Chapter 1: Prolog In The Year 2022

Hydra Black stood on the stage, the rest of her band seated around her. The band consisted of a witch on fiddle, a goblin on guitar, an elf on drums and Hydra herself on lead vocals and enchanted keyboards.

Enchanted as in she programmed the thing with the song set and let it play itself so that she could dedicate all of her energy to her vocal performance and connecting with the audience. As the only half elf she knew of other than her twin brother, Loughness, she was extremely proud of having the most diverse band in the wizarding world. Even better, she'd done that without trying.

Each band member had just fallen into place, and only when the band was fully formed did it actually occur to them that they were a perfect poster band for the diversity rage. Granted that was mostly a Muggle thing, but these days, in Wizarding society it was more important than ever. With the 'plague' that had been loosed onto wizarding society, robbing most people of their magic, the new Minister had called for goblins, elves, even Acromantulas to come forward and take their rightful and equal place in wizarding society if they'd a mind to do so.

Of course most elves were literally unable to do so due to the fact they were rather enslaved at present, but the Minister had taken that into consideration. Being a former Slytherin, and having always believed the Ministry was too soft, she was ready and eager to make it better and stronger in order to keep the wizarding world safe. Wizarding Aurors along with those goblins and acromantulas who had already come forward to show an interest in bettering their situation, visited homes with elf slaves and 'encouraged' the masters to free them. Most of the elves were eager and grateful to leave their shackles of slavery when they were promised paid work at the Ministry.

"It is a new world we're building...as equals together! It's going to be a better brighter and stronger world for all of us as long as we DON'T STOP BELIEVING!" As Hydra called out the final few words to the audience, it was the band's cue to begin playing the music. Tonight she had a guest singer at her side for this single song in particular. He was her boyfriend, and though he terrified most others, Ballan made her heart race for an entirely different reason. The elf hailed from Germany, but that was the least of the reasons he was so different from other elves.

Several years back, he'd been rescued by Millicent Bulstrode (née) Adler's husband Wolfgang. Wolfgang had flat out bought him from a horrifically cruel master then freed him. While in the service of said master, however, Ballan had gotten himself a slightly mangled right leg and a drooping right eye from his years of abuse, but Hydra thought both only gave him character and made him look entirely bad ass in the best of ways.

Ballan hated singing, and he hated crowds, and he hated most people, but he loved Hydra, so had allowed her to rope him into this performance as it was a duet about a boy and girl from different walks of life connecting. The song wasn't just a song about love, though. It was an anthem of hope for everyone in all walks of life, a message for them to never stop believing. Right now in this time of change, Hydra felt it was something everyone needed to hear.

As she began to sing, Hydra felt the music sweeping her away as it always did. She was proud to have inherited her bardic gift for song from her human father. When she sang, music was like a wave of life-giving power and magic that she could ride much as one could ride the crest of a wave. As a swimmer moved through water, she moved through and inside of the music. It was glorious! When Ballan chimed in with his part, her heart leapt with pride. His clear strong tenner belied his nearly equally strong belief that he was no singer. Many in his place who didn't believe in themselves may have given a weak performance, but Ballan didn't do anything by halves which, in part, was what had initially drawn her to him.

She was beginning the second verse when it happened, seemingly striking out of nowhere! The spell slammed into her chest, knocking her off her feet! She stared at the ceiling of the Three Broomsticks in shock as the sound of a scream rang in her ears. Distantly she recognized the voice as belonging to Mag, the band's fiddler and other lead vocalist.

"Do something! Don't just let her die!"" Hydra didn't have to open her eyes to know the shouted words came from her twin brother.

Was she going to die? She hoped not. That would be no good at all. There was still so much she wanted to do. Loughness sounded terrified, though, and that wasn't at all like him. Who had attacked her, though and why? She'd never done anything to anyone.

"I won't do that unless I have to," Ballan replied. "Grindelwald is here tonight. Let him attend, and if he is unable, we'll go from there."

Ballan spoke to Loughness, who cursed under his breath. Hydra felt her eyes fluttering closed as her mind strove to escape the pain.

"Hydra, come on, keep your eyes open for me," Ballan said.

His voice was closer now. He was bending over her. Forcing her eyes open, she searched for his face, but Grindelwald's came into view instead and the blond looked worried. That wasn't good. The great Grindelwald could usually perform fantastic feats of magic without blinking after all, she thought in some dry amusement as she struggled not to panic.

"Ballan! Put up antiapparation blocks now! We're not letting anyone out of here!" The enraged scream came from Hydra's third cousin, Bellatrix. Even in spite of the fact that she was quite certain her ribs were broken, the fury in Bella's voice made Hydra give a small smile through the pain that gripped most of her upper body. The Lestranges would make whoever had done this wish their mummy never met their daddy.

"Already did," he called back. "It was a fucking elf. I felt the magic."

The enraged snarl in which Ballan delivered those last words made Hydra hope the elf in question got to live long enough for the Lestranges to torture answers out of him or her. She opened her mouth to tell Ballan not to kill said elf, but found herself laughing weakly instead. This was insane! Why would an elf attack her? Not only was she half elf, but she did more than most anyone to assist the newly freed elves to be everything they always should've been!