Magic and Hellfire

Chapter one: Looks Can be Deceiving.

Over the summer of 1890, I received a letter from Raven’s Crest Institute of Magic. I would be a fifth year. One of the professors personally delivered the letter. He introduced himself as Professor Sage. My Father was extremely confused about what kind of school it was. He asked a million questions. “Is it a private school?” “Does it have tuition?” “If it has tuition, how much is it?” “What kind of money does she need?” The list of questions from my father seemed endless. His being a half-blood squib made answering the questions easy for my mother and Professor Sage. They explained as well as they could. I did not want to leave the friends I had made at my all-girls school. Even if the girls asked why my hair was white while my parents had dark hair, it did not matter. These girls were trying to find their places in the world. I thought about all the times the popular girls tried to dye my hair the same shade of chocolate brown. My mom had to have me look like her. The only problem is the dye would never take. I had run home to wash out the stain, thinking it would be patchy, but all the colour would wash out like it never happened. I would go to school the next day. The popular girl would take my hood off my head, thinking I would be embarrassed only for my natural hair to be just as bright white as before she dumped dye on my head. “Do you just bleach your hair so it looks like this, or do you just not have hair?” She would tug my hair like a wig, only to have her hand cut across her palm where my hair was gripped. The hair in her hand had become as sharp as a knife cut her hand. I was unsure what had happened until she screamed that I had sliced her hand open. My hair had turned into a knife in her hand, and she shredded it as she pulled on my hair. After the popular girl targeted me, my small group of friends decided I was not worth associating with.

Even though my group of friends were the other unwanted outcasts, I did not want them to think I had just jumped off the cliff behind my house. It did not make any sense to me. I did not want anyone to think I would give up like that. I asked my parents to find a different story so I did not just sound like any other depressed student. I tried to talk the Professor out of enrolling me. “Unfortunately, I can’t go against the Ministry or The Book of Enrollment.” I ran out of the house and just kept going. I was not even paying attention to the direction. It was not until I had seen the tops of trees that I noticed I was no longer on the ground. I was running on air. I had run off the cliff behind the house. Once I realized that and stopped moving, I started to fall fast. Professor Sage caught me on his broom, so I was not hurt.

“Now, do you believe an Institute of Magic to be a reality, dear child?” Professor Sage said it in a way that made me feel understood and gave me a sense of belonging. I could also hear the sarcasm clear as day. I finally understood why I thought it would not do what I wanted, no matter how small I made myself. I had never felt like I belonged anywhere. The girls at my school always called me weird for being able to know about events to the last detail before they happened. Even the girls I thought were my friends started to distance themselves from me. It is not like I’d known these girls since the first year of primary school. I was all but forced out of the school by the other girls’ parents. It was time to admit defeat. The Magicless school did not fit my image anymore. I had learned everything they had to teach me anyway. I do not know what the new school will bring, but I’m excited to see for myself. Even if I go to The Institute of Magic, I will lose all my friends and be a new student. I was told that most students get their magic at eleven years old. I asked Professor Sage what he could say about the wizarding world. He told me the best way to learn about the wizarding world was experiencing it. I was ready to find out what he meant by that.

Once I started learning, magic came more easily. It was similar to Hellfire. The effect would differ depending on how much energy one puts behind the incantations. I had found Kade and Matty. They were in a town called Fieldcroft. Lucifer had been in Hell, making sure everything was running smoothly.

One day, I received word from him that Kade and Matty were in trouble. I managed to get there at the exact moment as the police. Kade’s uncle had killed his parents out of anger and hatred. I disguised myself as a cop to get into the house to take them to a safe location. Matty didn’t believe me when I said I wanted to get them all somewhere safe. “Stay away from us. You want to separate us. I won’t let you!” A girl of seven stated as if her words were law. “I cannot argue with you. I wish you well. If you need anything, here is my card.” I knew the feisty seven-year-old wouldn’t send word for me. She wanted ‘her person’ as she put it. I walked out of the house and waited for the police to take the bodies out to confirm my suspicions about how the Hanlon adults died. I had all the information I needed to set aside a special place for the day Simon Hanlon would be at Hell’s gates. The only thing left on my list today was ensuring Matty made it safely to Lucifer. I became the Hellfire Falcon from the stories Matty had heard growing up till now.

I saw her soul walk out the door of her home and squawked to get her attention. We made our way to Hell faster than I had ever flown in my life. I tried to tell my brother that we were on our way to him and tell him the situation but by the time we got within range, she had already seen a few demons. “My queen, you are quite small.” Matty looked terrified. I squealed, telling them to be fluffy dogs to stop scaring the poor girl. One demon, let’s call him Greg, licked her face to calm Matty down. “I realize she is small and young. She is still our Queen, and we must respect her.” He said to the other demons. “What has brought you here without your body my Queen?” The question wasn’t a problem. The problem was her reply. “This isn’t a dream?” I bounced forward a bit. “No, Matty, this isn’t a dream.” A tall figure approached. “You shouldn’t be here Little One.” He said, thinking she was a new soul. “But everyone keeps calling me, ‘Queen,’ so that has to mean something.” She looked up to see Lucifer in all his glory. “My safe person”, she said, reaching her arms up. “Matty?” My brother picked her up, trying not to cry. “What are you doing here? How did you get here? Why are all the demons dogs?” He finally noticed me. “Lyra, did you have something to do with this?” I couldn’t lie. It was a curse my mother had put on both myself and Lucifer. “I guided her path. She had a very traumatic day. You need to protect her and comfort her.” Lucifer walked away with her after that. I don’t really know what happened. I flew back to make sure her body didn’t die.

I saw Kade for the first time in two hundred years. He was terrified of how cold Matty had gotten. I tried to stay hidden. He put three blankets on her to warm her up. I noticed the other young girl. Kade looked at her and said, “Toria, she’s getting too cold. I don’t want to lose any more family today. Help me keep her warm.” Toria just sat there looking through me. Kade had to wave his hand in front of her face to get her attention off me. “There is a weird shadow in the corner of the room, Kade.” She was terrified I was the angel of death. “I’m not here to take her anywhere. I am here to help you keep her warm.” I stepped forward slightly. Kade and Toria were both terrified when I suddenly appeared out of nowhere, stepping out of a shadow. It’s understandable, considering what seven-year-old wouldn’t be terrified. “I am here to help,” I repeated. “I can warm her faster than those blankets. I just need her hand.” Kade gently took my hand, looking up at me with pleading eyes. “Please save her. She’s all the family we have now.” I wiped the tears that had begun to stain his cheeks once more. I wished I could bring his parents back from the dead. I knew the rules wouldn’t allow it. I didn’t care what the consequences would be. “I just want my sister to wake up.” Kade’s small voice brought me out of my internal cursing. “Darling, sweet and beautiful boy, I shall wake your sister.” I saw Matty’s soul on the back of Lucia, Lucifer’s favourite Hellhound. “Matty, it is time to wake up,” I spoke. “Your brother needs you.” Her body got so hot it warmed the room. I left as she began stirring. “I will find you again soon, sweet boy.” I knew telling him I loved him would be too much. I had already used the kind words of his mother to calm him.

I had to step through the shadow to go back to the correct time. Unfortunately, I walked out to see a hospital with Kade, Matty and Victoria. Matty had done her best to protect Kade. This was the worst beating I had ever seen. “Get them on beds now! I need my stash of Healing potions, Stat! Get a line started on Kade, and Matty needs something to calm her nerves.” I was barking orders at the other nurses, but they all fell on deaf ears. “THIS IS A HOSPITAL AND I AM THE DOCTOR HERE! IF NO ONE WILL HELP ME THEN GET OUT OF MY WAY!” I had never been so angry at the staff before. They all looked as though they would rather have Kade and Matty die in their beds before they could help. I looked at their charts, which magically appeared on the end of the two beds I had brought over, I noticed the note on it that said not to get involved. ‘GIVE HEALING POTION IF NEEDED. NO OTHER TREATMENT IS PERMITTED.’ Screw that. I put the IV in Kade’s arm and gave Matty her mild sedative before grabbing my personal healing potions. “You are going to be all better after I give you this potion and after you take in all these fluids. Is that all right, sweet boy?” Kade was so delirious he thought I was his mother. “Mum, I don’t want to be beaten anymore. I want to go home with you.” I wanted to cry with him but had a job to do. “I know, darling,” was all I could say before the healing potion took effect and he fell asleep from relief.

I saw a shadow out of the corner of my eye after that. I knew it was time. I had to go be Lyra Nightengale the sixteen-year-old girl, or so I thought.

Walking through the shadow brought me to the entrance of the hospital. “Get him help! He lost a lot of blood!” Matty was a few years older than the last time I had seen her. Even if it felt like a moment ago, I knew it had been three years since I was a doctor that last time they were here. Kade had stab wounds all over his body. One of the nurses brought a bed for him. “I can’t do much with your hand in his ribs now can I?” She yelled. “You are off this case, Bethany,” I shouted back at her. “We do not yell in patients’ faces, or their family members” Bethany just huffed and walked away. “Now, let’s get this sweet boy better, shall we?” I lifted Kade to the bed like I always had. He would always be light as a feather to me. “I need to stop his bleeding,” I said hoping Matty would take her hand away. “Please, move your hand. I can’t stop the bleeding if you don’t move.” I knew my brother was on his way to help. Matty had a thousand-kilometer stare on her face. “Matty, step back,” I said a bit firmer. She finally took a step back when I took her hand out with the blade of the knife that was still stuck in his side. I noticed that one of the major bleeds had been perfectly cauterized. “Good work,” Matty looked at her hands. “Come wash up in my sink.” She mechanically walked to the sink and washed her hands. My brother came in to take Matty to go shower. I had been telling him that she needed to be cleaned off and that her clothing was going to be needed as evidence for my case against the infamous Simon Hanlon. He took her to my personal shower. I took that as my opportunity to not only save Kade’s life, but also start the immortality process. Closing the curtains around the bed I let my wings rest on my back, instead of under the skin. I looked at how beaten Kade had gotten this time. I vowed to never allow Simon to lay a figure on him or Matty from this day forward.

“I don’t think my healing potions will have much effect on you, Sweet Boy.” Kade’s breathing was laboured and shallow. I knew he had internal bleeding. I extended my right wing, grabbed two feathers, and pulled as hard as I could. Wincing from the pain, I stepped closer to Kade. “I’m sorry I have taken your choice away. I fear if I ask you if you want to be with me forever, you’ll say no. Drink this. It will heal you faster than the potions.” I sat him up in the bed, and he opened his mouth. I poured both contents from my feathers into his mouth. “Swallow, Sweet Boy.” He noticed that it tasted like blood. He swallowed a bit and tried to spit the rest out. My body took control. The next thing I know, I am kissing this boy to keep him from spitting my blood out. “This pretty girl just kissed me.” Matty returned a moment later. I hadn’t been able to change back into the nurse. “Who are you, and what are you doing to my brother?” I couldn’t even answer before her arm was against my throat. She had put me against the wall with windows lining it. “In any other context, this would be hot.” The words fell out of my mouth before I could stop them. “What did you do to my brother?” Kade finally started to improve. “Please don’t hurt the pretty girl. She gave me something that tasted like blood, but I feel better now.” The words were still being slurred. Matty let go and asked him, “Seb, are you okay now?” Kade looked at me. “I know you,” he said. “You’re the woman who keeps calling me Sweet Boy like Mum used to.” Matty almost fell to the floor. “You’ve been what?” It wasn’t really a question. “She’s been saving me and calling me what Mum used to. When we were seven, she came and kept your body warm since it had been as cold as the dead. Right before she stepped back into a shadow, she told me she would find me again and called me Sweet Boy.” I stepped through a shadow once more and was transported back three months.