Azeria was walking right behind Dumbledore following him threw a sparce woodland and on a earthy path that meandered through the meadows by a trickeling river. The summer was milder in Scotland than in the south of France. She was enjoying watching the blooms dance in the morning breeze. The polen suspended in the air made the scene even more enchanted. The forests in her homeland were all dark, moist and bleak but here the humming of the birds and hiccups of the green full trees made her feel as if she had stepped in a painting.
They kept on walking until the village slowly faded away behind them, Azeria following in Dumbledores footstep mindlessly. She could hardly have imagined a more awe-inspiring image of paradise. She felt like she was floating, as if invisible, amidst this scenery that constantly made her head spin and fuelled her curiosity.
When suddenly she stumbled forward catching herself short of a painfull fall. As she lowered her gaze to investigate what she had tripped over her eyebrows furrowed from puzzlement when she did not find a regular stone as she expected but a small twitchy furry ball. Azeria knelt down to take a closer look. The creature was covered in a custard duvet, with a long, thin, pink tongue sticking out. The little animal squealed and so she brought her hand closer in an attempt to gently pat it but with a swift, firm and seemingly annoyed bounce, the little beast took off at full speed.
Once Azeria had straightened up, she realised Dumbledore stopped as well and was watching her with a barely perceptible smile. He began, " A puffskein, silly little thing, perfectly harmless. They invade the grasslands in spring, I admit that they are usually quite agile but the sight of a lizard or other small animal would send them running through a fire. You will learn how to make use of their fur in your potion class soon enough". Not questionning why she had to attend a class, she departed again always two step behind the old man.
When she turned her gaze to the left she could see a large lake with dark, still water into which the river fell. Far away on the surface, she noticed a long trail of swirling water, the same kind as when a fish swims right under the surface, but this one must have been quite large. The Hogwarts castle was standing on a cliff overlooking the water. It looked as if it could tip over into the lake at any moment. Azeria could not take her eyes off of it.
She enjoyed the silent walk Dumbledore provided her. They finally reached huge iron gates intertwined with ivy, towering over them. Two winged boars framed the gates and a lock the size of azeria's head was keeping them shut. "humm humm" Dumbledore cleared his throat. A rough looking, gigantic man appeared behind the gates.
"Well Hagrid this is Azeria, she is a new student coming from France. She will be staying within our walls for the summer until the beginning of the school year" said Dumbledore in a way that made it seem like Hagrid already knew of the situation.
"Azeria this is Hagrid, keeper of the Keys and Grounds, my most trusted friend"
"A'ight talking with a gate in the way ain't a good first introduction" he mumbled into his coarse bushy beard while he took out of his pocket an absurdly large ring of keys filled with at least 30 of them. He instantly found the right one and pulled open the gate.
They entered the castle by the main entrance. Everything looked so out of proportion, Azeria had never felt so small. Every corner, every wall, every window had something to look at. For the first time she felt intimidated.
"Such a huge castle but not a child in sight, isn't this place supposed to be a school ?" she wondered
"Don't be silly, it's sum'er ain't no kid want to be in school during sum'er holiday. Best time of the year from me opinion" said Hagrid lowering his voice for the last bit.
They arrived atop a tower after passing through the Gargoyle corridor. There Hagrid left and Dumbledore opened what he said was his office. It was reached by means of a circular, moving stone staircase, which in turn was concealed by a gargoyle to which you had to say a password. A very fancy entrance for an office and not the most practicle. By the time the staircase was unveiled, a simple door could have been opened and closed at least five times Azeria thought.
Dumbledore sat behind his massive desk. The red glow of the room and the crackling of the fireplace immediately soothed Azeria. Dumbledore then began a long monologue.
"Listen carefully child, what happened to the witches of your kind is no accident and certainly no coincidence. What the sorginak protected, the spell they passed on to you has been a well kept secret for centuries. The number of people that knew of your custom outside of your clan can be counted on a single hand. But the secret was broken. Who betrayed their vow is still unclear but what is certain is that if anyone outside of your people get their hand on this spell it could bring destruction to our world. The things that attacked your village and killed your people are called death eaters. They are the servants of a man who is believed to have died after attempting to kill a child years ago. But the thruth is that he isn't gone, just weakened. His name is Voldemort, but do not pronounce it just around anyone."
From all the things that Dumbledore had said the only thing that stood out to Azeria was "killed your people". She had already thought about it but she always hoped some had survived the attack. The thruth was a hard blow on her. Even thought no one in the Sorginak ever showed interest in her and she hardly ever spoke to other witches, it was still all she had ever known.
About the spell something didn't feel right she thought, "I am sorry but i can't even remenber that damn spell"
"I guessed so. With this spell comes a curse or a protection. The spell is locked somewhere in your memories but to protect it, because of your young age, it created barriers inside your head. You can only recall it when needed and never say it if forced to do so. If you wish to use it, it must be from your own will accompanied by strong feelings."
"and may I ask why it is so coveted?" Azeria sort of knew the answer but she wanted to dig further.
"There are curses that are so evil and so dangerous they were forbidden. This curse is similar to a killing curse but it does not stop at the targeted one. The power of this curse grows with the emotions and destroys and kills everything around it eternally. No plants, no animals, no light will ever grow or shine where it has been casted, ever. But as it is the emotions that drive this strange power we know very little about it, only that the people who used it were in such despair and bore so much hatred it took away all their loved ones and themselves to. What if it was love that drived this curse, i wonder what would happen."
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Fanfiction"You're clueless...as always" She felt him draw his breath slowly into her hair, his chest rising and falling. She gave up trying to push him away, her palm resting on his chest. She looked up, her skin tingling with every of his words "you have no...
