▬▬▬▬▬ CHAPTER TWO ▬▬▬▬▬

ESMERELDA HAD KEPT THE CONTENTS of her dream a secret. She was still in disbelief of it. All this time she thought her father was Sirius Black, the mass murderer now escapee of Azkaban when it was really his younger brother, the dead Death Eater which... honestly wasn't much of an improvement, but there was no use complaining. 

That explained why Andromeda always looked at her so inquisitively and thoughtfully... She probably reminded her too much of her favorite cousin. She even said it herself that she was nothing like Sirius. 

Everything was so screwed up. First she thought her godly parent was a god, then it turned out to be a goddess. Then she was told her dad was a serial killer, only to find out that it was actually the other serial killer, Regulus Black. Couldn't anything in her life be straightforward for once? 

Next thing I know, I'm actually a dAUghTeR oF ArTemIS and Hecate just adopted me to keep me 'safe'. She inwardly snorted. 

She was then tugged out of her thoughts by Lou Ellen's voice. 

"Is that them?" The younger girl asked. 

"Huh?" Esmerelda snapped her head up to where her sister was staring at and saw Ted and Andromeda Tonks walking up to them. Diagon Alley was bustling with incoming Hogwarts students and their parents, so it took a while for the pair to reach them. 

"Hello Esmerelda." Andromeda greeted pleasantly. She turned her attention to Lou Ellen. "You must be her sister, Lou Ellen, yes?" 

Lou Ellen's cheeks had turned pink as she nodded and mumbled a 'nice to meet you'. Esmerelda rose a brow at that but kept quiet. 

"I see you've grown over the summer." Ted noted. 

She grinned in reply. "Yep. I'm 5'4" now and still growing."

Lou Ellen grumbled something under her breath and Esmerelda inwardly snickered. The poor girl seemed to be eternally stuck at 5'1" but to be fair, she was still young and had a few more years left to grow. I keep telling her to eat her beans and greens, but she never listens. If she stays short forever, it's on her. 

As they walked to the next shop, Ted fell into step with her and whispered discreetly. "So, uh, that coin purse you mentioned... it really gives you unlimited money?" 

She knew exactly where this conversation was going. "You want me to buy you something, don't you?"

"No, no, 'course not..." He trailed off, but she noticed the way his eyes lingered on Quality Quidditch Supplies as they passed by. Or more specifically, the advert plastered on the window. With her glasses on, she was able to read it perfectly. 

THE FIREBOLT!

This state-of-the-art racing broom sports a streamlined superfine handle of ash, treated with a diamond-hard polish and hand-numbered with its own registration number. Each individually selected birch twig in the broomtail has been honed to aerodynamic perfection, giving the Firebolt unsurpassable balance and pinpoint precision. The firebolt has an acceleration of 150 miles an hour in ten seconds and incorporates an unbreakable Braking Charm. Price on request.

"You want a broom?" 

"It's not just any broom!" He hissed defensively, eyes darting over to his wife who had yet to notice him. "It's the newest one, and it's said to be faster that anything else." 

"I'll get you that broom if you send over your fried mac and cheeseballs over to Hogwarts for my fourteenth birthday. And I want ten of them." She brokered. 

"Deal." 

She grinned. He grinned back and returned to his wife's side. 

Lou Ellen replaced him. "So uh... that's your aunt, huh?" 

"Yes?" Esmerelda replied. 

"She's hot." Lou Ellen admitted. 

She rolled her eyes. "I knew you were into her. You know she's too old for you right? And she has a husband? And a daughter older than the both of us?" 

Lou Ellen sighed wistfully. "It really is a shame... She's so pretty..." 

"You should see the rest of my family," she snorted. "They're all good-looking. It's too bad they're all either dead or crazy." 

The redhead frowned. "It's always the hot ones that are shady..." 

She couldn't argue against that. 

When they reached the last store of the day, Flourish and Blotts, Esmerelda sneakily handed Ted the coin purse and told him to be back soon. The man shot out of the store so fast he nearly toppled over a bookshelf and several costumers. After telling Andromeda that he left to retrieve his fallen cellphone, they resumed searching. 

"So what classes have you decided to take, dear?" Andromeda hummed as her eyes scanned through the books. 

"Ancient runes and divination," she replied. "Hecate kids have our own runes that I've already learned, so I'm curious about the ones here. And I picked divination so I'd be more prepared for any catastrophic events that are gonna hit me." And they would hit her. Such is the life of a demigod...  

Andromeda pursed her lips a little. "While ancient runes is a good choice, divination is more conjecture. If you don't possess the Inner Eye, you won't be able to predict anything." 

"Wait what?" She nearly dropped the book about magical poisons on the floor. "So I won't be learning anything useful?"

"Perhaps. I'm not sure. I never bothered with the class, but I've heard a lot about it. Mostly complaints..." 

Wonderful, she thought. Now she had to add Divination to the list of classes she'd have to skip, alongside Defense Against the Dark Arts because after two years of incompetent teachers, she wouldn't be surprised if the trend still continued. At least she had more time to learn more magic... 

Ted returned just in time. After purchasing her school books along with the ones Lou Ellen wanted, Esmerelda thought shopping would be over, but she was wrong. 

"You still need to get your wand." Ted pointed out. 

"But I don't need one anymore?" She furrowed her brows in confusion. 

"Well, yes, but it's still mandatory." He explained. 

She pouted at that, but relented anyways. On the way to Ollivanders they ran across a pair of blondes that she immediately recognized. It was Draco Malfoy and his mother, Narcissa. Draco sneered upon noticing them while Narcissa merely stiffened. Ted stood awkwardly at the side, glancing over at Andromeda anxiously. 

"Cissy." Andromeda said. It was a nickname, but it didn't sound very affectionate coming from her lips. It sounded cold. 

Narcissa's lips curled. "Andromeda... how pleasant it is to see you and your... husband again. And these two young girls?" 

"Family friends." Andromeda replied loftily. 

"She's from Hufflepuff, mother." Draco sneered, as if being in Hufflepuff was a terrible thing. "I don't know who the redhead is, probably another Weasley." 

"Enough of that, Draco." She admonished gently. Draco scowled, but stayed quiet anyways. 

"It was nice seeing you again, sister," Andromeda said in a tone that suggested that seeing Narcissa again was the opposite of nice. "If you'll excuse us, we'll be on our way now." 

They walked passed them and continued on without turning back. Lou Ellen and Esmerelda exchanged looks, upon which the younger girl mouthed 'family drama?'. 

Esmerelda nodded, 'family drama', she confirmed. 

Ollivander was already staring at her as she entered his shop, as if he had been expecting her arrival. "Esmerelda..." He greeted. "I take it you broke your wand again?" 

The Tonks stared at her with an expression that read 'this isn't the first time?'

She smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry." 

He nodded in acceptance and motioned her forward. He grabbed a random box from behind it and whipped out the wand. "Dogwood with a unicorn hair core. Very rigid and nine inches long." He held it out to her, looking pained. "This... this is one of the most strongest wands I could make. I'm pos—well... I'm almost positive you won't break this one." 

She took it and gave it a flick. A warm glow appeared on the tip and Ollivander sighed in disappointment. "Twenty five galleons." 

They paid for it and headed out the store. Ted clapped his hands together, "So how do you kids feel about some ice cream before you head back?" He had this wide, almost childlike grin that she knew had to do with the successful purchase of his brand new broom. It would be delivered over to his place in a few days, which would give him enough time to brace himself for Andromeda's reaction. 

"Definitely," the girls said in unison. 

"This is good..." Lou Ellen complimented. The best thing about Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor was that costumers were able to request multiple scoops of ice cream and they wouldn't fall off the cone. Something about an edible sticking charm, Ted had explained. 

"I wish we had this at camp all the time..." Esmerelda lamented. Ice cream was an unhealthy dessert that was only given out on rare occasions. 

"Well, Esmerelda, I think it's rather wise to serve young children healthy meals and portions. Merlin knows we need that in my house." Andromeda quipped, giving her husband a judgmental look. 

"Yet you ask me almost every day to make you your favorite baked lasagna with mornay sauce." He chuckled. 

Andromeda sniffed daintily as she returned to her strawberry shortcake sundae. 

Esmerelda was just about to eat another spoonful of her cold treat when a bark caught her attention. She glanced over outside the little fence surrounding the outside of the shop and saw a dirty look large dog. It was massive, with matted black fur and curious grey eyes. It stared at her, it's head tilted as if it were thinking about something. 

"That's a huge dog..." She muttered. "And kind of cute... Are you hungry? I can't give you any ice cream." She was so glad that while she could transform into a dog, she didn't have the digestive system as one, meaning she could eat foods that dogs couldn't normally eat. 

Hesitantly, she reached over the fence for the dog. 

"Esmerelda!" Andromeda gasped. "Don't touch it, that thing is filthy!" 

The dog cocked it's head back, looking insulted. It was funny how human it reacted, as if it could understand what was said. 

Before she could retract her hand, the dog licked it, showing it's acceptance. 

Andromeda made a noise of disgust in the back of her throat. "Now it's salivating all over you..." 

"I think it's cute," Esmerelda smiled as she scratched it behind the ears. She knew from first-hand experience how amazing it felt to be scratched behind the ears. "Kind of reminds me of a bigger, smellier, version of my animagus form." 

The dog froze, staring at her with comically wide eyes. 

"I wish my form had been this huge though," she sighed. "It would've been harder for Ethan to kidnap me and stuff me in that stupid cage..." 

It's jaw dropped and a funny noise came out of it's mouth, kind of like a 'huh?!' sound. 

Lou Ellen scowled. "You should've killed him when you had the chance." 

"Girls," Ted said patiently. "Let's not talk about murder during snack time." 

"Kay," they said in unison. 

The dog could only stare at them, gobsmacked. 

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

The one good thing about her fa—no, uncle, Sirius was her uncle now—uncle escaping Azkaban was that nobody paid attention to her at all. Before the news came, she feared that she would be at the center of attention for being the 'girl who got kidnapped from Hogwarts' grounds'. 

The Daily Prophet had a field day slandering Hogwarts for the petrifications of the students and the kidnapping of one. They also brought to light the staff's lack of action against the threat and how nobody thought to report it to the Auror Department. Esmerelda felt pretty bad since the article was so harsh, but the Daily Prophet found a new obsession with the breakout of Sirius Black and his potential target: Harry Potter.

She slid open an compartment door, hoping it was vacant. It wasn't. It was already full with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and a new addition: a scarred young man snoring against the wall. 

"Essie," Hermione blinked in amazement. She hadn't seen her in months and had completely missed the day she returned to Hogwarts. Her eyes trailed over the streak of grey hair with concern.  

"Hi guys, who's this?" She gestured to the slumbering man, pointedly ignoring where Hermione was staring.

"Professor R. J. Lupin. New professor, most likely for the opened DADA spot." She informed. 

Esmerelda grinned deviously and stalked towards the unsuspecting man. "Anyone got a marker?" 

Harry gave her an amused look. "What are you going to do?" 

"I wanna draw a dick on his face," she giggled. 

"Esmerelda!" Hermione gasped. 

"Do it!" Ron encouraged. 

Esmerelda was about to, until a high whistle blew. She sighed in disappointment. "Dang it, I should probably go look for wherever my friends are... I'll see you guys at school." 

They gave her hushed goodbyes as she stepped out. It took her awhile but she managed to find her Hufflepuff friends all in one compartment. They were all glad to see her. 

"Esmerelda!" Hannah squealed. "Oh my god, you're alright! I heard you came to Hogwarts, but you left before any of us could catch you!" 

Esmerelda accepted the warm hug from the blonde and plopped down between her and Justin. "Yeah, I only came back to pick up my things... Sorry I couldn't be there for your, uh, revival, Justin." 

He shook his head. "No it's fine. I was more worried about you when I woke up and found out that you had been kidnapped. I heard that crazy guy even attacked the engineer too! How did you manage to escape? Or—"

"—Justin!" Susan hissed. 

"Tactful," Ernie muttered under his breath. 

"Oh Essie, what happened to your hair!" Megan cried out, changing the subject. 

Esmerelda winced. "I, um, it's just..." How exactly do you explain that your hair turned grey because of the pain and stress of holding up the skies for thirty hours? "I don't really want to talk about that..." 

"Oh," she said softly. "Well, do you know if you can fix it?"

She shook her head. She had tried everything, but nothing worked. Not even the beauty potions Andromeda had given her to regain her natural hair color.

The conversation took another change and thankfully, they were no longer on the topic about her or her kidnapping. As hours passed, she finally started to drift off into sleep. She didn't know how long it lasted, but she woke up to the confused murmurs of her friends. 

For some odd reason, the train was no longer moving and all the lights were out. 

"What's going on?" Esmerelda rubbed her eyes. There was no way they had reached Hogwarts already...

"The train suddenly just stopped," Ernie murmured. "Nearly fell on my arse too." 

Goosebumps rose in the back of her neck, telling her that something was wrong. She closed her eyes and prayed for patience. She hadn't even reached the school yet and already something was going on... 

"I'll go check it out," she offered, her tone leaving no arguments. 

She stepped outside of the compartment, her eyes taking in every detail in the darkness. It had suddenly grown cold... And then she saw it. Down in the hallway, walking towards her, was a dark and hooded figure... 

Her eyes popped out and she threw herself back inside the compartment, nearly scaring her friends shitless. 

"It's the Grim Reaper!" She squeaked, her voice hysterical as she hastily blocked the doorway with as many trunks and suitcases she could grab. "The Grim Reaper! It's outside!" 

"The what?" Hannah asked. 

"Dark hooded thing! It's walking towards us!" 

"That's a Dementor!" Ernie wheezed, turning as white as paper. 

Soon enough, everybody was joining in on blockading the door. 

"What's a Dementor doing in the train?!" Susan shrieked. 

"Shut up, it could hear you!" Ernie hissed. 

"Hold on, what's a Dementor?" Justin asked, and Esmerelda was glad for that because she had no idea too. 

"It's the worst creature in the world. It sucks out your soul and basically leaves you as a vegetable," Megan whimpered. "It's drawn to happiness though, so maybe it won't come to us since we're all so scared...!" 

It was wishful thinking, but she seemed to be right. After about five minutes passed, that intense cold feeling she felt before was gone now. 

Hannah nearly collapsed with relief. "I think it's gone now." 

"Maybe," Esmerelda said hesitantly. "I'm gonna go see if everyone else is okay..." Because surely a soul-sucking monster would be able to find several victims here. 

She stepped out and was almost relieved when she saw people sticking their heads out of the door. At least a majority seemed to be alive. Suddenly the scarred man from Harry's compartment exited and immediately froze upon making eye contact with her. 

"Esmerelda?" The man breathed out. 

She paled. Oh no. He knew her name! Did Hermione tell him that she was about to draw a dick on his face?!

"Er, nope, sorry sir, my name's Emmanuella." She lied terribly, hastily scurrying away from him. 

"Wait—!" He called out, but she had already made it back to her compartment. 

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Understandably, nobody could fall asleep after that metaphorical trainwreck. Once they finally reached their destination, everyone was all too eager to leave the train and enter the stagecoaches that were each pulled by these skeletal-looking death horses. 

The teachers were already in their usual positions by the time they reached the hall and the sorting began. Hufflpuff gained six new first years, and that was all Esmerelda really paid attention to. It was kind of hard focusing on anything else when most of her House-mates kept stealing glances at her—or more particularly, the streak of grey hair on her head. 

Once the sorting finished, Dumbledore began his speech. 

"Welcome!" He said, beaming. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast..."

Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued, "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business."

"Have they gone mad?" An older student gawked. "We're practically a dementor's feeding ground! And they've brought a whole hoard of them?!" 

Esmerelda, though, noted the straight line on Dumbledore's lips as he said those words. It was obvious to her that having the dementors 'guard' the school wasn't exactly his choice or idea. 

"They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds," Dumbledore said. "And while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises—or even Invisibility Cloaks. It is not in the nature of a dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the dementors."

That wouldn't go well at all. Kids were dumb and cocky. Some are bound to ignore the rules while others would forget them entirely. Either way, they'd do something stupid. Esmerelda wondered how many vegetative students it would take for the Ministry to realize how awful their idea was. 

"On a happier note," Dumbledore said a little more brightly. "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

There was some applause for the shabby looking man, who had yet to notice the venomous glare Snape was giving him. Esmerelda avoiding looking his way, because the dude was looking right at her. She wondered if he was really that mad about the dick drawing even though she hadn't even done it... 

"As to our second new appointment," Dumbledore continued once all the clapping died out. "Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."

Esmerelda clapped with the rest of her students. She didn't really like the thought of Care of Magical Creatures class. Half of the creatures seemed to worship her or want to eat her—she didn't want to take the risk of her teacher bringing in one of the latter ones. 

"Well, I think that's everything of importance," Dumbledore finally concluded. "Let the feast begin!"

The empty platters and goblets started to fill out and Esmerelda was all too eager to push the thoughts of the weird new teacher to the back of her head and focus on indulging herself instead. 

That night, rather than going to sleep like most good little students would, she went straight to the forbidden forest and found the centaurs. 

"So what exactly are the dementors?" She asked Firenze. 

His brows crinkled in distaste. "Foul creatures," he murmured. "But you needn't worry about them." 

Well that was good to hear. 

"But what are they?" She pressed. 

"They're dark creatures," he said with distaste. "The worst in the wizarding world. They feed on happiness and consume souls. The victims are left in a permanent vegetative state."

She gulped. "Sounds pleasant." 

"As I said, you needn't worry about them. They're sentient enough to know to that children of Hecate are off limits." He assured her. 

She let out a small breath. "Well that's good. Do you think they'd listen to me?" 

"Perhaps," he frowned. "Why?" 

"I can sense one coming closer," she muttered, turning away to face a thicket of dark trees. They were far enough that their presence didn't turn everything cold, but she definitely knew that they were coming here. When Firenze tensed up, she glanced back at him. "Mother's a goddess of the Underworld, so I can sometimes sense death and... souls. This one seems to have taken a bunch of them in the past and it's coming here. I'll be right back." 

It wasn't hard for her to track the incoming dementors down. She just had to walk towards the chilling air. The closer she got, the less happier she became. 

She found a lone dementor prowling just a few meters away from where she once was. She felt a little stupid for mistaking it as a grim reaper since they didn't even carry around scythes. They kind of reminded her of ghosts though, but darker and less... talkative. It didn't radiate with death either, and that was how she knew dementors weren't a type of ghost. Instead, she could just feel the souls they've consumed. 

The dementor stilled when she stepped forward. She was about five feet away from it now, but it didn't come after her. She felt herself relax a little. 

"I know you've already been informed of this," she began. "But the only soul you're going to suck out is Sirius Black's, understand? You won't harm any student or teacher here. I expect you to pass this around to the other dementors too. Now go." 

It left without a nod. 

A smile tugged on her lips as she turned back to find Firenze to tell him the good news. 

Her guess was right. 

Dementors would listen to her. 

— author's note —

Decided to update early in celebration of me finishing two essays in a span of two days for two different classes 😌 😌 😌 Outlines, rough drafts, final drafts and all that shit 😌

Remus to Essie: 

Essie to Remus: