Not so much of a monster

by Burakkumi

Summary:

Elaine woke up one day in a different world with special powers. Naturally she grew very confident in her abilities. So when she is handed a letter from Hogwarts she almost feels her brain break at how unexpected it was.

She's never read or watched Harry Potter after all.

Spoilers for the Lord of the Mysteries Webnovel.

Notes:

This is my first time writing in this style.

Chapter 1: Letter

It wasn't a strange occurrence, it happens every now and then.

 

Minerva McGonagall looked around at the old and dilapidated buildings, she wondered what could have caused the scorch marks on the walls and just the pure destruction in general.

 

Obviously abandoned buildings, one of the destroyed ones was scorched black as if a fire raged for days on end, consuming everything while no one tried to stop it.

 

It wasn't magical, Minerva decided. Given the location of this stretch of buildings was located in muggle London and there was actual police tape strewn about it suggests this likely hadn't happened due to any wizard.

 

Still, she could be wrong since she's not an auror. Investigating crimes scenes wasn't the reason she came out here anyway. She looked down at the piece of mail in her hand.

 

To: Elaine Auceptin

 

13 Harrison Avenue, basement under the burnt building.

 

‘I can see why I was given this task.’ The owl sent to deliver this letter could not find a way to the child. Worry spiked through Minerva's heart at the idea that the child was trapped under the building.

 

What could have happened here? She doesn't know, but standing around won't do her any good.

 

Minerva walked into the building and looked around. There were no obvious ways to get to the basement which is exactly as she suspected. A flick of her want turned the broken walls and collapsed floors into something more hospitable.

 

Rubble turned into pillars to keep the roof from caving in. Out of the corner of her eye, Minerva saw a doorway.

 

‘This building seems to have been abandoned by the law enforcement.’ It's strange really. Did they not investigate for anyone still alive?

 

She glanced into the few rooms that have been opened up to her and luckily didn't find any corpses.

 

‘Was this building abandoned before it burned down?’ Likely it was four stories tall, now only the bottom layer exists while having everything else way down on what remains. Taking away the mountain of material in some of those rooms would result in the rest of the building collapsing.

 

Trusting the Hogwart's letter, Minerva continued looking for a staircase to take her down further.

 

As she walked by more rooms, it became clear that either the bodies were taken and the building was simply left to rot, or no one actually died when the building was destroyed. But to leave a child behind… 

 

‘Maybe she came in after?’ That theory makes the most sense to her. Except that leaves the question of how this child managed to get to where she was and the owl couldn't.

 

Sighing at the mystery, Minerva decided to just ask the child when she found her.

 

After only a couple more minutes of careful transfiguration, a staircase finally let itself be found. As expected, the stairs leading up are covered in debris, but the ones leading down had some semblance of a path remaining.

 

‘It's small enough for a small adult to fit through.’ Minerva herself would not be able to walk down that way given her height, and crawling was out of the question for someone her age.

 

There's also the limitation of her surroundings that would be dangerous for the small child if she thoughtlessly transfigured everything around her.

 

Luckily for her, she had a better solution. With a slight step forward, her frame fell into something smaller. Gone was the witch in robes, now all that stands in the half destroyed stairwell was a cat.

 

Jumping into the hole, the cat made her way farther. Thanks to her night vision, she was able to avoid the small piece of glass on one of the walls. Her steps paused when she saw something dark red on one of it's edges. Given how old it might have been, it's already dried into a slight brown color.

 

Worry crossed the cat’s eyes.

 

How the child even managed to get into the building while it was in this state was an unknown to her. If she was here before it fell then she hopes she doesn't need to burry the girl.

 

If she was someone like Snape, she might have made a comment about how the girl was already buried.

 

In front of her was an opening. An old red door with a glass window. Said glass was broken so with a quick hop, Minerva was in the basement of the building.

 

With a quick step, her form twisted and grew unit it was that of a human once more. After seeing what was stored down here, she wouldn't be surprised about the child being down here before the building burned down anymore.

 

There was food and water in crates, probably meant for a kitchen of some kind although most of the perishable foods have definitely gone bad if the smell is any indication.

 

That was not her priority at the moment. Her head turned, and she moved throughout the basement until her eyes caught onto something.

 

Sprawled out on a couch, with an exasperated face was a small blonde girl with black eyes. While she was thin, it wasn't to the point of malnutrition. Her hair was chin length, and the clothes on her body weren't the best. Some low quality and mass produced black shirt and blue jeans.

 

The two of them stared at eachother. Minerva because she didn't expect the child to be in such a good state, and the child for what she believes are obvious reasons. Magic and all.

 

“You could have just knocked.”

 

Actually, Minerva decided Albus would have been best fit for finding this child if that's her reaction. For some reason she got the feeling the two of them would get along.

 

“I suppose I could have. However I was concerned for your wellbeing considering your living arrangements.”

 

The small girl looked around, as if just now seeing how bad her current home was.

 

“That makes sense. I've been stuck down here for a week anyway so could you help me get out?” The smile the small girl gave her seemed a little tired. There was no trace of fear in her eyes despite where she currently was. It's like she knew someone was coming to save her. That kind of behavior worried Minerva.

 

“I can, would you read this while I do that?” She handed the kid the mail in her hand then turned around towards the door which she only now realizes is unable to be opened from the inside.

 

…

 

Elaine looked down at the mail we was just given and huffed, amused at the description of where she lived.

 

‘How specific.’ She was not worried about her situation or potentially starving to death. After all, she came down to the basement that day because she didn't feel danger from it. It just felt right to go down there instead of walking outside.

 

She also did not feel danger coming from the woman who just took out a wand.

 

Magic flared to life and Elaine gazed at it's form. It was visible to her, she could see the energy if she wanted to.

 

Ripping out the parchment from inside the mail with a small smug smile on her face, Elaine read through it carefully before shock crossed her expression.

 

All the smugness she had quickly dissipated at the completely unexpected words she was seeing in front of her.

 

She was accepted into some magical school? Hogwarts?

 

‘What the fuck? Isn't Hogwart's something in Harry Potter? I don't know shit about that franchise! I knew magic existed but why couldn't it have been from some place I've watched or read about?! Actually, it's better than the alternative.’

 

Her heartbeat sped up at the other option. She knew about her powers the instant she woke up in this world, and she quickly put together which one it was.

 

One of the powers from Lord of the Mysteries, specifically the Sequence 9, Monster. This sequence gave someone a lot of spirituality which seemed to passively give someone a high intuition and danger sense. There's also the literal precognition that sporadically came to her when she ran tests.

 

All of that allowed her to stay safe.

 

Elaine sighed. This was completely unexpected. All of her small fantasies about abusing her powers to become rich fled her mind immediately.

 

‘It's not fair!’ She mentally whined. Tears gathered at the corner of her eyes. ‘Why do things never go my way?!’

 

“If you're worried about money, there is a fund provided to orphaned children.”

 

“Oh, uh thanks.” Elaine blinks at the older woman.

 

“Oh, my name is Minerva McGonagall dear.” The older woman added, realizing she never introduced herself. “Why don't we go and purchase your school supplies? We can also get you a place to stay at until school starts.”

 

Elaine really didn't like the idea of school. She managed to avoid it so far and now she's going to do more?

 

‘Well, it's a magical school I guess.’ That made her feel slightly better.

 

“Uh, sure? How will we be getting there?” Instead of answering that question, the older woman just firmly held her shoulder and suddenly it felt like space was folding in on the two of them.

 

Due to her spiritual intuition, Elaine knew she wasn't in danger but the feeling she got was extremely unpleasant. As if her entire being was being squished through a tube. When she next opened her eyes, the two of them were in a completely different place, and Elaine found herself on the ground trying not to throw up.

 

She didn't know she had such a weak stomach until now.

 

“It's always hard the first time. I didn't want to to be tense since that usually makes things worse.” Elaine glared at the woman from over her shoulder. Being seen this way was humiliating for her.

 

She stood up and managed to keep herself steady. Elaine looked around and saw some kind of tavern in front of her.

 

“I'm too young to drink.” She said but the woman just walked past her into the building regardless. “Oh yeah, just ignore me why don't you.” She muttered.

 

The arrogance and hint of narcissism in her tone was not heard by Minerva. The two of them simply walked through the building and left a back exit, reaching a brick wall. With a series of taps with her wand, Minerva opened an entrance that led to what looked like a completely different world.

 

“This is Diagon Alley, the biggest magic collective in the country. You can get everything you need here, and this is where we will be doing your school shopping. Since I know you are new to magic I'm willing to answer any questions you may have.” The older woman sent Elaine a polite smile before walking ahead.

 

The small girl was still shoving down her embarrassment about her misunderstanding about the bar. ‘She probably thinks I'm stupid.’ She tells herself.

 

“So, what do I need?” Elaine asks, keeping close to the older woman in order to make sure she doesn't get lost.

 

“Check the parchment you were given.”

 

Blinking, Elaine took out the paper and read it again. Her eyes land on a list of items that needed to be bought. Embarrassment flooded her body once more.

 

‘I'm just going to keep my mouth shut.’ Their first introduction went pretty well, she sat in that position all weak, waiting for someone to open the door. When she was in the middle of eating some of the only good food in the basement, she heard something coming close to the door and only just managed to run back to her position to make herself appear calm and cool. But then she opened her mouth and said a bunch of snarky things, now instead of looking like some nonchalant smart girl, she just looked stupid.

 

Oh how badly she wanted to scream into a pillow. Her image was already ruined.

Chapter 2: Robes

Elaine followed closely behind Minerva McGonagall. The two of them stop in front of one particular building.

 

“This is Gringotts bank, we will be taking out the money set aside for children in your situation.” She tried to speak gently to the child in case she said something to upset her.

 

This small girl is an orphan, that much is obvious but anything more than that is relatively unknown. Did she know her parents? Did they leave her? Did they die or abandon her when the building collapsed? Minerva didn't know so she will try to be careful.

 

Elaine is a child after all, one who seemed to easily be distracted.

 

Before Minerva was even able to take a step into the building, Elaine got behind her, as if trying to prevent herself from being seen by whatever was inside the building.

 

‘Is she scared?’ A simple glance at the girl was all it took to see the pale expression. She wonders why.

 

The two of them made their way into the building, for some reason half the goblins who usually manage the desks aren't present. Minerva thinks that is odd.

 

“Excuse me.” She walked up to one of them. “I'm here for the-” Minerva got cut off by a door being slammed farther into the building and an entire group of goblins rushed into another room.

 

“Hogwarts orphan fund?” The goblin looked distastefully at Elaine who in response hid behind Minerva even more than she already was.

 

‘Why is she so scared?’ She wondered. “Yes, for Elaine Auceptin.” At her words, the goblin's eyes narrowed.

 

“Auceptin?” He asked.

 

“Yes, that is her family name.” Minerva raised an eyebrow.

 

The goblin seemed to try and call something but was unsuccessful. “I will get it for you. We are currently on lock down since someone broke into the building. I will ask you to hand over the key to the vault.”

 

Handing over the key was not out of a need to use it, rather a form of authentication. Minerva handed the key over, then the goblin got down from his desk and walked off.

 

Minerva's eyes turned towards where she knew the entrance to the lower section of the bank was and wondered who could have possibly broken in.

 

A conversation she had with Albus came up in her mind. He said he was contacted by a friend who was worried about something in Gringotts getting stolen.

 

She wondered if this was related in any way.

 

Minerva looked down at the child behind her and smiled. While obviously trying to keep herself hidden, her stance was very straight. Her head held high and arms not fidgeting at all like most children her age.

 

From their interactions so far Minerva knew this was just an act. In reality Elaine was pretty childish and dramatic, her attempts and looking serious despite literally hiding behind her like a child would not last long.

 

She has seen many children act this way, although nearly all of them were from pureblood houses.

 

It was not too long before the goblin came back and handed over the money and key.

 

“Let's get going.” She gently guided Elaine towards the exit, who seemed more than happy to leave that place. Just as the two of them stepped outside, Minerva could feel the ground rumble slightly.

 

She turned her head to look at the bank but didn't do anything. The goblins would not appreciate it if she helped, and even then she has a ward to take care of at the moment.

 

“Let's get your books first.” She began walking with the small girl.

 

…

 

Elaine nearly dragged her feet as she walked with all the supplies in her hand. A cauldron in one hand holding random things on her required list and books in her other hand.

 

‘I don't work out damn it, I can't keep carrying this stuff.’ Even holding a cat for five minutes was too much for her, she was already sweating.

 

‘Was I not given a physical boost when I was born a monster?’ The sheer amount of ambient magic surrounding her was nearly enough to give her a headache.

 

‘It's fine. I'll be fine… Wait, I shouldn't be slouching like this, it makes me look like a slob. Wait, I'm going to need to read all these books aren't I? Maybe even the stuff from later years if I don't want to look stupid. Shit, imagine if I get middle of the class in grades or something! How embarrassing would that be?!’

 

Her narcissism would not allow her to be disliked for being lesser. It would totally be fine if people didn't like her for being better than them, that was natural after all.

 

‘Friends? I'm not good at making friends, it's not like I had any before. They always called me annoying anyways which I totally get, but why would I change myself to be friends with people not worth changing myself for?’

 

A lance of pain spiked through her heart but she ignored it.

 

‘Let's see, I think the only things I'm missing now are my robes and wand.’ Just as she thought that, Elaine found herself walking into a store with cloth everywhere.

 

‘Huh, well I guess we're here now.’ Elaine didn't notice herself getting so distracted that she managed to walk so far.

 

A woman farther back into the store looked at her. “I'll be right there dear!” She then turned her head back to someone else.

 

Off to the side there was a small group of kids sitting and talking openly about something.

 

“Harry Potter is coming to Hogwarts this year.” One of the boys says.

 

“Of course he is, which house do you think he'll be in?”

 

“Obviously Gryffindor. Where else?”

 

“He could always be in Slytherin, you never know.”

 

“As if.”

 

While Elaine recognized the name Harry Potter, the Gryffindor and Slytherin comments confused her. She did not know what those were.

 

She looked back at Minerva who was waiting with her off to the side, Elaine decided she may as well get a couple of questions out of the way. If this was basic knowledge then her not knowing it would be weird.

 

“Miss McGonagall.” She asked politely. The older woman looked at her.

 

“Yes?” The woman had a small smile on her face, wondering if Elaine was finally going to let her curiosity run loose.

 

“Who is Harry Potter?” She asked.

 

Minerva's eyebrow raised but with a quick glance at the group of children nearby, one of whom was being taken away to get fitted for their robes, she realized where the question came from.

 

“There used to be a dark wizard, one who hurt a lot of people, we call him, He Who Must Not Be Named, not his real name as I'm sure you can guess but many people believe even saying his actual one was cursed.” Elaine wasn't too surprised that something like that happened.

 

“About ten years ago, He Who Must Not Be Named attacked the Potter family. The father and mother died but the baby, Harry Potter, survived. Not only that, but he survived a killing curse. Something that should be impossible, in fact the spell back-fired so horribly that the dark lord died instead. Many call him the Boy Who Lived. For this incredible feat.”

 

Elaine raised an eyebrow. “You mean to tell me a literal baby survived a spell meant for killing people way stronger than him, and made it back-fire into killing someone hailed as a dark lord? That sounds completely unbelievable.”

 

Minerva smiled at the skepticism. “Many people believed the same, yet since then He Who Must Not Be Named has never returned.”

 

Elaine scoffed. “That's so full of contradictions though, there had to be an outside element, maybe the dark lord tripped on a rattle and accidentally hit himself with his own spell.”

 

Minerva's lips twitched upwards at the comment. “Harry Potter has a scar in the shape of a lighting bolt on his forehead as proof of his survival.”

 

“I still don't believe he died as a literal baby.” Elaine's doubt would not be swayed.

 

Minerva herself suspected there was also something more to the story that was missing, but she could not exactly place what. Maybe in their last moments, Harry's parents did something to protect him?

 

“I'm sorry about the wait, there are so many kids showing up today.” The lady who seemed to be the one running the store walked up to Elaine and dragged her farther into the building. While she did that, Minerva walked out of the door, going into another store.

 

“Please just stand right there and I will take all of your measurements.” Out of nowhere, a tape measure appeared and began measuring the small girl, this caused her to flinch back, startled. For the past fifteen minutes Elaine has kept her spiritual energy suppressed so she didn't get any precognitive warnings.

 

“You are quite small for your age aren't you?” The woman hummed. Elaine blinked, wondering if she should take that as an insult or not.

 

‘Well, I was tall before. So being short now kind of evens that out I guess.’

 

“How short do I look?” She decided to ask the woman, forgetting she was supposed to be acting like she was smarter than she really was in a tone that did not fit the image she was trying to portray.

 

“Hm? I would have thought you were eight if I didn't see a Hogwarts professor bringing you in.” Elaine's eyebrow twitched.

 

“It's not that bad is it?” In response, the woman whose name she never got to know squished her cheeks that still had a bit of baby fat on them. She also noticed on a magical clipboard the woman held that her height was listed at 130cm. She'd need to translate that into American later.

 

When Minerva came back, Elaine nearly ran towards her to get away from the other woman. Luckily, the older woman went out and got a suitcase for her so Elaine no longer needed to carry all of her supplies in her hands anymore.

 

She shoved all of her stuff along with the three black robes into her suitcase and followed after Minerva who was handing over gold coins to the woman whose name Elaine still does not know the name of.

 

If she recalled right, the last place on their list would probably be the wand shop. Elaine wondered how magic worked in this world and if having a wand was truly necessary. Even if it wasn't, not using a wand would probably be impressive then right? She remembered how important hand signs were in Naruto for a little while and not needing them basically told everyone you were the shit.

 

As the two of them approached the final building for the day, Elaine's eyes raised in surprise at something she read.

 

Ollivander's Wand Shop, makers of fine wands since 382 B.C.

 

That couldn't possibly be true could it?

 

‘Wait… B.C? Do wizards believe in god? Wait, was Jesus a wizard? Maybe they just use it to match the outside world. But you'd think they might have their own acronym for it.’

 

It was a strange thought that just passed through her mind. Even if she smirked at the idea of Jesus actually being a secret wizard. Elaine herself isn't religious but the idea is funny enough.

 

‘Do gods exist in this world? In Harry Potter specifically. I have the powers from the Monster pathway though so maybe some of the gods from Lord of the Mysteries are here? Hm, maybe I should pray to one some time. Actually that could be stupid, who knows what could happen, especially when I don't know what I'm doing.’

 

Logic pulled Elaine's thoughts away from such things, any consideration about beings on that level besides gods never even crossed her mind. Why would they? It's natural to not think too much about that subject when she knows a lot more than she should while still being so weak. It's perfectly rational to not think about “Them.”

Notes:

I imagined Xio when describing Elaine and kind of just rolled with it.

Chapter 3: Wand

Elaine opened the door then glanced up when she heard a bell ringing. The entire shop was covered in boxes, shelves filled with hundreds if not thousands of them.

 

‘Are there wands in those boxes? Are these mass produced?’ She wonders while Minerva gently guides her inside.

 

“Oh, hello there!” An old man pops up out of nowhere, causing Elaine to nearly fall backwards. The older woman behind her managed to catch her before she could embarrass herself even further that day.

 

The man himself didn't react at all to the girl's shock. “Here for a wand I presume? Well, unless you just wanted to stop by for tea.”

 

Elaine didn't hear a word he said, not too focused on what was going on around her.

 

“...What?”

 

“Hm, a bit absent minded aren't you? That's fine, it might make things easier. Holly perhaps?” He began muttering to himself while Minerva just shook her head.

 

“Garrick, the girl needs a wand for Hogwarts.” That seemed to snap the old man's attention back to the two of them.

 

“Oh yes, of course. Hm, I don't recognize any of your features, non magical parents perhaps?” The man studied Elaine's facial features before shrugging. “Oh well, let's find you a partner for life shall we?” Garrick Ollivander walked towards a nearby shelf and looked around for a few seconds before grabbing a box and handing it over to Elaine.

 

“Holly wood and unicorn hair, a particularly affectionate wand that would like nothing more than to protect its wielder. Eleven inches.

 

Elaine reached out. “Affectionate wand? Do wands have feelings?” She took the wand in her hand, feeling a bit of warmth from it.

 

“In a way. Wands choose the wizard, or witch in your case. You can't just pick up any wand and use it, now try waving it around.”

 

Doing as instructed, Elaine waved the wand. A spark of magic shot out and caused a crack on the floor. She flinched at the unexpected reaction.

 

“Hm… Interesting. Holly wands don't usually act like that.” Ollivander snatched the wand back from her hand and handed her another one. “Ebony with a unicorn hair core, nine inches. An odd combination for sure.”

 

Elaine took the wand into her hands. Her eyes went white and for a moment all she could hear was ringing in her ears.

 

Her hand was numb and for some reason her blood felt cold. A blind, one more, there were spots in her eyes. She could hear someone talking but for some reason her head was all fuzzy.

 

In an instant, everything returned to normal. The wand she only briefly touched was laying on the floor, absolutely nothing else changed.

 

Her body shook. “I don't think that wand likes me.”

 

Ollivander's eyes narrowed lightly while looking down at the wand. “If you got such a negative reaction just by touching it, I wonder what would happen if you waved it.” The man wondered outloud, genuinely curious about the reaction.

 

Elaine stepped away from the wand, not wanting to be near it.

 

“Oh well. Nothing about that one worked then? You need a longer wand then, Ebony seems to dislike you a lot.” Shrugging, he put the wand back inside a box and grabbed another one from his desk.

 

“Try this one.” Taking the wand out, Elaine didn't have any harsh response to just touching it.

 

“Black Walnut, Thunderbird tail feather core. Twelve inches. A bit flexible too.” Taking the wand, a shot of sparks spewed out of it. Elaine tilted her head, it felt okay.

 

“Hm… Most interesting, this wand would accept you, but not embrace you. You'd probably be able to use it, but not as efficiently as the one meant for you.” Taking the wand away, he hands her another one. “This one uses Dogwood instead of Black Walnut.”

 

With a wave, Elaine gets another shot of sparks.

 

“Interesting… I think I'm starting to see what kind of wand would love you.” One moment later, Ollivander runs off into the back of his shop and hands her a light colored box.

 

They trade items in their hands, Ollivander getting the obedient wand, and Elaine getting the box.

 

“Hawthorn, Thunderbird tail feather and twelve inches.” Taking the wand out, warmth once again embraced Elaine. With a wave, a warm gust of air filled the shop.

 

Except Elaine couldn't help but frown.

 

‘It accepts me, but for some reason it just doesn't feel right.’ Ollivander noticed the frown on her face and grinned.

 

“Most curious.” He hummed. “A wand that fully accepts you, yet you aren't satisfied.” The man wasn't disappointed, this type of reaction was one he had seen before among a bunch of nobles who wanted a “better” wand or some rambunctious lot who demanded a “powerful” wand.

 

But the genuine look of disconnect in Elaine's eyes was very telling that this response wasn't selfish. She truly didn't connect with the wand.

 

“Well, why don't you look around then? You seem to be good at feeling things out, so maybe you'll come across the one on your own.” Ollivander was very interested in what he was seeing. From jumping back from a wand to rejecting another that seemed perfect for her.

 

“Such an interesting child indeed.” He thought to himself.

 

Nodding, Elaine set the wand down and started walking around. She could feel the disappointment coming from the object.

 

With a want and desire, Elaine's eyes were flooded by different colors. Magic, she supposed. Spirit vision was useful even if it gave her a headache while being surrounded by so much magical energy.

 

Turning it off, Elaine kept looking.

 

‘I could have accepted it, but I didn't want to. But I can feel it, that wand was right, but it wasn't… right.’

 

In a specific direction, Elaine moved. Her actions guided subconsciously, she didn't even realize she was still walking until she arrived in front of a certain shelf.

 

It was old, the boxes seemed to have gathered dust that can't be removed. The wood was ancient.

 

Reaching her hand in, Elaine felt it smack into a box. Twisting her hand, she grabbed and pulled it out.

 

Her focus was entirely narrowed down onto the object in her hands. Despite the slight ache in her head, she physically could not turn her spirit vision off. It's like any time she would try, it would just immediately activate again.

 

Elaine gently opened the box. What she saw inside made her sigh. It was a bit anticlimactic.

 

“Redwood.” A voice behind her spoke. Once more, Elaine flinched, slamming into the shelf.

 

“It's said to grant people who use it good luck. However, that's just what most people think. Personally, I say it's drawn to those with good fortune.”

 

Elaine rubbed her sore shoulder, glaring at the man.

 

Ollivander laughed while gazing at the wand once more. “Dragon Heartstring? That's odd, you seem like a reserved girl. Then again the Thunderbird tail feather also worked for you so what do I know? Twelve inches, I got that correct at least.”

 

The two of them started making their way back to the front of the shop where Minerva McGonagall was waiting.

 

“There's a funny story about the tree where that wood comes from.” He decided to start talking. Elaine could see that he enjoyed talking about wands.

 

“There was a flood, you see, a very nasty one. Lighting kept lighting the trees on fire from top and water tore them apart from below. A few towns were constructed inside a forest, the elements constantly tore at their lands, destroying their homes and crops.”

 

In order to get away from the floods, the people decided to go farther into the forest, there was a hill you see. A large one. So they ascended, they kept going up and up until eventually they reached the peak. Fires that were started by the lighting were quickly put out by the rain, but that did not undo all of the damage.”

 

On top of that hill sat a tree. While wet from the rain, no lightning actually hit it. Which is very odd since lighting likes to target the things with the highest elevation. The floods never reached that tree, and all of the people who fled there remained safe. They managed to stay completely safe under that one tree until the storm stopped. One of the people who lived thanks to that tree was an ancestor of mine. He decided to take a small portion of wood in order to make a couple of wands.”

 

“In total, four were made. Two were stolen from my family and later the people who stole them died. The aurors ruled it a bout of extreme misfortune. The other one was given to a boy hundreds of years ago who went on to fight and contribute greatly in the goblin rebellions. This is the last one that was made out of that specific tree. Because for some reason, no matter how hard anyone tires, no one can find it again.”

 

When Ollivander finished speaking, they were already met by Minerva McGonagall.

 

“While that was very interesting, we must be going now, I still have things to do still and I'm sure Elaine is very tired from all the walking today.”

 

The old man just chuckled. “Of course, of course. I won’t keep you waiting.” Minerva handed the man seven golden coins and left with Elaine.

 

‘Such a confusing tale.’ The girl thinks to herself. ‘They were safe under a tree, on top of a hill away from a flood. Said tree was somehow not hit with lighting at all, and no one can find it anymore. How weird.’ She wonders if it's something magical. Wands seemed like something that came from the Harry Potter world after all, so if the thing in her hand had any significant meaning, she didn't know.

 

She looked down at the light red tinted wand in her hand, Elaine tried to get a good sense of what it felt like. Her spirit vision was no longer forcing itself active, but the fact it was doing that in the first place suggests a couple of things and raises a few questions in her mind.

 

‘Are magic and spirituality similar? I can detect magic with my spirit vision, and magic has some kind of reaction on me, otherwise my attention wouldn't have been drawn to this wand. Is it special? Does it have something to do with beyonders for Lord of the Mysteries? Maybe I should find that tree one day.’

 

Her thoughts were serious and logical, exhausted by the day's events, she was not in the mood to act up anymore.

 

‘The Monster pathway is also called the Wheel of Fortune pathway, so getting a wand known to be drawn to those with luck isn't a coincidence. But how did I get drawn to it? Fate? Was I subconsciously detecting something in my own fate that pushed me to get that wand? I shouldn't be able to do that yet. But if that's true, then there is something special about that tree.’ She had no plans of looking for it at the moment. If wizards couldn't find it then the chances of her being successful weren't too great when she's still so weak.

 

Minerva McGonagall and Elaine Auceptin arrived at a familiar building.

 

“Tom, Elaine will be staying here for the next couple of days until the train to Hogwarts is ready.” The older woman tells a man behind a bar table. He just nods as he's handed a couple of coins.

 

“Elaine, do you still have the envelope?” She asked the girl.

 

Nodding, Minerva continued. “There is a train ticket for platform 9 3⁄4, that is where the train you will be taking is. The platform is hidden inside a pillar that you will need to walk through. If you have any questions you can read about it in Hogwarts: A History or ask for assistance once you get there.”

 

Elaine nods in understanding. “Good, I will be off then. Your ticket will have the date and time you need to be there, though try and show up early. Compartments get filled quickly.”

 

With a simple turn, the aged professor disappeared into thin air.

Chapter 4: Paranoid

An idle tap resonated throughout the small room as Elaine drummed her fingers crossed the wooden desk. Inside her temporary room, the girl tried not to remember all the times that day when she made herself look like an idiot.

 

“It was just so unexpected.” In front of her was a book. Hogwarts: A History, clearly this was basic knowledge that she would need to learn in order to not look stupid.

 

“How the hell was I expected to be able to process all of that? Seriously! Goblins? Sentient wands? Dark lords?” She groaned. Even at that moment, the headache that was following her would not go away, the only relief she got only came after closing her eyes. Yet she needed them open in order to learn more about this new world before anything else unexpected happens.

 

“It all looked so normal.” A scowl formed on her face. “A normal human world I thought, I even checked a library but besides being sent nearly thirty years into the past, nothing else seems to have changed." Her fingers continued tapping against the desk.

 

“I should probably invest in some of the companies I know will do well then.” She did not have any money however so that would have to come later. “I'm still a child anyway, how would I possibly get money?”

 

Theft felt too slow and also really risky unless whatever she stole was very valuable. “I'm not opposed to theft if I don't have a choice, but how would I get away with it? You'd think these wizards would have ways to detect that kind of thing.” Her eyes turned over to the wand not too far away from her hand.

 

Gently she grasped it. It felt warm, like it deserved to be with her. Something about it seemed to be drawn to her. Given what she heard about Redwood being attracted to luck, that might be why.

 

She observed the wood as she kept speaking out loud.

 

“Since I didn't discover magic before… whatever her name was decided to appear as a cat, it's likely they're trying to keep hidden.” Any attempt at making money through obviously magical means would be figured out quickly.

 

“Well, besides setting myself up for the future, what else do I really need money for? Investigating that tree I guess, but that doesn’t seem all too important, it's just a passing curiosity if anything.” Elaine was confident most people would be happy with tons of money. For a second, her mind drifted to a small army of maids dressed in skimpy outfits.

 

“...I suddenly feel like I shouldn't have magic anymore.” Elaine didn't know if she could trust herself with so much potential power if her mind immediately went in that direction. “Well, I'm probably not the only one who has thought of these things, I just need to control myself. Yeah, it's fine to have fantasies, just as long as I don’t mind control a bunch of cute girls into serving me…”

 

She did not have as much confidence in her conviction as she would have liked. Elaine continued reading through the book before her.

 

‘But still, I have more than just magic. I have beyonder powers too. I'm still the lowest sequence at sequence 9 and I'm not sure how I'm possibly going to advance. I never took the potion to become a beyonder, for all I know this world doesn't have the right ingredients, so taking another one to raise to sequence 8 would be very difficult, if not impossible.’

 

Elaine did not know the formula nor the name for her sequence 8 potion, and she had absolutely no idea how she was supposed to find it.

 

‘It requires someone to know about beyonders, or for me to suddenly cross paths with something related to them, but what could possibly be-’

 

“...”

 

Her head turned towards her wand.

 

“In total, four were made. Two were stolen from my family and later the people who stole them died. The aurors ruled it a bout of extreme misfortune. The other one was given to a boy hundreds of years ago who went on to fight and contribute greatly in the goblin rebellions. This is the last one that was made out of that specific tree. Because for some reason, no matter how hard anyone tires, no one can find it again.”

 

Elaine wondered if it was normal for wands to act in such vengeful ways. She could be grasping at straws, but the information continued to circle in her mind.

 

She looked around at all of her books but could not find anything that talked about wands specifically, or how they functioned. But all she had were basic books meant for beginners.

 

‘Should I talk to Ollivander again?’ How stupid she felt, embarrassment flooded through her body again at such an obvious oversight. ‘Wait, he said another person got one of the wands made from that tree too, right? Some boy from the goblin rebellions? Could he be like me?’

 

The idea that there was another beyonder scared Elaine a bit. Mostly because of how terrifying they could be, especially if they had hundreds of years to gather strength.

 

“No, I'm just assuming the worst.” She shook her head. “But, just in case, I should figure out who he is. Maybe discover which pathway he belongs to. Or maybe he is the same as me? Redwood is drawn to luck right? If, on the small chance that my suspicions of one or more people being sent into this world are correct, then if they're still alive then they might be looking out for people like me.”

 

Elaine did not know if that was a good or bad thing. “They wouldn't need to be from my world either, they could be natives from here and just so happened to stumble across beyonder stuff.” That did not lower their danger level by a lot.

 

“Well, this is all speculation anyway, I don't know anything for sure, so do I really need to get so nervous about it?”

 

Her body trembled lightly. “It will be fine.” She tried to calm herself. “But, drawing attention to myself may not be such a good idea.” The idea did not please her. 

 

Elaine liked attention, she loved being praised. So she didn't know if she could handle being looked down upon and underestimated. Strategically, and logically, she knew that was safer. But her ego felt slighted.

 

“It's stupid… No wait, everyone always suspects the quiet ones! That's right, someone so closed off, someone who is always watching and never participating is always dangerous aren't they? So, I don't need to compromise! Unless I do too well, but that's fine. No one ever takes me seriously anyways.”

 

Pain shot through her heart like a spear but she ignored it.

 

“No one ever takes me seriously so it's fine. What threat could I possibly be?”

 

Did her problems really matter when there was the possibility of her life being threatened?

 

“Well, losing control wouldn't be good.” She mumbled. It was unlikely at the moment given how low her sequence was, but if ever she figured out how to advance, Elaine would need to start figuring out her problems quickly.

 

“Hogwarts… I don't like the idea of being in school, but this could help me master magic.” Given all of her packing, she assumed it was some kind of boarding school.

 

“A startling lack of freedom, though I don't know much about how this world's magic side functions. For all I know, wizards or witches who aren't registered in some kind of organization get hunted down. And what better place could there be to learn about these things than a school?”

 

Elaine was never a huge fan of history or politics, but now it seemed unavoidable. In order to know what she could and could not do, learning these things would be required. While doing that, she would be learning more about wands to figure out if they are meant to be acting in such hostile ways. Spending so much time looking for a tree that turned out to be nothing special seemed like a giant waste of time after all, so trying to see if there was really anything unusual about her wand would only be saving her time if her suspicions proved wrong.

 

Suddenly, an idea came to her mind.

 

Slap

 

Her hand slammed into her forehead. “Why did I not think of that before? Fuck, I'm so stupid.” Elaine insulted herself.

 

‘I could always try divination. Don't know if it would work, but just having that option available to be at any given moment couldn't possibly be a bad idea. The Wheel of Fortune pathway has a lot of spirituality so they should be very good at such things.’

 

An image appeared in her head: She was walking through a door, and heard it shut close. Around her was a room filled with various trinkets. Off on one wall were several magic objects moving on their own. One of them was a pendulum hovering over a hand drawn map of the world. With a sign sitting next to it. “What to know what country is where? The pendulum can point you in the right place for only five galleons.” The name of the shop was “Larticle wears.”

 

The sight faded and she was still sitting in her chair, book open on the desk in front of her.

 

‘Clairvoyance?’ Once more, she was left surprised. Everything that happened that day was strange, but this exceeded all of them. As if waking up from a daze, Elaine realized what she just witnessed.

 

‘A vision. That item costs five galleons? How much is that? I certainly don't have any money to afford it.’ Sighing, she realized that money has already become an issue for her.

 

“What are the chances I'd be given just the pendulum for free?” She mused. “Could I make my own?”

 

The idea did not stay in her head for long before she dismissed it. “It would probably be easier to just get the money. First I need to figure out how much five galleons is though.”

 

Besides using a pendulum, there were other kinds of divination she could try. Like dream divination for example, or spirit rod dowsing.

 

“Hm, well if Hogwarts has anything to bet on, I might be able to gamble myself some wins. It would be pretty fitting for someone of my pathway actually.”

 

Given all of the facts, Elaine decided that Hogwarts was probably the best place she could go at the moment to avoid catching too much attention from someone who wants to do her harm.

 

She hoped there was nothing wrong, she hoped that she was overreacting. But she could not be sure, she had to assume the worst because if she didn't and something bad happened to her, she'd only be able to blame herself.

 

“Would they recognize my wand?” She hoped not. Her assumption was based on the idea that the other person who got the wand before her was somehow connected to the beyonder world, it would only make sense if he would think the same of anyone else who got the one remaining wand.

 

“I never told Ollivander my name.” She realized. Elaine didn't even notice that until just that moment. Ollivander does not know my name. He knows what I look like, but not my name. Would he sell me out?

 

Caution told her not to return to that shop since it may draw attention to herself. Especially if she went back and asked about the wand, that would just be asking for something to look into her.

 

But, her last name was Auceptin.

 

Panic flooded her body before she started taking deep breaths to calm herself.

 

“No, the Wheel of Fortune pathway is all about fate, I shouldn't be doomed immediately. Maybe whoever was worthy of the first wand doesn't know the significance of that name. After all, why else would I have just had it?” Elaine did not choose that last name, it was already connected to her identity when she woke up. “Or maybe other families from that world exist here? But how many of them become wizards? And how many of them go to school the same year the wand that's possibly connected to something related to the beyonder world finds an owner?”

 

Elaine looked at her wand and frowned. She would need to change its appearance, or how it looked. She could be being extremely paranoid, but she refused to risk her life due to ignorance.

Chapter 5: Distraction

Elaine did not leave her room until an hour before her train was scheduled to depart. Half because she was scared of being jumped in the middle of the street, and half because she was reading everything all the books she gained had to offer.

 

She was very proud of herself since she hated reading. Unfortunately, reading did not equal comprehension, so despite having read every book, she would not be able to recite anything word for word. Maybe she could explain the basic premise but nothing specific.

 

Water dripped off Elaine's damp hair as she followed the instructions a few kind strangers gave her to King's Cross Station. The girl made the bad decision of leaving an hour early and never figuring out where she was actually supposed to go.

 

‘How did I not think this would be a problem?! I don't even have a map of the city! And it's not like I can use good either! I'm not even sure it's been invented yet!’

 

By the time she made it to the correct building, she only had five minutes remaining until her train left, and her legs were already killing her.

 

Elaine grumbled while her suitcase dragged behind her. She did not look elegant at that moment despite wishing for herself to appear perfect. Instead, she looked like a poor kitten that someone decided to kick for fun.

 

This image caused a man in a security uniform to walk up to her. Elaine's path was blocked by the concerned face of an adult who was wondering why a small child was alone in a train station.

 

“Excuse me little miss, do you know where your mommy and daddy are?” Her eyes twitched. A small, smug smirk began to spread across her face.

 

“Why yes I do! Daddy told me to walk this way and wait for a man in an officer uniform to stop me, then he told me to keep the man distracted long enough so he could sneak his special suitcase onto one of the trains so it could go boom.” The man's eyes widened at her words.

 

“I-I see. Would you happen to know which platform your daddy said he would be going on?” Elaine blinked, not thinking the man would actually listen to her.

 

“I don't remember, platform one, or three?” She tapped her cheek as if she was deep in thought, while sneakily looking for the passageway for platform 9 ¾.

 

“I see. Why don’t you come with me, I'll take you somewhere safe where you can wait for the police to come.” Elaine frowned, her plan not going according to her expectations. So, she did the first thing that came to mind.

 

“Ahh! This creepy man wants to take me into his room!” Elaine sprinted towards the pillar where she read about the passageway being.

 

“Wait what?” The security guard's mind froze before he realized every adult around him was looking at the man with disgust in their eyes. “No, it's not what it looks like! I just wanted to take her back to the security office to wait for the police to find her parents!”

 

The stares did not lessen.

 

Elaine herself was no longer anywhere in the proper building. Instead, she was taking her first steps on platform 9 ¾.

 

In front of her was a large red steam locomotive. She had no time to appreciate it however since there were only two minutes until the train was supposed to leave.

 

She cursed the security guard for wasting what little time she had left. Then she wondered what kind of chaos her actions had caused. 

 

Quickly, Elaine ran aboard. She could hear kids talking inside doors. Internally she marveled at the interior, she's never been inside a train before, and one with their own compartments was something she never expected to experience.

 

There were no open seats in the front of the train, so Elaine made her way farther down. Older kids mixed with younger ones until eventually there were only children her own age left.

 

‘Is this train larger on the inside than it is on the outside?’ Given how many students there seemed to be, that would make the most sense.

 

‘Magic works in strange ways. I have already seen teleportation so some kind of space warping isn't the strangest idea to wrap my head around.’

 

Luckily, Elaine found a completely empty compartment about a third of the way through. Why it was left empty is something she didn't know.

 

She set her luggage on a storage area above her seat then slumped down, out of the corner of her eye she noticed the lock on the door was broken. A frown crossed her face. Was that the reason no one chose that room? Why would having a lock or not matter so much?

 

‘I still need to change into my robes I guess, but I could just go to the bathroom and do that. I already saw a few while walking down here.’

 

Finally able to rest for the first time in an hour, Elaine wondered about what she would be doing with her time. Especially about how she will be acting this coming school year should her worst fears be true.

 

‘If I act like an attention seeker, then that could be counterproductive if I'm trying to avoid getting certain people's attention. Even if I disguise my wand, surely they'd have better ways of investigating it.’

 

Elaine didn't think she could stay hidden, she liked being praised way too much.

 

‘The quiet ones are generally considered more dangerous, after all who would be scared of a show off who bragged about themselves all the time? Still, that's assuming they don't look into me regardless. If I had a spare wand, that might be better but that would be obvious, no? Maybe I should disguise the second wand in a subtle way? Sure it would draw a bit more attention to myself but once they see the “hidden” wand is actually nothing special, they'd fall into a false sense of security and not suspect the second deception?’

 

The plan would require her to keep her actual wand hidden. ‘I can use this too. I will keep track of the spare and make sure I'm near it at all times. This way, if it suspiciously goes missing I will know for certain if my assumptions are right.’

 

Her plan had a few flaws, and she was aware of them. If someone unrelated stole her wand for whatever reason, she wouldn't know anything for certain at all.

 

‘So, I need to make sure I'm around nice people. Maybe make some friends if we're sharing a room together. But what if someone is after me and my wand never goes missing because they are restricted in Hogwarts? Or what if I don’t notice my wand going missing?’

 

Her mind spun before it came to an answer.

 

‘Dream divination, I'll test it to make sure it works in this world first, but I can easily figure out who the last person to touch my wand was.’

 

Elaine reached above her head into her luggage, then pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill.

 

“Seriously, I will not get over the need for these materials, we don't live in the middle ages.”

 

Propping the parchment on her leg, she wrote in shaky and messy words.

 

“The last person to touch this wand.” She frowned down at the leaking ink. Writing this way was awful. She damn near punctured the paper, how embarrassing would that be?

 

Standing up, she put the quill back in her bag then shook her wand out of her cloak without touching it.

 

Elaine spent two minutes messing with her clothes like an idiot before the object of her agitation fell out onto the seat she was previously sitting in.

 

She kneeled down with a huff then closed her eyes while keeping the parchment in hand.

 

Imagining stacks of lights spiraling on top of each other, Elaine entered cogitation. A form of meditation to rest her mind.

 

Then she mentally chanted. 

 

‘The last person to touch this wand’

 

‘The last person to touch this wand’

 

‘The last person to touch this wand’

 

‘The last person to touch this wand’

 

‘The last person to touch this wand’

 

‘The last person to touch this wand’

 

‘The last person to touch this wand’

 

After the seventh time nothing happened. She opened her eyes and blinked in confusion. Did she make a mistake? Did divination not work in this world?

 

Inexplicably, she got the feeling to do something else. With no real reason, she got another piece of parchment and wrote something different.

 

“The next person who will touch this wand.”

 

With the intention in hand, and after entering cogitation, before Elaine could chant the words a single time a scene played out in her mind.

 

Elaine put the parchment away and gently picked up her wand before putting it into her pocket. The short girl sat down and sighed.

 

Once the vision faded, Elaine had some idea about what went wrong. Did she just not unlock divination yet? What she just saw wasn't due to it at least since she didn't chant even a single time. The vision was due to her ability as a monster. Precognition, it gave her a glimpse into the future.

 

‘Is this reliable?’ She wondered while putting her parchment away. ‘Can I do it often?’ She gently picked up her wand and put it into her pocket. ‘What are the requirements for doing it?’ She sat down in her seat.

 

‘Was it spontaneous? Or can I focus my ability to see the future slightly? I would need to do this every night before I go to sleep just to be safe. But what happens if my foresight gets blocked by something? Well, that would be telling actually. But what if it gets taken midday? Should I change what I want to see into everyone who will touch my wand that day? Before that, I need to replicate this in order to make sure it's repeatable. And I still need to find another wand.’

 

Elaine heard a couple of people walking outside her door before it was opened. Poking her head in was a brown haired girl with bushy hair and noticeable front teeth.

 

“You wouldn't have happened to see a toad would you? A boy named Neville lost his.” Elaine almost wanted to tell the girl to go away so she could continue her experiments before realizing the opportunity she now had. What better time to start playing her role than now? Well, she needed to digest her potion so if she acted a little deranged it was all for the sake of advancement.

 

So with way too much enthusiasm, Elaine dramatically got out of her seat and placed her hand on her chest, barely holding herself back from laughing in a mocking manner.

 

“I have not! But since you have asked, I feel an obligation to help. So congratulations mongrel for you have gained my assistance!”

 

Elaine started internally screaming. ‘Why did my mind immediately go to Gilgamesh when I thought of a monstrous and crazy attention seeker?! And why is this girl so much taller than me?!’

 

The bushy haired girl looked at her oddly before nodding and stepping away from the door.

 

‘Great! Now she thinks I'm a weirdo! Oh well, as long as I prove to be actually smart then surely they will just think I'm a mad genius! Yes, a perfect plan!’ Elaine walked out of the compartment and began walking down the train before being stopped by the girl behind her.

 

“We already checked that way.” The girl said.

 

Elaine turned around and began walking in the other direction. “I knew that.” She said before passing the taller one, only now noticing a second person despite having heard multiple sets of footsteps.

 

Now the real question was, how was she supposed to find a toad?

Notes:

This chapter kind of came off a bit crackish. This isn't that type of story though. Elaine is just being a drama queen.

Chapter 6: Castle

Summary:

Elaine fucks around and finds out.

“Not here either.” Elaine frowned while looking inside what looked like a closet.

 

“Yes, well we've checked nearly everywhere else on the train. There are only a few more compartments left.” The bushy haired girl said while walking up to a door and opening it without knocking.

 

“Have any of you seen a toad?”

 

While she kept asking more people, Elaine was frowning down at her feet. How was it so hard to find a single animal?

 

‘If only my divinations were working. This would be so much easier.’ She could only sigh at her misfortune. ‘Still, I haven't found a lost wand yet.’ That was the second reason she left to help search for a lost animal, it gave her an excuse to look out for a wand with no owner.

 

‘I could steal one, but that would draw some attention no? Maybe there are spares in the school? But it might be too late by then.’ The houses at Hogwarts were a strange thing to read about, grouping a bunch of students into stereotypes like the brave ones, the shady ones, the smart ones, and the nice ones, probably was not good for child development but what did she know?

 

‘The book didn't actually say how we would get sorted into the houses, so what if it requires a wand? I can't risk that. Not to mention, how am I supposed to find enough supplies to disguise it before we get to the school? Sanding it down might work, and some paint could make it seem to change wood color. Wait, wasn't whatever her name was, see my wand already?!’

 

“You're Harry Potter!” She heard the bushy haired girl exclaim from a little farther down the train. The girl's voice managed to catch a few other student's attention, resulting in them gossiping.

 

Elaine herself did not care too much, since he's the protagonist of the book it only made sense to her that if she interacted with him at all then an uncomfortable amount of attention would be placed onto her.

 

If hypothetically, she were to become friends with, or interact with Harry Potter too much, then if someone from her world was in a position to pull strings it would be obvious she wasn't a native of this world since her character most likely did not appear as a major character in the books.

 

‘Or maybe I did? She did? It's just a better idea to stay away from him.’ That idea made her pause, she would need to keep herself even more down-low than she thought. ‘If hypothetically, there is in fact a person trying to keep track of the wand that was sold and figure out who I am, and hypothetically, they are like me but they've read the Harry Potter story, if I make too many waves in literally anything I would stick out.’

 

Elaine felt like she was balancing on a tightrope. ‘I'll just hope my suspicions are wrong and no one is looking for me.’ That did not mean she would lower her guard however.

 

So, she moved away from the bushy haired girl and kept looking for a wand under the guise of searching for a toad.

 

…

 

“So, which house do you think you will be in?” The bushy haired girl asked Elaine while they continued looking through the train.

 

“Why, I could be in all of them. I am perfect therefore I belong to them all equally!” Elaine smiled while attempting to look down on her companion despite being quite a bit shorter than her.

 

“You can only be in one.” The girl frowned while she talked with a large amount of confidence that actually surprised Elaine.

 

“Hmph, well I say they should make a new one just for me.”

 

“That's ridiculous, why would they do that?”

 

Elaine blinked slowly at the girl. ‘Does she take everything this seriously? She must not have a lot of friends.’ She didn't know if it was a children thing or something this girl did, but she was not enjoying their conversation.

 

“Because I'm perfect, duh!” Elaine waved her hand as if the question previously asked was actually dumb.

 

“No one is perfect.” The girl stopped walking and looked at Elaine with an expression that was not appreciated.

 

“Quiet you dirty dog, I allow you to bask in my presence and this is how you treat me?! You should feel honored to even breathe the same air as me!” Elaine did not know if she should feel as good as she did for essentially bullying a child.

 

“Excuse me?! What did you call me?!” The bushy haired girl looked outraged.

 

“You heard me you filthy mutt-” A wand was pointed at her face. Elaine jumped back and slammed into the girl's bathroom door.

 

‘It would seem I got carried away and had too much fun with it.’

 

“I-I don't think you're allowed to do this.” Her voice trembled slightly, she realized she definitely went way too far with her insults.

 

The bushy haired girl's face was red, her hand shook as if she was barely restraining her anger.

 

“Apologize.” She demanded.

 

Seeing as Elaine completely felt that she was in fact in the wrong, she complied.

 

“I'm sorry.” Her danger premonition did not warn her about this.

 

‘Likely because she doesn't plan on actually harming me.’ It was a realization that came way too late, but by that point Elaine's facade was already forever cracked before this girl. ‘...She doesn't know any magic that can hurt me does she?’

 

Embarrassment flooded her for not realizing the lack of danger. ‘I should have expected this kind of reaction.’ Elaine liked to think she was decently smart, but sometimes when unexpected things happen she just panics.

 

The wand was held near her face for a few more seconds before the bushy haired girl huffed and walked away.

 

Elaine watched her leave, feeling bad for what she said. She did not mean any of it, but that was no excuse.

 

She looked down at the ground, shame making itself known for the way she acted.

 

‘Was I really acting? It felt so natural.’ Elaine walked back to her compartment. With her emotions twisting in her gut, she vaguely heard something.

 

‘Seventh floor.’

 

This repeated three times in her head. Startled, Elaine looked around for whoever said that before she realized something. ‘That came from inside my head.’

 

Her mind immediately went to a mental attack, then she remembered what her own abilities were.

 

‘Monsters sometimes see or hear things that allow us a glimpse into the future. Does that mean I eventually go to the seventh floor somewhere for some reason? Hogwarts has a seventh floor, is there something important there?’ No more answers came.

 

‘The voice felt very gentle, it had warmth in it. That doesn't feel normal.’ Elaine did not think that was a coincidence. She has heard and seen a couple of things from the future before but the tone they were delivered in was always cold.

 

‘Someone wanted me to hear that. Someone at Hogwarts? If they were able to let the information get to me, that suggests they're strong enough to prevent it from getting out too.’ It was intentional. Elaine did not know if she was being set up but given all her current information it certainly felt that way.

 

‘Why am I only hearing it now? Was it triggered by me? If this world has a spirit world, then the person who let it through was able to notice the hint from the future in there. Does that mean they're aware of who I am?’ The thought terrified Elaine enough that she almost wanted to get out of the train and start running in the opposite direction.

 

The train began to slow down at that moment. Elaine did not feel like she was in danger at that moment, but even if she was, how was she supposed to be able to trust her intuition if someone nearby is able to interfere with her hints from the spirit world?

 

‘I wish I had my own Sefirah Castle, it would make me feel way more safe.’ She chose to ignore the fact that even if she had access to something that could bypass any interference, she wouldn't even be able to use it given her lack of ability to cast divination at the moment.

 

Elaine turned towards her luggage and pulled the cloak out. Whatever it was, she could only hope it wasn’t malicious.

 

She began walking towards the girl's bathroom, frowning at her door's broken lock.

 

…

 

“It's already so dark.” Elaine mumbled after stepping out of the train.

 

“Firs’ years! Firs’ years this way!” A voice shouted from not too far away. Since everyone else followed the shouting, Elaine did as well.

 

The bushy haired girl she met earlier wasn't around and she felt a little relieved because of that.

 

The next stop was at the shore of a lake, where they were all met with dozens of small boats that only looked big enough to fit four children each.

 

Elaine looked around too long before she realized there were none that were still empty. That meant she would need to approach people.

 

She decided not to think too much about it and jumped into a boat that had three other girls in it who all seemed to be friends already. None of them even glanced at her.

 

The boats shook slightly before they moved on their own. Some type of magic, Elaine supposed. The water was extremely dark, to the point that she could hardly make out the waves.

 

“Duck yer’ heads!” The man in front shouted. Listening to the instructions, a large amount of vines passed overhead.

 

There were several gasps, and when Elaine turned to see what everyone was looking at, her heart nearly stopped.

 

Completely against her will, her spirit vision activated.

 

The sheer amount of magical energy that radiated from what might have looked like a castle if Elaine wasn't so blinded.

 

‘Is it really night? I'm starting to have my doubts.’ Yet despite how overwhelming it was, despite how blinding and absolutely terrifying it was, Elaine didn't feel like she was in danger.

 

The closer they got to the castle, the warmer she felt the air become. She could swear there was a voice humming in all of that magical energy, but she couldn't make it out.

 

Once they got off the boats, her legs shook. Each step closer made her feel insignificant.

 

Until she finally stepped inside the castle proper. And immediately she could feel its attention turn to her.

 

Despite her instincts telling her she was safe, Elaine nearly passed out at the feeling of being observed by something that she felt could tear her apart.

 

But nothing bad happened. In fact, she could even swear the magic was happy. Images flashed before her eyes.

 

Elaine walked back and forth in front of a painting that looked like it had something to do with trolls. A door suddenly appeared on the wall. It looked old, extremely old, with a silver handle. Her hand shakily grabbed it, then turned. Inside was a small podium, on top of which was a velvet pillow. Resting on that, was what might have been a tiara, or a crown. Her instincts screamed at her that it was dangerous.

 

Sweat trickled down Elaine's face as the vision ended. That was not a normal vision, she knew that instantly. The magic showed that to her. It had the same warmth that came from her last glimpse into the future.

 

‘Does the magic come from the castle itself?’ She could see every spec of magical energy engraved in every stone. There was no doubt in her mind, the castle was sentient to some degree. And it wanted her to get to that room for some reason.

 

Given the clues, she knew where to look. The seventh floor, for a painting with trolls. Walk by it a couple of times then the door will appear.

 

But in that vision, she knew the item was dangerous. The castle should have known that too, after all it's able to interfere with spirit world messages. But it still wanted her to find it.

 

She did not have much of a choice. Now that she was inside the castle itself, it could always make her go even if she didn't want to.

 

For some reason, the magic in the air seemed to hum with amusement.

Chapter 7: Premonition

Elaine's mood only improved after the attention of the castle left her. She didn't like that feeling, even if it probably didn't mean her harm. Something with so much magical energy being so focused on her nearly made her pass out.

 

“Trevor! There you are!” Elaine heard someone shout from the other side of the crowd of children.

 

‘Wasn't that the name of the toad I was helping to find?’ What she was doing could hardly be called helping since she was not looking for the small creature from the start.

 

‘Actually, that's a familiar hat. But I can't see anything else from all the way back here.’ She was not too angry about her lack of height, she's already experienced being way taller so being on the other end was interesting.

 

“I am Professor McGonagall, we will be entering the great hall where you will all be getting sorted into your houses. For the rest of your time at Hogwarts, these houses will be your family.”

 

Given what she's read, and that for her plan to work smoothly, Elaine needs to be surrounded by nice people. If someone in her dorm wants to do something to her wand for some reason she doesn't know, then that would only raise a false alarm she couldn't stand to have.

 

Hufflepuff is the obvious choice of house since one of its core qualities is pretty much “nice”.

 

The great hall nearly gave Elaine an aneurism. That one room gave her a headache even worse than the one she had in Diagon Alley. ‘I think I'm dying.’ She mentally whined.

 

‘Maybe I just haven't gotten used to being around so much magic yet, surely it will get better over time.’ The idea was one she could only hope would come true.

 

“...Is that hat singing?” She mumbled, half paying attention to what was going on around her. Her current focus was on trying to get her brain to stop feeling as if it were being struck by an ice pick.

 

Cogitation helped slightly but every first year student had yet to be sorted so she did not wish to get attention drawn to her for meditating.

 

Bad attention did not equate to good attention in her mind, and although she did not care if strangers thought bad of her, Elaine would rather have said bad opinion be mitigated by her positive qualities.

 

“Hannah Abbott.” McGonagall called from next to a stool.

 

‘Wait what's happening? What is that hat for again?’ Trying to focus made her head hurt.

 

The girl sat onto a wooden stool and had the old hat placed on her head. After a couple of seconds the singing hat shouted. “Hufflepuff!” In response, an entire table of students began clapping.

 

‘...’

 

Elaine's mind went blank. The noise on top of the magical overload was overwhelming. She wanted to get on the ground and curl up into a ball. She wanted to escape to the nearest exit.

 

“Elaine Auceptin.” She was the second person called.

 

With great effort, she made her way towards the seat, basically falling into it since sitting could not possibly be what she did.

 

The hat was placed on her head by McGonagall, and Elaine could only be happy that her sense of sight was cut off. Less stimulus would mean less pain, she thought.

 

“Hm? Oh! Hold on a second.”

 

She heard an old and gruff voice in her head which only made the pain worse. However, after a few seconds, it stopped.

 

The echoes of pain still left her twitching and slightly curled in on herself, but the direct assault of magic overload ceased.

 

“I have not seen such magic sensitivity for a long time. Give or take a couple more minutes and you may have had a seizure.” The voice spoke in a softer tone than before, likely trying to not overwhelm her.

 

‘Wait what?’ Elaine was still half on autopilot so it took a few seconds for her brain to catch back up.

 

“I blocked your mental connection to the surrounding magic. Well, blocked wouldn't be the right word, if it wanted to get in it could, and you'd still be able to access it if you tried. Seriously, I'd suggest you go to the school nurse immediately after this. Just tell Professor McGonagall what I told you, she'd understand.”

 

Elaine stiffened.

 

‘That would be bad, if I'm right and someone is looking for me, then this kind of oddity would probably catch their attention. Some stuck up and spoiled girl is one thing, there are dozens of those. But someone going to the nurse for magic sensory overload? That shouldn't be possible, if not highly difficult unless one is attuned to spirituality enough to be able to sense it on a deep level.’

 

Her thoughts stopped when she realized her mistake. Elaine completely forgot the thing on top of her head was speaking directly to her mind, thus it was probably able to read her thoughts.

 

“That… You are certainly different aren't you? There were only four other people I knew who used the term spirituality like you just did.”

 

Elaine's mind immediately went to the school's founders.

 

“Yes them, they had a teacher who they called ‘beyond magic’ whatever that means. But before that, I have a question for you to answer.”

 

‘A question?’ Elaine repeated.

 

“I was asked to give this question to every student by someone. I had little hope of anyone being able to answer it until now. You are already aware of the term spirituality after all.”

 

There were several thoughts that Elaine wanted to ask, but she had a feeling she would be getting her answers very soon. So she just hummed, getting the hat to continue.

 

“What is the true identity of the seer who ascended to godhood?”

 

Elaine's mind screeched to a halt.

 

‘Yup. There was someone like me. Who else would ask that question? What's the answer anyway? His name is Klein Moretti, though technically he had the title of The Fool as well. Or would it be Lord of the Mysteries? Maybe his original name-’

 

“Woah slow down!” The hat said louder than it was speaking before. “Klein Moretti and Lord of the Mysteries were both acceptable answers. My creator said he might have added The Fool as well but decided it may have been guessed accidentally.”

 

‘Oh.’ Elaine hummed.

 

“Well, regardless there is no doubt in my mind that you are who he was waiting for.”

 

‘Oh cool, do I get some secret lair, or a book with tons of secrets?’

 

The hat actually laughed at her question. “No, nothing like that. He did not leave a lot of stuff for me to tell you either since he was worried about my knowledge finding its way to someone malicious.”

 

Elaine deflated at the news.

 

With an amused tone, the hat spoke again. “He was the first headmaster of Hogwarts.”

 

She did not feel all too surprised by that bit of information.

 

‘Is it really that hidden? If it was a question given by the first headmaster's creation then why wouldn't people investigate him if they wanted the answer?’

 

The hat wiggled around a bit.

 

“Good question, why don't you figure that out for yourself though. I believe you'll find the answer amusing. Anyway, you've been up here for a couple of minutes now so what house would you like to go in?”

 

‘You're asking me?’

 

“Sure, if your earlier thoughts are to be believed then someone is looking for you. If you were able to gather that much without being discovered, I trust you're smart enough to know which house would put you in the best position possible.”

‘Hufflepuff.’ Elaine did not need any time to answer.

 

“Alright then. I wish you good luck.”

 

“Hufflepuff!” The hat shouted outloud, and once again Elaine's senses were hit with a ton of magic that made her want to go back under the mental protection.

 

She was very reluctant as she walked over to the Hufflepuff table, the people who clapped their hands did not make her headache any better.

 

Through the pain and pure energy. Elaine could not sense any danger nor anything powerful paying attention to her. She supposed that may have been good since she spent quite a while under that hat.

 

After she sat down, Elaine rested her head in her hands and immediately entered cogitation to soothe the pain lancing through her head.

 

It worked wonderfully even if it was not perfect.

 

‘I'm going to need to get used to this soon.’ If her condition did not improve, she wouldn't even be able to attend classes.

 

‘I still need another wand. My acting may as well go out the window if I don't get myself under control.’ She had two major problems at the moment. Elaine so far has not been able to figure out the acting rules for being a monster, but the more pressing issue was the wand.

 

The dinner passed, and Elaine did not eat a single thing even as her new housemates glanced at her with worried expressions.

 

The walk to the Hufflepuff common room passed in a blur, Elaine felt drunk after constantly entering and exiting cogitation. Her condition only got better the farther she got away from the large crowds of people.

 

It almost completely subsided once she got to the room she shared with three other girls.

 

Elaine flopped down onto her bed and wanted to fall asleep instantly. She didn't know if she could handle trying her half premonition, half divination work on her wand so she just decided to hide it under her clothes.

 

Elaine woke up the next morning and looked around in a daze. After a couple of moments her eyes snapped open as she hastily looked for her wand. Luckily, it was still under her pillow where she left it after realizing sleeping with the thing under her clothes would have been too uncomfortable. She grabbed it and sighed in relief at its presence.

 

Elaine blinked as her mind left the vision that spontaneously triggered. Then she groaned as she remembered what she saw in her vision earlier that day. ‘Should I try to find that room now?’ 

 

She really did not want to. But if her newest premonition was right then her wand was safe for now. Elaine would not implicitly trust her precognition since the castle was already able to interfere with it to a certain extent.

 

She moved her foot off the bed, not having made up her mind. ‘Maybe I should check out the common room? If no one is out there then maybe I could check it out. But I just want to go to bed.’

 

The instant her foot touched the ground, it felt like her heart stopped.

 

Pure terror engulfed every ounce of her being, horror creeped at the edges of her mind at such an astronomical scale that she could feel her skin starting to crack as Elaine rapidly spiraled towards losing control.

 

Yanking her foot back into bed, tears fell uncontrollably out of her eyes. She shook uncontrollably, breath unsteady and rapid.

 

‘Am I having a panic attack?’ The question rang out in her mind. She knew immediately that she absolutely could not go towards that place at that time.

 

Closing her eyes, she entered cogitation. The cracks on her skin began to recover, leaving only faint traces of light scarring on her pale skin.

 

Elaine knew. She knew that her paranoia was justified. Warmth embraced her body, she could feel the castle's warmth soothing her.

 

‘The castle wants me to get that tiara? Or was this a warning? Could my own sense of danger nearly cause me to lose control or was Hogwarts itself telling me that something terrible would happen to me if I went right now?’

 

Elaine couldn't stop shaking. Her fears were confirmed. ‘Why wasn't I shown who or what the danger was? Would seeing it alone be dangerous? No, surely not. Unless the thing was at least a demigod in their mythical creature form? Maybe my sense of danger prevented me from seeing it because I would not be able to control my reaction if I saw them? But that would mean it's something I would see commonly. Would my surprise or fear instantly alert them about who I am?’

 

She had no choice but to accept it. Something in the castle was looking for her.

Notes:

Fun Fact: Due to her values, Elaine would have gotten into Hufflepuff even if the hat was left to decide.

Chapter 8: Spare wand

Her breathing fixed itself as she held onto the wand she pulled out from under her pillow.

 

After a long night of half falling asleep, and constantly checking every corner of the room, Elaine no longer had the energy to worry over every slightly loud sound she would hear.

 

‘I panicked. I was scared. No, I am still scared. In fact, I'm so scared that I don't even want to leave my bed.’ She took deep breaths. Logically, she knew acting sporadically would be a bad decision. For the sake of her own life, she could not keep having such strong reactions when something like that happens.

 

‘The worst part, I think. I expected this outcome, but I hoped so badly that I was wrong that when it turned out I was right, I was completely blindsided.’

 

Elaine grabbed a spare change of clothes out of her unpacked suitcase and took it to the bathroom. Her every step shook.

 

‘What am I even doing here? I should run as soon as possible. Probably to another continent. But, if I'm already being looked for then running would be the obvious solution. So naturally they'd keep an eye out for students trying to flee the country.’

 

She leaned back into the locked bathroom door, her arms held onto her clothing in a vice grip.

 

‘I need to pull myself together.’ She demanded of herself.

 

But it was hard. She had practically no information on what was happening around her, she didn't know what to look for, she didn't know what to avoid. It was all so difficult.

 

‘...Such a pain.’ But despite it all, she smiled.

 

Elaine liked to think of herself as relatively smart, not a genius but perhaps a little above average. In a situation like this, with nothing to go on, where even the smallest mistake even if she didn't know she made it would spell her doom, she has yet to be caught.

 

She has survived so far hasn't she? ‘Sure, it may have only been a day, but that's something right? If I can get through today, then I would have survived two days. Then three, then soon it will be a week, then maybe a month, and perhaps… if I take things day by day, and I keep myself calm, and prepare since my life may very well depend on it. Perhaps I can survive a year.’

 

Elaine realized that she did not need to focus on everything at once. She did not need to try and accomplish everything she wanted to all at the same time as fast as possible.

 

All she needed was a plan, and to take things one step at a time.

 

The someone or something looking for her was just an obstacle to work around.

 

‘It will be okay.’ She assured herself. ‘As long as I'm careful, and as long as I keep calm… everything will be okay.’ Her heart seemed to steady itself.

 

And for some reason she felt more whole.

 

Somehow, Elaine knew what that feeling was. Her potion digested quite a bit.

 

‘Even as the world may bathe in madness, you will be okay as long as you don't lose yourself in it.’ Her smile became more genuine.

 

The person who stepped into that bathroom was a shaking mess with watery eyes. The person who left walked with self-assured confidence, and a small smile on her face. Even if her hands still trembled every now and then, she seemed a lot more in control than before.

 

…

 

Elaine sat still in the Hufflepuff common room, stomach hurting since she did not eat at the dining hall the night before, and currently she was skipping breakfast.

 

Her thoughts were spinning around one question in particular.

 

‘Where am I going to get another wand?’

 

She could steal it, but she felt like that was a bad idea. The thing trying to find her wouldn't be the only one looking at that point and she didn't know if there were any spells meant for detecting lost wands.

 

‘I need one no one would look for. Can I fake one? Are wands detectable? Would it be obvious if I made a fake?’ Her foot tapped against the ground in agitation.

 

‘Can I borrow one? But who would let me? If I said anything suspicious it could get out, and besides who would trust a stranger enough to just hand over their wand? Professor McGonagall saw what mine looked like so I'd need to disguise it to at least look a bit similar when viewed under heavy scrutiny.’

 

As her options dwindled, faking a wand seemed more and more appealing.

 

‘I'll just hope no one pays too much attention to it. This is not a permanent solution though, it may not even last a couple of days if I keep failing at magic.’

 

Elaine sighed then looked at her class schedule. A herbology, and history class, then lunch followed by flying. After that there would be two charms lessons.

 

‘An hour.’ Elaine did not have a stick that she could fashion into a wand. She has read the transfiguration textbook however, even if she has yet to attempt anything.

 

‘Let's just hope my intuition as a monster can help me here. After all, some people are considered monsters just for being ridiculously powerful. Would it not be fitting if I was scarily good at picking up a few basic skills?’

 

Elaine pulled out her wand and put a clay vase on the table in front of her. ‘I can do this.’ She mentally prepared herself before she pointed her wand at the object in front of her.

 

“...”

 

“What was the incantation again?” She mumbled.

 

“Incantation for what?” A voice spoke from right next to Elaine. She jumped and reflexively punched the person who spooked her in the face while she slipped her wand under her arm.

 

“Ow!” The male voice shouted as he held his nose.

 

“Oh shit, I'm sorry!” Elaine looked at the boy, he was definitely older than her and he had dark hair. His eyes seemed to be some shade of gray.

 

“No, no. My bad, I didn't mean to sneak up on you.” He took his hands away from his face and gently tapped his nose. “Well, it's not bleeding so that's good.” He had a warm and genuine smile.

 

“Oh.” She quickly remembered her acting. “Hmph, well take this as a lesson then. The next time you do something like that, I won't hold back.” She crossed her arms for emphasis.

 

The boy just chuckled as if amused by her attitude. “You weren't at breakfast and I noticed you looked pretty awful last night so I brought something up for you… Don't tell anyone, I don't think I'm allowed to do this.” He brought out an empty hand then muttered something while he waved his wand.

 

The air seemed to turn inside-out as a plate full of food made itself visible.

 

“Huh, how'd you do that?” Elaine forgot her acting again.

 

“This? Oh, it's a simple illusion charm. Not any good at effectively making something invisible but it's good enough that no one will notice it with just a glance.” Elaine nodded as she studied the food.

 

There were eggs and toast, about as basic as one could get she supposed.

 

“I had a terrible headache… Also I get nervous around crowds.” She added the last part in so this boy wouldn't try dragging her somewhere after a while.

 

“Ah, I see. I guess it must have been awful yesterday. You were pretty out of it.” She did not even remember him.

 

“So what were you trying to do?” He asked while pointing at the clay vase still on the table.

 

“Hm? Oh, just some transfiguration practice before class.” Elaine shrugged while she kept her wand beneath her forearm.

 

“I see, I wouldn't recommend that. Transfiguration is extremely difficult, it even involves complex math.” The boy looked up as if in wonder. “Maybe that's why some people don't seem to like it.”

 

Elaine looked at him, confused. “Because it has math?”

 

The boy for his part only shrugged. “It's just a guess, honestly. Tons of people struggle with it. You'd be lucky to get even a slight change over an hour of constant attempts.”

 

Elaine frowned. “Then can you do it?” She asked.

 

“Do what? Transfiguration? I can.” He was a bit confused at her question.

 

“Well, I need to turn this vase into a wand you see, it would be best if it had a hint of red in it.” She smiled nervously.

 

The boy raised an eyebrow. “I suppose I could… But it wouldn't work. May I ask why?” Despite his confusion, he still turned his wand towards the vase.

 

“Well you see.” Elaine's mind spun for half a second before settling. “I may have seen some older students doing something inappropriate, and I'm sure they're angry at me. Unfortunately they saw my wand so I'm afraid they'll see it and figure out who I am.” Her tone was soft, and her eyes darted to the side as if she was very embarrassed.

 

The boy stared at her for a few seconds before he sighed. “Well, if that's your reason I don't see why I can't help.” He waved his wand towards the item on the table.

 

For some reason, Elaine got the feeling he didn't believe her. With a swish and a “magicum” the clay vase transformed into an eleven inch brown wand that seemed to have a hint of red in certain lighting.

 

Her expression froze. “You are good.” She mumbled.

 

“Haha, I don't think so, really I just practiced for a while since I had no idea what to send my father for his birthday. Then, I just made him some trinkets, I think he liked them.” The boy laughed.

 

“Right.” Regardless of his reason, Elaine did not allow the boy even a glance at her wand. The situation felt too coincidental in her eyes.

 

‘My paranoia is really guiding me in everything I do isn't it?’ She mused to herself.

 

“Oh, your name was… Auceptin, right? You were the girl who was under the hat for quite a while.” Elaine was startled.

 

“Huh?! You're telling me that's not normal?!” Despite making a promise to herself not to get panicked so easily anymore, actually following through with it was another matter entirely.

 

“Not really? At least it's not super common. Typically it's around five to ten seconds, though every now and then you'll get someone who's under there for a minute. Another girl was under there even longer than you actually were.”

 

Her heart seemed to calm down slightly at the explanation. ‘At the rate my pulse has been going from fast to slow in these past couple of days I think I'll end up getting a heart attack.’

 

“Oh right. My name is Cedric Diggory by the way.”

 

Elaine hummed after picking up the new wand. “Elaine Auceptin.” It was smaller than hers slightly, browner too. It was different, which was good.

 

‘Now, I just need to customize it.’ The second layer for her wand disguise would be easier. She could simply “accidentally” drop ink on it.

 

“Classes will be starting in around fifty minutes. Do you know where you're going?” Cedric asked her.

 

“Uh, I think there was a map in one of my books.” She tapped the new wand against her cheek.

 

“Ah, I'll get you one then. The ones they have in the Hogwarts history books aren't detailed enough.” He stood up and walked over towards a shelf on the wall of the room.

 

“Here, just tell me where your classes are and I'll mark them down for you.” He sat next to her then set the map down.

 

Elaine supposed Cedric was a kind boy, even if she did not fully trust him. Paranoia told her she couldn't. But it's been so long since she's had a friend, it felt nice to be able to talk to someone instead of talking at them.

 

She mentally kicked herself for not acting and instantly changed her entire demeanor.

 

Cedric for his part only looked amused by her antics.

Chapter 9: Raphael

Elaine hovered her “wand” above a feather and chanted the incantation given by the professor.

 

As expected, nothing happened.

 

The fake wand was a temporary solution that would not stand up to anyone investigating it, but for the time being she needed to use something openly.

 

Class had been going by slowly since she knew she wouldn't be able to learn anything. Elaine was tempted to use cogitation to pass the time but she did not want to express the image of a lazy student.

 

“Are you sure you're doing the motions correctly?” A shy girl asked from her right.

 

Glancing over towards the blonde, Elaine smirked. “Of course I am, maybe it's the feathers fault for not listening.” The girl looked at her confused.

 

“They can do that?” The poor impressionable child began cooing to the feather on her desk. “Poor little guy, could you please let me float you? I'm sure you're very tired from all my tries but I would be so happy if you could help me out just once.”

 

The students around the girl looked at her as if she grew a second head. Then, the shy girl waved her wand in a certain motion.

 

“Wingardium Leviosa.”

 

Against all odds, the feather started floating.

 

Elaine's eyes widened in shock. ‘That had to be the placebo effect. There is no possible way speaking to inanimate objects makes them more likely to obey you.’

 

Like a plague, other students began whispering to their feathers. Fortunately, only two of them actually succeeded in their next attempts at spell casting.

 

Elaine did not know what her reaction would have been had everyone suddenly gotten the spell down perfectly due to her nonsense.

 

…

 

“And then I made a few too many muffins by accident, so my dad asked me why our dinner table was covered in them. Eventually he just took them to work and shared them with his colleagues. They said the muffins were good though.”

 

Elaine could not physically stop herself from listening to the girl who started following her like a lost puppy after what happened in the charms classroom.

 

At first she thought it was some kind of magic spell before she realized focusing on one individual thing seemed to be able to hold off her headaches. Once her brain realized that, she could no longer help herself.

 

‘Well, I guess there are worse people to have as stalkers.’ Elaine mused.

 

“We're going into the library, you may want to be quiet.” She actually wanted the girl to stop talking. Not for any negative reasons, rather it was because this girl's normal volume was a whisper.

 

Elaine didn't mind the girl all too much, she just needed to focus on her upcoming research session.

 

“Oh okay.” The girl said in an even quieter voice that made Elaine grin.

 

“Right, what was your name again?” The two of them entered the school library, passed by the reception desk and went right towards the books.

 

“Noelle Calme.” The girl whispered. Elaine nodded, then looked through books while she thought about the subject of her curiosity.

 

‘Going after wand lore right from the start would be a bit telling. Actually, do I even need to do that anymore? I'm damn sure my wand is special in some way given how I collapsed at even the passing thought about sneaking into that hidden castle room. I may not be completely right, but I feel like I'm close enough to be able to assume there's more to my wand than what meets the eye. They could be unrelated though…’

 

She shook her head.

 

‘I'm sounding like a conspiracy theorist. I'll check it out later regardless, I need as much concrete information as I can get. For now there's someone in particular I want to look into. This shouldn't be a strange topic if the sorting hat really does ask that question to everyone.’

 

Elaine's hand found its way to a book about the founders of Hogwarts and the first headmaster.

 

Noelle looked over her shoulder at the book then grabbed something about plants. The two of them walked towards a table and started reading.

 

“Information about the founders of Hogwarts is very scarce. The same can also be said for the first headmaster. Some reports speculate that he was the student of the founders while others say the reverse. Accurate information regarding any of these notorious figures seems almost contradictory at times, and written records from eyewitness accounts portray these people as if they were something else. Something greater than a simple witch or wizard. Anyone who ever interacted with them knew one thing. They were beyond magic.”

 

Elaine's eyes narrowed. ‘Could it be that they were all beyonders? The hat alluded to the fact that his creator was the first headmaster of Hogwarts… Wait, what does this book say about that?’

 

“The founders' lives were all shrouded in mystery with very few facts being known. The only thing that can be assumed is that they all embodied the traits of their house. Their magic was unparalleled, they created Hogwarts itself and in order to help students find where they belong, a magical hat that could see deep into your soul.”

 

Elaine knew that a lot of that information was wrong. ‘The hat could only read my mind, and if it could see my soul, it definitely wasn't a deep look. But the hat also said “my creator” so was that the first headmaster?’

 

That was the extra tid bit of information that made Elaine realize something.

 

‘Wait, people think it was the founders who made that hat? It's just a passing mention too. Is there anything else about the first headmaster?’

 

She flipped through pages, and looked for any information that seemed helpful. But it was pointless. The person she was looking into was only mentioned a couple more times for being close with the founders but nothing more. There wasn't even a name.

 

A frown formed on her face.

 

‘This is ridiculous. Maybe it's intentional?’

 

Elaine sat the book down and rested her head into her palm.

 

‘It might be. But who would go out of their way to hide information about the first headmaster? Should I try and find more books about the topic? What if someone is keeping track of people who look too deeply into them? It shouldn't be too strange though, right? The hat gave out the riddle so-’

 

Elaine felt her blood turn cold.

 

‘No, the book said it was the founders of Hogwarts that made the hat. If I went to look for information about the first headmaster instead of the founders, it would be extremely suspicious. Sure I could be just curious, but that would narrow down the number of people looking into this subject a lot wouldn't it.’

 

Elaine took the book and moved back towards the shelves.

 

‘Does that mean I'm being watched right now? If I went straight to a book about the first headmaster, would that be the equivalent of raising a giant board above my head saying “look at me?”'

 

She set the book back where she got it, then picked another one up about the four founders.

 

Her body trembled slightly at the idea that something was observing her.

 

Her eyelids twitched, spirit vision activating at her desire to find that entity.

 

Elaine opened the book, back to the bookcase. A glance around the room told her nothing.

 

She walked away from the tables and started muttering in a soft tone.

 

“I wonder who that first headmaster guy was. The book said it was also about him, but there was hardly anything there. Maybe he was Merlin?” She chuckled at the thought.

 

It took every ounce of control she had not to tremble in fear at her own actions.

 

‘It might draw some attention to me but what other choice do I have? I don't even know what the danger is, I need something to work with!’ It was a giant risk and she knew that. If she had things her way, she would have just stayed in bed and never left.

 

Elaine arrived in front of a shelf filled with books about the history of all the school's headmasters and searched for one specifically about the first.

 

When her eyes glazed past one inconspicuous book, her danger sense caused her to instinctively deactivate her spirit vision.

 

‘Something's there.’ She memorized the location of the book and did not allow her sight to linger for even an instant. Elaine knew that if she actually saw something, she would not be able to hide her reaction.

 

Eventually her gaze landed on what looked like a children's book. It had pictures of several old men holding tea in front of a cartoonish Hogwarts.

 

Elaine set the book about the founders down and flipped through the childish one.

 

‘Raphael Flegrea? Flegrea? Like the Demonic Wolf? This can't be a coincidence. Did he belong to the darkness pathway?’

 

A chill passed over her shoulders.

 

Elaine closed the book and put it back where she found it. “Jeez, I can see why he wasn't put in the history book. He's so boring.”

 

She turned her back on that section of the library and casually made her way back.

 

‘Flegrea… Why is information about you being tracked? Surely this isn't your doing, otherwise you would not have had your name be the prize for that little quiz that hat gave. Unless this is your way of finding other people like us?’

 

It was a reasonable thought. Except something about it did not feel right.

 

‘I'm missing information. I can sit here and speculate all day but I won't get any closer to the truth.’ Elaine knew one thing for certain. Her life was at risk. Why? She didn't know. What was the danger? She only had guesses.

 

She knew what they were looking for though, so she could avoid most of the suspicion. Her risky expedition confirmed one thing.

 

‘Something is looking out for anyone searching too deeply into the first headmaster.’ A confirmation about him being a transmigrator like her was never the goal, she knew that already.

 

‘I'm on the right track though.’ She now knew who she needed to investigate.

 

Elaine sat next to Noelle and opened her new book while pretending to read it.

 

‘I need to advance my sequence. The acting isn't the problem right now, I need to figure out what the next potion formula is and I have yet to even discover if this world has any beyonder associations.’ Her venture to the castle was enlightening. And she knew there was that room on the seventh floor that would likely be of some help if the castle was so insistent on her seeing it.

 

‘But I'm too weak.’ She had no idea where she would even find what she needed.

 

‘I'll be under less scrutiny once I'm away from the school, I can attempt searching then. Until that happens, I should try and gather funds. Hogwarts: A History said there was a broom sport where students would often place bets right? I can use my clairvoyance to figure out who would win. But it's unreliable, it doesn't work on everything. Even then I don't have anything to bet.’

 

Her eyes turned towards the girl beside her who was softly humming while she read a book about magical plants.

 

‘I could borrow some. Jeez this makes me sound so shady. Oh yes, give me your money and I will return double the amount back to you.’

 

Elaine shook her head, amused by her own thoughts.

 

‘Even if I found potion ingredients, let alone a recipe. It might cost a lot. Information too. Books cost money.’ She sighed.

 

‘I'm looking for something I'm not even sure exists. But I need to do it anonymously otherwise I'll be tracked. I'm only a sequence 9! Give me a break!’

 

Noelle seemed to have noticed her frustration since she slid her head on top of Elaine's book.

 

“You alright?” The concern was apparent by her tone.

 

“Yeah, I just have a difficult problem I need to solve. Every avenue to answer it is incredibly long and tedious though.”

 

Noelle nodded, not understanding at all, but still showed her support nonetheless.

 

‘In order to stay safe, I need to get stronger, but in order to get stronger, I need more information, but getting information would put me in danger. A true ouroboros, how fitting.’

Chapter 10: Calm in the storm

Elaine huffed as she practiced the levitation charm on her bed. Her roommates were out for the time being so she thought she may as well try and learn something.

 

“Wingardium Leviosa.” She swished then flicked her wand. Instantly, her pillow started to float.

 

‘Hm. That was easier than I thought.’

 

Something felt wrong about what she did, so after making a couple minor adjustments to her wand motions, she tried again.

 

The pillow floated the same as before.

 

“That's odd.” She muttered. “There's no real difference in outcome but I knew I was doing something wrong. A minor connection that didn't change anything?”

 

Elaine activated her spirit vision to try and see the difference.

 

Once with the slightly off motion.

 

Once with the adjusted ones.

 

Again. Then again, and again, and again, and again, until she noticed it.

 

“The magic is being wasted when I perform it wrong.” That wasn't to say she was using more magical energy, or in her case, spirituality, but the amount that was being used by the spell was slightly different.

 

“It would probably be noticed better on a bigger scale.” Elaine looked over at one of the room's dressers then walked in front of it.

 

She pointed her wand then spoke the incantation. “Wingardium Leviosa.” While she did this, her spirit vision was activated.

 

“Size and weight seem to matter a lot when lifting something don't they?” She mused as she barely got the object to lift at all.

 

Elaine cut off the spell and used her intuition to find out where the biggest mistakes she made were.

 

“I made a shell around it, though the dresser started slipping. There was no need to focus so much magic on the top when gravity was already pulling it down. If I just readjust that slightly… Wingardium Leviosa.”

 

The dresser floated much easier. Elaine nodded to herself. It was not perfect, but she guessed certain charms would work differently on different objects so it wouldn't help her too much if she mastered lifting one specific item.

 

Knock

 

Knock

 

Elaine slid her wand under her robe sleeve just as the door opened. The person on the other side was Noelle, who she only learned earlier that day was one of her roommates.

 

“Hey, did you finish the potions homework?” The girl asked quietly.

 

“Of course I did, how could you even ask such a question? Do you take me for an imbecile?” Elaine spoke with a haughty tone.

 

“Oh, that's good. Because I'm struggling on mine. Could you help me?”

 

Elaine looked at the girl for a long few seconds before she sighed.

 

“Sure, come over here.” She patted the side of her bed and watched as the shy girl smiled and ran over to her. The sight looked very childish.

 

‘It feels so weird.’ Elaine thought to herself while she gently instructed her roommate. ‘I'm constantly so worried about being caught, or messing up then dying in some horrible way. Yet here I am just doing something so mundane like helping my friend out with her homework.’

 

Elaine paused and looked at the other girl. Noelle noticed and tilted her head, confused.

 

The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds before Elaine wrapped her friend into a hug.

 

“Heh?” The taller girl squeaked.

 

“Shut up, you're my pillow now, and I'm tired. I helped you with your homework so this is the least you can do.”

 

Noelle did not protest, she simply patted her best friend on the back and smiled at the relaxed expression on the unpredictable girl's face.

 

“Have a nice nap.” She spoke in a soft tone.

 

Elaine almost equated the warmth she felt to the one someone would get when being held by their mother.

 

‘I wonder what that feels like.’ She thought to herself.

 

Then she wondered if what she was doing was bad or not. To let her worries go for even a little while, and lay in the arms of a girl she only just met.

 

Maybe one day she could consider this girl her sister in all but blood, but that was an event far off in the future. At the moment, Elaine did not want to think about the future.

 

‘Just for a little while, I want to rest. I don't want to worry.’ It was a space in time where she did not have much to do. Any progress on her research hit a roadblock in the library and her knowledge about the beyonder world failed her in her current situation.

 

She knew something would change. Somewhere deep down, she knew her peace would not last forever. It was not intuition, nor was it a premonition. It was something beyond that, something unexplainable that she would only be able to understand once it happened.

 

The two laid there for hours, comfortable silence cast over the room like a fog. Warm sunlight poured through the window and highlighted Elaine's golden hair.

 

“Is this what it feels like to be a cat?” She mumbled, half aware of reality.

 

“If it is, I wish I was a cat all the time.” A voice whispered into the back of her head.

 

“Isn't Professor McGonagall able to turn into a cat?”

 

“Oh you're right.”

 

“What kind of cat was she again?”

 

“Hm… I don't remember.”

 

The two of them talked about random things. Nothing important, just whatever came to either of their minds that they wanted to say.

 

“You better not have any of my hair in your mouth. And if you drool even a little bit I'm kicking you to the floor.” Elaine grumbled, even if she knew she would not go through with her threats.

 

“Mhm.”

 

There were some points where the two of them were unable to tell their dreams from reality. Either experience felt good to them.

 

For a time, Elaine felt truly relaxed. The burden of her circumstances no longer weighed on her.

 

…

 

“Miss Auceptin, I've noticed that your advancement in magic has not been going too well. Is everything okay?” The concerned face of Professor McGonagall looked down at Elaine with a worried expression.

 

“Oh yeah, sorry I guess I just don't have that much dexterity. Moving my wand in different motions is very difficult for me, you see.” She said with an embarrassed smile.

 

Professor McGonagall sighed. “If that's the issue, I'd recommend you practice more in your free time.”

 

Elaine smiled. “I will, Professor.”

 

“I'm serious, your potions, history, and herbology grades are all very good. And you know the charms and transfiguration theory well, I'm sure you can accomplish great things if you just put your mind to it.”

 

Elaine never had such encouraging teachers before, she could almost see the truth in every word the woman across from her said.

 

“Of course, I will do better. Maybe I'm just still nervous from all the magic stuff you know?” She smiled nervously.

 

McGonagall chuckled lightly. “It usually takes students who aren't used to magic a while to adapt. I don't blame you at all, and I would be lying if I said you were the only one having this issue.”

 

The two of them noticed that the sun seemed to have set some time during their conversation.

 

“Oh, it would seem that I kept you longer than I intended to.”

 

Elaine shook her head. “It's fine, you didn't mean to.”

 

McGonagall smiled and waved her away. “Well, you best be off now. The Halloween dinner will be starting soon.”

 

Elaine nodded and left the room. She sighed and started walking towards the Great Hall.

 

‘Nothing. I'm not getting anything done and it's been nearly two months since I've entered this school. So far, no one has attempted stealing my wand which I suppose is a good thing. But then there's that book in the library that was being watched over. Every time I went back, I could sense danger in that direction… At least I made two friends.’

 

She considered that an accomplishment since she was always bad at making friends who would stick around her for long periods of time. So the fact that she had two that continued to talk to her months after they met was remarkable.

 

Then, inexplicably. Without warning, an unpredictable event occurred, Elaine heard something.

 

‘Get the book.’

 

Elaine did not have time to plan or wait, instinctively she knew that there was an opening.

 

She took off in the direction of the library while pulling her cloak's hood up. No one was around, the moving portraits that hung on the walls didn't even seem to notice her. Magic hummed in the air, it distorted her past, present, and future.

 

The moving staircases were perfectly aligned to allow her the most direct way of entering the library.

 

A sign hung out front.

 

“No entry.”

 

The librarian was not there. Almost everyone in the castle at that point were either in the Great Hall or heading there for the Halloween feast.

 

Elaine opened the door and sprinted past bookshelves, eventually finding her way to that inconspicuous book all the way in the back. The same one that just looking at before made her instinctively deactivate her spirit vision.

 

Said spirit vision allowed her to see that there was truly nothing watching over it.

 

Without wasting any time, Elaine stuffed the book under her clothes then made a break for it out of the room.

 

Her spirit vision allowed her to see the magic of the castle doing something to her the entire time. She got the feeling it was hiding her presence.

 

Once she left the library, she paused for a second, then looked down both potential avenues for her escape.

 

One of them led towards the Great Hall, while the other would take her to her dorm.

 

‘What do I do? Do I return to the Hufflepuff common room and hide this? Or do I go to the Great Hall so people are aware of where I am?’ Elaine knew what the better choice was, so she turned to the direction of the Great Hall.

 

She then paled and began sprinting in the opposite direction.

 

The moment she considered joining everyone else, her premonition for danger began screaming at her. Whatever was guarding the book she had on her was coming back, and it was coming from the direction she almost went in.

 

Elaine's legs and lungs hurt at her exertion but she did not allow herself to stop running. After a minute, she wound up on the first floor and kept moving towards her destination.

 

Vision blurred, red and purple seeped together as she saw something that had yet to happen.

 

Elaine kept her sprint up as she ran down the only hallway that led to the Hufflepuff common room that didn't require her to go through exposed corridors. Up ahead she saw a giant grotesque mountain of a beast swinging a wooden club into a door. The thing broke open, there were several screams that sounded like they came from children.

 

Her vision returned to normal as she kept running. Passing through the same passage she saw in her premonition.

 

‘Shit, I can't fight that. My magic isn't good enough, and besides I'm already exhausted.’ Elaine did everything in her power to not focus on how tired she was.

 

‘Do I try to go around? Do I try to help? What good would I do? I would just add to the death total. Why is that thing loose in the castle anyway?!’

 

Elaine did not know what to do, and as she saw the beast appear in her vision, she wanted to turn around. But she refused to turn around, the fear she got at looking at the monster before her paled in comparison to the one who had probably already noticed the missing book.

 

She did not want to leave children to die, but what good could she do in her current condition?

Chapter 11: Levitation

The door slammed open and Hermione Granger screamed as bits and pieces of wood scattered in every direction. A few of them got stuck in her hands as she tried crawling to the nearest corner of the girl's bathroom.

 

The two boys who barged in earlier to get her to safety were covered in splinters.

 

“Wait, I thought the troll was in the dungeons.” Harry Potter groaned out while his arms and face twitched in pain.

 

“This is the troll?!” Ron Weasley shouted while he ducked, barely avoiding getting his head taken off by a violent club.

 

Bang

 

A loud sound resonated throughout the room. All of the occupants felt as if their ears would start bleeding.

 

The world seemed to tilt as all of them stumbled at the sudden feeling of vertigo.

 

They had little time to get their bearings, because once they did, another club strike was already being swung at them.

 

Hermione was once again the target, however Harry pushed her out of the way.

 

A spark of magic went unnoticed as the club smashed into the boy.

 

Snap

 

His arm bent in a way he didn't know it could, and the boy who lived was sent tumbling across the ground until he slammed into a stall door.

 

Hermione and Ron screamed, as they believed they just witnessed someone die.

 

The troll however looked at the club confused. It was lighter than before, in fact it was almost completely weightless. Since this was a bludgeoning weapon, the sudden weightlessness made it significantly less effective.

 

The beast growled and started to raise the weapon again to continue its attack regardless of the state of the weapon.

 

Then it grew heavier again.

 

The troll misjudged the strength needed and tried to use more in order to pick the thing up. Except it grew even heavier than normal, as each second passed, its weight increased until it took double the original effort in order to lift it.

 

It would jerk in one direction, then another in no simple pattern. When the troll tried to lift it, the weapon would grow heavier. When it tried to swing it, there would be massive resistance.

 

As this happened, Hermione and Ron ran over to the downed boy and started lifting him up so they could drag him out of the room.

 

They were confused by what they saw. Unfortunately, their luck didn't last long since eventually the troll decided to throw the club away and charge at the three students, using its body as the weapon.

 

Ron shoved Harry to the side, which caused the boy's limp body to land on Hermione, taking them both down to the ground. The redhead could not avoid the follow up as he was punched into a nearby wall.

 

He immediately started to cough. He felt a warm liquid invade his throat and could not get the smell of copper out of his mind.

 

Hermione looked as if she was in a daze. Tears fell out of her eyes at the hopeless situation in front of her. At that moment she could only blame herself. She would be the reason those two died. If they didn't come to help her, they would have been fine. Nothing much would have been lost had the troll only found her.

 

The club from before raised high into the air and Hermione closed her eyes.

 

Images flashed before her eyes, ones of her family, the first time she performed magic, and even that insufferable girl on the train who got into Hufflepuff somehow.

 

Hermione did not want to die, she wanted to at least make one friend before that. She wanted to learn more spells, she wanted to be held by her parents one last time.

 

Then she remembered the troll wasn't holding the club when it ran at them.

 

Bang

 

One resounding sound that seemed deafening, followed by what sounded like liquid splattering.

 

One wall was sprayed in blood as the club caved in the side of the beast's head. Hermione watched with a numb expression as the troll fell to the ground dead.

 

Behind it was what looked like a black shadow that ran off before she could try to focus on it. Silent steps did not reach her as the person who killed the troll ran faster than what Hermione thought was possible.

 

She blinked, and tried to process what just happened.

 

“We're alive.” She whispered. Even after she said it, she could not believe it.

 

Harry was still laying on top of her unconscious. Ron was coughing up blood against a wall, and the thing that tried to kill them was dead.

 

It felt surreal. Internally, Hermione wondered if what she saw was real. Or if it was a dream right before death.

 

After a minute, multiple footsteps registered to the girl, and multiple adults burst into the destroyed girl's bathroom.

 

There were a few of them, but Hermione could only see their vague outlines since her vision was blurred. Whether it was from tears or the black spots in her eyes she did not know. She, who was still in shock, couldn't hear anything they were saying, after a short while she could not see any more either. Everything faded to black, and every student in that bathroom was unconscious.

 

…

 

Elaine slunk into her bedroom, hid the book and her wand under her mattress then hobbled over to the bathroom.

 

She got back to the common room just as the last members of Hufflepuff were entering. Apparently every house was made to go back to their rooms since there was an emergency.

 

Elaine locked the bathroom door behind her, and not bothering with tidiness, she threw her clothes onto the floor and jumped right into the shower. The cold water that took its time getting hot did not bother her since it all felt the same at the moment to her.

 

The sweat that coated her like a second layer of skin was washed away as Elaine scrubbed herself raw. She felt detached from herself, despite everything, she actually felt extremely calm.

 

‘The troll was kind of weak.’ She mused. ‘I knew I could do it of course. I'm very talented after all.’ She had a smug grin on her face.

 

Elaine would have been screwed if the beast turned around, she knew that much. The best she could do in that situation would be to run away.

 

The boy in particular, she barely managed to use her weightless charm to redirect the force of gravity on the club against where it was being hit. It slowed the weapon down enough so that he wasn't torn in half.

 

Using the Wingardium Leviosa spell to redirect the gravity of an object was something she had never thought of in depth before. In theory it was workable if one manipulated the intent and flow of magic, both of which Elaine was good at in an extraordinary way that came with having an innate ability to tell when something she was doing was wrong or not.

 

She knew there was a better incantation, she knew there was a better wand motion even if she didn't know what they were. But she used the magic and intention right on a parallel spell, so it worked although not nearly as well as it would have had she done everything right.

 

‘Manipulating the way a spell works on the fly. Really, Professor Flitwick would ask if I was trying to get myself killed.’

 

Elaine was thankful for her ability as a monster for having a keen sense of danger.

 

‘If this is the kind of shit I can pull as a sequence 9, I wonder what I will be able to do once I advance further.’

 

She was excited.

 

“Wait… I didn't bring any clothes in with me…” Elaine helplessly called out. “Noelle? Noelle! Are you there? Oh, you are? Okay, I sort of forgot to bring my clothes with me, could you go inside my suitcase and bring me my-”

 

She was so glad each room had their own bathroom connected to them.

 

After a couple of minutes, Noelle came back and handed Elaine her clothes through the slightly cracked door.

 

“How embarrassing.” She flushed at her forgetfulness.

 

Due to her vicious actions that resulted in her killing something, the monster potion digested more. She supposed that if she laughed like a maniac while drenching herself in blood would have been better but Elaine did not want to get some kind of disease from doing that.

 

She would have preferred not to be seen at all.

 

“That girl saw me though.” She mumbled. “Only for a bit, I had the brilliant idea of using the levitation charm on my clothes to run faster so hopefully she didn't get a good look at me.”

 

Even though her hood was drawn, her height was still a very noticeable detail. So was the extra colors of her cloak that indicated which house she belonged to.

 

Elaine pulled her sleep wear on. “Hopefully she didn't notice anything.” She picked up her dirty clothes then threw them with the rest. After that she left the bathroom and hobbled over towards her bed and flopped down.

 

…

 

“Hm… I wonder if it was planned.” A whisper hummed inside the Hogwarts library, a voice that was neither masculine nor feminine.

 

“A troll was released, and a Professor made their way towards the philosopher's stone. I was gone to check up on the incident for only a few minutes and when I came back, the book was gone.”

 

A translucent form flowed into the air, looking down at the entire room all at once.

 

A vision made its way through the spirit world and echoes of coherent information were blocked.

 

“Anti-divination?” The voice sounded surprised.

 

The translucent figure hummed. “Did they know about the importance of that book? Obviously, otherwise they wouldn't have stolen it when the opportunity presented itself. So, was it all staged? The troll incident in order to get me to investigate, then in the short period of time when I'm gone they would steal the book?”

 

The echoes of the spirit world hummed again.

 

“It's still in the castle? That makes sense. So the castle is actively helping this little thief. I should have expected that much given the people who created this place. The final wand of that tree we were unable to find has found its owner. Now, in that same year, his book goes missing.”

 

Someone related to him then? There are only a few members of his family left. Actually, there are three potential options. One of them is in Azkaban so it's definitely not him. One of them is being watched by the current headmaster, so if it's him I can't do anything. The last one is pretty alone though, even if his family would definitely provide him assistance would we try to make a move.”

 

The seer who became a god, that was the riddle, yet there's never been any information on anyone calling themselves a seer who was of any importance. What could that man have been thinking?”

 

“If the person who let the troll loose was the same person who stole the book, then would that make them connected to that Professor who went after the stone?”

 

The figure tried to snatch it for himself before, but he couldn't find it. All that was behind the childish traps was a mirror.

 

“It might be that boy actually. But his wand isn't the same, I checked. Maybe the person who stole the book and the person who got the wand are two different people? But both of them are connected so it can't be a simple coincidence. Maybe it's a fake? Maybe the wand he uses is a spare and his real one is hidden? Investigating that boy will be difficult since he's directly under that man's nose, but give or take a few months I can probably do it.”

 

Course of action decided, the translucent figure left his post and began scouring the castle.

Chapter 12: Admiration

Noelle Calme woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of pages turning. She sat up and looked around. One of her roommates was asleep, another wasn't even in her room, and her best friend's bed was messed up but she wasn't present either.

 

She looked around, until she found the source of the sound. In front of the window stood a familiar girl, she had chin length blonde hair and soft facial features.

 

The girl had a pretty bland looking book in her hands. She was using the moonlight to read better.

 

Noelle couldn't help but imagine Elaine in reading glasses. Internally she hummed. Maybe she would give her some for Christmas.

 

“You alright?” She mumbled, tests having taken most of her energy.

 

Elaine flinched, then looked up at her. A smug smile made its way to her face. “Hm? Waking up just to see me? I know I'm amazing but you shouldn't jeopardize your sleep schedule.”

 

Noelle smiled despite not understanding a few of the words her best friend said. “You're right. M’ sorry.”

 

The grin on Elaine's face fell into something more genuine. “Of course I'm right, when am I ever wrong?”

 

Noelle chuckled lightly. “True, you're super smart.”

 

The smug grin returned. "What was that? I couldn't hear you.”

 

She was fishing for compliments and they both knew it.

 

“You're super smart, the smartest I've ever met. Others can only ever hope to be like you.”

 

Elaine's grin only grew more and more. “Mhm, and don't you forget it.”

 

“What are you reading?” Noelle stood up and walked over to her.

 

“Uhm. Nothing important.” Elaine closed her book and slid it under her arm. Both of the blonde girls looked at each other silently.

 

“Do you know where our other roommate went?” Noelle decided to change the subject. For some reason her best friend did not want to share her reading subject. She was okay with that, she trusted her.

 

“Hm. Yeah, she's probably out meeting her puppy crush.” Elaine noticed the change in subject and was happy about it.

 

Noelle didn't know what a puppy crush was. She knew what a puppy was, she had one at home.

 

“...Are you staring at me?” Elaine looked into her eyes after being asked that question.

 

“Sorry, just. You have very nice hair.” Noelle smiled at the compliment.

 

“My hair isn't all too long, and I didn't bring a brush with me so I haven't actually fixed it.” Elaine ran her fingers through the tangled mess on her head. “Yours is pretty long though, getting it so nice constantly must be annoying."

 

Noelle tilted her head. "I think yours is very soft.”

 

A hum. “It is, compliment me more.”

 

Elaine walked over to her bed and sat down, keeping her book under her hand.

 

“Hey, what do you know about the Black family?” Noelle watched as her friend kicked her legs childishly.

 

“They're a family of dark wizards. I'm pretty sure every single one of their main family members are in Azkaban including the lord.”

 

Elaine looked at her with wide eyes. “You know more than I thought you would.”

 

Noelle took on a familiar smirk. “Of course, I do. I'm very smart after all.” She raised her hand to her mouth to cover her smile like she's seen Elaine do.

 

“Hm… Yes, you're very smart. Not as smart as me, but maybe you're a bit closer than the rest of those troglodytes.” The taller girl flushed at the compliment.

 

The book was hidden somewhere, Noelle didn't see her friend hide it.

 

“The Black family is very old.” Elaine bit her lip. “Apparently the oldest lord had a lot of properties in Slovenia. That's about a day by car. So two days for a back and forth trip alone.”

 

Noelle grew confused. “Are you planning a trip to Slovenia?”

 

Elaine frowned. “Not at the moment. I just thought it might be a nice place to visit some time in the future.”

 

The two of them stayed up for a little bit longer and talked about some unimportant things before they went to sleep.

 

…

 

“I'm impressed Miss Auceptin, your wand work has significantly improved as of late. Ten points to Hufflepuff for such quick mastery.” The girl seemed to glow under Professor Flitwick's compliment.

 

Noelle looked down at the desk her best friend set on fire and how there were not any scorch marks on its surface.

 

The students from Ravenclaw frowned when Elaine smirked at them. “Right sir, it wasn't too hard.” The other students had already begun glaring at her.

 

“There's a quidditch game happening tomorrow afternoon between our houses.” The shorter girl muttered. “We will win. Why don't you bet some money on it? I'll get a share of the winnings of course.”

 

Noelle tilted her head. Elaine was always so confident when she said things like that, and there was no doubt in her mind that she meant it.

 

“I could, but my parents don't usually let me have a ton of money.” She did not even suggest the idea of Elaine being wrong. Such a statement was inconceivable to her.

 

“Oh? You're worried about such a simple thing? Well, you'll have more money soon so don't worry about it.” The other girl smiled at her.

 

Noelle nodded, of course her doubt would be noticed. Then she looked down at the wand Elaine was holding with a frown.

 

It was brown and could look a bit red in certain lighting. She didn't think such a wand was fitting for her roommate. Maybe something more red? She didn't think a black wand would fit even if it would match the girl's eyes.

 

Those eyes, that she thought resembled the black lake. No, the black lake could not compare to them, the eyes that held a knowing look, as if they held every bit of knowledge the world had to offer.

 

“Are you staring? I know I'm pretty but at least take me out to dinner first.” A smug grin made its way onto Elaine's face.

 

The idea of being in such a relationship with the person before her seemed impossible to Noelle. She was not as otherworldly as her best friend was. All she could do was stick to her shadow and hope to absorb even a fraction of her excellence. Besides, she was just a young girl. She didn't know much about those kinds of relationships besides the fact that they hold hands.

 

“Well, we're going to dinner soon already aren't we?” Noelle knew what Elaine meant but decided to play dumb.

 

“Ugh, you're right. I almost forgot. Seriously, for being such a prestigious school the food is third rate at best.” The comment did not make much sense to Noelle, in her opinion the food was fantastic. Maybe her best friend simply had higher standards.

 

Once class ended, the two of them made their way towards the Great Hall. Their conversations always became more lively there. It made Noelle happy since Elaine would always be focused on her.

 

“There's that idiot.” The shorter girl mumbled as she saw one of their Professors walk towards the head table.

 

“Professor Quirrell is nice.” Noelle looked at her friend, confused.

 

“I can't understand a damn thing he says. Honestly he might be my least favorite teacher.” Elaine walked towards the location where both of them usually sat.

 

“Doesn't Professor Snape deduct points every time you smile?” The man seemed to dislike her confidence.

 

“He also takes away points every time you talk.”

 

Noelle frowned. “It's because he caught me talking to my potion once.”

 

Elaine smiled at the information. “Yeah, but on the bright side your grades are good.” Both of them had high grades in most of the classes. Elaine seemed to struggle in history while Noelle's weak point was transfiguration.

 

“Oh, but that's all because of you. I would be hopeless if you weren't my partner.” They sat down at the table and continued to talk while they ate.

 

Elaine would take small portions of food and barely eat anything.

 

“The Daily Prophet said the goblins refused to allow the Malfoys access to their fault. Apparently they broke some three hundred year old obscure rule and now they need to pay a fee.” Noelle talked, happy by all the attention her friend was giving her.

 

“Hm? Really?” Elaine muttered, not having touched her food for five minutes.

 

“Yeah, they've been doing that a lot recently. The noble families are complaining but they can't do much about it.” The food was mostly gone after another ten minutes. Elaine had not eaten a lot.

 

Black eyes drilled into green ones. Noelle shifted nervously, she wondered if she did something wrong.

 

“Let's go. I'm getting a headache.” Elaine suddenly stood up and started walking out of the Great Hall. Noelle quickly followed after her.

 

She could hear a few people whispering from the side.

 

“Look, it's that bitch and her pet.”

 

“I wonder what kind of sewer her muddy parents lived in.”

 

“She's one hundred times worse than that other know-it-all.”

 

Noelle curled in on herself at the insults she heard that were being directed at her and her best friend.

 

Elaine seemed to ignore them completely, which he admired.

 

None of them ever came from the people of their own house. Even if Hufflepuff was known for being “nice,” Noelle noticed that Elaine was actually friends with one of the more popular boys. The two of them seemed to get along so no one really thought she was that bad.

 

“Hey…” Elaine frowned as soon as they entered their dorm room. “Do you know how to play chess?”

 

Noelle's eyebrows raised in surprise. “I do.”

 

The shorter girl took out a chess set she had hid under her bed. They sat across from each other and played.

 

There was silence in the room as one game turned into two, then three.

 

Elaine lost every time, but she did not grow frustrated. Just more resigned, more disappointed in herself.

 

“You're good.” Noelle tried to comfort her, but it didn't work. She wasn't lying either. Her mother had been a huge fan of the game and played with her since she was young. Although not a master, Noelle could certainly give one a challenge. Elaine wasn't going down easily either, but whenever Noelle saw through any plans the other girl set up, she just seemed to give up.

 

Eight games in total, Elaine only managed to force stalemate once.

 

“Sometimes I worry.” She mumbled.

 

“Why? I'm sure you can do anything if you put your mind to it.” Noelle was confused.

 

“It's not that easy. What if my best is worthless?” The words did not feel like they were spoken. They came out in something less of a whisper.

 

“I'm not sure what you mean? Why wouldn't your best be good enough? You're super good in all of our classes and master spells super easily.” Noelle was simply a child. It was something Elaine knew but didn't understand.

 

She hoped for support but didn't get the kind she wanted, nor the kind she needed. Noelle did not understand her problems, she could not hope to. The worst things she's ever faced was a bad grade or a spell that exploded her desk.

 

“No, don't worry about it. It's nothing, it's just something I need to deal with alone.”

 

They put away the chess set and went to their own beds. Elaine stayed up later than she should have, and flipped through a book in her lap.

 

“It's useless.” She mumbled.

 

“There's hardly anything in here at all, besides the possibility of that tree's location.”

 

All her efforts seemed pointless, she hoped for more. But all she could do was be happy with what little she got.

 

“Fine. I can do that, maybe. It could be dangerous if I go directly. Will I need to sneak onto and hide in trains? Magic is apparently unable to be used outside of school until I'm an adult so that option is out.”

 

She thought about it, and wondered if she should go during the upcoming Christmas break.

Chapter 13: Insufferable

“Raphael Flegrea is the oldest known lord of the oldest and most noble house of Black. The name Flegrea was changed to Night, then to Black after many years. Originally from Slovenia, Raphael Flegrea moved to England when he was in his early twenties.”

 

A master of magic, Raphael Flegrea was one of the most powerful wizards of his time, holding abilities deemed by others as beyond magic, similarly to the founding members of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry.”

 

“It's known that they were connected in some way, however there are no concrete records that can accurately tell the full picture about what happened back then. All that can be learned is that Raphael Flegrea eventually became the first headmaster. Later he would disappear, never to be heard from again.”

 

Elaine closed the book with a huff. It wasn’t too helpful, but it did give her some clues.

 

She had read the thing multiple times in order to make sure that she didn't skip over anything. Her mind was already mostly made up. If she was being searched for because of her wand, then she would have no choice but to take every lead she could get in order to advance her strength.

 

“Well, I could always throw my wand away and leave the country.” She quietly mused. But it felt like a giant waste, she knew that if she skipped this opportunity then she would never get stronger.

 

“I could live life normally. Make some smart investments… Move somewhere safe.” The idea was tempting, but it felt wrong.

 

To turn her back on magic because she was scared? Even if she spent most days terrified, Elaine was having the most fun she'd ever experienced in her entire life.

 

To throw all of the extraordinary things away for a normal life seemed absurd to her.

 

“Well, besides. This matter could come back to haunt me later, and if I don't get any stronger how will I protect myself?”

 

Her decision made, Elaine wondered what she would do when she reached Slovenia.

 

“I'd need to be careful obviously. If this simple book was being guarded then it would make sense the properties were as well. Now that something of Flegrea's has gone missing at suspiciously the same time the last wand from that mysterious tree found its user, it would only make sense if they searched out answers.”

 

She would need to be careful, and she planned on going during the holidays. At the rate her potion digestion was going, it would be completely done around new years. If something major happened soon it could take just a few weeks.

 

But all of that was useless when she couldn't advance.

 

“Two weeks. That's how long the break lasts. A day there and back, double that for potential troubles and that's four days. Give or take another two for unexpected circumstances and it gives me a little more than a week to locate that tree.”

 

She had no intel on that country, not to mention how huge it was. Given that and her complete lack of information on the Black family's estates, and the possibility that asking around would have certain people find her, all of that made her task extremely difficult.

 

Elaine took out her red tinted wand from her sleeve and looked at it.

 

“Whatever separates will definitely converge.”

 

If she had her wand, maybe she would end up in the right place. That was being hopeful, so she would continue to search in spite of that.

 

Elaine hid the book under her clothes and slid her wand into her sleeve, then grabbed the spare brown one that had a hint of red in certain lighting. She's gotten pretty good at using slight of hand to hide her real one while casting spells.

 

She left the Hufflepuff common room and made her way through Hogwarts castle until she reached the transfiguration classroom. Only a few students were there since class would not start for another ten minutes but Elaine had nothing better to do.

 

On the front board there was a single word.

 

“Ignis.”

 

“Isn't that the Latin word for fire?” She asked no one in particular.

 

…

 

Hermione Granger sat beside one bed. Light poured out of a window nearby and illuminated another one.

 

Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley were severely hurt during a confrontation with a troll a week prior during Halloween. They were all taken to the medical wing immediately, and luckily she suffered the least injuries.

 

There was not a lot she remembered from the fight. The troll broke into the girl's bathroom, Harry and Ron tried to save her only to nearly die. Then something happened and the troll's head was smashed open by its own club.

 

Someone else was there, she knew that much. But all they looked like to Hermione was a black blur that left too quickly for her to pick up on any details.

 

That's what she told the headmaster too when he asked.

 

“It could be anyone, a teacher, a student, another intruder.” She stayed with the boys because despite everything Ron said about her, she was happy that anyone came at all just to make sure she was alright.

 

Also, Harry had never done anything wrong to her. He seemed like the non-confrontational type so she wasn't going to blame him for not sticking up for her even if it irked her slightly.

 

One of them stirred. Hermione looked over and found Harry was the one who was waking up.

 

“Are you alright?” She asked, then realized it was a dumb question. The boy's arm was shattered, it took six potions just to make sure it would work again.

 

“Huh? Oh, yeah.” The boy tried to sit up but winced at the pain in his body.

 

“Madam Pomfrey said you would still be in a bit of pain since the healing potion they needed to use would have reacted badly to the pain numbing one.”

 

“Oh. Okay.” He was very awkward around her, she supposed it was probably because they have not interacted with each other much.

 

“Where's Ron?” The boy asked.

 

Instead of answering, Hermione stood up and walked past the bed towards a curtain which she proceeded to pull aside. Now in view was an unconscious redhead.

 

“He's okay.” Harry sighed in relief.

 

“He was the worst out of all of us.” Ron has his ribs caved in, they stabbed into his lungs which almost resulted in him suffocating due to internal bleeding.

 

“They don't think he will wake up for at least another week. In the meantime his brothers have visited non-stop and if I heard right, his parents came by a couple times.” Hermione felt bad for the boy, any thoughts about his insults weren't even present in her mind anymore.

 

“I'm glad he's safe."

 

“...”

 

There was a deafening silence that fell over the room. Neither child knew how to make it less weird.

 

“So… Did I miss any Quidditch games?” Harry asked. Although Hermione wasn't too interested in the sport herself, she was happy with the conversation.

 

“There's going to be a game today between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.” That was all she managed to figure out from what she heard in the Gryffindor common room.

 

“Good, I was worried I missed a game.” Harry seemed to be a natural on the broom, that was something everyone could see. Hermione didn't get the appeal of it, going so fast while so high in the air.

 

“Right… Well, the work you missed is on your bedside table. Don't worry, it was only one day. Well, it will be two if you don't join us today. Ronald will have an entire stack when he wakes up.”

 

“He'll throw a bloody fit.” Harry smiled lightly when he looked over at the unconscious boys.

 

“Definitely. Well, I need to get going. I won't skip out on class just to keep you company all day.” Hermione waved while she left the room.

 

She walked to the transfiguration classroom ten minutes early since she did not think she'd be able to make it to the Great Hall and eat something in time. When she walked in, she heard someone say something.

 

“Isn't that the Latin word for fire?” Her entire body tensed at that voice.

 

Hermione reluctantly looked in that direction and spotted a familiar head of golden blonde hair. She was looking at the front of the classroom.

 

Looking in the same direction, Hermione felt confused as well. “Ignis” was written down with no context. When she was reading through a couple of books to prepare for this class a couple of months ago, she briefly skimmed over a conjugation spell of the same name.

 

“That's to conjure fire.” She couldn't help but say that to the girl. Auceptin was insufferable, instead of learning for the sake of learning, or learning for self improvement, she just seemed to learn for the sake of lording her superiority over everyone else. So Hermione couldn't help but bask in every chance she got to one-up the girl.

 

“Oh, I know. I was just wondering why it's written down for a class of first years. That's kind of dangerous, you know?”

 

“We learned a fire spell in charms.” Hermione's smile fell.

 

“Well yeah.” Auceptin hummed. “But it's not strong, and we can cut it off in an instant. Fire conjugation is completely different. You either need to put it out yourself or vanish it.”

 

She was right, even if she had no idea what she was talking about. Elaine Auceptin did not know it was a fire conjugation spell so she started blabbering about things that sort of made sense so she wouldn't look like an idiot.

 

“I wonder what the wand motions are.” She held up a brown wand that seemed to have a tint of red in certain lighting.

 

Hermione shot her hand out and grabbed Auceptin's wrist.

 

“What do you think you're doing?! You can't just try and guess what a spell’s wand motions are!” She did not know what was going on in the other girl's head.

 

“Hm? Of course I can, I'm me after all.” Auceptin said with so much confidence that Hermione almost let her go on reflex.

 

“That doesn't even make any sense! Put the wand away or I'll… tell the teacher?” She didn't know if the blonde was even worried about how a teacher would react. She could even imagine how the conversation would go.

 

“Miss Auceptin! Twenty points from Hufflepuff for attempting a spell when you don't even know it's wand motions or effects!” She could imagine Professor McGonagall saying.

 

“That's dumb Professor. It's not like anything bad would have happened, sure other people may have died from similar things but of course they did, they weren't me.”

 

Hermione nearly laughed at the mental image she had of the girl.

 

“Are you laughing at me? Is there something on my face?” Auceptin was suddenly right in front of her. It would have been more intimidating if the girl's eyes weren't level with Hermione's chin.

 

“No, of course not. But you shouldn't be doing something so dangerous.” She kept her hand on the other girl's wrist.

 

“I don't appreciate how I'm being talked to right now. How about you apologize by agreeing to be my chair for this class period?” Auceptin said, with a smug grin on her face.

 

“...Well, I suppose I'll be able to see what you do to get down spells super quickly.” Hermione dragged the blonde over towards her seat.

 

“Wait what? Are you joking?”

 

Hermione sat down and dragged Auceptin to sit next to her.

 

“...”

 

“...”

 

“You know, when I said I wanted you to be my chair, I meant more of you kneeled over on your hands while I sat on your back.” Auceptin mumbled, feeling as if she were being treated like a child with low impulse control.

 

“Yeah, well now we're seatmates for the time being.” Hermione was irritated by the suggestion Auceptin made.

 

“Oh… What if I need to use the bathroom? Do I need to ask you to go?” The taller girl looked at her with a mix of expressions that the blonde did not even begin to understand.

 

“Just be quiet.” Hermione eventually said.

 

“Yes mom.” Auceptin mocked.

Notes:

I didn't want to add another timeskip so soon to the last one. So, Hermione showed up again and Elaine got to experience some not so serious troubles.

Also, I will not be posting another chapter for about a week since I have some stuff going on.

I also accidentally deleted an entire chapter so I'm very annoyed at that.

Chapter 14: Independence

“You're sure you will be alright?” Pomona Sprout, the head of house for Hufflepuff asked Elaine as she walked down the hallway.

 

“Yeah, I've just grown a bit tired of the atmosphere here. I miss the outside world.” The two of them made their way towards the entrance to Hogwarts and stopped.

 

“Well, you're not the only one going. Just remember not to use magic and to come back on time alright?” The woman looked at the small girl with worry evident in her expression.

 

“Of course. Well, I'll be going then. I don't want to be late after all.” Elaine waved towards her head of house and took the tedious trail towards the Hogwarts express.

 

The task ahead of her almost looked grim in her eyes. First, she needed to get to Slovenia without being detected by both magical and non-magical means, then she had to locate the tree that her wand originated from in about a week's time. Finally she had to avoid anyone keeping an eye out for people searching for it while in the country.

 

She only needed to not be caught. Elaine suspected they already knew someone was looking into the tree, given its final wand has found its owner. So she needed to be extra careful, and under no circumstances was she to be seen.

 

The ride back to King's Cross Station was stressful. Hogwarts was on break for the holidays so she only had two weeks to get her stuff over with.

 

‘Hitchhiking? I can't use magic to defend myself if something goes wrong. Besides, too many people will see me, there's all kinds of situations where things go wrong. Stow away in the back of a train? Or maybe a plane?’

 

Elaine took out a piece of parchment and wrote something on it 

 

“The most optimal way to find the tree my wand originated from.”

 

She entered cogitation and chanted the question seven times but nothing happened.

 

Elaine sighed. That outcome was expected, it was the same one she got when she did a similar thing inside Hogwarts. At her current level she was unable to do divination. The school seemed to be assisting in her attempts at anything going on while in its grounds but outside things got tricky.

 

‘How ironic. I'm at my best while I'm at my most restricted.’ Now that she can move more freely, the thing assisting her is no longer able to help.

 

‘Besides my precognition and danger sense, I don’t have much going for me.’ Calling her ability precognition was being generous considering most of the time she could not choose what she saw or heard.

 

‘I have five galleons from betting. That's not a lot. It definitely won't be enough to purchase anything besides some supplies I might need. But my fortune has to start somewhere.’ Elaine mused to herself.

 

It was not long before the train stopped and Elaine departed for an arts and crafts store. She bought black thread, scissors, and a couple needles.

 

It didn't cost her much, only a few sickles. She still didn't understand the wizard currency too well. Elaine stuffed the supplies into her briefcase and went back to the place she stayed at after Professor McGonagall took her into Diagon Alley.

 

“Hello.” She walked up to the man behind the counter. If her memory served her right, his name was Tom.

 

“Oh, hello there. Your Professor already paid for a room for the next two weeks. Upstairs and third room on the left.” Elaine smiled and followed his directions.

 

Once she got to the room, she locked the door and threw everything she had on her onto the bed.

 

There was the money she had left, a spare cloak she took with her, a few spare hygiene supplies she snatched, her wand, and the few crafts supplies she bought.

 

Immediately she got to work. Cutting off and stitching over anything that would allow anyone to tell which Hogwarts house the cloak belonged to.

 

She suspected her position as a student was already known, and she didn't think she had enough money to buy new clothes and stay alive.

 

Unfortunately for her, the cloth was extremely durable.

 

“Usually this is a good thing.” She mused to herself as her scissors rapidly dulled against the house banner on the cloth.

 

She stitched any holes she accidentally made.

 

“And people say sewing is hard. I guess that's just because they aren't me.” Elaine's natural intuition was very good at picking up on things she did wrong, her instincts as a monster only magnified that ability. There was some truth to her arrogance.

 

It took her around forty minutes to finish, once she did, she glanced at her wand.

 

Wizards and witches were able to be located somehow by the ministry of magic. Their magic could be tracked and that was a problem.

 

Elaine didn't have many options. “Whatever, I'll deal with that bridge when I come to it.” In the meantime, she hoped that no one would detect her and alert her location to someone that wished her harm. However, she still tried to plan for such a thing.

 

“Spontaneous actions are so difficult.” Elaine hated being caught off guard, she never had enough time to comprehend anything and always had to rely on her instincts to escape danger. Whenever the situation she found herself in posed no danger she usually ended up feeling stupid given her lack of understanding and inability to think quickly.

 

“If I'm attacked, then I won't have time to consider my actions or what to do. I'll be in fight or flight mode.” It scared Elaine, needing to make harsh judgment calls with absolutely no time to consider the pros and cons of any action she took.

 

With the cloak mostly fixed, if looking a bit rough in the place her Hogwarts house symbol previously was, Elaine threw it over herself.

 

She was already on the clock. After hiding the hygiene supplies in her pockets and her old cloak in the room, Elaine opened her window to the Leaky Cauldron and looked outside.

 

No one looked in her direction since her room faced out towards a non-magical street. She suspected there was a charm placed on the building to prevent anyone from noticing strange things going on around there.

 

Ever so carefully, she climbed out of the window. Her shoes stepped against stone edges as she closed the opening behind her.

 

Elaine breathed in deeply, and before she could regret her decision, she jumped down onto the sidewalk below. Tremors shook through her body once she landed but all in all she was okay.

 

She made a break for it to the nearest alleyway and hid inside, away from everyone. No one looked at her when she fell, which made Elaine wonder just how far out the charm extended.

 

As she walked, her mind spun.

 

No train could take her all the way towards where she wanted to go. Her best bet was to either sneak onto a plane or break onto a boat and hitch a ride towards France and make her way through there.

 

The boat would be the easier and more safe choice, however it would take longer.

 

The plane could possibly take her all the way towards Slovenia but she didn't think she would be able to sneak on to one.

 

“A boat it is.” She lamented.

 

As she walked, she tried to keep every part of herself under the cloak. Elaine would have liked it if not even a sliver of her skin would peak through. There's also her height which was a clear problem.

 

“New clothes? I don't have regular money. Food? I might need to steal it. Shit, I'm going to have to steal a lot aren't I? But I can't do that, it would make me easy to track.”

 

Not only did she need to steal, she needed to steal well.

 

Elaine passed through another alley and stopped before going down another. Her danger sense warned her not to. So she chose another path and kept walking.

 

“Something to disguise myself better. Temporary hair dye would have been nice. Too bad wizards don't seem to have such things.” No doubt there was a spell for changing someone's hair.

 

Too bad she couldn't use spells.

 

Her walking left her feet hurt after about an hour, however she did not have room to whine.

 

“Left.”

 

A voice in her head whispered. Elaine followed the suggestion and ended up facing a metal door.

 

She opened it and found someone had left the back of a certain store open. Inside was a room filled with clothes.

 

“To Bournemouth.” A few crates read. While researching any potential paths she could take that would make her progress easier, Elaine read a few city and town names and the one she was seeing now was one of the ones closest to France.

 

Elaine wondered if she should stick around with these crates and maybe hide inside one of them to get shipped off.

 

Obviously, she would need to drill holes in the thing and maybe carry a crowbar around with her. But it would certainly be faster than if she just walked by herself. Probably safer too as long as she got out when no one was looking.

 

Elaine looked around and found a clipboard. These clothes weren't just going to Bournemouth, they were going to Birmingham and Bristol, one of which was in the opposite direction than where she was heading to.

 

The only reason she didn't outright dismiss the option was because the order for Bournemouth was due for the next day at three in the morning.

 

It was better than nothing, she realized. Elaine looked through the back room and grabbed a crowbar she found laying on the ground, a screwdriver, a hammer, and a roll of duck tape from a nearby desk.

 

After prying a crate open, she took out some of the clothes and put them on herself over her current ones.

 

A black blazer and black slacks. She could already feel how hot she was going to be inside there.

 

Elaine took out even more clothes and hid them elsewhere in the surprisingly large room. Then she huddled herself inside her new temporary home, shut the top of the crate in on herself then taped it so it wouldn't open or clatter around.

 

The screwdriver pressed against a piece of wood around the same level as her face, then with a quick hit with the hammer, a small hole was broken into the wall.

 

She gathered some clothes and set them on top of her. Even though she knew it probably wouldn't help in case someone looked, she did that because it made her feel more safe.

 

Then, after all of that was done. She waited.

 

It took half an hour for her to hear something happening.

 

A sliding door near where she entered the building opened. From what little she could see, there was a semi truck on the other side.

 

Some people stepped out of the vehicle and began moving crates inside. Hers was the fifth to be moved.

 

When they grabbed the box she was hiding in, she froze in fear, wondering if they would realize something was wrong.

 

But they didn't.

 

The two men with the help of a dolly, moved her crate inside the truck without ever noticing anything amiss.

 

Elaine mentally sighed in relief, but realized a new problem. If she was inside the vehicle, how would she know where she was? How would she know when to get out?

 

‘Well, I guess I'll need to figure that out now won't I?’ She mused to herself.

 

After another fifteen minutes of moving crates, and talking with some people that came out of the building she broke into, the truck began to move.

 

Elaine was not used to having so much independence, to be able to do things on her own and be responsible for herself. She wasn't an adult yet before becoming eleven again.

 

‘It's kind of hard.’ She realized. ‘Making decisions like this. It's even more scary than Hogwarts. So many more things can go wrong.’ Elaine could only hope that she would be able to handle whatever happened, and plan for every worst case scenario she could think of.

 

Unfortunately for her, most of her options if things got that bad usually only had one answer.

 

Suicide.

Chapter 15: Sneak

“Someone dressed in Hogwarts robes has been spotted sneaking through several alleyways in London.”

 

The transparent figure tilted his head while looking down at the mirror in his hands.

 

“Really?” The voice was neither masculine nor feminine. “The boy being watched by the headmaster is still here.”

 

There was a hum from the other side of the mirror. “The man who reported this hired a few thugs to try and grab them for interrogation but the two parties never crossed paths.”

 

The transparent figure floated inside an empty room. He sighed. “Okay? So this person was on foot and managed to avoid thugs?”

 

The voice on the other side chuckled. “You see, this is why you're stuck in that school. You can't put pieces together!”

 

The transparent figure frowned.

 

“Okay, I'll spell it out for you. They decided to wait until the holidays to sneak off, they likely didn't think we would be on guard for them, thinking we would wait until the summer to send all of our forces out. This tells us that they don't know a lot about us. If anything they probably only know that they are being looked for but nothing else.”

 

Now, since they are on foot there is a high probability that they're not a noble, since in that case they should have better untraceable transport methods. While there is the possibility of them trying to trick us into thinking that way, I doubt it because the risk is way too high for such little reward.”

 

“Finally, since the only thing they wore was a Hogwarts cloak, although slightly altered. That means they don't have any significant allies to help them get better equipment. Oh, also try and track the book.”

 

The transparent figure did so but got no results.

 

“I can see that expression on your face. I want you to look everywhere you can for it. They've left it unattended.”

 

He nodded, but there were a few questions the floating being had.

 

“How are you so sure that the person sneaking through London is the same person who took the last of that tree's wand? And why are we looking for this kid in the first place?” The last question was something he's been wanting to know for a while now.

 

“Because it fits. We can't just let things slide through the cracks right now given how delicate the situation is. I've been put in charge of it and I am not screwing this up. Also, those wands are special. It's said that Flegrea blessed them, and we're inclined to believe that. The last time we tried to steal them it resulted in heavy losses due to an extreme amount of misfortune. Our superiors were worried that taking the last one would destroy us.”

 

The figure tilted his head. “But why are we looking for the person who was chosen by it?”

 

An irritated sigh came from the other end. “Because the last person who was chosen by one of those wands hunted us until only three of our families remained. They killed seven demigods and an angel before “her” blessed finally stopped him. The worst part was that instead of being a good little prisoner for us, he destroyed his wand and killed every last part of himself to the point we couldn't even channel his spirit. Now enough questions! Look for that book!” The connection between the two mirrors closed.

 

The transparent figure sighed once more. He didn't like the idea of being stuck in the castle.

 

‘Especially for those people.’ He frowned, but knew that he couldn't do anything about it.

 

A growl nearly left his throat after he heard that tale.

 

…

 

Elaine heard the truck's back doors open twice. She didn't want to assume they were opened in separate cities so once the truck began moving for the third time, she silently opened the crate she was hiding in and stepped out.

 

Multiple sets of them still had orders for Birmingham. It was then that Elaine knew that she was right, so she got back into her crate and waited.

 

After every stop, she would check the other crates. After the sixth, there were only those meant for Bournemouth left.

 

By that point hours had passed, she did not know if her crate would be grabbed next given that its destination was the city the trick was heading to.

 

So, she took out the crowbar and hid as far back into the truck as she could. Her every step was as quiet as she could make them so nothing would be heard from up front.

 

There was a chance that the men would find her all the way back there but she hoped they wouldn't have set the first stuff to be taken down all the way in the back. Either that or the contents of every box were the same so they wouldn't go for the stuff in the back anyway.

 

Elaine didn't actually know if the shipment was different. Her hand gripped onto the crowbar just in case regardless.

 

It was another hour before the truck came to a stop and the driver and passenger doors opened.

 

She waited in the back silently.

 

The back of the truck opened up and Elaine tensed. Two people walked in and started unloading a few crates.

 

Luckily for her, they never went back where she was.

 

‘Do I go out now? They might spot me and I can't be sure I'll be able to get away. When the truck starts moving? Oh yeah, jumping out of a moving vehicle sounds like a great idea!’

 

Elaine waited for the doors to close again, and for the truck's engine to start before she rushed out towards the locked exit. Nearby she saw a latch and pulled on it.

 

The doors unlocked and she peaked outside. There were a few people inside a building moving, standing around and talking.

 

A slight rumble came from the vehicle and Elaine scrambled for a solution. Once the truck started moving she panicked.

 

The doors opened slightly and she, who was dressed in a black cloak, jumped out from the back of the truck, the crowbar still hidden and sprinted away.

 

“Hey! Who's there?!” Unfortunately in her haste someone saw her. She kept running, diving around the first corner she saw and onto an open street. Since it was extremely early, no one was outside during that time.

 

Without thought, she turned down the first alley she saw, worried that someone might be chasing her.

 

No one followed her luckily, but Elaine didn't stop running. Past buildings, under a bridge, until eventually finding her way onto a harbor.

 

Unconsciously she made her way towards the water, since her destination was that way.

 

She slipped inside a warehouse where several shipping containers were. It was empty besides that, not a single other person was inside.

 

Her vision blurred for a brief moment.

 

Elaine jumped onto a speed boat just as the sun started to rise. The woman who just finished fueling it startled and looked back at her confused. With a quick swing of the crowbar, Elaine hit the chest of the woman, sending her back into her seat at the front of the vehicle.

 

“Start driving.” She said with a hint of panic in her voice.

 

“Wha-” The woman tried to say but was cut off by the feeling of something pointy being pressed into the back of her neck.

 

“Drive or I'll take your head off!” Elaine's heart sped up as she pressed her wand against the woman, a trickle of blood leaking out.

 

Her hostage quickly did as she was told. Soon the speedboat started and the two of them set out for sea.

 

When Elaine's vision returned to normal, she felt confused. Her plan was to sneak onto a cargo ship, how did things devolve into whatever it was she just saw?

 

She didn't doubt what she saw, but what could have made her panic so much that she would resort to threatening an innocent person's life?

 

Her mind immediately jumped to one conclusion.

 

‘Did they find me?!’ Looking around, there wasn't anyone spying on her, nor could she sense any danger.

 

‘At day break.’ She remembered the sun was only beginning to rise in her vision.

 

‘So, around six in the morning? That's several hours away. Maybe it's not them? It could just be the police or something. No, I shouldn't lower my expectations. I didn't seem to have any injuries so I don't think we got into a fight. A chase then?’ The idea sounded reasonable.

 

Elaine silently stood up and began ascending the stairs inside the warehouse.

 

‘Regardless, if I'm going to get found by anyone I'd rather have some kind of understanding about where I am. Potential escape routes, places to hide, a direct path to the harbor when the opportunity presents itself.’

 

Her precognition gave her a warning, she would not be caught off guard once something bad happens.

 

Elaine had time to consider her options and plan. She was grateful for her ability.

Chapter 16: Escape

Elaine looked out of the window she was sitting near and saw a group of people walking down the docks.

 

“I guess they really did come.” She muttered.

 

Time passed, and they searched other warehouses and boats.

 

“They're definitely looking for me. Did those people from before report me? They must have.” It was the only theory that made sense in her head. Though she doubted they knew her significance.

 

“Ah, they must have reported me to the police. Hm, I guess that means the law enforcement isn't safe. I wonder, are these people some secret division, or are they regular officers? Either way, getting caught is not an option.”

 

Elaine had spent the last few hours checking out as much of the docks as she could, she realized her safest bet was the roofs. She could sneak through ventilation easily given her size, and thanks to her instincts as a monster she wouldn't accidentally run into more cops.

 

“More are showing up?” She wasn't surprised by such a thing but she definitely underestimated how much importance was being placed onto her.

 

“They should have only seen my cloak, aren't they jumping the gun here?”

 

The front doors to the warehouse she was hiding in opened.

 

Elaine looked at a nearby wall clock. It read 5:30.

 

Her heart sped up. “Okay, I just need to stay hidden for thirty minutes. I can do this.” As soon as the officers got to the room she was hiding in, Elaine slid out the window.

 

...

 

Officer Oscar Williams watched as half a dozen police officers searched the town of Bournemouth with a frown on his face.

 

“Sir, we've checked the entire street. No one has seen the kid.” Oscar nodded, resisting the urge to yawn.

 

“The Chief said he would be looking in the docks but no one has seen him.” The other man continued to report.

 

“Eh, well you know him. He disappears and always finds his target somehow.” He was still annoyed at being woken up so early in the morning and having to assist the entire force search a whole town for a single child.

 

“Terrorists only get younger.” The officer only offered him a small smile.

 

“Yeah? Well, I just want to find them and go back home. I was on the clock until midnight and the second I got into bed I was pulled right back into work.”

 

“Do you think they're part of a cult?” The other man asked.

 

Oscar looked at him confused.

 

“The dock workers only noticed the black cloak and immediately our Deputy was on it.” The theory had some ground even if they had no actual evidence of such a thing.

 

“I think you're looking too deeply into it. Why do you always assume there's some secret conspiracy behind everything?” The two of them continued chatting for a while before another officer ran over.

 

“We found someone that matched the description, before we were able to detain them they ran.” Oscar stood up straighter.

 

“Where were they last spotted?” He demanded.

 

“Going towards the docks, our men lost track of them after they ran through a warehouse.” Oscar began shouting orders to get all the police throughout the town to gather near the kid's last known location.

 

Someone cloaked in black leaped onto a roof in the distance and escaped into another building.

 

Torches lit up everywhere they looked, but soon the sun would start rising. No one could track the kid, it was almost as if they knew all of their locations.

 

Oscar himself was near one of the warehouses when he was accosted again. “Sir, some people the Deputy personally requested arrived.” Oscar nodded, but before he could say anything, another officer ran up to him.

 

“They've escaped to sea! We believe they took a hostage!”

 

His body tensed, he turned around and looked at the sea. There were several dozen police officers gathering to the water's edge to see a boat quickly speeding away.

 

The cloaked figure managed to sneak past a bunch of police and by the time they noticed it was already too late.

 

The sun had already started to peak over the horizon.

 

He sighed and nodded. “Get our own boats out there to chase them down.”

 

"They'll take a while to get here." A response came.

 

Everything felt like it was going by so fast for him. Just when they finally thought they located their target, they only grew further away.

 

“We're taking one of your boats.” A feminine voice came from behind him. Oscar turned around and saw a woman that made him shiver.

 

Her pale skin and dead eyes made her look like a corpse. Behind her there was a tall and muscular man with untamed hair.

 

The woman held up a badge, one he recognized quickly.

 

It was one only given to those who investigate seemingly impossible crimes. A special division in the police that was as mysterious as they were terrifying.

 

He had never had a good encounter with one of those people.

 

These two in particular made him want to run back home and never leave again. He wondered how serious this case actually was if it required their help.

 

Maybe that other officer was right and there really was some conspiracy going on.

 

Without even waiting for his response. The woman and the man left.

 

“How terrifying.” The man trembled slightly.

 

…

 

Things were going well for her. Elaine looked out at the sea with a serene expression on her face.

 

She'd never been to the ocean before.

 

It has been a while since the boat left the harbor.

 

‘Turns out it was the police.’ She mused to herself.

 

It wasn't too difficult to escape from them, she just hid in places they couldn't fit and ran as soon as she saw her chance.

 

If she had to be honest, she was almost disappointed at how perfectly everything went.

 

Then, as if the universe wanted to spite her, she saw something in the distance behind their boat.

 

Under the white clouds floating in the air, a police boat neared, Elaine frowned and looked down at the woman who was acting as her hostage. A brief flair of danger allowed her to back away in time in order to avoid an elbow strike.

 

The woman noticed the police too and decided she was safe.

 

Elaine did not know if they were with the people looking for her, and she did not have any room to suspect they weren't. All her thoughts only circled around the worst case scenario.

 

The wand was unusable unless she wanted to be tracked. Unless her spells wouldn't be noticed outside of England. The two of them had been on the water for just over an hour.

 

If the woman had her way, the boat would stop and she would scream for help.

 

Elaine was not in a position to be nice.

 

Crack

 

The crowbar swung and hit the other's shoulder. The sound that came from the hit made Elaine's stomach turn.

 

She felt bad, but she was too far deep to start hesitating.

 

“Try that shit again and it'll be your teeth next.” Elaine knew how to drive the boat after seeing the woman do it for the past while, she could throw her overboard and keep going.

 

‘I can't just keep hurting innocent people. I'm sorry.’ She didn't want to. She did not get joy out of it.

 

A whimper came from the woman, who kept driving despite the injured shoulder. Elaine wondered if she broke it.

 

Someone stepped onto the front of the police boat and her eyes widened.

 

“A werewolf?” The man she realized was growing slightly, his hair seemed to turn more thick and dark.

 

“Shit.” She looked down at her wand with a frown then around the boat for something to use for long range. There was a flare gun, so she grabbed it.

 

‘Behind you.’ A voice whispered in her mind. Without thinking, Elaine threw herself to the side.

 

Just as her foot left the ground, the boat tilted. Once she hit the floor, a claw tore through the place she was just standing. It went through the back of the driver's seat and spared right through the chest of the woman she took hostage.

 

Blood leaked down the muscular arm, a ghost of a scream almost made its way from the woman before she was forever silenced.

 

The air seemed to grow cold, frost creeped on the edges of the glass.

 

“You're so reckless.” A feminine voice spoke from the police boat that caught up to them quicker than she expected.

 

All the water in a ten meter radius has been frozen.

 

“Who cares? If the kid dies you can just torture their soul or whatever it is you do.” A rough and masculine voice came from the werewolf with blood covering his arm.

 

He pulled it out of the corpse and sighed. “Shame an innocent had to die, I'll pray for her soul to find peace.”

 

Elaine frowned. ‘You're one to talk considering her blood is quite literally on your hands.’

 

Her sense of danger screamed in her mind. She jumped over the boat's railing, onto the ice. Just where she was standing, a gust of frost froze the electronics of the boat.

 

Elaine activated her spirit vision and saw something that startled her.

 

‘A spirit?’ There was what she could only describe as an ice fairy floating in the air. It looked down at her with cold eyes. It was tall, and had what Elaine thought were dragonfly wings coming out of it's back.

 

“What a quick little one. Maybe they're a part of the Criminal pathway?” The woman hummed.

 

Elaine frowned and tensed her entire body. 'Shit, they caught onto me so quickly!'

 

“Now, now. Why don't you come with us willingly? Just hand over your wand and I can promise you won't be hurt.” There was a familiar smug tone in her voice.

 

‘Oh? You're promising to kill me painlessly? How nice.’

 

Elaine could sense nothing but danger from the two people across from her. She would not fall for their tricks.

 

“No? Well too bad, I guess we'll have to do this by force then.” Just as she finished talking, the spirit formed a spear of ice out of thin air and threw it at her.

 

Elaine moved to the side but slipped on the frozen water. She noticed how calm the waters were at that moment, despite everything that was happening.

 

“Hahaha, look at the poor thing dancing around!” The woman laughed as the spirit continued to throw spears at her.

 

Elaine couldn't help but get the feeling that she was being toyed with. She had no time to consider her next actions before the werewolf seemed to grow bored of waiting.

 

He leaped up into the air and landed on the ice, using his claws he managed to keep himself steady as he sprinted at her.

 

Thanks to Elaine's instincts for danger she managed to avoid a grab for her arm. But that was a mistake.

 

The man's hand wasn't aiming for her arm, it was aimed for her pocket. With a quick motion, the Hogwarts cloak that dulled the scissor she had used on it was torn.

 

Elaine used the crowbar to leverage herself in a different direction, avoiding a follow-up swipe from the blindingly fast man. Her sense for danger was working on overtime to protect her as much as possible.

 

The right bottom portion of her cloak was now destroyed, revealing her black slacks underneath.

 

Little was revealed about her except the fact that she was small. But the two adults could already guess that much from her frame.

 

‘My wand was in that pocket.’ Elaine's wand was now in the hand of someone else. The man grinned savagely.

 

It was at that moment that she noticed the ice spears from before weren't thrown randomly. A dome of frozen water was raised around both of the boats with the spears acting as pillars to support its creation.

 

Just before Elaine would have been attacked by the werewolf again, and before the dome surrounding the two of them could close, leaving them both trapped inside, something strange happened.

 

The waves that were once silent began to stir.

 

The man's face fell into confusion.

 

The white clouds in the sky suddenly seemed dark.

 

Completely unexpectedly, due to an extreme amount of misfortune, a hurricane formed out of nowhere.

 

Winds tore at the boats, nearly lifting them into the air. They all managed to stay down on the ground due to different methods.

 

The werewolf dug his claws into the metal of the dead woman's boat.

 

The one who Elaine suspected to be a spirit medium was held down by a ghostly princess made of ice.

 

Then there was her, who used the gusts to propel herself at the man. His instincts allowed him to dodge the flying crowbar that would have smashed his teeth in. Unfortunately for him, Elaine was after her wand.

 

In her other hand was a flare gun that she shoved into his face and fired.

 

Red light and smoke exploded everywhere, momentarily overwhelmed by his senses, he dropped the crimson wand that managed to find its way back into its owner's empty hand that previously held a crowbar.

 

Elaine could not stop herself from being propelled, and she was launched into the air.

 

The woman tried to get her spirit to catch her but the hurricane prevented it. The walls of ice that were protecting her had to constantly be fixed or else she would end up like the others.

 

The whirlwind did not stop, and Elaine was pulled high into the air.

 

‘To hell with being tracked, I'm going to die if I don't do something!’ Without much though, she whipped her wand into several patterns and used them on herself to do everything she could to survive.

 

Her danger sense was now constantly blaring in her mind, forcing her to use her makeshift gravity alteration spell constantly to prevent herself from going anywhere her power deemed dangerous.

 

After five minutes, Elaine was so high into the sky that the boats below looked like small dots. Her intuition guided her into a specific direction that allowed her to escape the worst of the hurricane while making quick progress towards her destination.

 

Distantly, she could see land.