Hazel never thought that, what she feared the most, would slowly make her life better again. The year with Professor Fig started out turbulent, but the more time passed, the better it got. Yes, because of her childhood flashbacks, she was having a hard time and that wasn't going to change, yet magic was the best thing that had happened to her so far. It could only get better...right?
"Protego!" she shouted, waving the Secondhand-Wand, as she practiced dueling with Fig. Her skill with the wand was extraordinary for someone, who had never really been consciously involved with the magical world, Fig often emphasized. Still, she had little confidence in her Skills.
After a long duel, they put down their wands for the day, breathing heavily. "Okay, that's enough for today. Well done" Smiled the old wizard, who was now a good friend to Hazel. Tired, Hazel wiped a strand of Hair from her forehead, which had gotten caught there, and smiled back. As always, after a hard day, they had a cup of tea before Hazel went home.
The year was hard. From morning till night she studied. From astronomy to history of magic, from defense against the Dark Arts to Charms and potions. And at the end of each day, they would duel to hone their practical skills in these unsafe times, as Fig said, because something was brewing in the magical world. "Why do the goblins need such a rebellion? Aren't they being treated fairly?" she asked as she brought her teacup to her mouth and took a sip. Fig shook his head and screwed up his face. "Not really. Many witches and wizards see them as... inferior creatures" Fig replied and Hazel let out a disdainful sound. "No wonder they rebel. But in something what should Right and Fair, there should be a balance. No one has to die" she said as she skimmed the article in the Daily Prophet that Fig had handed her. It mentioned several people who had died in a goblin attack, including children. Shaking her head, she put the article aside. "Well, let's get to our journey. We have to leave in the morning, your things are packed I suppose?" asked Professor Fig. Hazel nodded nervously. "I have to stow the books right away but otherwise everything is ready" she replied. Fig nodded with satisfaction. "A good friend of mine, he works at the Ministry, wrote me an owl that he needed to talk to me urgently. I have therefore ordered him to our departure point. He will accompany us if you don't mind" he informed her, before he put down his empty cup. "Oh, no I don't mind professor. I'm sure he has an interesting tale or two to tell" she said, then she stood up. "If there's nothing else, I'd be on my way home. It's getting dark already" she said. Fig stood up as well and nodded. He led her to the door and closed it behind her....
Early in the morning, dawn was just breaking, her owl let out a screeching cry to wake her up. "I'm already awake, Lilly," Hazel grumbled, flipping back the covers. After a moment of being awake, the nervousness returned and with renewed energy she almost jumped out of bed, nearly tripping over her own feet as she began to get ready.For the trip she had nothing special on, a simple travel outfit which consists of a plaid skirt, a white blouse, a vest and a matching blazer and shoes. Of course, she also wore stockings. Her reddish blonde hair she wore half open, a part held back with a silver snake hair clip, which was the only thing she still possessed from her biological family. Although she hated her birth family, she liked the clip very much.
Her adoptive parents were already downstairs at the front door, her belongings having just been sent to their place of departure, she realized, for Professor Fig was standing in the hallway casting spells and one suitcase after another disappeared, as well as her owl and her little companion who was also sitting in the owl cage nibbling on a carrot. Worried, she furrowed her brows, thinking that the feeling was probably not too good being conjured away. "Don't worry. The rabbit is fine" Smiled Professor Fig in greeting as he noticed her worried expression. Hazel went down the last steps and hugged her parents, but couldn't hide the pure nervousness. "I'm sure everything will be fine, Hazel. Just be brave" her mother smiled at her and stroked a strand of hair from her face. "Just behave and be yourself. And if you have another panic attack, try to take a deep breath. It's rarely as bad as things feel sometimes, honey." Hazel nodded, swallowing, took a deep breath and put on a smile. Hazel was trying hard not to be so apathetic about many things anymore, after all, she was feeling better. However, it was not easy for a person to give up long-held patterns and protective mechanisms. Therefore, she often seemed a bit unpredictable.
As much as she liked her adoptive parents now and had truly grown to love them, she was glad to leave behind this life that was rarely kind to her, even if it meant returning to one that had done horrific things to her, yet made her more complete than anything in the muggle world. "I'll do my best and write to you. Love you!" she said, hugging her adoptive parents. "Shall we?" asked Professor Fig, holding out his hand to her, which she took, and with a really sickening feeling, they aperated to the place where they would leave, in an alley in the middle of London.
She could not describe the feeling during that time. Like being sucked into a tiny hole and then again it wasn't. As if everything was spinning and then again it wasn't. Anyway, when they arrived, Hazel sank to her knees and put a hand over her mouth. Fig stood behind her and ran his hand over her back. Hazel had to take a few deep breaths before she could sit up. "The first time is never very enjoyable, is it?" commented Fig on her brief weakness. Hazel left this uncommented and leaned against the waiting carriage, which was already loaded with her belongings, looking for support. However, she saw no horses, only what appeared to be floating bridles, so she assumed that these must be magical creatures of some kind. Pleased, she saw Star cheerfully nibbling his carrot and then she straightened up, into a normal stance. "Good, good. Do you have your wand?" asked Professor Fig, and Hazel raised it. "I'm still fascinated by how well you've been able to adjust to a second-hand wand. You'll be much stronger with your own, I can assure you. Too bad we didn't have more time to do magic," he said, almost a little sadly. Apparently he had enjoyed the time as much as Hazel had inside. "Thank you, Professor, for all your help before school started," Hazel replied, honestly grateful. Hazel was putting the wand in the inside pocket of her blazer when a man appeared out of nowhere. He had brown hair, was a little corpulent, and wore a brown suit and round glasses.He had his back turned to them, seemingly somewhat disoriented. He looked around, caught sight of Fig, and said with a laugh, "Eleazar!"
"George! Glad you found your way here, despite the rather cryptic description of this place!" Fig said, highly amused. Hazel could see the friendship that bound them both. George came closer during the conversation and friendlily shook Fig's hand. "I have reached places less well described" said George laughing. Then his expression became embarrassed, even honestly sheepish. "Well.. it could be that the audience at the theater in the West End might have been quite frightened" he chuckled. Fig laughed too, and Hazel couldn't help but giggle shortly. That George seemed very sympathetic to her. "Oh, it's been so long since we last saw each other! When your owl arrived..." "Not here Eleazar" George said kindly but firmly, pointing to the carriage. Fig turned right in, knowing there were always listening ears on the ground. "Of course. We'll have plenty of time to talk on our journey. We have an initiating ceremony and a feast awaiting us!" he said. "Perfect. As long as that young lady here doesn't mind" George replied, pointing at Hazel. "Not at all, sir." she said smiling politely and shortly bowed her head respectfully. When Fig pointed to the carriage, and the door opened of its own, Hazel got in and sat down, her back facing the direction of the ride. The professor sat down beside her, and George took a seat across from them. "It's been ages since I've been to the castle. I'm looking forward to seeing the old stone pile again" George said. The smile never seemed to leave him, as it did with Fig. These two men had a similar energy about them, Hazel noted. But she also saw the worry on his face. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.
A little bumpily the carriage started and as it rose into the air, Hazel almost lost her balance sitting there, from the jolt with which everything was pulled up.
Smoking chimneys passed the carriage windows and Hazel caught a glimpse of Big Ben, the giant bell clock tower of London. The weather, as usual in London, was rather foggy and somewhat gloomy. Hazel saw sporadic lights shimmering in the windows below them and enjoyed this incredible view, of yet so cheerless London, which was quickly swallowed up by the low-hanging gray clouds.
"I'm glad we managed to get together before I have to go to Scotland" George said to Fig after they had spent a few minutes in silence. " Barely" laughed Fig. George pointed to Hazel with a smile and asked charmingly, "And who is your lovely traveling companion Eleazar?" "A new student from Hogwarts" he said and George bristled at her age for doing so. After all, they usually started at 11, not almost 15. "New?" he asked in response. " Yes, sir. I'm starting fifth year. My name is Hazel Black" she said. "Oh a Black, is it? That surprises me, I must confess. I wasn't aware that the Black family had any more descendants." Hazel nervously shifted a little in her seat. "I'd rather not talk about my family, sir. I haven't lived with them for a long time," she replied, looking out the window again. An unmistakable signal that this topic was unwelcome. "Extraordinary," George commented. "Indeed. That someone was accepted so late in Hogwarts has never been experienced here, as far as we know" Fig replied almost proudly. Hazel didn't know what was going on with him. He was probably prouder of her poor performance than she was, but he always called her >too modest< and that she should have more >confident<.Now Professor Fig came to the explanation of their journey. "But, since the other fifth graders have already been learning and practicing their magic for four years, the Headmaster asked me to prepare the new student before the semester began. She lived with Muggles from an early age, you see. We spent a year catching up on everything from fours" There it was again. That fatherly pride Hazel could hardly explain. But she smiled back. "Well" George began, leaning forward a bit. "You are truly fortunate with your mentor. Professor Fig is an amazingly good teacher and an extraordinarily clever and gifted wizard." he said with a raised finger. Fig laughed, somewhat embarrassed at the praise. "Mr. Osric is very prone to flattery. That's probably why he made it so far in the ministry" he replied. Hazel did find this honest friendship between the two wizards extraordinarily refreshing. At school, she had only ever seen shallow friendships that whispered nastily to each other in the back and meant nothing honestly. Except for Edwina. The Muggle world already seemed amazingly loveless and empty to her.
George Osric pulled a newspaper out of his pocket and showed it to Fig. "Did you see that?" he asked. Now George seemed to have danced around the bush enough, for now he showed the hidden worry. Hazel also glanced at the article George wanted to show. "Ranrok's goblin rebellion - truth or goblinogak?" it said. On the left was a moving picture of a grim-faced goblin. Hazel's brows drew together. "Oh, yes. We talked about it a bit yesterday, Miss Black and I. There is no consensus on how dangerous Ranrok really is now" said Fig. He seemed to be worried about the subject as well. "I still have to convince the Ministry, but I believe he is a serious threat," George replied.
During the conversation, Hazel's eyes wandered out the window. She heard a strange, muffled noise, almost like the beating of wings. She couldn't put her finger on it and let her gaze pass through the clouds. She saw a shadow moving through the clouds, but blamed it on the weather conditions and returned her attention to the conversation.
"And... it was your wife, Eleazar, who brought him to my attention months ago" George just said. From Fig's face all joy drained away at the mention of his wife and he looked at George seriously. "Miriam? How?" he asked in disbelief. Hazel felt a little uncomfortable at being forced to follow the conversation, for it seemed to be getting a little more personal. But it was probably unavoidable. She heard George sigh. "Before she died, she wrote to me about Ranrok. Asked me what the Ministry knew about him. Before I could answer I received this-" he said, pulling out some kind of round casket, like for scrolls. "It was the last thing she sent me, Eleazar."
Hazel's gaze was drawn to the casket. It was indescribably beautifully crafted, with glowing decorations that resembled some kind of flame.
"It came by owl, but without correspondence. I can only guess that -" he said and Fig finished his sentence and reached for the casket, "... That she had to send it off quickly to protect it" "Yes, probably from Ranrok" George speculated. Hazel stared mesmerized at this casket while Fig looked at it from all sides. Didn't they see the glow at all?
"I can't open it, it's protected by truly powerful magic" George followed up. "That looks like goblin metal, The symbol..." said Fig thoughtfully, pointing at the manufacturing material and the flame-like symbol. Hazel couldn't hold on any longer and pointed at the bluish - white glowing symbol. "What's this glowing?" she asked, fascinated. Fig spun the casket around in wonder. "I don't see any glow" he said, handing it to Hazel curiouslyGently, she took the casket in both hands and, although she had done nothing, the slit between the openings now lit up blue and opened. Inside was a key, finely crafted, with the same flame-like symbol as a handle.
"Merlin's beard!" exclaimed George in surprise, as Professor Fig tried to stop her from grabbing the key. "Stop, We don't know-" but there was no end to his sentence. Suddenly the muffled noise was back, growing louder in seconds, and with a loud crunch and crack there was a hole where George had been sitting a moment ago, as a huge reptile bit off half the carriage. Hazel let out a panicked scream and, terrified, saw her school supplies whirling through the air that the dragon had missed. Within seconds she noticed that the dragon was wearing a reddish glowing collar and its eyes were shining in the same color. That Lilly - holding Star in her claws, Hazel realized with relief - had managed to escape. And that George was still in the dragon's mouth and ALIVE.
"HOLD ON!" Fig yelled through the chaos, as what was left of the carriage began to shake dangerously. Breathing heavily and desperately, Hazel clung to the remains of the carriage, feeling flying splinters scratch her skin on her face, hands and legs and cut through her clothes. Blood dripped into her eye, the dragon chewed the carriage part in its mouth and roared loudly, apparently eager to eat the remaining people. The driver of the carriage tried to drive the, now no longer invisible, horse creatures to maximum performance, but it was in vain. The flying reptile was faster, delusionally fast, and when they realized that the beast was preparing its flaming breath, all three jumped into the depths. Not a second too late, because only milliseconds later, the dragon rushed snapping and fire-breathing into the remaining remains, which rushed away on all sides. While Professor Fig had already stabilized his fall, Hazel briefly trundled uncontrollably and dizzily through those cold, airy heights, panicked. But she couldn't lose her nerve now, she told herself. That would be her certain death, and so she looked around for Fig, trying to control her fall. Fig, who was trying to catch the key, at the same time stretched out his arm to Hazel to escape with her, yelling, "Your hand! Quick! The dragon!" he shouted. Hazel was well aware that the dragon was about to chase her. Reaching out as far as she could, she grabbed his hand while his other simultaneously grasped the key and they were pulled into darkness.