The Ghosts of Millennia

The Most Expensive Lyft Ever

"I think so."

It didn't take long for the thick trees to reveal a plethora of magical creatures. Bowtruckles clung to the dark branches, billywigs buzzed around like flies. Flobberworms slithered on the ground, peaking out of holes like maggots.

Knezels and crups, the cats and dogs of the Wizarding World, weaved through the trees until half a dozen were trotting in front of them. They barked and meowed a chorus of sounds as though they were trying to communicate. "They want us to follow them," Cho guessed. Hermione had to agree.

The animals brought them back to the lakeside. Thick, thick trees surrounded them on all sides, hiding the shore from prying eyes. Nifflers played in the water like ducks, digging for shiny rocks beneath the water's surface. Mooncalfs popped their heads out of their burrows, even though it was still daytime. Thestrals and griffins flew above them, circling the area like pterodactyls.

I can see thestrals now.

She thought of Percy Weasley, Cornelius Fudge, Yasmina the Hunter, and all the dead bodies she'd seen at the mob outside the Daily Prophet headquarters. Too many had died already. The sight of those thestrals was living proof of how much everything had changed. How much she had changed.

A beautiful nymph tended to white flowers in a small garden. Her golden hair was covered in a wreath of flowers, and her dress seemed to be made of hundreds of tree leaves. "Leave now, chosen ones. He will not speak to you," the nymph said.

"Who are you?" Hermione asked.

"I am Patalena, once the goddess of flowers, but today the spirit of this forest." She thought for a moment and smiled, amused. "You may know me as the Lady of the Lake." She turned from her flowers. Her eyes were friendly, but Hermione also knew she meant business. "My Lord Salazar has chosen to remain neutral in this war. His parents, Lord Merlin and Lady Hecate, respect his neutrality. Her chosen people should respect it also."

"It's all right, Patalena," came a booming voice. Slytherin stood before them, as though he were always there. He looked exactly like his portraits: a balding man with silver hair and a beard down to his chest. He wore a flowing green robe and cloak. But, unlike the portraits, a snake circled around his head like a crown; it ate its own tail. A phoenix was perched on his shoulder. A she-cat and meerkat, the symbols of his mother, weaved affectionately between his legs. And that pendant he famously wore... it was the Philosopher's Stone in its true godly form. Somehow, she was sure of that.

Annabeth immediately knelt. Hermione, Ron, and Cho followed suit. "Lord Slytherin," Hermione said.

"There's no need for that," Slytherin said. "Especially not from my students." They rose. "You must forgive Patalena. She's been quite kind, my only company in my chosen isolation."

"Of course, my lord," Patalena said.

"I grew up here," Slytherin continued. "My father, Merlin, was still mortal. But, he drank the elixir of the Philosopher's Stone. It was enough to make me a god, rather than a demigod." He touched the Stone hanging from his neck. "My mother Hecate grew afraid. The birth of a god from a mortal would raise eyebrows. Pluto could not know of this Stone. She could no longer train my father as Morgan le Fey, and could not visit me. Merlin, still serving as King of the Wizards, could not raise me as a prince for the same reason. Patalena raised me here, at Loch Arthur, named after the muggle legend based on my story.

"When Merlin abdicated and could finally call me his own, he told me he would grant me any favor as an apology for being so distant. I asked him to help me found a school in my mother's name. He gathered Hecate's finest students, and the four of us created Hogwarts. When Merlin was satisfied we'd created something to last the ages, he gave me the Philosopher's Stone and stopped drinking its elixir so Hecate could turn him into the god of wizards. Hecate soon asked the four of us to rejoin her court, and so we 'arranged' our deaths, so to speak, and left the Wizarding World forever."