Chapter 1
"Hand on the throttle
Thought I caught lightning in a bottle
Oh, but it's gone again
And it was written
I got cursed like Eve got bitten
Oh, was it punishment?"
"Do I have to go to Hogwarts?" Ellie side-eyed her dad as she put her stuff into the trunk of their car.
"Just because Ilvermorny expelled you doesn't mean you won't continue your education. And I certainly won't have your foolish actions affect your brother's education as well. And you will act right. Hogwarts is the only school that accepted you after the incident. Now get in the car, Melody." Robert passed his daughter and climbed into the back seat, whispering instructions to the driver.
Ellie huffed, "Don't call me that," but climbed into the back seat next to her brother and stared out the window.
The car ride was completed in dead silence, the tense atmosphere uncomfortable for everyone. While Ellie stared out the window, she started to reflect on her past and every action that had led her to this position.
"Be careful, Ellie. You don't know what could be in those woods, make sure you don't cross the wards around the house. I know you're a curious girl but, for your safety, please." Robert told his 13-year-old daughter as she was putting her shoes on.
"I'll be fine, Dad. I know better than to cross the wards." The young teen stood up and left the house through the back door. Ellie entered the woods a couple of yards from her house, as she often did to pass the time before dinner.
"Busa Sakkah Luona Ma... Busa Sakkah Luona Ma..." Ellie furrowed her face as she heard weird chanting coming from a few feet away, her curiosity getting the better of her, "Probably some muggle-witches who think they're all that," thought Ellie. Yet Ellie was raised to be curious and to always experiment; many thought this was why she was a Horned Serpent at Ilvermorny.
She walked a couple of steps closer and hid behind a tree as she watched what she believed to be a muggle attempt at a ritual. Ellie, though a Pureblood, had taken many classes about muggles when she was younger. In those classes, she learned about their way of life and even how some of them do "magic". Her father was in no way a blood supremacist and was fine with Ellie and Elijah taking these classes, especially if it would help them connect better with their peers once they attended school.
"Busa Sakkah Luona Ma..." The women repeated over and over again, holding hands while surrounding a blazing fire. The women would occasionally throw what looked like a type of herb into the fire, igniting it more, and emitting a putrid smell into the air. They were women of most ages, ranging from young adults to elderly women, very quietly chanting. Ellie had decided that her view was too far to see what the women were doing clearly, so she took a couple of steps closer, stepping on a twig and snapping it in the process.
Ellie heard a gasp from one of the women and then a cackle from another. "She's here!" Ellie saw the women smirk and smile before letting go of each other's hands and starting to run at Ellie. "What the fuck. What the fuck. What the fuck." thought Ellie, who was currently thinking about all the horrid things she learned muggles did to others in her classes while running to escape the women. Though in her panic she had forgotten to use her wand, either to defend herself or light up the path that she was running through. Which ultimately ended up with her tripping on a particularly large tree root, and hitting her head on a tree on her way down.
"Is she the pure one?" "If we do the marking ritual and it's not her she'll die." Ellie heard as her eyes fluttered open. She tried to shuffle but found her hands and legs tied to a tree. She tried to talk but her mouth was gagged. She saw an older woman walk forward and squint her eyes at Ellie.
"This is her... She is innocent and pure. She fits as the one described and depicted on the walls of our coven ladies." The woman said excitedly raising her hands. "Now we just have to swear her in as our virtuous one. For is she who will wipe us clean of our dirty deeds." A younger woman had walked forward and placed her hand on Ellie's head, grabbing the hands of the older witch behind her.
Ellie watched them all hold hands, in fright she scurried around to attempt to free herself. While she did think this was a stupid little muggle activity, she remembered hearing the word "die" in the hazy state that she woke up in, which to be fair, would probably scare any 13-year-old.
"Stop moving child." an old woman, who looked on the verge of decay reprimanded her. Ellie, in fear of what they would do, stopped moving. If she had to be a part of a silly little muggle ritual, so be it, as long as she got out with her life.
"Oh... Samu.. Nahh.." She heard the woman with her hand on Ellie's head start to mutter. "Oh. Samu. Nahh. Grih. Fahh. Ma. Busa. Nahh... Oh. Samu. Nahh. Grih. Fahh. Ma. Busa. Nahh... Oh. Samu. Nahh. Grih. Fahh. Ma. Busa. Nahh" She heard all the women start to chant menacingly. Albeit despite being a real witch, Ellie was a tad freaked out. Suddenly a white beam shined from the sky, directed at Ellie. She didn't think this was a silly little muggle thing anymore. Several blue beams attached to the other women and connected with Ellie's beam. Slowly Ellie's beam became blue, while the others turned white. Once the others' beam had turned a pure blinding white, Ellie's turned pitch black.
With a blinding flash, all the beams disappeared, and once Ellie opened her eyes, the women, the stuff prohibiting Ellie from moving vanished with the beams. Ellie woke up next to the tree, her wand a few inches away from her. "What the fuck..?" She got up rubbing her eyes. She looked up and realized the sun had almost set. "shit shit shit shit. Dad is gonna have my ass about being late for dinner." She got up quickly, although dizzy, and started running to her house.
"Ellie! Where have you been?! We've been worried si-" Robert yelled once he saw the door open, but cut himself off once he looked at his daughter, and quickly shut his eyes. Ellie was not only covered in twigs, branches, dirt, and leaves, but she was covered in weird blue, black, and white markings.
"I'm so sorry Dad. I must've tripped and hit my head and then passed out. I'm so sorry for worry-"Ellie started talking as fast as she could, trying to explain herself before she was punished.
"Sweetie, put on a hoodie, keep your head down, and let's go. ELIJAH! COME DOWN!" Ellie furrowed her face but did as her father asked and grabbed a hoodie from the coat rack next to her. She put it on and her dad quickly put her hood on and grabbed her arm.
"What happe-" Elijah started only to get cut off by his dad grabbing his shoulder and apparating them to Saint Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
Not letting Ellie take off her hood, Robert rushed his kids to the front desk. "I need to see Healer Robertson," Robert said urgently.
"Sir, as much as I would like to help you. Mr Robertson only works with spec-" Robert slightly moved Ellie's hood and slightly showed her markings.
"-Go to Room 9-134. You'll see him there." The front desk clerk urgently pulled out a form and started filling it out as the three Blackwoods left.
The father and his children walked into the elevator. Robert pressed buttons 9, 1, 3, and 4 in that specific order and watched as his children's faces furrowed.
"Dad? What are we doing here?" Ellie said barely lifting her head to look at her father.
"I told you not to go past the wards, Ellie. I told you it would only end up with you getting hurt." Robert shook his head and avoided looking his daughter in the eye. Ellie's eyes teared up as she looked down and shoved her hands in her hoodie pockets. She was confused, dizzy, and still scared from her run-in with the psychos in the woods.
The elevator dinged and the three stepped out once the doors had opened. The three saw one man surrounded by test tubes, papers, medical equipment, potions, and books. The man looked up and ran towards the trio.
"Hello. I'm Healer Nicholas Robertson, and I specialize in cases of ancient witchcraft." Nicholas shook Robert's hand and led them to a hospital bed with two chairs next to it. "Now who is it that has been affected?" Robert pointed at Ellie from behind the kids. "Alrighty then, you two could sit over there, and I need you little lady to sit on this bed for me."
Ellie lifted herself onto the bed and laid back down.
"I'm going to have you close your eyes and remove your sweater please." Ellie, although terrified and confused, did as told, removed her hoodie, and kept her eyes closed.
"Strange... I've never seen these markings before.." Nicholas furrowed his brows as he grabbed Ellie's chin and inspected her face.
"What do you mean?" Robert said worriedly. "I'm not sure but I will try." Nicholas turned around and grabbed some potions and his wand. "Ms. Blackwood, could you tell me what you were doing before you got these markings?"
Ellie looked down at her arms covered in marks, she fiddled with her shaking fingers while she recounted everything that happened in the forest. Her voice trembled at times and she had to stop speaking to recollect herself before continuing.
"Take these, Ms. Blackwood." He gave her a silvery, almost transparent potion." These potions will allow me to test the type of magic that you were hit with, without having to draw blood." The healer explained while turning around and grabbing some papers. Ellie took it with trembling hands and downed the potion. Nicholas Robertson started doing several wand motions and muttering spells under his breath as the papers in front of him began to fill themselves with information. "Oh, you poor thing.." Robertson said sorrowfully.
"What's wrong with her?" a worried Robert asked the healer, clutching the hand of his 14-year-old son.
"Those ancient witches marked her as "the pure one", they marked her as such to clean themselves of any immoral act or filthy deed." The healer said looking at the young girl with empathy. "What does that mean?" a very confused Ellie, still with her closed eyes, asked warily. "It means you're destined for a lone life. Filled with others and their gre-" Robertson's words faded as Ellie's eyes watered and she began to breathe heavily.
"Ellie.. Els.." she felt her brother's presence next to her in an instant, holding her hand and rubbing her shoulder comfortingly.
As Ellie dried her tears and moved her head up once again, she started to hear Robertson's words again, "I do have a potion that will hide your markings, and disguise the powers I just told you about." Ellie was too stunned and scared to ask what he was talking about, so she let the man continue talking. "I'm going to contact the magical congress about this. It will do you best to go visit them soon." Robert nodded to let the healer know that at least one person was listening.
"Here take this," Robert gave Ellie a teal, almost turquoise potion, "You'll need to take this daily to cover your markings and make sure your powers don't show." Robert filled out a form and gave it to her father. "Take this downstairs and give your address. They'll make sure you always have the potion."
Robert nodded and grabbed Elijah's arm. "You can open your eyes, Ms. Blackwood." The healer said before turning around and resuming what he was doing before they walked in. Ellie opened her eyes and got down from the bed, walking back to the lobby was all a blur to her as she tried to process the information she had heard.
As they apparated back home, Ellie looked up at her brother. "I wasn't exactly l-listening. What did he say my powers were?" Elijah smiled sorrowfully at his sister and hugged her. " Your powers make sure you stay pure. Whether it's your body not allowing you to do something or repulsing someone away." Ellie nodded her head, though struggling as she was still in Eljah's firm hug. "Ijah, I can't breathe" Ellie playfully said trying to undo the hug. "Sorry, LiLi." Elijah backed away and went up the stairs to his room.
BAHM! Ellie darted up, her head slamming into the car window. "What was that Eli?" she whispered, "Just a rock that was on the road, it's okay, lay back down again." Elijah patted his little sister's knee comfortingly. "Oh ok," Ellie said gently before leaning on the window again, starting to daydream almost instantly, it was a wonder how quickly she was able to do so.
Still a 13-year-old Ellie walked alongside her father in The Magical Congress of the United States of America. They walked up to a desk and gave a letter to the woman sitting at the desk. She saw it and nodded her head to let them pass, whistling, and immediately a girl in her early twenties had appeared to lead the father-daughter duo through the Congress.
The young woman led them to a door and stopped there. "You two go on, I'm not allowed past here." She said smiling and made sure she saw them walk in the door, then left. The two walked in the door to see a bunch of what looked to be bookshelves lined with orbs. They continued walking until they saw two people sitting around a table.
The man stood up and shook hands with Robert, "Good morning Mr. Blackwood. I'm the Head of our prophecy branch. We got the report that your daughter has been marked by ancient magic and we wanted to see what prophecy was linked to her." He said while smiling at Robert, his face turning blank when he looked at Ellie. "Sit next to the seer, girl." He snarled at Ellie. "Every person that survives an ancient magic ritual has a prophecy linked to them. It means they're special in one way or another. Or they're just determined to a horrible future." The man explained to Robert.
A timid Ellie walked and sat on the table. The woman at the table motioned her to put her hands on the table. "Breathe darling, I won't do anything but say a couple of words. I'm Autumn, it's nice to meet you." Autumn grabbed Ellie's hands in hers and closed her eyes. "Chosen by-"
"Els..Els.." Elijah shook his sister with a worried look on his face. "Have something to drink you look very pale." He handed his sister a bottle of muggle soda, a quick way for his sister to get some sugar in her system. Ellie took the bottle, took a couple of sips, and then gave the bottle back to Elijah, smiling slightly at him. She laid back on the window and kept on looking out.
A 15-year-old Ellie was walking through the halls of Ilvermony, constantly getting pushed and laughed at. Ellie had one or two actual friends, everyone else just laughed and picked at her, but no one was worse than Johnathan. Johnathan Plunk was a student in the same year as Elijah. It was nearing the end of her 5th year and she had already taken her OWLs, so she was happy that the torment would end for a couple of months.
As she was walking the halls she heard Jonathan comment on her mom. She was sick and tired of the 5 years of constant torment and abuse from Johnathan, despite Elijah telling him off on multiple occasions. Ellie went to sleep trying to think of what she could do to get her payback, however, she was unable to think of a way. The next morning she woke up and went to do her daily morning routine. After brushing her teeth, she went to her trunk to get her potion and that's when it hit her. She put the potion down and walked out of her room.
Ellie kept her head and put her red uniform hood on. As soon as she walked into the main hall she heard it.
"Look at Ellie Wellie, think she's gonna go cry to her mommy again? Oh, wait. She can't!" Jonathan laughed and looked at his friends. "Stop it Jona-" Elijah started, getting in front of Ellie, but she pushed him to the side and walked in front of him. Taking her hood off, Ellie was towards Jonathan and looked him dead in the eyes, unaware of how to use her powers. She assumed
Jonathan turned around after laughing with his friends and made eye contact with Ellie. His face furrowed in confusion of what was in front of him but it didn't last long as he was blasted back. He rammed into a wall and fell flat on his face, a teacher ran up to him and checked his pulse.
"He's still alive," the teacher sighed. Ellie started to stagger. Her feet had to move quickly from under her so she wouldn't fall flat on her face. Elijah quickly went and caught his sister as she took one last step and passed out.
He hissed and put her on the floor gently, despite his burning skin. He shot up and stepped a couple of feet away from Ellie, still protective but also making sure he didn't burn himself.
Ellie woke up in the Nurse's Office and looked around to see the Headmistress, her Head of House, and her father, along with her brother.
"I hate to say it Robert but she has no place in this school. Ellie Blackwood from here on has been expelled from Ilvermony School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for injuring and causing another student to go into a coma." That was the last thing she heard before passing out once again.
"Come on, Els, we're here." Elijah nudges his sister as he gets out of the car. Ellie follows behind him with her head down, a habit she's gained over the last few years. She grabs her trunk out of the trunk of the car and puts it on the cart. Elijah puts his trunk on top of hers and places his owl and her cat on top of them.
"Be good, Ellie, don't get into any more trouble. Elijah, have a good final year." Robert said warmly to his kids. He hugged his son and daughter goodbye. "Now I got to go back to work, apparently someone made a levitating charm so bad they ended up floating every book in Flourish and Blotts. The two siblings walked towards the platforms between 9 and 10, severely confused.
"You two lost?" a confused dark-haired boy approached them. "Uh- yeah, it's our first year going to Hogwarts," Elijah answered, noticing how Ellie's hand snaked around his wrist, scared of getting made fun of.
"You two don't look like first years," the boy said furrowing his eyebrows. "Oh we're not it's my seventh year and my sister's sixth. We transferred from Ilvermony." Elijah said smiling warmly at the boy in front of them.
"That's where the accents from." The boy pointed out, "My name is Theodore Nott Junior, but everyone calls can just call me Theo. I know it's gonna sound a little mad but you have to run through the wall to get to the platform."
Theodore led them back to his friends. "This is Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy, and Pansy Parkinson. These are transfer students I found." Elijah reached out his hand to the two other boys, "I'm Elijah Blackwood and this is my sister, Elli Blackwood." Pansy looked both up and down, maintaining her glare on Elijah for a second, before leaning to Theodore and muttering in his ear.
"Just because you find a lad fit doesn't mean you have to go up to him. You have to maintain your public image, Theo." She said sternly before leaning back. Theo gave her a quick puppy grin and grabbed his cart, looking around and quickly going through the wall.
"Well you saw what you have to do, you guys can go first and meet up with Theo on the other side." The taller boy with a deep-toned complexion said.
"You go after me, Els, I'll wait for you on the other side, don't worry." Elijah took their cart and ran through the wall. The four teens waited a moment before one spoke up, "You can go now." The girl said, smiling warmly at Ellie. She nodded nervously and ran through the barrier, looking around and smiling once she spotted Elijah.
Elijah had already given their trunks to the men loading them on the train and was holding his owl cage and Ellie's cat Santi. "Come on, Theo was telling me it's best to get on fast if we want a compartment to ourselves." Elijah gave Ellie her cat, put his arm around Ellie, and started walking towards the train. Ellie looked up at her older brother and smiled, "Whatever you say, lover boy." Elijah looked down confused, "I saw the stares you were giving Theodore. You like him," Ellie smiled cheekily at her brother, "You can't deny it, I saw it in your eyes."
"Look..! An empty compartment.." Elijah led the two into the compartment. "You can go sit with them. I know Theodore probably told you where they were sitting. I'll be fine on my own Eli. I promise." Ellie looked at him reassuringly, as Elijah looked back doubtful. With a slight nod of her head towards the door, Elijah nodded and headed out.
"Be safe, Els, don't move from here, i'll come back right before we arrive and I need to see you in this compartment unharmed okay?" Elijah looked worriedly at his little sister. "I'll be fine ijah." She smiled at her brother, using the nickname from when they were little and she had struggled to pronounce his name.
Elijah nodded and left the compartment. Ellie, once again, rested her head on the window and looked out as the train started moving. Her eyes fluttered shut and the soft hum and movement of the train lulled her to sleep.