A Legacy of Pain: Rising from the Ashes

Chapter 10: Ripples Become Waves

Last Time: Elizabeth had a panic attack upon realizing that Callista Grey was the new Magical Theory professor, only for Poppy to show up and calm her down. Soon after the sorting ceremony began with Nyxia ending up in Slytherin and Annabeth joining Lizzy in Ravenclaw after a bit of debate with the hat. After the ceremony Headmaster Black began his speech and introduced Callista as the new professor and his cousin. Next he revealed the Founders Festival and that aspirants submit their names for consideration before the second Sunday of term. The final announcement made was that a new Magical Creatures Reserve had been create on Lands under the purview of Hogwarts and that NEWT level students with Es in Care of Magical Creatures could apply for apprenticeships. Afterwards Poppy admitted she had known already and that she was already apprenticing. She also informed Lizzy that Ominis had been helping with the various serpents on the reserve. Later that evening Annie came to sleep with Lizzy in her bed.

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Annie giggled as she sprayed Zenobia after winning a game of Gobstones against the second year while Lizzy sat in a chair nearby with her homework laid out on her lap. It was only the second week of class and yet Professor Ronen had already assigned them an essay on non verbal spells. "I thought you said you were good at this Zenobia!" The golden blonde continued to giggle as the older student frowned at her while trying to clean the foul smelling liquid off of herself.

"Not so nice when you're the one being sprayed, now is it?" Everett grinned from off to the side as he polished his new broom, apparently a gift from his parents for finally no longer having to take flying classes with the first years. While Zenobia and Everett began to argue as Annie simply watched from the sidelines and moved to set up another game; movement caught Lizzy's attention from the corner of her eye. Being drawn to it, the ravenclaw set her parchment down as she stood from her seat. Each time she turned around a corner she just barely caught the faintest glimmer of the person she had seen's robes before they would round another corner themselves. Finally she followed them up the stairs hurriedly and opened the door to the roof only to step out of the Ravenclaw common room and into her mental library.

Elizabeth looked around in shock as she stepped into the library, not only surprised to be there but by the changes that had occurred since her last visit. The stacks of shelves had been repaired and properly sorted and the restricted section created when the other and herself had worked to fix the damage that had been done. Yet as she looked around now she discovered that the restricted section had been greatly expanded and had received increased security in the form of animated armors and more intimidating bars. Additionally the cascade of crimson and violet lightning that had once clashed so violently in the sky had become more serene. Though as she stared up at it, a slight frown appeared on her lips. The crimson was almost completely absent now while the violet had greatly increased.

"Curious isn't it?" Elizabeth turned to see the other her leaning against a shelf while staring up at the energies above. "The changes began at the end of June when the trace failed and was consumed." The phantom turned their violet eyes set in pools of ink from above to Elizabeth. "Then again after Ominis' party. Each time the violet grew and consumed more of the crimson."

The auburn haired witch paled slightly at the words, knowing what those dates symbolized. "Is that why you led me here?" Elizabeth asked, realizing that the other her had been the person she had been chasing prior. "To berate me for being weak and screwing up more?" She frowned, upset to have her inadequacies brought to light by the version of herself she was still unsure she could trust.

The other Elizabeth with far more purple in their hair than auburn chuckled as they shook their head. "Of course not. This was always going to happen. There is no use fighting the inevitable." The other her sighed as they shook their head once more. "No, we need to speak about her." Elizabeth shivered at the more menacing tone of the other's voice. "Callista is a threat. We need to eliminate her as soon as possible. It is the only way we will be safe at school."