Queen Potter

[DarkPhoenixLady]

Chapter 1


Minerva looks out at the sea of house elves crowding into the Great Hall. Argus Filch stands nervously beside her.
"Tappenny, please join us at the top table."
There's a slight pop and the Head House Elf appears standing next to the two of them. Absently, Minerva conjures a platform underneath him, so that he's standing at the same level as they are.

Taking a deep breath, she lets it out slowly before she starts to talk, "Good Morning, I understand that all of you are in desperate need of work to do. However, this is the domain of the Hogwarts Elves, so I need the rest of you to ensure that there is enough work here for them. Especially as they can't go to the other locations that you can. That being said, there is a large amount of work that needs to be done here before the students return in September. Firstly, hands up everyone that can read and write English."
Half a dozen hands go up out of the nearly 300 elves there, "Good, all of you will be working under the caretaker, Argus Filch, directly. You will first be learning about how to build and repair furniture from books we have in the library, and those that have recently been purchased from the muggle world. Once Mr Filch judges that you all know enough to tell what can be salvaged, you will be going around all of the unused rooms in the castle to evaluate the state of the furniture. Anything that is unrepairable will either be broken down for parts in order to repair other things, or given to the kitchens for the ovens.
"Tappenny, I want you to pick 10 elves from each hive, and as many more that you think will be needed from Hogwarts. Their task will be to sort the room of hidden things into furniture, clothing, jewellery, weapons, brooms, broken things, and finally anything that is enchanted. Make a last category for anything that doesn't fit one of those things."

As she's talking Irma Pince, the librarian walks through the doors and Minerva smiles, "Irma, please join us up here."
Irma hrumphs, "I don't know why you wanted me at this meeting."
Minerva nods, "It's quite simple, I want you to find 5 house elves that are bound to Hogwarts, and teach them to be your assistants. The ones that already know how to read and write are already assigned to Argus, as they need the skills now. Tappenny, if you find any books in the Room of Hidden Things, I want you to place them in a classroom near the Library, I'll let you work with Irma on which one."
Irma frowns, "Why House Elves?"
Minerva blinks and bites back her first response before choosing her words carefully, "Master Pince, despite the fact that they bond to us for survival, house elves are not stupid or incapable. What they are is uneducated, and have a child like maturity. They are also slavishly driven to work. If you teach them properly, and treat them like people, you will have assistants that can do the drudge work quickly, efficiently, correctly, and on top of that, ensure that all of the books are returned on time."
Irma stares at the young woman for a long time, as she mentally has to reconcile the fact that this is Minerva McGonagall, the woman that taught her Transfiguration. Eventually, she nods, "Yes Head Master."
"Good. Well, everyone, you know what you need to be doing. Argus, pick a room near your office to act as the caretaker's library. That's where your books on maintenance and repair will be kept. And Argus, consider yourself on probation, improve your attitude to the students or you will be replaced over Christmas. Do you understand?"
Argus stops as he's about to leave through a side door, "I understand Head Master, will the elves be able to help me with my patrols?"
"Of course. That's why they've been assigned to you."

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Priya smiles as she climbs the steps to Gringotts wearing muggle business attire, with an A line skirt rather than a pencil skirt, to hide her tail from casual inspection. Under her shoulder she has an expanded leather messenger bag with her notes about the school finances, along with an authorisation from the Head Master to discuss the accounts, and additional services.
While she's waiting in line, she makes sport of flashing her own teeth whenever the goblins flash theirs at her. A sport that seems to be gathering some attention. Maybe she can actually get a decent hunt out of it.
Priya shakes her head at the alien thought, the sort of thought that has been becoming more and more common the longer her tail gets.
"Arry, how do you deal…" she trails off as she remembers that Arry is taking Luna hunting pirates at the moment. Instead, she gets several queries, looking at her recent memories, and then providing her with their own experiences and comfort. Strangely enough, it's Sally-Anne who provides the best advice with a memory of just running through the forest for the sheer joy of it.
"Well! I haven't got all day, what do you need from Gringotts today?" The goblin teller's voice cuts through her communion, and brings her attention back to the here and now.
With a smile full of teeth, Priya licks her top teeth before she answers, "I am here to review the Hogwarts accounts, and to see about procuring services in areas that Gringotts is known to work in."
"Black Knife, room three."
"And where would I find room three?"
"If you wait a moment, I will send a runner to guide you."
Priya smiles and nods, before leaning against the counter, seemingly oblivious to the queue for this teller. After a moment, her hand comes down to caress the wood, and her fingernail pulls a curl of wax and wood where it passes.
The tellers eyes follow the curl as it grows, before he growls, "Why are you still standing there, I have other customers to serve."
Priya bares her teeth again, "I'm waiting for the runner you said you were going to send. After all, you can't do that if you're serving other customers."
The teller looks at her teeth, and the new curl of wood that's starting to rise from the counter, before climbing down from the counter and talking to a goblin somewhere behind the counter. A few minutes later, and she's being escorted to room three. This goblin doesn't show their teeth to her.

Once she's let in, and sat down, the goblin, presumably Black Knife, continues to work for a few minutes. So Priya pulls out her own work, and starts to make notes on proper diets for the coming school year, and how to cut down on food wastage. As even with magic, the school is spending far more than it should on food for the number of students they have.
"Well?"
Priya glances up at the frowning goblin, "One mo, just need to finish this item."
"You wanted to see me, not the other way around."
Priya raises an eyebrow, "And you were not ready to see me. Anyway, done."

As Priya looks up, she meets the gaze of the goblin, who bares his teeth. As he does, she bares her own, and doesn't look away. After a while, the goblin snarls, "If you don't stop doing that, you won't have enough teeth to do it."
"So it's ok for you to bare teeth at me, but you get offended as soon as I do it back?"
"You are a customer at our bank."
"Is that a threat?"
"Why did you need to see me?"
Priya grins widely, "I am here to go over the Hogwarts accounts, and compare them with my own calculations over the last school year to ensure that there are no discrepancies."
"Are you accusing us of cheating you?"
"Given that I'm not closing the accounts, I think you should be able to draw your own conclusions."
"Very well, key."
"Before we do that, I need to ensure that I am talking to the Hogwarts Account manager."
"Are you doubting my credentials."
"Yes."
The goblin stares at her for a long time, as if he can't believe what he just heard, "I will see you in the pit for that."
Priya give him a feral grin, "Fair enough, I could do with some exercise."
"You won't be able to use your precious wand."
"I wasn't planning to."
The goblin stares at her, as if she's some sort of animal that has done something out of character, "Follow me, know that you're facing Red Knife in the pit."
Priya nods, "Ok Red Knife, I was told I needed to see Black Knife, so looks like I was right to question your integrity."

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Once they reach the pit, Priya pulls out her combistick. As she twirls it in her hands, her mind goes over the lessons that Wild Mask has been forcing her to take. Something he started to distract himself as he adapts to the change in gender that is slowly taking over his body and mind. Not that she's been the only one pushed into this, as all of the adult hive members living at Hogwarts have been pushed into it too. Thankfully, E'jeah has only taken charge of the lessons a few times, concentrating more on surveying the planet for more hives.
From the centre of the pit Red Knife calls up, "Are you going to play with your toy all day, or are you actually going to fight?"
Just before she jumps down into the pit, she looks at an unarmoured goblin with an axe by his side, "Sorry to bother you, but I know it's no wands, but does that mean no magic too?"
The goblin looks at her with a closed mouth, "That is between the two of you."
Priya nods, "Thank you."
"Don't thank me, make a good showing."
Priya smiles as she jumps lightly into the pit and stalks towards Red Knife, "What magic do you want to allow?"
"Goblin."
Priya raises an eyebrow, "Only if I can use house elf or animagus magic."
Red Knife looks over her shoulder for a moment before he grunts, "Goblin and House elf."
Priya shakes her head sadly and points her combistick forward like a short baton. Red Knife pulls a knife with a blade made from ruby with goblin silver etching along the blade, and a goblin silver guard.

The fight starts out with both parties testing each other, neither one seeming to have an advantage in reach, despite the short stature of the goblin. Something that he makes up for with experience. It's when Red Knife tries to throw a fireball from just outside her reach that she presses the release button on the combistick, increasing it to its full length, and scoring a deep cut across his offhand arm. With that, the tempo of the fight started to increase as Red Knife started to use his knife to fend off the combi stick while he was using goblin magic to attack Priya, slowly herding her into a position where she can't dodge.

Suddenly, Red Knife casts a shield around himself and batters the combistick out of the way. One he's inside Priya's guard, he brings a large fire blast forward and drops his shield. Just before the fire blast hits, there's a soft pop and Priya grabs his neck from behind in her hand, the nails piercing the skin and blue blood trickles down his neck. Her other hand comes round to grab his knife hand, her thumbnail drawing blood just above where the artery would be on a human. "I believe that is my win, unless you want your skull to adorn my wall."

There's a long pause, and Priya is almost ready to tear his throat out, when, finally, he croaks out, "I yield."
Priya releases her grip and steps back, "I still need to speak to the Hogwarts account manager."

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Draco tosses and turns in his old bed, the softness of the bed not the only reason he can't sleep. Eventually, he gets up and grabs his combistick before padding out of the room. He's almost finished his circuit of the house when he meet Athe coming the other way.
"Can't sleep?"
Athe shakes her head, "It's too quiet."
Draco nods, "I know, and the beds are too soft too."
Athe laughs, "I remember when you first arrived and kept complaining about stuff in your own language."
Draco chuckles, "I don't remember much of that time, when I still thought that someone was going to come and take me home. I don't remember much of living here either, though it's starting to come back."
"Let's see if any of the others are awake."
Draco nods, "Good idea, I think there might be a set of rooms with a common thingy room. Gah! I used to know the names of all these things. It has a fireplace in it like the big room downstairs."
Athe rubs Draco's shoulder, "It's ok. It will come back, or you'll learn it again."

As they take another tour of the house together, Draco asks, "Are you going to take them up on their offer?"
Athe takes Draco's hand for a moment as they walk, "I don't know. Your life giver seems to be no worse for doing so, but…"
Draco nods, "I know, I've been hunted more times than I can remember, and I don't know if I could give them a reason to hunt me for real."
Athe smiles at Draco, "It's not that simple for me. They are offering the same power that you have, along with the downside of turning into a hybrid hard meat. That in itself would change many things, as you have done well in the training hunts. Better than any of the other males in the village have done during their various trials. Most of them are dead now."
Draco nods, "I know, they almost killed me the first day I was here. I had a bout of accidental magic, and it pushed them away."
"So that's why you got preferential treatment. A lot of the village were put out at the amount of training you were given."
Draco laughs, "They weren't training me, they were using me to train their children. Pauk, if I got caught too soon I ended up being examined for hours on end."
Athe looks shocked, "Why didn't you say anything?"
"To start with, I did, but no one could understand me. After that, it didn't seem that important compared to our daily survival."
"Draco, it would have changed everything. To start with, the Matriarch would have gone easier on you if she'd known."
"But she didn't, so she didn't."
As they approach the door, another villager quickly opens it and sticks their head out, "Oh good, it wasn't just me."
Athe shakes her head, "It's too quiet here. Come on, Draco thinks there's a set of rooms connected to a communal room we can light a fire in."
The villager nods, "That would help."
Dobby appears silently behind them and says, "Dobby wonders what honoured guests are doing out of bed."
Draco spins, drawing his combistick, and thrusting it towards the house elf, who disappears with a pop, reappearing a safe distance down the hallway, "Merlin! Don't do that. I could have killed you."
"Dobby is sorry, Dobby will iron fingers."
One of the older villagers asks, "What did it say?"
Dobby disappears with a pop as Draco tries to translate. Once he has, and explained what an iron is, Athe looks at Draco with her hands on her hips, "Call him back."
Draco nods, and does so. Dobby reappears holding an old-fashioned iron that needs to be heated on the stove.

Athe points at Dobby, "Draco, translate for me. You, don't go anywhere. You did nothing wrong, just be more careful about surprising any of the males of our village in future." Dobby looks at Athe in shock as she continues, "We were looking for a set of rooms with a communal fireplace, as this building is too quiet for us."
Dobby nods, his ears flopping around wildly, "Dobby knows just the rooms you need. It's the family guest suite where old Master Abaxi used to stay. Dobby will show you the way before ironing Dobby's fingers."
Athe shudders, "You shouldn't do that Dobby, you did nothing wrong, and you can't help defend your village if you've disabled your hand."

 

[DarkPhoenixLady]

Chapter 2


Luna smiles widely as she dances onto a Skarli merchant ship. As the designation of the ship crosses her mind, she pauses with a pout while her tail skewers a Fire Lizard pirate that's coming up behind her. As it pulls itself off of her tail, which failed to puncture the rear of the armour its wearing, Luna turns around eager for the upcoming fight.

Everyone, I want a few live ones, as they look perfect for our hive.

As the lizard discards the gun it was using in favour of it's armoured claws, Luna smiles as she can see the wound in its stomach already starting to clot over. Dancing to one side, she swipes a claw out experimentally, pulling it back sharply when the humanoid lizard reacts far faster than she expected. As it steps forward with a lightning fast swipe, she elf pops behind it and swipes at the unarmoured tail.
Using some unknown sense, the humanoid lizard twitches it's tail to one side before bring it back to slam into Luna's trunk, trading a minor scratch for a solid hit on its foe. As Luna bounces off the wall and launches herself at her opponent, claws first, it easily leaps off the ground in a backwards somersault before grasping the ceiling with it's feet, its hand claws slashing out at her back, scoring deep gashes in her skin.
As the acid of her blood starts to eat into the armour covering it's claws, it recoils backwards to re-evaluate its opponent. At the same time Luna lands in a crouch and looks up at the lizard crouched on the ceiling.
"Ow, that hurt, good hit. I think it's my turn now."
As Luna shifts to her natural form, the lizard on the ceiling grumbles something incomprehensible that sounds like swearing. Now filling most of the corridor, Luna leaps towards the alien on the ceiling. In turn, it pushes off towards the discarded weapon, only to stumble in confusion as the weapon disappears from the ground in front of it. Turning the stumble into a forward roll, the lizard reaches to a concealed control panel underneath the back of its armour and activates a forcefield.

After several minutes of brutal fighting that would put Chinese martial arts films to shame, the fire lizard slams face first into the floor as its legs straighten and lock themselves together. As it tries to get up, it finds that it's stuck to the floor. Luna turns to an empty part of the corridor as she shifts back into her human form. Her phoenix blood already healing her wounds.
"Oh poo, why did you do that? I was having fun."
Arry carefully pulls back the hood of her cloak as she steps forward and taps Luna on the nose, "You forgot that we're here to rescue the owners of the ship."

As the two of them talk, the lizard on the floor starts to reach around behind it, to the concealed control panel. As it does, there's a slight pop and then it finds itself floating in the air, its arms being spread to either side. Through a doorway it can see a dozen xenomorph eggs sitting on small mounds of resin. It starts to struggle as it feels its hands being turned away from the wall behind it, and some how stuck in place.

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Narcissa giggles softly to herself as she holds a broken nailfile up to the light and stares through the long rent in the hardened metal. The laughter that's bubbling up the culmination of all of the body blows her world view has taken since that fateful, desperate, request on platform 9¾. Placing the ruined file on her vanity, she stands up and walks over to a window that overlooks the gardens from her dressing room. There she giggles once more as she watches her son practicing with his combistick against some of her hive mates. A son that only a year ago wouldn't have been seen dead doing something so 'barbaric'.

As she turns back to the vanity, she notices that her nailfile has been replaces with a sapphire nailfile of a similar design, "Thank you Tisky. It is most appreciated."
"You are most welcome Miss."
Narcissa smiles softly as she sits back and continues filing her nails while Tisky prepares her hair for another day in court as the regent of the Malfoy family.

Suddenly she snaps out, "Dobby."
Dobby appears in the dressing room, wearing an apron, with flour covered hands, "Yes Great Mistress?"
Narcissa smiles at the slightly wary expression she can see in the mirror, "Dobby, are you still visiting Hogwarts occasionally?"
Dobby's head and ears droop, "Yes great mistress."
"Excellent." Dobby looks somewhat surprised by this, "As regent of house Malfoy I give you permission to join a hive if you wish. You may also start a family if that is your desire. I'm sure that there are many wonderful elves that have caught your eye."
Dobby straightens up in alarm as his ears lay back against his head, his eyes darting to Tisky and around the room, "Are you sure Mistress, I do not wish to neglect my duties."
Narcissa smiles as she turns her head to face Dobby, "Of course I am, that's why I checked to see if you still had time to visit Hogwarts. That is all, and I hope you enjoy your free time."
Dobby disappears from the room with a loud pop, and a shower of flour. Meanwhile Tisky continues to brush Narcissa's hair in preparation for an elaborate braid.
Thank you Mistress.
You are most welcome Tisky, but again call me Narcissa, as we're both family now.
That would be inappropriate while I am your chambermaid mistress.
Then maybe I should take you to Madam Primpennlies and have you fitted for court robes. Then you'd be my companion.
You wouldn't dare, Tisky is a good house elf, and house elfies should be unseen or heard.
And family should be treated with grace, understanding, acceptance, and caution. Look where that got me in the past. Now we have our Queen and her praetorian, and all others are equal, that includes you.

Tisky withdraws from the conversation, leaving Narcissa to continue reflecting on the memories of her new family that have punished her world view so badly over these last weeks. Not that it has been all one way, her own childhood and youth as a Black have been plumbed repeatedly, especially her lessons on occlumency and Legimancy at the knee, and occasionally the wand, of her father. Idly she looks at her finger nails as she comes across memories of times where the hives ancestors have had humanoid members. Maybe she could commission some finger jewellery to excuse having longer, and sharper, nails.

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Somewhat later, Narcissa sits in the Black seat, that the Malfoy's have held since 1986 when Arcturus died. In the centre of the court sits a Mundungus Fletcher, a common thief and conman, all around her are her fellow members arguing about the appropriate punishment for the thief. With a sigh, she glances over at Amelia in commiseration, as the woman, by custom, cannot interfere with the sentencing once someone has been found guilty.
Smoothly, she rises and pulls upon all of her training to glide gracefully down the stairs to the floor, rather than stalking or strutting as though everyone else is prey or beneath her. Once she reaches the speakers podium it takes a few minutes for the chief warlock to bring the house to order.
"Regent Malfoy, what is it you have to say on behalf of the Black family?"
Narcissa smiles at the old wizard before looking around the benches, first at the permanent seats, and then at the elected seats. "Lords and Ladies, Wizards and Witches. We have here an unrepentant thief, one that we have already found guilty on this, and other prior occasions. Before I approached the podium I heard arguments about whether we should send him to Azkaban or demand weregild from him. According to our own laws, we cannot hold any crime for which he has already paid weregild against him if he is sentenced again. Yet, a single count of petty thievery is not a sufficient crime to warrant feeding our citizens to the dementors in order to appease them." Narcissa pauses to the calls of 'hear hear' from around the court, "What I propose instead, is that Mr Fletcher is sentenced to three days in the Auror cells and a deferred weregild of double the value of his theft. You will note…"
Narcissa pauses at the sounds of angry shouting, attempting to restart a few times, "You will note that this is less than we would normally demand. This is because I suggest deferring the expunction of his crime for a year and a day. If, during this period he appears before this court again, our good-will will be overturned, and we will have cause to send him to the shivering isle for a period of 10 days. As you all know, a stay in Azkaban is permanently recorded in the Auror's record.
"As this is a new punishment, it will need to be debated and voted on during a regular afternoon session. As the weekend starts tomorrow, I propose that we provisionally assign this punishment on the understanding that if the proposal fails during Monday's afternoon session, Mr Fletcher will be fined the appropriate weregild, and the crime expunged."

It takes a few minutes, while the court is discussing this new option, for Mundungus to think through this proposal, and the fact he gets caught two or three times a year, before he blurts out, "'Ere, I demand my right to pay weregild!"

At that exclamation, the whole court goes silent as everyone looks down at the defendant. As the silence draws on, the chief warlock bangs his gavel, "Show of wands, green for the Black's proposal, red to reject it."
Mundungus swallows hard as he sees the sea of green lights from the elected side of the court. Of the permanent seats, only those in the light faction raise their own wands as green. This, however, is enough to sway the vote to the proposal to acceptance.

With a smile, Narcissa curtseys to the court, "Thank you for your faith in this proposal, I will ensure that the draft for this punishment is ready for this afternoon, along with the proposed guidelines for use."

As she walks back to her seat the chief warlock calls out, "Mundungus Fletcher, you have been sentenced to three days detention in Auror cells, and 12g9s1k in weregild deferred for a year and a day. If the motion fails, you will pay the full 31g5s17k weregild for your crime, and it will be expunged immediately."

Once the final parts of the sentencing are dealt with, Narcissa discretely leaves for the Black office in the Wizengamot in order to start writing up the draft of the new punishment, and rational behind not taking the Ministry's cut in lieu of deferring the fine for a year and a day. In the guidelines she includes instructions for the lower courts, including the recommendation that it is only used for defendants of low moral character. Something that the traditional block should like, and will probably end up written into the main article this afternoon.

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High above the earth, on the dark side of the moon, an Arbiter walks out of the sensor suite and kneels down with the hunt mistress and other senior hunters, including one spear master. Bowing his head for a moment as he considers what he's just seen, he looks up again, "You called me in to answer a dispute, and I have now seen the evidence. Hunt mistress, I find that your honour is intact. You saw the build up and called a grand hunt. Spear master, senior hunters, your honour is also intact, as this is a new strain of R'ka. Henceforth, these will be known as Halkrath kiande amedha, Red Blade clan will gain great honour when I send details to the homeworld once I leave."
Around the room all the hunters bow in acceptance of the judgement, once they rise the hunt mistress lays her weapon in front of her, "Red Blade clan calls off the grand hunt, and opens up the planet to its allies for the remainder of their stewardship. Red Blade clan also requests that all hunters seek signs of these new kiande amedha, and report their location. If they prove to be worthy prey we will seek to transplant them to other reserves."

 

[DarkPhoenixLady]

Chapter 3


Gilderoy checks his reflection one last time before he uses the last of his daily charms on his mouth. After all, he doesn't want to smell of onions or garlic, and his smile is his most attractive quality. Picking up one of his luckiest achievements, he pins his Order of Merlin 3rd​ class medal to his breast pocket before leaving his room in the three broomsticks. An idle wave of his wand, in a practiced manner, has his dress cane find its way under his left hand, while his wand disappears into a concealed holster on his wrist.

After a leisurely walk around the village of Hogsmeade to the Hogwarts gates he pauses before knocking politely on the Hogwarts emblem. He absolutely doesn't shriek when a voice, with a Scottish accent, behind him asks, "Can I help you?"
Turning around slowly, Gilderoy looks at the young woman before putting on his best smile, "Certainly, I was hoping to speak to the acting headmistress about the Defence post."
"An why would you be wanting to do that?"

Taking a step back, Gilderoy lowers himself into a bow, at the same time he pulls a couple of letters from a hidden clip underneath his jacket, "Why, because the headmaster requested me personally, though I was in Peru at the time and had to decline. However, my agent informed me that the last Professor left the position open."
The woman takes the letters with a huff, before walking around him and pushing the gates open, "Well come on then, we can deal with this in the great hall."
Blinking a couple of times, Gilderoy straightens up and trots to catch up with the young woman. A few paces past the gates he jumps as the gates close behind him with a loud clang. As he tries to slow down to walk beside the woman, who has opened one of the letters to read it, he finds out that she's walking too slow for a jog, but faster than his walking pace, "Excuse me Miss, huff, but those letters are for, the headmistress."
"Hmm, I suppose they are, do you have proof of your Mastery in Defence?"
"What? Um yes. It's in, my pouch."
"Good, good, how about a lesson plan?"
"Yes, I was going to focus on magical creatures this year."
"Interesting. Right, that makes things easier." Abruptly she changes direction and heads towards the Forbidden Forest.
Gilderoy can't help the surprise in his tone, "It does?"
The woman nods, "Indeed, part of the interview process now includes a practical test of your mastery. The first part of which will be to get 10 juvenile acromantula from the forest. Something you should have absolutely no trouble with Mr Lockhart."
Gilderoy stumbles over his next couple of steps, "I'm sorry, what?"
"Don't worry, all the adults have been ea… dealt with. Your test will serve three purposes, it will allow us to see how close we are to having another breeding pair, it will provide venom for our potions master to experiment with, and they'll be lunch. I mean we'll be able to test your competency."
Gilderoy catches up with the woman as she stops at the edge of the forest, "I'm sorry, I didn't, catch that, last bit."
"I said your test will serve multiple purposes. Well, what are you waiting for, an engraved invitation?"
"You know what? No! I demand to speak to the acting headmistress."
The young lady pulls herself up to her full height, "I'll have you know Mr Lockhart, I am the acting Head Master of the school, Master of Transfiguration Minerva McGonagall at your service."
"What? No, you can't be, she was old when I was at school."
"Yes, I was. That's when you got an A on your Defence OWL. Now Laddie, you claim to have a Mastery in Defence, and I'm calling you on it. You can either get 10 juvenile acromantula, or you can leave. Just in case it's not clear, by Juvenile I mean over two feet long."
"Now see here, acromantula are a 5x creature, you can't expect anyone to just hunt them."
"That only applies to acromantula over six foot long, and I know for a fact there are none in there. Course, I'll be informing the daily prophet either way, as we may be able to get some good publicity out of it."
Gilderoy tugs on his lapels as he mentally sets himself to do what needs to be done, "I see. Well, of course it would behove someone of my calibre to deal with such a problem for the school. Understand that I'd normally be charging a hefty fee for this, however I should have your acromantula within the next 30 minutes."

After a couple more fortifying breaths, Gilderoy nods and sets his face as he turns towards the forest. Taking a deep breath he steps forward and crouches down into a quick spin, his wand popping out into his hand in a practiced move and spitting out three confundus charms in quick succession. Once aimed at the woman's feet, chest, and where she's likely to dodge to based on experience. As he stands up smoothly, instead of a very confused woman, he instead has a split second to see a furry xenomorph leaping for his chest before he sees it jump away with the front of his ribcage in its hands. An instant later, the pain hits, and he collapses to the floor trying to scream in agony with shredded lungs. The pain dies away abruptly when the creature snaps his neck, as it drags him towards the school, his last thoughts are 'That's always worked before'.

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Minerva is almost back to the school by the time the only confundus that hit her wears off. As she idly crunches on a rib bone with one claw, she 'glances' down at the other claw before sending to the hive, "Oh bother. Well, waste not, want not. We have a deceased Gilderoy Lockhart for lunch."
A moment later all the Earth side hive members dive into her memories before focusing on her last few seconds of conscious thought before her instincts took over.
One by one they see her dodge two of the charms while shifting into her animagus form, before being hit just after the change starts, but before it completes. With a shrug they, even Everly and Vivian, deem it suicide before turning back to what they were doing. Only Maia, formally Bradley, has any negative reaction to this, but that's more to do with lacking any experience with violence of this sort, than anything else.

Somewhat later, after she has finished her ribs, Minerva makes her way down into to the heart of the school. As she leaves the freshwater well, that's barely wide enough to fit a full grown man standing upright, through a concealed entrance that only opens into the well, she enters the Heart Room for the school. There she finds both Bathsheba and Septima working on a large computer together while they refer to a desk full of paper and the runes around the room.
"Beth, Septima, how's things going?"
Septima groans, "Horribly, you can check our memories."
Minerva nods, "I could, but I want to keep in practice doing things the human… way… Damn, I don't consider myself human anymore. Ah well. We still need to work with humans, so here we are."
Septima nods, "I can see that. Well, our biggest headache is that the founders used runes symbolically, rather than as anchors. Something that fell out of use around 700 years ago, as the magic involved tends to start going wild and developing a sort of sense of self. Not exactly ideal when you want your wards to keep doing exactly the same thing every day. Each of the rune clusters you see around us represents a ward stone somewhere in the castle."
Beth breaks in, "It's absolutely fascinating, and something I've never even heard of before. If I'm right, then even if the castle above was demolished, as long as this room still exists, any structure that is rebuilt above would have the same ward stones appear. What we're doing here is trying to isolate each of the rune clusters, as well as mapping each of the original enchantments. Something that's made far more difficult because Sepi needs to detect and analyse each one individually. Fortunately, we've been able to get the computer to do the actual calculations for us, as well as calculating the different interactions."
Septima nods and takes over again, "Once we've finished mapping the enchantments in here, we can calculate the overall arithmantic result of the enchantments and craft a spell to check a ward stone against that result. After that, we need to visit each ward stone and check its individual result. If it comes back different, then we'll need to analyse the enchantments on that stone to find out what they do. To complicate things, Beth is also checking to see if any of the rune clusters here are actually more modern anchors. Quite frankly, I think it would be easier to be a curse breaker than doing what we're doing. However, we have the advantage that this method is actually safe as oppose to the risks of attacking from the outside."

Minerva nods, and walks around the room, being careful not to step on the actual heart stone in the centre of the room. She really doesn't want to be directly connected to the leylines running under the school. After a moment she stops, staring at one of the rune clusters, "Beth."
"Yes Minerva?"
"Is there any reason why you couldn't have some of the other hive members going around the school, looking for these rune clusters?"
Beth looks up from the computer for a moment, "Why?"
"Well, the curse was put there by You-Know-Who, what are the chances he'd know how to do the warding work that you're untangling here?"
Beth looks over at Septima, who thinks for a moment, "It's unlikely, and even if he did, he'd have needed to perform a ritual to get the curse to stick. As cursing something abstract is very different from cursing a person, object, or location. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a ritual circle buried underneath this flooring."
Minerva nods thoughtfully, "So, it's likely that he anchored his curse with runes, yes?"
Beth shrugs, "Probably, or he found another way. That's why we're doing this, as it's guaranteed to find anything that's been added to the wards since the heart stone was created."
Minerva nods, "Then we've got something for the kids to do when they're bored. Even if we find the curse that way, I still want the two of you to finish mapping out the enchantments over the school. And if the school has a personality, please try to give it some way to communicate with us."
Beth sighs, "I'll ask Arry for some slates, and link them to this computer."
Minerva nods in agreement before leaving the Heart Room, and making her way to the Library.

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Pausing at the doors to the Library, Minerva turns around and walks a few yards down the corridor to poke her head into the room set aside for any books found in the room of hidden things. Her mouth drops open as she sees the piles of unsorted books dotted around the, now expanded, room, along with the two bookcases that are both almost full. Somewhat puzzled at the lack of progress on this room, she makes her way into the library. After the first couple of steps in, she stops sharply, the door closing behind her with a soft click.

In front of her are pockmarked bookcases as far as she can see. The librarians desk is so covered with books, as to be unrecognisable. The only indication that there hasn't been some sort of fight here are the neat piles of books around the library. Carefully, she wends her way around the piles of books, deeper into the library towards the sounds of voices. Eventually, she comes across Irma talking to 4 house elves.
After a light cough to announce her presence, Minerva looks pointedly at the bookshelves, "Irma, I was under the impression that you were going to be teaching these house elves how to manage the Library, not dismantle it."
Irma straightens up and turns around with an especially sour expression on her face, "Indeed I was. And Dipsy, Tinky-Winky, Laa-Laa, and Po here have been soaking up those lessons admirably. Though they should also be putting just as much effort into the lessons on reading and writing."
"So, what happened here?"
"Dipsy here found a book from the restricted section behind a row of books on comparative linguistics. Since then, we have found another four, one of which was restricted due to the defences on the book rather than the content. We've also found 200 books that are commonly required for different assignments that are handed out to 4th​ years and above, all either misfiled, or hidden behind other books. Laa-Laa found one restricted book with the cover of a non-restricted book. Finally the other books you see around are all mis-filed by era or subject. Not to mention the three shelves that were expanded to hold contraband at some point, and required Severus, Filch, and Pomona to remove safely."
Minerva looks confused, "Era?"
Irma nods, "Indeed, we have over a thousand years of books here. The language they're written in varies over time, and becomes more incomprehensible to modern witches and wizards the further back you go. That's not to mention the influx of muggle books that has been happening over the holiday. Some of which I am going to be placing into the restricted section."
Minerva raises an eyebrow, "Oh?"
"Oh is the right response. The house elves have been buying cookbooks from the muggle world." She looks down at Po, who looks sheepish, "One of them heard that one cookbook has been modified by the muggle governments, to ensure the recipes don't work. So they found three different first editions of the anarchists cookbook. They were given to the library after a new glycerine recipe killed the elf that was trying to make it. Fortunately, the elf was a member of one of the hives, so they're currently with the elflings."
Minerva blanches slightly, "Well, carry on, and have a good afternoon."
Heavy with sarcasm, Irma responds, "Oh, I'm sure I will. Nothing like reindexing the entire library by hand to help you relax."

Forgoing her attempt at appearing human, Minerva pops out of the library and into her own office. There, she continues looking through applications for the new jobs coming up next year, along with the capital expenses for much needed replacements and renovations, and the upcoming agenda for the school board meeting.

 

[DarkPhoenixLady]

Chapter 4

Pomona whistles happily as she makes her way through a dense jungle on an unknown planet. Well, unknown to most of the hive anyway, as E'jeah has obviously been here before. While they're supposed to be scouting the planet out so that E'jeah's knowledge can't be lost to the hive, Pomona is far more interested in the plant life here.
Idly she ducks down to the side as a vine suddenly curls up as it zips into the foliage.
Especially the violent sort of plant life.
Pulling out her wand, she turns to follow the vine 10m into the jungle. Elf popping onto a tree branch for a better view, she curses as she fires off a severing charm, "Damn it, Pomona, you know better than that. Romly, could I have a hand here, as this plant seems to have a fast-acting paralytic." The last couple of words are said over the hive, as the venom has already robbed her of her ability to speak.

A moment, and a flash of fire, later sees her lying on her back in the hospital wing. Wrapped around her legs is the end of the vine she landed on without noticing. As Poppy is rushing out of her office, her wand already casting diagnostic spells, Pomona feels a tightness in her chest for a few seconds, before her world becomes fire.

As the fire clears, she opens her eyes, only to see only blurs instead of the infirmary.

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As her patient bursts into flame, Poppy stops walking abruptly. As she does, the vine around Pomona's leg flops onto the infirmary floor, before twitching towards her. It only takes her a couple of seconds to fire a medical stasis charm at the plant, before setting up a quarantine bubble around it.
Just as she's finished doing that, a second burst of fire lights up from the other side of Pomona's bed. Cautiously she spells a bit of parchment with a note for Filius, and causes it to fold up and fly off with a simple charm.

A second later, half a dozen house elves appear, and one of them picks up an elfling from the floor on the other side of Pomona's bed.
Before they can disappear once more, Poppy shouts, "Stop right there! That elfling is my patient, and until I know what has happened to both them and Pomona, they are staying right here. (It's bad enough the Head Master and Babbling refused treatment)"
The elf holding the elfling bows her head, "Missy Healses, they's had an unscheduled burning day."
Poppy pinches the bridge of her nose, "Regardless, they appeared in my infirmary while injured, so they are my patients until I have determined they are both stable and not a risk to anyone else in the school. Now, unless one of you is going to volunteer to help me provide proper care for the elfling, you will place the elfling on that bed over there and return to your duties."
The elves all share a glance before the one that spoke says, "Tanzie will stay to help."
As Tanzie puts the elfling on the bed, Poppy summons her writing box and mutters, "That was easy."

A few minutes later she's written two letters, one to the ministry, and one to Snape, each one asking basically the same thing. Namely, can they look at the plant that she has under quarantine and see if it is safe to destroy, has any useful properties, and if it is an infection risk.

"Tanzie, send these letters by owl, and then come back and tell me what this burning day stuff is all about."
Tanzie takes the two letters and disappears with a pop as Poppy starts to cast her diagnostic spells over the two sleeping infants.

A few minutes later, Filius comes running into the infirmary at the same time Tanzie returns. "Poppy, what's going on?"
Poppy points at Pomona and the elf on the beds, "You have experience with whatever is going on here, as you were Minerva's stand in just after Easter. Tanzie there informed me that they had a burning day, yet nobody has seen fit to actually fill the school nurse in on what has changed for these people, and what it means medically."
Filius looks between Poppy, Tanzie, and the baby Pomona, "I see. Well. Erm, all I was told is everyone in either of the two hives, bar a very short list of boys, is a phoenix hybrid."
Poppy puts one hand on her hip while she continues her diagnostics, "Well, what does that mean for them? Do I just cut their head off if they break a bone, or can I still give them skelegrow? Is the school still in charge of their medical needs, or are they seeking them elsewhere?"
Tanzie's eyes lose focus as she starts to talk to her hive. At the same time, Filius shakes his head, "I'm sorry, I can't answer those questions."
Poppy harumphs, "Well, I'm officially informing you that Pomona Sprout won't be in a fit state to mind the school for however long it takes her to recover."
Filius sighs as he looks at the baby, "Thank you for letting me know, though she wasn't due back until mid-August, as she's got her Niece's birthday and the herbologists convention to attend."
Tanzie's eyes refocus, and she looks up at Poppy, "Missy Vivi will visit to discuss healy stuff with you."
"She better, or by Merlin I will not be responsible for my actions."

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"Millicent honey, let us in. You brother and I just want to discuss your schooling going forward."
As her father pleads at the door, Millicent Bulstrode turns her head to look at the now man sized xenomorph she adopted. "Lassie, I don't think they're interested in my academic performances, are they."
Lassie shakes her head as the door knob rattles, followed by the thump of a heavy shoulder. For the umpteenth time she sends thanks to Xeno for showing her the locking spell she used on the door. In the same thought, she has some rather rude things to say about Luna, and the veela in the hive.

Half an hour later, the banging on the door subsides, and Millicent relaxes slightly, before starting the meditation needed to learn to control her allure. Nearly an hour later, she's interrupted by her mother knocking on the door.
"Millicent sweetie, your brother and father have gone to the Wizengamot. Can I come in?"
Somewhat reluctantly, Millicent lifts her wand and casts the counter charm for the locking spell. "Come in Mum."
Her mother, Omie, opens the door and slips inside before closing it behind her. As she glides over to the bed, Millicent idly wonders why her mother is wearing her night dress in the middle of the day, especially given that she's still got her day makeup on.
With a smile, Omie sits down on the bed and pats the space beside her, "Millicent, you're a growing young woman, so I think it's time we had a talk about your social expectations and the consequences of your choices."
Reflexively, Millicent checks the hives memories for what this could be about, only for Clothilde to point her at an appropriate set with a sense of amusement. As she's sitting on the bed, Millicent's cheeks flush as she processes what she's just seen. As such she's more than slightly distracted when Omie shuffles closer to her and puts one hand on her knee.
"Now Millicent, as you know young women from noble houses have expectations to live up to, which is why we are forbidden from getting too close with the boys and men, as one mistake could lead to an unfavourable marriage. Now, there are various things that can be done to deal with the urges that lead to these mistakes, and it's time for you to learn about some of them."
Millicent jumps as Omie's other hand snakes around her back as her mother leans in to kiss her on the lips.
As her mother pulls back from the kiss, Clothilde's laughter breaks her shock enough that Millicent is able to elf pop across the room to stand on the other side of her bed. "Mother! What's got into you?"
Omie turns over onto her hands and knees so that she's facing Millicent, "Oh Millie, you have no idea what it's like living with your father. And a woman has needs…"
Millicent stares at her mother in horror, as she crawls closer. Fortunately for her peace of mind, Lassie isn't frozen in horror, and swiftly runs around the bed to grab Millicent and flame away to Clothilde's current location.

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Minerva sighs as she reads through the official ICW response to research paper on alternative methods for achieving an animagus form. Namely that she needs to resubmit the paper without the methodology, as pure blood families can't be trusted not to kill their own offspring, or break the statute of secrecy, while attempting to give their children an advantageous animagus form. There is a question from the ICW research division asking how she came across dangerous enough non-magical creatures to prompt this response.

As she's considering how to respond to this letter, Clothilde leads a shocked student into her office. "Minerva, I think you're going to need to have mandatory classes on self-control and how to deal with creatures that have magical auras."
Minerva looks up and blinks, "Um, what? You'll need to explain that as I'm not part of your hive."
Clothilde gestures at the student, "This is Millicent Bulstrode, and the situation she just left was more than a little amusing, even if she doesn't think so."
Millicent looks at Clothilde with a fair amount of disgust, "I don't think my mother trying to seduce me is amusing."
Clothilde gently kisses Millicent on the forehead, "It's amusing because it wasn't happening to me, and it was clumsy and transparent. Both things that we will be teaching you to spot and deflect, or encourage occasionally. In that respect, your mother was right, as you grow into your body, you will have needs. But at the moment, you are far too young to be dealing with those needs, let alone dealing with the needs of others."
Minerva shakes her head, "I think we should just adopt all the students into one of the hives and be done with it."
Clothilde chuckles, "You would, but I think their parents would disagree. Especially those who have sons attending the school."
Minerva sighs, "Dealing with humans is so difficult sometimes."
Millicent's eyes widen as Clothilde nods in agreement, "They are, especially for Veela. Yet, for us they are also necessary. Well, for veela that haven't been brought into a hive anyway. That being said, maybe we could import some cuckoo cats from India."
Minerva blinks, "A whatery what cats?"
"Cuckoo cats. According to Xeno's memories they're an endangered species of magical cat indigenous to Southern India."
Minerva drawls, "And why are they endangered?"
Clothilde smiles, "Because they leave their kittens with pack based predators, and their magic means that the predators will raise them as their own offspring, despite the fact that they're a type of tiger. This includes Humans that aren't disciplined enough to throw off the magical effect."
Minerva nods, "That could well work, and it would…"
Millicent burst out, "No, it's a terrible idea. They're endangered because they have a habit of killing the other children. I'm not willing to put the few friends I do have endanger just to make your life easier."
Minerva blinks, "I wasn't just thinking about that, I was also thinking about how that sort of ability could benefit the hive."
Millicent opens and closes her mouth a couple of times as Clothilde nods, "I can see that. But I think you'd find it just as problematic as veela allure. Especially if you want to keep the body count down. At least we don't need to worry about forced mating bonds."
Millicent looks up at Clothilde, "What?"
Clothilde smiles wistfully, "One of the most beautiful parts of being a veela is finding a mate that can retain their minds during our climax. To them we offer our hearts with a small ritual that binds the two of us together. However, some wizards have learnt to use magic to pervert that bond so that it is purely one way. Something we no longer need to worry about, as our bond to the hive overrides any other bonds we could ever have."
Millicent blinks, "Um, right. Well, it's creepy enough that mum kissed me like that, I don't want to think about that sort of bond right now."
Minerva nods, "Quite right, quite right. Well, I need to visit the department of education to see if they have any past advice on this."
Clothilde's eyes snap back into focus as she snarls, "As long as that advice doesn't involve collars, you'll be fine."
Minerva closes her eyes for a few seconds, before opening them again, "Right, that's likely to be another history lesson I have no context for. If you'll excuse me, I need to finish this paperwork before I head to the Ministry to attend a number of interviews. Maybe you should take Miss Bulstrode home, and remain with her to act as her chaperone."
Clothilde narrows her eyes, "You are aware that I'm with child?"
Minerva nods, "I can smell it. However, you are also an adult, and someone who understands what Millicent is going through. Therefore, you can also explain it to her parents, and be a physical reminder that she's learning to control that aspect of her magic."
Clothilde and Millicent share a quick conversation over their hive, before Clothilde takes Millicent's hand and flames back to Millicent's bedroom."

 

[DarkPhoenixLady]

Chapter 5

"I don't wanna."


Arry puts her hands on her hips as she stands in front of Luna, "Luna, you should have thought of that before you put a hole in the merchant ship."


Luna sniffs and the family of Lapray huddle closer together on the far side of Luna's laying chamber. "I didn't know that the outside of the ship was so fragile."


Arry gives her a look that says, 'Really?' before saying, "Uh huh, which is why you were playing with the pirates rather than just killing them and leaving?"


"I was bored and you won't let me go back to earth. Uh, I mean you were watching me?"


"Not personally, but house elves talk. I thought you'd learnt your lesson after the Fire Lizard debacle."


Luna sulks, "I didn't know they kept suicide devices in their heads. Who does that anyway?"


Arry huffs, "Luna, you're a Queen now, not a human child. You can't keep pushing the difficult choices on your father, who isn't even genetically part of your hive yet."


"But I just want to play tea party with Ginny and and…"


"And you can do that, after you've spoken to the family whose home you destroyed and given them their options."


"But I didn't destroy it, the pirates did… Yes Queen Mother…" Luna trails off as she realises that Arry isn't going to accept not noticing a pirate escaping and shooting the ship at the exact point she'd weakened the hull.


After a moment she turns back and says, "Arry, could I give them one of the ships in your hanger?"


"Luna, the ship I gave you was destroyed with their home. What do you think?"


Luna has a hopeful tone in her voice as she says, "I can?"


Arry shakes her head, "No, you can't. And no more unsupervised hunts until both T'o-Ba'sall and E'Jeah agree that you are responsible enough to handle a ship."


"But..."


Arry growls and flames the two of them back to earth, and Luna's first laying chamber. "Luna, what's going on? I know it's not your age, as you're only a year younger than me."


Luna stares down at her claws. After a few minutes she sniffs, "I'm scared alright? And when we're scared we try to increase the size of our hive."


Arry looks confused as she asks, "What do you have to be scared of?"


Luna's tail curls up around her until it peeks over her shoulder. "Arry, I'm only 11, but I look like an adult. Everyone keeps expecting me to know what to do, and Valérie keeps wanting to find more Veela to free and bring into the hive. And I can't walk down Diagon Alley without several wizards trying to... to me. I wish I wasn't a queen."


Arry looks at Luna with a complete lack of comprehension. "Just kill a couple of them. That will stop them from trying it again. And, you're the queen, not Valérie, just tell her to quit it, otherwise she'll be on egg tending duty for the next 6 tenday."


Vivian pops in and carefully walks over to Luna before pulling her into a hug. "Arry, I'll talk to her, as these are very human fears."


Arry frowns in confusion, "But she's not human."


Vivian smiles softly, "We know, but she grew up human. I've been waiting for something like this to happen, as Luna seemed too accepting of everything."

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Minerva looks up in surprise as a woman with Veela heritage walks through the door to the interview room. Looking back down at her list she says, "Madam Delacour, I'm surprised that you are here."


Delacour smiles, "Vhy would I not be?"


To the side Madam Marchbanks smiles as Minerva frowns and says, "Last I heard, you were campaigning to improve Veela rights in France. I assumed that you would still be doing that."


"Oui, I was, you are well informed. Owever, I have heard that H-ogwarts is accepting Veela students this year. It is my hope that by taking this position I can open the doors for more first generation Veela magicals like myself. By extension, also making life easier for my daughters."


Minerva smiles, "All of the Veela are from France. They believe your efforts to be idealistic, and doomed to failure."


"Oui, that is the opinion of the Enclaves. Those who have found love like moi. They believe it to be possible."


"You are aware that you would be required to live in the school for the year?"


"Oui. Much like Beauxbatons."


"What about your own family?"


"Andre would continue to mind his shop during the week, and visit Sunday and Monday. I vould like Gabrielle to live here with me, while Fleur is studying for her OWLs this year."


Minerva makes a couple of notes before looking up again, "I understand you have a Mastery, otherwise you wouldn't be here. But what is your specialisation?"


Delacour nods hopefully, "Given my heritage, I specialised in magical creatures, though that is not all I have studied."


Minerva nods, "That's convenient, as we are asking our new Masters to prove their credentials. An exam that Mr Lockhart failed to complete."


Delacour nods, "What would you have me do?"


"There is an acromantular colony in the forest. All the adults have been culled, and we need to see how close the juveniles are to reaching adulthood. You would need to retrieve four juveniles."


Delacour looks pensive, "Merde. Would I be allowed to return home to retrieve some equipment?"


Minerva smiles widely, "Why yes you can. Though, be aware that if another applicant completes this stage before you, they'll be the one that gets the job."


"I vill return. May I ask why your Master of Care of Magical Creatures is not doing this?"


"They do, from a distance. Along with his apprentice. We also actively manage the colony. But they are one of a few creatures that cross disciplines, and typically require a mastery to handle solo in colony quantities. As we don't have any dragons, basilisks, cockatrices, nundu's or dementors to hand..."


As she stands up, Delacour nods and mutters, "I would almost prefer to slay a dragon."


Minerva smirks as she says, "We might be able to get hold of an Incubus if you'd prefer."


Delacour shakes her head violently, "Non, only an idiot would face an Incubus or Succubus if they are their prey."


As the door closes behind Delacour, Minerva looks at Marchbanks, "You knew she was a Veela."


Marchbanks nods, "Of course. Though I'm surprised that you're making her prove her mastery."


Minerva taps her finger on the list of applicants, "Dark Creatures is easiest specialisation to get a Mastery for. But also the one that should be the rarest for people seeking to teach. Generally they fall into one of two categories, they took the specialisation because of their heritage, or they are involved in managing five x creatures. I suppose there's also the third category, those who are hunters. But that's the path that's the easiest to get a Mastery through. It took a group of 100 wizards to take down a Nundu in Central Africa a few years ago. All 50 of the survivors were given a Mastery in Defense. We have a dozen newly blooded Yaujta that are salivating at the idea of hunting one solo."


Marchbanks frowns, "That doesn't sound like the easier path."


Minerva laughs, "Of course it's easier. You only have to survive. You don't need to have an in depth knowledge of your subject. Senior Auror Moody would have a Mastery in Defense just for that if he didn't already, because he survived a Raka in the 50's. But he'd be the first to tell you that he wasn't ready to hunt more of them. According to him, anyone that attempts this test without decent armour and a few potions of the right antivenom is asking to die. E'Jeah thinks they just need some decent close quarters weapons."


Marchbanks sounds amused as she says, "So, why aren't you employing them then?"


Minerva gives a sour look as she says, "Bones threatened to shoot Moody in the head if he even thought about retiring. And E'Jeah doesn't have her NEWTs, so she couldn't get a Mastery even if it could be done in the few months she's been here."


"That's a bit extreme, don't you think?"


Minerva barks a laugh, "I had my heart ripped out fighting Raka, now look at me."


Marchbanks quirks an eyebrow, "Rumour has it you used the philosophers stone to get your youth back."


"Ha! Not a chance. I was looking forward to meeting Scott one day, and now it's not necessary. Anyway, who's next?"


"Ivanka Gorbachev. A Russian monster hunter."


Minerva puts her face in her hands, "Please tell me she's had her mastery longer than Easter."


Marchbanks looks up as the door opens, "Why don't you ask her."


Minerva smiles, "Miss Gorbachev, please take a seat."


Ivanka sits down, "Please call me Ivanka."


Minerva nods, "Very well. How long have you had your Mastery?"


"Five years. I have faced 4 Raka dragons since then."


"What about Easter?"


"Ya, that not good time. I left when English did. Then saw teleporting Raka and decided that Monster Hunting was getting too dangerous."


"So, why are you applying for the job?"


"I wish the time to retrain into something safer, like curse breaking. England has no Raka, so good place to do so."


Minerva nods, "I see. I regretfully have to inform you that there is a large Raka presence in Scotland where the school is. There are also Raka dotted around the rest of the United Kingdom."


Ivanka abruptly looks at Minerva's tail as it pokes out from behind the chair, "I, see. I will try North America then."

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Draco stares at Ollivander's wand shop and starts to shake as his hand goes to the small of his back. At the sight of his nervousness, Athe puts her back to the wall between the wand shop and the shop next door. Her eyes scanning the street for trouble.


Narcissa lets out a huff, "Draco, nobody's going to attack you."


Wild Mask shakes her head and puts a gentle hand on Narcissa's shoulder, "N'cissa, this is not an external foe. See how his eyes are fixed on a target and not looking around."


"How can you tell?"


Wild Mask takes off her mask to allow her to see the grim smile, "I too have faced this enemy and lost. It was on my Chiva, and I was declared Eta for it. I am now blooded, but it is because we have generous queen, not because I was worthy of being given another chance."


Athe looks up at Wild Mask, "Great Hunter, can you help my Draco?"


Wild Mask puts her mask back on, "Call me a Huntress, as that's what I'm becoming. I will try."


Wild Mask puts one hand on Draco's shoulder, her other hand reaches out to catch his wrist as it comes around with the combistick. "Unblooded, calm yourself."


Draco's eyes stay unfocused for a moment as he tries to switch hands. When that fails his eyes start to clear and he snaps, "Pauk, I could have killed you."


Wild Mask chuckles, "You, who are barely more than a suckling, kill me? If you were not battling your internal enemies you could get lucky."


Draco looks down and away, "What do you know?"


"I was declared Eta because I could not leave the ship on my Chiva. I know. You are hesitating to claim the weapon of your people. Why?"


Draco spits, "Because it's a weakness."


"In the hands of a suckling, a combistick is a weakness. In the hands of a Blooded Hunter a combistick is a versatile and deadly weapon."


Draco shakes his head in denial, "This is different. Wands stop you from being able to use accidental magic."


Wild Mask draws her own wand, "And yet, we have all chosen to learn how to use a wand."


"You still have house elf magic, and phoenix travel. I can't do that."


"There is nothing stopping you from doing the same if you are willing to become a witch."


Draco glances at Athe, "Ancestors willing, I would like a family one day."


Wild Mask nods his head thoughtfully. Athe steps away from the wall and touches Draco on the arm, "You learned to use your own magic again. Why can you not use both?"


Narcissa says, "We don't know. The best person to ask is through that door. What we do know is that the more you use wands the less accidental magic you do."


Draco stares at his mother before firming his shoulders and looking at the door, "Fine, we will ask the wand maker."


Narcissa shakes her head fondly as they follow Draco into the store.


Rather than stepping out of a shadow, Ollivander instead kneels on one knee by the counter, "Welcome to my shop Great Huntress."


Wild Mask shakes her head, "Stand up, this un-blooded 'unter 'as questions about wands."


Draco leans against his combistick, "Why should I get another wand when it stops me using accidental magic?"


Ollivander uses the counter to help him back to his feet. "Ah, I haven't been asked that question for a few decades now."


A wave of his wand conjures a comfortable high stool, which he perches on. "The answer to that is both remarkably simple, yet complex to explain. The answer is structure."


"Explain."


Ollivander chuckles, "It's not wand magic that stops you using accidental magic. It's structured magic. The wand just happens to be the most versatile of the surviving systems of magic. The Egyptians had their liturgies, something the greeks copied and combined with their symbols. The Africans have their rattles and drums, American Indians have their chants and dances. The Japanese have their hand signs, while the Chinese have their elemental martial arts. The druids had their staves, and there were cultures that practiced pure will based magic that required a lot of meditation to learn. But every system of magic also limits the user, as the more practiced you are with one, the harder it becomes to learn others. Take the Chinese as an example, they believe that there are four elements that can be manipulated, and the clan you're born in determines which element you can use. Occasionally there's someone that can use all four at the same time. But give one of them a wand, and it might as well be a stick in their hands."


"So why shouldn't I keep doing accidental magic?"


Ollivander spreads his hands with a smile, "Why? Because eventually you'll turn it into a system of magic. A very limited one, but still a system. Why, Arithmancy was born out of an idea that you turn math into magic. Maybe it could have become something if they lived in a society without wands. But they don't, and only a handful of people have ever been able to do more than use it to make a light. The math being far to complicated for most to be able to calculate in any sort of useful timeframe. But still, it's a good research tool, as it's possible to translate the math back into wand motions."


Narcissa and Wild Mask both put their heads in their hands as Septima's presence is dragged towards the conversation, and the Grangers start talking about finding a Math Savant to bring into the hive.


Draco thinks for a few minutes before asking, "Is it possible to learn multiple systems at once?"


Ollivander shrugs, "Of course. But you need to have a system to learn. Remember that wands were not always the precise tools they are today. At one point they were cut down staves, a development used to save wood. It's taken thousands of years to develop the rich language that is wand use. Much like every other surviving system."


"But a wand is so easy to break."


"It is like any tool in that respect. That is why we have sheaths. Or containers like your father's cane. Some even fitted their wands into the pommel of their swords. But don't think that not using a tool is better, as breaking an arm or a leg can be just as debilitating as losing a wand. In fact, that is why the bone breaker curse was invented. So, will I be fitting you for a wand today?"


Draco scowls, and sulkily says, "Yes."