Thank to all of you who took the time to my story!
AN: Chapter betaed by Miette, you can thank her for the early update!
AN2:2021-02-17: Huge thanks to dpstone12 for correcting mistakes left by Miette and I :)
There is something in the walls threatening students.
Something unnatural put there with the help of the Lunatic. The Lunatic, whose purpose is to protect the School, is turning against her, in the name of his Father.
Wards are weakening as unity is stretched thin.
The Pillars are not doing their work as they should.
The Defender changes every year, and it will remain so until the curse is broken. The curse was clever, using one of the Founders' magic to slither through the protective ward and take its roots inside herself. She could not take it out on her own.
The Shield is strong, using his goblin heritage to strengthen her. The Heart is growing old, he will retire soon and she will be imbalanced until she chooses the next one.
The Bearer is struggling with the weight of the school, and conflicted about the Head. Yet she holds. Thanks be to Merlin for small mercy.
The Head has forgotten his vows, taking sides and hating one of the Founders for reasons that frighten her. How had she not noticed when she chose him? He spreads the sickness in her students, prevents her from interfering to protect as she should.
Once, no students could be harmed by another inside her walls. Then, she had one purpose. To shelter and cherish. To enjoy the growing of Magic in the little ones. Today she is torn. Torn between protecting the students and attacking them as they hurt each other. Her instincts are conflicted and while she has found a way to preserve her true purpose, it is sapping her already dwindling strength.
How can she protect students who endanger other students? How can she choose?
That was fun.
He cackles madly as three others students vainly try to escape his water bombs attack. Whoops. That one transfiguration essay is drenched, ink dripping on the ground. Too bad. She should not have threatened a firstie of her own House for being friends with a tiny Slytherin.
Heheeeeey! Nice throw if he says so himself. He got that one right on the head. Take that for trying to cast a dark spell on a Gryffindor. He really looks like he has peed into his robes. Ah the humiliation in front of one's peers. Such a classic.
Now, once more with feeling.
Dung bombs are old jokes but they remain so entertaining. Especially when dropped into a love potion. A really dark potion that the young lady had chosen, judging from the lovely purple her skin now is after being splashed by the love potion-dung bomb mix. And those purple patches itch like mad, don't they? She will have the choice between spending the whole night scratching, waiting for the potion to wear off, or go to Mrs Pomfrey and explain herself. Cornelian choice, right?
He thinks his jokes were harmless once. Only meant to warn. Now he needs to teach those snooty hormone-full teenagers a lesson. And Sister is letting him. Of course, he cannot wilfully hurt them. She does not allow him even though they are hurting each other. But one can hope. Teenagers are so unobservant and clumsy. A slip on some water or banana peel and voilà!
He winces, feeling Sister's disapproval. One must choose what he is joking about these days. Well, time to hunt for others in need of punishment.
He bristles with displeasure as he observes the Slytherin assembly from afar. The new King is charismatic but he is dividing the House, toeing the line of Slytherin's rules and intent.
Most are entranced by his speech, either because they truly agree with him or because they are easily snared by grandiloquent rhetoric. He sighs. Not all Slytherins are the cunning or reflective kind. Those are not the only traits of their Founder. At least, the King is holding the meeting after the third-years-and-under curfew. He has tried to circumvent the rules before, but he must have realized he would only lose supporters. Slytherin protects his children.
Still, it speaks of a will to change the House. This King is the representative of one outside the walls who would shape the Wizarding world, so what does it mean about his adherence to Slytherin's intent?
He remembers one Slytherin speaker not long ago. That one had been a true Slytherin, cunning, charismatic and ruthless with those who threatened the House. Some might say he had lacked empathy, like with the spider boy. To have him expelled for a crime his spider had not committed was cruel, but the boy would not have stopped endangering the students with other pets.
True, it had helped shift the blame away from the speaker, and away from Baskos. The Lunatic they call him now. True, Familiars could survive their Master's death. But how had Slytherin's demise affected Baskos?
Loneliness cannot have helped. He scowls, thinking how proud the Basilisk is. Too proud to consider phantoms like beings. So disdainful of pathetic Wizards who were not brave enough to face death and remained as pale shades of their past selves.
Life as a phantom is mostly joyless. It is his atonement for killing his beloved lady's lover in a fit of jealousy. This was her price in exchange for the slim chance of her forgiveness. She has followed him in the phantom existence, if only to be assured he is doing as he should.
She has not talked to him once in centuries. Yet he hopes.
He watches unseen as a prefect once more breaks up a fight between upper years. He sighs dejectedly as the Head, despite the probation warning, once again waves away a Gryffindor detention while adding one to some Slytherins. It is not to say Slytherins do not deserve detentions at times. But the blatant favouritism of the Head for Gryffindors against his disdain for Slytherins as well as his dismissal of the other two Houses is hurting the Mistress and all its inhabitants.
His brethren and he are helping as they can but it is only slowing her decline. Twice they have failed at the most important tasks. First when they could not lift the curse on the Defender position. Then when they did not notice the unnatural Magic until it was rooted so deep into the Mistress it blinded them to its location, leaving them unable to remove it.
They are helping as they can, but the Mistress' weakening as well as her divided feelings about the students are making their task difficult. They are lucky the Shield is strong, as he is the one Pillar holding the Mistress together today. The Bearer is helping too, but her disapproval of the Head's behaviour is bolstering the Mistress' resentment toward him even as she refuses to dissolve his vows. She says it will be worse if he leaves. They must trust she knows better.
So they help in their own way, showing their displeasure towards students by not serving meals they loved, or giving back pink robes instead of black. They reward good behaviours with treats that appear on the student's bed they want to encourage. They even refused access to the kitchen to a few students once after an ugly fight. They have not seen much result yet but they will keep on trying.
I cannot sleep tonight. Uranus and Pluto will align soon. When change and power cross paths, no being is spared. I have watched the sky countless times lately, but Neptune remains hidden, unwilling to reveal who or what is at the centre of this coming change.
My brothers say I worry too much. They say there is only a slight chance that Uranus and Pluto will align together. They claim they will divert from their path enough not to cross paths. I disagree. The way is clear. These two planets have shined brightly in our sky for several weeks, and I foresee they will do so for several years until they finally align and the most important change happens.
We already are seeing omens.
Wizards are fighting. Hogwarts' Magic is waning. Magic Creatures numbers are decreasing all over Britain.
My brothers insist it is not our place to interfere. They argue there is nothing we can do. They say in the event the two planets align, we will not be affected. I disagree. We are part of this world, no matter how much we try to distance ourselves from the other magic beings.
Tonight, I watch the sky again, in hope of catching a detail which could convince my brothers to open their eyes.
She swims into the lake, unseen by most except for a few Merpeoples and the Giant squid. The first time she was flushed out into the lake by one rude student, she had been scared out of her mind. Now, she enjoys gliding underneath the water, silent as a ghost – oh yes she is funny tonight – on her own volition. She is happy tonight. Has been since she helped Baskos and a student hide away her precious Tom's treasure in the come and go room.
Tom. Her saving grace during her time at Hogwarts. They were only friends during the last year before her death. He had helped her learn how to behave to blend in the wizarding world. He had tried to teach her not to be so affected by others cruelty and mockery. She knew she would have succeeded in time. She had hoped they would become more in time.
He had still visited her once she had become a ghost. Not as much as she would have liked, but he was so popular and so busy. And he had come to visit her the day he had tried for the Defender position. To this day, she does not understand why the Head refused his application. Tom's goal is admirable. To help Muggleborns become true Wizards, not just people who can use Magic. To help them so other students won't have cause to mock them and bully them.
An admirable goal for a wonderful man. She was secretly pleased when her Tom admitted neither being married nor engaged. She will help as much as she can.
Where is the speaker?
He needs to get out of this chamber too tight for him. He has grown much since his Csatlós death. He is not meant to live alone. He is king among creatures, powerful and strong. He should be surrounded by courtiers, ready to answer his every whim. He hisses in displeasure. His scales are itching. They have been for a long time. When was the last time he had bathed in the great river?
He had agreed to remain and protect the school when his Csatlós left, with the understanding other speakers would come. Other creatures would rally so they would take turns in protecting the snakelings.
But he is stuck here, without a way out.
He hisses in anger, certain the last speaker is punishing him for killing a non-speaker. He could not help it, he was angry. The speaker had not understood how famished he was. The scent of the warm prey had been too much to resist. But the speaker will come soon. He has to. He is so hungry. And angry. He should be roaming forests freely instead of being stuck in a minuscule hole.
When he gets out, he will show them they should not have angered a king.
He watches in silence as his Tsure pens another letter carefully.
The enquiry has weakened his Tsure political position but he cannot say he is displeased. When they first met, his Tsure had promised him a grand future. He had promised he would rule the world. He had said he had been betrayed by his last partner but that the task was too huge to do alone. He had sworn he would bring Magic back from the dark corner where it was confined.
He had accepted his Tsure's offer, intrigued by this new adventure. His last fledging had left the nest a hundred years ago and his mate had flown away to live under other skies after half a century spent together. He was due for a new birth and had never been a Familiar before. It had seemed perfect.
He flutters his wings in annoyance. Their first years had been perfect. His Tsure had already been a well-known and respected Wizard, professor of a great magic school. He was creating his social and political network, while subtly influencing and courting the younger generation. He had even fought and won against the current Dark Lord, Grindelwald. His Tsure's former lover.
He had not realised his Tsure still loved the man. He had not realised his Tsure was obsessing over that Grindelwald until far later. At first, his Tsure had climbed the social ladder to become Hogwarts Headmaster as well as the Head of the Wizengamot, seeming wholly focused on his goal. Then he had begun using his old lover's wand. When he had not needed any. He had forgotten to cultivate ties with the most ancient Houses because most were from the side he despised while Muggleborns fawned over him.
His Tsure does not realise what the Headmaster position entails. As he obsesses over Grindelwald and is blinded to some students' greatness while he favours others, his Tsure is losing the game. Instead of bringing Magic back and spreading it all over the world, he is killing it slowly. Hogwarts is dying. The castle is a Magic focus point. Its death would create a backlash of unknown consequences.
He realises now that he has miscalculated. Even if his Tsure achieves his grand scheme, Magic will not win. He will not be able to fly freely as he once did in British campaign. Unless he manages to take his Tsure's focus away from his former lover and back to the importance of Magic.
Trilling unhappily, he settles back and watches his Tsure plot even as himself schemes.
PS: in order of apparition, Hogwarts, Peeves, Bloody Baron, a House Elf, a Centaur, Moaning Myrtle, Slytherin's Basilisk, Fawkes (Dumbledore's Phoenix)