All the first years were gathered on the vast grassy plain bordering the great lake. The sun was high in the sky, illuminating the long line of young people. From where she stood, Myo could not hear what Madame Hooch was saying very well. She was, after all, perched in the high branches of a beech tree a good hundred metres from the students.
Mrs. Hooch had tried to convince her to try the brooms like all the other kids when she'd arrived with Luna and Elvetia this morning, but she'd found flying with anything other than her wings too ridiculous to warrant any kind of consideration. Seriously, flying on a broom would be the worst kind of humiliation.
She would have preferred her and Luna to go about their day instead of taking a flying class, especially since Luna was still grounded. But Luna had longed to get on a broom and fly by herself again, and had asked her in such a cute way that she had immediately given in. Luna didn't have her own broom at Hogwarts and she really missed it. Frankly, she was growing less and less fond of these flying abominations. They dared to steal Luna from her. If Luna wanted to fly somewhere, all she had to do was ask and Myo would be more than happy to take her! It took all her mental strength to restrain herself from setting fire to the dreadful flying sticks.
On her return from her first weekend home, Luna had told how for the first time in a very long time she had been punished by Pandora, as if being grounded at Hogwarts wasn't enough. It was the knowledge of this detail that had finally convinced Myo to let Luna go on her broom, despite her ongoing punishment.
The next time Luna wanted to go to the forest, Myo would go with her, that was non-negotiable. Especially since now that she had her little claw shoes, walking was much less of a problem than before. It was still impossible to run properly, but walking was no longer such a problem. In addition, Isabelle's cream had done wonders to heal her scales.
Ah, they were starting to try to make the brooms jump in their hands. Myo could hear the "get up" shouted by the students from her perch quite distinctly. As she watched the crowd, her eyes fell on the little blonde boy. Yet another reason why she had chosen to keep her distance. The poor boy was too afraid of her. If he saw her while he was in flight, she could only picture the boy fainting.
Myo raised an eyebrow, one of the boys had just taken off before all the others. She squinted to get a better look. She wasn't sure, but he looked a lot like Neville. Madam Hooch had come forward and she could hear her yelling at supposedly Neville to come down. Something was wrong... Were the brooms defective? Was her Luna going to get on a potentially defective broom? Before she knew it, she had jumped off her perch and was flying at full speed towards the crowd. She refused to let Luna get on a potentially dangerous broom.
The wind whistled through her feathers as she picked up speed, her powerful wingbeats propelling her ever faster. She was only fifty feet away, yes, it was Neville who was clutching his broom with all his might, clearly unable to manoeuvre it. As she was about to swoop down to inspect Luna's broom, she saw Neville's broom jerk violently, and the boy let go with a cry of terror.
In a wingbeat she was on top of Neville, her talons closing around his biceps, stopping his fall before he could gain any speed. Her first thought was that Neville was much heavier than Luna. In comparison, Luna was a feather. Neville let out another strangled cry, clearly not understanding what was happening. She spread her wings wide, letting the air get caught in her feathers, and began to glide gently towards the ground.
She gently set the boy down on the ground before landing and heading towards Luna, paying no attention to the exclamations of surprise, and the curious murmurs.
"Myo!" exclaimed Luna, hugging her after she dropped her broom to the ground. She gave her a kiss on the cheek before giving her a beaming smile, leaving Myo stunned. "Thank you for saving Neville! Poor boy could have been hurt. All the wrackspurts in his head were making him worry too much, and the nargles played a nasty trick on his broom!"
Myo glanced behind her, Neville was sitting on the floor, massaging his arms where she had caught him. Mrs. Hooch was looking after him, raging about the school's lack of respect for the quality of the old clean sweep. His eyes were fixed on her, his face in a strange expression she was unable to describe.
She turned back to Luna. "I wasn't going to let him fall, was I?"
"No, you weren't." Luna said with absolute certainty. "And that's what makes you a good person."
"I hope I am." Said Myo with a small laugh, giving Luna a look of deep affection. "Now let me see your broom please."
"Oh, don't worry, the nargles haven't touched it. They're too scared of you to bother me."
Myo nodded as she crossed her arms, before letting her flames, which had been dying to come out for a while, cover her wings in a bluish blaze for a moment. "And they're right to be afraid," she declared with her little show.
The sound of something heavy falling to the ground made them both turn their heads. Blondie had just collapsed, unconscious, his body shaking.
"I think you scared him." Luna said thoughtfully.
Myo glanced at Luna's broom, seeing nothing suspicious, she nodded. "I'll take him to the infirmary, I'll be right back." She approached Elvetia who had been watching the whole scene with amusement. "I entrust Luna to you, she's still grounded." She said before grabbing the blonde boy whose name she couldn't remember despite being fairly certain Hermione had told her, and flew to the infirmary. Ignoring the screams of his two monstrous bodyguards and the weird girl who hung out with him all the time.
oOOOo
His head ached, his body was heavy, he felt slightly nauseous and strangely overheated despite the softness of the sheets around him. He let out a long groan and placed his forearm on his forehead, glad to feel the coolness of it soothe the fire in his skull.
He slowly opened his eyes, closing them immediately, his poor pupils assaulted by the intense white light. The smell of disinfectant, ozone and potions in the air told him immediately where he was. The infirmary.
Since the beginning of the year, he'd had the misfortune of being a visitor to the bloody place far too many times. And all because of one person. The bane of his existence. The creature that had made a fool of him in front of his parents at Diagon alley. The beast that made him miss the sorting ceremony he had been so eager to attend. The monster whose shadow made him shudder in the corridors and whose evil powers prevented him from looking away, even though the one thing he wanted most in the world was to never see it again. And now she had ruined it again, he had been so excited to show his friends his flying skills. He had practised for hours this summer just for this moment. And then she came along, saved Longbottom, and conjured up her terrifying flames for no reason.
He'd written a letter to his parents asking them to have her thrown out of school. A monster like that had no place at Hogwarts, or in magical Britain for that matter. Let them send her to the Grand Alliance like the others or something... There they were stupid enough to keep such monsters loose, and even show the ultimate stupidity to make a place for them in their government. Father and mother had said that was unfortunately impossible, the Wizengamot didn't want to lose the support of the population by getting rid of the heroine, of The Girl Who Lived. Why did it have to be Potter? Why? He had been so excited to meet her, even to become friends with her, before that damned headline in the paper appeared. He remembered that day like it was yesterday. "Girl Who Lived ? Or Veela Who Lived ?" He had not been able to sleep that night. His vision of the future with Myosotis Potter at his side was shattered beyond repair. Their duo could have been legendary...
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the curtain around the bed being opened, the clanking of the rods making him wince and grit his teeth. Had he hit his head when he fell?
"Ah, Young Mr. Malfoy, you are awake." Said Madam Pomfrey's voice. He wouldn't admit it to himself but he rather liked the lady, despite her sternness.
"What happened?" He asked in a hoarse voice.
"You have fainted again. I'm afraid you're suffering from hypoglycaemia, young Mr Malfoy. You should be having more substantial breakfasts."
He breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't know if he would be able to bear the shame if Madam Pomfrey discovered the real reason behind his situation. He had to find a way to stop being so afraid of Myosotis Potter. But how? He had every reason in the world to fear her! She IS terrifying!
Madam Pomfrey had turned to rummage through something on the other side of the curtain. A few seconds later she emerged with what he recognised as a vial of Pepperup to which she added three drops of a strange syrup. "Here you are, young Mr Malfoy, bottoms up please! It will take the fever out of you. You had a pretty bad fall, you know?"
Draco grabbed the vial and swallowed the contents without fuss. The burn in his throat as the liquid passed through was really nice. He could feel his headache and fever quickly dissipate as a pink steam rose from his ears.
"Thank you Mrs. Pomfrey." He said politely.
She waved her wand in his direction, quickly muttering a few things as strange bluish symbols appeared in the air in front of her. She nodded with a smile. "You are as good as new young Mr. Malfoy. You may join your friends. I recommend you eat well tonight."
Draco got out of bed, put on his robe, grabbed his bag and headed for the door. As he was about to say goodbye and leave, he heard Madam Pomfrey holding him back. "Ah yes! Young Mr. Malfoy?"
"Yes ma'am?"
"You should thank Miss Potter. It was she who brought you here. I can't tell you how surprised I was when I heard her knock on the window, and saw her with you in her arms. She looked rather worried." She said with a big smile.
Draco's eyes widened comically, and a shiver ran down his spine. He blushed furiously, his cheeks almost glowing. He stammered something he didn't quite understand himself before running out of the infirmary.
oOOOo
It was one of the times Myo had the opportunity to fly alone around the towers of Hogwarts. Normally, as she was still grounded, Luna would have been with her, but Elvetia had volunteered to keep an eye on the little demon instead. As a result, Myo was able to stretch her wings by doing aerial tricks around the tall towers of Hogwarts. It was particularly exciting to fly underneath the buttresses and then come up and twirl around the Astronomy Tower. It was grey, but not raining, flying would have been more pleasant in the sun, but at least she wasn't soaked.
After a good half hour of twirling and doing aerial acrobatics, she finally landed at the top of the astronomy tower, as relaxed as she was out of breath. Her feathers could do with a preening, she was getting quite ruffled. Perhaps she could take the opportunity to try her new version of the feather care potion? She couldn't wait to see how much more beautiful they would be afterwards.
Her attention was then drawn to a clamour from the other side of the tower. Curious, Myo flew back up to glide towards the noise. The large quidditch pitch was full. Students were flying around like madmen on their broomsticks, throwing balls at each other and hurting each other with other metal balls. The stands were packed with a screaming and shouting crowd. Although she was far above the field, Myo could not help but wince. She really didn't understand the point of the sport. If you're going to fly, you might as well do it to see beautiful sights! Why do it after balls? At least, high in the air,she wasn't being crushed by the crowd like last time.
She was about to leave in the direction of the forest to fly over it and possibly find a place to bring Luna to please her, when her gaze was drawn to a golden reflection a little below, but still far above the players.
By reflex more than anything else, Myo dived towards the glittering flying object, and a few seconds later, she found herself with a small golden ball with insect wings between her fingers. A snitch if she remembered correctly what Nym had explained to her about quidditch. She flew upwards again while admiring the small object. Once in her hand, the wings had stopped vibrating. Strange... the snitch was really pretty, its surface was engraved with hundreds of small grooves that refracted the light. She knew she should release the snitch for the players, but the idea of separating herself from the little golden sphere was unbearable. Besides, by catching it, hadn't she earned the right to keep it? And hadn't she sworn to herself that she would keep for herself the next snitch she saw? She didn't know if that was what the rules of this silly sport said, but she had captured her pretty prey, and she wasn't going to let it go. To hell with their game.
Her plans having changed, she flew to her tower with one goal in mind. To install the pretty flying golden sphere on her treasure shelf. Or maybe give it to Eldur, something told her that the phoenix would appreciate the gift.
oOOOo
Hermione was anxious, after several afternoons and evenings spent alone with her angel in the library, Myosotis had invited her to come and eat with her and her friends by the lake this lunchtime. After several days of rain, Myosotis had insisted that it was their duty to enjoy the sun.
Would she get on well with Myosotis' friends? Was she going to be called an insufferable know-it-all again? Had Myosotis been friendly with her only to make fun of her later? Hermione knew that her worries were probably unfounded, but her brain apparently disagreed as it kept coming up with reasons why today's date with Myosotis and her friends was going to be the worst one yet.
She wanted to run away, to hide in a dark corner of the library, with her books and away from everyone. But the Sorting Hat hadn't put her in Gryffindor for nothing, and Hermione would prove it. Her courage would not fail her. She would go.
So it was with iron resolve that, as soon as her morning charm class was over, instead of spending fifteen minutes with Professor Flitwick discussing what she had learned in lecture, she immediately said goodbye, slung her bag over her shoulders, and trotted down the corridors towards the castle's gates.
A few minutes later, she was walking on the smooth pebbles of the black lake shore, breathing in the fresh, clean highland air. Life at Hogwarts, away from the city and its pollution, with good nights of sleep in silence, and excellent food, had done wonders for her health. She had more energy than ever before.
When she saw Myosotis and her little group waiting for her on the shore, she was seized with a great relief. One of her silly fears had been that Myosotis would simply not be there at the meeting place, and that she would then laugh at her, telling her that she had been stupid to think that she could really be her friend.
After all, this is exactly what Emma and Jasmine did in primary school. They'd pretended to be her friends for months, only to reveal in the most obnoxious way that they'd been pretending all along, just so they could copy her homework, just when she thought she really had someone who mattered to her and for whom she mattered. And that was far from the only time something like that had happened.
She took a deep breath of fresh air to clear her mind and resumed her walk towards the small group. As she approached, she immediately recognized Myosotis, her large, midnight blue, iridescent wings more beautiful than ever. Her big green eyes were riveted on her, a smile on her lips. Just in front of the angel, half hidden between her wings folded in front of her, stood Luna Lovegood. The pair were the hottest topic of discussion in the Gryffindor common room, so to speak. There were countless theories about how Myosotis Potter had become such a close friend of young Lovegood. Some theories were completely delusional, others, like the one accusing Myosotis of using her veela powers to make Luna her plaything, were just plain awful. Fortunately, most of it was just benign and closer to a potential truth.
Hermione had just chosen not to believe any of them. She was lucky to be close enough to her angel that she would one day tell her how she and the little blonde with the big dreamy eyes had become so close.
Beside them stood the one Hermione recognised as Elvetia Morelle, a girl from a family the other Gryffindors didn't seem to like very much, something about barbaric customs. And a tall, thin-featured boy, probably a second year. His short fuchsia-pink hair was dishevelled, and two purple eyes fixed on Myosotis. Hermione frowned, she had never seen this boy at Hogwarts before.
She stiffened, lifted her chin slightly, and swallowed her shyness and racing heart as she continued to approach. Strangely, the boy and Elvetia were holding brooms. Surely she wasn't going to have to fly to their picnic spot? Hermione had hated the flight training session, the only thing she had enjoyed about the time spent in the company of a crumbling old broom and Mrs. Hooch had been Myo's impressive rescue of Neville and Malfoy's fainting episode (she felt a little bad about it, but she couldn't help but laugh when she saw that racist idiot Malfoy drop to the ground like a sack of potatoes in fear of the angel's beautiful flames).
"Hello Hermione. How are you?" Myosotis asked her.
Hermione tried as hard as she could to swallow her fear. "Fine and you?"
"Hungry! Before we go to lunch I'd like to introduce you..." Myosotis was about to say, when the little blonde with the big silver-blue eyes broke out of Myosotis's embrace and ran towards her to hug her tightly.
Hermione was somewhat confused, so to speak. The top of Lovegood's head was just below her chin. Unsure of what to do, Hermione turned a pleading gaze in Myosotis' direction, placing her hand in Lovegood's hair to soothe the little blonde of whatever it was that had caused her to act like this.
Myosotis was just laughing into her hand, and Morelle and the unknown boy just looked as amused as they were exasperated. But no help was coming to save her from this situation. The strangest thing was that she began to relax as she mechanically stroked Lovegood's head. After what seemed like a few seconds, but must have been a good minute, Lovegood released her embrace and gave her a beaming smile, her big eyes looking into hers, as if she could read her like an open book.
"So... as I was about to say... this is Luna Lovegood. My best friend." Said Myosotis. "By the way, Luna, why are you..." added Myosotis, indicating with a gesture the fact that Lovegood was still practically glued to Hermione.
"Oh, she had a huge wrackspurt infestation, they were whispering nasty things in her ear. In those cases, a hug is enough to make them go away." Said Lovegood with the utmost seriousness, her eyes shining with undeniable intelligence. She had no idea what a wrackspurt was, but she wasn't even sure Lovegood wasn't speaking metaphorically. It was true that this ... unexpected hug had distracted her from her anxiety quite effectively. (She wouldn't particularly mind being the target of another hug from Luna...)
Myosotis was nodding his head with great seriousness, as if Lovegood had just delivered a universal truth, and Morelle and the boy looked at each other, as if unsure what to make of what Lovegood had just said.
"That was nice of you, Luna," Myosotis said. "And this is Elvetia Morelle, friend and fellow house mate, and Nymphadora Tonks, my big sister from Hufflepuff."
"Call me Tonks," added Nymphadora. Hermione nodded.
"Luna, Nym, Elvetia, meet Hermione! She knows a lot and practically lives in the library!"
"Um... so? Where are we going?" asked Hermione.
"To the little island over there! No risk of being disturbed."
"I don't have a broom..." said Hermione weakly.
"You can ride with Nym, she has the most experience with flying brooms."
And so she found herself on the front of a broom, a few feet above the dark waters of the black lake. Trying not to think about the distinct possibility of ending up in the water, Hermione turned her head enough to have the boy she was flying with in the periphery of her field of vision. "Myosotis called you his sister, but..."
"I look like a boy."
"Yes."
"I'm a metamorphmagus. I guess that's a gender of its own. I can be a boy, a girl, a mix of both... These days I'm practising my sex change."
"Metamorphmagus?"
"Yep! It's neat honestly. It's a rare magical condition. I just don't have a set form, I'm whatever I want to be. For example, I learned to grow wings to fly with Myo." Said Nympha... Tonks with pride. Hermione was really struggling to form the idea in her head. How could someone live without a definite form? It was... she preferred not to think about it right away... she would only succeed in hurting her head. She would look it up later in the library.
Wisely choosing to change the subject, she asked. "Have you been at Hogwarts long?"
"Three years, I'm starting my fourth."
"How were your previous years?"
"Difficult, being a shifter in a school full of idiots is dangerous. But I've made friends, and Hufflepuff is a really great house! Don't listen to anything the Gryffindor or Slytherin say, the puffs are the nicest." Their discussion continued in the same tone for a few minutes, the little island was quite far away and Tonks was taking his time, probably not to scare her by going too fast. It turned out that Tonks was a really lovely person, and Hermione couldn't help but want to get to know the young shifter better.
As they approached the island where Morelle, Myosotis and Lovegood had already arrived, (she didn't know how Myosotis could fly so fast, especially carrying Lovegood. ) Tonks took a much more serious tone. "Hermione, listen to me carefully. I have no doubt that you are a nice girl, after all, Myo seems to like you. But as much as I hate to say it, I have to warn you. Especially since you are muggle born. Myosotis is a veela, she may think in a different way from humans, she may not react in the same way to the same things. She is also not used to having friends, or social relationships. Be patient and understanding with her. Okay?"
"Yes, I promise." Hermione said without hesitation. Myosotis was the person who had been the nicest to her since she arrived in the magical world. And she intended to live up to that.
"Good."
A few seconds later they landed on the small island, Hermione jumping off the broom and touching down with relief. Flying broomsticks was definitely not for her.
Luna and Elvetia were lighting a fire, while Tonks was turning rocks into benches. Myosotis was twirling about twenty metres in the air above the lake. Her piercing gaze turned towards the dark waters.
"What is she doing?" she asked curiously.
"Myo is fishing for our meal. The fish of the lake are surprisingly delicious," Luna chirped, reaching into her bag and pulling out a cauldron and potion knives as well as what appeared to be roots, mushrooms, wild herbs and spices.
"Do you collect everything yourself? I'm sure the kitchens will let you take a picnic basket." Said Hermione as surprised as she was impressed.
"Myo prefers to eat what she hunts and gathers herself. She makes exceptions for Andy and mummy's cooking, and when she really has no choice, but in general, she prefers to do it that way." Luna continued as she began to quarter the mushrooms.
Hermione nodded, watching as Myosotis dove towards the water and skimmed it closely before rising into the air, a fish firmly clutched in her talons. Hating to feel useless, she sat down next to ... Luna, and picked up a knife to imitate her, receiving a sparkling smile from the little blonde as her reward. This day was shaping up to be one of the best since she'd arrived here, as for the first time she began to hope for a chance at friendship again, she couldn't help but feel a flame rise in her heart. Maybe Myosotis was more of an angel than she appeared.
oOOOo
Myo strolled through the corridors, Eldur on her shoulder, Luna's hand in hers. The other students who would normally move aside widely as she passed were practically running away, now that she was walking with a phoenix on her shoulder. From what Elvetia had told her, it made her seem intimidating. Myo didn't understand at all. Eldur was adorable! Very demanding in terms of attention and petting, and often jealous of Luna, but adorable nonetheless! He had taken the habit of regularly resting on her shoulder when she went to class, or wandered in the halls. No wonder he chose to leave the Headmaster at the first opportunity! What an idea to keep a phoenix locked in an office all day...
Luna was skipping beside her. They had just come out of transfiguration. During the class Luna had managed to transfigure her glass ball into a glass flower perfectly. Said flower was promptly tied up in Myo's hair. In short, a great success. Myo had hoped to be able to pet Catgonagall again in her feline form, but the professor had not come within a two metres radius of her. She still seemed embarrassed for some reason because of what had happened in the first class, Myo supposed. She didn't really understand why. Who doesn't like to be petted after all?
They were going to stop by the library to borrow a book or two, and potentially see Hermione. Myo had been tempted to jump out of the window, but with her new claws slippers, and the special claw cream, walking was much more pleasant than before. They were about to take the large staircase to the library floor, when they stopped abruptly in front of a large door on their right. Luna looked intrigued, and to say that Myo wasn't curious would be a lie. From behind the door came the sound of slightly muffled singing.
She and Luna looked at each other for a moment, Eldur giving a soft, melodious coo, as if to encourage them. Luna opened the door slightly, and they both peered inside. Professor Flitwick was holding a wand, in front of a dozen students of all ages, singing. It was a very pretty song indeed, Myo knew nothing of the love and loch it was about, but she could imagine walking along the rocky banks of that loch. She had after all read the atlas she had recommended to Hermione, and had read the chapter on Scotland. According to the book, Loch Lomond was the largest loch in Scotland in terms of area, and she remembered flying over a lake so large that it could well be this one.
The song vibrated through her like the wind on her feathers and she couldn't help but hum softly along with it. Myo had never sung for anyone but her closest friends, and it was always an instinctive song, like when she was grooming her feathers and singing came naturally. There had never been any real articulate words in her singing, except for the times when she sang things she didn't understand herself, as if driven by her own magic.
She found herself swaying to the music, closing her eyes and letting herself be carried away. Maybe she should reconsider her habits and learn some real songs instead of just letting her voice do what it she wants. Not that it wasn't fun and she was going to stop doing it, but being able to vary by adding songs with real lyrics to her... repertoire, was just something she would like to do. Beside her, Luna seemed to be caught up in the music as well, and Eldur on her shoulder was watching the choir with a curious look. Was this a choral club that Professor Flitwick ran? Myo was curious.
Myo was not a good judge of quality, as she had never really had the opportunity to hear anyone but herself sing, but she could quite easily hazard a guess that Professor Flitwick's young singers were either talented or well trained, probably both.
This song made her want to take Luna, and fly away with her and Eldur, out of the castle and its stifling atmosphere, and the dirty looks she received there, to just fly from loch to loch across Scotland. She was sure that Luna would love the journey and all the different creatures she would surely meet. Not to mention that Eldur would probably be dying to get out of the valley and see a bit of the world after so much time spent locked up. The poor fellow.
Far too soon for her liking the song ended, leaving a void in her heart. She really didn't like the feeling of loss, and as if to fill it, she instinctively pulled Luna against her.
She must have been humming louder than she realised, because Professor Flitwick and all the choristers had turned towards them. Inexplicably. Myo felt herself blush to her ears, and bravely chose to hide behind Luna.
"Ah, I didn't know we had an audience at our rehearsal. Please come in, Miss Lovegood, Miss Potter, Mr. Fawks... or is it Eldur now from what I heard? Don't hide in the doorway, it must be terribly uncomfortable."
Timidly, the trio (apart from Eldur who stood tall and proud on her shoulder, the braggart) entered the room. With a few flicks of his wand, Professor Flitwick conjured up two chairs at the side of the room.
The choristers looked at them with curiosity and amusement, and surprisingly, Myo did not perceive any hostility in their eyes. She supposed that to agree to be part of a choir led by a half-goblin, you had to be open-minded. Half of them were Ravenclaws whose names she couldn't remember but had seen in the common room before, two were Gryffindor, fifth or sixth year twin sisters according to their height, two Hufflepuffs who couldn't have been above their fourth year, and a first year Slytherin, Myo vaguely remembered her. Her name must have been Trecy, or Traci, or Tracey, at least her last name was Davis. Myo didn't really know why, but she had managed to remember that name out of all the others that she had immediately forgotten.
"Hello" Myo said shyly, still intimidated by the situation. Luna waved her hand in greeting. A chorus of hello's and amused laughter answered them, though many eyes were fixed on Eldur for some reason. Myo sat down as comfortably as she could, Luna choosing to sit on her lap to Eldur's displeasure instead of using the chair dedicated to her.
As if nothing had happened, Flitwick called the attention of all the choir members who had started chatting, to resume rehearsals and sing the song about Loch Lomond again. Myo wondered for a moment if there were plans to sing in front of an audience soon to take it so seriously, before losing herself in the music again.
Several songs later, Myo opened her eyes again after a longer than usual break, to see that the choir had obviously come to an end. As she and Luna were about to leave as well, Flitwick addressed her. "Miss Potter, you looked really interested, would you like to try singing? I have a few minutes to spare." All the choristers who were still there chatting about the session turned to her, curiosity in their eyes.
Myo was more than a little afraid of singing in front of people. She'd done it before in front of Luna, Nym, Pando, Xeno, Andy and Ted, but no one else, and this would be the first time she'd sung with real words. She felt incredibly shy all of a sudden.
Luna clasped one of her hands in hers and looked at her with her big kitten eyes. "Myo, I know you're going to like this. You're brave, it'll do you good. Don't let the wrackspurt tell you what to do." she whispered wisely. Myo swallowed. Luna was right, deep down she did want to sing, and it wasn't like it would be as... intimate, private, like the times she sang her magic, it would be singing words that weren't from her, quite different, she wouldn't make herself vulnerable. And then... she could see it in Luna's eyes, Luna was dying to hear her sing.
She swallowed and gathered her courage before turning to Professor Flitwick. "Yes, I'd like to try, Professor.
Professor Flitwick clapped with joy and excitement. "Perfect! Perfect! Get up on the stage Miss Potter. What would you like to sing from the songs we have practised today?"
"The one about Loch Lomond please." She said without hesitation. It was the one that made her want to fly the most, and for her, that made it the best song of the day. Professor Flitwick then handed her the sheet music on which the lyrics were written, along with a variety of symbols that she assumed would help set the rhythm. She didn't think she really needed it, as she remembered it very well.
She was a little embarrassed to be the centre of attention, but Luna's words still resonated with her, and if Luna thought that singing would do her good, then it would do her good, and she gathered her courage. She began to sing, at first with some hesitation, but slowly gained confidence and let her voice and the melody carry her, unaware of the magic infused in her voice echoing in the large choir room. She closed her eyes, only her voice mattering now, as her mind imagined her high in the sky above the highlands. Away from this oppressive castle that she liked less and less every day. Her voice carried nostalgia and a breath of freedom. When the last word left her lips she opened her eyes and let out a long sigh, Luna had been right as always. Singing had lifted a weight from her chest that she hadn't realised she had been carrying.
She blinked, the room was silent, everyone in the room was as if petrified, their gaze riveted on her, some even with their jaws hanging open. Only Luna seemed more or less normal. She looked at her with joy and pride as she trotted towards her. "That was great, Myo!" she exclaimed.
Luna's voice seemed to rouse everyone else from their strange state, for they all began to applaud and Myo couldn't help but blush again, her earlier courage flying away, she found herself hiding behind Luna again. Myo was brave, she knew that, but just... in some situations she was grateful that Luna was braver than her.
"Miss Potter, that was exceptional! There's magic in your voice. I would be infinitely grateful if you would consider joining the choir." Professor Flitwick exclaimed, accompanied by a hubbub of approving murmurs. She could feel pride almost literally radiating from Eldur's flaming plumage.
Myo felt somewhat overwhelmed, she needed to get away, ideally for a moment alone with Luna. "I'll think about it, professor." She said to buy time before making a strategic retreat by jumping out of a window with Luna before flying to their tower. She would need time to consider this.
oOOOo
After a day of classes and hustle and bustle, being in the quiet of the tower she and Luna had claimed was a most effective salve for her tired body and mind. Luna was sitting at their desk, bent over their potion essay, Myo couldn't tell if she was writing or making little drawings in the margins.
She had settled into the large pile of ash she had set up in one corner and surrounded by runes copied from a third year textbook to keep the ash from spilling all over the room when she rattled. Taking care of her wings, feathers and scales took a lot of time, at least a good hour a day, but Myo didn't mind, it was very pleasant to apply the potion to her feathers, the ointment to her scales, to ask Luna for help to take care of damaged feathers, to take ash baths to get rid of all the impurities that could have lodged in her feathers. How had she survived so long in the atrocious conditions of the garden shed, she wondered. The better she was, the more she realised how fragile her health had been and how sick she had been when she was in the company of the dreadful Dursleys.
As she let the ashes seep into her plumage to clean it thoroughly, she had in her hands one of the books given to her by Fleur and Isabelle. The volume dedicated to the Taïvaalta in the veela encyclopaedia. She had hesitated to start with the other books, but she wanted to understand herself better. For the time being, she was at the chapter on the specific habits and magics of Taïvaalta, she had decided to ignore the chapter on anatomy, what could she possibly learn there? She already knew everything about Taïvaalta anatomy, she was one.
For the moment, she had realised by herself most of the things she had read in this chapter, yes she liked to sing during the preening, yes flying on a regular basis was absolutely necessary for her physical and mental health, yes she preferred to eat what she had gathered or hunted herself, and always cooked what she ate and drank in her flames. Some details surprised her though. The preening of a Taïvaalta was also a kind of natural and instinctive ritual of renewal, fertility and rebirth. Generally, the preening ritual only affects the Taïvaalta herself and her direct surroundings, but under the right conditions, the effect could be spread to an entire region. Apparently it had something to do with the sacrifice of feathers to the flames, the offering of pain, and other more complicated things that Myo couldn't understand. She had decided to move on before she gave herself a headache.
Apparently, collecting the skulls of hunted animals was something all Taïvaalta did. A way to show off their hunting skills to other veela and potential mates, but also to respect the sacrifice of the animal and to keep in mind every death caused to feed themselves in respect to the life lost... which summed up her feelings pretty well.
One thing made her eyes widen though. She could hardly believe what was written on the page before her eyes. Every skull she had kept of a creature whose life had been taken directly by her flames left an imprint in the bone. It was written that it was possible to make part of her flames take the form of the imprint of the lost life, bringing back a shadow of the animal based on its skull. Thus, the Taïvaalta used the skulls of their defeated prey as a means of defence or communication by letting their flames take on the form of the lost life and thus gain an independence and a form of pseudo sentience. It was crazy! And no particular technique was specified, that it was instinctive for the Taïvaalta to do this, and that most of the young Taïvaalta did it regularly in a partial way without realising it.
Myo picked up the hare's skull that had been hanging from her necklace alongside the river stone offered by Luna ever since her first hunt, and watched it with fascination, remembering as if it were yesterday the moment she had taken her first life, the moment the hare had stopped struggling in her claws when she had birthed her flames in him. Was it true? She had no reason to doubt the book, but...
"Luna?" She asked in a small voice. She needed the wisdom of her best friend.
"Yes, Myosotis?" replied Luna without looking up from her paper. Myo was now convinced that Luna was drawing on her essay, otherwise she would have turned to her. It took more than that for Luna to look up from a drawing.
"What do you think of the skulls of my hunts that I keep in the towers?" Myo asked.
"Oh, they're lovely, I feel safe with them, I love it when sometimes I wake up at night and see their flaming eye sockets, I feel like they're watching us. Why?" She said, this time turning her full attention to Myo.
Myo blinked a few times, she had never really noticed that, if the book was right, what Luna was saying confirmed it. "The book says that the Taïvaalta can bring to life an echo of what they have hunted with their flames through the skulls they keep. They also added that young ones like me can do it partially without realising it, but I hadn't noticed anything until now..."
Luna stood up and walked across the room, stopping for a moment in front of Eldur to stroke his head and scratch his chest feathers before continuing towards a shelf on which was a roe deer skull that Myo had brought with her from her tower. She picked it up and turned it over and over in her little hands to observe it from every angle. "An echo remains, it is faint, as if asleep... deep, deeper than any other sleep I have seen. Myo, I think you should try to wake up your hare, it was your first one after all," she said, stroking the white bone of the deer's skull affectionately.
As if caught in a moment of powerful warmth in her chest, she stood up and shook herself, all the ash in her feathers dispersing in a thick cloud. Luna, in her tower, dressed in clothes she had borrowed from her, speaking with too much wisdom for her age, one of her skulls in her hands, her slender fingers caressing the white bone, Myo could not resist. The vision was perfect. She stepped forward and took Luna in her arms, hugging her tightly, the little blonde who had been pensive until then and hadn't noticed her approaching gave a little cry of surprise.
"Myo?" she asked in a small voice. She didn't answer, just closed her wings around Luna. She stood still for a minute before stepping back to look at Luna from every angle, one hand on her cheek. Luna's big silver blue eyes were on her, surprise and curiosity clear in them. On his perch, Eldur had turned around, as if embarrassed by the scene.
"Myo?" repeated Luna.
She stepped back regretfully and nodded. She didn't know what had come over her, the impulse had just been too strong, she was unable to explain what had just happened. Trying to hide her inability to decipher the situation, she simply said the most important truth that was on her mind at the time. "I'm just glad you're my friend Luna."
Luna, usually so stoic, blushed and replaced the deer skull in its place. She then had the strange reaction of slapping her hands against her cheeks before sitting back down at the desk. "I'm glad I could help you, Myo. It was a good hug," she told her before returning to her work (drawing on the margins of the potion paper.)
Deciding to apply what she had read immediately, Myo removed her collar and unclasped the hare skull before placing it in the palm of her hand. Not sure what to do, except that it had to do with her flames, she let her fire cover her completely, its soft flames happily enveloping her. First step done, she supposed. Her flames danced happily all over her body. Now, the book said it was more or less instinctive... She frowned, and tried to direct her flames towards the skull. She had never thought of doing this before, she was curious what would happen. The hare's skull was now in the centre of a blue blaze in her hand. The flame was almost up to the ceiling, and was jolting as if it were alive. She squinted, she felt that something was happening.
Suddenly the flame subsided, shrinking to fit entirely inside the hare's skull, the two sockets of the skull looking like two shafts of dazzling light. A few seconds later, the flames grew from the base of the skull, taking on an ethereal, glowing form. She was forced to put her hands out to hold the growing form. After one last large flame enveloping the entire form, her fire subsided, becoming calm and placid again.
The only difference was that in her arms was not a simple skull, but a flame hare looking around curiously. He jumped up from her arms and began to hop about the room as if exploring. His body was composed entirely of ethereal blue fire, the only solid part was his skull still visible through the flames. Its eyes were two shafts of white light.
She was pulled from her fascinated observation of the flame creature by Luna clapping her hands excitedly. "Myo you did it!" she said with pride. She jumped up from her seat and ran over to her to place a kiss on her cheek before Myo could react. Then she hopped over to the hare and grabbed it. Lifting him at arm's length above her. Watching it with joy for a moment before putting it back down. She turned to Myo, amusement in her eyes.
"Myo, do you think you can teach him a trick?"
Remembering something she had read in the book, Myo addressed the hare. "Tell Luna: Tonight we're having apple pie for dessert." The hare's shape became less defined, until it looked like a large flame. It flew around the room, then at full speed towards Luna, until it arrived in her arms. The hare then re-emerged from the flames, and as if in a distant but audible echo, Myo's voice repeated the message.
Luna looked ecstatic, and Myo was particularly pleased with her resplendent success.
Luna looked thoughtful for a moment, then turned to her. "Do you think we could say good night to our friends by sending a message through Leopold? She said, looking at the newly named hare.
Myo considered the suggestion for a moment. "I think we'd better introduce them to Leopold first, otherwise they'll get scared."
"Oh, poo, that would be funny though..." Luna said with a pout.
"Why don't you say goodnight to Professor Dumbledore? I'm sure he'd be happy to meet Leopold." Myo felt a little bad about making Professor Dumbledore the victim of Luna's joke, but... if it made Luna happy, it was worth it.
oOOOo
Hermione watched as the school post owl left through the window of the Howlery. She and her parents exchanged letters several times a week. She would tell them everything, the classes, her difficulties, the friends she had made, what she was learning about the wizarding world... how much she missed them... She was pulled out of her thoughts and melancholy by a familiar voice coming from above her.
"You're sending a letter to whom?"
She looked up and raised an eyebrow at a most peculiar scene she had not noticed when she entered the Howlery. Myosotis, her angel, was perched on one of the countless beams used by owls, but even stranger, she was covered with owls. One was perched on her head, one on each of her shoulders, three on her knees... and she seemed to be applying some kind of potion to the plumage of one of the birds, which was almost vibrating with pleasure. The phoenix that Myosotis had taken to walking around and terrorising her classmates with was nowhere to be seen. He was probably off somewhere.
"To my parents, what are you doing?"
"Oh, I had some special feather potion left over, and since it's going to expire before I need it again, I decided to share it with these darlings. They really need it. There has to be some solidarity between feathered creatures," she finished, laughing at her own joke.
"Well... they seem to like it." She said as she watched the owl under Myo's fingers give a long hoot of pleasure.
"Do you have any plans right now?"
"I was going to go to the library, but it's not urgent, why?"
"I wanted to show you something, I showed them to Nym, Elvetia, Luna of course, Pandora, Xeno, Ted and Andy, and I wanted to show them to you too! Plus there are lots of recent additions!"
"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked more than a little bemused. She remembered Tonks' warning well, and with the time she had spent in the young Veela's company, she could see more and more what the metamorphmagus meant. Myosotis was... like a wind. Free and elusive, with a very different common sense from humans. She supposed that this might confuse many wizards, but she found it all the more endearing.
"My collections, of course! I'm sure you'll love it!" She said as she gave the owl in her care a final pat before freeing herself from the other birds and gliding to the floor.
"What are you collecting?" Hermione asked, her curiosity piqued. She knew that Myosotis had many hobbies, drawing being the most obvious, but collecting? She didn't know.
"Oh, I collect beetles, I have all sorts under glass. Unfortunately I haven't found any nice ones at Hogwarts... Maybe further into the forest. There's also my book collection and pretty things, if they're shiny all the better."
"You know the forest is forbidden? It's in the name. And didn't you tell me that Luna was grounded for going there?" She said with a frown, sometimes she couldn't help but worry about the little walking storm that was the young Veela.
Myosotis rolled her eyes. "The forest isn't that dangerous, at least not for me. I'm predator, not prey!" She said with a confidence so great it was adorable. "And Luna isn't grounded for going into the forest, she's grounded for going without me. There's a difference."
Hermione couldn't help but laugh at that. It took her a few minutes to calm down, she was tempted to tell Myo that going into the forbidden forest was forbidden, but she suspected that the young veela didn't care. When she managed to stop giggling softly, they had arrived in an abandoned wing of the castle, filled with deserted classrooms. "I wonder how many students Hogwarts had in its heyday." Hermione thought aloud.
"No idea. Come on, it's this way," Myo said, leading her towards a spiral staircase hidden behind a thick wooden door. As she climbed the stairs Hermione became more and more uncomfortable, she had just passed half a dozen skulls of various animals hanging on the walls that Myo had walked past as if nothing had happened. After a while, she entered a large round room with a large four-poster bed in the centre. She thought for a second that this was the room Myo had " taken over ", but she was quickly corrected when Myo pulled a rope that sent a ladder tumbling down through a trapdoor in the ceiling of the room. Without hesitation Myo climbed up, and Hermione quickly followed her, not wanting to be left alone in a room where in the middle of the bed lay a large skull that she assumed was that of a boar.
When she finally poked her head through the trapdoor, she couldn't help but let her jaw drop. The small room was just below the pointed roof structure of the tower. Against one wall was a desk cluttered with sheets, books and drawing and writing materials. Not far away was a large pile of cushions and blankets. In one corner, a large pile of grey ashes was stored. But what immediately caught her attention was that the walls were literally covered with drawings, watercolours and paintings. She could recognize Myo's work of course, but also Luna's. The place was lived in, and could have been perfectly warm and domestic if there weren't dozens of skulls proudly displayed on the shelves and hanging from the ceiling by countless cords like a flock of gloomy dream catchers. The shelves were cluttered with books that were almost overflowing, but also with an almost surreal quantity of small objects of all kinds that had the common denominator of being pretty or shiny.
Myosotis excitedly took her by the hand, pulling her towards one of the walls where an impressive collection of beetles sorted by species was hanging.
"This is my beetle collection! I love exploring the woods around Andy's or Luna's home, looking for them in the summer. Their carapaces are beautiful! I even got a stag beetle look!" Said Myosotis proudly, almost jumping up and down in excitement.
To distract herself from the uncomfortable feeling of being watched by the dozens of skulls, Hermione leaned towards the insects on display. "You have a wonderful collection Myosotis." She said sincerely. She was not a fan of insects, but she knew how to recognize their beauty.
"There's also my collection of stuff! I have everything beautiful, even things I can't quite identify." Myosotis added.
Her curiosity winning the battle, Hermione began to inspect the shelves, marvelling at the various beautiful stones and crystals, coloured mollusc shells and seashells, fantastic feathers, funny little bronze mechanisms... Myosotis was in the middle of telling her about how she had found a particularly pretty little pink stone while hunting plimpies with Luna in the stream near her house, when her eyes fell on three little winged gold balls lined up on a shelf. Ronald had forced her to watch the three Quidditch matches that had taken place since the beginning of the year, and she immediately recognised the objects. After all, each of the games had been marked by the fact that the seekers had been unable to find the snitch and the games had ended at nightfall, when the players had been too exhausted to continue playing. Why the game didn't use a clock to give each match a set duration was beyond her.
"Myo, where did you get them?" She asked in a small voice, pointing to the snitches.
"Oh, I caught them as they were flying over the quidditch pitch why?"
"Nothing... nothing... they fit very well in your... collection." Hermione finally chose to say, trying to keep herself from looking too desperate or pinching the bar of her nose too hard. Tonks was right, Myo was something else.
oOOOo
Severus sat at his desk, his head buried in his hands. A pile of disparate objects faced him. He was getting desperate. He'd given himself a guideline to follow in Miss Potter's presence. Something simple, that was supposed to save him from most of the problems and complications he would have had to endure otherwise. Simply ignore her.
It should have worked. Severus was a cold, ugly man, hard on his students, uncompromising, hated by all but some of the children in his house. If Potter had been a normal person, she would have simply ignored him and like everyone else seen him as the odious dungeon-bat potions teacher, left him alone in his misery. And yet.
It had started harmlessly enough. Potter just spent an unnatural amount of time staring at him with those big, piercing green eyes so similar to Lily's whenever she finished her potions. She was so similar to Lily that it was often unnerving. The only thing different from her old friend was that her hair was black, and her features were finer, more delicate. Other than that, she was the picture of Lily at her age. And not only in appearance, but also in behaviour. Her talent with potions, her very strong relationships with her friends... It was difficult for him to teach with her in the room. He was forced to resort to his occlumency more often than he would like.
If it had just stayed that way, everything would have been fine, but no, it had gotten quickly out of hand. One day Potter had lingered at the end of class. Once everyone had left the room, she had approached him and handed him a sheet of paper folded in half. Stunned, he took it, and she immediately ran out of the room. On the sheet of paper was a portrait of him, drawn with care, precision and talent, he could easily tell that the young veela had an artistic streak. If that was all it was, he could have ignored it. Put the drawing in a desk drawer and ignore it forever. After all, the young veela was becoming known in the school for her strange behaviour. Giving him a drawing of himself could have just been another of the weird flings she was known for. After all, Quirinus had confided that he himself had received a portrait of him drawn by her hand.
No, in the drawing, his eyes were full of a light that had left them long ago, his features were relaxed, devoid of his look of constant discontent, and a smile graced his face.
He hadn't known what to do with it, torn between the urge to burn it, and the bittersweet desire to keep it, it was after all a... "gift" from Lily's daughter. He couldn't bring himself to do either, and he'd simply left it on his desk, turned over, hoping that he'd forget about it, and that it was just one of her antics. After all, at her age, Lily too was quick to chaos and strange decisions and actions. In the light of what he observed in her daughter, he couldn't help but wonder how much of a veela Lily had been.
Unfortunately, it didn't end there. At the end of every class, Potter had made a habit of giving him something. Whether it was a drawing of a landscape populated by strange creatures, some of which he recognised from descriptions in the Quibbler, the only magical Great Britain newspaper worth reading. Or chocolates, or a coloured stone that she must have thought pretty, or a 'rêve plaisant' potion that he couldn't work out whether she'd acquired it or if she'd made it herself, since Lily's great talent for potions seemed to have been passed on to her daughter, it was possible. Potter had even given him two cinema tickets for a session of 'The Addams Family', a film released this year... Not once did she miss this end-of-class routine.
The worst was when, in the middle of a lunch in the Great Hall, a meal Potter had decided to ignore since the beginning of the year for who knows what other source of food, she had walked up to the teacher's table. Then she had stopped specifically in front of him, before placing a grilled fish skewered on a branch on his still empty plate. She had then given him a big smile, before leaving as if nothing had happened, the characteristic clicking of her claws protruding from her little slippers haunting him. He even wondered if she didn't sometimes follow him out of class, because he could swear he heard the clicking of her claws regularly during his nightly patrol duties.
So it was that he found himself sitting at his desk on that late October afternoon, his eyes roaming over the pile of miscellaneous items piled up on his desk. He couldn't bring himself to get rid of them, Lily's phantom was preventing him from doing so, but he didn't know what else to do. In his distress he even wondered if this was some elaborate stalking scheme on Potter's part. It certainly wasn't, but it still had the same effect.
He sighed deeply. Potter was an enigma he had no desire to solve. He glared at the pile of objects. If only he could just hate Potter... everything would be easier.