After the feast, the Hufflepuff second years all retreat to their Dorm together and silently start to help those who are leaving on the train.
As they're working together, Wayne angrily throws the ink vial he's packing, and it shatters against one of the castle walls, making everyone jump. "Why didn't we volunteer to go with Harry. I mean, Daphne and Marianne we already know, but any of the rest of us could have volunteered."
"Because you're not that sort of people." Everyone turns to face Skye as she steps out of the mist, "The house of the Badger are loyal and industrious. What they are not is brave and courageous. That doesn't mean that you can't be brave or courageous, but your tendency is to work and pull together, and this is your strength. It takes a different sort of strength to stand apart and be seen as more than just a face in a crowd. To be the first one to step forward. Just remember, it also takes strength and courage to stay behind too. Kate will be by later if you wish to speak to her. But for now I need Susan, Daphne, and Marianne to come with me to act as Harry's Maidens."
Susan startles, "What do you mean, Maidens?"
Skye counjures a cushion with a sigh and sinks down onto it and indicates to the others to join her. Once they're all seated, Skye looks around the group, "In our culture children are not men or women, they are children. As such, when they live in a community, they are cared for in the children's camp by the elders of the community. Once they are old enough to leave the children's camp, they take their adult oaths. From there they start spending time with either the women or the men learning about life in community. Harry took the women's oaths, but didn't forsake the men's oaths. This means that she was taught the ways and skills of both camps, but as she was born male there would always be part of the women's camp that would be denied her."
Marianne nods, "I remember asking Mum2 why Harry wasn't with me when she was teaching me a few things."
Skye nods, "The three maidens are there to assist Harry with her ritual cleansing, and they will inspect her body and her spirit for any hint of being a man. No Wayne, I don't mean the things that divide male and female. I mean the difference in development that come from practising the men's arts. Callouses, muscle development, attitude, and understanding of our ways. However, it wasn't uncommon for those who wished to forsake the camp of their birth to venture away from their community to seek out one of the Dannan that dealt with transformations in order to truly become part of the camp of their heart."
Wayne shakes his head, "I still don't get it."
Skye smiles gently, "That's not surprising, it's not your culture, and you have no family that are part of our culture. There is much about Roman culture that we didn't understand, and the Christian culture that has spread in it's wake is more mystifying still, and I grew up in it. Our culture wasn't perfect, not by a long stretch of the imagination. But it was our culture, as it stands. Susan, Daphne, Marianne, will you be willing to stand Harry's Maidens?"
Daphne nods, "I am more than willing, though I would like to send a message to Rachael to let people know I'm attending to personal matters."
Susan nods, "I will need my aunts permission."
Marianne shakes her head, "I will always be with Harry, where ever and whenever they need me."
Skye turns to look at Hannah, "Hannah Abbott, would you be willing to act as a Maiden if Susan cannot?"
Hannah's eyes widen in surprise, "Me? Why me?"
Skye smiles softly, "Mac Lir. I believe you have been given personal instruction by the Lord of the Otherside."
Hannah flushes and looks down, "I was, but I didn't want it."
Skye shakes her head, "That is beside the point. Amelia Bones is engaged to marry Mac Lir, that you have received personal training means you are considered as family to her family. No one else here has gone through the acceptance ceremony to become Celtic."
Daphne chuckles slightly, "I never went through the acceptance ceremony."
Skye shakes her head, "You did Miss Greengrass. Even if you weren't family by blood, you were accepted. As was Susan. Have you not being invited to The Morrigan's Hearth, and supped with her without breaking bread? Have you not been given the freedom to visit Harry's domain as you will?"
"I…"
"Just because it has the word ceremony, does not mean it is a grand thing. Sometimes the smallest things have the biggest meaning. Anyway, you should all leave soon so that you can assist Morgana with ritually cleansing Alice. That way you'll have some idea of what to do at first light."
With a nod, the three girls melt into the mist, one heading home, one to the USA, and the last to her best friend.
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Amelia Bones stares at Fudge and Crouch, the Minister of Magic, and the Head of International Cooperation respectively. In her hands she holds a sheet of parchment with an official ICW seal on the bottom.
"You want me to what?"
Crouch sneers at Amelia, "Execute the arrest warrant."
Amelia glances down at the warrant once more, "You want me to arrest a child at Hogwarts."
Crouch shakes his head, "No, we want you to arrest a criminal that has been setting themselves up as a god and revealing magic to the muggles in the USA."
Amelia shakes her head, "We don't have jurisdiction."
Crouch points at the warrant, "That is the first ever ICW international arrest warrant. You are to arrest one Daphne Greengrass, aka Aoibhreine, and deliver her to ICW Aurors."
Amelia shakes her head and opens the door to the bullpen before shouting, "Show of wands, who saw or read about the earthquake in Oregon USA last week where Aoibhreine wandlessly not only held the school together, but also repaired the foundations and building from the earthquake damage it sustained only 3 hours earlier?"
Angrily Crouch shouts at Amelia, "You have further evidence of her crimes, and you haven't been sharing them with us?"
Amelia ignores Crouch as around 60% of the Auror's put their wands up, and one of the arrestee's puts their hand up. "Mr Crouch has handed me an arrest warrant for the person they believe to be Aoibhreine. Wands up anyone that is willing to try and enforce it."
There's a sudden clatter of wands as every single Auror finds that they have something vastly more important to be doing. From the back of the bullpen, Alistair Moody stands up and stumps over to the group. "What moron decided to write out an arrest warrant for the lass?"
Amelia rolls up the warrant and uses it to point at Crouch, "This one."
Moody shakes his head, "Tell the idiots at the ICW that they need to stop trying to enforce their own laws on people that have never signed the statute of secrecy. And if they are going to write out a suicide order, to at least get their own people to try and execute it. I have no wish to find out if I can defend against a dragon that's taller than Hogwarts."
Crouch growls, "The suspect is a British Magical Citizen, and she is attending a British Magical School."
Amelia shakes her head, "No she isn't."
"She is attending Hogwarts, is she not?"
Amelia nods, "She is."
"Hogwarts is a British Magical School."
Amelia shakes her head, "With all due respect, it isn't. The school has broken it's treaties with Robert The Bruce on grounds of undue ministry interference with the school. When I received the letter about it in Janurary I checked with the Records Department, and the original treaty has indeed been torn, and every treaty since then tore with it."
Fudge stamps his foot, "Why didn't I know about this?"
Amelia just raises an eyebrow, "Maybe you should speak to the Department of Education about that."
Fudge sags, "First Birmingham and now this. Why is everything going wrong?"
Amelia doesn't even try to keep the contempt out of her voice as she says, "Maybe it's less that things are going wrong, and more that the wrong that has been going on is ending. Since you took over from Bangold you have reduced the budget for every department that used to keep corruption in check. Yet, now that the people we used to protect have found their own legal solution, you cry that everything is going wrong? Now, if there's nothing else, I actually have work to do."
As she storms back into her office, Amelia hears Moody say, "I'll see you out. Just remember that Hogwarts and Hogsmeade are now outside of our jurisdiction."
Almost as soon as she's closed her door, Susan steps out of the mist in front of her, and pulls her into a hug. "Auntie, you were brilliant."
Amelia smiles, "How long were you there for?"
"When you called fudge a corrupt arsehole."
Amelia kisses Susan on the forehead, "While I'm glad to see you, aren't you supposed to be at School?"
Susan nods, "We just finished the feast. I was expecting you to be home already."
"I always take a double shift the day before you're due home. That way I can have a whole day with you rather than needing to cut it short. So, why are you here?"
Susan steps back and stands with her back straight and her feet together, "Harry, child of The Morrigan, has chosen to forsake the mens oaths. I have been chosen as one of the three maidens. May I have permission to attend her as such?"
Amelia nods, "You have my blessing. Also, there are now international arrest warrants. Tell those who may be affected."
Susan nods, "I will, and thank you auntie."
As Susan disappears into the mist, Amelia turns to the shift planner on her wall, and looks at the blocked out days for her two weeks holiday, including the shift swap with Moody this morning. With a smile she walks around her desk and pulls out a train schedule for Inverness to Kyle of Lockalsh, along with a ferry planner. "Let's see if the forbidden isle is forbidden for good reason."
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Alice is looking around the small one room cottage in confusion when Marianne appears out of the mist.
"Marianne, what's going on. I thought we were going into a tree?"
Marianne glances out of a window towards the forest that's hidden by the hill, "You will be, but before you do, Harry is claiming her identity."
Alice shakes her head, "I thought Harry was a boy that liked girls clothes."
Marianne shakes her head, "No, and that's my father's fault. If he hadn't… You know what. If Harry wants to share it with you as her sister, she can later. Right now just accept that in our culture there are those who are born to cross the divide between men and women. Many of the Native American nations venerate them, but they've had 2,000 years to evolve over us. We just accepted them, and where possible gave them what they needed. Also, the word camps is not meant to be literal. It's a hold over from the Celtic ancestors who climbed up from the lowlands to escape the floods, and found Ireland, where they had literal camps where single men, women, and children lived. At least that's what Mum2 said."
Alice frowns, "So what are the oaths then?"
Marianne leans against a wall as she thinks, "They're probably nothing like you're thinking, as they're just verbal acknowledgements of what's expected of you. Things like there's a men's oath that promises to respond to a call to arms from the local king. Same as there's a women's oath to look after the children of any women that die in childbirth until they are old enough to join the children's camp. All things that we're just expected to do, and we're taught growing up. It's only when you're crossing the divide that you need to actually take those oaths."
"Oh, will I be expected to take those oaths?"
From the doorway Morgana shakes her head as she says, "No child. Not unless you wish to cross the divide. We always made allowances for outsiders, even those who joined our society through marriage or acceptance. Besides, that was then and this is now, and we no longer have local kings. Now, I'm sure you're wondering what you're going to be doing as my child prepares herself for forsaking her oaths."
Alice nods, "I was."
Morgana smiles, "The main thing you'll be doing is getting to know your new family. That doesn't mean we're taking you away from your old family, just that you have us too. I'll also be teaching you some of our customs, such as one of the most important ones, that of the private name. This is the name that you will only share with your closest family, and maybe your closest friend."
Alice looks confused, "Why would it be so important?"
Marianne grimaces, "You know how Daphne or Professor Sprout sometimes just disappear randomly with no warning?" When Alice nods, she continues, "It's because their private name is publicly known."
Morgana nods, "All across the world people have versions of the fae, those who come out of the mists and cause mischief and mayhem. Our magic is intrinsically linked with the Otherside. It wasn't always true for mortals, but for gods it was true. If you know the true name of a fae you can summon them with a basic ritual. The same is true of us. Glamours, illusions, and travel are all magics that come easily to those in our culture. One of us will tutor you personally in Celtic magic and the basic weapons that every Celt should know how to use."
Alice nods, "I knew the bit about the magic. I just didn't know that you could be summoned using your name. Isn't that a bit, dangerous?"
Morgana nods, "Which is why someone's private name is so precious. It would be like giving someone your address, telephone number, and front door key, in the mundane world. Or maybe permanently writing them into the protections on your home."
As Susan and then Daphne, walks in, Morgana starts to talk about ritual cleansing, what it is, and why it's done.
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A studio presenter that's standing in front of a green screen turns away from the camera as his eyes widen and his mouth drops open.
A moment later a woman with blue skin and long dark hair walks into view followed by a man and a woman wearing traditional Indian dress. As the man turns back to the camera, he stammers, "Tonight on Kali watch, I am awed to welcome Sura's Kali, Shiva, and Parvati. My Lord Shiva, we were unsure if Kali was the only one of the Hindu gods to survive."
Shiva lifts the flat of his palm up in a smooth motion, "Rise, my beloved wife has assured us that the knowledge that killed so many of the gods across the world has been destroyed. So we indulged her desire to show us the Tee Vee show devoted to her."
"My Lord, does this mean that you will be coming out of hiding?"
Shiva looks at Kali with a smile, "It is too soon to say. Unlike the Celtic gods I have heard of, we do not have the luxury of retreating away from this world if she is mistaken. I understand that The Morrigan is a teacher when she is not a goddess. Thus we will not approach her until her lessons are finished for the year."
The presenter licks his lips, "Uh, we have a question from a caller for Lady Kali. Um, What is your opinion on the Thuggees that murdered in your name?"
Kali's skin starts to darken as she sticks her blood red tongue out for a moment. Then she says, "If they still exist then I dare them to summon me. Maybe I'll send my chosen in my stead."
Shiva looks at Kali a little worriedly, "I think that is enough for tonight. Maybe we could visit this building in the future and see what wonders you have made without us. Come Kali, were there not other things you wished to show us?"
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Across Europe churches begin to burn as the Sidhe move their courts from the isles.
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In Scandinavia a woman walks into the centre of a buried runic array, a large wooden trunk bouncing along the ground behind her. Heedless of all the people around her, beyond ensuring that she is the only one at the focus of the circle, she activates the circle to return home with news of her experiences, and samples of how the world has changed.
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Inside a glowing red crystal, a goddess smiles eagerly as she is filled with more magic than she's ever held before.