Albus looks up at an aged centaur "Firenze, Hagrid tells me you wished to speak to me?"
Firenze nods gravely, "I did, Mars is bright in the morning. However something ancient has returned and the stars have started to dim."
"I see, do you have any other advice?"
"Remember, the deer does not bait the wolf, and a mother fights more fiercely for her cubs." As he turns to leave, Firenze looks over his shoulder, "Oh, and the darkness has retreated from the forest."
Albus stares at Firenze's rump and back as he leaves, most of his attention on what he'd just been told. Stars dimming can't be good. Shaking his head as Firenze disappears from view, he turns and trudges back to the school. At least the unicorns are safe. While is follows the trail out of the forest, he idly notes that there seem to be a lot more fairies than normal, maybe he should tell Severus.
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Harry, Daphne, Susan, and, surprisingly, Neville, all start to feel the pressure of school work, mundane studies, and celtic/weapon studies, as the school year races into its final few months. Part of this is due to the fact that they are being assigned review work from their magical studies. Though the main facet seems to be a drastic increase in the homework required for DADA, something that the older members of Hufflepuff have also commented on. Part of this is due to the fact that Professor Quirrell's stutter has got so bad that the lessons are nigh on unintelligible, and he has also taken to wearing far more garlic than he used to.
Susan looks up from her physics homework, "Hermione, you're good with this. Do you think the speed of sound applies in wizarding spaces?"
Hermione looks over from the book on transfiguration she borrowed from the library, "I don't see why it wouldn't, though I'm not entirely sure what a wizarding space is."
Susan looks surprised, "The inside of Harry's trunk is a wizarding space. They also sell tents with them on, and my aunt made a temporary one once when we were hosting a ball."
Hermione taps her pencil on her lips, "Hmm, maybe we could test it during the summer classes. Find somewhere like a room with two doors down a corridor. If we expanded the room and had both doors open, would someone that's blindfolded hear two balloons popping?"
Marianne shakes her head, "Add it to the list, mum2's going to ask us if there's anything we want to do a couple of weeks before the end of term. Harry, could you help me look for that address in a bit? I've tried multiple times, but it's just not there."
Daphne puts her finger on the page as she looks up, "What address?"
Harry sighs, "Nicolas Flamel, I was going to think about it once the exams were over."
"Oh, he's somewhere in Devon. Though his house is enchanted to be unplottable. You'd be better off sending him an owl if you want to ask him something."
Harry and Marianne both stare at her, "What? It's common knowledge."
Hannah puts her hand up, "I didn't know it." a few of the other students from magical backgrounds make agreement noises.
Tracy punches Daphne gently in the arm, "Did you forget that most of us didn't grow up having to learn politics?"
Before Daphne responds, Neville shakily says, "I knew, Gran made sure of it."
Daphne beams at Neville, "See, it wasn't just me."
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Morgana sighs as she steps out of the mist, with Arianrhod on her arm, into the centre of the Tintagel Castle. Such a simple solution, yet so dependant on knowing the cultural norms of the wizarding world. Shaking her head once more, she hands the parchment letter from Harry, asking what it was like to work with the headmaster, to Arianrhod. As the owl takes off, Morgana herself raises her mantle with both hands and leaps into the air as she shrinks down into the form of a crow. A couple of hours later she ghosts through the protections designed to disorientate and mislead anyone that's not invited. Even from here she can feel the strength of the two magicals inside the rather non-descript cottage. Alighting on a windowsill that already has some birds eating scraps from it, Morgana listens in as they open the letter.
Nicolas laughs wetly, "Look at this Penny, another student has found my chocolate frog card."
"I told you that you shouldn't have let it be made."
"I know, I know, I just like hearing from children. Listen, 'Dear Mr Flamel, I found your chocolate frog card along with the headmasters. What was it like to work with the headmaster? Signed Harry Danann."
"I suppose it's better than the endless 'Will you teach me alchemy please?'"
Morgana watches as an old man, who's back is hunched almost horizontally with age, totters across the room to a bed before sitting down on it, "I know Penny, and I think it's over now. None of my magics can detect the stone."
"I still wish it had been someone other than you."
"Who else could it be? You know she was preaching against the church, and handing out youth to her friends and lover. Even claiming to be a god…"
A wizened hand grasps Nicolas's arm, "I know, and we've had this argument so many times. I just hope that our own souls aren't so tainted that we can't see our children again."
"I did what I had to. I've regretted the deaths of those she seduced with her words and power for centuries, but it was the only way to trap the demon."
Deciding that she's heard too much, Morgana vanishes into the mist momentarily before the mist descends on the grounds around the cottage. As she steps out of the mist again, directly into the cottage, Nicolas recoils and brings up his hand to ward her off. As he does a spell of some description forms in the air between them, spluttering out as The Morrigan releases her shackles, and floods the area with her magic, and pulling it, and all of the land around it, fully into the mist. First she heads towards the court of Lathai, who used to be Lugh.
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As the mist at the side of the cottage lands parts to reveal the orderly lands of Lathai, Morgana lifts the two ancient magicals carefully, but not gently, in her magic. Marching to the edge of the cottage lands, she bellows, "Lugh, son of Cian, now known as Lathai, The Morrigan requests your knowledge."
As the sound of her voice is carried across the domain with her magic, all of the Sidhe that were going about their business turn toward the direction the sound came from.
Nicolas whimpers at the use of the title, at the same time Penny starts to pray, "Oh merciful father, please deliver us from the fae, send your angels to help us in our hour of need."
Morgana hisses in disgust, "You pray to nothing, I have never seen any evidence of those empowered by your so called god. Your god has yet to reign in any of the excesses of the people that claim to worship him. To the point where most of the magical community in Britain abandoned your religion hundreds of years ago."
"They are misguided, they haven't seen the demons pound futility on the protections surrounding the Vatican. They haven't heard the honeyed words of those still living wild. But they will see, they will see. He will return and they will see."
A tall, young man, with a neatly cropped square beard approaches the small gap between the two bits of land. The only indication that he was anything different from the other Sidhe being the building presence he brings with him. With a mocking bow to Morgana he says, "My Queen, to what do we owe the pleasure of your company?"
"These Christians, stand accused of imprisoning a goddess, murdering her friends and lover, and then torturing the goddess in order to prolong their own lives. I am sure that they have killed more gods and goddesses than that."
Lathai looks at the two with a gimlet stare, "And what would you have me do?"
"Your job. You who represented truth and law, our judge. I wish you to judge them," she grinds out the next word, "fairly. We also have the stone, and I wish to know how to free the goddess inside."
"I see, so we were just the first."
Morgana shakes her head, "Nae, I fear we were just one of many. The mortal histories no longer speak of the force of arms brought to bear in our land. Or how so many of our people sacrificed themselves to buy time for the rest to leave. The writings of our Druids on staves of Rowan were burned with the totems of our faith, and the mortals now believed that we eschewed writing down our histories and learnings. It's a Danu given miracle that any of Ogma's legacy still exists to be found, but I have been able to find a few samples to prove we weren't just savages living as hunter gatherers."
"You walk amongst the mortals?"
"I do, and they have developed their own magic distinct from any that has come before. No talent is needed, born or gifted, in order to learn to make their magic. Only learning and resources. They combine their magic with machines to carve runes on the purest quartz that are so small that not even our best smiths could see them. They then use tamed lightning to make them work."
"That sounds fascinating, maybe we could talk about it over salt and mead."
Morgana shakes her head, "I do not seek guest rights this day. Perhaps you could visit once you have tried these two, and I will introduce you to my kin."
"Great Queen, it would be my honour."
Morgana smiles, "I'm sure it would, just remember that bringing apples would be a gross violation of guest rights."
As Morgana is moving the Flamel's over to the gap, she pauses as the protections around the property react to their presence. Her eyes narrow as she examines what she felt, and then widen in realisation, "Blood, you used willingly given blood to bind your protections. There's something deeper, more primal, sacrifice. Sentient sacrifice."
Unceremoniously, she drops her prisoners and follows her senses to the magical centre of the property. There she turns around and carefully slices her hand.
As the first three drops of blood fall to the grass she calls, "I The Morrigan claim these lands as my own."
As the second three follow the first, she chants, "I am the harbinger of doom, and I claim this magic."
Finally tears fall instead of blood, "I am the protector of women, and I claim these bonds."
Nicholas can't keep the victorious expression off his face as the trap they laid centuries ago snaps closed. Long has the power of three been known, three parts, three roles, and three sacrifices. The fae queen was now powering all three parts and they would… should be trapping her in a crystal prison?
Mist streams in from every direction, cocooning Morgana and filling the magical formation that is surrounding her. Even so, the effort seems to be in vain as the shape of the prison slowly takes form around her despite her use of the mist to slow things down. Blinking hard, Nicholas squints at the sight of a wattle and daub house slowly appearing in the mist. Suddenly the formation snaps closed, and a grey crystal drops to the grass, behind them Lathai claps.
"Wonderful, wonderfully done. If this were the mortal world you may well have succeeded. But alas, for you, it isn't, and she has her own domain. I was going to warn you off of trying anything, but I guess you're not going to enjoy the rest of your life."
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Morgana falls limply through the portal into her own domain, her own energy nearly spent pulling in enough of the mist to both open the portal enough for her to slip through, as well as to hold the magic in the trap far enough away from her for a suitable portal to form. Eyes flashing in anger and hate, she allows herself to draw fully on her domain as she flows to her feet. From her mantle, crows fly away and land, her murder flowing as if it's part of a greater organism. In front of her a portal back to the cottage appears and as she steps through a faint echo follows.
As she appears beside the grey crystal, Lathai immediately drops to one knee and averts his gaze. As she walks over to the two Christians her echo steps to one side. As their gaze pins Nicolas, a crow launches itself at him and pecks a hole on his forehead, pulling out a strand of darkness. After it swallows it, it calls, "I am the Badb, and I deny you death."
Her echo lays a hand on his head while saying, "I am the Macha, and I curse you. From dawn to noon, you will live as you are. From noon until dusk, first your skin will tear itself from your body, then your muscles and ligaments, the crows will then feast on your organs before your nerves are torn from your skull. From dusk until midnight you will live, alone in your skull. From Midnight until dawn, you will heal until you regain your current health and ability."
Finally, Morgana steps forward and cups his chin, "I am Anand, and I grant you mercy. A freely given apple from that tree, given by any but your wife, will hold the curse at bay until dawn the next day."
As she steps back, Nicolas screams as his skin starts to rip itself from his body. Penny too screams, before covering her mouth with her hands. That doesn't stop the crow from swooping down to peck at her forehead, though this time it hands the strand of darkness to Morgana, who begins to stretch and weave it into a braid. Her echo then leans down and pulls a silvery blue strand from Penny's chest, causing her to gasp. Morgana takes that strand and weaves it into the braid as well, until it is long enough to be a choker. Penny tries futilely to get away as Morgana crouches down to tie the choker around Penny's throat, "I am Anand, and I grant you vitality and understanding. You will know every person that you meet, from their birth to their meeting with you."
As she steps back her echo crouches down and kisses Penny on the lips, "I am the Macha, and I curse you with silence. Never will you be able to communicate what you learn from Anand's gift."
From Morgana's shoulder, the crow calls, "I am the Badb, and I grant you death. Once you have met the last mortal who's life has been changed by yours or your husbands actions, you will be allowed to die."
Together they step back together, and in unison say, "We are The Morrigan, as it is said so will it be."
A moment later the cottage lands disappear, leaving the Flamels on the land beside Lathai, who looks down at the two dispassionately, "Well, better you than me. Honestly, I, and most of my family, have wished to never ever see that happen. Just be happy that she was feeling merciful in her old age, otherwise you may have both been given the Prometheus treatment."