Stepping Out Of The Shadows For @nycat1 After the attack at the Quidditch World Cup, the Trio returns to Hogwarts for the beginning of a new school year. However, a new Fourth Year is sorted and has ties to Harry's past. How will the two help each other, and how will they get what they want from a world so determined to plan out everything for them? Chapter 1 "Montesquieu, Maximilian" McGonagall called. The lanky form of Maximilian James Montesquieu strode quietly but purposefully towards the Sorting Hat. The Hogwarts students watched silently, all eyes on the new Fourth Year. Seeing anyone other than a First Year being Sorted was a strange sight, seeing as most children started their education at Hogwarts. However, seeing as the First War had 'ended' fifteen years ago, some families knew better than to believe that the war was well and truly over. As the kids stared, one elderly Headmaster looked on in shock. 'So, the Montesquieu family was not entirely lost. It seems that Amy and William have decided to step back out into the light and out of hiding.' Albus thought. Honestly, he had been told that Amy and William had been killed in a Death Eater raid. All that the Order had found in what was left of the small cottage were scorch marks and large amounts of blood. At the time, it would not be unusual to proclaim that the couple was dead. However, it seems that William was more resourceful than he had thought. Now, he was dealing with their son. Son of William, cunning and deceptive, and the son of Amy, charming and knowledgeable. If the boy was truly a Montesquieu, he would turn out both like his mother and father. Yes, a certain headache, indeed. As he approached the Sorting Hat, he spotted Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts. Elderly blue eyes met steel blue. After a brief moment, Maximilian slightly nodded and gently took the Hat from Professor McGonagall and placed it lightly on top of his head. Not two seconds later, the Sorting Hat announced its decision. "SLYTHERIN!" Letting out a small sigh, he silently walked over to the end of the Slytherin table and took a seat. A few minutes later, the Headmaster stood up, and asked the students to quiet down. "Students," Dumbledore started. "I am sadly given the duty to announce that there will be no Quidditch taking place this year." At this, there was an outbreak of mumbling and gasping among the tables. "However, I am pleased to announce that the Triwizard Tournament will be hosted this year at Hogwarts!" Dumbledore's words met stunned silence, and then another outbreak of muttering. "Rest assured, students, that only those of age will be allowed to participate in the Tournament." In response, Fred and George made a show of complaining that it wasn't fair. Dumbledore watched them with a knowing twinkle in his eyes and politely asked them to sit down. "Since Hogwarts is hosting the Tournament, be aware that there will be students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. I kindly ask all of you to be respectful of your differences and help them when needed. This Tournament is about friendly competition between the schools, after all." Not soon after, the door to the Great Hall flew open, scaring students near the back of their tables and making them jump. Dumbledore stood up and greeted Alastor, introducing him as their new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. With little more to say, Dumbledore said some odd words, the feast began. After filling themselves to the brim, the students were led to their new rooms. Luckily, Max didn't have to share any rooms, as each Slytherin student was allowed their own private room in the dungeons. Not two minutes after storing everything away in the provided furniture, did he hear a small chime from the walls in the room, a curfew notice. Taking off the formal robes he wore for the Sorting, he donned his pajamas and crawled into bed. -The Next Morning- Max had never been much of a morning person, even though he got up at 6 a.m. on his own accord. After a quick shower and drying his hair, he paused and looked in the mirror. He was fairly white-skinned, but not pale, and had fair blonde hair that came up along the side of his head, with bangs resting not too far above his eyebrows. He had lost most of his baby fat over summer, leaving a narrower and more defined jaw. He was quite handsome, if he didn't say so himself. After brushing his teeth, he donned his Slytherin school attire and made his way to the door. With a light snap, the door closed behind him. After climbing the stairs back to the common room, he quickly exited the dungeons and began exploring the castle to make sure he knew where everything was. -Entrance Hall, Dinner Line- Max had an enjoyable morning, which was spent exploring the large castle. He was allowed the morning off, so that he would be confident that he would know where his classes were. He was planning to get his schedule after dinner. "Weasley! Hey, Weasley!" Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing there, each looking thoroughly pleased about something. Max, who had read the Prophet earlier, quickly realized what Malfoy was getting at. "What?" said Ron shortly. "Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!" said Malfoy, brandishing a copy of the Daily Prophet and speaking very loudly, so that everyone in the packed entrance hall could hear. "Listen to this! FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office." Malfoy looked up. "Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?" he crowed. Everyone in the entrance hall was listening now. Malfoy straightened the paper with a flourish and read on: Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers ("policemen") over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of "Mad-Eye" Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr. Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr. Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene. "And there's a picture, Weasley!" said Malfoy, flipping the paper over and holding it up. "A picture of your parents outside their house - if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?" Ron was shaking with fury. Everyone was staring at him. "Get stuffed, Malfoy," said Harry. "C'mon, Ron. . ." "Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter?" sneered Malfoy. "So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?" "You know your mother, Malfoy?" said Harry - both he and Hermione had grabbed the back of Ron's robes to stop him from launching himself at Malfoy "that expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?" Malfoy's pale face went slightly pink. "Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter." "Keep your fat mouth shut, then," said Harry, turning away. Max noticed Malfoy reaching for his wand, so he took out his own wand and prepared to intervene. BANG! Several people screamed - Harry felt something white-hot graze the side of his face - he plunged his hand into his robes for his wand, but before he'd even touched it, he heard a second loud BANG, and looked up to see Malfoy pinned to the wall, arms bound and spread, positioned as if he were nailed to a cross. He followed Draco's stunned gaze to the new Fourth Year, who's wand was out, eyes piercing steel blue. "Accio." Max muttered, summoning Draco's wand. Max then turned to Harry. "The name's Max." He shook Harry's hand. Harry shook back. "This is Ron and Hermione." Max nodded and shook hands with them both. Curiosity reigning supreme, Harry asked the question eating at his mind. "Have I seen you somewhere?" Harry asked. Max's left eyebrow shot up at the question. "I'm surprised you remember. Your mother would bring you over to my house to talk with Mum when we were children." "WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" came Moody's shout. "I walk around the corner for exactly 17 seconds and this happens!" Moody's outburst confirmed some students' presumptions. 'Yep, definitely paranoid.' Looking up at Malfoy, Moody pieced the evidence together. "Boy, where's your wand?" Malfoy just moved his eyes from Moody to Max. Moody held out his hand to Max, who handed over Malfoy's wand. Without a word, Max did a leftward wave followed by a short flick of his wand and Malfoy dropped to the floor in a heap. "Let's make a visit with your Head of House, boy." Moody grunted, hauling Malfoy to his feet. Malfoy shot a scathing look at Max, who just shrugged it off nonchalantly. After a quick lunch, Max grabbed his schedule and headed to his next class: Defense Against the Dark Arts. After opening the door and picking a seat, Max took out a book and started to read. Not soon after, Harry eagerly made his way into the room followed by Ron and Hermione. Harry took the seat right next to Max, with Ron and Hermione directly in the row behind them. Max set down his book, expecting the question that was forming on Harry's lips. "How does Professor Moody know you of all people?" Harry asked. Max shrugged as if he didn't know. "He trained my father to be an Auror, so I think he just recognizes me. I look a lot like my dad, you know. Same with you." "I know." Harry muttered. "Wait, how do you know what my dad looks like?" Max looked at Harry incredulously. "Our dads were partners when they joined the Auror Training program at the Ministry." Harry sat awkwardly. "Sorry, I didn't know." Max turned and patted him on the shoulder. "It's fine. Not a lot of people knew anyways. If you'd like, you could come home with me over Christmas break. We have tons of photos, and I'll ask dad to tell you a few stories from when they were in Hogwarts. My dad was the reason why the pranks on the Slytherins were always the most memorable, after all." "So your dad was a Slytherin, and he allowed them to prank his own house?" Harry asked. Max guffawed. "Of course he did! He hated all of the Voldemort sympathizers and the soon-to-be Death Eaters, so he helped James, Remus, Peter, and Sirius set up the best pranks. He would provide the class schedules, 'secret' Slytherin haunts, and the passwords to all of the portraits going down into the Slytherin dungeons." As Max finished speaking, the telltale sound of a man with a peg leg echoed around the room as Moody 'stumped' to the front of the room. Pulling out what must have been the class roster, he started taking roll call. His normal eye casually went down and across the paper while he was reading, but his blue magical eye turned to each student as they said their name. Moody merely looked bored while taking attendance, but an eyebrow was raised as he called for Max. "William's boy, eh?" Moody asked, in his gravelly voice. Max nodded. "Yeah. Dad has some interesting stories about you." Moody grumbled. "Yeah, yeah. Pranksters, he and James were." After taking attendance, Moody told everyone to "put your books away. You won't be needing them." Not long after, all of the books were in the student's bags. Moody continued. "According to a letter from Professor Lupin, I am under the impression that you have covered most of the Dark creatures, correct?" At the student's nodding, he nodded back. "Well then, its time you start learning about the spells. To start off, do any of you know which spells are the most harshly punished by wizarding law?" Ron raised his hand, which was shaking slightly. Moody pointed at him, though his magical eye was still fixed on Lavender. "Er," Ron said uncertainly. "My father told me about one...is it the Imperius Curse or something?" "Ah, yes," said Moody (almost) sincerely. "Gave the Ministry quite the trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse." Without warning, Moody pulled out a large jar from the inside of his pocket and set it on the desk. It contained a few spiders. Of course, Ron jumped, since he absolutely hated spiders. Moody took off the top, grabbed one and aimed his wand at it and muttered "Imperio!" The spider leaped off of his hand, and started doing multiple acrobatic tricks, scaring the students, making everyone else laugh. Except Moody. "Think this is funny, huh? How would you like it if you were the one I put under the Curse?" The laughter in the room died almost instantly. "This curse could make you drown yourself, jump out of a window, try to crawl down someone's throat, kill, torture and rape other people, and so much more. The creativity is only limited to the person casting the spell. And, believe it or not, the Death Eaters are quite creative. As I said earlier, the Imperius Curse caused quite a havoc some years ago, when wizards at the Ministry had to determine who was actually in control of their actions. I will be teaching you to fight this curse, with the use of CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Moody shouted at the end, making all of the students jump. "Next spell." Moody announced. It was Neville this time. "What spell?" "The Cruciatus Curse" said Neville softly. Max winced in sympathy. "Your name's Longbottom, correct?" Moody asked, looking back down at the roster and back up again. Neville just nodded. "It'll have to be bigger to get the full effect." Moody muttered as he leveled his wand at it. "Engorgio." The spider grew bigger. Then, Moody carefully set down the spider, aimed, and growled "Crucio!" The spider trembled, curled in about itself, and if it could, it would have screamed as it shook violently, legs twisting and turning over in an obscure fashion. Neville quickly got very pale, and looked like he couldn't catch his breath. Finally, Hermione couldn't take it any more. "Stop it!" Hermione yelled. Moody stopped immediately. The spider stopped trembling, but its legs continued to twitch occasionally. "Reducio." The spider returned to its regular size. Neville sat, pale, hands grasping the desk with white knuckles. "Pain," Moody started. "You don't need knives and thumbscrews if you know the Cruciatus Curse. This spell used to be pretty popular, too. Any others? This time, only Hermione and Max had their hands in the air. "Montesquieu" Moody grumbled. "Which one?" "Avada Kedavra. The killing curse." Max stated calmly. Moody nodded. "Correct. Now. Watch." Moody again grabbed the spider and set it on his desk. The spider tried to scuttle away, but Moody was faster. Leveling his wand, he muttered "Avada Kedavra!" There was a blinding flash of green light, and the spider was upside down on its back, dead. He swept it onto the floor with a hand. "It's not nice. Not pleasant. And there's no countercurse. And there's no way to block it with a magical shield. There is only one person who has survived being hit by the curse, and he is sitting right in front of me." At that, everyone turned and looked at Harry. Harry pretended to find the blackboard fascinating, but didn't really see the blackboard at all. All he could see was his mother being blasted away by a bright green flash of light. Voldemort. With effort, he pulled his thoughts back into the present. "The Killing Curse is a curse that needs a bit of powerful magic behind it - you could all get out your wands and say the words and I would get little more than a nosebleed. But it doesn't matter - I'm not here to teach you how to use it. Now, if there's no countercurse, then why am I showing you? Because you have to know. You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Moody yelled again, the kids jumped. "Those three curses are known as the Unforgivable Curses, and the use of any of those on a fellow human being will land you in Azkaban for #life. That's what you're up against. That's what I've got to teach you to fight. You need preparing. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills...copy this down..." Moody explained. The rest of the class was spent taking notes on each of the three Unforgivable Curses. Nobody dared make a sound until the bell rang - but when it did, a torrent of conversation was unleashed as the students made their way out of the door. Most people were talking about the spider, but Harry noticed something off. Neville just sort of stood by the door, wide-eyed like when he saw the Cruciatus Curse. "Neville, are you all right?" said Hermione. "Oh yes, I'm fine," Neville gabbled in the same unnaturally high voice. "Very interesting dinner - I mean lesson - what's for eating?" Ron gave Harry a startled look. "Neville, what -?" But an odd clunking noise sounded behind them, and they turned to see Professor Moody limping toward them. All five of them fell silent, watching him apprehensively, but when he spoke, it was in a much lower and gentler growl than they had yet heard. "It's all right, sonny," he said to Neville. "Why don't you come up to my office? Come on… we can have a cup of tea…" Neville looked even more frightened at the prospect of tea with Moody. He neither moved nor spoke. Moody then moved his magical eye towards Harry and Max. "You alright, Potter, Montesquieu?" Harry tried to say yes, but was beat by Max, who grabbed Harry's arm and looked down. "Not really, Professor." Max stated. Moody nodded his head over the shoulder, and ushered them back up into the Defense room with Neville. They made their way up to Moody's office, where he conjured three chairs for them to sit in. Moody sat in front of them. "It was harsh, but it was necessary. You needed to know. Neville, I have a book I think you might enjoy. I got it as a gift, but I don't find myself needing this very often." With that, he handed Neville Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean. Neville looked positively radiant. "Thanks, Professor!" Moody just nodded and Neville left the room, closing the door with a soft click. Moody turned to the remaining boys. "You two have watched your parents fall to these curses. Yet, you two are the most talented students in this school at Defense. Both Harry's track record and how you dealt with Malfoy, Max, have proved that. I have seen those by my side, my allies, my friends, struck with these curses. I wish I could have never seen the light leave their eyes. But, to imagine my family... Even I can not even imagine how that feels. I hope you two can remain strong, we need more people like you. If you ever need anything, even some extra training if you wish, (Harry and Max perked up at this, making Moody chuckle) don't hesitate to come to me. Got it?" Both Max and Harry nodded, turned, and walked from his office. Not long after reaching the bottom of the stairs, did Harry finally crack. "Your parents, too?" Harry asked lightly. "Parent" Said Max, putting emphasis on the 't'. "My mother was struck by the Killing Curse before my dad could grab both me and the portkey to the safe house. The curse flew through our front window, and I watched my mom fall to the floor." "Sorry." was all Harry could say. At this, Max turned and held Harry by the shoulders, looking straight into his face. "Please, don't be." Unknown to both of them, Malfoy stood not 10 feet behind them around the corner, listening to their every word with a growing grin on his face.

Everything's Changed Chapter Ten Yan The One Eyed Grace decided to turn back to go find the two who had decided to go against what she said and follow her anyways. It didn't take long for her to find the two. And when she did she helped them up onto the back of Botolf. "Listen you two, you both disobeyed me and left even though it was in your best interest to remain at my home. So when we get there, you both better listen to me and do exactly what I say. If not then we'll turn around right now and go straight back to my home, then I will both confine you to the walls with wood and I'll only let you go when I return," Grace told them. "But what if you don't return?" Anna said rashly. Elsa gasped and lightly hit Anna's back. "Ouch! What'd you do that for!" Anna exclaimed, glaring at her sister who was sitting behind her. "Because of what you said, that was rude," Elsa said. Grace laughed. 'God these guys are a riot! It's just too bad...' She thought, her face falling along with her mood as she thought about that. Grace shook her head. "Are you okay Grace?" Elsa asked, noticing the brunette's change of mood. Grace looked behind her at Elsa. "I'm okay. Just thinking about stuff," Grace told her. Elsa nodded and Grace turned her attention back to the road. "We'll be at their encampment soon, be prepared," Botolf told the group. Grace nodded and mentally prepared her self. Thinking of a plan. 'Okay, we'll rush right in there, find out where this Kristoff guy is being held then free 'im and take him back to my house' Grace thought. Botolf ran off the road and ran to the edge of a cliff. "Brace your selves," Botolf said as he lunged over the cliff. Anna and Elsa both screamed in fright and held onto Botolf's tufts of fur tighter. Grace brought her body closer to Botolf's and her concentration grew. Botolf landed on the other side of the cliff with a thud. Anna sighed in relief. "Did you really think we wouldn't make it?" Botolf asked the group on his back. Anna opened her mouth to reply. "Don't. I'll have you know, I'm the strongest wolf out there. You could even call me the Alpha of Alphas," Botolf said then continued on the path. As the group neared the camp, Grace told everyone to get off of Botolf. Botolf then shrunk him self in size. "That's so cool! How does he do that!" Anna asked, but Grace shushed the ginger. "Please be quiet. We're very close to the bandit camp so we need to be quiet or else my plan won't work," Grace told them. Elsa nodded, understanding completely why she was doing that. "What's the plan?" Anna asked, a bit to loudly for Grace's liking. Grace's eye twitched slightly. Anna didn't notice the eye twitch, but from the irritation written on the brunette's face she realized she should probably be quiet. Which was a smart move. "Are you done?" Grace asked and Anna nodded meekly. "Good...," Botolf said. Grace looked to the wolf and bent down. "You know what to do," Grace told him. He nodded and ran off towards the camp. "What's he going to do?" Anna asked. "He's going to scout out the camp, and find where they're holding your friend," Grace replied. "What do we do now?" Anna asked. "We wait," Grace replied again, then said no more. The group sat down in a heavily covered area. There they waited for the wolf to return with the information. -FRFRFRFRFRFRFR- Getting into the camp was easy enough, after all these bandits seemed to be the dumb kind of bandits. But then again when were bandits actually smart? Botolf mentally chuckled at the idea of smart bandits. Botolf pressed his body close to the ground, he could almost feel the dirt and grass through his fur. Botolf slowly prowled around the camp, dodging the bandits and hiding in the shadows. 'Should've been born a cat! I'm much better at stalking prey than chasing anyways' He thought. Botolf raised his nose and smelled the air. The scent of that man, Kristoff, was thick and heavy. Botolf grimaced at the smell, but he'd smelled worse things. Certainly a man that had the smell of a reindeer on him wasn't the worse, but have you ever smelled a reindeer? Botolf shook his head in disgust then looked around the camp. He figured out that this man was being held in the large tent in the middle of the camp. Botolf sighed mentally and rolled his eyes 'figures' he scoffed. Before he returned to Grace, he did a double check on the encampment. After that he started to make his way back to his master, when suddenly, a knife flung past him. It was a few inches away from his snout, and Botolf was very thankful that his snout was uninjured. Not even a scratch had damaged the surface of his precious snout. "Lookie here boys! It's a doggy!" Botolf heard one of the bandits say. Botolf turned his head and looked at the bandit and begun to growl. Maybe if he appeared vicious enough they'd let him go. Maybe. The bandit who threw the knife laughed loudly, the other bandits laughed with him. "Lookie! The doggy is mad," The bandit said. Botolf groaned mentally. This was getting him no where. Botolf rushed at the man, who was took shocked and scared to move. Botolf lunged at the man and pushed him down. He placed his jaws on the mans neck and was about to snap, when someone grabbed the tuffs of fur on the back of his neck and pulled him off. Botolf thrashed wildly, until he heard the second most calming voice ever. The first calming was Graces. "Calm down lad. I'm not gonna hurt ya," The person spoke. Botolf looked at the person, and it was Yan. "What's going on here boys?" Yan looked at the bandits. "Nothing sir! This wolf just c-" "Don't give me that bullshit, tel me the real truth or else," Yan said, his tone took on a dangerous edge near the end. The bandits gulped. One bandit stepped forward and told Yan exactly what had happened, or well, exactly as his inebriated mind saw it. After the story, Yan understood what had happened. Yan let the wolf go on the ground. "Ya are just hungry, aren't ya boy?" Yan bent down and scratched behind Botolf's ears. Right in the spot that he loved. 'Oh boy... this man he just knows where to scratch' He thought with a sigh. Yan grinned and told one of the bandits to go get some meat for the wolf. The bandit hurried off and returned quickly with a piece of meat for the wolf. Yan gave it to Botolf who downed it the second he had the chance. "Well now lad. I think ya should return back to where ever you came from," Yan told the wolf and Botolf turned and left the camp without any problems afterwords. He quickly went off to where Grace was. "Botolf! You're okay! I heard a commotion going on in the encampment and thought you had been caught," Grace said. "I was caught, but I was let go. This Yan... he may prove more dangerous than I originally thought," Botolf said and looked back at the encampment. "Why do you say that?" Anna asked. "Because he appears to be kind and he is kind. He's very kind, but I sense a strong power deep within him. Just like how I can sense your powers deep inside you three. Though it's very blurry to me, I know that he has a strong power," Botolf told them. "So we avoid him at all costs," Grace said. Botolf nodded in agreement. "Did you find out where Kristoff is being held?" Elsa asked. Botolf nodded again. "The large tent in the center of the camp," Botolf replied. "Well... lets get a move on. Better now than never," Grace said. Botolf grinned. "Well I know I'm ready," Botolf said with great confidence. Elsa decided to stay behind because with her injury she'd just be a hindrance. Grace didn't say it out right, but she did agree with Elsa. After that the group sneaked into the camp with the very helpful instructions of Botolf. Soon the large tent was in sight. "If we rush it, we could make it...," Grace said. "Yes but then Yan would be aware of our arrival," Botolf said. Grace bit her lip. Suddenly they heard a shriek. And Anna's face fell as they brought Elsa into the center of the camp. Elsa was screaming and thrashing about the whole way. Grace's eyes widened and she whipped her head, opening her mouth to speak, but it was too late. Before she could say anything, Anna jumped out from where they were, her flames ablaze and lunged at the men holding her sister. Grace groaned. "I knew this was a bad idea...," She mumbled, Botolf silently agreed. Botolf grew into his rock wolf form and then lunged at the others and tore them apart quickly. Yan came rushing out of his tent and gasped at what he saw. "Well I'll be," He said. Most of his bandits had already been taken out. Either dead or injured. And those that weren't were to scared to confront the massive wolf and the flaming girl. Yan laughed at the sight. Grace walked over to Botolf and stood by his side, placing a hand on the wolf. Elsa was on the ground behind Anna. She sat there in fear of what would come next. "Yan the one eyed, we're here for the man you have taken hostage," Grace told him. Yan laughed. "Ya can have him, I didn't even really care for the lad. He was just a lure," Yan said. Grace frowned in confusion. Botolf shared her confusion. "A lure for what?" Grace asked. Yan smirked sickeningly. "Thought ya would neva ask," Yan said. Grace's eyes widened and she paled. "NO!" She screeched. Yan grinned and then threw his hands at Grace. Suddenly water came from his hands and was flung at the brunette. The water hitting her square in the chest and sending her flying back a few feet. Grace landed on her back with a groan. Grace stumbled to her feet and felt tears come to her eyes. "Grace!? What's so wrong!? How could he do that!?" Anna asked, worried for her new friend. Grace looked at Anna with sorrow. Grace opened her mouth to reply, when Anna was blasted with water and sent flying over Elsa. Elsa stumbled to her feet. Yan laughed darkly and moved his arms in a strange motion, but that seemed to summon more water. "Come forth! My familiar!" He yelled and the water that he summoned formed into a large water serpent. The water solidify to a certain extent into blue scales. The serpent stood about the size of Botolf and had slanted eyes that glowed black. In the center of his head was a round red gem. The serpent hissed, it's tongue flicking in and out of it's teeth. Elsa and Anna both were shocked and were in awe at the magnificent beast. But for Botolf and Grace, this was bad news.

Everything's Changed Chapter Nine To Save A Friend "You!" Kristoff exclaimed and tried to get up to hurt Yan. But he was still tied up. Yan laughed. "Me!" He said. Kristoff frowned. 'Really?' He thought. "Let me go! Or else!" Kristoff said. Yan shook his head and laughed again. "Sorry, no can do lad. Obviously if ya were with the princess and queen then that means ya are important to them in some way," Yan replied. "And I need money lad. It's nothing personal, really," Yan told him. "Where's Sven?" Kristoff asked. Yan looked at him in confusion, until realization dawned on his face. "Ahh! Do ya mean that reindeer?" He asked and Kristoff nodded. "Don't worry 'bout him lad. Your pal is being taken care of. After all if he or you were harmed then the queen would be even madder! And seein' what she can do, it's not something I want," Yan told him. "Then let me go! Because surely you've already made her mad and she'll come and freeze you all," Kristoff said. Yan shook his head. "Well she wouldn't dare to do anything, because we might just kill ya," Yan winked at the ice harvester. Kristoff's eyes widened. "You! Get this boy somethin' to eat and drink! We can't have him dying of starvation and dehydration, now can we?" Yan ordered the guard who was watching Kristoff. The man nodded and hurried off to do as Yan said. The man returned with a piece of bread and a jug of water. "Ehh.. seriously? Is this all we got?" Yan asked and the guard shook his head. "Really now? Then why don't you get the lad some meat?" Yan asked. The guard nodded and handed what he had to Yan. Yan took it and walked over to Kristoff. "Cause ya are tied up, I need to feed ya, is that okay?" Yan asked. "No, it's not okay!" Kristoff responded. "Oh? So it is okay?" Yan grinned. Kristoff's eyes widened. What had he gotten himself into? -FRFRFRFRFRFRFR- "Ahh yes, do you mean that man that you two traveled with? The one who had that... reindeer?" Botolf asked. Anna nodded. "He has been captured by those bandits that attacked you," Botolf said. Elsa gasped. "That means he's been captured by Yan!" Elsa exclaimed. Grace's eyes widened. "Y-Yan?" Grace stuttered. Elsa nodded. The brunette paled. "Oh crap...," Grace cursed under her breath. "What's wrong?" Anna asked. "Nothing... just if Yan has him, this is gonna be even harder," Grace groaned and sunk back into her seat. "Well... might as well start preparing our selves," Grace said and stood up. "One thing though. Both of you will be staying here," Grace told them. "WHAT!?" Both of them screeched. Grace flinched and covered her ears. "Yeesh! Not so loud!" "What do you mean we're not going with you!?" Anna asked. "Exactly that! You're exhausted from using your powers too much and Elsa is injured! There I no way in hell I'm bringing you two! You'll get hurt or worse!" Grace said. Anna gritted her teeth in anger and opened her mouth to protest. Elsa stood up and walked over to Anna, placing a hand on the ginger's shoulder. Anna's anger melted away as if it never existed. "Anna... she's right... we'll both get hurt. We'll stay here. Besides, Grace will know how to save him. She's not foolish," Elsa said. Anna looked down at her feet. "Ya.. You're right...," Anna sighed. "Hey! At least you'll have Elsa!" Grace said. Anna chuckled and nodded. "Lets go Botolf!" Grace exclaimed and the wolf nodded and walked over to the door. "I'll come back with your friend. So don't worry," Grace said. "Please. Kristoff is very important to us," Elsa told Grace. Grace nodded and opened the door. Botolf walked out first. "There's food in the kitchen if you guys get hungry," Grace told them then left, making sure to close the door. Making sure that they weren't following her, Grace went over to a tree. She touched it and spoke to the tree. 'If anyone leaves from this house, send me a message with a bird' She told the tree and then left the house. About half hour later Anna started to grow bored. Elsa was sitting down reading a book. Elsa looked up from her book and up at the bored ginger. "What's wrong Anna?" Elsa asked. "I'm bored...," Anna groaned. "Well then come over here and let me read you a story," Elsa said. Anna shook her head. "I have a much better idea!" Anna exclaimed and ran to the door. Elsa stood up. "Anna! What are you doing!? NO!" Elsa yelled. Anna opened the door and stepped out side. "I'm gonna go help Grace!" Anna said. "NO ANNA THAT IS A DUMB IDEA GET INDOORS NOW OR ELSE!" Elsa yelled. "NO! I CAN GO DO WHAT EVER I WANT CAUSE I'M A FREE GIRL!" Anna yelled and ran off. Elsa groaned. 'The things this girl does...' She thought in irritation and then looked at her gut. The wound didn't look too bad, so Elsa figured she would be able to stop Anna before she got to Grace and got hurt or something. Elsa rushed out the door after Anna. Meanwhile, the tree that Grace had asked to keep an eye out, or more like a root, had done it's job. Grace was riding on a large stone Botolf, when she received the message from the bird. Grace sighed in annoyance. 'They seem to be horrible at following instructions...' Grace thought. "Well Botolf, looks like we'll be having some company... just... try and not hurt them," Grace told Botolf. "Fine, I'll try. But you know I'm not a great team player unless it's you," Botolf huffed.

Everything's Changed Chapter Eight Why Did It Have To Be You? Elsa was frozen. 'No... Anna... can't be cursed with something like this! It's a lie! It has to be!' Elsa thought. "Look. I know you're thinking it's impossible that the princess has powers like you. But she does. And I know it," Grace said. Elsa shook her head. "And how would you know this?" Elsa asked. "Because it's clearly evident, you haven't seen her powers in work exactly. But I have. She doesn't quite realize she has them either, but I know she has them. I've seen a short display of them," Grace explained. "Y-You did?" Elsa stuttered. Grace nodded. The brown wolf came over to Grace with a tray on his back. "Thanks Botolf," Grace said and patted the wolf's head, then taking the tray off of his back and placing it on the coffee table. "Tea?" Grace turned and asked Elsa. Elsa nodded. "Yes please," Elsa replied. Grace smiled. "That's good, because by the looks of it, we're gonna be here for a bit," Grace said and Elsa frowned. She looked at Grace in confusion. Grace wasn't aware Elsa was confused, as the brunette was in the process of making tea for two. "Which flavour would you like? I have three here, Jasmine, Peppermint and Earl Grey," The woman told the queen. "I'll have.. Jasmine, please." Grace nodded and looked to Botolf. The wolf bowed his head and went off to the kitchen, the brown wolf returned quickly with a pot on his head. Grace took the pot and opened it up. It had the Jasmine tea leaves. Grace went back to preparing their tea. "But... what do you mean we're going to be here a bit?" Elsa asked. Grace looked up and handed Elsa her tea. "Just that. We're going to be here a bit," Grace smiled and sipped her tea. She sighed in relief. "I just love peppermint," Grace said and licked her lips. "Would you like anything to eat? I imagine you're quite hungry right now, as your body is trying to repair it's self," Grace asked. Elsa's eyes widened. Having completely forgotten that she was injured when they were attacked. Elsa looked down at her gut and found the wound bandaged neatly. The strange thing is that she didn't feel any pain from it, or well she did. But the pain was very minimal. "I gave you some bark from a willow tree. It provides temporary pain relief, which is why I'm asking if you would like something to eat. Because you're going to need some more soon. Gut shots hurt the most out of all injuries," Grace told Elsa. "Ya.. I guess I am hungry," Elsa replied. Grace smiled. Botolf who had been sitting down near Grace stood up. Grace patted his head. "No, no Botolf. You've done enough right now. Let me get her something to eat," Grace said. Botolf closed his eyes and it seemed almost as if he had sighed. The wolf laid back down. Grace placed her tea on the table and went over to the kitchen. Elsa looked at the wolf, and he looked back at her. Elsa shivered. Her body was telling her there was something wrong about this wolf. Elsa shook her head and sipped her tea. The blond then grew aware that Anna was no where to be found and she grew very, very worried. Grace returned with some food. She placed on the table a bowl of stew and a piece of bread that was oddly shaped and another bowl of a golden translucent liquid. The bread was circular, but had several indents like it was cut into slices. Elsa stared at the bowl of the golden liquid and was about to dip her finger in it when Grace spoke. "That's honey you know," Grace said. Elsa looked at Grace in confusion. "What? You've never had honey before?" Grace asked and Elsa shook her head. "I've heard of it, and maybe it might've been used in the meals at the palace. But I've never actually seen honey or tasted it alone," Elsa replied. Grace tutted. "Shame, honey is really good. Here, let me show you what to do," Grace grabbed a piece of bread, which Elsa realized WAS cut into slices. Grace then grabbed the bowl and poured some of the honey onto the bread. "The bread is plain without the honey, but with the honey it's very good. Here, try it. It might not compare to the food at your palace. But hey! Any food is good food right now," Grace smiled and handed the slice to Elsa. Elsa took it and bit into it tentatively. Elsa's eyes widened at the taste and she devoured it greedily. Grace laughed. "I take it you like it?" Grace asked and Elsa nodded. Elsa ate her food for a little bit until she paused. She looked up. "Grace?" "Yes your majesty?" "You can just call me Elsa... and my sister... where is she?" Elsa asked. "She's in another room resting. Because you see she over used her power so she's exhausted both physically and mentally. It'd be best if we left her to rest, any more exhaustion and it won't be good for her," Grace said. "You seem to know a lot about these powers, how? Why?" Elsa questioned. Grace sighed. "Guess there's no hiding it, huh? Well.. I'll be honest. I have powers like yours too. But I have control over earth, rocks and #life to a certain extent," Grace explained. "#life?" "Yes, I can talk to animals and make them talk if I wanted to so others could use them. I can also grow plants almost instantly, however it can only be plants native to the region I'm in. So here, I can grow a.. say a pine tree. But I cannot grow a palm tree because it's not native. Same with invasive plants. I can't grow those either," She said. Elsa nodded understanding. "Is that why I heard... that wolf speak earlier? At least... I think he spoke," Elsa asked. Grace nodded. "Yes, this is-" Grace was cut off as the wolf came over and spoke. "I'm Botolf but if you had been paying attention at all when Grace greets me you would know that by now," Botolf snorted. Though he spoke, his mouth had not moved at all. "Oh you. Mind him, he's a bit of a grouch near anyone who isn't me," Grace chuckled. Botolf glared at Grace briefly, then went back to what ever he was doing. "H-how did he speak? He didn't move his mouth at all!" Elsa gaped. Grace chuckled again. "Mental projection," Grace responded. "Mental... projection?" The queen frowned in confusion. Mental projection was one of the few things she didn't know about. "Hmm... how to explain it... You know when you project an image... like say an illusion... I don't even know if you know what projection is... but it's like... hmmm... it's really hard to explain," Grace frowned and sat down. "It's okay, you don't need to explain it," Elsa smiled faintly. "Well okay then," Grace shrugged. Elsa finished her food in silence and Grace had grabbed a book from the corner of the room and was reading it quietly. After Elsa was finished, Grace took her dishes and then returned with a cup of tea. "Here, it's tea with Willow bark in it. I'm sure that by now you're realizing the pain is coming back," Grace replied, and sure enough the brunette was right. The pain had started to return. Elsa took the tea and sipped at it. Slowly the pain faded away to the point it was at before. "Now... we need to talk about Anna," Grace said, placing a book mark in her book and sitting back down. Elsa looked at Grace. "Talk about what?" Elsa asked. "Her powers...," Grace replied with a sigh. Grace continued after seeing the confused face of Elsa. "You see... there is supposed to be eight people in total that have elemental powers like us. So far I know four. You, My brother, the princess, and I. You obviously being ice, Grendelle is wind, Anna is fire and I'm earth. However, out of the eight elements. There are also four elements of destruction. Or well the elements are most commonly used FOR destruction. Can you guess what those four elements are?" Grace explained. Elsa paled, suddenly realizing it. "F-Fire... fire is one of them. Isn't it?" Elsa asked and Grace nodded. "Yes. Anna has a destructive element. And the problem with those elements... is they can consume you," Grace said. The two fell deathly silent. Elsa opened her mouth to ask what Grace meant, when they heard foot steps coming from the hall. Anna stepped into the room and looked at Elsa. Anna gasped and grinned. She rushed over to Elsa and hugged her tightly. "C-careful!" Elsa exclaimed. Anna let go of the blond. "Oh right, you're injured! Sorry! Completely forgot you were injured! My bad," Anna grinned sheepishly. Elsa looked up at Anna's hair and snickered. Anna looked at Elsa in confusion. "What? What's going on?" Anna asked. "You're hair is ridiculous," Elsa pointed to Anna's hair. "I agree with the frost one," Botolf said from his sitting spot. Anna gasped and looked at the wolf with fright. "Did... that... did that wolf just... talk!?" Anna exclaimed and pointed at the wolf. Grace nodded. "Hey wait a moment! Who are you!?" Anna questioned. Grace laughed. "I love this girl, she's amazing!" Grace said. Anna frowned in confusion. "I'm Grace, the one that you were coming to find," Grace stood up and stuck her hand out for a hand shake. Anna took it and Grace gasped. Grace took her hand back immediately. "Sheesh! Heat much?" Grace said and looked at her hand, thankful that it wasn't burned. Anna looked at Elsa in a questioning manner. "What do you mean?" Anna asked. Grace smiled and motioned for the girl to sit down in another chair nearby the two. Anna sat down. "Anna. What I'm about to tell you is the complete and honest truth," Grace said. Anna bit her lip and looked at Elsa worriedly. She looked backed to Grace. "Anna... you know how your sister has ice powers, correct?" Anna nodded. "You too have powers... you have fire powers. That is why you have been going through those painful heat flashes, why your body temperature is beyond what it should be and why you have been getting angrier of little things," Grace explained. Anna's eyes widened. 'What!? That's impossible! That's... stupid!' Anna thought angerly. "You're lying! I don't have any powers!" Anna yelled, standing up. Grace groaned. "See, this is why I'd much rather you have had an element like water, or light. Those are easy to talk to cause they won't get mad," Grace said and held her head in her hands. Anna paused then sat back down. "Are you done your little temper tantrum?" Grace asked. Anna nodded. "Now listen, you do have powers. And what I'm about to say, well... you can take it either way. But in my opinion it's kinda bad news. And same goes for your sister here. This is bad for both of you," Grace said. Elsa tilted her head and looked at Grace in confusion. "You both have destructive elements. Which means you both have certain negative emotions that if you give into them eventually your powers will consume you. How? I don't know how, but they will and yo will become a monster. By a monster I litterly mean a monster. You will go insane and as time wears on, slowly your power will morph you body into a monstrous creature and all of your humantity will be lost," Grace told them. "Negative emotions? What do you mean?" Elsa asked. "Negative emotions as in each element has an emotion they're based off of. And that emotion has an opposiate. The opposite will eventually corrupt you," She replied. Anna gasped. "Does that mean-?" "yes, essentalliy you will die," Botolf said walking over to the group. Anna looked at the wolf. 'You know what, not even going to question that right now. We have more things to worry about' Anna thought. "So what are our negative emotions?" Elsa asked, afraid of the answer. "For you Anna. Your element was built off of love. Heh.. isn't that funny? Fire typically destroys yet your element is built off of something that creates and builds!" Grace exclaimed then coughed. "Anyways, the opposite to that is anger. Which is why you need to control your anger, or else it will consume you," Grace said. Anna nodded and looked down at her lap. She was finding this very hard to believe. "And you Elsa. I think you went to the trolls one time, and they told you something about fear?" Grace asked and Elsa nodded, not even questioning how she knew that. "Well your negative emotion is fear. And not the fear others feel for you, but the fear you feel for you self. You element was built off of confidence and things like confidence. But each time you fear your self, the more your power consumes you," Grace said. "Understand?" Grace asked and Elsa nodded. "Wait... Grace... what's your emotion?" Elsa asked. "Emotion? You mean you have powers too!?" Anna asked and Grace nodded. "My powers were built of off the emotion calm. Agitation and similar emotions are my negative emotions," Grace replied. "You can have more than one?" The ginger asked. "There are different types of anger, correct? Like... there is irritation for mild anger, then for moderate anger there is upset and mad. But for high levels of anger, there is Furious, seething, outraged and the like. Though those are all the same emotion, they also not the same emotion. It's really hard to explain. It's kinda like this, though they all are anger, they are all different kind of angers," Grace explained. The princess nodded understand it slightly. Suddenly though, the ginger remembered something very important. She shot out of her chair with a gasp. "Kristoff!" She exclaimed. Grace stared at her in confusion and curiosity. Elsa's eyes widened and she too remembered that the blond had come with them. -FRFRFRFRFRFRFR- Kristoff groaned and his eyes fluttered open. He tried to move his hands, only to find they were tied up. Kristoff's eyes widened and he frantically looked around. "So ya are awake now?" Kristoff looked to his left and saw Yan walking towards him.

Everything's Changed Why was Elsa born with powers and not Anna? What made Anna so special? Or maybe she did have powers all this time, but they were just hidden? Chapter Seven The Stoney Grace "Dammit! By this rate I'm never going to find those two," Grace growled and slowed her horse down to a trot. Grace looked at the ground, and sure there were tracks. But could she be sure those were the tracks she needed to follow? Grace looked up, she heard a twig break to her right. She looked to her right and saw a brown wolf step out from the woods. She sighed in relief and walked over to the woods. "Botolf... don't scare me like that," She said. The brown wolf, Botolf came over to Grace. "Mistress, I believe I have located the two that you're looking for. However they also traveled with a third person," Botolf said. "I see... what happened to them?" Grace asked the wolf. "They were attacked... by Bandits. The two girls went over a cliff while the boy they were with was taken by the bandits. I think we should go find the girls first, as one of them was injured," Botolf replied. Grace nodded. "Can you lead me to the general area they fell?" Grace asked and Botolf nodded. Grace went over to Nothar and got on him, then motioned for Botolf to lead the way. The two went off into the woods. -FRFRFRFRFRFRFR- Anna was still trying to find someone to help her, or a town. But so far no luck. And as time went on, she got more tired. Soon she could barely stand and her flames died. Anna collapsed and fell right to sleep. The wolf pack that had been following the two took this opportunity to attack. The white alpha wolf barked to his companions and they came rushing out of the woods towards the two. Just before one wolf got to the two, a large rock came out of the ground. The rock blocked his path, and then several more popped up around the two. A robbed figure was slowly walking towards the two, with a brown wolf at their side. They looked up at the wolves that were snarling at the two. They took their hood off and it was Grace. "I'm sorry, but you can't have these two. I have need of them. Botolf?" Grace looked to her wolf companion. Botolf howled and there was the sound of rock cracking. Botolf grew in size and several rocks jutted out from his shoulders and other places, his colour grew greyish and when his transformation was finished, Botolf was the size of a large human. Grace walked over to the two and picked Elsa up first, she placed Elsa on Botolf's back and then did the same with Anna. Before Grace got on Botolf's back, she inspected the two to make sure that they wouldn't fall off. After that, Grace got on the stone wolf. She pulled her hood up and nodded to Botolf. The stone wolf snarled at the other wolves, who backed away in fear. Then he turned tail and bolted out of there. Grace kept her eye on the two royals all the way to her home. -FRFRFRFRFRFRFR- Elsa's eyes fluttered open and the blond groaned. She slowly sat up, briefly aware of a pain her gut. Elsa looked around the room and found it was quite small, but it was also a room she wasn't familiar with. The queen felt fear crawl into her. Had she been captured by those bandits? If so what had happened to Anna? To Kristoff? Elsa shook her head and threw the blanket off of her and threw her feet onto the cold wood floor. She then stood up. She stepped over to the room's door and opened it slowly. When it was open, she looked out into what appeared to be a hall. Elsa stepped out into the hall and looked up the hall. She saw a fine looking room. The blond walked down the hall into the large open room. There was a kitchen, a dining area close to the kitchen and Elsa believed a sort of living area. "So you're awake," Elsa heard someone say from behind her. Elsa turned and saw a women with long brown hair that was tied up and the women wore a light brown dress with a little bit of green on it. Elsa's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Don't look at me like that, I saved your #life dammit," the woman said. "Who are you?" Elsa asked. "I'm Grace. The one you were looking for," Grace said. Elsa's eyes widened. "You're Grace?" Elsa gaped and Grace nodded. "Yup an-" Grace was cut off by a bark. "Get over here and feed me woman!" Grace groaned and walked past Elsa. Elsa turned and saw a brown wolf and became very very confused. "Calm down Botolf. I'll get you your food in a minute," Grace went into the kitchen and quickly made something for the wolf. Grace placed a bowl of something in front of the wolf, who begun to devour the food. Grace motioned Elsa to follow. Grace went over to a chair and Elsa sat down in another chair. "So. I heard that the princess had an illness," Grace said. Elsa nodded. "It's not an illness," The brunette told Elsa. Elsa's eyes widened. It was exactly as she had feared. "She has powers like you," Grace said.