A/N: I've beaten the calendar by 2 months and…20-odd days. Happy Halloween…
Chapter XV: Magic
"This dress is much too tight, hun," the mirror remarked sarcastically.
"Do you want to end up as salt on the ground?" Andromeda challenged her reflection as she tried to zip up the back of her dress
"Black isn't your colour either," the mirror said conversationally.
"I beg to differ," she struggled even more.
"It matches your personality."
This time it was Jane. "You can say that. Help me, please?"
"It seems a little tight," Jane unknowingly echoed the mirror, scrutinizing the zipper.
"You know a spell for it," Andromeda. "Remember, like last year's ball."
"Well, alright, Porky," Jane smiled mischievously, "but Regulus will see right through you."
"What do you mean?" Andromeda raised her hands in frustration from the uncooperative dress. "What does he have to do with this?"
"Well, he's amused above all else and he might tease you all the way to the Great Hall."
She gasped as she heard Regulus' voice. "Who let you in!" Andromeda whipped around, grabbing the nearest towel to cover herself up instinctively.
He was not phased in the least. "Jane," his hand gestured to the girl in question. "Why?"
Andromeda's eyes were asking the same question, albeit silently.
"I wanted to surprise you," he answered for their mutual benefit.
"Well, mission accomplished," she threw the towel on the rack. "I'm going to be angry with you all night because of this little stunt."
He came right up behind her and snaked his arms around her waist, before putting his chin on her shoulder. They made eye contact in the mirror.
"Are you?"
"I don't think so either, hun," the mirror offered a response.
"Who asked you, anyway," Andromeda snapped at the mirror, but she had visibly softened.
Regulus' hand slid toward her back and he grabbed her zipper, sliding it easily to the top.
"How did you do that!"
"Magic," he smiled, before letting her go. "Now, are you ready yet?" I've been waiting around for two hours and this costume is getting really warm."
"Quit complaining," she admonished him. "You know three hours is the minimum I need."
"I hope you're not serious," he raised an eyebrow.
She didn't reply, but instead continued weaving her hair into a beautiful bun with the help of her wand.
"You can wait in the Common Room if you're not happy," Andromeda smirked in the mirror towards him.
"I agree with her for once," the mirror commented out of order once again.
Regulus was visibly torn. "If you're not ready in half an hour, I'm taking someone else."
"You have someone else lined up?"
He shifted his eyes. "No." Then he smiled. "But all I have to do is stand in front of the Great Hall."
Fair point, Andromeda acknowledged silently to herself.
"Aren't you going to leave?"
"No."
Regulus strolled back and forth through the room and contended himself with sitting down on Andromeda's bed. He took off the cape and stretched it out along the length of the mattress. "I'll be here."
Twenty minutes later, Andromeda pinned the last of her flowing hair up. "Alright," she grabbed her purse. "I'm ready."
"Finally, I was - " she finally came into Regulus' full view. "Wow."
"Now you know why," she smiled innocently. "Come on."
Hand in hand they went down to the Common Room.
"There you are!"
Jane chose the moment to release her frustration and impatience. Beside her, Otto was tapping his foot nervously and rechecking his watch. He was not very comfortable in his heavy suit either.
"I'm Aphrodite and you're a leprechaun," Andromeda defended herself. "I need time. You're wearing almost nothing!"
Her words were not far off the truth...Otto certainly looked happy about it and Jane did not seem to mind either.
"Forget me," Jane waved her off, while blushing slightly, "focus on our brand new teenager," she pointed at Holly.
"Fuck you," Holly replied humourlessly. "Now, are we going, or not?"
"Oh my," Andromeda could not hold her objection. "Holly!"
"What?"
"Apologize!"
"I'm in character, don't ruin it for me," Holly dismissed her passionate friend.
With that the six of them left to the ball. The Great Hall was decorated in the orange-black scheme of the celebration, jack-o-lanterns were suspended in thin air halfway up the walls around the perimeter of the Great Hall and eerie candles lit the dark ceiling, which mimicked the abyss of the night sky.
The Witching Sisters, still around since Harry's school days, were enlisted to provide the night's entertainment. Age had made their style rather melancholic and drawn out, which seemed perfect for the occasion.
"Are we going to be depressed all night?" Jane remarked as she watched one of the Sisters tweaking the strings of a guitar.
"I hope not," Otto said. "I heard they were playing all their hits tonight."
"That could be a good thing," Andromeda lit up. "My dad is a big fan of theirs."
"Now I definitely feel old," Regulus smirked. "Thanks."
"You resemble him in some ways," Andromeda looked at him interestingly.
The band started to play before Regulus could ponder this point any further and Andromeda was quick to drag him to the dance floor. Otto and Jane seemed more interested in the food as the attendant house elves started roving around, carrying impossibly large platters on top of their heads. After a brief debate, Albus managed to convince Holly into sharing a dance with him, but at the price of removing his oversized beard...
"Are you going to write to your parents soon?" Regulus asked Andromeda as he swung her around on the downbeat.
"Yes," she said once she faced him again. "I want to tell them as much as possible."
"I'm not looking forward to meeting your dad."
"Why would you meet him?"
"You're dating a werewolf," he leaned in closer. "I don't need to remind you."
"I know," she nodded. "That's not going to change."
"Are you sure?" his worry surfaced again. "He might as well drive me out for good. We both know my dad and your dad didn't exactly see eye to eye when they were here."
"Yeah, but your dad and mine were on the same side in the last war," she reasoned, "and they're friends now too."
"Let's talk about it after," he closed the subject for the time being, "I want to enjoy this
night with you."
"My thoughts exactly," she smiled as she leaned her head on his shoulder.
**
The sun was barely beginning to poke from the horizon, but Andromeda had already sat down on the desk facing the window and spread out the parchment in front of her. The fact that the common room was empty at the impossibly early hour also helped her.
Dear Mom and Dad,
How are you?
I know I haven't been in adequate touch with you over the last two months, but I've been really preoccupied. Mom, I also know this is a bad excuse, and Dad would agree, but please hear me out before starting your mental lecture.
Andromeda smiled at her attempt to argue with her own perceptions...
Where do I start? So much has happened. I suppose the best news is that Regulus is now my boyfriend. Whether you could see it or not, I think you were right, Mom. I've always loved him, but only recently did I realize it. He is so charming and sweet, intelligent, irresistibly magnetic...I can go on, trust me! Just last night we had the annual Halloween Ball here and I had such a good time with him!
She almost blushed at the possible connotations, but neither her fears, nor the influence of the author's corrupted mind were sufficient to cause her to cross the sentence out.
However, there are more serious things I need to talk about. In September we had a thoroughly mysterious accident that almost ended tragically. Jane, and Regulus' friends, Otto and Albus, were kidnapped by centaurs and then he, I and Holly went on a mission to rescue them. It was highly risky, I know, and in the end it was blind luck that saved us all. We managed to make it back to school just fine.
Alongside that, we did have one major problem and that was when Regulus was attacked by the werewolf that was stalking us all. Holly and I tried to do what we can, but in the end it was a centaur that saved him when he killed the werewolf with his bow. As you might have guessed, Regulus was affected and now he transforms once every month. Yes, it is scandalous that I am still involved with him, but there is nothing to worry about, because we have ample stocks of Wolfsbane Potion and the professors have been very understanding, so the situation is completely under control.
We are working on figuring out how to get the ingredients for the cure, but it will be difficult. We've found that all three essential ones are to be found solely in the Balkans and we have no way to go there from Hogwarts. Therefore I'm wondering if I can enlist your help with this...yes, I am in a lot of trouble, I realize it, but I'm in over my head and I don't know what to do...
Dad, you might not particularly like the fact that Regulus and I are together, but I don't intend to change it. We are happy together, and I hope you can show understanding. It is dangerous, I agree with you, but no less dangerous than when you and mom were my age. My point is, I need your help right now, and I hope you can talk to Mr. Malfoy to tell him about our relationship and find out how he feels about it.
I wish I could be more detailed in this letter, but I think it would be better to talk about these things when we meet, hopefully once before Christmas and if not, during the holidays. Regulus' birthday is coming up on the 4th and we'll be doing something to celebrate it. We all want to go out to Hogesmeade, but it is doubtful on a Wednesday. Maybe we'll go next weekend. I would appreciate it if you would send a card to him, and he would too.
I hope you're both doing well.
Your loving daughter,
Andromeda
"Morning, you," the familiar voice said as a chin rested on her shoulder.
"Why are you up so early?"
"Sun woke me up," he admitted. "Catching up on homework?"
"No, writing that letter," Andromeda said. "I just finished it, actually."
"That's good," Regulus encouraged her. "Was it hard to do?"
"I was rather brief," she glanced at the parchment again, "but I think they will understand where I'm coming from."
"As long as that's the case," he agreed. "Want to go for breakfast?"
"Sure."
Not too long afterwards, the rest of the group came down to the Great Hall and joined the early birds.
"I'm never drinking this much again," Otto was rubbing his forehead.
"Well, what do you expect out of such a good night?" Regulus smiled at him.
"Two things, really," Otto opened and closed his eyes. "One, to remember it, and two, no hangover."
"You mean you don't remember it?" Jane was almost scandalized by the revelation.
"Of course I do," he reeled, "I'm only missing bits and pieces. Thank Albus for smuggling that firewhiskey in."
"And you weakness towards it," his friend added slyly.
"Yeah, yeah," Otto grumbled. "What's everyone having for breakfast?"
At that precise moment, the well-timed appearance of sumptuous breakfast foods appeared on the table of its own accord.
"That answers your question," Regulus remarked, grabbing a delicious-looking sausage from the platter in front of him.
"It's two hours of History of Magic this morning, again," Holly complained between bites of scrambled eggs.
"Great! You'll take notes for me, then," Albus volunteered his girlfriend on the spot.
"Not quite," Holly shook her head, "you're doing your own note-taking."
The time was already nearing eight and the plates were beginning to disappear. The day had effectively started.
**
Harry turned the key in the lock and walked in the entryway. As usual, Hermione had arrived home half an hour earlier and the familiar smell of delicious food filled his nostrils. Instinctively, he smiled.
"I'm home!"
Hermione poked her head from the kitchen. "Evening, love."
Harry kicked off his shoes and threw his bag on the chair next to the coat rack before he walked in to see Hermione.
"How was your day?" he kissed her on the cheek.
"Brilliant, and yourself?"
"Same as usual, work. No progress on the case involving that attack. It's starting to annoy me," he summarized his affairs quickly. "Anything interesting happen here?"
"Yes, actually," Hermione glanced towards the table, "there's a letter from Andromeda."
"She wrote?"
"Finally," Hermione exclaimed, "I was starting to get worried."
"What did she say?"
"I think you better see for yourself," she told him diplomatically. "Oh, and after you're done, can you cut up some onions?"
"Sure," Harry picked up the letter from the table and perused its contents.
His eyes widened, narrowed, then widened again and at the end of several minutes, his jaw was firmly set. Hermione threw covert looks at him as she peeled the carrots.
"All of this happened to our daughter and we didn't know about it?" he managed through clenched teeth.
"Remember, honey, we agreed to respect her privacy before she started school," Hermione gently reminded him, "Although, she seems to be picking up your dangerous habits."
"My dangerous habits," he repeated with a smile, "As I recall, that's why you fell in love with me."
"Well, someone had to save your arse on every occasion," she countered him effectively.
"And you fell in love with me," he reinforced his point, non-phased.
"The better question now," Hermione brought him back down to earth, "is how to handle everything she has told us."
"We have to see her," Harry reasoned. "There is nothing we can say in a letter that will help her in any way."
"I can't believe Regulus is a werewolf."
"I don't like it either, what they did was incredibly foolish, but a fact is a face and all we can do is take it in stride," Harry sounded surprisingly mature to Hermione.
"I know how to brew the cure, but Andromeda is right about the trip to the Balkans," she went on. "I think I'll get in touch with my counterpart in those ministries to ask how we can go about arranging a trip."
"The last time you brewed was when we cured Lupin and that was years ago," Harry told her. "Would you be up to it?"
"Do you know anyone else who can brew it?"
"Well, actually - "
"Then it's settled," she cut across him, "I wouldn't trust anyone else with it."
"Of course," Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Can we go up on Regulus' birthday?"
Harry thought for a moment. "It is a tad short notice, but I should be able to take the day from work to do so."
"Perfect, Ginny can cover me for the day too," Hermione glowed. "We'll surprise them."
"We're not telling her ahead of time?"
"I don't want to give her the chance to hide anything from us ahead of time," Hermione shook her head. "Too much has happened that we need to know about."
**
"Great Lord Anu, what shall we do with him?"
The unfortunate Unspeakable was bound tight by some means of force, unable to move, utter a word or resist in any way.
"Kill him, "the strange hiss escaped the aforementioned Anu.
He was a tall figure, at least twice as tall as a man, very thin, almost skeletal in appearance and clad in a long black cloak that covered him from head to toe.
"Wait," he raised a pale, bony hand of four digits.
The escorting being, of similar height and dress, stopped in his tracks.
"Bring him to me."
The Unspeakable was thrown roughly on the ground and pushed by the same invisible force forward. His neck was jerked up so he could look at the being in the face.
Two blacks orbs stared expressionlessly back at him.
`Tell me about this Hogwarts Plan. Was it agreed with us?"
He never opened his mouth, yet the Unspeakable saw the words clearly in his mind. He also knew he was under instruction not to reveal the details without exception.
"I can't say," he moved his jaw painfully.
Brimstone happened to be one of the chief architects with the plan, in conjunction with Kamm and Mihailov. Jones had been told some parts of it, but nothing sensitive enough so as to compromise the objective.
`I am going to give you one more chance,' he registered the same toneless expression in his mind's eye.
The moment had come.
Incendimort
He burst in violent flame, breaking the hold of the force holding him in place. The near instantaneous death meant the body fell limply to the floor, quickly turning into an unrecognizable black cadaver.
Soon it was nothing more than a pile of ash.
`Did you know about this?'
`No.'
`What is the secret?'
`They call it Magic.'
`I know that. I have tasked you to find out what Magic is and I need results. Have you any?'
`No, Great Lord Anu.'
`When can I expect results?'
`This Unspeakable was our test subject.'
`Well, you may have to procure another.'
`How do we ensure this does not happen to him, either? Magic appears to be a controllable state.'
`We need to find Harry Potter.'
`What does he have?'
`He is known as the one with the most powerful Magic. It may be wise to study him.'
`He sounds unique.'
`It is an objective of Kamm's."
"Do we leave him to it?'
`We need to, we have other priorities.'
`Very well.'
Following the rather neutral exchange, the one known as Anu resumed his seat on a seemingly uncomfortable high-backed chair, while the other being exited through a door on the opposite end of the chamber.
A/N: Yes, this story is intended to take on a degree of sci fi/fantasy...I'm curious to write it into the story...not that it already isn't fantasy, but this will be like fantasy on crack....get it?
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