ARIETIS.
000. / Prologue.

Asphodel Potter turned over in her bed, unwilling to get up. Just as she was about to grab her comforter and place it over her head a cool breeze flew by her.

This was impossible because just as she let Hedwig off for a fly last night she had closed the balcony door. And despite their personalities, none of her roommates were morning people and liked to stay in their beds a little longer.

Which meant no opening the balcony doors until they had time to hang out.

Asphodel opened her eyes to an elevated white marble stone. This was definitely not her room, her mouth twisted like she tasted something sour, which meant my wand was still on my bedside table. She laid still for a bit, listening to make sure that nobody was watching her.

"This is not one of your spy movies, Ash. I know you are awake." Asphodel sat up and huffed when she heard Neville Longbottom's voice. Way to ruin her cool moment. She was itching for a fight.

As she turned around and sat up her jaw practically dropped when she saw how elegant their setting was. They were sitting in a round amphitheater surrounded by Greek columns connected by a roof. A lone female statue stood on the far edge and despite this was the heart of the structure.

Greenery grew in abundance accenting the lake the structure was surrounded in. All in all, it was a dream that you would expect to only be in your deepest fantasies.

"When and where did Fred and George gain enough resources to pull this off?" Standing up she went to the middle of the amphitheater to walk down the steps to be at level with Neville who was looking all around them nervously. "This isn't a prank, Ash. A few of the others were awake when we were summoned to this place."

"And where is Ron and Hermione?" It seemed kind of arrogant to assume at first it was just Neville, Ron, Hermione, and her being just here. But could you blame her? Other than Neville they have been involved in almost every great plot happening at school.

Multiple sets of footsteps had Neville relaxing as they looked off to see a familiar group of people hop along the floating stones that led out from the amphitheater into the lake and elsewhere. "Ah, looks like Potter is awake now."

Draco Malfoy's familiar swagger made Asphodel roll her eyes, especially as Pansy Parkinson joined him in making fun of her. "Let me guess, Longbottom had gotten bored and decided to kiss our Sleeping Beauty awake."

Blaise Zabini didn't even take one good look at her as he followed them in, always the silent type. He never cared much what the two of them did anyway even though he was always with them.

"Asphodel, are you okay? You were out much longer than the rest of us." Hermione fretted over her friend, discreetly holding her hand to make sure that her wound from Umbridge's blood quills had not gotten worse.

"I'm fine, just tired from self-studying." A scoff from Draco has Ron rearing up to his full height, he wouldn't forget the fact that he and his friends were in league with Umbridge and her reign of terror. "Please spare us from the sob story Potter. We have other things to worry about other than you. Have any of you found something?"

"Well from the South we ran into a dense forest that went off for miles. It felt like we were running in circles even with the help of magic." Ginny Weasley mumbled, mindlessly picking off the burrs that stuck to her shoes. "Luna thinks that it might be enchanted."

Luna Lovegood adjusted her Spectrespecs on her face. "It was full of Wrackspurts and had many pixies and sprites hidden around. Also, the trees moved." Nobody knew what to think of that and immediately moved on.

"Well, from our end in the East, we found that we are near the sea somewhere and it is all frozen. We even saw some glaciers and mountains. Nothing too otherworldly or imagined I would say." Pansy recalls, a bit blaise about how she was making fun of Luna's creatures. Draco nodded next to her as he was in her group, just the two of them as well.

"I wouldn't discount what Luna and Ginny had seen, in the West we found some gigantic statues almost as tall as the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw towers that were strewn around. They were in weird positions. Almost as if they were in the midst of an attack and were just stopped."

Hermione conjured an image of the statue with her wand and compared the image of Hogwarts right next to it to make her point. "Something is not right with this place at all."

"Granger, we had the memo since we were summoned here in the first place. Way to be redundant." Daphne Greengrass ignored the way that Hermione looked embarrassed.

"Theodore, Tracey, and I found an old castle up North where more of the statues Granger talked about were near the courtyard. The castle is abandoned and completely overrun with vines and flowers. It's been years since anyone has lived there."

"So this was all for nothing." Like always Draco had just dropped a bomb in front of them and now everyone started arguing.

Asphodel just shook her head and walked away, she was not dealing with this so early in the morning. Or afternoon? She did not know what time it was right now and she was not about to assume anything. Blocking out the ongoing argument she walked toward the lone statue in the structure.

She imagined that the woman would have been important somehow. Maybe in education seeing as she was carrying a stack of books to her chest. The books.

She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes on the stack of books and back to the face of the statued woman again.

"That doesn't look the same at all. Are they even the same texture." A presence appeared behind her, startling her when they came close enough to be parallel to her face from the side. It was Theodore Nott and he was not paying attention to how he startled her. "You are right. This is sloppy. The books I mean, no aspiring sculptor would have used plaster to add onto a statue made of white marble."

Bravely, she touched the books and even knocked for effect. "Asphodel, don't do that, you'll break the statue." Hermione's attention on her signaled that the previous argument had been settled although probably not on good terms as they all stood off on their own even farther than usual.

"Theodore said it was made of plaster Hermione, the books, not the statue. This could be a clue or something." Ron slid to the other side of Asphodel and also started looking around. As his father was a muggle fanatic he had many types of muggle things laid around, including puzzles.

With a sweep of his hand, he managed to press a loose stone that sat in the middle of an 8-pointed star ring on the statue's finger. A deep rumble emerged from the statue that had the current trio backing up enough that they were near the first level of the amphitheater's raised seats.

The statue seemed to spring alive as its eyes opened and its mouth opened. "Welcome, children. This is a message coming from Mother Magic, or The Mother as I am also called."

The notable purebloods in the room let out a strangled gasp at the name and even Ginny and Ron looked noticeably pale. Hermione and Asphodel looked confused though, what was the significance of this individual? "The what?"

Daphne's head snapped toward them when Hermione said that. She looked scandalized as if Hermione had done something blasphemous.

It was probably the most animatic they have seen Hoghwart's Ice Queen. "Never mind the fact that you are a muggle-born, you should know who she is with all the reading you do, Granger. This is Mother Magic, a being who is at the core is Magic. She is the reason why we even exist in the first place. She is the Mother of all."

"Oh." Asphodel hissed at the glaringly big piece of information she was missing. How could she have possibly missed the fact that the Wizarding World had its own deity?

"Rightly, so daughter. I have brought you all together as you all hold a big part in the coming future of your world and now in all others. You see I have had the dream of uniting the many worlds I reside over and bringing you all here will be the start of it all. Although my methods are a little orthodoxal."

It was weird looking at a statue and remembering that a deity was using it as a spokesperson. She had probably seen the whole argument and that was embarrassing. "Don't worry, a good kidnapping does wonders for the skin."

A laugh from the statue prevented many of Asphodel's Slytherin classmates from jumping on her and shutting her up right then and there. "Yes, and how you will reunite with my other worlds will be strange too. You will be reading some books that will provide you with information from the point of view of some individuals living there. Please, step forward so we can start."

VENUS SPEAKS / I know that it is a bit shorter than my usual prologues (*cough* HOT WINDS *cough*) but I did not want it to linger too long because I started drafting the first chapter before the prologue and wanted to continue. I think I did okay for introducing the characters as naturally as I could. Usually, I am horrible with dialogue and interactions. I tend to forget some characters so I was stressing so hard to include them all.

The setting where our group of trios are reacting is the area of the Beast's castle in the movie La Belle et la Bête (2014) based on the original story of Beauty and the Beast and not the Disney version. I watched it when I saw an edit once and I was amazed at the design of the place and the costumes. Plus, Belle is played by one of my favorite French actresses Léa Seydoux. I most definitely recommend it to get that non-Disney fantasy vibes going.

To make up for how short the prologue is I have decided to double update and include a casting so you guys aren't going in blind with how I describe the characters. I understand that some people see the characters differently and you are fully in your right to do so, but don't start mentioning "I don't see (Character) as blah blah blah" or something else. The characteristics will stay the same as the fancasts and you can just leave and write your own book or be blocked. Simple as that.

Until next time,
Venus.