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Harry Potter and the Energumen of the Elchee	By : The_Oddest_Exclamation Category: Harry Potter > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 48778 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, and I'm not making any money from this because I am not J.K. Rowling.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
So begins chapter 5.
Before anyone asks, yes this story does take place in the modern era, just not in our modern era.
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It had begun only a few days ago. The stars had begun to shine in an eerie manner, a way that Itzamatul was sure he had never seen before.
He had just taken the long and dangerous expedition to the land of the Tawantinsuyu.
It was a brutally long walk from his beloved city of Chichen Itza, to the lofty capitol of the Incan people at Cuzco, and getting up there involved far more stairs than his old bones had ever needed to see again, but the importance of his work had ailed him whenever weariness had started to feel as though it would crush his soul.
King Aapo had ordered him and the others of his order to perform an astrological survey, in accordance with a variety of omens that had been observed across their city, and in many of the neighboring city states.
And as much as it irked them all, the best place to observe the stars was in the mountain homes of the Incans.
As such, he and several other astrologers of their city had been forced to undertake a very long, and not to mention very uphill, journey to the mountains.
And while the people of the Incan Federation had greeted them as warmly as their bureaucracy loving hearts would allow, perhaps as interested in the results of his scrying as King Aapo was himself, the mountain peak where the observatory was located was still as cold a place as he had ever been.
But now it was not the frost or snow that chilled his old bones. No, it was the patterns woven in the stars themselves which had sent icy fingers to clench at his heart, through even the warmth of clothes that the natives had gifted them with.
The stars spoke of nothing but evil. They told of a coming shadow that would try to swallow the lands, and devour all that inhabited them.
But worst of all was the resemblance in their patterns, to certain stellar charts he had glimpsed on the tablets his people had taken so long ago, when they had emigrated from the now sunken continent of Mu.
“Tzacol, have we heard anything from the men of Tibet?” He asked one of the messengers that had come with them, feeling suddenly curious about the land that those across the seas that had once been called Leng before the cataclysms that had ended the Hyperborian age.
The young man grimaced at the question. “I heard whispers in the courts before we left. The Ming ambassadors spoke of ill omens that they themselves had heard from the monks living on the plateau of the great mountains.” The young messenger shrugged, making the feathers on his cape dance, while giving Itzamatul an interested look.
“Why do you ask, have you corroborated those reports?” Tzacol asked him, the bold you man ever intrusive.
Itzamatul breathed deeply of the icy air, wishing internally that he was forty years younger; he wasn’t going to last much longer at this rate. “The stars speak of nothing but darkness Tzacol, of the coming of a plague like no other.”
Tzacol’s ran a hand over his forehead in disbelief, is normally cocoa skin turning as pale like the men from across the Atlantian Ocean from the shock. “Should we sound the alarm?” He asked, his voice hushed.
He nodded in consent, waving to the younger man. “Go, return to the king as fast as your legs can carry you, and spread the word to every messenger you meet along the way.” He fingered the cocoa leaves he had brought. “And when you’re done with that, travel north and warn the Seven Cities of Cibola and tell the messengers there to alert the Mound Builders in the north.”
The young man saluted and ran down the stairs of the observatory pyramid. Another sigh from his left brought his attention to his colleague Yaotl, who was still squinting at the stars. “I wonder how far reaching this omen has already traveled.” He stroked his chin thoughtfully, and the wrinkles on his brow deepened. “Do you think the Valusians could be wrangled from their holes in K'n-yan, I would bet my left leg that they know more of this matter.” His gnarled friend gestured to the stars.
Itzamatul frowned, feeling old again at the mention of mankind’s enemies of old. “Do you really think it wise to involve the Lizard-Men in this matter Yaotl?”
His friend shrugged. “I’d almost prefer them; in the end they have more excuses for their cruelty than the Nahua.”
That was their old argument, which his colleague would never let die. “The Mexica will be warned regardless Yaotl, our treaties demand it.” He blew a cloud of air, fogged by the cold. “We should head inside though; we can discuss this in length once we are in front of a nice warm fire.”
The other man grinned at him, rubbing his cold hands together and he followed Itzamatul towards the pyramids steps. “I can certainly agree to that.”
§
Minerva was back in his office and not for the first time that day either. It was expected, this was the first day of the new term after all, but the routine still made Dumbledore wonder if he had offended a deity at some point in his long life.
“Albus I know it’s been ten years, but I still can’t help myself but worry.” The stern matron said, as she sat down on the chair and wrung her hands in worry. “I mean, what if we did the wrong thing? This could easily turn into an absolute disaster!” She waved at him in agitation.
He gave her his best calming smile, subtly gesturing to his newest batch of lemon cakes. The fruits having been a gift from one of the faraway kingdoms across the seas “And I’ll say it again Minerva. Every report I’ve gotten from Hagrid over the years has been nothing but exemplary.”
She frowned at him. “That’s exactly what I’m worried about!” One of his office’s many knickknacks chose that moment to start whistling quietly. “I know we all trust him, but was he really the best to handle this? Remus, or Arthur would have been happy to help check up on the twins, even Lucius offered.” She said in an exasperated tone.
“So did Sirius, if I recall…” He countered casually, letting the sentence trail off.
Minerva growled. “And I respectfully pointed out that he would make a terrible father figure, and so did Lily for that matter, he has far too little responsibility for such a task.”
There was a knocking at his offices door. “Come in!” She shouted instinctively.
A blonde lad, in a long red and green tunic of an on-duty castle servant, walked in carrying a tray of tea. “Ah, thank you Herman, right on time as always.” Albus smiled at the lad’s good timing.
The young man smirked back him knowingly, and nodded politely to a scowling Minerva as he set down the tray. “Of course my Lord, will you be in need of anything else?”
Minerva gave him an annoyed look, and Dumbledore figured he would skip the biscuits today. “That will be all for now Herman, thank you.” He gave the lad a wink.
The cherry blonde nodded again, the boy and swiftly made his exit.
McGonagall grabbed her cup, clearly annoyed at being interrupted. “Must you order tea every time I come to speak to you about something?” She questioned him.
“Why not Minerva, you always seem to have a cup.” He gave her a small smile and she rolled her eyes.
“I’m still worried Albus.” She started back down that well-trodden road.
So he cut her off. “As you have noted many, many times, but let’s talk about something more relevant. How does our next crop of students look?” He asked, using a burst of magic to subtly swipe a lemon cake from his tray.
She sipped her tea before replying. “From what I have seen and heard, there are a good number of rather promising individuals this year.”
“So… if you’ve been checking then why haven’t you assuaged your own conscious and checked on the twins? Hargid brought them to the Gateway Island late yesterday…” He asked her.
She swore into her tea, and gave him a rather severe glare. “And I wasn’t informed of this why?” She set her cup down, waiving her hands in emphasis. “For the love of… I was there just a few hours ago Albus!”
He just shrugged in response, sipping his own mint tea. “News travels fast; I would have thought that you knew already.” He said, and they both ignored a series of thunderous roars echo from the balcony as a pair of dragons flew past his tower. He pinged the wards, identifying the culprits as the oldest set of Weasley twins. He would have to chastise them later.
She ground her teeth at him, her magic crackling. “I’ve spent the past week hopping across the Mediterranean.”
“Speaking of which, how was the voyage from Biscay?” He asked, noting the way some of the knickknacks on his shelves had started to vibrate, and trying to rein in her temper before something exploded.
Minerva harrumphed at him. “Aside from one of the girls nearly setting the ship on fire, it was entirely uneventful.”
“And the French know nothing?” He asked, always wary of the nation that had been fierce enemies of his own for more than nine centuries.
“I hardly think they care right now Albus, they’ve been too busy trying to secure an alliance with Kiev to be monitoring the sea.” The tablet on his desk let out a series of clicking sounds.
He flipped it open, and carefully read the message that wrote itself in the wax. “It appears that we are needed in the Great Hall.”
“Peeves?”
He sighed, and stood from the welcoming comfort of his chair. “Apparently he’s harassing the cooks, and he set Lucius’s hair ablaze yet again…”
Minerva snorted, as she made to follow him out of the office. “Maybe if he had paid more attention to his classes than he did to his hair when he was a student, he wouldn’t find himself in these positions so often.”
§
Hermione fell to her knees as her world swam.
The very sight was like a spike being driven into her head. Everything about what she saw had to be a lie, and she needed it to be a lie, because there was absolutely no way that what she could be seeing could be real.
Past the hill she was kneeling on, past the miles of fenced roads and checkerboard fields, was a wall.
Actually it was six walls, each taller than the last, and large enough to be covered in windows and flowered trellises. Topped with gardens and buildings in every style she had ever seen.
And in the center of it all was a citadel unlike anything she had ever imagined possible. It towered towards the sky, reaching up to brush at the clouds.
“How…” She heard herself ask, sounding like she was speaking into a tunnel, and she noticed she was waving her arms at it without any conscious thought.
Tonks’s voice was the one to reply, coming from somewhere unseen. “How…?” The older girl echoed, her voice tinged by no small amount of amusement.
Rage burst back into her weary mind, “How is that even practical?” She found herself back on her feet, furiously jabbing her finger in the teens general direction, while hers still vision swam. “That citadel must be almost a mile tall!” She waved at the abomination of wood and stone. “Forget practical, how is that even possible.”
“Magic!” The older girl grinned. “And the exact height varies depending on the castles mood.”
Melody’s dazed voice piped in from somewhere behind them. “That still doesn’t explain anything!”
“Why would you even need a building this-” Her sentence was cutoff midway, as the architecture in the distance seemed to blend together, the arrangement of the buildings and their features swirling and her legs gave out due to the sudden vertigo.
Strong arms pulled her up from the ground, and her head lolled back into a pair of generous breasts. “Well Hogwarts was built to be the center of Avalon, the heart of the wizarding civilization for the Anglo-Saxons, Picts, Celts, and the Nords. “The other girl’s hands slid, sensually under her armpits and down her waist, and Hermione shivered as her fingers toying with her clothed bellybutton. “Besides, it needs to be big; nearly twenty thousand people live here from all across the world. There are the students, retainers and servants, on top of the staff and their affiliates. So it’s a very big place, and it’s all very complicated.”
She pulled Hermione to her feet, and disengaged her arms. “That’s why you guys have me and Penny to help you out.” The moist feeling came back, brushing somewhere inside her chest, as the purple-haired girl grinned down at her affectionately. “If you ever need something, we’re the two people you can always ask.”
Then the teen yawned, and pulled her towards the stone stairway which lead down from the hill they were on. And out across the fields and towards the castle. “And speaking of people, we need to get off this hill. The next group of students will be here any minute, and it’s a long walk to the castle.” The bubbly teen gave Hermione a teasing smile and waved for her to follow.
“If you’re having balance issues, try not staring directly at the castle.” Penny shouted from the back of the group, as started down the stairway.
As it turned out, the walk to the castle took a lot less time than she had thought it would. It even managed to be relatively pleasant, provided she kept her eyes on the immediate surroundings. She couldn’t seem to shake the vertigo that seemed to hit her every time she tried to look at the ever-shifting façade of the castle proper.
Though she was spared the humiliation of being the only one affected. A nearby scraggly redhead in a cheap tunic spent an inordinate amount of time leaning on a nearby black-haired boy, in identical dress, and vomiting into the roads cobblestone.
Though once the redhead had emptied her stomach and she got used to not looking up, she seemed to get into their pleasant walk as well.
The sun was warm, but not hot. The breeze was cool and gentle, blowing the tall wheat into shimmering golden waves, which they could see rippling every time they crested a hill on the rolling landscape.
Even the people they met on the way were no more annoying than those a person might meet alongside any road in Byzantium.
Most of them were young, dressed in robes or tunics of several different colors and styles, and they seemed to be finishing whatever idle tasks they had been doing before they had arrived. A handful of the youngest ones were dressed as Melody was, in simple red tabards. They seemed to be aiding what she assumed were other students by their more ornate robes, who seemed to be busy overseeing the cleanup of the fields.
A few of the people they passed even waved but most seemed distracted with their tasks. It made an odd sight, but it was one she was relatively comfortable with. She could easily pretend they were on a road in some weird part of Greece.
Which she found was something that was increasingly hard to do. Every few minutes something fantastic happened, like a griffon would swoop from the sky or a sliver of light would dart at someone across the fields.
And of course she couldn’t look up in the direction they were walking.
So she simply decided to look at the other “students” in her group instead. Keeping her vision from Tonk’s swaying butt. The teen walked almost right in front of her, and though she was acting professionally, she was clearly still teasing her. Hermione hadn’t forgotten how she had pulled her up. The way the older girl’s hands had casually roamed across the front of her robe, groping the entire way.
The thought made her shiver in a manner she wasn’t entirely sure she was comfortable with. So she turned her gaze, but found that focusing on the other children wasn’t all that much better. While she watched, the previously vomiting red-head whistled and tannish thin shape bolted darted from the wheat. It had nearly put her back into shock when the shape slid to a stop, revealing it to be a dragon of some sort. A sleek but wingless creature with a runners build, it eyed the collective children warily and gave the redhead a musical hoot.
Hermione decided to zone the rest of the walk out, merely reviewing what she already knew in her head, and dragging Melody behind her with little prompts across their newly formed connection.
Just another thing she planned to add to the growing list of things she had decided on ignoring for as long as was humanly possible.
Then before she realized what had happened, she walked face first into Tonk’s rather large backside, and they were at the base of the outer wall.
The older teen smirked down at her, before casting her gaze across the other children. “Listen up you little shits!” She jibed them in a playful tone. “We have just five hours to get you all ready for the welcoming feast!”
“Which means acquiring the goods you will need for you tenure here as students here in a timely manner.” Penny said, in a more professional tenor.” She drew a slender wand from her robe and tapped a simple pattern on the wall and the stones slid out of the way in an instant, receding until a smallish doorway had been revealed.
“There are many ways past the sixth tier wall. This is one we will be reviewing later tonight.” She waved her arm, her robe billowing towards the doorway, and they streamed inside.
Or not, as it turned out. For as soon as she was past the doorway she realized that they had not been let inside, but somehow been transported to the top of the wall.
Her vertigo returned immediately. But closer up it was not nearly as pronounced, as things seemed to stay in order when they were up-close. The top of the outer wall was far wider than she thought practical, and was covered in lavish gardens and fountains. Children and teens, in various states of dress, or undress, went wandering everywhere. Some lolling around beneath the trees, or smoking from hookahs in small groups. But most of them seemed to have been infected by the same hectic verve that had been present in the fields, and they dashed back and forth preforming a variety of barely guessable tasks.
The warm summer breeze swept past them, as Tonks and Penny lead them across the gardens, and Hermione had a surprising moment when she realized that she had actually become quite comfortable.
It was an unexpected feeling. One that had been prompted by an odd sensation of what she could almost describe as safety, but not quite. Belonging maybe?
She didn’t know.
So Hermione did what she always did when she didn’t know something. She brushed her frizzy hair out of her eyes, and sought answers.
She decided to ask one of the students around her. A pair of redheads in idle conversation nearby looked promising.
“Excuse me,” she whispered, the unfamiliar words that Tully instructed, to the boy, “would either of you know where we are going?” She gestured to the pair of teens leading their group across the garden topped wall.
They both scowled, looking annoyed. “To a shop…” the tall girl hissed, “to buy things.” She spun a cheap looking spear in a threatening manner, and shot a dirty look at Hermione and her sister.
So Hermione broke off the attempted conversation with an arrogant snort, pulling Melody behind her in the same motion. She wasn’t all that good at dealing with people, but even she knew better than to antagonize a person with a weapon. That didn’t mean she was going to let the other girl think she had won though.
She spun on her heel, turning to a round faced boy who seemed to be looking curiously at something nearby. “Excuse me,” she said loud enough for the pair behind her to hear clearly, “you wouldn’t happen to know what it is specifically we are going to buy would you, or how we will need to pay for said specifics?”
The slightly pudgy boy blushed, glancing past her shoulder to the pair who were obviously glaring at him. “W-well,” he stammered, “I know we’ll be buying clothes and staffs and other stuff.” He shrugged. “I don’t think we have to pay for it right now though.”
He gave her a tentatively inquisitive look as they continued to follow the other children past a wooden pavilion. “You are not from around here are you?” He stated obviously. “Would you be a Greek perhaps?”
She felt her lips quirk up, at both his question and the attention to detail that it implied. “We were born in Constantinople,” She gestured grandly to herself and Melody, “the capitol of the Byzantine Empire.” She said proudly.
“I’m Melody!” Her sister shouted, popping into the conversation. “And that’s my big sis Hermione!”
Hermione felt her eyes roll at the interruption, more in amusement this time that anything else.
The boy nodded back shyly. “I’m-”
“Hey Neville!” The redheads from before cut in. “Weren’t you supposed to be looking for Trevor?” The boy said in an annoyed fashion.
He smiled shyly, reaching into his robe to pull out a large and oddly colored frog. “I found him earlier Ron.” The amphibian croaked in annoyance, struggling to escape its master’s grasp. “I had to wander around a bit, but I found someone who knew the summoning spell.” He finished happily.
She turned to see the redheads blinking in shock at Neville’s sudden cheerfulness. “If you two think you’re so important as to butt into our conversation, why don’t you demonstrate some of your magic?” She challenged the redheads. “Show us why you think you’re so eminent, because it can’t be your wealth.” She nosed at their rather cheap looking clothes, feeling her lips quirk in amusement as they both sputtered in indignation.
“You don’t look so wealthy yourself.” The other girl growled back at her. “Just because you-”
“Everyone please keep moving.” Penny interrupted them from the front of their group, as they reached a bridge crossing the cavernous ravine between the wall they were on and the taller next one.
The redheaded boy gave her a defiant look. “Tell her we are great at magic Neville!” He ordered petulantly.
The brown-haired boy’s eyes shot between them nervously, unsure of whom to side with. “Ron, I don’t think we should have this argument, we’re all friends here.” He stammered out, looking embarrassed and clearly trying to diffuse the situation.
But Hermione wasn’t ready to leave it at that, still annoyed at how rude they had been before. “Clearly they need to prove themselves Neville. I mean what if they can’t find it in themselves to perform when the time comes.” She let the words slip out teasingly, while trying to walk farther from the edge of the bridge and ignore her sister clutching at her.
The other girl hissed. “You think you’re so much better than us, don’t you Greek?” She spat back, shifting her spear into what Hermione assumed was supposed to be a threatening gesture.
So she shrugged and decided to redirect, ignoring Melody’s incessant tugging of her robe. “Not him,” she jabbed her finger at Neville, who blushed furiously, “he has manners. You two on the other hand…” She let the sentence trail off, as their group entered what appeared to be a shopping district.
“Alright everyone, first stop is getting you all new outfits!” Tonks shouted. “With someone else’s money!” Hermione caught Penny rolling her eyes and muttering something unintelligible, as she pushed them towards a large building with a variety of colorful clothes painted above the door.
The shop was a large and spacious mess, a huge array of fabrics and materials were scattered all around, dozens of students with tall pointy yellow hats running to and fro grabbing cloth, dye, needles and various other things.
“Jerome!” Penny said sternly, catching the arm of a wiry boy as he ran past them. “This lot needs proper clothes, and you and your lot are going to provide for them, right?” She threatened the slightly younger boy sternly.
The twiggy redhead, for his part just nodded. Clearly used to being strong-armed by people in a hurry. “Alright, first step is to get all of these rags off.” He snapped his fingers at their group.
“No not you Tonks!” His voice cracked, snapping Hermione and several other students out of their initial shock. The shapeshifting teen had already doffed her robes, revealing a body most fully grown women would have murdered their children for trying to burst from her straining bodice.
The oldest teen sighed in disappointment, as a gaggle of other students in their tall yellow hats pulled them all apart and started stripping them.
“Stop struggling.” The willowy black haired girl who had grabbed Hermione said sternly.
Hermione felt like she didn’t need patronizing, and was about to tell the girl that, when her clothes simply vanished. Leaving her naked as the day she had been born. “What… why in God’s name?” She squeaked out in confusion, trying desperately to cover her modesty from peering eyes while the sleepy looking teen simply shrugged at her and started taking her measurements. She heard Melody’s distinctive squeak, and vaguely recalled Tonks saying something about needing to get them real clothes.
If she had known that they would disappear, she would have forced the teen to fix their situation earlier.
Speaking of the temptress, who had decided to focus her skills on her, Tonks was swaggering around the room. Still without her robe, and she had begun making suggestive comments at everything with a body.
When it was her turn for teasing Hermione was already flushed with embarrassment and humiliation. “Tonks, what in God’s name have you done!” She hissed at the teen, who just grinned back at her nude body lecherously.
“Not my fault,” she said unconvincingly, “and they were just going to strip you anyway.” The teen trailed off.
“Come on now Hermione, why would you want to hide such a pretty body. If you just acted as cute as you look, you’d be fighting the lads off with a stick.” She ruffled her fingers thought Hermione’s frizzy hair affectionately.
The mention of the boys brought fresh panic into her mind, and she found herself sneaking panicked glances around the room. Most of the boys were gawking, but not necessarily at her. Neville had been peeking at her, but at least had the decency to look embarrassed about it. Unlike Ron, who was gawking around the room with his mouth open and his freshly exposed banner raised high, at least until his sister untangled herself from her tailor long enough to club him for it.
Tonks, seeming realizing that she wasn’t actually enjoying being naked in front of a bunch of people, seemed to take pity on her. The older teen knelt down in front of her, shielding her from prying eyes. “Ok tailor, hurry this up could you?” She bugged the black haired teen, a small smile still on her lips.
“This isn’t a short process Esquire Tonks.” The girl answered in a clearly irritated tone, rubbing her bloodshot eyes. “I’m thinking maroon and blue for this one.” The girl said to a rather round woman who had been observing the work the tailors were doing.
The rather stumpy woman’s face bloomed. “I think that is a fine choice Daisy!” She exclaimed, clearly pleased by the girls choice. “How does that sound to you child?” The kindly looking woman asked Hermione.
“I think it would be fine…” Hermione trailed off, not sure what was expected of her in this circumstance.
“Very good, make it so!” The woman snapped her fingers, and she stormed over to where the redheads from earlier stood frowning. “And for the love of Freyr Tonks, stop trying to rob the cradle and do your job!” The old witch cackled, and miraculously the teen had it in her to blush at the comment.
Then there was a flash of color, of a deep red on black, and Hermione was presented with a simple black hooded cloak with a maroon pattern.
“This should tide you over for now. The rest of your clothes will be delivered later tomorrow or the day after.” Daisy said tiredly as she slid the cloak around Hermione’s shoulders, securing the metal clasp it loosely around her neck. “Depending on how much drinking we do tonight.”
Hermione fingered her clasp, and suddenly she felt her mouth go completely dry. “Is this clasp gold?” She choked out to the tailor, who just nodded tiredly.
“We have nice things here.” She said, and Hermione realized she had let the cloak fall apart.
Tonks just chuckled, while she clutched the surprisingly well made robe closed tightly to cover her nakedness. “If it makes you feel any better, everyone else will be in pretty much the same outfit as you. Except your little servant of course, but she is special.” The teen teased, her hair turning a bright pink.
She spun at the mention of her sister, instantly feeling worried, but it was unwarranted. Melody was standing only a few feet behind her, her tailor evidently finished. She was dressed in a red belted tabard identical to the one she had been wearing before, looking as frazzled as Hermione felt.
“Not a lot of creativity there.” She growled, reaching out to protectively pull the smaller girl closer.
Tonks stood back to her full height, more than a head and half taller that Hermione. “It’s actually a uniform.” She waved her hand in an unconcerned gesture. “Mostly so people know not to try and bond her without your permission.”
Penny started shouting something over a commotion of several tailors in the background, but the other teen continued undaunted. “There are actually quite a large number of retainers and the like here at Hogwarts, and each type gets their own way of identifying them. I guess it just makes the whole mess a whole lot less complicated for everyone involved, when you know where people stand.” She shrugged, her hideously yellow robes flapping in a nonexistent wind.
Hermione found herself nodding hesitantly at the pink-haired teen’s logic. It actually sort of made sense, a first so far for this particular experience. “So people could bond her?” She questioned.
Tonks nodded. “They could try, but it would be substantially harder than normal because your bond would block them. It’s also deeply frowned upon to court a retainer without getting their master’s permission first.” She grinned again. “Which would be you, in case you’ve forgotten already…” The teen twirled her staff in the air, clearly showing off.
“Don’t even remind me.” Hermione groaned, as the least pleasant development in their glorious war of sisterhood reared its ugly head again. “Does my sister need anything else Tonks?” She asked the older teen cautiously.
“That’s Esquire Tonks to you little Initiate.” The shapeshifter teased, giving her a sly smile while she thought to herself. “I suppose we could always get her a collar.” She seemed to make up her mind in an instant, clapping her hands in a pleased manner. “One with your initials on it perhaps?”
“Jesus Christ, what have I ever done wrong lord…” Melody pleaded, massaging her neck. “Can we please skip that part of my punishment?” She begged Hermione.
“Maybe you were evil in a past life?” A brown girl of clearly Indian stock cut in, dragging her almost identical sister and another girl who was slightly paler over to them. “Bad Karma can cause all sorts of trouble.”
“And Romans have lots of bad Karma.” The paler Indian said wryly.
Melody growled, while Tonks’s hideous robes disappeared into the shelving. “We are BYZANTINES, NOT ROMANS!” She waved her hands and started swearing in Greek, and a minty scent washed across Hermione’s senses. “Is it really that hard to grasp the difference?” The tiny brunette stomped her feet cutely.
The Indians seemed to find the display adorable. Which she doubted was what her sister had been going for. “Oh, aren’t you a lively one.” The shorted twin said with her eyes wide with glee.
“Absolutely adorable!” The paler girl agreed.
“You are both too easily gullible.” The taller twin said. “Anyways my good Christians, I am Padma Patil, this is my twin Parvati Patil, and the Sikh is our mutual friend Nimmi Jun. And as you can probably guess, we are exchange students from India.” The exotic girl gestured to each of them in turn.
Hermione nodded. “You are well met Padma, She quickly introduced herself and her sister, after Melody had calmed down.
“So how did you three end up here?” She asked them curiously.
Padma gestured for them to walk while Penny, finally noticing that they were all properly dressed, started shouting for everyone to move out. “We are exchange students, because as part of the mutual treaties between out empires a portion of students that would go to our school in India must go to Hogwarts and the schools of the other allied nations, and in turn a portion of the students that would go here are divided up amongst those other nations as well.” She shrugged, adjusting her robe. “It was Dumbledore’s idea apparently; he wanted to foster a feeling of cooperation and good faith between the various empires.” The girl splurged information, and Hermione was instantly hooked by the idea of a kindred spirit. “I think it holds much to resemblance to the hostage taking between warring kingdoms forced into unwanted peace.” The girl finished.
“You are literally the first person I have talked to in three days that wasn’t a babbling idiot.” She said. “And to answer your unasked question, we were essentially kidnapped from our nation.”
Padma nodded in understanding. “I had assumed as much, I know the Orthodox tend to be less stringent that the other branches of Abrahams tree, but I doubted they would allow people of their nation to join in such an endeavor as this willingly.”
“Could you say that again in simpler terms for the rest of us?” Parvati asked, Nimmi and Melody nodding in turn.
She shared a look of mutual suffering with the Indian girl and they both proceeded to try their hand at explaining things to their siblings.
§
Violet was still acting up when they arrived at the place beyond the strange twisted trees. To be fair, Draco and his group were not in the best moods either. The encounter with the Weasley’s had obviously left a bad taste in his new compatriot’s mouths. One Harry wasn’t all that interested in making them explain, at least not while he was the only one still in a good mood.
Well that might have been something of a stretch.
He wasn’t in a great mood, but unlike everyone else he was more distracted by the ritual Penny had made the pair of brunettes preform.
It had made the feeling he was getting from the pair change dramatically. Like the younger of the two had begun siphoning magic from her elder. And the older sister had seemed to have plenty of magic to spare, not that he had gotten that great of a feeling of her core, as he hadn’t actually wanted her to realize that he had been testing her.
She hadn’t noticed his probe, or at least hadn’t seemed to have noticed it. Seemingly too distracted by her bonding to pay attention to the tendrils of magic he had brushed against the outer layers of her core.
Then there was the fact that they had all been forced to bond to the crazy teen, with her color changing hair, not even a minute later. It had been even very distracting in his opinion, and the feeling of wetness that wouldn’t fade was a irritating, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle.
The fact that she could apparently change to imitate another person was infinitely more disturbing in his opinion.
It suddenly made the warnings Hagrid and the others had given him feel much more relevant.
This was made harder by the fact that the his usually cheerful sister had still been sulking. Ignoring everything he did to try and feel her out. It was made worse because he wasn’t sure exactly why she was still so mad. Whether her mood was leftover from his encounter with Dior the night before, or her own prematurely aborted battle with the redheads he couldn’t tell.
And their bond told him nothing more than that she was annoyed at something. Harry figured he could have tried to pulling her out of her funk in his usual way, but he wasn’t quite sure how everyone else would take it if she jumped him on the roadside.
Fortunately her annoyance was replaced rather quickly. Unfortunately it was being replaced with a sickness that came with a foul mood. As soon as they had passed through the bubbling air between the trees, he could feel her queasiness swelling up through their bond.
He was bad at magical travel, that much had already been made apparent, but his sister seemed so much worse it was almost sad.
His twin rubbed her face, trying to clear the bout of nausea while they were walking up the path to the top of the hill. The friction turned her cheeks and nose red enough to hide her freckles, and he thought it was adorable.
He felt his core stirring as his the corners of his mouth twinge upward, the familiar heat coming back when he didn’t really want it to.
He had always loved how flushed Violet would get, her entire body could turn a brilliant red at a moment’s notice and she would quickly turn into a stammering mess.
But when they crested the hill, she went from red to green in a flash. Harry only needed to follow her gaze to find out why.
There in the distance was a massive castle, a fortress of such scale that it must have defied both gravity and the very will of the gods.
It stood, shifting shape while he watched, and he started when he heard a short gasp from next to him. He spun to see that Violet had fainted, falling unconscious into Dior’s arms, and the blonde groped for a better grip.
Draco and the rest of his company seemed to be less impressed. Which meant that they didn’t have their jaws slacked at the sight of the castle. They still stood wide eyed, except for Dior, who was busy trying to wake his sister, and Pansy who was complaining to Draco about something.
“If you’re having balance issues, try not staring directly at the castle.” Penny shouted from the front, as the shapeshifter gestured for them to follow her from the hilltop.
Violet awoke with a start, flinging herself out of the blonde’s hands in an unbalanced manner. “Bloody….” She cursed, swaying long enough for Harry to wrap her arm around her shoulder to help her stand.
He helped her as they descended into the fields of tall wheat, and began walking as swiftly as could be managed towards the tremendous castle.
Though he did have to stop twice, while Violet puked her guts, then run-half drag her so they could catch up to the rest of their group.
But eventually she seemed to recover enough to whistle for her dragon, which leapt from the wheat over the stone wall which separated the field from the road they were walking down.
Harry hadn’t noticed George follow them through the bubbling trees, but he supposed the drake was simply stealthier than he thought.
He wrapped his arm behind her crimson tangles while the walked. “Are you feeling better?” He asked unnecessarily, as he could sense her physical improvement across their bond, and through the way she shifted closer to him.
She shot a mildly annoyed glance at the redheads, still clearly unhappy as she pulled him closer. “I’m feeling fine…” She sighed and fingered her swords grip.
“I’m sure there will be plenty of time to finish that fight later.” He patted her forwards as their group reached the wall.
Harry didn’t hear what was said, distracted for an instant by George rushing past his legs, and they were too far back in the group to see how the doorway had been created on the wall. The he found Penny suddenly behind him, pushing his and Draco’s little band which had been falling behind, hurriedly forwards.
Then they were suddenly amongst gardens that hurriedly flashed him by as they rushed across it to a bridge and onto the second wall. The second wall has topped by a market that was huge, but open and well-spaced to leave everything easily visible.
Then they were dragged into what he assumed was a tailor shop of some sort, by the hundreds of rolls of fabric lying around and the dozens of people that grabbed them and some form of magic stripped them so the tailors could take measurements.
Everyone had been unhappy when their clothes and possessions had vanished. Harry felt he handled it the best, maybe because he was used to going as such when they were alone back home.
Dior and Draco had been less pleased. “What! Where did our stuff go?” The blonde had squeaked out in surprise, covering his manhood in shock.
“My sword!” His twin’s face flashed in rage, completely indifferent to the state of her clothes, as she started struggling against the yellow hatted tailors.
“Alright, everyone calm down!” Penny’s voice cracked sternly over the roar. “Your possessions should be in our quarters when we arrive.” She waved her wand, sparks flashing brilliantly near some rolls of cloth. At which point no less than three different tailors tackled her.
They struggled for a moment, and he could feel his party’s mood lifting in amusement as the girl shouted. “Tonks help, I’m down!”
“Girls look at the size of ears on this one…” One of the younger tailors cooed. She gripped Ron’s ears, making him yelp, and distracting him from suddenly from his gawking.
His own tailor’s hands wandered down his abdomen. “I think I’ve got the best catch here Sam.” The girl chuckled, her measuring tape closer to his manhood than he would have liked.
Violet huffed. “Finish up or pay up.” His twin grouched down at the twiggy blonde measuring the width of the gap between her thighs.
There was an annoyed hiss, like an aggravated cat. “Just hurry up will you?” Dior griped out in impatience, trying to cover her important bits.
His sister’s tailor snorted at her while Dior’s chuckled. “Hardly much to show lass, nothing but skin and bones…” The teen trailed off as she measured Violets nose, then she shouted at another teen for emerald cloth.
Violet and Dior both huffed, their skin flushing pleasingly.
“Alright, now on to the rest if this shit.” A frazzled looking Penny reappeared nearby, as his tailor clasped a simple black cloak around Harry’s shoulders.
They were an odd bunch that was shepherded out from the tailor shop, thirty some eleven-year olds, clutching shapeless black tunics tight as they were marched down the road.
And the fact that the wall was broad enough to have a road running along it was not lost in him.
The next shop they were dragged to turned out to be a large and dingy shop, filled with shelves and shelves of unidentifiable objects. “Alright come out Ollivander, we need a bunch of practice focuses.” Tonks shouted into the seemingly endless shelves.
“Not for anything nefarious I would hope Esquire?” A voice came from between where they were standing and the door.
The teen’s pink hair turned white as she spun around. “Of course not Ollivander.” She growled disapprovingly as Harry turned to see a gaunt man with huge luminous eyes. “Have I ever lied to you?” She asked.
He didn’t even blink as he responded. “Yes.”
“Oh come on, it was just the one time.” The teen flushed. “And it’s not like anyone got hurt.”
“Three thousand pounds of silver in lost merchandise Tonks.” He replied flatly, his milky gaze passing over them all with a discerning look.
“And I said I was sorry…” The teen grumbled out, hair turning purple.
He ignored her complaining, luminous eyes searching each in their group, and Harry felt they were fixed on him a moment longer than the rest. “Nevertheless, I have sworn to aid you in your duty and so I will.” He waved at them. “Everyone please line up single file. No not you Tonks, you go sit outside where my stock will be safe from your clumsiness…”
The strange thin man seemed to have some authority, as the bubbly teen merely groaned and complied.
“Now then, who shall we start with?” Ollivander asked himself as Tonks went outside to pout. “How about you?” He gestured to a round faced boy nearby, who squeaked in protest.
Then a wall of magic slammed into Harry, as the tall man circled the boy once. The gaunt old mage was ancient; Harry could taste it on his tongue, ancient and powerful.
“Waxwood, with scale from an Amazonian Naga.” He flicked his hand and a three foot pole shot from the shelves. “Your staff…” He handed the brown haired boy the length of wood. “This staff is to be your first focus…I expect that you take better care of it than your Esquire showed her first.”
“I still have my first…” Penny said idly, pushing one of the girls back in line. “Not my fault Tonks is such a klutz.”
And so an hour went by. Ollivander would randomly select a student, blast them with enough magic to knock over a horse, and then summon their chosen staff from the gloomy depths of his shop. It was an almost silent experience, and Harry found both the silence and the routine blasts of magic unnerving.
Even his twin had been cowed into submission by the time her turn came, the wandmaker’s magic being simply too powerful for Violet to even think about voicing complaint. Even their bond was silent as the gaunt man chose an Ironwood and Warg tooth staff for her. Presenting the serpentine rod to her with the tenderness one would use to give a newborn baby to its mother.
Dior, Goyle, Crabbe, and Pansy’s turns went by quickly. Only Draco had the audacity to try and complain about his staff having a flake from a unicorn’s horn as a core.
Despite Harry’s expectation, Ollivander did not melt the boy into goo with merely a mean look, but simply chuckled at his whininess. “One cannot judge something by its components newest Malfoy… but by the quality of its performance.” He answered cryptically, sweeping over to his next victim, a dark skinned girl, without another word.
Finally, Harry was the only one left. He had the distinct feeling that his exclusion hadn’t been an accident either. While the moon eyed man stalked over to him he noticed Penny stiffen in the corner of his eye.
Then magic blasted across him, it felt like he had dove from one of the islands cliffs and slammed into the water. It didn’t hurt, but there was the sense that it could crush him like a bug if desired.
And like the light from a candle being blown out, it suddenly vanished. “Isn’t that… most curious.” He gave Harry an odd look, one that said that knew much more than he was going to tell.
The man frowned as he straightened and he glanced at Penny, sharing a look who’s meaning Harry couldn’t discern. “Elderwood for you Lord Potter…Elderwood and Well-Man skin.”
The staff shot like an arrow from the shelves. “Luck is not with you this day.” He said as he handed the staff to Harry, who felt a powerful tingle shoot up his arms the moment his hands made contact with the wood. “For this focus is cursed.” The man’s face was serous, and he felt a bead of sweat drip down his back. “Know that this staff will betray you when you need it most Harry.” He warned with a nod to Penny, who immediately set about her task of getting everyone out of the shop.
“Thank Mr. Ollivander and then everyone out! We have a feast to get to!” She shouted, her professional tone sounding strained.
The mysterious and powerful man nodded down at him, placing a hand on Harry’s shoulder for a moment. “If you are ever having problems with it, I want you to come to me immediately.” He said, and then he turned, and with a billow of his robes he disappeared into the shelves.
Fresh annoyance flickered across his bond, and he turned to see his twin scowling as they walked from the shop and back into the street. “Of course we get screwed.” She grumbled.
Harry looked around, but Draco and his party seemed to have been lost in the crowd. “Only my staff is cursed Violet.”
“Yeah but they stole our weapons!” She whispered loudly, her cloak falling open carelessly.
“I think that someone mentioned us getting them bac-”
Penny cut him off as their group stopped under a tree. “Ok, now we go to the great hall!” She shouted over the murmuring.
Tonks stood tall, waving her arms around to get everyone’s attention. “I want everyone hold hands, and whatever you do… don’t let go until I tell you to!” She grinned at them wickedly.
So Harry reached out, clasping the hand of one of several dark skinned girls nearby. He couldn’t tell if the girl blushed or not, but his twin did subtly kick his shin as he grabbed her hand.
As soon as everyone had linked up, the teens hair flashed through several different colors. “Remember, it is important that you don’t let go until I give you permission. I don’t want to be jumping across half the castle trying to track you down while there is beer to be drunk.” She said sarcastically, and Penny groaned in exasperation.
“Why do I get the feeling that I’m going to be tracking them down if we lose any?” She asked the other teen in an annoyed tone.
“Regardless, It is time to go!” She shouted excitedly, as she clasped hands with the group and grinned again.
Then the world was ripped out from under him and they were blurring through space.
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Ok, so chapter five is finished, which means I can finally move on to the feast and beyond.
As you might have noticed, I slightly upped the size and eldritchness of Hogwarts. That will be explained in the future.
And for those of you who are worried about Ron being a total prat in this story, I assure you that he is just in an understandably bad mood.
Also, bonus points to anyone who knows who the Valusians are without needing to Google it first.
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Harry Potter and the Energumen of the Elchee