Peacekeepers

Chapter 1: Verdant

This story partially inspired by No Matter What (Acoustic) -Papa Roach

What I listen to while writing:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6eXk8L8GjBcDVCm8rXIEx8?si=a85c32ba93764862

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"Are you sure you want to try this?" Poppy asked softly, standing next to Diane over the barren area of the forest above the depository. The corrupted magic had killed off all of the plants in the area before it had been contained again, leaving withered trees and bare soil. The rest of the forest was healthy and flourishing, but this patch around the entrance of the tunnels that lead to the depository was dead. It made it too obvious where the entrance was, and if there was a battle soon with dark wizards roaming about... she definitely didn't want the depository found until she could learn how to build a barrier around it.

"Yes." She said firmly. "Just... keep an eye on me, okay? I'm going to pour my magic into this and hopefully it'll work." She sighed, looking around anxiously. She hadn't done a patch this large yet. All she had done were those experiments in the greenhouse before now. It had been a week since graduation now, and she'd been loving her time together with Sebastian and Ominis in their home. Ominis still had to travel to the Ministry every Tuesday and Thursday for his legilimency training, but he was making great progress. Now he could search for specific memories by seeing parts of the memories through the strands so he wouldn't have to blindly search.

It was a bit complex for her to understand, but she was happy he was doing so well. His new goal was to get his legilimens certificate through the Ministry so he could work independently from the Ministry. Natty was rather surprised by this plan as well- because having a local legilimens would certainly help her role as an auror, as well. She was still a bit leery of Ominis, but she seemed to be more comfortable around him as she got to know him better. It would just take time.

"Alright, here we go." Diane took a little breath before she focused her ancient magic through her body, feeling it flow through her like a wave of tingling energy. She let it flow down her legs through her feet, kicking off her shoes so she was barefoot against the forest floor.

She started walking forward, seeds sprouting from the ground in her footsteps behind her, the glow of ancient magic flowing into the ground behind her. Ferns grew first, spiraling long leaves out before unfurling and growing larger, followed by brush and finally the sprouts of new trees.

She furrowed her brow, because the trees seemed to be the most difficult. To grow them quickly she had to pour immense amounts of magic into them, so she only chose one for now- the larges sapling of an oak tree. She walked through the new ferns around them before she knelt down next to the sapling, putting her hand over it and focusing on the one plant to pour energy into it. It grew beneath her hand, up to waist high, then as tall as her, then several dozen feet tall-

"Diane! Enough!" Poppy shouted nearby.

She blinked in surprise, knocked out of her concentration and realized she was swaying a bit. "Whew." She sighed, realizing how tired she was. "That takes a lot out of me... particularly the tree."

"Yes but look how amazing it looks now!" Poppy said happily, looking around at the newly grown area and how green it was. "I'll bet some mooncalves will set up residence here with how lush it is, they love having ferns around like this for cover." She said, running her hand along one of the large ferns.

"That would be great, it would keep people from seeing the entrance even more if there's a bunch of mooncalves dancing on it." Diane chuckled, but decided to sit down on a nearby log with a heavy breath. "That wiped me out more than I thought. I'm going to have to be careful using my magic like that. If I pass out I think Sebastian would give me an earful."