Kate drifted. As the sun came up and warmed her leaves, she started to think as the sap inside started moving. As the sun went down, her thoughts slowed down until she fell asleep again.
As she drifts, she only feels relief. Relief that the chair can't reach her here. As the sun goes down again, her thoughts have just started to turn from her relief to something she needs to remember. But it's so hard, and there are things…
As she wakes up slowly, she revels in the feeling of the sun on her leaves, and the lack of dreams of the chair. She knows there's more, but the sun seems to come faster now.
There's something familiar that isn't part of the sun or the soil. Kate tries to understand, but relief from the chair…
Kate drifts when something makes her remember something else, baby, birth, pain, joy? Marianne? Marianne!
"…no! She's still in there, she's not dead! She's not dead. Just a few more days."
The sound starts to fade, and the calming feeling of the sun drags on her mind. But Kate won't let it go, she has a daughter. Struggling to remember she aches to hold her daughter, even as the sound has gone.
She can feel the sun as it falls and its light grows dimmer. Pushing hard she tries to remember, to move, to step forward. But the flash of sunlight as it dips below the horizon sends her back into her slumber.
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Morgana arrives on platform 9¾ at 10:30 dragging her two children with her. Both of them have puffy red eyes, and are still sniffling and are still distressed. So distressed that their glamours and magical control are shot. As gently as she can, she leads the two of them onto the train while Dora and Marie both follow up behind with the trunks as they look for the second year Hufflepuffs. This only takes a little while, as they've managed to snag a couple of compartments next to each other in the second carriage.
"Good morning everyone, would you mind terribly if I rode with you?"
Around the compartment Susan and Hannah both shrug before going back to their books, while Daphne doesn't even stir from where she's sleeping against the window. Tracey, on the other hand, smiles and waves them in, "Sure, what's going on?"
As Morgana goes to sit down, Tracy gets up to sit next to Susan before nudging the girl with her elbow. Sitting down, Morgana pulls Marianne into her lap, and Harry sits next to her and burrows into her arm.
With a long exhalation of breath Morgana softly says, "Marianne's mother is almost certainly gone. She was going through Brigid's choosing ceremony, and never came out of the tree."
Harry mumbles, "She's still there, I don't have any new trees yet. There's still a chance."
Gently she strokes Harry's hair, "I know, I know. My sister used to say the same thing every time she left alone. It's funny, she couldn't live for herself, but she could live for everyone else."
"Mum, I'm scared. What if I don't come out."
"Then I will wait until you do. You are not mortal, if you make the choice to enter the tree, then I know that one day you will come out again. If you find that the life of a Tuath De is too hard to face, then you are still my son, and I will always love you."
Tracey, looking a little wild eyed, asks, "What about the rest of us?"
"At the moment, you are all mortals. Though there is someone else here who's fate is veiled from me. However, I have no wish for Harry to see his friends grow old and die when I could prevent it. Some would say I'm going soft, well, they'd say other things, but the meaning would be the same. However, times are different to when my people walked the earth, and death is far less common. You also have far fewer connections than we did, and so each loss is that much harder. And yes Morgana, you're rambling because you're going to miss her too."
"Does that mean you're going to make us your chosen?"
Morgana looks Tracey in the eyes, "If there are no other options, yes. But I am probably one of the worst choices for that, as an axe to the head will still kill you dead, even if you're 200. As one of my chosen you'll be more likely to be in situations that could lead to that axe."
There's dead silence as they all digest what was said. As the carriage shakes it brings Tracey out of her thoughts, "So, um, do you know what's wrong with Daphne? I think we got three words out of her before she fell asleep."
Morgana sighs, "Can one of you grab the rest, as I don't want to go through this too often. Don't forget the non-Hufflepuff members."
Tracey grins and closes her eyes, when she opens them again she says, "They're on their way. I've been practicing that all holiday."
Morgana smiles widely, "Well done. Can you identify people by their magic yet?"
"Um… no?"
"It's the natural complement to that skill, as I assume you sent it to people because you know what their magic feels like."
"Actually, I just picture them in my mind and talk to them."
Before everyone else arrives, the door to the compartment slides open and Malfoy, along with Crabbe and Goyle, stands there open mouthed. His eyes glued to Harry's forehead. Then he notices Morgana and his expression goes from surprised to stricken in the blink of an eye, "I'm sorry, I didn't realise you were travelling on the train today."
As the door slides shut Morgana merely blinks.
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"Good, you're all here. As Daphne is still sleeping we'll leave her here and take this conversation to my domain."
A swirl of her hand has a portal open, and she picks up Marianne, who has finally fallen asleep on her lap, and walks through, followed by a subdued Harry, and the rest of the mundane studies class.
As the last of them file through, Morgana looks critically at Padma, "Padma, we will be having words later." She holds up a hand to forestall any arguments, "I am not going to stop your training, but I will need to talk to the god or goddess who has chosen you. If for no other reason than to ensure that they have no problems with me doing so, and they have no intention of using you."
Padma's eyes widen, "Um, thank you?"
"Don't worry about it. Now, Tracey asked me what's going on with Daphne. How many of you have been watching the news recently? Nobody? Ok, how many of you know about Hurricane Andrew?"
Justin, Sally-Anne, and Dean all put their hands up. Surprisingly, so does Millicent.
"Good. If you want to know what a Hurricane is, ask them later. Over the summer Daphne discovered her private name. Unfortunately, this happened while she was being interviewed by a reporter as she was helping to clear rubble in The Sanctuary in Bosnia. Susan, as you are the most advanced student, you'll probably find your name soon. This brings me to a vitally important aspect of my culture, public and private names. Your private name has power over you. This may just be because we work with the Otherside, and so the Otherside seeps into who we are. But that doesn't matter, if other people find out about your private name, then you can be summoned. Either through prayer, or with the right magic. In the past there were people who could lay a geas or curse with only the name. Though they have less weight than things like blood, hair, or teeth.
"I would like you all to start getting used to telling people that you are known as, or they may call you something or other. Try to avoid the words 'I am' or 'my name is' when saying your name, as your magic is likely to give your private name.
"What happened to Daphne is that people saw her helping with building and rescue and have associated her name with that. According to Airmed, the first prayers felt like pokes, until she was taught how to make it easier on herself. She was first called by a young boy praying to her in the Middle of August after an earthquake. After the Hurricane hit, there were a few people praying for her help. Again, right up until she was caught on TV being prayed to, and then arriving. I caught the clip when I was called to the USA by prayer, and the family sacrificed a chicken to ensure she came.
"Blood is life, and life is power. If they know how, even a mundane can do magic with ritual sacrifice. When used in prayer it makes it exceedingly difficult to avoid being called for an experienced Tuath Dé like myself. Daphne had absolutely no chance to resist it.
"Remember this, because if your name gets out, that could be you. If you're strong enough, you may even carve out your own domain because of it. If not, if not, then you break and get a new name."
Apart from Harry, everyone else stares at Morgana as though she's just told them that Voldemort has marked them for death.
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After they return to the compartment the children start to mix and discuss their summer holidays. Even managing to coax Harry into talking, even if it's not with the same enthusiasm he'd normally have. For some reason their conversations would be interrupted momentarily by Slytherins, and later Gryffindors opening the door to stare at Harry and his scar.
At around midday, Daphne wakes up with a startled squark before disappearing in a cloud of mist.
Startled, Tracy and the others in the compartment all stare at the place that Daphne had been sitting just a few seconds ago.
In a strangled voice, Tracy says, "What happened?"
Solemnly Morgana says, "A prayer for aid."
"Can't you help her?"
"What would you have me do?"
"I don't know."
Daphne reappears shaking in anger, "Wake me up just for an interview will you?"
Carefully shifting Marianne onto the seat beside her, causing her to yawn and blink her eyes, Morgana holds her arms out, "Would you like a hug while you tell me about it?"
Daphne looks at her for a long moment before her shoulders slump and she turns around to sit in Morgana's lap, "How do you do it? How do you handle being pulled all over the place to answer prayers?"
Morgana strokes Daphne's hair, "That's why we have chosen. At one point I had 20 chosen, the youngest had been with me for 50 years before… Dora can answer prayers on my behalf, and that's how I was able to take Harry and Morgana on holiday. Other gods, had their own chosen, but they were also limited to the distance they could transport themselves away from their home before needing to travel as mortals. The Norse being an obvious exception because their home isn't in the mortal world, however they found it harder to respond to prayers too. With the Otherside, it is both a benefit and a downside."
"But why pray to me just to behave like a mimic, strutting and prancing in front of everyone and seeking approval like a popinjay fool."
"Because there are many who make their living by being gossips. Especially in the mundane world. You appear to have become somewhat of a celebrity, and so they wish to improve their own status by being seen with you."
Daphne giggles, "Is it bad that, after they said I'd be providing a demonstration of my building skills, I did just that by building a self-sealing room around them."
"I don't know what you mean by self-sealing."
Daphne giggles again, "One of the old men showed me how to make a puzzle box that can only be opened by pulling all 8 corners at the same time. I built one of those in around five minutes, the last few seconds of which were assembling it around the person who was trying to question me."
Tracy frowns, "Um Daph, what's a popinjay?"
"Um, I'm not precisely sure. There's someone, I think it's a guy, who prays to me and then, just reads books at me. I think I helped him some time in the last week, but I've been so busy I have no idea."
As the journey goes on, Daphne disappears in a puff of mist a couple more times, and each time returns a little dishevelled and exhausted, but with a sense of some sort of pride or satisfaction on her face.
All too soon, the train starts to pull into Hogsmeade station, and Morgana has to take her place with the Professors.
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Sluggishly, she dreams that her daughter was taken from her, so she must find her daughter. Slowly she crawls over dirt, roots, and rocks, following the feeling that she has where her daughter is. Heedless of the fog that rises to bar her way, she plunges onwards to find her daughter.
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Marianne slowly trudges from the carriage into the great hall, Marie a silent shadow next to her. As she tries to step into the mist, whatever trick Morgana has for preventing it, she's obviously also shown Marie too. Beside her she sees Harry shake his head as he becomes indistinct for a moment before solidifying.
She feels kinda bad that she was able to laugh and chat on the way up, when her mother is… As the tears start to form again, she looks up and around as she wasn't part of the Sorting Feast last year.
As she sits down, she's quickly flanked by Susan and Hannah, who both lay their hands on her arm in a comforting fashion. Marie sits down on the other side of the table as well, occasionally reaching over to both Marianne and also Harry.
It is somewhat surprising when Susan nudges her, and she realises that the headmaster is looking at her expectantly while Professor Sprout holds the sorting hat.
"They want you to be sorted for formalities sake."
Reluctantly, Marianne gets up from the bench and trudges around to the small stool before slumping down.
As the hat comes down over her head, it yelps quietly before grumbling.
"Please give a hat warning next time I'm about to be put on your head. Now, where should you go?"
Marianne lifts her eyes with the barest amount of interest, "Why? What's wrong with my head?"
"Nothing's wrong with your head, it's your, um, other stuff. I'm quite attached to living as the castle."
"Huh? Oh… And I quite like Hufflepuff."
"You'd do well in Gryffindor you realise."
"Not really, all my friends are in Hufflepuff."
"Very well, let's let you be HUFFLEPUFF!"
Marianne manages a small smile as she says, "Thank you."
When she stands up Professor Sprout gives her a hug and softly says, "If you want to talk about anything later, I'll be in the common room."
Marianne gives her a small, sad, smile before she makes her way back to her seat. On the way, she thinks about how her mother will react, before she remembers she's… not here, and tears start to fall again.
A few minutes later Marianne vaguely notices when Padma starts twitching badly, and Marie takes her off into the mist. As the sorting starts, she's only able to concentrate on a few of the 1st year students, a Creevey who went to Gryffindor because he was first. Later she recognises Luna from playing tag in Sweden who goes to Ravenclaw, and finally the last person to be sorted is a Weasley girl, who ends up causing an uproar by going to Slytherin for some reason.
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She's now absolutely certain that this is a dream, as there's an Alice through the looking glass style party going on where everyone's dressed in university robes. She can see her daughter through the mist, looking absolutely morose, Harry sitting opposite her doesn't look much better. As she crawls further forward, dragging herself with her branches, she puts her hand into a lemon meringue pie, knocks over a pot of tea, and slips on a spilt patch of cream, falling down on top of Marianne.
With a smile, she looks at her, "I know this is a dream, but I want you to know I tried to come back for you."
With that said, she allows the darkness to claim her again as her willpower runs out.