Prophecy

Prophecy, 2^nd year

Chapter 4

Christmas morning, Emma woke Rose, Melissa and Tiffany up caroling, and their laughter woke Lisa. A few minutes later, James flew in the window and took pictures of four beautifully decorated trees, before releasing the girls from Lisa's hex.

Lisa sat on her bed, with her wand in one hand, and her coffee cup in the other. James was very polite. "When you're ready, Manticore is gathering in the Hall. There are a couple of things I need to give everyone."

Lisa stared blearily at James, and then looked in her coffee cup. "Fifteen minutes Yank, if you get out of my room so I can bloody well get dressed." James carefully hid his smile until he was out the window.

Thirty minutes later, the last Manticore straggled into the Hall, and the doors were shut for only the second time this year. All of them, even the ones that had left school the preceding year were here, along with Albus Dumbledore and Alexander Evans.

"I know most of you have families waiting on you in Hogsmeade, so I'll keep this short. I am about to give each of you a gift. A gift, and a ring. Don't lose the ring, as you're paying for its replacement, and the Manticore signet rings are eight hundred and fifty galleons each."

An instant of frozen silence exploded into talk and shouted questions. James held up a hand, and waited for silence. "Each ring has a small Magicrystal in them, all cut from one stone. The scrolls you will get with them explain how to use them. You can talk to any one Manticore, your whole team, or everyone at once. Friends, they are equipment, don't play with them too much."

James called each Manticore forward to receive their rings. The rings were simple yet elegant in design, with the Manticore symbol on the face, surrounding the Magicrystal. On the left side of the ring was the team symbol and the individual signature was on the right. Each Manticore also got a Muggle made Swiss army knife with a couple of wizarding functions added to it. Each knife was engraved with the signature of the recipient.

When James was done, Sonya stood up. "Excuse me, but Manticore has some things for Chimera as well." She pulled a scroll from a bag, and began reading it. "For Lisa, in recognition of your extreme talent." Lisa's gift was a book of brainteasers. The wizarding book could be written in, and when you thought you had an answer, you wrote it in the book. If you were right, the book turned blue. If you were wrong, it turned red.

"For Hangeld, in light of his accepted Hazardous duty." Hangeld got a potion proof poncho, that might save him from Emma's experiments

"For Emma, in hopes she doesn't turn us all into frogs, or something." Emma's gift was a small red leather case, which held a traveling potions kit. It also traveled well, because every time you tried to open it, it grew legs and ran away.

"For Adam, in hopes that somebody can finally win something against him." This was another book, full of the worst strategies of the last three hundred years.

"For Melissa, simply because nothing else fit." Melissa opened her gift, to find a quill. She stared at it, and then at Sonya. She tried it in her notebook, and looked at what she'd written. Sonya grinned at the expression on her face. "I might have forgotten to mention, it only writes in Sanskrit." The laughter in the hall was general by now.

"For Rose, in recognition of her attempts to maintain something resembling normalcy in Chimera." Rose tore the wrapping off her gift, to find a short club, engraved with every one of the Manticore's symbols, and the words 'Very Big Stick' written on it. Remembering all the times Rose had claimed only a very big stick could influence James, the Hall broke out in laughter again.

When the laughter quieted, Sonya turned to James and Tiffany. "Finding a gift for the Crazy Yank, and the Brit Nutter was hard. After all, they already have a brush and a hammock." She paused for the chuckles to stop. "Finally, after much debate and long thought, we decided on this." James and Tiffany opened the thick package to find a photo album, with the first two pages empty, and then one page of pictures for each Manticore. The Manticores were listed in order, and followed by the Wolfpack Trainers and Professor Dumbledore. "We assumed that you could figure out who the first two pages are for."

James looked at Tiffany, listening to something she said, and then grinned at the Manticores as he dismissed them to their families. "Thank you all, but you're still paying for the rings if you lose one."

Dinner in Hogwarts that night was a small affair, as most of the Manticores were staying the night in Hogsmeade with their families. James and Rose were sitting with Emily Kitchen and Jaime Clinton of Phoenix. The rest of Chimera was scattered, with Emma, Hangeld, Tiffany and Melissa joining their families. James blinked, and looked around the dining hall. "Sister mine, where are Adam and Lisa? Their families didn't come, but they're not here either."

Rose glanced around the hall, and then tried to touch Lisa and Adam with the Chimera link. The two of them were shielding tightly, and she couldn't figure out what they were doing, until the feel of them alerted her. "James, touch them with the link, and tell me what you think."

James reached down the link, and studied the pair for a minute. He smiled suddenly, and relaxed. "It took a minute to figure it out," he confessed to Rose, "If I didn't have Tiffany's memories of us, and the way we feel, I wouldn't have. How did you do it?"

"Far be it for me to suggest you're not quite bright Brother dear..."

"Keep it up flower child, I want to test the 'forty feathers' prank anyway."

"Is it finished? What do you think?"

From there, the conversation between the twins became a discussion of pranks and ideas for pranks that would market well. The two of them were so engrossed in the topic that they forgot about Lisa and Adam, and the feel to their shields that said they were Up To Something.

One of the students in the dining hall was May-ling, and after dinner was over, James took advantage of that to invite her, and the three or four other students up to Manticore Hall.

May-ling was a short Chinese girl with shoulder length hair and strange eyes. James and Rose ended up talking to her for a couple of hours after the others had gone to bed. They found her to be very perceptive, with an oddly adult sense of humour and a large store of historical knowledge and trivia.

Around 2300, they were the last three in Manticore Hall, and they were sitting around the fireplace, in a relaxed silence. May-ling looked up at James from the flames she'd been staring at. "I think," she said quietly, "that we should talk. I think you have as many questions for me, as I have of you." She smiled slightly. "Shall we trade information? I'll explain why magic doesn't affect me, and you can tell me why you're building a private army using military skills."

James watched the fire, and thought quickly. He liked the girl, but without Rose and Melissa's ability to tell him if he could trust her, he wasn't sure if he wanted to tell her about Manticore yet.

May-ling seemed to know what he was thinking. "You don't have a lot to tell me you know. The Fraternal Order of Manticore is a cover for an army. You have six, possibly seven combat teams, with support elements, including the staff of Hogwarts. However, you do not have the support of the Ministry of Magic."

James sighed. "Would you mind telling me what gave us away? Maybe I need to rethink the openness of our training."

May-ling smiled, and began ticking off points on her fingers. "PT in the morning, classic habit of the military for centuries. Groups of people, walking in step, and keeping the same measured stride. Groups that watch everything around them, and sit or stand in positions that allow them to cover each other. Most important, I watched the snowball fight, and the use of military terms and tactics was quite apparent to anybody watching you."

James raised an eyebrow as he thought about what she'd said. "Tell me how an eleven year old from London's south side knows military terms and tactics first."

It was May-ling's turn to stare at the fire. She began to speak softly, and she talked for more than two hours.

"May-ling Sun Tzu is my name, but I am neither eleven, nor from London. I am the granddaughter of Sun Tzu, who wrote 'The Art of War'."

James stared at her, wondering if she was crazy. Sun Tzu had lived more than two thousand years ago, which would make May-ling at least that old. Rose was watching her carefully, trying to evaluate her on her tone and body language.

"Yes, I am a bit older than I look, and that is my mother's fault, and my curse."

"My father did not have the prestige of my revered grandfather, nor did he have the intelligence that allowed grandfather to navigate the murky waters that were politics then. In my tenth year, he was executed falsely, as part of a convoluted plot."

May-ling looked into the fire for the longest time, remembering the events of her youth. "My mother was never that stable, but she loved my father dearly. He was the center of her world, and to have him beheaded for a crime everyone knew he didn't do drove her to madness. She found a Dark Wizard, and the two of them created an evil spell, tied to family bloodlines."

James looked up intently. "A Wizard, May-ling, or some sort of Shaman? Bloodline spells are easy to do in Clan relationships."

May-ling shrugged. "We didn't make a distinction between them in those days. If you could do magic you were a Wizard."

May-ling continued her story. "The two of them sacrificed my brothers, and used the end of Sun Tzu's line to kill the Magistrate, all the men who lied about father, and the executioner. Along the way, they also destroyed their families, killing everyone with any of their blood. Aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, parents, children, they all died in a single night."

James and Rose looked at each other with the hair rising on the back of their neck. That was truly an evil spell. Their attention was brought back to May-ling as she spoke again.

"The Emperor sent a troop, and his personal Wizard to restore order. They caught mother and the Dark Wizard quickly, and in the interests of equal justice, every member of their families was sentenced to die. One of the village Elders said that doing so would not be justice, as mother had caused the death of six hundred and fifty-three people, and the Dark Wizard and mother's families only totaled one hundred and nineteen."

May-ling looked at twins, and smiled wryly. "I understand his point, that the deaths did not add up, or constitute 'equal justice', but I have long wished he'd kept his mouth shut. The Emperor's Wizard agreed with him, and chose me to serve justice. He cast a spell, granting me immortality, so long as my work is not done. I will remain as you see me, until I have done good to equal the evil they did. They killed six hundred and fifty-three, I have to save that many before the curse is broken, and I can age and die normally."

May-ling stretched, and reached for her chocolate, long since grown cold. Taken a sip, she moistened a dry throat and finished her tale. "So far, in all this time, I have saved but thirty-one lives." She looked at the twins. "Most people do not listen to children, nor allow them to risk their lives. In the place I come from, it was even worse, and three times as bad since I am a girl."

Rose choked. "Great. Somebody who wants rescue things as bad as you do, James, and with even less reason to be afraid. I'm going to have gray hair before I'm twenty-five."

James was thinking about the story. "That does not explain why magic doesn't effect you."

"It will, but it takes a great deal of power to push a harmless spell through the curse. Anything that would hurt me, can't be pushed through the curse at all."

James blinked, and then looked at May-ling with a new light in his eyes. "Does that include the Unforgivable Curses?"

May-ling stared at him. "I don't know, nobody ever tried to use one of them on me, that I know of." She looked at Rose, who was staring at James, and then directed her attention to James, who was lost in thought. "What is he thinking of?" she asked Rose.

"Trust me, you don't want to know."

May-ling blinked at them both. "Right then. I'll just be running along now."

James looked at her. "Don't you want to hear about the Para-military army I have?"

May-ling shook her head. "Not if waiting to hear the tale means you're going to be casting curses on me. I've been cursed once, and that was enough for me."

James shook his head now. "No curses, I promise you. At least, not yet. I have some friends that would just love to study your curse, and see if they could break it though."

May-ling stared at him, a tiny light of hope shining in her eyes. "Can they do it? I would be most grateful."

James shrugged. "As to their ability to break it, I don't know. However, even if they can't, there are other options, and I have the time and the money to try most of them. Do you want me to start?" James stared at the girl intently.

May-ling was not a fool. "What am I committing to here?"

James and Rose took turns filling May-ling in on Manticore, and the Prophecy.

"So you want me to help you, and in return you will try and help me break this curse, so I can age normally or at least die?"

James looked startled. "Why would you want to die? There is a lot of living that you could do, if you could age normally."

May-ling sighed, and for a minute, her eyes were old, and infinitely weary. "I have seen, and experienced things I would forget. Life is not always a blessing."

James thought about all the things that could happen to a person over two thousand years, but shook his head. "I will not help you die. Live, yes. Age, yes, but not to die."

May-ling looked at him. "You offer more hope than I have had in three hundred years. Maybe you can show me joy in life again."

Rose spoke for the first time in a while. "What are you doing in school anyway? I would think that you knew most of this stuff already."

May-ling shrugged. "I go back to one school or another every hundred years or so, hoping that something new will allow me to break the curse."

James was planning. "Tomorrow, we set Melissa, April and Emily on this, as a priority." He grinned, and added, "I think we'll tell Prefect Moore about you, and tell Jerrick he and his father were right about you."

May-ling looked puzzled. "Prefect who?"

James looked abashed. "Sorry, last year he was Prefect Moore. The assistant Librarian is one of us, and a historian. I would be the cursed one if I failed to introduce him to someone who has witnessed two thousand years of history."

The three talked about things awhile longer, and went to bed.

The next morning found May-ling in the hall telling her story to an avid group of Manticores. Moore had nearly had a heart attack when he found out her age, and was busily trying to decide whether to write her history, or question her about the things she seen and lived through first.

The three researchers James had assigned to her curse had consulted for a couple of hours, and then dragged May-ling off to the lab for tests. Since they needed a lot of power to push spells through the curse, they recruited Adam to cast for them. While they were poking and prodding, Moore was asking her questions about where and when she been over the years, so he could outline and research what was happening in that time and place.

Jerrick was smugly happy to find his father had been correct; May-ling had created all the records at once, before using magic to put them in place.

Professor Dumbledore had listened to her story gravely, and promised his help as well. He had left Manticore Hall and returned a short time later, and was watching the three researchers test the limits of the curse.

When May-ling had come in this morning, she had handed James a load of scrolls, and wished him luck with them. When he asked what they were, she had grinned. "Nothing much. Only my grandfather's notes on strategy from his entire life."

James was now sitting at Chimera's table, reading and making notes on the scrolls. Tiffany had tried to distract him a couple of times, but he was "generally acting like Emily", and even that sally didn't get a response out of him.

Tiffany sighed as she looked at her obsessed Soulbonded. The day she'd arrived at Hogwarts for the Sorting Ceremony, she'd known about the Prophecy, but she's been more concerned with the state of her robes than the state of the world. Bonding with James had been a serious shock, and she'd nearly gone completely mad. Tiffany's easygoing, friendly nature had met James's obsessive paranoid nature and clashed. Badly.

It was only the hidden side of James's personality that had saved them both. Under the Pendragon temper and obsession lay a compassionate boy who had spent his childhood rescuing anything that needed help, from wounded wolverines to eagle chicks, and everything in between.

Every time Tiffany thought of that side of James, she had to smile, and look at the Unicorn incident again.

"Do you mind?" came an exasperated thought from James.

"Not at all," Tiffany said brightly, "That has got to be the funniest thing I ever saw."

James flared up in embarrassment again. "I swear, if you ever tell anyone about that, I'll tell everyone about your crush on."

Tiffany interrupted him hastily, even as she colored in turn. "Never mind. I already said I wouldn't."

At dinner that night, May-ling stopped by the Gryffindor table on her way to the Ravenclaw table. "Your researchers are very intense." was all she said before continuing.

Melissa and Emily were still making notes at the table, and April hadn't even come to dinner. Adam looked worn out from casting spells through May-ling's curse and Moore wasn't at dinner either.

Hangeld, who' been with his father most of the day, looked at James. "What did you do to May-ling?"

"I set Melissa, April and Emily to investigating her curse, and told Moore about her age."

Emma looked after May-ling. "She's going to kill you, you know. She'll be hunting you in two days."

James grinned. "I'm not too worried. It's going to take at least a month before she can get away from those four long enough to take a bath." Laughter ran through the Chimera link.

With James poring over the notes, the three working on May-ling, and Moore doing his own thing, Manticore and Chimera passed the rest of the holidays quietly.

Three weeks after the holidays, Slytherin met Hufflepuff in one of the shortest games ever played at Hogwarts. The Hydra link had all three Chaser slots, and the Keeper as well. With those advantages, Slytherin dominated the match from the start, scoring four times in six minutes, then the snitch practically flew into the Seeker's hand, and the match was over. It had lasted less than nine minutes total.

Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff would meet in March for third place in the Quidditch standings, and Gryffindor would meet Slytherin for the Cup in April. The loser of that match would play the winner of April's match for second place in the standings.

Just before Valentine's Day, the researchers brought their findings to James. Nothing they could do would break May-ling's curse. They had some people to owl, but nothing could be done at Hogwarts.

The problem lay in the curse. The Wizard that had cast it had tied the curse to May-ling's soul, and trying to alter or remove it caused her so much pain that they had to stop.

May-ling received the news philosophically. "I have been trying to break this curse for a thousand years, another few years won't matter that much, and at least Manticore gives me the respect I earn."

With Chimera and the leaders of Manticore being among the youngest of the Manticores, respect was given to you based on your actions, not your age. In that environment, May-ling's age, wisdom and experience counted for far more than her apparent years.

On March first, Chimera sat down with the team leaders and evaluated the first year students. They were looking for replacements, and extra troops in case the Patient Child had a larger army than the seven teams could handle.

The Manticores in each house had been evaluating the new students all year, and now they were ready to offer up any names that might be good for Manticore. May-ling was automatic, and Ravenclaw had one more candidate, a half Veela girl named Levina Edwards. Gryffindor wanted Jerry Rabin and Andrew Sandusky.

Sonya had just one candidate from Slytherin, a cousin of hers from the borders, named Mary Gebbs. Hufflepuff had the strangest nomination. They wanted to recruit Drake Rohan.

"Why Drake?" asked James mildly.

The Unicorn team leader, Zachary Moore explained. "Drake's a good kid, and smarter than we thought. He's already figured out most of what we're doing, and he approached us. He wants to do things, not write about them like his father."

James considered it briefly, and then looked at Rose. "What do you think?"

Rose found Drake's path of now, and followed it forward as far as she could. "He'll be good for us, but not in a link. He'll be a Phoenix, in research, or as an auxiliary."

James looked at his notes. "Is that it then?" He asked frowning at his notes. "Six First Years?"

Debra Valentine, the Dragon team leader spoke up. "I have one more, but he's not a first year."

James looked up, catching the strange note in her voice. "Well, who is it?"

"Dirk Clave."

An uncomfortable silence fell over the Team leaders as Chimera drew a blank on the name. James looked around at the Team leaders that wouldn't meet his eye. "OK," he said, "Somebody tell me why Mr. Clave is so bad."

Debra jumped to his defense. "He's not bad, just a little different."

James looked at the others, who were still avoiding his eyes. "Different how?"

"He sometimes talks to people that other people can't see or hear." Debra admitted.

James blinked, and then raised an eyebrow at Debra. "I may be mistaken, but in America, talking to people that aren't there is not a good thing, in either the Muggle or Wizard world." He paused and then asked, "why would he be good for us?"

Debra looked around, and then sighed when the other team leaders just waited. "He may talk to people who we can't see, but somehow he knows things as they happen. When the Quidditch finals were in Bulgaria two years ago, he knew the final score and which team won in less than five minutes, long before anyone else in the school."

James looked at Rose and Melissa. They talked over the link for a few seconds, and then James shrugged. "Send him up, and let Rose and Melissa talk to him."

Zachary was biting his lip. He started to say something, and then stopped. Rose was watching him. "Spit it out Zach. We won't shoot you for asking."

He bit his lip again, and then started talking. "I have someone I want to nominate, but I can't justify it." Everyone was watching him now. "He's not a link troop, and he's not anything really. He's shy, nervous and completely lacking in self-confidence." Zachary looked around at the faces and shrugged. "The kid's not real bright, and he needs help, but I can't do anything for him, and I can't find any reason to recommend him."

James raised an eyebrow. "He can't be that bad, even Carey Fudge isn't that bad."

Zachary blinked at James. "Carey Fudge is who I'm talking about."

Melissa frowned, remembering the classes the second year Gryffindors had with Carey. "He's not very stable. Emotionally, he's a mess."

Rose was looking down the paths, and frowning. She already knew that Carey would be invited to join. James had been feeling sorry for Carey for a long time now. Gryffindor had had a couple of classes with Hufflepuff the first year, and had Care of Magical Animals with them this year. The slightly clumsy and shy boy had roused James's pity to the point that he's taken to collaborating him during the occasionally dangerous class.

James ended the silence. "Bring him up here. Let the three of us talk to him."

"James, he's not important to the Prophecy." She sent. "In fact, he's not important in any path I can find, and if he joins us, some of his paths end during First Strike time."

James considered that, and gave Rose a mental shrug. "Calculated Risk, Sister mine. He needs help."

Rose smiled inwardly. "Another rescue Brother mine?" she asked. "Do you know what would happen to your reputation if people ever found out you rescue strays?"

James grinned at Rose openly, and his next sending was to all of Chimera. "Speaking of rescues, anyone up for a little adventure in the Forbidden Forest tonight?"

Six voices tried to talk down the link all at once. The gist of the sendings was that James was nuts, the forest was off-limits, and what was the mission?

"I was practicing Totem magic with Nightrunner early this morning, and we found an injured unicorn in the forest." Nightrunner was the name of the wolf James had gotten from Alexander and Martin. "Nightrunner has been keeping an ear out all day, and I thought we would go and take the unicorn to Hagrid tonight. It'll be fun."

Lisa's voice sounded loud in the skeptical silence that comment brought. "What if we get caught?"

James's amusement warned them all, and eight voices spoke as one. "Calculated Risk."