A Legacy of Pain: Rising from the Ashes

Chapter 24: The Festival Approaches

Last Time: After taking the Animagus potion Elizabeth felt the dark fire in her veins flare, feeling as if they would consume her. The other version of herself spoke to her, trying to calm and walk her through the process. In desperation Lizzy retreated into her mental library to find the stacks of books being consumed by dark flame. With the help of the phantom the combined the flames wit the violet energies within her to the elation of the phantom. Being pushed back into reality, Lizzy began to transform into her new animal form now that the flames had been contained. At the same time; Poppy took her potion and began her own transformation. After becoming a large Mute Swan the animal instincts present in the first transformation drowned out her conscious mind and sent her into a panic as the storm raged around her. In desperation she took to the sky and searched for her love before hearing a beautiful song which quelled her anxiety. Lizzy approached her in the form of a phoenix with black rather than golden feathers mixed with scarlet. After sharing an intimate moment in their bird forms the two landed and spoke to each other, it being revealed that Lizzy's eyes had changed once more. Soon the two made love in the raid as lightning streaked across the sky. The next morning Lizzy apologized to her sister for not returning the night prior and received a letter from Emery imply that he would be attending the first event. After breakfast the couple went flying with Annie and her friends as a way of cheering up the frightened first year.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elizabeth grinned as she twirled around while casting a shield charm before immediately switching to a more offensive posture the moment she felt the stunning spell hit her charm and bounce off of it. The ravenclaw quickly began the wand movements for a blasting curse before cancelling midway and rapidly performing the movements for a bombarda when she saw that her opponent had fallen for her feint and started to put up a shield charm of their own. The much stronger than anticipated spell slammed into Amit's shield charm and shattered it as the wizard was knocked back into the nearby treeline and off of his feet. In an instant Elizabeth vanished into violet and silvery wisps of light to appear in front of Amit with her hand outstretched. "Are you okay?" Once the wizard nodded, she let out a sigh of relief and grinned once more. "That was better than last time; but you are still telegraphing your spells too early and being too rigid in your choices. You need to pay closer attention to your opponent's movements and be ready to switch up your plans at a moment's notice." She advised the other ravenclaw as she helped him up to his feet.

Amit groaned a bit as he stood up with her help and rubbed his back gingerly for a moment. "It didn't feel better." The boy shook his head and sighed while running a hand through his dark hair. "We have been at this for weeks and I still can barely even manage to get a spell to actually land on you." He lifted his wand and motioned before pointing at his mud and grass stained house robes. "Scourgify!" Once Amit was satisfied that his robes were clean he returned to their conversation. "I told you that I was no good with offensive magic. At least we can practise here during the day where others are less likely to see us." The boy gestured around them at the boundaries of the small island in the Black Lake they were standing on.

Elizabeth sighed at the other ravenclaw's words and shook her head while reaching out to reassuringly place a hand upon his shoulder. "Amit, you really have made progress. Your movements are becoming more fluid and your spellcasting IS getting faster. It just takes practice. Believe me; I have had more practice with combat than most students. That is the only reason I am able to move like I do. When your decisions and abilities are the only thing keeping your opponent from killing or capturing you; one quickly learns how to improve if they wish to survive." Though she tried to keep her voice as nonchalant as possible while speaking; she couldn't fully hide the trembling in her hands as she hinted at what she had been through last year. She also kept to herself the fact she was purposefully holding back and not using her ancient magical abilities for his safety.