AN: Hello! If you've held interest beyond the first chapter, Congratulations!
I want to first say that I will try to be somewhat regular in uploading these, but it will depend on my workload. It is indeed very AU and the Point of Divergence (or POD) obviously happens way before either LWW or Tom Riddle's years at Hogwarts. More info will be revealed as we go along about what those changes specifically are
Thank you to runrigrocks for following I hope this is your cup of tea!
Enjoy everyone!
Chapter 2 Castles and Kingdoms
"Isla, how did you manage to do wordless transfiguration so quickly?" asked Claudia, frustrated with their most recent class.
"It takes some concentration," she puffed; exhausted from the amount of magical energy it took to produce the feat, along with the flights of stairs they had to climb. Susan looked back at her friends and smiled.
"We're only half way there!" she joked, feeling much better than she had all week. Most of it had been spent evading Peter and Lucy's attempts to talk to her about 'Narnia'. Why were they so insistent these past few weeks? Perhaps one day, out of the blue they were struck with an imperius and commanded to drive her insane. If that were the case, it was certainly working.
"I was concentrating!" huffed Claudia, taking shallow breaths as she climbed.
"Breathe through your nose, dear," counseled Ekua, before stopping to take a few deep breaths herself. The girls paused upon reaching the top of the fifth floor staircase as it glided off to a new location. Susan was surprised at the fatigue they were experiencing, but so was everyone else.
"I didn't expect we'd overexert ourselves," panted Susan, leaning against the stone wall of the hallway.
"Perhaps it had to do with the stress we faced during class," pointed out Isla.
"Or the party the Seventh years threw in the common room last night," muttered Claudia. They all laughed a little at the comment.
"Well, Professor Dumbledore expects a lot from us. I mean, I think we can achieve it. Just, maybe after dinner" concluded Ekua eliciting a round of laughter. Susan and Claudia ended up sitting down in the middle of the hall from their amusement. They were glad the corridor was empty, since the third year classes being held on this floor were still in session. Additionally, that meant it was less likely a teacher would be patrolling the hall, coming to scold them for improper behaviour as soon as they lay eyes upon the girls. Susan glanced up at the high gothic ceiling and down the corridor at the endless medieval swords, shields, and protective gear, a true armoury. It reminded her of another castle she'd once seen. She mentally sighed. 'Not again,' she thought. Try as she might, Peter and Lucy seemed to be succeeding in their other, very bothersome task.
If they hoped having her think of Cair Paravel, of…of Narnia, and of…people they knew, they would think twice about inciting her reaction. The beautiful halls of that ancient castle held nothing but bitterness, at least since that fateful first day of fourth year. Finding their home in ruins, their loved ones long gone, nothing but useless letters with empty promises from-
"Susan, did you fall asleep again? Are there fae attacking your brain?"
Isla's voice snapped her back into reality. She needed to remember to be grounded in her present whenever these thoughts came to her mind. While a kingdom long ago, in a distant land had some fantastic appeal, why should she need to search for magic when she was completely surrounded by it? Susan smiled at her friends who were rising from their impromptu seats, ready to resume their trek to the seventh floor Ravenclaw tower.
"Sorry, I must have been daydreaming," she replied.
"That is Isla's job," Ekua exclaimed, "You mustn't replace it." Isla made a face, as she swept her pale blond hair out of her eyes. Ekua turned to her, quickly adding. "Isla, you know I love hearing your daydreaming adventures. They keep me from dying in the Scottish Winter, especially when they include naming your first born Xenophilius." This did garner laughter again, while Isla, simply smiled and said, "At least you're paying attention. I throw unusual lines in there to make sure you don't fall asleep when I talk about Blubbering Humdingers. But, since you're so enamoured with the name I very well might just go through with my plan."
With that Susan rose from the ground and they made quick time up the last two flights of stairs. In spite of their speed, Susan paused to take in the castle's magic and beauty, which were really one in the same. Back in first year, when she'd finally gotten to see it, after hearing about its impressive nature from two years' worth of Peter's stories, she spent time discovering its' rooms and passageways, soaking in the sheer power of the structure. She smiled as she thought on those simpler times. That was what she resolved to do from now on. Look to her friends, look to her present, look to Hogwarts. This was her true kingdom.
They approached the bronze eagle that guarded their common room entrance in a much brighter mood than when they left class, the stress of Professor Dumbledore's torture methods behind them. Claudia tapped the knocker, and the eagle gave them yet another new riddle.
I sing, but I have no mouth,
I play, yet I have no limbs,
I speak, though I have no tongue.
The girls stared at each other for a long moment. There were days where they all understood the riddle instantaneously. Today was not one of those days.
"No limbs?" asked Claudia rhetorically. "Does it mean play music or play games?"
"I would say play music," reasoned Ekua, ignoring the rhetorical nature of the question.
"It could be an instrument," added Susan, remembering the big bands in New York and London.
"A flute?" offered Isla. The knocker did not respond.
"Susan! It's the wireless!" shouted a rapidly approaching voice.
"Well reasoned," replied the knocker, as they all turned to see Susan's younger brother running down the hall. There were some squawks of indignation from the others that a Hufflepuff, who'd barely heard the question got the answer, but as Edmund approached panting it seemed to be unrelated their riddle. Susan was surprised to see her brother so frazzled.
"How far did you run?" she asked trying to be a little light hearted. Seeing the look on Ed's face changed the situation.
"Susan, we got some news over the wireless," he said as calmly as he could. He was pale, and wringing his hands, a sign he'd displayed since he was a little boy whenever he was nervous. Her friends had already gone in, assuming that the two needed privacy for the moment.
"What happened? Was it a muggle or magical wireless station?" she asked, brow furrowing.
"Muggle," he replied, gulping. "There was a bombing raid in London this morning."
"Another one?" she asked, worried but trying to maintain calm for the sake of her brother. "Do you know what part of the city was hit?"
"They said North End and mentioned Euston Station," he replied. "Peter's trying to get the Headmaster to give him permission to floo call home and see if mum's ok."
"So he's using Head boy privileges already," she muttered to no one in particular.
"Susan, I know both of you haven't seen eye to eye lately," he began, "but we need to know, and Peter sent Arminius to London this morning, he won't get back 'till later this week." Her expression softened a bit, mostly out of concern for Edmund and her mother.
"Thank you for letting me know. By the way, I sent Athena yesterday, so she should be here by tomorrow." He responded with mock defiance.
"Still not quite fast enough, I'd say," he said, cocking an eyebrow. "Do you want to go see what news Peter got from Finchley?" his expression warmer and kinder now. It was amazing how he could conquer his nerves a time like this. Then again, she was doing exactly the same thing. He must've learned to copy her all those years ago when he stopped being a brat. She then reflected on his offer. She really didn't want to see her older brother right now, or her sister for that matter, but her concern for her mother was itching underneath her skin.
"Alright, to the Headmaster's we go," she smiled faintly, hoping her nerves wouldn't give out now. The corridors were filling up now that most of the classes where finishing, so quickly Susan felt like they were going nowhere.
"We need a shortcut." She couldn't agree more with his comment. Too many aimless bodies going ambulating at the pace of flobberworms was not helping her worries. She began thinking if her friends would worry where she'd gone. She clearly miscalculated how long this would take. Then she spotted a relatively empty flight of stairs. Her younger brother looked over to her and they wordlessly agreed to take that opening.
They were now making good time when suddenly the staircase began to lurch, causing Susan to stumble, grab the banister, and catch her wand from falling to the courtyard below. The staircase continued its journey, but she was relieved she was stable. The same could not be said for her brother. She finally saw he tumbled about a dozen steps before catching himself, and even then he was lying sideways. She held her breath. Any further and he would've fallen of the staircase. When the magical structure finally settled in its new position, she rushed down to his side, examining him quickly. Some younger students passed by gawking, but she paid them no mind. Edmund moaned a bit as he tried to get his bearings, and Susan quickly saw the blood from the cut on his forehead drip down his face.
"Here, don't move," she instructed as she conjured a handkerchief, quickly applying it to the wound.
"I'm fine Su, you know I've been through worse ba-quidditch matches before," he stammers, trying to be stoic for her sake.
"I don't care how many dangerous quidditch matches you've played, we're going to wash of the blood and get you patched up before we see Peter and Lu," she chided, falling into a familiar routine she'd had with her siblings. Making sure they were alive whenever they did reckless things was always her specialty.
"But it's they're not even flesh wounds," he said, showing her his cut up hands with a hint of whine in his voice. To this she shot him a look she'd always given when she meant no nonsense. It even worked on T-… that person she shouldn't be thinking about.
"Then we won't go to the infirmary, I know a place on this floor that's out of the way that we can deal with it. Here hold the handkerchief," she counseled, grabbing his wrist to pull him up as they turned down a nearby corridor. He argued with her, pointing out the flaws in her argument, and while her rational, logical mind would agree, she felt she needed this for herself as much as for him. It didn't help that her mind kept wandering to her friends and the study plans they had with the boys. She rounded the corner towards the nearest lavatory, and as soon as her brother saw where they were going, he began squirming.
"I'm not going into the girls' loo!" she rolled her eyes.
"You aren't going to die or get hexed, we just need a place for you to wash off the blood and where we can fix the blood on your robes. You'll be out in less than five minutes," she huffed, looking back at her bashful brother, red from blush. It amazed her that he was behaving this immature. He stopped acting like that since…a long time ago.
No matter, she opened the bathroom door, fortunate that there was no one else inside. Edmund gingerly walked in, looking as though he was trespassing on their father's study. 'To bad I can't send a letter to dad, I miss him' she thought, as she went to open the tap.
"Su, I think it's broken, try another one," said Edmund, pointing to the lack of water emerging from the faucet. Sure enough, she looked down and saw that his statement was correct, so she moved around the plinth to each sink , testing for water flow. Edmund joined in at some point, but even then her frustration continued to rise.
"Why won't you open!" she angrily muttered. Edmund came around to stand next to her, leaning over the sink and pulling out his wand.
"It's fine, I'll just clean it myself," he said, returning to his usual demeanour. She deflated.
"No need, put your wand away," she replied, sighing. "Don't aggravate your cuts. You might want to lean over the sink to keep your uniform dry." He nodded, returning the wand to its holster. He leaned his head over the sink, and let the remaining blood drip down into the basin instead of onto his clothes. Once his hands were stretched she pulled out her wand and cast aguamenti, cleaning the blood from the cuts. She muttered in frustration, responding defiantly to the sink in words taught to her long ago, a language believed to be unteachable, at least here at Hogwarts. Yet they were the only things that could convey her irritation.
::Open, you bloody waterspout!::
"What did you say?" he said, shooting up from where he was hunched over, banging his skull into her chin.
"Ow, bloody hell!" she cursed.
Without them realising, the plinth vanished, and Edmund lost his balance from the loss of his leaning post, Susan stumbling right after him. For the second time in a day, the siblings found themselves tumbling and in pain due to the Castle's interference. Only this time, it was into a gaping maw. Susan didn't even have time to scream before the sinks reappeared, water gushing from their taps.