Aria stared in shock at the fire in the centaur's clearing. The wind that had whipped up around her, Bane, and Firenze died away leaving her breathless and trembling. For a wild moment she thought she had seen the past, present, and future all within the flames; had felt the heat in her face and her heart race. She had heard voices laughing and singing and calling out. A joy had filled her at hearing the singing, the voices ethereal yet deep all at once, the sound like the rushing of water and air over rocks and through trees.
"That was incredible!" she cried once her voice had returned to her. Bane and Firenze got smug looks on their faces.
"That is but a foretaste to what we will be teaching you in the years to come," Bane stated seriously. "Rituals and magics of bygone times when wixen and creatures mixed freely and were united."
"The new year approaches," Firenze said, looking up at the stars above. Even in the early evening, now that the sun went down earlier, the stars peeked down at the clearing. Aria loved to lay on her back and stargaze, the ring of trees teasing the edge of her vision.
"Samhain?" Aria questioned.
"The new year when the Old Ways were practiced," Firenze explained. "The end of the harvest, the beginning of the long nights." He motioned one of the female centaurs closer who trotted over with a basket of hawthorn branches full of berries. Aria saw that the branches had all been weaved into crowns.
"A gift for when you and your friends celebrate," Firenze said. "But it is getting late now." Aria took the basket, thanking the female centaur, and followed Bane out of the clearing back to the edge of the forest. With Umbridge gone, most Slytherins had stopped going everywhere in pairs, though many still stuck close to one another because they did live in a school full of teenagers. Still, it was nice not to have to make someone wait for her at the edge of the forest. She knew most people got creeped out by the Forbidden Forest.
Passing Hagrid's hut, Draco popped out of the pumpkin patch. Aria gave a startled shriek before dissolving into laughter and hitting his shoulder while Draco stumbled back, laughing.
"I didn't realize you could shriek so shrilly," he said, escaping around a giant pumpkin.
"Don't do that!" Aria cried. "You're lucky I didn't curse you."
"You wouldn't do that. You instinctively knew it was me."
"I did not!" Aria finally got a hold of Draco and planted a kiss to his cheek. "What're you doing hiding in the pumpkin patch anyway?"
"Waiting for you, idiot. Diggory's been quite mean putting us on opposite prefect schedules. I've tried to bribe him to schedule us together, but he's impervious to all attempts."
Arai snorted.
"What're you trying to bribe him with? Gold? He won 1,000 Galleons last year."
Draco paused; mouth open in shock. Aria rolled her eyes. Rich people. So pretty, but so utterly dumb sometimes.
"I'll talk to him," Aria said. "Maybe I can convince him to schedule us together on occasions. I'll use my feminine wiles and chocolate chip cookies."
"I'd do a lot for chocolate chip cookies," Draco agreed, leaning back against a giant pumpkin. "What's in the basket?"
"The centaurs gave her hawthorn crowns for Samhain. And I think a few extra hawthorn branches. Bane and Firenze showed me a ritual for Samhain too. It'd be nice to show you and our friends."
"I think something can be arranged," Draco said, taking the basket and putting it at their feet. He wrapped his arms around Aria's waist, pulling her to him. "But first . . . I want to spend time with my girlfriend." He kissed her nose.
Samhain dawned sunny but cold. Aria was pleased to find piping hot oatmeal available at breakfast that morning to go with her toast and bacon. She poured herself tea and set about making up her plate, soon joined by Harry, Ron, and Hermione, the latter quizzing Ron vigorously on Transfiguration.
"Hermione, I can recite all this in my sleep at this point," Ron complained as he reached for spoon oatmeal into a bowl. "It's not like this is the OWLs exam."
Hermione huffed, tossing her hair in annoyance.
"I just want us to be prepared," she said.
"I am prepared theoretically," Ron assured her. "Now whether or not I can actually change whatever object McGonagall gives us into a blanket or chair or whatever it is she will have us do is another matter."
Morning owls swept into the Great Hall. Hedwig was still out of commission, so it was Sirius' new Boreal owl that brought in the mail. Aria took her thick envelope from Copernicus and Harry fed him bacon. Inside her envelope she found a letter from her dad, and the compound letter from Robert, Samuel, and Tommy. They were prepping for their A-Levels and were as stressed about it as Aria was for her OWLs. Robert wanted to eventually go to medical school while Samuel wanted to study History and Literature. Tommy wanted to study Business.
"Oh, praise Merlin!"
Aria glanced at Ron who practically sagged in relief against Harry.
"What is it?" Hermione asked.
"Percy says he and Mum and Dad have made up," Ron said, still reading the letter. "Well . . . tentatively. They're still not agreeing on Dumbledore but they're on speaking terms again and he and Oliver have gone to the Burrow for dinner already."
"What's this I hear about Percy?" Ginny asked, having only come in on the tail end of the conversation. Ron handed her the letter and her eyes lit up reading it.
"So, Draco says that there's going to be a Samhain bonfire this year?" Daphne asked, sliding in next to Aria. "Something about hawthorn?"
"Yes, the centaurs gave me hawthorn and taught me a ritual for tonight," Aria answered. "Draco said he would take care of everything for tonight." Draco had looked too gleeful when he had assured her of that, but worrying about whatever mischief her boyfriend could concoct was not on her list of things to do. She still had to run a few tests with the current lycanthropy cure she had brewed and planned to do that during her free period today.
Thankfully, with Remus at the school, she had a nearly unending supply of werewolf blood to test the potion on under the microscope. She was also writing up an article with Professor Snape on the benefits of using a Muggle microscope in testing some potions prior to moving onto actual potion trials. She was currently trying to see if the potion would eradicate the Werewolf Gene from a blood sample before having someone consume the potion.
Fawkes was waiting for her when she arrived in her little lab in the dungeons. She took a moment to nuzzle his head and stroke his feathers, giving him compliments about how beautiful his plumage was, before getting to work. Something inside her thrummed happily whenever she was with Fawkes, had thrummed ever since second year, but she had only just started to recognize it this year. It was a curious thing, this thrum. It made her feel complete, like there had been something missing prior to the moment she recognized it, and now she could not think about living without it.
Carefully removing a vial of blood from the lock box that was keyed to her and Snape's magical signatures, Aria dripped several drops onto a glass slide before taking a dropper full of her created potion and dropping a few drops onto the blood. There was a little bit of white smoke and the smell of iron that made Aria's nose twitch. She let the smoke settle, it took a few minutes, and then she slid the slide under the microscope.
With a triumphal whoop that startled Fawkes off his perch Aria grabbed the phoenix and danced around the room while the phoenix squawked with indignation.
That was how Professor Snape found Aria when he entered into the lab a few minutes later, having a free period as well.
"What are you doing?" he demanded, eyeing Fawkes distrustfully as the bird escaped Aria's arms and settled on the top of an empty set of shelves. He began to fix the feathers that had gotten ruffled.
"A part of the Werewolf Gene disappeared!" Aria cried. "Look! Look!"
Snape bent over the microscope and was silent for a moment while Aria hopped from one foot to the other waiting for his professional verdict.
"Indeed," the man finally said. "It has." Aria squealed, jumping up and down as excitement bubbled inside her.
"Do you think we need to strengthen one of the ingredients?" Aria asked, turning to her massive pile of research, and pulling out the recipe they had used. "Or do you think the problem is in the runic algorithm?"
Snape pulled the slide away from the microscope.
"Perhaps we should take a look at the ingredients first," he said. "I don't think the fault lies in the runic algorithm. If it did, the potion would not have worked at all." He set the slide on a clean table near the lock box.
Fawkes swooped over, nearly swiping Aria's head. The bird leaned over the glass slide.
"Fawkes!" Aria cried, reaching out to grab the slide, but Snape stopped her.
"Look!" he cried. Aria watched with wide eyes as a single tear fell from the phoenix's eye onto the blood. The blood smoked again, and this time she heard a sizzling alongside the smell of iron. Snape grabbed the slide and put it back under the microscope. Aria leaned to look through the lenses.
"It's gone!" she breathed, body beginning to shake. "It's gone!" Snape pushed her to the side, leaning over the microscope to affirm that the Werewolf Gene was indeed gone.
"Phoenix tears," Snape muttered. "Should've known something as magical as lycanthropy could only be cured with an ingredient as magical as a phoenix."
"What's so special about phoenix tears?" Aria asked.
"It's believed that they can cure anything," Snape replied. "They're considered a neutral potions ingredient, and they automatically counteract any reaction from other ingredients. Some hospitals use phoenix-enhanced healing potions for their worse cases as a last resort as phoenix tears are so rare. I didn't even think about them because of that. I didn't realize you and Fawkes had a . . . relationship." He looked between the phoenix and Aria. "Does Dumbledore know?"
"Er . . . I don't think so," Aria answered. Fawkes shook his head. "After Fawkes helped me with the basilisk, he just . . . kept showing up at my house."
Snape stared at her so long she started to get worried.
"Anyway . . ." she grabbed an empty vial and gave Fawkes a pleading smile.
"Dear, Fawkes," she said, "would you pretty please give me some more tears?" The phoenix dipped his head and Aria hurried to place the small vial under his eye, collecting the five large tear drops that he offered.
"Should we rebrew the entire potion?" she asked Snape. Even if phoenix tears were a neutral ingredient, that didn't mean she could add it to a potion willy-nilly. Snape was studying the recipe again.
"I think . . ." he slowly said, "we should rebrew the potion and add one drop of phoenix tears at the very end." He pulled out a pocket watch, flipping it open. "Unfortunately, neither of us have time at the moment so we will have to rebrew either tonight or this weekend."
"It'll have to be this weekend," Aria said. "I've got plans tonight."
"Another illicit Samhain bonfire?"
"Of course not!"
"My godson is not at subtle as he likes to pretend he is."
"He is subtle, Professor, you're just a former spy." Aria locked everything away before banishing the glass slide with blood on it. She had half a mind to run to Remus and tell him what she had just discovered, but she refrained, not wanting to get his hopes up.
Granted, Aria thought later, there wasn't anything subtle about a bonfire, but if one didn't look out the windows on a certain side of Hogwarts, then no one would even know the bonfire was happening down at the standing stones. Many students were eager to attend, not just because of the food Draco had managed to get for the celebration, but because he had made it known that a Samhain ritual would be done. That made many pureblood students even more eager to attend as well as curious Muggleborns and halfbloods.
Daphne insisted that they celebrate Samhain "properly". Since a ritual was going to be performed, that apparently meant that they had to dress the part, and the Slytherins girls (minus Aria) had worked tirelessly to create what they called "ceremonial robes". Which ended up being day robes lengthened to drape across the ground with transfigured ornamental ribbons attached to the hemline, the cuffs, and the neckline. They were very pretty, Aria thought, but completely unnecessary.
Her Slytherin friends disagreed.
Which is how Aria found herself approaching the standing stones with a ceremonial robe on and a hawthorn crown on her head. Her long hair draped down her back; her curls wild but tame enough not to make her look like a witch from a Muggle fairy book. Daphne, Pansy, Millicent, Tracey, and Ginny also had ceremonial robes and their heads were adorned with hawthorn crowns. The last girl with a hawthorn crown was Hermione, and Daphne and Pansy had only just remembered to make a ceremonial robe for Hermione too.
It appeared that the Slytherin girls were not the only ones busy. The Slytherin 5th year boys also arrived at the standing stones in transfigured ceremonial robes that Aria was certain was the work of Blaise because she could not imagine Draco or Harry or Theo's transfiguration work being as detailed as their robes turned out to be. Blaise was known for being able to add details onto his transfigured objects that made McGonagall give Slytherin points.
"We give such a picture!" Draco cried as Harry handed Ron a transfigured ceremonial robe. Ron gave it a dubious look but slipped into it anyway.
"I feel like a ponce," he muttered.
"A very ginger ponce," Blaise said. "Definitely not as pretty as your sister." Ginny preened happily even as Ron looked ready to rip Blaise into pieces.
They approached the standing stones and the gathered students parted for them. What a sight they must look, Aria thought as whispers began surrounding them. Did they look wild and untamed as the crowns made her feel? Did they look regal? Now that she was by the blazing fire within the standing stones, the robes and crown felt more comfortable than when she had put them on out by the greenhouses.
"You ready?" Draco asked. Aria nodded. Draco grinned at her as he took the remaining hawthorn branches and placed them with a collection of other materials that would be needed for the ritual.
"Have you ever done anything like this before?" Aria asked.
"No," Draco said, "but I've read about it such things. As you know, we wixen have forgotten many of our own ways."
"Due to Muggleborns," Aria said sarcastically with a roll of the eye. Draco shrugged.
"Not just them," he admitted. "Traditions are lost even if no new ones come in because people stop taking the traditions seriously. The Wizard's Council and then the Wizengamot . . . a part of their duties is to preserve wixen culture here in the British Isles. But it got all muddied with hatred and bigotry."
"You know," Lisa Turpin said, startling them, as she passed by with Lavender and the Patil twins. "If you're trying to hide the fact that you two are in love, you're not doing a very good job."
Aria and Draco rolled their eyes.
Stepping closer to the bonfire, a final hush fell over the students as everyone settled and turned to look at Aria. She closed her eyes for a moment, centering herself, using her magic to reach for the magic of the earth like the centaurs had taught her. She could feel the thrum of magic from beneath her feet, linked together by the standing stones.
She only hoped she didn't make a total fool of herself at the parts where she was meant to sing and chant. Music had never been her strong suit.
"Gather Children of the Earth, gather round the warmth and light," Aria sang out, her voice wobbling just a bit as the nerves struck her. She gestured broadly around for everyone to come closer. Several students shuffled closer. Walking around the bonfire to the east side, Aria cried out in a loud voice,
Beneath her feet, Aria felt a shift in the earth. Like someone or something was responding to her words. She motioned for Daphne to bring her the censer from the group of items Draco had gotten his hands on. Where on earth had he found it? She did not recall him receiving any packages, so it was not like he had written home for a random censer.
Inside the censer, Pansy had put incense of some kind into it. Again, Aria wondered where her classmates were getting these items. Was there a black market for ancient rituals? Or did they just carry these around in their school trunks in case they needed them?
Taking a stick from the bonfire, Aria used it to light the incense. Immediately the air filled with the warm, woodsy smell of sandalwood mixed with the sweet vanilla of sweetgrass. She tossed the burning stick back into the bonfire and began making her way around the bonfire, censing the students as she passed them every few paces.
"By the power of light and fire," she cried, her voice echoing around the standing stones and out through the dell, "by the power of the magic that imbues this place, this grove is made whole and holy!"
There was a sudden rush of wind. Students gasped. Aria felt a wall of magic rise between each standing stone, creating an invisible barrier between the students gathered and the world beyond. As she continued to walk around the bonfire, then through the crowd to the compass points of the standing stones, Aria chanted loudly,
"Here tonight we stand, by Fire and Water, between Earth and Sky, like the World Tree long rooted deep, reaching upward, crowned high. We kindle the Fire Bright, blessing all and harming none. We kindle the Fire Bright beneath the glowing Moon."
She returned to the bonfire, the incense now completely gone. She handed the censer back to Pansy.
"Tonight," she cried over the crowd, "we gather here together on the Feast of Samhain, the day of darkness, of endings, of twilight. Here we recognize the Last Harvest, the growing dark, and the thinning of the worlds. As our ancestors did, we come here to offer worship to the Lord of the Dead and the Lady of Magic; to all the spirits and gods, the Sidhe, the Antlered One, and we offer our reverence and honor to those who have gone on before us, the dearly departed, the grateful dead. Together, we honor the Holy Dead as the ancients did and seek an omen for the coming year as the veil between the worlds grows thin."
Aria turned to face the bonfire. Blaise brought forward a basket full of little creations that Aria had seen multiple Slytherin students making over the last few days. Little crafts that she had been told were meant to represent past ancestors. There were definitely more in the basket than what the Slytherin students had made.
"We, the children of earth and magic, call out to the mighty dead! Hear us, ancestors! To all those whose bones lie in this land, whose hearts are tied to it, whose memory holds it, we offer thee welcome. To our grandmothers and grandfather, our own beloved dead of the hearth and kin, we offer thee welcome. To the wise elders, the bards and seers, the judges and sorcerers, wise men and women of ancient days, we offer thee welcome. We call to you, in the love of Lady Magic and all the gods, come to our fire; meet us at the boundary between life and death. Guide and guard us as we walk the Elder Ways."
Aria took the little crafts, tossing them all into the bonfire. The flames gave a whoosh that had multiple students falling back in awe and shock. A surge of power went through the ground and filled Aria with breathtaking giddiness. For a moment she thought she could see the shadows of people just beyond the standing stones, gathered in a large crowd, dressed in various clothes some more ancient than others.
Further prayers were offered. The hawthorn branches were added to the bonfire as a final "sacrifice" to Lady Magic, Death, and all the gods who might be listening. Everyone was instructed to gather a little food from the table laden with food just outside the standing stones and offer a little to the fire with their own personal prayers. Music began to play from somewhere. Dancing began. The ceremonial robes twirled magnificently around Aria's ankles as she danced with her friends, the stars bright overhead, laughter filling the dell and echoing off the trees until the fire became embers and the dark turned to dawn.
Perhaps dancing until dawn in the middle of a standing stone circle on a school night was not the brightest idea Aria had ever had, but it was certainly not something she regretted.
Too much.
Thankfully, there were no major tests on November 1 and she did have a free period, which she intended to use to nap instead of doing anything productive.
A great many students dragged themselves into the Great Hall on the latter end of breakfast, much more than usual. Several professors looked confused as why all the students were so tired, but Aria thought she caught the four Heads of House smirking at each other over their teacups. Was there nothing that got past those four?
"So glad we don't have any tests today," Blaise moaned as he reached for bacon.
"Snape looks like he's plotting a pop quiz," Theo muttered darkly.
"Curses upon curses upon him," Draco snipped, glaring at his godfather who caught him in the act with a raised eyebrow.
"Don't you all look bright eyed and ready to seize the day!"
Aria jumped at Remus' voice. Harry almost dropped the teapot he was holding. Remus stood behind them with a such a grin Aria could see the mischievous teenager Remus Lupin once was. No wonder her dad had fallen hard for the man.
"I'm sure none of you can answer my question, since I'm certain you were all in your common rooms at curfew and went to bed at a reasonable hour," Remus continued as if he hadn't almost given his wards a heart attack, "but you wouldn't happen to know how a hawthorn tree sprang to life in the middle of the school's standing stones would you?"
"A what?" Aria cried. Daphne dropped her fork with a loud clatter.
"A hawthorn tree," Remus repeated. "Fully grown and mature, now stands quite proudly in the center of the stone circle. I'm sure the fairies are quite happy about this development, but it is strange as nothing like that has ever occurred before and, quite frankly, I'm at a loss about how such a thing would happen."
"A hawthorn tree?" Theo repeated.
"A hawthorn tree." Remus patted Harry's head and walked away to the Head Table. The 5th years put their heads together.
"What the bloody hell is going on?" Blaise demanded.
"Who exactly are you?" Theo asked Aria.
"I'm just me!" Aria insisted, confusing marring her face. "I'm just as confused as the lot of you."
"What is significant about the hawthorn tree?" Harry asked.
"Hawthorn trees are thought to be fairy trees," Tracey explained, "especially when they're standing all by themselves. To have one suddenly appear in the middle of nowhere after we did a religious ritual is . . . well . . ."
"It's significant," Daphne stated. "Though how I don't know. The fact that it's inside a standing stone circle has to also be significant, but I don't know why. I could ask my dad. The Department of Mysteries studies and safeguards these sorts of things."
"Daphne, your dad's already trying to recruit me to the department," Aria said, "I don't want to give him any more reason to come after me."
"I won't tell him you did it," Daphne said. "I'll just say after our Samhain bonfire a hawthorn tree sprang up. He won't know anything."