The Next Generation

[choki]

Nikolaus reappeared in the middle of the street. The night sky was brightly lit by the full moon and from a distance, the silhouette of the castle could be seen. He looked around for the sight of the others, but no one was seen nearby. He guessed the long distance apparation did affect its accuracy. Nikolaus was not a regular of Hogsmeade. He had only been into this village once on a business trip and had long forgotten by the station was.

He surveyed around and spotted the nearest building. It had a dirty look and a strange hanging sign of a severed boar's head. Nikolaus approached it and soon found out it was a pub named Hog's Head, although it smelled strongly of goats. Although he had been hungry for a while, the appearance of the pub was enough to put a stop to his craving. Just as he was about to pass through the pub, an elderly man stumbled out of it.

"Nasty goblins... just one more and I'll turn them in goats!" The old man grumbled as he stood outside the pub for a breather. Nikolaus looked at the strange old man and began to chuckle. "He must have turned everyone into goats for the whole place to smell like a whole herd lived here."

The old man heard him and shouted rather fiercely, "Who are you and what are you doing outside my pub!"
"Er.. no... nothing," Nikolaus replied as he suppressed his chuckling. Unsatisfied with the young man's answer, Aberforth strode up to him.
Nikolaus looked up at Aberforth as he spoke, "What is so..." and then he paused with an astonished look on his face.
"Er... are you okay?" At the back of Aberforth's head, the image from his younger days with his brother and sister played on. And then that man appeared... that man who "took" his precious family away...
"You... you are still alive..." Aberforth took his wand in hand. Almost instinctively, Nikolaus reacted and casted Protego as the curse deflected off in time.
"What the hell was that about!"
"Grindelwald, you!!"

[*Riley*]

Liam felt as if someone had taken the air from his defencless lungs and left them punctured.

He landed and fresh air scorched his lungs with pleasure.

And before he knew it Valencia was talking to him.

"No, I want to stay, Geneve needs me and quite possibly I'm the closest thing she'll get to a friend"

[FawkesthePhoenix]

Valencia smiled, although it didn't reach her eyes. "I'm glad your willing to be there for her. Lord knows we'll all be needed some support." She paused for a moment, obviously getting her bearings. The her face clouded over and her eyes turned pure silver. Valencia quivered, bent over and retched. "NO!" she shrieked. Valencia could feel Marcellus's blood boiling in her veins, trying to overcome. Against her will, she took a step forward. Her hand was forced to her wand. "Not.......... my.......... magic.......... never." she choked out the words, struggling to regain control over her senses. Her metamorphmagus powers were going berserk. White hair. Red hair. Green hair. Tall. Short. All switching as soon as they appeared.
Then it all stopped. Her hair settled on black, chin length, and projecting everywhere, her height settled on short. Her eyes returned to green. Her wand fell back into her pocket. Valencia straightened up. Liam was staring at her, clearing terrified.

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Geneve breathed deeply. "Hmmm..." she said, uncontrolably. She could sense something in the air she could not define. It was delicious, breathtaking, desirable. She needed it. "Mmmmm...." she said again, licking her lips, desperate to taste it. She knew whatever it was, it was the one thing she needed to feel complete. She felt her heart fill with an odd sensation. Excitment? But it was darker than that. She fingered the wand in her cloak pocket. She watched Harry Potter as he lead the way into Hogmeade, and ahead of them was Valencia and Liam. Harry had broken into a run. Valencia was doubled over, and Liam was backed against a wall, looking terrified. They reached the two just as Valencia stood up again. She composed herself nicely; she was a beautiful woman, Geneve noticed, but Geneve saw in her eyes a darkness retreating. Was that what she sensed? Harry was consoleling her, and Geneve approached.
"Are you all right? You looked like you were being attacked?" Harry said, slightly out of breath.
Geneve placed her hand on Valencia's shoulder. She closed her eyes. She could hear someone speaking. "Bottle it." she heard it say. "Capture it." Geneve opened her eyes. What did she have to capture? She asked the voice silently. "Power..." it hissed. Geneve winced. How can you bottle power? She asked the voice. She was interupted.
"What are you doing?" Harry said, and shook Geneve back to present.

[FawkesthePhoenix]

Valencia felt an electric current flowing through Geneve, and quickly backed away from her.
"I'm fine." she said, rather breathlessly. "I just didn't realize........." then Valencia heard someone scream, "Grindelwald, you!"
"Grindelwald? I think I'd better go see what's going on." she turned to go.
"I'll come with you." Harry took a step forward.
"No that's alright, I'll be fine. You stay with Liam and Geneve." Valencia gave Harry a meaningful look, begging him to understand that she couldn't let Geneve get her magic. Then she set off down the street, being careful to blend in with the shadows.

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Geneve stared after Valencia. She felt a painful aching in her chest, like something very important was drifting away. Harry brought her back to her senses.
"We need to get off the street. Those people might be around. Come with me. I know of a place where we might be able to send a message to your parents, Liam. Also, I need to tell Ginny, Ron and Hermione that I'm all right." Harry ushered them down the street in the opposite direction, and ducked into a shop. Geneve took one last look at Valencia's figure disappearing down the street, then she followed Harry and Liam into the shop.

[choki]

Nikolaus narrowly avoided another hex as the insane old man continued his mad antics.
"I'm not Grindelwald! Stupefy!" Nikolaus shouted, trying to counter curse with a stunning spell.
"You cunning fox... I recognised that face and those eyes of yours." Aberforth asserted. Somehow, his words rang a bell to Nikolaus. It was not the first time he had heard such comment that linked him with Grindelwald. Surely, if he had any connection to Grindelwald, his family should have been linked. But no... Grindelwald died that night at Nurmengard in the hands of Voldemort and he had no surviving descendant...

Aberforth saw the opening and took his chance. "Expellairmus!" Nikolaus's wand flew out of his hand and landed a few feet away in the grassy patch.

[*Riley*]

Liam was led by Harry into a shop, he saw Harry cast a patronus and it ran off into the distance .

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Geneve watched with amusement and amazement as the shimmering stag made it's way down the street. She looked at Harry, who answered her questioning stare.
"It's a way to send messages." he said. Geneve was so over not being trained in magic, having been trapped in the muggle world her whole life. She was determined to be a great witch. She felt the determination well up inside her. She turned to Harry and Liam, her mind was spinning; she could feel her pupils dialate so that her eyes would have appeared almost black. She spoke. "I'm going to see Valencia now. You should wait here." her voice was layered and hypnotic. Harry brought his hand to his forehead.
"What... how did you?" He collapsed into a nearby chair, doubling over in pain. Liam approached him.
"What did you do?" he shouted at Geneve. "Stop this!" Liam ran at Geneve, grabbed her shoulders and shook her. She was a bit shorter and smaller than Liam, and she stared up into his face, an odd little smile was across hers. Liam let her go. She did not move, she stood there, eyes locked on Liams. He stared into the darkness that swirled within her. He felt terrified, but in another way, he recognised something in her eyes; it wasn't Geneve... it was him.
Suddenly, Geneve grabbed Liam's face in both of her hands. Liam collapsed to his knees, suddenly weakened. She bent down onto her knees and held her hands over his ears, holding his face upwards. Liam felt like she was crushing him. All he could hear was a rushing sound, like being underwater. He was drowning. He closed his eyes, and collapsed completely into her lap. She was laughing. Just before he passed out, he could feel her stroking his hair. Did she say it, because he was sure he heard it. "I'm sorry Liam. You can't help me, so you might as well try to stop me." She let his head rest on the floor, and her felt her cloak brush his face as she exited the shop.

[FawkesthePhoenix]

Valencia emerged into the street in front of The Hog's Head to see Aberfourth Dumbledore disarm Nikolaus.
"Aberfourth, Nikolaus, what are you doing? There are dangerous wizards roaming about and you're standing here, brawling in the streets! Do you have a death wish?" Valencia hissed, just loud enough for them to hear. "Expelliarmus!" she muttered, and Nikolaus's wand flew into her hand. She gave the wand back to its owner. "Now you listen to me. I'm giving you your wand back not because I aprove in the slightest of your behavior, but because everyone needs to be able to protect themselves at a time like this. Now you two shake hands and forget whatever quarrel you might've had. Aberfourth, I expected better of you." Valencia looked sternly at him.
Then, out of nowhere, she heard her grandmother's voice. "The girl is coming. She knows she needs your magic. Flee." Valencia froze. Grandma? How....? "No time to ask questions. Go." And Valencia went. She disapparated to Italy, into a small side street, where some friends of her's lived.

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Geneve approached the Nikolaus and the stranger. They looked at her curiously. She took out her wand, tilted her head and looked at the spot where she knew Valencia had just diapparated. She stepped forward, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Show me." she said. Then inside her mind she spoke "Show me how to follow her, Grandfather." she felt like someone had placed their hands on her shoulders. She opened her eyes, and she could see a sliver of light to the right of Nikolaus. She stepped forward, and felt herself disapparate again. She landed in another street, more gracefully than ever before. She looked around; these were old buildings, much like ones in Europe. Maybe Italy, Greece? Geneve knew it didn't matter. She started to walk. If Valencia used magic again, she would find her.

[*Riley*]

Liam stirred into conciousness and sat up, it was darker than before and now that he looked around he seemed to be in some sort of mini-library.

"Harry-Harry wake up!" Liam urgently whispered into Harry's ear.

He awoke suddenly, staring wildly,

"Where's Geneve ?"

"She ran we've got to find her!" he replied while snatcing his wand off the ground.

"C'mon let's find her"

[FawkesthePhoenix]

Valencia crept into a discreet doorway and followed a long passage into an aging house. The place smelled awful, but she knew she couldn't use any magic, as muggles lived just next door. Valencia would wait until she was far into the labrynth of passages this house held before casting any spells.

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Geneve continued to walk down the narrow street. She heard someone hoot above her from a balcony. She looked up. A man was leaning over the balastrade; he wolf whistled at her and shouted something in another language. Geneve looked up at him curiously. He was waving his hands at her, and she got the idea he was being very rude. She thought to herself, "What a fool, doesn't he see I'm a child?" she caught a glimse of herself in the window to her left, and took a moment to look. When her hair was down, she looked much older, and she noticed too that she had a chest like a woman would. Her young face seemed older.... tired. The man interupted her thoughts, this time from a doorway to her right. He had come downstairs, and brought two of his friends. Geneve did not move. She looked at him, and felt disgust and hatred burn in her heart. The man tried to grab her, but she backed away with ghostly speed. In a second, she had pulled out her wand and uttered something she had never said before, but meant it completely, "Aveda Kadava!" A green light filled the street, the man collapsed so hard onto the ground that the pavement cracked. There was blood pooling around his head. The other man was terrified. He started to back away, pleading. Geneve looked from the man on the ground to the man blundering. She raised her wand, and he ran away.

[*Riley*]

Liam felt as though something was missing, and he knew it was Geneve.

He had a longing for her, a voice inside him seemed to echo,

'Geneve come back'

it lept repeating itslef over and over again.

Liam ran out of the shop with Harry behind now with the voice becoming more persistent.

He saw several cloaked figures ahead and he knew it was trouble.

The masked figures spun around to see Liam standing there looking awkward , he had a rip across his cheek and tattered hogwarts robes, no wonder they were staring.

A sudden jet of green light flew past Liam, Harry immediately stepped in,

"Expeliarmus!' he shouted and it hit ones mask, it slid back and Liam saw the brutal face of Lucius Malfoy.

"It's Potter!"

More jets of light and more pain followed the minutes that went by.

A sudden orange flare hit Liam square in the chest.

Pain seared through him as he twisted in agony, he would surely die of this pain.

'Geneve!' he thought, 'Help me'