Emira Blight
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(DA TWINZ AGAIN! LES GO!)
56 Votes in Poll
I like how King becomes a book author....
....Eda teaches Luz a new magic....
....and Luz and Golden Guard search for palismen.
( @-artzy auggie- )
(TW: Death by sickness, stabbing)
Cast:
Inspired by:
Belos: I killed your girlfriend's sister, poisoned the Isles, And Hell! hehehe It's not even breakfast
Batwitch(Luz): Every decision you make ends with death. People die. I stop you. You'll just break out and do it again
Belos: Think of it as a running stabs her shoulder GAG!
Batwitch: AH! drops the cure
Belos: NO! drops to the floor and licks up the cure Are you happy now?
Batwitch: you wanna know something funny? even after all you've done, i would have saved you
Belos: HAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHA HAHA COUGH COUGH COUGH That actually is COUGH COUGH Pretty funny struggles to hold his last breath before passing away
Batwitch: carries his body out of Boiling city
(Note: If i have to edit it to make it family friendly, i will)
Anyways if the hoot-hoot artical wants, heres a long, fun fanfic about a BabySitters Club x The Owl House AU I have (OMG HUMAN FORMS :0/hj)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/55394869/chapters/140548261
Anyways, some angst, some feels, and mostly in the works. But 4 chapters our in a day isn't so bad and totally not an obsession :D!!
(Also theres more characters than in the tags lmao)
Link to previous chapter: https://theowlhouse.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000192961
Link to chapter one: https://theowlhouse.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000189445
Emira’s finger twirled in the air, the familiar movement tracing a blue ring in its wake.
“Avius” she recited, and the guinea pig she had been practicing on became a guinea fowl right before her eyes.
“Yes!” Emira squealed, practically jumping from excitement.
“Good job, twin sister,” Edric’s voice called, his guinea pig still sitting very non-avian on his desk.
“Avius” he stated. The rodent sprouted feathers and a beak, its front legs became wings, and it grew several sizes.
“Yes!” Fred shouted.
“Good job to both of you!” George added, his red hair dancing from the open window like flames on a log.
“Hey, you’ve taught us so much Human magic,” Emira started, glancing at Ed to make sure they were on the same wavelength.
“What would you say if we returned the favor,” Edric finished.
“Like, us learning Witch magic?” Fred asked, “Blimey, that sounds brilliant!”
“We’d love to learn some of your tricks!” George said.
“Well,” Emira started, she was definitely the better teacher out of the Blight twins, “What kind of magic do you want to start with? Illusions? Or perhaps Healing?”
“Or maybe Beast Keeping or Potions?” Edric interjected.
“Nah, definitely not potions, we get enough of that from Snape,” Fred answered.
“But maybe illusions, that ought to make some great pranks!” George added, “But with how much we injure ourselves, I feel like Madam Pomfrey would kill for us to learn some healing magic,”
“And that’s saying a lot, I’m pretty sure she’s a staunch pacifist,” Fred concluded. The two Weasleys then sat there, debating between Healing and Illusions.
“We could teach you both,” Emira offered, “Of course, my brother hasn’t taken any healing track classes, but I have. And we’re both master illusionists.”
“That should work!” Fred said, ending the small debate.
Emira took a deep breath, “Well, let’s start with illusions. There are three main kinds of illusions: Concealments, Creations, and Coverings. First are concealments, these are the most basic illusions. A concealment illusion, well, conceals an object or person, making it invisible. Since they’re the most basic illusions, this is what we teach beginning illusion students when they pick the illusion track, traditionally at the start of the sixth grade.
“Next are creations, these are a bit harder to do. A creation illusion creates a vision of an object or person. Be warned, they aren’t real, and if a real object or person makes contact with a creation, it fades immediately. Since these are a bit harder, they typically get taught to intermediate illusionists, around ninth grade if I remember correctly.
“Finally are coverings. These are the hardest illusions to do, even at a small scale, at least out of what they teach you in school, there are harder kinds of illusions with niche use cases, but those are outside of the curriculum. Covering illusions are a bit of a combination of concealments and creations, it’s where you make an object look like something else. We only just recently started covering those in our advanced illusion classes, so I don’t think we’ll get to those anytime soon.”
Fred and George had both gotten a pen and paper out and had been taking careful notes.
“Need me to repeat anything?” She asked once they finished writing.
“Yeah, what was that bit about creations and other objects?” George asked, “I didn’t quite catch it.”
Emira gladly answered the handsome wizard’s question, “If a creation makes contact with a physical object, the object is unaffected, and the creation dissolves into a small cloud of blue magic.”
George jotted that down, muttering “Illusions… can’t… touch…. stuff…”
He lifted his head, showing his preparation for more content. Fred followed suit quickly.
“When making an illusion, you have to remember the three Ds, definition, deliberation, and deception. Definition - you have to keep a clear, definite image of what you want to happen, otherwise the spell won’t know what to do. Deliberation - you can’t just imagine it, you have to focus, deliberate, on what you’re doing.” Emira continued, hoping her twin would pick up the lecture soon, her vocal chords were not used to this much talking. The Weasleys wrote down her every word, George with extra enthusiasm.
“And lastly, but certainly not least,” Edric finally picked up, “Is deception - since Illusions are all about making the world seem different from what’s really there, you need that intent to deceive everyone around you.”
“How about you two give it a try?” Emira offered. The red-headed twins agreed and drew their wands.
“Let’s start with a basic illusion,” Edric said, finally taking over the lecture, “Try making this pencil invisible,” He pulled a pencil out from his pocket, and held it in front of the Weasleys.
“Err, what incantation do we use?” Fred asked.
“Boiling Isles magic doesn’t use incantations,” Edric said.
George twirled his wand in the air, but nothing happened. Fred tried as well, to similar results.
Fred and George took turns trying to make the pencil invisible. After several attempts, George managed to make the pencil jump out of Edric’s hand, but it still was clearly very yellow on the floor, not the slightest bit transparent.
Fred groaned in frustration.
“It’s okay,” Edric comforted, “Most people do much worse than this on their first try.”
“If I remember correctly, you couldn’t properly conceal so much as a thumbtack until almost the end of seventh grade. If you hadn’t gotten that by the end of the year, Odalia was going to make you change to the Abomination track with Mittens. Luckily for both of you, you figured it out eventually, and Mittens is a prodigy at Abominations.”
“Emira!” Ed whined, “Did you have to mention that in front of them? Now Fred will never think I’m cool!”
“What, do you mean me?” Fred asked, “Well, bloody hell, of course I think you’re cool! Look at you! You two are naturals at Transfiguration! And you are studying that and all of your Hexside courses! Plus, you’re bloody handsome, and a hell of a prankster. You two are the coolest people I ever met. And that’s saying something, ickle Ronnykins is best friends with Harry freaking Potter.”
George beamed in agreement. “Not to mention, you two were part of a resistance group to defeat a fascist who reminds me of an inverse you-know-who, wanting to genocide magic-kind and all.”
“And clearly, this stuff isn’t easy, just look at how much we’re struggling with it!” Fred added. That seemed to cheer up Emira’s brother.
The lesson continued for some time, and both Humans failed to make the pencil fully invisible by the end of the lesson, though Emira was pretty sure she saw it fade a bit on one of George’s last attempts. That might have been wishful thinking though.
As March approached, the weather became drier, but fierce winds skinned their hands and faces every time they went onto the grounds. There were delays in receiving the mail because the owls kept getting blown off course. The brown owl Harry had sent to Sirius with the dates for the next Hogsmeade weekend arrived at breakfast one Friday morning with half of its feathers sticking up the wrong way. Harry had no sooner taken the letter from it than it took flight, clearly not wanting to go back out there to deliver more mail.
Sirius’ letter was almost as short as his previous one.
Be at the stile at the end of the road out of Hogsmeade (past Dervish and Banges) at two o’clock on Saturday afternoon. Bring as much food as you can.
“He hasn’t come back to Hogsmeade, has he?” Ron said incredulously.
“It looks like it,” Hermione said.
“I can’t believe him,” Harry tensely stated, “If he’s caught…”
“He’s made it this far, hasn’t he?” Ron said, “And unlike last year, this place isn’t crawling with Dementors out for his soul,”
Harry folded up the letter. Harry really wanted to see his godfather again, so the idea of doing just that made his final class that day, double potions, seem much more tolerable than normal.
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were huddled outside the classroom door with Pansy Parkinson’s gang of Slytherin girls. All of them were looking at something Harry couldn’t see and were sniggering heartily.
“There they are, there they are!” Pansy giggled when she saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione approaching. The knot of Slytherins broke apart, and Harry saw that Pansy had a Witch Weekly magazine in her hands.
“You might find something interesting in there, Granger!” Pansy shouted, throwing the magazine at Hermione. At that moment, the door to the dungeon opened, and Snape beckoned them inside.
The trio went for a table at the back of the classroom as usual. Once Snape turned his back to write potion ingredients on the blackboard, Hermione hastily opened the magazine and found near the middle of the booklet the article the Slytherins must have been laughing at.
Harry Potter’s Secret Heartache
A boy like no other, perhaps — yet a boy suffering all the usual pangs of adolescence, writes Rita Skeeter. Deprived of love since the tragic demise of his parents, fourteen-year-old Harry Potter thought that he had found solace in his steady girlfriend at Hogwarts, Muggle-born Hermione Granger. Little did he know that he would shortly be suffering yet another emotional blow in a life already littered with personal loss.
Miss Granger, a plain but ambitious girl, seems to have a taste for famous wizards that Harry alone cannot satisfy. Since the arrival at Hogwarts of Viktor Krum, Bulgarian Seeker and hero of the last Quidditch World Cup, Miss Granger has been toying with both boys' affections. Krum is openly smitten with the devious Miss Granger, has already invited her to stay with him in Bulgaria over the summer holidays, and insists that he has "never felt this way about any other girl."
However, it may not be Miss Granger's doubtful natural charms that have captured these unfortunate young boys' interests.
"She's really ugly," says Pansy Parkinson, a pretty and vivacious fourth-year student, "but she'd be well up to making a Love Potion, she's quite brainy. I think that's how she's doing it."
Love Potions are, of course, banned at Hogwarts, and no doubt Albus Dumbledore will want to investigate these claims. In the meantime, Harry Potter's well-wishers must hope that next time, he bestows his heart on a worthier candidate.
“I told you not to annoy that Skeeter woman!” Ron hissed. “She’s made you out to be some sort of scarlet woman!”
Hermione stopped looking astonished and snorted with laughter. “Scarlet woman?” She repeated, barely stopping herself from exploding into laughter.
“That’s what my mum calls them…” Ron muttered, his ears turning as red as his hair.
“If that’s the best Skeeter can do, she’s losing her touch,” Hermione snorted as she threw Witch Weekly onto the empty chair beside her, “What a load of rubbish,”
The Slytherins were caught staring at the trio. Hermione gave them a sarcastic smile and a wave. The three of them started to unpack the ingredients they needed for their potion.
“There is something funny though,” Hermione said ten minutes later, holding her pestle over a bowl of scarab beetles. “How could Rita Skeeter have known…?”
“Known what?” Ron inquired, “You haven’t been making Love Potions, have you?”
“Don’t be stupid,” Hermione snapped, pounding her beetles, “It’s just… how did she know Viktor asked me to visit him over the summer?”
She blushed scarlet as she did this, avoiding Ron’s eyes determinedly.
“What?” Ron asked.
“He asked me right after he’d pulled me out of the lake,” Hermione muttered, “After he got rid of his shark head. Madam Pomfrey gave us both blankets and then he pulled me away so no one would hear, and then he asked me. He did say that he hasn’t felt the same way about anyone else,” Hermione went on, becoming so red even Amity would be impressed, “but how could Rita Skeeter have heard him? She wasn’t there, or was she? Maybe she has an Invisibility Cloak and snuck onto the grounds to see the second task.”
“Fascinating though your social life undoubtedly is, Miss Granger,” an icy voice said right behind them, “I must ask you not to discuss it in my class. Ten points from Gryffindor.”
“Ah, reading magazines as well?” He added, “Another ten points from Gryffindor I’m afraid.” Snape’s obsidian eyes fell on Rita Skeeter’s article, “Oh but of course, Potter has to keep up with his press cuttings.”
The dungeon was filled with the mocking laughs of the Slytherins. To Harry’s fury, Snape began to read the article aloud.
“Harry Potter’s Secret Heartache, oh, dear, what’s ailing you now, Potter?” He mocked.
Harry could feel his face burning. Snape was pausing at the end of every sentence to allow the Slytherins a hearty laugh. As bad as it was in ink, it sounded ten times worse in Snape’s cruel voice.
Snape separated the trio, and forced Harry to the front of the room, so as to allow Snape to mock him from the comfort of his blackboard. Harry did his best to ignore him but snapped when he mentioned breaking into his office.
“I haven’t been anywhere near your office!” He shouted, ignoring the events barely a week prior.
“Don’t lie to me, Potter!” Snape spat, “Boomslang skin, Gillyweed. Both came from my private stores, and I know who stole them.”
Harry stared directly back into Snape’s eyes. In truth, he had only stolen the Gillyweed, but the Boomslang skin had been taken by Hermione in their second year for the Polyjuice Potion.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Harry lied coldly.
“You were out of bed the night my office was broken into!” Snape hissed, “I know it, Potter! Mad-Eye Moody might have joined your little fan club, but I will not tolerate your behavior! One more night-time stroll into my office, and I will personally ensure you never step foot into this castle again!”
“Right,” Harry said coolly, turning to cut his ginger roots, “I’ll keep that in mind if I ever feel like going there,”
Snape’s eyes flashed, and he reached into his pocket. Harry was sure that Snape was about to pull out his wand and curse him, but instead, he pulled out a small vial of a completely clear potion.
“Do you know what this is, Potter?”
“No,” Harry said truthfully.
“This is Veritaserum, a Truth potion so powerful that just three drops would have you spilling your deepest secrets for this entire dungeon to hear,” Snape said viciously, “And unless you watch your step, my hand might just slip,” He shook the bottle slightly, “Right over your evening Pumpkin Juice.”
Harry said nothing, he turned back to his ginger roots once more, trying to ignore Snape’s hollow threats.
There was a knock on the door.
“Enter,” Snape said in his usual voice.
Professor Karkaroff entered and marched straight toward the potions master.
“We need to talk,” Karkaroff said abruptly.
“We can talk after class,” Snape muttered.
“We need to talk now, so you can’t just slip away again.”
“After. The. Lesson”
Karkaroff stayed in the classroom, ensuring Snape couldn’t escape, for the rest of the lesson.
“What is so urgent anyway?” Snape whispered after the bell rang.
“This” Karkaroff said, pulling up his sleeve, “It hasn’t been this clear since-”
“Put it away!” Snarled Snape.
“But you must have noticed!”
“We can talk later,” Snape spat. Harry tried to sneak a glance at Karkaroff’s lower arm, but he fell out of his chair.
“Potter!” Snape yelled, “What are you doing?”
“I was trying to clean up my armadillo bile, sir,” Harry defended innocently.
“And so, you fell out of your chair,” He said under his breath, not buying a word of it. Karkaroff turned and strode out of the dungeon.
Harry, not wanting to stay alone in a room with an angry Snape, grabbed his backpack and left as quickly as he could.
Alright, it’s been a few days, but let’s get into it.
Ah, Edric Blight. His clothing shows the numerous types of magic he studies, and you can see a stone similar to Emira’s stone. It seems he’s stopped using his concealment stone for good since Reaching Out.
He has two potions hooked on his belt, fur boots, and a light blue left sleeve, which symbolize the potions, beast keeping, and illusion tracks respectively.
Emira, like her brother, has also stopped using her concealment stone. She wasn’t developed quite as much as Edric, so I can’t find too many references here. However, I can say that she has a gemstone matching Edric’s.
Matt has the famous “S” tattooed on his left shoulder. It’s debatable whether or not he has a real mustache now, but we can say for sure that his beard is starting to come in. He’s got tools typical of the construction coven, as well as a pencil tucked behind his ear, implying he’s an architect.
And finally, on his apron is the giant letter “M”. So you know who he is: Matt Tholomule. The one and only.
Morton hasn’t really changed too much, but his mustache has begun growing in and he’s cut his hair. He still keeps two main elements of his original design: the iconic hat, and the frog necklace.
That’s right, it’s everyone’s favorite Principal: Principal Bump! Something I find interesting is his lower apron sports an insignia of the iconic character Hooty, surrounded by five flower petals with hearts in them. This may be the symbol of some sort of Boiling Isles regrowth effort that Bump took part in after his retirement.
The only part of Bump’s outfit that’s the same is Frewin, who’s still on his head.
This has been the second part of the Supporting Characters Costume Analysis! Thanks for reading!
Next up: No one, I don’t think. Pretty sure this is the last one.
Link to prev chapter: https://theowlhouse.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000191917
Link to chapter 1: https://theowlhouse.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000189445
“Crap” Luz muttered after her Mamá went upstairs, sounding closer to annoyed than anything. “That’s just perfect.”
“What’s wrong, Luz?” Amity asked softly.
“You don’t have to say if you don’t want to!” the sweet potato quickly added.
Luz sighed and took a deep breath. “The second task, that’s what’s wrong,”
“I thought you figured out the egg,” Willow said.
“I did,” Luz said, “But it involves going underwater for an hour to ‘recover what they took’ and I’m useless! I’m going to drown tomorrow! How could I possibly be underwater for that long and not die?” Her breathing started to intensify, her heartbeat quickening.
Amity stopped that spiral before it even started, “No!” She shouted, “We’re going to get you a way to be underwater for an hour-”
“And survive,” Hunter added quickly, cutting off Amity.
Amity nodded, “And survive; even if it takes us until morning.”
“Thanks guys, I really appreciate what you’re trying to do,” Luz said, “but I’m supposed to do this by myself.”
“You weren’t supposed to know about the dragons, but that didn’t stop you,” Vee reminded.
Good point.
Amity, Gus, Willow, Hunter, the twins, and Vee all started to check every book Eda had in the living room. Why does Eda have so many books? She kept wondering.
“Ooh!” Gus said after a somewhat short search.
“Did you find something?” Willow asked.
“I think so!” The master illusionist exclaimed. Everyone crowded around the book he had (Rare Potions for Rare Problems by Albertus Magnus) and read the page he had found.
“Potion of Aquatic Respiration,” Vee read, “This simple potion takes only around four hours to brew. The ingredients, however, are very hard to come by.
Said ingredients are as follows: Gillyweed: thirty grams, Selkiegris: twenty grams, Mugwump blood: thirty milliliters, Makara tears: twenty milliliters, Hippokampos hair: one lock, Water from a Kelpie: fifty milliliters.
Simmer in one liter of water under moonlight until fully combined, this step should take two hours. Then, let it sit (still in moonlight) on low heat for two hours. It will turn blue when completed. Makes enough to last two hours” she finished.
“What the heck is Gillyweed?” Willow asked.
“I think I’ve heard of that!” Amity said, “I think it was in this one book I have, let me go check!” She ran off, got onto Ghost, and flew in the direction of Bonesborough.
“Well, while she’s gone,” Edric started.
“We should split up and try to get the rest of these ingredients.” Emira finished.
“Good idea,” Hunter said.
“I’ll get the Mugwump blood, those shouldn’t be too hard to find.” Gus said, “Hunter, do you think you could get the Selkiegris?”
“Uhh, sure,” Hunter said awkwardly Luz was the only one here who remembered his previous encounter with a Selkiedomus.
“And maybe Willow can get the Hippokampos’ hair,” Gus continued, “And Vee could get the Kelpie water, a shapeshifter would probably do best with them. And that leaves you two to get the Makara tears.”
“That works for us” The twins replied.
“You guys are the best,” Luz said, “I don’t know what I’d do without you,”
“Drown,” Edric said bluntly.
Luz sighed, then got up. “I guess that leaves me to get the gillyweed with Amity,”
“Yup,”
Yay, I’m with Amity! Luz thought. Her peers soon started to leave in about every direction. Amity soon returned to the now-empty Owl House.
“Where did everyone go?” She asked.
“They left to get the other ingredients,” Luz replied, “Did you figure out what Gillyweed is?”
“Yeah, I knew I saw it somewhere,” The sweet potato pulled out the large, old, black book that Luz had seen before.
“Oh, is this the book you had in the library you got from Hogwarts?” She inquired.
“Yup,” She replied, carefully opening the ancient tome to the correct page. “Surprised they didn’t tell me a due date or anything, do you not have to return library books in the human realm?”
“You normally do, this must be a Hogwarts thing,” Luz recalled. Amity opened the book to the first of many pages on Gillyweed.
“Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said it was wordy!” Luz said, amazed at the sheer quantity of words the author had mustered on such a simple-seeming plant.
“So if I read all of this correctly, it’s native to the Mediterranean Sea, which is in the Human Realm I take it?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty much straight south of Hogwarts, the only problem is that it’s south by like, a thousand miles,” Luz said.
“Oof, I’m not planning on flying that far,” Amity said.
“Neither am I,” Luz replied, “So we have to find another way to get Gillyweed, and quickly,”
“We could try asking around at Hogwarts,” Amity suggested. “Maybe someone there knows where to get some,”
“Good idea. But we should get going if we want this potion ready in time” Luz reminded. The two girls soon departed through the portal door.
Upon reaching the other side, Luz and Amity split up. Amity went to check the Great Hall, and Luz went to check the library. After all, if they split up, they could find someone who knew something about Gillyweed more quickly.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were trying to brainstorm ideas on how to survive underwater for an hour on the twenty-fourth.
“You could try using the summoning charm again,” Ron suggested, “Get yourself one of those muggle Scuda-”
“S.C.U.B.A., self-contained underwater breathing apparatus,” Hermione interjected
“Whatever, one of those things” Ron finished, glaring at Hermione.
“That would never work,” Hermione nagged, “Even if Harry managed to summon one all the way from wherever the nearest one is, he would be disqualified anyway!”
“How come?” Ron rebutted.
Hermione sighed, “For breaking the International Code of Wizarding Secrecy, obviously. Don’t you two know anything?”
“Of course, ideally, you would transfigure yourself into a submarine or something,” She said, “If only we did Human Transfiguration, but I don’t think we start that until sixth year, and it can go terribly if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
“Yeah, I don’t think I’d fancy having a periscope sticking out of my head,” Harry said.
“Exactly, so I think our best bet is to find some sort of charm.”
So Harry, already feeling that he had spent enough time in the library to last a lifetime, buried himself once more among the ancient tomes of the Hogwarts Library, trying to find some spell that would enable a human to survive for an hour without oxygen. However, even though all three of them spent all of their lunchtimes, evenings, and weekends in the library, they found nothing whatsoever that would allow Harry to spend an hour underwater and live to tell the tale.
Just as it had done before his fight with the Horntail, time started to slip far too quickly. There was a week to go before February twenty-fourth, which soon became five days, which just as quickly became three days.
By the evening before the second task, Harry felt like he was trapped in a nightmare. He was fully aware that even if he somehow managed to find a suitable spell, he would never be able to master it in time.
“I don’t think it can be done,” Ron flatly stated. “There’s nothing. Nothing! The closest we’ve found is that drought charm, but that’s nowhere near powerful enough to drain the whole lake.”
“Well, there must be something,” Hermione replied, still clinging to some shred of hope. “They never would’ve set a task that was impossible,”
“You guys having trouble too?” A distinctly American voice asked.
“Oh, Luz!” Harry almost jumped out of his chair. “Didn’t see you there,”
“It’s okay,” She reassured, “Hey, do any of you know where I could get myself some gillyweed? I’m making a potion for the task, and it calls for that.”
“Gillyweed!” Hermione shouted, “Of course! Why didn’t we think of that? We were too focused on a spell, we never stopped to think about using a plant or potion!”
The four of them wanted to immediately go find some, but Madam Pince hissed at them, “Don’t just leave all of these books out! You need to put them back where they came from!”
Harry, Ron, and Hermione soon started to clean up the massive pile of books they had accumulated. Harry was amazed at just how many there were. After doing that, Madam Pince finally allowed them to leave.
“Well, since it’s a plant, it might be stored in one of the greenhouses,” Hermione said.
“She said it was for a potion, so I think Snape would probably have some in his potions storage,” Ron added.
They quickly went to the Gryffindor common room, Luz had to wait outside, only Gryffindor students were allowed in. Harry grabbed his cloak and map, and the Hogwarts trio quickly stepped back out to rejoin Luz.
“Can’t you just go invisible with a spell?” Luz asked.
“Wait, is that how you go invisible?” Harry inquired, “I thought you had a cloak like this too, and I just knocked it off of you back in November on accident.”
“No, it’s a spell, but it only works so long as I hold my breath,” Luz explained.
“That’s inconvenient.”
“I’ll say”
On their way to the dungeon, Harry checked the map for where Snape was.
“You have a map of the whole school, and it shows you where everyone is?” She noted, “That is so cool!”
“Err, thanks,” He said, “My dad and his friends made it when they went here.”
A small dot labeled ‘Severus Snape’ was inside the potion storage room. That complicated matters, but it was still doable.
“We’re going to need a small diversion,” Harry said, “Just something to get Snape out of his office for a while so we can get the Gillyweed”
Ron and Hermione decided to handle that, after all, bullying Ron was Snape’s fourth favorite activity (after bullying Harry, bullying Neville, and brooding. In that order)
The two champions waited for Snape to leave his office. Luz had her Palisman prepped for spellcasting, and Harry’s cloak was almost all the way on, only his face was shown.
Then, a small explosion was heard from across the dungeon.
“What are those damn students doing now,” Snape muttered as he stomped out of his storage room, the door creaking loudly as he did so. He turned the corner to find the source of the noise. Luz and Harry took the queue to enter the room, both of them becoming completely transparent.
They dashed into the room, opening cupboards and drawers to check their contents. Quickly, Harry found a jar labeled ‘Gillyweed’ in one of the cupboards.
“How much does your potion call for?” Harry asked.
“Thirty grams,” She quickly answered, her invisibility fading. That did seem inconvenient how it did that.
Harry grabbed a small handful, by weight he guessed it was about a hundred grams, more than needed, but definitely helpful. Harry needed some too.
“Now, let’s get out of here before the grouch comes back,” Luz whispered, getting her spell back up. They closed the drawers and tried to sneak out, but Snape made his way back in before they could escape. Knowing that he would hear the door creak open, Harry needed another distraction. He quickly weighed his options, but Luz took action before he could think of anything. She must have drawn another spell circle because suddenly the door opened wide and Harry couldn’t hear a thing.
Harry took the opportunity and dashed out of Snape’s office. Harry didn’t hear anything as his shoes hit the cold stone floors. Eventually, Luz’s invisibility dropped about fifty meters from the storage room door.
Harry pulled down the hood of his cloak and tried to ask Luz what spell she had used, but the sound was stolen straight from his mouth. Luz made a shocked face and then cast another spell circle.
“Sorry about that, I forgot that I need to cast the counter-spell to undo the deafness spell.” Luz chuckled, “I’m still learning that one, but I think I’m getting the hang of it!”
“Thanks for that” Harry gasped, still out of breath from running out of Snape’s office.
“No problem!” She smiled. Harry pulled out the Gillyweed he had stolen and showed it to Luz.
“We should tell Hermione and Ron that we have some,” Harry muttered. Luz agreed.
The four of them met up and weighed the Gillyweed, it was a little over one hundred grams. Luz took thirty of it, getting as precise as she could, and then Harry took the rest.
“Thank you guys so much for the help! Now I guess I should go find Amity and tell her the good news!” She beamed as she left the Hogwarts students with the rest of the Gillyweed.
“Will this work for tomorrow?” Harry asked when they reached the Common room that night.
“That should work perfectly!” Neville said, looking at it, “That’s Gillyweed, right?”
Harry nodded, which seemed to satisfy Neville.
“Just eat that right before the second task, and you should be good.” He explained.
“Thanks, Neville.” Harry said, “I’m going to head to bed, I’m getting pretty tired.”
Ron and Hermione wished him good night, but said that they had something else to do before they could go to bed.
“Good luck tomorrow Harry!” Hermione said. He smiled as he climbed the staircase into the dormitory.
Also, a question for HP canon, How did Harry, Ron, and Hermione not find the Bubble head charm??? Two other champions used it, so it's clearly not an obscure spell! AND in book five, after Fred and George leave the school, it says that LOTS of students use it due to stink bombs being dropped all over the place. So HOW did they miss it???
Okay, so this one isn't very plot-based, it's just fluff. You don't need much of any context from the first 14 chapters to understand it, just that I'm shipping the Blight twins with the Weasley twins I guess
Link to previous chapter: https://theowlhouse.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000191022
Link to chapter one: https://theowlhouse.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000189445
On February fourteenth, Luz decided to do something nice for Amity. But first she had to figure out where dinner would be.
Where should I take her on a date? Luz kept wondering all morning. Eventually, she asked Eda where she could take Amity for a nice romantic evening.
“Well, I suppose there’s Bone Appetit, they’re really fancy, but also about as expensive as it can be. I don’t have nearly enough snails for it, so you’d better hope Blight foots the bill.” Eda answered.
“Do I need a reservation to go there?” Luz asked.
“How would I know?” Eda said, “I’ve never even bothered to steal from there, much less be a” she shuddered, “paying customer,”
Luz, wanting to make sure the place would work, decided to grab Stringbean and check for herself.
Entering the restaurant, Luz could tell it was definitely not in her price range. The floors were made of what looked like marble, ornate chandeliers hung over every table, and the waitstaff (most of whom were standing idly) were all clad in elegant clothes that Luz felt probably made Amity’s clothes budget seem small. Despite the luxurious atmosphere, there were maybe four patrons and thirty tables.
“Hi,” Luz said to the maître d’hôtel, who was looking at his scroll, “I want to have dinner with my girlfriend here tonight, do I need to make a reservation?”
The demon looked at her as if he was trying to figure out if she was joking.
“Kid, look around this place. Do you think you need a reservation?” the demon said in a deep voice, “We usually only get about twenty customers in a day. I keep telling the boss we need to lower prices to get more business, but he’s insistent that lowering the price would make us less money.”
“Okay, thank you!” Luz said, “I’ll be back tonight!”
“Whatever.” The demon replied as he looked at his scroll from behind the podium.
Luz exited the restaurant feeling elated at the idea of a romantic dinner with Amity. But first, Luz wanted to do something else for her girlfriend.
Quickly returning to the Owl House, Luz grabbed her sketchbook and the wrapped present Luz had made over the course of the previous weekend, then exited almost as quickly.
“Woah, kid, where are you going in such a hurry?” Eda pestered as Luz walked out the door. “And what about that Bone Appetit place? Are you set for dinner there tonight? I know how much Valentine’s Day means to you Humans, so I want to ensure it’s all good!”
“It’s all fine, Eda! I’m going to Amity’s, and dinner is taken care of, so our date will be great!” Luz exclaimed.
Eda mumbled something about Raine under her breath.
“What was that, Eda?” Luz bugged.
“Nothing!” She blurted.
“She said she’s taking Raine on a date tonight!” King interjected.
“I did not!” She defended.
“Yes, you did!” He taunted.
Eda got up and started to nab the young Titan, who responded by getting on all fours and running around the couch.
“Oh, get back here you!” Eda cried. Luz took the opportunity to escape while Eda was distracted.
The Boiling Isles were beautiful. The red trees glimmered in the sunlight just perfectly.
Showing up at Blight Manor, Luz got off Stringbean and tried to make herself as presentable as possible. She clutched her sketchbook and present in one hand and used Stringbean to make a bouquet of red roses in the other.
Great, now how do I ring the doorbell? Luz wondered as she stepped up to the front door. Luckily, she wouldn’t have to figure out an answer to that question, as the twins opened the door at just the right moment.
“Oh, hey Beanie!” Emira said, “You here to see Mittens? She’s in the workshop with Dad.”
“We were just on our way out,” Ed added pleasantly, “Have fun on your date you two!”
Luz and the twins swapped sides of the door, and they closed it behind themselves. Luz made her way through the familiar mansion to the workshop.
The workshop door was open, inside Amity and Alador were standing side-by-side, working on an abomination creation that Luz couldn’t identify. Neither Blight heard her walk in, they were too focused on the task at hand. Luz knocked lightly on the door to get their attention without startling them, they looked up at her.
“Hi, Amity! Hi Alador!” Luz beamed, “Do you know what today is?” She handed Amity the bouquet she grew.
“Thank you!” Amity took the flowers, “Uhh, it’s Scabuary 32nd?” Amity stated, confused, “Oh! It’s February fourteenth! That’s Valentine's Day! Right?”
“Yup, but there’s something else about today that makes it extra special!” Luz told her.
Amity paused for a moment, trying to figure out what Luz meant. “Oh! It’s been a year and a half, hasn’t it?” She finally concluded.
“Yup!” Luz proclaimed, “Eighteen Human Realm months, on the dot! Or thirteen and a half Demon Realm months! But who’s counting?”
“You are,” Amity giggled, “So I’m guessing you have a date planned.”
“Oh, Amity! Of course, I do!” Luz exclaimed.
“Oh, yeah, I hope you’re okay with that, Alador,” Luz said, realizing she was kinda stealing Amity from father/daughter time.
“Luz, you’re fine,” The brown-haired witch told her, “The two of us have been working all morning, and we both probably need a break anyway.”
He sighed and led them out into the living room. The door closed behind them.
“Honestly, Amity is better with Abominations at sixteen than I was at twenty-six, I might have more experience under my belt, but she is seriously talented.” Alador confided, “I’m so proud to have Amity as a daughter, and you are a huge part of why she’s grown into who she is now.”
“Dad!” Amity blushed, seeming embarrassed.
“Well, I’ll leave you two love-griffins alone.” Alador huffed, walking towards the stairs.
Luz grabbed the present she had wrapped and handed it to Amity. She unwrapped it to find two matching necklaces. They were gold-colored pendants with four symbols Luz knew she would recognize.
“Oh, Luz!” She cried, pulling Luz into a hug, “They’re beautiful! And are those the four glyphs?”
“Yeah!” Luz told her, “Since the glyphs don’t work anymore after we defeated Belos, I figured, why not use them for decoration?”
“It looks great! Did you make this yourself?” Amity asked.
“Yeah, it took forever though,” Luz admitted. “This was originally going to be a Christmas present.”
Amity chuckled, “Yeah, it’s like that sometimes.”
The sweet potato put her new necklace on, Luz took the other necklace and equipped it as well. Then Amity looked at the sketchbook.
“Why did you bring that?” She inquired.
“I’m getting there,” Luz admitted, “I drew some things, and I hope you like them!”
Luz opened the sketchbook to show Amity what she had been working on instead of figuring out how to breathe underwater. She really hoped Amity didn’t realize that this was her form of procrastinating, but she also felt that Amity probably would. There were ten whole days left! She was fine!
On each page was an intricate colored pencil drawing of a major moment in Luz’s life since arriving in the Boiling Isles almost twenty months prior. (wow, had it really been that long?) First was a drawing of Eda showing the exterior of The Owl House to Luz on her first day.
Then she showed more pictures; Luz covering herself in abomination slime and sneaking into Hexside, Luz discovering the light glyph, her duel with Amity at the Covention, her discovery of the ice glyph on the knee, her admittance into every track at Hexside, her dance with Amity at Grom, Amity and Luz becoming girlfriends, her failed portal door, her moment with Amity after the Bonesborough Brawl, her findings of what Belos truly had planned, the discovery of King’s true identity, the Day of Unity, the Collector’s freedom, Luz coming out to Camilla, one of their failed return portals, the Titan himself, and lastly, an unfinished picture of what Eda, King, and Raine said she looked like taking out Belos. All of them were intricate drawings that had taken her hours each. Amity was speechless.
“How, what, I- uhh.” Amity blabbered.
“Sorry the last one is unfinished, Eda insisted I go to bed last night rather than stay up and finish it.” Luz confided.
“Luz, these are incredible! You don’t need to apologize for anything! These are the most beautiful drawings I’ve ever seen!” Amity exclaimed. “And Eda had a point, your sleep is more important than finishing this now. Hey, any chance you could tell me more about each one of these?”
“Well, this first drawing is of Eda showing me The Owl House for the first time, I had just shown up in the Demon Realm about, like, ten minutes prior I think…” Luz kept talking about each drawing, some explanations were short, like for Grom, but others, like her drawing of the Titan, took much more explaining.
Hours later, her phone’s alarm went off.
“Oh my gosh! I lost all track of time! I made plans for us to go to Bone Appetit together!” Luz panicked.
“You mean the restaurant downtown?” Amity asked. Luz nodded.
“Well, let’s get down there!” Amity stated.
The two of them made their way downtown. Amity was on Ghost, and Luz was on Stringbean.
Arriving at the restaurant, Luz led them in.
“Oh, you’re back,” The demon from earlier said to her, not even looking up from his scroll, “Well, take a seat.”
Amity and Luz took a seat near the back of the establishment, only two other couples were inside, and there were four waitstaff. One waiter came over to the young couple and handed them menus, asking what they would like to drink.
“I’ll take a soft apple blood, please,” Luz said.
“And I’ll have chai teeth, please, and thank you,” Amity said. The waiter wrote this down and departed, soon returning with their drinks.
Luz thought the apple blood tasted good, and Amity seemed to enjoy her chai teeth. They looked at the menu, and Luz was almost overwhelmed by how many items were before her. Lists of seefood, assorted Griffin meats, Giraffe necks, Phoenix meat, dragon wings, Hydra heads, and so many more that Luz couldn’t choose. Amity, however, seemed rather at peace with the quantity of choices.
After far too short of a time, the waiter returned to take their orders.
“I’ll take a Griffin wing, please,” Amity said, Luz parroted her request, at a loss for what to get.
Shortly after, two massive pieces of meat were taken out and placed before the teenage lovers, they looked like chicken wings, but about twenty times bigger. Luz did her best to mind her manners at such a nice locale, but she still struggled, there were too many rules to remember, despite Amity’s gentle guidance.
The griffin wings were gone before Luz knew it, and the lovebirds were sitting across each other, staring into the other’s eyes. Amity’s golden eyes glimmered in the candlelight like they were twenty-four karat.
The moment could have gone on for hours, but eventually, the waiter brought them the bill.
“Luz, I’ll pay. A lot of the snails we have came from Odalia, so I don’t feel bad spending any of it,” Amity said, footing the bill.
Exiting the restaurant, Luz took Amity’s hand and walked down to the beach. The sunset was beautiful on the boiling sea. But it was only the second most beautiful thing, after one cotton-candy-haired Goddess, of course.
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Luz whispered in her girlfriend’s ear as she embraced her in a hug, the sun dipping below the horizon. “Te amo,”
Fred had a great idea planned for the four trouble-making twins. Fred and George had just made a large batch of Canary Cream, and they were ready to be used on all the lovebirds in Hogsmeade.
Edric and Emira met them in front of the Entrance hall, and they walked into town together. His green hair flowed in the wind like grass in a meadow.
George told a joke about the Boiling Isles must be quiet, if their ears were so pointy. Edric’s laugh was like a symphony of perfection and his smile was like a painting worthy of the Louvre. The four of them entered Hogsmeade around noon, and they had to explain the plan to the Blights.
“So, we’re going to sneak this Canary Cream into everyone’s food and drinks,” Fred explained, “It’ll be great! All those lovebirds will be like real birds!”
Edric loved it immediately, but Emira seemed hesitant.
“Are you sure about this?” She asked.
“Don’t worry Em,” George said, “They’ll turn back in less than an hour.”
“Just some harmless fun!” Fred added. This seemed to ease the witch.
“So where do we come in?” Edric asked.
“I was just getting there,” Fred told them, “You two are master illusionists, and we can’t be seen while we do this,”
“Okay,” Ed barely followed, his confusion like a painting of Picasso.
“We need you two to make us invisible,” George explained bluntly.
“Ooh, okay!” Ed exclaimed, his face lighting up like a lightbulb.
The four made their way to Madam Puddlefoot’s, and the Blights made them invisible. Fred took out the canary cream and started magically putting it in everyone’s tea.
Within moments, people across the tea shop quickly started to sprout feathers, Fred and George both couldn’t help but laugh. Somehow, the illusion didn’t hold as soon as they started to howl with laughter.
The room was filled with a lot of lovebirds all right, a lot of lovebirds that were very angry at the twins for turning them into birds and ruining their dates.
Fred and George ran out of there as fast as they could. Several witches and wizards were hot on their tails.
“So, now what?” Ed asked.
“Well, let’s run for now, then we’ll figure it out,” Fred added.
They made their way to the walls surrounding the Hogwarts grounds, but they had been cornered by their feathery foes.
“You thinking what I’m thinking bro?” George said. Fred nodded at his twin.
“Accio broomstick!” Fred and George both said at the same time. The Blight twins took the hint and got on their palisman staves.
The four of them took off and flew over the wall and into the grounds.Fred cheered as they flew through the air. The breeze flowed through his hair, and he led the way back to the Entrance Hall, where their next trick was planned.
Fred and George got off of their brooms, Ed and Em followed suit. Ed’s bear and Em’s dog soon returned to their animate forms.
“So, now what?” Emira asked.
“Now, we turn all of these Valentine’s Day things into doves,” George said with a mischievous smile.
“Great idea!” Ed said. He soon started to show off just how hard he had worked at transfiguration. He was turning the Valentines into doves like it was nothing. Fred was impressed, this was rather advanced transfiguration, and they had it perfect. They would be really helpful with making the joke shop a reality, maybe they would even have to change their name, maybe to "Weasley's Blight" or something.
Fred and George didn’t want the Blights to get all of the fun, so they went and turned as many as they could into beautiful doves. It soon became a competition. Fred counted to fifty, seventy, one hundred, one-hundred-fifty different things turned to doves.
An hour later, they all met back up to see who had gotten the most. It was close, Emira had one-hundred-fifty-four, Edric had one-hundred-fifty-six, George had one-hundred-sixty-six, and Fred won with one-hundred-seventy-four things turned into doves.
“Good job, you two,” Fred cheered, “Even though you lost, we have years of experience on you when it comes to transfiguration, so it being this close is insane on how good you two are at this!”
“Thanks,” Ed blushed.
“Now, let’s scram before Filch catches us,” George said.
“Good idea,” Fred replied, “See you around, Blight” He winked at Edric.
The two sets of twins both departed before the caretaker could notice their misdeeds.
Fred and George both entered the common room and sighed.
“Ah, that was some good old-fashioned mischief,” Fred said, “We should do that more often.”
George laughed in agreement.
“Yeah, we should just do more tom-foolery,”
“Get up to more hijinks,”
“Maybe even some shenanigans now and again.”
The twins sighed and went upstairs to their dormitory, where they had been working on some new inventions based on what they had taken from the Blights when they went to the Boiling Isles.
“This goop should make great everlasting chewing gum!” Fred said, trying something new with some Abomination slime
“Is it edible though?” George asked.
“Well, let’s find out!” Fred replied, popping some in his mouth. It tasted terrible, but its texture was perfect for chewing gum. No matter how long he chewed, the goop kept the same consistency, and the (terrible) flavour never went away.
“I think it’s perfect!” Fred exclaimed as he took the disgusting thing out of his mouth, “We just need to find some way to make it taste good.”
The two of them tried countless things to change the flavour of it, what eventually worked was adding some pixie dust they had lying around and mixing them together with magic.
Link to previous chapter: https://theowlhouse.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000190745
Chapter 1 if you want to get started at the beginning: https://theowlhouse.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000189445
Luz was the first one up, which wasn’t a surprise. She glanced at her watch, and it was six in the morning, impressively later than her usual time on Christmas.
She waited impatiently for everyone else to get up, which was a surprisingly difficult task. Finally, after what felt like two hours, but was actually only thirty minutes, Amity and the Twins all got up, followed eventually by Alador.
“Feliz Navidad!” Luz cried to her girlfriend.
“Merry Christmas,” she responded, still a little groggy.
The Blights and Luz all slowly made their way to the Christmas tree.
“Luz, why did you insist on having a pine tree in the middle of our living room?” Alador asked.
“It’s Christmas! That’s what you do!” Luz said, “Do they not have Christmas on the Boiling Isles?”
“No, but we do celebrate the winter solstice, we call it Joulutide,” Amity said, “It’s very similar to what you’ve described Christmas to be like.”
Luz noticed that several presents had made their way under the tree.
“How did those get there?” Edric asked, referring to those presents.
“Well, Human tradition says that a magical figure called Santa Claus comes in the night and delivers them,” Luz said, “But firstly, Santa Claus probably isn’t real, and secondly, we’re in the Demon Realm. So I have no idea how they got there.”
The five of them examined the boxes, each of them had a tag on it, saying who they were to and from, Camilla had sent everyone something, and a few other people had sent gifts as well, including the Weasley Twins, Hunter, Gus, Willow, Vee, Eda, King, and Lilith.
Luz had the most presents addressed to her, so she opened the first one, which was from Camilla. First, she read the note attached.
Hey Mija,
Sorry I couldn’t make it to the first task, or to Christmas. Your Tia Maria was insistent that I spent Thanksgiving with her, and I couldn’t be in Scotland for the first task, and then back in time for the holiday. Work right now is busier than when I worked retail on Black Friday. You would not believe how many people are bringing in animals, mostly puppies and kittens, to the vet. Most of them are perfectly fine, we just need to give them their vaccines for rabies and the like. Seems like a lot of kids are getting a dog or cat for Christmas.
I know it’s no excuse to miss so many big things going on right now. But I just want you to know that I am SO proud of you, and the wonderful witch you are growing up to be. I have already requested the weeks of the second and third tasks off. I’m not missing those two for the world. Feliz Navidad.
Te amo
Mamá
Inside the box, she found a new sketchbook and a box of a hundred and twenty different Colored pencils (complete with a sharpener). Hunter sent both Amity and Luz a Palisman care kit. Gus had sent Luz a bunch of human (muggle) magic tricks, such as a deck of cards for sleight of hand, a ball and three cups, a top hat, a silly wand, and a stuffed bunny. He had sent Amity a book called “Big Book of Basic Illusions” (Amity had joined the Illusions and Healing tracks this semester).
Edric and Emira both received packages from the Weasley twins, inside they found all kinds of assorted objects Luz had never seen before, including something labeled a "Ton-Tongue Toffee” and few wands, but Luz figured they weren't real ones. Camilla had sent both of them matching sweaters, Amity and Alador got ones too.
More gifts were received, but Amity saved her gift to Luz for last.
“Here, Luz, I got you something too,” Amity said.
“Oh, thank you,” Luz said as she opened it. Inside was a rather thick novel that Luz immediately recognized. “Azura book six! Oh, Amity! Thank you so much!” She embraced her girlfriend in a tight hug.
After opening all of the presents, the Blights and Luz spent the rest of the morning, and the afternoon too, just enjoying each other’s company. Around six o’clock, the four students all finally decided to prepare for the ball. Luz decided to choose the suit over a ball gown, she didn’t want to trip on the skirt and make a fool of herself. So she was made to wear a white button-down shirt, a white bow tie, a black tailcoat, black trousers, and a pair of dress shoes that were a size too big. The tie felt much too tight around her neck, and the collar wasn’t helping matters.
“How does anyone breathe in this?” Luz complained as she adjusted it in front of the mirror.
“Here, I can fix that for you, Luz,” Alador said, using abomination goop to make her collar a half-inch longer, “That should do it.”
He was right, it felt way better. Luz managed to get the rest of her outfit on. Looking in the mirror, she thought she looked pretty good.
The four of them departed for the Yule Ball at seven-thirty, arriving at the front gates at seven-forty-five. Amity was wearing a beautiful purple ball gown, a lovely pearl necklace, and a tiara that Amity claimed was her grandmother’s. Edric and Emira both were more closely matching Luz, with the same kind of black coat and white tie.
Luz and Amity waited impatiently for the Great Hall’s doors to open, Ed and Em had disappeared, trying to find their dates.
At seven-fifty-five, Professor McGonagall called the champions to her. Luz saw a girl in a beautiful blue dress with Krum, a man with dark hair that Luz recognized from the Ravenclaw table was with Fleur, a girl from Ravenclaw was with Cedric, and a girl Luz had never seen was Harry’s date. McGonagall told the champions and their partners that they would wait until the rest of the hall was seated, then they would enter the ball.
Luz looked closer at Krum’s date and realized it was Hermione. Luz didn’t recognize her at first, her hair was sleek and well done instead of its usual bushy mess.
Once everyone else was finally settled, the champions and their pairs lined up and followed Professor McGonagall. The main tables had all been replaced by about a hundred small tables, each seating a dozen or so people. Everyone in the hall applauded as they entered and seated themselves at the table near the front with the Judges, though someone with trademark Weasley red hair was there instead of Mister Crouch.
Food appeared on everyone’s plates, and Luz could barely keep her composure as she ate the pork chops laid before her.
Dumbledore was telling Karkaroff about a secret bathroom he had found one night, Hermione was trying to teach Krum to pronounce her name correctly, (he kept calling her “Hermy-own”), and Fleur was going off about how Beauxbatons was much more impressive than Hogwarts.
When all of the food had been consumed, Dumbledore stood, asking everyone to follow in kind. Then, with a wave of his wand, all of the tables zoomed away to the back walls, leaving the center of the great hall clear. He also conjured a raised platform along the right wall. The weirdest combination of instruments Luz had ever seen were placed upon it; a drumset, several guitars, a lute, a cello, and bagpipes. An odd group of people walked onstage, they looked like a rock band that had left their razors behind in the seventies and were dressed in black robes that were ripped in countless spots. They picked up the instruments and the lanterns dimmed.
Luz stood and offered a hand to Amity. Together, they danced to the band’s slow tune as though they had danced together a million times, to be fair, they had danced together a million times.
Luz noticed Viney and Skara dancing together, Skara was graceful on her feet while Viney kept tripping over her own feet. Hunter and Willow were both clearly not dancers, they kept stepping on each other’s feet and bumping into other pairs. Gus and Matt were okay at it, but nothing remarkable. The twins were going along great with their partners, dancing with extreme gusto despite the slow tempo, though Ed’s partner had a face redder than his hair.
Harry kept tripping over his dance robes, he was rather grateful that Parvati seemed to know what she was doing because Harry felt like he was making a fool of himself. He noticed that Ginny had abandoned Neville, opting instead to be with a blonde girl Harry had never met. Dumbledore was dancing with Madame Maxine, which looked rather ridiculous, considering the top of his hat barely reached her chin.
Harry heard the final note from the bagpipe finally reach its conclusion. Harry took the opportunity to leave the dance floor.
“Oh, but this is a really good one!” Parvati protested as the Weird Sisters started a new song, which was much faster.
“No, I don’t like it,” Harry lied, leading them both to the back of the hall.
“How’s it going for you?” Harry asked Ron, who was opening a bottle of butterbeer.
Ron didn’t answer. He was busy glaring at Hermione and Krum. Padma was sitting with her arms and legs crossed, occasionally sending a glare Ron’s way. Parvati sat next to her sister, their demeanors were identical. Within minutes, a boy from Beauxbatons asked Parvati to dance.
“You don’t mind, do you, Harry?” Parvati said.
“What?” Harry said, rather stupidly, he was busy watching Cho and Cedric.
“Oh, never mind.” Parvati snapped, accepting the Beauxbatons boy’s hand. She didn’t return after the song ended.
Hermione soon took Parvati’s seat.
“Hi,” Harry said, Ron was silent.
“Hi, Viktor’s just gone to get us some drinks,” Hermione said, fanning herself with her hand.
“Viktor?” Ron said, “Hasn’t he asked you to call him Vicky yet?”
“What’s your problem?” Hermione asked, surprised.
“Well, if you haven’t figured it out, I’m not going to tell you,” Ron said scathingly.
The two of them quickly started arguing about Hermione’s choice of a dance partner. Ron saying she was “fraternizing with the enemy”, and Hermione calling Ron an idiot.
Harry sided with Hermione, albeit begrudgingly.
“Are you ever going to ask me to dance?” Padma asked, annoyed.
“No,” said Ron, still glaring at Hermione.
“Fine.” Padma snapped, joining her sister and the Beauxbatons boy, who conjured up one of his friends so quickly you might just think that he had used a summoning charm.
“Vare is Herm-own-ninny?” Krum’s unmistakable voice asked.
“No idea,” Ron said. “Why? Have you lost your date?”
”Vell, if you see her, tell her I haff drinks.” he said, slouching off.
“Making friends with Krum, are you?” Percy said to his younger brother. “Excellent! That’s the point, international magical cooperation!”
Percy took Padma’s vacated seat; he saw Dumbledore dancing with Bump, Ludo Bagman with McGonagall; Maxime and Hagrid were cutting a wide path around the dance floor as they waltzed through the students. When the next song ended, Harry saw Ludo Bagman kiss Professor McGonagall’s hand and make his way back through the crowds, at which point Fred and George accosted him.
“What do they think they’re doing, annoying senior Ministry employees?” Percy hissed, watching Fred and George, “No respect, those two.”
But Bagman shook off the twins rather quickly, and quickly joined Harry at the table.
“I hope my brothers weren’t bothering you, Mister Bagman,” Percy said very quickly.
“What? Oh, not at all!” Bagman said, “No, they were just telling me a bit about these fake wands of theirs. Impressive stuff for such young wizards! I’ve promised to get them in touch with a few of my contacts who work at Zonko’s Joke Shop.”
Percy seemed rather unhappy about that. Harry figured he was probably going to tell Mrs. Weasley about this the instant he got home. Bagman was about to ask Harry something when Percy interrupted.
“How do you feel the tournament’s going, Mister Bagman? Our department’s quite satisfied, the hitch with the Goblet of Fire-” Percy glared at Harry, “was a little unfortunate, of course, but it has been running smoothly ever since, don’t you think?”
Bagman and Percy got to talking about Ministry bull that Harry didn’t want to listen to, and neither did Ron, as he asked Harry if they wanted to take a bit of a walk.
Pretending that they wanted to get more drinks, Harry and Ron left the table, then edged around the dance floor (Luz and Amity had yet to stop dancing), and slipped out into the entrance hall. The large doors stood open, and the fairy lights (made from real fairies) twinkled as they went down the front steps. Here and there, Harry and Ron found a couple sitting on a carved bench, or walking together. Eventually, Harry heard an unpleasantly familiar voice.
“...don’t see what there is to fuss about, Igor.”
“Severus, you cannot keep pretending this isn’t happening!” Karkaroff’s voice anxiously said, “It’s been getting clearer and clearer for months. I am becoming seriously concerned, I can’t deny it-”
“Then flee,” Snape’s voice said shortly, “Flee, I will make your excuses. I, however, am remaining at Hogwarts.”
Snape caught two other students, along with Ron and Harry, eavesdropping. He deducted points from all of them, but Harry and Ron continued their walk. Eventually, Harry heard Hagrid speak.
“Momen’ I saw yeh, I knew,” Hagrad was saying, in an oddly husky voice.
Harry and Ron froze. This didn’t seem like something they ought to walk in on. Harry saw Fleur Delacour and Rodger Davies very occupied with each other while half concealed in a rosebush.
“What did you know, ‘Agrid?” Maxime asked.
Harry knew he shouldn’t listen, but it’s not like he could drown out Hagrid’s voice. He tried to interest himself in a nearby beetle, but it was nowhere near interesting enough to block Hagrid’s next words out of his ears.
“I jus’ knew, knew you were like me. Was it yer mother or yer father?”
“I- I don’t know what you mean ‘Agrid”
“It was my mother,” Hagrid said quietly, “She was one o’ the las’ ones in Britain. ‘Course, I can’ remember her too well… she left, see. When I was abou’ three. She wasn’ really the maternal sort. Dunno what happened to her might be dead fer all I know.”
Maxime stayed silent. In spite of himself, Harry took his eyes off the beetle and listened more intently. He had never heard Hagrid talk about his childhood before.
“Me dad raised me, but then he died, o’ course, jus’ after I started school. Sorta had ter make me own way after that. Dumbledore was a real help. Very kind ter me, he was…” Hagrid blew his nose very loudly, “So, anyway, enough abou’ me. What about you? Which side you got it on?”
Madame Maxime suddenly got to her feet.
“It is chilly,” she said, “I think I will go now.”
“Eh?” Hagrid said blankly. “No, don’ go! I’ve, I’ve never met another one before!”
“Anuzzer what, precisely?” Madame Maxime said coldly.
“Another half-giant, o’ course!” Hagrid said a bit too loudly.
“‘Ow dare you!” Madame Maxime shrieked, her voice like a foghorn. Harry heard Fleur and Rodger fall out of their rosebush behind him. “I ‘ave nevair been more insulted in my life! ‘Alf giant? Moi? I ‘ave, I ‘ave big bones!”
And with that, Maxime stormed off
“C’mon,” Harry whispered to Ron, “Let’s go…”
But Ron didn’t move.
“What’s wrong?” Harry said, concerned.
Ron looked at Harry very seriously.
“Did you know? About him being half-giant?”
“No,” Harry said, shrugging. “So what?”
Harry immediately knew that he was once again revealing how ignorant he still was when it came to the wizarding world. Harry realized that ”So what?” was not the response Ron, or most wizards for that matter, would have expected.
“I’ll explain inside,” Ron said quietly, “C’mon”
Fleur and Rodger Davis had disappeared, probably to a more private clump of bushes. Harry and Ron returned to the Great Hall, the Patil twins were sitting with a large crowd of Beauxbatons boys, and a couple girls. Hermione was once again dancing with Krum, Luz and Amity had finally taken a break from dancing, and were laughing at something Gus had said.
“So?” Harry prompted, “What’s the problem with giants?”
Ron proceeded to try to explain to a dumbfound Harry that giants aren’t welcome in Wizarding society, and they were almost extinct because of Wizards.
The Weird sisters finished playing at twelve o’clock sharp, and everyone gave them a last, loud round of applause. Many people seemed to wish the ball could go on for longer, but Harry was perfectly content going to bed.
Out in the entrance hall, Harry saw Hermione saying goodbye to Krum before he went on the ship. She gave Ron a very cold look as she swept past him and climbed the marble stairs. Harry suddenly heard someone call his name.
“Hey! Harry!”
It was Cedric Diggory, grinning widely. Why does he have to be so cheerful? Harry wondered.
“Yeah?” Harry said coldly.
Cedric looked as though he didn’t want to say whatever it was near Ron.
“Listen…” Cedric said softly, “I owe you one for telling me about the dragons. You know that egg? Does yours wail when you open it?”
“Yeah,” Harry said.
“Well, take a bath, okay?”
“What?”
“Take a bath, and, err, take the egg with you, and, err, just kinda, mull it over in the hot water. I think it’ll help, trust me.”
Harry stared blankly at his fellow champion.
“Tell you what,” He said, “Use the prefect’s bathroom. Fourth door to the left of that statue of Boris the Bewildered on the fifth floor. The password is ‘pine fresh’. Gotta go, see you Harry,”
Cedric grinned at Harry, then went back to be with Cho.
Harry walked back to Gryffindor Tower alone. That was some strange advice, Harry thought, How would a bath help? Is Cedric pulling my leg, trying to make me look like a fool so Cho would like him even more by comparison?
The fat lady and her friend Vi were snoozing in the picture over the portrait hole, Harry had to yell the password before he woke them up. When he finally climbed in, he found Ron and Hermione’s argument wasn’t quite over. But Harry, wanting to stay on speaking terms with them both, decided to keep his mouth shut.