Welcome back to this story everyone, last we left off Lockhart got demoted for gross incompetence while Madam Hooch got an upgrade to her job description so she has something to do other than supervising kids on broomsticks.
Quick Reminder, I own nothing mentioned in this story outside of my Original Characters and the crossover specifics which lead to the combination of this world's settings.
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"Deathday Party?" Asked Ellie confused as she looked up at the House Ghost of Gryffindor, Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, also known as Nearly Headless Nick.
"Yes, the day I was executed and become a ghost. It happens to coincide with the modern holiday of Halloween." Explained the ghost and Ellie winced, she wasn't exactly fond of that day herself.
"So, ghosts celebrate that day like we celebrate our birthdays? Kinda neat." Commented Az as she sat next to Ellie at the Gryffindor Table, it was early morning, earlier even than most students were awake. Both sisters being accustomed to waking up at the crack of dawn for different reasons.
"Indeed, but there is a reason I bring this up." Noted Sir Nicholas, who had brought up the topic kind of unprompted. "This year the Headless Hunt, a gathering of beheaded ghosts, have announced their intention to come to my party. I've been excluded from joining them for centuries now because of my improper beheading and it would mean the world to me if you could attend, after all you are famous even among us departed." Explained Sir Nicholas and Ellie frowned, not thrilled by the prospect of becoming a showcase for someone, but then again this was Sir Nicholas, she liked the ghost…
"What about if we could try and finish your beheading?" Asked Az at this point, catching the man off-guard.
"Oh? Young miss Azkalagora how would you do that? I am a ghost already so it isn't like there is a physical body for you to behead." Asked the ghostly man as he raised an eyebrow.
In response Az formed a rudimentary blade made of Stasis around her hand which she held flat in a chopping stance of sorts. "Ghosts are made of Stasis, extremely thin and harmless stasis, but Stasis nonetheless. I can try cutting off the bits of your skin that hold your head in place using my own ability to manipulate Stasis if you would let me. I can't guarantee it would work, or that it would have no negative side-effects, but I think it is worth a try." Explained Az and the man's eyes began to shine in amazement as Ellie smiled.
"I would be most grateful miss Azkalagora, if this works I will be in your debt." Stated the man and Az nodded while the rest of the house watched, with a number of other houses doing so as well while Az floated up to get better access while he lifted his head off enough for the flap of skin to be cleanly accessible.
"Alright, keep it steady now." Stated Az as she brought the imitation of a blade of Stasis to the skin flap and, after a second, it went through, and Sir Nicholas' head nearly flew out of his hand as all resistance to pulling it away vanished almost immediately. "There we go!" Declared Az and while Sir Nicholas was marveling at the lack of head, cheers erupted among Gryffindor and some other houses. A lot of ghosts come over to congratulate him on this.
"So, how does it feel breaking the laws of magic?" Asked Ellie with a smirk, looking at her twin sister.
"Meh, nothing special." Stated Az with a shrug as she sat down again.
"You two are doing this on purpose, just making things happen that shouldn't be possible, just for funsies." Stated Hermione with a shake of her head.
It was the 23rd of October, just under a week before Halloween. Unlike Christmas, Halloween didn't come with a vacation time, so nobody had left the school. Classes had been pretty fun in the meantime, with DADA being informative now that Lockhart wasn't around, fucking it up for everyone. Or at least he was relegated to being an adviser. He still had his fans and often did what he was likely planning to center his classes around, namely re-enactments of his books and talking about them.
Ellie had also discovered that, if she hadn't gotten him out of teaching, he would've tried roping her into this shit. He had attempted to flag her down for a demonstration or something, but she had bluntly told him to stay away because he wasn't acting in the capacity of a Hogwarts Teacher, so he couldn't approach her.
Cease and Desist were her new favorite words if she was being honest. Sadly, most recently, a news crew from the Daily Prophet had come to Hogwarts, lingering around the perimeter of the school, to try and get interviews about "Learning from a Celebrity", namely Lockhart, and why he was demoted to adviser from being a teacher.
Ellie had to fight off Rita Skeeter while visiting Haggrid, the woman was now facing a lawsuit for harassment, and she found herself united with Professor Dumbledore in filing a lawsuit over the Daily Prophet's harassment of students on school property. The man, for all his flaws, wasn't a fan of the Daily Prophet and its insanity.
"So, what do you think todays lessons will be?" Asked Ron as they worked their way through breakfast further, for now the topic of the Deathday Party set aside as Sir Nicholas was busy retrieving his head, which was laughing maniacally about it all. How exactly his body was able to be directed to him was probably best left unanswered.
"Well, between revisions of last year and the Charms work we've been getting? Probably a test if last year is anything to go by. Professor Snape probably will continue making us rehash last year's potions too." Stated Ellie, the man was meticulous in his making them at least master what potions he was teaching them, though his perfectionism was kind of painful.
"I'm kind of interested what Madam Hooch's next class will be, she is way better than Professor Lockhart." Chimed in Ginny, her own classes included DADA for friday which had been a great source of interest for her.
"Not gonna lie, she is way better than our last one too." Agreed Ellie, remembering Quirrel. Who somehow still didn't make the bottom of the list of their teachers which was kind of amazing given he was possessed by Voldemort. Her suggestion had indeed been a good one for getting Lockhart out of the position he wasn't fit to fill.
"Speaking of, did you hear anything yet from Sirius and Remus?" Asked Az, the most familiar with the secret Werewolf friend of their family.
"No, nothing since their arrival in Australia. Getting an international flight like that is kind of complicated when you don't have Muggle passports and intercontinental Floo is all kinds of crazy." Stated Ellie, shaking her head at the memory of that letter that had arrived a while back.
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Albus Dumbledore watched the mingling of the various students, some were still arriving due to the early hours, but couldn't help the small frown as he watched the Potter Twins.
Specifically after Azkalagora had proven that her own specific energy, the "Stasis" as she called it, was able to affect the physiology of a ghost. Fascinating as it was, it meant she could potentially destroy a ghost or mangle them badly. The dragongirl had, quite frankly, turned up so many new fields of study which couldn't be pursued by anyone but her due to her statements on the nature of ghosts.
"Minerva, I assume you're noting down what miss Potter has just said?" He asked with a tired sigh. The Potter Twins were, quite frankly, a study in magic like no other. Studying them may very well lead someone to either discover all new fields of magic, or to go mad from the knowledge. Depended really on their mood he felt.
"Yes headmaster, next thing you know they'll end up going to a summer camp for Demigods in the US or something. Would be a nice change of pace, as the children would say, real normal shit." Stated Minerva with a sigh of her own, shaking her head. His deputy naturally had a sense of humor like that too, though he suspected she was a bit less inclined to see it as a problem due to, well, her star Seeker being one of them.
"Well, maybe people won't call old Nicholas "Nearly Headless Nick" from now on, as he is clearly quite headless." Noted Pomona to his side, watching the House Ghost juggling with his own head. It was kind of disgusting but most of the students had gotten used to the sight by this point, as grissly as it was.
"By the way, Albus? I just this morning got a letter from Gringott's, apparently the Potter Twins, when going to the Black Vault with Sirius, discovered a peculiar cup which the Goblins, earlier, figured out was the Cup of Hufflepuff. It has been destroyed by Elizabeth." Stated Minerva at that point, catching his attention as Pomona also listened up.
"Why would she destroy such an artifact?" Asked Pomona alarmed and he had to admit, it sounded outlandish for the normally respectful girl to do such a thing.
"According to the letter miss Potter reported sensing malevolent Wakfu within the cup, and since magic isn't cast with it, she concluded it to be a "Lich's Philactery", apparently a concept from a Muggle Roleplaying game called Dungeons and Dragons. There the term refers to an object in which an undead sorcerer has placed their soul to the world of the living from which they can then respawn after being destroyed." Explained Minerva and Dumbledore winced, realizing what this meant.
"She destroyed a Horcrux." He muttered, realizing like Minerva, what this implied. He couldn't think of anyone else who may have had the audacity to do such a thing to an Artifact of the Founders.
"Yes, it explains how he was able to return last year, but from the information I was able to get out of the Goblins, Miss Potter said it had less Wakfu than a living being, significantly less so. It may not be the only one." Explained Minerva and Albus nodded, these were troubling news but on the other hand, it meant Elizabeth had a means of destroying Horcruxes which brought up another question.
"How did she destroy it?" Asked Albus, ignoring Pomona looking between them in confusion.
"From the report, she used her Portal ability to create a portal under the cup and, when it was halfway in, closed the portal shut, cutting it in two that way." Explained Minerva and Albus almost fell for the urge to slap himself on the forehead. Naturally an ability such as this which was ripping a HOLE between two points in time would be able to do that, it was a gateway between two points and if the gateway closed, then there was no way for the object in the middle of it to stay in one piece.
"100 points to Gryffindor. For potentially bringing us one step closer to defeating the Dark Lord." Muttered Albus under his breath, which made Minerva smile and Pomona frown, though his deputy signaled her that she would explain later. He knew these signs by heart after all.
Now, where to find the remaining Horcruxes and how to get them into Ellie's hands, and how to handle the one lodged in her forehead as she seemed unable to detect it herself?
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"Thank goodness you thought to bring our own food." Commented Ron as he, Ellie, Az, Hermione, Ginny and Neville, all still had decided to head for the Deathday Party of Sir Nicholas. They asked Luna but she had said there was something she had to do. Which was odd.
They had asked about possible food at the party and had been informed that, because of their nature, ghosts usually only brought in rotten food as they could taste that a bit. Hermione had speculated it may have to do with the decay of the foodstuffs though neither sister could confirm rotten food as giving off Stasis or Wakfu.
"Well yeah, we may not be human but neither of us is immune to food poisoning." Stated Az, shuddering at the idea of eating rotten food which would be quite horrifying to her.
"The Dursleys tried once, the hospital bills taught them otherwise." Stated Ellie, which left Hermione stumbling for a second with a tint of green.
"And nobody did anything about that?" Asked Hermione horrified as Az's eyes darkened in rage at yet another piece of information about Ellie's treatment.
"Everyone in the area was convinced I was a chronic liar, no point trying to convince them otherwise they just blamed it on me eating something out of gluttony or something." Explained Ellie with a shrug, she was used to this truth of her life, how her childhood was ruined just for the hatred of the Dursleys and to blame all of Dudley's actions on her instead.
"Jesus Christ those Dursleys are awful." Muttered Ginny with a shudder of her own at the implications of this information.
"No kidding. Only reason I haven't tried seeing if I can sue them is that I literally stole every bit of money and all of their keys before leaving. I'm not even sure what happened to them afterward since I'd have vanished without a trace." Stated Ellie, frowning because that was something that had kind of bothered her, but she had already decided the Dursleys were now below the bottom of the bottom of the bottom of the bottom drawer of the bottom compartment of her priorities.
She had her revenge in a small way, let them handle the aftershocks.
"Sounds like burglary." Commented Hermione with a frown, naturally she saw the rules breaking.
"Sounds to me like my cashing in the pay for years of slave labor." Countered Ellie, remembering the hours of work she had to do around the house and in the garden for nothing more than more abuse. She had been living as Cinderella for most of her life until she found her way to the one place where she was safe, but Prince Charming was actually her sister, and a dragon. At least they had a castle to go to at least for their school time.
They finally reached the room for the party which was in the dungeons, with a lot of ghosts attending from all over the castle. "Geez, either Sir Nicholas is this popular in general, or these parties are just that important." Commented Ron, looking at all the ghosts, half of which Ellie couldn't even recognize as Hogwarts native ones.
"Well yeah, not like we have much to do around here." Spoke up a girl's voice and Ellie turned around, recognizing the ghostly form of a ghost she had met at one point in her first year, though not that often after due to her location.
"Hey Myrtle, how are you?" Asked Ellie with a friendly smile, the young ghost of the girl's bathroom Myrtle Warren was one of the more infamous ghosts in Hogwarts. She had been in Ravenclaw 50 years ago until she died in that bathroom, being a victim of bullying her entire short time at the school.
"I am alright. Nice to see you again Ellie." Greeted back the ghost, smiling at Ellie as she did so. Then her eyes moved to Az. "And that would be your sister? I heard from the grapevine you had one who is a dragon, kinda crazy." Commented the ghost as Ellie chuckled at that.
"Yeah, my summer turned out way crazier than I thought. Sorry I hadn't visited you yet, none of my classes left me an opportunity." Explained Ellie, she was quite sincere in that way, she had always felt bad for Myrtle after learning of her and had done her best to befriend the ghost girl.
"Its alright, I just hope you come visit me soon." Stated Myrtle before flitting away, in high spirits, excuse the pun.
"I didn't know you're friends with Moaning Myrtle." Noted Hermione, a bit stunned at the revelation.
"Moaning Myrtle? You mean she's the ghost from that girl's washroom?" Asked Ron, evidently having heard of her from someone.
"First, her name's Myrtle Warren, so please don't call her Moaning Myrtle. And yes, I met her a week or so into our first year since I had to use her bathroom. We bonded from there since, well, I wasn't exactly popular thanks to Dudley." Explained Ellie with the implication making the others flinch back at the realization what connected the Eliatrope with the ghost.
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Ten minutes, including one extra hurrah for Sir Nicholas who was finally able to join the Headless Hunt, later, the group left the party and made their way to the Great Hall, hoping that the standard party wasn't over yet.
The Deathday Party had been interesting in the sense that a lot of Ghosts with stories to tell had been around. Ellie tried talking to the Grey Lady at one point but she had been tight lipped as always and the Bloody Baron had been… intense to be around.
As they turned a corner, Ellie stopped. "Enemies, Enemies in the castle, Hunt, Hunt! Destroy!" Ellie shuddered hearing this voice and looked around, her Wakfu Vision snapping on again by sheer instinct but at first she couldn't see anything due to the walls, until she spotted… something, a trail of Wakfu, further down the hall.
"Shit!" She exclaimed, charging with her portals that way to the surprise of the others and just got a glimpse of… something, something HUGE, vanishing into something that closed which, when she looked normally, was a wall. But more horrifying was the small Wakfu source she had spotted near it which was very weak.
"Oh, oh no." She muttered, her eyes wide as she saw what it had been. Mrs. Norris, the cat companion of the ornery janitor of the castle, Argus Filch, hung stiff as a statue from a torch mount on the wall. Next to her, written over wet floor, were words written in what looked to be blood.
The Chamber of Secrets has been Opened.
Enemies of the Heir, Beware.
Ellie gulped seeing this, taking a step back.
"Ellie! What were you- Oh god what in the-!?" Exclaimed Hermione, rounding the corner with the others as Ellie assessed the situation. Someone had hung Miss Norris on that torch mount from her tail, which seemed to have been mid-sweeping when she was petrified. She had been looking down, possibly into that puddle, and her face was contorted in what Ellie realized had to be a cat's horrified visage.
"Ellie, is she-?" Hermione's question wasn't completed but Ellie shook her head.
"No, she still has Wakfu, she's still alive but… frozen." She muttered, gulping at the implications of such a thing. "We need to call a teacher, whatever did this somehow managed to escape into one of the walls, I saw its Wakfu do that." Stated Ellie, looking at the wall specifically to which the fading remnants of Wakfu, ominous and ancient, clung.
At that second, doors opened and the group of preteens spun around, finding the hall rapidly filling by other students, who clogged it up rather nicely from dumbfounded looks at the sight of Miss Norris on the wall.
"What is going on here?!" Ellie flinched hearing these words as Argus Filch rounded the corner as Ellie sent a prayer to her mom.
Maybe it wasn't the best idea to chase after an ominous voice not even Az could see.
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"Miss Potter, please, next year? Wait until after Christmas for any incidents." Stated Professor McGonnagal with a sigh as she rubbed the bridge of her nose, watching the young Eliatrope fidget.
A few minutes earlier Ellie and her friends had come from the Deathday Party, as collaborated by Sir Nicholas no less, and found Miss Norris. Ellie had been cleared of any charges as her friends had seen her chase after something without an explanation and come up behind her not long after.
What was concerning was that she swore whatever did this to Miss Norris had vanished into a wall which had seemingly been open at the time but closed just before she could give chase. The girl had evidently only seen, with her ability to "See" Wakfu, the remnants of its Wakfu, a trail it left behind, and had rounded the corner just before it had passed through a seemingly movable wall. Strangely that section was so full of energy that her portals couldn't shift through so she had no idea what was behind it.
"Sorry Professor, I don't want this to happen. Was hoping for a normal school year by the standards of other people." Grumbled the young Eliatrope depodently and Minerva nodded, understanding her negative mood on the subject.
"Understandable. Though your observations do help a fair bit in identifying the culprit." She stated, looking down at the notes she had taken of Elizabeth's description of what she had seen, although it had been limited.
First of all, Miss Norris evidently saw the creature's reflection, never looking directly at it. The creature hadn't killed her, only petrified her partially so she was still alive which differed from the last victim. Thirdly the entity was large, very large in fact. It had an immense amount of Wakfu which both ruled out ghosts and Poltergeists, both of which were composed of Stasis. Fouth on the list was slithering, according to Ellie the movements she detected reminded her of a snake, which sounded fitting for what the creature's origin was.
Fifth, old. Ellie claimed the creature's Wakfu had felt similar to those of truly ancient dragons, ones hundreds of years old. But far more so. This meant the creature was likely indeed an artifact of the Founders. Finally, Ellie had relayed what she had heard, something others hadn't been able to, not even Az: Enemies in the Castle.
This sounded… oddly guardian-like. Ellie hadn't had the slightest clue what the Chamber of Secrets meant but Minerva had some ideas. "Professor, what is the "Chamber of Secrets"? And what did Malfoy mean when he said "Mudbloods" would be next?" Asked Ellie, and Minerva flinched back from that.
She was just about to tell her not to worry, but then she remembered what happened last year. What the result was, of telling Elizabeth Potter to keep out of the matter. "Miss Potter, what I am about to tell you, is based solely on theories, speculation and legend. Nobody knows the truth of these matters but I will convey what I know from these." She told the girl, who listened up visibly on hearing this. She had been separated from her friends for this debriefing, as she had called it.
"In the tenth Century, Hogwarts was built as a fortification against persecution of wizards and witches. Four people were behind this event, Goddric Gryffindor the Brave, Rowena Ravenclaw the Wise, Helga Hufflepuff the Loyal, and Salazar Slytherin, the Cunning. Each of these mighty wizards and witches are the namesakes of our modern houses and were both the first headmasters and the first teachers of Hogwarts, choosing their pupils by what they valued most just as the houses are selected today by these criteria. Their enchantments are what gives us the modern Sorting Hat to simplify this process." Explained Minerva and the girl frowned.
"These are known facts, I may add, but the next, not so much. There was disagreement between Slytherin and his fellow founders, Lord Slytherin advocated against the admission of Muggle-born wizards and witches, wanting to exclude them. The exact reasoning isn't clear though modern followers of this stance would say he "Knew" of the value of Blood-Purity. However, regardless of his reasons, Slytherin would have a falling out with the others, leaving Hogwarts but not without also leaving behind a secret, the Chamber of Secrets. He is said to have put a terrible monster in it and that, when Hogwarts was overrun by Muggles, his heir would unlock the chamber and "Cleanse" the castle of the intruders." Explained Minerva and the girl's frown got deeper and deeper.
"So… whoever did this to Miss Norris, he thinks he's this Heir? And that this thing in the chamber was meant to… what? Remove Muggle-born? It kind of sounds more like it was some kinda failsafe if Hogwarts comes under attack." She asked and Minerva nodded.
"True, it is one of the more popular theories as to the original purpose of the Chamber and the "Monster" within. At the time, wizards and witches were being hunted by the Catholics as Britannia was still largely held by non-Christians at the time while also being besieged by the Norsemen. Historians speculate that, if there was such a chamber, it likely held a weapon for the defense of Hogwarts with Slytherin believing Muggle-born to be a risk due to their maintaining a connection to the Muggles, thus being a security risk." Explained Professor McGonnagal but sighed.
"I myself didn't believe it, mind you, but this is the second time I have witnessed the alleged opening of the chamber. I don't know who did it, but it almost spelled disaster 50 years ago, and I fear what it could cause now." Explained McGonnagal and Ellie stopped, her eyes going wide.
"Wait, this happened 50 years ago too? Didn't Myrtle die 50 years ago?" She asked, which surprised Minerva a bit.
"You mean Myrtle Warrens? Yes, she was the final victim 50 years ago, but she died immediately unlike Miss Norris." Stated the Professor and Ellie blinked, then slapped her forehead.
"Didn't anyone think to ask her what killed her? No, how did it end after her?" Asked Ellie, evidently deciding to stick her little nose into the matter.
"I am sorry Elizabeth but I cannot disclose this to you, orders from the headmaster. I can tell you that the true culprit wasn't caught, only a scapegoat they used to avoid persecution after which the attacks ceased." Explained Minerva to the girl who frowned.
"Alright, I won't ask you again Professor. I'll just ask Myrtle." She stated, then stood up and left even as Minerva went to stop her from doing that!
"Oh dear lord I shouldn't have said that." She muttered, facepalming as she did so.
Never leave a Potter with open questions and a direction as to who they needed to ask.
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"Myrtle? Are you back?" Asked Ellie, entering the bathroom where Myrtle usually stayed.
It had been not that long after Professor McGonnagal had told her about the chamber, and Ellie had come here to ask her ghostly friend about it. "Ellie! Oh man I wasn't expecting you to come here so soon!" Exclaimed Myrtle as she come out of her toilet, some of the water shooting out with her.
"Sorry for the sudden intrusion, you heard what happened earlier with Miss Norris, right?" Asked Ellie and Myrtle nodded, though frowned.
"Yes, nasty stuff. I heard it from the Fat Friar. Poor kitty getting petrified like that and hung up, what barbarian does that?" Asked the girl and Ellie nodded, she hadn't had good interactions with this cat, but she was fond of animals and cats were cute.
"I know, and Professor McGonnagal said it may be related to how you died, with the whole Chamber of Secrets thing." Explained Ellie and Myrtle flinched back.
"Ah, you heard of that. You're not gonna make fun of me for dying without seeing my attacker, on the toilet, right?" Asked Myrtle, sounding cautious which hurt a bit.
"Naturally not, I told you I wouldn't make fun of you, remember? I actually want to figure out who and what is responsible. Professor McGonnagal said someone was framed for the murder 50 years ago, and I fear that if this starts going the same way, someone innocent may be framed again." Stated Ellie and Myrtle's eyes widened.
"Oh no, not that again! Listen, 50 years ago a prefect from Slytherin claimed Rubeus Haggrid was at fault. But I am certain he wasn't, he was one of the kindest children I know and still is to this day. But the headmaster at the time, in spite of Professor Dumbledore's protests, evicted him from the school and had his wand snapped immediately and because the attacks stopped, they never bothered investigating further. But I am certain he is innocent, that boy, no, that man, is the kindest wizard to ever walk this castle." Stated Myrtle, her words earnest and Ellie nodded in full agreement.
"I know what you mean, he was the first adult I met who showed me real kindness and I've never felt like he only did so because of that damn fame." Agreed Ellie, thinking of the kindly and gigantic man.
"Yeah, back in the day he was like that too! That damn Tom Riddle, blaming Haggrid for my death as if his pet Acromantula could be the culprit." Stated Myrtle, huffing at the idea.
"Acromantula?" Repeated Ellie, she knew Haggrid had a peculiar sense of what constitutes a good pet. Fluffy the Three-headed Dog, for example, or Norberta the Hungarian Hornback. Which was a female Dragon as it had turned out, not a male as he had assumed back in the previous year.
"A dangerous genus of magical spider, can grow to be the size of houses though that takes a few decades. Aragog was just a baby though so even if he had bitten me, worst I would've suffered would be local stiffness. Not petrification." Explained Myrtle and Ellie nodded, that sounded extremely creepy as a creature, extremely not like what was now stalking the halls of the school, and extremely Haggrid in her opinion.
"Well, it was definitely fun to hear that his… tastes in pets hasn't changed. Like, at all. Did you know he got a giant, three-headed dog for a pet? I wonder where he put Fluffy by now." Stated Ellie, thinking of the giant Rottweiler looking dog.
"Oh that is nothing, he found a litter of Werewolf cubs and raised them in another bathroom. I helped him a bit but he had to set them free in the forest when they got to about teenage stage of development. Smartest boys and girls I tell you, smart as human children in fact." Explained Myrtle and Ellie blinked, sitting down on one of the wash basins.
"Wait, we're not talking about children who become werewolfs, right?" Asked Ellie, a bit weirded out by the idea of Haggrid, bless his soul, raising baby werewolfs.
"Huh? Oh no not that. I meant the offspring of a male werewolf and a female wolf, it happens more often than you think. They're typically called Lupus-Lyca I think, or just Lycas. They're human-level in terms of intelligence and I think their offspring still live in the forest. If not a few of the original pack actually, given they have human lifespans." Explained Myrtle and Ellie nodded, that was another thing she liked about talking to Myrtle: In spite of her reputation, the girl had been a Ghost for 50 years and had picked up a lot of information in that time.
"That sounds pretty cute as puppies actually. And yeah, I can see Haggrid, Groundskeeper extraordinaire but with no sense of what constitutes dangerous animals, doing that. How did he get them anyway?" Asked Ellie, curious about the gentle giant's childhood.
"Oh that is a story and a half, I swear." Declared Myrtle.
Anyone passing by would be wondering where "Moaning" Myrtle had gone, because all they could hear was Myrtle Warrens, Muggle-born Witch and teenager, entertaining her young and best friend.
~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~
"You think it is Malfoy?" Asked Ellie with a frown, looking at Hermione.
"Yeah, he is the most likely in my opinion. I have it on good authority that he's been acting more bossy than normal because of his father and the shifting in power among the Wizengarmot as one of the few whose parent still holds a seat. And his mother is, as you said, a Black. They're about as deep in the Dark Arts as you can get, it would make sense if one of their ancestors was Salazar Slytherin." Claimed Hermione and Ellie couldn't lie, she had a point.
"How will we get evidence though? Without him confessing we don't have much to go off of." Stated Ellie with a frown.
"Well, there are two options. 1: We get a Polyjuice Potion together and sneak in that way as Slytherins, or 2: One of us sneaks in under your cloak." Explained Hermione, at which point she got odd looks from the rest of their group, which consisted namely of Ellie, Az and Ron. Neville, Ginny and Luna, who had been kind of integrated into the group the rest of the year, weren't around with Neville being busy with homework he was behind on, Ginny having flying lessons with Professor Hooch, and Luna… nobody knew where she had gone off to.
"Well, we can try the latter option, I don't think Polyjuice is something we should dabble with." Stated Ellie, she had heard of that potion, and there was so much that could go wrong.
Luckily Ellie was a sneaky little Eliatrope and sneaking into the Slytherin Dorm wasn't that hard. Catching anyone talk about the Heir on the other hand was, though she noticed a few weren't jubilant about the prospect of attacks happening around school.
Malfoy also never boasted about anything relating to this to anyone, though he had a rather smug look all the time.
~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~
Ellie took a deep breath as she fastened her bracers for the upcoming game.
Slytherin had a new Seeker, Draco, and new brooms, Nimbus 2001s. Gryffindor had a new Chaser after Az had tried and gotten the highest score out of the try-outs, in every field except Seeker which she hadn't tried for. Why? Because that was Ellie's spot. She had ultimately been assigned to Chaser after Angelina Johnson decided to give her spot to Az and play Reserve. Why? Because Az is a dragon, that was literally Angelina's reasoning.
And to be fair, Az could throw Quaffles so hard it left a gunshot sound.
"So, nervous?" Asked Ellie, turning to Az as she did so while the dragoness adjusted some of the uniform she had made for herself through her transformation.
"Not really, I can tank those Bludgers if I have to. I'm more worried about the broom getting broken if that happens." Stated Az with Ellie nodding, that was a worry but not too much of one.
Her Nimbus 2000, notably, was given to Oliver Wood, as the Keeper he needed the extra maneuverability of the broom after all while other positions didn't so much.
"Alright team! Today we show those Snakes that it takes more than a daddy's bribes to win a game!" Declared Oliver Wood and both sets of twins grinned at that.
They had prepared a lot, even if the earliest training had been snatched from them by Slythering earlier in the year. But that didn't matter. Neither did that the entire team had Nimbus 2001s, which was probably a good chunk of the Malfoy family's savings. It wouldn't grant them victory.
Skill would always win against the spoiled.
~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~
As it turned out, someone hexed one of the Bludgers, the hostile cannonball wrapped in leather had targeted exclusively one player: Ellie.
The game had been going for about an hour with neither Ellie nor Draco able to get the Snitch, though Slytherin wasn't lucky at all as Az proved herself one hell of a Chaser, scoring so much that by the end of it, even with the Weasley Twins for a time occupied defending Ellie, they had 580 points to 0 on Slytherin's side.
Ellie ultimately got the Snitch, but not before the Bludger had hit her arm, breaking it, and she caught the Snitch with her mouth instead. That gave the final score to 730 points which had Professor McGonnagal in tears, though whether from worry for Ellie or the fact that it left the other teams in a bind as to HOW they would catch up, was anyone's guess.
"I can fix it!" So declared Professor Lockhart, but Ellie had a solution to stop him from doing anything because, well, fuck that noise. She opened a portal in front of him, letting out the raging Bludger she had caught in another after the game was called and it went to hit her again, sending the man flying.
"Restraining Order!" She called after him and this earned her a chuckle from Professor Hooch and Madam Pomfrey as they worked on her broken arm.
"Any particular reason you didn't want him to touch you miss Potter?" Asked Professor McGonnagal to the side, watching as a few of the upper-years of Gryffindor caught the Bludger and forced it into restraints.
"Yeah, I'd prefer getting treated by Fart Lord Moldyshorts than by that guy." Answered Ellie, and a choking laugh was her answer at that nickname, as usual.
People just wouldn't get used to her mocking the asshole.
~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~
Ellie would swear for a whole day the following day, why? A new victim, Collin Creevey, the overly enthusiastic boy with ADHD tendencies. He appeared to have looked through the camera he always carried around and Ellie pointed this out when she had come to see his petrified form.
This… sounded familiar.
~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~
"A Duelling Club, best damn idea this school had so far." Commented Az as the group of her, Ellie, Hermione, Ron, basically all of Gryffindor, made their way to the Great Hall where a Duelling Club was taking place.
Evidently it was meant to supplement DADA to prepare for combat against the Beast of Slytherin. "I don't think dueling techniques will be very useful against whatever did Miss Norris in." Stated Ellie, frowning at the thought of what happened to the cat. It was still the only case so far and Az knew why Ellie was apprehensive.
In spite of everything, she had fingers pointed at her even when pointed out that she was barely even a Potter by blood and only by Blood-Adoption. It was more likely that Malfoy was the Heir of Slytherin than her and his father's family come from France while his mother's family was notoriously Anti-Muggle-born and inbred.
"Well it'll teach us some more defensive spells, Ma- I mean, Professor Hooch has done some wonders but we got some catching up to do." Stated Hermione and the others nodded to that. Quirrel had barely done anything to teach them spells, most of what they had were Charms and Transfiguration, neither involved combat-ready spells. Az wasn't gonna lie, she had probably a better combat palette than them due to being self-taught but Professor Hooch was doing her best, both to work around the annoying idiot Lockhart and to bring them actually up to speed.
"Just hope it isn't some PR gag, imagine if it was Lockhart who-" Ellie didn't finish the sentence as the devil himself swept into the room, eliciting a groan from the Eliatrope. "Speak of the Mechasm and he appears. I feel like I'm Nora." Muttered Ellie, she had adopted that kind of language, funnily enough, of her own volition. To be fair, she had given up on Christianity because of the fact that their parents had far better evidence for them than the Christian god.
"Well, maybe he at least knows some spells? And maybe he has someone assisting him?" Suggested Hermione as they watched Lockhart grand-standing as usual. The man couldn't seem to go two minutes without trying to play up his own fame.
"But naturally even one as skilled as me", here Ellie and Az both snorted, biggest lie the man had told all year, "cannot do this all on my own, so I have convinced three of my fellow teachers to assist! Welcome with me the masters of Potions, Charms and the sky! Professors Snape, Flitwick and Hooch!" Declared Lockhart and Ellie breathed a sigh of relief, Snape had obvious relations to the Death Eaters but he had left them already long ago, Flitwick was a former dueling champion himself, and Madam Hooch was the best teacher they had the last two years.
Cheers rose from the assorted students as the three teachers entered, many relieved by the fact that there were teachers who had actually been proven to be capable of this subject, who were now supervising. Az noted how Snape's eyes fell on Ellie who gave him a thumbs up, which seemed to weird him out a bit. Her sister REALLY wanted to mend bridges.
The event went from there, Lockhart wanted to, at first, make it basically a club where students just did formal duels, but thankfully Professor Hooch reminded everyone that they had seven different school years from four different houses, all together if everyone was here. Which was true.
So, they had to start from the beginning and start by actually teaching the lower years first. Which involved a lot more than Lockhart seemed to have been prepared for. Professor Flitwick actually got the idea to have Ellie and Az try and teach a skill they both knew they could teach: Wakfu Vision. Evidently he had heard about that being something they could teach and Ellie didn't mind.
It was about an hour into the whole event when Lockhart had an idea. "Demonstrative duel?" Asked Ellie in disbelieve as the man was trying to get the other three to agree to it, Malfoy, the other one he had picked out to be her "Partner" for this, and yes he insisted that the famous Girl-Who-Lived should participate because surely she would be great at this, was sneering at her.
"Gilderoy, I must protest this. Miss Potter is talented with defensive spells yes, but her primary means of combat are related to her race and a formal duel wouldn't allow such. Furthermore she was raised by Muggles so that puts her on a disadvantage against mister Malfoy." Stated Professor Hooch, very much against the whole idea.
"I agree with Rolanda, no matter what she is, Miss Potter isn't that made up supersoldier from the books. Also, I don't know if you realize this Gilderoy, but miss Potter can't stand your attempts to pull her into the spotlight, I would've though that Bludger would teach you that much." Stated Professor Flitwick and the pompous blonde winced at the reminder of Ellie's way to get rid of him.
"She is just shy." Tried the man to deflect, but Az was having none of it at that point.
"No she isn't." Spoke up the dragon, glaring at the man as Ellie occupied herself with teaching the skill in the background, keeping away from the discussion. "Ellie just isn't an attention seeking, glory hounding, greedy son of a bitch, that is all. She has no duty to pretend as if it doesn't bother her to be dragged into the spotlight against her will, and you either learn this or I will personally give you a demonstration of a dragon's wrath." Growled Az, blowing plumes of fire from her nose as she did so, which had the desired effect of cowing the wannabe teacher.
"I have to agree with Miss Azkalagora." Stated Snape from the side, evidently deciding to side with the twins on this. "Her way of saying it may be rude, but I have to agree that Elizabeth Potter is not what certain authors envisioned her to be. She isn't a trained assassin, Auror in Training, the pupil of Alastor Moody, Merlin reborn, the daughter of Merlin, the daughter of Morgan le Fay, King Arthur, King Arthur reborn as the child of Merlin and Morgan le Fay, some bizarre mixture of the souls of King Arthur, Morgan le Fey and Merlin reborn in one body, Jesus reborn, the God Emperor of Mankind, any number of literal gods from Greece, Egypt or Norse Mythology, she doesn't house the soul of some weird Japanese guy able to recreate magic weapons with some kind of magic, a vampire, a vampire slayer, a vampire slayer with the soul of a demon in her to empower her, the Heir of Gryffindor, the heir of Hufflepuff, the Heir of Ravenclaw, most definitely not the heir of Slytherin, much less the heir of some kind of orgy of the above four, an alien from the Planet Krypton who gets superpowers from the sun, she doesn't have the services of some ubber Demon Overlord from hell, she doesn't work for a hotel in hell meant to redeem sinners, she isn't the love-child of Lucifer and Adam and sister of the owner of such a hotel, doesn't work for some shadowy organization that keeps anomalous weird shit contained, isn't any kind of "Master" of any kind of monster, Pocket or otherwise, doesn't have some "Digital Monster" as her partner didn't fall into the "Spring of Drowned God", the "Spring of Drowned Phoenix", "The Spring of Drowned Dragon", or any permutation of that sort, is not a Dragon Animagus, Phoenix Animagus, Kelpie Animagus, Mermaid Animagus, doesn't know some water based form of super Karate, isn't the love child of Lily Potter nee Evans and Zeus, Poseidon, Hades or all three at the same time, isn't a ninja from the "Hidden Leaf Village", isn't some super alien who someone had to cut the tail off, she doesn't turn into a giant ape when exposed to the Full Moon, cannot turn into a giant "Kaiju" monster that looks like some Touhou Productions monster, isn't some supersoldier that was found in cryogenic sleep after being put under following World War 2, doesn't turn into a Gamma Radiation powered super form when angered, cannot go Blonde on command for a 50 times powerboost, is not a Spirit Detective and no she isn't "Death, Straight Up", the newest version of some sort of "Doctor Bright", the "Princess of the Moon Kingdom from 10.000 years ago", a Warrior empowered by the moon's magic embodiment stone to fight evil, the princess of the moon Kingdom from 10.000 years ago who used a wish granting stone to make herself a warrior empowered by the moon's magic embodiment stone to fight evil, she doesn't have a small marble that is a hyper advanced supercomputer that turns into a magical Wave-Motion-Cannon on command which fires beams of energy at your face to make you her friend, she isn't a Magical Girl, she isn't a Magical Girl with a transformation Trinket Marble that turns into a magical Wave-Motion-Cannon that fires giant beams of magical energy at your face to make you her friend, she didn't make a contract with some eldritch, wish granting creature named Kyubey to fight monsters born of Magical Girls despairing after making such a contract, she isn't a time traveller, she isn't a time travelling magical girl who made a contract with an Eldritch wish granting being to fight monsters born of magical girls who despaired after making such a contract nor is she the mortal form of some super-ancient being who had ascended to a higher plane of existence but has now come down to our level to save us with what little limited power she has now left after descending, got it?" Asked Snape, finally taking a lung full of Oxygen as everyone stared at him.
"I haven't even heard of half of those." Stated Ellie, a wee bit startled by the sheer scale of bullshit some people had made up about her.
"To be fair you're an Alien, I'm your twin sister and a dragon, and our parents are primordial gods." Interjected Az with a bit of a smirk, but yeah, that was… a bizarre list.
"Yeah, but we all that gives me are portal powers and an awesome twin sister, not… whatever those stories give me." Responded Ellie and Az couldn't help the laugh which escaped her, it was an underhanded compliment, but point taken.
From there, the argument continued with Lockhart DESPERATELY wanting to have a demonstration duel between Ellie and Malfoy, saying how it would be "The Duel of the Century, Girl-Who-Lived Confronting the Prince of Slytherin", which Az found just annoying because he was clearly just trying for a catchy title to some battle.
Ellie eventually just got fed up and agreed, but under certain conditions.
~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~
Severus Snape made sure to keep his cool, it wouldn't do for him to get riled up.
Elizabeth Evergreen Potter, the daughter by Blood Adoption, of his childhood friend Lily and the ever be accursed James Potter, had chosen to shut up Lockhart in her own way, as well as silencing the Slytherins calling her a chicken.
How did the evidently god-spawned alien girl intend to do so? A battle. Not a duel, an outright fight. It had some rules to it.
None of the usual restrictions of a Wizard Duel applied, so the whole room was their arena not just the stage set up by Lockhart.
Neither could use lethal force against the other, using such directed or intended for the other would disqualify the caster.
Elizabeth was allowed to fight in "The Way of my People" as she said it, calling it "Wakfung" which she claimed to have been practicing with lessons she dreamt up with her alleged ability.
Physical attacks are permitted and the only exception for lethal was to counter any possible attempts at conjuration.
Right now they were in the prep phase, with Draco muttering to himself various spells of a darker variety, while for some reason, Elizabeth was doing warm-up stretches as if she was going for a run.
He had a strong feeling, it wasn't going to end in her running away.
"Hey Potter, are you scare? Because you sure act like you're gonna run!" Taunted Draco from the far side to the girl, who gave him a blank look in return.
"Why would I? Your only advantage is if I have to fight as Elizabeth the Witch, but right now? You're facing Ellie the Eliatrope. Now get that fat ass ready because I'm gonna kick it to the stratosphere." Shot back the Gryffindor and Severus wasn't the only one confused by that wording.
"As if you could beat me that easily Potter, why would you think fighting in some Creature style would let you kick my ass?" Asked Draco with a sneer and Severus got a bad feeling.
Elizabeth meanwhile stopped for a moment, then cocked her head to the side. "Who said I was gonna kick your ass in the metaphorical sense?" She asked and, as she got out of her final stretch, the timer to start the fight went off to the side, it had been agreed to do it that way.
The next moment, as Draco began to raise his wand, Elizabeth vanished into a portal, and promptly flew out another, kicking Draco in the ass and springboarding off of him into another portal, coming out from under him for an uppercut which let her jump backward into another, tackling Draco as she did so.
The next two minutes had everyone staring as they learned what "Wakfung" exactly was. It wasn't a spell, it wasn't a style of magic. It was a Wakfu-based, Eliatrope-exclusive, full-contact Martial Art. Even the untrained eye could see that her attacks weren't fluent, she often just struck the way she jumped into one portal and she also decidedly aimed at Draco's aft section. She wasn't a master of the martial art, she was just really talented in it.
By the time she jumped out of a last portal after jumping onto and off of Draco's literal ass while he lay flat on the ground, well, Draco lay flat on the ground, out cold. "So everyone, please pay attention: The best method to defeat someone with superior knowledge in magic, is to literally close the distance and not let them even START casting magic. Oh, and if you face someone who doesn't need to chant a spell and wave a wand first, don't stand around like a moron. Take cover." Stated Elizabeth, wiping her brow as, obviously, she had developed a bit of a sweat in the whole fight.
"Well, that will be one for the history books. First time a Pureblood Wizard with a wand got pounded into the ground with fisticuffs at Hogwarts." Stated Rolanda and Severus couldn't deny it.
She was right.
And that was horrifying.
~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~
And Chapter 5 is done! Word count without Introduction Authors Note or this is 8765, that is a new record for this chapter.
Yes, Ellie knows the Martial Art used by Nora during Islands of Wakfu, she has had a few months to listen in on ancient lessons and practice it. Why are you surprised?
And yes, Draco didn't get to use Serpensortia or how that spell is named, because Eliatropes are CQC Lightning Bruisers who get in fast and hard. Ask Nox how it felt against Yugo who didn't have visions of such lessons to teach him how to use Wakfung and was just punching him.