A/N: Thanks to all those who have reviewed, followed, and favorited this story. I'm glad that people have been enjoying it. And a special thanks to Bonnie and Mainsail for beta reading this and thus improving on the original. If you have questions or concerns about what's going on, feel free to include them in a review or a PM — I'll try to answer.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does.
Recommendation: This chapter's recommended fic is "Three to Backstep" by Sinyk. A combination of time-travel challenges from reptilia28 and finds himself thrown back in time with Hermione and Daphne Greengrass. They've all been given orders to set things right this time around, and maybe find happiness as well.
Chapter 30 - I'll Follow the Sun
Tuesday, December 21, 1995, Late Morning.
"Today you're going to start learning human transfiguration," Professor McGonagall announced. "This is a very difficult, very advanced skill which is not normally taught until your sixth year. However, you are all doing so well that I've decided to introduce some of the basics to you now in order to give you more time to practice and learn it before graduation."
Everyone looked at their partners, eager to start learning something so advanced.
"The first thing we're going to work on is changing the color of one of your eyebrows," McGonagall continued. "Now, this might not seem important since you can achieve the same effect with a color charm. However, charms are more superficial and can usually be ended with a simple Finite. Changing the color of hair with transfiguration, in contrast, lasts much longer. The reason why it's not used all the time is that not only is it much more difficult, it's also much riskier if you do anything wrong."
Professor McGonagall kept a close watch on what everyone was doing in order to ensure that there were no serious accidents. Hermione successfully transfigured one of her eyebrows red while Jasmine was mostly successful making one of hers yellow. Unfortunately, she also ended up doing the same to some of the hair on her head, giving her a strange yellow streak to go with the eyebrow.
"You know," Hermione said thoughtfully, "if you learned how to do this well, you might be able to use it to disguise yourself."
"You mean, go out in public without getting stared at?" Jasmine asked. "That would be... well, amazing, frankly."
"Skill with human transfiguration is also the first and most important step towards becoming an animagus," McGonagall said quietly behind them. "Just give it some thought," she added as they looked at her with wide eyes.
The biggest surprise of the class came when Ron somehow managed to transfigure a moustache onto his face instead of coloring his eyebrow. He swore it was an accident; fortunately for all concerned, McGonagall was able to reverse it. Other than Jasmine and Hermione, only two Ravenclaws, Padma and her partner, Mandy Brocklehurst, had much success.
Tuesday, December 21, 1995, Evening.
"Jasmine, did you do something to your eyebrows?" Luna asked that evening as the study group's meeting was drawing to a close.
"What?"
"Your eyebrows," Luna repeated. "One of them looks a bit lighter."
Hermione stared hard at Jasmine's face. "Actually, she's right — your right eyebrow is a bit lighter."
Jasmine sighed resignedly. "I thought I fixed that, but I guess I didn't get it quite right. I'll have to ask McGonagall tomorrow."
"At least you got your hair back correctly," Hermione consoled her.
"Before we break up for the night, there's something we need to tell you," Daphne said softly while Tracey and Blaise checked for eavesdroppers. "Blaise caught bits of a conversation between Snape and Nott while he and I were out patrolling. Nott is definitely up to something — he's got some sort of task from You-Know-Who. Snape offered to help him with it, but he refused."
"Wow," Jasmine said.
"Yeah, wow," Padma agreed.
"We knew Nott was up to something bad," Hermione said, "but I never would have thought that he would have accepted a task directly from Voldemort."
"It seems likely that if he's not already marked, this job — whatever it is — will lead to it," Tracey said.
"I think that Snape offering to help him with such a job is bigger news," Susan insisted. "Nott isn't nearly as much of a threat to the school as a teacher is."
"Should we talk to Dumbledore about this?" Hermione asked.
"He's always supported and protected Snape," Jasmine said, "but it wouldn't hurt to at least try." When Blaise started looking nervous, Jasmine hastened to add, "Don't worry, I won't mention anyone from Slytherin. I didn't mention any of you when I listed how many witnesses I had for the fight with Malfoy, either. I know you three are in a tough position, and I won't endanger you if I can help it."
All three Slytherins looked relieved and thanked Jasmine for making the effort to protect them.
When Hermione entered Jasmine's bed that night for their mind magics practice, she was clutching a leather folio stuffed with parchment. "Isn't that the biography of Dumbledore?" Jasmine asked as she got herself settled.
"Yes, I've been reading it a bit at a time, cross-referencing things whenever I could," Hermione answered. "There's something here that I wanted to bring to your attention—"
"This isn't more bad news, is it?" Jasmine interrupted. "Am I going to want to strangle him with his own beard again?"
Hermione shook her head. "No, nothing like that. It's more... well, I think I might understand him a bit better." Jasmine raised a questioning eyebrow, so she went on, "I know we've both been frustrated by his attitude towards violence — that he seems to want people to stun and incapacitate attackers, even if that increases the risk to everybody else."
Jasmine rolled her eyes. "Frustrated hardly covers it."
"I know, I know," Hermione responded as she opened the folio and turned to a marked page. "But I think the key, or one of the keys, is his experiences during the war. You remember those memories he showed us? Well, there's a bunch in here about the battles he fought in, including interviews from French and British wizards who were involved. According to these reports, some of those battles were much worse than what we saw."
"You're saying that it affected him?" Jasmine asked.
"Well, I know it can affect muggles. My grandfather was involved in the muggle war at that time, and while I barely remember him, my mother told me stories about how his experiences in the war affected him. My grandmother always said that he was a fun-loving guy when he was younger. When he came back from the war, though, his personality had radically changed. He was a lot quicker to anger, and a lot harsher when he was angry. She understood the reasons for the changes and refused to leave him, but he ended up more or less estranged from his kids because of it."
"But that's kind of the opposite of what we're seeing with Dumbledore."
"I know," Hermione replied, "I'm just saying that war can create dramatic changes in a person. Professor Dumbledore didn't become meaner, which we should be thankful for, but that doesn't mean he was unaffected by all the death and destruction."
"I guess it's not hard to imagine living through that, then deciding to do everything possible to avoid anything like it ever happening again," Jasmine mused.
"And that's not all," Hermione said, flipping through the parchment again. "You remember the tombstone in Godric's Hollow with the name 'Dumbledore' on it? That's the Headmaster's family. Or his mother and sister, at any rate."
"What happened to them?"
"I'm not sure of the details — this is one section she hasn't finished writing," Hermione said. "Or... I guess it's possible that she didn't include everything. Even what is here is pretty explosive. You remember the name Gellert Grindelwald?"
"He's the one Dumbledore fought and defeated, isn't he?"
"He is, but he's much more than that. Evidently, he and Dumbledore knew each other when they were younger. They were friends, in fact."
"You're joking!" Jasmine exclaimed.
"Nope. It's not clear how long they knew each other. I think it was a year or two. It all ended, though, when they had some sort of argument and... well, Professor Dumbledore's sister was killed."
Jasmine gaped in shock, but then her expression abruptly shifted to one of recognition."'It's always the innocents who suffer the most when powerful forces resort to violence to solve their differences.'" she quoted. "Merlin — I thought he was talking about countries going to war!"
"So did I, but apparently he was also talking about personal experience. I'll bet he feels at least partially responsible, regardless of who cast the fatal spell."
"And I'll bet he sees all those violent battles as at least partly an extension of his original disagreement, even if they had nothing to do with him personally," Jasmine added.
"I still can't agree with his desire to completely avoid violence," Hermione said. "But I think I can understand why he might be so reluctant to use it. Especially given how much more destructive he could be, with his skills and experience."
Jasmine looked at her seriously. "That applies at least a little bit to us, too, you know, considering our power. And as we become more skilled and experienced, it will apply even more."
Hermione sighed and nodded before crawling over and pulling Jasmine into an embrace, all thoughts of mind magics practice forgotten.
Wednesday, December 22, 1995, Early Morning.
"I'm off to work, Molly," Arthur called out from the living room. He was so glad that they were finally back to living in the Burrow. It had taken forever for Bill to get the new wards erected, but it was worth it. There is no place like home, he thought. Grimmauld Place may be secure, but it isn't comfortable for us. And I know that Molly keeps rubbing Sirius the wrong way, acting like it's her home instead of his.
"Alright, have a good day, dear," Molly said as she exited the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron.
"Don't forget that I have guard duty tonight, so I'll be quite late getting back home," Arthur said as he kissed her goodbye before grabbing some floo powder from the mantle. "Not until after midnight, in fact, so don't wait up."
"Oh, that's right, I forgot," Molly said, suddenly looking nervous. "I'll keep some dinner warm for you,"
"If you insist," he replied with an indulgent smile, knowing that she'd wait up no matter what he said. He kissed her again and tossed the floo powder into their fireplace.
"Look at this," Hermione said before they entered the Great Hall for breakfast.
"Not another one," Neville groaned as he looked up at the wall.
Educational Decree Number Ninety-Nine:
"Students are prohibited from changing their hair colour, eye colour, shoe size or any other physical abnormality by the use of magic."
"That's... bizarre," Ginny said. "What would cause her to even think of banning that? What would be the point?"
"Do you think it's connected to our last Transfiguration lesson?" Neville asked slowly. "Maybe it's a coincidence that she does this almost immediately after a lesson in which we started to learn how to do exactly what's being banned, but..."
"You're right," Hermione agreed. "It's hard to believe that it's a coincidence. And during the lesson, I mentioned to Jasmine how she could use human transfiguration to disguise herself so she could go in public without being stared at."
"You know, I'll bet that 'physical abnormality' was added specifically because of your scar, which means that it was written with you in particular in mind," Ginny observed as they started walking into the Great Hall. "Changing your scar and your hair color would probably cause most people to not recognize you, especially if they don't know you."
"This only applies to Hogwarts," Hermione pointed out, "so she wants to be able to find you more easily here in the castle. She doesn't want you to be able to disappear in a crowd."
"I wonder what she's up to, that she would be thinking of that," Jasmine said with a worried frown.
"I'd like to know who talked to her about that class and what I said to you," Hermione countered. "She wasn't there observing that lesson, so she must have gotten a report of some sort that made her put out that decree the next day."
Wednesday, December 22, 1995, Early Afternoon.
"Alright everyone," Jasmine announced, getting the attention of all the students who had gathered for that month's mass Defense Association meeting. "This is obviously the last time we'll be able to get together this term. From what the others tell me, you're all doing very well — easily one if not two years ahead of where you'd normally be with most offensive and defensive spells."
This elicited a round of cheering from everyone, forcing Jasmine to wait a few moments before continuing. "I also hear that you're all making a lot of progress with speed and accuracy, which you all know are important. Now, for this final session, we're going to do something a bit different: a spell that won't benefit from speed, accuracy, or much else that you've learned so far. It may, however, save your life."
Everyone except the study group was giving her puzzled looks, but their confusion turned to wonder when she incanted "Expecto Patronum!" A brilliant white stag shot out of her wand and started trotting around the Room of Requirement, filling all of the students with hope, joy, and love. "The most likely way you'll use this spell is against Dementors — and since the Dementors have left Azkaban to join with dark wizards, you're a whole lot more likely to need this than you were even a year ago."
"That spell is hard, though, isn't it?" Michael Corner asked. "Do you think that the rest of us will be able to learn it?"
Jasmine smiled, then looked to each side at members of the study group. As one, they all incanted "Expecto Patronum!" sending out eleven more silvery white animals: a doe, a horse, a bear, a beagle, a mouse, a rabbit, a tiger, a swan, a fox, a raccoon, and a chameleon.
"None of the others here were able to cast a patronus at the start of this term," Jasmine explained to the assembled students, some of whom were having trouble paying attention due to how the room was being filled with such strong, positive feelings. "In fact, none of them could do it a month ago, which is when we all started working on it."
"But... but they have more experience than we do," Corner tried to protest, but Jasmine held up a hand to stop him.
"Like I already said, experience and skill with other spells doesn't help much with this one because it's a bit different from the others. OK, everyone line up facing one of the walls." Once the patronuses had disappeared and the students had arranged themselves, Jasmine explained how this particular spell depended on their ability to focus intensely on a single happy memory.
"Emotions are important with most spells, but few are so completely dependent on emotions like this one," Jasmine told them. "It's especially tough when confronted with a Dementor, which is exactly the situation where you need this spell most; but the more you practice in neutral conditions like we have here now, the easier it will be when a Dementor is trying to suppress all your happy thoughts."
As the students started working on the spell, Jasmine and her friends walked along the lines behind them, giving tips and advice. "If you don't get anything the first couple of times, not even a bit of white mist, it's likely that you aren't using a memory that's happy enough. Try a different one — and keep trying until you start to get something from your wand."
After more than an hour, the mass DA meeting broke up early with a lot of tired but eager and optimistic students. None had succeeded in casting a corporeal patronus, but most had managed at least some mist — even some of the lower years — and a few could see things like paws or wings which gave them hints of what their patronus would eventually be.
"Well," Jasmine said once all the girls were alone, "are you all ready?" The gleam in their eyes was more than answer enough. "Then let's get going!"
Wednesday, December 22, 1995, 3:30PM.
When the witches all landed with their portkey, they were greeted with an absolutely spectacular sight. It had snowed the night before, and the landscape was covered with a light, downy blanket of fluffy snow. In the distance were two mountains, both of which were also covered with snow. Closer by, Jasmine could see some sheep nosing around in the snow, looking for something to eat. It was incredibly quiet except for the sound of her own breathing, and she found it amazingly peaceful.
"This is so beautiful," Tracey whispered. "Where are we?"
"We are in Cumbria now," Fleur announced softly. "Zose are the Helvellyn and Blencathra mountains in the background, and zis is Castlerigg, an ancient magical site zat is over five thousand years old." When Jasmine focused on the stone circle, she saw several dozen veela gathered around. Some were preparing a central fire while others were setting up large candles and incense sticks on the forty or so large stones that made up the circle.
Like last time, there were heavily armed goblins waiting nearby with a cloaked figure at the center of their group. Jasmine and Hermione thought it polite to give a short bow to the goblins before they were drawn away by Fleur.
"We need to hurry," she told them. "Ze sun will set shortly, and twilight will not last long after zat — not with zese mountains."
Arthur Weasley signed the last of his parchment work for the day and cleaned up his desk, then stood and stretched. It had been an especially long and grueling day, despite the fact that he was quitting early. He longed to be able to go home, where he could put his feet up and rest, but he had an eight-hour shift of guard duty ahead of him down in the Department of Mysteries.
Should I have a cup of tea to help me wake up a bit? he wondered. Nah, I'll be fine, he decided, and someone might smell the tea if I take it with me.
After checking his pocket to make sure he still had the invisibility cloak he'd borrowed from Mad-Eye, he waved his wand to turn off the lights in his office and headed for the lifts. I can't wait to get home and finally eat dinner, he thought as he hit the button for level nine. Maybe I should have had a snack earlier?
As the lift was descending, it stopped to let on Kingsley Shacklebolt. "Arthur," he said with a nod as he hit a button for a different floor. Once the lift started moving, he continued in a much softer voice, "I'm glad I caught you. A raid has been planned for late tonight, and I probably won't be able to come in at my scheduled time. I'll try to get here as soon as I can, but I'm going out now to contact Dung to get him to relieve you, just in case. He'll probably be late, though, so will you be OK staying a bit longer?"
Merlin, Arthur thought dejectedly, I definitely should have gotten a snack earlier!
"Of course," he answered aloud. "But could you send a message to Molly letting her know? She's expecting me back after midnight, and she'll worry terribly if she doesn't know I'll be late. Just... just tell her to go to bed, and I'll get home when I can."
"Of course. And thanks," Shacklebolt whispered. "I'm sorry to put you in this situation, but the orders only just came in, and I don't know of anyone other than Dung who can substitute."
"It's not a problem at all," Arthur answered, desperately stifling a yawn. "These things happen."
When they arrived at Shacklebolt's floor, the tall auror nodded again and exited, leaving Arthur alone once more.
The Hogwarts witches were all quickly adorned with crowns made from mistletoe and holly, then they took places around the fire that had been set up in the center of the circle. Adrienne and Celeste stood to the side next to an altar with candles, two large goddess statues, and decorations of evergreen branches, holly, and mistletoe. The air was still, but Jasmine could easily smell the frankincense and cinnamon of the incense.
Adrienne raised her hands in front of the assembled witches and began to speak. "Tonight we celebrate Yule, the night of the Winter Solstice. Winter is fully upon us, and darkness reigns across the land. We have endured as our days have grown shorter while our nights have grown longer and colder. On this, the longest night of the year, we recognize the power of darkness in our lives. We accept that the sun and the light cannot always remain ascendant."
As she said this, the sun disappeared behind the distant mountains and the light started dwindling fast. All around Castlerigg the wind began to blow, picking up the snow and swirling it around the stone circle. At the same time, multicolored motes of magical energy rose up out of the ground and danced about within the circle.
"But we do not falter on our journey!" Adrienne continued, "We recognize that the dark and the cold will always come to our land, but we also know that even in the darkest hours, there is still the light of hope. Even in the bitterest cold, there is still the warmth of love. Yes, even on this, the longest night of the year, there will also be a dawn."
All around them, the candles lit on their own, creating dancing shadows throughout the circle as the light of the sun continued to wane. Adrienne turned to one of the goddess statues and lit the candle on the altar closest to it. Instead of having the typical yellow flame, the candle's flame was bright blue.
"Hear us Thesan, goddess of the dawn and herald of the future! Illuminate the path before us by chasing away the darkness and shadows. Shepherd us into the new day of life and love. Fill your vessel with your power and knowledge so that all your children can find the way!"
Joined by pulses of energy from the circle of witches, the motes of magical energy that had been dancing around inside the circle began to slowly drift inwards towards the fire, and everyone noticed that the energy swirling around and exiting Hermione was blue. Outside the circle, the snow circling the Castlerigg stones was moving so fast that it was no longer possible to see the surrounding countryside. Only the small contingent of goblins was still visible, and they were far less nervous than they had been the previous time.
It was now Celeste's turn to speak. "Tomorrow the sun will return to us, and with the sun comes light and life. The nights will gradually grow shorter and the days will grow longer, blessing us all with warmth and hope. Even though so much of the land lies dormant under the blanket of cold and darkness, we can still find islands of life and light, fighting to hold back the dark while so much more sleeps beneath the surface, waiting for the right time to rise up so that it can burst forth once again."
Celeste lit the candle next to the second goddess statue, this time creating a green flame. The energy coming from both the ground and the circle of witches started moving faster towards the central fire, causing it to rise higher and higher into the sky.
"Hear us, Sekhmet, lioness goddess of the sun and of warriors! Protect us from those who wish us harm and shine the light of the sun upon us so that we may enjoy the bounties of the earth! Fill your vessel with your power and ferocity so that all your children can be protected against evil!"
The energy exiting and swirling around Jasmine was now green as the motes of magical energy rushed faster and faster into the fire at the center of the circle. Outside the Castlerigg stones, the howling wind was loud enough to be deafening, but the witches inside the circle were too preoccupied with the drain on their energy to notice. Several of the Hogwarts witches, being the youngest, started to sway, but they quickly put their arms out to their sides in an attempt to maintain their balance.
"Light, life, and love will return to the earth, as they always have, and we must gather our strength so that we can persevere until spring arrives. Standing firm against the remaining cold and dark while the days slowly grow longer will not be easy, but we have the blessings of the goddesses — their power will guide us and protect us once again."
As with Samhain, the flames collapsed down into the central fire and a wave of magical energy burst forth, this time mixing with the snow. Together they spread first across all of Cumbria, then blanketed Northumberland, Durham, Dumfries and Galloway, and the Scottish Borders in the north, and Lancashire, North Yorkshire, Cheshire, and Derbyshire in the east and south. Most of those counties hadn't received any snowfall for the past few weeks, nor had any been forecast; but when people woke up the next morning they would find everything covered in a soft blanket of pure white snow.
Almost everyone had the same reaction, too, immediately calling the sight "magical."
Everyone except the meteorologists, who would be scratching their heads for weeks trying to figure out where the sudden snow storm had come from and why it had dumped several inches of snow on just those counties.
In Wiltshire, far from the effects of the magical ritual in Cumbria, the residents of Malfoy Manor went about their evening as normal, not the least bit aware of anything changing in the world around them.
It was the calm before the storm.
Wednesday, December 23, 1995, 2:00AM.
Arthur Weasley sat down on the floor outside the Prophecy room and leaned back against the wall. After adjusting his invisibility cloak to ensure that it still covered him, he closed his eyes and yawned. Merlin, he thought, I could use that tea about now! That raid is taking a lot longer than Shack thought it would, and of course Dung never showed up. At this rate, it won't even be worth going home and getting into bed. Might as well shower, change, and come back into the office. Molly will be fit to be tied when she finds out how late I'm doing this.
He never noticed himself drifting off to sleep, nor did he notice the door at the far end of the corridor silently opening an hour later.
Thursday, December 23, 1995, 7:30AM.
"Everyone up," Celeste whispered. "Twilight will arrive shortly, and sunrise will be in only another hour."
All of the participants had stayed overnight in order to witness the rising of the sun, though the goblins had remained steadfastly outside the circle. Most had expected that they would want to sleep, but the wave of magic which had hit them provided so much energy before it spread across northern England and southern Scotland that no one felt the least bit tired. Instead of sleeping, they spent most of the night talking, sharing stories, and tending the central fire which had been kept just high enough to cast enough light to see each other by. By the time Adrienne started getting everyone moving, the Hogwarts witches and the veela had all come to know each other much better.
For the first time, Areto and Phoebe had opened up about being Amazzi and what that meant — something only made possible by the two members of the Theledrion present, Adrienne and Celeste, giving permission. This led to a long series of tales about the true history of the Amazzi, their training, and some of the less secret missions they'd been on. The Hogwarts witches were all completely enthralled by what they heard and wished it could have lasted longer. Fortunately Adrienne promised to make time for such conversations around future rituals.
The witches all shared a communal meal of bread, cheese, and fruit — partly for the community aspect, and partly because the Hogwarts witches would be extremely short on time once they returned to the castle, so they hoped to skip breakfast in the Great Hall and go straight to class.
Twilight was making it increasingly easy to see, and soon everyone was gathered around the much smaller central fire to listen to Adrienne speak.
"The darkness flees before the sun, but it is not defeated. The light grows in power, but it is not yet strong enough to completely overcome the dark. That is why we are here, to call forth the sun and to follow its light so that we can participate in the eventual defeat of the cold and the dark."
As she said this, the central fire rose up once more and the half-burned candles from the previous night, still sitting on the surrounding stones, lit themselves again. All of this transformed the stone circle into a bright beacon in the shadowed Cumbrian hills. The witches watched as the sky gradually lightened, and soon the sun broke over the mountains in the west, bathing the entire area in bright light.
"Have hope!" Celeste called out. "The longest night of the year has passed and we have endured, as we shall always endure the cold and the dark when we are supported by our sisters. Take the love and light of our coven with you when you leave and spread it across the land. Show others the way and let them know that when we stand together, victory is assured."
With those last words, the central fire collapsed again, this time going out completely, and all of the witches felt a rush of energy. The magical energy which had made it possible to stay up talking all night had mostly worn off, but this new, smaller wave of energy instantly made them all awake and aware again.
As they began preparing to leave, a glint of metal near the outer stones caught the eye of more than one of the remaining witches. Upon examination, they found six small boxes wrapped in cloth shot with gleaming gold. Each had a name on it: Jasmine, Hermione, Aella, Diantha, Lufey, and Winny.
"Where did these come from?" Apolline asked. "We were all awake last night. No one could have gotten close enough to leave them, especially with several Amazzi here!"
"Maybe the goblins?" Adrienne suggested.
"I can't imagine any of them leaving us gifts like this, especially secretly," Celeste said, "but I'll go ask them while you find out if anyone knows anything — like maybe who those four names are. The first two could be veela, but the second two are unlike anything I've heard of before."
Celeste headed towards the goblins and was met halfway by Sharpaxe. Meanwhile, Adrienne called out to all the veela cleaning up or waiting to leave, "Six packages were left here overnight — someone got close enough to leave them at the bases of the stones. We've identified two recipients, but the other four are a mystery. Does anyone know anyone with the names Aella, Diantha, Lufey, or Winny?"
There was a gasp from the back, and in a moment Phoebe and Areto made their way forward. "Did... did you say Aella and Diantha?" Phoebe asked. Adrienne held up the gold-wrapped packages, and the two Amazzi went white as a sheet.
"They are the names of our daughters," Areto said softly. "We only decided on those names just before the trip here. We... we haven't told anyone yet."
Shocked whispers started spreading through the crowd as Celeste returned. "That goblin warrior said that he doesn't know anyone by those names, but he's going to ask..."
"It looks like someone knows something," Hermione interrupted, pointing to where the entire group of goblins was approaching, all following the mysterious cloaked figure.
"May we see the names as they are written?" Sharpaxe asked immediately.
"We think we've identified two of them," Celeste responded.
"Here are the other two," Apolline said, holding out the last two packages.
The cloaked figure gasped in surprise and reached up to pull back the concealing hood. Sharpaxe tried to intervene, but the figure clearly held authority over him. "No, it's time," came a surprisingly soft voice as the hood fell, revealing a distinctly feminine goblin.
"High Priestess Lufestre!" exclaimed Adrienne. "We... I... I had no idea that you would be here."
"Nor were you supposed to," she said gravely. "Only a very, very few goblins know of my presence here, and none of them would ever betray that information. Nor would any of them leave me or any of you anonymous gifts."
"So... you're Lufey?" Hermione asked.
"Yes," the female goblin said a bit sternly. "But that is a childhood nickname which only a few know about — and even fewer are permitted to use."
Hermione gulped. "I... I'm sorry, ma'am. Er, I mean, uh, High Priestess, ma'am."
Jasmine looked at the goblin with the eyepatch. "And are you Win... er, I mean, is this other one for you?"
"No," Lufestre said emphatically. "I know who that is for, and they are not here. That particular nickname is known and used by even fewer goblins. What I'd like to know is how these two names came to be on packages that appeared here overnight."
"There's more mystery than you realize," Adrienne said. "The other two we didn't recognize at first, Aella and Diantha, are the names of the unborn daughters of these two warriors. The girls were conceived last Beltane, and their mothers only named them a few days ago. No one but the mothers knew those names."
"No one saw or heard anything here last night?" Sharpaxe asked, looking increasingly disturbed.
"No," Apolline answered. "We had hoped that you might be responsible." Sharpaxe frowned deeply, so Apolline quickly added, "I would prefer to think that one or two of you had been able to sneak up on us rather than the alternative: that some unknown person or persons managed to avoid detection by your guards and us as well."
Sharpaxe's frown immediately deepened as all of the guards — goblin and veela alike — started looking outward warily.
"Why don't we open them?" Jasmine suggested. "Cast your best detection charms, and if they're clean, we open them. Maybe that will tell us something?"
"We can't delay much longer," Minerva said. "It's getting late — morning classes will start soon."
"Very well," Adrienne said, and they all began casting a wide variety of detection charms. When nothing was found, Jasmine and Hermione unwrapped theirs first. The gold cloth was pulled away to reveal small wooden boxes, each containing a wide bracelet made of silver metal with a rainbow sheen. In the middle of the bracelets was a raised circular design with a blue topaz in the center of Hermione's and a green peridot adorning Jasmine's.
"That looks rather like Hekate's Circle," Adrienne observed, "but it's not quite the same."
"It's a much older form of that symbol," Lufestre responded. "It represents a labyrinth, but instead of angular walls, the sides are serpentine, representing Hekate's relationship with snakes."
"They're beautiful," remarked Hermione as she made to put hers on.
"Just a moment," Minerva said, stopping her. "Let's check these for curses as well." Once again the detection charms were cast, and the bracelets were pronounced clean.
Phoebe and Areto were next: inside each of their wooden boxes was a small, round, shield-shaped pendant made from the same silvery metal as the bracelets. Aella, who was being carried by Phoebe, had been gifted with a shield pendant showing two axes. Diantha, carried by Areto, received a similar shield with a detailed image of a white flower.
"That looks an awful lot like a Jasmine flower," observed Hannah. When others looked at her strangely, she said a bit defensively, "What? I specialize in herbology."
"I think it might be," responded Areto. "And it would be fitting. Diantha means 'divine flower' — we named her in honor of Jasmine."
As Jasmine blushed furiously, Phoebe added, "And Aella is an ancient Amazzi name which means 'whirlwind.' We named her in honor of Hermione because the god Hermes is associated with speed." This caused Hermione to turn just as red.
"I... I don't know what to say," Jasmine stammered.
"I'm afraid that you're going to have to say goodbye," Minerva cut in firmly. "We're already running late."
"I should open mine along with... the other recipient," Lufestre said. "I will send word to you, Adrienne, about the contents of our packages. Maybe we will be able to figure out who gave us these precious objects. And why."
Everyone immediately began their farewells, which took substantially longer than Minerva might have preferred because the two groups of witches, French and British, had grown quite a bit closer overnight. Finally she and Fleur managed to pull their students away and activate their portkey, dropping them in a quiet alley near Honeydukes. Because it was so late, the store was open, and with several strong disillusionment charms they were all able to sneak into the basement and through the secret passage into Hogwarts.
Thursday, December 23, 1995, 8:00AM.
"I don't know what you're talking about! There's no way—"
"Sweet Merlin! Who's that on the floor?"
"The hair... is that Weasley?"
"I think it is... yes, it is!"
"I don't think he's breathing..."
"Someone call a healer! Call the aurors!"