Elysian Potter: The Forgotten Queen.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, nor do I own the original idea for this story. All rights for the characters go to the magnificent J. K. Rowling and the original idea belongs to CharmedMilliE-Karry Master.
Note: This story has been rewritten because I didn't think it was really up to my standards and I honestly forgot half of the subplots I was supposed to be adding into this story so I'm rewriting it all.
Elysian's Theme Song: You Should See Me In A Crown, Billie Ellis
Chapter Eight: The Mirror of Erised.
Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban the few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver post had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again.
No one could wait for the holidays to start. While the Slytherin common room was as warm as it was in the summer – thank you warming charms! – the draughty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a mist before them and Gryffindors made sure to stay close to their cauldrons.
"I do feel so sorry," said Harry, one potions class, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home."
Elysian had to practically hold back both Draco and Blaise back from attacking her twin brother. Harry had no idea that Elysian would be remaining at Hogwarts for Christmas to find out what the three-headed dog – Hermione told her his name was Fluffy – was guarding. It intrigued her to no end how Dumbledore seemed to have created a little test for her brother to make sure he was the 'Chosen One' and yet it made perfect sense as to why he would do such a thing.
The emerald-eyed girl was now one of the most powerful Slytherins in the entire house, though not with her magic. Having been good friends with Draco since before Hogwarts, Elysian was welcomed with open arms and slowly, with everyone she helped, she had worked her way up to being the Queen of Slytherin with Draco being the Prince that everyone had to go through to speak to her. Admittedly, this hadn't been part of her plan until at least fourth year – she would have to change some of her plans – but she couldn't have been happier with how it had turned out this year.
It seemed no one in Slytherin was staying for the holidays so Elysian was going to be alone for Christmas – she was not going home even if they tried to force her – especially since Neville would be going home to visit his parents.
"Sorry you've got to say, Elly," Draco had said when he found out. "My parents would love to have you around."
"We both know my parents would never agree to it," Elysian sighed. "And since I'm only eleven I'm not allowed to abandon them – even if they abandon me first."
"Owl me any time," the boys had ordered her as they got on the train to leave.
It was then that she noticed her brother coming towards her holding his trunk. He scanned her body before looking at her with confused eyes and annoyance written on his lightening scared face. Ronald was getting on the train to get them a compartment and so didn't notice that his best mate wasn't behind them.
"Where's your trunk?" Harry asked.
"In my dorm," Elysian said, her face not turning from looking at the train.
"Well you better go and get it, the trains leaving soon and you don't want to miss it," Harry ordered.
"Why would I need to get my trunk?" Elysian asked. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Yes, you are," Harry said like she was joking. "You're coming home with me, we're sending Christmas at home."
"No, I'm not. Didn't Lily and James tell you?" Elysian had stopped referring to them as 'mum' and 'dad' a while ago. "I'm staying here for Christmas."
"What?"
"Yes, I am," Elysian said.
"But don't you want to spend Christmas with family?"
"I am," Elysian said. "Haven't you gotten it yet? You're not family Harry Potter, you're a biological relation that's all."
Harry stared at her in shock.
"Now I'm going inside to con some elves out of hot chocolate," said Elysian. "You better get on the train though, it's about to go."
And with that Elysian had walked off back to Hogwarts leaving Harry alone on the platform.
When she arrived in the Slytherin common room, she was shocked to find Pansy, Tracy and Daphne waiting inside along with Theo and Blaise. Each one had a wide grin on their faces at her shocked look and quickly ran to engulf her in a hug.
"I thought you guys were going home?" Elysian said when they all sat down.
"Nope," Blaise grinned. "How could we abandon our Reina?"
"For the last time, I'm not a Queen."
"You are now!" Tracy Davis grinned. "Now let's go enjoy our Christmas!"
And with that, they began to have fun. Blaise and Theo had convinced them to have a snowball fight which had ended in them freezing and trudging back into the castle where they were met by a sneering Professor Snape. All six Slytherins lowered their heads, expecting to be scolded, and were surprised when Snape commanded a house-elf forward with a tray of hot chocolate.
"Thank you, sir," Elysian said after she had taken a mug.
"Yes well, I can't have my Slytherins freezing to death. Too much paperwork."
They watched as Snape glided off to the staff room before returning to their common room and beginning another round of games.
~EP~
On Christmas Eve, Elysian went to bed looking forward to the next day for the food and the fun, but not expecting any presents at all. She stared up at the ceiling of her dorm, Ares cuddled into her side, with only her thoughts left to comfort her. Elysian gently stroked Ares' head with a strange look etched into her features.
"Do you think I'll get anything from my parents, Ares?" she asked softly. The panther, now almost full-sized, purred but shook his head before curling up again. "Yeah, I didn't think so either."
When she woke up the next morning, however, the first thing she saw was a small pile of packages at the foot of her bed. A gasp escaped her before a smile lit up her face with childish amazement.
"Merry Christmas!" Daphne called as she and the others burst into her dorm. Elysian was quick to scramble out of bed and throw on her dressing gown before the boys could see anything they shouldn't.
"You too," Said Elysian. "Would you look at this? I've got actual presents."
"Well yeah, what did you expect?" Pansy asked.
"Didn't you ever get any presents before?" Daphne asked softly.
"Not really... I used to get some from my godfather... before he was put in Azkaban," Elysian answered. "Then it was only the house-elves that got me presents and Neville and the Weasley twins."
"Oh, you poor darling!" Tracy wrapped her arms around Elysian, hugging her for dear life.
"Less of the soppy stuff, let's open some presents!"
Laughing the friends all sat down in a circle and began opening presents. Elysian insisted that she go last, she didn't have presents often and so she could wait to open them. Everyone was so happy with their presents that soon all of them were waiting on her to open hers.
"Your turn, this ones from me," Pansy handed her a small present wrapped in silver paper.
Elysian opened it carefully and was shocked to see a beautiful silver snake bangle at wrapped around her top part of her arm. She quickly hugged the other girl and moved on to Tracy's gift, inside was a book on dark spells and dark creatures.
"Just make sure you hide it well," Tracy winked.
Blaise gave her a small box filled with expensive cakes and sweets which she happily shared and Theo gave her a beautiful charm bracelet with a crown on it.
"That explains these," Daphne said as everyone held up different charms.
"I figured you could use it to keep us all close, even if we're far away. The crown represents you by the way."
Smiling, she also spotted a broom, plant and two matching party poppers already on the bracelet representing Draco, Neville and the twins. Daphne's charm was a small dress, Pansy's was a makeup box, Tracy's was a book, Blaise had fire and Theo had a tie. It made perfect sense and there was still room to add more as it had been enchanted with an enlarging charm.
"I'll treasure it always."
"Make me look cheap," Blaise joked.
"Not my fault I have a woman who knows what a girl likes," Theo joked as he referred to his mother.
There were still four presents that were waiting for Elysian to open. Grabbing the biggest one she wasn't surprised to see that it was from Neville, he always liked to go above and beyond the norm. The present inside was a majestic cat crate for Aries who had been sleeping on the bed and had come down to inspect his new home, the panther had grown slightly over the term and was now the side of Elysian if he stood up on his back legs. The next two presents were from the twins with Fred giving her a book on harmless pranking spells and Gorge giving her a load of joke wands she could easily customise and prank people with.
The last gift was from her parents...
"Are you going to open it?" Daphne asked.
"Might as well," Pansy said.
"Maybe it's something cool," Tracy said.
"Doubtful," Blaise said.
Gently and carefully, she removed the wrapping paper and picked up the note that was lying outside the box.
Elysian,
Your father and I were disappointed that you decided to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas as we had wanted to give you this. It's an old Potter family heirloom meant to be given to the eldest daughter upon her eleventh birthday. We hope you enjoy it.
The Potter family heirloom they had been talking about was a beautifully had crafted golden diadem with rubies encrusted in it. Elysian placed the diadem closer to her eye and gasped, the rubies began glowing – violently. Instantly Elysian knew something was off and quickly slammed the box shut ordering Tracy and the others to get away from the room and soon following them. Aries seemed to have sensed the trouble too as he quickly bolted from the dorm after them.
"Go get Snape!" Elysian ordered.
"What's wrong?"
"JUST GO!"
Immediately Daphne did as she was ordered to and a few moments later Snape came charging into the common room with his wand raised.
"What's going on here?"
"A piece of jewellery my parents gave me has been enchanted with many powerful hate and compulsion charms, it looked like it was about to explode and I didn't know what to do so I told everyone to get out."
"Twenty points to Slytherin for forward-thinking."
He entered the room slowly and cast a quick charm on the box, lifting it and taking it far away whilst ordering them not to go back into the dorm until he had checked it. He returned a few moments later and checked the room, saying that it was alright for them to go back inside.
"What happened?" Pansy asked.
"It seems Miss Potter was correct; the diadem had been enchanted with many different charms which would have forced the wearer or anyone who touched it to hate Slytherin with all their heart. However, the rubies enhanced that effect and if she hadn't gotten you all out you would have probably been fighting to the death right now," Snape answered. "I shall inform the headmaster immediately."
"Thank you, sir," Elysian said.
"Your parents hate you, don't they?"
"Well if they didn't before, they're going to now."
~EP~
After the diadem, Elysian had instantly ordered everyone to go to the library with her so that they could do some research. No one complained as they didn't want to be anywhere near the common room after they found out what could have happened should they have remained.
"So when are you going to the third-floor corridor?" Daphne asked softly.
"Tonight," Elysian answered.
"What!"
"If I don't do it now then it will be too late, my brother is getting ready to brave the corridor as we speak, this is my only chance!"
"Then I'm coming with you," Daphne said.
"What?"
"Well you can't go alone can you?"
"But-but—"
"Don't," Daphne said. "You're going to need all the help you can get. Theo and Blaise will come too, right?"
"Right."
"Tracy and I will play lookouts," Pansy said.
"We're doing this?" Elysian asked.
"Well if you're going, we're coming with you," Theo said.
"Thank you."
"Anything for our Queen."
~EP~
Slowly they kept down the corridor and towards the staircase. Teachers were patrolling up and down the corridors near each common room just to make sure none of the students who were remaining behind would sneak off after dark. They had almost been caught three times and had barely managed to get onto the right staircase when McGonagall walked into their line of sight and they all flopped to the floor as the staircase began to move. Elysian made sure that the Gryffindor teacher was gone before motioning for everyone to move again, it seemed they had moved just in time before the stairs began to move again.
"If you want to go back, I won't blame you," said Elysian turning to her friends. "We have no idea what's waiting for us down there and I don't know if we could survive any of it."
"Daphne said it the best. Where you go, we go!" Pansy said.
"You're the best guys," Elysian smiled.
"Can we not hang out here where we can easily be seen?" Theo asked.
"Right," Elysian nodded. "On to Fluffy."
Elysian pushed open the door.
As the door creaked, low, rumbling growls met their ears. All three of the dogs' noses sniffed madly in the direction of the door, despite not being able to see who lay beyond it. Elysian was the first to step inside and instantly Fluffy relaxed, allowing her to let the others in before putting the three heads down on the ground and whimpering softly.
"Hey Fluffy," Elysian whispered happily. "Told you I'd be back." She scratched his head lovingly.
"How are we going to get him to move his paw?" Blaise asked. Upon hearing his words Fluffy quickly moved the paw above the trapdoor out of the way and barked softly at them. "Never mind."
"You're such a smart puppy aren't you?" Elysian grinned scratching the middle head with a grin. "Now Pansy and Tracy are going to keep you company okay? I and my friends just need to see what's under that trapdoor."
"This is so cool!" Tracy whispered as she pet another of Fluffy's heads.
"Are you two going to be alright?"
"We'll be fine... good luck," Pansy said.
"You too. Remember if we're not out within two hours go and get a professor," Elysian ordered.
"Hopefully I won't have to," Pansy sighed.
Elysian slowly opened the trapdoor and stared into it. There was nothing but darkness as far as the eye could see but that didn't deter her, Dumbledore wanted her brother to get to the stone so he wouldn't make it too dangerous. Taking one last look at all of her friends, she closed her eyes and jumped landing on a pile of vines she instantly recognised as Devil Snare.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine!" Elysian yelled up and soon she was joined by Theo and Blaise and Daphne.
"We must be miles under the school," Daphne gaped looking around.
"Luckily this plant was here to break our fall," Theo said.
"Lucky?" Elysian exclaimed. "We are nowhere near lucky! This is Devil Snare!"
Immediately they all began struggling as the plant wound its way around them, trapping arms at their sides and locking legs together so they couldn't move. Elysian was trying her best to reach her wand but found it almost impossible to do as her wand was in her pocket and was just out of her reach. Deciding to try something, Elysian stopped moving and began holding her breath, she was shocked when it began loosening and she was free to reach her wand.
"Ready?" Elysian asked.
"For what?" Daphne cried.
"LUMOS!" A giant flash of green light filled their sight as the Devil Snare retreated into the wall it had come from. This caused them all to drop to the ground with a loud THUMP.
"Ready for that," Elysian answered.
"Ow."
"Sorry."
"Don't worry about it," Theo soothed. "Let's just keep going."
They began moving down a passageway to the left of them, Blaise going first with his wand held in front of him, and soon arrived at a small slope that reminded Elysian of Gringotts. They continued and found themselves in a brilliantly lit chamber filled with hundreds of key-shaped birds.
"Now that's cool," Daphne gasped.
There was a door on the other side and Blaise was quick to creep across towards it only to find it locked and unable to be opened by a spell. He noticed the lock was the same size as some of the keys and turned back to yell at them.
"I think we're looking for an old-fashioned key, probably with silver in the handle!"
"There!" Theo said pointing to it. "But how do we get to it?"
It was then that Elysian noticed a broom in the centre of the room and poked Theo to get his attention. "You're the only one here with the skill to catch it, think you can do it?"
"I'll do my best."
Theo jumped on the broom and began zooming around the room chasing after the key they needed. The other keys began to swarm him as Elysian and the others looked on in fear for the friend. The Knott heir then threw the old key down to Blaise who threw open the door and grabbed both girls, pulling them inside before watching as Theo jumping off his broom mid-air and rolled into the corridor, Blaise slamming it closed right after.
"Well that was fun," Daphne joked.
"Shut up Daph," Theo gasped.
The next chamber was so dark they couldn't see anything at all. But as they stepped into it, a light suddenly flooded the room to reveal an astonishing sight.
They were standing on the edge of a life-size chessboard, behind the black chessmen, which were all taller than they were and carved from what looked like a black stone. Facing them, way across the chamber, were the white pieces. Daphne, Blaise and Theo shivered, the white pieces had no faces.
"Now what do we do?" Elysian asked.
"It's obvious, isn't it?" said Blaise. "We play our way across the room."
Behind the white pieces, they could just make out the shape of another door.
"How?" Daphne asked.
"I think," said Blaise. "We have to join chessmen."
He walked up to a black knight and put his hand out to touch the knight's horse. At once, the stone sprang to life. The horse pawed at the ground and the knight turned his helmet to look down at Blaise.
"Do we – er – have to join you?"
The black knight nodded. Blaise turned to face his friends.
"Give me a second..." he said. "I believe we've got to take the place of four chess pieces..."
"Well you're the only one out of us that's good at wizard chess so tell us what to do," Elysian said.
"Right. Daphne, you take the place of the castle... Theo, you can take the place of the bishop and Elysian, you can be the Queen."
"Why am I not surprised?" Elysian muttered. "And you?"
"Me? I'm a knight, your most trusted knight."
The chessmen seemed to be listening because at these words a knight, bishop, queen and castle turned their backs on the white pieces and walked off the board leaving four empty squares for them to stand in.
"White always moves first," Blaise said. And with that, a pawn near Daphne moved two squares.
From then on Blaise began directing the game with skill no one thought he had. Almost none of their pieces had been taken and he had only moved Theo once but sadly his winning streak didn't last long as there was only one move left and Blaise knew that it could very well be his last.
"Blaise?" Elysian called out, she had seen it too.
"Elly, it's our only option... I should be fine!" Blaise called back.
"But..."
"Trust me... I'll just get a quick scratch then you'll be free to check the King and you can move on."
"What's going on?" Daphne called.
"What are you going to?" Theo called.
"He's going to sacrifice himself for us!" Elysian shouted. "And possibly get himself killed."
"Don't do it!" the other two yelled.
But Blaise didn't listen.
"Knight to E6," and with that, the game was over. Blaise was knocked from the horse and thrown against the wall as Elysian ran to check the King. Daphne ran over to check on Blaise and knew that someone would need to take him back.
"I'll bring him back," Theo said. "You two go on ahead."
"Are you sure?" Daphne asked.
"I'm sure, don't worry about him," Theo smiled before throwing Blaise over his shoulder and retreating from the room.
"This better be worth it," Elysian said.
Slowly they went through the next door and were faced with a chamber filled with different goblets and bottles. Instantly Elysian realised that this was Snape's protection and picked up the note that had been left for them.
The danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, whichever one you find,
One among us seven will let you get ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead,
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line,
Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,
To help you make your choice, we give you clues four:
First, however, slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;
Second, different are those who stand at either end,
But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are a different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and second on the right,
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.
Daphne let out a great sigh and Elysian, amazed, saw that she was smiling, the very last thing she felt like doing.
"Brilliant," said Daphne. "This isn't magic – it's logic – a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here forever."
"But so will we, won't we?" Elysian asked.
"Of course not," said Daphne. "Everything we need is here on this paper."
"Right! Seven bottles: three are a poison; two hold wine; one will get us through the black fire and one will take us back through the purple."
"We just need to figure out which one to drink," Daphne nodded.
It took Daphne a few seconds of reading through the note, again and again, to finally get the answer they needed.
"The smallest bottle will get us through the black fire – towards the stone."
"But there isn't enough for two... this one will take us back through the purple fire," Elysian held up a goblet. "So drink it and go."
"No –"
"Daphne, this is my quest and my choice okay? You told me that everyone thinks of me like a Queen... well, a Queen's first duty is to her people and right now I am protecting my subject. We both know Dumbledore set this up for my brother and we also know that I'm one of the only people who can do this... so take the goblet and go find Theo and Blaise. If I'm not back in one hour then get a professor and go... good luck."
"But –"
"That's an order."
"As my Queen commands," Daphne said quietly as she took a gulp of the potion and began walking through the fire. "Good luck."
"You too."
Elysian tipped the small amount of potion into her mouth and continued onwards, the fire didn't even faze her as she walked into the next chamber and was shocked at what she saw. There was a mirror, just a mirror, standing in the middle of the room with fire surrounding the outside. She stepped down towards it carefully and ended up standing right in front of the mirror.
An image began to appear in the mirror of her and her parents happily hugging and acting as a true family... something she had always wanted but then it changed. Now Elysian was standing in a grand throne room with a crown on her head and everyone cheering her name. the image changed again and ended with Elysian handing a potion to Neville and watching his parents slowly come back to life. The image changed for the final time and it showed Elysian standing in the mirror holding the stone and putting it in her pocket which the real Elysian then felt and smiled upon discovering the true stone inside.
"Good luck, my Queen," a celestial voice called from all around her as the fire suddenly disappeared and she was free to go back. "You will do great things..."
~EP~
The end of the term had finally come and Elysian was dreading returning home to her family. The philosopher stone was hidden with Aries and she had already sent a letter to its creator asking if she could have the recipe to the healing potion to help her friend. She had hoped to be able to give Neville the potion for his birthday but she knew she would need to be very secretive about it. Dumbledore had been shocked when Harry had returned with the stone, not in hand and had gone back to find it but he couldn't find it either. No one suspected the fact that four other students had gotten there first and Elysian wanted to keep it that way. She wouldn't let anyone know what she was planning just yet.
Her parents had, of course, praised Harry for going and saving the wizarding world again – it also caused Slytherin to lose the house cup as Gryffindor decided to cheat – though what had shocked her was that her parents had praised her on her perfect grades for once. She soon realized they were only doing it so that she would become their spy but she accepted the praise anyway.
Saying goodbye to her friends for the last time, Elysian boarded the train and began to think of what next term could come...