Previous chapter: https://theowlhouse.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000190573
Chapter 1 if you want to get started at the beginning: https://theowlhouse.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000189445
The Hexside students all wanted to see Luz’s egg after the first task, so she opened it after the crowds had been dismissed. Poor Luz was going to have to spend the next week in the Healing Coven wing to recover from her injuries after the fight, but she could still open the egg.
Edric thought he was open-minded on the possibilities of its contents, but a shriek that sounded worse than nails on a chalkboard while being louder than an enraged slitherbeast was definitely not what Edric thought it might be.
Hunter yelled for her to close the damn thing, which Luz did with surprising difficulty.
After that catastrophe, the Hexside students were all told to go back to the Demon Realm for the evening. Ed and Em decided to ignore that order, the Weasley twins had offered to teach them more Human Realm magic, and they wanted any excuse to be with those two. After all, not every magic school boasted another pair of mischief-making twins, especially ones as charming as Fred and George. Saint Epiderm and Glandus High both were lacking in that.
Fred greeted them warmly, and they went together to an unused classroom near the Transfiguration class.
“So what did you think of the First task?” George asked,
“It was cool!” Edric said, “Hope Luz is okay though, that dragon got her pretty good.”
“I’m sure she’s gonna be fine, Madam Pomfrey can heal just about anything shy of going six feet under.” Fred told the Blights, providing Edric with some relief
“So, what magic are we learning today?” Em asked.
“I think we should continue our lesson in Transfiguration.” Fred said, “Have you two been practicing?”
“Yes,” Emira said
“Not much,” Edric admitted sheepishly.
“Okay. Last time, if I remember correctly, you two were transforming a pin into a needle,” Fred recalled as he demonstrated, “Can I see your attempts?”
Ed and Em tried to transform the pin into a needle, it was clearly very basic transfiguration, but Edric still found it difficult. Emira turned it into a needle on her first attempt, Edric took four tries before his transformed.
“Good job, Emira!” George told the girl, “Edric, that was pretty good, but you seem unfocused,”
Edric hated it, but George was right; he was unfocused.
Edric spent more time turning his needle back to a pin, then back to a needle, and back again. Over and over until it was almost second nature, then the Weasleys gave them a new assignment; turning a pencil into a pen. Both twins struggled with this one.
After an hour or so of struggling, a Hogwarts teacher that Edric had seen around the castle many times entered the room they were in, probably wondering what the noise was about. She was an old witch, and very tall too. Despite her age, her hair was still blacker than ink, and was done neatly in a bun. She wore an emerald-green robe and a pointed black hat.
“What are you doing here?” She barked at Fred, who turned a handsome shade of pink, “And why do I get the feeling it’s nothing good?”
“Professor McGonagall!” Fred replied, “We were just teaching these two Hexside students, Edric and Emira Blight, some Transfiguration spells. Magic is very different at Hexside, and they wanted to learn, and-”
“You’re teaching magic?” McGonagall interrupted, “How very unlike you two. Your six-year long trend would imply you were planning a prank.” McGonagall looked at the Red-headed twins skeptically. “Let me ask these two, Blight, was it? Are these two troublemakers actually using their magical skills in a productive way for the first time in their lives, or are they using you two as a cover?”
“Professor McGonagall,” Em started, “These two have really been teaching us Transfiguration. They aren’t lying.”
“My sister is doing better than me, but I feel that I’m learning pretty quickly myself.” Ed finished.
“Well, if that’s the case, then I would like to see your Transfiguration. After all, it’s my area of expertise.” McGonagall said.
Edric and Emira demonstrated their transfiguration. Emira’s attempt at turning a pencil into a pen was nearly perfect already. Edric’s was sloppier, but he managed it eventually.
“How long have you spent on this?” The old witch inquired.
“This is the second lesson from the Weasley twins, and the previous one lasted under an hour. That was back on Halloween.” Emira explained.
“You’ve learned this much in such a short time, impressive, it normally takes weeks for my beginning Transfiguration students to successfully turn a pin into a needle.” McGonagall told them, “You must be very gifted in Transfiguration magic.”
“Well, at Hexside, we are both Illusion students, among other things.” Ed told her, “So perhaps the skills transfer.”
“Perhaps,” McGonagall said. “Still, if you wish to learn Transfiguration, I am the Transfiguration Professor, a few pointers from me can go a long way. Would you like a few?”
The Blights agreed, and regretted it almost immediately. She spent almost two hours explaining theories and laws that govern how Transfiguration worked. The material itself was dull, but she the enthusiasm with which she gave it was palpable, which seemed to surprise the Weasleys. Perhaps she was glad to have students that actually wanted to learn, rather than a class full of people that would rather be anywhere else.
“Dinner will be served soon, I must get going,” McGonagall said, "Practice diligently and study the theories. These two troublemakers here might thrive on chaos, but they are undeniably gifted wizards. If you require further guidance and I'm unavailable, Fred and George Weasley are excellent resources."
Professor McGonagall then left for dinner.
“Hey, Weasleys. Do you wanna come over to Blight Manor for dinner tonight?” Edric asked nervously, he was normally smoother than this, but there was something about that Fred that was so appealing, “I think Dad is making phoenix wings tonight.”
“I’d love to come to your place!” Fred answered him, “Wait, did you say manor? You guys must be rich then! What are you doing hanging out with commoners like us? The Weasleys are the poorest pureblood wizard family in Britain,”
“It’s not like we go around flaunting our wealth!” Emira defended. “Besides, you guys are like, super hot- I mean cool! So of course we want you two over for dinner! Who knows, maybe Mittens will be there!” The Blights chuckled.
“Or maybe she’ll sleep in the library again!” Ed laughed, “What a nerd!”
The four of them laughed as they departed for the Demon Realm.
Of course Peeves had to interrupt their departure.
“Ooh! What have we here? Freddie and Georgie! Have you two found love? And from Hexside students no less!” The poltergeist said to them, George didn’t know how, but Peeves somehow also knew their names. “Fred and Edric sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G, Emira and George sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G” The spirit repeated over and over. The four of them quickened their pace significantly, but they could not escape Peeves’ taunts being heard by almost the entire school as they passed the Great Hall.
Finally escaping the infernal poltergeist’s singing as they stepped out to the lawn, the Weasleys and Blights had all turned a vivid shade of red. It seemed to suit Emira very well, at least in George’s mind.
Edric lead the way through the portal. On the other side of it, George found a world unlike anything he had ever seen in his life. The trees were blood red, and they were just in time for sunset here, despite it having been hours ago back at Hogwarts. The sunset they saw was the most beautiful thing George had ever seen. The orange, violet, blue, and red were plastered across the entire sky like a work of art. Each moment seemed to unveil a new layer of splendor, as if nature herself was showcasing her finest work. George couldn’t help but gawk at it until the sun dipped fully below the horizon and the beauty had ended. George couldn't shake the feeling that he had just witnessed something truly magical, etched forever in his memory.
“Come on!” Emira cried at the humans, “You’re going to make us late!”
After the sunset ended, George came along with Emira and Edric to their house, which was a very large house, easily bigger than the Great Hall. It had a large, purple front door, and countless stained glass windows littered the walls of it.
“I thought you said you didn’t flaunt your wealth!” George exclaimed, awestruck at the scale of their house.
“Well, it’s been in our family since the Savage Ages, we can’t exactly help that it’s bigger than the four of us will ever need.” Emira defended.
Finding the argument pointless, George quickened himself and knocked on the massive front door.
A moment later, a purple goop-thing opened the door, causing George to scream in shock.
“Oh, don’t mind that, it’s just an abomination.” Emira said.
“Completely harmless!” Edric added.
That did little to reassure George, the thing looked anything but harmless. And it was called an Abomination! What kind of crazy place was this?
The Blights calmly entered the manor, the foyer of which seemed to be the size of the Burrow, and they walked a path further into the house; seeming to almost forget about the two humans who had never been there before.
“Hey dad! We’re home! I hope it’s okay, we brought guests!” Emira announced.
“Oh, that’s fine dear,” a new voice replied, “I assume they’re staying for dinner. Abomination, please get our guests something to drink.”
A moment later, another one of those purple goop monsters walked out from the hallway the voice had been coming from. It was holding a platter in its hand. The abomination groaned at the Weasley twins, who exchanged confused looks.
“Tell it what you want to drink,” Edric advised.
“Erm, I’ll have tea please, green tea, if you don’t mind.” Fred nervously said, George replied in same.
The abomination groaned, then disappeared into that same hall. A minute or so later, it returned with two steaming teacups.
“Erm, thank you,” Fred said as he took them and handed one of them to George. The abomination groaned, then departed once more.
Fred and George both took seats on the sofa, the Blight twins sitting in love seats on their flanks. George sipped his tea.
“Alright, the wings just need some time to simmer before they go into the fryer.” The fatherly voice said as he emerged from the kitchen. “I suppose I should meet the guests,”
Mr. Blight was a somewhat tall man, with unkempt brown hair and stubble that was bordering on being a beard. He wore a gray lab coat covered in purple stains of the same hue as the abominations from earlier.
“Hello, Mister Blight!” Fred cheerfully said, “Pleasure to meet you! I’m Fred Weasley, and this is my brother, George!”
“Nice to meet you too, but please, call me Alador.” He responded tiredly.
“Will Mittens be here tonight?” Em asked her father.
“She plans to, but with Luz injured, I have a feeling it will be impossible to separate them.” He responded.
“Who’s Mittens?” George asked, feeling dumb for his lack of awareness.
“Our little sister, Amity.” Em told him.
They talked for about ten minutes, during which time George learned that Alador made abominations for a living, Hexside school separated students based on what magic they learned, (which made no sense to George, why not teach everyone everything?), and that until about a year prior, Hexside’s magic separation applied to everyone, not just students, but adults as well.
“Well, why were they forcing people to only do one kind of magic?” George asked, almost outraged at the mere concept of such restriction.
“The Empire told everyone for decades, no, centuries, that mixing magic was against the Titan’s will.” Alador told them, “The real reason was that Emperor Belos, it was the same person for the entire time, despite what imperial history books claim, wanted everyone to be branded with one of these,” He showed them his wrist, which was branded with a tattoo of a bit of abomination goop, “So he could cast a powerful spell and eliminate the entire population of the Boiling Isles.”
“His end-goal was Genocide!?!” Fred cried, “This man sounds as bad as You-know-who.” he paused, “Well, I guess you probably don’t know who.” He then explained Voldemort’s mysterious rise to power about twenty years prior, and how he murdered countless people, especially muggles and muggle-born wizards and witches.
“Oof, he seems pretty bad, and you said that your friend Harry was the one who brought him down, as in that kid brought down this terrible dark wizard when he was one year old!?!” Edric said, surprised.
“Yeah, you-know-who tried to use the killing curse on him, but it somehow backfired and killed you-know-who instead. Harry was just left with a lightning bolt scar on his forehead. Nobody knows how he survived.” George said, “Pretty weird.”
“Oh, I forgot about the phoenix wings!” Alador shouted suddenly, running off to the kitchen. He returned moments later, claiming that an abomination had taken care of it, and that dinner would be ready in about five minutes.
Moments later, the front door swung open, Amity stood there.
“Hey Mittens!” The Blight twins said in unison. Amity groaned at the remark.
“Will you two ever grow up?” She asked of them,
“Nope!” Em said.
“Whatever, I’ll be in my room, let me know when dinner is ready.”
“You might as well not bother with going up there, dinner is almost ready, you’re just in time.” Alador said to his younger daughter.
Eventually, the phoenix wings were ready, and George could not believe how good they tasted. They were like chicken wings, but spicy even without sauce, and way bigger too.
After a delicious meal, George and Fred reluctantly departed for Hogwarts.
“Thank you, for such a wonderful meal, and such nice, erm, hospitality!” Fred exclaimed.
“We hope to see you again soon!” George added.
The two of them returned to their common room, it was well after bed time, but it’s not like that had ever stopped them before.
“So how many things did you nick?” George asked his twin.
Fred put his stealings onto his four-poster bed, there were quite a few things: (I listed like, twenty things here, but I cut it because none of them were going to be even so much as mentioned later.)
“Aw, bugger! You got way more than me! I only nicked a comb from their bathroom!” George complained.
“Well, that’s what you get for being slow!” Fred mocked.
They both laughed heartily, then decided it was best time they went to bed. The day had been rather long, after all.
