What a Novel Idea

OOC: I'm going to stop posting on this thread for tonight. You all handle it however you want. I need to step out of this thread for awhile.

((Jinx, don’t be silly. You entered at a fine time. I just didn’t include your entrance in my reply because Amelia wouldn’t have seen it after she had been hit by the spell. Read on – you will see you mentioned briefly.))

As the ropes tightened around Amelia’s legs she was beginning to panic, forgetting all about waiting for a response from Elijah or figuring out what the commotion was that had occurred shortly after she had been his with the incarcerous spell. The binding was giving her rope burn on her leg, one of which was exposed after her jeans tore falling. Her heart was racing, her breathing coming in bursts as she struggled against the ropes to no avail.

Amelia had always hated the feeling of things being out of her control, but the situations in which that occasionally occurred were not usually this dramatic. Once in a while someone would attack her with a witty statement, one even her barbed tongue could not counter. Other times, she would be lost in thought about the future and realize how little control she had over what would happen tomorrow, next week, or next year. This, however, was a far more dire situation to lose control in, and she could feel panic rising from her abdomen like bile as she squirmed, only tormenting herself further as the ropes cut more deeply against her exposed skin.

Running out of ideas and air – the ropes were crushing her lungs – Amelia closed her eyes, hating the defeated feeling she was experiencing. Just as her will was beginning to fade, Amelia heard Khaat shouting from above her and suddenly the binding sensation that had been surrounding her body subsided. The woman had managed to stop the spell, and a few seconds later Amelia felt her wand pressed into her hand. She acted quickly with diffindo, cutting away at the ropes which had bound her arms and legs to the rest of her body, ignoring for now the angry red gashes on her legs from the rope.

Amazed and grateful to be free from her constraints, Amelia stood up, running on pure adrenaline now. Although she subconsciously knew parts of her body were in pain, the shock of the situation and the flood of energy her sympathetic nervous system had supplied prevented her from becoming aware of it at a conscious level. Instead, Amelia ignored the damage done to her and surveyed the room, taking in everything with a hawk-like sweep, for once not analyzing, but rather relying on instinct. There wasn’t time for anything else.

Khaat was still threatening the death eaters, though she didn’t seem to be following through much on her barking orders. Amelia could not fathom why she would hold back on people who were such an obvious threat to her wellbeing, but there wasn’t time to dwell on that now. Amelia also took in that it was indeed Elijah who stood near the door, a look of utter shock on his face, likely a remnant of seeing his spell go awry. There was also a collection of students huddled against the far wall, cornered by the death eater who had ducked Elijah’s spell. His wand was pressed menacingly against the throat of a raven-haired girl who looked utterly bewildered by the whole situation.

Okay think. Think. You’re only going to get one shot at this. You can’t attack just one, but how will you…

Amelia stopped mid-thought, arriving unexpectedly at an answer she hadn’t anticipated. It was a spell her father was currently working on, untested and definitely not ministry approved. She knew about it only because he had left his notes out on his desk the weekend her mother had insisted on dragging her home to go shopping for a Yule Ball dress.

That’s dangerous! You can’t do that! You know almost nothing about it! You don’t know the effects! her rationality insisted, trying to restrain her.

“I don’t know a lot of things,” Amelia muttered determinedly under her breath without realizing she was thinking aloud, “But I know this isn’t going to fix itself.”

“Palpito Loci!” Amelia shouted, raising her wand with both hands and bringing it down twice, once each in the direction of the two death eaters. A blinding burst of white light escaped her wand, making her arms shake with the struggle of holding onto the thin strip of holly. Immediately after the spell left her wand, the ground beneath the two death eaters began to shake, rattling not only them but the rest of the teahouse as well, sending several cups and saucers to their demise.

((The spell I cast is a direct translation from English to Latin for “shake location”. It is meant to be a “mini-earthquake” spell, directed just beneath the death eaters’ feet. I left the actual outcome of Amelia’s spell on the death eaters and the situation as a whole for someone else to write. Otherwise, I feel a bit like I’m god-modding, even though the death eaters are NPC’s.))

Eli muttered something inaudible under his breath and put his wand back in his pocket. He was crap at duelling at the best of the times. He could fire a couple of spells for going for the old fashioned way of dealing with things but trying to duel coupled with a hangover didn’t help him at all. He groaned as the room shook and ran over to one of the tables. He nodded to one of the scared patrons of the teashop and carefully picked up one of the chairs. He was slightly insulted that Khaat had referred to him as a child but there was more than one way with dealing with Death Eaters. He generally did better when it came to hitting them.

The spell wasn’t helping much for his balance but it seemed to be throwing the Death Eater’s off. Eli waited for one to stumble back close to him and he pulled back the chair and hit the Death Eater close to him around the back of his head. Eli dropped the chair and winced when he heard it hit the man. He chuckled to himself and kicked the mask away. He kicked it towards his bag and fumbled around for the wand which he found with ease. Elijah muttered a spell and quickly Transfigured the Death Eater into a Kitten. It was missing a tail but one was slowly growing despite it all. He was crap at human transfiguration but he could try. It seemed pretty successfully. Elijah put the kitten/Death Eater in the pocket of his jacket and fumbled around for the chair again as the other Death Eater wobbled around.

Eli shook his head and began to crawl across the still shaking floor of the teashop. The other Death Eater was gripping one of the columns for what seemed like dear life and Eli smiled to himself before transfiguring the Death Eater into a cat. He noted with extreme shock that this one was easier to transfigure (considering this guy was HUGE) but that might have been because he was awake. Either that or the Death Eater thought he was a cat.

Elijah held the kittens/Death Eaters in his arms and had the wand between his teeth. When was Amelia’s spell meant to end because whatever it was it was powerful?

(Eli has some more pets now! Yay!)

Amelia grabbed the wall for support as her spell began to take effect, resonating from beneath the death eater’s feet, but slowly extending from there. After a few minutes, the entire room had began to vibrate with the force of the spell, pictures of puppies and lovebirds falling from the wall and crashing in their frames, sending the inhabitants scurrying from view.

Her whole body quaking, Amelia gripped her wand harder and lifted a hand to shield her face from anything that might fall from above. The death eaters were being thrown off balance by the spell, but it seemed much of the rest of the room was as well. Most of the teahouse patrons were already on the ground where they had been hiding since the death eaters came in, but at few of the more chivalrous – or was it stupid? – boys were standing, shielding their lovers behind them. The quake threw some of these off balance as well, sending at least one couple sprawling onto the floor in a flurry of flying limbs.

The death eaters were confused by her spell, as she might have expected them to be considering no one but her father and his colleagues was supposed to know about it. He would likely have her head on a silver platter when he found out she had used his research, but at least then she will have died by her father’s hand and not that of two still unidentified death eaters.

Speaking of the death eaters, they were slowly beginning to overcome their confusion and react to its source, meaning their attention was now focused on Amelia. Before they could do much of anything, though, Elijah acted, this time without his wand. One of the spindly-legged chairs Madame Puddifoot had so lovingly hand-painted came crashing down onto the head of the shorter death eater, sending him to the floor. Elijah’s wand then reappeared, transfiguring the unconscious death eater into a… kitten?

That was unexpected, Amelia said, her thoughts surprisingly calm despite the chaos around her as the second death eater met the same fate as the first, his cat form hissing as Elijah picked it up, trying in vain to claw its way out of the boy’s strong arms. Amelia could not help but laugh aloud at the scene in front of her, though whether from nerves or actual humour it was hard to say.

But her laughter did not last long, for she soon realized that the spell she had cast had yet to subside, still shaking the teahouse yet more violently. It seemed to be feeding of the energy it created, growing exponentially, and Amelia realized with dread that she did not know how to stop the spell. Although she had seen the incantation and its effects written on the bit of parchment in her father’s office, the counter spell had not been listed.

Now what? her mind probed, poking her in hopes that she would think faster.

“Get all the students out!” Amelia shouted as the walls began to shake more violently, rattling the candles in their holders. As the smattering of adults in the room began to hurriedly rush the younger students out of the building, Amelia pressed her fingers to her temples, trying to concentrate. The quaking was spreading quickly from the points of origin, and she was running out of time before the building collapsed on itself. With determination – and a good deal of fear – Amelia looked up just in time to see Madame Puddifoot herself sneaking out the door behind the last of the couples, holding a handkerchief to her mouth and sniveling.

“Well, at least she won’t be around to see the place cave in if this doesn’t work,” Amelia muttered under her breath, slightly peeved that the owner herself was so frightened that she had made her escape without offering assistance.

Here goes nothing…

“Finite!” Amelia shouted, loudly enough to be heard over the rattling of the room. It was a last-ditch effort, using the spell Khaat had earlier to stop the ropes from binding her. Having pressed her eyes closed as soon as she shouted the incantation, Amelia stood stock still and blind, hoping beyond hope that the inside of her eyelids would not be the last thing she ever saw.

The teahouse stopped its quaking at Amelia's command. An interesting spell to be sure. And an even more interesting choice of spells for that particular moment. Not ill-thought, Khaat mused. She looked around. There was no more sign of a death eater anywhere. She looked back at the teahouse that was in desperate need of some "Reparo" spells. She noticed some of the adult wizards already using their magic to shore up the building itself and make sure it was safe.

Khaat chose to go back inside. She began repairing things with "Erecto" and "Reparo' charms. She wanted the teashop to be put back together. She could have used a more complete charm to handle everything at one time, but part of her wanted to find a way to work off some of her tensions and some of her stress. So one item at a time. It would probably not make sense to anyone else, but it made immense sense to her. A part of her felt like this was her fault. If she had had her coffee at home, the death eaters would not have come looking for her.

Maybe she needed to go find the death eaters and confront them directly and try to get them to leave her daughter alone. If she did that, it meant literally throwing herself on Lucius Malfoy's mercy. That sounded ridiculous in her own ears. Lucius Malfoy and mercy did not belong in the same sentence. He had no mercy. No, that was only suicide for the sake of feeling helpless and frustrated, and that would not do. She thought of Miseria--her new daughter, and Rob, her new found love. She did not want anything messing that up. Not even Lucius Malfoy's thugs. And as far as she was concerned, a Death Eater was nothing more than a magical thug. It did not cause her fear or an over abundance of anxiety. Eventually, she just always either got bored of their attempts to instill fear, or she got angry. She wasn't sure how she felt this time, so she just kept repairing things and righting things, one item at a time. She saw she was being joined by students who were actually enjoying their opportunities to practice some very basic spells. That brought a warm spark to an otherwise cold and increasingly dismal morning.

The mini-quake seemed to stop instantly and the conscious cat stopped hissing and scratching. Eli raised an eyebrow and watched as Nachash sprung from inside his jacket and landed on the cat. Elijah had to have a double take. The snake was massive. He rolled his eyes as the Death/Eater kitten and Nachash began to have a mini argument and he cradled the other tiny kitten in his right arm. It was black but had several dots of white on its body and was over all a very pretty animal. Eli glanced over at the snake/cat fight going on and rolled his eyes once more before taking his wand from between his teeth and pointing it at the kitten in his arms.

Slowly, Eli began to rotate the tip of his wand. He could feel the semi-liquefied matter that was memories and slowly began to modify them; telling the kitten that he was in fact meant to be a cat. He resisted the temptation to change the sex of the Death Eater mentally and just focused on making sure that when he woke up he wouldn’t be hostile and would just act like a normal animal. Elijah had a feeling that Snoop would be beyond irritated and Ziva would merely hoot at him in disgust at the thought of having more animals. However, Nachash seemed the only one with an unpredictable response. Obviously she felt threatened.

“Animals.” Eli muttered. He received a passing glare from his snake and saw one of the people inside the shop run out - probably to be sick no doubt. Seeing a snake escape from someone’s skin after having an earth quake shake a tea shop where you were probably gossiping with your friends was a bit much. Just a bit - only the tiniest bit mind you.

The ‘sleeping’ kitten seemed fine so Elijah opened one of the larger breast pockets in his jacket and pulled a piece of cloth out from inside. He wrapped the kitten up in the cloth and carefully tucked him into the pocket but making sure he didn’t close it. He then scooped the other cat up and began to edit his memories which didn’t take too long because apparently this Death Eater often fantasised about being a cat - a kitten specifically.

I detest your animals, Elijah. Nachash said silkily as slid up and around him once more to rest on his shoulders. I hope that woman kills them. They’re too much trouble for what they’re worth.
Eli rolled his eyes and looked pointedly at his snake who was now fashioning some Slytherin earmuffs and a matching scarf. He raised his eyebrows in amusement and Nachash made a sort of shrugging movement before settling so watch her surroundings.

Elijah got up and picked the other cat up with him. He turned him onto his back and tickled the fluffy little stomach of the ginger cat and smiled before Nachash wrapped her tail around the animal and lifted it up. He knew Nachash wouldn’t hurt them but Eli was starting to feel like a bit of a menagerie or like the cat-woman on that American show where everyone seemed to be oddly yellow.

He walked over to Amelia and waved a little. He was feeling sheepish though but was fully awake and sober(ish) so he was fairly confident his spells would be on target next time. He felt awful though and couldn’t help but chew on his bottom lip as he made his way over to her. He heard Nachash and the kitten hissed but he chose to ignore them and let Nash catch onto one of the columns and scare the kitten.

“Are you alright?” Eli asked quietly, not wanting to meet her eyes just yet.

With her eyes closed, it took Amelia several minutes to come to terms with the fact that the shaking had stopped. The quake that her wand had produced did not stop immediately, but rather subsided over time. At first, Amelia had feared that her mistake would cost her life and those that still remained in the building, the latter a greater dread for her than the former. But after a few tense minutes of holding her wand aloft, frozen on the spot, Amelia felt the rumbling quiet and she was able to peek one eye open to make sure that her counter spell had had the effect she hoped.

Looking around, it seemed as though her senses had not deceived her. Although there was rubble all around her, a clear sign that the spell was still in the experimental stage, the quaking had ceased and the scene in front of her no longer moved up and down with an unseen force. Letting go of a breath she had not known she was holding, Amelia exhaled heavily. Opening both eyes now, Amelia lowered her arm from its place above her head, letting it and her wand fall alongside her.

Amelia, visibly shaken by the events, still did not move even after her mind regained its function. She watched as the adults and older students filtered back in to the tea shop, some to gawk and others to help with the repairs. Looking around, she could see that the damage to the building and its contents was extensive. Everywhere, broken glass, spilled tea, and splinters that had once been chairs lay on the floor. Most of the decorations on the walls had fallen to the ground, and it seemed that not one of Madame Puddifoot’s teacups had survived the spell.

Maybe this will be her chance to purchase some that actually hold a human-sized portion of tea, Amelia’s mind probed, trying to look on the bright side of a very dismal situation. How had she gotten into this mess? She had come here to avoid notice, to read her book in silence, but instead she had ended up being the critical element in a death eater battle and – this part was epitomized by the steely gaze of the owner – the bane of Madame Puddifoot’s existence.

Amelia winced and looked away from Madame Puddifoot, not able to meet the gaze of someone she knew was very, very disappointed in her. Amelia could handle many things, and she didn’t have much fear. She was afraid of emotions, yes, but she had spent so much of her life controlling them that they had become to seem a secondary fear to one other: the fear of disappointing people. Amelia worked so very hard to live up to the expectations others had of her, to always say the right things, and to give her parents the perfect daughter they wanted.

But perfect daughters don’t destroy tea houses. Burdened now with both the exhaustion of having used the spell and the weight of the stares that were now beginning to fall on her, Amelia extended her arm behind her to find a chair, finding one after a moment’s search and collapsing into it. She was surprised to have found one still upright and intact, but this paled in comparison to other emotions. The moment she hit the chair, fatigue settled over her body and mind, and with these so thoroughly taxed Amelia did not have the energy to try to bend her emotions to her will. Let them be what they would be.

This letting go the dam which held her emotions back was an unexpected turn of events, and it happened so rarely that Amelia did not have the capacity to anticipate what it might bring about. She let her head fall into her hands, covering her face so she would not have to endure the looks everyone was giving her, some of confusion, others of anger, still others blank. It was only after she felt the dampness on her face and raised a finger to confirm that she hadn’t been imagining it that she realized she was crying.

About the same time, Amelia heard Elijah’s voice from above her and she pulled her hands away and tilted her head to see him standing there. He wasn’t looking at her, his eyes averted to the left, though at what she didn’t bother to check. Seeing him there, realizing what he must think of what a mess she was, Amelia immediately brushed the few tears away with the back of her hand, trying in vain to stop them.

He can’t see me like this… Amelia thought, pushing harder against her cheek as if that would keep the dampness there from showing.

“I-I’m f-f-f-fine,” Amelia answered, hating herself for blubbering. But she couldn’t stop herself. Whether it was the cuts on her leg – suddenly far more painful now that her parasympathetic nervous system had taken over -, the prospect of facing her father – and likely the ministry – for performing experimental magic, mental exhaustion from the past half an hour, or some combination of the three, Amelia’s eyes continued to leak those traitorous tears, averting Elijah’s as though by not looking at him he might not see her breaking down.

The feeling of being on air had left him some time ago and Elijah was feeling very run down. He had intended of getting a crepe and peering around at Madam Puddifoot who was now bawling her eyes out in some random person’s arms, he didn’t think it would be a possibility. The House-Elves made a pretty mean pastry so maybe there was hope for him and his wake up meal yet. However, going to bed seemed like a much more attractive prospect. He knew though, despite the fact that he could feel the warmth of the silky sheets around him that it wouldn’t happen. There was too much to do and he had to get the kittens out before Khaat noticed. She certainly didn’t want him going off with Death Eaters in kitten form.

He was quite talented at transfiguration and memory charms by default which he didn’t really want to explain to her. A fifteen year old shouldn’t play with memories like he just did but it turned out that Death Eaters were more odd than they looked. Especially the one that actually contemplated being a cat on more than on occurrence. Elijah pitied Lucius if he was honest. What idiots did he have in his ranks if one of them wanted to be a fluffy household pet with no opposable thumbs.

His dark eyes drifted back over to Nachash when Eli heard a hissed. He raised an eyebrow and saw his snake hissing angrily at who ever had been stupid enough to touch her. The other kitten who had obviously escaped from her grasp was now running across the floor and avoiding feet in an attempt to get over to them. Elijah smiled and lifted the cat up. It mewed and he chuckled before sitting down beside Amelia. She was a wreck and no amount of him and his menagerie could help her but he could try.

Elijah wrapped an arm around Amelia and hugged her close to him. The little animal looked insulted for a few moments before trotting up his leg to sit between them. Eli rolled his eyes and scratched the kitten between the ears before kissing Amelia’s forehead. He rested his cheek against her hair and sighed. He wasn’t sure what else he could do but rub circles in her back and whisper soothing words - all of which he now decided to do.

“Mia it’s alright.” he murmured in her ear. “Calm down, darlin’.”

What are you doing? What happened to the stone wall we built?

Amelia’s mind was reeling from the tears which leaked from her eyes, her shoulders shaking each time she tried to inhale. Her lungs were shaky from crying and she was only able to take in short bursts of breath, making her feel light-headed. After realizing it was a fruitless effort, Amelia let her hands fall away from her face, the tears making tracks down her cheeks now that there was nothing in their path. The smattering of freckles across her face were magnified where the water tread, her eyes already beginning to turn an unattractive shade of red.

Still not looking at Elijah, Amelia could sense his movement but did not look up to see what he was doing. She was still ashamed of the tears that had sprung up unexpectedly. How could she have been so strong in the face of the death eaters, thinking on her feet and finding the spell that eventually led to their fall – literally – and then be breaking down not even five minutes later?

I should have just had my tear ducts removed at birth, Amelia thought angrily as Elijah sat down next to her. She knew he must think her a bloody fool for crying like this, and he wasn’t the only one to see it, either. She could sense movement all around her and the sound of reparative spells. She was angry with herself for being so vulnerable, but more so for showing it.

Amelia tried to move away from Elijah as his arms closed around her, still humiliated by her current state, but he was too quick for her and ended up getting an arm around her away. The warmth of him spread across her cold skin, flooding her with heat and companionship to replace the confusion. She also felt a brush of fur against her arm, and upon lifting her eyelids just slightly she was able to see that one of the death eater kittens had taken up the small space between them.

Although a moment earlier Amelia had begun to replace her tears with anger, the moment Elijah’s arms closed around her she felt all the emotions rising back to the surface. The kiss on the forehead was what really put it all over the edge. Although Amelia knew his actions were intended to be supportive, she felt as though she was breaking all over again in his arms. More tears fell from her eyes, and she buried her face in his shirt to hide them from his eyes.

The worst part of it all was that she could not even explain why she was feeling this way in the first place. Rational, logical, and always in control Amelia had no explanation for her own behavior, which made her feel insignificant and vulnerable for the first time in a long time. It seemed that by holding back these same emotions for so long had now multiplied them ten-fold, allowing them to overwhelm her defenses and leave her sniffling into Elijah’s shirt.

Amelia’s mind was trapped in her body, realizing on a conscious level that her tears were unwarranted and foolish, but she was unable to regain control of herself. Try as she might to rationalize or be in command of this sudden emotional outburst, for every step she took out of the hole she was in, she slipped backward two, perpetuating the circumstances that made her hate herself for being weak.

“I c-c-c-can’t…” Amelia whimpered to Elijah, her words muffled by his chest, “I w-w-w-want to, but I c-c-c-can’t!”

Elijah sighed and kissed Amelia’s forehead again. She was falling apart at what looked like the seams and he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want her to be upset anymore - especially seeing as there was nothing he could do. Elijah bit his lip and continued to rub circles in Mia’s back. He lifted her arm and looked at the mild lacerations on her forearm, wrist and upper arm. He sighed shakily and rubbed some of the escaped blood away.

He was beyond guilty and couldn’t believe he was that stupid. He knew full well that he wasn’t fully awake and he couldn’t aim right. Elijah didn’t know what he was doing. How could he protect anyone without resorting to Muggle methods and Transfigurating people into cats. He was pathetic.

Eli sighed and stood up. He leaned down and lifted Mia up into his arms. He wasn’t happy but the least he could do was take her back to Hogwarts. The Death Eater kitten scowled and jumped onto one of the tables before launching himself into Mia’s lap. Elijah rolled his eyes at the animal and walked over to the pillar Nachash was on. He whistled to the snake who hissed a response and continued attacking the poor person.

Elijah walked over to one of the fixed tables and he carefully sat Mia on it. He crouched down in front of her and put his hands on her knees. The Death Eater mewed in frustration but trotted off of her lap to sit down beside her. Eli sighed and looked up at Mia.

“Amelia Lyons calm down.” Eli said sharply before making his voice softer. “You’re going to be alright, okay? I’m here for you and I always will be.”


(Sort of crappy. I'm more of a thread opener kind of person but I think it was alright. It is sort of interesting that he has said that though... hmm..)