Emperor's Coven

Chapter hub: https://theowlhouse.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000195081

The Pentawizard Tournament Chapter hub | FandomIt's just links to all of the chapters, rather…theowlhouse.fandom.com

“Hunter… Hunter… Won’t you help out your poor Uncle?” A voice clearly said, “Please, Hunter, help me… help your dear, helpless Uncle…”

No one around Hunter seemed to react to the all-too-familiar voice calling for him. Luz and Amity kept embracing each other on the couch. Willow kept snuggling next to him. Gus and Hermione continued comparing each other’s realms. Harry and Ron continued to play exploding snap at a nearby table.

“Guys?” Hunter asked, “Did you hear that?”

All of his friends gave him the same confused look.

“Hear what?” Luz asked.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Gus admitted.

“Hunter, are you okay?” Willow asked. Hunter’s hands were starting to shake. That voice, it couldn’t be…

“What did you hear, Hunter?” Amity asked.

“Bel-” Hunter’s voice stopped, the word got caught in his throat. Nothing came out.

“B-” Hunter tried again, to similar failure.

“Belos?” Luz filled in.

“Y-yes,” Hunter choked.

Willow held his hands softly, reminding him that his friends, and girlfriend, were still there and that they cared about him.

Harry looked at Hunter as though he knew exactly what he was going through.

“Hunter, I have an unfortunate amount of experience when it comes to hearing voices no one else can,” Harry consoled, “Do you want to talk to me about it?”

Hunter nodded, and Harry got over to him and sat next to him.

“What did he say? Do you think it was directed at you, or was it just a general thing?” Harry asked.

“He, he asked me for help. Specifically,” Hunter got out,

“Well, remember,” Harry said, “We’re all here for you. Even if he comes back, you’re safe.”

“Yeah, I-I know,” Hunter said.

Harry stayed right there for Hunter, even though neither of them said a single thing. Slowly, the afternoon drew into the evening, which then drew into the night.

“Harry, you need to come back to Hogwarts with Ron and I,” Hermione nagged, “Curfew is soon, and Filch’ll have our heads if we’re late.”

Harry sighed, then got up, and joined his human companions.

“Hunter,” said Harry, “If you ever need someone to talk to about voices in your head, just remember that I get them too, I can relate. You know where to find me.”

And with that, the three British Humans returned to the castle for the night.

Soon, Willow, Amity, and Gus all had to go back home before their fathers got worried. Vee and Luz departed for their room, leaving just King and Hunter in the living room.

“Hey, you still seem kinda shook,” King noted, “Is this still about the voice?”

“That’s-!” Hunter started, his voice much too loud, so he quieted himself, “None of your business.”

“So it’s a yes!” King teased.

“I should’ve dropped you in the Boiling Sea when I had the chance,” Hunter joked.

“If you’d done that, neither of us would be here, Eda would’ve killed you immediately,” King stated.

That was a fair point.

“I’m…” Hunter said softly, “I’m going to bed,” He got up and went upstairs to his room. Hunter couldn’t begin to verbalize just how grateful he was to Eda for letting him stay with her for as long as he needed. It had started as a temporary thing, but after eighteen months, Hunter was starting to think it might just last until he finally got a home with just him and Willow, but that was still a long way away.

Of course, he couldn’t sleep. The horrible, manipulative voice that had pretended to care for Hunter was the only thing on his mind.

Deciding that he had had enough insomnia for now, he got up and grabbed Waffle.

“Hey buddy,” He whispered to the blue jay, “I just need to see something, just to be safe,”

Waffle, reading his mind, went into staff form. Hunter opened the window in his room, no sense in trying the front door, Hooty would wake the entire house, literally.

He slowly climbed out of his window and glanced at the stars above. One constellation, Gemini, the twins, was shining brightly. He stepped one leg over the staff and kicked off from the roof. The thrill of the chilly May air in his hair was impossible to match, but Hunter couldn’t focus on that, the only thing his mind could focus on was that haunting voice, begging for his help.

He eventually landed at the bridge connecting the castle to the land surrounding it. Hunter took one step onto the bridge and it collapsed, nearly taking him with it!

The rusted metal clearly was not suitable for use anymore. Hunter watched as the steel, once pristine and shiny, now rusted away and collapsed from just him placing a single foot on it.

Re-mounting Waffle, Hunter flew to the other side of the bridge, where the reinforced concrete was much less likely to be unstable after less than two years.

Hunter carefully made his way to the throne room, there was a specific, hidden room that he wanted to check. Faded graffiti and the occasional small animal lined his vision as Hinter took the familiar path from the front gates to the throne room.

Finally reaching the throne room, Hunter made his way to the secret door, which was hidden from prying eyes. It was the one room in the entire castle that Belos had directly told Hunter not to enter, and Hunter was about to enter it.

The first thing he noticed about the forbidden room was the smell, a pungent odor of rot and decay oozed from the room. Hunter had to cover his nose to even barely tolerate the chamber.

The next thing he noticed was that it had several pools of a red liquid, half of which had bones covered in green, rotting flesh sticking out of them. Hunter thought he was going to be sick from seeing, and smelling, that.

Before he could fully process the rest of the hidden laboratory, he saw an arm twitch in one of the pools. Curious, Hunter came closer to that one.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” A voice behind him said. It was eerily familiar, eerily similar to his own.

Hunter turned around and nearly fell back in shock. It was like looking in a strange mirror. It was his face staring back at him, a hundred times over. The same magenta eyes, the same blond hair with the one hair noodle in front that Belos forced Hunter to have.

“Who-?” Hunter started, before being interrupted by one of the ghosts.

“I am Caleb Wittebane,” The ghost in front introduced, “And those you see behind me are the former Grimwalkers.”

Hunter was shocked, to say the least, but the ghost kept talking.

“Whenever one of us finally realized the depravity of Philip’s ideals, we rebelled. Every single Grimwalker eventually rebelled against him. But you, Hunter, you are the only one to have survived.”

“By Philip, do you mean-?” Hunter began to ask, before being interrupted again. Seriously? I’m a clone of someone with these manners? Hunter thought.

“Yes, you call him Belos,” Caleb explained, “He has gone by many names in his centuries of life. He needed some way to make inconspicuous on how he was emperor for three hundred years. Before he was Belos, he was Oberon, before that, Pupa. And so on.”

“Well, thank you,” Hunter said, “This has given me… some peace of mind. Belos isn’t back… right?”

“Not as far as any of us know,” one of the grimwalkers said, he had a scar much like Hunter’s that went across both of his eyes, which seemed to have been gouged out.

Hunter, not wanting to bear the putrid scent of the Grimwalker room anymore, left to go back to the Owl house before anyone noticed his absence.

When Hunter left and the ghosts dissipated, a distinctive crack could be heard coming from the nearest vat. The arm that was sticking out had gone from fully extended to bent at a forty-five degree angle.

Normally, since it was May, Harry would be spending his time preparing for the last quidditch match of the season. This year, however, it was the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament that Harry needed to prepare for. Unfortunately, he still didn’t know what that would entail. Finally, in the last week of May, Professor McGonagall told him to go to the Quidditch pitch at nine o’clock on the night of the twenty-fourth.

And so, at eight-thirty that night, Harry made his way out of Gryffindor Tower and went downstairs. As he crossed the entrance hall, Cedric came up from the Hufflepuff common room and joined him.

“What d’you reckon it’ll be?” Cedric asked Harry as they went together toward the field, “Fleur keeps going on about underground tunnels, she reckons we’ve got to find treasure.”

“That wouldn’t be too bad,” Harry noted, thinking he could just ask Hagrid if he could borrow a niffler.

They walked through the dark lawn toward the Quidditch pitch, Harry soon saw the portal door open, and Luz walked out of it. He also saw Fleur and Krum coming from their respective directions as well.

“What have they done to the field?” Cedric asked indignantly, stopping dead in his tracks.

The Quidditch pitch was no longer smooth and flat. It looked like someone had been building low, flat, green walls all over it, twisting and criss-crossing in every direction.

“They’re hedges!” Luz noted, examining one of them closely.

“Hello there!” A cheery voice called. Ludo Bagman was standing in the middle of the field. The five champions soon made their way over to him.

“Well, what d’you think?” Bagman asked in a cheery tone as the champions climbed over one last hedge to get to him. “Growing nicely, aren’t they? Give them a month, and Hagrid’ll have them twenty feet high. Don’t worry,” He added, spotting the less-than-happy faces on Harry and Cedric, “You’ll have your Quidditch pitch back to normal once the task is over! Now, I imagine you can guess what we’re making here?”

No one spoke for a moment until Krum finally answered. “Maze,” he grunted.

“Yes!” Bagman exclaimed, “A maze. The third task is really straightforward. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the center of the maze. The First champion to touch it will receive full marks, sixty points. Scores will then be distributed based on how far everyone else is from the cup when the winner gets it. The second closest gets fifty points, third gets forty, fourth gets thirty, and fifth gets twenty points. Any questions?”

“We simply ‘ave to get through the maze?” Fleur asked.

“Well, there will be obstacles, of course.” Bagman explained, “Hagrid is providing several creatures, then there will be spells that must be broken, all that sort of stuff. Should be fun, eh?”

Harry, knowing far too well what kind of creatures Hagrid might provide, thought it very unlikely that it would be any fun. However, he nodded politely with the rest of the champions.

“Very well, if you haven’t got any questions, we’ll go back up to the castle, it’s a bit chilly,” Bagman said.

Bagman hurried to join Harry as he walked quickly back to the castle. Just as Harry was getting the feeling that Bagman was about to offer to help him again, Krum tapped on his shoulder.

“Could I haff a word?” Krum asked.

“Sure,” Harry said, a bit surprised.

“Vill you walk with me?”

“Err, okay,” Harry said curiously.

Instead of going toward the Durmstrang ship, Krum led Harry towards the forest, past the Beauxbatons carriage and Hagrid’s hut.

“What’re we going this way for?” Harry asked.

“I don’t vant to be overheard,” Krum said shortly.

He finally stopped when they reached an empty clearing by the forest.

“I vant to know,” He said, glowering, “What is there between you and Hermione?”

Harry, who expected something much more serious than teenaged romance from someone who was as secretive as Krum, stared up in amazement.

“Nothing,” he said. But Krum continued to glower at him, and Harry, somehow struck anew by how tall Krum was, elaborated, “We’re friends. She’s not my girlfriend and she never has been. It’s just that Skeeter woman making things up.”

“Hermione talks about you very often,” Krum said, looking at Harry very suspiciously.

“Yeah, because we’re friends.” Harry spat back.

Harry couldn’t believe that he was having this conversation with Viktor Krum, the famous international Quidditch player. It was as though the eighteen-year-old Krum thought he, Harry, was an equal, a real rival.

“You haff never… You haff not…”

“Nope,” Harry said very firmly.

Krum looked slightly happier, which, considering how unexpressive he was, probably meant that he was ecstatic. “You fly very well. I vos watching you at the first task.”

“Thanks,” Harry said, grinning widely, suddenly feeling a bit taller himself. “I saw you at the World Cup. The Wronski Feint, you really-”

Harry lost his train of thought, he saw something move in the trees behind Krum. Harry, having some experience with what kind of creatures called the forest home, instinctively grabbed Krum’s arm and pulled him around.

“Vot is it?”

Harry shook his head, staring at the place where he’d seen movement. He grabbed his wand from his robes.

A man staggered out from behind a rather tall oak tree. For a moment, Harry didn’t recognize him, then he realized who it was… Barty Crouch.

He looked as though he had been traveling for days. The knees of his robes were ripped and bloody; his was face scratched; he was unshaven and gray with exhaustion. His strange appearance, however, was nothing compared to how he was behaving. Muttering and gesticulating, Mr. Crouch seemed to be talking to someone he alone could see.

“Vosn’t he a judge?” Krum asked, “Isn’t he with your Ministry?”

Harry nodded. With hesitation, he began to walk towards Mr. Crouch, who did not seem to notice him, rather he continued talking to a nearby tree. “...and when you’ve done that, Weatherby, send an owl to Dumbledore confirming the number of Durmstrang students who will be attending the tournament, Karkaroff has just sent word there will be twenty…”

“Mister Crouch?” Harry said cautiously.

“...and then send another owl to Madame Maxime, because she might want to up the students she’s bringing, now that Karkaroff’s mad it a round twenty… do that, Weatherby, will you?” Mr. Crouch’s eyes were bulging. He stood at the tree. Then he staggered sideways and fell to his knees.

“Mister Crouch!” Harry said loudly, “Are you alright?”

Harry knew the answer to that question. Crouch’s eyes were rolling in his head, he was almost limp in Harry’s arms.

“You should probably go get some help,” Harry told Krum.

“Dumbledore!” Crouch gasped. He reached out and seized a handful of Harry’s robes, though his eyes were staring way over Harry’s head. “I need… see… Dumbledore…”

“Okay,” Harry said, “If you get up, we can go get hi-”

“I’ve done… stupid… thing…” Mr. Crouch muttered. He looked like he had gone completely mad, luckily, Harry managed to free himself from Crouch’s grasp.

“You stay here, I’ll go get- Luz?” Harry said, shocked to see the Hexside champion running towards them.

“I heard noise, is everyone okay?” She asked quickly.

“I need to find Dumbledore,” Harry said, “You two stay here with Mister Crouch.”

Harry sprinted as fast as he could towards the castle, which was deserted. Five minutes later, he was hurtling toward where he remembered Dumbledore’s office to be.

“Sher-sherbet lemon!” He said breathlessly.

That was the password to his office, or, at least, it had been two years ago. The password had evidently been changed.

“Move!” Harry shouted fruitlessly at it.

Harry wondered where else Dumbledore could be. Perhaps the staff room? He started running as fast as he could toward the staircase-

“POTTER!!”

Harry skidded to a halt as Snape’s voice snapped at him.

What are you doing here, Potter?”

“I need to see Professor Dumbledore!” Harry yelled, “It’s Mister Crouch, he’s in the forest, he’s talking mad-”

“What on earth are you talking about?” Snape snapped.

“Mister Crouch! From the Ministry! He’s ill or something, he wants to see Dumbledore!” Harry shouted.

“I heard my name?” A wise, old voice said.

“Professor Dumbledore!” Harry said, relieved beyond belief, “It’s Mr. Crouch, he’s in the forest, he wants to speak with you!”

Luckily, Dumbledore didn’t question it, instead asking Harry to lead the way.

“What did Mr. Crouch say?” Dumbledore asked as they swiftly walked down the marble staircase.

“Said he wants to warn you… said he’s done something terrible.” Harry explained, “He’s not acting normally. He doesn’t seem to know where he is. He keeps talking like Percy is there, then he changes and begs to see you. I left him with Viktor Krum and Luz Noceda.”

“You did?” Dumbledore asked sharply, “Do you know if anyone else saw him?”

“No,” Harry said, “Krum and I were talking, Mr. Bagman had just shown us the third task, and we stayed behind, and then we saw Mr. Crouch come from the forest, the Luz came running when she heard Crouch’s panicked yelling.”

“Where are they?” Dumbledore asked as they passed the Beauxbatons carriage.

“Over here,” said Harry, moving to where they had been. He couldn’t hear Crouch’s voice anymore, but he knew where they had been; it hadn’t been much past the Beauxbatons carriage, somewhere around here.”

“Viktor?” Harry shouted, “Luz?”

No response.

“They were here,” Harry said, “They were around here somewhere.”

“Lumos” Dumbledore said, lighting his wand.

Its narrow beam of traveled from trunk to trunk, until it landed on a pair of feet.

Harry and Dumbledore hurried forward. Krum was sprawled on the forest floor, Luz was next to her. They both seemed to be unconscious. There was no sign of Crouch at all. Dumbledore lifted one eyelid of Krum’s.

“Stunned,” He said softly, his half-moon glasses glittered in the wandlight.

“Should I get someone?” Asked Harry, “Madam Pomfrey?”

“No,” Dumbledore said, “Stay here.”

He raised his wand and lifted it in the direction of Hagrid’s cabin. Harry saw something silvery dart out of it and streak away. Dumbledore bent over the two champions and muttered “Renneveate” to them both.

They both opened their eyes but seemed rather dazed.

“He attacked me!” Krum muttered, putting a hand on his head, “The old madman attacked me! I vos looking to see vare Potter had gone and he attacked me from behind!”

“No,” Luz said, “It wasn’t Crouch. I don’t know who it was, but Crouch was lying helplessly on the ground, and a red light seemed to come from over there,” She pointed near the cabin. “Next thing I know, I’m on the ground twenty feet away.”

Hagrid came running, Fang right at his heels.

“Hagrid,” Dumbledore said urgently, “I need you to fetch Professor Karkaroff and Principal Bump, once you’ve done that, I need you to alert Professor Moody-”

“No need, Dumbledore,” said a wheezy growl. “Would’ve been here sooner if it weren’t for my damn leg,”

“I don’t know where Barty Crouch went,” Dumbledore admitted, “But it is essential that we find him,”

“On it,” Moody said, limping away into the forest.

Neither Dumbledore nor Harry spoke again until Hagrid returned with a disgruntled-looking Karkaroff and an annoyed Bump.

“What is this?” Karkaroff cried out upon seeing Krum still on the ground.

“I vos attacked,” Krum said, sitting up and rubbing his head, “Mr. Crouch or votever his name was…”

“It wasn’t Crouch!” Luz reminded, “How could you blame this attack on such a poor, defenseless man?”

“Treachery!” Karkaroff shouted, “This is a plot! You and your Ministry of Magic have lured me under false pretenses. This is not an equal competition! First, you sneak Potter in as a second champion! Now one of your Ministry friends tries to pull my champion out of service! You know what? Here’s what I think of your ‘equal competition’!”

Karkaroff spat at Dumbledore’s feet. In an instant, he was being pinned against a tree, his feet dangling a full meter off the ground.

“Apologize,” Hagrid snarled, “Or else,” Hagrid’s massive fist was right at Karkaroff’s throat.

“Hagrid, no!” Dumbledore shouted.

Hagrid begrudgingly let go of Karkaroff, letting him fall to the ground.

“Kindly escort Harry to the castle, please,” Dumbledore said to Hagrid. “And Harry,” Dumbledore said, turning his attention to the youngest person present, “When you get back to Gryffindor tower, I want you to stay there, any owls you might want to send, anything you want to do, it can wait until morning.”

Hagrid angrily marched with Harry back to the castle. He wasn’t in a good mood and kept complaining about foreigners the entire time, so Harry wasn’t very upset when they had to part ways at the portrait of the Fat Lady. Harry clambered through the portrait hole and into the common room. He hurried for the corner that Ron and Hermione were sitting in, wanting to tell them every detail.

Now that there are over twenty of these, I'm just going to make a post with links to each chapter (like what the Hoot Hoot News does)

Link to that: https://theowlhouse.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000195081

The Pentawizard Tournament Chapter hub | FandomIt's just links to all of the chapters, rather…theowlhouse.fandom.com

Cw: Animal? abuse (the basilisks), (censored) swears

Vee was wandering the grounds of Hogwarts, realizing that today marked two years since her escape from the Emperor’s Coven. She transformed back into her snake-like form as easily as she breathed upon finding a nice spot near the forest to lie down. Vee breathed a sigh of relief, two years of freedom, two years since the Emperor’s Coven had been her, for lack of a better word, home. Two years… since she had seen any of her siblings.

As much as Vee didn’t want to admit it, part of her wanted to go back to the Coven for the longest time, just so she could be with her siblings. Sure, they had been held captive since birth, and had never so much as seen the sun before, they had each other, and Vee missed that. She wanted to find her four siblings.

“Well, yer an awfully interesting creature,” A deep, but warm voice said. “What’re ya doing here?”

Vee opened her eyes and saw a very large man standing over her.

“Oh, hi.” She said awkwardly, “Sorry, am I in your way?”

“It can talk,” she heard him mutter quietly.

“Not at all! I jus saw yeh over here an' thought I might wan' ter get a closer look. I've never seen anything like yeh before.” The humongous man said more audibly, “D’you have a name?”

“I’m Vee,” She said, “I’m a basilisk, we’re supposed to be extinct, that’s why you haven’t seen one of my kind before,”

“A basilisk?” The man asked, “Yeh look nothin' like a basilisk! I’ve dealt with ‘em before, basilisks are fifty feet long an' can kill with a stare. Since I'm still here, summat isn' adding up.”

“Well that isn’t right at all,” Vee pondered, “I’ve never heard of us being able to kill with only a glance, all we can do is steal magic and transform. That was enough for Witches and other Demons alike to want us all gone,”

“Witches an’ Demons?” He inquired, “Are yeh from tha' other place? The Demon Realm or summat like tha'?”

Vee nodded, then got up off the ground. “Actually, could you help me with something?”

“Tha' depends, wha' d'you need me ter do?” He asked.

“Well, two years ago today, I finally got free from the prison I was born and raised in, but I had to leave my siblings behind,” She fessed.

“Lemme guess, yeh wan' ter go find your siblings?” The absolutely enormous man said, “O' course I’ll help! that’s wha' I do, I help magical creatures. It’s literally me job.”

“By the way, if we’re working together, I should probably learn your name,” She figured.

“Rubeus Hagrid, at your service.” He introduced.

“Well, Hagrid.” Vee said, “First we have to get to the prison I came from, which is under the Heart of the Titan, in the Demon Realm.”

“Lead the way,” Hagrid said.

And so, Vee did. She led the way all the way from the Owl House to under the castle, where she and her siblings had been held.

“We actually have basilisks in the Human Realm too,” Hagrid explained on the way to the castle, “But they are nothin' like wha' you’re like. Basilisks in the Human Realm are vicious, bloodthirsty monsters on'y even capable o' birth if a toad incubates a chicken egg. They can kill with a direct glance, an' petrify if the glance is indirect, like through a camera or mirror. Their venom is one o' the most destructive things in the world, if yeh don’t get ter a hospital within minutes o' infection, you’re a goner.”

“Wow,” Vee said, “That’s crazy. Basilisks here are feared, for somewhat good reason. We’re the only things capable of stealing a Witch’s magic but doesn’t hunting us to extinction seem a bit too far?”

“Yer righ', tha' is too far.” Hagrid agreed, “Much the same has happened ter countless species in the human realm. Anything the wizards fear ends up dead. But they're important ter the ecosystem! yeh can' jus remove the apex predator an' 'spect everything ter be fine!”

They approached the monolith that had been Vee’s residence for far too long and might still be where the others were.

Vee spotted the door to the only staircase down. She opened it, the once-pristine marble staircase spiraled down and down and down, into what looked to be an endless abyss of darkness.

“Erm, I’m not too sure I can fit in tha’ door, is there another way in?” Hagrid asked nervously upon sight of it.

“You could just bust it down, no one’s gonna miss it,” Vee said, “No one’s lived in the castle since Belos was defeated. The United Isles Parliament unanimously agreed to leave the building for the Titan to reclaim,”

The half-giant burst through the brick wall surrounding the doorway.

“The Titan?” Hagrid asked, confused.

“The Boiling Isles are actually the skeleton of a massive creature, known as a Titan.” Vee explained as she started to descend the spiral stairs, “Since we all live on its corpse, it’s revered almost as a God to us. Luz actually had the pleasure of meeting him right before he passed on.”

“If we’re all on his corpse, then how did Luz meet ‘im?” Hagrid inquired, rightfully curious.

“You know, it was really unclear.” Vee said, her hand on her chin.

They started to descend the stairs to the deepest part of the basement. Unfortunately, the elevator had stopped working in the months since its abandonment.

Their altitude kept declining.

After about fifty steps, the entire building shook violently. Vee almost fell down the center hole of the spiral staircase.

“What was tha’?” Hagrid asked, “Are yeh okay?”

“Yeah,” Vee said, “I’m fine,”

They continued their descent, it was almost completely dark now. Vee was sure to be a bit more cautious and started to hug the wall a bit.

They went back to descending.

And going down.

About halfway down, or so Vee guessed, Hagrid asked another question. “If Basilisks were extinct for centuries, how did Belos bring yeh back?”

“I…” Vee paused, “I don’t want to think about that.”

They kept descending.

And going down the stairs.

And lowering their elevation.

And reaching lower and lower floors of the basement.

And then they went back to just plain ol’ descending.

When they were near the bottom, Vee saw a dim light.

Vee was so excited, she almost cried, “We’re almost-”

Before she could finish her sentence, the castle rumbled again, this time much more strongly. She started to fall down the center hole. Luckily, a hand the size of a trashcan lid wrapped around her gently, stopping her from falling.

“I gotcha,” He said softly.

They went back to going down the massive stairs.

Finally reaching the bottom of the massive stairs, Vee guessed that they were about a mile below the surface, the two of them saw five cells, labeled with Roman numerals in order from farthest to closest to the stairs. On the other side of the room, there was a desk covered in papers. Cell numbers I, II and V were empty. Vee was obviously free, one of the others must have been the basilisk that had invaded the schools and died at the hands of Luz and her friends. As much as she resented Luz for that, she did understand why it happened. The real mystery was the other missing Basilisk. What had happened to II?

Hagrid stopped and looked at the desk across the room from the cells. It was littered with open books and loose papers. Among them was also a stack of pictures, still kept in a closed bin. They seemed suspiciously dust-free.

Vee looked in the other three cells. Number four, a yellow basilisk, and the one closest in age to Vee was looking thinner than one of the Hogwarts Broomsticks, and number three wasn’t much better. Her red skin was tight against her small bones.

“Vee, yeh might want ter see this,” Hagrid said, grabbing a few of the books and shoving them in a few of his many, many pockets.

“Hagrid, you might want to see this,” Vee said in perfect unison with the enormous man.

Hagrid turned around first and saw what Vee had spotted. Her siblings were still locked up! As if on instinct, he went to free III and IV. The bars were like butter when faced with the raw strength that this man could produce. Within moments, her siblings were free.

Vee went in to embrace her sisters, but Hagrid stopped her. “Yeh can embrace each other later. Let’s get out of here first,” He said quickly, “Go ahead o' me, yeh can climb faster ‘n me.”

Vee followed his orders and transformed into a human form to climb the stairs faster. She sprinted up the stairs as fast as she could. Before she knew it, she had cleared all of those stairs like it was nothing. It must have taken a while, because it was completely dark outside, as though the sun had set three hours prior. (Glancing at her watch, that was pretty close to the truth, it had set two hours and forty-five minutes prior.)

She couldn’t believe it, III and IV were still alive!

Soon, Hagrid burst through the doorway, the remaining brick shattering on contact with his immense figure.

He set III and IV, they slithered toward Vee, who transformed from her human form back to her serpentine form.

They both embraced her in a hug. “Thank you, number V,” IV said.

“You’re welcome, Ivy,” Vee said, giving her sister a name, “And you too, Trey,”

Her siblings had names now, III was now Trey, and IV was now Ivy.

A man from the Human Realm had helped Vee with something she had never dared to do alone. For that, she was eternally grateful. If Hagrid ever needed help, Vee decided that she would be right there for him.

The post arrived a bit later than usual that day, but Hermione quickly found out why, about twice the usual amount of owls had flown in today, and half of them seemed to be coming straight for her. They dropped letter after letter after letter in front of her.

Hermione opened one of them, inside was a letter that seemed to be made of clippings from the Daily Prophet, rather than being handwritten.

You are a WickEd giRL. HaRRy PottEr desErves BetteR. gO Back wherE you cAME from mUggle.

“what?” Hermione asked, dumbfounded.

She opened another, and another, they all had similar messages.

HaRrY poTter cAn Do MuCh bEtTEr than ThE liKes of yOu

You dEseRve TO be bOilEd iN FrOg SPawn

iF yOurE gOinG to BE a CoMMon wH**E, mAybE cHoOse tO mEss wiTH bOys wHo aReNT fAmOUs

HarRy pOtTEr hAs gOne ThrOugH eNougH, sTop tOyiNg wITh hiM yOu sL*T

“They’re all like it!” Hermione cried desperately.

“Ouch!” She yelped after opening another. Her hands were covered in a yellow-green liquid that smelled like gasoline and stung like hand sanitizer on an open wound. Her hands began to erupt into large yellow boils.

“Undiluted Bubotuber pus!” Ron shouted, recognizing it immediately.

Hermione tried to rub the tears out of her eyes with a napkin, but her hands were so thickly covered in yellow sores that she looked like she had a pair of thick, knobby leather gloves on.

“You’d better get to the Hospital Wing,” Harry advised, “Amity, you’re in the healing track, right?” Amity nodded, “Go with her to make sure it doesn’t get too much worse.”

Hermione got up and started to run out of the Great Hall. Amity followed her closely.

“Hermione, are you okay?” Amity asked as they walked to the Hospital Wing.

“Yeah,” Hermione lied as she failed to wipe the tears from her eyes again. “I’m fine,”

Amity seemed to not buy it for a second, but it did shut her up.

The boils did not seem to want to stop getting bigger, at this rate they were going to be bigger than her head by the time they reached the Hospital Wing.

She wasn’t far off with that guess, as it turns out. Her hands were only barely smaller than her head.

“What caused this?” Madam Pomfrey immediately interrogated, forcing her into the nearest bed.

“Bubotuber pus,” Hermione said, “I don’t think it was diluted in anything.”

“That’ll do it,” She said, grabbing a vial of a green liquid, “Good thing you came here quick, if it’s not treated quickly, Bubotuber pus can cause permanent damage and scarring, especially if it’s pure.”

“Is there any way I can help, Madam Pomfrey?” Amity asked in an extremely polite tone of voice.

“I’m sorry, but no,” She said, “I’m still not familiar enough with Demon Realm healing to trust it completely, especially when it comes to students. Bubotuber pus is very dangerous, if it’s treated improperly, the affected area can very quickly become dislodged, leaving a gaping hole in the body. I’ve seen what comes of people hit with it in unfortunate spots. I don’t think I reconstructed a single one of those faces to look the same as they did before, and I think only one of them had all of their facial organs keep working, all the rest went blind permanently, or deaf, or couldn’t smell, or-”

“I get it,” Amity cut off, “This stuff is dangerous. But she’s going to be okay, right?”

“Yes, but she won’t heal any faster if you keep pestering me,” Madam Pomfrey snapped. “Go back to breakfast, she should be out before lunch.”

“Amity, I’ll be fine,” Hermine assured, “Go back to breakfast, don’t miss class on my account. Madam Pomfrey has my complete confidence.”

Pressure from both of them made Amity finally drag herself out of the Hospital Wing, leaving Hermione and Madam Pomfrey alone.

“How did this happen?” Madam Pomfrey inquired, “What were you doing around this stuff? I thought you were smarter than this, Granger,”

“I didn’t mean to get it on me,” Hermione confessed, “I was opening my mail, and it splattered out of the envelope,”

“Why would Bubotuber pus be in your mail?” She asked reasonably.

“Hate mail,” Hermione supposed, “I got a bunch of other stuff too, ‘you deserve to be boiled in frog spawn’, ‘you are a wicked girl’, ‘you are nothing but a common sl*t’, and so on.”

“Is this because of that article that came out recently?” Madam Pomfrey asked.

“That would be the most logical conclusion,” Hermione said.

“Well, I want you to know that I don’t think that it was very honest journalism,” Madam Pomfrey assured, “I know you, and you aren’t the type of girl to do that sort of thing to the boys around you,”

The next few hours passed painfully slowly, but pass they did. Near the end of her second class, Care of Magical Creatures, Madam Pomfrey finally let Hermione out of the Hospital Wing. Her hands were bandaged so much that she still couldn’t use them.

Hermione raced outside to meet Harry and Ron for class.

“What’ve yeh done ter your hands, Hermione?” Hagrid asked when she arrived, his face full of worry.

Hermione told him about the hate mail and bubotuber puss.

“Ahh, don’ worry,” Hagrid reassured, “I got some o’ those letters too yeh know. After Rita Skeeter wrote abou’ me mum. ‘Yeh’re a monster an’ yeh should be put down’, ‘Yer mother killed innocent people an’ if you had any decency you’d kill yerself,’”

“No!” Hermione shouted, shocked.

“Yeah,” said Hagrid, heaving crates full of nifflers toward his cabin. “They’re jus’ nutters, Hermione. Don’ open ‘em if yeh get any more. Chuck ‘em straigh’ in the fire.”

The mail continued for several days. Hermione followed Hagrid’s advice. But more than a few of them were Howlers, which would explode at the Gryffindor table, shrieking insults for the entire hall to hear. Hermione was getting really sick of it all, it was starting to really hurt.

“It’ll die down,” Harry, Ron, Amity, and the others kept telling her, “If we just ignore it, people will get bored and move on,”

“I want to know how she’s listening in on private conversations if she’s banned from the grounds!” Hermione asked, infuriated.

She stayed behind in her next Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, maybe Professor Moody had an answer.

“Well, she’s not using an invisibility cloak, I would have seen that,” Moody told her, “But there are lots of other ways you could eavesdrop on someone. Ways even my eye can’t catch.”

“Like what?” Hermione asked, her curiosity spiking.

“Oh, she could be using some sort of an eavesdropping charm, but those stay on one place, not person, so how would she have known where to place it to hear your conversation?”

“Couldn’t she have just placed one everywhere?” Hermione thought.

“Not likely,” Moody answered quickly, “It would take a lot of concentration to keep all that up. And even if she did, she would be so overwhelmed by the amount of things she would be hearing that there would be no way she could pick out yours specifically. Especially since it was probably a quiet talk.”

“What else?” Hermione asked.

“She could be using Polyjuice potion, pretending to be someone else,” Moody thought, his hand drifting to his hip-flask, “but that’s probably not it either.”

“Polyjuice potion is a real pain to make,” Hermione recalled, “And terrible if you get it wrong,”

“Exactly,” Moody replied, “Wait, how do you know about Polyjuice Potion? That’s N.E.W.T. level.”

“I read about it once,” Hermione covered. Of course, she had really done a lot more than just read about it, she had made it for Harry, Ron, and herself back when they were in their second year in order to sneak into they Slytherin common room.

“Thank you, professor,” Hermione stated, then ran to rejoin Ron and Harry.

“Well, Rita Skeeter’s definitely not using an invisibility cloak,” she told her friends through panted breaths. “Moody didn’t see her anywhere near the lake at all at the Second Task.”

“Hermione,” Ron asked, “Is there any point in telling you to drop this?”

“Nope!” Hermione said stubbornly, “I want to know how she heard me talking to Viktor! And how she found out about Hagrid’s mum!”

“Maybe she had you bugged,” Harry offered.

“Bugged?” Ron asked, “What, like, put fleas on her or something?”

Harry began to explain hidden microphones and the like.

Hermione sighed, “Aren’t you two ever going to read Hogwarts: A History?”

“What’s the point?” Ron asked, “You know it by heart, we can always just ask you,”

"Because muggle technology, electricity, phones, computers, that stuff, it all goes haywire around Hogwarts, there’s too much magic in the air. Rita must be using magic to eavesdrop, she must be… if I could just find out how… ooh, if it’s illegal, I’ll have her!”

“Do we have to start making a vendetta against Skeeter now too?” Ron asked, “Isn’t spew enough?”

“Firstly, it’s S.P.E.W, not spew,” Hermione corrected, “And secondly, no, I’m going to do this myself.”

She stormed off, it was time to check her favorite place in the entire castle, the library.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rEoBaJRoFY

hunter digs his own grave (the owl house season 2 episode 9)YouTube

I recently watched the last episode again and now have the headcanon that the one Emperor Coven member at the end is Bria's mother.

For those who don't know who I mean look here:

and for who have forgotten who Bria is: https://theowlhouse.fandom.com/wiki/Bria?so=search

BriaThe Owl House Wiki