A Legacy of Pain: Rising from the Ashes

Chapter 18: For the Glory of our House

Last Time: After eating breakfast at the Hufflepuff table and being invited by Arthur on another scavenger hunt; Elizabeth led Annie and Nyxia to their first Flying Class. On the way she took them aside and into her study within her satchel. There she gave the two first years the gift she had been planning for them, some enchanted equipment for safety and their very own Night Dancer Brooms. Nyxia grew very emotional over the gift, seemingly unused to receiving them outside of birthdays. With that done they headed to class when it was revealed that Elizabeth and Imelda had both volunteered to help Professor Kogawa out with the first years a couple times a month. To demonstrate flying skill to the first years, the two sixth years had a race. Unfortunately a panic attack caused the ravenclaw to fall from her broom above the quidditch field before barely recovering in time. Later in the class after Imelda and Lizzy had left; an accident occurred in which Annie was knocked from her broom and saved by he charmed jersey Lizzy had gifted her that morning. Furious that Henry had endangered Annie, Nyxia nearly cast the cruciatus curse upon him, only being stopped by a frightened Annie. In horror of herself, Nyxia fled with Annie following her. The two had a discussion and grew closer as friends as Nyxia revealed that Noctis' true name was Snuggly Wiggles. Later that night Elizabeth came to the frightening realization that she had previously dreamed about part of that evening's events the week prior.

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After what had happened during the first years' first flying class the rest of the week had been rather uneventful for the most part, though Elizabeth tried not to dwell on the disconcerting events of that evening. Thursday had gone better than she had thought it would though thanks to the calming draught she had received from Madam Blainey along with that day's dose of potion of dreamless sleep. Luckily Callista was seemingly behaving herself and had allowed the ravenclaw to leave immediately after class. And while that in of itself was concerning; Elizabeth was simply relieved to not have to see her tormentor for long. As the week went on the atmosphere permeating the school had grown more and more charged until it had finally reached a fever pitch on the morning of Sunday the thirteenth. It seemed that all anyone could speak of was the upcoming announcement of who would be representing each house as flagbearers.

Personally Elizabeth was dreading the news, but hoped that she was simply being overly worried for no reason. She hoped that she would be passed over for the position, yet what she knew of her birth family's history and how Rowena's bust had reacted to her entry left her apprehensive. Since Poppy was working at the reserve, as had become routine for weekend mornings, the ravenclaw had decided to run a few errands in Hogsmeade to escape the fervor. Unfortunately the atmosphere in the wizarding village was just as exuberant as it had been in the castle. It seemed that the excitement was simply inescapable. As such, following her visit to the shop to check in with Penny and a brief stop by Honeydukes to pick up some sweets and replenish her stock of butterbeer; Elizabeth gave up and went to meet some friends at the Three Broomsticks.

"Thank you Sirona." Elizabeth smiled warmly at the owner of the inn as she accepted the warm tankard of butterbeer and took a swig. "Mmm, delicious." She groaned, a shiver of pleasure running up her spine. "The bottles are great, but there is just something about what you keep on tap here that makes it that much better." The auburn haired witch giggled as Sirona smirked back at her before leaving to attend to other patrons. It had only been a year since she had first met Sirona, and yet Elizabeth very much liked and trusted her already.

"Merlin, I have missed trips into Hogsmeade on the weekends." Anne laughed as she took a sip of her own chilled butterbeer from across the table where Natty, Constance, and Elizabeth sat with the brunette. "I barely had any chances to come to town last year since there was so much coursework to catch up on. And trips over the summer just aren't the same." The slytherin flashed them what seemed like the trademark Sallow grin at this point. "Although, I'll admit it was disappointing to see that Pippin's potions haven't gotten any better in the time I was absent."