Euro-Glyph School of Extraordinary Languages, Petting Leander, and Dimensional Jump

Friday, 9 Jan 1987

Diagon Alley

Darcie woke up with a light chill lingering over her shoulders, her breath misting as she yawned.

For a moment, the dreamy hisses and whispers wreaked havoc within her mind, becoming comprehensible syllables every next day. Yet, no matter how much she tried, she just couldn't make sense of it.

With a look from her narrowed eyes, the fire blazed up even higher in the hearth, and soon the surrounding chill was forced to battle the incoming warmth. It was then her eyes landed on the black cloak rippling a foot over her bead, stretched like a woolen blanket.

Lethifold looked like a single sheet of the black pool of blacker water, rippling, fluttering, and flapping constantly.

"Lilith…" Darcie outstretched her hand, and Lethifold descended toward her.

The young Malfoy snatched the magical creature out of the air, and curled its soft body around her, adding another layer of blanket.

Lethifold: "…"

Darcie curled herself in a ball, clenching her Familiar with her little fingers. But sleep had abandoned her already, and she had become too used to getting up at the right time, then kept lying on the bed for another 5 minutes.

Still, this morning, her mind couldn't help but wander.

The entire week had passed in the most ordinary manner possible, making her feel as if the strangest events she had undergone last week were just a mirage.

Her further prodding into the mysterious object and its seal had borne no fruit. Not to mention, Daphne had gone to Norway with her parents for the rest of January. She had come on Tuesday evening to let her know about this, but the visit had been an incredibly short one for Darcie to even begin the tale of her adventures.

Then there was the matter of the Order of the Immortal Lotus' arrangements for her training.

Madam Villanelle had not even mentioned this topic to her this week. Much less needed to be thought about the further proceedings.

Darcie wasn't an impatient girl, but she was indeed one of the most curious ones. She liked the continuation of her Page duties and her lessons with Madam Villanelle. Yet, she liked field experience even more.

When she thought of the fascinating studies she would undergo throughout the world, Darcie blushed, and tossed herself on the bed, tugging Lethifold like a doll furiously.

Lilith drew a sharp breath, the entire black cloak puffing with air.

After a few more tossing and turning over the comfortable bed, Darcie threw herself up.

She readied herself and donned a long purple-colored coat, a hat, and thin gloves. Then she eyed Lethifold, who was hovering in peace in the middle of the room.

"Lilith, what do you want to become today?" Darcie asked, looking into the mirror.

Lethifold didn't care to reply.

The corners of Darcie's mouth lifted by the slightest amount. She hopped her way to the magical creature, grabbed one of its corners, and pulled it down. "I've decided…" Darcie mumbled, nodding to herself. "Today, you will be a scarf."

An imperceptible noise rippled out of the black cloak as if Lethifold had just sighed in defeat.

It floated toward Darcie, and coiled itself around her shoulders according to her directions, becoming a luxurious woolen scarf.

Darcie went to the mirror, looked at herself, and nodded.

Lilith didn't speak to her, but she shared much in the most extraordinary and mysterious ways. Darcie didn't know if Lethifold was a She or a He, but she thought of her as a female. Instincts of a lady, perhaps?

Despite her sulky days of the last week, Darcie's time with Lilith had passed with stunning affection and in the strangest conversations. Darcie didn't like to talk much, with Daphne as an exception. But Lethifold was another matter altogether. It just listened and listened, breathing, hearing, and floating as Darcie told it everything.

It was during one of those conversations that Darcie discovered Lilith's magical ability to lengthen and shorten with no perceivable limits. It was almost like Occamy, the winged serpents. But unlike Occamies, Lethifold didn't need an existing volume serving as a measure to expand or contract its dimensions.

To Darcie, it seemed to depend on Lilith's zone of comfort; her mood, to be exact.

Till now, the little girl had forced Lethifold to become a bandanna, scarf, shawl, and robe, with the experiments still going on.

"Don't you feel hunger, Lilith?" asked Darcie, hiding the suitcase under her bed. "What do you even eat?"

The Lethifold-turned-scarf breathed gently, one of its corners brushing her chin.

Darcie had tried to learn as much as she could about Familiars or Spirit Companions in the last four days. Alas! There wasn't much written or researched about them. The books were indeed filled with theories and tales, but Madam Villanelle had already warned her to not refer them.

With her trusted friends "the books" failing to help her, she had only two ways to know more about Familiars.

First, take help from someone who already had them. And Darcie only knew one wizard who also had his own Spirit Companion — Professor Albus Dumbledore. Darcie didn't even know how to go about this way. Just write a letter with a little cartoonish drawing of a seven-petaled lotus in one corner? Or visit the grand wizard in person?

No. This wasn't of any help, it seemed.

The second way was the one that Madam Villanelle had advised her to follow.

Interact.

Interact with the Familiar, learn from each other, and just… be friends.

'But how to interact with someone who doesn't even have a face?' Darcie had retaliated. After getting just a smile in response, she ultimately decided to take the second way, anyway.

Then there was Leander, the young Nundu.

Madam Villanelle had consigned it to the Unspeakables who worked at the Hall of Portkeys, confining it in a room with a magically induced forest-like environment. However, there was one tiny problem.

The cub refused to eat, no matter how fresh and bloody the food they gave it.

It was Darcie who came up with a solution, then.

'He shares a fate with me,' Darcie had told her mentor. 'So, naturally, he needs me to feed him. Just let me visit him, Madam Villanelle.'

After saying this, Darcie had gone to the potion shop, buying several Shrinking potions.

Madam Villanelle hadn't accepted Darcie's suggestion at first. But the situation of the cub had worsened by Thursday. So she took Darcie to the cub, and let her handle it under her watchful eyes; her wand, ready to take action.

What the reincarnated biblical witch saw that day she would probably never forget.

When Darcie was done "playing" with Leander, the cub couldn't help but howl in pain and gulp down the tiny chunks of meat in no time.

'See,' Darcie had calmly told her mentor later, caressing the young Nundu's spine, 'I told you he shares a fate with me. I will come often to feed him from now onwards. This is also Interaction, right, mentor?'

Madam Villanelle could have sworn she had seen the cub tremble then.

Coming back to the present, business was booming in Diagon Alley, especially after the Grand Fair. Hordes of wizards and witches could be seen walking from one end to another in the afternoons, but the mornings were still chilly enough to keep many indoors.

Darcie walked over the snow-covered cobbled street after having a light breakfast and entered the bookshop.

Ding! Ding!!!

The bells over the door of the main entrance registered her arrival, announcing it to the already present Assistant Manager.

"Good morning, mentor," Darcie greeted, taking off her gloves and the hat.

"Good morning, Darcie," Madam Villanelle replied, smiling. "A bundle of the newest edition of An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe arrived yesterday. I am leaving those to you, dear."

Darcie nodded in acknowledgment.

Just as she had stepped towards the back part of the bookshop on the ground floor, an owl fluttered its way in from the round opening over the main entrance.

However, it was a common sight at Flourish and Blotts, and it couldn't even make Darcie turn her head to look at it.

Now that Madam Villanelle knew she could do Wandless Magic, Darcie enjoyed a bit of freedom within the bookshop when the manager wasn't here. She did, however, kept casting the spells verbally, and often loudly, making sure that her ability to use magic non-verbally and Wandlessly doesn't come out in the open as well.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Darcie shouted, almost blushing at her own lie. Inwardly, she followed her self-made principles of Specific, Belief, and Intention to make the tall and thick bundle of fresh books hover in the air.

Darcie walked out of the gloomy back hall and entered the main hall, with the bundle following her, bobbing up and down.

To her surprise, she found Madam Villanelle standing in the middle of the hall, with a wide grin planted on her face.

Darcie's heart thumped, and the bundle of books came crashing with a thump.

Madam Villanelle said nothing, but passed the letter in her hand to the little girl. Darcie grabbed it and went through the content, looking calm and unhurried. Her heartbeat had quickened a bit, nonetheless.

"Euro-Glyph School of Extraordinary Languages…" Darcie read out loud, her tone soft and childish.

Madam Villanelle nodded. "I've been waiting for the minister's official response," she told Darcie. "Almost everyone of importance in the British wizardkind knows your interest in this field now. Euro-Glyph School of Extraordinary Languages is an international wizarding language school focusing on obscure magical languages, such as hieroglyphs and ancient bone texts. It has many branches, including London. The Headmistress of the London branch, Ms. Esmeralda Willow, owes a lot to the Order of the Immortal Lotus. [Image 1]

"Through me, and with a tacit understanding with the headmistress and the minister of magic, the Six have decided that you will become an honorary student of the school from next week onwards. You will study directly under the tutelage of Ms. Willow. However, that's something for the rest of the world. Other than the occasional presenting yourself in the school and taking the exams, you will not attend the classes truly."

Darcie was feeling quite joyous as she heard her mentor and read the letter.

The official letter from the ministry, stamped and signed, also mentioned that her Page duties in the Flourish and Blotts would be cut short to 3 days a week. Darcie would then spend the next 3 days at the school, taking classes from morning to evening.

Only her Sundays were free.

Darcie didn't mind it, though. Not one bit.

"From Wednesday afternoon to Saturday night, we will visit many wizarding communities throughout the world," Madam Villanelle continued. "If I am not wrong about it, then it will take us at least 3 years to complete all the preliminary training. After your admission to Hogwarts, the Six will let us know the further plans. What? Something wrong?"

Darcie looked quite white as if all colors had abandoned her face. "No." She shook her head, almost smiling. "It's Lilith, mentor. She's again sending bursts of cold. I think Lilith's as excited as me."

The corners of Madam Villanelle's lips twitched ruefully, not knowing how to feel about a Lethifold getting excited.

One of the most mysterious, and known to be the darkest, magical creatures was resting on a little girl's shoulders as a scarf, gently breathing out cold air on her neck.

Who in the world would believe this, even if shown the irrefutable proof?

*

*

02:00 am, Sunday

Malfoy Manor

"I can't take you with me," Kai explained to the murderous cloak of carnage. "This isn't how things work."

They were in the bathroom.

Lethifold flapped up and down at Kai's refusal, almost acting out. But the magical creature refrained from doing anything in the end.

Kai inwardly sighed as he saw it returning to silence. "I will return in 3 hours."

There was no time to waste, to begin with. 3 hours in the Harry Potter world meant 1 hour in Jack Sparrow's world. The more Kai waited, the more he would need to spend stretching the time after his jump.

Once again, Kai used his disastrous privilege and created a mission, including a major-storyline character in it. This way, he wouldn't have to worry about any top-floor Contestants guarding the Characters in the Random World.

'Chaos,' Kai called out in his mind. 'Create a mission to kidnap Elizabeth Swann before Black Pearl's arrival at Port Royal.'

[

Processing Contestant Kai Stormborn's request…

Eligibility for the privilege confirmed

Creating the Side Mission…

You have triggered a Side Mission

Main Mission: Not Applicable

Side Mission: Fortune or Misfortune

Side Mission Summary: Elizabeth Swann is an adventurous spirit. She has long been fascinated with the freewheeling world of buccaneers to a point of learning a song about pirates as a child.

Over the years, Elizabeth has blossomed into a beautiful young lady, though she never feels satisfied with the affluent, domestic life she has been born into.

With the coming of Jack Sparrow and Will Turner, Elizabeth's notions of romance and adventure are bound to change forever, making her learn that all the rules she believes in are meant to be broken.

Kidnap and isolate her before these fateful encounters, letting her realize princes don't always come to a damsel's rescue. Let her know the truth of the world, the hideous reality.

Let her know… Pain.

Side Mission Objective: Kidnap Elizabeth Swann and influence her life trajectory in favor of Chaos

Side Mission Time Limit: Not Applicable

Side Mission Hint: Luck

Points to be noted for this Side Mission:

1. A Time Difference will be enforced depending upon the two different Random Worlds (1 hour - World of Pirates of the Caribbean = 3 hours - World of Harry Potter)

2. A one-time fee will be deducted based on various criteria applicable to the Contestant while accessing the privilege (Fee: 10000 MC for 1 hour. 100 MC for every subsequent second for 1 minute. The amount will double with every next minute spent in the Switched World)

3. Only Party Members may teleport along with the Contestant.

4. The Contestant can return to the Random World relevant to the main mission anytime. The Mission Credits will not be refunded.

Do you accept the mission?

]

"I accept," Kai said, sighing in relief as he saw the one-time fee and the other conditions hadn't changed. "Chaos, stretch the initial 1 hour to 3 days."

A blue-green portal had already opened in front of him.

[

Analyzing the Contestant's Stats…

Processing current conditions…

Calculating future scenarios…

Analyzation Complete

Price: 200000 Mission Credits

Do you accept the transfer?

]

Kai drew a sharp breath and nodded. Even if the price was over half a million, Kai still would have accepted the transfer.

Jack Sparrow's Compass was just too crucial for his plans, especially when considering his Luck and ever-increasing difficulties.

Kai stepped toward the portal before suddenly pausing for a moment. He looked at Lethifold, thinking if it was wise to leave behind this murder-machine in Malfoy Manor with Darcie's family.

"Darcie is a girl who cherishes her friends and family, you know," Kai warned, smiling inwardly. For a moment, he indeed contemplated what he would do if he were to return and find the three Malfoys turned into a bloodbath.

Kai's bloodlust seeped out of his demonic grin and Lethifold, for the first time, stirred in response.

With a low laugh, Kai shook his head and then jumped into the portal.

When the blue-green flashes had vanished, one could see that the black cloak, rippling in midair, almost trembled in fear…

… or in excitement. Who could say?

*************

AN: A break tomorrow.