, James and I were first cousins not that anyone ever really acknowledged it. Apparently mother tried to get her disinherited from the family when she married Charlus, but grandfather wouldn't hear of it, and when she nagged him he just snapped at her that she wasn't a real Black anyway. Wish I could've seen it." Padfoot sighed dreamily. "Father said the harpy actually shut up."
"Alright then, Dante Black it is. Thank you Uncle Padfoot." Peter took a look at the clock on the mantelpiece.
"It's time for you to go Dante. You have to be in front of Archimedes' Bookshop at 10 AM. It's already 9:36 and the gateway has shifted location." Harry bid his guardians adieu and pulled his trunk down to the gateway. He checked to make sure he had Mer and ported away.
I do not like this form of transportation.
What do you mean? You can feel it?
Of course I can feel it. Excuse me I have to barf. Harry twisted his body just barely fast enough to avoid the snake vomit.
You couldn't have given me more warning?
I gave you as much warning as I could, it's not my fault you don't have quick enough reflexes. Now shut up unless you want everyone to know you can speak the snake tongue. Harry nodded. He'd explained to Mer that he didn't want people to know he was a parseltongue if he could help it. She couldn't understand why he wanted to hide his gift, but had agreed to his unreasonable (in her opinion) request. He made his way down Wizard's Way looking for Archimedes'. After 10 minutes he found it and decided to make himself comfortable on one of the benches outside.
"Scootch over mortal." Harry opened an eye to look at the vampire that had approached him, and internally smirked.
"Only if you say please." The vampire snarled at him.
"You are below me mortal. I don't have to say please. Get up!" Harry just a waved a hand and the vampire went flying. Another vampire approached Harry and Harry groaned. One vampire he could handle, but two?
"Good job!" Harry stared at the vampire incredulously. "Can I sit down please? I'll explain about him." Harry wordlessly shifted over so that the new vampire could sit down. Mer looked up to see what the fuss, was hissed at the newcomer, and coiled around Harry again. Raven waved at her and then sat down, "His name is Theodore Lebeau and he's from one of the minor noble families. He thinks he's all that, but amongst the vampires he's considered a pathetic excuse for a sorcerer. He's one of the anti-mortal types as you can see, and not particularly intelligent. You're going to Aether right?" Harry nodded.
"Yup, it's nice to meet you, I'm Dante Black." The vampire smiled and stuck out a hand.
"Are we going by our new names? My name's Raven Chevalier. Hey how'd you get your hair that color?" Dante groaned.
"I don't know. I did my animagus transformation and then it just got stuck this color. I still suspect it was a prank my godfather thought up, but everywhere I've looked for information on it suggests that it's a normal." Raven nodded.
"That means it's probably your animagus mark, it's pretty cool looking if it's any consolation. I met someone whose animagus transformation left them with gills. He looks ridiculous." Harry smiled. "Are you nervous about attending Aether?"
"I'm not so worried about Aether per se, I'm more worried about the mortality rate for mortal humans." Raven looked confused for a minute.
"Oh that's right, the mortality rate for you guys is 75% isn't it? The vampire mortality rate fluctuates constantly, at the moment it looks like we'll have a mortality rate of 40%." Harry was shocked.
"How many vampires are there at Aether?" Raven stared at him.
"Your parents didn't tell you? There's about 125 vampires, 100 weres, 100 djinns, 50 fae, 50 goblins, 25 elves, 25 centaurs or satyrs, and the rest is comprised of mortals, gnomes, and dwarves." Hearing the statistics Dante wondered at the small population of gnomes and dwarves.
"Why are there so few gnomes and dwarves?" Raven looked at him like he was trying to solve a riddle.
"Aha! You're originally from Earth reality aren't you?" Dante nodded. "Well why didn't you say so? The dwarves live deep in the mountains of Infinitium reality, they have special schools there for their magics. They allow the best 10-15 to come here to become warriors. As the dwarves have ridiculously long life spans they only need a few each year. Also out of those 10-15 only a few die here. As for the gnomes, their numbers were decimated by their last civil war. Not that their numbers are ever high to start with. Aside from that gnomes aren't very interested in Aether, they almost never leave their city which is a separate reality. The gnomes you'll meet here are abnormal by their standards, and they probably won't return to Haraxilik City anyway." Dante nodded. "So where did you go to school before?" Dante figured there wouldn't be any trouble telling him considering many students had dropped out of Hogwarts this year.
"I went to Hogwarts actually. Trust me when I say it wasn't fun. There were new adventures every year I feel bad for Potter he was always in some kind of trouble." Raven nodded.
"I'm from Earth reality too. Most of the vampires in Earth reality are centered around France you know. I was what you would call homeschooled. My mother took care of the academic side of things, my father taught me how to fight, and my elder sister took care of anything they missed. What about your parents? What did they think about you coming to Aether?" Dante studied the ground.
"My parents died when I was pretty young so I grew up with my muggle aunt and her family. My godfather and other guardians decided to take over this year, apparently my parents went to Aether and they wanted me to attend as well." Raven decided that pity would only make the white-haired boy angry so he changed the topic,
"What classes are you taking?"
"I chose Cruor Sorcery, Animus Sorcery, Healing, Necromancy, Divination, Void Magic, Transmutation, Elemental, Runes, and Weaponry, how about you?"
"Replace Divination with a specialized vampire class, and Void Magic for a hand-to-hand combat class and you have my schedule. You know that the Elemental professor hates humans right? And that Void Magic is taught by the Headmistress?"
"Actually I didn't know that Void Magic was taught by the Headmistress, but I have a note for Professor Cyrus from Jahan. It has to do with my wand, but I don't know what that's about."
"May I see your wand and the note?" Dante startled at the voice coming from right behind him. He turned around to see the headmistress standing behind him.
"Headmistress! Of course." He pulled out his wand and the note and handed both over to her. She was tall, with black hair cascading down her back and a pair of unearthly blue eyes. She studied the wand carefully, and then read the note.
"I see, Cyrus will have a conniption. You'll have a unique connection with lightning. Oh this will be a fun year, lightning is Cy's specialty, he'll hate this. You know he actually respects your mother for the tongue-lashing she gave him almost 20 years ago right? I'd suggest giving him the note as soon as you arrive. Good luck Mr. Black!" She giggled and walked out into the middle of the street. He looked at Raven who just shrugged.
"She's been alive for hundreds of years, I guess she isn't quite all there anymore. Most vampires and djinns over a thousand aren't." Dante shifted his focus to the Headmistress who was gathering all the students.
"All first-year students heading to Aether gather in the circle! Everyone else get out!" As she finished speaking a large glowing white circle appeared in the street. It looked as if it could fit 1,000 easily. Aether students including Dante and Raven rushed into the circle and non-Aether students ran out of the circle. She waited for a full minute and then waved her wand in the air. Mer slithered out from his clothes.
Tell me this will be better than using the gateway. Harry shrugged sympathetically, and then when he knew Raven wasn't paying attention responded.
Don't worry you'll never have to go through this again.
Somehow I don't believe you. Harry kept quiet because he felt the circle start to vibrate. It felt like he was on a muggle rollercoaster. Information about the spell started coming to him. It was a form of Void Magic and like most void magic it was impossible to prevent someone from using it to get out or into a place. The power requirements were pretty high, but if he adjusted the spell to a smaller radius and learned some control he should be able to perform the spell if he showed any aptitude for Void magic. He sent a silent apology to Mer, he was definitely going to try this again. Eventually the ground stopped shaking and they were inside Aether's courtyard.
Aether was a castle like Hogwarts, but it was 3 or 4 times larger and structured entirely differently. On the outskirts was a large courtyard with a desert, mountains, a small jungle, and a couple of lakes. The castle itself looked like the Sultan's Palace from Aladdin, but it was bigger and had more towers. In each spire a different kind of magic was taught. Underneath each spire were 20 suites for the students. To get from class to class students had to walk down the staircase, run across to their next class, and race up that staircase hoping they weren't late. Luckily students never ended up in the wrong spire because they were color-coded. For example Necromancy's spire is black, Cruor Sorcery's spire is blood red, and Animus Sorcery's spire is white.
"Here we are students. As you know half of you will die before you graduate, in order to prevent this I recommend making as many allies as you can. Also Alexei requests that I mention if you fear death to avoid his classroom. At least half of the deaths at Aether are caused by Cruor Sorcery. Now then in front of you is a paper with your suite number and which spire you will reside in for the rest of your stay at Aether. Each suite is currently completely empty. Have fun setting up your homes and warding them. Class will start in three days you will find your class schedule next to you when you wake up. Breakfast is served in the courtyards at 7:00, be there or you won't eat. Off you go I'll see the Void Magic students first period Monday morning, don't be late. Good luck getting to your rooms." She popped off to her quarters presumably.
"Which spire are you in Dante?"
"I'm under Cruor Sorcery, how about you?"
"I'm under Cruor as well, which floor?"
"I'm on number 12, you?"
"Right below you, cool. Now let's get started, did she say anything against groups? Or using our familiars?" Dante shook his head. Raven grinned and opened his trunk. Out came a miniature black unicorn that grew to about his waist. "Now let me introduce you to my familiar, his name is Noir. He's just a filly right now, but eventually he'll be big enough for me to ride him. I saw your familiar briefly earlier, would you mind introducing it?"
"Not at all. Let's see if she'll wake up." Dante pulled Mer out of his clothing. "Her name is Mer, and she hates most forms of magical travel, they make her sick."
That's not true. I don't have a problem with that thing your Headmistress does. That was fun. Can we do it again? "Except for void travel apparently." Raven stared at Mer.
"She's certainly not a snake I've ever seen before."
Of course you haven't seen my kind before, I'm one of a kind you filthy leech. To imply otherwise is an insult to all snakes kutte ki jat. Mer continued to hiss profanities at raven while Dante laughed at her.
"I'm sorry if I insulted you. You are a very beautiful and unique snake. Your scales are one of a kind." Mer stopped insulting him.
Much better. You are allowed to pet me now if you'd like. Dante just kept laughing.
"What's she saying?" Dante froze, had he given himself away?
"How do you know I can understand her?" Raven shrugged.
"You're laughing, presumably at what she's saying. I've heard of strong familiar bonds where the familiar can communicate with their bonded telepathically. I'd assume she's thinking about what she's saying." Dante was relieved he wanted to keep this a secret for a little while longer, "So what'd she say?"
"She'll allow you to pet her now, but before that she was calling you every insulting name under the sun. Actually I think some of those insults were in Indian." Dante looked at Mer speculatively. "Why can you speak Indian?"
Not telling. Dante sighed and let Raven pet Mer for a little while.
"Hey let's group up with a couple other people, I see some friends over there." Dante followed after Raven and Noir slowly not wanting to meet any more vampires. He was pleasantly surprised that Raven's friends weren't all vampires. "Dmitri Belkov meet Dante Black. Dmitri is a djinn, and Dante is a human." The two shook hands.
"Hey leech, how are you? What name did you end up choosing?" The orange-skinned djinn asked his friend. At first Dante was sure the vampire would attack the djinn for insulting him, but they just hugged and Raven answered him.
"Raven Chevalier, at your service." Dmitri nodded and looked over at Dante,
"Nice ta meetcha mortal. How good do you think your chances are of surviving Aether?" Dante smirked,
"Seeing as both of my parents graduated from here, I'd say my chances are pretty good." Dmitri looked at Dante green eyes wide in shock.
"You're a double legacy?" He whistled, "That's rare, especially amongst the humans, you'll be like the second human double legacy since the founding." Dante hadn't realized just how rare a legacy was here at Aether. He just hoped nobody would piece together who he was using that information. Raven waved his hand impatiently.
"Yes Dmitri we know, now Dante meet-" Dante looked at the girl Raven was pointing at and realized she looked familiar.
"Daisy?" The purple-haired girl looked up to meet Dante's eyes smiling.
"Fancy seeing you here Green Eyes." He hugged her. "Where've you been? I went by your house the other day and they said they were investigating your uncle's murder. It was a pretty gruesome sight." Dante shrugged.
"My work of course, did you like it?" She laughed.
"You don't ever change do ya Green Eyes? I did like it actually. He deserved worse after everything he did to you, but why'd you spare your aunt and cousin?" Dante shook his head.
"After I left he started abusing them in my place. Besides Dudley never learned that what he was doing was wrong until now. In a way he's worse off than I am, I'm capable of being a human being. He's always been spoiled rotten and he's always been able to bully the other kids into doing his work. Anyway what's your name here?" she smiled sheepishly,
"Actually I wanted to choose Daisy, that was always my favorite nickname, but one of the other fae had already chosen it. I'm going by Willow." Raven looked confused,
"Mind cluing the rest of us on what's going on here?" Willow shrugged and pointed at Harry to go first.
"When I was like 3 or something Daisy's parents moved next door to me. They offered to babysit me and my aunt and uncle sent me over nearly every day. Which I thought was weird because the Dursleys were terrified of anyone they considered abnormal and Daisy's parents were certainly abnormal looking. Daisy had purple hair and gold eyes, as did her mum and her dad. But I decided to ignore it, Daisy and I grew up together, she's the closest thing I've ever had to a sister. Then when I was 10 the family just disappeared. No one remembered meeting them, or that the house had ever been occupied. The Dursleys thought I was just being a 'freaky'. Eventually I just wrote it off as a fantasy." Dante looked at Willow questioningly.
"Sorry about that Green Eyes, we're Mnemosyne fae. We had to move back to Fiore for the conclave. Mom and Dad wiped the minds of every muggle who'd seen us. I begged them not to wipe your mind, we knew you were a wizard the first time you saw through our glamour. That's why they asked to babysit you so often. That and they didn't want you home as much so your aunt and uncle couldn't abuse you." Raven smiled in a rather unfriendly way,
"You mentioned you did something to your uncle earlier, what'd you do to him?" Dante rubbed his hands together,
"Well first Mer injected him with a special venom she has that keeps the victim paralyzed and awake while I broke all his bones, tore out chunks of his flesh, charred his genitals, and ripped out his voicebox. Then I gave him a potion that will keep him aware and alive for the next ten years and dulled his heartbeat. He's currently buried alive. I consider the being buried alive payback for him beating me bloody and then shoving me in the cupboard countless times," The others laughed and one of the others he hadn't been introduced yet shook his hand.
"I'm going to like you, I can already tell. My name's Manolo Rodriguez, and I'm a werecat. Call me Manny. It's nice to meet you Dante Black." Dante smiled and shook his hand. Manny was obviously Latino. He had curly brown hair, chocolaty brown eyes, a nice tan, and a slight accent. The last two students introduced themselves.
"My name's Remy Lebeau, and I'm a vampire as you can see. Raven informed me that you met my brother, I'm sorry for your misfortune," He shrugged and held his hand out to Dante and they shook hands as well. Remy was tall, paper white, with blue black hair and crimson eyes. Dante turned to the last person.
"Hi Dante! My name's Aurora and I'm a wood elf. It's nice to meet you." Aurora was short with the typical golden hair and pointed elf ears. Her eyes were forest green and seemed to actually sparkle. Dante watched the bouncing wood elf before offering a hand, which the elf ignored in favor of a hug. As usual he tensed slightly at first, but ended up hugging her back. Once he disentangled himself from the bouncy elf he addressed the group,
"Shall we head off? I'm getting tired of just standing here. Where is the entrance to the school anyway?" As he asked his question the djinn closed his eyes and pointed left.
"The gates close around the school and the only opening is over by the mountains. Can anyone feel for anti-apparation wards?" Dante nodded, his mage sight allowed him to see every kind of magic,
"There's anti-apparation wards, weather wards, anti-house elf wards, and anti-portkey wards. How we'd get a portkey to the entrance I don't know, but let's get going. It looks like a one-day trek to the mountains, but I'm sure there's plenty of monsters out here ready to kill us." They all shrunk their trunks and headed off towards the mountains.
The first obstacle they encountered was a wide stream with flesh eating fish. Manny sat down by the stream and caught a few to roast over the fire later, while the others found a way across. Dante came up with a solution,
"How about I electrocute the fish?" The others moved away from the water and allowed him to enact his plan. He charged the water, and a few of the fish died, but the rest just got angrier. He charged the water again with his wand, "Fulguris!" This time all the fish died, after a minute the electricity faded. Raven looked slightly creeped out,
"Uhh that fish's fin just moved." Willow shook her head,
"Don't be ridiculous! He just charged the stream with almost enough lightning to kill a vampire." Following her words a fish started swimming again. "Okay maybe not so ridiculous. Any other bright ideas anybody?" Aurora shrugged.
"Why don't we just build a bridge over it?" Remy grinned,
"Transmutation? That's my specialty." Remy built a bridge over to the other side arching at least 10 feet above the water. Just before he stepped on the bridge Raven grabbed him.
"Look!" The fish were jumping up and eating the stone bridge. After a while nothing was left. Remy watched in shock,
"Okay, so we have freaky undead stone eating fish that can jump over 10 feet. Now what we do?" Dmitri stared at the water,
"How about we conjure something to distract them while we cross the water?" Each of them conjured a few hundred pounds of meat for the fish to eat. They crossed while the fish were still eating and they all waded across the water. They walked for a few more hours without any obstacles, but eventually they came to the forest. Dante paused,
"My guardians told me the forest had several dangerous animals we'll either have to kill, intimidate, or befriend. Keep your eyes open yeah?" The others nodded. Almost immediately they came across a giant Rhomboid Rose. It was a special kind of flower shaped like a rhombus and it was extremely poisonous and extremely rare. Just the scent of the flower would knock out most magicals. Willow smiled, plants she could deal with,
"I'm going to try and ask it to draw its poison out of the air. Give me a second and Green Eyes." Dante moved over to her, "I'm going to need you to amplify for me okay?" He nodded and concentrated on the mental message she was relaying. As he concentrated the message grew louder and directed itself towards the roses. He listened in on the conversation she was having with the plants.
:: Excuse me? Ms. Rhomboid Rose? Hey do you think you could tone down your poison so that my friends and I can pass through? We're trying to get to Aether. ::
:: Such a well-mannered fae. I knocked out another of your kind last year for being rude and demanding, but you are polite. I will grant your request if you will tell me your name. ::
:: Thank you Ms. Rhomboid Rose, my name is Willow. ::
:: Well then Willow, come back sometime to tell me how your studies are going at Aether. Call me Ro. ::
:: I'll come back in a week, Ro. It's been a pleasure. :: Dante opened his eyes and looked up at a beaming Willow.
"Guys come over here! This is Ro, she's agreed to hold back her poison so we can get through." The rest of their group followed along saying thank you to the rhombus-shaped rose. They continued their trek across the forest encountering a couple of animals, but it was fairly quiet until they got to the end of the forest. Manny stretched and yawned,
"That wasn't so bad." As he said the words they stumbled across an Ashwinder nest. Immediately the mother came out of her hiding spot,
"Manny you jinxed us." Dmitri said jokingly to the werecat. Dante shook his head,
"Let me see if my familiar can ask her to back off." He drew Mer out and pointed at the Ashwinder."
What kind of trouble did you get yourself into this time?
:: It wasn't my fault she placed her nest in the single most inconvenient place in the forest. Can you negotiate our passage? ::
The things I do for you human. Excuse me, Grey Scales, I apologize for any inconvenience my human and his friends have caused you, but we need to get past.
Egg-thief! How dare you, a snake, aid an egg-thief! Mer drew herself up to her full height angrily hissing at the Ashwinder.
How dare you imply that my bonded would steal another snake's eggs! Or that I would aid a human in stealing another snake's eggs.
He and his allies stepped into my nest. What am I supposed to think?
That it was an accident caused by your poor placement of your nest. I will say this one last time, let us pass! Dante could hear the rushing of water, as she got angrier.
Very well. Tell your bonded to tell the humans to put their hands where I can see them as they pass.
You heard her Dante, go tell your friends to put their hands up.
"Mer was able to convince the snake to let us pass, but she needs reassurance that we won't steal her eggs. She's requested that you put your hands where she can see them as you pass through." The others nodded and went in a line. Dante went first, and one by one the rest followed him. After they got past the Ashwinder's nest they exited the forest. Aurora looked up at the sky
"Let's keep moving guys I want to be by the lake before nightfall." The others looked up at the sky it was a few hours from sunset. They'd have to set up camp soon. They were halfway to the pond when they encountered a pair of students running away from a herd of Blast-Ended Skrewts. Harry and the others rushed over to help the pair. There were about 15 and they killed the last of the hoard after a couple minutes.
"I thought they'd all killed each other. Hagrid was moaning about how the last of the vicious beasts were gone."
"Well that's Hagrid for you. I heard Professor Alexei put around 100 in here around the time Hagrid first noticed the Skrewts were killing each other." The boy with vaguely Italian features introduced himself. "You're a fellow Hogwarts alumnus aren't you? My name is Leon Zabini, Slytherin." Dante looked at him trying to figure out who he was. He thought there was a Blaise Zabini in his year, but why was a Slytherin attending Aether?
"Here's to hoping you aren't one of Malfoy's goons. Nice to meet you Zabini, my Aether name's Dante Black, Gryffindor." Leon's eyes widened.
"No I'm not one of his goons, but why are you trusting me? Gryffindors tend to believe all Slytherins are evil." Dante shook his head.
"I know the Carrow twins. Anyway I can't see the harm, it's not like you'll be able to get any message to Earth Reality until winter break, and by then I'll probably have some kind of blackmail against you or you'll be dead." Dante smirked at him. "Besides you wouldn't be allowed to attend Aether if you had the mark. The school won't accept anyone who has those kinds of pre-existing loyalties. I'd guess you came to Aether to escape getting the mark. Good luck to you." While he'd been chatting with Zabini, the others had been talking to his partner. She was obviously a dryad, which confused Dante. Weren't Dryads relatively peaceful people? And weren't they tied to their tree?
"Hello Dante Black. I knew I'd be meeting you today. How was the last month of your summer?" She said in a dreamy tone not unlike Luna's.
"It was good. Er it's nice to meet you-"
"Call me Lila." Willow took over the introductions,
"Dante, Lila's a seer. That's actually why she's here, so that she can refine her ability."
"It's so annoying, I'll be searching for naiads one moment, and the next I'm watching visions of Tom Riddle torturing his servants." She continued to speak in her dreamy tone.
"I can see how that would be an inconvenience. Do you wish to join us?"
"Of course. We've been just a step behind you for most of the journey anyway. Oh look a bread and butterfly!" He watched as Lila chased after the bread and butterflies he hadn't noticed. Leon came up to him,
"Let's keep moving, she'll follow after us. I learned that after the first three times she went off on her own."
"Okay let's go guys. Maybe we can make it to the lake in another hour." They didn't run into any other problems for the next hour and set up camp by the lake. "Shall we do shifts?" The two vampires shook their heads.
"We only need to sleep a few hours a week. We'll keep watch tonight." Raven spoke for both of them. "Who can set up a decent ward?" Warding fell to Aurora and Willow who created wards to make their campsite invisible, scentless, and soundless. Dante and Dmitri created tents and comfortable seating by the fire. Manny cooked the fish he'd gotten earlier, and Leon added some berries and vegetables he'd found while in the forest. Lila collected water and identified whether or not what Leon had gathered was poisonous. Luckily for them almost none of what he'd found was dangerous. They agreed to get up at 7 the next morning to continue their trek to school.
Review pretty please. Tell you what, I pretty much have the next chapter written out. I'll post it as soon as I get a review. Otherwise I'll just wait a few days. I'm thinking of updating this story biweekly.
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