When the Skies Fall - A Hogwarts Legacy Novel

ִ ࣪𖤐 Chapter Seven - Hues of Friendship

Elowyn spent her last day of September with Poppy and Natty. They played some Gobstones, went to classes, and ate at each meal together. They ended it around sunset with chatting over tea again, only this time Poppy had suggested painting alongside it as a relaxing activity. Elowyn had practice drawing when she was younger, but her family never saved up enough for paints. Poppy, however, grew up affluent. She flung paint onto her canvas like it was as readily available as water. She was good, great, even.

Natty kicked back watching the two of them. "You don't want to see what I'd throw up on a canvas," Natty had said. Elowyn giggled at that. She had found that Natty's preferences were either reading or physical sport like Gobstones or Quidditch.

Elowyn recounted the full events of her last escapades to the two of them in exacerbation. At this point, both Natty, Sebastian and now Poppy knew what she was going through. She had decided that regardless of Fig's warning, after the trip to Azkaban it was better to suffer with friends than suffer alone. The three's tea time had become a vent session, which both Poppy and Natty gracefully shouldered. First, Elowyn explained that she caught Fig up to speed in the Map Chamber and received a new set of trials from Percival Rackham to master her Ancient Magic. Her first trial had been no easy feat. She had dressed in a newly bought hood for questing (Hogwarts robes, she found, dirtied easily and were too recognizable) and had visited San Bakar's Tower, only there she had encountered goblins.

"I went through a massive Ancient Magic archway and fought a dozen pensieve protectors and sentinel knights, which led to a gigantic Pensieve Guardian. I mean, it was as tall as one of the classroom towers."

"How in the world did you survive?" Natty gasped.

"I barely did," Elowyn pulled back her hair to reveal a scar on her neck. "Instincts took over, magic had my back."

Elowyn's nose and hand scars had fully faded now thanks to magic, so this one was overdue.

"Anyways, I found a memory. A training session between Rackham and Isidora Morganach. She lamented that she had yet to help her ailing father, despite her magical gifts. The memory jumped, and it showed her as a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at the school!"

"You could make a great one, too," Poppy chimed

Elowyn sighed, correcting, "I am doing all of this by necessity, out of survival. If I could never encounter the Dark Arts again, I would."

"Regardless, you're stellar at fighting it. So what happened next?" Natty brought them back. Poppy and Elowyn often left the conversation's topic absentmindedly, especially now that they painted. Natty was hyperfocused on the story like it was entertainment to her.

"I returned to Percival, and talked with Charles Rookwood's portrait. Rackham spoke to Rookwood about the looming Goblin threat, and Charles decided to halt the trials until more is learned about the Goblins schemes."

"Good, a break," Poppy exclaimed.

"Well, not quite. I informed Fig of what I saw in the Pensieve, and decided the best first place to look for information is with Sinora at The Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, which I still have to do."

"Which you may do at a later date," Poppy said. She switched to a joking tone, "Perhaps you could make the trip with Sebastian."

"Or Ominis Gaunt," Natty scoffed. "You know, I overheard him talking with Sebastian in Charms yesterday. He asked Sebastian to describe what you looked like."