It was the day before the Winter Break, students were packing their things, ready to return home for Christmas and see their families after 3 ½ months. All except for the 10 students of Anima Mea, who had finished packing the night before. They had endured the entire week with no complaints and were ready to listen to Elijah's story. His life as a soldier before teaching Magical Theory at Ilvermorny. Harry made sure everything was packed before waiting in the Anima Mea common room. Following him was Cedric and Blaise. The girls followed shortly after with Isabel and Lily right behind them.
"So," said Tracey as she cleaned her glasses. "Where is he?"
"He said something about fixing something in his room before coming out," said Cedric.
"He better not be trying to give us the slip," said Isabel.
"I can hear you!" Shouted Elijah behind his door.
"Hurry up, old man," said Harry as he sat next to Hermione on the couch.
"Don't call me an old man," he said as he carried a machine from his room.
"Hey," said Isabel. "I recognize that thing. That's our first invention."
"Yep. This thing was supposed to be an improved version of the pensieve. I came up with the concept and initial design, Izzy manufactured it."
"I'm letting that 'Izzy' go, just this once. Does it even still work?"
"Yeah, made some modifications to it over the years. Only thing I couldn't fix was a stable power source. Hadn't thought of one powerful enough, until now." He said as he strapped the device to his back and head, cringing just slightly from a small prick in the back of his neck.
"What are you using?"
"Myself." He pressed a button and channeled magic into his brain and spine, right into receivers he built into the machine. It started up and projected images around him. "Someone hit the lights." Blaise flicked the light switch and shut them off, giving everyone a better view of the projected images. They saw a younger Elijah arguing with a slightly younger Isabel.
"Huh," said Daphne. "You really don't age."
"Told ya," replied the Mad Scientist, with a smirk.
"I'm not about to let you get yourself killed!" shouted the memory of Isabel. "I forbid it!"
"Forbid it? You're not the boss of me!" replied the memory of Elijah. "I have to do this, it's the path Fate set me on."
"Would you stop that! Fate doesn't decide how your life goes! You decide your own fate."
"Really? Because it seems to me that Fate says differently. Nothing in my life has ever gone wrong unless I've tried fighting against the inevitable."
"And how are you sure Fate wants you to become a god damn Marine?!"
"Because of the series of events that lead to my decision. Graduation, the first few months out of school, you badgering me about dating you, my trying to avoid you for a week, which led to me seeing the pamphlet someone had dropped outside of a donut shop."
"That's just coincidence. It doesn't mean anything."
"What about when my soul practically screamed when I nearly threw the pamphlet away, or when it sung when I went to the recruitment office."
"You're always telling me that your soul reacts to your desires. That it adapts when you truly want something. Do you want to be a soldier?"
"I want to find my destiny. That's all I've ever wanted. If becoming a Marine leads to it, I'm becoming a Marine."
"I still don't believe Fate set you on this path. You'll need to show me some proof."
"You want proof? Fine. The next magic bolt I fire off will strike you in the chest if Fate has decided that this is my path."
"How will that solve anything?"
"I want to prove to you that Fate is on my side." He fired off into a random direction. The students watched as the memory of the magic bolt bounced off of several objects for a few seconds before heading right to where the memory of Isabel was standing. She evaded and was about to brag when it rebounded off something behind her, onto the wall next to Elijah and back at her chest, knocking her down. She looked up at him as he crossed his arms. "I'm going. You can't stop me, this is the path of Fate. He walked away, and the memory faded.
"You still haven't apologized for that, by the way," said Isabel.
"Not going to. The next memory is after my 13 weeks of basic. I'd been deployed to Vietnam with the 26th Marines, 2nd Battalion." Another scene activated as the observers found themselves in a helicopter.
"What's with your eyes and hair?!" asked a man in front of Memory-Elijah.
"What?!" They pointed to the hair and eyes to get the point across. "Oh, that! Extremely rare genetic trait! One in a billion!"
"Kinda makes you look like a ghost!" said a younger looking man next to him.
"Hey, there's an idea! We'll call you Ghost!"
"Don't start that! I'm not a goddamn ghost!" Shouted Elijah with no amount of venom in his voice. The other men with him laughed as the helicopter descended. Memory-Elijah looked out over the landscape.
"When I looked out at the horizon," said the real Elijah. "I felt sick. Somehow I knew those of us that came back from this war, wouldn't come back entirely whole. I could feel souls suffering from the fighting, on both sides. If you know your history, you know the US committed atrocities just to try and find Vietcong hiding in the jungle, napalm and other methods of trying to smoke out the enemy." He gestured to the men beside his memory self in the helicopter. "These two were part of my original fireteam. Our fourth member, the Corporal, was on the ground before us. I was a Private at the time. The man in front of me was a Private First Class and the woman with us was a Private, just like me." They looked closer at the younger looking man. "Yes. She's a woman. As for how she avoided getting found out, let's just say she was glad No-Mag's didn't know about magic."
"She's a witch?" asked Susan.
"Yep. Samantha 'Sam' Russo. She was the only other member of the magical world that I knew of. She graduated a year after me and went straight into the Marines after school. I saved her life after an encounter with Vietcong about 5 months after arriving in Khe Sanh, it was as I was trying to treat her wounds that I found out she was a woman, and after she tried to obliviate me that I found out she was a witch. Needless to say, she was surprised to find out that the infamous Soul Mage she'd heard about in school was the man she'd fought and bled with for 5 months in the jungle.
"Three years later, surviving by using our magic, we were both corporals and in charge of our own fireteams. Then came the biggest damn mistake I'd seen since joining the Marines. We were in the middle of a firefight with Vietcong when our jumpy new CO, right out of Officer Training, and scared for his life, called a danger close napalm strike just to deal with them. Sam and I heard it and ordered our teams to pull back out of the initial strike zone where we were fighting. We passed the message along that a napalm strike had been called on our location and the rest of our platoon started pulling back as well.
"I was trying to get the CO to move when I got shot, twice. Once in the leg, once in the shoulder. I'm telling you this and not showing you for the simple fact that you shouldn't see what happened, there are certain things that no one should see, and war is one of them, fresh wounds of war are another. I managed to get my men out and away from the napalm strike, and a few others, but some couldn't get out in time. I heard the explosions first then the screams. I made the mistake of looking back and saw… exactly what we were doing to the people of Vietnam. Flesh was literally melting off the bone, the flames were that hot. That was why I felt souls suffering when I arrived.
"I was promoted to Sergeant after that, the former Sergeant being killed in the firefight before the strike. In the next three years after that, I rose up in rank, to my displeasure, for continuous outstanding service. Me and Sam kept some people alive with our magic, we felt we had too, but we were already trying to find a way to leave without going AWOL. My sixth and final year in Vietnam ended with another napalm strike, this one called because the forces were overwhelming. By this time I had been promoted to Company Gunnery Sergeant, and was in charge of several fireteams, including Sam's.
"When we received news the strike had been called, we issued the order to pull back, and I got shot again, this time in the lower spine, hitting the nerve. My legs dropped from under me and I hit my head on a rock, my helmet having been lost in the firefight. Next thing I knew, someone was carrying me on their shoulders, and I heard Sam shouting nearby as the strike came down. She knew we were too close and grabbed the three men in her fireteam and disapparating us out of there. We calmed them down as she helped with the bullet wound and nerve damage, soon we explained about the magical world, and what we could do.
"By this point, me and Sam had had enough. We offered to get her fireteam out with us and, upon returning to base, confunded the medical staff into giving us all medical discharges due to injuries sustained in battle. The four of us were returned to the states after that, though me and Sam had to use illusions to make it seem believable. No missing limbs, but a few bullet wounds here and there to make the cut."
"You just left?" asked Cedric.
"I'd seen enough, I'd fought enough. I just wanted to get back home. When I returned to the states, I'd learned my parents were both ill, and died a year before I returned. By then, we weren't speaking, mainly because they didn't like the fact that I became a soldier. I wrote to them periodically but never heard back. They didn't even bother to let me know they were sick. Then it was just me and Uncle Damien. The Last of the Crowes. I spent a few months getting things at the Crowe family home under control and making sure my parents last wishes were fulfilled before I applied for a teaching job at Ilvermorny."
"Why not become an Auror?" asked Blaise. "With your experience, it should've been easy."
"Because he didn't qualify for it," said Isabel. "He was a prodigy when it came to Defense and Charms, moderate at Potions, and he sucked at everything else. He only got 2 N.E.W.T.s above 'Exceeds Excellence', the rest were 'Acceptable' and one 'Troll'."
"I told you," said Elijah. "That Troll was only because I refused to sleep with Ms. Dominguez."
"Why not, if I remember correctly, she was hot."
"I don't think that's appropriate to talk about in front of the children," said Lily, annoyed.
"Why not," asked Isabel. "They'll learn about it at some point or another. And I'll assume you're going to have to have 'The Talk' with Harry sooner rather than later."
"She doesn't like that fact that I'm growing up," said Harry. "She wants to deny it for as long as possible."
"Harry," said Lily, eyebrow twitching. "Stop talking, or you're grounded."
"From doing what? Everything I do goes towards my education."
"Everything except watching anime, that is," said Daphne with a smirk. Harry turned to her, feigning betrayal as Lily smirked.
"Watch it son. They've all got you pegged, and women stick together."
"Why is it just now dawning that all five of them essentially control my life when we're older."
"Call it what it is, Harry," said Elijah. "Marriage. Your souls are technically engaged now, Daphne's more than the others." Elijah smirked as he sipped his coffee and both Harry and Daphne blushed as the girls turned on them.
"What does he mean by that, Daph," asked Tracey.
"We'll get you back for this, Elijah," said Daphne, sending a glare to their master. "Last week, when Harry was upset, I had to get his attention, so I could say what needed to be said. I did the only thing I could think of that would work, and I kissed him." They both cringed as they saw the glares directed at them. The girls stayed like that for a few seconds before sighing.
"I knew we shouldn't have left them alone," said Hermione.
"No one to blame but ourselves," said Susan.
"Guess Padma has to decide who gets the next kiss," said Tracey. Daphne sighed in relief only to jump as Tracey turned on her. "We're talking about this later, got it Daph?" Daphne nodded. "Good."
"Hope you guys are all packed," said Elijah.
"We finished last night," said Susan. "We were dead set on listening to your story, short as it was."
"I'm not about to mention every gory detail. If you think that, you must be crazy."
"Oh," said Tracey. "I just remembered. Edgar is missing!"
"What do you mean missing?"
"I went to the owlery last night to leave him a few snacks, and he was gone."
"How did you just now remember that?" asked Padma.
"Well Elijah calling us crazy reminded me that Edgar had been acting crazy recently."
"How crazy?"
"Flying into walls crazy. I followed him once as he flew up to the seventh floor and saw him fly head first into a wall. He was fine, just shook it off afterwards, but it still had me worried."
"Can you remember where it was," asked Harry.
"You can't miss it, it's the only blank wall up there. It's right across from a picture with dancing trolls. Maybe he's found his way up there again."
"We'll go looking for him then. We'll be right back, Mum."
"Alright. The rest of you, head to the Great Hall for breakfast."
"Yes ma'am," said the students before they all left.
Harry and Tracey made their way into the staircase and were on their way to the seventh floor when they encountered Mr. Filch on the fifth. "What are you two doing here?" he asked, suspicious of two students not being in the Great Hall for breakfast.
"Hello, Mr. Filch," said Harry respectfully, trying to get on his good side. "We were looking for Tracey's raven, Edgar. Have you seen him anywhere?"
"That stupid thing? Mrs. Norris chased it up to the seventh before she got bored and came back down. I think it's still up there. Get it and go."
"Thank you, Mr. Filch," said Tracey. "We're sorry for any inconvenience he may have caused you."
"If he's caused a mess anywhere, clean it up! It's your bird! You have to clean it's mess!"
"Yes sir," she said before they ran up. Tracey came back down quickly before calling out to him. "And Mr. Filch?"
"What is it?!"
"Hope you have a merry Christmas." She went back up, leaving an annoyed, and slightly touched, Filch behind. They made their way over to where Tracey remembered Edgar flew to before. They found the bird staring at its feet as it walked on the ground in front of the wall it flew into before "There you are, Edgar!" The bird didn't look up as it kept walking before turning around and walking the other way. "Now what are you doing?"
"Maybe it's trying to find its footing."
"Leave the puns to me and Luna, Harry."
"Yes dear," said Harry, rolling his eyes. Tracey blushed lightly but didn't respond to his comment. Edgar repeated the process after a certain amount of length and cawed, facing the wall. Harry and Tracey watched as a door appeared in it. "Whoa. What the heck?" Edgar cawed again and flew onto the door knob, pecking at it and looking at Tracey.
"Guess he wants us to open it." Edgar cawed in annoyance. "Alright, alright! I'm doing it! Keep your feathers on!" Tracey reached for the knob and opened it. When she opened the door, Edgar flew in, and Harry and Tracey were treated to a room filled with various objects. "Whoa. What is this place?"
"I don't know." He looked around and started going through a pile of objects. "There's so much stuff in here. A lot of it seems broken." He pulled out a strange crystal wand. "A wand made of crystal? Never seen one of these things before."
"Keep it away from Edgar. He tends to take things with a shine to them."
"Duly noted." He gave the wand a wave and found it did nothing. "Doesn't work. Shouldn't be surprised, I think. Never heard of a crystal wand before."
"Wonder what else we can find in here?"
"Who knows. Maybe we should split up. I was too distracted by the stuff in here to see where Edgar went."
"I wonder why he came in here."
"Maybe he's hunting?"
"How would he know to come in here?"
"He's your familiar, you should know how he behaves."
"Like I should've known he would lead us to a secret room filled with junk?"
"Point. Alright. Let's get going." He looked at the door. "We're going to need something to find our way back to the door."
"Like what?"
"Give me a second." He remembered something he saw Elijah do once, and casted a Lumos Charm into a ball of light and hovered it above the door. "There we go. Should make it easy to find our way back home."
"Nice thinking, a North Star trick. Let's find Edgar and get out of here."
"Dibs on anything cool looking."
"Not if I find it first, Potter!" They smiled and split up, searching the entire room for Edgar and anything they can take. As Harry walked around, he mostly found junk and broken items.
"Junk, junk, and more junk. There has to be something in here that's worth taking." Harry turned a corner and stopped. In front of him was a large glass case with two swords. "Is that a katana?" He went to the case and examined the swords. One was sheathed in a white Saya, the other in black. He looked at the case and found no way to open or lift it. "Dammit. Better leave it for another time, then." Harry kept searching in the room until he heard a faint sound coming from his pocket. He pulled out his wand and heard it emitting a faint note. "Not good." Rather than continue to find what the wand was sensing, Harry ran the other way to try and find Tracey.
He turned a corner and found Edgar, a tuft of hair in his beak. "Edgar! Can you find Tracey? We need to get out of here!" Edgar cawed and flew up above the bookcases lining the room. Harry watched him circle a spot and followed him. "Tracey?!"
"Over here, Harry!" Shouted Tracey. He found her sitting in front of a self-playing harp. "Hey! You found Edgar!"
"We need to get out of here," he told her, looking around for the Lumos Charm.
"What? Why?" Harry showed her his wand, it was still giving off its musical note. "Oh. That's why!" Harry spotted the Lumos Charm and grabbed her hand. They ran to the door, the wand still playing its tone. They exited the room, Edgar flying above them, and shut the door. The note stopped, and the door disappeared. "What do you think caused your wand to start doing that?"
"Don't know, but it must've been something powerful and dangerous." Harry turned to the wall and tried feeling for the door. "That's interesting. We should tell the others about this room."
"Especially Elijah and your mum. They would be able to help with… whatever's in there."
"Right." He pocketed his wand and looked at her. "They should all be down in the Great Hall. Let's go."
"Alright." They had made their way to the staircase and were heading down when, on the stairs leading to the third floor corridor, the stairs stopped, right in front of the right hand corridor.
"Really," asked Harry. "Could it be a more obvious lure?" Harry waited for a few seconds for the staircase to move as he felt Tracey fidget behind him. "You want to go and pet the Cerberus, don't you?"
"More than anything." Harry sighed as he waited for another minute.
"Fine, but if we get caught, you're taking the fall."
"Deal. Let's go!" The two bond mates made their way to the corridor Tracey happily, Harry reluctantly. He may take some risks, but not when it will majorly get him into trouble. They stopped when they saw the back of a turban standing in front of the door.
"What's Professor Quirrell doing here?" They heard him talking quietly.
"What's he saying," asked Tracey.
"Enhance your hearing, let's try and see what's going on." They channeled magic into their ears and listened.
"I need to find a way passed that wretched beast," growled Quirrell. "But every time I approach, it wakes. I can't think of a way passed it, Master."
"Master," asked Tracey. Then Harry heard something whispering in Quirrell's direction.
"Find a way, fool!" whispered a raspy voice, angrily. It's very sound sent chills down Harry's spine. He grasped Tracey's hand and motioned for them to back out slowly. Edgar flew out, sensing danger. "We must get the stone!"
"I know Master." Harry and Tracey were almost out of the corridor when whoever Quirrell was speaking to saw them.
"Two students have seen us! Deal with them!" Harry casted a powerful Lumos Charm between them and Quirrell, blinding him as he turned around. "Fool!" Harry and Tracey ran to the staircase, hand in hand, and didn't bother trying to run down them, they knew they wouldn't make it in time. They jumped the railing and sent magic into the air around them, condensing it until it was like molasses. Their feet touched the ground and they ran for the Great Hall. They managed to slip in with the Ravenclaws and made their way to the Anima Mea table.
"There you two are," said Hermione. That's when she noticed their frantic looks as they tried to calm their breathing and their heartbeats, "What's wrong?"
"Shut up," said Tracey as they managed to calm themselves and their food appeared. "We'll tell you later."
"For now," said Harry. "Just act like we've been here for a bit." Lily and Elijah noticed Harry and Tracey were on edge when they got into the Great Hall, and their frantic looks. Lily made to go check on them but was stopped by a look from Harry. He subtly shook his head and she stopped herself. Not long after, Quirrell came into the hall, rubbing one of his eyes and looking around. Lily glanced at Elijah and they both came to the same conclusion. Harry and Tracey had seen something regarding Quirrell and were now hiding. Quirrell went to his seat as the rest of the Houses came in, drowning the room in sound.
Harry made a small gesture of scratching his ear, a message to Elijah and Lily to enhance their hearing. "Me and Tracey saw something. We're not going to tell you now, too risky. Wait until we get back to Potter Manor, we can't tell you anything more than that. Give a sign if you heard." Elijah flashed his eyes as Lily tapped her plate with her fork twice. After what seemed like hours, Quirrell finally left the Great Hall, keeping his eyes on all of the students, but lingering on Harry for a moment too long, drawing Lily's attention.
"Seems our initial suspicions are proving to be correct," said Elijah.
"Harry better explain this later, Quirrell's act is about to crack, I can tell."
"Let's just wait till they get back to the manor and remind me not to let them go off alone anymore. With Quirrell now seemingly targeting Harry, we need to be very careful from now on."
"We can't limit them on that, nor can we keep track of it. There are too many variables."
"I know, I know. But if Quirrell is a Death Eater, we need to be sure they're all safe."
"Think it's time to give them all the gifts you'd been teasing them about," she asked with a smirk.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," he replied, crossing his arms. Minerva and Filius walked in and watched as Lily and Elijah acted like school children with each other.
"How long do you think until…," asked Filius.
"Oh no," replied Minerva as they made their way to the head table. "I'm not making any bets against you, Filius."
"Then join his bet," said Hermione as she ate her eggs. "He's in for 12 sickles if they get together in 2 years. Limits are, no Galleon bets, no higher than 20 sickles, and no specific betting, Luna's mother, Pandora has gotten us too many times with that."
"Ms. Granger, you're betting on this?"
"Heavens, no! I'm the moderator. I just take the bets and keep track of who bets on what. So far the only ones who aren't betting are yourself, Harry, and Isabel."
"I refuse to bet on my mother's love life," said Harry as he raised a finger to make his point. Minerva thought for a second before glancing around and sliding a small bag to Hermione who discretely hid it in her school bag.
"20 sickles on them getting together in a year." Harry rolled his eyes as Hermione made a mental note of her teachers bet. "And no betting!"
"What are they betting on now," asked Lily as she made her way to the Anima Mea table.
"We're betting on the next quidditch match, Aunt Lily," said Tracey, feeding a strip of bacon to Edgar. "Daphne and I bet on Slytherin winning against Hufflepuff."
"I take offense to that," said Cedric.
"Take it easy on him, Trace," said Harry. "He's still upset he can't play quidditch for Hufflepuff."
"Stupid hat," said Cedric, crossing his arms. Cedric lost his frown when everyone started laughing and he joined in.
"So," said Lily when the laughter had died down. "Who can we expect at Potter Manor for Christmas?"
"Sorry, Mrs. Potter," said Blaise. "Mother had already made plans with relatives in Italy. Maybe next year."
"Parvati and myself already relayed the invitation to our parents, they're very excited to go," said Padma.
"Can't," said Cedric. "Dad invited the family over."
"I'll be there," said Penelope. "Got nothing better to do anyways. Family occasions tend to be boring at home."
"I invited Fred and George," said Harry. "Told them they could bring their family as well."
"How many people is that," asked Lily.
"7. Fred, George, their brothers Percy, Ron, their sister Ginny, and their mum and dad."
"Their mother had 5 kids?"
"7 actually," said Tonks. "The eldest brothers, Bill and Charlie, already graduated and have jobs."
"That poor woman," said Lily. "Going through it once was bad enough."
"Oi," exclaimed Harry.
"But to go through it seven times?"
"6, technically," said Filius. "Fred and George are twins, after all."
"Doesn't make it sound better, Filius."
"She was probably not stopping till she got a girl," said Blaise.
"We certainly think so," said the twins behind them. Everyone but Harry jumped.
"Stop doing that!" said Tonks who fell from her chair.
"As you wish…," said Fred.
"… Your royal clumsiness." Finished George.
"Gits."
"Ground rules for Potter Manor," said Lily. "No pranks. You get caught pulling a prank, you're kicked out. Understand?" Lily made her eyes glow to emphasize her point.
"Yes ma'am!" They both said, clearly scared.
"Good." She stopped the glow and smiled. "Enjoy your day!" She walked away, and the twins turned to Harry.
"Blimey, Harry," said George. "Your mother is scary."
"Very scary," said Fred. "How did your father survive her?"
"By knowing when not to piss her off. I.e., never."
"Must've been hard for the leader of the Marauders."
"Never said Dad was the leader."
"Then who was?"
"There wasn't one. Not until Mum and Dad started dating."
"I thought the pranks took a turn that year," said Minerva.
Just then, the doors to the Great Hall opened and all eyes turned to who was entering. Fred and George, along with most of the older male students, gaped as they saw Isabel walk in wearing her usual lab coat over a top showing a little too much cleavage for Minerva's taste, and short shorts. "Morning all," she said as she stretched. "What's on the menu today?" She yawned as Minerva walked over to her.
"Miss Daniels," said Minerva. "You are a guest here at Hogwarts. We are a school, not a…" Isabel cut her off.
"Not a whore house, I've heard it all before. Listen, I'm not a kid. I'll dress how I want. I am a guest, not a student. Nor am I a teacher here at Hogwarts. I couldn't care less about setting an example for students."
"You will when you hear the news," said Elijah as he put away the papers and swatted at a water beetle before doing a double take at it.
"What news?"
"Hold on." He watched the water beetle as it landed on the Anima Mea table.
"Minerva, do you know the reversal spell for an
Animagus?"
"I should, Mr. Crowe. Why?"
"Teach it to me real quick. Just give me an explanation of the spell, please and thank you."
"The spell reverts one to their human form, ending the magic powering the Animagus transformation." She gave him the incantation and Elijah aimed at the water beetle. It turned around and saw him pointing his wand its way. It tried flying away but Elijah was quicker. He silently casted the spell and a woman landed on the ground next to the Anima Mea table.
"Rita Skeeter!" exclaimed Minerva.
"How did you know I was an Animagus?"
"Your species doesn't live in this part of the world."
"How do you know?"
"Random facts get stuck in my head, it's a hassle until it comes in handy." He aimed his wand at her and disarmed her as soon as she reached for her own wand. "Try that again and you're getting stunned. Get up." Rita complied and held her hands beside her head. "Rita Skeeter, huh? The tabloid journalist?"
"I write the news!"
"You write gossip and pass it off as fact. Don't try to deny it. Now, seeing as you were not invited, and there's nothing going on here at Hogwarts, you're trespassing. Am I right, Minerva?"
"Quite right, actually. I'll call Madam Bones, have her come arrest Ms. Skeeter."
"Can we not come to some kind of agreement?"
"Hey, Eli," said Isabel.
"What is it, Izzy?"
"Ignoring that, I could use a new test subject. My last one seems to have…," she licked her lips and showed off her fangs to the 'journalist'. "… Run dry."
"Never mind! I'll go with the Aurors" shouted Rita, scared for her life.
"There you go, one cooperating journalist. That's a 5 pint payment fee."
"No."
"Oh, come on! I showed my fangs and everything!"
"You're not taking 5 pints!" Rita tried crawling away from the bickering friends, only to back up into someone. She looked up and was face to face with a smiling, yet angry, Lily Potter.
"Why hello, Rita!"
"L-L-Lily Potter!"
"I believe we need to have a chat."
"Once again, Harry," said George. "Your mum is scary."
"Why do you think I haven't tried pranking anyone?" Ten minutes, and one scarred (mentally and physically) journalist later, and Amelia showed up with Kingsley Shacklebolt and Sirius in tow. When they arrived, they saw Rita huddled into a ball in a corner.
"Jesus," said Kingsley. "What happened to her?"
"Lily happened," said Amelia and Sirius. Lily used the Levi Corpus spell to move Rita over to them.
"Oh, hello, Kingsley!"
"Lily Potter, guess the rumors were true."
"Unless those rumors are I'm undead. One slightly used Journalist, Madam Bones."
"You couldn't leave her a little cohesive?"
"Elijah caught her spying on us and trespassing, someone needed to teach her a lesson, especially when it comes to spying on my son."
"We'll take her from here, Mrs. Potter," said Sirius, all business. Harry and the girls stared at him. "What?"
"You're actually being, and I can't believe I'm about to play the name game, serious," said Daphne. Amelia facepalmed as her fiancé grinned.
"I'm always Sirius, thank you very much." The group groaned as Amelia turned to Daphne.
"He set you up, all you had to do was ignore him. Why did you encourage him?"
"He was acting strangely. I was kind of hoping he'd actually grow up in light of being a father soon."
"I'm still hoping that, especially if it's a girl."
"He's just trying to have as much fun as possible before he finally has to grow up," said Elijah.
"How do you know?"
"I've seen it happen to other men before. All jokers. Same thing, each time."
"Huh," said Susan. "Do you think he can be mature for longer than a day?"
"Here's hoping," said Amelia. She gave her niece a hug and took Rita into custody.
"Alright students," said Minerva, Albus being absent for the day. "I believe it is time to board the train if you are returning home for the Holidays! Make sure your things are packed, your personal items are secured, and your Christmas cheer is high! Have a merry Christmas, and we'll see you all, next year!" There was a deafening applause as students started to head to the entrance to the school, ready to ride the carriages to Hogsmeade Station.
"Anima Mea!" Shouted Elijah. In an instant, all of the Anima Mea students were standing in front of their head of house. "I don't think I need to remind any of you about your exercises during the break. You only get two days off, Christmas and New Year's Eve. Keep up your studies and have a merry Christmas. Anyone going to Potter Manor right away, stay with me and Lily. The rest of you, if you're not coming to the manor for Christmas, then I'll see you next year." Pansy walked over to them.
"Is it alright if I spend Christmas with you lot?"
"What's wrong, Pansy," asked Daphne.
"I'm not on speaking terms with my parents right now, got no one to spend Christmas with, and I'm not staying here over the break."
"Lily?" Pansy turned to the red headed woman as Elijah addressed her.
"Of course, Pansy. Do you have your things?"
"Right behind me." She gestured to a few bags of luggage behind her.
"Harry, would you kindly?"
"Why do I hate those words?" He went over and waited for Elijah to shrink her things before putting them in his pocket.
"Please tell me we're not taking a portkey to the manor," said Hermione.
"Oh, no," said Isabel. "We're going in style."
"Oh, please not that monstrosity you call a vehicle," said Elijah.
"How do you think I got here?"
"Dammit. I'd rather fight a dragon, than get in that death trap."
"I made some upgrades since you last saw her, Eli." She led them outside and whistled. The roar of an engine sounded above, and a dark blue car flew down to them, stopping right in front of Isabel. "Everyone, meet my baby!"
"A 1964 Chevrolet Impala SS," said Harry and Lily as they admired the car.
"Oh great," said Daphne. "We've lost them."
"Car nuts?"
"Car fanatics," said Elijah. "Mind the drool."
"They drool?"
"Extensively," said Hermione. "Especially for classics."
"Christ," she said. She whistled, loudly, to get their attention. "Back away from my baby! No drooling on the chassis!" Harry and Lily backed up, covering their mouths. "They normally are more defiant."
"It's the car," said Tracey, Edgar on her shoulder. "Any chance they get, they go to a car show. If they could, they'd buy one themselves and modify it how they liked."
"Why can't they?"
"Statute of Limitations," said Elijah. "It's more than heavily enforced here, to the point that most magical's don't know what modern muggle appliances are, let alone how they work. There's a whole department devoted to the 'misuse of muggle artifacts'."
"They can't be this ignorant."
"I blame Dumbledore," said Lily, finally back to normal. "He's been keeping the public ignorant for years, ever since Grindelwald's defeat."
"People were too afraid to even touch a muggle appliance after hearing about the machine guns used by the Nazi's in the Second World War," said Hermione. "He was trying to assuage their fears. But in doing so, he slowed their progress and even reverted them back to the Dark Ages of technology."
"I mean, it's not like they need advanced technology, if they're planning on hiding in Amish communities for the coming centuries," said Isabel. "No-Mag tech is advancing rapidly. Pretty soon, it'll be able to see passed illusion spells easily, making it harder to hide unless we advance in turn."
"An arms race, essentially," said Elijah.
"Try not to phrase it that way, we're trying to avoid violent altercations, not incite reasons to escalate them."
"I'm just stating it how I understand it."
"Whatever the case," said Lily. "What modifications have you added to the Impala?"
"Besides the normal ones? Expansion charms, flight capabilities, unbreakable charms, cloaking, all without overtaxing the runic systems I wrote into the chassis and engine, or without canceling each other out and causing one or more of the spells to fail."
"I take it that's common," asked Susan.
"More than common. Adding too much at once tends to take too much power than anyone ever cares to guess. But I'm not anyone. I asked the Runes Master at Ilvermorny to help with my project, she was more than happy to."
"And the normal mods," asked Harry. Isabel grinned.
"502-cubic-inch big-block V8 engine. It's not fully the same car I had right out of school, it's better. And the chassis is a '67, not a '64." (If you can guess where this is from, props to you.) "18 feet of pure, unadulterated badass."
"How many people can fit inside?" With No-Mag perception filters, 5. For us, ever been in a stretch limo? It even has a self-drive mode, so I can just cruise and enjoy the ride."
"Shot gun!" shouted the car crazed mother and son.
"Lily, you can drive. And, sorry Harry, no one under 13 in the front seat of my baby. Let Eli sit up front, I'm gonna nap in the trunk."
"Let me guess," said Elijah. "You built in a bedroom in the trunk?"
"More like a suite. Have fun guys, and don't wreck anything, or I'll kill you." She went to the trunk, opened it, and hopped in as the group piled into the car. Lily got into the driver's seat, very excited.
"Let's hear her purr," she said as Elijah got in his seat. She started the engine and listened as it roared to life. "Oh, hell, the fuck, yes!"
"Maybe you should calm down," said Elijah. "Don't want to get too overzealous with her car, especially with the kids in the back."
"She said she put unbreakable spells on it."
"Still…" Lily ignored whatever he was going to say and took off at full speed, cheering the entire way back to the Manor.