Chapter 14: Observers
Thanks to Rosamanelle for Beta Reading
A vast, underground chamber beneath the crust of the floating continent of Altera, housed a spacious main laboratory of the newly restored Nasod Kingdom. Electric wires of various sizes ran along concrete walls and ceilings, connecting to machines of various designs, from simple ones, like motors of cranes for moving objects around, to complex machinery that even the most brilliant mind would take days to understand its function, most of them humming with energy supplied from the main power plant located right above this very place, performing their assigned duty without fail, despite no one being there to control them nor that they had their own thought.
However, despite the work going on, this place was also devoid of life. No human or humanoid species ever trespassed, due to the high level of security in place since the late King Nasod. After all, this place was once his throne room, the main command center of all Nasod, before it was turned into personal laboratory by a scientist years later.
Said scientist was currently running another experiment via proxy, while hiding behind a thick blast wall that could withstand even a small scale nuclear explosion for safety reasons. Her hands typed away on three holographic keyboards hovering in half-circle around her waist, nimbly switching between them without looking, as she had to command multiple machineries simultaneously during the test to obtain the best possible result.
The scientist in question, however, wasn't dressed in white, dirty lab coat, as expected from such character type; instead, the girl, who looked just like a late-teenage white haired woman, was in a regal white ball gown trimmed with gold and matching thigh-high boots, a blue crystal orb adorning her forehead, seeming to glow once in a while as golden eyes shifted back and forth between one holo-screen hovering in the air, displaying scrolling text, to another displaying the wireframe of the object interest, making sure everything was proceeding as planned.
Suddenly, the girl paused, her head turning away from the holo-screen to look to the side, where a light turned off, as if in response to her action, before speaking. "So, Keeper of Space and Time, to what do I owe pleasure of your visit and intrusion of my laboratory today?"
Black smoke sprouted forth from the seamless ground, forming up two meter black plumes before dissipated, revealing a figure with spiky grey hair in black long coat covering him from head to toe. Many locks and chains were tied around his neck, his hands hidden from the girl's view behind his back, but the most interesting feature of this figure was that he wore a black mask over his face, exposing only his left, glowing, golden eye, staring back at the owner of the lab he intruded.
The figure didn't bother to greet the host; instead, he chuckled and replied in a rather amused voice. "Intrude? That's a harsh word coming from royalty like you, Your Majesty…"
The girl stood still, but not before tapping her holo-keyboard once, the machine outside slowly winding down safely, allowing the figure with masculine voice to continue uninterrupted by any of her work. "Your technology advancement is now dangerously close to make my duty redundant, just right after that girl mastered her potential and crossed my border mere months ago. I thought congratulations were in order… that's why I'm visiting you… ku ku ku…"
His hands, clads in white gloves, began clapping loudly. However, the one on the receiving end narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the figure. Understandable, considering their records in the past, and the man in mask wouldn't have it other way, as of course, it amused him…
The white haired royalty repeated her question once more, her voice betraying no emotion as she's getting annoyed by his presence... which is something major, considered that she's not even human. "Get to the point, Gate Keeper of Henir, I doubt you're here just for that."
"C'mon, Your Majesty Eve, was it that hard to say my name? It's not like we are strangers, you know?" The man teased again, his right hand now holding two glowing bright blue cubes, which, combined with standing in the gloomy part of the room, made him look even more mysterious, like an enigma that withheld its secrets.
That finally forced the white haired girl into doing something other than starring and talking. She frowned as a red holo-keyboard appeared in front of her right hand, before she pushed a big red button in the center with a 'pling' sound and flash of blue light.
A trap door suddenly appeared in the floor, right below where the man in black standing [1], and before he could figure out what was going on, his feet felt nothing as gravity asserted itself upon his body, sending him plummeting down into the seemingly bottomless pit without a chance to speak.
However, as the trap door closed, the girl didn't resume her work, not because the machine could be activated once a day, not because she cannot activate it again, but because the voice of the same man she sent to bottomless pit earlier appeared behind her as she expected. Thus she waved her hand backward, a hexagonal transparent blue shape appeared in her palm as if preparing to do something, had the man not stopped it by asking the girl first.
"What was that trap door for, wait, who the hell installed trap door in a lab like this?"
The girl dispelled her 'magic' before turning to face the intruder again, coldly replying. "Nasods don't appreciate trash talk, especially from you, Glaive… we all know what happened last time you did that, and I'm not happy about that one bit!"
"Yeah, your friends get sucked into a dimension rift while listening to my rambling, ku ku ku…" Glaive chuckled nonchalantly as he recounted their first meeting, before quickly added on as the girl summoned twin black and white ball-shaped drones, which hovered next to him, eyes glowing as if they were angry in place of their mistress. "…But hey… It wasn't my fault! Those kids were really annoying back then, and I already warned them, so…"
"Just like I'm going to do to you if you don't get to the point now…" Eve interrupted, her right hand raised, with fingers ready to snap, telling her drones to act.
Glaive took a step back, his eyes absent of any signs of fear, in fact, they were laced with amusement and curiosity as he looked at the Empress of the Nasod in front of him.
As the Gate Keeper of Henir, a mystical dimension that connected to all universes that ever existed (Theoretically, as he never fully explored them yet, just a waste of time), Glaive was aware of how different the universe could developed based on just one tiny, insignificant choice individuals made in their life. In one universe, Eve would forgo the path of Empress and use 'Code Nemesis,' becoming the embodiment of destruction, placing priority in friendship over the restoration of her kind. In another she would forgo all emotion and all memories for the sake of power to restore her kingdom via the instable 'Code Battle Seraph,' ending up distancing herself from all livings – including her friends. There was another'Code Empress' as well, who became the elegant ruler of the Nasod, but the relationships with other countries… still as grim as the 'Code Battle Seraph'ending, if not worse…
And then there's this version of her… which intrigued the Gate Keeper of Henir most of all, just like the rest of those kids… if he were to compare it to a novel, he'd say that this particular version is the 'Golden Ending' or the 'Best possible Ending' in the series called 'The War of Elrios,' which ended many years ago…
How could he not call it that, when the once emotionless machines, degraded over a millennia of slumber into savage, hell-bent on nothing but global domination and eradication of all sentient life, regained the mental level of an advanced species, able to reach compromise with organic beings that populated the land and acquired a peaceful coexistence, not to mention that everybody lived to the end of war with strong ties remaining between each other.
Eve herself, who despite going down the 'Code Empress Route' seemed to accomplished far more than other versions of her he saw so far, perhaps it was his doing, dumping those once-teenagers into another world was what changed her? Perhaps it was her friends' experience from being separated? He would never know and he didn't care, because all that he saw now was the result of his meddling.
The girl has gone through a lot of change indeed, her discovery of all 'Codes' sleeping in her memories, her creativity resulting in her being able to make use of 'Code Nemesis' and some of 'Code Electra' with 'Code Empress' be the dominant code without a system failure [2].
Well, genius aside, she couldn't use 'Code Battle Seraph' yet due to its heavily mechanized nature, more so than other Codes in her possession so far, but given how this version of Eve was an 'Emperor Scientist' (Was it that thing called 'TV Tropes' he got this phrase from? Glaive mused) with intelligence to match, who could say it'll remain that way forever?
Glaive's musings were cut short as the Empress glared at him impatiently, tapping her foot on the floor, a habit which no doubt was picked up from socializing with many sentient species over the course of her adventures, signifying that he's taking too long, thus he coughed once and answered the unanswered question. "Indeed, it's still matter concerning your piece of technology…"
The Empress was silent for second, before calling out to her two drones. "Moby, Reby, back…"
"Many thanks… kuku…" Glaive muttered as the round drones returned to their mistress, hovering dutifully at her sides. But Eve knew that the man was anything but grateful, he could escape at any time, given his power. Moby and Reby were hardly a threat to him to begin with, and her action of surrounding him was just a mean to display that she meant business.
Without wasting more time, the man in the mask explained his reason of appearance. "First things first, I'm not angry or disturbed by the fact that you just created a way to transport people between dimensions, as I stated earlier, it's an accomplishment worthy of a praise… kuku…"
Then Glaive put his finger between his eyes. "But the reason I'm concerned is that I wonder why you didn't report your discovery of this technology, and by extension, the whereabouts of one of the Elrios' best Elemental Masters and Magus Commanders to the rest of the world, excluding your own circle of friends."
He shrugged a little then added, "It'd be a great discovery that I doubt you'll let slip by…"
A holo-keyboard was projected around the elegantly dressed white haired Empress once more, typing quickly, issuing commands to multiple machines, which restarted themselves at her order beyond the blast wall. As the entire place lit up with the light generated by her command console, Eve turned back to address the waiting Gate Keeper with a calm, calculating tone. "The world where Aisha currently is in has high tension; war could break out at any minute. And Elrios cannot afford to risk itself in another war, no… its involvement might escalate thing for the worse, from my information…"
Eve shot the Henir's Gate Keeper a glance that seemed to ask, 'are you satisfied yet?' but the words from the masked man sure as hell squashed that question instantly. "There are sure to be benefits to your reconstruction efforts if you were to acquire another world's technology, no?"
"Don't play dumb with me, Keeper of Henir…" Eve snapped back, eyes narrowed at the man. "First contact with a single country is one thing, but two completely different worlds, from different dimensions, consisted on the world's many countries and sapient beings of various advancement in technology and magic is another! Elrios isn't ready for that, not even my fledging Kingdom is ready for that!"
Glaive held both of his hands up in defeat, though he wasn't concerned about it much as his next move was cracking a joke. "Hey, hey, don't get angry so easily, you'll get wrinkles if you do that too often…"
His humor failed to amuse the Empress, her expression still one of annoyance, and her next actions exemplifying it as her finger reached for the 'big red holo-button' that appeared out of nowhere next to her right hand, forcing her guest to quickly get to the point. "You only delay the inevitable, secrets cannot be kept forever, it'll come to light one way or another and you know it… and imagine what kind of political backlash will befall your Kingdom should others be made aware of what you did in your spare time…"
"You're not going to reveal my 'Dimension travel technology' project, will you?" Eve's face remained calm, yet her eyes flared up with worries, because she certainly couldn't lock him up and expect the prison to hold, just like he demonstrated with the trap door earlier.
And it's the same reason why she didn't call Ophelia or Oberon to her side via Dimension Link to get rid of this man earlier… it's useless and a waste of time, which those two could use for more constructive matters, like addressing needs in her Kingdom…
Of course, her dimension travelling project was finished months ago and she could make a trip to this planet called Earth and back at any time, but she's reluctant to tell other people, not even Elsword, who longed for reunion with his crush. That's because of the situation on the other side that her scout drones reported from time to time…
Yes, scout drones… as in plural, she didn't send just one scout drone to Aisha, since that day she had scattered hundreds of scouts across the globe to learn more about these 'humans' and 'any intelligent beings worth noting' on another world, and as her data grow, so did her concern about Elrios as a whole, which finally had peace after decades of struggle, becoming more troubling…
As for telling Elsword, that tied in with the first problem. 'One of the heroines of the Elrios Alliance went on a long vacation in a land far away' was a half-assed excuse she and all her friends cooked up to tell everyone why Aisha literally disappeared from the face of their planet, just because there're no other option that's more plausible than this. To not give any information will only raise the suspicion of the masses, and if another one disappeared too, well, their secret of finding a way to another world would be out earlier than she wanted it to…
Certainly, being a celebrity had its downside…
Glaive suddenly produced three glowing cubes out of thin air before juggling them in his hands lazily and replying, snapping Eve out of her thoughts. "Don't worry too much, Your Majesty, even I know how dangerous your project is if it falls into the wrong hands, the people on the other side of your destined location were never faced with a world-annihilating threat like our… your Elrios. Not to mention this upstart of the Dark Lord Voldyshort…"
Eve's eyebrow twitched a bit at the mention of the nemesis of her friend's little brother, as she pulled her finger away from the 'trap door button.' "I don't know why you're even interested in any other world apart from our Elrios…"
Glaive shrugged at Empress's words. "Even though Elrios has the easiest access point, where you don't have to jump through thousands of hoops to get to, Henir still is a main hub for connecting between dimensions and universes. Is it a surprise that I'll take interest in some other worlds and dimensions? I even made some friends who had accomplished the same thing as that little girl… let's see, Zelretch… Yukari… [3]"
Eve decided to interrupt the masked man, to be honest, she's not that thrilled to know that there're other people who can do the same thing as Glaive out there somewhere in the many universes and dimensions. "So, should I wonder why they haven't tried to put a leash on you yet?"
"As long as we don't cross each other's way, why bother? Kukuku…"
The Empress contemplated whether or not to change her objective from, 'Get to Aisha' to 'Find this Zelretch and Yukari, then ask them if they could help her keep an eye on Glaive,' before deciding against it, because judging by her long life, and considering their theoretically unlimited power, chances are their personality are the same or worse than Glaive.
Seeing that his conversation partner remained silent, deep in thought, Glaive broke the silence. "Don't overthink it, you'll get a headache… oops, I mean… overheat, nearly forgot that Your Majesty isn't exactly human, Kukuku…"
"Right back at you…"
"Hey, hey… I'm about to say that I don't care what you're doing, Your Majesty…" Glaive finally replied. "…I've seen many worlds, many universes and possibilities. I have more experience than you could ever imagine… and I can say that your handiwork still tame in comparison of what I've seen… nothing that I cannot handle…"
Then the eye behind the mask narrowed down as he stopped playing with his cubes. "But that doesn't mean I'll forgive anyone who tries to endanger my home, Empress…"
"Noted…" Eve replied. "…That's why I'm holding back this thing for now, isn't it?"
Glaive shrugged, his cubes dispersing into many particles. "Still, why don't you go there and establish a secret stronghold? With this technology under wrap and the only one to master Time-Space Magic being your friend and already out of Elrios, it'd be easy to come back later with resources and an invasion force to take this world by-"
He didn't get to finish his sentence, as bright blue laser grazed his shoulder without doing any harm, before slamming into a wall behind him. He looked back at his conversation partner, seeing that Eve now had one finger pointed at him, multiple blue glowing orbs floating around her palm, facial expression contorted with anger.
"Do not even try to suggest such a thing, Gate Keeper of Henir…" the Empress of the Nasods said loudly, stressing each word to make sure the other side knew that she was really angry. "All of my friends are living, even if I'll outlive them doesn't mean I won't care for them!"
"Kukuku, scary…" Glaive said in a mocking voice, which somewhat calmed the Empress down as she realized that the Gate Keeper of Henir wasn't serious about what he said. "Your resolve is commendable, I guess I've overstayed my welcome here… well, if you want some help with your Travelling device, you know where to find me… Kukuku…"
On that note, a black, oval-shaped portal appeared behind the masked man, before moving up and swallowing him whole, dispersing into nothingness, leaving Eve alone in her personal laboratory again, as if the Gate Keeper of Henir had never been there.
Eve sat down on the floor, letting out a tired sigh once she was sure that there's no one but her inside her personal quarters, the machinery humming around her all she could hear. Her holo-screen reported various statuses of her own project, showing that everything has been rebooted and was ready again after she forced shut down earlier.
But at this moment all those statuses didn't concern the Scientist Empress in the slightest, she simply let the thing run by itself, collecting data and storing it in memory for later review, as she had already calculated the risk and any possible failures. None of the results would mess her lab up, nor be close to lethal to anyone, be them a machine or living being…
All current holo-screens disappeared, replaced with just one lone image hovering in front of Eve, displaying a group photo of her and her friends together in Ruben, when Aisha just managed to get back from Harry's world; it was a celebration that the old man threw for them…
Eve let out a faint smile; she really missed those days of adventuring around the world before the war began… and still longed for a new adventure very deep inside her mind… to go where no one had ever been, to discover what was hidden from the world, to explore a new horizon alongside her friends…
Truth to be told, going to that boy's world sounded tempting… she was sure that all her friends would've felt their long dull sense of adventure re-emerging once more. just like her. But now she and her friends have to put these thoughts aside and focus on the present. Elrios was still recovering, her Kingdom rebuilding, there's no place for personal desire. She couldn't leave Elrios due to the Hive Mind nature of the Nasods; she is their voice, their will, their guidance. Nasods would fall into chaos if she were to cut connection and let them have free will, without any restraints and instructions, comparing it to letting a child loose without teaching them necessities to live, unless a contingency plan was being made...
Oh, how she finally realized that she hated politics… something that never crossed the Nasods' minds in Ancient times, when they adopted isolationism to the extreme, and paid the price for it during the first El crisis a millennia ago…
Letting out one last sigh, Eve got up from the floor, the picture from the day long past vanishing, replaced with multiple data holo-screens, beginning to type once more as her mind formulated plans, writing them into a databank for reference and simulations later.
After all, if she had time to muse of the days long gone and miss them, she should use that time to find a contingency plan that could accomplish what she desired instead!
For Harry, it took 2 days in infirmary before Madam Pomfrey deemed him well enough to resume class on Monday, which had the unfortunate side effect for the Boy Who Lived in the form of unfinished homework and no preparation for any tests or classes at all.
Thus, it was not surprising that he'd lost a few points when it came to certain potion professor, and Hermione even said that he deserved it because that homework had been given on the last Monday, and he didn't even try to finish it. Well, it's not like you could see that disastrous Quidditch match coming, yet the practices before the real match was not an excuse because, as Hermione had put it, his captain had finished her Thursday's homework (Which subject, he didn't know, so he took Hermione's word for it) before the match on Friday!
On the bright side however, the botched attempt on his life by the Dementors has left a huge black mark on the Ministry of Magic and Minister Fudge, who tried their best to cover the incident from the masses in vain, no matter how many Ministry officials and spokespersons ran around telling the Daily Prophet's news reporters about how they'll remedy the laws regarding the Dementors, or how it was school's fault that the Dementors could get close to their children and nearly cause a tragedy…
The public wouldn't buy any of their excuses… parents demand compensation for their children's 'traumatic experience,' many complaining about the lax law enforcement regarding the creatures.
And then Dumbledore used this opportunity to drop a bomb on Fudge by rephrasing the Minister's statement during Harry's trial months ago to the press, word for word "The Ministry has told me that they had complete control of the Dementors, and I decided to trust them on that matter… Not that I have any other option, when using a much stronger ward on school wasn't permitted by the laws they made," sending Fudge's popularity plummeting down even more, so severely (at least in Fudge's opinion) that Umbridge decided to take a leave from her observation duty at Hogwarts to get back to the Ministry and help him sort things out, something that many teachers and students were very happy to hear about.
'This blunder really made Fudge looked downright incompetent compared to Dumbledore… who still keeps the school running without problems…' Harry thought, as the old Headmaster implied that Hogwarts already had a magical ward to stop the Dementors from entering school grounds, but couldn't activate it due to Ministry's law forbidding them from doing so, and, having Orders' members inside the Ministry to fan the flame whenever they gave 'the truth' to the press also helped too…
That was all he could gather from his own copy of the Daily Prophet and from talking to his godfather through the magic mirror last night, not counting the rumors running around his own school, something that parents thought was too strange to be true and never reported to the media… namely, how the Dementors were defeated… or rather, killed in action… by a 'miracle lightning,' as many students called it…
Some students who were close enough to the edge of the stadium would say otherwise, as they got to see their new Defense Professor shoot the bolts, after all, how could they mistake the lightning coming out from Aisha's palms for lightning from the sky when they had such a clear view?
The result of the rumors were obvious to Harry the moment as he, Ron, and Hermione stepped into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom that afternoon before class even began. To their surprise, the room was already filled with students from the House of the Lion and Snake, all of them chatting with each other, waiting for their teacher to arrive.
This was the exact opposite from the past, where they'd delay approaching her class to the last possible moment, hoping that the exercise session would be shorter due to the time constrain. Of course, Aisha indeed compressed her lessons, by have them do exercises with no pause in between laps, effectively having them perform the same amount of work – had they not collapsed due to exhaustion and be sent to the infirmary first! After that time, they all showed up just as the bell rang, no earlier, no later…
Thus, seeing them before the class began is a surprise to Harry as he sat down in his seat along with Ron and Hermione. As he listened to the gossiping and chatter, he brought out his Potions homework to try and finish some of it, half-heartedly working when heard his sister's name being whispered around him, along with more and more speculation and ridiculous rumors.
The chatter died down once the Professor in question entered the room, carrying a huge book with Fifth year curriculum in her arms.
As if the intent stares from the students conveyed their intense interest, Aisha's sharp gaze wandered around the room, glaring at each and every student, making them avoid eye contact with her, before she let out a sigh. "You kids were going to ask about that light show last Friday, weren't you?" She paused, seeing the surprised looks on her students, before adding, "The third years also asked me the same question this morning, and you kids made the same face they did, so I guessed it's the same. Am I right?"
Harry's eyes widened at her mentioning the event herself, surprised that Aisha was willing to talk about her own style of magecraft. He saw everyone nod their head, with the pale blonde boy from Slytherin being the bravest of all and asking her straight to the point. "Yes, Professor, what was that spell? Calling down lightning that can kill the undying creature? It was a Dark Art, wasn't it?"
Aisha settled her books on the table, before scratching her chin with her now freed hands, as if she was deep in thought, before shaking her head and replying with an honest expression. "I don't know…"
That earned a loud gasp from the entire classroom. "What?"
The diminutive Professor narrowed her eyes at the commotion, silencing them in an instant, before giving them the same explanation that she gave to 'Dumbledore's Army' and the third years that morning, with slightly different details of course, since she didn't have perfect memory like her Nasod friend. "I never grew up in your society, remember?" She pointed a finger at herself. "I never went to Wizarding school… is that clear enough for you? I hope so, that way so we can begin our class."
She then let out a smile that sent chills down everyone's spine, as it promised pain and suffering, albeit non-lethal, but still pain nonetheless. "As the last Friday demonstrated, danger can strike at any moment. I find that you lot running around like headless chickens, not listening to teachers telling you to stay near the Patronus charm they cast, to be… problematic… so we're going to fix that in this class."
The students gulped at the sight of red and green energy balls, more than twice the number they had encountered so far, appearing around their Professor, obviously aimed at them, while the girl spoke again. "This lesson isn't only to help you track multiple situations around yourself, but also makes sure that your mind will focus on the present, not past, not future, for if you do not…" She left her words hanging, and then the chaos began as her balls of pain descended upon the students…
Needless to say, once the class was over, more than half of fifth year Gryffindor and Slytherin ate their dinner as if they've been starved for weeks, before rushing back and collapsing on their beds, fast asleep, without looking at their homework… And this trend will continue for the rest of that week for every single student in Hogwarts who doesn't skip Defense class…
A small bug on the window of the Defense classroom was annoyed at the chaotic display that's DADA class before her… Balls of light were flying everywhere, as the students frantically tried to dodge them without moving from their seat, the sound of the diminutive Professor calling a hit and deducing points from the two Houses involved echoing every now and then.
'Nothing to write an interesting article about, seriously…' The irritated bug thought, as it looked at a certain person in the room before narrowing its eyes in anger. 'Certainly not even compared to what I wrote last year… before that slip of a girl outwitted me, forcing me away from the scoop!'
Then, the black haired teen with green eyes and glasses inside the room suddenly got hit by a red ball squarely in his face, with a strong enough force to knock him to the floor, making the bug wince, before regaining its composure and focusing on its assigned task, something that it wouldn't think of doing, considering that the prospect of it was rather… dull, to put it lightly. But it seemed that the Ministry was on thin ice, so thing that they even put an Azkaban threat on its head, with the accusation of falsifying information during its career, likely due to desperation from the major blunder regarding the Dementors last Friday that has yet to be extinguished, and unlikely to die down anytime soon.
Looking at the purple haired Professor who had a stature small enough to be mistaken for a Fifth year student of Hogwarts – the bug swore to Merlin that she's shorter than even Harry Potter, who, while not the smallest person in the school, was still a bit smaller (or rather, thinner) than the average schoolboy of his age! Had it not been for the wandless casting she displayed, with dozens balls of light zooming around, the bug would have surely thought that Dumbledore decided to let the students practice by themselves, and this girl was just the student who took up the task for this period!
Yes, the bug's target of this assignment is to monitor this little girl and find out any secrets she might have, which is not a small list, considering the information she heard from the Toad Lady so far…
Where she was born and where she was raised were the two most prominent questions that her 'client' wanted to answer, thinking that with these two answered, they could figure out how to put her in line with the Ministry, not caring impossible the task is even to a reporter of the bug's skills!
From the current situation, the bug had to stalk her 24/7 without rest, in hope that by some chance, some random student or staff member may trigger a random chatting spree on the subject. Because, unlike last year's articles, this person didn't have any records, any history to trace, she just appeared out of nowhere! Thus, the bug cannot go to the students and staff for any information on her.
Sure, if they really wanted to smear her name, the bug could publish an article about her class. But it still held such paper-thin weight that's unlikely to earn this mysterious Professor the boot, thanks to the Ministry's own machination. The bug could almost imagine it, this slip of a girl saying, "This's a class that existed to teach students how to defend themselves, what I did is to compensate for the law forbidding me from teaching them spells and magic," and it is still a valid excuse that even a reporter of her caliber cannot deny or spin any other way!
The sound of the ringing bell echoed throughout the school, the whole classroom, save for one purple haired girl, simultaneously letting out a sigh of relief as every magic ball disappeared in an instant. But sighs soon turned to a groans when the girl glared them down and told them about her self-study topic, which she'd test the next Monday, much to their dismay, before she finally let them file out of her class, the students quickly disappearing from her sight.
The bug's curiosity increased with that scene alone, it's not like you got to see a small little girl like her be a Professor, yet still able to garner some sort of order in her classroom every day. Just what had the girl done to make them fall in line, albeit reluctantly, like that? Certainly not fear, else that Umbridge woman wouldn't have to rely on it to spy on this girl in the first place.
Well, the bug sighed and noticed that the room was now empty, it seemed that the diminutive Professor had fled when it wasn't paying attention.
Never mind, the bug thought as it spread its wings and fluttered away, letting go of the smooth glass on the window, the Professor couldn't leave Hogwarts anyway as she had nowhere else to go, the bug was sure that it could keep stalking her until she let something slip for it to write an article about.
Not to mention… the bug thought about its 'information source' from the last year, when she still had that scoop on the Triwizard Tournament, maybe he could help her again, provided that the boy didn't like this girl as much as he didn't like the Boy Who Lived, of course…
The bug also didn't notice that its target was glaring at it for a moment before she left the room…
For Aisha, that week passed by rather uneventfully. With her younger brother still recovering from the incident last Friday, the Dumbledore Army's meeting ground to a halt due to absence of the main teacher. The other two perpetrators weren't willing to temporarily take the mantle of teaching the rest, as well as the other members due to lacking skill, lacking confidence to teach, or simply didn't want to teach, like Aisha herself.
'But...' Aisha thought as she walked towards her last class for the week, fifth year Gryffindor and Slytherin's outdoor DADA class. 'From the looks on their faces, it seems they thought it was best to let him rest… so did I…'
Not to mention that it helped her to resume a normal teaching routine, to avoid suspicion from the Ministry and curious kids for a while.
Of course, Aisha shot a glare at the empty sky as she stepped outside of the main castle towards her 'Training ground,' presumably looking at a certain tiny creature that no normal human eyes could see at such distance, with this little pest tailing her ever since Monday, she'd be stupid to not realize that it was trying to find anything that could be used as blackmail, or worse, trying to identify her origins, which could mean a lot of consequences for her homeland…
At least the bug seemed content to just watching her from afar, trying hard to not alert her of its presence, also not following her into shower, which meant that whoever it was wasn't a voyeur…
Yes, who, not what, because she could sense the magical energy emanating from the bug, and it wasn't like those of the magical creatures populating the forbidden forest, the pet Trestral or whatever that thing Hagrid, who just returned recently, showed off to his class, or any pet students brought with them, for that matter. It felt more in line with human, judging by her years of experience, combined with knowledge on Animagus read from Harry's book, it was clear that she was stalked by one at the moment.
But the reason she didn't do anything about the little bug, despite its clear intention of stalking her, was because she wasn't sure who it worked for or if it has its own agenda. And then there's the plan she hatched the night she realized she was been spied on, if she acted normally for long enough, the stalker would surely be misled into thinking that she's just a normal magic user who happened to practice mystical arts without proper schooling, resulting in and using magic never seen before by the Wizarding world, effectively throwing them off her tail.
However, Aisha realized that the plan wouldn't go smoothly as she once thought, since Umbridge returned to the school on Wednesday. The Toad seemed determined to create a situation to make her, or any teacher in Hogwarts, slip up at all cost, probably to find something to discredit Dumbledore just so the Ministry could regain their lost reputation…
The Toad didn't return from the Ministry alone, as she had brought a personal Auror with her for 'security reasons'. John Dawlish, from what she gathered from other teachers, was a man with decade of experience under his belt and was extremely loyal to Minister Fudge's cause, if his introduction during dinner in the main hall that Wednesday was any indication.
The thing that worried her was that they did not make any moves against Dumbledore, her, or Harry at all, content with observing the classes in peace like the ordinary observer should. Well, from what other teaching staff – except Trelawney – had told her so far, at least. The poor divination teacher seemed to get a lot of flak, considering her ever-growing distraught whenever Aisha saw her in the hallways. The students' opinion of her doesn't help either, as even Gryffindor and Hufflepuff find it hard to like this teacher.
"Yeah, predicting that your own student will die a horrible death every time you meet each other tends to do that…" Aisha muttered to herself as she approached the clearing near the lake where she was supposed to meet up with the students, before stopping mid-step when she noticed two unwelcomed guests standing alongside them.
The diminutive Professor would never mistake that pink, fat and ugly face of Umbridge standing among her students for even the ugliest scenery anytime soon, and that middle-aged, blonde-haired wizard in robes standing guard next to her didn't improve her mood in the slightest, as it was clear as the sky today that the two finally hatched a plan against her were now putting it into play.
Both of them noticed her approach and the Toad lady's grin widened as she greeted Aisha with that false, overly-sweet voice of hers. "Good morning Professor Aisha. Sorry for not informing you, but we're observing your class today." She paused a bit before giggling. "Oh, and you're late to your own class, Professor Aisha."
As expected, the Malfoy kid and his pug faced girlfriend started giggling from behind Umbridge, voices low enough to not alert anyone except those with reinforced ears or who looked directly at their mouths. Aisha's face remained impassive, pulling out a pocket watch from her jacket, looking at the time and glancing at the sun in the sky, and then motioned her head toward the castle. "It is still three minutes before the class begins, Madam, or are you going to pull an 'anyone who arrives behind a Ministry officer is late' on me?"
The underlying meaning behind Aisha's words was to get Umbridge to admit that she was abusing her power as the High Inquisitor, creating rules out of thin air in front of the entire class. Because if one would bother to check the clock he/she will find out that it was actually as Aisha stated, and the Inquisitor was wrong.
Umbridge might be arrogant bigot who'll stop at nothing to protect the status quo of the Ministry and the Pureblood belief, but she's not stupid to fall for such obvious trap, whether Aisha really wanted to bait her or not, and thus withdraw her accusation while pretending to be checking her own pocket watch "Ahem, I'm sorry, it seem that my watch is a bit faster than normal…"
Suddenly, the bell rung from the castle, echoing throughout the field, signifying the beginning of the morning class as the last batch of Slytherin and Gryffindor approached them from the castle in a rush, not wanting to be late in a class with such strict Professor like Aisha at the helm.
They rushed past the standing Professor, trying their best to not stare directly into her piercing gaze. Soon afterwards, all students were accounted for. The Professor put down the parchment containing the student's names and began to explain what she was going to test that day, a Disarming Charm, which actually made some of the Gryffindor students smirk, specifically those who attended the 'Dumbledore's Army' meeting two weeks earlier.
That is, until the High Inquisitor interrupted their Professor mid-sentence with her irritating cough too loud to be normal cough, heck, Harry suspected that the woman actually used an enchantment on her throat, the same way Ludo Bagman did in last year's Tournament, due to how loud it was. "Ahem, ahem… Professor…"
Without looking back, Aisha cut the woman's speech before it even began "After class please, Madam Umbridge. Now, the first one to demonstrate Disarming Charm will be Mr. J-"
"By the power of Ministry Official, listen to High Inquisitor at once!" Umbridge seemingly lost all her patience and shouted so loudly that Aisha's voice was drowned out, earning a few gasps of surprise from the students.
Although she had no reason to comply with Umbridge's demands, since she had no authority over interfering with class without any evidence of the teaching staff being incompetent, Aisha still glanced back at the Toad coldly, only paying attention to her because she doubted that the Toad would give up and let her teach the students peacefully anytime soon, which was something she didn't like. "Fine, what do you want?"
The pink Toad smirked after she finally got the 'rebellious country girl' to listen; she coughed a few more times before getting to the point. "Ah, Professor Aisha, first things first, don't get the wrong idea… ahem… I know you use these 'body exercises' as a mean to get the Defense class going without breaking our law. But, ahem, the higher ups wanted to see if their teacher's claims were true…"
Purple eyes narrowed down on Umbridge as the Professor spoke. "Care to speak clearly for once? I'm not into politics… I said dozens of times already…"
If not because of the dangerous feeling tugging behind his head, Harry would've smirked at the exchange, his sister never failed to find a hole to jab at the Ministry's High Inquisitor, no matter how small they were, it was satisfying to say the least… And the members of Dumbledore's Army also felt the same, if the giggle he heard from no one in particular among House of Lion was any indication.
But of course, Slytherin, particularly their two prefects, were siding with Umbridge, giggling at the diminutive Professor, as if the girl was insulted without her knowing it. Because it was hard to see who's gained the upper hand at the moment.
"Simple minded, typical country girl…" Umbridge muttered loudly enough for everyone to hear, before addressing Aisha again. "The Ministry has received complaints from parents of students in Hogwarts, particularly those who're not from Muggle families…"
The Toad glanced back at the two Prefects of Slytherin as a sign of whose parents were in question. "They doubt that your exercises will be beneficial to the new generation of Witches and Wizards, as it clear in eyes that magic is superior in every way…"
"And so?" Aisha crossed her arms, glaring with annoyance at Umbridge "Your Ministry is the one forbidding me from teaching self-defence magic in the first place, remember?"
"Of course, it was for the good of the students after all…" The Toad lady agreed with a sickeningly sweet smile. "The point is, if you cannot prove that your teaching curriculum isn't useless, the Ministry will force you to teach the curriculum of our choice… including expelling you from your position and let more… capable hands take care of the children…"
Harry nearly shouted in rage at the boldness and audacity of the Toad lady. To think that she had a gall to demand such unreasonable things after all the meddling she and Fudge did, not once looking back to see whose mistakes it was that led to the current state of the class! The rest of the students whispered amongst themselves, wondering how Aisha will handle the situation.
After exchanging glares for a full minute, Aisha sighed. "Very well…" she lowered her arms to her side, still looking at Umbridge. "How can I prove it then, wasn't violence prohibited from school grounds?"
This cause the Slytherin masses to snicker as they realized what's coming, Umbridge's smile growing wider. Harry, who stood on the sidelines, wondered why her mouth hadn't split in two yet. "You catch on quite quickly, don't you?" She let out a laugh befitting a villain in some corny movie before continuing. "Of course, Professor Aisha, a duel between you and the Ministry Auror should suffice."
The Toad motioned her hands at the man who hadn't spoken or moved once since the beginning of the class. As he stepped forward, wand in his hands, Umbridge explained further. "The rules are simple; incapacitate the other first before he incapacitates you. But in your case, you cannot use any spells, while Dawlish is free to use whatever he wants, including magic."
Aisha's brows raised a little and shrugged. "If you say so… that's fine with me. When and where?"
The entire class gasped loudly, not caring to make themselves invisible to the conversation any longer, with Hermione being the first one to raise her hand, catching everyone's attention, including Umbridge, who turned to speak to her. "Now, now, what do you have in mind, Miss bushy haired girl?"
Every fifth year Slytherin present erupted in laughter, approving of Umbridge's name for the 'Mudblood,' only to stop when furious purple eyes glared their way, letting Hermione speak uninterrupted. "Wasn't there a normal test for teachers of this subject without endangering them in a duel? …Madam Umbridge." She quickly added, as the Inquisitor was looking at her funny.
Instead of answering Hermione, Umbridge sidestepped the question by firing a question of her own. "Are you a qualified official from the Ministry, little girl?"
Hermione expected any answer but this, so she stammered out one of her own. "Er, no Madam…"
"Then you have no right to judge what's good for the children, child… Sit down please, we don't want someone to get hurt" Umbridge said with finality, before turning her attention back to Aisha once all students sat down on the dry grass that covered ground. "We'll begin here and now. Dawlish, if you would please…"
The man moved forwards out into the open, about five meters away from where students gathered, while Aisha nodded without any further complaint and moved away from the Auror and the students, forming a perfect triangle between them.
However, Aisha surprised them even further as she backed away from Dawlish by another five meters! This, to most young wizards and witches, put her in an even more disadvantageous situation, as they knew that their teacher would be at the Auror's mercy for a lengthened period of time until she can close the distance. As her opponent is an Auror, the Wizarding world's equivalent of the police and law enforcement, it meant that his fighting abilities must be top notch. And they knew that one or two spells like a stunning charm or full body binding curse could easily put a person out of a fight. Put two and two together, and they couldn't see any way that Aisha could win this duel at all.
With her hands tied behind her back in a seemingly unready stance facing the Auror, Aisha spoke again, her face calm, glaring at the Auror without wavering. "All right, I'm ready…"
Umbridge could've sworn that Christmas has come to her early after all the failure in the past few months; she couldn't see how Aisha could get out of this situation without doing something that could be used against her later. If she was knock out, then the Ministry could claim that she was incompetent and fire her, and she couldn't argue since she already agreed on the terms of the duel. If she used her unknown magic, like that thunderbolt last Friday, well, with the entire class as witnesses, there's no way the girl could dodge Azkaban this time.
Hell, when looking at the girl, Umbridge just realized how small she was compared to the veteran Auror, even if it's a fist fight she's quite sure that Dawlish would win! There's no alternative in the outcome at all! A perfect plan!
Umbridge slowly rose to her feet, hoisting her wand high in the air, before proclaiming loudly. "Now, the duel between John Dawlish and Aisha may begin!"
As a red flare left Umbridge's wand, soaring into the air, both parties springing into action at once, Dawlish brandishing his wand, pointing it at Aisha's small frame, who seemed to bend one of her legs backwards, resembling an athlete preparing to sprint, before uttering his spell of choice. "Petrificus Totalus!"
His spell failed to hit his target as Aisha broke into sprint, shifting her position to the right as soon as Dawlish opened his mouth, dashing toward the Auror at high speeds covering a five meter distance in second!
Dawlish still remained calm and professional befitting his experience in law enforcement, he began firing barrage of spells aimed to disable the girl while backpedalling to keep the distance between them, as he knew from the rule earlier that Aisha couldn't fire any magic back at him, limiting her to hitting him physically in order to take him out of the fight.
However, as red bolt of light missed the girl's pigtail by a millimeter as she tilted her head to the side, still closing in without slowing down, Dawlish realized in that instant that he probably, no, he'd surely lose this duel!
It was his instincts, experience of working as a law enforcer of the Wizarding World for decade, his survival of the first Wizarding war against 'He who must not be named' when he was still a child, and his parents were those who opposed that man that made Dawlish know when to pick a fight or flee from superior foe, either in his line of work or a school bully, something that kept him alive as well as his career to this day.
And said instinct was telling him to flee or surrender!
Although he tried to tell himself it's just a little girl, his eyes said otherwise as the girl nimbly dodged another body bind curse sent her way, coming another step closer to him, which says a lot as they're now just three or four steps away from each other! And it was just six seconds into the duel!
However as he contemplated what to do next, the girl suddenly ducked so low to the ground that he thought she lost her balance and was about to fall. Without hesitation, he fired a stunner charm to where she should be immediately!
…Only for Aisha to quickly roll forwards, letting the spell blast dirt into the air, and launched a fist aimed at his abdomen.
Dawlish barely suppress a gasp while sidestepping away from the punch, trying to cast another stunner charm. He nearly dropped his wand as a small pebble thrown by Aisha hit him squarely on his wrist, making him stopped mid-cast and take another step backward.
Aisha didn't let this chance slip by, but instead of standing up, her right foot shot forward, knocking Dawlish's foot – the one currently on the ground – out from underneath him, while his other foot had yet to reach the ground, causing the Auror to fall over in a pile of robes. She then did a back flip into standing position, quickly kicking the wand away from the Auror's hand while he still was in shock, unable to react properly to her attack.
Before Dawlish could do anything else, Aisha went for the kill, grabbing his wand-hand and twisting it to the point that he nearly cry in pain, putting an elbow onto his stomach, knocking air out of his lungs. Before he could catch his breath, she rolled him to the side, face-first into the ground with her weight pressing against his back, both his arms tied in an angle impossible for even him and his superior strength to wriggle out of the girl's grip.
Once the girl saw that the man incapacitated, she asked with a completely serious tone that promised pain if her demands weren't met. "Now, Mr. Dawlish, do you yield?"
As the Auror struggled under her weight (which wasn't much, considering that she's quite slim and a head shorter than Harry), Aisha tightened her grip, preparing to twist his arms again, when he finally yelled out loudly for everyone to hear. "I yield! I yield!"
The crowd fell silent as Aisha slowly released the Auror from her grip, while helping to pull the man to his feet, who, after thanking her for the help, quickly broke off to find his wand that she kicked away earlier.
Seeing that, Aisha dusted off her clothes, turned to address the woman who issued the test as if everything was completely normal and nothing out of ordinary happened. "Now, Madam Umbridge, I defeated the man as you asked. Did I pass the test?"
Said Toad lady still stared at the scene, her mouth hanging open comically, blinking rapidly, as if what she saw was a hallucination, to the point that when Dawlish, who clutched his injured arm, returned to her side to ask for permission to seek treatment of his injury, she still didn't respond.
Suppressing another sigh, Aisha turned towards her students who also stared at her, mortified before snapping them out of their stupor with her words. "It seems that the High Inquisitor and her guardian need the healer's attention, can someone please escort her to the infirmary please? Well, no…" She quickly stopped them when she saw that more than half of Slytherin was getting up on their feet, prepared to what effectively ditch her class, thus she decided to point at the two most muscular members of them (and also the most stupid; Harry added mentally) "…Mr. Crabbe, Mr. Goyle, help them to the infirmary please."
The two gorillas of the fifth year Slytherin looked at each other and Malfoy, as if asking for instructions from their 'boss,' before they scrambled towards the still shocked Umbridge and pulled her up, while Dawlish denied their help, stating that his charge needed more attention before the four of them slowly walking toward the main castle.
As the 'injured' slipped into the castle and out of her sight, Aisha turned back toward the rest of students before clapping her hands to get their attention back. "Now that my 'competency' issue had been dealt with, we'll be resuming the class. First things first, can someone explain to me why Mr. Auror lost the duel?"
Silence reigned until one brave soul from House of Lion, the bespectacled boy with raven hair, raised his hand and replied uncertainly. "Because Wizards rely too much on magic while forgoing any physical training, that means if anyone skilled in close combat can reach us, we won't be able to fight effectively, right s… er, Professor?"
Aisha shook her head before she crossed her arms and looked at her younger brother, scolding him wordlessly for his near slip up in silence before responding. "One point for Gryffindor." Some Gryffindors suddenly rose, tried to protest that she gave Harry too little points, but of course, no one can match her glare and they fell in line a second later without much shouting, giving her free reign to continue once more.
"I have to clarify Mr. Potter's answer a bit. Physical training in itself may improve your body's strength, but the lessons we've been learning indoors for the past few weeks also play a part."
Keeping a stern look on her face while glancing around the class, she continued. "With a focused mind, you can assess the situation and order your body to react accordingly, but without a good healthy body, even if you know what danger is befalling you, your body is still limited in what you can do, and that's putting it mildly…"
Some students nodded in understanding, while most Slytherin groaned, it seems that physical defense has a long way to go, more than just waving your wand at the problem and be done with it. And to make it even more annoying is that Aisha just smashed their delusions of magic being superior by beating the Auror, a wizard who trained in combat, so easily without using an ounce of magic to assist her, thus making her words hold a lot of weight.
It was then that Hermione spoke up again. "Professor… do you expect us to able to do that? Be able to fight, unarmed, against a magic capable opposition?"
At that Aisha let out a chuckle "In one year? Heh… No way…" That blunt answer nearly sent everyone into frenzy, before Aisha explaining further. "You already experience my class yourself, don't you? Muscle cannot be built by just one hour of exercise a week, same as my mental focus training. Then there's the actual part of learning how to fight, which I cannot teach due to restrictions. It took two years for me just to handle the basics, you know!"
Then Aisha snapped her fingers while grinning mischievously at the whole class, causing them to wince as she pulled out the parchment listing student's names once more. "We're wasting too much time, now it's time to get to work. The first one to demonstrate Disarming Charm is…"
And so, just like the previous Monday, all the fifth year students of Gryffindor and Slytherin simultaneously paid Madam Pomfrey a visit when lunch rolled around. Some of the lazier ones decided to drop their afternoon classes altogether…
Author's Note:
[1] A trap door gag from Dessler / Desslok throne room in Space Battleship Yamato / Star Blazers, every single incarnation to ever feature his throne room! And Eve's line "We do not appreciate trash talk" also a shout out to what Dessler said after disposed of a drunken officer via said trap door.
[2] Backstory of Eve's different classes in-game can basically summed up as "Awaken a program already installed in her memory" thus that mean all those 'Codes' were theoretically accessible from the start, it was her (or player's) choice to activate which one.
Thinking of 'Code' as 'Operating System' aka Windows, Linux, etc. and 'Eve' as 'PC' and you'll get where I got this idea from. You know that we can have multiple Operating Systems in a single PC and still functional right? Yes, that's this case. Hope it's still reasonable.
[3] Those who familiar with Nasuverse and Touhouverse should know that two name, since they're the 'To go Excuse' in most case of Crossover story involving those two series to date.
About Dawlish, the Butt Monkey Auror who got the most unlucky streak of going up against Dumbledore in original Order of Phoenix, since very little information was provided about him I took liberty in designing his profile, namely his survival of first Wizarding War, as they never clearly listed anything.
For Aisha's ability in melee combat, it has to do with the fact that Wizards and Witches in Potterverse rarely, if ever display physical prowess. And consider most attitude especially Pure Blood, I doubt that they'd lower themselves into doing "Filthy Muggle" exercise at all. When Aisha in Elverse has been jumping around and smash things up with her staff (Can you prove that you never use her melee command at all since lvl 1?).
Compare Aisha to Wizarding World and she'll looked like an expert in melee combat, compare her to her homeworld and she'll be medicore in this field at best.
As for what actually happened in the past that kick start the story, the problem with the gatekeeper that the Elgang caused, I'll Never Elaborate it more than what already revealed! Guess it yourself!
Speaking of Henir's Gate keeper, hope that you like how I portrayed him in the story... If he's a bit out of character then please forgive me...
Rate and Review as you see fit, dear Readers, until next time...