Huntress Mage Chronicles
Chapter 5
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
The next day the professors see no sign of Draco but at breakfast they do notice Dobby delivering custom brooms to the members of the Justice Quidditch team at least partially because the former Malfoy elf is wearing a mismatched three piece suit with suitably mismatched socks. When asked where his old attire was, Dobby replies, "It is being given to former master Draco so no ones has to see his ugly bits."
At seven o'clock, the Justice Quidditch team leaves the castle and sets off in the dusk toward the Quidditch field. Emerald has never been inside the stadium before. Hundreds of seats are raised in stands around the field so that the spectators are high enough to see what is going on. At either end of the field are three golden poles with hoops on the end. They remind Emerald of the little sticks Yautja pups blow bubbles through, except that they are fifty feet high.
Too eager to fly again to wait for Madam Hooch, Emerald mounts her broomstick and kicks off from the ground. What a feeling – she swoops in and out of the goalposts and then speeds up and down the field. Her broom turns wherever she wants at her lightest touch.
"Death-Potter, come down!"
Madam Hooch has arrived. She is carrying a large wooden crate under her arm. Emerald lands next to her as the rest of the team gathers around.
"I'll only go over the rules this evening. Miss Death-Potter needs to arrange times for team practice." Madam Hooch says, her eyes glinting.
She opens the crate. Inside are four different-sized balls.
"Right," says Hooch. "Now, Quidditch is easy enough to understand, even if it's not too easy to play. There are seven players on each side. Three of them are called Chasers. That's Longbottom, Thomas, and Bones for you."
"Three Chasers," Emerald repeats, as Hooch takes out a bright red ball about the size of a soccer ball.
"This ball's called the Quaffle," says Hooch. "The Chasers throw the Quaffle to each other and try and get it through one of the hoops to score a goal. Ten points every time the Quaffle goes through one of the hoops. Follow me?"
The Justice team nods.
"Now there's another player on each side who's called the Keeper – Weasley is yours. He has to fly around your hoops and stop the other team from scoring. Patil and Patil, take these bats," Madam Hooch says before indicating a pair of jet black balls slightly smaller than the Quaffle. "These are the Bludgers. The Patils can get a few practice swings." She bends down and frees one of the Bludgers.
At once, the black ball rises high in the air and then pelts straight at Padma's face. Padma swings at it with her bat to stop it from breaking her nose, and sends it zigzagging away into the air – it zooms around their heads and then shoots at Parvati, who hits it with her own bat only for it to aim at Emerald next. Instead of ducking or running, Emerald holds her left hand out and catches the Bludger in a thin layer of magic.
"Impressive Miss Death-Potter. The Bludgers rocket around, trying to knock players off their brooms. That's why you have two Beaters on each team – the Patil twins are showing promise as yours - it's their job to protect their side from the Bludgers and try and knock them toward the other team."
"Any deaths from the Bludgers?" Emerald asks offhandedly.
"Never at Hogwarts. We've had a couple of broken jaws but nothing worse than that. Now, the last member of the team is the Seeker. That's Miss Death-Potter. And she doesn't have to worry about the Quaffle or the Bludgers."
Hooch reaches into the crate and takes out the fourth and last ball. Compared with the Quaffle and Bludgers, it is tiny, about the size of a large walnut. It is bright gold and has little fluttering silver wings.
"This," says Hooch, "is the Golden Snitch, and it's the most important ball of the lot. It's very hard to catch because it's so fast and difficult to see. It's the Seeker's job to catch it. You've got to weave in and out of the Chasers, Beaters, Bludgers, and Quaffle to get it before the other team's Seeker, because whichever Seeker catches the Snitch wins his or her team an extra hundred and fifty points, so they nearly always win. That's why Seekers get fouled so much. A game of Quidditch only ends when the Snitch is caught, so it can go on for ages – I think the record is three months, they had to keep bringing on substitutes so the players could get some sleep. Any questions?"
The Justice team shakes their heads. They understand what they have to do, it is doing it that might be a problem.
"The Snitch will have to wait until your normal practice," says Hooch, carefully shutting it back inside the crate, "it's too dark, we might lose it. Let's try Emerald out with a few of these."
She pulls a bag of ordinary golf balls out of her pocket and a few minutes later, she and Emerald are up in the air, Hooch throwing the golf balls as hard as she can in every direction for Emerald to catch.
Emerald doesn't miss a single one, and the rest of Justice team are delighted. After half an hour, night has really fallen and they can't carry on.
Between Quidditch practice three evenings a week and all of the homework, Emerald is a little surprised when she realizes she has been at Hogwarts nearly two months. The lessons are becoming more interesting and Dobby has started taking notes for Emerald so she can focus on the classes without the distraction of trying to write. After a discussion with Hermione, Dobby is working for a wage of one Galleon a week with holidays and sick leave.
On Halloween morning Justice House wakes to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors. Even better, Professor Flitwick announces in Charms that he thinks they are ready to start making objects fly, something they have all been dying to try since they saw him make Neville's toad zoom around the classroom. Professor Flitwick puts the class into pairs to practice. Emerald's partner is Neville. Ron however, is to be working with Hermione Granger. It is hard to tell whether Ron or Hermione is angrier at this. For some reason she hasn't spoken to either of them since the first flying lesson.
"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" squeaks Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too – never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."
Most of the class finds it difficult. Neville swishes and flicks, but the feather they are supposed to be sending skyward just lays on the desktop.
Ron, at the next table, isn't having much luck either.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouts, waving his long arms like a windmill.
"You're saying it wrong," Emerald hears Hermione snap. "It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."
"You do it if you're so clever," Ron snarls.
Hermione rolls up non existent sleeves, flicks her wand, and says, "Wingardium Leviosa!"
Their feather rises off the desk and hovers about four feet above their heads.
"Oh, well done!" cries Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"
Ron is in a very bad mood by the end of the class.
"It's no wonder no one can stand her," he says to Emerald as they push their way into the crowded corridor, "she's a nightmare, honestly."
Someone knocks into Emerald as they hurry past her. It is Hermione. Emerald catches a glimpse of her face – and isn't too surprised to see that she is in tears.
"A week of detention with our Head of House for bullying," Emerald says to Ron as she turns to follow Hermione. The rest of the day, Emerald studies notes provided by Dobby while keeping Hermione company in the bathroom. Around half way through what should be the Halloween Feast, Hermione finally stops crying just in time to see a Troll smash Emerald into the wall with its club. Oddly, from her perspective, it appears Emerald's beaten body explodes in a pool of blood seconds after falling to the floor.
From Emerald's perspective, those few seconds are much different as she regains consciousness on the edge of a ruined city with the other half of the landscape being a collection of blood lakes. As she looks around, she spots two nearly identical nude women. Approaching from the ruins is a woman with the bearing of a warrior princess while the woman approaching from the blood lakes appears to regularly bathe in the lakes.
"Defeat us and we will tell you how to call us outside your mind," both women say when they reach striking distance. In moments Emerald beats their challenge and leaves what is apparently her mindscape.
Returning to the 'real' world, Emerald appears briefly behind the Troll as a mass of bird shaped blood before changing back to her human form.
"Blood become my blade, honor become my shield: prowl across the blood soaked skies, Hunter's Moon," Emerald recites, summoning a familiar pair of sniper-scythes along with several emerald green figures resembling Yautja and Yaut hounds. The summoned creatures leave the bathroom to the tune of 'Hells Bells' by the muggle band AC/DC in search of the professors while Emerald herself fires a single shot from each scythe with one shot piercing the Troll's heart while the other shot destroys everything above the Troll's heart, showering Hermione and Emerald in a fresh layer of blood.
"What in Merlin's name happened here! Why aren't either of you in your House dormitory?" Professor McGonagall queries in shock as she and Professors Snape and Quirrell arrive minutes later escorted by the emerald magic constructs. Hermione still hasn't said a word since the Troll appeared and Quirrell appears to nearly have a heart attack at the sight of the Troll's corpse. Snape examines the corpse, likely for signs of what magic was used to kill it.
"Neither I nor Hermione have been outside this bathroom since shortly after Charms class due to Hermione hearing one too many insults from a House mate. The student in question will be spending considerable time with Professor Myrtle Warren for the next week. I should probably discuss a few new skills with Madam Bones and Hermione needs treated for shock. With your permission, I'll handle notification of the Grangers," Emerald says before finally dismissing her sniper-scythes with a short phrase.
"There are no signs of Dark magic Minerva, and this Mountain Troll was probably around twelve feet tall. Ten points each to Justice for defeating a threat beyond their years," Professor Snape says as he finishes his inspection.
"Very well, off to the hospital wing for the both of you and please don't make this a habit. Miss Death-Potter, I doubt I can stop you from leaving the school grounds when you use a spacecraft for a dormitory so I'll just keep an eye out for letters from the Grangers," McGonagall says before following Snape out of the bathroom.
Saturday morning, Granger Dentistry is rocked by the stealthed arrival of the Hunter's Spear just as the Drs. Granger are finishing breakfast.
"Who are you why are you here, and why in hell are you naked in public?" Mr. Granger asks when he sees Emerald at the front door.
"In order: I am Lady Emerald Death-Potter, I am here on behalf of Hogwarts to discuss recent events and convince you to let Hermione continue her education at the school, and due to my upbringing I never wear clothes but am only seen by those I don't mind seeing. That last part means people who might make a fuss won't see me unless I interact with them." Emerald says in reply.
"Come in and have some tea then. Hermione mentioned a 'Battle of the Express in her letters as well as a combat class…" Mrs. Granger says.
"Before we forget our manners completely, my name is Dan Granger and my wife here is Emma Granger." Mr. Granger slips in.
"Thanks for the offer of tea, but I only planned to stay in the area long enough to show you our training hall as proof we can handle magical threats like a stray Troll as well as any muggle school can handle nonmagical threats that are usually less severe than a Kainda Amedha swarm. The Justice House dorms are currently in the park just across the street under a stealth field," Emerald says.
"Is there a reason you mentioned stray Trolls as a magical threat?"
"Eh… I did happen to kill one this past Halloween. The staff at Hogwarts had a plan to deal with it from what I heard, but at the time Hermione and I were not with the other students and didn't learn of the threat until I was fighting it," Emerald says as she leads the Grangers into the Hunter's Spear.
"Who would like to fight the Hunter's Moon twins to show the Drs. Granger we can handle any threat that appears at Hogwarts?" Emerald asks after summoning the women from her inner world with a short chant on entering the training hall. After only a moments thought, Hermione steps forward while drawing her wand from within her bushy hair and grabbing a short sword from a nearby weapons rack. For their own weapons, the blood soaked spirit summons a sniper-scythe in sniper mode while the noble spirit summons a sniper-scythe in scythe mode. At ten minutes, Emerald calls a halt to the fight and dismisses the spirits while Hermione applies healing paste to her injuries.
"That was an impressive fight, but is there any chance we can talk to our daughter before we decide the future of her education? Or is she still at Hogwarts right now?" Mr. Granger asks having not recognized Hermione due to her changes in the last two months.
"I didn't realize I've changed that much since school started. Or is it that you didn't expect me to adapt to an alien culture," Hermione answers as she applies paste to a scratch near her labia.
Before her parents can reply, the ship is rocked by explosions before lifting off the ground. "Once we are in a safe area, accommodations will be made for you near the med bay. For now, I need to find out what attacked the ship," Emerald says to the Granger adults as she turns towards the corridor. Just as she enters the corridor, an insectoid resembling a medium to large canine appears tearing up the walls with razor sharp bone scythes.
"What are Zerglings doing outside of a computer game!" Hermione says in surprise as her parents faint and Emerald uses her spirit blades to butcher both the original Zergling and reinforcements that arrive.
"No clue Hermione. Bloody Death, what's the situation outside?" Emerald says as the ship rocks from continuing explosions and a trio of scythe armed insectoid serpents appear before spitting spines dripping with acid.
"Some sort of insect swarm with several distinct varieties is invading the planet with a trio of living moons as space hives. The explosions are from one of two suicide variants," Bloody Death replies as Emerald parries the acid spines with her blades before cutting the serpents in half with a blood wave special ability linked to her spirit blades.
"So in addition to the Zerglings and Hydralisks inside the ship, we have at least one Overseer to bypass stealth, a handful of Overlords to transport the landing party, Banelings and Scourge to demolish armor and defenses and probably a few Guardians for nonsacrificial bombing attacks," Hermione says with a frown.
As Emerald runs to the starboard hangar, butchering every Zergling and Hydralisk in her path, the air resonates with the tune and lyrics of 'When it Falls' from the same muggle show as 'This Will be the Day'. On reaching the hangar, Emerald dives out of the ship and transforms midleap into her blood phoenix form without merging with her spirit blades. A couple hours later, the Zerg break off their attack as Emerald enters the Hogwarts wards behind the Hunter's Spear.
"What are we going to do for the holidays?" several members of Justice House ask as Emerald lands in the hangar and returns to human form.
"Neville, ask your guardian if your Hogwarts House can visit for the holidays. If that doesn't work, everyone can invite their families to come here," Emerald says as she reseals her spirit blades into the appearance of senbon.
AN: Thanks for reading and please review.
