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Chapter Text

RON’S POV

*

There was shouting all around him, spells were flying overhead, his feet were pounding on the cold stone floor. Just a little further. He whirled around the corner. The exit should be at the end of the corridor, only a bit further. The exit came into sight, but before he could reach it, the hallway exploded into a debacle of fire and stone. In a split second, he saw Fred’s lifeless face through the flames.

Ron shot up, his sheets falling off his bed, drenched in cold sweat. The flames disappeared from his view, they were replaced by the darkened shapes of his room. He took a few deep breaths, syncing them with the slow breathing of Harry, who was on a mattress next to him. He sat upright for a bit, letting his brain register the fact that it was only a nightmare.

And also letting the realisation wash over him that even if it had been a nightmare, Fred had died during the battle of Hogwarts. His eyes began to sting and his throat tightened. Fred’s absence was tangible in this small house.

Eventually, Ron got out of his bed to get a glass of water.

Harry stirred from the mattress next to Ron’s bed. “Are you alright?” He muttered groggily.

“Just another nightmare,” Ron replied softly. “I’m going to grab some water.”

Harry was upright when Ron came back into the room. “How do you reckon the next school year will be?” His friend asked. They would be going back for their last year. They didn’t have to, but they had decided that it would be better to have one last normal school year before they started their career.

“I don’t know what to expect exactly. I think it’s going to be weird to walk through Hogwarts now, with everything that has happened there.”

“I hope the good memories will overpower the bad ones,” Harry whispered.

“I hope that, too,” Ron agreed. He silently wished that a nostalgic laugh, not a traumatic flashback would be behind the doors of the giant castle.

Ron sat back on the bed, sipping his water. He didn’t think he would be able to fall asleep again, but he knew he wouldn’t have to. Because Harry was there, a friend whom Ron could always talk to. Harry and Ron spent most of their nights talking about all the good memories they had made at Hogwarts and the good times they had with their passed loved ones, trying to remember the nice things that happened so that the bad memories were balanced a little bit.

Usually, one or both of them woke up in the middle of the night, got a glass of water and then they would talk. Neither of them slept much these days. Nobody in the Burrow did, to be honest.
Ron waited for Harry to start talking. “I had a vision.” Harry broke the silence.

Dread filled Ron’s stomach. “What do you mean a vision?”

“It wasn’t like the visions from Voldemort,” Harry hurriedly assured. “But it definitely wasn’t a regular dream. And it also wasn’t a nightmare.”

Ron’s stomach twisted a bit at the mention of that name, it still felt unnatural, even after all this time, especially after seeing first-hand what damage he was capable of.“So, what did you see?”

“Uhm, not a lot,” Harry admitted. “Everything was kind of blurry and dark, like I was looking through a thick black mist.”

“I first saw a big group of people and in the middle was a girl vomiting green smoke. In this really creepy voice, she said,” Harry paused, then frowned. “I can’t remember exactly, but it was Eleven heroes—something, something—to prevent the fall of magic, the wizard—something. Um, after that something about a snake and something godly? And fighting along a devil underground. At last, she said something about a Queen and breath and— Oh Wait! I do remember the last sentence, it was: And demigods fight to escape their death.”

Ron stared at him for a while. “What in the name of Merlin’s muddy socks does that mean?”

Harry shrugged. “After that, I saw around a dozen people flashing by, but again it was very hazy.” He looked at Ron. “It sounds like a prophecy.” His voice was a bit unsure.

“It’s probably nothing,” Ron judged. “My great aunt’s cousin once thought he had gotten a prophecy in a vision in a dream and thought he was destined to stop his house from being buried by a volcano. Obviously, there are no volcanoes in England, so he went crazy trying to figure it out. It’s just a funny combination of the natural strangeness of dreams and trauma. Those stupid prophecies seem to keep haunting you.”

Harry muttered in agreement. “Maybe we could ask Hermione when she finally arrives here. She has probably read a book about it” Hermione had been reading a lot of books lately and had a list of recommendations at the bottom of every letter she sent.

“She’ll tell you that it’s nonsense, she doesn’t really do visions and prophecies, remember?”

“You might be right,” Harry laughed a little. “Remember when she quit divination class with almost more drama than Professor Trelawney has?”

“Yeah, I do.” Ron smiled at the memory, happy that the subject had changed.

They stayed like that, chatting about all their unimportant thoughts until the creaking of the stairs and the whistle of the kettle betrayed the waking of Ron’s mother.

When they arrived downstairs, Mrs Weasley was whipping up some breakfast in the kitchen. “Good morning! Did you two have a good night’s rest?”

“Could be better,” Ron admitted. “But it’s improving a little bit.” He had gotten slightly more sleep than last night.

They were setting the table when Mrs Weasley asked them: “Are you excited to see Hermione today?”

“Very. I wonder how she has been dealing the past few weeks.” Ron replied, the thought of seeing Hermione calmed him, with her he could work his way through this mess.

More people started trickling in as breakfast was served. The kitchen and table were cleaned, after which people started to disappear upstairs again.

Ginny sat down next to Ron and turned to him. “So, are you looking forward to seeing Hermione?”

Ron blushed. “Well, yes, I mean, I haven’t seen her for a while and I miss her. Plus we’re going to the Diagon Alley to get our school supplies tomorrow, and I look forward to a year of Hogwarts without You-Know-Who to worry about.”

“Ron,” Harry urged. “Voldemort is dead, you don’t have to call him You-Know-Who.”

“Yeah, I know, sorry, old habit,” Ron muttered.

“And you just want to spend time with your girlfriend,” Ginny said.

“Oh, like you don’t enjoy spending time with Harry,” He fired back.

“Well, at least I-”

“Alright kids, that’s enough,” Their mother interrupted. “Just eat your breakfast and make sure to clean your room before Hermione arrives.”

“I’ll do that,” Ron said while taking a bite of his scrambled eggs.

After breakfast, Ron and Harry took out a chess set in the living room, while Mr Weasley left for work. Ron and Harry had been playing a lot of chess lately. It had become their regular game to distract them from their grieving minds.

They were playing for a bit until Ginny joined them and started helping Harry out so he had a small fighting chance against Ron.

It was around noon that a knock sounded on the door. Ron jumped up immediately. He had almost lost one of the chess games against Harry because his brain was too focused on the arrival of the girl who should now be on the other side of the door.

He flung the door open and was greeted by the broad smile of Hermione. He flung his arms around her, burying his face in her thick curls. His mind felt a little bit less heavy as he breathed in her scent.

“It’s so good to see you again!” She exclaimed when he pulled back.

“Same,” Ron dragged the word in excitement. “How have you been, genuinely?”

“It’s manageable,” Hermione entered the house. “I try to make the best of it. How are things here?” She looked around the house.

“We’re trying to make the best of things as well.” Ginny walked up to them, hugging Hermione. “It’s hard, but we lean on each other.”

“Would you like some tea?” Ron asked Hermione.

“Yes, thanks.” She sat down at the table. “I need to tell you guys something.”

Worried glances were shared at the table. She sounded eerily serious.

“I had a dream,” Hermione started. “Well, I’ve been having a lot of dreams, or nightmares, whatever you’d like to call them, but this one felt different.

“First of all, it wasn’t vivid, like all the others. I couldn’t properly see what was going on. It was like someone was trying to show me something, but some other power held them back. But I could make out the silhouette of this red-haired girl with green smoke pouring out her mouth and eyes. She said some strange words in a creepy voice.” Hermione took a deep breath. “I can’t remember the words exactly, since it was a dream, but it was something about a quest to prevent, then something about the downfall of something and the wizarding men. I remember the lines that came after. It went something like The snake shall rise to godly level, and fight along the underground devil, the queen shall save the magic’s breath. The last line was something about fighting to escape death. Then I saw a number of people flashing by, but again, very hazy and very fast. I think around ten people flew by.”

Hermione looked at us a bit unsure, there was a tense atmosphere in the room.

“So…” Harry broke the silence. “I also wanted to tell you something. I had the same dream.”

Hermione’s eyes widened. “Yo- You did?” Her eyes flicked around as if the answer was written somewhere on the walls. “I thought my mind was playing tricks on me, but if- No. It can’t be, it’s just—” She was cut off by Ginny, who placed her hands on Hermione’s.

“It sounds like a prophecy,” Ginny said calmly. “The fact that both of you got it is probably a sign we should take it seriously. Somebody is clearly trying to tell you something.” She sighed. “I’m afraid we won’t get a normal school year after all.”

Ron wanted to scream. He didn’t think he could do it again. All this talk about snakes, demigods, underground devils and the ‘magic’s breath’, whatever that may be, he was done with it. Hadn’t they been through enough?

“What are we going to do?” Harry asked.

“Nothing,” Ron stated simply. “It’s a prophecy, it’s going to happen, no matter what we do to change it. Besides, the prophecy isn’t even meant for us. It’s probably meant for those poor people in the vision. Maybe we’re involved in it somehow, but we shouldn’t take any actions prematurely. We don’t know anything about this prophecy or who it is meant for.” Ron slowly sipped his tea while, he felt the others staring at him.

“I suppose you’re right,” Hermione admitted.

“I feel like we should do something,” Harry intervened. “We can’t just sit around and wait until hell breaks loose.

“There’s not much we can do now,” Ron repeated as he finished the last of his tea. “Not until we have the slightest idea of who the prophecy is about.”

Ginny started to discuss another perspective, but Ron’s attention was caught by his teacup. He saw a shape in the leaves, kind of like an Abraxan winged horse. He smiled a bit at himself, thinking back at the weird classes from Professor Trelawney. He had no idea what a winged horse could mean, he never really paid attention, and the dusty room made it nearly impossible to do so. It was truly a miracle that he passed that class as long as he did.

“—think that Ron is right. For now, we just have to wait.” Ron’s focus was called back to the conversation by his sister mentioning his name.

“Here, I’ll help you get your stuff to your room.” Ginny turned to Hermione.

Ron started tidying up the cups with Harry, he couldn’t keep himself from glancing at the tea leaves again. There were barely any distinguishable shapes in them. He was no seer, after all.

Chapter Text

HARRY’S POV

Harry stepped out of the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron, dusting off his robes. The prophecy lay heavy in his mind and this ‘fun’ afternoon of shopping in Diagon Alley did nothing to soothe it. It only reminded him that he was preparing for presumably another disastrous year at Hogwarts.

He tried to ignite the hope inside him that the prophecy wasn’t for them and that they would have nothing to do with it.

But experience had taught him that it was better to be rational and realistic. This meant that there was no denying that the prophecy involved them since two of the people in the group had heard it in their dreams.

“C’mon Harry.” Ron pulled him out of his thoughts. “ Stop daydreaming, Luna and Neville are waiting.”

Of course. Luna and Neville. They were meeting today to get supplies together. He supposed they had to be told at some point as well. He looked at Neville chatting excitedly about his summer, the others listening closely. Not yet, he thought to himself. He didn’t want to spoil their day.

Harry walked out of the Leaky Cauldron with the rest, breathing in the air of the magical place.

“I can’t wait to go back to Hogwarts. It really is like a second home,” Neville babbled on. “Even after everything that went down there, I’ll be happy to be back. To make new memories there that will outlast the bad ones.”

“I like that thought,” Luna said softly. “We cannot erase the bad events, but we can remedy our broken hearts with new smiles over old scars.”

“Or we fill our broken hearts up with books.” Hermione pushed open the doors of Flourish and Blotts.

It was crowded in the small bookstore. They weren’t the only ones coming back for their last year at Hogwarts, so there were more people than usual.

That’s when Harry heard something that he had barely ever heard in the Diagon Alley: An American accent.

“I never expected having to buy this many books for school,” A girl with dark hair and purple highlights said. “I already feel overwhelmed.”

“Is this the right book?” A pale boy with raven hair muttered. He angled his head. “Stupid dyslexia.”

“We can just ask someone,” Another boy with golden-blond hair retorted. “It’s called being social, Death boy.”

The black-haired boy huffed. “Fine.” He turned around. “Frank, is this the right book?”

The blond boy rolled his eyes, while Frank looked over at the book. He sighed. “Just let me gather all the books.” He took the lists from the others.

“Who are those people,” Hermione asked, frowning.

Harry’s eyes flicked over the group, trying to figure out who did and who didn’t belong with them.

“Eleven,” He concluded. The other turned to him. “There are eleven people, just like the voice in my dream said. Eleven heroes.”

Hermione nodded. “That doesn’t feel like a coincidence.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Neville said. “But those people look like exchange students. Maybe we should go over and introduce ourselves, and make them feel welcome.”

“No.” Ginny’s voice was sharp. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to mingle with people possibly —probably— connected to a prophecy.”

“What prophecy,” Neville asked nervously.

“It’s a long story, we’ll—” Ron started, but Luna interrupted him.

“You mean like the prophecy the girl in my dream told me?” Luna spoke up. “Her hair was curly like Hermione’s but red like Ginny’s and she was enveloped by green smoke. She said something about eleven heroes questing, a snake, an underground devil, and a queen.”

Hermione looked at Luna, her eyes wide with dread. “You had the dream, too?”

Luna nodded. “A couple of days ago. And I think it would be a good idea to introduce ourselves.”

“Nuh-uh,” Ron rebutted. “Did you see that one boy, the one they called Death Boy? He looked like he clawed his way out of hell. Why do you think they call him Death Boy? Probably not because of his sweet-natured personality. And the other guy, Frank? He just radiates ‘I will destroy an entire battlefield on my own’.” He glanced back at the group. “Half of them have a look in their eyes that feels like being stared down by a beast.” He turned his back to the strangers. “I have shivers and they’re not even looking directly at me.”

Harry was a bit taken aback by Ron’s specific imagery. “I do agree with Ron, they don’t seem like the kind of people I want to get near.”

“They don’t seem like the kind of people you want as your enemy,” Neville countered. “That’s why I think we should go over and welcome them. It seems they’re getting the same books as us, so we’ll probably share classes with them. Best to get a head start.”

Neville started to walk towards the Americans, but Harry stopped him. “I just don’t want to get involved in another prophecy. And I don’t think you want that either.” It was a prophecy, after all, that ruined Neville’s life by taking away his parents in the worst way possible.

Neville sighed. His eyes followed the peculiar group as they walked out the door. He didn’t follow.

As he gathered his books and other supplies with his friends, Harry slowly started to forget a bit about the strange Americans in Flourish and Blotts. As did his friends, though it took Neville a while to loosen up again. And after that to make him stop asking for more details about the prophecy.

“Let’s visit George, to see how he is doing,” Ginny prompted.

Everybody agreed with that idea, so they headed down Diagon Alley to find the colourful shop.

Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes was overloaded with people, mostly students getting the essentials for the coming school year.

“Hey, George! I see you’re still running a good business here,” Ron greeted.

George’s face lit up when he saw them. “Yeah, this is the busiest season for sure.”

“Have any funny customers come in?” Harry asked. Over the summer, George had told countless stories of strange customers with even stranger requests.

George chuckled a bit. “For sure, a group of Americans just came in and you know how they are. They were so excited about all of our products. I thought for sure they were going to empty the entire store.”

“I think we saw the same people earlier in Flourish and Blotts,” Neville jumped in. “How were they?”

“They seemed nice.” George’s lips twitched into a smile. “A bit chaotic, one boy got so excited he accidentally set his hair on fire! Luckily I am prepared for such situations. Accidents containing fire occur regularly in these quarters.”

Laughter rolled through the group. Harry had never had a job before, between running from Death Eaters and gathering Horcruxes to defeat Voldemort, he hadn’t had time to even think about it, but hearing stories like this made him want to try it out.

“Hey George,” Ginny interrupted. “Can I pitch you a new product idea?”

“Of course, my little red feline demon. Do enlighten me,” George said dramatically.

An evil smile appeared on Ginny’s face. “What if you made a potion that looks like a love potion and could work like a love potion, but there is a fifty per cent chance that it will make the other person hate you instead of love you!”

George sighed. “We sell fun products for light pranks here, not malicious seduction.”

Ginny shrugged. “Think about it, people do love gambling.”

Luna grabbed Ginny’s hand and turned her away from George. “Let’s get you some ice cream to sweeten that vicious mind of yours.”

“That sounds like a plan,” She turned back to George, staring intensely at him “But we’re not done with this conversation.”

George laughed as he let them all out the store.

Harry was looking forward to some sweet delights from his favourite ice cream parlour. However, when he and his friends arrived at Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour, they were there, too.

This didn’t escape the notice of the others either.

“I think the universe is trying to tell us that we should go over and introduce ourselves,” Neville stated.

“Or the universe is trying to tell us that we should never let them out of our sight because they cannot be trusted,” Ron countered.

“Or,” Hermione interjected, “the universe is trying to tell us nothing because the universe is not a sentient being that tells individuals what to do.”

“Doesn’t it?” Luna questioned. “Isn’t divination exactly that?”

“Divination is a vague and untrustworthy source of info—” Hermione stopped herself. “Sorry, we promised not to have this argument again.”

“You’re forgiven.” Luna plopped down in a seat at an empty table.

Ron sat down next to her. “She has a strong sense of what’s right and wrong. It’s something I love about her.” He smiled at Hermione. “And lately she has been learning to admit when she’s wrong. I love that even more.”

“I’m not wrong,” Hermione interjected. “But we had decided that these discussions were fruitless, so we agreed we wouldn’t have them anymore.”

Having heard this conversation a hundred times already, Harry turned his attention back to the young Americans.

“This ice cream is AMAZING!” A tall boy with black hair and green eyes said, taking a bite of his all-blue ice cream.

“The other flavours are great, too,” A blonde girl told him. “If you’re willing to break free of the blue food.”

“They also have sorbet!” The big guy from before, Frank, raved. “This place is the best.”

“I’ll pass on the other flavours,” The boy with the blue ice cream said. “I need to preserve my luck.”

“Your loss,” A girl with brown hair and little braids stated, taking a giant bite of her ice cream, making her wince. “Hey, Annabeth, why don’t we buy you a nice owl?” She said, turning to the blonde girl. “It might make you feel closer to your mother.”

The blonde girl, Annabeth, scoffed. “Like I need that. Besides, why would you use an owl for mail? It makes no sense, they’re slow and leave a mess everywhere they go.”

“It’s a fun aesthetic,” A scrawny boy with dark brown curly hair said. “Y’know, the owls, the brooms, the pointy heads. The vibe is overall a lot better than on previous trips.” He rocked back on his chair. “I’m quite enjoying it.”

This statement confused Harry. Wariness gnawing at the edges of his mind. Did Americans not have those things? He had always assumed the wizarding world would be the same in other countries, but apparently the differences in culture reached the wizarding world as well.

Then he laughed a bit at himself. Of course the wizarding world would look different in America. Durmstrang and Beauxbatons proved that to him years ago. Maybe Neville was right, he was being too suspicious.

After a bit of quiet, Death Boy spoke up. “Well, if we’re not going to get an owl, maybe we could get a cat.”

“You want a black cat to push this whimsical aesthetic away from your gloomy aesthetic?” The curly-haired boy joked.

“Oh! I love black cats, let’s do that!” The girl with the purple highlights said.

“Not necessarily a black cat,” Death Boy expressed. “I was thinking, perhaps a calico kitten?”

“Let’s do it,” The boy with the blue ice cream responded immediately.

The group finished the last bit of their ice cream and left for the pet shop.

My eyes followed them until they disappeared around the corner. Neville caught me staring.

“They seem like normal people, don’t you think?” He asked.

“They do, but my gut feeling tells me not to trust them.”

“I think your gut feeling has learned that everyone and everything that seems normal can betray you,” Ginny suggested. “But that fear is unnecessary now.”

“Even with the prophecy?” Harry wondered.

“To be fair,” Hermione said. “I don’t remember the prophecy saying anything bad about the eleven heroes travelling.”She stressed the heroes.

She was right about that, heroes aren’t usually bringers of doom. Doom usually brings the heroes. So where is the doom? Harry couldn’t help but question it. It was the reason he had been so on edge, why he was so suspicious of these strange people in Diagon Alley. Heroes don’t show up for no reason. He wished he knew more.

An idea sparked his brain. “Hermione, Luna, we three all remember bits and pieces of the prophecy, maybe we can try to piece them together to figure out the exact phrasing.”

“Good call,” Ginny noted. “That might make it less vague.”

So they got to work, digging through their sleep-meddled memories. Eventually, they ended up with a prophecy that they all agreed on.

Eleven heroes shall quest to prevent
The fall of the magic, the wizarding men
The snake shall rise to godly level
And fight along the underground devil
The queen shall save the magic’s breath
And demigods fight to escape their death

They all stared at the prophecy that they had scrabbled onto a piece of parchment.

“Well, that isn’t any less vague,” Ginny declared.

She was right. Harry’s worry returned tenfold.

Chapter Text

NEVILLE’S POV

The red train was barely visible behind the crowds filling platform 9¾. It was a stark contrast with last year, when only a handful of students per year had shown up. Neville had never felt as unsafe on this platform as last year.

The air was different today. There was still a lot of nervous energy, especially around the young ones, among the older students, there was mainly caution. After the last seven years, Neville could understand that most students were unsure if this would truly be a ‘normal’ year.

But despite that, excitement still tingled in the air. Hogwarts was magical, and nobody could be indifferent to such a place.

He looked around the crowded platform until he spotted Ron, who, thanks to his height and hair, was easily recognizable in any crowd.

Molly was fussing over her two youngest children when Neville reached them.

“I can’t believe this is the last time I am sending my children to Hogwarts.” Tears were streaming down Molly’s face.

“Well,” Ginny started. “Look at it from the bright side, we’ll probably be around more when we’re done.”

“Of course you will!” Molly exclaimed. “If you won’t, we’re going to have a serious problem.”

Ron laughed. “Don’t worry mom, we’ll be around so much, you’ll beg us to leave.”

Molly chuckled, wiping her tears. “Now get on that train before it leaves.” She hugged all of them one last time before shooing them towards the train.

His goodbye to his grandparents had also been a bit emotional. Their pride in Neville’s achievements had been palpable and it made him feel invincible.

What did not make him feel invincible was walking through a crowded train while being followed by the judging eyes of thirteen-year-olds.

“Neville!” A familiar name called out.

“Luna!” Neville embraced his friend.

“I brought that book about rare flowers I told you about,” Luna announced proudly. “It’s in my bag, I’ll give it to you when we’re seated.”

“Thanks! About seating, have you been able to find an empty compartment?”

She shook her head. “I haven’t seen any yet. It’s a lot busier than previous years.”

“Let’s keep looking then.”

They walked through the packed train, until eventually, the compartments started becoming slightly emptier.

Luna suddenly stopped before one of the compartments, she peeked inside. “Hello, do you have space to squeeze in three more people?”

“Of course, come in!” An American voice answered.

Luna smiled back at Neville and he immediately felt himself light up inside. Luna and Neville had discussed the group for a long time after the others had left Diagon Alley. They had both agreed that these strange people were not here to cause harm, the prophecy clearly stated Eleven heroes shall quest to prevent The fall of the magic. Therefore they had decided that the next time they would see the Americans again, they would introduce themselves, talk to the strangers, and get to know each other. It would be the best way to better understand the situation life had thrown at them this time.

And Luna had found the compartment where they were seated, well, some of them, there were only six people in the compartment, but it was still a great start.

Neville walked through the small door, shortly followed by Ginny and Luna.

“Hello!” Neville could feel the excitement of words bubbling on his tongue. Ever since he grew more confident, he loved meeting new people. “I’m Neville, and these are my friends, Ginny and Luna, it’s nice to meet you! Are you new here? I haven’t seen you before.”

“Hi, Neville!” A girl with caramel-coloured hair replied. “It’s nice to meet you, too. We’re indeed new here. We travelled from the USA. My name’s Calypso by the way. And these people are Leo, Frank, Hazel, Piper, and Jason.”

“What brings you all the way to the dreary UK?” Ginny asked.

“It’s an exchange program,” explained Jason. “Our heads of school agreed it was good to build international relations since the wizarding world is still quite behind on that aspect.”

“Tell me about it.” Ginny chuckled. “The only time we have met students from abroad is during deadly games that authorities claimed were not at all deadly, that turned out to not only be deadly but also revived the worst criminal in the history of the British wizarding world, which triggered the start of the second wizarding war in our country.”

The exchange students gaped at them, and after a few moments of stunned silence, the boy Leo forced out a laugh. “Sounds like an average day.”

“Oh, I bet it is!” Luna piped up. “My father told me he once witnessed a swarm of rough-toothed bumblebees attack a village square in the States. Nasty little things.”

Leo blinked, a look of confusion slipped over his eyes for barely a moment before his face cracked into a smile. “Yeah, a real bother those insects, tricky to deal with, but luckily we’re properly trained to defend ourselves from them.”

This statement forced a smile of surprise form on Neville’s face, this was the first time he had heard anyone immediately confirm that they knew about Luna’s obscure magical creatures, too, they even knew how to fight them.

“Anyway, things should be a lot calmer this year, with the war won,” Ginny continued. Neville knew she didn’t think this, not after the prophecy, she was testing these people.

Neville was trying not to stare too directly when Hazel answered. Her expression was something of a grimace that was forced into a light smile.

“I sure hope so, if this gets too intense, I’m quitting.”

“I’ll be right behind you,” Piper joined in.

Neville joined the group in laughter. He wondered if he would quit when things got hard again. Of course, there was a part of him that never wanted to relive the horrors of war again, but he knew with his whole heart and soul that he could not stand by and watch when it would all go down again. And the longer he thought about the prophecy, the more he was convinced that this year would not be easy. Actually, he was preparing himself for a year that would be so much worse.

It also reminded him to treasure every moment before that, like this moment right now, where he was talking with new friends, casually joking about trauma as war-beaten teenagers do.

“So,” Ginny started, clearly trying to steer the conversation away from the still-too-fresh trauma. “Are you students from Ilvermorny?”

“No,” Jason said quickly. “Not from Ilvermorny, we’re from uhm… Hecate’s Wizarding School for Sorcery.”

“I’ve never heard of it, where is it?” Neville asked.

“Long Island, in New York,” Piper responded. “It’s relatively new, so that may be why you’ve never heard of it.”

“It’s also quite secretive,” Leo continued. “We are taught … obscure magic. Not everyone agrees with it, but the headmaster decided it was time to extend the school’s social network.”

These words alerted Neville. What did Leo mean by obscure magic? Surely not dark magic? He glanced at Ginny, who had a similar puzzled look on her face.

Luna, however, seemed to perk up. “Oh! I love obscure magic! My mother was into experimental magic, too! Her smile faded a bit. “It can be quite dangerous, of course, but that is why I am so glad to know that you’re learning it at an actual school!”

Neville and Ginny made eye contact again. They both adored Luna, but they were also painfully aware that her mother was killed while dabbling in experimental magic. However, they had never thought to ask what exactly was meant by experimental. He hadn’t even thought about asking that question until this moment when he learned that it is also called ‘obscure’ magic.

Ginny decided to cut to it. “What type of magic falls under this obscure magic?”

“Mostly wandless magic,” Frank stated immediately.

Piper nodded. “It’s also… elemental.” She stole a careful glance at Luna. “You specialise in a certain area of magic to immerse yourself in so that it comes as a second nature.”

Luna tapped her fingers excitedly on her knees. “Could you teach me some basics? I mean— you don’t have to, of course. But I would love to get to know my mother’s type of magic, I have always been curious but my father shied me away from it.”

Calypso smiled at Luna. “Sure, we’ll see what we can do. But it is quite dangerous, as you know, so we’ll have to be careful.” She gave Leo a pointed look. “which you could take some extra practice in as well.”

Leo rolled his eyes. “I set my hair on fire once.”

Piper choked out a laugh and Hazel snorted. “Once? Do you mean in the past two days or…”

Leo shoved Hazel with a smile. “Shut up, it’s not that bad anymore.”

“His area of specialisation is fire,” Jason explained.

Neville nodded, and then it clicked. “Were you the guy that set his hair on fire in Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes?” He asked Leo.

Leo’s eyebrows flew up. “How did you know?”

“My brother told me,” Ginny mentioned. “He’s George Weasley, owner of the shop, he got a good laugh out of it.”

Piper’s smile stretched on her face. “George Weasley is your brother? Oh, I can’t wait to tell Lou Ellen this, she was obsessed with that shop.”

An evil smirk spread on Ginny’s face. “Well, do tell her, I have some prototypes of unreleased products that need proper scrutiny.”

“We’ll have to meet up sometime this week.” Hazel also did not seem capable of suppressing her smile. Frank and Jason shared a concerned look.

“Anything from the trolley dears?” Heads swivelled around quickly as the trolley lady knocked on their door.

They collected their share of sweets and wished the trolley lady a lovely day.

“It jumps!” Frank exclaimed, his wide eyes fixated on the frog hopping on his leg.

“Do they not in America?” Ginny asked skeptically.

“He’s Canadian,” Leo said, as if that explained everything. It did not clarify anything for Neville, but he decided to leave it. It was probably some culture-related thing.

“And lactose intolerant.” Hazel plucked the frog off his lap and promptly threw it in her mouth.

“You don’t have to rub your lactose tolerance in my face,” Frank grumbled.

“I am simply ensuring that I and the rest of us dairy lovers don’t have to hear your suffering for the rest of the train ride.”

“I second that,” Jason said. “I’m still haunted by the memory of the time he tried gelato because Nico couldn’t stop talking about how good it was.”

Neville laughed a bit at this. He suspected Nico was one of the other exchange students, who must have never met the determination of lactose intolerant people to ignore their allergy.

Piper suddenly stood up. “Not sure about you guys, but I’m getting restless. I need to move my legs a bit before I implode.”

“You’re not alone there.” Leo jumped up from his seat. “Come on, we’ll catch up with the others while we’re at it.”

With some light chatter, they all stood up and left the compartment. Just like that, it was just the three of them left.

“I like them,” Luna stated when the voices disappeared down the train.

“They seem nice enough,” Ginny agreed. “I’m not sure if we can fully trust them, but I don’t think they mean to harm any of us.”

Neville nodded. “I think you’re right for that part. I want to believe that they really are just exchange students, but with the prophecy, I don’t know what to think of them.”

“Well, I think they’re some of the most interesting people I’ve ever met,” Luna continued. “Maybe since they know what they’re doing, my dad will finally let me look at my mom’s old journals.”

Neville nodded in encouragement as Luna kept ranting. It had been a long time since he had seen her this excited about something. He would not do anything to disrupt her from revelling in that excitement.

Ginny was on board with that sentiment. For the rest of the train ride, she was lifting Luna up with heartening questions. Neville could only smile as he saw Luna’s eyes sparkle with joy. Her spirit had dimmed after being trapped in the Malfoy’s basement for weeks, for a moment, Neville was afraid he’d never hear her rave about rare creatures again. But she was here now, ignited by her mother’s passion instead of her father’s.

Chapter Text

Hermione’s POV

Chapter Text

Frank’s POV

Despite his anxiety, Frank slept well. Maybe it was the beds, which were so much more comfortable than the bunk beds at Camp Jupiter. Either way, he did not expect the majority of the guys in the bedroom to wake up before him.

“Merlin’s beard! You’re an animagus?” Ernie, a boy Frank had befriended during the feast, exclaimed so loudly it jolted Frank awake.

He was a bit slow to reply. “I’m a what?” He muttered groggily. It took him another moment to realise that he was in bulldog form and all the other boys heard was a sleepy bark. Frank probably should have thought a bit longer before sleeping as a bulldog while leaving his curtain open.

He had done both because he couldn’t see danger coming with the curtain closed and sleeping as a bulldog made him feel safer from bad memories.

Now he was facing the consequences. As he blinked against the light, he slowly started registering what they had called him. An animagus, Lou Ellen told them about those, he believes. For a moment, he was so glad he did not have ADHD, and he had been able to stay mostly focused during Lou Ellen’s three-hour rant about the wizarding world, the whiteboard she used helped. His morning brain begrudgingly gave him the piece of information. Animagi were wizards that could turn into an animal, only one if he was correct, he would have to check that with Lou Ellen, and they were pretty rare.

Frank turned back to human. He yawned widely. “Yup, animagus,” He muttered.

“That’s so cool,” Wayne said. “They don’t teach advanced stuff like that at Hogwarts.”

“It was an extracurricular at Hecate’s, it took a while, but it’s a really cool skill to have.”

“Of course, you would have time to become an animagus at a dreamy school where you don’t have to deal with werewolves, dementors, basilisks, and You-Know-Who with his wars that he just had to fight at Hogwarts,” Zacharias complained bitterly.

“Okay…” Frank thought that was a bit of a weird response. “Just because we did not have your mystery villain, doesn’t mean we did not have our own problems. The program at Hecate’s is intense and it is far from the safest school out there. I do not mean to invalidate your struggles, but you do not get to invalidate mine either.”

Zacharius scoffed and left the room. Frank looked around the room at the other guys.

“Sorry about Zacharius,” Ernie said. “He can be a bit … sensitive.”

“Don’t worry,” Frank chuckled. “We got our dose of shitty people at Hecate’s as well.”

The door swung open to welcome Will, whose hair was slightly damp. The early riser must have already taken a shower. “Good morning Frank, is Percy up yet?”

Frank looked at the drawn curtain around the bed next to him, he shook his head.

“Well, I’m gonna wake him up,” Will said. “I want breakfast, and Percy will probably appreciate having time to eat before classes start.”

Will confidently walked over to Percy’s bed, swung open the curtain and poked him in his stomach. Immediately Percy shot up and thrust his fist towards Will, who quickly dodged the sleepy attack. “Good morning to you, too,” He laughed when he saw Percy’s disgruntled and confused face.

Percy did get out of bed after that, despite a few grumbles about not waking him up like that.

A bit later, while walking the corridors towards the Great Hall, a question came to Frank’s mind. “Do we have to stay seated separately the whole time?”

Will frowned in consideration. “I don’t know, they do seem to take their houses very seriously.”

The actual answer came a bit later when they were seated in the Great Hall, a few students were seated at tables from other houses. However, it seemed to be a bit of a social taboo, or not quite a taboo, more like genuine confusion, why would you do that?

That didn’t stop Annabeth from marching right over to the Hufflepuff table when she spotted them. Nico and Piper followed shortly behind. Will immediately turned to grab some breakfast for Nico.

Frank felt acutely aware of the wand in his pocket. They had a few practice runs with the thing back at camp, but the results were mediocre at best, despite the best efforts of Lou Ellen to teach them.

He would just have to stick close to Hazel, who had the best control over the mist after Lou Ellen. He glanced over to the table under the red banners to see if he could spot her among the mass of students. After straining his eyes for a good couple of minutes, he gave up and returned to his breakfast. He would see her later in class, hopefully.

Speaking of classes. “When do we get our schedules?” Frank asked Wayne.

“They’ll be handed out in a minute by Professor Sprout.”

Frank nodded and returned to his breakfast. He was trying to feel the atmosphere of this place. It didn’t feel as rigid as Camp Jupiter with its military discipline, but there were definitely rules in place. Although he felt like those rules were mostly social rules, and since Frank hadn’t been to a regular school in forever, and never before to a wizards’ school, and also never to Scotland, he had a hard time figuring out how to act.

He glanced briefly at the other Hufflepuff students, then decided he did not have the energy to try to socialise with them already, so he turned to his friends. They had spent a long time yesterday, after hours, whispering in the bathroom through the mist to discuss what they had said to the wizards. They agreed to hold the “experimental, elemental magic” up. It seemed to be a real thing, although Calypso had admitted that the person who immediately confirmed the existence of this type of magic, Luna Lovegood, is widely known for ranting about creatures that aren’t real. However, since this wasn’t about magical creatures, but magic, they hoped it would be believable.

Besides, Hazel said that Ginny had told her that Luna’s mother had died experimenting with magic. This simple fact could help convince other students that their way of practising was real.

Percy, Nico, and Will were chatting lightly while Annabeth was making half-hearted attempts at reclaiming her breakfast from Piper, who, in her quest to protect the waffle from Annabeth, stuffed the whole thing in her mouth at once.

Frank engaged in small talk with his friends and some of the wizards, who seemed to have a lot of questions about the United States, so Frank quickly corrected them, saying he was from Canada, but moved to the States for the specific type of education taught at Hecate’s.

Eventually, towards the end of breakfast, they received their schedules. Frank looked over it, first period was charms with Ravenclaw, that gave him a bit of relief. Having charms with Ravenclaw meant that Lou Ellen would be close by to help them. Then he could also check if he hadn’t said anything stupid when claiming he was an animagus.

Frank had not been surprised that Leo and Lou Ellen both ended up in Ravenclaw, they were extremely inventive and smart. It did worry him a bit, since they had each decided it was way more fun to use their brain for mischief than it was to study, which was fair, if Frank had learned anything from his friends, it was that studying with ADHD was a pain. He just hoped Calypso would be able to dampen the extremity, she had thousands of years of experience in keeping calm and being patient after all. Hopefully some of that calmness would spread to these two canon balls.

On the way to class, Percy was restlessly twirling his pen between his fingers. This was nothing new, but he kept almost dropping it, which was unusual. “Are you nervous?” Frank asked softly.

“A bit,” Percy admitted. “There is so much that can go wrong and so much things that will go down in the near future that we have to be prepared for.” Percy dropped his pen.

Frank picked it up for him. “We’ll be fine, we always figure it out, don’t we?” He handed Riptide back to Percy.

“Besides,” Will chimed in. “This time I am here to patch you up in case of emergency, so you can take more risks with less fear of dying!”

“Hey! You finally made it!” Leo’s voice echoed through the hallway.

“Hi, guys,” Will replied. “Where were you earlier? We didn’t catch you at breakfast.”

“These two are early risers when they’re excited about a new idea,” Calypso explained. “And I have spent literally eternity perfecting my sleeping schedule, so I rise with the sun. We had a quick breakfast and then took a walk through the castle grounds for the ADHDers to let off some steam before classes started.”

“So…,” Percy started. “What’s this plan that got you all riled up?”

Leo glanced around. “Not here, we’ll tell you after classes.”

Lou Ellen grinned. “But trust us, it’s going to be amazing, we already got some Ravenclaw kids to help us.”

Frank watched them wink at some students walking into the classroom. He turned to Calypso. “How are you holding up?”

Calypso sighed deeply. “There are so many people. That sounds stupid to say, but I haven’t been around this many people in forever. And those Ravenclaws are up all night fixating on whatever project they’re working on. I thought Ravenclaw would be this place where intellectuals would calmly share ideas and create helpful innovations for society. Instead, I am surrounded by a bunch of teenagers running around like lunatics brambling on and on about some new discovery. Of course, there are some normal people, but the majority is absolutely unhinged.”

“So Leo and Lou Ellen fit right in?”

“Yeah, and I feel so out of place.” Calypso looked down at her hands, which were trembling on the desk. “I weirdly miss the security of Ogygia. It was choking me, but at least there I knew how everything worked. Everything here is new, the way people talk, their manners, their clothes. I miss my old dresses, these robes are so stiff. On top of that, I feel like everybody notices I’m not really part of the group. What if somebody finds out? I already had somebody come up to me and say they liked my name and if my parents new the ‘myth’ behind it when they assigned it to me.”

Frank nodded. “That’s understandable. I don’t know if it’s any comfort, but since we’re from a different continent, we all have to adjust, so you probably won’t stick out that much. Just tell them you’re from some other part of America, they won’t be able to tell the difference.”

Calypso chuckled. “Of course, I can just blame everything on cultural differences. Thanks for the tip! I can’t believe I did not think of that myself.”

Frank smiled, he liked talking to Calypso. He loved his friends of course, but being the only neurotypical in a large group of people with ADHD could be very intense, and frankly, exhausting. It was hard for him to keep up with whatever frequency of existence the other demigods were on. He enjoyed spending time with someone who inhibited calmness, like Calypso. Besides, she had proven to be a good influence on Leo, who had become significantly more placid and thoughtful after Calypso had entered his life.

And despite Calypso’s own doubts about her ability to blend seamlessly into the wizarding community, she was in Frank’s top 3 of people he wanted to stay close to during classes. At the top of the list was Lou Ellen, obviously since she was Hecate’s daughter and most closely connected to this magic. Hazel, partially because he was most comfortable with Hazel, but also because she was favoured by Hecate, so this magic came easier to her than most of the demigods. Calypso was also high on the list, because she was a millennia old titaness for whom magic was no problem. She might be completely alienated from modern society, but Frank could trust her to save him from any awkward magic related situations.

Professor Flitwick started his lesson and Frank was nervous the whole way through. He silently prayed to the gods that he would not be called upon by the professor. The nerves were so bad he almost forgot what he was supposed to be doing, observing the people around him and gathering intel for the quest. They had given up on speculating what the prophecy could mean, barely even attempted it. You could go mad trying to unravel those mysterious words.

After a painful hour of pretending he had six years of magic experience instead of one hasty month, the lesson finally ended, and Frank was exhausted. He glanced around at his friends, there was still a whole day of this left, and then weeks, maybe months, depending on how long this all would take.

Somehow, he managed to sit through the whole school day without raising suspicion. At the end, they had all gathered on the Quidditch pitch with the wizards Frank had met on the train and three of their friends, called Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Lou Ellen had given them a small brief on the way to the pitch, she had completely forgotten to mention this apparently huge sport earlier, so his friends had not been able to pretend they knew what they were talking about and admitted they had never played the game. And since these wizards seem to care an extraordinary amount about Quidditch, they insisted we played with them.

Percy sat down defiantly on the grass. “There is no way I am going up into the sky with a twig as my only defence.”

“I agree,” Will said, sitting down next to him. “I don’t want to waste my nectar on completely preventable injuries, such as you getting hit by lightning.”

“Not completely preventable,” Percy scoffed. “It seems that despite my tireless efforts to save the world from oblivion, his ugliest majesty still has reasons to smite me.”

“For you especially,” Nico agreed. “But I’m not taking any chances either.” He and Hazel both sat down as well.

“Are you guys not joining?” Harry called out.

“If not, you can join Luna, Hermione, and me in the bleachers,” Neville offered.

“Thanks, we’ll join Neville,” Hazel replied. Frank watched the little group move towards the bleachers. He stared at them while he tried to control his nerves. Of course, he had flown in the Argo II, but that was nothing like having your life depend on a broom. What kind of storybook nonsense was it to choose this as a form of transport. The wizards had just given him another piece of wood to bet his life on. Frank did not have positive associations with balancing his existence on a wooden stick.

“Hey, don’t worry too much.” Jason came up beside him. “I’ll make sure you won’t fall hard.”

“Are you ready?” Harry called out. “I have some brooms for you.”

Frank had never been as focused as he was when Harry gave the flying instructions. This was not how Frank planned on dying.

Meanwhile Ron was giving side commentary on how good Harry was at flying, who was apparently a Quidditch prodigy, and Ginny was smirking while reminding her brother about her own accomplishment on the field, which were, according to her, better then her brother’s.

Frank glanced back at the stands where Hazel was seated, chatting with her brother and Percy. Hazel gave him an encouraging wave and with that Frank swung his legs over the broom and launched himself into the air.

Chapter Text

Jason’s POV

Flying on a broom was beyond what Jason would have imagined. It came so easy, that he was already considering asking Leo to make him a personalised one. It cost Jason less energy than his regular flight because he did not need to hold his own weight up in the sky. The broom was surprisingly comfortable, the wizards must have enchanted it with some kind of cushioning magic, because it did not feel like sitting on a wooden stick at all.

After a few laps around the pitch, Jason came to the realisation that he did not need to use his own powers at all to fly on this broom. He kept doing it, it felt so natural to shape the air currents around him to make him fly faster and smoother.

He was so caught up in the feeling of being airborne he almost forgot he had company until he heard Ron whistle. “Merlin’s beard, you’re a natural!”

Jason clocked back into reality quickly. Right, it is probably not normal to be this comfortable in the air so soon. He took a quick second to gather his thoughts before landing near Ron. “Yeah, remember when we told you we practice a type of elemental magic? I focus on the sky, so I am pretty familiar with flying.”

Ginny frowned. “But you’ve never flown on a broom before. What other method of flying do you use?”

Shit. He should have taken another second to gather his thoughts before saying that. He glanced helplessly at his friends.

“He uses levitation spells,” Lou Ellen piped in. “Pretty powerful ones, so it takes immense focus.”

“And sometimes he enchants items to fly, like shoes, to support him,” Annabeth added.

“That’s so cool!” Harry exclaimed. “Could you show that?” He paused. “I mean, if it is not too much of a burden?”

“Sure,” Jason replied, eyeing Lou Ellen, who nodded encouragingly. He put down his broom and took out his wand. He had learned that most spells were based on Latin, and Jason just so happened to be fluent, for which he had never been so grateful. For one moment, the dyslexia was worth it. He muttered “Meum corpus levitem,” and flicked his wand at himself.

He planned to take off on his own, but a bolt of energy shot from his wand and swept him into the air. Suddenly he was not using his powers to get him into the air, but solely to stabilise himself.

Gasps rose from the group around him, not only the wizards, but from his friends as well.

“Hermione, are you seeing this?” Ron yelled loudly across the pitch.

In the bleachers, the faces staring back at him were a mix of shock and confusion.

Jason made eye contact with Frank below him and the realisation passed between them. We can make our own spells using Latin. Finally, inheriting the affinity for a dead language was not entirely useless.

His mind started racing, this would make it all a lot easier to get around, for the Romans at least. He glanced at his Greek friends, he would be more than glad to help the others with creating Latin spells. Or maybe it would work with Greek, too? Did the first magic users of this kind worship Trivia or Hecate? Or Both?

Jason landed again. He stared at his wand, which was apparently more than just a pretty stick. The possibilities. Would he be able to cast made up spells outside his domain as well?

Harry clapped him on his back. “That was insane! What incantation did you use, it sounded familiar.”

“Meum corpus levitem,” Jason repeated, his wand resting in his pocket now.

Ginny nodded thoughtfully. “That sounds a bit like Levicorpus, a powerful spell that lets you levitate others.”

“Oh that makes sense,” Frank mused. “Levicorpus is a shortened version of what Jason said. Jason’s incantation was more like a command, since it uses a full sentence. There is more intent behind it like that.”

“You say full sentences? Does that mean you can create your own spells?” Ron’s eyes were wide.

“That’s what we’re experimenting with.” Lou Ellen shrugged. “We’ll catch you up on it later, how about that flying lesson first?”

The flying lesson went by in a haze. Though Jason greatly enjoyed it and agreed to play friendly games with Harry and his friend more often, his thought kept drifting to the magic he performed.

Jason did not waste a second beckoning the others to follow him after his feet touched the ground again.

They slipped into an empty classroom on a mostly abandoned wing. There were empty classrooms in abundance in this castle, there seemed to be more rooms than people. Jason wondered if it had anything to do with the recent atrocities Lou Ellen had mentioned. Maybe this school had suffered as much as they had in the last years.

“What happened on the pitch?” Annabeth sharp tone pulled Jason out of his thoughts.

“I’m not sure,” Jason replied. “I made up an incantation to seem more legit and it somehow worked. I made myself fly without controlling the air.” He glanced at Lou Ellen for an explanation.

Lou Ellen shrugged. “I had not considered that we could make our own spells. I knew most incantations were based on Latin.” She fidgeted with the ends of her hair. “I did not know you could use literal Latin sentences to invoke magic.”

“Maybe it can only be done with the wand,” Annabeth mused. “Saying just anything in Latin wouldn’t get Hecate’s —or Trivia’s— attention. But the wand has magical elements dedicated to her.”

“So the wand is like an offering?” Hazel questioned. “And the incantation a request?”

Calypso nodded. “Gods can be called without directly mentioning them if you possess an item linked to them. I assume a ritual or incantation devoted to Trivia is part of the wand-making process.”

“Would it also work with Ancient Greek?” Will asked.

“I don’t think so,” Lou Ellen replied. “When the community of wizards and witches arose and most magic schools were founded, the Western Roman Empire had already fallen, but its influence was still more dominant that the Greek influence, seeing as Greece was not an autonomous state then. Also, the intellectual language at the time was Latin, so I doubt it reached Hecate. This community is almost solely connected to Trivia.”

“So… It’s time to learn some Latin?” Percy glanced around the group.

“I can help,” Jason piped up. Having lived almost his entire life at Camp Jupiter, his Latin was better than most demigods. “We could put together some basic phrases for everyone to cast some spells connected to your demigod abilities.”

And that is what they did. They sat curled up in that classroom until deep into the night. A mist cover cast around them and snacks that were sneaked from the kitchen. Towards the end, Jason’s hand was cramped up from trying to neatly write down all the commands with the unwieldy feather pens they used here.

After hours of perfecting pronunciations and testing the spells, Jason started to feel a lot more confident about this mission. They might actually be able to pull off their disguise like this.

Hermione’s POV

*

“So I spent hours in the library looking for any mention of the type of magic they used—” She tossed her large, empty bag on the common room table, “And nothing. Not a single mention of their school or the use of literal Latin phrases to invoke magic.”

Ginny handed her a cup of tea, which she gratefully took. “I have found texts referring to the creation of one’s own spells —which I knew was possible of course, I mean Snape did it. But that focuses more on intent, wand movement and a single or two word-incantation derived from Latin, but not a direct translation of the desired outcome.”

Hermione stared at the sad lump of her empty shoulder bag. The only bulge was from her parchment and pen. She had taken it to fill it up with all the books that talked about this obscure magic these exchange students used. She had never been so disappointed by hours of research. Nothing. Nothing. How was that even possible? How is it that she saw that boy, Jason, use this magic, describe it as a practice that exists, and not find any written records?

She sipped her tea. “Have they returned yet?” The exchange students had run off rather quickly after the Quidditch session.

Harry shook his head. “I have not seen them, but it’s almost curfew, so they should show up any minute.”

Hermione nodded, taking a biscuit from the platter on the table. “Can you tell me again what exactly happened?”

“I told Jason that he was a natural at flying. He mentioned that his experimental magic or whatever focussed on the air as domain and that he used that to fly without a broom. Then he said that long incantation and made himself fly to prove it.” Ron told her again.

Hermione stared into her tea, glanced back at the door, and back to her tea. There were only five minutes until curfew now.

Ginny put her hand on Hermione’s shoulder, tugging her upwards. “So, before you keep yourself up at night, let’s state the facts.”

Right, no time to spiral now. Hermione grabbed a piece of parchment and her feather pen from her bag. “Okay, one thing at a time. There is no written record of their school in Hogwarts’ library. And neither a mention of the type of magic they use.”

“But we did witness this magic being performed by Jason.” Ron added.

“And there is a group of eleven who all seem to know and use this magic.” Harry mentioned.

“And Luna,” Neville piped in. “She mentioned it was the same type of magic her mother experimented with. We could ask her about it tomorrow.”

Hermione shot up. “Of course, I could have asked Luna! Ugh, it’s so stupid that I did not think of that.”

“Don’t worry about it, we’ll just ask it tomorrow,” Ginny reassured. “It’s not dire information, our lives don’t depend on it, you can calm down.”

“It’s just strange,” Hermione muttered. “They show up out of nowhere with an unknown type of magic. and call me bonkers, but they seem suspicious.”

“I agree,” Harry said. “They are on edge. They are nervous about something, and it’s not just being in a new environment.”

“So what are they nervous about?” Ron asked. “Are they in danger or the danger?”

The question hung in the air for a second, the collective fear of the possible conclusion swallowing them. Not again.

Neville broke the silence. “I don’t think they are the danger, I do not believe they mean to be a threat to us.”

“Still, they’re lying about something,” Harry countered. “Or at least they’re withholding information.”

“Exactly.” Hermione’s mind was racing. She didn’t have time to solve another potentially life-threatening mystery. “Maybe we could just confront them about it directly.”

“They would probably evade the question, they’ve been deflecting the details from the start. We’ll just get more of the same vague stories.” Ginny flopped back. “Looks like we have to play the long game, earn their trust.”

Hermione massaged her forehead. “I can spy on them and gather intel,” She groaned. “I’m basically an expert at that now.”

“You should put it on your resume,” Ron joked. “I mean ‘I got enough dirt on Rita Skeeter to end her career’ is a pretty impressive feat.”

“But I can’t find anything on those stupid exchange students.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Neville interrupted her. “You discovered they devised their entire backstory and the school they supposedly attend, that is quite some information.”

“It is impressive how they seem to have made everything up,” Harry mused. “And so hastily as well. Some questions really seemed to throw them off guard, but their stories are consistent.”

“That means they are just twisting the truth.” Ginny’s eyes widened. “The lie is close enough to the truth for them to be able to stay consistent.”

Hermione sat up straighter. “If that’s true, than the answer should be right their, between the lines.” She frowned into her tea. “Hecate’s Wizarding School for Sorcery… Isn’t Hecate an ancient goddess?” She glanced around, but the other’s showed no immediate recognition. “I’ll look into it tomorrow, maybe it will give me a lead.”

“You do that,” Ron replied. “We’ll keep talking to them.” He glanced back at the common room door. “If they show their face again.”

“We will figure this out.”